Happy Thanksgiving!

It's almost Turkey Day! I'm so excited. I love Thanksgiving. We're having all the usuals tomorrow, in addition to a couple of new additions: sweet potato souffle and tomato pie. I made my traditional pumpkin cheesecake mousse pie today. Looks good. Can't wait to eat it. ; )
We had our trip to the Biltmore House this week. It was a lot of fun, even though the evening Christmas event wasn't what we had expected. We basically toured the house twice in the same day. But it was beautiful, and we all had a great time. It was very cold, too, so we were in sweaters, jackets, mittens, hats, earmuffs, etc. We didn't have time to do any of the Biltmore grounds or the winery, so we'll have to go back again sometime. It was very rainy the next day, so we mostly drove around. We had to turn back after a few miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway because they closed it down. Instead we took another route and saw all kinds of icicles coming out of the rocks on the side of the road. It was pretty cool. I love taking little trips like that with my family.
Tonight we went out to the mall to see if we could find any pre-Thanksgiving sales. We found a couple of small things but not many presents. It was still worth it, though, because we took Quinn to see Santa. He was so sweet! Santa told us what a great kid he was and how he couldn't believe he sat so well on his lap at his age. He even told one of the assistants to give us a free picture of a second pose! I bet he doesn't do that very often. I was so proud of my little boy. We'll get the pics scanned soon and post them. So I better get to bed. We have to get up early to start cooking that turkey! We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and takes time to remember what they are thankful for. I know we certainly have many blessings, in spite of a tough year. Love, Us.

Not Even Winter Yet

Brrr....It's cold here! It got down to the 20s last night, and when that wind blows, it is bitter! I tried to take Quinn to the park today, but I could only stand it for about 15 minutes. Even in a big jacket, the wind was too frigid. Tomorrow is supposed to almost 60 degrees, and we have a playdate planned for the warmest part of the day with Maureen and her daughter Sarah and Karen and her two kids. I've met Karen at two different playdates so far and I have yet to meet her kids. The new park Maureen found is so great. There are two separate playgrounds, one for big kids and one for little, a little river, swings (like romantic couples' swings), bathrooms (woohoo), picnic tables, and walking paths. The little kids' playground is completely gated in, so that's safe. We have a lot of fun with Maureen and Sarah. Sarah is just a couple months younger than Quinn, so they get along (or at least, they play with the same things: trash, acorns, gravel).
Yesterday was Jalal's day off, and we took advantage of it by spending just about the whole day out. We did a lot of shopping, mostly for Christmas. It is really nice to have some of our Christmas shopping done. We also found a tool set and a log holder for the fireplace, which we have been using almost every night. We switched to real logs instead of the Duraflame logs, and they give off so much more heat and light, not to mention a nicer smell. It is so cool to hang out in front of the fireplace on a cold night. We had my friend Leah and her husband Brayden (spelling?) over for dinner last week. We've been trying to do that for almost six months it seems. Neither of us had met Brayden. We had a great time. Jalal made his famous tacos and fried the shells himself. Leah finally remembered Quinn's birthday present, which he is playing with right now. It's a Fisher Price toy train that has three balls that spin around or spit out the back. He's obsessed. Good choice, Leah! Oh yeah, and I got a new job! I haven't had any work yet, but I got a job as a freelance proofreader for a company in California that does 24/7 tutoring and proofreading. I was one of 20 chosen out of 500 resumes submitted, so I'm very proud of myself. Well, I'm going to get going. Jalal's almost home and I've got to finish dinner. Love, Us.

The Perfect Day

Last Sunday, the three of us took the day off and drove up to Asheville. We took the back roads so we could enjoy the fall foliage. It was beautiful! Jalal and I couldn't get over how brilliant the colors were. I think we hit it just in time. The weather was perfect--clear blue skies, brisk temperature, and a nice breeze (or sometimes a stiff wind!). We took the road straight to the front entrance of the Biltmore Estate, though we're saving that for a separate trip. We went downtown and walked around a little bit, stopping in shops and browsing. There was this cute children's bookstore with a very affectionate and strange-looking dog. Turns out it was a husky-basset hound mix. Hmmm. By that time we were ready for lunch, so we drove down to the Biltmore Historic District and found parking near a cute little cafe in a historic cottage. We left the stroller because Quinn deserved some walking time. Boy, did he get it! There was a 35-minute wait so we kept looking. Half the restaurants we found were closed down, and we finally came almost full-circle back to the car before finding another restaurant. I was dying of thirst by that time, and we still had to wait 15 minutes. So I treated myself to a margarita! Haven't had one of those in a while. It was very nice and relaxing. We let Quinn stomp on some dry leaves on the way back to the car, and then he fell asleep for a little nap. Jalal and I decided to take the other way home, 276, which meets up with the Blue Ridge Parkway and then takes us right back to Mauldin. We stopped at the first few overlooks, but pictures just can't capture those views, so we just enjoyed the drive. We climbed higher and higher, ears popping and everything. At one point, Jalal said, "You know this means we're going to have to go down, right? And pretty fast, too." Sure enough, 276 was winding and steep and a lot of fun to drive. We even found a waterfall by the side of the road! Quinn woke up just in time to walk down a couple flights of stairs with us and see it. It wasn't huge but it was bigger than anything in Charleston! We traded off taking pictures of the couple down there and them of us. I think it turned out pretty great, don't you? We even made it home before dinner! So we all agreed that this was just the perfect day all around. We've decided to go back to the Biltmore the weekend before Thanksgiving and do an overnight with the Christmas lights up and the evening tour. I can't wait! Well, more soon. Love, Us.

Happy Veteran's Day

Thank you to all of those who have served and who are serving in our country's military. We appreciate your sacrifice.

Free Rice

I just found out about this great website called www.freerice.com. You play word games, matching up English vocabulary, to rack up rice in 20-grain increments. The same amount of rice you earn is donated through the UN World Food Program. I checked it out on Snopes.com and it's legit. Check it out. I earned over 1,000 grains in just about 10 minutes. Pretty cool. Love, Us.

Tired Wednesday

Well, my two boys are baptized! How great is that? I'm so happy. I've prayed for this (for Jalal particularly) for so many years it is hard to believe it's happened. We had a wonderful time celebrating with my sister and Wade, my mom, and some of our closest friends. Plus, we got to eat some of Caroline's tomato pie. Yummy! (Can you remember to send me the recipe, Caroline? I know you're reading this.)
Unfortunately, I woke up yesterday with a cold, and I feel crummy. Jalal said something last night about how I get a sick day, and I had to laugh. What sick day? He left the house at 7:45 this morning, and he won't be back before midnight tonight. Tomorrow should only be a 14- or 15-hour day, though. Quinn's been pretty good today but very energetic. He isn't eating, though. Not much for lunch or dinner. I don't know why. I tried a bunch of different foods but still it was just a few bites. Not like him at all.
So we have a new president-elect now. I'm not going to talk about it much because everyone else is, and I'm much less informed than most. I'll just say let's hope we have a successful four years with good changes.
We decided to go up to the next size in diapers for Quinn. We've always purchased the Kirkland brand diapers at Costco, but this time the Huggies were cheaper than the Kirklands. WTH? I don't know what's up with that, but we obviously went with the Huggies. What is wrong with this world?
So Quinn just accidentally stomped on my foot, which really hurt. I told him he hurt me and asked if he would give me a kiss to make it all better. He walked over and gave me a kiss on the mouth. What a sweet boy! He did that to Jalal the other day after dropping a shoe (Jalal's) on his eye. Can you believe what a darling boy he is? But he wouldn't give Grammy (my mom) a kiss the whole time she was with us for the baptism. She would ask for a kiss and he just shook his head "no." It was so cute.
I think I'm going to join Facebook. I've had a lot of people asking me lately if I'm on there, and since I don't even keep up with my MySpace I didn't see much point. But Trish sent me an adorable picture of Lauren in her Halloween costume, and that alone made it worth it. I will see if I can get permission to post it here. Well, better go. Almost bedtime. Love, Us.