Thanksgiving Weekend Update

It's been a busy few days! Here's a quick recap of how we spent Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving

I'd made the pumpkin pie the night before, so had only to put together and bake the corn and green bean casseroles. Xander surprised me by doing some house cleaning ("I'm doing all your chores, Mom!"). He washed all the dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen counters and floors, and wiped down the TV. What a helper! Then it was off to Jean & Mike's for dinner, with Tanya to join us (surprise news: Tanya is pregnant!).

Xander surprised me again by helping himself to turkey and mashed potatoes - and eating them! Without me having to beg! I sure had a lot to be thankful for this year!

Black Friday

I'd had no big plans for Black Friday. I almost always go shopping, sometimes with Joe in Albany, sometimes in Oneonta by myself. This year Krissy decided to test the waters of Black Friday with me. She convinced me to get up at 5am (!!!) and we were out the door by 6am. We went to Walmart, Sears, Target, BJs, JoAnn Fabric, Toys R Us, and JC Penney. In between we finally got to see Twilight: New Moon (awesome abs, I may have to switch to Team Jacob!). It was a full, busy, and tiring day, but we walked away with some really good deals.

Saturday

House decorating day. Xander and I put out most of the Christmas decorations. He put himself in charge of the nativity ("Jesus brought jewelry and love to our nation.") and putting out the Christmas Carol figures I'd gotten from Jean a few years ago. Xander also lost a tooth on Saturday. It was a bleeder, so he spent most of the rest of the day with a cotton ball clamped between his teeth. Very attractive!

Sunday

Grocery shopping with Joe and Xander. I made Joe come because one of our tires has a leak in it and I didn't want to be responsible for keeping it inflated. We rented Up from Blockbuster and watched it together over dinner. It was a great movie!

Monday

Cyber-Monday, and I got some good deals online. Joe is doing laundry and taking the tire to hopefully get fixed. Today was Xander's snack day (we made brownies) and also the first day of Spirit Week, so he got to wear PJs to school.

Coming up we have a couple of Hospice parties, and a trip out to Yankee Candle in Massachusetts. December is going to be a busy month, as always!

Hope your Thanksgiving holiday was a good one!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing one and all a very Happy Thankgsiving!

Xander's First Digital Scrapbook Pages!

It makes a mother proud, I tell ya! The other night Xander asked if he could "make a picture" on the laptop like I do all the time. So I set him up with some pictures (he requested Halloween) and a scrap kit. The rest he did himself, with the exception of some spelling help from me. And no, I didn't correct his pronunciation of Michael Meyers - his way is cuter! LOL!

After he finished Halloween, Xander decided he wanted to do a Christmas page too. Again, all I did was set him up with a kit and some pictures. This is what he came up with:

I'm sure he'll get the hang of this in no time, assuming he wants to do more. Mommy's little scrapbooker!

Christmas Card Teaser

We had our Christmas card photo shoot this weekend, and I have to say I'm really happy with how it came out! That white sheet I bought at Walmart sure has been useful for these portrait shoots. Now you want to see it, right? Wrong! No viewing the photo until you actually get it in Christmas card form. Ha!

But, since I can't leave you with nothing, I'll let you see one of Xander's test shots. Is this kid cute or what? He was singing a song he made up about Santa. :)

Xander - singing fool!

My boy loves music - he listens to it in the car, and has a CD playing all night when he goes to bed. He has his own playlist on my MP3 player, and I've burned him several CDs with music he's selected. It's always so interesting to see what songs he really likes.

For instance, he's in Dr. Demento mode right now. He's been learning Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (by Allen Sherman) and it's hilarious to hear him sing it! And if you don't believe me, check out the new video at the bottom of the page. You won't be sorry!

Disney's A Christmas Carol - In 3D!

Joe, Xander and I went to see Disney's new movie A Christmas Carol, which has several characters played by Jim Carrey. Xander was very excited, because it was in 3D and also because he already knows the story of "Ebeneber" Scrooge.

I'm a big fan of this story, in all of its incarnations. I've got versions with Muppets, one with Susan Lucci (playing Elizabeth Scrooge), and my favorite George C. Scott edition. It's just such a great story! And I thought the new movie did a great job with it! There were some funny parts, but not as many as you'd think from a Jim Carrey film. There were some scary parts that had Xander covering his eyes. And the only thing I didn't really like was the way the Ghost of Christmas Present transitioned out of the story. Otherwise, it all kept very close to the original story.

The Bruno family as a whole recommends this movie. Xander is already asking when we can buy it on DVD. For me, it will be a welcome addition to the Christmas Carol collection I already have. Cause I never get tired of watching this story!

Our Overnight Guest!

Xander has been on many overnights, mostly to my mother-in-law's and my brother's. The only child we had stay over was Katie (her folks bunked in too) for Xander's second birthday. So it's been a while.

On Saturday, we had scheduled Braden for an all-day playdate. Xander was so excited, particularly because it would just be the boys all day - no pesky sisters! The boys played so nice together all day! Braden decided to stay for dinner, and when I would've taken him home afterwards, Xander begged for more playtime. And just like that, Braden ended up spending the night.

The boys decided they could both sleep on Xander's bed, once they got all the stuffed animals, extra blankets, and random toys off it. At 8:30 I put them to bed, but they played their DS games for about another hour. The night passed without incident. I'm so happy everything went well, it will make me less nervous about any future sleepovers we may have. Plus, it was nice for Xander and Braden to have all that time to hang out together. Might have to switch up to a bigger bed, though...

Happy Birthday To My Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mommo!

57 years young today! I've known you for 36 years now, and you're still my very best friend. Hope you have a great birthday!

Minekill Overlook

It's been unseasonably warm the last couple of days, the kind of weather where you want to throw open all your windows. Not only did I do that, but I wrangled Joe and Xander for a trip to the Minekill Falls Overlook. The last time I'd been there Xander was about two years old.




I'd wanted to do the big through-the-woods hike to the bottom of the falls, but the inspiration to go hiking came too late in the day (they close the park at 3pm). So we just did the overlook. I wasn't actually expecting much because there's been roadwork next to the falls for a couple years now, and sometimes the water isn't flowing at all. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the roar of the falls as we got closer, and to see how great it was flowing.

It was a nice little outing. When summer rolls around again, I'm determined to do the big hike. A big pool of water and lots of rocks for throwing? Xander will love it! I'm sure glad we live close enough to visit this natural wonder whenever we want to!

1st Grade Portrait

We got Xander's school portraits back yesterday. What a handsome devil!! Of course, I had to call the photography company because they shorted us our 8x10, but that will hopefully be coming soon. So, for your entertainment, I give you Xander's 1st Grade portrait:

And for extra fun, look how much he's changed since Kindergarten:

Oh Woe, My Poor Car!

Do you see anything wrong with my car?

No? Well, let me tell you a little story. The other night I was driving home from work (it was about 5:15, getting fairly dark) and when I got to the street I live on I was stuck behind a van with flashing yellow lights on it. This van was crawling down the street, but I didn't feel comfortable passing because I didn't know if there was something ahead and also because it was a no-passing zone. And since the driver didn't wave me around or pull off to the shoulder, I had to tough it out.

The morning after this incident, I saw that the double yellow line had been painted. There were tire marks coming from that to my driveway, where I'd driven a little on the fresh paint. Now it all made sense! I had a little chuckle about that. And then Joe came home from work.

Turns out more than just my tires are yellow. Now Joe has to call the insurance company to see if there's anything we can do about this. The line painter wasn't marked in any way - I had no clue what he was doing besides driving slow. It was too dark to even get a good look at his vehicle, though I could just make out a picture of the state on the back doors. Want a better look? Check these pics out!

Halloween 2009

It was the best of times, it was the soggiest of times. It was...Halloween 2009!

First on the schedule of festivities was a Halloween breakfast at work. Joan, Krissy and I dressed for a slumber party, and won best group costume (we beat out the hippies). I think the curlers put us over the top!

Next was a trip to Xander's school for the Halloween parade and subsequent party. We saw some very cute costumes, and Xander brought home three gift bags and a huge popcorn ball!

But of course the real action was on Saturday. We went to my in-laws' for lunch, and Xander was beside himself waiting for Angie to call us over for trick-or-treating. He passed the time playing, nibbling on ham, and waiting for trick-or-treaters to come so he could give them candy.

Finally it was time to hit the streets. And yes, it rained on and off the whole time we were out. It wasn't too cold, luckily, but we still had to put jackets on. Here are the six of us before heading out (Andy=Darth Vader, Angie=Han Solo, Joe=Obi Joe Brunobi, Cassie=Princess Leia, Xander=Jango Fett, Josh=Clone Trooper):

Josh and Xander got a boat-load of candy, considering the weather and the fact that only every third or fourth house was lit and handing out the goods. We didn't do our whole loop this year - no-one was much into it - and ended up the night back at Andy and Angie's eating pizza and just hanging out while the boys played. All in all, a pretty good night!