It's been a while.....

Well, it has certainly been a while since I have been involved in the world of blogging! I know, I know.....big time slacker! Actually I have a pretty good excuse. When you are me and you are..... PREGNANT (what was I thinking!?!?), you don't really get out of bed! It has been a lovely past couple of months. Lots of home health IV therapy, ER visits, doctors visits, drugs that don't work, and A freakin' NG feeding tube for a couple of weeks!! But hey, it will all be worth it come July.....right? I am hoping that the worst part of it is over. I can actually stand up for like 15 minutes now...pretty amazing! I can't say that blog posts are going to be a frequent occurance now, but at least I don't still have up the Christmas stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I have to say that I really enjoy Thanksgiving! What is better than spending an entire day with your family and enjoying a great meal and good fun?

Will woke up before any of us to go play some good old football with his brother and some friends. He came home muddy, tired and sore but had an absolute blast!! I spent part of the morning baking.....I was in charge of dessert. I wanted to try something new so, I made a pumpkin roll for the first time and although it looks hard, it was very simple and actually turned out fantastic. YUMMY!!!

In the early afternoon we headed over to Wills parents house. We sat around talking and watching the kids play with toys and freak out about the fish in Nana and Papi's new fish tank!!! Although we did not get the chance to see everyone on his side of the family, we love them all! We are especially excited for next year when Will's youngest brother, Brett, will be home from Afghanistan!!! We really miss you Brett and can't wait to have you home!! Love you and be safe!!


Then it was off to my parents house. We ate a fabulous dinner then just lounged around for a while talking. After dessert we played a fun game of Scene It Squabble......girls lost (we let the boys win!!).

It was so great to spend time with my family, but I do have to say there was a rather large void in the day. My brother David and his family were not able to be there. David was diagnosed and hospitalized with Guillian Barre syndrome two weeks ago and has at least another week in the hospital and a long and hard recovery ahead of him after that. We (especially the kids) really missed having him there...."The Boy" (my name for him) is such a fun uncle and nobody can make you laugh as hard as he can!!! We love you Boy!!!

Here is just an example of what a joker he is....most of the time he has a thick head of hair, but this is how he showed up on Halloween!!!



Overall, it really was a great day! I am so grateful for all of the things that I have!! Here are some pics of my 3 greatest blessings!!!

Future Cheerleader?

I kind of always thought it might have been fun to have been a cheerleader or a member of the dance team, but I have always had.......lets see, how can I put this.....coordination challenges!!! So, I decided that I was going to make sure to put my kids in every class possible (sports, dance, karate, piano) so they could have their pick of extra curricular activities. I signed Madi up for a dance/cheer class and she looked forward to going every week-Wed was her favorite day!! But.....lets just say that she is turning out a lot like her mother (poor girl)!! I went to the final performance and I have to say it was sooooo stinkin' cute. She is just so tiny and cute!! I made the mistake of giving Madi a piece of gum before class and I think her dance performance may have suffered because of it. LOL-I think she was more concerned about chewing her gum than anything. Who knows, maybe if she keeps practicing she will grow out of it and become a star dancer someday. Who cares what you do.......Madi-I love you! Thank you for being the sweet and funny little girl you are!!!

So.........."Twilight"?

For all of you "Twilight" fans out there......WARNING: this post may cause intense feelings of shock, anger, disgust, sadness and hostility, in fact, I may be risking my very life by publishing the following.

I finally broke down a few weeks ago and read the book "Twilight" (GASP!!!). I had heard so many raving reviews and was told by I am sure at least 100 different people, that I was an insane freak-of-nature for not having read the series. And, every website, blog, facebook/myspace account has some picture or widget involving it. I mean, they MUST be great books if people order the books in advance or go to Barnes and Noble at midnight dressed up for prom just to get the most recent book published, right? Then, these same people go home and read the book into the wee hours of the morning until they are done with it. But, what really got me to read it was the fact that I had agreed to see the movie.....no, not the midnight showing but on opening day none the less!!

After reading the painful first 200 or so pages, I called my mom to ask if it was even worth it to finish it. She assured me that it would get better, so i mustered up the courage and did it. So......I don't get it?!?! I mean it did get better and by the end of it I thought it was good, but, not worthy of all of the hype!! (again, GASP!!!) Despite the disappointment in the slow start of the first book, I have started the second book in the series and have to admit that it peaked my interest much more quickly.....I'm only on like page 70 or so and actually want to finish it. Hey, who knows, maybe, by the end of the series, I will hat myself for publishing this post!!!

Now......onto the movie! I can sum in up in 3 words. WHAT THE HECK?!?! I will stick with the books.(Gasp! Oh my!! the sound of fainting bodies hitting the floor!) Actually, it has inspired me......I am going to be a millionaire someday!! Listen to this: So, I love science, especially dealing with the human body. I also like books and movies. So,I am going to invent a contraption that records images created by your brain as you read a book. Then, these images will be transferred to a DVD and Walla!!!!....you have you movie. And, it would be the PERFECT movie, right?!?!? Exactly how YOU imagined it!!

So apparently my laptop has some sort of a virus or something and blogging, esp. adding any kind of media to it, has driven me to the point of insanity!!! Anyways, because of that I am very behind on pictures from October. So, rather then doing separate posts, I am going to do a quick blur of October/Halloween..... Every year, I go to Gardner Village to see the witches. This year it was me, Madi, my mom, my grandma Barbara, and my Aunt Lori. We all had such a fun time chatting, shopping, seeing the witches and eating a YUMMY lunch at Archibalds. It was a beautiful fall day and the weather was nice and warm. We went over UEA weekend so it was WAY crowded (we won't make that mistake again!) The week of Halloween the kids and I went with my friend Jodi and her kids to a pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. It was really fun......until it was time to leave! I think all 5 kids were screaming....awesome!!! After that, our family went to my mom's house for some pumpkin carving. The pumpkins all turned out really cool I thought! HALLOWEEN!!! I love it! It is so much fun to dress the kids up. It was kind of a whole week of Halloween for our family! The Saturday before we went to a Halloween party with a bunch of friends; Monday was the pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving; Tuesday was Braxton's school party; Wednesday was a break (whew); Thursday was Madison's school party and we had a fun little party at the church; Friday the kids were out of school and the day was filled with fun.....we went trick-or-treating at Grandpa Paul's work, visited Aunt Tandy, trick-or-treated around the neighborhood with some good friends, went to Nana and Papi's house, and ended up at Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Paul's.. What a day!!! The kids got way more candy then should be eaten in a lifetime (although it's almost gone) and by the time we got home, they were all asleep in the backseat!!