Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm getting ready to make some sweet potato casserole and the bread is rising, and R is making a green bean casserole. We're all heading over to my brother's place. Today is my nephew's birthday and on Saturday is my niece's so we'll celebrate them today too. It's also our first Thanksgiving with J here. We struggle at times with the adjustment but there is a lot to be thankful for. So here's a little thankful list; I'm thankful that J is finally here, thankful for family and friends, thankful for our local public school and those who have been so helpful with J, I'm thankful for jobs, thankful for pets, and I'm still thankful for dark chocolate (have I ever mentioned that?).

"Dey talk?"

On the way to school this morning I told J that they were calling for snow flurries on Thursday evening. He didn't respond which I thought was strange because he has talked about seeing snow since I was in Haiti picking him up. It was quiet for a minute or two when he finally asked quietly and incredulously, "Dey talk?" I asked what he meant and he said, "De fluwwies, dey talk?" I laughed a little and said no, what do you mean? He explained, "You said dey was calling for snow fluwies. Do dey talk?" I busted out laughing and had to try to explain weather forecasters and who "they" are and when he finally figured out that there might be snow flurries on Thursday evening, he got really excited. Now I'm afraid we're in for some trouble if it doesn't snow. I was telling my SIL about this and she said he was probably thinking what an amazing country America is where even the snow flurries can talk.

My throat is getting better. Thank you to those who prayed. I still have a lot of nasal congestion but am feeling human again. J is still coughing but not as bad. I guess we're mending.

We are having a time trying to put 2 households into 1 as R collects more and more things for her own home. Our house is not real big by American standards. T moved everything in to the music room/office and now I can't use the treadmill. Not that I'm really sad about that or anything, but this is a time of year when you really could use it. Dexter is enjoying the little perch that was inadvertently made for him.



Here is a pic of J in his basketball uniform. I'd say he's pretty proud of it, wouldn't you?
And here's a pic of him and his team in action. Oh, T used a thumb tack to make a button so we can take pics again with the camera. It won't review them on the screen but at least we can take them.
While us ladies were at bridal shower number 2 Sunday evening, T and J were hosting a "bachelor party" in honor of R's fiance (his initials are very similar to J's so let's call him "JT"). Here are some of the guys whose wives/mothers were helping out at the shower. They were toasting JT with their root beer.

1st Bball game

J's team won their first game! What a feisty bunch of kids. It was a lot of fun to watch the game. J got to play and I have some pics of it but I managed to drop the camera under the bleachers and pretty much killed it. A sweet little girl climbed underneath and got the camera for me but it won't stay closed and the button to take the pics with is missing. Sigh...I'll work on getting some pics posted. My dad took quite a few.

If y'all think of it could you say a prayer for my throat? It is so incredibly sore. We're wondering if it has something to do with having had the abscess removed last week and getting a viral infection/flu on top of that. Whatever it is, it hurts. Thanks.

Flu, shmoo

I guess T didn't get the snotitis, he just thought he did. Or, he had a really mild case like A did. J is still coughing his head off but seems to feel fine. I am not feeling fine. I by-passed the cold stuff and went straight to flu, complete with horribly sore throat, fever, chills, aches, congestion. Yuck. Praying that no one else in the family gets it.

More snotitis

T and I have succumbed. My throat is more sore than anything else at this point. And I'm still on antibiotics from my little throat procedure last week. Sigh...J is mostly coughing. A seems much better. R has not come down with it yet. More power to her.

T's bee sting

T has been painting the ceiling in the "overflow dining room" at our church in preparation for R's wedding. He was painting Sunday afternoon when a bee stung him. This is what it did to him.

Pretty nasty, huh?

J went to school today with no problems. At least, I haven't heard anything yet. A is doing plays today and the rest of us are hoping we don't get the snotitis.

Weird question. The dishwasher keeps depositing nasty white stains on our dishes. It's gross. I've tried 2 different dishwasher cleaners, vinegar in the rinse thingy, using less soap and making sure the water is hot before I start the dishwasher. Nothing works. Any ideas?

J-isms

I was playing wii with J this evening. We were bowling and every time one of us got a spare he would say, "Nice swear." It took several tries to correct him saying, "No honey, they are saying, 'Nice spare'". I was watching him play wii baseball and he kept saying, "Let's give it some hustle," and "This is so not happening." I don't know where he heard that last one but I thought it was hysterical.

The girls just informed me that those things came from High School Musical so now they're not quite as funny as they were before. That kid loves High School Musical.

A also told me that he was looking at her jeans that have a big hole in them (they came that way) and he asked her, "Did you rape your jeans?" She was like, uh, I have a rip in my jeans. Talk about lost in translation.

Another one that he always pronounces different is he doesn't say toilet like we do. He always pronounces it "twa-let". I love that one. And of course, he still calls all meat chicken.

Learning

J stayed home today. I figured it would happen so I was prepared for it. I knew he would feel bad when he first woke up and he whined a little bit while I was getting his clothes out and stuff and then he started with the louder whining about his throat. I told him to come down and get a drink of water and see if that helped. I explained to him that when people have colds they ususally feel worse when they first get up and that once you're up and moving you feel better. I gave him the choice of staying home in bed or going to school. If he had a fever or was obviously really sick I wouldn't have given him a choice, I'd have just kept him home. He chose to stay home in bed.

So today he learned some things. He learned that if you are so sick that you have to stay home from school, you are going to spend most of the day in bed. He looked at books and did some coloring and played quietly with some toys. He also learned that I don't just sit around the house on my days off that I actually do quite a bit of work. And the best thing he learned was to entertain himself somewhat when he's really bored. Entertaining himself is a huge thing as he has not been able to do that so far.

He is now watching a movie and I've given him instructions not to run around or get too excited, etc. He has decided to go to school tomorrow. I hope he is well enough to go.

A went to school today and has plays to do tomorrow. She sounds congested too but neither one of them seem to feel bad. And no fevers, so that's good. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

Sick

Both A and J came home with colds today. They are both sneezing, sniffling and snotting like crazy. Sigh...the week before last it was A and R with stomach bugs. A seems to be the common denominator. She needs to take it easy but is much too busy with life to do that. Oh well. I sprayed lysol on all the door knobs, light switches, phones, computer keyboards, faucets, etc. They don't seem to feel real bad, and so far no fever. We are thankful for that.

Hunting and showering

Well, J had another first yesterday. He went hunting with Bampa. I have no idea why his eyes are like that but it's kind of funny. He did well but they didn't see any deer. Surprised?
He also went to bed for the first time without me in the house. Because I was at R's bridal shower. T has put J to bed plenty of times but I've always been in the house. They both did fine. And the shower was really nice. Look at these cute little cookies my SIL found.

And this is the cake.

Here is the bride to be.

She got a lot of nice gifts and only one repeat.
Her fiance called while we were at church today (he is at boot camp). The whole church got to say hi and then he got to listen to us sing. R was singing with us this Sunday. It was pretty cool.