The first two weeks, um, what happened? Gosh - they must have been good, 'cause I can't remember much! Or maybe I have just blocked them out, because I do have faint memories of beginning our bathroom remodel. It was obviously Aaron who did most of the work, but the trauma carried over to me! Remodeling is stressful and expensive. And Messy! Oh, and it still isn't done - my dear hubby cracked about two days before Thanksgiving and decided he was done with the bathroom for awhile. That was the nice, edited G-rated version of what was said! I sure can't blame him, though. Personally, I would have snapped and taken a sledgehammer to the toilet way before that! Anyway, it really is almost done and it looks, oh, I don't know - about 1 million times better than it did. Although darkish blue paint with drip marks all over, and a peach toilet and tub does make a unique statement, we thought we would take it the other direction. I hope to have updated pics soon. Rebath will be here on 12/10 to install the new tub. Yippee!
On November 18th, my sweet baby Gabe, turned 6! That really amazes me. It doesn't seem like it has been that long since we brought him home. But he is so big now and so smart and a terrific big brother. The day of his birthday he had a special waffle breakfast, then we went to Grandma's and Grandpa's (his great-grandparents) for rice curry and birthday cake. Gabe got his very first camera as a gift from them; very fitting since they ran their own photography studio for years. Later that night we had more family over for Gabe's requested dinner of Chinese food! Isn't he discriminating in his tastes? We made all kinds of good stuff: egg rolls and beef with broccoli, but his favorite was fried rice that his aunt made. And yes, our lives revolve around food. Why? ;o)
The following Wednesday, my wonderful sister Janie and her hubby Trent drove down from Idaho to spend Thanksgiving with us! She was a great help and made very yummy treats, like smoked salmon mousse and chocolate pumpkin cheesecake. To die for! We hosted the big dinner at our place and in turn, I got out of most of the cooking. We had about 14 adults and various kids at our house. Some family from both sides and some extra friends. It was very cozy, but once we all sat down it worked perfectly and everyone had a lovely time. We capped off the day with dessert at Grandma's with the rest of Aaron's family. All in all, a pretty perfect holiday.
The last big event of the week was Saturday when we had Gabe's birthday party with his friends. It was an army guy party! Sweet, eh? We got a camouflage cake, camouflage goody bags, but the best part was a real-life camouflage soldier! Gabe's awesome uncle, my brother Peter, came to the party dressed in his desert camo and talked to the boys about what it was like to be a soldier and some different things he did when he was in Afghanistan. Then he painted the boys' faces with camo paint and they were so excited. They even had a secret mission (scavenger hunt) in the backyard. It was a very fun, crazy day! I was so thankful to have my family around to help and to take part. That's the one thing I missed in VA.
This week has been one of recovery! We did have a really fun time Sunday putting Christmas decorations and the tree. And Tuesday afternoon and night it snowed! The boys were beyond excited! Aaron took them out front and they had a snowball fight, built a snowman and then a snow fort. And I got to sit inside and watch! It was perfect and made me count my blessings and thank God for my amazing life. My attitude was different the next morning when I actually had to go out and drive in it, but we don't need to talk about that...
There you are! All caught up on my month (maybe more than you needed or wanted to be)! I think the lack of blogging makes sense now, but I vow to do better in December. Famous last words, I know.
