A Thanksgiving Week Worth Remembering...

Foreword: I apologize if the following entry seems like a big complainer post, but I'm documenting in the hopes that someday sooner than later I'll be glad I did so I can read through these events & chuckle...because they're of the past :)
Thursday, Nov. 18:
-We find out our landlord needs his rental house because his isn't working out...he's kindly evicting us in 60 days. Good thing I'm not leaving for 3 weeks to go to Idaho for Christmas right in the middle of that time...oh, wait...
-Engine light goes on in our car
Friday, Nov. 19:
-Thanks to a definite nudge from the Spirit I take the car in that next morning while I'm breakfasting at a friends on delightful pumpkin pancakes & apple cider syrup. She graciously allows me to stay all day & then lends me her van to go get my kids from school. Car place tells us he needs to order a part, won't be in until Tuesday but there's no way we should drive the car. THEN, my friend even more graciously offers her husband's car until Tues so I won't have to drive our car in its dangerous condition (it's the only one that fits all of us).
Monday, Nov. 22:
-Tony tries to leave for work only to hear a super-sonic knock-knocking sound instead of varoom...tow truck arrives to take away vehicle # 2 to their establishment (glad we can single-handedly provide them with work to keep them busy!). Double-grateful for Marci & her husband lending us her car so I can now take Tony to work.
-Both toilets explode at the same moment Tony comes in to tell me about the truck. Timing is everything.
-Our water all-of-a-sudden tastes more like fire-crackers than water, but the city says its safe, normalcy will return on Wednesday. We opt for buying a few gallons of spring water instead of consuming "safe levels of sulfur."
-We learn later that day that the truck is bonefide, certified dead. Though not unexpected (it had 250,000 miles after all), again, the timing was amazing. However, I have to say, it's a good thing it died when it did because we were planning on selling the car & keeping the truck when we got a van in the near future...so bitter-sweet. Tony on the other hand is thrilled with the news (though he did appropriately mourn for Albert)...now he gets a vehicle that you can have a conversation in, a window that rolls up all the way, a heater that works, AND a radio! He's living big!
-Baby Ari throws up a whopping 6 times that night. Stellar performance.
Tuesday, Nov. 23:
-Just kidding, the part didn't make it. What? You have to drive your children to the Indy airport (2 1/2 hrs away) the next day to catch their plane? We're sincerely sorry, ma'am.
-We earn $250 for Tony's truck, enough for the towing bill & a bit of a credit to go toward the car's bill :)
-Ari throws up again in carseat. She sure packs a lot in that little body.
-Hero-status friend Marci offers her car for the trip so we don't have to rent a car for $84.99.
Wednesday, Nov. 24:
- Drive w/ 3 children & hubby to airport (it's SO nice when Tony can come with me on these trips to the airport, driving, standing in line, security, waiting...it's all a billion times easier!). After boys are air-borne we parents & tired babe drive another 30 min. to pick up our new/used FABULOUS VAN! We had been looking at it for awhile (cars/vans are cheaper in Indy & since we knew we were heading there, we'd been looking), checked the Carfax on it, talked w/ the people, checked prices, talked prices... It seemed too good to be true, but thankfully this was our little miracle for Thanksgiving in the middle of this very trying week. We got this one-owner, meticulously maintained & always serviced by the dealer it was purchased from van w/ complete service records for trade-in price. The people were so kind & we feel so blessed! Good-bye Albert, hello White...Van?
-We find out the car is going to have a BIG bill because it needs another part. It's on order & will be in hopefully Friday.
Thursday, Nov. 25:
-Happy Thanksgiving! We relax a bit, prepare some food & dine at our bishop's house w/ his family. Wonderful meal & fabulous company! Mommy starts to feel a little "uh, oh" in her tum-tum & has a headache...receives an A+ head massage from hubby-wubby. We watch "Toy Story 3" to end the day. Good movie.
Friday, Nov. 26:
-The part comes in for the car, but, ahem, it's the wrong one. Apparently our car is from California so it has a whole different parts-thingy. The newest development: the part will be in on Wednesday, but yes, it will be even more moolah (though he did say he would give us as much of a break as possible, we're good customers you see). I finally give up my "strength-is-good" attitude & have myself a nice, good cry. Update Wed. Dec 1: The part is on backorder. It will be in on December 15th...1 day after we leave for Idaho. Oh, the irony.
-I throw up into the trash can in the parking lot of Tony's work while waiting to pick he & his coworker up (good thing I listened to my body & brought it along just in case) . Wow, hurry up & be done with it--this is NOT a side of myself I want anyone else to see--gross! Good thing I had a mini bottle of air-freshener & we have a van now so I then put the trash can of "goods" in the verrrry back. I throw up at least 5 more times after we get home until 11:04pm at which time Ari takes over & throws up another 4 times...what the?! We thought she was recuperating nicely?! Poor Tony takes care of her (while dry-heaving himself!), cleans up all the necessaries & does the load of laundry. I throw up once more for good measure & wake up the next morning with a very sore tummy.
Saturday, Nov. 27: Ari & I bond while recovering together. And thanks go to Mom Cobia for talking with me for a couple of hours (new record for me!) so I could feel connected to someone! I felt successful when I finally took a shower at 8pm AND I ate an avacado toast (thanks again goes to Tony for picking up a few things I felt like my stomach could handle).
Sunday, Nov. 28: Ari & I stay home so as not to infect any others (though we found out the bishop's family is sick...our fault??!!) & on his way home Tony got pulled over by a police officer because we don't have the license plates on it yet (good thing the title was in the glove box so he got off with a verbal warning).
Oh, boy, I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings (I'm picking up the boys from the airport from their 10pm flight, thanks go to yet another good samaritan for being willing to watch the babe for an hour, then drop her off at Tony's work & take him the 30 min home to Woodburn)!! Really, though, it's times like these that it's good to read about all the crazy things that happen in the rest of the world (or even get talking to a neighbor...everyone goes through stuff like this) so we can be grateful for what we do have. I'll tell you what, I will be very grateful when we get back to our "normal" worries...
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Our October

Woodburn had its official night of trick-or-treating on Saturday night instead of Sunday--how cool is that? So, the men-folk ran around the neighborhood for an hour while I passed out candy & readied we women for our night at the church's trunk-or-treat (I was asked to make sure it all ran smoothly that night, find chili judges for the cook-off & head the clean-up--no problem!). It was a fantastic turn-out & wow did we have crockpots of chili!! Good thing I brought cornbread :)

Isn't this cow adorable beyond words! Unfortunately we couldn't get her to moo...she still only does the snake & rooster sounds, go figure...

October brings with it 4 birthdays including our very own Tony--give him a hand, he's even more amazing at 34 than he was at 33!!

Here we have the boys waiting anxiously at the door for him to arrive home from work so they could perform the skit they prepared (I was the pioneer maiden-in-distress). The next picture is of Tony's memory-foam pillow he got--after two years of searching I finally found one like mine...denser than the norm & oh-so-delicious to sink into. We love our TonyDaddy!!!

Soccer Action shots

I

love soccer because a.) it gives the boys lots of exercise the whole time & b.) I think it's awesome the boys are on the same team, practicing teamwork (this year they decided they were quite the dynamic duo together & really tried to help each other out. Score!!!)