Alice's Restaurant

Ok, I know... I always title each post with a song title that relates to it. Well, for me, no song signifies Thanksgiving more than Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie. There is no way that I can get through a single Thanksgiving Day without hearing that song AT LEAST one complete time! So... that being said...

It is now 2am... I've been awake for about 40 hours... ouch! Right now, I'm waiting for my pumpkin soup to cook a little longer, then I'll let it cool down, and then it will be time for BED! Earlier tonite, I had some help from my favorite munchkin. Rachel "helped" Mommy by being my best taste tester! I made my sweet potato casserole and she insisted on licking the spoon! Fine by me! I needed someone to tell me if it was good and she responded with a resounding "YAY Mommy!" Woohoo!! I scored with my kid!

In a few hours, I will have a house full. My parents, our good friends Margie & Charlie & their grandson Baby J, a some family friends. Not a huge crowd... 11 adults, 2 toddlers... but it is always a high stress high fun day. Tommy thinks I'm nuts with all my paranoia. I want the house clean despite the fact that our kitchen will be in full gear until the last guest arrives. I want the family room clean despite the fact that we will have a couple of toddlers running around trying to keep out of trouble. Oh, and then there is the fact that we have to keep the dog & the kids from wiping out the Xmas Village that Tommy took a week to put up! So we will have a lot happening here... and we couldn't be happier about it.

I will post pictures after everyone goes home... but more than anything else, I wanted to be sure to post this today...

Thanksgiving 2009... Today I am thankful... I am thankful for my parents still being here and able to share this wonderful day... I am thankful for our friends, who we love being around... I am thankful for my hubby... who puts up with my hysteria & insanity whenever we are having company... And I guess more than anything else in the world, today I am thankful for my beautiful, sweet, happy, huggable, lovable, precious little girl... Rachel MeiLi, you made your mommy's life complete and I will be thankful forever that you are a part of my heart...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thanksgiving Day Continued....

Thanksgiving Day was great! Everyone loved the food, the dog was exceptionally well behaved, we only had one broken champagne flute (and that was actually before the guests arrived) and the kids had a great time... well, for the most part! LOL...

Not going to ramble on now... it's almost 4am, and I'm just too tired... I guess it was a lousy idea to make a pot of coffee at 9pm to go with our desserts... hmmm...

Anyway, here are the photo highlights of the day!

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

On Saturday, I decided to take the night off from work so we could enjoy a family night. It started with a terrific gathering for dinner with some other local families who have adopted from China. We went with our friends Lorie & John with their girls, and Trish was there with her 3 cuties (so sorry Ted wasn't able to join us!). There were 2 other families there as well and it was terrific meeting them with their fabulous kids too!

I am SO glad we finally made it to one of these get togethers! This was so much fun and I know we will be doing it again sometime soon... and I need to say a very special thanks to Will, who was awesome at entertaining ALL the girls! He was an absolute DOLL.

After dinner, we headed to the annual Cape Coral Coconut Festival! It's like a big state fair, with carnival rides, games, tons of food vendors, and live concerts every night... oh and a fantastic fireworks display too! First we met up with Margie & Charlie. They were there with their granddaughter Arora, and daughter Vanessa, who is having another baby next week! They didn't really need to do little kiddy rides, since Arora can handle a little more than Rach, so we left them to go to the little kid rides. We again met up with Lorie & John, along with their girls Amelia & Kaylie. We had a fantastic time taking the kids on the rides. Rachel's favorite was the bumble bee! She went on that one twice! Once with me and later with her daddy! Actually she went with her daddy on all the rides. He ended up buying a wrist band that gave him unlimited rides... we still had to buy extra tickets for Rach, but I wasn't really up for doing too many rides anyway. Maybe next year! After going on the rides, we got back together with our friends Margie & Charlie! We didn't get to spend too much time with them but at least we got to see them! After all the rides (and the obligitory Funnel Cake) it was time to head to the stage area to watch Molly Hatchett! very cool... we got there kinda late into the concert, but we got to see a few good songs. Rach really rocked out and was dancing all over the place. She sure did have a good time! Oh, and while the fireworks were going off... every other one she would just look up and say "Wow" "WOW"... lol... they were really cool.

Then it was time for home... just as we suspected, we put her in the car and didn't even make it out of the parking lot when our little rocker was out like a light! Tommy brought her in and put her straight to bed... I wasn't far behind! I don't think I lasted 10 minutes on the couch before I was out cold! But boy, we sure did have a great night! Hope to have more of those soon!

Colour by Numbers

So Sunday was my Dad's birthday. We kept trying to get Rach to say Happy Birthday Papa, but she wanted nothing to do with that... We dressed her up in a beautiful purple dress her Auntie Marla gave her (in the pictures it looks white, but it was really a pretty lavendar!)

She now likes to do "Cheesey" face as soon as she sees the camera! She LOVES to pose! Maybe she needs an agent? lol...

We went to a really good little Italian restaurant for dinner... unfortunately, I got HORRIBLY sick after a few bites of birthday cake... it was really bad... and I felt so terrible because we were supposed to go back to my parents house after dinner but all I wanted to do was crawl home... I even let Tommy drive!

I literally went straight to bed when we got home. Tommy put Rach into her PJ's and put her to bed for me. I have no idea what set me off, but boy oh boy, was I miserable.

The next morning, I had to get up and drive all the way to Miami to pick up my friend Vicki from the airport. She was my neighbor but her & her hubby decided to retire to Panama! how cool...

Anyway, she was coming into the states to go shopping! LOL... So Rach & I drive across the alley to Miami airport. It really wasn't that bad a trip. Her flight was on time, so we picked her up and headed back home. Once we got into Cape, we were going to go for dinner, but when I went to change Rach, I discovered that she was soaked clear up to her NECK! Couldn't believe she didn't complain even a little! So I cleaned her up and let her drive home! LOL...

She was having so much fun sitting behind the wheel! Anyway, we got take out & headed home. Tuesday I was still feeling pretty lousy... not just my tummy, but then it started to feel like a head cold. Great... well, nobody else got sick, so I know it wasn't the food! Just me... oh well... Stayed home and stayed in bed and by Wednesday I was starting to feel better...

Today was just your average day... except Rach was showing off her skills with numbers! She can count almost to 20, and what totally amazed me was when she started flipping through her "Ten Little Ladybugs" book and no matter what page she landed on, she correctly told me the number that was on that page! So it's not just that she memorized the numbers in order... she really does know what each number is and what it looks like! I am impressed! My beautiful little genius!

(everyday is) Halloween

We had a great day yesterday. Halloween 2009 was a big hit with our little munchkin! This year, she was dressed as a silly faced pumpkin. And even better, this year Halloween fell on Saturday, so her Daddy got to go with us around the neighborhood!

By the time we got to the 3rd house, Rachel figured out how to say "Trick or Treat!" I was totally shocked, since we hadn't really tried to teach it to her that at all! She just heard us & the other kids saying it as the house doors opened!

It also did not take very long before she figured out exactly what was happening... she was getting candy... LOTS of candy... and she liked it... and it was good! We did not let her have any of the candy yesterday, since we got home so late and she barely touched her dinner... we decided to wait and let her have one piece at each snack time. Anyway, we walked around the immediate neighborhood for a while and then we headed for home. Margie & Charlie & the crew were all coming trick or treating to our neighbrohood, so I wanted to get home and finish cooking. I had started making an experimental dinner that I couldn't wait to try. I made a chicken Marsala but each piece of chicken was layered with fresh spinach, Prosciutto & Mozzarella cheese. Then topped with Marsala sauce with mushrooms... Perfect timing, since Margie & Charlie arrived in time to stay for dinner too! They hung out with us while their kids & grandkids hit all the houses by us. Dinner was a HUGE hit. Tommy was RAVING about it. Now he usually likes my cooking and I don't think he has EVER said anything wasn't good, but this time he was really impressed. Charlie loved it too. (Margie wasn't feeling well). All in all, it was a really terrific day, even though I had to leave and go to work. That part is NEVER good. Oh well...

So today is my Dad's birthday. It's also my friend Z's birthday... well, I'm too far away to celebrate with Z, which kinda stinks... but we are going out for dinner tonite with Dad. I have been working all day with Rach trying to get her to say Happy Birthday Papa... she gets the Happy & the Papa with no problem, but birthday... well that one is a bit trickier... we'll see how she does tonite! I'll try to post pictures before bed!