Ahhh

I just finished my first cold turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwich. You've got to love it! That is the great thing about cooking at home for Thanksgiving-leftovers. And with the invention of the dishwasher, the clean up isn't that bad either. I got the turkey in the oven on time with Jim's help. I had him find all of the surprises in the turkey (which we saved for Auntie) and clean it out as I got the stuffing ready. I like to jazz up the Stove Top with some onions, mushrooms and ground pork. Thank God for the little popper upper. No guessing when it was done, well kind of. At least it didn't have a ton of meat thermometer holes in it.

After dessert we headed over to Jim's Uncle Paul's house. He and his son-in-law put on an extravagant light display and they kick it off on Thanksgiving night. They have their own website and usually collect for different charity each year. It is quite a commitment. Because it is so well known and extensive, someone has to be out there every night. As you can imagine in this day and age, people help themselves and walk right onto their lawn to explore if they don't. That's all they would need...an electrocuted corpse as part of the display. Jim's Uncle Paul is a California transplant. I'm pretty sure he spent most of his life in the warm climate. Now every other day from Thanksgiving to Christmas he is out in the frigid temperatures. No wonder he already has his Florida vacation planned for January.

Right now the boys are playing with early Christmas presents. Auntie Jackie came out for the holiday and wanted to bring them shopping for their Christmas gifts. I'm getting a hint of the quiet that we will experience that comes with the excitement of new toys to explore.

Far and Few in Between

I haven't written many posts lately. I try not to when I'm feeling in a funk. I try not to vent much here, but then I go MIA. I do try to be everything to everyone, but I don't like being expected to be Mom to a 43 year old. One who expects me to buy his clothes and then complains about everything that is bought, and how dare I not know his size. "I told you these fit good", Silly me, I thought it was the style he liked.

Man it is so cold, and we have no heat upstairs. I had a plumber come to service the furnace (yes I) which hasn't been done since we bought the house 7 years ago and is apparently supposed to be done each winter. But anyway, supposedly it will cost $1000. to fix the 'problem'. They can't treat the 'symptoms' for $500. but that won't cure the problem. Of course I want a reputable company, but then you deal with their overhead. We had the same word done about 4 years ago (I found the reciept) and it cost $176. Now I know inflation happens, but that's a bit much. So I have to wonder, did he not fix it right to begin with and I got what I paid for, or does the new well known company have a lot of overhead. I guess another estimate will will give me more of a headache help. For now, more blankets. Oh and I still haven't replaced my camera and my printer is not working. Merry Christmas to me...

Today Jacob is going to his first birthday party. It is at a bouncy place like Joshua's party last weekend was. It's a cool thing to have especially in extreme temperature times. He is excited and has waited a long time to get to go to parties for his friends.

Any special Thanksgiving plans out there??? Robin and I will be cooking together. That is if she doesn't drop the turkey off the night before and show up an hour before dinner. ****THAT IS A JOKE...I DON'T WANT ANY COMMENTS ABOUT HOW MEAN I AM**** I am looking forward to having leftovers as we are usually not home. I just love cold turkey, stuffing and cranberry sandwiches (and so do my hips). The night before we will be going to Aunt Barbaras to get together with some family that is spread out for Thanksgiving. I think that would be a cool tradition to start. Auntie Chris participates in a 'Chinese Thanksgiving' each year with another family of friends that are also spread out on Thanksgiving. They all get together and order tons of yummy chinese food.

While I wait for the take-out

I'm so in the holiday spirit. I really wanted to put up our tree today. The good thing about having an artificial tree is that you don't have to worry about when you put it up because it won't die. In other words, I can't kill it from forgetting to water it. It's not up yet. I usually wait until Thanksgiving goes by, but I don't know that I will. I use to have friends who would put up their decorations right after Halloween.

Not much happening this weekend. A birthday party, recycling, an ear infection, a rainy day and the same I Carly episode we have seen at least 4 times this week. The boys had dentist appointments this week. I was pleasantly surprised that they both got good reports. I was so worried about my candy monster Jacob. But she said he looked great. Next visit Joshua gets his start on sealants, money making manuevers to save baby teeth.

Got the Spirit

So not only did I Christmas shop this weekend, I wrapped them too. The boys helped me (which takes quite the patience). Can you see your present in the picture? It's kind of exciting. Don't get me wrong I'm sure I will still be out at 5 pm on Christmas Eve finishing up last minute gifts. It never fails.

The boys sent out their Christmas e-mail, thanks to Auntie, and received a response. In case anyone wondered how Santa keeps in shape, he says it's by riding a bike. Just so you know.

As I type tonight Jim is away hunting. I hate how I always hear different sounds when he is away. He'll be back tomorrow so I think I can handle one night.

Getting back on the horse

It's been a week. Where does the time go? This week I turned a year older, and a year wiser I hope. We celebrated by having spaghetti, salad and rolls with dipping oil. So yummy. We got rolls from one restaurant and dipping oil from another. Robin made a strawberry rhubarb pie and Jim got a cake too. He actually got all 34 candles on the cake. It was really pretty to see all the candles. And yes, I got them all in one blow.

Jacob gave me a funny story this week. I'm sure he'll thank me someday for sharing it with you. At the end of one day this week he informs me that I didn't put any underwear out for him. "You mean you didn't wear any underwear to school today?" I asked him. "Well my pants weren't loose" he assured me. (The underwear had fallen off the couch right where I put his close each morning) So this weekend he showed Jim and I how he wore two pairs. Apparently he was making up for earlier in the week...

I am so excited, I actually got going on my Christmas shopping. It has been a bit rainy and the kids where getting a bit stir crazy so Jacob came with me. It was nice really to have one of them. I try to get one to come with me somewhere once in a while for one/one time but usually they want to be together. I picked some gifts while Jacob picked out items for his list. He was content with that. I bought myself a little birthday gift too, 300 thread count soft sheets. Sweet. You know we spend half of our life in bed...you should splurge with good sheets. Joshua stayed behind with Daddy and then they went for a little walk in the woods. Daddy calls it hunting. But after 12 years of knowing him and no deer, I call it a nature walk :)

Trick or Treat

Here are a few pictures from last night. The boys were super polite and wanted to pet every dog they saw. I thought it was going to be a long night. I always get a kick over how different Trick or Treat is now than when I was a kid. These days candy is nothing special, a weekly affair. The boys are done by 7 (we start at 6) and they are happy with what is in their basket. When we were kids, we had pillow cases and literally ran until the very last minute. We knew that candy needed to last until Easter :)Aparently Scarecrows look different standing on one leg.

I don't know, didn't ask, just snapped the pictures. I'm well know for giving 'big eyes'. Here you can clearly see Joshua is my son. "Mom, how did the picture come out?" "Mommy looks a little goofy". "You always do". Thanks kids. I just can't take all of the compliments he give me.

These are just a few of the 'wacky pumpkins' we made at Jacob's party.

Get your tea, take a seat (maybe get some ear plugs)

This week started with Jim and Jeffrey returning from the camp at 10:45 on Sunday night. They had been working on the roof and mother nature didn't completely cooperate so they didn't accomplish as much as needed to be done. With rain expected on Tuesday, Jim returned Monday morning to finish the part of the roof that has been leaking. He has blisters on blisters and is beat. This weekend we will have to return to dispose of more shingles before the snow begins.

On Sunday I made Jacob's costume. I really enjoy making his costumes and think this will be the last year he lets me. He is at that point where he wants to start getting scary costumes. I did convince him to be the scarecrow and he will be the cutest scarecrow ever. Not to make my hair head any bigger, but I am proud of how it came out. I had to be creative to get the hay to come out from his arms and legs without bugging his eczema.

Here is the calm before the storm. Jacob was chilling out before his party.

His was first. It went well. Lots of kids, inside, running around playing with balloons. I was prepared and had the whole time planned. It was the only way I could have handled that many kids in a small space. We made some 'wacky pumpkins' and voted on the wackiest, ate some yummy spider web cookies (which I forgot to take a picture of) and fruit, danced around with balloons and popped them one by one. Unfortuneatly, this was the only picture I got from Jacob's party. I really had to keep them busy and didn't have a minute to snap a picture. Especially since I dropped my camera and the view screen doesn't work. I have almost forgotten how to take a picture by looking through the little hole.

Joshua's party was yesterday. Again it went well. Auntie and Karin were there for support. I think they helped too. I think Karin poured juice or something. :) I was worried about the bigger kids but they were all good. Really, Joshua was the 'worst' one. I know he was excited, but still. He has it in his mind that 'it's a party' and he was trying to be funny, but he was a bit rude. I was looking for a volunteer to take him for a while.

The wrapped each other as toilet paper mummies. What's a little mess if they all pitch in to clean up. We had torn toilet paper and popped balloons everywhere but it was all good. Once a year thing. Again we had fruit with green slime (colored white chocolate) and spider web cookies. Oh and Karin's glueten free, peanut free brownies. The kids sucked them up like vaccuum cleaners. Except of course for the little kid at the end of the table who pretty much made a table cloth out of the crumbs. I'm trying to convince Karin to contact WMUR to do one of those Cook's Corner segments on the noon news. There are so many people who have these food allergies and she has some yummy recipes. I am a fan of her chocolate chip banana bread. I don't know how many times I have to hint toward that. ;)

I think all of the kids had a great time. I'm sure they appreciated the opportunity to be loud, run around and pop balloons. Here is a video of their fun.

Someone at the Halloween store told me that this can be addicting. We'll see about that next year. I did enjoy it, but I am feeling the stress today. The boys were absolutely driving me crazy. Don't they just understand that sometimes I just need to see Dr. 90210 without screaming and balloons flying in my face. I mean come on Dr. Ray was on.