Four-day weekends are great

I am so enjoying this long weekend. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. As I said previously, Seth is responsible for the turkey at our family's Thanksgiving. He did a really nice job again as always. It was tasty. We got to my mom's about noon on Thursday and we ate lunch around 1. Everyone stayed until 7 or so. The kids weren't quite as rambunctious as they can be, although that night Abby told me that she and Landon (my cousin's boyfriend's son) kissed in the basement when they were pretending to be husband and wife and that her other cousins, Sophia and Brandon, also kissed. I don't know what all this kissing is about! I did not do that much kissing when I was that age. I didn't do any kissing!

On Friday, Seth took Abby to see Madagascar 2 and Adam and I went to Home Depot to buy more Christmas lights for outside. I started putting them up on the bushes in the front yard and Seth helped me finish when he came home from the movie. They look really good, but today half of the yard isn't lit up for some reason. We'll have to figure that out. Anyway, after the outside lights were up, Abby, Seth and I put up the Christmas tree and decorations inside. So, we are all decked out and ready to go. Adam has broken one ornament today already. We'll see how many more bite the dust this year. I'll have to post a picture of our tree and outside lights because I think they are very pretty. I love our tree. It's huge, like 8 1/2 feet I think. We have a vaulted ceiling in our living room so it fits the room nicely.

This morning we went to get the kids' pictures taken. We didn't do family pictures this time. We're going to do them in the spring when we can take them outside. We found a new photographer who will do them at a park or somewhere outside. I like that idea and it's so much better than being at a crowded studio with 10 other families. This is a lady who does it out of her home - she just has a studio in her dining room. I think she got some good ones. We'll be able to order them online, too, which will be nice. After picures, I went to get a massage at Spa Winghaven. Seth had gotten me a gift card from there for Mother's Day and I hadn't used it yet. It was my first massage ever and it was fan-tas-tic! Worth every penny. And, I have money left on my gift card so I get to go back sometime. Yay!

After that, I continued my "day for me" with lunch at Bread Co. with Dawn. It was fun. I always love catching up with her. And then I went shopping for the kids for Christmas. I got a couple things, but I really need to take inventory of everything I have since I've been buying little stuff here and there to see if they even need anything else.

Tomorrow Seth is going to the Rams-Dolphins game with his buddies, Kevin and Kristian, who are Dolphins fans. Seth will be rooting for the Rams just to spite them - there is nothing good to say about the Rams this year. So, the kids and I will have all day Sunday to ourselves. I would like to do something with my mom, but it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. We're supposed to get one to two inches of accumulation, but we'll see if that actually happens.

So that's it so far for my relaxing four-day weekend. I dread going back to work on Monday, but Seth and I are off work Dec. 24-Jan. 1 so at least I have that to look forward to. Happy Holidays everyone!

Christmas Cards

I think this is the longest I've gone between posts - it's just been busy lately. I'll try to do better next time!

Two Sundays ago, we tried to take pictures of the kids for Christmas cards.


This is Adam playing hide-and-seek.

Abby and Adam both smiling, although he is not looking at the camera.

Abby.
Abby cheesing it up.
This was tonight. Abby, Adam and I made puppy chow. It's a delicious dessert I made for the kids to enjoy tomorrow at Thanksgiving. It's chex mix, chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar. Plus some butter and vanilla. Delicious!

On Tuesday, Abby had a Thanksgiving feast at school in the morning and Seth went to that. Abby was thrilled to have her daddy there. In the afternoon she had a Thanksgiving re-enactment at her day care. I went to that and she was so proud I was there, too, grinning from ear to ear. This is Trenton. Abby and Trenton have become very good friends lately. Right after this picture was taken, they turned to each other face to face and almost kissed. I had to pull them apart. Our Abby is quite the popular girl with the boys. So far it's just innocent and hopefully not a harbinger of things to come.

This is Abby in her costume.

Last Saturday, Seth and I went out for our friends' birthdays - Becky and Sydney. This picture above is of Sydney and I. (The picture of Becky and I turned out blurry.)

This is Kelly, Abby and me.

Other than what you see in these pictures we've just been really busy. Both my car and Seth's car had to be worked on in the last week and we had to buy eight new tires, which hurt the ole wallet. And with Citi being in turmoil we are slightly worried about Seth's job. He doesn't think he's going to get laid off, but you never know. It's kind of scary. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

We're headed to my mom's house tomorrow for Thanksgiving. In addition to the puppy chow, I'm also making stuffing (don't get too excited, it's just Stove Top). Seth is making the turkey and sweet potatoes. Should be a good time. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Seth bought our turkey today. I can't believe the holidays are so close! I love, love, love the holidays. Our tradition for Thanksgiving the last few years has been for Seth to make the turkey and sweet potatos and take them over to my mom's house and she makes everything else. Usually our celebration includes everyone you saw in the family photos a while back - my mom, grandma, Aunt Janet, Uncle Don, cousin Debbie, her son Brandon, cousin Dave, his sons Jakob and Brayden, cousin Laura, her husband Craig, and their kids, Sophia and Jesse, and us.

So the turkey has been bought. It'll stay in the freezer until next Monday when it will be time to soak it in a salt water, butter and veggies mixture. He's made the turkey for our Thanksgivings seven out of the last nine years. (Yes, we've been together nine years - married for seven.)

So, Houston was a quick trip. I got there Friday afternoon and got home Saturday at 10 p.m. The nice parts of Houston were really nice and the scary parts were really scary. I am just really glad that I don't have any more trips planned for 08. And now I get to look forward to Christmas! Abby wrote her letter to Santa this weekend. Both kids love books, so that's easy. Abby likes Tinkerbell and Hannah Montana. Adam likes Dora and Diego, dinosaurs and Thomas the Train. I guess I'll start from there and see what I decide to get the kids. Tis the season!

Back to Reality and Girls Weekend Part 2

One of the best parts of being out of town is coming home and getting back into the groove. So before I show you more of my pictures from Branson, I wanted to show you what life was like when I got back.

Monday night, we had Adam's Parents-As-Teachers teacher come over and she was very impressed at how much more Adam is talking and stringing words together. His motor skills are also very advanced. He's getting to be such a big boy. Lately he is really showing his independence and saying things like "You da boss" (that's supposed to be an insult) and "You da bad guy!"

After that, we had a parent-teacher conference at Adam's day care to talk to his teacher about how he was doing in the month since he has been there. He's still crying, but not as much as he was, so I think we're making progress. We think he just needs a better sense of security to know that we'll be coming back to get him. So we're working on that. We brought his blankie (a Patriots blanket from Aunt Jess - he loves that blanket) on Tuesday for security and it was his best day yet.

Tuesday night Abby had Girl Scouts. This is Abby (and Maya) working on a project last night. You'll notice the expertly-ironed-on patches on Abby's apron. I am a regular Susie Homemaker. Not really, because I had to completely undo one of the patches on her back because it was totally crooked. Seth said I should just have my mom do it, but I remained calm and patient and eventually got it done. Yay for me.

On Wednesday, we had Abby's parent-teacher conference at the day care. Her day care teacher and her teacher at school said basically the same things, which was good. Abby's reading is by far above where she should be, which is great. We're very proud of her.

So, it's been a busy week so far.

It was nice to know when I got back on Sunday, though, that life was just as I left it. Here is Seth watching football Sunday afternoon.

Abby doing homework after her shower.

Adam "swimming" in the bathtub.

And now to Girls Weekend. My girlfriends from college and I have never gone on a weekend away together. (Only one person was missing - Amy!) It was so nice to get together and spend time together like we used to be able to do when we were younger. Johanna's parents have a timeshare and gave us their condo at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, Mo., for the weekend. We went to dinner Friday night at one of the restaurants at the lodge called The Devil's Pool. Saturday we went to breakfast at the same place - delicious waffles. Saturday afternoon we went to Brandon Landing to shop and then to Tanger Outlet Mall. I got a head start on Christmas shopping and got a couple things for myself. Saturday night we went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant in Branson called The Bleu Olive. It was really good. And then we went back to our room and played board games (Trivial Pursuit and Loaded Questions) until 3 in the morning. Even though I felt kind of old since we didn't really go out to bars or stay out late, it was still really fun. We laughed and laughed and laughed. Here's a look...

Becky T. posing. She likes to do that.

Sydney posing by the fire.

Friday night at dinner - Becky T., Sydney, Johanna and me.

Johanna Saturday night. Let's just say she had a rough morning on Sunday.

Sydney almost shooting something out of her nose. (Syd, just be glad I didn't put this on Facebook.)

Becky and Jake being serious.

The view from our parking lot.

The tree at Branson Landing.

The beautiful view from where we had breakfast Saturday morning.

The girls at breakfast on Saturday morning. Becky T., me, Johanna, Sydney and Jake.

In the shuttle at Big Cedar. Jake, Johanna, Becky T., Sydney.

So, thank you girls for a fantastic time. I can't wait to do it again and I love you all very much. Perhaps Chicago next time since Sydney is likely moving there soon.

And now, back to reality. We don't have anything going on tomorrow night, but Seth plans to go watch football since I am again out of town Friday and Saturday and I have to pack, so it will still be busy. Friday I head to Houston for work (where it will be 80 degrees on Friday) and will be back Saturday night. This is my last trip for the year and hopefully the last time for a while that I have to leave Seth and the kids at home. Even when I'm having fun it's hard to be gone so much. It seems to come in phases though. Before I went to Detroit I hadn't traveled since April.

Anyway, that's enough. I'll post more after Houston.

Girls Weekend

I don't have time to write a lot right now, but isn't this a great picture of my girlfriends from this weekend at Big Cedar Lodge at Tablerock? We had a blast!

Jake, Johanna, Sydney, Becky T., me and Becky S.

Thanks Johanna! We had a blast!

Soccer, Halloween and Indianapolis Photos

Here are some photos from Halloween and Indianapolis. But first, Abby played her last soccer game on Saturday. She got to play goalie. After it was over, she confirmed she was done playing soccer. I'll ask her again in the spring, but I bet this is it for her. That's ok. We'll try something else.

Here are some pictures from the Halloween party last weekend. Seth and I were John McCain and Sarah Palin.

This is Kevin and Abby, or Jesus and Satan. Pretty good if you ask me.

Steve and Kelly as Jason from Friday the 13th and his vicim.

Kristian. Seth is in his wedding next October. He was half of Dumb & Dumber.

Brian and Abby singing karaoke. This picture makes me laugh.

And here are some pictures from Indianapolis in no particular order.

Seth after the game.

The Colts taking the field after the game.


Seth getting nervous near the end of the game when the Pats were losing.

Me trying to take a picture of us.

Can you see Belichek on the sidelines? He's in the middle of the white line, Pats sweatshirt, tan pants, earphones on.

Kickoff

Coin toss.

The Colts taking the field before the game.

The Pats taking the field. No fireworks for them.

The Pats stretching before the game.

The view from our seats right before kick-off.

Lucas Oil Stadium.

Seth and I at a bar beforehand in downtown Indy.

And Seth. So happy and excited. Doesn't even remember his wife lost the tickets. :)

I'm an idiot. It's ok. You can say it.

So, I don't have the stomach to tell you what happened on Sunday when we were getting ready to go to Indianapolis for the Pats-Colts game. I'll let Seth tell you. Please click here. Just promise you'll come back.

http://leftcalf.blogspot.com/2008/11/story-of-colts-18-pats-15.html

All I can say is that I have the best husband ever because even though he was thinking all of those things that he wrote on his blog, he didn't say any of it. He knew that I felt terrible and never once did he yell at me or call me a dumbass - both of which would have been deserved. I wish I could say for sure I would react in the same way if he lost tickets to something I really cared about.

And I have no idea why I threw those tickets away. Seriously stupid.

But he's right; I don't feel as bad as I would if we didn't go at all and for me, that is definitely worth $250. And we had a really good time. My favorite part was when the guy in front of us (Colts fan) yelled to the people next to us (Pats fans), "You clam-eatin' bastards!" I thought that was a creative insult. And also true.

Seth and I (and the kids earlier before they went to bed) are watching the election coverage tonight. Seth is bored with it because there's not a lot of suspense, but I am happy. I'll leave it at that. My sympathies to my conservative-minded friends.