Week In Review: October 25 - October 31, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for October 25 - October 31, 2009

Sunday: Slept in for a change. Got up and did a few things around the house. Looked up some recipes. Found a recipe for an apple cake I thought I'd give a try. Then tried to figure out how I wanted to make CJ's cake. I found a cake pan from Wilton that was perfect, but it was discontinued. So I called around trying to find someone who had it, but no one had it. I found it on ebay, but worried it wouldn't get here in time. So I e-mailed to ask if it could be rushed to me. Joe went to work. I started working on my apple cake. Fed the kids lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Finished up my cake. Got a reply from the person with the cake pan on ebay that if I bought it today I could get it on time. So I did Buy it Now and purchased the cake pan. Now fingers crossed that I get it. I washed dishes. Joe came home from work. I started some laundry and cleaned up my kitchen floor. Joe cooked dinner. We ate. Natalie had to work on some homework that she hadn't completed. That turned into a very long project. So I put Kaitlyn and CJ to bed and had her finish up her work. She finally finished and I sent her to bed. I continued with the laundry and watched TV with Joe. I took a shower and went to bed.

Monday: Got woken up by Kaitlyn telling me Natalie didn't feel good. She had a headache and said her stomach hurt. I sent her to get something to eat. She was still moping around. I took her temperature which was normal. Gave her some Tylenol and told her if she stays home from school she stays in her room and sent her there. I thought she'd come back out a little while later bored and ready to go to school. She didn't. Joe went in there though and she was sitting on her bed reading. He asked her if she was feeling better she said she did so he told her to get ready for school. So the kids went off to school as normal. Joe brought them in. I got CJ dressed. When Joe came home we went over our friend's house. They had a couch that Joe wanted me to look at and to measure and see if it would fit in our apartment. So we went there. Looks like we might get the couch. After that we went to Walmart to pick up a few things that I needed. Then we stopped at the pharmacy and came home. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. I called the bank to deal with a problem with my account. The person I've been working with is no longer there though and no one seems to know what's been going on. So that was frustrating. I think I got it under control though. I had something to eat and then watched TV with Joe. I went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and Joe left for work. I helped the girls with their homework. Washed the dishes. Cooked dinner. Fed the kids. Sent the girls to finish cleaning their rooms. Then sent them to take a shower. Got CJ ready for bed and put them to bed. Then sent the girls to bed. I stayed up watching TV until Joe came home from work. Then I went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up and discovered the girls were still in bed. So I had to wake them up. Then hey were arguing and giving me trouble with getting ready. I hate starting the morning off that way. Got them ready and got dressed and brought them to school. Then I went to the bank. I had to fill out some paperwork there. Took care of that and came home. Cleaned the kitchen. Did some things on the computer. Gave CJ lunch and put him down for a nap and then I had something to eat. Then I went over to the new Box Top coordinator's house to help her prepare the box tops to be shipped out and show her what to do. Brought her to the post office to ship and pay for it with the PTA money. Then came home. Made cookie dough. Went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and got them started on homework. Joe left for work. I got dinner going and finished making my cookies too. Fed the kids and ate something myself. Had the girls clean their room. Got them ready for bed and sent them to bed. Then I decorated the cookies and washed dishes. Made some mashed potatoes for Joe. He came home and ate his dinner. I finished cleaning up the kitchen and went to take a shower and then went to bed.

Wednesday: Got up and got dressed. Got the kids dressed and Joe out the door. We brought Joe to work. Then came home and the kids finished getting ready. I put CJ's halloween costume on him for the playgroup halloween party. We left for school. The girls helped me carry the cookies down to playgroup and then went off to class. CJ and I had a good time at playgroup. He made the craft and played with some playdough. We trick or treated around the school and had snack and sang some songs and did some dancing and then left. Came home and put him down for a nap. I relaxed. Had some lunch. Went to pick the girls up from school after CJ got up from his nap. Came home and started homework. Went back out to get Joe from work and do some grocery shopping. Got gas. Came home in the pouring rain. Put the groceries away. Started dinner. Realized we forgot to return a movie. Sent Joe out to do that. He came home. We ate dinner. CJ got cheese all over his white shirt. I threw it in the wash. Had the girls finish cleaning their rooms. Sent them all to bed. Watched TV with Joe. Finished that load of laundry. CJ's shirt didn't come clean. Now I need bleach. Let it soak in some detergent for now. Watched some more TV. Went to bed.

Thursday: Got up and did our normal morning routine. Joe went to work. I got the kids dressed and out the door. We walked to school. Then CJ and I came back home. I did some menu planning for CJ's birthday party. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. When Joe got home from work we got CJ up from his nap and went to Walmart to get CJ's birthday presents and some stuff for his party. By the time we finished there we didn't have much time to do anything else so we went to the school to pick the girls up. Got them and went to Iparty for party favors for the goody bags and a few other things we couldn't find at Walmart. I found napkins there that I liked better than ones I got at Walmart. So we went back to Walmart to return those napkins and to show Natalie some plates that she might want to buy for CJ for part of his birthday present. Got a plate and a few other things we realized we forgot the first time and went to the grocery store to get the rest of the stuff we couldn't get at Walmart. Then we went to Subway to get dinner and home to eat. We ate dinner. The kids did their homework. I washed dishes. Then I gave CJ a bath. Got him all ready for bed. Put all the kids to bed. Cleaned out CJ's toy box in preparation for the gifts he'll receive this weekend. Cleaned up the living room a bit. Worked on the pin the mouth on the ghost game for CJ's birthday party. Got that and the mouths all made. Went and took a shower and then went to bed.

Friday: Got up and got the kids ready to go. Left for school bright and early in the morning. Started popping popcorn. We got through that pretty quick. Came home and started counting all the money we had from other PTA events. Got a phone call from school that a classes popcorn order was missing. I know we filled the order, but I don't know what happened so it needed to be reimbursed. So that adjusted my counting. Put CJ down for a nap. Got the deposit ready and went to the bank. Came home and had lunch. Watched some TV with Joe. Cleaned up the living room. Picked the girls up from school. Cleaned the kitchen. Joe went to work. I wasn't feeling good so I laid down on the couch. Then I got up and cooked dinner. Cleaned up the kitchen a little. Fed the kids. Joe came home from work and we carved pumpkins. I cleaned the bathroom. Baked a cake. Washed dishes. Made jello. Washed laundry. Went to bed.

Saturday: Got up early still feeling lousy. No rest for the weary though. I had a lot of work to do. I cleaned up the kitchen. Joe vacuumed the living room for me. I made the frosting for the cake. Decorated the cake. Had leftover frosting so I made some cupcakes. Joe took the kids out to do a few things. I mopped the floor. Wrapped presents. They came home. I went and took a shower. Got dressed. Frosted cupcakes. Finished getting ready for CJ's party. Guests arrived. We had a nice party for him. He got lots of nice stuff. Everyone, but our friends left. We were going trick or treating together. So we ordered some pizza. Ate dinner. Got the kids back in costume. Took pictures and trick or treated in the rain. Came home soaked with not a whole lot of candy. Our friends went home. We went through the kids candy. Let them each have a piece. Got them ready for bed and sent them to bed. Cleaned up some party stuff a little, but mostly just crashed.

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My Ta Da List

So remember my To Do List from earlier in the day? Well, here's what I accomplished. Or my Ta Da list. The things I did are in green. The things that still need to be done are in orange.

1. Pop popcorn at the school
2. Go to the bank
3. Wash some laundry
4. Put CJ down for a nap
5. Finish cleaning up the living room
6. Clean the kitchen this was done, but needs to be done again as I dirtied it again
7. Clean the bathroom
8. Wash the floors
9. Vacuum the living room
10. Bake CJ's cake
11. Pick the girls up from school
12. Make dinner
13. Carve pumpkins
14. Put together the goody bags
15. Cut up vegetables for the veggie platter
16. Make jello for the Witches Brew

So I guess all in all I didn't do too bad. I'm glad I didn't wash the floors because I would just be doing it all over again after the pumpkin adventure. And Joe's going to take care of the vacuuming in the morning. He needs to move a TV out of my way anyways for a good job to be done. The kitchen isn't too much of a mess. So I think I'll be able to get everything done on time. Well, assuming I'm feeling okay. I have gotten very achy as the day has progressed. I'm hoping a good nights sleep will take care of that. Lets hope I'm not coming down with something.

My To Do List

I have a lot to do today to prepare for CJ's birthday party tomorrow. So I thought just for the heck of it I'd write out my to do list here. Hopefully I get to everything.

So in no particular order:

1. Pop popcorn at the school
2. Go to the bank
3. Wash some laundry
4. Put CJ down for a nap
5. Finish cleaning up the living room
6. Clean the kitchen
7. Clean the bathroom
8. Wash the floors
9. Vacuum the living room
10. Bake CJ's cake
11. Pick the girls up from school
12. Make dinner
13. Carve pumpkins
14. Put together the goody bags
15. Cut up vegetables for the veggie platter
16. Make jello for the Witches Brew

I think that's it. The last three might be able to wait until Saturday. I don't anticipate CJ's cake taking me too long to decorate. There's not a whole lot of detail on it. So I might have more time than I'm thinking on Saturday. But the more I get done today the better so I can do last minute party stuff before everyone arrives. Thankfully decorating is not one of my tasks for the parties. Joe always does the decorating. He's pretty good at it. And it gives me extra time to get other things together.

Playgroup Halloween Party

Every year our playgroup does a Halloween party. All of the kids come dressed in their costume. We bring special treats. And the kids go around the school trick or treating. It's so much fun. And such a great way to gauge how your child might react to trick or treating. I think CJ's going to do just fine this year. He was very into it. He's not crazy about his costume. Although the robe does seem to be growing on him. The crown I'm afraid does not stay on for very long.

King CJ ready to go address his loyal subjects

A little playdough break

Our friends Ron and Hunter working on the craft

Hunter the Goblin

Mia the Tinkerbell

Mia, Hunter, and Andre

CJ reading some books

The king and his dragon

CJ playing with Hunter again

Time to Trick or Treat

Getting treats from Dr. Lussier

Up to the office to get some treats from Mrs. Muesel

Can't forget treats from Mr. Huber. Mr. Huber wanted to borrow CJ's king costume

Snack time. CJ stuffing his face with a cookie

Hunter enjoying a cupcake

Hahahaha, a cupcake

Can I shove this whole thing in my mouth?

Week In Review: October 18 - October 24, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for October 18 - October 24, 2009

Sunday: Took it easy to start the day. Joe went to work. I gave the kids lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Dozed on the couch for a few. Joe came home from work. I started washing dishes and getting laundry going. Cooked dinner. Cleaned up the kitchen. Made the girls take a shower. Got them in bed. Continued with laundry. Joe put a movie on. I couldn't get into it. So I worked on CJ's invitations. Joe wasn't able to get into a movie and got messaged online from one of our friends that their gas stove wasn't working. So he went to check on that. I continued with the invites. Couldn't figure out how I wanted to word things so waited until Joe got home. Finally came up with something and finished all of those up. Got them in the envelopes and mostly addressed and ready to go. Folded more laundry. Took a shower. Played around on the computer. Went to bed way too late.

Monday: The result of going to bed too late is waking up too late too. Jumped out of bed at 8 and realized the girls who get themselves up in the morning weren't up. So went to yell at them. They dragged their feet. I got dressed and ready to go. Brought the girls to school late. Went down to the library to do something and talk to my PTA secretary. Then came home and put Box Tops on sheets. When I finally finished that it was time for CJ to have lunch. Joe gave him that and he went down for a nap. Then I washed some more laundry and made a list of a few things we needed at the store. Went to the store and got all the way to check out when I realized I didn't have a way to pay. So I had to leave the stuff and go home to get my debit card back from Joe. All the way back to the store to pay and then went to the mailbox to drop the invites in. The mailbox was right in front of this guys house and there were cars coming so I pulled in his driveway to turn around, but just decided to hop out while there and toss them in the mailbox. Probably not the best idea since the guy was in his driveway. I got all the way back in my car, door closed, buckled in and about to back out when he chose to say something to me. I apologized for using his driveway and he continued to go on and on. What more could I do at this point? So I rolled up my window and proceeded to back out and get out of there. He was motioning to me I think because I ran over the curb a little. Probably not actually his property at that point and more the city's property, but whatever. Drove home flustered by my experiences of the day. Put the groceries away and calmed down. Did some more laundry and had lunch. CJ got up from his nap. I changed him. Went to the school to pick up the girls. Talked to Natalie's teacher about her class helping clean pumpkins on Friday. Then came home and the kids started homework. Joe went to work. I made a phone call to Kaitlyn's teacher because she said a boy spit on her. Helped with homework and relaxed before having to start dinner. I made bacon and eggs. We ate. Got the kids ready for bed. Sent them to bed and I just took it easy for the rest of the night. Joe came home from work. I was pretty exhausted by then and fell asleep on the couch. Then I got up to go to bed about an hour later.

Tuesday: This time the kids were up on time. I got up reluctantly and got them ready for school. I brought the girls to school and went in to check how much paint we had for our Fall Festival. Saw my friend on the way in so stopped to chat with her. And on the way out I ran into another friend so I chatted with her for a few then went home. Hung around and took care of some e-mailing. Put CJ down for a nap. Washed dishes. Then made another invitation for Joe's niece and nephew. Mailed that out and had something to eat. Got ready to go back to the school to meet with the school psychologist about Kaitlyn. That was a waste of time. Spent all of 10 minutes with him. Despite us having a meeting scheduled he didn't know why we were meeting and had very little thoughts on Kaitlyn. He's being very vague about whether or not he thinks she has ADD. Now he's saying he didn't see any attention issues with her in class during his observations of her. However, last year he noted some attention issues in his evaluation of her. He's supposed to write something up about her. He suggested giving Kaitlyn a check list to help us at home with her. Great, another thing for her to lose. That should work. He's going to try to get it to me Friday, but it seems like it's not a priority to him so I'm not holding my breath for it. He isn't sure where the questionaire he had her teacher from last year fill out is. So he's supposed to find that too. Like I said a huge waste of time. So anyways I came home and told Joe about this experience. Then I had to go back to the school to pick up the girls. I spoke to Kaitlyn's teacher about the spit kid. She didn't seem too pleased with my solution of Kaitlyn avoiding him. She wants Kaitlyn to stand up for herself and tell kids when they do something she doesn't like. Okay, but if this kid has a problem and spits when he talks, then that's not going to help. She's still going to be spit on. So I told her not to start conversations with him. If he talks to her she can talk back and if he spits on her she needs to tell him she does not like that and tell her teacher. We came home and started homework. Joe left for work. I continue to fight with Kaitlyn about her homework. CJ continues to give me fits. I started dinner. Got the kids all fed. Then had them get ready for bed. Sent them to bed and Joe came home early. The girls were still up when he came home so he went in there to yell at them. Then we watched some TV together before going to bed.

Wednesday: Got up at my usual time. Got the kids ready for school. Joe left for work. I took a shower. Got CJ dressed and ready for playgroup and to bring the girls to school. We walked to the school. CJ and I had a good time at playgroup and came home. Gave him lunch and put him down for a nap. Then I took advantage of the peace and quiet and just relaxed. Before I knew it though it was time to get CJ up from his nap and get the girls from school. Got the girls, chatted with the principal for a few, and came home. Helped the girls with their homework. Joe came home from work and got the kids all riled up. We had dinner. I folded some laundry. Joe cleaned out the refrigerator and took out the garbage. I folded some laundry. We put the kids to bed and then Joe and I watched some TV before going to bed.

Thursday: Got up and Joe wasn't here. I completely forgot he had to go to work early. I got the kids ready for school. We walked to school. Came back home and took it easy. I cleaned up a little. Fed CJ lunch. Put him down for a nap. Then I laid down too. Joe came home from work. CJ got up from his nap. We went to the store to get some fall festival things. Went to the school and picked up the girls. Came home and the girls worked on their homework. When they finished we went to my friend's house to drop the girls off and take her husband with us to get the pumpkins for the fall festival. Got the pumpkins and brought them to the school to put them behind the stage. Then went back to my friend's house for our kids. They invited us to stay for dinner. So we did. We were there pretty late. Came home and put the kids to bed and then Joe and I watched some TV. Cut up some t-shirts to use for rags on the pumpkins and then went to bed.

Friday: Got up and got ready to leave. I had a lot of things to get together. Got everything I needed and then went to the school. Faxed fundraiser orders. Popped popcorn. Cleaned pumpkins. Came home and counted popcorn money. Then I created a sign for the M&M guessing. Joe went out with our friends while I stayed home with CJ while he napped. I finished my sign and took a shower. Got out and got ready to go pick the girls up from school. CJ got up from his nap and we went to the school where I met Joe and our friends. Got the kids and came home. Natalie had some homework to do. Our friends offered to take the kids so they packed stuff for their overnight. We had dinner and went back to the school for our Fall Festival. After the Fall Festival we brought the kids to our friend's house. Left them there and went and rented a movie. Came home and I counted money. Joe and I decided it was too late to watch our movie so we just went to bed.

Saturday: Got up to a quiet house. Played around on the computer for a while. Joe finally got up and we watched our movie. Then we went to pick the kids up from my friend's house. Hung out there for a while and came home. Joe had to leave for work. I put CJ down for a nap. Then the girls were playing and discovered a dead mouse in the kitchen. I swept that thing out the door and called Joe. I'm hoping there are no more. I did a few things around the house including the dishes. Ordered some pizza. Fed the kids. Put CJ to bed. Let the girls stay up. Joe came home from work. We watched some TV with the girls and sent them to bed. Then Joe and I relaxed for the evening.

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Fall Festival

Our PTA did it's annual Fall Festival last night. It was a huge success. We had a nice turn out and lots of fun. I managed to snap a few pictures of the evening while I was running around making sure everything was going as it should.

Our friends Spencer and Mia working on their pumpkins

Mia with her pumpkin

Spencer with his pumpkin

A group of people decorating their pumpkins

CJ giving a helping hand

Natalie caught off guard

Kaitlyn playing a game

CJ chipping in to clean up when the night was over

So far I've heard nothing but good feed back about the night. Natalie did guess how many M&M's were in the jar, but someone else guessed the same amount. We gave it to that person because we did not want it to appear rigged. Well, actually the guess was in CJ's name which was nice of Natalie. She did four guesses and the guess she made for CJ was tied for being the closest.

Birthday Party Invites

CJ turns 2 in less than 2 weeks. Hard to believe. We are throwing a Halloween birthday party for him. You would think there would be plenty of invitations for a Halloween themed party, but I couldn't find anything. So I made my own. What do you think?




I had some trouble coming up with what to say on the inside. I finally came up with that and then a friend suggested something I liked better. Oh well, this worked. It gets the point across. Now to plan the party. I discovered that if everyone that we invited comes to the party we'll have 41 people in the house. Yikes! I don't know what I was thinking. Well, except that not everyone will come. Although, my luck now they'll all show up and the weather will be bad so I can't send the children outside. And to make matters worse with Joe's family they won't tell us if they are coming or not and will just show up. I wouldn't mind so much if it's just one or two people, but we're talking about half the guest list here. Makes it difficult to plan. At least it's not lunch or dinner time. So I'll just be providing chips and snacky foods and not an actual meal for everyone.

Some Farm Fun

This week we went apple picking and then pumpkin picking. It was lots of fun.

Monday we went to Lyman Orchards with some friends for apples. And Saturday we went to Minor farm for a hayride and pumpkins.

Apple Picking at Lyman Orchards
The crew checking out the apples

Ron climbed the tree

The kids trying out the apples

CJ picking an apple

A beautiful view. My family with the fall foliage in the background

Minor Farm Pumpkin Picking
CJ on the wooden horse

Kaitlyn on the wooden horse

Natalie on the wooden horse

Natalie milking the cow

Kaitlyn milking the cow

A pug and a pig

CJ sour puss

Here comes the hay ride

Joe, CJ, and Kaitlyn on the hayride

Kaitlyn on the hayride

Natalie on the hayride

Natalie and Kaitlyn on the hayride

CJ on the fire truck

Natalie, CJ, and Kaitlyn on the train

CJ riding the tricycle

Kaitlyn on the train

Natalie on the train

Natalie and Kaitlyn on the train


CJ searching for his pumpkin

Natalie searching for her pumpkin

Everyone looking for a pumpkin

My three pumpkins with their pumpkins

We had a very good time at the farms. Lots of fun traditional New England living!