Teaholic not quite anonymous

Good morning! Just Maddy and I are up right now. So I thought I'd quick check in. I have a ton of pictures to upload but can't seem to find my card reader at the moment. I think it could be upstairs in the nightstand.

Maddy had a GREAT time at Halloween. She was so excited to go out. We tried on her outfit earlier in the day and she wanted to wear it right then. But I had to remind her that we had to wait for it to get dark (6-8). She was very good at trick-or-treating and especially loved to ring the doorbells. She never truly got freaked out at any of the decorations or anything. She really had a great time and made out. We left the family behind to go so they helped us hand out candy. I pulled out my spooky mat and grabbed the cd player and played a 'spooky' Halloween sound CD on it. We carved our pumpkins yesterday and made more pumpkin seeds (my 3rd batch this year!). We still have a ton of candy left over! OOPS. But oh well.

The night before we had a mini birthday celebration for Matt's mom. During the day we went out to get frosting and a cake along with some misc. items. After nap they made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Maddy just loves to help bake. I also bought Wegman's ultimate chocolate cake. So after singing happy birthday and having cake Grandma opened her other present. When Maddy went to bed, Matt broke open the champagne (and non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice for me) and we all hung out.

Yesterday the guys showed up and we all hung out for a little while. They went to go pick up Kim from class while Matt, Maddy and I got ready for trick-or-treat. They walked back in while we walked out! Meals seem to be going over well. I made chicken lasagna yesterday, jambalaya the night before and spinach with vermicelli and sausage the day before that. Today is Clay's birthday and he wants spaghetti so we'll have that with garlic bread and a salad.

So anyway, look back later for pictures! I'll find the card-reader and upload them.

Tea of the day: Coconut Chai tea--yum. My first cup of tea in a couple of days after having decaf with the holiday creamer the last few days.

Ok, well, not quite literally--at least not the way it did in the last big Senate election when we elected Jim Webb to Senate and thus swaying the power over to the Democratic side. But, still. It is nice to see that Northern Virginia has some influence in our otherwise very Republican state. It's not really that Dems won and Rep. lost, it's more knowing that my vote really does count and I can see the influence of it! That said, I highly doubt anyone was surprised by last night's election results. I feel bad for McCain. Honestly, I'm not sure if there's anyway he could have won (maybe with a better running mate, but even then...). The cards were really stacked against him--current state of affairs in our country and also the current President. That little (R) next to his name did him no favors.

Although, I should have really went to bed earlier! I stayed up until Midnight last night and then Joe (that damn cat) knocked stuff off our bathroom counter to wake us up this morning at 6, thinking it's 7 to get fed. Of course, somehow, three bedrooms away and with a closed door and noise maker, Maddy still heard it! So we were all up at 6, not a bad time, but none of us were ready to get up.

I had Karen over last night to hang out and chitchat. We were are both due at about the same time so it's nice to compare notes. :) It was nice hanging out for a while with a girlfriend. It's been a long time since I've done that--coffee night seems so far away now!

The weekend went well. Everyone seemed to have a very good time and Maddy had a blast with grandma and grandpa. She seemed to take to Clay as well so that was cute. She was a bit stand offish with the other men which surprised me since Ronnie is so very friendly and very kind to everyone--including Maddy. I think maybe his voice is a bit louder so that's why? She did love to try to get his attention and would grin at him really big. But only from a distance.

We skipped class on Monday. I was really tired from insomnia and Maddy seemed to enjoy just hanging out at home. Of course yesterday we walked down to vote. At 10:30 it only took us 15 minutes. At 8 am it took Matt 1.5 hours. I'm glad we waited. I did pack a bag of goodies for Maddy and our umbrellas since it was supposed to rain but fortunately the line was neither out the door nor did it rain. I didn't need either!

Ok, off to get a fast shower. Matt needs to be at his DR sight early this morning since they have a code yellow practice thing going on. I've spent enough time as it is! Have a great day everyone! We have class this morning and playgroup tomorrow!

Tea of the day: half/half coffee-too many neat creamers to use around this house right now to pass it up!

Happy weekend! :) I know I'm excited for it. It's been a good week, really fast though! I can't believe how it flew by. Wednesday we had art class and I painted Maddy's hands to make handprints. She had fun with that. We have two weeks of classes left! That's it! We skipped a lot this time around, which I don't like paying for, but it was for fun reasons (going to the Fall Festival and WI). Thursday morning we drove down 15 to Leesburg to a playgroup with my friend Carol Amie and her two little ones (and the littlest one, too)! 15 was such a gorgeous drive!! We are in peak color change right now and all the rolling hills, horse farms and everything were just beautiful. Maddy had a very nice time at playgroup as well.

Today I plan our menu out for almost 2 weeks using what we have in the freezer, fridge and cabinets. But Giant was having their 10 for 10 sale so I did stock up on things like pasta, tuna, canned veggies and canned cream of soups. Still spent 102 but we are stocked again for some time.

This weekend shouldn't be extremely busy. We will have church on Sunday since we haven't been in a long time. We need to fix our junk drawer that literally fell apart because it was too full. So I sorted through all that stuff and put it in better places. We may even need to mow the lawn one last time. We'll see! But hopefully it will be uneventful.

My plan for tonight is to read the glucometer book and try to test myself so we can get Joe tested this weekend. He is still not on insulin because he's not begging for water and seems to be doing well with his good food. But I want to get an accurate reading, at least kind of!

Ok, that's it! Kiddo is up! Time to go back outside and enjoy our Indian Summer. I have pictures I need to put up!

So we all had a nice weekend this weekend. Friday was nice and warm so Maddy and I spent a lot of time outside. If you want to see pictures you can see them here. Matt had a guys night out on Friday night and hung out at Josh's house with the guys. I think he had a good time! Saturday we were busy doing house stuff and we ran a few errands, but nothing too crazy. There was some tea i wanted to buy at World Market for an outing I had on Sunday and I wanted to look for some stuff at Target (another set of towels and throw pillow before they went out of stock) so we went to do that. Sunday morning I prepped both lunch and dinner before church and we went to church.

Maddy is such a good little girl in church. It's funny though. She's figured out how to get out of church! If she says she has to go potty she KNOWS we will take her out! HA! Well, there are worse ways to get taken out of church, so I'll take it.

Sunday afternoon I had an author reading for Life is a Verb. I don't know if you remember, but I mentioned that I received a complimentary book for entering a contest, of sorts. Life is a Verb is a compilation of blog entries written by Patti Digh for her daughter with inspirational messages but expanded and with really neat artwork. She has a blog, 37 days. It's called 37 days because she started writing it after her step-father passed away in the course of 37 days from cancer. It inspired her to write for her daughters. Well, anyway, she asked if we would write what we would do for our last 37 days and I wrote in. Here's my entry: http://37days.typepad.com/37days/2008/08/day-3-do-37-thi.html

So anyway, she was in town doing a reading and I brought my inscribed book with me along with some more coconut chai tea. I sent her some previously, knowing she would like it and she did. She did so much that she went searching for it and couldn't find it anywhere. So I thought I would restock her, at least for a little while. It was a lot of fun going to see her and hearing her read her book excerpts. Really cool!

But yeah, that was our weekend! This week I have Bunco night and also coffee night and I'm looking forward to both. Maddy has her two classes and I think I will also offer to host playgroup on Thursday as well. I'm contemplating going into DC with Maddy for Veteran's day on Tuesday given what the weather will be like. She'd love to ride the train again and we'd probably just go to Arlington Cemetery.

Tea of the day: Coconut Chai, what else?

Can you guess who?

Haven't blogged in a bit, sorry about that! Maddy and I have been a bit busy--actually, it's the planning that has been busy! I'm starting to really get to the nitty gritty of planning out her birthday stuff. I've planned a list of presents I want to buy her and things like that. I'm still on the hunt for a great dress for her birthday pictures. I bought two and one will work, but it's not wonderful. Anyway, I needed some. Her 2t are too small and she doesn't have much in 3t. I want to check out Kohls and JC Penny maybe for a dress. I also need tights for her for pictures, too. Her's are shot. I'm starting to plan out Thanksgiving dinner too. It's just the three of us, so it won't be that big of a deal. Just a few of the usual things. I'm looking for my cupcake carrier for her birthday party at chuck-e-cheese. I know it's here somewhere. I'm sure it's outside in a packed box. I'm also starting to work on Christmas cards, since it's time to start sending them out. So lots going on right now!

I hosted playgroup yesterday and it went well. I still haven't cleaned up the living room from it yet, but I want to sort through the toys and box up some she doesn't need and toss out garbage in preparation for birthday/Christmas. The day before we had class and that was a lot of fun. That was our last art class. We need to skip her last one to go get her 3 year pictures taken. We also ordered her birthday cake! She picked out a Dora cake so we'll be having that for her birthday.

Next week we have class, my sonogram, Maddy's pictures, her kid's birthday party, my monthly ob appointment on Friday and also pick up my folks. Then Matt's parents come into town that day to and we celebrate Maddy's birthday on Sunday.

But, we're off. Maddy's feeling pretty bad today. She has a sore in her mouth and it hurts a lot!

So we had our sonogram today! Everything looks good. It's a boy! They gave me a due date of March 29th. That's a full week earlier than what the doctor was saying. We'll see what they say on Friday when I have my OB appointment. The baby is 15 oz and squirmy as all can be. They took a while getting the pictures they needed because he was so squirmy.

It's going to be a few busy days here coming up! Tomorrow morning we have Maddy's 3 year pictures in the morning and then on Thursday is Maddy's birthday party at Chuck-e-cheese. I need to make the cupcakes tomorrow night and other than that, everything is set! It still wound up being a bit more expensive than I was planning on but nothing crazy and the sheer fact I don't need to clean my house for six preschoolers makes it worth it! :) Friday is my OB appointment! Sunday is Maddy's birthday. So we'll pick up her cake that morning and balloons of course. It'll be an exciting weekend! Have a good one all!

Oh! I put up some pictures of Maddy from class yesterday. So check out the gallery and see what's up! I'll scan sonogram pictures tomorrow and maybe her 3 year pictures too. We'll see... I may make you wait for Christmas cards! :)

So yesterday morning after some crazy traffic, we were able to get to Portrait Innovations to get Maddy's pictures done. She had a great time getting her pictures done. In fact she loved it so much she was being cheesy! It actually made it easier to pick out the two pictures I did. I picked the one portrait deal picture first and then had a hard time choosing between two. So I let Maddy pick--of course she picked the one with the boa! The only mishap we had was when I was helping her get dressed. She lost her balance and fell backward hitting her the back of her head on the edge of the toilet. OUCH. I kept a close eye on her over the next few hours for a concussion. While we were waiting for pictures we went over to Maggie Moos and had mint chocolate ice cream with M&Ms in it.

Then we popped over to BJs for some stuff we needed and I bought Maddy a few birthday presents including a red recliner for the living room. She loved it! I put it away in the spare bedroom when we got home and she'll need to wait until her birthday.

This morning we had Maddy's Chuck-e-cheese birthday party and it went really well. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. I was very impressed with this chuck-e-cheese because they sent out chuck-e to see us even though we didn't order the birthday package and it was in the morning. They also gave me candles and matches for the cupcakes. I didn't know their policy on open flame so I didn't bring my own and when they offered I took them up on it. They were so accommodating and very nice! Maddy had a nice time opening her presents although she kind of seemed in a funk the rest of the day--I think she was just worn out.

Tomorrow the grandparents come and I have my OB appointment. Then the fun of the weekend begins!

If you want to see pictures (her professional ones and the CEC ones) go here: https://www.teaholic.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=42037

Maddy's birthday weekend went really well. She really enjoyed her time with grandmas and grandpas. She especially loved pretend play. She seemed to like all her presents but especially seems to like her jewelry box. She has a bit of a cold right now so we've been just hanging out today. She really seemed to enjoy it actually. She sat in her new recliner and watched her two new Dr. Suess movies that she received for her birthday.

This week is pretty uneventful. I still haven't gone grocery shopping for all our Thanksgiving stuff but that will get done tomorrow. It will just be the three of us, so we won't have a huge dinner, but will have the usual Thanksgiving fare. I'm hoping that Thanksgiving is just nice day to hang out and do nothing much and then this weekend I want to put up the Christmas decorations. Time for the holiday spirit! :)

Just wanted to quick say happy thanksgiving to everyone! I hope your day is filled with quiet moments when you can count your blessings and fun filled ones when you can laugh with those you care about. Thanksgiving isn't about the food (as I eye up the two pumpkin pies I made) it's about spending your time remembering just how great you have it. We all have a lot to be Thankful for.

While you're being thankful keep those who are in difficult situations in your thoughts and prayers. A lot is happening near and far, some personal and some public and everyone can use a kind thought. Keep those in India in your thoughts. Keep our troops (who seem to have disappeared from the news-what's up with that?) in our thoughts and prayers. Keep those who struggle with personal problems close to your heart and reach out to let them know you are there.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Go enjoy that turkey! :)