Not quite what we had planned

This Thanksgiving will be a memorable one, and at first I would have thought it would be all for bad reasons. Just when we thought we'd gotten rid of Elsie's hives, and upped her reflux meds to accommodate her weight gain, she got a terrible virus. And then I got the virus. It was yucky, and it shut us in for Thanksgiving, causing us to cancel our plans to join our friends for a special Thanksgiving meal.

Now I love holidays and making things "special" so this was a complete travesty to me. How we were going to tell sweet Emily that our special day was ruined was beyond me. I boo-hooed like a baby and moaned and whined until I realized that Scott didn't seem to be upset at all. I couldn't imagine why this didn't matter to him!?! Didn't he realize that our special day was RUINED?!?

But that wasn't it at all. He was already planning the perfect way to spend the day, even if we were sick.

First of all he built "the fort." This is basically the couch and love-seat pushed together so no small children can roll off. Its pretty much entirely enclosed, and its the most comfortable place when one doesn't feel good. Elsie and spent hours and hours in the fort snuggling and sleeping.

We found a restaurant that makes (fabulous) turkey dinners, and once I got used to the idea, I was so thankful that there were no dishes to wash! We had our fill of turkey and the fixin's and we also got fabulous refugee plates from our neighbor.

Later that night Scott called everybody outside to see the space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station pass right over our house. They were perfectly visible and we were able to see them make a large arch over us. This was extra special because Emily and Scott have been doing their moon journals together this past week.

After that we piled in the fort and watched a movie. Then last night while I started putting the babies to bed, Scott built a fire in the fire ring in our backyard. By the time I joined them, he was reading Emily Curious George stories by flashlight in between roasting marshmallows.

Our Thanksgiving holiday wasn't anything that was typical, but I'm thankful that we were able to spend it together with great attitudes. I realized later that the reason why Emily was probably just fine with our change of plans was because we were just fine with our change in plans. I'm glad that she didn't take after her mother and carry on like a whiner!

And of course I can rarely mention Emily in a blog post w/o including a picture of her and sharing a current Emily-ism.

Here is one from Thanksgiving morning after she played outside. We thought she looked a little homeless!


And here is one from this morning. She was outside playing with the dog, carrying a big stick. I asked her to put her stick down, and she told me it was part of her "convention" and she needed it. Upon further conversation, Scott and I figured out that Emily had many "conventions" all over the backyard. Conventions = inventions. The girl cracks me up!