It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!!

Even though we won't be here for Christmas, it did not stop us from decorating our house. Marcin insisted we start a tradition of Christmas decorating the day after Thanksgiving which mostly he did. I did help out, but we have a small house and there's only so many places to put things so I didn't feel too bad letting him do most the work :). I just have such a great husband, and I'm happy that he helps me with everything. So here's our tree...



And this is the rest of the house...



And then I made Christmas cookies from my mom's recipe that I remember making and decorating as a family while we were all growing up. It wasn't as fun by myself, but luckily Marcin came home in the middle of decorating to help me out. Now we also had every good intention of delivering the cookies to friends and neighbors, but I'm sad to say that all consumption has been courtesy of myself and Marcin (but mostly me).



And a big fat thank you to my sister Sydney for making this plate for us last Christmas. We love and we were so excited to use it again this year!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with great food, family, and friends. Mike and Robbie (Marcin's parents) flew in to spend the holiday with us and we were so grateful for that! Keith and Hayley joined us for dinner and some of our other friends, Jason and Amy stopped by too. Unfortunately all I got were pictures of the food. Wonder where my priorities are?? We of course made WAY too much food and have been eating turkey ever since, but aren't leftovers the best part?? So here's the pics of our spread.... Pretty impressive if I do say so myself!





Thank you Grandma Norma for the china we finally got to use after almost 2 years of being married!

Legally Blonde!!!

On Saturday night Hayley and I went downtown to see Legally Blonde, The Musical! It was so much fun. Ever since Marcin took me to see Wicked at Playhouse Square in February I've been dying to go back. Legally Blonde was only playing for a week so we were so happy that we didn't miss out. It was a blast!!! The musical was so cute and so funny. We also had dinner before at the place dowtown called Bricco and it was Yum-O!! I'm so glad Hayley and Keith live here with us and so glad to do these fun girls night out things together!!!
You would not believe how hard it was to get this picture!! We asked two different usher ladies to take it, but they both said the backdrop was copyrighted and we were not allowed to take it. Finally the nice women in the row behind us took it.

Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween this year with lots of fun friends. We did a Halloween party last year too and this year we had even more people attend and quite a few new students that I hadn't even met yet. We had a blast and I'm sure we'll be doing it again next year. I dressed up as a witch and Marcin was some kind of hillbilly with disgusting teeth. Lila and Rufus both had costumes on which lasted an entire 1 minute. Lila was a cheerleader and Rufus was a football player. It was a great night and thanks to everyone that came!!


We also carved pumpkins before Halloween with Keith and Hayley and some of their family so here's a picture from that too...

Trick-or-Treat

Smell my feet.... Sorry, I just feel like you have to say that after Trick-or-Treat. Now that I have officially received the worst blogger award since I never post, I figured I throw this one up here even though it's not the most interesting thing in the world. For those of you that live near us (sorry to everyone else not blessed enough to live in Cleveland, Ohio) we are going to have a little trick-or-treat get together again this year. Anyone is welcome! It's a great neighborhood for safe trick-or-treating for kids plus what a great excuse for us to all get together! If you want to come just stop by anytime. I figure people can start coming around 6 before it starts to get dark. If you'd like to bring some treats for the big people, that would be great but not in any way mandatory for attendance. We'd love to see you all here!

Marcin's Motorcycle Wednesday

Everytime Marcin sees, hears, or thinks about a motorcycle he gets all excited and sad at the same time. Excited because it makes him want to go get one and take it for a ride, but sad because that's just not happening. So he's been dying to ride one this summer and this week has been really laid back so it was perfect timing. On Wednesday I see him come home with this....



He was so happy to finally be riding a motorcycle!!! So Marcin and I left on that for the rest of the afternoon. We went all the way to Lake Erie,

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,

saw the Brown's stadium, the science center and rode all over downtown.
We ate at the Mexican place downtown called Zocalo's and it was really fun. Then we started to make our way back home, but not without stopping for ice cream at Handel's (the best ice cream in the world!!). It was so much fun and a much needed day together. Between Marcin's school schedule and my work schedule we don't find much time to hang out together like that. It was such a blast and I can't wait to do it again!!

EXTRA, EXTRA!!!!

AHHH!! I never thought that I would EVER lose my phone, but I did it. It is truly awful. Luckily it wasn't my work phone that is actually just an extension of my ear, but I've lost all my numbers and contacts. So if you've called and I didn't get back to you, it wasn't my fault!! Well, it was but I didn't mean to. Obviously I now need all of your numbers. You can e-mail them to me at BVaclaw@gmail.com or leave it as a comment on my blog (although my blog is not private so...). I can't wait for my life line to come back!!!!

And Finally....

The icing on the cake.... Chelsea's Baby Shower! Her friend, Brooke, did a fantastic job with the shower. It was a lot of fun. We played some really cute games and had great food and Chelsea got some great gifts.


Our great friends Ashley and Kyler and her mom Susan came to the shower and it was great to see them!

... Part II

After Marcin left (sad) I got to go to the lake with my family for a few days. I LOVE the lake. It's so fun to be out on the water wake boarding and in the boat. My family rented a really cute condo in this place called The Island. Talk about fun!!!! Here are just a few of the pics.
So this is me climbing UP the cliff and...
this is me jumping off!! I know it doesn't look that high, but it sure felt that high!!!! Here's Riley jumping off too, but he did it like 15 bazillion times and wasn't scared at all.
My mom wakeboarding...
me wakeboarding,
Sydney wakeSKATING,
My dad wakeboarding. I don't have a picture of my brother wakeboarding, but let me just tell you that he is AWESOME!!! He landed a tantrum (which is a BACKFLIP!) and jumps the wake like a pro. Since Chelsea is a littler pregger, she got to go on the tube with me and we went 4 mph for about 7 miles. It was the best tube ride EVER!

Okay, anyone that knows me also knows that I really like animals. I can't help it! I just love them. So I happened to see the CUTEST little turtle ever so I reached in the water and picked it up. I did put it back in the water, but it was really fun to catch it. I also feed some ducks in the water with trail mix AND (this is the animal highlight) I hand fed a deer! I only had a week old chocolate iced donut, but it worked! The deer came right up to me and I pet it on the neck and behind the ears. I would have taken that home with me if I could have.

We also found this big tramp on the water and decided to go jump on it despite the bold signs saying "HCCG campers only" (or something along the lines of no trespassing). It was tons of fun until we saw a man on a golf cart driving over to tell us to get off. We scattered off that thing faster than I thought possible.

And no vacation would be complete without a little Wii Rock Band / Guitar Hero!!!
It was just great to be with my family and spend time with them!