It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

What an exhausting, but wonderful time of the year! The outside lights are up; the tree is decorated with ornaments that bring a smile or a memory with the hanging of each one; the Christmas movies have been brought up from the basement (I seriously could watch Polar Express over and over and never get tired of it); and the excitement of the kids is contagious.

Last weekend we celebrated a yearly ritual here at the Trittschuh house. Cookie night! My sister & niece, my friend and her kids, and me and my brood all get together, eat pizza and make cookies. This year, Grandma and Grandpa Baker even stopped by to help out for a bit.

By the end of the night every single child and adult in the house was covered in flour and/or dried icing - and I'm still finding sprinkles in the oddest areas of my house. But it is really something that I've come to look forward too. I think the kids do too.

Sugar cookies...made with flour, sugar, love, and maybe even a little bit of slobber. That's the absolute best!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. You get all of the great food and family togetherness, without the pressure of presents. It sort of makes me sad that it is the one holiday with very little recognition. If you go to a store, you'll see the back to school stuff replaced by Halloween decorations; then Halloween gets replaced by Christmas. I know that Thanksgiving doesn't have much to commercialize, but it just doesn't seem right to just skip it.

Anyhoo, we had a lovely day. We went to Grandma & Grandpa Trittschuh's for a nice lunch with the entire family. What a spread they had there! Just when we had digested enough to finally be able to breathe, we packed up and headed to my Mom's house for a feast with the other side. I don't want to even think about the calories consumed that day, but really, I am just very thankful that we have family close by to be able to do that with. There are many people out there that spend Thanksgiving alone and I was lucky enough to spend time with almost every single person in my family in one day. That certainly is special. So, now is the time where I will reflect and will make a list for what I am thankful for:

First and foremost, my children. They are the light of my life.

My husband. Even after 13 years of marriage he is still my best friend.

My family. My loud, wonderful, loving, and even at times disfunctional family. I love you.

My friends. You laugh with me, listen to me bitch, and understand when I sometimes don't say anything at all. You are wonderful.

On top of all of this, I have a home, a job, a vehicle that gets me where I need to go (most of the time), we have food in the cupboard, and we have our health...everything else seems immaterial, now doesn't it? Even so, I still can't help but to be thankful for Diet Coke, flannel sheets, Zumba, high heeled boots, my TiVo, chocolate, and beer. For those are the litle perks that make everyday life so very wonderful. Happy Holidays all!

What a week!

I know that I've really dropped the ball in blogging this week, but I've been CRAZY busy.

We have had a good week though. Saturday, we went to Grandma Trittschuh's to make homemade noodles, so that was a lot of fun. We kneaded and cranked and were covered in flour - it was perfect. Well, except for the nasty habit Aunt Di has passed along to my girls on a noodle day many years ago...who eats raw noodle dough?! Ick, that's gross!! That's raw egg my kids now love to eat! I tell you what, if my kids come down with intestinal worms they can go stay with Aunt Di and let her love on them while she's cleaning up their puke! (Sorry for the lovely visual there gang.)

Aunt Kim used to tease the girls by telling them that kneading the dough is how you get big boobs. I'm guessing we worked hard enough for at least a cup size that day Aunt Kim! We ended up with A BUNCH of noodles.

Oh Mary....

Here's a little recreation from our house Tuesday night...

Setting: My eight year old, Mary, is working on homework, sitting at the bar in our kitchen. She has a packet of papers that is due on Friday that she works on a little every day. She's been working for a bit at this point...

Mary, growing weary of doing homework, throws herself back in her chair and says, "Mom, can I be done?"

"Let me see...good job, but can you do just one more page?"

She picks herself back up to the bar, gives a deep sigh and says under her breath....."damn."

She didn't say it to get a rise out of me. She was just disappointed and that's what came out of her mouth. As much as I hate to admit it, my daughter is a casual swearer. Lovely. Even worse; I'm not that upset over it. There are worse things right?! Heck, Matt thinks it's hilarious. I told him that if I EVER get a phone call from the school telling me that they have Mary in the office that HE is going to be the one to go talk to the principal - not me. In the meantime, I guess I'll try to keep my little pottymouth away from the other kids.....

Happy birthday Matt!

The kids and I want to give a big shout out to one of the coolest dads ever...and who just happens to be celebrating his birthday tomorrow. :-) Happy birthday honey! We sure do love you.

I was searching our computer files for some good pictures of him to post tonight when I ran across an old band photo from either the late 80's or early 90's. It was too funny not to share.

I'm so glad that as he's aged, that his fashion sense has matured as well.

Yep folks...that is Matt wearing the gold spandex shorts and cowboy boots! YOWZA!

Happy birthday ya big stud-muffin!

Jeff's Bucket List

Last night, Matt and I went to a benefit fish fry for a "friend of a friend of a friend."

Jeff was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer six months ago. After this summer's surgery, doctors informed him that they are no longer able to fight the disease, but would now focus on prolonging his life. Jeff just celebrated his 40th birthday last month and has been given 6 months to a year, but in all honesty, no one really knows when he'll be called home.

Jeff made a promise to his wife back when they got married almost 5 years ago that they would go to Europe some day. Well that some day is now so Jeff's friends put together a benefit to raise the money to help Jeff fulfill his "bucket list." It was truly inspiring to see all of the people there last night - it was packed! There was food, beer, gambling, silect auctions, and the like. I overheard one of the "bucket heads" (Jeff's friends that were working the event last night all sported bright purple Bucket-head shirts) tell another that they had hit the $10,000 mark at 10:30PM. That's fantastic! The event ran til midnight so I'm hoping that Jeff and his wife will be able to take that trip right now and not have to worry about money.

My heart breaks when I think about his situation. But last night was such a wonderful celebration of a life that until recently, I had no idea even existed. It's amazing what a handful of people can do.

Bon voyage Jeff....I hope you have the trip of a lifetime!

Rockin' at Stocks w/ the Dogs...

Friday night was the first annual Halloween Bash at Stocks in Versailles (of course featuring entertainment by the RocketDogs), so Matt and I got all dressed up and headed north. What a freakin' blast that was!!

My little brother (and official RocketDog Roadie) Rich, came along for a night of fun. He helped the guys set up, tear down, and took pictures all night long. I think he just does it to say he's "with the band"...free drinks, chics dig it, etc. But in all honesty, he did a great job catching the all of the hysterical costumes throughout the night.

Anyway, Rich brought over his camera so I downloaded all of his pictures. Click the link below to view his handywork.

Halloween Bash