Alrighty, I apologize it has been so long since the last update. Life got crazy. The boys had five days off of school this past Thursday – Monday. Then I was working on a huge project – www.familydinnervideo.com which is now complete. YEA! Then I had a couple days where our internet was not working at all. I also just joined a new big time one year course that will teach me even more about internet marketing / website stuff. I feel like I’m back in college. Actually it is big bucks to take part in it, so it is kind of like college… It is a lot of work, but I am pretty sure it is going to pay off. If not, then I guess I’ll be a drop out.

It is freezing here! I went out for my walk this morning and it was 33, but the wind killed me. I am guessing the wind chill was around 20. I need to invest in a face mask and earwarmers or something. I was cold to the bone after my 4 miles and I never did really warm up after that. When we went to the grocery store there were actually snow flakes coming down. (tiny ones, but STILL….)

Tomorrow is the harvest party at Ryan’s class, so I will try to head on over for that at 2:00. (providing Matt is home to monitor sleeping Dane.) He was so disappointed I didn’t go on his field trip on Tuesday, so hopefully this will help. I would have gone on the field trip, but they already had 5 moms going and basically asked everyone else not to go. He is still doing really well. He had a few missing assignments this week, but I think we got that all figured out.

Saturday I am heading off to a gigantic craft fair in Indiana with a friend or two. It is apparently a full day outing that is tons of fun and more booths then I can imagine. They run it for 9 days. www.coveredbridgefestival.com Apparently they had 2 million visitors last year. That’s pretty big for a craft fair huh? They seem to know how to do those out here.

Monday we headed to the Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo. We figured it is very rare that both Matt and the boys have the same day off, so we had to take advantage of it. That and it was a beautiful day! I took a lot of pictures and none of them turned out. I was so bummed. We so need a new camera, but Matt is holding out for the really nice one that he has picked out that we have to save for… Could be awhile. LOL Nana, Dane wore his zoo animal overalls we made. sooooo cute! It is a really nice zoo. It is free to visit, but they get you on the parking. It was nice to venture out into a big city again. The coast by Lake Michigan is beautiful. I think we’ll have to hit the Children’s Museum next. We got to go to Cracker Barrel for dinner on the way home. YUM! I love that place, it is so cute and fun!

Oh, we had a kitten fiasco on Monday too. Our neighbors called and said they found two orphaned kittens. So we headed over and looked at them. I am guessing they are about 4 weeks old. They wanted us to try to get our mommy to take them in. So we brought them home and she right away warmed up to them and was licking them etc. So we left and went to the zoo. When we got back in the evening all our kitties were hissing at the new kitties and our mommy was hissing at her kitties. So….. back to the neighbors the abandoned kittens went. The next day ours were a big happy family again. One of the babies caught a mouse in our window well the other night and Matt saw Snickers, the mommy, catch one in the corn field across the street today. So at least they’re turning into mousers for us. The family who was going to adopt one of ours backed out on us. So for now we have 7 cats! Can I mail one to you? They all love each other so much I think we would be sad if they seperated. I’m just worried about the spring when all the girls get pregnant. EEK!

So the only pictures I have that have turned out lately are Matt’s new back massager….(no wonder his back hurts!)

And Christian the pen man. I bought a new pack of pens on our Sam’s Club Trip (which is a whole other story) and Christian decided to wear them all.

So the Sam’s Club Story. We realized the other day that we hadn’t gone to Sam’s Club since right before my parents came out in June. I think that is a record for us as far as staying away from a warehouse store! We were out of EVERYTHING. So we finally bit the bullet last Thursday and went. $730 later we made it home. YIKES. We didn’t even add many extras. We were just honestly out of that many things. It adds up fast when you have printer ink for $80 etc. I did throw in a new set of flannel sheets (which were a really good deal) because our sheets from our wedding are finally dying. We have other sets, but I like to have a few to rotate just in case.

Well it is getting late. I think that is about all the news for now. Dane is learning to talk up a storm. I wish you could hear him. It’s so cute!

C-