Thanksgiving 2009 with the Butler/LaMarche family

I found some time at the moment to sit down, even though 5 load of laundry beg for my attention and the room next to me is scattered with toys. I have already sorted the laundry into piles and made lunch for the kids, I think I can sit down for awhile. They went down for naps a little while ago, and it is a good thing they are napping today. Today was a rough morning, transitioning back from our trip to Ohio and back, I am not sure I was ready for today. Even though Violet was at preschool for 2 1/2 hours, I think Violet and Calvin fought the most they have since leaving on our trip in the 2 hours they were together when she got home from school. She got upset that I made her eat spaghetti sauce with her noodles (she loves them plain), her and Calvin ended up in her play tent together and with the door zipped shut, they flipped it over a few times and Calvin came out with a lot of bruises. Anyway, I'm just glad they're sleeping. They both missed naps on days on Ohio for one reason or another, so they are both lacking sleep and a schedule. Anyway, enough complaining! Last week Wednesday morning we woke up early and got ready before the kids woke up. We packed the van with everything we packed the night before, woke them up, fed them breakfast, and loaded into the car. We backed out of the driveway 30 min later than we had planned, but leaving at 8:30 am was still a good feat for our family. We had in front of us the entire distance to Ohio that day. We ended up stopping two times on our way to Chicago for potty breaks and made it to Dave's mom's house in Chicago around 1 pm. Martha kindly had lunch ready for us. She got the kids hot dogs and the adults italian beef sanwiches from Dave's favorite childhood restaurant, Novi's Beef. That lunch was enough to pack us full and not have to stop for supper. I had lots of snacks for the car trip anyway. The kids got a chance to run around and burn off some energy at Martha's house. Her front porch has two kid slides and lots of toys so they kept themselves occupied for an hour or so, then we got Martha's things packed up and loaded into the van, and took off for Ohio around 2:30. Kids slept for a couple hours, I tried to sleep but I didn't actually snooze off. Dave and Martha chatted away in the front seats, I was trying to rest in the back seat. Violet's car seat got moved to the third row center spot, which she loves to sit in so the third adult riding in our van could have a comfortable spot to sit in the 2nd row captain's chair. Calvin rode in his seat behind the driver. I don't remember much about the trip, it got pretty bad towards the end with lots of whining but it eventually ended. I think we stopped once on the way. We arrived in Ohio around 8:30 that night, a full 12 hours of travel. Ohio is an hour ahead of central time, so I guess that would only be 11 hours. Anyway, long enough. Sean & April and family arrived about 30 min after we got to Tim and Deb's house. Their family of 9 really fill a house! Kala was there already, and Roger and Mary arrived on Thursday morning. So there were 10 adults and 9 children in one house for 4 days! The kids occupied themselves most of the time, they watched a lot of movies and played a lot of games. The toy that got played with the most was this enormous container of legos. I didn't think my kids would enjoy them as much as they did, but they both came up with some fun lego creations! Thanksgiving dinner really delicious. Tim had prepped the bird the night before in a brine and grilled the whole thing in his outdoor grill the morning of Thanksgiving. It was really yummy and juicy. The rest of the food was soo good too. Deb's sweet potato casserole I think was my favorite. It was so sweet, it almost tasted like a dessert! There was also sourdough stuffing, mashed potatoes/gravy, and green beans with onions and panchetta (sp?). Pumpkin and pecan pie for dessert, of course! The rest of the visit was pretty unscheduled. Some of the ladies woke up at 5:45 am to hit the stores and shop on Black Friday. I was NOT in the that crowd, nothing in me wanted to wake up early and be shoulder to shoulder in the middle of a crowd trying to get stuff. I really dislike shopping on BF! Kala, Deb, Aunt Mary and April woke up to go, they came home with a trunk full of stuff. Sleep was more important to me! Kala and I went to see the movie New Moon and some others in the crowd went to a different theater to see the Christmas Story movie in 3D. Saturday we spent most of the afternoon outside at Tim and Deb's friend's house. It was on a farm a few miles from their house. They graciously allowed our clan to come and spend time on their property. We got to feed horses, the kids got to take rides on a horse, go fishing in their pond, and take rides on their 4 wheelers. Dave showed me how to ride one so I got to take off on a 4 wheeler and go out on my own, it was SO fun!! Violet tried her hand at fishing, but no fish bit any worms the whole day. Calvin was tough to watch wander around. He was only interested in chasing the cats around. Kala brought along her little new kitty, Jackson. Jackson is only a few months old, and still a teeny tiny little cat. Calvin and Violet LOVED the kitty. Especially Calvin. He was enamored by the kitty, he would pick up the kitty and say "hi meow!" and play with him, chase him, and hold him gently. It was enough to convince me to get a cat, but Dave could never live with a cat since he's so allergic. At night, Calvin would say "bye bye meow!" and the first thing he would say when he woke up was "meow?" The kitty stayed in Kala's room since the house cat Mimi did NOT like her. We drove to Chicago on Sunday afternoon. I think we left Ohio around 2:30 pm (Ohio time) and got back to Chicago around 6:30. We called a pizza ahead at Dave's favorite pizza place, Salerno's and ate there before going back to Martha's house. We spent the night there, and left in the morning by 10:45 am. Kids woke up TOO early on Monday morning. Calvin popped his head out of his crib at 5:15 am and said "hi!" We told him to go back to sleep, which I think he did for a little while. Violet climbed out of her bed at 6:30 and started playing with Calvin in the pitch dark. That was it for Dave and I, we woke up then. Martha left for work and we got ourselves ready. We made plans with Carrie to stop at her house on our way out of town to see new baby Wesley. I stayed at her house with her for about three hours and Dave met Josh for lunch. We didn't leave til 2:30! The kids all played well together with their cousins Austin and Renee. Carrie said she was glad to not be pregnant anymore. Monday was Josh's first day back to work since Wesley's birth so it was her first day "on her own" with all three kids. I think she was glad we stopped by, she gets exhausted pretty quickly. Wesley is a cute baby. I think he looks a lot like Austin...more like Josh...but I can't really tell. Violet got to hold him, and she loved it. She stared at him, stroked his hair, and acted fully responsible for the baby during the time she held him. She told me she was excited when our new baby came out of mommy's tummy. I also took home my maternity clothes that I lent Carrie. Violet and Calvin were SO exhausted when we packed them in the car to leave. We pulled out of their driveway and with in a few blocks, we pulled up to a gas station to fill up before the drive home. We looked in the back seat and both of them were totally asleep. That has never happened before. I guess the combination of an exhausting weekend with not as much sleep and the fact that they woke up at 6:30 and played hard until 2:30 just wore them out completely. They slept solid for two hours. The drive home was fine...we stopped at McDonald's in Galena for a quick supper (they ate cheeseburgers faster than I have ever seen them eat cheeseburgers) and we made the last leg home. We pulled into the driveway at 8:15, and Calvin said "home!!" They were still really tired...so they went to bed quickly. Dave and I unloaded everything and decided to tackle unpacking later.