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Well, I am very busy and stressed.  Between the holidays, Luke’s upcoming birthday, the kids, cooking, cleaning and working from home, it seems like there is never enough hours in the day.  So after Jimi got home last night and he took Ethan to work with him since he only had to go in from around 5pm to 9pm, I decided to do some baking.  Of course by the time I started it was after midnight but that was okay.   It was very relaxing with the babies bathed and in bed and the rest of the family either tucked in for the night or watching a movie.  I made Hershey’s Chewy Chocolate Cookies (a cookie I have baked since my teens) but this time instead of plain or peanut butter chips I put some cherry chips in them, for chewy chocolate cherry cookies.  I packed them away but since we are near enough to the big day, they did not have to go into the freezer.  Then I whipped up a batch of Paula Deen’s double chocolate chip cookies.  Packed those away and I was tired and ready for some sleep.  I need to bake a few more things, like some type of cheesecake (have not decided what kind yet) and my husband has requested gooey chocolate butter cookies so they are on my list as well.  I have a ton of birthday and Christmas wrapping still to do and of course tomorrow night the big project of decorating Luke’s birthday cake.  Ethan is with Jimi at work again this afternoon but I have plenty of laser work to keep me busy and my sweet little Luke to keep me company.  Of course my furry friends are also here and I would not have it any other way.  Monday I went shopping with Michael and his friend so he could pick out some clothes he wanted.  He did well, and then I was able to go and get everyone’s stocking stuffers and some birthday decorations and all the fixings for our Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners.  I really like knowing I have what we need and will not be rushing around at the last-minute all stressed`out.  The only thing I need for Luke’s birthday is his Mylar balloons and Jimi will pick those up when he goes out tonight or tomorrow night for dog food.  Well, I have more to get done but hope you all are enjoying these days and that you have the Merriest of Christmases.  God Bless Us Everyone!!!

This is what I need to keep reminding myself.  It is easy for me to become very stressed with the day to day things that seem to happen.  Like someone leaving the deck gate open and two big Bulldogs playing a game of tug of war with the rectangular table and chairs cover.  It took me a moment to find out what all the  beige strips were on the lawn.  I was not the happiest of campers when I did find out what it was.  I need to try and remember these are really very small things in the big picture.  It is harder when it is my porch spindles they are eating which now have to be hand milled out of mahogany, but still in the same it is only a material object that can be albeit expensively, replaced.  It is not a matter of human life unless I let the stress win and I have a heart attack.  So I must keep repeating to myself that this is small, and will not matter 100 years from now.  I have to remember that the important things are what matters, family, health, shelter, faith, security and most of all love.  We are so very blessed to have those things so we are very lucky.  If you drive up and my porch is missing a spindle or two or three, or there are random strips of canvas in the yard, don’t be alarmed.  We will get it fixed and cleaned up but for now we are focusing on more important things, the real things, which really are not things at all!

I apologize for my absence.  So much happening and so many things to do.  I blog so much in my head and wish I could just transfer those brain blogs to my real blog but unfortunately not so easy.  I blog a lot on my drives.  Where do I begin?   There has been sorrow, joy, thanksgiving and so much more.  I guess the worst thing was losing Muffy.  It was a tragic accident that took our beautiful Muffin from us on a Saturday in late November before Thanksgiving.  It was sudden and fast and left us raw and torn.  People morn in different ways but what helps me and my family heal is having something to give that love to and focus on.  So Jimi found out Muffy’s breeder had a few Maltese females and a Westie female.  On Monday before Thanksgiving Alexandra and I set out on a 6.5 hour road trip to Edinburg, PA.  Let me emphasize that is 6.5 hours each way.  It was well worth it and instead of deciding on the Maltese or the Westie, I picked the little female Maltese and the female Westie.  They were so sweet and cute and made the ride home so fun.  We stopped at several rest stops on the way home for the puppies and humans to stretch their legs and for the pups to take care of some business.  We arrived home at nearly 5 am.  The next day Luke and Ethan were so excited to see the puppies.  Ethan was calling them Muffy’s puppies and in a way I guess they are.  Names were a long time coming and believe it or not were not decided until yesterday.  We finally decided on Zoe for the Westie and Sassy for the Maltese.  We are introducing them to Diesel and Delilah slowly due to the size difference but in their time together it has been going well.

Thanksgiving was a nice family day with an early dinner of turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberries, sweet potato casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, crescent rolls and sparkling apple juice.  For dessert we had many mini strawberry cheesecakes, butter cookies, pumpkin chip cookies, and pumpkin pie.  We also took our family pictures on Saturday evening.  We did pretty well.  It is so hard to get a good picture of everyone together but I got some nice pictures of all the kids together.

Luke is developing such a little personality.  He is such a joy.  He says hi to everyone by name and at the store he waves and says hi to everyone.  He insists on giving me multiple good night kisses alternating between me and Alexandra when Jimi is going to bring him up to bed.  He is such a love.  Ethan is high energy all the time but is sweet too.  He is so smart and so determined.  He gets himself into many situations involving things he should not be into and creates many messes around the house.   He is a very challenging child but a very loving soul as well.  He can exasperate you at one point and then in the next moment be so sweet and loving it makes you forget everything.

So now the Christmas season is in full swing.  It feels like time is tick tick ticking away.  I have  some of the decorations up but many more to go.  The laser business is so busy and Jimi and I are very frazzled with all the work but we are thankful for the opportunity.   We are doing the best we can and I guess that is all anyone can do.  I try not to stress about everything having to be perfect because things are not that way with our hectic life.  I try to be thankful for the blessings we have because we are truly very blessed.  In this time of Thanksgiving and going toward the  Christmas Holidays it shows me that the rich blessing of family should never be taken for granted.  I am so thankful for my wonderful, terrific, crazy family!!!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and enjoy this wonderful Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

Well, winter’s chill is in the air.  The other day I went outside and could clearly smell snow.  Yes, I can smell the snow and you know what the next day it snowed.  Nothing crazy but a bit of a dusting.  It was Halloween though and it was freezing.  Luckily the little ones are happy going to a couple of  neighbors houses and they think they have a big loot of candy.  So we got in the warm car and went to Middletown where we had to exchange my nearly new laptop for another.   I have been going through laptops like crazy lately.  Thankfully we have the Best Buy Black Tie Protection Contract.  We hit Target with our lion and monkey and remember we had been in Target last Halloween.  As we drove home in the evening we saw that the parked cars had a nice dusting of snow on them.

This week I have even had to ask Jimi to start a fire in the fireplace, I just could not get warm.  Winter before the holidays is not so bad.  I mean we have visions of a new snowfall with our family all gathered inside warm and cozy and celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It is after the holidays that it gets old fast, especially when you have to drive in it or can’t drive in it.  Black ice is the worst, no one is driving in that!  So anyway Halloween is over, Thanksgiving will be here before we can blink and Christmas is so close I can taste the eggnog.  Let’s hope Spring will come as fast.