They Might Be Giants

Last night we attended an open house at the school where Aidan will go to kindergarten. We are already enrolled, but the principal urged us to attend and we happily obliged. I think we talked it up a bit too much for Aidan, because he wasn't real thrilled to be there. He was a bit withdrawn and moody, to say the least.

His mood perked, however, when we got to the gym. He was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to play basketball, but gained his excitement back when he was choosing his new gym uniform. They have a choice between sweatpants (cuffed or straightleg) or wind pants. I thought for sure Aidan would choose the sweatpants. Against Pauls better judgement, Aidan has always been a fan of them. However, once he saw that the windpants had zippered legs, the decision was made. What is it with zippered legs that make little boys go wild?! So, windpants it is!

Even though Aidan wasn't in the best of moods, I was glad that we attended last night. I learned that one of the little girls that is currently in his preschool class will also go to the same kindergarten. What a relief....although more for me than for Aidan as he could have cared less at the time. We also got a peek at some of the other children who were scoping out the school and could possibly be his future classmates. HOLY COW!! All of the kids towered over Aidan. I never thought of him as short, but last night he looked so tiny. Gulp! After wandering through the school and checking out the cafeteria, gym, computer lab, etc. I calmed my fears. I have just come to the conclusion that those other children might be giants!

Look At Them Now

When I was downloading the pictures that I took for the previous post, I couldn't believe how quickly Lacee and Hollee have grown.

Lacee and Hollee are my cousins, Tammi and Rodneys, girls. They were the flowergirls when Paul and I got married 10 years ago. They were so sweet then and are even sweeter now. They have grown up to be such beautiful girls. They are typical teenagers. They love boys and are always on their cellphones. They are so kind and sweet!!

After I downloaded the pictures from this past weekend, I pulled out my wedding album. You have to see it with your own eyes.

Hollee & Lacee - 1996

Hollee - 2007

Lacee - 2007

To Lacee & Hollee:

May the sun shine, all day long,

everything go right, and nothing wrong.

May those you love bring love back to you,

and may all the wishes you wish come true!

Crazy about Cousins

We had a family gathering this past weekend, to celebrate my cousins upcoming wedding. Congratulations Timmy & Faith!

An amazing thing happened at the gathering....all of the youngest generation were in the same place at the same time. I couldn't miss this photo opportunity. It will probably NEVER happen again! So here they are.....

Back: Kaylea, Chelsea, Brittany, Aidan, Josh

Front: Hollee, Lacee

Cousins are cozy wherever they're from;

They feel like your family whenever they come.

Some people have many; most people have some.

Cousins are cozy wherever they're from.

Are they not the cutest bunch?!

Granola Moms....To Be or Not To Be

We were just finishing up our evening....getting lunches packed for the next day, getting pajamas on, brushing teeth, etc. A TV commercial was playing in the background, for Cymbalta. It was a drug commerical. I could hear the commerical but I can honestly say that I really wasn't paying attention to it. Apparently, it had Aidan's full attention.

Television Commercial: (after rambling on about such and such side affects and who this particular drug was right for and who it wasn't) "Ask your doctor if Cymbalta is right for you."

Aidan: (in a very serious tone) "Mom, is Cymbalta right for me?"

Hmmmm, I wonder what other things he's picked up from television. Maybe those granola moms are on to something.....

Note: If you're not sure what a Granola Mom is, check out my friend, Tristas, blog.

Kindergarten Bound

Yesterday was a holiday for my company. I had an appointment to register Aidan for kindergarten at 9am. However, I woke to festival of school closings and the appointment had to be cancelled. Deep down, I was a little relieved. Naturally, I am excited for Aidan to start kindergarten, however, I am sad as well. We will forever be saying goodbye to the toddler stage of life and we are getting further and further from his baby days. Needless to say, Aidan and I cuddled a little closer last night.

This morning, however, the school called and asked if I could come in to register today. TODAY!? But, I wasn't prepared. I had all of my paperwork in order, immunization records, birth certificate, baptismal record, but I was not at all mentally prepared. I had prepared myself for the initial registration all weekend, but I was not prepared for this call and for the registration to proceed so quickly after I escaped yesterday. As I gathered my papers and headed out to the car, I thought to myself. How silly? How can you not be prepared? You were ready yesterday and it is simply registration. It is not as if he has his backpack strapped on and is walking out to the bus stop.

As I turned onto the street with the school, the big yellow bus was parked out front. As the bus got larger, my heart sank deeper. Ughhhh, I did not want to do this. I did not want Aidan to turn 5 so soon. I did not want him to go to kindergarten all ready. I did not want to admit that my baby is growing up. I was buzzed into the school and I opened the front door. The SMELL overtook me. It was THAT smell....that SAME smell that made me sick to my stomach for the first month of high school. There is something about schools that do me in, and this was no different.

I turned the corner and the principal was there to greet me. She was smiling and knew exactly who I was. (She should. She was expecting me, right?) She ran through EVERTYTHING with me. She answered almost all of my questions before I had a chance to ask them and was patient as I muddled through the remaining few that I had. She took me down to the kindergarten room to see their new gym uniforms. Apparently, today is gym day and she was really excited about the new uniforms. She gave me a schedule that would take me through the summer to the first day of school....when I will recieve a supply list, when I will receive uniform information, when I will receive whatever else it is that I am supposed to receive prior to the first day of school. She explained kindergarten round-up and how the first week of school would go. She was so confident about everything and made everything seem like it was under control. This woman must know me. She must know that she had to say everything I wanted to hear or I was going to lose my mind. Huh, you would think she has done this before?

So, here we are....the middle of January, not even 5 yet and already ready for kindergarten. I am happiest when I have all of my ducks in a row. I'm happy that all of the paperwork is submitted for registration. I'm happy that the confidence in the school we chose was confirmed today. I'm happy that we are not on a waiting list for kindergarten. I'm happy that everything is set in motion for the fall.

Hmmmm, how come I don't feel so happy then?

The Burning Question

Last week, my skin was very oily. I decided that in addition to my normal face wash, I would try a face mask that claimed to produce a deep clean for extra oil control. Perfect!! Just what I need, right? You just put the stuff on, walk around looking like an alien for 10 minutes and VOILA...your skin is back to normal. Afterall, I typically have normal skin and I shouldn't require alot of product to get back to normal, right?

Well, after about 5 minutes after the mask application, my eyes were watering, skin was burning and I ran to the bathroom sink to wash it off. Everything looked fine. The next morning, as I washed my face I noticed little bumps everywhere on my face....and I mean everywhere! I couldn't see the bumps so I figured my skin was just going through a shock from the mask (and silently vowed never to use that mask product again.) A day or so later, the bumps didn't clear up and I thought it was acne. I had heard of adult onset acne, so I thought I would try to catch it early and lower the blow. So I borrowed a friends product (a television advertised product for acne). After one use, I thought my face was going to fall off. It was bright red, burning and itching. Paul said, "That is not acne, there is something wrong." and I panicked.

I ended up in the doctors office with all of the products that I used, so the doctor could see all of the ingredients involved. As soon as the doctor walked in, she asked, "what have you gotten into?". As she looked through my bag of product she just shook her head and said that I shouldn't be using any of those products....especially the Television advertised product. She told me that I have a chemical burn on my face. She banned all of my products, including my original face wash. I am applying hydrocortisone twice daily to treat the burn.

Will I ever get my skin back....that is the question?!?

Friday Fun

Tonight, we had a hodge podge of appetizers for dinner, for two reasons. One, I didn't really feel like cooking anything and two, we had some leftover stuff from our New Years party that, if not eaten soon, was going to go bad.

Aidan was thrilled because, to him, it was like a mini-party. We let him leave the TV on during dinner and we kind of just ate off of the serving plates. We didn't have out traditional table setting.

Towards the end of "dinner," Aidan grabbed the last pig-in-a-blanket and, with a very devilish look said, "hmmm, who should I give this too?" and proceed with a game of Eenie Meenie Miney Mo. Except....here is Aidan's version:

Eenie-Meenie, Miney Mo. Catch A Tiny, Tiny Toe.

The New Year

Today was back to work, back to school and back to life as we know it. It is sad that the vacation and Christmas season is over, but it was refreshing to start out 2007 with a bang!

For the first year since we've been married, Paul and I hosted a New Year's party. We celebrated with my mom and dad, Paul's mom, dad, brother, John & his wife and sister, Denise and her husband. Oh, and of course, Java and Dante (Randy and Denise's dog). It is nice to be able to begin a new year with family.

The boys started out rather aggressively with a game of "Finger Flingers." It is a nerf-type invention....rockets that you literally fling with your fingers. The boys were having a blast.

At one point, Aidan stopped playing Finger Flingers to play board games. However, the adult men (and I use this term loosely) decided to continue flinging! Hmmmm, I wonder who the bigger kids are?!?

Paul and I decided that we were going to surprise everyone with a midnight toast. It went over so well, that we've decided to make it our New Year's tradition. Each year, a different person will compose the toast.

Toast to 2007:

May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies, quick to make friends. But rich or poor, quick or slow, may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

History

Wow, I can't believe a week ago we were giddy with the anticipation of Christmas. Now, it is written in the history books. I have so many pictures I don't know where to start. I desperately need a scrapbooking weekend just to catch up on this holiday season. They were darn good memories, but I feel a sigh of relief that they are over.

Aidan and I have been spending alot of time together, just playing with new toys and enjoying each others company. We even took in a movie yesterday morning....Charlotte's Web. We give it 5 stars!! I can tell a huge difference in our interactions now that Christmas is over. It is such a relaxing time with him now. I think the anticipation was a little much for both of us. We are in a period of recovery.

I enjoyed writing in the blog everyday, but I have to admit....that was hard, especially during the holiday season. I thought it would be easy because I would have so much to write about. Yeah, right! So much to write about, so little time. It has been nice to take the last couple of days off.

I thought you'd like to see some pictures of our Christmas, so here you go. I am off to cook dinner for just the three of us....and looking forward to the normalcy it brings!!

Aidan and Kaylea playing with the new Doodle Monster

Josh and Aidan show off their new fish....Thanks, Uncle Keith & Aunt Kathy!!

Hollee, Kaylea, Josh & Aidan make Christmas ornaments!

The littlest ones tackle Charles

Aidan plays with his new race track from Santa!

All of the toys he received and he had the most fun with the box....and Uncle Randy, of course!!

December 25, 2006

‘Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house,
Not a creature was still,
Especially at our house!
The stockings were hung
By the chimney with care
Our countdown to Christmas,
Almost too much to bear.
The family finally gathered
For games and good cheer,
One last joyous gathering
To end a good year.
While visions of presents
Filled the children’s heads.
We all headed home
For the anticipation ahead.
When from Aidan’s room
there arose such a din
Of “I’m thirsty, I’m hungry,”
And “Mom, tuck me in!”
Away to dreamland
He finally went,
He fought a good fight,
But that boy was spent.
With dreams of toys and candy
That would come the next day,
Aidan looked so peaceful,
In the bed as he lay.
And just when I thought
I got to sleep,
In flew Aidan,
Run, jump, bounce and leap
I knew in a moment,
Sleep was no longer ahead.
And so slowly I stirred
And got out of bed.
More rapid than eagles,
To the Christmas tree he flew.
And he whistled and shouted
And called out, “Ya-Hoo!”
“Oh Mama, Oh Daddy,
Oh Java, can it be?
Santa has come and left
All this for me!”
He bounced off the ceiling, and
He bounced off the wall.
We couldn’t contain his excitement--
No not at all!
As the boxes were opened,
The paper did fly,
We were met with the gleam
Of joy in his eye.
So, up to the challenge
Of assembling the toys
Daddy worked like an elf
Amid all the noise.
Daddy spoke not a word,
But went straight to work
He worked very quickly,
Then turned with a jerk
And laying down his tools,
Wiping the sweat from his nose
And then saying “I’m done,”
To the coffeepot dad rose.
To all his new toys,
For which he’d been wishin’
Away Aidan flew,
Like he was on a mission.
But, I heard him exclaim
In the dawn’s early light,
“Merry Christmas to all,
I hope Santa comes back tonight!”

December 24, 2006

Well, this is it!! We've made it to Christmas Eve. The night of great anticipation. We are so excited and happy to be spending the next two days with our families. Aidan is bouncing (and I literally mean bouncing) off of the walls. It is going to be so exciting.

Last night we spent the evening with Denise and Randy (Paul's sister and husband). We started the evening out with a great Mexican feast and headed to a Holiday Night event. We strolled through 200 years of American holiday celebrations. There were homes to visit, staged musical perfomances, holiday vignettes, live reindeer and skilled artisan demonstrations. There was an outdoor skating rink, as well. However, we decided to sip our mulled cider and spiked cocoa and watch the skaters go round and round.

It was an amazing to spend one last night in such a calm and relaxing way. With warm hearts, we celebrated the simple delights and traditions of the season and enjoyed caroling and a fireworks display at the end. It was fabulous evening with a fabulous couple!

December 23, 2006

Today, we've been doing last minute preparations for Christmas. However, it has been a very relaxing and enjoyable day.

We visited with our neighbor and took her a Christmas arrangement. She is a wonderful neighbor and we are so lucky to have her!!

Paul went to the movies with a couple of my cousins while I cooked my dish for Christmas Eve. I signed up for Keilbasa and Kraut and it is an all day process. Alot of work, but soooooo worth it!!

Aidan and I also made cookies for Santa. He thought Monster Cookies would be Santa's favorite this year. They are good, but I really don't think Santa was on his mind when they chose the delicious cookies with peanut butter, M&M's and butterscotch chips. Aidan is a sucker for M&M's with or without Santa!!

December 22, 2006

In an effort to make Christmas Eve a little less chaotic, I've created a plan. Whether it works or not will be a fate determined in a few short days.

As part of my plan, I'm trying to prepare Aidan. Tonight, during dinner, the following conversation took place:

Jenny: "Aidan, on Christmas Eve the adults are going to play a couple of games and the kids are going to work on a craft project. THEN we will open gifts."

Aidan: "Is it Christmas Eve today?!"

Jenny: "No, not for a couple of more days, but I just wanted to let you know that we are not opening gifts until after dinner and after the games. I don't want you to keep asking when we are going to open presents. OK?"

Aidan: "OK mom."

after a few minutes later.

Aidan: "Mom?"

Jenny: "Yes, Aidan?"

Aidan: "When are the games gonna be over?"

December 21, 2006

Tonight is another "Family" night for us. After dinner, we played games and are currently watching (it is a commericial break and this will be a quick entry) Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Aidan has been really into dancing lately. Whenever a song comes on he starts dancing up a storm. One of his favorite dance songs righ now is "Shake Your Tail Feathers" by Ray Charles. He thinks he is Donald Duck. It is too cute....here are some pics. Enjoy. I'm going to get back to my family night....

December 20, 2006

I have been so giddy at work the last couple of days in the anticipation of Christmas. I'm starting to get on my co-workers nerves. One of my co-workers asked, "This is the most excited that I have seen an adult about Christmas ever, what do you love about it? Not that I don't love it, but the magic is usually gone by the time you are an adult." Well, I have thought alot about her question. The thing that I really love about Christmas is Christmas Eve. I love to gather with my extended family on Christmas Eve. I love everything about it. I love what it means to our family, I love how excited the kids are, I love playing games and I love just being with everyone on that night. My cousin, Kandi, commented on a previous blog entry regarding a night with my cousins. In her comment she said, "We truly have a wonderful family!" I couldn't agree with her more! I don't know why this comment stuck in my head, but I haven't stopped thinking about it all day. Sure, we have our differences (and sometimes alot of them.), but that doesn't matter. In the end, we make it all work. Since it has been on my mind all day, I thought I should write about some things that I think make our family truly wonderful:

We like to laugh. No matter what we are doing, someone is always laughing. I could insert a story about my cousin and crabs, but I'll spare him tonight. Although, I'm sure he's expecting the story to appear on my blog somewhere, sometime....because it is one of my favorite stories about him. I'll consider it my Christmas gift to him and spare him for now. Laughing is part of who we are. I especially love it when my dad or any of his brothers laugh. Their laughter just takes over their entire body.

We are extremely close. The majority of us live within a 15 minute radius of each other. We see each other and do things with each other often. For instance, I get together to scrapbook with my aunt and cousin, just because. When I was little, I can remember loading our bikes in the car and driving over to the street where my grandparents and 3 of my cousins lived, just to ride our bikes and sit on the driveway and visit. Our two biggest celebrations of the year are Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. There are approximately 30 of us who gather at my uncle's house each year on these holidays. It is complete and utter chaos....but it is home and I wouldn't spend those holidays any other way.

We help each other out. It doesn't matter what differences we may have, if one of us needs help all we have to do is ask. When my moms brother died unexpectedly she was frantic about getting everything done. She was helping my aunt plan the funeral, helping her get her affairs in order, not to mention, her emotions. All she had to do was make one call to my dads brother and say, "can you handle the funeral luncheon?" Poof....it was done. None of us knew any details, we just went back home after the funeral and everything was handled. There was enough food to feed an army and everyone was there. It is nice that they do things like this, but the fact that we KNOW we can count of them is even nicer.

Speaking of food, you will never walk away hungry in our family and you are always, ALWAYS welcome. Paul remembers, one of his first gatherings with our family. Someone made the comment to him, "if you walk away hungry, it is your own fault." Likewise, it is not uncommon for a strange face to appear at Thanksgiving dinner or the Christmas Eve party and be told the same thing. When they do, no one bats an eye. We welcome anyone to join our family, no matter the reason. Hey, if you can handle us for the evening, you deserve to stuff your face!

Food Funny: It was one of the first years that my cousin Kandi's boyfriend (now husband) Chuck, ate Thanksgiving dinner with us. That evening, they went back to Kandi's mom and dads house. My uncle Keith starting pulling leftovers out of the refrigerator.

Uncle Keith: "Chuck, do you want to eat some leftovers."
Chuck: "Oh, no thanks. I'm not the least bit hungry."
Uncle Keith: (looking baffled and fully intending on eating no matter what Chucks response is) "Well, neither am I?"

I just had to tell that story because it makes me laugh so hard EVERY time I think of it...I can just picture the look on my uncles face as he says these words.

I know alot of people who don't have this kind of relationship in their family or that do not WANT this kind of relationship in their family. I know we are lucky to live so close to each other and that is part of what makes it work. In fact, the same co-worker that I mention in the beginning of this entry just shook her head as I told her about our cousins weekend. She stood there staring at me and said, "man, I just can't imagine seeing that many of my family at one time. It would be so stressful for me and I would definitely not look forward to any holiday like that." It makes me sad that she feels that way. I love my family and I don't know what I would do withouth them....I can't wait to see them all on Christmas Eve!!

December 19, 2006

Last night was THE most relaxing advent evening we’ve had yet!! What did we do? NOTHING!!!!

After dinner, because Aidan had made some very good choices that day (see previous posts), I told him that he could open the packages that came in the mail from our cousins, Bruce and Therese, a couple of weeks ago. (Secretly, I knew they were ornaments and I knew he would be thrilled to hang them on the tree.) Along with the ornaments came the game, Hi-Ho! Cherry –O!

We made hot chocolate, turned on the Christmas music and played 20+ games of Hi-Ho! Cherry-O! After the games, we read several Christmas books, including the newest book that his teacher bought him for Christmas. It has been the first time in a long time that we didn’t have the television on.

Paul and I were talking after Aidan went to sleep about how nice it was to do absolutely nothing and spend quality time together, just the three of us. I can’t wait to do the same thing tonight! I’m also planning it, so that we can have a couple more of those nights this week. I can’t think of a more perfect way to spend our final nights of Advent!

December 18, 2006

We spent yesterday afternoon celebrating Christmas with my moms sister and 2 of my cousins (and their families). It was a very relaxing afternoon. My aunt had lunch for us and then we sat around chit-chatting. After the kids opened their gifts, we played with some of their board games. It was great fun!


Aunt Sally helping Kaylee work with her new knitting kit.



Aidan and Kaylee doing gymnastics in the very spacious basement!


And here is the Christmas Miracle!! Uncle Jim and Aunt Sally bought Aidan a UofM football. This is amazing because Uncle Jim is the biggest State fan that I know! What a true gift of the heart!

December 17, 2006

Last night was "Christmas with the Cousins." It has been the first time that, that many of us have been together in a very long time. We had a blast!! Most of us met up at my cousins, Chrissy and Scotts house. From there, we drove to the Whirlyball courts. The courts were about 45 minutes away and we laughed the entire trip....mostly at my expense and lack of knowledge of how a diesel engine works!!

Whirlyball was a hoot! I have played one other time, but everyone else was considered Whirlyball Virgins. It is a game played from electric bumber cars, where you try and toss a whiffle ball into a basketball type hoop with a plastic scoop. Because we had an even number, we played guys against girls. The girls got skunked, but we had an unbelievable time and made memories to last a life time.

After Whirlyball, we all went out to dinner and enjoyed an evening of good food, good drinks and even better company. It was our first "Christmas with the Cousins" outing and I hope it becomes an annual tradition.

Thanks to all of you for making this such a special night out!! By the way, I hope Todd and Lori remembered to plug their car in so they could make their 4 hour trek home this morning!! :-)

December 16, 2006

Mom, is it time to go yet? Mom, are we going now? Mom when are we gonna go to grandma's? Mom, it is to looooooooong to wait.

This is what I heard all morning. Aidan is spending the night with my mom and dad tonight. It has been planned for several weeks....however, we just told Aidan at the end of last week for sanity purposes. However, I still think we told him too soon. He is spending the afternoon (and night) with my parents. They are going to decorate the Christmas tree, go to McDonalds and see "Happy Feet." He couldn't wait to get out the door. He had his suitcase packed since 8:30 this morning and ended up having to carry additional items because he couldn't fit everything in the suitcase. You would think that my parents have NO toys at their home.

Anyway, Paul and I enjoyed a kid-free lunch this afternoon and are off to "Christmas with the Cousins" tonight. I can't wait!! There are 17 cousins on my dads side of the family and 13 of us are getting together tonight for alot of Christmas cheer. With this clan, I'm sure I'll have plenty to update you on tomorrow and LOTS of pictures.

December 15, 2006

Thank you to those of you who shared ideas for the teacher gifts. I ended up buying them beautiful Christmas jars with peppermint scented candles. Aidan was excited....I guess he wasn't too hung up on the dog and princess idea. I think next year I will make something....I just have to give myself more time. I'll start thinking now.

Things are moving right along here. I am officially, officially done with EVERYTHING. The teacher gifts are done and the annual Christmas calendars, that I make for my mom and mother-in-law, are completed....Finally!! I really enjoy doing those but I enjoy it even better when they are done!!

We have lots of Christmas activities planned for this weekend and we are excited about those.

Well, Paul is off to his bowling league tonight and Aidan has picked out "Polar Express" to watch for our Friday night movie (AGAIN!!!) I better get going before I miss it all. That is what Aidan is currently yelling to me from the bedroom!!