What a wonderful day...Thanksgiving. We enjoyed the day at Mom's house...and I know that I ate too much!

Catie and Anna enjoyed the Macy's Day parade in the morning, and Catie made beautiful place cards for everyone after Gramma G. told me the story about how she loved to do that every year when she was little--it made her feel important! Catie put so much love into each one...drawing either a turkey, pilgrim or indian on each one.

I'll post photos tomorrow. I've downloaded them, just didn't feel like resizing tonight! I'm too busy scouring the sale ads.

I'm off to bed, because I cannot believe Mom and I are actually going to go to a couple Black Friday sales! Wish us luck! Leaving at 6 a.m. and I've got the coffee pot set to go! :) I know...it isn't THAT early!

Hope you all had a joyful Thanksgiving with your family!

After waiting for months...the opening of "Twilight" was Friday! A bunch of friends went to see it...we had a great time at Laura's house for pizza and wings...then headed through the snow to the theater! (Yes, it is only Nov. and the cold weather feels like January!)

It was an entertaining movie...Edward and Bella electrified the theater with their chemistry..and there were quite a few oohs at Emmett (Kelly!) and Carlisle (Alicia!!!) Ha! :) It was a really fun night. I must admit, after being a loyal fan to all four books~the movie was fun, but there is no way it could really capture all the crucial moments of the book in 2 hours...BUT, Edward and Bella on the big screen...it was still worth it! There...my 2 cents worth...I'm not gonna overthink it, now I MUST finish "Breaking Dawn" on CD in the next couple days...it was due to the library last Thursday, and I decided to get hit with the 10 cent fine per day!(i'm a rebel!)


The girls and I had a "Brinner" Saturday night (thanks Alicia and Kris for the name of "breakfast" and"dinner"!) When I asked Catie and Anna what they wanted, Catie said "waffles"--which eventually morphed into chocolate chip pancakes! We went to the store to get the ingredients in the afternoon, and we were looking for "Alvin and the Chipmunks" DVD, because Catie wanted that with her birthday money from Uncle Matt and Aunt Stacey. They didn't have it...but it was fate, because we just subscribed to HBO that morning, and I scanned the channels at 6:50 p.m. and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" started on HBO family at 7 p.m.! (which caused lots of cheering and jumping in the TV room!)

So, Rob and I just finished watching the first episode of "True Blood" on HBO! Wow, quite the vampire theme to this post! It is the reason we switched to HBO....after hearing rave reviews! Much different from "Twilight" fav Cullen family...but, interesting!

I finished Trisha's 40th birthday album last week! She should be receiving it from Shutterfly any day now! I thought I'd share the fun photos from our wonderful day touring the wineries of the Finger Lakes in October...I hope I get to see it in person this Friday when my of friends head to see "Twilight" hit the big screen!

Click here to view this photo book.

Rob and I are sitting here tonight watching Robert Downey, Jr. in Iron Man...very cool flick!

I am also trying to find the perfect digi kit for this year's Christmas card! It should be fun to try my digi skills to make it myself this year! I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week! Yikes!

I'm really looking forward to the holiday season this year--it's my favorite time , and the girls are at such ideal ages. Catie has been into the spirit for a couple years, but this year, Anna should really understand what is happening!

I bought a tall slim pre-lit tree for our dining room today!!! We've been looking for one, because our Pooh bear tree is getting to tiny to hold all the ornaments! It should be fun to add another tree to our collection (Rob actually liked the idea! ;) )

Catie and Anna are working hard on their lists for Santa. Anna told me as i was rocking her to sleep tonight that she doesn't like when Santa says "ho, ho, ho" but when I explained that he is just laughing...then it was all good. :) She says she is ready to sit on his lap and tell him that she wants a music player (a CD player for her room, to play "Enchanted" and other cds like Catie has every night!)

Catie was begging to watch the Spielberg genius "E.T." tonight with Daddy..after he told her that it was a movie she was old enough to watch now...we watched part of it, and she loved it. Anna saw little tiny parts, when she wasn't running around playing...A true classic, and it was fun to share a piece of our childhood with them.

Busy, Busy bee at work!

I'm bringing our college president to the editorial board of Rochester's major newspaper today....just a little nerve-wracking! Wish me luck...I know it will be fine, I've just never done one of these meetings before. :)

Since I'm taking Jessica's "Stories in Hand" class..I want to be extra good at recording little stories of my life.

This one made my whole day:

As I leave each morning, it is always crazy getting out the door on time because Catie and Anna always wake up just about 10 minutes before I'm supposed to leave for work. So, it is a familiar scene at 7:45 a.m. to have me scurrying by Rob to pour my coffee into my travel mug, as he prepares breakfast for the girls. For Anna, it is routine to have a cereal bar...something she asks for every morning! (Often, she insists mommy cuts it and puts it on her plate)

Then, I give Rob and the the girls kisses and extra "kissing hands" for the girls..which is always followed by "bye, I love you!" Anna always responds with "drive safely!"...and then today she said:

"and one more thing..."

When I said "oh, what?"

She said...."uhhh....I love you, too!"

Sigh...what a lovely little moment that must warms my heart.

No...I am not talking about Catie's K-garten class...but me--sitting on the floor of my TV room at midnight...I just finished assemblying 3/4 of my Jessica Sprague "Stories at Hand" class album! As always, Jessica has designed this amazing class...you should see the "sparks" pages...that are questions meant to spark your memories. WOW!

It is broken down into sections, and each has its own questions. A random page I just flipped to: "Where did your father grow up?" "Do you have any photos of you Dad as a child?" My answer! "Yes, I have this amazing photo of him when he was about 1 1/2 or 2...that the girls just saw the other day and said "who is that?" That is one section I'll be sure to get the answers to...keeping my dad's memory alive is so important to me and for the girls to know who their grandpa was.

Yes, the questions make you think and can be overwhelming...so far we are JUST assemblying the album. (Alicia made me laugh when she came into my office this afternoon and said "girl, I am never going to have time for this!")

HSM3
It was High School Musical 3 weekend at our house! On a last minute whim on Saturday, I decided to take the girls...then, actually thought about it and said to self..."hmm...can Anna actually sit still for 2 hours?" She loves the music...but the answer was "no." I tried to ask her if she could do it, and Rob was the voice of reason and said "of course she'll say yes..she is 2!" :) So, my dear mom watched Anna while Catie and I went to the theater..Ok, I must admit...I loved it! I'm a big musical fan...be it "Grease" in my day...or the HSM franchise....the movie was definitely entertaining! Now, the CD is still playing everyday in Catie's room!

P.S. Hope Jenn had a great b-day on Veteran's Day!!!! :)

I've been wanting to write for the past couple days...and the hustle and bustle of life is always in full swing!
First, do you feel it? The hope and excitement sweeping our country? No matter who you voted for, you can't help but be proud as our nation is making history...President Obama, our first African American president--it is a pretty amazing moment. His speech in Chicago was inspiring, and I was impressed that he didn't gloat. It was also an honor to listen to John McCain's speech--he was a very gracious in defeat.

Catie got to vote in her school...she was excited, and was very curious to find out who mommy and daddy were voting for. I remember as I was growing up, my dad would never tell us who he was voting for--and now that I'm a parent...I see his point--he was voting with conviction, and didn't want to be swayed and certainly didn't want his vote broadcast by my brother or I! :)

It is going to be very fun for Catie (and Anna too) to watch two little girls grow up in the White House...when I saw them walk onto the stage with their mom and dad...it made me choke up with pride.

Other happenings...

The tooth fairy visited Catie's room on Monday night! Catie lost her 3rd tooth ..another on the bottom--it took a couple days of wiggling..and finally Rob helped her floss it out!

Catie also got her first marriage proposal in kindergarten this week! She came running into see me the other night before bath time and said :

Catie: "Mom, guess what? Keaton asked me to marry him during lunch!"
me: "what did you say?"
Catie: "I said I would (as she made a twitterpated face that could only come from a 6 year old)!"
me: "What did Keaton say then?"
Catie: "he seemed really happy!!"

Ah....so cute...I couldn't help but smile, such an innocent little moment.

They wanted SO badly to go to Catie's friend Kaylee's down the street--they had it all decked out in spookiness. Catie waits outside Kaylee's everyday to catch the bus..and they've been talking about it for a couple weeks. But last night--in the dark, with dry ice fog--creepy ghouls, and even a truly demented and creepy clown (eek)... I couldn't believe the girls even walked up to the house (well, I pre-emptively picked up Anna). Luckily--the ghouls and creepers didn't scare the little kids. But that was all they girls could talk about the rest of the night...Catie kept saying "I didn't know Kaylee's would be so scary"--and Anna woke up this morning saying (with a smile on her face) "that clown at Kaylee's scared me!"