The Christmas devil

At church this evening, waiting for the pageant to start...Reece and Greyson keep goofing around, with Reece being especially defiant.

Me: Reece, you need to stop touching your brother and sit still, or I'll have to let Santa know he can take a present back.
Reece: No, I'll stop!

A little while later, when nothing has changed AND Reece has shown his "stinker" face a couple of times...
Me: Reece, that's it, Santa is taking one toy back.
Rather than being upset, Reece looks at me and gives me a smirk. I say, "What does that face mean?" He replies, "I think you're going to forget."

Merry Christmas everyone!

Updates, and OMG Christmas is Only a Week Away

Reece turned to me this morning during our walk to his school and said that there are two weeks left until Christmas. I forced my brain to unfreeze long enough to realize that, in fact, there is ONE week left until Christmas. After I corrected him, I think my head exploded from the shock. Now, I must be honest and admit that I'm pretty much done with gift-related preparations, I don't have to make a big meal because my lovely sister-in-law and brother are handling that and we're just bringing beer (and probably cookies), and the decorations that are going to go up already have. My problem with there only being a week left is that my favorite time of the year is basically Advent - the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas with all the anticipation, the decorations, the holiday songs, and often the first snow. I like to drag that time out as long as possible, and I'm always a little let down after the presents are all unwrapped and everything has been used at least once. This year we have a lot to look forward to even after the present frenzy has ended, so I'll be fine, but I'm going to have to ramp up my awareness of all things holiday between now and next Friday.

On to the updates. The biggest one, I have been sitting on for a while because I wanted to be sure everything was a go before announcing it to the world. However, I've signed the appropriate documents and can now tell anyone who doesn't already know - I have a job that starts when my postdoctoral fellowship ends this coming year. Whoo hoo! I'll be a tenure-track assistant professor at Kent State University's brand new College of Public Health starting in August. And I'm thrilled. The whole situation fits me very well, and I'm shocked that this has all worked out. We really didn't want to move, but I also didn't want to take a job just because it was convenient. The only semi-drawback is that it's a 45 minute drive. However, it's against traffic, a beautiful drive, I will be able to be somewhat flexible on when I go in and leave, and I know that tons of people have longer and more stressful drives. It's just that I've gotten used to being only 5 miles from home and have enjoyed being able to even bike to work when the stars and everything else align correctly.

The other update is that the last of the (current) renovations were completed today. The built-ins are in, and I can get the mudroom organized and clear out the remaining extraneous items from the basement. And finally organize the tools, and our winter gear, and our cleaning supplies, and...you see where I'm going with this. I'll post photos when I've reached a stopping point - hopefully at the end of the weekend.

Mr. Wiseacre

I told Reece he couldn't do something and then he asked me again if he could.
I replied, "Reece, what part of 'No' don't you understand?"
He said right back, "No. 'No' is the part I don't understand."

Here he is making his crazy faces:

Thanksgiving 2009

The holiday officially started for us when Dan picked up my brother, Nick, at the airport Tuesday evening (and then took him to Great Lakes Brewing Company for some Lake Erie Monster beer). The next day, while Reece was at school, Greyson and Nick helped me get many of the preparations for the feast and more visitors done. My cousin, Jackie, arrived just in time to have lasagna with us for dinner. If I'd had any idea at that point the quantity of carbs and fat we would consume over the rest of the long weekend, I would have served raw vegetables instead.

My mom got to take a bump on her flight from Detroit, so instead of coming on Wednesday night, she arrived Thursday morning. She was pressed into stuffing duty right away, while I made the turkey and did other prep. The men entertained the boys (or vice versa) with a rousing game of Sorry:

My brother, Nat, and his family came over later in the afternoon and we ate a lovely traditional Thanksgiving meal:

On Friday, my friend Kimberly came over to take family photos and then my cousin Dave and his family arrived in the afternoon. The last two visitors, my cousins Jill and Susie, arrived at dinner time and then the festivities really took off. Lots of Wii and board game playing, and the kids got to sleep in the basement together while the adults played more games and got silly. As usual, Reece riled up the older kids and had to be removed from their sleeping area, ending up on the floor next to my side of the bed.

Saturday was The Football Game. Reece got clonked on the head early on so watched for the rest of the game. Dan pulled a muscle and Dave jammed his finger but both soldiered on and everyone had a great time. Some action photos and a group shot of the players:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was as filled with family, fun, and good food as ours.