Thanksgiving and Christmas Prep

We headed back to Knoxville to be with the Marets for Thanksgiving. Thank you to them for hosting us, not just for the day, but for 2 nights and 3 days. :-) We had a lovely time.

As you can see there were puppies everywhere again. Last time there were 4 grown dogs and 1 puppy, now there were (including Chinook) 4 grown dogs and 5 puppies! Oh the joy that ensued. These poor puppies were subject to much dramatic play these few days! All were given names and positions in their 'family' and personalities and everything. The kids had a ball with them.
This little Black puppy, the only black one in a litter of 5 puppies was a favorite to all. Here he is being played with, or possibly tortured by Aiden. Rides in the wheelbarrow fun for some, downright frightening for others. :-)
Cute Aiden! Don't cha just want to squeeze him?!? MWAAA, it must be that curly hair!
And the spread, for all the piggilies. MMMM. 2 smoked turkeys. Smoked by Heathers dad. Yummo. A giant Ham, potatoes, cornbread casserole (which I tried my hand at a few weeks later and failed miserably), sweet potatoes, green beans (southern style), and deserts galore! Oh what a feast, and what fabulous company. I know this is a stinky picture of Don and Alex, but it's the best pic of the spread of food. YUM! Um, did I tell you guys thanks for that? yeah, thank you. :-)
This is a little piece of heaven for me! I LOVE DOGS! I LOVE puppies even more! Here I am, sitting in a chair w/ 6 dogs! Yeah me!! I was So content under this pile of K9's I can't even tell you. I swear if I never met Brent I would be the crazy dog lady down the street. :-)

That night Don and I went to the "day after thanksgiving sale" at Walmart. We left the house at about 2 am, arrived at undisclosed secretly quieter (LOL, not really) Walmart at 3 am. Stood in line for 3 hours to purchase a lap top for $198!!! We had a good time! We chatted it up pretty good, and played a little name that tune on my i pod. I taught Don how to play Yatzee (who doesn't know how to play yatzee??? Seriously!) and all in all had fun hanging out with perfect strangers all around us. It was crazy to witness how many lunatics go out to these events. Seriously psycho behavior! We spent the rest of the day light recovering from our all nighter and then headed out with the families to CiCi's pizza, and then to the tree lighting event in Knoxville.
Don and Heather, waiting for the tree to light up.
Katie and Aiden wishing we could see SOMETHING from where we were standing. They had a little show with dancers and santa, but we couldn't see anything.
Aiden and Don. He is SO dang cute. Aiden that is. :-)
Katie and Daddy. Katie and Aiden are the only two that really saw anything. it was kind of crumby that way, but we saw the tree and witnessed the fireworks. (I never knew that a tree lighting involved fire works) It does in Tennessee I guess.
Tori, Liza and Rachel waiting too. :-)

After the lighting we raced over and TOTALLY lucked out w/ a free carriage ride. They were offering free carriage rides and we happened to be at the end of the line, when they flipped the line around (hehe) and made us the front. LOL! It was fun. Because of lack of space and my lens on my camera, there's no pics of kids on the ride, but I took this cool one out the side of the carriage ride. :-) I LIKE it. :-)
And THEN, as if we hadn't done enough. We went back to Marets where Aunt Heather hosted a turkey cupcake making project. DANG cute eh? They loved making them, and were proud of their work.
working hard, and eating harder.
We had a lovely time. And took some time to reflect and be grateful for all we have. We are so incredibly blessed, it was great to sit surrounded by friends and family and reflect upon the year and be grateful for it. (even if Don SOLD HIS BIKE! and didn't take me for one last ride)

Happy Thanksgiving.

Where On Earth Have I Been????

On November 10th Liza got Braces! I can't believe that I have a child old enough for braces! Crazy. She had to have 4 adult teeth extracted (we'll spare her and you the photo of that). The didn't do all 4 on one day, but she was such a trouper about it that they very well could have done it all in one day. We all know Liza tho, and nothing slows this girl down. In fact, I can't think of the last time that she was sick enough to lay still before 10:30 at night!! What a nut! She is SOO proud of her shiny teeth. This is a picture that the Orthodontist took for their clever little wall labeled, "new faces in braces" And she got a T-Shirt that says "wired by GO" (GO is Green Orthodontics) She was pretty excited. They only put wires on the bottom so far, so she hasn't started to feel the REALLY sucky part of braces, however, she did endure that getting used to the brackets part really well. Hardly any complains. I suppose her go get 'em attitude really comes in handy sometimes. :-)

On Nov 11th, my mom and her new husband Karl came for a visit. We had such fun! This is us on the River boat ride INSIDE the Opry Land Hotel. We got a really sweet deal on the tickets and it was still stupidly expensive, but I suppose it costs a lot to maintain an indoor garden/ river, so we coughed it up. We had a wonderful time at the "Rainforest Cafe" and lucked out to go on a night where the kids meals were discounted! :-) It was one of the most fun meals we've had. It ranked up there w/ some of our trips to medieval times. ( I don't know why it was so fun, but it was!) We had some good times shopping and Alex even took Karl out fishing one night.. brrr.
On November 12th Tori got her cast off. She was told not to participate in PE or jump on the trampoline until after Christmas tho. She was a good girl and took good care of her arm. It took a few days to get movement back in that elbow, but she seems to be as good as new now.
She was brave as could be.

I had my first "paying client" this month too! She is such a beautiful baby, so it was a really good session. She was all about sticking out her tongue and blowing bubbles. Made for some really cute shots. I take A LOT of time processing photos, I really don't like to show a picture 1/2 done, so I try to have it "perfect" before I show anyone. That is some serious processing time.
Right after photographing this beauty I flew to Maryland to photograph this little beauty. UH! I love babies!! :-) they are SO fun to play with. My dear friend Christina had this beautiful baby girl just a week before I arrived, so she was fresh and ready to be photographed. :-) I had such fun that day! I am STILL trying to finish processing this session (sorry Chris). But there were some really fun ones in there.
Okay okay, I didn't go to Maryland JUST to take pictures of the baby! Conveniently the NEW MOON Movie release was that weekend too. :-) How I LOVE these ladies! (sniff) We had SUCH a fun night, there was a HUGE group of us, and we were all sitting relatively together. I had to swipe pictures from Tracy's site, cuz i didn't take my camera and Jeri is slower at blogging then I am. (if that is possible) and she took pictures for us. I will have to post those later.
Here we are in our catchy shirts. This isn't even the whole group.. would you believe we are missing some crazy girls! The movie was good, the company was better! I miss my Maryland Sisters.
My shirt says "If you do that again, I will so give you a paper cut in front of Jasper."

*If you haven't read new moon... that is supposed to be really funny*

I also got to spend some serious time shopping and eating out with Jeri and Christina. And holding that new baby. I had a perfect brow job done at Miss Scarletts!! I had a couple wonderful quiet sleep in's, and some late night photography talk w/ Jeri. What fun!

While I was gone to Maryland, Brent's Dad and his wife Arbra came to visit. This is the first time that my older two have met Arbra. Apparently a good time was had by all. I was sad to have missed out. I have no pictures, but they also did the Opry Land hotel. Alex also made Grandpa Wall endure the cold to go fishing. He LOVES having that pond so close. Liza took the both of them over to the horses and showed off her riding skills. They seem to have really enjoyed their time here, and the kids spoke fondly of it as well. Liza was particularly proud of the fact that she weaseled Grandma Arbra into and extra ornament of a fancy cowboy boot. She loves it, AND the fact that she received a little bonus.

After I returned home, I had the privilege of doing another paying photo shoot. This time it is for a man in my ward who has written a book. I believe it is called "Porch Thinkin' " and he (Jimmy Blackmon) needed an author photo for his book cover. The book is supposed to be "at the printers" and this is the picture that he chose.

Very Fun, but again, time consuming with the whole editing obsession that I have. Soon we will get together again to do a photo shoot (much more casual) for his website. It's been fun working w/ an adult who sits still and does what you tell them to. :-)

I didn't even have to wait for him to go to sleep so that I could pose him, like I do w/ the babies.

And apparently, I've taken a few naps w/ my puppy and my Katie. I LOVE naps in my chair, but now, when I ask Katie if she wants to rock, she whines.."Nooo, I don't want to go to sleep." BOO for kids getting old enough to know that if you sit still for a min, you'll fall asleep.
More to come.... I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Happy Birthday Tori!!!

I know you can't be 6!! What happened to my baby? WOW! Started Kindergarten and making friends all on your own at school. You're growing up!

Tori wanted to have a High School Musical birthday party. I think that most of her little friends were lost on the theme, but she loved it. Making sure that she had the "Troy" cup, plate, napkin, decoration etc..
The cutting of the cake was SO funny, each girl chose a character to eat... so we chopped out of the middle. What a mess, but all were happy.

Tori waits impatiently 364 days for her birthday to come around. She seriously has to really work to enjoy anyone else's birthday, she just can't get over how long it takes for her birthday to come around.

This year she wanted this doll that pees and poops. I think she was disappointed when she discovered that there wasn't really poop. (can you imagine if there was!?) She LOVES babies SO much, she just wanted so desperately to have one that was closer to real. She was very excited to receive this doll, but alas, she has already been cast aside. Chou -Chou trumps all (she is sitting next to her in the chair there in the lower right corner). Chou Chou is required to get a good sleep w/o bad dreams, and although she is a Bye Bye Chou Chou, he sound is ALWAYS turned off. Funny. We've thought about getting her an American girl, cuz she drools over them in the magazine, but I fear that they too will be cast aside.
Tori had to wait till after Halloween to have her party, She was very upset that we did that, but I think it made it so that friends could come. Tori is quite the social butterfly. I worried about her with this move, but as you can see, she is making friends quickly. 2 of the girls are from school, 1 neighbor and 1 church. another neighbor and another church friend were invited, but couldn't make it. I think that she is fine here in TN. :-)

Here she is with all her pals. I think she had a WONDERFUL time.... now only 364 days till she can do it again. :-)

Halloween

Oh dear... a Halloween post on Dec. 8th... something seriously wrong here.

Since I've been trying to get the kids to have responsibility for their own things and earning money. I told them that I wouldn't be buying Halloween costumes this year. They were welcome to use some from the past, make up their own, or even purchase one.

Tori as a "snow leopard". I got a cute little costume for $7 at a discount store.. told her I'd sell it to her for $3.50 (cuz I thought it was cute) and she opted out. Told me to take it back because she was just going to wear all white, paint her face and be a snow leopard. Done!
Liza was informed that because she will be 12 next year, this was her last year of trick or treating. She decided to rummage around and come up with a "Padme" costume. She did this all on her own... right down to asking for duct tape to make the bands on her arms.
Although he has a Darth Vader Costume, that fits, he wanted to be "Anakin".. So he wore a pair of black dress pants, and the shirt and cape off of an old knight costume.
And Katie got to wear a cute little deal that I found at the discount store for 7 bucks... cuz I can still make her decisions... this was probably my last year of that, but it was fun.

We went to the ward party and Trick or Treating on Halloween night. We went around to the couple houses out here, and then packed up the car and drove to a better developed area to do some serious trick or treating. Katie pooped out before the others, of course, but we all made it. :-)

A quick story

Car charger for GPS won't work, Look at plug.. Oh, it's broken, I can see the tip is busted! Go to Best Buy, buy new charger. Plug in, doesn't work. Humph, bum cord? Go to Best Buy, exchange for new cord. Get home, plug in, still no charge. Charge GPS on Computer. Go to Best Buy, exchange for a charger that will charge through different plug. Get to car, still won't charge. Wait a minute.. could it be the lighter in my van?!?! Oh yeah, Josh replaces the fuze in 2 seconds. Now charger #3 charges all right, but won't direct at the same time. Back to Best buy, exchange cord #3 for cord #2, and now......A WORKING GPS! YEAH! I feel like a really stupid detective.

TOFW The Savior

I went to an EFY when I was a teen called "Walk With Me." This was my favorite year, I grew so close to my Savior. I see life coming between us and it saddens me, and I delight in events like Time Out For Women that allows me to take a step away from life and grow closer to the Savior once again.

Here are some things that were talked about that I don't want to forget.

-Understand that He is excepting, don't 'fear and tremble', be of good comfort.

-Bring the Lord all that we have and He will make up the rest, to be sufficient for YOUR needs. (Bread the Fishes)

-The Savior experienced all our problems and troubles. He CHOSE to do this, and He did it cheerfully. (He understands REALLY)

-He not only knows our troubles, he FEELS them.

-After his resurrection, there was much work to do, he felt Mary's sorrow, and he stopped to comfort her.

-He sees the beauty in every one, and so should I. Zacharius was small, shoved behind the others, Peter thought him a sinner, Jesus saw a prophet.

-Jesus is sensitive, he looks under the surface

- Jesus also lived, learned, grew and built grace for grace. It took him 30 years to get the fullness. Be patient w/ yourself

-Christ is a pursuing shepherd.

*Kenneth Cope * You'll meet Him in the fire before the sky.

- Our Savior is there through our trials.

Elder Holland:

"The future of this world has long been declared. The final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because victory has already been posted on the score board. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which teams' jersey we want to wear."

- Jesus knows us and wants to come close to us.

*Kenneth Cope * Him and Him alone

-Jesus love "Broken Things"

*Kenneth Cope* Broken

-Let your heart not be troubled, turn and trust God

- God won't give you anything you can't handle WITH help from Jesus Christ.

-Put your hope in Him

-when you kneel down and empty your soul, you make room for Him to Enter.

A few stories that I want to remember:

Sister Belcher is blind, she told of the training that she under went as her eye sight was failing. She was taught how to live as a blind person. They taught her how to find out where she was by observing her surroundings. One of the major things you have to observe is which way you are facing. If you know what time of day it is, morning or past noon, you need to feel for which side of your face the sun is hitting. Feel for the warmth. *When we are needing direction, feel for the SON to get your bearings*

Michael Wilcox told a story about his son imitating him. He was laying on his bed marking his scriptures and studying, and his young son came and laid by him w/ his crayons and his scriptures. Bro Wilcox thought nothing of it as his son began to "color" in his scriptures as they "studied" together. When he was done, his son showed him his scriptures. (Bro Wilcox put up a picutre of the two books beside each other) His son had copied his markings nearly perfectly. Underscoring, highlighting, and even notations (as best as a 6 yr old could). He told his son that he was so impressed with his good work, and his son said "yeah, but my lines aren't straight like yours."

-Imitation is worshipping. The Lord doesn't send us away because our 'lines aren't straight'. He is happy to see us imitating Him.

- God loves ME!

TOFW on Parenting

A little over a week ago I had the pleasure of attending Time Out For Women. I flew out to Kansas City and met up with Barbara. It was SO fun to see her again, and have the chance to hang out together. I took a pile of notes and have compiled them and decided to blog about the conference in themes/principles that were taught.

I arrived in Kansas City on Friday afternoon. Barbara picked me up from the airport and we headed out to Mimi's for lunch/dinner. We don't have a mimi's out here, so I was pretty excited to find out that it was one of the choices on the list. :-) We then headed up to the convention center for the evenings events. We were informed right off that Sheri Dew couldn't make it to the event, and so they had a substitute flown in, fair enough, cuz it was John Bytheway. That evening however we got to hear from Bro. Michael Wilcox. What a wonderful speaker. We also had a few musical numbers from Jenny Oaks Baker. After the intermission, we were informed that we were SO lucky, for the remainder of the meeting, Jenny oaks Baker would be giving us a much sought after concert. (hum, not what I was looking for. I was looking to be uplifted by music and word, not just an hour of violin music) I looked at Barbara, she looked at me, and we snuck out after the 'announcement'. We headed as quickly as we could to the nearest mall to squeeze in some shopping. :-) This is the night that I discovered the beauty with in the place called "the Buckle" humm, pricey discovery, but beautiful none the less. WE headed back to her place after they kicked us out of the mall. It was fun to see this house that I've heard about over the years. We had a fun night, and were back up bright and early to get in line to get a good seat at the convention center the next morning. We got our TOFW tote bags, in which I was SO disappointed that I purchased last years bag for $5 on clearance because I wanted a "real" bag.

The talks on Sat filled me up and kept us laughing and sometimes crying. It was wonderful

On Parenting:

- Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

- the Lord not only knows our troubles, but he feels them.

- Jesus was happy in his affections, not miserable.

- the Lord sees beauty in ALL his creations.

- Children are like slow ripening fruit

- Heavenly Father loves my children as much as I do.

- He understands them better then I do

- He will help me understand them if I just ask.

- Wait for the children to ripen (learn and develop), and trust in the Lord

- Stubborn fruit, when ripe is SO sweet.

- How to grow and ripen fruit: Feed (teach) and water, the SON will do the rest.

- Cry unto the Lord on their behalves

- the Lord will be "intreated" of you

- Sometimes the fruit doesn't ripen on this side of the vail

-What if the fruit of my parenting is not how my children turn out, but how I learn as a parent?

-believe, hope and endure

- Choose to not be an emotional wreak

-What's it like to live with me?

- The Savior had very important work to do, but he stopped to comfort the saddened.

- Don't compare or compete.

"Fifty was my favorite age. It takes about that long to learn to quit competing- to be yourself and settle down to living. It is the age I would like to be through all eternity." Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

Happy Birthday Brent

I have a million blogs to blog, but as a "gift" to my sweet heart, I wanted to blog about him.

This will likely embarrass him that it is posted on the web. I was thinking the other day about all the sweet romantic things that he has done over the years (nearly 15) that we have been together. So after some thought, I decided to post all my memories of our past relationship and all the sweet stuff that I remember about my truly romantic man.

When I met Brent, he was a music major. He was madly in love with his French Horn. When he went on his mission, he left a girl who had his class ring, when he came home, she was gone and so was the ring, but his Horn waited faithfully. The two of them were off to rule the music world. This passion drew me to him, I loved how driven he was to practice and be the best that he could be. Our first date was a walk. We talked and walked and talked and walked. On that walk he was sure to ALWAYS be between me and the traffic. To the extent of switching sides in the middle of the street to assure my safety. (see what I mean... totally sweet).

Brents next true love was his Mom. Yes, another thing that drew me to him, who couldn't love a man who loves his mother? The first time I met her, he had me take her daisy's (her favorite flowers). This is something that he often did for his mom. As a teen he would get them for her on his way home from school from time to time. (sweet again)

Once he decided that we were meant for each other, and that I would be his next true love, he presented me with a dance in the rain, followed by a bottle of perfume that he had purchased in France (on his mission). He purchased it with the intent of giving it to his future wife. (aww, he was thinking about me even before he knew me) While we were dating he went to a big music "thing" in Texas. While he was there, he spoke with many of the instructors and musicians around him and concluded that he would never make enough money as a musician to support a family. I know that some musicians do, but he really didn't want to teach, and didn't want to risk not being one of the few that make it big. So out of love for me and our future family, he changed career paths. The beloved horn worked with Brent to put him through his undergrad, but the intent was now Medicine. A true act of love for me, he sacrificed his dream, and happily headed down a different path.

Over the years he has done little things here and there. He knows that my favorite flowers are Star Gazer Lillies. He has gone to some pretty long lengths to score my my favorites, and is sure not to get the wrong kind of lilly, for they don't smell the same. :-) While we were in school and never had 2 cents to rub together, he would come home and tell me "If we had money, I would have bought you flowers today." (which is almost as good :-) ) Once he drew me some flowers for Valentines day. Brent has written poems and many sweet letters of appreciation. He knows that I love sonic so sometimes he brings me home a limeade at the end of a day. And he knows I love chocolate, so he takes care of that too. I give him a hard time about not doing enough, but he really does do a lot, I am just too needy. :o)

In our first year of marriage, oh the first year....., this poor man endured much, as I cried my way though. One night in particular, as I sat on the bathroom floor, not really even knowing myself why I was crying my eyes out. I heard his voice on the phone, "Mom, she's crying, and she won't stop... what am I supposed to do?" He quickly got off the phone and came and did just what his mom told him to do. He kept his mouth shut and just held me 'till I stopped. He has done this many, many times, but that first phone call to his mom, I will never forget.

We have had many conversations where I have expressed my frustrations with my imperfections and he can honestly tell me that he loves me. Brent has never told me no. Any thing my little heart has desired, he has seen to it that I've had. Sometimes we've had to wait, but he sees to it, if it is doable. Including a move to Canada in the middle of our undergrad. (in hind sight, probably one of the worst financial moves of our marriage) but he saw to it that we went "home" for a few years.

Brent has ALWAYS been sweet and wonderful about me taking my own "me" time. He is kind and sweet to my giggling girlfriends who come over and stink the house up with nail polish, he adjusted the messed up backs of my other girlfriends in med school.

He has taken, count them 2 dance classes w/ me! And actually enjoyed it. (at least he pretended to) I love to dance, he is uncomfortable with it, even tho, he is a very good dancer. I was the envy of all the wives in our YMCA dance class. :-)

Before we had children I collected baby clothes in my bottom drawer of my dresser. When I would get frustrated with work, or sad about anything, he would reach in the drawer and pull out the tiniest little cardigan and show it to me to make me smile. He knew it would work every time. I still have the cardigan, not because my children wore it, or because it looked so cute on them, but because that is how he got me through those first 3 years.

I almost forgot this one..... just this past month I was awaken in the middle of the night (4:30am I think it was) by my sweetheart asking me if I had some "running pants" I thought he had lost his mind! I thought to myself... there is NO way he is fitting into my running pants. Told him No, and tried to go back to sleep. Then he asked me if I had anything else that would be warm for me to wear. I couldn't figure out what he wanted and why. When I eventually came around and did what he was asking me to do, I put on some warm clothes, and came out into the living room where he wrapped a blanket around me and escorted me out to some chairs that he had set up in the back yard. We snuggled up under the big beautiful clear sky on Tennessee and watched the sky as it put on a beautiful show of "shooting stars". He had heard the night before that the most activity was going to be at 4:30 am, he set his alarm and got it all ready so that we could watch the show. What a sweet heart!

He has taken me away any chance we have gotten, and has big plans to whisk me off to Europe someday.

My favorite, most romantic thing that my sweet husband has done: He made a play list for me. Every once in a while he throws in another song, and each and every one of them is all about us. Each one fits almost perfectly.

The play list is called: "For My Princess" and the songs are as follows:

What kind of man would I be? Chicago

Faithfully. Journey

I your eyes. Peter Gabriel

The best of times. Styx

Forever and ever amen. Randy Travis

You're the inspiration. Chicago

Open Arms. Journey

You save me. Kenny Chesney

Shameless. Garth Brooks

Je L'aime a mourir. Francis Cabrel

Can't stop loving you. Phil Collins

Lonely Day. System of a down

Tangled up in you. Staind

All I want. Staind

The Reason. Hoobastank

He has been there for the birth of each of our children and has held my hand and supported me even tho the Dr in him wants to be down there doing "the fun part". He even told me after I had Liza that he never wanted to see me in that much pain ever again. He REALLY didn't like not being able to stop me from hurting. A while back I made an on going list of reasons why I am grateful for Brent:

- he goes to work, so I can stay home

- he loves the flames

- he likes all things Canada

- he knows my favorite flowers

- he eats my food even if it's yucky

- he gives great, real big hugs

- he sometimes has topical anesthesia on hand

- he likes my cooking

- he took 2 kids to work w/ him for take your kid to work day.

- he calls me when he knows his schedule so that I have it to make my plans

- he locks the door and turns on the alarm when he leaves the house in the morning (that's how he protects me when he is gone)

- he calls me from work on his breaks

- he was excited to take the kids to work w/ him

- he cherishes his children (some ages more then others, but all of them were 3 once.)

- he wants to have a good relationship w/ each of his children as individuals.

- he rubs my neck

- he'll play with my hair

- he doesn't complain about dinner or lack there of.

- he still has dreams and hopes

- he comes straight home from work

- he's willing to give me girl time

- he came on a picnic with us

- he brings me drinks

- he sets up the computer and other electronics for me, cuz I'm not so smart that way.

- he loves to sit w/ the kids

- he goes to church, no matter what happened the night before (work, whatever)

- he helped Tori w/ her book and let her be in control

- he cares about taking care of himself

- when he spoils me, he spoils me good

- he tries to surprise me

- he mows the lawn

- he loves his kids

- he's funny when he is happy.

- he puts away the food and helps clean up after dinner

- he lets me take the kids to activities at the church so that I can just visit.

- he loves to hold sick kids.

- he loves to rock kids.

- he takes care of all the "military crap"

- he studies hard to pass his exams

- he wants the best for us

- he really is so much fun

AND the most of all.......

- HE IS MY BEST FRIEND!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

CASTING

Thursday morning was cast time. It couldn't have come soon enough. The splint was big and annoying. Tori was having to wear my "baby T's" cuz none of her clothes would even fit over the splint.

She looks a little too happy to be getting a cast put on.
Here they are putting on the white part of the cast. Not so cool.
Then the PINK part. TOTALLY COOL!!! She was So excited! She told me that it was warm. The people who did the cast took special efforts to make it comfy for her, squished it "just so" so that it would fit well.
So here she is! The wonderful PINK cast. We are liking it a whole lot more than the splint as this skinny little thing fits under all her clothes. She was So excited to go to school that we too her straight there after the appointment. She is doing really well. Doesn't complain very often about pain. She usually has it in a sling to help her shoulder carry it. The sling is so cute and small too.
She and her little friend "Aria" have matching broken arms. Aria is almost done with hers tho, she got her cast off right as Tori had hers put on. Aria is Left handed and she broke her left hand... Tori Right handed and broke her right. Their poor teacher. :-)

Tori's Grand Adventure

Although they've been told time and time again not to play on the futon mattress, tonight they folded it over and were running over it. The game was called "Wipe Out". And that is just what Tori did......

She fell off the mattress onto some toys near buy and hurt her arm. After some assessing from DR. Daddy, She was off to the hospital. She was being SO brave. I know it must hurt something fierce, but she is such a trooper!
After some X -Rays they determined that her Humerus is broken just above her elbow. Apparently we are lucky that she doesn't need surgery, as it is very close to the joint there and sometimes these brakes require pins etc.. Daddy said she was very brave at the ER. They went to the closest hospital, not the one on post, and somehow Brent still knew the Orthopedic Surgeon that came to look at her arm. :-) Gotta love connections. Dad said she didn't cry at the pain, a ouch every now and then as they put the splint on, but when she asked daddy if they would need to do surgery (before they knew how bad it was) he told her maybe... that made her cry a bit. Otherwise she was so good.She returned home to me like this. In her cute little hospital gown, her splint and her sling. The sweet staff gave her a new barbie "for being so brave". I would like to Thank the staff at Gateway Hospital, and the who ever it was that donated the Barbies, that made the whole trip "fun". She came home around 10pm and ate dinner. (Daddy wouldn't let her eat before she left, cuz he was worried about surgery) She ate w/ her left had pretty well.

Doc says she is to get her cast on Thursday. We are all hoping for a pink one! If it's not, we're painting it! She will need to be in the cast for about a month. So she will be spending her 6th Birthday, and Halloween in a cast. :-( Poor girl.

So her Fall Break has been extended until I am confident that she can handle potty issues etc on her own at School. I may wait till Thursday when i know that the arm can't be bumped by a careless classmate. Poor girl.

Mixed up

I've never ever been consistent in my style. Growing up, I could wear Bermuda shorts one day and a dark red and black plaid vest the next. One week @ the dance I would be wearing my tapered jeans and a polka-dotted black silk top, and the next week a western shirt, boot cut jeans, and cowboy boots. I've done scarves and shawls, boots and sneakers, winter hats and cowboy hats even the occasional page boy hat. I've had long hair(long as I can grow it), Short hair (like pixie cut), curly hair, straight hair, blond hair, red hair, flippy hair, sleek hair. I just don't seem to have the ability to commit. I can't even decide if I like gold or silver. In the summer/ spring, silver, winter fall, gold. So how on EARTH am I supposed to commit to a style for my home decorating??

Brent and I have been married for 15 years, almost 16, and we still don't have a bedroom set. We bought a sofa and love seat right after we were married sold it 5 years later, and didn't buy another furniture set for 9 years after that! When we retired our cute little table for 4 we found a piece of furniture that we both loved. Unfortunately I don't think this table was meant to be a kitchen table. I think it was supposed to be a "dining room" table. We have trashed it in just 4 short years! The kids don't have dressers or cute bed frames either. I've been living in this wonderful home of mine for almost 4 months and the first thing on the wall was a stinking TV, and that just went up a week ago! I've had paint swatches (if that's what they're called) hanging in the dining room for 3 weeks, I still don't know what I want in there!

I need help. I've taken surveys on the computer. One said I liked warm fall colors (I think I answered that way because its' fall) I wouldn't normally gravitate to orange or brown decor) One said that all shades of Green are me. Now I DO like green, but I don't know how that is supposed to help me know what kind of furniture and decorations I am supposed to buy. Another one told me that I like the southwestern (mexico) style. Um, no, not so much. I have no idea where to go. Impulsively I would just purchase things that I like and fit them together, but I fear that they will look stupid together and then I've wasted money. Any one out there that can help... please!!!

Fall Break

Here is the photo that should have been on that post from last week. :-) She was nearly as giddy today as she was last Thursday.

Emily had her doing some standing up in the saddle today, I will be surprised if her legs don't ache tomorrow! It looked difficult.
Alex spent a good 2 hours today playing Paleontologist, I found this excavation kit @ Christmas Tree Shop a LONG time ago, and it has just kicked around and around. Today, he really wanted to do it.
The kit came with these wonderful protective goggles :-) He was sure to keep them on as he chiseled his way through the plaster to his prize. I was amazed at how long it took him and how much of a mess it made. He cleaned it up tho, well mostly. :-)
Alex had earned a "privilege" and chose to go w/ dad skating. Not the easiest of tasks, seeing as how there are no ice rinks here in town. Off to Nashville they went. They had a great time and apparently Alex went around 4.5 times w/o falling. Yeah!!!
And Lastly... poor little Katie, we're just messing her little schedule up. This was a dinner today. She stayed up late with the kids last night, was up at her normal time this morning, and was clumsy and getting hurt all day. Come dinner time, there was no eating. Brent put her to bed. She was asleep by 7 or so. Yeah, at 11:45, she was back up... ready to go to Jump Zone. (she actually asked me if we could go right now!) Crazy girl. She suggested that we could just go in our Jammies. LOL! Poor girl.

Picture Post on St Louis

This weekend we had the opportunity to meet some old pals in St. Louis. We met Meredith in Des Moines IA, 8 years ago. Our boys were just tiny.. Alex still on a monitor, weighing around 5 lbs. He and Nolan grew up those first 2 years together. They of course don't remember, but they matched up like the years had never passed.

Here are Nolan and Alex playing chess. The funny part, the two of them are listening to "flight of the bumble bee" while they play. It was very entertaining to Mere and I to watch these two.

Tori and Avery played a little polly pockets. Avery was a bit more interested in Liza, she was the Cool big kid. :-)

The Hotel we stayed in ROCKED!!! They had an indoor pool, and indoor playground and even a big gymnasium where the kids could run and play.

This is the pool table in the rec area of the hotel. It was an older building with what appeared to be asbestos ceilings, but the rest of it was really cool. For $60 we stayed the night, swam twice and played for hours, all right outside our room. It was great!

Then we found this fabulous place called "The Magic House" !!!!! It was SO cool in there. This is their 'once upon a time' area. Katie found the pig straight away... she LOVES pigs!

Alex found a little putting green to play on. He LOVES golf.

They had a cool bubble area! They even had a spot where you stand in the middle and pull a bubble up around you. Above is the coolest part... this giant bubble screen that you could blow the hugest bubbles in. SOOOO cool

Inside this house they had a childrens size Victorian play house. It was so cool. I wish I had brought a different lens for my camera so that I could have gotten a picture of the whole building. It was SO cool. Here are the girls in the little Kitchen. Perfect size for them.

The found these kitties and hauled them around the whole time we were in this area. They also had a little stream that ran across the village and into a pond where you could "fish". They had big lures that looked like fish w/ metal rings on them, and you caught them with a magnet on a pole. The kids loved this activity too.

Alex was putting a muffler back in the car, such a cool place.

The girls upstairs in the house. Notice the kittens still under their arms. Both put a Ganz kitty on their Christmas list. :-)

Alex and Liza working on the engine now.

Tori, running the pizza place. this place was incredibly clean and well cared for. It is 30 yrs old this year, and kept so nice!

Alex and Tori being reporters. It was really cool, they even had a TV and cameras so that you could see yourself reporting. COOL! (notice the cat)

Tori being a Librarian. (Cat still in her possession. This part made me miss Talia)

Katie in the Grocery Store part. Kitty in basket. She filled that basket with yummy produce. What fun.

Yes, they even had a water area! This is Nolan having a blast!

Perfect little photo spot. Too bad the light sucked and I didn't have my flash!!! This was tucked up in the attic area, and for just a few minutes, no one else was in there.

Did snap this pretty girl in that light by the window tho.

A HAIR RAISING EXPERIENCE!!!

None of my kids would touch the ball, all of them were sure that it would hurt to touch something with Electricity in it. Smart kids... I thought for sure after I did it, that Liza would, but nope. Not a chance. Maybe next time. LOL!

A Great 3 story slide that runs down the side of the building.

Would you believe that we didn't even see the whole place? There was more, but we ran out of time, they closed it up on us. I didn't take any pictures of the whole mystery area and secret passage way and even a chance to crawl through the air ducts to solve a mystery.

Alex with Curious George. After eating Ice creams and getting Free Cookies cuz the treat stop was closing.

Then we headed to Americas Incredible Pizza Company

Spoiled rotten children I tell you!

This is a buffet place like Cici's on Steroids. LOL!! It was incredible.

You pick your food and then pick a theme room to sit in, I think there were 5 themes to choose from. It was HUGE.

There were go carts, and glow golf.

Inflatable for Tori and Katie

A few little rides for the wee ones.

I LOVE Tori's face in this one. Who knew riding a frog could be SO fun??

They even had "mini bowling". 10 pin with little balls that the kids could throw. SO fun! They loved every minute.

Even the Mommas had some fun shooting things up.

Go mommas.

We had the best time. It was well worth the drive to St. Louis and we certainly plan to meet up with our pals there again some time soon.