Recap of the past week

The day before Thanksgiving, me and Mike had our big yearly argument. Not sure why, but we always seem to have a big one around this time of year. Holiday stress maybe? It's not good, but it always somehow gets us back on track :o) And I can honestly say that I enjoyed having my family home for a 5 day Holiday, instead of wishing they'd all go back to school or work.

Unfortunately, I don't handle stress well so I spent the week fighting off panic attacks :o( I hate that I ever have to deal with them cuz it makes life hard, but I'm thankful that they only show up occasionally.

Thanksgiving at Gramma's house was nice....until the end when another panic attack struck out of the blue, so I gave Mike "the look" and he got us all out of there quickly to go home. Sometimes I really don't give him enough credit. He knows me so well that I don't have to say a word and he knows what I need.

The rest of that evening was one big fat attack after another but I made it. Me and Haylee didn't get to go out for black Friday shopping because of me and I feel awful about that :o( But we ended up going out to the mall that Saturday instead, just me and her for several hours.

The rest of the Holiday weekend was full of Christmas decorating. Me and the girls did the tree inside while the guys worked on the outside. They did a great job!! I need to get pics outside but here's the tree inside :o)

And the teachers say...

That both boys are doing great!! Isaac's teacher went on and on about how sweet he is.....and Ethans teacher said he has all A's and he's making friends well. She specifically said that he is making "the right kind of friends" which made me very happy to hear :o) I always hope that my kids will lean toward the good crowd instead of the bad. Brandon was always very selective about who he spent his time with and we've never had any concerns with his friends.

Anyways, they are both doing well in all areas! Here's a piece of Isaac's art that we saw hanging in the hallway :o)

Making cake.....

With Haylee-Boo....then we're off to teacher conferences for Ethan and Isaac. Can't wait to hear how they are doing, especially Isaac since its his first year of school. I already know Ethan will get raving reviews as always ;o)

Report Cards

Proud of my kiddos!! Ethan made the high honor roll, Haylee got 2 B's and the rest A's.....Isaac got mostly good marks except where it said "raises hand before speaking". He got a P for progressing. Hahaha! Thats our little chatterbox! This year he is having to learn ALOT of self control :o) But he's doing well!!

Besides that, it's been a pretty uneventful week....

The weekend

Was busy!! Friday night I went with Isaac and Ethan to Mother/Son game night at school. We ate, played games and won tickets for prizes. Big fun! Daddy kept the girls and they watched a movie and made cookies together :o)

Saturday was Fall family work day at the Payne house. We raked ALOT of leaves, cleaned out gutters and put the outdoor toys away. Of course like every year, the kids got to jump in the huge pile of leaves after the hard work was over. Our neighbor (Charlie Brown) walked over with some bags of candy that he and his wife made for the kids. We've only been here for 3 months now but I really LOVE our neighbors so far. They've all been very friendly!

Today we went to church and then to Gloria's to help her with some things. She took us out to dinner, which was greatly appreciated! She also gave us alot of her old Christmas lights and decorations. She wanted her garage emptied and we lost most of our Christmas stuff in the damp basement at the old house, so it worked out well for all of us. Now I cant wait to put the lights up outside, but that will have to wait until after Thanksgiving, to stick with tradition.

Me and Mike also tried to hang a new basement door tonight. It's up there, but I'm not fully convinced that it will last for long. I'm not so sure this DIY stuff is gonna work for us ;o)

Pictures soon from this weekend!

Hide & Seek ain't just for kids!

Yes, I played hide and seek outside tonight with Isaac & Ethan, cuz sometimes it's just nice to be a kid again :o) Elyssa's been at my Moms house all day hangin' out with her Grammy, so I took advantage of some time with the boys. Brandon's doing homework and Haylee is sleeping, as usual. She must be going through some kind of girly, pre-puberty, hormonal thing cuz she sleeps alot lately - and she's a bit on the "touchy" side too.....



More Pics...

We finally had a nice day yesterday, not too cold and the sun even showed up for awhile. Of course in my mind, this meant dragging out the Canon!



Someone gave her this really cute barbie jeep for free. What a blessing for my lil girl...Obviously, her steering abilities need a bit of polishing. Either that or the tree should have moved.

Isaac doesn't care if it's Barbie....or pretty purple :o)

And isn't he sooooo handsome??

Some pics from the gym at Ten Point O in Elyria. Elyssa absolutely LOVES this! They don't really teach the kids anything. It's just 45 minutes of free play on the gymnastics equipment, every other Wednesday. I would LOVE to enroll her in one of their classes, but our funds just won't allow for that right now. Maybe after Christmas though :o)

This one shows her new haircut. Short and sassy, just like her!

In the foam block pit

Just being her cute self

And when I turned to talk to a friend, I looked back a few seconds later to find her like this....

Disappointed

  Because of some people and their petty issues, they have to ruin things for others.

  I'm learning more and more that you just can NOT please everyone. I can try, but some people really just make it almost impossible....And for those people, I'm done trying....done catering to everyone else's childish problems.

  Facebook was a great "tool" for me. I was so extremely shy before and in many ways, facebook helped me come out of my little world and get involved with other people....online and eventually offline too.

  But lately I think that being in my own lil world was much safer. Maybe not as fun, but definitely safer. I enjoy facebook because I like writing a little bit about my day - something I can share with others and look back at. But since everything has to stay so rediculously secretive, I will come here and blog instead, and a VERY select few will have access to it. It won't have the social aspect that facebook has, but maybe thats not so bad after all.

Of course, these are my feelings for today....I reserve the right to change them tomorrow :o)

Haircut!

Elyssa got her first big haircut today. It was so uneven and oddly layered - I wasn't thrilled about cutting it so short but my hope is that it will grow nicer now. Thanks Aunt Yvonne!



Halloween revisited

So it turns out the hubby DID get to go trick-or-treating with us. Yay! We had a ballerina, Snake Eyes, a vampire, a cowgirl.....and since we went with Rach & Josh so we also had a lil bunny and a Rapunzel. Good time with family! It doesn't get better than that! Our kids tire out easily so I'm glad we took the wagon with us.

Jordan

Samara, Elyssa & Haylee

Tired Ballerina