2007: A Look Back

I took my 2007 calendar down today and reminisced with Austin and Audrey on all the "good times". It's crazy how clearly I can remember stuff that happened way back in January and February like it was just a couple of days ago. Here's a look back on the highlights of our past year in Hosmerville:

• January: We welcomed 2 new cousins- Joy and Reyna- into the ever- expanding Collins Family. We had Lexi's baby dedication at church. We celebrated Tom's 27th bday with Papa John's pizza and cake. Austin had an idea for the "perfect" birthday gift- a ginormous gumball machine for Tom's man room. 5 hours later, Austin was throwing up; but when no one else got sick, we blamed it on some old dressing he was using as dip. We were wrong, 5 days later all 5 of us were sooo sick. To this day, Austin still cannot chew a gumball without getting nauseous.


• February: I planned a surprise day trip to Chicago in celebration of my mom's 50th bday. Tom, me, the kids, and my mom all took the train over. My bro and his girlfriend Lindsey surprised my mom by taking another train and meeting us in Chicago. We planned to do lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and shop on Michigan Ave. before taking the 6pm train home. Yeah, that was the plan but let's just say that EVERYTHING that could go wrong did, including all 8 of us missing our train back and being "stranded" in Chicago for the nite. I felt completely horrible as all of the planning and preparation for the trip had been my responsibility. I guess I just wasn't cut out for a career as a travel agent. We also celebrated Austin's 4th bday.


• March: Austin took his first step toward a career in the NBA, playing b-ball at the Y. We purchased our "new" van- yay! No more cramming 3 kids into the back of our Equinox. Audrey turned 2 and received a half dozen purses and pairs of shoes. What more could a girl want?


• April: Track season was in full swing. JTV came to the school to interview me and our record breaking 3200 meter relay team. (Thankfully my athletic director called to give me a heads up so that I didn't arrive at practice in sweats, a pony tail, and no make up.) I turned 27 and started to panic about getting old before being calmed by the fact that Shannon will always be a whole year older than me;)


• May: I was diagnosed with pregnancy induced hypothyroidism. My doctor put it in very simple terms when he explained to me that sometime during my pregnancy when my body was busy making a baby, it attacked and killed my thyroid gland- yikes! (and, yes, he actually used the phrase "attacked and killed" though his accent made it sound much more dramatic.) After putting me on a hormone replacement he is pleased with my current levels; I, however, am not. At the rate that I am STILL losing my hair, I will be asking for a wig for my 28th bday; and I won't have to worry about looking too old as my face looks like a pubescent teenager's. Anyone have any insight or suggestions?


• June: Tom and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. He was in Jackson with the kids; I was in GR with my track team at the state track finals... for the second year in a row. Lexi's first tooth appeared. Tom flew down to South Carolina for a guys' weekend with his brother Paul. While he was gone I, along with my mom, brother, and Lindsey, took the kids to Binder Park Zoo.

• July: Tom and I were able to go to Chicago again and this time we actually enjoyed the trip. We had lunch at Giordano's and cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. My mom went to GR with me and the kids for the Collins family reunion. We met up with Jade and Leslie and shared a hotel room with them. We went swimming, Jade and Leslie treated us to dinner at Max and Erma's and we went to John Ball Zoo the next day. The kids loved watching the penguins and the grizzly bear. Surprisingly, after living with my family for more than 24 hours straight, Leslie still talks to me and I think she and Jade are still even planning on having more kids;)

• August: Happy 1st Birthday, Alexis! My baby turned one. We celebrated the big day by getting her ears pierced. She totally flipped, I totally felt like a bad, horrible mommy. We had dinner and ice cream at The Parlour. Later that nite I nursed her for the last time. I congratulated myself on breastfeeding for a whole entire year and celebrated having my body be 100% all mine for the first time in over 3 years. The following Sunday, we had family and friends over to celebrate (her birthday, not my smaller and much saggier chest) with ice cream sundaes and cupcakes in our backyard.

• September: The family and Tom's mom went to Greenfield Village for an old car festival. The kids rode the carousel at least 6 or 7 times. We stayed overnite and went swimming at the hotel before heading back for fireworks. My oldest baby started preschool- sniff. He only goes 2 days a week for a couple hours each day, but he LOVES it. Austin and Audrey both started Cubbies.

• October: Audrey had her first haircut. She did really well sitting still and couldn't wait to get her sucker afterwards. Her little 'do was super cute and she actually lets me blow it dry. We headed to GR for Bailey's Doggie Dash, a 5K run for dogs and their owners. This was the 5th year we have participated, Tom and I taking turns being dragged by Eddy. Tom ran it this year, he was joined for the first time by Jade and Nellie, and Leslie and I cheered from the sidelines with the kids. Unfortunately his owner held him back and Ed finished a dismal 4th (or was it 5th?) in his age group. Kudos to Jade for going out strong and finishing 2nd is his age group=) After the run, we all headed to Chili's and then to a local apple orchard for cider and donuts. We finished the day at RiverTown Crossings, a ginormous shopping mall. We went to the Zoo Boo at Binder Park and we took a Lightning McQueen pit crew chief, a ladybug, and a mermaid trick-or-treating on a windy, freezing cold Halloween nite.

• November: We welcomed Christmas before Thanksgiving with the Christmas parade downtown. We sat in the very middle of the intersection at Jackson and Michigan. Now every time we drive past, Audrey reminds me of how much she liked the parade and wants to go again. Tom and I took my mom and the kids to Birch Run and Bronner's. We were hoping that because we were going before Thanksgiving, the stores wouldn't be quite so busy. We were wrong. For the first time ever, I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for both my and Tom's families. I almost forgot to put the ham in the oven but other than that I think everything else went smoothly.

• December: Tom and I took the train to Chicago and got away, just the 2 of us, for the first time in over 3 years. We had an amazing time dining, exploring, and shopping. We both love Chicago and I really hope we can turn this into an annual tradition. We celebrated Christmas non-stop for almost 2 weeks: Austin's school party, the cheerleaders' party I have at my house every year, Tom's work party, Hosmer family Christmas, our own Hosmerville Christmas and various other lunches and dinners with family and friends. I love this time of year and I love that Austin is getting old enough to start catching on to all of the excitement Christmas brings.

Wow!!! So many fun memories to remember 2007 by. Good times, good times... Here's to an even more memorable, wondrous, adventure filled 2008! Happy New Year!!!

A Return To (Partial) Rationality

After all of my ranting, I feel like I almost need to defend my former employers, and since receiving my lovely little notice I've really tried to see things from their perspective. Really, I have. They've recently bought the business from their parents (who hired me in the very beginning almost 6 years ago & I believe my former place of employment is now a 3rd generation family run business) and now business is down so they're looking for ways to cut corners and save some money. So they come up with this plan to let go of the cleaning lady and then perhaps just require all of the other employees to pick up some of the slack. (I really don't know, I'm just assuming that's what they'll do because that's what they did last time.) A plan that probably looks pretty good on paper for them but in reality really sucks big time financially for my family. Thus all of the hysterics, the crying, the ranting, the raving...

But what it really comes down to is that my former employers never had any real responsibility and were under no obligation whatsoever to keep me permanently and forever employed. And I knew this. For all they knew my weekly paycheck was fun money, not the means of survival it really was. But I really doubt it. It's not like they don't know me or my family; I do happen to coach their daughter in track. Although again to be fair, a discussion on my family's finances has never taken place between me and them. As a small family owned business you would think that they would be looking out for their employees a little more so. Trying to cut other corners before cutting out someone's job entirely. And that's where I feel like there was no effort made. And that's probably why I feel so cheated and wronged.

...And I'm Spent

Well, it's real... I'm officially unemployed. All week I've been holding out secret hope that they'd be calling me, begging me to come back because they can't possibly find someone else to clean their toilets for them. No such luck. Tom used the last of his vacation time for the year and took a half day, which meant I was able to get an early start on the store (and the rest of my life). I arrived while everyone was still working, but I was able to clean the bathrooms and find other stuff to do until they all headed home for the nite.

Ok, maybe I was being overly sensitive but I thought it was pretty obvious that I was present and accounted for in the building. Heck, I was even vacuuming so I wasn't exactly being quiet. But the dear lady that wrote the lovely little notice I received last week in place of a Christmas bonus turned the lights off on me before leaving for the nite. Umm, helloooo?!?!? I get about as much respect as the toilets I clean(ed). Then, after having cleaned for over an hour and a half, I walked into her office and didn't see my check in it's usual spot. I wasn't exactly thinking happy Christmas thoughts and I'd more than likely ruin my Christian testimony if I even hint at the various phrases and 4 letter words that were running through my mind=). Ha ha- see I can even laugh at my psychotic frame of mind now. I called my mom, sobbing, to vent and ask her what I should do. Do I keep cleaning and hope that they pay me one last time? Did I read the letter wrong and my last week was actually last week? By the time I exclaimed that they were just messing with my mind I was nearly hysterical. Of course nice lady's husband walked through the office at about that time and probably heard my whole rant. Niiice. (I had NO idea he was still there.) I hung up from talking to my mom and cornered him in a back office to demand to know what was going on. He called nice lady to confirm that in fact I wasn't done until the 1st, so, yes, go ahead and clean. If I wasn't so desperate for every single penny I would have just walked out, but $250 is $250, ya know?!

I did receive my check in the mail today. So now I have exactly 6 days until my family starts feeling the financial pinch. So far here's my list of options:

• Do nothing. Trust that God will provide by stretching Tom's paycheck twice as much (like the story in the Bible about the jars overflowing with oil).
• Start using the credit cards... again.
• Tap into the kids' savings accounts. Oops, did that last time and never had the extra money to replace the funds. Scratch that idea.
• Hold out until the "perfect" job comes along.
• Sell my plasma as often as possible.
• Donate my eggs to research. (We all know I'm plenty fertile). I've seen ads offering up to $3000.
• Don't eat so that my kids will have more on their plates. This might be a way to lose the extra poundage.
• Time visits to family members so that we "happen" to drop in around dinner time. *Note to self- call ahead first to see what's being served.*
• Respond to the ad in the paper from a local preschool looking for a teacher to start January 11. This could be a whole post in itself, but to make a long story short, it's 30 teaching hours/week (not to mention driving time, prep time, etc., etc.) If my kids were all in school, I would jump at the chance; but they're not which leaves me to wonder who I would find to be their mom while I'm off being career woman. Plus, I haven't taught in 5 years, I would have 3 classes (1- 3 year old am, 1- 4 year old am, and 1- 4 year old pm), I'd only have less than 2 weeks to pull something out of my butt in terms of lessons, etc., etc.- Aaaahhhhh!!!!! Listen to me freak out. I haven't even dusted off my resume and I'm spazing like the job is already mine.

I'm really dense when it comes to figuring out God's plan for my life. I usually barrel ahead with my plans and assume that when things fall into place it's because it's all part of God's plan. Maybe it is, but this time I want to be really, really sure. Pray that He makes His plan so super clear that it's just really OBVIOUS. And I'll keep you posted, you know I will.

Twas The Week Before Christmas...

Austin and his preschool caroled last Thursday at an area retirement center. As any big brother would do, he informed Audrey on the way over that she could come but she couldn't sing.

After caroling we visited Santa at Jackson Crossing. Audrey had already had an in-depth conversation the day before and was uninterested in repeating her list. Lexi was less than thrilled herself, although when asked what Santa says she responds, "Ho, ho, ho, blah, blah, blah, blah."

Hosmer family Christmas, Sunday evening. Austin received a remote-controlled monster truck from Great Grandma Thomas. He has been driving this around all week, giving Ed plenty of exercise in the process. Audrey got exactly what she wanted from Grandpa and Grandma Hosmer- pink cowgirl boots. They are slightly too big which means she will be sporting them around all summer with her shorts and bikini. Lexi wasn't feeling the greatest- she's busy working on her back molars- and the excitement of the evening was a little much for her.

Christmas Eve day Tom, Austin, his dad, and brother Paul took a quick trip over to Henry Ford Museum. Christmas Eve nite we always spend with my father's side of the family. My aunt and uncle have been hosting the get together for the past couple of years, as always, their house was gorgeous. We had a wonderful dinner and Tom and I tag teamed Lexi so that we were both able to enjoy some adult conversation. My cousins are all much younger than me so my kids always have fun playing, too. When we arrived home, we discovered that Santa's elves had left presents under the kids' trees. As Austin unwrapped his package and discovered it was pj's he said very matter of factly, "the elves always bring pajamas." This is a twist on one of Tom's childhood traditions in that he and his brothers always got new pajamas on Christmas Eve. In Hosmerville the elves deliver them adding to the magic of Christmas.

Once the kids were tucked in, Tom's brother Paul and my brother Micah stopped by. Each year the three spirits of Christmas- rum, vodka, and gin- come to bring some Christmas cheer to the Hosmerville adults. My brother served as bartender and made some yummy Captain Morgan's and cider. Despite the overabundance of alcohol, we enjoyed in moderation and no one awoke Christmas morning with a hangover. Micah even managed to find the bathroom this time and spared the snowman sitting on my front porch.

How the living room looked before the kids discovered Santa's visit. Audrey crawled into our bed around 7 and whispered, "I saw presents under the tree!" and then thankfully fell back to sleep. Surprisingly my kids did not get up until almost 9 am.

Lexi got a new chair from my mom. She actually sat in it the whole time we opened presents. Austin modeling his chef's attire. He loves to bake with me and he wanted his own apron and chef's hat from Santa- luckily Grandma came through.

Audrey doing a Christmas day cheer for daddy with her new pom- poms. Later, she was able to get Austin's new baking attire away from him to parade through the house singing, "do you know the muffin girl?" I cannot keep clothes on this child!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." " Luke 2:9-11

Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope your day was wonder-filled!!!

Some Christmas Present

I arrived at work today ready to get my job done and then enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend with my family. (Ok, I'll admit, I was kinda hoping for a Christmas bonus tucked into my check, too.) What I got instead was this:

Dear Maria,
Due to economic reasons, we will no longer be needing your services as of January 1st, 2008. Thank you for your faithfulness.
Management,
T*** & T***

I am so angry & upset right now, I'm nauseous. So it's three days before Christmas and I have 1 paycheck left. At least this time they had the courtesy to address my termination letter to me. Yeah, that's right, last time my mom got the letter at her house?!?! Yup, this very same company let me go 4 weeks after Audrey was born, for supposedly the very same reason- bad times, no money.... The last time, we STRUGGLED for 17 months until they asked me to come back 2 weeks after Lexi was born. Struggled as in I emptied the kids' piggy banks to make 1 house payment, had a huge garage sale to make another, & finally put our house up for sale in the hopes that we would sell it before the bank took it from us. Yeah, that kind of struggle. So when they asked me to come back last year, I jumped at the chance. And a year and 3 months later we're still trying to dig ourselves out of the financial pit my last stint of unemployment threw us in.

The logical solution would be for me to get another job. Duh!!! I'm sure Tom's thinking why don't you actually get a teaching job and put your $60,000+ college education to good use? Good question, but I just don't want to. At least not now, while my kids are still so young. I just want to be a mom. I completely believe that God gives His children the desires of their hearts and being a SAHM is my biggest desire. I made $50/ hour cleaning but the best part was that I could work around my family's schedule so as long as the store was cleaned by Monday morning. Tom stayed home with the kids while I cleaned so we didn't have to fork over money for a babysitter either. I usually cleaned on Friday nites, so then I could enjoy the rest of the weekend with the fam. Yeah, I've just been too spoiled with this job and I know how great it was so I really tried hard not to take it for granted. Sure, it sucks cleaning late at nite, alone in a dark store, hurting so bad from mopping on my hands and knees for over 2 hours that I can hardly walk by the time I'm done, but it provided for my family. Enough so, so that I didn't have to take on anything else to make ends meet.

So now what?! My mom says God has something bigger and better waiting for me and it was just time to move on. I truly believe her, but do you know how hard it is to trust God when you're a control freak like me? The neat thing about being out of work the last time was that even though I had to steal from the kids' piggy banks and have a garage sale and go without this or that, God always provided. Always. He is so faithful even when I'm not because I'm so consumed with worry. Not once were we not able to make a payment on time. Sure, there was the time I was in the bank 15 minutes before closing time counting pennies to make our house payment, but I made it, and on time nonetheless. Once again our financial situation is completely out of my hands and I find myself already freaking out. Why is it so easy to always forget how faithful God is? Anyways, if you happen to think about me and my family please pray that I will have faith for God to see us through, that I will trust God for His provisions, and that we will use what money we do have wisely.

Thanks, everyone, for letting me vent. This is probably, and hopefully, the most honest and open post I'll ever write. And guess what? Just typing it all out was totally therapeutic. I already feel better.

Hallelujah!!!

Tonite was my last basketball game of the season- yipee! My girls are disappointed because they like watching and then trying to imitate the cheerleaders. Audrey is constantly saying, "watch this" and busting out a cute little dance move. She is hilarious. Austin is the usual halftime entertainment at the games. He takes his ball with him to every game and waits for the teams to clear the floor so that he can shoot on the big hoop.

This year I had an extremely good group of girls, the best yet in my five seasons as coach. Perhaps not the most talented but definitely full of spirit and ambition- in a good way. Their attitudes were great and I didn't have to deal with any team conflict. Usually it's like, "like, omigosh, she purposely chose Brandon as her secret basketball player and she knows that I've, like, had a crush on him since, like, kindergarten and did you see her pink nails, they totally don't match our purple uniforms ....." Waah, waah, waah, save the drama for your mama. Which they do of course. I can pretty much bet my coaching check that during the first official week of the season I'll have at least one parent calling to express "concern" over some cheerleading related issue. I've even had parents calling me to complain that the other cheerleaders weren't being nice to their daughters in the classroom. Yeah, like I can ESP niceness to my cheerleaders in school. He-llooo, mothers, your daughters are 12 and 13 years old, cut the apron strings and let them grow up a bit.

Every year I tell myself it's the last year I'm coaching and every year I find myself back in the soap opera entitled, "The Junior High Years as Told by Prepubescent Teenage Girls." Really, I can't believe I was ever that bad. I wasn't, right? Ok, confession time. You want to know why I submit myself to the madness every year? Truthfully, honestly, it's the money. Yikes! I know that sounds really greedy and selfish, but my check pays for our Christmas. So no cheerleading=no Christmas for us. But this year, it was a refreshing change of pace. No teenage angst, no team drama, no girl fights, and no parent phone calls. My cheerleaders were even so sweet as to get me some Sweet Temptations body mist from Vickie's (I hope that's not a subtle hint;), a Target gift card, and dinner and movie tickets for a nite out with Tom. Hmmm, maybe, just maybe, I'll be back next year for a sixth season.

Let It Snow!!!

We woke up today to a winter wonderland!!! I have no idea how much snow we actually got but we were snowbound. Church was even cancelled which meant we spent an entire day together as a family. I cannot remember the last time that either Tom, I, or the kids didn't go anywhere or do anything all day. Here's how we spent our snowy day in Hosmerville:

Eddy being a wimp. When it gets really snowy, he absolutely refuses to step into the yard to do his business. He sticks close to the house where the snow isn't so deep.

This is Lexi enjoying her first sled ride. If you look closely you can see her eyes peeking through. She was thrilled to be in the snow. She cracks me up!

Audrey completely refusing to look at the camera. Even in 20 degree weather, the diva 'tude was present and accounted for.

The "men" attempting to clear off the driveway. Austin loved shoveling.

Even with his warm fleece coat, Eddy was the first one to head in. He kept a watchful eye on the fam from the warmth of the living room window.

They're In The Mail

Call me a slacker. I've only had my Christmas cards for over a month now, ordered them waaaay back in Septmeber from Nicole. Anyways, the design I picked had a snowflake on it so I thought it would be cute if I added a sparkly rhinestone to the very middle of each one. Yeah, like that didn't take awhile. I forced my butt to address them all a week ago and then couldn't bring myself to take all 3 kids into an overcrowded post office just for stamps. So they've been chillin' all week on the counter. I managed to pick up some stamps at Meijer today and I dropped them into the mailbox tonite after work.

I feel a little guilty as I didn't even write on them this year. I attempted to write out everyone's names on the first few with my silver metallic paint marker, but they looked sloppy that way. What's your opinion? Do you just enjoy getting cards and looking at the pictures enclosed (like me!) or do you feel it's not personal enough if the sender doesn't write a few words? I always worry that people feel I'm being a little impersonal because I don't enclose a note in each.

Oh, and for a truly real and hilarious Christmas letter, check out Zoe's blog. I laughed so hard, I had to read it again to make sure I hadn't missed anything the first time. I love, love, love getting Christmas cards in the mail! Thanks to all who have remembered our family this Christmas!

Whirlwind Weekend- Part 2

Partly to remember what it's like being "Tom & Maria" as opposed to being "Tom, Maria & the kids", partly to celebrate the completion of another semester, and partly to redeem some Amtrak vouchers, Tom and I headed to Chicago Sunday morning. By ourselves. For almost 40 solid hours. We took the train out of Jackson and relaxed while somebody else did the driving. Tom enjoyed some boring book and I read through a stack of magazines that had been collecting dust for awhile, seriously one of my Parenting mags was dated July 2005.

We arrived in Chicago and went to the hotel to check in. We walk into a really nice swanky lobby and I'm thinking, "yeah, this is really nice, and a block off the Mag Mile." The only problem of the entire trip- we were at the wrong hotel. DUH!!! The lady at the desk politely pointed us in the right direction- 7 blocks off Michigan Ave, the other way. Now this is such a duh moment because back in February we stayed at said wrong hotel (which wasn't so very nice then because it was in the midst of a major remodel) and thought we were booking at that hotel. Somehow we ended up booking a room at the Best Western River North. Not so very nice, but, oh well, it worked. We arrived too early for them to have a room ready for us so we checked our bags and then headed across the street for lunch here:

The moment we walked in we knew the kids would absolutely love it. There were huge fish tanks with beautiful colored fish, a waterfall, lots of robotic realistic looking jungle creatures and a "thunderstorm" every 30 minutes. The food was not all that great, but it's definitely worth a visit for the atmosphere.

After lunch we headed up to Michigan Ave to do some shopping. First stop was at the GAP where I had to find some gloves to replace the ones that went missing from my bag that morning. I knew as soon as I reached into my bag and could only find 1 mitten that Eddy had probably sniffed it out at home. (which is exactly what had happened) My dog has issues, you see, he likes to snuggle our shoes and gloves. Anyways, we shopped along Michigan Ave all afternoon. The city of Chicago does such a beautiful job decorating the streets for Christmas!

this display was made up almost entirely of Legos

Shortly after arriving in Chicago my feet really began to hurt from my shoes. I was hoping to pick up a really cute pair of black boots but the cheapest I could find were still $90. I know that's really not a bad price for knee high black leather boots but I didn't want to spend our Chicago money on boots for me. We headed (Tom walked, I limped) back to the hotel around 7 to finally check in. I literally shopped till I dropped. Here's a pic of my feet. If you'll look closely you can see that my big toes are poking through this pair of relatively new socks and you'll also notice that the big red blotch on the side of my left foot is indeed blood from my pinky toe rubbing the next toe all day. Ouch!

I took a bath, which only got almost hot, and fell asleep in the tub. I know, really exciting. We headed out to Dick's Last Resort for a late dinner and opted for a cab so I could save my feet a little. Dick's is a rather crass restaurant where the waiters are rude but the food is good. We knew from experience ( a previous Chicago visit) that if you ask a question, like can I have some ketchup, or where's the bathroom, your waiter will make you a dunce cap with something really crude written on the front, which you then have to wear the entire dinner. For instance, last time Tom was crowned with "I watch midget porn"; I kept my mouth shut and somehow escaped unscathed. Even though we both managed to order without questions our waiter still graced us with caps. So here's Tom thinking about men, men, men, men, men.....

and here I am clapping because "I'm so easy I clap":

After dinner we headed a couple of blocks up to catch a late movie but nothing good was playing. We knew that there was another theater closer to our hotel so we headed that way. Now usually I watch Playhouse Disney and NickJr., channels which don't exactly show previews for movies above a PG rating. Neither Tom nor I had any idea what any of the movies were about so I roused my movie critic bro from his beauty sleep to get some info. He recommended American Gangsters which of course was not playing at the second theater, so we headed over to The Hard Rock Cafe and had some dessert before calling it a nite.

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the train station to put our bags into a locker. We decided to take the bus to the station and waited a good 15 minutes before deciding that if a bus didn't come within the next minute or so we would take a cab. The bus came and as we pulled away only then did I realize that just a few blocks down from where we had been waiting was a Payless Shoe Store- a little slice of Jackabama plopped down in all of the glitz and glamour that it the Magnificent Mile. I made a mental note to stop in later.

We grabbed McD's for breakfast at the train station and then caught a cab to the Museum of Science and Industry. We spent our morning wandering its vast greatness to view the 50 Christmas trees from around the world- beautiful! and a German U-boat that had been captured in WWII, among other interesting displays.

Back on the Mag Mile, our first stop was, you guessed it- Payless. By then I just wanted to be comfortable but my feet were so swollen that none of the cute semi dressy 7's fit right. I actually contemplated buying 7 1/2's so they would feel better, but I knew that once I got home and my feet healed they'd be too big; so practicality won out and I ended up with a new pair of tennis shoes but at least they matched my purse. We spent the rest of our time shopping and browsing through Borders before having dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. You cannot go to Chicago and not have cheesecake from the Factory!!! My highest recommendation- the banana cream cheesecake, so yummy!!!

We made it onto the train with no mishaps and enjoyed another 4 hours of reading time before pulling back into the station in Jackson. Given that this was the first time in almost four years that Tom and I have been away just the 2 of us we really enjoyed our time. Thanks, mom, for watching the kids for us!

Whirlwind Weekend- part 1

A look back on the history of the Hosmerville Family Christmas Tree:

• 2000: This was the first year we were married. Tom and I bought our tree out of the Alpine Ave. Target parking lot in Grand Rapids. We used the ornaments of our youth to decorate the small tree; but we didn't have a tree topper so Tom placed 3 animal ornaments at the top and dubbed them "the Triumvate" (whatever the heck that means). We promptly left for Florida the day after Christmas and by the time we returned a week later our poor little tree was completely dried out. Tom and my brother took care of it the way any other man would and threw it off our 2nd story balcony to drag to the dumpster in the parking lot, in the process earning the fiery wrath of the little old lady who lived below us. Apparently she was allergic to all of the pine needles that had fallen onto her patio. A phone call from the apartment manager, a personal apology with warm cinnamon bread, and 2 thorough cleanings later and I think the issue was finally put behind us. Lesson learned- never allow a man to work unsupervised, especially when your teenage brother is involved.
• 2001: Our new apartment strongly discouraged real Christmas trees as they could be a fire hazard when the trees dried out- hmm, who knew? So we resorted to a hand-me-down fake from my mom. We finally got it together and it was so tall and skinny, I named it the "toilet paper tube tree". I called to complain to my mom that this tree had seen better days when all of a sudden she just "happened" to remember that she had pulled our lovely little tree out of my grandma and grandpa's trash. Lesson learned- never accept holiday decorations from a self-professed garbage picker.
• 2002: The first and only Christmas in our little home in GR. Tom and I planned a house warming/Christmas party for all of our friends and family. I was 7 months pregnant with Austin and just the day before the party had finished my student teaching for my BA. We hadn't gotten a chance to get our tree yet and I was resigned to the fact that we weren't going to have one for our party. The hour before our party was to start, Tom's parents arrived early and he and his dad headed out to find a tree. Not knowing where to go they just started driving out toward Allendale and finally (as they were turning around to head home treeless) found a house with fresh cut trees out front for a donation only. We were able to get the tree up before any of the other guests arrived and if I remember correctly our housewarming/ Christmas party became a tree decorating party as well. Lesson learned- dogs prefer the water in the tree stand over the fresh water in their bowls.
• 2003: We were living with Tom's parents waiting for our house in GR to sell. Tom, Austin, Eddy, and I were all crammed into his brother's old room, but we did manage to put up a very small table top tree to have our own Christmas together. His mom always has a beautiful tree in the living room, so we enjoyed that one, too. Lesson learned- babies like the bright shiny lights and breakable ornaments the best.
• 2004: The first Christmas in our present house and our first visit to a real tree farm. I was pregnant with Audrey and Austin was 22 months old. The day we went out to get our tree was incredibly cold. I spent the time waddling after Austin and trying to keep him in sight amongst all of the trees at Arends. I was determined to find the "perfect" tree and by the time I finally relented and let Tom cut the one down he had spied a good hour earlier, the air was just full of Christmas cheer. Lesson learned- never go tree hunting in the cold with a 22 mo. old when you're 6 1/2 months pregnant.
• 2005: Audrey was 9 months old and fell asleep on the way out to Arends. (We always go to Arends because that's where Tom and his family went when he was growing up- a bit of 2nd generation family tradition.) I really wanted to include Audrey in all of the festivities but I didn't want to wake her, and not having to cart around a bundled up baby was a plus, so we left her in the car. Ok, I know this sounds bad, but at Arends you can drive back into the fields. I kept her in sight the whole time and Austin had a blast playing in the fresh, deep snow. Lesson learned- sometimes it's ok to not do things as originally planned.
• 2006: This sounds even worse, but I cannot remember if Lexi was with us when we went to get our tree this year. It finally came down to a get-a-tree-or-not-have-one-for-Christmas-situation. We had waited the last possible moment and day to head to Arends. We got there at 4:55 pm; they, of course, closed at 5pm. We hopped out of the car and picked one from the selection of pre-cut trees. In 5 minutes. In the growing darkness. Giving Austin final say. That was a beautiful tree. Lesson learned- do NOT wait until the last possible moment, you'd think I would have learned that by now.

So that brings us to this year and this past Saturday. Once again we bundled the kids up and headed out to Arends. Audrey made snow angels in the 1/4 inch of snow and Austin helped Tom cut the tree down. We headed back to the front of the farm for hot chocolate and candy canes. At home we put on some Christmas music and made some more hot chocolate. We got the entire tree in place and decorated without major incident. Here's some pics from our tree excursion:

my little snow angel

the men with the tree

helping daddy

enjoying a candy cane

Go Elf Yourself!

I just made a total elf of myself. Seriously, it only took me about an hour or so. *sigh* (Like I didn't have anything better to do.) Audrey thought it was great that Eddy's standing up and after watching it 8 or so times she proudly declared that she likes being an elf. For those of you that actually know how to use a computer, this little project will probably take you a total of 5 minutes. If you succeed let me know. I'd love to watch you make a total elf of yourself, too! So go, check out the fruits of my hard labor!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1218656831

What's His Name Again?

Oh yeah, it's coming back to me now... it's Tom, Tom Hosmer. That's right, the man I've been catching only brief glimpses of lately; turns out he's my husband. Dang, I knew he looked familiar. Tom finished up his last class for the semester last nite. Can I get a whoop, whoop?!?!? I am so excited to ditch this single parenting thing for the next 5 weeks or so. I've got 4 more basketball games and then I'll be done with cheerleading. We may just have a "normal" life around Hosmerville for a few weeks or so; but it's been so long, I've forgotten what "normal" is.

Tom came up from the man's room tonite with his grades- they have already been posted online. He finished the semester with a 3.85- he's slightly bummed as his A- has brought his cumulative GPA down to a 3.96. Sheesh, TJ, get a life (I am slightly jealous as I finished my BA with only a 3.87). What can I say, I guess we're just over achievers here in Hosmerville. But really, if you're paying up the wazoo for the credits, you might as well make it worth something. Ok, enough bragging. Here's a peek into our "normal" day today:

• Lexi choked up bright red Crystal Light on the beige living room carpet this morning
• Audrey informed me in Target that she wants to be a "badderweena wike Winsee" and then proceeded to stand up in the cart and show me all of her ballerina dance moves- just like Lindsey
• It took me 6 trips from van to the house to unload the kids and only what I got at Sam's today- the rest of my van's still a mess
• Audrey panicked in the tub when she saw only the top of her plastic doll's head (with painted brown hair) floating in the water. "I don't want to get in with that turd," she said. I think Lexi's last dump in the tub has permanently traumatized her
• Tom got some great pics (which, unfortunately, I really shouldn't post) of Austin playing ring toss with some baby links and his little *who ha* while in the bath tonite. That boy sure does have talent
• I have the shakes and a permanent headache from caffeine withdrawals. In an attempt to lose the 6- yes, 6- pounds I have regained in the past month I have quit drinking coffee. Cold. Turkey. Really, it's more like a lot of cream and sugar and then coffee to top the cup off. The past week or so since I didn't have cream, I've had to make do with heavy whipping cream in my pumpkin spice flavored coffee. It's like pumpkin pie a la mode- yummy. Gee, I wonder why my jeans are tight again?

*gasp* the picture!!!

Nicole was gracious enough to pass this on to me so I could add a little visual to my rant "Add It To His Resume". Thanks, Nicole!

the famous Hosmer kids!!!

Add It To His Resume

Tom surprised me tonite with a copy of Jackson24, a book recently published by The Jackson Cit Pat. This summer the paper asked for Jacksonians to send in pictures taken on September 7, noting the subjects, place, and time. Tom submitted several of Austin and Audrey standing on the Falling Waters Trail, which runs behind our backyard. They were cute, of course they're my kids, but nothing special. The paper never got back with us and we never thought anything more of it, until today. His co-worker Stu had been thumbing through a copy and found our precious darlings on page 87. TJ is so proud of himself and has informed me that he will be adding "published photographer" to his resume=).

Now on a more negative note, oooooo!, and I hope I don't offend anyone. But ya know what, it's my blog so I'm gonna say it. I quickly skimmed a rather large article on the front page of yesterday's paper (Sunday). It was entitled, "Is City's Image Holding Us Back?- Self-esteem an old problem for Jackson. " The article goes on to describe how Jackson has always struggled with its self-esteem issues. Quoting the article, "Jackson does not have an identity that's promotable. There is a perception that Jackson is not a good place." Hence, Hosmerville's nickname for our lovely town- Jackabama. Really, I grew up in Jackson, lived in Grand Rapids for 5 years, and jumped at the chance to move back home to be closer to family and friends. Everyone in GR could not understand why we would move back and Tom and I always defended our little hometown. But, seriously, now that I'm back, I can really understand why they were asking. Again, from the article, "It's like people are incredulous that anyone would want to come here," DuPuis said (owner of DuPuis et Fils Jewelers).

"Thirty-three years ago, Jackson adopted the slogan "We Like It Here" to build citizen pride. Community boosters complained that Jackson's worst detractors were its residents." (quoted directly from the article). So the very same paper that laments Jackson's self-esteem puts out Jackson24. Has anyone else seen this book??? On the FRONT cover of the book is a photograph, the ONLY photograph besides the title- Jackson24- and the subtitle- An ordinary day of extraordinary events. The photograph pictures a young mother sitting on her run down front porch steps kissing her baby. The description of the picture tells that this 23 year old mother is waiting for her other daughter's bus to arrive home. Why this picture over any other picture? Why was it chosen to grace the front cover of a book whose purpose was to "demonstrate why Jackson County is a wonderful place to call home" (quoting from Eileen Lehnert's, editor of the Jackson Cit Pat, short intro on the front cover of the book). I mean is this picture really how we want Jackson defined to the outside world? Is this the best we have to offer as a community?

I know I really should say more. More on the little details of the photograph and description that make it such ironic choice for this book (in my opinion), more on how I'm not a hater of single mothers and their children fathered by more than one man (assumption). More on how God loves them as much as he loves me or anyone else in this world. But the more I say, the deeper I'll probably dig myself into this hole. So let's just leave it at this: the said picture, although probably a very accurate portrayal of many people in this town, would not have been my choice for the front cover of the book. Period.

Keeping Christ in CHRISTmas

Whew!!! That last post was a little too deep and negative and now my head is hurting. So now on for something a lot more positive, let's lighten the mood around here in Hosmerville! I love Christmas, I love everything about it! the lights. the music. the decorations. the shopping. the presents. the get-togethers with family and friends. the traditions. the church services. the Christmas story. Being so "type A' (translation- an anal perfectionist), I really try, and really enjoy, having all of the elements of the Christmas season "perfect". Now that I have kids the pressure's really on to create storybook memories for them hold dear and cherish forever- yikes!=) But the older I get, and I would like to say more mature and wiser;), the more I'm really understanding the importance of keeping the focus of Christmas on the One whose birth we are celebrating.

I came across this article in the Focus on the Family insert that we get in our church bulletin. I won't take the time to type out the whole article, but the following bits and pieces really hit home in my attempt to refocus our Christmas spirit.

"We had the stuff but not the Savior; we had the tree but not the manger; we had the lights but not the star. We had Christmas without Christ. And although we always had many presents and full stockings, the holiday was empty. His presence was missing.

This season isn't about extraordinary gifts but about celebrating Christ's birth. It's not about exhausted nights or expensive parties but about His extravagant love. It's not about rushing around but about resting in Him. With this focus, I can celebrate the greatest gift of all time, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God."- Rachael Carman

I want to instill these truths in my children's hearts while they are young. I want them to enjoy all of the fun of Christmas- Santa, presents, decorations. I want them to get caught up in the excitement of the season. I want them to experience all of the magic Christmas brings. But when the last gift is unwrapped and the last ornament is packed away, I want them to delight in the most wonderful gift of all time- the precious baby Jesus born 2000 years ago for me, for my family, for you, for your family, and for everyone else who accepts this priceless gift. My heart's desire this Christmas is to truly keep the focus on Christ, on His birth, and on His love for us.

How do you keep Christ in Christmas?