On What We Learned for Next Year's Halloween

This is the first year that we've been in this house for Halloween.  Bellow are some of the things we've learned for next year.  Maybe you'll find some of this information useful.

1.  It is hard to find carving pumpkins on Halloween Day.  Buy your pumpkins BEFORE the big day.

2.  Boil and simmer the pumpkin seeds in salty water before roasting them in the oven.  Every year I've tried to make pumpkin seeds they don't turn out good...but this batch worked!

3.  Rice Krispy treats, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin cookies, and hot chocolate do not make a good dinner on Halloween night.  (Tom disagrees with me here)

4.  Start putting aside money in the summer to buy enough candy for Halloween.  We handed out over 200 pieces of candy and still ran out before 8:00.  You know you are going to have a lot of trick-or-treaters when your neighbors come by at 6:00 and ask if you're ready for this.  And it's hard, once all the candy was gone and you were rushing inside to turn your light off, to have to look at a group of trick-or-treaters and tell them you are sorry because you just ran out of candy.  Their response?  "OH MY GOSH!"

Happy Halloween Everyone!

On a Great October Week

This past week, my mom drove down to visit.

On Wednesday, she got to see Tom coach our middle school football team to a 36-6 victory.

On Thursday, she came with Tom and I to our 18-week ultrasound.  It was so good to see her!  I was disappointed that she could stay the weekend, but she claimed to have a wedding to go to.  As Tom said, "A short visit is better than no visit."  But little did I know that while my mom was driving back to Ohio...

...my sister, Kara, was on the way to North Carolina from Kentucky for a surprise visit!  She surprised me after school on Friday leaving her husband, Andy, to watch their three kids.  Mom had lied.  There was no wedding.  She had decided to make that up so Kara and I could have some sister time together.  Kara was a huge help getting our registry going at Babies R Us since Tom and I are new at the baby thing.

Then, on Saturday we met my college roommate Kim, her husband Don, and their little son Max to go to the Lexington BBQ Festival.

On Sunday, Kara, Tom and I drove to Durham, North Carolina to meet our friend Steve at Mellow Mushroom and then went to visit some of Kara's friends who live in the area. 

Now that it a great weekend!

On Our 18 Week Ultrasound

Ten Fingers,
Ten Toes,
What's the sex?
Nobody Knows!

On Becoming a Drew Brees Fan

One thing no one told me in college is how important my last name would be as a teacher. Countless times a day I hear my students call me by my last name.  Since Tom and I work at the same school, my first initial also became important to distinguish which "Rees" you were referring to.  So, when I sent the e-mail to let my extended family know about our pregnancy, I titled the e-mail "B.Rees" to announce the coming of "Baby Rees."

Since then, we've shortened it to just Brees.  I've heard that many mothers and fathers-to-be have nicknames for their children before they learn the sex of the baby or pick a name.  I find it is much easier than using "he/she" or "the baby."  It's just more personal.

So when Tom was setting up our fantasy football team this year, we decided to name it Brees.  When our league auto-drafted, it selected Kyle Orton as our quarterback.  We were soon asked if we wanted to make a trade for Drew Brees.

And of course, we did.