Happy New Year

We are all ready for New Year's Eve. As has become our tradition, the boys will be dropped off shortly at G & G's house to spend the night. They always stay home on New Year's Eve and we now take full advantage of that. We are meeting up with friends later at a local dive that has great food, great people watching and serve yourself at the bar! Chris thought that was the greatest thing last year when the taps were turned around and you could just go up and pour your own.

I hope that everyone out there has a safe and happy New Year's Eve. While we were blessed in 2006 with healthy boys, healthy families and good times at home, I am ready for 2007! To our dear friends the James/Gubi families we hope that the new year brings healing and peace. While their holidays have been so unlike our own we want them to know how much Paige touched our lives and continues to touch mine daily. It is entirely possible their families will never really understand how much impact Paige had on so many of us.

Happy New Year to all and to all a good night!
(I will eventually be posting pictures from the holidays - I promise)

Bolier Up!

Tonight is Purdue's final football game of the 2006 year. They have their bowl game tonight against Maryland. Bowl games always make me nervous because Purdue doen't play as well after extended time off. So, we have our fingers crossed around here. We had our home "tailgate" party and the boys are getting ready for bed. So, it's nearly game time!

Go Boilers!

I'm here, I'm here...

...I'm just buried under toys, boxes, wrapping paper, laundry and all the other misc. junk piled up around our house. I'm trying to dig my way out and I should be making more headway than I actually am. The organizing bug always hits me this time of the year with all the incoming toys. I can't stand it!

So, be back shortly.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

We got back in town last night and Santa made it to our house! The boys have been having a fun morning plalying with all their new goodies. Especially seeing they were loaded up with more gifts from our Christmas in MI. Good grief.

I have lots to update on, including little Paige's funeral services, but now is not the time. We are enjoying our day at home together and are visiting Chris' aunts home tonight. Then tomorrow we are off to G & G's house for the final Christmas. Thank God!

So, to all of you out there. Enjoy every minute that you have with your family today. And, if you are away from family and one of our proud military personal, Merry Christmas to you! Thank you for all you do!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Wednesday

Wednesday? Is it really Wednesday. I guess it is, all day, as Chris would say! Anyway, we are getting things organized around here in preparation for traveling and Christmas.

The boys will be spending tomorrow afternoon with G & G while we travel to Paige's visitation. We will come back home that evening and the boys will stay with us. I have my fingers and toes crossed for Friday. We needed to leave for Flint and rather than returning to FW when we were half way to Michigan, we decided to take the boys with us to the funeral tomorrow. G & G also have some plans made that we don't want to ask them to change. Connor will be clueless about what is going on but I'm worried about Wes. I believe they can both sit through the service but I don't want to freak Wes out. I want to be honest with him about what is happening without scaring him. He didn't know Paige, so he won't really "get it" but we will do everything we can to keep him away from the event. Even if it means only one of us stays for the service. As much as I want to be there, I also don't want to scare Wes. Unfortunately, this is the best arraignments we can make given the circumstances.

So with that said, I can not wait to get the next two days behind us. Moving on.

Wes has football tonight and G & G are coming to watch. It should be funny because he will be excited to have more of an audience. I have bowling in the morning, Wes has school and then we are leaving. So, I need to go and get packing started and things together. Don't you just love the holidays?

Catch you here on soon!

Our holidays

We are preparing for several busy days. The getting things packed is the easy part. I am really, truly dreading how agonizing attending Paige's funeral is going to be. I am going to be an emotional wreck and I'm sure it will carry over into the holidays. This is the nightmare every parent dreads and our friends have to live it every day for the rest of their lives. We feel so much pain for them and realize there isn't much we can do to help.

Chris and I are heading back and forth to Elkhart on Thursday and Friday for Paige's funeral services. Hopefully we can work out overnight babysitting with G & G for Thursday night since we must leave very early Friday morning for the 10:00 funeral. We were supposed to be heading to Flint for Christmas on Thursday night, but it looks like we will be driving up there Friday afternoon instead. So far my mom is handling the change in plans okay!

Thankfully I have all my shopping done, gifts wrapped and I'm getting caught up on house stuff. I haven't done any baking, but it just isn't that important to me. I'd rather not be more stressed just to say that I made some cookies, which none of us really need and the grandma's have plenty of!

We will be in Flint Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday. We like to be at our house Christmas Eve so that we can let the boys sleep in their own beds, have Santa visit our house and then open gifts Christmas morning. I like having this set up for them! We have Christmas mostly to ourselves and then a trip in the evening over to visit Chris' Aunt and family. Then the day after Christmas we head over to Chris' parents to spend the day and do Christmas with them. When it is all said and done the boys will have essentially had 5 holidays with all their different family. CRAZY! It makes for tired boys, cranky parents and one greedy gift hungry 5 year old. Connor is fine with it all but Wes just goes overboard. And, to be honest, what 5 year old wouldn't when all those cool Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and Us (mom and dad) want to give them gifts. Talk about spoiled!

As always, I appreciate how fortunate our family is to be blessed with healthy children, a safe home and a loving family. Oh, and Uncle Stu is headed back to Arizona today, so safe travel wishes for him. It was great having him home and the boys loved every minute of crazy Uncle Stu play time.

Fly High Angel Paige

Our hearts are so saddened this morning to hear of the passing of our little friend Paige. We had hoped that she would be able to stay with her family through Christmas, however that wasn't meant to be. She is no longer in pain and as her mommy said in an update, she can now see, run, jump and play! Thankfully she is no longer suffering, but we can hardly imagine the heartache Eric, Rhonda and her big brother Grant are experiencing today. All of the James/Gubi family will be in our thoughts today. Please think of them or pray for them and little Angel Paige. Fly high little Princess Paige.

Life is good!

Life is good! While we may have some ups and downs with the temperaments of a 5 and 2 year old at our house (including me), life is good! Thank God our boys are healthy! Last night at Wes' football game we got to see Wes actually "play". He was paying attention and did a good job on defense. He even got his first flag off of the other teams ball carrier. We couldn't have been prouder and he was so proud of himself! Good job Wes. Go Packers!

Life is good! Uncle Stu is back in town from Arizona to celebrate Christmas this weekend. I haven't been able to see him yet, but I'm hopeful that he will make a surprise visit during Wes' bowling party tomorrow. I know it would really be a big surprise to Wes!

Life is good! I have my holiday cards sent out and all done. I have made very little progress in the wrapping department, but I expect that to pick up the next few days! Chris has taken the day off tomorrow so he can go to the party and also take Wes to a hockey game tomorrow night. So, hopefully I can get more wrapping done with just one child tomorrow night.

Life is good here and I hope it is well for all of you too! Enjoy your weekend, just in case I don't make it back here before it is upon us!

5

So, what does every 5 year old boy want these days? If you guessed the movie Cars then you are absolutely 100% correct! And, since G & G took him to see the movie is was fitting that they gave him that as part of his birthday present. He was so excited to see the movie. I figured that we would have been watching it all day today, but he seems to be holding it out for a special occasion? I have no idea?

Anyway, here is a funny picture of him figuring out he got the movie and enjoying another game with Connor. Now we are gearing up for his bowling party on Friday with all his buddies. Thank goodness Chris is taking the day off to give me a hand!

Happy Birthday Wes!

Wes is 5 years old today. I can not believe how quickly the past 5 years have flown by. Wes is very excited for school today. He gets a birthday crown amongst other special activities for him at school. He is also excited to have Grandpa Larry and Grandma Jenny over tonight to celebrate. He helped me make cupcakes this morning and is off playing with Connor right now, I think. Now that I think about it things are really, really quiet. Too quiet. I better run and check up on the birthday boy and his little brother.

I'll post pictures after tonight's festivities.

Good birthday!

Thanks to everyone who helped make my birthday special over the weekend. Chris and I had a fun time at the company Christmas party on Friday and then kicked off a great birthday weekend! Thanks to G & G, Chris and I were able to spend the weekend in Indy. We went to watch a great Purdue b-ball game Saturday afternoon and then stayed in Indy for the rest of the weekend. We had a nice dinner, went shopping at Circle Center and saw Casino Royal (it was good). It was good!!!

And, now today is Monday! Mondays are always the let down days and today is no exception. The boys are tired out from G & G's, plus they got up a couple of times last night. Making matters worse today is the fact that I HAD to try and get pictures of them for our holiday card. This task may very well be my least favorite task of the entire year. Connor hates getting his picture taken and if possible hates getting his picture taken with his brother even more. I refuse to try and go somewhere because I know the outcome. At least when I attempt it at home I can get pissed off and storm off to my room. It doesn't require me being nice to a photographer!

So, they didn't let me down! It sucked... but I got a couple of decent pictures! See below!













































And, this is what really is going on!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

Stupid germies

Sickness remains at our house. Chris is the only one among us who remains healthy. My sore throat has thankfully hit the road but I'm now stuffy and coughing. Nice. I decided at the last minute to send Wes to school today. He wanted to go although he still is stuffy and rather pale. I was happy to take him because I needed some quiet time. Connor fell asleep on the drive home and I'm taking it easy until 2:30 pick up rolls around.

Not much else going on. I'm trying to find a pair of shoes to wear with a new outfit for the Holiday Party for Chris' work. It is Friday and I of course decided that I needed something new and now I need just the right cream shoes to wear with my new cream pants. Decisions, decisions!

Have a good Tuesday! Tonight is NCIS night and the Unit. Big favorites around our house....at least until Thursday when we get Survivor and Gray!

"Score"

Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Mike scored big at our house yesterday. They came down for the day to celebrate our birthdays and brought with them maybe the boys favorite gift, every. An air hockey table! It was Wes' birthday present, but Connor is loving it as well!





















Unfortunately, they are both sick with pretty bad colds, but still loving the hockey! I just made the decision to keep Wes home from school today. Which makes me feel really guilty for sending him with Chris Saturday and now keeping him home from school today. But, in my defense, he looks awful today, he is no longer running around and acting fine and he has the snots! Bad!

And, to add insult to injury, I also am getting it. I have a killer raw throat that kept me awake most of the night. Plus, Wes was in our room twice, so I'm not much use today!

I can celebrate getting all my holiday shopping done. (Doing and little dance, doing a little dance) It is a new record. Never have I been done so early before. Now I must start wrapping! If Chris were in the room he would add some beat boxing sound affects to that "rapping" comment. You would think sometimes that he is from Flint!

Okay, gotta run. Just wanted to update on the weekend and post some pictures.

Slacker

I'm a blog slacker this week. I have been so caught up with finishing holiday decorating, getting and putting up the tree and finishing shopping that I have neglected to update on here. Shame on me. Not that anything very exciting has transpired this week, but none the less, I'm a slacker.

Wes had 2 football games this week and was pretty tired when he was all done. I believe that they won one of the games. No one keeps score (Chris does) but he had to take Connor home before the second game ended, therefore I'm not sure if they won the second game. Wes now has a cold but doesn't feel that bad to not terrorize his brother.

Speaking of terrors, Con-man has been a regular 2 year old this week. He will just say no to about anything and I discovered, after it was too late, that he flushed a car down the toilet. Wes told me he did it and that he tried to stop him but he just couldn't. And, if you believe that I have a charming home for sale on Park Avenue! The toilet didn't plug, so I can only hope it remains a happy toilet. Chris was NOT happy! But, Daddy had a hard week at work, so he was a bit touchy this week. Hopefully the weekend will make him smile.

And, who wouldn't be smiling after going to get a x-mas tree in wet, cold, windy weather. It was just awful, but last night was the only night this week we could do it. It was a quick tree pick out and it looks nice! We got it decorated this morning before Chris and Wes left for a Purdue b-ball game. I know Chris didn't want to take him because of his snots, but I just couldn't take another two on one day around here!

My parents are coming down tomorrow for the day. We are celebrating my b-day (Dec 9) and Wes' b-day (Dec 12) a little early. It was the only day that would work out and they can't come during the week! So, it's birthday day tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!