We have decided to stay in our homes versus visiting family back in North Carolina for most holidays. It is just way easier to stay where we are instead of buying expensive tickets, traveling during super busy times, having quick visits with family members because they have another party to go to, and now that we have kids, we want to do our own traditions in our home. I know a lot of our family members aren't happy about this arrangement, but the plane flies both ways. You all can come stay with us for the holidays! ;)
We had a Thanksgiving Feast in Joey's Mommy and Me class. Daddy got to come eat lunch with us which was super nice. However, there were three classes crammed in one tiny room during a lot of kid's nap times. Can you say stressful and chaotic!?!? Michael told me that he didn't know how I do this with two kids twice a week. I told him I don't...this was not a normal day! The teacher even told me that she will never combine the classes again if we don't have a bigger venue. Ha!
After the party, Joey rode on this miniature carousel. He loved it and talked about this for days.
In preparation for Joey's feast, we made turkey hats and place mats in class.
Our little turkey!
For Thanksgiving day itself, we invited a few friends over to eat. Our friends, Shawn, Cari, and Ella, (the ones Joey and I went hiking with at Joshua Tree last year) are back in Arizona for the winter, so they drove out to spend the long weekend with us. Two different neighbors of ours also joined us. We had seven parents, two babies, and FIVE toddlers!! I think we were crazy!
We had dinner at 430 so all of the kids had a chance to nap. Some did, some didn't. We also placed the food on the counter and did buffet style so the kids wouldn't mess with the food on the table. We also set the table for all of the family members to sit down together. That was stupid. This is what our table looked like. Notice any kids?
Yeah, they're not there because they were in here and outside. Way too busy to eat. I don't think any of those toddlers even ate anything at this dinner! We said next time we do something like this, we're going to set the table for adults only. We'll just let the kids run and play while the adults eat and actually get some adult conversation going on! This dinner was so anti-climatic. Cooking and preparing for days, and we didn't really sit together and the table just didn't look like Thanksgiving. Ahhh, how kids change things.
The next day, we took our friends to the San Diego Zoo. They had never been to this zoo so it was nice to see it through their eyes. We actually got to see some new stuff ourselves since we never visit the whole park and we always go the same route.
The beginning of the day was great! The kids ran, laughed, played, and just had fun.
It was so nice getting to hang out with our buds. It's so cool getting to hang out with friends from the past. We were discussing that we've known each other way longer long distance than we did in the same location! Ha! The story of our lives.
The kids did pretty great most of the day. But once we hit one o'clock...
it was over! Tantrums, tears, breakdowns, the works. This stroller for these two toddlers was probably a bad idea. It was great only having to deal with one stroller, but these two were constantly messing with each other and when one got something, the other saw it and lost it. Fun times. I hope this isn't what I have to look forward to.
The next day, we took our friends to the beach. It was actually a little chilly that day, but the kids didn't mind. They threw rocks into the ocean.
Ate sand. A lot of sand.
Enjoyed the sun and fresh ocean air...well, as fresh as southern California air can be. Ha!
Loved on each other!
And played in the super cold water! Don't worry Grandmas...we only let them play in the water for about 15-20 minutes before we took them home to warm up. We actually stripped Joey down to his birthday suit and let him ride home like that since he had sand in every unmentionable place! Both kiddos got lunch time baths!
The zoo was fun, but very exhausting. This beach day was a nice, relaxing way to balance that out. Once we got the kids home, they all three took naps, and Cari and I went and saw the last Twilight movie! It was so nice to go to a movie with a friend. I miss those days. We then convinced our friends to spend the night at our house so we could have a fire and actually get to visit once the kids went to bed. It was such a great visit and I'm so glad we got to see them.
This was a great Thanksgiving and we are so very blessed. I am truly and honestly grateful for two healthy children. You hear people say that and think that it's not such a big deal, everyone has healthy kids. But this year has been a sad year for some people I know and really makes me realize how very lucky I am to have healthy children.
I am so very grateful to have a husband safely home from deployment. In the five deployments Michael has been on, he has never missed a Thanksgiving or Christmas. He's also come home *almost* unscathed those five times. Two guys in his company weren't so fortunate this time. They never made it home. Unfortunately, it's things like that that really make you appreciate your blessings so much more. So this Thanksgiving, I give thanks, a hundred times, for my children and husband.
