Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We had a good trip to visit my family in Al. Mel's new house is very nice and it was nice that they let us stay there with them even though they just moved in a couple of days before we got there. They'll be unpacking for a while. The kids loved playing with their cousins and I enjoyed visiting with family and relaxing. They received plenty of toys for Christmas and now we have to find somewhere to put it all. Avery got an aquadoodle and some trains, tracks, bridges, roundhouse and other things. They all love playing with the trains and tracks. Tristan got a big wheel and nerf gun and cabbage patch baby boy and a shopping cart and toy food and some other things. He loves to play pretend and be in charge. Aiden got a nerf crossbow and two gamecube games and some legos and a few other things. Lidia got big sister and newborn cabbage patch dolls and a crib for them and she got an ipod shuffle and idog and other things. My sister got the oldest three head lamps which they love. The kids and Cory had lots of fun playing with all the nerf guns while we were there. We got one for Bradley and so did Micah. So there were 4 new nerf guns they were all shooting each other with. I didn't take many pics. I just was enjoying the moment instead of capturing it on film. Oh well. My sisters took some pics and a bit of video I will get copies of. My dad's wife, Sandra, gave all the kids McDonalds gift cards and adults Outback gift cards. These were greatly appreciated and used while there and on the road home. We are glad to be home and in our own beds again and hopefully back on schedule soon. Tristan and Avery have colds and I've been congested too. Tristan had a fever Friday but is better now. The kids are enjoying playing with all their new toys since they didn't really get to much before. I put them away in the car like the day after Christmas so we wouldn't loose them at Mel's house. We need to load music onto Lidia's ipod. She's very excited about it. I hope she doesn't loose it. Teusday is her birthday and she has requested that we go to Chuck E Cheese of course. Luckily I think Cory is off Teusday. Oh, and another good thing about my visit home was the yummy food on Christmas Day and I bought a big bag of boiled peanuts and brought them home with me. Cory and I will eat some more tonight maybe along with some caffeine free Dr.Pepper I picked up down there too. I wish they sold it here. I don't really drink soda regularly anyway but when I do I love Dr.Pepper.
On a sad note, we lost Tristan's star blankee. I think we left it at the hotel we stayed at on the way up there. I called but the maid didn't seem to have anything like it and said she would leave a message for her boss and check the room. Poor Tristan, he loves that blanket.

Meet Pumpkin

Well, maybe the third time's a charm. Christy's friend Natalie breeds French Bulldogs and Natalie's mom breeds Yorkies. "Pumpkin" is what happens when you don't keep them separate. Her mother is a Frenchie and her father is a Yorkie. We chose the brown female because she was very cute and friendly and a little calmer than the others.
By the way Cory and the kids made the decision this time to get this dog based on a good feeling and as long as they help care for her I feel good about it too. She's darn cute and sweet. She likes to be held a lot. I think she misses all her siblings and parents. She's sleeping in my arm right now.

Letter to Santa

Aiden had to write a letter to Santa at school. It says;

Dear Santa Claus,
How are you doing at the north pole? How are the raindeers doing? Oh maybe you won't like me saying all of these questions. So please I really need a gameboy for Lidia so she will never ever beg for my red game boy. Also she would be happy all along. Last of all, so she will keep quiet. Please bring me a gameboy for Lidia.
Sincerely,
Aiden Newman

I think this is so funny. He was upset the other day because I made him let Lidia and Tristan have a turn with the gameboy. We keep it in the car. Aiden usually is the only one who plays it but it does not belong to him as he thinks. We bought it for them to share. He happens to like video games the most and is better at them.

Lidia had to write this in her class.

What I would like for the world: no pollution
What I would like for myself: my brothers obey me when they need to
What I would like for my family: love

She is still bothered with the fact that the few times I have asked her to "babysit" her brothers while I help dad do something like yard work or household projects, they don't obey her.

Tristan told me yesterday that he is being good because he is "following Jesus's directions" but the boy who was screaming as his parents carried him out of the McDonalds playplace was following the devil. It is funny because we've been listening to the veggie tales sunday morning songs in the car and I think they use the words "follow Jesus's directions". Tristan figured out the devil part himself. I told him that kid was just acting grumpy, not really following the devil.

Funny kids...

Lidia presents...

...her candles she made in her after school club this fall,

and her gargoyle she made with clay in art class.

First takeSecond takeThird take

Battery died...

We finally tried to take a family picture today and only got 3 shots before the camera battery died. We have now recharged it but I may have to settle for the third picture. It's hard to get all six of us in a picture and all looking and smiling together. It will never be perfect. Cory insisted the lighting would be better in full sun but we were squinting because it was so bright.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Craft

I spent nearly 2 days sewing all these stockings. The YW came over last night to decorate them. It was fun. Some left them here to dry while others couldn't wait to take them home. I am making some with the kids Saturday. They can't wait to get into the glitter, rhinestones, glue, bells, ribbon, etc.

NYC

Aiden and Tristan's animals have on Yankee shirts and Yankee wild wigs and the Yankee emblem embroidered on their foot and their long arms have velcro hands so they can hang around your neck or whatever. Avery's says NYC the big apple. I thought it was very cute. Lidia and I have matching tshirts b/c we both love Hello Kitty and NYC. She wanted to go with me so much. I got Cory the classic tshirt. I may have to borrow it. I also bought Lidia a Hello Kitty Diary with a lock. I had one like it when I was her age. Notice Cory's new glasses? The computer tint turned out darker than we thought it would. Oh well.

Yesterday was my bus trip up to NYC with a ladies group here in town. Jen and I had fun. We were dropped off at Times Square and used the Charmin restrooms. It was funny. They had their people out on the sidewalk dancing and cheering and then you go in and up the escalator where you are escorted to one of many restrooms. They were very clean and had like 6 or more Charmin rolls to choose from. Then when you come out there is a dance floor and seating and a stand of many different puffs facial tissues to choose from if you need one. It was funny. Then we walked for a while and then realized we should just take the subway. So then we took the subway down to Chinatown. Everyone there was trying to sell you a "coach" bag but we couldn't even understand what they were trying to say. I thought they were begging or something. I just said no and kept walking. I was disappointed that there wasn't a lot of Chinese merchandise, mostly just American knock off junk. However it was fun to see the food markets and the people. I went to a pastry shop and bought a bag full of steamed buns for cheap and a cookie thing that was pretty good and flaky but a bit odd b/c I think it was made of rice flour. There were lots of cool looking fruits and veggies and tons of smelly seafood. Jen was surprised when we walked past a bucket of live shrimp jumping around. Then we walked up to Little Italy and ate lunch at a nice little restaurant. It was a bit pricey but good. After that we walked over to the lower east side and caught the subway back up to Rockefeller Center. The subways were good. Way better than Baltimore. I like Manhattan b/c most of the people seem like nice city people but in Baltimore there are always a lot of poor scary looking people and usually one or two high on drugs and screaming profanity at one another. I could totally live in Manhattan and walk everywhere or take the subway if I were a lot wealthier and didn't have 4 little kids. I'd much rather have my life but if I were to choose to be a childless city dweller, I could totally see myself there. So anyway, we then went to the Rockefeller Ice skating rink to check out the tree and all. The lighting ceremony was last night but we left before that was over and it was super crowded once the show started but we saw it at about 1:30pm so it wasn't too crowded. We went to our 2pm Christmas Spectacular Show next. Radio City Music Hall is so cool inside, except the bathrooms should be remodeled, but it was still nice. The show was awesome! I loved the dancing and music and colors and costumes and the 3D animation at the beginning and the stage is awesome with 3 elevator sections and the orchestra rising up and going back and then an ice skating rink coming up and a pair of figure skaters doing awesome tricks. I loved it! I teared up a little bit b/c I liked it so much and I just kept thinking how much the kids would love it and I wished they were there watching it with me. We'll have to save up and take them sometime. The big kid in me also loved the Toys R Us in Times Square. I bought the kids souvenirs there. I bought myself a dress at the H&M store and looked around at some other more expensive stores in that area after the show and then we went to Jamba Juice for a smoothie and grabbed a subway sandwich before getting back on the bus at 6pm. It was a fun day but went by way too fast. So much to see! I'm thankful Cory let me go and that he was able to run things at home while I was away and with no catastrophe. Hee Hee.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Here are Aiden's thankful pics he drew for Thanksgiving.

I was surprised at the detail in this one. It really looks like our living room.

Notice Maryland is down near New Zealand or something and it's an island. Lidia teased him for his lack of geography skills. China looks about right though.

Here are a couple of his millions of Star Wars Lego drawings. He loves Lego. The papers are wrinkled b/c Avery gets their pics and wads them up and tries to throw them away.

This caption says,"I have a lightsaber, and I'm not afraid to use it". Funny.

I think it was Lidia's idea for everyone to make thankful books for Thanksgiving. They all drew for a long time that morning before I got up.

Lidia drew these on Friday and on Saturday we went down to Krispy Kreme. We got a free hot light ornament with our doughnut purchase.

Tristan is beginning to draw although using that motor skill is still very hard for him. He's working hard and loving school.Avery only scribbles right now but he loves to read books and always points to letters everywhere and says EEE! I am thinking he may be left handed. He draws and eats with his left hand, even if I put it in his right. He loved this turkey hat Tristan made at school and ran around acting like a silly turkey in it.

Our Thanksgiving was just like a normal day but lots of cooking and kind of watching the macy's parade and the dog show. It was rather boring and too much work in my opinion but the kids did draw some cute pictures. After we ate I kind of spent the afternoon in my room alone. I wasn't thinking about last year until I dug into my cornbread dressing. I kind of had a flshback of years past and last year's crappy events and I nearly lost it but kept myself collected long enough to eat. I like the holidays but I'm not as excited about it as I used to be. I also have alot going on with home, family, church, etc. so decorating for Christmas is not on the top of my agenda. For the kids however, I may venture to pull out some Christmas stuff next weekend.

Hot Air

This hot air balloon landed in our neighbor's field Friday evening. Cory and the kids were outside playing and noticed it going by and then getting very low. It looked like it was landing so we went for a walk down the street to see exactly where it was landing. About 5 houses down our side of the street there is a gravel driveway that goes back to an old farm house and part of the farm. Our street used to be part of this farm. Well the hot air balloon had landed in the grassy field behind the farm house. The old lady that lives there said she heard a thud and came out to see what it was. What a neat surprise. These hot air balloon tours have to go where the wind takes them and then they find a place to land before dark. The van and trailer come and take them and the balloon back. So we walked over and saw it and the guy told us to come on over and have a look before they take it down. Then they turned the flame off and pulled a long rope to pull the balloon on to it's side. This scared Avery b/c this huge thing looks like it's going to fall on you. Then the guy asked everyone to come help squeeze all the air out and fold it up. This takes a few minutes and the kids were excited to help. They also went to the top and felt all the warm air coming out. The people taking the hot air balloon ride were celebrating one of the ladie's 90th birthday. Tristan saw this lady sitting in the van and asked if he could go over and see her. I said yes and told him to wish her a happy birthday. He walked straight over and climbed up in the van right next to her and wished her a happy birthday and then kept talking to her and checking out the van. He is so not shy. Anyway it was such a neat thing to have happen right down the street and I was glad that the man running the balloon was nice and let us have a look and help out. The kids loved it. Our neighbor across the street also saw the balloon and followed it over with us and the kids that live in the house right in front of the farm house had not noticed what was going on b/c they were inside but they came out as we were walking by and we told them what was behind the trees so they came over too. I guess everyone else in the neighborhood missed out and have no clue what happened because they were all inside on such a lovely evening.
By the way, the pics are from their website. Cory took some pics with his cell phone and a few seconds of video but since it's a new phone we don't have the cable to download the stuff to the computer yet.

Locks of Love

We cut 12 inches off Lidia's hair today and I'm mailing it to Locks of Love tomorrow. She doesn't regret it one bit. She is excited because it is helping someone else and because she has a different look. Her brothers said they didn't like it very much and Lidia just smiled and told them they better because it's too late and there's nothing they can do about it. She also lost her 5th tooth today. I also cut Avery and Tristan's hair today. They were not nearly as cooperative. There was no school today b/c the schools are the polling locations. We voted tonight and bought girl scout cookies from the girls selling in a tent outside the school. I was hoping to run into some girl scouts before cookie season was over. mmmm. Anyway I am proud of Lidia for being so brave and nice and not the least bit nervous about a big change.
On a different note Tristan was crying tonight saying he missed my mom and he wished he could hear her voice. Maybe me showing them pictures of kids bald from chemo made them think of her. After comforting Tristan and getting him to fall asleep Aiden said he thinks he can hear Granny's voice when he thinks about her and that he"s crying tears of joy because we love her so much and because he loves his mom and dad the most and because we love him. He's so tenderhearted. They really know how to get tears out of me sometimes. He also recounted to me his last memories of being with her in the hospital before she died and how she hugged all of us and he remembered some sign on the wall that he said he didn't like and then he said he remembers getting home and me saying that she died and he said he didn't like it when I said that. The picture he remembers seeing at the hospital must have been the pain one. He said it was a smiley face that also had a frown and tears.