Its a family tradition

It has been a tradition in my family to decorate the house for Christmas right after Thanksgiving. Well this year the kids could not wait so while we were waiting for the turkey to cook we decorated the house and the tree. The kids did a fantastic job with the tree and I think it looks beautiful. Even the dog tried to help by taking the tissue paper that the oranments were wrapped in and began running around with it throughout the livingroom. He's such the helper. Daddy helped by taking pictures and basically staying out of the way. We all know how much he loves to help with decorating and wrapping gifts. (I cannot wait to wrap all the presents by myself.) I guess I should finish buying all the gifts so I have some to wrap.
After the decorating we went over to our friends house for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. We ate way to much and needless to say we will be starting our diets next week. We brought the bird, stuffing, gravy and rolls. Our friend made the rest to include 2 delicious pies. I enjoyed going over to their house for many reasons to include friendship, good food and of course no dishes at my house to wash. I think I might be onto something. So who wants us over for Christmas dinner?

Our Honor Roll Student

At Ronan's school they have an Honor Roll. It consists of 3 levels; Gold (all A's), Silver (A's and B's and Bronze (all B's). They had an assembly last week and handed out certificates and coupons to the BX to all who made the honor roll. We are please to tell you that Ronan made the silver honor roll. We are pleased and very proud of our boy. He's shooting for Gold next quarter. Keep those fingers crossed. :-)

One of those....

Okay so I have now become one of "those" dog owners. Let me explain. Everyday I take the kids and the neighbor kids to school. The dog always goes with us. It has been cold here in the upper 20's. Ice scrapping weather. Well needless to say the dog gets cold when I leave him in the van to walk the kids to their classes. One day I got back to the car and he was shivering. I felt horrible. But I would feel even more horrible if I had to put him in his kennel each morning. So I bought him a shirt. Yes a cute little t-shirt that says " Who's Your Doggie." Pathetic I know. But as you can tell from the pictures he is rather cute. Don't cha think.

5th graders at work?

On Thursday, we volunteered in Ronan's 5th grade class. They were having their "fall festival." We were in charge of the caramel apples. I melted enough caramel in my crockpot to make 35 apples. I wanted to make sure I did not run out. Needless to say we still have leftovers. Anyone want some melted caramel? I know it looks like I am reprimanding the kids in the picture but really I was giving directions. RIGHT!! :-) The class seemed to have a good time and at the end they thanked us for coming in and helping. Ronan's teacher says I don't have to volunteer for anything else all year. Which is a good thing because being a stay at home Mom volunteering really cuts into my Bob Bon eating time. Until next time....

Trunk or Treat

We took the kids with my neighbors kids to their church for "Trunk or Treat." The kids had a great time going to each car and getting candy. Most of the cars had been decorated and it was fun to see. It was misting and the temp was 45. My neighbor, who has 5 kids under the age of 8, designed and made each of her kids costumes. She's what we like to call a "perfectionist." The kids were dressed as the cast of Peter Pan. Tinkerbell was played by her 2 year old. I was helping her get the kids ready and she had Tinkerbell standing still for 2 or more minutes with her eyes closed so the eyeliner would dry. I have to say I got a good giggle and so did she. Her kids looked AWESOME. I admire her patience because I couldn't have done half of what she did. Did I mention her husband is gone?

We have put to rest another Halloween (the kids don't want to go out October 31st). So until next year. Happy Hauntings!

Halloween is in full swing here on our base. It seems each squadron is doing some sort of Halloween fund raiser. We went to the one designed for the younger kids called the friendly hayride. It was from 6-8 PM and we decided to get there early. That turned out to be the best decision of the night. We rode on the trailer full of hay down to the "fun" area. They had a bouncy castle, face painting, and a few crafts. We met Emma's friend Alexandra there. It took all of 15 minutes to get through the whole area so we caught the tractor for the ride back to our car. When we got back the line of families was at the very least 50 deep and many more were coming.

The road up to the friendly hayride was a small two lane road surrounded by long grass and trees. It was beautiful. As we are leaving we start noticing that people decided to park on both sides of the road making it possible for only one car to get into or out of the park. We met a few cars head on and being nice people we pulled off to the side as best we could. Cars tried to go through but soon enough there was a huge traffic jam. Finally people started backing up and we followed them. One Yukon was not about to budge so we went off road with the minivan. The van was almost tipped onto its side. We made it through and as we approached the gate we saw several more cars trying to get to the "friendly hayride." Next year I think we will stay home.

Happy Halloween!!

A season well done

We are finished with football and soccer now until next year. Both teams had an exciting last game. Our team in soccer scored 3 goals in their last game. We had the late game (6 PM) and by the time we were done the sun had set and it was getting dark. AAH fall!! The team had really improved and even the parents were sad that we were done. The football game was another close one but the Steelers pulled through and won 13-12. It was chilly and windy for both games. But you know me I love it when it's chilly and windy. So we closed the book on football and soccer but, we signed Ronan up for basketball and Emma is taking Irish dancing. So I am not completely done with chauffeuring the kids around but at least a get a short break.

Until next time.