Tick, Tock...

Can someone tell me what happened to the first two weeks in December? OMG. I am so excited for the holidays!!! We are behind (as usual) on actually purchasing our items on our Christmas list, however, we have really enjoyed so many Christmas events with the kids... which is really what it is all about anyway!

Mike completed his program the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we hit the road for New Ulm to celebrate with the Roeders this year! We stopped in Mankato the night before Thanksgiving to have dinner with the Roe Family at good old Red Lobster. Why... might I ask, did we even bother ordering food? My goodness... the kids (well mainly Jack) was obsessed with the lobsters in the tank. I swear he made a solid 18 trips to the lobby to visit them before going with all of his cousins and Bapa and Nanny to pick out the one Bapa was going to eat! Jack picked the biggest daddy lobster in the tank and got to hand deliver it to the kitchen!

We had a GREAT weekend in NU. I know there were parts of the transition for Mike that were difficult, but it was also good for all of us to stay busy and have a lot of fun things to do all together and to see our families! We had a large group at Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving dinner and that was fun! Aunt Bea Ann and Uncle Jon, Aunt Marilyn along with Paula's Mom and Glen joined us this year as well. Paula seriously made the best pies and her mom, Chris, did too. (My waistline didn't approve.)

Friday, we went out to Schell's Brewery for our annual Roe Family photo shoot with Liz! It was fun, as usual, and we got a lot of cute and fun shots! She is so much fun. Here are SOME of our favorites...

And... Grandma came with for her usual role of personal assitant to the Roe Family. Without her nutty behavior (i.e. jumping around, making funny noises, and chasing peacocks), I just know we wouldn't have as big of smiles on our faces in those photos! This year, Liz got a great shot of Silly Grandma in Mike's hat! Gotta love that Grandma!!!

From Schell's, we rewarded the group with a hot apple pie and hot chocolate a la McDonald's (not gourmet, but as good as it was going to get) and then headed back to the Roeder Casa to get warm and ready for the Parade of Lights downtown!

The Parade of Lights is a Thanksgiving/Christmas Tradition for the Roeder and Roe Family! No matter where we spend Thanksgiving, we have to get to NU by Friday for the parade! We have been doing it for YEARS now and don't plan to miss one with Jack and Sophie! It is priceless and so is the food at Kaiserhoff afterward!!!

Saturday and Sunday were a little more low-key and a nice way to round out the weekend in NU. Andrew took Mike and I flying at the NU airport. It was hard for me to beleive this was my first time up with him! I guess with being preggo and having little kids, it has always been something that got in the way. At any rate, it was a blast! He is SO talented!! Jack wanted to come with, surprisingly, so when we are home for Christmas, hopefully he can then!

Later, we got some nacho pizza from Happy Joe's, watched a movie, and lounged! It was good to get back home and start settling into life with our whole family again following the holiday and Mike's return home... and then I got sick! I was out of work and commission for the entire week following Thanksgiving. I think my body finally gave out. I was drained and got a good dose of the cold/flu crapola that seemed to have infected most everyone lately. (I swear that is why December has went so quickly!)

We FINALLY bought our Christmas tree last Sunday after going to church with Nanny and Bapa, got it into the urn (something new we tried and love this year) on Monday night, put lights on it on Tuesday, and NEED to get the ornaments on tonight! Thank goodness we put little Christmas trees in the kids' rooms right after Thanksgiving!! Oh well... they remember the little things like having Christmas movie, popcorn, and hot chocolate nights at this age more, right?? (This is where you agree so I don't feel guilty about our procrastination!)

So... for a little J&S update:

Jack woke up this morning and said, "I peeing. I hold it!" So Daddy raced him downstairs to his elmo potty chair on the big toilet and he went!! Ahh... We were SO proud of him! More to come on that! He is loving the Gingerbread Man book that my Aunt Mary bought him last Christmas and the Santa Suit book I bought him last year as well. Seriously... we have to read them a few times EACH, EACH night! I love it. I am going to attempt to make gingerbread man cookies with him this weekend... i just hope he isn't disappointed when a live gingerbread boy doesn't jump out of our oven!

Miss Sophie is going gangbusters! She has been pulling herself up on things for quite a while. (Actually since about a week after she was sitting up!) So, now she is pulling up and walking around things and I've even caught her forgetting she is hanging on and letting go while holding a toy! It isn't too far off now and our baby girl will be walking!!! I will enjoy each day until then, when our lives will have a newly added joy and complexity to it! ;) She is also still working on her first tooth popping through! We noticed it starting the night of the parade in NU and it now appears as though the other bottom tooth (on her right side) will be soon following! She is eating table food galore and blowing out her baby food. Guess she isn't afraid to tell us what she wants!

This weekend we are heading up to the Holidazzel Parade in Mpls! Another Christmas tradition that will be prefaced with a little Christmas shopping! Mom is coming with and it should be a really fun and festive day! Add a little more shopping on Sunday, and hopefully I will start to feel better about the progress towards the holiday list of 'to-dos'! Have a great weekend, everyone!