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!