The Fabulous B@ker Blog

Thanksgiving is over, the turkey has been cleared of all it's delicious meat, and we head to the final stretch of December, hurling toward the end of the year. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner in Massena , and the kids always enjoy being around all their cousins - there's always a lot going on. It reminds me of when we were all young (that's the great thing about having kids, you get to relive your own childhood over and over and over...). Dare I say I'm "ahead of schedule" this year? The package is off to Turkey for our family there, the decorations are up (the tree will go up next weekend), the Christmas cards are ready to be addressed (but I won't mail them for a week or so...I don't want to seem too ahead of schedule), I've got a good chunk of my shopping done, and the dates are set for St. Nicholas Day, a get together for my coworkers at our house, and the cookie exchange. Wow!! Well, to reduce my stress I need to take little bites out of th...

...to Grandmother's house we go. We're heading up north to a Massena Thanksgiving for what is probably the first time in more than 15 years (I can't even remember the last time we went up for this holiday). Early in our marriage we decided that we would alternate holidays between families, but that fell apart pretty quickly once the kids came. This year has been a rough one health-wise for my Aunt and Uncle, and my mother has also been battling frequent bouts of "flu," so I thought it might be time to head up North before the weather really gets bad. My sister, Mary, and her family are joining us there (my other sister is a nurse and will be working all day), so I'm looking forward to being able to see the extended family. We're going out to dinner (I know: not ideal for Thanksgiving), as my mother is not able to fix a meal, and the extended family has their own families to cook for. So, we're off, keeping our fingers crossed that the weather will coop...

If you remember, last year at this time I had already ranted about the ever earlier creeping of Christmas commercialism by now. It all started on November 1 when I was driving home from downstate, and came across a radio station that was playing "all Christmas music all the time." This year, I haven't gotten my dander up (just yet) about the all encompassing holiday (for some) that is exactly one month from today. Why the difference? I'm not sure - I'm just not feeling overwhelmed by all things Christmas yet this year. It's not that I'm any farther ahead with my shopping; I have only about a 1/3 of it completed (I'm taking December 12 off to do a wide sweep and finish most, if not all, of it). It's not because of all the ads and commercials; they don't seem to be flooding the airways just yet (or maybe I've blocked them out, which is more likely). Maybe it's because the month of December actually has really some fun stuff in store. F...

Mercy is probably the smartest member of the family in her quest to keep warm as the temperatures plunge into the 20s and it just keeps snowing. She's discovered the heating vent in the kitchen, and we now have to step over her as we go about our daily routine.

Annalisse was excited to beat her brother in this year's first report card quarter with a satisfying 90.31 to his 90.27. Both kids did great, but it's always nice for her to rub it in a little!

Among all the revelry of the weekend, I forgot to report that Jasper passed his test to be certified as a therapy dog.We think evaluator cut him a lot of slack with his excitability, though, and we do definitely need to continue working on heeling and staying seated when being petted by a stranger. We'll most likely take the Level II class again just work on this stuff (starting in January). We might also look into Delta certification for him since that's the other type of certification that places require before you can bring the dog in for visit. We're proud of him passing the test at only 18 months old! When he reaches the two-year mark and his brain matures even more, we expect he'll do even better with the things that require longer attention. In the meantime, you can find him sleeping on the couch.

On Thursday night, during the last rehearsal before opening night of 100 Years of Broadway , there were apparently some last minute shake-ups having to do with the choreography, stage risers and other such drama. A s a result, Annalisse and her cast mates left rehearsal very upset and saying things like, "We don't even want to be in the play now" (these sentiments seem to multiple exponentially with the number of kids involved - they feed off each other...). Anyway, we did not overreact, and simply said, "In two nights it will be over - just focus on the fun stuff like Friday night at Friendly's and the cast party." And what a night it was! The performance was great and the after performance celebration was even greater, with Annalisse proclaiming it was one of the "greatest nights of her life." The kids were real troopers presenting over 25 (abridged ) Broadway tunes in just over an hour, complete with some expert dance moves. We were very proud o...