It hasn't been the most efficient day

It hasn't been the most efficient day.

That was Taylor's answer to why he was at his little brother's school at 9:15 this morning. He was supposed to be at his own school at 8:45. It pretty much sums up the morning.

5 different people who need to be at 4 different places all within 30 minutes and 1 car that is not big enough to hold everyone equals no one getting where they need to be easily or on time.

It is amazing to me each and every day that we get through without someone getting fired or getting a visit from the truancy department. No matter how hard we try or how much we try to plan ahead we can't seem to get where we need to be on time.

Here is the timeline we had planned for this morning:

7:30 drop Cam off early at Grandma's class. School starts at 7:45

7:45 drop Jeff off at work clear across town

8:00 arrive back at the house where Kay is sleeping and Taylor is watching her

8:05 send Taylor to his bus stop so he can get to school by 8:45

9:00 wake Kay and get her ready for her PT appointment at work

11:00 PT @ JDMC

12:00-2:00 Kay nap while I try to clean the house

2:15 pick Jeff up from work

2:45 pick Cam up from school

4:00 Taylor's bus arrives

Now all the little birdies are back in the nest. I do not have to work today so it is a little less hectic than normal.



Here is the timeline how it actually played out:

7:30 we realize that they scheduled Jeff to be there at 7:30 today. Cameron goes into full blown melt down mode because his leg is broken and he doesn't know if he wants to go to school.
HMMMM. You have been walking around on your leg for the past 15 minutes and you have not had any serious injuries. Are you sure it's broken?
YES!
OK, change of plans. We will bring Dad to work first because he is supposed to be there now. Then we will take you to school. After a few more minutes of crying Cam decided he may live and off we went.

7:45 we drop Jeff off at work.

7:50 my Mom calls. Yes, we are running late. Cam says his leg is broken, we just dropped Jeff off, we will be there soon.
She says you know it's picture day today.
Sure I knew that. I knew it yesterday anyway. It may have slipped my mind this morning. I wonder if Jeff turned in the picture money?
Call Jeff -- no the picture money hasn't been turned in. The envelope is at the house because we needed to get cash. The card is with Jeff all the way across town.
So back to the house to get the envelope and the Thursday folder which should have been turned in last Friday.
Change Cam's shirt into something a little more picture worthy. When I change Cam's shirt I see he has a large abrasion to his left shoulder and a matching scrape to his left temple. How do the kids always manage to get facial injuries on picture day? So I ask him how he hurt his arm.
I don't know.
Did you fall yesterday?
I don't know.
Did you run into something?
I don't know.
So I take a moment to call Jeff. How did Cam hurt his arm?
I don't know.

So apparently Cam was playing rough yesterday while I was at work and he had been running through the house and misjudged the distance and ran into the wall. He has a bruise on his leg too which explains his claims of a broken limb. I am just piecing this together from witness accounts. No one is actually fessing up to anything.

8:00 I will have to wake Kay and take her with me to drop Cam off now so Taylor can get to the bus.
Really, the car seat isn't in the car. Well, that's fun.

8:15 take a break from wrestling with the car seat and come in to warm up. Realize Taylor is still in the house. Why are you still here?
I thought you might need me to stay and help with the kids.
OK, so now you have missed the bus and I am going to have to drive you to school too.
Yeah, I need to be there at 8:45.
Sure, OK, that is a great help.

8:25 finally get the car seat correctly fastened

8:45 finished getting Kay dressed and load everyone up. Kay has a cup of milk but she is not happy about it because it is not the cup she likes. All of her favorite type of cup are dirty because no one remembered to run the dishwasher last night. The screaming begins.

8:50 Cam gets to school. Only a little more than an hour late. Kay has been screaming since I put her in the car. I run in and get Mom's ATM card so I can get cash for Cam's pictures. Kay screams louder because Cam left. BUB! BUB! SOB! SCREAM! BUB!

8:55 we head off to find the bank. I am in the wrong lane and can't get over so we miss our turn and have to take a detour. We happen to go through the Wal- Mart parking lot so I snap a picture of the hula-hooping cross walk.

OK It is kinda hard to see but the pedestrian is hula hooping.

9:05 we finally make our way back to the bank and get money from the ATM. You can only withdraw in increments of 20 so I now have a 20 dollar bill. I need to deliver 11.00 cash to the school. Did I mention Kay is screaming?

9:10 lets stop at Wendy's and get Kay some milk in a little carton. Maybe that will make her stop screaming and it will give us the change we need for pictures. Wendy’s isn't open. A Mexican gentlemen comes out and tells us,
"At 10:00 we open."

So we go to the Circle K store. They don't have little containers of milk only gallons which cost twice as much as usual. They do have little cartons of chocolate milk. That will work. She doesn't get chocolate milk very often but she likes it as a treat. So I offer Kay a sip of chocolate milk after Taylor runs back in and gets her a straw. She takes two sips then looks at me like I am evil and starts to scream again. I guess she doesn't like chocolate milk today. At least we finally have correct change.

9:15 Taylor delivers the money to Mom at school and we start heading back across town to drop him off at school.

9:25 Jeff calls. Where are you?
Bringing Taylor to school.
He isn't at school yet? Wow.
Yes, as Taylor put it, this hasn't been the most efficient day.
I guess so. Well, I just started throwing up.
Oh good. So are they sending you home?
Maybe, but not yet. I am waiting for some one else to come in.
Well, call me when you get to leave.

9:30 finally deliver Taylor to school. Hey, only 45 minutes late. Kay screams because Taylor left. BUB! BUB! SOB! SCREAM! BUB!
Looks like the plan is to scream even louder whenever anyone gets out of the car. This is a fun game.

9:45 arrive back home and feed Kay. She is happy now because I washed her cup. I have an hour before I have to leave to bring her to PT.

10:45 Kay is finished eating and is cleaned up. Time to go. Oh boy you pooped. Kay has a talent for pooping right as we try to go somewhere. So off to clean her up.

I have noticed something when I drive. I will hit every red light possible. I will get stopped by at least 1 train. If a lane is closed for any reason I will be in it and not be able to get out. If there is a bus, tractor, garbage truck, a dude on a bike riding in the road instead of on the bike route which is 15 feet to his right, or a slow moving car I will be stuck behind it.

Looks like we will be late again. We actually managed to check in at the front desk at 11:02. Not too bad. But they needed to update all of our insurance info. Lucy, our PT, came looking for us and Kay went off to play with her at 11:10.

Good news! Lucy tested Kay today and she tested at a 28 month level for gross motor. She has been 6-9 months delayed, now she is 4 months ahead! That girl has been working hard. So no more visits for Kay at JDMC. She will continue to be monitored monthly by sooner start. She goes to see the neurologist in March and she should be getting her new AFOs any day now.

We are so excited that Kay graduated that we have to go find Aunt Sarah and visit her. She is in the cafeteria. Kay gets to see lots of friends. When Kay sees the wheels on their wheelchairs she signs bike.

I am asking around about one of my patients who was scheduled for surgery this morning. No one knows so we head off to the house to check on him. No news yet. Kay wants to play in the waiting area/playroom so we spend some time there. I tell you what I can really get sucked into that place. My one day off this week and I am hanging out at work to play with Kay.

1:00 we arrive back home from our extended visit at JDMC. Kay is sleeping in the car so off to bed with her. I guess they decided to keep Jeff. He still feels sick but he will be off at 2:15 as planned.




1:50 my work calls. My so not a team player co-worker called in “Sick” So I may need to come in. That will make 7 days this week though so they are gonna try to get some people from other houses. Seeing as how we have 6 patients including a new admit and a post op it is really not a good idea to have people who aren’t already familiar with the kids helping out.

2:20 Jeff calls I am late to pick him up because Kay is still napping. I wake her up and head out again.

2:40 arrive to get Jeff only 25 minutes late.

3:05 arrive to get Cam from Grandma's classroom only 20 minutes late. I am getting better.

3:15 back to the house, put Kay to bed again, and wait to see if I get called in. I have now been running around for 8 hours and I don't even get paid for this.

From Africa to Oklahoma -- Rachel Coleman's visit

Rachel and Vickie a quiet moment

Welcome sign and snacks. We brought in snacks for Rachel and Lindsey. Fruit, crackers, peanut butter, carrots, chocolate covered pretzils, nuts and pralines. I called LeeAnn and she said she knew Rachel loved coconut and Lindsey loved peanut butter and that they like to eat healthy. They ended up being so busy they didn't get a chance to eat any of the snacks. My kids took care of that for them after they left.

Sign for the conference

One of the tables decorated for Mardi Gras


The gang after dinner at Primo's


Rachel and Vickie welcome hug. I can't believe this is the first time we have met in person.

OK my camera is slow. This was supposed to be Rachel giving Kay a hug but by the time my camera clicked it was over. Darn!

Rachel is coming for a visit! We are so happy we will get to see her again. The last time I saw her Kaylynne was only six weeks old. So it's been almost two years. We didn't tell Cam until the night before because we learned our lesson from our first group trip to Utah. We told Cam about that trip two weeks ahead of time and showed him on the calendar so he would be prepared. He was so excited to see his friend Rachel he wanted to go wait in the car (for two weeks) until it was time to leave. That was a long two weeks. So now we spring Rachel visits on him at the last minute.

We checked Cam out of school early on Monday the 4th so we could go on an adventure. We finished some errands, picked up a few more gifts for the Coleman and Brown families, had lunch, and went to check in at the hotel at the Sheraton/Reed Center. After we got settled we went off to meet Rachel and Lindsey at the airport. Their flight had been delayed because of some sort of malfunction on the plane. They tried to take off twice then finally moved them to another plane.

We were delayed by an evil train that would not move. It sat on the tracks for 20 minutes without budging. We tried to go around the back way but couldn't find any clear intersections. It was the train that would not end. So we thought maybe we could find the front of the train and shoot through a clear intersection that way. We finally found a clear spot but had to wait for a red light. When the light turned green the train started to move and the arms blocked us from going again. So we waited for the longest train in history to pass and once it did we had to wait for another one going the other way. ARRGH! We are gonna be so late.

Evil train of doom


With plane delays and train delays we ended up actually arriving at baggage claim at the same time. We made a Welcome to Oklahoma sign and Cam had fun holding it up for them to see. Yeah they are here!

The group with Cam's welcome sign. It is done in purple, green and gold for Mardi Gras since we would be spending Fat Tuesday together.

It was later than expected so they had to go right over to the TV station for Rachel's first interview. KOCO's (ABC) Tyler Suiters. It will air on the 17th, slightly delayed because of the presidential primaries. They rented a car so they planned to just meet us back at the hotel. By time they got finished with the interview and found their way back to the hotel Rachel crashed for the night. She just got back from Africa for heavens sake. I am sure she is so jet-lagged she has no idea if it's night or day. We were glad she got some sleep because Tuesday was crazy busy.

Bathed and P.J.ed and ready for bed at the hotel.

Cam in the hotel bed.

Kay in the hotel bed.


When they arrived it was sunny and 74 degrees outside. During the night the temp dropped to 40 and a thunderstorm started. Tuesday was freezing. OK not Utah freezing, but yucky Oklahoma, wind sweeping down the plains, raining, dreary, freezing. Rachel asked and yes this is normal for Oklahoma. You know the saying don't like our weather wait a minute it will change. That's Oklahoma. We could be out in shorts one day then the next it snows then its 75 and all melts then an ice storm hits and knocks out power then a tornado hits. You just never know. We had a great time despite the nasty weather.

We were very busy. I ran the product and information booth. Rachel did 3 presentations and two interviews. My Mom ran around trying to keep everything running smoothly. And Lindsey went back and forth between helping me at the booth, helping Rachel with her presentations, and talking to media.

Jen, Rachel and Lindsey at the booth

Kaylynne my little Signing Time helper/demo baby.

Here is the booth all tidied up for the next rush.

Jen and Lindsey. We survived.


I think we sold a lot of product at the booth and had a ton of people interested in getting their schools to purchase. We heard some great stories.
My faves: The boy who was there to play music during lunch. He walked past our booth and said,
"Wait, is this that show from PBS?"
I replied, "Yes and Rachel is here right now."
He said, "The Rachel from the shows? She is here right now! Can I borrow your phone?"
So he calls his mother and says, "Hey you gotta get up here. Rachel Coleman is here." Apparently his little sister is a huge fan. So I gave him some tattoos and a card and a bracelet and he was thrilled. His Mom wasn't able to get there in time for his sister to see Rachel but he said he would be his sister's hero for bringing her ST goodies.

Another Fave:
The new Grandmother from Yukon who stopped by the booth to tell us her daughter had just had a baby. She took ASL in college and wanted to teach the baby. She said, "I want to buy it all."
I just looked at her in shock. "You want to buy a gift set, or all the books? Which one?"
She said, "All of it. Everything they make."
She handed over her credit card and paid over 400 bucks for all the DVDs, CDs, flash cards and books. Wow! She said she wanted to bring it to them in the hospital so they could start learning right away. Never too early right!

Also, I loved being at the back of the room during part of Rachel's presentation and seeing the reactions of the people hearing her story for the first time. Not a dry eye in the house! I could see how touched people were.


Rachel Keynote Speaker

I never get tired of hearing Rachel's story. She seems uncomfortable when people tell her, as they often do, "I just admire you so much. I don't think I could do what you do". She says you find the strength to do what you need to do. She doesn't seem to think she does something admirable. She is simply doing what helps her daughters.

I agree that’s true for some people. Some people do step up and take care of what needs to be done. Some people take what is handed to them and are grateful for what they are given and they don't complain. But unfortunately a lot of people don't. I work with kids everyday who have parents who could not do what Rachel does. They walk away (if you can imagine) because they are not strong enough to love and appreciate the child, the gift, they have been given. I am grateful that the good moms, the Rachel's, outnumber the ones who are not strong enough.

Anyway, it was so hectic and busy I didn't even get a chance to take many pictures. Between mine and Moms hopefully we didn't do too badly. Jeff recorded Rachel's presentation (with her permission) since I was running the booth and missed 90 % of what she said. I have watched some of it and was thrilled to see Cameron get called up to help. He was the color green during the colors of the rainbow and he was so excited.

Colors of the rainbow

Cam being green

Rachel gives Cam a Hopkins frog


Rachel sang caterpillar dreams which is one of my and Kay's favorite songs. I played it for Kay and she started clapping and smiling. She wasn't real happy at the conference because she is getting several new teeth. She did like getting to see Rachel though even if she didn't always act like it. Taylor, conscientious student extraordinaire, did not come to the conference because he had two tests that day and did not want to miss school. He did get to come to dinner with all of us that afternoon though so I think he was happy.

No shock Rachel was a big hit at the conference. People said hearing her story changed their lives. Right before Rachel's first presentation, several students from a deaf/hard of hearing class in Wewoka, sang, danced and signed to "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical and they were fantastic.

Rachel and her fans from the Deaf school performance of High School Musical

Courtney, Sarah, Rachel and Cam with babies. Kay is showing her aversion to pictures



We were so glad to have Rachel and Lindsey visit Oklahoma. They are both awesome, amazing women of course. It was a crazy, hectic, but fun time. We want Rachel to come back soon so we can have time to show her some of the sights. Lindsey was so sweet and we were glad to get to meet her. She needs to come back too. We enjoyed having dinner together and I made sure to get a group shot before they had to run off to the airport.

So much fun but, as always, not long enough. Hopefully we will get to make it for the trip to Utah in May so we can see everyone again.

link to photo from the newspaper:
http://www.mwcsun.com/local/images_sizedimage_042130028/resources_photoview

link to story from the the newspaper:
http://www.mwcsun.com/local/local_story_042120824.html

Here is the link to the news story:

http://www.koco.com/video/15337005/index.html

Dinner at Primo's

Funerals and loss

Today was Bobby's funeral. It was a really nice service and lots of people came. Cam and Kay don't really understand. Taylor does of course but he is pretty tight lipped about how he is feeling. He was upset during the service but he doesn't really want to talk about it yet. Cam knows that his Grandpa Bobby died, but I am not sure he really knows what that means. When I told him, the conversation went something like this.

You know Grandpa Bobby has been really, really, sick.

Grandpa that lives at the soda house, yeah I know he is sick. (They collect coca-cola items so Cam calls it the soda house)

He has been sick for a very long time and he died today.

Oh no. Can we make him all new again so I can see him?

Well, when someone dies the person goes up to heaven and their body is left behind. He won't be able to talk to you because he is in heaven.

I want to go to his house and see him.

You won't be able to see him with your eyes, but you will always be able to feel him with your heart.

If you feel sad, want to talk about it, or have questions you can always come talk to us about it.

OK. I have to go tell Dad.

And off he ran to tell Dad, "My Grandpa died. That means I won't see him at his house anymore."


After the funeral most of the family came over to our house to eat. It was good to see everyone and we played the slideshow of pictures we made.

I am really upset about experiencing this situation again. I am actually quite angry. Not at the smokers because I know it is an addiction and when they started they didn't really even know it was bad for you. I am angry at the system. Smoking causes people to die horrible, painful deaths. It causes non-smokers who happen to be around smokers to get sick. And still new people start smoking everyday. I don't understand it. I guess people think it won't happen to them. Or if they get sick they will be so old they won't care.

I have seen this first hand twice now. People who die from smoking related illness suffer. The people who love them suffer. My Grandpa was 62 my kids Grandpa was 63. They were not old. They were healthy, active, strong, men. Bobby operated machines on big construction sites. My Grandpa was an electrician on big construction sites.

Think about this. They hadn't reached typical retirement age yet. They weren't even old enough to use a senior citizens discount. If you are in your 20's right now and smoking that means you would only live 40 more years and that is just not enough time. People are waiting and having children later in life now. So if you smoke and wait to have kids in your late 30's you may die before they finish college. Before you get to see your grandkids. It just doesn’t make sense.

I hope that one positive thing from all this is hopefully my kids will never be smokers. I don't know how you could be after seeing someone die from COPD or throat cancer.

On a happier note – My favorite memory of Bobby:
Easter egg hunt in the backyard. Taylor, Heather and Morgan looking for eggs. All the adults were watching. We kept replacing the eggs in this one spot so Taylor would find one then turn around and another one would be there. It was funny, a beautiful day, and everyone was happy.

I love that Bobby loved when I would make my Grandma’s special mashed potatoes. It was his favorite part of meals at our house. He was a good old man who happened to have excellent taste. Thats why he surrounded himself with good people and enjoyed life.

Bobby 7-19-44 1-28-08

Group picture Christmas

Moving earth

Karen and Bobby Cretificate of appreciation for work at the Murrah Building site

Karen and Bobby

Bobby

Silly face
Wedding

On Monday morning we were all starting to feel a little better so we went ahead and gave Kay her birthday cake and let her open a gift. Later that day I went back to work after being out for several days. Three hours after I got there I got the call. Bobby had passed away at home where he wanted to be. Where he had lived since he was a little boy. He wasn't suffering any more.

I was in with a patient when I got the call. So I took a moment to get it together and then got back to work. I didn't tell anyone because we are so short staffed I didn't think I would be able to go home. A bit later my Mom called and I tried to tell her but I started to cry. My co-workers saw that I was upset and asked me what was going on. Then they covered my patient for me and sent me home. I work with some really great people.

Jeff was really glad to see me. My Mom came over and watched the kids so we could go over to the house. The funeral will be February 2nd.

For the 2nd time in two weeks I got some time off. It is sad that you have to be sick and infectious or have a death in the family to get a few days away from work.

The kids and I last saw Bobby at Christmas. We are so glad we had that time and that he was able to come for Thanksgiving. On Friday the 25th he lost consciousnes and did not wake up again. We are getting ready for the funeral. I helped Jeff make a slide show of pictures and citations from the city honoring the work Bobby did. One of his accomplishments was helping at the site of the Murrah building bombing by clearing debris and prepairing the site for the memorial.

His best accomplishment was being a great guy who loved his kids, grandkids, and his wife of 22 years. They met on Friday the 13th but they didn't let that deter them. They were neighbors and Karen decided to bring over a german chocolate cake she made. He said he was on a diet but she could go ahead a leave the cake anyway. I guess the rest is history.

We will miss him but we are glad he isn't suffering anymore.

Sorry I have been M.I.A. and Kaylynne's TWO!

Kay made a cake ring.

What a fun mess.

Cam eats cake and plays the candy land game we gave Kay for her gift.

This is her actual birthday. You can see her runny nose and feverish little face.

She is looking a little better here with the gang.

Butterfly cake.

OK, I have been sick and, well, everyone's been sick actually, and super busy as usual. So I kept wanting to write a new blog but never quite finding the time to sit at the computer, or form a coherent thought for that matter. Then I kept thinking of new topics to write about and scribbling my ideas on scraps of paper to add later. Well, then I had so many I felt a little overwhelmed so it has sorta been snowballing. Well, we have had a lot going on. So enough is enough I have to get started.

Soooo here is my very belated blog about sister's 2nd birthday. I am gonna cheat and back date it so it looks like I am really on top of things when in actuality I am transcribing this from my notes on 2-9-08. Shhh, that parts a secret. I wouldn't want to look like a slacker.

January 25th 2008

Kaylynne is two years old today!! How did that happen? She has grown so much and the time has flown by. What a beautiful, delightful, perfect, little girl she is. She is walking and talking which is amazing to me. Think about where we were a year ago, well, even 6 months ago. Wondering when she would walk, when she would talk. I know what a fighter she is, what a strong little person she is. So I knew she would do it in her own time. It brings a tear to my eye to see her dancing, running, signing, singing, and talking. I wonder if she can ever comprehend how loved she is.

Her therapists cut down the number of visits because she is doing so well. She is still considered slightly speech delayed but she is pretty much caught up on her gross motor skills. I just knew once she turned two the light bulb would go on and she would start talking all the time. Both the boys really took off on their vocabulary at age two. I already know she understands because she signs to us.

So I came in to get her ready for bed and I said and signed where is your blanket? She signed “Where” for the first time then pointed and said “Right there”. I love it!

She went in Cams room and did a puzzle. I signed each item to her -- truck, boat, train, “You are doing a puzzle!” I showed her the sign for puzzle. When she put in the last piece I said “Yeah! You did it”. She said “Yeah, I did it” and started to clap for herself. WOW! She isn't just repeating, she said an entire sentence and reacted appropriately to it. She is so smart! I knew it all along but how fun it is to see her blossoming like the beautiful little butterfly she is.

Well, we didn't do much for a party. Everyone has been sick. Cam, Kay, and I have the respiratory thing. I have a sinus infection, ear infection, strep and bronchitis. The little ones have a cough and runny nose. I was on so much medication I slept for two days. Taylor and Jeff have the stomach flu. I am sure once we start to get better we will all trade. So poor Kay didn't have a real exciting birthday. I did drag myself out of bed and make her a butterfly cake. She got to open a few gifts and finger-paint with cake so she was happy.

Also Bobby has been very sick so it just felt strange to have a big party. We haven't been able to go over and see him because we are sick and don't want to give him any of our gunk. Jeff has been going over every day and bringing food. Mostly pasta salad, that’s everyone’s favorite, but I made a big lasagna too.

Kay doesn’t care about a big party she is just happy to be with the people who love her. She is such a sweet little bit of yummyness. How the past two years have flown.

Signing Time going to Ghana

Signing Time has partnered with Signs Of Hope International - they have created internships for Americans who know ASL to go teach the teachers. They also have a teacher incentive program, to encourage the teachers to show up to class and to learn ASL.

A little bit about Ghana and why we are going. Ghana is the size of Oregon. They have 13 schools for the deaf there. Deaf children start school at the age of 4. Many are dropped off for their 3 month semester and their families never come back to pick them up. A week after the semester ends, an orphanage bus comes to get the children who have been left.

Many of the families can not afford the tuition of $83 per semester. Many are embarrassed that their child is deaf.

The teachers have no background in Deaf Ed. They finish college and are assigned to teach at a school. Most are unhappy to find they are assigned to a deaf school. They do not know the language and have no proof that these deaf children CAN be taught.Deaf girls are even worse off. Two years ago deaf girls were finally allowed to go to high school.

When Leah heard this, she was distraught. Her eyes were full of tears and she said, "Mom!! We have to do something!! I'm deaf and I'm a girl and if I was born in Ghana I wouldn't have a chance!"

While filming the last Signing Time shows we interviewed Leah and I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. She said, "I want to be a teacher of the deaf in Africa." Well, Leah will not have to wait until she has grown up.

Signs of Hope International brought Signing Time DVD's to the schools in Ghana. The teachers and students could not believe that in America a deaf GIRL would ever be on TV.

We are looking to make this a yearly trip, where we can go inspire, teach and show these children the possibilities for their futures. It is our goal that on our future trips we will not only teach and inspire, but we will be building playgrounds and dormitories at these schools as well.

If you know someone who would like to support these efforts, they can make a tax deductible donation to:
The Signing Time Foundation
623 E. Fort Union Blvd. Suite 202
Midvale UT 84107
or online at www.signingtimefoundation.org
Please make a note that the funds are for Ghana.
You can make a difference with any amount!

This is an amazing story. Leah is living her dream and going to make a BIG difference. Please donate if you can and pass this story on to everyone you know.

read more digg story

Happy Holidays again and again

Yes, some of the movies Cam got were the new Signing Time shows. He has been watching them a lot with Sister.

We set up the fish tank but haven't gone to get any fish yet.

We still haven't made cookies.

We still haven't read all of the Christmas books.

The package arrived from Mississippi today around 1:00 so we have more gifts to open when everyone is all together in the house again tonight.

I didn't get called in to work yesterday but I do have to work today. I still haven't done many of the things on our Christmas to do list. I plan to just spread it out for at least another week.

I like this not stressing about everything being done and perfect. The kids don't seem to have noticed. All is good.

It is more important to enjoy this time together. Too soon school will be back in session and we will be scrambling to figure out child care now that we are both working full time again. I like chilling in the house with my peeps as much as possible.

This is interesting. A website that tells you how much your blog is worth in advertising dollars. Mine is worth 0 but I am not letting that get me down. Really I'm not. Sniff.
http://www.business-opportunities.biz/projects/how-much-is-your-blog-worth/

Santa comes even if you don't have home made cookies and believe it or not, even if you pee on him.

There is a scientific formula that shows a direct correlation between how fancy your holiday cookies are, how many kids you have, and how many hours you spent at work during the week leading up to Christmas.

I don't have time for scientific formulas that show direct correlations between anything. So I will just say when you have 3 kids and you work close to 60 hours in the week before Christmas Santa doesn't get his usual homemade cookies. He gets Oreos. If he's lucky he gets holiday Oreos with red middles and Christmas pictures on the cookie part.

When I first got married I spent countless hours making sugar cookies from scratch and carefully decorating each one to look like a perfect little star, angel, or Christmas tree. I also made homemade fudge, peanut brittle, pralines and many other varieties of cookies. Everyone got a tin filled with goodies.

After Taylor was born I continued the tradition. Once I went back to work it still continued but with a few less varieties. I started to work more hours and the cookies were not as carefully decorated. Maybe a few more were the cookies that come in a tube from the supermarket.

After Cameron was born the cookies were sometimes not decorated at all. Or I would just give the kids the frosting (now store bought) and sprinkles and let them go at it.

Now we have 3 little darlings and we both work full time or more. This year I bought some Oreos, just in case, and some sugar cookie dough in a tube. The plan was that after I got home from work on Christmas Eve at close to midnight I would bake those sugar cookies and carefully arrange them on a dish for Santa.

Except I had to finish (start) wrapping gifts and clean the house and make sure the turkey was defrosted, find the Christmas books, and clean poop, etc. Then I realized I had forgotten to buy frosting. The stores are closed. Do I feel like making homemade frosting? Do I even remember how? NO. So those Oreos, just in case, were a good idea.

I still haven't baked the sugar cookies in a tube or even gone to get frosting. Yet, the world continues to turn. Christmas still happened. We all survived and it was still a pretty darn good day. Funny how that happens.

This same phenomenon occurs with other aspects of life such as fancy Birthday parties, the number of pictures taken of each child, the accuracy of baby books, and the neatness level of your house (or how close your residence is to being condemned).

Any way, the point is Santa still came and ate those cookies. He still left gifts even though Sister peed on him when she went to visit. Santa is apparently a lot like Moms. Loves the kids no matter what they do, how much time the take up, or how messy they are. Santa is a very patient person who likes Oreos, just like me.

Here are some elves that may look familiar: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1119469490

Here is the face Santa makes when you pee on his lap:


This is why it is not good for a toddler to have to wait almost 2 hours in line to see Santa. Saggy, old diapers drip when kids get a little excited.

So this is Christmas.... 2007 Let's put stuff in the naked guy!

Great Christmas! Everything went well. We had delicious food and wonderful company. I didn't have to go to work. Oh, yeah, and we might have opened a few gifts.

Kay got a billibo, a fish tank (to share with Cam since they can't have a dog), books, dolls, leap frog toys, markers (so she can draw and sing, one of her favorite activities), a booster seat (so she can sit at the table with us instead of in the highchair), lights for her room, and a sing along stage with a mirror so she can perform.

Cam got books, games, movies, a viewmaster, a jumproap, a glow in the dark solar system (Pluto included), a nutcracker (cause he went to see the ballett with Grandma), a treasure chest to hide his pirate booty, a CD player, walkie talkies and a transformers car.

Taye got a MP3 player, a gaming chair, clothes, a new blanket, and money to spend on tech.

Jeff got PJs, tools and a GPS system (he says that is more for me cause he doesn't get lost)

Jen got PJs, a bracelet, a digital picture frame, a candle, and some kitchen gadgets.

Enjoy some pictures:



We went and saw the festival of lights. We usually don't take many pictures of the lights because it is hard to get them to come out well. We had to get this one for Kay's "Buh Fly" collection.

Here are the kids getting ready to open the gifts from Santa and Mom and Dad by the Snoopy tree. You may notice that the Snoopy tree is only decorated on the top. That is because Sister undecorated the bottom half as far up as she could reach. She also liked to put some of the ornaments back on but most of them ended up hidden in her room.

When Kay finished opening a gift she would say "Tah Dah!"

Cam and Gram take a snuggle break from opening gifts. Cam makes his red pajamas look good.

Sarah and her ponies. It's like 1983 all over again. Hey, where's the Cabbage Patch doll?

Grandpa Mike observes the chaos.

How exactly do you get this toy out of the package? Well, Grandma, you just twist that spot right there where I am pointing with my cute little finger.

Check out my hairdo my lovely and talented Aunt Sarah gave me. I even have a bow. I look good in my pink striped pajamas too.

Sarah and Courtney hug among the debris by the big tree.

Sister riding the sewing machine pedal.

At Bobby and Karen's. Kay decided she was finished once she opened this gift. She wanted to play with Mickey and didn't want to be bothered with opening anything else.

She did the same thing earlier in the day when she got her stocking. She found some butterflies and was happy with that. She carried the butterflies around and didn't care what else was in the stocking. You go girl. Be happy with what you got.


Smiley Morgan.
Bobby opening a gift.
Sister Santa.



Heather and the boys.
Andrew, Morgan and Kay.

Kay and Grandma K.

Kay fell asleep sitting in a chair after all the excitement of the day. We wrapped up the evening with some parlor tricks. Taylor grossed everyone out with his thumb trick. I grossed everyone out by turning my feet around backwards and Cam did his infamous tongue up nose trick.

My camera batteries died so we will have to see if anyone else has more pictures.

Cam makes a snow angel and enjoys his almost white Christmas. It didn't snow Christmas day but we got some of the white stuff on the 26th. Taylor and Kaylynne were napping during the short time the snow was falling. Once it stopped it melted pretty quick so Cam was the only one who got to play in it today. When the others woke up Cam said in a sad voice, "You missed the snow fun. I made a snow angel and threw snow balls. It wasn't enough to make a snow man." Then he excitedly informed them that it is supposed to snow more tomorrow so they can play again and that the snow flakes taste like cotton candy.

We did get a package from Grandparents in Illinois but as per the tradition we opened it as soon as it arrived. Joyce works for the post office so we always get cool stamps on the box and the kids think that is amazing. She almost covers the front of the box with all kinds of different stamps she has collected.

We should get a package from Grandparents in Mississippi soon. It must have been delayed by the bad weather. That is fun though because just when the kids think it is all over they will get a few more gifts to open.

Another tradition is that we let the kids open one gift on Christmas eve. Cameron got an operation game. He excitedly yelled "Wow! It's the game where you put stuff in the naked guy!"
FYI cavity Sam, AKA the naked guy, actually wears festive red and white striped boxers.


Thanks everyone for yet another happy, fabulous holiday!