In memory of my dad

My dad and Trevor in 2007 My dad and Charlie

My dad and me the day after Trevor was born

In Memory of my dad - William James Kovach

He passed away today, very suddenly. He was very funny and very easy going. With my parents being in Arknasas, I didn't see him very much and our phone conversations were pretty brief as he was not much of a talker on the phone, but there was a lot of love all the same.

Hug your loved ones today and tell them you love them because they may not be here tomorrow.

Merry christmas!

I can't seem to move the picture, but this was supposed to be the finale!
After seeing what a mess the rooms were, I decided to organize the toys and show the boys just how much stuff they had gotten. Here is their pile. Mike and I are thinking of openin a toy store! You can't even see the two sleds in the background and this doesnt include 3 WII games left at an uncle's house or the bathrobe Stephen is wearing or the Tech 20- nerf gun and a few other things. Really way too much!!

This has been an odd holiday season for me.

I had been looking so forward to it back in October. Trevor is at a great age to understand that the present is more than the card board box (he never got past that last year). He does his "ho ho ho" impression - something new and that always puts a big smile on my face. He gets excited when we say Santa and he helps me get into the spirit of things when I need it. This year may very well could be the last year that I have 3 believers in Santa - Stephen is 9 1/2 now and his Santa days are numbered. so I need to cherish it and savor it.

But for whatever reason my holiday spirit had drifted away shortly after Thanksgiving and I've only seen glimpses of it here and there.

I again got bogged down in things that I felt I needed to get done and had way to many things on my list and I added other non holiday things to my list that made it even harder to get ready for the holidays.

My Christmas cards are mostly out (only about a handful left to go - Sorry to those that will get theirs late).

I didn't do much holiday baking except for some 7 layer bars, lemon bars and rum balls I made for some presents.

I think the weather has really given me this defeated attitude (that and being sick for what seemd like forever though in actuallity it was only 3 1/2 weeks)

I am very thankful that no one was sick this holiday. - that is quite an accomplishment in this family as we tend to have at least 1 person sick very holiday! (Trevor is getting over an ear infection but his last dose of antibiotics was Tuesday.

I have to say I did enjoy christmas eve and Christmas day was nice (as long as I didn't look around the room and see the mess that is!). The month leading up to it was quite crazy and hard because of illness, but despite it all, it was fun. The boys all liked their presents; but again, it was way in excess. I hope to go a more simpler, less stressful, less dutiful type christmas next year as I know that the kids see all these presents, and although we go to church and I remind them what exactly we celebrate on christmas, the fancy wrapping paper and tags and shiny new toys have them mesmerised and they are probably not taking my words in.

Anyhow, I do want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We had a pretty nice Christmas, although some coal might have been in order here based on some antics the weeks leading up to Christmas (especially christmas Eve Morning!).

I have no idea what to do with all the presents! Seriously. As we were "wrapping up" unwrapping the presents this moring one of the older boys says "why aren't there any more for me" as at the end I finally just made 3 piles; one for each boy and let them open them. Trevor did have quite a few more left, but he was slower at opening them and of course they probably costed less, still at that moment, I was at a loss for words as there were already so many presents, and so totally what they asked for, how could they be asking. But to be fair, this was Ryan - Stephen who did have less gifts as he did get the Nintendo DS, and an MP3 player so more costly seemed very happy and not a word out of him about not having more.

They all had way in excess. That is what happens with 2 sets of grandparents, 7 sets of aunts and uncles, a cousin, and parents, plus Santa who all gives generously. I should know better by now to really scale back. I am a bargain shopper at heart, so when I see one of their favorite items half off and then have a 10.00 of coupon to go with it, I go get it, even if I think I am pretty much done with them. And, I did pick up quite a few books, some puzzles, baseball cards, pokemon stuff and the like at a children's resale to help me stay on budget. Only I forgot to remind myself to cut back more! I do have a budget and I usually go over a little bit, but this year it was so frantic at the end, that I wasn't always keeping up with my budget and where I was, so I'm not even totally sure right now how I did on my budget. Judging by my part of the present pile, not good!

As for me, I got a blanket from Mike and the boys (Mike asked me what I wanted and I couldn't think of much, so I told him a blanket). I need a blanket, so not a bad deal at all. I also got a Sarah McLaghlin CD from my secret santa on my mom's side (everyone buys for the kids, but us adults just bought for one adult after names were drawn and mailed to participants). I also got a painting for my white elephant gift (not bad as both Ryan and Stephen both got pink slippers and Mike got a box of Splenda!). My mom got me a down vest, and a nice pair of earrings and a few other things.

As I said above, I was happy to see my mom's side of the family last night, and Mike's family last night. Everyone got a long, good food, great drinks, nice presents, everyone was in good health and even the weather wasn't too bad for driving. We have so much to be thankful for, especially in this economy. I guess I am feeling the post Christmas blues already. I am so used to being in frenzy that it is weird to just be sitting around. So this in itself is a wonderful gift of Christmas - the gift of just sitting back and enjoying the fact that I am just sitting around looking at the kids presents and seeing what they like best.

Now to end my ramblings, I hope you have had a joyful and wonderful Christmas!

Sadness and loss

I'm a bit sad today . . .

I know I have so much to be thankful for, but I am rather sad today as I found out a distant relative of mine passed away. I did not know her very well, and haven't talked to her in years, but I remember our chats from years ago. I do family research, and in doing research I come across someone who gives me the name and number of someone, who gives me the name and number of someone. sometimes I get very lucky and get a delightful person who loves to talk about the old days and loves to reminisce about their family. Ann was such a person. we had several chats over the span of a handful of years, yet I never met her in person. She was a very funny and sweet lady, and I really enjoyed all our conversations and was delighted to know her. The past years I have been consumed with all things to do with my kids and my business, so I have not done any genealogical research since Trevor's birth. and, I have lost touch with some dear distant relatives of mine. But, every time a family member passes away, I regret not getting to talk to them one more time. My grandpa passed away just months before his 90th birthday and I hadn't talked to him in a couple of months before his death. I hope to do better in the New Year of keeping in touch with people.

Its been a tough year for my family. My MIL lost a young man that was very special to her. My MIL's great friend (who passed away some years back) had 4 kids and my MIL stayed in touch with them. One of the kids (just 18) passed away very suddenly and it was quite devastating for her. Now this week, we learned a dear friend of hers who went in for Open Heart surgery came out of surgery, but then collapsed and died later from complications.

My sister in law has had her share of losses this month too- her father passed away the day she gave birth to his grandson. And, within days, her grandmother passed away.

I am hearing of other friends losing a loved one recently, another friend losing a pregnancy and am feeling very sad about things. It just seems like too much loss to try to be in good spirits for the upcoming holidays. While I didn't know very well many of the people that have recently passed away this month that I've mentioned above, it still saddens me because of the collective impact and because I feel for my sister in law and my mother in law and friends.

It reminds me that we aren't always guaranteed there will be a tomorrow, so live life to the fullest now.

And, it reinforces one of my new years resolutions: to do a better job of staying connected and in touch with family and friends.

Happy Holidays and Bah Humbug!

This picture was right before Trevor threw himself on the ground

Trevor finally warmed up to Santa and let him be held by him

Shakin handss with Santa

All three with Santa - wasn't it good that I had my camera with me to capture it??

Now , I must go and do some laundry, write out more Christmas cards and finish my mom’s 60th photo album (oh this is taking forever and her birthday was almost 2 weeks ago – but I am trying to not get too stressed about it). I know I am way off my from getting things off my to do list for the day!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and Bah Humbug!

Last year's christmas

Ok, I have lost a post.
I've decided I don't feel like retyping it, so instead, I will share some christmas photos from last year. Notice the boys and their stylish AND coordinating outfits!! I do like the boys in sweater vests!

The boys by the tree Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve

I think this is the only time he sat in his Elmo chair!

dont ya love my Mrs. Clause apron!

My handsome blonde boy!

Breeakfast with Santa

We had Breakfast with Santa - (kind of!).

Each year Mike's company has a year end "breakfast with Santa". Its a great family event. There is a ton of food - as adults, Mike and I really look forward to the food (we don't get out much, so a free meal where we don't have to cook and no mess to clean up is always great!)

Not only is there a nice breakfast buffet (muffins, doughnuts, bagels, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sausage, bacon, french toast sticks, and fresh fruit, plus juices and coffee and other beverages), but they also have carrollers come and sing, and Santa brings every kid a gift!

After we eat, we enjoy the carollers (they sing in the lobby as everyone enters, and then sings on stage once everyone is busy with breakfast). The kids go up and get to sing a long on stage. I can never get Stephen up there. He is shy and doesn't want to be up on stage. Ryan gets up there, but usually forgets to sing, and then there is Trevor who kinda freaks out at all the noise and people if we get close to the stage. This year however, I got up by the corner of the stage and got Trevor to sit with me so we could join in the festivities. (This is great considering his Sensory issues!)

Then, Santa enters and comes around and shakes hands and such. After much hand shaking, the gift giving starts. The company is great - they have the parents go out and buy their kids a gift up to 30.00 worth. The parent wraps it and brings it to work a couple of days before the event. It is stored and then brought to the banquet hall to be given out at the event. The best part is the company reimburses the worker for up to 30.00 (when you bring in a receipt).

So, the boys love the gift getting! The employess are called to go pick up the presents santa brought for their kids and the wrapping paper explosion begins. My boys got some great things. Ryan was a little worried that Santa would not bring him a gift as he thought he'd been bad (he has been having a tough time at school lately). But Santa brought him a MP3 player - one for his age that is indestructable. Stephen got a mini remote control helicopter and Trevor got a Elmo learning laptop toy. The boys seemed to be happy with their gifts.

Next, we get to have the boys take their picture with Santa. Of course Trevor wasn't too keen on this, but we did get one picture before the crying started in earnest.

So Sunday was a nice family day and will help get us warmed up for the real thing coming in a couple of weeks

A new twig for the family tree!

Sean Michael

12/3/08

(Photo added December 6, 2008. - He is 2 days old in the picture)

Yesterday December 3, 2008, My older brother became a daddy. His wife and him have been married for 6 years and just hit the big 40 this year. Its been quite a year for my family tree. My little brother and his wife also had their first born this year.

Sean Michael was born aprox 7:30 am, weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches (if I have the information correct). While the family is rejoicing about the birth of this precious gift from god, we are saddened by the death of my sister in law's father. My prayers go to my sister in law Donna and her family. I know she was very close to her dad and it is so sad to know that he will never hold his grandson.

I have not had a chance to talk to my brother or sister in law yet (she is recovering from a c-section), but I hope to soon and I hope to have some pictures of the little guy up if I have the chance to get a picture.

My mom's birthday is today (her 60th!!), what a great present! A new little grandchild (grandchild #5!)

Congrats Donna and Todd. Thank you for making me an Auntie again!

Terrible Twos-Day

Its "Terrible Twos-day"

Yep, Trevor is two, but actually I have to say the terrible twos are not bad at age 2, they were bad at 18 mos-about 24 (or maybe up to25 mos but mostly back in the 18, 19 month range). I couldn't leave him alone for a second back then or he would roll his kitchen chair (his step stool on wheels) all around the kitchen. He wheeled it over to the microwave and started it (i was close by and got ot it in 2 secs so no problem). He had poured out the salt more times than I can count (yes I did move it to higher up counters and such, but it somehow would end up back on the table and in his sight of vision). He also liked starting up the dishwasher, and taking all the little sticky things on the inside of the cabinets so they don't slam hard. And lets not forget throwing out Tupperware bowls and over 100 dollars of stamps. i really was at my witts end back then. Thank goodness he has always been cute and I could mostly laugh. And those are just some of the things I am remembering off the top of my head. I wondered how I would keep him safe, stay sane, and not get some bladder problems from trying to wait till nap time to use the bathroom.

So anyhow, technically he is 27 months and definitely two. But the twos are easier in lots of ways than the 18 mos, 19 mos period. He does understand when i tell him he has to finish a meatball before he can have a cookie. He is much better at anticipating things, and he loves to clean and be helpful (really he loves vaccuming, dusting, windexig, doing dishes, putting stuff in the dishwasher and he loves putting clothes in the washer - he flings the clothes in the washter from down below when he hears me start the water running. He is pretty smart and although he doesn't have many words yet, he definitely understands a lot more than you would think he does.

His latest thing is having temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Pretty typical, but I laugh my butt off watching him do it. The temper tantrum isn't the funny thing, its how he does it. I hope to capture it on tape. When he is in the kitchen, he knows the floor is hard, so he gently "throw's himself down on it and then gently knocks his head on the floor, and then looks to see if we are watching. Try as I might, I can't help but laugh. It is too funny watching him be so gentle knowing if he isn't that he will hurt himself. So obviously he isn't not really having a tantrum - he's testing his manipulation skills.

I've been a bit lax about time outs with him, but he threw peas today at me during my dinner (he was already done with his, but decided he wanted my peas, but then didn't want them). So he went to time out. I know it is not funny and I did put him in time out, but it is so hard being the disciplinarian with him at times because he is so cute and funny and for so long he was just such a crabby crabby baby (silent reflux and not being able to communicate and being lactose intlerant will do that to you!). so anyhow, he did his time out and I told him to say he was sorry - he signed it and then we hugged and all was better.

I definiltey think the terrible twos have their moments, but mostly this is a fun stage aside from the tantrums and the daredevil stunts he does that will give me heart palpitations.

We go to a little class called Little Learners on Teusday. It's a mom and tot class. I really like going to see how other 2 year olds are. Sometimes its a good measure to see how my little one is doing. Its easy to baby him because he is so tiny and speech delayed, but he is pretty smart and doesn't need the baby-ing probably as much as I want to give it. I remember a year ago he was in Little Learners for the first time - it was a very tough experience. He cried, did not want to let go of me so I could get my coat off. Did not want anyone to sing his name (made him cry). I believe we did leave early several times. I was just learning about his Sensory Sensativities this time last year (and it was about this time he was diagnosed with Failure to Thrive). What a difference a year makes. He is doing wonderul in the class. he loves the class and even has little "friends".

So maybe the Terrible twos aren't so terrible. Maybe I might even consider calling them the Terrific twos - he is eating well, sleeping well, gaining some weight, talking more, getting over some of his Sensory issues. So all in all, I am really liking the Two's!! (Except when I open the fridge and meatball sauce is oozing out of it and leaving marks like a blood trail along my kitchen, sigh . . . . )

Anybody into scrapbooking?

Just a quick shout out to everyone.

Its Sunday evening and the kids have been home from school since Wednesday - that is 5 WHOLE DAYS!! 5 days with 3 boys, 3 cats, + 1 messy house + big christmas present shopping detail + major birthday project to complete ASAP= crabby mom.

It looks like a bomb went off in my house. I've been working on my mom's scrap book for a surprise gift. Did I mention I've never scrapbooked before? Imagine that with all the pictures I take and how fastidious I try to be about recording all the "firsts of the the kids" and always have my camera at most friend and family functions. I had been very good about putting pictures in photo albums till I got my digital camera. Now it's too easy to take too many pictures and then too expensive to have them all printed. I am only about 2 years behind in getting pictures in albums, not too bad, right? Anyhow, as I mentioned I keep photo ablums, and I keep up the baby books and little photo albums for each of the boys (little one for them for when they are older, big one for me), and I faithfully take them to the portrait studio to get updated pictures and try to get them in frames within a reasonable amount of time. Yet, I had never tried scrapbooking. I am an avid genealogist, avid picture taker, like crafty things, so it would seem scrapbooking would be right up my alley, but I guess somehow the scrapbooking bug jst never got me. . . . . . . . .

That is until yesterday! It seemed like fate as I dropped off my disk to get prints from the photo department of Meijer and happened past the "Craft section" of Meijer along the way and as I looked down the aisl,e I noticed all these 50% off signs. So naturally I decided the photo ablum I was going to do was now going to become scrapbooked. Now I am planning on sending it tomorrow - another little snag in my plan, but I will plunge forward with my grand idea and give it a go.
I have put together some pages, not terribly intricate or anything, but I guess slightly better than plain. Of course I still have 100's more pictures to go through and put in the album. Its become apparant that there is no way I can use all of the pictures unless I make it an album with over 50 pages, so now I must make tough decisions.

I truly did not think scrapbooking would be stressful. I guess it wouldn't be if I didn'thave such a time constraint and no knowledge of this craft. I've spent lots of money - you wave a 50% off sign in front of me and sometimes I can go overboard! I got plenty of stuff to hopefully do baby books for the boys and maybe one for vacation and one for mike and I - of course this totally is in violation of my soon to be New Years Resolution of not bringing more into the house till my house is organized and cleared away. (Amvets is coming in 2 weeks, and that is just not soon enough for me!)

So, any scrapbookers out there?? I may need some pointers!!

PS - Despite the kids getting restless on days 4 and 5, its been a pretty nice Thanksgiving week.
hope you (whoever you are that reads my blog) had a great Thanksgiving too.

Wish me luck!

Thankfulness; to be or not to be? HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I had intended to start out a post about being thankful and hopefully after I get this vent out of my system I will get to that. However I am feeling a bit grumpy after last night and not feeling at all thankful, even feeling a bit let down by the clothing manufacturers, buyers/designers or whoever is in charge of what goes into the retail stores..

On my to do list for a couple of days is making sure I have turtlenecks for the boys. I still hadn't gotten to that yesterday and knew time was running out. I did want yesterday to be a fun family day since the boys were off, so we decided to go to the movies (bowling was out-voted by the movies, imagine that!). So by the time we picked a movie, it was nap time for Trevor, so Trev and I stayed home. So much for my "family fun day". In a way, I was "Thankful" for that as I did get some laundry done and got to continue on my mom's birthday present (a video montage and photo album for her 60th).

Later we went to Applebee's for dinner. A bit of a treat as we are trying to cut back on eating out and haven't been there in ages. (And I was very thankful for the gift card we had to use there)/

Evening is approaching and I realize I still don't have turtlenecks for the boys' Thanksgiving outfits yet. I had been to Walmart and Target earlier this week and did not find them there.
So this is where my vent begins. Do the clothing designers and manufacturers/buyers not know that if they sell boys vests they also need something under them? Yes, button down shirts are nice, (and I did order some shirts for one of the outfits) but I am pretty practical and need turtlenecks for the other outfit. How hard can it be to find creme turtle necks for boys. Sounds easy, right? I mean come on I ordered sweater vests and dress shirts from Gymboree (red with creme trim) and I ordered sweater vests and cords from The Children's Place (brown with some light brown and creme argyle-ish type design). So, I needed creme turtlenecks! I checked online and one of them (forget which one) had them online, so I figured the store should have them right? Wrong again. They did have them in the baby sizes - thank goodness Trevor fits in 18 mos. Most stores do not have any boys turtlenecks and at other stores they did not have any creme. they had girls turtlenecks with little hearts or a little something to make them girls, but not any boys! Some had red or white or navy. (or some silly colors like bright yellow and bright blue). What do the clothing people have against turtlenecks. They are versatile, go with most things and are a great shirt for sweater vests. I started off my journey at Gymboree and got one baby sized turtleneck. They did not have any for toddlers or boys at all. next I went to The Children's Place - no creme to be found and barely much of a selection at all. the Gap was my next spot - no boy turtlenecks at all. Next it was on to Penneys (I saw a brown one and picked it up thinking it would match - nope!) Penney's had no creme. on to Sears and Lands End - nope and nope on the creme. Lands End did have some funky colored ones for boys (what boy wears bright yellow? Not many). now I am starting to feel a blister as I go from store to store to store.

Did I give up, no! I've been out shopping and looking for turtlenecks for 2 hours and no I did not even stop to look at anything else as tempting as it was with the Pre-thanksgiving sales! Next I went to the Gap driving away from the mall. I did find a boys turtleneck in the "toddler boys" section. So hopefully Ryan will fit in a size 5T - A 5-6 in boys would have been better, but I was taking what I could get. I did get an almost off white long sleeve crew neck that I hoped I might be able to use as last resort(when I got home I realized it was really white and not even a bit off white). My journey continues to Kohl's. Again no creme. this is where I picked up a brown one but it is definitely the wrong shade of brown.

I know this seems so silly to post about, but I was so dejected and exasperated (you know I am stressed when I start using big words!). So maybe now that I blogged about it, I can move on with my life. OK, I know that is overly dramatic, but hey I was on a role.

Fast Forward to today, this AM.
I am looking at the outfits, still not knowing what I'll put together, but its technically Thanksgiving so time to give Thanks.

I am thankful for the extra exercise I got last night. I really needed to work off the food from Applebees and I would probably not have done much exercise had it not been for my trip to the mall and everywhere else.

I am thankful for my kids as always. They are always a strong presence around here, and Can't imagine it ever being quiet enough to sleep in with their boyish and rambunctious play.

I am thankful that our family is relatively healthy for this holiday. We tend to be sick most holidays (Pneumonia, bronchitis, severe flu have been Thanksgiving, Christmases, Easter and Halloween over the years). Ryan and Trevor may have some mild colds, but they seem in fine spirits.

I am thankful that I am not cooking today. my MIL is cooking and will give me left overs, so I can enjoy my favorite for a couple of days (and hopefully not cook much in the next couple of days)

I am thankful for my new camera that I got this summer. It was a bit of a splurge, but I love knowing I will have it to capture Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

I am thankful for my husband (of course). He may not like changing diapers and doing homework with kids and making Trevor do his listening therapy and help with lunch and breakfast on weekends, but he does it any way.

I am thankful for my family. Some (maybe most??) of my family members are a rather disfunctional and quirky group of people, but hey, family is family and I would rather have them in my life than not!

I am thankful for my wonderful friends. Some have stuck around despite me getting crabbier in my old age. And, some I have become re-aqinted with and reconnected with because of my school reunion and Facebook (THANKS FACEBOOK!!)

I am thankful that in today's economy, my husband has a good job and we have a nice home and are able to put gas in our cars and keep food on the table and our children decently clothed (even in matching sweater vests at times!).

Those are just some of the things I am thankful for.

I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!

STAY TUNED, I PLAN TO POST PICTURES OF THE MUCH TALKED ABOUT SWEATER VESTS!

One month till Christmas

Today is Tuesday - 2 days before thanksgiving. I am feeling awfully anxious. I don't know why, thanksgiving is not at my house. I am not bringing anything but pie ( and its store bought). But just knowing that Thursday is right aroudn the corner, then comes black friday and then a week after that is my mom's birthday - well its just too close to Christmas and my to-do list is just not shrinking!

I am happy to report that I am about 80-85% done with Christmas shopping. I even started on my Christmas newsletter. I had the boys picture taken for a Christmas pic for the wallets to put in with the Christmas newsletter. I have purchased 2 sets of outfits to be worn for the holiday season (at Mike's work party the kids see Santa, so they need to look nice and I hate to dress them up 4 times in the same outfit for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Santa's party etc so I try to buy 2 nice outfits and then try make due with their clothes for the other parties and outings - My boys don't have a lot of stuff that doesn't have a stain or rip or something on it somewhere.)

I have emailed out my kids Christmas list to fam and friends (I set it up at Toys R Us online - i hope all that time is worth the effort and we don't have lots of duplicates this year!!).

I have even decided on my new years resolution (ok, so my resolutions generally are the same most years, but this year, I'm gonna really go for it! - Exercise, lose 4 lbs, get organized, stay in touch with friends better, get organized (yes, I already mentioned it, but this one is a biggy here!).

I've decided I'm going to keep my Christmas cookie baking to a minimum (gotta make some rum balls and some mint choc chip and maybe one or two others!).

I'm even considering cancelling book club for Dec. I doubt if very many people will come to Dec's book club and it would be one less thing on my list if I didn't have to read a book for it!

I'm planning on skipping a lot of the black Friday shopping that I usually tend to do. I did pick up some side gifts for the boys at a PTA resale back in October and have made the most of sales and coupons through now to get most of my shopping done (yahoo!). So, unless there are just some "too good to pass up" things out there, I may not even go out at all on Friday!

So, I guess I am not in terrible shape for the upcoming holidays. I have tons to wrap, and lots of Xmas newsletters mail (after I finish it), and my Halloween decorations are still up outside, and I still have to pass out my scout's popcorn. (And, I am still working on my mom's photo album and slide show for her 60th birthday (which is just 1 week away - I think that may be late, ut oh!! - My family have been rather slow in getting me some of the pictures I've requested!!)

I'm curious, for those of you who read my blog and might post back, how are you getting on your holiday to-do list? I really am just trying to get myself into more of a holiday spirit of goodwill instead of the holiday spirit of being totally frazzled!! So give me some words of encouragement!

I want to wish you a laid back Thanksgiving week. The kids are off tomorrow and I am going to try really hard to make it a family day without a bunch of "mom jobs" to get done before we have our fun time. Wish me luck on that one!

The dreaded picture portrait time for christmas card pictures!

So Thursday of this week, I was so relieved to be getting some things off my to-do list. I did not have much of a break because Friday I spent organizing figuring the outfits and finding coupons and making sure all had black socks and that everyone had "dress shoes" for the picture. Since I have 3 boys, I do recycle clothes, toys and the like. And so of course I do also save dress shoes - how can you not when last year I couldn't find a hand me down pair for Ryan and so I ended up buying a brand new pair at 34.00 so he could wear them 2 times (well 3 times if you include last years Christmas pictures). So would you like to see my shoe store?

(ok, I do not know why the above is undelined and I am not savvy enough to get rid of it, so just ignore it!)

I have every size except 1 from a size 5 (toddlers) to a size 2, and these are just the dress shoes!

So, after I made sure I had the shoes and the socks, we were good to go.

We went to Sears and it was actually rather fast and painless (well as painless as it gets with Trevor - he freaks out when we are in the portrait studio, so the photographer has to try to shoot him in between his bouts of crying. and, if we are lucky you might get a smile out of him. I don't know why he is so freaked out about the portrait studio, doens't matter if its Kiddie Kandids, Picture People, Sears or Penneys - he hates them all and stickes to me like a baby Koala. Of course he loves having his picture taken at home and is quick to say cheese and ham it up. So is it wrong for me to tortuture him so and take him to portrait studios? I am a mom and I need to caputre his fab outfits and in my mind I'm sure I will remember how fun he was in the outfit on Christmas rather than the tough photo shoot. He really did very well though and even with him being unhappy and crying a bit, we were in and out of the photo shoot part within 15 mins! but I digress . . . .)

Pictures were Sat. They came out pretty good I think. I did dress them all alike - Again another one of my mom torturing moments as Stephen does not like dressing up in vests and certainly doesn't care for dressing like his brothers. Soon he will be too big to find his size in matching outfits, so next year may be my last year. In my defense, if you are a mom of boys, you know there is so much more limited choices for boys than girls, so trying to find 3 that coordinate and go well together would be tough, so it is easier to just get 3 mathcing outfits from The Children's Place or Gymboree - so like last year I ordered online and had them coordinated!

Aren't they cute!! (ok, most pics you can't even see the shoes, but hey what if that shot was the one good shot out of all oft hem, you can't chance it right?)

A "Good Mom Week" for me, YAHOO!

This week was busy as usual. I am always thinking soon, things will calm down a little bit around here - but I am usually wrong on that. running this house is like running a major corporation. I usually do it to myself with agreeing to do more volunteering at the school or helping out a friend with things or like my new photo album/sideshow I am making for my mom's 60th day. but it is hard for me not to be involved in things. I guess I always want to be in the thick of things!

I try to be involved in my kids schools and also try to make sure I am addressing all their individual medical issues from Trevor's failure to thrive and silent reflux, Speech delay and Sensory Processing Disorder to Ryan's Developmental Delay and everything else. My kids have some special needs, but overall I realize I am blessed because overall they are happy and relatively healthy boys.

So each week I always have a ton of Mom Jobs on my to do list along with other house projects and things I want to get done. I am lucky if I get most of the mom jobs done (I've been known to start a load of laundry at 6:30 am because the boys might not have underwear or socks for the day). This week we had the nutritionist Monday (she did not do the usual weight check as i guess she didn't want me to get all down if Trevor didn't gain weight as he had been sick, but she again gave me tips on getting more calories and protein in him).

Tuesday was our "Little Learners" class (mom and tot class) in the morning and a PTA meeting at night. Now I actually had to decide do I go to the Special Needs PTA where they were having a speaker about things I'm not even interested in enough to remember , or do I go to my schools PTA and listen to the Superintendent talk. Last year I never went to any of the Special Needs PTA's. I didn't really think I would fit in there; my son's issues seem so mild compared to what I would think most of the Special Needs PTA parents issues are. what a difference a year makes. And what a wonderful resource I was not taking advantage of! I realize that I have to be more of an "in your face" type of parent this year or they will continue to not do as much as they can(and should) for my son. I went to our school's PTA - and I am glad I did. The superintendent talked about how different demographics were performing compared to other schools in our district and to other schools in the state. I was a little shocked and plenty outraged to hear our Special Needs children are under-performing by 34%. I've had my gripes since the start of the school year and it seems I am justified! I did speak a the Board Meeting about my frustration with the lack of communication and the school's not developing a good plan for Ryan. Immediately the next day Ryan's services Coordinator emailed me to go into great detail what services and support Ryan is getting and what other things they will be trying. We definitely are doing our part here at home doing about 45 min of homework each night with him (he's in 1st grade). So I am glad that I will be able to have a meeting with all the support people and his teacher to really see their game plan and to have them address any concerns I have at this time instead of waiting for his 3 year full evaluation that would be coming up at the end of the year. So I guess the saying the squeaky wheel gets the oil (or whatever the saying) is true. Letting my frustration known to the Superintendent and to the Principal got pretty fast results (I am surprised because last year I had a meeting with the principal and even wrote board members about the class sizes which they didn't address at all. I even tried to get other parents to go to a Board Meeting and to sign a petition about class sizes, but I had very little support from other parents, so I kind of let go of the issue. (28 kids in a 1/2 day kindergarten class, and yet other classes in our same district had class sizes of 16 and 18!! - anyhow I am getting off on a tangent)

Wednesday is Trevor's OT (for sensory processing issues) day. He gets it every other week. Right now we are trying listening therapy. He has been crabby lately, but it seems to be the terrible twos, and not so much sensory sensitivities. He actually wants to do his listening therapy and will wear a hat now and even gloves now ( definitely not something he would wear last year!)

Today I was a classroom helper in Ryan's room. I got to take a few kids out one at a time and have them read a short book that they pick out themselves and see how they read it and mark them down. I loved this as it gives me a chance to see how Ryan is reading but to also see how other kids in his class are doing (And he is doing really great - doing so well compared to the start of school). And also today during "my mom work day", I finished the school directory (its been a month of working for several hours several days a week for 5 weeks!!), and finally bought the Nintendo DS from Toys R Us for Stephen- Today was my third trip to this store just this week trying to get that thing!

The best part of today was my son Ryan came home with a sheet full of stickers. Whenever Ryan is good in a certain area (there are about 10 designated areas/time slots including centers time, reading, bathroom, etc) he will get a star sticker if he stays on task and does his work without acting out . If he has trouble he will get an x through it. If he gets 4 stars in the morning he will get to go to the Services coordinators office to do something fun (listen to a song on a CD, or color with a friend). He has the same opportunity in the afternoon. So they are trying to give him extra incentive to focus and attend and be respectful of people and property. So today, he came home with a sticker in every box. Wow, how proud I am of him! this is huge!

Ok, so Nutritionist for Trevor on Monday, PTA meeting Tuesday , Speech therapy, and OT Therapy on Wed for Trevor, Classroom helper today (Thursday) in Ryan's class and I finished the school directory. and of course I finally was successful at Toys R Us. I feel like I won the lottery this week! Now tomorrow is Friday and I am feeling good that I got so much done already this week. tomorrow there is a a Cub Scout pack meeting in the evening - the best part is that daddy gets to do that!! (OK, so I can not do just nothing tomorrow - I do have to get a present for my son's friends b-day party on Saturday and maybe find a babysitter for a date with dear hubby on Saturday, and make sure the holiday outfits are good to go for Holiday pics on Sat, and maybe get some of the popcorn that neighbors bought from Stephen my scout out of my house - still I can sit back and take a few minutes to be happy right??)

So its been a "good Mom week" for me! got some more answers for Ryan's goals and a new meeting date with the team for him, got the directory done, am almost done Christmas shopping for the kids and i still have one day left in the week, YAHOO!! I'm doing the Happy Dance!!

Of course it might not make for a super interesting post, but heck I am happy!

May the force be with you!

Just to give you a good laugh on a cold ucky Monday!! May the force be with you all!

Trevor is quite the busy little bee. Future CEO of a Fortune 500 company maybe???

Two going on twenty

My what big shoes to fill!!

OK, I was trying to share a slide show. It is so much better as a slideshow!

Guess I am showing my non techy-ness again!! Trevor really cracks me up all the time. I do believe he thinks he is an adult.

2 going on 20!

The tooth fairy will be visiting tonight

Important news. Another tooth was lost here! Ryan lost his 2nd tooth. He comes up to me hands all bloody with a toothy/missing toothy (red/bloody) grin. Its so cute to see how excited they can be about losing a tooth. I am only concerned about keeping mine! (and possibly seeing about some whitening treatments). Oh these little rights of passage! it is exciting though. i know he has had some loose teeth for quite a while. He has been asking me since he was 4 or 5, why won't his teeth come out whenever Stephen would lose one. He's proud of the whole in his gum line! It should make for some cute thanksgiving and Christmas pictures!!

Later after he put his tooth in the tooth box, he came up to me and wanted to know if the Tooth fairy was a boy or a girl. Whenever I am asked about the Tooth fairy or Santa or the East bunny, I always say with my "deer in the headlights look", "I just don't know, I never met them when they came for my teeth/christmas/Easter."

this got me thinking about a blog post that a friend posted recently. She was wondering about wht age do kids find out there is no Santa. My oldest is 9 1/2. I think he still believes. He does have older friends - a couple of his freinds are 11 year olds and he does have another friend that is 13 and does hang out with an older brother of a friend who is 13. I do worry that they will tell him about Santa and make him feel bad. I was at a Mom and tot thing in our subdivision a month ago. And a mom of 4 was talking about the whole santa thing. She tells me that she would tell them when they are 10 right after Christmas, - so they will have the whole year to deal with it and so it wouldn't upset them to find out right before Christmas. I dont know - I can't imagine starting a conversation about telling him this. to me, he is still so young. I love the innocence of kids and their ability to believe in these types of things with so little questioning of it. I almost hate to ruin it, but on the other hand, it would be hard to learn about Santa from kids on the block who might make fun of a younger kid. Plus, maybe it would be better to hear it from me?
Gosh, i just can't imagine me being the one to do it. I know my kids can't stay little forever, but I sure don't want to get them all grown up too fast. So, I guess I will just keep waiting. I have at least another year I hope before it becomes more of an issue (I hope). I remember telling my brother (and I can't remember exactly how old we were) that we have to tell mom that we beleive in Santa or she won't give us anymore gifts from Santa.

Stephen is 9 1/2, Ryan is 6 1/2 and Trevor is just 2. I know my years of having all the kids believe in Santa will not last much longer, so I hope I can enjoy this one and make it extra special. As grown up and mature as Stephen wants to be, i still love that he seems to have an innocence about him.

Ok, now I must go out and get the stuff out of the car from my shopping earlier. There are a few things in there that might be from "santa" and so I lef tthe stuf fin the car till the kids went to bed. So, i guess Santa and the tooth fairy will be busy getting stuff done tonight in this house!!! then I need to take off my Santa hat and Tooth Fairy hat and get my PTA mom hat back on. I'm not done with the School directory (thatI've been working on for what seems like an eternity).

Ok, I've been quiet for a long time, but now I am willing to share my political views with you

Trevor and his re-occurring "under the weather for November" pattern

This is Trevor in November 2006 (almost 4 mos old) Notice the nebulizer equipment on the table in the background. He is getting over phnemonia. (but look at that smile)

This is Trevor last year around Halloween. (Notice the Tiger costume on the couch). He again needed nebulizer treatments.

Its now officially November. I am in denial about that as I am enjoying this marvelous weather we had today and should have for a couple more days. I am also sick as a dog!! I've had a horrible cough that is sounds so bad that people get out of my way at the grocery store and don't seem to want to touch anything I have touched, lol!

But its not just me being sick that is making me grumpy. Trevor is still under the weather too. He has been sick for almost 10 days. He would cough so hard at night ( several nights in a row) that it sounded like he was choking. And, actually a few times has thrown up because he had so much post nasal drip that it made him cough so hard he threw up. (Now I am doing that!) It's tough being in this household as we don't seem to have much resistance to any colds and viruses. I do clean my house, I do try to make the boys sanitze their hands after they get home from school and before the eat and such. Still, we are sick so much of the time, which is one of the reasons I do dread the winter months.

I was looking at old photos and realized that last year (when he was 15 months), Trevor didn't go trick or treating as he was sick (we gave him nebulizer treatments). The year before not long after Halloween (right around Thanks giving), trevor had phenmonia and RSV.



It was a little depressing to have the nutrionist here today. He has lost 5 oz since his last visit with her 2 weeks ago. He did grow 1/4 of an inch in a month, so that is something. It always seems 2 steps forward and 2 steps back. Hopefully he will gain his weight back and then some very quickly after this latest cold is gone. At least we haven't had to give him nebulizer treatments this time! Lets hope next year he won't be sick!

Halloween 2008

Trevor and our neighbor Harrison

Trevor, ryan and stephen all set to go trick n treat!


Ryan with his friend Connor (and our little neighbor harrison was fascinated with the lighting!)

Stephen my Ninja with his pumpkin

the Boys in our yard

Stephen the Ninja, Trevor the devil and Ryan a skeleton

The boys and their pumpkins

We had a great Halloween. I was so happy that Halloween was on a Friday. I was so glad that the daylight savings didn't start till after halloween. I was so extremely pleased that the weather was so nice and I didn't have to figure out how to keep the kids warm with their costumes on. And, although half the family is sick, we all were still able to enjoy Halloween. - Trevor was sick last year. Last year after I got him all dressed in costume I took him outside to take some pictures and could tell that he was super tired and not feeling good and wouldn't want to be trick or treating. I was dissapointed that the first year he could actually walk, he wouldn't be trick or treating.

It is surprising that with all our good fortune with the weather and good health and all that - well that the boys didn't bring home as much candy as last year. I guess I should be ok with that, but I do depend on the kids halloween candy bags to sustain me through November and since they didn't get as much, it will be harder to sneak my rations without them noticing!!!

Ryan was Spiderman for the day, and then a skeleton for the evening. Stephen was a Ninja and Trevor was the devil (ok so the ninja had weapons, and there was a devil - does this make me a bad mom promoting the devil and weaponary?? I was even wanting to dressed up myself, but I couldn't find a costume for a queen that I really liked in my size and everything else was well, too revealing and sexy for going to the boys school. (I am tired of being a witch - and no wise cracks about that!!) Mike even got into costome and scared some people in his Monk outfit (no he wasn't the guy from Star Wars!!) He even seemed to frighten Trevor for a little while. Daddy was in regualr clothes when we left for trick or treating and when we came back there was this strange looking guy in trevor's eyes. I tried my darndest, but Trevor just would not smile for the camera. He is still such a cute little devil, REALLY, he is!!

Somehow, we managed to lose a spiderman costume, so originally Ryan was spiderman, but then for trick or treating he became a skeleton. Even though I was at the school doing my job as room mom as the kids wore their costumes during the room party and then I was there as they all changed back and somehow we still ended up getting home at 3:45 getting ready for trick or treating only to find we did not have the spiderman costume. I went back to the school and to the classroom, but didn't see it. I just have no idea how this happend. Usually this would totally mess up my day, but we do have 3 bins of halloween costumes to chose from and Ryan quickly chose to be a skeleton (I wish I had the time to put some face paint on to match the costume).

The best part of my day was the report cards! Stephen got straight A's!! And Ryan didn't do too bad either. While there are some things he gets N for needs improvement, he really is making progress in my opinion. Wish me luck, Teacher conferences are Tuesday and I may need it with his teacher as we seem to have very different views on how to handle Ryan in school.

So now its November!! I hope you are all planning to vote on Tuesday if you haven't already!

Help, my son has an addiction!

Help, I think I am an enabler!!

I need Barney-a-non!! My son is addicted to Barney!!

It started out innocently enough, don't all addictions start out that way?

Trevor had never been one to be able to even sit and watch the TV for more than 30 seconds till he was close to 2 years old. And even then, he usually wouldn't watch more than 10 minutes at a time. We had The Einstein tapes, the signing Times tapes, and would try to see if he would watch Sesame Street every now and again among some other nice little stimulating baby and toddler tapes. Nope, he never seemed to like them. OK, so for most moms, this isn't a bad thing. I admit, I do put on a video or something for one of the kids if it means I might be able to make some phone calls (Dr appts., red ribbon or other PTA stuff) or if it means I can sort clothes and start a load of laundry. So while I try to not let my kids watch a ton of TV, I do find it very helpful at times (I've had 2 kids that are colicky till past 2 years old, and are needy and are hard to entertain - so yes, I do admit I'm a terrible mom and try to get them to watch TV)

Anyhow, eventually Trevor liked watching the Signing Times DVD and we were so happy. He was picking up more signs and he just loved the nice music that went with the DVD. So we would put it on every other day or so. So then I wondered maybe he might like to watch something else? So I look in my old videos and see Barney and decide to try him. He does like the Barney stuffed animal he has, so in I pop the tape. (Isn't he cute when he was less than 3 months old just staring at barney!)

Guess what, he started liking Barney. It was so nice to be able to go to the bathroom, put laundry in, enter Tupperware orders and all kinds of things instead of leaving for 20 seconds and find him trying to press the microwave buttons. He is very fast and smart and into everything, so some nice toddler friendly diversions were needed.

So slowly, ever so slowly, we would use the Barney tapes as this was one thing that he would sit for and be in rapt attention while watching. When we were doing homework with the other kids and Trevor would get crabby, in the barney tape went. When Trevor was really hungry, but I wasn't done making his dinner, in the barney tape would go. In the morning, when I had a hard time keeping him occupied while I showered, I started taking him downstairs and putting the Barney tape in (his brothers are not happy about this as they missed being able to play a tape or play on the WII game before mom came downstairs!)

So now, here I am, an enabler to my son's addiction to Barney. He is constantly whining "ayee, ayee - or sometimes he says "Arnee, arnee" (Barney, Barney) and whines and cries and sometimes is quite inconsolable till he next sees Barney.

Now Barney is pretty benign, and at least maybe he will learn some good lessons; but jeez I don't know how much more I can take of Barney! Ryan never went through a Barney phase, But Stephen loved Barney when he was a tot. I survived it then, I guess I will just have to survive it again and try to gradually lessen our Barney viewing. too bad the Fall season is here and winter isn't far behind as we will be spending more and more time inside! So, maybe I should take the Barney tape I bought back to the store and get something else for Trevor's stocking for Christmas!

Count down to Christmas has begun

Hey, another post from me already!

the picture above is from last year's christmas now I know we still have Halloween to get through this week and then Thanksgiving, but did you realize that Christmas is less than 2 months away? what happened to Sept and October - oh yeah, thats right. I was busy with my reunion, co-hosting a baby shower, co-chairing red ribbon week, spending time with my friend who just had a baby, up to my eyeballs in therapy for Trevor and homework for Ryan and keeping up with my Tupperware. So although I am usually more ahead of the game and usually have more presents already bought, I am more excited about Christmas than usual (plus Christmas eve is not at my house this year!!!)

As I said, I am very excited about this year. Trevor will be almost 2 1/2 - one of my most favorite ages for kids at christmas. They are so excited and there are so many cool toys at this age. I also want to really enjoy this one as I know my 9 1/2 year old may not believe in Santa anymore. Last year I had just started worrying that he might figureout (or be told by kids that he hangs out with that are 2-4 years older than he is) who Santa is.

It will also be so neat because I will have a new nephew and neice who will have thier first Christmas (I hope I will get the chance to see them during the holiday season!)

So anyone have any cool ideas for a 9 1/2 year old, 6 year old and a 2 year old? I'm sure it will be a lot of WII games and such for Stephen, but I don't have too many ideas as yet!

My mom and I did do a little bit of christmas shopping while she was here this past week, so at least I did start. I haven't even thought about a newsletter (some relatives give me a hard time about this telling me they don't need to know all that is going on in my life - you can guess they are not blog followers - probably don't even know what a blog is!) I have to go online and see if I can get some matching outfits! Its hard when you have a 9 year, 6 year and 2 year old - most clothes only come in two of those sizes! Hopefully Stephen hasn't outgrown the size cutoff at Gymboree or The Children's place. they had such cute sweater vests and shirts last year. didn't they look cute?!?

The visit has ended!

So it's Teusday, yahoo! My mom was here for a visit. Came last Monday eve (picked her up a tthe bust stop in Willowbrook and she left this am to go back to the bus stop) - I didn't even see her this am before she left with my husband before 6:00. She came in for my siter-in-law's shower. The shower by the way was so nice and I am very happy for my older brother who will be a daddy in about a month. Anyhow back to my mom; the reasons she ends up staying with me instead of other relatives is complicated, but she stays here. We have such a long tumultous (yes I do know some big words) relationship and we just don't see eye to eye on a lot of issues and have VERY differnt recollections on the past and who did what and who said what, etc. But she is the grandmother of my children and is not somone I can easily stand up to, so when she asks to stay, I alwasy say yes. It doesn't matter that I was co-chairing red ribbon week this past week and was so full of committments, I still had to say yes. I fretted and worried about what she would think of being here, not having a way to go out and do things if I was busy at the school or with Trevo'rs therapy or needing to put Trevor down for a nap - she would be bored and its not what people want to do is sit around my hosue when they are on vacation and visiting from out of state.

She comes on a bus and doens't alwasy have a vehicle to use when she is here which makes it hard as we both need time away from each other.

I am happy to report that the visit for the most part was a success. we did have one night a very shall we say "vigorous debate" about things, but mostly we got along just fine. She even got out a couple of times and used my car to meet friends for lunch.

I always wonder if all mom and daughter relationships are this complicated, so you let me know, are they? (I can't imagine a man reading my blog, so I figure you ladies can tell me if you have complicated relationships). I feel I can post this even though my blog is public. My mom is even more computer challenged than me and I doubt she would ever look up a blog (at least that is my hope!!).

Some things I learned this week from her visit:

• Never try to change the mind of a lady nearing 60 that never seems to change her opinion

• Accept the fact that I will never have a close relationship with my mother (as she stated this week - she knows that all we talk about is the kids and that is just fine with her)

• Never let a lady with bad eye sight and seemingly bad driving skills get in a car by herself to follow you without a back up plan. Check to make sure the cell phone number of that lady is really in your phone before you leave the driveway!!

• Get a cleaning lady to come before a visit from a person like my mom (she is not called the "queen of clean" for nothing!)

• Try to stick with neatral topics like weather, the kids and their halloween costumes instead of topics like dont you wnat to see your new grand daughter and have a relationship with your son (my brother) - even politics and religion should be considered a safer topic than family relationships/dynamics!!

• Never questions a diabetics diet!

• Try to not let the "boys will be boys" and stereotyping of boys growing up and forgetting all about their moms propaganda get to you and bait you into a debate about it

• remember that she will be turning 60 this year and won't be around forever, so just try to get along and have as good a relationship as you can before something happens to one of us
• remember to thank my husband for getting up extra early to drive his MIL and thank him for not saying a word when his MIL had a car outside dropped off for her disposal, but couldn't figure out how to move the seat and steering wheel.

So now the week is over and I should be safe for at least another year (she didn't mention coming in when my brother's baby is born, so I don't think she will - she hates traveling in the winter).

Maybe next time it should be more crazy than just being a the school a large amount of time with Red Ribbon, more crazy with more than just 3 Trevor appts (nutritionist, OT and Speech) -

If its not clean enough and its too crazy and chaotic, she won't want to stay here and we can go longer between visits! Of course my kids love grandma, so I bite my tongue and make sacrifices in my schedule and do my best to accomodate her. In return, she did do dishes several times and folded laundry and did watch Trevor for brief periods, so its not all bad! Sometimes you need a little something to get you into that flight or flight scary heart pounding feeling that a visit from my mom gives me!!

being the tech challenged person I am, I am once again having some troubles!

Ok, I think I mentioned long time ago (long before I even told anyone I had a blog, long before I gave out my blog information for people to read it) that I am very technologically challanged, and computer challenged! New gizmos like cd players, DVD players, cell phones, new comuter programs, rpinters, copy machines and the likes usually give me problems when I try to use them
Well, another example from today: So I am looking at my blog and thinking about making another entry and I notice in one of my posts that I actually ahd someone post a comment. that was a month ago. Now it only took me 15 mins to be able to read it, but I finally read the post. Now I know my blogs may seem pretty tame (and I guess they are) and I don't find them near as interesting as blogs thatI follow so I don't expect a lot of comments, but I was wondering when someone would finally post a comment. To think its been there a month now and I just found it. I even have one follower (thanks carolyn) - hope its not too boring and too sporadic for ya!
I would love to add music (and I've tried to get my own music playlist) and i've tried to change the set up and all, but that is awefully advanced stuff for someone like me! And to think I used to really know my way around computers (ok, really I didn't, but I did my job as an Admin Asst to 3 architects well enought that they didnt' realize that! I knew micro office, word, excel, quickbooks and knew enough about Access well enoughtto do my stuff!)

i either have to speed up, or technolofgy has to slow down so I can try to catch up! I think I might want an IPOD or an MP3 player for Christmas, but heck who knows how long it would take me to actually use it! I got a new camera a couple of months ago and I am proud to report that I am actually trying out the features and functions and playing around with it - I actually feel pretty semipro carrying around that nice proffessional looking camera (no its not an SLR, but pretty close!). Maybe some day I will get a GPS system, now wouldn't that be something!!

But ok, yes I am making progress in getting to figure out ne technology, but Is til have so long to go. I am counting the horus till dear hubby gets home so he can figure out why I canonly receive email and not send it out today (We got a new computer last year and mike finally got it up and running on Friday and the new Outlook express and the internet are having problems - and NO ITS NOT A USER PROBLEM, lol cuz he is having the same kidns of problems. The big difference between me and my dear hubby is that he will be able to figure them out!!

Sometimes I feel like such a dweeb! I want to be a very "with it" and "happenin lady", but lots of times I feel like little ole granny trying to learn to drive!! Ok, stop laughing now!!