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On Christmas eve we first headed over to Matt and Julia's. Julia's dad and sister didn't have anywhere to go for Christmas Eve, so Julia decided to do a little dinner. It was nice, though a bit odd since most of the attendees (aside from Julia, her dad and sister and Grant) were Jewish. After dinner we went over to Grant's granddad's for a bit of dessert. Sabrina passed right out, but Paige wanted nothing to do with sleep. We were finally able to get her to sleep by having Grant hide near her room and shake jingle bells. I told Paige that Santa must be nearby since we could hear reindeer bells. Upon hearing this she decided that the had to go to bed right away so that Santa didn't find her awake and skip our house.
Christmas day was nice! Paige let us sleep in until 7:30, so that's not too bad! We did the whole present thing here before heading over to Grant's parent's house and then Pam's. The girls made out well. I think the highlight for Paige was the Giddy-Up pony from Grant's parents. She rode it all around Pam and Bill's house. I wasn't so keen on this idea, but Bill was encouraging her, so I decided to let it be. Bri got lots of nice stuff as well including a doll house, Pooh super slouth tree house and other toys. I dread going upstairs as our entire front room is just packed with presents! The big highlight for me was that Grant got me a sewing maching and lessons for Christmas. I go on Monday for my first sewing lesson. I think this gift was as much for him it was for me as he has already placed "orders" for curtains for Sabrina's room and table cloths for Thanksgiving. I've never sewed before, so it might be awhile before I'm ready for curtains. {lus we still need to figure out how we will decorate Sabrina's room once she moves out of her crib. Her walls are blue since we did her nursery moons and stars, so I would love to find a blue flower print bed set.
Not much planned for today. Just bumming around the house at the moment. I am off until January 5th, so that is nice! I'll then go back to my last week at Shire before starting at Wyeth. I've been busy putting together my transition plan for whoever is going to take over my project. I was talking to Karen, the director for my compound and she told me that Wyeth tends to be pretty stingy with titles so it is pretty big that they offered me an Asst. Director role. That made me feel a little good. Everyone I work with for has been pretty supportive and seems happy for me, so that has made the whole leaving thing a lot easier! I just can't wait for my new commute!
Grant's still searching for a job. He's had several interview as a corporate development manager for Liberty Travel, so that seems promising. I'm hoping it works out since one of the benefits would be discounted vacation packages! That would rock because we love vacationing! We've started brainstorming about what we will do this year (provided Grant is gainfully employed). We definately want to do Hilton Head again, but are still on the fence about our other week. We were thinking about a cruise. I'd like to do the Disney Cruise, but that is definately not in the budget at this point. One of nice things about my new job is that I get 3 weeks vacation (+ 2 personal days) and the company is shut down between Christmas and New Years. You still get paid for the shut down period and it doesn't count towards my three weeks, so really I get 4 weeks since I usually have to take off between Christmas and New Years due to school schedules.
Well this turned out to be pretty long!
I'll still have to commute a bit until we switch the girls daycare in June, but once that happens I will have virtually no commute! Yeah!!!!
Now we just need ot get Grant a job!
Things here have been going well! I think Sabrina is officially in the terrible two year old stage so that is a joy! We had her 2-year old well visit last week. Her lastest stats are that she is 26.2 lbs (40%) and 35.5 inches long (80%). The dr. is happy with her growth and that the difference between her height and weight is beginning to narrow a bit, so that is good. I did discuss Sabrina's language with the dr, but she seems to feel that Sabrina is doing fine. She does have some fluid on both ears (it's not infected though), so we need to go back in 8 weeks to see if the fluid is still there. If yes, then we'll need to get her hearing tested, especially since we have a family history of ear problems.
Paige is doing well....she's busy getting ready for her holiday show at school. From what I can tell it's going to be really cute. They are doing a Hannukah candle song, a Kwanzaa song, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Jingle bell rock, Rocking around the Christmas tree and Feliz Navidad. I've seen a bit of a preview of the dances that they have for each song...how cute! I think Sabrina's class is doing Jingle Bells. As I was packaging cookies for the cookie exchange she kept picking up the bells I was using for decoration, started shaking them and singing "Jingle Bells....hey, Jingle Bells....hey"
Grant's been busy interviewing, but nothing has come to fruition yet. Last week he had interview for a business development position within Liberty Travel, a marketing position within Kellog and a director of sales position for a hotel in Allentown. Today he has an interview for a regional director of sales for a hotel management co. based out of Orlando. Hopefully come the new year things will start to open up!
Other than that....just trying to get through Monday. We had a super busy weekend at the Kehler house. Nothing Friday night which was good! I spent the even baking and packaging for my mom's club cookie exchange.
Saturday I took Bri to her soccer class while Grant took Paige to a Gingerbread House building seminar at Lowes. It was free and they made a really cool gingerbread house out of wood. Paige got to use a hammer and managed not to bang Grant's hand. They also got little goggles and an apron to wear. Bri did a really good job at soccer. She's doing a really good job of dribbling the ball! My highlight of the class was getting a curly hair styling tip from one of the other moms. She recommended leaving a dab of conditioner in her hair after she gets out of the bath. I tried it on Sunday on Sabrina's hair and her hair looked gorgeous. She had a head full of beautiful, blond ringlets. I tried to get a picture, but our terrible two year old wasn't too cooperative.
Saturday afternoon we had the mom's club cookie exchange and then we went to Kozier's Christmas Villiage to see the lights. Sunday we did breakfast with Santa at QVC. It was cute. They did a craft, had cookies and milk, each kid got a chance to see Santa and then Santa told them a Christmas story and had each of the kids take an elf oath...to make them an official elf. They even got elf badges with their "elf duty" Paige's elf duty is to tell children to go to sleep early....
Now that we've got most of the Christmas stuff out of the way...I need to start thinking about Hannukah....I was thinking about doing a small Hannukah dinner this weekend...
Well I should be off...lot's to do today, though I have an acute case of lack of motivation.
I got assigned a new study at work that I am really excited about. I am going to be the study manager for our pediatric study to fulfill the PREA requirements for Lialda. We have a basic study design generated and our meeting with the FDA is this coming Friday to ensure we have their buy in. I am not sure if this is going to be a 20 site US only study or a 30 site global study. I have the costings on a global set up, but need to get the costings on a US only study before a final decision is made. I would prefer a US only study since we are going to be obtaining PK samples and it is easier to get this done in the US. Ex-US sites are not as reliable and often don't have adequate facilities to accomodate timely sampling.
It's been an okay weekend here. Nothing too exciting. We went to sign Paige up for dance class yesterday. She is doing the same creative movement class again (basically just an intro to dance). Miss Lori recommended 1 more year of CCM and then maybe next year she will move on to the extended classes. This is pretty much where we thought she would be since the CCM class goes from age 4 to age 6. Paige was excited to learn that Miss Lori and Miss Paige are going to be here teachers again this year. Her first dance class is this Wednesday. After signing up for dance we headed over to the store to pick up all of her dance gear. I got the cutest leotard for her. It is a sleeveless pink one with a rose pink bow and rose colored sparkles on the skirt. I hope Miss Lori is okay with it. She wants a solid color, but they were all sold out of the completely solid ones and Paige's leotards from last year don't fit any more.
We spent the rest of the day inside. With the on and off downpours, I was in no mood to do anything.
Plan for today is to get food shopping down. I'm dreading this since there is an Eagles game today and I know the store will be packed. Tonight we are heading over to Leila's for movie night. Hopefully the weather holds up. She sets up a whole outdoor projection in her backyard for movie viewing. It is really cool. She also puts up her fire pit for smore making...yum!
It should be a good week. Tomorrow, my mom is heading over to Grandparent's day at the girls' school, so I will have an extra hour or so to get caught up at work.
Work is a bit slow this week...which is a good thing. We completed screening for my study on Monday, so I've just been doing odds and ends and helping some people out with their studies. I do need to book travel for a trip to IL and MN. Perhaps that will be on my agenda this afternoon.
Paige had her last dance class of the year this week. We got a sneak peak at their dance for the recital. Once she got over the initial shell shock of having people watch, she did really well with keeping up with the routine. I'm not sure how she'll do at the recital. She gets a bit out of sorts when people watch, so I have a feeling that she is going to be the child on stage with the deer in the headlights look:) She seems really excited about the recital, so we'll see how it goes. Next week is full recital mode. We have her run through at the studio on Tuesday, dress reherasal on Friday and then the show on Saturday. Add to that a puppet show on Wednesday and a concert on Thursday and we've got one busy week coming up:) Oh well...it keeps us out of trouble!
We had Sabrina's 18 month appt this week and her weight is finally starting to catch up with her height. She is now in the 50% for weight and the 90% for legnth. Her ped only likes to see a 30% difference between weight and height, so she was much happier about her getting up to the 50% than the 30%. I don't know how she's gaining weight considering that she never eats....but I guess she's getting enough.
She's still a bit of a monkey. I bought a water table for the girls....Sabrina thought it worked better as a pool....
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You're now officially old!
I am so not in the mood to do any work today! It's pretty quiet here. I think more than half of the company has taken the day off. We are closing at 3:00 today, though I think I may sneak out a little earlier to pick up some things for Thanksgiving.
I want to stop by the liquor store to pick up a few bottles of wine. I saw a recipe for pumpkin pie martini's in my Rachel Ray magazine that I may also try to make. Maybe I'll make a test one tonight and if it's good I'll serve them tomorrow. I also want to stop by Costco and the food store. I'm going to do most of the prep work tonight for Thanksgiving and then tomorrow is the big day of cooking. I'm doing a very simple menu again this year as we are expecting 22 guests. Julia, her dad and her sister are going to be staying with us tomorrow night, not sure if they will be staying with us tonight also....I need to give Julia a call. Since Julia's parent's just got divorced, her dad and sister didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgving, so they decided to join us...the more the merrier I guess!!
It should be a nice weekend, I'm looking forward to it! We have our feast on Thursday. On Friday during the day I may head out to do a little shopping. I need to buy a suit for myself and gifts for pretty much everyone (except Paige - I"m pretty much done with her). Friday evening we are having our annual leftover feast/movie marathon. Scott won't be joining us this year as he is catching a train to Boston at 6:00 am on Friday am. He has kind of a strange travel schedule. He's flying in from California tonight, staying for Thanksgiving, catching a train to Boston Friday am and then flying back to CA early next week.
Saturday I'm meeting up with a couple friends for a walk around Valley Forge park if it's nice. No plans for Sunday and I think I'm going to keep it that way. I want to spend time with the family, plus I need to start getting things ready for my trip. I leave at 6:00 on Dec 1st and won't be getting back until Dec 15th. The good news is that we found out that we don't need to make a thrid stop so we'll be flying straight home from Sydney.
Happy Thanksgiving All!!
Hit a bit of traffic on the way down so we were running pretty late for the rehersal dinner. We were making good time until we hit the DC area but from that point forward it took us about 1 hour to drive 10 miles. Finally made it to the location where we all got changed in the car/parking lot....fun, fun. The rehersal went smoothly and dinner was great. Had a few glasses of wine for the first time in over a year...boy did that go straight to my head. Went back to the hotel and had an absolutely awful night. We were on the first floor, directly above one of the meeting rooms where they had a wedding going on until 2:00 in the morning. It was so loud it sounded like the wedding was in our room. We kept complaining and they would turn down the volume for a few minutes and then as soon as we got Sabrina back to bed they would pump up the volume and it would wake her right up again. Unfortuantely they didn't have any other rooms to move us to on Fri night and we weren't in the mood to find another hotel. They did comp that night, pay for our breakfast the next morning and move us to a different room on Saturday night. It's just unfortunatey we were all a bit tired for the wedding on Saturday.
The wedding went smoothly, Matthew looked very handsome and Julia looked absolutely beautiful!!!!! The girls looked really cute!!!
It was tough getting a nice picture of Paige because she was SO excited about being a flower girl, we could not keep her still!! She did well, though she didn't walk down the aisle by herself. She walked down with me, so that worked. She was cute during the reception, she pretty much danced non-stop! We had taught her the chicken dance prior to the wedding, so she had a blast doing that. Sabrina did well too, though between all of the different people who wanted to hold her, I don't think I saw her the entire time:) Didn't get much of a chance to spend anytime with Grant, but I guess that's what happens when you have kiddos.
Julia's mom was a piece of work..... first of all her dress was completely inappropriate. It looked like something that a teenager would wear to a high school formal. She was in a rotten mood the entire day. She is going through a pretty nasty divorse with Julia's dad and decided to request the song I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair while Julia's dad was still at the reception.....talk about TACKY!!!!
Not too much else to report. I took a vacation day today to get things done around here, though i have a pretty nasty cold so all I really want to do is go back to bed (which I'm probably going to do...)
SO YOU'RE READY TO BECOME A PARENT.
MESS TEST
Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.
TOY TEST
Obtain a 55-gallon box of Lego's (or you may substitute roofing tacks). Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.
GROCERY STORE TEST
Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.
DRESSING TEST
Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure that all the arms stay inside.
FEEDING TEST
Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.
NIGHT TEST
Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8-12 pounds of sand. Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00 P.M. begin to waltz and hum with the bag until 9:00 P.M. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00 P.M. Get up, pick up your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more and sing these too until 4:00 a. m. Set alarm for 5:00 A.M. Get up and make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.
INGENUITY TEST
Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a Ping-Pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.
AUTOMOBILE TEST
Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it into the cassette player. Take a family size package of chocolate chip cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There, perfect.
PHYSICAL TEST (Women)
Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.
PHYSICAL TEST (Men)
Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.
FINAL ASSIGNMENT
Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training and child's table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience
I'm actually happy about being able to work from home today because I am exhausted!! I had to get up at the break of dawn yesterday to drive to Northern NJ for a symposium for work. The first few presentations were pretty interesting, but then it got a little boring because it was the same thing over and over again. After the symposium I headed down to Grant's parent's house to get Paige and then home. All and all I think I was in the car for over 4 1/2 hours yesterday!! I think when Paige naps I may nap too!!
Thanks!!!
I am very proud to show off my new skill.....I can now post pictures...God help us all:)
This is a picture from a hayride we went on back in early October. When I get a chance and learn how to get pictures off of my new camera, I'll have to post some more pictures of my little cutie!!
Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We really didn't do much of anything. I went shopping and picked up a few things for Thanksgiving in the morning and in the afternoon we took a bike ride to the playground then my mother came over for dinner.
This week is going to be a busy one!!! I was supposed to go to dinner with a few friend's this evening, but Memphis has a UTI so I have to take her to the vet. I think we are going to try to reschedule for Friday. Tomorrow I have my last mini-med class and then I'm off to Toledo on Wednesday. It's good to be busy, keeps my mind off of everything!
Today was a nice day. Grant went into work to finish up some sales reports so Paige and I spent the day together. We went to the playground and then over to my mother's for a labor day picnic. Matthew and Julia were there. It was nice to see them! Julia is so good with Paige. Matthew is another story. He tried to make a finger puppet out of the cat's toothbrush and called it "captain toothbrush." I have to say, Julia and I were more amused by captain toothbrush than Paige.
Not looking forward to this week at work. I'm sure I'm going to have tons of catching up to do Tues and Wed. On Thursday I have to take a day trip down to Richmond for a pre-study site visit. I tell you with all these plane crashes lately and the talk of fuel shortages, I am not looking forward to these flights!
a) You like taking blackmailing pictures of your friends and using them to create household goods. hee hee hee
b) "You've got a friend" by James Taylor. I remember singing this during RUSH and now, everytime I hear it, I think of you. Funny how the words perfectly describe how I feel about you and our friendship. As for a movie, I always think of you whenever I see Sixth Sense because you and I went to see that together when you visited me in Atlanta.
c) I can't even imagine you agreeing to wrestle in jello, so this is a hard one for me! ha. Oh, I don't know... how about Papa John's butter garlic sauce-flavored Jello? "Papa's!"
d) Feeling inadequate about our womanhood...
e) ha. It was the first day I had ever met you... school had just started back up, I was back from Japan and in a sorority in which everything and everyone I had known had changed. I was thrilled to be back, but I was also very nervous about "fitting in" and making friends with a group of girls who had already had a year to bond without me. That first night I met you, I wanted to party it up a bit (gee, imagine that?) so I asked if anyone wanted to go to out with me. You were the only one who volunteered - and you didn't even really know me. But we went and we got drunk and we had fun... and then we peed together with our asses against Alumni Hall (was it that building?) and I knew right then and there, we'd be friends forever. After all, sisters that pee together... ha.
f) Hmmm... I would have to say something like a tortoise - you have a strong shell that protects you from the outside world and makes you a survivor. But on the inside, you're a big softie. You are compassionate and loving and fiercely protective of your friends and loved ones. Although you have a lot of friends, there are very few whom you invite inside your shell to get to know the real you. Those of us who are invited in feel very special because of that - you are such an incredibly beautiful person and the very fact that you're sharing that with us make us feel whole. And, like the story of the tortoise and the hare, you are in it for the long haul... this is not to say that you're slow in anything you do, but rather, you think about things and you come up with the the best plan, and you stick with it. You don't give in abd you always come out a winner. Finally, you're wise, like I always think of tortoises to be. I look to you for advice and I value and appreciate what you tell me. Besides that, I just think that tortoises are one of the coolest animals on this earth.
g) Why did you choose SDT over all of the other sororities?
I can't believe it's August already, this summer has just flown by. Although I am looking forward to our vacation...3 more weeks! It should be a really nice time, hopefully pretty relaxing! We got a 4 bedroom cottage right on the beach in Nags Head. We don't need 4 bedrooms for the 3 of us (well 4 of us if you count the dog) but there weren't too many places still available when I booked the trip. We waited until the last minute because we couldn't decide where to go. Originally we were thinking about heading some place tropical, but I thought it would be easier to go somewhere that we could drive. Especially with the travel situation on some of those islands. I don't know how comfortable I would be taking Paige in a taxi or on a bus without a car seat. You never know when the driver is going to blow through a stop sign, get in an accident and practically flip over in a ditch. (not like that has ever happened to me before.....)
Yestaerday was fun, Stacy, Steve and Anya came over. We went swimming and had a cook-out. Anya has gotten so big. It's so cute to watch her and Paige interact. I really miss them now that they have moved. They still don't live that far away, but it was much easier to get together when they were only 20 minutes away in Norristown as opposed to 1 hour away in Denver, PA.
WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME?
Andrea Hope Kehler (formerly Andrea Hope Erlanger)
WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING?
Black sandles, Khaki Capris and a pink shirt
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Sunita complaining to the help desk....we are all having computer issues here!
WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Grilled cheese and tomato and a pickle
DO YOU WISH ON STARS?
Nope
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Teal or aqua
HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW?
It's a beautiful afternoon....I wish I was outside!!
LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My friend Brooke
HOW OLD ARE YOU TODAY?
28
FAVORITE DRINK?
Diet Pepsi, red wine
FAVORITE SPORT?
College footbal
HAIR COLOR?
Brown
DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Nope, I used to have glasses, but left them on the train when I worked at Penn and haven't gotten a new pair.....perhaps I should!
SIBLINGS?
2 brothers - Matthew and Scott
FAVORITE MONTH?
December
FAVORITE FOOD?
Shrimp,
LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Phantom of the Opera
FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR?
They are all pretty good, maybe the day after Thanksgiving
WHAT DO YOU DO TO VENT ANGER?
Either tell people exactly what I'm thinking or complain to Grant (or anyone who will listen)
FAVORITE HOLIDAY ?
New Year's Eve
SUMMER OR WINTER?
Both - I like winter when it snows, but I love the laid back atmosphere of summer
HUGS OR KISSES?
both!
CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?
Chocolate---no contest!!
WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT?
Flew home from Fort Lauderdale
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS?
A 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house outside of Philadelphia that I share with Grant (hubby), Paige (daughter), Belle (the beagle) Memphis (cat) and Rocky (cat). Sometimes a random black cat stops by to say "hi"
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Just moments ago - my friend who I went through infertility with just called to let me know the adoption agency found a baby girl for her. These were happy tears of course!!
WHAT IS UNDER YOUR BED?
Some clothes and Rocky. He pretty much lives under the bed.
MAGAZINES YOU SUBSCRIBE TO?
Cooking light and parents
FAVORITE SMELL?
Cookies baking, Dreft laundry detergent
WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
POPCORN...PLAIN, BUTTERED OR SALTED?
None, not a big popcorn fan
FAVORITE CAR?
Volvo XC90
FAVORITE FLOWERS?
Roses
NUMBER OF KEYS ON YOUR KEY RING?
3
CAN YOU JUGGLE?
Nope
FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK?
Saturday
WHAT DID YOU DO ON YOUR LAST BIRTHDAY?
I don't even remember - I don't think I did anything.
HOW MANY STATES HAVE YOU LIVED IN?
2
HOW MANY CITIES HAVE YOU LIVED IN?
4: Norristown, Pittsburgh, Ocean City, Collegeville
HOW MANY COUNTRIES HAVE YOU LIVED IN?
1
HOW MANY CARS HAVE YOU HAD & WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR THAT YOU HAD?
4. My first car was a blue Ford Escort. Then a black Mitsubishi Eclipse, followed by a silver Jetta. Now I drive a white toyota 4Runner
WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr PA
