We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, ... and a happy New Year! :)

I can't believe it is already the 11th of December. My friend Tricia and I went to Oklahoma City a few Saturdays ago and I was able to get a lot of our Christmas shopping out of the way. That makes it sound like a chore I dislike, which is not the case. I enjoy Christmas shopping, especially for the kids. And it felt good to make so much progress. Still have some to go, of course, but the kids are done.

One of my paper route customers was very sweet and baked us some muffins and bread. Very yummy! I would like to bake cookies for our friends this year. I've always had thoughts of doing that but have yet to make it happen. I feel a little more on top of things so far this year, though, so we'll see. As for Christmas cards, well, if those don't get out at least I have a different excuse this year. I do not have access to all of my addresses at the moment. I keep them on my Palm Pilot, but I let the batteries run out on it. Usually that's not a problem because everything is saved on the computer as well so I just download it back on. However, we got a new computer around last Christmas -- gee, has it been a year ago already?? -- and we never loaded the software onto it. And then, we packed up everything we own to move into this new house and have not yet unpacked the box with all our computer stuff in it. Thus, I am address-less. Crazy, isn't it? I think I'll keep a hard copy from now on!

My dad has been in the hospital for the past week and a half. Actually, he went home today. He went to the VA hospital the Monday before last to sign up for medical care in hopes of getting help for his knee (he needs knee replacement surgery). Well, while he was there, he mentioned that he'd been having shortness of breath so they did some chest x-rays and were surprised to find water in his lung! They immediately admitted him to the hospital and there he stayed. They were able to get the water out but are still not sure of the cause. At any rate, please keep him in your prayers.

What are your holiday plans?? We are going to Texas to visit with Greg's side of the family. I just got my paper route covered today so I'm pretty happy. I love my route but it's hard to find a sub, especially over holidays! My boss at my testing job is going to fill in for me. She did Thanksgiving, too. I am very grateful and I hope that it will not interfere with her holiday plans at all.

Earlier this week we got some snow and ice! Today it's mostly gone, but yesterday there were still some patches of snow and slick spots here and there. The base had delayed reporting on Tuesday so Greg was around to help with getting the kids ready. That was great; I could really get used to it! :) They are predicting a nice weekend but worse weather for next week -- freezing rain and sleet. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to get out in it in the middle of the night!

The town of Waukomis has a tiny little park with very old rusty metal equipment (slide, broken swings, monkey bars) that they have decided to update. This was exciting news in itself! But here's the cool part: four different playground sets were chosen and the children of Waukomis got to vote on which one to purchase! The vote took place at a town council meeting Wednesday night and only the kids got to vote, no adults! There were probably about 20 kids there, give or take a few. The set that won was the one Susannah and Makaley voted for. Most people I heard state their preference had chosen that one, too, so maybe it was an easy decision. It was a cool experience and I'm glad our girls got to participate.

Well, I'd better post this. I have to make my posts long in case I don't get another one written for a while!

Well, the holidays are upon us. I am very excited. Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I still have to pack for our trip, and we are leaving in the morning. Yes, I seem to have waited until the very last minute again, but well, my mom always says I work best under pressure.

Sammy & Pejo went home almost three weeks ago. I miss them alot. We all do. It's amazingly quiet around here these days. Their family is finally reunited, and that's a good thing. Andy got home from Iraq almost a week and a half ago. We'll get to see them this weekend.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And after that, let the Christmas carols play nonstop! There is a station here that has already started playing all Christmas, all the time. I love it! :)

Happy Holidays!

Mouse #2

Well, Cuddles captured his second mouse this morning. I can only hope he's finding these things in the garage and not in the house. I haven't seen any current evidence of mice like droppings or anything. But, Greg did install the cat door on the door between the garage and the house so it's likely he's finding them out there and bringing them in. This one was rather small, about the size of our last pet mouse, Comet. It was already dead when I saw Cuddles flopping it around in the hallway, at least. (For my sake, that was good. I didn't feel the need to run and hide that way.) It was 2:30 am and I was heading out to do my paper route at the time and couldn't coax the kitty out the front door. Greg was too asleep to get up and handle it so I figured we'd deal with it in the morning. Well, I forgot all about it while doing my route. Sammy found it, though! She was the first one in the bathroom and she walked in and right back out in a hurry. :) She was a good sport, though, and got a laugh out of it. Then we all gathered in the hall to watch Greg carry it out by the tail. What an exciting life, huh?

Nail Polish Episodes

One Saturday afternoon several weeks back, Sammy and Pejo were gone to their Nannie's for the weekend, and Susannah and Makaley and I were sitting around painting each other's nails. Greyson came up and asked if he could paint his, too. I hated to leave him out, but I told him that only girls paint their nails. Instead of being offended, however, he said then, "Can I paint your nails?" Well, of course, there was no way I could deny him that after he'd been so sweet and understanding. Plus, I was impressed with his line of thought! So, I agreed. Well, Greyson, as you may know, is quite the artist so he was not content to paint with just one color, nor was it a quick project. By the time he was done, my fingernails (and a significant amount of my fingers themselves) were pretty much tie-dyed. And of course, the finger nail polish remover is nowhere to be found. But hey, it was a good conversational piece, right? And I discovered that a shower will remove the excess polish so by the next morning, my nail job was perfect.

A couple of weeks ago on a Friday morning, Greyson and Pejo woke up super early, but I just had to get a little more sleep. I turned on a movie for them and proceeded to doze in the recliner. Apparently, the movie I chose didn't draw them in. I was in and out of sleep for a while, but was soon awakened by the boys with a request to admire their latest handiwork. A new drawing, you think? A tower of blocks, perhaps? Well, no, not exactly. With these two, you don't leave anything you don't want messed with in view, much less in reach. I guess we girls forgot this after the last nail-painting session and accidentally left some polish on the edge of the counter. When I sat up and looked at them, both boys were proudly sporting prettied-up toenails! They were positively beaming. I regret that I did not get a picture that very day, but alas, it is not too late. I still have not located the nail polish remover, but since they usually wear tennis shoes, I didn't search too hard and have left it on their toes to wear off. Surely it will, eventually ... Seems to me, the girls' polish hardly lasts three days, but of course, the stuff just will not leave the boys' toes. What am I going to do with those two? :)

Too Funny!

Yesterday morning in church, Susannah and Samantha were getting ready to start that game where you take turns connecting two dots at a time to make squares, then whoever makes the line that completes a square puts their initial in it, and the one who has the most completed squares when the grid is full, wins.  You know that one? Well, Sammy said, “I love this game.  Grandma always lets me win.”  Susannah then turned to Sam and said, “Well, I’m not Grandma.”  J

Rise and Shine!

Okay, now this is just gross! I'm sitting here at the computer in the dark because no one else is up yet, and I hear Cuddles (one of our kitties) growling. This is unusual for him, but I think that maybe he and Britt (our older cat) are having a stand-off. It continues so finally I get up to investigate. He is in our bedroom with me but I see that he is the only cat in here. Wierd. I walk over to turn on the hall light and upon doing so, I suddenly notice that he has a dark shadowy form in his mouth. Oh my! Sure enough, it is a mouse! I inform Greg of the situation and then head for the living room in search of something high to perch myself on. Cuddles is on the prowl, too, wandering with this wiggling thing in his mouth. Greg manages to pick Cuddles up, still carrying the mouse, and I open the front door so he can deposit them both onto the front porch. Patchy is all out of sorts now, too. She knows something is up and paces the house meowing constantly. Cuddles wants back in and we see that he has succeeded in killing his catch and has left it as a gift on the front doorstep. How sweet! Now we let Patches out to satisfy her curiosity. I've got the heebie jeebies, but nothing like an exciting story to get the girls out of bed for school! They can't wait to see the mouse for themselves!

Checking in ...

Hello, hello! Thought I'd check in. Life is speeding on by and soccer hasn't even started yet! We've been staying home more than before, but it doesn't feel any less busy around here. Five kids in the house gets a little loud at times. Well, okay, it stays loud most of the time. But it's usually happy noise of children at play.

Greg went on a week long business trip to Massachusetts recently, and during that time, my grandparents came and stayed with me. It was really nice to have their company (not to mention their help), and I hated to see them leave on Friday. Sammy and Pejo got to visit with their mom and nannie this past weekend in Oklahoma City. They hadn't seen Hannah for right at a month, so that was a happy reunion.

This weekend is the Garfield County fair. We are looking forward to going to the carnival on Friday night. It's always fun for the kids, albeit expensive for the parents. :) We usually go with friends so we all have someone to enjoy it with.

We are still appreciating the extra space we have in the new house, but I still can't say I've done much unpacking. I need the moving in fairy to pay me a visit. I suppose that's what I should be doing right now, huh? Perhaps it's a time management problem on my part?

Well, sorry to be brief, but I gotta get. My poor parents haven't heard from me in ages so I think I'll give them a call.

Till next time ...