Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!  (Uncle Dennis dress.)

Getting our Christmas tree.

Debut of the 2009 Christmas dress!

Prater granddaughters.

Prater grandchildren.  (Minus Nick who was at his football playoffs.)

Greetings!  We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  This year we went to spend the holiday with Patrick's family in Mason, MI.  That mother-in-law of mine is quite the cook...yum!  I did a little bit of Christmas shopping but not on Black Friday, too nutty for me!  I enjoyed a nice lunch with my friend Sarah and her daughter Sophie at Los Tres Amigos.  Patrick, MVP and I returned to Tannenbaum Farms to get our Christmas tree and wreaths and found the reindeer to be crabby this year and he had VERY long antlers!  Kim & family came down on Friday and MVP had such a great time with all of her cousins and we went to the Mason holiday parade and tree lighting...quaint & cute!  Joanne then had us play a silly and fun little game that she called How Well Do You Know Kim with trivia that she pulled from Kim's 1987 senior year memory book.  It turns out our Kimmy was obsessed with Top Gun and dreamed of owning a Camaro Z28 with t-tops in electric blue!  BAD.ASS.  Hee!  (I can't heckle too much...my dreams were similar, but in red!)  We had to head back to Chicago early Saturday morning because it was my weekend to work.  Our nephew Nick had his football playoff on Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit and they won!  Traverse City St. Francis Gladiators are the Class D State Champs!!!  We are so happy for Nick and we wish we could have attended the game.  2009 has been a rough year for so many and although life can be sad and stressful at times, we have many blessings to be thankful for:  Margaux, each other, Jasper, our families, our friends, our health, our jobs and the list goes on and on.  We must not let the unpleasant things in life rob us of our joy.  God bless you all!

The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting

A wonderful, relevant article:

The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting

New Moon

Saw it.  Loved it.
(But still wonders how one could fully appreciate without reading the books first!)

The Drama We Find Is Often The Drama We Create

"The more conscious I become of my own internal state, including my emotions, thoughts, and motivations, the more I’m beginning to realize how much internal DRAMA I’ve been living with pretty much my entire life. Most of us have these little internal ‘drama makers’ that constantly turn reality into some kind of perpetual soap opera. Drama is essentially conflict… It can be experienced with other people or it can be a battle that ensues within your own self… The source of drama is internal resistance to the present moment, to ‘what IS’… And most drama is completely unnecessary.
Now, this drama is not always blatantly obvious… It can be incredibly subtle. Anytime you’re not experiencing internal peace inside yourself, there is drama. And it can be manifested as pity, shame, anxiety, unease, a deep sense of lack, insecurity, taking things personally, dwelling on the past, anticipating the imaginary future, gossiping, stress, or really any other kind of fear based thoughts or emotions.
Drama is the result of internal division, and it creates suffering. But we don’t have to keep living with drama any longer. If you stop resisting what is and just accept life as it comes, that’s really the end of all the drama. A Course in Miracles states, ‘No one who is at One with himself can even conceive of conflict’.
You do have a choice… You can choose drama or you can choose peace. And no one else can make that choice but you. The way I see it, it’s our responsibility to choose internal peace… It’s the responsibility that we have to the whole of humanity, the good of all. Because inner peace is what CREATES global peace…"

WELL SAID KATIE FREILING!!!  THANK YOU.
THE END.

One Year Checkup

MVP & DrG.

Margaux had her one year checkup with the amazing DrG today.  She now weighs 24 lbs. 2 oz. (75th %) and measures 30 3/4" long (95th %).  She got three shots and a TB test and one of the shots really hurt her and made her cry, poor lil' thing!  We can switch her to whole milk and try to get her going on a sippy cup, which she has firmly rejected each time we have attempted it...she loves her "ba-ba"!  We also need to work really hard with getting her to eat solid foods.  She has been gagging/spitting it up since summer no matter what we give her.  Wish us luck on that!  All in all, a healthy & thriving little girl.  I cannot elaborate enough on how much we adore DrG, he is truly the BEST pediatrician ever!!!

Wright On!

Sarah, Sophie & Chris

Sarah & Sophie in the pouch at Brookfield Zoo.

Daddy & Margaux checking out the beautiful giraffes.

The girlies!

The Wright Family came to visit this weekend!  They are dear friends of ours...old friends...Patrick & Chris have been friends since junior high and Sarah and I met in college in 1992.  The weather was so warm and wonderful all weekend long, making it perfect for being outside at Brookfield Zoo all day.  Sophie and Margaux were quite companionable despite the age difference.  A good time + good friends = good for the soul! 

We're Back

No privacy setting on the blog anymore, too many of you were having problems viewing it...sorry about that!  However, if you stalk by, please leave a comment...makes me feel like I am not sharing in vain!  ;-)

Bullshit

Sorry about the vulgar title, but it's how I feel.  Patrick's new work van was broken into in front of our house two nights before we left for Michigan for Margaux's party.  I didn't post an entry about it at the time because I wanted to focus on the happiness of birthday/Halloween festivities.  Patrick normally parks his work vehicle in our garage, but on that particular night he fell asleep before getting around to moving it.  He was sleeping in the livingroom with the front shade wide open and the t.v. on all night and still someone had the balls to break into the van directly in front of our house under the street light.  They made off with valuable production equipment, Patrick's gym bag and a bin of coats/rain gear and even Margaux's diaper bag filled with toys, books and videos.  Whoever did this is the scum of the earth.  A neighbor rang our bell at 5:45 in the morning to tell us that the driver side window was broken and the back doors open.  Poor Patrick felt absolutely sick about it and my blood was boiling!  I wish it was a different kind of world that we lived in.