Thanksgiving Labor

Thanksgiving is over. It wasw at my house, and we had a lot of out of town relatives come in to celebrate. It was a lot of work, getting the house ready, planning the meal, dealing with my family (my parents and my kids.) Yikes, it was a LOT of work! There was a lot of chaos. Not just today. Buddy knocked over his dog food and ate about 10 lbs of kibble Tue night. So he was up most of the night, trying not to throw up on my newly cleaned carpets. Then Wed night I had to kick all the family out b/c my girls and Jeremy were all sick with colds and just needed some peace and quiet. That helped a lot. We got everything going well this morning and it seemed like all was good. Except, the turkey wasn't done at the thigh meat level. A whole lot of other little things that felt like big things went wrong too. Amazingly, everything came out tasting good and the kids were well behaved. It sort of reminded me of giving birth though. It wasn't as bad as I thought it could have been, but I am not running out to do it again. Same with Thanksgiving. Although I think I might ask about an epidural for the next time I host a holiday.

Blues

So I got the offer from my interview, which included one whole week of vacation. And only ONE week. I had to turn it down since there is now way I can make that work with 2 kids. I am very bummed because I don't know if I could have negotiated better to get the time. I really would like to go back to work. The more time I spend with the girls, the more I want to go. I love them, but I find that I interact with them more when I haven't been around them ALL day. At least we learned about our childcare needs with this process, and are preparing for me to return to work in January. Now I just need to find another job.

Christmas is coming

Last week the toy catalog for Toys'r'Us arrived. Cassidy finally saw it this morning sitting on the breakfast table. She started flipping through and asking what different things were. She was impressed by the Barbie doll house (you know the one, with the working elevator and hot tub). I thought about it, and grabbed a crayon. I explained how when you see something that you would like for Christmas you circle it with your crayon. I have to say, Cassidy is not greedy. She really wants a stroller for dolls. So she focused on finding that. I still clearly remember sitting in my grandparents house, waiting my turn with the catalog to circle all the toys that I might like. Sure feels funny being on the other side.

Knock knock and more

It's one of those times in life when so many things are happening at once I don't know which way to turn. I was inspired during my weekend away and sent off a few resumes when I got home. Well, actually, yesterday morning. Not that it mattered much as I got a call back last night! Woohoo! I played phone tag all day today, but have an interview scheduled for this Friday. Eeek! It would be a big step and I need to make sure it's going to work. Then last night, Cassidy got the idea of 'knock knock' jokes. Sort of. After watching an episode of Little Bear, she tried this one out, "Knock knock. Who's there? Cow. Cow who? No, Cow's moo and Owl's who!" I said that Grandpa Oma would like these jokes, and she wanted to call him right away and give them a try. 3 year olds have an odd sense of humor though, so anything can be there. "Who's there? Jacket. Jacket who? Jacket's don't who." Or when you try to tell her a joke. "Knock knock. Who's there? Boo. Who Boo?" Well, that sort of defeats the joke.

Women's Wellness Weekend

This weekend I took off for 3 days without the hubbie and without the girls. *happy sigh* We took a ferry ride out to Orcas Island and signed up for classes like Yoga, kickboxing, beadworking and belly dancing. All meals were provided, the dishes were done by someone else, and only my teeth to remember to brush. It was heavenly to go back to a mindset of only worrying about my wants and needs. I had a massage, got my nails done, and an ice cream sundae for dessert. But this morning, as the time to departure was coming closer, I had a new feeling. It was a little odd, since I've never had it before. I missed my girls. I've missed Jeremy many times before, but I've never been apart from my girls for so long. I was so happy when I got home and saw a huge sign that Jeremy helped them make "Welcome Home Mommy", and a naked Cassidy still dripping from the tub because she couldn't wait to see me.

Halloween

We had quite a busy Halloween. The morning was peaceful, but then things picked up. Keira and I picked up Cassidy then headed home for lunch. After that it was time to take baths and get costumes on. Cassidy was Strawberry Shortcake (we even washed her hair with Strawberry shampoo in case anyone checked) and Keira was Strawberry's li'l sis Apple Dumpling. Well, it turns out only the hard core Strawberry fans know that, but they were still darn cute. We headed in to Jeremy's work for a quick round of trick-or-treating. Which was quite fun for Cassidy, but frustrating for Keira. She got the idea of taking candy, but didn't want to stop at 1. So every time we made her move on she would throw a fit until we got to the next bowl. We had some punch and then headed home. We only visited a few houses as it was raining. Keira did much better about going to doors, and Cassidy did great saying, "Trick-or-Treat". They managed a few Thank-you's too.