Please Pray for my Hubby...

Have I mentioned that my Hubby ALWAYS get sick at Christmas. Yea, a time or two (hundred). Well, this year is no different. Every morning he wakes up and says "I think I'm better...I feel great!" But by afternoon, he's coughing very hard and feeling miserable. I took advantage of a weak moment yesterday when he said "Yea, maybe I should go to the doctor." and called and got him an appointment for this morning. This morning, same ol, same ol...I'm fine. I am NOT going to the doctor He did finally relent and agree to go. I'm so thankful he did! He was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. If he isn't much better by Friday she said she would hospitalize him!!! She threatened to put him in now, except that he is upright and not running a fever. He is now on 4 meds! Please join me in praying that he recovers QUICKLY!!!!

Bethany's new do....OOPS!

I wanted to give Bethany a little trim to even up her hair. A LITTLE trim. Um, oops. Girly wouldn't stand still. She kept tilting her head this way, then that way. Shrugging her shoulders. WIGGLING! I want to cry! There is a HUGE pile of hair. The cut looks cute, but it is NOT what I intended to do!

Turkey STILL won't be still! I was hoping to give Abbie a little trim, too...I DON'T think I'll be doing anymore trimming at home!

Still here...

Yes, I am still alive, but barely! I have survived two children's Christmas programs and have yet one more tomorrow. The kids and I are out of school until we get back from our vacation to Florida. They have a bunch of homework to work on before we leave. I have a TON of housework to catch up on. This house is falling apart! At least the neatness factor is falling apart. I've just been so busy and over-extended that I have let things here S-L-I-D-E!!! So, this week, while the kids are working on their homework, I will be working on my HOME work! I also need to spend time getting ready for a state inspection at school, and preparing things for my substitute...so I guess I'm not "out of school" quite yet!!!
Hopefully I will have time, soon, to post pictures of all three of my Christmas programs. They have been so much fun! The three-year-old program was all of 10 minutes, and then Santa came for a visit. The 4 year old program was a bit longer. They acted out a book as I read it. It was along the same lines as the "12 days of Christmas" except we put together a "live nativity" as we read the story. For example, the first day of Christmas was "Baby Jesus, sleeping peacefully." The second day was "Two parent's smiling" (Mary & Joseph). Day three was "Three wise men giving." etc. etc. etc. (Thanks to my sis-in-law, Jill, who gave this book to MY kiddos a few years ago for Christmas! It was so much fun!) We finished the 4 year old program around 2:30, and then I ran over to the elementary school so I could be there for my older children's Christmas parties. By the time I got home, I had two messages from mom's of my 4 year old classes about how much they loved the program, so that was a great boost!!

Well, on to prepare for Sunday school and see if there is anything I have forgotten about tomorrow's program...I'm SURE there is!!

PS...Hubby has his "yearly" Christmas cold. Sinus pain, cough, etc...Abbie also has it. Prayers are greatly appreciated!!

BRRRR!! and Skating!

Oh My GOODNESS it is so COLD here!! It was -2 when I took the kids t school this morning, and now it has warmed up to a balmy -1!!! BRRRR!! Thank You, God for our new furnace!!!

Yesterday it was a tasty 6 degrees and I drove the 40 miles to "Little Big City" to go roller skating with our county 4-H group. It was fun, but oh, so FUNNY!! First, Bethany said she did NOT want to skate. Fine by me, that means I don't have to!! So we got Andrew and Abbigail all laced up. Abbie promply fell flat on her tush. Poor girl. They kept falling and kept falling. Holding onto the wall only worked a little bit! Abbigail said she was "terrified of these things!" Then, Bethany decided that she DID want to skate, so back we went to pay for her and I, get our skates, get them on....They had little kids' skates that just went on over the shoe, the kind that do not roll freely. She took off! She was much faster than her brother and sister because her skates gave her some control! They decided that maybe they should have that kind of skates, too. So we unlaced, got the exchange, and put them on Abbigail. While they wear the same size shoe, Andrew's shoe soles are much bigger than Abbie's, and his shoe wouldn't fit inside the skate. :o( So he had to put the regular ones back on. Abbie took off in the new skates. She had a blast in the new skates. Andrew started getting the hang of the skating thing and we had fun! Brought me back to my Jr. High days when that was the "THING" to do! I spent many Friday nights at the roller rink! Here are a few pics of our fun!

Abbie just getting going, Andrew carrying his big skates!

Andrew and his favorite wall!

Abbie and one of her best friends, Hallie.

My little skate pro!

What Bethany and her friend spent most of the time doing...playing on the benches!

Christmas Card pic...

So, I took about 35 pics and I think this is my favorite...Merry Christmas everyone!

Abbigail funny!

Tonight was Abbigail's Christmas program. She did wonderfully!! She was chosen to do a special quartet with 3 othe little girls. She did GREAT!! And she was so cute if I do say so myself!
After the program, we went to Wendy's for supper. Couldn't eat at home because we didn't have water! Hubby has been working on installing a water softner, my Jack-of-all-trades! He lined everything up, hooked up the new pipes...and then shut off our water to splice the new pipes into place. Only problem is that it didn't go together quite as quickly as he thought it would, so he just had to leave it in place so we could go to the program. After we went to eat, he finished the project...and we have water again!!!
Ok, now to the Abbie funny!!! While we were sitting at Wendy's, Andrew told us that he was learning about Kwanza at school...we wanted to find out what he knew, but he didn't know much. He said it was a holiday to celebrate principles. He wasn't sure what that meant. Abbigail perked up and said "I bet Mrs. R would love that holiday!!" Huh?? OH!!!HAHAHAH!!! Mrs. R is her princiPAL!!!! Principle, principal...what's the difference??? :o)

What a week!

I'm going to say this...and hope I do not regret it! Everyone is healthy! After Bethany was sick on Tuesday, she went back to school on Wednesday...all good. Thursday morning, Andrew woke up and no longer sounded like a dog barking. He had turned into a seal overnight. Plus his throat hurt. No school for him. He missed his school Christmas program Thursday night, which upset him so much! This little boy loves to sing!! Friday he was feeling better, but was not allowed to go back to school since he had a temperature on Thursday night. Saturday everyone was fine! Yippee!! Now it is Monday and everyone still seems fine!!! I had a little cough last night and was worried...but I'm fine today. Thank You, God, for restoring our health!!!
So, I have been busy with sick kids, planning and organizing 3 children's Christmas programs, working on our Christmas letter, laundry, making Christmas goodies, and even starting to get things together for our trip to Florida. Busy, Busy, Busy...but I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I weren't busy!
I'm going to a fun party soon...a Christmas goody exchange. The idea is that we each make 6 dozen of some sort of Christmas goody (cookies, candy, etc) and then we all exchange. I purchased some containers at Wal-Mart this weekend, so I'm going to fill 'em up for gifts! What a great idea these two friends of mine had!!! It should be fun! Then I'll rush home and get Abbie changed for her concert.
Really, I am savoring the season. I listen t wonderful Christmas music about 10 hours a day (thanks Honey for hooking me up!)...I read wonderful Christmas stories with my preschoolers, and with my kids. We watch Christmas specials on TV...we are doing a lot to savor the reason for the season! We are SO blessed!!

um...not so much on the treadmil

I decided at about 3:30 this morning that I was NOT going to be getting up at 5:15 to go walking. After being up with Bethany until midnight, and again from about 2-3:30...I decided that sleeping until 6 was a better idea.

Yup, she's got the icky crud that Andrew had last week. Breathing treatments, cough meds, no sleep, and now she has even pulled her little tummy muscles coughing so hard. One interesting thing is that the nebulizer treatments make Andrew just a bit talkative, they send Bethany into orbit! She gets so hyper! She's exhausted because she didn't sleep last night, but she just can't stop. She plays, talks, wiggles...I'm sure she'd be running marathons if she could breath well enough.

Hubby was able to take B to work with him this morning so I could teach my lovely 3 year olds (I love those guys!) and I took the afternoon off so that I could be with her to "take a nap." How did that go down? Well, it looked a little like Mommy watching the Grinch Who Stole Christmas with her eyes shut while Bethany played and made a mess in every room of the house. When I sat down she was snuggled up next to me, when the show was over, she was gone and I woke up...um, who stayed up all night? Oh, right...both of us! Maybe I should breath more of the neb meds...they would probably put me out completely! Hopefully tonight will be better and tomorrow everyone can be back to normal. Hubby has a funeral tomorrow morning, so if B isn't well enough for school, I will need to find a sub. Prayers are appreciated!

LONG time, NO see...

Guess what...I made a little trip downstairs this morning and tried to get to know my treadmill again! I only walked 1 1/2 mile because I needed to get the kiddos up and ready for school. Now, do I have it in me for 2 days in a row?? Guess I'd better get to bed so I have a chance of getting up early again!