Weekend Update 12.5.10 (2 weeks worth!)

1. Thanksgiving was lovely. We were joined by my whole immediate family. Dennis made the roasted turkey and stuffing (basted every 20 minutes, thank-you-very-much), which as always was delicious. Jacob also contributed a tasty, crispy fried turkey. We couldn't get anyone to take leftovers home, so we ended up with three gallon ziplocs full of leftover turkey meat. At least that's when we gave up and tossed the rest. Also delicious: Marie's pumpkin cream pie a la Pioneer Woman, Kelly's green beans, Mere's cranberry sauce from scratch, oyster artichoke soup, Doodah's salad...

2. Gipper has two new "little sisters." We adopted 2 cats. Yup, two. The idea was to get a barn cat to take care of the mouse problem. So far we have two inside cats and no dead mice.

Meet Biggie. She's our combat killer (we hope).

Meet Smalls. She's our diva.

She also has six toes on her front paws.

Side note: Do you ever watch the show Hoarders? Have you seen any of the episodes in which a hoarder has 30+ cats in the house? I can only imagine that the stench must knock you over before you even get in the door. Just having cats in two rooms of the house with a litter box that's cleaned twice a day is already disgusting.

3. Henry's favorite Christmas show is Frosty the Snowman. He begs to watch it every day. He also yells for the song every time we're in the car. (There is a sequel to Frosty, Frosty Returns, starring John Goodman as the voice of Frosty. Please don't ever watch it-it's just terrible.)

4. According to Henry, the newest member of our family is Pepper, our Elf on the Shelf. Every night Pepper magically goes to visit Santa to report on Henry's behavior, then returns to a new perch in the house before anyone wakes up. First thing each morning, Henry runs around looking for Pepper. When I get home each day from work, he has to show Pepper to me first thing.

Henry: "Mommy, look at Pepper! He's on the clock!"

Me: "Wow, how did he get up there?"

Henry: "He flied up there."

Me: "He did?"

Henry: "Yeah! With magic!"

5. Rookie Boot Camp is over. Dennis finished it. I almost did, but I strained my right adductor group (aka inner thigh) and had to sit out the last few sessions. The good news is that I was able to ellipse and run on the treadmill this week without much discomfort, so I think my lying around doing nothing was successful. We're planning to rejoin the next session, but I don't think it starts up for a couple of months. I'm definitely not ready for the regular boot camp, so I'll stick with the rookie version for a while. Or maybe forever.

6. Frances is crawling, pulling up, and cruising around the coffee table. She also can stand alone for 10-20 seconds at a time. I suspect she'll be walking any minute now. Frannie loves to talk to her toys, and her babbling has become very conversational (with some raspberries thrown in for good measure).

7. This year we are again trying to give mostly handmade gifts, which really makes the season more enjoyable for us. Yesterday we went to the Lex to do some shopping (unfortunately I haven't quite figured out how to hand-make Toy Story figures). It was immensely painful, and the nasty sleet/snow/rain wasn't helping, either. Hopefully we won't have to travel back until after the holidays.

8. Delicious winter evening drink: hot spiced apple cider plus butterscotch schnapps. Yum!

Equally delicious old standby: hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps. I urge you to try one of them soon. You will be a happier person for it.

9. Speaking of delicious/peppermint/cocoa combinations, yesterday I had a Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake from Chick-Fil-A. If you are within driving distance of a Chick-Fil-A, get in your car now and go buy one.

Seriously.

I'll wait.

Isn't it awesome? Okay, sorry if you are reading this on Sunday and drove all the way out to CFA just to realize that they are closed on Sundays. When you try again tomorrow you will realize the extra trip was worth it because the milkshake is that good. Oh yeah, so I take back what I wrote earlier about not going to Lexington again for a while. I need to go back for a milkshake. Or three.

10. Henry is doing really well at getting himself dressed. Some mornings he shows up in our room fully dressed and ready for the day. Other days he's completely naked or just in his underwear, "My need help get dressed on!"

It's Christmastime!