Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving 2010 was quite delightful. We debated whether to stick with our eating out tradition this year and it was decided that we would. We're glad we did! The past 2 years we have gone to Bugaboo Creek to eat. The appeal of Bugaboo Creek was being able to get a reservation and not have to wait to be seated. But the food wasn't as good, so back to Dysart's we decided to go this year. Every year we try to figure out the best time to go to Dysart's, so we won't have to wait, but every year we end up waiting. This year was no different. However, this year I waited in the Yukon with the kids, which was less stressful.


Matt and my Mom waited in Dysart's and then Matt gave me a call when it was time to be seated. My Dad came out to the Yukon to wait with me and he helped get the kids into Dysart's. The kids were so good during our lunch and everyone enjoyed their yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Emily, Eleanor, Zach, and Kate ordered grilled cheese sandwiches and fries. That is another good thing about Dysart's...the kids can order whatever they want. Noah enjoyed a little bit of everything.





We were so full when we left Dysart's! We were thankful we ate pie for breakfast. :-)

After Dysart's, we went over to my parents' house to watch football, play Phase 10, watch the Thanksgiving parade, watch the Disney Channel, eat candy (we were too full for pie, but not candy???), and enjoy being together. Eleanor, Zach, and Kate stayed overnight with my parents while the rest of us came home. Zoe and Emily watched the 2nd Harry Potter movie and they slept in the living room, so they were content to be home.

I am so thankful for a wonderful family and for such a fun, relaxing Thanksgiving Day!

Turkeys Galore

Zachary's


Emily's
Eleanor's


Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It is pie making day. I have made 3 pumpkin pies, 3 chocolate pies, I have 1 more chocolate pie to make, and I made brownies for Zoe who does not like pie. We just don't get that! I am making these pies at my parents' home since our oven is still out of commission after the Spring lightning storm.

I had a super busy, but good weekend. I went to a meeting in Topsham Friday night with a group of ladies from our branch. Sister Allred from the General Relief Society Presidency, Sister Dalton from the General Young Women Presidency, and Sister Wixom from the Primary General Presidency spoke to us and had a training session after. It was so uplifting and awesome! Mere and I were a bit late arriving, so we missed Sister Wixom's talk, which was a bummer, but we were there for everything else.

Saturday morning, after getting to bed around midnight, I got up and headed to Waterville for Scout training. I am officially trained now to be a den leader, to be on the scout committee, and I have my youth protection training done. I will now be getting more involved in our cub scouting program at church. I will be a cub scout pro when Zach becomes a cub scout!

I have been gone a lot lately and this was the last weekend that I have something going on until January. It will be nice to be home on the weekends! We did watch a movie together as a family Friday night and Saturday night. We watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and "The Other Side of Heaven".

We had our Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation yesterday and the children did such a great job! We received many comments about how wonderful the program was. This was Zoe's last Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. She was able to play her flute during one of the songs with her friend, Morgan who played the clarinet. Liza played the piano along with them. So beautiful!

30 year old man trapped in a 2 year old body

Noah likes to change his clothes throughout the day now. He insisted on wearing his church outfit yesterday, tie included. I tried to convince him that he didn't need to change his clothes, but he wouldn't listen. He put the outfit on in the afternoon and didn't change out of it until bedtime. At bedtime, he didn't want to change into pajamas, he insisted on wearing a different outfit. Noah is a funny little man!

Earning Pennies

The kids are now earning pennies for everything they put away, such as toys, shoes, coats, bowls, plates, cups, etc. We started them out earning a point for each thing put away and then whoever earned the most points would get a one on one time with me or Matt. Zoe and Emily worked together to earn the most points, so they could go out together. I treated them to dinner at Friendly's last night after Activity Days to reward them for the work that they did. The point system was motivating Zoe and Emily, but it wasn't motivating the younger kids. Eleanor would start out excited, but then she would see Zoe and Emily earning way more points than her, so then she would get discouraged and just give up trying to earn points. We needed a way for each child to have something to work toward, so they would stay motivated even if they were earning less points than older siblings. So now each point is worth a penny and they can cash in the points at any time. They can earn a $1 and go to the dollar spot or the Dollar Tree or they can go to a $1 movie. They can earn as many pennies as they want. Zoe and Emily would like to earn enough pennies to go to Great Skates. When they cash in their pennies, they are back to zero and start over. Eleanor was more than willing to help clean up today to earn pennies, which is not the response I would have received if she just had to clean up. :-)

A new season

Basketball has begun. The Middle School Girls' team has an A and B team. All of the 6th graders made the B team, so that is the team Zoe is on. Zoe loves playing basketball, so she is excited that the season has begun.

Emily is participating in a basketball fundraiser that the High School National Honor Society is hosting. The fundraiser is for the Angel Tree, so the Society is raising money to buy Christmas presents for struggling families in the community. For $10, 3rd and 4th graders get together for 4 Saturdays for 2 hours to practice basketball skills. $10 is a bargain and what a great fundraiser to be involved in!

Matt and I took Noah to see a specialist in Portland yesterday. Nothing major going on. Noah was unable to get circumcised when he was born due to a minor issue. We took him to a specialist in Bangor over a year ago, but Matt didn't get a good feeling about the specialist, so we decided to see a different specialist. The closest specialist not in Bangor is in Portland, so we kept putting off making an appointment. Well, Noah is 2 and he's getting a bit old to have this done, but it will be done in January in Portland.

We stopped at Bugaboo Creek on the way home, which was fun. It was nice to spend some alone time with Noah. He is so sweet, cute, and fun!

We have kept Eleanor home from school since last Monday. She has been good about being home. Eleanor's teacher has sent work home for Eleanor to do, so she won't be too far behind when she goes back. Yesterday was the first day that I haven't seen any lice in her hair while doing a lice check. That is encouraging. I think we'll end up keeping her home the rest of this week and hopefully she'll be back to school on Monday.

My Week

Lice. The word makes your head itch the minute you hear it. I am all in favor of destroying all lice from off the face of the earth. Starting with the ones in Eleanor's hair. Last Saturday, Matt did a random lice check on Eleanor and found lice. I was not happy when I got home from the temple that night to find out we are dealing with lice again. We all stayed home from Stake Conference on Sunday. From what I hear, we missed a really good meeting. The kids only had 3 days of school this past week, so I was able to keep Eleanor home all week with her only missing 3 days of school. I talked with her teacher on Friday and she sent home some work for Eleanor to do this weekend. Matt will be staying home from church tomorrow with anyone who does not pass the lice test today. Zach has already failed and I suspect Kate will fail since we found some lice on her the other day. So much for not spreading the lice! I am trying really hard to stay positive and to just do what I need to do to get rid of this lice. It is so constant and tiring, though! I am grateful that Matt does all of the lice treatments. That is such a huge help! So, lice pretty much sums up my week, but I will tell you about some fun things that have been going on as well.

I have been busy organizing with my new organizers. I think that is fun. :-)

My Mom treated me to dinner at the Ground Round Tuesday night and then we watched "Letters to Juliet" at her house.

I went to the temple again on Thursday with my parents and my grandmother to watch my grandmother be sealed to my deceased grandfather and then my Dad was sealed to my grandparents. What a special day! We had several people from our branch go to the temple that day to have special work done.

I will end here with a few pictures of Eleanor's glitter glue artwork. Very cute and creative!

36 and counting

Happy Birthday to me! I got exactly what I wanted.

Matt put up our new mailbox post on Saturday while I was at the temple. I LOVE it!

A quick note before I go

I have the Christmas spirit early this year. Matt and I started our Christmas shopping last night. :-)

I am off to the temple with Patti today!

Guest Blogger: Zoe!

A note from Joey first...
Zoe has joined the math team at school. She wasn't going to join the team, but her math teacher (who is in charge of the math team) really wanted her to join, so she did. Zoe brought home the permission slip and notice on Tuesday and she had her first meet today at her school. Around 30 6th graders are on the math team and the eight 6th graders that were picked to compete in the math meets (including Zoe) had the highest NWEA scores. Yay, Zoe! So, here is a note from Zoe about her first meet today. She was very nervous about competing, but she did it and I think she even enjoyed it. :-)

A note from Zoe...
Today was our first math meet. There were about 24 schools competing ( we weren't all together.) Maddie, Jocelyn, Mike and me were in a team. We were one of the two 6th grade teams. There were two 7th grade teams and one 8th grade team. We were team one. Mike was the captain, and I was the proofreader ( the person who makes sure everyone has the same answers)
there were 8 questions and we had 24 minutes. It went by so fast! Afterward we had desserts. I had peanut butter pie. We have math practice every Wednesday at lunch time.

Halloween Weekend

I bought this Minnie Mouse costume last year for Kate to wear, but she didn't want to wear it. She was happy to wear it this year to the Halloween party at church.

I am so happy that the race car costume fit Zach! It looks like he'll be able to wear it next year, too if he wants.
The kids had fun playing games at the party. Here is Zach playing the pumpkin roll relay race. The kids also played the fishing game where they would fish and get to keep whatever they caught. They couldn't see what they were getting, so it was always a surprise to see what they caught. They also went into the dark room to find glow in the dark bugs. FUN! Noah came home with a toy motorcycle, which he calls a scooter. He LOVES his scooter.

We fit in pumpkin carving and sticker faces before the party. Kate put 3 different faces on her pumpkin.


Matt and Emily carved a pumpkin together.
Noah made a sticker face for his pumpkin.
Awww, look at the cute lion! Noah didn't wear the lion costume for anyone to see, but he did let us put it on him to take a picture.
Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus
Our awesome primary children. I didn't get individual pictures of Emily and Eleanor. Emily went as a witch to the party and Eleanor was a ninja.
This spoiled puppy is eating table food!
I had to join in the costume fun!


We had Branch Conference on Halloween. In primary, we had our first run through for our primary sacrament meeting presentation. It went well. We had a potluck luncheon after church with the stake leaders. I missed the luncheon because I was in a primary meeting, but I did get some chili and yummy pull apart bread to eat. When we got home, the kids were able to earn candy by answering church related questions. They thought it was a lot of fun and several of the kids wanted to continue answering questions after they were full of candy.

My Mom bought the kids a pumpkin pinata to break during FHE last night. We did this pinata outside and Matt made an awesome pinata stick. The stick was so awesome that Emily (without being able to see) hit the pinata on her last try just right and broke the pinata in half. Zoe was so bummed because she didn't get a turn at the pinata. We let her try to hit the rest of the pinata down. We laughed because she got turned around and started swinging at Matt. We thought she was getting back at him for not getting a real turn. :-)

Noah
Kate
Zach
Eleanor. Matt guided the kids to know where the pinata was and then they were on their own.




The kids didn't go trick or treating on Halloween this year, but they did end up with a lot of candy. Candy that they like and candy that shouldn't be around for very long. Matt is really hoping that is true!

Matt is home!

My "single mothering" days are over. :-) I think overall things went well. I took one day at a time and I stayed busy, which wasn't hard! The kids had their moments, but I think they were well behaved and helpful most of the time.

Having Matt away for so long reminded me of how much he does when he is home. He is a very helpful husband and we work as a team during the evenings. One of us will clean up the kitchen after dinner, while the other one gets the kids ready for bed. Matt is home most evenings, which is such a blessing! I had very little free time during the evenings while Matt was gone. The kids went to bed later and by the time the kitchen was clean, it was time for me to go to bed.

I've been doing well getting 7 hours of sleep every night. 7 hours is enough for me to not feel tired and grumpy during the day. I'm in a routine of being in bed by 10:25pm and I'm up at 5:25am. I even stick to this schedule on the weekends. The consistency has been great for my body, mood, and overall health. I think this habit is helping my success with my "no yelling" habit, which is going great, too. In the last 8 weeks, I have yelled at my kids once. That happened when they were outside and they were about to spray each other with the hose when they were all dressed and it was cold outside. I was inside yelling at them through the window. They really didn't see anything wrong with their plan, but I knew the work they were about to produce for me!

My Mom was super helpful while Matt was gone. She took Friday and Monday off from work, so I was able to spend those days with her. That helped the days to go by faster and it gave me a break from my routine. Kate and Noah loved being at "Grammie's house" and the older kids loved going there after school on Friday. On Monday, we picked the kids up from school and then we went to Friendly's. That was a nice treat because when we got home, everyone was full and ready for Family Home Evening.

My Mom watched the kids Wednesday night, while I took Zoe and Emily to Activity Days. The girls briefly worked on another Christmas gift to give away and then we talked about President Monson's talk about gratitude. I came away from the activity motivated to be more thankful and to focus more on what I have than on what I don't have. I have much to be thankful for!

My Mom came over Thursday evening to play a game of Phase 10 and then I went to pick up Matt from the airport. Yay! Then my Mom came over last night, so Matt and I could go out on datenight. We went to Pizzeria Uno. We used to go to Pizzeria Uno so much that the workers knew us, but we don't go there very often anymore. It was funny to have the hostess ask us last night if we've ever been to Pizzeria Uno before. We really haven't been there for awhile because I discovered last night that they don't have my favorite strawberry cheesecake anymore! That is just wrong.

The kids had a half day at school yesterday. Eleanor was the only one who had a party where she could dress up in her costume. She dressed up as a witch. They had an orange party where all the food and drinks were orange. Emily's class made a witch's brew. Each child brought in a dry ingredient to add to the brew. They had to come up with a name for their ingredient. Emily brought in bat droppings (craisins). Zach had a special snack. Usually, the kids are not allowed to share snacks, so Zach thought it was so neat that everyone was bringing snacks to share. They had a mix of Halloween goodies and healthy food. Zach brought in grapes in his Halloween bucket. Zoe had a purple and gold assembly. She has not outgrown the Halloween fun yet, so she would have preferred a Halloween party to the assembly, but she still had fun.

Emily and Eleanor went over to Daisy's and Anna's Grandma's house after school yesterday. I brought Zoe, Zach, Kate, and Noah to the park. There were a bunch of teenagers at the park who made me so thankful that my children are being brought up with standards, morals, and values!

Noah made it into our local paper this week. He is the very cute Dalmatian.



I hope everyone has a fun Halloween weekend!

Ghostport

The kids and I participated in a few of the Ghostport activities today in town. We all dressed up in costumes and walked in the Halloween parade down Main Street. I was going to take pictures, but I left my camera in the car. Dang! Zach was a big hit in the NASCAR costume. I'm so glad it ended up fitting him! After walking in the short parade, the kids ate brunch at the gazebo, which was sponsored by the PTO. We started out at the gazebo, but we ended up going to the car to eat because it was so cold and windy! I bought the kids hot chocolate at the Dairy Port after they ate.

Some people were buying ice cream, but I thought that was just CRAZY! It was way too cold for ice cream.

We wanted to see the coffin races (the first picture is the Dairy Port's coffin), but they weren't until the afternoon, so we went home. Eleanor was not going back out in the cold after we were in our warm home! I was content to be home, too.

Zoe had her last soccer game on Monday and then she had a Halloween party/Awards Night on Thursday. She went as a French Artist.

I am enjoying these few weeks before basketball begins!

I Heart Goodwill

Kate woke up yesterday in a pigtail mood. Her hair is getting so long! She talks about getting it cut, but then she changes her mind. Check out her awesome Halloween leggings!
Kate, Noah, and I went to the museum yesterday to make paper monsters and to play. Noah's monster is flying!

We went to a park to play after the museum. It was such a beautiful day! After we picked the kids up from school, we went to a different park. The younger kids and I were tired out when we finally got home!

Look at today's awesome Goodwill find! I think it's going to be too big for Noah and too small for Zach this year, but I could be wrong about Zach. He still fits in a costume that he wore 2 years ago.

Clowning Around

I dug out the Halloween costumes today and we also went over to Orland Costume Closet where we borrowed some costumes. We are not going with our awesome family themed costumes this year, hopefully next year. Time and money were not on our side this season. After getting our costumes out, I realized that we have accumulated quite a few costumes and the kids are more than happy to wear them over and over, so I need not stress about costumes. The older kids did pick up some new ideas and costumes at the Costume Closet, which is also fun. Zoe is going to be an artist, Emily is going to dress old fashioned style, and Eleanor and Zach are going to be rock stars! Zach doesn't have a complete costume, so we'll have to work on that, but they both have toy guitars (which no longer make sounds :-) that they love! Kate has quite a few options, so I'm not sure what she'll end up being, but she was leaning toward the butterfly costume. Noah could be a dog or a lion. The kids had tons of fun trying on costumes this afternoon!

The kids watched a new Scooby Doo movie before bed tonight. When I walked into the living room where they were watching the movie, I found Kate cuddling with Noah. It was so sweet! It seemed like she was trying to comfort Noah, so she could be comforted herself. I tried to capture the moment, but of course they moved right before I took the shot.

Noah needs a bubble

It looks like I had his 2 year picture taken just in time.