Thanksgiving with the Rasmussens

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, where the fun and the mashed potatoes flowed freely. Here's the star of the show, in her kitchen with the pots boiling and her magic crown in place:In fact, here are ALL the girls (DIVAS!) wearing their magic crowns. Grandma Connie bought the crowns as part of the birthday celebration that usually accompanys Thanksgiving at her house. Lizzie is holding one of her gifts, Tumbles the Dog, which, among other things rolls over and makes annoying noises, just like a real dog.Here he is (after his name was changed to Snuggles Snugs) rolling over:Here he is eating Daddy's shoe. Since Snuggles is not a real dog and we STILL can't keep it from eating shoes, I'm pretty sure that I will never convince Mr. Rasmussen to get a dog.Here's the bird. Hannah and Lizzie could hardly wait to dig in. And although I have no pictures of it, they each devoured a drumstick. An entire drumstick. Each.Here's Grandma (the one who did all the work) getting the turkey ready for carving:

Eventually we did get around to eating. Here is Rob contributing to the festivities by carving the turkey. He was mad because usually his contribution ends at taking the turkey out of the oven. This year he had to actually work (I on the other hand, contribute absolutely NOTHING).Grandma Connie's talents extend well beyond the kitchen though. For years she's been saying that she can play the accordian. And she CAN!!! The girls (and I!) were thrilled. And look at that sparkly gold accordian????!!! She's the Liberace of accordian players.See how excited the girls are? It was really so cool and in the nearly 20 years I've been a part of this family, I'd never seen this talent before!Then of course we have just some random fun photos. Here are Hannah and Aunt Linda:
And Hannah and Uncle Dude:It's not Thanksgiving unless we take a picture in front of a roaring fire:And here's the whole gang, just before we dug into our delicious meal:

Hope your Thanksgiving was equally delicious!!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

I'll be spending the day eating my mother-in-law's mashed potatoes (seriously ... I'll probably steal them right from her plate as they are that good!) and turkey. Which reminds me that my mother in law's mashed potatoes are something that I am thankful for. (And also that she makes enough of them so that I don't have to steal them from her plate...)


Here are some other things, in no particular order:


I am thankful ...

that Hannah and Liz are healthy and happy and funny kids

that Rob's a great dad and husband

that there's nothing wrong with me that a little surgery can't fix

that my memoir is moving along nicely and may actually be finished in early 2009

that chocolate covered pretzels come in 100 calorie packs

that we will soon have a president who has a wonderful command of the English language and ideas that I agree with

that the weather chick predicts a 30 percent chance of a white Christmas

that I have a full time job that I love (that would be Mommyhood) and a part time job that keeps me in enough dough that I can buy the girls shoes whenever I want

that the people I love are healthy this year

that I have a roof over my head, food on my table, and enough left over for charity

that these two are happy and healthy and funny (it was worth repeating because there are TWO of them, after all...):

Quick birthday video

Please DO notice that the girl's cupcake tree looks like it's on fire.

Please DO NOT notice my loud, off-key singing -- I was trying to lead the group but instead it just sounds OBNOXIOUS!

So, without further disclaimer, here are the kids singing Happy Birthday to Hannah and Liz at their party this weekend.

Where Has the Time Gone?

Hannah and Elizabeth are six years old today.

I wasn't there when they were born, but they are as much a part of me as if I had given birth to them and it is more often than not that I actually forget that I didn't. It is, as the girls' birthmom told me once, that she gave them life so that I could give them a life.

And what fun we've had for the past almost six years (our Family Day is at the end of January.)

Hannah and Lizzie's journey began six years ago, born 8 weeks early and weighing four (Hannah) and 3.75 lbs (Lizzie.) They spent the first month of their life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, coming home just in time for Christmas, 2002. I have pictures of them from those first few weeks of life looking small and vulnerable and somewhat like very old men with wrinkled skin and wizened faces.

And even though I wasn't there to rub their tiny backs or offer them a bottle or a snuggle, I admire the courage they had to live and to fight, despite setbacks and problems. Back then Lizzie was diagnosed with cystic encephalomalacia (don't bother looking it up - it's pretty scary and now she's fine) and they thought her hip might have been dislocated during delivery. Hannah did better, but she was still on oxygen for those first few days.

It was their birthparents -- not me -- who snuggled them and fed them and prayed that they'd come home healthy and whole.

I'm grateful that I know that; that they were so well loved in those early days of their lives when they were undoubtedly scared and hurting and new to this world. It's one of the beautiful things about an open adoption.

So today, when they turn six as the exuberant, curious, spirited duo that they are, I honor their birthparents who loved them into this world and then loved them enough to place them for adoption when they believed they could no longer parent them -- and who continue to love them today.

And Happy Birthday to my sweet (well, most of the time!) daughters who believe deep in their hearts that God sent them snow for their birthday today. May you always have that innocence and confidence. And may you always feel the love that brought you into this world, as well as the love from Daddy and me, which surrounds you and guides you every day.

Home Sick - updated

UPDATE: After a sleepless night trying to get a 104.5 temp down and to stay down, Lizzie was diagnosed with a sinus infection and possibly strep throat (the rapid test was inconclusive, but showed a slight positive) and is now on antibiotics. Hopefully we'll all sleep much better tonight (or maybe even this afternoon!!)

Lizzie's home sick again today. Hannah AND Lizzie were both home yesterday (a day, of course, when I had two interviews and two stories to write!) and we were all pretty miserable. The doctor seems to think they just have viruses, which turned out to be true for Hannah who is going back to school today after being fever free since yesterday at around noon.

Lizzie, on the other hand, now has a temp of 102.6 which has made her miserable enough to STOP asking me why SHE doesn't get to go to school and Hannah does get to go to school.

They don't like missing school.

This is the total opposite of me of when I was home sick from school. I loved it.

In the Garrity household you were only allowed to stay home from school if you had a raging fever or if you somehow managed to vomit at the breakfast table. Mere tummyaches or headaches or sprains, strains or Math, were not reasons to stay home from school.

Mental health days weren't invented until my contemporaries of the baby boom decided they were important for their children's overscheduled brains. My mom probably saw all five of us going off to school as HER mental health day.

So, on the rare occasion when all criteria were met for me to be able to stay home, it was heaven.

When we were home sick it meant that we had to begin the day in bed. Sick people need to be in bed. But, as the day progressed -- usually around noontime -- we could convince my mother that we were well enough to come downstairs to watch gameshows with her over lunch.

To this day I still associate the $10,000 Pyramid with illness.

If I was really, really, really lucky, Andrea the Avon Lady would stop by. I loved Andrea (her name was pronounced anDRAYa) because she told me to call her by her first name (which my mother veto-ed so I called her Mrs. Borgia) and she wore funky scarves and was somehow acquainted with Anthony Quinn. My mom bought a lot of Avon. Seriously. A lot. Well actually it was a lot of Skin So Soft but if I was home, I got tons of those tiny lipstick sample tubes Avon used to hand out.

Hannah doesn't mind being sick. She'll sit on the couch with me and watch old movies (she thinks Jane Eyre is SO ROMANTIC -- big sigh) and keeps pretty quiet. She loves school, but she also loves to relax and be doted on.

Lizzie, the little sprite who is home for the second day in a row, does NOT like to be sick. Or home. Or watching movies. She wants to be out, about, around, in, under, etc. etc. etc. You get the picture.

So she's just absolutely miserable today. I did manage to get a smile out of her when I said she could help me make pudding this afternoon while Hannah's at school but that didn't stop her from asking me (over and over and over again) why she's still sick and Hannah's all better. Or why she can't go to schol when she's not THAT sick. And what are the kids doing in school now? How about now? Okay, but what are they doing NOW?

Will Hannah miss her? Will she know what bus to get on? Will she remember to tell the teacher that Lizzie is sick? Why do her eyes hurt? What if she barfs? Why doesn't she want to eat a sandwich? What is the snack at school? How did the germs get into her nose?

And, why is she sick?

I'm hoping (praying actually) that she'll be better tomorrow, even though it is Saturday and there is no school. Because then at least she'll be able to go outside and run around the house 47 times (which I think is probably frowned upon by the medical establishment when you have a temp of nearly 103).

But I also wonder if the time will ever come when she'll enjoy the brief time away from the normal routine of school and dance and playdates.

Hopefully Game Show Network will still be showing reruns of the Pyramid.

Monday Morning Video

I spent some time Sunday afternoon videotaping the girls riding their bikes (Hannah finally got rid of the training wheels!) which I'll post later, but this is the short conversation I had with Lizzie on our way home, when she didn't want to be going home.
Hope it brings a smile to your face on Monday morning!

Happy Halloween

Oh what a festive day we had!

First, I'd like to announce that exactly one year ago today we closed on our house so we've officially been here for an entire year. One day I hope to get to the boxes in the basement. But not today.

Today was all about Halloween and parades and candy.

Hannah and Liz both decided about a month ago, that they wanted to be ballerinas, using some of their cousin Shelby's costumes from when she was about their age. Here they are in their cuteness:

Here's Lizzie striking a pose. They've been taking dance since September and you'll notice that when I asked her to go up on her toes (I meant tippy toes) she went up on her actual toes, which I'm sure is very bad for a little dancer to do, but I was pretty darn impressed. Especially since I can't even get up on my tippy toes, these days.Here's Hannah in (I think -- we all know I'm clueless when it comes to ballet) third position. This is amazing in so many ways, not the least of which is that she didn't fall over. Hannah has blossomed in dance class and is way more coordinated that she used to be and downright graceful. They both made adorable ballerinas:Here's a close up of the Hannah Banana:And a close up of our silly Little Bit:

These next two pictures are of the Halloween Parade. All the kids go outside in the parking lot of the school and then march around grade by grade. Then we all went inside for a party. But I love these two pictures because they show the differences in Hannah and Lizzie. Below is Hannah who is so excited that I'm there and that (once again!) I have my camera and I'm yelling, "Hi Hannah!" so she waves and gives me a big smile so I can take her picture. As opposed to her sister ......who pretty much likes to pretend that I'm not around when we're in public together. I remember the summer before her fourth birthday we went to a concert at the local library and I was be-bopping to the music and Lizzie looked and me and said as quietly as she could, "Mom ... please ... no dancing." Here I got just a little bit of a hand wave:Finally, I discovered this picture while I was photo editing something else. It's Lizzie and her friend Ava (whom I met today at the party -- did I mention I was one of the Mom helpers and it was a lot of fun) and if you look closely you'll see they are holding hands. How sweet is that?