Catholic Schools Week

Today is the start of Catholic School's Week.
We kicked it off with a yummy pancake and sausage breakfast and open house. We visited each of the kids classrooms to view projects they've been working on. We even got to see Hoppy, the bunny in Kade's classroom.

The rest of the week will be fun filled too:
Monday - Parent Appreciation Day - pasties for parents, prayer & Flag Raising Ceremony and the Balloon Launch
Tuesday - Teacher/Staff Appreciation Day - each class will have parents substitute so the teacher and staff can be treated to a catered luncheon
Wednesday - Student Appreciation Day - the teachers will do something special for their students and the high school Science class will visit some of the classroom's to present various science astronomy activities
Thursday - Family / Community Appreciation Day - Mass, Individual student talent show, and in the evening is the annual Chicken Noodle Soup Supper and the school wide talent show.
Friday - student holiday

Noah's Party

We must be insane, but we allowed Noah to invite 4 boys over for a sleepover - that was a total of 6 boys at our house. I picked them up from school and they couldn't get in the house quick enough to start playing. Brian got home not long after we did, and later Brooke & Beau came over, so I had plenty of backup - but I really didn't need it, they were all very well behaved.
They played Wii, they had Nerf gun fights, they ate, they played other video games, they ate again, they played Legos, they danced, and we laughed, and laughed. By 10:30 I put a movie on and by midnight it was lights out, I heard them talking a little, but not for very long - don't know if that was because I fell asleep that quick or if they actually got quiet that quick. They were up by 8 this morning so I got up and made breakfast, so ate and played again.
It was a fun time.

Noah is 11

Our first born, laid back, go with the flow, smart, handsome, caring son, who's also a great big brother is 11 years old today. He's all boy and loves sports, and video games, and music, and his family.
He had an amazing birthday (his comments - btw amazing is his new favorite word)
This morning Brian, Kade & I woke him up and sang to him, then we put a candle in a muffin for him to make a wish, then let him open his cards and one gift. Then it was off to Granny's. I heard the girls scuffling around and they hurried Kade in, so when Noah came in they were holding a big banner they made and sang to him. Granny also had mini pancakes with candles in and PawPaw acted like he was going to give him birthday spankings. One the way to school he heard birthday wished on the radio, and Aunt Net was the third caller so he was the winner of something. Then this evening we went out to eat at one our favorite places. The brought out a piece of cheesecake with a candle in it, so we sang again, and then he opened his gifts. Yep, and amazing day for an amazing boy.

Jackpot!!!

You know how some days you dread opening the mail box because of the bills or the junk mail, well today wasn't one of those days. When I opened the mailbox I felt like I hit the jackpot.
I got the reimbursement checks from my dental insurance I'm been hoping for - woohoo!! it's almost time to pay the credit card bill!!!
And an even bigger WooHoo!! We got the release of lien to our house in Victoria - finally after 15 years, we own one home, now to get this other one paid off. . . .
I also got the Kohl's flier and when I peeled the sticker off to see my discount, it revealed 30% off and it's good through Tuesday the 19th. Lucky for me I'm off on Monday and scheduled a massage at the day spa so I may have go to Kohl's and find me a little something.

Getting Back To It

Well, we survived our first week back at work and school, and now it's time for me to get back to blogging too.
Kade returned to school to find out he was student of the week, so he had to take pictures of himself to school in addition to filling out his favorites. Also, his teacher invited me to come and read his favorite book to the class. I went there Wednesday afternoon and read them two books. I also brought cookies for them to enjoy for snack. I really enjoyed it, I wish I could do it more often. It was also nice being off early that day, after I picked up the boys we went home and took down the tree and all the indoor decorations. It's been pretty cold so we didn't get to the outside lights yet.
It was a good week, even though I thought it was a little long.

New Years Eve & Day

For New Years Eve we kept to our tradition of going to Mass, then going to Donnie & Bernadette's house. And as always we had a good time visiting, drinking, eating, and doing fireworks. To add a little excitement to the evening, their water well/pump went out, so there was no water, but it all worked out fine.

On New Years Day, we went to my parent's for lunch which of course included black eye peas for good luck and cabbage for money. The kids did more fireworks, more specifically smoke bombs, and had fun playing together.
The original plan was for us to help Debbie & Louis make sausage on the Saturday after New Year's, but if anyone knows my dad, he doesn't like to wait, especially when you have a perfect day. So Debbie, Louis, Mom, Dad, Diane & I made over 100 links of sausage (and several bags of pan sausage) on New Years Day. And this was only from Louis' deer/hogs.
Brian, Noah, Ronnie & Beau were at the deer lease to get more deer to make more sausage. . . .fun.

Gram's

During the Christmas holiday's Brian and the boys went to Gram's house in the Hill Country. She had knee surgery mid December and needed rails on her porch and stairs, so they went and got this done and visited with her. Of course I sent the camera and they did me proud.
I opted to take advantage of the empty house to stay home and clean, and put Christmas toys/gifts away. I was one tired puppy, by the time they got home, but it felt so good to have a clean, non cluttered house. Although when they got home they left a trail of their things through out, but I didn't mind because I was glad they were home.

2010

Happy New Year from our family to yours.
Wishing everyone many blessings in 2010.