Friday, December 21, 2007

Christmasy Stuff

Our Christmas card pic of the kids, which most of you received!
We have been up to all things Christmasy lately. Shopping, driving around listening to Christmas songs and looking at the lights, baking cookies, making chex mix, making these yummy treats, having grown-up treats in the evening with a fire in the fireplace. I look this time of the year! I do feel a bit behind because I haven't wrapped one present, and we are celebrating Christmas with my family on Saturday. That is one my agenda for today as well as going to the grocery. I could use some ideas for Christmas dinner. We always have my parents over for dinner on Christmas evening and I ALWAYS fix my lasagna. It is really good, but I want to fix something different. I am open to any ideas you can offer. Also, I need a new mixed drink to fix. It is a tradition for Tom and I to make a mixed drink and enjoy them while we are doing "Santa" things on Christmas Eve. We have done cosmos, old fashioned's, rum and cokes, appletinis and these (which are delicious by the way!) just to name a few. So again I am open to ideas!!
For the kiddos and Santa

For the grown-ups!

I might be posting before Christmas, it really depends on how much time I feel like I have. If I don't, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, Holiday or a Nothing ~whatever your thing is!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Indecisiveness

The girls have a wonderful and exciting way to make any decision. It is the wonderment and unpredictability of eenie-meenie-minie-mo! No matter if they are deciding what cereal to eat, shoes or clothes to wear, movie to watch, color of crayon to use or book to read. The power lies in the hands of the eenie-meenie-minie-mo gods. It is so damn annoying!! I know I did it as a kid, but not to this extent. The funny thing about Janey is, it doesn't matter where her finger lands at the end of the little rhyme, she still picks what she wants. Therefore, making Tom and I wonder why we had to listen to it for the thousandth time when she made the decision regardless of what the E.M.M.O gods had to say. Gotta love having school-aged little girls in the house!
In other news, Tom has recently been given a wonderful opportunity for a new job and has decided on taking it. He won't start for another month or so thankfully, because it does involve a temporary pay cut. He will be a Contract Specialist with the government. He will be using his degree plus the room for advancement is huge, unlike the company he is working for now. This brings me to finding a job. We can't make our budget with this pay cut, so I am pounding the pavement looking for a job. This was a hard decision for us but knowing where Tom could be at in just a few short years made the decision sway to him taking the job and me finding a job. We didn't want to put Nolan in daycare, nor the girls when they are out from school for breaks and what not. Unfortunately, I am not willing to work evenings and weekends and never be a family either. So I am at a crossroads at what to do and what would be better for my kids. I did interview for an Office Manager job at our local Montessori school. The hours are good and I could have Nolan in preschool there and be in the same building as him. The hours are 10am-6pm making it so I can get the girls on the bus, and Tom will be home to get them off of the bus. The pay is not too shabby and more than I had anticipated. I wasn't sure how I felt about the job when I was headed to the interview yesterday, but now I am thinking it may work for us. I do have to admit the idea of joining the working world is appealing to me, I just don't want to upset my kids. I know they are resilient and kids have both parents working all the time, but it was important to OUR family and to Tom and I that one of us would always be here for the kids. Again, as a parent what do I do?
Sorry for the absence on my part with this blog, but my mind as been on the job situation for awhile now, and I just wanted to think about things and pretty much worry myself sick that we won't be able to make ends meet. I know we will and it is just temporary, but still hard nonetheless.
I have no pictures to share today. We have been all over including the Zoo for the Wildlights and I haven't taken one picture. We picked out our tree and decorated it, no pictures. I am a bad memory maker!! One more thing for my kids to be angry at me for when they are older. Not only did I return to work, but I also didn't take enough pictures. Their childhoods are ruined and my therapy bill just went up!

Monday, December 03, 2007

I've been a bad blogger!!

Yes I have been a bad blogger, and we have been up to a lot this past week and a half! I will give you a quick run-down of what those things have been;
  • Great Thanksgiving and anniversary. I got one of these from Tom.
  • Homemade soup from leftover turkey. YUM!!
  • Movie day with the girls. We saw this.
  • A new car to replace Tom's old beater. We got a Ford Five Hundred. It's nice and we can all fit so we don't always have to take the minivan wherever we go as a family. Boohoo to having a car payment again!
  • Christmas decorating, putting up the outdoor lights, wreaths, candles, stockings and anticipating cutting down our own fresh tree. (We haven't had a fresh tree since having the kids!)
  • Coffee, coffee and more coffee!
  • Heated mattress pads turned to high.
  • Seeing Santa
  • Looking forward to a trip to the Zoo this Saturday to see the lights and reindeer.
  • Sweet sentiments from Chloe this morning; "You are such a good Mommy. You take great care of all of us!" Funny, I think they all take great car of me. I don't know how or why I got so lucky...
  • A promise of new things on the horizon.
  • Being excited to watch the Bucks in the National Championship game!!
  • Trying new recipes like homemade cheese enchiladas and tried and true ones like pot roast w/roasted veggies.
  • Looking forward to holiday baking with the girls. You HAVE to make these!
  • Trying hard not to put on 5lbs while eating new delicious recipes and holiday treats.

Well that's it in a nutshell. I guess nothing overly exciting happening, but our life none the less! I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!