thanksgiving wrap-up

 

lets start out with a little dessert first…..

don’t forget your party hats!

over the hills, and through the woods

to Gramma’s house we go! 

we ventured out to the tree lighting and a visit from Santa.

rain in Vermont….not a pretty thing. But that won’t stop us from having fun!

Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same without some pasta! Mom’s homemade ravioli….yum! 

Cooper’s Thanksgiving feast…. yes, a little odd.  Can you believe that he was not even happy with this…..he would rather have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if he had his way. After hours and hours of eating he gets in the car for the 2 hour ride home and says, “i hungi!”  translation: i am hungry.

moving on to Christmas….let the decorating begin!!!

ice time

an afternoon at the local rink

started out with hanging on to the wall

letting go of the wall but hanging on to daddy

caroline was determined! Every time she fell she got right back up!

Cooper loved every minute of it and could of gone around the rink all day!

 

a little break for tired little legs

and then it was back on the ice!

    

after over two hours later there was more falling then skating…so we decided to pack it up.  We’ll be back as soon as Caroline’s blisters and bruises heal.

in my glory

 

finally…a great book! unfortunately when i find a book i love i tend to ignore my kids and stay up all hours of the night because i can’t put it down….and after months on the library waiting list (i am not a patient person, but too cheap to buy a hard cover book at full price)…i am in my glory!

  

and the boxes are down from the attic! yes, i am in my glory…decorating for the holidays!! I have started with the garlands…i put greenery everywhere…down the staircase, above the kitchen cabinets, mantle, hutch and bookcases….i can’t get enough of garland with little white lights. Tomorrow Caroline and i will take out the village.

trying

trying to stay positive….trying to not worry about the little things.

trying to stay calm during one of Cooper’s tantrums and know that he will not be in “time out”  forever…..and he won’t go to college in diapers.

trying not to stress out about the holidays…remembering that family and traditions are the most important.

trying to have patience and understanding with people who bring negativity to my life.

trying to slow things down….taking time to really listen to my children and enjoy the beauty that surrounds me.

trying to remember that sibling fighting is normal…and trying to back off to let them work things out.

a sweet family friend posted this quote by Maya Angelou on facebook…… “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

a time to lie

what do you tell a 3 year old when he needs to give blood?

a mommy’s dilemma….do i talk him through it, giving him a little heads up?  do i give him a pep talk as he hops up in the big chair?do i make up a funny story as they are wrapping that dreaded rubber band around his tiny little arm? do i reassure him as they put the needle in?

nope….i said nothing.

well, not exactly nothing….i babbled. I didn’t give him a clue about what was happening to him….I babbled about the nurse who was restraining him and about the ice cream he wanted.

and it worked! well, kind of. he may never trust me again….and i am still shaking from watching that needle go in.

hopefully we’ll find out what is making him cough ALL the time.

a time to celebrate

Sunday was a day of celebration for us….

our church celebrated its 125th birthday…and it was glorious!

here are a few family shots we took before church.

3 congregations came to together to worship…and the church was completely full. the choir, the musicians…i cried throughout the service…it was that powerful.  And even though my religion is tested and questioned on a daily basis…the spiritual feeling i felt was overwhelming.

Our next celebration was a birthday party for our neighbor who is turning 80. A sweet, kind man who has lived in the same house his whole life!! this amazes me! He was surrounded by friends and family…each getting up and telling stories, sharing memories and toasting to such a great person.

So…with my heart filled with joy and hope, i take this time to be thankful for who is in my life, who supports me, who loves me unconditionally…on my good days, and bad.  And even through the rough times…like endless sick days and sleepless nights….life is  pretty good great!

happy Monday everyone!

Go Fly a Kite!

waiting for trick or treating on Saturday was torture for my little ones… “can we go yet?” 3 year olds have NO concept of time…..Cooper is still mixing up his breakfast from dinner!

so…with little to no rain in sight we headed  out to fly kites!

loving coop’s hair!

Going on day #4 of mysterious “flu like” sickness. As i posted yesterday Caroline’s fever broke in the morning, but i wanted to keep her home an extra day……there is a reason why the “experts” recommend keeping little ones home for 24 hours AFTER the fever breaks….because by noon time she was in tears and the fever was back!!! are you kidding me? enough is enough!  Good news…the fever has been low enough we haven’t had to give any more motrin and she is sleeping all night in her bed…to be continued!

flu?

yesterday’s newspaper…. “ vaccine should arrive in coming weeks”     really?!   a little too late i think.

mom’s in our area have been reporting “flu like” symptoms for weeks, school attendance at all time lows.

it hit Caroline this weekend……high fever of almost 104….motrin around the clock, sleepless nights for all, coughing, runny nose.

good spirits though, except for the complete meltdown when i told her she had to miss school.

Nana to the rescue…..a delivery of movies!!!

good news…after 3 days of high fever…it broke last night.

i get the mom award for keeping her home for 24 hours…even though she is completely recovered…how do i know for sure you ask? Because she is back to tormenting her brother…thats how i know. its going to be a VERY long day.

when i called the doctor if they are testing for the h1n1 virus, they said no…its not a reliable test they told me.

so….was it the dreaded swine flu? we’ll never know.

stay healthy everyone!

Halloween 2009

 

below is a picture of Rob walking cooper to his preschool for the preschool costume parade…on our way we ran into our neighbor who works downtown…see her there in the background…she was dressed up as a witch…coop thought that was cool.

 

  

Friday night we headed out to the spooky parade!

and last but not least…trick or treating on Saturday night.

a pretty quiet night

it poured while we walked, so we got a few treats and headed home early to hand out the candy.

both kids were asleep by 7pm!  might have something to do with the high fever Caroline now has…..boo.