Thanks!

I'm headed to San Diego for a Glassey family reunion and I can't wait - it's going to be a lot of fun! We're jamming as much as we can into a short stay, including DISNEYLAND, Thanksgiving dinner, and staying at a nice hotel for some pampering. Needless to say, I'll be away from the computer for a few days, so I wanted to make sure I shared all the things I am thankful for. This list is in no particular order.

* Conor - Let's not lie, this man has to be pretty special if I'm willing to move across the country for him. Well, he is. Conor is the best, and I am so fortunate to have him as my hub rub (do I need to remind you of Twilight and New Moon...)

* The Fam Damily - Mom, Dad, Jean, Kathy, Ann, Bill, Megan, Jon, Jen, Madi, Livi, Gabi, Denise, Ali, Pax, Greg, Kari, Max - they're all pretty awesome in my book. I can't wait to see them all at Christmas.

* Friendship - I've got the greatest. They make me smile, laugh, and make me miss home like crazy! A circle is round. It has NO end. That's how long I want to be your friend.

* Coca Cola - I feel like my life would end without it. Not kidding.

* Ice Cream - Yum.

* The internet - I have oodles of time now, and I somehow seem to waste a lot of it on this new fandangled contraption called the internet. You guys should look into it, I think it's going to change the world.

* The Pioneer Woman - I love her, her cookbook, and her country life. I feel like we'd be best friends if she knew me (although, I think that of most celebrities - Ellen Degeneres, Rob Dyrdek, Andy Samberg.)

* A job - And a job I can tolerate, at that! I may miss my unemployed days now, but I don't miss not having a paycheck, so I think I'll keep it for a while. I need to get a sidebar soon for my blog with all the things I hear the kids say. Yesterday I was teaching a lesson on space, and a kid asked where the Universe ended. I called on another student and she shared that it ended at Heaven, when we can no longer breath and we die. Interesting.

* My hot pink DSi - Merry Christmas to me - thanks Conor!

* Pedicures - I haven't had one in a while. The last time I did in NC, she BUTCHERED my big toe and I think it's because I opted for the cheaper pedi. Geesh. I can't wait to go home to my Magic Nail!

* Baked Goods - I like baking. I like eating. I like eating my baking. I like other people eating my baking and enjoying said baking.

* Zip up hoodies - they complete my wardrobe.

Puppy kisses, halloween candy, the Christmas spirit, reality TV, Guitar Hero, the library, when Conor does the dishes, the Orville Redenbacher popcorn machine, my former 4th graders and McAuliffe fam, American Eagle underwear, hair things, magnets, Gary the Go-Kart, southern food, ceiling fans. Love, life, friendship, laughter, and new adventures!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and keep in mind what it's all about. I'll tell Mickey you said hi.

Sunday

Quick Sunday recap: Conor and I slept in, which was amazing, and headed to the Durham Art Walk. We didn't stay long, but we wanted to go support the local Durham artists. We may not have supported them financially, but we supported them emotionally. We saw some beautiful paintings, carvings, sculptings, and craft projects. It always makes me want to go home and do something crafty. Then I go home, and I remember that I'm not crafty...

The highlight of the day was going to the Carolina Theatre to see that ROCKAPELLA will be coming to Durham soon. Jealous? Thought so.



If you don't know who Rockapella is, then we can't be friends so go ahead and stop reading my blog. Seriously. Carmen Sandiego anyone??? I am currently looking for Carmen in this photo, in case my subtle humor didn't connect there...

After the Art Walk, we came home and did laundry, I made homemade lasagna (yum) and we watched Amazing Race. I love Sundays, so relaxing.

Saturday

Saturday morning Conor dropped me off at a local MEGAchurch because I took on an extra shift at work - it was close to my house, and I was only working a couple of hours. Conor went and got his hair cut, and had our battery checked out, because I killed the battery the other day. I'm blond, don't worry about it. We also came home to a leak in our kitchen, which was a bit of a panic. It turns out that when we turned the heat on the other day, we were defrosting our frozen air conditioner! Ha! We were out of freon, so it wasn't too bad of a fix. After that, we were ready to embark on our AWESOME afternoon!

Conor's friend Jeff is just an all-around awesome dude. He's from Canby, Oregon (home of my favorite ferry - you could literally throw a rock across the pond that the ferry takes you across!) and is a huge Mariners fan like Conor, which is how they met. Jeff is working out here in NC, so he's been showing us some great local activities to help us get to know the area. This weekend jaunt was a trip to the Carolina Rollergirls, and it was fantastic!

We picked up Jeff, his friend Daniel, and his roommate Saskia, and headed to the arena. I've watched a few rollergirl events on TV, and I saw the movie Whip It!, but I had no idea what I was in for. Right when we walked in the door (which was manned by the local church, btw), a lady asked if two of us would like to participate in the halftime dance competition - that lady had NO idea what she was asking! Jeff and Saskia definitely said yes! More on that later.

When you walk in the door, you can either sit in the bleachers, or you can pull up a seat on the floor close to the action. Conor and I brought folding chairs, so we sat right next to the action. I could literally high five any of the players! The bout soon started, and I immediately couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face - it was so fun! It's hard to explain exactly how the bouts work, but if you're interested, go to their website and read about it - it's a bit confusing, but very cool.




If you know anything about Derby, you know that your rollergirl name is very important - here were a few of my favorites: Holly Wanna Crackya, Trudy Struction, Shirley Temper, Kama Suture, Billie Brawliday (who broke her wrist during the game!), Beth Row, Penelope Bruz (Jeff's friend!), and that is just some of the names from the Carolina teams! My favorite on the opposing teams was CU Afterclass - she really is a teacher in Georgia, and she was awesome! Even the refs get into it, check out this guys tights!



During the game, there was a super fan that had on skates, painted his face, had a big banner, and passed out free shirts and frisbees to screaming fans. At one point, Jeff got up to say hi to a friend, and the skull man threw a shirt that literally would have landed in Jeff's lap. Instead, the guy about 5 feet away jumped up and LEAPT through the air for his free t-shirt! I wanted it, but that guy definitely deserved it! This video was taken by people sitting pretty close to us - I have no idea who shot it, but Jeff sent it to Conor, so here it is - you can see Conor a bit if you look closely. Look for the jumper about 1 minute in, you can't miss him...



The girls get pretty brutal, and although each jam is 2 minutes or less, each one is action packed! Girls definitely don't mind breaking the rules and really smashing a girl, just to help the team - I swear, all I saw all night was girls going to "The Slammer," the penalty box!

Carolina lost the first game, and before the second game could start, we needed to have a little halftime dance competition starring Jeff, Saskia, and a sea of losers! Saskia really did give it her all, but Jeff killed it. I couldn't stop laughing - it's an understatement to say that Jeff is not shy. The competition consisted of three dance styles: the chicken dance, Thriller, and freestyle. Jeff brought some tangerines to eat during the rollergirl event, but ended up using it as a prop for his dances - it acted as a chicken egg, and was twirled around to catch the eyes of all of his adoring fans in the stands, and turned into juice (on accident) during his freestyle routine. Jeff in these pictures is wearing gray pants and a black hoodie - click on the pictures to make them bigger, I know they're far away. I was mostly laughing too hard to try and take better pictures.


Jeff clucking like a chicken.


Jeff's attempt at being a Thriller zombie.


Jeff during his freestyle event - I wasn't able to take a picture of what really made people love Jeff - his dashing rendition of the worm. Hence the juice - he forgot it was in his pocket!

After all the dancing, the crowd was given a chance to applaud for their favorite dancer. I can't even express to you the landslide that Jeff won by - I'm almost embarrassed for everyone else that tried. And here's the icing on the cake: Jeff won a year's worth of free coffee, which would be an awesome prize for the average person! Not so much for Jeff - he's completely allergic!!!


Well done Jeff, you deserved it!

The next bout was between the other Carolina team, and the Steel City Rollers from PA. This Carolina team was much more exciting to watch, and the game was really exciting - the Carolina team won by ONE POINT during the very last jam, and Holly Wanna Crackya rocked and scored enough to win!






After the last bout, the players skated around the track to high five, and everyone was very excited - what a great way to end the game!




I need every person I know to PROMISE me that they will go to a local rollergirl game. It was an absolute blast, it's appropriate for all ages, and I promise you won't be disappointed. Thanks to Jeff for introducing me to the Carolina Rollergirls - I can't wait to go to more bouts in the future.

Friday

Conor is a trooper. Honestly. He should probably win a medal for husband of the year! Conor watched Twilight with me last weekend, in preparation for seeing New Moon this weekend! Hey, he's the one that moved me out to NC away from people that would have WANTED to see it with me! He can still have the award, I guess.

Friday was a crazy day at work with the critters, and when I got home cooking was not high on my list of things I wanted to do... We went to dinner at Moe's, which is kind of similar to Acapulco Fresh or Taco Del Mar. Not as good, but a good enough substitute. Then we walked around a strip mall for a bit before heading to the theater. Oh man.

We decided not to go to Southpoint Mall to see the movie, because I thought the teeny-boppers would be there in full force. We went to a much smaller theater, and the crowd we were with was actually in their mid-20's for the most part. We sat in the back, and started the people watching.

Highlights: the girl sitting next to us was probably about 17, and came to the movie by herself. I kept waiting for her friends to show, but she came by herself, and she was not shy about expressing her feelings about what was happening on screen. The first time the crowd sees Jacob with his shirt off, all the girls hooted and hollered. Not my friend next to me. "Oh hell no, you guys crazy? He ugly." She just kept saying things here and there that made Conor and I giggle every time. Another highlight happened after the movie. 2 girls in front of us stood up to stretch after the movie, and the one friend turned to the other and said "Man, that was WAY better the second time!" The movie had been open for LESS THAN A DAY! Good stuff.

So, now for my review. I love these books. When Conor moved to NC last year, I came home a bit bummed out - my mom was out of town so the house was empty, school was starting in one week and I was incredibly busy, and the Con-Man was already busy with work, so I started reading the books. I finished all 4 in two weeks (reminder - week before school started, and first week of school) and couldn't wait to see the movies (although, I wasn't in love with all the casting choices.) I honestly think that people that have not read the books, shouldn't even bother watching the movies. The acting is atrocious, but I could care less. I loved that movie because it reminded me of everything I loved about the books. The same thing goes for New Moon. The acting is better than in the first one, and the story line is a bit more exciting, and I loved every minute of it. I can't wait to see it with Caroline when I get home!! Woot woot!

Adaptation Station

One of the programs I teach with High Tough High Tech is called "Adaptation Station." It's a 4th grade program that teaches the kids about how animals adapt to their different habitats, and we bring some animals to the classroom to show them. In order to bring the program to the school the net day, it requires me to bring the animals to my apartment so they're not stuck in the car all night. Last night was the first night I got to have the animals, and things went well. Here are the animals I bring to the classroom:


Fire-Bellied Toads: These aren't great pictures, but Bert & Ernie are really cool - they're backs blend in with the swamp around them, and their bellies ward off predators by looking poisonous.




American Eel: Neil the Eel has a broken jaw, so he can't go back in the wild, nor can he bite. He's also not an electric eel, so this is the only animal the kids get to "pet" - he's pretty slimy and gross (I didn't take this picture...)



Red-eyed Tree Frog: This guy is really cool, and almost got out of the cage when I had him last night. They sleep during the day, so I'm pretty sure he hates us because the kids keep him awake all day.





Tarantula: I can't remember exactly what kind of tarantula Betty is, but who cares - it's a freaking tarantula. There is a scientist at the lab that will pick up the tarantula, and I just don't think I can find it in my heart to be friends with her. She's fine in the cage, but we'll leave her just right there...



Emperor Scorpion: Yup, I said scorpion. I have a story to share, and it made my life complete. I'll share at the end of the blog post. Just keep in mind that we bring fake scorpions with us to show their body structure a bit better. The scorpion absolutely gives me the heebs. There is something about him that makes my heart hurt a bit - maybe it's because he glows neon green when you put a UV light over him. Shady...





Chameleon: Buddy the Chameleon is my favorite - he is so cool! He has two horns on the top of his head, his tail wraps up into a perfect spiral, his eyes can move whatever way they want on the side of his head, and his hands are so cool! Today when I walked around and showed the kids, he started out a dark greenish/brownish color, and by the time I had passed him around completely, he turned a bright green. Cool!




So, Conor helped me bring in the critters, and I was excited to show him. He wasn't very excited about the scorpion or the tarantula, but neither was I. Conor walked to the door to shut it and lock it, and as he walked back in the room, I threw the plastic scorpion at him and he screamed like a little girl!!! I would give my pinky finger to have had that on tape - it was priceless. I fell over I was laughing so hard. Poor Conor. It's about time I got him though - he always scares me!

Happy Meredith Day!

November 11th is a day that people around the world celebrate the Armed Forces for their past, present, or future service. I always enjoyed listening to my students tell about their parents and grandparents that either served, or are serving their country. We are very lucky to have people willing to serve our country, because I know that I'm not strong enough to do it.

Although I am extremely thankful for veterans, I have someone else I like to honor on this day - my sister Meredith. She died 14 years ago today, and it's still just as hard as the day it happened, but I try my best to always remember all the ways she made me laugh, and the good times we had together. I was only 12 when she passed away from cancer, so I don't have a lot of memories of her, but I love hearing stories of her told by my family. Like the time her and my sister Denise were fighting, and Denise gave her a hematoma (Denise still claims that at the time, she deserved it!) - we always joke about that one. I remember her and Denise having Andre Agassi and Simon LeBon posters on their wall. Ooh, and Brian Bosworth, she also had posters of The Boz on her wall. Mere had a great sense of humor, and I have great memories of her laugh.

She was a phenomenal artist, and she was very crafty. Mere loved christmas, and she always made pom-pom bows for her gifts. They're now known as Mere bows in our house. She always made homemade cards, and I remember always asking her to draw Mickey Mouse for me! When I was getting teased at school one year, Mere and her husband Ron bought me a book called The Hallowiener by Dav Pilkey - it's still one of my favorite books, and it's a great book about bullying.

I think Mere got sick when I was about 8 or 9 years old, but I honestly don't remember because she was always so strong. Mere never complained, and even though she lost her hair and had to wear a wig, she always made the best of it, making jokes so people wouldn't feel uncomfortable. Her last Christmas card was a picture of her on the front with Ronnie pulling her wig off her head and she had a big wide, open mouthed smile. The inside said "Have a hairy Christmas".

I miss Mere and think of her all the time. I usually smile, because I see something and it makes me think of her. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family that I love so much, and we continue to keep Mere's spirit alive by thinking of her and sharing her stories. I LOVE YOU MERE!

Pumpkins

Whenever I think of October, the first thing I think of is pumpkins. I love carving them, I LOVE pumpkin bread, and I love pumpkin seeds. Come to think of it, pumpkins remind me of November as well. Mmmm... pumpkin pie...

Like I said in my last post, when the fam was all up, we made our way to the muddiest, stankiest, crowdiest pumpkin patch we could find! Luckily it was close, so at least we didn't drive too far to get stuck in the mud. The pumpkin patch is always a great place to get pictures - I love the bright orange background and a cute little niece or nephew in the picture.


At the beginning of the day, Paxton was doing great - Ali is always a little cheeser when she's in front of the camera. She hasn't quite figured out the normal smile to use when taking pictures. However, the sun kept getting in Pax's eyes, and pretty soon he was totally done taking pictures.






Ali was walking in the mud, and all of a sudden I see her laughing and running toward me - her shoe totally got stuck in the mud, so we had to take her sock off and she sported this look the rest of the time.


We're pretty darn cute.


I love these girls, and they put up with me always taking these kinds of over the shoulder pictures, even though their mom has an awesome camera!


I just sat here for about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to type the "cat call whistle" sound. Impossible. Please do that out loud while looking at this picture of this foxy lady and I.

The grandparents wanted a chance to take a picture with all the grandkids at the Patch (we missed you Max!) and I couldn't choose the best one. Check out this slideshow, and please take note of a few things - Paxton's lack of smile and general meltdown, and Madi's awesome poses! Actually, all the kids are hilarious, check it out:



Once we were finished with the Pumpkin Patch, and after our crazy ordeal of getting in the car and out of the pumpkin patch, we headed home. Later that night, we carved our pumpkins in the family room. The 3 youngest kids (Gabi, Pax and Ali) were so fun to watch - they really only needed some help carving the top of their pumpkin, and taking out the remaining guts, but they carved all of their pumpkins on their own!


Ali was a little excited about the whole process - she loved getting her hands dirty!


Like mother, like daughter... :)


My pumpkin took forever to carve, since I decided to polka dot the entire thing. I broke 2 melon ballers in the process, thank goodness my mom had 3!


Our pumpkins turned out awesome!


Denise's pumpkin - she did another carving on the other side of a happy face, I don't know how I missed getting that picture - sorry Nisers.


Ali had the tiniest pumpkin, and it had the most seeds in side of it. How cute is that crooked smile?!?


Paxton finished his pumpkin pretty early, and didn't like that the eye on the right was smaller than the eye on the left, so he fixed it. He loved it, even though the eye on the right ended up being much bigger than the eye on the left!


Jon was a trooper and was the roving pumpkin helper - any of the kids that needed a hand, Jon was there! He didn't get to pick out his pumpkin since he wasn't at the patch, but Jen and Livi got him a good one.


Jen got a warty pumpkin from the stand in the front of the patch. Apparently they needed a sign that said "Thick pumpkins that no knife can penetrate!" Holy cow, it was so hard to carve hers.


Madi used a template out of the book, and it was so hard - she and I were the last two carving, and I think she wanted to switch halfway through, if she could have! I still think it turned out good!


Mom & Jean bought a pumpkin, but neither really felt like carving, so Madi drew the Mickey Mouse on there, and Jon carved it when he was done with his pumpkin.


Livi had an awesome pumpkin - long and skinny, just like Liv! Loved the face!


Gabi got an awesome green pumpkin, and her carved face was super cute. I don't think her pumpkin lasted very long - her lid started to rot the next day!


The melon baller killer! I tried to get inspired by the big zit on the top of my pumpkin, but when I looked in Jen's Martha Stewart magazine, I loved the polka dots!

When I got home from Washington, Conor and I went out to get some pumpkins. We were hoping that if we had pumpkins in front of our doorstep, that kids in our complex would be more likely to trick-or-treat at our door! Guess how well that worked - ZERO trick-or-treaters...

Anyway, our pumpkins turned out well. Conor loves to do faces on his, so he got straight to work once his was de-gunked. I wanted to do a Seahawks pumpkin to represent, but the template was a little too hard for me. Then I remembered the Office episode from the day before, and couldn't pass up making a pumpkin inspired by Jim Halpert's Halloween costume.

What is wrong with me? No pictures?

I was lucky enough to be able to come home last week for a quick trip to see family and friends. There was no real reason for the trip, except for the fact that Conor was going to Florida for a week, and the thought of sitting on the couch by myself for a week was not high on my list of things to do... The best part is that I bought my ticket when I was still unemployed, but when I got the job, they were totally cool with the trip home.

I'm super lame though. I was having WAY too much fun, and I barely took any pictures! In fact, the only pictures I took were of the pumpkin patch and our finished product - but I'm saving those for another post.

I honestly can't believe everything I was able to cram into a week. I would have loved to have spent more quality time with everyone, but a quick visit was just what I needed.

Day One - Wednesday:
I arrived at 11:30 in the morning after a long day of flying... From start to finish, I was at airports or in the air for about 10 hours. But, it's always worth it! My mom picked me up, we ate a quick lunch, and went to the grocery store since they had just came back after a few weeks in Utah. I was still in NC mode, so mom and I took it easy - we played some cribbage, hand and foot, watched some Glee, ANTM, and SYTYCD. Sounds like a perfect night to me!

Day Two - Thursday:
I couldn't come home and NOT go see my students from last year! I headed up to McAuliffe to see my old teammates and my students from the last two years. It was SO good to see them, I really miss that place! I'm enjoying my job a lot, but there is nothing in the world like having your own group of kiddos to work with. It was also great to see my principal and my teammates from last year!

For dinner, I went out to restaurant in Woodinville with Bill & Ann. I love that when we walked back to our seats, there was a waiter there on his day off, and he totally knew who they were - oh Bilfy. You definitely don't ever forget him - hence the possibility for The Bilfy Show! I honestly think it's my ticket to fame. I can't imagine anyone in the world that wouldn't watch a show based around the life of Bill Glassey. He's comedy gold.

After dinner, I went over to Horia's house to hang, watch the Thursday night line-up, and to generally just catch up. We had a great time, although we did miss Caroline! I'm not sure it helped that we were taking pictures and sending them to her... Jon Feit even stopped by so I could give him a 2 month late b-day present - brass knuckles coffee mug. I don't normally buy Jon presents, but you can't pass up something like that!

Day Three - Friday:
Friday started out with a McDonald's lunch date with Susan. Sue is teaching first grade at Helen Keller Elementary in Kirkland this year (along with Bea Feit!) so I went out there to see her classroom, and catch up. Susie is an awesome teacher, it was fun to check in on her kids. She's got some really hilarious kids, so it's always good to have a face to go along with the stories she has.



After heading home and hanging with mom for a bit, I headed to El Toreador in Redmond (next to Palmers, what what!!!) to have dinner with Sonia, Martin, Peder & Macy! Sonia is hilarious. There's no specific story to share, but I love her and her crazy ways. (Although, Sonia, if you're reading this - I'm still mad that you didn't eat at dinner...) Peder & Macy are so ridiculously cute. And Martin was in town for his birthday and the bachelor party. Did you know that Peder and Martin share the same birthday? What a coincidence.

After dinner I headed home because my brother loves me and drove up the family from Wilsonville, OR to hang for the weekend (he actually had ulterior motives - the UW football game, but he still loves me.) We hung around and chatted for a bit, before we headed to bed.

Day Four - Saturday:
Remember when I said my brother loved me? Well, so does Jen, Madi, Livi, Gabi, Denise, Ali & Pax because they all got up really early to go over to my Dad's house for breakfast. We were all excited to see Dad & Kathy, but that was the best time for all of us, so we got up early and headed over there for eggs, pancakes, bacon, and fruit - yum! Thanks for breakfast Dad!

Jon and Dad headed to the Husky football game, while the rest of the clan met up with Mom & Jean and headed to the pumpkin patch! Did I mention everyone loves me? This was my idea, and boy do I wish we had just gone to QFC to pick out our pumpkins. Here are the pumpkin patch "highlights": Jen getting the minivan stuck in the mud, the mud being so deep Ali lost her shoe in it, Paxton melting down during pictures, Jean almost running down a man in the parking lot, paying an arm and a leg for pumpkins that were probably a third of the price at a grocery store, wheeling around that wheelbarrow through stinky mud, me sitting in the back of the car with the pumpkins because of the car fiasco. I feel like Jen is going to enjoy this part of the post most. Jen - I had great intentions!!!

After the pumpkin patch, we hung around the house, ate some delicious spaghetti and meatballs my mom made, and carved our pumpkins. It was so fun watching Ali, Pax and Gabi really do their pumpkins all by themselves this year - and their pumpkins were adorable (this is my ploy to get you to come back and read my next post later...)

Day Five - Sunday:
Sunday started with a trip to the Bothell Stake Center for a special church session that included a great talk from Elder Dallin H. Oaks, but I've got to say the highlight was Gabi. She sat on my lap for part of the service and I was bopping her a bit on my knee to bug her while she was writing in a Highlights book. She stood up for a second and noticed that the flower print at the bottom of my skirt was now completely imprinted onto my thigh. Her mission for the rest of church was to dance as much as she could on my knee to make the flower print imprint even more on my leg. The best part about it though, was that no one else knew what she was doing, so all you saw was Gabi bouncing around and dancing like a mad woman. It was hilarious. There would have been a video, but come on - how inappropriate to do that in church. Yeah. Yeah, that's why I don't have a video...

After church we headed home to have some lunch, make some caramel apples (so yummy), play a few rounds of Ticket To Ride, and then we had to say goodbye to the Wilsonville Beans. Denise hung around a little longer and we played some cribbage and hand and foot, then she took the twindividuals home and I pretty much went to bed. This is when I caught what I like to call "The Death." It hit me like a ton of bricks, holy cow. It was almost instantaneous - my throat started to get tighter, my lungs burned like I had just run a mile, and I was having crazy gross coughing. Awesome. Just what I wanted for my trip.

Day Six - Monday:
Monday is kind of a sick blur to me. But, I do remember playing some games with mom in the morning, napping, and sleeping. I did want to squeeze in a few more people, so I sucked it up and headed to Claim Jumper for a happy hour dinner with Corene, Mandy, Kacie, Jiggles, and a quick stop in from Peder. Mmm... pretzels with cheese dip...

I quickly headed out to Snoheteroish to see Gwen before bedtime, and to hang with my cousins. Rick & Anna Marie just recently had their baby Fiona, and she is too cute. I also got to hang with my cousin Andy and his awesome wife Jessica - we're trying to get her to love Washington as much as we do so we can suck her in and make her live here FOREVER!!! Their baby Charlie is also adorable, and I can't help but quote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer every time I see him. "I'm a Charlie in a box. Nobody wants a Charlie in the Box." He's way too cute to be a misfit toy.

I think Gwen may grow up to be a comedian. If you've never checked out Anna Marie's awesome blog, you have to just so you can read all the funny quote from Gwen on the side. When I was there, I gave her a present out of my closet. Just one of those things that I saw that I thought Gwen would like (plus, it was her birthday a while back, and I missed it!) When I showed up, I told Gwen "I have a present for you - it's a hand-me-down, do you care?" She thought about it for a second, then responded "I only care if it's a booger." Do you think she's Rick's daughter, holy cow.

After Gwen went to bed, we played two quick games, which I won both of, and then Andy & Jessica left. I hung for a little longer, then went home to crash. Stupid sickness.

Day Seven - Tuesday:
I had such great intentions for this day. But then the Death showed up and decided to ruin that all for me. What a jerk.

My mom and I ran to Seattle for her foot appointment, then we stopped by Northgate Mall. We were going to do some shopping, but we both weren't feeling well, and we decided we'd rather meet Denise in Redmond for lunch. We ate at Frankie's Pizza and I got the meatball sandwich. It was super good.

We headed home, did some napping, then I went to Ali & Pax's kindergarten class so they could show me around! They are so cute! I can't believe how quickly they're growing up. I think when I go home at Christmas, they'll both be taller than me and will be graduating from college. We took them back to Mom's, and just spent the night hanging out. Remember that Death I was telling you about? Well, it made me a little tired, and I didn't much feel like doing anything. Poor kids - I'm sure I was a lot of fun to hang out with. On the way out the door, Pax gave me a hug, but I had to chase Ali around the driveway for my hug from her. She was laughing the whole time, but apparently I hugged her too hard, so she wasn't very happy with me when she left.

I had such a great time at home, and it was sad to say goodbye to my Mom and everyone else. The flight home was atrocious. Poor Conor picked me up from the airport, and that damn Death followed me from WA to NC... Never fly when you're clogged up. My ears didn't pop for 2 days. 2 DAYS! It was all worth it though, I had a great time, and I can't wait to come home at Christmas!!! Get ready everyone, I've left Death behind me and I've got over 2 weeks to cram in as much as I can!