So Many Pictures...So Little Space!

I took over 800 pictures over the last 3 weeks! Yes, over 800! I didn't think my camera would hold that many!! :) So, due to lack of time and space, I've just pulled some of the good ones! :)

My favorite Christmas story is about Emma and Bradlee. As you know, Bradlee was a cow for Halloween. Well, we had asked Emma if she wanted to be an angel at the Children's Mass on Christmas Eve. Of course, she did! Bradlee kept saying, "Emma be an angel. I be a cow!" So the weekend before Christmas, Emma and I went to mass on Sunday night. After mass, she asked to talk to Fr. Tom. We went to see Fr. Tom and she said, "Fr. Tom, my baby brother wants to be a cow for church when I'm an angel because he was a cow for Halloween." Fr. Tom looked at her, paused, and said, "I like cows!" :) SO, for the first time EVER, we had a cow at the manger scene at the children's mass!! Fr. Tom just loved him, waved to him and even said, "Hi Cow!" when he was walking back down the aisle after mass! Then, my mom's friend, who went to the 10am mass Christmas morning, said Fr. Tom was even commenting on the cow during his homily! What a great experience for Bradlee! Plus, he was an AWESOME cow and so well-behaved! :) He was fascinated with Baby Jesus and stayed close to keep him warm! :) Emma was an excellent (and serious) angel, too!

After mass, we went over to Tony's parents' house for dinner (pizza!) and presents. It was a great time! Both kids were really into it this year (since Bradlee is older, now!) and we had so much fun watching them open presents, their expressions, and especially just spending time with everyone. Bradlee LOVED all the wrapping paper!

That night, we went home, got cookies and milk out for Santa, read "The Night Before Christmas" and went to bed! :)

Lucky for Tony and me, the kids slept until 10:30 Christmas morning!!! HOORAY!! :) We all got up, Tony went downstairs to "make sure Santa didn't fall asleep at our house", and we started Christmas!!

All Bradlee asked for was M&M's and suckers! He got 'em!!!!!

Emma and I went to see "Spookly the Square Pumpkin" when she was about 2 and a half at the theater...and Santa found it on DVD and left it for her for Christmas!

Once the gifts were opened, breakfast eaten, and we were showered and dressed, we headed over to my parents' house and celebrated Christmas some more! Emma had gotten an American Girl doll named Kit from Karyn for her birthday, so Karyn, Kathi and Emma all had their dolls there to celebrate, too! :)

We, of course, had a fabulous dinner and my grandparents and Tony's parents, and Paul all came to join us as well!

It's become a tradition the past several years for Emma to stay the night at my mom and dad's on Christmas night. This year was no exception, but with an additional sleeping buddy: Bradlee had his first sleepover with Aunt Kat, Uncle Garrett and Aunt Karyn!! :) They had a GREAT time, watching movies, playing with their new toys, making pancakes for breakfast!

New Year's Eve we spent at Tony's parents' house, playing the Wii, talking, and I even went through my coupon box and threw away all the expired (or expiring that night) ones! :) It was fun, and the kids even made it until midnight! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The kids were SO excited to get back to school, and I was glad to get them back, too! Unfortunately, out house still looks like Toys R Us with all the Christmas gifts!! Once we get the tree and decorations down, though, it will be better....then I'll get to organize and put things where they WILL go! :) Happy New Year!

"Ho Ho Ho! Merry Tis-mas!"

Yes, that's what I've heard for the last 2 weeks from my little Bradlee...he's so excited about Christmas, yet I know he has no idea what it's all about! Then he tells anyone who will listen that it's "almost Jesus birthday SOON!" :)

It's been a while since I've posted an update...and so many things have happened, I just don't seem to have the time or energy to write anything! : We had Emma's birthday party with her friends at her gymnastics club...it was SO SO SO much fun! We are considering having Tony's 40th birthday party there next year! LOL

Back at the beginning of December, Santa was at the bank (my work)...and each year I've taken the kids! It's free, you get cookies and punch, and you can take as many pictures as you want! :) Emma hopped right up and started talking...Bradlee clung to me for dear life and pointed to the other side of the room saying, "I go over there..." He was terrified. Wouldn't wave, say hi, give a high-five, yell what he wanted for Christmas, nothing. Ever since then, he tells everyone that Santa is pretend. We finally convinced him that Santa was real...I think the shock of actually seeing a Santa really surprised him. Crazy. He's been talking about Santa ever since. He tells everyone that he wants "M&M's and suckers" for Christmas. EVERYONE. And, it hasn't changed since Thanksgiving! :) SO...you can guess how many M&M's and suckers he's going to be getting tomorrow night! LOL

When we were at the parade for Emma's Daisy Troop, we were in the first trailer of the parade. As we're pulling out of the parking lot to start the parade route, we pass by the Santa float, which ends the parade. All the Daisy's are waving and yelling, "Santa! Santa! Santa!!!!!!" Bradlee WHIPS around to see, and starts yelling with the most serious look on his face, "M&M's AND SUCKERS!!!! M&M'S AND SUCKERS!!!!!" Hilarious is an understatement. :):)

So Bradlee keeps telling us he wants to go see Santa, because Santa is real, and he wants to sit on his lap. So I figured we would take both kids to see Santa again at the mall, just to satisfy his curiosity! :) Emma, on the other hand, has been pretty good...although this week or so she's been rather grouchy, mouthy and not listening so well...the other night, I ended up taking her bedtime movie away from her because she was acting up...she BURST into tears and said, "Mama! I'm just so afraid I'm on the 'naughty list' now! I need to write a 'to-do' list so I can do things that will get me back on the 'nice list'"!!! WHAT?! :) So then I had to convince Emma that she was on the nice list, and that she would have to be pretty bad in order to be on the naughty list. HA!

We took the kids to see Santa tonight. The "elf" helper asked if we were going to be getting pictures, and our response was, "Maybe". I figured that if Bradlee got scared, I wouldn't get a picture of just Emma, or worse, Emma with Bradlee screaming! :) Well, Emma went up to talk to Santa first, then I took Bradlee up and put him on Santa's lap. He was a little hesitant at first, but I said, "Bradlee! Why don't you tell Santa what you want for Christmas?!" Well, that just did it...for the next 5 minutes that he sat on Santa's lap, all he said was "M&M's and suckers, Santa. M&M's and suckers!" LOL What a great experience! :) I asked Emma what she told Santa she wanted. Her response, "I forgot to tell him. I just wanted to make sure I was on the nice list!" :) LOL Here's the proof that we are a "Scared-of-Santa-FREE" family! :)

Where has the time gone?!

Last weekend, my mom and dad took Karyn, Emma and me to see "The Nutcracker" at The Whiting, here in Flint. This is something we used to do for several years when we were younger and now that Emma's older, we've started it up again! She just LOVED it!

Today, Emma turned 6 years old. SIX. Can you believe it!? So amazing to me! Actually, as I write this, it's about 11:15pm...so it's not even officially her birthday, yet! She was born at 11:36pm on December 8th...I do believe I was in quite a bit of pain right about now 6 years ago, though! :)

We had a party for the family on Sunday and I made this butterfly cake for my birthday girl!

Today, Emma took Jell-o jigglers to school for her party in class. Then we went to Red Robin for dinner, just like we did the day before she was born 6 six years ago!!! Before we left, I made sure to get a picture of the birthday girl...and her "I don't understand why it's not my birthday" brother! :)

Happy Birthday, Emma! I love you!

Frankenmuth!

Last Saturday, Emma, Bradlee and I went to Frankenmuth with my parents, sisters and Garrett for our annual trip for chicken and ornament hunting! We had a FABULOUS time!

My mom rode with the kids and me, and on our way, we passed a little Zoo outside of Frankenmuth. There, we saw a man with a reindeer! So, we hopped out and went and got a picture taken with one of Santa's reindeer!! Emma asked the man if it could really fly and he responded, "Only on Christmas Eve!" :)

We ate dinner at the Bavarian Inn and it was delicious, as usual!! Bradlee loved the squash and chicken, and of course the ice cream, and Emma loved the chicken salad and the chicken! We had a great time just talking and laughing, and Boppa had a good time playing with Bradlee! My mom said, "Now I know why Boppa wanted Bradlee to come...he wanted someone to play with!"

After dinner, we went to the "Christmas Store" (Bronner's) and looked around. Bradlee LOVED playing with Aunt Kat, who was in charge of him! :) Here, he's trying to get a ride on her foot...it didn't work too well because Aunt Kat was laughing too hard! :)

Each year, we have a "tacky ornament" contest...this year, Emma even got into it!! When I tried explaining what "tacky" meant, I just said that it was ugly and not very pretty...she immediately said we should try to find a "Go Blue" (U of M) ornament! :) LOL That's my girl!!! The winning ornament was found by my mom...a "lovely" metallic donkey...complete with shoes! :)

Once again, I can always count on Aunt Kat and Uncle Garrett to wear out at LEAST one of my kids whenever we're together! This time, it was both of them...Bradlee just had a place to actually fall asleep!!!

We had a wonderful time together...it's a wonderful tradition we have! This year was the 31st annual trip and I think I've made 30 of them (I missed last year!)!

It's been a while...

Well, it's been a while since I've updated you on our lives! I cannot believe November is almost over! We have our fair share of sickness this month, which is probably why I haven't been on here in a while...Emma was out of school for a week at the beginning of the month with a virus...followed by Bradlee for one or two days...I think we're just a sickly family! It's supposed to get better as the kids get older, right?

Last Sunday, we went to visit my grandparents, Snookie and Papa. We hadn't seen them in a while, so we had a day free and decided to make the best of it! Boy did we ever! The kids were on their most excellent behavior and we had a wonderful lunch with Snookie and Papa, as well as Kat and Garrett, who also joined us! After lunch, Kat, Garrett, Emma and Bradlee played hide-and-seek, of course.....Snookie and Papa both took some pictures while we were there, and I hope to get some copies, which I will post, 'cause I think they are going to be good ones! One thing's for sure, I can always count on Aunt Kat and Uncle Garrett to wear at least ONE of the kids out for the ride home!

Of course, this was Thanksgiving week, so the kids and Tony only had school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Wednesday morning, Tony got a call from the secretary at Emma's school, telling him Emma had a fever of about 103. Great. So Tony went to pick her up and took her right to the doctor. She was diagnosed with a "strep-like" bug and was put on antibiotic. She was pretty miserable Wednesday night and Thursday...but still managed to eat some turkey, green bean casserole, and 2 pieces of pie!! We also watched the parade, dog show and Harry Potter on Thanksgiving morning...

I've also realized that November has been a crappy month for pictures! Hopefully that will change today, as we have our annual Kozloff Family visit to Frankenmuth!!! :)

Concert season!

On Sunday, I performed in a concert with the Flint Symphonic Wind Ensemble. It is a local volunteer group I started playing with 4 years ago. I LOVE it. We are playing some good, challenging music and I have made quite a few new friends also! At the beginning of October, I was elected by the band to serve as the President of the board of directors for the group! What an honor! I am hoping to make some changes that are needed for us to continue to move forward and improve!

Anyway, this is one of our first concerts that begin a pretty crazy season! We performed at a senior living center in Frankenmuth and it was a great performance!! Tony has also become involved with the group and is the announcer for us!! At the beginning of our 2009-2010 season, Emma requested we play "Peter and the

Wolf". I mentioned it to our conductor, Roy, and FINALLY this
year, it was on our play list! Tony did the commentating for it and Emma even came to the rehearsal to hear how it was going to go! She gave Roy two thumbs up and was so excited for the concert! On Sunday we performed it, and Emma made Roy a GIANT picture of Peter, the wolf (who had already eaten the duck, so there were only feathers!), the cat and the bird on a tree!! It was
so great, Roy not only showed the entire wind ensemble, but also the audience before we played the piece! Emma just sat next to Gramma and raised her hand so everyone could see who made the beautiful picture!!! I was so proud! :) The concert went really well...and now we start working on CHRISTMAS music for our Christmas concerts we have next month! There's nothing worse than having "Sleigh Ride" in your head in the beginning of November! :)

Bradlee Update!

About a week and a half ago, Bradlee started a stuffy, drippy nose....now, this wonderful Michigan weather hasn't helped, but a week and a half?! Seriously?! Anyways, yesterday (Wednesday), Tony got a call from the daycare about 11am and was told Bradlee had a fever. Tony was able to leave school and pick him up, and took him directly to the doctor! Normally I wouldn't do this...I would wait it out and see how he does, but the face the nose has been drippy for the last week and a half had me thinking sinus infection (especially since I'm just finishing up an antibiotic for the same thing!). Well, the pediatrician said he has a really good cold...that's the cause of the stuffiness...but the stuffiness is causing all the drainage and stuff, which caused an ear infection in his left ear, which, as it comes to find, has lost its tube! He prescribed an antibiotic, which we did not give him...

You're probably thinking...."You crazy mother! He was diagnosed with an ear infection! Give him the antibiotic!" Well...here's the reasoning behind my madness...

Today, Thursday, we had an appointment with the ENT for a check-up on his ears/tubes! When he's had an "ear infection" in the past year (since he's had the tubes), we've gotten ear drops from the ENT to clear it up....

So we went to the ENT and I told them what the pediatrician had said, and that there was a prescription waiting if we needed it...the ENT looked in the right ear and saw "the most beautiful tube in the world!"!! When he looked in the left ear (the one the pediatrician said was infected), he found no tube, but a "beautifully pink ear drum"....i.e., NO INFECTION! So...how can one doctor see and infection and one doctor say it's clear?! I don't get it. The ENT did give us a prescription for a nasal spray, so that should hopefully help the stuffiness!!!

We went to get the nasal spray and Bradlee actually ASKED for it! So I sat him on my lap and squirted the nasal spray in his nose, he "sniffed" and then got down to go play! AWESOME! I'm even more glad we only have to give it to him once a day!! :)

So, ears look good...nose, not so much...but hopefully we'll see some improvements soon!!!