For the Holidays, You Can't Beat Home Sweet Home

As is the tradition, I headed home for the holidays this past weekend--to Atlanta that is--where David and Sandi were also going to spend Thanksgiving. As soon as we all got there, Mom got down to business and herded us all out on the front stoop to have a family picture...which will soon be outdated. Yes, in a few short months I'm going to once again become....an aunt. Hah! I know you were all thinking I was going to say mother! Nope, it's Sandi's turn, and she's due in March. Another boy for Gigi, who says we only need one more and then we'll have a basketball team. So I wonder how long Sandi will wait after this one before she has our little shooting guard...?

The picture-taking was less than successful. Nobody ever looked at the same camera, and at some point one of us was pulling a face--usually Luke. But you know, that's how it goes. I should point out that Matthew is not wearing an Obama shirt. I don't think that David and Sandi are big supporters of the O-man. So know that they're not exploiting Matthew's cuteness--the shirt says "Thomas", as in the train.

On Wednesday, we had a joint birthday party for Ben (13th), Luke (22nd) and Sandi (Dec. 2nd). And in case anyone's wondering what to get Ben for Christmas, I'll just tell you that he likes toys and all, but the boxes are still where it's really at.

Incidentally, I did not make the cake, it was from Publix. Sandi loves their cakes, and pregnant birthday girls trump everyone else in terms of choices, so that's what we had. But I did make an apple pie and pumpkin pie for Thursday, and they were insanely good. I liked the apple one better, but we discovered on Friday that the pumpkin one tasted better cold out of the fridge, so next year we'll remember that: hot apple pie, cold pumpkin pie. Either way, the crust on the pumpkin pie was to die for. It had a stick of butter in it and it tasted like a cookie. I also put in a layer of crushed gingersnaps and pecans that was supposed to keep the crust from getting soggy, but it didn't work and didn't change the flavor, so next year I'll skip that step.

Boys # 1, 2 and 3 (aka Patrick, Matthew and Ben). We had much discussion over #4's name, which has been narrowed down to Roger (after Roger Federer) and Jeff (after Jeff the Wiggle). I should point out that David and Sandi came up with the first name and Matthew came up with the second one. Right now they call him RogerJeff. But no matter what the kid's named, all I know is that next Thanksgiving is going to be an experience, with four boys (all five and under) running around. I better start catching up on my sleep now.