Christmas Morning-getting ready to move



Christmas eve right before bed



Christmas came and went-It is funny that you prep for it for so long just to have it go by in a flash. Kids had an absolute blast and loved everything they got. Being 2500 miles away from all of our family makes for a super full Christmas tree. The kids received multiple gifts each from Dana/Troy, Jenn/Dan, Tara/Jon, Kelly/Dan, Mom/Dad, Cookie, Dawn/Lou and Barbara. If we were home their gift opening would happen a little here and there when we visited with family...but here they opened everyone's gifts Christmas morning. It made for a Christmas tree on steroids. I actually did not put any gifts under the tree since it was so dead and wilted. All had to go in front of the tree and around there. Since I am super anal and have to show every box/package it spread out quite a lot.Frank and I got them an easel and one small toy each when the rest came from Santa and all of our generous family members that love them. Santa gave Devin the blue wrapping and Riley the Disney Princess and the rest was from family members or for Frank and I. Frank took the pictures while I videoed and the kids did a pretty good job at taking turns. One thing I will never allow is mass chaos of tearing paper open. Take turns, see what you get and move on. Definitely never open a package until all the gifts are unwrapped. We filled up 7 trash bags full of packaging and (thank God) we have nice trash guys that will pick it all up. I do feel bad for them on the pick up days after Christmas.

All the decorations are put away and the house is picked back up again. Putting ornaments back in the boxes they came in is super annoying and I definitely do not look forward to it. Thank goodness for Hallmark making their boxes in three general sizes which makes it easy to put them away in a big storage box. The house is looking bare without all the warm and cozy Christmas decorations, but it was nice while it lasted.

On to the news everyone is interested in. All knew we were moving home. It went from sometime this coming summer-to this winter/early spring to the next few weeks. Frank is moving home on Jan 15th and I will follow sometime that next month. No, I do not know where quite yet...but somewhere in the Burlington County area. Frank will be staying down by work for the few weeks I am still in Vegas and then we will move into our new home once we figure out which one. It is very exciting, very daunting and very sad at the same time.



loving his Batman jammies

I called a few schools today and I was very disappointed with their curriculums. I did not realize that Devin's school was that much better than your typical preschool...or just that the type of school he goes to now is hard to come by in the South Jersey area? One of the schools that was recommended to me told me that they "hope" to accomplish these by the end of the school year

-count to 20

-write first and hopefully last name

-know sounds of all letters

-shape and color recognition

-know at least 12-15 capital letters
-use scissors to cut a triangle, square and circle

  

-----I had to ask her if she was talking about the 4 year program and she said "yes, and it is OK if your child is not able to do all these, and that its just a guideline." I honestly thought she was reading the 3 year old program off to me. What 4 year old does not know all their letter sounds? or colors/shapes? Count to 20? Devin has been able to do that since 3, and this year he can do up to 100 with guidance here an there. Write first name? That should have been the 3 year old goal! They should know all their capital and lower case letters by the end of the 3 year old program as well-and have the motor skills to write them all by now. I asked if they did math, science or social studies and she said come April they start adding 1 by 1 up to 10, no subtraction though. Again Dev has been doing math addition and subtraction all school year.

I have to give huge props to Devin's current program. Not only did he go just two days last year, he only goes 2hrs 45 min this year three days a week and is levels ahead of these kids. Not to  mention this particular school wants $620 a month for three part time days while we now pay $430 a month for three part time days of a much better education. Now I know all kids learn at different paces and I work at home with him all the time, but come on. That is highway robbery for a sub par program. I have one more phone call to make to a different school, but it looks like we may continue his education at home until the start of school in September. There is no reason we should pay for a preschool where he is leaps ahead of the other kids and he will just be bored. The only other school I was interested in (Moorestown Friends) only offers the pre-k program at 5 full days and thats not what we need. Boo. It was pointed out to me today that having worked with Devin myself and challenged him at home has given him an upper hand and helped him to excel. Maybe I should start my own in home preschool this fall for Riley...

So for now, boxes are ordered and will arrive in the next few days and I will slowly start to pack. I have at least five more weeks here so I cannot pack everything to soon, but I can start slowly.  Its wierd that I have been waiting for this to happen for so long that it is so surreal that it is actually here. We have heard so many times that we are moving, and this time its finally happening and it is back to home. Sigh-

Christmas eve! No family obligations.

Christmas Eve is here and it really does not feel like Christmas.  I am not sure if it is the sunny and 60* weather, the fact that we have no family around or just because it's on a Sunday. Devin is beside himself with excitement in anticipation of this evening and Riley just wants to open presents. Tomorrow morning will be fun for sure but I am just blah.

It's temporary, I know this. Next holiday season we will be back to the cold weather, somewhere near our families and have full schedules with visits to all the family. It is nice to not have obligations and stay in our jammies all day while living out here...but it will be even better to be able to share the holiday celebrations with family. Frank's family has always had the Christmas Eve tradition with getting together which works out well since my family has always done Christmas Day. Our first Christmas married we skipped brunch at my cousin's house and I did not hear the end of it for months. We will NEVER do that again! So thank you Cousin Gene and Uncle Jerry for the guilt trips :). 

Tonight we are having hors d'oeuves for dinner and the kids will get to open their jammies after dinner.  It will be a quiet night with some wine and of course putting together Devin's bike and setting up their easel. Everything else is done and the cookies are made. It is nice to not have to worry about wrapping or organizing last minute. 

Riley has a lil cold and is crabby. It was worse, but she is on the road to recovery. She (gasp) has started to fight me on the nap taking which totally stinks. Devin did the same thing and fully gave them up around 2 yr 6 mo. Riley is 2 yr 9 mo and still needs it. She just thinks she is going to miss something if she takes a nap since she knows Devin does not take one. He will grace me on a blue moon with one, but it is definitely not often enough.

It is kinda surreal that we will be moved home to NJ in about 6 weeks......

Santa, I know him!



official Santa pic



Visit with Santa was a breeze. We went to the District and we were the only ones there to see Santa. Sunday hours for Santa started at noon and we got there about 12:10. The weather was wet since it had rained earlier in the morning....and it was chilly yesterday so I guess there were not that many people who wanted to shop at an outdoor shopping area which was awesome for us. Every hour from noon til 3/4 they also have an outdoor concert there which Devin saw when we were there Thanksgiving weekend. Its cute and the kids loved it to sing and dance around to.

I will only go to Santa's with a real beard etc, and I knew this Santa was the real deal. He was on the quiet side and the kids were fine with him. Devin gave him his list and Riley told him she wanted a baby and a bat girl? I have no idea if they even make Bat Girl toys....but that is what she asked for. Devin also thanked Santa for sending him an Elf to keep at the house. We then went to lunch in the same plaza and the kids were adored by all sorts of people in their holiday outfits. Love having super cute kids ;)

Today is a day that I have so much to do and want to do NOTHING. My playroom looks like a bomb hit it and there is loads of laundry to do/iron. Blah I loathe laundry. I think this is because it never ends. I need to start baking since we have play date plans Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday but again-I do not feel like it. WTH is wrong with me? I am usually Suzy Homemaker meets June Cleaver. At least I can get Devin to do the playroom while I do the rest of the second floor. I am sure I am not the only one who feels like this from time to time, but man alive is today a non motivating day.  I really wish coffee had an effect on me. I have been drinking it too often and caffeine no longer makes me all amped up. BOO.

 I attempted to take some pictures of the kids yesterday since they were all dressed up in their Christmas clothes. What a debacle that was. They were either messing around, trying to run away, making silly faces or pushing one another. It is SO frustrating when all you want is one good picture of the both of them looking at you and smiling nicely. Just one...please!



tree last year on Christmas morning

Christmas is in 6 days! Hip hip hooray! Devin and Riley are SO excited and he wants to put presents under the tree. We have received gifts from some family members in the mail and I put them away, but Devin wants them out and under the tree now. I thought about it for a split second, but Riley cannot seem to leave them alone. Not to mention the tree is 100% dried out and if they touch it it may shed all it's needles that instant. I also have this weird thing that I have to lay out all the gifts super pretty and organized on Christmas eve. With the different colored paper interspersed and sizes and shapes of gifts laid out nicely...I like it to look like a catalog picture. Call me crazy or ocd, but it does look awesome :)

Christmas baking-would you eat food from a "stranger?"



kids this afternoon



Christmas is in 8-9 days depending on how you look at it. I say 8 days because this time in 8 days it will be Christmas eve and just a few hours from dinner time...but one may say 9 days because really Christmas is on the 25th blah blah blah. I have been done shopping and wrapped for a while now and it makes it super easy to enjoy the actual holiday time since all the work is already done. I baked some chocolate chip banana bread to toss in with the preschool teachers gifts yesterday and apparently my mail man was jealous so I need to bake for him next week. He really is a great guy and talks to Devin and Riley on average 3 times a week when they walk out to get the mail. Out here in Vegas we have mailbox clusters similar to that of condo communities except we are all single family homes. I leave a gift every year for our mail person (has been different every year) in our mailbox on the last day of delivery before the holiday. It is always baked goods and usually a variety of cookies and bars and homemade chocolates.



Now that brings me to this...I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago about gift giving and what to do in almost every circumstance. You always tip your hair, nails etc extra and the delivery guy if you get food...we all know this. It said to tip your trash people and we give them a gift every year so I felt good about that...then it said the mail workers are to be tipped too in gift cards and the male radio guy stated that his wife makes cookies yearly for their mail person. I was shaking my head in agreement as they were discussing this. The female host said "why would they feel safe eating homemade treats?" I was dumbfounded....why wouldn't they? Then I guess she is right. We are strangers. They do not know me more than a mom who comes out with their kids to get the mail or to wave to the trash truck on pick up days. I forget that I no longer live in a small town in South Jersey where everyone knows everyone and our mailman growing up was the same guy for 20+ years. Do I look like a threatening person who will poison you? or someone that has a dirty home? It is so sad that some people really do not trust anyone-then again I do not blame them.  Ever since owning a home in 2005 I have packaged up baked goods for our mail delivery person. And since 2008 I have given them to our trash guys too along with another gift of some sort. Have these people been throwing out my presents in fear of tainted food? I am hoping not, but I guess I cannot hold it against them if they have. 

Last year I also gave Devin's teachers some saltine toffee bars with their gifts and I would assume they both ate them. I know one teacher commented on how her two boys would not share with her. Like I said, I made banana bread this year and I guess I will see if they comment on taste or whatnot. I mean they see me twice a day on pick up and drop off and he has one of the same teachers this year as he did last year so she should know it's OK?

What would you do? Would you give baked goods to your mailman? Trash guys? a teacher? The good thing is the mailman requested cookies yesterday after he saw me in my apron and smelled the baking bread when he brought packages up to the door. I know he doesn't think of me as a serial killer. I am however super excited to be getting back to a small town feel again this coming year. Somewhere neighbors know each other and are social. I lived on a street for almost 4 years and of about 22 houses (all on top of one another w yards .05-.11 acre) I know maybe 6 houses.  People do not even wave back to you when you wave to them. The few neighbors I do know are all great and we hang out together....but it is definitely not like back east.

Also, the radio guys were talking about tipping the UPS/FEDEX guys who deliver you stuff...I could see this if you were an office or someone that received deliveries on a regular basis. I do not agree with the occurrence of extra deliveries for Christmas packages. Isn't it their job to deliver lots of gifts? The radio guys said its customary to tip them just for dropping off holiday packages to you since they are working so many hours. I disagree with that one. A lot of callers never heard about tipping the trash guys. An employee for Waste Management actually called in and said he would never tip the pick up guys but now that he is one-he really appreciates the gifts/tips they receive. This is something I am proud to do. My guys bust their asses on my street and are so nice to my kids. They bring my rolling thing up to my garage for me if we do not go out to say hi. They honk for us and even let Devin pull the lever that smashes the trash in the truck. Something in Las Vegas which SUCKS-Waste Management works 365. Yes, two years ago they had to work my route on Christmas day! They pick up in my neighborhood twice a week and one of those fell on Christmas day. So lousy. That year we had a husband and wife team and thankfully the wife was able to take off and the dad worked with a stand in. We also give bottles of water/Gatorade to them if we are home when they do pick up. Devin got all bummed out the other day since we were out of drinks so he ran out Fruitables juice boxes to them and told them he was sharing his juice since we were out of "Gatorador and water."

Do any of you do this? Is there something else I am missing? I do not have a house keeper. My bug guy finished 6 weeks ago, took care of my stylist, waiting on a pedi until I run another 10K on NYE....I think we are good. What about you?

The air balloon picture was taken this past Sunday. Every weekend (and sometimes during the week) air balloons take off a few miles up from my house. This past Sunday there were three which was so pretty. Typically there is one or two-but three...LOVE! All you NJ peeps, yes those are mountains...I live in a development called Mountains Edge and we really are at the edge of the mountains. My house stands at 2700 feet. I will miss this on the weekends just as I will miss my mountains-but I will have my best friend; the ocean. Good trade :)

Half Marathon, Hofbrau Haus and Christmas sings at School!



Dan decorating houses with
the kids



Kelly flew in last Friday for a weeks vacation in Las Vegas. She and her boyfriend Dan stayed at our house Friday through Monday and we dropped them off at the strip Monday after lunch. They stayed at the MGM until Thursday am when they headed back to NJ. Devin and Riley had such a great time playing with them. Devin (for the first time ever) was genuinely crushed when he had to say good bye. He did this for the first time Monday when we dropped them off at MGM. He did not want them to stay at the casino, he wanted them to come home with us. It was so sad. He and Riley cried the entire way home from the strip. I was able to side track them for a day since they knew we would see them Wednesday for dinner at Hofbrau Haus. After dinner Wednesday he did the same thing. Truly crushed that Kelly and Dan were not going to be around the next day. It was so sad. Thankfully he is old enough to understand that we will see her sooner than later and once we move to NJ he will get to see them all the time.

The Las Vegas Rock and Roll half marathon was good. Kelly was assigned a different corral than me, but started in my corral so she would not have to wait to take off. I was assigned corral 11 out of 40 so we took off close to the front of the pack. I could not believe the amount of walkers (that jumped corrals) and were literally walking 100 yards into the race. No these guys were not to the side, no they were not courteous to get out of the way of runners or stay to the right. They just walked in the middle of the road and would not budge from their groups of 2 or 3 that made a wall of slow speed to get past. It sure was hard to pace with having to dodge and weave around all the walkers and picture takers. Thankfully by 3 miles they seemed to drop in numbers and I was able to run with the pack and by 7 or 8 miles in the pack thinned out enough for me to not have to run in and out of people the entire time. By 10 miles I was able to run straight and keep pace with the people ahead of me. Frank has a super fancy GPS watch that tracks distance, pace and lots more but for the first 3 miles and the last three miles I was not able pace since the satellites could not keep a good contact with the watch since I was in the thick of the casinos. I ran 13.24 miles in 2 hrs 15.33 minutes.



see me in green in the center (between orange 
 and yellow shirt)  trying

to cross the finish line



 Now a half is 13.1 miles and I was tracked at 13.24....I have to imagine there is a .05 error and the rest was me weaving all over the place and actually ran an extra tenth of a mile by doing so. It was fun to run in a large crowd once it thinned out a little bit, but the finish was a disaster. Huge bottle neck and you actually could not "run" across the finish line since there were so many people trying to get through. My knee was/is seriously f-ed up afterwards and I am losing three toenails but I did it, and did it at a pace of 10 min and 19 sec miles the entire time which is good for my first one in my mind. There were people passed out, vomiting, shitting themselves afterwards while the rest of us just hobbled through the carnage back to our cars. I did have belly issues afterwards (and for a few days) but thankfully was able to get through the mess and home with no hiccups. Apparently my body did not know how to handle the extra distance at the pace I was running at. Ha, you learn something new everyday :(



Devin had his Christmas singing concert at school while Kelly and Dan were visiting which was great. Devin was super excited to be able to have them come. He sang about 8-9 songs and had all sorts of hand movements down for the songs. After their concert they had a special visit from Santa and Devin was super surprised and excited. He told Santa that he wants a new bike and no, he does not need training wheels. I guess this summer we will work on riding without them. He was handed a candy cane and he broke it in half so Riley would have some too. How sweet! He really can be such a sweet boy.  I am glad that he was able to have Frank and I there along with Aunt Kelly and Dan.





at a few weeks old-slept through
all the noise



Frank has been asking for over 4 years to go back to the Hofbrau Haus for dinner. I do not eat German good....so I have no desire to go there. We went when Cookie and Kelly came to visit when Devin was a few weeks old and have not been back since. Frank always tries to recruit our visitors to go and finally we had to chance. Kelly's boyfriend Dan actually lived in Germany for a few years while his dad served and BOOM interest to eat there! The kids loved it since there was a group of three musicians who were right near us singing in German and getting the crowd into it. Devin and Riley even raised their "steins" when asked to. Kelly, Frank and Dan all ordered brats, wienersnitzels, veal things other things ending in "zels" and kraut and potatoes...I had a side salad and some beer. Kids even ate a traditional German hot dog made with natural casing. I was interested to see if they would eat it since it was not grilled and was a different color than what they were used to. At Hofbrau Haus when you do a shot you get paddled by the wait staff. Kelly and Dan got to experience this lovely tradition. Both said it really does sting, but since I was driving I got to skip it. In the gift shop Devin was fixed on getting a lil paddle to hit our bums....yikes-he did settle on a German sports car from Aunt Kelly. Frank did get his Das Boot to drink out of and Dan joined in with one of his own!

Last night Frank and I went to see Andrea Bocelli. Frank gave me tickets for my birthday and I was so excited that it was finally time to go and see him. I saw him in December of 2008 at MGM by myself and it was just amazing. We went out to a casual dinner at Brio beforehand which is always delicious and then made our way to MGM. It was chaotic with so much traffic to get there but thankfully he came on 15 minutes late. Frank was impressed with the sheer size of the orchestra on the stage and the amount of choir on the risers behind them. Andrea sang mainly in Italian and a few in English. He has a Italian Soprano named Ana Maria sing a bunch of songs and another woman named Heather something sing as well. Both had amazing voices and were very powerful. Its so amazing to hear live and have all the different sounds of the instruments playing right infont of you rather than in a pit. I am glad Frank enjoyed it...that means I we get to go again sometime in the future :)

Your kids ever cut their own hair?



March 2010



Nov 2011



Devin cut his own hair for the first time when he was 2 yrs 9 mo. It was the week of Easter pictures and it was terrible. He cut it right down to the scalp in the front. I thankfully had a hat to cover it up. Now that he is almost 4.5 he decided to "fix" his hair the other day. He helped himself into the child proofed drawer in my vanity and trimmed the front of his hair. I walked in part way through and the damage was already done. He is due for a hair cut so it was too long for him and apparently driving him nuts. Its not like he is a little boy with longer hair-we keep it short! I now have to take him to get his hair trimmed when I was going to wait for it to be fresh for his Christmas concert at school and the holidays. He knows scissors are not toys and he knows to go nowhere near Riley. Hopefully he will lay off his own head now.

Riley is all better and no longer sick. The croup thing really was gross. After 2 or three days of being sick and sleepy and crabby she started with this awful wet hacking cough. She slept just fine (thankfully) with the humidifier on full blast at night and naps. She did vomit twice from the phlem and coughing but once she got all the mucus up she was fine. Now she is back to her regular self and I am happy she is my lil Riley.

We are getting ready for Kelly and her boyfriend Dan to fly out in less than 2 days! The kids are super excited to see them and little do they know that they will be getting Christmas presents early. The half marathon is this coming weekend and here's to hoping all goes well. I have two bad knees and an injured toe but I will do my best. I am definitely over the commitment to having to run three times a week and am looking forward to going back to being able to do short runs and some Zumba or boot camp again. Frank and I went to spin last night and that hurt my toe and my knee worse than running does. Maybe I should not have pushed myself so much after injuries while in college? Oh well. Too late now.

Christmas cards are starting to roll in....house and lights are all set...LOVE this time of year. Vegas is unseasonably warm today. 71* and sunny when normal is about 60* but I will take it. Perfect to go and play at the park with friends.  60s are still nice especially here in the desert where it is almost always sunny. It is going to be a huge change for us to go back to seasons with moisture. I will welcome it because it essentially means I will be back within a 30-40 min drive to the nearest beach. Hello Mother Ocean can you hear me? I miss you and will have my feet within your reach soon enough. Just to sit and hear the waves rolling in, the cool damp air on your face. The salt smell. Sigh. Heaven to me.

The best Janie and Jack trip EVER-about a $75% savings.....

Y'all know how much I LOVE Janie and Jack. I have written about them a few times and I just adore their clothes for the kids. I shop the sales and usually only when they have a Friends and Family or their Black Friday deals. I stock up on sale items and buy them ahead for the following year. So yesterday I bought all fall and winter for next year. The store was 30% off their lowest price and that excited me. I also had a $25 off $100 coupon to use. I then opened my Parents magazine and HOLY CHRISTMAS there was a 20% off your purchase in there. Since the Black Friday sale was not a coupon code I could use these coupons on top of the already 30% off store sale. I was beside myself. Being a lover of JJ and of sales....I just couldn't contain myself. I had $110 left in my Paypal from selling their clothes and Frank told me I had to behave myself and not go crazy. OK OK OK. I will. I promise. Hugs to you. Kisses...now let me shop. I got all outfits (minus one oxford for Devin that goes with chinos and a top for Riley that can go with black leggings of the knickers I got.) I was even able to get all matching tights, hair accessories and shoes. Love Black Friday. Thank you to Gymbo Corp for mailing out the first ever 20% off coupon (in the 4 yrs I shopped there) that was able to be used in conjuction with a huge sale. I would LOVE to work for Gymbo corporate and especially because they are located in the best city-San Fran!

Here is the amazing part-

Original price- $1405.00

Final price for me $334.12

Store credit $ 81.00

Paypal money $110.00

remaining amount out of budget $142.12

So hypothetically-----we only "paid" $142 for all that stuff....but if you want to be like Frank it was about $250 since the Paypal $ is money too (but not part of our budget.) Oh and it would have been fully covered had I not used some pay pal money to buy a new pair of Tory Burch flats :)

 

 

 

Black Friday was a total success!

I set out Thursday night around 9pm. I went to Michael's first to get some Crayola kits and foam activity kits. They closed at 10 and they are across the parking lot from Walmart so I hit them up first. I stayed in my parking lot at Michael's instead of driving across the shopping center because the Walmart parking lot was an absolute nightmare. I should have seen that as an omen and STAYED AWAY. I did not get a cart on purpose b.c I know its impossible to walk around inside WM with one on Black Friday. I went in for three things and came out with all three and one extra. My items were 1. Tag Reader books on sale for $8 down from $15, a Disney princess story time book, a RC car and a dress up box. Now I got the books and the dress up box but the RC car was by the WII and Kinect lines and forget trying to walk over there. I did pick out a dress up box for Devin too. Riley got Disney fairies and Devin got Marvel Comics guys. I got in line and waited and waited and waited. They had the line go down the center of the store and wrap around the back and then  when you got to the front a lady told you what line to go to. Sucked big time. Rude people kept hitting me with their cart and bumping into me. I know its crowded, but at least acknowledge the fact that you just hit someone...Yeesh. The lady behind me hit me twice while waiting in line. She took my sneaker off at one point by me trying to walk and her cart being so close. Back up sister.

I went from there to Toysrus. Got there around 11:30 and was excited by the fact that they were only letting 50 ppl in the store at once so there was a line outside. I waited about 25 or so minutes outside and then was given a cart and I walked around peacefully and without crazy crowds. It was awesome. I got everything on my list but 2 games that sold out before I got there. There were customer service people everywhere willing to help and this one man in particular helped me so much. He would scan the thing I wanted but the shelf was empty and he would go to the back and get it for me. He even ran into the electronics section (was a line to go in there) and snagged me some plush Angry Birds that make noise and tossed them in my cart for me. The last thing I needed that he went and got for me from the back was when I was ready to check out. He came all the way to the front of the store and gave it to me while in line. Best employee ever! I will be writing Toysrus for sure to applaud them for their organization and teamwork. Great shopping experience. One thing to note-I was waiting for a VTech lap top from the back and a few other people came after me and wanted them as well. When the man came from the back told us there were 4, the lady behind me blurted out that she wanted three. He then looked at her and said, well that is great but this lady was first-and looked at me. I asked for two please and she bitched and huffed. As we were waiting for the laptops some lady was going through my cart. I didn't know if she thought it was abandoned or something (mind you I am about 3 feet away) but after she started to shuffle through I said that it was mine. She stated that she wanted this one toy and saw they were out. I said that I was sorry she was not able to get it. She continued to go through my toys. I actually had to ask her to lay off. I mean really lady!

Target was across the road (4 lane) so I ran across instead of trying to find a parking space. It was about 12:30 at this point and I was nervous how crazy it would be since they opened at midnight. There was a broken cart outside that had a wheel that did not roll. I just pulled the cart and lifted the front a tad and all was good. I got EVERYTHING on my list here in about 10 minutes and got in line. It wrapped around the back and through the aisles but moved quickly. I had a super nice mom behind me who did not get a cart so I offered her to stick her stuff in mine. She was very thankful she did not have to push them on the floor and she and I laughed everything we had to move since the cart was a bum cart and made awful noises.

I was in the east side ghetto and ran up to the mall and Macy's was empty (the demographics in this area do not shop at Macy's.) Got the few items I needed there in a snap and went down the parking lot to Old Navy. This place was a zoo and i could not get over how many people had babies and kids with them. Mind you its about 1:30 at this point. Given the demographics of where I was I was not surprised, but these people are shopping with both parents and their kids...Hey genius-one of you stay home with the kids and the other shop...not rocket science. 

I got to the outlets about 3am after driving through the dredges of Las Vegas and shopped the three stores I need to and was out of there and on my way home by 5:45am. I usually go to Kohl's but this year they did not have much I needed so I skipped it. Frank wanted to get some good deals too so he left when I got home. I passed out cold until Devin woke up at 6:40. I stayed in bed until Riley woke up 10 minutes later. I got them drinks and snacks and gated them upstairs and napped with the door open until about 8 am. They came in about every 2 minutes to show me their Lego creations or dolly or booger or well pretty much anything to keep me awake. Frank got home around 10:30 and I went back out. I had to go to Janie and Jack (next post about that amazing shopping trip), Hallmark, Aaron Brothers for frames and The Body Shop. Home by 12:45pm and in need of some food and a serious nap. I did sleep for about 2 hours while Riley did and was in bed for the night around 9.

I got everything I needed while I shopped. I am even done teachers gifts, friends, family and a few randoms. We do need to get Dev a new bike but we are doing a lil research about which one to get. That is an easy purchase from Amazon once we figure it out. I am happy to be completely done shopping and it is not even December. Frank and I are going to wrap some tonight before we give them to a neighbor to store them until the big day. Love Christmas.

The house is decorated, lights are up outside and Balsam fir candle is burning. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

So much excitement-where to start!

Y'all know how much I love to shop-especially for great deals. Well in two days I will be released to hit up the Black Friday sales. I have been doing this since 2004 and I LOVE it! I remember shopping at 4 am then and having to be at work at 9 am Friday for my real job back then. Sigh, good times. Nothing a little caffeine could not fix. I wake up super early on Thanksgiving, drive to the local 7 11 and pick up the paper. I then spread out all the circulars. I go through each one page by page and sticky tab the tops so if I have to reference something I can. On an 8 by 11 sheet of paper I write the info for each store (when it opens, when the door busters begin/end) and then each item (price/page number). This helps me stay organized. Depending on what I need from where will determine where I am going and in what order. Yes, I leave after the kids go to bed and since stores open at 9 pm I will most likely leave at 8:30. I think it will be a whole lot more crowded since people do not have to wake up at crazy hours of the night. We shall see. My sister Kelly thinks that I resemble the crazy Black Friday Target lady. It makes me laugh out loud when I see a good commercial. Last year I put on a jogging suit, pearls and held some weights to take a picture for her before I went shopping. If y'all don't know who I am talking about-watch this Target commercial . I was running on the treadmill the other day and she came on and was amping herself up in the mirror and timing herself while wrapping gifts. I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the treadmill. Does Kelly really think I get this competitive? The answer is simple, yes. I really do not since my kids are little and I do not need that hot toy-but I do have a game plan and I do map it all out by hour and location. Time is money people and being efficient with your time is what it is all about. Just kidding, but not really. I will leave around 8:30 and come home probably about 7 am. I have preshopped a bit since the BF ads are available online and I could price compare stuff the kids would like. BF has a few other things I would like to get that are cheaper then than now. Some stuff was cheaper this past week so we have lots hidden already. CANNOT FRICKING WAIT! Oh-and Kels asked me if I time myself wrapping gifts (quietly cheering myself on)-answer is NO, I wrap gifts while having some cocktails :)

OK, now that my Black Friday excitement is shared....I can check one more thing off the list. Christmas cards. We got our portrait taken Sunday and I picked up the pictures yesterday. Kids were a mess. Riley did not want to sit still and Devin kept smiling with this weird nostril flare fake smile. We found a few good ones and I have already separated and doled out all the kids and family pictures to the Aunts/Grandmas and such and have all the cards addressed and ready for the post office. I only have Forever stamps and we all know that they need holiday stamps so they will have to wait. Plus I cannot seem over eager and mail them too soon. Shit-maybe I am a little bit of the Target lady? Ha ha, I will mail them once the calender says December and maybe I will not be the first to arrive. Who knows, but I do love that I do not have to stress about it. With Thanksgiving this week and Kelly and Dan arriving next Friday for the marathon....I will have enough to think about and Christmas cards will not be one of them. Hooray! I do have a few that I need updated addresses for, but I do have time :) The actual Christmas card picture is of our family and I am holding off on sharing until they go out, but here are a few of the other ones we got done.



a pic we had taken at Janie and Jack



Riley is sick sick for the first time ever. She has had a cold here or there but never been sick. She has croup. Awesome. Boo! She woke up yesterday with this barking cough and a hoarse voice. Now when I was babysitting a little girl had it so I knew the cough. Crap! She did not have a fever and only had a minimally runny nose. I took her to the ped once I dropped Devin off to school and low and behold she has croup and stridor (labored wheezy breathing) when she was playing. Ped said she has been seeing cases daily and two friends we know also have it now. She could have gotten it anywhere since it is a virus. Being a virus, antibiotics will not help. The doctor did give her a shot of steroids to help dilate her airway  Her little cough was so sad and she was hoarse all day. . She slept just fine with the humidifier full blast and seems a little better today. Apparently after the initial three days it gets super phlemy and wet. Gross. Glad I have that to look forward to!

We put our house on the market Monday. As you all know, we are being relocated back to NJ for Franks job. We first thought it was timed for next summerish. As fall progressed we were made aware Frank had to be there sooner than later for a new project/position. The market in Las Vegas is the WORST in the whole country and is saturated with houses since the housing bubble burst and well....its bad. For example, if you search my zip code (think Kings Grant size area for you NJ peeps) there are 28 houses within a $1000 range. Crazy! No, we have no idea what we are doing once we move to NJ, or exactly when it will be. There are a lot of factors that go into that and I do not know the answers to some of them. All we do know is Frank will be working from the Mays Landing office rather than the Princeton one. I have mixed feelings about this move. Yes, I have been waiting forever to get to get out of Las Vegas....but I have some really great girlfriends out here. Devin loves his school and he and Riley have great buddies to play with and well I will have a really hard time saying goodbye to my friends. Its not tomorrow or next week, but I know time will fly as it always does...I am however super excited to be back by family, the ocean and green!

Lastly, I have to share some warm fuzzies. Devin has loved to write and draw since he was able to. He has writing and drawing daily forever and draws the coolest pictures he can think of. Yesterday he drew a picture of a pirate ship with cannons and sails along with a wheel house and pirates on it. He wants to give it to his buddy Cash to hang in his room. So sweet. He also wrote his first "love letter." Now I am not sure where he came up with this...but he requested a piece of paper and then brought it back to me when he was done. He said its a love letter and I read what he wrote. Devin, Mom and Dad (because he loves us) along with "things he loves." Those things are a pirate (wearing a hat and earring) holding a sword and a ship sailing on the water and lots of hearts because "hearts mean love." Sigh, he is just so sweet. I will definitely be saving this one.

Little Miss Riley is in sad shape



this morning on the couch before Devin
woke up



Riley cannot seem to catch a break with teething. She is having serious issues with some molars and hasn't slept, eaten or been able to be her happy go lucky self for days. She tries to eat and says her boo boo in her mouth hurts. She will drink fluids but only here and there. She is still peeing OK so I know she's not dehydrated, but I just feel so bad for her. She is up through out the night crying and the Motrin and/or Tylenol is not helping. She is lethargic and sleepy and ran a fever yesterday. She woke up without a fever today, but is now warm again and taking an early nap. She and I went to grab a bite to eat this morning after I dropped Devin off at school and she passed out in my arms out in the sun on the patio at Starbucks. Good thing she is still a peanut and I can cradle her in my arms. She slept like that for a solid half hour if not longer. She then fell asleep again in her carseat as I was unloading groceries from the car when we got back to the house at 11:45 am.



today at Starbucks

  Devin never teethed this bad and the weird thing is-she already has cut all four 2 year old molars...Why is she having so much pain and discomfort? And why is it lasting this long? She has inflammation further back on her gumline (where another set of molars would come in a few years) and I am not sure why she has it there. I put a call into her dentist to see if he saw anything on the xrays they took two weeks ago at her cleaning. She hates orajel, but I do try and give it to her at night before she goes to bed so she can at least pass out smoothly. I just wish she could eat a lil more since that would probably help keep her spirits up. She has been requesting movies and lots of snuggle time. Frank and I both love the extra snuggles but feel so sad for her since she is in so much pain. She is also VERY dramatic with her facial expressions. Frank and I were both cracking up last night when she made the most dramatic and pouty face possible when she was telling us her boo boo was hurting.  Now if only I could catch up on some of my missed sleep from last night we would all be a little better off. Thank goodness Dev is patient and being a great big brother to her.

Kids kids and more kids...





The Weber, Skinner, Bryan, Skinner and Mullen kids

This trip back to NJ was full of playtime with lots and lots of kids. Devin and Riley got to play with their cousins from the Skinner side Thursday, Friday and Saturday all day long. They even got to stay up late with the older kids and thought it was very cool to get to watch movies together. Those cousins were 11, (almost) 8, 6, 4 and 1 years old. They even got to see some extended cousins Friday at a farm out in PA. Devin shadowed his 6 year old cousin Jonathan the entire time. Jon was very sweet and did not let it bother him. Riley played well with all of them and Erin who is Dev's age shared well with her. The two older girls Annika (11) and Abby (8) were great with being patient and helping us out wtih the chaos the younger ones created. All in all it went without any major issues and the kids were awesome together. I must say we are definitely excited to get back to NJ so the kids can play with their cousins more often. Dev was definitely crushed when he found out he had to leave his cousin and go to another house for a few days. He has already asked if Jonathan can come over and have a sleepover at our house and play pirates with him.



Devin (4) Hunter (11) Alexis (13) Trevor (11) and Riley (2)



Sunday they played with my first cousins that are 15, 13 and twin 11 year olds. The kids were awesome with my two and danced and played with them at my grandfather's 80th birthday party. Its funny that my kids to them (age wise) are like they were to Kelly, Dana and I 10-12 years ago. The Paone 4 were thoroughly entertained by my crazy two.  I cannot wait for when we move home and Alexis can babysit for us. She is going to be the perfect age of 14 to come have a sleepover and sit.



Sadie Thurber (march 2010) Riley (March 2009)
Brayson Thurber (March 2008) Brock Kempf (March 2011) and Devin (June 2006)



Then Monday night they played with children of siblings I grew up with Deidre and JT Thurber. JT's son Brayson is 3.5 and he and Devin hung out and played with super heros and transformers. Sadie hung with the boys since Riley was fixed with watching Monsters Inc. Deidre's son Brock who is still just a tike is so sweet and reminds me of Devin. Don't wipe is face or nose. He will tell you who's boss and yell at you. I was cracking up at the squeaks he was making at me when I would try and help him out. I couldn't believe that between Deidre, JT and I we had a kid every March for 4 years straight (Devin threw the wrench in the mix and was June) or it would have been one every year for 5 years!



Riley, Lila Battjer, Lucy Battjer
Devin and Joey Phillips (part duex)



Tuesday we got to play with an old friends son and her sister's two kids. I grew up with Julie and of course saw a lot of her big sis Jen since I was always at Julie's house as a kid. Julie's son is a lil shy of 2 and Jens girls are three and just over 2. It's funny that my kids are not shy at all and were true to their usual tendencies and waltzed right into the playroom and made themselves at home. Always nice to catch up with old friends and see how much their kids have grown. Facebook makes it easy to "see" friends, but in person is always best. Love that my friends kids are my kids ages so we can get together and play!

Holy Cannoli yesterday was a full day! Only one injury-not bad

We started the day by dropping Devin off to school for his Halloween day. He went dressed in costume and was SO excited to play with his classmates all dressed up. He chose his costume off the wall of ideas from Party City. Of all the costumes (Batman/Superman/Spider man/Thor.....) he chose to be a surgeon. Love that, and he was the cutest surgeon of all time of course! Riley just wore one of her Halloween shirts and off we went. After dropping Devin off, Riley and I went to Brooklyn Bagels and sat outside to kill 45 minutes until we had to be back to his school for his parade and festive song. Last year parents were invited to the classrooms where the children sang a handful of song...this year we went to the all purpose room and they sung one song. LAME. When I called the school to ask what the deal was they said it was too hard to get the children to "focus again once parents left after their concerts." I mean seriously, do kids really have hard school days on Halloween?  I picked him up early since I ran out of errands to run after we left his parade and his school is across town so I wasn't going to go home. The class was reading Charlie Browns Great Pumpkin book and getting ready to have some apples and caramel for snack. Devin was all amped up to leave since his friend Gabi was coming over to play.

Gabi is one of Dev's buddies who also has a little brother Dominic that Riley plays with. Riley is right between Devin and Gabi age wise so she plays with both the big kids and Dom. Yesterday was pretty funny with them. They went from upstairs to out back and back up again. Riley changed her outfit 2 or three times while they were here. My friend Leigh Anne laughed and asked if I do a lot of laundry...boy is that an understatement. Yes, I do a lot of laundry! Pretty much 9-10 loads a week in my large front loader. BOO to laundry. The kids played well together for 2.5 hours with really no issues. Can't ask for much more than that considering you have 4 kids four and under.  I figured with all that playtime both my kids would nap for sure....NOPE! Neither one took a nap yesterday and that could be a total disaster or OK. Thankfully it was fine. Riley has only skipped a nap twice in her life now and she hung in there until 7:15 when she crashed at normal bedtime.

We went to our friends house last night for some pizza before trick or treating. The two younger kids wanted nothing to do with eating and thankfully Devin and his buddy Cash did a bit before giving up to play. We hit the neighborhood and were striking out more than we were getting people to answer the doors, but the kids were not discouraged. Dev was so excited that he was running from house to house and it was definitely advantageous that our houses are so close together! Cash, Devin and Riley were all about getting lots of candy and poor little Cooper wasn't feeling well so he hung back with us in his wagon for the majority of the neighborhood.

Riley touched a hot flood light and burned her little hand about half way into the neighborhood. She and I came home after we hit up a few more houses and I gave her a gel ice pack to hold while we answered the door for trick or treaters. She loved getting to say Happy Halloween to the kids and see what they were dressed up as. Her hand was red and puffy and looked as though it would blister over. She went to sleep with the gel pack in hand. She did wake up a little later and started to cry because it hurt and I got her a new gel pack from the freezer and gave her some children's Motrin. She stayed asleep for the rest of the night and her hand thankfully looks fine today.



asleep with gel pack in hand :(

 Devin stayed out with Frank and finished the rest of the neighborhood and got back around 7pm. He was so excited that he filled up his spider bucket and wanted to go to more houses. We live in a small subdivision inside a larger subdivision so we went to another mini division within the neighborhood. They had a lot of houses with spooky decorations and a lot more groups of kids walking around. Devin was so excited for about two streets then started to loose steam. He asked me if I was tired and told me he was pretty tired. I said lets go home then and he said, "Well that house has spooky decorations so let's go there and then back home." We then would go to that house and he would see another one with decorations or lots of kids so we ended up going to about 15 more houses before turning back. He was adored by so many older kids and parents as we walked around. One house had strobe lights, cool decorations, fog machine, things hanging all over the place and ghoulish music. Devin very hesitantly walked up to the door while looking at everything and got his candy then said, "Let's get out of this place mom!" I was cracking up. It was so funny to see the kids look at all the decorations with fear, excitement and curiosity.


Frank took the glow necklace off, and he put it back on after
Frank left his room. So sweet...


The kids are not really allowed to have candy or any sweets for that matter unless its a special day/bday party or such. It took us until Easter last year to go through their Halloween candy and I had to throw some out even then. I am guessing this year will be no different. I am not a big sweets person and even though Frank is, we do not really eat candy. The kids will get a piece now and then, but definitely not daily.