Happy Thanksgiving!

I sincerely hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, surrounded by friends and family.  We are in NC with J’s parents, his sister, and one of his brothers along with his wife and kids.  The kids are in heaven with cousins, Mimi, Grandad, aunts and an uncle to dote on them.  J and I are enjoying ourselves in the kitchen with J’s mom.

I am so thankful for my wonderful children-esp on days like today when there has been hardly any tattling and my loving husband.  I am also grateful for our parents, siblings, and extended families who all bring such joy into our lives.  Because, ultimately, there isn’t anything better than a loving family and friends.  Enjoy your day, friends.  And may you eat ’till your pants are too tight!

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getting ready

It’s nearly time to start dinner, so I’ll have to be quick.  It’s been so very cold here lately, I could hardly stand to be in the office for more than a few minutes at a time!  We finally got into the 40’s today and it has made such a difference.  We’re headed to J’s parents later this week for the big feast.  J and I will do some of the cooking, because we enjoy cooking together and rarely get to do it here at home.  I’ll be spending the next few days readying the house for the trip.  There is nothing better than coming home to a (mostly) clean house.  I’d love to know what sorts of special foods you guys make this time of year.  Also, if you have easy dinners to get you through the holiday business, share those as well!

Tonight’s dinner is inspired from a recipe in a Rachel Ray mag-Breakfast Quesadillas.  I’ll brown some sausage, scramble some eggs (in the pan from the sausage to give the eggs taste), maybe add some green chilies.  Then I’ll put all that in some tortillas with cheese and brown them in a pan.  We’ll dip them in salsa and or sour cream if we still have some.  I’ll probably serve the kids the eggs and sausage on their own with cheese quesadillas on the side.  I require the kids to eat the same food we’re eating, but I’m not opposed to reworking it for their tastes…sometimes!

Have a lovely Sunday evening.  I’ve got a case of laryngitis that’s making me a little tired, but nothing terrible.  It’s funny when the kids whisper back at me because they think they should be quiet too!

blogging, facebook style

You know, when you first start your blog, they way you think shifts.  Everything is recited in your head as a possible blog post.  You carry your camera in your purse and take pictures, not for yourself, but for “your readers”.  Even though you only post 1/5, nay 1/50, of the actual stories you create, you still draft in them in your mind nonetheless.

Then enters facebook.  And everything turns to one sentence status updates.   So here’s a few of the things I’ve been up to lately facebook style.

Depeche Mom is

*running the dish washer for the second time in one day! 
*listening to Little Bear and Little Lamb one-up each other with “When I was little…” stories. 
*wishing I’d planned a little better before I went to the store yesterday as I have no complete meals right now.  Guess I’ll be back at the store this afternoon!
*going to playgroup
*a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning!
*freezing in the office-no baseboard heater in here and we haven’t turned on the “real” heater yet.
*headed to the bus stop to get Belle.  Brrrr.
*glad the bus stops at the top of the driveway this year!
*listening to Belle whine because I won’t let her take money to school to pick out books at the bookfair. 

And there you have it!  My life in a nutshell.

More grosgrain goodness

I’m doing a little better.  Not as “better” as I’d like.  My stomach is still, ummm, unhappy (you’re welcome).  I’m still pretty tired and get achy if I do too much.  I’ve got junk in my throat-allergies or a mild cold???  And, to top it all off, I’m due for the “monthly visitor” any time now.  Seriously, how much can one body stand?

On a happier, much for fun note, here’s a link for another Grosgrain giveaway.  This time it’s an adorable little lamb and Little Bo Peep costumes.  This is the last of her costumes this year.  They’d make great additions to the dress up trunk if you’re not into holding on to costumes for a year.

no mo noblopomo

I missed posting yesterday for perfectly good reasons, but the rules are strict for noblopomo.  Oh well, I’ll still try to get on here every day.  It’s good exercise for my brain.

I awoke yesterday with uncomfortable stomach pain.  Kind of a burning feeling under my ribs.  The strange thing was it felt better when I stood.  The pain persisted throughout the day, slowly moving southward toward the right side of my abdomen.  I wasn’t nauseous, but didn’t really want to eat either.  I’d stand for a while until my feet couldn’t take it anymore, then I’d sit until the stomach pain was too much.  Around 3 pm we decided I was going to have to go to the ER to be evaluated for appendicitis.  We checked in at 4 pm.  It was 5:30 before I was triaged.  At 7:15 I went back to my room.  The place was so busy there were people on beds in the hallway.  Thankfully I did get my own room.

The doctors ordered the CT Scan and took blood and urine samples.  I drank 3 doses of a nasty drink to make my insides glow.  It was midnight before I headed off for the CT Scan.  Around 2 am the doctor came in to tell me my appendix was healthy, but I had a uti.  At 3 am we picked up the kids from a friend’s house-J put in the mayday call to one of his fellow residents around 8:30 pm and took the kids to their place.  Around 3:45 am I snuggled up in my bed and went to sleep.

I’ve mostly just lazied around today.  My stomach has been churning something fierce, likely from all those chemicals I ingested for the CT Scan as well as the antibiotic.  I’m praying for a quiet night tonight!

***Seems I hit save instead of publish.  I usually double check these things but I was too tired last night.***

A great find!

I’m not exactly sure how I found this new blog…I think maybe it was through a link on Sew, Mama, Sew.  Anyway, I have so much fun seeing her amazing creations.  Believe me when I say this woman is CRAZY talented.  And, the best part is she has these fantastic giveaways through her blog.  She has such an interesting way of doing her giveaways, too.  Basically, you add in a link to one of her giveaway posts, such as this adorable tree frog costume, into a post and you are automatically entered into the drawing.  How easy is that??  Go ahead and click on that costume link, which she designed completely on her own, and tell me it’s not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen!!!  (FYI, if you’d like to be entered into this drawing yourself, you have to post your link by today.)

She’s also just opened a store where you can buy some of her lovely clothes for little girls at GROSGRAINSTORE.COM.  She also hosting a giveaway for a gift card to her store through this link.  Even if you don’t have a daughter, I’m sure there’s some little girl in your life that would look adorable in one of her skirts and tops.  The last day for posts on this giveaway is Wed, Nov 12.

If there is one thing blog writing/reading has taught me, it’s that there are many, many fabulously creative people out there.  Isn’t it great that we have the internet to connect us with people we would otherwise never meet?

Halloween 08

We had a great Halloween this year.  Belle and Little Bear had so much fun dressing up.  Little Lamb wasn’t into it too much, so I went with a low key kitty costume made of leftovers from Belle’s kitty costume with just plain clothes.  She also wasn’t in the mood to smile for the camera, so pictures of her are pretty slim.  

Here’s Belle as Gabriella from High School Musical:

Little Bear makes an adorable Buzz Lightyear:

And here is Little Lamb as a kitty

This really was the best picture of her.  Most of the time she ducked her head so we couldn’t see her face.  Silly girl.

J was able to participate in all the fun-pumpkin carving at school, trick-or-treating at the college and in our old neighborhood.  The kids were in total disbelief that he was actually going to be able to do everything and not go to work.  We are all thankful to have that month behind us!

A Success!

I’m happy to report that the teacher conference was a great success.  Unfortunately J was stuck at the hospital, so I had to go it alone with all 3 kids.  What’s new there, really??

The substitute teacher, Mrs. S., had administered several tests to get an idea of where each student was at the beginning of the year.  Belle scored extremely well, so much so that the teacher had to keep going to higher and higher levels to finally stump her.  I was probably the most excited when she said Belle’s reading comprehension was so strong, as that was a MAJOR struggle for me.  So much so that I would fail quizzes despite reading the text.  And guess what my solution was?…Stop reading!!  Not something I’m proud of, but true nonetheless.  

As for the 1, 2, 3 part-I guess there were a few things that the first grade teachers simply had not covered and instead of leaving them blank, they all decided to mark them 2’s.  It seems to me they could have saved us all a bit of trouble (I wasn’t the only parent that asked about it) if they’d just left them blank as they did in Kindergarten.  The “key” of the report card has a part that says “…” means not yet assessed.  Oh well, not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.  

The “real” teacher is coming back when school resumes after Christmas, so that will be a relief.  Not that Mrs. S isn’t doing a good job, I’d just like to have things settled.

a day in the life…

We started our day on a nice, relaxed note.  Both Little Bear and Little Lamb woke around 6:15 and played together in their room until around 6:40.  I dozed in and out, listening to them play, then finally went in to spring LL loose from her crib.  We did our usual snuggling on the sofa, until I decided it was time to get everyone moving.  

We headed to Belle’s school to vote-the line was short and the kids were great!-then back home for a bit.  We then headed to the library in a nearby town.  We came home for lunch and snuggled together on the sofa once again.  The older two are now playing on the computer while LL is still here next to me, rolling about on the sofa.  Oops, now she’s decided to go join the other two.  A moment alone!

Tonight we head to the school for a conference with Belle’s substitute teacher.  I really have no idea what to expect.  I know I have some questions concerning Belle’s report card.  They use a 1, 2, 3 system where 1 means has no clue (ok, not really but I don’t remember what it is), 2 means developing, and 3 means mastered nine weeks expections.  Or some such nonsense.  Anyway, she received a few 2’s and while I’m not the type that expects her to get all 100’s, I have not seen one paper at home that would reflect a lack of understanding.  We’ll see what she has to say…I’m not going in with my gun’s up or anything (sidenote: Did any of you watch the UT/Texas Tech game??  Now that was worth a few “gun’s ups”) I do, however, believe we deserve an explanation.

I can easily see how it can be very arbitrary at this age-3, 3, 3, 3, uhhh 2 on this one, 3, 3, 3, 3, maybe 2 here also…but I’m not sure that teaches Belle anything.  Thankfully she hasn’t noticed yet, and I’m not bringing it up.  

The kids are back-fawning over a huge Wal-Mart ad-“needing” everything they see.  Welcome, Christmas season.  Glad to have you back!

Right up my alley

I’ve sung the praises of Mir many times here before.  Her personal blog, Woulda Coulda Shoulda, is among my favorites, and her shopping deals blog, Want Not, is soooo helpful.  But, she has just announced a new gig she has at Iddy Biddy Blog, where she’s taking baby steps to live a greener life.  Oh how I love the concept of taking small steps toward a greater purpose!  It’s exactly what I’ve been doing for about a year now-I’m saving money and I’m helping the earth.  It’s far more rewarding than I expected.