A Gift From Grammy!

I wonder, did she think through how the monsters would entertain themselves with the wagon? Maybe she did and bought anyway:)

A Few (Mostly) Good Days

The house has been over-hauled(again) and all the new new toys from Christmas have a home. We are all unpacked from our trip and I am getting caught up with the laundry. It has been nice being home with the family. Husband did venture out to work today, but that was ok, he needed a break from us:)

The monsters and I have done little today. They have been enjoying playing with there new toys. They even made it outside with there new WAGON that Grammy insisted on buying even though I thought they were too old! I was wrong, it is their favorite present!!! Declan and Killi are also enjoying the new Wii games they got. And Maggie spends most of her time with her Bitty Baby.

Declan and Killi still have coughs and Maggie is on day three with a fever. I too have begun coughing, but I am not feeling bad today. Hopefully this bug will pass me by quickly! I guess a trip to the doctor is in store for tomorrow if Maggie still has a fever. My poor little niece has been sick for three days too! Double ear-infections, but she is still running a fever and not wanting to eat, which is not making life easy on her parents- sick babies are the worst, you feel so bad for them and have no idea how to help them! I am happy mine can usually tell me what hurts:)

That's all- now I will switch laundry and start dinner!

A Few Christmas Photos

It was difficult to find, but I managed a few good(and by good I mean no tears:) pictures of Christmas in New Jersey. I am happy to report that next year Christmas will be at home in VA!!!



The girls opening presents!




Declan with a new Webkinz-




Killi falling in love with Biscuit:)




Santa bringing gifts to the house!!!!


That was it for happy moments in the Garden State. Stayed tuned for more details, I am trying to calm down before I tell my tale.

Home

I have never been so happy to be home in my life!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays?

We made it to Jersey. That is about the only good thing I can say about the past few days. Our first night here, we were woken up with some "house" issues in the middle of the night. The monsters are crazy and coughing! I am PMS-ing! My MIL is doing all she can to make me want to hit her! The girls keep begging to go home! And my husband keeps talking about staying longer!

I think the idea of family and the holidays is much better than the reality. The Reality is that while they are "blood" these are not the people that fill our daily lives. It makes the trip complicated. Things are different. And I am ready to go home.

Happy Birthday Killi Girl!

Because I have time now and I am not sure I will tomorrow, I am going to write my birthday post for my Killi monster. Tomorrow my "surprise" baby is turning six! I cannot believe it! Five months after giving birth to a baby, the last thing I was expecting was to go to the doctor and here there was another one coming! But 9 moths later she came, the best Christmas Present I could have ever gotten. My beautiful baby girl.

I can honestly say, that she is the sweetest child I have ever met. Her kindness to all is amazing. Her love of animals and all living things is incredible. While I don't always understand where she is coming from, I know it is never from a mean place:) I hope that never changes.

Have a Great Day Baby!

Family Fun

We had a wonderful day today(mostly:) After a very few hours of sleep, we had a pretty lazy morning. All of us except Declan, who joined Becca and her tribe for an outing. The girls and I were supposed to be cleaning the house but instead, we vegged. Around 11am, I forced myself into a shower and shortly after I was done, Declan returned home and we headed to the AT&T store for a new cell phone to replace the one I misplaced on Thursday(which I am sure will turn up, but I cannot wait). I was happy when we got to the store because while it was busy, they had alot of sales people, so there was no waiting. I quickly picked out a new phone(a blackberry curve) and we were on our way. Next we stopped for a bite to eat, Husband bought an entertainment book, so we only go where we have coupons, poocons- sorry Bec:) After that we hit Linens and Things, but nothing good they were pretty picked over. Then we were headed home.

Husband had other ideas! It was a beautiful day, cold but beautiful, so he threw out the idea of heading over to George Washington's birthplace. It was only about a 40 minute ride from where we were, and it was a nice ride. Once we got there we discovered we were one of only two visitors. So we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was fun. The kids ran and played and there were farm animals so they had a ball! I would but up pictures if I could figure out how to get them from the new phone to the computer:) Well, even w/o pictures it was a good time!

One Good Thing

The one positive I came up with at 6:30 this morning(when Maggie woke me up) was that when I looked out my back window the moon was shining SO bright, with not a cloud in the sky and out the front window was a beautiful red sky coming over the houses. Three hours of sleep is always better when it's gonna be a sunny day!

What A Day!

Goodness, what a VERY Long and Crazy day. I am finally, as of 10 min. ago, sitting done for the first time since 8am! I drop all the monsters at school, realized I lost my cell phone, which I still cannot find:( showered, yelled orders at Becca(thank you:) about random kids and my plans for the day, worked in Declan's room, sat at the front desk, ran to the car to call Becca and see if the plan had changed, with the extra random kids I dumped on her, took Killi to lunch and then the doctor, finally got to Becca's to grab the extras from her and check my messages, left Killi at Becca's, ran with Maggie +1 to school to drop off + 1 with his mom and pick up Declan + another one, then I drop Declan with Husband for a haircut, drop off the other + 1, came home with Maggie, tore my car and house apart looking for phone(never found, house a mess:) Took Maggie to pick up Killi at Becca's where we scored an awesome home-cooked meal, off to Michaels for some quick shopping then finally home!

I am tired! It was a long day on the end of one LONG week. As a positive though, the sun did try to come out and the moon looks perfect tonight, I hope that's a sign for a sunny tomorrow:) Cold, but sunny I think.

A Better Start

The sky remains gray, but the rain has stopped and I do see some signs of clearing. And except for having to get up in the 6es, my night was not bad. This morning will be busy getting everyone out he door and having to have myself ready to volunteer at 10am(you can see my concern as I blog instead of shower:)

Husband left early again this morning, but should be home early tonight. Maybe we can squeeze dinner as a family in before Boy Scouts. Next week should be slower for him too!

I am off now to have a better day than the past two have been-

Not Going Well...

We have had a long, crappy week. The weather has been awful, I am over-whelmed, Husband has been at work until atleast 7:30pm Every Night(and going in at 5:30am), Killi is a mess, and Christmas is just around the corner. I am very much looking forward to the end of This Week!

Next week does't look much better with Holiday parties at school, Killi's birthday, Declan's first sleepover, Christmas cookies that needed to be made, presents to be wrapped, and packing for a quick trip to NJ.

Tomorrow I will call the doctor and take Killi over to make sure her "issues" are not physical. I will also call her teacher and request a conference. I will volunteer in Declan's class and work the desk. I will pick up Maggie and stop at Michaels and the food store. Head home start some cookies. Head back to pick up the kids. Home to make dinner. And if I'm lucky, I will get some laundry done:)

Then it will be Saturday! And I will have NOTHING to do!!!!

What SHOULD I Be Doing

Let me tell you, it is far more than I am actually doing:) I had grand plans of laundry and Christmas cookies, cleaning and school work; none of that is happening(well, little of it anyway:). I have spent too much time on the computer, too much time playing with Maggie and way too much time arguing, with and about my brother and sister.

What I have done today is successful eaten lunch(yes it is only 11:30am) and sat on the couch. How quickly my days accomplishments are adding up, where will they end- a shower and "real clothes" before picking the kids up? I will have to pace myself for that, I don't want anyone out there thinking I'm trying to out-do-them.

I'll let you know later how much I ended up with(unless a shower doesn't happen, then I will never tell:)

More Stuff

As I've mentioned before, I LOVE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS! Our yard is littered with them. They just make me happy. It find it fun and the kids love it too. The other night when we were at Lowes, I fell in love with one more Christmas enhancement, the GE Mr. Christmas sounds & lights.It passed on it however because is was 129.00 and I didn't have that to spend on that. Well, yesterday it was on sale at Rite Aid for 59.99 and I have a 30.00 gift card(that I got for transferring a 2.00 prescription there:). So, I did it- I bought the GE Mr. Christmas sounds & lights! I was absolutely overjoyed:)

After a nice Birthday breakfast for Husband and a trip to the food store, Husband helped me set it all up. Now we have "dancing" lights and holiday music blasting from our lawn( I am hoping to video the lights tomorrow).

I think we finished the house all up this weekend. We got our tree yesterday, at Lowes for 25.00, it is awesome. The kids and I decorated it today as Husband watched:) The monsters begged for colored lights on the tree(I prefer white)and the holiday is all about them, right?

Now I just need the day to get here without anymore illnesses:)

Out Of Practice

After a very long day of cleaning, reorganizing and decorating, Husband and I decided we would head to church with three very tired grouchy kids who are "out of practice" when it comes to behaving at church:) Well, I imagine you know how it went. First, it was snowing and cold. Second, Maggie fell asleep in the car on the way up so she was delightful when we arrived. Third, church was packed and hot! And the killer- the sermon lasted 15min. After 15min, not only had my kids lost it, but every other kid and a good number of adults. I spent the entire mass asking the monsters to behave or picking Maggie off the floor or making Killi stop biting her nails. Oh it was not good. I guess we need to get back into the swing of things and make it to church more regularly.

My Christmas List

Dear Santa,

The following is a list of things I would like for Christmas this year, they are in specific order and I would be happy with any or all of them:

1. 3 more hours in the day

2. An endless supply of money(Wait Santa, I will ask Congress for that:)

3. a cleaning crew that will clean my house anytime it needs it and without me having to see it.

4. an organized house(that remains so always)

5. more time with my husband

6. more time with my children

7. to be a better wife and mother

8. to be healthy

9. a pool in my backyard(and a hot pool guy to take care of it)

10. world peace(how selfish would I be not to ask:)

When It Counts

It is no secret that I have had a bit of a rough go of it the passed 6-8 weeks, I have been sick or the kids have been non-stop throw in there a few menstrual cycles and I really have been a mess, Oh and a "family" trip to NC and my general craziness. Anyhow, I have been feeling pretty low the last week and my poor husband has had to listen to me whine and cry. Generally when I do this, he blows me off and pays little attention to it(because yes, I do this more often than life warrants:) this week though, he has been so wonderful. He has been there each of the 100 times I have called the office a day and has not complained about the crappy dinners I've served.

This is the best part of being married to my best friend, he really knows when I need him to step-up and take over for me. I Love You Honey!

The Bus

You will remember that we have had some issue with the school bus since the first day of school, it has been some what better lately, but it never comes at the same time. It comes anytime between 8:30 and 8:50, the problem with that is it is getting cold out and I do not want to stand out there fro 20min, nor do I want the kids too. Well, today the bus decided to come early and the monsters almost missed it. The bus driver was kind enough to wait an extra moment to see if we came out of the house before she pulled away. That was nice, I really had no desired to hop in the car and drive them.

It's Late

It's late and I am still up. I had big plans for bed, I was headed there at 8:30pm, but never made it. I did go in and lay in bed for a little over an hour, then I gave up and decided to head back to the couch. It seems that most of my family is finding it difficult to get to sleep tonight, Killi was up until after 10 and Declan after 11, Maggie is tossing and turning already so I expect to see her soon. I wonder if I put something in the mac n' cheese that has caused this insomnia:)

I guess with my quiet time I will try to get some school work or maybe some laundry or maybe I'll just watch some tv. Anyway, I will take this as a good thing and enjoy the "ME TIME":)

Fresh Air

What is it about the Fresh Air that makes me so tired. It is a good tired, but tired nonetheless. This afternoon the kids and I were outside for hours trying to plug-in all of our Christmas Lights and for the most part we succeeded. I do need Husband to help change the flag and string the lights on the porch, then we will be finished.

For now I'm tired:)

I Wonder Why?

Today, while I was sitting at the front desk at the monster's school, Declan's teacher came over and wanted to talk to me. She said, "Can I ask you kind0of a personal question?" I of course said sure, and she went on to tell me that today when she asked that class what holidays they celebrated, Declan raised his hand that he celebrated Hanukkah, is that true? I answered yes(mostly to see her expression:)and then explained that we are Catholic, but that last year Declan took an interest in other religions and holidays and that one of them was Hanukkah. She was a little surprised by this answer and the fact that Husband and I were so open to the kids exploring other religions.


This incident in itself was no big deal, but for husband and I it came on the heals of another one. Last week while we were away, Husband and I were watching the news with Declan and a report about President-elect Obama. Husband and I(who both voted for other people) were explaining to Declan how exciting it was going to be to have a new president. Well, after we were done talking(Declan ot bored and left:) my mother asked us how we could speak so positively about our new president when we didn't vote for him. I explained to her that the election was over and that he is going to be our next president and that needed to be respected. And that no matter my reasons for voting for someone else, the accomplishment of winning the presidency is awesome and the fact that Mr. Obama is the first African-American to do it,is exciting.

So, at dinner tonight, Husband asks why is it that everyone finds it so odd that we are so tolerant. I really have no answer, but to say that I am so happy and thankful that I am married to my husband and that we are raising our children to be tolerant and respectful to all. I hope that they continue to live that way.

Those Goofy Shirts!

You all recall those silly t-shirts I had made for our Thanksgiving trip to OBX(see earlier posts to refresh:)? Well, my kids LOVE them. Both Declan and Killi insisted on wearing them to school today along with their new OBX fleece pull-overs! I have created OBX Monsters! Hopefully, in the next few years, we will be able to get ourselves a vacation home there and we can enjoy it more often. For now though, we will keep trying to get there once or twice a year:)

And like Killi said when we pulled off our exit on I95- "Welcome to Virgina, it's not so bad!" We are thinking of turning it in as an option for a new slogan:)