Thanksgiving Part 2 - the "thanking" continues

What a busy and wonderful Thanksgiving we've had. Friday afternoon, we packed it back up (amazing how much stuff you take with little ones!) and hit the road to Tim's parents' house.

We arrived late Friday afternoon and were glad to be there. Friday night was very low key - just hanging out with them. Cole went to sleep fairly quickly and apparently Tim and Eli did too! Tim fell asleep with Eli so we just left him there and Cole & I hunkered down in the sunroom. Cole woke up about 2:15 and gave me a pretty hard time, staying awake until almost 4:30am. I'm not sure what has gotten into him right now. His sleeping is off - I hope it's just all the travel and he gets back to normal soon.

Saturday morning Eli woke up ready to go outside and play. We bundled him up (it was low 30's!), put his new boots on and sent him out with Grandpa. Now this was one of my favorite moments of the weekend. I did not take a hat for Eli (didn't realize it would be so cold) so Tim's mom found a hat for him. It's one that Tim used to wear and it's sooooo retro - I absolutely love it and Eli loved wearing it. We ended up bringing it home with us and he wore it again this morning on a walk. He played outside until he got too cold and then came inside to get warm and play. I was able to sneak away for a bit and go to Michael's by myself for a little Mommy therapy. When I got back, we managed to get both boys to take an early nap as the family was coming over to eat at 2pm.

And oh, how the family came - it was wonderful! Tim's aunts, his cousins and their kids all came over. Kids were running, playing and having fun. Tim's mom had a plan to give the parents a little break - she set up the kiddie table and had the Grandmas supervise the grandchildren while the parents ate lunch. It was such a sweet thing to do! After the first "seating" for lunch, the kids were sent outside and the second "seating" happened and the grandparents finally got to eat. Outside, the kids played a game I had never heard of - 'Smear the Queer'. Apparently you throw the football and everyone tries to tackle the person with the ball. It's basically a big pile up game. Well, Eli got upset when Grandpa was tackled and again when Daddy was tackled. It was so great to see Tim's extended family again and watch the kids play together. We really missed his brother and his family being there but coming from Florida would have been tough.

Once everyone left, it was time to take a breath. Tim's mom deserved it more than any of us. She did a great job getting everything together and cooking a yummy turkey and the best mini-biscuits you've ever eaten (I learned they were a Paula Deen recipe - you now it was VERY healthy!). We spent some more time hanging out and then it was bath time for Eli and time to pack it back up to head home. The first hour of the ride back was nice and quiet and then Cole realized he hadn't eaten in like five minutes and wanted bottle again. That boy is visibly bigger to me after the past few days!!!

We enjoyed visiting our families so much and are thankful that we were able to do that. It was nice to be home today and try to get ourselves ready for another week. Eli & I took a walk this morning with Amy - great to get outside and move. The boys, thankfully, took a 2 hour nap at the same time and it gave us a break. I did some more sewing while Tim watched a bit of tv and relaxed. This afternoon Ryan and his parents stopped by for a visit and it was such a wonderful treat. Dinner, a trip to the grocery store, baths and then bed time for the boys - we can call this weekend finished. Well, not quite - it's midnight and Cole will be up in a few hours to eat again. We started pushing the solids with him today because he's been hungry so much. Hopefully that will "take" soon and he'll start sleeping better.

Speaking of sleeping, it's time for me to go do just that. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed time with friends and family. I have so many things to be thankful for this year - most importantly my wonderful loving husband, two healthy sweet boys, loving and supportive family and friends. Thank you all for being part of our world!

gobble gobble til you wobble wobble

Playing with (or rather ON) Grandpa

Reading 'The Magic Spectacles' with Grandma (one of Tim's old books)

Check out that hat!!!

Reading by the fire

Happy boy

Eli with Brady's truck- he was so excited when the "monster truck" pulled up

Little kids table

The 2nd cousins - Eli, Morgan with Cole, Emma, Matthew, Jake and Hunter

1st cousins - Kelly, Jeff, Tim, Kim, Brady

Eli was not happy about something - he was so tired that this face was common

Lots of Love - Grandma and Grandpa with their grandsons

Monster trucks

As mentioned before, Eli LOVES monster trucks. This morning he was so proud of himself for lining them all up into one continuous slap wheelie.

Thanksgiving Part 1 - down at the farm

Today we went down to the farm to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Our original plan was to go down yesterday at nap time but Cole's ear infection changed all that. We decided it was best to get some of the antibiotic in him and get him feeling better and then make the trip. We left out about 6:30, headed to the farm, arriving by 10am. It was quite a foggy drive but luckily there wasn't much traffic and the boys traveled really well. Eli was so happy when we arrived and took off right away with Grandpa to check on all the animals. We made this trip without Belle since it was a day trip but she would have been right there with him running around had she come with us. Inside, Grandma & Grandpa had some new treasures (toys) for Eli to play with and Cole got some toys too. Spoiled boys!

We went to my Grandparents' (the boys great-grandparents) for lunch. It's always so great to see everyone and eat lots of yummy food. After lunch, Eli ran around outside, checking it all out with Grandpa and Daddy. We then went to my other Grandmother's to visit her for a bit. It was probably 2:30 or 3 pm by this time, Eli had not taken a nap and was WIDE open. After visiting for a while, we headed back to my parents' house to let Eli run around more before heading home.

The drive home was a little more difficult than the drive down. Cole entered into a spontaneous growth spurt on I85 (that's the only thing I can figure) and I swear he must have had three bottles in the 3-1/2 hour drive. I climbed into the back seat of Tim's truck (quite a squeeze for my bottom) and fed him. Once we got home, we got the boys to bed and put ourselves there pretty soon thereafter. Whew.....long day but wonderful to see my family. In a few hours, we're headed to the beach for Thanksgiving Part 2!

Cole loved playing with Grandma's froggies

Eli feeding the chickens with Grandma

Checking out the new turkeys in their pen

So much to explore

The traditional pre-lunch lemon lime punch - YUM!

Me & my boys - notice Eli is a blur, he's always in motion

Now who had too much turkey?

Eli and Grandpa

pal-ing around

Cole with his Great-Grandmother

After we left her house, Eli finally fell asleep in the truck. He probably took a 15 minute power nap and was then off again.

First Thanksgiving as a Family of Four

Eli in Niki's jeep - he got to sit inside my brother's girlfriend's Jeep and he was beside himself happy.

My brother Billy and said girlfriend, Niki

Hanging out with Grandma's Beanie Babies

Grandpa and his boys

Eli and Cole are loved so much - I'm very thankful for my parents, for all they have done for me and all they continue to do for me, Tim and the boys.

Rubber Ducky Time again

Cole has gotten too big for the baby tub so we broke out the rubber ducky that Santa brought Eli 2 years ago. Eli had fun blowing it up with Daddy with the air compressor and then playing with it before we gave Cole a bath.

Brothers

How funny is it that his shirt says "Dirt" and he's in the ducky tub

What is Daddy doing to me?

Clean boy

Cole's 1st ear infection - ugh

This morning I was busy running around, doing laundry and getting ready for our Thanksgiving travels when the phone rang and it was school. I always worry when they call about which kid is sick or what Eli did to get hurt. Today, it was Cole. They noticed some drainage out of his right ear so I took him to the doctor. Diagnosis: ear infection. He had been fussier than normal this past weekend and didn't want to lay down so this makes sense. I wish we would have realized sooner but he didn't exhibit any other symptoms. We got the antibiotic and have given him one dose. He's finally taking a nap (with Daddy) and will hopefully rest better tonight. We've modified our travel plans to leave very early in the morning instead of this afternoon but I think that will work out better. Daily I realize that I really don't have control over my life or schedule. I just have to roll with whatever happens.

BTW - he was almost 17 pounds today. He's got a long way to go if he's going to catch up to Eli's almost 20 pounds at 6 months!!

Does this look like a sick boy to you? Daddy playing "Mr. Cheeks"

Meet Sophie

Today Cole met Sophie the Giraffe. There's quite a funny story of Sophie's journey to Cole - bear with me. You see, today my jobsite had a pot luck lunch for Thanksgiving. Since I'm known as the baker, I was immediately signed up for dessert and I decided to try making carrot cake last night. I stopped by Harris Teeter and purchased the ingredients I didn't have and after Cole went to sleep, I started the lengthy carrot cake process. After about 2 hours, I had to deem my carrot cake a disaster and wave the white flag of defeat. The cake bubbled over my pans and created a huge mess in the oven. (Post-mordem: I think I figured out that my brilliant time saving idea of using pre-shredded carrots was not a good one. I think the water in them baked out and created a too wet cake that wouldn't / couldn't rise. This is only a theory and we'll see if I ever try baking one again.) Soooooo, I arrived at work today with no cake in hand and took off before lunch to Whole Foods to buy one. I had to park a little ways from the door to Whole Foods and that required me to walk by a VERY cool store - 'Twig'. That was where Sophie was waiting for me. I was so excited to see her as I had read lots of good things about Sophie and childrens love of her, especially teething children like Cole. Not only did I meet Sophie, I found several other cool gifts there. I had to get back to work so I didn't allow myself to spend too much time looking (my pocketbook couldn't have handled it!) but I did manage to make the $12 carrot cake cost $100 after all my purchases!!

Cole meeting Sophie

I think he knows what Sophie is for!!

Go Go Go

That pretty much sums up our weekend - go, go, go. The main objective (as it is every weekend) was to keep Eli busy. He is our super energetic boy and if he gets bored at home, he starts getting REALLY crazy and hard to handle. We did lots of fun stuff so I'll narrate through pictures.

Saturday morning, Eli & I went to my job site as it was going to be very exciting day. On Friday they had set up a 500 ton mobile crane (you don't see these every day, there are only a few in the US) to set two steel transfer girders that were just as tall as me! Eli loves putting on his vest and hard hat and being one of the guys on site.

On the bank of the excavation. The transfer girder in the background is literally 5' tall!

Eli at one of the outriggers for the crane.

Rob (my co-worker) talked to the crane operator and got Eli up on the crane next to the cab. Very cool, thanks Rob!

Eli & I at the crane. We look tiny next to it. The tires were taller than Eli!

Eli did not like when the workers were banging on the steel so he kept asking me to "hold his ears".

One of my favorite job site pictures - the mobile crane and tower crane looking up from the ground.

Eli, my mini-Superintendent, checking out the work

Inside the Superintendent's trailer, Eli found the Rubik's cube that I solved last week (with the help of the internet, I'm not THAT smart!).

Eli & Benny, my Superintendent

While we were at the job site, Tim and Cole hung out at home - a morning filled with play time (tummy time, play mat, exersaucer, bumbo, repeat), eating and napping. After the job site, Eli & I ran a few errands before getting home for lunch. The afternoon was quite enjoyable with both boys napping at the same time for about two hours. So nice! We had an early dinner and then took a family trip to BJ's to a) get it done and b) get out of the house. My facebook post before we left says it all "Eli is rabid - GOT TO GET HIM OUT OF THE HOUSE". The boy was literally running laps around the house!! Back home, it was bath and bed time.

Today started off kinda rough. I didn't realize but Tim was up for several hours with Cole in the night - apparently Cole was so fussy that Tim took him in the playroom for a while so as not to wake Eli. I felt horrible when I got up this morning and Tim told me that. We think Cole is teething because he is constantly shoving his hands / fingers into his mouth and loves to chew on anything you give him. After some yummy muffin making and eating, Eli & I went out early to buy groceries. He did pretty well and was so sweet and funny talking to everyone in the store. Then we walked over to the elementary school to meet Carol & Ryan for some outdoor play time - again, Tim & Cole hung out at home. The boys were so cute and did very well at the playground. I enjoyed hanging out with Carol and meeting some of her other friends and watching the boys have fun.

Future football player - one to watch!

I looked over and he was tee-ing it up to kick. I was quite impressed.

Down the slide - face first

Climbing the corkscrew to the platform

A snack with Ryan "at the top of the mountain"

Me with two very sweet boys

We made it home for a late lunch (like after 1pm!). Cole had been fussy for Tim and refusing to sleep so once we got Eli's lunch ready, my charge was to get Cole to take a nap. He made me work for it but he finally did go to sleep and slept for over 2 hours. Eli was tough to get down for nap as well but he gave us a decent one. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the quiet but some laundry, a shower and cutting out some patterns later, I had filled the time and I was back on Mommy duty.

Since I had the camera with me, there aren't too many pictures of Cole from the weekend. I tried to take some tonight of his new tricks. He has discovered his feet and loves to hold on to them and put his toes in his mouth. Such a cute little boy!!

Holding on to my feet - don't want them to go anywhere

Trying hard to roll over - using his feet for leverage

Hey cutie pie!!

Time to take a deep breath before a short work week and traveling for Thanksgiving. We're looking forward to seeing our family and spending time at the farm and at the beach. Watch out Grandparents - here we come!!

Have a great week everyone.