Tom the turkey will be arriving soon...

Our mini turkey should be thawing in the fridge for tmrw, but of course I haven't gone shopping yet. Actually, we were shopping yesterday, but not for us. Allstar Mailing donated two cartfuls of turkeys to Salvation Army, and a bunch of food to my cousin Chance at the Hope House. We like to take all the kids along so they can share in the "joy of giving." We explained to Bella that we were giving to the people that didn't have any food and she just gave us this naive stare and then said "I want a chocolate candy!" I think she got it! Little do our kids know, but ALL of them will be volunteering when they are older. We want to take them down to serve dinner one year. I think every child should experience that at least once in their life.

We are going to my mom's (sigh) in between the boys' naptime tmrw. We will just stay for a few hrs and then head home for our "first" Thanksgiving with just our kids. We are going to 'attempt' (and I use that word firmly) to deep fry the turkey. We'll just buy a small one in case we totally fowl (no pun intended) it up! After dinner I'll spend Thurs. night making deviled eggs, mini cheesecakes or a fruit pizza (i'm still deciding)...oh, and mashed potatoes! We are heading up north Friday and we are taking food w/us for our Thanksgiving w/the Spiros. It's supposed to snow this wknd and the roads are very icy, so our Suburban is at the shop right now getting a new set of snow tires! I'm hoping our usual 3 1/2 hr trip doesn't turn into a 5 or 6 hr trip because of the weather. Should be VERY interesting!!

Mike is playing poker tonight at Jonathan's house (temporarily in the hands of Jason)...very scary!

I still have to go shopping....blah!

Happy Turkey Day to all!

What kind of crap is that?

Everyone is bugging me for Halloween pics, and I don't have any! Actually, I do have a few of the girls. Mother Nature decided it would be 90 degrees on Halloween so my poor boys couldn't even wear their suits. All of the little kids had fury animal costumes that were blistering hot. Bella was an Aristocat (white kitty for those of you who don't know) and she trick-or-treated for like 15mins and was ripping it off, she was so uncomfortable. I waited a few more hrs, to see if it would cool down any so that I could take the boys out. It came down a whopping 10 degrees or so, making it about 80!! So basically I have no pics of their 'real' first Halloween. I will be dressing them up this wknd though, now that it's pretty cold out at night. I'll snap some pics and post them. I know it's not actually the fun of being ON Halloween, but dang it, I'm gonna get use out of those costumes that I paid for (well only one, really :)

Electrician here fixing our hot tub...woo hoo!! We've only had it sitting on our porch for 2 yrs now!! Better late than never, right? (at least that's how we function...ha!)

I spoke too soon....

Well ALL of my kids are sick now! Mike also had a little of it, but I've yet to get it (knock on wood). Started with Crew and Bella, then Cooper got it (inevitable), and Jordie came home from her dad's this wknd with it! Poor Bella even had it on her bday last week. Yep, she just turned 3! Man, time is bookin' around here! No pics of course. I hate my camera! Hopefully Santa will bring me a new one for Christmas. I say Santa because the guy responsible for the gifts is jolly, and does have rosy cheeks and a BIG belly!

Tata for now...babysitting my niece today so my house is a circus at the moment!

2 for 4...

Cold/flu season, here we come! Two of my four kids are sick. This is going to be a fun winter season!! We decided to just have family over Sat. night, for a bday celebration for Bella. I'm hoping we don't have runny noses everywhere this wknd. So far no fever, so I think we're in the clear, however, i'm SO over runny noses and whining and crabbiness ALL day long! How many more years of this do I have???

Happy Vets Day!

I voted today!!

Got up this morning at the crack of dawn to vote. Only took about an hour, and I made a new friend while waiting in line! Can't wait for the results...is an economic resurrection in sight? Hopefully so, we'll see. Go Obama!!

BTW, Jordie has softball tryouts this afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed.

We're officially ready for Halloween...

Now that OUR family is ready for Halloween, it may begin! Kids have costumes and we made a trip out to the pumpkin patch Monday night. Of course I forgot my camera, so no pics. But as you all know, I never post them anyway...ha! Mike and Jorden carved pumpkins last night and we are set. We won't be here Friday night, but we are lighting up the pumpkins, leaving candy by the door and we are off to our in-laws. We've kind of made it a tradition to trick or treat in their neighborhood, and then have dinner afterward. I'm excited that it's on Friday this year, so we won't have to rush home for work in the morning. Jorden will be Hannah Montana, Bella will be "Marie" the Aristocrat (J's old costume from when she was 2, so cute!), and boys will be a lion and a monkey. Not sure which one of them will be the lion, and which one will be the monkey. Mike and Jorden want me to dress them up, so they can try and guess who's who. Funny! Anyway, should be a good time....bring on the treats (or tricks)!!

Parties, parties and more parties!

So we had a surprise party for Mike's youngest brother on Saturday, who turned 30. Whatever, I hate young people! We just finished up the boys's 1st bday, planned Johnny's 30th and now are working on Bella's 3rd. It will be very small though, prob. just family at either Chuck E. Cheese's (Bella and Jorden's vote), or the Phoenix Zoo (mommy and daddy's vote). I'll let you guess who is going to win...

Jorden has parent-teacher conferences tmrw night. I'll get to meet the 8A team that I've heard so much about all year (well, the last two mos...ha!). Still waiting on her pic re-takes, to see how they turned out. She's moody like any other typical teenager, but we keep her in check. :) Braces going well, you can already see a huge difference!

Bella is wearing big girl panties now and absolutely loves them. Jordie and Ashley snagged some Mickey ones from Target that are really cute. I realized I couldn't survive with just 3 pair, so I found some more at Wal-mart the other day (My Little Pony) and she says "I want pink ponies to cover my privies (privates)", bless her heart!

Boys are just about walking and I'm searching Craigslist for TWO front-facing carseats and another Chicco feeding chair (already have one that was Bella's). They no longer want to sit in their Bumbos so feeding time is NOT fun! Cooper is actually crawling out of his chair at this very moment, as all of the food spills on the floor (dogs don't mind:)

Hubby (yes, he's still alive)...is enjoying football season and absolutely loves it when he comes home from a 12hr work day, to find out what I need him to do around here next! Oh life's little treasures...