Thanksgiving Week 2022

 This week was Thanksgiving and while Thursday (Thanksgiving) was supposed to be the main event, so much happened this week that Thanksgiving was almost just a blip in the radar.

The kids were home all week and we had playdates and went on walks.  The kids have discovered a rope swing over a ravine on a path by our house and loved trying it out this week.

We also went to the church gym to scooter, roller skate and shoot some hoops.  Merrick discovered that if he wore my coat backwards it made hide-and-seek much more interesting.

Speaking of basketball, at practice this week, Merrick won the "chain gang" award for our tournament last weekend.  He was recognized for his scrappiness and his willingness to go the extra mile for the team.  He also brought that "A game" to the tournament today.  His team won both their games and won the tournament.  Unfortunately, neither Jeremy or I were there to see it.

While Jeremy missed the tournament because of church responsibilities, I missed it because I was home with a sickie.  Elsie started coughing on Thanksgiving and it has been a rough go since then.  I'm not sure what is causing it but I remember last year she was sick from Thanksgiving until after Christmas when I started her on allergy medicine.  I started her on the allergy medicine today so I hope that makes a difference for her.

While on the subject of being sick, my dad has been the real focus of the week.  Last week he started having trouble breathing, especially at night.  It got really bad over the weekend so we convinced him he needed to call the doctor on Monday.  On Monday, the doctor told him he need to go to the ER.  At the ER, they ran all the tests imaginable and everything looked good but he was still having 7-8 respirations a minute at rest when it should have been at least 12.  They decided to admit him to run some more tests.  Unfortunately, they didn't actually have a bed for him and he ended up spending about 36 hours in the ER before finally making it to a room.  Over the process of his stay, he also developed a terrible cough and a fever, but other tests continued to come back normal.  Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, he tested positive for the flu (even though he tested negative for it on Monday).  Once they had the flu diagnosis, they pushed hard to get him home.  Late Wednesday night he came home, but Thanksgiving was kinda out and they were planning to host.

Last minute, Thanksgiving moved to my house and I ended up cooking a turkey that I hadn't planned on.  It all came together just fine, although we were definitely missing my parents.  We had such a good time that I forgot to take any pictures other than of my cakesicles that I had made for the occasions.  I think they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Tomorrow, much to my children's disappointment, it's back to real life.  I am just grateful my dad is on the mend and hopefully Elsie will be right behind him. 

Jeremy Turns 40

The big new of the week was that Jeremy had a birthday.  A big one!  It was a Wednesday but we did our best to celebrate in a big way.  After preschool and a little bit of work on Jeremy's part, we snuck away for a lunch date.  We went to lunch at Killer Burger and then went to a place called Sim Golf.  It was a really cool idea.  With a simulator, you can play golf around the world or several other games, like soccer, baseball, frisbee golf, and zombie dodgeball.  Unfortunately, it was a little glitchy and didn't quite live up to its promise.  In any case, it was still something fun and different to do.

That evening we had a family dinner, presents and dessert.  I made Jeremy's favorite, Swedish Apple Pie, and my sister had Crumbl Cookies delivered as a birthday gift.  On the gift front, Carrigan crafted Jeremy all kinds of amazing things.  The rest of us gifted him a new wallet and one REALLY big surprise.  Jeremy has always wanted to go skydiving and we gifted him a skydiving experience that he will do next month.  I have invited all of his brothers to join so we will see who jumps in the end.  Even Jeremy is feeling a little nervous now that the opportunity is actually here so we'll see if he decides to actually go through with it.

We continued to celebrate Jeremy this weekend with a date night courtesy of my parents.  We went to dinner and to a place in Portland called Ground Kontrol.  It is an old school arcade.  We had a great time playing and, thanks to an apparent glitch, got about a $20 bonus on our card.  We decided, since we were playing with house money, to play Time Crisis until we beat the game.  It was a fun night!

While celebrating Jeremy was definitely the highlight of the week, I do have a couple other things to mention.  This weekend was Merrick's first basketball tournament of the season, after just once official team practice.  While we had some disappointment in the end, coming in second, our performance was good enough to qualify for the state tournament in Bend in March.  It should be a fun season ahead.

Also this weekend, I took Carrigan to the skating rink with some of her friends.  All that skating around the house she has done has really paid off.  She looked great and had a blast out there.

Gearing Up

This week has felt a little like the calm before the storm.  The next several weeks are going to be unbelievably busy with Jeremy's birthday, thanksgiving, baseball and basketball in full swing, and trying to get ready to go to Arizona, and then Christmas.  This week I have been been trying to get ahead of a few things before I get steamrolled by life.  On Wednesday, Elsie had a playdate from the time preschool got out until until late in the afternoon.  Because she was happily occupied, I was able to get a lot done.  I had to prepare a lesson for church today and get working on some Christmas presents that I am making.  Maybe I need to plan some more playdates for her because it was tremendously helpful.

On Friday, after pizza and half of our family movie night, the boys took off and went to the high school football game (our nephew, Kalani, has been moved up from the freshman team to the varsity team for playoffs).   While they were gone, Elsie finished the movie and Carrigan and I got crafty.  She has been asking me to let her try needle felting ever since I got into it.  I finally gave in and she made her first needle felting project, a heart with a flower in it.  I made a butterfly, per Elsie's request and an owl.  I have decided to start turning my felting projects into ornaments.

Also, yesterday was Merrick's last football game of the season.  We had to drive 45 mins to play a team that we should not have been playing.  Their star player had been out the entire season which it why they made our playoff bracket, but he was back yesterday.  On the other hand, our star player was injured yesterday.  Not only that, but with the kids we were down due to absence and injury, by the end of the game we were down to 14 players.  Needless to say, we got crushed.  Oh well, life goes on.  Baseball and basketball practices start this week and our first basketball tournament is this next weekend.  Off we go!

 

Halloween Plus...

 This week was Halloween plus a whole lot more.  As I mentioned last week, we are headed into the busy time of the year and I definitely felt that this week.

Let's start off with Halloween.  The weather has definitely shifted around here.  It feels like in the blink of an eye we went from Summer to Winter with little to no Fall in between.  That said, we faced a cold and wet Halloween this year.  It was not the wettest Halloween we have had since moving here, but I would probably say the second wettest.  This was also the first year that Merrick opted not to go trick-or-treating.  Instead he went to dinner with some friends.  The girls, Jeremy, and I bundled up, grabbed our rain ponchos and headed out for a short trick or treating adventure.

As the week progressed, we stayed very busy with work, school, sports, end of the season soccer parties, girls' nights and choir concerts.

This weekend thing kept rolling full steam ahead.  Saturday, Carrigan had her last soccer game and Merrick has his first football playoff game.  Merrick's team won their game.  C.C.'s team did not.  I also had Super Saturday craft day at the church.  In addition to making a craft, I also taught a class on making cakesicles.

Today we went out to Molalla for the baby blessing of my cousin, Brooke 's, son, James.  My aunt and uncle and two cousins are in town for that.  We are heading back out to my cousin's house in Canby this evening to see everyone and celebrate with dessert. 

Like I said, busy week!