Happy Thanksgiving

Samantha helped me bake the bread for Thanksgiving dinner... She did a really good job kneading the dough...

This is what I found in the kitchen this morning...

Misc. and such...

So, on Saturday I turned 40... wow! I can't believe I am 40... I'm not sure what 40 is supposed to feel like but I can say I don't feel 40... On Saturday I talked to my mom and she re-told the story of when I was born: She said she got the call that I was bout to be born when my dad was out of town. So, my mom flew from Buffalo and my dad flew from Illinois to Kansas. They did not arrive on the day I was born but I think it was the next day maybe. They met with the lawyer and then went before the judge to finalize my adoption. Then to get home they chartered a plane to Kansas City and then flew first class home from there so I was spoiled right from the beginning!

I think we all love hearing stories from "when we were little"... I know I do and Samantha is starting to ask for me to tell her a story from when she was a baby... The stories always warm my heart and make me smile...

At our house we have been watching The Amazing Race... Well, in my mind I imagine that my dad and I are doing the race together... that would be so cool! I think we could do pretty well, probably not win but I think we could have made it so far... Last night Samantha and I totally thought Dan and Andrew would whine about carrying the bags of flour but they didn't, wow! We think / know that they will go home next week... We like all of the pairs that are left so we really don't care who wins...

I am reading this really good book: "The Heretic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent. It is about the Salem Witch Trials. That sure was an interesting period in history but I sure would not have wanted to live there back then!

I checked out the best video ever from the library: The complete Fawlty Towers collection with John Cleese... That man doesn't even have to do anything to be funny! Fawlty Towers has to be the best TV series of all times and is just so gosh darn funny! I laugh so hard at it that my sides hurt...

For my birthday my family gave me some wonderful gifts: my parent gave me the money to purchase a really good skillet... I am so excited! And, John and Samantha gave me a whole plethora of goodies including: a gnome book that I had enjoyed as a child at Camp Blue Heron... At camp on rainy days we would sit inside that lodge and read about gnomes... they gave me a 2009 Get Fuzzy page a day calendar as they have for the last 6 or 7 years, it's always my favorite gift! They gave me the DVD of "What Lies Beneath", one of my favorite movies. I thought it was also one of Samantha's favorites but she can't remember watching it with me. I also got a gift card to Starbucks and some lip gloss and bubble bath. My friend Ellen gave me the most beautiful spa style bath robe that is just so warm and snugly. It was a great Birthday!

Tea and Cookies

After book club Kelly and I stopped in the little thrift store in town where I found the cutest little tea cups and saucers for Samantha... they have these sweet little yellow frogs on the handles and the saucers are little yellow lily pads... Samantha had a tea party with Amber, Dandelion and Maggie... She made play doh cookies which are the little pink things...

Yeah Snow!

It snowed today... and we put the bird seed bell out on the deck... no birds came this morning though... hopefully they will find their treat soon...

Here is our deck with the dusting of snow... isn't it pretty... we love snow...

Samantha tried to catch snowflakes with her tongue...

Samantha thought it was really early to get snow... and it got me to thinking about when I was little... we always had snow by Thanksgiving...

Which is the real Tacey?

For Halloween at Skyline Kelly dressed up like Tacey... with a long pony tail... Kelly was dressing up as Princess Leah for trick or treat and she'd gotten these long fake pony tails that she was going to use for her buns... so, we were at her house and she clipped the pony tail on and said: "hey, I look like Tacey now!" And she wore her hair like that to Skyline...

I just love that little girl...

I woke up and realized that Samantha had a ton of homework and I imagined that she was probably in her room playing and not doing the homework like she'd promised me she would do first thing in the morning... So, I opened her bedroom door and this is what I found... she had all her papers arranged and there she was doing her homework... she looked up and said: "I'm almost done!"

Dear Samantha:

I am sorry you are sick again today. I don't like it when my little monkey doesn't feel well. I almost forgot to call you off school today but I remembered in the nick of time.... when I called Jill said she was just getting ready to enter the un-excused absences! You would not have like an un-excused absence would you!

Today while I was perusing my favorite blogs saw that my friend over at The Chic Life had posted about an article on gratitude... you know, being grateful and thankful for things in you life... and it gave me an idea: we need to keep a family gratitude journal! Let's talk about it at dinner tonight... I hope you are feeling better because we are having chicken fajitas... yum yum!

Love,
Mom

I usually drink coffee, 2 or 3 cups, in the morning but today is one of those days where I just feel like having more, right smack in the middle of the afternoon... Nothing particular is going on... I guess I'm just thirsty...

The weather here in Central Ohio has been glorious! Last weekend and this week the temperature has been in the 70's and we are loving it... And, the leaves are really changing... the road that leads out of our neighborhood is lined with maple trees and burning bushes all of which are this amazing, brilliant red... It is seriously the prettiest red I have ever seen... Then as we sit at the end of the street and wait to turn onto the busy main road we can see wonderful yellows and oranges up against the dark green of the spruce trees at the farm across the way... Usually I despise pulling out onto the main road but this fall it has been nice being able to gaze upon such beauty...

We went and voted yesterday... this is always a family activity... and this year I brought a book, a puzzle book, my journal, cookies, peanut butter crackers, leftover Halloween candy and water in anticipation of a huge long line... Samantha brought her homework, 2 books, her Nintendo DS and a teddy bear... And, I don't think John brought anything... We walked over to avoid a mess in the parking lot and boy were we shocked... there was absolutely no line whatsoever! Woo Hoo... that was easy! I'm glad it's all over... all that political stuff was messing with my shows!

Samantha:

This was your horoscope for today... I liked it... you do have a lot of charm! As far as performing at a party, maybe you could sing us a song at dinner...

Gemini
May 21 - June 21
You have a lot of charm and tremendous social skills, dear Gemini. This is an unbeatable combination, and is especially strengthened with the current astral energy. Be sure to go the extra mile today, even if you are not in the mood to do so. Someone in a position of power and authority may ask you to join him for dinner, or perhaps you'll be invited to 'perform' at a party. These are ideal opportunities to showcase your talents, so embrace them rather than shy away from them.

Love,
Mom

Election Day

I sent this email to my baby girl this morning...

Dear Samantha:

This morning in the car we talked about "having a voice" and how you can "make a difference" even if you are not old enough to vote yet. I think you have an amazing voice and that you have a wonderful way of thinking about things. I think you know that your father and I want you to have your own opinion. Of course we would like for you to share our opinion on most things but we know it is best for you to have your own opinions and you do have your own opinions. As you get older I love hearing you express yourself and how more articulate and thoughtful you grow each year.

Today someone I know was talking to their child on the phone and that person called their child an ass hole. OMG! I want you to know that no matter how mad I get at you I would never even think that you were an ass hole ever, no matter what you did!

And, I am sorry that I was snappish last night... my head hurt and I was tired. I know, that is no excuse for snapping at you but I wanted you to know I am sorry and that it was me, not you. Plus, once I start sometimes I just can't help myself and I keep on snapping... pretty crazy huh!

Love,
Mom

A Fall Day at the Zoo

Bats

We absolutely love bats in our family! Samantha and my dad are members of the International Bat Conservancy and Samantha is going as a bat for Halloween this year.
We love to visit the bats at the zoo! Aren't they amazing...

Pigeon roost

Every year we can't wait to go to Pigeon Roost... It is a wonderful family farm that has pumpkins, a corn maze, chickens, goats, a play area, a tree house, swings and a camel!

John went with us and played photographer... this airplane swing thing was new this year... you are never too old to play on swings!

We had a wonderful time and had a picnic at Pickerington Ponds on the way home while we watched the sun set... It was so nice to spend quality family time together...

Apple Butter Day

After John got home from work and while Samantha was still at her play date at Ann's house John and I went to Apple Butter Day in Groveport. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm and we really enjoyed seeing all the changing colors of fall. There is nothing like a small town festival in Fall!
And, it was nice to spend time with just John. We hardly ever do anything without Samantha because we don't want to, we just really enjoy being with her... but... every now and then it is sort of nice just to be by ourselves. I told John about how Samantha had incessantly chattered all day and how it had about driven me batty... but... no matter how annoying she is I am always thankful for having her there with me. I make an effort to never take her for granted and to never let my feelings of annoyance outweigh my feelings of gratefulness at being blessed with such a perfect gift.
Oh... and there were antique tractors and bean soup at the senior center...

Cute thing Samantha did in school:

I am home alone and I don't like being home all by myself. Although I should be happy to be by myself after the day I spent with Samantha... First there was this morning... We sleep in on Saturdays when John is working but today Samantha woke me up early to tell me about the tooth she had just lost... and she did not stop talking until it was time for book club.
John said that she had woken him up at 4am when she lost her tooth to tell him all about it. So, she tells me all about her tooth... how it was hanging there and how she had to yank it out and how it had gushed blood and how she had used my wash cloth to make the gushing blood stop and how she had then put the wash cloth in the laundry and then how the tooth still had blood on it... and how she couldn't get back to sleep so she turned on the TV and watched "Total Drama Island" and how it was an episode she hadn't seen... (What followed was an in depth detailing of the entire episode that was longer than the actual episode itself...) Then she went on to tell me how she'd fallen back to sleep and had a bad dream... and how Marissa the cat was in the dream and she was really fat... and I was in the dream... and John was in the dream but she can't really remember what the dream was about other than the fact that it was scary and therefore bad... Then finally it was time to leave for book club but Samantha's chatter didn't stop there... In the car I heard about how she has 4 Littlest Pet Shop butterflies and one is green with pink wings and the other one is blue and so on and so forth... and what set they came with... and where she got each set...
Finally we got to the library where this month's book club was being held. I led the discussion about, "Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale of Mystery" by Deborah and James Howe. We talked about what a mystery is and the difference between reality and fantasy. Then I had the girls: Samantha, Tara and Ann, write a short story. It had to be a mystery and it had to have an element of fantasy: talking pets. While they worked on their stories I talked to Ann's mom, Sally and we found tons of books to check out. Libraries are very dangerous places for me! Then there was a bit of a tantrum (thrown by Samantha) over when everyone would go to the rest room to wash their hands and when they would read their stories. But all's well that ends well and Samantha decided to loose her bad attitude and behave like a ten year old. After book club Samantha and Tara were invited over to Ann's house for a play date which brings us to why I am home all alone...
I showed Sally my burnt thumb. Sally's a physical therapist as well as the mom we all go to for medical advice for the kids... When she saw it she said she wanted to clean it with some sort of scrub brush and medicine... yeah, right... um, NO THANK YOU!

OMG!!!

I know it's a bad picture but I was taking it with one hand... and I was in pain. You know those frozen vegetables that you steam in the bag in the microwave... well, they are hot! Very hot! That shiny spot in the picture is a burn about the size of a quarter on my thumb. It oozed all night and is really gross.

Three Little Old Ladies

Samantha had Tara over on Monday and I taught her how to crochet. John took this picture of the three of us sitting on the couch working on our projects... he said we looked like we were in an old folks home.

Our yard decorated for Halloween

Last Sunday I went to a Pampered Chef party that Gretchen had and when I came home John and Samantha had decorated... I love it, they did such a nice job. I especially like the graves where our trees used to be!

Allergies...

Samantha's allergies have been acting up this fall and she really doesn't like the medicine she has to take. I wish she would learn to swallow pills, it would be so much easier. My friend Sally said she taught her kids to swallow pills using tiny M&Ms. I thought it was a great idea but Samantha did not... she said she knew why I wanted her to learn to swallow M&Ms and that she knew it would lead to swallowing pills and NO THANK YOU... I told her that was fine, that she would stick to icky medicine instead of an easy pill... and she drew this picture... called the medicine cycle... first she cries, then takes the icky medicine and it goes into her tummy and next it comes out of her tummy and into the toilet.

25 years!

John's sister, Linda just celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary. Her husband planned the most beautiful vow renewal ceremony as a surprise for her. Here we all are at the church.

Our house without the trees!

Apple Picking