Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was loads of fun and food. I spent the morning putting in a turkey and setting the table- then watching the macy's parade and knitting. Nathaniel spent his morning out on the football field in the annual ward turkey bowl playing with a serious knee brace. Success. He scored a touch down AND didn't get hurt. What more could a girl ask for?

Cousin Dan supervising the carving of the turkey

What would a gathering be without a game of Settlers? (congrats to winner Robert)
Later that weekend things got crafty. Charity in action:

I am a knitting machine

I love to knit- it's just a relaxing and productive way to pass the time. Here is the latest project: Our Christmas stockings. The pictures didn't come out very well... But you get the general idea.

I had to put "mom" and "dad" on the stockings instead of our names because "Nathaniel" would have wrapped around the other side of the stocking! So... it was either "Man" or "Dad". "Dad" won because I didn't particularly want "Woman" on mine.

On my stocking, I need to go back and fix it. "Mom" looks more like "HOH"... that just won't work....

A girl and her toolbelt

You could probably ask me to do just about any "handy" task, and I'd be happy to oblige, so long as I could wear my pink toolbelt! This particular task ended up being a lesson learned. For literally months, Nathaniel and I have been dealing with a running toilet. We're all familiar with the line "just jiggle the handle!" and goodness- how many times this toilet has had it's handle jiggled- one knows not. FINALLY- upon the wisdom of a wise and all-knowing friend (BJ) we went to Home Depot, and dropped the whopping $5 that it would cost to solve our problem.
Toolbelt on, part in hand- and voila- 30 seconds later- silence! The lesson is: Get a friend like BJ. That, AND, (the lesson that Nathaniel threw out there that would work for a talk) sometimes we let a problem seem like more then it is- drag on for months, when it is really a quick fix. Whatever- so long as I get to wear my pink toolbelt.

Removing old part. Cute toolbelt- see my hammer?!

Putting in new part. Cute toolbelt.

You tell me...

In response to MANY a question "are you showing yet?!" Nathaniel and I took some pictures at the temple this Saturday- you tell me... am I showing? haha. We're 5 months pregnant (20 weeks)! I'm so happy time is flying by. He likes to kick me every now and then- especially to let me know that my pants are getting to tight and they're restricting his growing environment. Maternity clothes... It seems like such a scary realm. I think I'll continue to put it off until absolutely necessary...Can't I just wear pj's to work?

I don't look all that super in this picture- but you can tell we're happy- so. that's good. :)

Growing girl... and boy.

My goodness, he is a HANDSOME man.

Vicarious Fall for Melissa

Fall out here seems to have sort of snuck up on me. Not the way that summer sneaks up (in a very sinister way), but just all of the sudden the leaves were BRIGHT oranges and yellows, and then the next day, they were all dead and the branches were bare. My favorite part has been driving down the tree lined freeways and having leaves blow down on my car like snow. The best part about this is that even though it is just as enchanting (in it's own fall way) as snow, the MD drivers don't seem to FREAK OUT (read: slam on breaks) they way that they would to a "light snow flurry." My jackets are happy- they don't feel lonely at all- except that most of the lighter jackets have been quickly abandoned for my winter coat. There are still a good deal of leaves on our massive tree waiting to fall- probably waiting for snow just so they can break and make a real mess. Nathaniel has been quite a champ raking all of the leaves up- though we're still trying to figure out what we need to do with them so the recycling people will pick them up like they're supposed to.... Hmm. I think I would very much enjoy still being in flip flop weather- I LOVE any excuse to wear flip flops. Maybe we should swap states, just for a week or so. ;) Then you can enjoy the smell of decomposing leaves (yuck) and stomping on crunch leaves (yay) and I'll enjoy the sunshine and t-shirt weather. Though- today we're actually having quite warm weather- always good to have a curve ball thrown in the mix. Alright. There you have it Meliss- MD fall just for you.

November Rose

I Love it for some reason when flowers bloom so late in the year! This is a rose that bloomed on our rose bushes that, until this rose, I hated. This rose came out a different color then all of the other ugly roses that bloomed on it- maybe the pruning (massacre) of the thing helped... I'll have to read up on rose care for the summer and maybe we'll get more like this!

Weekend madness

<-- This is my favorite picture. It is Charity pretending to be Jeffy (Family Circus Christmas Special) putting 'Granddad's Star' at the top of her own custom ladder and tape Christmas tree. Sisters!

Goodness! What a busy (but fun) weekend! On friday after work Nathaniel and I zipped over to the MVA (DMV for all you non-Maryland folk) to spend the rest of our money paying sales tax and registration on our NEW CAR. I am entirely infatuated with our Mazda Tribute. As Nathaniel would say- it is a dream to drive. We feel so spoiled. Anyway... Later that evening the Johnson's came over for a game of settlers. The game was painfully pitiful on my end (3 points), and to be honest, I can't remember who won? Nathaniel, maybe? I was just happy to have the game over. In between Friday night and Saturday morning Charity appeared at our house. She's like a fun Christmas present! That or Santa's work elf on loan... She and I spend a good portion of Saturday painting "the baby's room" (as Tabitha has been calling it since long before we were pregnant). The room was all pink! It's not an invasive pink, but no matter- pink simply will not do for a little boy. We went gender neutral in the chance that kid number 2 is a girl and painted it yellow. She and I also put together the crib! It was laying in pieces all over and we needed to figure out how big it was anyway. Here is a little picture outline of our progress:

Cher the hottie:

Yah- I know I'm a terrible sister putting herthrough this- One day, I anticipate payback time.

BYE BYE PINK WALLS

Honestly, what would painting be if we don't write our names with it on the walls???

Trying to figure this thing out!

Hanging the curtains back up! Yay yellow walls! (Charity's height comes in so handy!)

Good times with the sister on Saturday. Ahh! Also on Saturday I finally felt like when I woke up that my little Zucchini was becoming more noticeable! I still may just look a bit chubby to someone new that I meet, but people who know me can tell. I feel him move every day, and while Charity says "weird" every time I tell her that, I love it. Little kick right there for ya'll from baby. :) Saturday night Nathaniel and I went to a housewarming/farewell party(2 different couples) for some friends. Lots of good fun and chili, just a late night. Sunday we got up early to drive our dream ride out to Carroll County for baby Charlotte's blessing! Meeting Rob and Julie's family was a kick- and I could tell who belonged to which family without having been introduced. I wonder if that's how it is for the Hill kids? Hmm.... After lunch at Charlotte's house (who are we kidding- when kids come- it's their house now) we went home for some more bonding time with Cher-the-babe before she took off for PA again and then we got ready to go out to the Neilsens for some dinner and Settlers. This time I definitely remember who won. ;)

Little *BOY* under construction.....

Horray! We have a little boy on his way (mind you- we're not even quite to that 1/2 way mark though). We are so entirely excited and delighted.

We had a busy day yesterday: Our sonogram was at 2pm, and then as soon as we got home, our new car arrived! Momma's got a new ride! Nathaniel worked tirelessly to find us an amazing deal on a 2005 Mazda Tribute. We'll be riding in style! After all this fun, I dragged (tears can be very persuasive) Nathaniel out to Target. I needed to celebrate by buying something boyish :). We settled on a little set of 3 sleepers. I'm so excited for this little boy to come be a part of our family!

I'll try to figure out how to get a picture of baby boy up here soon.