Thanksgiving,,,and what it means to me by ...

That seemed like a clever title, but I'm not sure how much I will actually get to write. I have to admit, I'm exhausted.

Here are just some of the many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.
1) My boys...all of them. The one I married and the ones we had together. They make me happy on so many levels.
2) Family, all of them, blood and in-laws....I have a great bunch of both. I saw most of my immediate family on Wednesday and then my in-laws from Thursday thru Sunday. I enjoyed all the time I was able to spend with all of them.
3) Children - mine and others. They make things so light and fun. They sing and play and make you forgot the mean or sad stuff.
4) My husband - it takes losing someone to make you realize what you have. I didn't lose him in the grand sense (I don't even what to think about that prospect) but I lost him in a smaller sense. He is SICK. Sicker than I think I have ever seem him. So I missed all his help in everything we do coming home from our Thanksgiving adventure to see Gammy.
5) Bedtimes - I am thankful for my children...I love them dearly, but after a day like today, I am truly thanksful for bedtime. They are all tucked away. One is fast asleep, while the older one sings and I'm sure he will be asleep soon.

An update on Gammy. She is doing better. We were told she looks much better than she did. She enjoyed seeing everyone this Thanksgiving. And she gave all her great grandchildren, cute little toy turkeys that gooble.

God's Will

Have you ever gotten an email, read a passage, received a call or a letter that said something you really needed to hear. My Mom says God it talking to her when she receives messages like this. I received this in an email today.

'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'

We are off on our normal Thanksgiving trip to visit Gammy this year. However, this year Gammy isn't doing as well has she has been in past year. She is in the hospital. We are coming to terms with what God's will might be and hearing things like this help.

From Labor Day 2007

Living with the Budget

So it is Christmas shopping time and yes I have been given a Christmas Budget.

I have been very good. I created my list of people to buy gifts for, along with the allotted budget amount. Yes, all of this is on a spreadsheet and I track each item and expense after I have purchased it.

I have been doing really well, until I realized I forgot a very special group. The daycare teachers. So today I had to email Chris and tell him I will be over budget. Here is how the emails went.

Me: I will officially be over budget on Christmas because of the daycare

Him: Are you requesting a bailout?

Me: Yes, from Christian and Archer, For their daycare teachers.
I’m cutting back….I already eliminated some and I've also taken on the ______ present in my budget. See I’m not like the Big 3 CEO’s….I haven’t been flying around in my private jet.

Him: I see... Actually, Senator McCain just emailed me and told me what a fiscal conservative you are. Currently, I have _____ left in the budget for Christmas. How much over that do you think we will spend?

Now if this is just Chris and I going back and forth, can you imagine what it will be like when Christian or Archer ask for some expensive item in the future?!?!
I will be saying, "Well son let me see your spreadsheet first before we go present this to the budget. "

My children should be well versed in the use of spreadsheets by the time they are 10, if not sooner.

From Christmas

Thanksgiving Sing-a-long

Today was our first official school function. It was a Thanksgiving sing-a-long at daycare. I think there are 4 general types of kids when it comes to these kinds of functions.

1) the "perfect" child...he or she stands up with everyone and sings along like a dream

2) the "ham" ...he or she stand up with everyone and then acts silly and kind of sings along and kind of just plays

3) the "scared one"...he or she stand up there, but looks terrified and doesn't sing. It is just enough that they are standing up

4) the "cryer"...he or she may or may not even make it up in front of everyone because they are to scared of everyone or they see Mom, Dad or some other family member and want to go with them but can't....so they cry.

Which one of these 4 categories do you think my child fell into today????

YEP...he is a cryer. All he had to do was see Pa and Gran and he lost it. He sat in his teachers lap the whole performance crying. He wasn't done crying, because when he finally saw us after the concert was over, he was still crying. Still crying while I was holding him on the way back to his room. Still crying when I said go bye to him as he was off to lunch with Gran and Pa.

Luckily Chris and I have probably heard the entire performance at our dinner table for the last week. It was a bummer he didn't sing in front of everyone, but Momma had a funny feeling this is how it was going to go.

I was able to snap pictures of many of his daycare friends. Here are all the pics.

I was able to stop by and see Archer to..he doesn't get as upset yet when we come and go from school.

So new rule for family attending performances at daycare....HIDE!!!!!!! Don't let him see you until after the performance is over.

What I want for Christmas

Is to teach this song to Christian. I have a few weeks, but he is super smart (of course) and picks up songs quickly these days. I know Chris will be sick of this song soon, if he isn't already.

Happy 3 month birthday little man

Archer is 3 months old today. He is such a little sweetheart too. He coos and smiles and loves to watch his brother run around. He loves the attention he gets when he is being changed. He loves to look at his mobile. He has the sweetest blue eyes and the cutest little tummy. I love that you already sleep through the night. You love to read books with Christian at bed time.

Happy birthday little man! We love you.

New Baby Girl

We have a new baby girl in the family. JJ's stepdaughter Andi had a baby girl she named Addison Loraine on Sunday.

Here is baby girl Addison with Grandma Sara

My new favorite Blog

I have a new favorite blog. Some of you might know I love my crock pot. It isn't new and fancy or anything. It is a hand-me down from my grandmother Lois, who has since passed away. She had several for some reason and gave me this one. It is avocado green with lovely dirt brown as an accent color...circa 1972. However, I love to use it. I make slow cooked pork, which makes great sandwiches. I have made roasts in it. I have made a chicken and rice recipe. Of course I have made cheese queso in it many times. I have used it for beans for parties. I love my crock pot.

Well I found this website and I fell in love. I have a whole new slew of recipes to try...and just in time for the holidays!! The site is called "A Year of Crockpotting"

For those that just use their crockpots for queso, you should really try out one of these recipes.

Daddy daycare

Christian woke up from his nap yesterday running a fever of about 102. You could tell he didn't feel well at all. We gave him some motrin and within an hour he was feeling much better. The rule at daycare is you can't go to school unless you have been fever free for 24 hours (or the dr. says it is okay). So Chris is home with him today because I have no sick or vacation time to speak of and Chris can productively work at home.

I emailed to see how things are going...he was Daddy's response.

1) He is watching TV.
2) He took off all his clothes and ran around .. For a minute... Then he put his clothes back on.
3) He put a green.. Stocking? on his foot... Silly...
4) He put his socks on his hands.. Silly...
5) wants to watch Handy Manny.. But We don't have any recorded...
6) Now he is looking at books.

I did comfirm that he currently doesn't have any fever. We hope it stays that way.

Dinoland Day!

We finally made it out to DinoLand at the Zilker Botanical Gardens. Christian loved see all the life size Dino's. It is a great exhibit through out the park, which is beautiful all on its own. We even ran into Helene some of her family, Jennifer, Michael, Rhem, Charlotte, Ruby and Eliza. Jennifer Blogs at Mayhem Mania. Actually reading her blog so often is how I realized they were there...Rhem walked right by me and I thought, "That looks like Rhem". Following close behind was the rest of the family.

We started our Dinoland day off with a good breakfast at Cypress, one of our new favorite places. Then headed off to Dinoland.



After Dinoland Chris and the boys dropped me off at the office so I could get a little extra work done and they all headed home...hopefully to take some well deserved naps.

A crush

There is a little girl at daycare that has a little crush on Christian. Her Mom says she talks about him all the time. I think the feelings were mutual for a while because he used to mention her all the time too. But alas, she is in the Dove Room and he has moved up to the Fishie room. Well, we still see her and her mom lots.

Yesterday her Mom told me a cute little story. Little girl was going on and on this weekend about loving Christian..."I love Christian". Well little girl's grandma is quite religious and was so excited because she was thinking this meant little girl loved BEING a christian. "Oh, isn't that so sweet. She loves Jesus. She said she loves being a christian"...well momma of little girl had to break it to grandma that she loves little boy names Christian at her school.

My little heartbreaker!!!!

A cute conversation from last night...

Christian: I love Mommy

Me: Oh how sweet, you love Mommy.

Christian: Yeah, Daddy too.

Me: That is so nice. Do you love baby Archer too?

Christian: No. I love my Sassy.

Me: You don't love baby Archer?

Christian: no, I love my Sassy.

So needless to say, Aunt Sassy got a cute voice mail last night saying Christian loves her more than baby Archer.

Veteran's Day

From Veterans Day 2007

What is a Vet? By Father Denis Edward O'Brien, USMC
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.
Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
You can't tell a vet just by looking.
What is a Vet?
He is a cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is a barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknown, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his county, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our county, just lean over and say "Thank You." That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped with the flag, Who allow the protestor to burn the flag."

Our Veteran's Day 2007

A day without TV

It was more like 1/2 a day without TV. We actually pulled off from the early morning until 3:00pm without TV..all of us. If you know us and Christian, that is a big feat! Christian has become a little TV junkie and we thought we would take a break.

He wasn't thrilled about it. He first asked for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, then Wonder Pets, then Go Diego Go, and I think a few more shows. But he adapted quickly and was very entertaining. We just explained that we weren't watching TV. It makes it easier when the TV is just off all together and we don't have it on one of our stations. Christian sang songs, told stories and we all in all VERY entertaining with his imagination.

We planned to take a nature walk in the green belt and I brought my camera along for the trip. Turned out we ended up spending our time at the little park down the street.



It wasn't a full day without Movies or TV because Christian had plans with Sassy and Jonathon to see a movie in the afternoon. He ended up watching Diego with Sassy and Jonathon while they waited for us to get home...they didn't know about the TV ban for the day. Then he was able to watch a show for his treatment (that is pretty standard around here too).

Another things we did this weekend was get several things out of the attic for Archer. One that he really enjoyed for the exercauser. He loved just sitting in it watching Christian run around him playing with all the attached toys.

First day of school

Monday was Archer's 1st day of school. I think I have said it many times before, but it never hurts repeating...WE LOVE our daycare!!! The teachers are priceless. They love your babies like they were their own.


This is Miss Jana!! She is one of our favorites (but we have so many it is hard to keep track). Miss Jana is also Rocky's Nana. Rocky and Christian have been best buddies for pretty much their whole lives. That sounds like a long time, but they are only 30+ months old. Whenever you ask Christian about school, his answer will usually contain something about Rocky.

From Archer's first day at school

I think Christian had fun going into his old room. He might not remember all his days in the Caterpillar room, but he seems to enjoy going back.

Chris demanded we both drop off the 1st day. He knew I would have questions and he probably won't get all the right answers (yes, he is learning the way I am). Archer was crying some when we left, but was a very happy camper when I picked him up. He was happy yesterday too. I think the busy days in daycare are wearing him out though. He has been fast asleep by 7:30 both nights this week. Only to wake up about 3:30 for a feeding.

Mom and Dad are still adjusting to the new routine of picking up and dropping off two kids. Each of us usually forgets something from one of their rooms. We will get it down soon enough I'm sure.

Wedded Bliss

I wanted to share the pictures from Russell and Melissa's wedding this weekend. It was beautiful.



I dressed the boys up new cute little vests. The wedding provided childcare...thank you Melissa for this...it made your wedding stress free for Chris and I to enjoy!

At the wedding reception Melissa had a children's table...WITH TOYS!!! She sat us right next to it...again, this helped make our night a little less stressful initially. However, once Christian realized how much land Kathie and Rand has, he was off running. His favorite phrase of the night was "I gotta go.." it was followed with run or hop. And he was running or hopping the whole night.

Now Archer, I don't think he was a fan of the tent. He liked being outside walking around most of the time. Then he got REALLY hungry because Mom wasn't paying attention to the time. Once he was fed, he was much happier being held by almost every member of the family.

Kudos to Russell's best man. He gave the funniest toast I have ever heard a best man give! It showed me a WHOLE OTHER side to Russell.

Russell and Melissa are now Man and Wife..they are honeymooning in Wine Country. I hope they have as much fun out there as we did.