MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

As you can see Tanner fiinally got his first set of drums for Christmas. I will tell you that he could have received nothing else what so ever, and been perfectly happy. I have NEVER seen a child so excited about what Santa brought him. Santa always gets the credit for the good gifts..haha. Tyler got an IPOD Shuffle and an I Tunes Card from Santa, so he was equally excited.

We had a great Christmas and the boys here so happy about all of their gifts, it was fun to watch them open them, one by one. We got to go to church on Christmas Eve, which was a first, we are usually busy. We did all of the family stuff early this year for different reasons, So this year we had Christmas Eve and Day all to ourselves, with no where to go or be. It was relaxing but I think we missed having any family around. We miss all of our friends and family that are not here to celebrate with us and we wich you all a Happy and Healthy New Year !

PS- we already have to buy a new cymbal for the drum set ( it was a little flimsy to begin with)

Happy Thanksgiving !!!( better late than never)
know, I am little behind, but I have been busy. Really, I have been busy! If we aren't having a party, going to a party or going to the DR. with a sick kid, then it is not a normal day. We have all been sick almost everyday, with something or another, since the week before Thanksgiving. We went to Missouri for Thanksgiving and stayed for the whole week. It was fun, we got to see friends and family, we got to see snow, although it did not stick. We spent some time with my grandfather who has bone cancer, so that was probably the most memorable time. The kids did really well for a 12 hour car trip, I was very impressed. JD got to go Quail and Pheasant hunting, that was probably his highlight.

Now it is December and Christmas is approaching, where has this year gone. Today actually happens to be my Bday, I only knew because of a training class that was scheduled for today. As I was talking to my dear friend Celeste, when she called me today and realized I was 35, she said " oh good, you hit the hump. I said back to her " oh good, now I know what is making feel like @#$%^&" Now I have a reason for how I feel, its the " hump". OK, short update on the kids....they are as crazy as ever. Tanner has decided that he doesn't want to go to bed at night ( AGAIN) so that is a battle. However, we took away his drumsticks for one day and that seemed to get his attention, let's see how long that works. Tyler is doing good, not much to update on that. He got Strep throat at the end of Thanksgiving break and missed 2 days of school when we got back. JD did not win the weight loss contest at work, but he did lose 30 pounds, so that was better that any amount of money. I will leave this short as I am sure I will update again soon. I have not had time to do Christmas cards and I may never get the time, so for those of you who are reading this Merry Christmas !!!

Happy Halloween

I know I have not posted in a while.......( see last post) I do not know where the time goes, I look up and a whole month is gone. Either I am going crazy or I am getting old, well maybe both! So what is new, not a whole lot. Here are the Halloween pics, Tyler was Sly Cooper ( a video game character) and Tanner was of course Spiderman ( he WOULD NOT wear the mask. ) They had a blast trick or treating, Tanner csught on real quick. We are just staying busy with everything under the sun. Tyler is doing amazing in school, we are so proud of him. He has recently been selected to participate in a UIL competition for story writing. Apparently he was writing some pretty cool stories at school, and won first place in his class. Now he is in a group of 2ND graders that will get together every week and they have to write a story based on a picture they are shown. If one of his stories gets picked it goes to competition in December. He is also in a activity called Destination Imagination (Destination Imagination is a community-based, school-friendly program that builds participants' creativity, problem solving, and teamwork in enjoyable and meaningful ways. Teams of five to seven members work together to apply creativity, critical thinking and their particular talents to solve a Team Challenge.) They will meet weekly and go to competition in March to present the solution to the challenge they were given. He is an absolutely amazing little man, I am just in awe of him . Tanner is doing AWESOME in school ( thank for your prayers). He loves going and talks about it all the time.

I cant believe that the Holiday season is among us, it is to early. We will be going to Missouri for Thanksgiving, but staying home for Christmas. I know that I say things are crazy and believe me they are, but its OK. I am really tryying to teach myself to love and embrace these times with the kids, crazy or not, because I feel very blessed to be here and to have 2 healthy children. It is so hard to be a parent, to wonder if you are doing the right thing sometimes. I know that God will equip us with what we need, if we let him. That is the problem, giving up that control........that is hard to do !! There is a song we have been singing at church called

" Remedy", it really hits home with me. It is an awesome song, you should all try to listen to it, it is by David Crowder Band. Well, I hope it wont be so long until I post again, Hahaha !!!

Is it always going to be this crazy ???

Do you ever think to yourself........ Is it always going to be this crazy ? Are my children ALWAYS going to fight like this, are they always going to whine and complain like this. I mean really, how long can they go on and on!!!! Is getting ready to go ANYWHERE, always going to require nothing short of a small miracle? Are we always going to argue about who wants to eat, what they want to eat, where they want to eat or how they are going to eat said food.
Is it just a requirement that when one of them decides to go to bed without a fight, or actually sleep ALL night, that the other one decides to do exactly the opposite. Why is it that when you sit them as far apart as possible in the car, one of them can always manage to get a pinkie finger to touch the other one. Do we really have to bribe them every time we want them to be quiet or do something good. Did our parents give us a piece of candy or sticker every time we went pee pee on the potty, or sat quietly in the shopping cart. Why is it that our kids can actually say to us " get me a drink" "gimme the remote control" OR " NO " What have we done to them to make them feel so entitled and arrogant enough to act like stinking brats!!! Yes, I said it, don't act surprised and don't tell me that your kids do not act like brats sometimes. Now, I will have to add that this is not always the case, my kids have been taught manners since they could breathe, but that doesn't mean that they always use them. Actually, I think the older they get, the further to the back of the brain they get pushed, no matter how much you remind them.
My point in all of this is....... What do we do now ??? How do we keep the peace and stay happy in such a sinister, crazy world that does nothing but make us want to just give up sometimes !!!

TANNER'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!! OK, so obviously you can tell how happy he is at home. He was so excited to put his backpack ( or as he says pack pack) on and hold his lunchbox. But once we got there his little smile was gone. He did really well all the way there and as we walked further down the hall towards his class he started to protest again. I did not want this to be a repeat of Meet the Teacher. He screamed and cried , hit at me ( mot mean) and pulled at my hair. I know it sounds awful, but he was scared and was telling me about it. He cried hysterically the whole time he was in there, which was about 15 minutes. So, we get to his class and he whimpered a little, but not to bad. He would NOT put his backpack and lunchbox down, to permanent for him I guess. Every mother of every child was there and almost all of the kids were not happy to be there. I stayed to try and comfort him for a few minutes. They decided to put Veggie Tales on , which was a God send and they gave him a snack. I went ahead and left, and from the hallway I would hear a faint cry along with Mommy, Mommy. I stayed there for a few more minutes and then I left. He is my second child so this is a bit easier for me. I heard that the director had to come in and finally kick the other mommies out. I arrived back at the school at 2 to find Tanner waking from his nap and HAPPY !!!! I was so proud of him and the teacher said he did really good. She said that once all the moms left that they all calmed down and had a great day. She also instructed the moms that Tuesday we will be leaving them at the door and we will not be able to come in with them. I totally agree with that ! So, thank you all for your prayers, it was great. Let us hope and pray that it will continue to be great for him !

Tyler's first day of 2ND grade

OK, I know that we haven't posted in a while so here is a little update. Tyler started 2ND grade on Monday and seems to be happy with his new school. It was hard since they re-zoned us and Tyler wasn't excited about changing schools again. But, he met up with a lot of friends that he knew from Kindergarten and First grade, so that made him feel better. He has an amazing teacher, God really did pick just the right one for him. We are very excited about this year and cannot wait to see what he will learn and accomplish in 2ND grade. I promise I will get back on track with posting, maybe I will have more time now. Tanner will start MDO next Thursday, so keep him in your prayers. I am not sure how he will like me leaving him in a strange place. But, I have heard nothing but excellent things about this school, so we are excited.

You Might be a Redneck if................

.................. you're fancy new set of drums is a pair of plastic Tupperware bowls. Well, what do you expect, we do live in the country. It is a fairly new brand of drums I am sure you have not heard of them yet. For now this is what Tanner has chosen ( well with my help, because pots and pans were to loud) to use as his drum set. He still loves his dumkicks and carries them with him everywhere he goes. Tyler is jamming on his guitar and giving that classic Rock N Roll look :) Some of you will laugh at this next thing, most of you wont know what the heck I am talking about. As we are sitting last night watching the CMA Country Music festival, Tanner proceeded to get his dumkicks and "drums" to play along with the music. Tanner is however NOT a country music fan, so he looks at us and says "No like it" and then said "hear Johnny Seargant"?? Well, we had to break it to him that the people on TV did not know this song and he was so sad. I think it is rather funny that his songs of choice right now are sung by Monte Rose (Johnny Seargant), JD Cunningham ( Why, Georgia Why) and Weird Al Yankovic ( Tanner calls it "The Pizza Song") Well, he does also like Brother Cane, Chris Daughtry and Nickelback. At any rate I think we definitely have a future musician here and I couldn't be happier. Besides it is much safer that race car driving.

By the way, he is feeling better and on the road to a full recovery !!!

Finally Free!

OK, I don't have anything really exciting this week except to say that we finally have a break from activities. We have been going non stop all summer and I am ready to chill, at least I think :) I always say I want to be at home and then we spend a day at home and I am ready to LEAVE! I am exhausted all the time and sometimes don't feel like I can do one more thing, but I do. Tyler had his first indoor soccer game tonight and really seemed to like it. It sure is a change from what we used to play, but a good change I believe. Of course they did not win, but they really played a good game. Tanner got his first set of real drumsticks yesterday and has barely put them down, he calls them "dumkicks" I took him to Guitar Center and you would have thought we were at Toys R Us the way his face lit up, it was great. I will post a pic as soon as I get one of him with them. For now, I just need him to sleep all night......YUCK !! I am Staging a house tomorrow, YEAH, that's good news. I am ready to get this business rolling so that I can work while Tanner is in MDO this fall. Please pray for me and this business, I do really want it to work. Well, bye for now, I have to go sleep while Tanner is actually asleep.

Poison Control...AGAIN !!!!

Yes, you read it.... that was our excitement for the day. You know, Tyler is 7 years old and I never had to call Poison Control because of anything he had gotten into. Tanner, on the other hand is 2 1/2 and today was the 4Th time I have had to call Poison Control. I made the mistake of going to brush my teeth and get dressed, and left Tanner alone for a few minutes. I knew when I walked out of the room and it was so quiet that something wasn't right. I knew he was in his room, so I entered to find him standing on the rocking chair eating Triple Paste Medicated Ointment, for diaper rash. His dresser, hands, and mouth were covered and he was saying " mmmmmm, good". So, I immediately turned the bottle over and read the precautions that said " Keep out of reach of children" ( my first mistake). If swallowed, get medical help or contact Poison Control right away. OK, the phrasing that they chose to put on this bottle, needless to say had me a bit worried.JD was at Six Flags with Tyler and I am thinking we are going to have to go to the hospital......... So, as I dialed the number, I was thinking "oh my, I hope they don't have record of the other 3 times I have called"haha Well, needless to say the guy was very nice and just said to give him a drink to rinse his mouth, he also said that the more he ate the more upset his stomach will be. I guess, we will see as the day goes, and how much diarrhea I have to clean, as to how much he actually ingested. I wish I had a picture of it, but I was actually worried to the point this time, that I didn't run for the camera. I am wondering if he thinks there is a problem with the dresser, because he has covered it in Vaseline, Ointment(twice) and powder.
Tanner is still not sleeping all night, the one night was a fluke or something ! So, prayers for sleep, for all of us would be good right now. I have hidden all of the things that he can get into, but I am sure he will find something, he always does :)

I think I can, I think I can !!

Well, this is the most recent "family circus" picture that we have , so I thought I would share. This was on our first real family vacation to Sea World in March.

OK, After talking to Kitty last night, she told me how to post a picture and I did it, YEAH !! It only took me like 20 minutes, but thats ok. I am getting into the groove.

On a good note Tanner finally slept in HIS bed ALL night last night without waking up even once. OK, so I know I am jinxing things now by bragging but I had to share. Keep your fingers crossed that we will have many more blissful nights of slumber :)

What the $%^& am I doing !!!

Ok, this is why I havent done this yet.... I am still trying to figure out how to set up this stupid thing. So here is my first post, its not exciting nor is it even interesting. Maybe if I can figure this thing out I will be back to post more...... I am not A Crafty Pig, I have no Imagination and even better I do not have a cool name from a cool song etc etc etc, some of you will get all of that. But, I do however want to keep in touch with my friends that seem to be moving away faster than I can blink, and the friends and family that already live far away. Hope this all doesnt look to crazy and I will try to make some changes soon!!