Halloween in Pictures

A few quick thoughts...

• I hate undecorating from Christmas almost as much as I hate decorating for Christmas. But I have discovered that Kahlua helps...
• Z is a lot like his mother when he plays games. The trash talk is unbelievable and he is determined to win.
• A is a lot like his mother when he eats. If it looks edible he eats it (I can't assume that the fake gingerbread ornament on the tree tasted all that good - but it looks like A only tasted his foot but by tasted I mean too a bite out if it...).
• Those little mittens that they have for kids that allow the top half of the mitten to pull down and it exposes a half glove (while the kid's hand is still covered)...yeah, they pretty much suck.
• Dick Clark makes me cry every year. I can't watch him anymore since his stroke without breaking down.
• Any person that would stand in NYC amongst millions of people in subzero temperatures should be checked for a severe mental illness.
• I sent out my Christmas cards late this year. The majority of my family probably didn't even get them until after Christmas AND I don't feel badly about it.
• I should probably never blog again after having a drink...

Happy New Year!! I hope you all have a healthy, happy, prosperous year full of family, friends and good food...and Kahlua :)

Another Andrew Shenanigan...

Have I told you all about last year's New Years Eve celebration? I didn't think so. I can't imagine why I haven't because, I swear, this one is priceless!

Every year we walk downtown and watch the New Years Eve parade with the boys. It's a short parade with lots of noise and lots of fun. As the parade passes you join in and walk down to the town docks to watch the fireworks. It is always cold and busy and CRAZY down there but we love it.

Last year we were standing in about 5 feet of snow (now, now, I am not know for my exaggerations)...it was especially crowded and it was dark (or course). At the time, A had a bit of an obsession with Barack Obama (nothing like his mother). He also has a bit of a hard time keeping his attention on any one thing...

He turns to talk to the people behind us (we do NOT know these people). It's dark...there is a Hispanic man standing behind us...A screams:

"OH MY GOD.....MOMMY, IT'S BARACK OBAMA!!"

I want to melt. I want to fall to the ground and die. Right there. Of course, I don't because those times that you really wish death on yourself due to humiliation it never comes.

I turn and apologize to the man who is laughing hysterically behind us.

HU-MILL-EEE-ATION! Seriously.

So, we are hoping for a repeat this year :)

Happy New Year to you all! I am sorry I have been a bit MIA but I promise I will be back as soon as I have my house back (the boys and Kirby are all enjoying an extended Christmas break and won't go back until Monday - have I ever told you how much I LOVE Mondays).

Superficial much?

In these "tough economic times" I am doing everything I can to get more bang for my buck. We have always set a budget for Christmas; this year I have just worked a little harder to be sure that the money we spend gets stretched a little further.

Every day I pick the boys up from school. Every day I sit at the same table I have sat at for the past 4 years (god forbid I change the routine). Every day I sit with the same women (the majority of which I like). A couple of weeks ago, however, a comment was made that irritated me...

A woman was talking about having already finished up her daughter's Christmas shopping, how she was so proud that the list was so short and the items on it were so inexpensive. I'm not sure how she got on the subject of her mother-in-law (MIL) but she started talking about how her MIL buys her daughter things from the thrift store for Christmas. I commented on how I thought that was great, that my father's wife does the same thing. She said that it was fine to give her things from the thrift store but "to wrap them up for Christmas, ugh" - like she wanted her to just give her gifts randomly throughout the year.

The next day I walked my butt down to our local consignment shop and looked for some good deals. I walked out of there with a pair of pajama bottoms and 4 shirts for Kirby and a shirt for Z. All for $24. They were in perfect condition. They barely look worn. I was psyched!

I called Kirby to rave about my finds. I tell him I am going to wrap them up and put them under the tree. He says "yeah, that's fine, it's not like they would even know". I promptly informed him that "I don't give a rat's ass if they know, oh and BTW (yeah, that's what I said), the things I got for you are getting wrapped up too". Of course, he changed his tune, "I didn't mean anything, I mean, yeah, that's okay".

So I wonder, what IS wrong with this? I am not giving my kids things that are ripped or torn or even look worn. These are NAME BRAND clothes that MAY have been worn a few times but LOOK brand new. Even if they DID notice, my kids are not going to care (in fact, one of Z's favorite things to do is to go through the tables upon tables of clothes at our local "street fair" on the last night when everything goes for free - he also loves to get bags of "hand-me-downs" from my cousin's son). So why do people make such a big deal about it?

I truly don't understand...

SITSmas

To all our dearest friends and family,

We hope you are celebrating merrily.

Our lives would never have been complete,

If we somehow didn't all of you meet.

So during this time of holiday cheer,

Be sure to join us all for a beer.

Best wishes everyone,

From out Crazy Family.

The rhyming is done :)

Want to join in on the fun? Go to SITS the are having some amazing giveaways all day!

October in Pictures

Things are, to say the least, crazy around here. Do we expect anything else in Crazy Town? I think not.

Your prayers are appreciated for my family through a rather difficult time. I will post as I can.

Until then, enjoy the pictures of our month!

Sunday Repost: The breakfast that nobody would eat and the pedicure that nobody noticed

Still on vacation. Plan on being back Monday or Tuesday. I have enough blogs planned to last until then...so I better be back.

Sunday Repost: The breakfast that nobody would eat and the pedicure that nobody noticed....


Gosh, it has been a little while hasn't it? I guess there is a ton to catch up on! Let's see...

Since last I wrote, the children have had an additional 2 snow days! Ugh! The day before Valentine's Day and today. I think we are at 9...but I could be wrong. It feels like 20 some days and other days it just feels like it is beginning to become normal, routine, almost.

One day last week I got a pedicure. Nobody noticed (aside from another woman in the salon who shouted "look at those toes" in reference to my bright red polish for Valentine's Day). I think I will share it here in hopes for a few comments (who says you can't go fishing in the winter).



I realize more every day that when you become a mom you tend to get lost in the crowd. That is mostly okay because the attention should be on my children. That is ESPECIALLY okay after receiving a Valentine like this:



Now, in case you can't read that it says:

To mom love zach
I love my mom. She
is nice. She
is grate!
Happy Valentins day
<3>

Nobody told him to do that, he came up with it all on his own...ain't nothing better than that! ESPECIALLY when you make this for breakfast and you are told that "I'm not really hungry" by everyone in the house aside from the human vacuum (Andrew):



I have to tell you, making heart shaped pancakes is no easy feat - at least not for me. Thankfully, the kids had a two hour delay that morning so I didn't have to get up too early to make a breakfast that nobody would eat...

It was also 100% okay because every time that Andrew saw me he would say "I love you, Mommy. Happy Valentine's Day." What a sweetheart :)

I had 4 clients on Valentine's Day, 3 of which are single women. I decided that I would buy them roses since they were very unlikely to get them from anyone else that day. It certainly warmed my heart to warm theirs. What wonderful reactions from every single one of them. That was also a PERFECT Valentine's Day gift!

Being the week of LOVE, I suppose it was fitting to read a couple of lovey dovey books. Both PS, I Love You and Sam's Letters to Jennifer were added to my "have read" list...

I have mentioned before how much I love Nicki and how she and I seem to run parallel lives in many ways...books are not one of them.

I love her to death (I think I need to make that more than perfectly clear) but, man oh man, we have different tastes in books! Neither book is awful by any means but they are sappy and lovey and, well, I think you get the point.

PS, I Love You was recently made into a movie starring Hillary Swank. I think it is probably a wonderful "chick flick". Sam's Letters to Jennifer was sweet and beautiful and makes you believe that romance like that can actually happen (if you aren't as lucky as Jessi and already have that on a daily basis, hehehe).

Nicki told me recently that I read really "heavy" books and I think she is right. And I think that "light" books are okay for me, every once in a while, but I can't do too many at once. On to The Time Traveler's Wife...

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and that you get millions of compliments on your pedicures, that everyone eats your breakfasts, that you heart is warmed from warming someone else's and that you read whatever books make you happy - and lots of them!

It's My Mother's Day and I'll Be Late If I Want To!

I realized that I haven't blogged about Mother's Day (aside from my time spent at the auction). Ahhh, Mother's Day....the day that is suppose to be for Mother's but, typically, ends up being all about those mother's mothers (does that make sense?).

This Mother's Day was wonderful and, mostly, because I chose to do what I wanted to do.

Kirby let me sleep in (since I had been at the auction until 2am) and he and the boys woke me with breakfast in bed and brought me my gifts.



Kirby also bought me a bottle of smelly stuff that you put reeds into. It is suppose to release a beautiful smell in the air. Of course, that has already been put WAY out of the kids reach and I refuse to draw any attention to it or it will promptly be dumped on the carpet.

After breakfast we took the boys fishing for a couple hours. Kirby had to stop and get a new pole because we, somehow, ended up a pole short. If I remember correctly, Andrew broke his pole last year.

He showed up at the lake with this:







I said, "You bought a PINK fishing pole"..."it's the breast cancer awareness pole" he says. Well, look closely at the the last picture...it says "ladyfish"...hehehe. Little does he know that this is MY new pole! I have adopted it.









Tom got the only fish of the day. Everyone had fun - the walking trails were CRAZY busy! We saw horses and dogs and so many people. It was such a beautiful day. Andrew introduced himself to "Pepper" the dalmatian mix that was squatting a few feet from us...his owner yelled for Andrew to wait a minute but, you know Andrew, waiting is NEVER an option. Yuck!

After fishing we stopped in Milton to drop a laptop with Keni-Lynn (for a mother and son that we have connected with through Embracing Autism). Unfortunately she wasn't there but I did get to see her little man Eddie (and her big man Ed and their dogs - including the cutest little dachshund named Lex). What a sweetie pie little Eddie is!

We went to my mother's for an hour before I went to the auction. We had chinese. The boys tried to fly kites. We played a game. My mother was unhappy we had so little time there...I was about an hour late...Part of me felt badly and part of me loved my day. I love my family, I love to spend time with them but I love to spend time with my kids too and we don't get a lot of that. It is my mother's day too.

And lastly I took the kids for a tour of the auction set. Andrew just LOVED it! He was so stinking cute! "IT'S THE QUICKIE BOARD!!!" Oh man, he just cracked everyone up!

I think this was the best Mother's Day yet. We didn't rush, we enjoyed ourselves. Last Mother's Day I got pulled over for doing 70+ in a 55. I explained to the officer that if he knew my mother he would understand why I was speeding. He chuckled, nodded his head and let me off without even a written warning. Of course, it could have been Andrew screaming "you're not going to arrest me are you" that scared him off...

Hatred and the "N" word...

I started a new book. I hate my new book.

For some reason I feel the, unnecessary, need to finish this book. See it through till the end. No matter how horrible - I WILL GET THROUGH...at least I keep thinking that.

Then every time I pick it back up to make my way through another few (horrible) pages I think about all the good books this crappy one could be keeping me from.

This was another one of my finds from the Street Fair. I should have known by the title that it wasn't my style. I don't read trashy romance novels. This is a trashy romance novel that tries it's best to appear as something more intelligent by using lengthy paragraphs and lots of adjectives. In the end it just appears as wordy, boring and a bit disgusting.

I am not a prude by any sorts of the imagination (well, I am sure by some sorts...but not my sorts) and this book makes me uncomfortable. Not so much by describing things (or events) but more about the entire situation.

I keep thinking, "who does that", "that will never work", "oh, give me a break - they are actually going to go through with that"....

On top of it, this book was written by an African American man who, it seems, INSISTS on representing stereotypical African American relationships - complete with the "N" word. Nothing disgusts me much more than a human being, black or white, using that word. Even Wikipedia refers to that word as "pejorative" - and, in my eyes, it is.

Growing up I had no idea what that word meant. When I was about 8 years old we started getting "Fresh Air" kids. These are kids from the inner city that come to the "country" for a couple weeks or so during the summers. One year, one of the neighbor girls called one of our kids that name. I still had no idea what it meant until he bursts into tears and my father told us we couldn't play with her anymore.

James, our first and best Fresh Air kid, started coming when I was 8 and he was 10. To this day he comes to visit us during the summers. Now he brings his kids. I call him my brother, he calls me his sister. My parents are his, his kids are my nephews. It may seem that we are world apart (him living in the Bronx and me in Wolfeboro) but he is a part of me.

This past summer I downloaded a popular song of the internet and the "N" word was in it. Not once or twice but over and over and over. I loved that song and still do...but that word makes me so uncomfortable. Even hearing it makes me cringe.

I asked James and Nicole if it was ever appropriate for a white person to use that word - "NO"! I immediately felt so uncomfortable for even bringing it up I didn't get to ask why it was okay for a black person to use that word.

Don't they understand what a derogatory term it is? Why do young children grow up hearing their older brothers calling their "boys" that word? Don't they understand it is a slave term?

Thinking back about the neighbor girl...it just proves how hatred it taught. I never would have known that word because my parents NEVER said anything like that - especially not around us kids.

My boys amaze me. Andrew is SO blunt sometimes and just doesn't understand what things are and are not appropriate to say (once at Dunkin Donuts he asked, loudly, why the girl behind the counter had purple hair). However, neither Zachary or Andrew has EVER mentioned James and his family having a different skin color. It brings tears to my eyes to think about how openly they accept people that look so differently from us.

Now Zachary may know better. He knows that you don't point out people that are different than you. Andrew, however, doesn't. Andrew may never understand that. Andrew is the first to point out differences and he doesn't. It amazes me.

One of my very closest friends from high school is gay (for his privacy I will refer to him as "J"). Over the past year or two J and I have reconnected and started spending a whole lot of time together. When we hiked Mt. Major this fall he and Zachary became fast friends and hiked together the whole time.

Zachary never had any reason to question that J was different, he didn't bring boyfriends to the house. But recently Zachary and I had a talk about what being gay meant. He giggled and thought it was a little funny, I told him J was gay, he said "well, if he changed..." and I had to explain that gay people can't change. And then it was over. Not once since then has he mentioned it. He has seen J a number of times since then and never once acted or felt uncomfortable.

Hatred it taught. Sometimes you don't even realize that you are teaching it. Telling a joke that may be a bit off color, referring to someone as a "f#%" or the "N" word or calling a Muslim a "towel head" is taken by your children and stored for use at a later time.

I wonder what Dr. King would think about our men using that word so nonchalantly now...I wonder if he realized, during his "I Have a Dream" speech what he would be doing for, not only African Americans but every minority in our country.

The Civil Rights bill of 1964 states that "all persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin or sex". Thanks, in large part, to Dr. King, all races, religions and sexes are entitled to the same treatment and privilege.

While it took a long time to get here...now I have to really think if I want to support this man's use of the word by continuing to read this book....

Happy Birthday Dr. King!

Planning the BIG "0-8"

In less than a month my baby, Zachary, will be turning the BIG Oh, Eight. It is exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

Zachary has had a hard time making (and keeping) friends since kindergarten. For his birthday in kindergarten the whole class was invited (NEVER AGAIN) - most came, but there were no bonds between he and any of the other kids.

He doesn't get invited very many places and when friends come over they tend to fight about what to do the whole time. I thought part of it was the "first born" complex (while Zachary isn't technically a first born, there is such an age difference between he and his older siblings it can seem like it). Or maybe even the "only child" complex - once again, there is a huge age difference between he and his older siblings and with Andrew the dynamics of the sibling relationship are so different. Many of the kids in his age group up here are only children or first born.

I also think that some of it has to do with he and his friends being left to their own devices. When we plan things out and they have structured activities there is a whole lot less fighting - they know what they are doing, there are fewer choices to get hung up on. But I also don't want to be the parent that is overly involved with her kid's life - I need to find a happy medium.

Then I thought it might be a boy thing - boys tend not to make as many lasting friendships as girls do and when they do it is later in life (at least this is what the school guidance counselor tells me). And I do remember that my brothers were very much the same way at that age (but I also remember it being heart breaking for me to watch my brothers not playing with other kids - and Alex tells me it was heartbreaking for him too).

None of these thoughts make it any easier on me when my little boy comes home and tell me that he played alone on the playground. It breaks my heart to think of my baby wandering around the playground all alone every day. His teachers tell me that they don't see any problems and that he seemed to be getting along with other kids just fine, but he tells me otherwise.

Anyway, over the past few months Zachary seems to have built a pretty good friendship with a boy in his class. They would talk on the phone for hours if I let them. Most every weekend they get together. While there are aspects of this relationship that I am not fond of (and will not discuss here) I push them all aside because my kid had a friend and that is all I care about.

On February 8th my little man is turning 8. I have been thinking very hard about what we can do with a couple/few kids that is inexpensive but still a lot of fun. Last year we took he and two friends bowling and out to lunch - it ended up costing us over $100 - I am not interested in spending that much. When we invited the class over in kindergarten we did tie-dye shirts which was a lot of fun but there were too many kids (and it is February so this is all indoors).

This year I am hoping for lots and lots and lots of snow so we can go sledding, we will do personal pizzas with English muffins, and we will do tie-dye. Since we are doing tie-dye and I want the kids to be able to go home with completed shirts it will have to be a sleep over. Have to? Well...I guess we will "have to" see about that one.

I told him he could invite two friends...then I remember that it was once told to me that a friendship of three isn't easy. You end up triangulating the friendship and, often times, two kids are getting along just fine and, accidentally, leaving the third out. But fours kids seems like a lot to me and now that I have told him two I can't go back on that and have only one...

I think that I may be over thinking all this...this is just a kid's birthday party, right? When does parenting get easier? When will I stop over thinking things and just do it?

I remember when a friend of mine was pregnant. She is a vegetarian and was feeling guilty about maybe not getting enough protein for the baby. I told her, "Welcome to motherhood. The guilt starts now and it never ends."

Why is it that we never feel that anything we do is enough? I think that may be a rhetorical question. I don't think there are really any answers for that.

The "Pre-Christmas" Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. The boys are incredibly happy and we are all thoroughly exhausted!

Every year Kirby and I wait too long to shop and wrap ALL the presents on Christmas Eve. This leads to an incredibly stressful two weeks leading up to Christmas. I have to say, however, this year we did pretty well.

I had started shopping over the past few weeks and had a good amount of it done. Saturday we went out after we put the kids to bed and finished everything. Even our usual Christmas Eve wrapping was finished up by midnight (pretty much free of any arguing, amazingly enough).

I will update more on the "real" Christmas later...this blog is devoted to our Christmas at Dad's house.

The Friday before Christmas we got together with my family at my father's house. This is one of my favorite times. We have dinner before hand and then head off for presents.

My father and his wife do not go crazy overboard with the gifts for anyone (thankfully), and they are all very thoughtful gifts (Sue even made me an ornament out of Scrabble pieces - many of you know about my addiction to online Scrabble). We also exchange names of all the siblings and nephews so we aren't all "stuck" with buying a million things and there is a limit of $25. Typically, we all chip in for a large gift for Sue and Dad.

This year my family had one of the hardest lists. We had both my brothers (who are both, typically, VERY hard to shop for) both their significant others and my nephew (the only easy one on the list). However, it all turned out beautifully.

Loren, my youngest brother (18) requested a book that was easy enough to order on Amazon; Christian, my nephew (6) requested a book and a movie (again, ordered on Amazon); Emily (Loren's girlfriend) requested an ITunes GC (again, how easy) and Andrea (Alex's fiancee) sent me a list of ideas. The only pain was Alex my other brother (27) who, when I threatened him if he didn't send me ideas, said that a concrete slab of the boy's hand-prints would be a "wonderful gift, Erica" - in the MOST sarcastic way (you have to know Alex to completely understand this).

Zachary had Andrea. He was SO incredibly sweet! He made up a list of about 10 different things and he really took into consideration what she would like. At one point while making the list, Kirby found him curled up in a ball on the living room floor. He asked him what he was doing and Zachary replied, "I am trying to figure out how to get Uncle Alex in a box because I think that is what Auntie Andrea would really like for Christmas"! So, we found a HUGE "Santa Bag" and stuffed Alex in it (amongst the few other things Zach got her). It was priceless! He really did put a lot of thought into her gifts.

Tom had Alex. After Alex's comment about the boys hand-prints being such a great idea, we decided that is exactly what he would get. I mixed up a big batch of salt dough, Tom imprinted his hand and that is what he got (along with a GC to Circuit City). He loved it - he thought it was the funniest thing. You have to remember that Tom is 17...his hand-print is bigger than Kirby's now...not so cute anymore :)

The boys got some great, very well thought out, gifts. Andrew got a bouncing Tigger (honestly, he looks like he is having an epileptic seizure, but he loves him all the same) and a few other things. Zachary got a Harry Potter Lego set and a remote control robot (both of which he absolutely loves).

Dad and Sue always fill a big reusable Tupperware container for Kirby and I. We love the container because we use it for putting away Christmas decorations every year. As our collection grows we lose space for all of it. The container may be one of the coolest parts of the gift :). We each get a few gift cards, some books, etc. Again, very well, thought out gifts.

Monica (my eldest sister) and her family got me and they gave me a number of CDs and a book off my Amazon list - these are things I would never buy for myself. So awesome! Her family also had Andrew and got him an outfit and a couple wooden toys that help with fine motor skills (score!!). She had Kirby and bought him an Ebay GC (his request). AND they had Tom and got him an MP3 player (and loaded a bunch of songs). He was SO psyched! Monica and Steve also put a ton of thought into their gifts. They are also HUGE bargain shoppers so they tend to get you a really cool gift without going over budget.

Loren got Zachary and bought him a really cool Hot Wheels stunt set. He loves it!

Dad and Sue are birders. Did you know that the word "bird" can be a verb? They go out looking for birds, listening for birds, identifying rare species and even participate in "bird counts" this time of year. They have a great time at it.

So this year, they asked for an extravagant birding package that included an IPod Nano and bird sounds...I'm not exactly sure what it was, just know that it is what they wanted (MY father with an IPod seems incredibly strange). Anyway, the gift was well out of our price range, so Dad asked us to contribute towards it and after Christmas they would go out and pay for the rest as a gift to each other.

Once again, Monica and Steve stepped up to the plate. They were able to find each of the items in this package sold separately AND within our price range! It was SO awesome! We each spent our limit and got them exactly what they wanted. I was so excited!

But the best part of the night wasn't really the gifts. While it is wonderful to get gifts that people really think about (rather than gifts that people give just because they think it is necessary to get you one) - the best part of the night was after the gifts.

We all spent until well after 10pm there hanging out, eating and spending time together. The boys were incredibly well behaved (aside from Andrew and Thanny - my 2 year old nephew - who get a rise out of each other by fighting over a toy and screaming "mine", "no, mine" back and forth at each other - cute nonetheless) and we had a wonderful time.

It is nights like this that help me remember that the stress of the holidays is all worth it. I love my family and they are the most important things to me, especially this time of year.

I apologize for the lack of pictures...I forgot my camera and Monica hasn't emailed me any yet.

Alas...it is well after midnight and we have a busy day tomorrow. I will continue on our holiday gatherings tomorrow...

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick post to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful, relatively, relaxing day. Even still, I am exhausted as are the children.

I will post again soon with pictures and great stories from our day!

Till then "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night"!

ANOTHER snow day!

Another snow day today. It has been snowing for over 24 hours and I am ready for it to stop! These storms come at the most inconvenient times!

Zachary and I did get to do a little shopping in town today. One of the benefits of living so close to town is that we can walk anywhere. So we browsed the local stores and he finished up his gift for the family member whose name he drew (can't tell yet...one more day).

I am not even close to being done with my shopping. We are such procrastinators! I did do a bit today, but it is hard when you have one of the people you are shopping for with you!!

Tom finished up his gift for the family member he drew as well. Too funny! I will post pictures after they open their gifts tomorrow.

We talked to the boys a bit about Allyson having her baby. They don't completely understand the dynamics surrounding it, and they don't need to.

Zachary is SO excited to be an uncle! Andrew just thinks it is weird and poor Tom doesn't know what to think!

I don't have any new updates on Mommy Allyson or Baby Charity, but I do have some pictures and I thought you all would enjoy them.











And just a few bonus pics of the boys :) These may give you an idea of what a snow day is like around here!

Bittersweetness

The long awaited Christmas performance was last night. The boys were SO excited! Since this was Andrew's first time he was pretty nervous about being on stage and about "all the people".

The music teacher at Carpenter School is amazing! She and those kids put on an amazing performance every year. This isn't the Christmas concert from my school days. When I was a kid we sang the same old Christmas carols that you hear every year. These shows are more like a play with original music, choreography and costumes. It is truly amazing!

Since there are so many kids in the school and limited seating in the auditorium there are two shows. The principal and staff at the school do their best to get kids that are related in the same program but this year we had to attend two shows, back to back. It is the same show so I am very grateful that we love the performances like we do!

Both my parents came, my younger sister Dana and my younger brother Loren and his girlfriend Emily came for both shows as well. Alex was home sick as was Dad's wife Sue. They missed one heck of a performance!!


Dana - by Zachary



Grum - by Zachary


Emily - by Zachary


Zachary - what a cool dude!

Zachary was up first. It was neat to watch Andrew during Zach's performance. Since it is the same show, Andrew watched very intently and sang most every word. Zachary did wonderfully! There was a "rap" portion and he was so darn cute! He also played his paper saxophone like he was a jazz king! It was great!


The show

As soon as Zach's show was over Andrew burst into tears! He thought that was the end of the show and he wouldn't get to do his! It was so sweet! Kirby and I reassured him that he would get to do his show and we brought him to meet his aide (who was going to stand on the side of the stage in case of any mishaps).

The second the curtains opened for Andrew's performance I burst into tears. It was so bittersweet! To see my little man up there...I'm not sure I have the words. My heart filled my chest, I was so proud of him. He is getting to be such a big boy! And he was in his element! Understand, the same thing happened to me with Zachary's first show but it wears off after the 3rd.

Andrew sang and turned around and watched the kids behind him and sang and waved to Daddy and sang and got distracted by his aide off the stage...it was adorable! We were very lucky that he had a "stage buddy". It wasn't set up, but the kid next to him was sure to redirect him any time he got distracted (which with Andrew can be very often).

It was just beautiful!

Unfortunately, the auditorium is very dark during the performance so we weren't able to get too many pictures.

It was an amazing night...though bittersweet to see my baby boy growing up!

On another note...

More bittersweetness:
We were informed this morning that Allyson (my step daughter) had a little baby girl last night. Charity was born at 11:26pm on Tuesday. She weighs in at 8lb 8oz and Kirby says she is just beautiful.

I worry that Allyson and RJ have a tough road ahead of them and hope that she realizes that we are here for her. Only time will tell.

Christmas Time Is Here

Kirby and I are not known for our Christmas spirit. Nicki listens to my complain about hating Christmas starting in October (when I hear the Christmas coming through the phone from her house). We try to put on a good show for the kids...but it isn't always easy. We both get so stressed this time of year.

The kid's holiday performance was postponed this week due to a snow storm (I think it snowed EVERY day this week). It was actually an answer to a prayer. Andrew had been sick and wouldn't have been able to make it and he would have been SO disappointed! He woke up at 10:30pm on Tuesday crying, "I'm sick, I HAVE TO get better for my play". I told him that his teachers had heard he was sick and postponed it so he could be there when he was better :). The only down fall of the postponement is that Auntie Andrea can't make it now.

This weekend was FULL of Christmas!

Friday we made salt dough ornaments. We baked them that night and planned on painting them the next day. I am not a crafty mommy. The mess drives me crazy...Andrew isn't great with things that require use of fine motor skills so he lasts all of two seconds...Zachary is SO quick about everything that is it hardly worth the mess we make for him to take a minute or two to do it. However, I bit the bullet and we did it. We had a great time. It was messy (but easily cleaned up) and each of the boys made a few ornaments.

Yesterday was our annual Breakfast with Santa. It is such a fun day - stressful but fun! The kids get to eat junk (munchkins and cereal with sugar as the number one ingredient), make an ornament and then wit in line (for usually about an hour) to sit with Santa, have their picture taken and get a goodie bag. They love it! It is inexpensive and they really do have a great time, so it has become a yearly tradition for us.







After breakfast we stopped by Ocean State Job Lots to grab a few gifts for a needy family my sister is helping this year. Oh boy - were the boys full of "gimmies" and "I wants"! No matter how I prepare them before hand, they seem to forget the second we walk through the door. Zachary was able to get a couple things for his Christmas gift (we trade names with my family so they each have one person to buy for) and he was happy about that. I was able to get some acrylic paints for the ornaments (very inexpensive - so worth it).

We got home and painted a few ornaments, I realized that we needed some sort of lacquer to go over it to protect them. Besides that we needed to grab a couple more things for the family we are buying gifts for and drop them with my sister. So we went down to Rochester, into WalMart (more "gimmies") grabbed the lacquer and gifts, dropped some money in the Salvation Army bucket and went to my sister's.

I was very impressed with Zachary...I had $20 in cash, all but $1 was spent in the store. He "needed" a drink but he was asked which was more important, to buy a bottled water (when he could get a drink at "Grum's" 2 minutes down the road) or to help people that didn't have much. He chose the latter and dropped the money in the bucket.

Today was a heck of a day. We hadn't gotten the tree out yet (we have a fake) and there was about 3 feet of snow in front of the basement door. We finally got it up here to put it together (really, is a fake tree easier than a real?) - took us about an hour. It took us even longer to arrange the house as it is our first year here. After we FINALLY got the living room in working order Kirby accidentally snapped the tree...some duct tape and a little adjusting and "viola" it looks perfect :) Is that "white trash"? A tree held together with duct tape? Probably...ah well...

We decorated, the kids had a great time. This year was Andrew's year to put the angel on top (much to Zachy's dismay). He thought that was great!







All in all, it was a great weekend. Despite my hate for Christmas I do need to remember that it is an important time of year for the kids. It doesn't have to be so commercialized if we don't teach it that way. It is about our family and friends and our traditions. Though we are in a new home now, our traditions remain the same.