Optical Illusion or Just Freaky??

My good friend, Elizabeth, was helping me adjust my camera the other night, so that my pics wouldn't be so blurry when there is movement... She was testing out the camera and came up with this pic...

Does anyone know what happened to my arms???

Snow...Snow...Snow...

I really do enjoy this time of year, but that is only because I don't have to venture out in it every day. The kids were so excited again this morning when they awoke because there was snow on the ground. They were even more excited when we said that it was going to snow all day and would probably not melt within the next 24 hours. They couldn't wait to go out and shovel... we finally got tired of hearing them ask, so we sent them out. They didn't spend more than 30 minutes outside, but that completely satisfied their cravings. Cole is already asking if he will have school tomorrow because of the snow... I told him if I had anything to say about it... he would definitely be going. The only unfortunate thing about the snow is that Todd will be leaving home about 11:30pm tonight to head to Freeport to plow... so he will be pulling an all-nighter and won't be home until tomorrow night after work (since he has inventory this week also). Anyone want to come over at 5:30am tomorrow and help me shovel???

Friends...

It is so wonderful to have such great friends... We had everyone over on Saturday night because Jake, Abby and Jack were back for Thanksgiving. It is always great to get everyone together for pizza, grasshoppers, wine and the wii... It was an interesting night to find out that many of your friends are over 50... and even some are considered 80 yrs old... I won't mention any names because you know who you are... hahaha. It was also a time for us to visit with Abby one last time before their new addition arrives next month. The kids had a great time playing and at times you would have never known that there were 8 kids in the house... the men retreated to the garage... and we, the women, played the wii... We all had a wonderful time and can't wait to do it again!!

(Jen was trying her luck at boxing... this was before we attempted bowling.)

The Reward Party

The school held a reward party last week for the children that sold 5 or more items for their fall fundraiser. This is the first time that they have held a party like this and I hope that it continues. All the children had a blast! Mr. Z's, the fundraising company, supplied 5 inflateables and the school coordinated a lot of festival type games in the cafeteria. The grades were split by the hour so that the little ones didn't get trampled by the older kids... I think my kids slept the best that night that they had slept in awhile. It was great to see the kids get to spend some time with their friends without being in school.

I caught the boys (Cole and his friend, Jacob) singing and dancing to Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana... I don't think they will want to admit to this 10 yrs from now, so I took the pic.

Here is Zoe with her friend, Kalli... Zoe really enjoyed singing and dancing to "Who Let the Dogs Out..."They did take a break after about 30 minutes to bring all the kids together... It was so cute to see all the kids doing the chicken dance until it we were told it was the parents turn to do it.

Happy Thanksgiving

I thought I should take a break out of my thanksgiving preparations to just say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am currently waiting on a pan of potatoes to finish up my dishes... The turkey is in the roaster... The ham is in the oven... Half of the mashed potatoes are complete... Munchies are complete... And my house is clean... Oh yeah, I just remembered that I have one more thing left and that is to do something with Zoe's hair.

Our family wishes you and your family cherishes your Thanksgiving however you may be spending it... Have a great day and appreciate all that you have to be thankful for.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

The kids awoke to snow today!! They loved it and couldn't wait to go outside to wait for the bus because that meant that they could play in it... Me on the other hand said "ugh"... The snow meant that I had to drag out the snow pants and boots from the closet which all still had tags on them. It also meant that we know would have to get ready 5 min earlier so that everyone could get all their winter gear on (even though I knew that the bus would be late because of the roads... and it was about 15 min late!). I love snow as long as I can sit on the couch by the fire drinking hot cocoa and watching movies all day! I guess I should love it more now that I am home because I don't have to go anywhere the majority of the time... I guess it isn't all that bad...

Our Day with Race

We had the wonderful opportunity to spend the day with my nephew, Race. My sister, Tracy, wanted to have a fun day, so I said I would take the little guy for a day. We had a ball... he didn't sleep much since he was in a strange place, but we still had fun playing. I wasn't used to having a little one around the house since the youngest kids I watch are 20 months, so I also had to adjust. I think after about an hour of being at my house he realized that mom wasn't coming back anytime soon as he started to cry every time one of the other little ones did (he doesn't normally do this at home)... I finally just laid him down in his pack 'n play for a little rest. He awoke all refreshed and fine with the idea of being with me. I think I even see a little smile on his face in the picture to the left... I think he had fun playing with Zoe and I that day. We played and played and played... We played so much that he slept for about a half hour in the afternoon and then we played some more. All my daycare kids loved having the baby around for the day, but the excitement had wore off about a 1/2 hour after he arrived. Zoe however loved having him here for the day and played with him all day long!