Turkey Time!

We had a great Thanksgiving week, if not a bit busy. I had marathon conferences Monday and Tuesday, but topped off 2 12-hour days with a great happy hour with colleagues. Grayson and I ran down to LC to celebrate with my family, and had a great time going to Grandpa JR's work, having dinner with Grandma and Grandpa at The Bronks, and hanging out with Auntie Jenny and Uncle Lonnie. Jenny and I cooked (with help from Dad and Lonnie) our first successful Thanksgiving dinner, and were blessed to have our always amazing mom with us this year. We are so thankful for what we have together, and I never dreamed my mom would be so incredible now, considering all she's been through in the last year and a half.

Grayson and I buzzed up to Maplewood for Thanksgiving with Bob and Joyce and the Schmidt clan, meeting up with Russ after his long day at work (all the people wanting to work off their turkey prior to eating it), and celebrating Taylor's 9th birthday.

We had time to deck our halls this weekend, and Grayson LOVES the lights and ornaments on the tree. He is also fascinated with lights outside, and it is fun to watch his eyes take in all the bright sights. He loves the tree a bit too much at times, but it is a good learning experience for him. We already have a good hold on some Christmas carols as well (thanks in part to Margaret!). We had the chance to have some fun with our friends Ron, Sara, Jackson, Emily, Maddy, and Amelia (Jerry had to work), and the kids were fantastic together! There was a lot of energy in the house, and we had fun chatting about old times (we miss you, Darcie, Jason, and family). I also fit in my usual Sunday evening workout, and my child did not want to leave the Lifetime child center for once - yay! Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Mayhem

I find myself writing once again to catch up on what is going on. Life has been a race lately, and I cannot believe how fast time has gone! I have spent most of my time bonding with a computer, but not in the "fun" sense. I am working, as I mentioned before on an additional license/grad degree, and right now I have two really intense courses. The hardest part is keeping up on all of the reading and the classroom response time, coupled with the fact that I've had tons of homework for school lately. Anyway, I guess I brought this on myself, so I should keep the complaining to a minimum. I had a few epiphanies lately, though, thanks to my own thoughts and Russ's observations: 1. My grad program should really be something I enjoy, as I am choosing my path. I have to say the info is fantastic, but I am so full of it right now that I'm not able to process or use it very well. 2. Even when I feel swamped, I still need to smile, laugh, and find ways to have fun - nobody likes a party pooper, which is what I have been lately. Heaven knows we've been through some amazingly tough things in the last 3 years, and this is a piece of cake compared to everything else.

Anyway, to top it all off, my memory card is having some grave issues with allowing me to access pictures. I will post them another time when it is not feeling crabby:)