What I Am Thankful For

Since it is Thanksgiving and a time to be thankful I thought I would list things I am thankful for:

1. Jesus Christ - I am thankful God sent his Son to die for everyone, especially me. I am more thankful that I know I will have eternal live because of Him.
2. My Husband - I am thankful for everything about him, but I appreciate so much all that he does for our family and that above all he tries his hardest to make us happy.
3. My girls - they are such a blessing to me and everyday they show me in some way why I love them so much. I am so thankful that I was chosen to be their mother and help raise them.
4. My parents - I am grateful that both of my parents are still with me and are so supportive of me and all of our moving. :)
5. My brothers - even thought I don't get to see or speak to them as often as I should or would like I know I always have two people in this world who would do anything for me.
6. My Friends - I have many friends but I only have a few friends that I would call close friends and that know me best. I realize as life goes on how nice it is to have someone who knows you, the good and bad and will be there for you. I want to same something special about those friends.
Joy - You are my best friend and have without a doubt been there for me through everything. I love the fact that we have kept our friendship so close and we can always just pick up where we left off every time we talk.
Tammy - You are without a doubt the friend that I can be my silly self with. When I think of our friendship I only think of all the laughter we have had and all of the "dirty" jokes that seem to come out of our conversations. One day I know we will be back to our evil ways in Knoxville. :)
Patricia - You are my friend with all the advice and Godly wisdom. You and I made it through the trenches together at Nova and formed a bond that really know one else would understand. I look up to you as a sister and appreciate your realness when it comes to God's word. You are never afraid to tell it like it is. I admire that and one day will hopefully have your boldness.
Cara - You are my preggo buddy. You and I went through it all together and I am so thankful I had you around to complain about all the pregnancy woes and know are children woes. You were the very first person who befriended me in Columbia and I am so thankful we hit it off as friends. Even though we don't always see eye to eye on certain things, I love the fact that we can speak what is on our minds and know it will not hurt our friendship. Oh, yeah you are my internet shopping guru. How could I live without you. :)
To all of my friends I love you all and are so grateful to have you in my live.

I am grateful for so many of the things in my life that I couldn't possible list them all but I wanted to list those that were most important to me. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving, Lights, and Sickness

This year for Thanksgiving Chris and I decided that we would stay put at our house. We invited his mom, dad and grandmother up for a visit. They flew in on Wednesday night and left this morning. We had a really great visit with them. Chris and I weren't sure if the girls would remember them because it has been almost a year since they last saw them. Katie went with Chris to the airport to pick them up and as soon as she saw her grandma she took off running to give her a hug. It made her day to get such a warm reception from Katie. The next morning Bree got to see them and of course she didn't remember them but it didn't take long for her to warm up to them. She was great grandma's sidekick all weekend. She really took to her right away and just loved her. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed our lazy day together.

Friday we got out for a few hours to try and take advantage of the black Friday deals. I was not feeling to well so we headed back to the house. By Friday afternoon I was running a 102 fever and was feeling pretty bad. No other symptoms just a fever and very achy, but by Saturday morning my fever had broken and I was feeling much better. I even ventured back out with Katie on Saturday afternoon for a little mother,daughter time together. We went and took care of some of the Christmas shopping. That evening after dinner Chris, Katie, Bree, Mom, Grandma and myself all loaded up to go see the lights at Rhema. Rhema is a HUGE church and bible college here in BA. They decorate their entire campus in lights and have Santa there also. They take donations to help out local charities. Katie and Bree were amazed by all the lights. Some of the lights were coming on and off to Christmas music. It was pretty neat. Katie actually sat on Santa's lap for the very first time every. We were so surprised. Each year she is terrified of him and will only way but would not go close to him. We were very proud of her. Now we just have to work on Bree. She would only wave but wasn't getting close to him. Maybe next year.

The girls were very sad to see their grandparents leave this morning. Even though we don't get to seem them very often it was so nice to have them here and spend some time with them.

Our Crazy Girl!!!

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to go ahead and get out some of our Christmas decoracations. While I was doing this I had Bree with me in the living room "helping" me out and I thought that Katie was just off playing. Well, I have now learned that when it gets to quit you realize that they might be up to something they don't want you to know about. I soon heard Chris just bust out laughing and he came in asked me where the camera was at. Then I saw Katie come strutting into the living room, from our bedroom. She had found her way into my closet and was trying on my shoes. Well, you can see below what she ended up coming out in. We were laughing so hard. This is our little girl at her finest.

Here is a little video of the girls enjoying one of our christmas decorations that plays music. Bree was loving it. I thought it was so sweet how she would clap along with the music. I truely love this time of year.

8 Things about Katie

8 of my favorite things:
1. Cartoons....love to watch Dora, Backyardigans, Little Einstiens, etc
2. Dressing up like a princess.
3. Reading books
4. Playing with Bree
5. Taking showers
6. Watching movies
7. Talking.....love to tell mommy and daddy all about my day.
8. Going to church

8 things that happened today:
1. Woke up to my mommy being home.
2. Watched a few movies
3. Went to church
4. Had lunch with mommy, daddy and bree
5. Laid in bed with mommy and daddy and watched movie
6. Went to a potluck dinner with mommy, daddy and Bree
7. Played with Bree
8. Ate a chocolate pudding before I went to bed.

8 things I am looking foward to:
1. Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma coming to visit for Thanksgiving
2. Thanksgiving.....all that food
3. Going to the Christmas Train
4. Going to see Christmas lights at the zoo
5. Decorating for Christmas
6. Christmas party at church
7. Nana and Papaw coming to visit for Christmas
8. Spending time with my mommy, daddy and sister.

8 Things about Bree

8 of my favorite things:
1. my hand blankey....don't go anywhere without it
2. my babies, love to undress them and then cover them up with blankets
3. movies.... i love to take them off the shelve and try to put them in the dvd player
4. bath time... love to play in the tub with Katie
5. food..... you can't really tell because I am so little but when my mommy says it's time to eat I drop whatever I am doing and go.
6. cooking in my kitchen... love to make food for my mommy to eat
7. the phone...but for some reason mommy won't let me play with it much
8. sleeping..... all you have to say is lets go night night and she is off to her bed.

8 things I that happened today.
1. Woke up to my mommy being back home.
2. Ate my breakfast
3. Went to church.
4. Had lunch with mommy, daddy and bree
5. Took a good afternoon nap
6. Played with Katie and my toys
7. Went to a potluck dinner with mommy and daddy and katie
8. Ate chocolate pudding for my snack before bed. yum!

8 things I am looking foward to:
1. Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma coming to visit for Thanksgiving
2. Thanksgiving.....all that food
3. Going to the Christmas Train
4. Going to see Christmas lights at the zoo
5. Decorating for Christmas
6. Christmas party at church
7. Nana and Papaw coming to visit for Christmas
8. Spending time with my mommy, daddy and sister.

Women of Faith

This past weekend I got to have a mini girls weekend with a few ladies from my church. Me and four other girls from my church left on Friday morning to go to Oklahoma City to go to the Women of Faith conference. The conference didn't start unitl Friday evening so we took advantage of our kid free time and went shopping during the day on Friday. Friday evening the conference started with a concert by Nicole C Mullins and a little comedy show. If you have not heard of Nicole C Mullins then I would encourage you to download a few of her songs. She is one of the most amazing christian singers I have every heard. She has an amazing voice and writes great songs. She puts on a great concert. She has so much energy and has a group of young kids that travel with her to help her put on her show. Another reason I love her is she is a TN girl. She currently lives in Franklin Tn. Saturday was a day of speakers and all of the women who spoke at the conference were so good. These ladies that speak are so funny and down to earth. They make you feel like the craziness that is in your life day to day, that you are not the only one that experiences. I really enjoyed my weekend with the girls. It was nice to have time away to just talk with girls, eat a complete meal without the interuptions, and of course get to be silly.
Another thing I realized this weekend is that I know I wouldn't have been able to go if I didn't have a wonderful husband that doesn't mind taking on the extra responsibilites to allow me to have some time to myself, and to make it all that much better I came back home to a clean home. :) I guess all of my years of training have paid off.

Trip to the ER

On Thursday night we a bit of a scare with Bree. Thursday night Chris is in school so it is just me and the girls. I was in the play room getting something for the girls when all of the sudden I hear a loud thump and Bree start crying, but not just any cry I knew it was a hurt cry. When I went into the room I saw her just standing there crying. Katie told me that she fell out of the recliner she was sitting and hit her head on our end table. I was holding Bree and trying to check out her head. About 10 minutes or so after she hit her head she just started zoning out on me. She wouldn't talk or try to get up and walk. She would just look around but her eyes were very glazed over. I initially thought she was just a little shook up from the fall so I took her and Katie both to give them a bath. The whole time Bree was in the bath tub she kept trying to lay down in the water and not wanting to play. I got her and Katie out of the bath tub, got them dressed and tried to get Bree to eat or drink something. Bree loves bananas and has never turned one down but that night she wanted nothing to do with it. She still had the glazed looked in her eyes was kept putting her head on my shoulder and since an hour had past since she feel I decided to call our Ped. The nurse called me back and told me to bring her straight to the ER to have them do a CT Scan. They were worried she might have hit her head hard enough for her brain to start swelling. Well, once she said that my heart went into panic mode but I knew in my mind I had to stay calm for not only me but Katie and Bree. I quickly got them in the car, texted Chris to meet up as the ER and we were off. Once we got there the doctor checked her out and said that everything so far looked good but because she is so little he wanted to do the CT Scan to be on the safe side. I wasn't looking foward to this only because I knew that would have to restrain her to do the test, but we had to do it. They took us to the room and I laid her down on the bed and she immediately started crying so hard that her face was blood red. They wrapped her up like a little burrito and then strapped her head down. It was all I could do not to cry but I didn't want her to see me crying so I just stayed by her side and kept talking to her. But thankfully when the test started the sounds of the machine and the voice of the lady talking to her over the speaker keep her interested in what was going on. She didn't cry much after the test started and it only took about 3 minutes for them to do the scan. The lady doing the test keep telling Bree she was ridding a Choo Choo Train when the bed would back and forth in the machine. I told my Mom that Bree is going to never step on another ride that is called a Choo Choo Train for the rest of her live after that experience. By the end of the night her CT Scan came back clear which we were very thankful. The doctor said that sometime hard knocks to little ones heads like that can just make them confused and they will act funny, but it is alway good to get them checked out because you never know with head injuries. It made me feel much better to know she was going to be fine. We got home around 11pm and the girls were ready for bed and so was I. By the next day Bree was back to her normal self as if nothing happened.

Volunteering

About four months ago I decided that I wanted to volunteer at our children's hopsital here in Tulsa. I had read about a program call Baby Cuddling, which has volunteers come in and rock and hold newborns who are not able to be with their mothers all the time. This program just touched my heart. I just couldn't imagine little newborns laying in the nursey not getting the love and warmth they need from their mothers. I contacted the hospital and filled out the application, got my references, and about a month ago they contacted me to come in and speak with the Director of Volunteering. Well, the Baby Cuddling program was full at the time so I had to be put on the waiting list, but in the mean time they had an open for an evening sitter, which I basically just go to rooms and give parents a break. I stay with the kids while the parents go for a walk, get something to eat or even go home for a shower. It sounded like something I wanted to do. So after getting my background check done, a TB test, and of course my lovely uniform. I was ready to start. I actually started doing this the week before Halloween. I go one night a week for about 3 hours. I get a list of all the kids that are in the Children's Hospital and I go to the rooms that have of babies first and the move up to the older ones. I have to say this is one of the most rewarding experiences I have every had. My first night I spent almost two hours rocking a little girl that was only 31 days olds. Her mom was so grateful for the break because she was on her own with no other family. As her mom got some time to herself, I got to spend two wonderful hours feeding and just rocking and cuddling this sweet little girl. The rest of my time was spent with a little boy who was almost 3 years old and he had been in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. You would think that he would just be bouncing off the walls because he has to stay in his room but he was the sweetest boy. We talked, watched some cartoons and played a game. He was such a little talker. He kept telling me all about his upcoming b-day and how it was going to all dinosaurs. It was really amazing how well these kids handle being in the hospital. I don't know... it just makes me grateful I guess. I complain when my back hurts or I have a head ache and here are the kids that are in the hospital when they should be out playing and they have a great attitude.

I looked foward to going each week. Part of me likes to see that on the list the babies or kids I saw the week before are no longer on the list.

Beauty and The Pooh

Halloween this year was so much fun for Chris and I. Katie dressed up as Belle from Beauty and The Beast and Bree went as Winnie the Pooh. Katie was really into Halloween this year and all excited about going trick or treating. Bree wasn't sure what we were getting ready to do but she was so excited to have her costume on. Katie wore this same costume when she was Bree's age but Katie never liked wearing the hat. Bree on the other had wore everything all night long. Once they were all dressed and ready to go we went out to hunt for some candy. We took our wagon because I figured Bree would get tired of walking, but she was a really trooper. She walked almost the entire neighborhood and as her bucket of candy got heavier and heavier you could hear it dragging the ground, but she wasn't about to let anyone hold it for her. I guess she thought Mommy or Daddy were going to steal some candy. There were only a few houses they were too scared to go up to by themselves, so I would take them. It was very sweet to see both of them walking together and going up to houses getting their candy.

On Saturday we were all invited to a bonfire at a friends house. We roasted hot dogs and had smores. Katie even roasted her own hot dog. After we all ate and hung out for awhile they had a mini firework display. Katie didn't like the load noise of the fireworks. Bree did okay until one of the fireworks was really big and it looked like it was coming right at us, that really scared her and it was over at the point for her. She was hanging on to me with a death grip. Luckly, they only had a few more to set off and they were done. Oh yeah, Katie thinks the idea of cooking outside is just great. She keeps asking when we are going to have a kitchen outside. :)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.