road trip!

In 12 hours, I hope to be in London.

(London, Ontario, but still ...)

Tomorrow we are leaving bright and early to visit our neighbors to the north. Or north-east to be exact. To have a Thanksgiving meal and to celebrate my nephews 6th birthday. And to eat some more while we visit. We'll probably eat something, too.

Catch you on the flip side!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My favorite Thanksgiving show of all time! I always crack up when I think of Courtney Cox with a turkey on her head.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Have a great day full of family & friends, delicious things to eat, and a nap or two.

greetings from Frankenmuth!

For those of you not in Michigan, Frankenmuth is home to the world's largest Christmas store, and we went there on Saturday! The kids thought they would be bored and/or shopping for the next 15+ hours. They were pleasantly surprised that neither turned out to be true! Saturday was a gorgeous day, perfect for some outdoor strolling and general lollygagging. And snacking. Lordy, we bought caramel corn, fudge, strudel, cinnamon chip pound cake, sourdough bread, and that was all before we went out to dinner at Bavarian Inn!

inside Bronner's. The novelty of taking pix by cute decorations wore off quickly!

Grammy Sandy (the birthday girl) with the kids outside. Oops! Didn't mean for Emma to have rabbit ears. I guess I'd better start paying attention :)

A gorgeous fall day!

I didn't think to take any pix inside of Bavarian Inn during dinner. Rats. There was enough food to sink a ship. It was delicious, and we didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes. Over at Zehnder's, the line was at least 2 hours long. No, thanks!

Tracey & Greg

And my favorite photo, Bart 'cupping' the mermaid's ta-ta's. We are so classy.

We made it home in time for Em to go to her 8:45 viewing of New Moon (she liked it). It was a weird experience to have her be out with her friends until almost midnight, without one of us there. Dating prep. Ah!

The rest of the weekend went by in a blur. Soccer took up most of the day yesterday. Today was all about resting and trying to catch up on some unfinished projects. Bart's off all week, and he was pulling out the outdoor lights to get started on those. The joys of the holiday!

team Jacob!

Today is opening day for 'New Moon'. I don't have to tell you that nationwide girls of every age will be lining up around the block to see it.

I bought tickets for Emma to go with her friends tomorrow evening. 8:45 was the only time all weekend that all 4 girls could go, and we are even dicey on that time (tomorrow we are going to Frankenmuth to celebrate my MIL's 70th birthday, and 8:45 may be cutting it close) I am going to wait a few days, until I can be sure that I won't be surrounded by a gaggle of screaming teen girls who sob at the sight of Edward. {{shudder}}

I am firmly a member of team Jacob.

*************************

It's going to be a busy weekend, with all the travelling to Frankenmuth and chicken dinner eating going on tomorrow. I'm hoping to get a bit of Christmas spirit out of this trip. If you can't find some at Bronner's, then I doubt there is any to be had!

Both kids have soccer games on Sunday. Then I really need to plan what we are having for dinner on Thursday. It won't be turkey. Not that I am against turkey in any way, but on Saturday we are driving to Canada to visit my brother's extended family, and there will be turkey galore there. And ham. And probably some other meat. Shannon is going to put us into a serious food coma.

**************************

Evan bid on (and won) a used PSP with his birthday money, on ebay. If it doesn't come within the next 48 hours I am going to lose my marbles. NOT a good week to be home sick for a day, and then have 2 half days. He literally sat in his window and watched for the mailman all afternoon yesterday.

Happy Friday y'all!

believe

last years Christmas card photo

Last night I learned that Emma has learned the truth about Santa.

Part of me is relieved, a whole "phew! That's over. Thank goodness" sort of feeling. But a bigger part me of is just sad. One more little piece of childhood innocence snatched away. This is the same part that hopes she doesn't share her newfound information with her brother, who still believes in the man in red, even though my life would be easier.

And do you know how she found out? From a friend at school, whose mother told her because she didn't want her daughter to be ridiculed for believing in Santa in middle school. I'm all for letting them believe in the magic of Christmas as long as possible. It's not easy being a kid in 2009; I want mine to be kids as long as they can.

I found out about Santa well before I was 12, but I found out the old fashioned way-I snuck out and spied my parents. And of course I had to share my shock with my only brother, who was robbed of many good Santa years as a result. He still brings it up every year.

So the moral of the story is to let your kids be kids for as long as they can be, and don't steal anyone elses' Christmas magic. I still believe.

getting older sucks

This pretty much goes without saying, but aging ain't for sissies!

Getting older just sort of creeps up on you in the middle of the night. One day you are a carefree 18 year old, wondering who you should hang out with on Friday night. The next day you are 41, hobbling around your house in pain and pondering your youth.

I have no idea what I have done to my tailbone, but I did something. You would think whatever I did would be big enough for me to notice, or to remember injuring it. You would be wrong. I just woke up yesterday with an incredible amount of pain in my ass. Today is not much better. In fact, the surrounding muscles are rebelling and spasming in protest. Everything is off. It hurts to walk, to stand, to sit.

This tops off a week that saw one of my heaviest and ickiest periods. I am so ready to go into the doctor and just beg for it all to be removed. I don't need it. I think 30 years of suffering is enough.

And AND you would not believe the white hair I found on my head the other morning. It was the thickness of sock yarn, 7 inches long and wiry beyond belief. Why did I not notice it before it was so long? Gah!!!

I know I'm a barrel of laughs. But aging stinks!

it's good to be 10

birthday recap:

• we barely finished Evan's room in time to make it presentable. In fact, we didn't hang any of the things we were going to hang, just taped them up in place for show. There is still more painting to be done first.
• he likes it. And has been making his bed to prove it!
• The tv has been a bit of a struggle. We are going to have to work on it.
• for dinner we went to Mitchell's Fish Market. Awesome dinner, and the birthday people got free desserts.
• I also bought 7 varities of cupcakes from a local cupcake store. They were beautiful, and they tasted divine. Better than a cake, and we could all try each kind. Ingenious!

• Tommorow will be the end of all the birthday celebrating. Evan has a soccer game in the a.m. Friend party from 3-5 @ Paradise Park in Novi, where the kids will be trampolining and driving go karts. Awesomeness. Then the family party @ 6 p.m. We will be partied out. (for a week anyway, when it's the next birthday!)

Have a great weekend!

double digits

This shady character is ten today.

How is it possible that my baby is 10? I thought that Emma turning 12 was freaky...Evan being ten is even freakier.

In 10 years, he has brought much laughter and fun into our lives.

In 10 years, he has given me countless hugs and kisses and 'I love you's'.

In 10 years, he has turned "What in the world am I going to do with a boy?" into "What in the world would I do without this boy?"

He is loud and thickheaded and stubborn and crazy and can't sit still for a minute

He has that special 'IT' quality that make people flock to him

and I adore him.

Happy birthday little man!

the downfall of cute, woolen shoes

...leaves stick to them.

I can't walk anywhere without a clump of them stuck to my shoes. I track them into the house, the car, etc. I don't even think about it until I look down and see them clinging to me.

It's been a gorgeous fall day-one that makes me wish we'd have had Evan's birthday party this Saturday instead of next. Sigh. Is it too much to ask to have another nice day for next Saturday?

We spent a majority of the day today deconsturcting Ev's bedroom so we can make it over. I have been cleaning it out here and there, but basically we are sorting thru 8+ years of his crap (I mean his special things. My mistake) It's not pretty nor for the faint of heart. I don't know how much we will really accomplish this weekend, but it is clean, walls patched, decals removed, bunk bed torn down. The long term plan will include a closet redo & a new bed frame. It also needs to be painted, but we may just touch up for now. We'll see. I think once we put the tv and the Wii in there, he won't care what else we do!

Have a great weekend!

Just call me Martha. Or Betty. Or PW.

The last few days I have experimenting with some new foods for dinner. Blame it on Ree Drummond. I got her brand spanking new cookbook the other day, and ever since, all I have done is drool and dream of 'cowboy food'.

The first thing I did was run out and buy the ingredients to make pico de gallo. Pico is one of my great loves, and I never understood that the key to pico perfection is perfect portions (try saying that three times fast!) Equal amounts of tomatoes, onion and cilantro and you are one step closer to Nirvana.

I had to stop reading the cookbook, because I was literally getting nothing else done. But I want to make her cinnamon rolls so badly it hurts.

Instead, I turned to this months Everyday Food magazine, which is chock full of deliciousness! On Tuesday I made the chili rubbed flank steak with polenta & cabbage. The steak was a major hit, but neither kid liked the polenta. I thought it was tasty. Last night I made the pork and soba noodle salad. I made mine hot. The kids devoured it. Made that third trip to find soba noodles worthwhile!

Today I baked the pumpkin spice cake with honey frosting. My house smells fantastic. I can't wait to dive into it tonight. If it lasts that long!

end game

Last game of the season

Stallions vs. Colts

November 1st- 55 degrees and the sun is shining

it's a perfect day for football!

They changed the format for this last game, to give all the developmental players and second teamers more playing time. Whatever it was, it worked. Evan got no less than 10 minutes playing time in each half. He was all over the field.

The best moment was catching a pass on the 2 or 3 yard line.

look how many guys are on him! Still standing!!

Hold on to that ball!

The Stallions went on to win 19-6, although the score should have been much higher. (we had three turnovers on the goal line)

He had many great tackles as well...this is the only one on my side of the field.

Favorite moment of the game? Coach Fred grabbing and twirling Evan after this play and screaming "Now You're playing the game! Now you're hitting somebody!" Twirling in football? Absolutely :)

Great way to end the season.

scary? nah!

Just a few pix of our trick-or-treaters. Em was a (non-slutty)witch, and Evan was an amigo. He kept telling people he was a Spanish dude. It's all about the moustache.

We had a great time treating over at Greg & Tracey's house in Allen Park. In their neighborhood, they pull out their lawn furniture and fire pits. It's very festive. A few blocks over were having a block party, which is an awesome idea! We only pandered for candy for an hour, because the divalicious Emma wore high heels and her feet were killing her. Lesson learned. Regardless, they got tons of treats.

3 out of 5 houses wanted Evan's hat. Coolest amigo in town.

At least his hat stayed on in the brisk wind...Emma was chasing hers most of the night!

buenos noches!