Merry Christmas!

We have been really busy! There has been Christmas shopping, school Christmas parties, Christmas goodies baking and Christmas decorating. There has also been a lot of Christmas movie watching. Now it's finally here. We will be doing some more baking today. We're making chocolate covered popcorn, puppy chow and Santa cookies. We also have a Gingerbread house to make. Then tonight we will open our presents, read The Night Before Christmas and the story of Our Savior Jesus' birth and shuffle the kids off to bed so that Santa came visit our house.

This year is bitter sweet because I think this will probably be Dylan's last year to believe in Santa. He is 9 after all.

Then tomorrow the kids will no doubt wake us up before the crack of dawn jumping on our heads in utter excitement. We will gaze upon there glorious haul for a few moments. then we will rush to get dressed, get loaded into the car and head to Wildorado to see my Dad's family. Then we will be off to Borger to see Jeremy's family for a few days. We will then go to Oklahoma on Friday to drop the kids off at my Mom's so that we can spend our anniversary alone together, a miracle in itself, in Oklahoma City. We will be having dinner at the Mickey Mantle Steakhouse on the Canal. Then we will be able to walk to walk the canal and see the Christmas lights that will still be up. Really that's about all I have planned out but I do know they have horse drawn carriage rides that I think would be a wonderful addition. Then we will go back to spend time with at my Mom's. And on New Years eve, my lil' sisters b-day, we are suppose to be at my Uncle's playing some guitar hero, which I must add I am pretty awesome at!

Hope everyone has a wonderful, fun fulled holiday season! Love to all!

It's that time of year!

The time of year when there is no time. We've been busy, busy with birthdays, thanksgiving and Christmas preparations. We had Alissa's birthday and party on the 3rd. Thanksgiving, of course. Then there was Dylan's birthday party on the 25th and birthday on the 27th. We also went to the Christmas parade downtown on the 27th.

We had been fighting a stomach virus here from the end of October till the weekend before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately we all ended up with it, except of course Jeremy. I actually think he was gladhe was in Washington for that.





Jeremy did get to come home for 6 days at Thanksgiving. We stayed home and I made a huge meal. We got snow, too! That's a really odd thing here so the fact that we got about 5 inches on Thanksgiving and then about 3 inches that Sunday was just crazy. Jeremy also brought me a month late birthday present, I think it was out of guilt. :) It is a very nice Sony digital camera. It came in really handy since my other one is about 5 years old and half broken. We can now all thank Jeremy for the pictures that are posted with this entry.

We did some Christmas shopping on Black Friday and got a really cool Christmas tree. Yes it's fake! I'm allergic to trees. It's up and fully decorated and looks absolutely gorgeous. I don't have pictures of that yet though. We didn't get all the outdoor decorations up before Jeremy left so I'm not sure how much of that will actually get done before Christmas. Some is better then now though, right?

Halloween pics

Here's what I've got. First, I forgot to grab my camera when we were walking out the door. Then my acient camera sucks and for some reason some of the pics I took when we got home didn't get saved. Alissa was an adorable monkey who feel asleep before we even made it home. I'll have to get the pic of my phone and post it. The picture of Dylan is him tring on Chey's fake lashes. The one of him in his Darth Vader costume didn't save. UGH!!!

So many exciting things

Last thursday I took the kids to eat at El Chico's like we do often. It's hard to pass up $.99 kids meals. To make it more enticing they have a drawing for a bike on the last thursday of every month. Of course, we have never won before. Last thursday was a different story. ALISSA WON A BIKE! I think she won because her birthday is this saturday. :) It's even a really cool Barbie bike with a backpack on the handle bars. We were all very excited.



These are pictures of how Alissa looked when she got home from school last Monday. No one is sure how the black eye was aquired but there certian it happened on the playground. Alissa never cried or told the teacher about it. What a tough girl she is. I especially like the bottom picture because my sweet little girl looks stoned even though she is completely unmedicated.


Then there was Chey's trip to the dentist. She goes back on Nov 19th to get 4 filling which will cost me $155 after insurance. Then we will be making an appointment with an orthedontist to discuss braces. WOOHOO! Can't wait to see what that will cost. On saturday she also has an appiontment with the optometrist so that we can get her some new glasses. She's so excited.

Saturday is also the day that my little bitty 33lb baby girl turns 5. How in the world did the time go so fast?! I was watching her sleep last night and I can't believe she has been here for 5 years. But on the other hand I can't remember life without her. It's just so crazy. My baby is almost 5 which means she is not a baby anymore.

And then there is the excitment of today. Alissa got to wear her monkey costume to school today and they had a parade though the school and collected goobs of candy. Then she got to have pizza for lunch. Then tonight we will put her back in her monkey costume, make Cass a queen, turn Dyl into Darth Vader and Chey into a vampiress and walk our neighborhood and beg for candy. Does it get any funner then that? I will put up some pictures tonigh or tomorrow of my little terrors! Happy Halloween, ya'll!

So much going on

There has been a lot going on since the last time I posted. The biggest would be my oldest child turning 11! Can you believe Chey is 11 years old? I sure can't. We had cake here at home with her 2 best friends and then we let them all go to the movies alone, we did walk around the mall though so we were in the same place.

Now it's October. I was suspose to start my christmas shopping months ago so that I would be about through by now. No such luck. I haven't even gotten any shopping done for Alissa and Dylan's birthday's. Those will be Nov. 3rd and 27th. So now I am worry mode. Worring about having the money(which is really not something I need to worry about but old habits die hard), worring about what to get, worring that I'll wake up tomorrow and it will be too late(time has been flying lately). Like I have tried to explain to Jeremy, honestly after 12 years it should not have to be explained, I'm a worrier by nature. Even when there is nothing to worry about I worry. That's just who I am. I have to admit though it does seem crazy to me that it's already October. Less then 2 weeks from my birthday actually! Crazy!

And then there halloween to get ready for. Alissa is easy, she wanted to be a monkey. Target was all to happy to obliage with a nice monkey costume and they even put it on sale for me. Dylan wants to be Anikin Skywalker. Yes, he's a a Star Wars fanitic! He even wants us to dress Scooter as Yoda. Cass wants to be Hanna Montana which I'm hoping will be easy to do with out having to buy a costume. Chey changes her mind every other day.

Dyl also has a school play this week. He has a singing part and he dances. Hopefully I can get some picks. He's so cute!

Cass is my spelling ace. That girl is amazing. She has made 99's and 100 on every spelling test so far. She takes after her Mother....hehe Chey and Dyl have been doing really well too! I have some smart kiddos. :)

Finally we like preschool!

It only took 9 days but by last Friday Alissa finally decided she liked school. Every morning before that she cried, told me she wasn't going and made up some very colorful excuses for a 4 year old. Her first one was that her belly hurt and she was too tired. That didn't work. Then there was the fact that she would miss Dora. She still had to go to school. My favorite was that she had a kick-off so she couldn't go. I have no idea what that even means. :) Her last attempt was that she was afraid they would hurt her head. After almost 2 weeks I really didn't see that as a possibility and again she went to school anyway. Every morning she clung to me and had to be pryed off by her teacher. Of course, she was always excited and happy about school when I came to get her. She always changes her mind by morning though. Then on Thursday it happened, she got out of the car without running to the back seat and tring to hide. She walked in and sat at her breakfast table like a big girl and told me bye. We did have to get in a few extra hugs and kisses before she would let me go but she didn't try to follow me when I left.

She also has friends, one boy and one girl. The girls name is Wildcat, but it's not her real name, and the boy... She describes him as the "hot spikey haired boy". Apperently she spends too much time listening to Chey and her friends.

Back to school!

The kids went back to school Monday. Alissa started pre-school. She goes from 8-noon Mon-Fri. The first day she did ok when we left her. The last 2 days she has told me as soon as she akes up that she's not going to school because it's scary. Of course once the teacher prys her off me and they go outside to play she's good. Today she even got a gummy bear for being a good listener. She also told me that she got to play with her "hot spikey haired boyfriend" the second time they went outside today. She has definantly been listening to Chey too much. We also learned that Alissa can read minds. She said her teacher said that her first day of school outfit wasn't cute. I said no they didn't. Her reply? "Yes they did, in there head!" Ummm, ok!

As for the other kids, Chey is in 5th. Her last year in elementry school! :( She has a male teacher for the first time in her life. He's funny though so she likes him. Dyl is in 3rd and Cass 2nd. They both like there teacher.

As for me, I'm liking the 4 hours a day of peace and quiet. I never get that so it's been a shock to my system. I don't have to listen to Dora and Deigo in the mornings now. I have actually even considered turning on The Today Show or something like other adults do. I'm not a big morning show person though so I have opted for reruns of Cold Case and dvr Days of Our Life. I haven't had to pause a show in 3 days though. It's crazy!!! And for next week

I'm actually gonna clean the house and not have a child behind me messing it up! Ho cool is that?!

I'm back!

My trip to Seattle was great. The flight was nice and uneventful. Jeremy was actually at the airport when got off the plane. We found our way around the state fairly easily. I didn't get to meet Tara due to a delay at the Canadian Border but I did get to talk to her on the phone. Maybe next time! We did some shopping in Seattle. Jeremy bought me a really nice handmade vase that I forgot to take pictures of. We saw the Space Needle. Of course, the only picture I took was through the dirty windshield.




We went to Mt St Helens. It was beautiful. The tree behind us was a tree that had been there the last time she irrupted in 1980 something. I also can figure out how to remove the second picture so you get 2 for 1 today. :)



Then we went to the forest to see the waterfalls. They were even more beautiful then Mt St Helens. I have learned that I have an uncontrollable fear of falling off the side of a mountain. Lucky for me there we're no guard rails most of the way through the forest. Makes it hard to enjoy the beauty around you when you have your eyes closed and are praying your husband doesn't drive you off the side onto the river below. Also lucky for me we got to pull into a little camping area and walk to the falls.




This was by the Space Needle. They have these pigs everywhere in Seattle.

I can't remember if this is Mt. Rainier or Mt. Adams. We saw both.

This was the side of another mountain I was afraid I was going to go careening over

Mt. St Helens

And Jeremy and I again at Mt. St Helens. There were tourist all over the place offering to take our picture for us.


We also went to the beach but I have no pictures because it was midnight before we found it. It was still very beautiful and I loved laying on the beach looking at the starts in the arms of the man that I love.

Jeremy took his vacation last week. We ended up taking the kids to Six Flags. We had such a good time there too. Our friend that went with us took pictures that I will post when I get them. :)

Always to much to do....

So I came home from my Mom's Sunday without any kids. My plan, clean the house. I'm still working on that. The living room does look really nice but that's about it. I had new plans added to the mix Monday and I've been a bit obsessed with them. I'm flying to Seattle Friday morning! I'll get there about 3pm and Jeremy will be picking me up from the airport. We're gonna spend time in Seattle checking things out since neither of us have ever been. Then, very exciting, on Saturday we are going to a smaller town between Seattle and Canada to meet one of my internet friends for lunch! I can't wait to meet Tara, Ken and there boys. We meet in a pregnancy group when I was pregnant with Alissa and she was pregnant with her first baby Kevin. We have been friends now for 5 years and finally get to meet in person. Very cool, hu?!
I will fly back home on Monday and then go back to my Mom's on Tuesday so I will be there with the kids for the 4th. Then we're coming home and hopefully we can have a little down time before sports start back up.

On a totally unrelated topic Alissa had a staph infection in her leg a couple of weeks ago. I kept forgetting to mention it. I'm guessing it started as a mosquito bite and when she scratched it became infected. I put neosporian on it for several days thinking maybe it was a sticker or that she was allergic to mosquito's. It would always look better in the morning but was swollen and red by bedtime so on the third day I made her a Dr. appt. for the next day. When she woke up the next morning it was so swollen it hurt her to walk on that leg and it had a huge puss filled head. I decided not to mess with it myself and let the Dr be the mean one. Of course, the thing popped about 2 hours before we went to the Dr so I kept it covered as it oozed gross stuff. So anyway the Dr squeezed all sorts of gross stuff out of my poor babies leg. Alissa was such a big girl though and tried really hard not to cry. Now 2 weeks. $70 worth of antibiotics, cream and liquid, and lots of begging to get Alissa to take the gross medi she is all healed up. I chose to mention it because it is actually a first in my mothering life. I've never dealt with this before. I actually had never considered the fact that one of my kids could get such a horrible infection from scratching a mosquito bite. I'm so glad we're past that. I'll defiantly be more vigilant about my kids washing there hands now too.

It's been forever

About a million things have happened since I last posted. School is finally over. Has been for awhile actually. We got through the 3 awards shows with Jeremy in tow. The kids all got great grades and were promoted to the next grade. Dylan was tested for Gifted and Talented and missed making in by 1 stinking point! He was also recognized for being the top AR reader in the whole 2nd grade and for missing only 1 day of school the whole year. Cassidy's birthday went off without a hitch. We had a birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse that was excellent. We have taken a trip to Borger to see Jeremy's family, Amarillo to see mine and pick up my 7 year old cousin and Oklahoma to pick up my 16 year old sister. Jeremy left for Washington May 29th. :( My cousin stayed 2 weeks and we had a great time. My sister stayed till Sunday when I brough her home to Oklahoma. We are still in Oklahoma spending time with my Mommy. I am going home on Thursday and leaving the kids with my Mom. She's giving me a much needed break from single mommying.

I also got one piece of amazingly wonderful news from one of my forever friends. If you don't have a forever friend I suggest you get one. I actually have more then one. The one with the good news is more like a sister to me. We grew up together. We know each others secrets and fears. We can go a million years without hearing from each other but we always know that the other is there for us when we need then. So now on to the great news. Lori is going to be a Mommy!!! I am so happy for her. She's gonna be an awesome Mom. Love ya, Lori!!!

Only 3 weeks left!

The kids only have 3 weeks of school left! I keep wondering where in the world this yeaqr went to. It has really flown by. I had someone tell me the other day that the older your kids get the faster time seems to fly by. I don't like that theory. We will be keeping ourselves busy the next few weeks with field days this wednesday and friday, the zoo with Dyl's class next monday and then 3 awards ceremonies the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Then you throw 8 more baseball games in there, yes 8 games in 3 weeks! Jeremy will be home sometime around the 17th or 18th for a little over I week I think. YAY! Oh, and we have Cass' birthday party on the 20th and her birthday on the 23rd. She'll be 7! I'm also suspose to fit a stress test in on the 16th but I think I'm gonna call and reschedule for after school is out.

This summer I have plan for the kids to go stay with my Mom. I think I will try to schedule my dentist appointments and stress test for then. I am also debating going with my aunt and her family to Colorado on there annual camping trip. I think the kids and I will go. Jeremy will be in Washington so we migh as well, right?

Nothing like a fieldtrip to keep you on your toes!

Cass, Alissa and I, and every other first grader at her school, went to the zoo today. They had the whole day planned with fun activities. First the zoo, then eating lunch at the gardens and playing on the playground. These activities were suspose to fill most of their school day. Instead, at about 11am a slight panic started working it's way through the teachers. There was a bomb threat at the airport not to far from the zoo. Because of this the school district decided to air on the side of caution and get the students back to school. I didn't mention that our school was not the only one's who were at the zoo at this time. It's a very crazy thing to round up 6 classes of first graders, 3 buses and a couple dozen parents and get them out of the zoo as quickly and calmly as possible. I must hand it to the kids though, they all did an awesome job even though they had no idea why their fun filled day was being cut 2.5 hours short.

They have concluded that the threat was a hoax. A very expensive hoax. The good thing, for the kids anyway, is that they have rescheduled their filedtrip for May 7th. Dylan's class will be going to the zoo on May 15th. Of course, I will once again be accompanying my kiddo's. Alissa will love it. Me, I'm not so sure. I think this last month of school is gonna make me a very worn out Momma!

A lot going on

There has been a lot going on here that I have failed to mention. First, Alissa got her ears pierced a couple of weeks ago. She has done really well with her pretty pink flower earrings. She didn't cry one bit when they pierced them either. I'll take pictures later. :)

Report cards came home yesterday. Of course, this has been Dylan's week. He was told Monday when he got his 220th AR point that he has the second highest amount of points in the whole school. The only kid ahead of him is a 5th grade boy! Remember Dylan is only a 2nd grader. Then he got to eat lunch in his classroom 2 days in a row. Once for perfect attendence and once for (drum roll, please) straight A's!! The girls didn't fair quite as well. Chey had all A's except spelling which was a C. She has such a hard time with spelling. Anyone have any suggestions on ways I could help her? Cass had a mix of A's and B's and (a record for my kids) one C. Chey didn't get her first C till 3rd grade and Dyl has never had a C. Knowing Dylan he'll probably have a stroke if he ever does gets a C...lol Of course, Cass is cut from the same cloth as her Daddy and could care less about that C. She's so much more laid back where school is concerned. She's popular and that's all that matters to her. :)

Scooter the wonder poodle has been back to the vet for her second set of puppy shots. It's crazy how much puppy care costs these days. In 2 visits she has cost us $200. We have one more set in about 2 weeks and we're all done with the puppy series. The housebreaking is actually going pretty well. She refuses to use the puppy pads but as long as we're good humans and take her out when we are suspose to she has no problem going outside. I took her to Petsmart to have her groomed too. The only problem is that is they did the puppy package which only consisted of a bath, brush and face trim. She's still got crazy, fuzzy fur. In two days she looked like a mess again. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to find somewhere else to take her to.

She blends into the couch. Which brings me to another thing I have forgotten to mention. I ordered new funriture in Febuary. Our couch was too small and our recliner was on it's last leg so we got a couch/loveseat set. They look like leather but they are actually microfiber. Both seats in the loveseat recline as well as both end seats on the couch. It's sooooo comfy! The only problem was that Ashley furniture hires a bunch of idiots. It took them 2 month and many calls with them telling us it would be here "next week" and Jeremy actually going in the store the Saturday before Easter to actually find out it was in Abilene. Then Jeremy had to go pick the furniture up himself. The furniture is great but the service sucks!

And I finally have those pics from last weekend (Thanks, Kelly!) and some from the little party we had for Jeremy's birthday Easter weekend. He's 31 now!

The drama queens!

My lil sis Lacie

Fake hair at Target

Lacie likes to play with my hair

Waiting for some awesome burgers

I like hats!!