O Christmas Tree

Mike and I finally got around to decorating our Christmas tree today. We actually got the tree last Sunday but have been too busy all week to decorate. For half the week it was lying on our front porch still wrapped up, then we brought it in I think on Thursday and put it on its stand. The tree, of course, fell after we thought it was in there good, and today was finally the day that we were both home and able to decorate, yay!

Mike’s team did a Christmas tree fundraiser this year for his program. They made lots of money and we of course felt like we should get our tree from them. Our family room is small and the smallest sizes they had were 5-6 foot trees. All of the trees were wrapped so we really couldn’t see it until we unwrapped it, but it actually turned out looking nice and fitting perfectly!
So, we put on some xmas tunes, (and a college game on mute) and decorated! Mike put up the lights first for us. He is convinced that the first strand of lights needs to wrap around the tree trunk all the way to the top so the light looks like it’s coming from the “inside of the tree”. I told him that’s a little ridiculous and a waste of the few light strands we have (who wants to make another trip down to longs?) Has anyone else heard of this? He does it every year and it does look nice, maybe that’s the way everyone does it and I have just never noticed…
As we were decorating, I was thinking about our ornaments. I have always wanted a beautiful and “classy” looking tree full of white lights, silver balls, and pretty ornaments. The kind you might see in a Pottery Barn catolog or something. Then I looked at our ornaments…no silver balls (Mike and I can’t help but laugh every time I say that), not too many lights (too lazy to go out and buy more) and all of our ornaments are either from when we were kids, from family, former players, friends, or students (sentimental). Then I realized that once Luke comes we’ll be putting up ornaments he has made and other sentimental ones and I probably won’t get that “beautiful” Christmas tree for another 20 years! Oh well, I guess that’s not the spirit of Christmas!!

Now, after way too much rambling, I would like to share a couple of our legendary ornaments.

Santa Claus aka ho ho- Pulling this little guy out of our decoration box was one of my favorite parts of decorating our tree when I was little. My mom made him when she was young and he has survived every Christmas ever since. He used to reside on the top of the tree in the Allocco household, but as a Hansen we got our Christmas angel from Mike's grandma so he had to be downgraded a bit. He is still as close to the top as I can get him. Please check out his arms and his legs. I love him.





Basketball ornaments- After decorating the tree this year, we decided that close to 80% of our ornaments have something to do with basketball. And I am not exaggerating. It's either Santa basketball player, or a hanging basketball or a reindeer holding a basketball...you get the picture. I decided to take a picture of the little boy with a basketball because he's so cute!


Soldiers- Always a favorite of my brother and I when we were young. We have soldiers in many colors. This one is injured, he is an amputee so I thought he deserved to be photographed and put on our blog for all his hard work through out the years.


Teacher/Coach ornaments- The other 20% of our ornaments pretty much can go in the gifts from students or players category. Here are a couple examples of those:

Well there you have it, our 2008 Christmas tree!

Train of Lights

Every year we go on the Sunol Train of Lights. When you first see the train, it's a little bit cheesy looking. It has blinking lights, colored lights and white lights covering pretty much the whole train. But of course the kids (Jack, Ryan and Drew and last year Payton and Olivia) think its absolutely amazing. Next year Luke will be able to experience it too! Santa Claus ( who by the way was a little creepy) and Mrs. Claus make an appearance and give the kids a cookie. Carolers walk around and everyone sings Christmas carols. It actually really does a good job of getting me in the Christmas spirit. The kids (and me) enjoy hot chocolate and marshmallows while the adults enjoy Bailey's and Cream and red wine. Can't wait till next year when I can partake in that! The only downsides of the train ride is it is freezing cold and when the train drives back toward Pleasanton my seat all the sudden becomes backwards and I get a bit car sick. Wish we had more pictures, but my camera is dead and for some reason I refuse to charge it. Our cousin Matty sent us this one. I'll try and get some of everyone else too!

Thanksgiving- Part I

Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite holidays. First off, teachers get a week off of school which is absolutely fantastic. Second, has definitely got to be the food! Especially for a pregnant person. My Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Frank hosted our Thanksgiving dinner this year. Mike’s whole family is in Disneyland so we were over at my Aunt and Uncle’s the whole day. We started the day with a tradition Mike started two years ago. Pumpkin pie for breakfast. Then we went for a walk and over to Starbucks for a coffee. After that we did nothing. I mean nothing, we lounged on the couch, watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and football and basketball games. At one point, I went into our room and actually watched this movie.

It was one of my favorites as a kid. Sometimes I can’t believe the movies I watched over and over as a kid, I seriously think I watched this one 100 times. I don't think I ever really understood it though (I know it's so deep!) but there are a LOT of innuendos in it. I didn’t even know that the actress was Kim Cattrall!

Then we went to Concord to my Uncle Frank’s house. It was quite a different atmosphere this year. Lots of babies! Kristen and Chris brought their kids, Molly and Brady and my brother and Alix brought Ayla. It was so fun, I can’t wait for Luke to be able to play with all of his cousins! The meal was amazing as usual. My Aunt Phyllis is a great cook, we had Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, baked ziti, broccoli, corn, salad and lots more. My cousin, Kristen made a white chocolate cake and chocolate pecan candy. Needless to say, we all wanted to explode after dinner. I think I was even fuller than usual since Luke takes up the majority of my stomach. I think I made him grow and gain lots of weight yesterday though because I have never felt him move as much as I did last night. I guess that’s a good thing!
Here are some pics from the festivities.

Papa and Ayla

Auntie Meg and Ayla (please pay special attention to her outfit, yes she is wearing a cranberry colored tutu and matching bow!)

Ayla and her cousin, Brady.

Daddy and Ayla

Babymoon!

Mike and I went on one. It was just an overnighter but was so great. Mike told me two days before to make sure I keep Sunday and Monday clear. He doesn’t have practice on Sundays and Monday he scheduled a late one. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going. It ended up being the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. Picture above. After getting a little lost on the way there, we approached the hotel which was BEAUtiful!!!

We had such a great time on our last vacation as a single couple without child. :) We shopped in downtown Sonoma, did some wine tasting, ate good food and we had such a romantic hotel room! We even got to got in our morning walk Monday morning around Sonoma. The best part of the hotel room was the fireplace. They would bring up these “bags of wood” and all you had to do was put the bag in the fire, light a match and it became a perfect crackling fire! Mike was so cute, everytime he made the fire, he was so proud of it like he had chopped the wood and made the fire himself. :)
There was also a really nice spa at the hotel. We didn’t get any spa treatments though. We had planned on getting a couples massage, but for almost $400, I couldn’t do it in good conscience. (sp?) Hey, we need a rocking chair for the baby’s room! I do love my husband so much for being so thoughtful and taking me on this trip.

Here's the token pic of Mike and I taking a picture of ourselves because we don't want to ask anyone to do it for us...


Fireplace in our room with "bag of fire"...


Our room

So strange to think that our next vacation together will either involve a babysitter or little Luke himself!

Warrior Game

Last night Mike, me and some friends went to the Warrior Game. They played the Chicago Bulls and lost. Oh well, we had fun. We sat in the Oracle box (a dad on Mike’s team works for Oracle). When we walked in we saw that we had a great view of the game. We were straight up from the Vistor’s bench. The box was also stocked full of food: caesar salad, chicken and pesto pitas, steak sandwiches, sausage and peppers, popcorn, chips etc etc. A pregnant girls dream!Not to mention a fridge full of bud lights, wine, sodas and water bottles. Her husbands dream! As Mike said this morning on the phone “It was great, I enjoyed some bud lights and Meg had some ice cold waters.” Oh well, I am getting used to being the designated driver. And I wake up each morning feeling chipper (yes I said it) and ready for our walk. They also had a dessert cart which I really had to use self restraint to keep myself from. Mmmm there was so much good stuff on that thing (check out someone's chocolate cake in the first picture). Everyone was taking shots of Bailey’s from shot glasses made out of chocolate. There is really no better way to watch a game. Now I am spoiled, I told Mike that from now on that’s the only way I will go to a NBA game. Another plus to the game is that Kim got to come! She and the girls are in town until Monday. Here are some more pics from the game.
PS I’ll be blogging again soon I’m sure because…I have the next 9 days off!!! Yeah, Thanksgiving Break for a teacher! Mike said tomorrow we are taking a trip somewhere (a babymoon?) but he won’t tell me where. I am begging him to tell me but I really do like being surprised.

Mike, Ed and Pat

Mike and Kim

Baby Shower

Last Sunday Alix, my mom, Julie and TJ hosted a baby shower for me. It was so much fun! We had lots of good appetizers, amazing cupcakes, great friends and family! I can’t believe in about two months little Luke will be here. His nursery is almost ready and everyone that came to the shower were so generous! He already has so much. Thanks to everyone that came and were a part of the shower, it’s something I will never forget! Most of all, thanks to Alix, Mom, Julie and TJ for working so hard to make it such a great day. Here are some pics from the shower.

It seems like just yesterday we were having a shower for Alix for this little one. Now she is sitting up in her Bumbo chair. I love her!

The girls made a crossword puzzle about babies, Luke and us. Whoever completed it the fastest was the winner. Ashley won!

Mmmmm these are the cupcakes Alix got. So yummy!!!

Opening presents!

Me and Luke! (this is becoming our signature pose: see my last two blogs)

Date Night!

Well, last night marked the last night before basketball season starts. To celebrate Mike and I had our “final dinner” before he will be gone every week night for practice and Friday nights for games. We still have Friday nights after games and all of Saturday nights but I think we just wanted an excuse to go out for a nice, romantic dinner. Seriously though, I am really excited for basketball season to start, I love the excitement of game days and watching Mike coach and get so into the games. It’s also great sitting in the stands and getting a chance to socialize with people I rarely see who come to Mike’s games to support him. This year, Mike’s school (Dougherty Valley High) finally has freshman, sophomores and juniors so they are going to have a Varsity team. It’s going to be tough playing against a bunch of schools that have seniors, but Mike is always up for a challenge.


Forbes Mill Steakhouse was really nice. We had never been there before, but Mike’s brother recommended it and we will definitely go there again. Mike got the Filet and veggies and I got the Chicken Penne and Vegetable Pasta. It was so good.

Then we came home and took some pics of ourselves marking the occasion. We need a tripod or automatic timer or something because these kinds of pics just aren’t cutting it. Here they are though.

Luke's getting bigger! (and so is mommy!)

We decided to watch Hoosiers after that to get us really in the basketball spirit. I had never seen this movie before but it is one of Mike’s favorites. It was really good and motivational.

It sure did the trick of getting Mike out of bed and out the door this morning by 7 to start bball tryouts! (on our day off by the way!)

I will keep the blog updated with Mike’s schedule and record this year, hopefully everyone can come out to a game and keep me company in the stands!

B.U.M.P (Baby Under Manufacturing Process)

(don't I look really excited to be taking this picture?)

Okay, I feel very narcissistic putting up individual pics of me, but there are a couple reasons for it. One, I have not blogged in 6 weeks and people are getting annoyed, and two, I have had many requests for “baby bump” pics.
Each month, since month one, Mike has been taking pictures of me in the same sports bra and shorts from the side to see the growing bump. First few months you could see small changes, I don’t by any means love these pics, but I dealt with them, they were okay. Then, last week we take the 6 month pic… Mike shows me it and I was SHOCKED! I couldn’t believe that it was me (I know, I see myself everyday, but seeing it in picture form is way different and I must say a little scary). Didn’t want to put those up on the blog so we decided to take a couple pics of me with clothes covering my stomach. Much more tolerable than the bare belly pics.


The good thing about this expanding belly is that it means Baby Luke (as Julie calls him- I love it!) is getting bigger and bigger and growing into a healthy baby so I have to say I am happy about it. I cant believe how much I love him already. He kicks me all the time, especially when I am in the car by myself belting out “Womanizer” by Britney Spears. He must love her music just like his mommy or maybe he just loves to dance like his daddy! This morning Mike wouldn’t get out of bed and Luke was kicking, I was bored and I found myself wishing he would be out already so I could play with him. Okay, I am rambling…I hear that's normal
I also wanted to include my awesome husband (who spent the whole day cleaning out the babies closet with me!). He’s enjoying some frozen yogurt from the Yogurt Shack. My one craving during pregnancy is vanilla frozen yogurt with reese’s peanut butter cups on top. I probably have one at least once a week. Here’s Mike enjoying one of his own (while not being able to keep his eyes off the world series that's on TV)

What we have been waiting for...

Our 20 week ultrasound! And it's definitely a boy! And a very cute boy. It was such a great day. Mike and I both had to leave school a little bit early for the appointment. We got there and the ultrasound tech had to do lots of measurements. Our boy was so active. It took her a lot longer than usual to get his heartbeat because everytime she would get it, he would move. I didn't mind, it meant I could watch him longer. Then, Mike got to come in. She announced that he was definitely a boy (I mean look at the picture below!) and we got some other good pictures too. He was so cute and was moving around so much. (Click on pics if you want to see them bigger)



Look at that strong backbone!


Can't wait to meet this little one that has suddenly made me not fit into any of my old pants! Oh well, he is totally worth it!

Wine Tasting!

Haven't updated the blog in a while. A few weekends ago, Mike, me, Julie, Devin, TJ and Shane went up to Napa to go wine tasting. You may think for someone who is pregnant this might not be so fun...so the opposite! I had so much fun! We went to about 5 different wineries (the joy of having a designated driver while wine tasting!), ate lunch at a cute and very popular little deli, and enjoyed a gourmet meal. Napa is a beautiful place, as you can see by all the pictures. Can't wait to do it again!
Here's a pic of me and my handsome husband

The boys!

The designated driver. I loved it...I got to drive Devin's Tahoe!

The whole gang...fun fun!

For more details on the event, check Julie's blog. :)