Yankee Candle Factory

Joe, Xander and I made the trek to the Yankee Candle Factory in Deerfield, Mass. this weekend. It was a three hour trip, but the weather was clear (frigid, but clear) and the trip was easy.

The first good thing about this trip was meeting up with fellow Cherry (ACOT member) Renee. It was my first time meeting someone from the boards and she was so nice! She could only hang out for an hour, most of which time was spent on line waiting so our kids could see Santa. And he was an awesome Santa! Don't expect to see any pictures, though...I'm saving them for the Christmas card this year! Anyway, shout-out to Renee for meeting me! You're awesome!

After Xander had sat with Santa and fondled all of the toys in the toy department, we wandered out to the rest of the Yankee Candle experience. If you've never been there, I have to recommend it! There's a Bavarian Village with cute store fronts, a band of backwoods robot singers, and scores of those little Christmas collectible villages all set up with lights and everything.

Xander and Joe made wax molds of their hands, and they each got new ornaments for the Christmas tree (Joe got a guitar, Xander a set of drums). We had lunch at the Candlewick Cafe, and Xander made me sniff just about every candle scent in the place. Whew! I spent an insane amount of money on votives. But a good time was had by all!

Mostly, I just enjoyed spending the day with my family doing something new and fun. And there's a very high chance we'll be back again next year!

Morning Sunshine

It was a bright and shiny morning this morning, perfect for taking some pictures while Xander and I walked up the driveway to wait for the bus. Early morning sun and late afternoon sun are my favorites for taking pictures, because the lighting is so warm. Here are the pictures I took this morning:

Internet Friends

I would like to give a shout-out to the community at A Cherry On Top, where all my scrapbooking girlfriends live. Say what you will about online friends, but sometimes they're the only ones there for me.

Today, for example, I was feeling pretty low. All I had to do was let the girls at ACOT know how I was feeling to suddenly get a boost of good feelings! They understood how I was feeling, they said all the right things, and reminded me that even though you may not have met a person in the flesh doesn't stop them from being a true friend in every other sense.

So thanks, girls, for picking me up and dusting me off! I really needed it!

Parent-Teacher Conference Day

Today was Parent-Teacher Conferences at Xander's school. I was prepared for the worst, after the following conversation:

Me: "Xander, what do you think your teacher will tell me when I meet with her?"

Xander: "Probably that I put soap in Jacob's hair."

Not very confidence-inspiring, to be sure! But it went great. Xander's teacher says that he's doing great academically. He's really nailing the english language arts, and doing pretty good in math too. I got to see the first sentence he wrote: I like Mom. Awww!

The behavioral issues are minimal - the usual not sitting still, wanting to do his own thing at times. Xander's teacher thinks he's a great kid. (I agree!)

******

As an added bonus - cause I'm feeling generous! - here is a picture of Xander from yesterday. He woke up complaining and crying that the sun was hurting his eyes, so I gave him a pair of Joe's sunglasses. Well, he instantly became Scott Summers aka Cyclops from the X-Men. Even picked out his clothes to match colors. This is his Scott Summers pose.

Mr. Pouty Pants

Lest you think that Life With Xander is all laughs and silliness, I took these pics last night to show the other side. Mr. Drama King.

So, Xander got ten tons of candy on Halloween. He's been eating a little of it. Joe and I have had some too. Last night Joe made the mistake of pawing through the candy dish in front of Xander, who promptly went on the defensive. "You can't eat my candy!!" Of course, he's been steadily eating Daddy's fudge round cookies, but let's not go there.

When Xander's accusations didn't change the fact that Joe was eating the candy, we got this:

And of course I felt the need to take some pictures. That's when we got this:

Luckily, Xander's blow-ups only last a few minutes. Afterwards he was fine, and joking around with everyone again. These are the days of our lives!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to my mom, who turns 56 today! (pay no attention to the dorky haircut)

And Happy Veteran's Day to our servicemen everywhere!!

Xander's First Assembly

Xander had a Veteran's Day assembly at school today. Eli was kind enough to pick me up and take me, since Joe was working and had the car. I didn't want to miss Xander's first assembly, since he would be singing.

It was long, but I cried through almost the whole thing. (I swear I have early-onset menopause!) There was a speaker who had served in the Vietnam War, the story behind the playing of Taps, and an explanation of what each fold of the flag means when it gets folded into a triangle. The elementary classes sang two patriotic songs accompanied by the high school band. It was really, really nice.

Let's Catch Up!

Okay, this is going to be a long post! I was out of work for several days - my mom came to visit, and before that we had a huge snow storm and our first snow day of the year. In fact, we lost power at our house for two days and were camping out at Eli and Krissy's (thanks, guys, for putting us up...and putting up with us!). This put a severe crimp in my house cleaning plans. And sadly we lost two of our fish.

By the time Mom came in on Thursday, our power was back on and the apartment was mostly clean. I did go to work for a little while on Friday, because there was a Halloween breakfast and mom got a chance to visit with some of her old work friends. Then she went with Eli to watch his kids march in the Jefferson parade while Joe and I went to Xander's school to see his first parade. Too cute! We regrouped at Eli's house to see the kids in their costumes before taking mom back and going trick or treating. (Xander got enough candy to fill 2 bowls! Crazy!)

On Saturday we had an early birthday party for Mom at Eli's house. There were presents, Mickey Mouse ears, and the Pioneer Woman's apple dumplings - yum! Mom stayed overnight there, and I picked her up on Sunday for some shopping and lunch out with Xander and I. Saturday night was back to Eli's for BBQ.

Monday was a low-key day. I went in to work for a couple of hours to take care of some things that just couldn't wait, then we watched movies at home. Mom and I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of Ghostbusters. Pretty sad. Yesterday Krissy, Mom, Aislin and I went out for lunch, and then we took Mom to the airport. She got back to Florida at 10pm.

It was a great visit and I miss her already! Hopefully next year we'll be able to go to Florida to visit her for a change. Fingers crossed!