Gotta love it!

I just wanted to update everyone. I have been so busy lately and so much goes by. Toni was sick again....but this time it was not strep....yay for Toni. Now both my kiddo's are well and happy. Good thing too because Toni will turn 6 next week (crazy girl thinks she is allowed to grow up on me). Mikey and Toni are wonderful kids and almost everyday Mikey gets his Guitar out and sings to me...or the dog...whoever seems to like it the best. Mikey can write his name finally... such a long name...Michael. I don't let him get away with Mikey....nope it is Michael. Just to show off when we were at the doctors office getting Toni tested for strep he wrote it out for the pediatrician (such a show-off). Toni's love for school reminds me of my sister. She is a truly gifted student and we received her report card today...Hand written over the top of the card was "Toni is an awesome student!" She is marked as "above expected level" the highest mark available. She has mastered every section and I am so glad she does not struggle. That being said...we found out before Christmas that Toni's best friend was moving and this was just sad news for Toni. I blogged about it because I picked her up from school and she was in tears....yep...real tears for her friend. With all that was going on in the world I felt selfish about tossing a prayer up for my daughter's happiness at school. I instead talked to her about other happy things at school like how much she loves her teacher and how much her teacher loves her. When I compare our problems with the rest of the world they seem weak. I mean should I really pray for a new best friend at school when so many kids in the world don't even have an opportunity to attend a school....or even eat every day. See...in the grand scale of things it seems selfish to pray. Instead I prayed to be thankful for what we have and not what we don't have. But we have an awesome God and I know he hears my thoughts whether I pray about them or not. He kinda spoils my family a bit and I know he loves my kids as much as I do. Last week Toni came bouncing into the house telling me about a new girl in her class room "and momma...Mrs. Douglas sat her at my table with me". I thought how lucky she was and I asked Toni what her name was. "Angel" my daughter gleamed. Now Toni draws pictures of her and calls her her new best friend. Yep that's right...God sent a friend for Toni....he sent her to Toni's class instead of any of the other 6 classes down the hall...and then sat her at my daughters table. Just to make sure I knew this was from him...he named her Angel. So the next time you think anything is too small to bring to God...just remember God loves us as much as anyone ever could and he does not want to see us hurting over anything no matter how simple or small the request is.





I hope this blog finds everyone in great health....and just know I love all my readers.

Mystery Camp...Youth Camp

I went on a youth trip with our Church to help out and chaperon. They called it mystery camp this year and none of the students knew where we were going or what we would be doing. All they knew is they needed to show up at the church on Friday and would not be back till Sunday. We loaded up three vans and truck full of pre-teens and teens and headed off to hill country to Camp Buckner. It was beautiful and only a little over an hour from the church but that did not stop me from convincing a few of them that we would be in the van till at least midnight ha ha ha. Anyway we arrived and all loaded into cabins for the weekend and we reveled our mystery theme "Gifted". The weather was cold but not wet so we were outside for tons of activities. A band by the name of LookToTheSky came and lead worship...did I mention they rocked. I felt old right away because after about 5 min. my ears were ringing from the music being so LOUD...I wore ear plugs the rest the time but no one noticed. We took up every moment of the youths time with organized games, quite time, group discussions, worship and prayer. At night we stayed outside till around midnight playing running games like Capture the flag. The teams were very competitive and everyone that I talked to had a blast. The first morning there I woke up sore from running till midnight and would not have been able to function without my Ibuprofen. The next day was filled with more games and worship. The church had been collecting shoes in good used condition or new to donate to Honduras and while at camp the youth spent some of there time writing scriptures on the soles of the shoes before sending them off. The church also brought a huge beach ball that took more than one person to carry over to the volley ball net. Watching this ball going from one side to the other was amazing. It took so much team work just to keep the ball from touching the ground. At one point some of the band members came out and jumped in the game for some fun too. The youth had a blast as did the adults and the food was good too. At the camp they had a large cafeteria that had and dished more food than one person should be eating. The cafeteria had a large fire place and the last night we were there everyone made smores. It would have been fun to have an outside fire but the hill country has been on a burn ban for over 6 months now...so no fires. The campers had a blast and all kinds of pranks were pulled on various people...not everyone enjoyed the pranks...but I did. Sunday morning we headed back to the church for Sunday service and the band came with us to lead fellowship for the whole congregation. The youth at our church are truly amazing kids and I loved getting to know them. But I must say that I was happy to be home and hug my babies, John took great care of them and Toni even had a pony tail in for church that morning...such a good daddy. I am thankful that I was able to go and help out. I am blessed to have a husband willing to stay at home for a few days just him and kiddo's.

Toni

My baby has strep....again. Yep I got a call from school today and had to pick her up early. We called the doc and they squeezed us in this afternoon and confirmed that she has strep. So sad. Again no one else has any symptoms. Grrrrrrrr She just got off of anti bio tics on Christmas day. She had a 10 day round of Agmenton (SP) and now...ten more days.

On a new note. I took pictures yesterday so I could put them on and blog about how great the weather is. The kids were out bike riding, playing, and just being cute...so I took some pix. Well....I can't find my card reader and it has a card in it. I am sure it will turn up but this is crazy, where is it already.

I hope all is well with whoever reads this blog and know I love you all.

more busy days...

These last few days have been crazy. I am loving having both my babies home for Toni's two week vacation from school. Of course three days after Christmas was Mikeys birthday and it was on a Sunday this year. I made and decorated cupcakes for his Sunday school class to share for a snack that day. Mikey had a mini church party which was good because if we had to celebrate his birthday on Sunday it would have just been Mikey, Toni and I. John was hunting that weekend, Lia was in Mexico for the holidays, and our other neighbor had to work. Did I mention that our phone lines were down for almost 5 days around the holiday...yep no phone calls in or out. Boy my voice mail was full when it finally worked. Anyway....we celebrated his birthday on the 31st. On the 30th John and I took our little family down to sea world for the holiday shows and fun times to be had. The kids had a blast and I got to see my dolphin again. I love Mattie and will always have a special place in my heart for her. While we were at sea world we caught a 4D theater show (The Polar express) and it was the coolest thing. When the wind would blow in the movie you would feel wind in your face. Or when the train rumbled so would the theater. When it snowed in the movie....the theater filled with snow. It was so much fun and I wish I would have taken pictures of our family in the goofy 3d glasses we all had to wear LOL. We also caught the Orca whale show with shamu, the dolphin/beluga whale show Viva, and a few other things as well. We timed everything just right and saw everything the park had to offer. The kids loved climbing these large rope structures and it was hard keeping track of them. We walked all day up and down the hills at sea world and Toni never asked for a break or to be carried. Mikey did well too only asking a hand full of times for a piggy back ride. I was impressed with my babies as we passed by complaining 8 and 9 year old being pushed in kid strollers. After the day was done we drove our 2 hour ride home and put our exhausted selves to bed. We slept hard for a few hours and then Mikey woke up and crawled into bed with us. Before I could go back to sleep I heard someone beating on the door. The time was around 4:30 in the morning. I woke John up and he grabbed his gun to answer the door. I thought it was funny because I told him if you needed the gun they would not be knocking. Anyway...it was his sister from Washington that he has not seen sense he was almost 4. She was on her way from Hammond LA. to El Paso Tx. She stopped by to meet him and it just happened to be very early. After a hour or two of chatting we all went back to bed. The next day we spent getting to know her and playing silly games like uno attack with her, her husband and her daughter. It was the 31st and that was Mikey's party day so they got to meet the neighbors and be present for a Mikey party. It was a nice visit and we went to Gatti land so the kids could play and we all ate pizza and had a grand ol' time. After the outing we came back to the house to ring the new year in. It was nice ringing in the new year with new family in the house. Anyway...like I said it was a busy time and I am leaving out soooooo much but for now this is an update on what has been going on.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas! The waiting for Christmas was so much fun through my kids eyes. They would tell me everyday how many days it was till Jesus's birthday. We had a nativity wall hanging that they had to add a piece everyday and on the last day baby Jesus was added. They really got Christmas this year. My Toni sang Happy Birthday on Christmas and I got all teary. The day before Christmas we received a box from Grandma Barbara in California...she got the kids some of the cutest outfits so I took them out to the creek where it is all white rocks to take some pictures of them. It worked out well. It was 72 degrees out side and no snow in site (normal for Texas) but the pictures look like winter...I did it. The white white rocks give the feel of snow and the bright colors of Toni's dress just look great with the background. Now....if only my kids skin was not sooooooo white LOL. Anyway...Johns Dad and Mom came up from Huntsville for Christmas day and it was nice having them. We made a very strange Christmas dinner and it was fun getting it all on the table. I wanted to make sure everyone was included in the dinner making so I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner a few days ago. Toni wanted rolls and ham, Mikey wanted ham and fruit. Both the kids decided they wanted orange coke to drink so the one day of year I bought coke for them. Most the John spoke up and wanted to cook a prime roast. Vince was happy with all of that but loves Oatmeal Raisin cookies and Vince and John both wanted their favorite beans and potatoes. My favorite dessert of all time is Chocolate pie. soooo....it was fun. We had prime roast, a ham, and a turkey for the meat. For the sides John made his special fresh greenbeens with pecans, I made German mashed potato casserole, pinto beans with beacon and onion (yum yum yum) and of course dinner rolls. We also had Oatmeal Rasin cookies, sugar cookies, and a chocolate pie. It was wonderful. The table was full and after the dinner every ones belly was too.

A boy and his dog.

When I say Mikey loves his dog I really really mean it. He talks about his dog non-stop and tells everyone what a good dog he is. "Kuzco's my dog and he is a good golden retriever dog", "He listens to me and I sing to him", "He likes me to play my permonica (Harmonica) to him", "when I get my guitar I am going to play for him because he likes guitars too". I mean non-stop. he tells strangers in walmart about is wonderful dog. If there was ever a boy and a dog that needed each other it is them. Kuzco is not a young dog and I don't like to think about what that means. I hope he has many years to come because he will be impossible to replace. The dog is in the house more that I like to admit but Mikey wants him in because he says Kuzco needs to play with him and it makes him so happy. Anytime I grab my camera now he wants his picture taken with the dog. I still can't believe this dog was a shelter dog...he is very well trained and so sweet. We originally brought the dog to our house from the shelter to talk our neighbor into adopting him but we fell in love with him and I am sure Mike (Johns dad who works at the animal shelter) is very happy to see both Mikey and Kuzco happy. Mike knew that Kuzco would be a great boys dog and it seemed like a perfect fit...but Mikey was only one at the time. Anyway...I just wanted to share picture and tell you why you can see the love and happiness between Mikey and Kuzco. Love to all.

crazy busy

Ok...so Christmas really snuck up on me this year. I have never been so far behind in buying presents or decorating. Even the outside of our house only has lights on the roof....nothing in the yard to compete with the crazy display that our neighbors have going. I love looking out the window at their lights. Our Christmas tree is up but it is only half lit. Plus we have a new kitten and she climbs the tree everyday...and even sleeps inside of the thing. I have not shipped cards out yet and if I don't get them out by Friday (that's tomorrow) I really should give up on it. Anyway last night I asked our wonderful neighbor Lia if she could watch our kids for two hours while we went shopping for them. She of course was happy to help out (see why I love her). So at 6 we dropped them off and headed to Target first. All we found there was stocking stuffers. The store was crowded and there were only 3 lanes open to check out. I knew I had to bring my patients around this time of year with all the shopping going on but we only had two hours and Target was mostly a bust. Then we headed to Toys-r-us and they were having a two day sale (Tue-Wed)...lucky us. We had the most fun shopping that I have ever had in a store. We brought our Christmas cash with us and our shopping is not effecting our bank account. It was stress free shopping...if we wanted it for the kids we got it. We bought Toni a twin doll set that has a whole school theme to it. So the twins each have their own desks and homework. Toni gets to teach...she will love it. We also picked up a double stroller for her to push them around the house in. My girl loves to play dolls. (shhhhh so does Mikey). We bought Mikey a huge 18wheeler truck that holds 36 hot wheels in it and he can haul that everywhere. Also now that our kids are older and enjoy games we now have family game night. Thursday night is our choice because everyone is home...no meetings or church. We normally play simple card games or the memory games we have. Well....John and I went crazy on the game isle. We must have bought 8 games to play. From chutes and ladders to a kid game called Cooties. Everything was on sale so most the games were $4.49 a few games like UNO Attack were a little more but still great prices and I know family night is really going to be something cool in this new year. Our kids love playing the games with us and I would rather that then video games. Toni really does want a DS or a PSP but when I asked her if she would rather sit down with the family and play a new board game or the computer the family games won hands down. We still might get her a game system for her birthday but not for Christmas. Now I just need to wrap all the gifts and get them up on our Christmas shelf for the kids to see and get excited about. Anyway....John and I had tons of fun this year shopping together with no kids. It was perfect. This has been the most stress free Christmas I have ever had in my grown up life. Now I just need to get those cards done and in the mail tomorrow LOL.