Wicked and Thanksgiving

Barty is BAAAAAAACK! He is very silly leaving all that fog to obscure our way to work and school. Evelyn is learning to pick Away in a Manger by rote memory. This is a very challenging skill because she only picked the song with Andrew three times using call and response. At home practicing was a challenge because she kept forgetting the sequence. I made up our own code she can follow and practice at home. I am so proud of her for practicing her guitar and especially her MCO music all on her own. She often sits for an hour and plunks out the music for MCO singing her little heart out. 

We had an assembly the last day before Thanksgiving break. I invited the STEM Action Center representatives to come and present something about the upcoming Hour of Code (now AI). Rebekah Lulu came to do the presentation. Mr Tracht and I were robots that 4 of my top typing students got to code. I kept bugging out, which delighted the students. 

Phillip is improving with his driving skills. He drove all the way to see Austin without breaking the car! He didn’t want to drive home, but did anyway because he needs to hours. I got most of our Thanksgiving food shopping done on Friday. Evelyn and I went to Fred Meyer after seeing Nina just to check out their deli. I was thrilled they had a sale on their fancy cheeses, $3 cuts of every sort of cheese you can imagine. I got about 20 different cheeses to try plus some fancy meats and crackers most other stores don’t stock. The horse duvers just jumped up 12 steps to freaking awesome. 

We got to go see Wicked for Good in the theater Friday the 21st, opening night. Amelia was the instigator for our adventure. She bought a ticket at the wrong theater, ha ha. Justin sure enjoyed his solo seat right on the front row of the risers. We (I) could not resist the cute Glinda, Elphaba, and Lion stuffies sold near the register. The girls looked so cute all dressed up for the movie. It was fun to know that Amelia, Clare, and another roommate were watching the same movie at the same time. We loaded up with two buckets of popcorn and various slurpees the kids bought with their own money. The movie was pretty good. I think they overdid the romance scene with Fiaro and Elphaba. Stupid. What a fun way to start our fall break. 

I saw some folks playing slap each other with tortillas with a full mouth of water, whoever laughs first loses! It's been on my bucket list for at least a year. We played the game on Sunday with stale tortillas (even pita bread). My floor was spit-shine clean by the time we finished playing. It felt good to laugh. We had Dusty and Sara plus kids over for dinner because they were leaving for the weekend. Good times. 

Monday we spent the entire day cleaning bedrooms. The loft, Phillip’s room, and the little girl’s room were in dire straits again. I worked on putting summer clothes away and getting out winter stuff, that’s always a big chore. The girls were not very helpful, until I rallied them and after finishing the clothes. We got the rest of the mischief managed in their main room in about an hour. We tidied up the loft area in about an hour. The worst part was the kid’s bathroom. I mom cleaned that atrocity with alacrity. The toilet was black, like seriously, if the toilet is an unnatural color maybe wipe it out? The bathtub was also covered with a nasty funk that took me a good 30 minutes to scrub off. Phillip needed help sorting through his closet and putting stuff away. He likes the mom time! We were close to finishing the task when Amelia and Clare walked through the door…a DAY early! Hooray! They decided to ditch their afternoon classes and go home. Awwww! I got to big hug from my sugar bear boo. We were quite delirious with joy to have Mia and Clare early. I made some yummy Zuppa Tuscano, no leftovers! Whoot whoop!

Amelia and Clare took all the kids to the mall for some afternoon fun on Tuesday. Amelia picked up Evelyn from Nina’s then headed to the mall. That was super nice because I had some last minute ingredients to buy. I hear the mall crew had quite a fun time. The drive home however took over 2 hours because there was a crash with a fatality just past 10-mile exit. I was very sad to hear the passenger that died was a 7 year-old boy. The kids complained a bit until they learned about the reason for the wait. They played a few car games with another vehicle and a pass the story game to help the wait go by faster. 

I made an executive decision to have our Horse Duvers for dinner on Wednesday night instead of Thursday at lunch. That was brilliant! I made up a menu and divvied out kitchen tasks and assigned kids to particular dishes. Everett helped me make the pumpkin pie, Josie helped make the chocolate parfait, and everyone had tasks for the horse duvers. Justin was happy to cut ALL the cheese. Josie made labels so we knew which cheeses was what. Phillip was tasked with the pickle tray. Evelyn had the cracker platter. It was very efficient. By the time dinner was ready the entire table was filled with platters of cheese, meats, crackers, fruit, nuts, veggies, pickles, goat cheese dates wrapped in bacon, a brie wheel, and jams. 

Happy Thanksgiving Day! I was up early to make a biscoff dessert and rolls. I kept thinking about the Pilgrims and the Indians. How they laid aside their differences to celebrate a year of survival together. We need more of that in the world. I helped Evelyn finish her Mini Potions classroom kit while we watched Wild Robot. This year we got a prime rib instead of a turkey, except I did get a small turkey breast to roast for Amelia and Josie. The menu was quite simple: prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry salad, and rolls. Once it was time for dinner Chad, Jellybean, Carrots, Sriracha, and Cager all joined us at the table. Cager looked like he had too much apple cider. We listed off our favorite blessings while eating our delicious meal. It was still light outside when we finished so the dogs (aka racing horses) went on a walk, they took their humans on a walk. Eve was so mighty she pulled Phillip’s scooter most of the way, he was pleased with that arrangement. The dog-horses galloped on their tiny legs much to our amusement. The fresh air was lovely. We started to get bored after dessert was served. We sampled the Biscoff cheesecake cups and some chocolate parfait while watching Elf. I challenged Evelyn to a game of Sleeping Queens 2 upstairs. Phillip and Everett joined in the fun as we learned how to play our newest game. We love Sleeping Queens (original) and the second version is just as fun. I played about 3 rounds of the new game. Then out came Santa, Cookie, Elf, Candy, Snowman, four rounds of that was enough to light up our evening. We get pretty silly playing that game. Amelia and I about died from laughter because we always seem to flinch or do the wrong actions. Phillip about smacked our hands off, he was booted from the next round. I love our amazing kids. I loved having everyone home for the weekend. As Josie predicted, Christmas began right after dessert. 

Friday Christmas came out of the storage boxes as we packed fall away. I was so grateful for Amelia’s help, she helped me throughout the entire day. Phillip and Everett did most of the heavy lifting. Evelyn and Josie decorated the kid tree after Amelia wrapped the lights. By evening the transformation was complete. It looks amazing. There are a couple holes on the wall that “need” some more decorations. We snacked on cheese and leftovers for our hunger holes all through the day. Justin kept down the couch for 5 hours straight. How he can do that amazes me. The boys did get the bushes trimmed up, hooray. Our Nelves visited after dinner. We heard some bells while working on the dishes. I think we scared them off because there was an explosion of candy….and GLITTER. Turns out Nosnap farted, he farted glitter. Evelyn got her Nelf this year. Nyleveju is her name. She has pretty cursive handwriting just like Evelyn. How exciting. The Nelves left an advent calendar for the girls. 

Amelia and I enjoyed some shopping at Target and then Hobby Lobby. You know, had to fill those empty spots on the walls. We treated ourselves to some chicky nuggs and shakes after all that walking. The dogs finally got groomed. Fergus was looking like a shaggy unloved dog. I wish you could comprehend the amount of hair we shaved off his body. I bet we could’ve stuffed a pillow with his cuttings. Since we were in the mode Wally and Eve also got some grooming. I was wearing a hair suit by the time we finished. Sooooo itchy. Clare arrived later afternoon from her adventure in Oregon with her family. We had some curry for dinner and games afterward. The girls and I snuck in a practice sesh for our upcoming concert with Fiddle Express. 

Amelia and Clare left this morning at 10 am to head back to Rexburg. She was sad and happy to leave us again. Her new life is quiet and busy without all the noise of our home. Amelia loves her roomies! That is always a good thing. We woke up to a skiff of snow on the ground. Hooray. We get to see Amelia in about 16 days, she needs to get through finals and find a way back home using the Ride Share board. See you soon Amelia!