Its my blog, I can cry if I want to

I just want everyone to be well. I've been sick, coughing for about 7 weeks now, rib and back aches. Brent has flu and on the day of Caitlyns party she wakes up at 5 in the morning throwing up. I want to scream about how its not fair. I'm so tired of cleaning sheets the day after I did it. Or mopping the day after Kathleen came. I know it could be so much worse and that's why I'm thankful to have a place for my pity party, cause here I go again.

Freedom from my cough

I am so thankful for this long weekend.  I have not done much of anything except rest, but I have really needed it.  I have had the worst cough for about the last 6 weeks.  I have just been so run down from it.  I mean, who knew a cough could make you so tired that you would need to come right home and go to bed? But with some rest, steroid shot, antibiotic shot, antibiotics, dozens of cough pills, 2 bottles of Robitussin, 2 bottles of Tussinox, cough drops and tons of prayer it looks like I am over this dreadful cough. 

Jeff bought me the Keurig coffee maker for Christmas.  This is the best gift!  Since I am the only coffee drinker in my home it makes perfect since!  It makes it so easy to drink the unlimited supply of tea with honey too.  This should be an essential in everyone's home.

This weekend I am going away with a friend to a scrap booking retreat and I can't wait.  I will just have to secure a box big enough to take my Keurig with me!

Snowball Fight

 Caitlyn randomly said yesterday as we were watching some TV program (not the news) that all the people all on TV were fake except the weathermen.  I found that statement to be so funny.  I knew that one day she would find out that sometimes weathermen are wrong but today is not that day.  They predicted 2-4 inches of snow and we got it. 

We received about 2-3 inches in our area.  It is always so much fun to get snow when you have little children.  It accumulated pretty quickly and Caitlyn went outside to check it out ASAP!

 As soon as Brent and Daddy got back from the deer lease the word of the day was Snowball!  The kids would make a snowball, run at you, throw, and scream "Snowball!"  Luckily their aim is as bad as mine and daddy was unloading and not playing!

I just love this picture of true happiness.  You might have to click on it to make it larger but the smile shows pure joy and you can tell she is jumping up and down.

It was so fun to see everyone's pictures on FB and posts on their blogs of their children playing in the snow today.

Bowling last night

 These pictures are really bad because of the lighting in the bowling ally and the fact that phone was almost dead and so it automatically took off the flash.  But still cute!

 Caitlyn did awesome and I just barely beat her!  Whew!

Brent had so much fun.  It is exciting to get to a stage when the bowling game moves along quickly!

Whooping Cough 2011

It seems like every other year I get a really bad cough that lasts about a good month, or as I prefer to diagnose it as the whooping cough.  Don't worry though, because I still don't get any extra attention around here.  Okay, I have put my violin down. 

I really do feel sorry for those friends and family members that have to be around me and hear my awful cough.  It is quite annoying.  Luckily it does not seem to be contagious, so I can still get around but it does wear me out and the minute Jeff gets home tonight I am going to bed!

I leave you with sweet pictures of my kiddos playing mini-golf with my extended family in Branson.  We had to have a married person, college-aged or close person and pre-school age person on our team to make it fair.  Hole 4 was played shooting the club like a pool stick (up hill), hole 8 was kicking it, hole 12 was backwards and hole 12 was blind.  My uncle is very inventive.  Our team came in 4th and had a great time!  I think we had 5 teams total (56 out of 69 family members were able to be there this year!)

My New Love!

Just 5 minutes ago (and a day now), I figured out how to upload pictures from my phone, through Picasso (a website) and then to my blog.  It took about 30 seconds.  I did not have to go through my camera, find the number on the card reader or find the cord (that's a whole other camera).  Now I will abandon all real camera's and go with my EVO!  Real Love!

Um, actually now that I think about it I should look back over those sermon notes from this morning.  Oops!

Here is Caitlyn ready for church this morning in her gold shoes, gold purse and check out the beautiful necklace!  Thank you Aunt Claudia.

Check out Brent!  It took him exactly no time to figure out how to ride this big boy bike.  Goodbye tricycle! 

Not really sure what this post was about but it is kind of fun to get back on the blogging bandwagon!  Wonder how long it will last....

Goodbye 2010/Hello 2011

What a year!  It flew by super fast.  Today on the way to lunch Jeff and I reflected on our highs and lows of the year. 

We both agreed that our high was Caitlyn starting kindergarten.  Jeff thoroughly enjoyed taking her to her first day of school and I just love having her at school with me every day.  It is just a blessing to be a teacher and getting to see my sweet girl every day.  She is beginning to read. everything.  It is so. stinking.cool!!!!  I love it!!

My low was losing Aunt Betty this year to cancer.  We saw her at the Fourth of July and 2 months later she passed away.  I still don't think that has truly set in, especially since we haven't gotten back to Missouri yet.

We did add two family members this year.  A really cute brown chocolate lab puppy who is now 6 months and still a little CRAZY (Sadie)!!  And most recently, like last week, we adopted our friends dog (also the daughter of Chauncey and Cali).  Our friend was moving into an apartment so we now have a beautiful black lab, Dixee.  Dixee is now sleeping with Caitlyn at night and in her words, "is a little wild".  Caitlyn is very excited about the new sleeping partner even though she ripped off Piglets eye and she thought is was "adorable" when she put her outside this morning and she started playing with Sadie.  This new transition will make it easier on Cali (age 11) because the stairs are too hard on her shoulders and she really needs to start sleeping downstairs. 

We started the morning off by opening up a lot of games: playing Operation, making a cake with the Easy Bake, playing some kind of game on the Connect Four (might take some time to get that concept), tea parties and so much more!  Then we went to the best restaurant ever, Chiloso.  Which is probably my newest tradition - start every year eating my first meal from Chiloso!  I guess I can never go out of town over the New Year!!

Lastly, it is pretty cool to hear that Caitlyn gets the whole concept of the months and years.  Yesterday was December today is January.  Yesterday was 2010 today is 2011.  Thank you Mrs. Penton!!  But then there is "tomorrow is Janaury, my birth month"  Thank you Papa!  We have a lot of celebrating to do.  Can't believe my baby will be 6 this month.

Happy New Year to all.  I hope this is your best year ever!!!  And no matter what happens, Brent would say (in kind of an old man voice, Texas drawl) "Ahhhh, it's okay."