Happy Halloween!!

We had a really good time last night!  We left the house around 5:45 and picked up Braden and dropped Kyndal off at her friend's.  We went up to church to the Fall Fun Fair.  Dawson took Braden and Kyle.  They just ran around and played games.  Eli and Brynne spent the majority of their night on the inflatable slides.  Brynne did finally play some games, but mostly she just wanted to slide.  Needless-to-say her costume was reduced down to her dress and tights within just a few minutes.  You can't do a proper slide down a 50 foot inflatable with Minnie Mouse ears on!!  Then I took the boys home and dropped Dawson off at the Tibbles' Monster Bash. Matt and Steph dropped him off around 9:30.  Rick had brought Eli and Brynne home while I was dropping everyone off so they could get a head start on trick-or-treating.  I met up with them and we went to some neighbors'.  They really loved that!  Then I raced home so they could trick-or-treat me.  They had a little candy and baths and headed to bed.  Rick went to a party at the Casillas', but I opted for staying home.  Dawson and I curled up on the couch and watched this week's episode of Crusoe.  It's kindof become our "thing" to do one evening a week.  I have no idea how Kyndal's night went.  I think they were going trick-or-treating and then coming back for chili and a movie.  

I tried to put our photos on as soon as we got home, but no luck.  Its now actually Saturday morning and I still can't get anything beyond the first picture to upload.  So, here's Kyndal:

Kyndal as an 80's girl, and with all the proper attitude too!!

I'm going to end this post and try to open up another one and see if it will let me post pictures. If not, I'll try e-mailing.  Urg!!

Up On Time!

You'll be relieved to know that all three of our alarms worked this morning and we actually made it up on time!  My alarm went off, I heard Rick's phone going off a little later and Kyndal had her's set just in case.  I exercised, the kids made the bus and Brynne and Eli were on time for preschool. All is well again.

Oversleeping

We overslept AGAIN!!  Kyndal woke me up at 6:55 a.m. this time, but not in enough time for her to catch the bus.  Rick had to take both of the older kids to school.  I did set my alarm this time for 6:15!  The good news is that if we have anywhere that we need to be at 6:15 this evening then we'll have an alarm reminder!  It sure does help to set it for a.m. when you are needing to get up in the a.m.  I told Kyndal I thought she might want to set a back-up alarm for tomorrow!  

Brynne was up from about 1-3 a.m.  I am sure that contributed to why I was sleeping like a bear this morning!  She has just started this "coming into our room" business in the last couple of nights.  She wants her door left open when she goes to bed, too.  I guess she's scared.  We have successfully never had a kid sleep with us.  I'm not about to start now .. although it's tempting! She must have felt my irritation, because the last time she got up she went to Rick instead of me.

My Little Man and My Little Pumpkin

Brynne wore her pumpkin dress and socks to school today.  Doesn't she look cute?  She doesn't know how to take a picture anymore unless she is posing!

Yesterday was picture day at Eli's school.  I took some shots of him before he left .. isn't he handsome!!

It's Red Ribbon Week at our schools this week and all four kids have all four different dress-up days.  Dawson was dressed like a nerd today.  I didn't get a picture of him, though.  We had to rush to get ready because I forgot to turn on my alarm and Kyndal's friend woke her up with a phone call at 6:50 a.m.  This is the second time I have done this.  I never oversleep!  So, we were really rushing around this morning.  Kyndal was to dress up in her favorite team's attire, so she was decked out in Mizzou clothes.  Eli has pj day today at school, so we went this morning and got him some new Star Wars:  The Clone Wars pjs.  I finished his Kung Fu Panda costume last night.  It's amazing what I can do with hot glue and safety pins!!!  I'm hoping to work on Brynne's Minnie Mouse costume today.

My son, the cow!!

On Friday night Dawson got the opportunity to wear the famous Chik-fil-a cow costume at the Owasso Rams football game.  His Boy Scout troop was helping with Chik-fil-a night.  He was supposed to get to wear it for the entire second half of the game, but ended up only getting to do it for about 15 minutes.  He loved it though!  He said his favorite part was when "little Eli's" came up and hugged him.

Here he is being attacked by some crazy girl!!  Oh, that's Kyndal!

And here's proof that it's really him!  Who would have thought this would be such a big deal!!  Apparently it's an honor, because people were jealous!

Still Lookin' Good After 20 Years!!!

And I'm talking about my husband!!  Rick and the Tulsa Webster Class of 1988 celebrated its 20th high school reunion this weekend.  It's interesting to go to a reunion!  Of course I only knew about 2 tables full of people (and I wonder how many Webster graduates spent the entire evening trying to remember my name!! If you don't know, I graduated in another state!)  It was clear that cliques still unite even after all these years.  There was very little co-mingling between "groups" of people.  And there was that one who "took over" planning the reunion, who was obviously not popular in high school and was dying to be popular last night!  We watched a rolling video from various high school events and they had the usual voting for most changed, best hair, etc.  It was your typical high school reunion.  But, we had a good time!  I didn't know very many of those people, but suffice it to say that Rick was one who had certainly aged the best!  Whoa!  Here are a couple of pics from the night:  


Tulsa Webster Class of 1988



Marty, Kristi, Brooke and Rick

Immune Booster

As most of you know, from around October to March Eli is sick almost constantly! He has a very weak respiratory and immune system, so if someone brings home a cold his turns into something horrible. He has coughing spells that last weeks, several times a year, and typically gets pneumonia at least twice. When Brynne and I each had the flu last year for about 3 days, Eli had it for well over a week and was on antibiotics to prevent a secondary infection from winding him up in the hospital like the year before. My mom suggested I start giving him a vitamin that has an immune booster in it. The kids take a regular multi-vitamin, but I thought it sure couldn't hurt. Starting this week I have been giving him the recommended dosage of 2 L'il Critter Immune C Plus Zinc & Echinacea Immune Booster supplements. I am just bound and determined to do everything I can to help this child not get sick everytime he gets around someone with a cold, especially since he is now in preschool everyday with 25 kids. I do think his immune system has strengthened over the past year naturally, because we haven't noticed near as many coughing bouts this summer as he normally has. So far he hasn't caught anything this fall. So, I just wanted to document what I am doing so I can look back and see if it "worked". Has anybody had any experience with this supplement? Let me know if you have. The reviews I have read online have all positive things to say. I'll let you know in April if I think it was worth it.

Windsor Day 4

Our last day in Windsor was on Sunday. We had an O'Neal family reunion scheduled in Leeton. So, we loaded up the car so we could leave from there. I typically dread these reunions because each family unit tends to just sit in their own group and there's not mingling anyway. But the food it always awesome! And, this was no exception! We had a great lunch, and actually saw people we hadn't seen in many years (and lots of people I swear I have never seen!!) It was fun for some of my older, second cousins to see my kids and comment on them. Of course what everybody said most was that Brynne looks just like I did when I was little.

After lunch we started the long trip home. We got home around 5:30 and basically just collapsed from our relaxing vacation.

Meme

I think this is fun .. I guess in the blogging world people will do a "Meme" to someone else who is a blogger. I don't really understand it all, but I guess you sort of "dare" them to do something on their blog. The one I read was to go to your photo files, choose the 6th picture in the 6th folder, post it and tell about it. So, here's mine:



Eli and Brynne LOVE the outdoors at our house! They spend every decent day out there playing. Our house sits on an acre, with our house on the far side of it which leaves a full 1/2 acre of tree'd playspace. Rick has spent countless hours making a rock creek (called Eli's Creek) and it goes around a large tree (at Brynne's Island). They love to play in those rocks. As you can see, sometimes they like to just sit and hang out.

I know that most of you who read this blog are not bloggers yourselves. So, if you want to participate then look in your photo folders and e-mail out your 6th photo in the 6th folder. It's fun! YOU HAVE BEEN MEME'd!!!!

Windsor Day 3 -- Dawson's 12th Birthday !!

We celebrated Dawson's 12th birthday while on our Windsor trip. He wanted to open his gifts immediately upon waking up. He received lots of money from relatives, an art kit, new sketch book, portfolio for his drawings and two movies he wanted (Doogal and The Ant Bully). He set to drawing first thing. We had plans to go to Warrensburg to Cornerstone Park, which is an indoor "park". It didn't really look that exciting for a 12 year old, but we wanted to do SOMETHING for his birthday. He invited Kyle, a friend from Windsor, and we set off. We took two cars because there was Aunt Kristen, Rylee, Kyndal, Dawson, Kyle, Aunt Rhonda, grandma, Eli, Brynne and me. We were really going to go because we figured the little guys would have fun on the play structures and there was a nerf gun room that we thought the older kids would enjoy. When we got there, they told us that all rooms were closed but the main room. All it had was a play structure, a baby play structure and a basketball court. Everyone was disappointed (could they not have posted that on their website before we drove 30 miles?) But we had already told Eli and Brynne about it, so we couldn't just leave! So we paid $20 for 5 of them to play, and Dawson immediately went to pouting. He was disappointed and it really was a worthless place. He got over that (after a little conference with me) and ran around playing tag with the older kids for a while. The little kids were having a great time! Aunt Kristen decided to take the older kids to Wal-Mart so off they went. We stuck around a little longer. Dawson chose to eat lunch at Pizza Hut so we met back up there. When did pizza become so expensive? We only ordered two large pizzas for $58 ???!!! I guess I am so used to the $6 take-and-bake pizzas from Papa Murphy's, which are tons better by the way. It was our audacity to have some to drink that did us in!! Oh well.

Our next stop was the movie theatre. We had made plans to go see "City of Ember". Aunt Kristen, grandma and Aunt Rhonda took Eli and Brynne home and I took the older kids. We rant to Wal-Mart to get snacks and then headed to the theatre for the ADVERTISED 1:45 p.m. movie. When we got there, however, we were told that this movie was sharing a theatre with another one and wouldn't be showing until 4:30 p.m. I was livid by this point! (Again, could they not post that on their website???) We couldn't stick around for another 3 hours with nothing to do, and we were having a family dinner back in WIndsor at 6:00 p.m. So, in another disappointing moment, we turned and left. Poor Dawson! I felt so bad that I suggested we go to Hastings, right next door, and get a new Nintendo DS game. They had "buy two used games, get one for 1 cent", so we took advantage of that. The movie for all of us would have ended up costing about that much anyway.

We took our games, and a couple of packs of Mad Libs to do in the car on the way home, and headed back. We had a nice dinner with family that evening. When Dawson was getting ready for bed he told me that the day had turned out pretty good. When I asked him "why?" he said that if all of those bad things hadn't have happened that he wouldn't have gotten his DS games and he did get his art supplies and movies. And, he said, "I am just grateful." That's what it's all about, folks!

Here's to another year, buddy! May it not be as frustrating as the first day of it!

Windsor Day 2

Friday at mom and dad's was even lazier than Thursday .. if that's possible!! We lazed around all day in our jammies, and even ordered drive-in food for dinner! Mom, Kyndal, Brynne and I went to watch Rylee play volleyball in the evening. We were sitting on the front row talking. Brynne was saying, "Where's Dawson?" In the middle of asking that the second time ... WHAM!! .. a volleyball line-drived into her face. Visualize Marsha Brady and the football. This was quite similar! Of course she cried .. OUCH!! Then she fell asleep and slept through the rest of the games. When we got home, Papa had made a firepit and we roasted marshmallows and made smore's. Luckily when Brynne woke up on Saturday morning she didn't have a broken nose or black eyes.

Windsor Day 1

We are in Windsor for our Fall Break visit. We really didn't do much today but just hang out. Eli and Dawson played outside almost all day, just running around and jumping on the trampolene. Brynne was in and out. Kyndal and I lounged around, like we usually do, catching up on DVR'd shows that we don't watch very often. We had a nice day. Kyndal and Dawson left in the late afternoon to head to Concordia to spend the night with their grandparents and other family members there. They enjoy spending time with their cousins, Mariah and Jameson, as well as being here. Tomorrow, it's more relaxation!

Pumpkin Patch -- Take 2 ... uuuummmm ... NO!!

Well I had to make an executive decision today .. I am not taking Eli to school today so that they can drag 150 4-year olds to the pumpkin patch when it is raining and 60 degrees. For those of you who might actually waste your time and read this blog and don't know us, then you need to know just exactly how miserable this would be for Eli. He is not your average "go with the flow" kindof boy. A drop of rain, or a blast of cold wind, or wet feet, or wet pumpkins, or screaming/crying kids, would send him, and me, over the edge. Besides, I was going to have to hire a babysitter to babysit the kids I am supposed to be babysitting. Can anybody say ... JUST SAY NO!! This is one of those times when I have to just opt out. I also need to get us ready to go out of town for the next five days, and the time is just tick .. tick .. ticking away. Luckily I took him with me when Brynne's class went to the patch, so he got to pick out his pumpkin then. And, I always take all four kids to the "pictures at the pumpkin patch torture hour" at Carmichael Farms. And I doubt this year will be any exception. We'll get our fill .. and he doesn't really even know they were going anyway.

The Day Ahead

Well we are supposed to go to the pumpkin patch with Eli's Pre-K class today. But, it's pouring. Yesterday when I asked if we would go if it was raining, I was told "Yes!" Oh dear! Eli won't like that at all! So my pictures today will be with him in cheap yellow rainboots and a fireman raincoat. At the pumpkin patch?? He won't match the pumpkins! My pictures are going to be a mess! I'm either praying for sunny skies or a monsoon. Hopefully if it's a monsoon they won't go!

Last Sunday Kyndal wanted to invite Alex over to "hang out". Two of our neighbor girls had "acquired" boyfriends, as well, so we decided to do a group thing after church with pizza. On Monday Kyndal broke up with Alex. She said, again, that he was too clingy. I have learned something about today's teenagers: The fun in having a boyfriend is really just in "getting" a boyfriend. By Monday afternoon she "had" another one. I said, "Good grief, Kyndal." She laughed and said, "Oh, it won't last!" I don't even know his name. On the one hand I should be mortified that she is so flippant with the hearts of these boys. But, on the other hand, I am THRILLED that having a "boyfriend" really just freaks her out! I was 14 once, and to us "keeping" a boyfriend was the thing. And the lengths we went to, to keep a boyfriend, spelled disaster. I am thankful that she still has such an innocent heart. God bless the Owasso school system for keeping 6th graders in one school, 7th graders in one school and 8th graders in one school. The only boys these girls have to "get" are the nerds in their own class. And we all know that the really cool guys are the ones who are older. But if you never see them, you don't "get" them. Thank goodness! However, there is next year ... WHEN SHE'S IN HIGH SCHOOL!!! Eeeeekkkkkk!!!!!!

After school today we are heading to Missouri to mom and dad's for fall break. I am really looking forward to it! We haven't been "back home" since 4th of July. I have plans to do NOTHING!! I'll get to read and SIT!! We are going to some kid fun place on Saturday to celebrate Dawson's 12th birthday and a family reunion (gads) on Sunday. I might try to squeeze in taking the older kids to the movie to see "City of Ember." Anybody seen it?

Anyway, I may not get to post until we return. Last time I took my computer to Missouri it crashed. I don't know if I want to risk that again. I guess I could post on mom and dad's computer. There just won't be photos. We'll see.

Aaarrrggghhh

At least that's what Brynne says when she puts on her "pirate" shirt!! She loves this shirt, as you can see by the fact that it's in the last two posts!! (Oh, by the way, scroll down to read about Dawson's birthday party .. I typed it as a draft on Saturday, so it posted before the "crummy" one.)

She wore this outfit to preschool today, and in my normal fashion I thought she looked so cute that I needed a picture. (Mom, does this remind you of anything???) She went up to the door and I was just getting ready to say, "Give me some attitude" when she stuck her leg up in that pose. That's my girl!!! I took the closeup so you could see her skull barrettes adorned to her precious little head! How can someone so "tough" still look so sweet???



Due to the sweet words and encouragement from three special ladies, I feel much better today. However, still very convicted. I have work to do on myself .. don't we all? But, I had some new revelations present themselves in the last day or two and I thank you three for your candid "help". Have a great day!

Crummy

I'm feeling a little down today. I have a tad-bit of a cold that could be contributing. But, it's more than that. Every once in a while I just have one of those days where I feel inadequate, that my priorities are all out of whack. I have a list of priorities that I try to live my life by: God, husband, children, home, my needs and then other's needs. Unfortunately the squeaky wheel gets the most oil (aka attention). Sunday afternoons seem to be particularly hard. I believe it's an attack of the enemy after a spiritual high at church. The kids tend to take the highest priority in my life, at the exclusion of other things. And when that happens then my whole world feels out of sync. I know that I put the kids first because I spend the most time with them and my relationships with them are the strongest. You spend time with those you feel the closest to. I hate it when I allow that to happen, though, because then I begin to feel so distant from everyone and everything else. I have no balance. And then I'm miserable. I know what is the correct order of priorities in my life to provide joy and peace, I just have a hard time keeping those priorities in their correct alignment. I feel crummy today because I know I have allowed that to happen, again, and I have neglected, primarily, Rick. We don't fight, we just feel distant. Well, I can't speak for him, but that's how I feel. And it is at no fault of his, but of mine, because I have allowed my priorities to get out of line. Usually I can pray about that, repent and consciously try to get things back on track. But he left at 4:30 this morning for a business trip and won't be back until Thursday, but we're leaving Wednesday to go to Missouri and won't be back until Sunday. I hate leaving things "unresolved". He might not even know there is a "problem", but I suspect he does. The last time this happened, was on 9/11 ... yes, THAT 9/11. We were "out of alignment" that had kindof come to a head, and then he left for a business trip early that next morning and it was then that the terrorist attack occured. I remember thinking, "What if he would have been on one of those planes? I left things unresolved and I'd have had to live with that for the rest of my life." We should never allow that to happen. This too shall pass, I know. We have a good solid marriage and we always work through our issues. I guess I just need prayer. I don't like the "old" me who puts everything before her husband. I absolutely KNOW that everything works itself out in a joyful and peaceful manner when God's priorities are being lived in my life. So pray for me today, and contiuously, that my selfish person goes away, and I remember my priorities and live them accordingly.

Tulsa Corn Maize

For Dawson's birthday this year he took five kids (Lauren, Kyle, Braden, Korey, Dylan) to the Tulsa Corn Maize in Broken Arrow .. very cool place! You can check it out at www.tulsamaize.com. We arrived there at about 5:30 p.m., and they allowed us to choose a fire pit area. We chose the one right next to the entrance to the maze. It had two picnic tables covered by a tent and the firepit had logs sitting around it to sit on. We brought hot dogs, chips, drinks and, of course, s'mores. The kids spent the daylight hours running through the maze, going on a hayride, playing in the corn pit and jumping in the "hay jump".





When it got dark one of the mazes turned into a "haunted maze". Most of them were brave enough, although a couple opted out. There was also a shed-sized area full of corn kernels .. kindof like a sandbox. Very fun! Rick, Eli and Brynne joined us a little later and Eli and Brynne had a blast playing in the corn pit, riding the cow train and, especially, playing on the "hay jump." The partygoers just ran around and played until 9:30 when we headed home.





Our neighbors, the Gardners, joined us, as well as our friends, the Breeses. Here is a picture of Kyndal and the Gardner girls: Christina, Amanda and Caitlyn. They have such a good time together! But talk about drama ... WHOA!!



We had a really great time! It's a fun place! Dawson had fun, but was bothered by an incident with a goth-type girl in the haunted maze who cussed him out for shining his headlamp in her face. The visual of that scenario makes me laugh. He wasn't laughing, though.

What Goes Up ...

Last Thursday was Owasso's Homecoming parade. Kyndal was on the 8th grade cheerleading float. That's her with her leg hanging off.



The little guys always love the parade! They get so much candy! In fact, I encourage them to get as much as they can so we can reuse it on Halloween night to give out .. I'm a cheapskate, I know! We're usually only home for about 30 minutes anyway. We were enjoying the parade .. it was a nice 75 degrees. Eli and Brynne were waving at the Pride of Owasso (marching band) and clapping and really enjoying themselves. And Dawson was there too. We were sitting on the curb, in the shade. Brynne was sitting on my lap. The firetruck went by and we waved. Then came the water pump truck .. some old thing. It was pretty cool looking. When it got about 40 yards from where we were sitting it shot water up into the air. You can see the picture here.



Now ... what goes up must come down, right??? Yeah, right .. RIGHT ON TOP OF US AT FULL FORCE!!! Most people were able to run out of the way, and even Dawson and Eli managed to just get "wet". However, Brynne and I were drenched! She was sitting on my lap and I couldn't get up! Let's just say I was annoyed. On a 100+ degree day I might have appreciated that .. not on a 70 degree day when I had to IMMEDIATELY drop the kids off after the parade and get back to the JBF sale where I was working all night. My hair style now is not exactly, "wash and go", so I managed to cram it into a pony and head to JBF. I would like to suggest that the fire department rethink that idea next year! Then there were puddles everywhere, so ALL candy thrown was thrown into them and inedible! We saw an empty spot across the street, in the sun for drying, and ran over there. Since we were pretty much alone we got tons of candy. That made everything okay for everybody ... but me.

Pumpkin Patch -- Take 1

Today was our first trip to the pumpkin patch. Brynne's preschool class went to the United Methodist Church patch in Owasso. They got to hunt for one small pumpkin, then play a pumpkin-finding game in the mini hay maze. Then they sat and listened to a story and did a craft. She had a really great time! She was so cute! Of course I took a few hundred photos, but I will spare you and only post three for now. I plan to post a slideshow of all of our fall festivities when they are completed.

Although the day should have been mostly about Brynne, Eli and I ended up having a really great morning together. I wasn't planning on taking Brynne to her afternoon school activities and was going to take them both to the park. But her teachers begged me to bring her, so I did. Because I didn't take her back to school until 11:30 and Eli had to be at his school at 12:30, he and I went to the park. He ate his lunch and we went on a hike. The weather was beautiful and we had a really nice time together. I was able to take some pictures of us together, by holding the camera out, and actually got a couple of really great shots. Here is one.



Then after I took Eli to school and I picked up Brynne, she and I went to the park by ourselves. I didn't have my camera, so there are no photos of her. It was a weird day.

I had to pick Rick up from work because his car is currently dead. It can be resurrected for a mere $1500, which is just under it's trade-in value which stinks. So it will be fixed on Monday. He and I then went to Eli's parent-teacher conference and he is doing really well. We are very proud of his progress on all levels.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Graphic Comments

I love a good snow ... one that's so deep you can't leave the house other than to sled out your back door and drink hot cocoa to warm up .. one of those snows where you gain new family members in the form of snowmen and women. I love the first "perfect" day of spring when the temperature is 70 degrees with a slight wind .. the day you plant all your spring flowers and don't wear a jacket. I love heading to Big Splash or the pool on a summer day, swimming and soaking in the sun (especially when I'm in Bermuda.) But, I REALLY REALLY REALLY love FALL!! I love everything about Fall! I love the colors, the smells, the temperature, the food, the celebrations .. everything! Today starts the first day of our many Fall activities. (Well, actually yesterday did when I started putting out fall decorations.) But today we are heading to our first, of many, trips to the Pumpkin Patch. This one is with Brynne's preschool class. I haven't had many pictures to post lately, but prepare yourself. Fall is here!

Back Together

I guess I should mention that Kyndal and Alex are "back together". What that really means is that they smile at each other at school and sit by each other at football games. He's a nice kid and I'm glad she's not breaking his heart right now. He's a Christian with a great family, so that's a positive start. Believe me, even in the 8th grade, there are some real hoodlums she could be "going with."

Rick's car collapsed last night. It's sitting in our garage. The kids and I got up and took him to work this morning. We're hoping it can be fixed, at a reasonable cost, to get him by until bonus time in February. Please pray for his car's healing! While at Rick's office, Eli saw an American Flag on Rick's co-worker's desk. He put his hand on his heart and recited the "Pledge of Allegiance". He's 4! I was impressed! Maybe Obama should take note that even our children hold this pledge dear to their hearts! Talk about praying .. please pray without ceasing that this possible anti-Christ does not get voted into office. This could very well be the end, so get right with God.



Dawson and Kyndal are doing really well in school (with the exception of Dawson's usual math struggles and Kyndal's usual english struggles). Otherwise, I am so pleased! I sat at the kitchen table this morning and watched them walk upstairs to go brush their teeth. When did my babies become teenagers? I am quite proud of them!

Tomorrow Brynne's class is going to the pumpkin patch. Eli and Brynne are very excited! They would also desperately like to see a lighthouse, but that one will have to wait.

Playing Hooky

Me and Eli are playing hooky today. We took Brynne to school this morning and then had to take Kyndal to the orthodontist for a tightening and then the dentist for some cavities. I hadn't brought his backpack or lunch and we didn't get home until after noon which didn't leave us very much time to eat and head back to town. Then I'd have and hour and a half until I had to pick up Brynne and I just don't feel like scrapbooking today during that time. I'm still beat from last week! Eli is a homebody and really didn't want to leave the house this morning. So, I made a decision to let him skip today. He had a little bit of a stuffy nose so it doesn't hurt him to stay in today. And we all know how sick he always gets from now until about March. Our really good doctor is out of the office "for a while" which makes me nervous. She knows Eli well and treats him aggressively when he picks up something, or even gets me prepared for treating him when Brynne comes down with something. Our other doctor in the office treats everything as a "virus", so basically does nothing, which then leads to something. Anyway, we're just staying home today. So there! Morgan and Makenna didn't come yesterday because they had a stomach virus, which is also going around. And Dawson skipped scouts last night. We're all just wiped out. This starts to happen to us this time of year. We just don't want to do much, yet have so much to do! Really we'd just like to hibernate! We have a busy weekend coming up, so I'm just going to veg as much as possible until then.

What a Week!

Wow! What a week! The Just Between Friends (JBF) sale was awesome, but exhausting! I think we had a great sale, although since this is my first time to actually work at it full-time I don't really have anything to compare it to. I think we sold a lot, but we had SO MUCH! Sorting was a nightmare, and a little irritating! So many consignors requested to pick up their remaining items and then didn't show to get them. So, we spent all that time sorting to just end up stuffing them into garbage bags. They were donated to Standing in the Gap, which is a huge blessing, but I just wish we wouldn't have had to sort it all into specific consignor numbers before we donated. HUGE waste of time! Working for Donna was great, and I have had some ideas swirling in my head since the sale that I hope will help us in the future. We're all just too tired to discuss those ideas right not. We thankfully have several months until the next sale, so plenty of time.

Rick was so great during the week, really helping me out and making it easy to be away. But, by Saturday morning I think everyone had had enough of me being away. Friday night Dawson was crying and Saturday morning Eli was. They were SO happy when I didn't have to "go to work" on Sunday. I feel so incredibly blessed, and I know they do too, that I don't have to work full time all the time. I felt such sadness at leaving them just for this week, I am so glad I don't have to do it all the time. I know that me not having income puts a strain on our finances, so I am so thankful that Rick loves our family enough to take on that burden completely by himself and allow me to take care of the needs of our family at home.

I was so glad to be home yesterday! We even skipped church .. something we NEVER do! I was just too exhausted, and the little guys just wanted to be with me. I didn't want to leave them in Sunday school for 3 hours. So I got caught up on my housework and it felt GREAT! I got all of my laundry caught up .. including folded and put away! We finally got our clean socks out of the laundry baskets, sorted and put away. I vacuumed, swept and mopped the floors and cleaned the kitchen. I got caught up on all of my DVR'd shows! I feel a sense of completion! Today it feels so great to have all of that done! It's raining so we have nowhere to go and I am loving that! I don't care if I don't leave the house at all this week other than to run kids where they need to go. The week revs back up at the end with trips to the pumpkin patch and Dawson's birthday party on Friday. Hopefully by then I'll be ready to leave the house!

One More Year

Happy Birthday, Dad!! My dad is 59 years old today ... only one more to the big 6-0!! See you in two weeks, dad! The kids cant' wait to see you! They really enjoyed talking to you on the phone today, too! Have a great week!