Thanksgiving
I am thankful that my kids aren't brats. I am thankful for a husband who went Black Friday shopping for us.
A recap of Thanksgiving:
The night before I ask dh when his family is coming over. He has no idea, which is wonderful, because I have no idea when to cook the turkey. He calls his mom first thing in the AM, and she says they will get there around 2pm. OK, maybe you could communicate this next time. I overhear him planning for dinner at about 3pm.
I rush around all morning getting things ready. I made rolls from scratch. I made the mashed potatoes in the AM and put them in the fridge, so all I would have to do was microwave and heat them up. I made 2 pies and stuffing (except for the wet ingredients) the day before. We put the turkey in at 11:30am, and I put the stuffing in at 1:45pm or so. In the meantime, I was ironing the tablecloth, making whipped cream, running around cleaning up, sweeping up, doing dishes. I ran the dishwasher Wednesday night and again Thursday morning.
MIL, SIL, her boyfriend, and her 2 girls got here right about 2pm. I had just sat down on the couch after running around all morning (but that's life). My niece started whining to my husband that she wanted to play Wii. Brenna had been playing something, and A didn't want to wait for her to get to a place to save it.
As soon as they got here, I had to juggle all the food they brought to keep it hot. Why do they feel the need to bring 2 casserole dishes full of squash (we had 10 people, only 3 of which eat squash)? They also had sweet potatoes, corn pudding, and MIL brought green beans to steam. All this, plus I still had the turkey in the oven, and I still needed to bake the rolls (they were just finishing rising). Luckily, the turkey was in the oven, and I had squeezed the stuffing in the same oven. I heated the top oven to warming (170F) and squeezed the squash and corn into that one. I put the sweet potatoes on the warming burner on top of the stove. Thank goodness for the Maytag Gemini oven. ;) The turkey came out at about 2:40. At the time, I was working on the gravy. I moved everything to the bottom oven and put it on warm, heated the top oven up to the temp I needed to bake the rolls, and put them in as I was finishing the gravy. I suddenly hear Grant very clearly crying out for mommy. I'm wondering why I can hear him so well. I guess my younger niece (5) went into his room and turned the light on while he was napping and woke him up. I really, really needed at least 15 more minutes to finish dinner prep, so I was pissed. (My SIL's response is a singsongy, "Oh, no, what did you doooo, Halers?" Her name is Hailey.) Now I'm struggling with lumpy gravy, because it heated and started to thicken while I was dealing with Grant, who is now throwing a colossal tantrum. My MIL comes into the kitchen to get a roll for my oldest niece, because she's hungry (rolling eyes). Can you guess what happened next? Everyone wants rolls, which is just what I need - all the kids crowded into the kitchen as I'm desperately trying to finish things. I just can't believe my 7 year old niece couldn't wait 5 or 10 more minutes to eat. But see, they always get what they want WHEN they want it, without question.
I finally get everything done, and the kids get served. I sat down last and had 2 bites before Grant was demanding something else. After getting up 3 or more times to help him with something, I finally finished. I was on my last couple bites when my oldest niece started whining that she wanted pie. We got the dishes cleared, and she made more noise about wanting pie. A few minutes later, we cut into the pies. Why? because my niece wanted some. However, she didn't eat any pie after it was served. I guess after all that whining she didn't like it. I also need to mention that my dh (I didn't know this at the time) had to shoo my younger niece away from Brenna's American Girl doll. She had it put up, but H was trying to get to it. Then there was the time that H went into Grant's room and dragged a bunch of stuff out of the closet and climbed into his crib. Ada got in, too, but I doubt it was her idea. She also dragged out all of the dress up stuff, which is fine, but H isn't expected to clean up. Ever. Even at her house. SIL and MIL would exclaim about how pretty she was, etc. each time she dragged out a new outfit. If it had been me, I'd have told my kid to put the other one away before getting another one out.
The icing on the cake, really, was when my SIL came and asked me if A could have "one of these". I look, and she has a box of Pop-Tarts. They were unopened, and I was confused for a minute as to where they had come from. Then I remembered - I had bought them awhile ago, because I got them for really cheap. I was going to use them as dessert or as a special treat on our road trip when the kids got restless, but I forgot about them. Why? because they were stashed in the garage refrigerator. That's right. My niece went digging through the garage refrigerator to find something to eat. Can you believe it? I was appalled. If my kids pulled something like that, they'd be in some serious trouble, but then they have rules, boundaries, and are expected to be polite. Also, at some point during the evening, I overheard Hailey pretending to be me and telling everyone they were going to get in trouble. Apparently I'm the wicked witch. Strange, because I've never said anything to discipline those kids. I can only imagine what MIL and SIL say about me behind my back. And really, I'm not the wicked witch. I just expect age-appropriate behavior and decorum from my kids.
Sadly, while we were sitting around after dinner, MIL and SIL were looking at ads. MIL says to SIL, "Look, the girls would really love this." I realized my kids will always be the "other grandkids". Despite all the crap SIL pulls with MIL, she and her kids are still top priority and always will be. I heard her talking to SIL, and apparently she takes the kids all day every Saturday. Must be nice. I'll bet she has a great relationship with them. :(
A recap of Thanksgiving:
The night before I ask dh when his family is coming over. He has no idea, which is wonderful, because I have no idea when to cook the turkey. He calls his mom first thing in the AM, and she says they will get there around 2pm. OK, maybe you could communicate this next time. I overhear him planning for dinner at about 3pm.
I rush around all morning getting things ready. I made rolls from scratch. I made the mashed potatoes in the AM and put them in the fridge, so all I would have to do was microwave and heat them up. I made 2 pies and stuffing (except for the wet ingredients) the day before. We put the turkey in at 11:30am, and I put the stuffing in at 1:45pm or so. In the meantime, I was ironing the tablecloth, making whipped cream, running around cleaning up, sweeping up, doing dishes. I ran the dishwasher Wednesday night and again Thursday morning.
MIL, SIL, her boyfriend, and her 2 girls got here right about 2pm. I had just sat down on the couch after running around all morning (but that's life). My niece started whining to my husband that she wanted to play Wii. Brenna had been playing something, and A didn't want to wait for her to get to a place to save it.
As soon as they got here, I had to juggle all the food they brought to keep it hot. Why do they feel the need to bring 2 casserole dishes full of squash (we had 10 people, only 3 of which eat squash)? They also had sweet potatoes, corn pudding, and MIL brought green beans to steam. All this, plus I still had the turkey in the oven, and I still needed to bake the rolls (they were just finishing rising). Luckily, the turkey was in the oven, and I had squeezed the stuffing in the same oven. I heated the top oven to warming (170F) and squeezed the squash and corn into that one. I put the sweet potatoes on the warming burner on top of the stove. Thank goodness for the Maytag Gemini oven. ;) The turkey came out at about 2:40. At the time, I was working on the gravy. I moved everything to the bottom oven and put it on warm, heated the top oven up to the temp I needed to bake the rolls, and put them in as I was finishing the gravy. I suddenly hear Grant very clearly crying out for mommy. I'm wondering why I can hear him so well. I guess my younger niece (5) went into his room and turned the light on while he was napping and woke him up. I really, really needed at least 15 more minutes to finish dinner prep, so I was pissed. (My SIL's response is a singsongy, "Oh, no, what did you doooo, Halers?" Her name is Hailey.) Now I'm struggling with lumpy gravy, because it heated and started to thicken while I was dealing with Grant, who is now throwing a colossal tantrum. My MIL comes into the kitchen to get a roll for my oldest niece, because she's hungry (rolling eyes). Can you guess what happened next? Everyone wants rolls, which is just what I need - all the kids crowded into the kitchen as I'm desperately trying to finish things. I just can't believe my 7 year old niece couldn't wait 5 or 10 more minutes to eat. But see, they always get what they want WHEN they want it, without question.
I finally get everything done, and the kids get served. I sat down last and had 2 bites before Grant was demanding something else. After getting up 3 or more times to help him with something, I finally finished. I was on my last couple bites when my oldest niece started whining that she wanted pie. We got the dishes cleared, and she made more noise about wanting pie. A few minutes later, we cut into the pies. Why? because my niece wanted some. However, she didn't eat any pie after it was served. I guess after all that whining she didn't like it. I also need to mention that my dh (I didn't know this at the time) had to shoo my younger niece away from Brenna's American Girl doll. She had it put up, but H was trying to get to it. Then there was the time that H went into Grant's room and dragged a bunch of stuff out of the closet and climbed into his crib. Ada got in, too, but I doubt it was her idea. She also dragged out all of the dress up stuff, which is fine, but H isn't expected to clean up. Ever. Even at her house. SIL and MIL would exclaim about how pretty she was, etc. each time she dragged out a new outfit. If it had been me, I'd have told my kid to put the other one away before getting another one out.
The icing on the cake, really, was when my SIL came and asked me if A could have "one of these". I look, and she has a box of Pop-Tarts. They were unopened, and I was confused for a minute as to where they had come from. Then I remembered - I had bought them awhile ago, because I got them for really cheap. I was going to use them as dessert or as a special treat on our road trip when the kids got restless, but I forgot about them. Why? because they were stashed in the garage refrigerator. That's right. My niece went digging through the garage refrigerator to find something to eat. Can you believe it? I was appalled. If my kids pulled something like that, they'd be in some serious trouble, but then they have rules, boundaries, and are expected to be polite. Also, at some point during the evening, I overheard Hailey pretending to be me and telling everyone they were going to get in trouble. Apparently I'm the wicked witch. Strange, because I've never said anything to discipline those kids. I can only imagine what MIL and SIL say about me behind my back. And really, I'm not the wicked witch. I just expect age-appropriate behavior and decorum from my kids.
Sadly, while we were sitting around after dinner, MIL and SIL were looking at ads. MIL says to SIL, "Look, the girls would really love this." I realized my kids will always be the "other grandkids". Despite all the crap SIL pulls with MIL, she and her kids are still top priority and always will be. I heard her talking to SIL, and apparently she takes the kids all day every Saturday. Must be nice. I'll bet she has a great relationship with them. :(