Humor Me For a Minute

I would like to share just why I love the Holiday Season so much. It has little to do with celebration of Christ's birth(because any educated person knows that December 25th was picked simply to coincide with pagan holidays) or the Feast of St. Nicholas(although it is a great story he has and I do love presents:)or the Winter Solstice(because there is nothing good about the shortest day of the year) Nope, for me it is all about the LIGHTS!

Anyone that knows my knows that I am CRAZY for holiday lights! I have lights for St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween so you can just imagine what I get to do for Christmas! I have blow-ups and reindeer, a nativity and penguins, lights on the trees and garland on the porch, snowmen lining the walk and candy canes lining the driveway! I cannot express to you how excited I get just driving around looking at decorations and gosh, if there is a light display within a few hours, I am so there:)

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the holidays for the family and the food, I am even looking forward to mass on Christmas Eve, but nothing in the world beats those Holiday Lights for me:)

Settling Back In...

I am having some trouble getting back into the swing of things! Now I am getting frustrated and anxious! I have three papers and two discussions due for school this week, I need to get my application in for subbing, I need a plan for Christmas, I need to get my lights all up, I need to clean up the living room to get the tree in, I need to wrap presents, I need to make Christmas cookies and that doesn't even touch the everyday things! I hate when I get overwhelmed!

On Our Way!

We had to say good-bye to our family and the beach early this morning to start heading home. We had alot of fun. It was great to have everyone together, that doesn't happen often. It was especially nice that my parents and my sister were able to make the long trip in the car to come meet us!

We are on I95 now jut north of Richmond, so we will be home soon. We have a busy afternoon of decorating ahead of us. It is killing me not to have everything up already! We'll get on it though:) I hope to have pictures of the house by tomorrow all decorated!

Once that is done I can move onto cookies!!!! Oh, and I guess wrapping:(

Happy Thanksgiving ...

Greetings from the monsters at the beach, we've added two cousins to our photo-



What more could I be thankful for? I have a wonderful, healthy family, that all traveled to spend Thanksgiving together! We have had a great week!

Here We Are!

Remember I promised a surprise for my family, well today I made them wear them out! Here we are out and about in our matching shirts!



And I am happy to report that they were all awesome about wearing them!

We're Back!

We've made it back to one of our favorite vacation spots, the Outter Banks of NC! This time is extra special though because we are here we so much of our family. The house we rented is absolutely beautiful! Ten awesome bedrooms all with there own bathroom! Three levels of fun. We have an Ocean View that is breathtaking. We are down further than usual on the island this time so it is even a bit quieter than usual here.

Our ride was uneventful, which means it was good:) We stopped twice and the kids didn't fight much:)

I will be taking lots and lots of pictures while we are here as I do ever time we are here and I will post them as I take them.

Families...

They are so very different. At Declan and Kiilian's school, if your child is a car rider, you have to go inside and pick them up. This is a pain most days especially with the littlest monster in toe:) What has been interesting though is meeting the other people there to pick up kids and who different our families are. The are some parents that are young, some that are old, some that get all done-up for pick-up, others(like me:) that show put in little more than PJ's, some kids get picked up by grandparents that they live with and some by older siblings. Anyway, after three months of talking to these people 5 days a weeks, I have come to see that when it comes to "families" nothing is normal!

I do love their stories though!

Almost There!

One more day to get through until we leave for our much needed Thanksgiving vacation! I can here OBX calling us:) I cannot wait to put my toes in the chilly sand and breathe the great salt air. The kids are beyond excited to go and my mom is just as excited to see them so that should mean some time off for me:)

I am not quite packed yet, but mostly and I did find turtlenecks today for the kids which was very good. It has been a very long time since I have been that happy about WalMart, but I have searched and searched, they were my last hope and BAM- they had them. Cheap Too:)

I got the car cleaned for husband(why it needs to be cleaned before a 5 hour trip with 3 monsters, I am not sure)and the oil was changed earlier in the week and husband got two new movies for the ride. We are good to go!

I hope we get alot of good family pictures while we are there because it is hard to all get together now, with families of our own. The kids are very excited to play with their cousins and see there aunts, uncles and grandparents(both sets:)how lucky are they.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving and be safe! Look for our pictures!

The Sickness Update!

It is official, I really am sick! I have bronchitis and because I am prone to pneumonia, the doctor has given me a course of antibiotics to fend-off any thing else that might come my way. She also armed me with a new inhaler for the wheezing and some cough medicine so I can try to get some sleep. Hopefully with all that and nothing to do for the next few days, I can be well for our trip.

It is getting cold here tonight and there is talk of some snow showers(which doesn't make me happy). I did start our first fire tonight and the kids are happy. I think that tomorrow, Maggie and I will see the other monsters off and veg most of the morning and then get some packing done in the afternoon. I would like to Dr Tom again tomorrow, but he isn't in until after 2 so that will have to wait.

I need to pick a few things up at WalMart for the trip later in the week and Husband is taking the car in for an oil change. Friday my in-laws will be here and Saturday morning we will be off for our Family Vacation. I cannot wait, I have a little surprise for the family, and I cannot wait to share it. They are gonna love it!

Seriously !

I am sick again. It started with a cough last week and now I have a fever and am having to use my inhaler because I am wheezing. I don't want to go to the doctor until Tuesday because I don't think I am quit sick enough for an antibiotic yet, but we are leaving for NC on Saturday so I need to be on the mend by Thursday. I would do nothing and chalk it up to a cold, but last year I got pneumonia in November and it too a very long time to get rid of it. In fact, I have had it the past two winters. Damn these kids! My first experience with pneumonia was while I was teaching, once I left to have my kids I was pneumonia free until the kids started school! My immune system is weak and they are gross, gremy, beings(kids that is:)and they come home from that germ field(a.k.a. school) and what to hug and kiss me and then, BAM! I am sick!

I am starting to wonder if it is a plot on their part to keep me down because I am much more easy-going when I am sick. They get more TV, more snacks, quick dinners, and they get to buy lunch at school. So maybe it is all a plan they have plotted:)

Anyway, I am hoping to be better before the trip so I can give Baby Gracie hugs and kisses without making her sick!

Where We've Been

We've had a busy few days a next week promises to be the same here. There are just not enough hours in the day for all I need/want to get done. The weather has been gray and well, gray which helps so much with the motivation factor here:)

The kids have been busy. School, friends, activities and throw in there that all the ladies I know are busy- there is lots of kid-swapping and planning and very little free time. Luckily for me and my friends are children are all very well behaved for other people:) Well, most of the time anyway, Maggie is still happy to give Bec a hard time now and then:)

Next week is our last week or work/school before our "big" OBX trip- There I will take lots of pictures:) and get my baby fix and remember way I stop with 3 children and not 5:) I am sure it will be fun(maybe, hopefully) And I will enjoy it as much as I want to-

Declan is going to get his Bobcat badge on Wednesday! He is very excited. But the big news here is that Killi is finally "Child Of The Week"! She is beyond excited, she started collecting things to bring in as soon as she got home yesterday:) I hope that is fun for her- Oh and Maggie, she is still Maggie:)

He Did It

Tonight I did it! I finally got Husband to take the plunge and join Facebook:) It does seem to be backfiring on me though, he is having so much fun I fear he will never get off. I have created a monster and with 3 already do I really need another?

Hopefully he will enjoy it and not embarrass me too much:) Just Kidding Hun! I am so proud of you, way to go!(HAHA)

If You Can Spare Them...

If you can spare some extra thoughts and prayers for my friend Kim and her family today they could use them today. Kim's husband went to the hospital with chest pains and it turned out he has an aortic aneurysm. It is very small and hopefully he will be ok, but they need to get him on medicine and take it easy. He will also need to be rechecked every 3 months to make sure it doesn't get bigger. They hope he can come home soon. Thanks!

Yippie For Me!

Just to brag alittle, ALL, yes ALL of the clothes in my house are washed, folded and put away. In my house that is a very big deal! I have actually moved onto the blankets and odds and ends that have been waiting in the wings!

Negative!

The Pediatrician's office just called to tell me that Maggie's step test came back negative. Normally I would be happy about that, but today I am not. Why, you ask? Because Declan's test was positive for strep so that means that I have two different "bugs" running through my house! And those portable HAZMAT showers are expensive, not to mention it might not look right if I made the kids strip and shower before coming inside:) Seriously though, I have cleaned and cleaned the house and the kids:) I don't know where or why they keep picking this stuff up, it is going to be a LONG cold/flu season I fear.

Oh, and as if my kids being sick wasn't enough, Maggie infected poor Grayson, so now he hates me:(

All of these illnesses has helped me finish my Christmas List- HAZMAT SUITS for everyone! Do you think Santa will make those?

Monsters School Updates!

We got Declan's report card on Monday. It was good. The grading is done with numbers, 1-4; 1-below 2-working towards 3-meets 4-exceeds standards. He had mostly 3's and 3+. He did have a couple of 2+ though, in the same areas he struggled last year handwriting and showing his math work! The handwriting I fear will hold him off the Honor Roll as both his father and I were C getters in that area:) The math problem thing, is a bit more difficult, he gets the answer, but fails to show his work. He is having trouble explaining his steps, so we will work on that. At least the basic math skills are there so we just need to get him to write down his steps. He is reading awesome, 95% on his 3rd grade level PALS(so that is the level he will read at in school) which he so doesn't get from me as I could barley read until I got into 5th grade- got that was awful! And I really mean I could barely read. I make him read a lot and he is really into these Magic Tree House books, so I am very proud of him.


Killi did not get a report card, I think they only get 3 a year instead of 4. But she has come so far in school in only 2 1/2 months. She barely knew any letters and no sounds and now she knows the names of almost all the names and so many sounds. I'll tell you what, public schools might not be good everywhere in the US, but mine is awesome! Husband and I have had so much support from the staff with Killi it is unbelievable. I am so happy that she is at the school she is with the teacher she has. Not only has she learned so much, but her self-confidence is up because she is able to come home and "teach" Maggie things instead of the other way around:)

As for a Maggie school update, I don't really have one. They make crafts and she is tired when she comes home. The head teacher doesn't complain about her, but because it is a HS program and the HS students are the main teachers, they don't really interact with the parents(I guess we are scary:) But she has an entire year next year to go again before kindergarten, so I am sure she will learn what she needs too, like social skills:) as she is not her sister in that area.

And, That is a wrap on the monsters ans their schooling thus far- hopefully the next update will be just as positive-

Veterans Day

Today husband and the monsters were home with me and I am happy to say that we had a very nice time. We did little work, but spend alot of quality time together. It was nice. A nice break in the middle of the week. A day that was given to us to Thank Our Veterans. So, if risking their lives to give us freedom wasn't enough, my family also got this great Tuesday off. There is no way for me to to truly show how much I appreciate our Service men and women and all they have given to us.

To All Veterans, I would like to say THANK YOU! Without you, my family would not have the life it does.

Good Day Gone Driving

What a busy afternoon I had. My morning started well enough the kids all got off to school and I sat down to do some school work before I headed off to the kids school to volunteer. I never did the school work, instead I watched a show I had on tivo. That was okay though, I deserve 40 min of tv, right?

So, out the door I went at 11 am, showered, dressed and ready to go. I ran to Rite Aid and Dr Tom, grabbed a drink and I was off to school. The front desk was busy this morning, so the time went by quickly. When it was time to leave, I did not moved very fast out the door, but that's okay.

Then I was off to get my littlest monster and a friend's son, who were hanging out with Becca(who agreed to take them because she does nothing but eat bon-bons all day:)However, the children did not want to leave, so I did and left them there, and decided to pick them up after I retrieved the other two from school. That plan was fine until, I had to drop a kid off in my neighborhood before I could fetch the little ones and Declan decided that his throat still hurt. So, the plan was changed.

I picked the kids up, drop the extra off, ran across town to get the little ones, ran the extra home, got the doctor on the phone who wanted to see Declan and Maggie ASAP, so I ran Back across town for the fourth time in the span of two hours. It was not good. I picked the kids up from school at 3:30 and didn't make it to the doctor until 5:00 and I never left the car, just drove across town- back and forth, Loads of fun was had! All I can say is that I am glad gas prices have dropped:)

Good we went to the doctor though. Declan and Maggie have Strep. Yes, that is right, we are again infected! I am not finding this funny at all. Husband met me at CVS and he got the medicine so that I could run the kids to Dr Tom and then home to get dinner made. Because of course, McDonalds would not due tonight, they wanted homemade Mac-n-Cheese. And being the perfect mother that I am(stop laughing:), I came home and made it for them. I am happy to say they all ate so it was worth it, well almost:)

Now I sit here at 9pm, Killi and Declan are still up and I am tired, but they are all off tomorrow so we can have a slow day. Hopefully the rest will heal them. I cannot have sick kids for NC, so the best get moving on the health front:)

Schedules

Tomorrow is Monday, the kids have school. Then comes Tuesday and for the second week in a row, the kids have no school. Then, we have a full week followed by Thanksgiving Break. Explain to me how I, the bad time manager, non-routine follower am supposed to do this? I think I am back to believing in conspiracy theories and that someone is out for me:)

A guess if there is a positive to be found in all this no school stuff, it is that Husband too is off on Tuesday and for Thanksgiving week with me!!! What fun we will have together- Good thing Thanksgiving Week will be filled with lots of other family so maybe we won't kill each other:)

Is This A Joke?

I know you are not going to believe this, but TWO of my monsters are sick AGAIN! Yes, Maggie and Declan both have fevers. Declan is saying his throat hurts and Maggie is just whinny and nasty, oh right, that is all the time, I know is is sick because of the fever:) All I can say is that I am glad they were healthy for the grandparents last weekend and their party. I do have to say that I am not feeling very optimistic heading into cold and flu season. The only positive I can think of right now is that they are children with no underlying health issue that we are aware of and I thank God for that, because otherwise I'd need to be locking them in bubbles right about now:) In fact, I keep encouraging Becca to make one for Grayson as he decided to vacation in the hospital last winter and so far this fall/winter is worse for bugs.

Hopefully I can get the monsters well before our Thanksgiving trip to OBX and hopefully they will stay health while we are there. Other than that, the only thing I can do is refill the medicine cabinet and ENCOURAGE(with a watchful eye:) had washing.

Here Comes The Sun

After what seems to have been days and days the sun is finally shining here today. Not only is the sun shining, but it is warm too- not hot and nasty, but comfortable and sunny:) Oh how the shining sun makes me happy! If only these sunny days were more frequent in Virginia in the fall/winter, but they are not and many days are gray and gloomy and summers are hot and hazy. It is puzzling how not "good" jobs are found in places with perfect weather for me:) Never does a Congressional Affairs job come up for Husband in St Thomas or even The Outter Banks. Boy, if I had been picking a Capitol for my new nation, I would have picked my better weather, who needs a central location:) And DC in not central any more so I say we up and move to a Tropical destination. Well, what a ramble, enough already. It is a beautiful day here and I hope I get to spend a little of it outside with the monsters!


P.S. I was reading my blogging friend, Rebecca's blog, and her dad is very ill- if you could send a thought or prayer her way I know she would appreciate it-

Choices...so many of them!

It is almost open season for federal employees for insurance, that means lots of research and phone calls and worst of all- decisions(I am not the best at those:) For as long as I can remember Husband and I had Aetna, until last year. Last year I decided that we should try Blue Cross; it wasn't good. Not that it was bad, but it was not 50% more of a premium better. The questions this year are a: do we go back to Aetna or try United and b: if I go with Aetna, do I by the additional dental plan that would still keep my premiums below what I am paying now for just healthcare, there is not dental to speak of with Blue Cross. Aetna at least offers a little coverage with your basic plan and then you can buy more.

Then I also need to decided how much money to but into my flexi-spend account. Last year I did not put nearly enough in there. I was out out money by March, not good since it was supposed to last until December:)

These are the skills that mothers often acquire with a family, Budgeting, planning, human resources, organizing, management; all skills that are very useful in the business world. I defiantly believe that employers should look more closely at how valuable a stay-at-home-mom coming back into the work force could be.

Well, it is just a thought- but I am just a stay-at-home-mom, so what do I really know anyway:)

What An Amazing Day!

Although, I did not vote for Barack Obama, I think it is an incredible day in American History. How proud I am to be an American. Proud not only because the United States has elected its first African-American President(which is incredible) but, the election ushered in a complete change in government and it happened peacefully. That is the most incredible thing to me. In so many other countries elections do not take place so safely and freely. We are so lucky!

I am looking forward to the changes that the new Administration will bring to the country and I am hopeful that President-elect Obama will follow through with his promise of bi-partisanship and unite us all. I am happy for Sen. Biden to get the chance to be Vice President and I believe that his experience and leadership will help lead our country. I hope that as VP he gets to stay in DC a few nights a week instead of "training" it back to DE every night, they do have that lovely residence for the VP:)

Now, I am going to sit back and enjoy watching the Cabinet Choices and Committee Assignments, remember I did say I was a political junkie:)

Another Day!

We had parent-teacher conferences today for Declan and Killi. They went much as we expected them too. Then the kids and I spend the remainder of the rainy, chilly day at home. They were off for Election Day/Teacher Work Day, but it was good because Declan was very tired from his Monday Night Football experience. He did't stumble in the door with his dad until almost 2am! Yes, Husband kept my baby out until 2am! Good thing school was closed today:)

Spoiled!

My very spoiled husband and son are at the Monday Night Football game tonight! What a very good life we have that they are able to enjoy that together. They will however be very crabby tomorrow as it will be late when they get in. When I talked to them at halftime, Declan was beyond excited to be there with his dad and it really does make me happy for them to have this experience to share. Here is what doesn't make me excited though, Husband said that a hotdog costs $10, yes $10 for a hotdog. Is that crazy or what! Good thing they ate before they went in:)

I hope the Steelers pull through for them!

A Long Day Over

What a long, fun day. This morning we got up and got the cupcakes going for birthday party and after 54 cupcakes were made, I hopped in the shower to head to the soccer game and party. The team played AWESOME and everyone made it , but Brittan(which seems was a good thing as Bec reports that the "bug" has struck her:( Next we were off to McDonalds for lunch and trophies. After lunch we came hope to finish cupcakes and gather the other items need for the birthday party. My mom and I ran to Rite Aid and Target before heading over to the party.

The Birthday party was great. The kids had a super time(except for missing the Kelleys). They got lots of good and unneeded gifts and have still not gotten it all out of the boxes:) Their friends were very kind.

Now they are sleeping and I am tired. I would like to say I'll post pictures, but I have none:)