A New Christmas Tradition

Rachael had an idea this year. To make cookies and take them to the local nursing home and sing carols to all the residents. Somewhat in hopes that this would be a "pay-it-forward" to those who may not have anyone to visit them on Christmas day in the nursing home this year. Hoping that someone like us would go to the nursing home our Grandma Annie is in, just because, even if they don't know anyone there too!
There was a huge group of us that went to the local nursing home on Christmas Day: Mom, Bob, Rachael and Derrick and their four kids, Madeline, Natalie, and Jason and I. Mom brought her accordion to play and we started going room to room and singing songs like "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger".

We met this lady at the beginning and she liked us so much, she followed us along for almost the entire time! She seemed to like the cookies and tried to hide them in her lap under a newspaper!
This lady was so happy to see us! When we went in her room, we asked her if we could sing a Christmas carol to her and she told me that she would love to hear us sing and that because the weather was so bad, no one was able to come and visit her, we were her only visitors all day!

The kids were such good sports! I think they really liked being there for the residents!

I'm sure they loved our cookies and singing, but they were really interested in mom's accordion! They just loved it!

All the kids were such little sweethearts!

This lady followed us around for a little while too and kept telling us adults that the kids keep thinking that she's one of them! So cute!

We thought we were all done and started heading to the door when this lady and her roommate called out to us. They must have had their door shut when we were walking by and we missed them! But they said they had been waiting for us to come to their room! They were so happy!

There were many who were awake and welcomed our singing, and there were those that were laying in their beds, not sleeping, but looked as if they were a little out of it, but once we started singing, and saw them mouth all the words to the songs, we knew they appreciated us being there. A couple of the ladies started crying once they heard us singing, which brought tears to my eyes too!

The more comfortable we got being there, the more hugs we started giving to the residents. Even the kids got into the hugging mood!

One lady was playing on her laptop and when we came in her room, she said "no cookies for me!" but she said we could still sing to her... as she continued to play on her laptop. After we sang, I asked her if she'd like a hug and she said, "honey, I can ALWAYS use a hug!"

We had so much fun! Jason and I would like to make this a tradition!

He just can't keep secrets!

Jason is the most horrible secret keeper ever! If he has a secret, he'll just tell me! I don't have to beg or ask or anything! He'll just volunteer it!
Sometimes it's great, for example, when we were just dating, I was getting a little anxious because we had been dating for so long, and he hadn't proposed yet, and being the girl that I am, it was frustrating to not know if he was in that track of mind... until, of course, he told me the secret: that he'd bought the ring! Ha-ha! Oh, but I was glad he did, of course! I like surprises and all, but I also like to be on the "in" too!
Anyways, I think I pretty much know what I'm getting for Christmas this year! It just cracks me up! He can take one day off, go Christmas shopping, and find EVERYTHING on his list! Who does that? I've been shopping since at least Black Friday and finally finished this last Sunday, and if I have time, I might even pick up one more thing!

Oh, but of course, he likes to be surprised! Yup. He doesn't want to give me a list of things he wants for Christmas, because he'd rather choose to be surprised at what he'd getting, and then play the game of "what's in the box" by shaking and feeling it on Christmas Eve when we open our presents. (And then he'll guess right almost every time of what actually is in the box!)
Either way, last night, after he got all the stuff he got for me, he was telling me some of the stuff, and asking me, "what color did you want, again?" AH!
Oh, well.
What can you do?
Nothing!
I told him that he better not complain about anything he gets for Christmas, because he did not give me a list of what he wanted.
(Luckily for me, he's a lot better at doing that, than keeping secrets!)

Candy story - Notre Dame Style

Next week, at work, there is a competition. The week will be full of fun holiday games and one of the competitions, is to write a story, must be holiday themed, and use candy as words in the story. You then have to put it up on a poster, with the candy. Must use at least 10 different kinds and not more than 20. I've bolded all the candies I'm using, so you know which ones they are.

Here's what I'm going to be submitting:

Twas the Day of the National Championship Game

Twas the day of the National Championship Game, when all through Pasadena,
Everyone was headed to the stadium, even the famous Joe Montana.
The leprechaun and the band were all set to go,
And the golden helmets were ready to glow.

The Buckeyes, those runts, were as smug as warheads,
While the vision of a Buckeyes loss danced in Irish heads.
Irish footballs were thrown on the field with care,
In hopes that a big “W” soon would be there.

When out on the field there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my seat to see what was the matter.
Up in the air the football flew like a flash,
Tate tore down the field and ran a mad dash.

The goal line was in his sight, and the ball,
landed safely in his arms, ‘cause he’s the best in college football.
When, what to my horrifying eyes should appear,
But a red hot Ohio State football player without fear.

With a chunky jelly belly, so plump and slow,
I knew in a moment there would be a big blow.
But out of nowhere our offense they came,
Weis whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Run Allen! Run, Hughes! Run, Aldridge and Olsen!
Go get them, Rudolph, Floyd, Riddick and Clausen!
Go help Golden Tate! Go block those Slo Pokes, you Smarties!
Go help your teammate now, and laters I’ll host your parties!

And then, in an instant, I suddenly heard “boo’s”!
It made me nervous, until I realized they were “Hughes”!
Tate must have given the ball to Robert, our halfback,
And Tressell, the Ohio State Head Coach, had an anxiety attack!

And then, in a krackel, I saw thirty-three,
You know, the guy getting his bachelor’s degree.
He was running and dodging and turning around,
Down to the goal line he went with a bound.

He was wearing a white uniform, his helmet all gold,
But Look! A man in red had him in a wrestling hold!
Hughes dove towards the goal line, when he broke free,
That’s just one more touchdown in this skoring spree!

We saw the ref, hands raised in the air,
A TOUCHDOWN! (Of course, Ohio said, “unfair”!)
If only “touchdown Jesus” could have seen,
ND win this good and plenty of us doing the pushup routine!

Wake up the echoes! Shake down the thunder!
Forty-five to zero! Ohio’s going under!
We yell “shut-out”, ‘cause they didn’t score,
We have finally won this rivalry war!

We sprang from our seats, chanting, “WE-ARE-N-D!”
We’re numero u-no! (Number one)! You see?
Then up in the sky, Santa showed up to proclaim,
“Merry Christmas, Fighting Irish!” and “Rah, Rah for Notre Dame!"

(As you know this is all a big dream,
If it were real you know I would scream.
Santa Claus look-a-like Charlie chuckles anyway,
It’s rare to get fired AND have a big payday!)

Tony's Second Birthday!

We celebrated Tony's birthday last Sunday, but it really was this last Monday the 7th, not sure how Lori talked Todd into doing that, since he's so against celebrating birthdays on a day other than the actual birthday!
Oh, well. We had fun!
Jack gave Tony his favorite Barney for his birthday. I'm pretty sure Tony was happy about that!Tony was so infatuated with the balloons! He kept playing with it! So did Bella!Here you see Tony looking forward to the cake!
Here Tony is with his car cake, ready to blow out the candles!
And here he is with his Elmo cake! He got to blow out a ton of candles that day!

Just a few pics from Thanksgiving, more to come when I have more time!

Baby Bella, dressed on my mom's baby dress she used to have as a baby.
Tony playing peek-a-boo!
Me and baby Bella. So cute!

The twelve days of Thanksgiving - Boot Camp Style

Last Friday morning my Boot Camp instructor announced that we were going to go through the twelve days of Thanksgiving that morning.

1 - minute of jump rope
2 - laps around the track
3 - push ups
4 - stand up/lay downs (basically, hold a dumbbell over your head while standing and then lay all the way down and then get back up; that's one.)
5 - squat/jumps (squat down and then jump up with your hands in the air)
6 - triceps push ups on each side (lay on your side with the hand of your top arm on the ground, your other arm wrapped around you, like a hug, and then push up the top part of your body)
7 - leg lifts on each side (lay on your side and lift both legs up in the air)
8 - ab crunches (lay on your back with a dumb bell in your hands and then sit up with the dumb bell up in the air as one)
9 - side skates (jump sideways and touch the ground, then sideways jump to the other side and touch the ground)
10 - plateau on the ground then lift each foot/leg up
11 - jumping jacks
12 - squat thrusts (stand up, put your hands down on the ground by your feet then jump your feet back so your in a push up position, then jump your feet back up to your hands and then stand up and that's one)

So here's how it works. You start with one. Then you add two. Then you start over with one, two, and add three. Each time you start over at the beginning and then add another one.

And yes, I'm still very sore!

Dress and Diet Adventures

I've already posted on my other blog about shopping for wedding dresses this week with my mom, but I wanted to make sure you all knew to go there and check it out!
I wish we had more time to look at dresses, because it was just so fun, but I did try on a lot of them and since I'm waiting to get one until I'm a little smaller, it would seem smart to do another wedding dress party in a couple of months or so.
I'm up to 52.8 pounds lost now, and I'm feeling great! But I've got more to go.
I've also been getting up at 5 a.m. to do the YMCA workouts in the morning before I go to work, so I get them out of the way. It's pretty addicting, once you start and are in the habit of going, especially when you see the results! Friday mornings is where they have Boot Camp at the Y and it's so hard core, and I'm ALWAYS sore after that class, but I know it works so good, that it's hard NOT to go to it!
Either way, I am very thankful that I've got the motivation to lose weight and continue to have that motivation! And I'm also glad I waited to try on dresses until now, because as sad as it is, I just don't think I would have fit into any of the dresses I tried on this week, but maybe one!

Keep checking my other blog for other wedding dress updates though!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all! Just wanted to share a few pictures of the family... in no particular order (since I can't move the pictures around after I've just added them... Oh, well).

I noticed these cute leaves hanging from a really sad empty tree, in the shape of a heart and thought it was too cute not to take a picture of.
Tony: still SO BIG!
Tony: playing "Peek-a-boo!"
Me, Ben, and Jason: A.K.A. Mama Bear, Baby Bear, and Papa Bear!
The kids: Katya (Cat-Woman), Jack (Spider man), Kristen (Barbie), and Ben (Urlacher).

Jack, showing off their cute pumpkin.
Baby Bella: the cutest pink baby bunny rabbit ever!
Bella and Auntie Francie... isn't her smile just adorable???
Ben was going to be choo-bah-kah (a word I can't spell) but didn't like it, so I snapped a few pictures before talking him into being a Bear with me and Jason!
Me and Barbie, and yes, I still have that Barbie song stuck in my head!

Number 20!

My little sister, Natalie, is now known as "Prego". That is her new nickname for the next 7 months or so. This means that once she has "baby nay-nay" I will have 20 (TWENTY!) nieces and nephews!
This also officially means that I am the last of the family to get married, AND the last in the family to have kids! I guess the best is always last! Ha! Ha!

I am so happy for you, Natalie and Adam! I can't wait to see that baby! Oh, and don't feel shy about naming your baby after your favorite sister (don't worry, I won't tell the others)! And don't forget you're still my matron of honor, too, so don't forget about all the cool ideas you have for my wedding! And Nat, please continue to tell me how hungry you always are and all the food you are eating... as it is really fun to hear about, now that I'm on a diet! lol

Yay! I'm going to be an auntie! AGAIN!

More cute pictures of Tony and Bella!!!

It wasn't easy, but since they both decided to wake up from their naps at the same time, and early too, I figured I make them pay me back with some cute pictures! I had to redress Bella, because somehow, and I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow, her cream dress she was wearing earlier, got milk AND mashed bananas on it... I'm sure it will come out, but I saw this dress in her room, and thought it was too cute not to be on her!
I originally had them situated so that Tony had his arm around Bella, but it just didn't seem to work well, so Bella latched onto his arm, which turned out to be much cuter!

I even think they both had fun letting me take so many pictures of them!

They were acting so sweet, so I thought it might be cute, if I got Tony to kiss his baby sister! I'm not sure what my sister is teaching her children, but my idea of "kiss" is not quite Tony's idea of what it is! But it sure makes for an awesome picture, doesn't it??? And the look on Bella's face is absolutely priceless!

There was something about Tony's look when he woke up from his name... I just had to take his picture! And his hair was so adorable! I didn't want to touch it! It was the perfect "bed-head" hair-do!

He's so handsome!

By the way, I took all these pictures on Lori's camera, and that's why I have to blog about them immediately, before she puts them on her blog and/or facebook first! Ha-ha! And I also uploaded them on my walgreens site so I can have them printed too!

And does anyone question that I love being an Auntie?

Well, I didn't win... but I did!

Today was the final weigh-in for the Slimdown Challenge at work. It's been going on since May and I've been working hard! This last week I've been working out at the Y mornings and after work and have been really strict about not eating dinners, or just not eat a lot of dinner.
I wanted to win the money, which wasn't even $200 but still, I wanted to win the money because I was going to donate it to Rachael's "Simple Wishes" charity for the kids that live in orphanages in Russia. Unfortunately, I didn't win. The money that is.
But I did win, in the end, because I lost weight! I weighed in as the third place winner with 15.25%!!! The two men that beat me were at 19%!
It was a pretty good competition too! A lot of "talk" throughout the entire summer. And it was fun too because we all kinda kept each other in check throughout all the events our department had!
Either way, I had a lot of fun losing weight and this Slimdown Challenge was fun and went along with my weight watchers plan too!
Anyone else losing weight out there? Tell me what you're doing!

One-on-one with Bella

Bella and I had a lot of fun last night. Just chillin' out...I love this sideways look, I think she was trying to see what Brewster (the dog) was doing.

She was trying to take off her socks, and they were on pretty good, so she really had to tug!
Here she's already utilizing her eyebrow look! So cute!

Bell's and Ton(e)-Ton(e)

I've been spending a lot of mine time over at Lori's house lately. Whether or not she invites me and Jason over for dinner, I still end up at her house, almost every other day of the week, if not more. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, but I do know this much (and in no particular order:
1. She's a good cook.
2. When I cook, it's more fun for me to cook at her house than mine because her kitchen is bigger (and she has a dishwasher!).
3. She also has a grill and making baked potatoes and then putting them on the grill after rolling them in olive oil and coarse salt, they are AWESOME!
4. They literally have fresh-from-the-garden veggies readily available!
5. They have the back porch almost done and a fire pit, just perfect for s'mores!
6. And... I love, love, love her kids!

Bella, is just a cute little baby! I call her "Bells" most of the time. And she loves it when I sing to her! In fact, if someone can give me some cute baby songs to sing, that would be most helpful, seeing as I can only get two stuck in my head, "With Bella in the family... happy, happy, home!" and "The Itsy-bitsy-spider" which she just loves! Most of the time, if she's crying, and I start singing, she stops! And sometimes it helps her go to sleep too! I love it! And I've also been able to join Lori and Bella and Tony for Sabbath School and I take Bella to her little class and she really likes it! She likes the songs and the toys. But it's a real work out! I have to pick her up to take her to the felt board and then go back to my seat and put her into her little baby seat, and then 2 minutes later, they want us to go up to pet the stuffed animals, and then back to our seats and back and forth, and back and forth! If it weren't for the cute looks on her face, I just don't know if it'd be worth it! But you can really tell she loves it! Oh, and they also sing songs the whole time and one song they sing and come around and put a little crown on their head and let them see themselves in the mirror, and she loves that part!
And tell me, how can anyone resist those cute little cheeks???!!!???


And Tony, who I affectionately call "Tone-Tone" is so adorable. He calls me either Francie, or Auntie, when he sees me and it's all jumbled up, but I know who he's talking about and I love it!
The other day I pulled up and Lori had Tony in his favorite red wagon and he didn't want to go inside, which is the case ALL THE TIME so I told her I'd hang out with him, so she could go inside and make dinner. I pulled him all through the eggplant field and he has the cutest little laugh that makes me laugh!By the way, don't look at his shirt, because I know it wasn't super clean, but I didn't want to change him and then get another shirt dirty, since we were out playing in the yard! But isn't he just so adorable? And he's in that stage right now, that he says whatever you want him to say. It's so cute! Oh, and the other day, Lori put on an episode of Barney (yes, I know, but if you saw the way he reacted to it, you would want him to watch it too!) His eyes lit up and he just sat there in a trance watching the opening song of Barney! And it's actually quite educational too!

That's all for now! I just wanted to write down what's been going on!

Okay, so Notre Dame lost last week...

A co-worker of mine, Jimmy, and I made a bet on the Notre Dame vs. Michigan game last weekend. If Notre Dame won, he'd have to wear a ND Jersey for an entire day at work. If they lost, then I'd have to get him his favorite long-john donuts.
But I wasn't going down that easy!
Luckily, for me, the local bakery hooked me up with green "ND"s on all the donuts! BOO-YAH!

Some of what I got at Fields!

Natalie has been asking about what fabric I got at Fields Fabrics this last Monday, so I decided to take a picture of them and blog about it! I only got 1/2 yards of each of these and I also got a few remnants and one of the cute pink wools that Rachael got!
I love the brown, orange and deep red in this print!
Nat, I think you made something out of this before, but I just love that color blue with the brown!
I think this one will look cute with grey or black accents or a bright flower maybe???
The pink above and the one below go together and will be a really cute purse! One on the outside and one on the inside. I think Nat's MIL Julie made a purse with the blue tone of the print below, and it turned out super cute!

I like this print (below). It reminds me of those candy corn that comes out in the fall and Grandpa Chuck, because no matter what the season was, he always had that candy in his candy dish!And here's a wool/polyester fabric, I think will look cute as a Hobo bag of some kind. Can't wait to get sewing!
So... when is our next sew-marathon? Rachael and Natalie???