Easter, Finally

Granny came to have Easter lunch with us. Connor wanted to help with the unwrapping of a gift.
Isn't that sweet! Look quick it doesn't happen often.
I loved this one. Connor's favorite thing to do is look for the quack, quacks in the creek behind Mimi and Papa's house. They were all three looking and I asked them to look at me. Notice all three of my kids looked at their mom when she called!

I actually got some pretty good pictures this Easter. We are really enjoying our little compact camara. It takes nice pics.

Yea Pictures Again!

My sweet friend, Traci, will be happy to know that I have finally gotten my software loaded on our new computer and can post pictures again. This is the first of many!

Sweet Connor decided to dump his crib and sleep in his Big Boy Bed! He and Jack have bunk beds and we decided for the time being that we would leave both on the ground. A great idea since Connor spent the first month in Jack's bed with him as soon as the lights were out!

A Quick Catch up

Since my last blog we have finished Sunshine School, VBS is in full swing, several family birthdays, and lots of end of school fun at the big kiddos school. Oh, and Greg started his new job.

Sunshine School ended with the final program and open house. Connor didn't have to go but I did because all the kids sang some Spanish songs I taught them. Connor had a great year at school this year. He made some really good friends and loves to talk about Tedi and Mason. He will definitely miss his Mrs. Leslie. He really loved his teacher. It was Mrs. Leslie's last year so our class gave her a really pretty bracelet for her end of year gift.

VBS planning is going full force! Since I am in charge of supplies I have actually been shopping a ton lately. Connor is a trooper when we go out to Wal-Mart or Party City and the basket is so full you can't even see Connor anymore! The theme is Outrigger Island (Hawaiian theme) and the kids are so excited to see it all come together. We all sing the songs in the car.

We have attended several birthday parties. First, Garrison turned 7 and we celebrated at Planet Pizza. Then, we went to dinner for Aunt Nicole and Papa's birthdays. The next birthday is Aunt Tamara's and then my big boy turns 8!

I have been very busy at the older kiddos school lately. We have had a field trip to the zoo and conferences and Popcorn Friday, picnic on the lawn and talent show and PTA. Next year I am the First Vice- Pres. on the PTA board. I will be in charge of all luncheons and teacher treats and Teacher Appreciation week. I am so excited and already have several ideas for surprises for the teachers. I love going to their school and helping out. Both kids teachers are just amazing. Greg and I feel so blessed to have had them in our kids lives. They are both kind, Christian young women and have been a very positive influence on our kids. We all will miss Mrs. Lehner and Ms. Bradley when school is out.

Greg started a new job last week and it is going well. He was in Weatherford for two weeks for training. After having him around for nearly 3 months taking the kids to school or running to the store for me or letting me run errands by myself it is a big adjustment not having him around.

More to come...

Neigh, Neigh

Connor has named all animals by the sound they make. Lions are Roars, dogs are Woof, Woof, ducks are quack, quacks and so on...
Our favorite and Connor's is neigh, neigh for horses. He loves to feed the horses at Memaw's farm and runs to her fridge all day and begs for her to get carrots for the neigh, neighs. For his birthday we gave him a big stuffed brown pony. He was so excited when he saw it and screamed neigh, neigh. When Greg and I asked him what he would like to name it he screamed, Hee Haw!
So we now have a Neigh, Neigh named Hee Haw at our house!

Quick Catch up!

Wow! Where did March go???
I have so much to catch up on and no time to do it. So, here is a really quick catch up of the last month and a half.

Greg- His boss decided to close the Dallas stores (while Connor was in the hospital!) and didn't tell Greg until he tried to go to work one morning and the doors were locked! So, with no more stores in Dallas that means no stores for Greg to manage. He is in the process of looking and interviewing. It does mean lots of "honey do" things are getting done! We also found out Greg's disease is in remission and he was cleared by his pulmonologist to only come in if symptoms reappear. That was great news! Greg had a birthday yesterday and we went to eat barbecue, daddy's favorite.
Me- Sick, sick and more sick! I haven't been well since the hospital in January. Finally after another ER visit they told me to go see a Pulmonologist (we already knew a good one!). As I told the Doctor, I can go, go, go even sick but with this whatever it is, it knocks me down hard. I end up in bed for days. The Pulmonologist listened to my lungs and the look on his face scared me! He sent me to have a CT Scan the next day because he thought he heard something in my lower left lung. He told us he needed to rule out Blood clots because it sounded like them and they were very serious. He said if that was what they found he would put me in the hospital immediately and start blood thinners. The CT went well and the tech who ran it made me feel better because I was a nervous wreck! We didn't get the results until Monday around 6 and they saw no blood clots but some infiltrations, which means the infection from January is not going away. I am now on long term anti-biotics and hopefully that will get rid of it.
Jack- Playing soccer and baseball and loving it! He is such an active energetic boy. I can't believe it but my sweet first born is almost 8! He is a BIG mommy's boy. He constantly tells me how pretty I am and how much he loves me. He is doing great in 2nd grade. His teacher is wonderful and loves Jack. Who doesn't? He has such a warm, friendly personality. He has also become a super big brother to Connor. He lets Connor crawl into bed with him at night to help him go to sleep and lets Connor play with him all the time. It is fun to see the boys playing dinosaurs and pretending together.
Bailey- Sweet Bailey! She is excelling in Kindergarten. Her teacher came to her soccer game last Saturday and was bragging on Bailey. She is reading on a 2nd grade level! She is writing so well and not just sentences but stories! I let the ball drop on the second child because I don't really ever work with her like I did with Jack, but she doesn't need my help! Her hair has finally grown out and is rather long. She won't wear bows anymore but I can get her into a headband with a bow on it. She has scored goals in her last two soccer games! She is the one who has had the hardest time with me being sick. She really gets upset when I am sick and worries about me constantly.
Connor- He turned 2!!! I will blog about that milestone when my computer it fixed. Right now I am on Jack's computer because mine is not working. So, no pictures and I have to put pictures of Connor on his big day! He is in a big boy bed now and is the hardest of the three to get to sleep in the big bed. The boys have bunk beds and we left them both on the ground for now because Connor crawls into Jack's bed every night. We have babied Connor more than the other two because of his illness and now we are paying for it! He is talking like crazy all of a sudden. Our favorite saying is when he tell us, "Chill out mommy!" "Chill out daddy!" At his check up he was two inches taller than Jack was at this age. The Doctor thinks he is going to be about 6 foot 4! Daddy's size. His and Jack's personalities are very similar. I will have my hands full with these two boys!

I'll blog later about Connor's birthday!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My...

The kids had a day off from school today so we decided to spend some of it at the zoo. They were so awesome and Connor even stayed with us out of his stroller! I really enjoy going places with my three kids, especially when they act so great. They have always loved the zoo and other museums that we regularly visit. We took a break at the tiger exhibit to have a quick snack.
What cute kids!
The meerkats were so cute! One was even posing on top of the rocks for us. When we turned to leave they would run up to the glass and look at us like where are you going? We named this one Timon.

Inside the reptile house these geckos were stuck to the glass. It was really funny looking. Jack couldn't stop laughing.
Here they are riding the tortoise.

This is our favorite spot! Right in front of the lion cage. Or, as Connor says, Roar!

What a fun day we had at the zoo. It is always nice for the kids to have a day off from school and spend it outside together.

Connor's Boo Boo

We took Connor to the Oncologist for his blood work yesterday and his neutrophil counts are exactly the same as two weeks before. We are going to continue to watch him for the next month and do another CBC in a few weeks and then reevaluate to see if we need to start the shots then. Before we went I asked Connor if he wanted to go see Dr. Goldman. He held his finger up and said, "I get Boo Boo" He was right, he gets the finger he held up poked to do the simple version of his CBC. This little boy doesn't let the needles or all the Doctors or medicines or IV's or nurses taking vitals bother him! He constantly amazes me. When we got the the Doctor's office and CiCi came into take his blood I said for Connor to show her his boo boo and he grabbed Greg's finger and tried to give it to her! OK, so maybe he is tired of getting poked! He decided Daddy needed to take this one.

Love and what?

Greg and I are attending the Love and Logic class at church once a month on Sunday afternoon. We missed the first class because I was still sick. Last Sunday was the second class and although Greg wasn't feeling very well we went anyway. We chose the older class because we have 2 kids in that category and only Connor in the baby to 6 age group. I think after the first two, or at least I hope, that I can handle whatever Connor has in store for us. So, we are attending the 7-12 year old class. A lot of our time last Sunday was spent talking about letting them make mistakes now while they are not so big and not letting them get to the teenage years to make bigger mistakes. As hard as it is if we let them learn, even painful lessons now, it will help them not to make really painful mistakes later in life.
So, I tried it with my 22 month old yesterday! He has been carrying around a balloon from Valentines for days and when it was time to leave the house yesterday to run an errand he wanted to bring it. In my head I thought this is perfect for teaching one of those little painful lessons. I said, "Connor, it is going to be so... sad when that balloon flies away or pops on you!" He says, "No, pop" "Baaooon Mommy!" So of course I say ok, you can bring it but I will be sad when you lose it. He held onto that balloon for dear life and that stinking balloon is back in our house as I type! I have the Love part down, but the Logic part is evading me for now!

Happy Valentines!

Valentine's Day is such fun around here! A few days before Valentine's Day we headed to North Park Mall to see Marc Robbins Photography to have pictures done with his cute dalmation dog! The kids did great, enjoyed playing with the puppy and mommy had a hard time picking pictures. After a great time with the puppy we got cookies and a coke and headed home to meet daddy for some "secret shopping". After dinner mommy, Jack and Bailey went to Target to do some secret shopping for daddy. We started this tradition last year of getting a fun dinner together and finding daddy a little gift and making our table look "love"ly.
Valentine's Eve mommy and daddy spent the evening knee deep in brownies, truffles, and chocolate covered strawberries! I was planning Connor's and Bailey's parties and had lots of yummies to make. Thanks daddy for all the loving help! We finished up around 10:30 and I got all the teachers gifts packaged up and pretty bows in place and fell into bed. (Oh, I had been sick again!! this week so standing on my feet all day cooking was really tough)
Valentine's Day morning was spent eating our pink heart shaped donuts that have become a tradition also! Then we gave the kids their Valentine gifts. Daddy had gotten Bailey her first James Avery ring. She loved it! He also surprised mommy with a new ring too! Jack and Connor got new movies. After that the older two headed to school with bags of goodies for teachers that they love so much and cards for friends. Then Connor and mommy headed to Sunshine School to party with the babies. Connor really enjoys school and had a great time at his party with all his friends. We are so blessed to have Mrs. Leslie for a teacher this year. She has

taken such good care of my youngest child.
That afternoon Greg came and picked me up and we went to get the balloons for Bailey's party. I am the room mom and was so greatful to daddy for helping me carry 18 balloons into a school with the horrible wind that was ripping through the area. A room full of Kindergarteners ate
heart shaped and decorated brownies, grapes, pretzels and valentine fruit snacks. They also drank Sprite with cherries in it. After I read them two stories they sang me their Alpha Friends songs and we packed up to go home!
That evening we finished a busy day with a nice relaxing "love" dinner. I think daddy enjoyed his dinner and his gift from the kids.
Valentines--check---on to Easter!

My Two Big Kids!

Sometimes the older two kids feel a little left out because of all the time and attention we spend on Connor. Don't get me wrong, we wouldn't spend less time on Connor, but we completely understand why they feel neglected.
So, today my whole blog is about Jack and Bailey and what they have been up to lately!

Jack has been bunking in with his little sis for a while now. In fact, since the last hospital visit! Connor was sleeping in so late and Jack has to get up for school so we have been letting the older kids sleep together so they don't wake him up. They really do like to sleep together for some reason and you can see what they end up sleeping like! They are both crazy sleepers! We are going to bite the bullet soon and put Jack back in his bed.
What has Jack been up to? As you can see the sport of the season is Basketball. He loves it and is really good at it. His Daddy is the coach and his Uncle Sean is the Asst. Coach. Garrison is also on his team. They are having fun playing a sport together.

At school, Jack has adjusted really well. He loves his teacher and his friends. Of course, Jack has never met someone who wasn't his friend! His P.E. teacher came to his first game and that made his day. He has gotten 3 report cards now and all 3 have been perfect! I am still waiting on Jack to get a not so perfect report card. He is extremely smart, but homework is not his favorite thing and he and mommy have been having war over it lately! The really sad thing is he makes 100's without studying. That makes it even harder to get him to do it. He still enjoys reading and is reading really hard chapter books, but he would much rather be outside playing or playing his game system.

He lost a few more teeth this winter and the new ones are coming in. They look so big! He is still a big flirt and has lots of "girlfriends" at school. He won his science fair and gets picked for lots of fun things at school. Soccer started last week and should be fun to watch.

Jack also had a small growth spurt over the holidays and all his pants are now too short. It is hard to find pants now, everyone is putting out shorts already. It was time for him to grow. He is almost 8 and still wearing 5's and 6's!!!

What has Bailey been up to? Growing, learning, helping, worrying...

Bailey loves school. She loves her teacher. She is such smart little girl, she scares me she is so smart.

Bailey was referred to the gifted program at school and finished up the testing last week. Her first Kindergarten conference was last week and she got perfect marks. Her teacher couldn't say enough nice things about her and said she was the most helpful child ever. She is always willing to help her classmates or comfort them if they are sad. She actually knew enough words at the beginning of the year to be in first grade. Thank you Sunshine School! At the middle of the year she knew enough to be leaving first grade! Thank you Mrs. Lehner. She was also on the school announcements last Thursday. Her teacher picked her to tell about the 100th day of school.

Bailey is not playing a sport this winter, but she is playing soccer this spring and it is about to start. She is also going to get back into tennis later this spring. She has a knack for tennis.

She has 3 loose teeth right now and if she loses them all won't have any front teeth.

Her hair has finally grown out and we can pull it up and it stays up! She loves makeup. (a problem for her mommy) She also loves to have her nails done. That is the treat she always picks for being good at school.

She has also grown over the last few months. She is getting so tall and long legged. She is turning into a really pretty young girl.

I was so glad when I found out I was having a boy first. I always wanted a boy first. So, good, I got it. Then when Jack was 7 months and I found out I was pregnant again I was really scared. I was going to have two babies. I thought in my head having another boy would be so much easier. But, my heart was so happy when the doctor told me it was a girl. I have my friend, and person to go and spend time with mommy where we can leave all the boys behind and have girl time. Last night Bailey and mommy went and spent time just us. We did a little Spring clothes shopping and had milkshakes and enjoyed each other with NO BOYS!!!

I love you Jack and Bailey!

Connor's Doctor Visit

We took Connor into the Oncologist Thursday to pull blood and do another CBC. He has gotten so used to this routine that he actually puts out his arm for the nurse to poke him. Last week after the Bone Marrow Biopsy his blood work was the highest it has been in 6 months. The Doctor and I actually talked about how he might be already outgrowing his Neutropenia. We also knew there was a chance his steroids he had been on during and after the last hospital stay could have been the reason his numbers were up. Unfortunately it looks like the steroids are the reason for the high numbers last week. This week his numbers had dropped, not as low as early December, but still significantly lower. The Doctor felt like we need to watch them for a few more weeks before we start the shots to boost his white blood cells. So, we go back in in two weeks for another CBC. If the numbers are holding we will do the same thing again. Wait. If they have continued to drop and are back where they were in early December then we would begin the shots immediately. To say I am disappointed is an understatment. I had actually begun to believe that maybe he was already outgrowing it. I need to stay focused on all the good news we did get. I need to remember how truly blessed we are. The good news is all the really bad stuff has been ruled out. A big blessing. Now, we just have to focus on getting his neutrophil percentage up and helping him fight off all these horrible illnesses that we have been dealing with. Staying out of the hospital is my main goal for the time being.

The Big Dig!

Jackson's Second Grade was required to do a Science Fair Project this year for a grade and to possibly enter the contest. Well, way back in early December it didn't sound to hard to do. Then all our hospital stays happened and it was time to start the project we had picked out. So, mommy couldn't help very much because when he started it I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed. Daddy did a good job of helping him even though he was really busy at work. We finished it up last weekend by digging up his cups and checking for decomposition and having Jack type up all his results. Pretty much took all day Saturday. Sunday night around 10 mommy finished taping all his work onto the project board.
Monday morning we turned it in! YEA!!
Thursday I went up to school to stuff Thursday folders and happened to see the projects that were picked to enter the contest in the hall. Yes, Jack's got picked to enter. His teacher said he was one of the few who could really explain his project and understood what he did and what happened to the cups.
Mimi picked Jack and Bailey up from school because Connor had a Doctor visit (another blog). When he hit the door he was yelling, "I Won!"
Yes, Jack's project that was so... hard for us to get done, did indeed win. He won 3rd for the whole school and 1st for the Environmental Science Fair in the whole school!
Now, his project goes on to the District Science Fair. He is so excited. I forgot my camera last night at Open House. His project was displayed with all the other winners in the gym. I'll get a pic when he finally gets to bring it home.
Jack we are all so proud of you!

All About Connor...

Finally the day had come for our baby Connor's Bone Marrow Biopsy. I have to say I have dreaded this day for a long time now. The whole idea of what was to happen to him scared me but even more I think I was terrified of what they might find. I don't think Greg or I slept at all the night before. We arrived at the hospital in plenty of time to sit and wait and wait because the anesthesiologist was running late. Sitting around in an oncologist office is so very depressing. Connor enjoyed playing in the really nice playroom but watching the kids that come through for their chemo or radiation was the saddest and most terrifying thing I have ever been through. At the same time it made me feel blessed. We know we can get through anything because we have each other and our family and friends. Connor played with a really nice little 4 year old who was there for his chemo treatment. As he went back for his treatment his mother who had asked what Connor's diagnosis was told us Good luck, we are praying for you! Wow, her sweet little boy who had no hair left and was rather skinny but had the cutest smile was going into a treatment that is so hard on him and she was wishing us well.
Finally, it was Connor's turn for surgery. The doctor and the anesthesiologist and the nurse came out to walk us back. We got to take him to the operating room and kiss him good-bye and then the nurse took him so they could hook his IV up. All the way down the hall I could hear my baby calling for mommy. Talk about breaking my heart. So, of course, all the way down the hall mommy cried and Daddy kept telling me it would be ok.
Not too long after the doctor was back out in the waiting room telling me to come with him and that it went really well. As I entered the room I could hear my Connor snoring! Really loud snoring! Boy, was he getting a good nap. I sat down by him and held his hand until he started to wake up. Then the nurse started trying to dress him because he was getting cold and he got really upset. He kept trying to sit up and started crying. He was so confused and sleepy. I am so relieved that the biopsy is over and the good news is the doctor called us a few hours later and said he had looked at a stain of marrow under the scope for about 30 minutes and he thought the marrow looked great! He was sure he saw no abnormalities or luekemia! That was a big prayer answered. He also said his white cell count numbers were higher than they have ever been! Another answered prayer! Next week we will recheck his blood and then he felt sure we could start the special shots that will help him produce more white blood cells to protect him. We still have to wait for the official report from UTSW but the doctor felt really good about what he saw.
I know in my heart that all the many, many prayers that went up on Connor's behalf had everything to do with the positive results we have gotten so far.
Are we out of the woods yet? NO, but we sure feel like we are headed down the right path now.

A few days ago we couldn't find Connor anywhere. Greg found him in our bed, with my reading glasses on, pretending to read my book! Is he a teachers kid or what!!!

Too Scary for Words

When I start this blog I have to start by saying what a trooper my little boy is! I know I tend to overstate how good he is but really I'm not. He amazes us with his attitude and his calmness. This awful disease my sweet Connor has is so scary to me because of how quickly it comes on and how fast he is completely taken over by whatever it manifests itself into that particular time. This last time was two days after Christmas and only a few days to our all important Bone Marrow Biopsy for him. I began to notice Friday afternoon some of the "signs" we see as he is getting another illness. He had a sore on his cheek and was not eating well that day and sleeping too much. That was Friday afternoon! Saturday morning he woke up and it was like he couldn't catch his breath and he was coughing and running a fever. I told Greg the night before I thought we might be headed to the doctor the next morning but we were running to the doctor. Our regular doctor told us it appeared to be Pneumonia but they thought we should go straight to the ER and get him admitted! She also said,"Don't go by home and pack anything, go straight there." A little frightening. After we got there the admitting nurse happened to be a good friend of ours from Jack's soccer and football team and that made me feel more at ease. She took such good care of us. After only a few minutes in the ER they told us we were definitely staying and they would work on admitting us. They hooked all the IV's and other monitors up and we sat and sat and sat. For a while they said his chest X-Ray looks OK, and so we think it could be asthma. We don't know where that would have come from. Then they would come back and say it was probably some type of viral lung thing and then it was a bacterial lung thing. We were very confused and scared because he appeared to be getting worse. Finally, late that evening after being there since 10 that morning we got to a room. Don't get too comfortable! The nurse couldn't figure out why we were in the isolation ward with lots of RSV kids if Connor had neutropenia. So, an hour later we got moved to a new room about 1/3 the size of the first room. These first two pictures are of Connor the first night. He couldn't sleep and layed out on his back against one of us all night. He cried, but not a loud cry, a scared little whine cry all night. It broke my heart. There was no bed so Greg and I traded off sleeping on the floor. Everyone keeps asking us why we both stayed and one didn't go home and rest. Honestly, because we were scared and he was really looking bad that first night. Neither of us wanted to leave him.

Around 5 a nurse came in and I told her I really thought his breathing was worse and he was grasping for air. She listened and said she would get his other nurse to check him. About an hour later he came in listened for maybe two seconds and said he thought he sounded OK. It happened to be the 20 minutes or so he had fallen asleep on Greg and Greg was also out. So, I sat for a few more minutes and got really upset. I woke Greg up and told him what happened and that I really thought we needed someone to listen to him. I guess about then was a shift change because the new two nurses came in and as soon as they hit the inside of the door they were asking if he had sounded like that for long! I was so relieved to have someone doing something other than just taking his vitals. They immediately got the doctor who in turn called the respiratory therapist and that room got hopping. Come to find out there had been a mix up between the ER and our new room and the breathing treatments he was receiving in the ER were not continued in our room all night long! It honestly could have been a really horrible mistake. So, we started with a 4 hour breathing treatment and then every 4 hours another one. Just after the first long one we could tell a difference. They got him started on tons of antibiotics and steroids to help his lungs recover.

This is Connor the second day. Already feeling better but couldn't go home because his breathing still wasn't under control. "Pops" as he calls them were the only thing we could get him to eat, but boy would he eat a ton of them. So, we kept giving them to him. Red, purple, orange any color he wanted.You can see almost as much down the front of his gowns as in his mouth.

We snuck Jack and Bailey into see him on the second day, they were really worried about him.

Finally, New Years Eve we got to take him home that afternoon. The other two kids were at Gretchen's so after we got Connor settled and into bed for the night, Greg and I went to sleep around 9! Happy New Year!!!

Where are we in the process of Connor's illness...

We had to put off the Bone Marrow Biopsy until the steroids are out of his system, because it would skew all the tests and give false amounts of white blood cells. We were going to call last week and reschedule it but then mommy got to go to the hospital too! It seems that while I was nursing my baby I caught something in the hospital and I am now home after 4 days in the hospital recovering from a bacterial infection in my lungs too.

Our prayer now is to keep Connor well long enough to do the biopsy and get him started on the right treatment to kick this disease!

Our Last Stop for Christmas 2007

Our last Christmas event was Christmas with Memaw and G-Dad in Sulphur Springs. We got there in the early afternoon and not too long after, Ok only a few minutes after, the kids started asking to open presents! We were so blessed this year we all got so many of the things we asked for and also so many surprises too. Greg and the kids stayed the night and I headed back with Sean that night because my sister and I planned out a fun day of after Christmas shopping! Yes, I hate crowds but I absolutely love shopping the day after Christmas and so does my sister. We make a pretty good team. We were actually at Target by 7 the next morning in the rain! Dedication. I really did pick up some great things for next year and then just had to buy a new tub to put all the new things in.

We were truly a lucky, blessed family this season! We enjoyed spending time together and continuing some fun family traditions. We also enjoyed starting a few new ones!

Cue the ominous music now...

Here is where it all goes down fast...

Our Granny

Christmas morning after playing with all our goodies for a while we headed out to Mimi's and Papa's for a quick visit with our Granny. We had a few surprises for her and she had her surprises for us. Connor didn't stay still very long, but the other two enjoyed seeing her and helping her open her presents from us.

After our visit, which was way too short, we headed out to celebrate Christmas in Sulphur Springs next!

And Finally Christmas Morning...

I know it has been weeks since Christmas, but I do have a really good excuse for not blogging sooner! More to come on that later.
Christmas morning around here is so fun. The kids actually slept until after 7 and then came into our room to get us up. Greg always goes to check and see if Santa really came and then we let the mad rush into the playroom to see what he brought them. Jack, my really big boy, got all his really cool new electronic toys this year! He loves his Nintendo DS and all the fun games Santa brought to go with it. Boy, they hit a certain age and all they want are really expensive electronics! He also got a new fun game for the family to play and some legos and a few other boy things!

Bailey as you can see is always thrilled with everything she gets. She laughs and yells and ooh's and ahh's over everything! She has such a great way of making you feel like no matter what it was she loved it! She got a lot of High School Musical "stuff", dolls and notepads. She got some more Princess dolls and makeup. Her big thing was her new TV with a DVD player built in. She loves it! Now I love it because if there are any fights she can go to her room and mellow out all by herself and watch a movie!

Connor, sweer Connor, really just enjoyed being with everyone as they looked at their stuff. He did finally get excited about all his new things. He got a lot of Little People things. An addition to his barn, a few more animals, some trainsand dinosaurs of course, his big thing was his ATV riding toy.When he figured how to hold the handle down and go, he was riding around the house all day long.

Bailey so proud of her new TV.

This is what my big boy did all morning! Found a quiet place and played his game and played his game and played his game! I guess mommy will need to set some limits!

This is my favorite picture all Christmas morning! Connor needed a bath and I turned my back and he was off to the races!

Christmas Eve

Here are the highlights of our Christmas Eve at Mimi's and Papa's.
All five of the kids acting silly!

Connor enjoyed every minute of it!

Bailey got so many fun things.

Jack loves his new Razor!

A rare family photo.

Pajamas, Hot Chocolate and Christmas Lights

Sunday night after a busy day with our Brantley Family Christmas at mom and dad's house we took our kids home and changed them into their pajamas, loaded up in the van, went to Starbuck's for hot chocolate and drove around to look at Christmas lights. I had seen this fun tradition on a friends blog last year and decided then it was the one thing I really wanted to add this year. We always look at lights, but in PJ's with hot chocolate in hand was really fun. All three kids were oohing, and ahhing at every house we passed. Connor kept yelling at Ro Ro everytime we saw a reindeer and yelling EAT!!! at all the Santa's we saw. I guess I should explain the EAT. Connor's favorite show is Rudolph and he loves his Ro Ro. In the movie Mrs. Claus is always telling Santa to EAT, nobody wants a skinny Santa! So, Connor thinks his name is EAT!

The Nutcracker Ballet

Bailey had expressed an interest in seeing the Nutcracker Ballet and so mommy got two tickets and after school was out last Friday we headed to the Eismann Center to see it. She enjoyed dressing up and going to a "fancy" place with mommy. Bailey sat on the edge of her seat the entire time and clapped very loudly after each section. During intermission we shared a drink and a snack and took a few pictures with the nutcrackers. After the performance we headed out the doors and to our surprise there stood the dancers and Bailey's favorite, Clara. She hugged Bailey and talked to her for a few minutes! She loved it.