Hockey Pictures

Our Big Boy

We had a good weekend. Friday night we went to a Brahma's hockey game. They don't have as much support as the Rustlers, but it was still alot of fun. We sat near the ice and right by where the players entered and exited. The kids got to high five the players when they went on and off the ice. One of the guys even gave Cara a puck. She said "this is the best night of my life." We also had blue cotton candy. What a mess that was. Kirk's mom and dad and grandma came to visit, just for the day, on Saturday. We relaxed at home and cooked out for lunch. It was grandma's first time to see our house. We loved having her here. Kirk's cousin and her daughter also dropped by for awhile to chat. Memaw brought Caleb some big boy clothes and he looks so cute in them. He is sitting up all by himself now. He says dadada, too. Before they went home, we ate at Pulido's, a local mexican restaurant. Caleb had a good time grabbing onto Pawpaw's beard (see above picture's). Today we ALL went to church and now we are going to plant a tree in our back yard. We are counting down the days to Spring Break. We will be in WF at the begining of Spring Break. Then Kirk's mom and dad will be here at the end. Kirk and I will celebrate our 10th anniverary the 16th. We were hoping to go to a hockey game or a concert but there isn't much, except basketball, going on. I guess that's all for now.

Tongue Man

Caleb has discovered his tongue. It is outside of his mouth more often than inside. Isn't he soooo cute! I am finding it so hard to make him cry himself to sleep. He really is spoiled and now I get to reteach him all the things he should have learned from a tiny baby. Being a mom is so hard sometimes. I just want to hold and cuddle him not leave him all alone in his room.

Funny Karissa story... Karissa has a friend in her class named Nathan. Apparently, they are paired up a lot together since they are the smartest and at about the same level. Nathan is really sweet but very energetic. The other day he went up to his teacher and said "Ms. Lawson, what does" I'm not in the mood " mean?" I guess Karissa had had enough of him and let her true colors show. Boy they sure start young!!!

Pictures!!

At Ariel's birthday party with cousin Dustin.

Look at me...I can sit up!!

Rainy Weekend

We had a busy weekend. Aunt Linda took Karissa and Cara to see Curious George and out to dinner. Kirk had Kylie and Caleb all to himself friday night while I went to a moms night out with my moms group. We went to our leaders home and her husband made us homemade pizza while we worked on Easter banners. Have I mentioned she has eight kids from 4-21? The banners are like Christmas advent calendar only foe Easter. It was a lot of fun. We just sat around and talked about everything while we cut pieces out of felt. One topic of conversation brought something up that I wanted ya'lls opinion on. Do you think it shows a lack of complete faith in God to use birth control? Before you freak and think I am hanging out with weirdos not everyone feels that way. We just really couldn't come up with a good answer. Kirk and I think God gave us intelligence so we could choose to use birth control. Some of the girls said God won't give us more than we can handle and children are a blessing from God so why would we close the door on a blessing from God? Anyway I just wondered what you all think?

Saturday, Kirk let me sleep till 9:45. WOW!! Of course we were up off and on with four kids in our bed due to the thunderstorms. At one point I got up and went to sleep in Cara's bed. I woke up a bit disoriented and heard Caleb crying. I went into my bedroom to find Caleb crying in the middle of the bed with Kirk, Karissa, Cara and Kylie sound asleep around him. I picked him up and nursed him and we fell asleep in the recliner. Anyway it rained all day yesterday and all night and until late Saturday afternoon. Our back yard is like a river. Kirk went to lunch with our small group guys and then they went and played pool at Main Event. Then we loaded up and went to Kirk's aunts house for his cousins birthday party. We all went out to dinner at Zio's Italian Kitchen. It was good food but Kirk and I wonder why we try to go out with all our kids. It is so expensive and so not relaxing. Then we headed back to Aunt Sharon's for cake and presents. We got home around 9.

This morning we woke up to Cara's barky cough. She has had it for over a week but only in the mornings. I was feeling icky like major allergies or a cold so we opted out of church. We spent a lazy day at home. Caleb and I caught up on sleep and Kirk watched the race. Then the girls and I went to the park and to McDonalds with Aunt Linda. We had a great time and even met a nice couple there. McDonalds is a great place to meet couples with kids.

I just finished the book of Leviticus. Wow what a hard book to read. It shows a whole different God than the New Testament God. I had to get the commentaries out because I couldn't figure out the whole point of all the regulations and sacrifices. So I learned they were so God could have a relationship with his people. He gave specific instructions for their purity so He could reside with them. I did stumble across something I have a question about. Maybe one of you bible scholars knows the answer. The Nelson comentary says the sacrifices were not a part of salvation because that can only come from Gods grace. It says the israelites were a "redeeemed" people. DOes this mean they are all saved or all pre-destined? Also, I didn't think there was salvation by God's grace in the OLd Teastament. I am so enjoying this trek through the Bible and it has sparked many conversations between Kirk and I. Did you know that 70 men plus wives, kids, etc. went into captivity in Egypt and over 600,000 came out. I had no idea it was so many people. I always pictured the crossing of the red sea as a small group of people. Anyway I had no idea so many were a part of the Exodus or that so many died in the wilderness because of their lack of faith. Once again, I would like to encourage you all to read the Bible thru. It is so much more alive to me to read it as a book and not in pieces. Don't get me wrong...I have gotten behind and had to catch up but it's really not about the time line it takes to complete it. One year isn't a magic number, just reading it in its entirety is a whole new experience.

Karissa made all A's on her report card and is consistantly making 100's on her AR(accelerated reading) tests at a late 3rd to 4th grade reading leval. She loves to read (just like me). Cara can write her name and many other letters as well as count to 30 (almost) in English and Spanish. Kylie can count to 20 and is still enjoying taking care of Caleb. It is so funny to see her cuddled up to him. They are so close to the same size but she insists she is the "big sister." Caleb is sitting up for a few minutes at a time with a pillow behind him. He is very happy. He doesn't sleep well and isn't really liking the cereal with a spoon thing. We are giving cereal in a bottle for now and trying the spoon every few days.

I guess that's all for now. I hope everyone has a great week. One more thing... Sometimes I think I am writing this soley for my own records. So last night I pulled up my stattracker and it told me I have 6-12 unique visitors a day. I would love to know who you are. Please leave a comment. I saw people who visit from all kinds of locations and I don't know who they are. I can pull up where you visit from but not your names.

To Grandpa Bill's House We Go...

This weekend we went to visit Kirk's grandparents. They live down by Georgetown. What a weekend to pick to travel!! Kirk's parents and brother and nephew went with us, so we divided kids and adults in two vans. God kept us safe and we arrived Saturday around lunch time. The girls love to visit Grandpa Bill's because they think it is like a farm. He did have miniture goats but now they just have four dogs. It was too cold this time to spend any time outside but twe found plenty to do. They live out in the country and run a little country store. Karissa and Cara love to "help" in the store and collect payment in candy. They live in a house they built themselves and have all kinds of cool stuff in their house. It is very comfortable and homey. This was Caleb's first visit there and his first time to meet his great grandparents. We played pool and just relaxed and had a wonderful time. The girls will definately remember visiting Grandpa Bill's (and Grandma Sue's) when they grow up. Grandma is very crafty and taught Cara how to crochet. Karissa had fun playing with her cousin Chris and playing pool. She also finished an 80 page book in the van . We returned home Sunday evening and Kirk had Monday off.

On a sad note, when we returned home we learned the youth pastor of our church had died in a car wreck early Sunday morning on his way to preach at church. We did not know him but please pray for his wife and the youth and youth ministry team at our church.

V-DAY

I hope all of you have a great day. We are poor so we will be having a wonderful family spaghetti dinner tonight. That is AFTER we all load up and go pick Kirk up from work. As life goes, his truck got a flat yeaterday and his radiator sprang an old leak. His truck is parked in a bank parking lot until he can buy a new tire. It seems like there is always something.

On another note, I am struggling through Exodus in my daily reading. I am to the part where God gives SPECIFIC rules and instructions about the tabernacle. It is very repetitve and precise.

I also wanted to take this time and space and say a great big THANK- YOU to all our parents. In the last month, everyone has been so wonderful. Thank-you for making the kids Valentine's Day special. Thank-you for visiting and baby sitting. Thanks for always helping us out and just being here for us. We love you!!

Weekend News

We spent this weekend at HOME doing nothing. After the wonderful concert(see Kirk's blog) we went to Friday night it was nice to just be home. We did have some friends come over Saturday night. We haven't seen them in over a year. They have two daughters, 4 and 10mo. The kids had fun and we even got to play a game!! Sunday we got to go to church. Yeah!! We have been a little or maybe a lot disappointed with the lack of depth in the sermons at our church. It came highly recommended by our pastors at Grace so we assumed it would be the same. Doctrinally (sp?) it is the same but there is definately less meat. On a better note we started a study on Revelations in SS and it was interesting. Our small group also provided some depth into the word. That's about all that is going on around here.

Mommy moments: Kylie walks into the living room and says "I don't believe it." I know it doesn't sound like much but you just had to hear the inflection she used!! When our friends were coming over Kylie said " Oh, my best friends." (she's never even met them!!) The pictures with this post are also Kylie...Kylie has decided when Caleb cries he needs "her" blankie. She has lovingly given it to him and he snuggles to it and goes to sleep. Of course at sleep time Kylie wants it back. Still it is so sweet to see her share her special blanket. The other picture is of Kylie with her breathing machine. She is so calm and wide eyed and even smiles and sometimes asks to do it.

Questions

Just a couple of questions for those of you out there who read this. I am in Exodus now and reading the story of Moses going to Pharoah to release the Israelites. So my question is about "god hardening Pharoahs heart" and Pharoah hardening his heart. I understand God wanted to show His power to the Egyptians and Israelites by hardening Pharoahs heart. I guess my question is was Pharoah predestined not to choose God so this is a case of God using a non-believer for His good? If so where is Pharoahs free will in this case? I guess it is hard to picture God so blatently usung someone for His own good. But, then again He did make us all to glorify Him. The other question is about relationships. How do we stop competing about who works harder or does more?

Not much going on here. We bought some Tabasco sauce to try and discourage all the lying going on around here. We went to storytime today. I thought it was great but the girls weren't so sure. Kylie wanted to go home and Cara acted shy. Go figure! I was just glad to get out of the house.

Super Bowl

Our guys watching the big game Chocolate feast...brownies, cake, ice cream, chocolate
covered strawberries Mmmmmm! Caleb's first ceral.
He's so soft and so sweet and so spoiled and its all my fault.

First, let me just say Yeah Steelers!!! It wasn't a great super bowl but at least the Steelers won. We had a football day. Kirk's parents are here and his uncle came over to watch the game with us. We grilled burgers, played football in the backyard, had rotel and velveta queso and a chocolate feast. Then we watched the commercials and the Super Bowl. I missed half-time fixing the kids some supper but I got to see most of the game.

Last night, Cara had a very vivid dream. She dreamed she woke -up and heard a tiny ghost talking mean to Kylie. Then Karissa called me to come in Cara's room and I had the ghost on my finger and washed it down the drain. Cara does not believe it was a dream. No matter what we say she says it was real and is very afraid we have ghosts in our house. She didn't sleep most of last night even when Kirk's mom put her in bed with her. Then tonight when she went to be we prayed for her to have sweet dreams and no scary things to be in her room. She went to sleep Ok but she just seems to be off on her sleep schedule lately. So I just went in to check on the kids before I go to bed and Karissa is asleep with ear muffs on!!! She was trying to block out Cara's crying at bed time.

Kylie is doing great. She is full of energy and happy. She whines a lot but I think it is out of habit more than anything else. Kylie prayed for the first time tonight. It was at bedtime prayers and she never wants to participate. Tonight she says" I want to say something." So she says"Dear God, Thank you for the food. We love you . Amen." It is a start.

Caleb had cereal for the first time yesterday. He didn't seem to care one way or the other. He watched his first Super Bowl today but was asleep before the second quarter. He is so cute right now. He has discovered his toes. He always has his feet in the air and usually rolls to one side or the other. He never rolls over but he spins around in a circle.

Karissa is loving the warm weather. She is out riding her bike all the time. She has music this semester and is loving it. Tonight at prayer time she prayed for "daddy not to yell and hit her anymore." What??? Like he does that. I asked her about it and she said she didn't know what else to pray for. I said we don't pray about things that aren't true. So she says "Dad yelled for me to move out of the front of the tv and then he hit me when I walked by." Of course her version is a bit distorted but it is scary what kids will say. We had to discuss the difference between swat, spank and hit.

Back from the dead

Kylie's Tinkerbell inspired house is made out of box.
Cara designed the wallpaper and added some rugs.
Karissa created a three story mansion that is stiil a work in progress.
We made wallpaper, carpet, bed, couch, lamp, coffee table, chair.
She hopes to add curtains, pictures and a bath and kitchen.

Hello everyone. I think I am back in the land of the living. After two weeks of the kids being sick, Sunday I came down with a severe case of strep. My mom came and took care of me and the kids for four days. I am still on an antibiotic and still not feeling 100%. Now my ear is swollen and stuffy,hopefully, next week will be better.

I am going to post some pictures of the girls "bookshelf doll houses." We had so much fun making these and my mom and i reminisced about when I was a girl. Of course, I didn't have a doll house at all and I used moving boxes to make mine not a book shelf but it was fun and I still remember it. Your kids can be as simple or creative as they want and it can be an on going project.

Mommy moments: Kylie and Cara were playing house and grandma overheard them say"Cara you be mom and Kylie you be the teenager, like Karissa." When grandma told Karissa she beemed with pride at being thought a teenager. Watching Kirk teach Kylie how to throw a football and Kirk saying "she's pretty good." Seeing Kylie's real personality come out because she is actually well. She has such a beautiful smile and laugh. Seeing Cara's nurturing nature come out when I was sick. She patted me or hugged me and wanted to bring me drinks. She even brought a chair into the bathroom to make sure I was OK while I took a bath! Watching Karissa decorate her doll house. She has such a creative mind.

I also created a collage for above Calebs crib and we got the neatest gift for him. The name plate in the picture...it is a magnetic puzzle with pictures behind each letter and the blocks come out to be individual magnets. How cool. He will have a blast learning to spell his name.

Odds and Ends

Kylie loves to strike a pose. We are so glad she is well!
Cara loves to have her picture taken, too.
The girls at the Radio Shack fountain.
Caleb loves the PACKERS!!

Today was a fun day. After a long week of sickness and staying home, we finally got out of the house. Karissa's friend Raven stayed the night and they had a blast. It sure is hard to know the rules of a friend spending the night. Cara and Kylie think of Raven as their friend, too and want her to play with them, too. Karissa wants Raven all to herself and Raven is content to play with them all. Raven has an older sister, so Karissa has been introduced to her first boy musician crush. She like Jesse McCartney but she really can't tell you why. He does sing one of the songs on her Kim Possible movie so she thinks that is cool.

Anyway, after the rain cleared away we decided to go downtown. We visited several fountains and just let the kids run around. They had a good time and were only a little disappointed that the actual Water Gardens were closed for repair. Ther is just something about falling water that is so soothing. Since we have had hardly any rain this year the fountains were very refreshing. After downtown we went to Petsmart to see all the animals. We were highly disappointed at their selection of pets. They did have a groomer in the store that was neat to watch through the windows. Then we took Raven home had dinner and put the kids to bed.

We are very hopeful about going to church in the morning. Cara has awakened once with a night terror (pretty scary) and Caleb has awkened several times. We are trying to get him to sleep in his bed and he is protesting. He goes to sleep but wakes up every 30 minutes or so. If he sleeps with us he wakes up every few hours. By the way, he was 16lbs 8 oz at his 4 month check up and 26 inches long.

On another note, I have been reading Job in my read the Bible through study. It is a hard read. Finally, last night I had to get out a commentary to figure out what was going on. I think that was God's plan all along...to get me to do more than just read. Anyway, Job is really interesting. I have known the basis of the book since I was a kid but there is a lot hidden inside of it. I learned that God is completely sovereign. He isn't obligated to bless those who obey Him. All His actions are based on His gracious nature and His own free will. I have never thought about God's own free will; only my own. Anyway, I was really struggling after the easy read that Genesis was to get into Job. Now I can't wait to get to it each day and see what I can learn. It is really neat in my Christian walk for the Bible to become so alive. I have always struggled with reading it and thinking "I know this or I have heard this before." Then I would skip to the next part. Now, I am learning everyday. I would encourage any of you who haven't ever read the Bible through to give it a try. It is addicting and gets easier everyday. Don't get me wrong...I have fallen off the wagon (already, only 28 days into the year) but I just climb back on.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a restful Sunday. Hey Alyssa, it's great to see you back in blog world.

Hello Again

This is the cutest exersaucer I have ever seen. Cara is playing peek a boo with Caleb and he is loving it. He is still a great baby but not a great sleeper.

First, I need to say I am so sorry it has been so long(for me) since I posted last. We have had sickness and decorating and my mom visited for a few days. Kylie seems to finally be better today. She still isn't eating much. Yesterday was horrible. Kylie and Caleb just took turns needing me and sleeping. Last night I tried to sleep with one on each side of me, but they kept waking each other up. This morning I told Kylie I was so happy she didn't have fever and she said "yeah! my ears don't have fever anymore." (we use an ear thermometor) Poor Cara waits daily for a church day and we have missed the last four due to sickness. Hopefully, Sunday we will make it.

If you haven't seen them yet, check out Kirk's blog for pictures of our newly painted kitchen and new living room curtains. We also painted Karissa's room with polka dots. Now we just need to accessorize everything.

I found Boots!!! & 17 POUNDS

For those of you who have been searching with me, I finally found him. For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, bear with me. Ever since Cara got the Dora house for Christmas and all the people who go with it, except Boots, we have been looking for him. We saw him once at Toys R Us and didn't buy him and, of course, never saw him again. Everyday Cara says" can we go buy Boots today? It's some other day, Mom, that's what you said." So, I even checked on E-bay and they are double the price in the store plus shipping. So, last night I am late night grocery shopping at Walmart and happen to stroll down the toy aisle and what do I see...BOOTS! I gave him to her this morning and she was so cute. She said "thanks" several time all on her own. By the way Boots is Dora's side kick monkey.

On another note, I took Caleb to the doctor yesterday and found out all the kids have a respitory infection that will last about 2 weeks and there isn't much they can do for it unless it turns into Bronchitis. Yeah!! I also found out my chunk of love, Caleb, weighs a whopping 17 lbs. What a man...not even four months old yet and he almost weighs 20 lbs. No wonder my back has been going out.

That's all for now. Oh, one more thing. What do you guys do about lying in your house? We are having major problems with Karissa and minor ones with Cara. As Reggie once told me..nip it in the bud. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Pictures!!

I took this smiling pig tailed girls' picture because she was haunting me. I was blogging during rest time the other day and everytime I looked up she had snuck into the room with me. She is a very good sneaker, too. She scared me a few times but always had the sunshinny smile on her face. I couldn't resist the picture. I took Cara and Caleb's picture so everyone could see how GIANT he is. I love this John Deere shirt and thought this was a great picture. Enjoy :)

Weekend

It's amazing how a family sickness can bring everyone closer. God was definately watching out for me this weekend. All the kids got sick but Kirk had a three day weekend. We spent the weekend taking turns holding which ever kid was the neediest. We have watched football and movies and played and just enjoyed being a family all weekend. I don't think Kirk has left the house at all. I think Karissa and Cara are on the mend. Caleb and Kylie are still sick but not horribly so. We watched 40 Year Old Virgin(I totally did not want to watch this. Kirk lured me into it by starting it while I was nursing Caleb in the living room. Then I was hooked. I liked it but it had way too much cussing in it), Mr. and Mrs. Smith(I liked this one too, but had trouble not thinking about poor Jennifer Aniston) and Spanglish(This one was great. Definately, not a pick me up movie but very good). All of them were very good but very different. Karissa also learned to ride her bike without training wheels. Actually, I think she already knew how she just needed to get over her fear of it. Pawpaw watched her outside and she took right off.

Sick

Tonight, as Kirk and I sat watching the football game (Go DENVER!!) I learned a valuable lesson. I can't always tell which of my kids is coughing or crying. All four of our kids are sick. Yikes. Like overnight they all developed different symptoms. So much for church tomorrow. It's really funny how they all respond to being sick. Karissa denies it unless she gets sympathy for it. Cara wants to be sick but then doesn't really act sick. Kylie denies ever being sick (even though she is sick the most) but then wants someone to hold her constantly. So far, Caleb is a trooper. He just coughs and goes on about his business. They all have varying fevers and coughs and sore throat. Maybe tomorrow they will all be better.

On a side note, Kirk went to Temple, Tx to visit his grandpa who is in the hospital. He is doing much better and will be moved into a regular room today. While Kirk was visiting his grandfather shared his recent convesion story. It was pretty neat. Now, at least, we know he's a Christian. Hopefully he will get to go home in the next couple of weeks and we will go visit. He hasn't seen Caleb, yet. Kirk said he asked about Caleb right off. We knew Caleb couldn't go in ICU so we didn't send him on this trip. Anyway, thanks for praying.

Hey

Great news!! Kirk got our computer fixed. No more laptop for me. Now maybe I can post more pictures. We are all doing well and looking forward to our three day weekend. We had a pretty busy week with all our church activities starting back up. Karissa has done great getting back into school. Kirk has been working late as it is the end of the quarter. That's about all I have.

Just a side note to Josh. I do not have a One Year Bible. I have a Ryrie Study Bible and it has a plan in it. So far it is working. I did have a Chronological One year Bible but it was too difficult to read the same stories over and over. Not really difficult just hard to stay interested.

My Babies.

Kylie is so tiny. Caleb seems to weigh more than she does already. I can't believe she slept through his crying right beside her.

The Egyptian Singing Fish and Italian coloring book

Christmas from Italy

I forgot I wanted to send out a thank-you to Laura and Marco for the Christmas package from Italy. We all enjoyed the gifts and had a great time with the Egyptian singing fish. Thank your parents for the t-shirts and fish from Egypt.

New Year's Resolution!!

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to share one of my New Year's resolutions. I am reading "A Mom After God's Own Heart." In the first four chapters Elizabeth George talks about the main priority of a mom is to teach your kids about God; everyday all day. Of course in order to do that mom (me) has to know about God to teach and model who He is for my kids. (no pressure...your kids see you as God). Anyway I decided to read my Bible through for the first time in my 31 years. Now I know it is only the 8th day of the year and I am only in Genesis chapter 22 but I have learned things already. I am so surprised! I don't know why I have never read the Bible through but I think I just thought I knew most of the stuff in it. Anyway, I would like to encourage everyone to read your Bible through this year. I am trying to get Kirk to commit to it with me so we can talk about all the new things we learn. Also, something really neat is the "Bible for Little Girls" we are reading with the girls at night is following the same stories I am reading . So I can embellish for the girls. We have also started doing memory verses with the girls and all three are having fun with that. I am usually not one to talk much about my walk with Christ but I just felt lead to share this with yo guys. The book"A Mom After God's Own Heart" is great and very encouraging, too.

In other news, we are all well and enjoyed a relaxing weekend. We watched the playoffs and returned to church today after being out a few weeks. I feel like I am learning so much this year already. I guess that's all for now.

One more thing...for all you grammer freaks out there reading this I apologize for now and forever. I am not great with commas and I imagine some of you read this and just cringe. Sorry:)

Not Much...

I just wanted to share a few monumental occurances in our family this week. The first was Tuesday night. All four of our kids were up in the night. Karissa had a bad dream and came into our room 4 times before finally sleeping on a pallet beside our bed. In between Karissa, Cara came in and tried to sneak in our bed. Then she decided it was time to be up. At 3am I heard Cara and Kylie's bedroom door close and I go to check on them. I find Cara and Kylie sitting on the floor playing with the lights on. Cara woke Kylie up to play. Of course, Caleb was up to eat several times as well. Needless to say, Kirk and I were tired Wednesday.

The second occurance was Cara writing her name for the first time. She made a picture of our family with people that actually looked like people and had clothes on. It had OM and CAAr written on it...with no help. I asked her what it said and she said Mom and Cara. Then she made Kirk a picture and I told her in her name the r is between the a's and she wrote CArA. We are so proud.

In mommy of four like fashion, I have forgotten the other occurance I wanted to blog about.

Pictures

This group shot is all of the girls cousins on Kirk's moms side of the family. They are at that age where it is hard to get them all to sit and look at the camera. Also here are there names...Christian, Kyler, Kason, Karissa, Cara, Kylie, Kaylie, Lauren, and Caleb.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all!! We had a good weekend. We went to our friends house for New Years eve, there were 9 kids and 6 adults. We played battle of the sexes while our kids had free reign of the house. All four of our kids were awake to see 2006 in. Caleb wasn't too sure about the horns and yelling and Kylie stayed real close to mom, too. We got home around 2 am and all the kids were up by 7am. Go figure!! Everyone seems a little stuffed up and coughy. I think the weather changing, the dryness, and the fires have us all messed up. I almost forgot.

Two great mommy moments...Karissa was asked for her phone number to set up a playdate by a 12 year old boy at the new years party AND she gave it to him. Cara holds out her arm and says "Dad look at my strong"(she means muscle but how cute is that). Caleb is starting to move his hands towards objects and holds his head up when he is sitting in the swing or bouncy seat and tries to pull himself up to sit. Kylie is still wheezy and stuffy. Hopefully she will be better soon. Last night , my wonderful husband, shampooed the living room carpet. We got a carpet shampooer for Christmas. I hurt my back moving the furniture off the carpet so Kirk jumped in and did the job for me. I think since the Cowboys were knocked out of the playoffs earlier in the day he didn't mind missing the game. We are a little sad the Cowboys didn't make it to the playoffs and excited GreenBay won. Today, Green Bays coach was fired so we are afraid Brett Favre will definately retire. Also if there are any more head coaches named Mike they better watch out!!

By the way, we saw Memoirs of a Geisha. I thoght it was good though a little confusing. I am excited to read the book.

Well, it is my favorite time of day, rest time. Karissa and Cara play quietly and Kylie and Caleb sleep. Usually, I sleep too but today I wanted to blog. I am typing on the laptop and looking at the screen of our big computer. I am not sure why but that is how it is set up right now. Our old computer is officially dead like cheaper to replace then repair. Just what we want to find out right after Christmas.

On that note, we had agreat and relaxing Christmas. We had Christmas with my parents here on Thursday and on Saturday with my brother and dad and step-mom. Then Christmas day we opened Santa packages at home and then headed to W.F. Once we were there, we had lunch and packages with Kirk's grandma and then walked across the street and had the rest of the day with the Wimberley's. We came home Monday morning and enjoyed just being at home together. I spent the day trying to find a place for all the new stuff!!! We barely had room for all the kids old stuff.

Then in Kylie like tradition she got sick. It must be W.F. So I spent half of yesterday at the E.R. with Kylie and about 75 other sick kids. After waiting for two hours I asked them how many were ahead of us. It was ony 23!!! Then I asked them to check her breathing again because it was getting more labored. Apparently, it was bad enough that we got right into a room. For the next three hours, they gave her steroids and breathing treatments. The doctor said she is probably headed for a diagnosis of asthma. Yeah!! Anyway she is much better
today. We have to give her treatments every three hours but she is breathing much easier.

Tonight I get to go to the movies. I am so excited to go out alone. I would love for Kirk to come to but it just doesn't work out that way much. I was hoping to post some Christmas pictures but I will have to get Kirk to do it later.

Just a Quick note

Our computer is on the blink so I have to use Kirk's laptop. I don't know how to do pictures on it so hopefully our computer will get fixed soon. My parents were here the past two days. I got to help with Karissa's class party! It was fun to see her with her friends instead of just hearing about them. We baked 4 dozen sugar cookies, Wednesday. If I never see or smell another one I would be OK with that. Now we are just waiting for Christmas. Then we have TWO WEEKS of all four kids home all day. Whatever will I do? Today was horrific. My parents left after lunch and everything fell apart. Kylie wouldn't go to sleep. She never has that problem. Then Cara and Karissa kept getting up to tell oneach other. I won't continue in detail but we did not have a quiet rest time today. Instead we had a scream, throw a fit, wake the sleeping ones up time. Lucky for me Kirk will be home the next three days. Then they will have new toys. Surely that will last them a few days? (hours?).

Belly Laugh

Just a quick note, I have to share with you what Caleb did. Last night we were room swapping the girls. Kirk, my mom, Karissa, Caleb and I were working in Cara and Kylie's room. Out of the blue, Caleb lets out a loud belly laugh. He is only 12 weeks old. He didn't just giggle and he didn't just do it once. He did it over and over until we were all laughing. Of course, the camera needed a new tape so we didn't get the monumental moment on tape. I don't think any of us present will ever forget it though. He hasn't done it since, either. Maybe he is going to have Kirk's funny bone!

Shopping Nightmare

Yesterday, Kirk and I and the girls went Christmas shopping. When Kylie heard we were going shopping she had to get ready. She came in our room with her monsters inc. hat on, pink beads, a purse and white sandels with red socks on the wrong feet. After going to Target, we got the girls some lunch and dropped them off at Aunt Sharons( including Caleb).Kirk and I then headed to Olive Garden for a quiet lunch. Then we headed out to shop some more. We were definately little town people in the big city. We had to wait in line to get in the mall parking lot! They had policemen directing traffic in the mall parking lot. After driving around aimlessly, we finally followed someone from the store and took their parking space. We should have known if outside is bad inside will be even worse. One store I went in to had a line to the front of the store to check out. Next year I will shop early. Luckily, we did a lot of our shopping at Thanksgiving in W.F. We ended up buying a book and some boots. Then we headed back out into the mess. Traffic on 820 was yucky. We picked up the kids and headed home. Then we had baths and the kids watched Polar Express. They love that movie. At all times one of them is singing a song from the movie. Even Kylie knows most of the words. I went to bed early after all the shopping we did. Today we went to church and then started our day of football. Tonight we watched Survivor and now Kirk is watching the Green Bay game. I like football, too but needed a break from the T.V. I'm headed to bed now. Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the Christmas season.

Deep thoughts..

Today, I received one of Kirk's presents in the mail. I was so excited because he had no idea what it was and he usually knows everything he is getting. So ,he is checking on a picture order in my e-mail and sees the word gift order. He can't resist and he reads what his gift is. So now do I give it to him or not. It is a really cute mouse pad with Caleb's picture. I am tempted to keep it for myself. So much for surprises.

I think we are almost done shopping. We are hoping to go tomorrow without the kids and then we can get finished. Mommy moments: Cara looks at Kylie who is screaming at the table because we turned off the tv for supper. Cara says "I think she'e having a meltdown." Then Cara says "Mommy do you want to throw Daddy in the trash?" I absently say "sometimes" as I am fixing supper. A few minutes later Kirk gets on to Cara for making Kylie scream and Cara says (with a straight face) "Mommy wants you in the trash, Daddy." We all busted out laughing. Cara is so funny sometimes. She is great comic relief.

Tonight, Kirk's cousin, Paige dropped by. She taught Kirk how to make "real" popcorn on the stove top. They had a lot of fun with that. Then they had a popcorn catching contest and even recorded some of it. I wish that I could let go and have fun so easily. I guess it's just not me. They were fun to watch, though.

I just want to brag on my kids for a minute. I really dreaded yesterday since there was no school. I thought I would have to referee and entertain all day. Instead, yesterday,they played wonderful. Karissa and Cara played all morning without hardly fighting at all. Then Karissa and Kylie played in the afternoon. It is fun to watch how they switch out who plays with who. Very rarely do they all three play together. The one who plays alone never seems to feel left out, though. I think it works out well so they can all have alone time and sister time.

Let it Snow!

Today, we woke up to freezing rain and sleet. I took Karissa to school and then built a big fire and sat down with a book. Of course, the sitting down part lasted about 3 minutes with three small children. As the morning went on, I watched it get colder and wetter and even some snow fell. By noon, I decided to pick Karissa up from school so I wouldn't have to load everyone up if the roads were worse later. She was so excited to come home. She told me she was the 6th kid to get to go home early. She also told me I could pick her up early all the time so she could miss P.E. All afternoon the girls wanted to go outside and play. I finally let them around 4pm. After spending 30 minutes getting them dresses they spent 10 minutes outside and then were ready to come home. Kirk got to leave early today, too. Now, we are all snug as bugs in rugs and plan to stay that way, at least until morning. Tonight at supper, Cara told Kirk if she didn't have to eat her chicken and dumplings she would give him a surprise but if she had to eat it she wouldn't give him a surprise. Kirk had to work at a straight face and then tell her we don't make deals about supper. Then he corrected himself and said he could make deals but not her. Caleb is sleeping a 6 hour stretch at night. Isn't God great.

Pictures

The puppy isn't ours. The neighbors just got him. He is a 6 wk old boxer. Kirk and the girls loved him.

Let the Season begin...

We planned to buy our Christmas tree Friday night. We went to Walmart and they had like twelve live trees to choose from. Then, we decided to drive somewhere else and Caleb started screaming. The only time we have any trouble with him is at night in the car. Anyway, I decided it wasn't worth it so we went back home. The girls were disappointed.

Saturday, I got up and went to a women's Christmas brunch. It was really nice. Over 60 women decorated tables and over 500 women attended the brunch. The speaker combined David Letterman's top ten list with The Grich Who Stole Christmas and the Birth of Christ and came up with The 10 Grinches that can steal your Christmas joy. Unfortunately, I couldn't take notes but it was awesome. Some of the 10 things were money, travel, family problems, crowds, fears, being caught up in the decorations etc. and missing the real meaning. Anyway, it was relaxing and fun. I sat at our moms group leaders table. She lived in Wichita Falls in the 70's. Then, I came home and Kirk and Karissa and Cara went out to buy our tree. When they got back we decided it was such a nice day that we should hang outside lights. Kirk got all the gutter lights up while the girls played across the street and I chatted with my neighbor. Then the wind got cold and it started getting dark. I got up on the roof to do the eaves but we ran out of light clippies. We had pizza for supper and told the girls we would decorate the tree this morning and go to church tonight. Once again they were disappointed but understood. I left with Caleb after the kids went to bed to find clips for the lights. We have been to 8 places and no one has them!!! When I got back Kirk and I put the tree in the house, trimmed the branches and put the lights on.

This morning Kirk made breakfast (yeah!) and let me sleep in a little. Thanks honey!! Then we decorated the tree. Karissa and Cara had fun. Kylie got bored pretty quick. I started a tradition of putting a ornament on the tree each year with the girls picture in it. It is always fun to look back at the old ones. Cara asked, about two hours after we decorated the tree, if we could take everything off and do it all over again. We had a wonderful roaring fire and had agreat family time. Then the Cowboys played. Then I crawled back up on the roof in very cold and windy conditions and finished the lights on the eaves. At the very last clip on the 6th strand all the lights went off. I was not happy. Finally, I found a fuse had blown. So I replaced it and they worked again. As we were leaving for church ,Kirk says we blew another fuse. All that work and we still don't have outside lights. Who knew you couldn't hook six strands up together on one outlet!! I guess tomorrow I will climb back up in even colder temps and put another extension cord up. ON a more positive note, this year we decided to work through The ADVENTures of Christmas by Lisa Welchel as a family. So far it has been great. Everynight we read about a different tradition and how we can find the true meaning of Christmas in them. I like this book because it doesn't try to take away what Christmas has become it just puts Jesus into it all. We are all learning something. Tonight we went to church. Once again the nursery workers didn't want to give Caleb back. They said he is so sweet and he is!! He watched football for a long time this afternoon. Kirk is so proud. I guess that is all for now.

I tried to post some pictures but they wouldn't go through. I will try again later.