Amanda's (hot mess) Thanksgiving Story...

I am thankful for my job....without my job we would be living on the scary streets of Chicago (Okay so maybe our families would let us in but I had to be dramatic...stay with me).  I am thankful for this season of my life....but would be lying if I wasn't excited for the next season.  My current school is ONLY closed on the day of the holiday.  Because of this we didn't get to go home for Thanksgiving and I'm dreading that we will have to stay here for Christmas too.  Next year we WILL be home....and all of them after that!

I AM thankful though that I have a husband who loves holidays as much as I do and we made the best of what may have felt horrible at the time.  This meant...I had to do it....I had to look that turkey straight in the eye and cook it!

Sunday was the grocery shopping trip.  After help from mom my list was complete, the cart was full, and (thanks to our jobs) the bill was paid.  Unfortunately I couldn't find the raspberry jello I thought I needed (after leaving the store I found out there was the jello I needed...but it was too late).  In Chicago a trip to the grocery store is no quick run down the road. But we figured our neighborhood stores would have it.  Well Wednesday night rolled around and we still had found no raspberry jello.  UGH!  I called everywhere.  When I got to the last number to call and asked I started praying hard as he named out all the jellos he had..."strawberry, orange, lime, sorry ma'am no raspberry."  As I'm saying thanks for checking and hanging up the phone feeling as though I have already messed up my first Thanksgiving dinner I hear..."Ma'am Ma'am MA'AM, I found it!"  AHHHHHHHH!  NEVER. BEEN. SO. THANKFUL!

Thursday morning Patrick was getting ready to go get my jello as I started on my mini pecan pies.  I go to get out my first ingredient...flour.  I open the lid.  EMPTY.  I'm a baker.  I bake all the time.  I ALWAYS have flour.  Who runs out of flour on THANKSGIVING DAY?!!!!  Well luckily Patrick could pick it up when he picked up the jello, but now I'm officially 1 1/2 hours behind.  Oh boy!

When he got back I began my cooking and right on time 10:45 I pulled that turkey out of the bag in attempt to get it ready for the oven.  I kinda screamed.  It looked pretty gross and felt even worse to touch.  I worked quickly so I didn't have too much time to think about it.  My mom laughed over the phone...I did NOT think there was anything funny about this Turkey.  It made it in the oven with perfect timing and what I could only hope was enough seasoning.

Somehow I got everything hot on the table at 1:30.  Somehow it was all delicious.  Somehow it was kinda fun.Thank you God!

After enjoying our dinner and dessert we went to Catching Fire...which I can only describe as perfectly exciting.

Now for what you came for...Pictures

The before...Remember people this is ALL the counter space I had to work with!

Football game Kickoff snacks!

So proud of these little babies...they are pretty delicious too!

Round one of dishes...not too bad!

Table set...Unfortunately my china is all boxed up still at my parents' house but I made best with what I had.

Ready to eat!

Have I mentioned how I cannot wait for a dishwasher?  Round 2 of dishes.

I am thankful.  I am thankful for a husband who made me actually have fun on Thanksgiving even though it was just the two of us.  I'm thankful for my mom who really is the reason all that food got on the table.  I'm thankful for our families who are so understanding of this season of our lives.  I'm thankful for this warm apartment.  I'm thankful for our jobs that we were both praying for this time last year.  I'm thankful for education so that my husband can currently apply to get a P.H.D and get one step closer to his dream.  I'm thankful for those of you who care enough about our lives to read this blog.  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and could make the most of what you had!  Happy Thanksgiving from this crazy Sullivan household!

Game Time

Life Lesson: You gotta know the right people.

Does it help that this person this last weekend just happened to be my father-in-law?  Just maybe.  He got free tickets to Sunday's Packers home opener game.  Am I a huge Packer fan?  No.  Actually...not at all. But this girl is all about a good time and it sounded fun. Here's how this experience went down...

Drive downtown to pick up Patrick after work...Yes...Downtown CHICAGO...Yes...I may have peed  myself a little...Yes...I almost died. This is why we take the bus people!! Meet up with in-laws in Oshkosh to stay overnight. Wake up to pouring rain. Eat Breakfast in hotel.  Sit in traffic...sit in traffic...sit in traffic. Drip Drip Drip...still raining.  Park. Walk in pouring rain to gate with umbrella and very non-rainproof shoes.  Security guy takes umbrella and throws in trashcan...fail.  

Just when I thought I was going to breakdown...we sat down and the sun came out.  We had perfect seats.  No rain, wet shoes and socks, or thrown away umbrella was going to ruin this for me.  I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking...

Why yes, this is Aaron Rodgers and very little zoom was required!

Lambeau leap...We got to see this a lot

The view straight out from our seats...about the 40 yard line row 29.

Sporting our free Packers sunglasses

They ended up winning 38-20.  It was fun to be on the winning team at their home field opener with amazing seats for my very first game. I'm so thankful for this experience. 

Bonus: 

Life gets pretty crazy busy around here so here are some bonus pictures from our lovely labor day

Thanks for reading...Hope you have a great week! The good news is Monday is over!!

Dropping like flies

Warning: This entry is not for the weak stomachs, but a GOOD story

Those of you that have followed this blog from the beginning know that the terrifying start of my student teaching was why I created the blog.  After a few tear-filled entries, this blog was soon filled with stories to entertain.  Although my current job is not my passion and I will not be here forever I had a small breakthrough moment today worth sharing.

After a very hard week....and it's only Wednesday, God threw a little humor in my co-teacher and my's week.  I must get back to sharing these funny stories and looking at them for what they are...the glimpses of sunshine during what feels like a storm.

The back wall of our classroom is right next to our bathroom so it makes for a perfect place for kids to line up against while waiting for their turn.  As we were all lined up and taking turns later in the day, I was talking to the boys at the end of the line who were feeling it was the perfect moment to start shouting loudly.  All of a sudden I hear,

"Miss Amanda, MISS Amanda, MISS AMANDA! Look at _____"

Upon my looking I saw a little one standing in line covered in what was at one point in time his lunch.  Now, my co-teacher and I already have discussed multiple times that I DO NOT do puke.  I do anything else but that.  So as I called her name I walked to the other side of the room casually.  The boy obviously needed new clothes and I thought that was the perfect excuse to get away from the smell. I know don't you wish you were my co-teacher? Not one minute after I started walking in the opposite direction do I hear my co-teacher,

"OH NO YOU DON'T"

I turn around to see another child (let's call him George), next to the one already covered in his lunch, dry heaving.  My co-teacher grabbed a hold of him and quickly pulled him into the bathroom and said,

"If you're going to puke, you do it in the toilet"

So now let's recap: my co-teacher is currently in the bathroom with two kids puking, all other 13 kids at that moment are still shouting in line, and Miss Amanda is by the phone trying to call the office but cannot because I can't stop laughing.  That's when my co-teacher says,

"All of you, get a book and sit on the carpet"

Thank goodness we practiced quiet reading time in the past. I take a few deep breathes and finally called the office. The first puking boy's dad ending up coming five minutes later just because it was his usual pick-up time.  And then George got away from the smell and started to feel better.

So, what have we learned?  When someone pukes and Miss Amanda walks away...she now will be taking "George" with her because he doesn't do well with the smell.

We ended up not going to the gym because of all the events that made us run out of time.  I chose to read a quiet story to everyone instead.  Every time I looked in "George's" direction I couldn't help but giggle.

You really never know what a day is going to hold!  Hope you could share a laugh with me today!

Venetian

Last weekend (yes I'm just posting...can you say long week?) we went to Charlevoix, MI for their Venetian festival.  We made it a pretty big deal and I even asked for Friday off of work making it only my second day off in 4 months.

Friday's festivities began by waiting in a vicious line of people to set up our chairs in a prime location for that night's shows.  We had to fight off a crazy private golf club old lady.  No Joke!  She threw a chair at me! We ended up finding perfect spots somewhere else.

Waiting in line to get into the park

Then we got picked up from the park and headed straight for the Flywheelers.  For those of you who don't have that term in your dictionary, it's this place where they have music, tractor shows, food stands, and a flea market you can buy many cool things at.  It's hard to describe but fun to attend.

The boys' first stop upon arrival...food

Our next stop was back to those perfect chairs we had set up.  Unfortunately it started to downpour so we had to pack up those chairs that we fought an old lady for and ended up going out to eat...INSIDE.

The "old" couple at dinner

So even though Friday was a little bit of a bust we kept our hopes up.  Saturday was quite the day.  It began with Matthew and Patrick running the the 5K tribute race.  It's pretty crazy because this race ended up being all over the news because of an awesome story.  CHECK IT OUT! http://www.fox4beaumont.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/photo-shows-marine-helping-young-boy-671.shtml

Cheer team even though it was chilly!

Off to get their numbers

More of the cheer team...we split up on the race course for more encouragement

That would be beautiful lake Michigan they were running next to

These girls were so cute I HAD to snap a pic...a bride and her bridesmaids. 

They made it!

Patrick's post race reward

After the race was the parade

Yes, I may have only been there for the candy. Perhaps this is where dear Lakin gets her parade candy obsession...I taught her well!

After the parade we headed down to the park and set up camp for the rest of the day!

Patrick attempting to eat ribs in his lab

Patrick and I took some time, as promised, to take some one year shots.  Has much changed?  Don't think so, but I bet these will look a lot different at year 25!

Matthew's post race nap

Grandma and her beautiful sisters

Uncle Gordon felt left out

Want to take a guess?  If you guessed deep fried oreos you would be right.  If you guess exactly 6 deep fried oreos you would be even more right.

This is what 6 deep fried oreos do to you

Crowning the queen since they got rained out the night before

These girls were soooo good and they had only been performing together for one month...you would never know!

The Kids from Wisconsin

After the Kids from Wisconsin finished, we watched the boat parade and fireworks.  My mom and I spent from 8am to almost 11pm in the park with all of the day's activities.  Yes, I was tired!

Sunday morning we saw a second performance by one of the musicians from Venetian at my grandma's church and before we knew it, it was the afternoon and we were back in the car headed for Chicago.

We had so much fun and already have scheduled plans to be back next year because the boys are determined to get better times in the race.  As I sign off from this very long blog, I leave you with one last video.  Some of you may already have seen this on my facebook, but it's so funny it doesn't hurt to watch again.  I love my dad and am thankful to have a piece of his goofy side...no matter how embarrassing he is!