The Start of the Season

Carley and Corey cuddling under the Christmas blankets Alyssa got them watching Polar Express. There really isn't a sweeter way to spend a Saturday night.

Thanksgiving Week

We have had a busy week. The week started with Cody out of town for 4 days because he had a conference. My SWEET, AMAZING, KIND, and GENEROUS parents kept the kids on Monday and Tuesday for me so they could have the entire week off of school. The kids loved staying at Papa and Nana's. I went over there each day after work and stayed until both kids were in bed and then I went home. My parents were so sweet and they pointed out several times that my kids are perfect and precious so if they have trouble at my house, the fault is not with the kids. :) Carley loved staying on her sleeping bag in their room and Corey loved all the attention and kisses. Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday I just camped out at mom and dad's unless I needed to run an errand or get the kids out for awhile. It was great to get so much TLC. Wednesday night Cody came home and he enjoyed their warm home on Thursday with us too. It was such a relaxed Thanksgiving. Of course, my mom cooked the best food on the planet!

Here are some highlights of my week in no particular order.

1. We got out my My Little Pony Castle from 1984 that I had when I was a 6. I loved sharing it with Carley and she loved it too. It was so fun to play with again. I love that my mom kept so many of our toys from when we were little.
2. Corey kept grabbing my mom's decorative pumpkins, yelling "ball", and throwing them around the house. We found pumpkins everywhere!
3. Corey was all over my mom as always, but he has become a huge fan of Papa too. He called his name a lot this week and loved getting in his lap and playing.4. Carley and my dad picked pecans and shelled them. She now wants to be a firefighter and a pecan picker when she grows up.5. Corey turned the fireplace into his own chair. He was constantly hopping up there with a toy, a book, etc, and then hopping down to grab more. He is becoming SO busy!

6. I got to see 2 movies over the break! Cody and I saw Harry Potter 7 Part 1 Wednesday night and on Thursday afternoon we took Carley to see Tangled which she LOVED!

7. Mom is amazing. She was everywhere taking care of everyone. I want to be like her when I grow up.

8. Cody brought the kids really cute EMS and Fire Dept shirts from his trip. Carley loves her pink EMS shirt and the guy who gave it to her!
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too. I am so thankful for the Risen Savior and the eternal feast that awaits us in Heaven. What a wonderful day to celebrate His graciousness to us with family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving.

Corey's 1st Haircut

We had been told by several people that Corey was starting to look like Chris Farley in Tommy Boy because his hair was so long and crazy. We just loved his sweet curls and couldn't imagine cutting it. Then I started to think of my friends whose little boys hair looked silly to me because it was so long, but they didn't cut theirs, and I decided to bite the bullet and do it. This week on Thanksgiving break, my mom cut Corey's hair and he looks like such a big boy!

Before: Look at those sweet baby curls
Phase 1: Starting to cut. She worked on it for quite awhile then Corey got tired
Phase 2: Finishing up after Corey had a nap and a snack.

My big boy with his big boy haircut and my dad. :)

Thankful

“Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." -Oprah Winfrey

"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses." -Allophones Karr

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." -Charles Dickens

"Without gratitude, we have no wings. The highest and last freedom is to feel ever-increasing gratitude." -Laura Teresa Marquez

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Carley's Thanksgiving Feast

Cody and I loved attending Carley's Thanksgiving lunch. Last year she was a Wedding Girl (a.k.a. Pilgrim) and this year she was an Indian Princess. She loved it all, especially making her calls. The feast was so cute and sweet and we loved that we got to sit with the Lawlers, Crawfords, and Haynes families. We decided not to get our little turkey boy from the nursery for lunch because it would have been so hard to get him to go back. Here is our big girl!

November Notes

The last 2 weeks have been a blur. Little Corey continues to get sick and get well each week! Poor little guys is SO happy and such a trooper, but it continues to amaze me how he gets sick so quickly and so often. He eats tons of fruits and veggies, drinks only water and whole milk, but still catches everything. Part of it is his age (everything goes in his mouth), part of it is daycare and the church nursery, and part of it is just fall allergies and the way our little guy was made. We are praying that these cooler temperatures help with the allergies.
Onto happier thoughts: Corey says several animal sounds now moo, quack, roar, baa, and the money sound. He also says more words each day. My personal favorite is Book. I love that both of my babies love to read at this point in life. He also walks like a pro now. It breaks my heart just a little to see my 15 month old act so big!

Carley continues to live up to her nickname of "Sparkle". Her favorite thing to do right now is read. It amazes me how far she has come in the past couple of months. She read a Dora book to me last night. I couldn't believe it. Her handwriting is improving too. She also loves Financial Peace Junior and has just started working for check marks that are each worth a nickle. This week she earned $2.75. She gave $1 to church, saved $1, and marked $0.75 for spending. She wants to save up to buy a pink and orange minivan to drive when she is 16. The past week she has had trouble staying in her bed at night. We go through this every couple of months. She gets lonely, scared, or has a "night manor" and wants to see us. We have tried everything (rewards, loss of privileges, spankings, ignoring it) and really it all comes down to her. When she is secure, she stays in bed. When she is not, she gets up. It is really hard on me sometimes, but I think it is just a phase. Something will trigger and she won't do it for a couple of months, and then we will have a week like this one and we will see her every night. Oh the joys of motherhood.

My dear friend, Dalak, came to town weekend before last. We love it when he visits our family. I am so thankful for him and our friendship of 10 years. Mostly I love that Cody and the kids love him and enjoy his weekend visits.

Cody is busy, busy. One thing I love about Cody SO much is that our kids adore him. ADORE him. Carley talks about him nonstop and he is probably Corey's favorite person right now. This weekend we mostly hunkered down as a little family of 4. We stayed in pjs, cuddled, and cooked food so we didn't leave the house except for church. Love days like that! Happy Fall to you, blog land. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is a week and a half away!

Halloween at Alyssa's

We had such a good time Trick or Treating while the boys were at the game. When we got there on Saturday we went to a carnival at a branch of the church Alyssa goes to. It was great to let the kids run and play and enjoy some fall fun. I also got to see several of my college friends that happened to be there, which I loved. Monday I got some cuddle time with my two favorite four year olds before heading home. Sunday we went to church and then waited for my parents to join us for the evening. The girls did Jack O'Lantern Papa Murphy's pizzas and my cousin Joanna and her son Jack joined us for trick or treating. Corey was glad Jack was there to counteract some of the estrogen. I am so thankful our kids love being together. Alyssa is set to have Addison Joy in just about 5 weeks, which is unreal to me. It was so good to see her before she became a mom of 3! Can't wait for the holidays and to be together again!

Fall Festival

The kids had so much fun at the fall festival at their school. We are so thankful for our children's school. We wouldn't trade it for the world. Every Fall they have a festival at their school on a Saturday. It is SO nice because the kids come in costumes, but you don't have to worry about them wearing costumes during the school week and tearing them. Also, it is fun to see them interact with their teachers and the other kids. Here are the Princess and the Frog making their rounds.

Carley loved playing all the games. Her favorite was getting to put a pie in the director's face. She was so excited to cream Mr. Bill!


Corey and Nana won at the cake walk!

Corey loves his teachers, Ms. Brittany, Ms. Jennifer, and Ms. Charity

Carley and her teacher Ms. Laura

Carley and some of her best buddies, Alexis and Nadia

World Series

Cody got to go to the World Series Game where the Rangers played the Giants. He had such a great time with Dad and Clint. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity! Too bad the Rangers lost, but it was still a great day of baseball.

Halloween 2010

So a couple of months ago, Carley said she knew what she wanted to be for Halloween and she wanted me to guess. She said, "I want to be the princess that I am the most like". I thought she meant Cinderella. Nope. :) She said Tiana because we are both smart and can jump high. And thus began the Halloweeen of Princess and the Frog. Carley thinks she looks just like Tiana and when she is her costume and she is sure that people do not know the difference. I love the sweet mind of a 4 year old. So here is my smart, sweet, high - jumping duo.

The Wonder Years

So there is a new station on our ATT UVerse that just appeared called the Hub. I found it because it has My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcakes daily which Carley likes. But the reason I like it because it has The Wonder Years reruns on it. I loved this show when I was a kid, but watching it as an adult, I have a new appreciation. It is HILARIOUS and really touching looking back at what those years were like. Anyway, if you get the Hub, you should record a couple of the reruns and see if you find the sentiments of the show even more true.

Here is Kevin Arnold's final voice over and I think it sums up why I like these reruns.
"Things never turn out exactly the way you planned. Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, the next you're gone, but the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. I remember a place, a house like a lot of houses, a yard like a lot of yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. And the thing is, after all these years I still look back in wonder."

Make A Difference Concert

Cody and I went on a date to the Make a Difference Concert last night. If this concert is coming to your area, you need to go. It was a WONDERFUL night of worship. Max Lucado spoke. Toby Mac, Third Day, and Michael W. Smith performed. It was really wonderful and encouraging. Here were some of my favorite parts.

- Toby Mac used to be in DC Talk so he sang a couple of old school DC Talk songs. It was so funny and brought back lots of memories of their concerts. Jesus Freak!
- Cody's favorite band is Third Day and he loves Mac Powell. He has always wanted to see them in concert and he finally got to do that. It was so powerful to hear those songs live.
- Michael W. Smith did some really cool stuff. He started off with some old songs that made me tear up. He literally opened with Friends Are Friends forever. All the times I made fun of that song went away and it really was so cool. He also sang My Place In This World. I remember listening to that song almost every day of my Senior Year of High School. It was so neat to get perspective on that sitting with my husband, thinking of our kids, and reflecting on how God has cared for me over those 15 or so years. Then he led in an amazing time of worship. I forget how many of my favorite worship songs were written by him. (Mighty to Save, Alleluia, Above All)
- Max spoke about God's love for us and the help he gives us and it was such a wonderful reminder.

I am so thankful for the concert and that my parents kept the kids. It was my first night to leave Corey and also my first night in 13 1/2 months to sleep past 6:00!

Update on Brittany

So many firefighter and Frenship people are asking, so this is what we know as of a conversation with her mother-in-law today.
- Brittany will be having MRI's every day for comparisons.
- There are 4 teams of doctors caring for her (infectious disease, neurologist, etc). They are diligently working to find out what is going on.
- She has a very big bleed on the top of her brain. They seem hopeful that it is not getting bigger, but they are concerned it is not absorbing back into the body.
- She has 2 fairly large blood clots on the back of her brain. They are concerned that these clots have blocked blood to tissue in the brain and what damage this might have caused. They are unable to give her blood thinners to help with the clot because they do not want the bleed to spread on the top of the head. It is a very delicate situation.
- She still is not having movement on the left side of her body. They are not sure that this is permanent, but they need the swelling in her brain to go down before they can tell for sure.
- They have done an sonogram of her heart and do not see any holes. They have also checked her legs for more blood clots and have not found any.
- Yesterday they brought her out of sedation a little and were able to get from her that her headaches were a little better. They are not sure if this is true or her perception because of the medicine, but her headaches do seem better.
- The breathing and feeding tubes are aggravating her and she wants them out! She is pulling at them and they make her uncomfortable. This is causing her blood pressure to rise. So they are going to try and take out the breathing tube this weekend to see if this will make her less agitated and therefore decrease her blood pressure.
- She is now completely sedated and they do not want her to have any stimulation at all. Cayton can't even touch her or talk to her. This is very hard on him, as you can imagine. When she responds her blood pressure sky rockets so they have to take out all stimulation.
- They are doing an EEG to check the swelling in her brain and to see if it is any better.
- Laykin is doing much better on formula. He still has the bad reflux and everything, but he is doing much better now that he is eating.
- This is not going to be a quick journey. With the brain stuff aside and only looking at recovering from the viral meningitis, the doctors are thinking it could be 6 months before Brittany is back on her feet and able to care for Laykin alone. The doctors really still do not have a clue of what is really going on inside of her. They are working very hard to figure it out. The family is also going to be making decisions about what these 6 months might look like for them and for Laykin. Please keep this process in your prayers too.

Please pray for Brittany

Brittany taught at my school for a few years before staying home with her sweet baby who is 2 months old. Her husband is a fireman on the LFD with Cody. He is also the worship pastor at a local church. The live their lives in service to the Most High King.

She has not been feeling good lately and went to the doctor. She was diagnosed with viral meningitis. They did a scan of her brain and found abnormalities. It could be a brain tumor, bleeding of the brain, or a few other things. The doctors have put her into a medicine induced coma while they are doing tests. This has been a hard couple of days for her family. Please pray for Brittany, her husband Cayton, and their two month old son Laithan.

Dancing into a new year

We had Carley's first dance class observation this week. She looks older to me this year. This is also the first year she has complained a little about dance and gymnastics. The skills she is learning are getting harder. I am so proud of her hard work this year already. She is so proud of herself for the things she has worked on.