Alissa's first Christmas program

Alissa had her kindergarten Christmas program at school. She did a great job and sang her little heart out. It was a lot of fun! For the first time we had one of the tall kids so she was standing in the back but we could still see her very well. It just seems the kids keep hitting all kinds of milestones and that makes me happy and proud and even a little sad. The next thing you know she'll be a first grader.

Slumber party

Kristen had a slumber party last night and it went pretty well. We took the girls to a video store and let them pick out some movies. They played charades and giggled and watched movies all night long. The biggest issue we had was the girls being a little loud but that's teenage girls at a slumber party for ya. Kristen had wanted a cat theme for her party so I made cupcakes that I turned into kitty cat faces and they were a hit. Right now Kristen is in her room sleeping since little of that was done at the party last night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!!!!!a little late

Our Kristen is 13 years old. She's officially a teenager and loves the sound of that. I can tell you she's been acting like one for at least the last two years anyway. She is still in band and orchestra which she enjoys and I see no sign of stopping anytime soon. Hannah Montanna and High School Musical have started to fade away a bit and the Jonas Brothers are the current craze with her and her friends. She has been a strait A studen all this year and we are very proud of her for that! She is still in girl scouts and is on track to earn her silver award by the end of summer. She has grown up so much and it's hard to believe in 5 short years she'll be going off to college and be on her own.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Well it's that time of year again and our little angels had a blast. Eric took them out trick or treating along with my sister Melissa and her son Eli. They did a lot of walking, well kind of wagons were involved but still from our house down past my Dad's and over to Leon and Maries house and back that is a lot! We now have 3 huge bags of candy that will probably last us until Easter when the vicious cycle will start again with Easter candy and then summer parade candy. It's a wonder any of my children have teeth left. Now it's time to start our Christmas shopping which is exciting and scary all at the same time.

IN LOVING MEMORY

Today is the anniversary of my Mother's passing. It feels like it has been much much longer, it has been an emotional year. I never imagined that I would be going through life without the help of my Mom this early in my life. On almost a daily basis I find myself with a question I would have liked to ask her or wondering how she would have done something. I have tried to fill her shoes as much as I can where I can with my children, making birthday cakes and sewing halloween costumes has been difficult but much easier than trying to share her love and wisdom. Anyway I love my Mom and I will always miss her and I wish with all my heart I could do something to bring her back. I love you Mom.

The Windy City

A couple of weeks ago now we went to Illinois for my cousin Liz's wedding. We had some bumps in the road because we were sick on the drive up there but we had a good time. We took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo and saw the dolphins, which was just terrific! We did not realize how pink her bellies are. The kids got to the the spectacle bears like on Diego which was just so exciting for them. The hotel we stayed at was very nice and it was where a lot of my family was staying and that was nice. We got to have breakfast together and we took the kids swimming. The wedding was of course beautiful. It was outdoors and you could not have imagined a more perfect weather. Christopher and Eli put on a show while we waited for the wedding to start and at the reception all of the kids danced and sang and were quite the life of the party. Monday before we left we went into Chicago and hit Navy Pier. Our fun was hampered because it decided to rain while we were there. They do however have a very cool stained glass museum we went through and we did a little shopping. We also went way down to the end of the pier to get pictures of the lighthouse. Christopher was ridding on my back and at one point fell asleep on my back. It was pretty funny, I'm sure, watching me walk around bent in half with him on my back. We got home late Monday night we were exhausted but it was worth it.

Camera work-out

Today we went to the zoo. One reason was to get the kids out and active. The other reason was to give my new camera a work out. It was sooooo fun. I took about 500 pictures. I narrowed it down when we got home to 350. The kids had a ton of fun climbing on everything and feeding the fish. Kristen had a bit of a teenage I'm too cool for this tude going on but even she had some moments of fun. All of the kids ran through the sprinkler they had going and then played in the fountains a bit but Christopher got soaking wet. We go on vacation to my cousins wedding near Chicago this weekend and I cannot wait to use my camera again. We plan to visit the Brook Field zoo there. I am excited about that because they have dolphins!