Mel's Box of Chocolates

Remember my Black Friday plan ? Well I did it. I went, I shopped, I conquered. I hit WalMart around 5am and scored a couple good deals. It took me about 20 minutes to get everything I needed, but of course I picked the slowest line in the store as a guy at front tried every credit card he had to no avail, but wouldn't get out of the line. I finally made it through about 40 minutes later and then headed to Target where I completely tanked. They had a huge Lego set on sale for 1/2 off and that was my focus for the morning. Of course since I was late from my Walmart adventure there were none left when I walked in at 6:10am (they opened at 6). It didn't help that Target is one of those stores that advertises an awesome deal and then only stocks 6. Honestly, if you are going to advertise something awesome couldn't you at least do like WalMart and get a pallet. So for the first time in history I walked out of Target with absolutely nothing! Next stop...Toys R Us. Now usually I d...

Thanksgiving was a very relaxing day around here. Since I did all my baking on Wednesday and my mother in law was doing all the cooking I didn't have a thing to do Thursday morning. I woke up late, enjoyed my coffee and chocolate croissant, and watched the Macy's Day Parade. I did take responsibility for making my kids look their best for the holiday. My mother in law had a beautiful table set for us to enjoy our turkey dinner. As you can see my kids were the first to sit down with their full plates since they were "starving" by dinner time. Eventually everybody made it to the table, but of course by then my kids were nowhere to be found! There were so many good dishes to choose from that I had no problem filling my plate. Please notice all the veggies and never mind the butter, brown sugar, and cheese covering them!! Of course the best part of every Thanksgiving is the pies. Zoe and I made the cherry, Dave made an apple-cranberry pie with cornmeal crust, and ther...

I must confess that I am one of those nutso people who leave before the crack of dawn to go wait in line with all the other nutsos on Black Friday. There is just something about standing outside the stores with everybody else as we wait to begin the holiday season. I absolutely love every minute of it even the pushing, shoving, and waiting in lines. Hey, I did tell you I was nuts! The excitement of heading out on Black Friday even overshadows my Thanksgiving at times. I just want the day to be over so I can begin my shopping adventure. I like driving in the pre - pre dawn, drinking my coffee, jamming to Christmas music, and getting to my first store. Bundling up in my Uggs , warmest coat, gloves, and scarves, then waiting in line for the store to open is just part of the process. Black Friday is one of the only days ever that you will not hear me complain about getting out of bed...the other being on Christmas morning (yes, I'm worse than the kids!). Every Thanksgiving night you...

Yesterday it was girls day at our house. Dave was working and Dylan had spent the night at a friends house so he didn't come home until dinner time. I had told Zoe we would bake together so she woke me up around 7am asking me if it was time to bake our pie. We started a fire, turned on the Christmas music, and Zoe and I baked the day away. Of course before we began baking I had to catch up in the blogosphere, answer some email, and enjoy a cup of coffee. Zoe sat in the kitchen impatiently waiting for me. Doesn't she look pitiful. But, don't worry because she didn't look like that for long. She looked like this when I finally got up and got moving on her speed. First, we started dinner so it could simmer away. Nothing like a big crock pot full of beef stew on a cold day. Then, we baked our favorite pie...CHERRY. Finally, we prepared some croissants so they could rise overnight and be ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We made a few chocolate filled ones so we could bake ...

Wishing you and your family a Very Happy Thanksgiving!! With all the hub bub of the economy's demise I am thankful for Thanksgiving. It is nice to have a reminder to be positive and take the time to be thankful for all the blessings that we have that we often take for granted. Here are a few of the many blessings I will be thankful for today... God...for his forgiveness and love! My wonderful husband and our awesome marriage. I'm lucky to be married to my best friend! Two healthy, smart, beautiful, children who make me smile each and every day. Nothing beats a big hug and an "I Love You, Mommy". Definitely one of my biggest blessings! My family. It is nice to be surrounded by people who you know are beside you through all that life throws at you. Friends are one of my most treasured blessings. I am blessed with a group of core girlfriends who I can laugh, cry, be silly, and so much more with. They are my sisters! Hubby and I both have pretty secure jobs. We also have...

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Let me start telling you about my day by saying...I SURVIVED! The day started right away on the wrong foot or perhaps I should say at the wrong TIME . Normally during the week I wake up at 5:20am, however hubby forgot to set the alarm clock from the weekend. My internal alarm clock didn't wake me up until 6:00am. Yes, that would be 40 minutes later than my normal time. Not good. Oh and did I mention that today was the day that I had over 30 parents coming in for Thanksgiving dinner and I was hoping to actually be early to take care of some things since I wouldn't have any time to leave my room before everybody came in? So hubby and I jump up and begin our morning routine. I take care of myself and he tackles the kids (we leave 45 minutes before he does so he always takes his shower after we leave). Of course today I also had to load the turkey, gravy, paper products, apple cider, clean bed sheets for Zoe's daycare since it is Monday, along with Dyl's backpack and my sc...

I'm very excited about my two day school week since we are off for Thanksgiving Break beginning Wednesday. However, I could never just lay back and enjoy a short week. Oh No. I have to go and do something completely crazy. Like have 50 people in my little classroom to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner. To top it off, who put herself in charge of the turkey to feed those 50 people. Uh yeah. That would be me! Thank goodness I have a husband who pulls through for me when I decide to do these things. He went out last night and bought a 23lb turkey and it is cooking in the oven as we speak. It smells delicious!! At least everybody is bringing in a side dish or dessert to share so there should be plenty of food. At least macaroni and cheese since about half of the family's volunteered to bring that in. Don't worry I did call a few of them to see if they would consider bringing something in. So think of me tomorrow. Sitting in a room with 20 students and 30 classroom visitors surrounded...

So I'm a horrible bloggy friend! I tell you that I'm going to find out if I passed or failed a huge endeavor I endured for a year and half and then leave you hanging. If you follow me on Twitter you already know, but... I PASSED MY NATIONAL BOARDS I am officially known as an accomplished teacher. A nationally board certified teacher! WOW. I am so tickled and even this morning when I woke up still can't believe it. I really did it. Let me catch you up on yesterday... You all know that I found out Thursday night that scores were going to be released on Friday mid-morning. Of course then my question was what is mid-morning and what time zone are they talking about! I get to school at 7:30 (EST) and you know the first thing I did was go to the online score page to see if they were posted. I entered my info, hit submit, and it immediately popped up "you do not have any scores released." I proceed to keep that same page up and every time I go by my desk, hit ...

Tonight hubby and I are going out. As in all by ourselves with no kids. Hopefully we will have something to celebrate ! Grampy and Gramma have offered to have a sleepover at their house so we can have a night out. What are we going to do? This of course... And maybe dinner or some dessert. I don't really care what else, because did I mention that I will be seeing this... I cannot wait! Anybody else planning on checking out Twilight this weekend? After all the blog hype about the books I can't wait to see what everybody has to say about the movie.

For the past month I have been checking the National Board's Website nightly to see when my scores would be released. I have been told that they are usually released before Thanksgiving so teachers have the break to get over it. As in for the 50% who do not pass to have at least 4 days to cry at home rather than sitting in front of a room full of kids blubbering. Anyways, every night I would read the same message "Scores will be released on or before December 31st." Technically, that is the official date they have to release the scores. However, today I read a different message... "Scores will be released mid morning on November 21st" Yes, as in tomorrow morning! By tomorrow at lunch I will know if I am a nationally accredited teacher. Wow. I've been working towards this for a year and half. That is a long time! People keep asking me how I think I did and honestly I just don't know. I guess by tomorrow though, I will . So tomorrow if you were ...

That's what Dave always tells me when I rave about Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner from my school's cafeteria. Now normally I stay far away from our lunch lines, but on these two days you will find me in front of the line. You may even hear my stomach rumbling while I wait for my tray filled with turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green beans, warm rolls, and a pumpkin dessert. Yum. Why am I telling you this? Well today is Thanksgiving dinner at school. So if you need me, you know where to find me. I'll be the teacher who is bullying all the kids to get to the front of the lunch line!

Excuse me while I become that mom. You know the one that goes on and on about how awesome her kids are so much that you just want to put your fingers in your ears and chant "I'm not listening." Anyways, I'm going to be that mom for a minute so bear with me. Today was report card day! Dylan came home with his first "real" report card this year. Before now they were all +, -, S, N's and those kind of things. This year. Real grades. The good ol' A, B, C, and we won't mention the rest because I had better WILL never see those. Drum Roll please. Straight A's!! I'm so stinkin' proud of him. He is currently reading on a 4th grade level and completing math on 3rd. He's only in 2nd. It's funny because when I first became pregnant with Dylan I remember my mom telling me that she had read somewhere that when a child was born with a mom in her 20's and dad in his 30's they are supposed to be very smart children. Guess Dylan sup...

Thanksgiving to Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I enjoy the meanings behind the holidays of being thankful for all that we are blessed with and celebrating Jesus' birthday. Spending time the family, holiday baking, house decorating, shopping, and gift giving (and who am I kidding the receiving) are all reasons why I enjoy the season so much. But, one thing that I don't enjoy is all the people asking for money, food, clothes, and other donations during the holidays. I know that sounds harsh, but just being honest. You can't go anywhere without being hounded to donate money, drop off food, give toys, buy clothes....I get that there are other people out there who need these items, but why do they only need it during this time of the year? Are there not any hungry, naked, poor people during the rest of the year?? Why do we get inundated with charities only during this season? Of course, I fall for it though. Zoe bought boxes and boxes of macaroni and cheese (...

*Um, why, yes she did wear this out of the house. She actually wore it to swim lessons. What can I say? There are just some battles that aren't worth it!*

I, for one, am so excited to hear that there may be snow in our forecast today and Saturday. Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any accumulation, but just the idea of seeing snowflakes makes me happy. Now cold weather is not my favorite thing in the world and hearing highs in the 30-40's makes me shiver in my sweatshirt, but along with the cold weather comes the chance of snow! My belief is that if it is going to be cold then there better be snow! Maybe I really was supposed to live more North. Of course living in southern Delaware we very rarely have any large amounts of snow. We usually get one or two small snowstorms, as in an inch or two, but that's about it. Bummer. Snow rocks!! I like to drive in the snow (I don't like the other people who don't, to be on the road). I like bundling up in mittens, scarves, and hats to build snowmen, go sledding, and have snowball fights. I also like coming back in to sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate. There is not...

Like every parent I want my children to be well behaved. I want them to use their manners, be respectful, kind, and friendly. I want them to be well adjusted and open to new experiences. I want much for my children. But perhaps, more than anything I want them to be grateful! A couple of weeks ago my in laws returned home after a 2 month RV trip across the country. Throughout the trip they sent postcards to the kids, a box of Halloween treats, and Zoe a birthday package. When we went to see them they had a bunch of goodies for the kids including t-shirts, geodes, book, snacks, and other little trinkets. After looking at everything my children then asked, "Is that all you brought me?" I am sure you can imagine the steam coming out of my ears. In the next sentence they did say "Thank You" without prompting, but it still didn't erase the ungratefulness that they had displayed. Now for confession time. I think I am partly to blame for their ungratefulness. ...

*taken on Liberty Island in New York

Up until 2 years ago, I had never been to New York. Kind of weird considering I have always lived within 4 hours of the Big Apple. Then I took a bus trip there. Five visits, four Broadway shows, one carriage ride through Central Park, and multiple shopping trips later and it is my most favorite city ever. I actually told Dave after this trip that if I ever win the lottery I will buy an itty bitty flat there so I can visit often. Anyways, this past weekend my parents, brother, Dave, myself, and the kids headed to the city on a bus trip I had organized for my school. Our big plan was to spend some time visiting the Statue of Liberty and then just some shopping and city sight seeing. We got there earlier that expected so we headed to American Girl first so Zoe could spend her birthday gift certificate from Grampy and Gramma. She was beside herself trying to decide what to get. She finally settled on a ballet outfit for her doll with a matching one for herself, along with a pink pj and che...