Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas...






our reindeer food,




Santa's Magical Key,


This morning was very long for the Bain Boy's as they had to wait for daddy to come home from work. They were extremely excited.


Guinness wanted to get into the act, Shadow wouldn't stand still long enough for me to take the picture.



This one is for you Amanda...everything you're missing, shoveling. As of Christmas morning we've received 21" of snow in Chicago.



Yesterday we went to Christmas Eve Mass at three o'clock, it was beautiful and sang many songs. We were blessed to have dinner as a family tonight before Scott went to work. The boy's tracked Santa's progress until 9:30 pm, way past their bed time. Finally we all were able to get some rest before our day today. We'll be celebrating Christmas with Scott's family later today.

I pray that you all find time today to pray and be thankful for all that we are all given on this day. After all, we are to celebrate the birth of Christ. He is the reason we have this day. Merry Christmas to you and your families.


Holli

Another Adventure...Ice Storm, Cold & a Road Trip

Well, this weekend was a quick one. Thursday we kept hearing stories about what a bad winter storm we were about to embark one, accumulation of snow, ice and wind. We sure did get it all! Where we live in Oswego, we were at the line of snow & ice mix. We had about three inches of ice on my drive when I got out Friday morning. It was a good thing I had salted the day before because it helped with clearing. The chunks of ice were popping up in sheets as I was digging out. Our snow blower wouldn't even work on it. Oh well, God knows, I need the exercise! It did take me 2 hours to clean the drive. Once I was completed, I looked back and pleased of the work then the city came through with their plow...I now had about 2.5 feet of an ice pile at the end of my drive. I threw up my hands at the guy, he just laughed. I didn't find humor in that. Back at, I opened up that part of the drive.

That afternoon, we decided to leave and follow our original plans and head to Peoria for Christmas with my side of the family. We got into town late, relaxed a little and went to bed early as we were all tired.

Saturday the rat race was on running errands and making the stops to various places. During the middle of the night poor Logan got sick. I think it was all the junk he ate with all the juice. He was fine on our trip back, thank goodness!

The wind and the temperature is ridiculously cold! So those in the Illinois area, stay warm!

Merry Christmas,

Holli

Puppets & Polar Express

Sunday started out with the boys dressing up to go see a Puppet Show at Grandma's church. They loved the show! Once they got back to Grandma's they helped get her Christmas tree up and had to pose under the lights.



Once we left there it was off to the North Pole on the Polar Express via Oswego. They got to see Santa, have cookies and hot chocolate, pet a real reindeer and warm up by the bon fire.



When they met Santa, they both expressed their dreams for Christmas but didn't forget to tell him that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday too! That was cute.





Mrs. Claus was really sweet, making sure we were all being taken care of.





As we left the North Pole, we all were singing up a storm. It was such a great day!

Merry Christmas!

Holli

The Adventures of Christmas...

Our adventure begins with going to Kuiper's Family Farm to get our Christmas tree...

Many of the trees that were pre-cut were either too tall or too short so we decided to venture out to cut our own down...It was extremely cold on the hay rack ride. The wind was extremely strong making it rather cold. But the Boys did enjoy themselves.




Scott wasn't all that excited to get down on the snow to cut down the tree but he was a trooper! The boys thought that was really cool to cut our own tree.



They were able to have a little snowball fight and had a ton of fun!



Logan and Coulson

Lost Billfold/Wallet

Have you ever lost your billfold/wallet?

I've had one stolen before and tonight I lost it! Do you realize how your life can change with all that information?

The gamete of emotions have run through my system all within four hours! Four hours of time seems like a lifetime right now.

All the precautions have taken place, contacting the banks with my debit cards, the credit cards, the drivers license, etc. A police report was filed. The officer who took my report was kind of shocked at the detailed information that I provided him. Luckily I had all the numbers to the information along with my drivers license number. Why do I know my drivers license, I don't know, I just do.

My personal banker made a recommendation after my billfold was stolen two years ago and did it pay off today!!!! Patience recommended that as I received all the new cards to make photo copies and place them in a safe place at home. In the event something should happen, you have copies of everything important. All the phone numbers for contacting the banks are there, plus your account number and you are protecting yourself. It paid off today!

I felt so bad because Coulson had his heart set on getting our Christmas tree today. Tomorrow we'll get our tree.

If you can learn anything from this and me today, make copies of important documentation and place it in a safe place, where you can access it in a hurry should anything come up. It will pay off. Trust me!!!

Good night,

Holli

Logan, a salesman?

Several weeks ago, Logan & Coulson both came home with a fundraising opportunity. They were selling Ponsettia plants in time for Christmas. For every six plants you sold, your name went into a hat for an opportunity to win an IPOD. He heard, "IPOD," and was all over it! He said, "I'm going to call everyone I know and ask them if they want a plant!"

He called many people and do you know, he sold 23 plants? The research began with asking all the questions:

What colors are they?

How big are they?

When will they be delivered?

How much are they?
With some of these basic questions having been answered, he practiced his little pitch. The best part was when after he got done with his pitch, he asked, "How many would you like and what color?"

I was impressed!!! He did that all on his own, no coaching from mommy the saleswoman. What a natural! How could you turn a kid down with that passion?

In the end, a week after we turned in the paperwork, we received a call from the Home & School Organization. They informed me that Logan was one of three kids who actually sold a lot of plants but he sold the most, 23! Wow! So, his name was in the hat three times, one more plant he would have had four. His name was pulled. Can you believe that?

He was so excited. I'm very proud of him. He worked very hard to earn it and I think with that he definitley deserved it.

I'll post pictures with him and his Nano Ipod later.

Have a great evening,

Holli

Thanksgiving

This post is slightly delayed, like the posts of Halloween photos but I did want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

We have many things to be thankful for on a daily basis but also those that we are able to share with each other. This year we were fortunate to have a lot of family at our house and share what we are all thankful for. My grandmother who is 91 yrs old was with us, and that within its self is a special gift. My boys are very blessed to have time with a great grandparent.

Our family has had great news this year as well as some sad health news. This Thanksgiving we were celebrating good health news for Papa, celebrating new jobs and that we were all together. As we sat together before our feast, we all shared thoughts about what we are all thankful for, some were funny but as we all prayed for each other we also prayed for those of our family in heaven and were with us in spirit.

I hope that your day was as special as ours.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Holli

Halloween Photos, a little delayed!

You can see Coulson's fingers on top of our Cheerleader, Sarah. Aren't they all cute? Connor, Logan, Mackenzie & Ella.



This picture is a group of kids that all play together in the neighborhood. We usually do a pre-halloween party where we get all the kids together for their dinner. When we're done, go to someone's house for the after party where the adults can have dinner and hang out while the kids run a muck.



My Ninja (Logan) was hot and took his hood and mask off.



Optimus Prime (Coulson) is standing in front of Tinker Bell (Madison). His mask was too big for his head, he had a difficult time seeing out the poor thing.

Just Another Day...

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted last and a lot has taken place. October is a birthday month for friends of the Bain's, mainly the boy's friends. Every weekend we had atleast one mainly two. We survived all of that then it was a few days before Halloween, when we decided to do an impromptu "Pumpkin Carving" with our friends. It was a lot of fun, we had pizza for dinner and finished about 8 pm. Halloween was a blast! The boys and their friends had so much fun trick or treating and hopefully will post some pictures soon.

It has been only one week post Halloween and it already feels like it is weeks past. I atleast got something accomplished today for Thanksgiving. Yes, I said Thanksgiving. One apple caramel walnut pie is in the freezer. I may even start planning the rest of our menu. It looks like we'll have about 18 people. Scott would like to smoke a turkey but wants an oven roasted one also. It's his favorite holiday of the year and likes the left overs just as much. There is nothing like a cold turkey sandwich the day after.

Well, today's post is short and I must go because Coulson is sick.

Make it a great day!

Holli

I Can See Clearly...

This morning started off with a goal of getting Logan's Firemen themed room changed to get ready for the bunk beds we bought Friday for Monday delivery. Everything started well as the his bed came apart, the vacuum started and I took down the old valance. Once I did that, I realized the window was really dirty so the natural thing was to clean it. The window was so clean that I figured it was such an awesome day, I had the time so I'll wash the screens too. That lead to taking every screen out and washing them along with cleaning every window in the house. WOW! That is an awesome feeling, I can see so clearly now. Hurricane Holli has been down grated to Tornado level. It has been so nice getting some of the off cleaning done!
When working full time there are some things that just don't get the attention they should all the time. That is life.

Today we celebrated Bill's birthday and the boys were very excited to spend their afternoon with PAPA! Happy Birthday Papa!

The boys are so excited about these bunk beds. They have been asking for them for a long time and we happened to be furniture shopping for a new couch, chairs, etc., that Scott went walking mentioned this bunk bed set. The furniture store was having a good sale so we picked up a great quality set along with ordering a new sectional for the family room. Now we have to wait until the first week or two in December for that. At least we have something to look forward to and get rid of the old nasty stuff.

Have a great beginning of the week or another great day for Columbus Day.

Holli

Fall Days...

It has been a few great weekends with the exception of our boys in blue, Chicago Cubs, losing and ending our hope for the pennant. Putting that aside it has been great! The Bain boys and I have gone to pick pumpkins and apples, had a weiner roast and made smore's. The weather has been spectacular, what more could you ask for?

The last weekend of September, I took the boys to pick pumpkins and apples at Kuiper's Family Farm in Maple Park. This is our third year going, it is such an awesome place to go. Every year they change some things around and it is always fun!! Unfortunately this year due to Scott's new schedule he wasn't able to be part of our fun.
These are some of the pumpkins we picked...

Tractor Derby...
The boys are in full swing with school. Logan has his weekly spelling test and math homework every night, I can't believe it and he's only in 1st grade. What will it be like in two years? Algebra? Trig? Coulson refuses to say what he learned in school. He just says, "I don't know." So much for all kinds of open ended questions that I can ask and all I get is "I don't know."

Logan picking his green apples, he doesn't care for the red. As he picked the apples, he kept repeating, "Lift, twist and pull."
You can eat as many apples as you can while you're in the orchard. They enjoyed themselves.

As much as they are the same they are very much opposites. Coulson doesn't like green apples, he would only pick red ones.

Halloween will be here before you know it, luckily we have gotten our costumes a couple of weeks ago. Even at that point the stores were really picked over.















One of the best things about Kuiper's, their Apple Cider donuts. They are unbelievable. After a hard day of picking pumpkins and apples the Bain Boy's enjoy cider and their donuts. What an ending!















This past weekend we took a lot of pictures on my aunt's camera, once I receive those I'll post those too...the boys milked a cow, had a hay rack ride and a Peoria favorite, Avanti's.

To top the weekend off Illinois beat the pants off Michigan!


Holli

Moron Award...

I received the Moron Award for the day! I will admit it. So my day begins with me waiting at my storage facility for a shipment of samples. My time frame is between 8-10 am. It is almost 9 am, I've reworked my routing, analyzed data and started playing around with my phone when the truck finally arrives. The driver who gets out looks like a gang banger from Elgin and my thought was great way to start the day with this and I'm all by myself. Luckily he was nice and helped unload everything, even took all the shipping materials. So he redeemed himself. Two lessons: one, don't always be quick to judge by appearance and secondly, I don't always have to think the worse behavior by that appearance.

OK, so now I can make my way on my day. I head north to Bartlet to see Dr. Norek. Such a wonderful woman! As I'm talking to hear all the sudden, I stopped the conversation and said,"Oh my gosh! I think I locked the keys in the trunk of my car!" Dr. Norek tells me that whatever I need they will help and make myself comfortable.

I go out to the car and sure enough...car is locked, trunk is shut and my real work bag that I clipped my keys to are in the trunk. MORON AWARD!!!!! Mind you, this is the third time I've locked the keys in the car in about four weeks. Yes, THREE times. The problem is the dress I wore to work today did not have pockets. For those days, I have my key ring that has a clip which I'll clip to my bag. Sounds good and makes some sense. However, I was getting promotional items out of the trunk and saw other bags that I need to get rid of before years end so I transferred samples as well as other items to the Lidoderm bag, grabbed the computer shut the trunk and headed into the building.

Thank goodness that Bartlet Police were helpful and entered my car within seconds. I haven't had the heart to tell Scott yet. He hasn't let me forget the last one.

Hopefully third time is a charm and I shouldn't have to worry about receiving another Moron Award.

Have a great day!

Hurricane Holli

Over the past two weeks, I've been going through closets cleaning, organizing and making piles for purgue, donation and recycling. Scott has been calling me Hurricane Holli as I've made my way from every room in the house and it feels awesome. I do this about twice a year but this time, I've gone a little further.

With Scott working the crazy schedule, I've decided that a winter project that I am going to undertake is to start scrapbooking. Yes, me being creative and it isn't with cooking. I've had all the supplies but never the time to sit down and do it. Now, I've even organized a photo box so I'm already to go.

Today the boys and I took all our donations and recyled old electronics, ect to Oswego's extravaganza. We are ready for fall and winter. Next week we'll work on getting mums and stuff done in the yard.

Have a good weekend.

Hol

School Nurse

It has now been one complete week of school and we began our second. I thought we were off to a better start in hopes that my child wouldn't be misplaced. Yes, still a little bitter and yes, I'll get over it.

It is Monday afternoon, I'm between calls when I enter the car and notice I've missed two calls from the school nurse. Oh no, who is it and what's wrong? Are the first thoughts going through my head. Mind you, one week before school started they both were positive for strep throat. This is a quick thought as history does repeat itself.

No, everything is fine except Logan is complaining his stomach hurts. This is the second visit within two hours at school. Ok, is it anxiety? After all, this is all new to actually be working all day in school. I'm a bit concerned and thought I'll go ahead and pick them up early from Kindercare.

As we are heading home, I'm trying to get answers from the normally talkative little boy to barely any answers at all. He does mention that 1st grade is a lot harder than he expect. Then it comes out that his desk has been moved because he's talking a lot in class. It all is making sense now.

Day two, week two, I miss another two calls from a nurse. Again, Logan is complaining his stomach hurt. This time I find out that during a group time on the floor, Logan grabbed the kid's ears in front of him as the other kid made noises. Yep, he got in trouble again. This really isn't my kid. What is going on?

WE've had some big discussions on our behavior and our actions. Let's hope that for day three of week two I don't receive anymore nurse calls.

The nurse really likes Logan, she talks to him for about five minutes, gives him some crackers and takes him back to class. In the end it is kind of funny.

Have a great day.

Hol

Life...

Good Morning! I don't know about you but I'm so excited today is Saturday. If I could, I'd stay at home in my pajamas all day and do stuff around the house but we'll be leaving for gymnastics shortly, possibly hit the Kane County Flea Market and the rest is up for grabs.

Our routine is slowly getting into place now that school is in session. After our mishap last week about Southbury "misplacing" my child and having a lengthy conversation with the principal we haven't had any mishaps this week. Thankfully!

Friday is my favorite day of the week, more importanly Friday night! Like so many others, I look forward to getting off of work to relax. Now that school has started we like to take the boys to Oswego High School football games. Logan really gets into the football as Coulson, well, he really likes looking at the pretty girls in short skirts from the cheerleaders to poms. Yes, he is a little ladies man. You should see him at Kindercare. He has all these little girls hugging him when he arrives and when he leaves. Oh, we are so in trouble down the road.

Last weekend, Labor Day we went back to Peoria to see my family for a couple of days. I took them to my alma mater, Limestone Community High School to see the football game and what my niece in the marching band. Wow! This high school marching band was awesome. The sound was top notch. I have no idea who their band director is, where he came from or what but whatever his history is, he is doing a tremendous job with these kids. They were fantastic. It has been one of the best marching bands in high school that I've heard in a long time. Now the football game, that too was an awesome football game. It really made me miss the small town feel of the high schools support from families coming out to support thier kids. Not to say that it isn't here but let me tell you, there is a HUGE difference between the Chicago area/suburban high school games as opposed to hometown/small town high school events. It think the difference could be passion. I don't know but it is different. It really makes me miss that area.

Well, have a great weekend, Holli

He Got Lost...

Friday, August 29

Coulson & Logan were to be picked up by Kindercare when school was dismissed at 3:30 pm. Logan got to the bus but Coulson did not.

3:53 pm I received a call from Kindercare notifying me that Coulson was missing and at that moment no one had an explanation as to where he was. By chance, I was at home doing my month end administrative work. I was out the door to say the least. Michelle calls me as I was walking out the door and she informs me that the school placed him on a regular school bus.

By the time I got to Southbury, Kindercare was still waiting for him and Logan kept asking, "Where is my brother?" Scott went one way, I went the other.

Scott was able to get into the school and found Coulson sitting the office. Thank God he was safe!!!!

I went into the office and asked the assistant principal, "How did this happen?" With a deer in the headlights look, she tells me to sit down and walks out of the office. Talk about making me more infuriated! I sat there, believe it or not, with my mouth shut. When she returned, I wanted to know how this happened. Know, he is the only PM Kindergartner to be dismissed to Kindercare. So, this really should not even be an issue. Somehow this one child did get misplaced. Still not completely satisfied with the answers that I received and also listening to the school secretary pass the blame on some issues, I left the building only to return on Monday to speak with the principal.

Yesterday I had my time with the principal. He was a little shocked to hear that I never received a call from the school and eventually I received the apology I needed in addition to, making sure that the policy was in place and that my kids were only to leave that school together.

When Coulson went to school on Monday, he had a sign on his back stating what teacher he belonged to, what his transportation means were along with two statements saying he does not leave without Logan and my phone number. I proceeded to inform the principal at Logan's previous school all the Kindergartners wore a sign on their backs for one week to ensure the teaching staff knew where these kids went. It worked for 150+ kindergartners. If it worked there, why couldn't it work at Southbury?

Let's hope others don't experience the sure "What? & Oh my God!" and pray that you don't get that type of a phone call. Too many emotions start going through your head. Thankfully, he was safe and we found him quickly.

Make it a great day.

Southbury Elementary Excitement!!!

This is our school which is a block from the house. We are very fortunate to have the school so close.


Coulson, are you ready for the big day?


Doesn't Logan look too cool as he poses for a picture by his desk? He is big stuff.
While Scott & I are at work, I entrust Kindercare to help transport them to and from school. This is a huge blessing and one less worry I have because I know they are well taken care of.

Coulson entering Southbury as his first day of school. His excitement level was through the ceiling.


This is Logan's 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Miller. Logan's favorite part of the day is lunch! That's a first grader.

Kindergarten Roundup

As I wake up this morning, I see Coulson laying in Scott's spot(he's at work). Sometime in the middle of the night he quietly crawled into my bed. I'm kind of laughing because this has almost become a little routine with him. When Scott is working he sneaks in. A year ago we purchased the Sleep Number bed (which is so amazing, a whole other conversation.) and because Scott's side is at a different number than mine is, I can never tell when he crawls into bed. Anyway...

The very first thing out of this child's mouth as he opened his eyes, "Wow, I get to go to my big school today! I'm so done with Kindercare!" I had to then break his heart and explain to him that in fact he will still be going to Kindercare as they help me take care of him while mommy works as well as they will take him to/from school. He wasn't all that thrilled but got over it.

Scott & I took him out for lunch before school and the child could hardly contain himself. I believe he told everyone that today was his first day of Southbury School. He enjoyed his macaroni & cheese at Red Robin (his choice), ate every drop and was bouncing to the car as we headed for school.

Kindergarten Roundup is where the kids go with the teacher and the parents go to listen to protocols, expectations, etc from the school. We get to meet the principal, teacher, school secretary, nurse, social worker, etc. It is a huge ordeal. Kindergarten is nothing like what I remember. The curriculum is so structured. I look at what Logan did last year and I remember some of that stuff in 2nd grade. I guess that is progress. ha ha!

As school came to an end for Coulson, he was extremely sad to leave. Maybe that is a good sign?

Surprisingly, I didn't cry. Maybe tomorrow the real day. Thinking of the poem from Ms. Voegtle (Logan's Kindergarten teacher last year)that she read last year makes me want to cry but this to will pass.

I will post pictures this weekend of both the boys and their first days of school.

School Starts & We Are EXCITED!!!!!

Logan had is first day of FIRST GRADE! The level of excitement in this child was unbelievable. We made our first lunch that consisted of the traditional peanut butter and jelly, Cheetos, grapes, juice box and a fruit snack. It sounds like a lot but I wasn't sure if the kid would eat anything because he was so excited.

His teacher is Mrs. Miller. She is so cute and looks like she just graduated but she has been teaching for a couple of years. The first night of the school open house she had the kids doing a scavenger hunt in the classroom. I thought that was pretty smart to get the kids a little adjusted to their new surroundings.

The boy's school is one block from our house which is so nice. When Logan and I arrived this morning, I was able to walk him to his class. As we walked down the hall, all the teachers were standing in the hall cheering the kids on. How cool is that?

Tomorrow he'll be on the little bus from Kindercare. What an awesome first couple of days.

I'll post some pictures this weekend of the school and the big days. Until then, take care.

Holli

Tee Ball 2008

Tee Ball 2008 was an interesting and funny way to spend an evening. Some kids were really into playing baseball as many of the others loved watching the dust fly up around them while they built sand mounds.



Coulson at bat, he can't decide yet if he will bat and throw left or right.





Logan looking like a pitcher.



The season is over and we continue with gymnastics throughout the year. Those photos will be posted another time.

Four Stadiums, Six days

It has been an extremely busy couple of months as I haven't posted. As I promised recently, here are pictures from our Baseball Road Trip. Six day, Four Stadiums & 1800 miles...

Day Two, Game One: New York Mets

Our first stop, New York Mets. This is the last year from the famous Shea Stadium. The new one looks beautiful. We left the Hilton and headed via shuttle to the bus, which took us to the Port Authority where the boys enjoyed New York's famous subway.


Logan and Coulson were so excited! It was an extremely exciting game so we left at the top of the 8th inning to head back on the subway, it was a long day. When we arrived back at our hotel we found out the Mets ended up losing to the Twins in the 9th. The boys had their fill of hot dogs and popcorn.

Day Three, Game Two: New York Yankees

Our second stop, New York Yankees. As many of you know this is the last year for "The House that Ruth Built."

This day could not have been any more muggy! For a minute you thought that you were in South Carolina or something it was so muggy! I felt bad for the players and all those vendors. Let me tell you, each one of those vendors earned every tip they make. Climbing the stairs at Yankee stadium is for the birds. For all what its worth, sometimes free tickets aren't always what it is made out to be...we were grateful for the tickets and we can say we were at the stadium before it was torn down.
We are starting to collect a baseball hat from each stadium.

Wednesday after the Yankee game, we hop back into the car and head for Pittsburgh but decided to stay half way outside of Harrisburg. The next morning we finish our drive into Pittsburgh.

Day Four, Game Five: Pittsburgh Pirates





Pittsburgh was my favorite stadium. The weather was perfect for a game but everyone around was very friendly, even to the Bain boys who were wearing Cubby gear. After all a few weeks prior the Cubs beat up on them pretty good.

Day Five, Game Four: Cleveland.

Cleveland was great. We had great seats, sat next to a couple from Barrington, IL. They were doing baseball park tours also. When we arrived to the Indians stadium, we were a little early but were able to watch batting practice. Coulson was fortunate to receive a ball from Riveria. Logan, the competitive one, was a little jealous. When the Twins were out he kept yelling. "What about the little kid?" I think they were tired of hearing and just tossed a ball. Logan was satisfied.




Ice cream before the game.


Logan doing his splits, he'll do this anywhere.



My muscle man, Coulson at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame.

Happy boys!

Day Six, we were home! All three of the Bain Boy's enjoyed the baseball road trip, 2008. The season isn't over yet, we could hit a couple more.