That's not a birthday cake.....

DOUG GOT A JOB!!!!  

He received an offer from Cardinal Health last week to be a Category Manager and accepted.  He begins his new role on January 5th.  I couldn't be more proud of him...he made some really tough decisions to transition into a new career, worked very hard networking, researching and interviewing with companies for 7+ months and managed the highs and lows of the entire process so beautifully.  I admire his optimism and enthusiasm and am truly blessed to have him in my life.  Congratulations to you Doug Trueman....ILY!

Thanksgiving 2008

We got home last night from a long trip to Morristown to spend Thanksgiving with Sissy, Noah, Anna, Benjamin, Mimi and Papa John.  Jonah was such a trooper in the car both ways and luckily Dad had his driving gloves on for the way over b/c we hit nothing but snow storm after snow storm! Liz and Noah were wonderful hosts and prepared quite the feast on Thanksgiving day. Everything was so delicious, thank you for all of your preparations!  Here are some highlights from our week....We are so very blessed to have such wonderful families!

(sissy, anna and benjamin snuggling in the play room)

(benjabo is getting lots of new teeth and loves to show them off)

(jonah and papa john find a walking stick for our trek through the nature trail)

(aren't they just the cutest?)

(jonah being jonah ;-)

(waiting for Santa Clause to come to the square in Morristown!!)

(anna wasn't too keen on Santa this year, as long as her eyes were shut, she was safe)

(here comes Santa....the fire truck picked him up from the top of a building!)

(mimi teaches anna how to make yummy cinnamon rolls)

)

(jonah's face is priceless, is he already making fun of us?)

(remembering the good old days...)

(noah gives us a taste of his old high school cheerleading routine, nice high kick!)

(mmmm....the beautiful turkey, deep fried to perfection)

(ahhh, male bonding...)

Getting ready for Christmas...

We had a fun weekend at home this past weekend.  It started with dinner at Champs Zam and Hailey, Millhouse, Paul, Jessie, Ally and Wally on Friday night - sooo good to see everyone! and then some serious game time on Saturday.  It was an all day football marathon with the Aunt Jill, junk food and a fire going in the fireplace to keep us warm.  We did some Christmas decorating, shopping and a little outside time in Jonah's new snow suit.  The grand finale was a fancy dinner and some fun family activities at Jay and Amanda's house for Olivia's 7th birthday....7 years old!!!  Oh my, time goes too fast!

Now, on to Thanksgiving!  Yeah!!!

Rutabaga

With all the hussle and bussle of the day to day, I haven't given enough type-time to our sweet little Rutabaga.  Today marks my 25th week of pregnancy and according to my on-line sources, she is weighing in at 1 1/2 lbs and is about 13 1/2" from head to heal...roughly the size of a Ruataga.   For those of you that don't know what an average sized rutabaga looks like, refer to exhibit A below.  wonder if she has all that curly hair?

(exhibit A)

Anywho, everything is checking out as it should.  I had an appointment yesterday and she is measuring right on with a heart beat of 140.  I'm feeling healthy and like myself again, thank goodness.  I hope to start planning the fun things now....moving Jonah into his new room, pinkifying the nursery and pulling out all of those gadgets and supplies you need when you bring a new born home...didn't we just put them in the attic?  oh, and names...we need to start thinking about what we'll call this little girl.  Bitty baby just won't fly on her social security card.  

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

After a grueling day of re-capping, re-informing, re-negotiating, re-delivering and re-doing most decisions that were made yesterday at the Bra Mill, I came home to two of the greatest things in my life, ok three...I promise, I still love Bella to pieces.  Jonah was in the kitchen with his whisk in hand, stirring up Bella's water and his Dada was baking his very first, hand-made LASAGNA!  That's right, my husband, Doug Trueman, made the most delicious lasagna from scratch with ground turkey instead of beef AND spinach.  I was in heaven and he claims he enjoyed the whole process.

mmmmmm.....life if good!

(TAAA - DAAA!)

(all that cooking today and he hasn't lost his masculinity - look at him flex!)

weekend at Grandma and Papa T's house!

We headed to Aurora last weekend to spend some time with Grandma and Papa T.  A good time was had by all....we spent the afternoon playing with all of the gadgets at the Cleveland Science museum, had an early dinner in Chagrin Falls and made a pit stop at the local popcorn shop to appease the pregnant lady!  Sunday, Papa T drove us out into the country for some site seeing and apple picking...mmmmm.  Jonah wore out a path in the carpet at the Trueman house running circles from room to room.  Thank you for all of the meals and treats through out the weekend Barb and Jim - we sure had fun!

On our way home, we visited Great Grandma Trueman, Aunt Judy, Uncle Craig and all 12 of the cats.  Thanks for having us!

(family photo op!)

(can I get in there??? PLEASE???)

(Grandma and Jonah at the Cleveland Science Museum)

(Papa T and Jonah)

(Grandma plays some songs for Jonah)

(Great Grandma Trueman shows Jonah the kitties)

(mmm...apples)

(YES!  I got to play in the balls...now, there aren't any germs in here, right?)

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun afternoon and evening with Jonah, Aunt Jill and the Trueman Family!  It started by going to Jonah's school to partake in the classroom party....yummy snacks, costumes and a personal tour of the playground led by jonah himself.  Then, we came home for some hot apple cider, homemade doughnuts, trick or treating and some hilarious entertainment from Aunt Robin.  She dressed as a scarecrow and scared most of the people who came by.  Some of our favorite lines we heard from the people she scared were, "I think I just pee-ed my pants," and "Oh that was good fun, thank you for that" (in a british accent).

good times...thanks for the fun!

(aunt robin came to visit jonah at school)

(all of jonah's classmates)

(Aunt Amanda and Hadley ..."happy nanaween"

(Olivia touching a real brain...EWWW!)

(the cousins)

(Aunt Jill gets some cuddly time w/ Jonah)

(is that real??)

(nice teeth Aunt Robin!)

TGIF

We're looking forward to a fun Halloween weekend.... Jonah is back to himself after a trip to the ER last week and a bout of pneumonia. He is one strong little boy! I'm posting a few pictures from our evening of Pumpkin carving. There's something really great about carving pumpkins with powertools!

(martha would be so proud)

(mmmmm....squishy seeds!)

(what's inside of this thing?)

(time to clean up in jonah's personal hot tub)

Fall at the Farm

We had a nice weekend at The Farm. The mornings were frosty and cold and the afternoons were sunny and warm with bright blue skies...perfect for watching the color of the leaves changing! Jonah was busy as always exploring his surroundings. We played in a laundry basket, examined pinecones, walked through a corn field, pushed Grandma Mary around in her wheelchair and played quite a bit w/ Mimi and Papa! Thank you for a fun weekend, we'll be moving in at the end of the month - make room!

Piano Lessons

I think Olivia might just be the cutest piano teacher out there...and Jonah agrees!