Construction

Well we are enduring construction again in our little house. For Christmas we were given hard wood floors! Needless to say the day after Christmas we tore up the carpet in our living room and the hall way and are getting ready to lay the floors down and re paint. I am excited to have the living room done and put back together! One room at a time we are re painting and cleaning it out. These pictures are of the kids trying to help mike. Safety first!

Christmas

Wow I can't believe how fast Christmas came and went. Lets start with Christmas Eve. For the first time in I don't know how long I had Christmas Eve off. We went and picked my Grandpa up and met my Dad at the office then Mike, the kids, me, Grandpa, and Daddy went out to dinner. After dinner we went to Daddy's house and met my Mom there. The kids then opened presents while we visited. We left their house about 9 and stopped by my In laws house to say goodnight ( hoping it would wear the kids down) we went home about 1030pm and the kids were still wide awake! They finally went to bed and so did we. I woke up at 8am to start preparing for Christmas Breakfast. The kids actually slept in until 10am. By 1030am my little house was filled with family we had a total of 18 people crammed in my house! It was great and I was thrilled that they were there to share Christmas with us. We had a huge southern breakfast and then opened presents. The kids were thrilled that Santa came and brought them everything they wanted. (except a couch) Gaige got a tool bench and tools (his big present) Maddi got her baby doll with all of the accessories. Over all they had a great Christmas and made out like bandits! We spent the afternoon resting and letting the kids play with their toys then we went to Mikes parents house and visited for a while and then up to Uncle Jake's for Christmas dinner and more present opening. We all had a great time and by the time we left the kids were beat. Over all Christmas was wonderful and full of joy! I was so glad to spend it with my family!

Christmas quotes

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,The gladness of Christmas give you hope,The warmth of Christmas grant you love.~Author Unknown


-->Agnes M. Pharo:
What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

Traditions

This is the time of year for family traditions. Years ago my Grandma Thornhill and I started a tradition of Christmas baking I would come up and stay the night and we would bake all day and all night. One year we made 28 dozen cookies, 3 batches of fudge, 4 pecan pies, and 2 pumpkin. This was the best time of my life. Before she passed away (4 years ago this month) she made me promise that I would keep the tradition up. Since then I have continued the tradition and instead of pies I do baklavah now. This holiday season I have made 22 dozen cookies, 3 batches of fudge, 1 batch of candy cane bark, and 3 pans of baklavah. I look forward to when my kids are bigger and can help more. I miss baking with someone else and sharing the traditon. This year the kids were finally big enough to help with the Christmas decorationg and as they grow bigger I am sure they will help me with more of our traditions.
A new tradtion that I started when the kids were born was having both sides of the family over Christmas morning for a big Southern style Breakfast we are doing it again this year and will have about 20 people crammed into my tiny house. I look forward to Christmas and can't wait to spend some time with my family.
As I think about traditions I have realized how important they are and they really keep the memory of those who have passed. I miss my Grandma dearly and think about her all of the time but most of all I think of the wonderful family values she has taught me.

I got a Job

So in the last couple weeks I decided that I was tired of the post office and never knowing how much of an income I would bring home and I made the decision to get back into the medical field. This is the place I feel most comfortable working and excel at it. I applied for 2 jobs one in the NICU at primary children's hospital and the other in the PICU at the same hospital. I interviewed last Wednesday and found out today that I got the job in the PICU! I will be working 3 twelve hour shifts plus I get benefits! It is a good move for me and the pay is actually more then what I was getting! I look forward to venturing into a new field of medicine since I have never worked in pediatrics. I am excited to be able to be home with the kids more and look forward to this upcoming year! Financially we will be more stable and I will be mentally too! I look forward to getting my sanity back. I start the job next Monday and officially start training on Jan 4th.

Graduation

So I finally am getting my Diploma! I technically walked last May and thought I was done turned out I had 3 more classes in order to finish. I took them this fall and with help from my family I made it! Between all of my family on both sides I was able to have pleanty of babysitting for school and work. I don't think I could have done it without them. Thank you all so very much!

Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorating

I want to first start by saying that I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We were lucky and had two. The first was hosted by my mother in law at her house on Thanksgiving she was very kind and scheduled dinner to be at 330 so that I could enjoy the dinner before I had to go to work. The dinner was fabolous and the best part was I ended up not having to go in to work! I was able to stay and watch movies with the family and enjoy pie later that night. The kids were very excited about Turkey Day and kept saying " Gobble Gobble Happy Thanksgiving!" they actually ate pretty good and really enjoyed eating the pie. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. Then on Friday we had Thanksgiving with my family and this year it was a extra special treat. I didn't have to cook it Dona and Duane decided that they would cook and host Thanksgiving this year. It was a wonderful dinner and we had lots of good company. The kids were so excited to go to Aunt Dona's and Uncle Duane's house! As usual we ate tons and tons of food including pie and then all settled down to a game of phase 10 ( this is a very competitive game in our family) we had a blast! By the time we went home the kids were exhausted.

Over the weekend we cleaned the house in preperation for decorating the house for Christmas. The kids did really well and helped clean and decorate. This was the first year that they actually decorated the tree and they were thrilled!