School Parties

Monday the 18th was school party day. Since I am one of the room moms for Chase's class, I was only able to peek in at Dylan's party. Nate just wanted to be with Chase at the party. Chase is such a good big bubba that he let Nate hang around him. Cade also wanted to be by his big brother. The boys had fun. Plenty of sugar and activities.

The next day was early release day. The boys got to leave even earlier so that they could catch a plane with their Mimi and Aunt Necey. They were so excited to be flying to the farm. Cade was so afraid that he was not going to get to go that he jumped out of the car as soon as it was in park. He was not going to be left behind. There was a lot of snow in Amarillo and the boys barely made it to the farm. Nate had a recurrence of his diarrhea (all over Jenise). I think she may be waiting a few more years before she has children. The boys left on Tuesday and Mark and I drove to the farm on Thursday. Free time with no boys!! Unfortunately, I was (and still am) so behind in work that I just worked and worked and worked while they were gone. It was good to be able to get some work completed. It was very peaceful.

One of Life's Lessons

Chase had a school project about Christmas around the World. This project was supposed to be a 2-person project. Chase was out of school half a day on Tuesday and all of Wednesday and Thursday because of his strep throat. His teacher sent home some of the project stuff so that Chase could work on it at home. Let's just say that his partner had not done any quality work. This little boy was in Chase's class last year so I already knew that he probably was not the best partner to have. Poor Chase. We worked until 10 at night on Thursday night on this project. Then, he stayed in from recess the next day to work on it. Then he brought it home. We were very busy on Saturday and I was working on Sunday. Mark and Chase worked on it on Sunday and then Chase and I worked on it some more after I got home. It was a HUGE project and Chase was exhausted. Everything that his "partner" did had to be redone. Chase was upset but that is life. This is not the only time he will have a "partner" in work or in school who does not pull his or her weight. I told Chase that he still needs to make sure that he turns in good work. I also told Chase that he was the real winner in this case because he learned a lot about China and his partner did not! (Mark and I learned a lot too) His project turned out really well.

Shoes, Sh*wers, and Such

Lot of updating to do but Picasa is being difficult so this may take a while.

Nate is into shoes right now. He loves, loves, loves his shoes. He will laugh when they are put on or taken off. His favorite thing to do is to take off his left shoe and left sock. Rarely does he remove the right one. Don't be surprised if you see him toddling around with only one shoe on, we can rarely keep them both on! The first thing that he does in the car seat is remove his shoe and sock. He then tries to put his shoe back on, with no success.

Nate also loves sh*wers right now! He really doesn't enjoy baths. If he sees you in the sh*wer then he has to get in the sh*wer, even if he is perfectly clean. If he hears you say the word sh*wer he will head for the sh*wer. He loves, loves, loves to take sh*wers with his brothers! Jason and Kristen got him a bath toy for Christmas and so we have put it in the sh*wer! He loves it! I would post a picture but I don't want crazy people to see it.

UNBELIEVABLE!

So remember all the pain and agony that Chase had to endure back in August. You remember, he had his tonsils out so that he would stop getting strep throat all the time. On Tuesday, I got a call from the school nurse. Chase was complaining of a headache and throat pain. He was also beginning to run a fever. When I picked him up, the nurse thought that it was probably a virus going around because she did not think that his throat looked much worse. I should have listened to my instinct right then and taken him right away to the doctor. He became much worse that night so on Wednesday we went to the doctor. Yes, Chase had STREP THROAT!!! I want my money back from the surgery!! When I picked Cade up from preschool, he was a limp noodle. He said his head hurt and his tummy hurt. On the way home he doused himself and his seat with throw up. This is what Cade does when he gets strep throat. So we were off to the Care Now clinic that night since the pediatrician did not have any openings until the next day. Of course it was strep. Wonder who will be next?

Chase took a big step on Wednesday morning. I had to complete a home visit for a family. They were just returning home from a temporary out-of-state job. They were leaving the next day for the birth of their baby. The home visit had to take place before placement and there was no other time to do it so Chase was able to stay home by himself for about 2 hours!! He had the phone, the remote, phone numbers, and very strict instructions!! I completed the fastest home visit ever then I picked Chase up and we headed straight to the doctor. I can't believe my baby is old enough for that!!

How Weird Am I?

Okay, I was tagged by Tammie so here it is - 6 Weird Things About Me

1) I can't stand the thought of people not liking me or of people thinking I am weird so this activity is a form of mild torture for me!

2) I would so have another baby if Mark would let me :)

3) When I am pregnant and I get cold I gag almost to the point of throwing up - Mark always had a lot of fun with that one.

4) I am addicted to Dr. Pepper but I must have it in the larger size plastic bottle, no other form of Dr. Pepper will do.

5) I was so afraid that my pregnancy with Nate would not work out that it took me a long, long, long, long, long, long, long time to throw away my pee sticks (weird or simply pathetic, you decide)

6) When I am listening to a lecture I pick my cuticles. This helps me to concentrate. I found out a couple of years ago that there is science behind that but I won't bore you with the details.

I can't say that this was fun, thanks Tammie! I am going to spread the joy by tagging Amy, Beth, and See Dub. I hope you guys enjoy this more than I did;)

Silence Can be Dangerous

There are times when silence is a beautiful thing. Other times, silence compels you to go investigate. Here is what I found during one such time of silence. This is on the second floor. Note the cut out right next to him. If he were to fall from the cut out area then he would fall unto tile floor below. Scares me to death just thinking about it. I did a quick rearrange and moved the couch so that he could not climb up onto the couch then onto the desk. Of course, I found him on the desk again yesterday. I moved the chair into the middle of the room. We will be rearranging the room layout shortly. Scares me to death.

Nate is learning new words every day! He now will wave goodbye and say goodbye. He also said "love u". MELTED ME! So, so sweet. Now he is fake snoring! Makes me laugh! He is so spoiled rotten.

The boys are very excited about Christmas. They know that my closet was off limits for a few days because presents were in there that I had not had time to wrap. I left my nephew's gift out so that they would think that it was for them! They all confessed to seeing a present! Cade took it a step further and dug around a little bit. He informed me that he was getting a skateboard for Christmas! Actually, Chase is getting a skateboard for Christmas and now Chase knows he is getting a skateboard for Christmas. Oh well, at least now I don't have to figure out how in the world to wrap a skateboard. The rest of the presents are wrapped so temptation is now out of the way.

Mark is notoriously difficult to shop for at Christmas. This year, I had the perfect gift figured out. I was so proud of myself! I knew that he would like it and I couldn't wait to get it for him. He came home from Cabela's on Sunday with the EXACT thing that I was going to get him for Christmas. My brother-in-law had found it on sale and had called Mark to see if Mark wanted it. I knew it was a good gift idea for him. I am truly sad about it. Mark is just going to be out of luck in the present department this year. Who buys themselves things at Christmastime? I think he will get a lump of coal :)

Santa Claus

Today the boys and I went to see Santa Claus. You can see that Nate liked Santa a lot more last year. I did get Nate to say HO HO HO only it sounds more like HA HA HA. It is funny to hear Ho Ho Ho from me and then Ha Ha Ha from Nate. The boys wrote letters to Santa before we left. Chase wrote his in all cursive:

Dear Santa Claus,

Are your raindeer fine, I hope so. Could you bring real guns? (What a Daddy's boy) How old is rudof and what is all the raindeers names? Oh, do you have a cat instruchins for cat climen behaver wo we don't have to mess with her. (Cat instructions for cat climbing behavior, Biscuit has been destroying things on the tree, fun for her but not for us) Oh, one more thang can I have a wii, a scate bord, a robot that can do what you want it to do also can I have a punching bag and a madnetex cases (Magnetix).

Sinsirly,
Chase

From Dylan:

Dear Santa,

Can I please have some presents. If yes thank you. If no I've been a bad boy. By the way is rodoph real? yes. No. If I've been a good boy this is what I want.

Gamecube, helmet, fly weel, death star, Ankin's ship

Sincerely,
Dylan

The Tragedy!

You should see the bump from the side! OUCH!

Cade has not sucked his thumb for a while but when he needs comforting or if he is really tired he will hold his hand over his mouth with his fingertips touching his nose.

Here is a picture of what happens when you run into a pole at school. The school called me so I went up there to check it out. I couldn't tell if the cut would need stitches or not so we went to Cooks Urgent Care to have it looked at. The nurse looked at him and said that she could not give me any advice but see how nicely the edges are holding together. No stitches!!! Cade seems to be our tragedy child. He is the one who tends to get injured. The teacher said that he just screamed for a minute and then he was fine. She was so surprised that he did not scream longer because she has seen his drama. To add to his tragedy, Cade has splinters in his hand from the grass burr catastrophe. The splinters are trying to work themselves out and if Cade hits them in just the right way - watch out! Mark tried to get the splinters out tonight but Cade was hysterical with fear so I guess the splinters will remain for a while! My poor baby!

Nate at 15 months and Other Updates

Nate "helping" with the dishes. I had to snap pictures before I told him "no"

Nate eating a burrito. He had to hold it himself. He would not take a bite if I was holding it.

I can't believe that my baby is already 15 months old! How did that happen. He is growing and changing every day. He is almost 30 inches tall which puts him in the 15th percentile for height. Big surprise, we have another peanut! He weighs almost 21 pounds which puts him in the 5th percentile for weight. I don't anticipate that he will ever have a weight issue. The things that I love the most about Nate right now.

1) I love how he pretends to talk on the phone by holding his hand to his ear. I love how he is fascinated by the phone.

2) I love how he came up to me and gave me a kiss all on his own. Completely melted me.

3) I love how he went up to Chase the other day and gave him a hug. I love how he went up to Cade today and gave him a hug and leaned his head into Cade's shoulder. Incredibly sweet.

4) I love how he pats my back when he is hugging me. Pure heaven!

5) I love how he puts certain phrases together and says them as one word - whatsat (what is that) and derugo (there you go) are 2 of my favorites.

6) I love watching him discover things for the first time. He is loving watching all of the Christmas activity. I can't wait to see him open presents this year.

7) I love that he is such a good eater! It makes my life so much easier.

8) I love how much he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his bubbas. Chase especially takes super good care of his baby brother.

9) I love how he takes a chip, dips it in salsa, and then eats it. That's my boy!

There are many things about Nate that we love but those are my favorite right now. He truly is our gift from God.

Chase had his well check on Monday. Yes, I realize that he turned 9 in August. It just worked out that his well check this year was in November. He is now 51 inches tall. In July of 2004 he was not even on the charts and now he is in the 25th percentile!!!! He was right around 42 inches tall when we started all of this. Still amazes me.

Several funny Cade things. He really got into Halloween this year. He especially loved this house near ours with 8 or so zombies in the yard. He talks about that house and about zombies (and other Halloween things) all of the time. His uncle Brad, who is a very talented artist, drew him a picture with a scary tree, a scary moon, a scary boy zombie coming out of the ground, and a scary girl zombie floating around. It was very scary to Cade. So scary that he could not keep it. He had to give it to Grammy to keep. Yesterday he drew a picture of a scary tree, a scary moon, and a floating zombie. I was surprised at how good it was. Cade is loving the Christmas stuff. We are decorating in spurts and he can't stand waiting. Every once in a while he will go out to the garage and sneak another decoration into the house. He loves playing with the snowmen. He has his little Snowy. He has been having the best time having Snowy talk to the other snowmen and to Santa Claus. Needless to say, the decorations are very mobile this year. Every year I buy the boys 2 identical ornaments. I try to find ornaments that reflect their interests during the year. When they are adults, I will give them one of the ornaments and keep the other one. A couple of years ago Cade loved Dora so I got him Dora ornaments. They have his name on them so he knows that they are his. He is not happy that he has "girl" ornaments. It is truly disturbing him. He is a constant source of entertainment.

Gross Dead Animal Pictures

Chase had a great time with his Daddy. He already loves hunting. 

Boys on a Couch

The cousins playing DS games with each other - too bad Cade doesn't have one. Guess what he is asking Santa for?
Note my nephew's (Trent) silly face! Note what Dylan is doing. Ah, the moments that make a mommy proud!
Notice that Dylan is now cleaning out the other side! These pictures will be great for when he is a teenager (evil laughter).

Thanksgiving in Abilene

Nate liked the whipping cream

Grammy and Cade working on a puzzle

The boys and I left for Abilene on Tuesday. I had an appointment in Abilene that night so Charles and Ann kept the kids while I worked. The next day we spent time getting ready for Thanksgiving. I was starting to make a cake when my sweet nephew, Austin, came and took over. He got Cade to help him. He was being so sweet and supportive to Cade. I heard a lot of "Good job, Cade". Austin was a tremendous help. He baked, he chopped, he helped. It was really nice to be able to spend time with him. I don't feel like I get to see him enough.

Mark came in on Wednesday night along with Charlotte and Brad with their boys. Thursday we had the typical Thanksgiving dinner. The weather was beautiful and the boys had a great time playing with their cousins. The next day, Mark; Chase; Todd; and Austin left at 4 in the morning to go hunting. Gross dead animal pictures will be coming as soon as I can find the cord to download them. Charlotte and I did a little shopping on Friday. Not a lot of shopping because the sales were not that great. Although I was able to get some jeans super cheap! That afternoon we went out to Brad's aunt's and uncle's place. They have a lot of land for the boys to play. They had a great time, for the most part. Poor Cade was running. Brad's uncle pointed out that Cade was running through an area with a lot of grass burrs. Can you guess what happened next? Cade fell hard right in the middle of a huge, HUGE patch of grass burrs. He had at least a hundred stuck in him. He was scared and hurt and he screamed louder than I have ever heard him scream. Constant and loud (and those that know Cade know that he can scream). He was hurting so bad. Charlotte and I got all the ones off of his hands and arms. I pulled out his shirt (his favorite pumpkin shirt which now has a hole in it) so that all the ones stuck there were pulled off his skin. Charlotte grabbed his underarms and I very carefully grabbed him by his pant's legs and we carried him to the porch (screaming all the way). He was screaming so bad that it scared Nate and Nate started crying. I held Nate while Charlotte, Granddaddy, and Brad's uncle went to work on getting all the burrs off. Cade then fell asleep in my lap. My poor, traumatized baby. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but Mark had the camera.

Saturday, I drove back with Cade and Nate along with Charlotte and Brad and their boys. I dropped them off at the airport and then the boys and I went on a mission to find a new Christmas tree. We went to so many crowded stores! Cade kept wanting to go to more stores because he really wanted to put the tree up! I found a beautiful tree but it was a little too pricey so we went home. The next day, we met Jason and Kristen for lunch as they were driving through. I am sad that I don't get to see them very often. Hannah and Ben are both getting so big. After lunch, the boys and I went back to Garden Ridge because there was a new sale on a tree. It was sold out at one Garden Ridge so we went across town and bought the very last one at the other Garden Ridge. It's not a perfect tree, but it will work for a few years and then we can get a nicer one when certain family members are not so destructive :) The boys and I worked on the tree on Sunday. They are getting so excited about Christmas! I love watching their excitement and joy. Cade is especially fun this year. He loves looking at the Christmas lights. He really wants lights up on our house. We will see.

So there it is, our Thanksgiving in review.

Thanksgiving

Both Ashley and Dylan are missing their 2 front teeth! Aren't they cute!!!!

Nate is the little bite begger! And drink begger! He likes almost everything. That makes it so easy. When he wants a bite or a drink he will not take "no" for an answer!! He can be very demanding and he gets very angry when he is not given what he wants. I made the mistake of letting him try my caffe mocha. I did not think that he would like it, but he loved it!! He took drink after drink. People were laughing at the sight of Nate drinking a drink from Starbucks. I finally had to hide the cup from him. Stinkpot!

Thanksgiving Adventures

Austin and Cade cooking

Ashley holding Nate

Playing Games

I love the train ride!

Pease, mama, pease
I think that I am just as big as the big boys

Here Nate is trying to crawl back into the train

Bryce's Birthday Party

Mr. Chris helping Cade skate. Cade did great!
Look, no wall!!

Nate wanted to be out there too! He went around a few times until he was banned.
Chase with his buddy, Andrew.


After a crazy morning on Saturday, the boys and I (Mark was gone hunting) went to Bryce's ice skating birthday party. The boys had a great time skating and playing games. Nate loved the riding train and was not pleased that Mommy would not let him keep riding it. After the party, I took the boys plus 3 of their friends to see Happy Feet (I thought it was very boring). Then the boys and I went home. Fun things that happened at the movie - Nate had a blow out because he was still sick - There was no access to the changing table in the bathroom so I had to change Nate on the floor - My business checkbook was lost - Nate made numerous phone calls on my cell phone (he was playing with it to try to keep him quiet). Good times! Chase's friend, Kevin, spent the night. A tired Mark had a houseful of boys to himself the next day because I was in Houston. Busy weekend.