Metro Christmas Party

Every year, Paul's work throws a very nice Christmas party for all of the employees. This year they had it at Harry Carry's in Lombard. The food was incredible, of course. The steaks were so big that I could only eat half of mine, and Paul was too full after eating his to finish mine (that NEVER happens). The main course was followed by Eli's turtle cheesecake and Starbucks coffee. Yum!! There's always room for dessert, right? We had decided in advance that we were going to eat and ditch. We usually stick around for the entertainment (unless the comedian gets crude), but this year, the entertainment of choice was a psychic! That's right, one of those mind reading, fortune telling weirdos. We had contemplated whether or not to even attend, but decided to go ahead anyhow with plans to leave early. I am really glad we went for the dinner. We ended up sitting near some people that have a strong influence on choosing the entertainment. We were able to get to know them a bit better and by having fun in the conversations we showed them that we weren't party poopers, so when the time came to explain the reason for leaving early, they would understand it was because of our beliefs and not a personal attack on those that planned the evening.

After we left, we went to see the movie "Blind Side" and thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening. When Paul went back to work today, he found out that the psychic was a big flop. The president of the company gave the thumbs down during the act and the lady who planned the event ended up crying.... Ah, well, better luck next year =)

Thanksgiving at our house

Thanksgiving was at our house this year. Our family keeps growing... We had one more added this year. Scott and Emilee had a baby girl, Taylor Rose in September. When our family gets together, fun and goofiness is bound to follow... and no, I didn't ask anyone to make these goofy faces for the camera. It just comes naturally in our family :)

Thanksgiving meals are always dee-lish, but this year was kinda special... We ate my sister's "pet" turkey. It wasn't supposed to be a pet, but Dawn, the ol' softie, can't help but get attached to her animals (even if she is raising it for our Thanksgiving dinner). She handed it (along with 2 others) over to Paul and I about a month ago to do the "dirty work". It was huge! Around 27 pounds when all was said and done. Though Paul and I (heartless as we are) have butchered poultry before, we tend to not like eating them right away with the smells and images still lingering in our memory, thus the reason we did it a month before. I have to say.... It was totally yummy!! You go Dawn! Don't know what you fed the thing, but it was tasty! We make a great team... You feed 'em, we... well, you know... May they digest in peace.

Fall Pictures

My sweet sister called me up a few weeks ago and said, "let's go take some pictures of your kids". Gotta love her. She sent me scrambling for the next hour trying to get some clean clothes for them to wear that all "sort of" matched. I grabbed what I could and jumped in the car. She picked up Taco Bell for us and met us at the park. Fall is my favorite time for family pictures. The colored leaves make the perfect backdrop... And I'm thinkin' that I just might have 6 of the cutest kids ever... Though, I am a bit bias.

For real???

Paul and the three older boys headed about 3 hours south to a Father/Son camp. Hopefully, they are having a lot of fun despite the two days of down-pouring...

It has been funny that everytime they leave to go camping and just the girls are left to fend for themselves, something happens. Last spring, our property flooded out and 30 of our chickens drown and our fences were washed down, so we spent the week fixing and cleaning. A year ago, when they were at last year's Father/Son camp, our well went out and we had to haul water from other houses to even flush the toilets.... So, this time, I was actually expecting something...

Well, I wasn't disappointed. For the past 2 weeks or so, our mini-van has been running with the service engine light on. It would sputter every time I started it, but after driving for 15 seconds or so, it would run normal. Let me reiterate, it was running like that for over 2 WEEKS. This is nothing new. But, hey, my car decided to wait until my dear husband was gone to give me trouble. Yesterday, the "low coolant" light came on. Fine, I can handle that. I found an automotive store and they fixed me up with the right stuff and even filled it for me. They tried to check why the service engine light was on, but my car wouldn't talk to his little machine for some reason. So, today, the girls and I had a tea party to attend in Dwight (about an hour south). I think I may have been asking for trouble by driving that far, but, again, it's been running this way for a while... Needless to say, I got about 15 miles from my friend's house on I-55 and it died. It was actually still running, but the gas pedal wouldn't work anymore, so it just coasted to a stop on the side of the highway. I grabbed my cell to call someone, and because I had spent the last 2 nights at a friend's house, I had forgot to charge it. It was kind of laughing as it flashed "low battery" at me. I quickly called a friend and told her the situation in about 15 seconds before it went dead. In that time, she managed to get enough info to borrow a van and head out to pick me up. She had to borrow a van because, silly me, I agreed to carpool a different friend's 4 daughters along with my 3 kids. My mini-van was packed to capacity, so we needed a large vehicle to take us anywhere... I managed to revive my phone long enough to scare my dad out of his wits and leave him wondering what kind of danger I was in.

Ok, so, we did make it to the tea party. A tow-truck was called and my van is sitting at a service station in Dwight. I took every scrap of personal information out of it in case someone wanted to steal my identity, but completely forgot my garage door opener. Duh. We hitched a ride home (minus the friend's 4 daughters) and will NOT be going anywhere until my hubby gets home.

Metro Open House

We went to Paul's work on Saturday for their annual Open House. The have it every October for the employees to show thier family and friends thier workplace. They do several things throughout the year to show appreciation to their workers. The kids love going to the Open House. It is heavily geared for the kids fun. This year was no different. The kids get their faces painted, get goodie-bags, jump in a big jumpy thing, play games, and we ALL play BINGO with lots of fun prizes for everyone.

Gracie managed to conquer her fear of clowns and let Skiddles paint her face this year. Ellie, on the other hand, still has glitter stuck in her hair from all of the decoration on her face. I tried to talk her into getting a pretty princess thing on her face to match her outfit, but after seeing Noah get his tiger, she was convinced that "the more paint, the better". At least it was a pink tiger...