Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating tomorrow! I'll be enjoying the Macy's parade for one of the first times, live on TV. Normally I'm at work and many times we've had horrible Tivo/VCR malfunctioning.
D has already put dibs on next year (taking away from her xo-worker who always takes this weekend to go to Vegas) so that we could potentially go to New York and see the parade in person! How awesomely bad of an idea is THAT? We've seen a few NYC parades by pure coincidence including the 1999 Yankees world series ticker-tape parade, Halloween and Pride. They're busy. Really, really busy. I sometimes think we're really crazy when it comes to this sort of thing!
Anyway.. Enjoy your feasts!



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Parade, Correction and other stuff

Parade: We went to our Santa Claus parade this weekend and it was awesome. It was community based but not amateurish at all. I loved how the high schools had floats and even marching bands (which are not as common for schools here).
I had to laugh a bit at the obvious money spent when planes flew overhead in Christmas Tree formation several times. It was impressive but OMG how much would THAT cost?

MIL rant: D thought I made it sound like her mom treated Sadie differently because she has 2 moms. It's not that. It's that D's mom thrives on being needed and we don't "need" her. My BIL on the otherhand is 100% needy (and stupid) with 4 children under 5 years old. Therefore on the scale of neediness, he wins hands down. He also uses his at every opportunity. I mean, she has one of his kids overnight almost daily.
We're seeing her this weekend. I'm a bit concerned that she may give us Christmas presents. If she does that (indicting she won't see us again), I'll be really pissed off.

Thomas the Tank - Sadie LOVES Thomas. She had a complete meltdown today when I pulled her away from the Thomas table at our local toy store. It was really embarassing. The tears/screams were pretty much the same as a really good head wonk. People were staring and I had to explain it was just the trains and not a physical injury.
Does this mean she's spoiled? Are other LO's pulling this crap too? O. M. G.

Glee - I posted on FB that I thought tonight's Glee episode sucked only to see others raving. I'm not going to post spoilers so I won't say much. I think the message in the show was a good one but the delivery along side a silly storyline ruined it. Basically, IMO, Glee has totally sold out, has shitty writers and doesn't have a consistant story arc. Oh and I can't stand Lea Michele's bangs.



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Mini MIL Rant

I'm annoyed because:
-MIL hasn't seen Sadie since June.
-The last couple of times she has seen her were when D was at work
-She FINALLY is getting around to wanting to see Sadie and she wants to come on a weekday
-D said this was OK without asking me first and she'll be at work

Sorry, but I do not want to get stuck with my MIL ALONE a third time. Nope. Not going to do it. I think it's only fair that D be home since it's HER mother!!
The reason she'll only come on weekdays is because she spends weekends (every single one) with my BIL's kids. I think it's time she shares a weekend for the grand daughter she hasn't seen in 5 months. Don't you think?


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Photo Shoot

Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels totally used and abused after being at a photo studio? Sigh. $150. Double Sigh. They have you the minute you walk through the door!
The good news is that the session went really well and we got some amazing shots. Out of our 3 photo studio experiences this one was the best --- and it was SEARS!

What have other people's experiences been like? Anyone not getting studio pictures? Our 3 attempts:

1) Magenta - This was a new boutique like photo studio that had been popping up in our malls. Sleek design, gorgeous pictures displayed, tacky props (butterfly wings!) and by far the most expensive. We took advantage of a "free sitting fee and free wallet". Not by far the most enticing offer but I was feeling like we'd missed out on newborn shots and I really liked their "Anne Geddes" style pictures. Sadie was 5 months old.
The verdict? Meh.
The guy taking the pictures had no charm at all. NONE of the cutesy photos turned out worth ordering. They were also *really* expensive for a MALL photo studio. $50 per sheet. We took our free wallets and ordered a blanket with a collage of several of the "natural shots". D was horrified when I told her I'd ordered a blanket but it was nice. I actually like it, a lot. We ended up spending $120.
2) Walmart - Package for $7.99. What the heck, right?
The Verdict? OK
The guy taking the pictures seemed to be using the camera "quick reference guide". hmmm.. the shots were pretty good and we ended up buying more than just the $7.99 package. HOWEVER they went and printed way more photos than we'd selected and told us to BUY THEM or they'd throw them out. Evil. We ended up spending about $50.

3) Sears - No discount, 1 free photo collage but absolutely no choice whatsoever related to the design. Awesome props and backgrounds and the photographer was really good with Sadie. I didn't think we'd spend $150 at Sears but the photos turned out well.
The Verdict? GOOD but I feel a bit icky about the sales methods. I asked about promotions and she vaguely said to check the website. None of the promotions that were on big posters outside of the studio applied or you needed a "coupon" that she couldn't tell me where to find. She seemed OK until I was trying to get some sort of a deal. It was the first time we'd paid a sitting fee.
A sneak peek:

As you can see, we went with Dress #1. We ended up choosing that one since it fit best (the others are still a bit big) and it wouldn't clash with the backgrounds. I hope she can fit dress #3 better in time for Santa photos! I bought 18 months which was silly. She generally does wear 18 months but not for dresses. She's always been able to fit dresses a lot longer.
I was a bit sad that I hadn't thought to bring our own props. I wish the picture with the bear had been Mr. Monkey.

And just for fun, I found a baby photo of myself. I'm not sure how old I am but I only have about 4 teeth!

Which dress?

Help please! Christmas photos tomorrow and we're not sure which dress! What do you think? 1, 2 or 3? Please ignore the mess and the shirt/tights she is wearing are not the ones that she'll wear tomorrow.

Dress 1

Dress 2

Dress 3

Santa Claus Parade

Sadie went to her very first Santa Claus parade this weekend! She was totally unimpressed (it was nap time) but we still had fun. Some of it was a little loud but it didn't scare her. Santa came and went with very little fanfare.
There are two parades next weekend. One is the big Toronto Parade which is really good but long and out of control busy. I don't think it would be worth the trip into the city to see it this year. We'll have to see. The other parade is in our town and will be like the one we saw this weekend. We'll be going to that one for sure because all of the events we've done here have been really well put together and people are actually POLITE and friendly. I'm really looking forward to it.

All warm and bundled to go out in the cold

Hi Santa!

Momma and Sadie

Trying to get a close up shot of her eyes because we *think* they may be turning brown!

Birthday Party

Super quick post because I'm not feeling well. I thought I'd share some pics from today's festivities. Don't you love her $15 outfit?