Celebrating Birthdays...Young and Old

On Sunday, we braved the weather and headed to celebrate Joshua's (my cousin Jeff's son) first birthday. I can't believe that he's a year old already. He had fun watching the kids act silly and run around...before long he'll be there too. Then it will just be a little more out of control.

Then we celebrated my mom's 61st birthday - we actually surprised her at Kurt's favorite restaurant, The Red Lobster. Actually, that is a lie - he is a seafood snob. I like it just fine and it seems to be a popular place to dine in my hometown and with my family. She was surprised to see us and the kids miraculously were good and ate somewhat quietly. Afterwards we went to my sister's house. Click Here to see some pictures from my sister's blog of the kids acting silly.

My Brain

Julia is pretty funny. She was drawing today on her little board and showed me this and wanted her picture taken with it. I thought that I'd give you all a little taste of her show and tell style though.

Everyone Leaves....

Kyle, Clay & Jimmy holding down the fort...and staying in town

This past weekend, our old neighbors came for a visit. It was so great to catch up with them and their new baby Emily. She is such a sweet baby. We had a great time catching up and just relaxing. Tim, Ellen and the boys also came over to enjoy the company. We tried to party like rock stars, but the kids cramp our style. At the end of the evening, Ellen went home to put the boys to bed, Kelly fell asleep and I watched some TV and did some computer stuff, all while the men played Wii...so much for ladies night. In the morning, we all converged on Tim and Ellen's for a breakfast. It was great, but bittersweet. The new people who moved into their old house are great, we couldn't ask for better neighbors and friends, but I miss our old neighbors too. Spending a whole day with them again, reminded me of that. They are such good people...and such great friends. I never worry that we will all lose touch.

Which brings me to my next deserters from the hood...our neighbors across the street, Dawn, John, Lauren & Will are moving to Kansas in a matter of weeks. Her husband got a new job about a month ago and the whole thing is going down pretty quickly. Much faster than I'd like. Dawn is the other part of the stay at home co-hort in the hood. We were pregnant together with Will & Julia and our kids play together all the time. It will be strange to see their house empty and to not see them all the time. We all really rely on each other day to day. We swap kids on Mondays so we can run errands, we share magazines, we share coupons, we share our lives. I am pretty sad. But I know that this will be great for their family and that this is they way life goes...especially in our area and the industry that our husbands work in. I know that my sadness must pale in comparison to my friend's sadness and uncertainty of moving away from everyone and everything she knows. That stops my pity party really fast. And on a lighter note, they will be living mere miles away from our family that lives there, so we will see them at least once or twice a year when we visit.

Brrrrr............

It is so cold out today! We skipped Moms Group today in favor of declaring a "cold day" and aren't going anywhere the morning. I felt guilty for a few minutes for skipping one of my favorite things, but honestly I need a down day and the weather is just a nice excuse. So, we are still in jammies, the kids are playing in the basement and I am curled up on the couch going through the million pieces of paper that have the various schedules, commitments, parties, etc for the rest of the school year, while watching Martha. I finally have got the schedules into the calendar, minus a few field trips. It feels good to accomplish something!

So, perhaps we'll change into clothes and drive the block to get Julia's hair trimmed...or maybe not. We shall see how cooped up we feel and how much I want to avoid the pile of dishes on the kitchen counter.

Wow! So Many Pictures!

I love Christmas Cards! I love sending them and I love getting them. It's fun now that we have kids, because it is perfectly acceptable to have the photo card, which is not only inexpensive, but a nice way to spread cheer to our friends and family. This year's photo for the cards was the easiest photo yet to take. The kids were in a good mood and it only took 2 shots to get one that was a keeper. I think that I take their pictures so often, that they are used to cheesing it up for the camera.We received so many photo cards this year from friends and family! A few year's ago, I made this super cute wall hanging to attach the Christmas cards to so we could enjoy them. Well, this year, I had so many cards, that I only could hang the photo cards on it and you can't even see the ribbons that you attach them to! I think that I will have to make another one to use for 2009! We took our tree down over a week ago, but I left up the cards. I think I will leave them up for another few days until I can't take it anymore. Then I will cut them up and put them in the scrapbook...to see how much the kids have changed over the years!

Back to the Daily Grind!

We're 2 days into our regular schedule and I am failing miserably. I guess fail is a pretty harsh word. I just would say that while I am ready to be back to a schedule, my body is saying that it liked sleeping in and just doing whatever. I overslept today, but Julia didn't miss school, so that was good. Thank GOD for my mother-in-law who showed up to watch Jimmy - she always brings a bit of calm to those hectic mornings.

Julia was so glad to be back at school. On the way home, she just chat chat chatted away about everything. She just loves school.

Tomorrow is Jimmy's first day back...hopefully I will be able to get out of bed and be on time. They are predicting a very icy commute tomorrow....hopefully it won't be as bad as they are predicting. Or if it is...dare I wish for a Snow Day?

New Years Eve

On New Year's Eve we decided to have some people over. It was a little impromptu, but nevertheless, a great party. We invited just a few friends and our neighbors, which happens to be a little tradition we have had over the past few years I guess. I love to entertain, as Ellen always says, i make it look effortless...which is a nice compliment, although I have to say that I do put some effort into it!

Since most of us have kids or are about to have kids, we all started the evening with our little ones and then later put them to bed. Our kids were up until 10pm...pretty late for them, but not that unheard of in the past few weeks with all that we have had going on lately.

Ellen, Kate & Cheryl...my neighbors

Amy, Kate & Cherie...my girls from way back
Ellen & Tim...our neighbors

Amy was due to have her baby girl on Dec 30th, so we were a little surprised to see her and Jake show up. Here Kurt is trying to scare the baby out so it could be the first baby of the 2009 - guess he didn't have much luck with our kids or Amy's.

We stayed up pretty late, but managed to get most of the stuff cleaned up before going to bed, which is always a must after our parties. Nothing like waking up to a mess and old food crusted everywhere. We had a fantastic night and we are just so lucky to be able to celebrate with some of our closest friends.

The kids also were wonderful...they slept in until 8:30, which was much needed. Welcome 2009...may you be filled with promise and prosperity!