Thursday, November 22, 2018

Oh the noise, the noise, the noise, noise, noise!


Well, we had an uneventful drive on Wednesday.  We left around 7:00 in the morning and rolled into Saint George (after going to the wrong address) around 8:00 pm.  Earlier in the week, I had decided to have Amazon ship Adell's birthday presents to Charity's house so we would have them for her birthday on Sunday.  Unfortunately, I selected the first address I had for Ben and Charity in my Amazon settings...which was an old address.  On our drive, I was the navigator and put the old address from Amazon into my phone.  As we made our through Saint George Will knew right away we were not in the right neighborhood.  We had to go to Charity's old house and knock on the door to explain the package situation, relying on their kindness and honesty to hold Adell's birthday presents for us.  It was a little embarrassing.  

Thursday morning we woke up to adults and children everywhere!  It was noise, noise, noise!  Kids were playing games, adults were making food and people of all ages were milling about talking.  It was glorious.  




Colter and Micha tried to lock Will in a closet.  It was that kind of day.




At one point in the midmorning, baby Sariah was trying to take a nap.  There was so much noise from all of us, she could not fall asleep.  After listening to her persistent cries, I decided to go bounce her to sleep.  She was not happy to see me.  She kept screaming and reaching for the door.  I pulled out my phone and started the Rockabye baby Coldplay album.  When Clare was a baby and toddler we would check this CD out from the Redwood City library and play it on repeat for nap and bedtime.  Poor Lorien knew this album inside and out as she shared a room with Clare.  They listened to the CD played on an old school boom box that we got from a Stanford friend when they were moving out.  Thinking about it now makes me a little emotional.  We've come a long way.  Anyway, the music settled Sariah down and she eventually fell asleep in my arms.

I am so out of practice bouncing a baby.  My biceps were BURNING after just a couple of minutes.  She wouldn't let me sit down in the rocking chair or lay her down in the crib.  It was kind of the best agony.  I love snuggling a baby and I got that wish...my arms were just so out of baby bouncing shape!  She slept for about 45 minutes in my arms.  I could feel the burn for days after!

Later in the evening, Sariah needed another nap and the noise was too much for solid sleep again.  I went back in for bouncing duty.  This time she fell asleep much faster but wouldn't let me put her down.  Sariah did let me sit in the rocking chair, so I fell asleep too, it was lovely.  We had a cozy nap with my arms in a little less pain.




  



Thanksgiving dinner was yummy and plentiful.  Will made our brine turkey (by having Emily buy and set everything up on Tuesday) and cooked it Thursday.  It was definitely one of the most flavorful, juicy turkeys we've ever had!


After dinner and a nap, I decided I needed to run to Target for a few "essentials".  Little did I know, it was Black Friday for Target.  It was crazy!  I do not shop Black Friday sales.  I've gone a few times and it always feels so hectic and crowded.  I'd rather pay full price and have peace while I shop.  I also think the biggest sales are for things I'm not buying.  Target was a madhouse and I only needed Diet Coke for Will and some towels for the pool.  They had isles roped off for the check out lines that snaked around the whole store.  Other isles were blocked at the ends with big sale items stacked there...vacuums, microwaves, TVs.  I had to go back and forth all over the place just to get to the towels.  It just reinforced my idea that Black Friday is not for me.

Poor Lorien was bored and I should have taken her to Target with me.  I bought her some ice cream to make up for it...a little.

After Target we played a game where you had to look at a set of upturned cards and tried to give a one-word clue to your team so they could guess the cards correctly.  It was so fun, and hard!  At one point, Will was the clue giver for our team.  Our team was made up me, Will, Lorien, Wyatt, Evan, and Ben (so mostly our Anderson family).  Will was getting ready to give his first clue and Lorien said, "Watch, he's going to say something super hard like 'Pythagorean, seven'."  We all laughed, knowing Will as well as we do.  Will responded, "It's close...geometric, six."  We all laughed even harder.  Lorien really knows her dad.  Now we need to get the game for family game nights.



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