My son is too skinny in my opinion. I do not want to make a huge deal out of it like the husband's parents did to him. He has some memories...anyway. I do want to be sure he take in some calories. My sunshine is much like me in that he doesn't like to eat necessarily (actually I wish I could get back there). Anyway, I bought Pediasure for him to take to school so atleast he will get some calories. I also bought him his own 1/2 gallon of milk. We drink fat free, but he needs some amount of fat the rest of us don't need. I know he will be skinny and he has the tiny bones from my side. My brother has teeny bones, but he is 6'2. Anyway, he will grow and be tall and thin...I can make sure he doesn't get too thin....I hope.

Tonight we dropped the husband at the airport and I asked them what they wanted to eat. My sunshine popped up with Texas Roadhouse...his favorite place to eat. So we went. It was yummy and cheap. With just the 3 of us I order a small salad and a sweet potato (plain) and they split a kids meal. Tonight it was a cheeseburger and green beans. My son ate most of his cheeseburger, 2 rolls and he nver stopped eating the peanuts. I was happy to put him to bed knowing his tummy was full. He ate more than my sweet girl. By the way she is so beautiful. She falls asleep in the car every afternoon...and she always has her little head tilted up and her mouth wide open. It's pretty cute!

You have no idea how much work it is to be a parent until you have a child. I worry and stress so much over my 2. Funny how your life suddenly becomes enveloped in 2 little people.

Christmas Lights

I always seem to forget to upload these the wrong way...so they are in reverse order....

So my sweet boy is 45 in and 39 lbs....you can see his sternum bone. I am VERY disturbed. My husband says he's fine...leave him alone no kid starves themselves (this coming from the man who remembers being held down and force fed). I refuse to force feed a child, but I am watching his weight. He's lost 2 lbs. Other than that he is reading well and has tons of energy. He is maturing and sleeping better.



My sweet girl is 41 in and 38lbs. I don't worry about her. She has slowed down eating, but she is still healthy looking...and I can tell how tiny boned she actually is.



We are back home for a while. The husband will be leaving for Montana Sunday. He's dreading the cold, but as of now the weather seems to be fine.



Thanksgiving was nice. It took us FOREVER just driving from Shreveport. I am glad we had driven as far as Shreveport Wednesday. There were 3 wrecks on I 20 yesterday and the interstate was shut down. We took a detour I knew....and then stopped off at a house we wanted to look at. We're looking for some acreage with a house to have as a weekend/summer house.



We finally made it home took everything out of the Hummer...changed clothes and left again for my parent's. Thanksgiving supper was yummy!!!! I heard my sister's nickname as a child (my dad made up)....and my mother made me swear never to tell!!! So, since this is a random blog no one ever reads...I HAVE to share. My dad nicknamed her "Pootsie Booger Bags" b/c ...well I am sure it is obvious why!!! I laughed SOOOO hard and I just wish I could tell her!



This morning it was so nice to sleep in my own bed...and sleep in! AWWW.



My sweet husband bought a new sweater for me and a pair of pajama bottoms. Tonight we went to 'Christmas in the Square." We didn't stay long...just long enough to see the fake snow, have some hot chocolate and decide we should have worn coats.



Now we're home. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks :-)

Pictures are in the post below....

Because I am too lazy....

Here are links to all my recent photos. They even have nifty explanations...I just don't like sitting here and uploading...when it takes 5 seconds on Facebook. Most of my friends are on facebook anyway :-).

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30134703&l=95814&id=1446452737

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009036&l=423c4&id=1446452737

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009035&l=1b561&id=1446452737

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009034&l=967f1&id=1446452737

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009031&l=33210&id=1446452737

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009029&l=a5332&id=1446452737

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008705&l=89db1&id=1446452737

What Your Height Says About You

You are a warm, outgoing person. You are a very social creature. You value harmony, and you often play the role of mediator. You are a very real and honest person. You know how to kindly tell people the truth. You crave love and approval. Luckily, you are a very easy person to love. You are about as tall as the average Australian woman.

What Does Your Height Say About You?

Last week we were in Albuquerque with Derek. We drove home Saturday night and left Sunday morning for Mobile, AL. Matthew woke up at 4 am throwing up. He threw up ALL over the bed. I used to couch cushions and a blanket from our bed for Sara and put Matthew in bed with me...with a trash can directly below him. He never did throw up. Actually last night was the 1st time he's actually ever thrown up in his life (since he's been eating solid food...there was plenty of vomiting with milk...he has a milk allergy).

Anyway...more abou Albuquerque and Mobile later. Now I need to get to sleep.

Sara's New 5 pt Harness Booster

I went a head and ordered my sweet girls new booster/carseat. It's the pink Britax Frontier. She is at 40 in and 38 lbs...so she needs to upgrade. Her carseat has been acting up lately for some reason. I figure now is a good time to upgrade before we head to Albuequerque. Hopefully I will not get into too much trouble the husband.

Here's the link:

http://www.hipmonkey.com/car-seats/britax/britax-frontier/prod_97.html

My son already has it in black and grey. he wanted red, but at the time they were backordered...and he was at 42 in and 37 lbs. We HAD to make the change. He just grew too quickly. I called around and found a Right Start store in Houston that had 1 in stock and the shipped it that afternoon. Then my sweet friend helped me install it, b/c I had never messed with a Britax before and I couldn't figure it out.

Atleast that will be the end of ordering carseats...atleast for these 2.

Funny story...when I went to Minneapolis St Paul to see my brother last month I could not travel with 2 children alone, luggage and carseats. It crossed my mind, but it would be VERY difficult. So, I rented a car with carseats...only I had to get just boosters. Neither of my children have ridden in a real booster....so they were both freaking out. Telling me to drive carefully. They didn't feel safe without being tethered, latched and harnessed. It was pretty funny.

You can call me paranoid, crazy whatever...but there is NO WAY I am going to take a risk by putting my child in a booster that has no tether, no latch and no 5 pt harness. They are small and relying on a seat belt alone is not enough protection. I know people like my sister would say well you have to trust God. Yes, but do we also skip medicine just b/c God CAN save a life? NO! We use what resources for protection and safety that are availiable. It doesn;t mean I have less faith. It means I use wisdom. It is not wise to put a small child in a car without proper restraints. I do understand some people have cars that are not latch equipped...I understand that. I also have side airbags...yet another reason we traded our SUV.

My Dog

We have now had our lab for a year. She is sweet and patient and loving. She is currently resting her large head on my shoulder. She adores me. She protects us and loves us. I think she may be the most patient one in our home. She has lost all her bad habits now, too. I think she knows she is in her home and is at ease...no more chewing up things or getting into trash...She is calm and settled. She has brought so much to our family, I can't imagine life without her.

So I bought several Magic School Bus books at the Library this summer. They were used, but were .25 c each. So, one f them is a Science activity book. We are using it as Science curriculm...since I am not truly homeschooling...only making sure my son is Kindergarten level (which I hear Kindergarten is pathetically easy). Anyway, we had fun today using rulers (Math, too) to measure and draw lines to compare how big the planets are. Then we filled in a chart with which planets are big planets and which are small...There are 2 more lessons on the Solar System which we will do this week. Then next week we learn about the Food Chain. They enjoy it and I can supplement with outdoor activities and books from the library. Either way they are being exposed to different things. The lessons that were already completed, I have used white out on. My sweet daughter read a "BOB" book to me today. I was VERY impressed! My son chose a "BOB" book that was a bit hard...especially since he gets all flustered and frustrated before he ever tries. He did pretty well...From now on I will choose which book he reads...then he will read with ease and feel confident. Something he really needs to succeed...and relax.



I am signing him up for winter swim lessons as well. He REALLY wants swimming to be his sport...so I suppose it will be! There is a swim team in our city he can join in a yr or so...I bet he will love that.

Something I received via e-mail

I received this as an e-mail and since someone feels the need to send anonymous gifts I thought I would post it.
I also need to say in case someone has not heard my stance...I believe Obama is our elected leader and therefore we should pray for him and for our country...we should also respect him as leader. That does not mean I will agree with his policies. I do hope I am worng about what he stands for, but I doubt it. As I said before time will tell....and in 4 yrs I will get another opportunity to vote.
Also, what people don't seem to understand is that the president has little to do with the immediate economy. He is 1 man....1 man can not perform miracles. If you are going to blame Bush for the past 2 yrs of the ecenomy, then you need to give him credit for the other 6 when it was good. Also who has been in charge of the house???? HMMM
Now for the e-mail I received.
I remember every event in this article and have been voicing it for nearly two decades. For some reason this doesn't mention Carter's gutting of the CIA's covert agents which we have been unable to restore as of today. He also dismantled some military units, including moth-balling aircraft and ships. By the way, the Panama Canal is now operated by the Chinese. Now we see how one president in four years can damage our country for decades, not mentioning nominating far left judges to the Supreme Court and placing these same types as Federal Judges to legislate from the bench.. Most historians quickly name Carter as the worst president of the US during the 20th Century, if not in our history. Wayne By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted Wednesday, September 10, 2008 4:20 PM
Jimmy Carter became our 39th president at the young age of 52. He was a one-term governor from Plains, GA, where he managed the family peanut farm and taught Sunday school. He was also a graduate of the Naval Academy and served seven years in the Navy, leaving as a lieutenant.
He came to power in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the resignation of President Nixon. The public wanted change and someone new, and Carter was an ambitious, hands-on politician who promised better days. As good as his intentions were, however, the things he tried were not successful. In fact, he created far more serious problems than he ever solved.
The centerpiece of Carter's foreign policy was human rights, and he did achieve one noble success a peace treaty between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin.
Unfortunately, that later led to Sadat's assassination at the hands of Muslim radicals.
Many people felt Carter was a good man who worked hard and meant well. But he was naive and incompetent in handling the enormous burdens and complex challenges of being president.
He wrongly believed Americans had an 'inordinate fear of communism,' so he lifted travel bans to Cuba, North Vietnam and Cambodia and pardoned draft evaders. He also stopped B-1 bomber production and gave away our strategically located Panama Canal.
His most damaging miscalculation was the withdrawal of U.S. Support for the Shah of Iran, a strong and longtime military ally. Carter objected to the Shah's alleged mistreatment of imprisoned Soviet spies who were working to overthrow Iran's government. He thought the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, being a religious man, would make a fairer leader.
Having lost U.S. Support, the Shah was overthrown, the Ayatollah returned, Iran was declared an Islamic nation and Palestinian hit men were hired to eliminate opposition.
The Ayatollah then introduced the idea of suicide bombers to the Palestine Liberation Organization, paying $35,000 to PLO families whose young people were brainwashed to kill as many Israelis as possible by blowing themselves up in crowded shopping areas. Next, the Ayatollah used Iran's oil wealth to create, train and finance a new terrorist organization, Hezbollah, which later would attack Israel in 2006.
In November 1979, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranians stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Not until six months into the ordeal did Carter attempt a rescue. But the mission, using just six Navy helicopters, was poorly executed. Three of the copters were disabled or lost in sand storms. (Pilots weren't allowed to meet with weather forecasters because someone in authority worried about security.) Five airmen and three Marines lost their lives.
So, due to overconfidence, inexperience and poor judgment, Carter undermined and lost a strong ally, Iran, that today aggressively threatens the U.S., Israel and the rest of the world with nuclear weapons.
But that's not all. After Carter met for the first time with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the USSR promptly invaded Afghanistan. Carter, ever the naive appeaser, was shocked. 'I can't believe the Russians lied to me,' he said.
The invasion attracted a 23-year-old Saudi named Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan to recruit Muslim fighters and raise money for an anti-Soviet jihad. Part of that group eventually became al-Qaida, a terrorist organization that would declare war on America several times between 1996 and 1998 before attacking us on 9/11, killing more Americans than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
On Carter's watch, the Soviet Union went on an unrestrained rampage in which it took over not only Afghanistan, but also Ethiopia, South Yemen, Angola, Cambodia, Mozambique, Grenada and Nicaragua.
In spite of this, Carter's last defense budget proposed spending 45% below pre-Vietnam levels for fighter aircraft, 75% for ships, 83% for attack submarines and 90% for helicopters.
Years later, as a civilian, Carter negotiated a peace agreement with North Korea to keep that communist country from developing nuclear weapons. He also convinced President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to go along with it. But the signed piece of paper proved worthless. The North Koreans deceived Carter and instead used our money, incentives and technical equipment to build nuclear weapons and pose the threat we face today.
Thus did Carter unwittingly become our Neville Chamberlain, creating with his well-intended but inept, unrealistic and gullible actions the very conditions that led to the three most dangerous security threats we face today: Iran, al-Qaida and North Korea.
On the domestic side, Carter gave us inflation of 15%, the highest in 34 years; interest rates of 21%, the highest in 115 years; and a severe energy crisis with lines around the block at gas stations nationwide.
In 1977, Carter, along with a Democrat Congress, created a worthy project with noble intentions-the Community Reinvestment Act. Over strong industry objections, it mandated that all banks meet the credit needs of their entire communities.
In 1995, President Clinton imposed even stronger regulations and performance tests that coerced banks to substantially increase loans to low-income, poverty-area borrowers or face fines or possible restrictions on expansion. These revisions allowed for securitization of CRA loans containing subprime mortgages.
By 1997, good loans were bundled with poor ones and sold as prime packages to institutions here and abroad. That shifted risk from the loan originators, freeing banks to begin pyramiding and make more of these profitable subprime products.
Under two young, well-intended presidents, therefore, big-government plans and mandates played a significant role in the current subprime mortgage mess and its catastrophic consequences for the U.S. and international economies.
Hardest-hit by the mortgage foreclosures have been the citizens that Democrats always claim to help most-inner-city residents who fell victim to low or no down payment schemes, unexpected adjustable rates, deceptive loan applications and commission-hungry salespeople.
Now we're having to bail out at huge cost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the very agencies that were supposed to stabilize the system. In time, this should improve the situation. But the party of Carter and Clinton that midwifes our mortgage mess now wants to be trusted to take over and have the government run our entire system of health care!
And everyone is blaming Bush for our current problems

"God"

So my sweet girl chose a pink stetchy guy from Peter Piper Pizza about a month or so ago. It has long hair, he looks strong, a little skirt/shorts for clothes and his arms strectched wide. At first she said it was Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, then she said it was God. Ever since then she has called him God. It was a little hard for me to get use to at first....but it's her sweet little self having something tangible to hold onto as God. She dresses God, sleeps with God and take God everywhere along with Snow White. I will have to take a picture of "God."

This weekend we have gone bike riding in a new area they just opened up by our house. There was a farm to the right of us...it was sold and a new subdivision is going in. There are wide open streets, trees, sidewalks...and no traffic going through there. I expect that to change soon, but until then we go riding down the middle of the streetand having a good time. Part of the farm is still back there, so we also get to see horses up close. The horses expect carrots from us...so we will have to go buy some! We also get to trample down into the creek and woods to play. It's great fun!!!

My sweet little girl had a nasty cough for a week. She seemed to be getting worse...so I took her to the doctor Friday. I LOVE our pediatrician. He listened to her and recognized she was wheezing even though I had given her albuterol. He gave her some cough medicine to help her rest...and gave me a prescription for antibiotics to fill if she didn't improve over the weekend. Smart plan, b/c of course she has gotten worse. Now my sweet boy is starting sound the same. This is the time of the year that they always get pneumonia.