Brunch with Santa

Today was Camp Adahi's Brunch with Santa. Kendalyn was SO excited to tell Santa exactly what she wanted. She had a mental list about 30 things long! I told her that Santa only had time to hear 2 or 3 things that she wanted. So in the end she decided to ask for 1. An Easy Bake Oven (Yea me! I know my daughter pretty well! She had NEVER said anything about this until last week. Guess what? It's been wrapped and hidden for 3 weeks! LOL) 2. Jewelry (This is a new one for today. I was told this morning that she wanted a small diamond. OMG, I guess she's going to be "THAT" kind of girl. LOL Hey at least she's getting one thing on her list.

As we were driving to the Brunch, we saw a sign at the Cumru Community Center announcing thier "Lunch with Santa". It was also today. Kendalyn read the sign and said, "Well I guess it's going to be Mrs. Claus there, because we are going to have bunch with the REAL Santa, right Mom?!" I had to try not to laugh. I love that she is still so innocent. I can only hope that it lasts.

Our 1st Turkey Day in PA

Here is my Thanksgiving table before we sat down to eat. I brought out the "fancy" plates LOL. They used to be my Grandmother's then I got them. My Mom suplemented the set I got with more pieces from the Betty Crocker catalog (too bad it's gone now, I had 100's if not 1000's of points left :( ). Oh see that cool gizmo in th emiddle of the table??? $5 at Walmart. When you have a really small table and a LOT of food, you need to think UP LOL. It was such a great way to have all the food on the table and still be able to have room to eat. Anyway, my brother Randy came over and we all had dinner together. It was my very first time cooking both turkey and hosting a Thanksgiving. Everything went off without a hitch.


Kendalyn LOVES Thanksgiving food, the turkey and especially stuffing. I make just a very basic stuffing, no oysters or raisins or nuts etc... and we all think it's just the best part of the meal. There is hardly ever any leftover.


Kendalyn is so happy to be able to spend time with her Uncle. Before we moved to PA, she had only seen him maybe 3 or 4 times in her life. We got to see him that many times in the first month we were here! It's really nice being close to MY family again ok so not all of them are here, but I'll take what I can get ;) )

Kendalyn's Christmas Tree

Kendalyn wanted a tree for her room, so we got her one. LOL It's really cute. At 4.5 feet tall, it's just a little taller than K. She chose the ornaments (with a little encouragement from Mom ;) ) and we put it up tonight. K is SO proud of her little tree, she says she hopes Santa will come downstairs to take a peek at it, because it's "SOOOOOO pretty!"She's such a hoot.

Since the colors match some SU colors pretty well (Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Green Galore and Only Orange) I'm going to make a set of cards using those colors. I can't wait to play, I think they will be super cool X-Mas cards ;)

Hopefully now that I found this awesome picture editing program, I'll be able to upload cards and pictures easier. I know it's been around forEVER, but I just now had the need to discover it. Picasa is AWESOME. It's SO easy to use. Anyway, I hope to get my stamp back on SOON! LOL Now that I'm online again, I don't have anymore excuses.

The View from my Porch

I promised a few friends some pictures from my new house, ummm back in July when I moved in.. uhh better late then never??? LOL Well here they are. Hey, at least I took the pictures!

The first pic is the view from my porch the week I moved in, back in July.



The second pic is the same view this weekend.



I still don't know why I ever left PA! It's really pretty here. Anyway there are the promised pictures. Maybe I'll get a chance to upload some pictures from Halloween as well as some of the latest cards I've made. Yes, you read that right, I actually made some cards! I know, it's been forever, but I have done a few. I'll try to see what I can do. Gotta scoot!

Finally, an update!

Whew, life has been crazy since I posted last! Let's see where do I start...

Kendalyn has started Kindergarten and is loving it! Here's a picture from her first day of school.



And yes we're suckups and those are apples on her dress ;) My Mom and I saw that dress and fell in love with it. K thought it was pretty cool too.

She loves her teacher and is doing really well. Shes the best reader in her class. She started out in the AM class, but because of the job I got, she was moved in to the PM class. That move just happened yesterday, but I think K will be ok with it.

So that leads me to my job. I am working as a child care teacher at Camp Adahi. I was hired for part time and was ok with that, knowing that the turn over and such is so high at these places that I'd end up with a full time position in no time. Well that happened FAR faster than I ever thought possible. I was hired on Friday and my first day was supposed to be that next Monday. I showed up for work and the director was walking down the walkway and she stopped me and we chatted for a little while. Later that day she came in and told me that I would get 35 hrs a week and that would make it so I could get medical insurance. Ok COOL! Well fast forward a week and the one girl that they hired for the 3 and 4 year olds quit. She was only there for 2 weeks. See what I mean about turnover!?! Anyway, that Monday I spoke with the director again and was offered more hours and an extra dollar an hour! Plus a day off a week. So Now I work M, W,Th, & F. 8 - 5. That's 36 hrs a week minimum. PLUS, she's trying to get me on the medical ins after only 30 days rather than the 90 that's usually the case.

I forgot the best part!!!! I get FREE child care! That's going to save me close to $250 a month. That in and of itself makes the job worth it, but the other benefits are nice too.

It's going to take a lot of patience to deal with some of the people I work with/for, but I think I can manage. Oh and the other thing... the teacher for the 4 and 5 year olds is leaving in a couple of weeks and she wants me to take her job. Who knows if that will happen or not, but I think it's a good possibility. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Other than that, I LOVE my apartment. I LOVE my neighborhood and I am SO happy to be back in PA.

I miss my online friends, but I'm hoping to have internet access at the apartment after the 1st of the year. I need to build up a financial cushion to help keep me on my feet before I agree to any extraneous bills (cable and internet! LOL)

So that's what I've been up to lately.

Checking in

Ok so this is so strange to me. Here I am sitting in Panara updating my blog. Until I get a job and can afford to get internet at home, this is going to be my only way of checking in and communicating with the world. I haven't been without internet in over 10 years, so this is really weird. It's hard to concentrate with K bouncing around on the other side of the booth as well as other people discussing their business all around me. Oh well, I guess I'll get used to it. It's all for a good reason.

Just to let everyone know, the move went off without a hitch. We got to PA just fine and got the truck unpacked in 2 days. Getting the boxes all unpacked will take FAR more time ;) K and I really like the new place and as soon as I get a chance, I'll post some pictures of the gorgeous view I have from my back porch! It's so much nicer to walk out there and see mountains rater than corn fields!

K has almost the entire 2nd Floor (ok technically 3d floor)for her playroom/TV room and she LOVES it. I do too!

And to answer everyone, no I haven't even started to unpack my stamp room :( It's last on my list, even though I'd really like it to be the 1st!

Next on the agenda is to find a job. My friend Jay has a couple of leads for me, which is great!

Ok time's up, I'll try to check in again next week.