Closing of 2008

Dunno why I chose that title, but 2008 is just about gone and we are going to be spending the rest of the year with my sister and her family....go figure. I am so grateful for my family and friends and I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! See you in 2009.......oh how wierd that sounds. That means Chris and I have been together 20 years (do not laugh) and it also means I have been out of high school for 20 years (yes I know I am old).

Everyone have a safe New Year's Eve and have a Happy New Year!

Lost it........

Do you ever wonder how we get through the day and remember what we did, how we did it or what we did with it. Well, Bree asked if she could use my triffle bowl from Pampered Chef. I went looking for it and remembered that I had loaned it out to someone and I cannot remember who that someonewas.

So if anyone out there has an extra triffle bowl and they are willing to return it I would be very grateful. If they want to they can also fill it with something yummy:)

Thanks and I very much appreciate it!

8 years ago....

Rachel was coming into this world.....I was in shock.......Chris just was not sure what to do! I was doing flips on the bed from my hands and knees to my back. The nurse just could not figure out how I was doing that......go figure.......you do anything you need to do to be comfortable!

Chris's dad had just had a 5 bypass surgery 5 days before and him and Lorene were in Columbia along with Chris's sister and my niece. My mom and sister (Kathy) were at the hospital with Chris and I.

When we arrived at the hospital at 8:30 a.m. it was 50 degrees, after we had Rachel it was about 20 degrees (you know how it was this Sunday)!

Rachel Kathyrn (named after my sister Kathy) decided to enter this world at 11:43 a.m. I was not sure about having a baby a month early, but we welcomed her with open arms and now look at how much she has grown!

Calling Santa

You know when you have had it for the day and you have to use that phrase "do you want me to call Santa?" Well I had to use that last night as the girls and I were getting ready for bed. Laying in bed Haley was still crying after getting in trouble saying in a hurtful way that she was happy her cousin Samantha was leaving (you would think those two were sisters the way they bicker between themselves) and then crying because she had to take a bath (you know that relaxing thing I would love to do every night) and crying more because she was going to bed (7:30 p.m., yes my kids were going to bed early)! Mind you this was 45 minutes of crying and I had had enough!

Rachel on the other hand likes to be the big mother-type figure and cause problems between the younger ones. She does not like it when Samantha and Haley are playing just fine and not including Rachel. Then there is Zachary and he will follow Rachel around like a puppy just doing what she is doing, so there is always a screaming child because of this or that.

I begin to wonder who the mother is in the house between Rachel and I......pretty bad when you have to compete between an 8-year-old and myself. I am always telling her that there is an adult in the house and it is not her.

Okay back to my story. We were laying in bed and Haley was still fussing and Rachel and I were talking about her actions with the kids and not listening to me or Kathy. We were talking about Santa and how he was watching them and how he was not happy with their actions or their listening ears. I said that I would have to call Santa and that one of his elves answered the phone for him and would give him the message that he needed to check his list again for our house. Well Rachel being the smarty pants that she is wanted to know how I knew Santa's phone number. I stated that being a mom we knew these things. That was not good enough for Rachel, so she asked me what his phone number was. I had to think of a good come back on that one and so his new phone number is 1-800-Santa......Yes I know it is short a little bit, but she did not pick up on that.

So both the girls told me that they would be double good this week so I would not have to call Santa. They are suppose to be on their best behavior, we will have to see how they do. I have also told them that Santa will be taking presents away if they cannot behave, so hopefully I have scared them enough that they will shape up a little bit.

Oh what we have to do as parents to get a little bit of sanity....... Happy Holidays!

Do we have to.......

That is what I heard when I asked the girls to put on their Christmas dresses and and act like they like getting their picture taken.... They finally got dressed and found the santa hats that I had forgot about (could not resist the hats, even though I did not plan on them having hats on, but they are cute). They put on these smiles that I cannot resist, after I stuffed them under the tree to get this pose! Yes they did not think it was the greatest idea, but decided it would be okay. They hammed it up for the camera just fine for the first picture, but after that I had to work with them a bit.....oh well after all was said and done the first picture that I took was the best one! Whew it was hard work and I was sweating and a little frusturated after we were done, but you know how it is when you are looking for that perfect picture for the Christmas card, well this is what I got! Enjoy!

Casey......the soldier

This is Casey Thompson, my nephew that was deployed yesterday. I just needed to add his picture so everyone could see who I was talking about. When Chris and I started dating years ago (that would be almost 20 years ago) Casey was 3 months old. By the time he was 6 months old we called him the Michelin Man cuz he had so many chub rolls.......oh my gosh did he have the chub.....so funny. Now he is all grown up and not so chubby!

The call......

So I finished my work for the morning getting ready for lunch and my dear husband told me that his nephew Casey had called and was getting ready to load on a plane to head for Baghdad, Iraq. He is in the Military Police so he will be down in the thick of everything. I kind of freaked out and tried to call him and it went to his answering machine....I gave him a quick I love you and be careful and call or email when you can.

Well I went to get some food and in the meantime he had left a message to call back quick as they would be loading in 10 minutes. I frantically called him back and he was in the middle of taking the platoon picture (group picture) so he called me back and we had a quick chat. He sounded a little excited, nervous, ugh I am so not looking forward to this next year, but hopefully it will go as quick as his brother's did (Derek just came home last Tuesday, November 25, 2008).

I love our freedom, but dang it I wish we did not have to fight for it like we are now! God Bless the USA and God bless all the men and women serving for our country!

Shopping...

Well I did not brave Black Friday as some did......I am not patient enough for the rudeness of some of the shoppers.......Kathy and I went to Des Moines on Saturday for our shopping. We were suppose to leave Ottumwa at 8:30 a.m., I arrived at 8:45 (yes late, go figure) and her mother-in-law was not there yet.....ugh frusturating. Anyway we finally got out of town at 10 a.m. which put us an hour and a half behind on shopping! We started our shopping spree at 11 a.m. when the snow started falling......yes tis that time of the year.....ugh not while I am 2 hours away from home driving a boat that is only 2-wheel drive! Well we shopped and shopped and ate and shopped and came home with a load full of stuff, tell me what I do not know but the suburban was full of bags:)

We had a little bit of a show down with a snowplow and the suburban and I was afraid the burb was going to lose, but low and behold we came out ahead (after I about freaked out and tried not to hit the brakes on a ice/snow covered road at 9 p.m.)! We figured the snowplow hit a patch of slush and floated way over on our side of the road as we were trying to go around him as he was running maybe 20 mph (yes I know follow the snowplow, but it would have been 2 a.m. before we got home if we did that)!

So I made it home safely and after lots of hugs and loves from the girls the next morning we had to go play in the snow (like I was not for playing in the snow either)! The girls pulled out the saucer sleds and I pulled out the massive yellow beast, a.k.a. the 4-wheeler, I pulled the girls around the yard loving it as I am not the work horse like I have been in the past. After a few dumps and getting ran over by Rachel, Haley decided to ride on the 4-wheeler with me. Rachel did not want to give up, so we pulled her around more and went a little faster, oh the squeals of joy!

We are back to our usual routine this morning, but the bus was 10 minutes late which put the rest of us behind and then the car had to be warmed up and scraped off as the garage is full of stained doors (yes doors that have been hung undone for 6 years). We are trying to finish up those undone projects that keep hanging over us.......

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful Monday!