Birthday Sleepover

It just occured to me that I never blogged about my sleepover. Sorry. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I am sad to report that I did not take pictures. I am still kicking myself for this. I was running late due to an unexpected visit from a campaigner that would not leave, so I forgot to bring my camera down before the girls all arrived. Once they started getting here, we were laughing, joking, eating, re-living old memories, sharing new memories and stories, that I completely forgot. We ate and talked so much that we did not have time to watch a movie or play any games. It was a GREAT time though and I will not soon forget it.

We plan to get together once a month after the New Year for Girl's Night. FUN FUN FUN.

My best friend from high school and a good friend from elm school got together and made me a cd of songs from most years of my life. And a card with old pictures of the three of us on it.

We made some great memories and it was an awesome way to celebrate my 30 years.

My gifts included...

flowers and an American Express gift card

a large 30 balloon and memory cd, 30 sucks sucker and an "I don't want to grow up" necklace

a pumpkin candle and a Max & Erma gift card

Television

How much tv does your family watch?

Can you go with out the tv?

If so for how long?

I would like to say that we do not watch much tv, but after having to re-arrange things so that all could be recorded by the dvr and still having to watch a show in "real time", just to not miss anything, I came to the conclusion that we do watch TOO much tv.

The solution...I wish I could say that we would just not watch, but I have NO willpower, so that probably won't happen. So the hubs and I had a talk and decided that come 2009 we will turn our cable OFF. No more tv for house. I think this will bring us closer together as a couple and as a family and most importantly closer to the Lord.

Our church does small groups through out the week in various families homes. We are going to sign up for one or possibly host one of our own. We will also read more and do more outings together as a family. Possibly even get in a regular "date night" most weeks or at least once a month.

I am looking forward to it. We will no longer "submit" to our tv schedule/dvr, but submit to the Lord, as we should always do.

Are you working on any "New Year's resolutions"?

48 days to Christmas

PJ and I went Christmas shopping this past weekend. I am happy to report that we are DONE. Well, sort of. Since CJ was with us, we could not buy for him, but I do have a few things for him already. His "big" gift this year is a portable dvd player. While he wants one, this is more a gift for Mommy and Daddy. We make a lot of car trips through out the year and if CJ has a movie or something to watch, he is content. (is that selfish?) He will get his (kid tough, by fisher price, I think) dvd player earlier too, just in time for our Thanksgiving trip to Indiana. Besides our own 3 yr old son to buy for we have 11 other kiddos to get for. Ten of which are 5 and under. (can we say Baby Boom?) The 11th child is my niece, who just turned 13. She will receive a gift card to her favorite store, Aeropostle. The five and under crowd obviously is getting toys. The rest of the people we buy for are getting pictures. PJ's side of the family is getting a picture of all the grandkids. There are five of them and they have never had their picture taken together. That is scheduled to be done after Thanksgiving. My side of the family is getting a picture of the three of us. We have never had a family picture professionally done before. So this year, we are. Once these pictures are done, our Christmas "shopping" will be done. YAY!!! I think this will be a record for me. How about you?

A Date with My Husband

Today my Mom agreed to keep CJ, so that PJ and I could go on a date. The plans were set for us to go to church, then to lunch and then to the movies. Well it is nice to have a plan, but life does not always follow our plans. Hubby was not feeling well this morning and just after CJ left with my Mom it was decided that we would not be going to church. (he HATES missing church, so I thought this may put a damper on our day) We decided that we would go ahead and go to the earlier show and then do lunch and go to church this evening. Just reverse our plans.

So we headed out to see Fireproof. I have been waiting anxiously to see this movie. I have been very patient and it paid off. This is such a great movie. So much so that I am recommending it to our best friends who are 10 months into a nasty divorce. I am also buying them the book The Love Dare. I am not sure at this point it will do any good, but I feel that I am being led to do this. So who am I not to listen? If you have not seen the movie, do it for yourself and your marriage, whether it is a new marriage, old marriage, great marriage or rocky marriage.

You can watch a trailor for the movie here... www.fireproofthemovie.com After the movie we were going to go to lunch, but I noticed a Barnes & Noble just down from the theater. We do not have a good bookstore in our town, so we decided to check it out. I have been wanting the book written by the Gosselins. Multiple Blessings. I love the show Jon & Kate plus 8 on TLC. I found the book and since it was a new release it was 20% off. (go me) We were in Barnes and Noble for almost two hours. (oops) Books are addicting. We bought two books, a dvd that goes along with one of the books and a floor puzzle as a Christmas gift. I will be going back there FOR SURE. I think I spent 40 minutes in the kiddie section alone. They have story time and a play area there. We will be checking that out in the near future. We decided we will need to purchase a bookshelf (or two) before making any future trips back. Good thing it is 30 minutes from our home.

After our adventure in the bookstore we were off to my most favorite restaurant.

Don't they have the best food? And added bonus you can shop when you are done or while you wait to be seated. Unfortunately for me (fortunately for my bank acct), the only thing we purchased today was our meal. I did look around though which was as just as much fun. I had their yummy chicken salad and hubby had the french toast. (he always gets breakfast)

It was a great day and we decided that we need to have more "us" time. For the first three years of CJ's life he stayed with no one, but us over night and seldom went with anyone else unless we were along too. Can you say over protective Mom? This past July he had his first sleepover at my Mom's with my nephew. He has since stayed with my Mom five more times. He loves going there and she loves having him. So I think we will take advantage. You never know will baby number 2 is going to come along and it will not be so easy to get "mawkle" (pronouced ma cole) (which is what CJ calls my Mom) to watch them both at the same time.

Halloween Costume Parade

Today Becky over at Boys Rule My Life is hosting a costume parade. I thought this was such a fun idea, I decided to join in. That and I just thought CJ looked so darn cute that I wanted everyone to see him (again). ha ha ha ha

To check out more little ones in their costumes go visit Becky's blog ( Boys Rule My Life ).

Now with out further ado... CJ (aka fireman) He tells me he is NOT a fire chief because on all of his fire truck dvds the fire chief's have mustaches. So he is just a fireman and oh so PROUD to be one.

standing in his bedroom in front of his fire house tent his trick or treat "bag" was his firetruck Easter basket

a view from the back, to see his "oxygen tank" back pack in "action" trick or treating