Thanksgiving

My Tennessee family made the trip down Thanksgiving week to help me cook and spend turkey day with us. My sister brought her fiance (they're engaged!!), Drew, and about five of Jason's classmates from OCS came over so we had about 12 people to feed. I love having a big crowd to cook for! This awful picture was my sister's doing. Thanks, Kelly.

Anticipating 15+ people, I picked up a 23 pound turkey. It was practically as big as the boys!

All the kids' fall/Thanksgiving art work.

There was lots to eat and plenty leftover. Everything went really well and it was nice to spend the day with family. It's the first Thanksgiving in four years that we've all gotten to spend together.

There's lots to be thankful for in this house! 2 and a half beautiful children, Jason being home with us, our fabulous extended family, lots of good food, where we live, our many friends, the last week of OCS, and all our many blessings!The next morning, Kelly, Drew, and I ventured out for Black Friday shopping. Several purchases and hours later, we had a 9 o'clock breakfast at Steak and Shake, complete with holiday white chocolate milkshakes!! (per tradition)The folks left late Friday morning, once we'd finished our shopping trip. After a long nap (for me, of course!), we put away all the fall decor and broke out the Christmas boxes!Here are our elves at work!And our thrilled rein-dog.I don't know if you've heard of pinterest--or if you're addicted like I am, but that's where I found the inspiration to make our monogram wreath! It took all of an hour or two one night after the kids were in bed and I'm so proud to see it on our front door :)

We also adopted an Elf on the Shelf and named him "Fred". He's already hidden on the mantle, the jelly cupboard, the microwave stand, and the door hinge in the hallway. Sneaky elf!

I love the holidays and decorating the house puts me in the mood to stir some hot chocolate on the stove, put on some festive music, and snuggle up to "It's a Wonderful Life" with my loves.

Jenna's shower + T-giving potluck + Jason's weekend off

What a busy weekend we've had! Jason had pass again, but this time he was able to come home during the day. So I've put him to work cleaning up the yard and doing all the high-reaching/heavy lifting that I haven't be able to do.
My neighbor, Jenna had her baby shower--where Jason finally got to meet them [briefly]. She's due about a month ahead of me with a girl, too. It was great seeing her and getting to meet some of her friends, family, and coworkers. All the loot!

Jason also got to meet some of our friends from our meetup group at our Thanksgiving potluck. We were an hour late, so there was only a handful of families left, but we still had a great time. We made it just in time for the bobbing for apples and of course Jason had to stick his head in there.

He got one, by the way!
Riley had to try it, himself and eventually just started pulling out the apples with his hands. He was soaking wet by the time we left.

Jason and I got to have a mini-date with DQ blizzards and catching up on "Dexter" on demand. I had planned on having a big pork tenderloin dinner tonight, but he ended up having to report in early. I think that left too much for me because I gave baby "Cookie" the hiccups.

25 weeks

Technically I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow, but whatever.

Quick update (because I'd really like to squeeze in a half-hour nap while the kids are down):

Feeling good, only symptoms (besides growing!) are crazy heartburn, spurred by pineapple juice, peanut butter, pesto, potatoes, anything with oil, and citrus.

Have been craving lemons (particularly chicken piccata which I made last night with chicken fresh from the butcher and italian imported butter---best piccata EVERRRRR), reubens, and yogurt/kefir. Oh and those cuties/clementine oranges (but that may just be Christmas approaching--love oranges at Christmastime).

Lost a pound from my last appointment (granted I was bloated up on Halloween candy) but I'm sure I'll gain it back and then some before my next appointment the week after Thanksgiving (awesome.).

The first of December is fast-approaching, which means the name will be revealed very soon!!

She's kicking around in there like a pinball machine.

I'm nesting. But it may just be that I'm excited about decorating/cleaning for the holidays.

Her closet is growing ridiculously fast. Between my own shopping addiction (which really only lasted from the ultrasound to a week or two after, but did some damage!), gifts from friends and family, and then my mom and Granny this past weekend, I came home and hung everything up, only to realize I need some new hangers! She may not have a nursery, but girl's got her own closet!! Priorites :)

Emmy and Jacob's wedding

On Friday, Veteran's Day 11/11/11, my friends Emmy and Jacob got married in Clarksville, Tn. After the pre-wedding chaos (typical, but chaotic nonetheless) the evening ceremony was beautiful. Friends drove in from all over the country and the event became a kind of high school band reunion.
Emmy had asked me to show up early to help with hair + makeup, so from about 2 in the afternoon until the ceremony at 5 we gabbed and stressed and sang and inhaled hairspray. It was fabulous!
She looked gorgeous :) The bridesmaids; Pam, Brit, Dee, and Teresa

Neil drove down from Wisconsin (where he's in grad school and noshing on the finest dairy these days) and spoke for the ceremony.

The curly head in the corner belonged to Brody, their 14-month old little boy who had lots to say during the ceremony, himself.

I didn't get too many pictures, thanks to my lame-ass camera and its inability to see in the dark. These were terrible quality, but sadly the best shots I got of the first dance and garter-removal.

Six months ago, at Amy's wedding we had a picture of the three of us (well, four, but I didn't know that then!). Amy and her husband flew in from Florida to visit her brand new nephew and to make it to the wedding. Now here we are again, and Emmy is the bride and I'm a little bigger than I was in my hot pink barbie dress.

Pam and Teresa. They put so much work into all the fun bridal stuff in the past few weeks [months]. Teresa's Maid-of-Honor speech was so lovely she had us all tearing up. I haven't seen either of them in so long, but it was like no time had passed.

Neil was right along side me in the bridal room, cracking us up, sewing the veil back onto the comb with fishing line about 5 minutes before the ceremony started.

Please excuse my goofy expression!

Emmy made a fabulous bride. I had to get one more good shot of the dress. I know once the madness settled and the show got on the road, all the hard work paid off and she and Jacob both had a great time. I'm so happy for them!

Family Sunday

Now that Jason's in his senior phase, he's getting weekends off and a couple on-post passes. The weather was gorgeous so we headed over to the playground.

The boys were in their element--all three of them. It was nice to be able to just sit on the bench and watch and take pictures while Daddy got to do the chasing around.

After an hour or so, when everyone was good and sweaty we headed over to Brusters for some ice cream.

James got his usual "nem enem".

Riley wore most of his.

By the time we rolled into the driveway, both kids were passed out in their carseats (all the action made the goodbye's a little easier this time around). After barely getting to talk to Jason this week (field time), it was so good to get to see him!

Today marked daylight savings, which normally I adore--an extra hour of sleep? Hell yes! But that really only applies to answering to an alarm in the mornings for a job/school/etc. Kids do not care when the alarm goes off. We did luck out and after a string of sleepless and semi-sleepless nights, they slept through the night and even an extra hour for DS (how did I manage that??). But as I got everyone fed and ready for bed this evening, the time change completely slipped my mind (I still have not changed my kitchen clocks and when I forget again, it will be all my fault). It was only 6:30. I'm not sure how it came up, maybe James said something to remind me? Anyway, I've been meaning to get the boys' hair cut for a while now (honestly they haven't had it done since Jason came home for the weekend. in July). I've considered taking them to my own stylist or even a budget salon in town. I toyed with the idea of cutting it myself, which is what I used to do--I've got the scissors and it saves $15/kid, but it made me nervous that I have no one to help/distract/hold them still. Still, with an extra hour or so on my hands and Beauty & the Beast on tv I felt ambitious and went for it. We set up "barber shop" in the kitchen with one of the barstools. With Disney and leftover Halloween candy as distractions, it went considerably well and now both boys can see again.

22 weeks

okay so this is almost a week late, but I just had a doctor's appointment this week.
How far along? I'll be 23 weeks tomorrow, but in the picture I was 22 weeks.
How big is baby? She's measuring a few days ahead still, but right about where she should be. According to thebump she's about the size of an eggplant--which is neat because I have one in my fridge to compare!
Total weight gain: I've gained about 10-12 lbs now. I warned the nurse doing my vitals that I did some damage with the Halloween candy the night before :)
Sleep: Sleep is fabulous! I'm still really tired by the afternoons, squeezing in a few naps when the boys take theirs. It's been so busy around here that it's taking a lot out of me. No problems with sleeping though, except when I keep trying to roll over onto my stomach and she starts kicking me like crazy because I'm squishing her.
Cravings: Not much. I've loved sour stuff, especially anything with lemons, this pregnancy because it's always curbed the nausea. We've been eating chicken piccata or garlic-lemon spaghetti every single week. Which has been great, because the boys love lemons, too (that gene came from their daddy!) so I don't have to fight with them at dinner time those nights!
Movement: She's moving like crazy these days. She's already up in my ribs (thanks short torso), so I don't know where she's going to go these next 3 1/2 months. The boys were like that too, there's just not much room for these long-legged kids to grow in there.
Symptoms: Everything's been pretty mellow, just coasting through the second trimester! I am growing out of my clothes, though. Having to put away the non-maternity stuff a little more each day.
Name? Still not telling..for now. But in about a month, everyone will know!
Best moment so far: saw a new doctor this week and I like him, too. Good experiences with both of my military doctors so far--hoping it stays that way. I think that since it's my third baby, things are just more mellow this time around. I took Riley to the appointment since it was just routine and short (James was at school). He was really good and just ate his snacks and colored in his coloring book. When the doctor listened to the baby's heartbeat on the doppler, Riley dropped everything he was doing and just listened. The doctor said, "you hear your little sister?" and Riley got the biggest grin on his face! It was precious. I still don't think he really knows what's going on, but that was the best moment with him throughout the pregnancy.
Looking forward to: I'm so excited about having a winter pregnancy this time! My maternity clothes are pretty much all summer stuff from the boys, so it's exciting to get to buy sweaters and pants and long-sleeves this time! And I can cover everything up!
I've been sticking it out with my pre-pregnancy jeans and the bella band (love that thing) so far and they've about had it, so I bought some new maternity jeans at Target today. It was so nice to find something that fits and is comfortable and doesn't make me look like a cow. I may have bought a sweater too...but we'll count it as an early birthday present.

trick or treat

We've been planning to trick or treat on post this year, since our neighborhood is so small and the area just outside of it isn't what I'd consider kid-friendly. Our on-post friends invited us to come along with them, so our big group met up at Erin's house.

There were a LOT of kids and the more the merrier. I'm pretty sure the boys still had some orange icing stuck to their costumes, but whatever. It was dark, right?

I stuck Riley in the stroller since I figured he'd wear out fast, walking, and I didn't want to have to tote around 30 lbs of toddler + candy the whole time. He didn't fight it either, whenever we came up to a house and all the older kids went running up to the door, he'd hop out, hold out his bucket and say, "treeeeat" and "thank you", then come plop right back down in the stroller.

We had another little monkey in the group :)

I'd been afraid Riley might be too scared of everything, since some decorations and stuff he's seen freaked him out a little. He was a trooper, though. Must've been the getting-candy part.

James was so cute and grown up! I loved seeing him as one of the "big kids", running up there, knowing exactly what to do. By the end of it we did have to make one pee stop in the woods (the great thing about having boys!) and he was complaining because he was tired/cold/his feet hurt.

In his defense, we were out there for about 1 hour and 45 minutes! Lots of walking for little legs.

James and his girlfriend again.

They got into the buckets of candy before we got home and had tootsie roll and lollipop faces and fingers. Riley's monkey costume was matted with stickiness so I had to strip them at the door and throw them both in the tub. The monkey suit is still sitting in my bathroom floor, sprawled out like a skinned animal. I've been rationing the candy all week, but between it and the cupcakes, cookies, and ice cream from all the festivities, I'm looking into a kid's rehab center to detox them. How unfair is it that loads of candy make the kids bounce off walls, but only makes the parents heavy and sluggish?