Have we really lived here for a month?

 Week 4

First attempt at DMV – Fail!  Got there and the computers were down.  Luckily I was able to get the inspection of the car done so I got about half way there.  Also, I found out there was no need to drive all the way to San Jose (30 minutes away) that there was one in Redwood City (15 mins).  I went back to the DMV on Friday and got the Honda registered (in the nick of time – they only give you 20 days), but discovered that they want to re-charge us the sales tax on the Murano since we have not owned it for a full year.  The taxes here are at least 4 times what they are in SC.  Welcome to California!! Bad news is that we have to go BACK to the DMV again next week to take our drivers license written test (yes! They make you take it again, even if you are holding a valid drivers license).  No matter how much I plan I can never get in and out of the DMV in one trip.  I will give the California DMV this – you can make appointments online and it goes so much faster (wait time less than 5 minutes). 

This week I went to Buy buy baby with my new friend Melody to use my gift card from the wonderful women of SWB.  It was awesome to have a mom there who could tell me exactly what we will NEED right away (Melody has a 19 month old little girl – Charlotte – who is my buddy).  We walked in and started grabbing stuff and filling up the buggy and luckily the amount worked out perfectly – I actually made $2.04.  We feel a lot more prepared (stuff wise) and Melody dropped a lot of knowledge about the items we were buying – when to use, why to use, etc.  She is great!  That evening we had Community group– it was awesome!

 I also had the pleasure of joining Elizabeth and the girls at their Ornament decorating party.  They each had a new friend joining them.  At the party I made friends with one of the moms who is half French and she was giving me some cooking tips and some recipe ideas.  She told about this pasta dish with a creamy white sauce – I made it and it was super good.  That same night Patrick had a date with “littles” (Wood girls) to their class (Britton was out of town so they asked Patrick to go in his ...Uncle Patrick’).  They had cookies and milk, played with play doh and read stories.  They all had fun!

We are officially library cardholders, which is exciting.  The library is a couple blocks away and I have already spent a good bit of time there.  It is very kid friendly!  I did my first grocery-shopping trip where I walked and carried my groceries– I am now a local.  I will say this… I can’t wait to have a stroller to carry the groceries for me.

On Wednesday I picked up the “littles” from school and we watched Polar Express – It was a BLAST!  I love those little girls!

Patrick got to come to the doctor with me this week and hear the heard beat.  She said everything looks great (baby is head down, etc).

 Friday night we went to Stanford to see an Art/Engineering exhibit that one of friends was apart of – it was really neat.  The students had two weeks to create anything they wanted – so all of the projects were very interesting.

 We spent our entire day on Saturday in a birthing class (9-5) – it was LONG but informative.  Patrick kept joking that he hoped I would go into labor so we could leave.  We are happy to have it behind us, but do feel like we learned a lot. 

Sunday was our big Christmas service – it was with both church sites.  It was called lessons and carols.  There was a choir and musicians/orchestra and we sang carols and then after the songs someone read scripture and it went like that until the sermon.  It was a great sermon – reminding us the reason for the season.  Patrick ended up playing in the intramural championship with RUF and they won.  So now he has a championship shirt!  Lucky guy, one game and he is a champion!  After the game we had some friends over for dinner – our first time hosting in our new home.