Busy Days - Warning - very long post! Will post pictures soon

I apologize in advance for the length in of this post.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. To my blog buddies, I have been following you all faithfully though not always commenting. Lily is sick again and on another antibiotic but not too bad. She had her four year old check up the day after Christmas with shots. She was always on the tiny side but we were pleased that she grew a whole three inches this year and is now near the average range. We took the kids to Build a Bear just after her appointment with the gift of the bear and gift cards they had gotten from my mom and I will have a post with pictures coming about that soon. That made Lily feel better as she was not to happy about the shots. I have two weeks off work and have been enjoying the time.

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The past few days since Christmas have been very busy and productive ones for us. We have spent our time off doing some cleaning and organizing and putting our Christmas decorations away (though some say we may have bad luck now).
We decided to test Sean's Independence by trying out an upstairs bedroom for him. We have two rooms upstairs one of which is a study. The other one we had tried as a guest room before, and then as a playroom last year after Christmas when the toys were overwhelming. But, it just did not work out. Toys were constantly being hurled down the stairs and fights were breaking out between numerous play dates, siblings and such, and toys were being destroyed. It was just a disaster. Not to mention the fact the night after night I was bringing basket loads of toys back up to the playroom that had made the way down stairs to overcrowd their bedrooms again. So midway through the year the playroom fizzled. In it remained remnants of broken toys, yard sale hopefuls, giveaways and a full size bed that we hoped would be used for Sean soon instead of the 50 year old twin he was in.


We knew one day Sean would be ready to move upstairs, we just had no idea he would be ready so soon. He is such a brave little boy. He just gets right into bed and tells us "goodnight"!
He loves Indiana Jones so we decided to go with that theme. Instead of going with the character bedding we just went with Browns/Khaki animal and muted earthy tones in the bedding and pillows. There are a few chairs and a dark brown throw. A small bookcase beside his bed holds a globe in matching tones and an Indiana Jones play set and Mr potato head. His Lego table is set up with all his new Indiana legos he got from Santa. The upstairs room is more then double the size of his old room and he has his own bathroom so he really does love it.


We are taking Sean's old room and attempting another playroom. It really will be more of a Lily's toys/television and game room. And since Lily has such a small room I thought she needed some extra space. They will still share it though and it will allow Sean to be down with us and not feel secluded away from the family.


We are searching for themes and are open to suggestions. We are thinking of Disney since we have so many posters, and pictures and because it Will be mixed gender but we are still open.
So far we have a Mickey mouse T.V., a kid size rocker (girly), easel/chalkboard, 2 doll houses, a Disney castle a toy box (girly), some pop out play tents and a few other things that could take up some space in there.


We really want to do this on a small budget. It will get a paint job and probably a border (not sure yet). Any creative suggestions would help. (hint for Melissa or someone with her equal talents). I think I want to keep it simple and classy. I thought of yellow and blue for colors and maybe a simple light yellow/blue panel for the windows.

Anyway, after all of that work we felt we all needed a little break. Especially Buddy & myself. We rarely ever get any time away without the kids. We hate being separated from them but we know it is essential for a healthy marriage so we took our opportunity since we have the entire Christmas Holidays off. My mom kept the kids and we drove to the great big city of Birmingham (ha). One of our favorite spots though. A trendy area that we often like to visit just for a nice overnight getaway. A nice hotel and great places to eat there. We went shopping at the Galleria and ate lunch at another one of our favorites J. Alexanders. Nothing extravagant, but just enough for us.

I have lots of pictures to post soon. Sean's room, Build a Bear trip, Birmingham and a few others. In the mean time Happy New Year to all of you! I hope 2009 will be a better one for all of us.

Christmas Morning and Christmas night

We are pretty lucky I guess, because our kids actually let us sleep in. It is great on the weekends when we are off. But not so good on school and church mornings when we have to drag them out of bed. Anyway, on Christmas morning we actually slept in a little and when Buddy woke me I briefly forgot it was even Christmas morning at all. We had to wake the kids like we have every Christmas for the past 5 years of Sean's life and 3 of Lily's. It did not take them long though as they are getting older now and more into it.

They were very excited to see what Santa brought them. Lily did not seem to totally overwhelmed. Of course, she is a lot like me. Always contented with just about anything you give her. Sean on the other hand walked into the room and was very excited over everything very briefly and then realized that Santa forgot to bring him a bicycle. He got over it quickly though.

Indiana Jones Lego's were the big hit for Sean and an Authentic Disney Castle play set and a real doll crib were the big hits for Lily. Lily had only asked for one thing: Dora saves the Snow Princess DVD and Sean asked for the Lego's. We did not know until the night before Christmas when we saw Santa at the zoo that he even wanted a bicycle so we really missed the boat on that one. It was a great Christmas though and our kids got more then they needed:)We got some new Pajamas from maw-maw so we came home and got ready for bed. The big gift from her though was the Build a Bear Workshop gift cards, money and a bear that she pre-bought for each of the younger kids. We have a trip planned for Friday (today) and I will post pictures soon. It was pretty chaotic but tons of fun.

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

This year we hosted the Christmas Eve party for Buddy's side at our house. We rotate each year having it at alternate houses.
We usually do this on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas Morning I do a Breakfast and have Buddy's brother and sister over and then we head over to my mom's house for my side of the family. It all makes for a pretty fun but usually very exhausting few days.

I try to remind myself who it is really all about. This sweet and gentle prayer from a child reminded some of us.


I was worried there would not be enough food to feed us all. Ha! We had enough to feed an army! I felt guilty.

Then I worried if we were going to have enough gifts for us all to feel we got our fair share in the gift exchange. Ha! Seriously, just kidding. This picture does not capture the massive amount of gifts that covered our great room. I truly felt ashamed.

Sean said the blessing for us at Christmas breakfast that went a little something like this: "Dear Jesus, Happy birthday and I hope you have a Merry Christmas, Amen".

The wonderful Christmas chaos

This is what Christmas Eve gift -unwrapping chaos looks like in our family -

We got it all cleaned up and then Santa came!

We crashed........

Teacher Gifts

This year for teacher gifts I decided to steal an idea from a very creative fellow blogger Melissa Lester. She had the idea of these beautiful cake plates. I added the hand painted spreader with a little note attached: "Don't spread yourself to thin this Christmas". The teachers really loved their gifts and much love went into making them all.

For Heather - Merry Christmas

My sister Heather has been wanting to get a blog started but never seems to be able to figure out how. She has been asking for help and I have been telling her I would. But you know how busy we all get? Time just got away from us and we just did not seem to get around to it. She did get one started a few years ago just for pictures but never did get the hang of blogging and forgot her passwords. Ha! That was the end of that one. Anyway, I thought I would create her a blog and surprise her with it. So, I started her one with just a neat header that I thought she would like and a few gadgets. She can change anything she likes and add all her own stuff. Add her if ya like. She is funny and cool. I hope she will come along with me to the next blog luncheon girls....

Heather & myself on Christmas Eve about 28 years ago.

A Christmas Party on Lake Jordan

All I want for Christmas

All I want for Christmas is this Lake house.......
(and this is just the back deck)


and this view of the water......

On Saturday we were invited to the lake home of a friend for a Christmas party. It was for the Sunday school class at Frazer which Buddy teaches. We were excited to be able to bring the kids. I think they were more excited actually. We don't bring them to much to do with the class usually, and the members are always asking about them. They were all very glad we brought them and the kids were very well behaved. The food was delicious and the weather was perfect. We went outside and took some great pictures and had a nice fire inside. The place was decorated beautifully and we all had a wonderful time. Thanks to Roger and Jo Turene for sharing their beautiful home with our class once again.

Christmas Plays

On Sunday The kids had their Christmas programs at church which consisted mainly of singing. Sean's 5 year old choir was asked to sing 2 songs in the 2 morning services which was exciting because it was the 9:30 am televised portion and my dad who lives in North Carolina was able to watch. We have not seen him since spring. We are hoping he will be cleared by his doctors and we can pick him up next week so he can spend the holidays with all of us.

Then, today Sean had his kindergarten program. He had a line to say and did very well. I was so proud of my big boy. He was an Englishman (quite fitting since Buddy has taken about 25 trips) and said the words "plum pudding is served with little treasures inside".

Buddy is not feeling well and is now the one on antibiotics. It is no time to be sick though because it is such a busy weekend for us. We have a few parties to attend. Actually between the four of us we have four parties to attend this weekend. One will be a Christmas party at the lake home of friend which is always very beautiful. The decorations are stunning and we will surly have some great photo ops. We are taking the kids with us. It will be a trip on a bus with a group which will be fun for them I am sure. An adventure they are looking forward to.

Tomorrow (Friday) night I am going to my boss's home for the annual Christmas party. I am looking forward to the party but it is without spouse's so I am not really looking forward to going without Buddy. I have really fun co-workers though so it will be fun I am sure. I just really love my family time and hate being away especially around the holidays and when weekend times are precious. Daddy will do fine though. They will bake cookies and watch a movie. They already have it planned. And mommy is NOT staying at this party too long.....

Pictures of the Church Christmas program:

Christmas Parade

Last night we went to the Christmas parade.
It was very cold. We enjoyed it though.
We are looking forward to going to the
zoo lights, Calloway Gardens, candlelight
services and quite a few other events to make
this Christmas season magical....

Getting our Christmas Tree

Perfect!
Our 2008 Christmas tree. Can't wait to decorate......

2008 Christmas Card Picture

We finally got the picture for this years Christmas card. I guess I should let it be a surprise. I was so excited that we got a good one of them I just had to share. We usually take them out to ASF or somewhere nice and put a little more into it. With the kids being sick and so much going on in our lives I really did not have high expectations this year. I knew time was getting away from me and I needed to hurry and get moving on it. We slipped them into their outfits and stepped out onto the front porch. Buddy snapped this one which I think turned out pretty good.

To all of my new blogging friends.... (lunch bunch) I would love to include you in my Christmas card list but I need your mailing address. If you do not want to leave a comment under this post with your personal address then you please email me at minnie7010@gmail.com.

Sick kids

We tried. Sooner or later it was bound to happen though.

Sean has had a great run of 5 1/2 years with superior immunities. With the occasional cold, a few bouts with croup and mononucleosis last year he has finally succumbed to a sinus infection and was put on his first round of an antibiotic in his entire life.
I know it sounds silly but I am not taking it easily. We were very proud of the fact that our child has never had to have an antibiotic. It seemed to surprise people given his age. Even his pediatrician seemed impressed when he looked back on the chart and realized how old he was and and how well he had been. Each year as he turned another year older we impressed the doctor with "still no infections or antibiotics". He attributed it mostly to the fact that he was at home with me most of the time and not in daycare.
As he got a little older he went to "school" half days but still stayed really well. I used to swear it was because he was a breastfed baby. But, I have friends who nursed their babies and the children stay sick. I guess it pretty much depends on the child's own immune system. Sean was blessed with really good immunities just like his daddy. Lets just hope he keeps it up and this antibiotic he is taking will not be a new trend for him.

Lily on the other hand was not so blessed. She seems to have inherited my terrible lungs (lets hope not) She has already had pneumonia and bronchitis a few times in her short life.


We spent yesterday in the pediatrician's office with them. They both have sinus infections and Lily has Bronchitis. They also ran strep cultures on them which came back negative at the time. Today the office called us to say that Lily's was positive after all.
So, poor Lily has a sinus infection, strep throat and bronchitis. She is of course on an antibiotic as well.

She slept most of the day today but does seem to feel a little better tonight. two days of the meds may seem to be working. Sean is definitely feeling better already.

Our Thanksgiving

Considering that Lily was sick and in bed for most of the day we did have a pretty good Thanksgiving.

The day started out as planned and I was able to prepare all my dishes with a little challenge out of respect for the religious beliefs of our guests.

The Turkey was kosher and I was not using any chicken stock in dressing or bacon to flavor vegetables. I had not planned on or remembered this in my preparation so I had to make last minute adjustments in making the dressing. We had to wait a little later to eat since I had to wait on the turkey drippings to moisten the dressing. Also, the Lima beans were not as flavorful as we are used to. But, I am sure they were much healthier without the bacon. The sacrifices were worth it though for the special time we all shared together

Lily stayed in bed much of the day and even missed the meal which was disappointing. She was feverish and threw up several times. Our guest (Ms. Anita) who is Indian and Muslim bought her a scarf for her birthday. She was happy to get it. She always loves to see Anita's Scarf s when she sees her so it was very thoughtful of her to bring her one of her own I thought. She wrapped it around Lily's head when Lily felt like getting up and I snapped a picture. I thought it was a sweet picture but I just wanted to assure you that we are not changing our religion.......

Anita & Heidi with Sean, Lily & Zeshan

Our (Un)-Traditional Thanksgiving

I am quickly getting things around here ready for tomorrow......

Getting the china out and the silver polished.... This is my favorite time of year.
I have not felt myself lately and because of that I am cheating just a tiny bit. I store bought a few desserts this year. It is usually my favorite part to make them all. But, even as I think about tomorrow I can't help but get tears in my eyes. I just love Thanksgiving. Maybe it is because I did not have much growing up. My mom always made it special for us. My kids certainly have all they need so I have to try to find ways to make the Holidays extra special for them. I want them to see that there are people less fortunate then they are. They are both very tenderhearted and especially my Sean. Each year we try to do something different or have someone different over. We try to have different family members on alternate years and also a family of a different culture. We always try to have Uncle S. since he is alone.

This year we are having Uncle S. along with a Muslim family. We also have a friend who recently lost his father and is now all alone. Buddy (Thank Goodness) thought of him at the last minute and called him. He had no place to go. So now we have a table full. Just the way I like it!

Perfect setting to get my mind off of myself and onto others and Christ centered where it belongs. I hope you all have a wonderful, safe and happy Thanksgiving with your family, or whoever you choose to spend it with.

Pinkalicious party pictures

Here are the pictures from the party finally. There were so many. I was just going to put them in a slide show instead of posting them but I could not get photobucket up for some reason. So I just did a few collages to minimize the amount of pictures since I really wanted to show them all.

We had so much fun and I am finally recovering. I did some more cleaning today. I was taking some decorations down today and Lily walked in and said in a very matter of fact voice, "WAIT! you are supposed to leave those up there until I go to college. I still have a few more birthdays you know"! Where on earth does she get the things she says from.

Blowing out the candles and cupcake tower

Tables with pink foods, green foods table and sweets table

Pinkalicious.....

Friends

Decorating Cupcakes

Decorations

Games

If the pictures are to small to see in the collages just click on it and it should zoom in.

A few pics of tables and decor out of collage