More prep underway

2 lbs of macaroni done. Several large butternut squash peeled and chopped as well!

New garlands

I finally decided to work on a project I've been saving for awhile. Remember how as a kid, we'd make those construction paper garlands to hang on the tree or around the house?

Well, I decided to make some of those, with all of the hospital bands that Callum has collected over the years. :)

Now I just need to get a tree up so I can hang them!

Homemade Cranberry sauce

Ahhhhh, my favorite! :)

Tamales!

It's that time of year again. Fresh tamales and egg nog - my favorite dinner. 💗😋

Basketball

Earlier this week, I took Logan to one of his friend's basketball practices, to see if it would spark any interest in him to join. After a few minutes on the sidelines, he asked to join in the fun, and then asked me after practice if he could sign up for the team. :)

Registration and tryouts had already closed, but I put a pleading request out to the directors to squeeze us in, and they did! So, he's now on the team and will be practicing/playing until spring.

This morning, he wanted to practice some dribbling and passing drills with me....and we were greeted to this really pretty rainbow over our backyard! :)

Signatures!

I forgot to post this yesterday - we all decided to sign Callum's cast for him - which he liked. :)

New cast, new color! 😱

Waiting on X-ray to make sure all looks good. 💪🏼

All ready to go!

Just printed labels, so I'm ready to go! I like how they turned out. 😉

Cookie Exchange!

I feel like I've been barely keeping my head above water lately. And then Callum went and broke his wrist and that threw us off our game in all sorts of ways!

So, I remembered a little late this week, that I had committed to going to Jenn's annual cookie exchange this weekend, yet hadn't even prepared for it! Whoops!

I had wanted to give biscotti a try this year since I was tired of always finding recipes that felt like close duplicates to recipes past. But I was a little unsure on how it would all work out (so I had a backup recipe ready on hand just in case!!) :)

I also wanted to do something different, flavor wise, since most everyone sticks with the traditional chocolates, peanut butter and caramels.

I chose a traditional Italian Anise Biscotti, but then thought I'd love to add some pistachios to it too....so I added the nuts to half my batch to mix things up.

They turned out great, if I do say so myself!! And what's more, they were incredibly easy to make! So, I may be doing more biscotti in my future. Heehee!

I had bought a bunch of Christmas-y tins to package them in, but since I did half with nuts I decided I better wrap them separate just in case. So, I've got two little bundles in each tin box, with and without nuts. I also decided to add a couple of Earl Grey tea packets as well, since I think these would go great with a hot beverage. And, I'll probably add a quick little recipe label on the inside of the lids, if I have time tomorrow morning. But for now, I'm basking in the glory, of being done waaaaay earlier than I ever am for these things. Ha!!!

Best Buds

We got together with the Jodoins last night. Check out these guys, goofing off at the dinner table. They're so cute. :)

Disappointed

I did a little retail therapy today, to help lift my heavy heart. 💔 And found this perfect sweater for Callum.... 😏🎄💪🏼

Yesterday was Election Day, where we voted for the next president of the United States. And after a very close race (which surprised me!), Trump won.

It has been pretty hard for me to digest (let alone accept) the news. But that is sort of expected when you're not the supporter of the winning team right?

What I wasn't as prepared for, however, was this morning with the boys.

As is their usual routine every morning, the boys woke up, got dressed and then turned on the TV. The first thing they saw plastered all over their YouTube page, were highlights of "Trump wins the US Presidency". Alarmed and upset, Logan immediately ran to our room to tell me the news (I had set expectations last night with them that it was looking like Trump would win, but that we wouldn't know until morning).

He was visibly upset, concerned and worried. (Callum was too, but less so, since he didn't grasp the meaning as well). Logan wanted to know what it would mean for us, with Trump as president. He wanted to know what it would mean for others. He wanted to know if his daddy would be sent away because he has brown skin. He wanted to know what would happen to me because I'm a woman. He wanted to know if we were going to be safe.

He asked "How could this happen Mom?"

It was the first time throughout all of this, that I almost broke into tears. Because the innocence and alarm and fragility of my son, all wrapped up in a few minutes of conversation, really struck a chord with me.

I did my best to explain why I thought Trump won. One of his friends' mother apparently voted for Trump and he didn't understand why (because he feels Trump says and thinks mean things). So we talked about some of the reasons someone might vote for Trump. And how sometimes, even if they don't like the candidate, they might still choose to vote for him, for other reasons. We talked about the different parties, and their beliefs/platforms (in a very broad stroke), and differing opinions and priorities for people.

In the end, Logan seemed a little less upset as he processed everything we talked about. He asked, how long can Trump be president? And when we talked about that - he seemed to relaxed a little.

Oh, good. So we can do it over in 4 years?

I have to admire his optimism, even if I don't always share it myself. ❤️

We Bleed Purple

Callum had an unfortunate accident this afternoon. He fell on our tile floor (out of a dining room chair, so nothing incredible here) and the chair toppled on top of him. He was screaming in excruciating pain - I thought jeez kid, settle down, you'll be fine. But the minute I saw his wrist, I knew we had to take him in. :(

He screamed the entire ride to the ER, and for quite awhile in the waiting room until they finally found a nurse to usher us back to the pediatric unit. It was pretty awful, and I know we were getting crazy stares from people, but I had to just block that out and focus on getting Callum to breathe and try, as best he could, to relax. It felt impossible. I'm sure he felt that way too. :(

They took a few X-rays to confirm it was broken (we all knew but more than that, the X-rays would tell how they needed to treat him). And then we got an IV in (which was brutal leading up to it since he was so damn anxious, but the actual poke ended up being great and he didn't feel a thing). Once the IV was in, they gave him some morphine and versed, to calm him down.

Then, they gave him a "conscious sedation" while the orthopedist reset his bone. It was pretty wild to watch! (Not for the faint of heart) Poor Callum moaned here and there throughout but they assured me he couldn't feel nor would remember it. :/

They took several X-rays during the procedure to make sure the bones were aligned, and then wrapped the splint up tight. After his arm was splinted, radiology came back in to do more X-rays.

Meanwhile he started stirring about 30 minutes after. He was still really upset when he woke up. He said his "eyes weren't normal", which I figured out he was seeing blurry. I told him to close his eyes for a bit and then he'd be ok. He was also famished - we never had lunch before this all happened, poor guy had been complaining he was hungry at home but I just hadn't made him anything yet. :( Once we got to the ER, he wasn't allowed to eat anything since he was going to have a procedure. I felt so bad about that.

So while he was still sleeping, I snuck out to the cafe and grabbed him a smoothie and some snacks. Once he woke up, I offered him the smoothie and he gladly gulped it down, finally much happier. :)

We had to wait another 3 hours after his procedure was done. :( That's the bad news about sitting in an ER. Meanwhile, the longer he was awake, the more his arm starting hurting again. I suspect being sore from the reset and manipulation they had to do since that looked ridiculously painful. :( So, I convinced the dr's to give him some more morphine to help with the pain while we waited. They gave him some zofran as well, since he was getting nauseous poor guy.

Overall, the whole event really rattled him. And he was frazzled. He fell asleep on the way home but woke up when we brought him inside, so we set him up on the couch to watch some tv with Logan (which he really enjoyed).

Hopefully he'll sleep ok tonight so his body can rest up. They told me to expect him to be in more pain/sore tomorrow, before he starts feeling better. :(

Trolls

Jon's out of town, so we're having dinner at the movie theatre. 😆😂😂👍🏼

Whut the....