December 2009 Photos

A Tale of 12 Cookies

Sophie really enjoyed Christmas Eve!  Between the food, snow and cookies she was one happy kid!

White Christmas!

On the way home from our 'date' on Christmas Eve Eve, Katey and I heard a weather report that it was supposed to snow.  Haha, I said.  Never going to happen.  Maybe a few flakes, but it won't stick.

And then God laughed at me.

Folks, it snowed enough to cancel Christmas Eve service at several churches, and for us to make a snowman. It started around 9:30 AM and lasted almost 12 hours.  Woo Hoo!  I'm sure it will never happen again, so we took lots of pictures to show the kids.

Wow - it really looks like Christmas!

Shoveling Snow - the job of every male child!

Poor Sophie - it was SOO cold!

Zachary and the Snowman!

Sophie and the Snowman

Grandma M and Michael

Even the Horned Frog got snow!

Sad Saturday

Football Saturday is supposed to be a LOT of fun!  This Saturday was set up to be a big day for TCU.  We weren't playing, but all the teams around us were, and BCS implications were in the air!

Game 1 - Cincy vs. Pitt - heartbreaker of a game, in the snow in Pittsburgh. It all came down to missed PAT and field goals.  Cincy barely won, but I still hoped that the rest of the day would turn out better.
Game 2 - Florida vs. Alabama - I'm actually OK with this upset.
Game 3 - Nebraska vs. Texas - I wore red all day to show my support of Nebraska.  UT did not play well (Mack Brown - please review the tape - apparently we were watching two different games), and yet they managed to win at the very last second.

And so, TCU's hopes for the National Championship have been dashed.  It will be little consolation when UT gets creamed by Alabama.  TCU will play Boise State (again) in an effort to not embarrass a BCS Conference Team.  Check out the Star-Telegram for some fairly insightful editorials regarding the TCU bowl situation.  And I will watch from the comfort of my home, cheering on the Mighty Mighty Horned Frogs to victory, AGAIN!

TCU Tree Lighting

Zachary and I went to the tree lighting again this year, and invited our dear friends, Ms. Kendra and Gwen, to join us.  We had a wonderful time!

Reindeer brought in for the kids to see

Us - trying to stay warm!

The Happy Kiddos

Me and My Buddy!

The Kids and Mr. and Mrs. Claus - in their special TCU attire

Let it Snow, Part I

We woke up this morning to SNOW!!!  Thanks to Daddy for calling so Zachary and I could play in it for a few minutes!  It kept snowing till around 9, so Sophie got to see it too.  She thought the snow was bubbles, but once she figured it out, she loved it!

November 2009

TCU vs New Mexico

24 hours after arriving home from Philly, we were on our way to the last home TCU game of the season.  It was a beautiful day, we were able to see several friends, and enjoyed the parachuter at halftime.

Philly Trip

Note to readers: Philadelphia will be referred to as Philly here on out after several pronounciation attempts by Zachary resulted in "Philadorthea".  We officially give up, and rename the place, "Philly".

After some thought, we decided to join the Casey side of the family in Philly for Thanksgiving.  The Mathis family planned to drive up from Atlanta, and we agreed it was time for Sophie's first plane ride.

After a near heart attack inducing delay announcement, and subsequent cancellation of said delay (unfortunately after I spent a small fortune in ice cream to keep us entertained), we boarded the plane to Phily and arrived with little excitement. 

We got to the Cliggett's house and got settled in, and had a great time catching up with the family.  The Agstens and Mathises came over and all the kids started playing right away! 

On Wednesday, the men folk had a morning tee time and enjoyed a rainy day of golf while the ladies did some Thanksgiving prep - pie baking, etc.  We had a great time at the Agstens for dinner that night!

Thanksgiving day started innocently enough, till the grass caught on fire.  No fire pit for us. :( 
It was wonderful to all be together, laughing, talking, gambling, etc.

Friday we packed up for our big trip home, and everyone suprised me with an early birthday card.  I cried, of course.

We made it back, safe and sound, and our flight arrived 1 hour early.  The kids were beat, and glad to be back home, but I hope that at least Zachary has memories of this trip for a long time.

Steve and Janice on Thanksgiving Day

Zachary and Charlie Munn - Check out the matching eyebrows!

Sophie and Auntie Gina

Renee, Casey, Cynthia, and Maryann

Kristen and Kaitlyn

All the cousins - Kristen, Casey, Mike, Will, Eric, Sean, Renee, Megan, Kaitlyn, TJ, Savannah, Caroline, Charlie, Alana, Kylie, Charlie, Lexie, Zachary and Sophie

Should have taken a pic of the grownups too, but they were: MaryAnn, Billy, Wendy, Cynthia, Scooter, Janice, Steve, Gina, Tom, Steven, Becky, Ashton

I feel like I'm forgetting someone, so whomever that is, I am sorry!!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I hope we can do it again!

Happy Birthday, Grandma M!

Grandma isn't going to be here for her birthday, so we celebrated by having dinner and dessert tonight!

From November 2009

From November 2009

15 Month Well Check

Sophie had her 15 month well check today.  This makes 3 doctor visits in 16 days.  And we wonder where the runny nose came from... :)

Anywho, she's doing great. 

Weight: 25.5 lbs - 85%
Height: 32 1/8 " - 92%
Head Circumference: 18.25" - 64%

Only one shot today, and she recovered quickly from that.  Thank goodness we like the nurses and Dr. Young so much!

We're Back

Today we darkened the doorstep of Young Kids Pediatrics once again.  Sophie had her stitches successfully removed with only a small bit of crying, and has been vaccinated against swine flu.  The ER doc did a great job with the stitches and the healing is going well.  I've been told the scar will grow back into her hairline. Who knew?

See you again next week - same time, same place!

Stitches and Swine

Today we headed to Dr. Young's office to see about getting Sophie's stitches removed and to de-swine both the kids.  Stitches weren't ready yet, so we'll be back Monday for that and Sophie's swine flu shot.  Zachary got to have the Swine Flu Mist, which was very good news because I was about to have a red alert situation on my hands if he had to get another shot.  Whew!

Grace is Just a Name

Sophie got my eyes.  She also got my grace.  Or complete lack thereof.  Yikes!

Tuesdays are our free days.  Usually we run errands and then go somewhere fun.  Zachary begged today to go to Happy Hopperz, so after a quick lunch, off we went.  I had visions of perusing catalogs and making some phone calls while the wee ones jumped themselves exhausted, followed by long naps at home.  At that moment, God laughed.

We arrived, Zachary began jumping, I signed the waiver, paid the owner, and set Sophie on her way to play.  I settled down with catalog #1, and glanced up to see Sophie lying face down on the carpet.  As this is a fairly regular occurence, I didn't rush right over, but waited to see if she was going to cry.  She did, so I scooped her up, only to realize that her head was bleeding.  (The culprit was a plastic shape sorting block, and as she fell "superman style" she must have forgotten to drop the block.  Looking back, we realized that she could have lost her eye if her arms had been a bit shorter.) As I applied pressure with tissues, I realized this was no surface abrasion, but an actual wound.  The other parent there informed us he was a former paramedic, so we put him to work.  After using a butterfly and regular bandaid to cover the wound, he suggested that we go to the ER for stitches.  God bless Grandma T for coming to play with Zachary while I took Sophie to Harris SW.

*Sidebar 1- we did not go to Cook Children's as swine and regular flu are fairly prevalent here and I was not about to take her in for stitches only to come out with swine/regular flu.*
*Sidebar 2 - while waiting for Grandma to arrive, Sophie did not want to be held, coddled, and/or comforted.  She wanted to jump and play, which is exactly what she did.  And when we left Happy Hopperz, she was screaming and very upset with me.

We got all checked in at Harris SW.  Sophie was very friendly with all the other patients and hospital staff (perhaps in anticipation of future visits).  Steve came and met us at the hospital and she was so glad to see him.  Good thing he came, too, b/c I have misplaced Sophie's insurance card.  Oops!

The nurse applied anesthetic via cotton ball and bandaid, and then the doctor and nurse came back to do the stitching.  She was swaddled with a large sheet to keep her immobilized during the stitching and she cried but otherwise did ok.  She got three stitches, and after a few minutes of comforting was ready to be on her way.

Although this was our first visit to the ER, I'm sure it won't be our last, especially with Little Ms. Adventurous, and I'm so thankful it went as well as it did.

And a quick Thank You to the Happy Hopperz owner for the Get Well card he sent to Sophie.  I promise we will come back. :)

October Photos

Pumpkin Carving

Steve helped Zachary carve his pumpkins today!  They had a great time and the pumpkins turned out great!

Proof

Zachary doesn't look a whole lot like me, but here is proof that he's my child:

He ate whipped cream for brunch.  He did not use it as a topping for anything.  :)

Pumpkin Patch Day

Today we met my friends Tiffany and Amanda for lunch in Addison.  I thought it would be fun for the kids to visit a pumpkin patch while we were up there.  It was a beautiful day!  We had such a great time being outside, and the kids were so well behaved!

We got to feed the goats,

go on a hayride,

go on a barrel ride (note to grown ups - think small when you are getting in the barrels),

pet a horse, see some chickens,

go through a corn maze (Zachary was Sophie's helper)

and play in a pumpkin patch!

Well, Zachary played while Sophie played in my purse.

Thanks for a fun day kids!!!