one week away

Thanksgiving is one week away. I bought the pies and whipped cream this morning. I'm going to get the rest tomorrow or next week depending on the sales. I've been making everything and hosting Thanksgiving at my house for 5 years now. This year my mom and dad will both be here....at the same time. Wish me luck! No seriously, they get along just fine nowadays. They're both here for birthday parties so it will be no big deal. I love making everything. Maybe in a few years we'll be in a little bit bigger of a house and anyone who wants to come is welcome. Of course then you might need to bring a dish.

I took our family picture again this year. This is the second year I've done it myself and I must toot my own horn and say it looks great! Last years was on everyones Christmas cards and look for this years picture on your Christmas cards as well. I used to send out wallet sizes with everyones cards but Sears started giving fewer pictures in their packages so I decided to start doing it myself. After 10 years of frequent trips to Sears Portrait Studio I've learned lots of poses and love taking them myself. But getting a 2 1/2 year old to smile at the camera that is on a self timer and no one is there for her to smile at is the hardest thing in the world! We put a toy on top of the camera for her to look at and we all said Cheese with her to get her to smile and keep smiling.

Well, everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

just blogging

Well the sports schedule has begun. Brenden has baketball practices on Tuesday nights at 8 and Thursday's at 5. Strange isn't it. They practice at 2 different schools in the city too. Games will start at the end of the month and go through March. And March is when soccer practice starts for Spencer. In about 2 more years I'll put Cassidy in gymnastics and then I can't even begin to imagine how I'll multitask that if practices fall on the same days for any of them. One of our friends has a kid in soccer and 1 in gymnastics at the same time. And her husband isn't even home in time to help shuttle them to practices. Richard is taking Brenden to the Tuesday practices since it's so late and they don't get home until @9:15. I of course get the Thursday practice since he doesn't even get off until 5. Games are on Saturdays so he'll never miss those. Right now the only activity Cassidy does is toddler storytime on Wednesday mornings at 11 at the library. She loves it. We get to do a craft after the storytime which is good because I'm not crafty so that's the only craft time the poor girl gets. I make ornaments with them at Christmas and hand turkeys at Thanksgiving and coloring eggs at Easter, but that's as crafty as I get. I color with them all the time though if that counts as anything!

School pictures

Here's the boys' school pictures. Spencer is in Kindergarten, and Brenden is in 4th grade.

I'll have trick or treat pics to share when we download the software for my new camera. Brenden was Harry Potter, Spencer was Iron Man and Cassidy was an angel.

I had the stomach flu earlier this week as did Spencer and Brenden. Not fun at all!

High School Musical 3

I took the boys to see HSM3 yesterday afternoon. Brenden and I really liked it, Spencer can't sit still. He sat in his seat but the seat kept folding him up in it so then he'd sit on my lap then back to his seat, you get the picture. He would sigh and ask when it was going to be over and he almost fell asleep. But he did watch it and he is quiet through it but he just got bored and when we watch movies at home he can lay down or sit in a rocking chair. This is only the second movie he's seen in a movie theater, the first being SpiderMan 3 a few years ago. It was a fun afternoon for just me and the boys. I used to take Brenden to see movies after Spencer was born to just have mommy/Brenden days. And he was 4 when we did that and he always sat still and enjoyed going to the movie theater. Last night Brenden spent the night at his best friend Micah's house and they went to Magic Mountain. Watching HSM yesterday and seeing the two boys growing up as best friends and then wanting to go off to college together reminded me of Brenden and Micah. It will be nice if they stay friends forever like that too. It's nice to have a best friend like that in life. Not everyone has that so it's special.

Tonight I'm making a pot roast and my mom is coming over for dinner. I try to have her over at least once a week for dinner. It's been nice having her live close by. So, that concludes my weekend update. Stay warm and healty everyone.

Of Course...

So in yesterday's post I said that Iwas the only one sick. Of course by saying this I then jinxed myself and my house because Brenden started throwing up around 9pm and continued all night and then again this morning. He's disappointed to miss donuts with dad's but he's got to do it the past several years so he's ok with it. So I have a cold and Brenden apparantely has the stomach flu and time will tell what the rest of the family will come down with. Thank goodness Richard was home 1/2 the day for me to be able to go the grocery store and get pedialyte and other groceries without taking Brenden. Mom is busy this morning so I'm hoping she can be here at 3 for me to be able to leave Brenden here while I pick up Spencer from school. So I'm sure I'll have an exciting weekend of multiple sicknesses.

Feeling blah...

I'm sick. Just me. How'd that happen? The boys haven't been sick yet, strangely enough. Usually by this time Brenden has already had his first cold from school. And now that Spencer's in school I figured I'd be in double trouble. But not yet, Thank God. But now it's freezing outside so I already have the medicine in the cabinet ready to go at the first sign of a cough, sneeze, runny nose, or tummy ache! Too bad I'm having to use it on myself! The cat, who is an indoor/outdoor cat, has decided that it's too cold for him outside now and he just likes to go whine at the door so I'll open it and he can decide if it's too cold for him or not. Such a bratty cat! He's 13 and we just let him start going outside this past spring after years of him sneaking out with the dogs anyway, we gave in to him. Not much else going on. My dad is coming over for dinner tonight and tomorrow is Donuts with Dads at the boys' school. That's it for now.

Muffins with Mom

Today was Muffins with Moms at the boys' school. My mom came over this morning at 7:45 to be here with Cassidy. We had a good time and Spencer was happy since it was his first time getting to do this. It surprised me that a mom sitting across from us, who happens to be a mom to kid in Spencer's class, didn't eat anything or even speak to her kids. She told them to hurry up a few times and that sucked to see. When her daughter spoke to Spencer and me her mom didn't say a word or even crack a smile. This is a time to come and enjoy a bit of time with your child before school in their environment and get to meet some of their friends and moms. She looked like she didn't even want to be there. So sad. Anyway, I got to go to Spencer and Brenden's classes after we ate and I got to meet some of Spencer's friends and see him interact with them for a bit. Brenden knows everyone. He's such a social boy. We're walking through the gym like he's a celeb or something, he's pointing and waving at everyone. So funny! One boy kept coming over a talking to him for a bit then he'd have to go because his dad and him were there helping with everything making sure there were enough muffins and juice on the tables. Then I came home and I've been on the quest to find our family picture outfits the rest of the morning. We got home around 11:30. I found a dark green dress for Cassidy and now everyone else's outfit will revolve around her dress. It's easier that way to get hers first and go from there. I'll probably go to Steve and Barry's for the boys because you all know that I'm going to match them. It's just too cute and I have to still do it. Maybe soon I'll stop that since Brenden is getting older, but for now I'm matching them while I still can get away with it! So you all know to look for the family picture with or as the Christmas cards.