Mom and Jerry could not be with us for Christmas this year so we had a Christmas after Christmas. We had a Christmas brunch 4 days after Christmas with Mom, Jerry, Lisa, Chris, Brenna and Nathan. I was looking forward to this so much. Mom had mentioned that she wanted a Wii. Eric and I along with Connie and the kids, Lisa and family, and Grandma and Granddad got her and Jerry a Wii for Christmas. I was so excited to give it to them knowing that they would not be expecting it.
After playing the Wii at Sheila's house, I wanted to try Mom and Jerry's out before giving it to them, "just to make sure it worked"! Eric and I played for hours after the boys went to bed, there is no way we could have a Wii, we would not get anything else done.
The Wii was a huge hit! Mom and Jerry were very surprised. We all spent a lot of time playing. It was fun to watch everyone else play, you really look kind of silly boxing against a TV. I think boxing was a favorite of David, Michael and Nathan. Brenna was really good a tennis.
Hopefully Mom and Jerry will enjoy the Wii, I hope Mom does not overdo it! With Mom's luck she will end up with something crazy like Wii tennis elbow!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Best Christmas Ever
The boys kept saying "this is going to be the best Christmas ever". Little did I know they were right. 4 seems to be a really magical age. Everything is just so exciting. We counted down every day of December using an advent house that I made (courtesy of Martha Stewart). We watched hours worth of Christmas shows and sung Rudolph hundreds of times. We drove through a live Nativity and drove through the lights at Sandy Point. How can you not be excited around the boys?
David unfortunately got a cold right before Christmas. Christmas eve he was not feeling great, he woke up coughing at 4am which of course woke up Micheal. Michael decided he did not want to go back to sleep, so none of us really went back to sleep after 4am. This was after I went to bed at 1am and Eric at 2am. We were able to keep the boys in bed (David in his room with me on the floor and Michael in bed with Eric) until 7am. At 7, it was just pure craziness, wrapping paper flying until all the presents were unwrapped. Even though we were tired it was a fun morning.
That afternoon we went to Steve and Sheila's for Christmas dinner. When I talk about Sheila, I just tell people "my other sister in law", its easier to explain that way and Steve and Sheila are family. We had so much fun there. Katie and Kyle had gotten a Wii for Christmas. I'm not really a fan of video games, but let me tell you...it was a blast. Dave and I played tennis and bowling, I'm sure we looked like idiots, but it was great. Dinner was terrific, it was a great end to a great day.
David unfortunately got a cold right before Christmas. Christmas eve he was not feeling great, he woke up coughing at 4am which of course woke up Micheal. Michael decided he did not want to go back to sleep, so none of us really went back to sleep after 4am. This was after I went to bed at 1am and Eric at 2am. We were able to keep the boys in bed (David in his room with me on the floor and Michael in bed with Eric) until 7am. At 7, it was just pure craziness, wrapping paper flying until all the presents were unwrapped. Even though we were tired it was a fun morning.
That afternoon we went to Steve and Sheila's for Christmas dinner. When I talk about Sheila, I just tell people "my other sister in law", its easier to explain that way and Steve and Sheila are family. We had so much fun there. Katie and Kyle had gotten a Wii for Christmas. I'm not really a fan of video games, but let me tell you...it was a blast. Dave and I played tennis and bowling, I'm sure we looked like idiots, but it was great. Dinner was terrific, it was a great end to a great day.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Justice Finally
Connie came down today for Bobby's court date. He is serving 5-10 in PA. He has been going back and forth as to whether or not he was going to plead guilty or make Brittany go through a trial. Thank God he plead GUILTY! There was a very graphic statement of facts that was read by the States Attorney, that was very hard to listen to without wanting to jump up and cause bodily harm to him. The judge found him guilty and said that because it was a continuing course of conduct that he would not do consecutive terms. The judge also said that he did not agree with PA's low end of the sentence of 5 years and therefore sentenced him to 9 years. This means that he won't be able to get out in 5, that he definitely has to do 9 years. Even though I would have liked him gone for much longer, I have to be realistic, this is Maryland after all.
I am so proud of Brittany. I can't imagine the amount of courage that it must have taken for her to come forward. I know that she said that she would testify against him, but I'm so glad that she won't have to. She has suffered enough. I'm also so proud of Connie. She has lost so much but has remained so strong. I'm not sure at what point I would have lost it, she has been amazing.
I am so proud of Brittany. I can't imagine the amount of courage that it must have taken for her to come forward. I know that she said that she would testify against him, but I'm so glad that she won't have to. She has suffered enough. I'm also so proud of Connie. She has lost so much but has remained so strong. I'm not sure at what point I would have lost it, she has been amazing.
Moles
Today I had an appointment at Johns Hopkins. Its my 6 month check up with the Melanoma Clinic. When the doctor said she saw 2 moles that looked suspicious to her, I asked for them to be removed right away. I had a rather large mole removed from the small of my back--of course its right where my gun belt sits. 4 stitches there. The other was removed from my face, only 1 stitch there. I have learned over the years to not freak out about getting moles biopsied. I have had enough come back perfectly normal, it was just the one that came back as Melanoma. But then again it only takes 1.... I am not going to worry about the results, I will get the results in about 2-3 weeks. Its out of my hands and the moles are removed.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Christmas Tree
Eric and I figured today was probably the best day out of the next week to go and get our tree. Between the weather, APD, and the bed bug business things have been crazy. Why shouldn't it get a little more crazy? Our friends Wendy and Slade are adopting a child from Siberia! We are so excieted for them, they finally got the call and they have to go to Russia for 2 weeks. Things have been pretty crazy for them and they asked if we could watch Tori for the day while they got things done. The 3 kids were so excieted to be spending the day together. What a great day to take three 4 year olds Christmas tree shopping. It's starting to drizzle, its really muddy, oh well, off we go.
We have been buying our tree from the same place for years. Apart from a bird in the tree (literally) one year and bugs in the tree one year, and Rocky stripping the branches one year, we have had great luck. Before kids, Eric and I would really take our time picking just the perfect tree. Since kids each year we pick a tree a little faster. This year while Eric and I picked the tree, the 3 kids played hide and seek in between the rows of trees, screaming at the top of their lungs as they found each other. With feet covered in mud, its time to go home. On the way home I needed to answer an important phone call. Of course the kids got louder because we asked them to be quite. It ends up with 3 kids in a time out after we get home. I think the time out was better for me than the kids. I enjoyed the 4 minutes of quite before they ran off to play.
Back at home they made us laugh as they played "Book Man". Michael was the "Book Man" and Tori and David were the book readers. I think the jist of it was they were playing library. After removing almost every book the boys have they did a pretty good job of cleaning up. The each selected several books to have read to them. My mom had just gotten into town so she was elected official book reader. I think she read till her eyes crossed.
Slade and Wendy are such good friends. I am so happy that they are going to be blessed with a son in a few months. I'm sure its going to be heartbreaking to meet their son in Russia next week and then to have to leave him in Russia as the paper work is finalized. They should be going to adopt him I think in February. What an exciting time.
We have been buying our tree from the same place for years. Apart from a bird in the tree (literally) one year and bugs in the tree one year, and Rocky stripping the branches one year, we have had great luck. Before kids, Eric and I would really take our time picking just the perfect tree. Since kids each year we pick a tree a little faster. This year while Eric and I picked the tree, the 3 kids played hide and seek in between the rows of trees, screaming at the top of their lungs as they found each other. With feet covered in mud, its time to go home. On the way home I needed to answer an important phone call. Of course the kids got louder because we asked them to be quite. It ends up with 3 kids in a time out after we get home. I think the time out was better for me than the kids. I enjoyed the 4 minutes of quite before they ran off to play.
Back at home they made us laugh as they played "Book Man". Michael was the "Book Man" and Tori and David were the book readers. I think the jist of it was they were playing library. After removing almost every book the boys have they did a pretty good job of cleaning up. The each selected several books to have read to them. My mom had just gotten into town so she was elected official book reader. I think she read till her eyes crossed.
Slade and Wendy are such good friends. I am so happy that they are going to be blessed with a son in a few months. I'm sure its going to be heartbreaking to meet their son in Russia next week and then to have to leave him in Russia as the paper work is finalized. They should be going to adopt him I think in February. What an exciting time.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Gingerbread House Fun
Lisa, Brenna and Nathan came down today for what I thought would be a fun (easy) day of making Gingerbread Houses. I thought it would be a fun tradition to start. Guess I should have read the directions, turns out that the house has to sit for about 3 hours total before you can decorate it.
Nathan's birthday is on the 17th so we gave him his birthday present early. It was a "Show me the Money" wrestling toy. He loved it. Its so much fun to give a gift that is truly appreciated. Guess the whole wrestling theme really got the boys wound up and Lisa and I decided that we would not be able to take watching gingerbread houses set and kids turned pro wrestlers for the next 3 hours so it was off to Chucky Cheese. It goes without saying that everyone had a great time at Chucky Cheese. We got back to my house around 6:30. I figured we would be done the houses around 8pm at the latest, yeah right. Around 9:30 we were finally finished. Nathan and Michael had about as much house decorating as they could take after about an hour and they played together. David and Brenna were terrific, they decorated the entire time.
Nathan's birthday is on the 17th so we gave him his birthday present early. It was a "Show me the Money" wrestling toy. He loved it. Its so much fun to give a gift that is truly appreciated. Guess the whole wrestling theme really got the boys wound up and Lisa and I decided that we would not be able to take watching gingerbread houses set and kids turned pro wrestlers for the next 3 hours so it was off to Chucky Cheese. It goes without saying that everyone had a great time at Chucky Cheese. We got back to my house around 6:30. I figured we would be done the houses around 8pm at the latest, yeah right. Around 9:30 we were finally finished. Nathan and Michael had about as much house decorating as they could take after about an hour and they played together. David and Brenna were terrific, they decorated the entire time.
Shop With A Cop
Every year for the past 3 years I have participated in a program called "Shop with a Cop". The Optimist Club of Anne Arundel Co. has school guidance counselors nominate a child who is doing well in school, but comes from a challenged background. Each child is picked up from home by a police officer and taken to Walmart where they are given a $100 gift card to shop and then we go to lunch at the Outback Steakhouse. I have found it to be a very rewarding experience.
This year was--lets just say---challenging. I had an 8 year old boy that was just overwhelmed with the thought of being able to "buy anything I want". He certainly had no concept of how far $100 would go. There were a few temper tantrums when I would not let him buy rated R movies--I did say he was 8 years old right? Overall he had a terrific time, he bought himself a new bike and several toys and even gifts for his 2 brothers and father. The thing that I found most sad was the fact that he refused to buy anything for his mother. I don't know what his family situation is, but it must be tough.
This is the season of giving, I have found that after the giving of a day with a child that I am truly blessed.
This year was--lets just say---challenging. I had an 8 year old boy that was just overwhelmed with the thought of being able to "buy anything I want". He certainly had no concept of how far $100 would go. There were a few temper tantrums when I would not let him buy rated R movies--I did say he was 8 years old right? Overall he had a terrific time, he bought himself a new bike and several toys and even gifts for his 2 brothers and father. The thing that I found most sad was the fact that he refused to buy anything for his mother. I don't know what his family situation is, but it must be tough.
This is the season of giving, I have found that after the giving of a day with a child that I am truly blessed.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Annual Craft Fair
For me this is the first sign that its the Christmas season. No, seeing Christmas trees in October when I'm out shopping doesn't do it! Every year for many years (I'm not sure how many), I go to a Christmas craft fair in Harrisburg PA. Its a huge deal, an all day event, Christmas everywhere, I love it. I went with my sister in law Beth, and her sister in law Sheila. Beth's good friend Denise usually goes with us, but couldn't make it this year---we missed her. We saw our other sister in law Cathy there, but only for a brief minute as we were all on a mission to get through this huge craft fair.
Not only did I get some great things, but what I love the most is the drive up and back. We can usually get into some pretty deep conversations and I end up feeling so "connected" with them. I already can't wait till next year.
Not only did I get some great things, but what I love the most is the drive up and back. We can usually get into some pretty deep conversations and I end up feeling so "connected" with them. I already can't wait till next year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
