More Happenings

I figured that I would take a couple of days to update everything. After Halloween then came Ethan's 7th Birthday. We went down to Ryan's family the Sunday before and had a party with them. Uncle Shawn has his birthday just 3 days before Ethan and so we celebrated both birthday's together. We had a great dinner and then cake w/ ice cream and gifts afterward.
On Ethan's birthday, day he woke up to find a new bike from Mom & Dad. He was so excited he had to go right outside and try it out, although it was a little cold. Latter that day we had a bunch of his friends over for a party. All the kids had gotten out for American Thanksgiving the day before so it all worked out to have it in the middle of the day. We ordered pizza's, played pin the tale on the donkey and of course more cake w/ice cream. Everyone love the prize bags and the party was a hit. Now almost a month latter I'm still trying to get Ethan to write his thank you notes. He is old enough now that he can write them out on his own, but he thinks of it as work and so he is slow to do them.
Thanksgiving was the next day and I got up early to put the turkey together and get it in the oven. I found all the Martha Stewart Thanksgiving recipes and really wanted to try them out. I even made stuffing the old fashioned way with bread, vegetables and the whole 9 yards. It all turned out great if I do say so my self. The only bummer was that Ryan was in bed sick the whole day and only got up to eat, which he only did because I told him that if he was too sick to eat then I wasn't going to go to all the trouble of making a big dinner. Ryan's parents went to California this year and all his sisters had their in-law's to go to so I was just cooking for us. He didn't want to miss out on the dinner or the left overs so he got up. We had a nice small, low key Thanksgiving, which was just fine with us.
Ryan was sick in bed for 6 whole days. We were pretty sure it was the swine flu as he had all the symptoms and was told it just needed to run it's course. He still is not feeling 100% more than 3 weeks latter. But on the bright side he doesn't have to get the swine flu shot. Mason had a much milder case and the rest of us got away with not getting it. ;)
I put up the Christmas tree the Monday after Thanksgiving, only to find out that our lights on our pre-lit tree were dead. So we had to get a new one, all I have to say is thank goodness for Wal*mart sales. I have been decorating and re-decorating (thanks Mason) little by little ever since. I am working on making stockings today. It's my first time doing all by myself, even making my own pattern. Once they are done I will post a picture of them with the matching tree skirt. As you can tell I've been feeling a little "Martha Stewart-ish" lately.
That brings us up to date and I'm sure we will have a lot to post as the holiday's progress. The kids are already bouncing off the walls and we still have 14 days to go. But I will admit that it is kind of fun with the magic so alive and to have three little ones to keep it going. I just have to make sure I remember all the magic that my Mom was so good at when I was growing up. It has evolved over the years but if there is a question I can't answer then my kids are the first ones to say let's get Grandma Bo on the web cam. She is the resident expert on all the magic of Christmas, as it should be. So that years from now that will be one of the great things my kids and remember and share with my Mom...Christmas. Which makes me happy.