Merry Christmas!!!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

I thank God for all of my friends and family.

Thank you for being a part of our lives.




PS- we are safe and at our final destination. It was quite a long story, but we made it here.

Speaking of...

chaos...

We are in beautiful Rawlins Wyoming. Enjoying the services of Travelodge. Thanks to my Ford Explorer.



After driving along I-80 for an hour or so on our Christmas trip, I get a curious light. Transmission overheating. Luckily, we only had to travel along 1/4 mile or so to get off on an exit. If you have ever driven across Wyoming, you know how lucky we were to be there! (God is good.) Luckily this exit had a truck stop. After stopping and getting out, and letting the car cool off some, we all piled back in and started it up. It started fine, but would not engage in any gear. No forward, no reverse.

So then we enjoyed the services of said truck stop for 4 hours while AAA came to our rescue.

They took us to Rawlins, where we spent the night in a safe place.

Kevin had to walk back down to the Ford dealership to check on what is happening with our car.

By the way- there are NO rental cars in Rawlins Wyoming.

And another side note... Kevin's sister Courtney, who was in Casper picking up his other sister, Kate, is now stuck in Casper with the stomach flu. They decided not to travel on so not to contaminate the rest of the family.

It certainly will be a Christmas to remember!!!

Speaking of...

Christmas boxes. We love it when grandmama and granddaddy's Christmas box arrives! It really fills out the tree.

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas box

"Aunt Bob" sent along decorate it yourself gingerbread men for the kids in her Christmas box. They had a lot of fun this afternoon decorating. Well, some decorated more than others.... others just banged it on the table and then ate it.

update...

Just so you know, my mom thought my last entry was hilarious. And my dad read it with piles of my mom's Christmas cookies in his lap. Great.

She finds humor in my real or perceived pain... wait a minute... didn't I once say that I found humor in my own little ones real or perceived pain? what goes around, comes around, I guess.

So anyways, I am talking to her and say but "Bob" (my nickname for my sister) is so talented! Mom says, "She just found her niche."

"So then, what is my niche?"

"Take a look around you."

Okay, I look.

All I see is chaos.

Chaos is my niche.

Great.

failure

I am a failure. No joke.

I grew up in a house where my mom had "days": Monday was "strip bed day", Tuesday was "clean bathrooms day", etc.. I don't have "days". Don't tell my mom, but sometimes I don't even have "weeks".

She made sure that we had 3 hot breakfasts and 2 cold breakfasts before school every week. My kids usually get their own breakfast and it is either cereal or toaster strudel. Sometimes I will make pancakes or french toast, but not anything regularly.

My mom cooks like no one's business. Seriously. You want good food, go to my mom's house. And the thing of it is, she loves to cook and so when you show up she will have a spread made for you! But please, give her some notice, she is a planner. I, on the other hand, have a collection of quick and easy recipes. Sure they taste fine and can be healthy, but it is not my mom's meat, roll, 2 types of veggies dinner. And usually the roll is homemade and the veggies are from her garden. No garden here. Not many homemade rolls either.

My mom made piles of Christmas cookies. Piles, I tell you. I am lucky to squeeze out a batch or two. And hers were always so beautiful and tasty. Mine are ok.

And now I am being shown up by my LITTLE sister too! Obviously she got all the good stuff from mom. She can cook, sew, bake, etc... just like mom. It's sickening I tell you! Here is a good example for you. I tried to make my mom's annual Christmas pretzel cookies... here is how they turned out...



not quite what mom used to make. And not even close to what lil sis makes either. She happened to make the same like of cookies at the same time. Here is what her batch looked like...



Did you notice that hers actually look like pretzels? And don't you just want to take a bite right now?

Mine? Not so much.

And not only that, but take a look at her piles. PILES of cookies that she is mailing out to all her friends.


Oh, woe is me.

A future in dance?

Often we talk to our kids about what they would like to do when they grow up so that we can help them along that path. If there are activities that they can try out to see if that happens to be a field that they like and would like to learn more about. One day we were riding on the light rail train and I asked Bales what she wants to do when she grows up. Out of nowhere she states that she wants to go to Broadway.

Broadway?

Okay, anyone that knows Bailey can actually see this. She very well could be Broadway bound. She has the looks and the personality, just not the perseverance that she would need. We can work on that.

So she has been taking dance lessons. She is in ballet and tap. I have not let her perform in the end of year show before, because of a couple of reasons. One- when she was little, it just didn't make sense. Two- the costumes are outrageously expensive and Three- I was worried about them "tarting" up little girls. But this year, we were actually around when they did the Holiday performance. No costumes besides what they usually wear. It was expensive, but I decided to go for it and she how she did up there on stage in front of a huge room full of people.

I am working on uploading the clip here. But she did really well. No stage fright. She remembered most of her dance and she had fun. She also loved watching all the big girls dance, and I think that helped her in her motivation to stay in dance in the springtime.

By the way, the studio she dances at is called Off Broadway.

She never knew what Broadway was.

The talk

So, we were blind-sided at dinner the other night.

"Mom, is Elvis still alive?"

My first thought was, "what?" How does this kid even know who Elvis is any ways? (I never did find out the answer to that)

I answered "No, he died in 1978 or something like that."

"How did he die? Was he shot or something?"

"Nope, he died because of drugs."

Now here is the real question that parents just love to deal with, besides the s-e-x one....

"Mom, what are drugs?"

So we started the talk, right there at the Red Robin table and it continued in the car on the way home, and into bed time. What are drugs? Who takes drugs? Are there any safe drugs? Do you know anyone that died using drugs? Did you lose any friends because you never did drugs? etc, etc, etc...

I can only hope that I did okay with "the talk". Kevin's version was a lot shorter... "WE DON"T DO DRUGS!!!" Mine was a lot longer, more complex, and probably more life long.

Being a parent is really hard!
Now when will we have the next talk about s-e-x?

Tis the Season

Ahh, yes. It really is here. The most wonderful time of the year.

Christmas carols are playing on the radio. The kids' excitment is mounting. It even snowed this morning.

One of my goals for this season was to mail out some Christmas cards before I had received any. I say some because I knew that there was no way I could get all of them done this early, but yes, I did mail a Christmas card today, and more are ready to go out tomorrow.


We also put up the tree today! Bailey is so happy! She has been asking to put it up for over a week now.

The first few presents were wrapped today.

And the first batch of Christmas cookies are baking as we speak. Yum!



I am definitely ready.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am out visiting friends with all the kids while my hubby is off playing coach in Dallas, but a funny little thing happened today...

On Sunday my inlaws were spending the night and a story was remembered from when Dillon was just 13 months old. I was back in New Jersey at the beach with my family when Pops, who was Kevin's mother's dad died. Being that Pops lived in Queens, and we were back in NJ already, I borrowed my parents car and took off for the city. Not being used to driving in New York City, I was quite stressed about traffic, and not really knowing where I was going. Dillon was a bit fussy in the backseat of the car, but finally settled in. I should have know that when things get quiet that means something is going on.... I finally looked back to check on him, and couldn't help but bust out laughing.

He was sitting back there in a cloud of white!

He had gotten a hold of a tissue box and had one by one emptied the entire box out.

What a stress reliever!

Well, today, I was trying to put Avery down for a nap, but my friend's son has an iguana in his room. It has a good sized caged area for him, but when he would move around, it would catch her attention. Not good for getting to sleep, but definitely fun to watch.

At one point, I had to enter the room in order to get my shower stuff. I was going to take the few quiet minutes that I had for some time to myself. I did happen to notice that she was sitting up in her bed. I did happen to notice that she did not object to me entering and leaving the room.

You would think after all the years of parenting and child experience that would have caught my attention.

It didn't.

I went on to take my shower. When I was done, she was fussing. I thought I will go in and rock her and maybe get a few more minutes for me.

Ha!

Her bed had been pushed over to the side of the room next to the nightstand. On the nightstand, there HAD been a big box of tissues. Guess what happened?

Yep.

A cloud of tissues covered her bed!

Lots of people look at her and say that she is Dillon done all over again.
She is proving it true literally.

A new page

children

I have been a mother for more than 8 years. I have been a teacher in a classroom for 4 years. I have been a nanny, a mother's helper and a babysitter. Basically, I have worked with children for about 25 years of my life. And STILL children amaze me!

Sometimes it is my own and sometimes it is in a classroom, but never-the-less kids are amazing.

They are smart, funny, thoughtful, serious. Every day it is something new.

A few things that have happened lately. Avery learning to walk in real shoes, not the soft soles that she is used to. She stares at her feet. She "high steps" across the room. She steps onto the tile and there is a noise. She stops and listens, and then walks more, smiling big time.

I help out at a preschool near the house, and lately I have been spending a lot of time in the mobile baby room. There are two boys there, pretty close in age. One is walking with support, and one is not. Yesterday, I brought in the walking toy. They both raced for it. The one that is walking, does not walk too quickly and the other is a FAST crawler! It was so funny watching the two of them chase each other around the room. One time the crawler was pushing it on his knees and ran into a swing. He was so determined to keep going forward that he pushed and pushed until the whole toy flipped over and he landed on top, stuck there. So funny.
Another time, the walker was trying to play with the front of the toy WHILE continuing to push it, but he couldn't move as quickly, and the crawler would get in front of the toy. They would both get angry. Again- so funny.

Yes, it seems that I find humor in tiny people's real or perceived pain.

On the more serious side...

Bailey- I was subbing in her classroom on Friday and during their quiet time after lunch, she comes over to me and asks how to spell something. I tell her and then realize what it is that she is working on. She has made a picture of Aunt Allison's grave site. I was speechless.


She also made a picture on Sunday after she found out it was Veteran's Day. Notice the camouflage clothes. The top got cut off, but it says "Veterans' Day (USA)" just like the calendar.


Aren't children amazing? What is your amazing child story?

pics from Halloween night...

A scary Great White Shark trying so very hard not to eat the oh so cute Strawberry...


A Little Stinker that would not wear the head of her costume...


Trailing behind, all night long.


Discovering the treasure!


Avery's favorite part... dividing up the loot.
She threw such a fit that night when she finally figured out how to open up a snickers bar and then we took it away from her. She even trying laying on it to keep Kevin from taking it away.

a beach page

Happy Halloween!

more pictures for you to see...

The architecture of this place was amazing. I love these old homes, but would hate the upkeep! =) Everything rusts and molds like crazy because of the heat and humidity!




This cemetery was part of the "ghosts in the graveyard" tour that I took the previous evening. The storyteller had a wonderful southern charm was great at storytelling, but I was more interested in the stories than scared. He stopped at this risen graven (to the left) and explained about about the different styles of graves, risen, vaults, etc. This particular grave belongs to 3 brothers, 3, 5, and 8 years old when they died within 10 days of each other back in 1870-something. They were buried one on top of the other. That was so sad, but what really gets me are the tiny headstones with only initials or one date. Babies. It reminds me of a story that my friend Tory had me read called "Mrs Mike". In the story, one lady was telling Mrs Mike about her first family. It was common in that time to have an entire family wiped out, and you would just begin again. Unfathomable to me.


Again with the history. This open air market (you can't see it here, it is to the right of the picture) has been in operation since the 1700s. A brick building with long tables where you can come and display your wears. At the end of the market is the Old Slave Market where they sold slaves. The building is in the process of renovation, so you can't go inside, but I couldn't help imagine the horrors of the time. An important piece of history, to be sure.


And of course, the reason for the trip. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Scott Arra!!!

pictures from Charleston

There were so many beautiful beach flowers and it was baby turtle season. There were these holes all in the sand dunes. We never saw any turtles, but we saw some scratch mark tracks. Pretty darn neat!



It was not really warm, but definately not cold there. A few days were overcast and rainy, but we still found time to hang out at the beach. A wonderful beach with warm water, long sandy beaches, and tidal pools in which there were lots of shells and sand dollars.


Avery ate more than anyone else that whole long weekend. Everyone was amazed at what she could put away. When she wants something that you have, she will walk up to you and say "thank you". You are then supposed to give it to her. "She is a little persumptuous, don't you think?" asked Papa.



The history of the city was just amazing to me. This was one of the cemetaries that we visited, and as you can see, even the kids were interested.



We just liked this guy's name. =)

home again

We are back home after a nice weekend in Charleston, SC. A weekend full of fun, family, beaching, shopping, ghost tours, historic Charleston sites (pictures will be here soon), and oh yeah, the wedding that we were there for. We all had a good time, but Dillon said it best when we walked back into the house, "home, sweet home."

Back to the grind tomorrow...

First snow of the season

When we woke up this morning, there was snow! And it has kept on coming.

A little word association game for you....
I say dog... you say cat, right?
I say night... you say day.
I say snow... you say baseball. Baseball?
I guess so...


Well, the Rockies ARE in the world series, so we have baseball fever!
GO ROCKIES!!!!!

A new page

Halloween is just around the corner...

and my kids are ready thanks to Aunt Bob! She home makes their costumes every year!! And not just for my kids... she makes costumes for every neice, nephew and her own young one. 7 costumes this year... next year it looks like 8 costumes will be needed. (don't worry, it's not me)
So here is what happened after the annual box was opened...




Yes, it is a tribute to the letter "S"... shark, strawberry, and the little stinker, skunk. =)

without a voice

Do you ever feel like you are walking through life without a voice? Not able to speak what needs to be said. Not noticed. Not heard.

I am going through that right now, but more literally. I literally have no voice. For 2+ days now, no words. Snaps, claps, slapping tables to get someone's attention. And even though I have no voice, I feel like I am really being listened to. The kids look at me and really listen, trying to hear what I am trying to say. At school, I helped out in a class yesterday and because I was not the teaching teacher, the kids had no problem with it. I was even asked to sub for the afternoon and today, but I had to decline, no voice, no teaching for me. The funny thing is that the teacher that asked me to sub for her didn't even realize that I couldn't talk. She was too miserable herself I am sure. She has the flu. I am glad I don't have that!

Oh well, be thinking of me as I snap and clap and whisper my way through the days until my voice returns. =)

a few notes...

I am sorry that I have been so quiet lately. I am a bit overwhelmed right now. Subbing, writing papers for school, Kevin gone for 5 days, plus I have a little head cold that has spread to Avery. Please forgive me, I will visit when I can.

A little story to get you by... Dillon has a play date today. I warned him though that if he did not behave well in school, that he could not go home with Grant today. So this morning he comes up to me..."Mom, I think that I have done pretty well for several days now, and that it shouldn't matter how I am today. I can still go on my play date."
"oh, really? It doesn't work that way."

a few minutes later... mind you, I have only been up for about 15 minutes at this point.

"Mom, how have I been today? I have been good so far, right?"

"Dillon! It has been 15 minutes."

"But, have I?"

"DILLON!"

What am I going to do with this kid?

more pictures for you to see...

I am lovin' the zoom! Can you tell?

Red Rocks Hike

Part of my fabulous birthday day was a hike around Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The fall colors have not descended the mountain as of yet, but it was still a gorgeous Fall day. Here are some pictures....