And you heard that where???

We went out to dinner tonight. (Can I mention that I love when TGI Fridays has their 3-course meal deal?) Anyway, on the way home, we're all in Chris's truck with kids music playing from the Sirius satellite radio, and out of the blue Francesca starts singing,

"Mama said knock you out!!!"

She's 5. Where did she hear LL Cool J???

(Answer: From her little boy friend at school - Nathan.)

Skipped the holidays

So I didn't blog at all over the holidays. No Christmas blog. No Santa blogging. No incriminating photos from Christmas Eve. So sue me.

Funny Quotes

The kids have the day off school today because of the snow, so we're watching the recording of last night's "So You Think You Can Dance." However, the kids are incapable of sitting next to each other without tormenting each other. In the space of 10 minutes, they managed to not only drive me crazy, but make me laugh. Where do they come up with this stuff???

First....

Me: "If you two don't keep your hands and feet to yourself, you'll have to go downstairs!"
Dominic: "With the rats?"

WTH??? It's our finished basement full of toys. What's with the rats comment? LOL! Then a few minutes later someone on the show used the word "ordinary."

Francesca: "What does 'ordinary' mean?"
Me: "It means regular. something that's just regular and not special."
Dominic: "Like you, Francesca."
Francesca: "Yeah, I'm ordinary."

Everyone Left

Thanksgiving is over and everyone is gone. Chris went back to work, the kids went back to school, and my family just pulled out of the driveway. I hate this part of the holidays when I'm home alone, crying and sad that our families live so far away. My stomach churns and it just all around sucks. I wish someone had told me when I was in high school or college about how hard it is to not have family around once your grown, married and have kids. Sure, moving away when you're young and single sounds exciting and grown-up, but that doesn't last. Now we're settled, Chris is in a job market with no prospects in PA, and we have to settle for seeing our families just a handful of times each year.

I'm already brainwashing my kids to stay close to home.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Today was parent-teacher conference day! The kids had a half day of school so the conferences could be held in the afternoon. They got off the bus just before 12:30, we had lunch, then it was back to school for conferences at 2:00 and 2:15 PM.

Francesca's conference was first. Her teacher Mrs. Flamand is about my age or maybe a couple of years younger. I like her - she's very personable, nice, and just a normal person - someone I'd be friends with! She told me that Francesca is quiet and studious (my child? quiet?) and doing very well. She is competent in everything they want her to be at this point. Her reading is definitely at level and a little above, so she may move to the more advanced group in the next couple of months if she keeps progressing as she has been. The only thing she needs to work on is her pencil grip.

Dominic's teacher said he's basically good at everything - math, money, time, science, spelling, reading, etc. She wasn't even aware that he's the youngest in the class by at least 4 months because he fits in well, is social, and is at the top of the class for all of the subjects. So our decision to put him in first grade last year instead of Kindergarten seems to be working out okay so far! She also said he's polite and a good kid. The only thing he needs to work on is his spacing when he writes since he tends to squish some words together, especially when using regular wide-ruled paper instead of the handwriting paper with the dotted line across the middle.

My kids are smart - yay! And apparently they are also well-behaved at school. *whew*

Hawaii Here We Come!

Well, it's official! I earned my third trip from Usborne Books! Chris and I have already been on an Alaskan cruise, spent 7 days in Rome, and now we're set for a Hawaiian cruise in April! I'm so excited! (Well, not about the traveling & flying to get there part, but definitely about the cruise part.)

We'll be cruising on the Pride of America, a ship with Norwegian Cruise Lines. The cruise starts in Honolulu, spends two days in Maui, one day in Hilo, one in Kona, two in Kauai, and then it's back to Honolulu. The ship has 10 restaurants, about 9 bars/nightclubs, 2 pools, hot tubs, a theater, and lots of other stuff including a gyrosphere!

We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon, so it's fitting that we'll go back again in 2010 - next year is our 10-year anniversary. What better way to spend it than on a second honeymoon in Hawaii?

Trick-or-Treat!

We had such a fun night trick-or-treating this year. At least most of us did! Chris usually takes the kids out with Pete while Lori and I stay home to give out candy. But this year we invited my friend Lois and her daughter Mia to come trick-or-treat with us. They live on a winding, rural road and don't usually trick-or-treat. So this year, Pete, Lois & I were on walking duty. I left Chris armed with a cauldron of treats and his convict costume. I was dressed in Aunt Lorraine's wedding dress as my token dead/zombie bride. We got really lucky with the weather - it was about 60 degrees. Woohoo!

Dominic was Mario from Super Mario Brothers, complete with bushy black mustache!

Once all of the kids were dressed, they were raring to go! We were lucky to get them to stay in one place long enough to take a picture. The following two photos were taken with the kids all standing on the big rock in the Beaudoin's yard. Francesca is next to Dominic in her geisha, I mean, Asian Princess, outfit. Mia is next to hear in the front center. Scout was Super Girl and she's in the back center. Logan was really cute in his policeman costume (far right). Their cousin Nick was also trick-or-treating with them this year - he's between Scout and Logan in the back.

Francesca and Logan didn't make it very far. After going down the Woodridge cul-de-sac and back past our house, Francesca got halfway around Coldbrook before I couldn't take the whining anymore and agreed to take her home. Logan opted to also head back, so I dropped them both off before meeting up with the others. Once we completed our neighborhood, we headed over to an adjoining group of streets to get even more candy (like my kids need it - or can even eat 3/4 of it!) After starting at 6:00, our trick-or-treating excursion finally wrapped up just before 8:00. We snapped a couple of pictures in the house before Lois & Mia headed home to sleep off the sugar high.