Turkey Day 2008

We had a nice Thanksgiving celebration with Will's family here in Irvine. We were excited that Sam was able to leave the base to join us. All of the food turned out delicious, even the marshmallow topped yam casserole that ignited into flames under the oven broiler in the middle of the prayer! It was quite the memorable moment. How cute are these little guys dressed in their Thanksgiving best? As much as we'd love some more females in this family, every time I see this little pack running around I think about how much fun they're going to have growing up together. I loved spending my childhood surrounded by cousins.
Discussing Black Friday shopping strategies with Heidi & Tori
And, in case anyone was dying to know the verdict . . . the orange rolls won out.
To top it all off, I drank my first glass of egg nog tonight as well. The holidays are officially here.

Classic.

The conversation going on in our car while picking up some friends today:

Ethan: Hi. This car is called a Highlander.
Friend: Uh, okay.
Ethan: I have a silver tooth. Want to see?
Friend: ummmm . . . . so, did you know I have a bug bite. It itches.
Ethan: Spiders eat insects.
Friend: I think spiders suck insects' blood.
Other friend: Ew! Blood!
Ethan: Vampires suck blood too!
Friend: Scary. Vampires are scary.
Ethan (getting excited now): No! Vampires are great! They're from Halloween! Halloween is spooky, not scary!
Friend: So, do "it" (pointing at Luke) talk?
Ethan: Yeah, he talks. He's just a little bit shy.
Friend: (still pointing at Luke): Hi little boy, how are you little boy, do you talk little boy?
Luke (in growly yelling voice): BE QUIET! (pulls his blanket over his head in a huff)
Friend: He DOES talk!
Ethan: Yeah, I told you he does.

Bullet Point Blog

I'm taking my cue from Katie and going with the bullet point post. It's what you have to do when there's not enough material for a real blog post, just bits and pieces of everyday life.

• I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping, but you can't hate me because this NEVER happens to me. I'm crediting it all to the ideas of my practically-professional-shopping consultant (my SIL Tori) and one extremely productive South Coast trip with my Mom.
• After a very long dry spell, I'm back into a book. I'm reading Three Cups of Tea and it's great. Gotta gear up for the year-end book review post.

• Ethan's given himself a new middle initial. He puts a Q between his first and last name now, because he "likes to draw the tail." How many "Q" names are there anyway? Quinten, Quincy, Quinn . . . . and my friend's husband who's middle name is Quayle . . . that's about it I think.
  
• Will's brother Sam graduated from Air Force Basic Training in San Antonio on Friday. Much respect to Sam, as the video I saw about the training looked grueling: think screaming drill sergeants and a mandatory tear gas chamber "experience." Ouch. Sam's next round of training will be in Vandenburg (up past Santa Barbara).

• In the vein of "I can't believe I'm publicly admitting this," I've been rocking to the Twilight soundtrack for three days now and I love it.

• My Thanksgiving assignments are rolls, green beans & apple pie. The debate continues in our house: Orange or Crescent Dinner rolls? Sweet or Savory? Is it worth making both?
  
• Today Luke was in a Thanksgiving play with his playgroup friends. I use the word "play" in the loosest sense of the word--why do kids always get shy the minute their parents pull out the camera?--but it made for a great photo-op.
• What I am most grateful for this Thanksgiving is two little boys who have learned to entertain each other. Everyone told me it would happen, but it's just so hard to envision until it really happens. And it does happen regularly now, at least long enough for me to write this, fold the laundry and eat my lunch in peace. Why doesn't everyone have kids 13 months apart? (Ha!).
  

One Little, Two Little . . .

Indians!

Sing Choirs of Angels

Lest my sister think I've broken ALL of the Rose family holiday rules, I haven't yet listened to any Christmas music.

Well, except for this:

BUT, I have an excellent excuse. The Chipmunk Song is one of three songs Ethan needs to practice for the upcoming Irvine Stake Christmas Choir Festival.

The first time I saw this production, Ethan was sitting on my lap as a three month old. I was blown away at how cute the children's numbers were and how enthusiastically they were performed. Every year I sit and wonder, "how do they get these kid's to learn these lyrics and do those dance moves?" And now the year has arrived when Ethan is old enough to participate. I took him to the first practice last week and he loved it.

It's a funny thing watching what interests your child gravitates to. I am excited at the thought that Ethan might have an aptitude for music-- a talent that his parents don't possess and have therefore not exposed him to at all (the last time I touched an instrument was in the fourth grade, when I carved my name with a pencil into the wood of my parent's piano to "punish" them for making me practice). So, I was a little surprised to see Ethan drawing this on Friday:
My first thought is that he must have seen Grandpa Bill in action while composing a song, but Ethan told me he was just drawing "like the (hymn) books at church."

Maybe it's just a passing phase. Or, maybe I need to start saving for a piano . . .

Can you say Impulse Buy?

I am a list maker.
I am a menu planner.
I sort my coupons before walking into the store.
I think frozen junk food is gross and expensive.

But today, I went shopping on an empty stomach.
And, these were on sale.
If any of you remember my egg nog weakness,
I was pretty much compelled to put them in my cart.

And then I saw a lady from church in the checkout line and tried to bury the box with all the healthy produce (that was actually on my list to buy), hoping she wouldn't see the enormous "Fat Boy" lettering on the package. I probably wasn't quick enough.

My embarrassment aside, I sampled one tonight and:
it was worth it.

A Perfect Fall Day

Today was one of those rare days when the calendar was completely blank. And, I was craving a peaceful day, away from the news and the chaos of the last few weeks leading up to the election. The boys and I packed a lunch and headed to Irvine Regional Park. Besides a local cross-country meet, which the boys found pretty entertaining to watch, we basically had the place to ourselves. There was no whining, no fighting over toys, no annoying cartoons, no dishes to do . . . instead we just ate our peanut butter and jelly and had funny little conversations about things like, "is Halloween really over Mama?" and "why do bees make honey?" and "this grass is kind of soft and scratchy, just like my blankie." It was lovely.
**If you've never been to the tiny OC Zoo located within the park grounds, it's worth a trip once or twice (it's only $2). While it pales in comparison to the San Diego Zoo, we always see at least one neat thing there, maybe because it's so small that you get very close proximity to the few animals they have. Today it was a beaver swimming around and building his dam. Last time it was a mountain lion pacing right in front of Luke!

Get Out And VOTE!