Happy Thanksgiving !

It was a wonderfully fabulous day filled with my favorite people and some awesome food. :)

Last night didn't go exactly as planned. Around midnight, I heard Wade come choking into our room. I knew right away that he'd been throwing up?! BAH!! I got him into my bathroom and after the vomiting was over, I snuggled him into his next to the potty sleeping place. He didn't make another sound all night long, but I was nearly sick about what would happen to our day! He woke up and acted as if nothing had happened. He's had no real other symptoms since.. Crazy, but I think he's fine.

I got up early to get the turkey all ready for the oven. We bought our first fresh Amish turkey this year. I was totally and completely grossed out by the neck, heart & gizzard that was in it. BLAH! I'd prefer my turkey without any of that stuff. Lucky for me, Tim dug all that stuff out of our bird before I coated him in butter, paprika & put him in the oven bag with some onion, a smidge of garlic salt & some flour. It was divine....

And then there was the pie... I made two this year, one pumpkin & the other a chocolate cream. YUM, enough said really! LOL

It was a great day. The only crappy thing is that we didn't get to do Mom & Dad's Xmas card photos as we'd planned. Due to the puking incident, Dave decided to leave his kiddos at home.... We'll get it done, soon... :)

The Christmas Tutu & the Girl with 'Tude...

Seriously, what am I going to do with her? I'll talk about her in a minute, but I just need to take a moment for a big WOOHOOOOO!! Our cost report was delivered safe and sound today, taking with it the weight of the world from my weary shoulders. Yeehaw! I was even able to start on the Ohio Medicaid report today, it's good news to me! :)

On the home front, I rushed home from work, early, because my boss is the BEST! I came home and Kellyn "helped" me make my chocolate silk pie & then Wil helped me do the pumpkin one. It's still in the oven & the house smells just yummy! I got to play around with my camera & by bouncing my flash in the kitchen. You know, it's taken me a while, but I think the concept of flash is REALLY starting to click for me. That really makes me excited because it makes the photo possibilities for me endless... Next on my list of things to learn is using flash for fill in full sun.. I'll work on that this spring/summer.

Tim cleaned out the garage today and I left my car out. I set up the "studio" in the garage & I like it.. It's plenty roomy. :) Anyway, I took spunky girl out with her tutu and she gave me a bit of tude... Hee hee...

Alright, I have baths to give and some fruit to chop and a pie to retrieve from the oven. Everyone enjoy Thanksgiving. I know I'm gonna!

Oh and HEY my Christmas cards came today. I actually said WOW when I opened them. They're SHARP if I do say so myself.. You'll see...

Listen, do you hear that?

Yeah, me neither.. Hee hee.. There's something very sweet about the silence of the morning. I get up extra early on work days just to enjoy about 15 minutes of sweet silence every day. The only thing I hear is the sound of my coffee maker... Ahhh...

Few things going on, nothing too spectacular, but hey, it's my life right? Today is BIG. I'm sending via courier this years Medicare Cost Report. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say the entire package of report + back up documentation weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 pounds and I'm not.even.kidding... Goverment red tape, check!

Hmm, went out yesterday at lunch to quickly pick up Wil's EIGHTH (how the heck did that happen) birthday gift only to leave Toys R Us spending nearly $250 and no, it wasn't all for his birthday! I don't know why I can't just go into a store and buy what is on my list.. So, I got his gift, a way cool Star Wars Lego set. I planned to get him the legos & a DS game. Well, the DS games were buy one, get one half. Could I pass up an offer like that when I KNOW I have other DS games on the Xmas list? No. I got 2 DS games. I picked a name off our adopted family tree at work. I planned to spend $25-30 on that gift, ended up spending, well, more. Ok, this was NOT my fault. The shelf tag must've been wrong/it didn't ring up properly, whatever, the Barbie Beach Car was listed for 12.99, but it actually cost 22! This threw the budget way off kilter because thinking I'd gotten a great deal I decided to buy a set of 3 Barbie outfits that actually DID cost 12.99... AHHH!!! Naturally, I didn't realize this was the case until I was in my car driving back to work! Whatever.. it'll make some 5 year old very happy, right? As if all that is not bad enough, then I bumped into the Imaginext BatCave and the NEW accessories that go with it.. like the Joker Villian Van AND the Batman & Robin Bad Guy Roundup vehicle (obvioulsy not the real name, but you follow, right). My boys really love the BatCaves, yes each kid got one to keep the fighting at bay (almost worked but it was a good idea) and they play with them quite often. They didn't have these items on the wish list, yet, but I feel it coming since we just got the Fisher Price toy catalog in the mail and this stuff was in it... Also, I recall last year being frantic to find certain accessories for the Cave, sooooo I figured I'd save myself a later headache and get 2 of each thing.. I'm feeling a bit of buyers remorse on this purchase, but I do have the receipt, so if I decide to take them back I can! LOL Hows that for justifying?? HA! At least I remembered the wrapping paper, go ME!

Let's see... Kellyn has decided to have her birthday party at Build a Bear, and I'm learning that her friendships are very much like water... Today V is going because they are BEST friends, but tomorrow, we don't like V at alll..... It'll be curious to see who actually gets invited. Oh dear...

In other news Wade's pal C called him on the phone yesterday... Wade had asked me to write our phone number on paper so he could give it to C. I assumed (this is what I get for assuming) that C's mom wanted it to arrange a birthday party/sleepover/playdate/whatever, so I obliged. Last night C called to speak to Wade and I swear, I was getting nervous... C would not let Wade off the phone. I know they talked at least 15 minutes?! They're FIVE?? I don't know what will happen next, but since the number C has is my cell, I'm a bit concerned about getting many calls from a 5 year old... Heeheehee...

Alright, I need to pour the rest of this coffee down my throat, put my clothes on and send that ten pound package of paper to the government. May the Force be with me.... Thanks for spending my quiet time with me. :) I'm gonna roll, until later.

For N...

I will mess around with the 10x20 later. I think the whole group shot should be the background image, but I'm not sure I can make the portrait style group shot fit nicely into that format... In the meantime, heres a big square one. :)

Ok, I thought I'd show you an alternative to the photo in the background 10x20. I grabbed a couple more pictures to fill up the holes. Hee hee..

Exhausted, part II

Well, I guess it's about time I really, really started to feel it. I FEEL like my candle is burning on both ends. Hee hee... I'm exhausted, feel like I'll never catch up, but I do see light at the end of the crazy busy tunnel! YIPPEE! We filed our Indiana Medicaid Cost Report yesterday. I'm couriering the Medicare one tomorrow. It's done, just needs to be sent. I've been able to uncover which twin is which in my basketball kiddo photo overlook. LOL I can now safely place that order knowing that I have all kids with the right names. I just didn't bank on THREE sets of twins! Hee hee... Live and learn I say. :)

Tonight I'm going to do some card desiging for L. & give N. a call regarding her collage. I will get the basketball order finally placed. I'm gonna go through my cupboard and make certain that I have what I need for Wednesday night pie making and Thursday turkey making. YAAAY.

Hoping I have a minute to take a picture of Kells in her Xmas Program tutu tonight too. I made one on Sunday night for her pal S. and finished Kellyn's up at basketball yesterday. I still have tulle, so I may see if any of the other little girls want one?! Am I NUTS?? What did I just say about burning that darned candle?? And I wonder why my kids don't listen? HAHAHAHA...

exhausted...

OMgosh, I'm exhausted and that is putting it mildly! LOL The basketball boy photos went very well, thanks to Mom, Dad & Tim for helping me. I couldn't have done it without all of your assistance. :)

I didn't sleep well last night and got up around 5 this morning to get my head together. I woke everyone else around 6 and we got moving. We got to the high school before Uncle David did. I'm glad we got there early because it very much helped my stress level. We had plenty of time to unload, set up and I had a chance to practice in this particular spot with my lighting. I freaked out at first because I had to set up a bit differently than I did in my small quarters living room! Hee hee... I tried to remain calm, and I was fairly successful. I was able to regroup, retry and get it to work long before the first child showed up to be photographed. Whew... My softbox did get knocked over by some running boys in the hallway. We had a bit of a scare that it had been damaged, but it's fine. Did I already say WHEW? I've learned a lot about what I'll do differently for the January group to make it better for everyone.

I was going to head out to the Disbro Family Thanksgiving, but honestly, when I got home I sat down and couldn't get up. I'm just totally physically & mentally pooped. I sat and did absolutely nothing for a couple of hours and then set to begin organizing & editing today's photos. I have managed to do the first bit of editing on all the photos, meaning I chose one pose of each child, and I have all of the kids organized in folders by team. The rest should be cake... I say, it should be and I'm pretty sure it will. I'm very pleased with what I captured with the help of my favorite team in the world... Did I say thank you yet??? Love all of you...

crazy Thursday...

So, it's finally Thursday. I'm pooped... What a day and what an evening it's been.... I came home to find Wil crying. He's been having a tooth issue. His appointment was scheduled for December 9, but I could tell instantly that that wasn't going to work. While we have the cost report done, we're also in the middle of readying for an audit. I got him in for tomorrow at 9:15 but I didn't know how I was going to work it... My first thought was to take him myself and then go into work at noon. I decided to call good old Mom and she was able to do it for me. I rushed to get Wil's little bag packed and him delivered to her. Bless his little heart, he seemed very nervous. I know I would be. I very much dislike the dentist..

I had planned to finalize my basketball pose and do a bit more practice with the light before Saturday & I think I have it!! Thanks to Wade for being my model... He's so stinking cute... Wouldn't be complete if I didn't take one of Kells too.. Can you see her black eye? I'll fill ya in on that one tomorrow... LOL