Thursday, January 1, 2009

More Christmas Trip Pictures

Mike making fun of myspace pictures

Nick eating the world's best chili

Hannah being Hannah


JJ and Shauna with their new Webkinz. JJ wanted his best Webkinz pal, Shauna, to have a new one since hers was expiring and so he agreed to work for a Webkinz for her. Isn't that sweet?



E cleaning up his toys


Rock Band Video

Oh, to be a cat


My favorite hockey game

My favorite hockey game of the year (that my kids aren't playing in) is on right now. This year it is extra special because the Chicago Blackhawks are playing the Detroit Red Wings in an outdoor rink, set up in Wrigley Field! I have to confess, though, that I am not really watching it like I should be. I went on the computer just to check my email and then saw that Denise had sent me a message on Facebook and my whole plan went to heck. First I spent a bunch of time catching up on Facebook stuff, then I went to Blogger and started blogging and catching up on blogs I read. Now I realize I have missed most of the game. Good thing it is on Tivo!

New Year's Eve, 2008

Stephen B. enjoying his Green River float


Alex singing in his new Hollister shirt


Jack singing with Luke and Shauna on guitar and bass


Lukey and his baby sister



A group shot, even Rebel was getting in on the family fun!

We had a good New Year's Eve this year. I have always hated New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, they always seem depressing to me. As already established, I don't do well with change and apparently that includes change of year. I guess since my father and two sons are Autistic, I must have some Autistic traits!

This year, Alex had planned to have two of his good friends, Amberleigh and Brianna, come and stay overnight. Brianna called in the morning and told him that Amberleigh was throwing up and they couldn't come, so that was disappointing. We made some yummy snacks, a chipped beef cheese ball, chili dip, and cheese and salsa dip to have in the afternoon and then we cooked the Home Run Inn pizza Mike had gotten for a special dinner treat, later in the day. Home Run Inn pizza is from Chicago and the frozen ones used to be available at Ukrop's here in Williamsburg, but they stopped selling them. Mike was able to pick some up at a Harris Teeter in Northern Va on his way home from work for a surprise for the family. Yum!
Luke had been spending a few days at Stephen B's house, but they both came here, ate with us and played Rock Band. I will be posting some pictures and maybe even a video or two of the Family New Year's Eve Rock Band Extravaganza. It was a lot of fun.

We quit Rock Band at about 11:30 and watched tv until midnight, then went to bed. All in all, a fun night. Maybe not as exciting as going to First Night and seeing the awesome fireworks display, but much cheaper and almost as much fun!

Our trip home

I need to blog about this before I forget! After we left Denise and Nick's house, we stopped at a thrift store that they had told us about, that was about 20 minutes from their house and on the way to Janine's house, where we were headed to get CUP. This is one of the reasons it took us so long to get home. I think we spent about an hour in the store and then we had to go to another store to use the rest rooms, since the thrift store didn't have any. We got some good bargains, including paperback books for me at only $1 for 3. That is even better than my usual bargain price of .50 each. Mike got one and I got 11. I also bought one hardcover for $1. Shauna got about 5 shirts and 4 of them were 50% off. Alex got about 4 shirts, I think only 1 was 50% off. The others were Hollister brand, which he has always wanted, so I figured full price was still a good buy. Hannah only got one shirt because I had already gotten her a ton at the thrift store I went to with Nick. I also got a salad spinner almost just like Nick's for only $2.99. Alex already used it yesterday to dry the scallions for chipped beef dip.

After shopping, we went to Janine's to get CUP. Janine saw the thrift store bags and asked if we had gone to the one near her house. I thought that we had, but after I got home and took a closer look at the bags, it turns out that there is another location, even closer to her house. If I had realized that at the time, our trip home would have been even longer! I'm going to start saving up for the next trip and hit all the good thrift stores, since I haven't found any good ones in VA.

Speaking of Janine, thank you for letting CUP stay with you! Please thank your parents for me, also. He had a great time. I know he has really been missing spending time with his friends in Chicago since he moved back home, so the trip was good for him. Now I'm sure he is refreshed and ready to find a job!!! Right, CUPSTER???

Okay, back to the trip. We left Nick and Denise's at 11:00 am, only about an hour later than planned, which is good for us. As we drove, Mike suggested that we could try a different route home, that took us through Annapolis, instead of DC. I said that was a great idea, the change of pace would be nice. Ummmm, not a good decision! We never did see Annapolis and ended up going way out of the way, making the ride REALLY long. Oh, well, live and learn, I guess. Next time we will plan that out in advance and not make spur of the moment route changes!

About 5:30 pm I announced that I was "done" with this trip. Unfortunately, Mike didn't think just stopping in the middle of Waldorf, MD was a good idea, so he suggested stopping for dinner instead. We had brought sandwiches and fruit to eat on the way home, but since the trip had stretched out so long, we now needed two meals. We ended up going to Red Robin (thank you, Nate, for mentioning it!). We haven't been there in well over a year, so we all really enjoyed it, even though it is incredibly expensive there. The Red Robin character made the rounds a couple of times, which made Hannah a little nervous, but she didn't dive under the table as she has in the past, just another sign that our baby is growing up! The food was really delicious and we were all stuffed by the time we climbed back into the van to face the remaining 3 hour drive home.

We finally arrived home about 9:30 pm, tired and happy to be home. Whenever I go away and come home, I am reminded about how much I love Williamsburg. We had a good trip and a wonderful time at Nick and Denise's, but it is still good to be home.

Drew's injury


Well, first Luke broke his tibia and fibula in July, 2007 and was in a cast for over 5 months. Then, I tore my hamstring in June, 2008 and am still having problems with it after almost 7 months. Now, Drew broke his collar bone and has to have surgery tomorrow. What a way to end the old year and start the new. Ugh! I just hope that Drew doesn't take as long to heal as Luke and I did.

Drew has to have a plate put in his shoulder, to reconnect the broken bone. The doctor said to picture your index fingers touching each other at the point. That is how the bone should be. Now make an uppercase "T" with your index fingers. That is how Drew's bone looks. There is a visible lump where the bone sticks out. Yuck.

Since Drew's injury, technically, was last year, I'm sure 2009 will be injury free for us!!!