grateful for.

Today I am so grateful for two things-

1. As a seminary class we decided to have a Sunday evening Thanksgiving lesson/activity and this week we get the whole week off (monday and tuesday were the only days we were going to meet) to sleep in. I didn't get out of bed this morning until 7:30- and it felt AMAZING.

2. Cute little man clothes. Look how handsome this little rugrat is! I love dressing him up like a little man on Sundays.

I cannot believe that this week is already Thanksgiving.

I haven't made a complete Thanksgiving dinner since I lived in Russia (and we won't even count that as "complete"- due to the fact that many normal thanksgiving dishes were missing from our spread). I need a little help to make sure I'm not missing anything this year. Growing up we were always spoiled by the great dinner prepared by my Grandma Oswald and other Idahoan family members. When we got a little older we ate at home and mum did the great cooking. Last year we had the delicious opportunity to have a real Ohio Thanksgiving in Ashland with the Starkeys (thanks again, it was delish!). This year Laney, Taylor, and Hank are making the trek down from Buffalo (as long as the weather holds up the way it is supposed to) for the Holiday.

I've got the menu pretty much planned out- but I am missing any integral parts?! What is a "must" at your dinners?


Turkey- basic in a reynolds cooking bag.



Stuffing- if we were at home mum would make sure it was full of strange ingredients-but we're just doing stovetop this year.

Homemade gma Oswald's potato rolls! yum-o. No picture does them justice.


Mashed potatoes and gravy. My favorite part of Thanksgiving.



Cranberry sauce (from a can). There is something so satisfying about slicing yourself a piece of sauce from that perfect cylindrical shape. I love canned cranberry sauce.



Sweet potatoes (NOT candied yams). We had this last year in Ashland and it was to die for. I love the stuff.



Green Bean Casserole. One of Kent's favorites- and it's starting to grow on me.



Jello pretzel salad. My grandma makes this amazing stained glass jello- but it cannot be duplicated so we are going for the next best thing. I love the saltiness of the pretzels under the cream cheese.


Pies! Kent doesn't really like pie much and I only like the chocolate or creamy ones- and Taylor loves Key lime- so it appears we will be going a little nontraditional this year. It will still be pie, however.


And to drink we MUST have a cranberry/lemon-lime mixture. Lucky for us Sierra Mist makes a calorie free cranberry splash. The inventor of this drink is ingenious! They have made holiday drinking so easy!!!!


Last- but certainly not least- we'll be having a great relish tray with Kent's famously delicious cheese ball. I love the relish tray.


Am I missing anything?! I can't wait to eat!!!!

What can I do with this kid?! During the hour that he used to sit in the stroller and run with me- he is now consigned to sitting in front of Thomas dvds while I run on the treadmill. He has also found his bink replacement. I'm not sure how the fuzzy blanket feels anything like a bink- but apparently it works for him. Really, he holds it in his mouth like this many times during the day.
The temperature is in the teens this morning- and the windchill puts it in the single digits- so it looks like outdoor runs are finished for awhile! What am I going to do with this rambunctious little tornado? We've got all sorts of activities like storytime at the library, playgroup, aerobics at the church, and others- but I'm still worried about him making me postal this winter! suggestions!?

I've been a not so good blogger lately- because life has been sooooooooo stinking busy. For that I am extra grateful! Kent has been ridiculously busy with THREE ginormous tests and thankfully I have had so much to do it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Kent finished yesterday and it has been so nice to have him back. I feel so guilty when he calls to check in and I'm at playgroup, or out running, or with friends, or something else very non stressful! He works his tail off and more often than not I am out having fun or at home being non-stressed. Hooray for amazing, hard working, and wonderful husbands.

Unfortunately none of my busy activities have been very picture worthy. We made turkey cookies at playgroup yesterday- but since Zeb doesn't like cookies- he didn't participate. Today Zeb's friend, hailey, has spent the day with us while her mom is having a baby! Sam got to come over from across the hall to join in the fun for awhile too. Here is Zeb being non-compliant about taking a picture. It's about the only picture I've taken in three days. very un-leisy like.
The only other semi picture worthy activity we've been involved in lately is our AMAZINGLY productive and inexpenisve shopping spree this past weekend. It was "friends and family" at the gap and Old Navy so I got thirty% off everything. Then- on top of that- ALL of their clearance for baby was an additional 50% off! I got 80% off of clearance clothes. Unreal really. Check out the haul we brought home. I didn't pay more than 1.79 for any of the items except one. Many of the items were 75 cents or LESS! I hate shopping, but when I get steals like these it's almost euphoric. I've clothed zeb for the next two years now! And, yes there are some girl clothes in there. I'm just being prepared.

So here's one of my great finds! These nine trains for 9.98. They are pretty stinking amazing-even though they don't have thomas' or percy's or fergus' or bertie's or edward's or henry's face on them. I bought them and now I can relax for awhile.

We aren't entirely sure what this word means (perhaps his shortened form of bubble)- but it is his favorite right now. He says it ALL DAY- and wants us to yell it back to him. This kid is a genius and is talking now. Really he's just a little copy cat- and oftentimes has no idea what he's saying- but he sure is good with his sounds! He loves saying truck, stuck, church, dirt, shirt, and most other words with shs, chs, and ks (and he actually does know what all those words are!). He's also stringing words together and saying things like "it's a bee" or "it's a hopper". My favorite thing he's doing is yelling out words as we pass objects. He'll shout out "truck" or "tractor" as we drive by them in the car. He'll scream "I stuck" from his bedroom if he needs me to get him something. He knows some of his friend's names and has given names to all of his toys. He's pretty darn fun right now.

dang boy.

I have become a little obsessed with trying to get zeb some trains. It doesn't help that Zeb now can distinguish the "real" from the "fake". Luckily he'll pull the generic trains around as tender- but for the lead car he loves the real thing. I refuse to pay the astronomical prices asked by the evil Thomas and Train company- so I have resorted to Ebay and it is making me INSANE. All that I can think about is trains. I lay in bed at night thinking about them. I've got all these bids I'm watching and stressing about- trying to maintain my composure when I don't win! Or worse, when the "deal" I've been bidding on becomes higher than I'm willing to pay! I can't believe how much money people spend on these stupid trains. Luckily there is the occasional great deal and I'm on the hunt to find them. I've found one steal- and really I'm looking for just one more. I missed out on one by seconds this weekend. I almost cried. Grrrrrrr. So, if anybody knows of any great place for cheap trains- or train books- or train ANYthing, let me know! I've really got to stop getting on ebay- so hopefully this all comes to an end soon. I would only do this for the rugrat- I won't even drive myself this crazy for something that I want! This boy is spoiled. I do find solace knowing that other parents (cousins hailey and steve) resort to such measures to bring smiles to their children's faces :)