This Past Week

I need to give y'all an update on this past week. We had a busy one!

My Uncle Bob and Aunt Florence came to visit this past Monday night on their way through town. Bob is my mother's brother. It was a good visit. The last time I saw them was in November 2007, and they treated my kids the same then as they did this time: kind of like their own grandkids. It's amazing how much that means to me! Since Mom is gone, I don't have much representation of her side of the family in my life. So it was wonderful watching Bob and Florence hug and play with my kids. Bob asked them to call him Pop Pop (which is what his own grandkids call him), and we called my aunt Grandma Florence. Jackson even learned to say "Pop Pop" before they left on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, my mother-in-law came over to work on one of Katie's Christmas presents. I told you I'm having to get creative this year, so Grandma and I are working on a handmade quilt. You can go to this post at my Katie Kay Tees blog to read about it. While making the quilt, I sliced my finger open and I've been paying for that mistake for a few days while having some Raynaud's Syndrome attacks on my fingers. Ouch.

On Wednesday I got to get my haircut and do some early Christmas shopping while Jackson was at Parents Day Out. That night was Moms Night Out, and I got my henna tattoo. Fun!

On Thursday, I had another family member come to visit. This one was my (stay with me here) father's mother's brother's son's wife. Or to make it easier, my grandmother's niece-in-law. Or even easier: the wife of my first cousin once removed. In any case, her name is Marti and I found her while doing some research on our family tree. I knew of her before that, but got back in touch with her after Googling some distant relatives and finding her work already online. She and I shared stories of our families, and had a good (albeit short) visit. She even brought toys for the kids, including a fairy book and fairy paper dolls for Katie. So cute! I really enjoyed talking to her, and can't wait for her to come back in town again.

We also carved pumpkins on Thursday night with our neighbors. It's become an annual tradition to carve them together, and something I think we all look forward to. Some of them do very elaborate designs, but my designs are always very basic (mine is the moon and Katie's is the pumpkin face).

Friday was, of course, Halloween. It was a hectic day. Beth and I weighed in early (I'm up to 12.8 pounds lost so far!), and then Dan came home early to be with Jackson so I could go to Katie's classroom Halloween party. It was a fun party, and the kids looked cute in their costumes. But, wow - they are loud and crazy too! Friday night was Trick-or-Treating. I've realized I will never get to take my kids out for T-or-T, because it's the one event all year that Dan truly looks forward to doing. So I hold down the fort while they go on the adventure. Truly, I don't mind. I think I'd be too nervous about kids darting into traffic to enjoy the T-or-T anyway. Besides, I like it when they come home to me with their loot and stories of what they did.

Today I slept in for a long time, and woke to an achy body. We puttered around the house and Dan had a neighborhood meeting. Afterwards we went to church and dinner at Chick-fil-A (my favorite). I'm very tired tonight, and just about ready to go plop myself on the couch for some mindless TV. Hopefully I won't get any more election calls tonight. They're starting to drive me crazy.

And keep your fingers crossed that the kids will sleep in late tomorrow when the time change happens!