Fossil Rim

Last Wednesday, Tommy, Anna, and I went to Fossil Rim with my mom, my niece Randi, her daughter Mary, my sister Missy, her husband and son Ben, and my other sister Mandie and her huband and son Carter and daughter Abby. My mom is awesome and paid for us all to go. We had a great time, except when my gas light came on halfway through! It was a miracle that we made it to a gas station without running out of gas! My mom, Randi, and Mary were in my car with my kids. Let me tell you, Randi is superwoman. She somehow changed Tommy in the van while we were driving through Fossil Rim and she killed two bees that made their way into the car. Tommy swatted at one and got stung on the finger, but the bee survived and fell into his shirt. Randi fished it out, and killed it, and hunted down the other bee and calmly grabbed it with a tissue. Of course I was freaking out the whole time, and Anna was cowering in the back under her blanket! Oh, did I mention that she's pregnant, too? Tommy's favorite animal was the zebra, but he didn't like it sticking it's head into the car, and he loved sitting on my lap while I drove and pretending to drive! I felt a little like Brittney Spears, though. Anna was in charge of the animal guide and pointing out the names of the of animals that we saw, and she did a great job! We also went to Dinosaur Valley State Park for a couple of minutes to let the kids check out the huge dinosaur statues! Hopefully we'll get to spend more time there this summer and check out the dino footprints! Thanks for the great day mom!

Pray for Danny!

Hello, everyone! Please pray for Danny! He has a job interview here in McKinney tomorrow morning at 8am. He REALLY wants to be a head band director, but so far he's been passed over for 4 positions. He's getting a little discouraged at this point, and could use all the help he can get!

Introducing....The Amazing Eduard!

I put Eddie in his seat, the one you see behind him, and left the room to put something away. I heard him crying, but he quickly stopped, so I continued what I was doing. I came back and found him just like this!! The only thing that Danny and I can come up with is, he fell out of his seat, although I have NO IDEA how he did it, and was happy with the mess that he found on the floor!

Clorox Clean-Up, I love you!

I love this stuff. Not just in a, I-think-it's-great-it-cleans-my-bathroom way, but in a, I-could-never-live-my-life-without-you way. Danny and I discovered its magical properties one day when we were desperate to get an ugly stain out of the carpet. I had tried EVERYTHING, even the Clorox Bleach Pen, but nothing worked! So, Danny grabbed the Clorox Clean-Up and gave it a try. I was horrified. I thought there would be a large discolored spot on my carpet, but nope, the stain was gone and the carpet looked GREAT. Well, today, Tommy decided to help himself to some Jell-O while I was in the shower. And you can see what happened below. There was Jell-O splattered all accross abot half of the living room!

Tommy was sad because all of his beloved snack was all over the floor, and I was so mad that he had made such a huge mess! I scooped it all up, soaked the carpet with warm water and grabbed my Clorox Clean-Up. It had worked before, but I had never done it on such a large area of carpet, so I was nervous. I sprayed it on, and like magic, the red was GONE! I used my steamer to get the excess water and Clorox out of the carpet, and....
Ta da! The carpet is fabulously clean! Can you believe it? I LOVE this stuff!

Peter Barr

If you remember a few months ago, I posted about Peter and his wonderful family, well Peter's battle with a brain tumor has ended and he died yesterday. I just sat at my computer and cried when I read that journal entry. Although I didn't know Peter well, I know his parents and brothers and they are an amazing family. As I read their journal detailing his final days, I was taken back 8 years to when dad was in a similar situation. I've been thinking about dad a lot lately, and I think it's interesting that they had such similar final days and Peter died only 4 days after the anniversary of dad's death. I know Peter is in a better place and I'm grateful that his earthly sufferings are through, but I grieve for his family and the tremendous loss that they have suffered. Please say a little prayer for the Barr family this week to help them through this difficult time.

Free!

Visit http://designsbymissy.blogspot.com/ for a chance to win a free, customized blog header!

Second Chance

When it snowed on Monday night, the kids only got to play in it for a little while on Tuesday morning before school, and it melted before Anna got home. But yesterday, it started snowing at 3pm and when I got home from teaching there was already an inch of snow on the ground! Tommy and Anna immediately went out to play when Anna got home from school, and they loved being outside while the HUGE flakes were falling! All after school activities were cancelled and Danny was able to come home early! We ate an early dinner and went outside to play in the almost 4 inches of snow! Danny didn't get a chance to play in the snow earlier in the week, so this was a treat for him and for us! It was a lot of fun playing in the snow as a family and building a snowman together and having a snowball fight! Tommy makes a mean snowball, by the way! I am glad for this second chance so that we could enjoy the snow together! Oh, and for you die-hard soccer fans out there, our snow girl (yes, it's a girl, according to Anna who helped design her) is an AC Milan (if you couldn't read the hat and scarf) snow girl with fake flowers for the eyes and beads for buttons. The carrot nose had a hard time staying on!

Lots of Pictures!

Here are the kids on Saturday night playing in the backyard in their summer clothes! They were making sand soup and pretending to eat it. It was getting dark, but they were begging to stay outside!
This is a bad picture of Eddie, I know, but it does show his yucky eye. He had pink eye this weekend but is all better now, thanks to some eye drops from the doctor. Have you ever tried to put eye drops in a wiggly baby? It's really hard!


Ahh...and our backyard this morning. It's amazing what a few days will do!
I took this one late last night. I just love how the flash catches the falling snow!
Tommy actually LOVED the snow today! He wanted to go out at 6am, but he had to wait until the sun came up. The last time it snowed Tommy cried and cried because it was so cold. He didn't want to come in for breakfast this morning, and he's ready go out again! He also had a bad accident yesterday. The sword that he has in his hand was in his mouth yesterday while he was playing, and he fell. I know, scary, right? The sword went to the roof of his mouth and hit the back of his throat. I was freaking out. At first I thought that he couldn't breathe, but then he started screaming. He had A LOT of trouble swallowing, but after he calmed down he seemed to be fine. I checked out his mouth and the roof is pretty bruised and there's a mark on the back of his throat. I am so glad that nothing worse happened!!

Anna's school is delayed this morning, so she doesn't have to go for another hour. She cried when she found out that Tommy doesn't have to go to school. She didn't think that was fair. Tommy won't go to class today because his class usually ends when school is supposed to start! I didn't get to teach today because of the school delay. I could have because Plano didn't have a delay, but I have to take Anna to school, and Ella Mae was afraid to drive this morning. I don't blame her. I'd rather be safe than sorry, so I'll teach on Thursday instead. Right now, though, we're going to go out and play some more in the snow!

Big News!

Okay, it's just big news to me and Danny, you guys may not even care, but we paid off our Honda 20 months early!! That's almost 2 years! It's SO nice to only have one car payment now and we're working really hard to get that paid off early as well. It's really hard to not go out and buy that new couch that we're wanting, but it's a wonderful feeling to have that car debt gone forever!

5 Things

Sigh...Missy tagged me, AGAIN, and now I have to think of 5 random things about myself to share with you guys. Here it goes:
1. I love listening to ESPN radio, especially Mike and Mike in the morning. Don't ask me why, but I think they're funny and informative at the same time! My favorite show so far was the one where they spent about an hour discussing who was more likely to wear deoderant: Brett Favre or Tom Brady. It was hilarious!
2. In middle school and high school, I LOVED politics. I would read all about it in the paper, and I would follow all of the election stuff and thought it was so great. But, now I am almost indifferent to it. I know it's backwards, and I'm trying very hard to get involved and interested again because it is important.
3. I love puzzle games. Give me Dr. Mario, Tetris, Super Bubble Pop, and I'm good. Missy even got me hooked on an online game called Chain Factor. I don't like crossword puzzles, though!
4. I love to work in the yard. I love digging in the dirt, planting new things, and taking out things that I don't like. Since we've moved in this house, I think I've changed the shrubs in the backyard about 3 times. I've pulled about 5 shrubs from the front and I've planted quite a bit more around the house. I think it goes back to my childhood and my love of eating and playing in the dirt. I feel most relaxed when I am in the yard working.
5. I sing all the time to my kids and it drives them nuts! I sing in opera-style, country, rap, you name it and they beg me to stop, but the only way I will is if they tell me to stop by singing it in the style that I'm singing in. They end up laughing hysterically as they try to sing "stop please mommy" in an opera voice. Anna's opera and country are pretty bad, but she's way better at rap than I am! Tommy is just too funny as he tries to sing in any style!

Easier Access

Okay, so I've removed the restrictions from my blog, and hopefully, I won't get anymore wierdo guys commenting on my blog. If I do, I will restrict access again, but I'm hoping that I won't have to!

FOUND

After reading Missy's blog of the week, I decided to copy it and do my own FOUND post. I found this one in Tommy's backpack today when he came home from school. Tommy had inclusion today, but instead of doing it with the Head-Start kids, like his class always does, they did it with a 1st grade class. The first graders were so excited that Tommy knew his alphabet, and he apparently was a big hit with these three girls who wrote this note. They also practiced their reading skills by reading to him. My little boy is already hitting on the older girls! Anna's friends better watch out!

Danny found this one on his pillow the other night. We each have about a hundred notes that are similar to this, so he almost tossed it aside without reading it, but he was glad that he didn't. It's so funny! Oh, and Knock, Knock is a game that Anna made up that is like a twisted version of a knock, knock joke. Very physical with lots of running, screaming, and strange noises.

My life this week

Tommy LOVES Darth Vader and plays Lego Star Wars all the time. The game is great because it has the actual movie soundtrack on it, so Tommy now goes around the house singing the Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme). Danny and I looked in our music library and were shocked when we discovered that we didn't have the Star Wars soundtrack! We quickly went on to itunes and downloaded the Imperial March for Tommy and he listened to it as long as we could stand it! We were awakened to Tommy singing it this morning at 6am!
Here is our new tree (a shumard red oak) that I bought last Saturday after the hail. It's small, I know, but it will soon be very big! The kids loved digging a huge hole in the backyard to plant it in!


And yes, this is my sad mailbox. Well, it's not ALL mine, I share it with my neighbor. As you can see, the brick is deteriorating and flaking off. You can see some the bricks sitting on top that have come off. It's so bad on my neighbor's side that he has no flag! It fell off long ago along. I first noticed this about 2 years ago after a heavy freeze, and contacted Lennar (my homebuilder) about it, but it was no longer under warranty. I thought that we would have to fix it ourselves if it got really bad and the HOA told us to, but I contacted Acme and told them what was happening. They sent a guy out the next week to look at the mailbox, and he came and took some pictures and samples, and said that they would fix it right up! On Tuesday, while I was teaching, a large stack of bricks was delivered, and they now sit on my lawn waiting for the guys to come reconstruct my mailbox. For FREE!

There were 5 in the bed....

...and the little ones said "we're scared!" Yep. At 6:30 this morning, a terrific storm blew in with plenty of rain, thunder, lightning, and hail. After checking the radar to make sure that no tornadoes were on their way, we all jumped into my bed and tried to go back to sleep, but that was almost impossible considering there was nickle, quarter, and an occaisional golf ball sized hail raining upon our house! It sounded like the roof was coming down! Anna and Tommy were really freaked out, but the hail only lasted about 5-10 minutes. We had more than an inch of rain last night, and fortunately, there was no damage. We never got back to sleep, so our day started at 6:30 am. Not ideal for a Saturday, but hopefully we'll get to bed early tonight!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

Stake Conference Sunday

Stake Conference was on Sunday, and for those of you who knew, my choir (McKinney 2nd Ward) was asked to sing during the second session. This was my second time to do this , but there were only about 600 in attendance this time. The first was a year and a half ago with the McKinney 5th Ward choir with more than 1,000 people in attendance. It went really well, except I forgot to tell the choir to stand up for the first song and my pianist had to remind me to do it! I was prompted to sing a fantastic arrangement of "Love at Home" for the closing hymn and I'm so glad I obeyed, because it fit PERFECTLY with what was talked about. I couldn't look up at my choir because I knew I would start crying, and as soon as I cut them off, I looked up and saw tears streaming down some of their faces. I don't know how we got through it! The choir sounded amazing and it was such a great experience for me! I actually got to sit through conference and listen to what the speakers had to say, as opposed to running after my children. It's been a long time since I was able to do that, and I really needed to be spiritually fed. I don't want to sound self-centered or anything, but I think the my choir was asked to sing so that I could have that opportunity to listen without interruption. I was a nervous wreck, but it was so worth it. We went to mom's later that day, so I could have a break from cooking, and see my family and I posted some pictures that she took while we were there.

Have you hugged your kids today?

There is a wonderful family that used to be in my ward, and actually lived a couple of streets away from me. They are amazing people and they have a son with an inoperable brain tumor in his brain stem. They keep an online journal of their experiences and this family never ceases to amaze me with their remarkable strength. Today's journal entry is simply heartbreaking and it makes me SO grateful for what I have. It reminds me a little of what we went through with dad, but the poor kid is only 8 years old. So, read the entry, then go and hug your children. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/peterbarr

Eddie's new teeth!

Eddie has TWO teeth! The first came in about a week and a half ago and the second came in on Saturday. They are on the bottom center. You can sort of see them, if you look closely, in the second picture.

Anna's great new hair

Here are some better pictures of her hair, although it sort of blends in with the dark backgound. I just can't get over how different she looks! I love it!

SHE DID IT!!!!

She actually cut her hair 10 inches! Can you believe it!? I can't. Ginny came over yesterday and when I got Anna from school, I informed her that Ginny was waiting to cut her hair. She freaked out and ran to her room crying, refusing to come out! I finally bribed her out with some chocolates (thanks mom!) and talked her into getting it cut. I did the big 10 inch cut, and Ginny took it from there.
Doesn't she look SO cute? Her hair is super soft and so pretty! She looks SO much like her cousin Laura Catherine!
10 inches of hair that I don't have to brush anymore!
Just a reminder of what what her hair looked like before.

Yep, it's Strep!

Anna came home with a headache and zero appetite yesterday, so I checked her temp and it was more than 101 degrees. Red flags were going up everywhere, but her doctor was already closed. So, I tried the new Minute Clinic at CVS Pharmacy. There was no wait, and the NP was really nice. It was actually CHEAPER than going to my regular pediatrician! We had a diagnosis and prescription in about 45 minutes. Anna stayed home today with abuela and abuelo while I taught, and she did really well. She will be well enough, and germ-free, to go to school tomorrow!

Holy Crap!

On Sunday, Tommy's class talked about Daniel and the lion's den and they got these cute cut-outs that his teacher put in a plastic bag. I didn't even think about them when we got home from church, and they got left on the floor of the van. Well, this morning, since it was so windy, they almost blew out of the car when I took Tommy to school, and Tommy went after them. He caught them and showed them proudly to his teacher. She ooh-ed and ahh-ed over them and asked Tommy if he wanted to bring it to class to share! So, I was thinking, "Oh, crap, some parent is going to get wind of this and Tommy will be suspended and he's not even in kindergarden yet!" I guess I've spent too much time in Plano ISD, but I worried about it all day! I got home, and took out his folder to find this note from his teacher: "It was a blessing to us for Tommy to bring in the cutout of 'Daniels and the lion's den'! We loved hearing him tell us about the Bible story. Thank you!" Whew! I was glad that Tommy didn't get in trouble and that the teacher enjoyed it, but I will definitely be more careful about what is left in the car!

Gordon B. Hinkley

I was so sad last night when my mom called me and told me that Pres. Hinkley had died. I had had a bad day, but suddenly those things that were bothering me seemed so unimportant. President Hinkley will be missed, but he is in a better place, and finally back with his beloved wife.

Great new song!

I've never heard of this band before, but I think this song is pretty cool! It's called "The Last Night" by Skillet. It's a christian band, but they're actually good! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ejeCJpwChc This is the only link I could find to the song.

Semi-Charmed Life

I had a rough night last night. Tommy WOULD NOT sleep in his bed without me and everytime I would leave him, he'd wake right back up and come running to my room. I love the kid, but I'm NOT climbing into bed with him! I was up with him for about 2 1/2 hours! Tommy would scream if Danny tried to help, so I couldn't even use my back-up! Ugh. Danny only had to wake up with Eddie twice. Lucky. I was DEAD tired driving to school this morning, and trying to figure out how I'd make it through the day without caffeine (I'm not allowed to have any!) when one of my all-time favorite songs came on the radio! Semi-Charmed Life was my favorite song when I was a senior in HS and it always makes me smile. It's also not one of those songs that gets played very often! Yeah, I know it's all about doing drugs, but I guess you can say I'm addicted. (Ha! Ha! Don't you love the corny pun?) I was suddenly wide awake and singing like an idiot at the top of my lungs, and it helped make my morning SO much better! Ahh...the power of music!

Bribery

Anna's hair is ridiculously long, and it takes a long time at night to brush out all of the tangles. Sometimes, I don't have time to style it, so it goes up in a bun and no one can tell that it hasn't been brushed in days. It drives me nuts! I have finally resorted to bribery. Anna has way more than the 10 inch requirement for hair donation to Locks of Love, so I told her I would buy her ANYTHING, if I could cut her hair 10 inches. ipod, Barbie Dream House, you name it. And her answer? NO!!! I've considered cutting it while she was asleep, but she would hate me forever. Any ideas to get this chick to have a hair cut?

Movie Review - Hot Rod

Danny and I wanted to catch up on our movies, so during the holiday break, we rented about 8 of them. I'm not sure why we rented this one, but it was THE BIGGEST waste of my time. EVER. It was SO stupid! Yes, I laughed in some parts, but overall, this movie is just plain DUMB. If you haven't seen it, good! A big 2 thumbs down!

The Curse

I went to the doctor today and I was told that I have an elevated resting pulse and my heart is prone to excitability. Something about the adrenaline flow to my heart. He said that because of this, it's easy to get my heart rhythm out of whack. A diet rich in potassium, magnesium, and calcium will help, along with a full 8 hours of sleep. Now, I can change the diet, but the sleep thing will be challenging. I can't have any stimulants, and I have to watch what kind of over the counter meds I take because they will raise my BP along with my heart rate. I will have an echocardiogram (sp?) on Friday morning to rule out anything physical problems with my heart and make sure that there's proper blood flow, but he said it should be fine. So, my condition is not serious. Thank goodness! If the echocardiogram is normal, then I have the option of taking a Beta Blocker to help slow down my heart and return it to normal rhythm. I'll just have to play it by ear and see how I feel. Now, I was named after my aunt Virginia Marie, who died at the age of 35 of a heart attack (this is where the curse comes in). My sister, Ginny, was named after her as well. She named her daughter Caroline Marie to carry on the tradition and now all 3 of us have some type of heart issues! So, I can blame this all on my mother for naming me what she did! :) Now, I have another niece who has Marie in her name, and that's Anna's middle name as well! I'll be interested to see if they develop any heart problems! Knock on wood!

So Sad...

Yes, I'm sure everyone knows by now that our beloved Cowboys lost yesterday. I just had a feeling that it would happen, but I was still hoping that in the final seconds, SOMEONE would catch that ball, other than a Giants player! Sadly, the Cowboys have not broken THE CURSE. Which Dallas team will? The Stars, Mavericks, or FC Dallas? Maybe all 3? What are your predictions for the rest of the year?

Eddie's check-up

Eddie had his 4-month check-up on Friday, and for those of you that care, he was in the 50% for weight and 75% for height. Maybe he'll actually be tall! He was 25 and 3/4 inches long and 14 pounds 12 ounces. He's getting so big! Well, you know, in a little baby sense.

My 5.5 hours in the hospital

I posted this on the family blog, but some of you don't check that one, so I'm posting it here to cover all my bases. Yesterday, everything was going fine until I was feeding Eddie on the couch. I was doing nothing strenuous and I was watching cartoons with Tommy when I started to feel dizzy and realized that my heart had begun to race. I quickly put Eddie to bed and began trying to get my heart rate to go down by doing deep breathing and relaxation techniques but NOTHING helped. My heart would race, then slow down and skip a beat or two, then begin to race again. I realized that something was really wrong, so I hopped into the shower and quickly got ready to go. I drove to the hospital with Eddie and Tommy and called Danny when I got there. He quickly left school (it was 1:45) and came and got the kids. When I was called into triage my heart rate was still elevated and my BP was way high. 3 hours later I was able to get a bed in the ER and they did lots of blood work, an EKG, chest X-Ray and had me hooked up to a heart monitor. My blood work was great, my chest X-Ray was perfect, my heart rate had stabilized and my BP was great, but my EKG showed a suspicious dip that shouldn't be there. They were able to rule out A-fib, but they couldn't diagnose the problem in the ER so I am being sent to a Cardiologist. I will see him at the beginning of next week, and most likely I will be put on a 24-hour heart monitor to try to catch what's going on. My heart has occasionally skipped a beat, but it was nothing regular until after I had Eddie, and it got more persistent. Stress and lack of a good night's rest have probably not helped me at all. I will keep everyone posted on my condition, and let you know as soon as there's a diagnosis.

Trying to love my neighbors

Our HOA Pres. last year was BAD. I really don't like this woman and was SO excited when she decided to not run for the board again. She didn't support the Community Crime Watch at all, and refused to be of any help at all to us. Thank goodness the rest of the Board was able to over rule her! She was way more interested in helping out her own causes than actually helping the community. She was also the Social Committee chairperson and I, along with a couple of other people in our community, worked hard to get her ousted from the position last year. I enjoy being a part of the Crime Watch Committee and we've done a lot of good things for the neighborhood, but I just found out that this woman has been made a Zone Captain! Which means we'll be working together on something she didn't want to support! I don't want to resign as a Zone Captain, but just the thought of serving with her gives me the heebie-jeebies! I know we must love our neighbors, but she makes it SO hard! Also, when Mr. Peepy and/or his wife are out the same time I am, I have a hard time smiling or waving back at them! I know his wife didn't do anything wrong, but I still struggle with being friendly towards them. Now, I'm not outright rude or anything, but I'm not as friendly towards them as they are sometimes to us. I shouldn't judge these people, and I know I will need to work on being kinder and more tolerant to those who drive me nuts. I'll be working hard on that this year, that's for sure!

Change is no fun when you're 3!

Our ward changed times from 8:30am to 2pm yesterday and the jury's still out about if it's good or bad. Tommy "graduated" from nursery yesterday and I was so happy for him as he waved goodbye to me on his way to the Primary room. I was thinking, "Wow! What a big boy! He's in Primary now!" when he came running back and wanted me to sit with him. Well, this just happened to be the week that the Bishop came in and did sharing time and brought his huge fishing spear that he was given on a trip to the Amazon. Tommy was fascinated with it, and wanted so badly to touch it (and probably spear someone with it)! It was torture for him, and I finally had to take him out and bring him back to nursery. On his way out, he hit his mouth on a chair and cut his lip, so he screamed his way back to nursery. Poor guy. He was also tired and a bit confused why we were going to church so late. He spent about 30 minutes in nursery before I sent him to his Sunbeam classroom. He wanted me to stay with him, but I had to leave him, and he was fine after a while. He's been really clingy lately and has been really needy. I'm not sure what's going on, and, of course, he threw a fit about going to school this morning, and I had to bribe him to put his pants on! (Which was no small feat!) Hopefully we'll get back into our routine quickly, so Tommy can have the structure he needs!

Nursery prompting

I was in nursery helping out a couple of weeks ago, and while I was there, I noticed how germy the room was! It was really gross, and I had the urge to get out of there as quickly as possible and scrub my hands with some surgical strength soap! So, I decided that I would buy some Lysol disinfecting wipes and donate them to the nursery. I kept on forgetting about it, but while I was at Wal-Mart one day last week, I found myself in that isle and something told me that I had to buy them. I dropped them off in the nursery on Sunday with Tommy and went to Primary to sub as the music leader (which was an eye-opener!). The Primary Pres came to me during the break and informed me that a little girl just threw up in nursery, and Tommy was exposed to her. Yuck. I went to the nursery and there were the nursery workers with my wipes disinfecting the room and all the toys! I am so grateful for the promptings that I followed!

Tommy firefighter

This is a picture of Tommy and the boys in his PPCD class dressed as firefighters. I think it's a really cute picture!

Anna's new camera

Anna got a cheap digital camera for Christmas to "practice" on until she's old enough to have a good one. Here are some of the first pictures that she took. Not bad for her first time. It doesn't have a flash, so that's why some pictures look dark. It's not great, but she doesn't care! She loves the camera, mainly because it's pink, but also because she gets to do whatever she wants with it!

Ouch!

I went to the doctor yesterday, and while I was there, she looked at my chart and informed me that I was way over due for a tetnus booster. I got it about 24 hours ago and it's still really sore! I now have a new appreciation for my children who get 2-3 of these shots at a time! No wonder they scream at the sight of a needle!

Yeesh.....

Good grief! I'm sorry I didn't take pictures at my party! I really didn't even think about it! The cookies were eaten shortly after they were decorated anyways, so it would have been difficult to get a shot of them! So, here's some pictures of Eddie to hopefully appease Gabby and Missy. I haven't been able to catch him in a good smile, yet, but don't you just love the fat lip? Danny was playing his trombone at the time, and Eddie wasn't too thrilled, obviously. I'll take some picture of my Christmas decorations, but Missy, I think you need to come over and see them yourself!

Cookie Party!

I'm a shy person, so I don't normally invite people over to my house or step out of my comfort zone. But, wards have changed, and I don't know very many people in my current ward, and we've been in it for about 6 months! So, I invited EVERY sister in my ward to a cookie party this morning. I knew that not all of them would come, and I was pleasantly suprised by the number of people who did RSVP! Unfortunately, half of them had sick kids so they couldn't come. I still had a good turn out, though! Tommy was a little weirded out by all the people when he got home from school, and was happy to see them leave! Why? So he could run to the kitchen and eat all the sprinkles!

Concern

Should I be concerned if Anna's 1st Grade teacher sends out an e-mail that says: "where your tennis shoes on Thursday"?

Good News!

Today is my birthday!

Anna was the Student of the Month for the month of November! For some, that's not a big deal, but for us it is! She struggled at the beginning of Kindergarden, and we were afraid that she would not catch up to her peers, but she has!

My only high school student, Veronica from Plano East HS, came in 2nd in the Region and she's going on to Area! Plano's East cluster has the best Euphoniums in the Region and they made up much of the top 10, so her competition was fierce! Way to go, Veronica!

Let's Go Mavs!

Danny and I went to the Mavs game last night and had a lot of fun! The last Mavs game we went to was at Reunion, so it was fun comparing the differences between the 2 venues. The seats weren't that great, but we could still see pretty well. The Mavs won, of course, but we got a little nervous there at the end when they gave up their 20-point lead! For those of you who are wondering, the drumline had only 6 guys on it. 2 snares, 2 tenors, and 4 bases that were played by only 2 guys. It looked like Brandon was the leader, Dodge was the other snare, and, from what we could see, there was no LJ. Yeah!