Pre-Thanksgiving

Grant left for Thanksgiving the Friday before in order to help out and assess things since the hostess broke her leg and we knew we would just need to line up a few things before the kids arrived and made the house crazy.

In the meantime, that means I had the kiddos for the weekend at home without Daddy.
Friday night we dropped him off after a hurried haircut and dinner.  We got home and Andrew and Alexis played for a little while before Andrew started his tired roaming...he has a tendency to grab lovey and roam around the house stopping to lay down or fuss every couple of minutes.  He usually won't go to sleep if we try to put him down before reaching this stage.  So I plopped him in bed, and started Alexis' routine and then she got to stay up and watch Cinderella which we didn't start until her regular bedtime.

This was a great plan until Saturday morning when well-rested Andrew woke up 45 minutes earlier than normal.  Despite my efforts to keep him quiet, I believe his yelling to get him out of his wooden restraints after he threw all of his toys and blankets out had already started Alexis stirring.  So Saturday, we were up and at 'em early with a trip to Walmart and a promise for donuts if they were good.  So, I benefitted as well with a double chocolate donut from Dunkin.  Then it was on to the park while still in PJ's in order to take an edge of the sugar high.  So after some climbing, sliding and swinging, we headed back home so the kids could get dressed (now that they had wood chips and dirt on their PJ's) and for Andrew's nap.  The rest of the day was a typical play day at our house with a little refereeing, but the behavior was a little better with the promise to play with friends as long as someone took a nap.  Surprisingly, not only did we have decent naps that day but also quiet play time while I was cooking.  I rewarded this with recording Tinkerbelle and the Great Fairy Rescue and Tinkerbelle and the Pixie Hollow Games.  It really is rare to get both, quiet play and nap time, out of them, so Alexis earned a couple of marbles too.

We headed to visit some friends as we had a Sunday School class reunion with the Masons.  We stayed late visiting and chatting and seeing the kids be crazy with the Spider Man mask.  All in all it was a great night.  We stayed a little later than the kids were used to and Andrew couldn't keep his eyes open while I put him in his pajamas.  He couldn't even sit up when I was trying to adjust them.  I haven't seen him in ragdoll state in a long time.  I finally got Alexis settled down since she was still bouncing from seeing Emery, Marcella and Zoey and in bed and by that time I was tired.

This was as still as I could get them

Sunday, once again everyone was up early.  We were ready to leave for church 30 minutes earlier than we needed to yet still managed to leave so that we got there just in time.  Mema came over in the afternoon and we let the kids run around.  That night because Alexis had been good all weekend, she got to sleep in the big bed.  So we picked out the stuffed animals that got to come with.  I unfortunately did not get as good a night's sleep as she did, but that was due to our dog who gets really bent out of shape when something is going on out of the ordinary...or when she starts seeing suitcases come out of the closet.

Monday and Tuesday were typical trip prep days plus I bought the kids and I new shoes...it's a good thing I did.  Alexis got boots and she LOVES them because they are soft and fuzzy and easy to get on and off.  I took Andrew's to Panhandle just to show them because they have guitars all over them and since I left his other shoes on the floor at home when I put him in the car to travel, it was nice to have a pair even if they were a little big.  The trip with the kids will be in the next post.