We've just wrapped up a really good Thanksgiving visit with Laura. Beth and I jetted up to Michigan for Thanksgiving with her family while Laura was driving down here, and we drove back in the evening and beat her home. We then had another Thanksgiving dinner Friday (Cornish hens) and went to see "National Treasure" yesterday. It was ridiculous but fun.

11-09-2004...Alex got his first haircut this evening. Beth and I took him to the lady that cuts Beth's hair, but I'm not sure she'll want to keep doing it after this. You would think we were killing him the way he acted. He screamed and cried the whole time, clinging to Beth like a death grip. The kids both got shots last week, and Alex's reaction wasn't nearly as dramatic to the shots as it was to the haircut. But, the curls on the back of his head and the stray hairs over his ears are gone, and he looks a lot better.

Yard work weekend. We hired a babysitter to watch the kids while Beth and I raked, blew, and swept leaves for about 6 hours Saturday. The yard looks pretty good though, as good as it ever does. Someday I need to work on growing a decent lawn with grass.

11-07-2004...The last few days has been different. I took Thursday and Friday off work to get some work done at home. I've been wanting to work on the room downstairs but haven't been able to do much since Melissa was born. Beth helped out by taking the kids out of the house to run errands or visit friends. Not having the kids here means I get a lot more done. I got about 5 hours work in on Thursday putting some childproof locks on doors around the house and working downstairs before Beth got home, with a babysitter, then we had a date of sorts. We wanted to go geocaching to get the one on the farm we couldn't get last week, but about a half-mile hike into it and 500 feet from the cache it started raining. So, we hiked back empty-handed and went to get soup. Friday Beth took the kids out again and I would have had more work done downstairs than I did, but I lost a couple hours going to visit the doctor for a tetanus shot and the pharmacy to get some antibiotics. Seems like flesh doesn't stop a drill bit at all. I was holding a piece of wood in place to drill a pilot hole for a screw and put a hole in my finger on the other side. Nothing serious but it bled a lot. No nerve or tendon damage though. Saturday was the annual ladies shopping trip to Woodfield Mall in Chicago. Pam and Steph came down to go with Beth; I had the kids myself all day Saturday except for bowling. I was on for the first game, but lost it right soon after. My scores for the 3 games were 229-123-126. Only my 3rd 200 game ever.