Thanksgiving
I got Thursday-Monday off for the Thanksgiving holiday so I headed to Lincoln after work on Wednesday and got to my parents' house around 6. Bill and Kelly had already arrived earlier in the afternoon with Gracie and Stanley. Bill was taking a nap, but Kelly and Gracie were up. I hadn't seen Gracie (she's my 15 month old niece) since June and she is now walking! When Bill and Kelly went out to take Stanley for a walk, my parents and I watched and played with Gracie. I brought out Milo while my mom was holding Gracie and Mom asked her if she wanted to pet the kitty and Gracie shook her head. About ten minutes later, I brought Milo out again and she walked up to him and knelt down and gave him a kiss which was really sweet, but then she raised her hand down and hit Milo and started chasing him and he ran under my bed. The next day Milo was sitting on my bed and Bill brought Gracie in to pet him, but as soon as she reached for him, Milo went into his "don't mess with me" pose with his ears flattened and hissing at her. Whenever she's around Stanley (their dog), she will grab his tail or nose and sometimes he'll just lie there and take it or he'll bark at her or paw her out of the way.
Bill and Kelly brought a CRAPLOAD of toys for Gracie to play with (stuffed animals, books, plastic playthings), but honestly, they didn't need to bring ANYTHING (except maybe a couple books) and she still would have been plenty entertained. For one thing, she had the three toys my mom had bought for her to play with, and I had brought out my My Little Ponies (I just couldn't part with them!) and she seemed to like those, especially the so-soft ponies, but most of all, she loves the kiddie games on Kelly's iPhone.
Mom recently got a Keurig because it was on sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's so cool! All you do is make sure it has water in it, then add your container of coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate, or whatever it is, and in just a few short minutes you have a hot beverage! I made a lot of hot chocolates and mochas over that weekend!
On Turkey Day we had a big feast of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, rutabaga, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, lefse, black olives, green olives, and sweet pickles. Before we did a toast and each said something we're thankful and would drink out of our wine glass. Gracie had her sippy cup and it was pretty cute when she would take a drink when we would. After dinner everybody either took a nap, watched football, or both. After that, we had pumpkin or pecan pie. (Pecan for me!) Bill, Kelly, Dad, and I took Gracie and Stanley for a walk around the block and we looked at the houses who had put up their Christmas lights already.
Friday morning, Dad and Bill headed out to the stadium to watch the Nebraska-Iowa game. Gloria West, my parents' old friend, came with her son, Jeremy and his wife and their five year old daughter, Vianne. (Excuse me, five and a half!) Jeremey and his wife hitched a ride to the game with my dad and brother and Gloria and Vianne went to the children's museum with Mom, Kelly, Gracie, and me. We took Bill and Kelly's car (an SUV) since it has Gracie's car seat and Gloria put in Vianne's car seat. Kelly sat between the two girls, Mom drove, Gloria was the passenger, and that meant I had to sit in the back where there are no seats. The ceiling was really low so whenever Mom went over a bump, I would bump my head on the ceiling. The museum was really cute and lots of fun. There were plenty of kids there, but it wasn't too crowded. They had a pretend Hy-Vee (grocery store) where you could "shop" for (plastic) food then ring it up yourself and scan the food. There was also a Sam and Louie's (pizza shop) that was next door to a vet clinic with stuffed animal dogs and cats. There was a little girl sitting at the pizza place and she had a big stuffed black poodle sitting next to her and was feeding it (very cute) and she told Kelly it was her dog and Kelly asked if she brought it from home and she said no. It was then that I looked next door and saw the vet clinic. It was so hilarious because Gracie was hugging the back of the dog and the little girl says, "No, he doesn't it like it when you do that." Kelly and I were cracking up! We spent most of our time downstairs where there was a big stage where kids could put on hats and costumes and perform. They also had a puppet show booth and Gracie seemed to enjoy that.
The funniest part of the day occurred when we left and were going to McDonald's to grab some lunch. Since there were five orders and an order of fries off the dollar menu for Gracie, the order got really confused, so when Mom got the food, Gloria looked in the bag and said we were missing a cheeseburger, so Mom went around again and ordered a cheeseburger, but this time, after she paid, she went right past the second window and never got the food. I wasn't really paying attention (since I was all the way in the back!), and I thought she had forgotten the food, but didn't say anything because figured she had gotten it was and just quick about it, but then Gloria asks her where the hamburger is, so she goes through the drive-thru a THIRD time to retrieve it! She makes me promise not to tell Dad because she used to give him shit about going through the drive-thru and missing the first window where you pay at to go to the second window to pick up his food only to be told that he needs to go back to the first window to pay. I agree with him that he should just be able to give his money to the second-window person, but I don't understand why he keeps driving past the first window. Of course, as soon as Dad, Bill, and the others came home, I had to bring it up and Mom told the story. Nebraska lost the game by quite a lot. Even though Dad lives in Nebraska and was wearing a red coat and hat, he said he was secretly rooting for Iowa and was glad they won because that's where he was born and raised.
Friday night, my parents' neighbors, Bob and Mary came over. Bob brought his ukelele and he and Dad, who had a guitar sang some songs. Before they came over, we had the keyboard out and Gracie was playing it...with her feet, haha! I could feel a sore throat coming on and by the next morning I was in full throbbing pain. So much so that I had to get up at 5 and get some Aleve to alleviate the pain. Dad and I were going to go see a movie that day, but I was in too much pain and didn't feel well enough to go out. We stayed home with Bill and and Gracie and ordered Chinese food while Mom and Kelly went to a volleyball game.
Bill and Kelly left Sunday morning. They said they were going to get up at 4:30 and be on the road by five because Bill said he wanted to be home in time to watch a Vikings game, but I never heard them leave and since I was upstairs and kept having to get up to pee (due to all the water I was drinking), I didn't get much sleep. Turns out they decided to sleep in since Gracie woke up around 3 (and probably because they didn't get to bed until midnight, too!) They left around ten. I left the next day. My sore throat evaporated, but it turned into a bad cold and now I have a hoarse voice and was sent home early from work today. I tried to take a nap, but I kept having to get up to pee because I was drinking so much water!
Bill and Kelly brought a CRAPLOAD of toys for Gracie to play with (stuffed animals, books, plastic playthings), but honestly, they didn't need to bring ANYTHING (except maybe a couple books) and she still would have been plenty entertained. For one thing, she had the three toys my mom had bought for her to play with, and I had brought out my My Little Ponies (I just couldn't part with them!) and she seemed to like those, especially the so-soft ponies, but most of all, she loves the kiddie games on Kelly's iPhone.
Mom recently got a Keurig because it was on sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's so cool! All you do is make sure it has water in it, then add your container of coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate, or whatever it is, and in just a few short minutes you have a hot beverage! I made a lot of hot chocolates and mochas over that weekend!
On Turkey Day we had a big feast of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, rutabaga, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, lefse, black olives, green olives, and sweet pickles. Before we did a toast and each said something we're thankful and would drink out of our wine glass. Gracie had her sippy cup and it was pretty cute when she would take a drink when we would. After dinner everybody either took a nap, watched football, or both. After that, we had pumpkin or pecan pie. (Pecan for me!) Bill, Kelly, Dad, and I took Gracie and Stanley for a walk around the block and we looked at the houses who had put up their Christmas lights already.
Friday morning, Dad and Bill headed out to the stadium to watch the Nebraska-Iowa game. Gloria West, my parents' old friend, came with her son, Jeremy and his wife and their five year old daughter, Vianne. (Excuse me, five and a half!) Jeremey and his wife hitched a ride to the game with my dad and brother and Gloria and Vianne went to the children's museum with Mom, Kelly, Gracie, and me. We took Bill and Kelly's car (an SUV) since it has Gracie's car seat and Gloria put in Vianne's car seat. Kelly sat between the two girls, Mom drove, Gloria was the passenger, and that meant I had to sit in the back where there are no seats. The ceiling was really low so whenever Mom went over a bump, I would bump my head on the ceiling. The museum was really cute and lots of fun. There were plenty of kids there, but it wasn't too crowded. They had a pretend Hy-Vee (grocery store) where you could "shop" for (plastic) food then ring it up yourself and scan the food. There was also a Sam and Louie's (pizza shop) that was next door to a vet clinic with stuffed animal dogs and cats. There was a little girl sitting at the pizza place and she had a big stuffed black poodle sitting next to her and was feeding it (very cute) and she told Kelly it was her dog and Kelly asked if she brought it from home and she said no. It was then that I looked next door and saw the vet clinic. It was so hilarious because Gracie was hugging the back of the dog and the little girl says, "No, he doesn't it like it when you do that." Kelly and I were cracking up! We spent most of our time downstairs where there was a big stage where kids could put on hats and costumes and perform. They also had a puppet show booth and Gracie seemed to enjoy that.
The funniest part of the day occurred when we left and were going to McDonald's to grab some lunch. Since there were five orders and an order of fries off the dollar menu for Gracie, the order got really confused, so when Mom got the food, Gloria looked in the bag and said we were missing a cheeseburger, so Mom went around again and ordered a cheeseburger, but this time, after she paid, she went right past the second window and never got the food. I wasn't really paying attention (since I was all the way in the back!), and I thought she had forgotten the food, but didn't say anything because figured she had gotten it was and just quick about it, but then Gloria asks her where the hamburger is, so she goes through the drive-thru a THIRD time to retrieve it! She makes me promise not to tell Dad because she used to give him shit about going through the drive-thru and missing the first window where you pay at to go to the second window to pick up his food only to be told that he needs to go back to the first window to pay. I agree with him that he should just be able to give his money to the second-window person, but I don't understand why he keeps driving past the first window. Of course, as soon as Dad, Bill, and the others came home, I had to bring it up and Mom told the story. Nebraska lost the game by quite a lot. Even though Dad lives in Nebraska and was wearing a red coat and hat, he said he was secretly rooting for Iowa and was glad they won because that's where he was born and raised.
Friday night, my parents' neighbors, Bob and Mary came over. Bob brought his ukelele and he and Dad, who had a guitar sang some songs. Before they came over, we had the keyboard out and Gracie was playing it...with her feet, haha! I could feel a sore throat coming on and by the next morning I was in full throbbing pain. So much so that I had to get up at 5 and get some Aleve to alleviate the pain. Dad and I were going to go see a movie that day, but I was in too much pain and didn't feel well enough to go out. We stayed home with Bill and and Gracie and ordered Chinese food while Mom and Kelly went to a volleyball game.
Bill and Kelly left Sunday morning. They said they were going to get up at 4:30 and be on the road by five because Bill said he wanted to be home in time to watch a Vikings game, but I never heard them leave and since I was upstairs and kept having to get up to pee (due to all the water I was drinking), I didn't get much sleep. Turns out they decided to sleep in since Gracie woke up around 3 (and probably because they didn't get to bed until midnight, too!) They left around ten. I left the next day. My sore throat evaporated, but it turned into a bad cold and now I have a hoarse voice and was sent home early from work today. I tried to take a nap, but I kept having to get up to pee because I was drinking so much water!