"I'm not sick. My happy."

Too good to be true.

That's how I felt yesterday when my organic chem professor let us in on what I consider an early Christmas gift. Half of our cumulative final exam will be in the form of a take home test! After this news came, I looked around the room and saw 40 other non-traditional college students with ear-to-ear grins. I myself was trying to be mature and not let out the childish excitement that was building up inside. I know ... is it really that big of a deal?

Well, yes. It means finals week will be just a little bit more tolerable and it also makes coming back to school from an awesome Thanksgiving break a lot easier.

Too bad it's next semester when I bid farewell to life as I know it. Sigh.


Oh well. That's then. This is now. And I have lots to report from a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend spent in Milwaukee.

We arrived late on Wednesday night after a surprisingly traffic-less drive from Michigan and were reunited with sister Brooke and bro-in-law Justin. Bless their hearts - they already had the air mattress that would be my bed for the next few nights all ready.


It wasn't until the next morning that I got the best morning wake up call: my nephew Trace standing over me with his signature cheesy smile - front teeth slightly sticking out - saying 'Hi Auntie.'

Reason #1 why I am what many would call an obsessed auntie.

I'm not above admitting it. I do love that child and could fill all of these blog posts lovin' on him and all the cuteness. But. I won't.

With that in mind, enjoy this one sentence - er, paragraph - version of my stories o' adorableness that we witnessed this weekend:


Trace loved his Cars gifts and multiple times a day asked Auntie to "see the cars" on the fridge with him to which I replied "yes" and we laughed ... Making faces with Grandpa Jeep and going 'upside down' with Grammy were fun things for Trace and we laughed ... When asked "Trace, do you feel sick?" he replied, "No, my happy" and we laughed ... As I was holding him he asked, "Auntie, how are you doing?" to which I replied, "Good" and he replied, "You doing good, Auntie?" and I laughed ... Trace's new magic trick was a hit especially when he said "Gaba-da-gaba" for Abracadabra ... And we laughed.

I realize that most of that likely didn't make sense. And if you're still reading and hanging in there with me ... God bless you. I'm dealing with my 'Trace obsession' with intensive therapy. Kidding, of course - but it may be the next step. Any foreseeable help though is a lost cause. He would have to be de-cute-ified. That's not going to happen.

I hope you all enjoyed time with family and friends like I did. What a blessing.

Now I need to find fun things to do in the snow so I can prevent any insanity that may seep in as I try to survive the long winter ahead. Next thing on the agenda ... Christmas. That should keep me plenty entertained.


One source of winter entertainment we came up with was good ol' bowling. So, you ask, "Are you any good at bowling?" Well, not to brag, but to answer this, I will tell you my all time low score. Ready? Drum roll ...

19!

Oh. My. Gosh. How horrible is that? I am happy to report that I did not stoop to that level during my latest attempts. I bettered that low score by an average of 35 points each game. Yep. Still not good by normal bowling standards, but in one game let's just say I didn't get last place.

Now that you're intimidated by my skill - challenge me to a game. I dare you.