Thanksgiving, Sushi, Santa & our Tree.

Here's a little look at the past few days :)

We went to my parents house for Thanksgiving. My aunt Cathy was staying with us. She lives in Connecticut, and my sister Sam was staying at my parents house. She lives in Boston. I didn't take many pictures and I didn't get any of my mom. But you can see her in my last post from the baby shower :)

Thanksgiving; Ella at the dining room table with all the desserts, lol:


Cathy (my aunt) and Sam (my sister):


Me & Ella:


Nathan & Ella:


Ella & Grandpa on the porch:


They were looking at this:

A very large tree in my parents yard that my dad put lights around. He had to use a big bucket truck to get to the top!

Sunday afternoon I decided to pick up some Sushi for lunch. Here is Ella in her Ravens football jersey waiting for my food to be ready. The Ravens played the Steelers for Sunday night football. We won! Woo hoo!


Later on Sunday we heard this outside:

Santa on the fire truck waving to all the kids throughout the neighborhood!


Finally on Monday we decorated the tree. We put up the tree and all the house decorations on Saturday but I ran out of steam and couldn't do the tree. I thought I'd do it Sunday but we got busy with other stuff and ran out of time. So finally on Monday Ella and I decorated the tree.


Nathan comes home tomorrow (Wednesday) from his hunting trip. They have one deer so far. Maybe they'll get another one tomorrow before coming home.

Glad everyone had nice Thanksgivings! Hope this week is going well for you too.


"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."
-Henry Peter Brougham

Baby shower!

Last night I threw a surprise baby shower for my friend Jen. This is her 4th child and her third girl! Her oldest is 14 and youngest is 4. She thought she was coming over for a Pampered Chef party and was all excited. I didn't tell anyone at her house what was going on because I didn't want anyone to slip and let on to the truth.

I put all the presents and anything baby related in the kitchen so when she walked in the front door she wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary. It wasn't until she walked into the kitchen when everyone yelled surprise and she just stared at us. It took her about a minute or two before she realized what was going on. With all of us telling her over and over that it was a baby shower for HER. Even after we said baby shower she didn't even realize it was for her. She kept asking for who? LOL. When she finally put two and two together and realized it wasn't a pampered chef party and that it was a baby shower for HER, this is the reaction we got:




To say she was surprised is an understatement, lol. She didn't expect any kind of shower with it being her 4th child. And so close to delivering! She's being induced in 2 weeks! (Earlier than expected).

Me & Jen after she realized what was going on, lol:


Thomas & Ella. Thomas is the son of Anna, one of my best friends:


Erky (Eric), Me, Anna and Shane:


Game time!


My mom & my sister Sam:




Opening presents:






My mom & Jen:




Everyone had a lot of fun last night. It was a small party but full of love!

I hope everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving! We're headed to my parents house!



"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."
-Henry Peter Brougham

Roots and a trip to the ZOO!

Nathan took Ella to the Zoo this past Saturday while I was busy having this done:


You see I would have gone to the Zoo but this-

-was LONG over-due. No one should EVER have roots looking like this!

So they left for the zoo and I left for the hair dresser.

This was Ella's first time going to a zoo. They went to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. I gave Nathan strict orders to take lots of pictures and to send them to my phone throughout their adventure so I could still be a part of it even though I wasn't there. Boy did he take pictures. Many many many pictures AND videos, lol. Score one for the daddy!

Riding the Tram into the middle of the Zoo to get started:





Just another reason why I love my hubby :)








Fast asleep on the drive home, with souvenirs (Otters) in hand:


I made it back home right after they did and they surprised me with my very own stuffed Momma Otter. (Before they left the house I had mentioned to Ella that Otters are my favorite animals to go see at the zoo ). Ella picked out the baby Otter for herself. When she went to bed tonight she asked if she could sleep with both Otters :)

I will leave you with a video of Ella brushing the goats. Make sure you pay attention to the beginning, LOL:



And a very short video of her feeding a Giraffe!


Oh I almost forgot to show you my finished hair! Ta-Da!



"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."
-Henry Peter Brougham

Ballet + Leg Warmers= Cutie Patootie!

Ella is thoroughly enjoying taking ballet lessons. She loves putting on her special ballet clothes and can't wait for Thursdays to come around so she can go dance her little heart out.

This past Thursday it was cold and rainy so it was my first chance to put her leg warmers on that I knitted for her. I just taught myself how to knit them a couple months ago. Let's just say I had to totally restart the first one 3 times. Yes, completely restart it 3 times before I got it "just right". So I was hoping they would still fit, lol. I don't want to make them ever again, Lol. Yeah I know, I totally will be. I will be making her another pair to go with her "winter" leotard!

She loves them. She said they keep her legs nice and warm in class. Her leotard is short sleeve but she still wants to wear it and says she isn't cold yet. Of course I make her wear a sweater outside :)




On her way to ballet class.


"Point and flex". She is the one in the mirror facing us. Not the one in the pink sweater:


Far left facing us in the mirror:


Sometimes she's so cute I can't take it! You moms know what I'm talking about :)


"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."
-Henry Peter Brougham

The outlets were calling my name...

Last Sunday Ella and I decided to go the Tanger Outlets in Lancaster Pennsylvania. It takes about an hour to drive up there from our house. We play a game to see who can spot the cows, horses, laundry hanging outside on the lines and any other animals first to keep us entertained. And let's not forget the horses and buggy's :)

I had clipped two coupons out of the "junk mailer" that came in the mail a couple days before. One was for a free coupon book which has tons of great coupons in it, and the other was for a free $10 gift card! Yep, no strings attached, just bring the coupon and get a free $10 gift card that was good in any store at the outlets. I couldn't pass that one up. I also had printed out some coupons from their website and my mom had given me an additional coupon for the Coach outlet. I was on a mission. To the Coach store!



And in the sea of beautiful purses this one called my name...

A dark purple pebble leather Coach purse:


And matching wallet, lol:


I was able to get an additional 40% off of their sale price on the purse and 20% off the sale price of the wallet. I SAVED $389.36 when all was said and done between the sale prices and discounts. Don't forget my $10 gift card that I used when I paid. So my grand total I had to pay out of pocket was $166.64! Now that is what I call a steal.

This is how Ella recharges between shopping stretches:




After the outlets we stopped in Strasburg Pennsylvania for a little more shopping before heading home.





On the drive home we saw many horses with buggy's and pretty fall colors:




Ella asked me to take a picture of the pond below:

And this is part of the Land O Lakes farm:

We love their butter :)

Ella and I had a great day together :)

We'll be heading up there again on black Friday with my family while Nathan is on his annual Thanksgiving hunting trip. Wonder what we'll come home with this time!


"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."
-Henry Peter Brougham

Happy Veterans Day!

I just wanted to take the time to thank all the veterans who have served our country. And also to thank the veterans in my family.

My mother's father, my grandfather Poppop, who is still living today fought for our country in WWII on a navy ship. His ship was hit with a torpedo from an enemy submarine. But as he says "it was a dud thank God, otherwise I wouldn't be here telling you my story, lol". He also had an encounter with an enemy on the ground when he was on mail duty. He had to leave the docked ship and go into town to get the mail for the ship. A guy tried to kill him with a machete when he was headed back to the ship. My grandfather said he shot him with his pistol and took off running to get help from the ship. When they came back the guy was gone!

My other grandfather, my father's dad, who is not living anymore fought in The Battle of the Bulge with the Army. During this time he helped free the Jews from the concentration camps. I don't know much else about him because he died several years later when my father was 9 years old. I do know he met General Patton. They were both in the same hospital at the same time.

My father-in-law Tom, Nathan's dad, fought in Vietnam with the Army. He started as a radio telephone operator and then went on to Tropic Lightning Ambush Academy where he received the highest score of all E4 and below. From this he was promoted to E4 and was allowed to lead ambush patrols in Vietnam. He joined the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry, of the 25th Infantry Division- Tomahawks. (now known as Stryker). He rode in helicopters and would have to jump out of them into the rice patties while the helicopter would "slow down" but not land. After 8 months in the field he was wounded in a rice patty while engaging the enemy in a firefight. He has bullet wound scars on his arm.

He has TWO Purple Heart Medals, a Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, a Vietnam Service Medal w/ 2 Bronze Service Stars, a Marksman (rifle) ribbon, a Combat Infantry Badge, and a National Defense Service Medal, to name a few :)

He was Honorably discharged leaving the Army as a Sgt E5 Command Information NCO and Training NCO.

I just want to say how proud I am to come from a family who has served their country with honor and pride. Without them we wouldn't have the freedoms we have today.

Thank you to all the veterans I have not met, to all of my friends who have served and/or are still serving and to my cousin who is currently in the Marine Corps. He just came home yesterday from being stationed in Georgia (the country).

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.


"Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave."
-Henry Peter Brougham