Let's just start off by talking about Nic's teachers' Christmas presents. It seems like that is all I have been doing/thinking of for the last week. I started by "thinking" of buying the both teachers a cute decorative box and having Nic put a personal note in each... which is what I should have stuck with. I was talking to my cousin, and we came up with this idea about going to Michaels and buying a wood box of some sort and having Nic paint it. Great idea right? Well, I took Nic to Michaels and let him pick two "cigar" boxes. Then, I had to track down an employee to ask a dozen questions about what to do next. I should have known to end it right then. I bought the supplies, and the next day we started. Nic wanted to color each side a solid color (I thought he would do something a little more fancy) so he did. At one point I went to open the box and it was painted(dried) shut. When I pulled hard enough, it broke into pieces...Jack is gone all week....so here I am with a glue gun and Nic saying "it will be fine". I didnt know you had to do layer after layer of paint. The glue job was not good at all. The project started Saturday and we finished it on Thursday. I took him to school this morning with the boxes tucked nicely in gift bags. They were finally out of the house. I feel like I can relax now, and its nice seeing my counters without paint, newspaper, brushes, and rags. I attached a picture to show the final master piece. I always say, if we all could just attach a note to each present telling of the journey of how the gift came to be.

Still dealing with "the sick" over here. Cassidy has been running a fever since Sunday... so back to no sleep. Over the weekend, when everyone was well, we went to the pennisula to a yacht club for a Christmas parade with boats decorated for Christmas. Jack and I were walking the pier and thought; we could never be doing this, in December, back in Wisconsin. Santa came in floating on his big yacht, standing at the front waving. I thought it was so funny, who would ever think they would see Santa coming to town on a boat? When he came up the pier, he was lifting the kids up to say hello. Nic was hiding behind me and Cassidy was in Jack's arms saying, "Scared, No Santa".... so again (I thought) another year with no Santa pictures. I had a plan to hold Cassidy and stand by Santa for a picture, but when I went up to him, Santa tried to grab Cassidy and she totally went crazy trying to get away, screaming. A second later, Jack was able to get the shot which is pictured here. You would never guess all the drama, by looking at the picture. At least one kid had a Santa shot this year.

Hope every one's Thanksgiving Day went well, we had an excellent time with Carla and Dave visiting. I made way too much food but it lasted us all week. Jack was very proud of his Turkey, (always scared those feathers will come out again for the holidays). We had a babysitter come for some time each day so we could enjoy some of North Carolina's sites. Grand Father Mountain was our first stop for the weekend and there were some beautiful views. Jack and Carla missed out on amazing cliff side views (since they are scared of heights). You can see from the pictures I was literally on the edge of the cliff. Saturday, we thought we would tour local winery's around and catch some great views. Nic got pretty sick while they were here with cough and fever so we were dealing with no sleep each night. Took him into the doctor to find out he has Bronchitis and Sinus infection so we had to keep him home from school today and we will see what tonight/tomorrow brings. Always something going on preventing us from sleeping through the night lets just hope it will end soon. Carla and Dave are not going to miss the puking/coughing/crying issues but we all will certainly miss them! We are so blessed to have family and friends that are willing to visit us, our hearts are so happy and blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Today I'm feeling alive again, now that its my first day back driving. I had a hair appointment so I really feel like a new person today.

Nic's class is having a Thanksgiving lunch at his school tomorrow and each family has to bring a part of a Thanksgving meal that they listed. I thought I would be creative and pick something on there list and bring turkey cookies. That's where I went to far! I had to say I would bring in turkey cookies, "What was I thinking"? So today I left for my hair appointment with my list of ingredients for my cookies. It's a rainy day and wanted to get home to show Jack my new hair dew without getting wet ...but went running from store to store to find items for the cookies. After 3 stores and flat hair later, I get home where Nic is waiting patiently to make the cookies. I tried to let him do most of it and they are not bad for a 5yr old baker. Still I think, why couldn't I just have bought premade holiday cookies? That's how I operate...always doing things the hard way.

I'm almost back! I was down with strep-throat..and I mean down. I haven't had that one since I was like 10. This was worse than the flu. Thank goodness Jack was around for the kids, again another reason why it was so worth the move so I could have his help when needed or I would have been solo and not sure how. Hoping this weekend I'm back at 100% so I can enjoy the things I take for grantid. All I've been wanting was to have some "me" time and have no one talk and just hang out and watch some movies, well I got all that. I was breaking down not being able to talk to Jack and the kids, if I watched one more episode of Oprah.. let me tell you. Funny how things work like that. I guess you have to get taken down once in awhile so you can really see how lucky you are in life.

Wow, my progress today was adding this background flare. Im still laughing that Im becoming a blogger and not sure who really is going to be intrested in anything I have to say. Im sure I will find someone out there that will not roll there eyes at the thought reading a blog. Today is the first day Im taking Nic out of school early since I have to be so careful now with his days in the school system. The gang is headed for a trip to visit Hudson for his birthday in Atlanta so we are excited to see our cousins but not so much of the drive, thank goodness for the DVD player. Cassidy is on my lap trying to push buttons along with me so I guess this is my time I need to check out.

Thought I would put in my two sence worth today and see how long I can keep this up. Im sure the days will get longer apart from post to post. My dad left today and the kids are pretty sad, it breaks our heart to miss family and friends so much. We are counting down the days until we go home so it wasnt that bad to say good bye. Cassidy went to the airport with me and we walked my dad to the gate which turned out to be sad when he walked on the plane she was screaming, "Grandpa, Grandpa" I have tears just thinking of it but glad to see how much the kids love him. I will try to figure out how to add pictures and designs for my next trip to the blogger so until then take care. Remember to smile!

Today Im just trying to figure this whole blogging thing out. I think I went on this site a dozen times to try to start with whatever Im suppose to start with. I guess Im getting a little further everyday, today Im actually writting but not sure where it is going to show up so we will see. I have the kids acting crazy around me so not sure if my words are actually coming out what Im thinking. Nic and Cas are playing dress up and I should be running for a camera because its actually pretty funny. Nic is dressed like a train/business man and Cassidy is a princess/grocery shopper. My dad is here visiting and just waiting for Jack and him to get back from errands which not sure what they were doing. All of us went to the train museum yesterday and thought it was really neat. I got a lot of great pictures with my dad and the kids to go in the memory book. Its been nice having him here the kids will miss him when he leaves. Thanks for reading it and we will do more soon.