The Crazy Time

This time of year is crazy for us as a family. For the past 4 years, at least. 4 years ago, I was in my first IVF cycle, and in the middle of miscarrying during Thanksgiving. 3 years ago I was heavily pregnant with Cam, and 2 years ago heavily pregnant with Maggie and Nora. Last year I was freaking out about the combo of birthday's and the anniversary of Nora's death.

So this year is the first year in a very long time that we are traveling for Thanksgiving, and the first year that I feel like things are somewhat under control. Of course, couldn't be totally smooth sailing, as my older dog is too fragile to leave at home, so we are bringing 2 toddlers and 2 dogs with us on Thanksgiving, which will add a nice layer of stress..... but in general, this is the calmest Thanksgiving time we've had in a long time.


I went away this past weekend with my girlfriends and spent a LOT of time crafting, and made two Waldorf Dolls - one for Cam and one for Maggie. Maggie's is totally done, I even made it a sweet little outfit. Cam's needs clothes - and one of my buddies mentioned I should give it a firefighter outfit. So I ordered one from build-a-bear (the doll is 16 inches, just like the bears, so I'm hoping it works). I'll post pictures when they are both clothed, lol. I also made a bunch of cute little Christmas tree wall hangings, so I'm almost done with my homemade Christmas gifts! And I got home to find that Aaron had finished up Maggie's dollhouse. Check it out:
Cool, right? If you can believe it, Aaron's mom found this at the Take it or Leave it at Nantucket's dump. It was in rough shape, covered in crayon marks and stickers and the bottom deck had been chewed by a dog. But Aaron really did a great job of restoring it, and I know Maggie will love it. It's got two fun decks/porches and the doors slide back and forth in the front - and the sides and back are totally open. A super fun dollhouse and it was basically free - just sweat equity.

And the birthday party is also under control. I decided that a party from 10-12 didn't need to serve lunch, so it's going to be super easy for me. They have a bunch of activities planned - decorating a birthday banner, making a drum, having someone come with a guitar and sing, an obstacle course, and winding up with a parade! It's going to be a heck of a lot more fun than I would have managed to pull off!

So now, just to survive the next 2 weeks without a major breakdown, and we are good. Deep breath.