So let's skip past Mon-Wed because nothing special happened. Wednesday night after the boys went to bed I worked on prepping my batters for tomorrow's coffee morning. I did have to make cheesecake that night because it needed some time to set and chill before I served it. I was going to make the chocolate chip cookies that night as well but Lino was being a pain so I just decided to do them on Thursday. After everything was prepped we were able to hang out for just a little while before was time for bed. While in bed I realized I forgot to get more butter so I knew I had to get up a little bit earlier to make sure I had time to go to the store to get butter and get back and finish baking before we left. So Thursday morning when my alarm clock went off Mike decides to tell me that he actually had the day off. I was really excited but then I was kind of upset that he didn't tell me the day before but it was nice to know that he was going to be able to stay with us for Thanksgiving day. So I got up ran to the store to get the butter finished my cake batters and got those into the oven before all the boys got up. When might that downstairs and realized I have went to the store he was surprised that I was able to get everything done and go to the store before they got up... it's a rarity for me to be so efficient. He actually thought that I was going to be able to stay in the bed since he was home and he was going to be able to help me but I just wanted to get everything done so I didn't have to rush to be late. So once you got downstairs he help me make the chocolate chip cookies and then we decided what we were going to do for the rest of the day. Mike was going to go and take Lino with him to the farmers market so that they could pick up the turkey for our Saturday Thanksgiving dinner and I was going to stay with Shaun for the coffee morning. Although Mike had the day off he really had to go back into work for a few hours to attend a couple of meetings so the plan was after he got back from the farmers market he was just going to take the car to go to work that way I didn't have to leave to go get him. Plus we let Lino stay home from school today too that way neither one of us had to go and drop him off or pick him up so it worked out. So Mike left and I was finishing up my prep for the coffee morning I was so nervous and excited all at the same time. I have no idea why I was so nervous it's such a relaxed thing... there's no reason to be stressed about it but I was. So my first guest arrived and I still have a couple things left to do so that really stressed me out but she was pretty nice and wasn't bothered that I was still prepping. After that it was all downhill ... the doorbell kept ringing every 5 or 10 minutes and at the end I had a nice crowd of moms and kids. My neughbor even surprised me with a visit to bring us a homemade pumpkin pie!!!! I was so shocked, she wanted to give us something for our Thanksgiving since we weren't able to be home for it. I couldn't believe it, she is so sweet...we are super lucky to have such a nice neighbor. So everyone liked the cakes that I made too so that made me feel good... I was worried about the coffee cake that I made because it was the first time I have ever made that recipe. It turned out pretty good but it was really rich. I usually like to try recipe out first before I presented to a big crowd but this when I didn't have time to try thankfully it worked out. The cookies that Mike helped me to make turned out okay too...they were little flat and Mike was worried about that but the recipe picture shows flat cookies as well so I'm thinking that's what they're supposed to look like. Everyone really like the cheesecake and that's Mike's favorite as well so I figured it it would be a big hit and it was. All in all it was a really nice morning Nicole was there as well so was nice to have someone who I consider a friend there to make sure I wasn't going crazy. After everyone left a little bit later Mike made it back home and we just hung out for the rest of the afternoon it was a nice Thanksgiving day. Before we went to bed made our phone calls to all our family back home to wish them happy Thanksgiving as well. We got to FaceTime with most of our family as well...it's nice to be able to see them even though we aren't there. For some reason I had a strong desire to see my cousin and I tried to FaceTime her but no response so I have to give her crap on Facebook to make sure she knew I was thinking about her... hopefully I'll be able to catch up with her on Friday. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays it always helps me to remember what I'm so thankful for this is something I posted on Facebook that I always want to remember because it truly sums up my feelings for today and everyday:
Today I am thankful for my all powerful God, my amazing husband, my crazy kids, my wonderful family and my irreplaceable friends. My God has got me thru more than I could imagine & given me more than I deserve, my husband completes me (good & bad), my kids make me a better person, my family is like no other and my friends are always there with a helping hand. No words can express how thankful I am for my life!
Friday was my chill day and even tho I should have been preping and cleaning for the party I didn't. So I sat and watched my TV shows then I did decide to move the couches around but that was about all I did. Once I picked up Lino we decided to watch a little more TV but before I could turn the TV on Lino peed his pants. He actually has been peeing his pants the last 3 days after we pick up Mike from work. Very frustrating and I don't get it...I'm hoping he's just exhausted from school and the day and that's why...even tho that's not a good reason either it's better than he just doesn't want to go pee. Which is more than likely the real reason. Anyway, no TV for Lino so we found some other things to do to pass the time. Mike and I had been trying to decide if we were going to make mac & cheese or not as we kind of decided that we weren't because there wasn't a good recipe substitution for velveta so we didn't want to put out a crappy mac & cheese dish. But I just couldn't see Thanksgiving without mac & cheese so I looked online for a last min recipe and found one that looked fairly easy and produced a creamy mac & cheese similar to velveta so I had to try it. I didn't want to make a massive batch so I made 2 itty bitty batches and got them ready to take with me to get Mike. If he approved of them or at least one if them then we would be set. So we picked Mike up and he tried my test creations and actually thought they were ok...I was shocked. So we found a recipe that was going to work after all...Thabksgiving is saved!!!! Thankfully we had planned to go shopping for the last few things we needed for Saturdays dinner after we picked him up from work so that's where we went. We couldn't find the cheese we needed for the mac & cheese so Mike will have to I get it on Sat otherwise we got our things and headed home to start working on the 18lb turkey. We got it all salted and in its brine for an overnight soak...fingers crossed I don't have a dry turkey. We also had to get the sweet potatoes into the water to boil so we could make the sweet potato pie. While all that was going we had dinner and Shaun Shaun tore up his dinner. Whenever we have chilli I usually have to strip him down to his diaper so that his clothes don't get all stained from the sauce. Needless to say he enjoyed himself and enjoyed his dinner
Then bath for the boys while I cleaned up the kitchen. I was done sooner than I expected so I started working on the sweet potatoes, a job normally reserved for Mike but I figured I would help him out but when he saw that I was already straining the potatoes he was not happy. I was so confused, that's the hardest part of the job and I was doing it for hi but he wasn't happy...I think it was because he wanted to be apart of the process but who knows so I stopped what I was doing so that he could finish up. We got the pies done and into the oven to bake while we watched our TV shows...hopefully they will be ok for the dinner.
So it's Thanksgiving dinner day and I should be getting up early to cook but for some reason I feel like I don't need to since we are not cooking everything ourself. Mike was still in bed so I got thugs started before the gang got downstairs. I got the bird in the oven and said a little prayer that it wouldn't be dry. Then started breakfast...had to have breakfast since dinner was later than normal then clean up. I was getting a little stressed because I wanted to clean some stuff but the boys were all over me so I told Mike to take the boys for a walk. This way he could get some excercise and I could focus on a few things without being distracted by my men :-). I thought I would get a lot more done while they were gone but I really didn't. Just enough cleaning was done to say I cleaned so we moved to taking down stuff from the attic and putting it out. We had a few other things to do before it was time for someone to go get the last minute items we needed. Mike could see that I was obsessed with cleaning and so he took the boys again so I could finish up. I was hoping to be done with everything before he got home and I basically was and even got a shower in. But I didn't prep the mac & cheese and I still needed to make the gravy and I had only just put the rolls in the oven to rise so I really still had a lot to do. So I started on the gravy but had to call on some support from my dad because I really suck at making gravy. I wasn't sure how much we were going to need either so I was nervous about making a big batch and it coming out lumpy or floury so he walked me thru it on FaceTime until Nicole got there...then I knew I was behind!!! So I tried to rush but with kids and trying to find places to put everything I didn't get I do any more prep so that meant it was going to be a late start for sure. Before I know it Martha was here and another guest and I had only just put the rolls in to rise the 2nd time and still didn't start on the mac & cheese. For some reason I thought the mac & cheese would be super quick so I wasn't stressing too much about if but once 1/2 the guest were here ad I didn't have the mac & cheese done I was panicking. So I had everyone helping me out, doing this and that, cleaning, cooking, watching my kids, moving furniture whatever...everything!!! And poor Nicole was in charge of almost everything...I kind of left her hanging...we were suppose to do this together but she was ultimately in charge of everything. I just provided the house and a few dishes but it all worked out. It was kind of nice anyway, this is what we would have been doing if we were having Thanksgiving with family so it almost felt like family...it was nice. So finally I got I makeig the mac & cheese but had to put Regina in charge of that and she did an amazing job. The rolls got in at some point and everything was done but some of the food was cold by this point...I guess it's to be expected since we were about 1.5hrs late!!!! The only thing that kind of saved me was that Michelle got there at 5 because her Facebook invite said 5 not 4. That was a good and bad thing because she was fussing at me about my time being wrong and I was happy that she was late because I used her as an excuse for being so behind...hahaha. Anyway it all worked out and we got food reheated in our itty bitty microwave and we had an amazing feast!!! Everything was so freakig good and there was so much stuff it was just amazing...I felt so blessed and so happy we did it. I would have survived missing Thanksgiving but it really made me happy that I didn't have to and that we got to spend it with some cool newly acquired friends.
So we stuffed ourselfs, talked, ate more, more chatting and story telling then coffee and cakes. I think everyone had a great time and I know everyone stuffed themselves so that means it was a success. And even tho I tried to keep people from cleaning everyone helped with the clean up so it was really nice. I felt bad because they were cleaning my house but I was also happy to have the help and I guess they didn't seem to mind so I shouldn't make too much of a fuss out of it. I just feel so blessed to have these good friends and we have only been in Ireland for a few months. I think we ended up having 11 adults and 9 kids...not including us so it was a full house. I can't wait until next year!!!
Once everyone left and Nicole put me to shame by cleaning some more we just passed out on the couch and watched a movie. My feet were swollen and Mike was pooped so we both agreed the cleaning could wait until tomorrow. We had a load of dishes going in the dish washer and no one wanted to wash any more dishes so that was that...until tomorrow.
Sunday was clean up & party day. I thought I was going to be able to go over to Martha's for a coffee but after we got going I remembered we had 2 Christmas parties to go to so it was going to be a busy day. So we got thugs straighten up around the house, took showers and headed out to the Cuidu Christmas party. Thankfully it was close because we couldn't stay long because we were suppose to go to Mikes kids Christmas party later. So we said hello to everyone and Lino ran around crazy and was amazed with Santa then we left. We got to the Pepsi kids party and some of the people that were leaving were warning us that it was crazy in there. We missed the first hour that was just for the infants since we were at the other party so this portion was for the bigger kids. And it was crazy...bouncy castles, lots and lots of candy, sodas, chips (or crisp if your Irish) and toys...so many toys it was unbelievable. You play a game and u get a toy, u spin a wheel and u get a toy or candy or both...nuts!!! So needless to say Lino had a good time and I got a chance to meet some of daddy's work people. The sad part is that I met so many people I really couldn't keep the faces and names straight... It will take a couple more introductions for me to put all the pieces together. But overall it was a really nice evening and will have lots of fun and it was nice just to get out and do something different. We even got to take a family picture with Santa Claus which is our first picture with Santa Claus ever so this was definitely one for the memory books. By the time we were leaving there it was late and we're both tired and didn't know what wanted for dinner so we decided to just try some Chinese food near Glnmire. I thought there was a place near the library that we could go to and try out but when we checked on the Internet we couldn't find it so we went to the next best place. It got good reviews on the website so we went for it. It was funny because when I called to place the order the lady acted like she couldn't understand me or I was either ordering something she had never heard of. I was looking at the menu online so maybe it wasn't right but anyway we finally got it ordered and headed out there. By the time we got to pick up the Chinese food Lino was passed out in the car so we hurried home to see if he would wake up and eat something before bed. The food turned out to be pretty good so it was a good thing that we didn't go to the other place. We had our dinner got the boys cleaned up and put into the bed. Once the boys are in the bed we watched a little TV, had a glass of wine, relaxed and headed to bed ourselves...it was a long busy weekend but lots of fun.
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