All I Want for Christmas...

is my 2 front teeth:-) Caleb lost BOTH of his front teeth yesterday--with a little bit of help from a basketball to the mouth at Upward on Tuesday:-) His teeth were loose, but after getting hit, they really were about ready to come out. Caleb was really bothered by them, so he kept messing with them and wiggling them back and forth--then he pulled the first one out and asked me to pull out the second:-) They bled a little bit, but now he is fine. I told him now he could sing the above song for Christmas, so he started in. He has a pretty cute lisp when he says he "s" sounds, and I have noticed him sticking his tongue in the spots where his teeth were. He already has 1 of the "big" teeth coming through--he is growing up so fast!

PS And yes, I'm keeping it real--that is my ironing board in the background, along with the box for my Christmas tree, which is up without lights or ornaments--how did I get this far behind?

Spoke (or wrote) too soon

Well, I mentioned in my last post that Emma has been sick twice in the last few weeks. Well, we can add 1 more time to that for her, and also 1 to Jake's tally. Both of them had incidents where they threw up out of nowhere a few times, and then were fine. Emma's was in the middle of the night around 2 am, and Jake's was in the afternoon, but it was just in time for us to miss our Kid's Day Out Christmas parties. Thankfully he gets to go tomorrow, but I missed out on seeing all my sweet kids on Monday. I did go up to school to deliver the birthday cake for Jesus that I had made for class. I also had a bunch of embroidery items to get delivered ( and get paid for:-).

Mom came down last week to help me transport kids everywhere. Caleb had Upward basketball practice Tuesday, and choir practice Wednesday and Thursday. I just didn't want the other 2 kids to have to sit around and wait for him to be done. So mom was wonderful to come and help. She stayed with the younger 2 Wed. night, and took Caleb Thursday so she could watch the dress rehearsal. The program was on Sunday, and it was so good! They had 3 different acts, and Caleb and all the other kids were in the 2nd act. It was really sweet:-)

This week I have a cold that is really wiping me out, on top of Jake deciding that he needs to get up every few hours at night--it is really exhausting! Not to mention trying to finish up shopping, embroidery, cleaning, cooking, etc., all while Shon is out of town. Plus it has just been really stinkin' cold this week!

I do love Christmas, and thought I would leave you guys with my favorite version of "O Holy Night"--I absolutely LOVE David Phelps:-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZFxG6-WSnI

Hopefully I will get to post again before Christmas, but if not, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Catching up (the story of my life)

I am so sorry that I haven't updated in forever--Shon has started traveling again every week, and it seems by the time I have the kids down and in bed, I can't form a coherent thought, much less blog about anything.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Shon's family--it was wonderful to finally meet my nephew. Jake was predictably jealous at first, but seemed to do better the longer we were there. He was very sweet to "baby pa-ton" (Clayton) and towards the end of the visit was wanting to help by handing Renessa his blanket and paci.

We have been busy with choir for Caleb and Emma, ballet for Emma, upward basketball for Caleb, and just the KDO work/school for Jake and I. I have also (thankfully) had several people wanting me to monogram Christmas gifts for them, so that has kept me extra busy.

Also, Emma has been sick twice this month--more that she was all last year. She woke up one Saturday afternoon with high fever, so I had the pleasant experience of sitting in a walk-in clinic on Sunday for about 3 hours waiting for her to be seen. She ended up having strep throat, so after a shot and some Motrin, she was good to go. Thankfully she doesn't seem to be bothered at all by high fevers--I remember having to take her to the ER on Christmas Eve when I was pregnant with Jake because she woke from her nap with 104.6. She was still talking up a storm and jumping around:-) Then today she stayed home with me because she had fever upon arriving home from school yesterday--none since, but the whole 24 hour rule with school applied. I admit, if the temp is right at 100, sometimes I do go ahead and send them, but only if it has been long enough for the medicine to wear off, they are having no more fever, and they are acting fine.

Our KDO Christmas Party was yesterday, and it was so much fun. To my delight, I actually won a door prize:-) It is a really cute "bowling bag" style cosmetics case, and inside it had a manicure set and a set of yummy lotions from Bath and Body works.

I am trying to come up with some less expensive ideas for Christmas this year for family, so if anyone has any good ones, I would love to hear. I will email you mine, since I have some family that reads this and I don't yet want them to know what they are getting:-)

Since this is such a random post, I will go ahead and write down a few funnies from Jake today:

Jake(just out of the bath and in his room spinning around): I a princesh
Me: really? you are? what princess are you?
Jake: I wal mawt princesh
Me: ok, you're a wal-mart princess?
Jake: no I not princesh, I muh mayd.
Me: oh, now you're a mermaid. Have fun swimming!
Jake: ok-bye momma!

I really have no idea where that came from, but he really enjoys Wal-Mart- probably because he knows that is usually where we are going if I fix my hair and put on makeup. Hope everyone is gearing up for a wonderful Christmas--it is my absolute favorite time of the year, and I can't wait to decorate the tree this weekend.

Post-election musings

So the election is finally over--votes tallied, races won and lost, and history has occurred. Although the person I voted for did not come away the "winner", I truly believe that everything will be ok. God is in control--and He alone knows what will happen. I also know, thanks to a certain sweet lady from my meeting this morning, that we are called to pray for our leader, no matter who they are. So I need to search my own heart and admit that while I am not thrilled right now with the way the race turned out, it does not mean that I can turn my head or my heart away from our president-elect. He needs and deserves my prayers and support. So I guess this post is just to remind me I need to "put on my big girl panties" and be the adult and Christian God has called me to be--even if I don't feel like it.

I am gratified that we still have people in our country who believe in the sanctity of marriage and believe in what is best for the children of today. I praise God that in California marriage is now on their state constitution as being between one man and one woman only. I praise Him that in Arkansas you must be a non-cohabiting adult, either married or single, to foster and/or adopt a child. I know there were many opponents to both of these amendments who will say many things against those who voted their conscience, but God also knew the outcome to these votes, and for that I say amen!

Caleb's class had a mock election yesterday, as did Emma's. He voted for John McCain, and when I asked Emma who she voted for, she said, "Mark Obamba". I told her his correct name, and then asked why she chose him over McCain. She looked at me and said, "I can't read, so I just picked the wrong one." Thankfully they are still too young to really understand all that has been going on, but I will make a point today to talk to them about how significant this election really has been.

Sorry for the rambling--just wanted to get some of my thoughts out while I have a few minutes of quiet in the house.

Catching up

Well, once again I have fallen behind in blogging--it never fails. We have had a busy October--finishing soccer for Caleb, a trip to Silver Dollar City with mom, Razorback football with dad and of course Halloween. I will admit, usually I am much better about planning the kids costumes, but this year I decided that they could use what they already had. Emma received a Sleeping Beauty dress for her birthday this year, so she wore that--we already had the matching shoes, so I just bought her a new princess wand. Caleb wore the same costume he had last year ( I know, bad mom), but it fit him better this year. I bought him a new light saber. My sweet friend Jennifer loaned us 2 Toy Story costumes for Jake--he wore the Woody outfit on Monday to Kids Day Out, and Buzz for Thursday and Halloween. He looked really cute (they all did), and was thrilled to wear his favorite characters from one of his favorite movies.

The kids and I trekked to Branson with mom a few Saturdays ago--I don't think I have ever seen SDC that crowded--you could barely walk. The kids had a great time riding rides--Jake especially loved it--he laughed through most of the rides--that sweet little boy belly laugh:-) We ended the day by splitting a funnel cake--the perfect end to the day!

Caleb had his last soccer game yesterday--his team did great! They won 6 to 2. Caleb really hustled and had 2 assists--he was so proud. His team received their trophies, which Jake somehow has already manged to break:-( I am hopeful that we can glue it back together.

Emma is continuing with ballet--she lost 1 of her shoes a few weeks ago, so last week I broke down and asked for another pair. Of course, we found her other shoe right after her class--it never fails!

Jake is doing really well with potty training (hope I am not jinxing it). He has not had an accident in a couple of weeks (as far as #1 goes). He enjoys wearing big boy underwear, for the most part.

We are gearing up to start Upward Basketball with Caleb in a few weeks. I am hoping he will do well in it and enjoy learning to play.

Hope everyone is doing well, and I will try to do better with updating! I am just proud of myself for understanding how to change my background without help from Shon!

A few funnies to remember

So I wanted to write down a few funnies from my kids before they leave my brain forever:-) Last night we were sitting down to a later than normal supper (breakfast for supper--yummy!), and I said the quick and easy, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food, Amen". Emma turns to me and I hear her say, "How do we know that God is great?" Thinking this is a great time for a "Bible lesson" I tell her that it says in the Bible that God is great and that we can look it up after supper. Then she asks me, " How do we know He isn't peach?" I sat for a few minutes and then had to leave the table so she wouldn't see me laughing. I figured out she had asked me how we know that God is GREY, not great. After recovering, I went in and told her the correct prayer. It's pretty sad that she has been saying it for years at church and Kids Day Out and never knowing what she truly was saying:-) This also occurred with her saying the Pledge of Allegiance. It is the United Stakes of America, and one nation, under God, invisible, with liberty and justice for all:-)

Jake has his own unique way of pronouncing words that is really cute. Some of my favorites are as follows:

His supper prayer: Deah Goh, Deah Goh, Ame ( no "n" on the amen)
His sister Emma: Gray ( he calls her Grace instead of Emma--her middle name is Grace)
Talking on the phone: Hewo dere
Needing something to drink: My dink peese
Wanting to be tickled: kickle me
Pick me up: Pick up me
His brother Caleb: bubba
My sister Christy and her husband Josh: Crick kee and Jwah
Calling my dad a goober (thanks for that word, dad:-): Papa, you a googer!
Needing a band aid: Need a dan dane
Saying yes ma'am: bed pan

I'm sure I will think of more, but I wanted to get them down while a could. We are busy into the swing of school and work and everything that goes along with it. I joined the choir a few weeks ago and Emma and Caleb are both in the kids choir. Caleb is almost finished with soccer, but Upward Basketball will start in November. Emma is in ballet 1 day a week, which is more than enough:-) Jake just comes along for the ride, but is really enjoying his Kids Day Out class. I am enjoying my class, although it has taken some getting used to, going from 4 1/2 year olds to 2's turning 3. Thankfully I only work 1 day, and get a day with no kids on Thursdays:-) Hope everyone is well, and I will write again soon!

Remembering

I wasn't sure if I wanted to post today, but feel I should write down my memories of 9/11 so that I will have them. I remember it being a normal work day for me--Caleb was only 4 months old, so I had not been back to work very long. Dr. Whitaker had his office tv on, and was watching it while waiting for patients to be checked in. I wasn't usually over at that part of the clinic, but I don't remember Casey (Dr. Stewart) working that day, so that's probably why I was over there. As soon as the news came on and we saw what had happened, I remember thinking how awful it was that the airplane had crashed into the tower--still thinking it is an accident and that something bad had possibly happened to the pilot. When the second plane hit, I knew then that it was no accident. My first thought was to get to Caleb. I remember it so clearly in my mind. I just wanted to hold my baby and make sure he was fine, although I knew he was. We kept the tv on the rest of the work day, and I remember leaving at lunch and going over to Caleb's daycare ( it was on-site) and just holding him close.

I remember how Peter Jennings became teary while reporting on the towers collapsing. I remember how he told every viewer to hug their children and family members. I remember Mayor Rudy Guiliani, and how in control he seemed. I remember being so thankful that President Bush had won the election. I also remember wondering where God was in the midst of the horrible act. Then the stories started to come out--stories of courage and honor. I can remember the woman whose husband died on Flight 93-I can still see her pregnant form standing up in her black dress at one of the many special reports that were still on days and weeks later. I remember being so proud to be an American and so unified with the rest of the country. I can remember reading about all the different stories in People and Newsweek. I saved the magazines and newspapers in the days after the attacks.

And now it is seven years later. My baby is in 2nd grade, and the country is no longer united. I think about the different people whose lives were irrevocably changed by 9/11--those who lost loved ones, and my heart still goes out to them. Today was a normal day for our family--school, work, laundry, etc, but I wanted to remember and reflect on the significance of today while it was on my mind.