I survived Black Friday!
I got up at 4:15 a.m. to start getting around. Since Andy didn't have to be to work until 10 a.m. I left the boys at home with him and promised him that I'd only go to one store and then come home.
I called KayC to make sure she got up in time. We got to Wal-Mart at about 4: 50 a.m. and they had already started the sale, which wasn't suppose to start until 5 a.m.
Well, I kept that promise, because we ended up waiting in line at Wal-Mart for 45 minutes. Turns out we got into the wrong line, we got the slooow cashier who was typing everything in, instead of just letting it scan the barcode. The poor guy behind me, all he wanted has a DVD player and USB flash stick.
From Wal-Mart, I went home and KayC went to Toys R Us. When she was done there she came and picked up me and boys, which wasn't until about 8:30 a.m.
Then we were on our way. I was going through the ads in the vehicle, when I noticed that one of toys that I just bought was $10 cheaper at Meijers, so I bought the top again and returned the one back to Wal-Mart the next day. And I thought Wal-Mart was always the lowest price, well were where they on that toy?
Then at Target KayC found the toy that she bought at Toys R Us for $15 cheaper. What really makes her mad is that she stood inline that whole time just for the one item, she didn't buy anything else there.
Now to Burlington Coat Factory. Where Alex picked up a really nice Pug Puppy Purse. I was and on phone with Andy at the time and he said, "No!" I wouldn't that Alex get that, that's just wrong.
By now the boys are getting hungry. It's almost 11:30 a.m. and they haven't thrown a fit yet. We got to Burger King where Alex eats only a couple of fries and drinks all of his chococlate milk. Jon eats all of his chicken tenders and some of my fries. Yes, was the responsible mom, who tore the tender into tiny bite size pieces, so that Jon could easily eat it. Don't know why though, Jon never ate those pieces, he wanted the whole tender intacted and he ate it that way. What was I thinking trying to play it safe? Jon didn't choke once on the tender like I thought that he would, but I was ready for him, just incase.
Next, to Kohl's. We get what we need real quick and were done! KayC couldn't go one anymore, she got a cramp in her right foot/toe and the boys were starting to fall asleep. So we head back to my house.
As soon as we get there Alex asks if he can spend the night with Grandma, which we can never say, "NO" to, so I let him. Alex also convinces KayC to take the dog, Buddha. I get his bag packed and then get my stuff and Jon out of the truck and it was time for some peace and quiet for me. I laid Jon down in bed to finish his nap and about three hours he wakes. It was nice to have some quiet time after such a long day.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know we did.
My contribution towards baking was the Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake Pie, that Andy had to go to three different Wal-Marts just to find me a 15 ounce can of pumpkin. Check out the recipe!
I made two pies, one for Grandma Fike's and the other for KayC's.
We first had to go to Grandma Fike's (Diane's mom) house. Diane told me that we'd be having dinner at noon. WRONG! I thought that I would be able to have a dinner there, but they weren't even ready to eat until about 1 p.m. By now Andy had already left to start for his mom's house beacuse she was going to have dinner at 1:30 p.m. Yes, Andy and me drove separate vehicles, because he needs to be at work by 5 p.m. Well I stayed until we had prayed, then I had to get the boys around to head for Andy's mom's house too.
Alex and Jon were a little annoying on the car ride. Who can blame them, it's about 1 p.m. and neither one of them has had lunch yet.
When we get to KayC's (Andy's mom), my mom was already there. We invited my mom and sister over, since they really didn't have any plans. KayC is always making way too much food, so I thought if we has a couple extra mouths we wouldn't have all this left over like the past years.
Afterwards. My mom, Laura, and me were in the computer/toy room playing with Alex and Jon.
Andy was sitting down and doing what he does best, World of Warcraft. Well he fell asleep and I knew he needed to be at work by 5 p.m. I checked the clock to make sure it wasn't getting too late. The next thing Andy knows is that I'm yelling at him in a panicky voice telling him that it's 5:30 p.m. He jumps out of the chair and starts yelling at me why I didn't wake him open earlier. The whole time I'm laughing my butt off and he can't figure out why until he looks at the clock and it says 3:30 p.m. Then a string of choice words come flying out of his month, but I don't care it was funny.
After Andy left for work, mom and Laura thought that they better get going too, before it starts getting late. And beside they know that KayC and me needed to go to Nana and Grandpa's.
We got to their house about 6 p.m. and everything was going great until Jon tripped over Alex and fell. Jon bust his face just under his left eye on the glass end table on the sofa. It imediantly started to puff up and turn black and blue. And what very, cranky, not-quite-one-year is going to let me hold an ice pack to his face for the swelling, but I tried and Jon refused. After he calmed down, he was playing again like nothing ever happen. Go figure!
Shortly afterwards, we headed back to KayC's house. I still had to pack the boys up and go home myself and get some sleep, so that I could get up the next morning and go Christmas shopping. Yes, I am one of those people who gets up early for Black Friday.
My contribution towards baking was the Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake Pie, that Andy had to go to three different Wal-Marts just to find me a 15 ounce can of pumpkin. Check out the recipe!
I made two pies, one for Grandma Fike's and the other for KayC's.
We first had to go to Grandma Fike's (Diane's mom) house. Diane told me that we'd be having dinner at noon. WRONG! I thought that I would be able to have a dinner there, but they weren't even ready to eat until about 1 p.m. By now Andy had already left to start for his mom's house beacuse she was going to have dinner at 1:30 p.m. Yes, Andy and me drove separate vehicles, because he needs to be at work by 5 p.m. Well I stayed until we had prayed, then I had to get the boys around to head for Andy's mom's house too.
Alex and Jon were a little annoying on the car ride. Who can blame them, it's about 1 p.m. and neither one of them has had lunch yet.
When we get to KayC's (Andy's mom), my mom was already there. We invited my mom and sister over, since they really didn't have any plans. KayC is always making way too much food, so I thought if we has a couple extra mouths we wouldn't have all this left over like the past years.
Afterwards. My mom, Laura, and me were in the computer/toy room playing with Alex and Jon.
Andy was sitting down and doing what he does best, World of Warcraft. Well he fell asleep and I knew he needed to be at work by 5 p.m. I checked the clock to make sure it wasn't getting too late. The next thing Andy knows is that I'm yelling at him in a panicky voice telling him that it's 5:30 p.m. He jumps out of the chair and starts yelling at me why I didn't wake him open earlier. The whole time I'm laughing my butt off and he can't figure out why until he looks at the clock and it says 3:30 p.m. Then a string of choice words come flying out of his month, but I don't care it was funny.
After Andy left for work, mom and Laura thought that they better get going too, before it starts getting late. And beside they know that KayC and me needed to go to Nana and Grandpa's.
We got to their house about 6 p.m. and everything was going great until Jon tripped over Alex and fell. Jon bust his face just under his left eye on the glass end table on the sofa. It imediantly started to puff up and turn black and blue. And what very, cranky, not-quite-one-year is going to let me hold an ice pack to his face for the swelling, but I tried and Jon refused. After he calmed down, he was playing again like nothing ever happen. Go figure!
Shortly afterwards, we headed back to KayC's house. I still had to pack the boys up and go home myself and get some sleep, so that I could get up the next morning and go Christmas shopping. Yes, I am one of those people who gets up early for Black Friday.
Trick-Or-Treat
Alex and Jon went Trick-Or-Treating this year as pirates. Alex was the captain and Jon the matey. It only seemed right since Alex also was trying to boss Jon around. They got to go three times this year and thank goodness, because now I feel like we got our moneys worth out of the costumes.
First...
The local zoo on Thursday, October 30, 2008. They got to go from station to station with in the zoo to get candy, which we had to pay for. So I'm really sure if that counts if you have to pay for it. But they also had pumpkin displays along the way, such as, Alvin and Pumpkin and Gourd Diego Gourd.
Second...
On Halloween day, our first stop was the local mall, where you go store to store and collect candy. We've done this for several years now, but we always go an hour after it starts and there is never any candy left. So this year we got there right when it started, and their pails where filled by the time we were done. Then we headed home and waited for Grandma and Grandpa DiTommaso to arrive, so we could go through the neighborhood. We got half away around the housing addition when Alex started to get tired of walking, so I ended up carrying him from house to house. And we didn't even go down all the little side streets, house the house that you could get to from the main street.
TRICK-OR-TREAT PLEASE!
Jon eating some of his Teddy Grahams from the mall, waiting from Grandma and Grandpa to show up. He thinks he's going to be able to eat that Kit-Kat, but little does he know that I'm getting ready to take it away.
Third...
At Grandma and Grandpa DiTommaso's. Where they live, Trick-Or-Treat was on Saturday, November 1, 2008. So, we waited for Aunt Laura and Cousin Hailey to get there and go with them. We just went down the one street that has the most houses on it. When I was old enough to go Trick-Or-Treating, that was the street to go down, you got the most candy in the shortest amount of time. It was a little disappointing, there were only about a fourth of the homes even handing out candy, when we went just about every home was handing out candy. I guess that's what we call a "Sign of Times!"
First...
The local zoo on Thursday, October 30, 2008. They got to go from station to station with in the zoo to get candy, which we had to pay for. So I'm really sure if that counts if you have to pay for it. But they also had pumpkin displays along the way, such as, Alvin and Pumpkin and Gourd Diego Gourd.
Second...
On Halloween day, our first stop was the local mall, where you go store to store and collect candy. We've done this for several years now, but we always go an hour after it starts and there is never any candy left. So this year we got there right when it started, and their pails where filled by the time we were done. Then we headed home and waited for Grandma and Grandpa DiTommaso to arrive, so we could go through the neighborhood. We got half away around the housing addition when Alex started to get tired of walking, so I ended up carrying him from house to house. And we didn't even go down all the little side streets, house the house that you could get to from the main street.
TRICK-OR-TREAT PLEASE!
Jon eating some of his Teddy Grahams from the mall, waiting from Grandma and Grandpa to show up. He thinks he's going to be able to eat that Kit-Kat, but little does he know that I'm getting ready to take it away.
Third...
At Grandma and Grandpa DiTommaso's. Where they live, Trick-Or-Treat was on Saturday, November 1, 2008. So, we waited for Aunt Laura and Cousin Hailey to get there and go with them. We just went down the one street that has the most houses on it. When I was old enough to go Trick-Or-Treating, that was the street to go down, you got the most candy in the shortest amount of time. It was a little disappointing, there were only about a fourth of the homes even handing out candy, when we went just about every home was handing out candy. I guess that's what we call a "Sign of Times!"
Pumpkin Patch
The weekend before Halloween, Andy and me took our boys to Hilger's Farmer Market just a couple miles away from where we live. Hilgers transformed there place into a kid friendly attraction, which even had a haunted house that we didn't do. We invited him mom and my mom, since they were in town. I couldn't believe that Alex and Jon were both free, but all the adults had to pay. All we did was follow Alex from one attraction to another, while Jon sat in the stroller and took a nap for most of the time. It was cold out, but that didn't stop Alex one bit.
First stop... Alex jumping in one of those big bouncers (I don't remeber what it's really called). I was a little worried about him having to take his shoes off, because of the cold weather, but he was always moving that kept him warm.
Then, it was onto the pony ride. I had to walk along side of him too make sure that he wouldn't try to get off. It didn't really matter, because I was going to walk along side anyways, but I now he does have a habit of getting rides once they already start. He was having so much fun that he didn't want to get off, but I explained to him that there were other little boys and girls who would like to have a chance to ride the pony too. That seemed to work and we were off the nect item on his agenda....
...the cow ride. Now this time I was afraid he was going to try to get out midway through the ride, but he didn't. He fully enjoyed the trip around the park. But, I had Andy walk a couple paces behind just in case. Once the take ride was over, it was onto the trolley ride.
Yes, I do believe Andy followed the trolley around too! It's not like he was running along side, but the cows were pulled by a lawn mower and the trolley was pulled by a tractor not going very fast.
Andy and Alex inside of a teepee made out of corn stalks. I have admit, though, you can't tell that they are inside of a teepee, but it's still a good picture of them having fun.
Well the inside of the teepee wasn't that interesting to Alex, because the next thing I knew he was on his way to the Hay Maze. At the end of the maze there is a pryamid made out of hays bales. Alex climbed all the way to the top all by himself with Andy only a couple of steps behind him just incase he lost his since of balance and fell backwards.
After playing in the hay, Alex finally noticed a train. Alex loves trains! Out of all the stuff that we did that day, I bet we spent to most time here. He really liked being able the ring the bell. It took us forever to convince him that it was time to go back inside to warm up a little bit. We had probably been outside in the cold for about two hours. My mom had already went on ahead of us with Jon. So, we know have he on his way to start warming up and what does he see....
...a huge inflatted slide. He just had to go down the slide not once, but a couple of times. After about three or fours times, we told him that he had to warm up. As I put on him shoes and grabbed his hand, I could believe how warm they were for not having on any gloves. His hands felt like he had them by a fire the whole time. And here I thought that he might be cold, when the whole time it was just the adults that were cold.
Once all of us were indoors. We got some food and drinks to replenish...Elephant Ear, Kettle Corn, and Hot Cocoa (which all cost a pretty penny). We even let Alex get a balloon animal. for those of you who can't tell what it is, it's a dinosaur on a leash, which lasted about an hour before it popped.
Now that out tummies are all full, Alex wanted to go pick out his pumpkin. This took a lot longer than I thought, but he got a couple of nice ones for carving.
Which he had no interest in carving, so I had to do it al by myself. If you can see my pinkie there's a bandaide on it from where I cut it, and it's still healing a month later. But it was worth it.
A skull and cross bones....
...and spider with web. Altogether, it took me a little more than two hours to do both of the carvings. But they looked good for Trick-OR-TREAT.
First stop... Alex jumping in one of those big bouncers (I don't remeber what it's really called). I was a little worried about him having to take his shoes off, because of the cold weather, but he was always moving that kept him warm.
Then, it was onto the pony ride. I had to walk along side of him too make sure that he wouldn't try to get off. It didn't really matter, because I was going to walk along side anyways, but I now he does have a habit of getting rides once they already start. He was having so much fun that he didn't want to get off, but I explained to him that there were other little boys and girls who would like to have a chance to ride the pony too. That seemed to work and we were off the nect item on his agenda....
...the cow ride. Now this time I was afraid he was going to try to get out midway through the ride, but he didn't. He fully enjoyed the trip around the park. But, I had Andy walk a couple paces behind just in case. Once the take ride was over, it was onto the trolley ride.
Yes, I do believe Andy followed the trolley around too! It's not like he was running along side, but the cows were pulled by a lawn mower and the trolley was pulled by a tractor not going very fast.
Andy and Alex inside of a teepee made out of corn stalks. I have admit, though, you can't tell that they are inside of a teepee, but it's still a good picture of them having fun.
Well the inside of the teepee wasn't that interesting to Alex, because the next thing I knew he was on his way to the Hay Maze. At the end of the maze there is a pryamid made out of hays bales. Alex climbed all the way to the top all by himself with Andy only a couple of steps behind him just incase he lost his since of balance and fell backwards.
After playing in the hay, Alex finally noticed a train. Alex loves trains! Out of all the stuff that we did that day, I bet we spent to most time here. He really liked being able the ring the bell. It took us forever to convince him that it was time to go back inside to warm up a little bit. We had probably been outside in the cold for about two hours. My mom had already went on ahead of us with Jon. So, we know have he on his way to start warming up and what does he see....
...a huge inflatted slide. He just had to go down the slide not once, but a couple of times. After about three or fours times, we told him that he had to warm up. As I put on him shoes and grabbed his hand, I could believe how warm they were for not having on any gloves. His hands felt like he had them by a fire the whole time. And here I thought that he might be cold, when the whole time it was just the adults that were cold.
Once all of us were indoors. We got some food and drinks to replenish...Elephant Ear, Kettle Corn, and Hot Cocoa (which all cost a pretty penny). We even let Alex get a balloon animal. for those of you who can't tell what it is, it's a dinosaur on a leash, which lasted about an hour before it popped.
Now that out tummies are all full, Alex wanted to go pick out his pumpkin. This took a lot longer than I thought, but he got a couple of nice ones for carving.
Which he had no interest in carving, so I had to do it al by myself. If you can see my pinkie there's a bandaide on it from where I cut it, and it's still healing a month later. But it was worth it.
A skull and cross bones....
...and spider with web. Altogether, it took me a little more than two hours to do both of the carvings. But they looked good for Trick-OR-TREAT.
Catching Up
So, besides the very first posting, lets get started. I want to kind of show case some of the things that have happened before today. No, I'm going to going to start from, for example, two years ago, but how about from July 2008.
Here is a picture that was taken at ARO / Ingersall-Rand, Bryan, OH of "Dave's Girls" in front of a stone bench that was dedicated to David R Wofford. (R to L: Kristy Helmkamp (stepdaughter), Diane (wife), Laura w/ Hailey (daughter with granddaughter), Angel Shibler (stepdauhter), & Me, Claire DiTommaso (daughter). For those of you who don't know, Dad or Dave worked at ARO / Ingersall-Rand since before I was born. He started out in California and then transferred in Ohio. About 5 years ago he was diagnosed with a very rare blood cancer and in April 2008 he passed.
Cat, my bestfriend, on her wedding day. No, I wasn't her maid of honor, because of the distance we live from each other. But, I may as well of been. I did a lot of the maid of honor duties on her special day. I even gave the speech at the wedding reception. When everyone was getting into position for the wedding, I was confused for the maid of honor.
But it doesn't matter how for apart we live from each other, it still seems like our lives run paraelle. We were both pregant with our first together, McKenzie was born in October 2005 and Alessandro in December 2005. We were even pregant with our second together, Giovanni November 2007 and Timothy March 2008.
Here is a picture that was taken at ARO / Ingersall-Rand, Bryan, OH of "Dave's Girls" in front of a stone bench that was dedicated to David R Wofford. (R to L: Kristy Helmkamp (stepdaughter), Diane (wife), Laura w/ Hailey (daughter with granddaughter), Angel Shibler (stepdauhter), & Me, Claire DiTommaso (daughter). For those of you who don't know, Dad or Dave worked at ARO / Ingersall-Rand since before I was born. He started out in California and then transferred in Ohio. About 5 years ago he was diagnosed with a very rare blood cancer and in April 2008 he passed.
Cat, my bestfriend, on her wedding day. No, I wasn't her maid of honor, because of the distance we live from each other. But, I may as well of been. I did a lot of the maid of honor duties on her special day. I even gave the speech at the wedding reception. When everyone was getting into position for the wedding, I was confused for the maid of honor.
But it doesn't matter how for apart we live from each other, it still seems like our lives run paraelle. We were both pregant with our first together, McKenzie was born in October 2005 and Alessandro in December 2005. We were even pregant with our second together, Giovanni November 2007 and Timothy March 2008.
Time to start blogging
I thought it was about time I started my own blog. Now I just hope that I can keep it updated for everyone. Calling people is just getting so time consuming. And with raising two boys that are 23 and a half months apart, they really keep me on my toes. Especially with the oldest, Alex, always wanting to talk to whoever is on the other end of the phone, with can annoying at times. So I'm going to give this blogging a try. This will also be an easy way for my friends and family to see what's new with the family, especially, since the boys are growing up so fast!
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