Happy Birthday to ... ME!

So, I turned 41 today...  Not really a milestone.  More like wet sand in my underwear.  Annoying, but it will go away soon.  (The annoyance - not the age.  Darn.)

It was a laid-back day, taking the kids to school, running errands; Cody joined Josh and I for lunch, and I spent the afternoon helping Hans with the last of his school project.  Plus today was Bethany's day to have peanuts reintroduced into her diet, so I made Buckeye Bars for everyone to enjoy.  (They're the lazy version of Buckeye's - I spread the peanut butter in a lined pan, then pour the chocolate on top and cut into bars once the chocolate is set.  Delicious AND easy!)

Cody and the kids got me WONDERFUL presents, and most of them were inexpensive (which I love!).  Cody got me a really nice pair of silicone oven mitts (red) that I needed; my other ones were so old, there were thin parts that would get me burned.  And fun!!! new toys for my camera!  An awesome 5-in-1 foldable reflector, and some lovely lens filters.  I am so excited!  Bethany got me a beautiful autumn leaf candle, some Papaya scented tea lights (for the christmas gift she got me), and a bag of coconut M&M's.  Yum.  (And a dollar from Hans - I won't spend it all in one place!)

And thanks to mom and dad for the beautiful shirt (purple) and lovely scarf from Italy, with the crocheted edging (also purple)!  I got a lot of calls from everyone wishing me a happy birthday; so I need to return calls, but know that I appreciate all the well wishes!

Have a great weekend - love to all!

Comments are working!

"Wile E. Coyote - SUPER genius!"

So, it was actually pretty simple - which makes me feel a little dumb - but the comments seem to be working now.  Yay!

For all those reading this (and I know that's a small number), please keep a couple of people in your thoughts and prayers...

+  Josh's Obachan, who suffered a ruptured aneurism last week (but is strong and stubborn, and seems to be doing REALLY well)....

+  And Katie, my sister.  She's getting a second follow-up after something unusual showed up on her mammogram.  I'm sure God is watching out for her, and it's probably something minor, but praying for all those things can only help!

Thanks so much for all the love you constantly send our way, and for all the good things you do.  My love and gratitude to you all...

Hard being a Mom...

So Josh just went in to surgery. He's having all 4 wisdom teeth removed, and I can't be in there. I have to wait, not able to watch the Doctor, or make sure Josh is okay. Not that I have magic powers and my presence wil make a positive difference, but... Don't we feel that way as parents? The kiss that makes the tears stop, the joke to make them laugh instead of cry...  maybe that is our magic power. Making things better just being there!

Almost Christmas!

Cody and I got Bethany and Hans off to Texarkana safely, and they are having a nice time!  Josh rode down with us to North Carolina, and we stopped in Stafford to drop him off at his grandparents.  Obachan has time off through Christmas, and they should be spending time together, along with Aunt Michelle and his cousins.  And he's looking forward to a delicious Suki Yaki dinner for "New Year's" eve (which they'll celebrate a little early).  So Cody and I finished our trip to NC Friday morning, making a brief stop at Hinnant Winery on the way down.  We've really just relaxed so far and enjoyed ourselves (doing a little Christmas work along the way).  I'm relieved and blessed to know that all the kids are safely visiting family, and that we made it to Cindy's safely.  We are having a wonderful time with her, and hanging out together.


Our love and prayers are constantly with the families in Newtown, CT, who are suffering this season with such an unimaginable loss.  May God watch over them and everyone affected by this and all tragedies.

Love to all...

-Kris (Mom)

Inner Peace

My dad sent me this email talking about how to reach a sense of peace in a crazy world.  I thought it was incredibly useful, and could be applied to so much of life.  Hope you enjoy!

"A doctor on TV said that in order to have inner peace in our lives, we should always finish things that we start. Since we all could use more calm in our lives, I looked around my house to find things I'd started & hadn't finished.

I finished a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun scriptins, an a box a choclutz. Yu has no idr how fablus I feel rite now.

Sned this to all ur frenz who need inner piss. A  n telum u luvum."

Hahahaha...  love to all!

Social Security, ugh!

I'm pretty pleased with myself, at the moment.  Tomorrow was the deadline to turn in the appeals paperwork to the SSA; they gave Josh a payment for 18 months of UNDERpayment, and then 3 weeks later sent me a letter saying that those numbers were incorrect and now I owed them $1400.  WHAT?!?!?

Seriously, I'm not paying it.  I went through all my paperwork today; they have a history of underpaying Josh annually, and this time seemed no different.  And then, on the appeals questionnaire, they ask why we didn't tell them (the SSA) about whatever change or event caused the overpayment?

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, since we didn't do anything to cause it, and all the other reasons I have proof of, I'm feeling pretty confident.  And if all else fails, I'll send a letter to the President, his whole Administrative Staff, and my Congressman.  Certified mail.  And if anyone thinks I won't, ask Dad what happened when I sent a letter to the president of Embarq and his entire Board of Directors.  I didn't know they HAD an executive complaint department!  ; )

It's late, I'm tired, and I have some butt to kick tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Love to all...

Christmas is coming...

We had to go by the mall today to get a bunch of vitamins and things for Bethany, and decided to 'meander' a bit while there.  Macy's had tons of Christmas things out all ready, including some beautiful Nutcrackers, and I wanted to stop by Claire's to find some new clip-on hoop earrings.  Of course, it's never "just" with us...

For starters, Josh saw this lovely Nutcracker, and Cody pointed out that it was specially designed to crack Chestnut's.  ; )









And Josh got into the Jingle-Bell Hop mood at Claire's.  He's such a cute elf!  Be sure to press 'play' to watch him jingle his bells!  Hahahahaha......

Love to all...

Upromise shopping

Just an update - for anyone who shops online, it would be helpful for both of us, if you checked out my Upromise shopping link.  Through Upromise, you can often find shipping and coupon deals, and a percentage of the purchase (NOT from you!) goes to a college savings fund for Bethany, Hans and Josh.

Here's the link:

http://www.upromise.com/guest/2635266402

So, you get to save a little money when you shop online, and the kids get a little cash back for college.  I use this link ALL the time - if nothing else, I can usually get free shipping!  I love  free...

Making 'new' friends...

So I was pulling the last bits of drywall, insulation and miscellaneous crap out of the kitchen for the last of the demolition the other day.  Wanna see what new 'friend' I made while doing this?  Remember, I wear a breathing mask and goggles, along with a hat, gloves and long sleeves to protect myself as much as I can...  but some things you can't prepare for!

Yep, a 3' long, mummified snake came out of the insulation.

For all of you who think I'm such a tough B, you didn't hear 

me whining like a fire siren!

Ugh............

New York, New York!

So months ago, I bought tickets to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular - long before we knew about the storm that would hit.  But the show must go on - and it did - with wonderful grace and incredible sets.  The 15-20 blocks of Manhattan we walked looked 'business as usual', which was a blessing for all the occupants, and it was nice to spend the day in New York (and infuse it with a little financial assistance!).  We went by Dylan's Candy Bar (the largest candy store in the country) - all 3 stories of it! - and had a great lunch at the Metro Cafe...  a little gem we'll be returning to!  And of course, the Rockettes!  Most of the show was the same as last year, but I still got all choked up and overwhelmed with both the spirit and fun of the season.  It's a great way to start the holidays!

On the way home, we did something we hadn't done in years, literally - we went to Golden Corral for dinner.  Everyone was in "down south" heaven!  I had fried okra...  oh, how I've missed them!  It was a long day, but what a blessing that we're so close to NYC, we can make a day trip!  We are still praying for all those struck by Sandy, as well as the families and homeless that are just struggling this time of year.  We can't forget them.

Love to all...

Hans and I LOVE OmNom! 

   

Cody looking good between the black and
white candies.  Gray is his color!

Josh wasn't the only one who looked good at Barney's...
OmNom really rocked the bow tie! 

Snow?!?

Whoa...  It's November 7th, and it's SNOWING outside!  It's not sticking, but it is coooold outside, and the snow is coming down.  It sounded like rain at first, and when it got quiet, you could see the flakes beginning.  This is a good omen for skiing this season!

I hope that things are well with everyone else - my parents, who were out of communication for a while; Cindy, whom I desperately need to call; and all the people affected by Sandy.  Our prayers are with all of you.

On a lighter note, the picture of Tucker is so cozy...  I wish I could be a cat!

Love to all...

Election Day...

... and Bethany and Hans had the day off.  So they surprised me with a lovely breakfast!  Mini egg and bacon frittatas!  Delish, and good for you.  Bethany did the cooking, and Hans did the decorating and reading of the directions.  They even made coffee - good coffee!  They are such wonderful kids; so thoughtful AND talented!

Well, I hope everyone got out to vote!  We are still praying for all the displaced families in the area.  Take care!

Love to all...

The best night EVER!

I love this night.  I usually squander the whole hour any way I want.  And by squander, I mean waste the time doing something inane like blogging or checking Facebo...  Oh, wait.  I'm doing that right NOW!  Okay - I have to go, because this is productive, and there is an hour's worth of squandering to be done.  Love to all!

SLEEP IN!

Happy Halloween!

YEA!  Halloween was so much fun!  And for the first time EVER, we had everybody's costumes done BEFORE Halloween!  Amazing...

"Mirror, Mirror in my hand,
who's the fairest in the land?"

And another first?  Neither Cody nor I went out with them.    They're so grown up!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful Halloween, and is doing well after the storms.

Love to all...

Rouge the Bat (Shadow's girlfriend).

Hans my (cute) Angry Bird pig.

Our candy headquarters

Cody and I went as Elphaba and Fiyero, from Wicked.

Oh Sandy...

So we're all alive and fine, here.  There's some real heavy winds right now, and the kids had today and tomorrow off, but so far, we're managing really well.  Cody even has the days off (though he's working from home), so it's actually kind of nice.  We've been praying for everybody that they're safe and there's no serious flooding...

Take care, and we'll talk to you soon!

-Kristen

Halloween fun

While out shopping for some costume accessories the other day, we had fun with some of the hats at Party City.  These are the hats we tried on...

Church party

The boys want to attend our church Halloween festival, so we're heading out. Man, they look good!

Eyeball soup!

I had leftover spinach and potato soup the other night, so I turned it into a gruesome dinner for the kids...  eyeball soup!  The effect was pretty funny; their faces said "I know this isn't real, but it still looks gross!"  Hahaha!  I love Halloween...

Halloween party!

So last night, Cody and I went to a Halloween Social with friends for dancing. It was my first GROWN UP Halloween party, and we met before at City Tap House for drinks. We had a really great time, and Cody let me order a round of shots for everyone. So we all had a Vampire bite!  Yum... Vodka, cranberry juice and Chambord! It was a wonderful time - Cody has gotten to be such a great leader.

Vampire Bites - delicious!

Rich and Tricia

Velma, Angela and I

Love to all...

It's October!

Last week we went to Linvilla to pick fresh apples off the tree! It was awesome, and the apples are great. I also found my Citronella plants I've been looking for. They are part of the geranium family... Who knew?

Tonight we cleaned up some apples and made caramel apples. Bethany & Hans went to the next level - their apples look awesome! At least now I'm halfway eating a healthy dessert...  ; )

Bethany's apple is the face on the right, and Hans made the more traditional apple on the left.  Love to all...