Happy Halloween!

I must confess, I was dreading the aftermath of Halloween. The incessant question of: "Can I have a piece of candy?" But, my kids have barely asked for any at all. I'm proud of them! They definitley were cursed with their sweet tooths from me =(

We had a great Halloween night! Cameron tried to fake a stomach ache, but after talking to him we figured out he just didnt want to go trick-or-treating (we never did figure out WHY exactly this but his spirits remained high). So we found the perfect job for him - passing out candy! So Jason and I took the younger two trick-or-treating and Cameron got into his costume and passed out candy. Afterwards we hopped in the car and visited some family so they could see the kiddos. I liked Halloween being on a Friday night so we could enjoy the family time and not be so rushed for mundane duties of the following day.

Cameron was some sort of scary creature, Courtnie was Hannah Montana and Colton was a fireman. Courtnie dressed for Halloween at school:

Colton and I at school. I was Ms. Understood:

Pumpkin Carving

After Jason and I went to dinner tonight to celebrate our anniversary, we carved pumpkins with Grandmum and the kids. In the past they haven't been too thrilled about cleaning out the pumpkin but this year they seemed to really get into it. They made the face and all fought over who got to pull it's eyes, nose and mouth out (typical of my children). I think they did a good job!!

Happy 8th Anniversary!

It was 8 years ago today that Jason and I were married. Can you believe that? My life with him has been so wonderfully blessed. We went to dinner tonight, alone, and had a great time. I just can't believe we have been married this long now! I cannot imagine my life without him and look forward to the rest of my life and growing old with him. He is my everything! I seriously would be lost in life without him by my side. Here is a picture of us before we went to dinner tonight, Cameron took it for us. Not bad photography skills for a 10 yr old.

Some fun facts about us: We have known eachother and been friends for almost 14 years now. We have no clue when we went from friends to dating. We have no idea when our first official "date" was. We danced to "When I Look Into Your Eyes" by Firehouse at our wedding. On our wedding night, after the reception, we hit up Jack in the Box, fully dressed in our wedding attire. Starved was an understatement. That's all I can think of right now =)

Random Happenings

The kids have been quite rotten lately. So rotten I was even embarrassed by their behavior today with their Grandmum (Jason's mom). I know she has seen them all at their finest but lately their behavior is getting the best of me.

Courtnie brought home another round of not-so-good papers. If there is a question that she doesn't know the answer to on any of her papers or she doesn't understand part of the assignment, she just skips right over it. She never thinks to ask the teacher! We have talked about this time and time again and her grades are suffering because of this. When they receive their Tuesday folders and I go through her papers I seriously sit and cry. How can I "make" her do all of her work? And her handwriting is quite poor and because of this her teacher cant tell what letter is which. We've been working on this too for some time now. Because of her grades she wasn't allowed to buy anything at the Book Fair this week. On a different note for Ms. Courtnie - her reading level at school is close to a 3rd grade level. How great is that!

Later in the week Cameron decides to shove (he claims it was a slight push) his sister into the bathroom door. This too has been happening alot lately and we have given him clear examples of ways to solve problems other than being rough with his sister. I understand she may be irritating him, and more than likely purposely so, but must we be so hands-on rough? No! So he too was denied a chance to buy fun things at the Book Fair as well. What a mean mom I am. And a different note for Cameron - his reading level is at an 8th grade level. Can you believe that?

As for Colton.... well he has found his "tall finger" and is so very proud that he can hold that one finger up by itself. He has no clue he is flipping me off and has worked so very hard to be able to hold just one finger up. Those of you with kids know how hard it is for them to accomplish this. I just acknowledge his attempts at being kind (at least I hope that's his attempt) and ask him to do something else for the moment. Colton has also tried his acrobatic skills in the bathroom. He ever so wonderfully hung from the shower curtain and broke the rod in half. Nice. I appreciate that. It goes well with the missing towel rack in my bathroom where Cameron hung from and the cracked tile near the fireplace where Courtnie thought a Christmas stocking/holder would hold her up.

The bright side to active children - at least they are healthy!! I love them all - rotten, sweet, kind, pouting or enthusiastic. They bring my such great joy =)

Thank You for Prayers

I woke up this morning with very little jitters. Maybe it was because I was busy with the morning's to-dos but I suspect it was from being lifted up in prayers but my sweet, prayerful friends. I honesty was so worked up last night that I could not pray. I couldn't do anything but shake and cry. After blogging last night I was able to calm down some and get in bed. I didn't sleep so well though. It took me forever to go to sleep but I also woke up at 5am to a wonderful reminder of WHY I was having this surgery done. With one cough I made a mess everywhere, even ruined a good pair of pajama pants :( I know, TMI but I have never been one to let TMI's get in the way of honesty! I took my morning meds and they kicked in full force. I was passed out sound asleep on the couch in the waiting room at the doctor's office and they laughed at me when they came to take me back. My doctors were all laughing at how quickly the meds had me "all doped up". I didn't even fight the IV, and this my friends is awesome for me! I have been known to be the world's worst patient, especially when any needles are involved. After I got back there my sweet nurse asked me to pick out a blanket and matching socks - how nice is that!! I went into the bathroom and after stumbling and falling from side to side I was able to get my new, soft, pretty socks on and the blanket wrapped around me. When I got back to my room they had picked out a handmade soap for me to smell and had me guess it's scent, of which I had no clue what it was. They swear it was vanilla and that's the last thing I remember. I woke up sitting in a wheelchair with Colton laughing at "how silly Mommy is". My doctor assured Jason that not only was I going to enjoy this procedure in the next coming weeks but that he was going to as well. Now I don't remember saying this, but apparently I raised my hand and told the doctor I was the one with a high sex drive and I was going to enjoy it more. This isn't exactly something I wouldn't say to close friends but I have no recollection of saying this to my doctor. They were all laughing at my slurred speech and ever-so-slow movements. They did take before and after pictures of my uterus. He said there was one spot that was bleeding profusely (btw, today was of course the heaviest day of my cycle, hence the wonderful 5am surprise). He said they were able to cauterize everything and then go back to that heavy spot and burn it pretty good. I am super excited! I cant believe I have waited so long to have this done. I am not hurting at all and haven't at all today. The worst part of today was trying to sleep and wear off the anesthesia. I like to have full control of my body and don't quite enjoy being out of sorts for this long of a period of time.

Oh yes, one more story. Tonight Courtnie asked me if my doctor was a boy or girl, I told her boy. She just giggled with complete embarrassment. Then she asked if he used gloves, then giggled even harder. I wasn't even aware she knew what kind of surgery I was having or if she even knows at all. But I thought that was funny. She likes girl doctors herself.

I am going to get off here not and enjoy a snack and tall glass of chocolate milk. I NEED both of these things :) I deserve them! Now back to Grey's Anatomy....

Once again, THANK YOU for your prayers. I know the power of prayer and am certain I came through this so wonderfully because of my friends and their kind words to the Lord. Thank you!

REALLY Nervous

Getting brutally honest now.... I am FREAKING out! If you have called me this evening and I haven't answered it's because I don't want to talk about it. Thank you for your encouraging words and prayers but I don't want to talk about this surgery. My whole body has been shaking since I left work at 2:30. Remember me telling you my wiggly toe quirk? It's full force tonight and it isn't just my sweet little toes, my feet are won't be still either. My stomach is churning in knots and the toilet has become my friend this evening. I'm hoping writing about it will help me relieve some of my fears, but for heavens sake if my husband wants "to talk about tomorrow" one more time I am going to scream. And quite possibly at him. Aren't my tears and trembling body enough?? And my kids... I love their stories, I love hearing about their day and I love their jokes. But not tonight. I just want to take some PM meds and go to bed, except I know I need to stay up somewhat late just so I can eat before my midnight deadline to eat rolls around. Why is it that as an adult I am not handling surgery so well? I did this when I had my wisdom teeth taken out this past May and they almost didn't do it because I was in such a panic mode, cried all the way to the dentist. I feel like a big baby! I need a Valium. My doctor prescribed one for tomorrow morning, but what about tonight??? Off to visit my best friend again, please pray for me. I need to calm down, sleep tonight and not stress tomorrow morning.

Nervous

I'm starting to get somewhat nervous about Thursday. I'm more excited than nervous really but those little taunting questions and fears are still in the back of my mind. There's just those understood surgery complications that COULD happen, even when highly unlikely. Will I tolerate anesthesia this go-around? What if the pain afterwards is too great, even though I'm being assured there is minimal to no pain after the surgery? What if something pushes the surgery time back later that day and I cant eat for even longer? (I know this seems irrational but I'm not too friendly when hunger strikes.) Or what if something unforeseen does happen and I don't make it out? What if I hemorrhage like I did with my last "lady surgery"? That wasn't fun at all! My doctor called me "the ultimate pessimist" this morning. If I didn't like him it would have made me mad. I understand these are really terrible, irrational fears but this is reality to me people. I am almost never the "glass is half empty" kind of gal, but sometimes I think it's okay to have this mindset when something like this occurs. Right? Anyone? I think it's a good thing to have ever basis covered - my legs will be shaved, I just had my eyebrows done, my face isn't totally breaking out, and I'll talk to Jason on our way there just in case something happens to me. I almost always look at the brighter side or give others the benefit of the doubt and try to stay positive in every situation, but right now I just cant seem to shake of the nervousness and the what-ifs.

I just need to try and focus my jitters elsewhere: no periods for life, a little anesthesia and Valium, staying off my feet for awhile and doing very little, no driving for a day, no more pads and tampons, the overall cost factor, decreased PMS symptoms (although I don't think I have any anyway!) and did I forget to mention no more periods for the rest of my life! I need to just focus on these greater things.

Great Grandkids

Our family has grown in the last year or so - we have added 3 great grandkids to the family! Kaegen couldnt be with us, they live so far away but we did get to have Tynzlie and Riley here together for the first time (both are newborns). These little ladies are adorable! I actually think they both look like me, more than my younger two kids anyway :) We were able to get a picture of my Grannie with 6 of her great-grandchildren and hopefully soon we will be able to get all 7 together. We had alot of fun! Even had a mini photo shoot with the two baby girls. Man its hard to get them both doing what we wanted and both happy! One woke up while the other finally passed out, one would smile and the other would cry, one would lay still while the other was happily thrusting her arms around. It was sure fun though!! Here are the best pics we snapped:

Tuesday Storytime

I have been taking Colton to storytime at the Rockwall Library. These pictures are from our second visit, which was this past Tuesday. It was actually probably a better time to take pictures than last week anyway. Let me back up some and tell you about our last trip to the library over the summer....

We had just gotten there and had plans to go to lunch afterwards. Colton was insisting that he didnt want to go (this should have been my sign!). We get inside the storyroom and he starts yelling. I am trying to console him and pull out a carpet square for him - his favorite color, orange! He is not having it. So I sit down on the carpet square myself and rest him in my lap, only to see him quickly jump out of it and run away. This is in the library people! And the moms are now watching me!!! We left with him sidways in my arms and his arms swinging at my legs and his feet hitting my backside. I was mortified!! Something I have learned about library storytimes - the moms and children there are regulars. They know every song, their children listen to the stories and interact with the songs and finger plays, and they enjoy the crafts and activities. Not Colton. He couldnt care if he never went to another storytime again. But we can overcome this, I know we will.

Going back to yesterday.... This time we went with friends, they're children he knows and adores. Im certain he is going to love storytime! We have been twice now and both times he tells me he doesnt want to go to storytime, he doesnt like it. But I insist we go because afterall, ITS FUN! He hasnt thrown a fit again but he does sit in my lap most of the time and just observe. He did sing one of the songs this time AND he colored (well, made dots from an ink pad) on his craft. And get this, he wrote his name for the first time ever while we were there!!! Im going to have to scan this in and post this. Maybe I should even do Cameron and Courtnie's names the first time they wrote theirs; they would like to see that too.

Im going to have to start taking my camera every week. We invited a couple more friends to join us so maybe once he gets his own little "group" of friends he will open up and have more fun! Courtnie was with us yesterday too, the kids were out of school for a student holiday. Cameron is "too old" for the library! Also, if you are off and want to join us on any Tuesday, please do!!

Metallica's #1 Fan

I worked really hard this morning while we were running around to get a good video of Colton playing his air guitar to Metallica. He even breaks out to play the drums for a short moment. I need to get one of him playing the entire song (which he normally does) without all of our voices in the background. Our family car rides are always entertaining, so long as no one is fighting over who sits where this time as opposed to last time.