The best of '08

So, I'm going to totally copy my cousin Cass's blog & try to creatively list my "best's" of '08...here goes (in no particular order...)

1. Getting to celebrate the 1st anniversary of marrying my best friend
2. Watching my "baby" Nick march into school to start kindergarten w/ his big sisters by his side
3. Finally getting my living room project done (by my handy hubby!) - new wall finished, crown molding & baseboards installed, new paint & new front door!
4. Discovering the awesome world of blogging & how it connects friends, both old & new
5. Coaching all of my daughters in both outdoor & indoor soccer...now I can say "NO!" the next time I'm asked :)
6. Cheering for Nick the T-ball player & Shane the T-ball coach
7. Finally getting some answers to Emily's behavior issues
8. Enjoying Shane & I's "date nights" - highly recommended for all married couples but especially those with children!
9. Road-tripping to Bumpus Mills, Tennessee for weekends w/ Mom & Scott
10. Watching 4 generations play softball at Shane's family reunion
11. Seeing the complete wonder on Shane's face as we first heard the roar of the dragsters in Indy
12. Experiencing Colts football in the glory of Lucas Oil Stadium
13. Eating a hot dog & drinking a cold beer while watching the Indianapolis Indians baseball team on a perfect September night
14. Hearing the collective intake of breath as our children opened their trampoline on Christmas morning...then covering my ears to the screams of joy!
15. Finally getting the perfect vehicle for our family - seats 8 w/ a DVD player & heated seats and its NOT A MINIVAN!
16. Half-heartedly supporting my husband's obsession w/ becoming a drag racer
17. Watching as my "everybody's party-buddy" brother-in-law Dave became one of the US Army's finest - so proud of you!!
18. Taking Hannah to the emergency room as she was awarded the "First Broken Bone" award - all healed now :)
19. Not only seeing Nick lose his first tooth but also trying to keep up w/ all of the teeth Emily, Hannah & Kate decided to lose this year...this all went along w/ reminding the Tooth Fairy (aka Shane) to put the golden dollars under their pillows before he left for work
20. Accepting the fact that its ok for a new washer & dryer to excite me as much as they did

That's about all I can come up with outside of the fact that I'm obviously very blessed to have a happy & healthy family...I know that 2009 will be just as crazy as 2008 - and I don't want to miss a thing!

P.S. I know I haven't posted about Christmas but we did sooo much that it would totally exhaust me to re-cap it all....safe to say we were all very spoiled, ate way too much and loved seeing all of our families!

Only 1 more day 'til vacation!

That's right...one more day then I'm off work thru Jan. 5th...woo hoo!! Work has been soooo hectic with the staffing changes that we had to make so I'm definitely ready for the break...

Last weekend, the kids & I made the one & only Christmas candy that I can make on short notice...M&M chocolate pretzels. So simple - line a cookie sheet w/ little pretzels, have plenty of kids around to unwrap a bag of Hershey kisses (milk or dark chocolate), put a kiss on each pretzel then put in a pre-heated 250 degree oven for 5 minutes...no longer! Pull them out of the oven then press an M&M (any flavor but try to get red & green ones - the peppermint ones are awesome w/ the dark chocolate!) down into the kiss. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then put on cookie racks to finish setting up...simple & delicious!!

We had a busy weekend like most people this time of the year...the "sickies" hit Katie Friday night (that makes 4 out of the 6 of us!) and she was pretty puny all weekend long. We still managed to fit quite a bit in though!

We went to Huntingburg Saturday morning for Shane's company "kid" Christmas party - soooo many things for the kids to do like "elf" bowling, balloon animals (my hubby is the master balloon animal tie'er upper), letters to Santa, face painting, etc etc plus they all got a gift from Santa. The doughnuts & chocolate milk were good too...at least for everyone but Katie who "lost" her breakfast 5 minutes later - yuck! All she had consumed was the milk but we still had to make a run for the bathroom...and we almost made it....that's right, ALMOST. I had to do a little clean up...but she was a trooper and put her game face on for a little while longer until we could leave.

After the party, the kids & I headed back to Washington to take Kate to Shane's mom & dad's and Nick to Anna's so the rest of us could head to Evansville to finish up our shopping - we didn't think that a sick Kate nor a 5-yr-old Nick could hold up very well in the mall on the Saturday before Christmas!! The twins did great though and we finallllly finished our shopping - after the mall, we hit Target (one of the few things I miss about living in E-ville!) then went to dinner at Nagasaki. Its a Japanese hibatchi restaurant so the kids absolutely love having their dinner cooked right in front of them on the grill...its one of our family faves! Once we picked up Katie (Nick spent the night at Anna's) and got home, I wrapped gifts for 2 hours (ugg!) then crashed.

On Sunday, the twins & I went to church at Providence b/c it was Beth & Dad's 24th wedding anniversary and my brother Dan sang w/ the Praise Team and also solo...he did a great job! I was so looking forward to finally getting to hear Shawn deliver a sermon but no-go...his youth pastor preaches once a month and it was his turn....great message though! After church, we all went to Mi Pueblo and Shane & Katie met us there. Then all of the girls went w/ me to Anna's so they could open presents w/ Nick...such cute stuff! We headed home after a quick visit then I went to Wal-mart to stock up for all of the Christmas dinners this week. Once I got home, I made some more M&M pretzels then dinner then DROPPED on the couch....I was worn out!

The next week will be a busy as the weekend but I'm so looking forward to all of our family traditions...if I don't have time to post before Thursday - Merry Christmas to all of you!

Blog Award...

Big thanks to Jenelle for the blog award nomination! Our boys were in pre-school together and now go to the same school for Kindergarten...I absolutely love checking her blog out for new pics of her gorgeous kids and love reading her stories about raising 3 kids under the age of 6 :) And I also went to my junior prom w/ her big bro Phil!

So, here are the rules to receiving this award:
1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous bloggers in a post.
2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.
3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.

Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.

I'm going to nominate...

1. My cousin Abbie - love her blog for lots of reasons but mostly b/c she always seems to have something profound to say that touches me and all of the cute pics of Max make me smile...

2. Another cousin Cassie - we've lost touch over the years w/ her moving to Seattle but I feel we've re-connected thru blogging. Her posts from her month in Africa were awesome and I feel I get to live vicariously through her exciting "urban" life w/ PJ!

3. And another cousin Shawn - Shawn has a way of posting about his faith that makes you think and want to keep reading more. He sometimes asks tough questions but they make you look inward and analyze yourself. I just finished reading his latest post about cookie blessings - brought tears to my eyes.

4. My friend Jen (finally, not a family member!) - I'd like to think I had something to do w/ Jen entering the world of blogging...well, me & a requirement for her MBA CIS class :) Jen's blog is so heartfelt and I always look forward to reading about the Fab Miss Alex and Brady Bear.

5. And last but definitely not least, Tera - the first blog I ever read was Tera's when I was searching for news about Andre, Mandi & Gabe's accident. I absolutely fell in love w/ her blog and wasted no time starting one of my own....Tera - my husband said "Thanks!" LOL!

So - on to my five addictions...my kids & husband go without saying so I'll find 5 other "things" to confess to...

1. Diet Coke - nothing beats a big fountain Diet Coke w/ extra ice...preferably as soon after I get up as possible...this is one reason visiting Mom & Scott's Bumpus Mills house is tough on me b/c its in the middle of absolute no-where and there's not a fountain Diet Coke to be found within 30 minutes.

2. Mi Pueblo's Quesadilla Jalisco - order it everytime I go - no variations.

3. Dark Chocolate - hated it as a kid but require it as an adult. My hubby shares in this addiction which can be a problem b/c it doesn't seem to last very long in our house!

4. Sudoku - crazy little Japanese game! Sometimes I play it online but other times I prefer good 'ol pencil & paper.

5. Trips to Walmart - ALONE...that's right - no kids, no husband - just my "me" time. Sad, but true...

good night!!

Facebook rookie

So I've ventured onto Facebook...I guess its about time given that I've been blogging for a few months now...totally different format but its fun! I couldn't believe how many people in my address book are on facebook...and how many invites to see other pages that come from them. Even my MOM has a page...LOL! Just kidding Mom - you know you totally rock :)

Good news on the "sick" front - Shane is feeling waaay better today & was able to go to work...even better news is, so far, no one else has came down w/ it. Sleeping on the couch last night wasn't great - especially since my "mommy sense" was tuned in to any sound I heard coming from any of the kids' bedrooms - I was so convinced one of them would come down w/ the bug in the middle of the night that I never truly went into deep sleep. I guess all of that Lysol is doing its job...

Short post tonight...need to work on my Christmas cards!

I think my house is infected...

Seriously, how many strains of colds/flus/bugs/icky creepy crawly stuff is going around??! My poor husband has been quarantined to our room b/c he can't keep any food down and other gross details that I won't go in to...I think my nose hairs are permanently burnt by the smell of all of the Lysol I've been spraying. I even went so far as to pick up the kids after school, take them to Mr. Gatti's (or "Mr Daddy's" as Nick calls it) for dinner, drive thru the City Park not once, but twice (had to go out both exits to see all the lights) then take the long way home looking at more lights...all this just to avoid subjecting my kiddos to any more germs at home than necessary! This bug is on top of the extreme head cold Shane had last week....poor guy! Knock on wood though...the rest of us seem fine.

Our busy weekend went off without a hitch...other than missing Shane's Christmas Party Friday night for his management team...we didn't want to expose any "babysitters" to any germs hanging around. I got my hair chopped off at the salon Sat. morning - its now above my shoulders & just as curly as ever! A quick stop by Jess's jewelry party netted me a new necklace then I headed home to pick up the girls to head to Vincennes for my dress fitting. After a "treat stop" at Starbucks, we headed home to the boys who had been busy installing our new front door...love it!! We headed to Mass around 5pm then hit Walmart (for the 3rd out of 4 trips total this weekend - gag!) for a few groceries/dinner (love that deli chicken!). Katie, Nick & I went to Clay's graduation open house on Sunday afternoon - the twins were under "house arrest" for various infractions so they got to enjoy some quality time at home w/ dad....from what I hear, that "quality" time wasn't so pleasant for all parties involved :)

And now, its Monday night & I'm facing a night's sleep on the couch - trust me, I'll take the couch waaaaaay before I'll chance getting the 'creeping crud' from Shane! Hope everyone else is feelin' fine and staying healthy!

Fighting the winter colds...

Yep, we've been hit...it started w/ Katie's head cold, moved to Shane's more severe head cold, struck Emily w/ nauseousness due to drainage (I'll spare the details on that one) and has landed on Nick who may have a slight ear infection along w/ his cough....so far, Hannah & I are ok - she's had a little bit of a runny nose but let's hope it stops there. I'm tempted to open all the windows on the house one day when we're gone to kill any bugs in here (thanks for the "tip" Lynn!). I was home w/ Em yesterday morning then Shane relieved me at lunch so I could go to work and he also stayed home w/ Nick today...he's still getting over his own cold so it gave them both the chance to chill out. They ventured out to meet me for lunch which was great - I don't usually get such handsome dates for lunch :) Nick picked Quizno's which is one of my faves...

I kind of forgot my busy Saturday when I mentioned in my last post that we weren't that busy this weekend...I have a hair appt in Loogootee at 9am, Jess's jewelry party in Raglesville at 10:30 then we're all heading to Vincennes after that to order dresses for Jess & Big Nick's wedding (6/6/09!). Abbie & I are Jess's personal attendants and my girls (along w/ cousin Hannah B.) are the "favor-passer-outers" and "reception gift girls"(both are official titles BTW)...hopefully we can find what we're looking for w/ little to no stress....b/c we all know that there's no stress involved w/ weddings :)

We're almost done w/ our Christmas shopping...we've scaled back this year a little. I think I've mentioned my Excel spreadsheet Christmas list but maybe haven't confessed that I have every list from the previous 3 years saved along w/ this year's so I can see exactly how much we've spoiled our kids over the years...trust me, we had room to scale back on the purchases! We do "believe" in Santa at our house but don't let that overshadow the true meaning of Christmas. I don't recall when I discovered that Mom was really "Santa"...then again, maybe he does exist since my gifts from her still say "From Santa" on them!! Gotta love the kid in all of us I guess...

Keeping some of you in my thoughts tonight...Jesse & Sarah for the loss of Gma Eaton, Patty's step-dad as he recovers from surgery, Melissa & her family as they make some tough decisions re: her dad...thinking & praying for you all....

Out of hibernation....

ok, so I haven't been hibernating...life has just been especially hectic for the last 2 weeks...good & bad but I'll focus on the good! This past weekend was a busy one...Friday night was our Olon party at the bowling alley - good food & a visit from Santa. Saturday morning, the kids & I went to see Miss Mouse at the Courthouse - we love going every year...cookie decorating, christmas stories, letters to Santa & a pic w/ Miss Mouse herself.

Enjoying our cookies

Posing w/ Miss Mouse

Saturday afternoon was spent at my Gma & Papa Beasley's for the annual Farley Christmas dinner...more fab food and another visit from Santa (a.k.a. Big Nick) - Nick did a great job for the 2nd year in a row and his dad Dan was visiting from Arizona so he got to enjoy the fun. My Nick (a.k.a. Little Nick) came up & very seriously said, "I think that's Big Nick, Mom" so I acted completely surprised even though I had just been upstairs duct-taping the pillow around "Santa's" waist to fill out the costume!

On Sunday, we hosted our 4th annual Cookie Decorating Party at our house - I hope this tradition continues for many years b/c I love watching the kids each year and how much they've changed. Cousin Max & friends Madi & Molly come each year too. Max wins the "Most Sprinkles on a Single Cookie" award while Molly gets the "I Licked Every One of My Cookies" award! I wouldn't be surprised if Max suffered from a sugar coma after eating one of his cookies :)

So, we took "The Picture" tonight - our Christmas card pic of the kids....I must say they did a great job & totally catered to their mom by wearing the matching jammies that I bought them...AND santa hats! I won't post the actual pic but here's a funny one showing their bellies. They're doing this b/c I had to keep tugging their jammie tops down during the pictures b/c these aren't exactly high quality PJs (they shrank horribly when I washed them - and no, its not b/c of how I washed them!)

This coming coming weekend isn't as crazy but busy nonetheless...Friday night is Shane's company party for the management team - appropriately enough in Santa Claus, Indiana. Nick is supposed to go to Evansville but we may have to re-schedule b/c he has the same head cold that Katie & Shane have...normally wouldn't be that big of an issue but he can't be sick around his baby sister Ana due to her being a preemie. So he may be joining his sisters in spending the night at Papa Ed & Gma Theresa's on Friday. Not much on Saturday other than normal chores (and my weekly 8 high capacity loads of laundry - yuck!) but we'll be heading to Anna's on Sunday for Clay's graduation open house. So hard to believe "Bubby" is old enough to be graduating college!! Makes me feel old that the kids I grew up baby-sitting are all grown up themselves!

Well, I hope this was a long enough post for all of you that have been nagging me to update my blog!! I'll try to do better!