Thankful

I have been a little down lately. I can't put my finger on the reason, but I just feel sad and blah at times. Maybe it's the fact that I still miss my Spanky and still feel the guilt of him not being here, because of me. It is also the start of the holiday season, and I am sad because they won't include Spanky for the first time in 14 years. Also, the fact that I am way over weight, and KEEP EATING!!! I have SO MANY things to be thankful for in life. So today, being Thanksgiving, I will list them.
I am thankful for God's love, and His word, that reassures me of His presence in EVERYTHING in my life!
I am so thankful for my family, I have been blessed beyond measure in this department my whole life.
I am thankful for the health of my children.
I am thankful for my home.
I am thankful for Mike's job and mine.
I am thankful for friends. Those who are near and those whom I haven't seen in years, they have filled my life with joy.

I am thankful for the hope of someday soon, we will adopt a new dog that needs a loving home.

Of course, there are so many more things I am thankful for today, but these are just a few. I hope you all have a blessed day with your friends and family.

So proud

Chase has always been a very bright young man (I know i am biased). He has also been one of the youngest in his class every year, because of the cut off. But he has really thrived in school! He is very imaginative, loves to write stories, that i must say,are very descriptive for his age. He also loves to write songs and LOVES to read. He reads huge chapter books meant for much older kids. He takes after his Grandpa D in that area - he can read a book in just a few days!! I, on the other hand, would rather pop in a video or dvd of a book!! Mike enjoys reading too, so I guess he gets it from him. Anyway, I've been asking Chase if he wanted to test for the gifted program since kindergarten. He always said no, because he didn't want to be different and miss out on anything the other kids would be doing in school. The 'gifted' kids go to a creative learning school one day a week. Now that he's in the 4th grade and some of his best buds go to the gifted school every week, he wanted to try as well. I'm proud to announce that he tested high and is officially in the program. He will start after the winter break, and we are so proud of him. He is a great student and we are so blessed that he loves school so much. Hopefully it will continue through the years!

An entire weekend off!

As much as I enjoy my work.......man, it's nice to be a "normal" person and have the WHOLE weekend off from both jobs!! Yesterday I completed my free photo book compliments of Oprah. She had the declutter guy on last week sometime and gave this free offer on her website to all who checked it out and clicked on the free book site. I have made 4 other books before this one using Walgreens and Shutterfly. If you have never done one before, you really should, it's very easy and fun. Plus you don't have to spend money to get your digital photos printed out. You just upload them from your computer or you can scan some, which i did for this current book I made of Spanky. They are very nice keepsakes vs the old traditional photo albums. This book is through Snapfish, so we'll see. I believe they are the same as Walgreens. Anyway, it had to be done by today to be free. They actually extended the due date by a week (they were overwhelmed by the popularity of the free offer......what?! what were you expecting if you offer something FREE and on OPRAH!) Mine, again is a book about Spanky through the years.
Well today, brace yourselves..... we are trimming our Christmas tree (Julie, calm down) We put it up last night and it is sitting, waiting to be adorned in twinkling lights so that the kids can put the ornaments on. Hey, it's either be early or be late putting it up. Note to you.....look at the title of this entry. Next weekend i work nights at the hospital. NOT gonna happen after that. Brooke is about ready to burst from excitement about doing the tree. The second she woke up, she said, mommy, time to put lights on the tree. UM....it's 7am, not yet. Go get some books to "read". Yikes, I wonder what time she'll be up this Christmas morning??? This is really the first year she is showing such excitement. Fun!!! Chase gets to put the fragile ornaments as high up as he can reach, and his own personal ones he's made over the years or received as gifts. Brooke gets to put hers and the unbreakables all along the bottom. they really do a nice job!! I hope you all have a good weekend with your loved ones. Sorry it's been awhile since I've blogged. Work, work, work. Oh, also....I can see who is reading the blog now with my site meter. Kinda cool. Had to add that, because no one leaves comments (we bloggers get as excited about comments as a college kid waiting for mail from home!!!!!) Was curious who, if anyone was reading. Thank you to those who do follow in silence.......go crazy and comment sometime, I'd LOVE to hear from you all!! Blessings.

Childbirth prep class

Okay.....before anyone gets excited by this title.....NO I AM NOT PREGNANT! It would have to be by immaculate conception if it were to ever be again! (M-E-N-O-P-A-U-S-E). Many of you already know this, but some don't about me. I have been teaching Childbirth classes to expectant parents for over 11 years. It is FUN!!! Yesterday I taught my all day (8-2) saturday class, which is now the ONLY class I offer, because it is what they all want in this IM, text messaging world we live in now! Fine by me! I really had a fun group yesterday and we had a great time learning everything from what to pack for the hospital, to breathing and a tour of the labor and delivery rooms, postpartum rooms and a glimpse into the nursery, where the anxious parents-to-be could see what the prize at the end of this whole, scarey experience, will be!! I am so thankful for this opportunity each month to teach class. I feel like I touch a lot of lives. And it's a priviledge to be apart of such an amazing time in these first time parents lives! Birth is the most amazing experience given to us by God, I believe. And He has allowed me to teach what i know, to others to help them make it as special as possible. I am blessed.

four little monkeys sleepin in the bed

Mike and I have a king sized bed (thank the Lord). We also have a tv in our room. Well, last night, Chase was watching tv with me and was all snuggled in, and fell asleep in our bed. This is something he did every night, up til the age of 4. He would fall asleep in our bed, then we would carry him into his bed, where he'd stay the rest of the night. Since he IS a bit bigger these days, we just decided to let him stay. Well, little miss Brookie usually makes her way into our bed around 3 or 4 am, cause she's scared. We even leave a light on in her room all night, hoping that will keep her in her own room. NOT. so, she crawled into the bed between me and Chase, and I was left hanging off the edge of my large king sized bed!! I decided to get up and go into HER bed an hour later....then Chase came looking for me (Brooke was kicking him in the head!) He asked if I would come lye in his bed now.....OK. I just kept telling myself that the day will come when NONE of my kids will care to sleep with me, so I stayed pleasant and crawled into Chase's bed. So now it's 11 am and I am very tired. I counted 10 times that I woke up last night!! Hopefully tonight there will be no more monkeys sleepin in the bed!!!

fieldtrip from....

I've mentioned in a past post, that I am a co-leader for a new club at Chase's school. It is called club HOPE. The school distr. has teamed up with our local Humane Society of MO, to create this awesome opportunity for the kids to learn more about pet overpopulation, cruelty, humane treatment to all living things, etc. Well, today was the BIG event of the year for the club - the fieldtrip to the Humane Society to see all the animals. We were all excited. Today was also a half day for school, so when the bell rang all the kids met in the gym, we had lots of parent volunteers, we got the kids divided into groups....we were ready. We headed out to the main lobby ready to load the bus......I said, ready to load the bus....where's the bus??? It was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago....ok, lets call and check what's going on......what? the bus driver is lost.....she's "10minutes away"....ok, let's learn some HOPE songs and sing till it comes.... Just then a bunch of police cars pull up.......The principal informs us leaders that in about 5minutes there will be an 'Intruder drill in the school, with the SWAT team and guns!! WHAT???!!! (Okay, this is one of those moments where you feel you MUST be dreaming) So, all 55 of us....head down to the library to await the late bus. We are trapped in the library now, because if we leave the room the kids may be permenantly traumatized from the SWAT team in the school. It's getting VERY stuffy in the library, the 43 kids and 12 parent volunteers are beyond restless, and the bus is still NOT here!! She is still lost. it is now 1 hour past our original departure time was set for. FINALLY the bus pulls up and we are off. Unfortunately, we had to rush and cut half our trip agenda out, which is a bummer, but the kids still had a good time and loved seeing all the animals. Man, i hope next months meeting goes a lot smoother!!

Does money grow on trees???

Does money grow on trees. Not according to all of our parents, and I have been guilty of saying this same exact quote to my kids on more than one occassion. HOWEVER.....this weekend proved just the opposite for Chase and his friend Dillon. They made up some fliers for leaf raking and passed them around the neighborhood. Well, on Saturday, they got their first paying customer. I don't think they realized what they were getting themselves into........Saturday was a very cold, windy day, but they headed out, rakes in hand...ready to make some money. They left the house at 12:30. By 4pm Mike grabbed his rake to go up and lend a hand. It got dark around 5ish, so they called it a day. Chase was cold to the bone and tired!! I asked, "so, did you get it done?" They still had the whole backyard to complete.....YIKES! So, after church they headed back up for another 2 hours and finally finished. Another neighbor saw them hard at work and has offered them big bucks to do HIS yard....man, I don't know. Maybe 9 is a little too young for all that work. I am glad they did it though. It was a great lesson in committment and not quitting til the job is done. And, apparently money DOES grow on trees, that is, it does after it falls to the ground to be raked up!

Day of Dance

Brooke takes a dance class every week for an hour. The class consists of tap, ballet and acrobats. She is definately in her element while in class there. Today was the first time we, the parents, got to sit in on the class and actually see what she does each week!! Too cute!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Off to the Rams game

My dad has had Rams season tickets for many years now, and it's a tradition that the males in the family get to partake in. Today is the very first time that Chase gets to go cheer them on to what will hopefully be, a Victory! He was very excited to go with Mike and his grandpa today. GO RAMS!!!"