Since I don't have photos today, instead I will share with you the funniest thing I read today. This is from an old friend on facebook:

"(My friend)'s son believes that 'baby cheez-its' was born in the manger. Maybe we should cut back on the snacks... "

Too cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few days late, and we're still in Raleigh, but Happy Thanksgiving! The girls and I will be here a few more days while they paint some of the rooms in our house, then we'll head home and decorate like crazy to try to eek out the longest possible Christmas season we can. :) The kitchen is coming along with cabinets coming today, the rest of the appliances next weekend, and we're a little stuck with some unexpected radiator pipes that need moving. Stay tuned to see what we decide to do...

It's The End of the Kitchen as We Know It...

and I feel fine. Fine? Well, not entirely. The kitchen was demolished today. We have no sink in which to wash dishes. The fridge is in the dining room. Our house has been essentially compressed into 3 rooms - a kitchen/dining room, a living/play room, and an office. The kids are going to go berserk on rainy/snowy/cold days when they can't go outside.

But on the Upside - - - WE. ARE. GETTING. A. NEW. KITCHEN!!!!! The appliances arrive next week (we had to have them shipped early to take advantage of a rebate that was worth it), the cabinets in early December, and if all goes well, we'll be sitting pretty making dinners in our new kitchen for Christmas. Holy mackinoly it's really happening.

Want to see? Patrick and his friend Jason worked all day to remove the old appliances, cabinets, tile, plaster, and lathe. I'm not sure you can actually see from the photos what it really looks like due to weird angles and such, but here you go nonetheless.

Happy Birthday Patrick!

Patrick's birthday was yesterday, and he took the day off work. (Yippee!!) Mia was delighted that he was available to see her "tricks" on the monkey bars at school during drop off, and Laney was not so delighted to have to go to the Nanny even though her Mommy and Daddy were BOTH home for the day. But both girls were very happy to make cards and to make and eat chocolate cake and pumpkin pie, and they were absolutely GIDDY about getting to go out to a "restaurank" for dinner.

Happy Birthday, Honey. We love you.

A Visit From Cousin Jacque!

My niece, Jacque, visited her Aunt Heather in Virginia this past weekend and the girls played at the Reston Zoo together! What fun! The girls fed the lambs and goats, and we went on a "safari ride" where we were inundated with giant camels! We had a fun time and were sad to only have a short time to spend with Jacque, but we were so glad for the visit!

Laney Goes Green

'nuff said.

Whew!

What a Weekend! (Still recovering...) Between Halloween, a Bar Mitzvah, a Birthday Party, an Election Day Bakesale, Election Night festivities, and a Time Change, I'm beat! But what fun!

Halloween night was kicked off with a Pancake Dinner hosted by our good friends and neighbors, then we all headed out to purge the neighborhood of their goodies and admire the carving skills in the area. Turns out political pumpkins took the cake this year, with all but one in some way referring to our new President Elect.

The night after Halloween, Patrick and I attended a Bar Mitzvah for our next door neighbor's son and we had a really nice time. Neither of us had been to one before, so it was really fun and also very interesting to learn about the customs and traditions involved in this coming of age milestone as well as the Jewish religion. David did a great job with his Torah readings, and though he shared his night with another Bar Mitzvah, he definitely shone brighter. (Don't tell the other family that, though.)

The following day we went to a Birthday Party at Pump It Up, an all inflatable jumping place (what a great idea for a party place!) and the girls just wore themselves out. Though I was a little unnerved by the bigger kids pushing by and over the 2 year olds, everyone had a great time. Happy 2nd Birthday, Elliott!!

THEN, Election Day the girls' preschool had a bakesale to try to take advantage of the extra voters and some potential school donations, so Monday was spent baking. I love to bake, but the kids had the day off of school, so I didn't really get to make as much as I wanted. This was a good thing, however, because we didn't sell all the things that we made. (Can I gloat? My banana bread was all gobbled up- yippee!)

Lastly, that night Patrick's company had a huge Election Watching Party in typical Accenture style. It was fun! There was a huge room decorated with one side in Blue Donkeys and one side in Red Elephants showing CNN, and there were satellite rooms - one Red showing Fox News, and one Blue showing MSNBC. Other rooms held human statues, a raffle drawing, food of course, and meandering ex-presidents. Lots of fun for us all.