We had a really nice Thanksgiving. The trip ended up being quite an adventure. We drove down to my grandmother's house Tuesday afternoon. I left a bit later than I had originally planned because Monday was so hectic that I had no time to pack. Because we were in such a hurry I was not thinking when I selected my shoes for the day. My husband bought me the cutest black heels last weekend and I slipped these on as we left the house. When we arrived at my grandmother's we went to the supermarket. The store did not have disinfectant wipes to wipe the cart baby seat with like the store in my town. I ended up carrying the baby for what seemed like forever in the supermarket. My three-inch heels were looking cute but not feeling so hot. I was feeling tired when we came back to her house. The "fun" was not over for the day. The baby spiked a fever, 102, around eight-thirty that evening. To the emergency room we went. My daughter has bronchitis so I assumed that the baby did too. At ten they released us after giving the baby a clean bill of health. I do not know why he is feeling bad. I think he might be teething. I was exhausted at the end of the day but at least I had switched to my tennis shoes before the trip to the hospital.

Wednesday was fairly uneventful, thank goodness. Thanksgiving was really nice. My uncle was able to join us and my husband drove in Wednesday night. I had originally offered to do all the cooking but my grandmother ended up cooking the turkey and the dressing. She also made the fruit salad and baked a pecan pie, (yum). All I did was make the cheesecake pie, the green bean casserole and whip the potatoes. Everything was great. It was especially great spending time with my family.

Last night I saved this post to this point as a draft. I am picking up today at this point. The baby was very sick last night. He had fever and was coughing so badly he was nearly throwing up. We took him to the ER here in town. Four hours later the doctor saw us and it turns out he has an ear infection and an infection in his throat. I had a feeling he was sick. That is why I took him to the ER Tuesday night. Last night the doctor prescribed him an antibiotic. He also had a dose in the ER. He spent the remainder of the night, (we arrived home at three in the morning,) without a fever. He is on the road to getting better now. My daughter is also recovering well from her bout with bronchitis.

Yesterday the cold front came in. The wind was cold. Its a little too cool to let the baby play outside anymore. With this upcoming cold in mind I took the kids to the childrens park here in town last week. The park was recently completely updated. It was the first time we had been there since the renovation. It is really nice. It has foam underfoot in case of a fall. (I remember there was nothing but hard dirt under the swings at the park when I was little.) All the equipment is brand new. They have things for children of all ages. Both my daughter and the baby had fun. The baby loved the slides! Playing inside can be fun but nothing beats the outside play in the warmer weather.

I love the holiday season and all that comes with it. However, I find that I really miss my family this time of year. I really miss my parents and my little brother and sister. I wanted to go to my parents house for Thanksgiving so badly but it is just not possible right now. They live too far for me to travel with my ten month old son. He just hates being in the car. You can mention the word "car" and he begins getting stressed. He cries so hard he begins gagging himself on the way to the doctor's office, forty-five minutes away! I can not imagine driving for seven hours! I am going to go to my grandmother's house, one hour away, though. My daughter can sit in the back seat next to the baby to try and keep him occupied and calm. My husband will drive down and join us for Thanksgiving dinner. My grandmother was going to be alone this Thanksgiving so I am glad I will be there with her. Its a smaller family gathering than I would like but I do cherish the time I have with my grandmother. I'm thankful for the time with any of my family but I'll still be missing my parents and siblings.

My daughter placed third in the UIL spelling competition. I am very proud of her. She did not place in the writing competition but she did her best. That is whats important. She is probably going to read a poem in the upcoming Christmas program. She is very excited about this as only she and one other child were chosen. I am so glad that she is very smart. She has her own ideas and opinions about things. It is amazing, really, to watch a child grow and development mentally. I see some of myself and some of my husband in her but she is truly unique. What a gift she is. I thank God every day for blessing me with my beautiful daughter.

Halloween went well here. I took my daughter and my two nieces trick-or-treating. I carried the baby as we walked up and down the blocks. He did really well for an hour and a half. His Grandma watched him for the final thirty minutes I had the girls.

An interesting thing happened. At one of the first houses we went to the lady gave my daughter twice as much candy as my nieces and told her, 'because you're pretty.' I brushed it off. Well, this happened repeatedly last night at eight or more houses. Yes, my daughter is pretty but so are my nieces. How unfair that one should get more candy than another. I don't want my daughter to think that "pretty" is dependable and that "less pretty" is less deserving. "Pretty" is only an opinion. My younger niece asked me if her makeup was ugly. I reassured her that she looked beautiful, which she did. I talked to the girls and told them that sometimes adults make comments without thinking and we focused on the fun again.

All in all, everyone had fun and looked great! It was a happy Halloween.