3 days until Christmas

Today the kids and I took our second annual trip downtown to see Gary at work. They have a really great Santa for the kids to visit with, we had lunch in the food court and the kids got to see Gary's cube. To the kids, they were all equally as exciting. I was just happy that everyone had a good time and we got there and home safely. As much as Justin likes school, he has thought it very unfair that Megan has been on break all this week and he has had to go to school. Although, he is looking forward to his class Christmas party tomorrow.

Which one do you like best???

I have managed to squeeze in some time for a little digital scrapbooking this weekend. And I am pleased to say I learned some new techniques along the way. While my pages aren't as awesome as some I have seen, they are making progress. Anyway, I tried a couple of different things on the same page and was curious which one you liked best??? You can click on each picture to make it larger so you can get a better look at it. Email me or leave me a comment. Thanks!!!!

Thursday

Well I just looked at my calendar. Did you know we only have 11 days left until Christmas. While I am mostly ready, I better get in gear and finish what needs to be done. Justin stayed home from school with a slight head cold yesterday, but seems to be much improved today. The kids and I never left the house yesterday. Boy was it a long day....keeping 3 kids entertained at home all day long is more than a full time job, it is 3 full time jobs. I was really glad we were able to go about our normal activities today. Megan had her last day of preschool until after Christmas break and I had a MOPS meeting. At MOPS we did a cookie exchange and it went really well. I am going to enjoy the variety of cookies I brought home. Gary has really been putting a lot of hours the past few weeks. I am also anxious for Christmas to get here so we can spend more time with him. Hope your holiday planning is going well. I did complete a couple of scrapbooking pages of Megan and Justin. I took the pictures at their ice skating lessons. The pictures aren't the best quality, but it was the best I could do through the glass and at a distance. If you double click on the images you will be able to see the images in a larger size. God Bless, Danielle

Happy Monday

I worked in Justin's class last Friday & today. It is fun to watch your kids interact with their teachers and their peers. Tomorrow Kyle & I will attend Megan's Christmas party and performance at her preschool. Hopefully it will be a good photo opportunity as well. To the right is a scrapbook page of Megan and Justin playing outside one cold day last week. I am mostly ready for Christmas, just a few odds and ends to "wrap" up :) We had our small group from church over yesterday. We made and cut out sugar cookies and let 9 kids decorate them with frosting and sprinkles. It was really fun and really messy!! I think the adults enjoyed the decorating as much as the kids. On Thursday I have my last MOPS meeting of 2006. We are doing a cookie exchange, I am looking forward to trying out some different types of yummy taste treats. Gary has been working a ton the past couple of weeks. We are looking forward to Christmas break so Gary and the kids can stay home and we can all just hang out and if I get really lucky I may even get to sleep in once or twice!!

My disorganized days!!

Sorry for the long delay since I last posted. We enjoyed our trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving, but it has caused me to become so disorganized.... Oh Well!!! It has just been a struggle to get caught back up on day to day stuff. While we were in Iowa we didn't do much traveling about, we never even made it from Adel to Greenfield. So, those that came to see us, THANKS!! And those we didn't see this trip, we will try again this summer. The kids also saw Santa while we were in Iowa. Justin thinks we should go again now that we are home in Michigan as he has thought up many more things he would like to add to his Christmas list since he last saw Santa. Kyle did better than I thought he would sitting on Santa's lap. He actually was fine at first, but then he turned around and saw that he was sitting on some strange looking guys lap and started to lose it. In this picture you can see his lip is starting to stick out.

I think the highlight of our trip was meeting my nephew, Matthew. He is an adorable little guy. Since we have returned home, Megan has renamed her life-like doll to Baby Matthew. She is always the baby's mommy. Sometimes she is mommy Megan and sometimes she plays that she is "Aunt Lisa" and Justin gets to play the part of "Uncle Ryan". It is so sweet!!! Little mommy Megan gets so very upset when her Justin then decides "house" is over and drop kicks the doll across the room....you would think he actually hurt someone. Isn't it funny how 2 children will play with the same toy in entirely different methods???

This past week in addition to school we enjoyed ice skating lessons and Justin had a soccer game today. He was so proud that he scored a goal!! This evening Justin and I also had bowling. He scored 85 & 65. It is actually pretty impressive considering he just throws the ball down the lanes without much consideration for aiming at the pins. At ice skating it was painful for me to watch Megan as she fell repeatedly and then decided getting up wasn't really worth the effort and crawled around on the ice. I can hardly believe she thinks it is fun and actually wants to come back. Meanwhile Justin showed great improvement and even though he spent his fair share of time on the ice, he was actually working on some new techniques like skating backwards and learning to stop (or as Justin puts it, "I put the brakes on").

This coming week Kyle has his 18 month check up and Megan gets another immunization. It is so hard to believe Kyle is actually 1 1/2 years old already. We put our Christmas tree up last week and Kyle has been enjoying removing every ornament he can reach. Luckily, everything within his reach is non-breakable. The first thing he did with the balls was to take them into the kitchen and throw them on the floor...it is amazing how far they bounce. I am trying to teach him to put the ornaments back on when he takes them off, but so far no luck!

my week

I think this might be one of the busiest weeks ever, so I am grateful I have made it to Thursday. I am desperately trying to catch up laundry today, so I can start packing for our trip. I am starting to panic because I have not even started preparations yet. My goal is to pack lightly....somehow I never do, but I am going to give it a try once again. I don't know why I worry it will come together, it always does. It is just really hard to pack with the kids near by...I put something in the suitcase and they come by and take it out.

Gary and I went to Justin's parent-teacher conferences yesterday and they went well. Justin and Megan had ice skating again this week and they are slowly improving. Justin and I also pre-bowled since we will be in Iowa on Sunday. He got a 63 and a 64, not too bad for wildly tossing the ball down the lanes. I suppose I best sign off for now, I need to finish preparations for my MOPS Leadership meeting tonight and I hear Kyle calling me from his crib, if I don't respond promptly he will climb out and come try to find me.

Thankfully we all seem to be well again.....I hope it last awhile.

Long, Boring Weekend

On Friday, I took Megan and Kyle to the doctor. They both have ear infections and ended up on antibiotics. I also took myself to the doctor and I am on antibiotics. This afternoon, Justin was complaining that both of his ears hurt, so Gary took him in to be seen and he came home with a double ear infection and is on antibiotics. When it rains it pours. This illness that we all have just seems to be lingering, I really don't feel much better than I did 3 days ago. Hopefully, tomorrow things will turn around before the new week starts. I sure hope Gary doesn't get it. I say it has been a long, boring weekend because I haven't left the house in 2 days. As a matter of fact, I stayed in my PJs all day.....I haven't done that in ages.

Rough Day

It was interesting trying to keep up with three kids today. I totally lost my voice and could barely whisper. Makes life interesting. I decided we should all take a nap this afternoon, boy was I suprised when I actually got Justin and Megan to go to sleep and then I hear someone standing in my room by my bed...it was Kyle. He climbed out of his bed, opened his door and came in to find me. I put him back to bed and he proceeded to do the same thing over again two more times. I gave up on my nap and Kyle never did take an afternoon nap today...boy was he tired tonight. We put him in his crib and he must have decided to just go to sleep this time. He has a toddler bed waiting for him right next to his crib, he just doesn't seem to interested yet. Megan ran a fever all day today. She was pretty lethargic and not to hard to keep up with. Justin on the other hand is the only one of us who isn't particularly ill (yet) and he was full of energy.

Germs have invaded our home!!

It seems the beginning of the cold and flu season has started, at leaset at our house!! We all have colds, some of us worse than others...the worst being Kyle and myself. Although I don't feel nearly as bad as I sound. Laryngitis has taken over and I can barely speak. The kids are enjoying the way my voice sounds and my difficulty in verbally managing their actions. Not too much going on this week and we have been mostly hanging around the house trying to keep our germs to ourselves. I am planning on being well enough in the morning to attend my MOPS meeting (Mothers of Preschoolers). Grandma Clippard is helping me out and watching the sick kids, so I won't be exposing anyone else to their kid germs. I help to coordinate our MOPS program and it is difficult to delegate all my duties to someone else. Hopefully my voice will cooperate with my plans. Hope all is well with everyone who reads this and even those who don't. God Bless and Goodnight!!

Halloween Slide Show

Ice Skating

I signed Megan and Justin up for beginners ice skating lessons for something to do now that the weather has gotten cold. Today they had their first lessons. Both kids seemed to really enjoy it, but my stomach was "flipping" the entire time. It is so hard to sit and watch your kids fall....again and again and again and again. They both did a great job for their first time out. Megan was just exhausted after the hour lesson was over. I have only been ice skating a couple of times in my life and can barely keep myself upright, so it will be interesting to see where the kids end up after the lessons.

Happy Halloween

The kids had a great time trick or treating tonight. Justin had a Halloween party at school and Megan had a pajama party at preschool. Justin dressed as Spiderman, Megan was Cinderella and Kyle was a little gorilla this year.

Another Blustery One

We were so excited that it wasn't raining today we decided to go to Blake's Orchard and Cider Mill. However, it was COLD and WINDY!! We didn't stay too long, but the kids had a good time. Yesterday was Justin's last outdoor soccer game for this year. He has really enjoyed his first experience with soccer. Gary and I love watching him, however, I could do without all the rain EVERY weekend!! Gary's birthday was today. It is nice to be the same age again, for the past 26 days I have been the "older woman".

Beautiful Fall Day

It is awesome to finally have a beautiful fall day. Since the end of September it has been cold and rainy, it feels like winter started way early this year. Justin and Megan are thrilled that Mommy is finally letting them go outside to play for as long as they want today. I had a MOPS meeting this morning, which I always enjoy. It is my second year coordinating the group at our church. While I enjoy it all, it is much more relaxing at this point in the year now that the planning is completed and we can just sit back and enjoy the meetings. The kids are really looking forward to Halloween. Justin is going to dress up like Spiderman, Megan will be Cinderella and Kyle is going to be a Gorilla. I am sure I will get lots of photos to share with you. I discovered today that using Slide.com, I can update and add photos/scrapbook pages on the Slide.com website and it automatically updates my Blog page. Very handy feature, so I did move the Slide and enlarge it on the Blog page. Hopefully, you will be able to see the pictures better. I was studying my calendar this morning and realized that we will be coming to Iowa in 3 weeks and 2 days. It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is coming up so quickly. We leave for Iowa on Saturday, November 18th and plan to stay until the following Saturday, November 25th. I am hoping things work out and that Ryan, Lisa and Matthew will be able to join us at Mom and Dad's in Adel over Thanksgiving. We are anxious to make a personal aquaintance with our new nephew/cousin. (For those of you who don't know Ryan and Lisa had a baby boy on September 18th) Matthew's pictures are adorable, but there is nothing like snuggling with a little one.

Hi Everyone!!

I was scheduled to work today, but the call to cancel me came at 5:40 this morning. I will be sad when payday arrives, but I have to admit I am always glad when the call comes and I can roll over and catch a few more winks. Gary and I were busy with housework yesterday in preparation for me being gone all day today, so I had some extra free time when Kyle laid down for his nap this morning and I stumbled across this "Make your own Blog" site and thought I would give it a try. I have gotten really bad at correspondance and even phone calls lately. It seems someone always "needs" me for "something". Justin is now five and has suddenly developed an interest in practicing his writing, drawing pictures and coloring and painting. They are all great activities, however, keeping Kyle off the kitchen table where Justin is working is a full time job. I can't tell you how many crayons Kyle has eaten recently. Megan, my independant and willful 3 year old, has turned into a computer game freak and has gotten pretty good and turning on the computer and starting things up for herself. Kyle just turned 17 months and seems to be in to or on top of EVERYTHING. I must take him off of our kitchen table at least 50 times a day and he loves tormenting his siblings by turning the TV on and off and on and off over and over again while they are trying to watch a favorite program. You can imagine the racket that Justin and Megan make over that and if you can't I will describe it to you as LOUD!! Well, I hear Kyle waking, time for me to log off for now. Have a Blessed Day! Love, Danielle