Thursday, October 29
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The night before, Dawn called with a snow warning. I
noticed on FaceBook, that my friend, Jen, who lives in Colorado, said it was snowing. Apparently, that was an understatement. It was no surprise
that I got a call from Dawn on Thursday to tell me that most flights out of Denver
were cancelled. She was going to see what she could do to find another flight.
I stayed at work for much of the day. I tested out
my Princess Leia costume because the building was encouraged to dress up for Halloween.
About 8 of us did. We also had a Chili Contest and a Pumpkin Carving Contest. It made for a fun morning, and my own costume held up pretty well!
I left work a bit after lunch, and gave Dawn a call to see how the rescheduling was working out. It wasn’t. Russ tried to find some alternatives
online too, but there was just no way for Dawn to get out of Billings and bypass Denver without doubling her cost.
Her best option was to go home, and return to Billings
the following day to resume her previous schedule. Kate would pick her up at
BWI on her way down from Philadelphia. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the house for all our guests.
Since I didn’t have to go to the airport to pick up Dawn, I accompanied Russ and the boys to football practice, and
then we ate at 5 Guys for dinner.
Friday, October 30
*********************************************
Friday morning I let Russ sleep in a little, while I got the boys ready for daycare/school. After I dropped them off, Russ and I went to the grocery store to stock up. It was quite a shopping trip, but we wanted the shelves and fridge well stocked for the week.
After bring the groceries home and putting them away, I began putting laundry away. Just as I started in on the baskets, Mom and Dad arrived! They’d
had a long trip, but got here safely, and I’m so appreciative of their traveling. We
chatted a little and got a bite to eat. Then we went to Liam’s school because
his class was having a “Fall Festival” party and family was invited. This was
a special time for Liam to share his classroom with his Grandparents, and it was fun to see him interact with his new friends
and even perform a Monster Dance!
After the little party was over, we were able to bring Liam home.
On the way, we stopped at Daycare to get Jaxson. The boys were both excited
to see Gramma & Grandpa. So we returned to the house, and Mom helped me get
some things ready for my Pampered Chef Party. The consultant, Kim Jenkins, was
scheduled to arrive at 5:30.
It was a great show, and I ended up with about 8 guests. We
had Pork BBQ sandwiches, Spinach Strawberry Salad and fruit with a fluffy chocolate fondue.
It was fun, and helped me get my Deep Dish Covered Baker for HALF PRICE! Thanks
to all who attended!
Needless to say, after the last guest left, and Kim loaded her van up with dirty Pampered Chef dishes,
I was exhausted. I collapsed on the couch and thanked Russ and Dad for keeping
an eye on the half dozen kids who also “attended” the party. We got the boys
to bed, and watched a little TV. I nodded off a couple times, but was determined
to stay up to welcome Kate and Dawn. Russ, Mom & Dad had already gone to
bed, and I was watching a show about Punkin Chunkin when I suddenly awoke to Kate and Dawn laughing at me throgh the garage
door window.
Hugs went all around even though it was nearly midnight. We
sat on the couch for a little bit and talked, but I reminded them that we had an early Football game to spectate in the morning,
so we all found our beds.
Saturday, October 31
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What a wonderful morning! It is such a wonderful feeling
for me to wake up with a house full of family. Well… we won’t count that I was
only half away with a mere 6 hours of sleep and an incredibly busy day ahead of me… but the magic was still there.
I got myself dressed and headed downstairs to let the dogs out.
It was raining. Where was the rain coming from?? It wasn’t supposed to rain! So, I told Russ, and he came down
and checked the online radar. No rain in the forcast, no cancellations on the
football websites…. So we proceeded to get everyone else up. We took two vehicles
down to the field for the early morning game. It was misty out, but no longer
raining. The field was muddy, but that’s all part of football. It did nothing to deter our players. It was a great game! Maybe it was because they were all excited about Halloween. Maybe Liam was just thrilled to have such a family fan club present… or maybe it was the crappy weather. No one seemed to care. Liam even made not one,
but TWO flag tackles!! This is a great achievement for him. For half the season, his dad had been telling him
that if he grabbed a flag, he'd get the Batman Legos Wii game he so desperately wanted. Russ gave him the thumbs up
on the field after the first flag pull, and Liam shouted for joy. The kids ran hard and all had smiles on their
faces, especially when Coach Billy gave them each a little Halloween Goody Bag!
After the game, we went to go check on the Silent Auction Baskets I’d bid on the weekend before. I was only a dollar short of winning the doggy basket.
When the commissioner of the League told me the baskets had to go today, so the highest bid wins, I ran for my check
book. I didn’t want the doggy basket for myself, but wanted to win it so I could
donate the money to the Raiders Football League, and then donate the basket to the Animal Relief Fund so they too could benefit
from using it in a raffle of some sort. Additionally, Dawn bid on a basket of
hot chocolate and goodies and won it for $30!!. We ALL enjoyed the bounty from
that when we got home. The hot chocolate was delicious on a cold, rainy day.
Once home, we cooked a better breakfast for all of us, and spent the rest of the morning visiting. Russ and Dad attempted to figure out what was wrong with the electric circuits for
my microwave. They also kept a cozy fire going in the fireplace.
We kind of skipped lunch, because we planned to have an early dinner before we headed out to go
Trick-or-Treating. It was good to have some relaxing time in the middle of the
day. Dawn even practiced her lessons a little bit on our out-of-tune piano!
It was nice not to have to rush into carving our pumpkins too. Russ thought about doing a
Darth Vader bust, but decided, he'd stick with a traditional Jack-o-Lantern. The one Jax drew ended up looking like
a Puking Pumpkin, so he delighted in announcing that all afternoon.
Around 4:00 we decided to get dinner going. Russ cooked
some steaks, and we had several yummy side dishes to fill our bellies. We all
sat around the dining room table and discussed our Trick-or-Treat route. I think
all of us were eager to get things cleaned up so that we could don our costumes.
Once the kitchen was decent, we all raced to our rooms to get our costumes on. Liam got a little help from Aunt Dawn, and I helped Jax. Russ
helped me a little, and Mom and Dad AND Dawn all pitched in to help Kate with her C3P0 costume. IT WAS HILARIOUS!!! We were all laughing so hard and were
so excited we barely got out the door. Finally, we were all put together enough
to get a few pictures taken before we hit the street.
We still laughed nearly the whole way because C3PO was more of a “Blind 3P0” and kept
unraveling. Other Trick-Or-Treaters stopped us for pictures. Jax looked adorable in his Jawa costume, complete with glowing eyes.
Liam took his Jango Fett costume very seriously and even ran into one of his classmates from school. Mom & Dad helped us find our way by holding the flashlight, and taping up C3PO when needed.
Finally, after an hour and a half, we made it around the block and had bags of candy. Liam raced in the door, stripped off his costume, and had all his loot dumped out on the couch before I
could get my Princess Leia buns off! Jax was so tired by the time we got home,
that I think he’d forgotten that he’d actually acquired a bag of candy. We let
each boy have a couple pieces of candy while we watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” After the show, we insured the boys brushed their teeth, and got them into bed. Halloween has really become a special holiday, and I hope we can continue the tradition for several years. It would be great to have Noah and/or Brian & Jo join us one year!
Once the boys were in bed, we watched a show that we’d been saving to show Kate about the Lost Colony
at Fort Raleigh. It was pretty good, and I think Mom, Dad and Dawn all enjoyed it too. After the show,
Kate needed to head back to Philadelphia. We hated to see her travel so late, but she had a singing engagement the next morning that she really couldn’t
miss. Luckily, she made it home safely.
After Kate left, it wasn’t long before the rest of us headed to bed.
We’d all had an early start to a very busy day.
Sunday, Nov 1
*********************************************
We purpously kept the schedule light on Sunday. We
got up when we felt like it, although, the boys joined Grandpa pretty early. We
had a nice breakfast together, and just took our time enjoying each other’s company.
We still chuckled at the memory of Blind 3PO avoiding the ditch.
Dad and Russ tried to get a new circuit breaker at Lowe’s, but couldn’t find one that was compatible
with our box. Luckily, we found one online.
The boys played well together, and it was just nice to talk and play at a leisurly pace. Liam got some of his
homework done - with a little help from Aunt Dawn.
After lunch, I called my friend Janet to see if she still wanted to escort us on the base, so I
could show Mom & Dad and Dawn the Ch-47F Simulator. The base has gotten a
lot more strict on guests lately, and contractors can’t escort guests anymore without government approval or personal escort. Janet wanted to see the Sim anyway, and she’s a Civil Servant, so we picked her, and
her daughter, Rosalia, up on the way. Jax and Russ stayed home, and it was just
as well, because Jax was running a low fever. He’ll often get one when he’s getting
run down.
We had a fun time flying the Sim, but it took me quite a while to get it up and running. I’m lucky to have a very accomodating and helpful boss and coworker, who don’t mind phone calls at home. So, the tour took a bit longer than I’d anticipated, but all who wanted to got to
fly, and we returned home around 3:30. Big thanks to JANET for her help!
We planned to fry a turkey for dinner, so we started getting that all ready. I told Russ it would take an hour to do, but then dilly dallied in getting the rest of the meal together,
so we didn’t really end up eating dinner until about 6:45. Not bad, but a little
late. It was so yummy though. We
made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower salad (actually, Kate made the salad the day before, but we forgot to put
it on the table at dinnertime), green beans and cabbage. Missed the cranberry
sauce though!
After dinner, we all pitched in to clean up. It was
getting late, and the boys had school the next day, so we got them in bed soon after dinner.
They certainly needed the rest.
Then the adults watched the movie, The Departed. It
was good. A big violent with an ample share of profanity, but the plot was pretty
good. Dad and Mom got a little lost, but they hung in there to the end. By the end of the movie, we were all ready to turn in.
It’d been a really fun weekend, and we are so blessed to have family who are willing to travel and be such a special
and cherished part of these special times.
Russ and I had to return to work on Monday. Liam went
to school, and Russ took Jax to daycare. Mom and Dad left the house around 9:00,
and I was glad Dawn was there to see them off. Dawn had the rest of the day to
herself, and took the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood quite a bit with the big dogs.
Tuesday, Jax will stay home with Dawn, and I hope to duck out of work a little early. Wednesday, Liam has a half day of school, so Dawn is going to join him for lunch and then bring him home.
Thursday, I’m going to take the whold day off from work, so Dawn and I can do
some shopping together. Friday night, Liam has his last football game of the
season, and Saturday, we’ll be taking Dawn back to the airport. We plan to make
EVERY MINUTE count!!
