The time has come the walrus said...

I am finally comfortable here.  Maybe it is the lack of school work or the impending departure but I finally feel comfortable with this situation.  I leave in two and a half days and I'm not ready.  But will I ever be?

I'm going to miss these two.

Odds and Ends

I don't know if you can see this but Reese woke up with a scratch that made her look like scarface.  I immediately cut her nails.

My Mim is in town for a couple days, which I have been looking forward to because it has been over 2 years since I have seen her.  She is amazed by everything Reese does.  I am so glad they were able to meet each other.  She does this little game where she traces the cracks on your palm saying "here's a crack, here's a crack, here's a crack" then she smacks your hand and says "there's a crack."  Reese just thinks it is the best and she was doing it back to her last night a dinner.  Speaking of dinner, my Mim made sliders!  The best dinner in the world - basically chicken and noodles but I really think my Mim puts magic in them!  Reese had her first taste of sliders and she liked them!

I cannot believe that Christmas is in a couple days and that I will be leaving here in one week.  I am not ready at all but I don't think I ever will be.  I still have Christmas presents to make and wrap, white chocolate pretzels to make, a cookie recipe to find (so that I can dominate the cookie competition we are having at Christmas), and all the details of packing and moving that need to get worked out.  I have a feeling that I won't be sleeping much this next week.  Speaking of, it is midnight and I still have a thank you card to write and a present to embroider, I better get to work!

Update:  My grade was just posted and I got a 95% on that monsterous final paper!!!  That means I rocked my first semester of grad school with two A's!!

Dominic and Maria!

A battle with the worst flu I have ever experienced didn't keep me away from meeting Dominic.  One of my best friends from IU welcomed Dominic to her family on December 10th.  He is a really cute baby, not as cute as Reese was but a very close second!  Reese went with me on the road trip and was a real trooper (minus the no napping).  I am so glad that I was able to see Maria again before I head back west but getting to see little Dominic was really one of the highlights of December!

This was my view as I drove back to Griffith from Alexandria.  I didn't really mind it because the roads weren't slippery.  It was beautiful and a sight I don't often see.  Unfortunately, it was all slush by home so I haven't been able to play with Reese in the snow yet.

Finals

My first semester as a grad student is almost over!!! 

Only one monsterous paper to write and I am using the motto "slow and steady wins the race." Though I really just want it to be done so it can be out of my head and I can focus on Christmas.  I am currently starting page 10 of what I predict to be 17-20 pages long.  Time to focus, focus, focus...

Snow...

Today I had to scrape snow off my car for the first time since I bought it almost two years ago!  I went out Christmas shopping in the windy, crazy snow just because I don't get to and it felt right.

These are some of my favorite Christmas ornaments!  There are about 12 of them total and when I saw them in the ornament box I screamed a little.  They made me really happy!

Reese de-ornamenting the tree the morning after I put them all on.  It is now a daily routine.  She loves to pull the bells off and shake them and I love it too much to tell her not to.

who doesnt love cheerios in the morning?

P.S. Reese now has 9 teeth!  4 on top, 3 on bottom and a molar on each side!!

Santa!!

After a wonderful holiday party at my cousin Emily's on Saturday night, we headed to Marshall Fields (Macys) on Sunday to look at the windows and visit Santa Claus.  Many family members came out to enjoy this moment with Reese which made it really special.  We waited forever but it was totally worth it!  She was happy to see Santa and just kept looking at him.

Is it really you?

Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me

I took the night off on Thursday and headed up to Chicago for a "We're Related" evening aka a night with my 3 cousins.  We had a great dinner at the Blue Line Bar where we sat by the fire with glittery snowflakes hanging above our heads.  Then we headed downtown to see a taping of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, a show produced by NPR.  It has been a long time since I have laughed that hard and since I was the nerd who wanted to do this, it was great to see that my cousins really enjoyed it too. 

I took a couple pictures around Daley Plaza after the show: the tree all lit up, and the Picasso looming over the closed up shops of the Christkindl Market

Mustache

She is just so beautiful... you know I had to do it.

Reese's Christmas Book

It only took me a month to make - good thing I started before Halloween - and  is done just in time!  I am very happy with the end result  - it was worth the hard work.  I followed a Simplicity pattern but made adjustments like hand-stitching instead of using fabric adhesive.  I was thinking of making another for Amy's girls but I think that will have to wait until next year because my list of christmas presents to make is getting quite long...

Cutie Patootie

After not seeing each other for almost a week, we were both pretty jazzed about hanging out!

I'm not quite sure what took place in Reese's crib during her nap yesterday...

Preview for the next post:

Reese's Christmas Book is done!!!

Oaken Bucket

For those non-hoosiers out there, Oaken Bucket is the football game of Indiana University vs. Purdue University.  It always equals smack talking and tailgating.  IU always looses but we still talk a big game.  I was able to go to Bloomington with my cousins and met up with some IU friends.  We hit up Nicks and Upstairs on Friday then tailgated all Saturday and finished off with walking around campus on Sunday.  It was a great weekend of college memories and making new ones. 

Roommates

Besides living with my Dad and Reese, I have three other roommates. 

Gracie

Who has gracefully adapted to life with two dogs and a baby. She doesn't particularly like the dogs but she will only drink out of their water dish and she really likes my Dad, who doesn't really like cats.

Trudy

What can I say, she is pretty dumb and loves to lick, especially a sneak attack, but she prances around all day truly thinking that she has it made.  Sometimes I think it would be nice to be dumb and happy and little Trudy gets to live it.

Bella

Just back from a much needed haircut!  She is super smart (which just makes Trudy look dumber) and breaks into eat cat food whenever she can.  Her life is Lady and the Tramp - a cocker spaniel who once ruled the roost then a baby came and got all the attention, then a cat came (not siamese but still) and was mean.  I am sad to say that her "Tramp" is Trudy so I don't know if she thinks that is a happy ending.

Shedd Aquarium

Reese and I had another Chicago adventure with Allison! We visited the Shedd Aquarium on one of its free days.  Unfortunately, you still had to pay if you wanted to see the dolphins or penguins or whales so we didnt get to experience them.  But we did see a number of fish and Reese saw them too!  I pushed her stoller up to a tank that had turtles swimming and she looked in then pointed at the turtles and looked at me like "do you see those things?"  It was fun to watch her - I think Allison and I spent more time watching Reese than the fish but that is how it goes when you have a cute kid with you.  We also had a really nice lunch at the resturant there, which surprised me.  It is hard to see but in this picture the city skyline is behind the doors.  It wasnt exactly what I expected but we still had a fun day at the aquarium!

If you look beyond Reese (which I know is hard to do) there is a sting ray swimming - this was the coral reef and my favorite part.

Out and About

"Crime Doesn't Pay, But It Does Charge Admission"

Wow, we have been busy.  Reese has been having longer visits with her mom so, I have had time to catch up on school work (i should be writing a paper right this minute) and spend some time with the people I love.  Two weeks ago, my mom took off a day of work while Reese was away and we went to the Indiana Welcome Center and visited the John Dillinger Museum.  We ended up spending 2 hours there - they have the wooden gun that he escaped from Crown Point jail with (but it is a replica on display), his death pants and a death mask.  It is probably weird that I enjoyed it as much as I did but they did do a very good job of placing the time of Dillinger with news reels and books he would have read and all things 30s.  I recommend it if anyone is coming through northwest Indiana.

We also visited an estate sale shop that I think we book said "oh, look at this" a hundred times and I scored an awesome tin Washington DC date reminder.  Then the thrift store where we found some great craft supplies and a poppy pin that I could not love more.

 Then when my dad got home from work, we went to look at new cells phones... I went in saying that I wasnt going to get an iPhone and walked out with one.... and it is wonderful.  I have been playing an intense amount of cribbage on it. 

The next day I went up to Chicago with my aunt Kathy to go shopping with Annie.  It was the perfect day - Einsteins, (overly caffinated) Target, Old Navy, Gap, Borders... I didnt have an agenda but I did get some good Christmas presents!  Then Reese came back that night and I dont think I let go of her until she went to visit her mom on Tuesday night.  It was nice to have a couple of days to just be Lindsey but nothing beats being Aunt Lindsey!

Happy Halloween!

Reese was a butterfly for halloween. 

We drove to trick-or-treat at the houses of our family then only had 4 trick-or-treaters at our house.  I was hoping for more.