Eli finally got to perform in the Indian corn festival at school. He was so excited. When the kids got into a circle in the beginning, he had this serious, no-nonsense face on. He was so focused. It was really cute. He did a great job and we were so proud of him.
Then we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family the weekend before the real Thanksgiving. My parents couldn't make it back for the real day because of work so we did it early. We had a wonderful time eating lots of yummy food and spending time with family.
We had lots of good things to be thankful for---
*a healthy baby girl (Aunt A)
*eyeglasses (Ah-Ma)
*more family members (Ah-Gong)
*family and miralax (B...a little too much information)
*babysitters (me...because without ours, I would have to strap my baby into a car seat for endless hours driving my older kids from activity to activity)
*yellow cars (Evie...because we always play a game in the car where we have to spy specific cars and she's always in charge of finding the yellow ones, like buses and taxis)
*my family and my pet turtle (Elina)
*my whole family (Eli)
*my dog's health (V...his dog had a recent health scare and was hospitalized)
*a wedding planner (J)
And funny things to be unthankful for--
*long drives to school and work (Aunt A)
*car problems, especially with tires (Ah-Ma...because my parents had tires blow out during a recent road trip with J)
*nothing (Ah-Gong...wow! Must've been a stellar year!)
*cheap contractors (B...personal experiences with our house)
*speed traps and busy school days (me...I recently got ticketed...not proud)
*Jeeps or Hummers (Evie...because these are the vehicles I am in charge of finding in the car game)
*mosquitoes (Elina...actually, we all agreed on this one)
*princesses (Eli...because he's just not that into them)
*people on eBay (V...recent personal experiences with awful buyers)
*8am traffic (J)
Elina did another great job making our place cards again. Love that she drew all our faces so accurately.
We also celebrated Eli's birthday a little early with my parents. This was a great excuse for me to do a practice run on Eli's ninja birthday cake (he wanted a ninja birthday party this year). The cake was delicious and came out really cute! Eli absolutely loved it!
For the real holiday, we spent Wednesday through Friday up at J's house in Austin. It was just us, J and V. Very different than past years but actually quite nice. We had tons left over from our early Thanksgiving so the only things I made were a pumpkin pie and a broccoli salad. And instead of turkey, we decided to do ham. We even had a nice fruit turkey, courtesy of J. It was another yummy meal!
We had a fun-filled day. First the kids put on the annual Thanksgiving play. Elina did a great job directing this year. She made a cute sign, collected tickets, provided snacks, and helped the other kids figure out costumes. They all really got into it! (The kids also found J's label maker and went a little crazy with it.)
After the play...and a group nap...we did everything plugged in...which sounds silly, but we NEVER ever get lots of time to play video games and stuff like that because we are so busy! So I had a whole list of things I wanted to do--Mario Kart, Just Dance, karaoke, guesstures/charades (not plugged in, just fun), a movie night with popcorn, Rock Band. It was a big list, but we actually got to do everything! The real winners were karaoke and Rock Band. Seriously, I love me some Rock Band now. I really like playing the guitar/bass parts. I'm not great, but it's so fun. Although I'm so focused on what color to play, I'm not really "feeling" the music or anything. I'm just a robot...but it's so much fun! I don't know why I like it so much! The kids really like playing drums and singing. It's gotten to the point where Evie will request to sing "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. What???? Eli loves to sing...and he even puts on some dance moves while he sings.
And don't let me get started with the karaoke. This is the first time the kids have ever done it, and boy, did they turn into different children! V had a bunch of Disney songs and the kids loved it. Elina is usually hesitant about singing, but she was belting it out and then adding her own flavor to everything...little comments and announcements. It was hilarious! She had this one announcement about buying some supplies at Costco. Again, I ask--what???? Eli did not want to share his microphone at all. He was just jamming out to all the songs...dancing and singing. Evie was trying to sing along to everything, too. Her favorite is definitely the training song from "Mulan." We literally had to pry the microphones from the kids' hands. I'm telling you...a microphone changes people...take J for example, below.
But, really, here are the kids doing their thing...and once they even let us share the microphones to all sing "Just Can't Wait to Be King" together!
Then B, J, V, and I belted out some BSB (Backstreet Boys, for those who aren't cool enough to know), NSync, and 98 Degrees. It was definitely a trip down memory lane. I love me some boy bands...the old boy bands though...not really the newer ones these days. There was even a point where we were singing and the kids were dancing to our tunes. What a family affair!
B and I even got to enjoy a little movie date while we were in Austin (thanks to J and V). We went to see "Gravity" and had a great time. The kids didn't even notice that we were gone until they were getting ready for bedtime.
It was another wonderful, relaxing trip to Austin. Seriously, we just go there to unwind. We don't do anything besides hang out at J's house, which has all the fun things you would need...movies, board games, video games, karaoke, Rock Band, good food. Austin has a lot to offer and we've done some of it, but honestly, it's so nice to just relax and chill out...while singing some tunes and playing some instruments. Love it!
So thankful this year for many things...new family members, good kids, a patient hubby, loving family and friends, health, a warm home to live in...and definitely thankful for any downtime we can get as a family.
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