Thanksgiving

We were in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, which was great. Kind of a strange great, since we missed the rest of our family in Texas, and our friends from last year's T-giving at Abi and Chris's. But we got to hang out with Staci and Tim, Brian's sister and her husband. We have seen them twice since we moved here, which is more than we've seen Staci in a long time. I'm so glad to have a friend in my sister in law. She's smart and funny and the two of them really love Sadie and Zeke. They were kind enough to watch the kids the night before T-giving and Brian and I went downtown. It was so fun, although not a place I would long to frequent. Saturday we went to the Hoover Dam, which is quite an amazing place. While the 10 hour car ride was a bit too much for our little people (who were actually amazingly great travelers!), we are so thankful to have that time to spend with them.

We're back at home this week and next; Brian is in Chile this week. I know, weird. And I'm so, so, so very glad that the Lord makes parenting a team sport. We've done fine, for my first time doing this with both of them alone, but I will be happy to see Saturday's plane and my partner return. I know he'll be full of stories from this second to last continent he's traveled to (except for Antartica, the man has truly traveled the world!), so I'm glad he went.

I wanted to record tonight how Sadie is the coolest kid. Here's how our afternoon usually works. After our morning outing, we usually have a psuedo meltdown about 15 minutes to naptime. They are both so worn out and hungry, and you know, I only have 2 arms. So, Sadie has gotten into this beautiful schedule of playing by herself while I feed Zeke and get him to bed. So in the picture here, she is outside by herself with Baby, apparantly giving her cheerios. She was just so quiet and engaged! Where did that come from, I wonder? The grace of God, I think! And Brian's strategizing, too, to give credit where credit is due. He came up with the idea to have her slow down by reading books to herself in bed, a privelege that she LOVES, and so she just reads as long as she wants and then she can lay down to rest. She's so funny. She also likes to wear this stocking cap to read books, and she has to have her bed arranged just so. About a million "guys" (stuffed animals) and 3 "fuzzy blankies" and she wants two sippy cups of water just to make sure she doesn't get thirsty. I'm loving this time with her.