Blake's Broken Arm

On Christmas Eve the kids were really getting wound up. I suggested they go outside to burn some energy. They took the dog for a nice walk, but when the returned Emily was begging to go to the playground. I was busy wrapping presents and talked Blake into taking her for a few minutes. He didn't want to go, but did for me. About 10 minutes later I was still wrapping when Blake came in. "Mom" he said. "I've got some bad news. I think my arm is broke". No tears, no panic. He showed me that he could hardly move it. Now, all who know Blake know that he tends to be dramatic so I casually asked if he needed to go to the hospital He calmly said "no, I'm just going to sit down for a few minutes". He also explained that Emily had forgotten her doll and had went back for it. I could hear him starting to groan and fuss a little out on the couch and within a couple minutes he called out that he couldn't take it anymore. When I went to check on him his face was white and his lips were blue. Yikes! I quickly put some shoes on, and called Sam who was at work. I knew where the nearest hospital was, but wasn't sure if we REALLY needed to go there. I called an urgent care center who said they could do an xray, but had a 2 hour wait. Blake didn't want to go to the hospital, so we headed to the clinic. On our way, we noticed a closer one so we stopped in there. I went in first to make sure they could help us and then went out to get the kids. Blake never shed a tear and after about a half hour we were in the xray room. They wanted to start with just one picture to assess his condition. It took a few minutes to develop and when the doctor opened the door we could clearly see the break on the screen across the hall! I started to panic a little when the doctor started talking about surgery. He was kind enough to call an orthopedist he knew for a consult before sending us to the hospital. The ortho advised us to keep his arm immobilized until Wed morning when he could take a better look, but didn't think surgery would be needed, WHEW! So equipped with a sling, we headed home and were very grateful to the urgent care physician who saved us the expense and drama of a hospital visit.

Birkdale Christmas

I'm moving these photos over from the sidebar so they are not lost. They were taken at the shopping center next door. They held a cute pet parade, brought Santa in a horse-drawn carraige, and lit the big tree. It even "snowed"!

Breakfast Treats

A couple of the fun breakfasts the kids enjoyed during Christmas break.

Class Parties

On the 21st I was lucky to join the kids for their class holiday parties. I always enjoy spending time with the kids in their school enviroment and getting to know their classmates. Fun was had by all!

Home Sweet Home

The kids decorated their annual gingerbread house on Monday. Sunday evening I started the process of assembling it and quickly remembered why I swore them off last year (and probably every year before that). What a pain in the romp it is to get all those walls to stick together! I gave up in a fit, but after gaining composure got the house assembled. The kids did the decorating all on their own and are quite impressed with their skills!

Shipped With Love

Today being the biggest mail day of the year reminded me of these pictures I took last week. I managed to get our things sent a week ago, but admit I left out a few things. Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? You all still know we love you and are thinking about you!

I also managed to get out some Christmas cards. For the first time in nearly 10 years they weren't handmade, but sometimes life's just that way. I did manage to get a picture of the kiddos to include without too much ado. I hope all of your mailboxes are being filled with holiday greetings from near and far. I love going to the mailbox everyday this time of year!

Trimming The Tree

I can hardly believe I did it, but ..... I did. For some reason I just didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of picking out, setting up and maintaining a live tree this year. So I bought an artificial tree. *sigh* The second I put it together I was disappointed. It's a pathetic little tree, but it will do. It took me a week to bring the ornaments up from the garage, but once the kids started decorating my spirits picked up. I decided not to use the matching themed ornaments and go with the collected ornaments instead. All my life my grandmother got me an ornament for Christmas. Most years she engraved them, but not all. The oldest one labeled is from 1974! Wow, how cool is that? We also have added to the collection ornaments given to us by my mom and mother-in-law. Once it was complete, the pathetic little tree turned out to be pretty special. In the dark I sat back and looked at the tree aglow with 35 years of memories hanging from it's branches and my heart was so full. I can't wait to hear 20 years from now about all the memories we've created with/for our children. This is Christmas!














But next year, I plan to put this tree up in addition to a real, live, perfectly decorated tree. =)

This Is How I Roll

This past weekend we finally purchased a second vehicle! Sam really wanted a truck, but it will have to wait until after we get in a house. We feel like we got a good deal on this and we'll trade it back in when we're ready. Sam is still driving the Expedition because he and his passengers are bigger than me and mine. =) I am so thankful just to be able to get out and about!

Ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff (Hap-py-birth-day-to-you)

On December 2nd, little boogie man turned 4. Happy Birthday Boogity-boo!

Sounds Of The Season

Thursday night the school's 4th and 5th graders performed a collection of songs during a program titled "Paint The Town December". Much to Blake's displeasure, dress slacks, a white shirt, and tie were required.
As you can see, once he was dressed, Blake felt stylin! With Blake looking so handsome, the rest of us decided to dress up for the occasion.

<
The kids did a great job singing. I'm working on uploading video to share, but it hasn't proved an easy task yet. I'm still working on it though.

Feb 28 2009

Is the end date of the lease I signed yesterday for our apartment. Our original 3 month lease was up as of 11/30 and they wanted an arm and a leg to continue on a monthly basis. Turns out, since the longer lease you agree to the lower your monthly payment, we were better off to sign a long-term lease and pay a early termination penalty when we are ready to move out. I never imagined that we would be in this situation. Considering the little house we came from and the great places available here, I was sure we'd be in something and happy as clams by now. But for some reason, houses that we'd have been trilled with back in Yakima don't even get a second look here. I am determined to get a home with space (or at least the potential of a space) for the kids to hang out in that's separate from the other living area. We want a great room open to the kitchen and breakfast area. I love tall ceilings and lots of windows. Ideally the master bedroom would be on the main floor and the master bath must have a walk-in shower for Sam. He also wants granite counters, wood floors, brick exterior and a front porch on a professionally landscaped large lot in a community with lots of trees. Did I mention we have a budget to stick to? Geez, I always thought that shopping for a new house would be fun, but there is not much about this that is. I have officially turned the house hunting over to Sam because I get too emotionally attached to places I like and am heart broken when he rejects them. He checks listings online everyday and every free weekend we drive around looking at places. I buried a St Joseph statue when we needed to sell our home in Yakima, I wonder if it would help us find a house too?
Anyway, we are all getting along fine. The kids are enjoying school. Sam is still very busy at work. He says they are way behind schedule trying to prepare for next year. I'm busy doing Christmas shopping and it will be a miracle if I get things shipped to WA in time. Speaking of, I better get off this computer and get some other things done! Here a some pics I took yesterday of the rugrats. Take care y'all!

Blessings

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was very calm and peaceful, quite enjoyable! I spent a couple weeks acquiring enough dishes and food to prepare my first solo Thanksgiving feast.

The kids were off Wed-Sun and Sam was off Thu-Sun. It was the first time I can recall us being together for 4 whole days. Wednesday the kids and I just hung out and relaxed. When Sam got home we headed down to Chralotte where there was supposed to be a big tree-lighting ceremony with entertainment and fireworks at the mall there. It was an amazing 75 degrees, so it was a perfect evening. We found the mall and decided to have dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. One of the parking attendants directed us to area where the tree was, but we were so overwhelmed by the size of the mall, we didn't make it in time for the event but still had a good evening. Thursday we woke up and watched the Macy's Parade, some of the dog show and the Charlotte Parade. We snacked on salami, crackers, cheese, fruit kabobs and Chex Mix. The kids were a huge help in the kitchen all day! It was a really good feeling =) In between everything else, we spent the day working on a puzzle together and doing making place cards. At 6pm we sat down to a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, cranberry sauce and rolls. After dinner we all labled some leaves with things we are thankful for an taped them to a "tree". We played a round of Bingo before topping our already full bellies off with pupmkin pie, apple crisp and ice cream. MmmmmmmMmmmmm!

Happy Birthday Emily!

From the first time we stepped foot into the Northlake Mall Emily knew what she wanted to do for her birthday. I'm used to going all-out for birthdays, but this time I booked online, printed invitations from online and sent them to school, and showed up. It was great! Don't get me wrong, I adore throwing parties for my kids, but it was enjoyable to stand back and watch someone else entertain.

The gal at Build-a-Bear was great fun! She had the girls yelling, squealing and laughing. Emily and 5 of her friends from school got to pick an animal, give it a heart, watch it be stuffed, clean it, pick out an outfit for it, dress it and name it.

They all went home with their animals, the animals' birth certificates, a pin, a poster and some other goodies. Emily even got a special bear that everyone autographed for her. She proclaimed her 8th birthday "The best birthday ever", just as she had the previous 7 ; )
It so happened that Monday and Tuesday were teacher work days so NO SCHOOL! How fun to get to have your birthday off! We just hung out and played with the gifts from her friends until Sam got home from work.
She could hardly wait to tear in to the pile of presents that had been taunting her in the living room all day. After that we treated her to her favorite dinner..... steak! The girl ate a whole 8 oz medium rare steak all by herself, amazing!
That night she again commented on having the best birthday ever, which made Sam and I soooo glad to hear!