Piecing Together a Thanksgiving

On the Monday of Thanksgiving week, I was hit with the body aches and head ache that accompany a virus. The kids and I powered through Wednesday afternoon until Patrick was off from work.

Colleen tried to put on as many dress up items as possible.

She fell asleep every day this week just before time to pick up the kids. She would stay asleep while I transferred her to the minivan, continue to sleep during pick up, and then sleep in the minivan for another hour or more in the garage afterwards. Recovery sleep.

A few Thanksgiving projects

  

 

Most nights I crawled into bed as soon as dinner was done, just waiting for the virus to run its course. We were all super-bummed to cancel our plans to go into the city to watch the parade balloons be blown up, but I was too sick to handle it. Our old neighbors, Suba & Arun, had asked if they could come by on Thanksgiving morning to visit. They had driven in from Indiana to see NJ friends for the holiday weekend. So we hosted them for a couple of hours in the morning; it was so sweet to see the kids together again. Amelia insisted on waiting for them outside despite the freezing temperatures; she was so excited to see Meera & Pragathi again.

 

Since I couldn't handle cooking a traditional Thanksgiving, we had enchiladas from the freezer. And the kids were delighted to have them on our china plates with fizzy drinks. We were all thankful to be together in our warm house with plenty to eat, even with all the sicknesses.

 

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we still set up our Christmas tree. The kids really loved hearing the stories behind the different ornaments and going through their own growing ornament collections.

 

Since I didn't leave the couch for most of the holiday weekend, Patrick took the kids out to play a lot. One of our favorite parks had renovated all of their playground equipment. So the kids insisted on returning there each morning.

 

With all the germs we've been fighting over the last few weeks, Patrick and I keep coming back to how thankful we are that he has been home. This November was the first time in about a year and a half that he has been home for an entire month. It meant so much to both of us to work through this tough month together and highlighted how grateful we are to have each other as a partner. There was a lot of disappointment this month as we kept canceling activities and plans due to somebody being sick; but the kids overall handled it really well.

Sick November

As soon as we returned from Disney, it seemed that we just started a constant circulation of sickness between 4 of the 5 of us. Amelia was able to stay mostly untouched besides a few sniffles for the month. I believe it was God's hand of protection on her as she would have been unable to perform in the Nutcracker if she missed any rehearsals due to sickness. Colleen was obviously the most needy during this month of sickness; Mom, Dad & Austin all passed colds around nonstop.

This girl is so eager to play the big kid games, but still struggles with not damaging them. So we made our own Trouble board so we could play it without tearing up the paper inset on the original board. She was so excited and proud.

This is the second kid quilt I have had to repair from years of use. The sweet girl who owns it had rubbed the binding completely off in some places. There is nothing like the joy of re-binding a quilt that has been literally loved to pieces.

Camila came to spend an afternoon with us when we had a break in health. The kids pulled out this chalk-painting set and obviously had a blast.

 

 

Cold turned into ear infection = lots of pajama time

 

Making Israeli cookies from his passports box

 

 

Thankfully Colleen rebounded enough from her ear infection to go hang out with friends so I could help with the kids' school Thanksgiving Feast. I was able to serve Austin's class and had a lot of fun!

 

Colleen had fun with Ian too! Apparently their piano kept her attention for a long time.

This was a nightmare of a playdate at the time; in hindsight, I can laugh. Colleen had recuperated enough from her ear infection that I invited Stuti to come home from school with us and play instead of going to her usual aftercare program. The big kids played great together; the girls even wanted to do their homework together. Colleen started fussing that her stomach hurt; she ended up vomiting all over the kitchen and both of us. I knew Stuti had to travel on a flight two days later, so I found myself yelling at the kids to quarantine themselves in Amelia's room and play while I got Colleen and myself cleaned up. I felt so bad calling her mom to come get her much earlier than we had planned. But Shruthi was so gracious, and thankfully none of the kids caught Colleen's stomach virus.

 

Thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug, and no one else caught it after the bleaching I did of every surface.

Amelia came home with star student of the week!

Pink Baby riding on Colleen's shoulders while she rode on Daddy's shoulders.

When it seemed that we were in the clear health-wise, we told our sitter to go ahead and still come to watch Colleen while we took the big kids to A Magical Cirque Christmas. They were pretty excited to have a big kid date with us and see the performers.

 

She's going to be in this show in just a few weeks!

Having fun with a hoarded kiwi crate.

Trying fun projects from one of her hoarded Little Passports state book.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Patrick and I had received an invitation from Auburn University to come have dinner in NYC with the basketball coach. While we were both feeling icky, we were super-excited about a free, fancy dinner in NYC with Auburn folks. As we were driving into the city, there was the most gorgeous rainbow stretching across the sky.

 

I didn't take any photos of our night in the city except this one for the kids. I thought they would enjoy seeing Minnie Mouse as the Statue of Liberty.