So much to blog and so little time

We have had more hectic days lately. Saturday, which was also Day 7 of Hanukkah started out pretty quiet after a lovely evening prior where Marc and I went out on a date. We actually bumped into this friend and she was with this friend from Canada. After catching up for a couple of minutes we decided we would have a mini reunion at our home on Sunday evening. Marc went to work on Saturday night and I just chilled with the DD. I received a phone call from my MIL about my FIL that I will explain later in this post.

Sunday started out with a birthday party for the kiddos to attend. They had a blast. Then we had the last day of Hanukkah to celebrate. I did not want to give the DD their final gifts as they were the big ones and I wanted Marc to be there (he was working). I decided to give them each a set of pajamas that I had purchased for them from the Disney Store that I had not pulled out yet. If you can believe it, those PJ's got the biggest reaction of all of the nights of Hanukkah by far....weird kids.

Later that evening, I had that get together with Viv, Tammie, Candy (private), Dawn (private) and Shari (most with hubbies in tow and of course all of their children. As Dawn reported, it was a mini blogger bash...what fun!! We all laughed our (petite) asses off and the children were either attacking Mr. Myke (also known as Master C by Katie and I have no idea why ;0) or running around like loony tunes!

These women are part of a larger group here locally that are so special to me. Actually, my blogging buddies worldwide are quite special to me not to mention my facebook friends...oh my goodness...you would think that I have computer addiction or something (smirk)

The low light of the weekend is that my FIL is really struggling. His health is very poor. He went into Congestive heart failure 2 nights ago during an emergency blood transfusion. Now, his Kidneys are failing so he starts dialysis this week. They have to try to transfuse again tomorrow as his white blood platelets are so sparse that he is not clotting at all! At that point they can implant the catheter for the dialysis. All of this to prep him for very risky open heart surgery...not good. It is a very stressful time and my sweet Marc is doing all that he can do to help his folks through this tough time. When he is not working he is either with his folks or advocating for them with the doctors. It is taking it's toll. I thank all of you that have offered support to us and sent prayers on behalf of Big Al. We so appreciate of it all.

We are really wiped tonight and I still have work to get done so I will post pics and video tomorrow so please check back.

Hanukkah Day 4, Chrismakkah and Hanukkah Day 6

Yes, we are Jewish but we have always gotten together as a family and also given gifts on Christmas as well. My dad grew up celebrating Christmas because his father was Catholic and we always did as children too. It is also a little known fact that many Jews (not you Tammie ;) have Santa envy and so they do the Santa and present thing on Christmas. When I was married to Justin's dad, who is Catholic, the tradition of Christmas continued. During my marriage to him we also celebrated Noche Buena (the Spanish tradition of Christmas Eve).

Old habits die hard and even though Marc and I are both Jewish and are raising our children that way we still honor those old traditions which I really enjoy. It has worked out really well this year since Christmas falls smack dab in the middle of Hanukkah, thus this year we celebrate the blended holiday of Chrismakkah. We don't do the Santa thing but we let the DD open their Hanukkah gifts on Christmas morning and we have our annual family dinner (Italian of course). Here are photos from all two of the days..day three's photos were few in number and the one's that I got were horrible.

The first few are if the DD lighting the menorah and us reciting the prayer. Then they opened their gifts (Boys and a Girls set of Leggos....waaaay too many pieces..OY!

Cousin Nina sent a book for the children so they opened it on Day 4..thank you Nina!

Here is Miss Starr on Christmas Morning and then the DD opening their gifts.

Judy and Justin brought came bearing more gifts as well as the grandparents and Marc's Uncle Howard. Unfortunately, Marc's Dad was hospitalized again so they could not be with us. They were in spirit though!!




Chrismakkah eve, Marc had assembled a train table that the all of the grandparents had given to the DD. It was in the garage when we presented it to them and here is their reaction. Katie, our drama queen has to exclaim "what is this stuff doing in here today!?!" This kid is too funny. I love Ethan's sweet reaction as well.






All of the new toys and Katie is playing with her Dollar Store Foam Puzzle (Isn't that always the way?)

Next couple of shots are of us playing "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" on the Wii



After that we watched old home movies with the family and when we got to the part when Justin was just a baby it became a big tear-fest. They grow up too fast...waaaay too fast.

Happy Holidays from our Family to Yours!

Hanukkah Fun and Real Life Sadness

I am going to give you the readers digest version of the last few days with lots of pics to make up for it. In the midst of all of the fun with family and friends we have unfortunately lost a good friend to cancer. He was a wonderful man whom we have known for many years. His family is devastated and all of us feel the loss of this special man, who's life touched so many others. In addition to running a large Multi office Century 21 franchise, he also was the President of our State Realtor Association this year and worked tirelessly on behalf of children through Easter Seals and the Boys and Girls Club, as well as several other organizations. He passed from this world too soon. His wake was yesterday and his funeral took place today. I have had such a crazy mix of emotions over the events of these past days but I know that from everyone's life a lesson should be taken, so that it will not be in vain. The lesson that I take from the life of this wonderful man is that you should never give up...never! He stood strong through our failing economy and the closings of several of his offices these past several months while he still ran the association, did his charitable works; all while fighting for his life. If that was not enough he never sacrificed his family in the process. he was a loving husband, father of five and (young)grandfather to eight. Can you tell how much I admired him?

OK, now back to the fun part of my life with the family before I lose you all with my melancholy ramblings.

Hanukkah - Day One was spent at a party at Marc's cousin Jeff and Kathy's. Both of their daughters were there (one in HS and one in College) and Justin and Judy joined us as well. The DD had so much fun there. Brittany, their younger daughter is great with the children and they were either playing with her in the living room or hanging out in her room...thank you for the mini vaca Brit!! The kiddos also love Cousin Jeff, whom for some reason is known as Uncle Jerry to Katie Starr (Don't ask!) The relationship they have is so funny because he always rough houses a little with them which both scares and delights Katie at the same time, so she is either running away while fake screaming or saying "again! again!" to him. Ethan takes on the roll of protector to his big sis which cracks me up. It was a very fun evening and here are some pics starting with opening of day one's gifts at home before we left for the party. The DD received more gifts at the party. Thank you Jeff and Kathy!

Here we are at Marc's cousin's home

Day two was spent at our wonderful friends, Shannon and Alan's home. This has become an annual event for us and we love celebrating with them. It is very low key, there is lots of fun food, traditions and then a frenzy of gifts exchanged. Her family including her mom and in-laws are so wonderful to the DD and the bag of loot that we take out is amazing. Besides all of the usual frivolity we had a hilarious incident happen this year. The kids were all in the bedroom playing. It was pretty quiet so that should have given us a clue that there may be something brewing. The next thing that we see is Katie (head hung low and looking very upset) coming to tell me that her head was blue. She quietly told me her bff Mimi did it. It seems that the bff's were partaking in a little hair coloring with a blue glitter gel pen that is used for hair. We all had a good laugh and I was just happy that scissors were not involved. Shannon was concerned that if the gel dried too much that we would have a hard time getting it all out, so in the bath the two girls went. Ethan wanted to get in too but was told no...LOL Two three year old's was quite enough in the tub at a Hanukkah party. Shannon got most of it out but Katie is still glistening under the lights with a bit of glitter in her hair...bwa haha!!

I am feeling so blue Mom!

Into the bath you go!

Tonight was actually spent in the mall before coming home to light candles and open presents. There were a couple of last minute gifts that I needed to get for Christmas. Tonight's gifts were dress up clothes for the DD but that did not go over too well; especially with the mischief man. Katie played a little bit with her outfits but Ethan was not the least bit interested in his BOY dress up clothes. He was upset that he was not able to dress up in what Katie had received...that's our boy!







A wise man once said that Life is a treasure hunt and love is the treasure.

I believe that to be true; therefore I am a very rich woman.