Happy Birthday Meredith & Michael!

I must say that today was a success.  I was a little worried about everything working out but the Lord took care of me.  Alli seemed to be healed (even though she would deny being completely "well" because she enjoyed the perks of being sick), the tea party was able to be rescheduled to next Saturday and we headed to Grammy & Papa's for a little party tonight.  Meredith seemed to be thrilled with the day and didn't seem to be mad at me anymore.  At Grammy & Papa's house we ate Popeye's Chicken, enjoyed Strawberry Cake and Chocolate Cake and played the Wii with Becky & Patrick and the kids.  I really enjoyed the boxing match-up between Becky and Michael.  Michael challenged his big sister to settle some scores from the past.  It was quite a fight with ups and downs and all of the excitement of a real Las Vegas showdown (without the blood, of course).  However, Michael made a last desperate attempt at a knockout and pulled it off.  If it had gone to decision I don't know if he would have been so lucky.  

Update on Alli

Well our prayers must have worked (along with the Tamiflu) and Alli is so much better.  She's not even running fever today.  When I took her to the doctor yesterday she was just so pitiful.  She was running a fever and had to be carried everywhere (and this is so not Alli).  The doctor took a swab and ran the flu test on her and it actually came back negative.  However, the doc said that the tests are wrong sometimes and she just felt sure that she had the flu since she exhibited all of the symptoms.  She had achiness, sensitivity to light, fever, tiredness, etc.  Anyway, she gave us a prescription for Tamiflu (along with Michael who was the only one in the family that didn't receive the flu shot) and sent us on our way.  I started the tamiflu last night and either she truly didn't have the flu, the medicine is amazing, and/or God really worked.  However, I did go ahead and reschedule Meredith's party until next week as to not infect all of the attenders and so Alli could attend.  Needless to say, Meredith was not happy about that and quite upset with me.  I tried to explain to her that we would do the same for her if she were sick and Alli was having a party which she did agree to that.   But she was still made.  Oh well.  It was pretty much a lose lose situation for me and I accept that.  

I have tried to include a picture of my new cool iMac computer (which I'm getting very frustrated with) since I did invest $10 in a card reader from Wal Mart yesterday.  Hopefully I'll have better luck with it.  However, when I tried to upload the picture to blogger it would stop midway through.  UGH!  I also need to figure out some of the basics of Photoshop on the Mac.  I think I need a class or an indepth book without any distractions.  Good luck with that!

Take care!

Sickness, ain't it grand?

Well, I have a little prayer request to add to my blog.  My sweet little Alli is sick with fever, cough, etc. and her big sister's birthday tea party is scheduled for tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. so I'm taking her to the doc at 3:15 p.m. today to hopefully nip it in the bud.  We'll see.  I knew that we had been extremely lucky this far as far as health is concerned and wouldn't you know that the lucky streak would end today.  Either way, if we cancel the party Meredith will be very disapointed and if Alli can't attend she will be very disappointed so it's pretty much a lose lose situation.  UGH!  

There's no new pictures today because apparently even though I have a new computer it still isn't recognizing my camera so it's either the USB cable or the camera.  So, let's hope it's the cable.  I think I'm going to get a card reader this time instead of just hooking up the camera.  I feel that's the smart thing to do this time (like you all really care).  

Meredith lost her second tooth last night.  It had been loose for the past few days and it had gotten to the point where it was just hanging by a thread and bleeding a little along the bottom.  So, I had Meredith let me "look" at it and I gave it a little tug and out it came.  Meredith, of course, went running through the house screaming (not in a positive nature) and was quite traumatized by the event and the blood.  I then reminded her that the tooth fairy would be coming and asked her if she was just scared or if it actually hurt.  She then had a little smile on her face and said that she was just scared and seemed to recover nicely.

Earlier, since I was speaking of prayer requests I wanted to mention for you all to keep my friend Amy's husband and family in your prayers.  Her husband is in the Navy and headed to Afghanistan a week or two ago.  I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster of being a wife a serviceman and the responsibility it must entail.  Anyway, I have a link to her blog on the right hand side of my screen and I would encourage you all to look at it.  She is quite a talented writer and I thoroughly enjoy her sense of humor.  It keeps me laughing.  She grew up in the church that we attend and her parents and brother are still active members. 

I'll update the blog after the appointment!

New Computer

I must say I am very excited. We finally got the last of our credit card "thank you" award Best Buy gift cards and we headed to store and ordered our new computer. I am so thankful because I believe this one is heading downhill. We are even switching sides and getting an iMac. We'll see how quick I catch on now that I'm "older" but I'm ready to learn something new. We figured since I mainly used our computer for pictures, e-mail, and Internet that the Mac would be right up our alley. So, it's supposed to take 4 to 6 days to get it so we'll see. At least at that point I'll be able to use current pictures rather some that I've saved to a CD.

I was trying to think of some good stories to share on my blog (I just haven't been feeling the creative vibe lately) and the best one I could come up with was for Alli and many of you have probably heard me tell it, but here it is. A few weeks ago at Mother's Day Out at our church Alli had one of her moments where she didn't want me to leave her (for some reason she thinks I secretly have a lot of fun when she's not around). Anyway, I pryed her off of me and, of course, headed on my way. Well, when I went to pick her up I made the mistake of asking her teachers how she did that day (what was I thinking?) They then gave me the look. You know, the look that says it all and you then say ah oh (sp?), what happened. They then proceeded to tell me that she got into a food fight with her buddy Mason in her class and when they told her to stop she then proceeded to throw her goldfish, cracker, whatever it was in the floor and then stepped on it. Her punishment was that she wouldn't be allowed to sit next to Mason for a few days during lunch. Ugh. My sweet strong willed child. I must say though that this news isn't quite as devestating with the second child as it would have been with the first. I actually almost started laughing. We of course discussed the issue with her and she denied any involvement at first and once I asked her over and over again in various ways and wording she did admit throwing food but continued to deny all other accusations. I really think she's going to be a lawyer one day. She should be good at it and maybe she'll make a lot of money to support us and my rule abiding oldest child.

I have also included Meredith receiving her "Good Citizen" award and "Writing" award for the second nine weeks. I'm not really sure what kindergarteners write about but she told me they could draw. Okay I can't get the crazy spellchecker on my computer to work so I apologize in advance for all of the mispelled words.

Limos & Razorbacks

Okay, the harrassment has begun by a dear sweet former co-worker and I'm not mentioning any names (Leisa) that I have not updated the ole blog in a while so here it is. To be quite honest, I've had some technical difficulty with my camera hooking up to my computer. For some reason, my computer isn't recognizing the camera so Michael burned my pictures on a CD for me so here we are!

The following is a post from a while back when I first realized my problem so now I've finally added the pictures to it.

Meredith was one of several top sellers of their fall fundraiser at their school and she got to go on a 15 minute limo ride (thank you to all of the "buyers" out there). I actually thought it would be a longer ride but nonetheless, she didn't know the difference so she had great time. Here in the large metropolis we live in we don't see many limosines around so I don't think she really even knew what to be excited about when I first told her that she would get to ride in one.

Another exciting event that we went to as a family was the Razorback basetball game when they played Missouri State. Michael's Uncle Alan received the tickets from a friend and wasn't going to be using them so he gave him to us (Thank you!) and they were on the first row behind the Razorback bench which was really neat. It wasn't a great view of the court but you could look up on the video screen for replays and the best part was seeing the team interact with the coach. The girls also got to see the mascots up close which was fun and Big Red gave the girls Big Red gum. I must say that one drawback of having two little girls is the fact that the mother always has to take the girls to the bathroom and when you have a bazillion stairs to climb in the basketball stadium it is quite exhausting and at some point I did think I was having a heart attack, not to say that I'm not in excellent physical condition. The positive was that I actually did lose weight that day from all of the exercise.

Halloween

Halloween was a busy day for us. Meredith had her first awards assembly at school and was inducted into the "ABC club" for being able to recognize all upper and lower case alphabet letters. She was so proud (and so were we).

That evening we headed to church for the annual "Trunk or Treat" in the parking lot which was a lot of fun. After we left church I took the girls to a few houses on our street and as expected they got tons of candy. Probably most of you already know this but Alli absolutely loves candy and basically all things sweet so she was all about this trick or treating thing. Meredith likes it but isn't as focused on the candy. Here are some pictures of the girls. Meredith was Belle from Beauty & the Beast and Alli was Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. I have also included a picture of Meredith & Alli with their cousins Will & Zach. Will was James the Train from "Thomas the Train" and Zach was a baby scarecrow.

Alli turns 3 !!

The big day finally arrived and Alli turned 3 years old on October 20th. We had a great little party for her and the weather really cooperated. We rented a Princess bounce around for all of the little cousins to play in and they had a big time. The actual theme of the party was "Little People" and that's as in Fisher Price not as in vertically challenged human beings (I think that's politically correct). Anyway, Confectionately Yours did a great job on the cake and it was delicious as usual. We had all of the relatives over from Broken Arrow and this area and had hot dogs, potato salad, etc.

Alli had a tremendous time and loved all of her gifts and eventually I will get the thank you cards sent, I promise. I'm kind of afraid to say this but I really think I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as she was a bit more challenging than my oldest as in more strong willed, stubborn, etc. She is getting easier to take out to eat and to the store which is so nice (however, I still prefer to go alone to the grocery store since it is twice as fast so don't get any ideas Michael). She is such a delight and just as you are about to pull your hair out with her she just knows when to come up and say "I love you mama" which goes a long way. I love you too Alli!