Sam Moon and Kirkland's

I think I could knock out 85% of my Christmas shopping at these 2 stores. Seriously. I love getting 'personalized' items, specifically with the person's first initial and these 2 stores have quite a collection. Never to disappoint. OK, at Sam Moon's, I was disappointed that I could not find an 'S' on three different items. After looking at 97 clipboards, 72 notebooks, and 88 wallets, there was not one 'S'. Either they did not order any OR every one else in the metroplex needed an 'S'.

From now on, I am going to Kirkland's first. I found the nicest 'stuff' there. Very classy objects with a wide variety. AND they had the letter(s) I was looking for. Granted, most of the stuff that I paid full or sale price for will be on clearance in 2-3 weeks, I wanted to make sure I got what I needed. Don't get me wrong, I'll be going back, waiting on stuff to get clearanced out and then either use those things as gifts for the end of the school year or next Christmas. I love buying ahead of time! (I just have to remember to find it in all the Christmas boxes!)

PIE Party (and 20.5 reunion)

We had so much fun at our 20th high school reunion that we decided to have a 20.5 reunion. Today. In the form of a party. What kind of party? A PIE PARTY!!

I took Natalie and Claire, as I knew that there would be lots of girls and Melissa had some crafts set up for the little ones. Claire got plenty of attention and did not need me to hold her but a few times. It is so fun to 'share' her with those who want to hold a sweet baby girl. We stayed a little over 3 hours, in which Claire was ready for snoozeville. I did not want anyone to think she was anything but a happy, sweet girl, so I decided to depart before the 'big meltdown' occurred. Good timing, because she cried for all of 3 minutes before she crashed.

Great friends and great fun! (Oh yeah, and the pie was awesome too!)

Hibbs 24th Annual Christmas Party

Every year our neighbors across the street kick off the Christmas season with a party on the first Friday of December. Guaranteed. I could go ahead and write it on my calendar for next year. They invite a lot of our neighborhood, plus a few others. It also benefits the Tarrant County Food Bank, because everyone brings a donation to put in the box by the front door. How awesome is that?

It is such a great time AND we do not have to drive anywhere afterwards. We just walk ourselves across the street!

What I am Thankful For

Finding Christ 12 years ago
John
My 4 beautiful, healthy children
Parents who love me
Being healthy
My neighborhood
Pantego Bible Church
The doctors who take care of me
Being able to stay home and raise my children
Driving an SUV that I feel safe in
Being forgiven
John having a good job
The plethora of friends who surround me, encourage me and comfort me
Ditto Elementary & Julie Harcrow
Junior League of Arlington
A fantastic mother-in-law
Having a chef for a husband
Ditto Elementary PTA
My children being so intelligent
My love of books and reading

My 8 month old!!

Claire is 8 months old today! Wow! I can honestly say that I am soaking up every hug, kiss, cuddle, snuggle and milestone with her. I am enjoying her to the fullest.

Her newest accomplishments:

• She has pretty much mastered the sitting up business. However, she does still tump over. She will lie there on her back, her head held up in a crunch position and just kind of look at me with this expression that says, "don't just leave me here! Roll me back!"


• She has also perfected the transition from sitting to the crawling position. Like fast. Once she starts doing that and we a trying to get pictures, might as well give up. She will not longer just 'sit' for fun. She has places to go and things to SEE!


• She is still working on getting the hand-hand-foot-foot rhythm down for crawling. She can do it right for like 3 movements, then she kind of forgets and goes back to the flatten-out-back-up-to crawl-position-flatten-out. It is amazing how quickly she can get across the room like that!


• Thought she mastered sleeping through the night a month ago, she all of a sudden forgot and now wakes up at 3 or 4 am, just wailing her lungs out. Inevitably, one of us will make her a bottle and she'll sleep another 4 or 5 hours.


• Curious as a cat. She wants to inspect anything and everything on the floor. Most of the time, she finds random tags, paper, hangers, etc. I could put out 5 toys that she loves, but if there is a sales tag from a sweater on the floor, she'll pass over all the toys to check out the trash on the floor!


• She is learning how to do straight-body when it is time for me to put her in her car seat. Oh yeah, and this is accompanied by a loud, very loud crying fit.


• She loves playing peek-a-boo!


• She loves the Galactic Blast VBS CD. If she is crying, turning that on works like a charm every time.


• She smiles when I turn on Wordworld. Wordworld to her is what Baby Einstein was to Cooper, Natalie and Luke.

Our Alternative Thanksgiving Meal

A few years back, we decided to 'mix' my parents and have everyone eat one meal together for Thanksgiving. Before then, John was cooking 2 turkey lunch/dinners each year for Thanksgiving. There is something so warm and cozy having everyone together, in the same house, eating a meal together. John did not disappoint with the meal itself. He made sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes mixed together. That was all sorts of goodness! We also had broccoli, green bean casserole (that Mother made), stuffing, gravy, artisan bread made from scratch and pecan pie that Louise made for desert. I could not ask for a better Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day ER Visit

It is well known in our household that I am the healthy one. I have low blood pressure, an impressive blood profile: perfect cholesterol, super amount of HDLs, perfect glucose, and so on. Yet, on Thanksgiving Day I am getting whisked away to the MCA Emergency Room to be treated for severe abdominal pain. Did I mention that it was severe? Like on a scale of 1 to 10, I was at 9.9, if death was the 10.

John was driving home from Kansas with the boys and I was at my mom's house. After delivering 26 turkey dinners to some less fortunate families that morning, we were going to have our own Thanksgiving around noon: spaghetti. My recurring pain hit me ~9:30 a.m. and kept on intensifying. I have been having these abdominal pains for a 2 weeks now, but never this severe or this long of a duration. John called around 11:30 and I was in tears, it hurt so bad. I wanted to wait for him to get home and then let him take me to the ER. However, it just kept getting worse and I could not keep from crying, it hurt so bad. Finally, John talked me into letting Mother take me to the ER. John called Dr. Urso, who lives in our neighborhood and works at the MCA ER. Turns out that he was not working, but he called ahead to let them know I was coming in.

Within 5 minutes of exiting the car, I was in a room, with an IV in my arm. They gave me some morphine, but it did not even touch the pain. After 30 minutes, they gave me something else that was 6 times stronger than morphine. (Did not know such a thing existed!) That took the edge off about 20 minutes later. Once I was out of extreme pain, they sent me down for a CT scan. Turns out I was having esophageal contractions, because I had not pooped in over a week. It was 'backed up' all the way through my large intestines and to my small intestines. Nice. The only explanation was all the hydrocodone I had been taking for my pathetic knee had caused the back up. Now I am eating lots of prunes, mixing Miralax and taking the prescription Lactalose to get things mobilized. Good grief.

And I am the healthy one!!

Me and my MOM!!!