On this Veteran’s Day, I wanted to stop and take the time to say Thank You to all of you who have served this great country. Thank you is not enough, I know, but it is all I have to offer you. So, thank you. Thank you.

Holidays | No Comments »

Thought I’d post out Halloween trick-or-treating pics for everyone. We went with some friends from church (who also have 3 boys) and had a blast!

First things first:

Here’s a pumpkin patch the boys made, which I thought was very cute.

Here’s our jack-o-lantern. He’s patterned after Jack the pumpkin king from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

And now for the trick-or-treat pictures:

Family, Halloween, Holidays, the kids | No Comments »

Halloween marks the start of our busy season around here. After Halloween, we prepare for Thanksgiving and Brian’s birthday. Fortunately, this year they aren’t the same day! 15 days later is Alex’s birthday. His Godfather will be in town that weekend to celebrate his birthday and Christmas with the boys, which means that sometime before then we need to put our tree up. We’re looking into buying a new tree. Ours is 6 years old this year and when I put it together last year, a couple of the branches fell off. I took that as a sign that it’s time for a new one. So, we’re pricing.

Speaking of pricing Christmas trees, we went to WalMart on Saturday after taking the boys to see High School Musical 3 (good movie!). We parked and walked in through the garden center and what were we greeted with? Christmas decorations! I was not prepared for that AT ALL! It isn’t even Halloween yet, for crying out loud! I am the person who is adamant about not putting up any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. I just can’t be in the mood before then, even if there is snow on the ground. I have to take the holidays one at a time. It’s just the way I’m wired, I guess. Besides, it’s more fun to make a mad dash for the finish line than to start 2 months early.

Anyway, 15 days after Alex’s birthday is Christmas. Then we’re leaving to head to Erie for Jen and Matt’s wedding on New Years Eve. We’ve decided from there to go back to Indiana for a couple of days so that I can see my niece for the first time. I am super excited about that! She’ll be 3 months old then, but at least I don’t have to wait until April! Then it’s my birthday, which I am NOT looking forward to this year, and my sil’s birthday. Fortunately, after that, we have nothing until April when we have sil’s wedding, our anniversary and the twins’ birthday.

In all fairness, this is my favorite time of year. I love fall (though we haven’t had much of a fall this year) and Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s such a joyous time of year. I love cooking a big dinner and celebrating with family and friends. I don’t even mind that it’s just the 5 of us. It’s a compete contrast to the frenzied Thanksgiving and Christmas days I had as a kid, hoping from one grandparent to the next, eating dinner at one and dessert at the other. It’s nice to just be able to relax and take it all in.

And speaking of relaxing, I think I’m going to do that for what’s left of the Colts game. After doing 2 blog posts for my class blog, dishes, and 3 or 4 loads of laundry, I think I’ll chill for the rest of the game and then head to bed. Night!

Christmas, Family, Halloween, Holidays, Thanksgiving, The Inlaws, birthdays, life, the kids | No Comments »

Yes, I know that there are now 96 days to Christmas, and not 100, as the title suggests. What I’m actually talking about is a website called One Hundred days to Christmas. It’s another List Mama blog, but I like it because it’s Christmas related. I always find that it sneaks up on me. One day, all is normal and then BAM! I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off (though, really, who thought of that phrase? Can a chicken run around when its head is cut off??) trying to get everything done at the last minute. I am afraid that will hit me double this year with work and school and everything else going on. Not to mention that in the midst of all of that, I have to pack and plan for our trip to Erie for Matt & Jen’s (Jenson) wedding. I’ll hop on board anything that helps me keep on track and keep organized. I’m an un-organized person by nature and it’s very frustrating to not be able to find things when I need them. But, what can I do? It’s in my blood…

Anyway, I encourage you to check out One Hundred Days to Christmas, especially if you are an un-organized person like me It might help take some of the stress out of the holidays for you as I’m hoping it will do for me

Christmas, Holidays, blogging, life | 3 Comments »

With Mother’s Day just over 2 weeks away, I have (finally) started thinking about what to get my mom. I’m probably a bit late in my planning, but I just have to get through the twins’ birthday before I can think about Mother’s Day. I decided I’d start with a search for the “hot” gifts of 2008. Surprisingly, that didn’t turn much up. Just the usual, flowers, chocolate, jewelry, and handbags…I guess the handbags are the hot item this year, since that was the only constant in each list I found. Then I decided to do a search for green Mother’s Day gifts. Boy, is there a lot of info on that! Alot of them are good ideas; organic perfume and makeup, fair trade organic coffee or tea, flowers from a local flower shop, soy and beeswax candles, and sponsorships or memberships. I guess if I had thought about it, I probably knew all of these things were green, as I’ve gotten my mom some of this in the past. I’m limited as to what I can do, though. No makeup or perfume for my mom, as she’s allergic to perfume and henseforth must be super selective in her makeup. My mom loves candles, so the soy candles are always a good choice. However, I think what I’m going to do is get her some vegetable and flower seeds. She and my step-dad are planning on planting a vegetable garden soon, and they always have nice flowers planted so those are two things that are sure to be a winner.

Now, if you’re not into buying anything green for your mom, why not make something for her? I may throw something like this in the mix, too (I’ll be seeing mom 2 weeks after Mother’s Day so I have an extra couple of weeks to put something together for her). These are an especially great way for kids to make mom a gift.

So, what are you going to give mom for Mother’s Day?

Family, Going green, Holidays, The Family, life | No Comments »

We made Christmas cookies on Tuesday, and frosted them yesterday. I thought I’d share some pictures of the fun. Enjoy!

Christmas, Holidays, pictures, the kids | 1 Comment »

Gift cards are quite popular. I often get dh an iTunes gift card as part of his birthday/anniversary/Christmas present. I received a B&N goft card from our friends for Christmas, dh got a best Buy gift card. Some people don’t like them. I LOVE them! They allow me to go shopping for something that perhaps I’ve wanted but either haven’t had the money for, or haven’t wanted to put my own money for simply because it wasn’t important enough.

This year, there is a different kind of gift card being offered for people. It’s a medical gift card, and it’s a hot commodity. According to this article:

This gift card can be used for doctors’ visits or deductibles, prescription co-pays, contact lenses and even elective surgery.

“It’s a first of its kind; no one has ever offered a gift card like this,” said Kim Bellard of givewell.com.

The card is issued by Visa, so it can be used anywhere Visa is accepted for health-related services. They are not sold in stores and need to be purchased online or over the phone for up to $5,000.

“The peak audience we believe though is women 35-50, the famous sandwich generation,” Bellard said. “So, they’ve got parents that have health needs, and they’ve got a spouse that has health needs, and older children going off to college or living on their own that have health needs.”

How does the card impact medical deductions? The person who uses it gets any eligible write-off.

All I can think is, where was this 2 months ago when I was shelling out all kinds of money for my teeth? lol

So, mom, dad, sis, if you’re reading this and still haven’t decided what to get me for Christmas, how about one of these? I’d be ever so grateful (and so would my teeth!)

Christmas, News, blogging | 1 Comment »

To be fair, I have two pretty good mother-in-laws and I have something in common with both of them. Brian’s mom is a special education teacher, so am I. Brian’s step-mom likes to cook/bake and so do I. She’s also an avid reader, as is his dad. A couple of years ago, when they were here for Christmas, she brought us a HUGE bag full of books. She used to work for a publisher and has lots of advanced reading copies of books (I’ve mentioned this before). Some of the ARC’s are cookbooks, which I adore! She sent us an early Christmas present this year.

I must first say that, when we got the box, and opened it, I promptly placed the presents under the tree because they were wrapped and I assumed they were for Christmas. Well, I assumed wrong. I should have known by the bag of flour that was also contained in that box (unwrapped, of course). I thought it was odd that she was sending me a bag of flour. The last time she sent me something like that, it was a bag of pancake mix, with instructions to use it for breakfast. I didn’t see a “visible” note, only what I assumed was a card attached to one of the gifts. If I had opened the note, I would have understood at once that I was supposed to have the kids open the gifts. DUH. Wonder why I didn’t think of opening the gifts? lol

Anyway, I was tickled pink with what she sent us. The first thing we opened was a cookie book. Though it isn’t labeled as an ARC, it’s the same as a couple of the other cookbooks she gave us that are marked as ARC’s.

She sent each of the boys an apron, which are so adorable!

I couldn’t get a picture of them without the funny faces. Boys

She also sent us these:

The bag of flour makes much more sense now! I knew that for her to send it to us it must have had some sort of significant meaning to her. Sure enough, the note said that it’s the same flour her mom used to use when she was a kid (she also said it’s THE BEST for baking). I think we’ll start making Christmas cookies on Friday night, after Downtown D’Lights.

Christmas, Family, Holidays, The Inlaws, blogging, fun | 1 Comment »

I just want to say thank you to all the Veterans who have fought to keep our country safe and make it the greatest country in the world.

General, Holidays | No Comments »