The last six weeks of the year are always the most chaotic for me. It all kicks off with Kevin's birthday (Nov. 23rd), unless, of course, it happens to be the year where Thanksgiving is as early as it can be (the 22nd). So between November 22nd and January 1st, there's all three of our birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas (and all the parties that lead up to it, including the ward party which I have to help plan), and New Year's (which I'm not really sure why I'm including because I don't do a whole lot for it). All I can say is I am SO glad Baby Esch will be born on the opposite side of the year!
For Kevin's birthday, the original plan was to go down to Shedd's Aquarium downtown. Kevin had been talking about taking the Squirt there for months. But somehow when the day came, he ended up going to Rockford--with Lauren--and left me with some free time to myself. Not too shabby on my end. :) Let's hope he doesn't expect the return of the favor on my birthday. For dinner, both of our parents met up with us at Stir Crazy at Woodfield. Kind of a mini-reunion, as that is where our parents met when we were engaged.
Then we headed back home for some Schade dump cake and ice cream.
Overall, a pretty low-key day, for which I was grateful in my current state. A theme I think we will see recur over the next 5 months.
Next was Thanksgiving. It was my first time hosting it, and I was a bit nervous, since I was in charge of the turkey, and the pumpkin pies. After what seemed like a hundred calls to my mother (and sister when my mom got tired of the answering the phone), the two turkey breasts turned out nice and moist. I even felt inspired to break out the china. After all, how often do I really get to use it? Once again, our company included my parents, my youngest brother, and Kevin's mom. I was happy that I had divvied up the dinner assignments. And my sweet mother and mother-in-law kind of took over once they got here and let me rest, including washing the china afterward. Though I've had more energy lately now that I'm in my fifth month, it still is not THAT much energy. The dinner was yummy, full of traditional food. And without sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, there's nothing like homemade pumpkin pie!
My goal for the next Thanksgiving I host is to conquer an entire turkey toute seule.
The next day was Lauren's 3rd birthday. Of course, in my mind, I had previously made all of these grandiose plans like any mother could. But when it boiled down to it, I decided to Keep It Simple Stupid. Kevin and I stayed up Thanksgiving night, putting together her big present--a kitchen of her own. She's always pretending to make us something, so we figured a kitchen would be great. We debated whether to ask Santa to bring it to her, but in the end, we realized we would never be able to bring it back from Naperville in our small cars. But maybe Santa will bring her something to complement her kitchen.
We had sent out invites to family and a few friends to join us for pizza and cake and ice cream. But knowing that it was the day after Thanksgiving, (and myself, having experienced getting the shaft on my birthday because it's close to a holiday), I didn't really expect a whole bunch of people to come. So thrice again, the celebratory circle included only my parents and Kevin's parents. Three times in one week! I think that's a new record. Dinner was simple--pizza delivered. Celebration was simple as well--purple homemade cake with ice cream (of course, every adult opted for the moose tracks).
Overall, it was a good week. I'm glad I didn't kill myself scrubbing my house clean, because when it boiled down to it, people just didn't care. They came for the company. Lesson learned.
