Turkey day will be here before we know it.

Can you believe it is November already? This time of year seems to pass too quickly. I love the holidays, but I am not ready to hear Christmas carols while running my daily errands.

Our Halloween went good. We decorated the entire house with spider webs and Jocelyn spent the month of October calling the spiders "flutterflies". The day before Halloween I took the day off work and went to Jocelyn's school. We did arts and crafts and trick-or-treated at the different classrooms. (Well, I trick-or-treated, Jocelyn used the opportunity to weasel her way into the 'big kids' classroom and play with their 'big kids' toys.) Afterwards, I spent the day taking her around to visit friends and family in her costume.

Halloween night, Jocelyn enjoyed going door-to-door for candy. Every time we passed a kid in a costume she recognized (like the witches) she'd point them out. I think at this age viewing the characters was her favorite part. She also had her first taste of candy...mini chocolate M&Ms. She definately has my sweet tooth.

So, the first real Halloween experience was a huge success and one I will forever remember.

Big Girl Bed

Tonight Jocelyn is in a big girl bed.

Cory and I double checked all of the baby proofing and sat in her room until she feel asleep. I can not believe this day has come. I looked at her in the toddler bed and couldn't help but think "she is too little for this..she's still my baby". Even now, I want to curl up on her floor to be sure she is safe.

Cory & I are a mess, but Jocey did great. We told her to stay in bed and she did, even if it was a struggle for her to get comfortable. (She normally likes to stick her feet through the bars of her crib and was finding a hard time doing so in this bed.) Later, Cory and I snuck onto the back porch to peak into her room, making sure she'd stayed in bed. She looked right up at us, smiled and settled her head back down. It's almost as if she was thinking.."silly mommy, it's just a couple of less bars."

And it is silly, except that's my baby in that big girl bed.

The next couple of months are going to be crazy!!
Look at all the stuff that's going on...
October 10th - Zoo fun with family
October 17th - Halloween Door & More (charity for hospice kids)
October 18th - Anniversary surprise from hubby
October 31st - Halloween
November - new baby Mecca
November 26th - Thanksgiving
November 27th - Black Friday
November 29th - Jocey 2nd birthday party
December 12th - Hockey game in N. Carolina
December 12th - Hanukkah
December 17th - Indianapolis Jags game
December 25th - Christmas
January 1st - New Year's
January 31st - Marathon

That's right. You read correctly. I am going to take the marathon plunge. I think I can make it into a fundraiser to raise money to help pay for Grandma's treatment and medicine. In anyone knows anything about starting these kinds of things...I'm all ears.

I am flying to Anaheim this afternoon to attend the Fresh Summit (a large produce & floral show). Finally, something other than fried food and sweets (which is more typical of food shows I attend. While I am gone (until Monday) check in on Cory and Jocey for me!! I promise to post pictures from Cory's fantastic birthday weekend when I get home.

By the way, I am going to run a marathon January 31 in Miami...I am hoping to raise money for cancer programs...ideally, some could of the proceeds could help grandma out. More details to come...let me know if you have recommendations on how I can go about this. I have no clue. All I know is I have to find a way to run about 6 miles while in Anaheim...maybe I'll head towards Disney...

We are only three weeks into day care and Jocelyn is already developing many new skills. I watched in amazement last night as she finished playing with her blocks and proceeded to pick each one up and put them in the toy box - without being asked. She also learned sign language for the word "more" which she demonstrated last night at dinner..sign language was something Cory and I wanted to work on, but had never gotten around to doing.

Go day care!


I wish everything else was that easy. Cory is overwhelmed with work (Fidelity and Appraising) and school and I feel like I am drowning sometimes tying to balance motherhood, womanhood, career and the household. What's a girl to do....chop off her hair? Well, as you can see, that's what I did...fortunately, I love it. I seriously only blow dry it for 5 minutes in the morning...nothing else.

If you like it, let me know. If not...I never liked you anyway.

What else is new for the Shrader's?

Upcoming events:

• Cory turns 30 September 28th, we'll be spending that weekend in Orlando and PSL
• I am focused on personal growth lately. Listening to podcasts and networking. Trying to prepare myself for the next step.
• Grandma (who recently had abdominal surgery) is healing...slowly but surely, please keep her in your prayers
• I will be heading to Anaheim October 1-4 to attend the Fresh Summit, a huge Produce Food Show. I am going to see Condoleezza Rice speak at a women's leadership event.

I'll keep you posted. Check back early October.