Thanksgiving

Yesterday, the boys had a wonderful Thanksgiving. They had spent the night at their Lola's house, so they woke up there yesterday morning. I arrived around 7:30 a.m. for breakfast. Why so early? The Run to Feed the Hungry starts and ends by our house. If I'm not out of the neighborhood by 7:30, I'm stuck until 11:30. In the end I was glad that I was there to spend the morning with my kids, my mom, and aunt & uncle. My brother showed up with his wife and daughter about 9, so I stayed longer than I had planned just so the kids could keep playing. They were having such a great time.

We drove down to Moraga that afternoon to spend the rest of the day with Russ's brother Scott, his wife Kristin, and her family. Her nephew, Ian, was there this year. Brandon and Ian ended up palling around all night. Those boys were having the best time. My boys get really wound up in the evenings, and that night was no exception. I found it funny, but since no one else is used to all that energy, I'm guessing no one else did. I take that back...Ian found it funny.

Just before dinner, Owen had another major nose bleed. I was freaking out again, because he was losing so much blood. I was so thankful for Kristin's sister-in-law, Pam, though. She brought me a cold compress wrapped in a towel to put behind Owen's neck. That calmed him right down. That's about when my stomach started churning. I had to leave him with Diane and run upstairs. All the blood had made me nauseous. I felt horrible just leaving Owen on the floor with my mother-in-law, but I knew if I didn't, I'd get sick all over him. When I came back downstairs, Owen was so mad at me for leaving that he didn't want me to touch him. Nothing worse than your child in pain not wanting you anywhere near him. He finally came around when I asked him if he was hungry. That snapped him out of it. He was ready for some turkey dinner. The rest of his evening was spent as if nothing had happened. He ran around having the time of his life causing trouble with the rest of the boys.

Russell's surprise

Today was Russ's 40th birthday. He'd been saying for months that he didn't want to do anything for his birthday. He'd actually been making his case for no party for quite some time. After all that, he told me yesterday that we should have asked our friends to meet us for drinks after dinner. He was looking pretty bummed that all we'd planned was dinner at Ruth Chris. Little did he know that I had already planned a surprise. . .

So, there we are eating dinner and talking about all sorts of things. One of the topics of conversation was about me not knowing him well enough to plan something even though he's been saying for months that he doesn't want me to do anything. After 14 years together, I should have known better. I got the drift that I should have invited our friends for drinks. I pretty much made my convincing case as to why I didn't plan anything, and in the end agreed that it would have been a good idea to do the drinks. But I had to remind him that Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and that all of our friends wouldn't have been able to make it if we did something anyway. He agreed and we moved on to another topic.

After eating so much we could barely move, I make the mistake of saying that I'd like to go to the bar for a little drink before we headed home. Russ suggested buying a bottle on the way home and renting a movie while we were at it. I insist that I just want the one drink, and that gets his radar up. Looking back I should have just walked into the bar without a word. We walk in to to see three of his closest friends having drinks and appetizers. It was perfect. Tomorrow is a day to celebrate family and all that we are thankful for, and here we were spending the hours before with friends we consider family. I am thankful that we have friends that love us enough to leave their families for the evening so show Russ they care. Russ had a wonderful evening just as I had hoped.

Good times at the doctor

Today was Dylan's 3 year check up. It's always an adventure when I have to take the 3 boys to the doctor's office by myself. They were a whirlwind of activity for the 45 minutes we were there. Owen was the biggest menace. He must have opened and closed the exam room door 50 times. He mostly opened the door just so he could slam it shut again. After I figured out that I had to stand with my foot against the door, he moved on to trying to pull the vertical blinds down. Then I pulled out books for him to read. Those were all over the floor before I knew it. He somehow figured out that he could climb onto the exam table if he stood on the doctor's stool. The child was on fire. Brandon sat quietly reading. (His moment comes later.) Dylan turned out to be very cooperative with the nurses and doctor. Unfortunately, he had some pent up energy too, so he's climbing everywhere while we are alone, and dances down the hallway in just a pull up to get weighed and measured. The exam goes well. He gets to draw with crayons on a pull out table top at this appointment. That was a bonus. While I'm putting D's shirt back on him, I don't notice that Brandon is coloring...on the pull out table top. He thinks he's drawing on paper because the table top is white. So there I am scrubbing the crayon off, trying to corral Owen, and dreading the shot that is coming for Dylan. Needless to say, the shot did not go well. There were books and dixie cups everywhere and I can't find everything I came with. Turns out I left my umbrella in the lobby...did I mention it was raining outside?

FYI: Photo Update

I finally got some of my photos uploaded and made into slide shows. They start with Dylan's birthday, so if you want to see them all, you have to go back to October 26 and make your way forward. Life has been so busy, I've been just horrible about staying on top of most things. The blog has probably been neglected the most. I'll try to be better, but the holidays are here....

Last day of soccer

Today was the "big" soccer tournament with all 5 River Park teams. They all played four 20 minute games. Brandon ended his first soccer season with a bang! He scored that goal he talked about all season...wrong goal, but a goal, no the less! He was so happy until the coach reminded him that we wanted to score in the other goal. We told him that it didn't matter which goal he kicked it in. It was still a goal and we were proud of him that he scored it. He was beaming at those words. In the last game of the tournament, Brandon dribbled the ball up the field. None of us could believe it. It was amazing!

After the game we went to pizza for team party. Brandon was on top of the world about receiving a trophy. He also spent the entire party at the table with all of his teammates. This surprised us because he spent most of the season not really interacting with any of them. It was great to see him so happy and really feeling like part of the team.

Another horrible mommy moment

Today one of my worst moments as a mother came. After I left Brandon at school, I decided that Owen and I would pop over to Mervyns to pick up some pants for Brandon. That boy is growing like crazy! Anyway, once we get there I'm letting Owen walk around with me, since I'm starting to carry clothes around the store. The first thing he does is bolt around the corner and hides behind some hanging coats. "Ha ha, funny funny, Mommy!" is the look I get from him. After I told him that was a no-no, he was really good about staying in my line of sight...like running down the walkway to the other end of the store. He only stopped when he found a rack full of chocolates and treats! The unfortunate thing was that I saw an aisle of kids bedding while chasing my renegade baby. I thought new character sheets and comforters would be nice Christmas presents for Brandon & Dylan. While I'm trying to find the right characters and sizes, Owen is pulling package after package of sheets out onto the floor. While I'm putting them back, he seizes one of the comforters I pulled out for the boys and takes off running. He turns the corner and runs up the next aisle with the comforter in tow. Just as I turn the corner to see him, down he goes, face first onto the hard floor. When I picked him up there was blood everywhere. This was no "I bumped my nose and it started to bleed" accident. We are talking gushing, not stopping accident. I swore he broke his nose. I had the biggest wad of kleenex in my purse, and it was soaked in no time. The fact that Owen was screaming crying and in hysterics didn't help with the blood flow either. He was just making it worse. I'm silently freaking out, trying to think of what I should do...I'm frantically making phone calls. Why??? Talking to someone on the phone is not going to help! I then grab the first person to walk by and ask them to get someone to help me. Funny thing was, all Owen needed was an unfamiliar face to distract him. He calmed down as the store clerk and this gentleman talked to me. Owen layed on the floor just long enough for the blood to stop. I honestly didn't think it would! So there we are, finally walking out of the store covered in blood. It was an experience I won't soon forget.

Tahoe getaway

Russ & I went to Tahoe this last weekend...just the two of us. It was a much needed getaway. We're both stressed out and needed some time just to focus on each other. We decided to stay at one of the casinos. We were lucky enough to have a room facing the lake on the top floor of the Mont Bleu. Sadly, the view was about the nicest part of our stay. We were able to enjoy a few dinners and some gaming before we were reminded by our neighbors why we rent houses instead of staying in hotels. I had to call security at 3 a.m. after listening to their party for an hour. It was security's second trip to the room next door, so all but the registered guest were kicked out. Ahhh, sleep.

We did make it out of the casino to walk around some nature trails. We were lucky enough to catch the end of the salmon spawning season. It didn't take long for me to wish the kids were with us. They would have loved all the different paths. They would have felt like they were in a Dora cartoon, I'm sure! They would have been even more excited seeing all the beautiful red fish. While we were out walking on the trails, we had heard a couple of people talking about black bear that came down eat around 5 p.m. every evening. Luckily we were there at 2 in the afternoon, otherwise I probably would have panicked. Yes, I'm a wuss. I'm not in any rush to see a bear in the wild. I don't care how far away it is!

Our last night there if finally started to rain. By morning it was snowing...barely. I spent the morning watching the snow drift by our window as I read a book. It was nice, peaceful morning. The perfect morning before heading back to reality.

Preschool's Halloween parade

(Check back later. I have to get photos from my mom. She and Diane took Dylan and Owen to preschool's trick-or-treat parade while Russ & I were at Silverbend with Brandon.)

Photos: Pumpkin Patches