December 2008

Well, once again I am very behind on my blog. So, I am going to play catch up by recapping the month of December. So, here we go...

**Kennedy started to our church's preschool program at the first of Decmber. It is such a great program. She actually has the teachers that Regan had when she was there. That was quite the relief since we changed our life plan again! :)

**The girls and I made our 2nd annual gingerbread house. Those are always so fun...and MESSY!! :)


**I finished my first semester back at school. I don't know my grade yet, but I hope it's an A. I go register for A & P I in January. Just pray that there is a spot left....and that I can survive.

**The first weekend in December the girls and I headed to AR to visit our old friends. It was a good time. I went to our "Old" Sunday School Christmas Party. We played the white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with a LOVELY reindeer light up shirt.
(I don't know if it was supposed to be a gag gift or not. Some people weren't smiling as others made fun of it...)

**When we returned from AR Lily was throwing up and having diarrhea so bad that we had to take her to the emergency pet dr. $700 later, they told me that we needed to take her to our regular vet. So, we did that. $400 later, they said she had eaten something bad. $1,100 for someone to tell me that!! Last year my gargae door got stuck and I backed my truck into it and the glass broke out. That was $1,000. What is going to happen right before Christms next year? Should I even ask?

**We had our ABF (adult Bible fellowship) Christmas party at a country club here. It was so nice to have a date night. The girls did a gift exchange. I got the book The Shack. I have been told it is a wonderful book. It is about a guy that has a horrible family tragedy. He received a letter in the mail asking him to come back to the shack where the tragedy occurred. There, he meets God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I am so pumped to read it!

**A Service of Rememberance. Every year our church does a service of rememberance for those lost through the year. There is signing, a testimony, a message, and then the best part of all. Each name is read of the person that was lost, and then you light a candle. It was so amazing, and yet so heartbreaking at the same time. I was so angry that I was having to light a candle at Christmas to "remember" when Carter should have been here making Christmas memories! It was a great time though! Thank you to those who attended with us. It meant so much to us!

**ICE DAY! What a joke! Our school district shut down for a whole day because of "ice". Really? They have apparently never lived anywhere but Texas to know what actual ice and snow are. The girls and I hung out and did nothing but watch tv and movies and made cookies. It was a fun day!

**Night shift! :) I finally started the night shift. I do love it! It is just an adjusment. I get to hang out with my girls during the day and go to work while they sleep. Plus, I LOVE what I'm doing. It's so interesting. Why I didn't do it the first go around I dont' know...well, yes I do, but I wish I would have done it first. :)

**Christmas parties. Since Kennedy's Christmas party was scheduled during the "ice" day, they didn't have a make up party. Kind of crummy! So, after working my first night shift I dropped Kennedy off at school and went home to sleep. Then, I got up, went to get Kennedy, and we headed to Regan's Christmas party. Kennedy acted like it was her own...and so did everyone else. We had a great time decorating ornaments, cards, and eating!




**The Kindergarten team at Regan's school asked for volunteers to come in and read their favorite Christmas story. I signed up to do two days-one day was the "ice" day and the other day was the day after the party. Earlier that week Regan's teacher emailed me and asked if I would mind watching her class for an hour. The teacher's were getting the change to take an hour lunch (which is unheard of in the academic world). She said that I could, "put my expertise to good use". Ha! Well, I agreed. Regan loved it and so did Kennedy. Kenney and I took Regan lunch and then stayed to read and volunteer. The funny thing is, is that 22 kindergarteners act just like 6th graders!


**Christmas mania. Every year we have 6-7 Christmas that we go to. INSANE, I know!! So, we started out the weekend before at Nathan's aunt's house (his dad's side). Then, Christmas Eve morning we had breakfast with my dad. Then, for lunch, we went to my mom's. (The pictures are of us watching the Polar Express in 3D...it was cool.)
Then, we went to church for our Christmas Eve service. After that, we headed over to Nathan's sister's house.
Christmas morning we woke up and the girls got to enjoy what Santa had brought...so I thought. Regan was very upset that Santa didn't bring her an Easy Bake oven. (She asked for it after Santa went shopping.) I felt like a HORRIBLE mom!! Way to ruin Christmas! I had to come up with a plan. (More to come on that later.) Then, after napping we went to Nathan's cousin's house (his mom's side). What a day! Then, last Saturday was our last Christmas. We went o my aunt's house (my dad'side.) And we'll do it all again next year!

**Fancy Nancy Party. My mom gave each of the girls a ton of dress up stuff-rings, boas, earrings, necklaces (which I will be borrowing), bracelts, high heals, tiaras, etc. In the box that all that had came in was an invitation inviting the girls to a Fancy Nancy party. It was SO FUN!! We got to my mom's house and we all dressed up. We took tons of pictures. Then, we sat down to eat. My mom had a cute note written for both girls. She is such a creative and clever Mims/Mom.

We love you!

**Easy Bake Oven conclusion. Once we arrived for our Fany Nancy Party my mom asked Regan to turn on the Christmas lights on her tree. There was a present behind the Christmas tree with a note on it. It was an Easy Bake Oven with a note from Santa to Regan. Santa had dropped it off at Mim's house because that is where Regan does some cooking. (My mom is quite clever...she came up with the plan..and went and bought it..and wrote the note.) We did bake a cake tonight using the Easy Bake Oven. It tasted pretty good!

I am off to work tomorrow night, so everyone be careful and have a happy New Year!!

Chop! Chop!

Kennedy and I got our hair cut last week.
Regan went on Wednesday to get her hair cut. She wanted it chopped off! My hairdresser said that since her hair so thick and wavy, that she should just do a little and not as short as she wanted. She talked about it ALL day at school. So much so that Regan's teacher walked her to the car and asked Nathan if she was getting her hair cut today. So, upon the return to school when they saw her hair, Regan had to go to each kindergarten classroom and show them. :) Everyone says she looks so much older. :( It breaks my heart. You decide for yourself....

SOLD!!!

It is with a heavy heart that I report to you that our house in AR is officially sold! We closed on it yesterday! Nathan called me and said "it had been done". We were both a little emotional. Good memories!!

A new career!

I started work on Monday at a new job! I love it! It's only been an actual two days on the "floor", but it is going to be very interesting! Below is a pictures (Regan took) in my scrubs. I am ready to promote to the blue scrubs...what the RNs wear! :) Just give me time, I'll be there.

UPDATED

I am all updated on the blog. You will have to scroll to the bottom and click on "older posts". This will take you to the first one that I posted this morning--"Regan's First Fieldtrip".

Enjoy!!!

(I will try not to be so long in posting next time.)

Husky Fun Run

The Husky Fun Run is the annual fundraiser for Regan's school. Regan raised over $150.00!! She was the one who raised the most in her class!! Way to go Regan!! This morning the girls and I and my mom walked 1 mile in the Husky Fun Run. It was quite fun. It made me think about considering training for other runs. Ha!



After the race they had games, food, and big bounce slide. It was a lot of fun and we plan to make it a tradition!!

Last Day at Bussey....again

Yesterday was my last day at Bussey. When I walked into my room that morning several of my friends had gotten together and surprised me. They were all standing in my room with the lights off. When I walked in they yelled, "Surprise!" It was quite a surprise. They had all kinds of good things for breakfast! Thank you all! Y'all are wonderful!!

I did okay all day until the end. Then one of my students (who is wonderful--and reminds me of Regan) walked up and gave me a big hug. She said, "Bye, Mrs. Purnell," and she started crying. Oh! It broke my heart!! I do love my kids and the people I work with. They are like a family to me. I will definitely be back to visit!!

Much love to all!

Cooking with Mom

The girls have been begging me to bring home the cookie dough I bought for someone's fundraiser. So, I did and we made cookies. Here is a picture of my beautiful helpers.

The Fox or the Bear for President

At Regan's school they talked about the election. They even had their own election. Their election was between the Fox and the Bear. They had to bring home papers, have us vote, take it back to school. The whole school voted for President. The Fox won! Kind of representative of the United States, huh?

Anyway. Since they talked so much about elections, on Election Day Regan came home and said that we HAD to turn the t.v. on to watch the election. So, we did. She became very distrat when Obama had more electoral votes than McCain. She wanted to stay up to watch and see who had won. When she woke up in the morning she was very saddened at the news. Mind you, Nathan and I have never talked politics with her or around her. She is just a smart little girl!

Wonder Woman and Super Girl

That is what the girls were for Halloween. They were adorable! The following are pictures from the night: the girls and all of the kids in the family with some friends.




After trick or treating we went back to our house and played pin the stem on the pumpkin and pumpkin toss. Good times!!

Soccer Award Night

Regan had her final soccer game. She wasn't able to play because her foot was hurt from her shoe rubbing a blister on the back of her heal. She did go support her team though. She got the Christlike award for showing up to support the team even though she was on the "injured" list.

After the season is over they have an awards night. There was this really funny Christian man that came and did some crazy things. He juggled, rode unicycles, juggled while riding a unicylce. Crazy!!

Here are some pictures of the night:

ABF Costume Skate Party

First of all, look at the title of the post. SKATE!! I haven't skated since elementary school. I didn't fall though (unlike some people--Nathan). It was a great time! The girls LOVED it!! They were so cute in their skates. I thought it would be a nightmare. They actually did really well! Kennedy had a little walker thing to help her and then she got tired of it and started skating. She was so funny. She woudl swing her arms like she was really into and then bend her legs and move one forward. She was in full motion skating. Regan really really skated. She went a time or two with daycare this summer, so she was a professional. Now, Nathan on the other hand, thought he was back in elementary school and attempted to speed skate. That was going really good until he nailed the wall and fell. I thought surely something woudl be broken, but it wasn't. Just a horrible gash in his arm. (Sorry, didn't get picutres of that.)






(Nathan is on the far left by the wall...hince the injury.)



ALL of the kids from our ABF. Crazy!!




The Limbo!




The professional skater. Bless her heart!

Family Fall Festival

After Regan's long and fun day on her fieldtrip, we headed off to our church's Family Fall Festival. They have really stepped it up a notch. I told Nathan that we should just skip the fair next year, pay $5 at the FMF, and ride all the State Fair rides here. It's A LOT cheaper!





This ride made me a NERVOUS wreck! She loved it though! Such a big girl... :(