Good tidings....

So Thanksgiving was quite lovely. We visited mom and it was just us and she cooked a wonderful feast for us. Sat and chatted the day/evening away and truly enjoyed a wonderful day. The kids were thrilled to be a Grandma's for so long. Kaidin has this funny thing.... when he's had a really awesome time, he'll rant and rave about how great 'that' (activity) was and then ask, "How long was that??". When I told him we were at Grandma's for about 6 hours he was so flabber-gasted he just literally could not grasp it. Quite cute.



As we get ready for the holidays this year, I am so thrilled that everyone had finally decided to only buy for the kids and not the grown ups. It's only been 6 years (since having Kaidin) that we (Seringe and I) have asked for this type of tradition. We feel so funny receiving so many gifts when we really are not in need of anything. It's just so much more fun for the kids to receive and enjoy in their magic. Tis the season to revel in their sheer joy of the holiday magic. (And I have to say, opening my gifts the last several years has taken away from this for me as a mommy... it's very hard to even enjoy what they have received when so much chaos is occurring.)



Anyway.... thanks to economic crunch, family is finally taking note that their spending is way out of control, and this year is a HUGE relief on us as a family. I am so thrilled at the change and hope that this continues as a year tradition.



That said, I have started snooping around for the kids gifts and finding some great finds on Craigslist, Ebay and even the thrift store and freecycle. So it will be a very nice xmas despite the penny pinching. I am so excited to enjoy this thoroughly with the kids this year.



Other... well Nakita Baby is finally up and running. Expansion is little by little each day. And thrilled to be on the worldwide web with it. Hope that all will continue to move onward and upward. I made my official announcement that my email has changed and linked my new site. Figured putting my butt on the line will keep me moving forward and really commits me to growth! It is quite cool, the amount of new things I am learning getting this going! Never stops!


The hermies have had a few sad passings. We lost Mr. Turkey the night before Thanksgiving.... go figure, right? And then Tweetie was next to follow... the day after Thanksgiving. Yesterday, I thought that Mr. Shark was looking a little slow (a.k.a.... totally still and death-like), so I moved him to the food bowl and he was cruising around that evening. But then we woke up today, apparently Kaidin was checking him out and he just plopped, dropped out of his shell lifeless. Ugh.... we are down to 5 live one's now. And with luck we can keep these guys going. I think a tank cleaning is necessary. Maybe we need to move their location in the home? Needless to say, the hermit crab thing is getting a bit disappointing. Kaidin is really really concerned that they keep kicking the bucket one-by-one. Last night he was hypothesizing why and what might be going on in the cage. Dahlia is sure we should just get a hamster. ; )

We had the first two dead one's in a plastic bag b/c they had fallen from the shell in the night, I put them in a bag for them to see when they woke up. They are strange looking, intriguing, cool... and figured they'd want to see what happened (what lifeless really is). The last day or so, Dahlia was more interested in the dead ones than the live ones! She was running to get the bag saying, "you wanna see the crab hospital??" Pretty funny. But those guys really get smelly, so they have moved on to crab heaven..... aka. the garbage dump.

It's been a really great and mellow weekend. I love this time of the year b/c holidays are coming, winter is not so horrendous yet, and laying low at home is kinda fun. It's after the new year that you get sick and tired of being home but its so stinkin' cold you don't want to go anywhere.... and it starts to get old and tired..... Enjoy this and every moment.