The aftermath

As I mentioned, Sunday and Monday found me sick and in bed.  And not the kind of sick you can keep on doing car pool with and stick a Costco lasagna in the oven for dinner.  But the kind of sick that has you green to the gills and hovering close to the "facilities."  The kind of sick a mama is only allowed to have once every decade.

This morning I woke with my stomach a little queezy still, but able to function.  And in my absence, I discovered that a nuclear devastation had ripped through every corner of my home. Yes, surely it was either nuclear devastation or the remaining 7 members of the Crazy 8 decided to decline any personal responsibility for their messes.  Honestly, there wasn't a square inch of our home that hadn't been devastated.

The carnage... it had to be dealt.
I decided to attack the kitchen island first.

Notice the camera angle which purposefully shows no other flat surfaces.  Only a dust mop if you look closely, a dust mop which I assure you was there on Sunday when I went bed and was not touched the entire time I was there.

Exhibit 1-Spelling list #14  (Surely this is somersetting I should have been working on!)

Exhibit 2- a cup of partially eaten trail mix with all the m&ms picked out.  

 Exhibit 3-A toy drill

Exhibit 4-A bottle of Jamaican dark rum!  Unopened. (Hmmmmm... that's the first thing that looks promising!  This may just drive a girl to drink!)

Exhibits 5 & 6- a 1/2 pint canning jar, empty. And Tess's twirly-skirt.  (Of course things that need to be stored on the kitchen island long term!

 Exhibit 7-A spray bottle, used to try to train the dog to stop barking.  Completely ineffective.

Exhibit 8-A warm 1-pound box of Costco butter, opened.  I assure you that all 3 of the 4 very soft sticks are still inside.  (By the way, how long can butter be out without refrigerating it before Salmonella becomes a possibility?  My mama never refrigerated butter.  That might explain some things.)

Exhibits 9 & 10 & 11-a dirty fork, a dry marker without a lid and a sharp pencil with an eraser.  (Hang on there just a minute... whooaaaa, Bessy... did you say a sharp pencil with an eraser?  A supernatural phenomenon surely!)

 Exhibit 12-A melty-crayon turkey decorated by Tess and Livy complete with 1 googley eye.

 Exhibit 13-Travel size Maganodoodle

Exhibit 14-Wipes  (Apparently someone was thinking about cleaning something, but never quite got to it!)

 Exhibit 15-2 lunch boxes, empty, but with remnants, including orange peels and juice-box-straw wrappers.

 Exhibit 16-Perfectly clean small plate, fork, and knife. (Kinda makes you wonder, hu?)

Exhibit 17-$8.  (Ah HAAA!  This must be my fee for cleaning up all this mess!  Which I assure you, I promptly pocketed it!)

 Exhibit 18-Bag of assorted choking hazzards beads

Exhibit 19-My grandmother's hand needle-point stool pushed to the side of the island to be used as a common step stool

 Exhibit 20-Farmer guy

 Exhibit 21-Ball Transformer thingy  (Anyone seeing the insanity of it all?)

Exhibit 22-Empty box that used to have a portable heater, complete with styrofoam  (Benefit-of-the-doubt-girl thinks maybe someone was keeping it case of a return?  Maybe not.)

Exhibit 23-Two used empty tamale husks and 1 tamale, cooked and opened and not eaten... except for the one bite taken out of the corner.  No plate.  Just sitting there.  (Honestly, I just couldn't bring myself to take a picture of it.  Just too disgusting.)

20 minutes later...

That's better!
Now on to the remainder of the kitchen floor house.

Remedy for repetitive overinduldging

What's the best way to take off those extra lbs put on during the 3 day Thanksgiving food-a-palooza?
The stomach flu!
Well... maybe not the best way.
I hope to get out of bed tomorrow.
The kiddos have been wonderful, especially Liv and Patch who are trying so hard to pick up the slack and keep things quiet for me.

hitting the trail

By the time the turkey had been put away, and the pie finished off, and the company had gone home, my boy was spent.
He was winey, bored, a little too aggressive, and underfoot.
I find my boys use physical activities to help them process emotionally.  (Not to mention the fact that I think I had been continually eating for about 3 days straight and needed a little extra exercise!)  Papa stayed home with the littles, Patch and I donned our hiking shoes, and hit a hiking trail for a couple hours.

The desert in the winter.

We stay on the trail of course.  And we watch out for these which can lean in and get you if you're not careful.

Patch and I talked about all the critters that make their homes amongst all the prickly spiny desert things.  Two examples of bird nests

 This one is a regular high-rise, multi unit, condominium, bird complex!

And when patch and I got to the top, we stopped a bit to look at the views and take some pictures.  He's still eager to practice with that new/old camera Grandpapa gave him.  Then we were practicing with mushrooms, and now we are practicing on cacti.

Use of the camera timer and a big ol' rock to take our picture together.

{Please do not take notice of all that pumpkin, pecan, and apple pie that seems to have instantly adhered itself to my thighs.  Look instead at the smile on that boy, cause it's all about that!}

By the time we were done with our hike, we put in about 3 miles, the sun had set, Patch had some much need one-on-one time, and he was in much kinder gentler spirits.  

Thank you, desert.
Thank you old, camera.
Thank you, God.

birthday cake and pumpkin pie

This baby girl was born on Thanksgiving Day, just after midnight.
Before the days of requiring new mamas to stay in the hospital at least 24 hours, we begged the hospital staff and even bribed them with doughnuts, and were discharged from the hospital by noon, in time to get home for our Thanksgiving celebration and a house full of family.
I spent that Thanksgiving Day in a big ol' easy chair by the front door, a brand new mama, nestling with my newborn, greeting my extended family as they came through, every woman with a contribution to the feast.
My mom brought the turkey and the dressing.
My mother-in-law brought the candied yams and the green bean casserole.
My aunt brought the pumpkin pie.
The only thing I brought was my brand new 7lb 9oz daughter.

17 years later, we again celebrated her birthday on Thanksgiving day with much family and a turkey and pumpkin pie.

This child made me a mother.
Any my world was never the same again.

My boy

I had the opportunity to visit my Jujube in his preschool classroom for a little Turkey Day celebration.  God has really blessed us with his school, his teacher, and his class.  There are 7 kiddos in his class, all 3 and 4 years old.  All boys and 1 cute-as-a-bug girly!  And 4 teachers.  Well... 1 teacher, 1 speech therapist, 1 occupational therapist, 1 physical therapist, and 1 full time aide.  There are 3-4 "teachers" in the class at all times not to mention parent helpers.  Not a bad student:teacher ratio!

My boy listening intently to his teacher!

My boy smiling at me!

My boy doing crafts!

My boy in the midst of practically no cultural diversity.

My boy giving the uh-oh!-you're-SO-not-suppose-to-be-standing-on-that-chair look to his friend!

My boy much more attentive after his friend sits down.

My boy whose face still makes me weak in the knees just like when I saw him in that picture for the first time half-way-across the world.  

My boy who I forget is wee tiny, and then I'm surprised when I see him side-be-side with his peers.

I do love my boy!