Getting Ready for December

We started decorating the house for Christmas today! Since we have a fake tree after last year's infested tree debacle, we put it up nice and early so we can enjoy it for as long as possible. The kids had a great time hanging all of the ornaments and putting all of the other decorations around the house. As a weird bonus it was almost 75 degrees today. It did feel a little weird putting up decorations when it was so warm! I really should have decorated the outside of the house today too but we didn't get around to it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving today and it was just the four of us - hopefully the last one without Brendan for a long time! As much as I love hosting Thanksgiving at my house, it was really nice to have a very relaxed day - no pressure to clean or have the meal ready at a certain time! We had time to make Indian headdresses while the turkey was cooking and the kids had a great time decorating them. We ate around 4:30 when everything was finally done. We had turkey, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry bread and cranberry relish. I didn't make a green vegetable because, really, who wants to eat it? After dinner I finished cleaning up although there really wasn't much to do. We had some pumpkin pie then the kids had baths. After that we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to start our Christmas season off right! Bring on December!!!

Happy Turkey Day!

Birthday Present

Woohoo!!! My birthday present from Brendan came in the mail today - I am so happy that they are finally here!! Can you tell I'm excited? They are Frye Carson Pull On Boots in Smoke and I am in LOVE! The color of the boot is more true in the second picture. They are a really nice neutral brown/gray and the leather is like butter!! Sorry these aren't the best pictures but it's nighttime - artificial light just isn't the best!

Jeff and Maggie

On Sunday my brother and his girlfriend, Maggie, stopped by for a visit on their way from Texas to Chicago. The kids were super excited to see Jeff and to meet Maggie - and so was I! The visit was short because they had to get on the road but we had a nice lunch of Thai Chicken Curry and we sent them on their way with full bellies. Poor Aoife has a special affinity for my brother and is still talking about the visit!

Thanksgiving at Barsanti Elementary School

On Thursday we went over to Emmy and Aidan's school for their Thanksgiving Feast. It was fun to be able to share this with them and my mom. It was very well organized and we barely even had to wait in line! We picked up Emmy early from class and went over to Aidan's classroom. We all walked together to the cafeteria - I thought Emmy was going to burst with excitement!!

Playground Fun!

We went to the playground a whole bunch to try to take advantage of the last of the warm weather before winter really sets in. The kids burned off lots of energy and the dogs were happy to be out of the house as well!

My Birthday

I turned 34 last weekend. I guess it's better than NOT turning 34! We had a really good day. We started out with breakfast at Cracker Barrel and dinner at The Black Horse Brewery. Chocolate cake of course - to finish up the day!
Me and my mom: Checkers:Chocolate Cake!

Painting with the Girls

The girls love to paint - here's a few pictures of them. Aoife also decided that painting on her face would be a good idea!

Veteran's Day at the Park

My parents visited this past week and it was so nice to have them here! They came up for my birthday and then my mom was able to stay for the whole rest of the week. It was fantastic to have help. This single mom stuff is getting old!!
The kids didn't have school on Veteran's day so we went to the big park on post and had a great time!

Barsanti Elementary School Fall Festival

Earlier in the month the kids' school had a Fall Festival to raise money for the PTO. I knew it was going to be crazy but I figured it would be better than last year since the kids were a year older and we didn't have to bring a stroller. The kids had a great time - especially since they got to have colored hair and fake tattoos!

Why I Don't Serve Spaghetti to Company

Aoife has a passion for spaghetti and meat sauce. She will eat at least 3 platefuls when we have it for dinner. Eating with a fork is just too slow for her so she just shovels it in with her hands. I swear that my children use utensils during most meals - spaghetti is just too difficult to wrangle!

Moves Like Jagger

Emmy LOVES to dance and she loves this song by Maroon 5. We were waiting for Aidan to get out of CCD and she put on a show for Aoife and me!