Yup, It's Winter!

Now that is one awesome "King of the Mountain" hill! Remember playing that fun game as kids? Anyone up for it?

Interstate 490

Brrr!

Koty just had to go out and play in the snow with the kids, but he didn't last as long as they did outside.

Those darn toe jam icicles! Ouch..I must get them out!

Quite a lot of snow out there today! Once again, just about every school was closed except for our town. Our kids did get out 40 minutes early though, but they ended up getting home around the same time due to poor driving conditions.

Memories

I came across this picture tonight, taken in at the end of November in 2003. There were sinkholes everywhere when we were looking for our Christmas tree. First Michael stepped in one, then me. You couldn't see them because they were covered with sawdust and straw. This was the 1st Holiday season in our new house. Look at my little kidlets!

Snowflakes

Steven has been making these cool paper snowflakes today. He said that a teacher in his study hall showed him how to make one because he was finished with all of his work. Now he's making them like crazy. This is only a section of one that he's working on. He's quite creative!

No More Braces!

Michael got his braces off this afternoon. He looks great!

Tim's Christmas Party

Today was the Christmas party at my brother, Tim's place. For those of you who don't know, my brother Tim was brain damaged at birth when my mother stopped breathing after being given too much of a medication to induce labor. He is most like autistic people. He lives in Newark in a home for those with similar needs. During the party we paused for a few family pictures, taken by Ben and Hannah, who had decided to come along to see their Uncle Tim. Dad played his banjo and harmonica and we sang some Christmas carols, while earlier we had munched on pizza and wings and Christmas cookies. It was great to see him, and to chat and laugh with each other. I could tell he really enjoyed our visit too, even though we were a bit obnoxious with the camera.

Health Coverage

The other day Dave and I found out that our health coverage is going to go up by $88.00 a month starting the 1st of the year. We already pay a fortune and Dave's company has not picked up any increases the last few years because it has gone up so much. One of the most frustrating things about this is that any time we need something, ie: glasses for Michael, they don't want to cover any of it. I pay $20.00 for every allergy injection, while our insurance pitches in $1.00. We are seriously considering dropping it and putting our money into an account, and letting it just build by adding to it every month as if we are paying health coverage. I know this is possibly risky, and we will thoroughly check it out first. About a year or so ago a guy from Aflack came in and talked to us at work about buying supplemental insurance from them because in case of long term illness, we could lose our life savings due to our insurance not covering it. Well then what are we paying for? I don't feel like we receive that much of a benefit from our insurance. Thoughts?.....

Mom

Today was a reminder for me that I need to savor every moment I have left with my mother. This morning Martha called at a little after 7:00am, which is very unusual. She called to say that my dad had called her to let her know that mom had gone to the hospital in an ambulance. No details were given, and I don't know about you, but when I'm not given any details my mind goes crazy with the possibilities. I prayed for her before going up to the hospital with Martha and James. Priscilla was going to meet us there, but we never made it inside the hospital due to one of Martha's kids informing us that mom had been discharged. It's a long story, but when I finally did see her she was back at home and seemed like her normal self again. It turns out she woke up this morning with her heart beating very fast and it wasn't slowing down. My mom has a condition that is only getting worse. She never complains about her condition to me, and when I ask her how she's feeling she always tells me "fine", although when I talked to my Aunt this morning she said that my mom sometimes tells her that her condition is worsening. I know that when mom leaves this earth she's going to a much better place, but it's hard for me to imagine life without her. Our visit today was extra special. I am so thankful to still have her, and I am grateful for the reminder to hug her lots while I still can.

Life and Laughter

Today, being that it was Veteran's Day, the kids had the day off school. Michael got out the Life game that we haven't played in quite a while, and we played a couple games. Life can be a pretty fun game. We laughed a lot, and had a good time together. Michael discovered first hand that sometimes "life isn't fair", but he was a good sport. Me? I got to be a Doctor for both games and made all kinds of money, even when Michael switched salaries with me I still managed to win all kinds of money.

Can a Sneeze be Swallowed?

Today when we were driving home from church Michael sneezed. Just as he was about to sneeze his second sneeze (they always come in 2's) we heard a gulp and a stunned Michael says, "Oh my goodness, I was just about to sneeze and I swallowed it!" It was the funniest thing. He went on to say how that's never happened to him before and have we ever heard of such a thing. I have to say, I have never heard of this before and am wondering if any of you out there have ever "swallowed your sneeze" just before it came out.

Teachers make mistakes too

Today Steven came home from school and told me that he had a 66% for his final grade in Technology. I was stunned because this is a class that he loves and does very well in. I asked him why and he said that his teacher said that he had gotten a zero on his "air racer paper". They had to make these air racers and then they raced them in the hallway at school, but they also had a 4 page worksheet to do with it. Steven has always saved his school papers for much too long because he likes to burn stuff at the end of the year. In this case it turned out to be a good thing because he went upstairs when he came home and looked for it in his room. He found the paper with a grade of 100% written on it. The teacher actually gave him a grade of 100% and then forgot to mark it in the grade book, and gave the paper back to him, instead giving him a zero for never handing it in. I sent the teacher an email and Steven will give him the paper tomorrow. His actual grade should be in the upper 90's.
This is keeping it real...this kind of thing makes me crazy!

Stone Fireplaces and Friends

My honey is moving along on the stone fireplace. He is doing such a beautiful job!Last night we had some friends over to play Euchre. We've known these friends for more than 17 years, and get together once a month for dinner, games, and dessert. After so many years of being friends and getting together with our children, it would be strange to not be a part of each other's lives. My friend, Colleen, was not too cooperative about having her picture taken...or maybe she was sobbing because Dave and I had just won our 1st game of the night. ;)

A Baby Shower!

Today was my nephew's wife, Leta's baby shower. Leta and my nephew, Dave, are expecting their 1st child in December. The shower was fun and Leta got lots of nice things to give her a good start with her new son. I can't wait for his arrival....I only hope he comes before his December 24th due date so that we can enjoy him at Christmas time.

Trick or Treat!

Tonight it got dark and we still had no trick or treaters. Finally the doorbell rang. We grabbed our bowl of candy and told Koty to stay back. When we opened the door we discovered it was our very own, Michael. He had snuck out the back door, and went around to the front. When I opened the door he was chewing on some Reeses Pieces and said, "I want candy!", and he was laughing. Silly boy! I was convinced we would have a lot of kids tonight, but so far we've only had about 17. I guess we'll be eating lots of candy.

Candy, yum!Steven mummifying Michael.
Michael's way of handing out candy.

Massage

Who's lucky feet are those?

Dave has it made tonight. He has a drawer full of socks down here, and Steven is getting the pills off of them with our pill machine while they are on his feet. It feels like a little foot massage...very relaxing. This is something both of them seem to enjoy.

Kid Stuff

Michael is hard at work doing homework. He is doing very well in school and is even taking an enriched course this year. Actually both boys are doing very well. I am very proud of them for all of their hard work!
This is Steven eating a banana with peanut butter tonight, his snack of choice when there are no "goodies" in the house. He made peanut butter m+m cookies last night. I ate one of them, and when I came home from work (an all day seminar) today they were all gone and he was complaining to me that there were no goodies. There is no way to keep anything sweet in this house for longer than a day with 2 teenage boys and a husband with a sweet tooth.

17 Years

Today it is 17 years that I have been married to my wonderful husband. The time has flown by so fast. Last night we enjoyed a night out together. We went out to a nice dinner and then to see the movie "Express".
Today, since it's our anniversary, I made Italian Wedding Soup....mmmm! God has blessed us so much! I couldn't ask for anything more.

The Monster Muffin Pan

We have just finished dinner and the kitchen is quite messy, however I have decided to sit for just a few minutes before cleaning up. This morning I made bran muffins for the kids and have not yet washed the pan. I heard Koty barking at something and then making a beeline for the family room. At first I thought that Dave or one of the kids was teasing him, but when I finally got up to check it out I realized he was spooked out by the muffin pan. Here he is staring at it. Once he barks he will run as fast as he can to get away before it attacks him.

Big Puppy

This morning as was seeing Michael off to school, Koty came and plopped himself right down on my lap. He's pretty big to fit on my lap, but he thinks he's still little.

More pictures from yesterday

I wonder what the story on this old place is and what memories were made here. How sad and neglected it is now. I love how the sun rays show up so nicely in the photo.

Watch out, Martha! Don't get your feet wet!

Where's the candy?

A few days ago I bought three bags of Halloween candy. One of the bags I emptied into a little ceramic pumpkin that sits on our entertainment center. The other two bags I tucked away in a cupboard, still in the grocery bag. The candy that I had emptied into the pumpkin didn't even last a day. Yesterday when I went out with Martha someone found the other two bags, and when I got home there were only 2 little Milky Way Bars left. The Snickers were completely gone. They said they really missed me. I guess they found comfort through eating chocolate. Maybe if I buy them chocolate they'll let me go out again sometime!

A Daycation

Today Martha and I spent a day together, out and about. Priscilla was supposed to come too, but is too overwhelmed with school stuff right now, so she opted out. Martha and I spent the day touring antique shops and eating out.

The fall colors were beautiful! This picture was taken near where we stopped for lunch...the first time.Whoa!

We took a scenic walk through Grimes Point (was that what it was called, Martha? It doesn't sound right.) This little bridge we had to cross over was a little broken down, so....

Martha jumped on it to see if she could break it. Not really, she was just showing me that it wasn't all that flimsy.

I thought this old tricycle in one of the antique shops was neat.

At the end of our day together, we stopped at Gudl's restaurant for some authentic German cuisine. Not only did I get to meet 2 computer friends (Gudl and Melissa) in person, but I got to enjoy a delicious meal too!! Unfortunately we were much too full for the yummy looking desserts.

It was a very fun, much needed day out together for some sister time! Hopefully the next time Priscilla can come too.

Falling Leaves

Dave just picked up the leaves last night, and this is them today. They're falling like crazy!

Home from PA

This is Dave's brother, Bill, and his wife, Jo. Jo and I went shopping at the PA outlet malls right after this picture was taken at Dairy Queen. There is no sales tax on clothing there, and the prices were way cheaper!! I got a really nice black belt at Eddie Bauer marked down from $36.00 to $1.99.

My nieces and Michael building popsicle stick houses in the playroom.

Koty and Emi playing

Steven and my niece, Brianna, having a competition to see who can bounce the tennis ball up and down on the racquet the most times in a row.

Koty wonders why Emi gets to be in the position he likes to be in.There were some beautiful colors on the way home!