The Lucas Family: Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We started the morning off bright and early. Madeline usually sleeps in until at least 7:30AM on the weekends, but today she woke up at 6AM. It is "cold" here today and she kicked off all of her blankets so I think the cold woke her up. After an hour or so it was clear that she needed to go back to bed. We made pancakes and bacon and then it was back to bed for Madeline (after some tears). So, George and I are currently enjoying a lazy morning, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the couch. Not complaining :)

Today, we are heading over to my parent's house around noon for Thanksgiving dinner at 3PM. Normally we eat two Thanksgiving dinners, one with my family and one with George's family, but this year George's family is at Roosevelt Lake for the long weekend. My mom is making the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and vegetables and Terrisa, Emily, and I are each making other dessert/side dishes. I made corn bread, cheddar biscuits, and a dutch apple pie. I'm also in charge of sparkling cider (very important job). Before George's family decided to go to Roosevelt, I had bought the ingredients for an appetizer for their house. It is a prosciutto, fig, and mascarpone bruschetta. One of my favorite restaurants, Postino, serves several types of bruschetta and that one is my very favorite. I'm planning to bring the ingredients over to my parent's, but I'm not sure we'll need an appetizer with all of the other food that we have!!

I have been enjoying some vacation time over the past two weeks and have more to look forward to over the next several weeks. Last week, I took one day off for our long weekend trip to Houston (more on that in a second). This week, I took a 1/2 day on Tuesday and a full day on Wednesday (Thursday and Friday are company holidays). Next week, we head to Colorado so I'm off another 3 days for that. Then I am off for 2 weeks around Christmas. We aren't allowed to roll over vacation days over to the next calendar year so it's "use it or lose it". I had about 6 weeks of vacation time this year b/c I opted for an additional 2 weeks of vacation time (at a cost). I'm basically like a European with all of this vacation time. Haha.

Back to Houston...a week and a half ago, Madeline, George, and I traveled to Houston for a long weekend to visit our friends Marie and CJ. They moved to Houston from Mesa back in March for Marie's job. I've been to Houston once for work, but it was a super short, all business trip so this was basically the first time there for all three of us. Marie and CJ live in the Energy Corridor area of Houston. It's a really nice, centrally located area and they have a very cute 1960s refurbished home. I wish I had some pictures of their house to share, but you can take my word for it that it was a really lovely home. We spent most of the trip visiting with Marie and CJ and relaxing at their home. It was the kind of vacation we needed since we have both been pretty busy with work. We checked out different areas around the city -- there are some gorgeous older neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area! I think Madeline loved the extra attention, especially b/c Marie had Madeline be her big helper with their dog Layla. Madeline got to feed Layla and let her outside. She even got to take her on a walk (with some help). I love these pictures of Madeline and Layla...

Before I wrap this post up, here are a few more recent pictures....

Last weekend, Madeline enjoyed a "sleepover" with Parker and Paisley. I've mentioned it before, but Madeline always asks about Parker and Paisley. She misses them so much if she hasn't seen them in a while. Before bed time, we had them all lay out their blankies in the loft for story time. They were all drinking their milk and laying there so well. A rare moment of calmness when the three of them are together!

I was trying to get some good pictures to show you my ever growing baby bump, but sort of failed. George told Madeline to get in the picture. He captured her reaction to that request perfectly. Can't you just hear her saying "I don't want to!" She looks so inconvenienced in this picture. Haha!

Here is my bump at 28 weeks! Sorry, the black with the demin shirt on top makes it difficult to see it. This baby is on the move. I can feel lots of moving and kicking, even as I type this. I'm still feeling really good and have been able to keep up with regular exercise. I think it was about at this point with my last pregnancy that I didn't believe that I would get any bigger....and then I did. I've been thinking that a lot lately, but now I know better. Oh well, it's for a good cause, right?! ;)