What will they think of next?

After helping to empty their hampers they decided that they would be great to play in.
Falling down after attempting to hop around in them.

Then they decided to wear them on their heads.

Running around the house with the hamper over head. How safe is that?

Picture with Santa...if you can call it that

This is not going to be a good year for getting our picture taken with Santa. They won't stay still.

Breakfast with Santa

The girls got to eat breakfast with "HoHo" as they call him. What a perfect morning to go see "HoHo" when there is snow falling. As Santa was walking around Ali and Emma both wanted to wave and see where he was, but either would stand/sit still long enough for a picture. And of course they were the only ones that didn't sit still for the story.

Being Thankful

I know over this holiday weekend there are so many things that I should be thankful for. Believe I am thankful for so much. I have a family who loves me, a warm bed and home, a job, and of course God. I've spent this holiday break being frustrated, yelling at the girls, and wanting to cry. Not the best way to act when you have so much to be thankful for. Friday a week ago (11/20/09) I took Emma to the doctor because of a horrible cough and cold that she has. Last winter we dealt with wheezing and breathing issues so I wanted someone to listen to her and make sure she was ok. Of course we left the doctor's office with a clean bill of health and 25 dollars spent out of pocket. We kept dealing with the coughing and runny nose at home. It was getting so bad that during the night when she started a coughing episode she would wake up crying. She ended up sleeping with us a few nights. Tuesday morning (11/24/09) I heard a voice come over the intercom in my classroom. "Could I take a phone call on line 2?" I knew right away it was Tina and something was wrong. Emma was coughing so bad she had thrown up twice. I made a few phone calls and had Emma an appointment with the doctor at 11 and my mom who was off work that day trying to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner at her house was going to take her. Around 12 I started calling mom. What had they found out, what was wrong. The doctor thinks she had an asthma attack, gave her 2 breathing treatments in the office, and a dose of liquid steroids. Sent mom home with 2 prescriptions and a recheck appointment for Friday. Well we went back Friday morning and didn't get the greatest news. She was still wheezing bad so now we have 10 more days of the liquid steroid, plus another prescription along with another recheck appointment next week. So we continue what we were doing, 3-4 breathing treatments a day, plus all her meds. Then I deal with them home all day trashing the house, trying to decorate for Christmas, and just wondering where in the world all this "stuff" in our house has come from. I have moments of wanting to load the back of the pickup truck up and hauling it all away to the dump. I feel like the walls are caving in around me. I'm trying so hard to remind myself this is a season of Thanksgiving and I need to be thankful instead of fussing, but it's so hard.

Church

This past week I thought we were going by church to drop off our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, little did I know but we ended up going to the 2nd service and putting the girls in the nursery. I hated dropping Emma off with the horrible cough that she had, but we did. Well this week was her week for her first paper from church. I've finally gotten it scanned in and posted.

My Givers

I have always found it funny while handing out candy on Halloween night how such young kids are out trick or treating with their parents. The kids are to young to be eating candy, but yet there they are with their pumpkins full. But I give them some more candy with a smile and as they walk away think about how their parents will be enjoying it later that night. Well today our church held Trunk or Treat, which Billy and I have participated in many years. This year was going to be challenge because now we had our own children. How were we going to hand out candy and chase the girls? Well the girls napped at mom's today and Billy and I went to church to get ready. Mom brought the girls when they woke up. Once they arrived at church we made one lap around the parking lot. The girls stopped at very few trunks for treats, they just liked that they had so much open space to go and be free. We got maybe 10 pieces total of candy and two bottles of apple juice. The rest of the time they were at our trunk and were givers. I would give them two pieces of candy and tell them to put it in the bucket/bag/basket(whatever the child was carrying). They would gladly share with anyone passing by. When nobody was at our trunk they would start to wonder to the next trunk to find someone with a bucket so they could share the candy. I'm so thankful that they saw today as a time to give and not as a time to go fill up their pumpkin baskets with candy. I hope that they continue to be givers in life.

Church

We have been trying our best to start going to church once again on Sunday mornings. I like going to the 9am service because we are out and at mom's house in time for lunch and nap without being rushed. The girls are usually eat between 11 and 11:30 and a little after 12 are ready for their nap. Well this past Sunday we didn't get up in time (or should I say one person in this house) so we waited and went to the 10:15 service. Lately the church has started doing a small lesson during this service with the kids in the nursery. Sunday school lessons had only been done in the 4 year old and up classes. So this past week the girls had their first lesson and Ali had her first paper to bring home. I guess Emma wasn't much into coloring because she didn't have a paper. When we scanned it in you can hardly see the coloring, and partly because there wasn't much to see in the beginning, but we are proud of her no matter what. Ali's first church paper to put on the fridge. (Or maybe I should say put in the scanner.)