Thanksgiving.

We were really looking forward to Ross' break from school and work. His last class was on Tuesday, which he finished around 6, and then he'd have the rest of the week and weekend off. We had it all planned out, filled with tons of family activities that we could do together. To top it off, Ross' birthday was on Saturday.

We weren't able to go to Oregon for Thanksgiving, so we thought of fun things we could do around here. It was supposed to be a great Thanksgiving break. I was especially excited because last year, I was pregnant and really sick for Thanksgiving and Ross' birthday. I didn't get to eat anything, and Ross ended up catering to me on HIS birthday. I felt awful.

The funny thing about making plans is, I feel like this little Loveland family is famous for making wonderful plans, but always having those plans fall through.

So the break officially started on Wednesday. We had a pretty laid back day. I had a doctor's appointment in the morning. After, we all went to Hobby Lobby so the girls could pick out ornaments for this year. (Yes, they'll just be going into a box anyway, but it's a fun tradition we wanted to do this year anyway.) Claire picked a shiny pink pig ballerina, and Aoife kept attacking a blue, green, purple dinosaur. (Not cutesy for a 1st ornament as I'd hoped, but that was definitely the one she wanted.)

Then we headed for lunch at Tucanos for Ross' birthday lunch. Tucanos is an amazing Brazilian grill with an incredible salad bar. They bring by meat until you split the seam of your pants. It was like a Brazilian Thanksgiving. The girls hadn't napped yet, which actually worked out really well. We all came home and took a family nap.

Thursday. Where the fun all started. I was all prepped to get all of our Thanksgiving cooking done. Ross was sick. I'm grateful I had done quite a bit of the cooking the day before, as I spent Thursday chasing, refereeing, and herding the girls as well as finishing the cooking. Ross didn't eat much besides some fizzy water. We ate really early and took the girls to the park afterwards to play. We didn't stay long as Ross was sick, and I felt it coming on.

Friday. It gets worse. Thursday night, the outlets in Park City were opening at 10 PM for Black Friday shopping. I've never been Black Friday shopping. I didn't even know what Black Friday was until after I was married. I've always wanted to go, but have never had a friend to go with. Since both of our families are doing family pictures while we visit this Christmas, I jumped on the opportunity to get some deals. It was well worth the drive and the crazy. Actually, it wasn't crazy at all until about midnight. I had a really good time, and rolled into bed around 2:00 in the morning. And then the sickness struck.

Turns out, both girls were sick too. We were still determined to have a fun break, so we loaded up a bunch of fizzy waters and took the girls to Jungle Jim's to play. I love that it's never very busy and Claire can do most of the rides herself. We decided to take Aoife on the rides this time, too. We went with the girls on each ride until we felt sick and dizzy, and then had Claire go by herself for the rest of the time. I think they had fun. At least I hope they did!

Saturday. Ross' birthday. Sicker than a dog. I feel like I completely blew Ross' birthday this year. Again. Poor guy. Ross was a champ and was finally better, but the girls and I were even more sick. Claire especially. She cried and whined a lot, simply because she didn't feel well. We spent the day on the couch watching movies, and sometimes playing games. Ross had wanted a low-key birthday, but I'm pretty sure that was TOO low-key. I'll have to make it up this week.

While we were engaged and for probably the first year or so that we were married, one or both of us were ALWAYS sick on a Holiday, the Holidays where we wouldn't have work or school, and occasionally the obscure Holiday. Not even kidding. It started before we were married, and continued for a while. I'm not sure how we broke the curse, but it's back! At least we can put a good spin on it and think it's cute that we're acting like when we were newlyweds?

Sunday was the same and by then, Ross was more than ready to take on school and work. It's crazy to think that after today, Ross will only have 6 actual class days. And after that, he's finished! I've been busy cleaning the weird things, like pulling out the washer and dryer and cleaning everything in sight behind them. I'm trying to decide if I should pull out the oven, too. Later this week I'm planning on boxing up the rest of the plates and cups and sticking with paper for the last 2 weeks. I still don't think Claire has any idea what's going on, but I'm worried about her. She loves seeing her aunts and uncles. She Skypes with them regularly, and we're lucky enough that a couple of Ross' siblings are going to BYU, too. She gets to see them once or twice a week and she loves it. She's always talking about them, saying that they're cute, and asking if they're coming over. We'll have to see how she adjusts to the distance. Thank goodness for Skype!