A few updates

It has been crazy busy at the Trutter-Smith household! I'll do a quick reminisence of Halloween to start......

Matt spent Halloween with us this year, and as you can see he dressed as a pirate! I did the pirate make-up (not too shabby) after digging through my makeup to find some old eye liner pencils :) We met up with Shannon (Jasen's sister), her husband (Lance), and their son, Camden. Steve and Robin joined us with thier little baby (Eva) and we all walked the neighborhood together. It was a gorgeous Halloween night and the kiddos managed to acquire quite the pile of candy! Roxy dressed as a moose, although I was a bit dissapointed in how her costume turned out. Jasen pointed out it looked more like a moose humping Roxy, instead of her actually being a moose. Oh well, at least she tried! :)

Most of month of November I could be found studying every minute of every day and night for my board exam which I took November 22nd. No, I am not taking my medical board exam....that would be Lindsey...in a few years....No, I am took the board exam to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Most people don't know what that is, and if I try to explain it I'm sure you still won't understand.....so let it suffice that it sounds impressive :) So, I will find out if I passed the exam probably around the beginning of January. Crossing my fingers! (Passing is based on a bell curve.....yikes!)

Next was Thanksgiving, and we hosted this year for an intimate party of 5. :) Meg came with her friend from Chicago, Bailey. Shari joined us and we had a delicious feast! With Meghan and I both on the gluten-free diet, I accomodated the meal so that we could both eat just about everything. We made 4 gluten free pies (2 pumpkin, 1 chocolate-pecan, and 1 apple). We bought the crust frozen from whole foods, and Bailey said (and I quote), "This is the best pie crust I've ever had!" Jasen did a phenomenal job with the turkey...it was amazing! Shari used gluten free cheese crakers in the green bean casserole for Meg and I, and it was brilliant! We ate way too much, and when Meghan thought she might explode, she somehow reasoned that one more piece of pumpkin pie would be the cure.....it was not. I think the walk helped though! Oh yeah, and Share bought Meg and I some vintage aprons from ebay. We had been looking for aprons for all of our baking and cooking in the kitchen....who would have thought I would even be wearing an apron! Not I! ;)

Meg, Bailey, and I braved the Black Friday crowd and it was completely worth it.....we found some killer deals! I managed to get some of the Christmas shopping done, but still alot to go!

I moved my christmas flight, and so I will be flying out on Thurs, December 17th. I return Janurary 4th. Jay is so sad, but being really supportive. We will celebrated our Christmas next weekend, the 12th.

Can't wait to see everyone for Christmas in Illinois!!! :)