<p>I had all 4 of my kids home-the #1 flew in from Calif.,#2 came home with a fever of 101 and slept alot, #3 thought he was getting a nonstop bus from Cleveland /Case W.The bus broke down for about 4 hours 1 hour out ,and when he finally got to NY, discovered his laptop was stolen ! My baby princess arrived in 1 piece from Boston .She spent most of the weekend working on a paper about Burgundian law in the 5th century....very esoteric.She has a 20 page paper due on Dec. 1.She completed 6 pages-this is a child who got 800s twice on her SAT writing;can't quite figure out the problem here,although surely there can't be a ton of information on this topic.Any Medieval History majors out there? Mind you,this is a freshman seminar! It was great to have everyone together for 3 1/2 days.</p>
<p>Brought D3 home at 10:00 on Tuesday night, one of the last kids still on campus following a required performance (really? the last two hours before vacation officially starts?? - although it was a great opportunity to hear her play). She’d been sick in bed for the previous three days, so we cleared out her room to launder away as many of the germs as possible. Threw out the orange juice and nyquil containers on the way to the car.</p>
<p>Did laundry, ate turkey, did more laundry, air hugged relatives so as not to infect them, stuffed clean laundry into garbage bags, got together with friends she hadn’t seen for a long time.</p>
<p>And studied for her history midterm on Monday morning. (Really? The minute they get back from their first vacation??)</p>
<p>The real challenge is going to be winter break, which will be long, boring and feature intricate negotiations among siblings who haven’t had to share space in a loooong time.</p>
<p>PMKjr did not come for Thanksgiving and it was our first one without him. He sent a few pics on Thanksgiving of the group he was with and of himself and what a difference that made! It was just so nice to see his face. We made a sign that said, “We are thankful for PMKjr”, had a friend take our pictures and sent it to him. He seemed to like that. </p>
<p>He comes home Dec. 17…cannot wait!</p>
<p>My daughter withdrew from school earlier this month (due to midterm grades), but had already invited two fellow-classmates to our home for Thanksgiving break (One is her new boyfriend and one is a girlfriend from Texas, who can’t go home). I was really worried that they’d change their minds about coming. They arrived Tuesday night and stayed through this morning. I think they all had a great time. The next couple of days will be very difficult for D, as she needs to regroup and get registered for second semester at our local college.</p>
<p>We’ve had a good visit with S home. All extended family was here for Thanksgiving and he really enjoyed seeing everyone and getting to answer their questions about his college life. The highlight of the weekend so far, was an underplayed moment where S was telling everyone good night - and he walked over to his 16 yr. old sister and hugged her head, then playfully punched her while saying good night. As they’ve grown up, they’ve become closer, but I’ve never witnessed more than a very awkward hug when S left a few months ago. </p>
<p>S still has a paper to finish before he goes back later today, but it’s just cutting down to the proper length, not writing. It is a final due tomorrow - even though finals week is a week away.</p>
<p>Love that picture pmk - I’m sure he really appreciated that.</p>
<p>D wasn’t able to come home (her finals will be over on Dec 10 anyway) so she went home with a friend from school. I think she had a good time but we received more phone calls and texts than usual - a little wistful and sad. And she informed us that we could not start the Christmas season without her - no decorating, no baking, no traditions. Sorry to say that some of them can’t wait, but at least we’ll wait to put up the tree until she arrives.</p>
<p>Great having them all home again!</p>
<p>D1 surprised me by arriving home Tuesday night - gave me a whole extra day with her :)(running errands, but just the 2 of us). She left to drive back a few hours ago (6 hour drive).</p>
<p>S1 arrived home late afternoon on Wednesday. He has been doing lots of homework all weekend, but played football with younger brother (and a gang of kids) on Saturday, and ran the turkey trot with D1 and friends on Thurday morning.</p>
<p>Had some old family friends over on Saturday night.</p>
<p>All in all a wonderful weekend. H has to drive S1 back to school after the football game. Then we will be down one child and a quiet house for another few weeks. But these weeks will fly by…</p>
<p>Had a great visit with D10. She caught up with friends, her sister, cousins visiting from California, and a lot of sleep. Glad she fit in some time for Mom and Dad as well! Never seen her happier, what a great thing.</p>
<p>toledo, Best of luck to your daughter on her new journey.</p>
<p>Have had a great visit thus far with ds. We had some family business we had to take care of over the holiday, but he and his brother worked like champs, and we had time for fun, too, such as seeing Harry Potter on T’giving night. He’ll be here for five more weeks, and I hope it’s all as good as this past week has been.</p>
<p>toledo, so sorry about your dd. And gentle (((hugs))) to pmk.</p>
<p>You said D10-as in graduated 2010,or D #10, like you have 10 kids?Any relation to Michelle Duggar (19 and Counting)</p>
<p>DS stayed at school for Thanksgiving and I think was a bit lonely. Most kids went home it was mainly the international students that also stayed on campus. He’s all the way across the country and will be coming home on 12/19 for 5 weeks. He decided not to go home with some classmates since he had a lot of work to catch up on. He also had his first day of snow on Thanksgiving. This was definitely one of the considerations we had when he was deciding where to attend, if he had chosen local he could come home more often - but overall he’s very happy with his choice.</p>
<p>
Sounds like you wrote that in past tense. But in our house, both college kids are still home, since technically speaking, Thanksgiving weekend hasn’t ended yet. DS2 has finals next week, so he planned to fly out tomorrow. My other guy got a phone call at 2:30pm regarding his 6:00 flight. “There’s a delay.” But, when investigating this further, we discovered he would miss his connecting flight. Instead, they both fly out tomorrow. And he misses classes. Drag.</p>
<p>We had a very good visit with D; it’s obvious college agrees with her. It was sad to hear D’s updates of colleges chosen for high school friendships/love interests that fell apart once on campus. Lots of transfers in the making for the kids in those situations.</p>
<p>DD just txted that she is back on campus after being home since last Monday 
We had a great visit. She did some cooking for me and also got some black friday deals for me since I had to work. She is so happy with her college choice and it makes us glad. Our financial planner suggested waiting until Christmas break before transfering her prepaid college plan to her sister incase she had made a bad choice. Nope, she is certain she is happy and cant imagine going anywhere else! Cant wait to see her again for Christmas break.</p>
<p>S, college senior, is about 180 miles away and came home Wed. Had much homework to do. Was meeting with his senior project team on Sunday so left on Sat afternoon. Was a quick but nice visit.</p>
<p>D, college freshman, is on the opposite coast and didn’t want to travel home as so much of her time off would have been spent in transit. She was invited to her roommate’s but declined as she just wanted some time to crash and do some homework. She has called about twice a day during the break, which is a lot for her. Miss her a lot but she comes home 12/17 for about 4 weeks, so will see her pretty soon. Wife was concerned about her being in the dorm with so few other students (most students are somewhat local) but she’s doing fine.</p>
<p>Mostly GREAT! D1 was home for a week and spent a lot of her time texting and on FB with her new college friends. She has really moved on from her high school group and felt lost without her college friends. She is now worried about being home for a month at Christmas and for the summer. The negotiations for sharing the “kid car” with S1 (who has had it to himself) since D1 has been gone and D2 can’t drive yet, were challenging, but okay. One “What? I have a curfew?” moment. One sibling with very hurt feelings. In general, it was wonderful to have her home. She has grown up a bit in three months, and we are thankful she is very happy in college and her new life. It is also nice to have her gone again- more peace, less drama!!</p>
<p>S2 caught a ride (3 hrs away) for Tuesday and told us that they wouldn’t be leaving until 6pm or later as the driver had afternoon classes. Didn’t bother to let us know the change in plans until he called at 4:30pm and said they were 10 minutes away and he needed a pick-up at a commuter lot off the highway. Lucky for him I was working from home that day…</p>
<p>S1 has to fly cross-country, but he won’t miss Thanksgiving for anything. He had a class Tuesday morning that he couldn’t miss as (for the 2nd year in a row) the professor had scheduled group project presentations. Class started at 8:30am; he asked if he could leave after his team presented; prof said “no”, he was required to stay for the whole class. As the class over ran it’s time and 10:30 came and went, he gave himself until 11am…and then up and left before the presentations ended. Hour and a half drive to the airport, arrived at the gate 10 minutes before scheduled take-off and said he was the last one seated. Uneventful from there.</p>
<p>Fun to have both home. We host family Thanksgiving so there was a lot of activity and they were very helpful. Both got together with friends one night separately and one night together for a regularly scheduled game night. S2 (freshman) went out Friday night and called from the friend’s house to ask if he could stay overnight (coed group). I was impressed that he “asked”. Surprisingly both had homework. S1 (senior) had a 35 page lab report due Nov 30. S2 had a 5 page paper due Nov 24th. Saw both doing plenty of school work; kinda refreshing and unlike high school.</p>
<p>Biggest adjustment? S1 turned 21 during the fall semester and so spent the holiday drinking my beer. That was weird. As expected, he chose the more expensive brand each time…</p>
<p>D1 (jr) and S2 (fr) both arrived home Wednesday afternoon. Both fell asleep Wednesday night before 10pm and slept 12-14 hours. S2 really enjoyed seeing his family, his friends and playing in the alumni basketball game. I LOVED seeing them both. I didn’t like that S2 and S3 stayed up until 3 and 4am playing video games Friday and Saturday. We brought home a new puppy (our 10 yr old lab died in October) on Saturday which was really fun for everybody. As much as I enjoyed having them home and I am really looking forward to the Christmas break, I am also appreciating the lack of chaos when it is just the three of us (now 4 counting the puppy).</p>
<p>I remembered always having lots of work to do over my college breaks, and so did S, thus I worried about not seeing D actually do any work. Like boiledegg’s D, she seemed to have spent a lot of time on FB and texting with her new college friends. She did go out with a few high school friends and enjoyed it, but she has really moved on too. She hadn’t initiated contact with any of them while at college, but did respond to them if they contacted her. Still, she says she likes all of her college friends much better than any of her high school ones–that’s what school “fit” will do for a kid!</p>
<p>Thankfully, there wasn’t much family drama; I expected more. But she is now clearly her own person. And as her own person, she showed no interest in helping me cook. Darn!</p>