Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving

The kids were very adamant that we had to put up the Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving. They must have forgotten last year's fiasco with the !@$# dog chewing off the cord of our pre-lit tree that was only a year old! I ended up getting rid of it before we moved, so I got up EXTRA early on Black Friday morning. Kohl's had been advertising that they were opening at 4am, and I saw they had a pre-lit tree on sale...so I got there about 3:30am. Not because I wanted to stand in line in the cold, just because I had gone to sleep SO early the night before, I couldn't fall back asleep when I woke up before 3. I wasn't the first one there though, there WERE some crazies standing outside in line...quite a few crazies, come to think of it. And I'm STILL not sure what the big draw was, but there was absolutely no pushing or shoving, and I got a Christmas tree very quickly and was back out the door by 4:05am. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten good deals on many other things, but the tree was all that I had on The List. And big crowds and long lines and I don't get along that well. So anyway, I was back home and sleeping in the recliner for a while before the kids even got up. When they saw the box, they got really excited though, so I was able to bribe them into helping me clean up the living room. When they went for a walk in the afternoon, I set up the tree, and the kids got it all decorated when they got back home. It's beautiful, and it has all white lights like I've always wanted. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Anna, & Great Grandma at the nursing home. The food was great, especially since no cooking or cleaning was necessary for any of us! The only drawback, of course, is the fact that we have no leftover turkey for turkey sandwiches. Boo hoo!

Thank goodness for my digital camera and the ability to crop pictures on the computer! The very nice employee who offered to take our picture didn't do a wonderful job, but oh well, at least we are all in the picture even if we are a little fuzzy!

School Pics...kinda

Well, being a single mom has some really swell perks, like being broke all the time. Picture Day came in late October, and for the first time since the kids have been in school, I was not able to go overboard and buy the largest package of pics for each of the kids. You know - 2 8x10's, 4 5x7's, a million wallets, plus a class photo. In fact, I was not able to buy ANY packages of individual pictures, but I did make sure to at least order a class picture for each of the kids, so they can have a picture of their friends and teacher to remember. This should be no big deal, in fact I know in years past, I have been disappointed with the expensive school pictures. But it just seemed like "the thing to do" and so I always did. After a good bit of pouting and being angry (at Russ, God, and the world basically) I decided to have the kids pose in front of the fireplace and I took their portraits myself. I think they came out pretty nice. Probably better than the professional ones would have, but in a not-so-professional-taken-at-home sort of way. Not being able to afford school pictures certainly isn't the end of the world, and I know I am very blessed in so many ways...it is just another adjustment I am finding myself struggling with.

Jack - 5th Grade - 11 years old

Nora - 4th Grade - 10 years old

Carmella - 3rd Grade - 8 years old



Gina - 1st Grade - 6 years old



If any family or friends want one of these pictures printed out, please just let me know what size and I'll send them out to you. :) Oh, and I'm pretty sure I still have last year's pictures around here somewhere, too!

Glasses again

Well whaddaya know, Nora needs glasses in 4th grade too, just like Jack, and just like me, and just like Grandma and Auntie Gigi. It's a tradition, I guess. Here she is trying out her frames at the Costco. She only needs to wear them for reading or doing work at her desk. I guess she's far-sighted, go figure. Let's just hope she takes a little better care of them than Jack does his. I think more days than not, he just forgets to wear his glasses. I've had to bend them back to the right shape more times than I care to count. Boys! I also got Carmella's eyes checked while we were there, and she has a slight far-sighted prescription as well, but because of her astigmatism (also a hereditary gift from Grandma and me) it is kind of cancelled out, so she doesn't need glasses just yet. Maybe next year when she's in 4th grade!

One lousy picture!

How did this happen? On Halloween night, I brought along my camera trick-or-treating, and only took this ONE lousy picture of the kids! We were probably out for an hour, and it was after 6pm, so getting dark. Jack decided to stay home and pass out candy for us, believe it or not! No worries though, the 3 girls got plenty of candy to feed an army!