Merry, Merry!

We started this Christmas off better than last year. I remember getting the last gift placed under the tree and going to bed a whole 45 minutes before the kids woke up at 7 a.m. That's right, we didn't finish wrapping until after 6:00. I don't know why we wait until Christmas Eve to wrap everything, but we do. Anyway, this year we actually got to bed and slept for 4 hours before the kids woke up! We had a nice day and enjoyed playing with all our new fun stuff.

Today, we got out of our pajamas and headed to Home Depot to pick up one of Mike's gifts....a snow blower! Yippee! I think we just guaranteed no more snow for the winter now that we are prepared. :) After that, we went to lunch, did a little shopping and went to see Marley and Me. Oh. My. Goodness. What a tear jerker that was! Such a cute movie and I totally cried my eyes out. At one point, we heard someone literally sobbing. We highly recommend it, but bring along the kleenex!

Christmas Eve

Mike worked a half day today so the kids and I did a bit of wrapping before he got home. Since then, we've been eating, watching movies, listening to music, decorating our gingerbread house, and getting ready for tomorrow. Nathan, who argues about bedtime almost EVERY night, wants to skip another movie and dinner to go to sleep at 7:15 tonight. He thinks Santa will come earlier that way. He changed his mind after we told him that Santa won't come until mom and dad have gone to bed also and that won't be for while now. So, I'm off to go fix dinner and watch another flick. Merry Christmas {Eve}!

FUN Day :)

Both Hannah and Nathan spent the night with friends last night. Hannah had swim practice today so her friends' mom just took them from their house. I had planned a "date" for Nathan and I so when he got home this morning, we did some Christmas shopping.
Although we didn't have much to get, it took so long because of the terrible road conditions. (I just have to say I LOVE our Blazer! It maneuvers like a dream in this slushy, messy gunk.)
Anyway, we really had an enjoyable time together. We got hot chocolate and coffee, talked about alot of stuff and at one point were singing Christmas carols so loud in the car we couldn't help but laugh and smile. He is one funny kid :) After picking Hannah up we went to lunch and finished up shopping and errands. It was nice because nobody was bickering and the crankiness stayed away. We're all exhausted, but in a good way. I think we'll stay in tonight and watch Rudolph.
Have a good rest of the week with your families and have a very Merry Christmas! We miss all of you so much and wish we could be together. We are thinking of you all ♥

Oh So Cute!

This is how we are displaying our Christmas cards this year. I love it :)

Just Keep Swimming

*LONG STORY ALERT*

Nathan swam in his very first swim meet this last weekend. He was so nervous in the days leading up to it but he did so well, we are very proud parents! He swam freestyle and backstroke (he hates backstroke, hee hee) and was on a freestyle relay team. His relay took 2nd place in the 8 and under category and he is so proud of that very first ribbon :) He beamed the whole way home!
I thought about bringing my camera on the way out the door and then decided against it. My original thought was to use it to update our picture board at the pool, but I didn't want to be responsible for having to capture all the swimmers. I didn't even make the connection about needing it for Nathy's first meet until they were warming up. It was too far to go back home and get it so I was bummin' big time. Mike and I were on deck helping with the kids (our team had over 120 swimmers present for the meet...whoa!). During one of Nathan's races, I was cheering for him at the end of the lane when a lady from the other team asked if I knew whose boy he was. I told her he was mine and she showed me a picture she took of him on the starting block. I started to cry. He looked so precious...in his jammers, ready position, one leg on the block. I told the woman that it was his very first meet and like a moron I left the camera at home. She took a few more pictures of him that day and promised to e-mail them to me. I can't wait to get them and post them here. After the meet, she saw him coming out of the locker room and told him that he was a great swimmer and he was her hero that day. It was a good day :)
Hannah did well also. This was her first meet as a 13 year old and so she was nervous for that. She had great swims in spite of the nerves and looked really good in the water. She has always been a butterflier, but under the new coach, her stroke has been fine tuned and looks so sharp!
We get a break with meets now for a couple weeks and will be starting up again the beginning of January. Until then, they just keep swimming.

Cookie Exchange

Here are this year's creations for the cookie exchange I am going to. Mmmmm, they are delicious if I do say so myself :)

Update

"New Dog" has successfully been reunited with her "old family". We've learned she is a coon hound named Kara. Even though we know she's in her home, with her people, we're pretty sad around here tonight. All of us except Harley, that is.

Out of our *&^%$# minds!

While we were out tonight, Hannah was looking for a new bag, we encountered a stray puppy. We asked everyone in the store if it was theirs or knew who it belonged to. No luck. Being that it's cold, pouring rain, and pitch black outside, there was no way we could just walk away and abandon her. The poor thing is so skinny :( So, she is now at our house, playing contendedly with her new toy having received a warm bath and some food. We're trying to find the owner. Until then, the kids have named her Shelby. Mike calls her New Dog, and I've warned them not to get too attached. I think I should take my own advice...

Winter Wonderland

We had a generous amount of snow last night that turned our yard into a beautiful scene! It's really putting us in the mood to cuddle under blankets and enjoy the last day of our mini "vacation".

Last night, we got the tree up and the living room all decked out for Christmas. It's so inviting in there now :) Of course it could not be done without the traditional Morgan Mix playing in the background. We all just sat and stared at the tree for a while after we were finished decorating it, enjoying the lights. Hannah enjoyed it from a different angle...

What we've been up to

As with everyone's busy lives, things have been pretty hectic around here lately. Mike has taken all of Thanksgiving week off, and we are SOOOO looking forward to some time together and to chill out with the kiddos.

I started a part time job 2 weeks ago at the elementary school that Nathan attends. Just 3 hours a day, but smack dab in the middle of it. I am so grateful, however, that I can be somewhere that is focused around the kids' schedules. It's perfect for now :)

Our swim club held a Swim-A-Thon this past Saturday so we have been busy preparing for that. Our goal was $10,000.00 and I think we just might get it! Final numbers aren't in yet but will be soon. With our new coach, there have been alot of changes and restructuring. The team is the largest it has ever been (in over 20 years of existence) and we now need to run practices out of two seperate facilities to accomodate all of the groups. Mike and I both serve on the parent board, he as President, I am a member-at-large. We coordinate the home meets and I take care of all the accessories and apparel designing and ordering. It sure keeps us hopping.

In the past month, all four of us have been sick. It seems that poor Nathy has been hit the hardest. After finishing a round of antibiotics for a sinus infection, he went back on them 5 days later for an ear infection. Two days later, it developed into pneumonia and had to change medicine yet again. This past month we've been to the doctor's office 8 times and filled 10 prescriptions. Ugh.

The kids have school Monday and a half day Tuesday. We're looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house this week. Of course, we will be among the crazies on Friday morning for shopping. I hope there's some good deals waiting for me!

We wish all of you a VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING and wish we could be together to spend the holiday with our loved ones. We are so thankful for all of you and the love and delight you bring to our lives. Enjoy your week!

First Snow

If you can believe it, just this weekend was our first sign that winter is most definately on it's way. Appropriately, the flurries began on the day we took the kids to get fitted for ski boots and skis for this season. Just a week ago, we were basking in the warmth of the sun and it was a gorgeous 71 degrees. Nothing beats raking leaves and mowing the lawn in that kind of weather in November! I think this was the first year we had trick or treating and didn't have to wear layers upon layers.

For Sale

Days filled with stress, crap and really retarded situations. Sale goes to the highest bidder. We are packing up and moving the family to a secluded island.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

When did this happen? My little girl has grown up! It seems like we've been living the teenage years for quite a while now, but today it's official. Thirteen. Whoa! I can't say that I could be any more pleased with the way she is growing up. We are so proud of all that Hannah has accomplished and all the goals she has set for herself to achieve. She is working hard and staying on the right path to meet those goals, and we know that they will all be hers :)

Somewhere along the way, Arthur cartoons, hide and seek games, and piggy back rides have been replaced with cell phones, ipods, and hanging out with friends. I miss the little girl that promised to stay home on the weekends and do puzzles with her mommy, but I'm pretty darn happy with the young woman that has taken her place. We love you Hannah!

Boo Bash

Whew!! First meet down, lots more to go. Hannah had her first USA meet of the season this weekend and did sooo well :) She took time off in all 4 of her events; she swam the 200 free, 50 free, 100 back and ended the day with a fantastic swim in the 50 fly. She was so nervous for this meet because it's been 2 1/2 months since the last one. Between dual meets and USA meets, she will be swimming practically every weekend starting in December. No more sleeping in on weekends for us, but oh well. It's fun to watch her swim and see all her hard work pay off.

Beautiful

What a gorgeous weekend we had! The weather was chilly but sunny and clear. It felt so good to get outside and enjoy :) We took full advantage of the great days and took some fun pictures of the kids. Here are some of my absolute favorites.

Eight Things...

I was tagged by Molly, so here goes!

8 TV shows I love to watch:

1. FOOTBALL
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. John & Kate plus 8
4.The Hills
5. Kath & Kim
6. Project Runway
7. Greek
8. The New 90210 (I was totally sucked in)


8 things that happened today:
(it's early so I'll list for yesterday too)

1. school meeting
2. dr. appointment
3. swimming meeting
4. dropped Nathan off at a friends house for the night
5. dinner alone with my hubby :) (tried a gyro for the first time...not as bad as I thought it would be and totally LOOOOVED this place's greek salad...mmmmm)
6. had a chill evening with mike listening to sarah mclachlan. we {heart} her.
7. was rudely awakened by the marching band practicing this morning
8. taking fun autumn photos later :)

8 favorite places to eat:

1. Los Hermanos
2. Chik-fil-a
3. Carrabbas
4. Sizzler (hee hee)
5. El Jimador
6. Wendy's
7. Texas Roadhouse
8. Apollo Burger


8 things I'm looking forward to:

1.Picking Nathy up
2. Taking the aforementioned pictures
3. Watching the game
4. Mike's birthday
5. Hannah's birthday
6. Halloween
7. Swim season to start (It seems like they've been practicing forever already...time to race!)
8. Winter break

8 things on my wish list:

1. STEELERS TICKETS!!!!
2. I wish the economy would turn around
3. 68* and sunny
4. To see family
5. Happiness for my kiddos, always
6. More time in the day
7. Longer weekends
8. A VACATION

8 people I tag to do this:

Anyone who thinks it'll be fun x8

Something Fun

I found this cute website (wordle.net) that makes these fun little things. I decided to make one for each of the kids :)

Scone Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar + 1 tsp. sugar reserved
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or raisins or dried currants)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg


DIRECTIONS:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
4. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
5. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

VARIATIONS:

Cranberry-Orange Scones
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated orange rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried cranberries for the raisins.

Lemon-Blueberry Scones
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried blueberries for the raisins.

Cherry-Almond Scones
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding 1/2 tsp. almond extract to the sour cream mixture and substituting dried cherries for the raisins.

Sunday Morning Scones, mmmmm

I found this scone recipe online a few weeks back and decided to give it a try. We all loved them sooo much it has become our Sunday morning treat. This week we made a batch of chocolate chip and a batch of cherry almond. Our tummies are happy!
Next up to try: lemon blueberry and cranberry orange :)

Hooray!

Hannah came home from camp today and we were all so excited to see her. Nathan really missed her while she was gone. The first night, he wanted to call her so badly to say goodnight and was bummed when we told him she couldn't take her cell phone. This morning he was brushing his teeth and all of a sudden realized today was the day she was coming home. He started to chant, "Hannah, Hannah, Hannah..."
Hannah's bus pulled in before Nathy got out of school and she came with me to pick him up. The look on his face was priceless :) She hugged him so tight and told him she missed him and he said, "I missed you more!" He is such a tender-hearted kid.
It's good to have her back home. It definately feels weird when the kids are away. I start to get antsy if we haven't all been home together for a while.

Weekend stuff

We had to laugh when Nathan was riding his bike the other day and we could hear him outside huffing and puffing about something. I thought he was complaining about his bike but it turns out he saw a snake and freaked. So we went out to see if we could find it and there it was. Mike was keeping it from slithering away by using two sticks so I could run in and grab the camera. He finally gave up on the sticks and just picked it up, eeeew. Anywho, when it's tongue came out and we saw it was red, Nathan got totally interested and decided that it was pretty cool. He even pet it a few times. By the time we let it go, he was bummed he couldn't keep it.

Nathan's best bud Jack came to spend the night and we did s'mores in the backyard. It was totally cute to listen to them talk to each other. They were making marshmallows for each other and I told them they were so cute. Nathan explained it was because they're best friends and Jack says, "yeah, good times, good times." Hee hee! They're so funny :)

We've got spirit, yes we do!

A typical Friday night outfit for Hannah requires that it contain yellow and blue, as we are most likely at a high school football game. It's funny to see us at a game...Mike and Nathan are watching the action on the field, I'm craning my neck to watch the action on the hill where Hannah hangs with all her friends.

The Face of Determination

Nathan has learned to ride a two-wheeler! This day has been a long time in the making and boy has he worked hard to get here. We've had a couple trial runs without the training wheels, but it never lasted more than a few minutes. This time we could tell there was something different about his attitude. I think there was a part of him that just got sick of not being able to take off on that bike and ride like his friends could. So after a couple of bike modifications, he finally did it!

Every day he teaches me what courage really is. Every day he teaches me what perserverance is. Every day he shows me what patience is. Imagine being in a world surrounded by people that stare at you. All the time. Having to be a "teacher" to other kids, and adults too, is such a big burden for such a little guy. But he does it. With his head held high and a smile on his face! I just fill with emotion and swell with pride when I see how he handles himself. Isn't that how we all feel about our children? It's a sign we get in the uncertainty of parenting that maybe, just maybe, we've done something right :)

Just a few happenings...

from the last couple weeks. I'm feeling long-winded so prepare yourself :)

Mike has been on a couple small business trips to Minneapolis, Detroit and Chicago. It's been so nice to have him home! The first 8 years we lived here, he was gone at least 2 weeks out of every month and not having his support at home really stunk. So with the changes at work in the last year, we've been blessed with less travel. After a trip to Sweden a couple months ago, we realized it had been nearly 11 months since he had to fly somewhere. YAHOO!

Hannah is doing really well in school. She is happy with her schedule and has some really great teachers, one being the dad of a kid she's been friends with since 3rd grade. She was elected to Student Government and will be going to camp at the beginning of October. Swimming started again after a short 4 week break and she's stoked to be back in the water. It's funny how we're all so ready for the rest, and after only a couple weeks she starts getting antsy to swim again. We have a new coach this year so that is an exciting change. What's been hard is that she swims with older kids and they are all doing high school swimming right now. She's missing her friends and can't wait until they return in a couple months.

Nathan is also doing well. His teacher is a blast and he loves her! He just finished testing for the gifted program called E2. We should find out in a few days if he gets in. He was excited for homework and now that he has it, not so much. I think we all saw that one coming :) He has decided that he'd like to give swim team a try. It has been fun to watch him, he's so cute. There's another little girl that has the same condition as he does that signed up also. We know their family well, as the kids ski together in the winter. It was a nice surprise to see them at the pool the first day and I think it was a sigh of relief for the two of them. Being different is easier when there's a friend to go through it with you. Of course, he is counting down the days until he can hit the slopes!

I'm still plugging along with the different committees and such that I am a part of. Right now, I am the Vice-President in the PTO at Nathan's elementary. I also serve on a committee at the district level and we're working on re-districting. It's never fun going through those changes let alone being one of the people to make those changes a reality for others. Mike and I are both on the parent board for the swim team and that's a ton of work. My task load is scaled down alot compared to recent years. This summer was a real turning point for me and it opened my eyes to the necessity of saying no to a few things. I don't let go of things easily so it's been a challenge to stick to keeping things to a minimum. Next year, I plan on being done with almost all of it and sticking to swimming and Nathan's classroom.

We send our love to everyone and hope you are all doing well. Until next time :)

Nathan's Birthday Pics

Here's a few pictures from Nathan's birthday party this year :)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Aaahhh!

It's like a switch has been flipped this weekend. We had 96 degree weather on Tuesday and today we're in the crisp 60's. The air smells so clean and refreshing. This is my favorite time of year! I especially love:

• football
• leaves changing color
• blankets
• getting cozy on the couch with a good book or movie
• apple picking
• driving with the windows down
• sweatshirts
• fires in the backyard fire pit
• baking
• thanksgiving
• halloween
• the promise that ski season is right around the corner (mmm...hot chocolate!)

I think the list could go on forever :)

You knew this was bound to happen

There's no way we could let the official start of the NFL season come without a nod to the Steelers ;)
Time to break out the jersey's, the Terrible Towel, and get our game on! Here's to a great season of football. Woo Hoo!

We have success!!

So when the end of the first day of school comes and Hannah says her day went great and Nathan stands in the hallway of school screaming, "I love second grade!", there's a sigh of relief. I knew Nathan would LOVE his teacher, they have such similar senses of humor. (*side note* His teacher's name is Mrs. Viglianti...and she tells me today that a little girl in her room kept calling her Mrs. Vaglianti, well, I almost choked I laughed so hard!)

Anyway, let's hope the excitment lasts a while.

So these are the shoes that Nathan HAD to have this year. Luckily we were able to find them :)

Well, whaddya know

It's the end of summer already! I can't believe that school is starting up again. I know most parents count down the days to the time the big yellow bus drives down the street again, but we are not those parents. Only one glorious day left until all the craziness begins. Hannah is starting 8th grade (holy cow!) and Nathy is going into 2nd grade. Eeeeek! Where has the time gone? It seemed like not too long ago, I was complaining to my co-workers that I didn't want Hannah to start school. That was 12 1/2 years ago. September is always a time of reflection for me, much more of a "new year" than January. So I'm off to relish that last day of summer...don't call before noon, we're sleeping in!