Only 5???

Tell us about five accomplishments from this past week. Big or small!


WOW..
1. Got my family packed for vacation...they left this morning and I will meet them tonight. Heading to the beach to ride quads!!
2. Cooked a Thanksgiving feast for my school Thursday. Thirty one people attended and the turkey (one was 25 lbs, the other 22) was delicious. Complete with pumpkin pie which I can't stand!!! YUCKY!!!!
3. Found my laundry room floor. I thought it was linoleum, I just haven't been able to find it for a couple weeks now. All laundry complete!!!
4. Isabella was on time for dance (FU-FU LAND WE CALL IT) and Nicholas was on time for his pizza party/trophy presentation Thursday night.
5. MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT you ask??? I have managed to stay relatively healthy while wiping snot from every preschooler who has entered my home. Oh yes, and the one that was sent home with a 103 fever and another who was sent home covered in hives!!!

COUGH COUGH... Oh NO!!! Maybe I spoke too soon!!!!

Sing it with me...

It's the end of the world as we know it...



It's the end of the world as we know it...



It's the end of the world as we know it...



I feel fine!!!

She has mastered crawling and quickly disappears out of rooms. :-)

The book I'm reading right now/just read is teaching me...



I read this book about a year ago and LOVED it...amidst all of the controversy. I couldn't put it down and have let friends borrow it who have said the same thing. It was strictly "for fun" reading. I remember thinking that this man has gone through so much and had the strength to go through so much more because of pure determination. He is recovering and will continue to battle demons every day of his life. What a heavy load. I wish I had that strength.

Secondly, in the book he meets a man who becomes his friend...Leonard. I learned that friends will get you through a LOT in life and mine continuously do. For all of my friends out there, Thank you!!!! May everyone be so lucky to have a friend!!!

I'm looking forward to reading the sequel...My Friend Leonard...over Christmas break!!!

On another note, I've gotten a lot of comments on writing a children's book. You've all inspired me!! Any ideas how I go about that are GREATLY appreciated.

Two memories

Two for Tuesday:

Tell us about two memories from two years ago...2004

WOW...One memory that stands out in my head is Nicholas starting school. He was about to turn three and his first year of preschool was about to get under way. SOOOOO much work to be done. We were potty training and boys are not easy. He did pretty well but we still have issues to this day. See, Nicholas and Isabella were blessed with the gift of small bladders like their mother. I know he tried his best but it took a while. I also remember walking him to school...two miles...and Isabella (15 months) was in the stroller. They LOVED that!




Memory #2...also school related...breaking Nicholas of his addiction....PACIFIERS!! Holy Smokes!!! I had no idea how I was going to do this! I put my thinking cap on and that was the day the Pacifier Fairy was born. (Numerous books have been written about her in my head). We walked around the house the Saturday before school was to start and collected all of the pacifiers in sight. Picture me on my hands and knees helping to look because he hid them in "special spots". Anyway, he went to bed that night with ALL of them...there had to be at least 15. A little boy, growing up, about to start school, sleeping in his big boy bed surrounded by 14 pacifiers, and sucking on the lucky 15th.

NOW THE HARD PART!!!!

I gave myself until midnight when I would go in a strip him of his addiction...an intervention of some sort. TALK ABOUT GUILT!!! It was very hard for me to walk into his room and take them. I built up the courage and made myself do it. I walked in and there he was...all of them either on the floor or at the foot of his bed. Not one in his hand or mouth. GEEZ!!! I had guilt for nothing. I collected all of them, put them in a ziploc, and covered him up with a new blanket that I made for him.

After two days he didn't ask anymore where they were. I don't know if he was just ready or the Pacifier Fairy made the transition a little easier. At any rate, he grew up and my little fairy has to make one more trip to our house.

As a side note, I just found the "ziploc o' pacifiers" when my family was in Oregon and I was purging my home. Has it really been that long??? Bye Bye pacifiers!!!

Soccer

Nicholas's soccer season came to an end today. He managed to go an entire season without scoring a goal but we are talking about the importance of team effort...they only lost 2 games...and not necessarily individual effort. It was his first time playing soccer and he loved it so next year he may have better luck. Here are a couple highlights.....

Some of his biggest fans. Mommy, Daddy, Isabella, Grandma Carol, Papa, and Grandma Rose were his cheering section.



Running down field after the ball.



Scoring a goal during warm ups.



My little soccer player ready for Game 1.

TGIF

Yesterday we had the Thursday Thirteen, today let's have Fabulous Friday!!

Tell us about something FABULOUS in your life right now!

Well, I didn't realize that I had today off until a couple of days ago so that in itself is fabulous!! Happy Friday to me!!!! Other than that, my children have been wanting to go to the park and the nights...when I'm able to go... get so dark so early. This morning, Jeffrey let me sleep in, take a shower ALONE, and I took the kids to the park for 2 hours. I let them decide when it was time to go home.

Fabulous day all around!!!!

TGIF everyone!!!!

Thirteen

There are a bunch of bloggers that participate in a meme called the Thursday Thirteen. Today, you're joining them!

You can write about any subject, but you have to think up 13 things.


Examples:
13 things about me.
13 things I like about living where I do
13 things my children say that crack me up
13 things to do this weekend.


Got it? GO!
This could take a minute...

Thirteen things my children are doing...

Nicholas is tying his own shoes.
Isabella zipped her own jacket.
Gabriella got her first tooth Sunday.
Nicholas can swing himself on the swings.
Isabella climbed a high ladder to get to the slide...way high.
Gabriella started crawling yesterday.
Nicholas made dinner for the family last night...fondue.
Isabella "washed" her own hair in the shower.
Nicholas is addicted to K-Nex and wants to build from morning til night.
Isabella swears she is a princess..but refuses to kiss her Dad.
Gabriella is NOT sleeping again but I'm sure it's teeth related.
Nicholas and Isabella are at school and...
Gabriella is waking up from her nap.

WHEW!!! That was exhausting. They are growing too fast!!!

HOT ROD, PINK FLOYD,and HEY 19

MUSIC—What are your early memories of music? What kind did you/do you prefer? Have your tastes changed over the years?

This was WAY fun for me to remember. For some reason, these three memories all include one specific apartment that my parents lived in when I was small.

I have no idea how old I was but it was old enough to appreciate some music...definitely under the age of 10. My father was the one who listened to music in our home. I can clearly remember him calling me to lay across my parent's bed, head on the pillows, at which point he put these HUGE headphones on my ears. These are the 70's version, puffy foam of some sort, and they were WAY bigger than my head. He would make me close my eyes and he wanted me to focus on the different instruments that were playing, isolated and together. No wonder the music sounded so good...it was going through every pore on my head!!! Hot Rod Stewart and Pink Floyd always bring the memory of gigantic foamy headsets to the fore-front of my brain!!!

Another time, could have been the next day for all I know, both Mom and Dad brought back a record (HOLY SMOKES) for me to listen on the record player. I couldn't believe I got my very on 45!! (I am cracking myself up remembering what a huge dork I must have been :-) )Anyway, the title was Hey 19 and I couldn't get over the fact that they bought a record of a song that I didn't even know. They made me play it and I was excited that I did know it...had only been singing the wrong words and didn't know I knew it!!! (YES, CONFIRMED DORK)

The third (apparently dorkish memory) is of my cousins and I. There are three of us and we are fairly close together in age. Our parents must have been together for the day or something but the three of us decided that we were going to make up a dance and put on a show for our parents. (These days, choreograph.) I can still remember some of the motions to Pat Benetar's "Another One Bites the Dust."

My tastes in music have changed as I now listen to country but I can't resist driving in the car or cleaning my house and jamming to the good stuff. Anyone remember The Little River Band???

Here we are..

Here are a couple pictures since we have been home. I'll update the trip, etc another time.

My trick or treaters...




The pumpkin patch...