Christmas time's a coming....

Well we survived the Thanksgiving holiday. It seems we rush and rush to get the cooking done and in 30 minutes its all gone, we're all tired, and then its clean up time. We enjoyed our dinner and some crafting time after lunch and then the boys, Birttni and I headed home. Ari and Court went back to deer camp. Brittni and I got the tree up but not decorated because I like each person to put their ornaments on the tree. So we waited to do that. We did get all the other stuff out and up so it is looking rather festive around here.

Courtney and Ari were tired of getting cold, so they came home from deer camp early and helped me put the outside lights up. Then we put the ornaments on the tree. We have an easy week compared to some we have had but this weekend will be go, go, go.

Courtney and Connor are in the Living Christmas Tree at church so that takes our Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be an amazing performance but busy for us.

I hope you have a great week.

A super quick update

Just wanted to let you guys know the tooth fairy visited us last night. While a visit from the tooth fairy might not normally be worth writing about, Connor's visit is. You see, he went to the dentist yesterday to check on a tooth that wasn't getting loose and the new tooth was coming in and when we left, he was short 3 teeth! That's right, "3" teeth. His baby tooth weren't getting loose, but the big teeth were right underneath them, so the dentist pulled 3 teeth in a row. While he has a big gapping hole in his gums, his face is also scratched up. Not sure why or how, I guess using his chin as leverage. He was a good sport and the tooth fairy rewarded him for his pain and suffering!!!!

Senior Night, Cross Country, October 30, 2009

Fireworks in honor of the 2010 Seniors
More fireworks. The kids didn't know about them and thought it was really cool that the school did that for them!
The three seniors during the National Anthem
Cross Country Seniors, 2010
Mi Familia
Ari, Senior 2010

Halloween, 2009

My Mad Scientist and Luke Skywalker!

Some of the latest things I have been working on

Boo Wall Hanging
Frankenstein Box
M&M Treat, open
M&M Treat, closed
Thankful Banner, open
Thankful Banner, closed--this is the project I did with the Baptist Women at church!

First Deer, 2009

Ari shot the Unibuck Saturday night. I don't have the pics yet, but as soon as Courtney sends them to me from his camera, I will update. By the way, yes they name all the deer they see. It helps them keep up with what animal they see where. The other deer she is after is Lucky. She calls him that because she hasn't been able to get a shot.

Watch for pics soon!

Welcome to the Family

Caleb, Amy and the kiddos
Caleb and Amy
We were blessed with a new addition. Caleb married Amy in August. What fun she has been. We are truly blessed with our host kids.

Courtney's 20 year Reunion

Misti Pryor, Misti Chennault
Amy, Court, John
Misti and Jennifer Tiner Shaw
Court, Circa 1989
Court, Nate, Tera
Patty and Julie, Michael Jackson's Thriller Dance

The McDonald's Crew. This is the only reason my kids will never work fast food! This was one rowdy group of friends!

School pics

Ari and her daddy
My 3 kids, it's funny not having Brittni in the pics, but she was already gone to SWOSU. Ari-Senior; Connor-5th; Hunter-2nd. Take note of how tall Connor is. He grew 6 inches over the summer. He is only about 2 inches shorter than Ari and he wears a mens size 8.5 shoe. The same size his daddy wears!

Hunter, 2nd grade
Connor, 5th grade

Happy Birthday Mom

Picture from my 40th birthday in May.

Wednesday was my Mom's birthday. I called her, but never got a chance to post anything! I am working on her birthday present, just what she wanted--food!

SLACKER!

I know, I know. Slacker, that's me. Wow, things have been busy around here. I will try to give you a quick run down.

School is in full swing. Brittni is living in a private/not private room at school. She was blessed with a new room, that is private, but we don't have to pay private fees. They were created out of rooms that were already there, but not being used. The only down side, no sink in her room. Otherwise, she loves it. It is off the beaten path, right next to the RA, and on the ground floor. What more could you want?

Ari is enjoying her senior year. She is starting to make some decisions about college, etc. One of which is the military. She has a meeting Monday with a recruiter. I am not sure her health will allow her that luxury, but we will see. If any of my kids are "military" kids, its her! I don't know how I will handle it, but if that is what she chooses and it works out, so be it!

Connor is doing well in 5th grade. We are having some issues with him being mean to his brother and losing his temper. We are working hard on that, but the influences at school are pretty strong. I went to his class room about a week ago and witnessed first hand the things his teacher hears and deals with everyday. She deserves some sort of medal for putting up with that stuff. Lucky for him Connor was not among the trouble makers, atleast not that day!! His grades aren't the best, but I am confident they will improve. He is more like his dad everyday.

Hunter is really doing well in 2nd grade. His 1st grade teacher wanted us to hold him back because she didn't think he was mature enough to handle second grade, well he has proven her wrong! He is doing quite well and with the exception of some talking, his teacher is pleased with him. He meet his AR reading goal and made all A's! Way to go.

Courtney has not been traveling as much as he once was. He is staying home a lot. He and Ari work out at the Y about 4 times a week. They are the best of friends. That will be another hard adjustment for us, if she decideds to join the military. They are gone right now to our hunting lease and won't be home until late Sunday. That is pretty much there home away from home until December or January.

We are starting the Fireproof series in our Sunday School class this week. Although, Courtney and I have been married almost 20 years, I am excited to see what this can do for us. I will be teaching 1/2 of the classes, and that will be new to me. Give me a room full of 2nd or 3rd graders and I don't blink an eye. Put me in front of a room full of my peers and I sweat, talk fast, and forget what I am supposed to be doing and saying!

I hope all of you are well. We have had the flu here. Connor and I had it, although we weren't tested. Our doctors offices were closed because entire staffs were sick. Connor was out of school 4 days, and had a fever for 3 straight days. I had a fever one day and missed 2 1/2 days of work. It was hard to be home, but honestly I was exhausted. I forgot just how bad you feel when you are feverish. He was a trooper and did quite well. He even stayed home 1/2 a day by himself. I called and checked on him every 30 minutes. He did fine for the most part; until it thundered. That scared him, but he did fine.

Well, I am off. I will try not to go so long without posting again.

Cindi

First Day of School

I will update the pics soon, but I wanted to tell you about our exciting first day of school. About noon, Ari calls to tell me she doesn't feel good. I am thinking, ya right. I don't feel good either after being off all summer... Anyway, she was diagnosed with asthma on Monday and she is complaining of shortness of breath so I told her to take a puff of her inhaler and let me know in 10 minutes if she felt better. 10 minutes later she calls, doesn't feel better. So, I tell her take another puff. Within a few minutes she calls to tell she is worse. Severe chest pain on the left side, can't take deep breaths, ashen color. I freak. Called Courtney because I had no one to cover for me and told him to take her to the ER. He brought her by the school first, she looked terrible. Long story short version, she has Pleurisy. Used to be more prevalent, but is making a come back. They tested her for several diseases and injuries that could cause it and decided hers is viral. Which is a good thing. No underlying chronic illness. She felt much better after some pain meds. She is coping well and hopefully it will run its course in a week or so. She goes to our regular doctor on Tuesday for another check up! What a way to start the school year!!!

BTW- That is her third ER visit in 2 weeks. She is getting awfully exspensive!

************updating again

We have started back to school, well atleast I have. The kids go back on Thursday. Today was my first day to be back all day with kids. We had enrollment today. My feet hurt! I forgot what it was like to wear dress shoes all day. I have to figure out a way to wear my super cool purple nikes to school everyday so my feet don't hurt!

We meet everyone's teachers today except Ari's. They were in a meeting this morning. Seems weird to have enrollment to meet the teachers and then have a meeting for them!?!

We got Brittni moved back to the dorm. She is in a private room--6.0' x 10.0'. Pretty sure that is the same size as a jail cell! It is weird, but she likes it.

Courtney is actually home this week, but we are expecting him to go out of town again next week.

We are headed to Webber's Falls this weekend for the marriage of our "college" son Caleb. He and Amy will marry on Saturday and then honeymoon. Then they will move back to Weatherford. We are so excited for them and can't wait to add Amy to the family.

Ok, that's all for now. I am trying to do better at keeping you updated!

**********Quick Update

Wow, sorry! It has been a while. There has been so much going on, I guess I haven't been doing very good keeping up with the blog. Here is a quick update.


Brittni is leaving tomorrow to go back to college. As you know, this was not what she had planned. She was planning a wedding for July, but it just didn't work. As things have calmed down from the fall out of their break-up, we are very glad. We are learning somethings that just don't make us happy. Unfortunately, she was in a very controlled relationship. We are starting to see our sweet Brittni return to us slowly. She is now very excited to get back to the dorm and be a "college student".

Ari has been having some serious issues that stem from her blood sugar. We seem to be getting a better control over it, but it has affected her ability to participate in CC. Since this is her senior year, she is bummed about not being in top form. She is doing the best she can with what she has, it is just harder.

The boys are ready to go back to school. Hunter will be in my building this year and Connor is in his last year of Elementary. Wow, where did the time go. I now have no more children at the K-1st grade center. I still remember taking Brittni their for her first day. Sadly, her 1st grade teacher died over the summer after an extended battle with cancer.

I have been back at work for a couple of days. My assignment was switched at the last minute, so I am scrambling to get my things in order. I will be with 3rd graders this year. I have done it before, just thought all summer I was doing 2nd. Trying to move my head to 3rd grade work....

Courtney has traveled 6 out of the past 7 weeks. Today marks his 12 day of work in a row. He did come home early and is spending the weekend at his hunting lease with Ari. (with Brit's blessing, of course) Brittni doesn't want her parents to set-up her room this year, so I am helping her move her stuff in and then leaving her to get it the way she wants it. She has the school thing figured out! Anyway, Court is doing well. We have successfully made the change to a new insulin. He is adjusting to it and it appears to be working really well. Changing his meds is never easy, and frankly I wish it didn't have to happen but he becomes resistant to his insulin about every 3-5 years. We are on our 5th type of long acting insulin in 10 years. This is the 10th year. He was diagnosed in December of 1999.

Well, sorry for the long update. Hopefully I will do better about keeping up!
Happy weekend.

************One of the cards for class Saturday

I have been teaching stamping classes at my mom's scrapbook store for a while now. This is one of the cards we will be making this weekend. Looks hard, but it really isn't. And they are super fun to make!

A little something for Charlee's Room

I cut the letters and the crown on my Cricut. I glittered the crown and added some buttons. I wrapped the canvas in matching ribbon. It matches her bedding. I think it turned out cute, what do you think?

Oh, and Courtney as decided that he would like Charlee to call him Papa Coconut. Cute, huh?

Where in the world is Tico the Tom Cat

As most of you know, we are a haven for stray cats. It seems if there is a family in town who doesn't want their cats, they bring them to our neighborhood and drop them off. Well, Tico is among those that have "found" us. He has been sickly lately, so we took him to the vet where we learned he has an abcess. He just finished is $45 bottle of tuna flavored anitibiotic! He is feeling better, but probably will need one more round!

Anyway, Ari hollered for him yesterday morning and he didn't come. She thought he was out roaming and didn't worry about it. When she got ready to leave for cross country, she found him sound asleep in Brittni's planter on the side of the house. She came and got me and we took a picture because it was so darn cute! Tonight when we got home he was sitting in the same box watching everyone. He just looked at me when I took his picture. I don't think he could figure out what all the fuss was about!

A view of the 4th from my phone

Our 4th of July celebration was a little different this year. We started the day with friends at Foss Lake. We had a blast. The weather was overcast and cool for July, but somehow I still managed to burn like a candy cane. I apparently missed 2 places on my back. Now I have 2 huge red burns and the rest of me is white as a ghost. My back literally looks like a candy cane. Anyway, we then came home and went to the city fireworks display in the park. They had a new band and we were excited. However, we were meet by rain and cool weather. My kids and I had SWEATSHIRTS on in July. And honestly, I was still chilly by the time the rain cleared and the fireworks started. The girls spent the time dancing with friends. They even taught Ari the Electric Slide. Wish I had got that on my phone.

Griffin Kenneth

The newest addition to the family. And since his daddy likes UFC as much as our daddy, here is his introduction:

Standing in the red corner, he is a mixed martial artist, specializing in sticky poop and peeing in your face submissions, lyeing at 19 1/2 inches long, weighing in at staggering 6 lbs 6 oz, we introduce to you.......Griffin " the brown spider"

Charlee Nicole

It seems life has gotten away from me. I have so much to update, and so little time. I do want everyone to meet the newest addition to our family--Charlee Nicole. Charlee was born to some of our college students on Thursday. As you know, my college kids are just like my own, so technically, I am a grandma. I have decided to go with Grammy. What do you think?

My Adult Age

One of my college students had me take a quiz to find out how Adult I was. I am happy to say I am 89% adult. I did quite well in some areas scoring 100%, but the areas of love and education got me. Who knew there was so much to know in those areas. It was a very interesting quiz. I can't wait to see what other quizes I can take from this site. They had several listed, but I haven't sat down to check them out yet.

Thanks for helping with Stampin Out Alzheimers

Today is the final day to check out the SOA site. They are pulling it down until next year. Jenn's efforts raised over $6600 for the Alzheimers Society. I was happy to be a part and had fun participating in the daily giveaways. Some of my friends even joined to help the cause. I can't wait until next year.

************Can anyone explain this?

This is what I found when I went outside this afternoon. I used my windshield wipers all the way home from church this morning and now this?! The picture shows the passenger windshield wiper. It was actually wrapped around my wiper and Ari un-twisted them so I could drive to Braums. Still have no idea what happened between 12:30 and 4:00. Do you?

Stampin' Out Alzheimers

Tomorrow starts a fun week for me. I am joining with tons of other stampers to "Stamp out Alzheimers". This group was started by my former eye doctor's daughter. I stumbled on her blog while blog hopping a few months ago. Her dad, my former optometrist, has Alzheimer's and she is raising money to help research and find a cure. If you would like to join, click on the Badge on the right of my page and donate to join.

Let me know if you do. It will be fun. Join us!

Happy Birthday Brittni

Today is Brit's 19th birthday. It has been a hard week for her. She and Justin wisely decided to postpone the wedding while he found stable employment and she found out one of her scholarships was not renewable. She is a little down, but all the birthday wishes from her friends and cards (with $$$) from her family cheered her up a little. Justin came and took her to eat and then they came back here and watched a movie. It is hard to believe that my "baby" is 19!

Change in date

Brittni and Justin have decided to postpone their wedding until July of 2010. He has not had much luck finding a stable job since the market went down and he was laid off from Chaparral. Hopefully things will settle down soon and he will have a better chance of finding a job.

More plans to come at a latter date.

I survived 40!

I can still blow out all those candles.
My cake and my shirt, made by my dear friend Laura.

What a week it has been. Yesterday was my 40th birthday. At first it was bugging me a little to be 40. I don't know what I thought 40 would be like, but it seemed so "OLD". Also, my husband reminded me that my mom was 40 when we started dating. That seems like such a long time ago.

But so far it hasn't been all bad. I have been reminded that I have great friends, a wonderful family, a life that, frankly, is pretty amazing.

My friends and family started the celebrating last week during our Survivor get together. Laura made a yummy cake and an adorable shirt. (I loved the shirt so much, I wore it to work yesterday.) Some of them even wore black, one of them ALL black, but he felt so sorry for me he went and changed!

During the day my classroom surprised with a party and an all black birthday cake. The kids made me all kinds of fun gifts and cards. Then after lunch, my husband had arranged flowers to be sent to me. (I will post the pics later) It meant a lot because he was out of town and had pre-arranged to have them delivered and had hand written the note!

My parents came in from Hinton and took Courtney and I to eat at the T-Bone last night. We had a great dinner and my Dad had arranged for them to bring me an amazing peanut butter pie slice with a candle on it for dessert. It was so good and rich, we had to share!

We left there and Courtney took me to pick up my new purse. That is what I really wanted. I am glad he let me pick it out, because I picked out something totally different than what I asked for. Then a friend from Yukon called and she was in town with my present. She met us in the Wal-Mart parking lot and we chatted for a few minutes before she had to head back to Yukon.

I got lots of birthday calls, texts and facebook posts. All in all, it was a GREAT Day.

Ari Prom 2009

How much longer until I can take this crap off???
Walking the red carpet with Mason. She looks beautiful, but still walked like an athlete!
With her hair and make-up done.

I am really tired today. So, I will finish posting all the pictures another time. Courtney has some on his camera that he hasn't loaded yet.

************Happy Birthday Cathy

Today is my baby sisters birthday. She is way younger than me, but I am still the better looking, wiser sister!!! I love you little sis. I hope you had a great day.

Since your birthday present in breakable, I am keeping it here until you come for the wedding.

Since I can't be there, I am sending you a virtual birthday cake!