Santa, Squash and a Sleeping Baby

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I certainly did. The entire year has been a year of change not only for me but for my whole family and we have a lot to be thankful for. We all took a moment this year to reflect and give thanks.

George and I had dinner with my family this year. My kids were there along with my brothers, my neice and my nephew, and my parents, of course. We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal and we played cards before and after dinner, like we usually do. It was a really nice day.

Before we arrived at my parents house, George and I went to visit his brother Ray and his family. I got to meet George's nephew Keith, who is 21 and a whole lot of fun. He is a radiology student and also works at the local grocery store. I think he and I are going to get along just fine.

Last Monday my neice Crystal had a baby girl. She was 6 days early but the baby weighed in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. and she is 21 inches long so I would say she was more than ready to make her debut. She is a perfect little girl, so pretty and just precious. She slept the entire time she was there. Crystal had a very easy delivery which is unusual for a 1st baby. Momma and baby are doing just fine.

Things have been very busy at work but I am not complaining. With Christmas around the corner, I can use the extra money overtime brings. I want to cut back a bit on Christmas gifts this year so we are going to do a Yankee Swap with George's family and a Secret Santa with mine. We drew names for the Secret Santa after dinner on Thanksgiving and I think I am going to have a little trouble finding the right gift for the person I chose. But I have my thinking cap on and hopefully I can come up with something soon.

Sara and Brad are all settled into their new apartment. I am hoping to get down there next weekend to see their new digs. Eric and Jessie are not quite as happy with their situation but they are making the best of it. They were supposed to move into Jessie's parents house and live there rent free while Jessie's parents were living in Florida (that's where they worked). They were only planning to come home a weekend every other month or so to visit, pay bills and generally check on the house. But as soon as Eric and Jessie gave up their apartment and started moving in, Jessie's parents both got laid off from their jobs and are now up here in New Hampshire, hanging around the house 24/7 while they wait for another contract. It could be a matter or a week or several months before they get work and having them around all the time in what was supposed to be Eric and Jessie's 'house' is taking it's toll. They have zero privacy and are now thinking that living there rent free isn't such a good trade off. Besides, the parents are really pushing now for them to get married and neither one of them is in any way ready for that. Jessie is also concerned that if they don't conform to what her parents want, they will also pull the tuition money that they have offered for Jessie to continue with college. Of course that might happen anyway if they can't find work soon, but I can certainly understand where she is coming from. I have left the offer of them renting my house on the table for now. But after the holidays, if they haven't decided, then I am going to put my house on the market for sale.

Other than that, things are rosey. Hunter and I have settled into our new home quite well and we're both very happy.

I've added a few pictures taken at Thanksgiving.
Have a wonderful weekend!

My nephew Sean holding his new neice


My brother Dave, Jessie and Eric



Crystal and Kendall


Sara holding Kendall

Kendall

It's ME

It's freeking cold outside, that's all I can say. Two weeks ago it was in the 60's during the day and now we have barely made it out of the 30's. I guess I better get my winter stuff out, cos I don't think it's going to warm up until April.
Just three days of work next week and we are going to have a nice long weekend. I can hardly wait. I've been working 10+ hrs a day the last few weeks and I swore I was going to back off on the hours once I moved up here. I feel like a mole, go to work in the dark and come home in the dark.
Thursday we are having brunch with George's brother Ray and Ray's wife Diane. I imagine Diane's family will be there too.
Then we are going over to my parents house for dinner later in the afternoon. I am looking forward to seeing my kids and my parents. My neice is about ready to have her baby too. Maybe she will have it in time for Thanksgiving? If not definitely I will be a great aunt by Christmas.
Sara and Brad have moved into a new apartment and they love it. Living with Brad's family took it's toll on Sara and I can see a difference in her already. She is much more chipper when we talk on the phone and she just seems happier. Living with an alcoholic is very difficult and Brad's mother needs help but her husband and her sister are both enablers so she doesn't realize she has a problem.
Eric and Jessie have also moved but they have moved in with Jessie's parents. Long story but I suspect it won't last long. I'll talk more about that later...I really have to get dressed because we are heading back down to my other house to finish up cleaning it out.
George will be back any minute and I haven't done a darn thing. LOL
Hugs!!

Will You Be My Loving Wife?

That was the question proposed to me by George last Sunday evening in front of all of our kids and the 2 grandkids. We invited all of them over for what I thought was to celebrate a few of the birthdays that had passed by, Eric and Jessie's last month and Patrick's this month. Little did I know it was going to be a surprise engagement party. That George is pretty sneaky because he had it all planned with all of the kids and they all knew about it for weeks. I was the only one who had no clue and never caught on until the cake was set down in front of me with the ring on top of it. I've enclosed a few pictures of the event for you all to see. And of course, I said YES!! :-)







Brad and Alex


Sara and Lissa


Hunter, Jon and Lissa


Nicole, Matt and Hunter


George and Alex


Things are going very well here and Hunter and I are settling in quite well. Today we went back down to my old house and put as much stuff in the truck as we could fit and brought it all up here. I have been unpacking and rearranging for the last hour but I am not sure where else I can put all this stuff. The spare bedrooms are getting filled up pretty fast. I think George is going to have to start cleaning out the basement to make room for the rest of my things.

Sara and Brad are in the process of moving into a new apartment so a good majority of her things are finally gone. I think we will only have to make a few more trips and my house will be empty. One of George's friends is going to take my living room furniture off of my hands and put it in his "man cave". He already took my dining room table and chairs for his weekly poker games. Then all I will have left will be my bedroom set and I can probaly sell that for cheap if I put an add in the paper or something. Once the house is empty and cleaned up, it will go on the market but I don't expect to sell it until spring. Then again, you never know.

I will try to catch up on everyone's blogs within the next few days. I think I am settled enough to get back into a routine but it certainly isn't a 'normal' one for me. However, all is well and I couldn't be happier.
Hope you are all great!
Hugs

Things Are Changing Like The Leaves

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...just trying to settle into my new home. So far so good...still have a lot of work ahead of me at the 'old' house but we're working on it.
Will post a real post soon, I promise. Time is short and I haven't got my own PC up and running just yet. Hope all of you are doing well!
Me