It's Gobbles Time!: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

Halloween 3 ways. With a side of Candy Corn.

Halloween seems to be getting bigger each year for us, especially since our niece the Princess Poozers arrived last year on October 31st. This year, we kicked season with her candy corn birthday party and had Halloween festivities for over a week capping it off with a parade in 30 degree weather.

The Poozer's party was held at an orchard outside the town where Hubs grew up, similar to the Linvilla we Delcoians know so well. We went to Maylaths Farm on a crisp chilly day in October where we celebrated our beautiful niece by hayriding, riding the cow train, and climbing all over every haystack we came across. Oh yea, and we munched on all kinds of goodies from ziti to pizza to candy corn and cake. Gobbles enjoyed all the festivities, surprisingly loved the rides, and we had to chase him around the haystacks for over an hour- he was in his glory!

Check out these poo-kicken boots!

It's a bit chilly out here!

Best Hayride Ever!

This background looks like the fake one that you 80's kids used to have in your school pics...

King of the Haystack!

I'm just hanging out in the hay!

Standing among the trees

Loungin about!

I love when the wind whips my pigtails around!

The Poozers was a good sport putting up with all of the attention and LOVED her cake more than anyone could, having no qualms about getting dirty. You'd think she was part Gobblesmom! The Lil Lobster Roll took the whole day in stride, a little chilly but also enjoyed the attention of her great grandmother and the rest of hubs' family who don't get to see her that often. The girls pulled off another photo shoot, which inevitably will happen every day they are together for the rest of their lives. I hope we don't turn them into little divas... Though I'm afraid with all of the Lobster's mugging for the camera and dancing in front of the mirror at daycare that may already be the case.

OMG this cake is SO YUMMY!

Ya want some?

More cake please!

Great Party Cuz! Can I have some of that cake?

Wow! You do have a tooth! I see it!

Later that week, on the Friday before Halloween, the kids' school had their annual fall festival, where the parents were invited to show off their kids costumes and watch them play with their friends, do crafts, and participate in Gobbles' favorite game - the Cake walk. Basically, a no-lose version of musical chairs where every kid sits on a numbered seat. If your number gets pulled you win a cake. You can keep playing until you win, and boy was my child determined. You can TELL he's part Gobblesmom.

Here we are! Lil Red Ridig hood and the Big Bad Wolf!

I LOVE parties at my school!

Alrighty! What else should I put on my pumpkin?

Who cares about your pumpkin? Look how cute I am!

Let me just get those finishing touches on here!

The only remains of the cupcakes I won - right here baby!

Oh yea - then Hurricane Sandy came along and basically shut us in all weekend for some fun family time. We worked on unpacking the house a little more while Gobbles explored our old toys in the basement. He found a little pool table I got for hubs way back when and got to work, getting ready for some hustlin in a few years. Thankfully we didn't lose any power during the hurricane so it was Little Einsteins and Super Y all weekend on TV.

C'mon Daddy - let's survey the damage

Hmm, I think the swingset is ok!

Ohh look -neighbor's tree is down!

While it's raining I'll work on my game

Yep - that's it!

A few days after that, on October 31st, we were all set to trick or treat in our neighborhood for the first time. I stocked up on candy thinking that we'd probably have a ton of leftovers - our driveway is a decent hill which frankly wouldn't be worth the hike for a fun sized snickers, but apparently that's all it takes for some kids and we went through a decent amount. Gobbles on the other hand didn't get that big of a haul. Being the first time he actually understood what was going on, he took his time with the trick or treating, exploring every decoration and petting every homeowners' dog we came across. Since we were still meeting some neighbors at this point, and carrying an adorable (if i must say so myself) baby, each house we hit was a whole conversation on how we're getting settled in, how old the kids are, etc. But Gobbles enjoyed every bit of those 6 houses we visited over a half hour span. Maybe next year he'll hit up some more.

We got back from an exhausting Trick or Treat romp around two cul-de-sacs to our house where my parents and sisters had taken over the candy-handing out while we were gone. The kids enjoyed the rest of the night hanging out with their parents, aunts, uncle and grandparents, taking pictures and chowing on m&m's, Gobbles' new favorite candy. Well, Gobbles ate the candy and the Lil Lobster Roll chewed on a bag of Raisinettes.

Ugh! More pictures? I guess the Lobster loves the camera!

Are you having fun lil sis?

MWAAA!

Look Mommy! Yummmy!

Ohh - those look pretty good, lemme try!

Finally, the weekend after Halloween, hubs was working all weekend (surprise), so I was bored looking for something to do. When I realized that Linvilla's costume parade was rescheduled because of the hurricane, I called sister-in-law and told her to stick the Princess Poozers into her costume and come on down for some fun. They came down and we had a nice relaxing time watching the cousins play without the pressure of any parties or any big crowds of family, got a nice large dinner of Pizza Hut delivered which the babies looove (they've loved it ever since we were both pregnant with them at a wedding up in Maine where we ordered the best Pizza Hut we ever had when it was over and our husbands were drunk. mmm I'm drooling thinking about it. we really don't order it that often... sorry, tangent). The next day we got the kids gussied up in their costumes one last time for the parade. Even though it was like 30 degrees, we enjoyed watching all these people with super-creative costumes that they worked hard on - especially the Oscar the Grouch complete with trash can! Gobbles enjoyed his complimentary cookie and home we went, shedding the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood costumes for the last time.

Ok kids, pile into the ball pit so we can have some pizza hut and wine

Big bad wolf or teen wolf?

Can't see me!

Since you're carrying the lobster roll, can I borrow her stroller? Ridiculous!

Mommy - The wolf is thirsty! I'm gonna let him drink!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thanks and Thanks and Thankgiving Weekend

It's been over a month since my last post, and I have about 6 drafts halfway done waiting to be published. But I thought I'll catch up first since it's still within a week from Thanksgiving and post about that first.

I went to church on Sunday. Three days after Thanksgiving, I still felt I needed an outlet for all of the gratitude I felt for where I was at that moment, on what had dramatically changed over the last year. With hubs working over 100 hours a week for the three weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and the stress everyday life boiling over while preparing the house for its first hosting gig under our ownership, I kind of lost sight of the big picture. So I took Gobbles with the promise of a trip to the grocery store for good behavior and left hubs home to relax with the napping Lobster Roll.

I felt so calm after spending an hour with my angelically behaved son (did I mention there were m&m's on the line at the reward trip to the grocery store? now it makes sense), I was so glad I'd been able to just listen to the sermon and let my mind focus on my family, and really just how appreciative I should be.

This year hubs and I prepared and cooked the Thanksgiving meal over a three day span - the turkey went into a brine on Tuesday, we made the butternut squash pumpkin soup as well as prepped the stuffing on Wednesday, then made bread and mashed potatoes Thursday morning, cooking the turkey, stuffing, mashers, greens, and reheating soup in the hours leading up to our old man happy hour dinner time of 4:00. We marvelled at the ease in which we were able to do this since 1) we have an extra fridge in the garage to hold all the prepared food and brined turkey, (and beer!) 2) we had COUNTER SPACE and a kitchen table to lay out and do what we wanted without having to put everything away after every step 3) we were able to keep an eye on the kids in the family room right next to the kitchen while we did all this prepping, and when they wandered into the kitchen there was room for them to hang out without us stepping on them, and 4)guests were allowed to hang out in the kitchen because it was bigger than cubicle sized kitchen we used to have (a small cubicle, including all the appliances!). This time last year, there was absolutely no hope of a new house, a bigger kitchen, we were just dead in the water with showing after showing, and we had been talking about a date to suck it up and build onto our tiny house. I'm so so thankful that we didn't give up because this property is perfect for our family.

And even bigger than the house - I'm so grateful to have celebrated the Lil Lobster Roll's first thanksgiving! Obviously we knew about her at Thanksgiving last year, but this little girl has no idea of the positive impact she's made on our family - her brother, her daddy, and our relationship with each other. My baby girl (and my baby boy - his 3rd thanksgiving, wow!) are the most wonderful little blessings I could imagine.

I guess I have to say 2012 was my lucky year, because after a new baby and a new house, what more could anyone want? Sometimes I need to pinch myself when I walk into work in the morning because of how much I love it. The respect I get, flexibility I need, and the extraordinary people who are all genuinely nice make me look forward to going in every morning. I decided to make a move to this job because I didn't want to have to fight a corporate ladder, just do my job, and this place has me writing expertise articles for our publication. It's amazing the opportunities that come about when you're not even looking.

Usually my Thanksgiving lists comprise of big and small, but this year I need to step back and keep my eyes on the big, because for some reason I'd been letting the small stuff get me down. I'm taking a month off from the diet and not even worrying about the scale, because I know my best success always comes in January anyway - so why sweat it? There are much more important things to worry about and be grateful for. In the next 8 weeks we'll be decorating our new home for Christmas, celebrating 7 years of wedded bliss, going out to Gobble's birthday party with all of his school friends, riding the Santa train to keep in the spirit, celebrating the holiday through the eyes of a 3 year old who actually knows what's going on now, and preparing for the Lobster Roll's first birthday bash. It's such a busy, happy time for my family, and I am so grateful for it all... done sweating the small stuff!

And with that, a LONG weekend's worth of fun!