Much needed winter break is finally here!!!

We are so happy to finally be on winter break!!! Last week was insanely busy. My school week was filled with making Gingerbread houses, school wide holiday Sing-A-Long, a visit from Johnathon London (Author of "Froggy" books), Hanukkah Presentation, my students making ornaments for their parents (a tedious week long task!), classroom holiday party....the list goes on! By the end of the week my 2nd graders were just as ready for a break as I was. I was basically on my feet all day and they were killing me each night by the time I got home. Foot massages from Josh were greatly appreciated this week :) The evenings were filled with watching the Survivor finale with the group (yeah Bob won!), a Christmas performance at Josh's school, dinner with Renee and Marc, Tuck graduating from his "House Manners" class :) and ended with a trip to Berkley for Sandra's birthday.

We have a few days here at home before heading up to Fortuna for Christmas. From there we will be traveling to Carson City, NV (an 8+ hour drive !) to visit Josh's family. Tuck travels really well, however my bladder is another story. Once up to Carson Tuck will have his first visit to the snow and Josh will get to get in some snowboarding....this will be my first year off the slopes :( All in all, it is going to be a busy week filled with spending time with family and friends. We are fortunate to have the same schedule and get so much time off together.

Baby update: My stomach continues to grow weekly and I feel her move all the time now :) I can't believe I'm already on my 22nd week. Time is flying by! We borrowed a stethoscope from a good friend who works at a hospital (Josh is determined to hear her heart beat through my stomach). No luck yet, but we have heard it is possible so I'm sure he won't be giving up any time soon. Other than tired feet, I feel great and am really enjoying the 2nd trimester. Still trying to be productive and work on getting everything organized in the house before I get too big and immobile. :) I hope everyone has a relaxing holiday and enjoys time spent with family and friends.

21 week pic
With Renee, showing off our bellies (she's due 1 mon. before me)

Turning 29

I felt very loved by my family and friends this year on my birthday. At work I was spoiled by my grade level team mates, who had all my favorite treats (including maple bars and dill pickles) out on display in the staff room when I arrived to work. That night Josh and I went out to dinner and then decorated the house for Christmas :) That Saturday some of us went out to Dillon Beach and it was an absolutely gorgeous day! It was not your typical winter day and it definitely made me miss summer time :) We spent the entire day out at the beach playing frisbee, football, botchie ball, skin boarding and walking barefoot in the sand (again not your typical Dec. activity!) That night we met up with others and went out to dinner. All in all it was a wonderful birthday week.

frisbeeTuck loved running next to Josh when he skin boarded

Enjoying a mouthful of sand

Lindz and me enjoying the warm sun

football time
watching the sun set
group photo
dinner

Busy Thanksgiving Break

Josh and I managed to fill up virtually every minute of our Thanksgiving break this year! The break began with us finding out that we're having a baby girl :) and of course was followed with a little shopping. It didn't rain (thank goodness) on Thanksgiving day and we had a great time with our families; cooking, talking, guys watching football, girls going for a walk, eatting til we couldn't move and laughing while playing games. This was our 3rd year hosting Thanksgiving with both our families at our house. Unfortunately not everyone could make it this year, but we did have quite the full house with 13. This was our nephew Austin's first Thanksgiving and he had fun walking all over the house and watching Tuck through the window. :) Following Thanksgiving we headed up to Fortuna for Domenic's baptism. It was so great seeing Ang, Matt and Domenic. Domenic has become quite the little dancer and was not shy about showing off his dance moves. :) The weather was gorgeous in Humboldt all weekend. We went up to the mountains on Sunday and had a great time picking out and cutting down our Christmas tree. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday this year. Christmas is going to be here before we know it!

Making Cheesy/Garlic Mashed Potatos

My handsome nephew Austin 8 1/2 months and beginning to walk

All 13 of us squeezed around the table

With mom and dadGuys doing the dishes :) Lots of laughs while playing "Beyond Balderdash" With my beautiful mother-in-law
Can't wait for our baby girl to arrive :)Domenic's baptism Tuck (right) with his dad Duke...for 5 months old he's catching up to dad in size very quickly!
Ready to cut down our treeJust short enough to fit our 8 ft. ceiling :)
Loaded up and ready to goWith the girls while out at the Palace

It's a Girl!!!

Josh and I found out Wednesday that we're having a baby girl. :) The ultrasound showed that she is developing perfectly and everything looks great. She weighs approx. 10 ounces and is very active. :) I am five months along now and feeling great. The 2nd trimester is sooooo much better than the 1st! Now that we know what we're having we get to begin shopping for bedding and all the fun things for her room. She's already been spoiled with gifts from family and friends. We are so excited to meet her. April 24th is going to be here before we know it!

The shot that proved we're having a girl

Side profileShe's looking at the camera (we call this the alien shot) :)
Excited mom and dad holding up one of her 1st outfits that we picked out for her

after finding out we were having a girl

Our book club is addicted!

Last spring a group of my girl friends and I decided to form a book club. We all love to read and thought it would be fun to all read the same book and discuss it with each other. (Plus it gave us an excuse to get together, drink wine and chat!) We decided to take turns picking the book and hosting the meeting. We typically only discuss the book for 15 minutes and then proceed to eat lots of tasty food and chat. Over the past 8 months we read many books including 3 Cups of Tea, Eat Pray Love, The Innocent Man and Are You There Vodka It's Me Chelsea. Recently we were all completely drawn into Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. I'll have to admit that back in Aug. when Tracy first chose Twilight as our next book I was not very excited. A young adult vampire/romance novel is typically not my cup of tea. :) However once I got started I couldn't stop! Twilight is unique in a way that I did not expect. I recently heard Twilight described as a "vampire book for people who don't like vampires"....so true. It's an easy read, filled with romance and suspense. The book is over 500 pages, yet many of us read it in less than a week. Last week there was an article on Twilight that took up the entire 2nd page of the Press Democrat! Teen girls everywhere have fallen in love with Edward, it's a craze that's swept the nation. After our last book club meeting we decided to go ahead and read books 2, 3 and 4 for the next meeting because we were all so anxious to finish the series. This weekend we are going to see the premiere of Twilight the movie (we even pre-bought our tickets). :) I'm currently on book 3, Eclipse and can't read it fast enough!

October Happenings

Well, October has flown by so incredibly fast!!! I can't believe November is already here. Things are going well as we are slowly getting things ready for baby. Right now we're in the process of combining the guest room and computer room, a not so simple project! I'm trying to be good about letting go of things, knowing that we will be gaining so many baby items. I have been feeling so much better! Nausea has gone away and my energy level is increasing. (thank goodness!!) Below are pics ranging from Josh's birthday to Halloween last weekend.

Happy Birthday Josh! Enjoying a beautiful Saturday evening on our deck with friends and family. Dustin and our beautiful niece Mazzy

Enjoying some sparkling apple cider with my old roomie Lindsey :)

Good friends Scott and Josh

All bundled up and ready to hit the corn maze at night!!! If you thought it was hard during the day, try going at night!

Weekend visit from Amy and Jared

Amy and I were ready to escape out the side

Halloween 2008

~Greek God and Goddess~

Josh painting a "happy tree" on Bob Ross :)With some of the girls (Mandy, Michelle and Lindsay)

Jenn and meTuck all ready for Halloween :) (he was so good about his costume!)

Probably the only year Josh will agree to do it