Sunday, November 30, 2008

Visit with Santa!

Pretty much, the picture speaks for itself! ha!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Christmas Quilt for Dad; Update #3

While most people spent their day shopping for presents, I was busy working on a present...my father's Christmas gift. My "goal", if you've been following along, was to have my father's quilt finished by Thanksgiving. Sadly, I must report that I have not met my goal, but I am close! Below is a picture of the quilt all sewn together! I now must start the tedious task of "clipping" all the seams so that when I wash and dry it, they will frey and the reason why it's called a "rag quilt". Tonight, I started clipping the seams and it took me about one hour to do 2-1/2 rows and so it will easily be another week before I get this done. But stay tuned for the next update...it will be the finished product!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a really nice and relaxing Thanksgiving this year. Wednesday night, my dad and my sister Wendy and her boyfriend, Darrell, came over for dinner. We enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, corn, green beans, etc. and Kevin got the honors of carving the turkey! Before and after dinner, we played the Wii and my dad had never played before. Because he is an avid golfer, we figured we would let him try a game that we know that he's good at! He really had a lot of fun playing and got in to the "swing" of things!

Thanksgiving day, we went to Kevin's parent's house and enjoyed a nice relaxing day with a wonderful tasting spread of food. We all watched the movie Wall-E after lunch and then the "boys" went outside to play a little touch, and sometimes tackle, football. Isabella decided she wanted to help Grandma clean up after dinner and took her job of putting the silver ware into the dishwasher very seriously! We, of course, watched the football games on TV as well and just had a nice day talking and relaxing. I was thankful that Kevin didn't have to work this year and could spend the day with family.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

The 8 Things Tag

Melissa, my girlfriend from work, tagged me in her blog, meaning I had to answer these list questions! Enjoy getting to know a little bit more about me!

8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. The Amazing Race
2. Lost
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. NFL Football
5. Jon & Kate Plus 8
6. Deadliest Catch
7. Channel 13 News
8. 20/20

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
1. Cancun
2. Bazbeaux Pizza
3. PF Changs
4. Jimmy John's
5. MacAlister's
6. Qdoba
7. Blimpie
8. Palamino

8 Things That Happened Today (in order):
1. Took a shower
2. Got dressed
3. Went to church & worked in the preschool class
4. Ate a ham sandwich and popcorn for lunch with the kids
5. Raked leaves with the boys while Isabella napped
6. Went to Target to get a few Christmas gifts
7. Went to Meijer for groceries
8. Watched the Colts play!

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Thanksgiving holiday
2. Christmas holiday
3. Snow (don't hate me but I love it!)
4. 3 days off of work this week!
5. Dedicating Isabella at church on Dec. 14th
6. Watching my children grow
7. Spending my life with Kevin
8. Getting to see Audrey, my first-born daughter, when I get to heaven

8 Things on My Wish List:
1. Nikon D-80 Camera
2. Laptop computer
3. To go shopping for just a few new outfits
4. Go to Paris with Kevin (no kids)
5. Lose 75 more pounds!
7. Bigger home
8. Live a long healthy life!

8 (well, 1) People I Want to Tag:
1. Molly & Kelly
2. I don't think I know anyone else who blogs...!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

K+ Family Night gets an A+

Friday night was "Family Night" at Samuel's school for those children who attend the K+ program. Because our county does not have full-day kindergarten, the YMCA sponsers a program called K+, which is basically an extension of his kindergarten class, and they follow the same curriculum and he continues to learn.

For the family night, we weren't sure what to expect as Samuel had been tight-lipped about the night's activities, and so we pretty much only knew we were supposed to show up! We started the evening by doing a scavenger hunt. We were given a sheet with questions in which we had to ask Samuel and it was his job to find things in the classroom which gave us the answer. It was very creative because the answers he had to give/show us allowed us to have insight as to the activities he does during his day while in K+. We then went into the school cafeteria, had a light dinner and watched the kids perform a poem and two songs. Below is a picture of him in his classroom and then a short video of the class performing a song about a turkey trying to run away so that he wouldn't get eaten on Thanksgiving day! Enjoy!


Thursday, November 13, 2008

Happy Birthday Wendy!!

Wednesday, November 12, was Wendy, my sister's birthday! Wendy is such a blessing in my life and I am so fortunate to not only call her my sister, but my best friend. She is my voice of reason, one who knows where in life I've been and where I need to go. Everyone should have one person in their life where they can go to get good, solid, grounded advice and she is that person for me! Happy Birthday Wendy...I love you!!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Kevin's 15 minutes of FAME!

While working at the CVS in Muncie, Kevin befriend Patrick O'Brian, who works as a professional firefighter, but also enjoys writing both arson mysteries and horror novels in his spare time. He asked Kevin to "pose" as the detective character for his latest book, the Ghosts of West Baden and so Kevin made it on to the "back" cover of the book (front middle)! The book is due to be published, printed and released this month or next. Click on the image if you want to see it larger!


West Baden Springs, Indiana IS a real place and according to an internet search, things occur around there that cannot be scientifically explained. Not everybody trusts in the reports the folks who live here tell, but only some of the residents of West Baden Springs are alive.

These are some of the spooky things that have happened there recently:

A beheaded lady is frequently perceived being carried by a camel by a highway close to West Baden Springs.

The phantom of an adolescent girl can frequently be distinguished on the highest spot of Mount Airie in the early morning hours examining the view.

A person with a skeleton face sporting murky robes can be distinguished repeatedly marching through a residence near West Baden Springs.

A woman having an axe in her head has now and then been distinguished hauling a headbone in Barnheisel Hollow on a dark night. Nevertheless, it without a doubt is a creepy ghost that is rather not disrupted.

A wandering spirit is once in a while perceived pulling a body from the chilly water of Dry Branch at the stroke of midnight.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Christmas Quilt for Dad, UPDATE #2

Slowly but surely, I'm getting there with the quilt I'm making for my father! I've been slacking in my sewing but was able to sit down Saturday night and get some time in, what with the time change. I'm currently sewing all the individual blocks together and starting to form rows...how motivating to start seeing it coming together and resembling a pattern. I still have quite a bit of way to go but my goal is to have it done by Thanksgiving. Check back to see if I do it!

What pretty teeth you have!

Because of the time change on Sunday, we found ourselves having plenty of "extra" time before church started and so I walked in to the kitchen to see Isabella trying to figure out the boys "wax fangs" they had received Halloween night. I quickly grabbed my camera in time to catch her still with them in her mouth!

Happy Halloween!








What a perfect Halloween night! You have to love good ol' Indiana, where it was freezing temperatures at the beginning of the week, but come Friday night, it was clear and balmy! The kids didn't even have to wear jackets. The boys dressed at Ninja's and Isabella as a princess although she wouldn't wear her crown...we were lucky to get any pictures of her with it on her head! Grandma participated in the fun as well and dressed up, makeup, balloons and all, as a happy clown! I made treat bags for all the trick-or-treaters and because of this, was able to count that we had 96 kids come to our front door asking for candy! It was fun to see everyone dressed in their costumes. Ninja's and Spiderman was the popular choice for the boys and the favorite for the girl's, stilled seemed to be a princess!