OH MY GOSH..... ITS FrEEzING here. The high today was 5. So that made the wind chill even colDEr!

I dont have much to say because I am cold and am going to take a bath. Tanner is out playing the Wii.. he is bowling.. he LOVES that!. So I am going to sneak some alone time and soak and warm up in a hot bath!

I was going to do some chocolate dipped pretzels.. but I think I am going to wait and do them on Tuseday...

Oh yeah we are expecting a snow storm too :(

Sunday.. another BUSY day. Basically finished shopping. I am looking for 1 thing for Tanner... but thats it. I went to Target today.. WHAT A ZOO... it was almost as bad as black Friday! Holy smoley!

I finished all the teacher gifts.... made another kind of cookie.. and the cream cheese mints. Got the supplies to make the appetizers for Christmas Eve. I am leaving the Christmas Day stuff up to Rick. I have done everything else. I shopped for almost everything and wrapped almost everything... so he can do that.

We went to the Medline party last night. It was a good time. We watched the hypnotist show.. that was good for a few giggles. We sat with Michele, Holly and Angela... Jennifer and Carl. We did play Joan Rivers again... and its so hard not to. Clinton and Stacy really should have been there.. they would have had a hey day! WOW.

Monday starts the last week of the year where I have to work 5 days... WOO HOO.... 2 3 day work weeks ahead! Cant wait!

Lost a couple of days. I went to our management Holiday party at my bosses house on Thursday night. That is always so much fun.. and lots of good food! Went home with a Kohl's gift card :)... well I left with it.. but that is where I was going after the party so I spent it right away!

Friday was a busy day. Tanner went to preschool and I shopped, wrapped all his gifts. I picked him up and then made 12 mini loaves of bread and 2 batches of cookies. I was so tired last night! My legs hurt from standing int he kitchen.

Tonight is our Holiday party for my work! So Tanner will be hanging out with Papa. Papa is taking him to Bolt. Tanner is very excited to have a surprise with Pop tonight.

Tanner and Rick are currently outside playing right now. Its 40 out here and Rick is getting the ice scrapped off the sidewalks... thankfully it wont be there all season like last year!

We are almost done with our shipping have 4 presents left to get. We know what we are getting just need to do it. I MAY buy Tanner 1 more thing. It just depends. He really wants this Batcave set from Fisher Price.. its cute.. and he has a lot of the pieces that go with it already! We'll see.

Well I am off to make more cookies.

I will be quick tonight.

We did get the Wii. Tanner was very excited and played with it right away. He likes the bowling. He had asked all day when we were getting it.

He went to gymnastics tonight. SOO DID NOT LIKE THE HIGH BEAM. He was scared. Then slide off and cried. He didnt get hurt. But was upset. He doesnt like high things. He was also very tired tongith so that didnt help. When we got home he wanted to bowl So he and Daddy bolwed. But then he said he had a headache and wanted to lay down. He is watching Horton hears a Who. Hope he isnt coming down with anything.

No Christmas program tonight :( it was so snowy and icy! :( they are going to do it another night. But have not heard which one yet.

I was going to make some Cookies tonight.. but so got totally side tracked looking up what Wii games to buy. I have $$ in my Pay Pal account I am going to use and also a 50.00 gift card from my Cell Phone. So i figure I can get 3 games. :) We are co buying it! So exciting! We will be taking it to my parents house on eve so we can all play as it is something that Tanner can play as well. I may buy another game too.. with my Christmas bonus since I really didn't buy much for the family with that.

Anyone have any suggestions.... I am looking for games that we can play as a family.. and NO VIOLENT ones! :)

Thanks

Today was a nasty weather day! It was spitting ice off and on all day long. They let schools out early.

We went to Ricks moms for dinner and stayed and let Tanner play for awhile. But I wanted to get home as it was still spitting and then it started to snow. We stopped at Target grab the last present for Minnesota. I have gotten done wrapping them and they are all boxed up for Rick to take to his moms for the trip up.

Tanner was very sad when he found out that he was not going to get to see his cousins over the holiday :(

Here he is on St Nick morning!

Here is our downstairs tree and the outside of the house. I still need to take a pic of the upstairs tree.

Well its Sunday night. Its going to be a long busy week. I should be looking forward to it.. but really I am not. I am tired just thinking about it. I was supposed to be free on Monday but Rick told hi mom we would come over for dinner... Not that I don't want to.. it was just my only free night. I have been going since Friday of this week.

The coming week is..
Monday... dinner
Tuesday...Christmas Program
Wednesday...Gymnastics
Thursday...Management Party at Renee's
Friday... I am off work... but am baking all day for the holidays and for some gift giving.

Today Tanner got up at 830 and he and daddy went to church (he was bribed with doughnuts and a matchbox car) and I stayed home and cleaned the house and changed all the sheets... Its been a busy weekend. I also got our lights in all the front windows.

We then went to hockey at 130 and got home at 5, ate a quick dinner and then put up our tree upstairs. Then it was bath night and we are lounging in bed right now... I would love to go to sleep but the Tan Man is still awake!

I missed Friday. We had a pretty busy day! It was Holiday Bonus time at work.. which is always fun! Then when I went to pickup Tanner my mom had the stuff ready for Toys for Tots at the hockey game on Saturday night. She tells Tanner that they toys are for the poor children. Well on the way out of the house I said that we were going to Target to return one of the toys that he had gotten 2 of at Target. He also had a gift card to use there. So Tanner decided that he should give his toy to the poor children instead of returning it! What a sweet boy! He really does have a heart of gold.

We went to Target and he picked out some Batman toys. We then came home and ate. I went to Kohl's and did ALOT of Christmas shopping.

He also went right to bed last night....slept in his own bed all night because St Nick was coming.

He got up and got Don't Spill the Beans and a new Planet Hero. He was thrilled.... He came running into our room and saying "He came He came" I will put a pic up soon.

We then ate breakfast and then went and got haircuts (I went to Kohl's again and picked up Carly's gift) and then we came home.

We then put up the Tree in the basement and all the decorations down there. We were going to put the tree upstairs up. I got it together and fluffed.. but ended up with an EXTREME headache. So I went to lay down a bit. Tanner came and laid with me and we both fell asleep. In fact he is still sleeping now. We just finished dinner and are cleaning up. I will have to wake him up soon since we have to leave for the game at 630. We have to stop at moms and pick up her ticket as she forgot it. (she is working at Grand till 730)

Hopefully Sunday night we can finish the tree and the decorations upstairs.. we are only half ready for Christmas. Although I do have a BIG chunk of shopping done! Woo hoo! Only a few things left to buy!

Tonight we watched The Polar Express. This has quickly become one of my favorite holiday movies. It truly does capture the magic of the season. I love to watch it with Tanner. (although he does ask soooo many questions about everything.. you know like why are the elves wearing green tights) Anyway there are certain parts he just stops and really watches and is totally silent. One of these parts of course is when the reindeer come out and so does Santa. One of the bells falls off the reindeer and the little boy picks it up and eventually asks Santa to keep it.

.........If you have never seen the movie.. You can only hear the bell if you truly believe in Santa.. the magic of the season... at the beginning of the movie the little boy does not believe. But at the end he does and is able to hear the bell..........

So tonight after watching that part Tanner turns to me and says. "I hope Santa brings me a bell like that.. I want to hear it too. " I bet Santa will bring Tanner that bell. I really hope that he keeps that magic for awhile. Its really sweet to see/hear. It really does help the magic of the season. It is the most wonderful time of the year. Seeing things thru the eye of a child is a most wonderful thing!

And as Tom Hanks said in the movie... "The thing about trains... it doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding to get on. "

~~~Have a great night~~~~

Wacky Wednesdays.....or should I say busy Wednesdays... they go so fast. We get home from work/grandmas and we rush around and have dinner and then rush off to gymnastics. When we get home its about 715 and seems like the night is almost over.

Tanner loves to go to gymnastics. He is getting better at his cartwheels and forward rolls. It does make him hyper for the rest of the night... I thought it would make him tired.. but not really.

I am usually really tired on these nights. And for some reason my neck has been hurting all day.. I think I slept wrong on it, its also given me a headache!

Tonight we picked up the cookie dough from Gymnastics and found that Tanner had won a prize. He won a mini basketball. He of course wanted it to get blown up right away when we got home. He then practiced dribbling in the kitchen... which helped the headache.

Anyway... I am headed to bed, I need to get rid of the headache.

2 days in a row .. can you beleive it. I thought I am going to try and blog everyday in December... even if it just a short snipet of soemthing that happned that day.

Such as today... It was Tuesday.. Tanners nap day at Young Uns. Grandma works on Tuesdays right now so Tanner gets his blue cot and sleeps at school. Well I am not totally sure that he sleeps.. but lets say he lays down. They are always outside when I come and pick him up.

Today we went to lunch with Renee. We went to Champs. They do have good food. I had the BBQ Chicken sandwich .. it was good.. but our contact there also gave us 2 free appetizers and free dessert.. so I am suffed.. I mean like really full.

After we got home Tanner wanted to play on the deck in the backyard. So I sat at the table and read the newspaper and then got out the work laptop and went online and did a few things. I really dig having a laptop. I am hoping that they give them to all the managers sometime next year ..when we get our new building. I keep telling Renee that.. even our IT guy thinks that its a good idea.... and really they could build the price into the new building... I think anyway.

Alright... I am out. :) have a great night!

I was a bad mom today. I forgot to take snowpants and didnt even have boots yet for school. Tanner did borrow some boots from school so he could go outside. Thankfully I had bought another pair of snowpants this weekend. We keep one at school and one at home.

Right after work we went to Kohls and used my 20 dollars in Kohls cash to by Boots! They are some nice ones too. 50.00 regularly for 25.00.

So now we are good to go for the season.

Ok.. oppps.. that's all I can say. Last weekend... (the 22nd-23rd) We had hockey and Kim & Co came to town and we celebrated Thanksgiving. Tanner also got more b-day presents. I really think his favorite gift this year is his ICarly DVD's. They are in the DVD player all the time. He loves that show... she is so hot.. LOL. Oh and Rick ate 4 pieces of my my moms pumpkin pie.. and I got none!

On the 26th I surprised him and took him to Sesame Street Live. He had lots of fun, he got to high 5.. the count and also Grover.. Twice.... We also bought an 8 dollar.. yes I said 8 dollar balloon! and a little Elmo. He really got into it in the second half and was yelling for the characters to come over by him. We had row B seats but there was an empty chair in front of us.. so he was hanging on that!

Turkey days was a quiet day and we just sat around and ate.. it was just the 3 of us.... it was relaxing. Michele and I went to Kmart and to Michaels that night.. I bought Tanner a little light up red tinsel tree for his room. Tanner fell asleep at 600.. and then woke up at 8.

Yes I did go out shopping on black Friday. I was at Kohls by 430! I was home by 8. I went to Walmart and Target (which was the worst). At Target there was this insane guy behind me that was trying to pick a fight with some women. He said she kept banging her cart into him on purpose so he would get out of line.. WHAT.. who does that. He just kept swearing and stuff... Dude.. if you cant handle crowds.. do not go shopping on Black Friday!

The rest of the weekend was quiet.. Michele came over on Saturday night ans we scrapped. I did almost 30 pages this weekend. I really need to get rid of some of the stuff I have.. So hopefully I will be doing some power scrapping.

Rick and Tanner played in the leaves on Saturday afternoon.. it was nice out. I put up the Christmas lights outside.. thankfully as today it snowed!

been awhile

Ok so its been a while. We've been busy.

Thursday Tanner and I went to Target and he picked out a new toy and used his money from Grandma Mi. We also went to Kohl's and picked up a few things there... I needed new pants for work....as I have not many that fit.

Last Friday night we wet to the hockey game. Holly and Ron also came to the game. About all I can say about that is there was a good fight in the first period. They played like crap!

Saturday night we had a party for some of the Grand folks. That was fun. I had not had that much to drink in a while.. and boy did I have a headache in the AM. There was much laughing and Tanner I think had fun too. We let him open 1 b-day present. He opened his Creative Arts Studio. He played with that for a while that night also.

On Sunday we celebrate the BIG 5. We went to Bowling and Beyond for the party. He had 11 kids come to his party and they had fun bowling and eating cake. It was a bit chaotic... as all of the kids wanted there own balls and did not want to share. He got a lot of nice presents and of course when we got home he had to open them all. We had BOXES everywhere! We had to buy extra tags at the grocery store to put out more garbage.

Sunday night was a sad day as Renee called to tell me that Elle Grap had passed away. She is a coworker and has 5 children.. the youngest being only5. She had a heart attack. It was a sad day at work on Monday. Right now they are trying to figure out how to best support her sister (another medline co-worker) and the kids. She was a neat lady, great laugh. I had a few emails from her that I saved.. and I am forever glad that I did so that I can go back and read them. Its very weird when someone dies suddenly.. I really keep thinking that she is going to walk back up those stairs and into the building. I am not going to the services as seeing her that way is not a memory that I want to keep. I would like to keep the happy go lucky gal in my mind.

RIP Elle!

Today we got Tanners Advent calendar for this year. I got it from Playmobil. It has a pirate theme. It is way cute!

I will get a few pics up soon of Tanners party!

Sunday was a lazy day for us. We didn't do anything or go anywhere. But those days are my favorite. Tanner did want to go outside at about 5.. but I said Brrrrrrr. I also made and Advent Calendar and a mini Holiday recipe book. I have been wanting to compile all my sweets in 1 book.. so I was pretty happy. Its VERY basics. but that's all I need.. everything together.

He did mention that on Sunday he has now decide to marry Addy. Sorry.. Em don't know what happened. But his sights are now on Addison! Which makes Will happy as he digs Emma.. and you wouldn't want to upset the best of buds with romance.. LOLLOLOLOLOL

Today .. the first day of the week.. Blech.. I hate Mondays. It was payroll day and I actually forgot about it till I looked down at my calendar and was like.. oh duh! It got done in time but now as quickly as normal. I am also really sick of wearing dress clothes to work! I can not wait till the week of turkey day! It is Farmer's Market at work this week.. so W/th/F I may make some extra $$$ I do like that!

Tonight Tanner and I packed his goodie bags for his bowling party on Sunday. Of course he wanted all the extra stuff. He is pretty excited for that! We also got our new camcorder so mama is excited to use that.

Right now he is watching ICarly for the 1 thousandth time! Grandma Di.. he is going to LOVE LOVE those DVDs!

Yesterday I was oof. So Tanner and I slept in. I took him to preschool and then I went birthday shopping. I also bought him a couple of power ranger costumes... they were 75% off. He loves to place dress up so he was excited to have them. He wore them all afternoon. He was supossed to take a nap... ya right.

Today we went to the Kids Expo down at the Grand River Center. I was not really impressed. I didnt even see a city booth which I thought was odd. All Tanner wanted to do was play on the LT amusment things. I wanted to get him finger printed and stuff.. but he would not do it. For some reason he was scared of the Police.. I dont think that is a good thing. :( We have to get him over that fear! I wonder if all kids his age are.

Today Tanner asked Rick why he did not like to take baths. He then asked if it was becuase he did not like to sit inhis own dirt!

Monday was not a good day. There were issues all over. Some of them are still unresolved as of today. L I really do not care to get into it… but lets say I was disappointed in some people I thought were above pettiness. I am trying to put it behind me and move on.

Tanner has been talking about Obama and McCain now for quite sometime. He must have overheard Rick and I talking one night. I know on Tuesday he did ask me if I voted. I also know that they have been talking about it a bit in school. He also has been calling John McCain a nutbar. He also states that he is cheering for Obama… that’s what he always says. Today he did tell me that Obama won and that they talked about it in school. He is a pretty smart kid as we were watching the SNL show Monday night and he kept saying that’s not Obama and McCain.. that is people dressed up like them.

On Monday he also had his preschool conferences. They went very well. Ms Carsen stated that she thinks he is very intelligent. He likes to work with numbers and math, which is good because I don’t like that at all. She also stated that he is the leader in the class.. because if it is something he doesn’t want to do most of the other kids then follow in his steps and wont do it either, I am not sure if that is good or bad! He loves to do “jobs” in the room. He is one of the older kids in the classroom and also is in his second year of preschool.

Tuesday we spent most of the night watching the election results come in. They finally called the race at 10:00 after the poles closed on the west coast.. I stayed up watching the speeches. I thought John McCain gave a very gracious speech and tried to get the people to be unified as one nation. I also like how he mentioned Obama’s grandmother. Obama’s speech was also wonderful. He really electrified the audience of 160,000 people in Grant park! They showed Jesse Jackson and also Oprah a few times. I do find it ironic that Jesse Jackson was crying when just a few weeks ago he was not saying such positive things about him.

Tonight we have gymnastics and then also pictures for gymnastics so we have to be there at 530. I hope to be able to go to bed early tonight! I am tired. I am very glad that I am off on Friday

He also lost the bonding on his chipped tooth... but I am not paying 200.00 again to have it put back on!

Last night we had a couple friends over to the Wii. We borrowed it from some other friends. Tanner loved it. He is sad that i told him we have to give it back on Monday.

Today we went and visited Great Grandma Mi ... we showed her our costume and also took her a birthday gift. Tanner ran and ran all over her apartment until I thought my head was going to explode.

I also cleaned the house and took down all the Halloween decorations.

I went shopping at Michaels and sawy WAY to many Christmas things I wanted!

Happy Happy

First.. Happy Birthday to my mom.. she's the best!
and second.. hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. tanner did 2 1/2 streets before he got tired. Rick said that there were alot of lights not on, so i think he lost interest. He came back and helped hand out candy. He loved that!