Thanksgiving Break - Part 1

We just got back from Thanksgiving down in Arizona with Mike's family. It started out with a big surprise! Kylie, the oldest grandkid, turned eight in September and her baptism was scheduled for the Saturday before Thanksgiving. It didn't look like Mike and I would be there until Tuesday at the earliest--or so we told Nana and Papa. The sibs were in on the secret, but did great jobs of keeping it under wraps. Soooo, when we walked into the room they were all waiting in before going into the font room, Karen immediately started crying. Mission: Accomplished.

It was great to see Kylie be baptized. It's so weird to see how much she's grown and matured since the last time we saw her last summer. She is so much fun! And LOVED Madie. She was even willing to play many rounds of Madie's favorite game--ring around the rosie--which I can only take so many times before I'm really over the whole fall-to-the-ground thing.

Anyway, we also got to see Holly and her family. It was the first time for Tyler's family and Holly's family to meet Madie. BJ and Shannon had met her before, but their kids hadn't. So it was a chance for everyone to meet her and for us to meet BJ and Shannon's daughter, Brodi.

Madie with Aunt Holly. (We thought we'd spare you the drunken picture, Hol.)

Nana and Papa gave Madie an early Christmas present the first night we were there. She LOVES it. Anything soft and cuddly, Madie's there. She gets it from her Uncle Sam. (My brother, not old man in the patriotic get-up.)

It's a puppy pillow-pet!

And that is it's nose!

Claire had almost as much fun hauling Madie around in the wagon as Madie did being hauled!

Beautiful Sadie and Ethan--pre-thumb severing incident. (Go to randomcreepyguy.com for further details.)

It was great seeing Grandma Clark, too! She flew down from Utah for the week. We haven't seen her since March!

Nana leads the kids in a game of Don't Eat Pete! up at the cabin. (Sadie doesn't look happy.)

Madie eats a snack on Papa's lap.

Kylie and I play Ring-Around-the-Rosie with Madie. (Like I said, thank you Kylie.)

Holly, Jeff, Claire, and Ethan went on a hike with Mike and me after the night at the cabin. (The wimps all went home.) Man, those kids were literally running up and down the hills!

Kylie and I pose in front of one of the lit trees at the zoo. Shannon got the hook-up and Nana and Papa paid for us all to go to Zoo Lights--$5 a person! That's awesome!

We walked all over the zoo looking at lights shaped like animals. It was really cool. Any guesses as to what is behind us? (No, not the recycling bin. The animal.)

We went bowling on Tuesday night, which Madie loved. She didn't get to roll the ball down the lane, but she did get to hold this bright pink one for a while, and put her head over the fan in the dispenser. She also practiced her walking a lot.

And tasted soda. She likes rootbeer. Go figure.

"It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye--or thumb--or whatever." This was the event that led to Ethan dropping a six-pounder on his little thumb. It almost entirely severed his top joint! The poor kid had to spend the night in the hospital and pretty much all of the next day. Holly and Jeff stayed with him the whole time, but Claire had to come home and didn't see them at all until they got back the next night. Such a rough day. But Ethan seemed to enjoy it far more than his parents: when his dad asked what his three favorite things were from the day, he said, "Going shooting, going bowling, and going to the doctor's." Hahaha!

That same night I went to get my haircut. Mike promised to let me cut my hair however I liked without saying anything about it. So I did. :) What do you think?

Since we had Thanksgiving on Wednesday (so Tyler, BJ and Shannon could join us), I was able to go to Old Navy and get a couple things for Madie before the real rush of Black Friday. I bought a pair of soft-soled shoes since she's finally walking now, and this cute jacket and those snowpants! The snowpants were only $11! I didn't want to spend a ton of money on something she'd probably only use once, but she really needs them for Maine at Christmas. So I was happy to find them for so cheap! Thank you, Tiff, for scouting the deals and letting me tag along!

Cioccolato e Madeleina

The sampling...

Don't think she even had to ask for more. Her face says it all.

The face! Did you honestly think we would let her smear chocolate all over her mouth without enticing her to make 'the face'?

That is one happy Madie.

Probably the cutest little Italian mustache.

Local outing

What do you do with 6 cups of basil? Make pesto! A friend at work gave me a bag of basil that he grew in his garden, and said he couldn't use all of it. Good friends, huh?

Today was my day off, so we decided to go out on a hike. It's been a while since we have been out hiking, so we decided we would explore Del Valle Regional Park, just about a 15 minute drive from Livermore.

I was honored to carry the 'highness' along the way. She loves sitting in the pack.

We ran into some mule deer along the way. We weren't able to get great shots of them unfortunately.

We didn't end up hiking very long, it might have been over a mile total. We did get a nice vista at the top of wherever we hiked.

Leaves from the sycamore trees were all over the place, ready to endure a good crunching.

Yeeeow-za!

Fall in California. Who would've thought? Of course it's no where near New England...but I think it would surprise a lot of people how much foliage we get here.

Nativity

I have been looking at nativity scenes around Christmas for the past five years--and no--that's not an exaggeration. I've always liked my mum's nativity scene. It's simple, plain even, but very beautiful. Large, plain white porcelain pieces that have been glazed shiny. I've looked for one like it but haven't been able to find one.

Until today. I saw it, and I'll be honest, I coveted.

It wasn't exactly like my mum's, but had that same simplicity. They were also large figures, which is what I want.

The set was on sale. Anyone wanna guess how much the final cost was? I'll give you a hint: I LOVE this thing; I'm also not buying it.

Coffee Table Redux

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting our coffee table, allow me to introduce you:

Everyone, this is Bulky. Bulky, this is everyone. Say hello! 

We got Bulky for free from Mike's aunt and uncle shortly after we were married. It's great having a coffee table--and for right now it's our only table since we had to sell our kitchen table and chairs to help fund our move to California--but Bulky has a couple of major flaws. First of all, as his name implies, he's kind of bulky for his size. It's not a huge coffee table, and yet it was a nuisance to move around. I was always moving it out of the way. Which brings us to the weight issue. You see that giant block of wood on top there? Well that's where Bulky gains weight. Last, and probably least, it just really wasn't our style. It had a funky '70s four-square pattern on the top and the sides were chipping (probably mostly due to being moved from wherever it was bought, to a house in Utah, to an apartment in Idaho, to an apartment in Utah, to an apartment in California). 

So we decided to upcycle it. (And yes, I just used a trendy DIY word. I'll get over it though, I'm sure.) We started out by sanding but then we realized the top wasn't real wood, and we would like a little more surface space anyway, so Mike just unscrewed the top and hammered it off. We finished sanding the sides and base, and headed to Home Depot for the rest of the supplies: a piece of wood, a little bit of molding, paint, and the SAWS! Mike and an employee sawed the wood and molding into the right sizes while Madie and I browsed paint options. We settled on "wheat" and "Barbaden blue" (I love paint names, don't you?) 

And VIOLA! Our new coffee table! It weighs probably three pounds less and we get quite a bit more surface space. Now all I need to do is cover those horrifying coasters I got for .99 and we've got it made!