I finally convinced Madison to wear a headband

This might sound ridiculous but Madison would never let me put barettes or headbands in her hair. She would run away at the sight of me coming at her with those things. I was tired of her shaggy 'do always in the same (non)style so I bribed her today! I told her I would give her $5 to wear her hair in a headband to school tomorrow. Madison is the most materialistic person in the world (I don't know where she gets that from) so she quickly took me up on the offer. Just to make sure she would like the one I picked out for her, she tried it on tonight and said "hey I love this!" and then ran around the house saying she looks so good in it (very modest, I know).

I said to her "see, you look adorable, all these years you refused to wear cute things in your hair and now you like the way it looks!". She was silent for a minute, looked in the mirror and said "I know, that's a shame, isn't it?".

 

Thanksgiving!

Here are some pics from our 4 day weekend at Tahoe. Today is Saturday and we finally have some snow but it was not a "white" Thanksigivng... no skiing yet! Hopefully next weekend. We were able to get to the park on Thanksgiving Day because it was so warm and sunny. I then did my usual big production in the kitchen (not really) and served up the bird w/ trimmings...

Getting ready to dig in!

 

Looking very "snow-bunny chic" in my coat

 

No more pictures, please!

 

Hanging around

 

At the Tahoe Keys pier

 

And While We're on the Topic of Ebay...

Tonight Madison caught me 'surfing on ebay. I quickly closed my browser because I had my "watched items" list open, containing about half of the toys on Madison's holiday wish-list. She didn't see anything I was buying for her but she did notice that I was on Ebay. She said to me: "Mommy, does everyone do their holiday shopping on ebay?" She was totally serious! I don't know how she came to that conclusion. But it was so cute.

How do we spell 'holidays'?: E-B-A-Y

This is the first year that I am aiming to buy most (heck maybe all) of the kids gifts on Ebay. I'm sorry but it's all too easy to sit on my butt and bid on things instead of running frantically through the malls. And at prices sometimes 50% or more off, who can resist? Last year I must confess, I bought a (gasp) pre-owned gift for Madison and passed it off as new :) She was drooling over a $75 very silly looking fabric doll house at Pottery Barn (who can afford to shop there on a regular basis besides Donald Trump?) and I found the same item "like new" on Ebay. Madison didn't know the difference and she lost some of the pieces about a week after she got it; I was not even the least bit upset after having paid only $20 for it. The downside of Ebay is that I have to break with my long standing tradition of shopping at the last minute and cursing out all the long lines at the mall. With Ebay you have to allow enough time to receive what you ordered but that's a fair trade-off, don't you think?

Journey to the Desert

We just got back from a 3 day trip to the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale. So much fun! We celebrated Gary's 46th (yup, that's right) birthday and a ton of fun playing in the pools and eating at the restaurants. The people at the Fairmont were wonderful to our kids; they truly go above and beyond. Here are some highlights:

Pooltime!

 

I think Madison took this picture

 

Bathtime

 

Practicing her putting

 

Not sure what was so funny, but we cracked up pretty good

 

One of the many beautiful fountains at the Princess

 

Enjoying breakfast on our veranda

 

Out on the limb :)

 

love this pic

 

Madison discovered that she loves to play crochet

 

Check out the size of this cactus!

 

Taken infront of the man made lake at the Fairmont

 

Such a cute picture

 

She likes to wear my sunglasses-- pretty soon she'll be wearing my clothes

 

Madison wearing my Bvlgari shades-- the girl has GOOD taste

 

 

Democracy

I just love democracy. A perfect example was a few nights ago at dinner we were talking about Thanksgiving. Everyone knows I'm famous for my ability to order "Thanksgiving in a box" but I wanted to make sure Gary and the kids wanted to do it again this year. So I called for a vote and everyone enthusiastically voted for "outsourcing" the meal once again. Today I'll call Honeybaked and take care of the ordering-- Andrew loves this part because we ultimately go to the store a few days ahead of time to sample all the goodies. Hmmm... maybe we should just show up at Honeybaked on Thanksgiving Day and make a meal of their many free samples. Then I could get out of cooking and paying!

Miscellaneous

This was kind of a lost weekend-- we really didn't do much and yet it was great to just chill out. Gary installed a new light fixture in our entry way and above our staircase. This is easier said than done. We have 16ft high ceilings. I had to capture a picture of him teetering up there on the ladder.