Vikings Game

On Sunday, I went to the Vikings game with my friend Barb. She is also a very big Vikings fan. It was very cold that day! I think it was like 7 degrees. Because of that we decided to try and find close parking. Once we decided on the lot we wanted to park in the excitement began. The machine to pay for parking wasn't working so we had to pay the attendant, after we paid the attendant we went to another attendant to get a receipt to put in the car. For some reason during all of this, I gave Barb her ticket to the game. She put it in her back pocket. (this is important later in the story). Then Barb was digging for her keys, put the receipt in the car and we were on our way. We were already late so we didn't have to fight the crowds to get in. When we got to our gate, Barb couldn't find her ticket. She thinks it fell out of her back pocket when she was digging in there to get her keys to put the receipt in. Well, luckily there is a place at the stadium you can go if you forgot or lost your ticket. Unfortunately, it was outside...and apparently we weren't the only ones in this predicament. We waited for about 1/2 hour and then finally got a replacment ticket and went into the game.

When we got up to our seats, surprise, surprise...there was someone sitting in my seat. I told him that it was my seat and my season ticket. At first he said no, it was his season ticket. Fortunately, a familiar season ticket holder behind me had 2 extra seats he wasn't using and let us sit there. Normally I would have let it drop right there, but not today, not after Barb paid $50 to get a replacement ticket. I asked to see his ticket. Low and behold, there was my account numer on his ticket. I proceeded to tell him that he had my ticket and he then told me he bought it from the guy next to him. Anyway, I then proceeded to security and told them what happened. They went and got the guy and we all went back to the office where we got our replacement ticket. There a police officer greeted us and I told him what happened. He told me to go back and enjoy the game and they would handle it from there.

IT WAS SO EXCITING. By the time I got back to my seat it was the middle of the 2nd quarter. But it was very fun nonetheless...considering they lost the game.

Our Holiday Tradition

Every year Marshall Fields, formerly Dayton's, puts on a themed display. One year it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Snow White, 12 days of Christmas.... This year it was Cindarella. It is a free display in the auditorium of the downtown store on the 8th floor. I am trying it think of a way to describe...it is like mechanical puppets, in a very elaborate and beautiful setting. This presentation had 15 different "scenes". You wind your way through it as the story is told on plaques next to each scene and in a playbill you are handed when you enter.

This year Cliff, Harrison and I went on Saturday December 17th and Ken, Shannon and Abbey (A.K.A. Kenny, Abby's Mom, and That Abbey - according to Harrison). We met them at the Marshall Fields store. Usually when we go we head right up to the 8th floor no problem. The line is sometimes long but always on the 8th floor. This year, the line began on the 5th floor. I couldn't believe it. Luckily we had Harrison in a stroller because we got to go up a special way and before alot of other people (and you all know how much I love cutting lines). When we got up to the 8th floor the line was all the way too the back. All in all, it took about 30-45 minutes for us to get to the entrance to the display.

It was very crowded right at the beginning. I took Harrison out of his stroller and held him so he could see the displays. He got very scared of those moving "puppets" in the display. He kept saying, I'm scared. I kept telling him it was ok and that it was puppets. We make it through the display very quickly...probably in about 5 minutes. I thought it was a good one this year, a bit girly, but good. Right when you get out of the display is the line to see Santa Claus.

Harrison loves Santa right now. He likes to see him whereever we can. So of course, we all got on the line to see Santa. That line was very short in comparrison to the display line and years past. We only waited about 5-10 minutes. Harrison sat on Santa's lap and we got a really good picture. He didn't cry and but he didn't smile either. When I picked him up, he had a big smile and waived his hand furiously and said "BYE BYE SANTA".

After visiting Santa we went up to have lunch in the Skyroom. It is a great place for families. It is like a food court, so you don't have to worry if your kids are loud. Harrison and Abbey had a great time together. They kept playing games like Peek A Boo to make each other laugh.

After lunch we all headed down to look at christmas ornaments. Every year Cliff and I pick out a family ornament and put the date on the bottom. This year we picked out Cindarella's Carriage. It is frosted glass and really pretty. We also looked at nutcrackers, of course, for the nutcracker obsessed Harrison. We ended up getting him 2 smaller ones.

We had a great time and I just love this annual tradition.

Knitting Part 2

My last knitting class was on Monday. I think it got the hang of knitting and purling. At some point in the middle of the week I was just stumped on how to purl, but I figured it out and now I totally have it down. I am working on a scarf. It started with 20 stitches and now I am up to 64. I don't know how I added more than 3X the amount of the original stitches but I did. My teachers didn't know either, only that it probably happened when I was learining to purl. I also learned how to do ribbing and how to cast on and bind off. Let the projects begin!

Hungry Hungry Baby

Recently Harrison has been eating so much more than he usually does. I just couldn't figure out why. Finally I realized what was going on. We switched him from Whole milk to skim. He was used to getting so many more calories from Milk he is just making up the difference. I am now going to try different foods now that he is so much hungrier.

Very Busy Saturday

Saturday was an incredibly busy day. Way more busy than we have been in quite some time. I knew we were going to leave the house by 11:00 am so I purposely took the morning to lounge around and not rush to do anything. We all stayed in our pajamas as long as we could.

We left the house around 11:00 am to go to my Company's Children's Holiday party. But before we got there I made a pit stop at TJ Maxx to pick up some christmas presents. It was right on the way to my office so it wasn't too much of a hassle. Harrison fell asleep in the car on our way so when we got to the store Cliff stayed in the car while Harrison slept. We finally got to my office at around 12;15 and Harrison immediately woke up. He was a bit groggy and cranky. But I had told him we were going to see Santa Claus. Now Harrison has been talking about Santa for a few days now. He seems to really like him. But when I ask him what Santa does, he tells me he bits his finger. If you spend any time with Harrison you will learn that everyone bites his finger. It is like the boy who cried wolf. If someone really bit his finger or bit him anywhere for that matter, I wouldn't believe it because he tells me that everyone bites his finger. Anyway, we got there and immediately went to pick up his gift. The kids that are from the ages of 0-2 got a Duplo Block Helipcopter...it was a helicopter filled with Duplo Blocks. It is a really nice toy, but we have a ton of duplo blocks already. The gift for the kids ages 3-6 got a pop up tent and the kids 7-10 got a Magic set. It is really wonderful that they get anything. We then decided to head over to see Santa. Last year the line was incredibly long so we wanted to get that over with right away. Luckily when we got there the line wasn't too bad. We did wait for about 20 minutes. Harrison was still cranky and wanted me to hold him the whole time. I think I ended up with a strained muscle in my back because of it. I was not optomistic on Harrison responding to santa very well based on his mood. But when we got there he sat on his lap and didn't cry. He didn't smile or try to squirm away, but he didn't smile for the camera. In fact he was rubbing his nose the whole time.

After Santa we went back to the cafeteria to have lunch. On our way they had roaming characters so we saw a snowman and a teddy bear and a dog. Harrison didn't want to get too close but he liked seeing them. They were serving cookies and ice cream. I knew this from last year and brought Harrison a lunchable. He actually ate the turkey and cheese even though he also had ice cream and a cookie in front of him. It is great to know that he is making the right food choices. When we were done with lunch I showed Cliff and Harrison my new desk. It was very exciting (can you sense my sarcasm).

After we left the Children's holiday Party we parted ways with Cliff who went home and Harrison and I went to Sean Appold's birthday party. He was turning 3 and had a Thomas themed party. This was right up Harrison's ally because he is just starting to really like Thomas. They had their basement filled with Sean's toys and all of the kids played down there until it was time for lunch. Harrison wasn't too hungry but the snacker that he is he had some chips and pretzles and juice. They also served chicken nuggets and pizza rolls. When it was time to open the presents Sean was mobbed by the kids. I don't think Sean touched all of his presents as the other kids swarmed him. Harrison on the other hand took the opportunity to find the balloons and march around with them. It was quite cute but I didn't get to see much of the present opening because I was chasing after Harrison. We left soon after that.

After we got home, I had about 1/2 hour to rest before I had to get ready for our evening's parties. We got home at around 5:15 and at 5:45 I got in the shower and dressed. Our baby sitter arrived at 6;30 and we were off to our first party.

My department had a christmas party at my boss's house. We got there at around 7:30. There was alot of good food and drinks. It was nice to socialize with everyone and to meet everyone's spouses. We stayed for about 2 hours when we left for party #2.

At around 9:30 we arrived at Betty's house for her Holiday Open House. It was really fun. Betty puts on a good party. I think she could be the working woman's Martha Stewart. Most of my friends from work were there, Betty, of course - It was her house, Erin, Anne, Barb A, Barb L, Jodie and Megan. There were others from work plus some of Betty's husband's friends and neighbors. By 11:30 I was exhaused and needed to go home and sleep.

We got home at 12:00 and I crashed hard. It was a very busy but very fun day!

Knitting

Last night I took a beginning knitting class. I tried to learn once before and really didn't do very well at all. I feel that I am very uncoordinated so this will limit my ability. So I was nervous going into the class that I wouldn't be able to do it. But low and behold, I was and I was doing it pretty good. I learned to knit and purl. I even came home and worked on it some more for about an hour. I hope tonight when I practice I remember how to do it.

I think I am making a scarf but there are places where it is not so pretty. So I have branded my knitting and will go to market with a line of knitted scarves called "The Ugly Scarf". It will be knitted with beautiful yarn and with love, and it may not be perfect but it will do the job. I know everyone will want one of their own.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

This morning we woke up to another chilly morning. Not only was it -4 degrees outside, but it was only 60 degrees in the house. We couldn't believe it. The furnace was blowing cold air. It seemed like just a few weeks ago when we had furnace trouble and were bundling up. Oh wait, it was just a few weeks ago. Well I called immediately and luckly someone came out to the house this morning. Apparently a fuse blew in the furnace. Now we are all toasty and warm.

Why you have children

This morning I woke up to Harrison right next to me in bed. He is never in our bed so I was surprised to see him there. Apparently Cliff went down to him when he was calling out for his binky (yes, he is 2 and we haven't broken him of this habit, in fact it is getting worse). Harrison wanted to get up but Cliff still wanted to be in bed so he brought Harrison upstairs to our bed. Harrison was just inches from my face when he touched me and said "that mommy". Of course I woke up to his chilly hands on my face. He then proceeded to be as cute as he can be, just lying down in our bed. Then out of nowhere it happened, the reason you have kids. Harrison rolled over, took my face in both of his hands and said, I quote, "LOVE MOMMY" and then kissed me. I just about melted. I asked Cliff if he heard this just to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and sure enough, he had. If that isn't reason alone to have kids, I don't know what else is.

Cliff's Office Party

On Friday night we went out for Cliff's office holiday party. We all met for dinner in Minneapolis at a restaurant called Eli's. It was a very good restaurant. Small but very good food. Every year we do a gift exchange where each couple brings one good and one gag gift and then we play the dice game for the gifts and every year there is some big competition for some choice items. This year was the Bob Marley t-shirt w/CD. David and Cliff were really fighting for it. There was a knitting kit also which I really wanted considering I am taking a knitting class tonight. I got so excited that I was taking the knitting from someone that I spilled a glass of red wine all over myself. Luckily the only thing that really got ruined was a white tshirt I had on.

Later that evening we went to see the show Triple Espresso. It was very funny and I would totally recommend it. I think we all enjoyed ourselved this year. It is always fun to do dinner and an activity and still not get home terribly late.

Thanksgiving

Thursday
The large thanksgiving that wasn't. At first it was going to be like 26 people and then they started dropping like flies. I think we finally ended up with 13. It was a good number of people. we all were able to fit around 1 table, a bit squishy, but we fit. The boys, Jacob and Harrison were in their high chairs watching he Wiggles and eating dinner. The food was very yummy. Harrison and Jacob got along very well during their time together. They really enjoyed chasing each other back and forth around the house. Brad and Merryl joined us for dessert, they spent the dinner part with Merryls family.

Friday
Visiting with Anna, Lisa, Kate and Chris.
Friday night Hilary, Cliff, Wendy and David and I went to see the movie Walk the Line. It was an amazing movie. I think both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix should win awards.

Saturday
Cliff and I went into the city during the day. We started our day at Zabars. I don't think we could go into Manhattan and not got to Zabars. Then we took the 2 train to Grand Central Terminal. We spent most of the day there. We toured the train museum, looked around at the terminal, went to the holiday fair, visited the Fresh Market and had lunch at the Oyster Bar. It was a great day. We then took a short cab ride over to Rockefeller Center and saw the tree and the window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue. If you have never seen the window displays there it is very similiar to the Dayton's display on the 8th floor but on a much smaller scale.

We left Harrison with my Mom and Eddie. They visited the children's museum. If Harrison wasn't sick, I think he would have had a great time. Hopefully when we come back in December, we can all go and he won't be sick.

That night Cliff and I went to see Brad and Merryl's apartment. They have a nice apartment and filled with movie stuff. Definitely Brad's apartment. We then went to see Harry Potter. That was also a great movie. I had read the book and this was my favorite of the books so the movie did not dissapoint.

Sunday
On Sunday, Harrison joined me and my Mom to get a manicure. No, Harrison didn't get his nails done but he did like putting his hands under the dryer. He was very good while we were there. He played nicely and didn't get into trouble like I thought he would.

That afternoon Brad and Merryl came over to hang out. We watched movies and played with Harrison. Thankfully we ordered Chinese and didn't have leftover turkey again.

Monday
We left for the airport. It was a good and chock full trip to NY. We will be coming back on 12/26 for a 9 day stay.

My Friends

While we were in NY I got a chance to see my friends Anna and Lisa. It was such a treat. Anna lives in Los Angeles so I don't get to see her very often. In fact, She now has a baby and this was the first time I was going to see her. We planned on going to New Jersey to see Anna where her parents now live. I kept calling it Whitestone, but they actually live near Fort Lee, just over the George Washington Bridge. Lisa had asked us to pick her up on our way there. The thing is, I have never driven in NYC. This was a big deal for me. But I mustered up all my courage, made sure I had very tight directions, packed Harrison and Cliff up in the car and headed to the big apple. Well I think I did really good driving into the city. I didn't get lost at all and felt I held my own with all of the cabs and other cars weaving in and out.

Lisa was waiting for us on the corner of 70th and West End. It was a really easy pick up. Harrison took to Lisa almost immediately. At first he was looking at her rather suspiciously but as soon as I put on the Wiggles, his toes started tapping and they bonded.

We got to Anna's about a 1/2 hour later than we wanted but we were fornature to run into Anna's brother and sister-in-law and niece in the parking lot. Her niece, Emma, is absolutely gorgeous. We then went up to the apartment to see Anna. Anna, Chris and Kate were there and so was Anna's Mom and Dad. It has been so long since I have seen her parents. I have such good memories of Anna's family. They were the ones who introduced me to Christmas. I remember one christmas in particular they were thinking of not putting up a tree and I had mentioned that I had never decorated one so they did it for me and that night Anna, her brother and I went shopping for lights and ornaments and we went to their house and decorated it. Another memory is the many times I would go over to her house and her mom would feed me Korean food. And I mean literally feed me. I would sit in their kitchen with my mouth open and she would feed me. She was an amazing cook. I particularly loved Chop Chei and this hamburger wrapped in egg dish that she made. Anna's brother and I used to fight like we were brother and sister. I really loved spending time over there.

When we got up to the apartment, Harrison wasnt' shy at all. They had some toys out that Emma was playing with so Harrison went over and was playing with the toys with Anna's dad while we all got a chance to catch up. I got to meet and hold Kate. She is absolutely delicious. Such a good baby. I bounced her around a bit too much and she spit up some of her lunch on my lap. But I was used to that so I didn't mind at all.

After about 20 minutes, we left to go out to lunch. We found and italian restaruant and had alot of fun there. Harrison was in a great mood and didn't fuss much at all. He also ate his noodles very well. Kate was also a pleasure to eat out with. We laughed and ate good food.

Boy I wish we all lived closer. I need to see these girls more often!!! It was a great visit, but definitely way too short.