Christmas Pictures

Here are some pictures from our Christmas break so far. I made it through the Holiday store at the school, and it was a huge success! I'm so glad that the kids enjoyed it.

We have had a nice couple of weeks out of school and the kids don't go back until January 5th. Chris still is not back to work, and it could be any day now. We are waiting for that call, but then again, I'm getting use to him being home, and not sure I'm really ready for him to go back. lol, but he has to.

There will be more pictures soon of the kids new playhouse. We had some lumber given to us, and after only about 150 more worth of stuff needed to finish it, the playhouse is almost complete. It is so nice, and Chris has had so much help from his step-dad, grandpa, and uncle. I hope to have it all painted and "play-able" tomorrow.

So here are the pictures:
These few are of the Holiday Store at the school that I decorated








Chris and I working on princess' kitchen


princess with her presents

speed racer with his presents

The playroom after the tornado hit it, before the orgnaiztion began



The playroom finished


monkey's section

princess' section

speed racer's section
speed racer's section


I was so tired of hearing daily how no one wanted to clean the upstairs because the other kids messed it up, so wolla. Here is my solution to fix it. It took me three hours yesterday and I decided to make their own "stations" where the other children cannot get into to(well they can, but it's a barrier) that way they can't blame each other when their "station" isn't cleaned. I don't know if it will work, but hey I have to try! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and a has a Happy New Year!

I'm still here

We have been so busy lately. I am in charge of the Holiday Shop at school and have been crazy busy with that. It is a store where the kids can come and buy gifts for their moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and siblings. It is so neat and the things are like .25 to 15.00. It's the first year the school has done it, so I hope it turns out great.

I plan on posting more later, and hopefully some pictures, but I've got to go now, we are all sick with a cold since the weather went from in the 60s yesterday morning to below 30 last night! Yuck! Hope everyone has a great week!

Not Me! Monday

I'm trying this new thing out that I found o MckMama's blog.

I did not put up Christmas decorations while speed racer cut princess' hair upstairs with scissors from the first aid kit.

I did not put up all of my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.

I did not still take our family to have Christmas pictures done the day afterprincess' hair tragedy.

I did not steam clean all of my carpets and clean the entire house by Saturday for my mother's arrival six days away.

I did not become surprised when the house was a disaster by Sunday at lunch.

I did not bribe my six year old with a snack at lunch if he has good days.

Hope you enjoyed, check our MckMama's blog to join in!

Grandma's Payback has arrived

This was me at age two after my wonderful sister decided to cut my hair...right before picture day!


This is princess at age 4 right after her wonderful brother decided to cut her hair...right before picture day!

This is the end result of the hair cut, it was all we could do.

Today is our family chirstmas pictures, so princess will always remember that haircut. I guess payback for me from my mother has arrived!

I can not believe that America has voted this way

I am Shocked that Obama will be the next president of the United States! I am sick to my stomach thinking about what he will do as president. I just hope and pray that every american who believed his lies and voted for him will be able to sleep at night when we have another terriost attack on our country. Obama is ready to pull our troops out of Iraq and lose the war that we have fought for 7 years. That is pretty much slapping all of our military men and women right in the face! Every life lost was a waste now thanks to Obama. He will not regret doing this, because he does not care or think twice about the men and women who serve our country, hell he doesn't even care about children. He is for PARTIAL birth abortion?!? That means you could go in at 9 months pregnant and decide during labor you want you baby killed and he thinks that is ok to do. That is the kind of man that will be president. I am so outraged right now. I have never felt so strongly about an election before, but this one I do. I just don't want to think about everything this man will do as president........

We knew this day would come.........

But SERIOUSLY!?!?! the hubby found out this morning at work that he is being laid off until who knows when. The program ended and he will be out of work for at least a few weeks, maybe longer. We won't know anymore information on that until November 18th. I'm suprisingly ok. I'm not mad or upset, just bummed. We already have plans for my mom and best friend Rachel to come here the week before thanksgiving and then go back to Alabama with them, and the hubby will fly in as well. We have all already bought the tickets and everything. It is not a good thing! I'm trying not to stress out about this until we know a better timeframe as to how long he will be without work. Just keep us in your thoughts and prayers please!

Long post! Sorry!

Sorry I never posted after Anthony's appointment a few weeks ago. I have been so busy that I barely have time to sit down for 5 minutes everyday. Anthony did very good at his swallow study, the results show that he does have penetration and aspiration with almost every swallow. This means that in the penetration it is going in the lungs barely. Aspiration means it is staying in the lungs. At the beginning of the test they gave him straight apple juice with no thickener, they let him get one swallow and had to take it from him with the fear that had he continued it would have caused aspiration which is not good. They began thickening everything to find a consistency that he would not aspirate or penetrate as much with. We think we have found a good consistency but he does still get the red watery eyes with most drinks even after the thickening so we don't know yet. They concluded that he has an oral motor weakness, which means that his mouth needs some work to become stronger basically. Abigail's speech therapist came out Friday and evaluated him and will began treatment with him in a week or so. Which is great because she has been around him watching him eating and drinking for a year now, so she is very familiar with him. I think that is important in fixing his issue. She has done so good with Abigail, I am amazed that with this next evaluation in November she will probably graduate from speech.....keep our fingers crossed that this does not happen so soon, because she does still need some work, not much, but some. We are hoping we can at least get another 6 months in. Either way she has only had speech for one year and if she does graduate that is awesome! She started out at the level of a one year old and is now the level of a 4 year old. She is such a hard worker and she tries so hard! I'm very proud of her. She is also doing great in school and is now writing her name and recognizing letters and numbers. She also went to her specialist for a check up and she has gained 2 lbs in 6 weeks!!! I was so excited when we found that out, this means that all along the only set back was her acid reflux, who knew that a little prevacid every day would help her gain weight, she now eats much more than before!

So that's pretty much what's been going on here. We have been back and fourth to doctor's appointments and we joined a gym so that keeps us busy a few times a week. I've been trying to stop drinking the Dr.Pepper and that is actually working out great! I have had a 24 pack for about two weeks now, which is very good for me, I usually go through a 24 pack in a few days! I've been drinking one cup of coffee in the morning, and usually Gatorade throughout the day. It's not water, but it's definitely better than Dr.Pepper! lol I have also decided to stop eating so much fast food, we were eating it about 4-5 times a week! That is way too much!! I have not bought ANYTHING from fast food for almost a week now! We have been eating at home for every meal and I haven't even been stopping in for a soda. I am starting to realize that whatever I do the kids will do, therefore I do not want to teach them to live off of fast food and soda and junk. My kids RARELY get soda or candy but yet I was never hesitant to give them fast food, kinda stupid now that I think about it. I'm trying to be more careful as to what they are eating. I'm not going to turn into an organic health nut or anything, but just lay off the salt and sugar.

I'll try to post pictures up tomorrow of our weekend. We just went and got pumpkins Friday night and took Abigail to a fall festival last night. Hayden had his first boy scout camp out last night and he enjoyed doing that. I stayed at home with Abigail and Anthony.

One last thing about our experience yesterday. We had a scheduled time between 12-4 pm for Direct TV to come out and upgrade our TV to HD, well we scheduled this appointment when we got our new furniture, so a month ago. Anyways the guy calls at 330 and says "ma'am I'm running later I'll TRY to be there by 5pm!" I was so mad! I had sat around and waited all day for them only to find out they would not be there for another hour and a half, so anyways I had to wait it out. 5 comes and the guy finally shows up a few minutes later. He walks into my house, with the 11 year old kid and tells the kid to put the HD box in the living room, then put the DVR box in the master bedroom. I was shocked! This 11 year old was about to do the work in my home?!?! The father then walked outside and the kid, who kept leaving my front door wide open(UGH!) came in with the HD box, he began to take out the DVR to move into the bedroom, he yanks on the cords and then decides that it is not going to work that way, so he finally does the smart thing to and thinks about what he is doing to get the box out correctly. He then drops the DVR on our TV! I was so mad!!! While all of this is happening the father is where? oh, by the van outside on the phone! The boy then goes to my bedroom, which I followed him, and hooked up the DVR in there. Then he goes back to the living room to install the HD box and we had to tell him to stop because he was trying to do everything the wrong way and could not get the box positioned right on the shelf. He goes outside and gets his dad, 20 minutes later they both come in to hook up the HD box. The father then tells me that he has no clue how to run a multiple line so I can only record one show at a time in my room, not two. I said whatever at this point it was 730 I just wanted them gone! Well now today the HD is not working properly, and there are wires outside exposed that he did nothing with, he forgot to fun one of the lines, and now guess what else........WE HAVE NO AIR!!! This is a new unit and he some how managed to mess it up as well! Wonderful!!!!!! I called Direct TV and they are refunding HALF of the install price and having another installer come out on Wednesday to hook it up properly. I will also be making calls tomorrow to the work force about the 11 year old who installed my Direct TV!


Sorry for the long post!!:)

Ok I need some help

I want to go private, but don't know how. I want to know who is reading my blog. I have some things I would like to say and I just want to go private for the time being. Can someone help me with doing this?

Long time.....

Sorry I have not posted in a while. We have just been so busy! I have joined the PTA at the kids school and now I am the treasurer! It was a big suprise to me, but I'm happy to do it. I am also in charge of two fundraisers that we are having between now and December, so I am super busy! Not to mention everything that I still have to do at home!!

monkey is having a swallow study done today at 1:00. This will show how he swallows different types of food and drink. He has been having issues since birth with eating, however we never realized how bad it was until trying to introduce the sippy cup. He tries to drink from it, but has no control, he ends up choking or it all pours out of his mouth. princess' speech therapist, Krystal, is wonderful and she has sat several times and tried to help us with monkey. So the end result now is that we are still on a bottle and he is almost 14 months. The reason is because with the bottle he does not choke and spit it out as much. He is aspirating, or so we think, that is the point of the swallow study today. If so we will know where to go from here. Krystal will do an evaluation on him soon and began speech therapy as well with him. She has been princess'therapist since monkey was only a couple months old, so she has been around him a lot. I feel more comfortable with it being someone who is familiar with him, plus she has done GREAT things withprincess. People can not even tell that she had such a bad speech problem just a year ago.

Today is a school holiday and parent teacher conferences, so we shall see how they are doing in school. Since I'm up there daily I'm not expecting any news I don't already know. But I'll post later about those.
the hubby and I are doing so much better! He has been on medication now for about a month, and that has really been working great. We also went and saw the movie "Fireproof" that was a GREAT movie! It had us crying when we left there. Chris got home and went to walmart to get the book, and has stuck by it faithfully for the past week and a half. It has made a HUGE change in both of us towards each other! We are so different with each other after watching that movie. I'm so glad we did.

Well I better get ready for our day. I'll try to post later!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well I was able to talk my husband into buying a new living room set for my birthday and our anniversary (in November). His birthday is in October but he wanted HD channels put on the tv so that is what he is getting. This was a wonderful gift, I've wanted new furniture because EVERYTHING we have with the exception of monkey's crib and the kitchen table we had, were bought used. I've never owned NEW furniture! I was so exicited, as was the hubby, to be able to get this. It is white, which I've already been told that was a bad idea, but we do have a 5-year warranty. No need to worry, our kids are perfect.......aren't they? LOL

My mother in law decided to buy a new dining room set, so therefore we were given their old set. Which is not old to us! It is in perfect condition, and seats 6, we had a table that only sat 4, which would be a problem in about a year. So on Saturday we got a new living room set and dining room table. It is awesome! I'm so happy to be able to have something nice for a change!

Our sofa

the loveseat and chaise lounge

another view of the living room

some Halloween decor

our dining room set

Libby Lu

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Seriously?!?

Are we all aboard the USS Ship of Fools? Makes me wonder! The first time I
read this quote, I thought it was dangerously true. Then I
really started pondering it and thought how would this apply to our own
lives/careers? Let's look at it again to see how absurd it is.

You couldn't get a job at McDonalds and become district manager after 143
days of experience.

You couldn't become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of
being a surgeon.

You couldn't get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143
days of experience.

You couldn't join the military and become a colonel after a 143 days of
experience.

You couldn't get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor
after 143 days of experience.

BUT....

'From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the
time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he
logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the
Senate was actually in session and working.
After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be
Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of
Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan. 143 days?

We all have to start somewhere. The senate is a good start, but after 143
days, that's all it is - a start. AND, strangely, a large sector of the
American public seems to feel comfortable with this and campaigning for
him.

We wouldn't accept this in our own line of work, yet some are OK with this
for the President of the United States of America ?

Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol.
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!

Get Over It

I am so tired of turning on the news these past two days and hearing what a shame it is that the the republican nominee for Vice Presidents daughter is 17 years old and pregnant....so what?!? What does that have to do with the election???? NOTHING! People are saying that this is so horrible and that McCain made a bad decision by picking a women for VP who has a 17 year old unmarried pregnant daughter. I don't think that makes any reflection on what type of politician she is or what type of Vice President she will be. I think that had she lied and covered it all up like the democrats do then yes that shows her character. She has been honest about the pregnancy and John McCain has known about it long before choosing her to be his running mate.

Sarah Palin is so much like the average American, and this proves it even more. How many families right now are dealing with the same issues as her, probably thousands. She has a 19-year old son going to Iraq to fight for our freedom, and a 17-year old unwed pregnant mother, and a four month old baby boy with down syndrome. She IS the average American.

Many of you know that I was 17 when I became pregnant with speed racer. To me it was not then nor is it now a mistake. No pregnancy in my eyes is a mistake. Did I mean to get pregnant? No. Did I think twice about what I was going to do as a result of it? No. Does this make my parents bad people because I was 17 unwed and pregnant? No. It does not matter how good of a mother you are if it is meant to be for your son/daughter to have a child and a young age it is going to happen. This makes me so mad that people are judging her mother for what she is responsible for. I am just so aggravated about this being a "big problem" to everyone, it is not one to me. I think it shows her morals and values more so because she did not try to talk her daughter into abortion. She said that her daughter has her support 100% with going through with the pregnancy, I think that is the best thing they can do for her.

monkey's Birthday

Today was monkey's first birthday! We had a party for him this afternoon, and it was Elmo themed. He loved the cake, he didn't care so much for opening the gifts. Here are some photos from today, and I am going to put up video also.

monkey's Elmo cake

Wouldn't keep his hat on

Next to my beautiful Hibiscus that bloomed today:)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Born in Idaho, Palin moved to Alaska with her parents, to Charles and Sally Heath, when she was 3 months old.

She grew up in Wasilla, just outside of Anchorage, and played on the Wasilla state championship girls’ basketball team. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in 1984 and was a runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant.

Palin studied journalism and political science at the University of Idaho and graduated in 1987. She eloped with her high school boyfriend, Todd Palin, in 1988 to save money on an expensive wedding. She helped out in her husband’s family commercial fishing business and appeared occasionally as a television sportscaster.

Palin won a seat on the Wasilla City Council in 1992 as a new face and a new voice, and by opposing tax increases. Four years later she was elected mayor at 32 by knocking off a three-term incumbent. At the end of her second term, party leaders encouraged her to enter the 2002 race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Against veteran legislators with far more experience, Palin finished second by fewer than 2,000 votes, making a name for herself in statewide politics. She was elected Alaska’s youngest and first woman governor in 2006.

Sarah and Todd Palin have five children: boys Track, 19, and Trig, 4 months, and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. Palin had kept her pregnancy with Trig a secret as she worked in the governor’s mansion, confirming only weeks before the birth that she was going to have a son who she knew would have Down syndrome. She returned to work in April three days after giving birth.

Palin will be the second female vice presidential candidate from a major political party. The first, Ferrarro, told FOX News that Palin could pick up a lot of Hillary Clinton’s supporters who have not locked in on Obama.

What do you think about McCain's pick for Vice President? I think it will be good for our country if McCain wins the election with her as VP. I'm not THAT into politics, but this election has caught my attention, and I'm not sure why. I like the fact that they are both pro-life. That is important to me, Palin has a four month old with down syndrome, that is a lot to say about a women who knew prior to having the baby what challenges she would face. Still as any mom should do she continued with the pregnancy and I admire that. I don't want someone in the white house that thinks that human life does not begin at conception. I also don't want someone in the white house who thinks since the child will be born with a medical condition it's OK to terminate the pregnancy. That is ridiculous. EVERY person deserves life regardless of what challenges they may face because of their disability.

She appears to be a hard worker. She went back to work THREE days after having her son! That's amazing.And on top of working she also raises five children. Their ages range from 19 years old to four months old. That's a lot of work in itself. She has gone through, or is going through, what a lot of Americans go through daily that most politicians do not, I think so anyways.

What do you guys think?

Totaled

They have totaled the Blazer, and we will find out tommorrow how much they will give us for it. I'm aggravted with the whole situation, I don't know how much we will get and if it will pay off what we owe. It sounds like it will be pretty close, but not sure yet. We now have to try to get into a new car loan and that is not easy. Oh and they will be taking away the rental car as soon as we get the check for the blazer being totaled! Yay we are in for a fun few days!! And then monkey's first birthday party is Sunday.....fun fun fun! I can not wait for my stressfilled week....not the sarcasam??

The kids started school today and loved it, I will post pictures probably tommorrow, I've been upset with the whole car thing all day, and honestly I'm about to take a bath and go to bed!

Why people NEED car insurance....

Last night at about 8:30pm, I had just dropped the kids and the hubby off at home and was headed to Target. I was talking to my mom on the phone and was stopped at a red light. I look and see this big Chevy Subarban coming at me head on! I started telling my mom I'm about to get hit, this lady is going to hit me! I was so scared. She somehow managed to get between me and another car (a sable type car) and drove through the middle of us while hitting 5 cars along the way. She then was stopped one because she lost a tire, and two because she hit the cement wall. (we were on an overpass) The lady and everyone else involved were all ok, no injures that had to be taken to the hospital....Thank God! I do not know how or why she did not hit me head on! The paramedics told us it was our lucky day, I truly believe that. Yes it sucks, because now my blazer will be in the shop for who knows how long, and now I have to deal with getting a rental car and all the insurance crap. BUT it could have been MUCH worse! I'm glad that I don't have too much damage....and that I had car insurance!! (Honestly, I did not enjoy paying that bill too much, and it more times than not got pushed to the end of the importance line and seldomly got paid.) FROM NOW ON, WE WILL HAVE INSURANCE!!!! And I am going to add unisured motorist today. In fact I may just raise my insurance now, hahaha......The lady did have insurance so at least I don't have to worry about that as well! Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Okay everyone, it's time for a new "get to know your friends" post! I was never tagged, but got the idea from someone else's blog... here are the rules: Take all pictures right away (no cleaning up first!!!), and then tag three friends to do it too!


1. Favorite Destination
Could not think of one....sorry!

2. Self Portrait



3. What the Kids are Doing
Monkey: playing with his toy (the hubby did his hair in a mohawk after bathtime)

Speed Racer: watching the hubby play the xbox 360...oh and pouting! :(

Princess: sitting in my bed watching cartoons.....



4. My Closet



5. Laundry Room


6. The Refrigerator


7. Favorite Room in the House
The living room....sorry it's not too clean



8. The Bathroom
The kids bathroom, it is pretty plain....



9. The Kitchen Sink
we do the dishes at night, so the sink is full right now.....sorry!



10. Favorite Shoes




ok I tag Leigh , Amy, andRita That's who I know read my blog, anyone else is welcome to do it.....let me know once you have!