My turkey weekend and brush with celebrity

For Thanksgiving we went downstate to be with my family. I always look forward to this holiday, not so much for the big turkey dinner but for the day after when all the girls in the family take off and go shopping. All day. And this year was no different. Alarms were set at the buttcrack of dawn(3am) and we ventured out for the day. 8 women loaded into a 14 passenger van affectionately named, The Big Red Kahuna. Lots of belly laughs, inside jokes, and child-free meals were shared. At the end of the day we got to go see this little girl who is still in the hospital.

Even though she is still recovering from pneumonia she was still her happy self. Nothing seems to get her down. She is such a trooper and gave us lots of smiles and giggles.
We finally made it home around 9pm. What a long day!!The next day I got to meet this handsome man!!!

Doug Wilson from Trading Spaces(TLC) recently bought and renovated a restaraunt in my hometown. I have been waiting patiently to get back home in hopes to catch a glimpse of him around town. I was so excited to see he was at the restaurant the night we went. He was so friendly, walking around to all the tables talking to people. He even helped himself to the girls' french fries. Sydney wasn't the only one who was a little star struck;) Thanks to a little liquid courage in the form of an awesome pomegranet martini and some Blue Moon, I got up the nerve to go talk to him. He's very friendly and down to earth. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the restaraunt but I didn't want him to think I was stalking him;) You truly would have to see before pictures to appreciate what he's done with it. Supposedly there is going to be a show documenting it.

I had to add this picture when I discovered the silly girl in the background:)

The girls had a table all to themselves.

My cousin Molly who is hoping to get a job there while she is going to school. Pays to know the right people;)

Thanks mom for playing photographer and not embarrasing me too much!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

A quote from Marcie: "You heard what Linus was saying out there. Those early pilgrims were thankful for what happened to them, and we should be thankful, too. We should just be thankful for being together. I think that's what they mean by "Thanksgiving,' Charlie Brown."

♥Enjoy your families♥

My little pilgrim

Today Natalie's kindergarten class had a Thanksgiving play. Given how she hid behind the girl in front of her during the Grandparent's day celebration, I was a little worried she would have another case of stage fright. Not today. Yay! She stood in front of all the parents and grandparents and said her lines and played her part as a pilgrim. What a cute teepee they made!

For snack they had a cornucopia full of treats.

I also got an award today from Jamie at Right At Home . I am proud to call her my bloggy friend♥ Make sure you check out the really great gift ideas she just recently posted.

Along with this award, I am to list 6 things that I am grateful for.
1. my happy and healthy family
2. my sense of humor that gets me through life
3. Twilight AND Robert Pattinson(yummy eye candy)
4. my reliable car that will safely get me to my family's home for Thanksgiving
5. the drop in gas prices so that I may travel with a little less worry
6. my friends near and far in real life and the blog world
Thanks Jamie!

Sunday Baker giveaway

It's time for another Sunday Baker giveaway. This week she has chosen this tote set from Simply Notes and Totes. How cute is this?! Wouldn't you just love to have it?! Well, as much as I would love for you to have it, I really would like it for myself! Just being honest♥ The contest ends Tuesday, November 25th at 8pm.

On another note, my cousin's daughter, Alicen is back in the hospital with pneumonia. She went into the hospital on Friday because her feeding tube came out. While there they discovered she has pneumonia again. If you could please pray for her or if you are not the praying type, please keep her in your thoughts. We are heading back home for the Thanksgiving and I would love more than anything to get to see her!! And her mommy too! Hi Turkey:)

Thanksgiving through the years

I had every intention of posting about all the things I am thankful for. Since I don't like pictureless posts, I started looking for some Thanksgiving pictures from years past to add. While looking at these it made me think of all the milestones and life events that happened around these times. The hardest to think about was Thanksgiving 2005. My grandpa Ralph had cancer and had not been doing well. It was nice to spend the holiday with him and my grandma. At the same time Bill's dad was also suffering from cancer and had taken a turn for the worst while we were out of town. He passed away just days later and my grandpa Ralph passed away in March. As life reminds us though, through all the bad times there are good times. We had lots of those too♥

Natalie's First Thanksgiving 2003



















2004 Celebrating Alicen being home and healthy!

2005 Grandpa Ralph's last Thanksgiving

What a difference a year makes for Alicen!

2006 At the condo in Wisconsin

No pictures of 2007?? Trying to upload these pictures and getting the print to go where I want it reminds me to never use the "left or right" uploading features again. I know when I hit publish that these pictures are going to be all willy nilly! And that will drive the perfectionist part of me crazy!!!! Happy week before Thanksgiving:)

The weekend

The stomach bug has hit the girls' school. Sydney ended up with it Friday night but thankfully it was very short lived. We stayed in our pj's all day Saturday. She was fine but I was just paranoid there was more to come or that Natalie was going to end up with it. Kind of like waiting for the other shoe to fall! It didn't. We all needed out of the house by this afternoon so we met a few friends at the theater to see High School Musical 3. Is it wrong to be a grown woman and have impure thoughts of Zac Efron?!?! Yeah, don't answer that! I think I already know;)Sunday Baker is having another great giveaway! Go check her out. Not only does she have some great recipes to offer but she has searched and found some great Etsy store items. Perfect stocking stuffers for little girly girls:) Don't waste any time, the giveaway ends tonight!

Thanks again for all of your kind words!

Life

When life hands you lemons

make lemonade.

Or one of these!
Life has handed us quite a few lemons that past couple of months and it's finally catching up with me. I've been optimistic. I've been positive. I've been happy-go-lucky. Not anymore. I have become sour and bitter like those lemons. I "know" the right things to say, the way I "should" feel, the way I "should" react but I just can't get there. My husband has still not found a worthwhile job. For the first time in nine years I need to get a job. The holidays are here and I just cannot get in the spirit. We have opted out of gift exchanges with our families so we can make sure our girls have a good Christmas. I'm sad. It's not just the gift giving. It's the whole big picture. I know I should just put on my big girl panties(and Lord knows they are getting big enough) and deal with it and I eventually will but I'm just not at that place right now!

Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy has been very busy at our house! I can't believe Natalie has lost so many teeth. The kid isn't even SIX yet!! She's also rolling in the dough! What kind of tooth fairy leaves money at their grandma's house too?! Definitely not the same fairy I had growing up!! Here she is just 2 days before Halloween. My little jack-o-lantern.

This was a week later. My little hillbilly:) She's already been singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." Bless her heart.

4's

While I wasn't exactly tagged to do this, I've seen lots of other bloggers playing along. You are to go to your fourth picture file and post the fourth picture. Out of curiousity I checked out my photos and thought it was fitting as the fourth picture was Sydney's fourth birthday. That's a lot of 4's! This was her birthday breakfast. Healthy and nutritious:)

It's a tradition that the girls always have a candle in their birthday breakfast.


Here she is 5 years later!

Where has the time gone?!

Today, my baby turns NINE! Where has the time gone?! I am so happy and so sad at the same time. She's growing up to be a fine young lady. I just can't believe that in what feels like the blink of an eye she is no longer my baby but a nine year old, third grader!

Tonight she is having an "almost sleepover" with her friends. They'll come wearing their pajamas. We'll eat pizza, play games and have lots of fun! Oh, to be a kid again:)

Happy Birthday Sydney! I love you more than you will ever know!!!