CHRISTMAS...

The calm before the storm was at 6:30 a.m. and lasted about 45 minutes. There are not words to describe Noah's reaction to seeing that Santa really had come to his house. After the kids opened Santa presents, Nana & Papa, Uncle Mark and Great Nana & Great Papa arrived with THREE cars FULL of presents. We are only lacking the marquee that says "ToysRUs" above our house now!

After a great Christmas dinner of ham, potatoes, pies, etc. we all took a much needed nap. Then we headed out to my parents new house and took a look around. Should be finished in about 3-4 weeks. (Can't wait) Then, it was back to the house for more toy playing.

Some of the highlights of the day were when Noah said grace over Christmas dinner, catching both boys breaking in their new time-out chair together. (That chair will get a lot of use!), watching Noah ride his new bike and seeing him wipe out 3 times, and then get back on and ride again, spending time with my great-grandparents who are here visiting, and giving thanks for the birth of our dear savior, Jesus.

Merry Christmas to all!

CHRISTMAS EVE!

We have had a very busy week. Sorry for not blogging sooner. The kids great-grandparents are here visiting and we have been busy spending lots of time with them. We went and saw the "Ice" exhibit at The Gaylord Texan. WOW, that is impressive! If you get a chance, go and see it. (A little pricey, but worth it)

Christmas Eve has arrived and with it the anticipation of Santa's arrival. I realized this afternoon when Noah was telling me that we needed to light the fireplace because it was going to get cold and snow today, that he still thinks that Santa is only going to come on Christmas when it snows. I tried to explain that it is too warm in Texas to snow, but that Santa will still come.

We had a busy and fun day. We started at Brian's Aunt Tisha's house and had a good time with Brian's immediate family. Had a yummy ham snack with lots of sides to go with it. Then it was present time. The kids went nuts! It was great! Then we were off to Brian's Great Aunt Mac's house to celebrate with the extended family. About 35 people in two rooms, 10 of them kids... it was awesome! Again, we had some wonderful food, at last count I think Camden had eaten 5 chocolate chip cookies, 13 crackers and nothing nutritious. But, that's what holidays are for. The kids opened gifts and then the adults played the "pass around" game. We came home with, Candyland, Sorry, and a remote control car for Brian.

The kids are sound asleep, and I think I hear Santa's sleigh on the roof. Good night, and Merry Christmas!

A Letter From Santa...

Well, the big guy came through. After writing and mailing a letter to Santa last Thursday, Noah received a letter in the mail today from Santa Claus. At first he thought it was a card from a friend at school, but when I told him it was from the North Pole he went nuts!!! He started yelling and jumping up and down very excitedly. Noah opened the letter and I read it to him...
Dear Noah,
I received your Christmas list in the mail yesterday. I checked my naughty and nice list, you are on the nice. I see that you decorated my letter with stickers and you wrote your own name. I am pleased with you. If you continue to mind your Mommy and Daddy, I will be at your house at midnight with your presents.
Merry Christmas,
Santa
The envelope even had a candy attached to the back of it. "Imagine that, a candy all the way from the North Pole" he said. Noah reminds me that we only have to sleep 8 more time until Christmas.

Had a busy day, I had my Christmas party for my bible study group today. We did a white elephant gift exchange. Noah had his Christmas party at school and had lots of yummy treats and a goody bag to bring home. He will miss his friends over the next two weeks. Camden has been sick the last two days with a fever of 101 - 102.5 with tylenol. It appears the fever has broke and it is starting to come down tonight. Please keep him in your prayers. Finally, we had my family over (grandparents, great-grandparents, Aunt Wendy) over for dinner. Off to bed. Good night!

They Ran the ROCK!!!

With a time of just over 5 hours, my brother Mark ran his first full White Rock marathon! I am so proud of him. He ran the race with his good friend Jeff, while his girlfriend Tiffany ran her first half marathon. They are so awesome! They had lots of support along the way from family and friends. Everyone was doing well after the race, a little tired but in great spirits. Way to go guys!

Welcome Tammy!

Our network of bloggers is growing. I would like to welcome a good friend of mine from church, Tammy, to the wonderful world of blogging! I have posted her link, check her out. Happy blogging!

The Joys of Boys...

Trying to get a Christmas card picture out of my two boys has been impossible. For those of you waiting on a Christmas card from us, it may be awhile. As you can see, only one boy has joy next to Mary and Joseph. The other (Camden) is thinking of different ways he can break more outside lights. We are now down about 14 lights outside as well as the numerous ornaments from the tree inside.

I forgot how much fun a 19 month old has. Camden totally keeps me on my toes. I thought Noah was young, when at 2 he learned how to use the mouse on the computer. Well, Camden already has the routine down pat.... pull chair over to counter (where computer is), climb up on chair, look around to see if anyone is watching, play with mouse and keyboard, shut down computer, Uh-Oh! here comes mom, off to my room for time-out! REPEAT, AS SOON AS TIME-OUT IS OVER!!!! His other new trick is to stand on the back of the living room chair and then free-fall off backwards. When I catch him doing this, it is usually standing on the top of the chair and he looks at me, lifts both arms up in the air and says "Ta-dah".

Does anyone elses house look like Toys R US turned up side down and shaken? I remember when I was pregnant with Noah, I made the comment "I will not have toys all over my living room floor". Well, that was a dumb thing to say! I hardly have living room floor now with all the toys on it. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am very blessed that the Lord gave me two wonderful boys and a great husband. Thank you God! Good night.

First speech therapy session

Today was a typical Friday. Noah off to school, Sharon off to bible study, Camden off to play with friends, Lunch, pick Noah up, naps for everyone, Sharon drives her carpool, haircuts for the boys and to top it all of, Mickey D's for dinner!

Camden had his first speech therapy session today. For those of you who don't know, Camden has a speech delay. (Imagine that, in a family full of talkers) Anyway he speaks in his throat, a language we call "Gung Gung" (and now the State does also). He has the right inflection and tone he just won't say the words orally. Since he was evaluated two weeks ago, he has exploded with words and sounds. That's usually the way it works! So, today he wasn't nearly as talkative with Betty as he is with family, but she did get him to say several words that he has never said before. (Puppy, cup, ba for block). She taught him some gestures which I think went in one ear and out the other for Camden. He is extremely stubborn, strong-willed, etc..... so it is like pulling teeth to get him to do anything you want. It is all about what he wants! We are working on "C" sounds, so if you see him you might mention a "c" word.

NO SCHOOL, NO WORK,...ALL PLAY!

Officially there was no snow, but there was ice on the roads causing school cancellations. So, we were very happy to have Brian home with us today. We went sleding down the street on the ice, made Christmas ornaments, wrote a letter to Santa along with our good friends: Rebecca, Courtney and Hunter. (Hi guys!), and ate a steaming bowl of chili for dinner.

All in all it was a good day. Just hung out at the house and enjoyed each others company.

(P.S. we lost another ornament today due to Camden.)

WINTER IS FINALLY HERE!

Yeah, the wet stuff is here! The high was 37 today and that was at 1:00 a.m. The temperature is continuing to drop as the day goes on. By 11:00 a.m., I had already experienced, rain, freezing rain, snow and my SUV sliding through several turns. (Okay, maybe I was going a little fast for conditions., but it was fun!)

The big "S" word that daddy mentioned on Monday brought on a whole host of problems for me to deal with for two days, with Noah. He is convinced that when it snows that santa will come that day! (Thanks to last year when it snowed on Christmas) So, as soon as Brian said the word on Monday, he started to panic because we had to write Santa a letter quick to let him know what to bring. Then he made sure that I had bought all the presents, and we better start wrapping them fast and put them under the tree. Then, I heard EVERY 5 minutes, "When is it going to snow?" Daddy was advised that the next time he thought about saying the "snow" word, that he can take the day off from work and handle the chaos!

So, with that being said, we started acting like it is Christmas at our house today. I did some shopping, signed Noah up to play soccer in the spring, we baked Christmas cut-out cookies, sang Christmas songs and oh yeah, pulled some ornaments off the tree. (We have currently lost three ornaments thanks to Camden!)

Blog more later!

SUMMER IN DECEMBER?

We took advantage of the 90 degree weather on Saturday by spending the afternoon outside playing. The kids have been battling asthma problems for about a month, and so it was nice to finally get outside and play. We even ate dinner at the picnic table under our fort! It was pretty cool when we spilled our water, that we didn't have to worry about it. Everyone had lots of fun.

Sunday, the weather was cooler, about 60ish. We went to church, took naps and then back to church in the evening. We went to a tasting bee and ate some yummy appetizers! On the way home Camden started to notice the Christmas lights everywhere and just got tickled pink everytime he say them. We will have to go out and drive around some more. Overall, we had a nice relaxing day. Hope everyone's weekend went well.

On the road to recovery?

Just when I think that I'm feeling better, the Lord sits me down and reminds me that I am not doing things according to his will.

Just as everyone was getting ready to leave to see Santa, life caught up with me and I ended up on the couch feeling really lousy and resting. I want to thank my wonderful parents, who have twice come up and made sure I was okay. Your patience with me is unending. I love you!!!!

Noah and daddy went to see Santa as well as a THOUSAND other people. They went with their cousins (Chad, Rebecca & Charlie - HI!!!) and had a great time. Unfortunatley, there are no pictures.

Not so strong anymore

Well, the juice ran out! One is asleep in bed, the other is asleep on the floor. I can say the same exact thing about the dogs. As for mom, I am appreciating the peace at everything being still and queit as I look at the tree lights.

This will be short lived, they are storing up their energy to go see Santa in downtown Plano tonight.

Early Risers!

Today started at 4:30 a.m. when Noah woke up soaked after an unsuccessful try at potty training last night. I am very proud of him that he made it to 4:30 a.m., that is longest he has gone at night. Anyway, after changing him and his sheets, I noticed our older dog Whittie needed to go outside. So, I felt like Brian should get in on the act and let her out. At the same time Camden must have been feeling left out because he was up illuminating half the house with his bedroom light and making his presence know with LOUD babbling.

Why is it that mom's do all the work?.... I got Noah back to bed and went to find Brian already asleep, or doing a good imitation of it anyway, when I noticed Whittie sitting outside in the grass with the sprinklers running. Now, I had a cold wet dog to deal with and a very happy baby in the other room with no hope of returning to sleep.

It's now 9:30 am and we are going strong, we will see how long this lasts.

Trimming the Tree

Noah has been asking since August "when is it going to be Christmas?" Every day we would go through the list of holidays and birthdays that we needed to celebrate before we got to Christmas. The last holiday being Thanksgiving. Well, at 7:03 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, as I was lying in bed sleeping, I could feel someone staring at me. I opened my eyes and there was Noah staring at me and the only thing he said was "Mommy, is it Christmas now? Can we decorate the tree?" How can you tell a child no! So, on Friday, the tree was trimmed.

Daddy, Noah & Camden all helped, while mommy layed on the couch, sick and supervised. They did a great job! The only thing we didn't factor in was how Camden would react to the tree. He thinks it is a giant play toy. He likes to take the ornaments off, so we put a nice train around the tree to distract him. Well, he likes to see how far he can throw the train and drive his brother crazy. So, we put a wooden train around the tree just for Camden to play with. That didn't help either. He decided he wants to unplug and plug the lights from the outlet. His latest is when he throws the ball for the dogs it gets thrown into the tree. We have 25 more days to Christmas and I'm not sure if the tree is going to make it.