Busy, Busy! Christmas is coming...

Wow, I can't believe it is already December. I have been so busy since Thanksgiving day that I have lost track of time. Darrin and I spent Thursday (Thanksgiving) with my Brother and his family who live near South Milwaukee. Yes, my older brother Mike cooked the entire dinner. It included turkey, potatoes, stuffing and vegetables. I would have to say I am impressed because he usually only cooks pizza and macaroni and cheese. My neices were very excited to see Darrin. My brother has 4 little girls and they love to climb all over Darrin. After we were done shooting hoops and filling our bellies, we headed to Marshfield for a weekend at Mom and Dad's. Friday morning my Mother woke us up early and insisted we help her shop the Early bird specials. So I drove the get away vehichle while Mom and Darrin went in and got the stuff she wanted. Pots pans, tables, towels, and a few other items were on her list! We had fun and even had time to stop at McDonald's for our morning coffee. :) We spent the rest of the day with friends and family. I haven't seen my girlfriends since April when we moved down to Milwaukee and it was great to see everyone again. We enjoyed Rebekah's Pizza Burgers and laughed at Parker wearing pink high heels while chasing the other kids. The kids were so big, I couldn't believe how much they have all grown since I last seen them. Saturday was a great day as well. We started with a workout at the YMCA in Marshfield and then filled our bellies with more food at Mom's. My aunt Kathy and her three daughters (Renee, Julie, and Cindy) came from Minnesota. It was nice to see my Aunt Kathy and her girls because I haven't seen them in almost two years. I could barely tell the girls apart because they all look alike. My Aunt Julie and Tim brought Nicole. Nicole showed us her ring. She is getting married in October of 2009 to her high school sweetheart. (They dated back in High School and broke up for a number of years before reuniting about 2 years ago. Cool Huh?) My Aunt Lisa's kids: Ashley and Cody were going to ride with Grandma and Grandpa, but chose to bring Ashley's new SUV down. It was a really nice GMC Yukon with all kinds of bells and whistles. Turns out she got a great deal because most places are giving trucks and suv's away. Grandma road with Grandpa and even made a stop at Fleet Farm in Marshfield before arriving at Mom's. The day started out with Darrin challenging everyone to riding his unicyle. Those who were up to the challenge tried it, but in the end everyone decided it was much harded than it looked. After Lunch, I decided to start a game of kickball with my nieces and nephews. Boy was I in for it. The kids are good at kickball. Even the little ones. We played outside until it got dark. We then retreated into the house to eat some more, watch a movie and clean up the house. Then everyone left for skating at the rink, while I caught a little shut eye. My Dad ended up going to the rink about 15 minutes after they all left to get Killian because he fell asleep while skating. The weekend ended with a snowy trip home to Milwaukee. A 3 hour trip took us about 4 hours. By the time we got to Butler there was 6-12" of snow in surrounding communities. I think we ended up with 3-4". (It was not fun shoveling the snow this time because it had a little bit of rain mixed in.) All in all it was a good trip home. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving's Day Weekend.