Thanksgiving 2011

Well, clearly I'm running a little behind, but I took all of these pictures of our Thanksgiving and I really didn't want them to go to waste!

For, I think, the first time ever, the boys and I spent Thanksgiving at home. Alone. Last year we had the house bursting at the seams with family. And this year it was just the 5 of us. A had to run off to work early and made it home around 8pm. I decided to try to make the best of it for the boys and spent most of the day cooking all of the traditional Thanksgiving grub. I mean, turkey (not a whole turkey - I'm not THAT brave!), cream corn bake, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, and pumpkin pie. I was so proud of the spread. And the boys ate a little bit of a few select things and then asked if they could go back to playing. Sigh. I enjoyed it anyway.

 

 Some friends invited us over in the evening which was really nice. They graciously agreed to let us celebrate E's birthday with them as it always falls right near Thanksgiving and we weren't planning to have a party. Here's the cake that I attempted to make for him. I wish I had taken a picture of it after I had decorated it. What a ton of work! I'm not sure I'll do that again. I even made all of the buttercream frosting from scratch.  I also made those rice crispy balls. We dipped them in melted chocolate chips and then rolled them in sprinkles. The kids really seemed to like them too.

It was a good Thanksgiving after all. But I think next year I'd prefer to spend it with family again.

Someday to be curtains...

I realized that I never got around to posting pictures of what I decided to get when I won the grand prize from Feather Your Nest.

The prize was 'any one item in the store up to a $299 value'. As it turned out they really did have very little that was even close to $299. The table we were interested in was REALLY big. Like for at least 12 people? There is no way it would have fit in our dining room - or I guess we'd have had to take everything else out and just had a huge table. So we decided to go for the fabric. There weren't a LOT of options for home decor fabric that could be made into pretty curtains. But this is what we decided on. There was about 12 yards on the bolt so that's what I got. My friend ASSURES me that it is going to make fabulous roman shades. We'll see what we end up making. I have to save up for all of the lining, accessories, etc so it might still be a while. It's a little wild... but the more I looked at it the more I liked it... :)

Wow, I'll feel so grown up to have real curtains in my house!

Fall Fun at the Pumpkin Farm

On Saturday the boys and I visited a pumpkin farm with some friends of ours and it turned out to be so much fun! The farm had slides, animals to pet, a kiddie maze, camels and lots more. The boys had a super good time.

Anyone who remembers the 'goat headlock' will know that this could have gotten very ugly if there wasn't a big fence there. ;)

 Chris (even carrying the baby) leading the big passel of boys through the kiddie maze. All we could see was the very tops of their heads.

After talking to the camel on the left, he tried to get the camel on the right's attention. Right here he's saying to the camel on the left 'I'm not talking to you'.

The only casualty of the day was E. Somehow he got a rash on his leg that still hasn't gone away. He said it 'hurt' but didn't 'itch'. I finally took him in to have it looked at yesterday since it seemed to be growing, but they said they weren't worried about it since it doesn't have a 'ring' around it like a spider bite would. I felt really stupid for having it looked at. I just kept having visions of the awful things that spider bites can do to you! It's still there this morning but doesn't seem to be bother him as much.

In other exciting news, A's restaurant is having a fall Wine & Beer Fest this Saturday and I'm really excited to go! A couple of friends of ours are going to go too and I think it's going to be fun. Matthew from Rockmill Brewery is going to be there and A's sous chef's band is going to play their great blue grass music. You get 5 tickets and you can try any of the beers or wines. Then we're going to stay for dinner! Yummy! A former governor is having dinner too. Minka and Grandpa - sure you don't want to travel east?? C and P?? :D

They Grow Up So Fast

I think that only a parent can really understand how fast their children grow up. I often wonder now if my mom still looks at me and sees the skinny little girl with stringy hair who used to sing commercials all the time. There are days now that I look at my boys and can hardly breathe when I realize how big they are and that we'll never go back to those days when they would crawl up on our laps and snuggle. W got everyone breakfast this morning while A and I were getting ready, E cleared off the table and 'washed' the dishes tonight after supper (without his usual help from W), and C cleaned up the living room after we had little friends over and they had all of the trains out. The milestones seemed to take forever for a while and now they seem to go way too fast.

Today was definitely one of those days when we realize things seem to be flying by. Today was J's first day of preschool. I wasn't even CONSIDERING preschool at the beginning of the summer, and now he's not only going to preschool two days a week, but childcare a couple of days too. What has happened to us? Our calm little life has suddenly gotten infinitely busier.

J was very excited though. He is using C's very nice preschool backpack and it works for him perfectly. He has a Buzz Lightyear metal lunchbox for they days that he stays for lunch, and he loves 'Mrs. Wock' and 'Mrs. Shock'. :) He's practically all grown up now.


He even got mail yesterday! From his new teacher!

Now in other news, THIS is a picture of 'Minka's work fixing a broken down house'. What is impressive about that is that little C would remember and even really understand what Minka's company does and then randomly think about it months after he'd last hear a word about it. He really thinks about things all the time, I think. So the scribble marks on the bottom is the 'broken down house', and the box on the top/middle is Minka's company 'which fixes houses for poor people and is going to fix that house'. The other item with the circle and the long line is in fact a ride that is apparently at King's Island and which they see commercials about and obsess about - so not really nearly as interesting or relevant.  Still, I thought the picture was cool. And he drew it on a paper that they will now laminate and then use to cover their tests when they are done with them throughout the year. I guess? So Minka, he'll be looking at your 'company' fixing a 'broken down house' every time that he finishes a test throughout the year. :)

A day in the life of Me

I realized it's been a while since I've done a post on a day in our life, and I thought that today would be a perfect day to feature. Buckle up - it's been a busy one!

After a nice, boring (with the exception of the earlier post), and relaxing weekend, W, E, and C had to be up this morning and at school BEFORE (the operative word many mornings) 8:05, so we were all up early, making lunches, getting breakfast and getting everyone out the door. A had a dr.s checkup before work and J and I headed out shortly after that for my office. J's preschool Meet the Teacher Day was today at 9:00 so we walked down the hall and spent about a half-hour in his class, meeting a few kids and putting the things away in his classroom. That was a little sad, but not as sad as Thursday may be, I'm afraid. That's his first REAL day. :( He then jotted off to 'Mrs. Wock's' room (his pronunciation, not mine), and I headed to the office to try to get as much done as I could for the short week.

At noon we headed home to grab a bite to eat and finish putting buttons on the little pinafore I made last night for my friend who just had a baby (wish I'd taken pictures!!). J had his first speech appointment after a couple of months at 1:30, which went very well. We'll see next week if they think they need to work with him anymore at all. Then we ran (literally) into the hospital to visit the friend and her new baby girl. I was very excited as she's one of only 2 people I know who have had girl babies in a long time, and my sisters and I don't seem to be able to produce any -yet! Alas, she was late getting back to her room from photographing the baby and J and I got about 5 minutes to hold the little sweetheart before we had to rush across town to pick up the boys from school - hitting every red light along the way, of course!

Now our school asked everyone to sell 3 entertainment books this year as their only fund raiser and today the money was due. A was great and sold 2 at work for us but didn't have all of the money yet so I had to run through the atm to get the rest before picking up the boys. In my haste (I was late, but for a good reason!), I left my atm card in the machine. OF COURSE. And J fell asleep so I had to carry his heavy self all through the halls picking up the boys from their classrooms. Then we ran over to get gas, only to realize that I don't have my atm card! Ahhh! Now last time that happened it was at the hospital when my dad was getting his appendix out (I was also a little frazzled that day) and it took me WEEKS to get a new one. So with much trepidation I ran back to the bank (all 4 boys in tow) only to be helped by this very nice young man who ran out and got my card for me! Yay! Of course the boys took over the entire lobby while we waited, but the gentleman also informed me that they were the best behaved kids they'd had in the bank all day. Haha! ( I must mention that, due to a rather large preying mantis hanging out on the outside of the bank, I had to do quite a bit of fast talking and maybe a few threats to convince them that we can NOT throw rocks (an effort to get it to come down) near the windows of a BANK! - My life revolves around what insect they are currently stalking)

Now we had to head home for homework from 4-5 and supper before football! W had LOADS, as he seems to have some trouble getting things done in study hall, and E and C both had their share. Everyone is hungry right away so between listening to E read his 3 pages, C read his 2, and keeping W on track, I had to whip up supper and have everyone out the door by 5:30 for football.

We got back around 8:15, had the boys clean a little, W finish his homework, brownies and ice cream all around, and now the house is quiet. Ahhhh.

I just wanted to get that out for all people who think that being a stay at home mom (though I guess I'm a 1/2 working mom now) is nice and luxurious and for all of those who don't appreciate that their husband is home every evening for homework and supper. But after it all, it was a good day! :) And my husband brought home a piece of his yummy chocolate torte and some sort of alcoholic drink that looks good too!

I WIN I WIN I WIN

I never win anything. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I really mean it. I never win anything. I don't play the lottery, I mean, what would be the point. But last week I was introduced to a super cute little fabric shop near us. The shop has a little room full of Vera Bradley items, a front room with little vintage items for around your house, and 2 back rooms chock full of fabulous fabrics from designers like Amy Butler and Jane Sassaman.

So this shop was having their 10 year anniversary and were spending 10 days having a 'birthday' party for themselves. Every day that you visited the shop you could be entered to win a $25 gift certificate. I watched facebook throughout the week jealously as 3 people I know won the daily prize - all very deservingly, by the way. The shop also emailed coupons that could be used throughout the week - from $10 off a $25 purchase (which I used), to 40% a single purchase (which I used, too to buy this book - I'm very excited!), to 25% off all of your fabric and patterns purchase one day. Now that last one I hung onto until the last day that you could use it (Monday) and I made the very scary decision to take all four boys up to pick out fabric for a very special little present I want to make. Surprisingly, the boys were very good and I'm pretty excited about the fabric I got and am really hoping I can make it in to something cute.

BUT, the real excitement was when I got home and I got the email saying that I had won their grand prize! I won! I won! And not just a $25 gift certificate! But their Grand Prize - a choice of anything in the store up to a $299 value! I had no idea this store even had anything that was over $299. Every time I visited the store I headed straight for the fabric, as I assumed I couldn't afford another thing anyway. So I couldn't even tell you what all they have for that price range! haha. My friend very wisely suggested that I try to pick a large bolt of fabric that I could use for curtains - a project I've wanted to do for so long and have put off because the fabric would cost so much. GREAT idea! Another suggestion was purchasing their old farm table that they just put up for sale today - if it's still there! With 4 boys, who, against my wishes, keep growing bigger and bigger, we've been looking for a larger table for some time, so that might be a good option, too. And guess how much they want? $299 of course! ;)

I'll have to update on what we end up with. But for now, I'm just excited that I actually won something. :)

Back To School!

I really can't believe that summer is over. I think I am having a harder time over it than the boys. I had so many plans for us this summer and a long list of things that I thought we could do. And now the whole summer is over. And we only got to like 2 things on the list.

I distinctly remember writing a post a few years ago about how badly I needed them to go back to school. Now I feel just the opposite. Do they have to keep growing up? I guess as they get older things are getting a little easier. I am able to send them to clean their rooms - and they actually do it. They clear off the dishes from the table, load the dishwasher, and put the food away. Things are slightly easier.

So today they trotted off to their first day of school. I thought I would cry but I guess the insanity of a million parents and kids rushing around helped. 

E's hair pre-haircut. So cool. M, we need to you visit and fix his hair. The stylists always mess it up.

W in 4th grade, getting his assignment book out.

E is a 2nd grader now!

And C's a 1st Grader now!

By all accounts everyone had a great day an think their teachers are very nice. So that's good.. In other news, W has been very busy with football. It seems like the 2 hours of hard training wear him out every day and he has been a lot more pleasant and helpful at home. I just pray that carries over to his school time. He seems to be really enjoying it and even got to play most of his first scrimmage on Saturday. However, after watching a special on ESPN last night about the severe injuries and heat exhaustion issues that they're seeing more and more with football players, I'm not sure that he'll play again. Scary!