Testing the tech...

I'm posting this from my phone. Cool stuff. Here's hoping it works.
We went to the art museum last week. Matty and I had fun and I have wanted to post this photo from my phone.

Big day tomorrow. Allie is sick and laying on the couch, Sammy has
been intermittently going upstairs to try to fall asleep early so
Christmas will come sooner... so cute. The other kids are biding
their time by watching Spongebob and wearing their Christmas pajamas already.

Busy week and I'm not quite done (late with my cards). Oh well, not
much to do about that now.... Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Snow Day!!!

Play in snow.... check. Now I just need to keep them occupied for the next 12 hours. =)

I Did It!!!!

It wasn't pretty, but I did it. I'm not sure what it proved other than I can post drivel every day for thirty days. I did it though, and cleaned out all the pictures lingering on my desktop too. I can now return to my lower stress, occasional posting lifestyle. I know I said it last year, but I really don't think I can, in good conscience, subject anyone to my daily posts next year. Time will tell though.

Happy Birthday Matty!

I can't believe he's 10... that's all that keeps running through my mind. My little snuggle bug is 10... and not so snuggly now. =( He is lovely though, and I'm so glad he was entrusted to me. I've really loved having him home this year and getting to know him better. He's such a cool kid, really bright, and so very kind to his siblings.

It was a really nice celebration this year. We went to the area waterpark, ate Matt's favorite meal (shrimp alfredo with broccoli), and had his new favorite dessert (fruit tart). It was a blast. Happy birthday Matty- man!

We also had a celebration bonus of Tommy losing his first tooth. Yay Tommy!

One post left... Yay me!!!

Thanksgiving Was So Two Days Ago...

I mentioned yesterday that I purchased some Black Friday deals, one of which was a Christmas tree. Our old tree did not survive the two recent moves and had to be retired to Christmas tree heaven. The new tree seemed to be just right, and it came with some garland, a wreath, and two little topiary plants. It was Christmas in a box, what's not to like?

No sooner had I brought the box in, the kids descended upon it and started digging into the box. Soon after, the Christmas ornaments were brought down from the attic, and before I knew what was happening, we were decorating for Christmas. I figured the box might sit in the corner for a week or so before we decorated, at least a few days... but with the a hockey game in the background, we trimmed the tree and decorated. Here are a few picts....

Ever since they brought out the decorations, the kids refuse to take off their Santa hats. We even went over to Bob's sister's house last night to eat some more Thanksgiving leftovers and the kids were all decked out in their Christmas outfits. It seems a wee bit disrespectful to Thanksgiving, but hey, not much I can do about that now... that ship has sailed.

We're actually away today to a local water park to celebrate Matt's birthday. Full report tomorrow...

11th Hour Post

Four more posts and I'm done for the month. I have things to blog about, but in a normal world (or if I was a normal person), I would not be doing this at 11pm at night. It was a busy day, in my defense. I shopped a few Black Friday specials, we partially decorated for Christmas, I even applied for a passport today. Yes, lots going on. It almost made me forget Thanksgiving was yesterday, but then what would I blog about?

Thanksgiving was nice; calm, relatively relaxing, great food. Can't really ask for more. I cooked up four pounds of corn and about three and a half were eaten (because of my mad kitchen skills- oh yea...) I snapped a few pictures of the buffet line. Notice all my pictures are of people scooping up the corn (that actually was not my intent, but it is true)...


After dinner there was singing...

Allie entertained us with her dancing....


And of course dessert (these are the remnants, I was too busy eating to take a picture)...


One post down, three posts left to go. I'm definitely not doing this next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm sure some of you have been up for hours already making the rolls and starting on your turkey. I am currently laboring over the frozen kernels of corn entrusted to me. It will a demanding morning but well worth the effort.

In all seriousness, I have a lot to be thankful for. My family: here in town, and spread around the country. My friends: here in town, and spread around the country. I'm grateful for my health and for the health of the ones I love. I'm thankful for a warm home, and good food to eat. I'm thankful for having the best husband that a woman could ask for. I have much to be thankful for.

At this particular moment, I'm also thankful for my cousin, who posted this photo I love. While I am thankful for much on Thanksgiving, I'm not really thankful for pumpkin pie. I've never been able to get past the appearance. This photo perfectly summarizes my opinion of pumpkin pie. May all who partake pumpkin pie today be haunted with this image....


Seriously though, hope everyone has a wonderful day! Full Thanksgiving report tomorrow...

Blog Post Derailed

I'm out of blogging material. I make no bones about that. If it wasn't so late in the month I would throw in the towel, but I figure with Thanksgiving and Matt's birthday, I can hold out. Until then though, it's slim pickings.

Today I decided that I could blog about Matt's piano lessons. As a homeschooling mom, it's a perk that I can force Matt to take piano as part of his music curriculum. I also have him take a shower as part of his curriculum... no joke. It's on the daily checklist and everything.

I was all set to write about his piano progress. I even took pictures of his lesson today. Matt, however, demanded that I not blog about it. He does not want to be on my blog, especially if it's about piano. I believe his words were "If you are so excited about piano, why don't you take piano lessons yourself and then blog about that?". Apparently, he's not such a fan of piano and does not want the photos on the web. At least I have a picture of him playing the piano, it might be the only one I get... ever. He also was upset that I posted the pictures of him doing math a few days ago.

He obviously values his privacy, which I can respect but now I'm in a pickle as to what to post. This was my "hail Mary" pass until the bonanza of blogging material that would be available tomorrow. So I'm posting a cheap blog post today. It's from failblog. Living near the border, this one made me giggle...


Let the record show, though, I tried to be original...

Possible Christmas Photo???

After last year's horrible Christmas photo, I think I'm off professional photos. My kids never hold still and it just turns into a miserable day trying to get my kids cleaned and into clothes they don't want to wear. As an experiment, I snapped three pictures of my kids smashed together on our couch. To my amazement, this one didn't turn out half bad (with the exception of the dog which I don't really care about)...


What do you think? Christmas card worthy?

All in a Morning's Work

I'm running a little behind with my blogging today. Last Friday and this Monday the kids had a half school day. It makes it tough to get anything done. Also, I am out of topics and ideas... it's kind of depressing. I can't even blog about anything interesting for 23 days in a row. When I am reduced to listing the item(s) I am bringing to Thanksgiving dinner, it's bad.

The boys just settled in to play Mario Brothers. They pooled their money together on Saturday to buy the video and are still in the honeymoon (zoned out) period...

That makes the most entertaining creatures in the house Kiko and Allie. Allie always stays very busy and still claims she is going to be an artist when she grows up (or a dancer). Here is her handiwork for the morning....

Corn P.S.

Before any feelings are hurt, I'm not really being serious (besides the moochers guilt and wondering a little about my cooking). I'm actually thrilled at the prospect of only bringing corn. Just in a weird mood today... what's new...

Corn

That's it... it's all I am bringing to Thanksgiving dinner. There was a change in venue and I don't have to host so even the cleaning in preparation for guests goes out the window (although it shouldn't- this place needs a good scrub down). But no.. just corn. I show up, put a bowl of corn on the table and get to partake in a turkey dinner complete with the trimmings. Originally, I was told I didn't have to bring anything. I had to fight to get corn... I saw a vacancy in the menu and jumped on it.

I think I have moochers guilt. Instead of just enjoying the idea of minimal contribution, I feel bad about it. My mind then starts to wander and I wonder if my cooking is so bad that they can't trust me with anything but the corn. This is going to drive me crazy.

Just to be difficult, I am planning on also bringing some shrimp cocktail and roasted red pepper hummus and crackers... tell me I don't have to bring anything.... I'll bring stuff.... lots of stuff.... I'll clean out my whole fridge and bring it over....

Random Photo #4

I snapped this one of Tommy a few days ago at bath time. It still makes me smile....

It's the Best We Can Do

My friend Kim does amazing things with her little girl's hair. I always admire her blog posts showing her kid's hair. It's really spectacular. Here are some photos of their hair. I know she has her tricks to keep her kids still, but it's still quite a feat (I hope you don't mind me borrowing your picts for my blog, Kehm!)...
I have never been able to do anything with Allie's hair because it was too short and thin. Now as it is longer and thickening a bit, Allie wants me to pull it back into a ponytail. It's tough to do though as she will not sit still and she does not have enough hair to do it really, but we try. I've offered barrettes or to pull it back into two mini ponytails but she only wants a single ponytail. This is what we get (you can't really see it because she kept turning to look at the camera, but trust me, it's messy)....

Not quite as impressive, but still "pretty"...

My Mornings...

My mornings are definitely the busiest time of day. Later in the day it's louder and sometimes more chaotic, but in the morning we have a definite time line we must follow in order to get everyone out the door. Once the kids are out the door, my day does not quiet down either. Matt starts his schooling, I have to return calls and e-mails related to work, Allie needs attention, I need to pry Allie's "polly pocket" toys out of Kiko's mouth. By the time Tommy gets off the bus around noon, I'm ready for a nap. Needless to say, we are eating a lot of spaghetti or pancakes for dinner... on paper plates.

Next year, if Matt goes back to school like he plans and Allie is in Montessori preschool, I'm not sure I'll know what to do with myself...sometimes it's nice to daydream about though... =)

I snapped some pictures this morning because #1- I'm running out of things to write about, and #2 Allie was cracking me up because she was upset that she did not have any homework assigned to her. So I assigned her homework. She then informed me she would be unable to complete her homework and started on her own project... *sigh*. Heaven help her teachers. Here she is working on her "project"...


Here's Matt working away on his math...



Here's the dog looking guilty because she is destroying the blanket in her crate. Can I send her off to school next year too?...

Does This Make Her Look Fat?

Tommy can be the sweetest kid sometimes. Lately, his greatest joy has been earning money and then spending it at the dollar store. Unfortunately, he currently has no interest in saving, he likes the useless trinkets too much. We have had to limit our dollar store trips to once a week on Saturday as it was getting out of control. During the week he now plans how he would like to spend his dollar (or two). Last week, Tom decided he wanted to buy Kiko a shirt. He picked out the prettiest shirt he could find. Then, when he got home, forced the dog to wear it. Poor dog!!!

Grammy

My grandma is fine. I hope the title did not make it look like a memorial of sorts. Her health is declining though and I find myself thinking about her a bit and wondering how she is doing. I am hoping to head out this winter and visit her sometime (it doesn't hurt that she is in Arizona where the weather is warm!). I was fortunate to be able to make it out to visit her in July (July = furnace) for her 90th birthday and have had the pictures sitting on my desktop. I figured now is as good a time as any as I'm running out of things to post... my life is not so interesting...

I met up with my sister and flew out with her and Sarah. It was a tiring flight but poor Beth was the one that really was wiped out keeping Sarah happy...

Some of Beth's friends from our hometown swung by to visit too. It was fun to catch up...

And we ate..."Workman style"....

Matt came out and brought his 2 3/4 kids (and lovely wife, Julie)...

And of course we got to see Grandma and some of our cousins and their kids...


Nice visit.