Here's me and Joey just resting after he got up from his nap. Isn't he a cutie!?

Saturday was a good day. Our first task on the agenda was to go get new tires for my minivan. The tires are pretty worn and for some reason, the car shakes badly when it’s going slow. So we dropped the car off.

When we got home I wrapped Joey’s gifts from Grandma.

We put Joey down for a nap at 1pm. He wasn’t happy about it but we wanted him to go to bed so we could get over to Grandma Char’s early (Joe’s mom) and do Christmas at her house.

So while he was napping, we went to pick up the minivan. We got all new tires and I was hesitant to drive the van – wondering if it would still shake and guess what? IT NO LONGER SHAKES!!! This is so good. The whole van drives so much better. I especially need new tires because of the foot of snow we got recently. I’m so happy about new tires – isn’t that sad? LOL

After we got back Joey woke up. He only slept an hour but he slept in that morning so we thought he would be ok.

Off to Grandma Char’s for Christmas. We were wondering what Joey would do with all the presents. We showed him one gift and he took off running and crying before we even got any of it unwrapped. Then all he wanted to do was play with Grandma Char’s pool table. The heck with gifts!

Finally Joe’s mom showed Joey the new bank she got him. It’s a railroad crossing sign and when you put coins in it, it flashes. It’s really cool and Joey loves coins so he thought that was fun. The funny part is the bank is so big, we need to lift Joey up to put coins in it! He also liked the train she had running circles around her Christmas tree.

Finally I got a Thomas the Train gift and started to unwrap it and he realized there was Thomas under the gift wrap and got excited. It wasn’t until halfway through the unwrapping process that he kinda got the concept of tearing the gift wrap off the gift. He was so excited about the GeoTrax he got by Fisher Price. We got him two huge starter sets and a pack of ramps. You will have to look at the photo below to see the HUGE track layout that Joe made him. GeoTrax is so cool. I even played half the night with it!

Joey got a LOT of stuff for Christmas – which isn’t surprising because he is the only grandchild! He got a bunch of GeoTrax, a new sled, a magnetic wooden puzzle, some Thomas the Train cars, the Railroad Crossing Sign Bank, A sled, some Matchbox cars, a John Deere truck with trailer, a Thomas the Train ornament for the tree, a coloring pad that colors and disappears when it dries with Elmo on it (see below), and I’m sure a few other things I can’t remember.

I got a fleece blanket (the knotted ones) with fish on it, a turkey roaster oven, a toaster oven, a comforter for our bed, a lighthouse candle, and some kitchen potholders and towels with leaves on them.

Joe got some fun sports type things to do with Joey – like a 3 in one sports center thing where you can play basketball, darts and one other thing, a UofM fleece blanket, desktop golf game, and a set of crescent wrenches. I’m not sure what else he got.

We got Joe’s mom a 12 month calendar of Joey’s photos and she just loved it. In fact Joe was mad I didn’t get him one! Grandma got two bound books of Joey’s photos and loved that too.

The boys had a fun time playing with the Geotrax train all evening. Later that evening it was Grandma’s Christmas with Uncle Fred and family. They got off work late so they came over about 8 or 8:30. We had a redneck dinner – lol. Ham, Pizza, Chicken from KFC, coleslaw, and mashed potatoes. It was good though!

I got a $20 applebee’s gift card for Christmas and a pajama set. Joe got a nice pull over sweatshirt. We both got $50 from Grandma. Joey got a huge tonka truck for playing in the sand and a toy (below) where you put cars in it and they flip over and go all the way down the platform. That kept me amused all night.

Overall it was a good night. Joey showed off by counting to 5, and doing all of his animal noises. He’s is such a ham with crowds! Lately he loves just drinking water so we give him water in his sippy cups and he does well with this. In fact, we give him water when he goes to bed and he doesn’t pee through his diaper at night anymore. I think the watered down juice was a bit sweet and made him drink the entire cup – causing night time wetting.

It’s Sunday morning and Joe and MIL have been playing with the train tracks all morning – more than Joey. I tell you – those Geotrax are more fun for adults than the kids! Hehe.

Yep - Winter storm warning - 5 - 8 inches of snow.

It started last night. I went in late to work because I had some things to get ready at home and wished I went in earlier. Half way into work the roads got really bad.

Today was the day of our work Christmas outing. I was on the Holiday committee and we organized it to be in the bowling ally owned by a co-worker. We left about 10am to go get the food for the party. The roads were still not that great.

After we got all the food we went to the lanes. Here are some photos of me. We all played 3 game of 9 pin no tap. What that means if you get 9 pins on the first frame, it's considered a strike. My first game I got a 206!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had the high score the first game out of 40 people!!!! Check me out!

The roads home were ok but I went slow because I knew it was bad. It had snowed all day long. When I got home I couldn't even get into the driveway. Our driveway is super steep so I couldn't drive up it. I asked the neighbor girl to watch Joey while I cleared out the driveway. We had about 8 inches of snow in the driveway. YUCK. Thank GOD for a snowblower!! It took me probably an hour to clear it all out. Can anyone say I HATE SNOW?!! Yeah, I hate Michigan. So why am I here - because we love our family - enough said!

Just a little update on Joey. He turns 2 on 1/8/06. He counts to 10 now, puts the missing pieces in puzzles and in those shape sorters, He knows some of his colors and he builds with blocks and builds ramps and tracks for his trains! I can't believe how much he's doing! Oh and he always tells us when he poops now! I hope we can get ready for potty training soon!

Oh and one more thing I'm excited about. Andrea - the owner of Scrapjazz - announced she is preggo!!!! How cool is that? I remember when I had Joey I told her she was next and she said no way! Congrats Andrea!!! :)

So check out my photos from today. I'm going to bed EARLY tonight.

Saw this on Carolyn's blog.

Ok, now if you see this, you have to take the quiz and post it on your blog! Come on - it's fun! ;)

You Are Dancer

Carefree and fun, you always find reasons to do a happy dance. Why You're Naughty: That dark stint you had as Santa's private dancer. Why You're Nice: You're friendly. Very friendly.

Well, life will never be the same without Grandpa, but he touched our lives in such a positive way, that we have to be happy for the time spent with him, and celebrate the time we did have.

Grandpa's funeral was beautiful. The funeral home did everything, nothing was left out. Grandpa looked so peaceful - years younger in fact. There was a beautiful sewing that was part of the casket that had wildlife on it and a gun and fishing pole - he would have loved it. We got bass fish corners for the sides of the casket and he would have loved that too. I was grieving a lot during the viewing on Sunday. I held together pretty well on Sunday until the end where they did the gun saltute for Grandpa being a WWII veteran and then they played taps. I just lost it. I started to sob. Taps is such a sad sad song and it makes me cry every time I hear it.

The funeral home asked us to gather 25 photos and they would put them on a video to play over and over through the viewing. It was beautiful. We took all day on Thursday night to pick out our favorite photos and everyone loved the one I showed below of Grandpa by the fire. It was such a beautiful tribute to his life. I'm soooo glad I love photography because all of the recent photos were taken by me - there were none more recent. I was able to remember Grandpa interacting with his family and ourselves and share it with his friends and family. It was such a beautiful photo slide show - the funeral home did a great job of getting that for us.

Grandpa was such a wonderful individual. He had all sorts of people come to his funeral. The guy who fixed his tractors even came to give respects. He touched so many people wherever he went. Those who met him are so blessed.

I do have to say I have pretty amazing people at work that I work with. My friend Joleen was asked by my boss to find out the details of the funeral. I did not tell them Grandpa's name, where he was being buried or what funeral home Grandpa was at. Joleen looked at my website, then my blog and found Grandpa's name and then found out what funeral home he was at. Then they collected money and sent this gigantic white poinsetta to the funeral. I showed up at Grandpa's funeral on Sunday and could not believe that they found out where it was and sent the flowers. I was so touched. THEN my boss showed up. Now Grandma and Grandpa live an hour and a half away from where I work. My boss probably lives about 45 minutes away and he still came with his wife to support me. I swear I have the best boss. It was so nice to have support from work and it meant so much to me.

All of you have been so caring. I've gotten the nicest emails, comments and messages from all of my 'web' friends and family. You are so great and your support means so much to me. A lot of you were able to tell me stories of how you are able to relate and that gave me support and peace. Thank you!!

The neighbors of Grandma's are so caring. They pitched in and put together the get together after the funeral and reserved the hall and made all the food. They did everything. I swear, when something tragic happens, it's unbelievable how the community pitches in. What caring, awesome neighbors. Grandma didn't have to worry about anything. The neighbors brought over food every night - even the night of the funeral a neighbor brought over lasagna and salad. People are so caring!

Today we are back to work. We got 2 days of bereavement and decided it was best to go back. It was a busy day at work. Joey enjoyed going back to daycare and Joe was also busy at work today.

Curves was great tonight. I LOVE going there. I've been going a year and know the girls that are there in the evening now and we just hang out and talk and our workout flies by. They were very supportive once they found out about Grandpa and that was nice. I saw my buddy Amy who I haven't seen in a little while and Lynn who I haven't seen in awhile. It was great to catch up with them and Amy just lives around the block! I love the friends I've made since I've joined.

Tonight I decided to pull out the clippers I got at Walmart for $8.00 and try to cut Joey's hair. Actually Joe cut it and he was very very good. His hair looks so much better and we saved $$ on a haircut from the pros! Gotta love that.

Overall, I've been in a good mood. I can't let everything get me down. Like I said, Grandpa led a good life and I will miss him terribly. He wouldn't have wanted me to be down in the dumps and bring everyone else down. I am going to celebrate his life and think of him daily with good thoughts that make me smile. I know he's looking down on us daily and watching over Joey Jr. so that brings me comfort. I just hope he looks over Grandma and brings her peace.