Vacation Spoiled Me

So there's this magical thing called Mike's school gave him two whole weeks for Thanksgiving because it was also the break between quarters. You know, bolstering morale and all that. It was beautiful.

For the last two weeks, Mike has been more available to help with kids in the night, diaper changing, nap time, and Katie tantrums. And we've had lunch together and I've taken a few naps and it's been great. And after the kids were in bed, when Mike would have been studying while the quarter was in full swing, we got to play games and watch grown-up movies (you know, like Phineas and Ferb). And talk to each other. Sigh . . .

And unfortunately, Monday is school again. And Mike's feeling the pressure, so he's downstairs studying. At least it's good for you guys because I'm blogging. (But not cool for me because I'm using the almost dead computer and it took about 45 minutes for me to get blogger up and running. I've also been spoiled about getting to use Mike's fancy new laptop for the last couple of weeks.)

Enough griping. Let's talk about what we did over vacation!

First of all, we did close to nothing some days, which felt SO GOOD.

Second of all, we did cool things because we live next to a giant 'ole big city. Like go to the Shedd Aquarium, which is the largest indoor aquarium in the world. Also, a few times a month it has free admission for Illinois residents (woot woot!). So last Monday we went for free. Never mind that it was in the middle of a huge blizzard and we had to park in the Soldier Field garage which requires a walk (through the blizzard) to the aquarium. Brrrrr. I'm shivering just remembering it. Totally worth it, though.

Unfortunately, they have cool mood lighting in all of their exhibits so I didn't get a lot of pictures where you could actually tell what was going on.

This is probably the closest thing I got to her looking at the camera.

Then, there was Thanksgiving. It was AMAZING. I made pies on Wednesday, then spent all of Thursday morning cooking, but it turned out fantastic. I've never done this much by myself before, but somehow it all worked. AND the boys were totally napping for the meal so Mike and I got to eat in peace!

Mike was like, "No, stand in front of the table!" So I look all proud of myself. Well, I was.

 After dinner, we all just kind of collapsed in a food coma, even Katie (she was pretending to play on the floor, but it quickly turned into playing sleep).

Things I learned about this Thanksgiving:

• I really miss my family, but sometimes it's possible to do things on my own.
• Katie LOVES LOVES LOVES cucumbers.
• There is way more to be thankful for than we tend to think about.
• I should never use the recipe I have in my box for Chocolate Chiffon pie again--it tastes like chocolate jello. Not bad, just too weird.
• Holy cow, Chicago is cold. And it's not even all the way cold yet.
• I'm a seriously good cook. And it's all my mom's fault. Thanks, Mom, for the lots of pounds I just gained in the last three or four days. Now I have to start some serious working out before Christmas when my friends start bringing over the treats they've already threatened us with.
• Even though medical school is really hard on all of us, we are together, safe, and healthy, and we have lots of family that loves us. I can do this.

This picture is only clear because we ruined the lighting with flash.

And now that Thanksgiving is over, guess what it's time for? (YAY!!!!!)

Yeah, Katie definitely helped decorate the bottom of the tree so she could play with all the little plastic ornaments. (Yeah, you know you have had M&Ms on your tree too.)

Merry Christmas!