Muchas Gracias!

Thursday


Day 1 of a 4 day weekend, which couldn't have come soon enough as far as I'm concerned.  I was mroe than ready for a few days off to get rested up after a busy couple of months.

I had dessert duty again this Thanksgiving, as I'm assuming that's all I'm trusted with.  Fine by me.  I made an apple/pear pie and even got fancy with the pie crust.  Guess I forgot to take a picture of it so you'll just have to trust me.

My uncle Walt had knee replacement surgery a week and a half ago so my cousins Lucinda and Denise were in town to visit and help out with him.  As such, we got to spend Thanksgiving with them and my Aunt Annette.

After a wonderful meal, we all got a little silly with fuzz covered wires, handed out by Siena.  Clearly, it doesn't take much to entertain us!

Clearly, these 3 needed a stress reliever...

Mason tries out the fuzz glasses Papa Ron fashioned.

Siena liked these too!

Luis takes a break from football - and models his Thanksgiving sweater vest - a tradition in our family.  You'll note Mason is wearing his too.

Me - as taken by Siena.

Lucinda sculpts a fish.

Aunt Annette showing us her goofy side.

"M"!  And doesn't he look handsome in his sweater vest.  No, I am not biased.

Aaawwww, shucks Papa Ron.

After the festivities died down at my parents house, we moved the party to the Cruzes house for a couple hours to spend the holiday with Luis' family as well.  All in all, it was a very nice day.

Friday


The goal for this day was laziness.  And mission accomplished.  Despite my best efforts however, I did manage to clean up the house and get out all of the Christmas decorations, save for the tree.

Mason spent the entire day, heck weekend, playing his new Wii game - Star Wars Lego.  Even Luis likes it.

Saturday


Siena had her first official play date.  I took her over to her friend Alyssa's house.  Siena and Alyssa know each other from dance class.  They seemed to click early on as friends and enjoy spending time together.  The girls practiced their recital dance and played while Alyssa's mom and I watched the Civil War game.  It was a lot of fun.

We met my parents, Annette, Lucinda, and Denise for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.  Great food and even better company!

At dinner, my dad shared with us the latest "Bessie" story and being the dutiful Granddaughter I am, I must share it here as well.  On Friday, Joanne and Mary Lou were visiting with Bessie.  Mary Lou handed Bessie her pills to take for the day.  Bessie had her pills in hand and went into her bedroom to collect her hearing aids.  She then returned to the kitchen with the pills in her right hand and hearing aids in the left.  She shifted the pills to her left hand so she could hold her glass of water.  In one felled swoop, she downed all of her pills.  And, yup, her hearing aids as well.  She did note that her pills went down a little rougher than usual.

Sunday


We got the Christmas tree put up today, which necessitated a trip to Fred Meyer to replace 2 strands of lights that decided to burn out.  The kids helped decorate the tree and it looks like a cross between gorgeous and Charlie Brown's tree.  We love it.

A Frozen Chickenhawk

I'm waayyyy behind in blogging.  It's just been that hectic of a month though.  Between working late for quarter end and busy weekends, I haven't had much of a chance to post an update.

The kids had a good Halloween.  The Halloween pictures are on my phone and I'll eventually get around to sharing them.  We're still working our way through their candy haul.

We utilized my birthday gift on Sunday - tickets to the Seahawks game.  Luis and I haven't been to a Seahawks game since they were still playing at the Kingdome.  That was a horrible game.  The Seahawks had a good record going into the game but Kitna threw 5 picks leading them to a slide that would last for the rest of the season.  We were hoping for a better outcome this time, even though the Hawks aren't especially good this year.

Mason wanted to go to the game.  He's gotten more into football this year after watching cousin Travis each Friday night.  Speaking of which, Tualatin pulled out an amazing playoff victory on Friday though they take on a tough opponent in Jesuit this week.  But I digress.  Siena took a pass on the game and spent the day with Yaya and Papa Ron.

Anyway, we enjoyed a hot dog before going into the stadium.

4 tickets - we also took Jose up with us.  His comment to Luis yesterday was that next time, we should go to a game earlier in the season.  Yes, it was a bit chilly.

The fan zone on the way inside the stadium.

Mason thought this was pretty cool.

In honor of memorial day, there was a card stunt during the National Anthem.  The boys are practicing for the big moment.

Mason and I.  Not sure why I look like Rudolphs aunt...must be the cold.

Introducing the team!

Card stunt.

The Seahawks did their very best to lose this game but somehow, in the end, pulled out a victory.  We had lots of fun.  It's such a different experience being at the game as opposed to watching it on tv.

Now it's back to the grind.