More Christmas Decorating!

Today was a great day! Scott and I cooked our turkey dinner - well, he did the dirty work - I mainly dictated LOL... but I did whip up a winning batch of peanut butter cookies!!

After dinner, we put up and decorated our Christmas tree with our very eclectic collection of ornaments both from my childhood and newer ones from recent Christmas'...



They goofed off a little....



But in the end...




It came out great! (the tree is behind them somewhere!!)

It's so nice, as the kids are getting older, to enjoy this time with them! They are finally at the age that they "get it" - and it makes the season so fun!

My Favorite Snuggles

I am sick. I mean stay in bed all day, throat feels like it made of broken glass, light is bad and 70 degrees feels cold sick. Luckily it is the weekend and my hubby took over. The house looks like a hurricane hit and the sink is full of dishes but I got to stay in bed for most of the day. I still had to negotiate some squables and dry some tears but I feel better.

My wisdom tooth needs to come out. I am on antibiotics, pain killers and just added anbesol to the mix. I have one more week before it is yanked. To give you an idea of how much it hurts a pillow hurts when it touches my cheek. The soft fuzzy hair of my kittens when brushed on my face makes me wince.

SO why am I telling you about all the ick in my life. Well tonight after the kids went to bed and I sent hubby out for anbesol ($8.00 a bottle OUCH!!!!!) I snuck a peek at Brianna. She was still awake and I cuddled up next to her in her bed. She kisses me on my cheek (yes the side that hurts because of that darn tooth #&$*%!?) and said "I love you mommy". Then she snuggled up next to me and started to hum. All the pain went away as I melted in my babies arms.

Oh those magic snuggles that are exactly what we need at exactly the right time. Nothing else seems to matter!!!!!

Getting Ready...

Since Scott was hunting this weekend and it was just me and the girls (and I wouldn't torture myself by taking them both shopping!), we decided to get ready for Christmas by making our Christmas Countdown Chain... something we do every year.

It started out pretty innocent...



And 24 links...



... and lots of glitter later...


We survived! (and got a pretty cute Christmas card picture out of it too!)

My growing girls....

When did my six-year old become mature enough to cry during the sad parts of a movie?? I must admit, I get teary eyed myself, but was hiding in the bedroom folding laundry while my 6 and 3 year old daughters watched Casper on the Family Channel. (yes - the one with Christina Ricci in it - her mom is dead, she moves into this haunted mansion and meets Casper)... Anwho at the end are some pretty tear-jerking "deep" scenes, and don't I hear her sniffling away out there!!

My baby has turned into a little person overnight. Crying at grown-up scenes in movies, laughing at the subtle humor in Sesame Street, writing notes to her friends at school and even getting phone calls!! (I'm so not ready for this).

I wonder often... when did this happen? I look at her baby pictures and it just seems so long ago, when in reality it was only a few years... but doesn't a few years go so fast now?

Short and sweet ;)

The Comical Chaos of my Life

So today I had a huge head cold. Brianna took a nap, Patrick was at school so I took some cold meds and took a nap myself. I woke up feeling better. Brianna woke up and we snuggled on my bed. Ah, I though this is nice. I love being a Mommy... and then my son came home from school.

We have been having some behavior issues lately. Enough that I have been concerned enough to call a doctor. Though nothing really major until today. My son came home from school with a red light (Bad behavior) for fighting. He and another boy were wrestling in the playground. On the ground woodchips flying, actual fighting. Oh and it gets better. He was the Red Power Ranger, the good guy (at least I know he was the good guy, LOL) and was fighting the Blue Power Ranger, the bad guy. Now I don't know why the blue power ranger was the bad guy so please don't ask, LOL!!!

Brianna is holding "her" kitten by the neck all over. No matter how often we tell her that the kitten needs to breath and doesn't like to be held by the neck she still does it. The look of that kitten before I rescue it is so pitiful. He is getting smart though. He really doesn't come out often if the kids are playing. He also is starting to let Brianna know that he doesn't like to be held by the neck.

Patrick wanted to go to movie night tonight. I knew he would hate it. The movie was High School Musical which is not the Power Rangers (not that I let him watch them, but still he plays that) or a cartoon or short. But there was an ice cream social so he waned to go. He was acting all excited, talking about the movie amd the stars (He never saw it so I have no idea how he knew all that he knew). He ate his ice cream and then was BORED!!!! I mean crawling on the floor under the tables in the cafeteria bored.

So we go into the auditorium to see the movie and he wants to sit next to a classmate. No problem I think until I notice I am only seats away from my evil ex-neighbor. There was a buffer between us so I was okay. Then the buffer left. Patrick of course got bored and actually thought the movie was scary. I am not sure how it was scary but he was seeking comfort and was obviosly upset by it. I of course knew to pack Teddy Grahms in my purse so that along with mommy suggles kept him occupied and quiet until the movie finally ended. Patrick then told me how boring it was.

I get home well after bedtime and Brianna is running around and didn't want to go to bed. Then my cold comes back with vengence!!! ah I remeber as I manage to finally get both kids to bed with stories and snuggles that I really love being a mommy even with scary High School Musicals, Blue vs Red Power Rangers, kittens being held by the neck and children running around after bedtime. This is what I wanted. It is a good thing that I can see the humor in the Chaos of my life.

The Halloween Fairy

I got the idea from one of those parenting magazines when Patrick was a baby. LOL, I never thought I would use it. Until Brianna was born he never collected a whole lot of candy and Daddy and Mommy of course helped him eat the candy. Okay we ate most of it, he was a toddler so we tried to limit his candy intake.

Basically the idea is to at a specific time after Halloween the excess candy is taken by the Halloween Fairy to be given to people who needed it more. I am not sure if that was the original idea I read or a twisted interpretation that I formed in my mind over the years. Oh, yeah - she leaves a present in place of the candy. In our case it is a nice one - about a $10.00 level.

The first time she visited our houses was the first year Brianna joined in. Like before I wasn't expecting much. A small bagfull that would be easy to get through. Nope not my kids. Together they brought home 9 pounds of Candy. To be fair that included a couple indoor events like mall Trick or Treating.



A huge box of candy that would take forever to go through. Of course the kids just wanted to eat and eat it. We allowed them two pices a day each and I had visions of candy still around for the next Halloween. I recalled the Halloween Fairy idea and molded it to my own use.

The night she came the kids were preped. They put the candy in a special spot and wrote her a note that said how they wanted to give the candy to people that couldn't get any. It was real sweet. They were actually excited about it. Each one was allowed to keep a few pieces of the precious candy but the most of it was gathered to give away.

That night the Halloween Fairy came to our house, we used a special in the back yard so she would know to stop at our house. After all not everybody uses her services, LOL!!!! It is like a Halloween Fairy landing strip. She gathered up the candy and left the kids a note to let them know the candy went to the Veterans Hospital in Buffalo and they were so happy with the children's generocity. She left them two wrapped gifts (one for each child). and said she hoped to see them again next year.

She has visited us every year since and I know a few mommy's have invited her to thier house too. She still gives the candy to the Veteran's. It is alwys a night of excitement when we get the word that she is coming. The kids get everything all set up and wonder what she will leave this year. I wonder too sometimes, LOL!!!! Hopefully nothing painted in China. How do you handle Fairy gift recalls, LOL!!!

So now that the kids are in school I wonder how much longer we will get away with her visits. Most people have never heard of the Halloween Fairy and eventullay I expecting some questions. Maybe she is in the Tooth Fairy division and it is new post. Too many sweets could make too much work for the tooth fairies so it was developed to lessen thier load, LOL!!!

I love being a Mom!!!!!

Shopping For Halloween

So I finally (mind you after years of looking) found a plus size witch costume I liked. So I decided that we would stop into the store to check it out. I went up to the wall of options and found the number of the costume I wanted. There were actually two that I was decided between so I tried on both. Amazingly the moment I got them both dressing rooms were free. I tried on both and the one I wanted first was the one that looked better on my. Dennis REALLY liked it. It was of course the last one at the store so I bought it.

Since we were already buying the costume we decided to buy the kids costumes too. (We have already been in the store for about 15 mins, what were we thinking!!!) Patrick immedietly decided on the RED Power Ranger. He has never seen The Power Rangers, nor have I. I am sure the colors mean something but I have no idea and neither does Patrick. He was so happy that we let him get the costume that he was literly bouncing up and down.

Now getting Brianna to select a costume was not nearly as easy. I think she eventually chose every costume in the girls selections and even a few on the boys, including the Red Power Ranger right after Patrick picked it. It took some effort to pick another one. Even though the cost was right I could only have one Red Power Ranger in the house.

So in the end Brianna firmly stood by her choice to be the Wonderful Witch. A frilly pink, purple and black witches costume. One look at her in the costume and I knew it was the perfect costume for her. She was just adorible in it. Now remember when I tried my costume on and both dressing rooms were free. NOT ANYMORE!!!! All of a sudden it was like shopping for a deal on the day after Thanksgiving and the doors just opened.

It was maddness. People were everywhere and the line for the dressing room was LONG!!! We had the kids try the costumes on over their clothes and thankfully they fit so I didn't have to wait to get different ones. Then came the long journey to the door. It was like being the ball in a pinball machine. Though on the way out I managed to find a spider to put on the cobwebs we decorated the front of our house in.

This is the first Halloween both kids have been really into it and the first year Patrick has found the scaryness of it fun too. I am looking forward to all the parties. Not so much the candy. It is a good thing tha Halloween Failry comes about 10 days after Halloween to collect all the leftover candy and leave a gift in place for each child. How much longer will we be able to get away with that one?