While at play rehearsals for PJ, I started talking with another mother. It made the time go by much faster and it was enjoyable to have someone to talk to. She had a daughter in the play that is a little older than PJ. And this was a friendship that you don't want to say "Oh I knew her from this play or that play." This is one that is nice for the boys to have someone to play with. So, that is what we did, we set up a time for mom to go shopping and for her daughter to come over and do things with the boys. And she did just that.

Saturday was a gloom type of a day. Not too cold to go play outside, but no sunshine sorta makes the day a little slower. So, we decided to make a Gingerbread house. She had never made one, the boys do one every Christmas, so to share something like that only means fun! And they did have a blast.


Now, I opened the box and it said something about putting the walls up and waiting 1 hour to dry. Oh nuts, I should have had that ready. Oh well, so, I did just that. Got the walls up and waited an hour. Then the roof to go on, must wait 2 - 3 hours before decorating. Oh well, that just means we have to find something else to do. And we did just that.


PJ found a recipe on the M&M package for Gingerbread Men with M&M's on it. And so, well, I decided to make the attempt to make gingerbread. I have never succeeded rolling out dough for anything. It just doesn't work that well for me. But since the kids wanted to do this, I had to make it. I followed the instructions, and they came out just fine. I rolled and used cutters and baked. They smelled so good. Then we got to decorate them. Oh how much fun is that!



Finally the time came to get that house decorated. The boys did one side and their friend did the other. Her's was in order, neatly done, nice organized rows, everything was perfect. The boys, well, let's just say it was a chaotic mess. Our neighbor came over with marshmallow Christmas people, Santa, Mrs. Claus, Snowman, and a tree. Perfect to add to the house. The kids got a kick out of it. I was happy to see them having such a great time.




We got it all decorated and the roof fell off. I do believe that the boys had way too much on their side. It was so funny, off the roof slides Santa. So, Eric being the creative one, put the tree inside the house. Ok, not a bad idea. You figure if the roof falls off again, you can see the tree inside. And of course, you guessed it, the roof fell off again! I got it glued on as best as I could. And moved it, and it slid right off again. Oh well, all is fun. I got it back on again, and got the cans out of the pantry to hold them up this time. It worked, and the house was used as a centerpiece for Christmas Eve along with the Gingerbread Tree that we made a while back.



It is so much fun to do this stuff with the boys. These memories will be wonderful memories for the boys and for their friend. I never decorated a gingerbread house until about 4 years ago. It was fun! I want them to have those memories to pass on to their kids. I don't want them looking back and regretting anything. Life is too short for that.

Last day of school and a fun Christmas gift

Thursday was the last day of school. So why bother even going if you are only there for 3 hours. Funny, they count that as an entire day of school. They seem to get credit for 8 if you go 3. Yep, makes sense to me. Actually, in the elementary school, you can leave whatever time you want to, and still be counted as a full day. Gee, when I was in school, we didn't get stuff like that.

Eric got up and I took him to school at 6:45. And then came home, let PJ sleep in for a bit and then annouced to him that it was the last day of school. Of course, he was out of bed in a pop!

I waited on Eric to get off the bus and then we headed to school. The parties aren't the same anymore. I don't know, maybe because I am old, and have revisionist history, but I seem to remember to have fun with our Christmas parties. We gave the teachers nice gifts and had several students provide some very nice cupcakes for the class. The reason I know is because my grandmother would provide the cupcakes for us as I got older.



I would love to be room mother for one of the boys. But because of me working, I can't give to them what a room mother should do for the class. PJ's class has the same room mother as in 2nd grade. She works full time and extremely rough around the edges. She doesn't do what a room mother does. She forgets to call to remind us what we are to bring. I usually write it down on the calendar so I don't depend on getting a phone call. She does the room mother thing half way. Now, I do understand that she does this because she wants to spend time with her son, but if you can't go on the field trip, if you can't plan a decent party for Christmas, don't do it. None of the mothers care for her. I would love to do it, but I don't want to be the mother that can't provide the right stuff for the class.

I guess we have always been blessed with good room mothers when Eric was in school that they were spoiled. And, trust me, they were very good. They gave great parties, and were always on top of things. PJ hates the parties, but at least they have them.

Friday morning Chuck didn't have to be at work until 11. I got the notice weeks ago that the vanity plate that I ordered for Chuck was in, but it wasn't going to be available until 12/25. So, I thought I would call the clerks office and see if it was here, and it was. I was so excited. It is part of Chuck's Christmas gift, and I really wanted it here before Christmas. I put it in the mail too late, and I wasn't sure if it would be here before the end of the year. Chuck went to lay down for a while, he wasn't feeling well, and needed to get some rest before going into work. So, I took off in the MB and headed to the court house.

I got there and the woman told me that they never send anything early and that it won't be here. Of course I explained that I already called and it was there. So, she got it, got me a Phillips head screw driver and gave me my plate. I put the new one on, took the old one off, turned in the screwdriver and the old plate and went on my way. I got home and the boys were waiting for me when I got home. I backed the car in so that way Chuck would see it when he left for work.

He left and never noticed it. I had to point it out to him.
You figure it out!"WEARIVED"

See, my days off were busy and full of stuff that had to be done.

Decorating Graham Cracker houses

On Monday around 8:25 I got a phone call from PJ. They were decorating their graham cracker houses at school at 8:30 and he wanted me to be there. I was in the middle of ironing a shirt for Chuck and really couldn't get there at that time. So, I was going on my way and feeling bad about not going. I was heading out the door and I got another phone call, "Mommy, we are decorating now, can you come to school?" Well, I wasn't doing much, I was only heading to CVS for pictures, that could wait. This was more important. I already had my camera with me, so, I headed to school.


I had a blast! To see all these kids making these little graham cracker houses. They are so creative. Of course the little girls had things in order, candy cane for the door ways. Gumdrops lined up neatly on the roof, redhots on the cookies that are the walkway. They all were so very good. So cute, and you can tell they were all having a good time.
The mothers were then put to work! Ok, that is what we were there for. We put all the houses in the plastic bags, tied them and set them up on the table. All of them looked so nice. I was so impressed with all of them. And I know that they had such a good time.



The kids came in the hallway to get their pictures taken. They lined up and we took their pictures. It was fun. It was great to see the creativity in the children, the fun that they had, and the time that we took as mothers to go and help out.



My Monday continued on, and it turned out to be a very busy Monday, but I expected that. Over the summer I bought several little "photo calendars" from Big Lots. I wanted to do something for the grandparents for Christmas. I priced the photo calendars from Snapfish and from the local CVS and Walgreens. Well, they were a little too pricey for me. I really could afford that, but then that would be the only thing they would get, and I didn't want to spend that much on a calendar. So, I saw at Big Lots the ones that you make yourself, they were $1 each. Oh my goodness, I just had to get them. So, I bought 3. One for my mom, and one for Chuck's mom.

Now, my mom lives in NJ and I had to get her package in the DHL on Monday. I did. It still hasn't gotten there. But I searched forever for pics of the boys for her, and I had to pick and choose only 12. ONLY 12???? That is such a hard thing to do, but I got the ones that I wanted. And I think it came out rather nice.

The calendar for my MIL was a different story. Somehow I had to incorporate all of the grandchildren. Now many months ago I asked my SIL for some pics of her kids. She never got back to me, and I didn't have all that many of the others to pick from, but I did the best I could.
Finally, Monday was over and I could sit down and rest. And then the boys requested dishclothes for their teachers. I crochet fast, but not that fast, I had to boogie. At least I had 2 nights and I had time to sit down.

Thursday was the last day of school, so of course I had to go to PJ's class. Friday brought on new experiences. Saturday brought over a friend for the boys. Sunday was Christmas at Nana's.

Closing night for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Last night was closing night and it was a great show! It was a wonderful performance. Now yesterday Chuck went to the 2:30 show and he came home and told me that there were people standing, they brought in 30 extra chairs for all the people that came to that show.All the performances that Eric and I went to, here weren't that many people there. So, I was really surprised to hear of all the people that were there for the afternoon show. I was very glad to hear that too. Not only for PJ but for all that have put so much work into this play. It was a wonderful experience for PJ and for me too. Yes I complained about going to practice until 9 for most nights and then there were the nights that we were there until 10. But PJ never complained once, of course not, he got to stay up until 9 and later on a school night.
While we were waiting for the doors to open, Eric spotted the mailman that delivers to my work. Now, he and I have a connection. He is from Long Island and I am from New Jersey, so we hit it off right away. And he has been a great person. So when I saw him there last night, I was just tickled. Our neighbors were there too.
We got there early due to the fact that I wanted a seat. I was not going to let PJ down, I was going to be there. One of the other mothers and I have become friends, we really enjoyed the times talking during the practices. So, we had sat with each other during the performances. We always sat in the same spot so we changed seating and it was a great spot. I was so glad that we sat there.
We sat and watched the play and enjoyed repeating the lines, listening to the laughter, watching the smiles and loving the chance that our children did have. The chance to make friends and to have fun with all of it, to hear the laughter and to see all the people that came out to see them act, to see the play, to see how much fun they had.

When it was all over, it was time to break down the stage, tear down the curtains, pick off all the tape, move all the chairs out. Everything had to go, everything had to be gone and moved back to the museum. And everyone had to help, so we needed to stay for that before the cast party. PJ had fun doing all of it , he had fun with all the people that were tearing down it all. We stayed for some food, some pics, some smiles and believe it or not, some tears from PJ. That I did not expect, I thought that he would be happy that he had the chance and knew that it was over, I thought that he would realize that he had to say goodbye. But when I thought about it, he worked with these people for 2 months, day after day. Word after word, smile after smile. All those late nights that he had, he was developing friendships. Even though they were some that were older than him, they didn't let that get in the way of them becoming friends.PJ

We all gathered together to eat and have fun. People tried to walk away with my fudge! Too funny! We said our last goodbyes, gave our last hugs and dried some tears. It was hard on me because I knew that PJ was sad, and it hurt to see him that way. I honestly didn't expect that from him, I didn't think that was gonna happen. But then what do you expect from a loving child, someone that is very affectionate and outgoing.

Several gave out cards and gifts. The lovely woman that played mother made ornaments for all of them. One made pictures for all of them and some handed out cards. All very thoughtful people. You seem to forget in a world today that there are nice people still out there.

After getting home,PJ was still crying. I got him calmed down for bed.And he wanted to read for a while. I let him unwind for a little while. I went his room to ask about the program. He told me that he should have had everyone sign his program. Well, he is in for a surprise at Christmas, I bought him the book and had them all sign it for him. So many told me it was a great idea. They loved the thoughtfulness and the idea.

PJ wants to keep an eye open for more plays now. The Missoula Children's Theater will be in town in March and they both want to try out for that too.

Never know, this may be a thing that PJ really wants to pursue.

I am proud of him

Dress Rehearsal

Right now we are working on our dress rehearsal for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I am thankful that this is almost over with. My life is stressed as enough as it is, but this is something big for PJ and I want him to remember this as a good time in his life. Life has been hectic lately, but I understand why, and I try to go with the flow of things. I get home after the rehearsals and just crash. Last night I told PJ to get his clothes, change and we were leaving. He thought he would argue with me, but to be honest with you, the director could have looked at me and told me no and it wouldn't have been the best of ideas to do. I personally didn't care at 9:45. I was tired and worn out and just wanted to collapse. We are working on our last few dress rehearsals, they go until 10. Tonight is the last night and I am very happy about that. At least tomorrow night I will be home with the boys and with Chuck, I may actually have a moment to rest. We didn't get complimentary tickets, why? well, I don't know. But I do know that I can't afford to go to all of his performances unless something happened and made it available for me to attend. And something did happen, I was asked to usher. This makes it possible for me to be a all performances and I am happy that I will be able to go. There is always something different at each live show. I am so excited about that. PJ plays a little boy named David. He is so cute, and I don't say that because he is my son, I say that because others have come up to me and told me this. So, just because he is mine doesn't mean that I am bias in any way! In the play, David doesn't want to be a shephard. His mother tells him that she just doesn't want to be a shepherd. The other night, PJ came out in the Batman robe, and he was so excited. He couldn't help but show me that he was Batman! The main part of the play is about this family, and rough crowd they are, the Herdman family. Basically, they are a poor family, never attended church and didn't know anything about the Christmas story. Tough family too, but it all comes together in the end. Tonight is our last rehearsal and then Thursday is the big performance. This is a school day performance and there will be two tomorrow. Without the director, but I think that it will work out,everyone knows what they are doing and they are doing a great job.
I will have more to post when I get to go to the real thing Friday. I am so proud of PJ, he has been a trooper throug all of this and I know he is tired, but he has been to every rehearsal, and he is having a good time. I will keep you updated on all of this and how it goes.
I was sitting in the back of the theater, so you will have to turn up your volume on the videos. This is the first time for me to upload and to take videos with my camera. I will have more to post, please be patient with me.

Every year on Black Friday, we don't go shopping, unless needed, we stay in bed, have a good breakfast, get the decorations out, and put up the tree. It has been like this for years, and it will stay this way until the boys move out. I don't care how old they are, this is part of our fun time during the holidays together. I love that they are at an age they just love to do these things and to help out too.

So, out comes the tree, and I search up and down for all the lights. Well, I knew that I had some one a roll. And I knew that there were some more in the house, ok, but where. Oh no, I had to go out to Ace and get another 250 lights.

We get home and Eric picks up where he left off and he gets that much done. I had started pulling out the ornaments and the boxes that belong to each one of the boys. Well, they were mixed up, Eric had most of PJ's and PJ had most of Eric's. I think somewhere in the mix of last year, when I was taking down what I had put up, I just dropped in the boxes and thought I would figure it out later. Well, it is later, and someone figured it out just fine!

I sat back and watched them hang ornaments. They know not to touch the others ornaments or there will be trouble. I enjoyed watching them do this, I guess because I didn't have to this year was a part of it, and it may be because as mom, I watch they way that they interact with each other. They just had too much fun.

Eric looked back and admired his hard work and continued to decorate different things. And begged me to wrap gifts too. He got the skirt out, and he had me wrap the sewing machine that I bought earlier that day for me, and maybe wrap a thing or 2 of their stuff too. So, I did just that. He put the skirt under the tree, watched the cat walk around a few times. I wrapped more than I wanted to, but why not. It is fun for me to watch them try and figure out what they have.

Sometime during the night I was looking at the tree, thinking it was crooked. It was, and it was driving me up a wall. I couldn't stand it, it was one of those things that you just have to correct, and well I did. And it landed on top of me. Chuck was home and he came running. The only thing I remember is "Oh Chuck that wasn't supposed to happen!" Apparently the legs are not even and there needs to be a notebook under one of them. The cat tore it up last year and I forgot that I needed to make the proper adjustments.

We get the tree up and damaged looking, it was pitiful. I couldn't fix it that night, it was too late. I just left it like it was and prayed that there was nothing too badly damaged.

I went to each of the boys and told them to leave the tree alone, I would fix it in the morning, not to worry about it. So, that is what I did. I got up the next morning only to go shopping and then to start from scratch. It was not what I wanted to do on my Saturday, knowing of all that I needed to get done. But I promised them and I was going to put it back up again.

Yes, I took it all the way down. And started all over again. This time I used all the lights and I made sure that there was a notebook under the one leg that refused to lay flat. And made sure that it was going to stay up this time. I should have left it alone, but I can't. I guess I am OCD that way.

After the ordeal of the tree on Saturday, I had time to get done what I wanted to get done. And one was to get the boys to put together the gingerbread Christmas tree. Now, we usually make a house, but this year I found the box for a tree, and I was so excited that I had to buy both. I don't know why, but I did. I guess it is because I never had a great Christmas as a child, so I try my best for the boys to have the best that can be provided to them.

I read the package for the icing, mixed, it seemed a little thick, so I had to add more water. Yep, that didn't work out well. The kit came with bags and tips for the icing, but when my watered down icing got in the bag, it just sorta dripped out of the tips, I knew it was not gonna be right. But for some reason, the boys didn't care.

They each operated a different color. Put the ornaments on the tree. Popped bubbles, squeezed bags and had fun with it. They didn't care that I messed up, and that just means so much to me. I just watched them have fun, fuss at each other and do what they needed to do to put this together. At least now I know that when we make the house, not to use so much water.

The kit came with a star and gifts. They decided to share them, so PJ had the honor of putting the star on the tree. I guess when Eric gets older, he will be in charge of the angel on our tree.

It is funny how we become like children at Christmas time. We don't care what others think about us. We just have fun. And that is how I am. I love Christmas, not because of any gift that I will be getting, but because it gives me the chance to be a kid all over again.

Our Thanksgiving Memories

Our Thanksgiving was not what we had planned to do. But when does anything go the way that we want it to go? Chuck hadn't been feeling well this past week and I thought that maybe he was done with the crud that he had. I was wrong. He came home from work on Wednesday night feeling more run down, and looking rather sick. I tried to get him to go to the Dr.'s on Tuesday, but he is stubborn and was feeling better. He got up on Thursday feeling worse than what he had all week. Not good.

Well, he decided that it wouldn't be good for him to go, and I thought that the boys and I could go, but he made a good point. It was cold, rainy,and windy.And this was being held in an open pavillon, and we didn't need to take a chance of all of us being sick. Ok, good point, but this is Thanksgiving and we didn't have time to thaw a turkey,what were we to do.

I wasn't too happy about all of this. I really wasn't. I wanted to go help others and show the boys how thankful they should be. But, because of whatever Chuck has,we stayed home.

I was not taking this well, I pretty much pouted the morning away. We had no turkey, no pies, no cakes, no rolls. Of course, we had the potatoes, green beans and the dressing that my neighbor gave to us. So,we did have some things. And I am so used to the fact that we always have everyone over and a huge meal. But, there was none of that. No family here, no laughter throughout the house, no parades, no wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. I shouldn't complain, I really shouldn't. It was what Johanna had told me that made me realize that I have a lot to be thankful for. Yes, I do. I can go to the store and buy food for a meal, I have a car to get me to the store, I have a roof over my head, a warm house, and everything that I ever need in life. And here I am complaining about not having turkey. I guess it is time to get out of my funk.

We head on out to Walmart. And all of the turkeys were frozen, then we looked in the turkey section, nothing but necks. Ick! We headed to Bi-Lo. Everything was frozen, nothing in their turkey section either. We got a chicken, and some things to make it taste really good, rolls, and yams. I had made pumpkin bread earlier that day, so we had dessert all ready.

I started to feel a bit better.Still not too happy about the entire thing,but Chuck can't help being sick, and it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the family together.So,it was to be that we stayed home. It seemed fun for the boys, I didn't cook, Chuck did all that. I pretty much did nothing. It was just another day for me. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to write home about. Ok, we had dinner together as a family, we had a quiet meal at home. So, I shouldn't complain about anything.

It just wasn't the same without my dad here,without Chuck's family around the table. But,we did have a hot meal with leftovers, there are so many out there that can't say that.

Shame on me for being so selfish!