Friday, November 27, 2009

Let's Get Physical!

mmmm Thanksgiving!A new stuffing.
What's Grandma doing???
ahhhhhhh, that's what she was doing!
My lil' cutie!
Thanksgiving breakfast. Emerson ate 4 bowls of cereal.
Stinner Family Fun Night this week was Twister. Believe it or not, I am under that pile of kids. They thought it was fun to pile on mommy!!

Thanksgiving and More!


Before the holiday we needed a week of catch up. I finished with the boys physicals. They now have all had their flu shots and everyone is healthy. We of course did not need the H1N1 vaccine because we assume we are immune. We where hoping we are immune. I have talked to quite a few people about the swine flu. I explained that we had it and we survived. I heard stories of people driving across state lines to try and get the vaccine. One woman in the doctors office told me I should write a letter to an online blog about my families experience with the swine flu, since we had so many levels of the sickness. I am in the process of writing it and will send the link when it is complete. I personally think that people are freaking out for nothing. OK, if you are immuno-suppressed or have severe underlying conditions like a recent surgery, chemotherapy or a staph infection than by all means protect yourself by any means necessary. But if you are healthy, contracting the swine flu will be like any other flu you have had before. So calm down.

Thanksgiving was wonderful as usual. We had a lovely meal with my family. The kids ran around and played while the adults enjoyed dinner and talked. At one point I did see my mother giving the children "spray whipped cream" by directly spraying it into their mouths. This is very typical of her. She's such a kid at heart. I realized we have so much to be thankful for this year. We have 5 beautiful, happy, healthy children. We have family that loves us unconditionally and we have removed negativity from our lives and vowed to replace it with love and happiness. Life is good.

The holiday shopping season is upon us. I myself am done shopping. I try to finish in advance so I am not scrambling around trying to find impossible items. This year I went out on black Friday. I leisurely got up, had breakfast with my kids, cleaned up, showered and left around 9:15am. I only needed a few things and didn't feel like getting up in the middle of the night to fight with people. I surprisingly got everything I needed with no hassle. I wasn't out for the big ticket video games or big screen tv's so I had no issues. The stores where unbelievably dead. I had no line at Target, Kohl's and Home Depot. Kmart was a little crazy but it was close to the 11am deadline. I was home by 11:30am and enjoyed the rest of the day with my boys.


At this time of year I can't help but miss the people I have lost. I spent the afternoon with my Grandpa today and reminisced about my Granny who we lost in August. I realized I wouldn't get that sweet handwritten card from Granny this year and it made me rather sad. I can't imagine how he feels. I am missing my other grandmother who has been gone almost 3 years and I realized how fragile life is. You can be called home at any time. So this holiday season, love your family. Show them they are important to you. Life is too short!