Happy Turkey Day!

No closing on the house yet. We are now being told probably on Thursday (nothing like cutting it close for next month's mortgage). Cross your fingers that it closes by the end of the 30th!

I just re-read the last post and realized that I forgot to say my mom had been with us. We had such a great visit with her. For the first time, there were no distractions around, so she really got to play with Leah and get to know all of her little quirks. After we dropped her off at the airport, Leah kept saying, "Gammy, airport." While she was here, my mom bought us a webcam so we can talk to her on it. It was so easy to set up using Skype. We already talked to Keri & Keith on it and it works great! You can make the picture full screen. The camera itself has the microphone and the sound is pretty clear. So that is one of our new toys.

We just got back from Virginia yesterday. The trip up there was awful! It rained and we sat in traffic for 9 hours! Leah was a little trooper though. She watched too many episodes of Dora and Diego to count on our new portable DVD player mounted on the back of the headrest. On Thursday we had a yummy turkey dinner and watched entirely too much football for my liking (although I got all of my picks right). Friday morning was spent in DC being tourists with Mike's dad. See our website for pictures. On Saturday we got portraits taken of Leah & Landon together and they were really cute. Then we watched some of the Gator/FSU game at a sports bar. THEN we took Leah to Chuck E Cheese in the evening with her Nana & Papa. She seemed to have lots of fun and slept really well that night!

So that was our Thanksgiving. I ate turkey dinner 3 times that weekend and it was super yummy every time. Next year it will be at my house. I just have to buy a bigger dining room table and get my new stove before then. Hope your holiday was fun and delicious!

D-Day

Our closing is scheduled for Nov. 27th. That's less than a week away! We are so ready to be done with that house and move on. So wish us luck that everything goes as planned.

We went to Monroe's Christmas parade on Sunday. It was cute for a small town. There were Little Misses and Princesses for everything (Elks Lodge, schools, sports teams, businesses). Those girls looked like they were freezing in their fancy dresses. Leah did not like when the big trucks honked their horns. But she did like the marching bands and dance troops. Fun for the whole family! :)

I am almost finished with my Christmas/Channukah shopping. I know, you are like, Hello, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! BUT we see Mike's family for Thanksgiving and I don't know when after that. So we are bringing all of their presents. Then the next weekend we see my dad and that side of the family. So I have to bring all of those presents. That just leaves my mom's side and our little family. I figured while I am out shopping for everyone else, I might as well get as much done as I can. So out of 13 people we have to buy for, I am finished with 7 of them and have ideas for 2 more. Leah & Mike are pretty much done too. So no holiday stress for me.

We are going this afternoon to take Leah's Christmas pictures. Then this weekend Stacy made an appointment to get Leah & Landon together. Can't wait to see those two cuties in their holiday gear!

Our FL house is SOLD!

We signed the paperwork on Monday. Now we are awaiting inspections (supposed to be this week), but the buyers want to close as soon as possible. We are hoping to close before Dec. 1 to avoid paying another month of double mortgages. So YIPPEE!

This past weekend we went to the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville, NC (just north of Charlotte). We went with Bryan & Laurie and we met Nicole & Min there. Leah absolutely LOVED the music. Every time we encountered another musician, she would stop and dance around. There is some video of her dancing on our home website. We also watched a joust and our knight won the battle. There was a fairy lady there who did not speak and only played music on a double recorder thing. After her song, she would give out stones to the kids. Leah ran right up to her and was given a quartz-like stone. Then Leah did the sign for thank you and the fairy was surprised. She looked inquiringly at me and I said, "She knows a few signs." The fairy smiled at us and clapped for Leah. It is always neat when people appreciate the signs. Thank you is one of the only ones she still uses. She has started saying welcome to herself (thank you, welcome) when I tell her to say thank you. It is a riot!

I have been having a good week at home with the 2 kids in the mornings and at work. Ty has napped two of the last three days. Even when it is only 30 minutes, like it was today, it gives me a few minutes with Leah AND to get myself ready. At work, I feel like I am actually teaching something to a few of my students, which is always a plus in the education field. :) So life is pretty good.

My mom is coming on Friday to stay until the day before Thanksgiving. Then we drive to VA that same day to spend Thanksgiving with Mike's family. THEN on December 1, we fly to New Orleans to visit my dad and attend my cousin's wedding. Mike comes home on Sunday, but Leah & I stay until the 6th. So we are busy bees once again. I love spending all the time with our families though. Hope everyone out there in blogland has a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving!

Finally, a date night!

On Saturday night, Mike & I went on a date. His mom was here and she watched Leah. She even put her to bed so that we could leave at 6ish. We made a reservation for 7pm at Maggiano's! It is absolutely my favorite restaruant ever! We ate Mushroom Ravioli al Forno and Rigatoni D, among other things, and drank a bottle of Riesling (well, I drank most of it, not being the DD). It was such an awesome night of just being together without Leah and enjoying our time. Thanks so much to Ronni for making it possible. :)

I have been watching Rhiannon's son, Ty, since last Wednesday when she started job sharing with me. He is 8 months old. Ty is not always a very good napper and fights sleep like a champ. I have since learned that my nephew Landon who is 6 months is the same way. I know Leah is a great sleeper now, but I remember when she was about 5 or so months she was a terrible sleeper and we struggled with every nap and every night. Maybe it's an age thing? If you have any thoughts on this, please let me know.

Anyway, most days I have been successful at putting him down for a nap (he is currently asleep). The only thing is I feel like in a matter of 2 weeks I have changed my whole life, first working, now not being able to go to the gym in the mornings. So I am stressed about such a big change in such a short time. I feel like maybe I didn't really think it through. I just have to keep thinking that I am doing this for our family. My paycheck will pay the mortgage on our FL house until it sells and then it will help with our bills we have racked up because of having 2 mortgages. Next year it will be different... I hope.