Grateful Friday

I have so much to feel grateful about today.  I love spending time with family and Adam and the Christmas season. We went to Nevada and had a great time!

Eleanor was pretty much a champ in the car.  We were going to take two cars, but decided that we could pare down what we were taking and squish into one car and I'm glad we did.  It was fun to be together.  

First, we went to Olivia and Edgar's for a surprise graduation party for Edgar.  He is a very hard worker and besides his full time job and being father to five children he has graduated from Pathways.  It was worth the celebration.

My favorite part of the event was when Edgar's mother beat almost all her grandsons arm wrestling.  Grandma goals.

We went to Marianne and Robert's to show Braeden and Anna their new sunroom and visited briefly, which is always great.  Then we went to our house.  We got moved in (the process is getting more seamless all the time) and Eleanor napped and then we went to my parents' house for dinner. 

Marianne and Olivia and their group of carolers came.  It has long been a source of discussion that I don't like caroling or having carolers come.  It's just awkward to be sung to.  My sisters think that is a terrible sentiment.  So they enthusiastically caroled to me.

And I liked it.  They're my sisters so it wasn't all that awkward.

We went back to our house to put Eleanor to sleep and my parents came over to visit.  Since we don't have furniture besides a table and chairs and since Emma left a puzzle on the table the last time we visited, everyone sat around working on the puzzle.

My dad and I started talking about school and how it was like when he went there.  He was explaining the old grammar school and the new grammar school (which is actually also the old school that was torn down before I attended there) and we got all discombobulated about it so I found a box and he drew a diagram.  We argued about where the trailers were where I attended first grade while they were building the new school.  We went on a whole journey, but figured it out in the end.

They left and we were starting to get ready for bed.  Braeden locked the back door.  I said, "You don't need to lock the door."

He said, "Some of my most precious possessions are in here."

Anna came into our room and said, "There's someone knocking on the door." You can't hear anything from our room.

It was Marianne and Robert.  We were happy to see them and sat around the table for more puzzling.  Olivia and Edgar and Omar came and Omar is a whiz at puzzles so we'll have to have him over again if we ever want to use the table again.

Earlier in the day, the garage door had broken.  At least only one thing breaks each time we're there.  Adam and Braeden went out to get Robert and Edgar's opinion on the door.  

I went into the bathroom and was washing my face.  Anna was asleep and her phone rang.  It was Braeden.  She sleepily thought, "This house isn't that big.  Why is he calling me?" and went back to sleep.

I went back into the bedroom and heard the distant pinging of my phone.  It was in the kitchen so I went to get it before it woke up Eleanor.  

Adam and Braeden had been outside for about ten minutes knocking on the door.  They'd tried calling us and Anna and I had been completely oblivious.

"That's why we don't lock the door," I told Braeden.

The next morning we did various projects.  One was move the rat couches off the porch.  We've decided against them and don't want them to attract more rodents.  Before asking Braeden to help, I asked him if he would like a service opportunity.  He said yes like I knew he would.

Then I asked him to help us move the rat couches.  His expression said no way, but I reminded him he had already said yes.  He said we needed to rebrand them and not call them rat couches.

I also traversed the knee deep snow to check the propane gauge.  My boots filled with snow.

It is always an adventure.

Adam and Braeden got the garage door closed.  Adam said it was because Braeden is so strong.  All the food paid off.

We went to visit my parents and my mom gave Braeden and Anna and Eleanor bingo prizes.  You don't have to be present to win.

After lunch, we got everything ready to leave and hit the road.  Eleanor slept for a good part of the trip.  When she woke up, she wasn't happy to be in the carseat, like every baby ever on a road trip.  She was grumpy for a little while, then pretty soon started screaming.  I think it was incomprehensible that her parents were right there next to her and not getting her.  

She started screaming and there wasn't much we could do, like every baby ever on a road trip.  I got the idea to play Baby Beluga by Raffi.  I've read the book to her a lot and she likes it.

She stopped crying.

The song ended and she started crying again.

Adam's car delightfully picks random pictures sometimes to go with songs.

Braeden said, "All rise for the national anthem of the water nation."

We played the song on a loop for about an hour and she didn't cry.  She didn't sleep, she just sat there, listening.  If she started to fuss a little, Braeden would sing along to Raffi and it was like magic.

If you don't mind Baby Beluga by Raffi on repeat, and we didn't, it was pretty amazing.

I would listen to whatever that little angel wants.  

I mean, look at her.