Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family

I saw this photo posted on a friends blog and loved it! The egg baskets remind me of my mother. She and I along with my grandmother, Momma Newt, took a basket weaving class once when I was about 10 or 11 and for about 2 years my mother made lots of egg baskets just like these - same sizes and color which she dyed herself using a mixture of walnuts and sometimes tea to stain them.

For Easter that year she gave all of her nieces and nephews their very own egg basket to use. I wonder if anyone still has theirs?

I however did not get one for Easter that year, as I had made my own in our basket weaving class... but of the few larger egg baskets around the house I knew that one day one of them would be passed down to me. When Momma Newt died, I did get the one that she had made in our class. For it was her first, only and last ever basket to make.... quilts were her specialty. ;)

I know Barry, my oldest brother, has one of the egg baskets that mom and I worked on weaving together - I did the fancy work on the handle and around the main band for her since that part was easier for my smaller hands. It was the prettiest basket that we ever made - lots of details.

I wish I had a photo of it as it really turned out beautiful and Momma was so very proud of it. Now some 20 years later - As a mother myself I can see why... being proud of your child and the sentimental value of something we made together... sorta like a mother's love woven into her child. ;) If she were still around I think I'd pick up the phone and call her and ask her if she still remembers when... and I'm sure she'd say yes.

Just wanted to share a little something with you. When I saw this pic it reminded me of those times. ;) and for good memories I am thankful! Hope you and yours have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving Day

Nora has seen these "handmade turkey cookies" on Nick Jr. for the past couple of weeks and has wanted to make them...BEGGED to make them - so bad. Really bad! As in = usually at the worst possible moments :/ you know how 5 year olds are... oblivious to the world around them.

I don't remember how many days ago she traced and cut out her paper hand template... It was so long ago, I'm surprised she didn't loose it already. Oh wait, I forgot - she's 5 and hangs on to everything! :P

Since I had already premade my Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes earlier this week.. around 9am this morning we headed off to Kroger to go buy some candy corn to use as the beaks. Yep, me out and about on Thanksgiving! The grocery no less....crazy I know. :P

Nora was thrilled that we were finally going to be making her "handmade cookies" !!! ;) I regret that I didn't get any photos of either of us in the process but our hands were sorta sticky. Plus I didn't have my make up on yet - oh wait, I never got around to putting any on at all today! YIKES!!

I took these few photos inbetween batches goin into the oven and after decorating - just before having to rush to get everyone ready to go to the Khole Family's dinner this afternoon. Clothes on PT, CHECK - shoes for everyone, CHECK - Nora's hair fixed, sippy cups, booster seats, make sure the diaper bag actually has at least 2 diapers in it - CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, oh and don't forget to load the "Kentucky Green Beans & Mash-ya 'tadas" that I made into the van.... CHECK, CHECK!

Hey David, can you load the twins into their car seats, I'm busy!!!! :P thankfully Nora can do herself and I need not remind her not to forget her handmade turkeys... she had them in a basket in her lap the whole way there and asked at least 3 times in 10 minuites "how much longer until we are there yet?" :/ It was just a 15 minute drive... LOL

I'm so glad we made these together today - She la,la,loved the decorating part!!! She's going to grow up to be an artist ya know :) Didn't they turn out cute? I'm so thankful to be a mom! Nora loved our "us" time and her being little chef and me being big chef. She loved it. I did too.

and something else I loved today... joining my close friend Heidi and all of her family for Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon :) I love her so very much! She is the kind of person everyone should be so lucky to have as a friend! I'm so very grateful that I found her after I moved to Texas 4 years ago.

Here's what was sitting in front of me today...

and this too... :P my wonderful husband. So thankful for him and all he does for us. I'm especially thankful that he has put up with me for so long. I love you David if you are reading this!

Now, getting back to Heidi's family... Nora even calls her mother Grammie Khole ;) they are like family to us. And speaking of family... one of Heidi's sisters, Tish, was in from Utah for Thanksgiving and I got to meet her and her husband Paul and their 4 kids. We had lots of fun chit chatting :) but not as much fun as her son Spence and Nora....

It was an instant bond for those two - right from the beginning! Spence is a year older than Nora and they had a lot of fun together today. Playing, drawing on a chalk board together, eating together at one of the small tables, Spence was the honorary person to received the FIRST "handmade turkey cookie" today!!!

They made "notes" to give to each other...Nora had at least 3 folded up papers in her hip pocket that were too secret to let me have a peek... LOL - and are you ready for this... are you sitting down?

They even left tonight yelling "I love you!" to one another.... awlll! If that doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will. All the way home she kept talking about her "new best friend Spence this, and her new best friend Spence that..." ;)

I didn't even think to take their photo until just as we were leaving :( and these 4 or 5 are all I got. Don't even ask about the background... I knew the mop and brooms were there and purposely asked them to stand along the wall so all that wouldn't show... and guess who's feet were super glued to the floor and rebelled against moving 24 inches to her immediate right! #@%#@&! *urgh* :/

So after I saw that she wasn't going to budge despite David's suggestion that we just not take any at all if Nora can't cooperate, I went ahead and got a few pics, mops, brooms and all. :P

I love how Spence is just standing there admiring Nora in these two photos above before I was really ready to ask them to say cheese... if I didn't know better, I'd say he was giving her the "heart eyes" like you see in cartoons! :P wouldn't you? Awlllll...

Wordless Wednesday

For today's Wordless Wednesday I thought I'd share some that I took while looking at Nora's new tooth that is coming in. (behind her baby teeth) I wonder how long until she'll be brave enough to wiggle on it and get it loose enough to pull out?

Olivia goes to the doctor

Well today Olivia woke up feeling much better! Fever about gone and no vomiting. Talking, walking moving around like normal... :) All great signs - except her thumb looking much worse than yesterday. Her callus was double it's normal size and was very white. Thankfully we didn't cancel her appointment for today and went ahead and went.

See what I mean. Worse! :( However it didn't seem to bother her if we touched it... not until the doctor examined it at least. Before we were called back to the exam room she was entertained by watching cartoons on our cell phone.

or rather - our CELL PHONES as in both mine and Davids! :P Actually we set both phones up to play b/c Paul Thomas was along for the trip too - but at the time these photos were taken he and David were out side taking a little walk as waiting in the waiting room is just not PT's thing. What 2 year old can resist the temptation of playing with toys in the wait room - a little plastic kitchen set up... and there were several sick kids before us who had been playing there... and PT was not sick today and I wanted to keep it that way!

Olivia was in the best mood - all until the nurse opened the wait room door and called her name. Then she turned a 180* and totally flipped out. So bad that I had to hold her to be weighed and hold my breath in hopes that she would take a break in kicking during her fit so that the digital sale would stop on a number.... then I handed her off to David who was with me and weighed alone so the nurse could deduct the two numbers to get Olivia's weight. Looks like she's up to 27 lbs now.

I don't know what they think of us in that office as every time since we switched doctors both of the twins flip out every time we go in there. and I do mean flip out! Paul Thomas EVEN flipped on & off the light switch that was so conveniently located above our bench we sat on out in the wait room that I later was told controls all the lights for the WHOLE entire office. :/

After weight, temp, and blood pressure were taken we were told to go to the purple room - wonder if that's b/c both Olivia and I had on purple today? :P Thankfully on the way I spotted a bulletin board filled edge to edge with kid and baby photos and stopped there and got Olivia to stop kicking and screaming and distracted her by looking at the photos. We stood there a good long while looking and looking. Olivia was really talking up a storm - "Oh WOOK Mommy -a baby!"

Then we found the purple room - and " Oh WOOK Mommy!" as she stood there looking up on the wall of the exam room...

it was as if she had died and gone to Care Bear heaven... LOL

She was a happy girl while we waited to see the doctor... we counted to 20, sang the "Do you know the colors of the rainbow?" Signing Time Song a dozen times and had fun.. just me and her as by now David & Paul Thomas had gone to pick up Nora from early release day at school.

and naturally she had a few times of getting up and down off of the table... and playing with that loud paper.

and then everything changed again when the doctor came in for our turn. Sitting on my lap, Olivia wasn't too happy about it but did let the doctor listen to her heart, look into her ears and mouth that was RED as fire most likely strep throat. She didn't do a test but the antibiotic that she prescribed for her infected thumb will also help her throat.

and about that thumb.... yep you guess it - The doctor had to lance it and squeeze out all of that puss and infection. She did take a sample to send off to the lap to test just to make sure it's not a staph infection.

and if that picking and poking and squeezing wasn't enough - poor Olivia got a big ole poke in the thigh with a shot of antibiotic too before leaving. She was not very happy with anyone in that office.. not even me. After all I was the one that let them do that to her! :(

I do not have any "after" photos as it was covered up with a band-aid and I was carrying her crying and kicking and screaming... Leaving just like we went in - maybe she's superstitious? and has to go out like she came in? LOL :P

Warm compresses and antibiotics for 7 days and hopefully the infection will not fill back up in that puss pocket... and hopefully the lab test do not come back positive.