Goings On this Month

It seems like we never stop going this time of year. Between sports, cheer and holidays we never stop! I love it but then I also am really tired by New Years. Here are few pictures from Kylee's first cheer competiton.

Love This Time Of Year!

As the kids get older it is harder and harder to capture them in a good picture so when I do it is very rare. I caught them in a few nice ones over the past couple of weeks.

Mouse in The Night.

I woke up feeling all tense and with a sore throat. Great I hope I am not getting sick right before Thanksgiving and getting together with family and traveling. Then, I remembered a dream. It was so vivid that it seemed real. I dreamed we were here at home just carrying on with our normal routine when I saw a little grey mouse. I screamed in the dream and panicked. No matter how old I become and no matter how brave I try to make myself (especially in front of the kids) I still panic and become someone else when I see a mouse in my house free to run over my feet. I have had too many bad experiences with them I suppose. Makes me completely scared. So glad it was just a dream...or in this case a nightmare.

The Cost Of Children's Clothing.

So, I am sitting here early this morning having my one cup of coffee and reading my special addition Real Simple Family magazine...which is really sad because I have had it since August and it is almost Thanksgiving! I am looking at the children's clothing and it dawns on me: These magazines are clearly written for families and people who live in the Northeast...like New York City...not Oklahoma for sure. They have a picture of a simple cotton dress with cute leggings. The dress is $72 and the leggings are $38. I'm sorry, but, here in Oklahoma I think I am safe to say we would not pay $38 for a pair of leggings for our daughter that will outgrow them in less than 6 months. We would go to Walmart and pay $5...or maybe to Children's Place and pay $12...but $38 is out of the question. The dress should be $38...at the most. What happened to "Our Nation is in a Economic Crisis"? $38 would almost fill up my mini van. Well, there you have it. My 2 cents for the day.

Give it a Go

I have some news. I have been "certified" to blog and get paid for it. People might actually find what I have to say on various topics useful in a way! Well, I always said I wanted to make a difference...so, I applied. Now, I just have to wait for the offers to come in. How exciting! Thanks Becky for your nice comments. I applied right after reading your inspiring words.

Am I Really Living Life?

Not to get philosophical and stray from my usual "puff" pieces and not to say I am no totally content and happy with all my decisions thru the years...BUT...I am asking myself, am I Really living my life? I look at some of the things people from my past have accomplished and it makes me realize how far away I am from what I used to say I wanted to do and be...wow. I didn't even get close to that. Sometimes I wish we could have a chance to live our lives like the movie "Family Man" starring Nicholas Cage...just to say"what if" for a few moments. Okay, I'm done.

A Step Closer To Feeling Better.

Finally, Got the test results back. My gallbladder is functioning at 14%! I would guess that that is why I feel like total crap! So, I now have an appointment with a general surgeon this coming Thursday and will hopefully be getting my nonfunctioning gb out asap. So, that is my latest update.

The Cruise is OFF.

We had to cancel our cruise this week. I have been having really bad stomach pain that comes and goes for about a month. I went to my GP on Weds. and she ordered tests that I had run at the hospital yesterday on my gall bladder. I should have the results soon, then I will know what we are looking at. I just hate that my whole family got so disappointed by the cancelled trip. Maybe we can go later this year or next year.

Funny Stuff! Lee Jay made this today!

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The Birthday Month!

Kylee and Conner share September as a birthday month just like LeeJay and I share July. 2 weeks between each of them. Anyway, so we usually end up getting a big gift for all of them in September. This year it was a trampoline. They are really enjoying it. Kylee decided to wait and have a big Halloween party instead of a birthday party, so, we took our family to Incredible Pizza for her birthday. Conner wanted to have his birthday at Laser Quest. He got to invite a few friends and I think they all had an absolute blast. They are just gr owning up way to fast. I just cannot believe that Kylee is in the 2 digits now.and Conner is not far behind her. It really makes me so sad. I guess I might have to "put a brick on their heads" as my hubby always says...so they will stop growing!

Some great pictures of My Hubby and Me

Here are pictures of us each evening on the cruise before we headed out to dinner and dancing...I thought they turned out pretty well...especially considering I did not have a flat iron for my hair the entire trip.

Party Of Five: Cool Easy Fruit Dessert#links

Party Of Five: Cool Easy Fruit Dessert#links

OU Kickoff Party

Despite the outcome of the first game of the season....we had a good time preparing for it. We always make an OU cake and Frito chili pie to kickoff the season. It is a family tradition that I hope sticks around for many years to come.

Trampoline Fun.

So we got all 3 kids a trampoline for their birthdays. Kylee and Conner are both in this month and didn't really ask for anything special this year. Okay, well, Kylee did ask for a cell phone or a hot pink motor scooter. We just aren't ready to buy those things quite yet. We got some really cute pictures of them on it Friday night. They are having a blast on it!

Nature Walk.

We went on a nature walk a couple of weekends ago at this great little park. We were so close to a deer for a few minutes. The kids thought that was way cool! I couldn't believe how tame it was. It just kept standing there while we were talking about it and looking at it. We actually walked away before it did. The only bad thing about our nature walk was the ticks we kept finding on us for days afterwards. They were so stinkin' small that they looked like specks of dirt. Next time we will spray down first for sure.

Carson's first Tball game.

He was so SO cute! All of those boys out there. were. They all look so tiny in their uniforms and hats/helmets. Carson was first up to bat and he did really well. He made it all the way around with out ever getting stopped. Then he played short stop the whole game. He loved every minute of it. He has been waiting for this for so long...always watching Kylee and Conner playing ...well it is fianlly his turn. Good job Carson bo Barson! I will post pics later.

Summer's Almost Over.

Kylee and I just sat down in front of the calendar to count up how many days until the first day of school. 16 more days! Where did summer go? Not only will we have a new school year but also a new school. Kylee and Conner are so excited to be going to a brand new school with all there friends. Kylee has been hoping that the desks will be larger so all of her "stuff" will fit. Too funny. She loves all the hand painted murals on the walls through out the school building. Plus each wing (separated by grade level) has its own theme. Kindergarten -1st is the Ocean 2nd-3rd is the Jungle 4th-5th grade is Outer space. It all has to do with the earth and the world and the big theme is Grove Valley- Discovering the World together. It is a very neat concept.
A new adventure starts in just 2 weeks.

Anyone Out there?

So, just curious how many are still reading this and following it? I never have any comments. I changed the setting to make it easier to leave a comment and you can still be anonymous. Becky always has tons of comments on her blog...I am so jealous! LOL.

Too Close For Comfort

Allow me to obsess for the moment. I just read last night on yahoo that one of our ports of call from last weeks cruise got attacked and a car bomb went off and killed 2 police officers. This happened in Palma De Mallorca and island of Spain. It is one of the most visited and holiday islands for British and German. I hope the families of these officers are okay. So so sad. Scary things and tragic unnecessary events happen all over the world.

We are Back!

So good to be back home! I just wish the jetleg would be over and done with a little quicker. I am moving very slowly today and yesterday.
We had an amazing time on our trip to Rome and our cruise. I think our favorite port of call was to Villa La Franche where we took a bus up the mountain to this old medieval village called Eze. It was so charming it seemed to be out of a storybook or fairy tale. I remember remarking how it seemed like something we would see at Disney World. When we got home LeeJay looked up Eze on the internet and it said that Walt Disney spent considerable time in a Village called Eze before building Disney. He did an amazing job of getting it close to the real thing!
Well, now it is time to get back to reality and get my house in order and start to get ready for school to be back in session. Less than a month of summer left. Gosh it went by fast! I will try to post more photos later.

Our European Vacation

Rome

We have been in Rome for two days and are packing up tonight to get on the cruise tomorrow. We saw almost everything historical and of interest to us in just 2 days. I think we probably walked 10 miles or better in just 48 hours.
I cannot even describe the power of this place and the grand '"colossal" and majestic size of all of the structures in this one city Rome. It is almost crazy and ridiculous. It is definatley something that everyone would have to experience to understand or grasp. We are having an awesome time! We get on the cruise ship, Navigator of the Seas tomorrow...can not wait! I will hopefully be able to post some photos from the ship. We really miss the kids and Nana hope they are well.

Almost Time to Go.

I cannot believe that we are about to be getting on a flight to Rome. We have been planning this trip for a year now and it has finally arrived. We leave tomorrow to take the kids to Nana and then get on a plane Thurs. morning. I will try my hardest to post pics etc as we are on our journey. Wish us luck!

What a Week.

This week was definitely busy and full of unexpected things. Conner had swim lessons all week plus tennis on Monday and Weds. and Kylee had tennis and cheer. Carson starts his tennis camp tomorrow which should be fun but will require me to be at kickingbird twice a day on Monday and Weds.

Conner began complaining of his finger hurting on Monday so I immediately called the doctor and asked her to call in a script for acyclovir. By Weds (after 2 days of Acyclovir) his finger had blisters all over it. So clearly, the medicine was not working. So, I took him in to see Dr. Edgmon. He was also complaining that his whole entire arm was hurting and this alarmed me. She looked at the inside of his arma nd he had a red streak traveling all the way up from his wrist to his arm pit. Shingles! For those of you who aren't aware this is something we have struggled with since he was 11 months old. In fact he was hospitalized for 3 days when he was 11 months old while they tried to figure out what this infection was and if they could save his finger. They did manage to save his finger and decided to diagnose him with Herpatic Whitlow and prescribe oral acyclovir. Well, it never would make it completely better so he was on it for 18 months or so..every day. Then it just stopped and he has been better since he was 3. Until a couple of months ago. Now, I noticed that all of this began 6 weeks after he received his fist vaccination for Chicken Pox. I could never get any of the doctors to even consider the possibility that it could have been a reaction to this. They always just blew me off. Now, nearly 7 years later our pediatrician here has decided that it is not herpatic whitlow but in fact it is and has always been shingles which he contracted from the vaccination for Chicken Pox. Go figure. That is what I have suspected all along. I think it is wonderful that we have modern medical technology and things that can decrease deaths but...sometimes I think we over vaccinate when just getting the virus and having a natural immunity built up in our children's bodies would be better. I am furious that all these years I just nodded when a doctor told it was time for this and that vaccination because we trust these doctors to know what they are talking about and assume that it in our children's best interest. If I had it to do all over again, i am not sure that I would get my children vaccinated. I think I would just take my chances. Now, Conner will forever have shingles that he will have to suffer with and deal with his whole entire life. I am heart broken over this for my child. Just heart broken.

Saturday.

We went to exchange Carson's boots that Meme got him for his birthday. We had to drive to Reno where all the western stores are and get them at Tener's. He, of course, picked out black and red boots. They are really cute. Kylee, Conner and Carson spent most of the day learning how to be super heroes with this adorable "How to Be a Super Hero Starter Kit" that The Hogans gave Carson for his birthday. They had an absolute blast!