Picnic in the Park

Today has been absolutely gorgeous outside. The weather is perfect for any outdoor activities. We didn't have anything planned and since I am not use to having more than one day off a week I already did all my normal cleaning and such before the weekend. Peter decided to see what was playing at the $1 theater in Altamonte and when we saw that Wall-E was playing we packed a lunch and headed out. We laid out our blanket in the shade at Crane's Roost Park and enjoyed the wonderful weather while we ate. Once we were finished we headed across the street to see the movie. It was really cute and there weren't many people around, I guess they were all shopping. I tried to get some pictures of the girls outside but Abbi always seemed to be stuffing her mouth and Bresa does this thing where she stops smiling and looks past you because she thinks that's cuter but the pictures never look good. Oh well. I thought this picture of Abbi was cute even though she has her fingers in her mouth.

Ahh, turkey

There were a couple things I needed for our big dinner before I could start with all the cooking. Peter and I took the girls to Publix which was almost completely empty of people but still had plenty of Thanksgiving supplies available. We picked up our last minute things and then headed home. My mom and Jim gave us our turkey (otherwise we would not have had the traditional dinner) and I was very excited about cooking it up. While things were coming together Peter put the Christmas tree up and while the bird was cooking the girls put the ornaments on the tree. Peter's dad came over for dinner and a game of Carcassone. We had a great meal with all the usual things (except greenbean casserole-gross). I made a pumpkin pie and a couple loaves of pumpkin bread too. The tryptophan combined with yesterday's events and standing in the kitchen all day has gotten to me so I think it's time for bed even though it's pretty early still.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hope everyone filled up on turkey today. We didn't but that will come soon enough. We got up and headed to Disney for the day. We met my mom there and went in a few shops before she had to head home to get some sleep (she worked all night). After some lunch and a little wandering we met up with some friends from church and spent the rest of the day with them. The day started off really cold but warmed up around 3:00. We did a lot of pin trading and went on a couple rides, we saw the parade and the Philhar Magic show. Peter went on Thunder and Splash Mountain with Larry while I stayed with Larry's wife and new baby. I put the girls in their jammies and then we ate dinner before heading back home. We left the park at 9:00 which is pretty late for us, we usually leave as it's getting dark. We had a great time though and really enjoyed the day. Thanks mom for getting us in!! Tomorrow we will have our big meal with the turkey and all the fixings but right now it's just time for bed.

Bresa's First School Play

Bresa has been practicing hard at school for her very first school play. We were told to go to the school at 1:00 today to see our child preform. I went into work early and then flexed out an hour I had worked earlier to go to the play so I didn't have to use any of my banked comp time. My mom had taken Abbi overnight so she brought her up to us so that we could all go to the play together. We got to the school and found a seat and waited for the show. The play was put on by all the kindergarden classes at the school and they each had a different costume on to go along with the Thanksgiving theme. Bresa was a pilgrim woman and was so cute in her little paper hat. They sang a few songs and told a story. It didn't last very long and then they were done. We signed Bresa out of school early since she only had about 30 minutes left and then went for a snack. We took Peter home and then my mom and I took the girls to the mall to try and figure out some Christmas things. We must have tried a dozen beautiful dresses on the girls but ended up not buying anything. I had a really good time and enjoyed the break from my normal 10-15 hour work days but by the end I could hardly walk and was so ready to crawl into my bed. Luckily I only have to work tomorrow and then get Thursday and Friday off and paid.

Shoeboxes of Love

It's that time again, Operation Christmas Child is underway. You may remember from last year about us filling up the boxes. Basically, what we do is get a shoe box and fill it up for a little girl or little boy and then bring it to church. We had lots of boxes this year so Peter helped me wrap them up pretty and then the girls loaded them up. My mom had lots of things to donate that little girls would just love. She had a lot of little new toys to put in and then the girls and I went to the store to find some school supplies and hair accessories. We made 8 boxes this year but overall we spent about half of what we did last year since my mom had lots to donate. It took some rearranging and cramming but we were finally able to fit everything into the two boxes. This morning at church we brought the shoe-boxes up to the alter and stacked them all up for the collection. Peter was playing on the worship team today so each of the girls took one box and then I had everyone sitting around me help with the others. We made sure to include a picture of the girls with a letter to whoever will receive the boxes. We did that last year and the girls got a letter in the mail with pictures of children receiving the boxes (not our specific ones).
If you are interested in blessing a child this Christmas you can learn more at SamaritansPurse.org, if you haven't the time to make up a shoebox you can also donate at EZ Give.

These Boots were made for Walking

Grooming Goose

When I went up to NY about 5 years ago my mom and a I stopped to see my Aunt Carol who runs a dog kennel. She had these really cool rubber grooming brushes and she gave me one for Lucy. As you can see in the video Lucy just loves it. :) It's pretty funny because she normally can't decide if she likes it or not. She will cry like this and then run off and then come right back and want some more. The brush is really great and pulls off a lot of stray fur that is still on her. I usually end up with enough to make another cat with, ew. You don't have to push hard and though it looks like I am in the video I really am not. Whenever we brush Lucy she is always so much softer. Thanks for the great brush Aunt Carol, we use it often even after all these years.

Baby days

I signed up for a free ultrasound at Kieser University where they take pregnant volunteers so that the techs in training can get practice. We would only get one ultrasound otherwise so I was happy to find someone who would do it completely free. I wasn't sure what they would be doing and if we would even get to keep any pictures. When we got there they took us back and then two techs took turns taking all the required measurements for a normal ultrasound. It was fun just to be able to see our baby again. So cute and so very active. The babies head was down at this point but we still have a couple months left so I don't know if that will change or not. The pictures on this post aren't that great because they are actually pictures of the photos that they gave us because I was too lazy to scan them. You get the idea though. We have an actual doctors appointment later today.

"Garage Saling"

It was that time again, my mom and went through all our crap in an effort to sell it to other people. :) We had said we would never do this again but you know how that goes. I am really not into stuff so I love to throw things out, poor Peter he has to practically hide things from me. Somehow I had accumulated some much stuff that I just had to get rid of it and with the baby coming we could really use some money to put towards the midwife bills. We took a few van loads of junk over to my moms and on Thursday I went over with Abbi to start prepping things. We spent the night opened the sale on Friday morning. We had quite a busy day for it being Halloween and all and we kept the sale going pretty late in the afternoon because traffic was steady. Abbi was our big helper and went around and put (ABC) stickers on everything because she was "garage saling" it. Saturday we reopened at 8 and this time we had Bresa and Peter to help. The girls stayed pretty busy playing in the yard most the day and picking flowers and having a picnic. I was glad they were getting some fresh air since it was wonderful weather out and I really discourage tv watching. By the end of the day we had pretty much gotten rid of all the big stuff so we decided not to open again on Sunday. I was happy because I was beat and I really wanted to go to church and I had a million things to do at home. Once the sale was done and over we had a guy from a local church pick up most of what was left to add to their rummage sale and then I took a few boxes of things home for a free yard sale that our Life Group is going to put on. I am so happy to be rid of everything that went but somehow when I came home I didn't notice any more space. Oh well, there's always next time right?