Thanksgiving week! 2010

So, we had a lot of fun the week of Thanksgiving.  We took pictures BEFORE and AFTER the big Turkey Day, but unfortunately none ON the big day.  Lame.  So, if I find pictures from other friends' blogs then I'll post them (hint hint).  Otherwise, take my word for it:  It was great and we had fun.

I took these pictures of the kids outside the day before Thanksgiving.  They love any excuse to come outside. And now it's perfect long sleeve shirt weather for them.  Awesome.  Gotta love Texas.  Here are a few shots of them hanging out.

Tillie was minding her own business until she heard a "Vroom Vroom" down the street.  This was her face as she was checking it out.  She said, "Mom, who's THAT guy?"  A favorite Tillie phrase these days.

 

 

 

** I was feeling bad that I haven't taken very many pictures of Calvin lately, so we pulled out the camera when Tillie was still sleeping.  He wanted to show me his new push up trick.  Amazing.

I move the ottoman over to make a little blockade so he doesn't crawl into Tillie's room to wake her up.  Here he was playing peek-a-boo. Sorry about the blurry photo.  It's either a little blurry or really stark using the flash as shown in the next few pictures.
Whatever.  I'm no professional.  You can deal.   

 

I finally caught his irritated face.  HAAA!

 

I sure do love that snot-nosed kid.  He's had a runny nose for the last month and a half! First teething, then a cold, then teething, then double ear infection.  Poor kiddo.  He's finally getting used to me doing the dreaded nose-wipe with the tissue!

 

**Later that night (wednesday) Aaron and I made food preparations for the big feast the next day.  One contribution we made was Aaron's favorite DIXIE SALAD which requires pomegranates.  They are such BEAUTIFUL fruits!  And peeling them is so cool.  They are like tiny little jewels in hidden caves.  Aaron and I had a good time... until Aaron thought it'd be cool to peel them in front of the computer on the carpet.  I threatened him that if ONE drop got on the carpet or my computer he was a DEAD MAN.  He's like, "I got this, I got this."  Well, the first cut in it sprayed EVERYWHERE.  Mostly on our cream carpet.  Lucky for him we have a Costco sized box of OxyClean.  That stuff is magic.  You know my passion for it.  Anyway, he was a lucky man that night.
The rest of the evening was lovely. 

**Insert great photos of Thanksgiving day with our fun friends.  We got to spend the entire day with our friends hanging out, eating amazing food, funny games, and the kids even got to play on a bounce house!  Fun was had by all.

**A week or two prior to the big holiday, Aaron voted that we should go back down to Dallas or Houston and check out the city.  I thought that sounded fun, but I really wanted to do Thanksgiving with our friends too. So, we compromised and enjoyed the best of both worlds.  We found a great price for a hotel in downtown San Antonio (half hour from our house) and stayed there Friday night.  It was perfect timing, b/c that night the big Christmas Riverwalk Parade happened.  The hotel we found was on the Riverwalk and served free dinner (hot dogs, popcorn, potato bar, and chili---not my faves, but hey, can't beat free.) but we were able to eat and then watch the parade from the lobby.  It was great.  Tillie was in heaven. 

she was LOVING the chips and salsa.  This is probably the happiest picture we have of Tillie.  Look at those chipmunk cheeks!! 

I was there too.  Not enjoying the food, but having a good time.

we ventured outside for a little bit.  Tillie was enthralled (as you can see by her face).

These nice ladies let Tillie come up and hang out in front of their viewing area.  They were darling with her and Tillie enjoyed chatting about Santa, the boats, the lights, and who knows what else!

After the parade was over, Aaron and Tillie hit up the pool on the roof.  Tillie loves to swim and Aaron promised her they'd go.  So, even though it was about 10:00 p.m., they went up to the roof.  Since it was FREEZING outside and so late, they had the place to themselves.  Too funny.

What did Cal and I do?  I was dying from starvation (I'm a drama queen sometimes, especially when it comes to food intake.) so I ordered a TO-GO salad and brownie delight from a restaurant next to our hotel.  They swam.  I put Cal to bed in a crib we put in the bathroom (it was spacious), and I enjoyed this.  Don't worry, I didn't polish it all off.  Aaron and Tillie had their fair share when they finally came in to join me.  

** After a lazy morning, we decided to head to the Children's Museum.  It was awesome.  We HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who wants a fun outing.  We had a buy one get one free coupon and Tillie and Cal were free, so it wasn't too expensive.

This first part was probably one of the coolest things Aaron has ever done.  See for your self.  Do you recognize that guy?

whoop! there it is!

 

Oh yeah.  Tillie liked it too.

Calvin was probably thinking, "Wow.  Looks like my dad is having too much fun with this thing."

 

 

 

yeah, I think Calvin was right.

There was a little Eric Carle creation station.  They had pieces of paper for you to make into your own collages.  I wasn't about to introduce my 2.5 yr. old to scissors, so I cut them out and put glue on the pieces (didn't want her to get sticky) and then had Tillie help me lay the glued pieces on.  It turned out lovely.  When I told Aaron to "see what Tillie did." He said, "hmmm... did Matilda make that or did Melissa make that?"  Guilty.  I was that mom.  Sorry Tillie.  Better luck next time. 
 

Messing around with other fun stuff...

 

 

 

he's a poser.  that's right.

 

 

 

 

 

They had this great mini grocery store in the basement.  Tillie was in HEAVEN down here.  Such a cool idea.

 

We ate at Rainforest Cafe.  I'd never been there but heard it was fun.  And, hey! we had another coupon!  Why not!?  The kids thought it was cool.  We did too.

Walking around on the River Walk.  I'm loving Tillie's new hat I found for her in Boston.  Which reminds me, gotta post about that trip.  One day, one day...

 

 

don't ask me what I'm doing with my half pose and Tillie and Cal look THRILLED to be here... oh well.  One day we'll get it right.

does it freak anyone else out that there are no GUARD RAILS down here?  I mean, I about have a heart attack every time we go when it's crowded.  Why there aren't more people that are accidentally pushed in the river, I don't know. 

 

 

 

 

All in all it was a Grrrrreat week.  Good times in San Antone.  We like this place.  Crazy we've lived here for 4.5 years.  Wow.
Welp, as our neighbors say, "Adios, muchachos!"
The end.  or is it El Fin?

playing catch up... once again.

So, my friend Ashley suggested that this idea was a little lame, but I'm lame. 
You know that by now.
Enjoy the fruit of my labors this evening...
I decided to put these in chronological order, so when I print the ENCYCLOPEDIA of our LIVES, it will be in order.

Here's an August one.  Including hits like my birthday, painting furniture, and Emily coming to town.

The beginning of October and the special German festival known as OKTOBERFEST.  Check it out here.

And, then Mr. Cal-Darling-Face at 9 months in October.  See him in all his glory here.


More to come.  Hopefully sooner than later. 

winning and failing.

You might be familiar with the popular blog Failblog.org ?   Anyway, if you haven't been there, they typically have pretty funny news articles, videos, and images of events that have failed.  Go take a quick look and you'll see what I'm talking about. 

And, if you don't want to navigate over there, feel free to watch this little video we found on the site the other day...



(if the video isn't working, go to this page instead. fyi for some of you who didn't know this tidbit: if you right click on your mouse, you can see a mini menu that will allow you to "Open Link In New Tab"---that way you don't have to navigate away from here.)  The video is SO funny.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about my blog lately.  When I told the story about Cal throwing up and Tillie not making it to the potty in the same few minutes, I wasn't telling that story so you could feel really bad for me.  On the contrary, I write things down to record them.  I realize that EVERY ONE has these sort of things happen to them on a daily basis.  Every stage of life is different, but I'm convinced that one stage is not better or worse than the others.  They are just different.

Once upon a time, I was single.  My life was filled with crazy homework assignments, making good grades, church callings, trying to get into programs, working on portfolios, balancing a social life, and trying to get that cute red-headed-boy to notice me... (that last one? I totally accomplished.  The part about the grades?  Let's just say my last class at BYU (statistics) I earned a D, but I passed.  Way to go, Melissa.)  Anyway, it was crazy.  Just remembering it all makes me TIRED.  I wish I would have written more about about that phase in my life.  My memory is hazy about the details now.  My BFF and roomie (Sarah) and I had a quote on our wall that said, "Seen it all. Done it all.  Don't remember most of it." (do you remember, Sar?)  It's true.  I forget things easily.  Hence the reason I am starting to write it down.

I don't know when we took this picture, but look how happy I was.  Was it right after high school? on a break in college?  help rach and sarah.  see, my memory fails me.

When I was working full time with no kids, I remember coming home from work SO STINKIN' TIRED.  The thought of cooking something overwhelmed me (wait, that is still the case).  When I came home, all I wanted to do was put on my pj's and veg out.  I used to think, "One day when I can have the luxury of staying home all day, I'll be able to accomplish this and this and this..."  It wasn't the same life that I'd had a few years earlier, but there were still the failures and successes.

Pictures we took for our first Christmas card. we had just moved to Texas.

So, moral of the story, I'm realizing that each stage of life is filled with FAILURES and SUCCESSES.  And, as I have analyzed what this blog of mine is and isn't---I'm realizing I like to write about both the wins and failures.  Thanks for cheering me on, but please, don't feel so bad for me.  I'm fairly certain I've got a pretty good set up going on.

Anyway, like I was saying, the wins and failures... As I thought about this concept a few days ago, I found some good examples to illustrate them in my life today:

::: Wrapping neighbor gifts with Matilda... she was happy to help hold tape squares and I was happy she wasn't crunching my wrapping paper.  Sharing a mother bonding experience = Win.

::: While I was wrapping and having fun with Tillie, Calvin came up to my chair, pulled himself up, and proceeded to bite the side of my stomach (aka my lovely love handle) and yes, my shirt was covering the area.  Totally broke the skin.  I was bleeding.  Imagine me wigging out.  Small child biting mom's sensitive love handle = Fail.

::: My favorite thing ever is walking into the kitchen only to have a billion crumbs stick to my bare feet.  Not awesome.  Scrubbing my kitchen floor every day is never enough.  Two little messy eaters = Fail.

::: Wondering if I should ask for slippers for Christmas to avoid above problem =  Fail.

::: Having Tillie screaming and hollering for me in the middle of the night---why?  Because she had dropped her water bottle.  Fail.

::: Tillie climbing into bed with me at 6:30 a.m. so I could hold her.  Kind of fail, b/c she woke me up. But mostly WIN b/c she was so sweet (especially after she did a little burp and whispered, "Oh, excuse me, mom. I burped." and then put her head back on my chest.).  Holding a calm and happy child (not to mention, POLITE). Win.

::: Blasting Christmas music while creating home-made granola for the first time WHILE the kids were HAPPILY playing WITH EACH OTHER in the front room.  It was one of those moments where I thought to myself, "This is what it's all about.  This is what I was made for.  I love my life.  Nothing could be better than this."  Win.

::: Literally, minutes later I smelled something burning.  Oh, yes.  All of my granola.  The recipe I had made required things like FLAX SEED, WHEAT GERM, SESAME SEEDS, RANDOM NUTS---who even has this stuff on hand?  Not me.  I made a special trip to the store for those blasted ingredients.  I didn't even know what Flax Seed was.  Heck, I STILL don't know what Flax Seed is, but luckily I have a huge box of it.  Fail.

::: I was so angry that I had made such a huge mess with no return.  So, I chucked the burnt mess into the trash and resolved to try again.  A can-do attitude.  Win.

::: As I was pulling out the perfect second batch from the oven, I burned my arm off.  Well, not OFF, but I have a 1.5 inch burn on my bicep area from the cookie sheet.  When Aaron saw it, he was like, "How did that even happen?"  Who knows.  What a joke.  Trying to be domestic and getting third degree burns.  Fail.

::: Eating said granola?  Gross.  It doesn't even taste good.  Fail.

::: Cleaning up every last dish in the kitchen.  It was spotless.  Floor mopped.  Even the high chairs had been detailed.  Smelled lemon fresh.  Good work, Melissa.  Win.

::: Then, doing a Michael-Jackson-Quick-Turn to survey the rest of the house---It was like a bomb had exploded.  Clean laundry had been flung off the couch by a certain baby.  A box of Crispix had been poured out on the ottoman so that, "Cal could have a little snack."  Thanks, Tillie.  Toys were everywhere.  Who cares about the clean kitchen anymore?  The rest of the house is a disaster.  Fail.

You see, these are just some RANDOM events that have happened the last two days.  So, if any of these events sound familiar to you... good.  I'm not alone.  And, if you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about?  More power to you.

Different "trials and tribulations" for every one in every stage.
You win some, you lose some.

So, this is my blog.
You get what you paid for.
This is life we know it.

winners!

I'm not going to be lame like the local news and make you hear all sorts of things you don't really care about---just to keep you around.  Here's the LEGIT winner:

That would be NICOLE!  She kindly said,



Is she nice or what?!  I'm pretty sure I know which NICOLE this is, but in case I'm wrong, Nicole, send me your info. at melimba [at] gmail.com

Thanks for playing, friends.  It made my heart swell with each and every comment.  You really are too nice.  

In other news, last night Aaron was unavailable for dinner (per his usual. long long work days). So, I invited George to come instead.  I'll tell you this much, George isn't much for conversation, but he cooks a mean hamburger.  That's why I've had him around so often.  Especially when Aaron is away.

hAAAA!

Now, before you think I'm totally scandalous (I'm all about shock factor), I probably should go into more detail about WHO George is and what my relationship is with him.  He's been all over the news and is a 2 time world heavyweight boxing champion.  Ring any bells?  Yes, it's THAT George.  I call my grill "George" for short, b/c when you are in a hurry, it's too monotonous to say, "Let's get the George Foreman Grill out..."

When it comes to food, we're usually rushed.  I'm not a big prep gal.  When we're ready to eat, we're REALLY ready to eat.  That's why it would be good if I changed my ways and started PLANNING dinners... but alas, isn't that why we have FREEZERS?  Pop it out of the freezer, defrost WHILE you are cooking it, dinner in 15 minutes.  We're high class over here.  Say it.  I know you were thinking it.

ANYWAY, I have been inviting George to cook our meals for the last few weeks.  He's fast.  I can put frozen hamburger patties with a little seasoning and BAM! 10 minutes=gourmet meal.   And, I have the grill with the REMOVABLE grilling trays.  Priceless.  (well, not really, I think you can snag one for $29.99, but mine was given to me as a gift, so it was literally price-less to/for/? me)

So, there you have it.  Two winners.  Nicole and George (or some people in my 'hood say JORGE).  Either works.

I have more to post at a later point.  Wait, I ALWAYS have more to post.  But will do it later, skater.
Thanks for the kind words about Winslow and thanks for playing.  It made me feel good.

Have a TERRIFIC TUESDAY.