Happy Thanksgiving

Did you have a good Thanksgiving? We spent the day at Chuck's parent's house with 3 of his sisters. It was a full house but we had a good time. Leland loved playing with her cousins. She is only around boys now so she is getting into trains and cars. It's really cute. Although she did get one of the boys to push the stroller with the baby dolls until his dad made him quit playing that game. It was pretty funny.

Chuck and I got up at 4:30AM on Friday to hit some of the specials. It was a failed mission. We were trying to get things for his mom and dad, not for us. Chuck had spent most of Thursday going through all the ads and making lists of what he may want from each store. So when we got to Circuit City the line was so long. Chuck dropped me off and said find the end of the line while he tried to find parking. Before I got out he said Where's my list? Well it turns out I had left it at the house. He was so upset. Well the line wrapped around the building and continued the length of the building and Chuck said he thinks the line was 3/4 of a mile long. Chuck was so upset about his list and that he couldn't find parking he came and picked me up from the end of the line and said We're going home!! We had slept at his parent's house so we could leave Leland asleep, plus they are really close to a shopping center. We got back home got his list and he changed his mind and we went BACK to the stores.We finally got into Circuit City and of course they were already sold out of everything he wanted. It was shoulder to shoulder people and just madness.

It brought back horrible memories of working at Wal-Mart. You think you are the only person crazy enough to get up at 4 in the morning to go shopping but then you realize that there are about 400 crazier people that got up even earlier or slept on the sidewalk. We went to 4 stores looking for the camera (that was on sale at 4 places) that Chuck's mom wanted and they were sold out at all of them.We did find some things they wanted from Best Buy but the line looped and looped around and through the aisles of the entire store and Best Buys are huge. We would have been in line for at least a few hours. Everything that we were going to buy were things that his parents wanted and since they didn't get up at 4:30am we decided it was not worth waiting in line. We actually bought some sheets at Target that I wanted and that was it. After only 4-5 hours of sleep and dealing with all the craziness, I guess my $60.00 sheets for $20.00 were worth it.

We are cold here cause it's only a high of 65. My perspective of cold and hot is getting so screwed up.

LOST

I have some sad news (for me) one of my kitties has run away. Sasha, the loud, outgoing cat, loves to go outside, we try to keep her in at night, but that seems to be her favorite time to run out, so she has spend many nights under the stars. Sometimes it is hard to keep track of who's in, who's out, who's been fed or not, with our three odd schedules, often comming and going without seeing each other... anyways, it was three days until we realized no one had seen her.

I've postered the neighborhood, visited the SPCA and shelters and the vet, and checked all the papers. i guess all we can do now is wait, and pray. Luckily the weather has been nice, so if she's outside somewhere she's not too cold.

I think Mona (our other cat) is getting lonely and depressed. Last night I got a call from the bartender up the street, letting me know Mona was there hanging out at the bar! Great, one of my cats ran away from home, and the other is becomming an alcoholic! heaven help me if I ever have children.

Life in the OC

So on Friday night we went to a High school football game. The son of a close family friend of the Gates was playing in his Senior Night game. The parents of the team do a big tailgate party before the game.

IT WAS CRAZY!!! Straight out of the OC. There was steak, grilled shrimp, lobster tail, shrimp cocktail, sushi. This was a private Catholic high school in a wealthy part of Orange County, but come on, high school?!?! They were making margaritas and at one point there was an annoucment that the Jello shooters were ready. WHAT???

Now this party was only the parents - all the players were getting ready for the game. These 40 year old moms were all decked out wearing clothes that belonged in their 16 year olds closets.

The pictures above are of Leland dancing in the stretch SUV limo that was there.We had a fun time even though the team lost.

Growing up

My little girl is growing up. I tired putting her hair in pigtails. It's almost long enough but still looks cute. I can't believe how much she has grown since we moved here. She talks so much now, she uses the potty (sometimes), and loves helping me in the kitchen with the dishes and setting the table. She also loves to color. She calls all of her crayons "lellows" I guess she only picked up on yellow when I was trying to teach her colors.

Leland still loves to wear hats, but her obsession has now moved to purses. She usually has to have one slung over her shoulder before we leave the house.

I have to run to my Dr's Appt now. I didn't realize how late it was. I will write more later.

finally settled

well we finally feel settled in. The walls are painted we have furniture... Sorry i haven't posted any pics yet. This is my busiest time of year at work and i am spinning. The week i had to take off for daves wedding did not help at all. The wedding and receptions went well. A little disorganized in Maine-but oh well.

A side note on my wacky body.. I haven't had my period again when i was supposed to-so i of course thought i was pregnant. Took a test....not pregnant....releif. So i have thought more and more about sending Tim in now to get snipped now rather than wating. I am torn. It is a huge decision. How can you decide if you are really done having kids? He says he will do it when ever i want him to. He is okay with 2 kids, and if later we really feel we need more will just adopt like we had talked about before.

So this is what i am mulling over this week: to snip, or not to snip. I have to get this out to someone-and my family is not an option on this one. thanks for listening.

Tim's mom called the other day. She couldn"t remember how old Lauren was they were guessing 1 or 3. Well she is 2. So we joked with them that they must have enough grandchildren since they are having trouble remembering their ages.

Talk to you later girls. I am going to read that book over thanksgiving-it will be spent at the in-laws house so i always get lots read there.

love ya

hi

Not much going on here, my walks to work are getting colder, but they aren't too bad.

Last week Mike and I went to the John Legend concert, if you don't know who he is, you should find out, he's a great artist. it seems that he has a small but very dedicated fan base, the concert sold out in about two days, but almost every one I talk to has never heard of him! Anyways, the concert was great. it was at a small venu, so you always felt like you were really close to him, and he's just soo cute, and his voice....

The only other exciting news this week is that I attended my first Ravens game with Mike and all his friends and family. I've already met most of his friends and some of his family, but this weekend was the first time I met his parents. It went fine, his dad is quiet and his mom seemed to like me well enough, she invited me to Thanksgiving dinner and is even letting me bring some pies. Mike seems to think I was crazy for volunteering to do that... obvisouly I haven't done much baking for the man yet and he doesn't know who he's talking to. Ash, remember the year I made about five or six desserts for Thanksgiving at Christine's? That was one of my favorites, next to goign to Barbara's in Virginia.

Hope you guys are doing well, can't wait to see picutes of all my kids in their Halloween costumes!