Thanksgiving with Carolyn

Thanksgiving week was an exciting week.  Jake's sister, Carolyn, came to visit AND the twirls moved into forward facing car seats.

I was on the fence about moving them forward facing or buying one of those huge rear facing seats.  I knew they needed something new cause the seat belt on their infant car seats was as tight as it could go.  I know they recently changed the guidelines to keep them rear facing til they are 2.  But when Scarlett was a baby the recommendation was only 1 year old.  I did the research.  I read the tests.  I made the decision that seemed best for our situation.  I hope you'll respect that and I'll respect your decisions (for some reason the car seat is a heated topic with many people, so let's all agree we're trying to do what we think is best). anyways.........

The worker lady at Buy Buy Baby wanted to see how they fit in these seats.  They took the inaugural ride to church the next morning.  The twirls were literally speechless!  Driving is so much more peaceful and relaxing for all of us.  Plus I like that they're eating food while upright where I can watch them.

Carolyn came a few days later.  She loves to cook and clean and I love to eat and sleep.  It was a wonderful week!!!

One morning we went to the gym, after our workout we went to get the girls from the daycare.  The lady in charge looked at Carolyn then back at me and said "you two look so much alike!"  She was surprised that we were only related through marriage!

Hard at work in the kitchen... homemade rolls, cranberry cheesecake, rainbow jello.  It was a feast!

Jake wanted to try smoking the turkey this year.  I was on board - mostly cause that meant I didn't have to do anything with it!  It turned out absolutely amazing!  The smoky flavor was just enough to give it something without being overwhelming and the meat was so juicy!  This is our new turkey tradition!

Our delicious dinner, our scrumptious spread, our enjoyable eats, our... well you get the idea...

After dinner I ran upstairs to work on my assignments for our Ward Christmas Party.  When I came back downstairs I found the girls enjoying a movie and the adults enjoying a nap.  haha!

Aunt Carolyn was so fun!  She played all sorts of games with the girls, took Scarlett outside, made tasty treats, and even watched Frozen (her first time seeing the movie and Scarlett's 479th time)

Don't let the girls' expressions fool you - they loved being all squished on the slide!

After our Thanksgiving festivities were over we got the girls bathed and ready for bed then loaded everyone up in the car for a new adventure.  We drove through the Hines Park Lightfest.  You pay $5 for your car to enter the park and you drive through all sorts of light displays.  They were a little spaced out but I was impressed at how many really cool displays they had!  I think it took us around 25 min to drive through everything.  The girls all really seemed to like it.  Despite being tired they were excited to see the lights, especially the displays we got to drive through.  I think this may be an annual tradition!

Yes, we make our guests ride in the back.  You've been warned!  Ok, not always, but I get car sick and Carolyn doesn't so this trip she was willing to take the back seat.  Even on the way to the airport.  I think she was worried about boarding the plane all covered in my vomit.  A very real and very serious possibility.

Another fun part of our week included this new purchase:

Yes, that's a folding wagon!  My mom saw it at Dick's Sporting Goods when she was here last time.  We went the day before Thanksgiving and it was on sale!  SOLD!  It holds like 120 lbs or something like that.  I love how quick it is to load the girls and drag them somewhere.  So far they haven't tried climbing out while I pull them - but I still watch them just in case.  They love it and so do I!  It's way easier than the stroller - especially for quick trips indoors.  I have used it to go to playgroup at the church or from the car to the gym.  And Scarlett loves that she can ride too!  I usually put a big blanket over their laps once they're all tucked in and I think it's warmer than the stroller!  YAY WAGON!!!  The main drawbacks are: no straps to hold them in, no place to put the diaper bag (except Scarlett's lap) and the turning radius is huge (I end up doing 3 point turns sometimes).  I still use the stroller for big adventures, but it has made the quick trips so fast!

The twirls were resting their heads together on our walk it was so sweet!  Then Jaide started head banging, like she always does.  It was cracking the other girls up.  Silly ladies!

After Carolyn left Scarlett often told me "I miss Aunt Carolyn."  One day she said "Oh no!  I forgot to ask Aunt Carolyn what does her house look like!?"  haha!  I sent that to Carolyn in a text and she sent Scarlett this picture... When I showed it to Scarlett she said "wow" with wide eyes and just stared at it for a min with wide eyes.  Then she said "She has lots of leaves, windmills, and stormy clouds."  That's my quirky girl!  Now she's so excited to go to Utah and see Aunt C

Random story: Scarlett woke up crying in the middle of the night.  I went in her room and through her tears she told me "I wanted to dance!"  haha!  I rocked her for a min then put her back in her bed.  She looked up at me and asked "What comes after E?"  "F"  "What comes after F?"  "G" "What comes after G?" so I sang the ABC song (her favorite) hoping that would answer all her questions.  When I finished she looked up at me and asked "What comes after G?"  oh my goodness!  I finally left her room but I was only 2 steps down the hall when she started crying again.  I opened her door and asked her what was wrong "I forgot to blow you a kiss *muh ah* ... can I have a glow stick?"  Seriously?  That girls sure keeps us on our toes!  Even at 2 am!