Moving Right Along

Well, I can cross a few things off my "To Do List", which makes me feel better. I've purchased some Christmas gifts and decided on others. I've got a package ready to go out in the mail tomorrow. We had out family pictures done (story to come) and I got to work on a scrapbooking project for Christmas that I had pretty much given up on even starting. I have my mother in-law and Betsy to thank for that, because they came to my house yesterday and we all worked on projects together. If they weren't there I would have found a million other things to do.

Thanksgiving is 2 days away and I actually have less to do now that previously planned. Carolyn and Dean are bringing a bunch of food, so all we have to do is fry the turkey, make some rolls and 2 sides. I'm also going to make an apple pie, with my homemade pie dough (for the first time!) and possibly an apple cream cheese bundt cake. JD is looking forward to Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop's visit and has been marking off the days on the calendar for the last week. He also drew a picture of himself with Pop-Pop on his mini magna-doodle on the fridge. Dad's gonna love that!! 

We finally had our family photos done a few weeks ago. We went to Portrait Innovations, who we used last time, but we went to their new location in Frederick. JD was NOT happy about doing this and told us "I'm gonna stay in the car and you and daddy can get your picture taken." Yeah, right. So, let's just say the girl who was taking our photos earned her money that day. The first bunch of have JD's squinty-eye, closed-mouth, cheesy smile. He warmed up after a while...after she told him she'd give him a lollipop if he was good for the pictures. LOL One of the best things for me was that the place was in the same shopping center as the new Wegmans and we went over there to grab lunch and look around while waiting for our prints to be done. Of course we didn't escape without jalapeno cheese bread, cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, cheese, and K-Cups.

Hope you enjoy our new photos!

JD Gems...

Last night JD and I went to the grocery store and to Kohl's. Kohl's was a last minute decision after JD decided he wanted to go too. The purpose of this trip was to find a sweater for family photos we're having done on Saturday. After looking around a bit and explaining to JD that we weren't buying toys because Christmas was coming soon, he said he had to use the bathroom. So off we run to the restrooms (which curiously smelled like a movie theater and I think it was because it's near the employee break room where someone made popcorn - still, it was weird). JD tells me that the water in the toilet is blue, so I say don't worry about it, it's just cleaner. So he starts going and I hear him say "And now it's turning green!!" So I said "well son, here's your first color theory lesson...yellow and blue make green." I wonder how the other people in the restroom didn't laugh out loud after hearing our conversation. You just never know what's going to happen.

Another time, when we were in Costco, he was riding in the cart and says "mommy, look, a genie!" So I'm looking around and realize he's talking about a woman in a traditional African outfit with the head wrap.  LOL

It's the most wonderful time of the year....ALREADY?!

JD's been saying to me that it's Christmastime. I keep telling him we have Thanksgiving first, but I'm afraid to take him into the stores now or he'll be sure I'm wrong. The night before last we took the summer decorations - yes, summer; we forgot to put the halloween ones on - off the small tree in his room. We decorate it for Valentine's day, Easter, summer, halloween and Christmas and use it as his night light. He put the Chirstmas decorations on...by himself (Note to self, take a picture for him). He was really proud of the job he did! Last night he wanted to put up Thanksgiving decorations, like window clings and I had to explain the people don't really decorate for Thanksgiving like they do for Halloween and Christmas. Maybe if they did we wouldn't skip from ghost and ghouls to Santa and Roudolph.

I think this is the most disorganized I've felt with the holidays approaching. I've tried to make lists, which usually helps get me focused and feel better, but so far, no dice. The weeks seem to go by faster with each one that passes. The next two months are shaping up to be a marathon of run here, run there, bake, cook, decorate, clean, shop and try not to lose my mind. So far my to do list is looking like this:

• family holiday photo
• show in Baltimore (Straight No Chaser - can't wait!!)
• clean for Thanksgiving and plan dinner - our house this year :-)
• BLACK FIRDAY!!! (Luckily Kohls and Walmart are right up the street)
• an IEP meeting for JD
• my company Chirstmas party
• clean and prepare for open house
• lunch with Santa? - we'll see
• christmas cards
• gift shopping (after I figure out what to get...gift cards are lookin' mighty fine this year)
• bake cookies/cookie exchange
• get anything that needs to be shipped, wrapped and to the post office
• get all our stuff ready to go to NJ for Christmas

Throw in a possible girls night dinner and scrapbooking day and several birthdays and you have a recipe for mayhem. Somehow it all gets done, but this year it's causing me some stress. Could be that we're also trying to refinance the house during all this too. Well, I'll keep making my lists of food, chores, and events. Hoping your race to the holidays is filled with as little stress as possible, good deals on Christmas gifts, and all the cookie dough you can eat before you put the pans in the oven! Oh yeah, wine too...yeah, wine would be good. LOL