Let the Shopping Begin

I ACTUALLY talked James into going Christmas shopping at 5am on Thanksgiving morning...I know we were out of our minds! The best thing about me talking him into this is that he HATES to shop more than anything else! So this was a HUGE deal to me!! Thanks James - love you honey! :)

After standing in a line for about 1 hour and 15 minutes he had had it! Although it saved us $50 - he still didn't think it was worth loosing sleep over!! I stood in line just as long and saved $120. For a grand total of $170 -So to me it was well worth the wait! I think had he not left his coffee in the car he wouldn't have had such a bad time! :) He doesn't function well without a pot of coffee every morning! But the best part was when we were walking out of the 1st (and last) store - he said "I will NEVER do this again, so don't ask!" He was really a trooper and made the best of it without his coffee! I know that when the boys open those "SPECIAL" gifts on Christmas morning...that time spent at 5 am in a store without his coffee and sleep deprived - it will be well worth it!

Today the boys and I put up the Christmas trees in the house. I put up a lot of the decorations - my village and the nativty set that used to belong to my Grandma Rentfrow - so it means a lot to me to be able to display it in our home. Christmas was my Grandma's favorite holiday of the year. I think of her often throughout the year - but more so at Christmas time.

Although, I still have a few hours left to decorate tomorrow morning, I feel as though I have made a lot of progress today! I am hoping that James will be able to get outside and get the decorations up as well. Then we will be done with the decorating and we can focus on the rest of the holiday!

Hope you all are getting your trees and home decorated for the upcoming holiday.

Looking forward to Christmas -

Happy Thanksgiving

I thought I would take this time to wish my family and friends a Happy Thanksgiving.

This is the time of the year that I miss getting together with the Rentfrow's! We have a large family and as a child I would look forward to our big...(actually I think HUGE is a better word!) gatherings! My cousins and I would have a great time running around the house, playing games and just hanging out. We would also draw names for a present exchange at Christmas. But most of all I miss my Grandparents!!!!

We are going to be rather busy eating over the next few days!

1st Feast:
Our Thanksgiving will start tomorrow evening at James' cousin Doug's house. His wife Nikki is a wonderful cook (Chef is a better word!!), she catered our wedding and the food was wonderful! :) She always has a big spread of food at their house...I am ready to dig in!

2nd Feast:
Our house on Thanksgiving Day. A few years ago my mother-in-law had surgery on her hand just before the holidays. James and I were asked to host their Thanksgiving at our house that year. Well it has become a tradition ....we have been hosting every year since. We love it! The only problem we seem to have is - Who does the kitchen belong to on that day?? :) James and I both like to cook, so we have a hard time sharing the kitchen! We spend part of our time getting in each others way. But it's all in fun! LOL!

3rd Feast:
On Saturday we will spend the evening at my parents house eating another turkey dinner. At this feast I am the chosen one to make the desserts. Which I love to do - this is something I really enjoy! This year I will be making a Chocolate Cream Pie (Dad's favorite - if I don't make this pie he doesn't let me live it down!!) and a Apple Crisp Pie (my brother's favorite).

I hope each of you get to spend the holiday with the ones you love - making wonderful memories to share for a life time!


Hug the ones you love,


Tisha

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Blah-Blah Sistahood 2008

A weekend filled with laughs and many memories! This past weekend was the 3rd Annual Blah-Blah Sistahood weekend. It's a weekend for the adult ladies of my Dad's side of the family to get together. We meet the first weekend November. It's a weekend to catch up, reminisce and just hang out with our sistahs!
The picture above is of my cousins: Kim, Chauny & Ashlee.

My cousin Chauny plans and organizes this weekend every year! Kudos to her! She makes a menu and has a theme. We have an "Ugly Ornament" contest and P.J. contest. We all take a special part in the weekend - cooking that is. Our theme this weekend was - MAMBO ITALIANO !!!!!!! Which meant that we all had to take part in cooking and italian dish. ALL of the food was wonderful...Not to mention we had made enough food to food all of our spouses and children too. We also proved that we come from a long line of great cooks!!!!!!

Friday:

My sister-in-law, Julee and I started out in the morning. We arrived in Peoria, Il. (5 hr drive) about 3 pm. This is where my cousin Chauny lives. She was so nice to open her home to all of us for our weekend!! She has a beautiful home - it was built in the early 1900's. It was really roomy and very welcoming. After we were all settled in we ordered from a local pizza place - Firehouse Pizza. I thought it was really neat - being that James is a fireman. We ate in so that we could drink and catch up! The pizza was really yummy! We hung out at "Chauny's bar in the basement. We stayed up chatting, drinking and having many laughs until the A.M. hours - not exactly sure what time we went to bed! A toast for the start of the Blah-Blah weekend. Pictured: Chauny & Julee (my sister-in-law)

Saturday:

We slept in until about 7am (not really sleeping in!). We drank LOTS of coffee, fixed breakfast and then all got ready for a day of shopping. We finally called it a day about 9pm and headed for the house. A few of the sistah's had left ahead of us to start dinner - how nice of them! The meal was one fit for queens! It was very good...we drank some more and then we did our Ugly Ornament exchange. I have to say that Chauny and I were running neck in neck with the uglyest ornament. (Chauny's - Eagle & Mine - witch)

Later we all voted on the best P.J.'s - Aunt Bev won this contest!

Pictured below... F-Row: Chauny & Ashlee (my cousin's), M-Row: Me, Aunt Doris & cousin Kim, B-Row: Aunt Bev & Aunt Carolyn. (not pictured: Julee)

We all stayed up pretty late into the A.M. hours. My cousin Chauny and I stayed up until 2:30 am sharing things that had happened in each of our lives over the past few years....sure do wish we lived closer! This sure did remind me of when we were kids.

Sunday:

I woke up very early ...6:30 am to be exact and couldn't get back to sleep!! So I showered and started packing the car. Although I was very happy to be going home to my family that I had missed - I was also sad to leave all of my sistahs! The others finally woke up and then we fixed coffee and ate breakfast together one last time. We looked at pictures that we had taken during the weekend and laughed! After one last walk through the house we all parted ways. Hugs for everyone...we will all miss each other dearly! This was a wonderful weekend had by all! To those sistahs that weren't able to make - I sure hope you will be there next year... I am counting down the days!

Love and miss you all ....

Election Day

This morning at 6:43 am - James was on his way to work and he thought that I should know that the lines at some of the voting stations were out of the buildings!!! (I think he forgot I was sleeping!!) ;P I wasn't suprised. I had one parent come this morning and told me that she had stood in line for a little over an hour! Another had to have her husband come and pick up her youngest son who at that point had been standing with her in line for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Not exactly sure how long she stood there after he picked him up? I can remember it only taking about 15 minutes or less last time! UGH! I think this is the most important election that I have personally lived through. Today is a very important day to the United States of America. Please do your part and vote today. I will be voting this evening after all of my daycare kids leave....wish me luck-I am sure the lines will be even longer by then!!! Have a great afternoon!