Happy Birthday, Aunt Elizabeth!

Halloween has come and gone and now it’s Christmastime? When did the holiday commercials start the day after Halloween? Poor Thanksgiving. It’s like everyone forgot about it. Sadly, all of this Christmas marketing is working on me because I’m already buying… or at least thinking about what I want to buy. I'm glad it’s starting to feel a little bit more like the season since a cold front blew through last night.

Ellie had a great first Halloween. She wasn’t scared of any of the costumes at all. Since it was so nice outside, Lee and I parked two chairs in the front yard, had a glass of wine, and passed out candy. One little boy about four years old came up and stared at Ellie for a minute and then said, “Can I touch it?”. I told him sure and he poked her jack-o-lantern on the front of her outfit. Maybe he thought she was part of our decorations? It was funny to watch the boys and girls trick-or-treating because they’re so different. Boys run up, grab as much candy as they can and then run off while girls will examine the candy bowl, make a decision, take one piece, and say thank you. We ran out of candy around 8:30 – about the same time the non-neighborhood kids started making the rounds so we called it a night and turned off the light.

Aunt Elizabeth turned 25 on Friday so Beth and Tee hosted a little get together for her at the Corner Bar. A lot of family friends who had never met Ellie were going to be there so we took her. That’s right – we took Ellie to a bar. And Lee wore her. It wasn’t smoky or anything because we had a private room and it was early so I really don’t think Ellie minded. For the record, everyone wants to talk to you if you’re wearing a baby so I think Lee was kicking himself all night for not wearing one to bars when he was in college. Maybe he’ll start wearing her to poker.

On Saturday, Mom, Ellie, and I went to the Chi-O Christmas Market for the first time. This is the Christmas market to end all Christmas markets. It’s so huge that they have it at the Dallas Convention Center. I think we wound up spending about 5 hours walking around and looking at everything we didn’t need. Mom actually did get some Christmas gifts and bought Ellie a little outfit. I bought an ornament with our names and the date on it and some other items. I am a sucker for those packaged soup mixes that you have to add water and a few other ingredients - so easy for weeknights. I think we’re going to have one I bought this week. Afterwards, Lee, Ellie and I met Beth at Patrizio’s for an early dinner and then went home to watch A&M loose. All I can do is hold onto memories of our glory days when I was still in school there. In seven years (keep in mind I stayed for grad school), I never missed a home game, but now I think I’d just stay home if I went there. Sad.

Lee had his last soccer game of the season on Sunday. That’s where my allergy problems all started and by that night, my sneezing was out of control. But now I don’t know if it’s allergy problems because I feel like it’s a head cold. I need to spend a week in a bubble and get well.


Ellie has a new toy. Actually, she got it a few weeks after she was born, but she's just now getting to the point where she can use it. Lee assembled it for her tonight and she seemed to enjoy it. I think it's like the jumperoo - she has to get used to it. It makes all sorts of different sounds and plays music. The top of it has the entire alphabet on it and when you push a letter, it says that letter so you can spell things. If you're my husband, that means you spell dirty words with it. When you're a guy, that's funny no matter if you're 7 or 37.