Just put on a little lipstick...

Our family is a circle of strength and love. With every birth and every union, the circle grows. Every joy shared adds more love. Every crisis faced together makes the circle stronger. ~ Gena P. Bettis

We have some friends that rent the Belcourt each year on the first Saturday of December and host a showing of "It's a Wonderful Life". There is nothing like seeing the original black and white version in the theater. Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in some of their best roles. This event is hosted each year to kick off the holiday season, and also to raise money to give a Christmas to some children at Vanderbilt hospital who are battling cancer. It's a great movie, great cause and a great day with friends.

Josh's girls all have winter birthdays, so they usually just have a triple party for them. Emri was 2 on December 2 nd , Anna Belle will be 6 on December 15 th and Morgan will be 5 on January 24 th . You add in Josh on November 30 th and Chassi on January 1st and they pretty much celebrate for 2 months solid. Saturday was the big birthday bash at our house. We did cupcakes so they could each have their own cake and candle. By the time the whole family gathers, and you add in a few friends it gets to be quite a gathering. I think a very good time was had by all. Happy Birthday to the girls!

I've done quite a bit of shopping online this year. Amazon is pretty hard to beat with their no tax and free shipping. I've been so busy at work I haven't had much time to go shopping during the week, and the weekends have been packed as well. Here are some of my favorite online sites this year: http://www.amazon.com/ http://www.femailcreations.com/ http://www.wishingfish.com/ http://www.prettygoodgoods.com/ http://www.gypsyville.com/ http://www.mpix.com/ http://mysilpada.com/maryann.freidin

Josh turned 26 years old on November 30th. Here's a picture of Josh and Chassi. I love you Josh - thanks for being a fabulous son. I am proud to be your Mom.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our house this year. The day started off with Jenni making her famous french toast breakfast. We feasted on this while watching the Macy's parade on TV. Anna didn't understand why we couldn't just drive over and see the parade. We will have to make sure and get her to a Christmas parade next year. Anna and Morgan had a great time helping Aunt Jenni make homemade apple pies. They each got to make their own and they were so proud and couldn't wait to share them with the family. Emri was very excited with all the food around, she loves to eat! My whole family was able to be here, as well as Bryan's parents. It was a great day of fabulous food, family stories, laughter and love. None of us have had a perfect year, but we all have lots to be thankful for. Being able to be together to celebrate is one thing we should never take for granted. Deanna went to Henderson to spend Thanksgiving with Dan's family. Dan is still in Iraq until