I guess Thanksgiving didn't turn out to be as stressful as it might have been with having to scramble a bit to ensure we had enough food and room with Mark letting us know less than two days before that they were coming. It helps that Cory prepares all of the food and I keep the kids occupied. Cory also found it really helped keep him relaxed to have a beer while he was getting everything ready. Mark and Shannon and the kids only stayed a few hours, but at least they finally met Tylan.

It was a hard Thanksgiving for Myron - harder than usual, I guess. It's always difficult because we're all remembering being together at the hospital and finding out after Mary's exploratory surgery that the doctors didn't think there was anything they could do. This Thanksgiving just happened to be on the same date as that Thanksgiving four years ago.

We managed fairly well with Myron's dog, Dodger, in the house. Of course, Dodger spent all of his time while inside in our old kennel. I hate to think of a dog being miserably cooped up for two days, but Cory and I refuse to have Dodger around the kids if he's not in a kennel. He hasn't yet bit one of them, but he's come very close several times and we don't know what's going to trigger him. He's not a good-around-children sort of dog. Myron got him at the Humane Society a little less than four years ago when Dodger - a cocker spaniel - was about five years old. Dodger had never lived with children and wasn't even an inside dog. It's too bad that Myron didn't get a dog that would be more appropriate to have around his grandchildren, but it is what it is.

Cory and his dad did some early morning shopping, but there wasn't anything too spectacular going on over the past couple days. Cory's working tonight and says it's really slow as far as pizza deliveries. He has to be up for an 8 a.m. counseling session and them he's going to hopefully finish up painting his co-worker's house. Then he still has to work a few hours delivering pizzas. Poor guy. It's definitely not a relaxing weekend for him.

We started putting up a few Christmas decorations today. We put up the Christmas village and the tree. Haven't decorated the tree yet. Cory put up some outside lights and decorations.

Baby book entry - Cole lost his second bottom tooth tonight.

This hostess is scrambling a little bit for Thanksgiving. Mark just emailed this evening to ask if the five of them could come here on Thursday! Meal preparations for six have now become meal preparations for 11.

I was going through some old emails that I'd saved and found a link to this website. I like it because I often come across children's books that look interesting, but I never know if the stories will be as good as the description.

Cory and I watched the 24: Redemption tv movie tonight. Now we can't wait for the new season to begin in January! I so need my weekly dose of Jack Bauer!

There's a possibility my cousin Jason might crash here tonight for a few hours of sleep, but I doubt that will happen since I haven't heard back from him yet.

No activities for the kids this week with the holiday, but we are definitely looking forward to going to the chiropractor tomorrow afternoon. Other than that, I guess the main work this week will be getting ready for Thanksgiving. Myron is coming Wednesday evening and staying until Friday. No one is looking forward to him having the dog along, but the dog will just have to spend the majority of his time in the kennel.

Now I think I'm going to try to get ready for bed and hopefully be in bed within the hour.

I have been fighting off a headache since I woke up this morning. I think it will be a losing battle. It doesn't help that I'm also tired and have absolutely no motivation to do anything. I really hope this isn't the start of a cold.

The other evening was so odd. All six of us were awake (well, Tylan was probably sleeping some of the time), but it was so quiet even with all of us on the same floor of the house. I think Cory was at the computer most of the time. Accalia was reading much of the evening, and Cole and Accalia spent a lot of time at the table drawing and coloring. I'm not used to so much quiet with everyone awake, so that really stands out.

If anyone has a Spiderman or super hero loving child to buy for on their list, you might want to check out this great bargain. I was just browsing around the Amazon toys clearance and stumbled across it. I picked one up for the kids. We already have their gifts taken care of, but at that price I couldn't pass it up. All three will have a blast with it, and it should provide entertainment for Myron to watch them since it should be here before Thanksgiving.

Cole's going to help me make supper tonight - meatloaf, corn muffins, a veggie. Cole discovered his love of meatloaf at the hospital, of all places. When I was there after Tylan was born, meatloaf was the supper that night. It looked disgusting to me, but Cole immediately asked what it was and proceeded to eat most of it. Since then it's been one of his favorite things.

It is a windy day today! If not for the wind, I think the sun and relatively mild temperatures (into the upper 30s) would make for a nice day outside. I think this wind will help take off most of the remaining leaves on George, our willow tree.

This week our main activities outside of the house are the three classes at the dance studio and art. I guess it should be a fairly quiet week before Thanksgiving. Last year my parents came for Thanksgiving, but they won't be here this year. This year Myron will be coming, and it sounds as if he'll come the night before and stay until Friday. He hasn't stayed at our house for more than one night for years, probably since before Mary died. That was four years ago on the 10th.

My parents were here Saturday afternoon until Sunday morning, and we had a very nice time. Cory cooked a supper of fettucine alfredo, and then we went to their hotel to swim. We always offer them a room here, but they like to get a hotel with a pool so the kids can have that treat. I didn't go swimming this time but sat at a table with Tylan and my mom while Cory and my dad were in the water. Ella fell asleep almost as soon as we got home, but the rest of us sat together and watched Get Smart.

Yesterday morning Cole and I saw a really neat site on our hackberry tree in front. There were three woodpeckers, and they had such brilliant colors of black and white and red. So we knew they were male because of the red spot on the back of the head, but we didn't get a close enough look at their bills to see whether they were short or long. Maybe we'll see them again to see whether they were hairy or downy woodpeckers.

Now that we're closing in on the holiday season, I've been thinking a lot about how to incorporate more cultural traditions into our celebrations. It's always been hard for me with Christmas because we're always away from home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well as a few days before and/or after. So, while we love being with family at their homes during this time, we don't really get a chance to do more things that we might do if we were at home. Our family heritage is mostly German and Norwegian with a few other cultures just barely sprinkled in there. I'm going to do a little research to find some ideas of what we could do. I'd love to hear what all of you do, too!

Speaking of holidays, Thanksgiving is turning into one of my favorites simply because we do stay at home. We still need to do all of our grocery shopping for the meal, though. This year is the local Nutcracker performance, but we won't be able to go. Cory will be delivering pizzas over the weekend, and it's not something that Myron would be interested in seeing. Also, a coworker of Cory's hired him to do some painting at his house. The extra cash will definitely be nice, but all of that will eat up any free time over the weekend.

Lately I've been making short updates on Facebook and keep forgetting that I haven't written anything here for a few days. Go ahead and friend me over on Facebook if you'd like!

Let's see about what's happened between Saturday and today. Cory worked later on Sunday rather than his usual morning into the afternoon, so he took Accalia and Cole to see Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. The kids always love going to movies even if its not a particularly good movie, but they seemed to like this one. Cory thought it was so so. It would have been really nice for Ella to have gone, too, and just had Tylan had home, but Ella's not yet capable of sitting through a movie. Maybe next year.

On Monday we went over a friend's house in the afternoon since public schools were out Monday and Tuesday. Ella loves going there to dance with the oldest girl, and we didn't see Accalia, Cole or the younger girl for the entire time. Tylan was awake the entire time, too, so we knew it was time to go when she started getting fussy. Accalia had ballet later on in the afternoon.

Tuesday was nice because Cory had off work because of Veteran's Day. He spent much of it on the computer doing some work, but he also went out in the snow/rain (and took Ella) to pick up a few groceries. He also discovered a really flat tire on his car and ended up needing two new tires. It was something he knew was coming but was hoping to go a little bit longer before needing to replace. At least he'll have decent tires for the winter. Accalia had gymnastics later on, and then we sat around in the evening catching up on episodes of My Name is Earl.

Today was mostly a day around the house. I spent some time picking up in the computer room. Tomorrow I need to tackle the upstairs landing. Cory's working for a while tonight but will hopefully be home in about a half hour.

Ella is at an age right now where she's starting to really follow movie plots. Tonight she saw some of Cinderella and was yelling at the tv because of Cinderella leaving the glass slipper behind at the ball. The other day she was watching the Spongebob Squarepants movie and was in tears because she thought Spongebob was dead. I remember Accalia and Cole nearly being in tears the first time they saw that, too. Thankfully you're not left in suspense too long.

I have to finish up my semi annual report for my LLL work by Saturday, so maybe I'll actually tackle some of it tonight.

No one showed up at the LLL meeting this morning, which is what I expected. I was really unhappy to see that the meeting space was not really reserved for a group since half of the room is taken up with the circulation desk while the new one is being installed. I understand the necessity of that, but it would have been nice to have received a call about that as a way to acknowledge the reservation. So, I hung out in the children's area for about a half hour, keeping an eye out in case any mothers showed up. Ella was very happy to play with the toys and put together the puzzles.

It's been a cold and windy day today, so we've just stuck around home. Cory went to work at 3 p.m. and will hopefully be home soon. Cole and Accalia had Book It certificates for free personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut (yes, homeschoolers can participate, too!), so they had those for supper. Ella had one, too, of course.

Couple entries for the baby book:

- Last night Tylan started making a "b" sound, and it is so cute to watch her screw up her mouth and engage me in conversation with this new sound. Cory hasn't heard it yet.

- This morning Tylan rolled from her stomach to her back. Hooray!

I'd just like to say how happy I am to not be in western South Dakota right now and buried under nearly four feet of snow. Yikes! Here in Yankton we have the wind and the cold temperatures, but we only have a dusting of snow. The grass isn't even covered, but that hasn't stopped Cole from going outside and doing as much as he can to play in that snow. Poor Cory is out delivering pizzas, and I'm sure it's busy with more people probably not wanting to head outside.

Today Cole and Accalia went to art, but that was it for anything outside the house. Apparently it's dangerous enough inside the house! I was loading the dishwasher - carrying Tylan in the sling - and I stepped back, forgetting that a step stool was right there. I fell and was able to turn so I didn't fall straight back, but I still ended up messing up my foot and leg a little. I was, of course, much more worried about Tylan getting hurt, but she was fine. It scared her a lot, though, and took a while to calm her down.

Otherwise, Tylan is doing just fine. She's getting more hair, and it's coming in darker. I wonder if it will stay darker like Ella's has or if she'll be blond like Accalia was for quite some time. Today Ella is taking great delight in falling and then jumping up to say "I okay!" This started before I fell. Cole, other than playing in our trace of snow and engaging me in light saber fights, is wanting to spend more time playing by himself. It used to only be Accalia that requested the gate being put up at the bottom of the stairs so no one else would follow her. Cole's doing that occasionally, too. Accalia and I had to watch the latest episode of Bones online (that's our show to watch together). We're also reading the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip together. Remember that? I loved that when I was a kid.

Okay, I have a poopy diaper to change. Tomorrow is LLL. I doubt anyone will show up. I've already had two moms let me know they won't be coming.

Okay, first to post pictures from Halloween:


The family: Cory (apparently with a splitting headache) holding Tylan, Cole as Venom (without the mask), Ella as a shy princess, and Accalia as Hannah Montana


Accalia and her twin from next door, T.


A picture of all of the kids, including the neighbor girls.


A smiley Tylan to start off Halloween.

The kids had a fun time on Halloween and were ready to stop trick or treating after about an hour. Cory was willing to keep going with them, but they were worn out. Thankfully the weather was perfect for being outside.

It's been so odd having such warm weather in late October and early November, but that is supposed to change starting tonight or tomorrow. Parts of South Dakota are even going to be under blizzard watches. Yankton always seems to miss the worst of the winter weather, but we'll see how this year unfolds.

We really didn't have a lot going on the rest of the weekend. Cory worked, and the kids and I were around. Nothing too exciting. Cory and I watched Baby Mama at some point over the weekend.

The kids are all doing well. Tylan's just a very smiley baby, and the worst thing with her is a mild case of cradle cap. Ella's desire to dump things out has now brought its focus to our board games. That's driving me a bit nuts, but there are only so many that she can reach on her own. That helps limit how much gets dumped out at a time. Cole is kind of going through a phase where he sounds so negative and "I can't do that" or "I don't want to do that." All perfectly normal developmently, but I'll be glad when Cole's no longer so much of an Eeyore. Accalia continues to grow up so much and do so many things on her own. She's been so helpful in so many ways and is now saving up for an MP3 player.

I'm trying to feel less exhausted and more motivated, but it's not really happening. So, if you're coming here to be inspired, most likely that won't be happening for a while!

What an amazing election! I think I'm still in a bit of shock that Obama was elected! Last night was truly one of those times for me when I was so keenly aware of witnessing history, and thankfully this is a very positive, uplifting historical event. I'm so excited to watch how Obama's presidency unfolds.

I know I have a lot of updating to do. Hopefully later on...