Thanksgiving, and Beyond.

The Monday before Thanksgiving Nick and I went to see the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special: Day of the Doctor in the theater.  Just like bowtie's: it was cool.  Super cool.

I was giddy about seeing David Tennant reprise his Dr. Who role!  The 10th doctor is MY doctor.

Two days later (Wednesday), my cousins: Blair, and Chelsea came to my house to spend the night.  We went to dinner, and then went to the movies and saw: Catching Fire. 

The next day I woke up early, and went to 7-11 to pick up a newspaper, for the black Friday ads.

Then, I put on my running shoes, and ran the Turkey Leg 5K in Farmington with Jeff, Heather, and Blair:

It was literally: up-hill BOTH ways.  I know it doesn't sound possible, but it's the truth.  The entire course was made up of hills.
I didn't set lofty goals for this race.  Since I was still trying to recover from my hip pain, I decided that I would be happy if: #1- I didn't let anyone pushing a stroller finish before me, and #2- if I finished in under 30 minutes.  I met both of my goals.
And then, I went home and started cooking.
My contributions for Thanksgiving dinner this year were: Mashed Potatoes (Nick made his swoon-worthy ones), crescent rolls, Ina Garten's Cranberry Compote, a Pumpkin Pie, and a sour-cream strawberry rhubarb pie.

Earlier in the week I had written up my "Christmas gift plan of attack".  It turns out that I didn't even need to purchase the newspaper for the Black Friday ads, because I already knew where I was shopping, and what I was shopping for.  But it's still fun to look.

So, I wasn't crazy this year.  I didn't go to any store on Thanksgiving Day, itself.  I didn't do any online shopping, Thursday, either.
On Friday morning, I had a babysitter come over at 9:30AM, and went out shopping.  There were four stores that I wanted to visit.  But after 3 hours, I had only made it to 3 of them: Kohls, Toys R' Us, and Carter's.
I called it a day.
And finished up the rest of my shopping: online, and mostly at Amazon, on Saturday.

Friday, when Nick got home from work, I took Reagan and Elsa to see Frozen. Elsa LOVED it!

The queen, in Frozen is also named: Elsa.   My Elsa, truly thought she was in the movie.  She kept saying. "There I am!", and asking, "Where did I go?"; when Queen Elsa wasn't onscreen.  It was cute.

The week after Thanksgiving has been jam-packed, and it's only going to get worse with Christmas coming up fast!  I told Nick that I feel like I am constantly trying to run up, a down escalator.

I'm not sure why I am smiling in this picture?!:

I hate the cold ^ nth degree!  And this week it has been freeze-your-knees cold!  On Wednesday, I went jogging, and the temperature was 9 degrees F.  On Thursday, it was 3 degrees F, I opted to stay inside that day; and did Yoga on the XBOX Kinect.  On Friday morning, it was 7 degrees F.  And I went outside, and jogged my usual 3.5 miles.  I took that "selfie" when I got home.  I looked like Jack Frost's sister.  My eyelashes were covered in frost, and when I would blink, they'd stick together.  Surprisingly, I haven't minded running in the cold- if I get my heart-rate up fast enough it's all good.  And I get to come home to a steaming hot shower.

After I finished working out on Friday, I started getting ready for the day.  Cohen had slept like a newborn the night before, ie-up crying several times in the night.  Turns out, he was sick.  Reagan said she was sick too.  I let her stay home from school.
I wanted to do a little more shopping, I had Kohl's cash to spend, and a gift card to Victoria's Secret, etc...  Nick didn't have to work until 2PM, so I took Elsa and we spent a few hours running errands.
I made it home, just in time to turn around, and head back out to do the 3 Visiting Teaching appointments that I had set up.

I walked back in the door with seconds to spare before Nick had to go to work.
I was looking forward to chillin' with the kids for the rest of the night.  But this one, had other plans:

He woke up from a 45 minute nap, screaming bloody murder.

I made an appointment with the pediatrician, and hustled the three kids and me in to SLC to see Dr. Swensen.

He said that Cohen had a double-ear infection.  And a virus, on top of it.

I then drove from downtown SLC, to the Walgreen's in South Ogden, so that Nick could fill the antibiotic RX for Cohen.

I stopped at Wendy's and picked up dinner for everyone.  Cohen had 6 chicken nuggets, the value-size fry, and a chocolate frosty.

We pulled in to the garage at bedtime.  I bathed the kids, and put PJ's on.  Then, I gave Cohen a dose of his medicine.

10 minutes later, he threw up in his bed.

I stripped sheets.  Put Cohen back in the bath,  Re-dressed him.  And gave him more RX.

10 minutes later, he threw up on the floor in his room.

I put Cohen in the bathtub again.  Put on the 3rd pair of PJ's.  Put a towel under Cohen, and put him on my bed.  Then, I whipped out the carpet cleaner, and cleaned the carpet.

It was well past the kids' bedtime, by this point.

I was rocking Cohen, and trying to get him to go to sleep.  He threw up on me.

I changed my clothes.  His clothes.

And finally, put the girls in bed.

I grabbed a bowl, from the kitchen, covered the rocker/recliner in towels; and sacked out with Cohen.

The poor guy fell asleep almost instantaneously.

But he woke up to vomit one more time.  This time, I got it all in the bowl.

It was a rough night.

And this morning, I had been planning to go to Festival of Trees.  Every year, for the past 6 years, I have purchased personalized ornaments for my kids from Festival of Trees. 

It's not going to happen this year.  And that makes me sad.

I suppose I should be glad that my kids aren't sick on a Holiday.  But, Man Alive!  I hate puke.  Regardless of what day it happens on.