no school for five days!!!

The kids are pretty excited, there is a festive spirit in the air. Tomorrow is pie making day. We have been cleaning the house and getting all the laundry done. At one point today, I went to put another load in and the hampers were too empty!! We have 5 hampers in the laundry room, for whites, darks, lights, towels, and blankets. Then the little girls went in my room and jumped on the bed and Camille barfed on my comforter. She doesn't seem to be sick, they were just fooling around like crazy. Anyway, another load of laundry. Then Sam brought up his stuff....and so on.

Mirielle has been making pie crust and putting it in the 'fridge. She likes to do everything from scratch. The blueberry pies are frozen ones, though. They cost about $2 each with a coupon, it is hard to find blueberries that cheap. We will make two chocolate pudding pies, and lots of pumpkin. And maybe a few lemon merangue.

We have a 27 pound turkey, and I will peel at least ten pounds of potatoes. Mirielle is preparing the yams, maybe Abigail can cut the onions and celery for the stuffing. The little girls can put the olives and pickles in the dishes, and set the table pretty. I think the best thing about Thanksgiving is knowing that no one has anywhere to go, and everyone will be here, except Emily. But she will be home soon enough.

I haven't sneaked a look at the Black Friday ads yet, but I am planning on going. It seems like we are having a "scrooge" Christmas this year as far as piles of gifts go, but we will have enough. I have some ideas. I figure Paul and I don't have to get each other anything since we are going on this trip.

It is distracting trying to write right now. Charlotte Claire is coloring at the little table, and cutting her pictures into little pieces. Camille is screaming about something. The older girls (Abigail, Mirielle, Mali, and Margaret) are at chorus practice, Sam and Joseph are playing their Xbox 360, which just came back today from the company for repairs. Jon missed the gummy bears I passed out a little while ago,(oops), and is asking what is for dessert. The other girls (Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, and Sonja) are playing in their room. They have two strings of Christmas lights up and it is sort of magical in there.

I went for my walk today!!! I went with Margaret, who didn't go to school because her stomach supposedly hurt, wait, she went to chorus practice...hmm. That rascal. Anyway, she was good company. We brought Rosie along too. This afternoon, Abigail had to go to the bank, and I wanted to go tanning, so we went together. I tried to get Ab to tan too, but she had no interest. So I went in by myself and tanned for eight minutes. You can't even tell. I look the same. Then we went into Wegmans quick for some apples, carrots, milk, and eggs. And Abigail and I got our favorite, cranberry/toasted walnut muffins. I got a large coffee, and she got a Chai Latte. So we had a nice ride home. Dinner tonight was grilled cheese with ham, carrots and dip. I just had rye bread with crunchy peanut butter and a grapefruit....

And all that other boring stuff......