Oh You Got to Stand For Something (or at least try)

Brian's family is a little slack when it comes to Holiday planning. This is something that I am not used too. I mean, my family figures out holiday plans months in advance. We usually plan Thanksgiving around September. Its just easier since there are so many of us now. Each sister has both our own family obligations as well as family obligations with the other sides of our families. This year we are getting together for a brunch on Thanksgiving. As I was saying Brian's family are total slackers waiting til the last minute to make plans. Last year instead of making dinner they decided to all go out to eat. This was all but fine with me. I love breaking traditions a little. However, Brian's mom didn't want to bother getting Brian's kids from his ex-wife. "No, its just too much trouble to get them." You have to understand that his mom is the messenger and peace keeper between him and his ex. I was confused, hurt, felt bad for Hayley and Jacob. My parents wouldn't do this to their grand kids and my grandparents never did this to me. A few months ago I stated to Brian that if they weren't invited this year then Gretchen and I wouldn't be going either. Yes, here I am Kari Crawford standing up for what I think is right and just. So, Brian's mom share with me the plans for Thanksgiving the other day. We will be going out to eat again. "Are we getting Hayley and Jacob?" I ask. "No,blah blah blah something.I got upset. When I got to speak with Brian privately I told him that Gretchen and I wouldn't be going and go into my rant about how wrong it is to not include them. Another idea that came to mind was to go behind her back and call his ex myself and arrange to pick them up and bring them myself. Oh, how great this was going to be for me to stand up for something and make a statement. However, by the next day Brian had already talked to his mom about this and got the matter all straightened out. Now they will be joining us for Thanksgiving. I was shocked how easy this was to fix, though I am a little bit disappointed that I didn't get to boycott the dinner to make a statement.

Potty Training Fun

So we have started to potty training Gretchen. For me this is getting in the habit of putting her on the potty often. So far everything is going good. She pees in the potty almost everytime I sit her on it. I'm not really in any hurry to potty train but Brian insisted that we start. I really want to start in the spring when she can wear little summer dresses so it will be easier. The funniest part is that I had to get the potty seat to go over the big toilet. The little potty that sat on the floor was being used by Gretchen as a hiding place for toys. Now if I can get here to go #2.