Preparations for Thanksgiving

1. Get house cleaned within 1-3 days of Thanksgiving and PRAY it lasts so I don't have to do anything other than touch up as necessary - CHECK
2. Get kids out of the house and find an entire day to prep food - CHECK
3. Plan menu - CHECK
4. Food shop - haven't managed to do that yet. Do grocery stores actually run out of turkey??? Let's hope not. At this point I need to get a fresh turkey as I'm officially out of time to defrost a 20lb bird + have 24 hours to brine it first, which is a must as far as I'm concerned.
5. Figure out how to work around my oven temperature being off by 35-45 degrees. Yes, I'm hosting Thanksgiving and my oven is off. I put a thermometer in there and tried it out with the meatloaf I made on Saturday. I think I have the hang of getting it to temperature with the right adjustments as it goes. I can't get a service call for it though as the computer in it broke maybe a week after the 1-yr warranty ran out and my dad helped us pack the back of it with styrofoam to hold the temp gauge up. It is officially jerry-rigged and I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble or be lectured about the fire hazard were I to get someone out to fix it. Fingers crossed that I don't cause a salmonella outbreak in Joes family - CHECK.
6. Plan Prep Schedule & Thanksgiving day Schedule - tonight hopefully???

So much on my mind/plate right now...my family does Xmas/Hannukkah celebrations the 1st weekend in December. Yes, we were in NJ last weekend, hosting Thanksgiving this weekend, back to NJ next weekend. Thank GOD I did the bulk of my holiday kid shopping yesterday. My friend and I did our annual pre-Thanksgiving-before-it-gets-insane-lets-finish shopping trip to Toys R Us and the mall. I'm in pretty good shape now which is good b/c Hannukkah is the week after we get back from the NJ trip. I need to come up with a good "small thing for everyone" gift since the adults don't exchange gifts. I'd rather not go to the default wine give, but at this point I don't have much time to come up with something more creative. I always intend to though.

Also on my mind...

• Holiday outfits, pictures, & Cards
• Making the annual Kids calendar to give to the family (won't be done for the family weekend so looks like I'm mailing them out now too).
• Figuring out what the hell to get for my mother in law???? we struggle with coming up with something every year. Usually it's an xmas eve call, but I'd prefer to be slightly prepared this year

Sigh...

Test iPhone Blog Post

Blogger doesn't have an iPhone app. BOO. Supposedly you can email a
post. Let's see if this works!

UPDATE: It worked!! Cool. It just doesn't assign Labels. Although, that might be good. You'd never know I had my Masters in Library & Information Science if you looked at the disarray that is my Label list. However, b/c I am a Virgo and completely anal retentive about keeping things in order (well, I used to be anyway), I can't clean up the list unless I'm ready to commit the time to retroactively re-categorizing everything. Ridiculous, isn't it???

Airport Cell Phone Lot

I went to pick Joe up at the airport on Saturday night and was annoyed that I had to keep circling the terminals. I guess it's a good thing that there are cops everywhere, but it's irritating that you can't at least hover in your car at Arrivals. That is until I discovered the Cell Phone Lot! Is this new or has this been around for awhile??? I assumed, correctly, that it's a lot just adjacent to the terminals where you can hover until your person arrives. As usual, I was happy just sitting there listening to Stern while I waited. You can only be there for 30 minutes and you can only idle for 5 minutes, but that's ok. I suppose unless it's in the middle of super cold spell, it doesn't really matter. Joe got his bag and called me and I was at his terminal in less than 5 minutes. Cool!

Small Joys

I inadvertantly matched my underwear to my outfit today. These things make me happy.

Moms 60th Bowling Party

Who knew my kids would LOVE bowling so much! And, it wasn't just b/c

• Rory was wearing his glow-in-the-dark skull and crossbones shirt - or -
• that there was dance music and disco balls - or -
• that the food of choice was hot dogs, pizza, and huge cups of juice - or -
• that Rory got a kids Yellow bowling ball and Shelagh a Pink one (favorite colors matter a lot in our family) - or -
• I beat Joe in bowling (ok, the bumpers were up for the kids and it worked in my favor - BIG DEAL. Plus, Joe insisted the only reason he lost was b/c his jeans were on the snug side and he didn't have the lunging range of motion he would usually have) - or -
• they got to stay WAY past bedtime (which sucked for us when we tried to get them to bed later)

They've been once before but it was a long time ago. We'll have to go again!

Kellys 1st French Fry and Snuggling Kids

Kelly had her 1st French Fry last night. She had a crazy grip on that fry. She ate the top and probably would have tried to eat her own fingers had I not pried her hand open. She loved it!

The big kids were snuggling watching TV the other day. They do this all the time. Good pic of Kells showing all 4 teeth with her trademark perma-smile.

My Quiet Weekend

I escaped for a 2-day "me" weekend sans family. It was a much needed getaway for me. The summer, transition to Kindergarten, increased work demands, increased family events, and Kellys lack of sleeping through the night have taken a toll.

I head up to Portsmouth, NH at around 8am on Saturday with frowny faces from the kids. I started the day at the Friendly Toast for breakfast. I chose the "Guy Scramble" which was eggs scrambled with avocado, black beans, and cheddar. The home fries were sliced thin and well-seasoned and the toast was a good 1-1 1/2 inches thick homemade wheat. I sat quietly, drank coffee, read my book and cruised my iPhone for a good hour plus. Heaven.

I then strolled through town browsing, shopping, enjoying the beautiful Fall New England sunshine and crisp air. I got a few things at Second Time Around, this high-end consignment shop that has locations in the Boston area also. I've needed pants desperately for the last few months so it was great to find a pair there for $20. Stationary store, funky toy stores, insanely cool kitchen stores...ending up at the Portsmouth Brewery. I enjoyed a beer and some chowder while waiting for my friend to meet me and join me for the rest of the day and overnight.

Great girlfriend time. I see my friends often, but almost always with kids. I forget how mentally rejuvenating it is to get a few solid hours catching up with friends. You don't realize how much you miss that until you haven't had it for awhile. We changed for dinner and had a nice meal out...I had duck (which I always order if it's on a menu and I'm not with Joe since he doesn't like it and we usually like to share/taste each others meals) and she had lamb.

We stayed at the Portsmouth Inn and Spa and enjoyed a nice communal breakfast with 2 other families before she left and I head to the spa for a massage. Fantastic massage and then I head over to Kittery, Maine to do some Outlet shopping, mostly for myself.

I'm happy to report that I've dropped a size and that hasn't happened since before I got married probably, over 7 years ago. The bad news is that I didn't do it in a careful and healthy manner...who the hell has time to eat with 3 kids????? Either way, it is what it is and it's a nice problem to have finally. I'm tired of cinching my pants with belts pulled to the last hole and looking like a hobo. I got 4 pairs of pants across the consignment shop, Banana, and Ann Taylor. I got a gorgeous silk red top for Joe's work Xmas dinner which I'm pumped to wear and an outfit for my family Xmas. I finally got some much needed black dress pumps (I've been wearing strappy year round b/c they are my only black heels!) and everyday brown low boots. Of course I got a few things for the kids. I ended my day with a Fried Clam Roll at Bob's Clam Hut (heaven...wolfed down in about 5 minutes, I might add).

Blanket and his Bug Bite Adventure

Rory told me the most detailed story this morning about his blanket while we were sitting in the bathroom...

R: Mommy, I am your 13, 18 love.
M: Is Blanket my love too?
R: Blanket is your 18 love. He likes kisses on his cheek only.
M: Not on his mouth?
R: Nope. He is very hungry and I only feed him Pears and Mango. He loves Pears and Mango. And I give him bottles. Milk and cheese. He likes Cheddar. Shelagh likes Cheddar too. I am the only one who likes American cheese on the family Earth planet.
R: Blanket had to go to the doctor for a bug bite on his eye. The bee landed on his nose and stung his eye.
M: His eyeball? Really? What was his doctors name?
R: Dr Peach Banana. He put bandaids over both of his eyes and then blanket drove home.
M: How did Blanket drive with bandaids over his eyes???
R: He drove the Banana truck.
M: How did he see? Did he bonk into anything?
R: Yes. He drove into glass and knocked over a tree. Then he stood the tree up and went home. Oh, and there was a storm with clouds and rain. And he got into bed with me and that's it.

Kelly 9 Months

Warning: Mom-Boasting to follow...

I can't believe she is 9 months old already. And, a genius to boot. Yes, she is a brilliant baby. Here's where we are...

• Food: She's eating all sorts of things and despite a few occasions where she has literally spit food out at and on me, she's pretty open to everything so far. Some of the fare she's been enjoying other than the pureed veggies and fruits...

1. Yogurt
2. Pastina
3. Mashed Potatoes
4. Fish
5. Refried Beans
6. Toast
7. fresh Mozzarella cheese
8. Pancakes
9. Scrambled Eggs/Matzo Brie (I know, she's too young, but I was eating them and they are soft so I went for it)
10. Ground Turkey

• Sleep: She is still not sleeping through the night and it's KILLING ME! My fault...I continue to nurse her at night and haven't muscled through some serious Ferber. That is going to have to change soon. Who has the energy though, really.


• Movement: She is army crawling all over the place. She can spin her self around, roll across the floor, get across a room in seconds...all on her forearms. She will get up onto all fours, but no movement from that position yet. She is sitting up, but too often topples over still so I don't leave her like that too much. Rory had the same experience, but I just figured he was too chubby to stay upright!


• Play: She loves to clap and whenever one of the kids claps, she repeats it. She can do Pat-a-Cake including the clapping and rolling parts. She also follows all the hand movements with her eyes like she's trying to figure it out. She loves to tilt her head to the side as if being coy which is just adorable. She will mimic sounds back and forth with you. She is CONSTANTLY laughing and smiling. Seriously, the happiest baby. She loves being tickled especially in the neck, belly, and thighs. If you ask her where someone is, she will turn and look at them.