Mark Your Calendars

We are having a Christmas party. It should be lots of fun.

Santa is even making an appearance. (Note to parents...bring a wrapped gift for your child and Santa will give it to them.)

We are also making this Christmas all about giving back and giving to those in need. So, we are making this Christmas party our kick off to the 12 Days of Giving others a Christmas.

We have adopted a family and are hoping to be able to give the four kids and their mom something special to open on Christmas morning. We are asking everyone that would like to help to bring a gift for one of the four kids or can goods for the family (details on the family are enclosed in an additional envelope in the invitation).

Everyone is encouraged to invite their friends and family. The more the merrier...

We also have some yummy food plans for this party as well.

Being Thankful

Kaelin and her dog, Britni, posing for the camera.

We spent Thanksgiving with Grandma Kay and PawPaw Bill in Corsicana. We had a great time, wonderful food, and a relaxing weekend. (What more can you ask for????)

We brought all 3 of the dogs (since you are suppose to spend Thanksgiving with family and they are family). They ran and played until they can barely hold their heads up. They will all probably sleep for the next week.

Wrapping up the end of the Thanksgiving weekend...

There are several things we are thankful for...

1) We are thankful that we got to spend Thanksgiving with family.

2) I am thankful that we have 3 weeks until Christmas break (but who is counting).

3) I am VERY thankful that black Friday only comes once a year.

4) I am thankful that I was one of the crazy people that went to Wal-mart at 5:00 AM on Friday, but was smart enough to walk right back out of the store (buying NOTHING). What a mad house... even I know when it is smarter to pay full price for an item...

5) We are thankful to have jobs (this will allow me to pay the full price for the items I was not going to fight for at Wal-mart on Friday)

6) We are thankful to be healthy (despite the enormous deductibles we have given to the doctors lately)

7) I am thankful for cornbread dressing and giblet gravy (the extra 5 pounds I gained are proof of my appreciation).

8) I am thankful for not having a clue where to start with my Christmas shopping or what to buy for anyone (at least I will not be bored over the next month).

Stay tuned for my black Friday specials. I did find some things (just not at Wal-mart).

Background information:
Last night Kaelin started running 101 fever and was still running over 100 this morning and has an awful cough. So, I had to take the day off and get her to the doctor. The doctor found out that Kaelin had the beginnings of pneumonia. She went to the doctor about a month ago for a sinus infection. She took 10 days worth of antibiotics, but evidently there was still some junk left. Her doctor said she had some antibiotic resistant bacteria that had built up in her chest and was forming into pneumonia.

Taking the day off of work: used a sick day
Doctor visit: so expensive they would not even give me the bill, they said they would send it to the insurance company first.
X-Rays of her chest: again too expensive. They will surprise me later.
Radiologist reading the X-ray: Again... we will surprise you later.
Pedialyte popsicles: $6.00
Children's Tylenol: $4.00
Cost of lunch while we waited for the presciptions to be filled: $33.00
Prescription for an antibiotic: $12.00
Prescription for Nasanex: $80.00 (yes that is American dollars not European)

My baby feeling better: Priceless

Yes, she is beginning to feel better (if bouncing off of the walls is a sign of feeling better). She still has not eaten anything significant in two days (she does not get that from her Mom- no matter how yucky I feel), but she is drinking lots of liquid.

So, we are battling a little illness, but nothing that an astronomical insurance deductible won't cure.

Thanksgiving Feast

Monday was Kaelin's Thanksgiving Feast at her school. It was so much fun with some yummy food.

Kaelin and her PawPaw getting ready to eat some lunch.

Kaelin, Mamaw, and papa... (why is Kaelin always looking at something other than the camera?)

Mamaw, Papa, PawPaw, and I attended the feast.

The kids performed a little program before the lunch. They sang two songs and got to dress up in some paper costumes they made in class. I told Kaelin she made a great Indian and she corrected me by telling me she was a turkey not an Indian. (My mistake).

Kaelin is on the back row (she is a turkey... not an Indian)

After lunch, Kaelin really wanted to go home with her PawPaw, so she did. She just hung out with him while he did a little work in his office and then they watched TV. She had a blast.

Relief

We just got home from running in the San Antonio marathon.

I am trying hard to find a bone or muscle in my body that is not screaming in pain. I am sure there must be one, but I have not found it yet.

I was ready (and could have been) for bed at 6:00 this evening.

This is not my first (and most likely not my last) race, but man... I am wiped out.
I keep thinking how my 26.2 miles is really going to look in January. Today we (only) ran the 1/2 marathon and there is a HUGE difference in 13.1 and 26.2.

Todd did really good (of course). I, on the other hand, had difficulty after mile 9. I finished, but was about 8 minutes slower than my goal. Which is not promising for my January marathon.

Kaelin had an absolute blast this weekend. She loves hotels (and this one had an indoor pool). She was such a trooper. She got up early this morning and watched us start the race. She will definitely be a marathon crazy person like her mom and dad. She was dying to run this morning. So, before my run, I ran with Kaelin for about 1/2 mile. That was just what I needed today... to add an extra 1/2 mile of running. Oh well... it was worth it. She had a blast.

I had a group of girls that ran with me today. Lisa and I had matching outfits. Our motto is... if your running doesn't look good, there is not reason you should not. So, we go the extra mile to make sure we have extra cute outfits (and bows in our hair). Even Kaelin got a little jealous with the bows in our hair.

(If it looks like there is something on my face... there is... it is a rub on tatoo of a girl running with 13.1 written below.)

If I find the bone or muscle in my body that is not screaming in agony, I will be sure to blog about it.

Happy Birthday To You!!!!

Today is Todd's 35th birthday.

We went ahead and celebrated his birthday last night because we are leaving for San Antonio this afternoon.

We are running in the San Antonio marathon this weekend (which is needed to run off this cake we ate last night). Let me tell you about this cake... (no, I did not make it but wish I knew how)... it was a Carval ice cream cake (from the Wal-mart bakery) that was Snickers flavored. Had I known how yummy this cake was, I would have probably opened it in the car before I ever got home.

We went to Aunt Debbie's for dinner. Uncle Truman and Kaelin made spaghetti Parmesan last night. It was super yummy also.

We had a whole football theme going on. First... the cake. Second... a Dallas Cowboys shirt from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Truman.

Last... Kaelin and I got Todd two tickets and a parking pass to a Dallas Cowboys football game. He is going to see the Cowboys play the Redskins next weekend.

My idea was for him to be able to take a friend with him so they could really enjoy and talk football... this has back fired... he wants me to go. Not that I don't like football and probably would enjoy going, I just thought he might like to take someone that knows the difference between a touchdown and a homerun. (This is like him giving me a gift certificate to the Galleria, I would never expect him to go with me.) Oh well, at least I will get to see Romo in person- there is nothing wrong with that.)

35 Things I love about Todd:

1. He is calm (even when I am not)
2. He is athletic (even though I am not)
3. He is a very caring husband
4. He is a very loving father
5. He makes rational decisions
6. He has listening ears even when he might not like what he is hearing
7. He loves animals
8. He loves being outdoors
9. He lets me watch my favorite shows when we are going to be rather than sports
10. He is very smart
11. He is a great leader
12. He is always there to help whomever needs it
13. He can cook
14. He actually enjoys cooking (and does a lot of it)
15. He likes to dress nice
16. He does not ever ask how much money I spend on Kaelin's clothes (thank goodness for this)
17. He is very respectful of everyone around him
18. He does not like to yell or argue (again... thank goodness)
19. He keeps my car washed
20. He does not complain when I prefer to spend my weekend shopping
21. He knows when to let me have my space
22. He enjoys spending alone time with Kaelin
23. He always takes Kaelin to her babysitter's in the mornings (so I can take my time getting ready)
24. He takes out the garbage
25. He always has coffee waiting for me in the morning
26. He is very faithful
27. He is a great handiman
28. He knows the vacuum cleaner can be run by male or female
29. He will get up in the middle of the night to tend to doggy throw up
30. He is a great friend
31. He is a great son
32. He likes Nascar and drag racing as much as Kaelin and I do
33. He is so patient
34. He reads books to Kaelin
35. The final thing I love about Todd... is that I get to spend the rest of my life finding more things to add to my list

Happy Birthday and I love you!!!!

High Maintenance Competition

I am convinced that Kaelin and Moe (the crazy dog) have formed a conspiracy against me.

I don't know what I have done to these two to make them gang up on me... but whatever it was, it must have been good.

Monday night...

Around 2:00 AM, I woke up to Moe throwing up on the floor and then he was hyper-ventilating. So, I had to get down on the floor and hold him and pet him until he calmed down and started breathing better.

Todd got up and cleaned up the throw up.

Finally, back in bed by 2:20 AM, 2:30 AM, Kaelin starts crying in her room. So, once again, I get out of bed to see what is going on. I get in there, she has calmed down and gone back to sleep.

2:35 AM, back in bed, 2:50 AM, Kaelin starts crying again. I get up, go in the room, and once again she has calmed down and gone back to sleep.

2:55 AM, back in bed. But the whole time I was up and down, Moe was acting up in the bed. Every time I laid down, he crawled on my legs (thinking I was really going to let him sleep on my legs).

5:00 AM, the alarm went off. I am not sure if I really got any sleep. I felt like a jack-in-the-box.

Monday night... Moe wins the high maintenance award.

Tuesday night...

After throwing Moe off of the bed (2 times by me and then at least another 4 by Todd), I finally went to sleep.

1:00 AM, I woke up to Moe scratching on the side of the bathtub. When I went into the bathroom to see what the heck was going on, he had already jumped into the bathtub and was licking the water off of Kaelin's bath toys. (and I wonder why he throws up)

1:50 AM, I woke up again to Kaelin standing beside my bed. She decided she had spent enough of the night in her room and wanted to spend the rest of the night in my room. So, I pick her up, get her all situated and am trying to go back to sleep when she suddenly realizes she does not have her baby. Well, I know I put the baby in the bed, but I can't find it. I have to end up getting out of bed, turning on the light, and searching for that darn baby. I found it and she was content with that.

2:20 AM, I really am going back to sleep, but Moe crawls on top of Kaelin and she is not having any of that. She starts hollering for me to get him off of her. She said " I just can't sleep like that". I responded "Well I just can't get any sleep."

Between 2:20- 5:00 AM I must have kicked Moe off of my legs 5 times and removed him from Kaelin's blanket, head (yes... I said head), and legs another 6 times. Plus I removed Kaelin's feet from my ribs, back, and side at least a half dozen times also.

Tuesday night... although it was a close race... Kaelin wins the high maintenance award.

Wednesday night... I am going to sleep on the coach and lock the gate at the top of the stairs so neither Moe or Kaelin can wake me up.

Opening Day of Shopping Season

Oh Happy Day... Oh Happy Day!!! (in most households)

Men affectionately know this weekend as "Opening day of deer season".

I on the other hand consider this "Opening day of shopping season".

This is where Kaelin and I go shopping every weekend because Todd is at the deer lease.

We would put a lot of planning into just which mall we were going to conquer that particular weekend.

But....

Todd got off of his deer lease this year...

He claims the drive was too long (5 1/2 hours), he got tired of going by himself, and he had not shot anything in (a month of Sunday's) several years.

But....

My interpretation of the REAL reason he got off...

I think he finally added up the cost of what he was spending plus what Kaelin and I were spending and realized we could have owned our own island in the Caribbean by now.

So...

Sad day... Sad Day

We are not sad that Todd will no longer be scouring the hills looking for Bambi or Bambi's daddy, but we are sad about the shopping being curtailed. There is no way on God's green earth that Todd would go along with the amount of shopping that Kaelin and I accomplish while he is away.

So... Still Sad Day... Sad Day

Still Trick or Treating...

Is it wrong to still be trick or treating?

We did not go to Mrs. Mary's house on Saturday night due to a misunderstanding on my part. I thought she was out of town, but she had just come back in town.

Anyway... we have trick or treated Mrs. Mary's and Mr. Ken's house since Kaelin's 1st Halloween, so there was no way we could miss it this year.

So, today Kaelin got to get all dressed up again and we headed over to Mrs. Mary's house.

I did get some strange looks from my neighbors, but this is not the weirdest thing they have seen us do, so it should have really come as no surprise to them.

I thought this was so cute. This is Mr. Ken giving Kaelin candy last year.

Trick or Treat

We are all trick or treated out this morning.

But, the extra hour of sleep has been nice and needed.

We did not trick or treat our neighborhood because we had an event to attend on Kaelin's social calendar. We had a Halloween party that was a lot of fun.

For the first time that I can remember, Todd dressed up. I will dress up for anything at anytime, but Todd is a little more reserved. So it was fun to get everyone to dress up.

Kaelin, of course, was the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader. She made her dad proud. It also gave him a conversation starter to begin talking football with all the other dads. As soon as someone would see her, the conversation would quickly turn to something like... "Did you see that Romo last week?" and "If I was Jerry Jones..." and "They have the potential to be a good team, but..."

Todd was a hippie. He had hair (for the first time in months) and it drove him absolutely crazy. He had to borrow a rubber band from me, so he could pull it away from his face.

I was a gypsy fortune teller. So, at the party, I had a crystal ball setup at a table and I would tell all the kids their fortune. I told them fortunes like "you will obey your mommy and daddy", "if you eat too much candy, you will get a tummy ache" and "you will do something fun tomorrow."

Before the party, we trick or treated Aunt Debbie's house. Kaelin's cousin, Trip, came over and we got to help him put the finishing touches on his costume. He was a vampire. It was good that Kaelin got to see him with no makeup on his face, then she got to watch me put it on. She might not have been to receptive of him if he had shown up with his face already done. She is not a fan of anything scary, creepy, spooky, or haunted. So, with her watching and helping paint his face, it was not so scary to her.

This was Kaelin's costume last year. She was a scary pink pirate. I thought I would let you see what she was last year.