Thanksgiving in Chicago

Happy Holiday's

Greg and I in front of a Steam Engine at a local Round House in Wisconsin

It's starting to look alot like Christmas..... Hard to believe we are upon the Holiday season already. This year has gone by so fast. ( I guess that's what happens when Greg is out of town 30 out 52 weeks) We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and are just as excited about Christmas as we are. This year we were able to fly to Chicago and spend Thanksgiving with Greg's family. We spent our first few days in Wisconsin with his brother Greame and his family Julie, Jacob and Greyson. Thanksgiving morning we all were up very early and bundled up and headed out towards Madison to watch Julie run in a 5K race. Although, it was only about 28 degree's we still had a great time that morning.

Greyson and Jacob waiting for the 5K race to start

Greg and Greyson and the 5K Race

The boys have grown so much in the year since we last saw them. We really enjoyed playing, and just spending time with them while we were there. On Friday, one of Greame's friends who works for the railroad invited us down to the Round House to see an old Steam Engine, and gave us a tour of the place. It was amazing to climb on the Engine, and see just how those things work. ( Greg enjoyed the tour more than any of us)

Greame,Greyson and Jacob in the Fireman's Seat on the Engine

Me, on the Steam Engine

Grandma Helen, turned 93 on Saturday !!!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Today is Sunday November 30th- This morning Greg and I ventured out to Church. We visited Willow Creek Church ( which is the sister church to our's in Houston) This church was the Biggest church I've seen....... we were given a little fact sheet when we walked in, on average they have about 22,000 people in attendance. WOW !!!! It was a great service, and right in the middle of the service it started to snow....... Yes, it's snowing today :) we are expecting about 3-6 inches today/tonight.

We will keep everyone updated as we continue on our trip in Illinios. We are heading down to see Greg's Dad and Judy on Monday. We will also be visiting some of his friends in the area while there. Hope everyone had a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving. Stay tuned.......

This one is for you Mom......

I finally did it......

Well..... I finally did it Mom, I cut my hair short today. These are the first pictures released !!!!! It's a huge change, but I think I'm going to like it. Although, the quality of these pictures are not very good ( had to take them myself) but at least you can see the "New" me... :)

this is the back of my hair now

This was taken this morning, before the "big" hair cut

Life here in Texas has been busy for me, without Greg here it's been a whirl wind keeping up with the dogs and work... Sierra (our puppy) is getting bigger by the day, but she's still not sleeping through the night, and will chew anything left in her path. Shelby is just happy when she see's her daddy home on friday nights. She's lost without him, and feels she's needs to be under my feet while he's away.


We will be leaving on Tuesday night for Chicago, where we will be spending Thanksgiving and some much needed time away and together. ( I'm not coming back to Houston, until I see snow !!!) Not a lot of snow, I don't think my flip flops will do well in a ton of snow.... It's sad to say, that my winter wardrobe consists of a couple of sweaters and slip on shoes.

Since, it's been awhile since our last post, again we have a hodge-podge of pictures to share.



Taken at the Pumpkin Patch-early October

The Thunder Birds- Wings Over Houston Air Show

Even Shelby gets into the Holiday Spirit

I don't think we're in Kansas yet..... Sierra the Witch

The Girls are ready for Santa.. HO HO HO !!!!!

I this finds everyone doing well, and we wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. More pictures to come of us making snow angels in Chicago :)~

Love,

Tina and Greg

A Hodge-Podge of Pictures and activities

After our lame attempt last weekend to find a true "Pumpkin Patch" we sort of found one this weekend. I guess I should clarify- it was out in the country, had "some" pumpkins, and a few actitivies for the kiddos. Although, it was nothing like what were use to from Chicago, it still put us in the holiday spirit. It was a gorgous day on Sunday- couldn't have asked for better weather. (Okay maybe a little snow, would be nice )
this is the "Pumpkin Patch"

Sunday morning was also a pretty exciting time in our neighborhood. The clean up crew finally made it's way down our street to pick up the last of the remains of Ike. These guys sure are early risers. They were perched out front of our house a little past seven. It's hard to get angry, when they are doing such a great thing. Finally

the last remains of Ike- our front yard

There goes our fence- finally

The last of the fence

Saturday night, we made it out to the first home game of the Houston Aeros Hockey Team. It was a really good game- they won 8-6. Not much fighting, but a lot of goals were scored. Below are a few pictures from the game.

This is Greg and I with Chili- the mascot for the Aeros

Tom hanging with Chili

Houston Aeros and the San Antonio Rampage

I apologize for the Hodge-Podge of pictures from this past weekend, but it seems to be the story of our lives these past few months. We have to cram 7 days into about a day and half. So were on the go all weekend long. This past one was no different.

Saturday afternoon, I called Greg to have him come down to my Cafe and take a look at the wood floors in the dining. Over the past week or so, the floors have started to bubble and buckle due to the water that leaked in under the doors and windows during Ike. My Cafe is still a total mess. I have 4 windows that are still boarded up, two huge pitchers mounds going by the day in the dining room, and an Ice machine that is still not working. Never a dull moment in the world of Panera Bread. :)

The woodfloor- Saturday afternoon. Friday when I left it was still flush with the tile

Saturday night- Greg cutting a relief cut in the floor.

Monday morning- This is what my floor looks like today !!!

YUM-O

So we made it through our first year of marriage !!! hard to believe, it's gone so fast. Since we totally forgot about our wedding cake topper last weekend.. It was our mission this weekend to break it out of the freezer and sample it. I must say we were pleasantly surprised with how tasty it was. The poor thing survived smelly fish juice that spilled in the fridge ( only days after the wedding), and 4 days without power thanks to Ike. Although it didn't look as pretty today as it did a year ago, it sure was yummy !!!

We took it out of the freezer this morning before leaving for church and left it sitting on the counter. I can hear you all saying, that was a crazy thing to do with 2 dogs in the house. I would have to agree, the whole time through church I had this vision of Shelby (our good dog) finding it on the counter and go for it. Luckily she had no clue it was there. However, by the time we returned home the cake had taken on a completely didn't look. ( see picture below)

The frosting had slide off the cake. The first sight of it though, I was sure Shelby had gotten a head start of the cake eating.


Here's a picture of us holding the cake before the "food fight" began. Just remember those smiling faces, they weren't so pretty in the minutes to follow !!!. We've posted a short video of the moment. It's rather funny to watch.

After we had our cake we had to call in the "Clean Up Crew" The girls did such a good job with clean up, we treated them to another small piece of the cake as well. One year down, a life time to go !!!! It's been a great ride and adventure so far, I know we're both very excited to see what the future has in store for us.

P.S. Happy Anniversary to Scott and Nancy- hope your having as much fun as we are. :)

Our First Anniversary

Today... well, I guess at this point it would be yesterday was our First Wedding Anniversary. It's so hard to believe that it's been a year, still feels like it was yesterday. Although, we didn't get to spend to much time together today- We had a wonderful weekend together. We went to dinner on Saturday night, and then Sunday we took a drive to Brenham, TX in hopes of finding a Pumpkin Farm ( Nothing beats Goberts, in Chicago)Unfortunatly, we didn't find a Pumpkin Farm, and had to settle with the produce stand pumpkins along side the road.


(Greg and I while dating Christmas 2001)
This year Greg has been on the road traveling about 22 weeks total, so it's been a hard adjustment, but we've managed to find a routine that feels "normal" to us. He is currently working out of the Kansas City, KS branch and will be doing so until the first of the year, hopefully by then we'll get the go ahead to move North.


(This was one of our Engagement pictures)


(This is us on our Honeymoon in Cancun)



These are the beautiful roses that Greg had sent to Panera this morning. What a nice surprise to a Monday morning !!! Thanks again honey for the roses, I will enjoy them all week- I just wish you were here to enjoy them as well.

It was such a crazy busy weekend, that we both totally forgot about eating our wedding cake until about 10:30pm last night. We agreed to enjoy the "yummy" cake this next week, we'll also post some more pictures, so stay tuned. I hope this find you all well.

Lots of Love,
Greg and Tina


P.S. I couldn't resist taking this picture tonight- Our "girls" miss their daddy when he's gone. When your not paying attention to them, they will sit by the front door in hopes that daddy will be home soon. We all miss you :(