A Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

I have much many things for which to be thankful.  My husband, my kids, my family, my health, diet mountain dew...truly the list is endless.  Even though I consider myself a very thankful person, I dread holidays.  Why you ask?  Well, because there's always so much to do!  Remember the days of old when we just sat around and let our parents do everything?  Now we're the parents!  Dang it! So when it comes to holidays, I'm all about the easiest possible solution.  This Thanksgiving was with my family.  With a sister and brother living in Minnesota, it was easier for us to head up there.  Every time we get together with family, there's the problem of space.  With a million kids, no one seems to have enough room in their house.  So my mom had the brilliant idea of going to a hotel for the night.  Seriously, it's like we had never considered this thought before.  We're all on the cheap frugal side!  So there's a Holiday Inn right next to Cabela's in Owatonna, MN that has a waterpark.  Truly one of the best investments in the world.  So while many others in America were scrunched together in a small living room eating Aunt Thelma's green bean casserole and falling asleep enjoying all the anecdotes and general togetherness, we were swimming and having a great time.  Probably one of my favorite Thanksgivings to date.  That may make me a Thanksgiving hater but I look at it this way...I was with my family and isn't that what the day it all about?  I'm sure at some point during the day I told someone I was thankful for them.  It may have been the hotel staff guy who brought Noah's crib to the room but I made the effort to be a thankful person.  Here are some pictures from the hotel.  Enjoy and be jealous that my family is cool and yours is still suffering the effects of family drama and Aunt Gertrude's bean dip...

Noah is a little water baby.  He LOVES being in the pool!

Going up to the top of the slide

Hannah thrilled about something.  Probably being in the pool with her cousins

Joel was dipping Noah backwards into the water.  He loved it!

Just taking a stroll with daddy

At the bottom of the slide.  He went up and down that thing so many times!

Noah, Hannah, Natalie, and Jack decorating the train rice krispie treat.  

Hannah and Natalie's train (aka. the GIRL'S train!)

Jack decorating the boy's train.  Noah tried to help but ended up just eating the frosting instead.  

My Love Affair...

...with my Crane humidifier

Yes, it sounds completely ridiculous, I realize that.  However, this humidifier is wonderful!  In years past, we've had one humidifier or another that consisted of a bulky base, filter, and big fan with a vent on it.  Within days, the filter was gross and mildewy looking and the vent started to get dirty.  It's not like you can wash the vent (hello, motor attached!) and even if you wash the filter, it's still gross.  While filters aren't super pricey by themselves, if you have to buy one every few weeks, the cost adds up.

So, when we pulled out the old humidifier to put in Noah's room and noticed how gross it was, we decided it was time to investigate something new.  So we bought 2 of the Crane humidifiers for the kids' room.  Love them!

The thing I love the most about this particular humidifier is that there's no filter!  So no mildewy grossness!  That's awesome.  All you need to clean it is some warm water and vinegar.  It takes about 10 minutes to clean and you're done!  Because it's so easy I clean them every few days.  And you barely have to turn the thing on and it shoots mist out through the little nozzle.  If you turn it on full blast all night, the entire room will be wet by morning.  :)

So there you have it.  I love my humidifier.  My kids breathe easier so then I do too.

I have no title for this post because it's just pictures!

 Here are some new-ish pictures of my kiddos.  I'm going through my photo files and picking out pictures for the Christmas cards *gasp!*  Seriously, where did this year go??!!  Enjoy...

Noah playing hide-n-seek while eating chocolate cake.
For results: see below

HA!  

Going down the slide at a local park

Driving a "boat"

seriously?

So, Noah has a heart murmur.  Seriously?  What the heck??  I took him to his 18-month well baby check-up today.  He's had croup twice in the last month so as the doctor listened to Noah in different positions, I thought he was checking Noah's lungs.  Nope.  Apparently if a murmur is heard, changing positions will cause the murmur to either go away or stay.  Noah's stayed.  So that means it's worth checking into.  Really?  *sigh*  This was not on my radar.  Noah's never had a murmur before so the fact that he does now raised enough of a red flag for further testing.  

I had a heart murmur as a child.  I grew out of it.  The doctors did some tests on me but everything was fine.  I know heart murmurs aren't exactly rare.  I totally get that.  But this is my son.  He's my little bubba.   I can't even imagine the cardiologist saying there's something seriously wrong with him.  My brain can't comprehend it.  Somewhere in the shadows of my brain, I realize that our appointment with the cardiologist could be the worst day of my life.  I left the pediatricians office today thinking "hey, it's fine.  No big deal.  This is why there are pediatric cardiologists around."  I had to call Joel and give him the news.  He didn't take it quite as calmly.  So that started me freaking out a little. We see a pediatric cardiologist next Wednesday, 11/10.  It's some random doctor with a million letters in his name.  Noah will have his heart listened to for a longer period of time then an ultrasound will be done to visualize the chambers and valves.  Even though I'm an ultrasound tech, I'm not trained in cardiac ultrasound so I will have no clue what's on the screen.  I'm kinda hoping I know the tech (ultrasound is a small world) so I can terrorize ask nicely for results.