Happy Thanksgiving....And Black Friday!

We are so lucky to be able to spend Thanksgiving in Reno with my family this year. We are feeling very blessed and grateful and pray for a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.

Okay, enough with the sap. This is a day to rejoice and spend time with family...but it is also the day that the Palaroan sisters strategize and prepare for our annual shopping competition, oh, I mean event. In addition to shopping for ourselves and trying to find great buys (I am in the hunt for a new Sonicare toothbrush and some luggage...text me if you know of any good deals...seriously), we are also shopping for a couple of needy families we have adopted for the holidays. So, the stakes are high and we are sticking to a list this year...no random items (unless, of course, they are practically a steal) and I'm a little concerned about a certain variable we haven't had to deal with: Reno weather. Actually, it's more like freaking cold Reno weather. We are looking at temps in the teens when we are out shopping in the wee hours of the morning....I am hoping this doesn't slow us down. I think we will have to properly stretch beforehand, maybe have Tim stay in the car and keep it running on high heat. I don't know...my mind is running a mile a minute and I need to get back to planning and stop blogging. Best of luck fellow shoppers....may the good deals find you!

Here we go again

Tim has once again decided to grow a beard for the holidays, his so-called gift to the world. I don't know if it's his way of hibernating for the season or what, but I have tried numerous tactics to get him to shave it off. Needless to say, all of them have been unsuccessful. My last attempt today was telling him he looked like an angry mountain man and I thought he was starting to scare the children. He ended up just laughing at me. Maybe he is trying to be Santa Claus...I don't know. The Youngberg side keeps telling me they can't grow beards....I don't believe them anymore. Tim's beard, although hard to see in this picture, is full and less than a week old. And unless they would like to volunteer trying to kiss this guy, then their vote doesn't count anymore!

Tim is trying to tell me he resembles Justin Timberlake and his beard. For some reason, it's not working for me...

Taking Bets

My parents were nice enough to give us their old couches (which aren't really old at all) since they purchased a new set. Tim and I are currently taking bets on when the first "accident" will occur with these lovely kinda new couches!

Here's Sophie and Noah inspecting the couches bounce potential.

Here's Noah getting buried in the pillows and cushions...he later catapulted himself from one couch to the next.

Jackpot!

Tim was cleaning out the attic while getting down the Christmas decorations and he found a few of my purses (okay, maybe he found a lot of my purses) that I no longer use. I decided to bring several down and I will actually attempt to rotate them instead of carrying around the same boring purse day after day...after all, Burberry, Louis, and Coach do not deserve to collect dust in a musty old attic! Anyway, as I was looking through the purses, I felt something crisp in one of the zippers....crisp in a monetary kind of way. I reached in and pulled out not one, but two $20 bills! The way I reacted you would have thought I won the lottery (I'm still working on that goal, by the way)....but nevertheless...$40 to start my day off right! Yes!

Relax and Rejuvenate

Here is the view we had from dinner. Not my picture, but that's pretty much the exact view!

Tim had a gift certificate for a free night at one of the Westin hotels, so we decided to cash in and spend the night in the city. We stayed at the St. Francis and it was wonderful. We had a great outdoor dinner on top of the city overlooking Union Square, enjoyed some adult conversation (well, for the most part), and took some time to just be husband and wife.

I absolutely love the city....the excitement, the lights, the nonstop activity, and the unique people that belong to it...there are moments when I think I can be a city girl, but then I realize it would be an ideal situation only if I was single, without children, and a career woman. Unfortunately, I don't fit any of these categories...career woman would be pushing it considering I require at least three months off out of the year! But, it's definitely great to live so close to San Francisco that we can enjoy all it has to offer, while also being able to go home to our nice little suburban bubble. It was a fantastic weekend...hopefully we can get away more often!

They like each other!

Not every moment in the Youngberg household is spent pushing each other off couches, kicking each other out of bedrooms or fighting over toys....most times they are spent playing nicely, laughing, and even hugging it out.

Future Picasso

Noah loves to draw and makes our trips in the car ten times more manageable with him occupied with his little doodlepad and other notebooks. Hopefully, this kid will share his gift with the world and support his Mommy and Daddy!

He's a champ at drawing circles.

He also likes to walk around in in everyone else's shoes. Little does he know how hard it is to walk in my shoes!

I can't make this stuff up....

Tim and I are often in awe of DNA, especially when our children prove to us that certain things just can't be taught. Sophie seems to be a little too much like me and I'm not so sure how Tim feels about this! Tim and Sophie were in the car today and she told her Daddy that she was thirsty. Tim proceeded to give her a bottle of water. Sophie took one look at the water, noticed it was half gone and asked Daddy if he had a drink from it (yes, most of you know where this is going and unfortunately, so did Tim). After responding with a slow and skeptical, "Yeessss," Sophie gave the bottle of water back and told him she was no longer thirsty.

We've been noticing similar behavior lately and neither of us chose to point it out and decided to chalk it up to coincidence, but the evidence has slowly been stacking up against us. She refuses to share her beverages with anyone and also refuses to drink out of anyone else's cup. She won't allow different foods on her plate to touch each other and sharing anything that anyone has pretty much touched recently or ever for that matter, means it's off limits to her. I'm not even kidding about this....and for her sake, I'm not even going to fight her. I think Tim wants to break this cycle, but being the germaphobe that I am (is that a word?), I'm willing to let it slide for both our sakes!

BTW---I still can't do it. I have lied to friends and have said there will be a day when I might share a beverage with them, but that day never came. And let's be honest here....it never will. Tim's still waiting to share a bottle of water with me and on the rarest occasions (i.e. I'm choking) I might take a sip. I know....I'm weird.

Beware

Don't let this cute little face fool you. One minute she will be telling you how "you are the best (insert intended compliment here: Mommy, hot chocolate maker, hugger, bracelet fixer) ever!" And then, in an instant, she will turn on you. She refuses just about every meal I serve her, "pants" is not a term in her vocabulary or her wardrobe for that matter, "I don't like" seems to be the first three words out of her mouth these days, and her sleep habits have regressed to that of a newborn baby.

Bottom line, she is an exact replica of me when I was her age and everyone who was lucky enough to witness my childhood will attest to this. Unfortunately for me, I am learning on a daily basis how to deal with....how shall I say this...myself? I have two very expensive pieces of papers (i.e. college degrees) that have taught me nothing on how to work with a four-year-old. I have studied every psychologist and their so-called theories and nothing has helped in reasoning with a pre-schooler. I'm not looking for a parenting manual...I'm just searching for a little sanity as we get through this particular stage (I know there will be more difficult stages...thank you moms who have been there and now have grown children). Seriously, is this why people drink?

The Little Things

I went to Starbucks and realized the time had arrived (so early!) for "red cup season." You could tell other people were excited too, walking out with their beautiful bright red cups signifying the beginning of the holiday season. I have to say I had an extra skip in my step as it reminded me of the wonderful days ahead...

It doesn't take much to put a smile on my face!!