Friday, December 14, 2012

December.....

Hello Friends.

Um, excuse me?  Have you seen the October and November?  I seem to have missed them.  No actually, I think I was there, just hanging on for dear life!  :)   Somehow we have made it to December (and after having started this a week ago, its now almost mid-December).

We had a wonderful late fall with family and close friends.  We started early Oct with a trip to MN to see Husbands grandmother who turned 99 in late Oct.  99 people!  That is amazing, she is amazing.  She needs a walker and some repeating of things, otherwise she is sharp as a tack.  We make this trip once a year and have a lovely time doing it.  I am certain we will be planning a 100th party for next Oct and frankly, I cannot wait!

We ended the month with several dinners with friends and Halloween celebrations.  J was a magician.  He wanted to be a ninja with a huge sword.  But the costume was $35 at Tar.get and I hated it.  Took him to Good.will as I discovered they have a huge Halloween selection to choose from.  We ended up finding a top hat, white gloves, and a cape.  He bought it, hook line and sinker.  We added a tuxedo shirt and bowtie from a dance recital past.  Then he and Husband made his wand (family bonding anyone?)  We found a small rabbit and put it in the hat for a trick - HE LOVED IT!   Hard part is we live in WI and it was cold.  So the whole look has to be pulled off with a winter coat.  It worked.   Z was Elmo and he was cute.

November flew by.  Thanksgiving was early and it totally threw me off. My sister works for the corporate office of  large department store chain.  Every year they hire coach buses and take a group to Chicago for a day of shopping.  My mom, sister and I went last year and decided to make it a tradition. We had soooo much fun and it was 70 degrees.  People, it was 70 degrees on November 10 in Chicago!  Unheard of!  But it made for a super pleasant day walking around!  Found a few things, had a great lunch, visited a bunch.

The next weekend we went to a waterpark resort in the Wisconsin Dells with 3 other families. We had a wonderful time.  7 adults, 9 kids ranging in age from 11 to 1!  The other families have done it before and we got included this year.  So much fun!  Already planning for next year!  A little hard with Z, he wasn't so sure about all the noise and the water....I didn't get to go on many waterslides, but I had fun splashing with him.  J and Husband even did an indoor ropes course!

Days later, Thanksgiving was upon us.  We drove to Sturgeon Bay, WI (Door County) to spend it with my aunt who was widowed just over a year ago and had to work the day after.  We didn't want her to be alone so we (mom, dad, sister, mother in law, and us) descended upon her and had a lovely meal. I thought that on Saturday of that weekend, we were headed to my girlfriends house for a couples only dinner.  The 3 girls go out a lot and leave the boys home with the kiddos so that sounded fun.  Wellllll....it wasn't a cozy dinner for 6.  It was a surprise party for my upcoming (gulp) 40th birthday!  I had a wonderful time and was truly surprised with many more friends.  My husbands gift was: the next morning, my parents, sister, his mom and Jackson drove to Chicago to have brunch at Table 54.  Art Smith is one of the chefs on our bucket list.   HOLY COW PEOPLE the food was amazing. My dad kept saying he didn't understand why Husband wanted to to all the way to Chicago for food....until he had pancakes he is still talking about! Seriously!  We did a little city wandering, and stopped by Millennium Park - many of our family had not seen " the Bean."  It was another mild day in the city and again we had a wonderful time.

Now we are just hanging on for the holiday.  Christmas pics taken, cards picked up, not mailed yet.  Most of the shopping is done, Christmas cookies baked (fun baking day with mom and sister), Sugar cookies decorated with J, trees mostly up. I have officially turned 40....(Husband and I took day off of work and we went to another fancy restaurant, french food, way too much of it.)  and I survived.  I just don't feel 40.  I distinctly remember my dad turning 40 and the party we threw with all the black over the hill stuff.  I remember thinking, wow is he old!  Now I'm 40 and I am not old!   I cant be, I have an almost 2 year old.  I cannot be old.

OK  - this post has become a novel - I'm sorry.  You can see that we have been super busy.  I hope all is well with all of you.  If I don't get to post again before the holidays, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!