Thanksgiving minus the Turkey, Pie minus the crust

NZ doesn't do turkey (which is very very sad for those of us that love, love, love turkey)....well I take that back - they occasionally do turkey, but they are very very expensive - so for Thanksgiving we had chicken instead. It's obviously not a national holiday over here, so I cleverly did thanksgiving dinner in the crock pock, along with a few dishes made the day before - so that I could just come home after work and whip it all together in about hour. We had a really yummy meal - and semi healthy too. We've got a lot to be thankful for this year.

This pumpkin pie was crustless, and turned out so good. You can't buy canned pumpkin over here - so you actually have to cut up a pumpkin, cook it, and puree it. Lots of work if you ask me. Its a funny thing though, because although it takes so much effort they eats lots of things with pumpkin in it...pumpkin soup, pumpkin pastas, roasted pumpkin....the day they bring canned pumpkin to NZ will be a sweet day indeed. Back in the US they have the luxery of buying canned pumpkin but it doesn't seem like people even eat it that often. Share the wealth...start exporting to NZ!!!! We need it.

I also made a walnut pie - which is worth it's wieght in gold. Walnuts I have discovered are also very expensive over here. I brought the leftover pies into work, and made everyone's day.
This weekend has been gorgeous. So gorgeous we spent a lot of it outside - we went to the first of many many Christmas functions. During the day we went to my work's children's Christmas party at the local pool, and later that night James and I went to a formal dinner for his work.

Christmas Comes Early

We bought this toy months ago on sale, and we were determined to keep it as Luca's main Christmas gift...until Daddy decieded he had to have it now. Makes me wander who was more excited about the gift - James or Luca....ha ha. So Santa came a bit early - and now we must again go to the shop to get something to put under the tree...

He does like it! Luca is pulling himself up and getting into everything. This little digger makes all kinds of engine and diesel noises and lights up. What a boy toy!

Need a Nerd?

I'm back! You'll notice it's been some time since the last post. Our computer has been infected by who knows what and was playing up. We tried loading up some free antivirus software which just made things worse, and then I spent hours trying to fix it myself. Today I called an expert (Need a Nerd) in to help out. Why didn't I do this two weeks ago? This guy came round today and fixed everything...and I also purchased some top of the line antivirus system, and he answered endless questions for me. We are now back and running and I have my sanity back.

James is away on 'adventure training' this week. He's doing a 5 day river - float trip that we had been wanting to do for years together. Just figures he goes out and does it without me for work...and gets paid to do it!? Who has the better job? Yeah, that's what I thought. Oh, well...at least the computer's fixed.

Caught in the act

I thought the silence was a bit odd...so I went into Luca's room to find him on the floor with a box of tissues....all over the floor. I can imagine how much fun it would be for him to pull them out one by one, throw them up in the air and watch them float back down again. Here he is - moments after I caught him. Needless to say, I make sure the tissue box doesn't sit on the floor anymore.

Thanks for the new outfit Grandma Cassie! This is Luca's 'spring training' outfit. Two weekends ago the weather was so incredibly nice...almost felt like summer. Notice the green grass and the shirtless daddy? The warm weather is such a nice change from the horrible, miserable, winter we had.

Happy Halloween!

Grandma Cassie sent over this adorable Dragon costume for Luca. It was such a hit at the halloween party I hosted for his 'coffee group' friends (these are all babies that were born within a month a him....from our antenatal classes). Halloween isn't big over here at all. In fact we got 0 trick or treaters (compared to the hundreds that Grandma Cassie and Grandpa Dennis got in Missouri and Florida)

In just the past few years its getting to be more popular in NZ. The Daylight savings means it's light out until about 8pm - which doesn't make trick or treating quite so good. It's just not as scary when it's still daylight out. There's also all this contreversy in the media about halloween - people think it's a night for random acts of vandalism...egging houses etc. Boo-hoo! That's not what halloweens all about!!!! Regardless, I hosted a party....which I think will have to be a yearly thing b/c I love halloween so much, and it would be a pity for Luca to miss out on the fun.And a few of our friends - this is Tom and his mom Thea. He was born 2 days before Luca.

And Ashley - the jailberg. He had a ball and chain around his foot at the beginning of the party

Chelsea and Juliette - both dressed as pirates. Juliette was born the day after Luca!

Babies just look so cute dressed up. Here's Georgi as a devil...she looked sooo cute!

And Olivia as a mouse (sorry forgot to turn the photo around)

Oh, I forgot to share my exciting news. On Halloween night I attended a party hosted by my gym (yeah, I know...I'm such a gym bunny...but they were giving away lots of free prizes in which you had to be in attendance to win...I figured I'd give it a go...I mean who would actually go to a gym party???) You know what...it was kind of fun. I went to spin class prior to the party, which made me a bit lightheaded after my 2nd glass of wine at the party. The exciting news is that I won a prize! Not the $10,000 I was hoping for, but $500 in personal training vouchers. I figured this will be good to use right before the wedding. Hmmmm...I would have so much rather had the $10,000 (to pay for the honeymoon, parts of the wedding, a few small debts we have.....) but heck, I can't complain, A PT is pretty cool too.

Happy Halloween

Our other job

To earn a bit of extra money James and I have been trained to put up and take down the PNCC mobile stage. Many community and commercial groups use it for a variety of events. It's very pysical job (and I usually break a few nails, and get a few myseterious cuts or bruises in the process), but I enjoy doing it b/c James and I get to work together and well...earn some extra money...which will all go straight to the wedding fund. Here's what it looks like before...
And after....

We've put it up twice now, and each time we are getting a bit faster at it. Oh, here's a pic of a date night that James and I went on a few weekends ago. We used a voucher that we had recieved from our engagement party for a fancy resturant in town. Sooooo good! (this was taken with the self timer on the camera...ha ha!)