This Week-End In Words and A Few Pictures

Well the weekend did NOT get off to a good start.....Chris was on his company conference call when a big wig out of nowhere announced they were going to phase out chris' dept by the end of next year! WHAT?!!! this is sooo not supposed to happen! all those long nights of him working, going out of town, eating crow.......for what? ....so his dept can be phased out!!!! well we immediately start planning, thinking, well atleast we have more time to prepare than most. we made plans on how we could save money, but acknowledged the money needing to be spent on further education, him to learn a new software to become more marketable to both his company and any others he may have to apply to. i decided to ask a friend (who has been laid off) if i can hire her to teach me more advanced sewing so i can take in more sewing on the side and bring in a little bit extra but still stay home and homeschool (not that i could get a job out there right now anyway). we also explained to the kids what was going on in hopes to get better cooperation with them, about all the ways we can cut back on utilities to save money. well i will fast forward to monday for the sake of closing out this part of the weekend. chris met with his boss over coffee and was told he knew too much for the company to loose and that they are hoping to develop a different dept that he will likely be asked to head up......great news.....IF it's true. for some reason i don't totally trust a company that will spring something like this on their employees with no warning.....call me a skeptic.....but for now, we have a little rainbow going , just not sure what's at the end of it, real gold or fools gold?! in the meantime we are going to forge ahead with our plans on cutting back and furthering our education!

HALLOWEEN!!! i do enjoy seeing everybody dressed up, i love creative costumes, however, my kids do not appreciate the easy costumes, usually..... this year however, frankie wanted to be a ninja, and gracie a forensic antropologist (basically a lab coat and a necklace with bones on it) so i was so relived! i was able to put my procrastination in full swing. so about a week ago i go to buy frankie's costume....i could find tons of little boy ninja's and tons of grown men ninjas, but NONE his size. i contemplated making it, but as i had waited so long, not to mention the amount of fabric it would take....well i found the smallest men's size (an extra large!) and decided with some safety pins and creative use of those red fabric tyes you put on the arms and waist, we could make it work and best thing, he loved it.


gracie, well tracking down a lab coat was not as easy as i could have hoped. but finally the day before, i was finally able to track one down, well actually 2 cuz i asked 2 friends and they both came through, well, at 3:30 that day, (trick or treating starting at 6) gracie decides with tears in her eyes, this is NOT what she had envisioned.....the guilt of being so pleased at having two such easy costumes set in. along with the guilt of talking her into another easy costume last year of the "junk food junkie" where we taped junk food wrappers onto a pair of sweats and all night long she kept loosing them and being asked what she was supposed to be. needless to say, i felt like the worst mom! so we shot out of there on the quest to find a costume she liked. 3 stores later, she decided on a hippi, which is not my first choice and not quite as hippi like as i would have gone if i had had more time to plan, but she was happy and with her latest fascination with peace signs, i guess appropriate. so i had one happy little girl and boy!

Last year
























This year











then today, we were able to take the kids with us to vote. i was super excited about this cuz they always ask us about it every year and this time, we were able to take them, explain each step and show them! how cool is that! i think that has become one of my favorite things about homeschooling, being able to take them and personally show them life experiences and be able to make sure they get the importance of it!


later we took them to get new coats. now after several years of tears and meltdowns, i have finally learned, do not start off at walmart, target, meijer etc..... anymore! they never have one that fits grace but they have plenty that she likes, and so ensues the tears, the self loathing, the frustration etc.... this year, we started at kohl's, found TWO (thank you very much) coats that she loved (she only got one) AND they were half off AND my mom had $20 in Kohl's cash she generously gave us AND if you had a kohl's card (we didn't, but mom did!) you got an additional 15% off! well as we checked out with our awesome finds and two happy kids, chris noticed the cashier forgot to ring up frankie's coat. he said "as much as i would love to pretend i didn't see this, i can't, i have to say i don't think you got one of the coats rung up", the girl was so appreciative of his honesty, she took an additional 30% off! so we got a really good deal and were able to leave with 2 great coats, a great deal and a clear conscience!!!