Thanksgiving antics

Sabrina came early with me to Abbie's to help cook Thanksgiving dinner. At nap time, Sabrina and I went upstairs for her nap. She was so tired, she just rolled over, closed her eyes, and whispered, "I love you, Mama." With my heart full of thanks, I went downstairs to peel potatoes and enjoy the girl time in the kitchen. About 45 minutes later, Abbie went upstairs to put Kasen down for his nap. When she returned, she was saying Kasen's room as all askew. "Oh, no. Sabrina!" I thought as I darted up the stairs. I opened the door to her room and her blanket was neatly spread out over her doll, who was lying on the pillow, but no Sabrina. I walked to the master bedroom—still no sign of her. I walked through to the master bath where I heard running water. Sabrina is at the tub with the water running and a peri bottle in her mouth! (If you don't know what a peri bottle is, just know that it's not something you put in your mouth!) She had washcloths in the tub to make it fill up because it's too deep for her to reach the stopper. With her dress dripping wet, she smiled her cheesy smile and said, "Good morning, Mama." Abbie, who had been following me, had to leave the room because she was laughing! I put my hand out to take her hand and Sabrina cried repeatedly, "I need a bath! Kasen needs a bath! Baby needs a bath!" I sorted her out and put her back in bed, then I went to clean up the bath. She's put about 4 hand towels in the toilet as well as the washcloths in the tub! There was so much water on the floor, it took me two full towels to soak it all up! So much for helping out!

Stuart loved playing in the basement at Dan & Abbie's. After supper we heard lots of crying and Stuart had two huge gashes in his fingers. I set him up on the counter to rinse the cuts and teasing him said, "Stuart, remember, I said I DIDN'T want to go to the hospital tonight." As we rinsed the cuts, it was mostly torn skin, but all the fingers were really swollen. After he's got bandaids on an ice pack at the table, he said, "Mom, I want to go to the hospital." Silly boy! David checks his fingers; they're just a little swollen, but nothing is really wrong. Still we need some medicine, so we end up hopping in the truck to go a neighbor who has his age and they of course have children's motrin! So he may not have been to the hospital, but he was excited he got to go somewhere! As well, Stuart has been especially sweet the last few days. He'll come hang on me and say, "You're the best mom in the whole world." Or to Michael and say, "You're the best dad in whole world." As I was saying good night last night Stuart says, "Mom! Wait! Everyone in the whole world has moms and dads, but my mom and dad are the best." Oh, it just melts your heart when they do that.

One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is the beginning of holiday baking. My family has these Italian cookies that we make called riscotti. They have great sentimental meaning in my family and can also be used as currency in bartering transactions. The recipe starts with 5 pounds of flour (yes, pounds) and makes about 300 cookies. You can image how long it takes to roll all these cookies. So I watch movies while I roll and ice the cookies—White Christmas and Sleepless in Seattle. It is most fun with other people, but the kids aren't quite old enough to help. This year, Jenn Russo came to hang out with me and we rolled cookies. So much fun!


Sabrina 'helping' with some of the cookie icing.
A glimpse of the cookie load.