Friday, November 28, 2008

My Thanksgiving (AKA, yes, I am alive!)

Good morning, everyone! Thank you for the messages of concern, no, I did not go into labor, I went to Thanksgiving. I am now home safe and sound from Spokane, where we spent the last few days. The reason I did not mention that we were going is because my Mommy taught me better than to broadcast over the internet that my house would be sitting empty for a couple of days, which would just invite some lunatic to come in and steal our 8-track player and seven-year-old computer. OK, really, anyone who reads this blog should know that we don't own anything worth stealing, but I still won't chance it. Unless the thief promises to take the cracker crumbs from in the couch cushions, too, then I might consider it.


Anywhoo, let me tell you a little about our trip. I packed all day Wednesday, so as soon as Marty got home from work we loaded the van with enough supplies to last us all winter, wedged the kids into the empty spots, and got ready to hit the road. We had borrowed a DVD player from Holly and got it all set up in the van, the kids were so excited to get to watch a movie in the car, they were jumping up and down as high as their seat belts would let them.


Seriously, what is worse than three small children in a seven and a half hour drive without the stimulation of television to keep them quiet? Let me tell you. It's three small children who are screaming because Mommy never thought to check if the cigarette lighter in her van actually worked, meaning she promised movies and couldn't deliver. They still went to Spokane without the joys of television, but with the knowledge that they were getting ripped off because it could have been a possibility. Marty and I made several stops to try and rectify the problem, but after replacing the fuse twice and having it blow immediately after starting the van, we knew the problem was a little bigger. Crapola.


Surprisingly, all the kids did very well on the drive across the state. The boys did not fall asleep until we were about an hour away from our destination, but for being awake for six and a half hours in the van, there was very little crying. Well, once they forgot about the movie fiasco. I simply bribed them into silence with candy, and it worked. Finally, I did something right! We got to the hotel about quarter to midnight, and tried our best to sneak everything in quietly to try and keep the kids as sleepy as possible. No such luck. As soon as we put the boys down in their playpens they wanted to giggle at each other. They played, giggled, and held hands over the tops of their playpens for a while, until we finally got tired of it and told them to lay down and go night-night. Grant listened, to an extent. He would lay down and Ben would get bored and throw a teddy bear at him to get him up, then Grant would spring up, reach out, hit Ben on the head and yell, "NO! Go Night-Night!" and then flop himself down on the mattress and kick and flail like he was trying his best to swim away. Ben though it was just the funniest thing, he would laugh and laugh, and throw something at him again, just to see it repeat. And repeat it did. For a half-hour.


Meanwhile, Emma is in one big bed by herself, loving all the space and trying to sit up to see what the boys are doing. Marty and I are in the other bed, listening to the boys' antics and trying so hard to keep our laughter silent. When all the kids finally drifted off around one am, they did sleep through the night, which was good. Emma and I went to church Thanksgiving morning while Marty kept the boys at the hotel. Multiples actually multiply in more than one area, two two-year-olds are actually four times as loud as one two-year-old, so bringing them to church when there is no childcare is not a grand idea. After church, we went back to the hotel to gather Marty and the boys, then headed to Aunt MaryAnn and Uncle Al's house. We had the best time there, the dinner was incredible (thank you Aunt MaryAnn and Barb!) and we had a great time with the family. I am still amazed that my aunt can cook a Thanksgiving dinner for twenty and still have a clean kitchen the entire time, I cannot even hand Emma an apple out of the fruit bowl without making a mess. The woman is amazing.

After stuffing ourselves silly, my cousins and I made our plan for Black Friday shopping. I will have to write more about that later, though, since I have not yet fully unpacked from our trip and the laundry is calling me. We did get home safe and sound, and my Daddy (AKA my hero) was able to rig wires from the battery so we could have the DVD player on the way home. Yup, I had wires duct-taped to the side of my van, but I had happy children. I love duct tape.

Oh, I almost forgot, I did learn some things on our trip that I wanted to share with you. If you live in a house with round doorknobs, be aware when you go to a hotel with the other kind that you just pull down and open the door. Twin two-year olds can then open the door and leave the room, and by the time you hear the door close and realize that they are missing, they have run down the hotel hallway in opposite directions, giggling. I thank God they didn't run into anyone or try and go down the stairs. Lesson number one: always use the night latch when in the room.

Lesson number two: if you have adjoining rooms with your parents and the kids are running back and forth, do not have all the adults in one room to chat. The boys can go into the empty room and shut the door, which cannot be opened from the adjoining room. If you use the night latch in both rooms to keep them from running down the hall, you cannot get into the room the boys have locked themselves in. The amazing thing was, although I remember shutting the night latch in my parents room, they were able to get in with just their key. Either one of them had opened the door and forgotten to shut the latch again, or it was a miracle, we will never know. I am so grateful that we got in, and that my dad had his room key in his pocket. That could have been really bad. Not even duct tape could have helped us there, and duct tape fixes everything!

Well, the laundry pile is calling, so I will write more later. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and that you all plan on a nice, relaxing weekend.

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