Christmas Weekend

Christmas is always a busy day for us and usually the days leading up to it as well. The Tuesday before Christmas we went to my Grandma’s house in Rolla to do presents with her. And we had a good time I even got a couple good pictures of Nathan with his very first Christmas present.

Christmas Eve my mom and stepdad watched the kids and when I went to pick them up she let Blake open his gifts and I got to open my gift and Nathan’s. They got Blake a nerf shotgun that shoots the little foam darts that stick on things well he loves that thing he shots it at the refrigerator and tries to make them stick.

Christmas morning Blake woke up real early wanting to know if Santa had came, this was the first year he understood about Santa and questioned it. So we got up early and opened all our gifts at home. I had to rush to clean up and cook a casserole to take to my grandparents house. We headed to my grandparents house and the roads were a bit slick so we wondered if my uncle would make it here or not in their little car. Blake was in a mood and was a little grouchy so he was very impatient that we had to wait a long time for everyone to arrive so we could eat and then open gifts. My grandma let Blake open his gift from his Great Great Grandma it was crayons and markers and coloring books that she had bid on in the nursing home to give him for Christmas. I think it would have been neat to see the auction at the nursing home watching all the old people fight over the gifts. My Great Grandma said some old woman ran the bid way up but she was determined to get that gift for Blake. My uncle finally made it and we had a really good dinner and dessert. Blake got lots and lots of things there to open and then he helped my mom open her gifts and then proceeded to help Nathan.
Later that evening we went to Kenny’s parents house for Christmas and we had dinner there and then opened gifts by this time I was exhausted Nathan was getting fussy because he was way off schedule and hadn’t had enough naps. Blake got a train set and a remote controlled uniloader. Well of course when it was time to leave he didn’t want to go with us so he ended up staying so he could get up early and play with his new toys.

Saturday morning we got up and Kenny was going to go in to work and try to get my car finished, but when he called to check on Blake, Blake said he wanted to come home so he went and picked him up. I asked Blake why he wanted to come home and he said he missed his Nathan and didn’t want to say if his Nathan couldn’t be there with him. It was very sweet. So he spent the afternoon playing with his new playdough and I tried finding places to put all of the things we got for Christmas.

Sunday morning I could no longer deny it I had a cold. I had a sore throat for a few days prior and well I woke up congested and miserable. But I still took the kids to church and thankfully they both behaved very very good. We came home and rested a bit while waiting for Kenny to get done cutting wood and we went to Vienna to meet the new sitter.

It was a long exhausting weekend and I was almost glad to come back to work yesterday just to get back to my normal schedule. I still have tons that needs to be done around the house and it seems like every night something comes up or we are late getting home. But I will eventually get everything back on track and going smooth.

Sitter Troubles

The day before Christmas Eve, the sitter calls and told me she would no longer be able to watch the kids. I was upset as I have had to find spur of the moment sitters several times in the course of Blake’s 4 year life. I ended up being upset and crying the whole evening and night trying to figure out what to do and who to ask. I have major fears of sending Nathan to a big daycare that has lots of babies with worry that he wont get the care and attention he needs not to mention the expense. So Thursday I had to work until noon and my mom had the kids I chose not to tell her about the sitter situation until I picked them up. While at work I emailed places that had ads in the paper only to realize it was going to cost me 200 a week to have Nathan go 4 days and Blake 1 day. I told my mom that afternoon and she thought a minute and remembered that someone from Vienna was starting a daycare and was looking for kids. I was a bit skeptical as we work in Rolla if I would want to drive all the way in to Vienna each day. But I went ahead and called her on Saturday and set up a meeting on Sunday and well she is very nice and I could tell by the moment we walked in her house that it was the right place for my kids to be. I can’t explain the feeling but it was a good one and Blake even liked it and wants to go back. I know all things happen for a reason and for some reason my kids need to be near or in Vienna because the last two years they have been right outside of Vienna and now in Vienna. I hope that everything works for the best with the new sitter, we found that one of the little boys is Blake’s age and is very into John Deere so Blake is excited to meet him. It will be a lot of extra driving but I feel its very worth it for my kids to be happy and safe.

The Deer

As if life wasn't crazy enough a small deer had to complicate things more.

Two weeks ago as I was driving to pick up the kids from the sitter and I came up over a hill and a deer decided it wanted to run out in front of me. So I knew not to swerve so I hit the brakes and just held the steering wheel and ended up hitting him. It was a very small deer and it ended up going under my car well I was on E Hwy and there is no where to pull over or stop so I drove a bit farther and could tell the car drove fine and that the headlights worked. I got to A Hwy and called Kenny to tell him and I said I would continue on to the sitter and look at the damage. I made it to the sitter and when I got out I knew that I had busted the radiator and that I would not be able to drive on to Vienna much less home. Kenny was still at work and unable to come help me so I called April, she wasn’t home but she asked her dad to come to my rescue and I am so thankful he did. The sitters husband had no clue what he was looking at under the hood of my car. I could tell the radiator was bent the fan shroud was broke and the fan was in pieces in the bottom. So within minutes Dwayne was there and we decided we could get it to his house and park it on the basketball court. He was going to let me take his truck on to Vienna so I could pick up Blake (one drawback of both kids going different places the same day) but my stepdad said they would just bring Blake to me. Of course he was happy to get to spend time with Dwayne while we waited for Kenny to arrive. After two hours Kenny showed up and agreed it was not drivable. So we piled in to the truck he drove and headed home. I was very thankful that Dwayne came to help me and that Blake, Nathan and I got to stay there where it was warm while we waited. I was also thankful that neither of my kids were in the car when it happened and that the damage wasn’t horrible and no one was hurt.

Parade

Work has been super crazy with everyone wanting loans to show before year end, people wanting to sell or buy property before year end for tax purposes. I haven’t had much time to write any blogs and I have so much I’d like to write about.

A couple weeks ago Tina called and wanted to know if Blake would like to ride on their float for the St. James Christmas Parade and I said yes we would be there. It was Blake’s first time being to a parade and he got to be in it as well so he was very excited even though it was super cold out. My mom, stepdad and mother in law kept Nathan in the truck with them while they watched us in the parade. He said he had lots of fun and would love to do it again. There was even a good picture of him in the St. James paper the following week. It was so nice to get to spend some time with Tina, Ryan and Owen even though there wasn't much time to talk it was very nice. I got to see several people I knew who were along the streets watching and Blake even got his pockets packed with candy when we got back to our car by a friend we hadn't seen in a couple years.
Blake never forgets anyone and even if he hasn't seen them in a long time he will remember them.

Well I am not sure why when I previewed my prior post all my captions to the pictures were with the correct ones and then when I viewed it just now they are all out of whack. Guess I need to learn how to correctly post a picture with a caption.

New pictures

Blake was so happy to get to hold Nathan by himself in both of these pictures. The family picture was taken by April.

Connie feeding Nathan a snack mid way thru picture taking and while she was feeding Nathan Dwayne took Blake for a ride on the tractor (one of Blake's favorite things to do) Both Connie and Dwayne are like another set of grandparents to my to sons, they love spending time with them and Blake looks forward to getting to go spend and evening with them, and I know that Connie and Dwayne equally enjoy the time with Blake and Nathan. I am very happy to have them and their 3 kids April, Chad and Todd as a part of our extended family.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys, Nathan was on the verge of getting fussy but April managed to snap a quick and good picture before he got to upset.

Strange

I am a fan of Skittles but I am weird about the way I eat them. I will not eat the yellow or green (thank goodness I work with a guy who loves the yellow and green so I don't have to throw them out) I make sure that I eat two at a time but they can not be the same color. I should have took a picture of them all lined up in two's before I ate them just now. People have told me I have a weird way of eating them and I never really gave it much thought until today after I spent probably 5 minutes picking out the ones I wont eat then pairing up the ones I do like. And mind you if I end up with an uneven number then I put it in the pile with yellow and green for some one else to eat.

I also do the same with m&m's and even though no matter what color they taste the same I find myself pairing them up.

Not sure where this weird obsession stemmed from but I remember doing this back in highschool and maybe even earlier that that. Guess I am just a bit OCD with my food since I do not like my food mixed together on my plate either.

Just thought I would share this strange obsession and who knows maybe I am not alone and there are others out there who pair up their candy before consuming it.