Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Today is Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I had to go in to work this morning. I was able to spend the afternoon at home making all the fun things I am to bring for dinner. Hopefully, I will not get called in later. I saw a familiar name (one of our patients) listed in the ER, so I am hoping they can go home after they were seen and not in need of dialysis. I just keep praying.

One thing to be thankful for was, I was able to watch the Macy's day parade at work this morning, and I watched football this afternoon. Even though it was a lousy game. Maybe the next game will be better.

I have a lot more important things that I am thankful for, mostly my family. They are precious to me. My family will always be here. So even though I had to work this morning and maybe even again later, this holiday will come and go, but my family will always be with me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Making memories

Today has been a blast. My kids are off school all week. That is definitely one perk to sending them all to private school. LOL. So many families take this entire week off for vacationing or visiting family, that they just decide to close the school for everyone. HOORAY!!!! That means no lunches to pack, no getting up at 5:45am, no homework, no running out to get them at the bus stop, no having to go to bed by a certain time. IT IS AWESOME. I do love it when my kids are all home.

Today we broke out the cookbooks and had each child decide on what christmas cookie they wanted to help make. We agreed to make 2 kids today and 2 kids tomorrow. We decided that the 2 cookie recipes we would make today would be the ones I had all the ingredients for. Made sense to me. I was not planning on going to the store today and I know I will be out tomorrow for Thanksgiving ingredients as well.

So Babygirl was first up, she was the one who suggested we make cookies today. She chose double chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. No that is definitely my daughter!!!!! Since it was her cookie recipe, she was able to get one extra cookie. Who ever picked the cookie, they get an extra cookie of that recipe. The kids love it and feel so special, that they get an extra cookie of their favorite kind.

Next was widget, he decided on snickerdoodles. He loves cinnamon!
Tomorrow we will be making oatmeal raisin for oldest son, and youngest son chose chocolate sugar cookies. YUMMY!!!

I just love making these memories with my kids, and they love helping to make them too. Its so fun to see the kids get all into it and take it seriously yet having a ball with it. Gotta love it!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Rooms with the cool factor

I forgot to mention the cool rooms we stayed in. We stayed in what was called a kid cabin suite. It had it's own little cabin with bunk beds and a tv with video games for the kids. It was quite the cool factor for them. It was great that the kids were able to have their own space too.

Great Wolf Lodge

If that wasn't one of the coolest places to go, then I don't know what is. It wasn't the best indoor water park we have been to (the best one is in Massanutten Virginia) but it is the coolest resort with so much to do.

We had an absolute blast this past weekend. If you have one of those resorts somewhere near you, save your money and go. It is pricey, but so worth it!! It was about a 4 hour drive for us, so it wasn't close. But definitely doable.

We checked in, dumped our bags, changed into our suits and headed straight for the indoor water park. The older 2 ran off and found their cousins and started attacking the waterslides. Youngest son wanted to do the same, but is too young for my comfort level to be running around unsupervised by an adult. So we had to rein him in a little, and babygirl took a long time to warm up to the idea of it all. She doesn't like splashing (LOL, now that is funny at a waterpark. Poor girl, you just have to deal with it.)

We spent about 4 to 5 hours there. I really wanted to do the Howlin Tornado, but was too chicken to do so. My 3 sisters and their families went as well. We all took turns watching each others kids so us adults could go down the slides with our spouses alone as "dates".LOL. Well, I send my baby sister off with her hubby to have a "date" down one of the slides. They end up running into their 2 older kids who were off with one of my other sisters. Too make a long story short, my baby sister and hubby take their 2 kids to go down one of the slides.
My hubby told them, "When you get to the fork in the stairs go LEFT."
Ok.
So off they go and they get to the fork and go RIGHT (OOPS you are supposed to go left). They get to the top and realized they got in line and waited for the Howlin Tornado. One of her kids was too short to go, but the attendant said
"He is really too short to go on this, but I won't make you go back down. Just hold on to him really tight. Have fun."
And he pushes them down the slide into the pitch black abyss. They did survive, but with a kid who is now scarred for life. Poor little nephew did not like the ride and cried the entire time. So much for that date. LOL.

After all that time in the water park, we go to dinner at IHOP. There was a resturant in the resort, but it was way too expensive and the wait was too long. While we were at IHOP, it gave us some definite down time as just our family of 6. Whew! We needed it. Plus the resturant at resort was still hyped up with tons of activity. And to top it off, at IHOP, someone came over to us and gave us a coupon for 20% off our entire bill. WOOHOO!

After dinner we spent time at the clock tower where they do a bedtime story. That was good for the younger 2, but the older 2 wanted to go slay the dragon with the magiquest wands. So they ran off doing their quests and we watched they story. Then it was time for birthday presents (it was the family quarterly birthday party). And then off to bed. We were exhausted.

Then more excitement happens around 5am (so much for sleeping in). The fire alarm goes off, and we all need to evacuate the resort. It is 17 degrees outside. YIKES!!!!! We are all outside and the fire trucks and ambulances are there. We see the firemen come in fully decked out in their apparrel. The resort employees start handing out sheets and blankets to those who were not dressed appropriately. Fortunatley for us my sister grabbed her keys to her truck and we all piled in her heated truck. I remembered my purse and kids motrin (LOL- why I don't now), but not the keys to our truck. It was ironic, Babygirl was the most scared of all of us, but she remember in all of it to grab her blankie, pillow, her stuffed bear, an extra pair of warm pants, and her back pack of toys. She grabbed it all in the matter of seconds. Amazing!!! After about 30 minutes we were allowed back in. Apparently there was excessive smoke detected in the game room. Just more memories to add to our trip.

The next day was filled with Hubby and I riding the tornado. I DID IT!!! I was scared to death, only to find out it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. We spend the entire day at the water park. Then we let the older 2 go run around for about an hour and a half finishing their quests with the magi quest wands. When they finished up we headed for home. What a great time. By the end, even babygirl was going down the baby slides. Now that is some huge steps for her.

The ride home was a pleasure. The kids were grateful and loving. They all were getting along, no fights, and just the best attitudes. What an awesome trip.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Away we go

After a rather stressful week, we are off to Great Wolf Lodge for the weekend. Check it out at http://www.greatwolflodge.com/ . It is an indoor water park, that also has an arcade, bedtime story by the big tree, a magical treasure hunt in which you use a wand to discover your clue. We have never been there, but it looks pretty fun. Check out the howlin tornado. Yikes!

Can't wait to escape!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A horrible situation

It's been a tough afternoon. We heard news today that a teacher at the school my older two attend, was arrested for having a sexual relationship with a former student. UGH!!!

My kids go to a christian school partly to protect them from these sort of things. Nothing has been proven, she has not been convicted, but the accusation is out there. The school did not tell the students anything during the day. They wanted Mom and Dad to handle it however they chose to.

Fortunately, she was the middle school and high school music and chorus teacher. My kids are in band and have a different teacher for that. So my kids never had her. But still because of the nature of the subject, I wanted to be able to talk to my kids about it. I know when they go back to school tomorrow the school will be buzzing about it.

According to my oldest son who has had some contact with her, she was one of the most outspoken spiritually encouraging teachers. He was really shocked by the news. Now I did not go into details of course. But I wanted my kids to go in armed with the correct information (at least what is known to us). I told them they are accusations which means it has not been proven that she did these bad things. I told my kids I expected them to handle the information with dignity. I do not want them to defame her, blast her, or tear her reputation down anymore than it has. Especially if she was found to be innocent. But even if she was guilty, it really is none of my kids business, so they need to stay out of it. I told them I want to be proud of them and how they handle themselves when put in situations where it is talked about. To remember, we all are human and make mistakes, and God loves her even if she did do this. Hate the sin, not the sinner.

I guess I just want my kids to know the truest information so they don't believe the exaggerations that are bound to come out. I don't want them to get involved and steeped into the gossip of the situation. That certainly would not be pleasing to the Lord. I asked my kids to pray for her and her family. Even if she is guilty, her family didn't ask to go through this humilition.

So after our conversation and answering their questions to the best of my ability, we pray and I put them to bed.

So did I do it right? Honestly to have to walk through this with my kids, did I do it right? I just pray that I myself handled it in a way that was pleasing to the Lord.

Part of me wants to get angry "How dare she do this to our school, and her family!!" but she has not been proven guilty. What if the kid just made this up and then I accused her of disgracing our school, when in fact most people you talk to say she is one of the best teachers they ever had. So I too have to give it up to the Lord.

What a day! I am exhausted!!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A fun day

WooHoo!! I am so excited. I got a little more Christmas shopping done today. I took babygirl to the dentist and did a little shopping with her afterwards.

I will tell you....

I am having so much fun this year shopping with babygirl. She loves to shop and is good at it, especially for a 4 yr old. I never really liked to shop, but it is fun with her.

The other great thing is...I was able to get my mom and mother in law's presents. Sometimes they can be very difficult to buy for. Now all I need to do is get them little gifts from the kids. But what a relief. Whew!!

I was also able to get hubby's gift. I hope he will like it. I definitely went out of the normal gifts zone on this one. So we will have to see. But it feels great to get some of those out of the way.

Next I will have to wrap them. I already have PLENTY of paper. Probably too much. But better too much than not enough.


I still have no idea what to get hubby's grandmother. UGH!!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Help Needed

Any ideas of what to get a 96 year old grandmother for her birthday or christmas?

I am clueless, and need some HELP!

Widget's 11th birthday

We just celebrated widget's 11th birthday. I can't believe he is 11. My kids are growing older and older, and I can't seem to stop them. LOL.

Since I have been working a little more (ok, alot more) I was up the night before his birthday making cupcakes so he could take them to school to celebrate with his classmates. At 11:30pm I was frosting them and then shaking blue sprinkles on top. He was thrilled the next morning when he saw them (Woohoo! Chalk one up for mom).

The morning of his birthday he wanted to take the bus (I offered to take him, but he declined) so off on the bus he goes. He spends the day in school, while I was birthday shopping for him..presents and food for his birthday dinner. At the end of the school day, daddy showed up with widgets 2 best friends (who don't go to his school) and took them all to the movies. Widget was so excited to have his friends with him. After the movie they all came home and had the requested Taco dinner, ice cream cake, and presents. Around 8pm his friends were picked up.

He had a great birthday. I just wish I had seen him more. My baby is getting older. He really wanted to be with his friends. That was the exciting part for him. It was ok to be with the family, but I think he thought it was better to be with his friends. Now I am not saying that is bad. I know it is part of the age. It wasn't that he didn't want his family, just that his friends excited him more. But I am glad he had a great birthday. I want him to have fond memories of this time.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Throwing caution to the wind

Today ended being even more crazy than I originally thought it would be. I didn't get out of work on time and needed Hubby to pick Babygirl up at school. Once I did get off, I needed to run to mom's house to pick up widget (no school today, which I didn't remember until AFTER I volunteered to work today) then run to get Babygirl from Hubby, then run 30 minutes down the road to pick up Oldest son from a friends house that he spent the night at, then run back to youngest son's school to pick him up. Then FINALLY home by 4:30. Whew!
So when I do get home, my thought was....

"Where has my baking day gone?" :(

Well, I get dinner going and MomMom stops by and everything stops to visit with her. Then it is back to making dinner. I had had enough. The chocolate chips, sugar and brown sugar are staring at me wondering when are you going to make us into something delicious. So I put my foot down and threw all caution to the wind and went for it.

I BAKED MY FIRST BANANA BREAD FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

Wow! Did that feel great! I love it. While the bread was baking, I proceeded on towards making dinner. But instead of having a lovely well rounded dinner, they got spaghetti instead. Hey, they were hungry, spaghetti is quick enough, and I NEEDED TO BAKE! So it was all solved. Now on to the cookies. Hmmmm. What cookie should I start with first. So many cookies and so little time.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Busy days

My blogs have been slowing down here as of late. I have been working a little more. Work has picked up and as is the case often, we are short staffed. So I have been putting in a little more time. Hey it helps for Christmas coming up. Plus with the cost of groceries. Good grief. I could blog and vent on the cost of my grocery bill all night. Whew. I went to Sam's club and spent $375 and still didn't get any meat. I need another part time job just to feed the kids. Two of the boys have HUGE appetites, plus hubby and I, and the younger 2 probably equal one person. I feel like I just can't keep enough food in the house. Ok enough of that. Like I said, I could blog on that all night.
I had planned tomorrow to be a baking day, but that has changed. I am working a half day in the morning. I might be able to get out a batch of cookies between nap and carpool. Hmm. I am just so ready to get baking, but don't have the time at the moment. It is frustrating! I will get to it soon.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Getting started

I just got back from shopping and I have started. Started what?
Not my Christmas shopping, although I have already started that. I started buying bulk sugar, brown sugar, chocolate chips, sweetened evaporated milk and lots of other fun ingredients to start my holiday baking.
Baking that not only includes christmas cookies, but also breads for thanksgiving (I don't do pies) cookies for thanksgiving plus other fun desserts. I am not much into cooking, but baking is so much fun for me, especially when I have the time to do it and not rushed.
I usually start my holiday baking with the first of November and then freeze it until it is time to put it all together. I would love to start my baking right now. I am so excited. But I have a little one in the house with pneumonia and well...I just don't think it is a good idea to be baking things with the intent of giving it away if there are live germs in the house. So I will wait until he is well and the house is free of all the germs (that is, all the germs I am aware of LOL).

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Go Vote

Today is one of those important days in history where we all need to voice our opinion. Today is election day for who will be the new leaders for our country. Lift up these men in prayer. Pray for godly men in authority.
I voted, did you?
Have your say. Tell the country who you believe will be the best person for the job. Not the one you may like the best, but the one who has the values that would lead this country in the right direction. This is not a popularity contest. It is about the direction of our country.
Personally, I am not that excited about either candidate, but I know I cannot vote for someone that is willing to kill unborn babies. I cannot vote for someone who talks about "change". What is the candidate going to change? He never said. It's all hot air. Will the change even be good? or will it hurt the country even more? I cannot vote for someone who says

"If it comes to religion, I will stand with the muslims."
That was quoted in a book he wrote.

I could go on and on but I don't have the time. But go out and vote and voice your opinion. Just make sure it is an intellectual decision.