Christmas 2008

It is hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone already. It is a woderful time of year to think about all that we are blessed with. I really need to do that more often. It was beautiful this year our first "White Christmas" following the Ice Storm that taught me many valuable lessons...maybe I should look at that as my first Christmas gift.

We spent quite Christmas Eve with a new Tradition of take-out! This left me with patience and time to bake and decorate cookies for Santa.

We did have one Christmas Eve tradition of opening one gift and the gift is always new pajamas. The suprise is what they will look like. The boys were so excited that they wanted to go to bed early. And they tried, but I think the visions of "sugarlums" dancing in their heads kept them awake longer than they wanted. Finally they dozed off and me not far behind them.

Christmas morning Geoff and I were awake by 5:ish. The boys still asleep, so Geoff ran up and down the stairs a few times very loud making mention that someone had broke into our house and left stuff....the boys were up in no time, but had to wait at the top of the stairs so I could get the camera's (yes plural) ready.It didn't take long to open the gifts, and in no time the floor was unidentifiable and everyone was having a good time.

Off to the kitchen for the one standing tradition....a large breakfast. It took me 2.5 hour before I was done. Normally I throw the Ham in as soon as we wake up but this year I was in no hurry....We ate and played the rest of the day.

We had a few visitors that evening which was a pleasant suprise. Thanks! We ended the evening with the Nativity....I liked that, it summed up the day!

We survived the Ice Storm of 2008

We survived! Friday morning 1:17 am a flash of light and then the power is off. All night I was up, I could hear trees cracking, breaking and falling to the ground. The emergency sirens were going off all night, and I was fearful the big oak that leans over our house would fall through and land in the boys room. Finally I wake them up and move them all to one room, and I go down stairs so that I don't hear everything that hits the roof. No suprise - "Snow Day!" When Geoff gets to work he tells me our town is under a state of emergency. It looks beautiful outside, but it was a mess.

Thanks to our wonderful neighbors the Hopeck, they hooked us a line to their generator and we were able to plug in our fridge, keep our cell phones charged, and Geoff's laptop provided our movie screen! That was day one. Our thermostat read 59'. This wasn't so bad yet. Could be kind of fun. We put up a barrier between our kitchen and family room to keep the heat in. The power company said we should get power by 4:00 am Saturday. Unfortunately we had called before the snow hit the frozen trees.

We wake up Saturday morning, no power. I decide to cook eggs on the pancake griddle, but shorted out our power when I went to make toast! We go for a drive, but this time we could really see all the devastation. The roads were a mess. The houses behind us had a tree that fell on a power line and it was all laying on the ground. Broken trees and limbs everywhere. Power still out to most of the area. We find a McDonalds open-we have to drive thru because we haven't showered in 3 days. All hope fails that night when Geoff talks to the men working on the transformer and they can't locate our neighborhood on the grid. Reality sets in, we are hooked to the neighborhood with the tree and power lines still on the ground. Our thermostat now reads 47'.

I can't sleep so at 4:00 am on Sunday I take a cold bath, and wash my hair. I feel much better. When the kids wake-up I torcher them by washing their hair in the cold water of the kitchen sink and then warming up baby wipes for a quick clean off thier bodies. I am able to blow their hair dry. We sit down to watch spongebob. The neighbors call to offer us showers, I tell her my torture story and then hang-up. Boom, the power is back on, nearly 60 hours later. I was so excited, then I cried. Oh how thankful I am for electricity!

Thanksgiving

What a wonderful time of year that snuck up on me so fast this year! This is our third one away from Arizona. Wow, it doesn't seem like time can go so fast, but it really does. It makes you think about a lot and how important every minute is and what you do with it.

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for friends who took our family into their home and fed us and entertained us. I am thankful for my family, for my husband who works hard so that I can be home with our kids, for the kids and their smiles, hugs and kisses, who make each day worth getting up for! I am thankful for my knowledge of things greater than this earth.

For my final thought I am thankful to each and everyone who has touched my life. You know who you are...Happy Thanksgiving and an even better Holiday Season!

Twilight

Well I don't ever think I have been as excited about a movie coming out. When Geoff first gave me this book about vampires to read I thought he was nuts, but I read it and couldn't stop. My eyes would be closing but I wanted just "one more page." And then I heard it would be made into a movie!

My friend in Arizona got her tickets to the midnight show almost a month ago and up until last week I didn't think we would have one here in Upstate New York, so I was settling for the next best thing. Friday night, after Chandler got home from school, but then luck would have it I found it. I bought tickets on Wed. which proved to be a good thing. It was playing in 3 theatres each holding almost 300 seats. We got there at 10:30 pm and still had to sit in the last row of the bottom seats.

We ate a lot of popcorn, candy and diet coke after our Burger King to keep up our strength. The movie began, at first I was a bit nervous I wanted it to do well, I instantly loved the Bella character but a few others took me awhile. I still have a bit of an issue with Dr. Cullen and Rosalie. But all in all I enjoyed the movie. The books were better.

Sorry Camille, you were buying popcorn when I took out my camera and then I forgot! But I am glad you could come.

Chandler and I are both very tired this morning, he still has to go to school, for me I am going back to bed until Preston gets home from Kindergarten!

Another Weeblo

Jake signed off his bear and has now advanced to Weeblos, we are very proud of him! He was so excited, he can not wait for his belt so he can start getting the belt loops! I think he may be our first to get his arrow of light!

November 4th!

What a long day! It begins with Parent Teacher Confrences.....All the kids are doing well, although a few need to clean their desks....no suprise!!!! Then off to Vote, fortunately for us the lines were not to long and we were able to get in and out. But most important today is Jakes 10th birthday. It was a bit different this year. Geoff took the day off, the kids had no school, except Chandler. We didn't have a big party, but se did celebrate Jake. We opened a few presents this morning, but Jake had asked for stuff to sculpt, he was asking for playdough but we felt he would enjoy modeling clay a bit more. We took him to Michaels to help us pick it out...and the look on his face was priceless...He had the biggest grin! He wanted to go to Chili's for lunch because that is the only place you can order pasta with marinara sauce and the ask them to replace the sauce with brocolli cheese soup! This was something I used to do when Geoff would bring the boys in to eat when I was waitressing. We then took him to get something from my Dad, by the time we got home it was almost 4:00 and he spent the next few hours putting together a Kinetix RollerCoaster. Then it was time for Scouts and off we left! Jake had a great day and it makes you realize you can plan all the parties you want, buy the biggest gift, but the most important thing is just making them celebrated and we did this by spending time together! I am proud of the "double-digit" boy that he is!

We made it...doubt and all!

It's one of those things that thank goodness you made plans with someone else who is going because you said you would go and you are going because you said you woud go, despite the weather report, and waking up to rain. So what am I talking about. A day trip to New England to visit six flags. Tiffany and I watched the weather this week and knew we had a good chance of rain but each said we were game if the other was, and both were. Saturday morning things are looking dim, but a plan is a plan and we all agree to give it a try. Well thank goodness we did because we really coudn't have asked for a much better day. The weather was good, a light jacket, but the clouds kept a lot of the crowds away. We all headed different directions at different times with different people, but all tall enough were able to ride the Superman ride, which is a thrill....can't wait for the death look photos from Walker. Ohhhh and Tiffany is a screamer. I think I was too afraid, my legs wouldn't quit shaking! The little ones had a blast at anything, even running around a table. Thanks to Walker my new black coat is a bit grey, but the powdered sugar was really yummy! Geoff made sure the kids were well aware of how fun the rides were going to be! We left just in time for a down pour and were tired enough that we might have just slept in those coffins!

Monster Mash

Another Halloween approaches and you would almost think this is the holidays of all holidays, so many parties and events. Although I truly enjoy dressing up my kids, and walking through the crunching fall leaves as we collect candy, in some ways this Holiday has become too much. But despite that fact, we had a great time at the Monster Mash this year, unlike last year when the kids were asking when we could leave and we opted for Burger King. I was hesitant to go, but with much begging and pleading from 3 boys who deserved to go I agreed. A last minute costume for Jake, and Chandler offered to go and help run booths and so he too a last minute creation (death by asthma)! Preston danced up a storm, Jake socialized like he was living the last minutes of his life, Hayden who was hard to spot with all the other Storm Troopers was up somewhere in the crowd below the state, and then Chandler who knows he is getting too old to hang around mom, although he doesn't mind, he just has better things to do! Home from the Monster Mash and out to Hish School Musical 3! I don't remember the boys being dancing and singing so well, but hey I am getting old! OH and if you want to see a cute 1.33 minute video of an amazing dance performance by the Hulk aka Preston check out my facebook videos!

My Hairdresser is Blind

No not you Steffani...you are awesome. So my hair grows so fast. It has been just under 3 months since I had my last haircut, so I figure how hard can it be to follow the same lines just bring it up a few inches and thin it out. I bring a picture, actually a stack of them and show her.
The first picture is the picture I show her, I tell her this is what I want. The next two are what I got. Not even close, this haircut makes me make stupid faces!

A Long Weekend

Well since Geoff had to work all summer we decided that we would take the first school holiday weekend and go somewhere. Well that was just a few days ago, Columbus day! We debated between heading towards Salem, MA. or going up to Niagra Falls. We decided on Friday night we would head North. We booked a hotel in Canada for Saturday night but left Sunday open. We got up early and headed out. It is a beautiful time of year to be driving. The leaves are so vibrant and full of color. I did sleep the first hour but that is okay because it was still dark outside.

We arrived at the Falls around 11:00am. I thought they were beautiful. The whole area is. I did understand why everyone says you need to go to the Canadian side. The American side may have some better access to the falls but the view by far is better from the Canadian side. We took the maid of the Mist boat ride. Mainly you get wet! Really wet! The park around the falls was a nice place to sit back and take it all in, and a good place for the younger boys to wrestle!

We had a great hotel, the biggest one that Jake has been in!!! We went swimming and crashed at bedtime. Well at least me. We slowly got moving and checked out and headed to Rochester to The Strong Museum. A great place, we were having a blast. One last stop the Harry Potter area and the boys were making magic wands. I sat my hand full of stuff down so that I could assist in the many demands on me (how do you roll this, i need tape, where is the paper, I want a silver one). Finally, not only have we made magic wands but wizard hats too! Now, I need to get a picture. Oh! wait I can't because someone has stolen my camera, and most importantly all the great pictures from the day! I mean I really had some great pictures. Well I let it ruin my day for awhile, I am still sore about it! So no pictures but it was a great place.

Off to our next destination. Palmyra. Now we haven't ever been to this area and we don't know where we are staying. The miles are getting closer and we are yet to see a Hotel. We get into Palmyra and pull over to a gas station. I go in an ask and they tell me that there is one hotel in the town. We cross our fingers (so far we had been lucky, managed to get over the border without my birth certificate) and yes we pull up to the Palmyra Inn and they have a vacancy! McDonald's drive-thru is dinner. And to the hot tub the boys and I go!

We get up the next morning (yesterday) and get going, by 9:30 we are out the door and headed out. We start at the furthest church history site and work our way towards Hill Cumorah. It was all so amazing. Beautiful, interesting and well amazing! We saw a lot of great things, and I learned a lot too! It was 3:30 and we hadn't stopped yet, we know we have about a 3.5 hour drive a head of us and the kids have school so we head out! Thankfully we bought a new camera and have pictures to show of this day! Words alone don't do justice!