Birthday weekend is here!

And our little birthday girl is :uber: Excited. Unfortunately, we had to postpone her party- didn't want to infect the whole family with the sickies Caleb came home with.

So... We are going to have a nice relaxing weekend at home- and we've got some special things planned for her. She's taking the party cancellation pretty well.

I still can't believe my baby is 5 already. *sigh*

And now we know...

First it looked like chicken pox...

Then it looked more like measles...

Then it started to spread like no picture I could find online.

We finally get to the doctors and it turns out it's Scarlett fever. He's out of school till Thursday. The only upside is that the fever part is gone, so he is feeling better, even if he is one big blotch

Done using pencil lines Sketch #59.


I was playing around with a new software I have that bends you words into curves. Very cool.


I'm not really liking this one so much- It just didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I didn't put any words on it b/c the only thing I could think of was "pole dancing" and somehow I don't think Jim (or Caleb) would see the humor in that so much. LOL So for now it's just stuck and not entirely finished yet. :(




The patch on the page is the one that I wore to the Midnight Harry potter party. :)





This is one that Lilly and I worked on together. :)

I've got a Secret Santa...

... And she really rocks.

This is why:



Yup- and there was no way I could let a pile like this sit till Christmas. So I ripped through it and this is what I got.






Thank you very much secret Santa! :) I can't wait to get to use it all. :)

Yumm-o

My very first Thanksgiving Meal- made entirely by me! :) I'm proud. There were no fires- only a few hic-cups. All and all a very tasty meal.



The drinks were bubbly pomagrante juice. Let me tell you- that was the *perfect* compliment to the turkey day meal. 3 parts Pom. Juice- 1 Part 7-up. Yum, Yum, Yum (thanks dad!)
I found the tablecloth at target and had to have it. It was perfect. Love the brown and the ribbon embroidery is so sweet.



We started off with an appetizer of Sandra Lee's Sweet Onion Tartlets
Jim- who I might add does not really care for onions so much- devoured 4 of them. They were super simple to make- Abby did most of the work.



Carrots and bacon dish, PA Dutch potato and bread filling, 2 homemade pumpkin pies & sweet potato casserole

And last, but not least... Tom. My first bird.

Lilly has a thing for Sandra Lee on the food network. So we are watching her Thanksgiving special and she gave step by step instructions for her Roasted Butter Herb Turkey It sounded SO good and looked so easy that I had to try.



So after I very *gracefully* prepped the bird- we were amazed at how good it turned out. The skin was crispy. The white meat was soooo Juicy. And the herbs just gave it the faintest *something* that made it so good.





If there was only one thing I could change, it would be that Caleb was feeling better. He woke up with a fever and slept most of the day. Didn't eat much (except for some pumpkin pie... That boy loves his pie.)

And there you have it. Not only am I the dork that took pictures of my first thanksgiving meal, but I also found them to be blog worthy. But I don't care. I'm so happy that things turned out so well. I'd do it every Thanksgiving if I could.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm super excited this year. I'm making my first bird and all the fixins.

We won't have to miss the parade because we are on the road. We will have turkey leftovers galore- hopefully- barring the fact that I the bird does not catch fire or any other calamity.

I'll let you know how it goes.

xoxo

-J

I'm a happy girl....

I woke up to a winter wonderland... And it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

*Yay!*


Edit: This photo is not mine :) I found it online and it looked so pretty I put it on the blog. Unfortunately the snow was short lived and it's all gone now- but I was just so excited as last year we barely had any snow at all. :)

I *see* you...

I just made an appointment for Caleb to have his vision checked. We got the letter that he failed his screening at school.

We knew it was going to come eventually...

Happy Birthday Anna!

For those who are suffering from "I miss Lucy-itious"...

Thought I would share some of my Lucy pictures.




Sporting a vintage brownie sash (circa 1983)

Report Cards

The Boy has had such a turn around from last year. It seems that something just clicked in him over the summer and he is doing so much better this year! Overall he got 3's in every subject (with three being the equivilant of a "B") The teachers comment box read

"Caleb has made a nice adjustment into first grade. "

I think that says it all right there. :)




We were a bit concerned with Abby this year. Not only is she in her first year of middle school, but she is doing a lot of extracurriculars this year with Band, Orchestra & Chorus. That's a lot to handle and we wanted to make sure her grades didn't drop because of it.

We shouldn't have worried

Communication Arts- 96%( which is Reading/writing/listening & Speaking)
Math - 95%
Science - 96%
Social Studies - 99%

Yup- she's a smart one.


Aewsome job kiddos! Keep up the good work!

Scatter brain

Ok, I've been having issues with short term memory. Personally, I think it's a side effect of the anesthesia that is taking a while to go away.

However, this weekend, while discussing with a scrapping friend of mine my purse escapades & memory lapses the past few weeks- she gave me a bit of hope that I do not have an early, early case of Alzheimer's. In fact her theory makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

"Well, according to my mom who has done extensive study, your uterus is actually the part of your body which reminds you where things are. Like, for example, your husband says "where's the ketchup" as he's standing in front of the fridge with the door open, and you say "it's on the second shelf down on the lefthand side in the back" as you're doing your hair in the bathroom. " - Erin Jo

So there you have it. I no longer have a uterus and now my body is just adjusting. That's my story and I'm sticking to it

Park Pictures from today....

We barely dodged the rain today to make it to the park.



Getting all the grandkids together for a picture was fun to say the least. This was one of many attempts



My Mom and Dad.



Lucy (who leaves to go back home tomorrow *sniff, sniff)



Jess & Frank



Anna



Malachi.


I can email you the files to make better copies from. Email me and I'll get them to you.

xoxo,

Jen

An Early Thanksgiving...

My brother, Alison, Lucy, Grandma, Grandpa and A. Kay came to visit yesterday. It's not often we have everyone together so we made a big 'ole turkey dinner in an early thanksgiving feast.

I got the best autograph Ever!!

For Jen:
Hugs & Stitches
Jennifer Chiaverini

She is one of my favorite authors who write stories that all revolve around quilts. Hence the Cutest pun ever- in my book. :)



The Author Luncheon was fantastic. It was the first time I have been to the Country Club since it went public and it has a very decidedly castle feel to the place.



I think Wendi and I were the youngest ones there. In fact- we were looking around the room and to see if anyone our age was there at all and we saw one person wearing a blue sweater. Turns out she was Jen Chiaverini- the author. She most definitely has an older following- but that's ok. We like her books and I'm happy we were able to go see her.





And now for the best part. Her newest book is coming out on November 13th. They had advanced copies of it for sale and so I have her newest book in my hands-autographed all before you can buy them in the stores.

It's a happy day. :)

Sugar Rush...

Everything went well last night. Our house was hoppin! Thanks to Everyone- our neighborhood loves hotdog nights.



We don't have a ton of pictures. Jim was grill master and I was getting some baby lovins From S (who btw- fell asleep in my arms- Adorable).




And now starts the countown to my favorite holiday of the year. Gobble, Gobble.