On Wednesday of this past week, we took off for Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. Rob was able to get off work a tad bit early and because of that, we made it in time for a big Litwiller/Schertz family dinner. And I mean just in time: we pulled in at the same time as Rob's parents at the restaurant. We looked a might disheveled, Rob having sat in chocolate and in his traveling shorts, me in a rather dressed-down outfit, and the kids looking like, well, kids that had been in a car for four hours! I was feeling very out-of-sorts and not fit for human company, but it was nice to see everyone. I hit the shower after the kids went to bed that night and slept off the crankies. Sort of. I never sleep well away from home!
The next day we visited with Rob's youngest brother and his wife, who are expecting their first baby in July. We gave them all sorts of unsolicited advice on baby care that I hope they immediately forget, because I always tell new parents, "Don't listen to anything anybody tells you, even me. Do what's best for your baby." We also saw his middle brother, wife, and oldest child Jamie. Melissa was pregnant with their second son, who was born the following morning. We didn't get to see the baby b/c Rob had a sore throat and didn't think it best to pass that on to a newborn. We'll see baby Julian Mitchell at Christmas instead.
Our dinner was wonderful, especially since we had pork tenderloin instead of turkey! Rob and I are not great turkey lovers, but will tolerate it once a year if we have to. The kids all ate pretty good and enjoyed the meal. Anna, my little carnivore, ate an entire piece of pork! And she tried pumpkin pie for the first time and loved it.
On Friday, I went out shopping at 5:45am. Kohls had toys on sale and I had a coupon so I "braved" it. I really don't have a problem shopping on Black Friday and find people funny who keep saying, "This is crazy! This is nuts!" when they walk into a store. Seriously, did they not know what they were getting into?? Anyway, I waited a mere ten minutes in line to pay, then went to Toys R Us to find what I couldn't get at Kohls. Again, I waited about five-ten minutes in line. I guess the wait to pay earlier in the morning was almost 3 hours. That's a little excessive for me! So, the moral of the story is: go a few hours after the store opens if you're not looking for the reduced-price-but-under-stocked items. And then I used some coupons at Lane Bryant, in which I was the only customer. Not bad!
We took the kids to the Children's Museum at 9am along with my in-laws and Jamie, who was dropped off by his tired daddy. My sister and mother met us there and I got to see my nephew Zach for the first time. He was so cute! Uncle Rob put him to sleep (Zach had a cold anyway so his mommy didn't mind a slightly sick Uncle Rob holding him.) After two hours at the museum, we took the kids to McDonald's, then on to Pontiac to stay with my parents. My brother Joel, wife Cara, and son Ezra stopped in for supper and a visit. I didn't know we'd be seeing them, so it was a nice surprise!
We took off for home on Saturday morning and got here by early afternoon. In the evening, we went to the Christmas Parade of Lights. We have enjoyed going to that parade every year since we've been here. The boys just loved it! Anna fell asleep half-way through, but her sleep schedule has been off so I wasn't surprised. Ben is a cute-magnet: he was given a teddy bear and a snowman lamp. Anna was given a squishy turtle. Poor Matthew has apparently passed the age of little-kid cuteness. He was rather sad, but he did pick up WAY more candy than Ben. We had two teenagers with no knowledge of personal space standing near us. Several times I turned to talk to Rob and one of the teens was standing there instead. I kept moving up our family to get away from them, but they didn't take the hint! Oh well, the parade was still lots of fun!
And now I'm off to finish my grocery shopping, including the purchase of baking supplies. I'm going all out this year!
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