You'd Better Watch Out, You'd Better not Cry!

I took both kiddos to the mall today to buy Joe a birthday present. While we're were there, I thought I would try to get a picture with Santa. At first, Ella said she didn't want to, so I didn't push it. So we walked around for a little bit, and on our way back, asked her again. This time, she said she would get her picture taken. Ella didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, but did stand right next to him, while Nathan cried and tried to squirm his way out of Santa's arms. Ella told Santa that she wanted a motorcycle. I think she heard the little boy before us say that to Santa. Or she just really wants a motorcycle. If you would have asked me a year ago if I would ever take my two kids to the mall, alone, to see Santa, I would of laughed in your face. Now it's no big deal. Ella walks with me, and for the most part, listens pretty well. Nathan just hangs out in the stroller. Today, I think I looked like I had it together!

On our way home from the mall, we stopped at the library to pick up some new DVDs to watch in the van on our way to Michigan. We leave this Wednesday morning. I am really excited to go "home" for Thanksgiving this year. This may be the last holiday spent at my parent's current house, the house that I grew up in. They are planning on putting it on the market in the next few weeks and will move to Wisconsin.

Joe, and his best friend Paul, who is April's husband, are celebrating they 30th birthdays this month. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Joe and Paul were born about 2 weeks apart, and our sons were also born about 2 weeks apart. Isn't that wild? We had a wonderful dinner together on Saturday, just the 4 of us. I can't even tell you the last time just the 4 of us went out to dinner together. Afterwards, we went to Mo's Irish Pub and met up with some other friends. One of my old roommates, Allison, and her boyfriend Jason, came in from Madison for the festivities and stayed at our house Saturday night. Jason coaches a club hockey team in the Madison area, and his team happened to have a game in Milwaukee on Sunday. We decided to take the kids to watch. They were mesmerized at first, and then Ella just wanted to run around and Nathan wanted to climb on the bleachers...but, it gave Al and I a bit more time to catch up.

I wish everyone safe travels for the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!