Happy Thanksgiving and an Update

I really wanted to post on Thanksgiving, but I never got to it. So, Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all. We obviously have much to be thankful for - simply by living in the US. This year I am especially thankful for all the ways God has blessed us. Our children are home, we have a healthy baby, every single need we've had has been met and surpassed. God is good and I give thanks to Him for all these things.

Now, for an update of what's been going on around here:

• Grandpa (my Dad) is here visiting - he's been here since Monday and is leaving tomorrow. We are having lots of fun.
• My turkey (12 lb) cooked in less than two hours in my roaster. I have never had a turkey cook so fast. My mom bought me the roaster because I have a mini oven. I'm glad I had it - I only have one rack in my oven.
• The poor cats have had enough. If the boys come to close they now swat at them. Good thing they don't have claws. This, of course, freaks the boys out bad.
• Chuck is going to be away two nights this week on a work retreat. I am not looking forward to triple duty by myself. Please pray for me.
• We had our futon in the twins' room in case they needed us close at night. We've been very blessed that they have no sleep issues (although Samuel is a very light sleeper and wakes up at the crack of dawn...). We pulled the futon out of their room yesterday and it makes their room SO much bigger.
• The futon got moved into the baby's room since my mom is coming for Christmas and will need somewhere to sleep. In the past we've put our guests in our room and Chuck and I just sleep in the living room since we go to sleep late and get up early. That works fine for a long weekend, but not for a week at a time.
• My mom is coming to visit! She'll be flying in on Christmas Day and returning home on New Year's Eve.
• Chuck and my Dad fixed some screens on our screened porch that were pushed out earlier this year. Things like that make me so happy.
• Tristan is not sleeping through the night lately. It is making me crazy. I'm a girl who needs sleep. Uninterrupted, quality sleep. I have not been getting that lately. Today I tried to nap while the baby napped. The twins chose that time to have meltdowns (which Chuck handled well). And I had a tickle in my throat, but I couldn't cough because I was sleeping on the futon in the baby's room and was afraid I'd wake him up. Ugh. I rarely have the opportunity to nap and I was really frustrated that my attempt today failed.
• Tristan has moved into 6 month clothing. I'm sure he is 15 lbs by now. I weighed 16 lbs at a year.
• We got to visit with some great friends on Friday. Brian, Robin, and Shannon live in Charlotte and we don't get to see them very often. It was fun hanging out. They are expecting another daughter soon.
• Chuck and a group from our church did an awesome outreach event very early Friday morning. They gathered at 3:30 a.m. and handed out coffee, hot cocoa, and granola bars to people waiting in lines at stores. The goal was to show God's love in a practical way to people in our community. The people loved it!
• I was disappointed with the Black Friday sales. Not that I was going out to shop - but I was really disappointed. It's kind of funny how very different life is now. In the past I've looked through the ads over coffee on Thanksgiving morning. This year I didn't even look through half of them and it didn't happen until just before I went to bed. Kids change everything!
• We are going back to bathtime at night. We did morning baths for a while, but we've decided to go back to evening baths. We've been eating dinner at 6 and then going right into bedtime. The problem with this is that the boys are drinking a full cup of milk right before bed. We'd like to have their liquid intake stopped an hour before bedtime. That's impossible if we eat at 6 and put them to bed at 7. So, we are going to try out eating at 5:30, baths at 6:15ish and then bed. How does your family handle dinner, baths, and bedtimes?
• I have lots of friends adopting from all over the world. A few of them have run into some snags lately. If you think to, please pray for adoptions in general and specifically for families having a hard time. The wait is heart-wrenching and when you add problems to the wait, it can seem unbearable.
• I'm going stir crazy in the house. It is cold and wet out, plus we need to fence off the back yard, so we can't go outside. It is just about impossible for me to go out (away from the house) with all three kids on my own. I would do it if I had to, but one meltdown or diaper blowout could put us in a tailspin. We love visitors. Please come and see us! Seriously. Call me (or email!). I may not think to call and invite you, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't love seeing you. I would. Adult conversation is very much appreciated!
• I have taken almost no pictures this month because my camera has been acting up. Chuck thinks he has it fixed, but we will see. It's been eating batteries or not even recognizing them. I have rechargeable batteries, but they only last for about 5 pictures. Frustrating! I don't have money to replace the camera, plus it's not very old.
• There aren't many foods I indulge in this time of year. I don't really have favorite holiday food, but I am a complete sucker for clementines. I love those little guys!
• I have gotten really bad at returning emails. If you've emailed me and I haven't responded, I'm sorry. I have this habit of looking at email when I'm nursing Tristan and I can't respond. Then I forget to respond later (or I never get the time to look at it again). So, if you've emailed me and I haven't replied and you need to hear from me, please shoot me another email.

Sorry, that turned into a complete brain dump. I'll try to post more often so that I don't have to do these brain dumps. I should have a few pictures to post soon, too.