christmas

Christmas this year was lovely. Truley, one of our best ever,I think.Just very relaxing and laid back.
On Christmas Eve evening we went to church. Jillian was in the pageant.She chose to be an angel this year (she was a sheep last year). It was very cute.
Afterwards we went to my mom's for food, drink, and presents.Kim and Sam came over, as well as Stacy and her husband and kids.
On christmas morning my mom and brother came over for breakfast. I've always wanted to do a big Christmas morning breakfast, and I'm so glad I finally did it this year. Definitely a new tradition.I made a french toast souffle,eggs,sausage,cinnamon rolls,toast.I think everything ame out pretty good. I was a bit proud of myself. ;)
After breakfast my mom and brother went home, and Nick and Jillian and I just spent the rest of the day relaxing and being together.Something we rarely get to do considering Nick's work schedule. It was really nice to have that much needed, well deserved family time.
I have a few pics to upload, but honestly, I didn't take that many this year. I was too relaxed to worry about running around and capturing every moment on film the way I normally do.
So now it's back to business as usual. It's always kind of sad after Christmas, but I'm ready to get back into our normal swing of things I suppose.

First snow.

Getting ready for Christmas. . . . .

Our Thanksgiving

life, etc.

So it's been a bit since I've updated. I've been online a lot less in general lately, due to the power cord for my laptop being broken.I've also still been really busy with homeschooling, carting Jillian around to classes, trying to work the random hours here and there to bring in some type of cash, etc. And then there's me and Nick. And our relationship, which we are trying to work out and make better, and well, it's a lot of damn work. For the past five or so years we just kind of go our seperate ways at night. I do my thing, he does his, and now we've been spending time together, which is nice, but takes some getting used to. Sunday is one of "our" nights, where after Jillian is asleep we sit around together, drink wine, and watch True Blood. Definitely one of the highlights of the week. So, yeah, it's nice, but like I said, different.
Other than that, there's not much that's really been going on. I've been trying to take Jillian on as many autumnal activities as I can.We've been pumpkin picking, hayriding, fall festivaling. Fall is my favorite. <3

Soooooo, things have been kind of crazy here. Nick and I have been having a lot of problems, and it finally got to a point where things had to either change, or end, and we've decided to change. I won't get into all the details, just because I don't feel like thinking about all of it, I will just say that things now are better than they have been in a long, long time. Maybe better than they have been ever. We've been together for a long time, and we've put each other through a whole lot of shit, but at the end of the day, we do love each other and value our family, and though we've tried to make changes before, this time feels different. It feels right.

Other than that, life has been a whirlwind of homeschooling and playdates. Today Samantha and her daughter and stacy and her kids came over. Everyone had a good time, but my floor is now a sticky mess of melted popcicles, and there is paint on ym kitchen chairs. =/

Jillian's classes start up this week, so we'll be constantly on the go. I am wondering how we are going to have time to get anything done at home, as we are kind of struggling even now, but I'm sure we'll manage.

My really good news of the week - last night I was trying on clothes, old clothes that no longer fit, and guess what? They fit again! Thank you weight watchers! I feel really great about finally doing something to get my body on the way to being how I want it to be.

So all in all things are pretty good. Still just trying nto to think too much and take it one day a a time.

homeschooling/VanGogh,& dead hermit crabs.

So we've succesfully completed our first official week of homeschooling. It went really well. Jillian is loving it so far. It is a lot of work though. Between the research and the prep, and then actually doing the lessons. when I think of twelve years of this, I already start feeling tired. Not that I am sure that we're going to be doing it for that long. One year at a time.

On Thursday we went to The Yale University Art Gallery to view the Van Gogh exhibit. Starry Night and Cypresses. I'm not a big Van Gogh fan, but I must say Cypresses is really gorgeous in person. Jillian loved them both. However, she was a bit dissapointed because I guess I didn't do a good job of explaining to her what exactly an art exhibit entails. She thought that Vincent VanGogh would actually be there, on stage, incorporating his paintings into some sort of performance. she still managed to have a good time though. we weren't able to take pictures of those two pieces that were there on loan, but we were able to snap some shots of other things around the gallery.


Jillian appreciating a Monet.

She found this sculpture incredible funny. She just stood there, looking up at it and laughing.

After the gallery we went and had lunch at Atticus. It was a good day.

In other news, one of Jillian's hermit crabs died. :( she was really upset about it. she made us have a funeral and bury it. She said "Delilah was a good crab. She was always sweet and kind, and she never pinched us". :(
Her other crab, Daphne was looking kind of lonely in the cage all by herself, so I took Jillian to the pet store the next day, and we brought home Sweetberry. It's been a few days, and Jillian seems to be slowly getting over it.