My Spa Day

One day while the kids were on their school break last week, they decided to give me a "SPA DAY" with all the works. Jennifer was the mastermind so she went upstairs to work and "hired" Justin to help out. He helped for a while, but she ended up "firing" him before my appointment, so I really don't know which one did what. But the whole idea was great and they really went all out!!!

This is the coupon that a very nice lady came and gave me just out of the blue!!

 When I went upstairs for my appointment, I was instructed to sign in and let the relaxing begin....

 This is the sign in sheet, where I got to choose all the services I wanted. Call me greedy... I chose them all!!!

 This is the waiting room. Notice how I have my choose of comfy seats and some reading material to boot....

 But, I didn't have to wait long at all, even though they offered some interesting reading material....

 This was the comfy bed where I got my massage....

 The room was full of candles giving off wonderful smells (and yes, she did ask permission before lighting them)

 During the spa day, I was treated to frozen yogurt and hot tea. What a wonderful treat!!

 This was my comfy chair for relaxing while I got my facial and nails done.....and enjoyed my treats....

 My choices of massage lotions....

 The sound machine played soothing sounds in the background...

 This was my warm robe and slippers that I slipped into after my relaxing soak in the tub....

 My bath tub with candles lit all around.  She even had 2 swimsuits out for me to pick which one I wanted to wear....

 My choice of bath balls/fizzes/powders/etc...

 And my choice of nail polish for my manicure...

 You may not recognize the relaxed version of myself, but here I am after my massage, bath, manicure, hair, and makeup...

 And a picture of my nails....and a happy smile!!!

I love my kids all the time, but I really enjoy when they do something special for someone else, and I got to be the recipient of all their special attention today!! We had such a great time together...well, truthfully I probably had more fun than her, but still..... Thanks for the wonderful memories and precious time together Jennifer!!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Justin's turkey that he made out of magnets

Well, I took my camera but didn't take the first picture this Thanksgiving Day.  We went over to my Mom and Bill's where Justin had spent the last two nights and joined my brother Brian and Deena and Owen over there for our traditional YUMMY lunch!! My Mom makes the absolute best dressing, and turkey, and sweet potato casserole, and all the fixings. I hear that her pumpkin pie is good too, but I wouldn't know since I don't like pumpkin pie. 

After lunch where we ALL got to sit at the same table, we just chatted and got caught up with everyone. We brought Jake over to Mom's house since she got a new fence this Fall and we can close him up out there. But he is used to being inside with everyone and tends to scratch at the door to be let in with all the action.  Luckily, it was a very warm day and we hung out outside after lunch playing with the tennis ball and looking at the sales papers and talking.

I had decided that for the first time, I may not go shopping at all for Black Friday but still had to look through ALL the papers to see if there were any deals that would make it worthwhile.  However, my teenage daughter has decided that shopping is fun and its great when you can save money.  So, she wanted to go this year to do her Christmas shopping. She wanted to go to Walmart, Kohls, Target, and Old Navy.  Then Justin decided he needed to do his shopping while things were cheap too!! I can't say I blame them!!

We went over to Dad and Sarah's house around 5 after dropping Jake and some leftovers at the house. They pulled all the food back out and yes, we ate again! Sarah is a good cook too, and by this time we were a little hungry.  It was kinda quiet over at Dad's this year but we did get to spend some time with Kim the last few minutes we were there. 

For the first time this year, the Black Friday shopping started on Thursday evening instead of very early Friday morning. The kids talked me into taking them for the experience, if nothing else. And while I am opposed to the idea of shopping on Thanksgiving, I really did like going out late better than getting up super early the next morning.

After looking through the sales papers, I got Jennifer narrowed down to Kohls and Walmart. We went to Walmart first as their sales started at 10 pm.  We got there around 9 and the place was pretty full at that point. But when we came out, there were no parking spaces anywhere to be found.  Justin only had one thing he wanted and Jennifer had 2 items she wanted. So,we found Jennifer's item and she waited there and then found Justin's item and he waited there and I stood in the middle where I could see them both with Jennifer's second item.  We waited and waited as the place got busier and busier. Finally at 10, people started ripping into the shrink wrapped pallets of deals.  We all got our stuff so super fast and headed straight to the register. Justin and I were checking out when we heard a commotion over by the video games where I think some people were fighting over the video games.  I will admit that it made me more nervous with the kids being there in that crowd, but luckily, they weren't going after any big ticket items.  So, we were out of Walmart around 10:03- probably the first ones done and out. 

Justin decided he wanted to go home (thankfully!!) and Jenn and I headed to Kohl's. We waited in the car and watched the line for a little bit. But, it was cold and they didn't open until midnight.  Finally, about 10:45 we went and got in line.  It was cold but not too bad.  And the line kept getting longer and longer and then there were no parking spaces in that shopping center either.  At midnight, we headed in the door, went straight for the items we wanted (3 for me and 4 for Jennifer) and checked out without any wait and was home by 12:15. So, it really wasn't that bad for us. Jennifer and I came home and fixed a scrambled egg sandwich (that always makes you sleep good!!) and went to bed, but were able to sleep in the next morning. It was so nice to sleep in and not have to get up early to go wait in lines for the deals.  And my kids did a SUPER job of getting the job done. Jennifer finished all of her Christmas shopping that night!! Way to go girl!!

As for the rest of our 9 day break, it was pretty quiet. The first night, Jennifer and I joined some friends at the movie to see Breaking Dawn (Twilight series). Jennifer also got to spend some time with Jordan (one of her BFF's). I made some Christmas gifts, which will have to remain a mystery until later.  Jennifer had several appointments this week, and thankfully all looks fine, except that she needs to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed.  We are hoping to do this after New Years while she is out of school. 

And we had some Christmas pictures taken at the Roswell Mill. I am waiting to get them back but hope they turned out well, as I hope to use them for our Christmas cards this year.

Overall, we are all very blessed in SOO many ways, and had a great Thanksgiving.  Even in tough times, we still have so much to be thankful for and I hope that you were able to spend some time counting your blessings this Thanksgiving.

Fall school pics

Aren't these kids beautiful!?! And, yes, I know I am a little biased, but still......

Justin’s first band concert

 

Well, Justin started band this year. He really wanted to play the saxophone but ended up playing the trumpet after all.  Here he is at his first band concert. Way to go Justin!!

CERT step 2 drill

Recently, the Cobb County CERT had a huge step 2 drill where our district had been preparing and preparing for it.  Toward the end, we learned that since the other districts don't have near the practice that we get, they needed us to be victims instead of responders.  And truth be told, I would rather be a victim anytime than a responder.  It's a LOT less stress to be a victim!! Our families were invited to join us, and mine agreed to help out. This was the first time that we have done anything involved with CERT with the whole family.  So, we got up early on a Saturday morning and headed to Krispy Kreme (A special treat for us!!) and then to the Valor Dr location where the police and fire train.  I know I'm weird, but I think its a really cool place.

Upon arriving, we were given our roles and lined up for moulage (makeup). I had facial injuries (abrasions and bruising). Jennifer had lacerations in her arm. Justin had a broken and bruised ankle.  And Dale was unconscious but alive.  He was so lucky to not have to have ANY makeup done.

The situation was an explosion in our building, and there were 2 teams of victims and 2 teams of responders.  Jennifer and I were in one room, and Justin and Dale were in the other room.  It was chaotic but all disaster scenes are.  Everyone always learns many different things -whether you are a victim or a responder. 

This is from the website to give you a better idea of what we are doing here:

A Step 2 Drill was conducted on November 12, 2011. The Step Drill Program was conceived in 2008 as a means of advancing from our CERT Skills Sustainment classroom training. The goal of the Step Drill is to introduce realism into the exercises as much as possible, so that when a real disaster occurs our CERT members will be better able to cope. Disaster makeup was used so that “Victims” appear to have varied realistic injuries. Debris was strewned around to simulate what might occur in a tornado or other disaster. Our makeup people was led by Pete Mitchell, so we should have some even better “injuries” than usual; plus our makeup team has had a couple of practice sessions. (We have CERT members learning how to apply special trauma makeup, so our victims will look more realistic than ever – and they should have fun doing it.)

Here are some pics from the day. CAUTION-stop here if you are squeamish, but remember it's all makeup.

Serious burn victim!

This is me kissing Jennifer's boo-boo...Once a Mom, always a Mom!!

Thank you to my sweet family for giving up a Saturday morning to help train our county's first responders. I enjoyed having you guys go with me this time and see what it's all about. 

Fall soccer U12

 

Well, we had a really bad season of soccer this Fall.  We didn’t win ANY games all season and morale was really down. The parents weren’t happy and the kids weren’t happy. The coach yelled at the boys and couldn’t make a lot of the games. One game he spent most of the time on the cell phone. And he wouldn’t accept any help from the fathers who said they would be glad to assist him. He didn’t learn the boys names and they didn’t learn each other’s names until the season was almost done.  But, the boys kept trying……

And then the coach asked if everyone wanted to sign up for the tournament. We all agreed it would give them more practice. At the last moment, the coach quit and didn’t even turn the paperwork in.  We were in shock at the way he was acting.  2 parents stepped in –Oliver’s Dad and Jacob’s Dad and saved the day by coaching the boys – who they didn’t even know the names of – during the tournament.  Believe it or not, we won every game and won our division in the tournament. It was such a sweet victory for these boys who felt the coach had given up on them and they came back and won the tournament!! Way to go boys!!

 

They put Justin in defense where he was a WALL – and didn’t let many balls get by him!! Way to go Justin!!