Here comes Santa Clause...

And there goes Dominic, right up my butt!

I thought it would be fun to surprise Nic with a trip to the mall since I needed to finish up some shopping and he could see Santa. I knew, with his odd ball people fear, that he wouldn't be too thrilled to see the Big Man, but it would be fun for me. I won't lie, I love to watch screaming kids sit on Santa's lap. Those pictures are great!

I couldn't get Nic anywhere close to Santa. He saw a train ride right next to Santa and he wouldn't even ride that because it was too close to Santa. So, as he has himself smashed up against a store window, hands covering his eyes, Santa gets up out of his chair. I picked Dominic up and walked over to Santa. Santa started rubbing his back and talking to him about Mater from Cars. You would think this would make the boy loosen up right? WRONG! He couldn't get up my butt since I was holding him, so he decided to climb down my shirt. Santa wouldn't take the hint and just kept trying to talk to Nic.

As we walked away, Nic decided he hated me. He stomped his foot when we got out of eye-shot from Santa and told me so. People probably thought I was crazy because I lost it. I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop. When I asked him who was going to leave him presents because Santa won't come to our house now, he said "I don't need any" and stomped his foot again and closed his eyes. That is is sign of being a total brat. You get the closed eyes, head up look. I tried to explain how upset his sisters and brother will be to learn Santa won't come to our house and he informs me "Joey is bad anyway". Ahhhahhahaa!!! Can't really argue that one!

Since I don't have a new picture of Santa and Dominic from this year, here is one from 2009. The last time he would see Santa in person. Enjoy! :D

Just call me Yoda!

Yesterday was a crazy day, but that is typical in our house. Our little guy hasn't been sleeping well from the raging ear infection he has, so I was not looking forward to waking him up for school. Don't get me wrong, he LOVES school and doesn't want to miss a single day. I just knew he was going to wake up pissy from a lack of sleep.

I went in his room and said "Niiiic, time to get up. It's a school day!" Hearing that, he typically springs to his feet and runs to the table for breakfast. Oh, but not yesterday. Nope, not my son. He stayed under his Star Wars blanket, all toasty and warm. I was half tempted to get under the covers with him, I was freezing, and he looked so comfy. I called for him to get up again and the blankets suddenly get kicked onto the floor and he springs to his feet. Success, right? NOPE! He stood in place, arms folded across his chest with the meanest look on his face that I have ever seen. The mean monster speaks to me. "I not Nic, I YODA. You call me YODA today. Destroy the Sith, we must. You got that, Mom?" Ummm, yeah, whatever Yoda. Breakfast is on the table.

We get to school and by this time, he is so excited he can't wait to get out of his car seat. He knows his friends will be there and his day will be wonderful. He loves his teacher, talks about her all the time. We have drop off and the director gets each child out of the car for you and they walk into their rooms from there. He gives me my good-bye kiss and I said "Have a great day, Yoda. I'll see you soon." He stops dead in his tracks and with a look of great disgust, he looks back to me and yells "Mom, I am Dominic now, don't call me Yoda when we are here."

I. Can't. Win.

This picture is from Monday. He was shoving his last piece of chocolate from St. Nick in his mouth. :D That's my boy!

Happy Thanksgiving?!?!?!?!?

On facebook, I've been reading the 30 days of Thanks people have been posting because of our upcoming holiday. I thought this was stupid...mostly because this year has been HORRIBLE and I just want it to be over. This year, my extended family said hello and goodbye to their son in 45 minutes. My friend Ashley passed away in August at the age of 41 because of Inflammatory Breast Cancer and in September, my very dear friend, Debi, passed away just days after her 33rd birthday from liver cancer. Our oldest daughter broke not one but 3 bones, our second daughter was rushed to the ER for staples. There has been more that I just don't feel the need to post. We'll just say this has been a hard and trying year.

Then, as I thought more about this post, I see all that I do have to be thankful for. I have the most awesome husband any woman could ever ask for. I have 4 healthy kids, who mean the world to me. I have a great relationship with my sister. Even though my extended family had to say goodbye to their son, they still experienced a love that no one will ever know. For that, I am thankful. I have had the pleasure of calling Debi and Ashley my friends. I had the pleasure of spending time with each of these ladies and the impact they have had on my life has been immeasurable. I'm thankful that Debi's husband has let us reach out to him and still stay connected, even just in small ways. I am thankful Debi's boys have the love and support they deserve from a great Dad and wonderful grandparents. I know Debi is smiling down on them. I am thankful for some very awesome friends. Without them, I'm not sure where I would be. I have been blessed beyond belief in the friend department.

The best thing I have to be thankful for...our "new" family! Mr. Crafty recently reconnected to his biological family and it seems as though life has now fallen into place, especially for him. This has been a long time coming and I am so very, very thankful the reunion took place this year. It seems like I have known all of them forever, even though I, myself, just met them for the first time this year. Mr. Crafty smiles every day, he sort of has the "pep in his step" you hear people talk about. His life seems to be truly complete. I love seeing how happy he is, and for that, I am expecially thankful. I am thankful they get to see the wonderful man he is, how great of a person he is and how much he adores his family. I am thankful our kids will have the pleasure of calling them family; Grandma, Aunts, cousins.

So yes, while I thought I didn't have much to be thankful for...I discovered I have more blessing to be thankful for than a lot of people could ever wish for.

If you are reading this, you have had some impact in my life and for you, I am also thankful. Enjoy your holidy and know I appreciate you.

The "NEW" and improved Crafty's

Mr. Crafty and I decided we have had enough of looking the way we have been for quite a few years. It's time to get healthy for us and for our kids. It's only fair to the entire family. So, this June we decided we would completely change what we eat. We follow a low carb, diabetic diet and yes, we do allow ourselves special treats when we are craving something bad enough. You will never survive any eating plan by completely cutting out food, so we don't. Those cravings are few and far between now, so really, there are no troubles. We eat 90% veggies and then allow ourselves 10% for protein or other foods. Even as people "on the go", we manage to make this work and it takes no effort really. It's about being smart and making smart choices. OK, driving and eating a salad is pretty much impossible, and shoving your face with salad at a red light only makes you look like a cow. My suggestion is to just pull into the parking lot and enjoy your salad, or whatever you are eating. My point is, it is easy and can be done, so no excuses.

If only I could find my motivation to get back on my treadmill. In February, I was starting the couch to 5k program again since I took off the summer before and never got back on. My goal was to run a leg of the Flying Pig Marathon for the first time in my life, but I stepped wrong while on my treadmill and crushed my foot. This kept me in a boot/soft cast from February until June. I gained even more weight while not being able to do anything. I broke 2 bones on the top of my foot, crushed my arch, shattered a plantar plate or something and tore some muscles. It wasn't pretty. Anyway, I started back up a few times since June, but once I start feeling the pressure on my foot, I freak out and take the next day off. This leads to taking the next day off, the next day, the next day. You get the picture. I'm scared. I need to get over it. I miss running...BAD. I enjoyed it so much the first time I started last year (2010). I'll get there, I know I will, I just have to schedule time, it's beyond time to put me first.

Anyway, so far, in 3 months, I have lost 30 pounds and Mr. Crafty has lost 60 lbs. I would love to sneak some sugar into his salads for lunch, it doesn't seem fair. LOL!!!!

I'm so proud of Mr. Crafty. He looks amazing. Until I did these side by side shots (posted below), I couldn't see it anywhere on me. Now I at least see it in my face. The ever so adoring Mr. Crafty says my face now looks long. Uhhh...is that supposed to be a compliment? I've turned into stretch?!?! He absolutely loses sugar free brownie points for that comment.

Here it is, our side by side shots.
Me: Feb 2011 -

Me: August 2011 -

Mr. Crafty (with a less than thrilled Dominic) - Feb 2011

Mr. Crafty - Sept 2011

If airplanes in the night sky...

I'll spare you, I won't sing the song, but it did come to my mind as I was typing this entry. Not that you could hear me if I did sing it.

If you know me, my family, you know about Joey. You know that the sweet looking 7 year old is really the devil in disguise. You can't let his big and beautiful blue eyes and long dark eye lashes fool you. Not even when he bats them at you. He is hilariously funny, mostly because he has no idea he is so funny. He is smart, way too smart for being 7. Loves to build and take things apart so he can put them back together. He fixes things for me, like my broken dishwasher. Joey is honest, or, I should say, brutally honest. His honesty is so bad that when we are in public and he opens his mouth, we all cringe and hold our breath afraid of what he is going to say. He has never been into sports, just trains and now Star Wars. I mean, just a few month back he saw a baby picture of himself holding a football and he said "Awww, is that me with a basketball". *Sigh* There went my dreams of having a quarterback for a son.

Imagine my surprise on the last day of 1st grade, when he brought me a paper about football saying he wanted to sign up. He was so excited. I jumped on it. I wasn't about to let him even take a second to think about what he just said. I jumped on the computer and signed him up within 5 seconds of him saying he wanted to play. He never has touched a football, much less watched a game. I didn't care, this was MY dream. He was signed up and for his uniform #, we picked #7...you know, after John Elway (Denver Broncos).

He has been playing for about a month now. And he is still just as clueless as he was the first day of practice. I watched my dreams shatter right before my eyes. It's ok though, he is having a blast. How do I know he is? Well, it is obvious when you watch him at practice. Especially when they warm up. One warm up is to run the length of the field and back. As all the kids are busting their butts to get back to the coach, there is Joey, dead last, twirling as he runs and has his arms straight out pointing to either side like an airplane as he makes the noise of "Brrrrrooooomm" with every twirl he does. Parents crack up and I am in tears laughing. The coaches? They aren't too fond of him. Another way to tell, last night the coaches gave him the ball and it was his job to run into another kid who was told to tackle him. I thought this was fabulous because he is scared to death of being tackled. He believes his head is going to pop off. So, this kid is coming full speed at Joey and what did he do? Threw the ball at the kid and took off running like a little bitch in the opposite direction. Oh, the howls coming from the parents. Again, I almost died laughing. Watching the 4 grown, very big coaches turn around to not face him and see them cracking up was also priceless. However, being the coach and needing to correct him, he gets in Joey's face and yells at him and tells him to do it again and don't throw the ball. He told Joey if he dropped the ball, he had to run the hill. The kids hate the hill. I don't blame them one bit. Second try...Joey runs down the side, and starts up the middle. He sees the kid coming at him and hides behind the coach's legs and yells "neener neener neener". He never dropped the ball. It's sort of frustrating, but at the same time, so incredibly hilarious because if you know Joey, it's 100% something only he would do.

So, twice a week and every Saturday morning, I get to watch my dreams slip away and pray that Dominic does much better when he is old enough to play. LOL!!!

Oh no I di-int!

Do you remember your parents saying things to you that would absolutely make your skin crawl? You probably swore that you would never say them when you got older. People probably always told you that you too would one day say the same things to your kids, and you would roll your eyes and think "Great! Another old person who thinks I'm going to be just like my parents!" You stood your ground, you would never say anything so stupid. Parents are old, things today weren't like they were back when your parents were little, right? I mean, the old people who lived my house still had a record player when cassette tapes were the rage. You could hear your parents snicker and catch them winking at each other as you argued you would never say stupid things like they did.

One thing I really hated to hear my Dad say was "You're going to school, not the prom, hurry up and get out of here before you are late". UGH! I'm having flashbacks of that as I type it out. I can hear his voice so clearly in my head. I haven't heard that voice in 15 years and it would be nice...if it was any other saying of his except for that one. I remember slamming my stuff around the minute he would yell that up the steps to me. It made me so mad!

Hailee, our almost 14 year old, was running a little late for school. She likes to get there right at 7 so she can hang out with her friends before the bell at 7:30. She leaves the house at 5 til 7 so she can be there. It was 7:00 on the button and she was still getting ready in her room. Before I had time to even think about what was coming out of my mouth, the words just flew out. "Let's go, Hailee, you're going to school, not the prom!!!!!!!!!!!" I felt the air suck back into my body with force, I felt my eyes squint shut and could feel the muscles in my face tense up right as I said it. Yep, I said it, I actually said it.

I was tempted to rinse my mouth out with soap for that one.

On that note, I'll leave you with my prom picture. Don't laugh at my huge hair...but you can tell how long it would take to get ready, I mean, teasing the hair that high would take at least an hour alone, add in make up and mirror gawking and we're talking almost 2 hours.

Ahhh, young love. This would be Mr. Crafty and I from May 1992. My senior prom.

If there is admission into Heaven...

So, today was the funeral for a friend of mine. A very young friend. Her name was Ashley. She was just 41, the mother of 2 small kids, ages 9 and 5. Kids who were much to young to be without their mother, that's for sure. Ashley was diagnosed in 2009 with Stage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Every phone call she made started with "Hello beautiful", and if I was having a bad day when she called, that ALWAYS cheered me up. How could it not? If she received bad news from scans and she would call, she still started that call with "Hello beautiful". Truth be told, she was the beautiful one. Inside and out. With the church being standing room only, you can only imagine the impact she had on everyone's lives. There will certainly be a void in our world, but I know that she wouldn't want us to be crying over her. She always told me she admired my sense of humor, so I decided that I wouldn't be too emotional today. I would try to find the positive. It won't be easy when deep down I'm so sad.

As I walked into the visitation, a kind of calm/peace came over me, and I kind of cracked a smile. It was probably the first in a few days for me. I was even able to joke with a good friend that I was shocked the church was still standing after she walked in. If there was one person to get Kristy into a church, it would have been Ashley...that right there is proof enough of the awesome woman she was.

I met Ashley through coupons. Yes, you read that right. LOL! There is actually a group of us who became good friends that way. I met her just a few months before her diagnosis. I'll still never forget when we found out. We met at another friend's house and not wanting to bring attention to her diagnosis, we all wore pink shirts. If you know me, you know how much I hate pink. It's one of my favorite shirts now though...simply because of what it represents. And not that it represents breast cancer, but that it represents us girls coming together for Ashley. That night was crazy, I remember the lost look in her eyes, the numbness in her soul. Yet, sitting next to her on the couch, she grabbed my leg, and said "what's up, beautiful?". That's just how she was.

She was a fighter, that is for sure. She promised to never give up the fight, and she sure didn't. No one expected it to end this way, we thought she was going to be the one miracle patient who beat the odds of Stage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer. We didn't think it, we expected it, we were sure because of the fight she had in her. She was determined. This wasn't going to beat her.

Unfortunately on August 17th, she lost that battle. And, it doesn't feel right saying she "lost the battle". She gave it everything she had and more. She didn't give up, not even for a second. So, I don't know how to word what happened here. All I know is because of this disease, 2 young kids are without their mother, a Mother and Father had to bury their daughter, people were left behind.

We never did get to work on the scrapbook she wanted desperately to put together with me. I think of that almost every night now. I'd still love to do it, her kids deserve it. She had a story to write, we were just never going to give it an ending. Those were her exact words to me on the phone one day. "I want to write my story, but there will never be an ending because I'm not going anywhere."

But, that's all getting mushy again, and I won't do it today. I'll leave you with this. If there is admission into Heaven, you better believe Ashley has a coupon!!!

Good bye, beautiful, you will be missed by many!