Tardy Thanksgiving happenings

Well, my Thanksgiving update is pretty late. But in my defense I was attempting to post a video to make you all VERY jealous of my Thanksgiving festivities. But blogger is not cooperating with me. So I'll have to post a still picture instead. BOO! The video was of our friend Guelel playing and singing for us on Thanksgiving. The prefect end to a fabulous family get together. Oh well....



So, the Thanksgiving festivities have come to a close for another year. The family and I had a fantastic time. It was everything that I could have hoped for. The girls got to spend time with their cousins and the house was filled with the sound of children's laughter (loud, piercing, high pitched, shrieking little girl laughter). For three days and nights house rules were forgotten, meals were trucker sized, bedtimes fell by the wayside and the love and laughter were plentiful. We all return to our normal lives full. Full not just on the vast menu of tasty goodness that was consumed, but full and replenished in the strength of our family bond. I wish that we could spend time together like this more often. It reminds me of why we returned to the mainland - why it was so hard to live across an ocean from our family. The holidays there were small, and though they were no less filled with love, they were different. Now, I will have to admit that a Thanksgiving dip in the Caribbean Sea could not be replaced by even the cheesiest of macaronies, but I would trade that for the soft brown cheek of my newborn baby cousin any day!


Alright, all mushiness aside. Here are the top five reasons that MY Thanksgiving was sweeter than YOUR Thanksgiving! 5.) This year's Thanksgiving spread consisted of dressing (made from my homemade buttermilk cornbread), green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, greens, smoked turkey, roast duck, basil and lime marinated salmon, sweet potatoes, homemade pecan and apple pies, lemon bundt cake, caramel cake, almond cake, peanut butter cookies, ginger snaps, lemonade and sweet tea!





4.) The population of our humble little abode swelled from a meager seven to a mind boggling 25+



3.) The awesome place mats that the girls made for the kids table AND the newly refinished red drop leaf table (belonging to my great great uncle) which served as the kids table.




2.) My girls and my niece. Nothing more to say there. They're awesome.


And the number 1 reason my Thanksgiving was sweeter than your Thanksgiving - our Senegalese friend Guelel gracing us with post dinner entertainment. A very awesone video should be posted here, but as you can see....it's not.

Happy Thanksgiving

Enjoy your Thanksgiving all! We will be.

Today's Bijou-ism

We'd been having a very rough evening with Bijou. She has a terrible temperament when she is either hungry or sleepy or both. So she'd been crying all evening about everything. First, she cried because she didn't want to take a bath. Then she cried because I would not give her new pajamas because she hadn't had a bath. The she cried because she couldn't get a fork out of the dishwasher. Then because she couldn't get it back in the dishwasher. Then because she knocked her cup of lemonade over. TWICE! I'm sure you get the picture. Then, the highlight of my evening. She was standing at the sink, in her too big pajama pants from last night, crying because she couldn't keep them up and did the best thing any kid could ever do. She started trying to tuck her pajama pants between her butt cheeks and saying, "I have to put these in here, mommy. I have to put these in here so that they will stay up!" No, sweetie, we do not tuck our pants in our butts to keep them up!

Thanksgiving festivities in the works

Finally, everyone in the house is well and the Thanksgiving festivities are underway this week. Yesterday, we took a day trip to Tupelo to do a massive shopping trip in preparation for holiday guests. This is the first big Thanksgiving dinner that I will host. I feel a little nostalgic, thinking of the big holiday dinners that my grandmother hosted when I was kid. The house was filled with the noise of children and smells of fall. It's strange to think that now I am creating those same memories for my children and nieces and nephews. It will be their noise filling the air now. I'm excited.
Along with nostalgia comes the dread of how much work I need to get done this week. I have to at least try to contain the toy tornado that rips through our house daily, wreaking havoc on what could be a wonderful, clutter free house. The cedar chest is mere steps from being complete. A good buffing and new hardware are all we have left to do. We have components for a autumn inspired centerpiece, as well as, a place mat project that I promised the girls that they could create for the kids table. We will do this awesome project that a came across at domestifluff to create our place mats http://www.domestifluff.com/2009/02/how-to-make-a-stenciled-retro-utensils-print/

I'm not really sure what the centerpiece will develop into, but we have really cool candle holders that we found at the local Goodwill, some candles, gourds (also found at the Goodwill) and a few other odds and ends. So we shall see what happens.

Needless to say, there will be no traditional school for us this week. We will discuss family and do some writing and poetry about autumn and things that we are thankful for. We will discuss Native Americans and their culture and do some projects around that. Other than that, there will be lots of house cleaning and cooking. Family starts arriving on Wednesday. Let the festivities begin!

Today's Bijou-ism

Bijou has learned to read her name. Well, if there is a list of names and hers is on it, she can pick it out. For months now, she has said that any word that started with a "b" was her name. But now she knows the difference between her name and other "b" words. Recently, Zion's feet have gotten big enough to wear some of the shoes that I made for Bijou when she was about 9 months old. I put Bijou's name on the bottom of each pair. Today she picked up one of the shoes that Zion had been wearing earlier in the day and said:

"This was my shoe, mommy. See, it says Bijou. It doesn't say Granny or Jena or Ashni or Zion or Daddy or Mommy. It says Bijou!"

Now it's time for everyone's favorite game

Where Will I Find Bijou Sleeping Tonight?!

She is a big fan of getting out of bed and onto the floor to go back to sleep. We've found her under Jena's bed, in the doorway of her bedroom, naked in the hallway, on the dining room floor and our bedroom floor. It has become a fun little game at night to see where she will end up.

If the shoe fits

Well, all of the little ones are feeling much better. There is still quite a bit of snot flowing around here, but the fevers and infections all seem to have passed. I think we will take Bijou for allergy testing. I'm pretty sure what we thought were bites on her stomach, legs and feet in the ER were actually hives! All of the swelling is gone from her face and the cough has pretty much subsided, but yesterday she was complaining about her stomach and feet itching. I looked under her shirt and her stomach was covered in HUGE red hives. Hives the size of the palm of her hand. So were her feet and her back. They looked terrible, but other than the itching she seemed fine. Today, they are gone, so I think we will make an appointment on Monday to have her tested.

I am thrilled that all of the little people are feeling better and I can put the baby down without her screaming. As much as I enjoy loving up my babies, I want to be able to go to the bathroom without them screaming. One positive did come from being pinned under a feverish baby for 36 hours. I learned how to crochet baby shoes! Everyone who knows me, knows that this whole crochet thing is new to me. I learned how to crochet hats from a youtube video and making things up as I went along. I learned how to make the shoes the same way. I found a SUPER cute pair of crocheted baby shoes on Etsy and they were selling the pattern for $4 or $5. Unfortunately, on top of being incredibly cheap, I also can't read crochet patterns. Well, i can read them, but I have no clue what they mean. So I found a video on youtube showing how to crochet the sole of a baby shoe. After I worked out the sole, I used what I've been able to figure out about crochet stitches and what they do to wing the rest of the shoe. They turned out very, very cute. The sole is a soft, brown alpaca wool (thanks Ingrid!) and the upper is a deep red cotton. I'm not very good with sizing things yet and they were a bit roomy for Zion's little feet, so I added a drawstring around the top (sort of like the elastic that ballet shoes have to keep them on your feet) and they fit perfectly! A little strap and button and she has a sweet pair of soft, warm Mary Janes perfect for autumn.

My goal is to work on all of these little baby accessories that I do over the winter (while we are trapped under the cold, rainy, Mississippi winter) and by next summer be able to start a small business. Keep your fingers crossed that I get a sewing machine for my birthday. Hand sewing is incredibly time consuming!

More sick - More sad

Our house is FULL of sick children. Zion is STILL fighting her double ear infection and RSV. She has been such a sweet congested little pea this entire week, but last night she could not sleep more than 30 minutes at a time. So, around 3:30am, I got up with her and walked her around the house. Eventually, I just tied on my Moby and wore her for the rest of the night. Once the sun came up and I knew the office was open, we made a quick run to the pediatrician who informed us that the last antibiotic was not working and prescribed us a new antibiotic (which unfortunately meant that I had to take my 5th trip to Walmart this week). I also picked up some Hyland's ear drops, which worked like a charm. She has been sleeping soundly all day to make up for not sleeping at all last night. I'm very happy that she is getting some sleep, but all of this sleeping means very little nursing, which had made for a slightly engorged mommy.

Just to add a little excitement to my life, Bijou has also been "barking" all day long. I have never heard anyone cough this much. Fortunately she doesn't have a fever, but her throat and head hurt (from all of the coughing). She's been in pretty high spirits all day, but the coughing is affecting how much she talks (not such a bad thing). She was taking Benadryl for the Danny Glover thing yesterday and the bottle says for coughing and congestion too, but I think she's coughing MORE taking the Benadryl. She had a slight cough yesterday, but nothing like this.

SO due to all of the germs floating around the house, I decided to whip up a batch of my tried and true honey-garlic-lemon cough medicine for the kids. It smells horrific, but it works like a charm. A couple of big spoonfuls washed down with a glass of orange juice usually does the trick. Now I don't know if it actually kills the germs or if it's just so nasty that the kids fake being well just to keep from having to take anymore. Either way, there tends to be less coughing going on in the house. We shall see what tomorrow brings.