Monday, December 10, 2012

Weekend in Review

Wow, this month sure is speeding by!  It's hard to believe that in a little over two weeks, Christmas will be here. 
December is usually a very busy month for us as it is for many, and this past weekend was no exception.  On Saturday we took our anual trip to Hersheypark to ring in the holiday season.  It is a magical place there and the magic really comes alive during the holidays.  We started the day with breakfast with Santa.  Prior to Santa's arrival at the restaurant, some of the Hershey characters (Reese, Hersheybar, etc.) come in and wave hi to the kids and have their pictures taken.  Then the big guy arrives as Mr. Musicman leads everyone in song.  Mrs. Clause is there too and all happily pose for pictures with the children and adults.  Bella was enchanted! 
After breakfast, we went into the park where Bella rode some rides, we saw the Musicbox Theatre Christmas show, enjoyed the lights and even saw some reindeer.  By the time we left the park at 7:30 we were all pretty tired.  It had started to rain by then so it was a good time to make our exit.

Sunday I had my little helper with me and we baked.  Bella had asked me if I would help her make brownie treats for Miss Holly (their friend) as it was her birthday.  I couldn't pass up that request!  Not only did we make the brownie treats, but when we finished those we baked a cake for Shawn's birthday, which is Tuesday.  I will have to ice it this evening, but it is baked! 
Later in the day I attacked our 4th bedroom.  You see, since I began Christmas shopping I have been using that room as a closet.  It was a mess!  I took all the gifts out of there that were for Shawn, Michelle, Esther and Tim and sorted them, boxed them up if needed and got ready to wrap.  Just getting them all out of the bags made a big difference!  While I love to wrap, it is truly a labor of love for me because it kills my back to wrap.  But I am making headway.  I am hoping to do a little each night this week that I can and hopefully finish anything I have left on the weekend.    (That is my intention anyway!)

Otherwise, the house is looking quite festive as all of our decorations are up! 
Are you ready?

Monday, December 3, 2012

Still Here!

I took an unexpected bloggy vacation.  As if life isn't hectic enough, things became complicated.  Ha!
Thanksgiving was really nice and it was sooo good to have the family here.  I love cooking the big meal and having everyone around, laughing, talking, watching football and being a family.  Because there is so much to do, I got up early to get a head start on things.  We were cooking 2 turkeys and a ham, along with all the accoutrements.  One turkey was going in the deep fryer and I have nothing to do with that, thank goodness!  The other was the larger of the two and was being cooked the traditional way.  Mr. Wonderful had to work that day, so I was on my own.  I went to the refrigerator in the basement to retrieve the turkey and just hauling that bad boy up the steps about did me in, so I thought I had no hope of getting iit in the oven after he was stuffed.  I called Michelle and asked her to send Shawn over to help me.  When he arrived, I was on the floor with my head hanging out the sliding glass door.  I had somehow fallen and wasn't able to get up, luckily Shawn was there in the nick of time!  I didn't think I had hurt myself, just a little ego bruise but over the next day or two I realized that my shoulder was quite sore and moving it caused some pain.  I headed to the doctor on Monday (lucky to get an appointment that quick) and X-rays showed that I had seperated my shoulder.  It's not as bad as it sounds, but they did tie me up in a sling for the next few weeks.  So please pardon any type O's!  There ya' have it-my excuse.
I did begin a post, but I never finished it and so didn't post.

On Black Friday, Michelle, Shawn,  Holly and myself headed out for the stores at 1:30 AM.  We shopped and shopped and then shopped some more.  After about 10 or 11 hours we had filled up the car and decided to head for home.  I had every intention of resting, but you k now what they say about intentions.  I wound up getting all my china and silver that we had used on Thanksgiving put away, cleaned up the mess that remained in the kitchen from Mr. W and then did a little decorating.  I also packed away all of my every day dishes and unpacked, washed and put away my Christmas dishes.  Whew!  No one was more surprised than me by what I was able to accomplish.

Saturday was my birthday and I celebrated by having the morning to myself.  The kids had all gone home and Mr. Wonderful was working again.  It was quite nice to be honest and I did a whole lot of nothing.
Later, Michelle, Shawn and Bella came over and then the hubs came home and I was showered with gifts!  Then we headed out for dinner at a hibachi steak house-yum!  It was delicious!  The evening was topped off by ice cream cake and candles.

Sunday, Jim and I headed down to Washington to Tim and Ester's place for dinner.  That was the first time that we had seen their apartment and I for one, was delighted to see it.  They had their Christmas tree up and the train that we had given Tim was under the tree and the place was as neat as a pin!  Again, I was spoiled with dinner, gifts and a cake too!  As a Mom, it sure is nice to see you children happy and healthy and in a good place. 

So that's what I've been up to.  How about you?