And the winner is......

The winner is...insert drum roll please...Naomi!

I want to thank all of you who pray for the children and families of the world. Naomi I will be emailing you shortly for your address so that I can get the PJs and book out to you tomorrow.

Anna decided that she NEEDED her Papa this afternoon after school. I am so glad that Gerard took her there because she was able to spend some time with her cousin baby JoanMarie as well as decorate their Christmas tree.

Anna is very excited about Christmas this year. I have found that hiding Christmas gifts in the truck of my car is not such a great idea. I had purchased a gift for her and figured out once I got home that I had duplicated the gift. I intended on returning the gift that afternoon but Anna found it first.

Now the stinker keeps looking in the back of my car just to check for "stuff" as she puts it. Her new thing is to ask "Who bought that?" I think Gerard and I will use this question to teach a little bit more about money.

I just finished my class for this semester. What a relief. I do not start up again until after the new year. Three classes down and 12 more to go, which also equals just shy of 4 years, but who is counting? If could be five years after all, right...the glass is half full.

This past weekend I spent so much time with Anna. I had the opportunity to work extra but Gerard told me "She needs you." Anna comes first so I declined the overtime which is a switch for me lately. I love being home in the morning when Anna wakes up. She has been having dreams that she remembers and wants to share with me as soon as her eyes are open. Some of her dreams are funny, some are silly, and some are scary. No matter what type of dream she has she loves to sit on my lap and tell me about it, and I love hearing about them too.

I hope to be able to blog more in the coming days about a bunch of things. Now that my class is over. I also hope to be able to get her Christmas cards completed and in the mail too.

I am so excited about what the new year holds for our family. I have made such progress on our debt that I did not think it was possible. We have cut our expenses dramatically.

Janet who knows what 2012 will bring maybe even a picture of Gerard!

A Give-A-Way! It is pretty simple I promise ***Pictures added***

Have I told you lately that I feel so blessed. This year has proven to me that hard times can pass. To summarize a friend's Facebook status "The hardest arithmetic is counting your blessings" and this is how I feel. I can no longer imagine how my life would be without Gerard and Anna. I could have thrown it all away over my foolish pride more times than I care to count.

Friday morning when I was shopping I tried to count all my blessings. I became overwhelmed with all that God has provided for me. The very next thought was what if I had a Give-A-Way to support orphans and families in need? This one will be simple I promise.

When I was waiting for Anna, and blogging I know that many prayed for Anna and I. When Gerard and I hit a rough patch, and I blogged about it, I know many of you prayed for us. So hear is what the Give-A-Way will cost...are you ready?

I would like you to pray for the orphans in the world who will not have a Mommy and Daddy to hold them on Christmas morning, and for families who are experiencing difficult times.

That is it! I told you I would keep it simple. If you decide to pray for these two causes, and want a chance to win this Give-A-Way than just post below that you prayed, your name, or email address. You do not need a blogger account to comment to this blog post. If you link this blog post on your blog, Facebook or Twitter account let me know and I will put your name in twice. The more prayers the better.

I am giving away a pair of cotton Christmas pajamas and a Christmas story. The PJs are a country green with white pok-a-dots with a smocked Santa. The PJs are a size 3T but do run big.





The book is one that caught Anna's attention while we were looking at books at BJ's warehouse. She picked it out and was looking through it intently while I was looking at a different book. To my surprise I noticed the Eastern European style art and decided to buy it. This book has a wonderful lesson about how the manner you treat a person does matter. The name of the book is The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett.



To be fair I will close the Give-A-Way at 3 pm on Tuesday, November 29th. I will post the winner by 5pm on November 29th.

Once again thank you for your support and prayers.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving even though I am a little late. We had a wonderful day. Wednesday I had hoped to get some of my prep work done but I came home from work with a headache that I could not shake. I slept from 8:30 am to 3:00pm which is very unusual. I got up only long enough to make some dinner and then back to bed by 9pm.

Thanksgiving morning I woke up early, Gerard went to the gym. I quietly prepared my turkey and side dishes. Sorry no turkey picture this year because it was carved before I thought about it. I did try a new side dish, acorn squash stuffed with apples, onions, raisins, cheddar cheese, and a sprinkle of brown sugar. I wrapped them in tin foil and covered them on the grill. They were perfect.

Dinner this year was quieter because we had less people than usual. If you are asking if we had a stranger at the table the answer is yes. My sister brought a friend whom I have never met, Harry was a very nice man, and we enjoyed his company.

Because Wednesday was an unproductive day my schedule was off, and I had homework that still needed to be done after dinner. Once I was finished with homework it was time to shop! Gerard and Anna were fast asleep so I ventured out to the stores. I was able to many of the things that I wanted so I am happy with the results.

This year my sister Jenny pictured below was with us. At dinner she suggested that we all express one thing that we are thankful for this year. Papa told us he was thankful for his grandchildren. Anna perked up and told him "I love you Papa. You a sweet man." I think about how far she has come from just two years ago, and that was what I was thankful for. Gerard was thankful that we were not working, and I second that. I think now that he is on a day shift schedule he is so much more aware of how awful it feels to work nights but I am thankful that I have the ability to work at night.

In all this was a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope that everyone else had a nice day with their family and friends.

This and That

The past couple of days I have been off trying to get the mountain of laundry washed, dried, and put away. I am one load away from being done so tomorrow will be spent finishing up the cleaning that I need to do prior to having Thanksgiving dinner. I often wonder why I deep clean prior to Thanksgiving when I should perhaps do that after Thanksgiving.

Last week Anna had her first dental appointment. I have been trying to get her in to see one of the local pediatric but I have not been able to get through to the office. She does have a cavity that needs to be filled. I am on the fence on whether or not I am going to have it filled in the office with laughing gas or in the hospital where they can easily do a complete exam and cleaning under sedation. I did take a few pictures and will add then tomorrow.

Plans are set for our train ride with Santa Claus in December. I can hardly contain my excitement. Anna and I drove to Allaire State park to buy the tickets. Anna and I took a practice train ride which was fun. This is no Polar Express but the tickets were very reasonable which allowed me to open it up to more family members.

While we were at Allaire State Park I took a couple of pictures of Anna. I got in the car convinced that I did not good enough one for our Christmas card but low and behold I did. I had been hoping to toss Gerard and I in front of the camera for a family Christmas card but we just can not seem to get it together again this year.

I am also quite excited to start planning our Christmas crafts. We have reindeer ornaments and gingerbread houses. Like last year I want to focus more on spending time with the ones we love rather then at the store. This however will not stop me from being a crazed shopper on black Friday. I just love being out in the crowds, I know it sounds weird.

Gerard has told me that I MUST go through all the Christmas decorations this year. I have way too many decorations. Prior to Anna I collected a number of different Hallmark ornaments. Every branch of my tree is covered with more that one ornament. Last year we did not even take down one ornament opting instead for ones that were homemade by Anna and I. Years ago I talked one of my sisters into buying the Hallmark football ornaments. Now she has two boys and they both love these ornaments and want them on their special trees in their rooms. I am happy now to have a girl because I can pass those ornaments off to my sister for her second son.

Thanks to a fellow blogger friend I have been invited to join Pinterest. Stacy I promise as soon as I figure out how to invite you I will. I have not gotten a chance to really look through the site yet but I think it will be quite interesting.

I promise in the next day I will post a some pictures.

A visit to the toy store

I know this may sound strange but Anna does not frequent the toy area in many of our larger stores. Last year I was shamed into taking her to Toys R Us but only after my dear friend Geralyn reminded me of the things I would tell her children.

Prior to Anna coming and when Geralyn's children were much younger she would come to pick up her paycheck with the kids. We would all sit and talk a bit then I would promptly tell her children it was time for them to go so that Toys R Us did close before their Mother could get them there to pick out a toy. Yes, I am shameless. Her children still remember many trips to the toy store that I started. Now to be fair she would have probably taken them anyway because she loves the toy store as much as most children. Geralyn would always laugh because she knew it was coming.

Last year I took Anna to Toys R Us. I was prepared to buy her a toy of her choosing but instead we just played. At the end of our 2 hour trip she did not want any toy so we headed home. The two closest Toys R Us are at least a 30 minute drive from my home so for that is really the reason why we do not go often. I have been talking to Gerard about our preparations for the upcoming holidays and I told him that I wanted to go to Toys R Us with him to look at toys.

Our biggest challenge remains leaving Anna behind. We do just love having her with us all the time. At first I suggested asking if his parents could watch her. This is a big step because they have only ever watched her for an hour or less and only in a pinch. I thought about it and then said maybe they will want to come too. We asked them to accompany us to the toy store but to please watch Anna so Gerard and I could look at the toys and speak freely.

We were all excited about the idea. We told Anna we were going to the toy store and she beamed with excitement. She happily skipped into the store holding Grammy and Papa's hands. My little sweetie pie (she is now requesting that I call her this) looked, and played while Gerard and I also looked, and played.

At the end of our trip we told Anna she could pick a toy out to "Make our own." With determination in her step she marched directly for the dinosaurs but the pink and white unicorn is what won her heart. Dinosaurs are one of her new favorite things to play with so they have made the short list of potential gift ideas.

After our trip to the toy store we rounded out the evening of fun with a trip to my new favorite thing to eat...Frozen yogurt. When ever I visit Manhattan I can not resist going to the Pinkberry for frozen yogurt. In my area we have a couple of different self-service frozen yogurt shops that are also pretty good but the Pinkberry is the best. The caramel and peanut butter with sprinkle of seasalt are my favorites but the peppermint patty is also pretty good. Have you ever tried a dash of salt on ice cream? No really I am not crazy just try it once.

As for the new blog I promise to make it public at some point. Probably not until after the first of the year. There is quite a bit that still needs to be private about what is happening for a number of reasons. I have thought about perhaps opening it up to a few by invitation but I am still toying with that idea. I will say if everything works out I will make it public and it is going to be good. So for now you will all have to wait and see.

A Beautiful Day

Sunday we spent the day with Gerard's family. As a family we celebrated JoanMarie's christening into the church. I would love to share pictures but AM and Eddie prefer that I do not at the time. Maybe I will be able to convince them it is okay but for now I guess you will get me rambling about the day instead.

First off JoanMarie has only a little bit of hair but it is going to be red which I love. She is such a sweet baby. For the christening JoanMarie wore the same dress that Eddie and many of his family members wore. Eddie believed it was over 50 years old and I would have to agree. The dress was just my style, long, white, cotton with lots of detail work that you could only appreciate up close.

Gerard, Anna, and I set out for the church which was about an hour and a half from our home. I love that she has lots of questions. We talked about what behavior we expected from her and for the most part she did quite well in the church. She even reminded us that we needed to be quiet because this was a church. I loved how she told people Jesus was in her heart.

The service was very nice. AM and I both started to tear up when the priest spoke about abortion and how precious life is. His words were true and honest.

Since JoanMarie's arrival Anna has both grown and regressed if that is possible. She tells us all the time about JoanMarie. "JoanMarie a baby. JoanMarie pooped. JoanMarie wonderful. I love JoanMarie." I love that she is so excited about the baby and can freely express how she feels about JoanMarie. I wonder how she will feel when JoanMarie does more that kind of hangs out in someone's arms.

The regression that we are experiencing in my opinion is completely normal. In the presence of JoanMarie if someone tells her she is growing up she tells them in a stern voice "No! I a baby." and promptly wants me to how her like a baby. I then tell her that no matter how big she gets she will always be my baby. After a little rocking she is off like a rocket playing around again.

She has also taken up roll playing, mostly when Gerard and I are together. She tells me "You be Auntie AM, Daddy you be Uncle Eddie, I be JoanMarie." The first time this happened I was taken by surprise. We play along each and every time but I can not help but feel that on a deeper level she feels like she missed this part of her life and is trying to recreate it so she has this imprinted in her memory. Is it possible to tell a child you love them too often?

The after party was held at the Knights of Columbus in town. To say Anna was over stimulated is an understatement. It was loud, lots of kids, and a number of people who just had not met her yet. The balloons kept her busy and every adult in her close proximity when she let them go. The funniest thing was she kept an eagle eye on Papa. She loves him so much which is just wonderful.

Even though Anna endured a very long day the over stimulation lasted well into the night. At 10 pm she was still up and running around. Gerard and I held her and rocked her, finally sleep won the battle.

On a side note. I have a new special project. This is one reason why I have seemed distracted. I have started another blog, one that is private for now. I intend to open it up as soon as a few things are finalized. Most likely this will not be until after the holidays. I promised that 2012 would be filled with fun and excitement.

Surprise Wedding...who knew?

The other night Gerard, Anna, and I were out at dinner. We were enjoying our favorite taco joint when as cool as cucumber Anna announced that she and Anthony got married. Gerard's jaw dropped. He has stated that she is not to get married before she is 30 so clearly her nuptials at the tender age of 4 was a bit of a shock for him.

I laughed at his reaction. I asked her if she had met his parents yet because that was important. I also asked what kind of a job would Anthony have in order to support her. I was amazed by her answers.

First off she told me "Anthony's parents very nice!" Well okay that is good but back to the how will he support you at the age of four? That is when she told me "Silly Momma, Anthony three." Oh boy my girl likes a younger man I see. Then she told me "Anthony will work with Daddy." "So Anthony is an Electrician?" I said. To this she replied "Silly Momma, no Anthony a dragon slayer!"

So there you have it apparently Gerard is a dragon slayer and I am a mother-in-law!