Mothers Day and the House

Yesterday was a very bittersweet day for me. I missed mamma something fierce, but it's hard to be sad when you have such sweet kids. (She wouldn't want that anyway!) My day started out with 3 VERY excited kids giving me their homemade presents. Morgan gave me the butterfly, Preston the flower and Shelby the cookbook. The cookbook is hilarious. Here's Shelby's contribution:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

You need chocolate chip cookie dough (notice she doesn't even try to pretend that I make it from scratch) Put it on the pan. Put the stove to 100 degrees. Put them in the oven for 1 hour. Then take them out and put it on a cooling rack.- by Shelby

After gifts, we went to St. George for my Mothers Day lunch and a little shopping. I made it through 2 stores before I was done with walking! We came home and went to the new house. They are prepping for stucco right now and hanging drywall. Here are some updated pictures.

Front of the House

Back of the house and the future back patio

From the living room looking into the dining room

Master Bedroom and the toilet room (yes there's a separate room for the toilet)

Also, after looking at the house yesterday, Chris thinks that the garage is tall enough to put a lift in the 3rd garage. Suddenly my new dining room table and bed set got bumped to the end of the line! Oh well, if he has that, he'll be able to do all of his side work at HOME!!! How awesome will that be? We're currently taking donations for the cost of a new lift! lol

As a side note, Preston LOVED the Monster Truck Spectacular. I got a couple short videos that I'll post when I have better internet. But here's my favorite picture!

Homesick

My friend Charon inspired this blog. I've been feeling a little homesick lately, so I thought I'd make a list of thing I miss about the south. Trust me, the town I'm from in Florida is definitely southern!
1) Football- More specifically, GATOR football. I get a kick out of going to SUU football games because my high school stadium is bigger than Eccles Coliseum.
2)Grits- Grits are a staple at our house. For those of you that don't know what they are, it's basically ground hominy. There are really only 2 ways to eat grits: WITH or WITHOUT cheese along with butter, salt and pepper. You do not add fruit, milk, sugar, syrup or any other "yankeefied" concoction that you non-southern folks may have come up with.
3)Magnolias- MMMMMM! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the smell of magnolias.
4)Chicken on the bone- You CANNOT make real fried chicken with boneless skinless chicken breast.
5) "Mamma" "Daddy", "Granny", "Nanna" etc- I don't think I ever called my mother "mom". She was "Mamma" . I didn't really have a dad, but for those that do, it's not uncommon to hear a grown man call his father, "Daddy". Everyone has a "Granny" "Papa" or something similar. We southerners differentiate between grandparents by giving them different nicknames. It doesn't matter who I'm talking to, I call my grandmother, "Granny". At first people look at me like I'm nuts, but then they get used to it. I used to tease Mamma by telling her that I was going to have my kids call her "Mee Maw". She swore that if I did, she'd slap me. She would have done it too, cause "mamma's" aren't afraid to slap their kids hahaha
6)"Ya'll"- I didn't know that you could hold a conversation without using the word "Ya'll"
7)Horse Farms- Here's a news flash Cedar City: Having a 1/2 acre lot does not mean that you have "horse property".
8)Boiled Peanuts- you take fresh peanuts (shell on) and boil them in salt water ALL DAY! They are so yummy!
9)"Bless Her Heart"- you can say anything you want about someone as long as you say, "Bless his/her heart". It the magic phrase that makes everything ok. Ex. "Her baby is the ugliest thing I've ever seen, bless his heart."
10)Southern Women- there are 2 very different kinds of southern women. There is the debutant. Then there is the hick. Ex. Steel Magnolias vs My Big Redneck Wedding (I have to admit, I love this show. Chris turns his chair so that he can watch ME watch the show.)
11)Watermelon- I grew up on a watermelon farm. Nearly every year, my Granny and Grandpa would lease out their fields to local farmers. As part of the deal, we got unlimited watermelons. I remember busting the melon on the ground, eating the heart out, spitting the seeds at each other for fun (Yes, Celeste, I actually did this), then throwing the rest to the cows. It's really the only way to eat watermelon. lol
12)The Accent- I've lost most of my accent. However, it only takes 2 things to bring it back.. 1)Watching Paula Dean on TV or 2)make me mad! Trust me, it'll come back full force then! (I can use this to my advantage with Chris though. He can't argue with me if he can't understand a word I'm saying.)
13)The Food- Southern food is good. Why? Cause it's fattening. There's just no way around it. I miss foods like collard, mustard and turnip greens, black eyed peas, banana pudding. strawberry shortcake, BBQ, baked beans, and okra. I try to make them, but it's just not the way Mamma made it!
14)Water- and not the frozen kind that we get here. I miss all of the lakes, beaches, ponds, rivers, springs, etc. Heck you even have to breath water in Florida!
15)Tradition and History- I know that Utah is rich with Mormon Pioneer history, but that doesn't apply to me. Most of my family history isn't exactly politically correct nowadays, so I won't go into it (Hello, it's the south). However, I love visiting my Granny's family in South Carolina and seeing all the Civil War landmarks. Where else in the world do they proudly reenact a war that they lost?!?!?!

I've lived in Utah for 10 years. It's my home and I love it here. However, sometimes I really wish that we could make it back more often. Maybe one day we'll be in a position to do that. Until then, I'll just have to enjoy all the things that make Utah unique! (I'm trying to work up the nerve to take a picture of a polygamist at Wal-Mart for you folks back home)

Before I forget, we're taking Preston to the Monster Truck rally tonight. He's going to be SOOO excited. I'll take lots of pictures for Grandma Charlene!!!

Pictures of house

I went back to work tonight. YAY!!!! I never thought I'd be so excited to go back to work!

Here are a few pics of the house. It's not really safe for me to go hobbling around the house right now cause they have the dirt all broken up, so I had Chris take a bunch of pictures for me. The plumbers should be done today, they are starting on the roof today and Chris is meeting with the electrician this morning to tell him where he wants all of the outlets. We found out that we're not going to be able to get the potfiller as planned, but that's ok. Apparently it won't work with the micro-hood, so I guess I'll have to walk the whole 2 ft to the kitchen sink (sigh).. (When I told my Granny about the potfiller, she said, "Jana, that's got to be the laziest thing I've ever heard of." hahaha)

Moving Right Along

Today was a really decent day. I've only had 1 Percacet all day. WooHoo. I finally got to take a shower!! Double WOOHOO! Tonight, I ventured out of the house (triple WooHoo)to ride by our new house. This is what it looked like on Tuesday.

This is what it looks like today

This is what it should look like when it's done.

They say that they should have the roof finished and hopefully the stucco done by the end of next week. We're getting really excited!!!

Much Better

I'm doing much better today. Still very sore, but I don't feel like cutting the entire leg off would be a better alternative, anymore. The anti-nausea meds did wonders for me!!!!
The workers comp. lady is a witch!!! Now, I have to get authorization directly from her for every single prescription that I get. She's a power hungry witch and I sincerely hope that karma comes back to bite her!!!!
ok, well I'm off to make lunch for Morgan and Preston and then hopefully, I'll be able to get them to "snuggle me until I fall asleep"....they'll be out within 30 seconds!

It's a Long One!

Yesterday was a crazy day. Ok first of all I had my surgery and everything went well. We got to the hospital at 11:30 for the pre-op stuff (Preg. test , IV, and lots of waiting) They were about 45 minutes late getting me into the OR. Here's my funny story about the surgery. One of the surgery techs (I think that's what she was) was putting a bunch of monitors on me and she warned me that the tab would be REALLY cold. When she put it on me I said, "Oh that's not too bad. My kids feet are colder than that when they climb in bed with me." She said, "Yeah, my husband has really cold feet and quite frankly he always wants to stick them right in my (whispering) crotch." WAIT...REWIND!! Did she really just say that? Have I had loopy meds yet? Nope, she just said that! I said, "um I think I'd have a problem with that too." Then she says, "I'm sorry but there are some things that don't need to go in there" The other nurses were just looking at her like "what the hell?" TOO! MUCH! INFORMATION! LADY! I couldn't help but laugh though. It definitely cut the tension. haha

Then, they started asking me about my kids and stuff. Next thing I knew I was waking up and desperately wanting Chris. After a few minutes (I have no idea how long it really was.) they took me back to my room. Chris was there waiting to make everything right in the world again. There's just something about having him close that makes everything all better.

While we were waitng for me to wake up, our contractor called. Apparently when they framed the house on Tuesday, they only framed it for 6 ft. doors instead of 8. He wanted to let Chris know that it was being fixed so that Chris didn't freak out. Also, when he was walking around out there, he noticed that the windows in one of the bedrooms aren't up to code. Apparently, neither the contractor nor the architect caught this. SO now we have to change a few things around. I say that this is not our responsibility to pay for!!! Chris took care of it (or is taking care of it.)

About 5:30, Chris left to go get my prescriptions filled. When he got to the pharmacy, he gave them the card that workers comp had sent me for my prescriptions. When they tried to run the card, it was denied. The pharmacist called the company and was told that my pain meds have not been approved yet. So, Chris had to pay for them out of pocket. It wasn't very much, but it's the principle of it. It's not our responsibility to pay for the meds. I told Chris that I was going to let him handle the case manager today. Heaven help that woman!!! I have a pain pump directly into the incision that will administer pain meds until i get it out on Monday and I'm on Percacet. It STILL hurts like hell, and this woman didn't think it might be a good idea to authorize pain meds???

We finally left the hospital at about 6:15. On the way home, I started throwing up. All I've been able to keep down so far is toast and water. Anything else comes back up. Not the best diet plan!
Poor Chris was up all night helping me and then had to go to work today. They girls are VERY emotional. They're trying to help me, but are scared to death of hurting me. Even Preston was really snuggley this morning. I keep telling them that it hurts right now, but it'll get better.
They went to school this morning and my friend Celeste (she freaking rocks!) came and took Preston to pre-school for me. I decided to try sitting on my couch. It's such a comfy, cushiony, and squishy couch! I love it! However, I couldn't get off the stupid thing. It literally took me 45 minutes, a phone call to Chris and lots of tears to get off the couch. Now that I'm up, it's funny, but it wasn't at the time!

I've decided that I would much rather go through labor than this! At least with labor, you get a big prize at the end. This just sucks!!

ok, I'm done whining now... tomorrow I'll try to post something a little happier!

Preston's Party

Even though Preston's actual birthday isn't until Tuesday, we had his party today. It was his 1st "friends" party and he had a lot of fun. After it was over he kept saying, "I had a good burpday party." and "Did you wike my burpday party?" Here are a few pictures!

I can't believe my baby is getting so big!

Surgery

They've scheduled my surgery for next Wednesday!
Preston has been on one today. Funny things he's said:
1)"Well if wouldn't have broke your knee you wouldn't need surgery."
2)Chris picked Preston up in a Parkway car and the seat belt chime kept going off. When Preston asked why it was doing that, Chris told him that it was because he didn't have his seat belt on. Preston said, "No it's cause you didn't fix it right." haha

Easter

We had a really good Easter weekend. I thought that I was going to have to work a double on Saturday, but at the last minute I found out that I didn't have to go in until my regular shift. I was so excited to decorate eggs with the kids. (I didn't realize that Preston was half naked until everything was finished and all of the pics had been taken.)

When I got home on Sunday, the Easter Bunny had arrived and brought TONS of stuff for the kids. Preston was so cute, when he woke up. He rolled over and VERY groggily said, "Is it Easter yet?" when we told him "Yes" he jumped straight out of bed, WIDE AWAKE. All of the kids LOVED their baskets.

After daylight (lol) we went outside to do our Easter egg hunt. They had so much fun. Chris pelted me with rocks and mud during the hunt hahaha After the egg hunt, Chris and the kids went to Escalante. I went to sleep! They had a lot of fun!

On Monday, I found out that my surgery has finally been approved. I go to the Dr. on Thursday to go over the procedure again. The receptionist said that it would probably be next week that they do it. You know the feeling that you have right before you have a baby? You've been so anxious to have it, but then as soon as you walk through the hospital doors, you get that "Oh crap, this is gonna hurt." panicked feeling... that's the feeling I have right now. I'm anxious to get it over with, but REALLY nervous.

Today, Chris and I went to St. George to pick out all of the stuff for our house. I wish you all could have seen Chris' face as the interior decorator and I spent almost half an hour debating over which shade of tan paint to use. Then, once we decided on a color, we couldn't find a trim color that I really loved, so we ended up changing the paint color again. hahaha His face was priceless! We went with knotty alder cabinets with a wheat stain, granite counter tops, oil rubbed bronze fixtures, marble vanity tops, jetted tub, and a double grooved front door. We decided that we could have doubled the cost of our house with just upgrades. They are hoping to pour the foundation on Thursday. It was ready to pour today, but it's been rainy, so they have to wait. I'll keep everyone updated!

Morgan's Easter Egg Hunt

Morgan had an Easter egg hunt today at school. It was so cute and she had so much fun. They had over 400 eggs for less 50 kids.

Morgan ran as hard as she could to find the eggs throughout the entire hunt!

Obviously she wasn't the only one!

After they found all of the eggs they dived them up so that everyone had the same #

She's Movin' In

I'm going to Ohio in Junefor my baby sister's high school graduation. Today, she bought a one way plane ticket to come back with me. She's going to stay with us for the summer. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!

He's a Nut!

Chris got a new blow gun at Cabelas while we were in Salt Lake this last week. He had a blast shooting things in the hotel room. The lamp shade escaped with only minor injuries. Unfortunately my bottle of lotion didn't survive the attack. Tonight, he taped his target onto Preston's R/C Hummer. I said (admiringly) "Moving target?" He said "No (as if I'm a moron) it's so I don't have to get up to go get my darts."

When Preston saw what he was doing, he said, "Hey! That! Is! ENOUGH!"

A Big Day

To most people this would seem like an ordinary piece of construction equipment digging a hole. But to us.. IT'S THE START OF OUR BRAND NEW HOUSE!!! They broke ground on the house today and we are SOOOO excited!!! Yes, I realize I'm a nerd for taking pictures, but this is a once in a lifetime experience for us and I'm going to enjoy it! For those that don't already know, we've been looking at buying a new house for a couple of months and lucked into an awesome opportunity to custom build our very own home.

We met with the contractor yesterday and Chris got to tell him exactly how he wanted it positioned on the lot.

Today, we're supposed to meet with them to start finalizing all the little details of the plans. I have no problem letting Chris decide stuff like this because I get to decide most of the other stuff (carpet, paint,etc.) I gave up on having any input on the exterior a couple of weeks ago. The contractor told us that we could drive around town and look at stucco colors and rock patterns that we might like. Chris found one that he just fell in love with and every time I show him something else he gives me a "You've got to be kidding" look and says, "But don't you like the other one better?" It's hilarious!!! I think I almost have him talked into a rock pattern that I really like, but he still keeps saying, "It's not tooooo bad!"

I thought that the interior would be my department because Chris could not possibly care less about decorating the house. WRONG!! I was showing him some granite that I liked and I got the "But don't you like this better?" line again. haha All of this and we haven't even gotten into the nitty gritty of picking things out.

Our New Address

In other news today, I went to see the "Independent Physician" today. He agreed with what the Dr. here has already said. I need ACL surgery. He said that he could see where the insurance company was saying that it looked old. Apparently, a "new" tear generally has jagged edges, but mine have started to smooth over a little bit. This indicates that it's done SOME healing. However, he says that this is very possible and very likely to have taken place in the 5 1/2 weeks that it took for them to finally authorize the stupid MRI! So, now he has to send his report back to the insurance company and then we'll have to wait for them to review it again and make a decision. RIDICULOUS!!!

Today, the kids had the big ribbon cutting ceremony for the new wind turbine that the school just got. It's the first in Southern Utah and it will help generate some of the schools electricity. Pretty Cool!! Shelby has been so excited for this. It's all she's talked about non-stop for weeks!

Also, Morgan's teacher had her baby today. We are so excited for her. Congratulations Tara. He's so cute! He almost made me baby hungry. ALMOST!!!!

She's Lucky She's Cute!

Apparently, Morgan didn’t learn her lesson the last 2 times that she cut her hair, because she did it again today! She says that she was tired of having a “lump” in her hair when she woke up. (Her cowlick) So she decided to cut it out. You can’t see it in the picture really well, but she cut a piece a little bigger than a 50 cent piece out of her head. All the way to the scalp! She’s lucky I didn’t shave her bald to teach her a lesson. Instead I took the other 2 to get ice cream at Maggie Moo’s (YUMMY!) I made her stay with Chris and watch him fix a car. When Chris saw what she had done, he said, “Morgan, I’m really disappointed in you right now.” This DEVASTATED her!! Oh well, she’s still one of the cutest things around!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Today was Chris’ 31st birthday. He didn’t freak out about it like he did last year. Last night the girls were teasing him about being old and he said, “When I was your age I couldn’t even imagine being 31.“ I said, “Let’s be real, when you were MY age you couldn’t imagine being 31”. His reply: “Shut Up!.... You just wait”. I’m in SOOOOOO much trouble when I turn 30.
He went shooting at the trap club today. He said he was the youngest one there. (At least he’s the youngest one somewhere.... so much trouble) After I woke up this afternoon, we drove to Beaver to the gun store. He walked around there for about 45 minutes and then we went over to the cheese factory. See, this is why I love my husband…. He was perfectly content with LOOKING at new guns and getting a couple bags of squeaky cheese for his birthday. How easy is that????
He actually got a HUGE present for his birthday, but it won’t be ready until closer to my birthday…hehe
All in all, it’s been a crazy week at our house. Shelby, Morgan and I have had strep throat. We had picture day on Wednesday. Chris and I have both worked extra hours. On the bright side, we still have 4 boxes of girl scout cookies left and my house is clean!! Hopefully this upcoming week will be a little calmer…. DOUBT IT!!

P.S. I got a sign for my kitchen at the cheese factory. It said, "This kitchen was perfectly clean yesterday... Sorry you missed it." Ha!!

Yes, I know I'm Mean!

Chris called him "Ricky Martin". I called him "Angry Eyes". No matter what you call him, he's gone. WooHoo!

PURE EVIL!!

That's right folks, it's that time of year again. You know...It's been just long enough for everyone to give up on their New Years resolution to lose weight, What does that mean? Oh yeah baby- it's Girl Scout cookie time! (You will never convince me that they don't do that on purpose.)
I will openly admit that I have ZERO willpower to resist a Thin Mint. My only hope is to simply NOT buy them. No problem, right? Wrong! Why? Because I'm a sucker for other peoples kids begging for money. That look when you tell them "No thanks" gets me EVERY time!! It's the same look that cashiers give you when you don't want to buy a $1 Children's Miracle Network balloon at Wal-Mart...The "What if it were your child, you selfish woman" look.
Last year we ate so many girl scout cookies that I couldn't eat anything with mint in it for about 6 months. This year, I swore that I was just going to take a hard line and not buy any!! No such luck. Chris came home for lunch today with 6 freaking boxes!!! I told him that he was going to have to take them back to work and ration them out to me. He said, "Hey! I almost ordered a whole case for you. Consider yourself lucky."

WooHoo!

We got new couches today!!! WOOHOO!! Neither one of us have EVER had brand new couches. EVER! So, needless to say we're kind of excited. (Yes I admit, it doesn't take much to excite me)

(By the way Chris said I'm a smartass for my "Ya Think" comment! hehe)

Well Duh!

Chris (calling me at about 11am this morning) : "Hey I think I need to go to the Dr."
Jana: OK why what's wrong?
Chris: I have a killer headache and I have blood leaking out of my ear. And I looked it up on the internet and it says that I should see a Dr."

UH.... YA THINK?????

Turns out he has a severe sinus and ear infecion. They gave him antibiotics and cleaned his ear out and now he's fine. What's crazy is that his ear started trickling blood at about 7am this morning and he didn't decide that he might need to see a Dr. until 11am. Crazy Man!!!

Chris called the owner of MoonRidge on Wednesday and got him involved with my workers comp. When he called them, they told him that my claim was not denied and that it was standard protocol to make all surgical cases see an independant physician. I told him that they were lying and that they only decided to send me to the other Dr. when I mentioned calling an attorney. When I called Dr. Nakken's office to tell him that I would be seeing this other Dr. she laughed and said, "Ah, you must have threatened them with a lawsuit."

The kids are doing great! Preston is over his infections! Preston is really starting to pick up on things in pre-school. Morgan and Shelby had their SEP conferences (parent teacher conferences)this week. They are both doing really well. Morgan has mastered everything she needs to know up to this point in Kindergarten and Shelby is past where she needs to be in 1st grade. (Not that this should surprise anyone since they are, in fact, the: cutest, smartest, funnest, and most loved kids on the planet)

Who's in the Doghouse Now?

This weekend, Chris and the kids made a doghouse for Tucker. The kids had so much fun "helping" Daddy. He let them paint the doghouse and also nail the shingles on. They were all so proud of it. Tucker on the other hand wasn't to thrilled. The kids and Chris have tried everything to get him to use it, but he absolutely refuses. The girls even threw hot dogs in there, but he wasn't having it. Oh well...it was a fun Daddy/Kids activity anyway!!

Rise and Shine Sunshine!!

Isn't it amazing that even when kids are really sick, they never slow down?

Exhibit A

Even with a 102 fever, double ear infection, sinus infection and having not eaten since Monday night He STILL manages to find the energy to get into trouble. (Please ignore the orphan clothes. He's sick and dressed himself... pick your battles ya know!)

He's feeling slightly better this afternoon. This morning was really rough. He went to sleep in my bed last night. When I woke up this morning, he had gotten a bloody nose during the night and my bed looked like someone had been murdered in it. Then, of course, in the process of getting him cleaned up - he puked all over the bathroom. Nothing gets your day started quite like blood AND puke first thing in the morning.

Hopefully his antibiotics will start to kick in REALLY soon. I bought him a toy at the store which made him feel a lot better. lol He said, "I just feel a little bit better now, but I'll feel all the way better when Dad brings me something from Salt Lake". I think Mom will feel better when Dad gets home too!

It's Been A Pretty Good Day at Our House

Today, Morgan's class had a wedding! Mr. Q has decided that he simply can't live without Miss U, so they got married. Morgan has been SOOOOO excited for this. They went all out! All the kids were supposed to wear nice clothes, they had dancing, cupcakes, decorations... the whole nine yards. Morgan was really excited to get to wear her "fancy" dress to school. She looked so cute.
The elementary school is getting a huge wind turbine next month, and they are having a big ribbon cutting ceremony. The 1st graders sent invitations to President Obama today. Shelby was really excited that she got to write a letter to the President. She said, "Don't worry mom, I didn't tell him that you and dad don't like him cause that would be rude." Hahahahaha
I went on a "Girls Night Out" tonight with some ladies from the PTA. It was actually a lot of fun. Tomorrow, Chris is going to organize HIS garage while I sleep. Then, we have a babysitter coming and we're going to go back to St. George for the Parade of Homes (our tickets are still good, so...why not?). I just don't know what to do with myself having all of these breaks from the kids.

The most amazing weekend.

Our weekend was awesome! Friday, Chris' mom came and got the kids, so I went up to Parkway and hung out with Chris while he finished some side work. Then, we went to dinner.

Saturday, we went to St. George to look at furniture and ended up going to the Washington County Parade of Homes. It was a lot of fun. I have to admit, it felt a little bit voyeuristic walking through people's homes. I was looking for decorating ideas, but there wasn't really anything that jumped out at me. There were a few things structurally that I loved though. One was a faucet behind the stove for filling big pots. The other: a washer/dryer in the master closet. The coolest thing I saw though, was a ground level trampoline. Next to it was a big rock. My first thought, as a mom, was "Who the hell puts a giant decorative rock next to a trampoline. That's a head injury waiting to happen." As you looked closer you saw that it was a faux rock with a tunnel inside that led down to a sandbox that was under the trampoline. I still would have put the rock further back, but it was pretty cool. When we got home, Chris grilled some steaks and we vegged!

Sunday, we cleaned house!! We completely de-mucked the basement. We even shampooed carpets. Now, my house looks halfway presentable.

Today, I did a little bit of window shopping without the kids. This afternoon, I picked my babies up. I reached my limit of time without them last night and was pretty excited to go get them.

We didn't do anything spectacular, but it was SOOOOOO nice to just have the house all to ourselves!!

You Know You're a Mom When...

You know you're a mom when the greatest thing anyone could ever do for you is take your kids far,far away for the weekend!! Chris' mom is taking our kids for the entire weekend. WOOOOHOOOOO! (Sorry Auggie lol) I know I'll miss them by Saturday night and we'll talk about them non-stop from the time I drop them off until they get home BUT I'm really going to enjoy the fact that I don't have to hear them, see them or smell them for 3 whole days!!!
Actually, it's our 9 year anniversary on Saturday. Last year, we went to Las Vegas for the weekend. Chris did some side work for a guy that is a pit boss down there. As payment, he comped us a room. We had so much fun!! We had an INSANELY expensive dinner. Then, we went to see one of the Cirque De Sole shows. It was awesome!!!Chris even liked it-double bonus!
This year we're not doing anything spectacular.We're both taking the entire weekend off. We're just going to hang out (we haven't done this in a really long time) and work on little projects around the house together. I'm SO excited!

Misc. Pictures

Here are some misc. pics. of the kids. I did it mainly to see if I could get the slide show to work!

The Super Bowl

The game was great! Half Time show sucked! Here's our favorite commercial of the night!




Side Note: I forgot to explain about Shelby's meds. After the Dr. looked at her test results from 2 weeks ago, he said that her baseline for the test was even in the asthmatic range. He put her on Albuteral maintenance program. She has to take it about 20 minutes before PE, then as needed for shortness of breath and/or coughing.We're hoping that she'll outgrow it, but with the family history it's unlikely. We'll try this for a month and then we have to take her in for a follow up. If this is working we'll keep doing what we're doing, if not we'll try new meds. So far it's working great!

Chris' Rebutle

Chris says he was not laughing at me! He also says, it actally takes 84 stairs to do one load of laundry!

Our Week

Monday: Preston and I spent half the morning trying to get Shelby's medicine straightened out. I thought it was going to take an act of congress to get them to administer it at school!

Tuesday: Preston went to school without screaming. Since Christmas, he's had a really hard time with separation anxiety when I drop him off. Tuesday, he didn't even want me to get out of the car. He walked himself in with no problems whatsoever. WOOHOO!!!
As I was leaving the school to go get Preston, I slipped on ice and jacked up my other knee (the one I hurt in my accident)! Now I have 2 hurt knees! I can't straighten one and can't bend the other. Walking has become quite interesting and extremely comical. By "extremely comical" I mean: I don't think it's funny, but Christopher's children think it's a riot. Chris just says,"I'm sorry your knees hurt, baby" as he tries desperately/unsuccessfully not to laugh as I hobble by. I never realized how many stairs our house has until I hurt both knees. I can't even get inside without tackling stairs. We have 4 entrances and every single one involves stairs. BOOOOOOO stairs!
Chris and I spent half the afternoon talking to people about our house. We just keep telling ourselves that one way or another, everything is going to work out!

Wednesday: Preston, Morgan and I helped with the "Snake Bait" shop. It's a little PTA sponsored candy store that the school does on Wednesdays after lunch. Preston loves "Snake Bake" (as he calls it) He's learned that the day after he goes to preschool is "Snake Bake" day and he gets/steals money out of our change cup so that Shelby can bring home candy for him. He and Morgan got to eat lunch in the cafeteria with Shelby. They both thought it was pretty cool. Shelby is such a good big sister. Every week, I give her enough to get all 3 of them something. Most of the kids at school eat their candy at recess, but she waits until she gets home so that she can eat it with her brother and sister.
Anyway... Preston got a little plastic frog at snake bait. When we got home, he decided (for no reason other than the fact that he's a heathen) to stick it in the pilot light of the fireplace. It, of course, caught on fire, which then burned his finger, which then made him drop it onto the floor where it caught a piece of paper on fire. Thankfully, I was able to stomp it out before it caused any damage!! His finger was ok too. It scared the crap out of all of us though.

Thursday: Chris had a migraine that was bad enough that he came home from work. For those of you that don't know him... this does not happen!!! We've been married almost 9 years and he's called in sick to work 1 time (he'd had pins put in his finger the afternoon before) and come home early 1 other time (he had food poisoning). We all spent the entire day laying around the house doing nothing.

Friday and Saturday: Chris worked and the kids and I hung around the house.

Today we'll start getting geared up for next week. The girls start Spanish class, bright and early Monday morning. I work all week so that I can have our anniversary weekend off. I have my MRI on Monday morning (I'm never going to make it through that without falling asleep) Chris has a (hopefully) busy week ahead of him. Hopefully, we'll hear something on the house and then we'll have some big decisions to make. No matter what happens, we have to clean, clean, clean!(And fix, fix, fix everything that that Preston has broken!) Lastly, Chris has a ton of laundry to do. It takes 28 stairs (roundtrip) to do a load of laundry at our house, and that's just not going to happen! No worries, I'm sure he'll "maximize" each and every load!!

Now That's Tired!

Morgan fell asleep mid-bite during her bedtime snack!

Who says slavery is dead?

I was reminded of the commercial where the Dad is standing at the window with a cup of coffee watching his son shovel snow. The Mom walks up and says "It looks cold out there." The Dad says, 'It's freezing. I'm not going out there!"
Chris and I laughed ourselves silly when we saw that commercial. Not only did I stand inside and watch them, I got the camera and took pictures of my little slaves.
In all fairness, Chris shoveled this morning before he left and then I shoveled again at noon. They were making the 3rd sweep.

This week:
We took the kids bowling this weekend. They had a lot of fun. Morgan kicked all of our butts. Preston kept yelling. "I won" every time he knocked a pin down.
We went shopping in St. George. I think Shelby is more dangerous in the bookstore than Chris is. Well maybe not.... she doesn't have her own debit card like he does.

Funny things that have been said this past week:
Chris: "Shelby hand me that bottle of pills." (It was Tylenol)
Shelby: (We were watching Top Chef and the guy got emotional when he got kicked off. )She said, "Oh quit being a punk and get off my tv. It's not my fault you can't cook."
Shelby: (Watching American Idol) "Mom, look at her outfit. It is hideous."
Shelby: "Dang it. I can't fit a carrot in my teeth anymore."
Preston: "I want to watch something scary. I want to freak my sisters out."
Preston: "I has big muscles" "oh yeah let me see your big muscles"

Ariane, I feel your pain!

A few weeks ago, my old roommate Ariane, did a post on her blog about her little boys curly hair and how hard it was to manage. Let me describe to you Morgan's hair. Half of it is curly, the other half is straight. But the straight and curly pieces are all mixed together. She has 2 cowlicks on the crown of her head and a natural side part on her right side. To top it all off, about a year ago, she cut a comb out of her hair and gave herself ½ of a mullet (we’ve been trying to grow this out) It doesn’t matter what I do to her hair, within an hour, she looks like she’s been thrown away. You can't straighten it because of the curly parts, but you can't curl it because of the board straight parts. You can't put it up because of the 1/2 mullet part and you cant just leave it down because of all of the above. I try to style it every morning ( I swear I really do Tara) By the time I get to the school to do whatever task I have there that day, she looks like she’s just barely rolled out of bed. It’s embarrassing!!! SOOOOO… yesterday, we cut it off. I think she looks adorable. We cut it to the level of the ½ grown out mullet. It looks so much healthier and she loves it. This picture was after an entire day!!Onto more hair woes… Preston hates having his hair washed!!! I finally told him that if he didn’t start washing his hair better, I’d shave it all off and he’d be bald! His response: “NOOOOOO! Human beings is supposed to has hair!”

In other news: Shelby’s been complaining that she couldn’t breathe off and on for the past couple of months. She hyperventilates at the drop of hat when she gets emotional, but we have just chocked that up to age/gender manipulation. At Christmas time, Chris asked me if I thought she might have asthma and I told him no because she doesn’t cough of wheeze or anything. Well, when school started after Christmas, she started complaining of shortness of breath after PE. Given a family history of lung problems, we got her in to see the doctor. He ordered a test where they give her medication that will induce an asthma attack if she has it. We had the test this morning and she definitely had a problem. She only made it 2 doses out of 8 before she started showing signs of distress, so they stopped. Her face turned bright red, she started coughing, she was complaining that it was hard to breathe, and her air output dropped by about 25%. We had to sit there for over an hour and a half and have a breathing treatment before she was stable enough for us to leave. Now, we have to wait for an official diagnosis from Dr. Dowse and then decide how to treat it from here. The RT said that he thought they would just start her on a maintenance program for now. At one point while we were waiting, Shelby was looking at a book and there was a diagram. She asked the RT what the yellow stuff was and he told her it was "mucus". She said, "Oh yeah, that's the stuff my dad spits out the car window." He just busted up laughing!

She’s totally milking it though! I told her to go put some clothes away tonight. She said (with her most fake pitiful look) “I don’t think I can cause when I put clothes away it makes me feel like I can’t breathe.” I said, “Well, if you start feeling like that, then stop until you feel better then get back up and finish putting them away. When you get done there’s more up here for you!” I’m such a loving mom!! As she walked away I heard her whisper, "Dang it!" Gotta give her props for trying!

Still no word on the MRI! The physical therapy seems to be helping a lot!

Holy Cow!!

For the first time in over 6 years, I actually had a gallon of milk expire before it was used. Guess I'm gonna have to start checking expiration dates from now on!!

Update on my knee. I went to the ortho on Monday. He ordered an MRI, physical therapy and a brace. He says he thinks it's either an ACL sprain, slight ACL tear, or torn cartilage. Who knows!! We're still waiting for workers comp. to authorize the MRI.

I think Preston is hitting a growth spurt. On Tuesday, he cried hysterically when I tried to drop him off at preschool. After I picked him up that afternoon he fell asleep before I could get to my house. (about 3 miles) Today, he did the same thing when I dropped him off. His teacher said that after about 10 minutes he stopped crying. She looked over and he had gotten a bean bag, curled up in it and fallen sleep. He slept over half the morning. When he woke up he was perfectly fine. This was after 11 hours of sleep last night.

The girls are doing great. Morgan's pretty stoked because I found a lady that does private riding lessons. I work with her, and she doesn't require you to have your own horse. She lets you use hers. I asked Morgan, "So would you rather do gymnastics or take horseback riding lessons?" She looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Seriously mom, which do you think?" This is certainly not something that we'll be doing right away, but hopefully in the spring or summer we'll be in a position to swing it.

No More Karate

Well... the Karate thing was pretty short lived. Preston really loved it for a while. That was until this guy started going to the class. He has a son in the class, so at first I just thought that he was trying to help his son out so that he wouldn't be scared. Oh no!!! This guy is a certifiable NUT! He would go through the class (consisting of 3-8 year olds mind you) at full speed. When the teacher would compliment him on his "skills" you could see him get genuinely excited that she had mentioned him. Before you ask... No he's not lower functioning. He's just weird.
They have this rule that when they line up to do things, they go in belt order (color) from highest to lowest. When there are more than one person with that color, then they go in order from oldest to youngest. One day he steps in front of these little kids and says, "Uh I'm older than you guys so you need to get behind me." THEY'RE 8!!! The mom of the other 3 year old and I would just die laughing at this guy. At one point her husband and brother (father of the 4 year old in the class) had to get up and leave the room because they were laughing so hard at this man.
Anyway.... one day the teacher broke them up into groups and put Preston in this guys group. PRESTON FREAKED OUT!! He wouldn't sit with this man. He wouldn't even look at him. Finally Preston comes running to me in tears and says, "I want to go home." I asked why and he said, "him too big, him will beat me up." I tried to explain to him that the guy was on his team and that the guy would be fighting the "Big kid" (the one 10 year old). Preston was having no part of that. He refused to participate in the class. Since then it's blood curdling screams every time we try to go to class. Not worth it!!!!! We'll try it again when he gets a little older.

Vampires

It's too bad it's not Halloween. Shelby could go as a vampire and I wouldn't even have to buy teeth. She's completely convinced Preston that she's a vampire and if he doesn't leave her alone then she'll bite him and he'll turn into one. This threat of course leads to blood curdling screams and crying. The screams and crying then lead to the girls teasing him that he "screams like a girl" which then leads to more screaming and crying which then leads to more teasing. UGH, it's a viscous cycle.

Speaking of vampires: Tonight we were in Lin's (local grocery store) and there was a girl walking around the store with her mom reading Twilight. Chris just started laughing. I said, "Ok, even my addiction to Twilight isn't that bad."
Shelby got Twilight for her New Years present. She was sooooo excited. She's actually almost through the 1st chapter.

CHRISTMAS WAS AWESOME

We went to Escalante to be with Chris’ family for Christmas. The kids had so much fun. When Chris got home from work on Wednesday, Preston started screaming, “It’s Escalante time!” We finished packing the car and headed over the mountain. I bribed Shelby with my DS to get her to ride with me without a fight. We had to take 2 cars ‘Just in case Santa brought something big”. By the time we got to Escalante she was so bored!!! The girls went to bed with no problem. Preston, on the other hand, took a little longer. Chris and I had just laid down when Shelby woke up at 11pm FOR THE FIRST TIME, asking to go see if Santa had come. She went back to sleep then woke up again at 2:19am and at 4:30am. The 4:30 awakening brought sobs because we wouldn’t let her go down until 6am. By 5:30 neither she nor I could stand it anymore so Chris let us all get up. The kids got sooooo much stuff!!! Morgan was ECSTATIC over her rocking horse. I love this picture of her!! She’s making the same face as the horse in it! We spent the rest of the day with the family. After lunch, Chris conned Shelby into letting him yank her other front tooth out! Now she REALLY has a lisp.
Preston did 2 funny things:
1) Auggie bought Preston a Ken doll to put in his stocking. Preston wouldn't even look at it. Every time we'd mention it or try to get him to look at it, he say, "I don't want that. You can have it." then put it down. It was hilarious.
2)We were at Chris' grandma's house and she gave Preston a gift bag. He opened it and found batteries. He said, "Batteries? I don't want batteries. Do you have another present for me?" Then he brought the batteries to me. (rude I know but it was funny) then she gave him a present that had 2 little bumper cars in it. Somebody said, "man I bet you wish you had some batteries for those." Preston gasped and said, "Mommy, give me those batteries." I made him give me a kiss and an I Love You to get them back. I think it was a fair trade.
On the way home the roads were REALLY, REALLY bad for ¾ of the way. Finally, the roads cleared up and just before we got on the freeway (Interstate for those back home!) Chris stopped and kicked his hubs out and told me to call his mom to let her know we were fine and the roads were clear. BIG MISTAKE!!! We had no sooner got on the freeway when it started to snow. Not too bad, more of a pain than anything. By the time we hit Parowan it was snowing so hard that we couldn’t even see the delineator posts on the side of the road. We eventually had to pull over on the side of the freeway to wait it out. It took us over an hour to get from the Parowan to our house (15 miles). The wind was blowing so hard that Chris couldn’t safely get out of the truck to lock his hubs in so that he could use 4 wheel drive. Chris swears it’s the worst snow storm he’s ever had to drive in. The man has lived here almost his entire life. The only other place he's lived is CANADA (holy snow) and this is the worst? This storm even had lightening. He swears he’s never seen lightening during a snowstorm before. Then there’s me, a freakin Floridian, trying to drive in this. Now.... I’ve been out here for a long time, and I can handle a little bit of snow. The problem is, I’ve been with Chris for (almost) the entire time I’ve lived out here. He freaks out every time I try to drive in bad weather, so I have no idea how to handle myself in this type of crap. By the time I got home I was literally sick to my stomach and a nervous wreck. When I got Preston out of the truck he clung to me and just kept saying, “The snow is scaring me.” It was quite pitiful. All in all, the 2 hour trip took us over 4 hours. We went to bed almost immediately after we got the cars unpacked.
This morning, I went to work at one of our sister facilities. The snow was so bad out there that Chris got stuck 2 times on his way back to town. Once in the parking lot. Then on his way back into town a snow plow ran him off the road and he got stuck again. He said this guy just WOULD NOT get over!! Other than being REALLY PISSED, he was fine. I got out there thinking that this place would be a lot like the facility I work at. WRONG!!! I spent 5 hours outside in this crap mucking horse stalls. WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?! I had jeans and a t-shirt on, no gloves, no hat, a thin jacket and white suede snow boots!!! Fun times!!! Tomorrow I’ll definitely be prepared.

Letter to Santa

Here in Cedar City, when you mail a Santa letter, someone either at the post office or Lin's (the grocery store) writes back to the kids. This year, I helped the kids write Santa letters and then Chris took them to the store to mail them. On Tuesday, the kids got return letters from Santa. In Shelby's letter it says "I'm planning an extra special present for you this year." Ok, no big deal... Apparently, she also wrote a letter to Santa at school. Well, Wednesday she got her return letter delivered to the school. In it, this "Santa" wrote "I'm going to try to get you some Hannah Montana stuff (cool, done, no big deal) and a Wii." What the H? She has never mentioned wanting a Wii, not that she'd get one anyway. Now, she's all excited because she thinks that a Wii is her "extra special present". Does the person writing this letter not have kids? You don't promise a kid a $300+ present in a letter from Santa. Oh well, she's getting her big present that she asked for on her letter that I saw!!!!!
I'm soooo excited for Morgan to get her present this year!!! She saw it in the store and Chris literally had to CARRY her out of the store! I know Shelby will like the one we got her too! Preston doesn't really care. He says he doesn't want Christmas presents. He wants "just because" presents. I said "Ok, you can have some "just because" presents...on Christmas!"

Better Watch Out

I never could get the video to work on Google Videos so I had to go to Youtube. Here it is:

Also, the award Chris got was Service Performance. He got a plaque for it.

It's Christmas!!

It’s officially Christmas season! I’m almost ready. I only have a couple more gifts to get and then we’re done.

We put our Christmas tree up the Monday after Thanksgiving. I got the tree put together and went to find the ornaments…..no ornaments. We’ve looked everywhere. The only thing that I can think might have happened is that Chris accidentally threw them away when he was cleaning out the storage unit. However, I find this hard to believe simply because he doesn’t throw ANYTHING away!!! After looking all over the house, the kids and I made a mad dash to Wal-Mart and bought 1 box of Christmas ornaments. It’s killing me not having a themed tree, but I refuse to buy all new ornaments. I know that as soon as I buy new ones I’ll find the old ones. After we got our sad little ornaments on it, the kids colored little pictures of snowmen, Santa’s and whatever else they could think of and hung them on the tree. We have colored pieces of notebook paper hung all over the tree with paper clips. I have to admit, as sad as the tree looks, it’s probably my favorite we’ve ever had. The girls have had so much fun and every single day there’s a new ornament on there. Simba likes it too. Simba has decided to make the tree his new napping spot. My tree is bent all the way around from him sitting on the branches. We all think it’s hilarious.
Here's picture of the tree. You can see the ornaments that the girls have made. Notice the bent branches from Simba.

Here's a picture of Simba laying in the tree.

The kids are going to go see Santa this weekend. They’ve already mailed their letters. I’ve figured out a new trick to get Preston to behave. Instead of telling him that if he isn’t good, Santa won’t come. I threaten to buy him all girl toys. In fact, today I was in Wal-Mart and he wouldn’t stay with me so I said, “1,2,3 (still didn’t come) ok, that’s it you’re getting a Barbie for Christmas.” He was up and by my side the rest of the time. He is really bad about having only “boy” stuff. He will NOT play with a doll, anything pink or purple, and he won’t even let me kiss him if I have anything on my lips. Here’s a video of how he acts. He will not leave this particular present alone. He’s constantly wanting to touch it and play with it

This is really the first year that Preston’s known what was going on at Christmas time. Monday night, he looked out my window and saw that it was snowing. He got SOOOO excited. He ran to the front door yelling “It’s Snowing! It’s Snowing!” He ran outside without a coat and ran through the snow-barefoot. He had a ball. Morgan was really excited too. Shelby could not possibly have cared less!! Here’s a picture of Preston’s snowball. He had to put it in the freezer to show Daddy. He thought he was the funniest kid in the world when he threw it at Chris. Chris totally played along and had fun with it too.

Here’s just a cute picture of Preston. He swore he wasn’t tired. Daddy's lap is Preston and Morgan's favorite place to sit AND fall asleep.

One last thing... We went to Parkway's Christmas party tonight. We had to leave early so that I could make it to work on time. When Chris went to Dave Naaken (the owner) to tell him we were leaving, Dave told Chris that he was planning on giving him a performance award. He told him that there aren't many other guys, if any, at the dealership that work as hard as Chris does. He said that he wanted to recognize all of his hard work and thank him for everything he does for Parkway. I'll post what the exact award is when he brings it home tomorrow.

A Good Week

This past week was really good!
Tuesday, Morgan had her Thanksgiving feast at school. It was really cute and she had so much fun!

Thursday, Chris and the kids went to Escalante for Thanksgiving dinner. I had to work, so I stayed home. This made the 5 days off from school, not so bad.

Friday, after I got off work, my friend Celeste and I went SHOPPING! We had so much fun, and laughed hysterically the whole day. By the end of the day,we were both exhausted. We found a lot of good deals. I'm completely done with Morgan's Christmas, and partly done with the other 2. And for the record, I may joke about getting rough with people at these sales, but I would never actually put my hands on another person. There were 2 people sent to the hospital from St. George's WalMart. Then there was a story on the news about a guy getting trampled to death at a sale and woman miscarrying after getting hit at one of these sales. That's just insane!!!! I heard that some of the shoppers were pissed that they had to shut down the store where the guy was killed to investigate. What the heck is wrong with some people?

Last week, Chris came home one day and said, "Dont be mad..." (this is never good) He had gotten a screamin' deal on a new gun and had bought it for himself for Christmas. He's been really excited about it.

I couldn't decide what I wanted for Christmas. Chris has been frustrated with me cause I wouldn't give him any ideas. Friday night I was looking online for stuff for Shelby, and decided that I wanted a Nintendo DS. I texted Chris at like 12:15 at night and told him. He was like, "No, seriously what do you want?" People that know me know I'm NOT into video games AT ALL. I decided that you can only play on the internet so long before it gets VERY old. I wanted it for work. So, on Saturday we went and got me a new DS and a couple games. Oh My Gosh, it's so much fun!! Yes I got it early, I figured if Chris got his present early I could get mine early.
The kids are having fun with it too. Prestons actually pretty good at it (go figure) and Shelby wants a couple of games that she can play on it (which I'm totally cool with). Both of the girls have done better than I thought they would.

Last night, we had our Thanksgiving dinner here. It was really nice, cause I didn't have to eat turkey!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and Chris went an entire 4 days without stepping foot in Parkway! This has only happened once in the entire time he's worked there and that was because we were in Florida!!

That's about it! Sorry, no pics this week.

Laundry

I have to admit that I have the best husband in the world. He works his butt off for our family, then comes home and helps around the house more than any husband I've ever heard of. He's a great cook, can clean like a mad man, can fix anything and he's slightly O.C.D. about the yard. However, laundry is not his forte'. He told me when we got married that he will wash and dry laundry all day, but he will not fold it or put it away. FINE WITH ME! Last night, the girls were complaining that they were out of clothes (not true, they just didn't have the clothes they WANTED) Chris went down and started a load for me. Just before bed he told me, "There's a huge load of kids clothes in the dryer, so there's no excuse for them to not have clothes in the morning." This morning I went down to do more laundry and fold the clothes he had washed. Keep in mind they are kids clothes, so they're smaller, but still! This is what I found in the dryer (yes I actually counted) : 15 shirts, 8 pairs of jeans, 9 pairs of pants (slacks, track pants and sweats) 23 pairs of underwear, 11 pairs of socks and one of Chris' work shirts. All different colors, washed in warm water. hahahaha All I can say is at least none of it was mine!!
I'm gonna be in so much trouble if he ever gets on here and posts all of the stupid stuff I do!!

P.S. Twilight was good. Not nearly as good as the book, but still really good!

Cookies, Applebees, Twilight and More

This week, Morgan learned the hard way why she’s not allowed near the stove. Chris made cookies. He put the cookie sheet on the stove top to cool. Morgan decided to help herself to a cookie and touched her chin on the side of the cookie sheet. She didn’t say a word about it for several minutes. Finally I noticed that something was wrong and asked why she looked sad. By then she had a HUGE blister on her face. We asked why she didn’t say something sooner and she said, “cause Daddy said not to touch it.” Poor Baby!! She’s so tough! I’ve never seen a kid as tough as she is. When she broke her finger last year, they had to re-break it and set it TWICE. Both times we were afraid if she saw a needle she would FREAK OUT, so they had to re-break her finger and set it without anything to numb the pain. I cried harder than she did!!
Sunday we went to dinner with some friends that we know through school. Their oldest girl is in Shelby’s class and the youngest is in Morgan’s class. They are “best friends“. At least for the day, who knows what will happen if one plays with another little girl on the playground or sits with somebody else on the bus---Oh the Horror!!! We had 4 little girls ages 5 and 7 along with Preston, who has manners but chooses not to use them in front of people, cramped into a corner at Applebee’s. GOOD TIMES!!!!!
Preston has been entertained this week with some of Chris' old Legos. They have all kinds of wheels and car parts, so of course Preston LOVES them. Chris told him, "My dad gave me those when I was a little boy." Preston said, "Yeah, my dad gave me these when I was a little boy too."
Last night, we watched Kung Fu Panda at the school. The kids LOVED it!! It’s all Preston has talked about. He's so excited to tell his Karate instructor all about it.
The new TWILIGHT movie comes out this week! I’m so excited! Unfortunately, I don’t get to go to the opening show because I have to work. I was going to take the night off but, Chris really isn’t too excited about going to work after he’s been at the movies until 2am. We're going first chance we get though.
This past year I mentioned, in passing, that one day I’d like to read Twilight. For our anniversary, he bought me all 3 books. I smoked those things in a weekend! When the 4th book came out, I was SOOO EXCITED! I had to work that night, so Chris had me buy it that afternoon. Then, he drug my kids out of bed and took them up to the bookstore so that he could be there when they handed them out at midnight. Then he brought it all the way out to me so I could read it at work. (in unison….AWE! HOW SWEET!)
Chris is an avid reader. When we were dating he tried talking to me about some of his favorite books and I must have looked at the poor boy like he had 2 heads. I HATE reading. I think we had been married about 3 years when he saw me reading a novel for the first time. He walked in, looked at me and said, “I didn’t know you could read!” (SMARTBUTT) When Chris found out I was going to be in charge of the reading program at the elementary school he laughed until he was in tears! Then I pointed out that I would be depending on him to help me out a lot… suddenly it wasn’t so funny! (HAHA)
I’m currently waiting on the first book in the series that the HBO series TRUEBLOOD is based on. (Thanks Stacy!) I have no idea what it’s called. I just told the lady to order me the first book in the series. Chris has a whole list of books he wants. If anyone needs ideas for Christmas presents, a Barnes and Nobles gift card is always good for him!
Chris is staying busy at work. It’s not the kind of work he likes (mostly warranty), but at least it’s work. In this economy you have to take whatever you can get. Hopefully, now that gas prices are starting to come down, people will drive their cars more. That way they will break down more, which translates to more work for Chris.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Only 9 days until the Christmas season officially begins! Nothing says “It’s Christmas” quite like knocking someone over to get a $5 Barbie. NO, I HAVE NOT DONE THIS…but I’ve seen it happen!!!!

He's so funny!!

Preston has, by far, been my healthiest baby. The girls weren't really sickly by any means, but he's literally only been to the Dr. 3 times in his life because he was sick. He usually only goes for well checks, which almost always include a shot.

Well, this past week he had an ear/sinus infection. He was whining about going to the Dr. cause he didn't want a "pokey". I was explaining to him what they would at the Dr.

Here's the conversation:
Me: Buddy, all they're going to do is have you stand on that silver thingy with the smiley face (the scale).....
Preston: NOOOO!! I don't want to step on the smiwey fingy
Me: well you have to bud.
Preston: Why?
Me: Cause that's how they check to see how much chunkiness you have on your butt.

He stands up (he's only wearing underwear)pulls his underwear down and says, "Wook, I don't have chunkiness on my butt. I is skinny."

He tried everything to get out of going to the Dr. He even promised he'd quit coughing if I didn't make him go! haha

"KIAI"

Here’s a picture of Preston in his new Gi. He’s so cute. He just kept saying, “This is too big for me.” He got to try to break a board today. He didn’t do so well with the boards, but he’ll figure it out. When he got home he asked if he could sleep in his gi. I told him that would be fine, but he’d have to take it off for dinner. Suddenly he wasn’t hungry anymore.

The teacher told me he would also need a cup. I almost laughed in her face when she suggested I get it for him for Christmas and told me “Maybe as a stocking stuffer”. Why did I almost laugh in her face? Several reasons:
1)It totally caught me off guard, so the brain to mouth filter was barely able to suppress my inner child's giggle.
2) I didn’t know they made them that small.
3) There’s no way in hell he’s gonna wear that thing.
4) I could just see Auggie’s face when Preston pulled that thing out of his stocking on Christmas morning.

I’ll have to do some looking, but I’m pretty sure I can find a more appropriate Christmas present.

SHEESH!

This week has been a little calmer around the Haycock house. Sunday afternoon, we just hung out. I realized exactly how disgusting my son is, but that's for another story. Please tell me it's not just my kid. Tell me that all little boys are as disgusting as he is.

Tuesday was a little stressful. If you've never really been around Chris on election day, let me tell ya, it's an experience. He's generally one of the most easy going guys you could ever meet. Throw the election of a moron at him and he gets more than a little testy. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS he's not really into playing sports and stuff like that, cause he's NOT a gracious loser. haha By Wednesday morning he was a little better. He still gets a little worked up over it on occasion, but getting much better. I was excited that, for the first time in months, I didn't have to listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity when he came home for lunch today.

Wednesday-Morgan went to the eye Dr. He said she's near sighted, but that there is a small chance that it will correct itself over the next year or two. He said that near sightedness generally does NOT correct itself, but given her age there's still a chance. He gave us a choice to put her in glasses now or hold off. He said that if we put her in glasses now, there's no chance it will improve because her eyes will just adapt to the correction. So, of course we chose to wait. He says that next school year and definitely by the 2nd grade, when they start actually using the blackboard in class, she'll definitely need help if they don't improve. Soooo lets hope it gets better. She was not happy that we decided to not get glasses for her. I tried to tell her that they are a pain and that she doesn't want them right now, but couldn't be too negative about them, in case she ends up needing them a year from now. Let's face it, I wear glasses (well I don't wear them, but I'm supposed to) all 4 grandparents wear/wore them, all 4 of mine and Chris' uncles wear them, and all the Great Grandparents wear them. It's pretty much inevitable that they're going to end up in glasses at some point. Genetics-the gift that keeps on giving.

On to funner things, Preston started Karate on Wednesday. HE WAS SOOOOO STINKING CUTE!! He gets his GI this upcoming Wednesday. I'll post pictures of him when he gets it. He's taking Kenpo. There is another 3 year old and a 4 year old in the class. The rest are all 6-8 years old. I thought this was a little strange at first, but it actually made a lot of sense once I watched for a while. 1) if you had 10-12 3 or 4 year old little boys, nothing would EVER get accomplished. 2) it gives the older kids a chance to learn leadership. It also gives the little ones people to look up to. 3)the older kids were extremely good with the younger ones. Very encouraging. They even broke into teams of 3 for competitions. I was impressed that the 7 and 8 year olds on Preston's team didn't get upset that they were handicapped by having him on their team. They did their bests to help him and show him what he was supposed to be doing. He thought he was something great being on a team with those guys too.

He spent the entire hour with a huge open mouthed grin on his face. He didn't want to leave. When Chris got home he told him all about it. It's so fun to see him get so excited about something.

Thursday, Preston wasn't so cute. 1st he flushed something down the toilet. We think it's a toothbrush. Nice huh? Chris is going to have to take it off the floor to get whatever it is out. 2nd, he marked all over my wall with not just Sharpie, but INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SHARPIE! I didn't even realize they made Industrial Strength Sharpie's. I tried the Mr. Clean erasers and they helped, but it's still there. I'm going to have to paint over it. 3rd, he tried to drink out of the milk jug (3/4 full) and spilled the entire thing on the floor. What's sad is, yes I worked last night, but I wasn't even asleep when he did all of these things. I was awake and just doing stuff around the house. SHEESH!!!

I'm working all day Friday and Saturday in addition to my regular shifts. The kids will be at a sitter on Friday, and Chris will have them on Saturday. It's going to kill, but will be so worth it when I have extra Christmas money. ONLY 21 days left til, as Chris calls it, "CRAZY WOMAN FRIDAY". The sneak peaks at the Black Friday ads are already coming out. Chris is already making fun of me, but that's ok. He always acts like he dreads going with me, especially when we're with his family on Thanksgiving. He acts like he thinks it's the dumbest thing he's ever heard of. He gets an attitude about all the people and how ridiculous it is, but by the time it's all over, he's had fun. Who knows, if I keep reminding him of this, he might even make it to the 2nd store before he starts faking a headache. haha

My Little Campaigners

As most people know, Chris gets pretty worked up over politics. Apparently, so do my girls. The girls were playing

downstairs and came up to show us what they had made. The bottom is supposed to be an American flag and John McCain is mispelled, but you get the general idea. They were so proud of themselves.