Christmas Morning 2011

Christmas Eve 2011

We had a nice quiet day with Christmas movies and getting ready to pack tomorrow. We went to 4pm mass - the most crowded mass I've ever seen! And came home to manticotti for dinner. We've been tracking Santa on Norad all night. She's asleep now and I'm sure visions of sugarplums dance in her head ....

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ..

Today Ellie and I had so much fun together .. just the girls. Our main objective was to get the Christmas cookies made and decorated. Whew! Then we made manicotti shells to use for Christmas Eve dinner (tomorrow!) .. the we ran a couple errands and decided we'd like to do our toes too! What a bright red color she chose!

Clubhouse Christmas Concert

Ellie in front of the tree at the Concert

Ellie and her school-ager room teacher, Alex

The singers! Ellie was loudest!!
Ellie had a concert tonight for all her Clubhouse Child Care friends. Each class sang different songs .. Ellie's school-agers room sang, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas." They were great!

Nutella Sea Salt Fudge

My favorite food blogger, Ree Drummond featured this recipe over the weekend and I knew I had to try it. Helps when you have all the ingredients needed....

It's delicious!

Here's a link to the RECIPE!

Polar Express Day at School

Today Ellie is ready for Polar Express Day! Miss Dillow has asked all the students to wear their pajamas as they will be 'boarding the Polar Express'! After some fun activities, the group will be watching the movie at school! Ellie was very excited to know all her friends will be in their pjs too. The day sounds filled with fun and hot chocolate!

She's ready to go!

Daddy & Daughter Shopping Day

This morning Ellie was up very early .. she knew today was shopping with Bill day. She also wanted to Skype Grammy very early to wish her a Happy Birthday!

As I dove into studying for my insurance exam on Monday morning, Bill and Ellie were off to shop for Christmas. They rode the train at the mall, shopped and shopped, and finally stopped for lunch. They were both exhausted when they returned!

Christmas Concert

Grove Elementary School had their Christmas concert last night for K, 1st, and 2nd grades. They run these things like a well-oiled machine! Ellie had to report at 6:15pm to line up backstage for a 6:30pm concert. All four Kindergarten classes performed together .. that's just over 100 kids! The First grade had already performed at 5:30pm, and the Second graders were due at 7:30pm. 6:30 on stage, exit stage left 6:50pm for pick up in the cafeteria by 7pm and watch the Second graders enter the building! What a wonderful production!

They sang 6 songs .. and of course I cried at how awesome and cute they were!

Jolly Old St. Nicholas - by Benjamin Hanby
May There Always Be Sunshine - Russian Folk Song by Jim Gill
Jingle Bells - by James Pierpont
Hanukkah Is Here - by Suzanne Clayton
If It Doesn't Snow on Christmas - by Milton Pascal/Gerald Marks
Must Be Santa - by Hal Moore & Bill Fredricks

A Visit with Santa

Girls Scouts

Thanks in the dining room & in the heart

I've been carrying this newspaper column around in my wallet for going on 20 years now. No matter what year I read it at Thanksgiving, it has meaning. I share it again this year with all of you

by Sharon Randall

"We're having Thanksgiving dinner at home again this year, I guess I can't complain. Three turkeys in 28 years of marriage doesn't exactly make me a martyr.

The first time I hosted the annual family feeding frenzy was so long ago I can barely recall it now. Except when I hear a smoke alarm; then I recall it clear as a bell.

My family remembers it too, it seems, because since then we've had Thanksgiving dinner anywhere but here. However, last year things changed. Funny, isn't it? We like to think that family is a constant, a kind of rock that never changes. But even rocks can change, given enough time, enough pressure.

Families change too, over time and under pressure. They recreate themselves every day. A birth, a death, a marriage, a divorce, a move to a new city. The changes may be good or bad; makes no difference, really. What matter is what we do with them.

It's good to remember where we were and where we came from. But it's better to know who we are and where we're going. We need to talk less about how things used to be and more about how they are.

We did that last year, my husband and I and our three grown children. We took a long look at our family and decided that the traditions that had served us so well for so long no longer seemed to fit.

It had been a rugged year, dealing with a series of blows that struck us individually and as a family. My mother died. My father-in-law had to be placed in a rest home. And my husband had yet another surgery for cancer, only to be told a few months later that the disease had spread to his liver.

So when it came time to plan Thanksgiving dinner we took a family vote and I lost - four to one - meaning I had to stay home and cook. It wasn't bad, really. We invited some friends - who are like family, except they help - and I had no trouble with the turkey, after I figured out which end to stuff.

We all said, 'Best Thanksgiving ever." Nobody said, "best turkey ever," but I take compliments where I can get them. So we're doing it again this year. We invited the same friends and they accepted. I took that as a compliment, too. And my sister is coming from South Carolina. Her children are grown and if she stayed home they'd expect her to cook, she said. I'll wait until she gets off the plane to tell her my plan.

On Thanksgiving Day, while she wrestles with the turkey I will set two tables - one in the dining room and one in my heart. And I will serve, in fact or spirit, all the people I've known and loved. No, I won't be feeding them, but I will be thankful for them. It will be my best Thanksgiving ever. Because now is the only one I've got.

Who can say what another year will bring? I wish you your best Thanksgiving ever. It's the only one that counts."

Ellie's First Report Card

We couldn't be prouder of Ellie's first report card! Kindergarten has been an adjustment for her. Miss Dillow has 25 kids in her class and Ellie is learning that this means she needs to wait her turn, a lot!

Ellie was graded on her participation in the following subjects: Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Phys Ed, Music, Art and Computer Lab.

1 = needs continuous teacher support to meet standards
2 = developing skills and concepts of the standards
3 = consistent mastery of the standards

Ellie received a 3 in ALL of the subjects!

Miss Dillow writes, "I have loved watching Ellie grow as a kindergartener! She is a hard worker and I am proud of how hard she has been working on controlling her actions. We will continue to work on reinforcing this in the 2nd trimester. Keep up the awesome work Ellie!"

Proud to be from NY & State Farm

We had our annual Thanksgiving celebration within my department today. We heard from Executive who shared their thanks for all the work that's been done, being done, and yet to be done. Many thanks were given for the long hours and efforts in these areas.

We also saw many commercials to show our diversity and span across different markets we insure. It made me so proud to watch the 9/11 NYC commercial. When it was our turn at the table to tell what we were thankful for, in additional to my family, I said I was happy to be from New York!

Spoon River Anthology

"I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me--
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire--
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid."

~ George Gray from Spoon River Anthology

Monday, Monday ...

What a wonderful weekend we had together! Ellie is celebrating her 4th "great" day in a row. She earned staying at Clubhouse on Friday evening for PTA (Parents Time Away) where she plays games and watches movies with her friends. They dine on pizza and hot dogs! Bill and I used the time to get a money back for our appliances that went on sale, hardware store for some odds and ends and a wonderful 'date night' dinner at Medici in Uptown Normal. We loved the truffle braised mussels and smoked gouda mac & cheese to start with a wonderful ribeye and seafood pasta for dinner! We truly enjoyed our time out .. and our great meal. We decided this is a great place to bring Grammy and Papa when they visit!

The weekend was complete with a newly painted dining room, new stainless steel range and microwave installed .. and a variety of Sunday cooking to last several days into the week!

Love Struck

Cyndi Finkle had no intention of marrying, until a bizarre impulse led her to the man of none of her dreams.

In 1996 I was 27, traveling the world as a photojournalist. That winter I'd spent a month living in Paris, and I returned home to Los Angeles broke. But as I sorted through my stack of mail, I found an invitation to a birthday party in Minnesota for a film director I'd met only twice before, and I was overwhelmed by a feeling—a sense of absolute knowledge—that I was supposed to go. I'd have to borrow money, something I'd never done before. But the feeling was so strong, I couldn't ignore it, so I asked my grandmother to lend me $200 for airfare.

The guy who had introduced me to the film director showed up at the Minnesota party, too. His name was Temple; we knew each other from dinner parties in L.A., but he had moved to Chicago earlier that year. This was the first time since we'd met that neither of us was dating anyone, and we spent the entire evening together. Surrounded by generations of a strong, happy family, we talked about our parents' divorces and contemplated what made people stay together. Just before he left for the airport, Temple asked me, "How do you know who you're supposed to be with?"

I told him the love story of my grandparents. In 1938 my grandmother boarded a Greyhound bus, and the driver winked at her, then flirted with her, then treated her to lunch at a small inn off the highway. Three years later she married the bus driver. She told me she knew he was the one because when she was with him, she felt like her best self.

When I finished, Temple said, "Well, then, we should be married." This is someone I had never even kissed. But I'd never been more sure of anything in my life.

Ten months later, we tied the knot, and this spring, Temple and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. I'm grateful, every day, that I listened to my heart.

—As told to Dana Hudepohl

Read Article Here from Oprah Magazine

Ariel, the Little Mermaid ..

..and here she is .. ARIEL !!


..special effects .. in a bubble ..


doing a special ballet jump!~


Ellie with Miss Darcey, her ballet teacher

Halloween...

Yesterday we were in Halloween preparations .. making sure there was a quick dinner to eat before the 'trick or treating', ensuring the costume fit and was ready to go and just for a special treat - we made caramel apples. Ellie thought the decorating part was the most fun.. until she bit into one!

Saturday filled with fun ...

From the prior post you'll remember Ellie and I had our runs in the morning .. and the fun continued Saturday evening when the Hutchins family (Michelle, Scott and Zach) came for dinner.

Ellie and Zach were thick as thieves last night. They played ball outside until it got dark, and inside they entertained themselves with Legos, marbles and Wii. Zach took Ellie's bossing him around in stride and she LOVED having someone here to play with with!

Michelle and I once talked about the fact that we both had only children so they could be 'siblings' to each other. This was about 4 years ago when we all lived in Saratoga. And at that time Ellie and Zach had never met! Who knew that one day we'd live just a few miles from each other and our kids would get along so great?!

Life is just funny like that! So glad we're all together again!