daily (okay, occasional) musings

in limbo again and the activities of Thanksgiving Week 09

Well here we are again in decision mode.  Seems like every few years or so we find ourselves trying to figure out what best to do with our lives, what's best for the kids, etc. etc.

I guess I never was the kind of person to stay put for too long or keep up with the status quo, so I guess I'm staying true to self!

Still haven' t heard anything back from France on the final offer, I guess we'll see what fate brings us!

As for the last week it's been crazy busy.  Last weekend we went downtown with the Schnackenberg family (Lukas' best friend Chris) downtown to the Mag Mile Festival of Lights which ends with the parade lighting Michigan Ave.  After the parade, we went to Gino's East for good old Chicago style deep dish pizza - yum!  We stayed overnight right next to the Rock n' Roll McDonalds and in the morning we went over to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Thankfully, we were treated to nice warm weather on Sunday.  It turned out to be a perfect weekend, but we were a bit wiped out by the end of the day.

On Monday, we had to go retrieve Justus who was being babysat by Grammy in Rockford.  Tuesday was playdate heaven with Ben Castro and Chris Schnackenberg going back and forth between the houses.

Wednesday we went to see Planet 51, again with Chris and Peyton.

Thursday Thanksgiving at my Aunt Joette's house in Rockford with the rest of the family.

Friday, Black Friday 4:30am shopping frenzy with Pam Castro, then Christmas tree hunting at Oney's Tree Farm with Grammy, Grandpa and Max's family (we just ran into them there!), then the Crystal Lake Holiday Parade with Lukas in the Cub Scout Pack 347 float with the Grinch.

Saturday shopping at Nordstrom's for shoes for the boys, lunch at P.F. Changs.

Sunday, finishing up the Christmas decorating, yummy moules marinieres for lunch with red wine, swimming at the club, the bowling league for the boys at 6pm.

 

Do you think we kept busy enough during the Thanksgiving break??  I can only imagine what Christmas break will be like!

Now it's headlong into the month of December with tons on our plate.  Christmas cards, shopping, wrapping, Lukas First Reconciliation, Chris' birthday, Cub Scout Breakfast with Santa, holiday parties, visiting relatives, etc. etc.  never a dull moment :)

tomatoes and glasses

so here is little man Noah wearing his glasses (Scooby-Doo).  He's engrossed in his Kindergarten  homework :)  Isn't he just TOO cute??

 

and yes, I actually GREW this tomato in my own garden!  Can you believe it??  And it tasted delish!  Next year, I'm thinking I'll go all out and plant a real raised bed veggie garden.  This year with very little effort and not much warm weather we ended up with good tomatoes and excellent basil.  Next year, we're going to go crazy and see if we can get all our own veggies for the summer :))

yeah, it's been 10 days, remember this is called "occasional"!

Can't believe it's been 10 days since my last posy.  I swear to you that I had every intention of posting at least every other day, it just doesn't seem to ever happen!

Well in the last 10 days we went on our last hooha camping trip of the year.  We headed back to Wheeler's campground and Devil's Lake - we just really love this place.  This time around we met up with friends we had met on Memorial Day weekend.  It was fun to see the same family and kids again.  We also explored totally new things within Devil's Lake park.  This place just has so much to offer.  We went rock climbing up the East Bluff.  The trail was rated as "Difficult", but can you believe that Lukas was the fastest of us all?  The views at the top were stunning.  The weather was also perfect.  This was the first camping trip this summer that it didn't rain a single drop.  It was pretty nice to come home without mud on everything :))

 

 

 

 

Now we are back to school and into the swing of things again.  Full-on activities as well!  We have baseball (both boys) on Mondays, Boy Scouts on Tuesdays, CCD on Wednesdays, and baseball games on Saturdays - WHEW!  It's all good though, they like to stay busy. 

Burt's Pumpkin Farm 2006

We had a great day today doing what has become our annual Burt's Pumpkin Farm trip. We love to go up to the North Georgia Mountains to see the leaves changing, have a fun tractor drawn hay ride and pick out some choice pumpkins to display for our trick-or-treaters. THe boys had a great time as usual. Noah got a great kick out of the talking pumpkins on the hay ride. Lukas engrossed himself in picking out some "baby" pumpkins. Great fun was had all around, even though I am fighting a nasty persistent cold. CHeck out our photos from today in the Photo Album links.