Thankful

I'm thankful for so many things this year, but here's a few:
-My children, who are the most amazing boys in the entire world. They are all 3 so different:
--my oldest, the wise old soul with his mom's soft heart, smart as a whip, generous, loving, and such a good big brother
--my middle son, my little ball of fire, who loves and gets angry to the extreme. Not everything comes easy but he'll work his tail off if he wants it. Ladies man, goof ball, loves all things army
--my youngest, my baby. 3 years old and thinks he can do everything his brothers do. So headstrong, so bullheaded, quite the dancer (he can do the white man boogie, I'll tell you). Perhaps I baby him too much because I'll never have more, but too bad.
-My husband, who of course gave me my 3 amazing boys. Who's loved me, and grown up with me, for the last 20 years. My best friend, the love of my life
-My house. Its great to be in here finally even as I type in a sea of boxes because my office is the last room to be unpacked. My hubby did an amazing job w/the lights out front and I'm getting started inside. Its going to be beautiful.
-A very uneventful, lazy Thanksgiving day. It was so low key, and delicious. No stress, good food, good family.
-A healthy family. More surgeries this year for my Pop, but looks better than in a long time. My mom's doing well. Brother's & sister's families all good. We had a great Thanksgiving on Saturday w/my family & I really enjoyed it, my nieces are getting so big. Also, my family on hubby's side, I have a great mother in law & her family has embraced me as one of their own.
-Hope for a better financial future. I have a gut feeling there's light at the end of the horizon.
-A great parish and school for my kids, fun for ourselves w/families we're friends with.

Just a glimpse, for sure. I'm thankful for so much more.
Happy Thanksgiving

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas!

The process has begun. Yes, my friend, we have started decorating this large house. This morning I went with the guys that work for us into our storage and found several, actually over a truck full, of decorations. And, since it was a sunny day (but extremely cold), we started on the outside. My hubby could easily be called Clark Griswald, of the Christmas Vacation fame.
Also, I have to say, this house is beautiful. It is old, and Victorian, and looks amazing with Christmas lights outlining the exterior. And, we have a Santa sleigh and reindeer parked on the side roof. And the entire widow's walk is lined with light up 3 foot candy canes. It gives me chills that this is actually where we call home after all of these years. We have owned this house for 8 years, and this is our first Christmas in it.
Tonight, I went through several of the totes with inside decorations. I have a pretty cool collection of Santa Clauses, I must say. I have a thing for unusual Santa's. And I love snowglobes. Of course, 1 was broken. It never fails because we have so many things stacked up in the storage area.
My 3 year old is totally getting into the whole Christmas thing. He told me Merry Christmas several times as we were outside, watching Daddy on the roof. And, as I was opening things, his excitement was wonderful. This is what its all about. The wonderment and awe in a child during Christmas time is so cool. My 7 year old was walking around with his Santa hat, as cute as ever.
Last year I purchased our first ever fake tree. So, I can actually get my tree up over the next few days and it will still look amazing on Christmas day! I do love a real tree, but the ease of a fake one is just too much to fight with anymore.
So, Happy Christmas season, ye ol' blog. May the good times roll.

My Son, the Musician

My oldest son's class has started learning how to play the recorder. Its a small wind instrument that is often the starting point for music lessons for children. So, for the last week or so he's been bringing it home to practice. Now, don't get me wrong. I love the fact that he's taking up an instrument, the best I can do is pretend to hum a few lines of a song. And, even that's not on the right key. So, he's now learned 3 notes. And, he plays those 3 notes over. And over. And over. I would never say anything negative to him about it. But, I'm going to crack. Thank goodness bedtime is in an hour.
Now, onto other business. Before I get too interrupted, I realize that its been quite some time since I've last posted (sorry, Mom, even though you're my only reader). We actually finally moved into our big house. Its not a mansion or even as big as my sister's house, buts its bigger for us. It has 3 floors, so you can bet my butt is starting to improve. And, until Friday, my washer & dryer were still across the street at the other house. For a family of 5, thats alot of trips across the street for me to do laundry. Often, at 8 or 9 at night, none the less. But, tonight I put my first load of laundry in the basement here and I have to tell you it was bliss. Pure and simple. Crazy that something as simple as going into the basement to do laundry vs running across the street in 30 degree weather can make me so happy, but it does. So, now that I can do laundry and cook here, life is good. Which is a stretch for me to say, sometimes I have a hard time with day to day life. But, we went to breakfast w/my mom & dad (today my dad is 69 years old, and you can bet thats not being lost w/my dad. My mom's going to be hearing about that for the next 12 months), then to an awful Rams game, then to my middle son's soccer game, then home to filets that hubby grilled. Not bad, I must say myself.
do, do, do, do, do, do, do....(thats the best I can say for the sounds coming out of my son's instrument right now)....I'm going to be hearing that in my dreams.