Light Show @ The Prominade

We have gone to see this light show at the mall the past few years since the mall opened and the kids just love it. Lanie took her camera to video record it. It is a little on the darker side since I didn't mess with the camera setting to lighten it up a bit but you get the idea... LOL


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Fixed and Broke Again...

We took Lanie today to get her tooth fixed (they just glued her tooth back on) and while I am sure we will be broke from the bill we get LOL that is not what I meant! She came home and bit into a corndog and it broke off again. Nice, eh? She goes back on Thursday the 8th to get it fixed yet again.

here is the pic i took before it broke back off... compare the my last post (which ironically is how she looks again now LOL)

Missing ½ a Tooth...

you read it right! Lanie is only missing half a tooth.
And of course it had to be her top front Adult tooth =(
She was over Aunt Paula's house getting ready to make cookies. While Shelby was making the cookie dough Lanie was messing with her necklace (an elastic necklace with a large bead hanging on it) Well she pulled the necklace out and let it go to see it spring back and it chipped her tooth. They called right away to let me know what had happened and I sent louis to go pick her up.

I thought it looked bad but she wasn't complaining much. When I took her to the dentist today he noticed a pin sized nerve that was exposed. So he got that fixed up. He had to drill and then seal the hole but he did not fix the tooth yet. He wants to make sure it looks ok (and hope she doesn't need a root canal) in a week and then he will try to re-attach the broken part of the tooth.

So here is a pic of my cutie missing half a tooth =(

Chicago @ Christmastime....

I LOVE Chicago
during Christmastime!!
I usually get
more pictures
but it was a
last minute trip
to Chinatown with
Louis and he doen't
like waiting while
I take pictures so
this is it folks...
And I guess Louis
was sweet enough
to take me to
Chinatown in the
first place to get
some fried rice and
pot stickers YUM!



not to mention it was
1:00am (see the clock?)
LOL and below zero brrrr

O' Christmas Tree

We have gone every year to cut down our Christmas tree since Wes was 2 years old (he is now 12).

Zander wanted this one...

Lanie wanted this one LOL

Martie wanted this one

Wes wanted this one

But we all decided on this one (I think it is called a concolor fir?)

and they all took turns sawing it down =)

even Zander LOL

The kids Christmas program @ School

because my video camera is broken i had to use my crappy point&shoot camera to take the video and of course forgot the tripod so i apologize in advance for the camera shake!!!



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#1 pom routine: The pom/cheer squad is made up of 4-8th graders and they have only been practicing this routine for a little over a week (they just found out on Monday they would get to use it in the program) and it was their first time performing it in front of a crowd(ETA: not to mention the cheer coach taught them this with a dislocated knee). I think they did very well under the circumstances and I have to Laugh because Martie squeaks the letter L at the beginning. She was SO nervous! If you want to follow her She starts out in the middle of the front row. The cheer company refuses to pay the return shipping so we are just keeping these poms. The girls decided they looked ok to use so we are keeping them....


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#2 Jazz band: Wes is the only trombone in the jazz band so he is easy to spot. He does very well IMO ;) no clue what song they are playing...


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#3 2nd graders singing: Lanie is in the pink dress and her pink sparkly santa hat LOL my arms were getting tired by this point lol They sang an Itallian lullabye. I think it was called Dorme Dorme? no clue... I think she was doing good until she stopped singing I was LOL because she literally just stopped moving her mouth. Then she was blinking her eyes... I am thinking her allergies were messing with her but I am not sure.


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#4 5th grade band: Martie was playing her clarinet but you cannot see her in the video. they played Do you hear what I hear and did a dang good job for 5th graders!


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#5 5th grade band: martie said this song was called the African Noel but I can't find her Music sheets to confirm that. Again they sounded good =)


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#6 5th graders singing: They sang Winter wonderland and I thought it sounded great =) Right in front you see 3 people wearing the blue band shirts and Santa hats. Martie is the one in the middle. You can see the white on her B&W chucks (that she was NOT supposed to be wearing with her band uniform). I really love this song so I was happy to hear it this year.


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#7 Concert Band: concert band is 6-8th graders. I was running out of time on the memory card so I started late and it sounds funny at first until you "catch up" and figure out what they are playing. They are doing a Christmas Medley and after the first few bars they sounds very good. =) I was SO sad, I accidentally deleted the song they played from the Nutcracker. I wanted to cry! it was THE best song of the night and they went out with a bang! My camera was running out of memory so I deleted the Choir (none of my kids are in the chior) and accidentally selected "ok" to delete the nutcracker song =(

I Need Me Some New Moon!!!

OMG so I stayed up til 4am finishing up Twilight and now I need the next book in the saga.... UGH!!!! Now to watch the movie....

Indulging in Edward Cullen!

ok so for the longest time I never understood what all the twilight fuss was about but now that I am halfway through I am starting to see it!!!

A Visit With Santa...

Zander went to see Santa this week and for the first time since he was born he did not cry (but only because he knew he'd get a candycane LOL). Though I DO think Santa could have looked a little less annoyed with the fact that i wasn't BUYING any photos. And the elves made it a point to make sure I only took 2 photos with my camera...

Too Cute!!!

Wes mentioned to me tonight that I still owed him a movie at the theater. (I had taken the girls to see High School Musical 3 a couple weeks ago so he was right) Said he wanted to see the movie Bolt.


He then ask if I'd mind bringing his "girlfriend" Bayley along. I said of course not! She really is a sweetie, I thought it was cute that he wanted to go "on a date" with her LOL. She accompanied Wes to see Open Season 2 years ago for his birthday and they also went trick or treating together the year before that. So of course i think it is cute that they are now officially "boyfriend and girlfriend"
aren't they cute...


so back to the movie... It really was a cute show! I will definitely buy it when it comes to DVD. I laughed almost the entire time and like all Disney/pixar movies... I even got choked up at one point. Leave it to Disney to pull at your heartstrings!! At least it wasn't like brother Bear where I was still crying when the lights came back on!!! LOL

Anyway we had a fun time =)

Miss Martie MetalMouth

I promised an updated pic of Martie's braces so here there are =) the first pic was taken August 25th and the second was taken the day before yesterday (Nov 18th). So in less than 3 months they have already straightened up a TON!!!
This is just a phase 1 set of braces because she still has so many baby teeth left but her front teeth were so crooked and crowded that her new adult teeth coming in had nowhere to go and her jaw could not come forward all the way which could have caused future problems.

She just got 2 molars banded and her full wire so ofcourse she is in a bit of pain but after seeing these pics of her new beautiful teeth it made her smile really big =)

Happy 49th Birthday Louis!!!

Wow I cannot believe Louis is going to be 49 tomorrow! It seems like just yeasterday I met him at the pool hall and thought he was around 28 (even though he was really 35 LOL). Crazy how time flies!!!

Anyway haven't updated in a while, sorry. I have been crazy busy but looking back I don't feel very accomplished for the week. The house is still a mess, I still have not bought ribbon to make hairbows for Martie's cheerleading/pom squad (these need to be done by Wednesday!!!) and I have not even bought my husband a card for his birthday. UGH! I know the list is bigger than that but I don't want to bore you all....

Tomorrow I need to get the kids off to school and then get Zander and myself ready. We need to pick Martie up from school and be at the orthodontist by 9:30, I believe, for more mouth impressions and possibly to get her expander in place. I have a feeling she is going to be in pain the next 2 or so weeks but I keep telling her she will have a beautiful smile when they are all done!! =) Even just since August her teeth have moved tremendously!!! I need to take a recent mouth pic to compare!!! perhaps tomorrow after her appt!

I think I may also take Zander to see Santa tomorrow as well, wish me luck on getting a decent shot of him without tears or anxiety LOL
(for either of us LOL)

well wishes to everyone! will post more soon =)

Calgone Take Me Away!!!

Why is it that I have to fight with my kids every.single.morning to get ready for school??? It is beginning to drive me nuts! No matter whether I wake them up at 6am or 7am (they have the be at the bus stop between 7:35-7:40) the girls don't want to wake up, Wes doesn't want to comb his hair and when he does he makes it look... odd (for lack of better word) and Zander screams and wants me in bed with him... UGH! I am getting tired of it and quick! I can almost guarantee that at least 1 child has forgotten to do some sort of homework, another will have an "ailment" of some sort and want to stay home (to sleep in, I'm not an idiot!), another can't find a shoe, another can't find a ___add random article of clothing here___ , another has "NOTHING TO WEAR" (in this house? yeah right!), one is "starving", another wants to puke if I put a pop tart in front of them....

And it all ends with me yelling " you only have ___ minutes before the bus will be there" or my favorite... "Great, the bus already left... now how are you getting to school?" It is a good thing Louis is not a very punctual person, he is usually still here getting ready so he can take them.

UUUUUUUUGH! Calgone Take Me Away!!!

Just Me and The Boys!

So we had a pretty laid back day today. We slept in and then I read my email. I remembered today was the last day of COF for Gymboree so Wes, Zander and I went to 2 different stores to do some exchanges and I picked up a few things for Christmas.

I bought Zander this shirt and hat to wear in his pictures with Santa

and then we went to a pet store where I got to hold a parrot and talk to it for like 20 minutes! (it was so cool, I wanted to take it home!!!). We also checked out the leopard geckos and bearded dragons. (I might get Wes one for xmas)

When we arrived home Louis and the girls had just gotten home as well so i dropped Zander off and took Wes bowling. It was fun but i totally suck at bowling. I think my first game was 75 but my third game wasn't too bad at 143 LOL

I finished the night off by doing a haircut and beard trim for a friend and running to walmart after the kids were in bed for some holiday shopping.

Here's a list of things to do tomorrow so i don't forget them all LOL

get kids ready and on the bus

Martie has orthodontist appt at 9am

workout

call metra about santa train

shop for ribbon & start making hairbows for Martie's cheerleading squad

find the rest of baby clothes to sell

go through group orders and get shipping quotes

Woot! Girl's Night Out!

my friend Lisa and I are going to eat dinner and have Margaritas at On The Border YUM


and then we are going to see "Role Models". Hope it is funny =)

Insomnia? I Think Not!

Here I sit wide awake at 3:05am with only myself to blame! My dad is in town from Alabama so instead of napping with Zander at 9am this morning (fri) I was trying to pick up the house. I didn't even know he was in town so my house was torn up. (I am trying to "spring" clean before it gets too cold... so I had donation piles, sell piles and trash bags everywhere LOL not to mention dishes! and laundry ugh!)

So anyway, he stopped by right before the kids got home (early day today, they got out at 11:30) so we talked a little and he visited with the kids. Once he left, I had the kids help me pick up some more around the house. I didn't even get my workout in, boo! I made dinner for the kids around 4pm and had to drop Martie off at Cheerleading at 5pm. Which is when I started feeling crumby. I laid down with Zander while Lanie and Wes did their homework and at 6:45 the phone rang, it was Louis THANK GOD! I felt so crappy I didn't want to move so I had him pick Martie up. I slept for another couple hours and then woke up to get a drink... well here I am wide awake at 3:15 blogging instead of sleeping =(

I shoul go lay down but I don't want to lay awake in bed all night =/ wish I had my twilight book to read! better call the library back again tomorrow!

Don't Get Jazzy With Me!!

Martie and Wes had their very first band concert of the year, tonight. I think they did pretty well! Wes had his first solo ever which is nice to see his confidence growing. He is in concert band (6th-8th grade) as well as Jazz Band. (He plays the trombone)

see him here doing his solo in jazz band...

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and here is Martie. She is in the 5th grade band and plays the clarinet. I ran out of memory on the camera or I would have taped more =/


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ACK!!!!! I Forgot to VOTE!!!!

I KNEW I was forgeting something to do today!!!

It's All Too Much!!!

Can I just say I LOVE Peter Walsh??? I have had no desire to "spring" clean my house lately and I normally do this time of year. So I popped in my "It's all too much" by Peter Walsh audio CDs and here I am CLEANING!!!!! I love it (well I still hate cleaning LOL I just love that I got a little kick in the butt!)and I am going to listen to "Does this clutter make my butt look Fat?" by him right after this!!!

Forgetful Lucy!

I feel like I am forgetting to do something today... and I cannot for the life of me think of what it could be. =(

I know I was going to go workout as soon as Zander woke up... and I have to clean.... and tonight is my first Photoshop class from 6-9pm... and I need to drop Martie off at Cheerleading tryouts at 5:30(hopefully Louis will be there to watch her and the kids by 5:45pm so I am not late to my class)

but I am feeling like I am forgetting to do something or go somewhere.

The book fair is tomorrow so that is not it...

Oh well, I have no clue. Hope I don't piss anyone off LOL

The Weekend Flew By....

Wow that was fast! I could swear Halloween was just yesterday! I am sure the week will fly by as well since we have so much to do!

Saturday Martie and I went to the first Cheer meeting of the year. The school did not have a cheerleading coach until about a week ago and our first home game is Nov. 19th (and we have not even had tryouts yet... they are on Tuesday) so they need to get on the ball! There was not too many girls that showed up to the meeting so they are still trying to figure out if they will do 2 different squads (JV/Varsity) and just do a pom routine with both squads or just 1 big squad. I am pulling for 2 different ones so the girls won't be too tired (they'd have to cheer for all the basketball games. Which would be 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade and varsity (7th & 8th grades). I am hoping Martie makes the varsity squad since she was in Cheerleading last year and has a bit more experience than most of the girls that were at the meeting but we will see.

Zander's speech eval qualified him for speech services 1 time a week for 30 minutes and DT services for 30 minutes once a week as well. I am very happy that he qualified since the services are free that way. Though since the eval on Wednesday he has started talking SO much more. He has been using 2 word phrases now and has a vocabulary of about 20 words (approx 10 more than he had the day of the eval). They are trying to get him services right here in our house but I am hoping he gets them somewhere else like Easter Seals or the like so i can get 30 minutes to myself twice a week. That might sound selfish to some people but Zander has been glued to me since the day he was born. I nursed him for 25 months and he is finally weaning himself. (I have tried since he was 12 months old but he was not having it!) So an hour a week alone doesn't sound too selfish to me ;)

I need to start "spring" cleaning the house so i can bring in the Christmas decorations to sort through. We usually decorate on Thanksgiving Day while the turkey is cooking and then Louis and I sort through the sales papers after dinner looking for the best Black Friday deals. I also need to figure out somewhere to hide everyone's gifts so there will be no snooping =)

My plans for tomorrow are to get the kids on the buss and off to school, then sit here and make a list of everything I want to clean. Wake Zander up and head to the gym to workout for an hour or two and get back here to actually work on my list. I am supposed to do some hair colors this week so i am hoping they call Tuesday or Wednesday so they don't see my house in the condition it is in LOL (I wonder how much it would cost for a maid to come help me LOL j/k, not really LOL)

Tuesday is going to be fun because I start my photoshop class at the local junior college with my friend Laurie and my favorite teacher in the world Gene (my old photography teacher). I am hoping my computer will start acting normal so I can actually do my assignments! It has been giving me fits lately =/

I hope everyone reading this has a great week! =)

It's A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood....

We had SUCH a great day yesterday! the weather was so nice (almost too hot!) I was worried Zander would be hot in his monster costume but the weather cooled down just slightly so it was PERFECT! I started the day getting the kids ready for school in thier halloween themed clothes and I picked them up from school at 10:45 to get them into thier costumes and feed them lunch. Dropped them back off at 11:45 and came home to get Zander and I ready for the room party and halloween parade.

here are some pics....

Zander being cheesy before the parade


a boy and his trombone...
AKA Wesley marching in the school's halloween parade =)


the room party ended at 2:30 and the kids got out of school at 2:40. We got home, ate and finished getting ready to go trick or treating at 4pm. here are the pics..

the kids leaving to go trick or treating



Zander jumping out of the wagon to run and get more CANDY =) He was SO excited to be trick or treating! It was his first "real" experience. last year he was still a baby so he sat with me on our porch passing out candy to everyone else.


being a tough guy wanting to pull the wagon (and yes, he was actually PULLING the wagon here LOL and that is Lanie's Friend's sister in the wagon with her)


just some more cute pics of Zander LOL







the look he gave me when I caught him raiding his bag of candy and told him to stop


playing at the park right across the street from the Halloweenie roast


Louis met us at the park (he knew we'd eventually make it to the school for the Halloweenie roast) and then we trick or treated the rest of the way home. I think we walked in the door around 8pm UGH and I was so tired! my eyes were barely staying open!

All in All a Spooktacular Day!!!!