When Kevin got Carter out of bed on Saturday, this is how he found him: I would love to have seen how that happened.

We had a great Thanksgiving. I wasn't feeling too great on Wednesday, so I didn't get to prepare as much as I had planned. I did get the sweet potatoes baked and some pumpkin bars made. Wednesday night, I decided to attempt a pumpkin roll. A coworker had mentioned making one, so I had the idea stuck in my mind. Kevin and I had done all of our Thanksgiving grocery shopping the Saturday prior. I stopped on the way home from work on Tuesday to get last minute items (like replace the butter my dear husband left in the pantry.) My goal was to avoid any shopping on Wednesday. As I was making my pumpkin roll, I realized I was out of baking soda. I was in my pajamas, and neither of us really felt like going to the store. I called my next door neighbor to ask if we could have some and sent Kevin over. When he got back and started helping me prepare the pan, we ran out of wax paper. Kevin had to go back over and ask for that. I felt horrible because my mom always taught us not to bother anyone for such things. At the same time, it is wonderful to know we have neighbors we can count on. My pumpkin roll turned out great and was a big hit. Too bad, I didn't get any pictures of it.

Anyway, I put a turkey breast in the crockpot at 4:00 am. On Thanksgiving day, I made stuffing balls, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, and a ham. Kevin's mom brought macaroni and cheese. Kevin's parents brought his brother and his wife who have never been down here. I also had a coworker come for lunch. We had a great meal and really enjoyed our day. Carter especially enjoyed all the extra attention. I was also thrilled to send the leftover turkey home with Kevin's brother. I think we'll skip the turkey next year.

I'm starting to think Carter may be a little OCD.

• If I leave a lock off the cabinets, he gets our attention until we fix it
• I had the water container for the iron on the bathroom counter, and Carter got it, walked to the shelf where I keep it, and held it up, so I could put it away.
• Before his bath tonight, he had to close our closet door
• He noticed the drawer under the washer was open and ran to close it
• If we leave a cordless phone off the cradle, he runs to the cradle until we hold him up to put it away
• If there is a soft drink can out, he has to put it in the recycling bin.
• If he gets anything on his hands, he has to have them cleaned.
• If he gets food on his hands while eating, he has to have a napkin but wants to throw it away after one use
• When he finishes a drink, he has to give me his cup immediately
• If a toilet seat is up, he has to put it down
• If I go to the bathroom, he has to come in, so he can turn out the light
  

I can't tell if he is being helpful or if he really has issues. He does love to help.

• He will put his clothes in his laundry basket before his bath.
• He helps put the dishes away
• He puts his shoes on the cedar chest in our bedroom before his bath
• He likes to let Tiger out of the laundry room
• He put his coat in the coat closet without my asking
  

I sure hope his eagerness to please lasts. Tonight, he even walked to the stairs when we told him it was bedtime. Of course, he does still hit us and throw things, but it just amazes me how much he has grown and changed lately.

I have been sick. The week before Thanksgiving, I stayed home from Wednesday through Friday with laryngitis and was just feeling horrible. Kevin took a half day that Friday to put out pine straw. This is what 100 bales of pine straw looks like (It's 3 bales deep).

Carter and I decided to go outside and help. I had picked Carter up early that day to take him to the doctor. he had a sinus and ear infection. First, we had to put the garbage can away:
Then, we had to haul the bales:
It was getting dark, so we had to clean up:
Carter made sure his pacifier and ball were safe:
We only needed about 50 bales, so we have had a wall of pine straw on our driveway. I brought 20 bales to a coworker, and today, we spread the others out all through the back. It does look nice. (Too bad,I haven't taken a picture)

More fun with a laundry basket. It's a perfect place to stand to try and find stuff to ask for on the counter: You can also rock it: And dance in it:
Then, you can slide down and rest:

Carter loves to get into my pusrse. It contains endless opportunities for entertainment. My wallet is lots of fun to pull out all the credit cards, business cards, etc...., my cell phone beeps and lights up. I could repvent this by just zipping it, but Carter has learned something new:

Then, he learned how to unzip my pouch of lipstick.

Nothing is safe!

Can I tell you how glad I am Kevin's baseball season is over? This is the most disorganized thing I have ever seen. We had a dilemma. I had a 9-10 mile run yesterday morning, and Kevin had to leave the house at 9:00 for his 10:00 game. I knew my running buddy wasn't going to make it to our team run, so I was afraid I would be with a slower group and not be able to make it home in time for Kevin to leave. I got on mapmyrun.com and figured out a 9 mile run around our neighborhood. This was a HUGE thing because our neighborhood is MUCH more hilly than where we practice, and I wouldn't have my teammates to motivate me along with the water stops set up for us. I didn't want to be selfish and cause Kevin to miss his game.

I was proud of myself for tackling some enormous hills and completing the run on my own with very little walking around mile 8 (my knees were hurting). I made it home while cursing the hills. Kevin left for his game and called me shortly after arriving at the ball fields 30 minutes away to let me know not enough people showed up and the fields were in no condition for playing. I was slightly angry to say the least. Kevin did make it home just in time to take Carter to get his flu shot. When we arrived at the pediatrician, the parking lot was full, and there was a line outside the building. The lady at the check in said there was at least a 45 minute wait. When I inquired if that was for people with appointments, she told me they were not accepting walkins. Of course, I went off on her to let her know how ridiculous this was, and in my job, I can't be late and make people wait. I took the paper work anyway and headed to the back of the line while Kevin hung his head in total embarassment. I figured what the heck, Kevin and I should at least get our shots while there, so I sent Kevinto get the paperwork for us. We waited outside for about thirty minutes while they let one family at a time go upstairs to the packed waiting room. After another 30 minutes, we were finally called back. Carter got both the H1N1 vaccine and the seasonal flu vaccine. Kevin and I received the seasonal vaccine, and I had received the H1N1 at work on Thursday. Hopefully, we will be well. Carter did wake up from his nap today with fever. I'm hoping it was just a brief reaction. If it's not, it's Kevin's turn to stay home.

Anyway, back to the baseball. Kevin had another game at 1:00 today. That was fine. It coincided with Carter's nap time. I cooked a dinner for us and a coworker who juat had a baby, worked on lesson plans, and ironed. Kevin called at 3:00 to tell me they hadn't started plahying yet. The commissioner who plays on the other team was running late and had the gear. I think the other team should have had to forfeit, but that's not how things run with this league. I'm hoping Kevin can find a league that's a little more organized to play for next season.

These are jus the situations from this weekend which are totally typical.

We completed Saturday by going to Pig on the Ridge. It's a great barbecue festival in Ridgeway, just north of Blythewood. We took my parents last year, and coincidentally, Dad had to be in Atlanta the Wednesday and Thursday before this year. We ate lots of barbecue and saw some very interesting sights!

Wow, we have been super busy around here. The new theme of our lives is "Not Enough Time." I'm still training for the half marathon in February, and Kevin just wrapped up his second baseball season. Last weekend, my parents came for a brief visit. They started the weekend by watching me run in the Governor's cup 8K. Here I am before the race: In the crowd at the start line: Coming into the finish: With my running buddy Misty afterwards: The race was great. I am so glad to have met Misty through team in training. She and I have the same pace and have grown to be great friends. I finished the race in 44:58. I was 5th in my age division! I wasn't running it to compete but just as practice. The race ended with a giant hill. I had been running in my very hilly neighborhood the week prior, so when everyone started walking up the final hill, I decided to use it as my opportunity to pass them. Misty did great for her first race ever and finished 13 seconds after me with considerable knee pain. It was great to have Kevin, Carter, and my parents at the finish line!

I was in the living room today folding and hanging Carter's laundry. Carter grabbed part of the pile of coat hangers I had, disappeared, and returned without them. Next, he grabbed his pants I had hanging, disappeared, and returned without them. He repeated this process for the rest of the coat hangers.

When I went into my room to find them, this is what I found:

What a sweet boy! We have kept a coat hanger on our TV armoire as a makeshift lock. Carter thinks this is where we hang things. I just hugged him and thanked him for helping me.

Although Carter wasn't feeling well, we were able to make it to a few houses for Trick-R-Treating. Carter loves wearing his "woof woof." Getting ready to go:
Hanging out until Mom gives us the ok:
Now, we can go:
Visiting our next door neighbors, Mimi and Poppy:
Although, we only went to 3 houses, they did a great job of filling Carter's pumpkin. He had a great time running through the neighbors's yards and getting some energy out.

We have had a rough few days. When I got home from running on Saturday, Carter was still sleeping. Around 9:00, I decided to wake him up. He was burning up and hoarse. Carter had a fever of 100.7. It went down pretty quickly with Tylenol, but I called the weekend clinic for his Pediatrician. After waiting for over an hour, I was told he was coming down with something but she didn't know what. She went ahead and did a Strep test which came back negative. She told me to go back in on Sunday if he got worse.

Sunday, he sounded worse, so I called the doctor right after 8:00. They were already out of appointments for the day, so I was told to take him in on Monday if he wasn't better.

After his nap, he sounded even worse, so we decided to go to the after hours clinic. (I'm thankful we have many options) I dreaded going, especially with all the crud going around. I had told myself that if we got there and the waiting room was full, we would just leave. Amazingly, there was no one in the waiting room. We were out of there in 20 minutes, but we were told we had just missed the crowd. Carter has croup. The doc prescribed some steroids. I stayed home with him today, and he is sounding much better. He also can't understand why we won't go outside to play with his ball.....poor boy.