Happy Birthday Baby Brother

Not the best picture ever but it is the most recent one I have of Matt and Em together. They were playing one of the racing games at Chuck E. Cheese and apparently concentrating really hard. We are going out to dinner to celebrate tonight so I need to get some pictures while he is in a good mood! Pizza, ice cream cake, and lots of presents might just do the trick. I can't believe my baby brother is 13--a teenager! We love you, Matthew!

Wicked Cool

In my best Bostonian accent: Wicked was wicked cool. The show was great--though a little slow at first. I don't think the regular theatre goers behind us appreciated Ryan's snoring! I loved the show -- especially the subtle, okay not so subtle, references to The Wizard of Oz. Some of the songs weren't as catchy as others but it was still really well done. We got to go on a backstage tour after the show (thanks to Rachael and her wicked connections!) and it was really interesting. We got to see all the props and some of the costumes. Lots of behind the scenes "magic". The show will be finishing its Chicago run in January so I am so glad we got to see it when we did.

After the show we went to eat at Brazzas, which is a Brazilian steakhouse where they bring the meat out on skewers and you pretty much eat until you sweat. They give you a little disk that you flip over back and forth and it tells the waiters that you either want more or need a break. It was sooo good. Who knew grilled pineapple could be so amazingly delicious? We were all so stuffed that we went back to Rachael's apartment and fell asleep. So much for a night out on the town! Seriously though, I am still full.

Oh and I am sick. Yuck. I have a cold and just feel blah. I am so excited for my Christmas break. I need it. My to do list grows by the minute. I really don't want to use my vacation to clean my house so I am trying to get everything done before then so I can sit back and relax. That is, if I remember how.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Emma had a great time playing with all her cousins and the mom's all loved the 2 minutes they sat still to have a semi-decent picture taken!

Baby it's cold outside

It is so tempting to stay inside these days. I have so much to do and lots of errands to run but, instead of crossing things off the list, Emma and I stayed home and played board games under blankets last night! Unfortunately Emma doesn't lose gracefully. I don't know where this came from--we have always played lots of games and we have never made it a habit to "let" Emma win (especially Ryan). She always acts like her little heart is broken and makes excuses like "it's not fair, I didn't know how to play". I try not to make a big deal about it and just let her know we will play again and maybe she will win next time. I am so ready for this phase to be over.

Other times, thankfully, she is a huge sweetheart! For example, I came home from Chicago last weekend and Emma had made me a welcome home sign and taped it to the front door! It was so nice to come home to smiles and hugs instead of whining and nagging. I guess I just need to leave more often!

Here are a few pics from Chicago. There were only a few decorations up when we were there but it was still very festive. And very cold.

Funny story to share: Emma and Ryan were riding in my mother and father-in-law's new Prius last weekend. Apparently a lot of the features in the car are voice activated, including the GPS. Clint was trying to see what the GPS could do so he said "Gas Station" very clearly. That prompt didn't work so they tried "Restaurant". Apparently Emma had other things in mind because very slowly and clearly from the back seat came "Disney World". I wish I could have been there!

God Bless America

Happy Veterans Day.

Beauty and the Treats

Emma had a great time this Halloween. I think she spent more time passing out candy than she did trick-or-treating. She loved seeing all the different costumes and she didn't want to miss anything so she sat on Nana Kathy's front step and waited for "customers".

Emma got her costume when we were at Disney this past summer. She wanted me to do her makeup just like they did at the bibbity bobbity boutique and thank heavens the weather was nice because "Belle does NOT wear a shirt under her dress". Um, I hate to break it to you babe but Belle doesn't wear flip flops either. What can I say--like mother like daughter.

The before:

And the after:

Now that Halloween is officially over I have thrown myself into Christmas projects. I promised myself I would keep it simple this year but I keep adding stuff to the list. I'm hoping to get a big chunk of my shopping done this weekend in Chicago. Mom, Alli, and I are going for a much needed girls weekend. Can't wait.

Never did get those pumpkins carved. . .

Time well spent.

We finally had our photo shoot. Emma did really well and put up with the weather amazingly well. That is until she got slapped in the face with a leaf--it was soooooooo windy yesterday! I took her to a beautiful park near our house and the leaves were all falling and it was actually a really nice day for pictures. I should point out that aside from a few little prompts from mom, Emma did all the posing on her own. I told her where to go and she took it from there. Thank goodness she likes having her pictures taken. I really don't know what I would do if I couldn't take pictures all. the. time.

Emma spent the night at her Nana's house on Saturday night so Ryan and I could go to a party. She is such a sweet talker! You know how we went to see HSM3 the other night, well Emma has been begging for the soundtrack all weekend. I decided to surprise her and stopped by the store to pick up the cd on my way to get her yesterday. Well imagine my surprise when I walked into my mom's house and saw the very same cd sitting on the counter. The little mooch got Nana to buy it for her! She also got them to take her to her favorite restaurant instead of the one they were planning on going to. Weekends at Nana's are great but, come on, how can I compete?

Just kidding, Mom!

Is anyone else ready for Christmas????? I am so excited. My shopping list is almost finished and my cards are about half done! I love it! Please don't remind me that we haven't even carved pumpkins yet...

So Excited

High School Musical 3 premiers tonight! I have to admit, I am probably just as excited as Emma. We are going out to dinner and to see the movie tonight and, amazingly, we talked Ryan into going to see it with us! I just hope he doesn't snore too loudly.

We are going to try again with Emma's 6 year pictures. I ended up getting sick last weekend so we are going back out tomorrow for round 2. I am crossing my fingers for nice weather!