99% SURE

Thanksgiving Countdown and Congratulations

Wow! It has been a little busy lately. I am enjoying wasting some time this morning reading the paper and blogging. Nicholas is making paper bag puppets so here is a quick update. Yesterday Amanda had a Thanksgiving feast at school one week early. Her first grade teachers have done this for the past 13 years so they have it down to a science. The kids dressed as Pilgrims and Native Americans, performed a 15 minute music concert, and chowed down on a turkey dinner for lunch. I raced from work to get there a couple minutes late, lugging 60 Capri Sun juice boxes in the parking lot, from the last possible parking space. Lucky for me a nice dad that was also running late came to my rescue. Anyway.... I wish I would have brought my video camera :( The kids were so cute with their songs and dancing. My favorite song was the Turkey Tango complete with the tango dance. It was adorable. The kids enjoyed their lunch. No peanut butter and jelly today. They had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, and all the fix ins. The moms even got to eat the leftovers. Yum! I can't wait until this Thursday. I love Thanksgiving food!

Nicholas has also been studying the Pilgrims and Native Americans this week at preschool. He has been making projects all week in preparation for the holiday. My favorite was his hand print from yesterday. They drew their hands and inside wrote what they were thankful for. Most of the kids wrote a single word..... I am thankful for Mom or Dad, their house, their brother. Not my Nicholas. He is thankful that my Mom put up the Christmas tree. He is not thankful for Mom. He is just waiting in anticipation for Santa to put presents under the tree. Oh Goodness!

You gotta love his response. It was totally from the heart!

And finally................. I just wanted to give a great big WOO HOO and Congratulations to my sister Mo. She is officially a PhD. I don't know how she did it working full time, doing research, writing her dissertation, and taking care of a 2 year old and husband.... but she did it. What a great accomplishment. You deserve it!

Well, I'm off to do laundry, grocery shop, and finish the Christmas decorations. I have to get some chores done early because we have a model of the Mayflower to work on this weekend. Until later....................

Sunday night already???????????

So, it is Sunday night and where did the weekend go?? We were very busy today. Steve and I both got massages this morning. (Such a wonderful luxury. I always say if I won the lotto I would get a daily massage.) I dropped Amanda at a birthday party and Steve and Nicholas and I had lunch. Then Steve and Nic took Tug on a play date with our friend's dog, while I picked up Amanda and headed for the mall. I'm excited that I have now purchased both the kid's Christmas outfits on SALE and ahead of time. Check that off the list. In addition, when we got home the kids were begging to put up the Christmas tree so..... that is exactly what we did. I usually wait until the day after Thanksgiving, but............. 1. I have a Dr. apt that day and Steve is working 2. I want to enjoy the decorations for more than 3 weeks 3. Thanksgiving is so late this year. The rest of the Christmas decorations I will take out this week. The kids are already asking about the stockings and Santa figurines. I guess this is one more thing to check off the list. It is good to have things done early so you don't have to stress during the holiday season. It is much better to enjoy hanging with the family, baking cookies, wrapping presents, and building gingerbread houses without cramming everything into a weekend. The kids and I have already been discussing Christmas projects.

Finally, what do you think about this crazy weather. When I picked up Amanda from the birthday party it was a blizzard. I could hardly see and snow was accumulating. When we came out of the mall, there was not a flake in sight. I didn't even have to clean off my car. By the time we drove home, Pontiac Trail was a blizzard again. I guess that is Michigan weather.... but November. Crazy! Here are some photos......

Dancing to Christmas Tunes while busting out the moves.............

Have a great week. Until later........

Some Random Happy Thoughts.......

Some Random Happy Thoughts:

1. Today I filled up my entire gas tank in the SUV (the light was on) for only $37.20. Wowee! I can't remember the last time gas was under $2.

2. Steve and I went to first grade conferences for Amanda. She got rave reviews from her teacher. She is a very hard worker, a great writer, listens well, participates in class, is respectful, is excelling in math (those are not my genes), and the list went on and on. Her teacher was sure this behavior carried over into the home. Excuse me? Anyway. I am one proud Mom and that deserves a pat on the back for me and Amanda.

3. Nicholas and I spotted 2 houses with outdoor Christmas lights up. They were very festive and made us smile. After we picked up Amanda from church and she saw the spectacle, she was already asking when we could put up our lights. I told her to talk to Dad about that one.

4. I made dinner for 79 cents tonight. A box of Kraft macaroni goes a long way when accompanied by salad and vegetables. I didn't even feel guilty and not one person complained :)

5. Finally, Steve surprised me with a massage on Sunday. My body definitely needs one and I absolutely love them. I am scheduled to get one right before he redeems his birthday massage at Sports Club. Yippee!

Hope everyone has a good night! I might try to scrapbook tonight before I watch the Office.
Until later...........

Feeling a little frustrated.....

I have been feeling a little frustrated lately and short on patience. Some days I wonder how did I get to this place in my life. UGH! When I have several of these days in a row, I know I have to reassess my priorities and figure out how to make some positive improvements. So that is my goal in the coming days..... It will definitely be a work in progress.

As for family life..... Amanda has had lots of homework and special projects lately. It is often a struggle to get this work done and I hate being the bad guy everyday. I try to get her to break the tasks down so they are not so overwhelming on Sunday evening. It is a bummer that Amanda is terribly cranky every afternoon when I suggest we start her homework. I can't win. Today was one of those days, as was yesterday, and the day before yesterday............. Nicholas has been acting out too. He is usually laid back and goes with the flow, but, when it rains it pours. Lately, he has been throwing tantrums like a two year old. I can't win with him either. Today he was smearing spaghetti all over the kitchen table and grabbing handfuls and shoving them on Amanda's plate. Of course I took it away and put him in time out. He screamed and cried and wanted the food back. Ugh! This is not the picture perfect family dinner I had envisioned.
As for work, I have been very slow lately. Steve has been just as busy as ever. I am once again considering what I am going to do with my career. I have even entertained the thought of P.T. again. (As I usually do, when I am feeling down about my current job.) I know I need to make a change, but with the baby on the way...... I might need to make that move next summer.

Anyway.... I know this has not been a happy post. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some renewed positive energy. In the meantime, here are a few layouts from the weekend I spent scrapbooking with Mo.

Pictures that I Promised.....

So here are the pictures I promised earlier in the week. It has been a busy Friday and I'm sooooo excited to be off and ready to enjoy my scrapbooking weekend with Maureen. Nicholas and I have been straightening up, doing laundry and we just returned from the grocery store. In about 30 minutes we will leave to pick up Amanda from her first Girl Scouts meeting. (Keep your fingers crossed that she enjoyed herself. I bribed her. She does not like unfamiliar social situations. I'm very anxious myself.) Anyway.... I won't be blogging this weekend so I'll post some updates next week. As for the pictures....

Meet Indiana Jones, a skeleton, a good witch, and Elmo....

Check out all the Halloween loot organized by candy type.

Our Crazy Pumpkins...............

I carved the skull and helped the kids with the other 2 jack-o-lanterns. Steve did the cool looking ghosts on the bottom.

I can't think of a title Tuesday.......

I haven't blogged in a while..... So..... Halloween pictures will be coming shortly. I finally uploaded them on the computer and I will get them up this week. In the meantime, I was inspired by 100.3 WNIC to change all the music to Christmas tunes. I hope you enjoy my new playlist at the bottom of the blog. We have less than 2 months until Christmas is upon us and I am constantly reminded by the kids.

Speaking of the kids..... Amanda was home with me today because of the election. I voted this morning. I rolled into the precinct at 7:05 a.m. and left at 8:15. UGH! I did my civic duty and next election I think I will vote by absentee ballot.

Today, Amanda spent some time at a girlfriends while I worked, we went to lunch, shopping, and then to the book store. All in all, she had a good day off. In the car she was trying to fill out this "All about Me" book. It had questions about favorite colors, school, friends, etc. She had lots of great responses. Some of my favorites were: If you become famous one day, what will you be famous for: JUMPING ROPE. If you could change your room, describe it in one word: SPARKLY PINK. What is your favorite hobby? MAKING CUPCAKES. Dreams and wishes I have: TO HAVE FAIRY WINGS. I just loved those responses. So precious...

And finally, we picked up Nicholas from school during snack time. He was thrilled to have something new as a snack. He normally has water or juice to drink with his crackers or pretzels. Today he was excited to have "Hawaii Punch." It cracked me up and I couldn't correct him because it was too cute. I also liked Hawaii punch as a kid!

I'm off to make dinner. Until later.........