The Christmas Pageant

The kids were in their very first Christmas Pageant this weekend. I have been looking forward to this since September. Deep down I think I am a stage mom, minus the pixie sticks and big hair. The kids seemed excited about the pageant as well, but Scott and I knew better. This is their first time being in front of people doing anything, so we knew it would either go remarkable well or it would just go. Well it went, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

It took some convincing to get Aaron in his costume, but he finally put it on. Jill was gone and in the lap of one of the teachers daughters before I could blink, so we were not concerned. When pageant time came though, Aaron bowed out and then back in and then back out. Jill would only go up if the teachers daughter went with her. All of the kids did an amazing job and it was such a sweet show! I cannot wait for them to do it again next year!

I tried to upload some video, but the file apparently is pretty large (20 minutes) and it's taking forever. Any sites that seem to work better with this kind of thing?

Our Christmas Weekend!

We've had a super busy weekend so far. Last night we went to our church's Christmas party. It was so nice and there were a ton of people there. Everyone brought in a dish for dinner and then Father Jean led us in Christmas Carols.

This morning Jill and I were talking about the party and she said she thought it was awesome that Father Jean played the organ and was signing.

We headed out to Brooksville this morning to see the Christmas parade. Our friends Matt, Bonnie and their son were in the parade as Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus. The weather, even though it was overcast, was really nice. We sat right at the step off point so we had a great view of everything.

There were a ton of great floats, but here are some of my favorites:

The inmates above are actual inmates, they were shoveling poop from all the horses. I found this slightly humorous and slightly degrading all at the same time.

The kiddos were excited when they saw Matt and Bonnie on their float. Bonnie, by the way, blogs over at The Not So Modern Housewife, she has a ton of great recipes, you should check her out.

Don't they look great? They were the only live nativity in the parade, all of the others were plastic and such.

After the parade we headed home from a quick refresher and then went back out to our friend Randy's Country Christmas Party. When we went last year Jill decided to jump off of Randy's front porch and landed us in the ER for the night. Thankfully, this year we did not have a repeat.

Randy has two horses and the kids love them. The first thing we did when we got there was run over to say hi. Aaron and Jill both got to feed each horse a carrot and then Randy brought out a saddle and the kids got to each take a ride around.

That's our friend Staci in the photo, the kids love her to pieces and were so glad to see her at the party. The kiddos spent most of the night running around, talking to the horses and playing with baby Henry (you know, baby Jesus from earlier in the day). I got to spend some time with handsome Henry as well. Scott told me that I needed to step away from the baby, but he's just so freakin' adorable, I mean look at him!

And yes, that's my daughter driving Staci's car down the driveway. It's not a country Christmas unless a child is sitting in someone's lap driving a car. Merry Christmas y'all!

The Blessing

Sunday Scott and I planned to be remarried in the church. When we were married 5 1/2 years ago we married at Disney, which the Catholic Church does not marry at. At the time it was not an issue for us, Scott wasn't Catholic and I was what you would consider a 'Chreaster' meaning I only went on Christmas and Easter. However, now it is really important for us to have our marriage recognized. Sunday we received a special blessing and plan to set up our marriage for after the first of the year.

It was nice having so many people close to us there. My parents, my in-laws, our friends the B6 and then many of our Knights and Columbiette's friends were there as well. I don't have any photos from mass, but I finally remembered to take photos at lunch after mass. We all went to Maggiano's and it was fantastic (as always). Jill even got to ride there with her friends, which she thought was just beyond awesome.

Yes, I failed to get a photo of Scott and I on this special day. Score one for me :(

Thank you to everyone that was there, it meant so much to us to have you there with us!

The Weekend of Rain

It was a fairly busy, and very wet, weekend for us. It started raining on Friday night and didn't stop until yesterday afternoon, only to pick up again last night.

Saturday I had a training session for the Columbiette's, an organization I'm a part of from my church. It was a fun morning/afternoon with the ladies and I was glad to be a part of it. Saturday was the day that it really rained so when I got home the kids and I just cuddled in our jammies and watched movies. Sometimes there is just nothing better than that.

Sunday we had a reception at the church for the Bishop in honor of our patron saints feast day. Originally it was supposed to be outside, but because of the rain it was moved indoors (in the very limited space we have). The whole reception was wonderful and the committee who ran/planned it did an amazing job! It was nice to have a chance to meet the Bishop and I was glad the kids didn't try to take his staff or anything.

I've got a lot of recipes coming this week, so be on the look out! Hope you are having a fantastic start to the week!

Thanksgiving Thursday

For those of you that don't know what Thanksgiving Thursday is, it is the one time during the week where you stop and basically count your blessings. Even if you've had one of those weeks, I promise you can find at least one thing to be thankful for, no matter how big or small.

This week I am thankful for:

• Scott who has been busting his butt lately (welcome to tourist season everyone) and still makes time for me and the kiddos even though I know he just wants to crash on the couch.

• Aaron and his humor, he truly is a funny kid, and like smart funny. I love it!

• Jill and her imagination. I love that she has a vivid imagination.

• Family no matter how close or how far.

• My morning cup of coffee, it makes all the difference in the world.

• Coupons that you can stack, I love it, I mean like I really love it.
  

• Great friends who you can just kick back with.

• An amazing priest who the kids ask to see and get excited to see on Sunday. We are so lucky to have had him in our parish for almost 3 years now. And a huge thank you to everyone that put together the reception for him on Sunday, it was so nice!
  

What are you thankful for this week?

Photographer I am not...

Like I said yesterday I pretty much sucked it up with taking photos this weekend. I had every intention of getting a photo of us and our friends Dawn and Dyson at PF Changs on Friday night, I blame the cosmos on that one. And when I say cosmos I don't mean universe, not that you were thinking that, right? I actually tried their crispy green beans (Dawn's suggestion) and you know what I guarantee I ate a full serving of veggies. Probably not the healthiest way, but by far the most delicious way.

Sunday I really sucked it up in the photo department. Pretty much every year we get a photo of Scott holding both of the kids and somehow that did not happen this year. We'll have to take it this week. Anywho, Sunday morning at mass they were honoring the youngest and oldest fathers in our parish. Scott was contacted on Friday and told that he was in fact the youngest father. Normally this would be strange, but when your parish is 80% retired folks, it's not that hard to believe. When we got to church we were informed there was someone who came in at the last minute and was 8 years younger than Scott, so he wouldn't be the youngest father. Scott (and I) were pretty bummed, but amazingly they still honored him because they said they would on Friday. How great right? Funny part of the whole story is when Father called everyone up he referred to Scott as Jesus Christ, as in "Jesus Christ come up here, yes you Jesus". Scott and Father like to tease each other, in case you couldn't tell.


Sunday afternoon we went up to Mimi and Paw Paw's with every hope of swimming but the clouds rolled in and we just knew if we got everyone all set to go in the pool it would start raining. That was a battle I didn't want to fight, let's be honest. Our friends Jon and Courtney also came by with their 12 day old little girl Caitlyn. She was so cute, and so good! I am jealous of her luscious locks though, she has more hair on her head than Jill had when she was a year and a half, no joke. Her super cuteness is why I think I didn't take any photos, I was distracted. Ha ha!

Keep an eye on my review blog this week, lots coming your way!

Thanksgiving Thursday

So I don't know if Elyse is doing this, this week, but I'm gonna do it anyway. This week I'm thankful for:

• Scott. Truly this week there are no words to describe my gratitude for him. Thank you does not seem great enough. Love you.

• My son thinking that everything I make is delicious, complete with "Oh mmmm!" when he eats. You're such a great ego booster Aaron!

• My daughter's helpful nature, even if we don't need help (like we don't need the tomatoes picked just yet), she is always ready and willing.
  

• My in laws watching the kids two nights in a row so we could go to the parish mission.
• Father Ben coming to St. Faustina's and having three amazing talks. I am so glad I went, and so thankful for him giving his time.

• My MOM teaching Jill to say bull-shiz (not really shiz but you know....). She says she didn't, but the manner in which Jill says it screams my MOM. If she threw her hands in the air I would say it was my Dad, but alas, she doesn't. (probably not appropriate that this went after thanking Father Ben...)
  

• Great extended family that is helping me piece together the family history. It's a fun journey and I cannot wait for 2011!

• Lowe's repair department Lowe's customer care patience
  

What are you thankful for this week?

Cans for Comments

Lani and I are doing a canned food/money donation drive on Multiples and More. Well really, Lani had the idea and I said "awesome!" The basic idea is for every comment I receive on my blog from today until December 2nd I will donate a canned food item to my local food bank. St. Faustina's actually has a food bank for anyone who needs assistance, so that's where my canned goodies will be going. If you want to participate head over to Multiples and More and sign into Mr. Linky. Then just send us an email at multiplesandmoreblog@yahoo.com with your final tally so we can proudly display it! Thanks in advance everyone, let's get these food banks stocked!!!