Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a lot of fun for me this year. Although my younger sister had to work and wasn't able to be there, I had a good day with the rest of the family. My nephew was here, visiting from Indiana, which is always a plus for me since I miss him so much. My two-year-old niece, A. was a bundle of fun. This is the first year she really "got it," and I so loved playing with her.
For about the past six (maybe more) years or so, my family has been doing boy vs. girl (rather competitive) Easter egg hunts. This all started when my nephew was old enough to really participate in the fun and games, and quickly became a tradition. I have greatly enjoyed the camaraderie surrounding this little ritual, but I must say...we were all getting more and more "creative" in our efforts to be the team with the most eggs! Long story short, we changed things up a bit this year and let the two-year-old have most of the fun. Uncle Michael hid all the eggs in very age-appropriate hiding places for her,

and then we all helped A. as she looked for eggs. She had a great time with the hunt, and actually managed to find quite a few before her attention was captured by bigger and better things.

Baby L. wasn't feeling very well and was consequently pretty grumpy most of the day, but I was still happy to see her and {attempt} to help them keep her from crying too much. She wanted to be held all day (mostly by her mommy) and, even then we could tell she wasn't her usual happy self.

Of course the day wouldn't have been complete without some fun and games for the big kids too. Enter the lovely Mr. Marshmallow Peep! Nick and I decided to do the age-old microwave trick with our peep friend, and the results were...well, hilarious!

The poor little, gooey guy...I really don't think there's any way to win when you're a marshmallow peep on Easter Sunday! Even if you are lucky enough to avoid a couple of big kids at heart who will delight in subjecting you to microwave madness, you're still highly likely to be eaten alive!

And speaking of funny things, Nick got these absurdly-faced plastic eggs in his Easter basket. They made us laugh, a lot. Especially when he decided to start mimicking their expressions.


Last, but certainly not least, was the enjoyment of watching A. open her Easter baskets. She has had a sweet tooth from the time she first tasted chocolate, so this influx of more candy than she has ever seen was a delightful experience for her, and for us.

So Much to Say...

2009 is here, which is still blowing my mind a little if I'm being honest. Where has all the time gone? This holiday season has been particularly busy, full of family gatherings and things to do. I had so many great ideas for what I would do with my time away from school and now the hourglass of my Christmas break is almost empty. I still have a few days, and if I'm productive I can make good use of them, but still...I won't get nearly as much done as I had hoped.

There is so much I wanted to write about and I haven't even been a good blogger lately! My younger sister and I had a crazy trip to Indiana two days before Christmas where we got stranded in an ice storm on the back country roads of Indiana. We ended up staying over into Christmas Eve because the roads were so horrible. I had an entire blog entry in my mind about this story but now it's fizzled somewhat.

There has just been so much in such a short time:

• The birth of my newest niece, Lydia Grace
• Christmas preparations including getting our tree and decorating the house
• The 2nd birthday of my now two-year-old niece, Ava Marie
• A Christmas party for my nephew, Nick, who was visiting from Indiana
• The crazy trip to IN to take Nick home in time for other holiday functions
• Christmas with Michael
• Michael's 37th birthday, which included a big family dinner at our house
• Our family Christmas
• Our 12th wedding anniversary
• New Year's Eve Celebrations
• New Year's Day Family dinner

Not to mention all the preparations, present wrapping, cooking, cleaning, and effort that went into all these parties and celebrations. Not that any of this is bad...in fact quite the contrary is true. I'm just a little overwhelmed by how much there's been...and how much other stuff I haven't gotten done. My next semester starts in three more days and as of right now, it's scheduled to be my craziest semester yet with 19 credit hours. Alarm bells are ringing in my head!

I know I just have to slow down and do what I can...not worry too much about the rest. My mantra lately has been "be where you are" and I'm trying to carry that all the way through. Still, there were friends I wanted to catch up with, hobbies I wanted to dip into, chores and house projects I wanted to work on...so much I wanted to do that I simply didn't do over this break. It's a little overwhelming to say the least. 2009 has started with a bang!

Sad but True

I've become one of 'those' people, you know...the ones who put outfits on their dogs. I honestly couldn't resist when I saw the Christmas costumes marked down to 50% off...I couldn't pass up such a great deal. Of course, they say you're only truly getting a good deal if you're buying something you would have bought at full price. Oh well...I think the pictures speak for themselves!

Look, it's Dinah, Santa's long-lost Reindeer!

And of course Ditto, Santa's little helper

Winter's Welcome

One of the very best things about being in the educational field in Michigan: SNOW DAYS!! Granted, these days have to be tacked onto the end of the year, but there's just something wonderful about getting an extra day off for what would have been the last day of school before break. Of course since I'm only a sub, this means no pay for me...but I'm OK with that.

Michigan is getting pelted today. We've already had about 3-4" since 4:00 a.m. and as I look out my window right now, I can see a steady snowfall covering the tracks the dogs have made. Even Eastern closed campus today, which NEVER happens. You can imagine my surprise when I checked my email this morning and saw this message: "Eastern Michigan University is closed today (Friday, Dec. 19) due to the weather." Another weird thing happened today too. We were listening to the weather channel this morning for updates and the local emergency broadcast cut in with a message, "The Ann Arbor area is at a stage yellow winter weather alert level," which was followed by information about the hazardous roads and extra driving time. This is just weird. I've lived in Michigan for over 15 years and not once have I heard such a message. I think the big concern is the ice because it really does complicate things...but still, an emergency alert message for a snow storm??

So of course I had to take a few pictures this morning. Unfortunately I don't have my good camera because I left my battery charger in MD and both my batteries have since died, but my camera phone does OK with enough light.

Winter has certainly made herself welcome, even before she's technically supposed to be here. She's even sitting in our chairs:


The weight of the snow and ice caused our bushes to spread out so you can barely see the path to our front door. Of course this is pre-shoveling.

Even Santa, who normally enjoys a rather sheltered existence under the porch received his fair share of snow with this storm.


And last but not least, the dogs have to be mentioned. Ditto has always liked the snow, she scampers right our into it and begins the work of making tracks through the yard. Sometimes she even sticks her nose into the snow and makes a wuffling sound like she's snorting. It's always funny to me that her normally white-looking coat doesn't quite look white next to the snow.


And then there's Dinah with the short legs and low, low body. She does not enjoy the snow. She stands at the door and gives me an imploring look when I make her go outside. This morning her legs basically disappeared in the snow, which was pretty darn funny, poor dog!

Winding Down

My semester officially ended today, which is a tremendous relief! I'm hoping I ended up with all A's, but there are two classes that are hanging in the balance between A's and B's. More than anything I am happy it's over. This was one very hectic semester and I made it through in one piece. What a nice thought that I don't even have to think about school again until next year!

Christmas is only nine days away! We went and got our tree this past weekend, which was a lot of fun. For once we weren't the ones having a family tiff.

As we were cutting our tree down there was a family walking around near us. They were going back and forth about which tree to get and then the teenage daughter said to the mother, "why are you acting like this," at which point the mother said, "I'm sick of you guys picking on me...no one gives a crap anymore" and then she started crying. Around that time, the father walked over to the pair and said, "will you guys cut it out, this is bullshit!" I felt kind of sorry for them and was happy we weren't experiencing that kind of stress. Our tree is huge this year but with the use of our handy tools, cutting it down was a piece of cake.
On our way out we passed a father and son who had come to the conclusion they had the wrong saw blade. We could tell they were getting frustrated so we offered to let them use our blade. The father was coaching his son all through the process of cutting the tree. He kept calling him "buddy," which was truly adorable." With the right blade, they had their tree cut in about five minutes and all seemed happy.

This is such a busy time of year for us. We have my niece's 2nd birthday on Dec. 20th, a Christmas party on Dec. 21st, Christmas itself, which is also Michael's birthday, our big family Christmas on Dec. 28th, and then our wedding anniversary on Dec. 29th! With all that (and then some) on the to-do list, I can see that next year will be here in no time...bring it on!

Stress!

I woke up this morning with my eye twitching...not a good way to start a Monday! I'm not sure if this has ever happened to you before but it's basically like a miniature lightning storm in your eye, usually around the lid area. Completely involuntary and completely annoying! I get these every so often and it's almost always when I'm overly stressed, which would definitely apply to now.

I'm trying to remain calm and level-headed about my present circumstances, but sometimes it's hard. I realized the other day that ALL of my six classes have something major (projects, papers, exams, etc.) due during the first week of December. Um...yeah...the first week of December is in two weeks, and I'll be in jury duty until the day before Thanksgiving. Oh and that reminds me, the holidays are here again!

I think 14 more strands of hair on my head just turned white!

Easter Already

Hard to believe it's the end of March already! We had Easter dinner with the family today and we had a good time. Despite the big snow storm we had on Friday, we still had our 8th annual outdoor egg hunt at Mom and Dad's. This year was extra special since it was the first year Ava could really participate. We had a great time...and much to my chagrin...the boys won the egg hunt again. :( Oh well though, it was still a great day with excellent company and awesome food - I certainly can't complain!

Christmas Eve Comfort

This is a Christmas Eve that's a little different from my typical. My parents and I drove down to Fort Wayne, IN. today to take my nephew, Nick to his paternal grandparents Christmas celebration. When I heard of their plans I thought it might be fun to come back to the old hometown (I grew up just outside Fort Wayne in a small town called Auburn) so I decided to come along for the ride.

Our original plan was to go to Glenbrook mall for the afternoon and then see a movie this evening while we waited for Nick. One look at the mall and we developed a new plan…it was a procrastinators nightmare! So instead we drove back down the freeway to Auburn and went to Pizza Hut, one of our family’s prior favorite restaurants for lunch. This isn’t an ordinary pizza hut though, for some reason it’s much better than any other one I’ve ever encountered. I had taco pizza and bread sticks for lunch, which were quite yummy! Next we stopped by the movie theater and decided the best idea would be to check into a hotel room where my dad could take a much-needed nap and then head to a movie later. Once in the room we deiced maybe watching a movie in the room would be just as good (not to mention cheaper) than a trip to the theater.

So…here I sit…in my old hometown in a Comfort Suites hotel room on Christmas Eve. In a way it makes a nice change from other years. Normally I spend this day running around like a chicken with my head cut off getting ready for Christmas but this trip meant I had to get things done ahead of time for a change. It’s a little weird to not be spending the day with Michael but he sounds happy and I’m happy so I guess it’s all good.

While my dad took his nap my mom and I ran to the store where we got some snacks and a couple of games, one of which is called “Last Word” and it’s pretty fun but might be better with more players. The other game is called “Big Brain Academy” and it’s…interesting. There are lots of elaborate parts and there’s a “brain scale,” which struck us as terribly funny to the point of hysterical tears. All in all it’s been a good…if different…Christmas Eve and I’ve enjoyed the time with my parents perusing our old stomping ground.

Light up the Night

Here are the photos I promised in my previous blog entry of our little home all lit up for Christmas! I woke up at 6:45 this morning to let the dog out. When I saw that the snow was up to her belly I decided to get dressed and go take some photos. It was cold but exhilarating and fun too...and I think the photos were worth it!

And so this is Christmas...

Well...December 13 has come and gone and Christmas is officially underway at our house now. Michael spent a majority of his time yesterday and today lighting up our little house. It looks great and I'll be posting some photos of the finished design when I have some time to take a timed exposure. Besides...we're supposed to get a big snow storm tomorrow night so it will be even prettier then. We've had a good couple of days...it's always a treat for me when it's finally time to get out our Christmas decorations, sort of a pre-Christmas Christmas! This year the wait was not nearly as long as it normally seems since I've been so busy with school. Hard to believe Christmas is only {nearly} ten days away!









































































I had a hard time with the tree this year, cutting it down made me feel really sad. I'm not sure why but my awareness of the tree's sacrifice on behalf of our annual tradition is much greater this year than it normally is. It's not that I don't typically think about what happens to trees at Christmas time because I do but this year was much more difficult for me for some reason. I stood there for a while and seriously thought about not having a tree this year. Now I'm nothing if not a traditionalist and I value our Christmas traditions in particular, so this is saying something. I actually came close to walking away but in the end we said a prayer of thanks and we still cut the tree down. Who knows...maybe my feelings are telling me it's time to make some changes? Maybe in future years we will decide to give up the tradition of a live tree? I guess part of the struggle for me has to do with the fact we are cutting down our own trees now. Sad to say but it's a lot easier to not consider a tree as a living entity--and to justify the desire for the smell of a live tree for Christmas when you don't see its growing place among all the other pines. But all that aside - I have made my peace with our decision and I've spent the better part of my time these past couple of days decorating the tree. Good times.