Thanksgiving

Ah, Thanksgiving. I usually work Thanksgiving, for a mulitude of reasons, largely so that I can have Christmas off, but also for reasons that I will not say, since family members read this sometimes. Love ya!
Today I am stuck in triage, so I am able to count my many, many blessings, as I assign the different patients to their rooms. My emotions feel like a pendalum today. This morning I was put out, and irritated by the patients that were coming in, especially the patient that tried to hand me her shit in a sandwich baggie. But, I realize that my life is so good. I have everything I need and want, and my family is healthy. We have recently added a domestic violence screening to the triage. The questions are hard to ask, but the answers are even harder to hear. I love caring for immediate, life threatening illnesses and injuries, but when they are done intentionally to a person, it takes it's toll.
I had a coupon for a free turkey at Smith's, but when I went to get it they only had the "smoked" variety, which the coupon specifically said not valid for. Well, my time was running up in the kid drop and I must admit, I was curious about a "smoked" turkey, so I just scanned the checkers for the dumbest looking one and stepped in line. There was a little resistance at checkout and the checker couldn't figure out why my coupon wasn't going through. He checked the weight of the turkey about 10 times and then in exasperation just took the total off my bill. The longer I stood there the more guilty I felt, but I took my bag with the turkey and went to pick up my innocent, trusting children. On the way home I called my husband and told him what a monster I was. I told him that I was sure our turkey would taste of deceit. If my kids don't end up in jail, it will be all Dave's doing.
I just talked to Dave and asked him if our turkey tasted of dishonesty and he said no, it tasted just like ham. Hmm.. I like ham.

We took the kids to the zoo this afternoon, and the weather was warm and beautiful. The boys are never all that interested in seeing the actual animals, but stand in awe at the different animal poops, and the monkeys with the bright red butts. They also like to see what the animals eat and all the "garbage" in their cages. They like the train, and they especially like the snake house and always try to find the kind of rattlesnake that almost killed us on a hike this summer. The kids played at the zoo park for a little while and Dave and I made fun of the various funny looking kids and parents. I took Emma over the board walk to look at the ducks, and this snot-nosed kid with a roll of quarters stood across from us pelting the ducks with the food he bought. I felt like I ought to say something, especially with the amount of quarters he had, but a part of me identified with him, and I probably would have done the same thing, had no one been around. After the park we went to the Olive Garden for dinner and the waiter knocked over Dave's coke into mine and Dawson's lap. Dave and I exchanged a few 'Why didn't we just hit McDonalds' looks through the meal, but all in all it was a good day.

Errands

Today we had a full day of errands, which usually means a lot of yelling and threats about being good in the store, but the boys were excited to go to "Cost-a-co" for the samples. On the way down the canyon we had a good talk about what we say about other people in public, and how loud we say it. Last Costco trip we had an incident where a very elderly asian lady came up and was cooing at the kids. Dawson was a little confused and said- "Hey, are you an old lady, or a little boy?" I whisked them right away so as not to continue to offend. I completely understood what he was talking about though. She was so old, she was starting to look young again. That same trip, we happened on a midget giving samples of sausage. I saw him before the boys did, so I just took them aside and said "the next table has a really short man, but don't say anything about it, and we can talk about it later." So we get our samples from the tiniest midget I have ever seen and the kids don't even blink an eye. I asked them a couple aisles over what they thought, and they both agreed it was the best sausage ever. Their idea of strange and mine are two different things.
They were good enough at Costco today that we went to McDonalds' for lunch. The boys looked at the toy display and didn't like what they saw, so they got salads. When we sat down in the playland, I could feel the other mother's stares as I cut up the chicken on the boy's salads and then enjoyed my own Big Mac and fries. They can eat what they want, but I don't go to McDonald's for salad.
The kids are getting excited for Thanksgiving and are full of stories from school. Dawson was telling me that the indians came on a ship called the Speeedwell, but then it broke down, so they got on the Mayflower. I tried to explain to him that the indians were already here, it was the pilgrims, but you can't tell that kid anything. Last year he came home from school and told us about Miss Terri (his preschool teacher) and how she ate for 3 days and then went on a boat and had to use the bathroom in a bucket. Dave and I thought she must have gone camping or something, so I asked her about it. She laughed and said she is never sure how much of the story the kids pick up, but she was just telling them about the pilgrims on the boat and the celebratory Thanksgiving feast, and she wasn't sure where the bathroom bucket came in.

"diet coke and a pizza please, diet coke I'm on my knees"

What a day! We are all just getting over the 16 hour poop and puke, and are starting to get our second wind. I have been listening to a lot of Mika lately, and the boys have really gotten into the song, 'Big Girls- (you are beautiful)' they don't really get that "big", means fat, they think that they are "big" boys, so it just means grown up. So about every 30 seconds today they kept saying "Hey Big Girl, you are beautiful" to me. Each time they said it, the pronunciation changed, the emphasis on the syllables was different, and I didn't get a wink every time, but it was still majorly irritating. I laughed it off until the afternoon, but then I told them to knock it off. That, in kidspeak, actually means I want you to relentlessly say that over and over. It finally ended when I threatened to take away their bikes, and fed them some AquaDots. (just kidding, I wouldn't take away their bikes.)
We went for a walk this afternoon and saw Dave coming down the road. Every time he comes home the boys hide from him, and he makes a game out of finding them. They started to panic when they saw his truck and had nowhere to hide, but finally dove into the ditch. It was pretty cute. It was nice to get out in the fresh air, that is one reason I love living here.

Little Hoodlums

Our neighbors, (who have teenage boys) get toilet papered regularly. Dawson was curious as to why anyone would put toilet paper all over someone's yard. I told him, it just meant Forest and T.J. had girlfriends. A few days later, some toilet paper from the neighbors drifted over onto our trees. Dawson woke me up very excited because now that we were toilet papered, it must mean that he has a girlfriend. He is very excited and tells everyone that he has a girlfriend, although he doesn't know who she is, or what she looks like, he is in love.
He and Dyl were asking me about smashing pumpkins, and I just told them it is something that teenagers do. They were bummed that they weren't teenagers yet, so last night we put our black hats on, and snuck out of our house to smash our own pumpkins. The boys were whispering and giggling, as they crept up our porch, trying not to let their dad know they were outside. We took the pumpkins out to the street and tried to smash them, but they were a little to old and just kind of crumpled. The boys thought it was hysterical though. They wanted to put them in the middle of the road so that cars would run over them. After the pumpkin fun they wanted to doorbell ditch, so again we attacked our own house. I think they inherited their love of mischief from their dad.

The Skate Park

At the end of the summer Dawson asked to have his training wheels taken off, because his friend didn't have them anymore. I told him that he probably needed to practice a little bit more, but before I could say to much, off he went on his friends 2 wheeler. Dave took his training wheels off that night, which prompted a melt down from Dylan, because he wanted his off too. I told him no way, that he needed to practice for a few more years. Well, he whined and bawled so much we took the training wheels off to teach him a lesson. After a few trips around the block, he also was riding like a pro. What do I know, I am just the mother. Well, last month we decided to go to the skate park to ride around the top area for a change of pace. I had just gone down into the bowls to get out of the wind with Emma, when I heard "Hey mom, watch this!" I turned around just in time to see Dawson come down eight stairs on his bike. In one hour at the skate park the boys had mastered the stairs, and were dropping down into 10 foot bowls . Their little legs couldn't keep up with the speed of the pedals, so they just stuck them out to the side. They beg to go to the skate park now, so I make sure their helmets fit right and our insurance premiums are paid up.

Dawson's Birthday

Yesterday Dawson turned 5. He is such a great kid. He loves to help with anything, and takes pride in all the big kid stuff he can do. He is so smart that it scares me a little. For his birthday, we told him he could choose whatever activity he wanted to do, and since I don't cook, where we would eat after. It went down like this.
" Can we go to the State Fair?"
"No."
"Can we go to the circus?"
"No."
"Can we go to Grandpa Randy's?"
"No."
"Can we go to Jungle Jim's?"
Ah, freak. Jungle Jim's it is. So we set off for a Saturday at the Jungle. We had to drop the boat off to be winterized in Provo first and as we were driving, we passed Tucano's, one of our favorite restruants. Dave and I met eyes and then Dave says "where are you thinking about for dinner, Daws?" Dawson's great idea was pizza at Jungle Jim's. So I say " You know that pizza isn't very good." Dylan wanted to know if it was dog pizza. " No, not dog pizza, but how about a special place where they cut your meat off of a big stick?" Eventually, throughout the day we convinced him, and we had a lovely dinner. Sunday we had a big party for the family and Dawson had a great time playing with all the cousins. He is such a great kid, and so fun to be around.

Happy Halloween!!

Note to anyone that trick or treats at our house: we get rid of last years candy first. This year we had a great Halloween. We met Hannah's fiancee for the first time, his name is Ransom, and the boys were very excited to see him. Just like with canines, we went through obedience lessons with them before he came. Don't jump up on him. Don't drag your toys out for him. He is not going to throw the ball for you, ect.. They had a great time with him though, and he was a good sport. We went to the trick or trunk a little late and came home with most of our candy. Hannah, Ransom, and Dave took the Black Power Ranger, Motocross Man, and the Skunk around the neighborhood when we got home and they collected a haul. After their little shaking bodies were in bed that night, we properly inspected the candy for razors and ate our fill too.