Our stocking on his feet, the kitty's sticking on his hands.. too cute

too funny!!!

Thanks for the hat Williebrown!! Go Colts!!

the tree stayed this way til today.. I just took it down.

Christmas is over and Winter is in full force!!!    Whats left to look forward to?  Summer!!!!!   Oh yeah.. and the still being discussed trip to see the rents in the end of March. 

We got the Wii for Xmas and it is a blast.  I thoroughly suck at video games tho and JD beats me in anything that has to do with steering.  (Tertis I can do!!!) 

I dont feel like writing but was getting a lot of s#%t lately for not having blogged.  Will pictures suffice!!??  Good…  here ya go!!

Santa Clause is coming to town!!

Spoiler alert for little boys that can read!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa is appearantly a friend of the family!!!  JR and I took JD to see Santa last week and we got pics.  At Thanksgiving when I gave Gma B a pic, she pointed and said “Well we know him!!”.  I patted her back and explained that yes, we all knew him.  That was Santa.   Well appearantly, our resident Santa is the father of Gpa B’s best friend from childhood.  Santa has known Gpa B since before he was in high school.  They were BFFs since junior high.  Gma said his real name and pointed at the pic whereas JD, who was sanding right there said “No Gma, thats me.. not Bill”.  Little boys, big ears!!  So at work at the mall on Fri, I went over and asked if he knew Del B——.  He smiled very fondly, nodded, and said “very well” in that way.. (Mimi.. think “do you remember me, my name is Hope?”)  well.. that way.  In fact… Mr and Mrs Clause built a house on the little penninsula that is the camp ground that Gma and Gpa have a cabin at in Galesburg.  JD spends lots of time with them there during the summer and had Gma been with us, Santa may have realized who JD was.  They have met many times before at camp.   During the summer Santa shaves and never wears red.  Thank goodness!!!  Not to mention last year they had a Xmas in July parade at the campground and the Santa then was a family friend and called JD by name (well.. he knew him!!  He lived next door!)  JD looked at Gma and said “hes knows me!!”  Wow… its gonna be traumatic when this kid finally finds out Santa isnt real!!

I promise.. pics are on the way!!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

bury the ice scraper

please.. let me help shovel!!

helping with his own ambush

Notice Hubby upper right on the car? Ready.. Aim.. Fire!!

Such a shocking contrast!! Beautiful!!

First things first…..  I hate snow.  I hate the cold.  I hate walking into the warm house/building and having my glasses fog up in such a way that I can no longer see.   I hate that “stomach in my throat” feeling I get when Im driving and the road is a pure sheet of ice.   I hate having a good hair day and trying to decide if being cold is worth messing up said hair just to keep warm by wearing my ultra cool new hat that actually looks good on.  I hate wet gloves.

Second…. How do I know winter is officially here besides all the snow on my car?  Even my Webkinz garden has snow!!!  Ugh!!! Its official!!!

I even gave in and bought a fricking pair snowpants.  I have a 4 year old.  I HAVE to play outside.   Snowpants suck.  They run small and do nothing for a girls figure.  (Camel toe anyone???  A sure sign they run small!)    Once I got the right size I did feel cute in an 8 year old kind of way.   I was even dancing in the dressing room doing a “swish-swish” dance that made me giggle. 

So we spent Sunday outdoors shoveling the driveway and playing “Lets bury Mommy’s ice scraper”.  (I will probably find it come April as JD couldnt remember where he buried it…. thankfully I have 2!!)  When Hubby was brushing off his car he tried to ambush JD.  He pushed all the snow to one side of the top of the car and then had me lure JD over.  Oh… JD thought it was hilarious to get dumped on with snow!!  But when I accidentally got snow in his face??  Sheesh!!!  The world ended and we gave up and went in!  The tears were frozen on his face!!  Poor baby!! 

As the song says  “Gone away is the bluebird”, not so true for the cardinal.  We have a nest of them out back and the bright red of the cardinal against the snow-covered bush was beautiful.  There were 2 females and 2 males just playing.

Mr President

And so we were heard!!!!

I was really impressed with Obama’s speech.  He acted and spoke so humbly, modestly, and graciously!!!  I am really glad it was a landslide and not a closer vote.  It would have made me wonder was the closeness due only because of McCalin’s choice of VP.   Anyhoo…. The best man won. 

Mr President — Linda Perry (of  Non Blondes)

happy halloween!!!

Another Halloween, another adorable little boy, and another ton of free candy for me!!!!

We went trick or treating with my friends and his lil boy Ash.  We went with them last year and S grew up in this neighbor and knew the ropes.  This year tho, it seemed as if there were half the house passing out and hardly any kids.  You always have that same group in front of or behind you.  Not this year.  Not once did the boys have to back up to let someone off the porch.  We didnt here the “trick or treats” across or down the street.  But hey.. that meant at the end of the night peole were telling JD to “reach in and grab a handful… no, grab another… and another, really!”  Love it!!  ANd they had the good stuff!!   I didnt see a single piece of candy corn and we only got 3 tootsie rolls and 3 pieces of the black or orange wrapped taffy.  And those pieces were in one little baggie.

JD was Optimus Prime from the Transformers and Ash was Ben 10 (cartoon network cartoon)  JD didnt wear his mask at all!!  As you’ll see in one photo, JD was wearing Ben 10’s super wrist band and Ash was wearing JD’s mask.  The boys were sooo sweet hearingtheir little voices saying “trick or treat”  and “thank you!!”  (Ok.. thank you has half the time prompted but still A for effort!!)  I wasnt really anything.  I had black and orange dreadlock ponytails with a Hello Kitty tshirt with her in a vamp outfit that said “so scary its cute!”    so typical of me 

Oh.. you should see our stash!!

All I want for Thanksmas

1)  To always play Santa

2)  To open presents the night before

3)  to have Snowbird wrap my presents for me

4)  good wrapping paper and bows!!

WHAT I REALLY WANT FOR THANKSMAS

1) my family near me

’nuff said

My birthday week

I know.. its been awhile.. apologies.

So you all know it was my birthday yesterday.  Well.. in honor of that I took last week off to celebrate.  Hubby worked but JD was with me almost the whole time.  M vacay celebration started last Sunday (sept 28).  Our (JD and I) plans were to head to GR in the evening and spend a couple days with Aunt K and baby R.  Plans changed a little when K called us and told us she was taking MIL out for lunch Sunday afternoon for her bday and did we want to come early.  So we headed out about noon and had a great lunch.  It was just Gma B, K, myself, JD, and baby R.   After she left, K and I made chicken chili (I instructed her as this is a recipe of mine she’s wanted for awhile).  Monday we went bowling.  JD didnt have a good time and quit 7 frames in.  Baby R was too young but she had fun anyway just chewing on stuff.  We had a great time but I can definately say JD was soooo over hanging out with a 1 yr old.  She wanted everything he had.. but only for a second.  The tears lasted longer than the theivery!!  I explained to him that would happen and that he used to do it to bigger kids when he was that age.  JD was introduced to the world of Wii.  Mario Cart to be exact.  He LOVED it!!!  Needless to say, that will be the next purchase we make.  Xmas present probably.  I know hubby will use it and even tho Im not a video game player, I have a feeling I might be able to get sucked into the Wii.

So we left Tuesday morning and spent a couple hours with JD’s old sitter Grace.  She really enjoyed seeing him and how big he had gotten.  But since its been almost exactly a year, he didnt remember her.  Of course he did have fun playing with the kids tho.  We stayed for lunch and then took off for Lansing to visit First (“other momma”).   We just hung out on Tues but Weds was a full day.  We had breakfast at my favorite dive Golden Harvest, then we visited the site of ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover (they shuttle you out to the house on a charter bus and JD fell asleep in my arms on the way back.  It was a 10 minute trip!!).  Then we went to the Lansing childrens museum.   Come evening JD was a little restless and started singing his “I want to go home” song.. or whine, whatever you want to call it.  But I dont get to see First very often so I muzzled the kid up and shoved him in the other room.

Thursday was me and the kid at home and Friday JD went to Gma B’s for the weekend.  I did NOTHING all during the day and in the evening our friends came here from GR.  We went out but were in early cause we were going back to Lansing early the next morning for MSU’s homecoming.  TAILGATE!!!  We met up with First and some of her friends, and some old college friends on campus.  We scored an awesome corner by a loading dock and set up camp.   There was lots of great food and after a bit First and I and some of the others went to wander.   That is the best part of tailgate!!  Once the game started we went to an old haunt called Arts to watch the game.  we had a blast and didnt get back to BC until after 6.  Sunday was another lazy, lazy day.  I dont think we left the house.

So that leads up to my actual birthday day.  Tuesday.  I worked.  DIdnt so anything special but the girls at work bought me a cake.  Very sweet of them.   But Im still working off the cake I made for tailgate. 

She’s only 17!!!

On a political note.. and this doesnt come easy for me as I normally stay far away from political debate…  I was pretty floored when McCain chose a woman for a running mate.  I thought it was pretty strategic at first.  Then I read about her and her platforms and realized it doesnt make me want McCain in office anymore that I did before he picked her.  I think it was a move made out of pure calculation and not who he thought would be the best possible running mate.  I mean really….  Alaska???    Have we ever heard of her?  She is a former beauty pageant runner up and newscaster.    (Im not bashing her.. I just think there are much better options for a running mate)

So heres why Im writing.

It was rumored her 17 yr old daughter was the biological mother of Gov Palin’s 4 month old Downs Syndrome baby.  That can now be 100% disproven as that 17 yr old is now 5 MONTHS PREGNANT and going to marry the father!!  My beef with this is…. How can you help control a country when you cant control your child!!??  Go ahead and blast me and ask how I can say that when I dont have a teen daughter.  I understand todays way of life is sooo completely different than when I was a teen 20 years ago (can you smell the sarcasm?).  But as life has progressed and the whole “its soo much harder to be a teen these days” crap gets spewed…  whatever!!  There is still birth control, abstinance and open communication with your daughter.  Or how about this option, which I think is most popular and was used by Rickbo….. the fear of God!!!!!  God forbid one of Rickbo’s 3 girls came home and uttered those 2 dreaded words (“im pregnant”).    That itself was all I needed to keep me from even doing the deed!!   Now Im pretty sure that Rickbo isnt naive enough to think that all his daughters waited til their wedding night and Im not claiming we were angels but I guarantee not one of us had to worry about being a mom in high school.  (And if Im wrong, hush….. Rickbo is reading this!)

So dont bash me for my opinion.  Giv Palin…. get the home life straightened up.  I now cannot take this woman seriously as our VP.  Not like they had my vote anyway but it just really made me roll my eyes.  She’s been announced for less than a week and already scandel is coming out of the woodwork. 

 Ok. I have had a day to gather more thoughts on this.  Instead of blasting Palin with the whole how can you control a country… etc.. thing, I have a different opinion.  Its all about timing, family, and career, and PRIORITY!!!  Where is her priority right now?  She has 5 kids under the age of 18.  You would think a 4 month old special needs child and a 17 yr old daughter due to give birth in 4 months would be her first priority.  Add to the mix.. 3 more kids, a husband, a future son in law (what.. you think daughter and hubby will stay in Alaska?), a VP position, a move away from the home that they know, the media, the stress….. should I stop?    What of any of this makes sense and says.. “hey.. now is the perfect time to do this!!”?   I respect her as a woman wanting to succeed and the drive and passion she has but I cannot respect her integrity and her decision to do this now.   When would be a better time you ask?  Will she get this opportunity again you ask?  I dont know.  But you know what…. Its called sacrifice.  You do it for the ones you love.  

(Besides.. its all a big waste of time.  Obama’s going to win anyway  hehe he)

Snot… I know you are itchin with comments on this one!!

She’s only 17 —  Winger (hair band from the 80’s)

We are Family!!

i went to a family reunion this weekend and its safe to say a blast was had by everyone!!  There were way more people than I thought would be there.  When I was calculating at work who there would be, I either forgot or didnt realize that there were so many offspring of the original family that was uniting.  It was a reunion celebrating the heritage of my Grandma S and her 8 sibling.  1 sister and 7 brothers.  What a crew and what a history!!!  One distant cousin I hadnt seen since 1980.  I was 8 and she was 16.  We know both have kids and dont look quite the same in a bathing suit!!

I will say tho, in the younger groups, you could see the migration towards the ones you already know and see on a regular basis but so what.. how often do we get together these days?  In all honesty, a lot of it was to point and say ”Who’s that?”  “Who are they with?”  

anyway.. it was great and I wish we could have stayed longer.  All the little kids got along and it was a great day weather wise.   I wish we would do this every year. 

ANd of course, most of my pics are of those same people we see all the time.. and yes.. JD. 

 

We are Family — the Pointer Sisters

God Bless the USA

hot air balloons going over the house

Cereal City!! Its Grrreeeaaaat!! If turned the right way, thats Tony the Tiger

bride and groom, wiping cake off their face

Junior and wife. the friends wedding was on the coast of Lake Michigan

Happy Birthday America!!!

I didnt do much to help her celebrate.  I had to work 9-6 friday AND sat.  Tell me about it.  It sucked.  But, JD was with Gma and Gpa B and are camping not far from here.  We started off our 4th by watching about 30 hot air balloons heading towards the airport where there is the huge festival this weekend.  Carnival, bands, Blue Angles, TunderBirds, and hot air balloons.  The balloons went over about 8 AM and I pulled JD out of bed to see them.  He said “thats awesome Mama!”. 

Later yesterday, I went straight from work to a friends wedding reception.  It was outdoors in a huge yard in the boonies.  It was one of the funnest receptions I have ever been too!!  Junior was one of the groomsmen and I got to meet a couple of old snowboard buddies from Colorado.  (“dude!”)   I felt very cool being “Juniors sister” all night.  A couple friends said they didnt realize he had a youger sister.  Ah ha!!  There was music, booze, bon fire, fire works.  I wish I had thought to take off Sat cause being a somewhat responsible person now, we left before 11.   It was just a great time hanging out with Junior and his wife, who was a bridesmaid.  She’s really cool and I like getting to know her better.

So tonight who knows what the game plan is.  I started helping America celebrate as soon as I got home.  Hubby is geeking out watching the controversial documentary of the national high score winner of Donkey Kong.  Wish I was kidding.  Its called King of Kong and it 2 hours long.  I have 45 minutes to go before I can disturb him.

 

God Bless the USA — Lee Greenwood