…and begin it did! i wasn’t sure if i was going to be up for shopping this year since i’d started getting things here and there a little earlier this year. i had heard that the great mall would be open at midnight so my sisters in law and i decided to check it out. i took a quick nap and met up with them about 10:45pm. mel came with me but decided to stay in the car since he’d have to stand while we waited for the mall to open. it didn’t even matter that we stood in line because people just bum rushed the door when the mall opened.

i hit the toy store and to my disappointment kaybee was very disorganized this year. i guess someone reported them to the fire marshall last year so their shopping format changed and it seemed like a free for all in there! after a quick trip through the store but a long line to pay, we finally made it home around 1:30am, had a quick cinnabon snack, took a quick nap, then headed back out at 3:30am! we hit the disney store, got some great stuff there, then headed out to radio shack…3 radio shacks to be exact! hubby was on a mission to buy some things he saw in the ads. we finally got back to my parents house about 7:30am and went straight to sleep!

when we got home i dropped off hubby and baby and hit the stores again..target to be exact. my intention was to just buy gift wrap but as you target shoppers know there is no such thing as getting “just one thing” at target. i came out with a bunch more stuff and was excited to start wrapping! i get home and realized…ugh…i forgot to buy tape!

mel was such a great sport today! after our shopping day, he told me that he had an appreciation for what i do year after year and that he may go out shopping with me next year! (i guess we’ll see…hehehehe)

we did the usual thanksgiving celebration with family - lunch at my in laws and then dinner at my parents house. i never know what to bring because there is ALWAYS sooooooo much food at both houses…his dad and my mom are AWESOME in the kitchen! i usually bring the same thing for both houses and this year i had a few things i intended to make but then never really got around to doing it all so i ended up making an appetizer and dessert.

lunch at the inlaws is always great! my father-in-law is up at the crack of dawn slaving over the kitchen stove and by lunch we have turkey, gravy from scratch, ham and various other dishes and potluck items. the kids are always running around playing and me and my sisters-in law are going over the ads for the black friday early morning sales! we were missing my brother in law this year but did get a chance to see mel’s cousin, gladys and her hubby, ray, who were out here visiting from the east coast.

we headed over to my parents house a little earlier than usual because my brother and sister-in-law were heading up to see her family for their thanksgiving celebration. thanksgiving dinner at my parents house is not as traditional….sometimes we have turkey and other times we have chicken…one thing that is always constant is ham along with various other dishes and potluck items as well. this year venus and the kids came by as she has not seen my family in a while and it also happened to be my parents’ anniversary. it was joshie’s first thanksgiving so it was nice to see him even if it was just for a little bit

we attended madison’s 4th birthday party at a place called LEMO’S FARM located in half moon bay. the weather (and the drive) was beautiful! it had rained the night before so we weren’t sure if the party would be relocated. poor mel did have a little trouble getting around because it was muddy in some areas and he has been using a cane. we rode the train like a zillion times because TJ kept wanting to go on it! he surprised us by wanting to ride on one of the ponies….turns out his pony needed a bathroom break shortly after TJ got on…hahaha

i had auditors in all week and the only good thing about the work week…traffic was actually light on monday, for a monday. i even got into work before 8am! work has been overwhelming as of late and it just seems like there’s never an end, not even a slight break, in what is needed by various people in the organization…*sigh*. we had a small baby shower for a first time mommy to be in our office! seriously though, a baby shower with a room full of guys instead of a room full of women, just isn’t the same…hahaha!

mel’s knee is so much better! they took of his brace and he no longer uses crutches…he’s using a cane though for some support. therapy has been testing him more, he started on the treadmill this week and also going up and down the stairs slowly as they help him start getting balance and strength in his bum knee. i’m so proud of him…he’s progressing very well every week…it won’t be long before he’s almost back to normal!

we had dinner tongiht with jenn and edison. we took them out for a belated anniversary dinner to a restaurant, THANH LONG, that we had been telling them about for years but never got around to taking them…we finally did! they agree it was worth the wait! yummmmmmmmmy…check out our dinner and dessert tonight….i am soo full!

i swear i have the worst luck with these things. the first time the cable guy came out i only told him that the we only watch tv in the loft and the family room. when hubby got home he’s like…uh what about the master bedroom and the other room? oops..totally didn’t know! i didn’t understand it when the guy asked me which rooms he needed to work on. i seriously thought it was just two rooms…:/

anyways, the cable guy came out today and again…my luck, we got a guy who wasn’t familiar with how to set up cards for tivo. unfortunately since we’re in the boonies, charter communications is who we use..i miss comcast…*sigh* so the guy activates the tivo cards and we test it and he’s like can you watch live tv on this? i said no..because we need to get it activated. he thought he was just out here to do the cards. ugh, so of course i had explicit instructions from mel to make sure he checks the tv quality on the master bedroom tv and to hook up the guest room tv. because the control panel was upstairs i felt uncomfortable leaving the guy alone anywhere in the house so i followed him everywhere. on top of that he wasn’t sure which outlet in each room was for cable and which was for internet…not how i wanted to spend 2 hours of my time. YES, you read that right…2 hours…because we had to keep going back and forth, then upstairs and downstairs, then checking this and that, nope that doesn’t work then oops i cancelled your service on one of the dvr’s…OMG..i seriously wanted to scream. at least the guy was nice but man, i’m sure he’s like..ok stalker because i kept following him everywhere!

anyways..hopefully hubby’s happy with everything…we’ll see when he starts watching tv…:)

my brother is going to be living with us temporarily and he started moving in last weekend. it was kinda funny watching my dad and uncles (all over the age of 60 mind you) helping him out. he’s slowly settling in and getting use to the commute.

tobey had pumpkin carving, halloween parade and party this week. i heard they also started dance time again and he was actually dancing slow dance with a girl..hahaha..too cute, right? he looked great in his tobey-wan kenobi costume and loved the light saber. he especially got even more excited when ninong edwin let him hold a real light saber that he had received as a birthday gift years ago. it was very cool!

mel continues to have therapy 3x a week. he is now starting to bear weight when he walks so it has been nice seeing him get started trying to walk with the crutches. he is working on getting off the crutches and/or the brace so hopefully that will happen soon…he’s been working very hard i know it’s been frustrating for him to just be sitting still since he’s use to being active and moving around quite a bit.

my mom had a birthday last week! she is the most loving, caring and giving person that i know and i hope that i can be half the mother she has been to me. she shares her special day with a few other special people in our life…cousin, father ninoy…ninang lisa and goddaughter jasmine.

saturday was my “me day”…scrapbooking with a close friend, cathy. the boys left so that the house could be hubby free, kid free and brother free…hahaha. we had a nice afternoon of scrapbooking, getting caught up on life and enjoying anything chocolate, as usual. i try to have some me time at least once a month just to destress…usually for the reason below…hahaha!

i had a worker’s comp audit that i’d been worrying about the week before, mainly because i’m not a fan of having any type of auditor sitting in a room next to you coming in every 5 seconds to ask questions. i’m glad i was wrong about this one…it was pretty painless! i had prepared all the stuff he needed ahead of time, handed him the stack and he was done in about 1.5 hours! woohoo!

that was my week!

my little one started off halloween morning fighting with me about whether or not to wear his costume. you would think HE would be the one to want to wear it right away and I would be the one to have him put it on at school…nope. he was going to have a parade at school where they all line up and trick or treat at the surrounding local businesses. the teachers wanted the kids dressed when they arrived at school so i thought “hey, no prob..he’ll love that!” boy was i wrong! i struggled to get his obi-wan kenobi costume on him and eventually lost the battle. :/ we got to school and he finally agreed to wear the costume after seeing the other kids in theirs of course right? the school did not allow superhero costumes (so as not to promote taunting and teasing about who’s a better superhero) so we chose obi-wan or as i like to call him…TOBEY-WAN KENOBI…:D no light sabers either so he had to wait until he went trick or treating to use it.

it was also cousin joshie’s 1st halloween! ok…this was the cutest costume ever! he was a turtle…sooooooo cute! someone thought he was “crush” from “finding nemo”…hahaha