Give in to Greed

Holiday excess? Let it go, let it go, let it go.

The last couple of nights my telivision has been displaying the animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas which Raistlyn so kindly Tivo'd for us. It's very nostalgic for me. Even more meaningful for me now that I am a parent. In the Who fashion it states: "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more! This year we are attempting to make Christmas all the more about charitable and spritual values and it will be much easier since we are going to Utah for most of the Holiday Season. Christmas is still a time of excess for our family. We are greatly blessed with an abundance of toys & food and decorations that have been collected over the years. I want my children to have a hightened sense of excitement this time of year so they will create memories that they will always cherish.

I remember all the effort my mother put into obtaining that perfect toy for us each year. Cabbage Patch Dolls, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Strawberry Shortcake and the year I got the elephant that I wanted, albeit it wasn't pink like I had requested. I cherish the pictures of me on Christmas morning where I am gleefully posing in front of all my loot!
We always had a HUGE spread of food for Christmas Eve and tons of family members over to celebrate. Dad would read from the Bible and we would sing carols. Fa, la, la.

I get such great joy now in surprising my children & spouse with the most lavish gifts they could truly imagine and I can afford. Adam....maybe you'll be getting your wish after all. This year, I have Melissa to thank for the gift I gave myself...the digital SLR I have been dreaming of for years! Last year Caiden's favorite gift was the sack of potatoes that he crawled over and pulled out of the pantry. This year he'll love the colored Scotch tape I found for him to peel and stick EVERYWHERE! Raistlyn is a little harder....because she almost has just about EVERYTHING. She'll be a little disappointed when Santa doesn't leave a real horse under the Christmas tree.

I hope to alter the sense of materialism by adding in MANY stories of the true reason for celebration...the birth of Jesus Christ. But Christmas is the time for YES. It's the one time of year I want my kids to get what they are wishing for.

This Christmas....Let's eat too much, get too much, and especially give too much (except that's not really possible).
MERRY CHRISTMAS.

a Ter 'Ruff' ic Party

Raistlyn turned 7 on November 18th

We had the most amazing

PUPPY PARTY

The Pinata was a big hit - it was a bull that sort of looked like a dog - thanks Annette for the last minute help getting it.

The kids got to decorate collars for the puppies they adopted.

They picked cute names for their puppies and got an adoption certificate to take home.












They played Red Rover












got their faces painted












made Kibbles n' Bits that looked just like dog food












ate hot dogs & chips























and of course birthday cake.
























Each friend sat with Raistlyn while she opened the present they gave her.

Can you believe all this loot? Her friends sure know what she likes !

Raistlyn wrote in her journal about how wonderful her birthday was. She told me this was the 1st year she really liked the theme I picked. Thank you all SO much! More to come......

A Season of Thanks

Time to Pay it Forward....

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people that post a comment to my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange.


All you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

You must have a blog to participate.

(Do you need a better excuse to start journaling?)

To join just cut a paste this to your blog and comment away.

Let's kick the Holiday Season off with some

thanks and gift giving!

You know how crafty I am....you're sure to get something good.

Know me

(Melissa - thanks for tagging me. I'm going to pass this fun stuff on for sure.)
The lists aren't in any particular order just jotting them down as they come to me.

5 things I'm passionate about:
- My family
- My job - I love the DDS that I work for - she actually makes work enjoyable
- Dressing my children up in cute clothes
- Taking pictures and scrapbooking
- Bargain shopping

5 things I want to do before I die:
- Have grandchildren
- Own my own Event Planning/Party business
- Go to Italy
- Visit every state in the US
- Become a millionaire

5 things I say often:
- "Stop it!" (I have a 21 month old boy)
- "Hey Budda" or "Hello Tiny Girl" (to Rowan)
- "Can you do me a favor?" (mostly to Adam)
- "I Love You, kiss, kiss" (to Raistlyn at bedtime)
- "Dr. Porter's office, this is Jennie"

5 books I've recently read:
I wish I could say that I have time to read books!
I'm lucky if I can get all the way through a magazine
Currently I am purusing the Toys R Us toy booklet,
WonderTime magazine and Better Homes & Gardens in
my so called "spare time"

5 things I could listen to over and over:
- My children's laughter
- Popcorn popping - we use an air popper
(it's fun to wait for the surprise last kernals to pop)
- Caiden's - "guldy, guldy, guldy" sound
(you have to hear it)
- Christmas music
( just some of it and NOT UNTIL AFTER THANKSGIVING!!!!)
- Jewel

5 things that attract me to my best freinds:
- they appreciate my talents
- being able to re-hash and laugh about our youthful experiences
- I love their kids
- they are the same even when we don't talk for months
- they help with whatever, whenever I need them

5 things I've learned this past year:
- having a 3rd child is a little harder than I thought it would be
- I CAN have a baby without an epidural!
- It would suck to not have health insurance
- That I love TIVO
- If you have 3 kids you need wood floors!

I tag Stephanie!

Trick -or- Treat

Yeah, ok so I know I am a week late....
Here's pictures of our Halloween night.

We hit the Trunk or Treat at our church, then the carnival at the HUGE church off 820 - boy they sure do it up right. Carnival games, bounce houses and an indoor petting zoo - SO FUN!
















Caiden finally got the hang of it this year. He'd just stand there with his bag and wait patiently for that little sweet treat! He is such a candy fiend. He calls it just one syllable: "Dee."
We know what he's talking about.
He knows where we keep it.
Gummy bears in the cabinet with the bowls and plates. Chocolates in the cookie jar on the counter. Gum in mom's purse and dum dum pops from Aunt Jolene. He even knows Grandma Patterson has a stash of Chocolates under the cabinet sometimes.


















Raistlyn was the cutest cowgirl ever. She likes for me to put makeup on her and get all glammed up. She made the treat rounds with her church friends then caught up with us later with a bag SO FULL of candy we had to empty and reload.















Raistlyn's friend Savannah and her parents went to the carnival with us. They are such a sweet family! Don't these girls look so cute?

Rowan fell asleep amongst all the noise - she looked darn cute doing it - though one guy did ask if she was dressed as a rubber chicken. She was Woodstock to go with Caide's Charlie Brown - DUH!

This is the one night of the year that I just let the kids go crazy and eat WHATEVER they want.















No, that's not my hair sticking up in the air. I had on a funny headband that was orange and black. What a night!

A Bad Case of the Uglies

I thought it was my hair. No, it's still pretty cute and flippy.

Maybe the color...New highlights.? Nah, hair has great natural highlights and I don't have to worry about it growing out and looking funny.

Maybe it's the skin - it is starting to look dull and tired. And those pesky little lines are creeping in as the years go by. So, I booked a facial with my lovely sister Jolene at the Aveda Spa. What a lovely experience, she is VERY good with her hands. She poked, prodded, massaged and stripped away a bunch of yucky stuff. It was relaxing, though excruciating at times (warning: don't ever try to dye your eyelashes!) Three hours later...did I emerged a new woman? Not exactly, though my skin did feel revived and refreshed. The product junkie in me was excited to try out my new Aveda makeup and hair products the next day- I love that Aveda Brilliant smell! YUMMMMY!

But Still Ugly. So, in an effort to not have to wear Maternity clothes any longer I buy a few shirts. That works...until I put on my PANTS! It's not a good sign when you have to either lay down to zip them up, do 100 squats to stretch out the butt, or compromise and leave them down a few inches because you can't get them past your bulging belly. And I won't even talk about the muffin top I was able to produce. Now that I have a very honest view of how I look after baby number 3, I'm feeling discouraged.

Isn't nursing a bambino supposed to melt the pounds away?

I'm not that lucky.

The bright side - at least the Maternity pants are too baggy.

Eight more months -

I hate the Uglies.

All In a Day's Work...

As the working wife of a stay-at-home dad, I've heard my fair share of "When is he going to get a real job?" "He needs to contribute some income to the family, too." "What does he do all day?"
Over the years, I've learned to quietly smile when confronted with these kinds of comments and simply reply, "Our kids love having a stay-at-home dad. This arrangement works for us. And he does do some house work, cooking and errand running." (so there!)

As I get older and more comfortable in my "working wife of SAHD" shoes, I care less and less about taking the time or energy to defend our lifestyle. I care less and less about what other people think of SAHD-ness. And I feel more passionate about how SAHD-ness is instilling our kids with healthy values and good morals, not to mention boatloads of laughter from having the opportunity to spend their days rough-housing with a dad who loves and cherishes them SOOOOOO much. I feel truly blessed.

Granted, it's not always easy being the working wife, but it's no piece of cake being the SAHD, either. Both jobs require dedication, effort and (ideally) at least seven hours of sleep each night. Even then, there are no guarantees especially with a newborn that likes to stay up LATE most nights. I think we have the best of both worlds for now as we both manage to somewhat keep our sanity with the current routine. The SAHD does have a goal of entering the workforce and actually leaving the house everyday - it will take about another year. It's a struggle on one income that we make work. It's a work in progress. A Family. A Team.

Busy...Busy...Busy...

If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.
The more things you do, the more you can do. ~ Lucille Ball
My life just wouldn't be the same if I didn't have at least 3 projects going at one time. I suppose I thrive on the list making and checking things off as I go, go, go. So many things to do - most of the time it just feels as if there aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. The worst thing for me is starting something and not being able to finish it. It's SO hard for me to stop - but I do have to sleep and sometimes my kids just want to be held. THANK YOU Jolene for reminding me - they are only little for such a short time. So, I'm working on finding balance. Even though the end result of all these projects and things I do is for my kids...we have to enjoy getting there. I resolve to include them more - (even though messes might occur) and to take time out when they need me even if it's just to hang out watching TV or playing a silly game.

On to the projects....
I love the planning, scouring for that perfect it thing, making it special for someone else that I love and care about. Holidays give good reason to create and have fun.

Halloween - it's not just about the CANDY!
( Though I do love those mini Milky Way bars.)
It's the start of the cool weather, the bright orange pumpkins I get to put out in my little wheelbarrow and how super cute my kids look in their COSTUMES!
Not to mention it's my birthday month and the month that I tend to do better at remembering my friend's birthdays as well.
I tried to come up with some theme where I could dress all 3 of the kiddos to match - however nothing seemed to fit this year.
(You'll have to wait to see what we did come up with after Halloween -
I'll post pictures.)
It's such a blessing to have a husband that appreciates all the effort I put in to making things special. Seems he's always having daddy duty while I'm busy feverishly crafting something. Either that or he's been enlisted to help.


This last week we had a lesson in giving to kick off our holiday season.

We made these cute little BOO BAGS - (a white bag with black eyes & mouth made to look like little ghosts) We filled them with candy, cookies and even special root beer then delivered them to some special friends.


It was so much fun - we'd sit in the car with the engine running while Raistlyn would get out - ring the door bell - leave the BOO - then run and hide. It was quite hilarious - hopefully our friends enjoyed their little surprises as much as we enjoyed giving them. Even neighbors got in on the action because we delivered one to the wrong house - hehe!

Now I'm putting the finishing touches on costumes. Me in all my perfectionist manner - things have to be just right - the felt I cut for Caide's is 1/2 an inch too short. DARN. Have to go buy more felt.
After Halloween it's back to planning for Raistlyn's #7 birthday party. Like I said....busy, busy!

Poor Little Guy

Poor little guy...that's exactly what you would say if you saw him.
Black eye.....stitches.....limping around with a runny nose.
That's Caiden.
Saturday morning I'm alerted with "He's going to need stitches" I look around the corner to see Adam carrying Caide with a bloody left eye. He had been playing around with big sister on the trundle bed and took a little tumble - knocking his face somewhere along the way.
Poor little guy.....
Adam headed over to Care Now (because it's open on Saturday) I packed up the girls and followed.
They got him right in and proceeded to strap him down into one of those little papoose things - wow....was this hard to watch. He was crying and saying in his sweet little voice "mummy" I wanted to cry myself. I held his quivering hands while they put 3 stitches just below his eyebrow.
A few hours later he's feeling good as new. We went to visit the Grandparent's Patterson to work on Halloween costumes. Raistlyn didn't want me to tell Grandma what happened - she felt somewhat responsible...what a sweet heart. We had a lesson on "accidents happen" with her after that.
Later that evening, while changing a stinky diaper I found a strange "bump" on the top of Caiden's inner thigh. He didn't want me to touch it but I could tell it was looking similar to what we thought had been a spider bite on his leg the previous month.
Sure enough Sunday morning his leg was swollen and he was in terrible pain.
STAPH INFECTION NUMBER 2!
This time we knew what to do...it had to be drained. We soaked him in a hot bath and went to inflicting intentional pain on our little guy. For his own good of course. Monday he went to see Dr. Mac to get a shot of antibiotics and a culture taken.
Gotta find out why this keeps happening to him and what we can do to prevent it!
Adam was brought to tears having to watch Dr. Mac drain the pustule again.
Caide spent the rest of the day laying on the couch watching TV.
Ibuprofen to the rescue.
He felt alot better with a dose of the yummy pink stuff!
He's on the mend and back to his old cute self...still has a bit of a runny nose though.

Could the news be any better?

Utter shock. Almost unbelievable.
A miracle?
Luck?
A blessing?
Whatever it is....it is such wonderful news.
I have a new found love for Unions.
Adam has been reinstated at UPS.
After many worrisome and stressful days (105 days to be exact) our persistantacy has paid off. What a relief. Tremendous weight has been lifted and I no longer have to be secretly resentful towards my wonderful husband.
It all started back in May when Adam decided that he didn't really want to work at UPS anymore. The hours stunk, he didn't get enough sleep and the people he worked with were evidently just a drag to be around - not to mention the injuries and wear and tear on his body.
Long story short, we found out via a denied dental claim that his employment had been terminated after 11 LONG years of service with the company.

Adam doesn't work at UPS for the "money" - it's just part-time work so the paychecks don't amount to much however, the benefits are phenomonal!
We get FREE medical and dental insurance for our entire happy little family - and it's GOOD insurance. It's cost us just $800 (in deductibles) to give birth to two children and when Adam was in school finishing his degree UPS paid for a large majority of it through tuition reimbursement. He has continued to work there all these years for these and a few other wonderful benefits.

The official termination date: June 27, 2007.
Insurance cancelled.
Wife 7 months pregnant with baby #3.

I have to go back a bit and say that before we got wind that Adam had been terminated he filed for and was receiving Disability benefits for a shoulder injury. So, how can you be terminated while you are receiving Disability benefits you might ask?
We did too.
Evidently they have really poor communication out there at the airport HUB.
After many fruitless conversations with the DFW HUB HR Manager - Tom Mullins, we filed for COBRA insurance to at least cover us until the baby could be born- $937. just to get us through the end of September and I'm the only one covered.
I'm not too concerned at this point because I'll at least have insurance to cover the costs of the birth.
We then filed an official grievance with the Union asking for Adam's job to be re-instated as if it had never happened. After all, this is worth thousands of dollars to us at this point and it's their fault - right?. We didn't hear a peep, couldn't get a return phone call, we were about to give up! Hire a lawyer? We were mulling that over.
So, me in all my persistance decided that I just couldn't go forward without getting an answer from someone - YES or No - just give me an answer!!! I called the Union Rep - left a message - no return call. Next day, called HR guy...sat on hold 20 minutes - and then lo and behold he FINALLY picked up!!! He said he had just got an email the previous night telling him to reinstate Adam. I about screamed! Who knows if that was the truth...they probably just sat on it thinking we would just go away. Adam will still be out on Disability so for right now he still doesn't have to go in to work - YEAH! He'll be paid back wages through the Disability Fund - not really UPS wages - but it's money just the same to us. We'll get our insurance back - the hospital bills will get paid and I can now take my kids to get their immunizations without having to take them to the county health department. AND...I'll get back the $937. I paid for COBRA.
Now we'll just wait and see how long it takes for all this to take affect.
WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?