We had a nice Thanksgiving holiday. The food did not turn out the way it was supposed to, but in the end it all worked out. I got to spend time with Pete's family on Thursday and spent all day Friday helping my mother paint her family room which she has wanted to do for a long time. It felt good to do something for her for a change rather than her always doing something for me.

Sunday Pennie and I did a little shopping at Target and would have done more but I spent enough at Target and I had to call it a day and not go anywhere else. Then we went home and watched the Packers lose and I made dinner just in time for the halftime show so at least that worked out right.

Last night I went to Breanna's dance class to decide on the costumes for the recital in March. As we talked about the costumes, I reminisced over the last six years and all the different costumes she has had (this is the last year she is taking dance.)

I also went to school with Luke yesterday and it went fairly well. He played with the dinosaur skeletons at a table with another boy and pretty much spent the whole time at the table. I am going again with him on Wednesday.

This morning we played Superman where I was the mother who lost her baby and her cat and Superman came to the rescue (several times this happened, I cannot seem to hold on to the baby or that darn cat!).

The house is back down to 65 and we are all FREEZING! It was nice to have a warm house with good company. I think next year I will make the turkey a day earlier so on Thanksgiving day it will be really good because it is always better the next day. I also found a new way to make the ham so I am going to try that as well.

Have a good one....Lori

Happiness is a clean kitchen floor

Breanna was in the Holiday parade and since it ended up being warmer than they said it would, she cooked because I made her wear two of everything (two shirts, two sweaters, two pants, two socks). On the way to the parade we kept thinking something was missing and realized last year Pennie was with us but she was on call this weekend. We did pick up Breanna's friend who also marched in the parade. She did not make it on tv but it was still fun.

Later, Breanna and I went to my friends house for a sleepover where we made Christmas cards. I felt like we were at a bed and breakfast. She had a nice comfy bed with many blankets(not to mention her house is not set at freezing temperatures like ours is) and a basket full of magazines to read by the bed. I read one article in Oprah magazine entitled, "Does this hairdo make my hips look big?". This was such a strange title, Breanna and I had to look at it and we picked out the body shape I was most like and tried to decide if the hairstyle she had would work on me. (Answer: Hard to say since the woman had frizzy hair and mine is flat).

Sunday we came home to fine Pete had cleaned the kitchen floor for me!!!! This made me very happy.

Monday Luke and I went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for one of his classmates (also our carpool person). We had a good time and he is one tired boy.


I hope everyone had a good weekend and we will see everyone Thursday. I will turn up the heat that day.

Lori

Stop Licking your Chicken!

The other night I made my parmesean chicken and Luke was licking the ketchup off of it so that is how the comment "Stop licking your chicken!" became the title of this blog.

I was room mom at Luke's school yesterday and tomorrow we have his parent/teacher conference. I am afraid to go but it must be done. I feel like I am going to the principals office or something.

Saturday Breanna walks in the city Christmas parade as part of her school group. She was in it last year and is looking forward to it this year. However, I think it is going to be much colder this year. I would really like to stay for the end because the UW Madison marching band is performing their 'Fifth Quarter' performance and I have always enjoyed it.

Luke wanted to play in the snow today so I shoveled while he played. We only got about two inches (if that) but he had fun and I had fun watching him.

I e-mailed John saying if no one else wanted the five tapes, we would take them for the car VHS player for the kids to watch on trips. I doubt we are getting a dvd player for the car this year(I always think about it for Christmas every year but something else comes up) but since we have the VHS player, why bother??? Hey when I was a kid, I had to entertain myself by looking out the window or looking at my brother so be happy with the VHS player kids!!! My parents grew up without cars, imagine that!

I'm ok... breathe in, breathe out...I guess I am the one that needs a breathing treatment.

Have a good one.
Lori

Luke's First Movie

We had a nice day today. We raked the leaves in the backyard and brought them out to the curb where the kids jumped in them (I guarded from the road while they played). I took video of them playing and I am hoping I did not record over something. Then we went and ate, then to Shopko to see if they had any blue lights left for our bushes out front. We then took Luke to his first movie in a theater 'Chicken Little'. He kept asking if we could go see it so we went and we all liked it. He did a great job sitting through it and watching it. The theater was full with parents and kids laughing so that made it even more fun.

Pennie responded saying she thinks we should all stay in Green Bay for Thanksgiving even though she is on call but to save her some fixings so we will be having it here at the house. I am thinking of serving it around one o'clock if that is ok with everyone (should be enough time to get here but not too late in case people want to go home/hotel before dark).

Have a good one....Lori

All Aboard!

Luke and I had a nice day today. He brought up his train set from the basement and we put it together. We did not have enough track so he went down to the basement a few more times until we had enough. Finally we got it all connected and the train worked the first time. We used his lincoln log set for a wood pile so the train could stop and pick up wood and we dropped it off at the dragon post (which was part of his castle and the mouth would open to take the wood or drop it off the next time the train came through). Later we parked the Millenium Falcon at one curve so we could say we were going past it, over the bridge to the dragon post. We must have played with it for three hours today! I am so glad he is finally playing with it since we bought it for him two years ago. Sometimes I forget he is only four years old.

I am trying to figure out how to put pictures on the blog and hopefully will do that soon with Pete's help.

Have a good one people! -Lori

The weekend and Luke's Pumpkin Story

We had a pretty good weekend. We went to church, grocery shopping and did some house cleaning while watching the Packers lose. We are still shredding documents. I have been shredding daily and it seems like I have hardly made a dent in what needs to be shredded. I think I will invent a new shredder that shreds by the stack or go ask a neighbor who has a wood burning fireplace if I can throw everything in their fireplace and burn it!

John and Betty stopped in for a moment on Sunday to drop off a computer for Pennie. John was not feeling well but is doing better now according to Pete, but Betty is now not feeling well.

Sickness seems to be going around...my ears are still plugged from my cold so it is difficult to carry on a conversation. Maya was sick at five this morning so I put her out and in her crate, but she was barking (I did not hear her) but Pete did and got up with her and spent the rest of the morning in the family room. Maya seems to be doing better now but I will sleep in the family room with her tonight just in case she is sick and Pete can get a full nights sleep.

We both did some online Christmas shopping, I paid the bills (finally) and sent Pennie an e-mail asking if she would rather we eat at Old Country Buffet in Appleton for Thanksgiving since she is on call.

I will end with Luke's Pumpkin Story which he told me several times yesterday so I know it by heart.

Once there was a boy Luke. He planted a pumpkin. It grew and grew and grew. One day he snuck past his mama, got a big knife and shovel. He carved a hole in the pumkin. It was so big he jumped into the pumpkin and scooped out all the seeds of the pumpkin with his shovel. Then he tood a giant saw and carved a face. Luke put a giant candle in the pumpkin and plugged it in so it lit up. The end.

Have a good one....Lori

It's Friday!

So far the week has gone well despite all of us having colds.

Thanks to everyone who responded with ideas for recipes and links to more ideas (Don't know why I did not think of that!!!)

This weekend we plan on purging stuff in the basement and I have more shredding to do with documents. This is the last weekend we can bring coats for the 'coats for kids' program so we plan to drop off several coats that we have accumulated over the years and hopefully this will give us some more closet space.

So far, the new van has remained clutter free. A whole week....this is a record for our family. We are really happy with the vehicle.

I will end with a Luke story. Breanna came downstairs and asked how her clothes looked. Before I could say anything, Luke being the brother said, "It looks baaaaaad." I said "Luke!" and he said, "Breanna, you look beauuuuuuuuutaiful!"

Have a good one! -Lori