Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Baby, nails and the Grinch

The end of last week was quite exciting!

#1.  On Thursday (the 8th) I wore my new blingy tree shirt to work. 

#2. On Friday (the 9th) I picked Elliott up from school (I saw his gingerbread man while waiting), 
and we headed to the hospital where Monica and Rick had introduced brand new baby Hadley to the world two hours earlier.

She was in the same hospital where I lived for two weeks before Elliott was born.  Monica was actually in the room across the hallway from the room I was in.  I made Elliott pose for a picture outside of room 10.  Oh how I loathe room 10 after spending two weeks there and only leaving once for 10 minutes.


Look how tiny!

I can't believe I have two good friends with daughters named Hadley now.

Monica was a good sport for taking this picture two hours after giving birth after being in labor all night. 

6 pounds 2 ounces and 19 inches long.

Great Uncle Travis

After we met Hadley I rushed home and then rushed to meet Maryellen for dinner at Tempe Marketplace.  Then we went to Shireen's house for a holiday boutique she was hosting. 

I bought no clothes. 


I did buy a jamberry kit though.  I'm pretty excited about it. 

I bought 4 sheets of nail wraps.  These are going to be the first ones I do. 

#3. Saturday morning I had to take a class to renew my Article 9 requirement and CPR for a new supervising position I'm starting in January.  It was all sorts of boring. 
That night though we went on kid dates, which we haven't done in a long time.  Spencer and I went to dinner and the theatre.  It's our favorite date. 

Before we left.


Our view at dinner.

He was pissed at me that I made him wear pants and a sweater, so this was his opposition at dinner. 

This lasagna took him about 4 meals to finish. 

We saw The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  Photography was not allowed, but I found this image on Google.  It was a great production. 
We went to Kneaders after.

I threw caution to the wind and got a gingerbread boy with chocolate pants. 

He came with his neck broken. 

Spencer wanted cheesecake. 
#4. On Sunday we went to a bookstore to meet the Grinch. When we went last year there were ZERO other people.  We just walked right in and said hi.  This year we were assigned a group number and had to wait for nearly an hour.

They had a photo backdrop outside to waste some time.  Unfortunately it was in the bright sun. 


They also had story time. 
Elliott insisted on wearing his hair spikey.  He said it would confuse the Grinch and he wouldn't know who he was.  That's actually fairly impressive logic. 


Finally!




We had planned on just getting a snack after the Grinch, but it took so long we decided for full on lunch. 


And finally, Ginger's nose when in full force sniff mode Sunday night. 

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Festival of trees and a lot of party prep

Arizona has our first Alamo Drafthouse. It opened on Friday, December 2nd.  We went on Sunday the 4th to see Moana.  I cried.  Because of the movie, not because Arizona has our first Alamo Drafthouse.

The food was awesome, the service was awful (just really, really, really slow) but we got 40% off our bill because the staff is still training, so we are definitely willing to give them another shot. 


We took the kids for milkshakes and the adults for coffee after the show. 


Then we drove through our old neighborhood where a duck caucus seemed to be convening. 


Look at this guy's fabulous hair!
Monday the 5th was an early day for all of us.  Spencer had an 8:30 dermatology appointment with an 8:00 check-in at Phoenix Children's Hospital. 

Nobody wanted to get out of bed, so they got out of theirs and into mine. 

We like December appointments because of the festival of trees.

There are a lot.  Just scroll.  Merrily. 











December 5th is the anniversary of when I went into labor with Elliott seven weeks before my due date.  It was a Monday in 2011 too.  We took pictures to commemorate the day. 

I worked on Tuesday the 6th.  I was doing an auditory comprehension/following directions activity with the kids when I thought this face looked familiar.

See the resemblance?
That night, after work, I made three pans of lasagna for Elliott's birthday party.  We have two freezers and currently no space left in either one. 
We also took Spencer's 9 year- 3 month pictures.  Sometimes I don't even recognize him. He's way closer to being a teen than to being a baby.

Official

On Wednesday morning Elliott and I made homemade strawberry cakes for his party.


And in the afternoon we made homemade red velvet cakes for his party.  

The cakes are in the freezers with the lasagna. 

On Wednesday night something spooked Ginger.  I still don't know what.  For some reason she felt save on the little carpet by our bedroom door.  It made for an artistic photo with the mirror.