The Last Week of November

We are home from our vacation! We made it home last night, rolling in at about 10 pm. The kids are at school and ds4, Baby Girl, and I have just walked in the door. We went to an appointment this morning with one of my midwives. It went well. I have gained 1 pound so far and everything looks great. Baby is very active and hides from the doppler thingy that they use to hear the heartbeat. :) Last month it took her 15-20 minutes to get a heartbeat and this time it took at least 5 minutes. That seems like forever when you are lying there waiting, especially when you have had 2 times in the past when there was no heartbeat to be found.

This week we're having warm weather (70s) Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then Wednesday night and early Thursday we are dropping into the 20s. The high Thursday, Friday, and Saturday is in the low 40s. We are also supposed to have freezing rain/sleet Thursday and Friday. My kids will be thrilled if they get out of school. They love school, but it's always fun to get out for bad weather.

I left the house last week in a hurry to go out of town, which means that I left a mess. Dh and dd12 were here through Wednesday, so I assumed they would do some picking up and make things look nice again. Wrong assumption. So I have quite a messy house to clean this week. I also need to go through storage (the garage) and find the rest of my maternity clothes, the rest of the kids' winter clothes, and the Christmas decorations.

That's all for now! Check back Thursday and I'll let ya know if we really got the sleet and freezing weather. :)

What We're Doing Today

We are at my parents' house for the week. Dh and dd12 are still at home; they will join us tomorrow. On Thanksgiving Day we will go to my in-laws' house in the afternoon.

This morning Annie came over and cut my four boys' hair. Their hair was so long that it was no longer cute. Some boys look good with longer hair (my 4 year old does), but my oldest 3 boys DO NOT look good with longer hair. They look neglected. So, Annie saved them from looking neglected! All of their hair looks so cute!

I got to sit and visit with her wonderful 16-year old daughter, Amanda for a while. That is always fun! I love Amanda. When she was little, she was watching the Miss America pageant with Annie. She asked Annie, "Which one is Julie?" She won my heart right then and there. :)

Now the boys and Baby Girl are playing/watching the Disney station. We do not have cable at home, so they love to watch TV when they are here. Of course, my mom can't stand TV, so she shoos them outside when she gets home from work.

This afternoon I want to bake sugar cookies and just hang out. I have 2 friends I want to go see, but I am enjoying just being home.

The boys are going to build a dog house for Smokey this afternoon. My dad is going to help them. Won't that be fun? and memorable? Yesterday the boys helped Paul (a young man that works for my dad who just happens to be a hottie) unload a trailer of fire wood. They were so cute and so happy to get to be helping do "men's work." And Paul said they were a lot of help. He seemed surprised. Doesn't he know my boys are wonderful little men??

I found out last night that a girl I used to know in high school has a brain tumor. Actually, to tell the truth, we were flat out ENEMIES!!! My first serious boyfriend, if you know what I mean, broke up with me to go out with her. I was 15 and she was 14. They dated forever and are now married with 2 kids, last I heard.
They are starting treatment on Monday. I feel so bad for her, her husband, her kids, and her family. She is only 28 years old. She still hates me, which is sad. The stuff between us happened14 years ago. I feel terrible that we are still enemies and that she is going through this.
I am just going to focus on praying for her. That is all I can do anyway.

"May the Lord bless and protect you; may the Lord's face radiate with joy because of you; may he be gracious to you, show you his favor, and give you his peace."
Numbers 6:24-26 TLB

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kids say the cutest things!

Ds6 #2's teacher said to him, "Your little sister is just so cute!"
Ds6 #2 said. "Yeah, she never gets uncute."
___________________________________________________

This morning ds4 screamed, "MOMMY! Baby Girl is losing her teeth! Look, look, she has lots of missing teeth!!"
He was relieved to find out that she is not losing teeth, but still working on growing teeth. :)

Thanksgiving Program pictures and a short update

Here is a picture from ds6 #1 and ds6 #2's Thanksgiving program. It was the cutest school program I have been to in years. I loved it!
The children sang cute little Thanksgiving songs and recited poems. Then we all had a meal together. That is another story!!
Since we are short on funds this week, I attempted to be frugal and wise. I had a few frozen pizzas at home (the good, crust-rising ones) so I cooked those, cut them up, and put them in a container. When it was time to eat, I took out our pizzas, thinking I was so smart. When I opened the container I saw that all of the cheese from both pizzas had melted! So we had a big cheesy mess. There was no way to get one slice out at a time. I just packed it back up, we left, and went to Sonic for dinner. So much for being frugal!

Dh is in chicago this week. The high there was 44 today. The high here today is supposed to be 58, but we haven't made it past 51. The wind is fierce! We can hear it howling and howling. Last night ds4 thought we had a tornado because he kept waking up thinking he heard the tornado siren.

My boys get out of school early Friday and they are out all next week. Dd12 has to go next Monday and Tuesday and then gets out early Wednesday. I am taking Baby Girl and the boys and going home to Oklahoma for a visit, since I didn't get to weekend before last. That was the weekend Baby Girl was sick. Dh and dd12 will join us in Oklahoma on Wednesday evening.

Baby Girl is no longer nursing. Today is the third day that she hasn't nursed at all. She had cut back to nursing only at night, to get to sleep and now I can just put her in her bed and she goes to sleep by herself. She is sleeping all night in her own bed! This is a first for her. To sleep all night is a biggie and to sleep in her own bed is miraculous!! I am happy! AND. she is napping for 2 hours every day.

Now if I can only get ds4 out of my bed...

Has everyone voted for their favorite Dancing With the Stars man? Of course, my favorite is Emmitt! You can still vote at www.abc.com!

One Thousand Gifts

Y'all need to go to this website http://largefamilylogistics.lifewithchrist.org/ and read her "One Thousand Gifts".
Scroll down and it is on the left.

Enjoy! I love reading it daily.

Here is another link to read the original post on One Thousand Gifts.
http://www.christianwomenonline.net/One_Thousand_Gifts.html

Nat, can you put this on my blog, also?

Halloween Pictures

The whole gang, almost! George Bush was taking the picture, so he didn't get in it.



Mommy and Ladybug

Flylady's Holiday Control Journal

www.flylady.net

Go to the Flylady website, then find the Holiday Cruising section. You will find all kinds of goodies, including a Holiday Control Journal. I used it during the 2004 Holiday season and it really helped. A friend called me OCD when she saw it, but that's okay.

The goal of Flylady's Holiday Cruise is to get all Christmas prepping done by December 1st, so you can "cruise" through the holiday without stress. I am not going to be able to get my gifts all bought by December 1st, but hopefully I can do everything else and figure out what gifts I am going to buy. So when I get paid on December 5th, I can go buy all of the gifts and be finished.

Check it out! It's fun!

Baby Girl's Rough Weekend

This weekend has been quite rough for little Baby Girl. Let me tell you about it...
Thursday morning she started running a fever. No big deal. Kids run fever for lots of reasons so I didn't think much about it. Ds4 had also been running a fever for a few days and he was better, so I figured she had his bug.

Friday morning early (3 am) she had what I thought were seizures. It was really strange and scary. I took her to her pediatrician Friday morning and he thought she had had febrile seizures and that she had a virus. He said if the seizures happened again, to take her to the ER at children's hospital.

Saturday morning (5 am) it happened again, just once. We took her to the ER. My mom was here to help for the weekend so she stayed with the older kids. At the ER, they thoroughly checked her out. They did blood work, a urine test, a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia, and also a spinal tap. Everything came back normal except the blood work. Her white blood cell count was high, so they gave her an antibiotic shot and sent us home. DH and I felt confident that she was on the mend and we were so glad we took her in to the hospital. The doctors and nurses were great with her and it was not a bad experience.

Well, she slept the whole way home (1 hour). When we got home, she cried for 2 hours straight and she held her neck while she was crying. Her pediatrician said it was probably a headache from the spinal tap. He said to lay her flat and it would go away within 24 hours. Yeah, right! Have you ever tried laying a hysterical 17-month old flat down? Impossible.

We finally got to sleep and had a very tense night. She was miserable all night.

Sunday morning she was still holding her neck and she was not walking right. Her body was hunched over like an old person and she would take a few steps and then say, "Owie!"

I called the nurse on-call at our pediatrician's office and she said to take her back to the hospital.

We took her back and the dr. said that she was having side effects from the spinal tap. He said to give her Motrin every 6 hours and to follow up with her dr. in the morning. This morning she is feeling quite a bit better. Her fever is completely gone. She is still experiencing neck pain and stiffness, but it seems to be improving.

I have called her dr. and he wants me to keep an eye on her and let him know if she has any other symptoms that alarm me.

My To Do List for Today

I am putting my "To Do" list on my blog this morning. That way I won't lose it!

Mail eBay package to Australia
Dishes
Sweep kitchen
Grocery store- chili ingredients, hot dogs and buns for tomorrow night
Put dinner in crockpot
Get trash out of van
Wash boys' underwear and socks
Air out bedrooms
Email Aunt Marilyn-called her instead
Put important dates on kitchen calendar
Wash dark clothes
Bathe Baby Girl and ds4
Crisis Cleaning: Living Room and laundry
Figure out if dd12 can go on retreat this weekend
Call midwife
Call Cheerful
Shower
Brush Baby Girl and ds4's teeth
Throw away pumpkins (rotten and moldy on front porch)
Find mailbox key
Get mail from PO
Clean out fridge
Make chore charts

Thanks, Nat, for explaining how to cross words out! :)

An Update

Hi everyone,
I wanted to give a quick update. The past week I have had a houseful of sick children and a sick husband. Our pediatrician diagnosed the children with a viral upper respiratory infection. They are back in school now and dh is back at work today. I have not gotten sick, thankfully. I am still battling thsi awful nausea, but it is getting better. This morning I was up at 5:30 mopping the kitchen floor. that is a good sign that I am getting more energy and am starting to feel like myself again. Usually in the 2nd trimester I feel great and have lots of energy.

This morning I am taking dd12 to school late (she got to rest a bit longer than usual because she didn't feel well when she woke up) and then am heading to the nearest Chick fil A. About the only thing I want to drink these days is their lemonade. It is SO good!!!!! I highly recommend it. :) I am going to break down and buy a gallon for $7.95. That is cheaper than driving 15 minutes each day and buying a large lemonade to last me the day.

Next weekend I am taking Baby Girl and going home to visit my parents, and 2 of my very best friends. I am so excited about this!! Dh is leaving on Monday, November 6th to go out of town for 2 weeks. He hasn't travelled like this since Baby Girl was born. When I was pg with her, he travelled a lot. It wasn't too bad, really. But I had awesome neighbors back then. Now I do not have awesome neighbors. They're nice, but they work and I hardly see them.

Oh, one more thing, I see my specialist next Monday and then my midwives again on Wedneaday. They are worried about me because I am losing weight. Honestly, I kinda like losing the weight. I am still 15 pounds heavier than I was before Baby Girl was conceived. I think I will be fine, even if I lose more weight. I still have lots of padding. :)

First Trimester Almost Over!!

Well, the Zofran is not going to happen. My insurance will only let me get 3 days at a time filled. At $35 a pop, that is $350 a month, I don't think Zofran is an option for me. So, my midwives are calling in Phenergan tomorrow morning.

Today for lunch I made the mistake of eating a normal sized meal. I have been paying for it ever since.

I know this could be worse. I have read about women who vomited every 20 minutes all day long! Can you even imagine? I can't. I think I would be begging my midwives or someone to either give me drugs or shoot me. So, I am counting my blessings and being thankful that I am not THAT sick.

Speaking of being thankful, I am getting excited about Thanksgiving Day and the beginning of the holidays. I always consider Thanksgiving to be the start of the holidays, but this year I may consider Halloween the beginning of the holiday season.

Dd12 wants to be a rock star for Halloween. She wants to bleach her hair blond and add pink streaks. Uh...no.
Ds8 wants to be a football player. That is much easier than a rock star, in my opinion. Ds6#1 wants to be Spiderman or Batman. Ds6#2 wants to be an angel. I'm going to have to think about that one. It may be a bit too girly. Ds4 wants to be a baby jaguar and Baby Girl is going to be either Belle from Beauty and the Beast or Snow White.
I want to dress up as a queen, but I may not be able to squeeze my pregnant self into a costume. We'll see.

Pregnancy

Hi everyone,
All of my faithful readers already know this, but I will announce it anyway...
we are expecting a baby in early May!!
Today was my 2nd midwife appointment. I have been extremely nauseated and have lost a bit of weight, so my midwife prescribed Zofran. I am going to pick up the prescription right now. Hopefully I will feel like my normal self again. I have been sick and lethargic since August!!!!!!!!!

7 Reasons ds8 Thinks Baby Girl is the "Awesomest Baby in the World"

1. She can climb ladders by herself
2. She can do “hiney-ups” (lean over and look through her legs, so her hiney is up and she’s looking at you upside down)
3. She can flip over couch by herself, face first
4. She can do belly flops (on the couch cushions)
5. She can play on the computer
6. She can take off her own diapers
7. She kisses her baby dolls

Sick

I have bronchitis. I also have asthma that only pops up when I have bronchitis. So, we're not having a fun week. I am super tired, even with the Supermom vitamins.

I joined Flylady's Body Clutter menu mailer. I paid $9.95 for 3 months. I took the grocery list and went to the grocery store this morning with all 6 kids in tow. Challenging while healthy, very challenging while sick.
I spent quite a lot of money on food, but I hope that next week I will already have most of the staples and it will be less expensive.
The website to check it out is www.savingdinner.com

I probably won't post anymore this week. I want to just go to bed and stay there for a few days. That probably won't happen, but it's a very nice thought.

It is 90 degrees in my house because our air conditioner is not working properly. It is HOT!!

I can't think of anything else to say, nice or otherwise, so I will end this post and go to bed. :)

Accepting Myself

I realized this morning as I was getting ready for the day that I have spent lots of time in the past few years thinking "when so and so happens I will be happy." "When so and so happens, I will live my life the way I want to."

Do you know what I am talking about? I have heard people say things like, " When the baby is out of diapers, we will go on a nice vacation" or "When the kids are all in school..."

Well, since 2004, I have been saying, "When I lose weight, I will be happy." "When I get back to a size 6 or 8, I will be free to live my life." So what has happened is that I have spent a lot of time planning exercise routines, and planning diets, and joining Weight Watchers, and starting Body for Life and buying workout books and nutrition books, etc. It is exhausting just thinking about it!

People always tell me to enjoy these years when my kids are young because they go by so quickly. When my oldest child was a baby, I remember thinking, "You're kidding. This isn't going by quickly!" But by the time I got to my youngest child, I realized that yes, time is flying by and I am not paying attention because I am too busy planning how I'm going to lose weight. It makes me sad. I spent her whole first year lamenting the fact that hadn't lost all of my pregnancy weight. I really don't remember all the details of her first year, you know the little details that you want to remember. But I remember being depressed and upset about my weight.

What would happen if I just accepted my body for the way I am? Just accepted and actually liked my body the way it is right now? So I may not be a size 6, but what's wrong with being a size 12 or 14? It is hard to shift my way of thinking after years of finding acceptance through my looks. I was "good and accepted" if I was thin, but "bad and an outcast" if I was bigger than I wanted to be.

I don't want to think this way anymore. I don't want to waste another minute of my kids' childhood planning weight loss routines and diets.

I want to wake up each day and be happy. I don't want to wake up and dread getting dressed because I have to put on size 14 clothes.

I want to make healthy choices. Not for the goal of weight loss, but for the goal of good health.

I love to eat, and I want to be able to cook and bake and eat the stuff I have made without feeling burdened by how many points/ fat grams/ calories it has.

I want to relax and live life abundantly. No more obsessing over my body. Self focus is tiring. I am sick of it. I want to focus on someone else for a change.

I want to exercise and enjoy it, instead of worrying about how many calories I am burning or quitting a week into it because I don't see results. I want to measure results by my energy level and overall health, not my clothing size.

So here's my new plan:
Relax.
Buy some clothes that are cute and actually fit me.
Get my hair cut and highlighted.
Pray that God will change the way I think.
Smile.

What We've Been Doing

Mommy and Baby Girl are sick. You all know that when Mom and baby are sick, everything goes to chaos. Well, not chaos exactly, but definitely messy. We both have sore throats, coughs, runny noses, and lots of sneezes. Plus fever and general achiness (okay, I'm guessing about Baby's achiness, but that is how I feel so I'm assuming she does, too).

I have been doing lots of reading while lying in bed and enjoying the quiet while the kids nap or while nursing. I have read A Midwife's Tale, based on the diary of Martha Ballard, Better Body Management by Stormie Omartian, and I am currently reading The Well-Trained Mind.

Okay, now it's Thursday night and I have finished The Well-Trained Mind. It is SUCH A GREAT BOOK!!!! I recommend it to all parents who have kids in school, whether public svhool, private school, or homeschool. I love it.

I got new vitamins today. They are called Supermom. Hopefully they will give me super powers and all will be good.

The Girls' Room

I am looking forward to having a clean slate to decorate in our house we're building. This is what I want to do in the girls' room...

1. Bed-sand and paint dd12’s bed off white, then “antique” the bed, making it look old
2. Paint walls lavender
3. Paint ceiling same shade of purple or maybe a bit lighter (Annie, what do you think- should I paint it the same or lighter?)
4. White lace canopy over bed with silk rose garland wrapped around top of canopy
5. 2 Bulletin boards for their papers-white frame, large, cork board
6. Dresser-sand and paint off white to match bed, “antique”
7. Curtains-white or pink eyelet curtains, hanging to floor; white sheer panels underneath
8. Small chandelier to replace light fixture
9. Baby’s crib-sand, paint pale pink, then “antique”
10. Stencil girls’ scriptures around top of walls
11. Fancy mirror

I envision a "shabby chic" look for their room. The bad thing is that I will have to wait a while to decorate the kids' rooms because we are going to finish the downstairs of the house and then finish the upstairs as we get the money. We are going to put the kids in the bonus room above the garage while we finish the upstairs.

I want my house to be practical and pretty. I realize that with 6 kids, 4 of them being boys, I cannot have a romantic, pretty house all the time. So I am going to choose a few rooms to make pretty and make sure the kids know not to mess up those rooms. (master bedroom and bathroom and maybe the dining room)

Yesterday I was looking at the house plans with a friend who was over and she suggested that I make the formal living room a school room. That way I can house all of our school stuff in that room and have bulletin boards and posters on the walls. I can have bookshelves for school materials only and cabinets that close and lock for stuff like crayons, staplers, and scissors. My friend suggested that I get a large square table that seats 8. I love square tables!
I also like the idea of painting part of the room with chalkboard paint. Maybe have a chair rail and from the rail down put chalkboard paint. But that sounds really messy and I don't like chalk. I do want there to be certain rooms in the house that the kids can mess up and it's okay. Maybe chalkboard paint is a good idea. It's a contained mess.

Those are my thoughts this morning. DD12 is making chicken soup for lunch and is putting it in the crockpot. It smells good.
I need to go have Bible Time and start the kids on their lessons.
Bye!

Things to do before I turn 30

I was rummaging around in my "Julie's Stuff" folder last night (on computer) and I found something I had written a while back.

Here it is...

I will turn 30 at the end of this year, so I thought an appropriate list would be
30 things to do before I turn 30
1. Lose 26 pounds-I plan to do this by joining weight watchers. Actually, that’s not true. I learned last Fall that simply joining Weight Watchers will not take the weight off. You have to FOLLOW THE PLAN. There’s the hard part for me-Consistency! So, I plan to join WW, follow the plan, exercise, and lose the weight. I also want to keep it off by making lifestyle changes. I type all of this as I drink my 3rd Dr Pepper for the day. Hmmm…
(side note: Now this number has changed from 26 to 38)
2. Grow my hair out to shoulder length-I have been doing the grow-it-out-cut-it-off-because-it’s-getting-on-my-nerves thing for 3 years now. This year, I am going to get through the it’s-getting-on-my-nerves stage and grow it out.
(my hair is officially shoulder length now!! One goal completed!)
3. Finish reading a list of books I made for myself-thing is, I lost the list, so I need to find the list first
4. Finish up every cross stitch project I have going
5. Cross stitch something for my own walls
6. Get Alex’s scrapbook up to date-she’s 11 and I am only up to her third year in her scrapbook
(She's now 12)
7. Buy the boys’ and baby's scrapbooks so when I get ready to use them, I’ll have them-By reading this, you may assume scrapping is a hobby of mine. I only scrap once in a blue moon. I think the last time I sat down and seriously scrapbooked was February of 2005. This explains why I am a little behind.
(I do have Baby's scrapbook now. Mom and Dad bought it for her birthday)
By the way, if I make each of my 6 children a scrapbook that they can take with them when they get married (not when they move out, only when they get married), what pictures will I have left for me and my hubby to look at?? I am going to have to make a scrapbook for us as well as for the kids. That’s a lotta scrappin’!(what if some of my kids never get married? i will let them have their scrapbook anyway :)
8. Read the Bible, the entire thing~I had better get moving on this one-Every year I make this a goal. I usually get through 2 Chronicles and then quit. This year I may start at Ezra and read from there.
(Don't think this is gonna happen but I will try anyway)
9. Make a master schedule and actually stick to it for the year-I am a scheduling wanna be, I make schedules, then make more schedules, etc., never actually sticking to them for more than a week.
(I no longer want to do this. I have come up with a system that works for me- a big to-do list for each day)
10. Take a trip to Mission, Texas, where we used to live
11. While we’re there, I’d like to drive over to South padre for a day or so
12. Okay, it’s really hard to think of 30 things I’d like to do. Does this mean I’m a boring person, or just pretty content with my life??


If I think of anymore, I’ll add them to the list.

Traditions

Yesterday, I was in Wal Mart buying a few things and I noticed that they have their Fall decorations for sale already. This suprised me because it is 105 degrees outside and Fall seems far away.

Anyhoo, this got me thinking about family traditions, specifically traditions for the fall holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (okay, I know it's a winter holiday). I have been thinking about the traditions our family had when I was growing up, the traditions my extended family has now, and the traditions my immediate family has now.

We have not celebrated Halloween since 1999. But this year we are going to have fun and participate in Halloween activities. I am VERY excited about this! Those of you who know me know that I am either all into something or not into it at all. Well, this has been the case with Halloween. DH and I talked about it yesterday and decided that there has to be a way to participate in Halloween fun without exposing the kids to all the scary, evil stuff out there. Besides, scary, evil stuff is out there all the time, not just on Halloween.

On Halloween we always dressed up and then went trick or treating. We have also gone to a few Harvest Carnivals and that was fun. We are planning to do that this year. Our church has a carnival and the kids really enjoy it. We are also going to go to a pumpkin patcha and let the kids all pick a pumpkin, then carve it when we get home. We are going to roast the seeds and eat them. I can't wait to see all the pumpkins line sup on my porch all lit up. I am planning to pop popcorn and make apple cider and we can all sit out on the porch and enjoy it and enjoy the lit up pumpkins. Let's just hope the weather cooperates and it's not 90 degrees! I remember in McAllen, the kids had sweat dripping off of them as they trick or treated. Halloween should be crisp and cool.

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was a time for family to gather, usually at Meema and Grandad's house or at ours, and prepare a meal together, eat the meal together, and just enjoy being around each other. There were also the football games that the guys watched, but I was wither playing with cousins or in the kitchen with the girls. The girls being my mom, grandmother, aunts, and sisters.
I remember Mom making homemade potato rolls and then having a contest with Grandad to see who could eat them most. We could eat those rolls like you wouldn't believe! I remember eating at least 8, sometimes 9 rolls. I think Grandad always won that contest.

Another memory of Thanksgiving is Meema's homemade dressing. From the smell of the celery and onions sauteeing to the taste of the dressing, it always makes me remember Meema's house at the holidays.
I also remember the cool air of Fall and the brown of the trees at our house. I remember warm sweaters and feeling warm inside.
But I can't remember any other traditions we had at Thanksgiving. If you are a family member reading this, help me out here.

A few things I want to do...
*create a centrpiece with the kids, something that we will use year after year
*"Thank you" place cards for each person- the kids each write something about that person that they are thankful for (on their place card)
*Meema's platter- We used to always use Meema's bicentennial platter to hold the turkey. I inherited the platter when Meema died and I want to start using it that way again.
*Wildlife Tree- Thanksgiving afternoon or the next day, string popcorn, make pine cone bird feeders, etc. and hang them all on a tree for the squirrels and birds to eat


At Christmas time, I remember just being so excited to be out of school. Decorating the tree as a family was a wonderful tradition and also getting an ornament each year to hang on the tree. There was a garland with colored lights that Mom wrapped around the stair rail. That was one of my favorite things. We also had a little gingerbread house that Mom would put on top of the piano. It was one of my favorite things as well. We baked sugar cookies, wrote letters to Santa Claus, set out cookies and milk for Santa and hung up our stockings.
Then on Christmas morning, we woke up early (probably 6 am) and opened our gifts from Mom, Dad, and sisters. We then went out to Meema and Grandad's house to have Christmas lunch with them and visit with our cousins who had come in from out of town. The turkey, dressing, and the rolls were a part of Christmas, too.Later on, we went to Granny and Papa's and opened gifts and visited with family there, too.

A few things I want to start doing at Christmastime:
*I want to make it a tradition to put up the tree on December 1st each year. I want to serve Christmas cookies (prefereably homemade, but store bought if we have to) and hot chocolate (ditto the cookies)
*Let the kids choose their yearly ornament- we already get them an ornament each year, but I usually choose it for them and buy it for them
*Wea re going to start getting each child 3 gifts for Christmas: 1 want, 1 need and 1 character building gift (for example, if one child is struggling with patience, we might buy him a model car or airplane that will take lots of patience to put together)
*Sometime during December I want to put all of the pictures from the past year (the good ones) on a CD or make them into a slide presentation and put on a DVD and watch it with the kids. Ditto for home movies.
*After- Christmas cards - after Christmas, get all the holiday cards together and put them in a pretty bowl on the table. Each night as we pray for our meal, pray for one of the families who sent us a card. Then throw the card away, keeping the picture of there is one
*Christmas Eve (?) -drive through town looking at Christmas lights
*Read the Christmas story from the Bible (we usually do this)
*Sing carols around the piano (last year I learned to play lots of Christmas carols)
*Christmas breakfast- we usually have a big breakfast at either Mom and Papa's house or Grandma and Grandpa's house. Whenever we get our house built, I want to start having Christmas morning at home and I want to plan a Christmas morning menu that basically stays the same each year. Less thought for me and the kids will look forward to it each year.

Typing about all of this is getting me excited about Fall and the holidays!

Brownie Brown, May 2, 2004-August 5, 2006

This evening while I was at the grocery store picking up a few things for chocolate chip cookies, my phone rang. It was dd12. She was crying and out of breath. Brownie, our sweet beagle, had died. He was our 8 year old son's dog. We gave Brownie to ds8 for his 6th birthday.
Brownie had been napping under a large bush in the back yard all afternoon, which was pretty typical of him. He really liked his naps. :)
When ds8 tried to call him and wake him up, he didn't come. Dh went over to him and figured out that he had died.

We're not sure what happened. He seemed to just take a nap and not wake up.

We are thankful that we got to have Brownie, even if it was for a short time. He was a good dog. We miss him already.



Goodbye, Brownie Brown.