Cleaning up the mess

Today Barry and I took the Christmas tree down, put up the decorations and cleaned the garage!  Whew....it makes me tired thinking about it.  It really wasn't bad since we did it together though.  We managed to clean up the living room and most of the kitchen and I made tea using my new water heater and teapot mommy got me for Christmas.  It worked wonderfully.  I made it back to the gym tonight.  Boy, can I tell I have skipped a few days and ate my mommy's cooking :-(  I am going to have to hide at my house with only a head of lettuce for the next month to get rid of the three pounds I gained over Christmas holidays.  I did enjoy seeing my sister and her husband with their six month old baby.  Gwen does nothing but smile and laugh....until it is nap time.  I think she is a good baby.  I can't wait for Spring Break.  I think the kids and I are going to go and visit for a few days.  

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008 was a hit!  Imagine that :-)  Chloe and Clay both were blessed by Santa Claus and family, friends and neighbors.  In fact, they have two more gifts to open when they return from visiting their dad after the holidays from the neighbor across the road.  Christmas morning found Clay in my bed waking me up at 6:00......He finally admitted to being up earlier and going through all of the presents.  I figure he was up half the night!!  He took a two hour nap at 10:00am on Christmas day :-)  He was sooooo tired and crabby.  Chloe was dragged out of bed Christmas morning by her darling brother.  She was not all that happy about it.  Merry Christmas to all!!

Santa's Village

Tonight we went to Santa's Village and made reindeer out of metallic pipe cleaners!  We played with some old wooden toys and wrote a letter to Santa.  We also decorated gingerbread men cookies with icing and ate them.  We took a vote and decided not to stand in the long, long line to see Santa since we had no intention of sitting in his lap anyway.  My darlings are six now and have never, ever sat in Santa's lap or told him what they want for Christmas.  The closest we have gotten is 50 feet away and waving.  Chloe really does have a thing for people dressed up in costumes.  So, we went to the Olive Garden instead!  Chloe and I split a Tour of Italy and she ate as much as me....amazing that she still only weighs 38 pounds.  I probably gained 38 pounds!  She was mad because I wouldn't let her order a plate of olives.  Ha!  Clay ate macaroni and cheese and acted like the perfect gentleman.  He even opened the doors of the car for Chloe and I.  Then when we all got in the car, I found out why we were being so helpful......he wanted a dollar :-)  Industrious, don't you think?  I don't think he will ever go hungry.  We were talking about what we were going to be when we grew up on the way home and Chloe was just beside herself because she couldn't figure out what she was going to be.  I told her that she had a few years to figure it out.  (Although, I am a firm believer in having a goal before starting out on a new project-like college)  My children really are funny.  We went by Books a Million to buy the second book in the Twilight series (what fabulous books!!) and we saw Mrs. Pendley!!!  She looks good and feels okay I think.  She was looking for a book too.  The kids were really excited to see her.  Chloe told me on the way home that she is tired of all the other teachers and Mrs. Pendley just needed to come back.  Cancer is a hard thing for kindergarteners to wrap their brains around.  Lumps growing where they shouldn't and having to take medication that makes you feel crummy and get sick easy....I guess it just doesn't make much sense to them.  Anyway, for whoever is reading this----Have a Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Break!!!

Today was the last day of school before an extended break for Christmas and New Year's.  We had a party in the classroom where we made two ornaments, a paper chain for the tree and ate lots of "not good for you" food.  The kids loved it!  Then we all attended a school wide Christmas Carol sing a long.  It really is a site to see 500 children and their parents singing Jingle Bells at the top of their lungs.  Even my non-singer Clay had a great time.  The principal, Mr. Kimbrell, dressed up as Hannah Montana to celebrate the wonderful job the kids did collecting cans for a food drive in November.  The children made a video for Mrs. Pendley and tied knots in a prayer blanket for her too.  

Playing on the slide

The green slide in the backyard holds so much access to fun and freedom for my children.  One day they were outside and one would sit at the top (or lay at the top) of the slide.  The other child would leap on the other one and they would crash to the bottom!  The laughed and laughed with sheer joy.  They had a ball!

Field Trip to Wetlands Edge

Today the children and I went on a field trip to the Wetlands Edge.  It is a project of BP and the school system here in Decatur.  They have salt water animals and fresh water animals.  We got to look and talk about the salt water animals, but we really focused on reptiles.  We had a turtle race, read a story about turtles and held a real live snake!  The kids got to see why a turtle crawls so slow by wearing a shell on their backs.  I will have admit, the turtles were cute, but the snakes can stay in their cages :-)  They are painting t-shirts in art this afternoon!!

Mrs. Pendley

As most of you know, Mrs. Pendley is Clay and Chloe's kindergarten teacher.  She had breast cancer two years ago and went back in November for a check up.  Long story short-they have discovered reoccurring breast cancer in the lymph nodes under her collarbone.  This is not really common from what I read, but it is aggressive.  She started chemotherapy two weeks ago and will add another chemo agent in a month or so.  The kids have had a substitute this week and Mrs. Pendley is not coming back before Christmas.  To be honest, I cried when I read this-for several reasons.  

1.  Mrs. Pendley is an awesome teacher.  The kids had a follow up with the occupational therapist in Huntsville that they have been seeing for two years.  Even when school started they were both borderline with developmental skills.  This follow up revealed that they are doing EXTREMELY well with all the skills that they were having trouble with just three months ago.  Clay is stronger and has better balance, can write and do mazes better than Mrs. Ruthie every expected.  Chloe is more oriented to task, can finish two to three groups of instructions without becoming distracted and can write very well.  And to top it all off - both can tie their shoes :-)  I know Mrs. Pendley was a big part in getting them to this level developmentally.  She is very consistent and manages to get all kinds of knowledge to sink into thick 5 year old skulls!  Not an easy task by anyone's description.  So I am being entirely selfish----I want Mrs. Pendley back.  She is such a teacher - how can anyone else compare or live up to her standards.  I wouldn't even apply for the job.

2.  Mrs. Pendley is a very righteous, loving person, mother of 4 young kids, friend to all.  It just isn't fair.  I know life isn't supposed to be fair.....but???

3.  This is pretty close to home.  She is a young woman who has faced death already.  How would I react?  How do you explain such a disease and treatment process to your children?  How do you rest in God's strength and not fall to pieces?  How do you deal with the dark days and focus on your blessings?  I cannot imagine the strength it takes not to just lie in bed and want to die.  And then on the other hand, how do you spend enough time with your kids and loved ones?  The questions never end and the answers are so obscure.  

Please add her to your prayer lists at church.  Her full name is Christine Pendley and she lives here in Decatur.  She is a member of First Baptist Church here in Decatur.

Christmas Tree 2008

Isn't it amazing that you have to clean house and rearrange furniture before you put up the tree, only to have to do it all again after you finally get it up and working?  I have felt like we are putting on a broadway show with lights and stages this year.  The lights on the big tree were just not right and I couldn't get they to work right either.  I called my electrician I keep on retainer (that would be mom) and even she couldn't get them working.  So, the kids and I went to Lowe's and bought some strands of white lights.  We added them to the parts of the tree that didn't want to work, and tada-we have a whole tree of lights!  We hung our stocking by the fire.  My Aunt Betty made the two for the kids, I am not sure why I have one with my name on it and we found an extra, so we hung it too :-)  The small tree was intended for outside on the porch, but we found that we liked it inside.  All in all, most of the shopping is done, the tree is up and we made cookies last night!  I do enjoy Christmas time.  

Pepper Has Grown

As you can see, our cat has gotten to be quite a handful :-)  He has been banned from my room, so now he torments the children.  They seem to handle it in stride.  The little kitty Spice likes to tote Chloe's hairbows around in her mouth and growl, yes, growl at anyone or anything that gets too close!

Happy Birthday Clay!

Clay turned 6 today!  He was glad it finally got here.  He was not happy about Chloe's birthday being before his.  I tried to explain that only God controlled when you were born, but I am not sure he really cares :-)  He was up by 5:30 this morning (his usual waking time) and we were ready for school by 7:00.  It rained here today and the trees were just beautiful colors as we drove to school.  We had a party with cupcakes, gummy snacks, chips and KoolAid at snack time today.  His class sang Happy Birthday to him while he wore his "Birthday Hat".  We checked out of school 30 minutes early and came home.  It had stopped raining and the kids were just begging to get outside and play.  Chloe decided to rake leaves while Clay played soldier man with the small broom!!  It was quite the thing to watch.  We also decorated a picture of "Tom the Turkey" to disguise him for Thanksgiving - we didn't want him to be eaten!  Chloe made her turkey a farmer and Clay made his turkey a soldier.  I have to admit.  Pretty creative kids have I!  We went roller skating for their birthdays tonight.  All of the kids (James, Roman, Matthew, Clay and Chloe) and I ate at Pizza Hut before going skating.  Johney and Angela joined us, along with Heather, Chris, Hunter and Megan to skate.  All I can say is that it has been a LONG time since I have skated......I may not be able to get out of bed to work tomorow!!!  I love my babies and I still have a hard time believing that they are getting so big.   The time of motherhood flies by when you aren't looking.

Happy Birthday Chloe!

It is Chloe's sixth birthday!  I have a hard time believing that over five years has passed since she joined our family.  (and to think that I used to wonder what moms did at home all day).  Today was a school day, so I took cupcakes to school for snack at 1:30.  Ali is another little girl in her class that also was born on November 6.  So her mom and dad brought drinks and chips.  I stayed after the part and read some "Junie B. Jones" to the class.  After school was dismissed, we went to our favorite park in Decatur- the "castle park".  It has a wooden section that has castle looking parts.  They named it early and it stuck :-)  We finished up the day by meeting Grandma and Grandpa at Chick Fil A  to eat supper.  We are having a birthday party with presents on Sunday so that we can open our presents!!

Halloween

imagine, Halloween was a very big day around our house with two 5 year olds!!  They had a party at school where they decorated small pumpkins and ate lots of unhealthy fare :-)  Chloe dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, primarily because she is the one with the pink dress.  Clay was a red Ninja.  Now, I think he could have been wearing anything, because he liked the sword best of all.  I caught him stabbing bushes in people's yards all night.  He did manage to whack Chloe over the head once and was threatened with "no sword" night if he wasn't more careful!  Mom seems to enjoy the move to town.  I have never in my 35 years of life seen my mother dressed up in a costume of any sort....well, that has now changed!  Mom decided to dress up like a witch to give out candy on her street.  The dog even got a bow.  I told dad that he was dressed up like an old grumpy man.  I am sure that outfit costs bundles!  I found this to be very funny- when dad first saw mom dressed up he stated "I am getting a divorce".  I asked him if it was because mom had turned into a witch :-)  I thought it was very clever :-)

Surgery Once Again

Chloe had surgery once again for the kidney stone on October 20th.  Dr. Herndon managed to get the stone removed this time.  He left a temporary stent in place that I removed on Wednesday.  Chloe was none too happy that we removed the stent at home (actually at Grandma's house with her help).  She has had a couple of bad days since surgery, but now she is feeling quite a bit better!  These pictures are of her on a little "giggle juice" before surgery.  She was very, very entertaining!

Disney On Ice

The kids enjoyed their first field trip of kindergarten!  They went to see Disney on Ice on October 17th.  Let me tell you how exciting it is to see Ariel and the sea, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, Tinkerbell and Lilo and Stitch :-)  Clay and Chloe both enjoyed riding the school bus to Huntsville.  They are fascinated with buses.  We took our lunch and drinks and ate during the show.  The whole class had the same blue shirts on so that we could find and identify them easily.  

Mrs. Pendley's Birthday

Mrs. Pendley's birthday was October 3 and Clay and Chloe's kindergarden class had a small party to help her celebrate.  It is amazing what sixteen five year olds can do and understand!  I am one of the room mom's for this year and I really enjoy being able to talk to the kids and participate in the things that they do.  We are going to see Disney on Ice next week!  Chloe is more excited about the bus ride than the show itself.  The practiced getting on and off the bus at PE one day and she now can tell you where the emergency exits are and how to get off the bus in an orderly fashion :-)  

Kidney stones

I know it has been awhile since I have posted.....this is for several reasons.  The first one is that my camera battery has died and I can't find the charger.  I am not sure which child or which cat to blame.  I finally went online last night and found one for $5.00!!!  I ordered it and we should be back to normal soon.  The second reason I have not been posting is that Chloe was diagnosed with a kidney stone. We strained urine for two weeks with no results.  Her urologist did surgery on 9/25/08 (last Thursday) but was unable to get the stone.  It went back into the kidney and they just couldn't get a good picture of it.  The tube that runs from her bladder to her kidney is also much smaller than it should be and he couldn't get a flexible scope into her kidney to see the stone. So, he put in a stent :-(  It is basically a flexible tube that runs from inside her kidney to her bladder with curls on each end to hold it in place. It makes her back hurt, kidney and bladder spasm, feel like she has to pee all the time and basically makes her miserable. (Along with the rest of us!)  We go back on October 20th to have it taken out and hopefully the tube will have expanded enough for the doctor to get that stone out!  As if that was not enough, he also fixed two inguinal hernias by going through her belly button.  So she has three extra scars and a little bit of pain to deal with there.  We have had some long days and longer nights.  I did work this weekend and grandma watched her.  She is back at school and hopefully will make it through the whole day tomorrow.  She came home at 10:00 this morning, more because she could get away with it.  She is feeling better and hopefully this will all be over soon.  Clay is playing flag football and loving it.  He is getting to be quite a little boy and loves boy things!

Grandma and Grandpa

I believe that the doll beside Chloe looks a little like the doll in the movie "Chucky".  Those eyes!!  While Meredith and Ben were visiting we managed to get a few pictures that weren't too bad.  My children normally look like the first photo!  We wanted to get a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grandchildren...well, it is at least a picture!  No one would cooperate exactly :-) 

Aunt Meme and Baby Gwen

While Uncle Ben was grilling hamburgers and hotdogs with the help of two five year olds, we took pictures of the baby inside.  We caught Gwen at a good moment-after a long nap and freshly fed.  She was in a good mood and smiled at us.  In lots of the photos Gwen's eyes are kind of looking to the right....at the TV.  She was watching football with Grandpa!  She really seems to like the colors and flashing lights of the tv and of course, the ceiling fans.  I think my favorite photo is one of Meredith and Gwen together.  It was a shot taken on the spur of the moment while she held her to move her so that we could reset our "photo shoot" up.  I also like the photo of Gwen laughing with her hands up around her mouth.  I think her mother was cooing to her and she thought it was very funny :-)

Gondola Ride

Mom's  (aka Grandma) birthday was last week and we decided to wait until Uncle Ben joined Aunt Meme here in Alabama to celebrate.  We went to Bridge Street Center and went on a gondola ride.  The man rowing us around said that the boat was made in Venice and you can't tip them over.  Baby Gwen really seemed to like being in the boat and the night air blowing her hair as we watched the sun set on the horizon.  Mom and dad even kissed under the bridge!! We finished up the night with ice cream at Maggie Moo's. I have discovered that as long as you are pushing the stroller and are outside, Gwen is pretty entertained.  She loved the waterfalls and the lights in the courtyard areas.  I have to admit, she has great taste at two months old :-)  I like the lights and waterfall too!