Thanksgiving In St. Louis - Day 5: Thanksgiving! Kind Of.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving in St. Louis has finally arrived. Just kidding! On Thanksgiving Steve's family goes to their in-laws. Then they all get together on Friday for their Thanksgiving celebration. Mike and Sheila and their kids had just come into town the night before from Kentucky. Our two families spent the day together. First we went to see Arthur's Christmas in 3D. Then we went to where else for our Thanksgiving feast, but Jack-in-the-Box. It is where we had our Christmas dinner last year when we were in the St. L. We wanted to keep with tradition. And it was the only place open. And we don't have Jack-in-the-Box where we live so that makes it extra special. Except they were out of everything we wanted to order. We just kept going down the list until we found something they had.

Steve and Mike watched the Cowboy's game on Steve's phone

After our Thanksgiving Day Feast, we all went back to Steve and Heather's house. The girls had a plan. Dan. We were going to camp out at Walmart. Heather, Lisa, Samantha, Sheila, Sierra, Rhonda and I got our game faces on and headed over to Walmart around 6pm. We left all the kids at home unsupervised, uh, I mean with the dads who were playing their war game. Again. So yeah, unsupervised.

What we wanted went on sale at 10pm and then other things at 12am. What we all wanted, there were only 26 or 36 of them in the whole store, I can't remember. And they were giving out numbers to people. We all thankfully got a number. Even though we had a number, we had to wait in line and if we had to leave the line we had to sign out and we could only take two 15 minute bathroom breaks before we had to sign ourselves back in. What we were getting was that good. Let me just tell ya. I can't wait for Christmas to be here. Sheila, Rhonda, Sierra and I were all camped out for the big thing while Heather was camped out in another spot ready to grab a whole bunch of stuff I can't say right now. Lisa and Samantha also were camped out between certain items. They had checked out the supply of what we all wanted and had their game plan as to what they were going to grab first and then where they were going next. I think that those of us camped out in the Pharmacy department had it pretty easy compared to everyone else. Here we are playing Skip-bo with our friend Brian, who we met while sitting on the floor at Walmart. We also played several rousing games of farkle to pass the time.

I wish I had been able to take a picture of everyone else who was with us. Here is a picture of the area poor Heather was in. I took this picture after we got our item. It was CRAZY!

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Monday Morning Musings - My 38th Birthday In Which I Sound Like I'm 83 With A Bad Habit

It's that time of year again! I'm another year older and wiser too. 38. That's how old I am. I'm good with that. I feel like I mature a little each year and become a little more of the person I was meant to be. It's like I'm growing into myself. So even though I'm only 2 years away from the big 4-0, I'm not as freaked out as I thought I'd be. So here's to 38! Hopefully it will be the best year yet!

I had to go this morning to help in Aubrey's class at school. When I got home Addy and I had a snack and then I sat down on the couch to read a chapter in my book. About 45 minutes later I woke up and felt so guilty that I was reading/sleeping when I had so many other things I needed to do. But then I remembered it was my Birthday so I got up, used the bathroom, and sat right back down on the couch and read another chapter. It was great, but I still have so much to do...

I am trying really hard not to freak out at the lateness of the season. I feel like I missed the whole first half of December. I spent the last 1/2 of November in trip mode. There was getting ready for the trip, then the trip itself. Then I got home from the trip and was so sick. Then I had trip/sickness catching up to do. I haven't done much to get ready for Christmas and usually I'm about done by now. I like to have it all done and then sit back and enjoy the season. But I have a lot to before any sitting back can occur. And how do I handle it? I spend the day napping and reading on the couch. That's really good Allyson.

You really gotta love it when your 5 year old comes running into the room with a phone in her hand all panicked like saying, "I CALLED 911 AGAIN! I CAN'T BELIEVE I CALLED 911 AGAIN!!!" Yes, she called 911. Again. For the third time. This time it was with an old cell phone she was playing with and she said she didn't think it would work. Even though I had told her before that it would.

So after she called 911, she told me that she is even more scared of police than she was before. Great. She was scared of them before. Then she met a very nice police officer and I thought she was over it. But then, about a month ago something happened to change all that. What do you think would be the worst thing to happen to a small child who is scared of police? She could be in the car when her mother gets pulled over by one. Yes. We were on our way home one night. I had all the kids in the car. We were having fun singing Christmas Carols at the top of our lungs. I may or may not have come to a complete stop at a the 4 way stop sign coming into our neighborhood with no other cars present. I may or may not have been pulled over and given a warning. This may or may not have caused my 5 year old who was 4 at the time to have a major panic attack. And this may or may not have scarred her for life. She freaks out and starts screaming and crying anytime anyone thinks about doing anything slightly out of the ordinary while we are driving. Like the time we were on our trip and the kids were trying to put a movie in the dvd player. They dropped it and we were in the middle of nowhere so I told Zac to get undone from his seat and pick the movie up. Oh my good golly miss molly. You would have thought someone was pulling her toe nails out with a pair of pliers. I thought she was going to blow a blood vessel right then and there. And heaven forbid we ever pass a police car while we are driving...

I am pretty much over my horrible awful illness. However I don't sound like it. I sound awful. And each day the awful gets worse. Like right now I sound like an 83 year old scary woman who has been smoking a pack a day for 75 years. I don't know why it is taking so long for my voice to go back to normal. It must have something to do with bronchitis, but whatever it is, it's annoying. And it really upsets me the most because I can't sing. This sick voice isn't giving me the sexy husky singing voice I wish it was. It is giving me the sound of an ox dying a slow torturous death singing voice. I am a singer. Not like a singer because I can sing well singer, but a singer because I love to sing and singing makes me happy and I sing all the time singer. So when my favorite Journey song came on the radio the other day while I was cleaning house and the sound of my voice frightened even myself, I had to stop singing. And when I took the kids ice skating Saturday followed by a trip to the store for hot chocolate and we had Christmas songs playing on the radio and I couldn't sing along because my kids kept begging me to stop....And yesterday when we were in church and they were singing Christmas hymns and I couldn't sing along....and when I was trying to sing and dance with Steve last night and he nicely asked me to stop singing...I can't. Handle. Not. Singing....

So yes, I did take the kids ice skating Saturday. They are building a new shopping center near our neighborhood and they have an outdoor ice skating rink and Santa's village that just opened. The kids have never been ice skating so we decided to go check it out. That was some messed up ice, that's all I have to say. But it was fun. Zac, Emily and Aubrey just took off on their own like they had been skating all their lives. Addy needed a little help from me for a while, but then she got to where she could skate on her own. After skating we went to see Santa next door. It was a fun little outing.

Thanksgiving In St. Louis - Day 4: Art And Animals

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Day four started out with another trip across the river. The girls helped us get safely across with their river crossing ritual. Our destination? Forrest Park. It is a huge beautiful park in St. Louis and was home of the 1904 World's Fair and Summer Olympics. Our first stop in Forrest Park was the Art Museum.

Aunt Heidi, Uncle David and all the kids

Emily, Aubrey and Meagan

After getting a little culture into these kids, we walked over to the Zoo, where they felt a little more at home.

These penguins are up high, above our heads. I was walking past one when it almost violently pooped on me. I was about 2 inches away from getting it right in the face. Thankfully my timing was spot on that day.

The St. Louis Zoo is one of the most beautiful zoos I have ever been to. Because I have been to so many different zoos before in my life time. But still, it is a beautiful zoo with beautiful buildings. And it's free! And it was cold but not freezing so we were able to enjoy our day there.

Steve and Roy

Grandpa with 9 of his 15 grandchildren

Aubrey and Josh

After the Museum and the Zoo, we all went to Ed and Lisa's house where we had pork tacos waiting in the crock pot for dinner. Then it was a long night of hanging out and playing games. The dance game that we had rented the night before for the wii was constantly being played the entire night. Sometimes there were only a few kids playing, sometimes we had all the kids and some of the adults playing. We all had fun with this game.

Finally! Mike and Sheila and their 3 kids arrived from Kentucky! Steve was so excited for them to get there. Because he was finally able to see his brother. And his new gun that Mike had been keeping safe for him.

These crazy texting cousins, Spencer and Sierra, were finally reunited

Addy had been waiting patiently our whole trip for Reagan to get there. Reagan is the closest to Addy in age of all the cousins.

Cheeks the squirrel came out for a visit

Mike wasted no time getting in on the Axis and Allies game the boys were playing

We had cake to celebrate all the November Birthday's. The Birthday people are from left to right: Addy, Asher, Tyler, Austin and Rhonda. Amanda now lives in Illinois and was unable to be there that night so we called her on the phone and sand Happy Birthday to her.

Best Cousins Em and Meg

Reagan and Aubrey

Austin and Asher

The girls started making our attack plan for the next days Gray Thursday shopping expedition.

Tortilla face Addy

Spencer and Josh. They had missed each other so much and they were so excited to spend some quality time together.

I can't remember what time it was when we finally called it a night, but I am sure it was already Thanksgiving Day before we headed home and fell into bed. It was a fun day.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Thanksgiving In St. Louis - Day Three: The Arch

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

On Tuesday while all the cousins were in school, we took the kids downtown to see the arch. Steve's sister Heidi came with us. I think the last time we went to the arch was when Emily was a baby. So even though the memory of the arch is seared into my claustrophobic brain, none of my kids really knew anything about it. It was a freezing cold rainy day down by the river.

We had no plans on going up in the arch (I've been up twice and that is 2 times too many for me). But when we got there Steve couldn't believe that his kids had never been. So he wanted to take them up. They had this model of the sweet little pod you slowly ride up the narrow little arch in as you hope and pray that the power doesn't go out and you don't get stuck somewhere in the middle of the arch clawing out your pod mates eyes as you gasp for your next breath. I explained to the kids that if they wanted to go up the arch, this is what they would have to go in, five people at a time, knees touching and all. After my pep talk, Emily and Aubrey were the only ones who opted to go up.

So Steve took the girls up and Heidi, Zac, Addy and I hung out in the museum downstairs. Here is the view they had from the top of the arch.
Steve and the girls up top. The height of 630 feet and the gentle swaying motion of the arch having no effect on them what so ever.

The Arch Museum

I found this quote from one of the Wright brothers interesting. It says, "When my brother and I built and flew the first man-carrying flying machine, we thought that we were introducing into the world an invention which would make further wars practically impossible..."

Steve, Emily, Zac, Addy, Aubrey and Heidi in front of the Old Court House . This is where the Dred Scott case and the Virginia Minor case were tried.

Dred Scott

Emily in one of the courtrooms

On our way back across the river. Each time we crossed a bridge the kids picked their feet up, held their breath, put their arms above their head and crossed their fingers.

FREEDOM! All the kids were finally out of school for Thanksgiving break so we were without school night bedtimes! We all met at Steve and Heather's house and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and had a roaring good time. While we were sitting out by the fire the girls kept us entertained by singing camp songs.

Aubrey and Addy hangin' with Uncle Steve

It turned into a crazy free for all

On the way home from downtown we stopped and rented a dance game for the wii. This was the first night of many endless nights of dancing. We also rented the new Modern Warfare game for the boys so they are in another room on a 2nd wii playing that.

One of our family's favorite pastimes. Playing Farkle. Only we have been playing it a lot longer than any of you have been playing it on facebook (back when it was known as 10,000) and we play by the real rules, not the facebook rules as poor Cody found out. Don't mess with us and our farkle. Snap.

Heather and Addy

Aubrey, Addy, Meagan and Sierra

Thanksgiving In St. Louis Day One

Thanksgiving In St. Louis Day Two