I've been a little bit busy....

My oldest has said to me "Are you ever going to blog again? We have had about 49 events, you know."
Brandi has said she is going to remove me from her blog list, so here I am.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving at home with my dad joining us. Mike and I cooked together and we ate at about 12:30. I loved eating at lunchtime this year. After dinner, Dad and Mike watched football, the kids played and/or napped, and I washed every dish and pan in the house by hand. My hands were so dry!! It was awesome to have it all done though.

Mike and I got up at 4am on Black Friday and hit Wal-Mart, but decided not to go to the "city" to shop all day. Another wise decision. I then napped for a while and we had taco pizza for dinner. All that wonderful food and all I wanted was taco pizza. Wierd!!

Since June, Brandi and I have both lost 45+ pounds with diet direct. I feel so much better!! Our friend Cara has also been doing this plan and has lost. I'm not sure how much though. She looks great! I have been off-plan for the last month or so and have only gained back about 3 lbs, because my cravings really have changed and I am making wayyyy smarter choices. YAY!!

The kids are doing very well in school this year. Oldest is working at Pizza Ranch and has saved quite a bit of her money. She is better at that than I am for sure!!
Middlest is in middle school now and involved in youth group, band, chorus, and bowling.
Youngest is in the PLUS program and bowling.

I have taken on another county working at WIC and doing the preschool fluorides 3x per school year, so I am basically working fulltime. How the heck did that happen??

My brother and his sons and wife came to Iowa this summer and brought along my mom, so we had a little reunion of sorts. We had a super time and had family pics done together. They turned out really nicely. We all were together along with my dad for some "fake family dinners" It is something that doesn't happen too often, but is quite entertaining. (My parents have been divorced since I was in 3rd grade)
If you are interested in seeing the photos, goto www.memoriesbybrandi.blogspot.com and look at late August.
Well, I am off to fold some more laundry. Happy Fall to all!!!

Good Friday To You

Hello!
I was on the way to work this morning and saw 4 people on a busy intersection holding rather large crosses that stated: "He died for you" I gave the one gentleman that I met eyes with a big smile and a thumbs up!! It got me to thinking...

Middlest decided to join me at work today and actually did a lot of folding dental hygiene instructions and emergency tips and putting them into envelopes. She then stapled papers for me. I really worked her!! She decided to color with my highlighters about 10 minutes before we left to meet Grandpa Dan, Mike, Oldest and Youngest for lunch. We.had a nice lunch and then I went back to work and my dad went off to do whatever it is that happily retired men do. Mike and the three girls went to see the Hannah Montana movie. I am soooo lucky that my girls have such a wonderful daddy that would take them to see such a girly-girl movie that also happens to have Billy Ray Cyrus in it.

We have been trying to split the kids up lately because the constant fighting is driving me to insanity! Tomorrow Littlest is having a friend over and for once in my life I am not going to let Middlest also have a friend over. She isn't thrilled, but she got to come and work in my sweatshop today, so hey... Last weekend between the 2 nights and the 3 girls, we had 5 overnights. Way too much.

On Easter we will be going to an Amish town with excellent German food. My dad will be joining us. He has been treating me to lunch a lot lately due to my financial diet, so we will treat him to a wonderful Easter dinner. It is the same place we went in September for Oldest's 16th birthday. Oldest and I are already starting to salivate. It is our FAVE!!

Happy Easter to everyone.

Mike is gone again

Mike got home late Friday night and we spent the day together Saturday doing not much really. I made his favorite dinner-manicotti. I haven't made it in many many years and now I remember why. Lasagna is soooo much easier. It was good. He left for Vermont this morning. He is going to be home on Friday so he can take the kids trick or treating with me.