The Sound of Silence

After a crazy few days of preparation and entertaining, this ...

... was heavenly.


If I eat a whole lot today, the leftovers will be gone soon and THEN I can start a diet. It's math. Now pass the cheesecake.

Turkey Day!

Who doesn't love a good ol' fashioned oven fire on the eve of the first Thanksgiving we've ever hosted (with 27 guests)?  Thankfully Papa Dan came to the rescue and put it out (it was small but still, it was fire) and the Nickersons let me come borrow their oven to finish up my evening baking.  One long self-cleaning cycle and we were back in business.

I love our house.  We comfortably sat 27 people for dinner (I'm glad we haven't furnished the living room yet!), had at LEAST 3 people in the kitchen at all times, and then had room for 17 overnight guests.  It was a BYO air mattress party.  Considering it was our very first Thanksgiving (and I only just learned how to cook more than macaroni and cheese about 18 months ago), I think it went well.  A few lessons learned for next time -- but it went so well that I'm already thinking about next time!

Pre-dinner exercise (toddler speed hiking)

GORGEOUS day for a walk

She is the most affectionate kid I've ever seen.  She jumped into Donald's arms as soon as he came into the house.  When it was time to say goodbye, she kept trying to kiss Shea and Cristian but neither of them were interested.  Ha!  Also, she climbed into bed with Auntie Mary in the morning to "schnuggle."

 

Baby Logan was in the house for about 13 seconds before Elliott insisted on holding her.

For some reason, this was a fun game?

Look who's doing the dishes!

Everybody takes a turn!

Scout did her share of cleaning up, too.

 

Breakfast for 17?  No problem.  Note to self: get disposable coffee cups next time.

"Don't go home, Nana."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  As Elliott said during dinner, "I'm thankful for my fam-ih-wee."

Sing us a song, you're the piano girl!

My dad gave us his gorgeous piano -- the piano movers hadn't even pulled away from the house and Elliott was sitting on the stool singing songs.  Again, I NEED to post videos. 

Stuff and things

This was my dress when I was 2.  Hee hee.

Family movie night!

I'm a broken record: Best. Dog. Ever.

Elephant braids!!!

I was desperate for something to entertain her for 5 minutes.  Just 5 minutes is all I needed  ...

This is what happens when she doesn't take a nap.

Early morning nerdering.

This happens every night.

TMI

I'm pretty much convinced that the only people who read this blog are my grandmother and my friend Meredith, and as I've said before, I mainly blog for myself because I like to document life and look back on it later, so I guess this post is for me?  But  just in case I have some silent fans out there that don't know about our recent struggle with infertility, this is for you.  Sort of.

We want more kids.  Absolutely.  No question.  But when it wasn't happening naturally, I went through some tests and it turns out I had some pretty severe scarring in my uterus that was causing it to be blocked/plugged up and pretty much closed for business.  Anyhow, I had surgery last week to have the scar tissue removed so hopefully once it is all healed, we'll be back on the baby train and Elliott will finally get that baby sister she has been asking for.

Let me tell you, entertaining a toddler while recovering from surgery is NOT easy.

I'm not big on at-home arts and crafts -- it's just so messy. But we did a LOT of arts and crafts this week.

Yikes

Mrs. Frenchy McMoens

I have the best husband in the whole world.  He has been incredibly sweet and supportive and helpful -- the best example I can give is this: the other day, I was lying down on Elliott's floor trying to get her to take a nap, when Scout sauntered in and threw up next to my head.  I called Jas in an absolute melt-down and he dropped everything to come home and help.  Thankfully, Scout and I are both on the mend and things are much more orderly (and energetic) here.

I hate laundry

I don't mind doing laundry ... but I HATE folding it.  I just hate it.  Elliott and Scout, however, are thrilled when I procrastinate because it creates a great climbing structure for E and a comfy bed for Scout.

Wheeeeee!

I hope there aren't any underpants showing in that pile ...

Potty training

I try not to blog too much about things like potty training and other boring parental strategies mainly for the sake of Elliott's future embarrassment level -- but I have to share a little bit about potty training.  I'm sure we'll have some hiccups along the way but E totally has the hang of this potty thing. She just likes to hang out and read her magazines (Highlights).

A weekend of yard work

Oy. Right about now I miss our one bedroom apartment and its fabulous condo association that dealt with any and all outdoor work ...  Nah, I don't really.  I love this house and I love the suburbs and I love the space and I love that we have a friend who knows how to use a chainsaw and a brother who will help us rake ...

Pete took down six trees out front that were either dead or damaged from the hurricane or recent Nor'easter.  It was quite a scene.

He had an audience -- Elliott kept clapping and yelling "Yay Pete!  Good job!  Nice work, Pete!"

They cut up the trees so now we have firewood -- what better way to transport it to the garage than the stroller?

This is as close as I got to a "before" picture. I've never seen so many leaves.  Thanks to the Flahuvans for their help ...

Yeah, that is a LOT of leaves. It's really unfortunate that it was 12% dog poop and therefore not approved for jumping in ...

Ah-ROOOO-bah!

It has been such a crazy few months with Jas' work schedule and me doing Chicago that it seemed as though we went several weeks without seeing each other so we scheduled a last minute trip to Aruba to get some much needed one-on-one time.  We slept for about 12 hours a night and took at LEAST one nap a day -- call it the vacation toddler schedule (with poolside cocktails).  We missed Elliott a whole lot and agreed that it would have been nice if she had shown up with Uncle Matt and Ant Lindsay on Saturday morning (that way they'd be the ones to travel on a plane with her -- hee hee). We needed a sold 48 hours of alone time but 4 days was too long away from that little girl. She spent half the time working on her New York accent with Nana and half back at home with Dee-dee and barely noticed we were gone.  I kid.  When we got into the car at the airport she was SO HAPPY to see us and told me several times on the way home that she wanted to give me a big squeeze.

Who doesn't love mediocre fruit encased in a frozen teardrop?

Napping

Lizards lizards everywhere!

Napping again

Post-nap pina coladas

Crazy rain storm (photo doesn't do it justice)

That's Jas