Sweet Weekend

Todd's parents came to our place for Thanksgiving this year. It was lots of fun to visit with them and have a reason to make a feast. Hazel was bouncing off the walls, so excited to have them here, and I'm sure she wore Poppa out with all her pretend playing because he acted out every single supporting character for her. Jack was slow to warm up, but ended up giggling and snuggling and giving them lots of love.

The table:The company:Grammie and Poppa sent Todd and me off on Friday to celebrate our anniversary. We did a bit of Christmas shopping, then went out to lunch at our favorite restaurant, Macaroni Grill. Their bread is to die for:Todd did Black Friday Amazon window shopping while we waited for our food:We went to Six Flags in Vallejo. Our favorite ride was Medusa. We went on it six times, I think. It goes ridiculously high and upside down over and over again. My throat is still sore from screaming. We went to a pizzaria called Napoli's for dinner. It was scrumptious. Then we headed to Inn Marin and had a good night's sleep without the kidlets.

When we got home this morning, we grabbed everybody and headed out to Santa's Village and Tree Farm to find and cut down our Christmas tree. I have always had a fresh tree, but this is the first time I have cut my own. It was pretty urbanized (no mountain trekking or snow) but still plenty fun. The prices were very comparable to what you find at Home Depot, and it was a lot more fun to find your tree there. I think we've found a new family tradition!

Hazel chatted with Santa, reminding him that he should have already known she wants a bike for Christmas. She enjoyed the complimentary apple cider, the mini candy cane, the train ride on "the Polar Express" and the little puppet show. I loved how she started on a bench and ended up like this:
We've got vaulted ceilings in our place, and Todd thought our tree last year looked dumb, so this year he set out on a hunt for a real man tree. He wanted the tallest tree our car could possibly cart home. I wanted one that smelled great. We found it. It is 9 feet 10 inches tall. I think it looks a little bit insane. But Todd's already claiming next year he's going to rent a truck and bring home a twelve-footer. He had to stand on a chair to help Hazel get the topper on:Jack, who always buries his face in anything soft and snuggly and wiggles his bum in the air, has fallen in love with our plush tree skirt. I have already repositioned it back under the tree five times today. We're excited to bring in Christmas (and birthdays) at our house!

7th Anniversary

Today is mine and Todd's seventh anniversary. Seven really good years.

I've been bummed about it, though, because Todd's missing it. He's been in Alabama for an Army course for the past two weeks and is scheduled to fly home tomorrow. Tomorrow. This would be the second wedding anniversary the military has prevented us from celebrating together.

Todd texted me mid-day and said he was getting bad reception and a terrible internet connection, so to scratch our Skype meeting tonight and we would just catch up on everything when he was "back in civilization." I was pretty sad about that. Our wedding anniversary, and we barely even get a couple of minutes to talk to each other. (He called in the morning, and we did chat for a bit.)

So I was surprised when I heard my Todd ringtone on my cell phone tonight at 9:30. I answered. "Hey, happy anniversary! I didn't think you were going to call tonight. It's pretty late for you, aren't you in bed yet?" (11:30 in Alabama.) We chatted for just a minute or two before I started hearing Todd's voice in two places at once: my phone speaker, and outside my front door.

He surprised me by coming home early! And apparently it was a pretty big feat, too. Things wrapped up at 10:30 this morning, and right away he got on the phone to try to change his flight. He snagged one that was leaving in an hour, and sped the whole way to the airport. He got on his plane only five minutes before take-off, still carrying his big, should-have-been-checked suitcase.

He's asleep now. I'm not quite ready. I am crying here, overwhelmed with love for this man who is gone way too much, and makes me ache, I miss him so much. Seven really great years. I'll take 'em. I'll take him.