NEW MOON

Okay, so there's one other thing I'm thankful for that I failed to mention on my last post, and that's NEW MOON! Nancy, Julia and I went to see the second installment of the Twilight Saga Thursday night, and it was amazing. Better than expected. I'm still thinking about it. Of course, unless you've read the book and know exactly what I'm talking about, I don't recommend it.

Seriously, I loved everything about it. I loved that we got to leave the men and babies (and incidentally our cell phones) at home and have a night out. I loved that we went in our Twilight Mom and Twilight Grandma t-shirts. I loved that we got popcorn even though we'd just gorged ourselves on Thanksgiving dinner and pies. I loved that Edward sparkled and had spray painted abs. And I LOVED that I got to see it with Julia - exactly one year after she lent me the first book and got me hooked on the series. If the third movie, Eclipse, comes out next Thanksgiving, we're seeing it together!

Thanks!

In no particular order, I'd like to give thanks for...

Our great new park in Bee Caves, and having Grandma Nancy here as a playmate for the kids.

ABC videos, which provide a few minutes of quiet time, even in a house with two toddlers.

Chuy's fish tacos and margaritas. Possibly my favorite food! Definitely my favorite place to take out of town guests.

A stress-free Thanksgiving dinner, ordered precooked from Luby's. And my friend Nancy, for lending us these beautiful serving dishes.

Christmas at Thanksgiving. Hey, we don't get together very often - may as well combine holidays when you can!

SANTA! Who doesn't love sitting in Santa's lap?

Family portraits. We did a professional photo shoot (pics to come), but as you can imagine we also took LOTS of great family photos ourselves. This one might be my favorite.

A new tradition... decorating gingerbread houses. Fun!

I'm thankful for the family who came out to Austin this weekend, and for all of our family and friends around the country. I'm thankful for my LIVESTRONG family, and for having a 4-day weekend. I'm thankful for my Grandpa, who turns 86 tomorrow! I'm thankful for our sweet baby girl, who brings such joy to our lives - and for my digital camera and Macbook, for making it so easy to capture and share every moment.

Thanksgiving Begins

This morning Chuck and his dad joined Aurora and her little friends for a special Thanksgiving lunch at daycare. Here she is with her best friends, Emily, Adelina, Seth, and Sydney:

She's definitely enjoyed having her Grandpa around these last couple days... it's one more person for her to boss around. "Seet down, Gampa." I don't think they fed the boys much, but hopefully they enjoyed participating.

This afternoon Julia, Cameron and Zeland arrived in Austin as well. I think Aurora's glad to have family in around, but she is a little possessive of her things ("MINE!"). Regardless, we've been having great weather for playing outside and taking nice walks together.

And on occasion, we can even get Aurora and Zeland to kiss!

Nancy, Steve and Andrew arrive tonight, and we'll have a FULL HOUSE! Okay, so they're not ALL staying here, but it'll still be a full house. Lots of pictures to come.

Goofy Girl

I wanted to share a couple of silly videos so you can see for yourself what a goofy girl we have. I know many of you will be seeing her in person VERY soon (yay for Thanksgiving!), so you can consider this a little sneak peak. She's so silly and most certainly has a mind of her own.

Believe it or not, she can actually say most of the alphabet. Katie can attest to this, as Aurora recited most of it to her over the phone the other day. But we're DEFINITELY approaching the "terrible-two's" and when Rora decides she wants something to be a certain way, that is the only acceptable way. Ooooooh boy.

Fast Food

Lately I've started to appreciate the beauty of fast food. Mind you, this coming from a fairly health-conscious vegetarian who worked at McDonald's for over 4 years. Everything changes once you have a toddler.

Cooking these days isn't out of the question, but I've been opting for prepared meals from Whole Foods, Super Suppers, and Soup Peddler for weeknight dinners. We still enjoy eating at restaurants once or twice on weekends, but it's not our favorite scenario. Don't let this photo deceive you... Aurora does not sit still at restaurants. She's a good happy kiddo, but waiting patiently and staying in place are not virtues she possesses.

Fast food is not only fast, but there's almost always a play area and other kids to keep her occupied. In fact, we've started to see the same friends each week. This little girl is at McDonald's every Sunday. Her name is Robin, and believe it or not, she has a big brother named John.

Another food option I'd like to mention is pretend eating. Aurora has definitely figured out how to pretend play. She loves sitting at little tables and saying "num num" while acting like she's lifting a spoon to her mouth. We spent about an hour at Pottery Barn Kids on Sunday, pushing the child-size shopping cart around, putting little pots and plates inside, even pretending to wash dishes in the cute little kitchen sink!

If you're still wondering what to get Aurora for Christmas, I say little plates and bowls, fake food sets, toddler sized pots and pans, and kitchen things would probably be a hit. And while I still prefer we stick with the primary colors - I will admit defeat to my brother and tell you that she's already started gravitating to all things pink. And any kind of phone. I believe Julian predicted that by the time she was 2 her favorite thing would be a pink Disney Princess cell phone, and I must say that if I were to purchase that for her, it would very likely be her favorite toy. Her second favorite thing at Pottery Barn Kids (aside from the mini-kitchen and table accessories) was the old fashioned vanity with pink phone. I'm not sure how she even knows this is supposed to be a telephone - when was the last time you used a phone like this? But she sat there and very sincerely answered the phone at least three times. "Hello?"

Girlie Time

This weekend Chuck is out in the studio working on concepts for a new video game, so I've been hanging out with my girl, and my girlfriends!

Aurora and I headed out to the zoo this afternoon, and it was so much fun. Whenever I mention the Austin zoo, somebody says "Austin has a zoo?" And yes, it does. But it's basically an animal rescue way out in the middle of nowhere with a cute little train and gift shop.

My favorite part of the outing was that I actually did not bring the stroller. I didn't even have it in the trunk as an option. It's a very small zoo, but it's all gravel and sloping hills so it's just not necessary. Rora loved walking and climbing all over the place, while waving at the animals and generally being cute. She didn't do the best job holding my hand when I asked her to, but she did a great job staying with me so we never had an issue.

Tonight I had some of my favorite girlfriends over for a much needed movie night with lots of wine, cheese, and Chocolat.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I'm sure we will have fun!

Lucky Grandmas

This afternoon I took Aurora to a pottery painting studio and we made presents for the Grandmas. I won't tell you what exactly we did, but I can tell you that we had a good time painting and both Grandmas should be very happy with their special gifties!

Along with our artistic endeavors, the grandmas and other relatives can expect to receive copies of the highly anticipated school picture this holiday season. This was Aurora's third school photo, and they've all come out amazing. Her last two have really just been silly, and looking back I can hardly believe what a little baby she was! This time... well, this time she's a toddler alright. Lots of beautiful blonde curls, and get this - tears. Apparently everybody in her class was upset with the whole situation, and she was feeding off the general vibe. Sigh.

Does that mean we don't need a 5X7 for the mantle? No way!!!

It's fall!

I guess technically it's been fall since September, but today was the first day that it truly felt (and looked) like it here in Austin. It's getting colder, the trees are turning, and Thanksgiving is in the air.

This morning was foggy and cool, just perfect for an adventurous walk around Townlake with friends.

I totally made up that part about Thanksgiving being in the air. All the stores seem to have gone directly from Halloween to Christmas! But Thanksgiving is the main thing I've been thinking about, as I begin to prepare for all the Wadey's to descend upon our house in just a couple of short weeks. I've ordered a fully-prepared Thanksgiving Feast, scheduled a photo shoot, and bought tickets for me, Julia, and Nancy to see "New Moon." Of course, all we really need for it to be a great weekend is Aurora and Zeland!

This week @LIVESTRONGHQ

Not only haven't I blogged all week, but I really haven't taken any pictures of Aurora this week either. I mean, we went food shopping, she's had diaper rash, end of story. I guess I figured that meant I had nothing to blog about, but it's actually been a pretty interesting week.

On Tuesday we had Tom Wilson, Ziggy cartoonist and author of the book "zig-zagging," come to our office to talk about his book and his family's battle with cancer. It was so touching, and he's just a great guy.

I got a signed copy, which I'm almost done reading, and I'd definitely recommend it. If I'm being completely honest, this isn't the kind of book that I'd normally pick up. I'm more of a Pride and Prejudice/Twilight kind of girl. But having met Tom and hearing his story first hand, I'm really loving it.

Then today I got to head over to a sound lab to record my voice for an upcoming Team LIVESTRONG PSA. I actually organized a group of about 20 staff and volunteers to do the same thing, so whenever the animated spot actually comes out, it may or may not contain my voice.

Of course, one of the coolest things about my job isn't just that I get to participate in events like these, but I also get to document them via our official HQ twitter feed. If you're on twitter, you should follow me at www.twitter.com/livestronghq

Cute Overload

Yesterday we met up with Amelia for an afternoon at the park. The cutest thing... wait, you're expecting me to say the cutest thing was Aurora, right? The cutest thing was this sweet little 6-week old puppy we met at Zilker Park. Okay, perhaps the cutest thing was Aurora's reaction to the puppy!

The first thing I did was ask if it was okay for us to pet the puppy, and put my hand out for it to sniff. Aurora was such a good girl, and very calmly put her hand out for the puppy to sniff too, just like mommy.

Then she looked up at the owner and said "Hode you?" which is Aurora for "Can I hold the puppy?". I totally taught her to say "Hode you" when she wants me to hold her. My mom has always told me that I used to say that when I was little, and it was the sweetest thing. I didn't really need to "teach" her to say it, when she reaches up I just say "Aurora, you want me to hold you?" and she replies "Hode you!"

Anyway, the puppy's owner thought it was absolutely adorable and said that if we sat down, she'd put the puppy in Aurora's lap. Aurora could hardly believe it, but after just a few seconds I think it was just puppy overload and she needed it to get down!!!

After playing with the puppy, we boarded the Zilker Zephyr for a quick ride in the park (choo choo!). It was such a nice way to end another beautiful weekend in Austin.

Another cute thing Aurora's been saying... well, it's a little harder to explain, but I think it's blog-worthy. She's been adding a "ch" sound at the end of certain words, and it's kind of hilarious. Thanks to the time change, it was actually dark tonight before she went to sleep, and it was a full moon. No, she hasn't started saying it's "full of moon," like I used to say, but she has been adding a "ch" to the end of moon. "Moonch." Ridiculous.