There's No Place Like Home!

We made it back home from Texas tonight. Our drive home was much easier than our drive there. It only took us 12.5 hours to get home and I don't think the kids even complained one time. In fact, we didn't even need to use the DVD player once on the return trip. They sang songs, took naps, played card games, told jokes, and read books. It was a very pleasant trip.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with Rob's family. His grandpa will be starting chemo tomorrow and so it was nice for us to all be together before he has to start that. Rob's mom also seemed to be doing okay. Well, at least she didn't appear to be any worse and she seems to be more comfortable than before. She isn't able to communicate and so it is impossible to really know if she knows what is going on, but the second she hears Rob's voice her eyes open wide. We believe that she does know that he was there.

As far as the kids were concerned, they had the time of their lives. They were given rides in the go-cart by their cousin, Mallory, and they climbed trees, and they chased chickens and roosters around the property. I think they had more fun chasing those darn roosters than they did doing anything else. Over the weekend we also drove out to see where their daddy went to school and we visited with some old friends of ours. On Saturday, we took all of the kids to the movie to see Bolt.

With all of the running that Emily did this weekend, she sure had a lot of falling problems. Either she is starting another growth spurt right now and it is about to make her CP appear to be worse, or she just was having some bad luck and running on uneven ground this weekend. The poor thing must have fallen in the muddy or wet grass a dozen times. At one point, she told her daddy that she was "born with a stupid foot" because it can't go up and down stairs very well. Rob said that it broke his heart and he was able to make her feel better, but I don't know exactly what he told her. This is another reason why I think it must be growth spurt time right now.

And I can't end this entry without a funny little story. Ethan and Emily were talking with all of their cousins about sports and stuff that the kids have done and then we started talking about sports that they will play as they get older in school. I asked Ethan if he would want to play football in high school and he said "NO WAY!" He said that it looks just too dangerous. Emily was all serious then and said that she knew what she wanted to do, but she didn't think they offered it in school. I asked her what she wanted to do and she said that she wanted to be a "ROCK STAR!" It took every bit of control I had not to laugh until I cried. That is just too darn cute!!!! I can just imagine them offering Rock Star classes as an elective in high school. Now, wouldn't that be a fun way to keep kids in school?!?!

Here are some pictures of the rooster chasing, tree climbing and go-cart riding.

We made it to Texas!

We made it to Texas safe and sound. I was really surprised that for a holiday weekend there didn't seem to be a lot of people on the roads. We were making good time and had a pretty easy trip until we hit the Texas state line. When we got to about Longview, TX, all heck broke loose because some brilliant person decided that it would be funny to reduce the interstate down to one lane on a holiday weekend. We moved about 2 miles in about an hour and the result of this little traffic jam ultimately caused our usual 12-13 hour trip to be a 15 hour trip. Needless to say, it was a very long drive!!!

The kids complained and bothered each other and fought and bickered and acted like a brother and sister would on a 15 hour road trip. At one point we threatened to tie Ethan on the roof and throw Emily in the trunk. Now, before anybody goes calling child protective services on me, let me suggest that you make a 15 hour trip with my children under these conditions and then you can decide what you'd do, too. :)

The best part is that we made it here safe and sound. The kids are playing with their cousins and we are going to have one heck of a dinner today. This is a year for us to give thanks for so many things, yet there are many things that our family is facing and we have to pray for strength to get through them. Thanksgiving is definitely a time to spend with family and to give thanks for all that we have.

Here are some pictures of Emily and Ethan on our trip yesterday.

Are We There Yet?????

We are driving down the road on our way to Texas. I am sitting here in the car with the laptop resting on my legs and thanks to my wonderful mother who let me borrow her aircard, I have internet access. The kids are fighting. I am listening to Ethan doing anything and everything he can to pester his sister. I think we have already threatened to put the kids out on the side of the road. Ethan has complained of starving the entire trip. Emily has whined about not being comfortable and being able to cover up. And right now I am listening to Emily screaming at Ethan to "HUSH!!!" because Ethan is saying he wants cheesecake over and over again. Oh, and should I mention that we have only been on the road three hours?!?! Oh, this is going to be a long drive.

Those darn commercials...

This is the first year that the kids are being influenced by commercials on tv. It is all because of that darn Nickelodeon Channel. I am amazed at the amount of commercials that are on there and the amount of marketing being done to kids. They used to watch Playhouse Disney or the Sprout Channel and there were no commercials on there, but it is different now that they are older. And it is a sad thing that the kids are better at working the Tivo remote than I am and they even pause and rewind the commercials just to discuss with each other the cool new things that are out now.

Well, the other day I had asked Emily what she wanted to get Ethan for Christmas. She said she needed to think about it. I had forgotten that I had asked her since a few days had passed. Yesterday she came over to me and she starts telling me all about what she wanted to get Ethan for Christmas. She had seen it on...you guessed it...a commercial. She was going into great detail explaining to me all that it did. It was some kind of bathtub toy where you can create and mold your own soap and can then use it to take a bath with in the tub. She was really working hard to try to sell me on this idea for Ethan. And after her sales pitch came the best part. It was her closing statement. She said...

"And Mommy, it is PEDIATRICIAN APPROVED!"

Hmmm. Do you think she watches too much tv or are there just too many commercials on the tv? The really funny part is that as I was shopping at the store today, I bought that exact toy that she was wanting to get for her brother. Heck, Emily did say that it was pediatrician approved. How much better can you get?!?! At least I know that Ethan will be getting a safe toy. And Emily was right, too. It even says it right on the front of the box. :)

Looking Into a Mirror

What happened today during lunch was like looking into a mirror and seeing a miniature version of myself. Okay, we all know that Emily has been called my Mini-Me, and Rob has often called her "Chip" (as in "chip off the 'ol block"), but today just took everything to a new level. Maybe I should give a bit of history first. In the early years of our marriage (oh, who am I kidding, probably the first 10 years or more) Rob and I had ongoing discussions about things because I would always question everything he would tell me. In my defense, this was because he would often ramble on about things he knew NOTHING about and so I would call him out on it. Well, it got to the point in those early years where I would ask him where and when he got his information from. As time passed, I either began trusting him or he started telling the truth (or maybe I just quit caring - LOL), but the questioning stopped. Okay, now fast forward to today's lunch.

We were eating chicken for lunch. As we were eating it, Emily asked what part of the chicken she was eating. I told her it was the leg. Maybe we are a weird family, but the kids always want to discuss what we are eating and what part of the animal it is. Emily started asking about the chicken and if it was a real chicken. I told her it was a real chicken that was once on a farm that was being raised for food. She asked me something about cooking it and I said that the feathers have to be plucked off before it can be cooked. That was the exact moment that she turned into me. She got a serious look on her face and said...

"How would you know? Have you ever been a fry cook?"

Rob and I both almost started choking on our food. That would have been an exact comment/question that I would have said to Rob 10-15 years ago. Rob was basking in the moment and loved the fact that I was getting a dose of my own medicine. The really funny thing about it was that I know that in Emily's mind, she wasn't meaning it to be sarcastic or ugly. It was a true and honest question. She really wanted to know how I knew that the feathers had to be plucked from the chicken. There was no way that I could have given her an answer of "I just know" because that wouldn't have been good enough. I think Emily and I both have a bad reputation for being sarcastic when it is just being inquisitive. :)

Decorating Early for the Holidays

I'm sure our neighbors are looking at us like we are the craziest people on the planet. We have our Christmas decorations up. Yes, it is only November 22, and a week BEFORE Thanksgiving, but they are up. We worked on it all day today. The tradition in our house it to get them up the weekend of Thanksgiving, but we have changed our plans for Turkey Day and are heading to Texas. Rob's grandfather has just been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer and we wanted to spend the holidays with them. It is very important for us to be there right now. The weekend after we get home from Texas we are leaving for Orlando for Ethan's wish from Magic Moments. Because of time issues, we decided to do our holiday decorating early so it will be done and up when all of our traveling is done. The kids are so excited to be going to Texas again.












At school yesterday the kids had a Thanksgiving feast. They came home dressed like little indians and it was so adorable. Emily told me that they all had to say what they were thankful for and she said that she was thankful for her teacher because she loved her so much. Ethan said he was thankful for his entire family. They said they had a fun day.

This morning I was a slave driver. Everybody was wanting me to cook breakfast, but I just wasn't in the mood to start my day out in the kitchen the minute I woke up. I was really wanting a cup of coffee first. I told the kids that if they would unload the dishwasher then I would cook breakfast. I told them to work together and carry the dishes only one plate at a time and put them away so they wouldn't break. Lately, we have been letting them have more responsibilities in the kitchen. They make their own breakfast in the morning, pour their own drinks, etc. This is just one more thing they can do in the kitchen. They did a great job putting the dishes away and they loved every minute of it. Rob and I loved it, too. We sat and drank our coffee and watched the news while they unloaded the dishes. And then we tried to count up how many years (or will it be months) we can do this before they start to complain about it.

New Blog

Well, I have decided to start a blog here as well as my other one that I have been keeping for the past six years. I will probably phase out my Caring Bridge blog and move to this one at some point. Until then, I guess I'll keep up two of them. We'll see how it goes.