Christmas Eve and Christmas

Been lazy lately and haven't posted. Actually, I think all the radiation is starting to take its toll on me. I have a couple of good days with energy and then feel like I am ready to drop. Luckily, Jon has been home to pick up the slack.

Christmas Eve was nice. We went to the Peiffer's house. Jim and Carol were awesome to have us over with their family. Julie and Todd live around the corner from us and their kids Mitchell and Baby Ali play with our kids all the time. We met them at Austin's pre-school class a few years ago and realized they live around the corner. Austin and Mitch are great friends. Jim and Carol are Todd's parents. Julie's mom and dad and aunt were there as well. We were introduced to some polish customs and food. It was a great evening. The kids loved feeding the ducks.

On the way home we saw a big white light in the sky with a blinking red nose. WOW! How exciting to Santa and Rudolph in the sky. Santa even followed us most of the way home. Our children have never put on their pajamas and got in bed so fast in their lives.

We were awakened at 7:01 a.m by three little rugrats. At least they listened to us and waited until at least 7 a.m. Austin and Alison said they watched the sunrise in Austin's room and had peeked downstairs to see what Santa brought them. I believe they did this as the window shades were all open.

Santa brought Alison - art supplies, an easel, a purse with lots of gift cards, a nutcracker for her collection, and other things. Austin received a star wars toy, a teddy bear, some games, and other things. Mattie received a Cinderella Castle complete with all the Disney princesses, a digital camera, high school musical barbies, and other things.

Santa brought the entire family a Wii and some games but everyone thinks it is just for Austin. We love the Wii and have had so much fun with it. We have to kick the kids off and decided (jokingly) the adults need their own and the kids their own. I beat Jon at golf 3 times in a row and he was cranky.

We opened presents with the kids and played most of the day. At 2 p.m. we went over to our friends, the Barrett's. Julie fixed and awesome dinner and we were stuffed. We talked a while and played on their Wii for a while and had a great time.

My parents came on the 26th and the kids opened more presents and played and played. We made a turkey dinner complete with pumpkin pie this day. Overall, it was pretty relaxing holidays.

Tim and Karen (uncle and aunt to Amy) are coming on Monday to spend New Year's with us. Austin is so super excited to see their kids Will and Jonathan, he is counting the hours. We will be having New Year's again at the Rainforest Cafe. They have a wonderful kids buffet and balloon drop at 8 p.m. It is great fun.

On the 12th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 12 favorite pictures Okay, I am losing all creativity with this and I am a few days behind so I want to wrap this up! p.s. Yes most are from 2006 and not 2007 because I lost my hard drive and hadn't backed up for 6 months (shame on me), I have hard copies but not digital ones, don't feel like scanning. Sorry.

1. Halloween 2007

2. Disney's Animal Kingdom 2007

3. Christmas Eve 2006, Birthday Party for Jesus

4. Thanksgiving 2006, Grpa Denker's 75th Birthday

5. October, 2006 Kids actually touching each other and liking it

6. September, 2006 Mattie Bike Ride for St. Judes Hospital

7. August, 2006 Going to See Lion King at the theatre downtown with Julie, Kaylee, and Lauren Barrett, Kaitlyn Kem and Mattie, Alison, and myself

8. July, 2006 4th of July, Kids with Grpa/Ma Wine in Ohio

9. June, 2006 Mattie at Texas Children's Hospital before surgery

10. May, 2006 Mom's Tea with Austin

11. April, 2006 Circus

12. February, 2006 Alison Dance Competition

On the 11th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 11 Christmas Traditions...
1. Always read Twas the Night Before Christmas to the kids at bedtime on Christmas Eve.
2. Decorate at least one tree preferably more.
3. Buy each child an ornament (at least one) that reflects what they are "into" at that point in their life. Each child will then have a full set to be handed to them when they are grown and have a tree of their own.
4. Pray that the Elf on the Shelf comes back each year to watch over our children and report their actions, good or bad, back to Santa each and every night until Christmas Eve.
5. Open the box "What God Wants For Christmas" each year one week before Christmas and open the boxes, 1 per day, and read the store of Jesus.
6. Decorate the outside of the house.
7. Make sugar cookies and decorate them for Santa.
8. Three gifts per child under the tree, one for each of the wisemen that visited Jesus.
9. Have a birthday party for Jesus every year and involve the red velvet cake to reflect upon the blood Jesus shed for us.
10. Have a big dinner each Christmas Day.
11. Read the story of Jesus directly from the Bible.

On the 10th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 10 attempts at writing this message and still nothing comes to mind. This number thing is harder to do as you progress. Okay my true love gave to me 10 different types of baked goods... Alison and I spent all day on Saturday baking, we had a grand time. Once a year I get out my very favorite, extra special, nobody better touch it, recipe box from my Great Grandma Morgan and go through all of them. Each year I make a different recipe from her box and some old favorite cookies that I remember from her house when I was a child. We spent over 6 hours baking and making 16 trays. Luckily for me Alison still had energy and hand-delivered them to all our neighbors. Yummy!

On the 9th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 9 years of marriage Wow! Is that all. It has been forever since we have been together, 18 years. Just took us a long time to get married. My husband is a wonderful man and father. Even if he still acts like the "only child" he is, we just whip him back into shape. (hee hee) I couldn't have asked for a better husband. He helps out with everything around the house, the kids, shopping, etc. Hey, he does all the laundry at this house so that is worth a ton. Jon is my best friend and I love and appreciate the man he is. As a father, well I am not sure there is a better one or more attentive one around. He has extreme patience with all of us and is a great teacher. He brings me great joy and I look forward to the next few centuries.

On the 8th Day of Christmas

my true love gave to me an eight year old girl named Alison Jane Alison is eight years, yikes!! Time does fly when you have kids. Alison is a strong willed child, very intelligent, and acts way beyond her years. The tween and teen years with her might just put us in an early grave. Alison loves to dance and is doing her first solo this year for dance competitions. She had her first competition in November and won Gold and 2nd in her division. It was awesome. Her team dance won High Gold. Ali as we call her loves to read, do art work, and is currently writing her own storybooks. She desperately wants to be published. She wants an ipod, a laptop, a yorkie puppy, and a cell phone for Christmas. None of which she gettting. Santa told her she might need to revise her lists as her age and his pocket book weren't big enough. She loves to cook and be teacher to her little brother and sister. She had a heart of gold and often wants to help others. Alison is our activity child and there is not enough hours or days in the week for her to accomplish all the activities she has interest in. Ali definitely keeps us on our toes and probably will for a long time now. We love her very, very much!

Truth

Upon being told the diagnosis of Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, on the Autism Spectrum, for Austin the doctor looked me dead in the eye and said:

"Mom, you are today taking home the same little boy you had when you got here, the same one you loved and held before this minute, he has not changed, the only thing that has changed is a word that describes him."

How profound this statement was, so true, and it has stuck with me and allowed me to maintain perspective through even the roughest of days.

On the 7th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 7 sweet songs at Mattie's Christmas Program


Mattie had her Christmas program at her pre-school St. Johns this evening. Complete with her rubbing of her mouth (again) and the primping of her hair during the songs. She was very animated and exhuberant with her hand motions and singing. It was quite a cute little program. She did wonderfully. Her is a picture of her in what she calls "her santa dress."

On the 6th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 6 trips to the bathroom.... ooops cut...that is why the 6th day is late, stomach flu given to me on the 6th day of Christmas by...my true love gave to me one wondeful 6 year old boy!

Austin just turned 6 on 12/12 he was actually due on 12/25 and wishes so much that he shared his birthday with Jesus. Austin has a heart of gold and is truly worried about the feelings of others. He easily gets his own feeling hurt so he is normally sweet to others. Austin loves, star wars, ninja turtles, cars, and loves to count and add things with numbers. He also loves video games and has asked Santa for a Wii this year because "it is the coolest thing ever, mom" I hope his dreams come true.

Earlier this year on Mother's Day he was asked things about his mom.
1) How old is your Mom? 36
2) What is the prettiest thing about your mom? her hair and her shirts
3) What does your mommy like? she loves me the most
4) What is one thing your mommy tells you all the time? she asks questions, some times too many questions. (this was so funny because we were constantly asking him things at this time period.. at the end of March we learned Austin has an autism spectrum disorder (pdd-nos) and we immediately started several different therapies and teaching activities, etc. The poor kids was inundated with questions.)

Here is Austin on his birthday with his friend Grace. When he was asked who he wanted to have over for his family dinner we thought he would want to invite his usual friends, Mitchell and Connor, but nope...he just wanted Grace. So Grace and Connor both came, Mitchell was busy.

On the 5th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 5x the fun at the Jingle Bell Jog,

Today was the Jingle Bell Jog at the kids school it was a 5k run or a 1 mile walk. The benefit was for Juvenile Diabetes so it was a great cause. Jon and I tried to not show up, as it is 50 degrees and rainy. The nice warmth of the house sounded and looked much better to us, however, the kids were not allowing this. Austin was very upset that we were not doing the 5 k run. Luckily, the rain stopped about the time the walk started. Lots of friends, teachers, and even the principals were there. At the end they handed out donuts and drinks for all. All in all I was glad we went after all. Here is a picture of the family (proof we were there) not a great one but hey, it works.
four dents in a brand new car, three wishes for you, two emergency room trips, and one video of Mattie!!!

Africa

Austin is obsessed with Africa. For a couple months now he talks about why and how come they don't have any food and the kids don't have toys. He has lots of questions. He wants to send them his toys and when he doesn't eat all his food we have to save it and can't throw it away because we need to send it to Africa. Well..... today we went somewhere to take some dinner for a person that was involved in a bad car wreck. It was in a lot different neighborhood from ours. I didn't think twice about this but when we were leaving the neighborhood Austin asks, "Mom, what is this place? I know it is not Africa?" WOW! It never occurred to me that he would realize his surroundings. I then realized that my children have not been exposed to anything other than upper middle class. Fortunate for them, in a way, but sad in another. We talked about our family being fortunate with money that God gave us. He then wanted to know if God didn't love the people in these houses as much as us? This brought on an entire other discussion. It was an awesome discussion and opened up both our eyes!

A little later about 20 mins we were almost home and Austin says, "Mom, do I have to live in my own house when I am an adult?" Yes, Austin, absolutely. "No, I am not going to do that!" Well, Austin where are you going to live "The same place I always lived when I am a kid!" Well, Austin what happens when you get married and have a wife? Where will you live then? "AFRICA!"

On the 4th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me 4 dents in a brand new car,

With my brand new, one week old Yukon XL earlier this year I had a wreck. A pretty major wreck, not in that anyone was badly injured but the other two cars were totalled. I think I sold a lot of Yukon Xl's to those witnesses because the other cars were baaaaadddd!! My car, well it really didn't just have 4 dents but it did have dents on all 4 sides!!! At the time I was told I ran a red light but I know it was green but nevertheless I was the only one who thought it. I was hit in the drivers side back end which sent me into a spin. Somehow I picked up another car and flung it around again with me, up over a median, into 5 lanes of oncoming traffic until I jerked the wheel and came to a dead stop with a blown out tire hanging over the median. Then I looked up and somehow I had taken another car with me and it was attached to my front right in. This car did not have glass in any window. The girl in this car was okay and the car that hit my back end, well it totalled their entire front end but they were okay as well. I was pretty shaken up but not injured other than a seatbelt bruise. There was not major damage to my car but the entire outside, doors, quarterpanels on all sides, etc. Basically, ever body part on the outside of my brand new car had to be replaced. It spent over a month in the body shop. When I spun I kept hitting things over and over and over again. I still won't go near this intersection and after 6 months parts of the cars and other trash was still in the middle of this intersection from my wreck.

Come to find out I was vindicated on the red light. Evidentally, there were several wrecks at the same light (more minor than mine) same type scenario and same cop. After this the cop watched the lights for a period of time and not just the one minute he gave it for me. What they found is that every 3rd cycle of lights my light would stay green for a few seconds longer after the cross traffic light turned green. I no longer was at fault and do not have any red-light running tickets. Yeah! I felt much better about myself as I was starting to think I was really losing it!!!

three wishes for you, two emergency room trips, and one video of Mattie!!!

On the 3rd day of Christmas

my true love gave to me three wishes for you

two emergency room trips, and one video of Mattie!!!

On the 2nd day of Christmas

my true love gave to me two emergency room trips and one video of Mattie! Yes, you are reading correctly, two emergency room trips in 2007 for the Wine Family. We will start with emergency room trip #2: Alison fell off the playground equipment from the highest point and landed splat onto her head. We were called from the school do to concussion like symptoms and advised to go to the emergency room for tests. We did, we spent a fortune, we stayed for 4 hours, and we left with only a minor concussion. WHEW! Emergency room visit #1: This was a doozy. Long, story short. Jon called and asked me what I was doing. Well, I had just left my house on a Friday afternoon to join the masses exiting downtown for the weekend. Had to get back down to the zoo to pick up all three munchkins from zoo camps (this camp is wonderful by the way). Jon then asked if I could take him to the emergency room. My response: sure in about 2 1/2 hours at the earliest, because that is how long it takes to go to the zoo and get back on a Friday afternoon in this town. I had to go, because who else would be willing to go get them and at the last minute to boot. Jon said this was okay and he would go home as he was covered in mud and try to take a shower and wait on me. Well, I decided he couldn't be that hurt after all. HA! To this day I do not know how Jon drove home, got in the house, let alone showered... but I found him layed out on the bed and he couldn't even get all his clothes on. His knee was the size of a basketball... yes a basketball. I got the kids situated at a neighbors and drove him to the emergency room. Getting him in was interesting as his leg would not support any weight. The time spent was only a couple of hours, we left with another large bill, the leg in a brace, pain pills, and the number for a doctor to see on Monday. Well, ladies and gents... he pulled his quadricep tendon off of his knee entirely!! This injury is worse than the ones seen on the football field. Jon was laid up in bed and could not move, go to the potty, or anything without assistance for over 4 weeks. From 4-8 weeks he didn't move much but became a little more self sufficient. This happened on June 29th and he had surgery on July 3rd. What a summer!!! He didn't go back to work until when the kids went back to school at the end of August. (that was a good day for me!!)

Oh, how did he do this you might ask? He did in during a round of non-contanct GOLF! Yes, golf! He says it was rainy, and the stairs on the elevated tee box were wet, he took one step and whoosh fell in a heap to the bottom. Ask him to tell you the story it is quite funny, NOW!

On the First Day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me.... one video of Mattie! (go to the bottom and mute my Christmas tunes in order to hear Mattie) This is too funny about half way through she get really loud. Oh and her nervous licking of her hand and itching her nose cracks me up. She did this during her Christmas program at church last Sunday night during the entire thing. Too funny.



if you can't view here then try to copy and past this link into your browser
http://www.youtube.com/greeting_view?s=N-2AigHv5Nc&p=E281F4AA12FEC060

12 days of Christmas???

My friend Cris borrowed an idea for the 12 days of Christmas on her blog from another friend so I have debated for a couple days if I should borrow it again and risk her getting cranky with me. Well, I decided most people reading my blog don't read hers so it would be okay..... I hope ;-) However, I have been trying and trying to figure out what to put as my first day and come up with too many things from the past year.

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me

1 bedridden husband
1 child on the autism spectrum
1 round of thyroid cancer
1 eight year old who thinks she is 15
1 month of pneumonia
1 bad car wreck
1 chinese horoscope that informed me of my impending, neverending, bad year of doom
1 silly little mattiecakes
1 new Kindergartener
1 well I could keep going on and on and on but I will stop here most of these are depressing!!!

More Bits and Pieces!!!

Ali had a late night party until midnight at the dance studio for her competition team this past Saturday so Jon and I had a date night. Mind you our dates normally end with us asleep no later than 9 p.m. (babysitter loves this so she can still go out) and we didn't know what we were going to do until midnight and if we could even stay awake. Therefore, my hubby made us reservations and my favorite steakhouse in Galveston. So we drove down and had a great time at the San Luis Steakhouse. One BIG glitch, my favorite places to eat are based on bread and dessert, well they did not have my favorite dessert any longer. BIG BIG BUMMER! I pouted for a while. It was the white chocolate eruption, wonderful, I had the dark chocolate eruption but didn't even like it that much. Guess we don't have to drive down to the big G any longer to eat at the Steak House!

After gorging ourselves, we went to Moody Gardens and walked through the festival of lights. It was really nice, the evening was low 70's, so the weather was wonderful and it was nice and even Jon had to admit a bit romantic. Since we didn't know what to do with this new found romance we packed it up and headed back to pick up Alison at the dance studio. With all of this we were still there by 11:30 and she was less than thrilled with the early pick up time, oh well!

On Sunday, Jon and I went to the Texans game, this is more our speed in the romance department. Had a great time and they actually WON! Woohoo! Maybe we will pay for the season tickets for next year after all.... gets harder and harder every year to fork over the moola. Alison went to yet another activity and saw the Nutcracker Ballet with her Brownie Troop and loved it. Right now she is at yet another Christmas party for the said Brownie troop. We had to provide gifts for her secret pal this last week and she loved getting all the goodies all week herself. Today is the big "reveal" so she is excited because she is confident she figured hers out (and she did)! Better scoot to fix dinner for the munchkins before Austin has to leave for basketball practice (that is a story for another time).

Christmas Tunes!

Added some Christmas tunes for your listening enjoyment. It only took 3 days to figure out how to do it (and I used to be pretty computer savvy). Enjoy!!!

Bits and Pieces!

Just cleaning out the garage today (yes, still cleaning it)! Almost finished the inside of the house, forget spring cleaning I am Fall Cleaning!!! Then in the spring we can play! 17 bags of childrens clothes, 7 full truck loads of junk to Cypress Assistance Ministries, and I am still going. I gave away the baby cradle and bed that in my head I was saving for my grandkids. Who am I kidding, both were well worn and scratched and I better be waiting about 20+ years to have a grandkid... but still my heart is heavy on that one. No more babies in this household! Thank God on one level but still can't get that straight in my head. Probably still in shock from those years of nothing but babies, babies, babies....

Baby Ali will not come to our house since her finger was injured (okay almost ripped off completely). She is terrified of me too and won't let me near her. Can't say I blame her but it isn't helping my guilt issues.

If Austin is acting up all we have to do is look for the phone and he freaks out thinking we are going to call Santa. He doesn't seem to understand that he is constantly watching him BUT he does get that God is watching you and might tell Santa. However, he told me the other night it was okay if he was bad and God saw him because God forgives everything. WOW! Didn't know what to do with that one so I left it alone.

Austin came home with his very first written journal paper. If my scanner was hooked up I would put it on here for everyone. We were soooo excited it had words on it and we could actually read them. No scribbles and nothing about battles, star wars, or killing anyone. YEAH! We had a mini-celebration last night. Also, Austin is rhyming!!!! BIGGER CELEBRATION!!! No more N's on his report card for that at least. YAHOO! It just clicked and now he rhymes everything. I told him I was proud of him and he said, "I know!"

Alison is going to a dance competition party on Saturday night that I am not all that excited about. From 6 pm to midnight... like I am awake even remotely to get her picked up. Jon says we are going to go out to dinner and just stay out that late. Who is he kidding? Even on date nights we are home by 9 pm because I can't stay awake. The party is at the studio and for the entire team which means Alison is one of the youngest and they go up to senior girls. I am worried about what she is going to see and here but...... I lost out on this one. I was hoping she would be rotten this week and lose the privelage but she hasn't been too bad at all. (darn it)

Mattie is bossy!!! No, not a new revelation but she is nosey and bossy. When she was a baby she was the nosiest. I couldn't feed her with any noise in the room or she would be breaking her neck to see what it was. She wants to know all my business and loves to have little kids over so she can boss them around. She is a mother hen!!!

Okay, I have to run now... I am supposed to have Mattie at school in 19 seconds.

Is the Black Cloud Gone?

Okay, one day into the month of December (remember this is our last bad month this year according to the Pig Chinese Horoscope 10 months of them this year, ick!) and we had our first emergency of the month. The dog!!! Luckily, I missed out on this adventure as I was at the church women's luncheon. Don't know all details but the dog tore his back toe nail out totally and was bleeding heavily, all over the place. Jon took him and the three munchkins to the vet and he had to have two stitches, his foot is bandaged, and has to be on medicine for a week. Soooo.... the way I figure it we are DONE!!! Our mishap for December is over on day 1 and we go on about our business!! YEAH!!!

Alison's Blog

There is a link to Alison's blog on the right side of the page. It is really amusing me... I asked her what she wanted to call it and she whipped out within seconds "Everyday Expressions" WOW!! Doesn't sound like an 8 year old but then again she has never acted her age (scary)! Her first post is most grown up but wait until she finishes the 2nd one. I read the draft (yes, I was snooping) and the title is: stress relief tips WOW again! reminder: she is barely 8 years old. The body says: if you are ever angry try these stress relieve tips 1. Nothing is listed yet, but I can't wait to see what she puts down. She was grounded from the computer (see previous post about telling her mom she should not ever have been a mom) (she was quite angry at me) tonight and couldn't finish it. I might have to give it back to her tomorrow just to see what she is going to type.

Oh, and she really is trying to publish a children's book but her lowly mother doesn't know where to begin in trying to get that to happen. We sent one to a publisher last week, doubt we will hear anything but worth a try. I guess. She is really very imaginative, again it is scary! Pre-teen is right around the corner. YIKES!

The Big Fat Turkey

Great Grandma Jane sent Thanksgiving cards to us, Mattie opened hers and asked me to read it. There was a big colorful turkey on the front. Mattie asked when Grma Jane got a big fat turkey at her house to take a picture of. It never occured to me that she would think it was real. I told her I wasn't sure that she had a real turkey but she assured me that Grma Jane must have a turkey or else she would not have sent a picture of it to her. She thought she might have named it Jerky Turkey. Mattie then proceeded to explain that Papa Rick had a big, fat, turkey he was going to cook and she hoped it wasn't Grma Jane's turkey or she might cry and miss him. I asked her if Grpa was a silly, big, fat, turkey and she NO! He is a big fat rat!!! I asked her why and she told me because Grammie (Janet) told me so.

Quite a conversation!

Big Brother Open Casting Call!!

My favorite show is looking for people in Houston!!! I told Jon I was going and he wanted to know, "How do you think you are going to arrange to spend 40 days away from the household?" My answer, "EASILY!" A vacation and fun to boot.... However, I will be known as the fattest person on the show next to Chicken George, I am sure, but what better boot camp? How fun would this be? Okay, now back to reality of three small children... bummer... I had one child inform me today I should have never been a mother and she hated me sooo...... probably wouldn't miss me much! :-)


'Big Brother' to hold open casting call at Katy Mills Mall
05:29 PM CST on Tuesday, November 27, 2007
KHOU.com staff report
Are you ready for your 15 minutes of fame?
“Big Brother” is holding an open casting call Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Katy Mills Mall.
Outgoing, intriguing, competitive people who think they have what it takes to be a Big Brother House Guest are welcome between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. that day.
Those lucky enough to be selected will live in the Big Brother House with a group of complete strangers while cameras record their every move, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
But there’s a payoff – and a big one at that.
The last man – or woman – standing will win $500,000.
For more information and applications, go to CBS.com.

Back to the Craziness!

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is coming! We are back to our never ending crazy schedule. Looking at boxes and boxes of Christmas items that need to be displayed. My interest in doing this is waning with the days. I am soooo tired these days this type of thing is wearing on me and I am beginning to question the worth of decorating for Christmas. However, the kids LOVE IT! So that alone will probably kick me into gear at some point. Just getting the items out of the attic was a chore. I was only three rungs up on the ladder when Jon handed down the heaviest box yet when I twisted my ankle and fell backwards. I don't recall the heavy box falling on me but Jon says it did. I broke my BUTT! Who does that? The BLACK CLOUD is still over us! Luckily, just a lot of painful places but nothing major broken. I knocked myself out for a few minutes. At least Jon has some new material to work with in his jokes!!

Have to run as I am being kicked off the computer by a 4 year old who is afraid her Webkinz will die if she doesn't feed them RIGHT NOW!!

Thanksgiving Fun!

We changed our routine of home cookin' to go out with our friends. We went to Strack Farms and the food was wonderful. We had breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. We went with the Peiffers (Todd, Julie, Mitchell, and Baby Ali - Jennifer, Jason, Reese and Becca -- Jennifer and Julie's Mom and Dad ), the Osbornes (Kirk, Karen, Karen's Mom, Mary Klaire, and Kirsten) and the Kems (Bonnie, Kyle, and Kaitlyn). Lots of us!!! We had a great time. Jon went right after lunch to pick up his parents from the airport and we ate Jon's homemade dinner that night with Joan and Jack and the Kem's came over to eat (again) with us! Jon fried his first turkey and it was great. He was proud of himself. Overall a lazy day.

Our Thankful Lists

Alison
1. God
2. Trees because they provide oxygen and enable us to breathe (and that is a quote, hmmm)
3. Teachers

Austin
1. Christmas
2. Toys
3. Money

Mattie
1. Christmas
2. Jesus
3. Mom and Dad

Jon
1. My Family
2. Able to recover from his knee accident (mostly anyway)
3. Get our financial house in order

Amy
1. God
2. My husband for all he does to help me around the house. (which is a lot, he does laundry ;-)
3. My children and the rest of my family.
4. Karen Kingsbury (christian author)
5. Austin's Kindergarten Teacher
6. All of my wonderful friends!!! They are awesome!
7. For 2008 because it has got to be better and less stress than 2007!
8. Target, Barnes and Noble, and Hobby Lobby
9. The internet especially internet shopping
10. Chocolate
11. Hot baths and Ipods!!!

Alison is in LOVE!

Alison has her first boyfriend. SCARY!!! She told me the other day something was happening to her. I asked her what and she said she didn't know but whenever she was around this boy, Hunter, she felt funny. She told me that she thought he liked her and she liked him but felt funny around him. GREAT!! (sarcastic) She talks about him every single day. She told us that she thinks of him constantly and can't get him out of her mind. Yesteday he presented her with a handmade flower. The flower was a heart with little heat petals all around it. The heart said: I love you! Love, Hunter. He asked her to be his girlfriend and she said yes, he twirled her around and she told him to put her down. Her question last night.... "Mom, when Hunter gets back from Utah can we invite him over for dinner or something?" YIKES!!!

The Wine Black Cloud!!!

It is becoming a very sick joke that we have a huge black cloud over us. I was hoping it moved away but it appears the cloud is hanging around. Baby Ali (neighbors little girl 2 1/2 aka Mitchell's sister) was over and Mattie didn't realized that she was behind her and came into the house and slammed the door behind her. Well.... Baby Ali's hand was in it and almost chopped off the entire tip of her finger. I thought it was just cut and put it under the water. Much to my surprise the enter tip about fell off, hanging by a thread. Luckily, Big Ali was a lot of help getting the phone and getting her parents here quickly. Austin got the wet rag and Mattie a bowl of ice. I paced the house full of nerves and guilt that it happened on my watch for over an hour. Luckily, there was not any nerve damage and they don't think it is fractured. She received several internal stitches and more on the outside. About 10 in all.

I had called Jon because he was on his way home and told him to hurry up because baby Ali had cut off her finger and hung up on him. Ooops!! I was quite frantic. But her fingers are tiny and it looked like a lot of it to me!

Searching for Austin

Austin stayed home from school yesterday with an ear infection. It didn't really occur to me to email his teachers and tell them because his normal teacher was not there. I received a phone call at 8:45 a.m. from the teacher next door to his looking for him. Evidentally, Austin likes to eat breakfast at school (they are going to think I don't feed him) and sometimes doesn't make it to class until 8:30 ish when school begins at 8:10. He arrives at school on the bus at 7:45. Not sure what he does that he doesn't get him to class until 8:30 but I was told they normally find him in the cafeteria. I guess the search was on for Austin this Wednesday morning. They thought he got lost!! WOW! Sometimes I am not sure what he is thinking.f

Austin is shooting his Thanksgiving Turkey!!

Austin absolutely does NOT want to get his Thanksgiving Turkey from the grocery store. He wants to go out and shoot it. We have no clue where he even heard he could do this. He first asked his doctor about shooting the turkey. Yesterday, he told Courtney(mommy's friend) that he shot his turkey and didn't get it from the store like mommy wanted him to. Courtney said she didn't know where to go and shoot a turkey around here and Austin told her he went to Africa!!!

Austin is very obsessed with all things Africa at the moment. He wants to pack up his toys and send them to Africa for the kids that don't have any. He also wants to send them his leftovers every night at dinner and gets upset if I throw them out and not pack them from Africa. I gave many bags of clothes and toys to the hispanic people that were working on the tile in our house this week. He wanted to know if they lived in Africa because everyone here has toys and food. He was shocked to find out that this wasn't the case.

Ali's First Solo Dance Competition

Alison had her first solo dance competition this past Sunday. She danced to "Superstar" and did a wonderful job. She loves to be on the stage and in front of people. However, she did get quite nervous before performing and was almost in tears. You would have never known that when she was on stage the child was extremely animated, smile on her face, and flirted a lot with the judges. She received a GOLD out of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and High Gold. She also was 2nd place in her group of 8 girls and 22 out of 111 (6 to 12 year olds) She did wonderful! I had tears in my eyes when she was on stage. Not sure why it affected me that way.

Their group dance "Hound Dog" won High Gold and the #1 position in their group.

Mattie being called FAT!

Friday was a really sad day! Jon picked up Mattie from pre-school and the conversation went like this. "Dad am I fat!" "Mattie why would you ask that?" "The boys told me I was fat." 'Which Boys?" "I don't know they are in another class." "Mattie you are not fat you are a full figured gal." pause from Mattie. "Mattie you are beautiful" "I know, but those boys said I was fat." Figure in all the attitude and the hands on the hip for that one.

Monday, mom got a hold of the boys! :-)

Funny Things by Austin!

I took Austin to the doctor last week and we actually had a great experience. This was a new ENT for us and he is awesome!! He spoke with Austin for over 3o minutes. The first thing when the door opened Austin asked "Are you going to hurt me?" I started to reply for the doctor and say "No Austin he is not going to hurt you!" I got about two words out of my mouth when I was shushed. "Shh, I am talking to the doctor was the quote!" WOW! They talked about many, many things. Things about Austin's body, the doctor's tools, 12+13, and on and on and on! Austin asked, "Did you shoot your turkey for Thanksgiving?" WOW, again! Don't know where he came up with that but he proceeded to explain that we haven't done that yet but needed to. He wanted to know where the doctor lived and he lives by Austin's good friend from school, James. They talked about the things in James' backyard . I bet 300 subjects passed between them in those 30 mins. When we left he asked the secretary where she lived and if it was by James' too.

Austin is very literal about everything: We took caramel apples to all the teachers for Halloween. Austin wanted one for a teacher I hadn't heard of. I asked who she was and he replied, "You know, the fat one" We had to talk about that one!!

I just started a blog!! YIKES!!

My wonderful friend Cris has one of these and I love the concept of this. However, I really didn't want to put myself out there but then I decided that I will tell Cris and my other friend Courtney ONLY!! So if you are not one of them then I don't know you and won't worry about being judged or to open or .....

I think I am going to like this. I have been told I should right a book about my life because something happens all the time over here. I try to journal and like it but I don't like how long it takes me to write and I am pretty electronically savvy so this is perfect for me. Although some might learn more about me than they want! :-)

Okay, I am rambling....(but, hey it is my first post)