November Goodies

• My parents came up from Portland with my Aunt Kathe who was visiting from CA the weekend after my new niece Eliana was born. We had a fun weekend of going out to a delicious breakfast, playing games, and visiting.
  
• John's parents came from Chicago last weekend. We hadn't seen them since July, so it was a nice reunion with Grandpa and Grandma. We played lots of games....I taught them Rummikub this time (had bought it for $2 at a garage sale this summer because I remember playing it with my family growing up and liking it). We did some Christmas shopping, worked our groove things on the Dance Wii II we got for Sharon for her birthday, and had a great family get together with some of John's aunts, uncles and cousins at our place on Saturday night.
• I've been getting lots of Christmas shopping done online already. It is one of the best ways for me to do it what with little time away from three energetic kids, who would surely be peaking into the cart now if I was shopping with them.
  
• We are looking forward to time spent with my family for Thanksgiving this week.
  
• Oh, and today we got out first snow of 2010. It is pretty, but I'm somewhat of a Grinch when snow arrives because I don't like how impossible it is to get around when it happens. And, therefore, most of our plans get cancelled when it snows. But, the kids love it!
  

A Sleepless Night

On Halloween night my brother Michael and I were texting about our nights with the kids, and he mentioned, "So, are you ready to come watch my kids." I replied, "Why, is Emily having contractions?" You see Emily was pregnant and ready to give birth to their new baby soon. Michael texted back and said, "No, but you never know."

That night I decided to go to bed a little earlier, and I put my shoes by my bed, which I never do. It took quite some time for me to get to sleep that night, I was thinking about my sister in law, and feeling like this might be the night for her. I finally fell asleep praying for her. At 1:30 that morning, I was woken up by my cell phone ringing, and my brother was on the other side, saying it was in fact TIME!!!
I was instantly awake and drove the 15 mins over to their house. Emily was doing well, but they thought they should get going because her previous labor had been FAST. I prayed for them, and told my brother to keep me posted. I couldn't sleep a wink the rest of the night as I wondered what God would be blessing them with....a boy or a girl?!?! My brother texted me throughout the night with play by plays. Finally around 4, he texted and said Emilio was fully dilated. By 4:30, she gave birth to a beautiful baby GIRL.
I woke my nephew and niece up around 5 so I could take them back to my house before John had to leave for work at 5:30. My kids and their cousins had fun hanging out that morning before school. After we dropped Gabi off, we got to go meet sweet Eliana Marie for the first time. We went back that night with John, Gabi and the rest of us to say hi again and bring Michael and Emily dinner. It was a wonderful, tiring night and day, but so worth it.

Halloween

On the night before Halloween, our family dressed up and went to a friend's party. John and I borrowed costumes from a friend, so we wouldn't have to pay the exorbitant amount the store's charge for adult costumes. John was a rocker/Miami ink tattooed/pierced guy, and I was a bumblebee. We had a fun time at the party. The next night our kids were very excited to go out trick or treating. Emilio was a Mad Scientist, Gabriela was Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Luci was a Ladybug. It was a beautiful Fall night for walking around our very busy neighborhood. When we came back home the kids took over the job of handing out candy to trick or treaters, and they loved it. We also watched the fifth World Series game between the Giants (who we were rooting for) and the Rangers. The Giants won that night!