Thanksgiving and the day after

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving Day with both families, Olzewski and Videlka. We stopped at my parents' house first and said "hello" to everyone before going to John's parents' house for the meal. It was my turn to say the Thanksgiving speech at the table and I could barely get it out. I was unusually overcome by emotion.

Today, I ventured out at 6am for the Black Friday sales at Walmart and Target. By the time I got to Walmart things were fairly calm and slow. Target was even less crowded and it was an enjoyable shopping experience. I am not sure if it was because I missed the rush at 5am or if this is a sign of the recession the country is dealing with. Whatever it was, it made for an easy shopping morning for me and I got quite a bit accomplished.

We are now officially in the swing of the Christmas Season. Time to break out the Josh Groban "Noel" cd.

What happened to the Gardner's house?

I had noticed a house for sale in the paper that I knew was the house of a girlhood friend of mine, Shelley Gardner. The house was in Winthrop Harbor and I remember loving that house when I was a kid. I can remember many good times at that house, birthday parties, sleepovers, and just hanging around. I think I watched my first Soap Operas "All My Children" and "General Hospital" while at that house. The house seemed so grand. It is a Cape Cod style home and I remember Shelley and her older sister Kris had rooms upstairs with cool hidden doors in closets that lead to the attic. In Shelley's room we used this as a secret hide out. Well, John and I drove by the house listed as "lovely" with updated kitchen and bathrooms. I was so depressed when I saw the house in the condition it is in now. No one had taken care of the outside of the home and I can only imagine what the inside looked like. I wanted to live in that house as a kid and thought for a brief moment that this could potentially be a home for my family. It is in a neat part of Winthrop Harbor, with trees galore! Oh well, I guess I have memories of times past in that house. I wonder what ever happened to Shelley? She moved to Gurnee after 8th grade.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my 36th birthday, WOW! When we asked Karli how old I was she said, "3". Try 12x that number. I got gift cards to Old Navy, Borders and a Whitman's Sampler. Oh, and a cake from Deerfield's Bakery ... my favorite bakery. Usually we do Oliver's which is my second favorite along with Lovin' Ovens. I am all about the frosting; the richer, the better is my motto. Thank you John and kids for all the great gifts.

Today is also one of my favorite young girl's birthday ... HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, KELLY! The boys will be celebrating with her today at the HSM3 movie. Karli insists she is old enough to sit through the 2 hr movie -- NOT. We will instead wait out the time at my parents' house.

Well, off to enjoy the rest of the day.

What are brothers good for?

Well, first of all, they are good for helping you download tunes to iPods. Then they tell you to process updates to your computer so you can get on the iTunes website and become extremely frustrated at the process of dowloading tunes again. Thanks for your help, Dave!

Brothers are also good for supplying you with nieces, only, in my case. I am reminded of what joy nieces can be every morning and afternoon when I see Sarah at the daycare our kids attend. Sarah always greets us with smiles and pointing to show us she recognizes us. She tries to say Karli and it comes out "genghi". Lately she thinks I have to pick her up, so I can then bend over and pretend Karli is holding her, as she wraps her arms around Karli's neck while I hold her bottom end. Silly Sarah!

Catalina, on the other hand, is a skeptical one, like her father. I am sure I will need her help on the computer some day, too, so I better succeed at getting her to like me in the future. Maybe money will help?! Hopefully she will like her Christmas gifts so well that she'll stop giving me the look of disapproval.

Dumb computer

Dumb computer! Yes, I am talking about my computer. John got an iPod for his birthday and we cannot download iTunes because my version of Windows XP is not the most current. I guess that has to do with the fact that it is about 5 years old. I don't really use it other than to check e-mails and go on-line to shop occassionally, so I cannot justify a new one at this point. The kids are starting to use it more for homework, but it works just fine for what they need it for. So, off to my mom's house tomorrow so he can get some tunes in his iPod. She has Windows Vista. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to John!

The Day After Election Day

I woke up yesterday anxious about the election. I couldn't wait to vote. I had planned out what time I wanted to get to the polls as Karli had preschool at 9am and the boys were off school for the day (teacher's inservice). So, the boys and I got to Beach Park Village Hall at about 9:15 am to vote. I didn't have to wait in any long lines, although there were only about 3 parking spots available when we arrived. When we left the parking lot was full and several others were walking in to cast their votes. We went shopping after I voted and on the way to Kohl's I explained the electoral process to the boys, as much as I remember of it. I hope to instill in the boys a sense of obligation, responsibility and pride about voting. I'll admit that I felt differently about the process when I was in my early 20's and didn't register to vote until I was 27 years old, but I am so excited to vote now. We also realized in the car on the way to Kohl's that Kyle will not be able to vote in 2012, but he will be of age in 2016 -- which is only 8 years away.

Pre-school volunteering

I forgot to post about my morning with Karli's pre-school class last Thursday for their Halloween party (yes, in Catholic pre-school they can still call it a "Halloween party") and sing-along. First of all, kudos to all of you who have chosen to teach for a living. I was in class for 2 1/2 hours and was exhausted. Those kids can run you ragged! I had one little girl, Julia, come up and hug my leg for no reason at all. Then I noticed she was hugging all of the volunteer moms' legs, so I wasn't anything special. Karli was her usual "home" self at school which surprised the teacher and teacher's aide. The normally "agreeable" pre-school Karli brought her disagreeable home personality for all to see. Needless to say I made it through to morning and couldn't wait to come home to take a nap.

Here we go!

Well, I've been reading other blogs for quite some time and although we don't have the most interesting life, or live in an exotic place, there are a few moments I think we can share with everyone. First I have to try to figure out how to add pics to my blog and maybe I can post the Halloween pics for those of you who did not see our kids in their costumes this year. Karli was Cheer Bear from the Care Bears, Nick was Captain Rex the Clone Trooper from the Star Wars Saga, and Kyle was a pretty good homemade vampire that he concocted himself. We had Trick-or-Treat on Friday, October 31st this year, as opposed to the Sunday before Halloween as in years past. The boys were thrilled to be out in the dark this year. Karli bugged out early and helped me pass out candy for the most part. She can't eat most of the candy, so it wasn't a big deal to her. Unfortunately, as soon as Trick-or-Treat hours began there was a huge accident at the corner of 29th Street and Green Bay Road, so all traffic was detoured through our neighborhood. We did get to see the Flight For Life helicopters looking for a place to land. The Zion Benton Township building suffered some damage as a vehicle crashed into one of the brick pillars on the front porch.