Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My mom and aunt made the trip down from Milwaukee. Lisa, Sanchez and Shayna came over as well. I grilled the turkey, and we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, beets, deviled eggs, veggies, tuna salad, rolls and pie. I finally figured out that it isn't worth getting all stressed out to make everything perfect. I really enjoyed visiting with everyone. We had good conversation and no one took a nap afterwards!

We wanted to play a game. I bought Bonco the other day, so we thought we would try it out. It is really a simple dice game. I ended up playing with my mom and Chase. No one else wanted to play. Chase lasted three rounds. Anthony wanted in on the action, so I let him roll my dice. He was more into throwing the dice, but it all worked out.

We don't have a dish anymore, so Eric was going to miss seeing the Chiefs play, since they were on the NFL Network. Wednesday night I was talking to our neighbors, and they said Eric could go over to their house to watch it. They gave me the keys and showed me how to run the dish. They were gone in Wisconsin, so Eric had the place to himself. The best part was, they won!

While he was watching the game, my mom, Cheryl and I watched "White Christmas" and sipped strawberry martinis. It was a relaxing way to end our Thanksgiving.

Chase Makes a New Friend

Little Lion

Veil Shopping

Part of my duties as Miranda's personal attendant will be to help her get her wedding dress on. Today I had my first practice run. We went to David's Bridal, so we could pick out her veil and hair piece. We didn't have the woman Miranda normally worked with, and we didn't care for her. She was very pushy and fake. I would guess they work on commission.

Miranda put on her wedding dress so we could see what veil looked best. We did really good. We looked at four veils and narrowed it down to one. She decided to go with a blusher. Rob said he thought it would be nice if she were traditional in that aspect. We were in and out within an hour.

Now we are off to Zonkers, which is suppose to be like a Chuck E. Cheese, but it has more rides. Chase is super excited.

Headin' South

Friday after work we loaded up and headed to Overland Park, KS. We haven't been to visit to Miranda and Rob since they moved to their new pad. Thankfully the snow and sleet had passed by the time we got on the road at 6pm. The boys were both very good in the car. Chase watched his new movie, "Cars" and Anthony just sat in his seat. It was too dark to play or read books, but he did eat some snacks, and manage to spill the water all over. He is fascinated with screwing and unscrewing the lid to the water bottle.

We arrived around 9pm, Anthony had just fallen alseep. However, as soon as we got inside he was wide awake and ready to play. Miranda and Rob bought the boys each a new toy, so that was a big hit. Chase got a water airplane with the character "The Thing" from Fantastic Four. Anthony's has rings, a ball and it lights up and makes lots of noise. They played with them until we went to bed at 11pm.

Miranda and Rob gave Eric his Christmas present early. Miranda, Rob and Meagan bought Eric a ticket to the Chiefs game on December 10th. Rob and I also bought tickets so the three of us are going to see them play the Ravens. Miranda is going to watch the boys. We are very excited. We haven't been to a game in 2 years, and Rob has never been to a professional football game.

Happy Halloween

We had a great time celebrating Halloween. Chase and I carved pumpkins. He got really mad, because I insisted on holding his hand as he cut with the knife. He thought he should do it all by himself. I told him I would get him a plastic knife if he wanted to do it himself. He finally gave in and we finished carving.

I took the boys to Night Eyes at the zoo, last Friday night It was a very pleasant evening. I put their costumes on, and borrowed Delana's wagon to pull them around. What a way to trick or treat! It was a lot of fun to walk around and see all the lights. In years past, we always go during the day. Chase got to meet Curious George, and thought that was fun. We were there for almost an hour and half. We then headed for home. Anthony was ready for bed.

Chase and I had a camp out downstairs. We put in a movie, made a fire and ate popcorn. Chase slept on the floor and slept on the couch. When I woke up in the morning, my back was not happy about my choice of bed. Oh well, Chase and I had a good time.

Monday night was Beggar's Night in Des Moines. Monday was a beautiful sunny day. However, by 6pm the wind had change and it was cold. I bundled the boys up. I had blankets in the wagon to cover their legs, and off we went. I was really disappointed about our neighborhood. There were only 5 lights on our street. I had to walk a long ways to find some more houses. However, after 50 minutes, Chase had 3/4 of his bucket filled. Anthony was really content sitting in the wagon licking a sucker. A few times he let me get him out and bring him to the door. When we got back Chase asked to have hot chocolate. The warmth really hit the spot.

Once we warmed up we headed over to Delana's. She wanted to see the boys and I told Chase he could trick or treat over in her neighborhood too. I left Anthony at the house, because it had gotten colder. Chase made out like a bandit. Every house we went to was trying to get rid of their candy, since it ended at 8pm. So they would tell Chase to take 3 or 4 pieces. He ended up getting another bucket full of candy. I know I will end up throwing away over half of it!

Dinner with Goofy and Pluto

Sunday night my grandparents drove over to Orlando to visit me. I haven't had one on one time with them since Chase was born! They arrived a little after 5pm. I wanted to show them around the Disney grounds before we went to dinner. Our reservations weren't until 6pm. We walked over to the Boardwalk. Grandma asked if I wanted to shop. How could I say no? Grandpa was very patient and waited on the bench as we shopped.

I found a bracelet with my initial and Mickey Mouse on each side. I also added a charm that says, Mom. We found a ball cap with Mickey Mouse for Chase and a toy that has a bunch of Disney characters on it for Anthony. Then they were have a sale on watches, so I also got a new Mickey Mouse watch! I love shopping with grandma.

We then headed over to Gulliver's for dinner. They had a huge Italian buffet with made to order pasta. Part of the deal with eating at this restaurant, is every night different Disney characters come and visit. So we all got to have our picture taken with Pluto and Goofy. We had a lot of fun.

After dinner we went up to my room to relax. We talked, laughed, looked at pictures, called the boys and took pictures. We decided that our visit was my grandma's birthday celebration, Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one. We had such a delightful time.