Saturday, November 30, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

As many of you all know, for the past few years our family tradition has been going up north to my grandparent's house to cook Thanksgiving dinner for them. That is what we did again this year, and it was fantastic as usual.

I am not a person who cooks, generally. The schedule that my son and I are on (because of my work and his school) means that we only eat breakfast together, and often I am not hungry yet so he just eats cereal or oatmeal. But for whatever reason, cooking Thanksgiving is one of my favorite things to do!

I say "for whatever reason", but really I know why. My dad and I do it together, and my Buddy 'helps' with a lot of stuff (as long as we aren't in a hurry, because of course his 'help' makes everything take twice as long) and my grandparents wander in and out of the kitchen, and it makes for a wonderful family time.





This year my brother and I made that ever popular alcoholic drink "apple pie" and we were maybe way too proud of ourselves considering it was actually super easy, but I don't get to hang out and do stuff with my bro very often so I loved it even if it was totally lame.


 I am always embarrassingly proud of whatever dishes I cook, since as I said I mostly only make pasta and chicken at home.



One of the best parts of going up north is visiting with my grandparents. My grandma has tons of albums of pictures of our family history, and as soon as I get up there I always make her sit down and tell me about the pictures in one book or another. She is one of the wisest people I know, and listening to the stories about her life gives me hope for mine, as well as even more respect for her. Also, she is hilarious when she talks about what a snot my father was as a child.

Shiloh also loves going up north, since he gets to see his Great Grandparents who he absolutely loves. He is constantly talking to (or bugging) Grandma Betty or Grandpa Ray to watch him do something, or to play with him, or to sing a song, or... anything so that he can interact with them. The fact that he can have that kind of relationship with his Great Grandparents makes my heart do that thing where it feels like it doesn't fit inside my ribcage anymore.

Anyway, of course things are never perfect. Somewhere between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening I picked up a nasty cold, and now I've been coughing my lungs out and shivering and blowing my nose for the last 2 days. But it was totally worth it, especially since I don't have any pressing responsibilities until Monday afternoon :)

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving everyone!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Y-Star

Shiloh has really gotten into sports and physical activity lately, and it makes me so proud! After playing basketball at every recess all fall, talking about it non-stop, and playing wherever there was a hoop in his free time, he convinced me to sign him up for a basketball session at the Y. And I am so glad I did!

Unlike in past units with the YMCA, his coach seriously knows what she is talking about. I also may have a serious case of hero worship! She is a tall, fit, pretty woman and she is great at basketball and great at working with 1st and 2nd graders who are still learning the basics of the game.

Also unlike in past units, Shiloh is actually really serious about his practicing. He listens really hard and gets super into whatever skill they are practicing. It is awesome to watch!



He also signed up for swimming lessons this fall, and that's going really well also. But it's not as easy for me to judge that, since I only ever made it one level higher in swimming than he is in right now!