Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was really low key this year, which was great since it was at our house!  I didn't have to do much cooking.  I cheated by providing "Rhodes" rolls and "Costco" pies.  So the extent of my food preparation was making deviled eggs and opening jars of olives or bottles of Martinellis.  My parents, grandparents, Kelly's family, Jeff's family and ours were here.  We ate, hung out for a few hours and then everyone went home.  We got the majority of the left overs which was great since I haven't been "real" grocery shopping in months and we have no food.  And my mom even came back and helped clean up a little bit so Alan wouldn't have to do it all by himself.

We got a lot of down time this weekend, though it didn't fee like it.  We set up the massive Christmas tree that my mom gave me.  I would have been way more excited about doing this if I didn't feel as big as the tree itself.  But again, Alan was a trooper in helping me accomplish all of my Christmas decorating tasks.  (He also trimmed the bushes on Saturday so that he could help me hang the outside lights).  The tree is a big enough job that it took two days.  On Thursday night we set it up and I put on the lights.  Then we helped the kids decorate it on Friday.  Zachary keeps referring to the "ball" ornaments as "meatballs".  I don't know where he got that idea or why he is calling them meatballs.  Especially since we haven't had meatballs in our house in months.  But it is hilarious that he keeps talking about the "pretty meatballs" on the tree.  I put out most of my Christmas decorations and lights outside.  I gave up after a while because I was too tired and hot and sweaty.  I feel a bit like a bah-humbug but I just don't have the energy to be as excited about Christmas as I normally would be.  Alan even went to do the "Black Friday" shopping for me.  Luckily there wasn't much we wanted and Walmart started at 8 pm on Thursday.  So it wasn't a nightmare experience like it was the year before when I came strolling in at 7am!

We also went out to Judy's house on Wednesday night.  All of her kids were in town for the holiday.  Wendell had a court of honor for his Eagle Scout award, and they planned a surprise one for Rob and Steven who had earned their Eagles but never had a court of honor.  It was fun to see everyone and catch up.  On Saturday we took the kids to the Zoo.  Alan insisted on getting me a wheelchair for the day and pushing me around since it is pretty hard for me to walk or even be on my feet for extended periods right now.  I was a little embarrassed at first, but eventually I decided that all trips to the Zoo should involve me being pushed in a wheelchair, pregnant or not.  It made for a way more relaxing trip......at least for me.  Alan is probably still sore! :-)  There was this exhibit that had something called a "Shell Ginger".  Not sure if that was the name of the plant or the small bird that was in the habitat. But either way it was funny so we took a picture of all of my "gingers" next to the "Shell Ginger" sign.  Boy, I have used a lot of quotation marks this post.  I better cut that out before I read this later and think about what an idiot I am!

Kimberly and I were reading a book on Thanksgiving yesterday.  One of the pages talked about being grateful for being able to play outside at the park with friends.  Kimberly told me that she was grateful for that too.  That she could go to the park and play with Eric (the neighbor boy) and Benjamin.  Then she tacked on "because Benjamin is my brother AND my friend".  It was really so genuine and sweet!