First Snow

This long weekend flew by. It has been so nice spending a lot of time with Joey the past 2 weeks. Now we are back to the grind. I was sad to see him go back to work. I am looking forward to his time off over Christmas and New Years. He gets no time off of school, but I will take what I can get. He will be done in June, so the end is in sight!!!
Friday I managed to go shopping with Sara Blake. We got some bargains, but more go for the spectacle than anything.
Saturday Joey went shooting with his brother and dad.
I worked on our advent activities for the month. It took me 4 hours, but it is something I love doing, and I love the challenge of finding new age appropriate activities to add each year. I am looking forward to a fun month.
Sunday Joey took my parents to the airport. They are off to visit Ingrid, Rorek, and Andrew. They had a long delayed day, but eventually made it.
Sunday we played in the snow for a few minutes. Hayden loved his new hat from Aunt Becky and crew, but refused to keep his gloves on..... so inside we came.
The house is all decorated. It looks and smells like Christmas and I love it!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hayden helping with the pumpkin pie.

Hayden testing the pumpkin pie

Our Meal


We had a low key Thanksgiving this year celebrated with just the 3 of us. I was feeling sad that we were "alone" this year, but we all enjoyed it.
We made a ham int he crock pot, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and pumpkin pie. Not to shabby for an impromptu Thanksgiving feast!
What a treat for your first post flu meal to be Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Plans

Our Thanksgiving plans have changed. We were supposed to go to Marshalltown to celebrate with my cousins and Uncle. I have been sick since Monday, so we are staying home. I am so sad to miss seeing Dawn and Rachel. Dawn and Scott are back from CA.
I got the stomach flu Sunday night out of no where. I was down and out all day Monday. Thankfully Joey could stay home with Hayden, so I could rest all day. I was feeling better Tuesday, and took Hayden in to get his flu shot. I think I over did it because Tuesday night I started feeling bad again, and have been moving slow all day.
So we are going to hang out here. Joey picked up a ham for us. Hopefully I can enjoy some Thanksgiving food tomorrow.
I am also hopeful I feel better Friday to get some shopping in. Sara Blake and I went for the first time last year, and we had a blast. We have been looking forward to going again all year.
We also hope to get the tree and house decorated for Christmas.
Fingers crossed I will feel like a new woman tomorrow.

We are back!

We woke up to a dusting of snow yesterday morning. I loved it!!

We had a great time. Hayden did awesome at my parents house. Once we get settled in here I will post some pictures.

A week before we left Joey ran into some battery electronic thing in the basement by his work station downstairs. His foot bruised up very bad, but he was able to walk on it. He was sure he broke it, and I said he probably didn't. Flashback to the football vs. finger incident in Colorado. He was able to walk around all vacation, and I never heard him complain.

He went to the walk in clinic yesterday and low and behold, it is broken! I guess the lesson here is if I tell you your appendage is not broken, it likely is. :) Oh and Joey can fish for a week with a broken finger and walk around Florida with a broken toe!

Love this weather!

So, I may be the only person not complaining about the cold dreary weather or the fact that there is Christmas music playing on the radio already. :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of year and the weather that goes along with it. Colorado was probably a little better weather wise because it would snow 2 feet and then melt in a few days, but I won't complain. Usually the excitement of the cold and snow wears off around February.
We are gearing up for a trip to Florida on Friday. The Bellows family (minus children) are meeting us down there. We are excited to get away for a week. We are all leaving our children at home with grandparents. I am excited for the trip, but a little anxious to be away from Hayden for a week. But, I do think it is a week we all need to re energize and refresh! We are planing on doing a lot of relaxing and laying by the pool, we will have to see if we stick to that plan.
Toady Grandma P came down to play with Hayden while I went to MOPS. He had a great time and didn't sit down the whole time I was gone I was told. I brought home lunch, and we ran to the store to get Hayden 2 balloons and some candy. Grandma loves to spoil Hayden and he was sooooo excited to get an Elmo and Thomas the Train balloon and M&M's.
Not much else going on this week. I have bible study tonight, packing, and the arrival of my parents on Thursday evening to start their babysitting duties Friday morning!

Turker Killer

This is why it doesn't pay to have fragile seasonal decorations in the house.

And for his punishemnt he had to wash the windows in the porch. Just kidding. I washed the windows and he helped.

Election 2008

We make a big deal here about voting. We love researching all of the candidates and planing our voting strategy. I know I know we are dorks! We love it.
We also love taking Hayden along with us. He has gone with us to vote every time we have gone since he was born, and we plan to take him every time until he can vote on his own. Hopefully he will appreciate the right to vote when he is 18.
We walked up to the High School to vote. Unfortunately we didn't have to wait in a long line. I was hoping we would!
We cast our ballets, got our sticker, headed home, placed our stickers on the turkey, and ate dinner in front of the tv to watch the election coverage!
My hope for the next 4 years is that there will be an end to the hateful rhetoric we have all witnessed the past 8 years. I hope people who disagree with Obama would show him more respect than Bush had to endure by his critics.

Happy Halloween

Hayden had fun on his first trick or treating excursion. Joey, Aunt Darliene and I took Hayden our around Joey's old neighborhood. Joey talked to a lot of old neighbors. Hayden refused to wear his costume. Fortunately his spider shirt worked. He filled his pumpkin with candy! It was an absolutely gorgeous evening! Many people were sitting in their driveways with their firepits!

We ran into my Dad's old secretarys sisiter. It was great chatting with them for a while and remenescing.
After all the fun we went back to Grandma and Grandpas to eat cake for Uncle Johnnys birthday. It was yummy!
Then Darliene, Johnny, Joey, and I went to a halloween party. We had a blast! It was great haning out.

Saturday we hung out. Hayden helped Grandpa move some dirt and had a blast riding around on the lawn tractor. Bev and I went shopping for new clothes for the birthday party that evening. We had fun finding lots of cute things for her.
Saturday evening Grandma and Grandpa M watched Hayden, while we went to Johnny's birthday party. We had a great time chatting with everyone.
Sudnay we got up and headed home. It was a busy and FUN weekend!