December 31, 2007

My head hurts, my arm hurts and my neck hurts. My arm is from playing Wii so much the past couple days. It's just not used to being swung around that much. My neck hurts because I ignored my headache long enough that it's moved down. I'm not sure why my head hurts. It could be from fatigue. It could be because I did not eat any breakfast and had a soda before I ate lunch. Plus, I didn't really have any protein for lunch. Or, it could be I'm just tired.

I got up when Michael went to work this morning and have been going non-stop mostly. I spent the first hour and half at the computer updating our banking records and paying bills. I was three weeks behind on updating stuff. I'm never behind on paying bills, though. And, today I got two things paid off! Yeah! It's always a good feeling to get things paid off.

After the kids had breakfast and I had a chance to make my lists we were off. We had to go to the credit union ATM for some cash. Then, it was off to Walgreen's to get Michaela's prescription (which she hadn't had for two days) and Michael's prescription. I got a couple other things, too.

I got very annoyed while we were there. They had a new pharmacist working and when we stepped up to the counter she didn't look over for a couple minutes. Then, when she did look over she said, "someone will be with you in a moment." After which she proceeded to turn away and make a phone call. Now, I'm sure the phone call was job related, but she didn't make any effort to get anyone up front to help us.

We stood there for over five minutes waiting for someone to help us. Another woman stepped up and was getting frustrated, too. FINALLY, someone came up from the back. She was surprised we'd been there so long. I made sure I was heard by the pharmacist and the store manager that was near by when I commented on the fact that she did not even try to get someone to come help.

When we left Walgreen's we headed towards the grocery store. It has been three weeks since I've done normal, needs based, full out grocery shopping. I was very happy with myself, though and even though I spent a little extra for some things for tonight I managed to get out of the grocery store at $42 less than I was expecting.

There was a lady bagging her groceries at the same time we were bagging ours who started talking with the kids. Caleb announced that they have to clean the toilets today. Thank goodness this woman was a mom because she didn't flinch and just kept up her end of the conversation. She is the same age as me and is pregnant with her fourth child. God bless her. I have no idea how I'd manage four kids. She seemed like a very nice woman.

When we left the grocery store we had a couple other very quick stops to make and then came home. My wonderful children helped carry everything in without me even asking them to do so. I let them get Lunchables at the store for lunch so they dug those out and ate while I unpacked the groceries. I also got some stew meat browned and dumped in the crock pot with some seasonings and veggies so we can have stew for supper tonight. Then, I boiled some pasta for me and used up the rest of my marinara sauce from last night.

Now, we are taking a break until 1:00 p.m. Then, the kids will clean the bathrooms and do the vacuuming. I am going to clean the kitchen counters and sweep and mop the non-carpeted floors in the house and dust.

My mom, her boyfriend, my brother and his wife are coming over tonight. We are all going to play games and visit and eat snacks until midnight. Then, we'll say "cheers," they'll go home and we'll go to bed. I am hoping to get at least a shower in sometime this afternoon if I can get my cleaning done quickly enough.

Anyway, it's going to be a low key evening tonight. We are not big partiers and the past few years we've gone to bed by 10:30 on New Year's Eve. It's not like I have this insatiable need to make a huge deal of New Year's Eve, but the going to bed before midnight on that night makes me feel old. Very few things actually make me feel old, but that is one of them.

So, this is my last entry for 2007. It amazes me how fast it has gone. Time really does just fly by too fast. At this point I have only 377 days until I turn 40. How is that possible? In any case, I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. My wish for each of my friends and my family is that 2008 brings you at least one dream come true.

December 30, 2007

I did NOTHING today. Ok, well maybe I did one load of laundry and cleaned up dishes. I did also make lunch and supper. But, I didn't get anything done that I really should have gotten accomplished. I guess it will wait for me won't it.

I did however spend a great deal of time online doing some research. I've contemplated not writing about this yet. I am a bit superstitious, if you will, about talking about things before they are set in stone. It seems things get "jinxed" and don't happen if you talk about them before they happen. So, even as I write this I'm trying to decide if I'm actually going to write about it or not. And after much contemplation, I've decided to not say anything at this point. Then why am I writing this? Well, because I do want some record of what is going on and while others may not know what I'm talking about, when I look back on this I will.

Today had some cool things in it that I can talk about though. I introduced my kids to a movie I just loved when I was a kid. So, yeah it's an OLD movie. We watched Bugsy Malone. It was fun to share that with them. They both really liked it a lot, too. We watched it together in Michaela's room, which she thought was cool because we all gathered in her domain.

This evening I saw something really fun to watch. Michaela was playing Caleb's Monster Truck Jam Wii game. Her truck tipped over on it's side and she handed Caleb the remote so he could get it back up on it's wheels for her. That is the first time I've seen her defer to her brother willingly and not let it bother her. It was so natural and it was so incredible to see Caleb helping his sister with something he can do but she hasn't figured out yet.

Although, it made me really look hard at him. He's growing so fast. I've come to the realization that I hate/love the KG year. It takes my baby away from me. It also is exciting to see this little person becoming more independant. And, in about 10 minutes I'm putting my two children who are growing up way too fast to bed.

December 29, 2007

Well, I got most of the laundry done today. I still need to sweep and mop the kitchen floor. The bathrooms need to be cleaned and the whole house needs to be vacuumed and dusted. I've got two more days to do that. I also want to get the tree taken down and Christmas put away. I would like to not have to do stuff like that on my last day off work.

Tonight we stopped at Michael's work's old building so he could get some electrical boards they still have there. Then, we drove to Chesterfield and had supper at The Old Spaghetti Factory. We got there soon enough we only had to wait about 15 minutes.

It was a good meal. I love that place. Funny thing happened, though. A waiter other than ours brought out our entrees. He gave the kids their plates and then as he picked up mine and switched it from the serving tray to the table my food just slipped right off of it onto the floor. I didn't even realize it had happened at first. I was turned helping Caleb get settled and turned to my plate and realized it was sitting empty in front of me. I didn't remember eating any of it, but it was gone... all over the floor.

They were very apologetic and got me a fresh plate very quickly. I used to work in restaurants so I know accidents happen. The only thing that kind of got to me was the bus boy came by our table and swept up the noodles and as much as he could. Then he said, "I'll bring you all some paper towels for the rest on the floor."

Michael and I both looked at him because it sounded like he was just going to hand them to us and let us clean it up. Um, no I pay for a service in a restaurant therefore I don't clean. I think he must've just not worded what he meant the right way because he immediately looked embarrassed and said, "Oh and I'll get it cleaned up for you."

In all it was kind of funny how the food just slipped right off the plate. And, no harm done as they had fresh food for me before the mess was even cleaned up. Plus, it was so yummy. I love that restaurant.

After we ate we took the boards to the new building. The salesman that Michael works with was there with his wife and one of his daughters. His wife has been painting all the new walls for them. It's the first time I got to meet her. She works as a T.A. in a B.D. room for Fox School District. I enjoyed talking with her. They got a Wii for Christmas too and we had fun swapping stories about it.

When we got home we played bowling as a family on the Wii. The kids went to bed and then Michael and I played on the Wii for a while. We bowled, played Tennis and then played Carnival games for a while. It was fun.

Pictures Uploaded

I've managed to get my Christmas pictures uploaded. There are three albums uploaded. One album is pictures from Christmas Eve spent at my mom's with my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my mom's boyfriend. Another album is pictures of Christmas morning here at home with just the four of us and Abby. The last album is pictures of Christmas day at Michael's parents' house with his parents, his brother, our sister-in-law and their two kids. These albums are at my Multiply site.

Of Mothers and Daughters

When I was in grade school (and earlier) my favorite lunch was chicken noodle soup and a lunch meat sandwhich. I could not get enough of chicken noodle soup. To be honest, soup is still one of my favorite things to eat, but vegetarian vegetable is my favorite now. I also like tomato, vegetable beef, and clam chowder.

Now, my daughter loves chicken noodle soup and would rather have that for lunch than anything else. So, that's what we had for lunch today. It's just her and me at home this afternoon.

Caleb went with Daddy and Papa and Uncle Jeremy to do men things.

It's fun when Michaela likes the same things I like and vice versa. It was fun to sit and talk and eat soup just the two of us. She is turning into such a cool person.

December 28, 2007

Today is my FIL's birthday. He turned 64 today. He is a very good looking man. My husband looks a lot like his dad did at his age so I'm thinking he'll still be good looking when he's his dad's age.

Most of the day I spent doing laundry and ironing Michael's shirts. The kids and I did run to the post office and to the grocery store for just a couple things, including some doughnuts. They talked me into it.

After lunch they went up to my mom's and played trains with Mr. Bill for a while. He was thrilled to have them to himself for a while. He really is great to them and they love him dearly.

Tonight we had dinner with Michael's side of the family at Red Lobster to celebrate his dad's birthday. We gave him $25 Lowe's gift card and $30 Red Lobster/Olive Garden gift card. Michael's brother gave him some kind of tools. I'd never seen them before so I don't know what they are or what they do, but he seemed pleased with them.

Kelly had been at the mall all day with her sister. She bought Michaela and Caleb both shirts from The Disney Store. Michaela's is green short sleeved with Tinker Bell on it. Caleb's is thermal underwear type material, long sleeved and has Lightening McQueen on it. They both were thrilled.

We had a lot of fun tonight being silly and joking around. One of the cards we gave Michael's dad sang "Macho Man." Kelly and I both giggled like crazy about it.

Now, the kids are playing Carnival Games on the Wii. Michael has fallen asleep. He hasn't felt very good the last couple days. And, I'm watching LOST and surfin' the Net.In about an hour the kids are going to bed and I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I have a few options. I can continue to watch LOST, play on the Wii, take a bubble bath with my new stuff from Bath and Body works, or take a shower. I guess it'll all depend on what I feel like doing at that point in time.

December 27, 2007

Today we didn't do much productive stuff. We lazed around the house most of the morning. I managed to clean up my hard drive on my laptop some. I un-installed a few things, dumped some videos from iTunes onto external storage, defragged my C drive and moved all my pictures to the hard drive on the PC. Then, it was time to install my new version of Print Shop. I got Print Shop 22 Deluxe for Christmas. Print Shop has always been one of my favorite programs. This is my 5th version of it that I have owned.

Late in the morning we drove to St. Louis Science Center. We went to see Santa Vs. the Snowman at the Omnimax theater. We tried to do this last year during this time but when we got there the tickets were sold out. But, this year we were able to get in. I'd never seen that movie before and neither had the kids.

It was a little on the warped side, but it was a cute movie. It had a sweet ending to it. The kids loved it. So, it was a good time. After we watched the movie we got something to eat at the Science Center and wandered around for a VERY short time. The place was PACKED and people were just standing in groups everywhere. We had a hard time getting out of the restroom because there were two groups of people standing there talking that would not move. I'm not a big crowd person to begin with so of course those types of things just irritate me. We left at that point so I would not get too grouchy.

The afternoon at home we spent just hanging out. The kids played Wii and with some of their new toys. I tried to re-watch the first four episodes of LOST season 3, but of course with two kids in the house it's very difficult to watch anything.

After supper, Caleb and I played Wii and Michaela played her new plug and play game called Dream Life. She loves it and spent a lot of time with it last night. It's a game where she gets to design her own "life" including friends and things like that. She really had fun with it last night.

I managed to unlock two of the locked games on Carnival Games last night. It's taken me a couple days to start understanding what to do with Carnival Games, but now I'm really getting into it. It's fun. I still cannot wait until we get Raving Rabbids 2. I'm sending back the two games we have now from GameFly and Raving Rabbids is the next one on our game Q.

We have Thrillville and Lego Star Wars from GameFly right now. I was not impressed by Thrillville. It would not let me build my roller coaster without going through the tutorial over and over again and that was just REALLY annoying. The Star Wars one was cute and I'm sure when Caleb is a little older he'll enjoy it, but it was too much for me to concentrate on all at once.

After the kids went to bed, Michael and I bowled on the Wii again. He beat me twice and I beat him twice. It's cool to spend that time playing with him and not having the kids underfoot. It's a fun way to connect with each other. We don't get a whole lot of time to just play like that.

December 26, 2007

Today was a little busy here at home. Michael had to go back to work so it was just the kids and me. We lazed around until around 9:00 a.m. Then, it was time to be productive.

We had to run to Walmart. Abby was completely out of food and there were a couple other things we needed. We managed to get that done fairly quickly and then came home.

Yesterday was the day to clean up the Christmas present clutter. We always just bring in the presents still in bags and boxes from my mom's on Christmas Eve and from Michael's family on Christmas evening. And, the presents we open at home are basically just sitting in piles around the living room.

So, the kids and I did a little re-organizing in their rooms. This included moving Michaela's dresser (actually we just swung it in a different direction) and cleaning out from under Caleb's bed. Then, we put away all the toys and clothes and other stuff. It took us a large part of the day. We did stop to eat lunch in the middle, but it took us quite a while. Of course, I worked at it a lot longer than they did. But, I'm the mom.

The kids play Wii a lot. They played with Caleb's Mac Playtown and Michaela's Polly Pocket Race to the Mall. Caleb had his Leapster L-Max out because he got three new games to go with it. And, Michaela registered her two new Webkinz online and played around on that website for a while, too.

We also took Anikca's present and the gift set we got for her parents to Anikca's house. They were not home so we left it on the step. Anikca called later and talked to Michaela. Michaela said that Anikca loved her present and that they all were enjoying the gift set.

After supper the kids and I played Wii together. My goodness I didn't realize it buy my arms are sore from playing it so much on Christmas evening. It really can be a work out!

When Michael got home I was playing Tennis against the computer. I WON!! Woo Hoo, me! The kids and I got four Mii's made so we don't have to play as guests anymore.

After I won at Tennis, the kids and I decided to play Michaela's Disney Scene It game. This meant hooking up Michaela's new DVD player to her television, which was actually pretty painless. Disney Scene It is a lot of fun. Michaela won.

Now, the kids are in bed and it's time for me to go to bed.

Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day to my friends in Canada, U.K. and Australia! I hope you all are enjoying your holiday!

Christmas Day 2007

Christmas day was wonderful. The kids got so much stuff. Michael's parents said they were cutting back this year, but it sure didn't look like it to me.

Anyway, we started out the morning at home, of course. The kids dug into their stockings and unwrapped their presents from Santa. Then, they helped Abby get into her stocking and unwrap her presents. After that we unwrapped all our gifts from each other. I got a Poison CD, Amityville Horror on DVD, one of the celtic necklaces and earrings that I emailed to Michael (guess my email worked), Print Shop Deluxe 22 (I REALLY wanted that), and a new big fluffy robe that is black with pink Scotties all over it.

We played around here until around 9:45 and then got dressed and ready to go over to Michael's parents' house. We were there around 10:40 or so. We sat and talked until Michael's brother and his family got there about 11:15 or so. We took a family picture, which of course was comical in the process, but we enjoyed the silliness.

Then it was time to open presents. I got LOST Season 3 on DVD, a really comfy warm up suit w/ a shirt to go with it, new sheets for our bed, a beautiful ornament that my MIL found in Branson a couple weeks ago, Monopoly Electronic Banking, and a set of Blackberry Amber scented stuff from Bath and Body Works. That came with bubble bath, lotion and cologne. I LOVE it! My MIL always is great at picking out stuff from Bath and Body works for me. I think I need to take at least one bath sometime this week!

We actually got A LOT of games combined this year. Michaela got Littlest Petshop Monopoly (my brother and his wife) and Disney Scene It (MIL and FIL). Caleb got a Transformers version of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots (My brother and his wife) and Spiderman Sorry(MIL and FIL). Michael and I got T.V. Scene It from my mom and her boyfriend. I got Electronic Banking Monopoly from MIL and FIL. The kids got a plug 'n play Frogger and Coleco Head to Head plug 'n play at my mom's. Caleb got Spider Man plug 'n play at MIL and FIL's. And, of course Santa brought the Wii with Wii Sports, Carnival Games, and Monster Truck Jam. That's a lot of games!

After we opened presents with Michael's side of the family, we had dinner over there. Turkey, ham, cheesy potato bake stuff, seven layer salad, cheeses, veggie tray, fresh green beans, rolls and bread, and something I'm forgetting, My MIL kept apologizing for it being such a small meal. HUH? I thought it was great!

She also had a choice of pumpkin pie, coconut cream pie, white cake, vanilla ice cream or any combination thereof for desert. Needless to say we all got fully stuffed. But, it was soooo good!

The kids played and my FIL put on Santa Claus 3 to watch. It was a nice quiet way to spend a couple of hours. When, Santa Claus 3 was over they put on Evan Almighty. OMG! How incredibly funny is that movie. If you've not seen it, it's a MUST SEE. Of course I LOVE Wanda Sykes, Morgan Freeman and Laura Graham and I do like John Goodman, so I would have watched the whole thing if it wasn't hilarious.

Michael's brother and his family left part of the way through this movie. They've seen it multiple times and my nephew wanted to get home to his new X-Box. My niece and nephew now have PS3, Wii and XBox, and they both have their own Nintendo DS systems. They have TONS of games for each console and system, too. I can't even imagine how much money they spend on games. But, the one good thing about it is, both kids have no problem spending time at home. My nephew is 13 and I'm sure his friends will always want to come to his house. It's kind of a good way to keep an eye on your kids as they hit those teen years.

We stayed at Michael's parents until around 6:30 or so. We got fed supper since we stayed. So, I didn't have to cook anything at all yesterday. Then, we came home and played Wii. Caleb did have to get out his Mack Truck Playtown and have Michael assemble that, too. I knocked out both of my children playing boxing on Wii.

I played baseball with both of them, too. Our games keep ending in a tie! We played Carnival Games some, but we need to mess around with that some more to figure it out a little better. Michaela and I loved the bowler coaster game. We didn't get to all the games on that yet. Michaela was getting tired and cranky and I just needed to switch it before she had a meltdown. So, Caleb got to play his Monster Truck Jam some. Boy, that one is going to take some practice. My truck tipped over and I couldn't figure out how to get it back on it's wheels. Caleb was having fun with it, but he's going to have to practice a lot too.

The kids went to bed a little after 9:00 pm. Then, Michael and I bowled about 3 games on Wii. I beat him twice.

We finally went to bed around 11:00.

Christmas Eve ~ December 24, 2007

Well, it is my favorite day of the year. I LOVE Christmas Eve the best. It just holds a whole lot of good memories and feelings for me. Plus, we get to do presents with my mom but yet there is still the anticipation of more to come.

I have gotten some baking done this morning. I got chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies and chocolate cherry drop cookies made. I guess Santa won't go hungry here tonight. This is a good thing.

Other than the baking, I've not done a whole lot much more. Both kids are bathed and soon I'm getting in the shower.

Michael went out to work to get his office set up so he won't have to deal with that during their chaotic re-organization at the new building later this week. His dad went with him to help. I'm sure my MIL was not happy about that, but she'll get over it. She and my FIL are both retired, it's not like they don't spend tons of time together.

We are supposed to be at my mom's around 4 pm today. We'll have supper there. Then, we'll open presents. I think we're going to Lutheran services at my church tonight. That's my plan anyway. After that I'm not sure what we'll do. I'd like to see some lights, but we'll have to see. Santa has to wrap his/her gifts and get stockings filled yet tonight.

It should be a good night in any case. As long as my mom and my brother don't get stupid. But, usually Christmas Eve is pretty peaceful with my family.

December 23, 2007

Ok, I'm sorry but I'm just not into baking right now. I am not going to get anything baked before Christmas Day this year. I just cannot bring myself to do it. I'm a horrible mom, I know, but that's just the way it is. I'm thinking I'll do it Wednesday and/or Thursday next week and then our neighbors will have an after Christmas treat. I am going to get downstairs and start wrapping presents soon, though.

Michael is out shopping for me right now. He told me this morning that we need to get another remote and nun-chuck for our Wii. I think he had more fun last night than he's willing to admit. That makes me so happy. He really needed some time to just have fun and not think about other things. I love that man so much.

I haven't done much but laundry today. I need to get downstairs and get some presents wrapped soon. My stomach is really starting to feel icky.

Fast Forward...

Ok, it is now several hours later than when I typed the upper portion of this. I called my BIL this afternoon to ask him if his nephew had any Wii remotes at the game store he works at. It seems we're out of luck as we waited to long. They are sold out everywhere. So, I guess we play one person at a time until the stores get them back in stock after Christmas sometime.

My stomach got really messed up today. I've been having really bad cramping. I guess it's from the lunch I ate. We went to Applebee's and I had the chicken fajita roll ups. I've eaten those before but my belly sure did not like them today.

This afternoon I had to run to Walgreen's to get some blank tapes for our camcorder. While I was there I got Michael some cologne for his stocking. It's Blue Seduction and it smells really good. It's something new that Michael's not had before, but I think he'll like it.

I then went to Schnucks to get Michael his Peppermint Stick Ice Cream. At this point my stomach was really killing me and I could not wait to get home. I made supper for the rest of my family, but I've not eaten anything at this point. I think the cramping is finally gone as I'm getting mild hunger pangs, but I'm scared to eat anything.

Caleb got up early again this morning. I don't know what to do with him. He was up past 11:00 p.m. last night and STILL got up early. Then, this evening when I was downstairs wrapping my nephew's presents I hear Michael up here hollering at Caleb to wake up. The stinker is trying to fall asleep on the couch. He's awake now and watching Sissy play on Webkinz World on the computer. I hope he sleeps later tomorrow morning.

Michael took over the basement so he cold wrap my presents. I still have several to wrap for the kids and I need to get the stocking stuffers taken care of. I *think* we're going to take the Wii out of the box and wrap the empty box so we can hook it up after the kids go to bed tomorrow night. We can close the doors on the entertainment center to hide it. But, I'm not sure.

Tomorrow afternoon/evening is Christmas with my mom, Griff, Brandon and Karen. My mom has to work until about 2:00 p.m. So, we're supposed to go over around 4:00 p.m. We'll eat, open presents, go to church, and maybe go see Christmas Lights. I'm not sure about the last part, but I would like to do that.

December 22, 2007

Today is my MIL's birthday. It's also Winter Solstice. I'm always happy when we get to Winter Solstice, because it means that the daylight hours are going to start getting longer. Yes, it will be a while before we have a lot of daylight again, but at least we're headed in the right direction. The loss of daylight is the only thing I do not like about fall and winter. I have a tendency to get seasonal depression which makes having my birthday in January interesting.

Anyway, it was a good day, but I feel like I got nothing accomplished. Abby had to be at the groomers by 8:30 this morning. After I dropped her off there I went to do some shopping.

Walmart was my first stop. Of course we had some necessities we needed there. But, I also went back to look in the sporting goods section. I was looking for baseballs for my nephew. I found a mesh bag of them for a good price and got those. I was going to look for a batting glove, too, but they didn't have any. I decided to look at Target because I had to go there, too.

When I was getting ready to leave Walmart, the groomer called to say Abby was done. I told them I'd be there in a little while and went on to Target. I knew I wouldn't be at Target long.

So, I looked for the batters glove at Target and realized I had no idea what size to get him. This meant I was stumped yet again. I was walking past another isle in the sporting goods department when all of the sudden this thing jumped up and down on it's hook screaming, "buy me! buy me! buy me! Your nephew AND BIL will LOVE ME!'

It's one of those rocket launcher things. The rockets are nerf-like and it holds four rockets at once. I'm not sure how I knew this was a good thing to get them, but the minute I saw it, I KNEW that's what I needed to get him. I also got him a gift card to Target. In all I spent about $35 on my nephew, which is what I'd spent on his sister so all is good.

After I was finished at Target, I went and got Abby and took her home. At home I got started on the laundry and had the kids clean their rooms and the bathrooms. Then, I decided it was time to go to the grocery store. UGH!

I needed some baking supplies and some things to take to my mom's on Christmas Eve. Holy Cow people were out in droves and crazy!!!! I managed to get what I needed and get out of the grocery store unscathed, but I'm not so sure everyone was able to say the same.

I stopped at got us lunch at Taco Bell on the way home. Michael was working on the neighbor's yard so he waited to come in and eat after he finished that.

I did some more laundry and the kids went out to play. Michael worked on our yard. I also used my Print Shop program to make two birthday cards for my MIL. One was from the kids and one was from Michael and me.

Michael got in the shower when he finished in the yard and I put Caleb in the bathtub. When I dried Caleb's hair, I noticed that the dryer was not getting hot. This is not good. I cannot dry Michaela's hair with cold air. It'll NEVER get dry that way. And, Michael need hot air for his hair. So, off to Walgreen's I went. I came home with two because they were on sale and this way we have one in each bathroom like we used to have.

We all got ready and then it was time to meet Michael's side of the family at Wilker's for MIL's birthday dinner. This is not really one of my favorite places to eat, but it was about my MIL and not me.

It was a good meal. My MIL really liked all her gifts, which is a relief to me. She said the snowman in the hot air balloon we got her from JC Penney was something she'd looked at and almost bought herself. Thank goodness she didn't. I have a feeling she'd decided to wait until after Christmas thinking it would be marked WAY DOWN. As it is we only paid half price for it.

After the meal we all decided to go back to my BIL's house. My SIL wanted to show us what some of the things the Wii can do and answer some of our questions and let the kids play with it some. Yeah, that's right, we were there for the kids, so they could play with it. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Oh my gosh, we all had so much fun. My nephew and his cousin on his mom's side (who showed up a little after we got to their house) SHOWED OFF playing Guitar Hero. Then they got out this game called Raven Rabbids. This is so much fun and HILARIOUS.

One of the games on it you have your rabbid rabbit plunge a toilet like crazy and the toilet that geyser's the highest wins. Then, there is this burping contest one. You shake your remote like crazy to get your rabbit to shake up his soda. He drinks it and who ever burps the loudest wins. It shows the burp making buildings and things crumble. My BIL even burped loud enough to send it into outer space. There was another one where your rabbit is supposed to "serve" piles of hamburgers to a big rabbit without falling off the side of a building. That was fun, too. And, there was another one where you dance and one where your rabbit is bouncing in a trash can like a potato sack race, but there are monkeys chasing you.

After that, they put in the boxing on the sport disc. Boy that is a work out. I knocked out my SIL! And, I did it in just two rounds! But, Michael got knocked out by his brother in four rounds. Then, Kelly's nephew beat everyone who played against him. I didn't offer to play against him.

Next was Xcite Truck which is cool. It's just mainly a racing game with a bunch of different trucks and different types of rugged tracks. Caleb loved that of course. It was ok, but I only got to play by helping Caleb and that was not easy. I think I'd have enjoyed it more if I'd been able to just play for myself. Michael seemed to like it.

Then, my niece put in Boogie. It's a karaoke thing. She sings really well. My SIL sang, too. No, I did not subject everyone to my hideous voice.

We finally left somewhere close to 11:00 pm. The kids fell asleep on the way home. I hope they sleep late in the morning.

December 21, 2007 pt 2

Last night we didn't do anything. Michael fell asleep before 6:30. The kids fell asleep in the living room watching Mary Poppins. I left them there until about 9:15.

I spent the evening wrapping presents. I still have a lot to wrap, though. At least some of it got wrapped. I watched a couple movies, too. Nothing exciting or worth talking about, though.

Not an exciting evening, but it was quiet and peaceful. This was a good thing.

December 21, 2007

I am officially on Winter Break. This is the best time of any break, the very beginning when the whole break is ahead of me. It's that point where the stress level just drops and all of the sudden I feel so much more calm and have so much to look forward to. There will be no having to get up in the morning again until Janurary 2.

I do have a lot to do yet to prepare for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but it's fun stuff. Getting ready for Christmas is always fun.

We don't actually do any celebrating on Christmas Eve until late afternoon, so I'll have the first part of that day in addition to Saturday and Sunday to do whatever needs to be done. Christmas Day is basically opening presents and spending most of the day at Michael's parents' house.

I am thinking about getting a turkey and making that sometime just for us next week. I didn't get enough turkey at Thanksgiving. I want some more and Michael's mom just doesn't do it as well as I can.

I'm not sure what we're going to do tonight. Michael is actually already home. He got home around 5:00 pm. It's nice to have him home at a normal time.

How Does He Think of These Things?

Tonight Caleb decided he wanted a massage instead of being read to at bedtime. So, as I'm standing there massaging his back he asks me:

"Mom when you're at the place where the boys have to give the girls massages () do they give you ice cream?"

December 20, 2007

Tomorrow night at this time I will be able to forget about work for over a week. That sounds so wonderful. I will be very happy to be at the beginning of my break.

I should be wrapping presents, but I'm going to wait for a little while more until the kids are in bed. They are getting ready for bed right now. Eight o'clock really snuck up on me tonight.

Michael should be home a little earlier tonight. He left work about an hour ago. He had to stop up at our duplex. My mom's side seems to be having problems with the furnace. We just bought a furnace for the other side a month or so ago. I hope this one can easily be fixed, another new furnace really is not in the budget.

He was going to stop by and see if it needs a new thermostat. If it does he's going to go to Lowe's and buy one and put it in for my mom and Griff. I hope it's that simple.

I've been watching Family Channel with the kids tonight. They had on my favorite Dr. Seuss tonight, The Lorax. I love that video. Now, they have on the Jim Carry version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. I had to make a card for Michael to give to his employees. I just made a simple thing on Print Shop in note card size. Michael is supposed to bring home some note cards to print on.

I'm waiting for Michaela to get her pj's on and then I'll read to the kids and tuck them into bed. After that, I'll go wrap some presents. I think.

December 19, 2007

Today was a much better day at work. My little girl that I had such problems with today has finished almost all her work and the only reason she did not finish completely is because we ran out of time before we had to be in the Library this morning. Not her fault. I'm doing all I can to keep her motivated and for some reason it's working better today than yesterday.

I had three co-workers come observe me this morning. We do this peer observation thing where we are allowed to go into other rooms to see how teachers do different things. All three of them wanted to come see my students working in Learning Work Stations today. So, my room was very full. I was very proud of my students, too because they were great when our visitors were in here and did wonderful explaining what they were doing and why.

On Friday we have staff holiday breakfast. I have to bring juice. Then, our principal is letting us have some down time in the afternoon. We are allowed to show videos for fun and stuff like that this year. Plus, they are having an assembly for the kids later that I think I get to miss part of since it's during my planning period. Yeah!

Michaela had an ornament exchange at Girl Scouts tonight. She took a picture frame ornament that can hang on the tree or stand alone. It was silver with a snowman on it. She brought home a very heavy little girl teddy bear ornament. They made a craft and also collected food for a food pantry.

Anicka's aunt really helped me out tonight. She brought Michaela home for me. It is really nice to have people around me that want to help. In the past couple weeks, I've had at least four offers of people taking the kids for a while to help me out. I somehow have found myself in a place where I am very blessed by the people around me. I have only taken those offers a couple times, but it's very nice to know that people are thinking that much of me.

I've not gotten anything done that I need to tonight, but I've decided to stop stressing over it all. It will get done, it always does and I needed to just enjoy the evening at home. It's the Christmas season and I usually enjoy all of it a lot. I've not slowed down enough to even enjoy my decorated house. So, that's what I'm doing tonight. I just wish my husband were home. Oh well, only a few more days and all these late hours should be over.

BOYS!

I was in the bathroom drying Michaela's hair. Caleb knew that it was bedtime when I was done with Michaela's hair. He was waiting at the bathroom door when I opened it.

C: I don't want you to feel under my pillow tonight.

M: Huh?

C: I don't want you to feel under my pillow tonight.

M: Caleb, I don't understand what you're talking about. (Really I just could not figure out what he meant)

C: (goes to his bed and demonstrates putting his hand under his pillow) I don't want you to do this tonight.

So, I'm thinking he's got some kind of toy under there...

I lift up his pillow and guess what was under there....

a Pop-tart.

December 18, 2007

Two days down and three to go until my Winter Break. I was very exhausted today. It seems that I am more tired on Tuesdays than on Mondays. It was also a rough day at work. I have a student that makes me feel like I'm banging my head against a wall. Actually, she and her mother both make me feel this way.

She made average grades during first quarter. But, now that they are supposed to be gaining some Independence she refuses to do any work on her own. Yes, she CAN do the work. She is actually very bright, but just feels that someone should sit next to her and walk her step by step through each assignment. She is an only child who is very very very very spoiled. Mom even does her homework for her a lot of the time.

I have tried giving her smaller goals. Like, ok, do these five problems and then I'll come check on you. Instead she plays with her pencil, rolling it across her forehead. I have 23 students this year and one of them is diagnosed with MR. I cannot sit by this child during every assignment and walk her through it, especially when she is so capable of doing it herself. When she gets into second grade next year no one will spoon feed her.

Actually, at this point I'm not sure she'll make it to second grade. If I had to fill out her report card for second quarter right now it would be straight F's.

I wrote to her mom yesterday telling her this. I explained about refusing to complete assignments and never bringing homework or make up work from being absent which she is absent frequently. She's missed 20 days so far this year and been tardy 20 times so far this year. Adding up all the hours she's missed in absences and tardies comes to a total of 23 days of missed school. We've only been in school 71 days.

So, mom sends back papers that I had given out at PT conferences as extra stuff to help parents help their children at home. These were not assignments. I explained that at the time. But, she sent back about 10 of these completed, half in her handwriting and not the child's, instead of the homework I sent home last night. Am I the only one confused by this? The homework for last night was taken out of the folder and put who knows where and the folder with the report card in it was dug out and papers selected from that were completed and turned in. I can't add those to my grade book. They are not the same assignments that are listed in my grade book. I could get by with it if they were at least the same skill, but not all of them are and how can I put a grade in my grade book for a skill when a paper of another skill is actually what was done????????

I have such a headache right now.

Michaela and Caleb stuffed the goody bags for all our classes for me tonight. That was nice not having to do it myself. I cleaned up our supper mess while they did that and then thought about what I should do next.

Well, tonight I decided I was just going to spend time with my children. So we watched Frosty's Winter Wonderland and T'was The Night Before Christmas on DVD together in my bed in my room. It was nice. I have a ton I should have been doing but just didn't.

After they went to bed, I wrapped Michaela's teacher's gift. I also wrapped my MIL's birthday presents. I should make her a card, but I think I'm going to just buy one this year. My creativity is just zapped right now. Plus, our basement is so fully of Christmas stuff right now it would just be more of a mess if I drug out scrapbooking supplies.

December 17, 2007

This is the last week of work for me for 2007. My break is relatively short compared to other districts, but I still get a whole week and two more days the following week off. It will be nice to have that break.

Tonight Caleb and I went to Target while Michaela was at gymnastics. We got some candy to put in the goody bags for both their classes and my class. We also got a few staple food items. We looked at Christmas stuff and at Wii stuff. It was nice just Caleb and me.

After we came home the kids went to bed and I sorted through Christmas presents. I decided to label each gift for the kids and put a sticky note on them to remember who each one is from. I am going to wrap them later on this week.

That took longer than I expected. It's going to be almost midnight before I get to bed.

December 16, 2007

Today, I was so busy it was unreal. I spent the morning before chruch trying to get pictures uploaded, fixed and ready to order. I also started laundry and changed all the bed linens. Michael had to go to church before us for a meeting type thing.

After church we took the kids to Pasta House for lunch. I love that place. YUMMY!

When we came home Michael fell asleep. He's been so tired lately. So, I let the kids go outside to play in the snow again. They took their snowman apart, moved it and made it different. Alrighty, then.

I spent from 1:30 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. printing, stuffing and addressing Christmas Cards. My printer fought with me over the envelopes so I had to settle for hand writing the addresses this year. I did do return address labels through the printer, but I was too tired to fight a program to create labels for each individual addressee. Sorry everyone, it's handwritten envelopes this year.

I did slow down to throw a pizza in the oven for Michael and Kid Quizine in the microwave for the kids. I know I'm a horrible wife/mother. I should be able to make a decent meal with one hand and work on Christmas Cards with the other. I just haven't mastered that.

I also slowed down long enough to read to my children at bedtime. Do I get points for that? Michaela did help me by putting the retrun address labels on the envelopes for me. She also taped the envelopes shut since the glue on them seemed to not be working.

I also had to type out a letter to my aunt on my dad's side. It's a tradition that I write her a long letter about what's going on with us every year. It's an actual letter. I have never been able to do those newsletter things. I just can never think what to write on them. My aunt always includes a letter specifically to me, too. It's one of my favorite things about Christmas... getting her letter.

I'm tired. Time to get to bed. I will be so happy when it's Friday this week. Then time can just slow WAY DOWN until January 2, 2008.

December 15, 2007

Today was a snowy day. It was so cool. This is the most snow my kids have ever seen. They played out in the backyard for a long time. They made their first ever snow man. It was so much fun to watch them.

Tonight we went to Garden Ridge to return the lights that did not work the way we wanted and bought a new Nutcracker. The kids helped me pick it out.

Then, we went to Cracker Barrell for supper. It was really good. The kids both got pancakes So, I guess they ate brupper.

It snowed most of the day and got really snowy tonight. We're supposed to get about 6 inches. I hope so. I wish it would be even more.

I spent the rest of the evening wrapping presents. I got my mom's, Griff's, my brother's, his wife's and my MIL's Christmas presents wrapped. Next Saturday is my MIL's birthday so I need to get her birthday presents wrapped soon.

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love snow and around here we just do not get snow like we did when I was growing up. My kids have never seen snow like I used to get to play in. But, we woke up to almost 2 inches and it's still falling!!! It's supposed to snow most of the day so we may actually get enough to make a snow man!!!! I'm so excited!!!!

December 14, 2007

I am so glad this week is over. My students have been so crazy this week. You can tell it's getting close to Winter Break. I hope things are a little less stressful next week, but it'll probably be about the same. Kids get so excited they do not know how to stop and think about their behavior.

Tonight has been pretty low key around here. Michael is off trying to get cubicles moved for work. Their official moving week starts on Monday. I will probably see almost nothing of him this weekend and next week. I'll be so glad when that's all over, too.

I worked on our Christmas Card tonight. I think I have it finished. Now it's just a matter of buying some card stock and lots of ink so I can print them out this weekend. I need to buy some stamps too. I figure I'm going to be sending out about 40 of them this year, so I need to make sure I have enough supplies. I wish we had a high speed printer.

The kids just kind of hung out in the living room and dining room. Michaela messed around on the computer most of the night. She's making a power point presentation. But, I'm not sure what it is. She learned how to do that last year in Mrs. Garten's class. She's trying to teach Caleb how to do it too. He doesn't have a lot of patience for it, though.

December 13, 2007

Michael and I went Christmas shopping for his family tonight. We went to the mall because I wanted to look for ear rings for his mom.

I know I've said this before but I really DO NOT LIKE Macy's AT ALL. It's been a couple years since Famous Barr sold out to them but I'm still brooding. However, besides that I can never find ANYTHING I like at Macy's. I used to be able to just walk past the jewelry counter at Famous and find about a dozen pairs of ear rings that I knew were perfect for my MIL. Last night I struggled to find two pair that "would do." It was so frustrating.

So, we went to JC Penny. They were having such a great sale.... AGAIN! I got my MIL a box set of 6 REAL gemstone stud ear rings for $18 and a really gorgeous necklace with five REAL gemstones for $18. We got her a snowman in a hot air balloon with changing color light for $25... it was half off. The snowman is her birthday present.

We got a long sleeve t-shirt for his dad for $6.00 and a Bobby Jack long sleeve t-shirt for the Shiloh child we are buying for for $9.00. I'm really loving the sales that Penny's is having lately.

We also went to Claire's and got my niece a pair of purple rhinestone butterfly ear rings.

I wish we'd had more time, but by then it was after 8:00 pm and we needed to go get the kids and get them home to bed.

There was a really bad accident on highway 70 about the time we were leaving the mall. We didn't get on the highway after leaving the mall because we couldn't get over into the correct lane safely. It's a good thing because we'd have been stuck on the highway for hours because we would have ended up right in the middle of the traffic that got stopped before they could divert it.

We saw the fire trucks racing to it and by the time we got to the over pass we drove across to get to our side of town, you could see about four fire trucks and a dozen police cars and ambulances up the road.

December 12, 2007

It was a long day at work. I had to go to a meeting right after work at our district office. This meeting was for the building Career Ladder reps to meet so we can take information back to the Career Ladder participants at our buildings. These are always such long meetings. I left at 5:00 pm and they had only gotten to the second item on the agenda. There were about 10 items on the agenda.

Michael picked up the kids and was feeding them when I got home. Michael and I discussed going shopping, but decided to wait until tomorrow. I really wanted to get some presents wrapped. I thought if I could get started right after supper I'd have a good three hours at least to wrap. HA!

I spent an hour looking for the box that our tags, ribbon, and tape are in. I never did find it. I ended up going to Walgreen's to get those things. I forgot ribbon. But, I did have a couple things of skinny curling ribbon so I just made do with that for the evening. I finally was able to get four presents wrapped after the kids went to bed. Not near what I wanted to get done, but at least that is done. All four presents are for Michael.

It's going to feel goo to go to bed.

December 11, 2007

Michaela sang in the choir for the 3rd-4th grade holiday performance at her school tonight. It was a really cute production. It was called Once Upon a Housetop. It followed a group of chimney sweeps as they explored holiday traditions. They even helped pull Santa out of a chimney.

The songs were really cute, too. Michaela was so proud to be up there and she did a great job. She and Anikca even got to stand close to each other.

We sat behind Anikca's parents. I got to hold her baby brother. He snuggled right up to me. It was so cool, especially since I got to hand him back to his parents. It was a fun evening. I enjoyed watching the girls sing and holding the baby.

Of Holidays and Heartache

I have tried very hard lately to ignore a growing pain in my heart. This is the second Christmas that will pass since my dad died. Last Christmas I must have still been numb or something because I got through Christmas pretty easily. This year it's already been a little harder. When we were decorating the tree a couple weeks ago and I dug out my ornaments from when I was a kid, it started hitting me. One in particular is an ornament that most people would probably think is very ugly. It's a blue transparent blue tear drop with a white Christmas Tree in it. This ornament always gets hung at the bottom of the tree

My parents bought this as part of a set. There were three blue ones and three that were yellow with green trees in them. They were bought to put on the tree for my first Christmas so they could be hung down low and I could "play" with them without them breaking. My first Christmas was just a couple weeks before my first birthday so I was already getting around pretty good. Anyway, my dad always loved to tell about how I would be occupied for hours just grabbing at it and hitting at it to make it move. He was always amazed that a child less than a year old could concentrate for that long.

Then, it hit me again at the grocery store. For the last 20 years before my dad died, I gave him a stein for each Christmas. Anheiser-Busch makes a collectible Budweiser stein every year for Christmas time. They sell them in the grocery stores. Just seeing this year's sitting in the display really hit me hard. It just feels weird to not be buying those any of those. Sharon did give me some of my dad's steins a couple months after he died. She gave me about 6 of them. I wonder what happened to the rest. She didn't like them, so I don't see why she'd keep them. It doesn't really matter, I guess. I have thought about buying them every year anyway, just for the tradition of it, but really have no idea what I'd do with them. I didn't buy one last year so I'd have a gap. I dunno. It just makes me sad.

December 10, 2007

Boy am I exhausted tonight. I had tutoring after school today. One of my little ones wants to stay so bad for tutoring and her family just won't let her. She left school in tears today and I felt so badly for her. Poor thing.

After tutoring was over, a co-worker and I got into an argument. It was stressful and I'm sure this particular co-worker will not speak to me now for about three months. But, honestly, it may make work a little less stressful if she doesn't speak to me for a while. I really don't care. It was a stupid argument to begin with.

Then, I had to get the kids and get them home as quickly as possible. Michael was at work, still or again, or whatever. So, that meant I had to make sure both kids were fed, Michaela was changed and everyone was ready to go by 6:10. Mondays are Michaela's gymnastics nights. Caleb had to go with us. Her gymnastics sessions are 80 minutes long. That's a long time to have a 5 year old boy entertained. We actually watched CARS in the van while Michaela was in gymnastics.

By the time we got home it was bedtime for them. I was really tired too. Michael didn't get home until after 10:00 pm. I will be so glad when his company has finished this damn move.

December 9, 2007

OMG! How much fun did I have today? After Church we went out to eat with Michael's parents. They took us to Red Lobster and I had crab legs! YUMMY! Then, we went down to The Tintypery to get our yearly old time picture with Santa taken. This year we dressed up as a prairie family. It was cute.

After all that, the kids went over to play with Lauren at her house. Melissa was there baking with Stacey and they were just going to bring our kids to church for the children's program. I promised to meet them there with a bunch of tacos so everyone could have some semblance of a supper between rehearsal and the actual program. Michael went off to do something for work, which left me with about 3 hours to myself.

Well, Santa is giving our whole family a Wii for Christmas this year. It's already arrived at our house. I guess Santa has decided that letting the USPS do some of his delivering is more practical than lugging around all those electronics on Christmas Eve. I know he'd agree with me that it was important to test it ahead of time so when it's hooked up on Christmas Day there are no problems.

That's exactly what I did! HOW INCREDIBLY FUN! I just love it! It came with the Wii Sports. This is one disc that has tennis, baseball, golf, bowling, and boxing on it. I tried out all five of the sports. I really sucked at tennis, golf, and baseball. But, I did great at bowling. Which, I'm horrible at in real time. I also knocked out my opponent when boxing. That one is a great stress reliever. I cannot WAIT for Christmas day, now.

The Children's Christmas program at church went really well. All the kids did a SUPER job. I got lots of pictures, of course. I'll up load them as soon as I can, but who knows when that'll be. They had cookies and beverages afterwards and I got to chat and joke around with people I've not gotten to spend much time with lately. It was a lot of fun. It was just a really great day all around.

December 8, 2007 ~ Between Performance and Practice

Tonight, Michaela and I went to The Boar's Head Festival at Immanuel Lutheran. My niece and nephew go to school there and my BIL and SIL are members at that church. My niece was a court jester in the festival. It was really cool. I enjoyed it very much. Michaela loved it, too. My niece did a great job. She had to juggle during it and did a wonderful job at that. She taught herself to juggle just so she could try out for that part.

I am really glad I went. My MIL and FIL seem to complain about it some. They've been a couple times before. It is kind of long, but it's worth it. I really don't understand what they have against it. I would definitely go again and I know Michaela would too.

We had cookies and punch with Jenessa and Kelly after the performance. Jenessa's cousin on her mom's side gave her flowers. Michaela was upset with me because she'd wanted to do the same, but I didn't know if we'd see Jenessa after the performance or not. She had two performances she had to do yesterday. When we left, they were preparing for the next performance.

After The Boar's Head Festival, Michael's mom dropped Michaela and I off at Christview. Michael and Caleb were already there. The kids had practice for the children's Christmas program last night. We were about 25 minutes late, but it didn't look like we missed a whole lot. They practiced until close to 8:00 p.m. Then they had pizza delivered and we all had pizza.

We left around 8:20 and drove around town looking at light displays a little. Then, we came home. The kids went to bed around 9:00 pm. Michael and I were close behind them.

I Know A lot About Christmas

You Know a Lot About Christmas

You got 8/10 correct You know tons about the history and traditions surrounding Christmas. When you celebrate the holidays, you never forget their true meaning - or all the little fun details. Random Christmas fact: In early England, the traditional Christmas dinner was a pig's head prepared with mustard.

How Much Do You Know About Christmas?