The Sunday at the end of Thanksgiving Break

Why is it we wait in such anticipation of an event and when the event is over, the letdown, or reality of return to the reality of life is so difficult? It is now Sunday morning, the day before the return to school and my list of things to accomplish this weekend has dwindled minimally. Attempts to get to work on the massive pile of paperwork that have been waiting all these days for me to work on have been started but as usually happens, something much more exciting to do comes along. Even 5 loads of laundry had more appeal yesterday than watching a video on yet another catastrophic eye disease! The christmas boxes made their way downstairs yesterday and the tree and kitchen lights are up but the decorations for the tree are still awaiting hanging (have to first figure out how to add extra lighting to my half-lit pre-lit Christmas tree, ugh). My cookie cutter collection is calling my name and I'm fighting the urge to make and decorate cookies. Like I really have time for this!!!!! But, I also have to finish making my gifts for my students, mod podging my sand dollars (that I worked hard to dig for when on Spring Break), empty the dishwasher, prepare meals for the week, walk the dog, watch 3 eye videos, do my Medicaid billing (this I really should do as it is the last day of the month), get an IEP invitation ready as well as start the IEP, clean out my school crate and try to figure out what I'm teaching this week, especially in regards to Writing which is the school's (and district's) major academic focus this year, oh and I don't feel the greateat. Woke up with no voice yesterday (Saturday) and while it's a little stronger today, the crud seems to be building and my body feels like lead. What a great way to end 5 glorious days off!

P.S. The forecast for later today and tonight is 5-7 inches of snow. Guess I'd better add finding my shovel in my outdoor shed and digging my snow boots out of my upstairs 'dump room' to the list as well as set my alarm for an earlier awake time as it'll take longer to get to school with crazy drivers not used to driving in the white stuff getting in my way.

**After reading this blog over, I really should get started doing something.....oh, a Hallmark movie I've never seen just started...........

Thankful Blessings Part 2

Thanksgiving. That time of year when family and friends can gather, eat great food, spend time together just 'being' and prepare for the holiday season. I've come to the conclusion that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It truly is a time to just be together with those that are most important and be thankful for all that we have. Mainly it's just being together and sharing a great meal together.
This year was the first time in a long while that we gathered later in the day. It was surprisingly delightful to spend much of the afternoon by myself, working on my blog, walking Chezie around a very quiet complex, and getting my stuff together for an exciting 24 hours of family fun. A very relaxing way to spend a holiday and one I recommend to anyone who has the chance to do this. We gathered at mom and dad's between 4:30 - 5:00. I think Rick and Stacey and clan were the first to arrive for the first time ever! We sat down to eat at 5:25 and by 5:55 we were done. Talk about an inhalation! But, as always, mom outdid herself with a phenomenal bird--very juicy. Cooked just right. Dad's contribution was a HUGE bowl of mashed potatoes. Jen, Stacey, and I added our own tasty dishes. And, like most years, there is and was an abundance of food on the table. The table length itself increased as we like to have enough room for all the food as well as sitting comfortably. Kyle likes to take his place sitting at the opposite end as grandpa.
After eating, the kids got ready for the annual showing of The Polar Express. We started this tradition 4 years ago, on Thanksgiving night, when we all went to the theater to see the movie. Celia was 5 months old at that time. Now, we show it on Thanksgiving night, with the kids getting all comfy and cozy on the floor while the adults 'do homework' by looking a the adds for the Black Friday onslaught. There's always some great deal that has to be had. As the family has cut down on gift-giving over the years, for me, going out is part of kicking off the season and getting some great deal for myself. Usually something that I've been looking at for a long time but wanted to wait until the price was right. This year the purchase was a short air purifier tower. My neighbor enjoys smoking in his house during the winter months and as a result, my bedroom often has a lingering smoke smell. Hopefully this will help with purifying the air during my sleep hours. Rick, Stacey, all 5 grandkids, and 2 dogs, stayed overnight. G & G were the sleeping babysitters as Brian/Jen and Rick/Stacey wanted to get a jump start on the gift buying for their kids. So, once the kids were all safely tucked into sleeping bags in the basement, a plan was made for the day. They were all heading to Kohl's for th 4am opening. Meijer is usually where I go as it's the easiest to get in and out of, and they have MANY quantities of items. There are also so many of these stores around that if you can't get it at one, there's always another.
The alarms went off at 3:15! Since we didn't get settled into bed until after midnight ourselves (Brian & Jen settled for sleeping at their own house, with their kids at G & G's), it made for a very short night!! *Wow, am I tired as I write this!!!! We were out of the house by 3:40 and I was in Meijer by 3:50. I ended up waiting in the GPS line for an hour as I had already grabbed my air thingy and was getting the GPS for mom and dad. It was quite enjoyable chatting with the 2 other people in line. Time went quickly and I was out the door by 5:20. Chezie was waiting in the car for me so we took a quick trip home, to our house, before heading out to a couple other stores. By 8am, I was enroute back to mom and dad's, hopefully for a few minutes of shut-eye before the kids got up. It was a few minutes allright! 3 whole minutes!!! But, once everyone was up and breakfast got started, I was awake.
It was a wonderful 24 hours of family fun and excitement. Great memories to last until next Thanksgiving. Wonderful pictures were taken and hopefully they upload like I want. I'm still new to this blogging thing and I'm finding that posting pics is the most challenging part.

Thankful Blessings Part 1

What a wonderful Thanksgiving Day service at Madison Square this morning! Laura Carpenter was the preacher and her message about our Anxiety List but also our Thankful List was very powerful. Made me re-think my anxieties for a little bit.

Maddy's dance group also danced to a wonderful song, Sanctuary. As always, Maddy puts her all into her dancing. Her dance group this year has many younger, smaller girls in it and you can see that Maddy has leadership potential. I'm attempted to upload her dancing video but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do this. Maybe over the weekend, when I have more time. **I used the movie function on my camera and didn't have my tripod to use so hopefully it's viewable. I zoomed in on Maddy at times so the picture is a little fuzzy at times but you get the idea of her dance. I hope you'll be able to see it.....

More Thankful Blessings this afternoon as the whole family, including 2 grand-dogs, invades Mom and Dad's house for dinner, the annual showing of the Polar Express, and then a giant slumber party with 5 grandkids, 2 dogs, 2 aunts, and 1 uncle (the three older adults are heading out shopping in the wee hours). The entire event will be topped off by a breakfast brunch following the early morning escapades by all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sleep, sleep, I want more sleep....

Why is it that when you wake up in the middle of the night, toss around for a bit and then, just as you fall back to sleep, the stupid alarm starts to go off? Not a very restful night and I'd even gone to bed early (by my standards). Oh well, good thing I can sleep in tomorrow.

One tired pooch!

Boy, getting a haircut and hanging out all day at Posh Pet Doggie Salon was utterly exhausting! Time for bed, NOW.

My wonderful students

My class is just the best!!! Everyone gets along and helps each other out. On this beautiful fall day, we took a walk on the nature trail to use our 5 senses to experience the world around us. We'd just had a whopper of a weekend with tons of rain so everything was bright, green, and fresh. We could've stayed out there all day but we had to get back to class, where we promptly started writing about our walk on the trail. Don't we just look so happy to be in school, er....outside?

Grandpa's 90th birthday

Birthdays are a milestone. Every year they come whether we want them to or not. Some birthdays are eagerly anticipated while others are dreaded with every breath we take. Milestone birthdays are extra special. And while all birthdays should be celebrated, BIG birthdays deserve special recognition and even a party (or possibly 2). Such was the case with Grandpa Post turning 90 years old. It seems like just yesterday that we had a 75th surprise birthday party for him for him at Oakdale Park Church. His 80th birthday was celebrated at the now closed Mountain Jack's restaurant. All of the family came but the number was much smaller than it is now. The 85th birthday was a celebration with the children but included a dvd that had been made of his life and was set to music.

This past summer Grandpa started to go down hill, health-wise. When he entered the hospital on May 21, that was the last day he actually lived at his house. After discharge, he went to Raybrook Manor and in September was moved to Faith Hospice at Trillium Woods. During all this time, the thought about a birthday party started to grow in my mind. After all, birthdays are a big deal. I stuck to my guns about wanting this party for him (and the family), planned the birthday event (with some help from mom and dad as the event became bigger than I'd planned it to be) and even though he said he wouldn't be around to attend it, he made it to his party. What an event it was!!!! He stayed for the entire event, eating pizza, cake with ice cream, watching movies and slide shows about himself, visiting with children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and others. The evening was topped off by celebrating communion together. It was such an warm and memorable night for all. Exactly what birthdays are supposed to be......

Retinopathy of Prematurity

What is it about having a deadline for a class and I can find 1,001 other things much more interesting to do? I guess I'll just have to turn the computer off and work on my laptop which doesn't have internet if I hope to get this 10 page paper cranked out today!!!

Halloween 2008

So, Halloween has arrived again. Unlike last year, which was cold, wet, and rainy, this year's was the perfect weather--slightly warm with a cool breeze and tons of sunshine. The time change hasn't occurred yet, so it will be plenty light for all of the trick-or-treaters. Trick-or-Treaters don't come to doors in Georgetown Condominiums so no fear of any tricks being played on me. Instead, some friends and I went to Mangiamo's for a quick Happy Hour. Nothing like a glass of Sangria to kick off a beautiful weekend!
At school, we had a Fall Festival afternoon event. I missed the entire last half of October last year due to my asthma flare-up so it was tons of fun spending the afternoon with my students, eating yummy (and somewhat healthy) food, doing a pumpkin magnet project, and watching Charlie Brown. Crazy, busy teacher that I am, I didn't even take a single picture.
Saturday, November 1, was the family big Halloween event. It's always so much fun to see the kids in their costumes and see them interact with each other. Its' been a few weeks since we were all together so it was fun to spend another beautiful weather afternoon with family. The kids just looked soooooo adorable!!!!! Kyle & Emma kicked the afternoon off with playing a trick on all of us---Kyle was 'home sick' but Emma had snuck (?) downstairs, yelled that there was a spider down there and Grandpa had to come kill it. When Grandpa finally made it downstairs, Kyle jumped out and scared him (and everyone else!) He is indeed growing up. What a perfect day.