Fun but busy Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

Whew! What a weekend! And it started Tuesday...

Tuesday afternoon, since Micah's piano teacher was out of the country anyway, we decided to skip Tae Kwan Do. At dinner, we had a guest from Israel, a fellow David works with. It was a very nice evening, but busy with the kids. R sent David a lovely email the next day:

I keep telling everyone that I was hypnotized by the children. Rarely does one see such intelligence, concentration and discipline.

My Kids? :)

The boys had a half day on Wednesday, so David picked up Sofia and met us at home for lunch. Sam had a guitar lesson, and then my friend C came over with her boys. Micah worships the older one (age 11) because he's a Nintendo kid, and Sam and the younger are only a few months apart and dear friends. All the boys had fun. Her husband and David finally showed up and we had a yummy dinner - ribs! (beef, lamb, and veal).

Thursday morning the kids watched the Parade on TV while I packed. We left at noon, got to my sister's at 2:00. The kids played and played with my nieces, and had even more fun when my cousins arrived - my cousin Paul is 30 and SO much fun to be with!

Sofia all dressed up:


David and my BIL:


Sofia and Pop (my dad):


Sam:


Sofia finds the computer:


Micah on the swingset:


Sofia hanging around:


Micah and Julia give Sofia a lift:


It was a fairly fun day, not too many nasty comments in any direction. Just the usual weird personalities. And David and I kept checking the updates fro Mumbai - sigh. What a horrible tragedy.

We slept over at their house - Sofia was all riled up, and running up and down the hallway screaming like a banshee.

Friday morning my sister dragged me to the gym, then we took the kids to see "Bolt". It was a bit violent, I thought, and Sofia was scared of the before-movie onscreen stuff, like the "shush your phone" message. But she liked the puppy!

Then it was time to head to David's grandmother's house for dinner with the Rothkopf clan. My MIL had made all the food and put it in the fridge; it was up to me, Laura, and cousin Heather to warm it all up on Grandma's tiny stove.

Sam was in a miserable mood, because he wanted to stay with his other cousins (Hannah and Julia, my sister's twins), but MIcah had fun playing with H's son Alex, and Sofia kept tackling "her" baby Lilie.

Heather and Ian:


Sofia in "command central", with Lilie, Micah and Alex, along with Gradnma Toby's nurse, Shirley:


We got back to my sister's at 9:00. Back to the gym in the morning, then we took our kids and Julia to my mom's (Hannah had rehearsal). I got my nails done (I got Tips! Very cool!), and we got dressed up and picked up David's parents and the 4 of us drove to Flushing NY for the wedding of a family friend, Sol.

Sol's wife passed away about 18 months ago; she had been my MIL's best friend. Their daughters are like cousins to David and Heather. It was a bit surreal (lots of interesting personalities), but we had a lot of fun.

Me, all dressed up:


David and his father:


Is it just a wee bit odd that I look like my MIL?


My inlaws, giggling:


We didn't get back to my mom's house (after dropping off my inlaws) until 3:30 am. Of course, I slept in the car, but poor David had to stay up.

Wait, the weekend's not done yet! Sunday my niece Hannah danced in The Nutcracker. David stayed at the house with Sofia, and I went with the boys and my parents. It was lovely.

Some shots of Hannah:


Hannah with The Nutcracker:


Sammy and Hannah:



Whew! We went to dinner with them (Sofia would not even LOOK at my sister all weekend!), and got home around 10pm. Thankfully the boys did not have school on Monday (professional development day), so we could relax.