Gobble Gobble, One of us...

OK, so that title is a line from a freaky movie that I've never seen, but, ya know, the whole turkey thing and such...

So, I guess the next logical step is to say how my Thanksgiving was. In a word, it was okay. We had one gathering with Aaron's family and one with mine. The one with the in-laws went quite well, actually. The ladies sat together at the table (Autumn included) while the men were spread about. I'm quite fortunate to have in-laws that I like. It totally destroys that whole stereotype of the pain-in-the-ass meddling mother-in-law.

We then went to my grandparents house where my aunt and uncle from Nebraska were staying with their three kids, all age 4 and under. That went fair enough. My grandma made up a couple different casseroles (which my mom hates...she lived on those casseroles most of her younger years). I wasn't a big fan of any of them, but they were ok. The kids were awesome, and Autumn mixed right in.

However, I got a bit of a lecture from my grandpa. I'm not going into details, but we shall say that his concerns were valid, but a holiday gathering was the least appropriate place to have this conversation he could have chosen. Unlike my typical character, I'm still holding a grudge about this. I think that's because I don't expect these sort of feelings to be towards a grandparent. I'm hoping this can get ironed out.

I ended the day with a couple beers and three games of bowling with my brother, Andy (two of which I won!!!). I really miss that guy. He's been working pretty much seven days a week, and Thanksgiving was his one day off. Andy and I have been pretty tight since we were kids. We've always had each others back, and I am truly thankful for him.

Today I navigated the jungle of Black Friday. It actually went quite well. No brawls, and I got the items I set out to get, plus a few more. I planned to get a yoga mat for the baby and me class I had planned to take. Unfortunately the class was cancelled due to a lack of interest. :(

Instead, Autumn and I will be doing "swimming lessons" class together. I put it in quotations because at this point it's basically playing in the water and getting them used to the general feeling. She's a total water baby much like myself, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Today Michael expressed a lot of interest in swimming lessons. They are free with our family YMCA membership, so I'm all for it. This surprises me quite a bit, though, because it was not that long ago he would have a nervous breakdown if water got splashed on his face. Anything to encourage exercise is alright by me.

That's about all the "positive" I can squeeze out of the last couple days. There's been a lot of crap, but I'm doing my best to let that all wash away. The boys are over this weekend and we'll be putting up the tree with them.

Love, Peace and Chicken Grease!