Connor's Birthday Card

I appologize if this are out of order, but I promised to post pics of the card I made Connor yesterday. :)

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 4

His humor. I know I mentioned this with Connor too- but Matthew has the silliest sense of humor. Even at this young age, he gets so silly and starts to laugh uncontrollably at himself.

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 3

Those eyes. He has his daddy's eyes- which I love so much. When I look at him I see Aaron, which is never a bad thing. :)

Happy 7th Birthday Connor!!

Hard to believe that 7 years ago you were just a teeny 8lb baby boy. I love you so much, and hope you have a great 7th year!

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 2

This was pretty much all I saw of him for about 10 hours after he was born- pictures like this on the back of our camera. I love what a miracle he is. I love that when I look at him I see a physical manifestation of answered prayers. I realize that things could have been so much worse, but our God answers prayers.

Ten Days of Connor- Day 10

His Special Needs- I know it may be silly to love that he has AD/HD, OCD and Anxiety disorder, but these things make him who he is. And I love everything about him.

Happy St Patricks Day!

See a few more Pics of Matthew from today here

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 1

When I think of Matthew's birth I think about how awful I felt, how sick I was, and the scary situation we found ourselves in. Then I look at his grin, and realize it was all worth it and I would do it over again in a heartbeat. In the days following, we'll look at the reasons why I love Matthew.

Ten Days of Connor- day 9

That Hair, Those Eyes. :) Enough Said.

Ten Days of Connor- Day 8

His Creativity always astounds me! The he can create the most unique things out of what other people would view as trash. That he sees the usefulness of everything is another thing I love about my oldest son.

Ok Kids Pics up

www.mandyhowephotography.blogspot.com

New Pics of Me.

I think my hubby is getting pretty good with the camera myself. :) We went to downtown Dallas today to grab some birthday pics of the boys, got several good ones of Connor, but not as many of Matthew. I asked Aaron to grab some of me as well, and he did a pretty good job.

Ten Days of Connor- day 7

His strength. The poor guy has been through so much in his short life, and its never gotten him down. He pulls through every time, meets every challenge head on and comes out stronger in the end.

Ten days of Connor- Day 6

His brains. :) He's so smart, and learns so quickly. He retains information like crazy- he's going to go far, and I love that about him. He can do anything he puts his mind to and never ceases to amaze me with what he knows.

Ten days of Connor- day 5

His humor- he loves to make people laugh- and is good at it. :)

Ten Days of Connor- day 4

I love the love he has for God. He loves Sunday school, and loves to learn more about our Savior.

Ten Days of Connor- Day 3

His smile- oh how I love that boy's smile. When he grins it lights up a room, and just melts my heart.

Ten days of Connor- Day 2

I love Connor's heart. He is very empathetic and loves his friends and family with abandon.

Ten Days of Connor- Day 1

Sorry for the poor quality- its a scanned pic.
I normally post blast from the past pictures on the day of the kids' birthdays. This year I thought I'd do something different. Connor's birthday is exactly 10 days from today. Each day I will post one thing I love about Connor, with a picture from the past 7 years. (Can you believe it?!?)
I'll be doing the same thing for each of the kids- so Matthew and Connor will overlap a bit. :)

Without further ado: Day 1

I love Connor's mind. He has such an inquisitive spirit. I love watching him figure things out, or the excitement in his voice when he "invents" something.

Total Relaxation...

Connor doing the Sudoku and crossword puzzles in the paper.
Aaron and I with our "Himself" and "herself" coffee cups that GiGi and Papa J brought us from Ireland. Forgive the lack of makeup and puffy face. lol
How I found Cass last night. Talk about relaxed!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Report Card Day

Connor:
Lang Comp: 91
Reading: 100
Math:97
Science/Health: 88
Social Studies: 90
PE: 99
Art: 99
Music: 100

He has been doing much better since starting his medication, and beginning GT. He is being challenged in GT which is what I was hoping for. His homework for today included researching the city of Dublin online and finding what country, continent, labeling it on a map, and then also finding what ocean it is closest to. He really enjoyed it and I have to admit I enjoyed helping him ;) I'm so proud of him and how he is doing in school.

Sadie

Lang Comp: 85
Reading: 96 (up almost 7 points since last 6 weeks)
Math: 92 (up 10 points)
Science/Health: 80
Social Studies: 87
PE: 100
Art: 99
Music:97

Sadie made Mavericks Club and Pricipals Honor roll. She has pulled most of her grades up, and a couple she pulled up significantly. They had TAKS test on Tuesday, which because of her personality she stressed over, and is still stressing over. I hate that they inflict so much stress on these kids about a standardized test. Aaron and I tried to explain to her that she makes good grades, and she will do fine on the test. And I'm sure she did do fine.
She has been participating in an after school club on Mondays where she is learning to play chess. Its something she is really enjoying. Some of the school subjects don't come as easily to her as they do for Connor, but I am so proud of how hard she is working, and how that work is reflecting in her grades.

I know I'm biased, but I think I have awesome kids. ;)

Forgot to Post

Sadie recieved her first Valentine this year. She came home from school the Friday before Valentines (which is when they had their parties) with the little stuffed dog (which had a heart with Candy in it) and the rose (which lights up) They were given to her by a little boy in her class who's mom is actually a Preschool teacher at the same school as well. She was all giggly and blushy but I think its cute. :) He also asked her to the Valentines dance "as friends" but we had company come in that night, so she was unable to go.

Proof...

that I can do some things without injuring myself. Like ice skating apparently- although I don't plan on making a habit of it. You can tell by the look on my face in the first pic that I was terrified. However, I didn't fall once and I prefer to keep it that way. Considering I have a bruise and knot on the inside of my arm about the size of a lemon and I have no idea how I got it. You would think with as badly as it hurts, I'd remember whatever happened to cause it- but nope No idea.

Get Away...

We're having a little mini vacation. Mom and dad and the three younger kids came up and are staying at Great Wolf Lodge, so we're here with them. This is the coolest place we've ever stayed. Indoor water park (no pics of that yet- I'll get some in the morning) Bedtime stories, and a Interactive Game to play all over the hotel.
I picked the kids up from school today and headed over here- I made it fine. Traffic was light, and I remembered how to get over here fairly well. Just was a little behind schedule because I chose the wrong route- forgetting about all the school zones along the road I took up to the main highway. So that delayed me a bit, but when I got to the hotel, met up with mom, I then realized I had left my wallet at home. We got everything situated, changed the three older kids into their swimsuits and they went to the water park with mom and dad and the kids while Matthew and I headed to pick Aaron up from work. I had suggested he find a train station near the hotel and just take a different route, he decided it would just be best if I was to drive to Richardson and just pick him up at the office. I had him call me as soon as he got off work, I was near tears, shaking, and in a panic. The traffic was unreal. I told him he better not ever ask me to drive to his office again. I hated it. The worst part of the ordeal was the bridge we came to a complete stop on . If you know me, you know I don't do bridges, well I got stuck on the highest bridge crawling at 5-10 miles an hour. I was gasping for air, totally freaking out. He's on the other end of the phone telling me how good I'm doing. In my mind I'm bawling him out for having me do this. But short story long, I made it- we survived, and made it back to the hotel in one piece. We enjoyed a little water park fun (except for Matthew who kept telling me "not a bath") then we headed back to the room to shower and do the dinner thing. We brought the kids to watch the bedtime stories, and then we walked around doing the quests some. Kids were tucked into bed around ten, and were out like lights.
I'd post pics here, but there are so many- so I'm going to post them in albums on facebook and myspace. Most everyone has access to those. :)
Tomorrow we'll do the water park again, and then we're going ice skating. So many more pics will be posted.

I heart Faces- Silly Kids

This week's theme is Silly. Of course I got so excited because I knew of the perfect one already. :)
Don't forget to visit the I Heart Faces blog to check out all the entries and enter one of your own.

I heart faces photo entry- The Eyes Have It

I came across this contest during my daily blog reading. This weeks' theme is "The eyes have it"
So of course I immediately thought of this picture. If you would like to enter the contest- you have until 6pm to visit here.

Don't Forget!

About the giveaway I'm hosting on my other blog:

www.puttothetest.blogspot.com

Even if you don't want to win, I'd love it if my blogging friends would post the link on their blogs so I can increase traffic. :)

Hosting a give away...

www.puttothetest.blogspot.com

Haircut

I have little mini rewards set up for myself along my weight loss journey. Getting below 220 last week (finally!) I rewarded myself with a haircut. :)
Its taking some getting used to as its shorter than I've ever worn it, and there are layers and *gasp* bangs!! So I actually have to do something to fix my hair. But I think I'm going to like it. :)

Ice Ice Baby

I don't know if you can tell how shiny the street is in the background- its all ice- not water. Thankfully its starting to melt- but we are having an ice day today. Staying inside and warm.
Back to reality tomorrow. :)

Shamless Plug

For my honey's blog:

http://ajhowetx.blogspot.com/2009/01/dawning-of-new-era.html

On This Day...

I spent the morning in prayer, thought and relative quiet (as quiet as the house can possibly be with a 4 year old and 2 year old)
I watched the news and the coverage of today's events.
Whether you like him or not, whether you agree with his politics or not, our country has a new president.

This morning two passages stood out to me:

Hebrews 13:8,17
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you."

Romans 13 1&2
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves"

While the outcome may not have been what I hoped for, it is the outcome we are faced with.
I respect the office President Obama holds, and I respect him as my President. I will pray for him and his family, because I know he has a very long uphill battle ahead of him.

Whether you like it or not, today is a historic day.

New Bloggity Blog

www.puttothetest.blogspot.com

So Excited:

Have you ever found the PERFECT gift for someone without even looking? That happened to me this past weekend. We were in a certain store browsing around and I look down and saw something. I got all excited and picked it up- then noticed the strange look Aaron was giving me.
"What would we do with that??" he asked.
"Its not for us- its for Steven and Megan!!"
I know that Megan reads so I can't say what it is. lol Don't you love my cryptic blog? But if you really want to know- just shoot me an email or IM and I'll tell ya. :D
I was excited for our trip before- but now I am even more so- I love giving gifts- especially when they are as perfect as this is!

Less than two months and we'll be in Colorado! Yeah!

Brace Face.....

Metal mouth..etc. I am now a member of the braces clan. :) I went in last Tuesday for a consult- I have a horrible gap between my two front teeth, and a baby tooth that never fell out and the adult tooth came in anyway, just up on the top part of my gums- you can see it on the left up there. Anyway, I was hoping for Invisalign, but nope- due to the baby tooth/adult tooth business traditional braces it is. I got them put on the next day- clear on top and metal on bottom since you can't see those when I smile anyway. So here I am in all my no make-up, double chin, unfixed hair glory. You like? ;)

If you feel so inclined...

Please take the time to read this mothers blog- and help if you feel lead. I try to put myself in her shoes and I can't even stomach the idea.

Many prayers are with that family right now.

http://cotaforemersonw.com/node/279

Today Is....

My parents 28th wedding anniversary.
Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Weight Loss Progress

Click to make it bigger

Taken for Granted...

I don't know how many of you heard- but on Tuesday a Dallas Police officer was killed in the line of duty. He was laid to rest today. Grace was with Jayme and they actually witnessed the procession.
I know for me, its so easy to take our officers for granted, as well as the military. We don't tend to think about them until we need them. It shouldn't take something like this to make us stop and remember that these men and women put their lives on the line daily for our safety.
Here's the link to the video of the procession if anyone wants to see it (you'll also be able to follow links to the full story as well) http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=320187&shu=1

Many faces of Matty....

You can click it to make it larger. :)

2008 Christmas Card

Randomness...

I'm waiting for Aaron to get out of the bath, so I thought I'd type up some of the things running through my head. lol
Jayme and I went to wal mart the other night, and out of curiosity I tried on a pair of size 16 jeans, and they fit like a glove! I was so excited I started jumping up and down right there! I wasn't sure if they would fit or not- my 18's are big, but I wasn't sure HOW big- but yeah! I didn't buy them yet, but as soon as I have the extra money- I have my eyes set on the jeans, and a really cute top I also spied.
We took the kids to the galleria today. It was supposed to be a big deal- they've been advertising on the radio all these special holiday things. Well apparently the biggest thing, the famous figure skaters, were only there on Saturdays and yesterday was the last day. We still had a good time walking around, but it was a bummer that we missed that. The highlight of the day was going to the American Girl store. The girls were in heaven- I have to admit I even enjoyed it considering I grew up reading the books too. Grace will be getting her Bitty Baby on her birthday. Sadie got hers when she turned 5 so we decided to do the same for Grace. She's been asking for one for about a year now, and we've told her she had to wait until she was 5. She hasn't forgotten either. lol While we were there we decided that on Sadie's birthday she'll get one of the "Just like Me" dolls.
Tonight I ran over to Jayme's to pick up some Butter Braids that I had ordered from a friend's child's fundraiser and forgot to get at the Christmas party last night. As I was walking back to the car, I slipped on some leaves and fell flat on my back hitting the back of my head on the sidewalk in the process. No blood, but boy am I in pain. :( I think I scared poor Jayme to death. She was asking about my back, but all I could think about was my head. I got home and Aaron gave me some meds and sent me to the tub- when I soaped up I realized I have several cuts and scrapes on my arms that I didn't know about. OW!
Anyway, the kids are all fast asleep, and I think we're going to relax with some hot chocolate and a movie.
Oh, one last thing- I got all the paperwork for Connor's GT testing filled out- and he will go through the tests after Christmas break. I think as long as he stays relaxed he's going to do fine. He tends to freeze up around new people, and this is one of the things his teacher and I have discussed, so the GT counselor has actually been meeting with him and getting to know him for a few weeks so he'll be comfortable with her by the time testing rolls around.

If I don't get another post in before then- I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas!

Need some advice...

I have one child that is revolting against the seat belt. Seat belts are a #1 safety issue when they are in the car, but this one child has done everything from leave it off, to sitting on the waist belt and only using the shoulder belt. I have tried doing the firm brake press (not with anyone behind me of course), firm talks, and pulling over to the side of the road until they get their seat belt on correctly. Nothing seems to be working. So I need advice- how in the world do I get them to leave their seat belt on the right way so they are safe, 100% of the time?

Precious Pictures

Matthew putting his ornaments on the tree. See the dirty face from our traditional oreo cookies and eggnog?
Aside from my baby's first Christmas ornaments this is one of my most cherished ornaments. I know someone out there will recognize it ;)

Pictures from Thanksgiving

Aunt Carly was so glad to see her kiddos!
His "tough" face
Matthew and the turky leg
You can see Connor's tooth in this picture if you look closely. Its a top tooth.
We celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Thanksgiving day!
YUM!

Chaos , Chaos everywhere!

So I'll try to make this as short as possible.
The Monday before Thanksgiving, Connor wasn't feeling well, he climbed into my bed around ten that morning and fell back asleep. I went about doing my housework, and went into my room around 12:30 looking for something. I noticed his breathing was funny. So I went to check on him, he was breathing very quickly, and would stop breathing every once and a while and then gasp. I got my phone so I could use the stopwatch to count how many breaths he took. He took 60 breaths in a minute, all while stopping every few seconds and gasping. I got on the phone with the nurse line for our insurance company and explained what was going on and she told me to call 911. So I called Jayme in a panic, not knowing what I would do with the other kids, she didn't have her car, but she ran down here to keep them. I called 911 and off we went. I could tell then how sick he was because he didn't think this was cool at all when the ambulance and fire truck pulled up in front of our house. We arrive at the hospital, and they are just amazing. They put me at ease, put him at ease. They do a breathing treatment within minutes and dosed him with motrin since he had spiked a fever. They did a chest X-ray which looked fine, so they wrote up scripts for steroids and albuterol for the nebulizer at home and sent us on our way. Aaron showed up just as I was signing discharge papers.
We left Wednesday night to head back to East Texas for Thanksgiving, he did ok all day Thursday, but Friday after his afternoon treatment he started coughing and throwing up blood- so back to the ER we go where they give him three back to back treatments, start an iv line for iv steroids and again, run another chest X-ray where this time- shows he's developed pneumonia. Saturday I did a photo shoot and we headed to Longview. By this time Aaron isn't feeling well at all, he goes to urgent care and learns he has strep throat. So Sunday it was just the girls and I at church. It was great to see everyone again.
We headed home Sunday evening and went back into our routine. Tuesday a tooth of Connor's started bothering him. What had happened was his top adult tooth started growing in before his baby tooth fell out and they were essentially fighting against each other. The adult tooth had pushed the baby one straight forward, while the baby one was pushing the adult tooth backwards. I spent all morning looking for a dentist to take him, and finally found one. I checked him out of school and headed to Arlington. The office was amazing. The dr and staff were efficient and just downright awesome. The girls go for cleanings next week. lol
Anyway, the dr looked at the tooth, and said it needed to come out asap, and it would have to be done surgically because it wasn't budging at all. They got us scheduled for the next day. Soooo, anyway, that all went well. He did great, with everything, the sedation etc. He had very minimal pain after it was all said and done, and is much more comfortable now than he was with a tooth sticking into his upper lip.
Last night we had some friends over for dinner, and the girls and I snuck out to go dancing for a couple hours. Tonight we have a Christmas party, and tomorrow we get to breathe---maybe? lol
Everyone is healthy right now- and hopefully it will stay that way through the rest of the holiday season.
So that wasn't as short as I wanted- but thats life lately. :) Hopefully my next update will be better.
I'm going to try to upload pictures soon- but blogger hasn't been cooperating.