Goodbye 2008

I thought I would make one last post for 2008 since it is New Years Eve and I'm sitting at home with the kids. David is at work and so our New Years Eve will be uneventful. I guess that is what happens as you grow older and have small children.

I was just thinking today about New Years Eve 2000/2001 - how much fun that weekend was. I flew to New York City with my good friends, Becky and Marissa.

We saw the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall and during our visit out there a major snow storm hit the city and it practically brought the city to a standstill. The Mayor came on TV to let the citizens know about the roads and traveling on them and I remember how funny we thought it was that the mayor of New York was on the news regarding it.

Here is a photo of me standing outside in the snowstorm.

They brought out dump trucks and bull dozers and scooped all the snow from the roads into the trucks and then took the snow and dumped it. I'd never seen anything like it - the snow was gone from the roads by the time we were ready for the New Years Eve celebrations.

We really had a great time tromping through the snow and enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. Here is a fun photo of me - requested at the time courtesy of my friend Becky - I am supposed to a be sleeping bum on the subway.

Here we are on Times Square securing our spot to watch the ball fall. Our hotel was just down the street from the ABC Studios that you see on TV with the strolling news - and that is about where we are standing in this photo. Now as amatueur Times Square celebrators, we thought we had to get out there early and early it was. We secured our spot at about 1:00 in the afternoon - and this is where we hung out all day!!! Let's just say as the evening rolled on - we were exhausted from standing there and realized that we pretty much wasted our day - as we could have gotten there much later and still been this close, especially since our hotel was right there!

This was the third time I had been to New York over New Years Eve - the first time I went out there I spent my time with some friends who lived there. They were from the area and had no desire to go out to the area to watch the ball fall. That was back in the early 90's, then I went with my husband and a couple other friends in 1998/1999. We got out there too late and ended up a few blocks away and was part of the celebrations, but didn't get to see the ball fall.

Well, I always wanted to see the ball fall and as close as we were this time - if you have heard the story before, you know the ending...but, if you've never heard the ending to this story - it's a sad one. The ball came down and our family and friends back home were watching on TV to see if they could "spot" us in the crowd...and Becky, Marissa and I were sound asleep in our bed back at the hotel. How did this happen? Well, we had stood out there all day and almost all night, to the point that we couldn't feel our feet anymore and we were downright exhausted. Around 7 p.m. or so, they wanted to head back to our room and I insisted we stay out there - afterall, we came to NY to see the ball fall. Same story at 8, then 9...then 9:30 came and I couldn't take it anymore. We were starving, freezing and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. We stopped at the deli across from our hotel, got some hot soup, went back to our room, ordered more room service - ate all that food, closed the curtains to our room - this part is the best - you could see the ball from our room, but we were so tired of the ball - we closed the curtains - swore off the ball forever - turned off the lights and went to sleep before Midnight! Unbelievable!

This is what memories are made of and even though I didn't get to totally fulfill my desire to see the ball fall and the streamers coming down - I did get to experience a large part of this and maybe one day...just one day I will actually be there to see the ball drop.

See you in 2009!

Dawn

A Weekend in Review

I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was very nice and we had a good time with all of our time spent with family.

We spent Christmas Eve with David's parents and the kids had a good time opening their presents. Zach got some money in a maze box and he wasn't too thrilled to know he had to solve the maze to get his money out. It was quite humorous to watch him work at it - but in the end, we ended up prying the money out as noone could get it solved. I think everyone had a good time.

When we got home from our Christmas Eve celebrations, I decided that I would go ahead and get the presents wrapped before I headed to Midnight Mass. This is something that I normally do when I get home, but didn't want to be up much later than I needed to be. Zach, Hunter, Peyton and I went to Midnight Mass and I think both the little ones were asleep before the end of the second readings. Anyone who has been around Peyton when he sleeps knows that he snores - and it's not a little snore either - he snores loudly! Luckily, there was a lot of singing and that helped. Aubrey and Tanner stayed home with David and he had them both asleep by the time we got back. I was glad I had been proactive in the wrapping of gifts, because I was quite tired and still was close to 2 by the time we got the stockings all stuffed and presents all arranged under the tree.

The kids got up around 9 on Christmas morning, which was quite nice after the late night. I put some cinnamon rolls in the oven and we spent time checking out what Santa brought us. I think they all had a great time and enjoyed their presents. Zachary is quite excited about attending a catchers camp next weekend and improving his baseball skills. Hunter got a couple of playstation games and was very happy about that, as he normally has to fight Zach over his games, so to have his own was quite exciting for him. Peyton got some new monster trucks and he was on cloud nine! Aubrey got a princess dress and I don't think she has taken it off much since Christmas! I got a couple pictures of her, but she wasn't cooperating too well and at one point she looked at me, pointed her finger and said "No More Pictures, Momma"! Point taken! Tanner enjoyed his new little remote control puppy and was really into the opening presents this year. It was a nice day for all of us. We spent the day at home and I didn't even get out of my pj's, how nice! I laid down around 12:30 to take a small nap with Tanner & David while the kids were playing and I think I ended up sleeping for 4 hours!

I had to work on Friday, but that wasn't too bad. There was only a couple of us there, which was very nice and productive. It's always good when there isn't anyone there for me to visit with all day - I got so much work done!

Saturday morning I got up and headed to Smithville to take some family photos for a friend of mine at work. They turned out very nice and I'm very excited to show them off to her tomorrow. After I got home from pictures, the kids and I got all packed up and headed down to my parents to celebrate Christmas with my family. The kids were all excited because their cousins were also at Grandma's and they had a good time playing. I spent some time with Brian shopping at WalMart for some things for Sunday's get together. We had a good time and was able to spend some quality brother-sister time together.

The kids and I attended Mass with Grandma & Grandpa on Sunday morning before heading to the Harris Family Christmas with my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. It was a nice time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Then we headed out to my parents to have our Christmas with my parents and siblings and the kids all had a good time.

The best present came Sunday evening while unwrapping gifts at my parents. My mom opened a card with a picture of some baby feet and the date July 17, 2009 on the card. It took her a moment, but not too long for us to all figure out that my brother Matt and his wife Megan are expecting their first child in July. We are all very excited about this new arrival and I can't wait to meet my new niece or nephew. This will be my parents 12th grandchild - our family events are loud and chaotic, but fun - I can't imagine it any other way!

I hope to have some pictures put on here or Flickr soon of the weekend events - but I'll put a note on here when they are ready.

Until next time...

Dawn

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas wishes to all our friends and family!

We are getting ready to head out in a short bit to spend Christmas Eve with David's parents.

Later tonight, we will head to Midnight Mass for our annual Christmas tradition. I absolutely love Midnight Mass - it is the most beautiful of all celebrations and being that the true meaning of Christmas is Christ's birth - it only seems fitting for us to be there. Of course, we could attend Mass earlier on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning - but this is something special.

We are looking forward to spending a quiet day at home tomorrow, unwrapping our gifts from Santa and playing with our new toys. We will be spending time with my family this weekend and I can't wait to have everyone together. Unfortunately, the military didn't allow Carrie and Tony and family to come home for Christmas, but they will be in our thoughts as we are all together.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and joyous times with family.

Dawn

Stomach Bugs and School Parties

Well, Monday brought me the flat tire and it didn't get any better on Tuesday. I woke up around 3 a.m. to Tanner getting sick. I think he just had some milk that didn't set well on his tummy as it didn't last long - but let me tell you the sour milk smell is awful! I got him all cleaned up and the bed cleaned up and layed back down to go to sleep when he got sick again and I was starting to feel a little uneasy. We headed downstairs and Zach was on the couch watching TV, by this time it was 4 a.m. and I quickly inquired as to what in the world he was doing up watching TV at this time of morning - he just looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm so sick". I called in to work sick and Zach and I spent the day sick together. It lasted right about 24 hours, but it was a rough 24 hours. Tanner was over it by the time his dad got home from work at 6 a.m.
I normally dodge these stomach bugs, but it sure hit me this time. Unfortunately, it was also a snow day at school and I have to say - these two things don't go hand in hand when the sick person is mom! David had worked all night, so he slept all day and the unsickly kids were wild as could be and I had such little energy to deal with it. Zach and I took turns taking naps and watching them. It was quite the day! I'm hoping that David, Hunter & Aubrey are able to keep it away, so far so good.

Today was the boys school Christmas parties. I took off work early to attend them and have a few pictures to post, but will do that later. They had a pretty good time. Hunter's class had made Gingerbread houses yesterday - this was going to be part of the festivities today, however, his teacher was afraid of the impending weather that they wouldn't be at school today, so they did them a day early. They had a good time though, they made a snowman out of apples and marshmallows, played a little game and had some snacks.
When Hunter's party was over, I headed down to the Early Childhood for Peyton's party. They also made little Gingerbread houses and then proceeded to eat them. It was much fun for them and they had their fair share of sugar.

So, I have to vent a little again...sorry, but while at Hunter's party one of the mom's was talking about how bad she was feeling and how her son had been sick, but she didn't want him to miss the party. I just said, I sure hope no one catches it from you - since I had it Tuesday and know how miserable it was. I sure wouldn't have went if I had been feeling bad. This is unfair to the children by exposing them and to the adults, as well. I'm hoping I'm immune since I just had it - but seriously, a little common sense is appreciated!

Aubrey informed me this evening that she wants to go to preschool like Peyton does. I told her that she would be able to go next year when Peyton starts Kindergarten and she seemed okay with this. I told her she needed to enjoy her time at home with daddy and Tanner because school would be starting soon enough. She just said - Okay mommy. She's so funny.

I have finished up my Christmas shopping and am looking forward to spending time with our family over the holidays. I have been a little behind in decorating and we STILL don't have our Christmas tree up - but, this is a top priority this weekend and it will be up before Santa arrives, so we will be okay.

I will post some pictures of the boys at their Christmas parties later.

Take care...

Dawn

Brrrrrr, It's Cold!

Wow - is it cold or what! We had a team luncheon today at work, but it was later than normal. We left around 3:30 to head to Stroud's for the rest of the day. I headed out to my car and hopped in and went to drive one of my co-workers to her car, my car didn't seem like it wanted to go, which I understood as cold as it was. Well, I quickly figured out what the problem was - flat tire! Luckily, I didn't drive too far through the parking lot and lucky for me the security guys are used to helping out with car problems. The security guy, Michael, was so nice and acted like it didn't bother him a bit - even with the temperature. I think I owe him some brownies or something along those lines to thank him for helping me out.

Peyton stayed home from school today. He was feeling much better after being sick yesterday, but I felt like I should adopt the 24 hour rule. David said he had a good time at home today, but I think Aubrey missed being the "big" kid at home today with him here. I was happy not to get him out in the cold this morning, but he'll be back to school tomorrow.

Tanner is sure showing his personality lately and it's so much fun watching him become such a little boy and not quite the baby anymore. He loves to dance and is so cute. I will have to catch him on video sometime to post - it's just too adorable. Just a little story about Tanner, he does not like to be covered up with blankets - never has. But...he likes to have a pillow and sometimes will want to be covered up with a pillow, it's the strangest thing (in my opinion). He just disappeared for a moment and just walked back up dragging along my pillow - so now he's sitting on the couch next to me with this pillow covering up his legs. He also seems to have "adopted" a couple of my blouses - he carries them around with them everywhere, like his favorite blankie, only it's my blouse. I wonder how he would feel if I decided to wear them. I wonder if it's his "security blanket" of sorts. I don't know, but it's funny.

I thought I'd share a few pictures of Tanner from the past couple days. The first one is from our "Cowboy's" photo shoot and the last two are from our visit to the Bass Pro Shop when we went to see Santa.

I hope everyone stays warm on these cold days!

Dawn

Happy 82nd Birthday Grandpa! Two big events, two days in a row! I hope that you had a great birthday and many more years to come! :)

I thought the weather was supposed to be a little warmer this afternoon and not get colder until later - I guess they had that forecast incorrect. We stayed in most of the day though and missed Mass this morning because Peyton isn't feeling well. He has a little stomach bug that I hope he keeps to himself and doesn't share with the rest of us.

We did take some pictures this afternoon of the kids in their Cowboys gear and then I made the picture below and ordered it for David for Christmas. I think he will love it! Every one cooperated and I was pleased to get at least one picture of them all together. I am so excited that I want to show him the picture now, but Christmas is 11 days away - I think I can hold off.

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend and stays warms with this blowing cold weather.

Stay safe...

Dawn

The Christmas Miracle

The kids and I met up with my friend Lori and her kids today for a fun day. We went to the Bass Pro Shop here in Independence to see Santa! The kids were so excited and Lori and I were looking forward to it, although, we both agreed we would probably walk out of there today wondering "What were we thinking"? Well, the good news is that we walked out of there not thinking that at all! We were so proud of all 8 of the kids - they were so good!

Now, for my Christmas Miracle - I can never get a good picture of all five of the kids at once. In every picture, there is always one that is making a funny face, not cooperating or something. When we arrived at the Bass Pro Shop today, right inside the door is this huge fireplace and they had a Christmas tree decorated next to it. Lori and I decided to take advantage of this scene and take a picture of the kids. The Walker kids went first and did a great job and now for the Bass kids - I'm not kidding you - I have never had a photo go so well as this picture and this is the first picture I took of them!

From left to right: Peyton, Hunter, Aubrey, Zach and Tanner


Maybe they cooperated so well because they knew we were getting ready to go visit Santa. I don't know, but whatever it was - it worked and I couldn't be happier!

It was pretty funny when Lori and I got off the elevator going down to where Santa was located, we stepped off the elevator - there was a line, Zach, Josh and Lily Walker, Zach, Hunter, Peyton Bass, Lori, then I was pushing the stroller with Aubrey & Tanner. This couple was standing there and their eyes got big, they looked at each other and I heard one say to the other, OH MY GOSH! The kids were very well behaved and everything was under control, guess they thought it was a lot of kids for two adults.

The line to see Santa was long and we were not sure we would wait, but we decided to give it a try and it went rather fast. We got our turn to see Santa and here is our picture - not quite as good as the family picture, but classic!

Zachary is trying to hold Tanner, who is crying and trying to get down. Aubrey had her fingers in her face and finally removed them, as we kept calling her name to move them - but had this "off" look on her face, Peyton is watching Aubrey or Tanner, not sure - and Hunter is actually looking forward. It might not be the perfect picture with Santa, but that's okay - this is what memories are made of.

I recommend the Bass Pro shop to visit Santa, I would have never thought about it before, until a friend of mine at work mentioned they had a display out there. There was quite a bit for the kids to do and the photos with Santa were FREE! You can't beat that for an afternoon or evening of free entertainment for the kids.

I posted some new pictures out on Flickr from today's event.

Until next time...

Dawn

Happy Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa!

Happy 61st Anniversary Grandma & Grandpa Harris!

I am so lucky to have such a great family and wonderful grandparents. My Grandma & Grandpa Harris are such important people in my life and I am so happy for you on your anniversary!

Coming later..."The Christmas Miracle"

Until then...

Dawn

"Santa" Messed Up!

I mentioned about how I wanted to take pictures of the kids in their new Cowboy's outfits. I was only waiting for Aubrey's cheerleader costume and when I got home from work last night, David told me I had received a package. I was so excited because we were going to take pictures last night and I just needed to get her outfit out of the box. I opened the box as Peyton watched on...ok, let me just say this - the company name was NOT on the outside of the box and I was expecting the outfit so I proceeded to open and right before Peyton's eyes, we both discovered it was not the outfit I was expecting, but Monster Trucks! The exact Monster Trucks I ordered for Peyton for Christmas. Well, I quickly shut the box and said, oops that wasn't the outfit, but it was too late. Peyton was so excited and I told him that he was imagining thing and that there wasn't any Monster Trucks in that box. He followed me around for 20 minutes begging to open the box - he was certain he saw Grave Digger. David ended up distracting him long enough that I could get the trucks out of the box and replaced it with a random item and then told Peyton he could open the box, he was so excited and when he discovered it wasn't a monster truck, I told him - see, I told you it wasn't monster trucks.
Let me tell you this...I am not raising a dummy - he didn't fall for it. He cried for a while and I convinced him we would let Santa know that he wanted a Monster Truck for Christmas and he seemed okay with this and it hasn't been mentioned since. I don't think the Grave Digger will be a "Santa" gift now since he did see that one, but the bigger truck I ordered he didn't seem to notice, so hopefully everything will be okay.

It is hard to believe that Christmas is a couple weeks away. I am almost done with my shopping, just have a couple gifts left to get. I am done with all the kids except Tanner - he's been the most difficult for me this year being the baby, and the couple ideas I did have I couldn't find in the stores. I hope to finish up this weekend and enjoy the rest of the holiday season. We haven't put our Christmas tree up yet, but have that on our agenda for the weekend. We usually put up our tree around the 15th and then leave it up a couple weeks after Christmas, through the end of the Christmas season.

I had to e-mail Hunter's teacher today because he was so worried about his cupcakes. He just knew he needed to bring them on Friday and was worried we wouldn't get them there. I couldn't seem to convince him that the cupcakes would be taken on the day of the Christmas party. His teacher said she would talk to him and reassure him that it was better to bring the cupcakes on party day, but that the other items that she needed was what she was referring to as far as bringing on Friday. In her reply though, she asked if I would be willing to also bring a bag of large marshmallows as the little girl assigned to them told her that her mom said they couldn't afford to bring a bag of marshmallows. I agreed, but I thought about how sad it is that they wouldn't be able to afford something so small. It made me appreciate what I have. I am always worried about my finances, but this reminded me that there are much less fortunate people than us - a good lesson to think about.

Until next time...

Dawn

The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Happy Birthday wishes to my mother-in-law!


Wow, when I drove home from work last night the temperature in my car registered in the 50's and what a change in 24 hours. It was a cold and slow drive home and this is the part of snowy weather that I don't care for. I do think snow is pretty and enjoy it when I don't have to get out in it. David said that the kids went outside for a couple minutes today to play in the snow, but it was so cold that they didn't make it very long. I guess Tanner threw a fit, he stood at the window all excited to see the snow falling, but was quite irritated that he didn't get to go outside with them. I'm sure we will have a snowfall without quite the freezing temps that he can go outside and enjoy it. Aubrey wanted to go outside in her ballerina costume with her coat and boots, but her daddy quickly informed her that wasn't quite possible - they are so funny.

Hunter came home from school yesterday and let me know that he needs to provide cupcakes for his Christmas party at school...only if we can afford it. He said he told his teacher he would check with us to make sure we could afford them. I told him that I didn't think this was a problem, but he was quite concerned about it. I wondered what he might be saying at school and what we would have said to make him believe that we couldn't afford cupcakes. I stopped by his classroom after dropping Peyton off this morning to let his teacher know that we would indeed bring the cupcakes and find out if Hunter was expressing some kind of concern at school. I guess it didn't have anything to do with us or Hunter in general, but that she has stressed to all the kids that if they were unable to afford to bring something for the party, whatever they were assigned, that it was okay and she would take care of that item. Well, anyone who knows Hunter knows that he is a worry-wart - he took this literally and the teacher and I had a laugh about it. I reassured him this evening that we would buy the cupcakes and I think he is feeling much better about this responsibility now. He is truly one of a kind!

Anyone who knows my husband knows how much of a Dallas Cowboys fan he is. It is quite an addiction and I decided for Christmas this year that I would take a family picture of the kids in Dallas Cowboy gear. I got the three youngest boys all a Cowboys jersey and was able to get Aubrey a D.C. cheerleader costume. I was able to get Zach a Cowboys hoodie and was all excited about this - well, today I decided that David might want to be in the pics too, so I spilled my surprised. He seemed excited about the idea though and as soon as Aubrey's costume arrives then we will be working on getting the photo taken. Thank goodness for eBay and the ability to purchase things like this at a steep discount! I'll share pictures when they are complete.

I am happy to announce that for the past several weeks, Aubrey is now 100% potty trained and is even staying dry overnight. We knew she was pretty close, but she just wasn't being consistent. It finally clicked with her and I am so excited! One left - I am looking forward to the day when this expense will end...although, I am still sad that my babies are not so much babies anymore. Tanner has gotten away with a little more than his older siblings, guess that's the baby for you.

I hope that everyone stays warm and is safe if out on the roads.

Until next time...

Dawn

Welcome Natalie Grace!

I would like to welcome Natalie Grace into the world! She was born at 5:01 a.m. PST and weighed 8lbs 9ozs and was 21 inches long. We are very excited about this new arrival into our family and I cannot wait to meet my new niece!

Dawn

I was able to get Aubrey in tonight to get her hair fixed after her self attempt to cut her own hair and here are a couple pictures of her getting it all fixed up.

The before side view of her hair - the sides had been about the same length as the back.

Sitting back and cooperating:
The finished cut - much shorter than what she had before, but she looks so cute with her new hairdo.She actually didn't do too bad of a job - and luckily she left her bangs alone - that would have been a much more interesting hair cut.

While Aubrey was getting her new do - I was visiting with Aunt Barbara and learned that David's cousin Kellie is expecting a new baby. I just think this is the most awesome news. We had an interesting discussion about when people learn that you are expecting and how they react and so as I thought about it more tonight - I just wanted to vent about this. She mentioned to me that it was quite different in the reactions received from people who have large families and those that do not. The larger family responded much more positive than the smaller family.

While I truly believe that our family is complete, I have to admit that my biggest irritation while being pregnant was all the questions that people feel like they can ask - even total strangers.

Questions and how I'd like to respond:

1. Was it planned? Obviously it was in God's plan - so yes.

2. Are you just having more to try and have a girl? I love my boys and if I had five boys - it wouldn't matter to me - I don't love them any less. To squash this one - I had another after my girl - so no, didn't keep having babies just to get a girl.

3. My all time favorite - Don't you know what causes that? I think I might have it figured out.

4. Are you done? Is it any of your business?

5. Are you getting fixed? Ok seriously, this is NONE of anyone's business and I really would like to respond with - I'm not a dog or cat who goes to the vet to get "fixed".

Wow, didn't mean to get on a tangent there, but seriously, why do people feel the need to make such comments. I LOVE my large family and while yes, it has it's challenges I figure that God hasn't given me more than I can handle (although some days, I feel like debating this one with the big guy) - but I wouldn't trade my children or my large family for anything. I even recently heard a comment that David and I didn't have common sense because we had so many kids - well, all I can say to that is - we are truly blessed! God has blessed us in so many ways and I wouldn't trade all the hardships, heartaches, rough times for anything - as, the benefits of a large family far outweigh the cons. I am the oldest of five children, and honestly, I can't imagine life without my siblings. We are all so close and I only hope and pray that my children will be as close as we are. Our family get togethers are such a great time and I attribute that to the closeness felt in a large family unit.

Okay, seriously, now I'm done with that subject! I mainly wanted to say how happy I am for Kellie and her family for their new addition.

Until next time...

Dawn

Happy Monday!

There is one thing that my boys like and that is a nice haircut, always courtesy of mom. I have my clippers and they line up in the bathroom and I try to keep them looking good. Zach is a little shaggy at the moment and needing a haircut, but that will happen soon.

Aubrey and I are the only ones treated to haircuts outside of the home and I just happened to get mine cut on Saturday. I have switched over to David's Aunt Barbara who does a wonderful job...however, Aunt Barbara - I should have brought Aubrey with me Saturday because when I got home today - she had decided to go ahead and cut her own hair! No more piggies for Aubrey...she will be making a trip tomorrow somewhere to get herself all straightened out.

Here are a couple pictures I thought I would share of her new hairdo:

The front/sides - she actually did cut kind of even and she left her bangs alone - I was surprised:
The back - which now needs to be cut as this little section that is all alone back there:

Aubrey and I had a discussion on how we don't cut our own hair and if we feel we need a haircut that we will call and make an appointment.

I met Lori for breakfast on Saturday morning and we had a nice visit. It is always nice to get together with great friends! I wish life wasn't so busy that we could get together more often, but I'll take those moments as I can get them.

I drove to Odessa on Saturday evening to take family photos for a friend of mine at work. I ended up getting pulled over by a policeman in Odessa - it was dark and snowing and as I came up off the exit ramp, I didn't realize the lane I was in actually was for the oncoming traffic. It looked like it was a one-way section - so he pulled me over. He was very nice though, just told me to be careful and sent me on my way. Thank goodness - it would have been bad if I spent all I earned on a ticket!

After I got home from pictures, I packed up some clothes and loaded up the kids and we headed down to my parents. It was a snowy drive, but the roads were pretty good and we made it down there around 10:30. We had a nice dinner on Sunday with a house full of people, lots of laughs and goodtimes were shared by all. My Grandma and Grandpa Harris came out and Grandpa Bearce and JoAnn come down to join us all. My brothers were all there and the only one missing was Carrie and her family, but I called her on the drive home and shared some of the stories and we laughed so hard - so she was able to get some laughs, but of course, we wish she could be here.

Speaking of Carrie, she is expecting a little girl anyday. Little Natalie Grace has a due date of today, but I've heard that she isn't making her appearance quite yet - maybe she will arrive tomorrow to share a birthday with her brother. Happy 8th Birthday tomorrow Brandon!

I had better be going - I need to edit the pictures from Saturday's photo session, as I'm sure she will be wanting to get her hands on her pictures soon.

Here is a picture of my Pilgram Hunter and his placemat he made for Thanksgiving.

Have a great week!

Dawn

I hope that all our family and friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a nice Thanksgiving spent at David's parents house. We enjoyed a nice turkey dinner and the kids enjoyed spending time at Grandma & Grandpa's. Unfortunately, Great-Grandma was not feeling well and we hope she gets to feeling better soon.
We are spending Sunday with my parents, grandparents and siblings and are looking forward to spending the day all together over turkey and all the fixings. I got the news today that "Tom the Turkey" has met the butchers block and is ready to go for Sunday dinner. I told my mom that it makes thinking about that turkey dinner a little different knowing that the turkey had once lived there on the farm. Poor Tom!

I dropped Peyton off at school on Tuesday and learned that he is starting to show a side of himself that the teachers have not seen yet. He is still behaving, but he got caught tackling another classmate on the playground. The story has it that he was actually defending one of his friends, but the teacher let him know that instead of taking matters into his own hands that he should let the teacher handle it. She said a little of his ornery side that I've been describing has come out a bit - hopefully, he will keep it under control at school and not show himself too much.
Peyton woke me up early this morning and we watched cartoons quietly on the couch together. It was about an hour later when the others started slowing making their way down and how things turned - I asked Peyton "What happened to that sweet little boy that was spending time with me earlier?" He just looked at me with this little smile and said 'He's gone!" At least he was honest.
We are excited that Peyton has started speech therapy through the school district. It is a long drawn out process to get it started and it took several months - but we've completed all the necessary steps to get him going. It is nice because they work with him throughout the week and between the therapy sessions and being in the preschool environment, we feel like he will make great progress quickly.

I went for my stress/echo test on Tuesday morning and that treadmill kicked my butt! Wow, what a workout in such a short amount of time. I should be hearing some results in the next few days, but I am sure everything was fine. I've just been having these weird pains for quite a while and my doctor thought we should at least get everything checked out. It's tough getting older!

We have some big news! Aubrey is officially potty trained and wearing her big girl panties all the time. I am so proud of her. She has pretty much been potty trained for a while now, but still wanted to wear a diaper. She is quite proud of her big girl panties and is even staying dry throughout the night. One left in diapers - I am so happy and will be even happier when I can stop this expense altogether.

I took David's truck in today to get the brakes checked out and $400 later we left with a new set of brakes and roters. I told the Midas guys that they were being quite greedy this year, as they took my vacation fund for back brakes and now felt the need to take my Christmas fund for front brakes. It seems like expenses like this always comes at the most inopportune time - but I guess there probably isn't a "good" time for these types of expenses. The good thing is - we know the truck with now stop as long as David applies the brakes in a timely matter. :)

Until next time...

Dawn

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

There is so much to be thankful for on this day and as I reflect on the people in my life so many come to mind. I am very blessed with a large extended family of whom are all very important in my life. I have a wonderful network of friends and even though we are not always able to get together or see each other - it's good to know they are always there.
I am very thankful for my five beautiful children - Zachary, Hunter, Peyton, Aubrey and Tanner
and my husband David who puts up with me on a daily basis.

I am looking forward to enjoying a good Turkey dinner and spending some quality family time together both today and over the weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Dawn

Hunter has had a few issues at school lately with crying again. We wasn't quite sure what was going on, but I ended up taking him back to Urgent Care last week and he had another ear infection. That seemed to help him after he got on the antibiotic, but he's still been having bouts of crying this week - he misses his daddy. He enjoys school, but has me wondering what is going on.

Peyton had a little issue at school today, but he was the victim. It seems like another little boy was having some issues today and not quite sure what happened, but the other little boy pulled out a handful of hair out of the back of Peyton's head. According to the teacher, it was unprovoked. His hair is pretty short too, so not sure how he was able to pull out a little section. The other little boy got sent home and when he returns has to apologize to Peyton.
Peyton insisted on a haircut tonight, so we trimmed it up - I think he feels much better now.
This did give me the opportunity to share with Peyton on how it feels to be on this end of things. He did listen so we'll see how that goes.

David and I picked up a treadmill the other day at his Grandma's house and I have been walking on it each morning and night - I'm hoping that it will help out in my quest to lose weight. So far, I've kept to my schedule, but it's only been a few days.

I had a doctor's appointment last week for myself and checked out good. I do have to get a stress/echo test done next week - but I'm sure everything is just fine. I don't need a stress test to tell me what is going on - I'm the mom of five children and four of them are age 6 and under. Problem solved!

I have to vent a little bit - I dislike this time of year so much. The early darkness only creates utter chaos around our house as the kids are unable to go outside in the evenings. They seem to try our patience just a little bit more than normal and they do their fair share of fighting, but it just seems intensified. I am looking forward to the weekend with some daylight hours and hopefully decent weather so they can GO OUTSIDE!!! :)

They all ended up crying after bathtime tonight as they made such a mess with the water. The evening pretty much is ending the way it's been all night. Thank goodness bedtime has happened and I am looking forward to doing this again tomorrow evening!


Take Care...

Dawn

A Busy Long Weekend

I apologize in advance if this is long - it was a very busy weekend.

Our weekend started early on Friday, I took off work around 1:00 and headed home and packed up a suitcase for the kids trip to Grandma's house. While I was getting everything ready to go, David went and picked up the kids early from school and as soon as they got back, everyone got loaded up and we headed to my parents. We dropped them off, visited for a couple minutes and headed back to the city to celebrate our anniversary. We checked in to the Embassy Suites on the Plaza, changed clothes and then headed down to the Melting Pot for dinner. This sounds simple enough, but I don't know if I've mentioned before - my husband is not the best driver in the world. Of course, he would deny this, but I was losing my patience by the minute and it wasn't making for a very pleasant start to our night. I thought for sure in a parking garage we were going to end up in some sort of accident. Once we finally did get parked and was on our way, I quickly informed him it was going to take me a few minutes for my nerves to calm. I'm sure he was none to excited about my complaining, but seriously, if you were in the car - you would totally understand!
I had printed off the menu for the Melting Pot so that we were prepared when we got there and would know what we wanted to order. This went very smoothly and they brought us the first course of the cheese fondue. If you know David very well, you would know he is a very picky eater, so I wasn't sure how the night would totally go - but he did pretty good. They brought some veggies (carrots, celery, cauliflower and broccoli), granny smith apples chopped and bread for the cheese dip. David looked at the veggies and said, well - I guess you can have all of that except for a few carrots and then debated on how the apples/cheese would go. He liked it somewhat, but luckily they brought the bread to go along. The next course was salad and it was very good. Then comes the meat - this was exactly as the menu had said with the exception that they included salmon. You would have thought that they were serving him liver and onions - I told him not to worry, I would eat the salmon. I'm not sure what our waiter thought! After the waiter left, we joked because I told him - you are giving me great material for my blog! As the night went on, he would say - are you going to blog about that! The waiter kept stressing to us how hot the pot was and burners were - when we were done with the third course - meat and veggies - and we were waiting for them to take away the pot, I said to David, oh - there is a potato in there we must have missed - so, he grabs the handle of the pot to look - OUCH! It was so hot - we laughed and he said, are you going to put that on the blog - here it is, I wouldn't want to disappoint him! Our fourth and final course, was the best of all - the chocolate fondue. We both had a great time at dinner and as worried as I was that he wouldn't care for it - he enjoyed it and even said he'd go there again.
Saturday morning we slept in for a bit, but then got up early to have breakfast at the hotel. The Embassy Suites has the BEST breakfast - they had a cook there making omelets and biscuits and gravy. We headed home at checkout time and enjoyed the quiet at home. We were going to go out and enjoy the day, but decided to stay home and just revel in the quiet. We caught up on tv shows we had DVR'd and was able to get through an entire show without stopping! It was nice for a change, but of course, we did miss the kids.
We headed out around five on Saturday evening and drove down to the Music Hall and got early parking for the Lion King and then walked down to the KCP&L district. We hadn't been down there since it had opened all up and wanted to check it out. We walked around the KC Live section where they have the concerts and such and enjoyed a drink outside sitting next to a fire and hung out there until it was time to head back up to the Music Hall. The Lion King was as good as I remember from when I saw it in NY on Broadway. The theatrics and costumes are absolutely amazing and I wish I could have taken the kids to see it. I think they would have enjoyed it - especially Zach & Hunter.
I got up early on Sunday morning and headed down to my parents so I could attend Mass with the kids. Zach and Hunter had ended up going Saturday night with their cousins, so they stayed at Grandmas's house with Aubrey and Tanner, while Peyton and I attended Mass with Grandma & Grandpa. It was very uneventful with one than with all five. We spent most of the day at their house, but came home early evening to spend some time with David before he headed off to work. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, Zach mentioned to me - whose black purse is that in the car? I called my mom to let her know it had been left in my car and pretty much turned right around and drove halfway back down and met my dad to drop off the purse! Hunter joined me on the drive back down and he talked my ear off the entire drive. I enjoyed his company though.

The kids had a great time at Grandma & Grandpa's, playing with their cousins all weekend. Uncle Brian took Tyler, Nikki, Zach, Hunter & Peyton to see the new Matagascar on Friday evening and Hunter told me - Mom, I saw a movie in a real theatre. We obviously don't get to the movie theatre very often.
I wondered how Tanner would do, as he hasn't stayed away from home for a year and at that time he was pretty little, but he did great. He and Grandma have bonded quite well a while back and so he wasn't too bothered with me leaving him. He did seem quite happy to see me though, and when I was getting things ready to leave to come home - he made sure that I didn't leave his sight.
All & all it was a very nice weekend and I'm glad that we were able to spend a little time alone. I think we needed a little break from the kids and I'm sure they needed a break from us too!

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Take Care -
Dawn

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 10 year Anniversary wishes to my husband!

Apology Accepted

Just a quick note before I head off to work - Peyton came to me first thing this morning and looked up at me all sad and said "I'm sorry, Mom". I guess a good night's sleep did him well and he has been very cooperative in getting ready for school this morning. He has been hugging all over me and telling me how he loves me. Last night he had decided he was ready to pack his bags and move in with his teacher - today he has decided he'd rather stay home.

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Thursday - looks like ours is getting off to a good start!

Dawn

Hunter's school had a Veteran's Day ceremony yesterday and a flag presentation. Hunter was selected to carry a flag as a part of this ceremony. I don't know who the two ladies are in this picture, but standing next to Hunter is his Principal & Sam. This little guy Sam just happens to live across the street from us. What a couple cute kindergartners!
I received a call from the school counselor this morning requesting my e-mail address so that she could forward me the picture. I also learned in this conversation that Hunter was crying again yesterday - flashback to the first week of school. They were able to get him calmed down and the rest of the day was as normal. When David arrived to pick Hunter up from school today, he learned that Hunter had another rough patch today at school. We don't know where this is coming from suddenly, but I think maybe he's not feeling the best. He has seemed a little feverish this evening, so maybe he's just not feeling well. We'll see how this goes.

I often talk about my Peyton and his "personality" and today is no different. It started at 6:15 this morning when he woke up. He was not in a bad mood or anything, but just down right uncooperative. I always have a couple of shirts and I let both Hunter & Peyton pick out what they want to wear - so this morning I had a red stripe shirt, a blue stripe shirt and a solid blue shirt. I asked him to select his shirt - he got first choice today and after he ignored me and I informed him that Hunter would get first pick if he didn't select, the red stripe shirt was chosen. He got it on seemingly easy - that was just the first step. I was trying to get him to put on his jeans and no success. He was not having any part of it, so I told him that was fine and that I would just take him to school in his red stripe shirt and underwear. This actually got quite a reaction out of him - he giggled and just thought this was so funny. Well, after many more struggles we were able to get to school. As I walked into his classroom, I told his teacher - He's all yours! Have fun!

Part Two:
I often hear from Peyton's teacher that they have never seen the side of him that I describe. I got a call from David today after he picked up Peyton from school. He asked his teacher how Peyton's day was after I had described to him the morning we had. Well, come to find out - he was nothing as I described. He even helped another child in his class learn about self-control - what? Peyton giving someone a lesson in self-control - he has none! Oh yea, at home!
I am learning that I have a Jeykl/Hyde child - he is very well behaved at school and once he gets home it's a whole different story. I don't understand it and it frustrates me beyond belief! I decided to just sit down and have a heart to heart with him tonight, as well as you can, have a heart to heart with a 4yr old. One one hand, I am very happy that he is able to do so well at school and on the other hand, I am about to pull my hair out at home. I told him that I knew he had it in him to cooperate, practice self-control and to get along with others. He has proven this! I told David we must be doing something right as parents - since he is behaved at school, but I almost feel as if he doesn't like his father & I since he can't seem to listen, behave, etc.

Of course, this is not ALL the time. Peyton is one of the most loving kids there is. I have just been so frustrated with him today and needed to vent! I just wish I knew how to get through to him during these frustrating moments. We are actually looking into a Love & Logic class and maybe can learn some tips on dealing with this. Okay - I hope I don't sound like a bad mom.

Have I mentioned how excited I am to spend some time with my husband ALONE this weekend? I love my children more than life itself, but I think it is very healthy for all of us to have a little time away from each other once in a while. I am sure it does as much good for them as it does for us.

Until next time...(if I don't lose my mind) :)

Dawn

As I walked through the door this evening from work, I was greeted by the whole gang. Aubrey was the loudest asking if we could make cookies. I asked her if she would let me get in the door first and maybe get my shoes off. She wasn't quite that patient, but we were able to get dinner done and we made a small batch of cookies. Hunter, Peyton, Aubrey and Tanner were all involved in the process. Since it was Aubrey's idea - she was the main helper, but they all took a turn stirring the ingredients and they all got to scoop out their own little ball of cookie dough onto the cookie sheet. Tanner was even right in the middle of it - nothing is too big of a job for him.

The kids have all been acting up tonight and it seems as if when daddy is gone to work, they show their not so good sides. I guess they know that I am severely outnumbered and take total advantage of the situation. I remember when I was little and my dad worked swing shifts and how my mom disliked the afternoon shift, as it was the shift where we would give her the most trouble. Now I totally understand - maybe I'm getting a dose back of how we were to my mom when dad was at work. What goes around comes around.

I thought I would share a few pictures of my little girl, Aubrey Dawn.

Aubrey is the only girl in midst of all the boys running around our house. We have had our discussions, as discussions can go with a three year old, on how we're going to have to stick together and she agrees totally! She is so into all the girly things - having her hair fixed, dolls, dressing up etc, but she can be just as tough - if not tougher than her brothers. It is amazing the difference between boys and girls - and I'm so glad we are blessed with both.

Why does bedtime have to be so difficult? I get so tired of getting the kids to bed only to have them show back up over and over and have to continue sending them back to bed. On that note - time to escort a couple kids back to their bed.

Until next time...

Dawn

Our weekend was pretty uneventful. I had volunteered to work at the Fox 4 Love Fund "Lunch with an Old Bag" Purse auction on Saturday morning with my co-workers. I arrived at the Overland Park Convention Center by 9:00 a.m. and helped in getting set up for registration. Once this was over, we were able to walk around and look at all the purses that were up for bid. I think there was over 400 purses for auction. Even though we volunteered for this, we were able to bid on purses if we wanted - even though it went to a good cause, they were going for more than what I am willing to spend on a purse. After the event was over, I helped with the check out and this is where the fun begins. Imagine a huge room full of hundreds of women all bidding on these items and trying to outdo each other. Most of them were pretty nice, but some were down right hateful - especially if they were convinced they had won an item and someone swooped in at the last minute and outbid them. It was quite humorous though when some of them would come up to pay and they would give us their bid number and they got the surprise of winning much more than they had anticipated. One lady was surprised with $900 worth of purses! She went through her shock and then just whipped out a credit card. Another lady said, well, I better just write a check for this so my husband doesn't see how much I actually spent.
I was thinking - my husband would kill me! Literally - lucky for him, I don't go much over 20 for a new purse. There were several people who spent over 500 and some over 1000 on items - the only way I can look at it is, it goes to a good cause.

Aubrey and I helped Grandma Bass today clean at Grandma Elliott's house. Aubrey was such a good girl and was such a good helper. The boys stayed home with David and enjoyed an afternoon of football.

The weekends just go by so fast and sitting here on Sunday night - thinking of how I was going to have an uneventful weekend - I can only hope next weekend is a little less busy - but, it won't be. I am looking forward to next weekend though - Friday is David and I's 10 year wedding anniversary. We are going to spend the night Friday at the Embassy Suites on the Plaza. I love the perks of his job with the Hampton Inn, as he qualifies for much lower rates at the Hilton hotels - makes staying overnight once in a while quite affordable. We are both looking forward to spending some quiet time alone and celebrating this milestone in our life.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Dawn

It has been a busy week and I haven't kept up much with my blog - but thought I would sum it all up. The real reason I haven't kept up with my blog - if the truth be known - my wonderful friend Lori has introduced me to Facebook! It is so addicting and a great way to reconnect with friends. I have reconnected with a couple of friends from high school that I haven't talked to in years - a new addiction - I guess it could be worse! Like say, Diet Coke - oh yea, about that...seems like old habits are sometimes hard to break!

Tuesday was the long awaited election and I am very happy that all the ads are over. I get so tired of these, as I think most people do. I was addicted to the television all evening watching and waiting for the outcome and was sadly disappointed - not surprised though. As someone with very Pro-Life beliefs and with a future president who wants his first action to be to sign in the Freedom of Choice act - I am disappointed. All I can say is, God Bless America!

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful. David and I went out to the hospital last night to visit with his Grandma. We took Hunter and Peyton with us and they behaved quite well. They got a little ansy towards the end of the visit, so we knew it was time to head home. Zach, Aubrey and Tanner stayed home and had some quiet time while we were gone.
Hunter insisted on going with us as he somehow got the idea that it would be the last time he would ever see her again. We quickly let him know that yes, she was sick, but no, it wouldn't be the last time he ever saw her. I'm not sure where he got that idea.


Peyton had a little accident at school today. I got a call from the school nurse that he had been involved in a fall and had come in to get checked out. One of the teachers was walking through his class room carrying some items and saw him sitting on the floor, so she attempted to walk around him. He saw her coming - so he went to move, but moved right in her path. She ended up tripping and falling and I guess stepped on his shoulder from the accident report. The nurse told me on the phone that the teacher was so upset and was crying because she was scared that she hurt him. They reported that Peyton didn't cry, but that his shoulder was a little bruised. It doesn't look as bad as they had it sounding on the phone. Luckily, no one was hurt and Peyton didn't seem too bothered by it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend - we don't have much planned and I am looking forward to an uneventful weekend. It's nice to have those once in a while!

Take care!
Dawn

Random Thoughts

I received a phone call last night from a friend of mine with tragic news of the death of her boyfriend/fiance. He was involved in a single car crash that claimed his life instantly. I don't know all the details, but they believe he swerved to miss a deer and hit a light post, was ejected and died at the scene.

I was so heart-broken for her as they have been working on their relationship and unfortunately, they did speak on Friday, but the conversation was not nice between them. I have always been told not to go to bed mad, which I do on occasions, and not to leave a loved one on bad terms - this is a prime example of why. This seems much easier said than done though, as during the heat of the moment it isn't always easy to end the conversation on good terms until a little time has passed and you can cool off and call back. Unfortunately for them, this will never happen.

My prayers are with Jennifer and the family of Brandon - he lost his mother just weeks ago to breast cancer and his father must be devastated to the lost of his only son and his wife just weeks apart. Brandon leaves behind his father and a daughter who he had custody of - I pray that they will find the comfort needed to go on.


This was just the beginning of this type of news - as I arrived to work this morning my manager pulled our team together to let us know of the information above, but also to inform us that our previous director lost her father Saturday morning due to a car wreck. My prayers are with Amy and her family as they grieve the loss of her father - a family that was very close.

I have been very blessed in my life with my wonderful family and friends. I am very fortunate that I have such a great network of people in my life. I hope that I don't take for granted what I have and those who have been a part of my life. I love you all!

I took off a couple hours this afternoon to take Peyton to a pulmonary doctor. I wanted for Peyton to get his tonsils removed and therefore, we had to go through a sleep study earlier this year. They determined that Peyton did have a mild sleep apnea and that helped my cause of getting his tonsils removed. We got that done this summer and he seems to be doing much better with his snoring. Our doctor still wanted us to follow up with the pulmonary doctor.I learned today that there are two types of apnea - central and obstructive.

• Central sleep apnea (CSA) occurs when the brain does not send the signal to the muscles to take a breath, and there is no muscular effort to take a breath.
• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs when the brain sends the signal to the muscles and the muscles make an effort to take a breath, but they are unsuccessful because the airway becomes obstructed and prevents the flow of air.

I was under the impression that Peyton had obstructive apnea, but she said the reports came back as central. She did agree that since the tonsils and adnoids were removed and he doesn't appear to be having any more problems with the sleep apnea and snoring, that we don't have to do anything futher.

I have been trying to figure out our benefits information for next year. Luckily, we have been blessed with healthy children. We have had our share of appointments with Peyton, but I think we've about got him all sorted out - at least for now. He got his tonsils and adnoids removed, his tubes are still in and functioning and he doesn't have to go back for a CT Scan or to see his plastic surgeon until he is six - that gives us a year off from that. Now, as long as we can keep them all healthy, we will be in luck!

This is taking a whole different turn, but can I just say Thank God for crockpots! I put a roast on this morning before I left for work and I came home to the wonderful aroma of dinner already done! It was especially nice since I worked a little later and I went to workout after work. I love coming home from a long day and not having to worry about dinner! Looks like the crockpot and I are becoming quite the good friends.

Life is short - life is precious. Hold your loved one close - you never know when they will be taken from us.

Until next time...

Dawn

Fun Times

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween! I took off of work a little early on Friday to attend Hunter & Peyton's Halloween parties. Hunter's party was not planned very well and I wasn't too impressed with the room mother - but kudos to her for signing up. I took my camera so I could get some pictures of Hunter - even though they really didn't do anything at this party - but, was told to make sure when I took pictures that the only one in the photos were Hunter. Which was fine with me, as I was there to take pictures of him - I guess some parents didn't sign releases to have their children's pictures taken during these events and so they are not allowed to have their pictures taken.

Here is a photo of Hunter showing off his pumpkin face that he made during the party.

After Hunter's party was over, I headed down to Peyton's party - those Early Childhood teachers and children know how to have a party! Hunter came down to the party, and I think he enjoyed it more than his own class party. I asked Peyton's teacher if there were any restrictions on taking pictures and she said no - go for it. So, I took lots of pictures for her to put up in their classroom of the event. It was fun times.

Venom, aka Hunter and Blue Power Ranger, aka Peyton

As soon as we got home from the parties, we got the other two little ones ready and we headed down to my parents to go Trick or Treating. I was going to dress Tanner in a plush Tiger costume and he looked so cute, but he wanted nothing to do with the costumes. So, he ended up going in black sweatpants and a pumpkin shirt - he was quite the cutie, even though he wasn't in an official costume.

My mom, Brian and I took my four little ones and Nikki trick or treating, while Zach, Jon, Tyler and Jessika went out on their own. I was excited for Zach because he is always with the little ones and he was able to spend some time with his cousins/uncle who are more his age and he had a great time. They just walked around town - they didn't go trick or treating as they are getting a little old for this, but they walked around - of course, behaving.

Here are all the kids before we headed out - Tyler was some Star Wars character, Zach with the mask on, Hunter - peeking right above the ghost, Jon in his football uniform, Pumpkin Tanner, Nikki as Hannah Montana, Blue Ranger Peyton, Bat Girl Jessika and Aubrey the Kitty.

Our first stop of the evening was to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house and then we headed out from there.

Great Grandma Harris giving Tanner his first treat on Halloween night.

This was technically Tanner's first Halloween, as last year he was a baby and he didn't go, but this year, he was right there in the middle of the action. He made sure that he carried his own pumpkin and when I would try to help him, he would get mad at me. He walked right up to the doors and held up his pumpkin, but didn't quite understand that when they put in the candy that he was done there. He kept looking at them holding up his pumpkin and from his expression, he seemed to think he was to get more. I was surprised at how fast he caught on to it, but it only took one house and he was a pro trick or treater! Hunter, Peyton and Aubrey had a good time too and really enjoyed themselves.

The older kids, along with Matt & Brian headed outside for a fun game of hide & go seek in the dark after trick or treating. They had so much fun and we all hung out and visited for quite awhile.

Tanner is usually pretty standoffish when we first arrive, but this time he was a whole different little boy. He was a total Grandma's boy from the time we got there until we left Saturday evening. When it was time for bed on Friday night though, he was ready to go home. I was surprised he acted this way, since I was there - but he kept telling me bye-bye and pointing to the car. He must be a homebody when it comes to staying the night.

The kids spent Saturday playing and trying to eat all the candy they got Friday night. Matt & Megan came back over and spent the afternoon with all of us. We enjoyed the nice weather and good company with each other. The kids and I had a foggy drive home, but got home safely around ten.

Today was such a beautiful day and to allow David to sleep after working all night, the kids and I headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Bass house this afternoon. We went to see Great-Grandma and her new place. We stayed for a little bit, but I was anxious to get home and see David since we hadn't seen him since Friday afternoon. The kids are looking forward to spending the night with Grandma & Grandpa Bass in a couple weeks when David and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary.

I had to go get a new battery for my car as it kept dying on me. I am now a pro-jumper, but was getting tired of having to jump my car everytime I stopped somewhere. My battery has been replaced, the oil changed and I am now set to go.

Here's to a great week!

Dawn