Monday recap

Yesterday began with me doing my mad dash "precleaning" as I like to call it, before the cleaning lady came. I had an 11:30 AM dentist appt so we headed up to my hometown where I still see the same wonderful dentist I have had since I was 7 years old. He happens to be on the school board with my mom and not only an amazing dentist, but also a great guy. I had to get a *GASP* cavity filled that was between my two back bottom teeth. That was really not a problem, but he did fill me in that I need to see a periodontist (is that correct?) because I am getting an abscess from a root canal I had back on 1991. Hopefully whatever he decides to do will work and save the tooth! I have not been in any pain, but the recurring, what I thought was a canker sore was caused by the root canal.

My parents watched the boys while I was at the dentist. Cooper invited himself to spend the day and night with them despite the lack of any extra clothes other than what he was wearing. Cooper is my dad's #1 buddy and would move in them if they we let him. It was blissful to come home to a clean house. I am really determined to keep it that way for once! It will easy for the rest of the week while I am off work, but once the kids and I are back at school all hell will most likely break loose.

I did not accomplish much in the afternoon. The boys played in the snow and then at the neighbor's house for several hours. I felt I deserved a rest after all I accomplished the night before and yesterday morning. We decided to go to Houlihan's for dinner. I had a $25 coupon from restaurant.com that I got for $2. What a deal! I had my Heartland Chicken salad that I love (with grilled chicken). Afterward we went to Target so Ben could get a case for his iPod Touch. I hit the Christmas clearance and bought a few things (not too much). I did purchase several containers to organize my Christmas items. I did a great job organizing and putting everything away last year into red boxes. There are still several old white boxes that have been crammed with stuff by Greg and I would like to go through those.

Last night I finally sat down and played Blokus with the boy. It was lots of fun. Ben, Drew, and I played so it would have been much more of a challenge if there had been four players (but Greg was busy watching the Badgers in their bowl game). I actually purchased the game Blokus and have it in my classroom, but had never played it. I have seen the kids play during resource. I would highly recommend this game.

The doorbell rang at 9:30 and I was like who is that? It was my parents with Cooper. Can I just say it was so nice to have a spotless home for an unexpected drop in?! They had gone to my oldest brother's bb game (he coaches varsity girls) and were on the way back. They were stopping to get more clothes for Coop's, but once he got here he decided to stay home. That works fine for me because now I don't have to meet my dad somewhere today to pick him up.

We are having friends over tonight for cocktails and appetizers. I will share the menu once I have it finalized. I have been loading up on various appetizers at Sam's club this month, knowing we would be doing some entertaining. I am also going to check out my two new Barefoot Contessa cookbooks to find something yummy to make.

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Wendy!

Today is my dear sweet friend Wendy's birthday. We met at Pf Chang's for lunch to celebrate with her. We went to Mayfair mall and parking was a complete cluster as usual. I had to park by Macy's on the north end of the mall. The mall was packed and we ended up having to wait about 25 min for a table. Lunch was fabulous. I had the lettuce wrap for my meal. I did try some of my friend Kelly's crispy honey chicken.

After lunch Luanne and I went to Crate and Barrel to look around. I had seen several items that I wanted to get when I was in Chicago. I guess I have great taste because they were all sold out. Lesson learned, buy early next year. I had no desire to lug stuff all over Chicago and figured I would go to Mayfair and buy what I liked, but I never ended up making it to Crate and Barrel before Christmas.

I have a boatload of $ to spend at Williams-Sonoma and really didn't have time to shop around. I did notice that they jacked the prices up of some of the All-Clad sale items. I am seriously contemplating buying a Le Crueset dutch oven so I can be just like my culinary idol Ina Garten. I can't decide whether I want the 5.5 or 7 qt. I ended up purchasing two silver snowflake pins. They were half off at Macy's. One has more of a black base. I should take a photo because it's too hard to describe. They are both very cool.

After the mall I stopped at The Shoppe Around the Corner, my favorite store to purchase home decor. I was scoping out their Christmas items at 50% off. I did not buy a single thing! I got a GC from Greg that I will spend when they bring back their regular inventory. I did not do any after Christmas shopping, except for a rather larger online order to Dayspring. This is one of the pitfalls of reading other women's blogs. Someone posted they were shopping at Dayspring and I just had to check it out. $200 later (before discount) and I am shopping from the comfort of my chair with a fire blazing next to me. I got so many cute things for Christmas next year, some gifts, but lots of things for me. If you decide to order there is 15% off with a coupon code that I cannot remember, but if you leave a comment or email me I will figure out what it is for you.

I stopped at Sendik's to busy some groceries. I have not been following WW the past few weeks and my body is begging me to start feeding it healthy food again! I picked up a rotisserie chicken along with lots of produces. I ended up making a salad for myself (with chicken on top).

The rest of the evening was spent cleaning up the kitchen and master bedroom. The cleaning lady (there are usually two, but the other one is on vacation this week) is coming tomorrow at 9 AM so I really had to get this disaster of a house put back together. The boys have been enjoying all their new games and toys they got for Christmas. Drew want to wear nothing, but his boxers and his snuggie. It is quite the sight to see. I will have to post a photo of him lounging in his snuggie. Now I need to get a pink one for myself. :)

Christmas 2009 Recap

We had an amazing Christmas this year. On Christmas Even we opened our family gifts in the afternoon. I got giftccards from Williams-Sonoma, The Shoppe Around the Corner, and Penzey's. I also got the Le Crueset Oval Cocotte, a new hair dryer, and new hot rollers.

We headed up to the 4PM Christmas Eve church service. The service was lovely and Cooper was very well behaved. He usually is only in church for the first 10 min and then goes to children's worship, but there was no children's worship on Christmas Eve. It was a rainy/slushy mess after church and instead of waiting for Greg to pull around and pick us up we made a run for it. My hairstyle definitely took a beating with the harsh elements.

We took this photo at my parents' house after church.

We had a delicious dinner of tenderloin sandwiches, seven layer salad, pretzel salad, and many different appetizers. After dinner the kids opened their presents first. The boys got lots of great toys, games, and books. I got another GC to Williams-Sonoma, some new KN jammies, two new cardigan sweaters, some socks, a Lang calendar for home and one for school, and the Barefoot Contessa Family Style Cookbook.

Santa delivered some amazing presents to the boys. Ben's favorite gift was an iPod touch which completely surprised and thrilled him. Drew got a telescope (something he has been asking for for the past few years), and Cooper got the Handy Manny workbench. They got some other Santa gifts, but those were the big ones.

We had a delicious ham dinner at noon. I took a nap with Cooper in the afternoon because I still have some sort of virus and was totally wiped out. We ended up packing up the car last night after supper and drove home in the snowy weather. Greg has spent today putting together many toys for the boys and getting Ben's iPod touch set up. I have been watching Christmas movies that I DVRd. It is nice to be home and relax and enjoy the time together as a family (well that would be the moments Cooper and Drew are not going at it like arch rivals).

We were so blessed this year to have a wonderful time spending the holidays with my entire family.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

We had a busy day yesterday that started at the Dr's office. Ben was diagnosed with croup and Drew has a sinus infection. We had lunch at Mitchell's fish market after a quick trip to the Lang Outlet store (where I scored a few really cute Christmas decor items 40% off). I got a call as we finished lunch that my dentist had a cancellation and could fit me in at 2 PM. I still see the same dentist I have been going to since I was 7 yo and therefore had to head to my hometown which was about 45 min from the Brookfield Square where we were having lunch.

My parents were home so they were able to watch the boys while I went to the dentist. I had a root canal/crown done in 1991 and there may be trouble with it. I have to go back to the dentist on Tues and he will let me know what he finds from the x-ray he took. So much for getting the dentist out of the way this week, I still have to go back.

I have not been feeling the greatest the past couple of days. I have had a dry throat, but taking Sudafed seems to help. We went out to dinner last night at Carraba's as our family Christmas dinner celebration (just the five of us). The food was great, but the service was S-L-O-W! The weather last night was snowy and blowy. We came home and let the boys open one gift. We got them the new Super Mario Bros for the Wii. We figured that would keep them busy (I would love to say quiet too, but that's never the case) while we wrapped some gifts.

This morning I was up early addressing the rest of our Christmas cards. I don't think I ever blogged about the fiasco it was ordering the cards this year, but they are all postal now so it's all good. I finished wrapping up the last few presents I had to this morning. Greg is having breakfast with coworkers like he does every Christmas Eve. I still need to iron the boys' shirts for church and get ready for the day. I am in desperate need of a brow wax so hopefully I can squeeze that in this morning.

We will open our family gifts later this morning after Greg gets home. It makes no sense to drag them up to my parents' house to open them there and then drag everything back here. We will be celebrating with my whole family this evening.

Drew was so excited to give me his present this morning.

He made an ornament as well as a card. You can see the inside and front cover of the card.



These are the moments that bring the greatest joy of parenting! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with your loved ones!

Christmas Decor-Fireplace

I am feeling a bit under the weather tonight. My throat is dry and I am exhausted. Thankfully I am now done with school. YAY! I got several giftcards to Starbucks (my students know me so well) as well as Target. I also received some amazing homemade chocolates from one of my favorite girls, and a pack of six assorted Godiva chocolate bars. I have to make sure to hide those from Ben as he loves Godiva chocolate!

Drew and Ben were home from school yesterday and my dad ended up watching them. Ben still had a fever in the afternoon so he went home with my dad (as well as Cooper) because he was not able to be back in school today. I talked to my dad this afternoon and Ben was feeling better, but still running a fever.

I decided it was about time to take some photos of our Christmas decor. All these photos are taken with my iPhone tonight so the quality is as good as it gets for now. I absolutely LOVE decorating our living room during the Christmas season. The walls are painted Benjamin Moore Louisbourg Green with Spanish red as the fireplace accent wall. You could not ask for a more perfect color palette for Christmas decorating.

The fireplace (Greg is picking up Ben and Cooper from my parents' house so there is no fire going at the moment.

A more close shot of the mantle.

A close up of the sleigh that is filled with fresh greens from Trader Joe's.

Drew just came in after playing in the snow with his friend Brady and asked if he could do the dishes to help out. What a sweetheart! He wants to do it all by himself. I did have to drain the cold water he was using and put in some hot water. He is wearing my pink rubber gloves. I just went into the kitchen to snap a photo, but he was already done. Hope all your last minute preparations are going well. I have many gifts to wrap, but may wait until tomorrow.

Last day of school!

I am so excited that today is my last day before break. I am sure the kids will be crazy, but we are doing equations today so that will keep them busy and the day will fly by quickly. Ben and Drew were both home from school yesterday. My dad came down and watched them.

Ben had a fever yesterday afternoon so we decided to keep him home from school today. I don't think he was too happy about that because he will miss his party. Cooper and Ben ended up going home with my dad last night and he will be watching them today. Drew of course was not happy to be left behind. It was quite a strange dynamic having only Drew here last night. It seems he is rarely the one here alone if there is only one child.

I have lots of gifts to wrap. We still need to purchase a few things, but overall we are in very good shape. Our weather forecast is a bit iffy for the next few days so things could prove interesting. Snow is not a big deal as we are in WI, but there is talk of icy conditions and that is not good. Many years ago I remember driving up to my parents' house on Christmas eve and there was black ice for about a 2 mi stretch on the freeway. Cars were sliding off the road left and right and it was one of the worst driving conditions I have ever driven through.

I hope all your Christmas preparations are going well. I will feel much more relaxed after school today.

We shopped till we dropped

Last night Ben and I went to Bayshore to do some Christmas shopping at Williams-Sonoma. We purchased several All-Clad pots and pans.

The 12 in nonstick frying pan:

The french skillet set:

This All-Clad soup pot is for my dad. My mom said they are looking at replacing their pots and pans and I thought this would be a very versatile pot.


I also purchased this Le Crueset 4-Quart Oval Cocotte for myself. It's all wrapped up and will be under the tree.

I also have $100 to spend now at W-S because they had a special this weekend where you got $10 for every $50 you spent. I can't wait to go shopping after Christmas and pick out something else. Ben was such a trooper that the guy game him a full size smore for being so patient.

Ben and I had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Bayshore has amazing Christmas lights all around and the most gorgeous tree. The photos from my iPhone don't do it justice. Here is a picture of the tree and Ben all bundled up.

Jingle Bell Boys

I am knee deep in Christmas preparations: shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating, you name it-I'm doing it. Here is a fun little video clip we did of the boys singing Jingle Bells. Ben insists it is, "making spirits cry" instead of "making spirits bright". Enjoy!