Thoughtful Emma

It is tradition that I buy Allan an SI swimsuit calendar each year after Christmas.  I don't particularly care for looking at these hanging in our garage, but if that makes him feel like the garage is him domain and manly, then so be it.  I will give him that joy. 

Keeping with tradition, I bought one for him again this year. He quickly put it up along with a poster of someone in a little bikini.  I guess after seeing them hang around day after day, year after year, I become blind to them and don't even notice them after awhile.  Emma, however, notices everything. She was in the garage with Allan and the boys one night while they worked on Will's derby car.  After looking at the calendar and posters for awhile, she asked Allan just why he liked these pictures of girls in bikinis so much.  He told her that he thought they were cute.  She thought for a moment and then asked him if he would like a picture of her in a bikini to hang up as well. Quickly thinking, he replied "no thank you".  Amazingly, she left it end with that.  

Don't you just love kids' thought processes?! Don't you just love kids?!  They are the best - especially ours! 

December 2008, part 2

Jack got a Batman computer from Santa!

Allan digs into Christmas dinner

Jacki digs the rolls!

How many kids can jump on the tramp at the same time?

Santa listened and brought Will a Tribot!

One of Emma's favorite gifts was an i dog.

Will can even carry Jack in his new backpack!

The best gifts of all - Will, Emma and Jack

Nana gets some Gail Pittman plates

Celebrating Mom's birthday. You would think Emma was the one turning 40!

Me and my incredibly handsome hubby!

On to December 2008, part 2!  I really have to get caught up so I can post some new things.......

After the bad Christmas cookie incident, we had a very nice visit with my mom and Mary Jo. We exchanged gifts and had a nice Christmas dinner.  Also during their visit, they took the kids out for dinner and to see the lights at Tanglewood.  This left Allan and I alone to have dinner with a couple of friends in honor of my birthday.  It was a very thoughtful surprise. 

Finally, the kids were out of school on break and the fun really started!  We spent most of our days playing.  Sad as it may be, the kids just don't have a lot of time to play once they are in school.  There is either homework, sports, Faith Formation or some other activity that prevents long periods of plain old playing.  So, we took advantage of their time off for Christmas and got down to the business of playing and having fun. 

On Christmas Eve, we attended mass and Will and Emma participated in the pageant as a camel (Will) and an angel (Emma).  It was a beautiful mass and very meaningful. By the time we got home, it was time for bed so Santa could stop by.  As we were saying our prayers, John and Jacki arrived and everyone got excited all over again.  The birds finally went to sleep and Jacki and I got down to the business of beating the guys at Euchre.  HA!  I just love it when John looses.  We stayed up way too late, but had a great time playing cards and catching up with John and Jacki. 

Emma was the first one up at 6:00ish.  Thank goodness, we made the rule that the first one up could not wake the other siblings.  Poor girl just couldn't stand it though. She kept going back and forth between our bedroom and the living room with updates as to what she saw.  FINALLY, Will and Jack came down around 7, with John and Jacki following. Then, it was time for the fun to begin.  Will got the Tribot that he desperately wanted.  Emma got the Barbie house that she asked Santa for 100+ times.  And Jack got the much wanted Batman computer that he wrote to Santa about.  The only disappointment was no candy cane underwear for Jack. Evidently, the elves didn't have any small enough for him!  Thankfully, Jack wasn't too phased by this.

We had a relaxing morning with breakfast casseroles and mimosas, then played in our jammies into the late afternoon.  Finally, we decided to shower and get dressed so we could go out and enjoy the beautiful day. I believe it was nearly 70 degrees that day. Nice enough that we didn't need coats, took a walk through the neighborhood, jumped on the trampoline and had a bonfire with s'mores after dinner.  Does it get any better than that?! 

We had a beautiful Christmas and feel very blessed that we were able to share it with at least some of our family. 

December 2008

December started out with great promise. Christmas programs were scheduled, gifts were purchased and some already given out, Christmas cards had been printed since October, plans had been made for neighborhood gifts and our annual cookie baking get-together with my mom and MJ.  What is it that they say?  "The best laid plans....." I don't remember the rest of it and I guess that goes without say because I really thought I had our month planned out and we would once again enjoy a leisurely holiday full of meaning and togetherness.  HA!  

Things started out well with the tradition of going to the mountains to pick out the perfect tree. Will chose it this year. I think it took about 2.3 seconds to find t

hat tree. It really was a beautiful tree and for once, it wasn't humongous.  As always, we also drank hot cocoa, talked to San

ta and rode horses while waiting for our special tree to make it's way down the mountain.  

We even stopped for a Mexican lunch on the 

way home.  YUMMY! 

Things went well putting it up this year. I believe this is the first year that Emma did not break an ornament. She has an irresistible urge to play with each and every most delicate ornament that we own. I can just hear her thoughts: "but they're all SO beautiful! I just have to touch it!" Having a special tree to put upstairs for the children with their own ornaments may have helped.  It sure took a lot of time to run up and down those stairs with each ornament! Wink!

Jack was the first (and only one) to have a Christmas program. I arrived early enough to get a good spot for recording the event.  Thank goodness!  That boy was so stinkin' cute I couldn't stand it!  He was the LAST one to make his way out to the stage. When he finally arrived, he stood about three spaces away from everyone else.  Looking back, I think he did it so he could draw more attention to himself.  As it that would be an issue!  He danced and rang a jingle bell the whole time.  He was in his own little world, just boogieing down to his own music.  I giggle just thinking back on it!  Being a rather shy little guy (where did THAT come from?!), I am quite proud of him and his performance. He never did spot me until the very end and I think that was a blessing. 

Shortly after arriving home from his program, diarrhea set in.  It happened so much that I lost count. To shorten this story, we ended up in the ER that night after seeing blood.  

We stayed there until 3am at which point they told us there was nothing they could do and the tests from the sample I produced (I used a turkey baster to collect this) did not detect anything life threatening.  We had to wait this one out.  Luckily, on the 10th day, the blood and diarrhea ended and we didn't have to see a specialist. It was evidently just a very bad virus that has luck would have it, made it's way through the entire family.  There is more to Jack's bowel story, but that will have to come later. 

Around the middle of the month, my mom and MJ came down for our annual Christmas cookie baking extravaganza.  To shed light on the amount of cookies that we bake, I bought a 25 pound bag of flour for this occasion.  OK, we didn't use it all, but by golly, we sure did make a good dent in it! The good news is that we had a ball doing all of the baking, drinking, chatting, laughing, baking, munching,drinking......the bad news is that my cookies all turned out crappy. I am blaming it on the cheap butter that I bought because the problem with all of them was that they spread all over the cookie sheets.  They tasted good, most of them, but they looked really sick. So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Maybe I'll have better turn out next year. 

Stay tuned for December 2008, part 2..........

November 2008

With November, came a few new milestones. Emma decided to grow her hair longer so she could do more with it as a flower girl in Danielle's wedding. During a trim, Muff (our beautician) french braided it!  This was a first as we have always kept Emma's hair in a short bob. 

One morning,Will decided it was time for him to make his own breakfast so that I wouldn't be so busy in the mornings (ha!). He made a hard fried egg and toast. And he did pretty darn good!  I'm still not sure I want him using the stove unsupervised, but it was nice having him help out. 

Will turned 8 during November. We actually spent his birthday driving to Ohio for Thanksgiving and Danielle's wedding. While it may not have been an exciting birthday,Will sure made the most of it and had a great day anyway! He even had his favorite meal of macaroni and cheese at Noodles in Columbus. He spent his birthday night with Nana and Jack while Mom, Dad and Emma went to rehearse for Danielle's wedding.

On the day of the wedding, Emma met up with the "big girls" and got her hair fixed at a salon in Tiffin.  Later she was quoted as saying it was the best part of being a flower girl. She had a great time all day long and was a real trooper.  She never got tired of dancing (could be from all the chocolate she ate at the reception), she smiled (for the most part) and never hesitated in leaving Mom and Dad to join in the wedding party fun. 

Danielle and Tim's wedding was just beautiful - it just ended way too soon.  

As is current tradition, we spent Thanksgiving with our Ohio families. It was wonderful seeing everyone and spending time (a little, anyway) catching up. No matter how long our trips up North are, we never seem to have enough time to see everyone.  We did have a fortunate unexpected visit with Terry, Carla and Eric. We met up at Chico's and enjoyed pizza and beers for lunch, then just hung out talking the afternoon away! Later that evening, we joined my mom, MJ and Grandpa Allan, and Sharon and Steve for our annual "Tasting Party".  What a hooch, I mean hoot!  We tasted lots of interesting spirits and even played a game.  I can't remember the name of it, but we had to read these phrases that weren't real words, but when said the correct way, sounded like real words.  It was funny to say the least.  

Busy, lazy, sick????

Maybe a little of all of the above.Those would be the reasons for not blogging like I used to.  I really have tried to simplify our life, but the results certainly don't show it!  To elaborate on the busy part, I've decided to touch on some of the things that we have been doing here. 

October 2008 - Emma celebrated her 6th birthday by taking 6 of her friends to see High School Musical 3 at the theater.  Wow! What a hit that was. Everyone had a ball. 

Will hit the camping mother lode! The whole family joined him on a Cub Scout camping weekend and then he and Dad went camping in the mountains with his friend, Andrew and Andrew's dad. It was a COLD weekend and Will learned that he can react quickly in an emergent situation, but a ton of fun was had by all! 

Chris and Sonya (and their little guy, Max) came to visit just in time for Halloween. During their visit, we visited Pilot Mountain which is just north of Winston. It was a great day to go hiking and we all had a great time.  One lesson learned was to double check picnic supplies before leaving. 

Bottom Braces

Are the PITS!  OK. I have to admit, I wanted to type in some different words.  However, being a family blog, I am refraining from using a potty mouth.  

So here's the deal. I went to get my bottom braces today. My bottom teeth (the whole reason for getting braces) were so crooked that they couldn't even put brackets on two of my teeth.  I now have a GIANT spring right in the front of my mouth, connecting the two sections of teeth that DO have brackets.  Aside from feeling like I have dip in my mouth, my bite doesn't match up.  To prevent biting off my brackets, I have rubber things on two of my bottom brackets.  In lay people's language - it feels like I am biting down on a gummy bear all of the time.  Another way to put it is - this just SUCKS.  Sorry, I just had to say it!  Yeah, and to top it all off, I can't even talk right.  So, I look like a geek and I talk like one too!  

Gosh, I just can't wait to turn 40 in a few weeks.  That will just be the icing on the cake!  Good thing I have a sense of humor and love life.  :(I)  That's a computer image of my brace-face smile! 

I may post a photo later.  And as promised, I will fill in on recent FUN activities happening at the WEJ home. 

Bottom