To-Do List Updated! (Again!) and Thanksgiving

Two weeks from today and I will be on vacation!  School will still be in session, but all of my ECU coursework will be completed and submitted and my school concert will be over for this semester.  Chris and I are going to celebrate his birthday (12/4) and the completion of the semester by getting away for a night or two.  We haven't decided if we will go to the beach or just somewhere, but we are getting out of dodge!  I'm really excited about the opportunity to have some downtime--and a chance to get away.  

Thanksgiving has come and passed--meaning it's getting closer to Christmas every day.  The annual Avery Thanksgiving BBQ was festive as always at the Chocowinity Fire Station.  Chris' father is the fire chief and is so kind to cook the pig at the station for the family and any fire fighters or rescue workers who happen to be on duty (and for their families if they choose to come) so that everyone can be together on the holiday.  It's a large load of people and the children always have a grand time playing on the fire trucks in the garage.  I got some great shots of the girls wearing their holiday attire compliments of americanelephant.com.

I'll have to post them in the next day or so when I empty my SD.  

Following the pig pickin' we jumped into the cars to go back to the house for a quick shower (no one wants to smell piggy!) and drove to Jacksonville just in time for dinner.  Usually my mother cooks, but we decided to have a festive celebration at my grandmother's house as a means to make the holiday a little happier for her since this is the first major holiday since my grandfather passed away.  My aunt, who is an interior design expert in Delaware came down a week early to help grandma decorate for Christmas.  Her house was beautiful and it was a fun evening with my entire family (all 14 of us minus my dad's brother and wife).  My father's parents come too so everyone is together and my parents don't have to choose which set to be with for the holiday.  That's one of the perks of having all of your family in one town--something I miss being away.

The next morning Chris and I got up to brave the crowds for a trip to Toys R Us, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Target.  I had a few items on my list for the girls, and I had gotten a very nice early Christmas present from my grandmother and I had decided to use the money to purchase the new Nikon CoolPix camera--you know the one Ashton is going around taking pictures with on the commercial?  They were all marked down for the day and I have been researching cameras for a while on the internet and Consumer Reports and had decided that was the one I wanted.  We already have a very nice camera, but it's large and very complicated for regular use.  I love it, but I wanted something purse or pocket sized for every day shots while not compromising the clearness of our old Nikon.  We do not take the girls for formal photos as much as other families because we can take just as good (if not better) photos with our camera.  We found the camera at Best Buy (whoo!) and made our way out.  

Honestly, it wasn't too bad.  We didn't get out before standard shopping hours (9-10am) and most of the cracked-out shoppers were headed home so we were surrounded by semi-sane people who just wanted a good deal and to mark items off of their lists.  Pretty do-able.  We ran into our good friends the Copelands in Target (literally as Chris pushed me into Janae because she and I didn't notice we were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the baby doll aisle).   I miss them so much--when we lived in Jacksonville we used to spend so many evenings together.  

We came back home last night so I could work on my papers.  I stayed up late last night compliments of a nice cup of coffee and Dr. Pepper.  I only made it to about 1:00am--but that is late to my body who is used to bed between 10 and 11pm most evenings.  I got some work done, but I'm interested in going back to find what I actually ended up writing at such a late hour!

Here is my new and improved to-do list:

Foundations Paper Due December 3rd

10 pages (written 5 or so)

Power Point (several slides completed)

Video (transcribed)

5 sources (check)

Presentation on December 4th at 5:00pm

Research Paper Due December 8th

25 pages (4-5 written)

25 sources (have about 18 reliable)

Annotated Bibliography (14 out of 25 completed)

Power Point 30-40 slides (only title slides)

Parent & Student Surveys compiled (check)

Statistical Method chosen--must converse with Chris

Winter Concert December 9th

Mini-vacation with Chris on December 12-13