Mom's Christmas...some pictures

Julie and Tim

Miss M got a hold of the Jello while we were taking pictures.
Miss M and most of the clothes in her dress up box from Ju-Ju.

Mom and Nan

Cousins

Mike and his Family

The original 5

Mike, Julie and I with Nan

A Late Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all 3 of my blog readers! :P

I will do a Christmas post soon, I promise. The stomach virus/ ear infection monster has reared his ugly head in our home and so I haven't had the time or energy to post.

Happy Birthday

to my beautiful little girl Miss M!

She is my feisty little one. She hates to be told "no", can turn the tears on and off like a light switch. She sleeps 11-12 hours a night, goes to bed without a fight. She still loved her "Boo" (Binky) when she goes to bed. She loves her brother with all of her heart. She likes to find markers and color her belly, toes and fingers. She loves to cuddle and can melt my heart when she says, "Mommy, I hold you". She gets into everything. She eats every food offered to her but loves "roni" (Mac-n-cheese) and "bean-beans" (green beans) the best! She has the best little laugh and the cutest nasally voice. She loves to pay in the tub. She loves to wear dresses and her black boots, a hand-me-down from Cousin ~T. She loves for me to paint her toenails. At bedtime she likes to have two blankets and two cloth diapers to hold.

We are so blessed to have this little girl. Happy 2nd Birthday! We love you so much!

Thanksgiving weekend ...a Picture Walk

Everything is out of order but here is our weekend...

Our annual trip to the Festival of Trees

This is her new smile.....great huh?

Don't they looked thrilled to be on the train? She said "CHOO-CHOO" the whole time.

We snuck into Santa's chair

Thanksgiving with the in-laws

My nephew, me and my sister in law.

Sis in law with my father in law

J with his Pop-pop

(Not a Thanksgiving pic but my boy has read 25 hours for school....yay!)

And last week we played in the leaves and the tree.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

News

Life has been a bit crazy the past few weeks. At school, it was American Education Week, a week full of visitors in the classroom. It is exhausting. You have to be "on" every minute of every day. You never know who is watching. Not that we aren't "on" all the time, but who wants to have a full week when you are being watched and scrutinized? Glad it is over.
The next news is that my Nan fell and broke her hip again. She had surgery and is doing well despite contracting pneumonia as well. They caught that early and she is recuperating well. Prayers please. She is slowly forgetting who we are. She is telling some cute stories that we know aren't true but boy, does she love to tell them. She loves seeing J and Miss M and they really cheer her up. If only she really understood that they are two of her precious 11 great-grandchildren.
Now for the really bad news. Two weeks ago my father in law was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Since he has many other health issues, they are not going to try surgery or chemo since that might be worse on his body. Needless to say, we are all devastated by this. Please pray for strength for Paul and his family. It has been tough on everyone, especially since his time left with us is unknown.
J earned his Bobcat in Tigers the other night. I was so proud of him. I even got welled up. I am such a sap!

J and Chief Akela

Our Tigers!

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween. Julie and Tim came over. We ordered pizza. We only trick-or-treated to a few houses in the court. The kids loved handing out candy, hangin' with their aunt and watching "Its a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown". We made good memories and that is very important to me!

Odds and Ends

Fall is here! Give a cheer! I love fall! I am thrilled about cooler temps and it makes my work day a little easier!
Here is what is happening in our household right now.
J is enjoying soccer and now is an official Tiger Scout. At your first meeting, I got so overwhelmed by how much time and money goes into it, I almost cried. The uniform cost my left arm, the "fair share cost" will take my right arm. Lots of evenings, lots of Weekend stuff.....Arg. But my boy is happy so for right now, I will deal.
Miss M is a little monster~ she gets into everything. But she is sweet and loves to cuddle. She hates to not get her way and shrieks like a monkey when I tell her no. She certainly keeps us on her toes.
I have an intern this year at school (that is the new name for student teacher). She is wonderful, a very intuitive future teacher. She has a heart of gold. She is only with me for two more days and then goes to another school till March. Then I get her back. :) She is in a One-year Master's program so it is a busy year for her!
I have spent many hours cleaning out clothing. This time of year is crazy cuz you can't put away all of the summer stuff because it is still hot (like 78 today!)
I am going to dinner with my best friends tonight. alone. no kids. I CAN"T WAIT!!!!!!
Here are a few pictures so my post isn't so boring....

Miss M and her new "say Cheese" face....not sure where she got it!

Thoguht this picture was typical miss M- she looks like a Rag-a- Muffin 90% of the time.
Here he is..My handsome Tiger Scout!

From my cousin's blog

Tired of looking for blog fodder? Here’s a simple Meme. Tag yourself if you want to!
What I’m reading now: Rereading Eat, Pray Love, after seeing the movie.
What I want to read next: The Help by Kathryn Stockett (waiting for my intern to bring in the book so I can read it)
What I’m watching: DWTS, The Office, Glee and also THe Middle and Modern Family,Love my DVR!
What I’m reading to my kid: EVERYTHING!
What my kid is reading: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. We have read this book since he was like 1 and yet, he gets it out from the school library!
What I’m listening to: The first 5 soundtracks from the show GLEE and Camp Rock 2 soundtrack
What I’m cooking from: Cooking? um.....yeah......from my brain....
What I’m looking forward to: Sleeping in till 6:30 Saturday morning.....yes, that is sleeping in.....

Weekend Away

My sister and I spent last weekend at the beach with the kids to celebrate J's b-day. I borrowed my friends trailer again and this was the only weekend it was free. So we took it!
We had a total blast! I was unsure of how it would go, since my kids are up early and my sister likes to sleep in but she was a trooper, and as always, a huge help!
We arrived late Friday night so the kids were a bit sleepy!

Of course, the kids were up at the crack of dawn (literally) on Saturday so we got up, ate breakfast and headed out to the beach. It was GORGEOUS!!! 75 degrees, sunny, light breeze, warmish water= PERFECT!! J made a friend and played for hours in the surf!

Miss M was a little hesitant about the water. Every time aunt Ju-Ju tried to put her feet in the water, Miss M did a split in the air! So funny!

I was there too, in case you were wondering. You know how the photographer is never in the pictures....

She finally got brave enough and got wet!

J built a castle with his new friend.

Bathing Beauties!

After a nice nap and shower, we headed to the skate park for J to try out his new skates that he got for his b-day!

Then off to the playground! Run Aunt Ju-JU!

J crossed the monkey bars up and back to the first time!

and all Miss M wanted to do was "WING MOMMY"!!!

we ate a late lunch at our favorite place for ice cream~Dumser's!

Yummy!

Since it was J's birthday, we let him set the agenda for the day. On his list- Mini golf!

Hole in one!

Miss M loved the zebra....

We decided to make J a donut cake for his breakfast and so we went and bought these..and this "donut" was inside. Jules and I nearly wet ourselves laughing!

Seriously, my sister and I laughed so hard all weekend. It felt wonderful to laugh so much!

In this picture, I decided to warm up my sister's incredibly cold feet with candle, fake ones of course! Happy 7th birthday to my wonderful little boy!

Crazy hair anyone???

It was truly a fun weekend. when we arrived home, daddy had a cake and presents for J to open! I'd say he had a wonderful b-day weekend!