Aaaaaaand I'm behind again!

Well, yet again I'm trying to catch up on all that our family has been up to! Whew! I'm supposed to be decorating our Christmas tree tonight, so this is going to be a bit short. Where to start? Let's see.... The weekend of October 23rd, my wonderful father-in-law came to visit with Mathias, an exchange student from Denmark. They watched H3 for us so H1 and I could have our first date night out since she was born! We went to see Tim Hawkins, a Christian comedian, and then went to Applebees and split an appetizer. It was a fun date. While they were here, we also went to Norfolk and toured the Battleship Wisconsin, located at the Nauticus museum. It's a free tour and lots of fun!

On deck of the Wisconsin

The following Sunday, H3 and I headed for SC to visit my grandfather. It had been a year since we'd seen him, which is a little longer than usual between visits. We had a wonderful time chatting and watching H3 run circles in the house. She would start in the living room and run the loop through the kitchen and dining room and back into the living room. Before the trip she had just started walking during the couple weeks before, and by the end she'd gotten a pretty good grasp on it!
Sitting on Great-Grandpa's lap

Playing by the couch

We arrived home Thursday evening, and I had to turn around and substitute at the high school on Friday, so I was rather tired by the time the weekend hit and was happy to be home. The next weekend (Nov 14 - 16) my parents came down for a visit. It was really good to see them and my mom had a blast playing with H3 and taking lots of pictures. Since I'm an only child, H3 is the only grandchild on my side of the family. My mom really enjoys being a grandma. My dad enjoys his role too, of course, although judging by his choice in toys (dinosaurs and trucks), I think he may be hinting. That will have to wait for a bit though because I've got my hands full!

The children's play area inside the MacArthur Square Mall

Dad and Mom (I made a lunch from home that we brought and just bought drinks)

Playing in the children's area

The following weekend (Nov 21) I volunteered up at the Rescue Squad for a bit and then I spent Saturday afternoon baking for the church lunch on Sunday. H3 was quite the help. She sat at my feet, playing with a wooden spoon. At one point while I was kneeding dough, I looking down and she was sitting right next to my leg playing and the dog was laying next to her. It felt like a picturesque moment! The Thanksgiving luncheon at church was delicious, as always. The church provided turkey (deep fried) and ham, and then each family in the church brings a dish or two to share. I love all the food! It also gives everyone a chance to hang around afterwards. We do connect weekly in small groups, but it's nice to see everyone for a bit and chat longer than just over coffee before church. Our church is relatively small--about 60 adults and 40 kids, so we know a majority of the people.

This past week was Thanksgiving, of course. It was my first time cooking a turkey and it turned out surprisingly well. I made quite a few dishes, but smaller portions since it was only the three of us. H1 made the mashed potatoes--he's the best at those! I made rolls, jello salad, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, pumpkin pie and of course cooked the turkey. H3 seemed to enjoy sampling a bit of everything, although she wasn't so keen on the turkey or the green bean casserole, but I expected that. The turkey is still a bit harder to chew than chicken and she's not of fan of green beans unless they are purreed still.

This Black Friday was the first time I've ever ventured out, and I did so at 2:30am. I left H1 and H3 at the house to get more sleep and ventured out into the cold rain down to Walmart. They were having a sale on a particular item I wanted to get my Dad for Christmas and it was at a price I could afford, so I waited in line until 5am and got my mits on it. I'm sooo excited about it and hope he will enjoy it. I still can't believe I actually did something crazy like that, but I have to say it was worth it because otherwise I doubt we could have afforded it.

Today would have been nice to sleep in, but nope, didn't happen. I went to an 8am CPR recertification class and got that updated. Since I'm an EMT, I already had the training and certification and techinally it was still good for another year, but I wanted to go through the 2 hour course and get a couple questions I had answered about unique situations. I knew the guy instructing it and trusted him to give me the right answer. I can't say that for my last instructor.

Afterwards we took advantage of a coupon and got Christmas pictures taken at Sears. We were originally just going to have some friends take pictures but then could never nail down a date. With the coupon, we were able to get the sitting and prints for just $30. It's still more than I'd like to pay, but not awful and the pictures did turn out gorgeous!

Whew! Ok, so I did cram in more than I thought I was going to and my fingers hurt from typing so fast. Back to the tree! Good night!

~H2