Happy Thanksgiving

Wow, so time has really flown by... it's already the holiday season! This is definitely my favorite time of year... Thankgiving.... excitement over Black Friday... eating... Christmas music... Christmas season... first SNOW... I love the music and people being in such good moods. I did brave the stores yesterday, just to walk around and see if there were any great deals- and I really noticed most people were pretty cheerful! No one rammed me with a cart or wrestled me for "Finding Nemo" lol...

So, Thanksgiving this year was nice. Similar to last year, except Tatum was able to eat our traditional food, and it was a bit cooler this year than it was in AZ last year! We enjoyed turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (which I made for the first time and they rocked!- not Aunt Sandy's though), green bean casserole, rolls, and deviled eggs, oh, and Pumpkin PIe for dessert... mmmm.... Still munching on leftovers- my favorite part! It was our little family with Aunt Liz and a couple of Matt's friends came by later to hang out.

Tatum is hilarious... she loves to kick/roll a ball, takes my hand and pulls me to where she wants to go, climbs on the dogs, hugs & kisses the dogs and her 'Biscuit' book, tells stories to me all day long(even if I don't understand them), loves her Mickey Mouse that she got from Uncle Dan & Aunt Kim, loves to read.... hmm... repeats almost EVERYTHING- alligator, puppy, happy Thanksgiving, button.... really, whatever we say, she tries to mimic... that's one of the neatest things right now. It's really amazing watching her grow and learn!

Today, we woke up and our first playable snow had covered our city! So beautiful! The dogs, of course, absolutely LOVE the snow! They haven't played in snow in about 2 years, and Tatum, well she's never really seen snow before... she is a whole other story! lol... I bundled her up in her pj's, two pairs of sweats, socks (over her pj's), shoes, and her coat... she refused to keep the mittens on- they made her cry ??? So, we ventured outside to the front yard, where I tried to introduce Tatum to the cold wet snow... lol... No explanation needed...

WHAT DID I JUST TOUCH???

Whatever it is, I do NOT like it!

As Matt stated... she was trying to remind me that she was born in Scottsdale, AZ... NOT in cold wintery Colorado!!!

LIFETIME IS FINALLY OPEN!!!

Tatum went with me to vote... then, naturally, she wanted to watch the election results. :)

WOOOHOOOO! LIFETIME FINALLY OPENED!!! So, after a LONG 6 1/2 months... Lifetime Fitness had their Grand Opening last night, and opened for workouts today! Liz went with Tatum and I to the G.O. last night, and we took Tatum to the Child Center to check it out, and hope that she would get familiar with it before today... she loved all of the toys, was a little hesitant to explore, but she did, and today when I dropped her off, she didn't cry! She was checked on a couple of times by her dad and some of her adopted big brothers/more dads (she's NEVER going to be allowed to date).... and she was doing well. Matt said one of the employees was reading a story and she was sitting there listening- she LOVES books. This is GREAT because that means it should be easier for me to leave her in there now! Today, she was actually in there for the full two hours- I had a quick workout, then I had my hair chopped off! :)

I like it, but it's weird to get used to no hair in the back....

Anyway, more interesing information... So, one of Tatum's new things is to carry a blanket around in the evening when she's about ready for bed, lay it out perfectly, and lay down. We often times join her...one evening, Matt and I were cuddling with her on the blanket, and Matt had an idea of laying his head on my stomach to see what she would do... lol... she was NOT having any of that! I am hers... so, she kept pushing Matt's head away from me... he layed his head on my shoulder, and so she climbed on me and layed down to be closer to me than he was... lol.. it was hilarious.

Here are some pictures of one night she was cuddling with the dogs- she put the blanket in these positions, not me!