A Busy Time of Thanks

Last week was so busy it's taken nearly all of this week to recover from it!
Mon. morning I had an appointment & in the afternoon we had a playdate Mon. w/ some other homeschoolers at the park in town & it was great. 5 boys, between 8 & 10. Charlotte was having her naptime in the van & Victor was understandably shy, but I walked him over & encouraged him to play so I could go talk to their mommies. He played by himself close by the others until he saw I had been in conversation for about 5 min. & then he just jumped in. He was running & yelling & throwing the rubber shreds (kind of like mulch but recycled tires. Very springy & pleasant to walk on.) about & generally just acting like a knucklehead all around. You could almost see him burst w/ pride when a bigger boy would dump rubber down his shirt or on his head. There were dogpiles & races & they helped him get up the equipment when he needed assistance.
The moms were very nice too; one was a Minnesota transplant from Aug. the other had been here for about 5 years, so she got us mostly caught up to speed on the area & its offerings.
Tues. Mike started building a shed because he got a phone call saying the movers were coming Wed. He got the floor & back wall done before dark & Victor helped w/ that quite a bit while I moved some things around.
Wed. was just a very busy day what w/ movers to direct, & children to chase. They showed up about 9 & were finished around 3. Mike had to check everything off the list as they called it out & I was in charge of telling them where to put it. Afterwards he started right in to fit all of our shed/garage items into our lean to/ under the deck shed which is about 1/4 of the size of our old shed. I started unpacking the kitchen because the next day was Thanksgiving & I had alot of prep work to do. We were having supper on Fri. because my SIL's mother was coming up from Ga.
Thurs. Mike finished the shed but for the door & I spent the day making my pie, trifle, deviled eggs & cranberry sauce. In between all of these, feeding everyone else & unpacking I never left the kitchen! Space is more of an issue than we had thought. We got rid of ALOT before we moved, but we're finding it wasn't nearly enough. Our old house was smaller, but it did have a pantry, 2 attics a garage & shed. There are 2 sheds outside, but one is an old metal building on a slab which could really work except that a tree has fallen on it in the past & the roof is ripped open in the back. The other shed is a mostly rotten plywood lean to w/ 3 waist high walls. It's standard height, kind of like a dutch door, but I don't know what you call half walls. Mike saw my space dilemma when he came in & Sat. he & his brother built me a pantry. Isn't he wonderful? Darrin is the creative type & figured out the best use of the space & cut it all out while Mike assembled it. This was a sacrifice for him because I know how much he wanted a stand up freezer.
But I got ahead. Thurs. was a busy day. The children & I arrived at the family's house around 8 & I set them up w/ cereal & started in on peeling the potatoes. Carrie had been up for awhile & was steaming the sweet potatoes. The turkey was prepped. We figured out the stuffing together & she made that. She left for some errands & I made the greenbean casserole & took a break. Her mom soon pulled in w/ the gift of some furniture so we set that up, the tables & finally ate. It was good!
I don't think I've ever had more to be thankful for than this past year. SO much has happened & alot of it was not when we wanted or how we wanted it but always & w/out fail we have been taken care of, usually at the 11th hour when we were close to despairing. Almost out of money, one day until rent was due, no shows, unexpected acts of benevolence, etc. I love how God does this, reminding us that He is the One in charge & showing us how perfect are His ways & how humbling it is so that we can't take credit for any of it.
Sunday. A week of ignoring Charlotte had decidedly taken its toll on her, my poor girl. Early Sun she cried & came into our room to sleep which she has never done before. We hadn't even done any potty training & she'll say when she needs to be changed. Sun. was a day of lots of cuddles, fewer boxes, more books. This time w/ them is so short & fleeting, I hope to never take it for granted. The family came over to cook supper & visit & plans were made to visit a neighboring attraction an hour away.
Mon. I called & cancelled our involvement; Charlotte was just too clingy & needed more mommy time than a new & exciting destination & w/ all of the activity neither child had been bathed in 2 days. We had a very unusual after breakfast bath & Mon. was another day of more play w/ mommy & very leisurely unpacking. Mon. & Tues night Charlotte was waking up & calling for me, crying, which she has also never done before. Victor wasn't nearly as affected, I think because he's old enough to help or at least play by the men as they work & he has his imaginary world to sustain him for longer. I was able to play w/ him more in the afternoons too when Charlotte was asleep. We would take our wooden rifles & go shoot bad men, bears, lion, copperheads or blood sucking bats from City Hall. He cracks me up. Tues. I unpacked books & they were lost in revisiting their old friends. Most of them were new to Charlotte who has really gotten into books & asks for stories continuously. Story time is cuddle time :). I think I do average 5-10 stories a day. Charlotte gets one every time she's on the toilet.
Wed. Mike has been hunting & shedding. He made the walls on the lean to full height & added a door to our under deck shed. Today is Thurs. I got all of the living room boxes emptied & one of them, though it wasn't marked so, contained toys. Victor & Charlotte have been delighted to play by themselves the entire day as I unpacked. Mostly pictures & frames. They won't all go up & we haven't decided on what to where, but the box maze in the middle of the house is at last gone.
So my friends, those are our goings on & I hope you weren't quite as busy & got in some good togetherness time in your corners of the world. God be praised!