Christmas at Memaw's House

MAKING the kids take MORE Christmas pictures!!!

NOTICE THAT REAGAN IS ASLEEP IN ALL OF THE PICTURES!!!!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Nice Lunch...WITH kids...

My brother and sister-in-law took us out for a NICE lunch at Brio, which is an Italian restaurant located in a trendy shopping area near our home. Now we take our kids out to eat often and they have been going to restaurants since they were tiny. Keeping that in mind, I had no concerns taking them to a nice place to eat. It was so nice of our guests to treat us to lunch, too! Anyway, we had to wait a while to be seated, no big deal....Reagan let out a couple of her LOUD squeals, not that big of a deal....they had white paper covering the linen table cloths so the kids got to write on that, and it was entertaining for even us adults! The kids did fine during lunch and it was a very YUMMY meal. We even got dessert, at which time Blayne knocked over my FULL drink...no big deal, it all stayed on the table, but those fancy table napkins don't soak up liquids so I had to ask for paper napkins...I pushed Reagan away from the table so that I could clean up the spilled drink. I was not paying attention to where I had placed her high chair...in ARMS reach of the empty table next to us CRASH!!!!! down went a small plate that Reagan had managed to pull from the table. ARGHHH...poor waiter guy had to bring napkins to help me clean up and then sweep the floor. As I turned around, I see that Blayne is drawing so nicely and then I notice that the sweet waiter has removed the white paper and my son is now coloring on the linen table cloth!!!! Whew, at least it was time to go. Then, as I was taking JUST Reagan out with me, John sent the other THREE to catch up with me...RUNNING through the restaurant. As we were walking out, Savannah knocked over a menu display...hmmmm My brother has no children, I wonder what his thoughts are on eating out with kids!!!!

Christmas at Our House

Christmas Parties at THREE Classes in ONE Day!!!

Savannah and Whitney's Piano Recital Pictures

Triple Dentist Visit and a Funeral & Libby is in the Hospital

Yep, that was my day. This morning, I took all three of the big kids to the dentist. The middle two have never been to the dentist!!!! I am an awful mom, I know. I have dental phobia! Seriously, I don't have fond memories of the dentist and I honestly hate going. The kids were awesome. We got a great report of no cavities for anyone and no orthodontics for Savannah. Blayne was nervous, but did great in the dental chair and with x-rays. The room was a triple room, so all three kids were worked on at the same time. The hygienists (two worked on them at a time) were sweet and kept saying they couldn't believe that Blayne and Whitney had never been to the dentist, because of how well they did. They all got new cool toothbrushes, toothpaste and a cool toy each. I got to pay $680!!!!! ouch. I have to remind myself that it is okay...we chose to stay here in at this job with our poor medical benefits! So, I guess we will be saving up for our July visit.

This morning, I got a text page from Gracie telling me that she and Libby were headed to Dallas to he ER. Libby is having breathing issues. Her lips are blue and she slept a lot yesterday. My girls were over there yesterday playing with Camden and Libby and Savannah commented on how much Libby was gagging and how hard she was breathing. I knew that it must have been bad for Savannah to notice. They have Lib on oxygen and they are doing a an echo of her heart. Gracie is just waiting for results. The boys have both been sick in the last week, so she might have some kind of respiratory bug going on. Gracie's last call to me was to tell me that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

This afternoon, I attended the funeral of a woman from my previous church. She was only 38 and died of an aneurysm. She leaves behind a husband and two boys. She worked with my kids in VBS this summer. She worked at a Tuesday Morning that I shop at regularly, and she was always really funny. My two worlds collided today, as the funeral was at my former church, but a lot of the attenders were from my current church. Kind of weird, but it was nice to see everyone.

So, it was a solemn day for me...a day of being grateful for good teeth, hopeful for Libby's quick recovery from illness or whatever is getting her down, and a day of celebrating the life of a sister in Christ.

Christmas Came....and went....

Well, we had a lovely Christmas. We hosted my family this year: my parents, my brother and sister-in-law and we went to visit my grandmother on Christmas Day. We had a nice time. John and I attended the annual Christmas Eve service at church without any kids...how relaxing! Then, we came home and re-grouped and ALL went Christmas caroling. That is an annual tradition for my family. We went to sing at the Packwoods' home first. I think that it was a little emotional (not weeping or anything) for my family to get to see Libby right there looking and smiling at us as we serenaded her family with Christmas cheer! She looks so good. My dad said that he just wanted to go over there and hug her and let the family know that so many people are praying for her...but he felt that it might overwhelm her. She seemed to enjoy the singing and the boys were wound up and excited about Christmas Eve. We exchange gifts and Gracie gave us a platter of YUMMY Christmas treats! We left there and headed to a widow lady's home that we visit every year. She was so pleased to see us as she sat in her walker/chair on her front porch and we sang. We visited some friends that live a couple of streets over and then our neighbors who let us know that they have NEVER had Christmas carolers. It was a sweet time and we enjoyed blessing others in song. We came home and bathed the kids and put them to bed and the family stayed up and played Texas Hold'em while I played SANTA CLAUS. I don't know why I have to get things every year that require assembly! I guess I like to torture myself! We were up past midnight and we really felt it when we were up at 6:15 Christmas morning with the kids!!!! We enjoyed the huge pile of gifts and laughed at the humorous gifts that were given. The kids were entertained the entire day with their loot! We headed to Memaw's house in the afternoon and spent the evening with her. We had a HUGE "Cowboy" lunch (sliced beef HUGE twice baked potatoes, homemade rolls and LOTS of desserts) so the gourmet pizza for supper was not too appetizing! Memaw had purchased an insurmountable amount of licorice...I still can't think of why...and she tried to pawn it off on us. My brother was the only taker...she also had real ginger candy (yuck) to which he accepted as the rest of us turned up our noses. We watched a home movie of Whitney singing in church and Savannah speaking at a school assembly and exchanged gifts with Memaw, sang carols to her (at this point, we had our entire routine down) and headed home. Our tradition is to open our stocking on Christmas night, so we did that when we got home. I love stocking stuffers and try to find unique items to put in there.
FAVORITE GIFTS:
Savannah--Nintendo DS
Whitney--Hannah Montana with stage set
Blayne--Darth Vader voice changer
Reagan--Hot Pink Jogging Stroller for Dolls (or an empty plastic bowl and huge metal spoon)
John and I got some awesome plastic cups that don't sweat and that keep ice frozen for hours....no more fighting over the ONE favorite cup we have!!!

Well, Merry Christmas to you and your family.
More posts soon...

Oh, what we do to get a Christmas Picture!!!!

We had a lovely dinner at my best friend's home last night. She went all out with the delicious 5-Star food and table settings. The kids played great and we really enjoyed ourselves. I needed to get a picture of my kids for a Christmas project I am working on. Reagan was past being done, but I wanted that picture. So, here it is...Reagan is SITTING on my HEAD in the photo...Ahhhh, what a mom will do for a picture!

Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar???

REAGAN STOLE THE COOKIE FROM THE COOKIE JAR....
Once again, never a dull moment around here!!!

Giving Santa a Second Chance!!!

In our old neighborhood, there is a sweet man who is "Santa Dave" every year. We have been doing Christmas pictures with him since Savannah was a toddler. Today was THE day for him to come, so we went to our old neighborhood and mooched on their neighborhood Santa. He is a real sweetheart and was glad to see us....Reagan was not so excited to see him! He buys treats for all of the kids each year. It is one of our family traditions to see Santa Dave, so I squeezed it into our day today!!!

Whitney & Blayne Singing in Church Today

Whitney also sang a duet, but I don't have a YouTube copy of that song. These are not my videos, and when I get the cord that I need to download them to my computer, I will put MY videos on there...yes, I zoom in on MY children and you can watch Blayne pick his nose during the song, and see and hear Whitney make her first debut at this church. But for now, this is what I have for you to enjoy!!!

Savannah Singing in Church

Pay It Forward

Our elementary school had a writing contest for the 3rd and 4th grade. The students were given the prompt "If you were given a thousand dollars, what would you do with it?" Their instruction was that it had to be used for someone else. Savannah's paper was one of the 7 finalists. The resounding theme with the kids was to use it for animals, older people and sick kids. With corporate sponsorship, they were able to make this a reality. The students are buying an assist dog for a handicapped person, they are sending gifts and decorations for the Ronald McDonald house in Ft. Worth and yesterday a group of kids went to local nursing homes and retirement centers and sang, played hand chimes and decorated the rooms with Christmas cards and pictures. They also presented the local nursing home with a new popcorn machine and TV and stand on wheels to take from room to room. The director of the nursing home cried as she accepted the donation offer! Savannah is in the chime choir. I went to watch her perform at all of the places and unknown to me, I was a chaperon!!! So I had a group of 10 girls to keep up with at the performances and Ci-Ci's Pizza...thank goodness my mother-in-law showed up to watch Savannah. I needed her to corral kids with me because I was there to take pictures for the lady in charge!!!! This was entire day and then I had a cookie exchange last night that I had to take TEN dozen cookies to....

She calls me "Bob"

Last year was Reagan's First Christmas, my how time has flown!!!
Now, my little Reagan is a REAL comedian. Her latest "act" is calling me "Bob". It is really funny and she KNOWS it! Today at Target, the cashier said "Did she just call you BOB?" I replied "yes, and I have no idea why!" Reagan just laughed and laughed!!! She was calling in the store to me "Bob....Baaahhhhb....Bob". Now you must understand. She can say "Momma, Mom, Mommy" so it is not like she is TRYING to say mom and it is coming out wrong. She is just being a funny girl. She is really funny doing things like answering "yes" or "no". When I asked "are you ready to go get Blayne from school?" She replies "no". When I said "Do you want to walk?" She replied "yes...thank you". The child has words and she is learning to use them to be FUNNY and get attention when we are in public...I know that it is only the beginning of her being funny at my expense...
Another thing that she thought was REALLY funny happened a couple of weeks ago. My best friend, Michelle, called me from the BEACH in Hawaii. She was on a family vacation for TWO weeks, one WITH kids and one week WITHOUT kids. I was gagging with envy as she was telling me how wonderful things were going! : ) As we talked, Sweet Reagan, awoke from her nap. I continued to talk to Michelle, because it really is sweet when Reagan wakes up, she laughs, and is really sweet and says sweet things. WELL, when I entered the room, I knew that I was in trouble. It seems that Reagan had been busy during her nap. The room reeked of POOP! She had removed her diaper and made a tremendous mess in her bed! When I got these photos developed, the girl asked "what happened to the baby, how did she get that bruise on her face?" I had to tell her that is NOT a bruise!!!! Needless to say, I had to end my conversation with Michelle and let her get back to sunbathing while I scrubbed poop for the next hour! Once again, there is never a dull moment around here!!!!

Libby's Visit to Houston this week

Some of you have asked me, so here is the latest on Libby. She looks so good. I think that it has done her good just to be home! I know that it has been good for Gracie!!!!
Here is the latest...


Libby and I had a good trip to Houston. It was pretty quick, but we got a chance to catch up with the Isenhowers a bit and see their house beautifully decorated for Christmas. Libby said she thought their tree was perfect!!

Yesterday started with an "owie" for Libby as she had to get some blood drawn. She was pretty upset, but we got it over with and I could reassure her that we were all done with "pokies" for the day. She did a FABULOUS job during her echo, xrays, and doctor visits. Her labs looked good and her xray was much better. Her echo showed that her valve is still pretty leaky, which is not a good thing. The hope is that with time and increasing one of her medications the valve will improve. It is a big deal and lays heavy on my heart as we've been told there is "nothing more they can do" surgically to make it better. A valve replacement is not a possibility given her Fontan circulation. So our only option (if it gets worse or causes her severe symptoms) would be a heart transplant, which we've been told would have to be a heart/lung transplant. BUT - as GrandPenny always reminds me - don't let the FEAR of tomorrow rob you of the JOY of today. We are full of joy today. We are home, together, and have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!! We will return to Houston in about 2 weeks for another check up and labs. We hope you are all having a joyful Christmas season, remembering what is truly important in this life.

Love, Gracie

Santa Visit

Well, here is the photo shoot that I promised...also, another couple of things that I failed to mention...Blayne REFUSED to sit on Santa's lap and I had to drag him by one arm up there for the picture...he relaxed a little, but not much. And on an interesting note, the girl that was on the list a couple of names ahead of me was "Jennifer Baldwin"....funny, that was ME before I got married! I thought that was interesting! I told her, and she didn't think the fact that was my maiden name was anything interesting at all....oh, well, I bet if her name was JENNIFER STONECIPHER, she would have fallen over if I told her my name!!!!























I took the kids to see Santa today. There is a local store that sponsors a Santa photo shoot each year and even has a real reindeer most years! (notice I said MOST years!) So, I checked the girls out of school early and we headed to the store for the 3 o'clock photo shoot. We got there a couple of minutes before 3, only to have to sign in on a LIST that was as long as my arm. They told me that it would move "fast"....hmmm, I must have a different definition of "fast". We were there for an HOUR before they took the pictures. At that point Reagan was DONE. She was screaming in the pictures. She was terrified of the old man in the red suit and she almost jumped right out of his arms!!! The pictures will be on-line tomorrow, so I will post some of them. I am planning to try again on the Santa pictures....hopefully I won't have to wait an hour this time! We are going to visit our old neighborhood Santa...we will keep you posted on how THAT goes!

Teacher-Get-Together

Last night I got to go over to my friend Jan's house and celebrate Christmas with my "teacher" friends. You know how you have those different categories of friends? These are ladies that I taught school with over TEN years ago (I am getting sooo old) and some ladies that taught there before me. I often tell people that we get together and solve the world's problems! It is always a real encouragement to see and visit everyone. We are all at different places in live. I guess that I have the youngest child and the oldest children and grown and married! It is a neat group of ladies and last night was the first time in a LONG time that we were ALL there together. We took a group picture and when it gets sent to me, I will send it out. We laughed so hard last night and really enjoyed our time together. One of the highlights is always are Chinese gift exchange. Some people won't dare "steal" from another, but some will TAKE what they want no matter who opened it! It is always a lot of fun. One of my friends said "You can take the teachers out of education, but you can't take educating out of the teachers".

LIBBY IS HOME!!!!!

Libby got to come home yesterday. They arrived last night minutes after I had tied the last balloon and sped away. Libby greeted us this morning at carpool. She was ALL smiles! Here is a copy of Gracie's latest post....


Ahhhhhhh. What can I say?? It is great and honestly strange to be at home. Libby asked about 30 times on the way home where we were going. I kept telling her home, and she said "I don't have to go to the hop-sital anymore? I get to go home? To see who? Daddy? Mason? Camden? Where do they live?" Lots of reassurance there! The closer we got, the greater the joy in my heart. I loved the feeling when I looked at the sights and felt "at home". As I drove onto our street, there were signs and balloons everywhere saying "Welcome Home!" and other things. Sweet Jennifer Stonecipher and my mom did that! I honestly envisioned each of you (some without faces because I do not even know you!) standing on the sides of the street cheering. I truly feel you have walked this journey with us, and today is your victory too. God has had mercy on us and has given us more precious time - with each of our children!!! I pulled up to 2 boys with more welcome home signs, excitedly jumping up and down. There was another sign that all of Mason's class had made with the help of one of the moms who has been a big Libby fan. Camden brought out flowers and told me there were flowers in every room - which there were!!!! Three delivery people arrived almost at the same time with balloons, stuffed animals, more beautiful flowers and an Edible Arrangement. WOW!!! What a welcome home!! When I came in the house, it looked so unfamiliar. I walked into each room, just getting re-oriented. All I can say is it was strange! That quickly passed and we went to look at the house we are building. That was fun! It has changed A LOT in 9 weeks. Libby loved walking around it also. Libby got to swing, which she has wanted to do since we left Keller! We had dinner AS A FAMILY - whining and complaining and all!!! We did the normal too long bedtime routine - I loved it!! Libby fell asleep quickly and easily in her own bed. God is good! Thank you for loving us!! Now I'm going to sleep - IN MY OWN BED!!!!

Love, Gracie

Pneumonia and our Weekend...

Well, I came back late Friday night to find John sick with Pneumonia! He has been coughing for a week and I have been nagging him to go to the doctor and he finally went. Yesterday we did laundry and hung around here. I am trying to get things ready to put my Christmas decorations out. I love the Christmas season!!!! The painters are here RIGHT now prepping the outside of our house to finally paint it! YEAH! I got to take ALL four kids to church today without John. It was a real challenge to pick everyone up after church. I had nursery duty in Reagan's class. I had to almost run to get Blayne and Savannah and Whitney's teacher brought her to me...I was really feeling it that John wasn't there today. Ah, the music was so pretty today. They had the full orchestra and we sang Christmas music. There was a stringed special music piece that was played by people of all ages. It was so good. John had to miss singing a really great choir piece this morning. Well, I am off to be a Homework Nazi! Savannah has a really big project due on Tuesday. I have already been AWANA Nazi today getting the kids to all three polish up their memory verses for tonight!