Be Mine

BRIANNA & MACY

My momma had brought Macy with her today. I haven't seen Macy since before Christmas. She is getting so big. She is sitting up on her own and even holding her own bottle. She's a cute little thing. Yeah, I know what you guys are thinking........and you may be right:)

A LAZY DAY

Things around here have been pretty low keyed today. I came home for lunch Friday to a sick little girl. Brian had said that she was complaining of her ear hurting. I made her a good ole fashion home remedy (cornmeal placed in an old sock and heated up in the microwave). I had hoped that would keep the pain down until I could get back home from work that evening. When I walked in the house, she was laying on the couch with that sock still held up to her ear. I had a 6:50 appointment with the doctor. She has an ear infection. AGAIN! The doctor said on a scale of 1-10, her's is a 9. He said it couldn't really get much worse than that. He put some drops in her ear that numbed it and sent us home with a prescription for the drops and an antibiotic. You know, Brianna never got any ear infections when she was a baby. But it seems like this year, she is getting them like every couple months or so. Anyway, her ear seems to be feeling better today. She hasn't complained any; she may just be afraid that I will put those drops in her ear again. She didn't like that too much last night.
We got to see my momma today. Her doctor has told her that she can go out into the world now and not have to worry about infecting anybody. She will still have to keep taking medicines for the tuberculosis, however IF she was contagious before she won't be now. I still don't think she has TB. I hope they aren't wasting time thinking its that when the spots on her lungs could be caused from something else. I guess time will tell. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. As far as Brianna is concerned, she had to go for an Xray Tuesday. The Xrays looked fine. The doctor at the Health Department is suppose to call us this week to let us know about preventative medicine that Brianna may need to take since she may have been exposed to TB. I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW.............none of this has made any since. But I did speak to Brianna's pediatrician and she seemed to think that the Health Department is doing the right things. That made me feel a little bit better.

BRIANNA STARTS A NEW DANCE CLASS

Brianna has been taking dance (tap & jazz) with StarMakers since September. StarMakers came to her old school every Tuesday afternoon to give lessons. Well, since she has now started a new school, she is now having to go to StarMakers for the lessons. She is now enrolled in a tap, jazz, ballet combo class that she will take every Thursday night. I was a little bit concerned because her recital is in May and I was worried that learning a new dance this late in the year might put her at a disadvantage. But after watching her Thursday night after just an hour, I don't think she will have any problem. She did just as good as the other little girls.




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QUOTE OF THE YEAR

Brianna was asked if she wanted to eat a "pig in a blanket". Her reply:

"No, I'm allergic to little weenies!"


****That was just way too funny not to post. Hope ya'll get a laugh out of it.****

FIRST DAY AT THE NEW SCHOOL

Brianna was so excited this morning when I dropped her off at school. I called at 10:30 to see how she was, the director said that she was doing great and that she was just a talking. I picked her up, and her teacher told me how good Brianna did today and that it surprised her that Brianna could recognize words in a book. I'm so glad that it went well. I told Brianna that she could call Chandler tonight to tell him all about her new school.

SUPERBOWL XLII:Let's go GIANTS!!!!!!!

NY GIANTS VS. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS:

Brian & I had a SUPERBOWL party of our own tonight. Daddy came over to enjoy in the "festivities". Brianna played on the computer the entire 1st half and I was busy preparing snacks and doing laundry. I did sit down to catch some of the game and the half time show.

CIRCUS, CIRCUS

$7 FOR PARKING, $36 FOR TICKETS, $26 FOR NOVELTIES:


BRIANNA'S FIRST TRIP TO THE CIRCUS--------PRICELESS.

BRIANNA'S LAST DAY AT INMAN

Friday was Brianna's last day at her old school. We took cupcakes to her classmates and a Valentine for Chandler. Mrs. Joyce and her other teachers said how wonderful Brianna was and they were going to miss her so much. Before she left, Chandler gave her a kiss on the cheek. It was really sweet. The class had made her a card that she was reading in the car on the way home. I looked in my rearview mirror and tears were just rolling down her cheeks. She said that she wanted to go to her new school, but she wished she could have played longer with her old class. She starts school Monday at Memorial Methodist here in Greer. I am SO looking forward to it, mostly because we can sleep till 7 in the morning. YEAH!

BRIANNA'S NEW ROOM

While at Sears Saturday, I came across a great deal on bedding for Brianna's room. I just loved the comforter and curtains so I got it. I have been working really hard in there the past 2 weeks trying to clean it up and make it a little bit more organized. So since we picked up new bedding, I thought that maybe we should repaint the room to match. Boy, I must have been out of my mind! For those of you that know me, you are aware that I hate, hate, hate to paint. It is just so meticulous, having to paint around the trim......UGH!!!!!! But, I tackled the project anyway. I have been wanting to paint it for awhile and decided that Sunday was the day. Brianna picked out the color and I was smart enough to get tinted primer to lessen my work load. By the time I got started it was 1:30 and I didn't finish until 5:30. And all I accomplished was priming 3 walls. I plan to finish this weekend. In the meantime, I took pictures so that you all could see what it looks like so far. I really like it and Brianna does too.

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

So I woke up at 7:30 this morning. Not because I wanted to, but because that's what time Brianna got up. I thought that I would use this time to blog with ya'll for little bit to get you caught up on some things. You know I had mentioned in a previous post that we were looking for somewhere else to send Brianna for preschool. I looked at KidsWorld in Greer and in Lyman. That was a BIG NO!!!!! So I decided to call Memorial Methodist here in Greer. I had spoken to the director there months ago and at that time, she didn't have a spot for Brianna. I thought to myself, just call you never know. She got on the phone and went on and on about how much of a blessing this was for me to have called. She said that she just had a spot open up and that she had just told someone that she wished she had of gotten my number when I called months ago. She said that if it was meant to be, I would call again. So I did and it really was meant to be. I visited the school and really liked it. I took Brianna by there last Monday to see what she thought. She fell in love with the gym and was really excited to see the Science Center in her classroom. Plus we saw, Skylar, the little girl who lives across from our street there. She goes there after school. I do hope that it will work out. If it does, she can go there this summer. But we will just have to play that by ear.
So now we can get to my mother. We have been waiting for about 2 weeks to find out what is wrong with her. Her regular doctor thought that she might have Tuberculosis. As you all know, that is a contagious disease and not often heard about too much nowadays. Red flags immediately went up--- IS MY MOMMA GOING TO BE OK? DO I HAVE IT? AM I CONTAGIOUS? DOES BRIANNA HAVE IT? COULD OUR FAMILY IN NY HAVE IT? HAVE I INFECTED EVERYONE THAT I KNOW?. Things were really up in the air. She had to visit the health department for them to do some tests. They did a skin test that in 3 days didn't show up anything. They were still waiting on the results from the other test they were doing. In the meantime, we all were staying clear of my momma. That was a very hard thing to do. Here she is feeling so isolated and alone, when she needed someone the most. It really broke my heart. But I had to do what I thought was best for me and my family. Momma understood. After a week, the lady at the Health Department said that we needed to come in for a TB skin test as well. They just took a needle, pricked you just under the skin and squirted some TB under it. If you had a reaction to it, then that would mean that you have it. It was an easy test for us, but not so easy for Brianna, whom we had to hold down for them to administer the test. (I took her to Chucky Cheese to make up for it.) So anyway, we had to come back 3 days later to get the results. Our results are fine. At this time, TB is not showing up. My momma on the other hand is not so lucky. Though the doctor has gotten negative results from the 2 tests they have done, he believes that she does have TB based on her current health condition(low immune system, other problems that she is having that are consistent with TB patients), the xrays, and the catscan of her lungs. There are basically 2 types of TB. TB infection:You have only dormant TB germs in your body. This means the germs are sleeping, so they are not making you sick and cannot be passed to others. TB disease: You have active TB germs in your body that can make you and others around you very sick. At this time, it is unclear if my mom has the infection or the disease. It could take up to 12 weeks for them to know for sure, so they have put her on medicines to start clearing it up just in case. Either way, if we have come into CLOSE contact with her we have been exposed to the germ as well. We have to get another skin test done in 10 weeks, which means yet another visit to Chucky Cheese. Can't wait. In the meantime, we have been advised to continue living our lives. We don't have to isolate ourselves from momma. We can go to her house, she can come here. We are not contagious. So I don't have to worry about friends or co-workers, that sort of thing. Momma, she just can't come into contact with any new people in closed spaces and cough in their face basically. She is also going to have another catscan in February to see if the lesions on her lungs have improved. If not, she will be going to see a pulmonary specialist. So please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

A SATURDAY ON SESAME STREET

We went to watch the Sesame Street show today with Beth and her 2 sons, Brandon & Ethan. The kids had a really good time. When we came out it was snowing so hard. We immediately decided to go to Krispy Kreme for coffee and donuts. We all enjoyed the treat except for Brianna who was disappointed that she didn't get a strawberry frosted donut.
After we got home, we met Brian up at PetSmart to buy more fish. She started out with 4, all but 1 has died. We thought we would try something other than guppies. Everyone says that guppies are hard to take care of. Plus Blue, the beta fish, has fuzz growing on it and its not looking good. This whole fish thing is hard. Anyway, Brianna picked out 3 more fish and a frog. We'll see how they do.





FOR CARSON: HERE IS A CLIP OF THE SHOW. WE WISH YOU COULD HAVE CAME.

SNOW FALLS IN GREER

Brianna enjoyed the snow today with her Daddy. She has been waiting on it for 2 days. I'm so glad that we got enough of it for her to play in. I had to work today, but Brian stayed home with her. They played and built snowmen, 5 to be precise. Maybe we'll have more before winter is over.

SNOWDAY

R.I.P "PRETTIER" AND "SUNNY"

Prettier died yesterday. Ya'll should have seen Brianna. She could have won "Best Dramatic Performance Of The Year". She calmed down. But it definitely didn't help things when we woke up this morning to another dead fish. Brianna said that her fish is now someones pet in heaven.
Brian and I cleaned out the tank and he is not going to feed them as much. Maybe the other 2 guppies will survive:)

TROUBLE FOR MYRA

My momma came over to visit with Brianna today. While here she started coughing up blood. She called her doctor and was advised to go to the emergency room, which she did. The doctor there said that she had pneumonia and the xrays showed a spot on her lung which they believe to be from the pneumonia. She has to go back to the hospital tomorrow for a cat scan to be sure. Please keep her in your prayers.

SO DISTRAUGHT

I just don't know what to do.Brianna, as you know, goes to Inman First Baptist for child care. We live in Greer. It's about 27 miles there and back. At the last minute this summer, we decided to put Brianna in a 4yr old preschool that offered late stay. We were going to NY for vacation in 2 days, and school would have been started when we came back. So we had to decide quickly where we were going to send her. Heather told us about Inman and about how much Carson enjoyed it there. I was apprehensive because it was out of the way and not very convenient. She then offered to pick Brianna up from school and watch her at her house until Brian or I came to pick her up. And she did. And I am so very grateful for her. Brianna and Carson are just like brother and sister. And I love Heather like she is my sister. But now, Heather is having to send her little baby girl to the daycare as well. It would just be too much trouble and aggravation on Heather, I feel, to ask to her to continue picking up Brianna. For the past couple months, Brian and I have been picking her up. When I pick her up, I have to go on my lunch break to get her and then bring her back to my Grandmother's where she stays until Brian comes by to pick her up. When Brian picks her up, he is leaving work and hour early which means he has been working on weekends trying to make up the time. It is really just overwhelming. I am really considering moving her to another school in the Greer area. I have been tossing that idea around for about a month now. I really think its time. You just do not know the stress and aggravation involved for me. Imagine: Getting Brianna up and out the door by 7:20. Ride to Inman, drop her off, ride back to Greer for work at 8:15. Take lunch at 2 o'clock-ride back out to inman, back to Greer, drop Brianna off and get back to work by 3 o'clock. And on Brian's side of it. He would have to be at work by 6:30 at Lockheed at the Donaldson Center in Greenville, work through his lunch hour to leave work at 3:30, to take an hour drive from Greenville to Inman to pick Brianna up, and then back home to Greer. It's just too much. I have looked into KidsWorld. They already have 2 establishments. 1 in Lyman the other in Greer. However, they have just opened up a new place past the Target in Greer. They are enrolling. Its $100 a week, and breakfast, lunch, and snack is provided. Also, when Brianna does start into kindergarten, she can be picked up by the daycare van at the school and taken back to KidsWorld. Brian is a little apprehensive, seeing how this is the middle of the year, and she would be the "odd" one out. I don't think so. For one, she is 4. Also, since the center has just opened, all the kids are new and are just starting there. Another pro is that there is a chance that some of the children in her preschool may actually be in her kindergarten class, and she will already know someone. Plus, Brianna and Brian and I will already be accustomed to Kidsworld and how they operate, so that when Brianna actually enters Kindergarten and will need after school care, we will feel comfortable in her going there. I know, I am just rambling. But this has really been playing in my mind for a long time. I had to write it out, I think, just to make since of it all. If any of you have suggestions or comments, I will greatly appreciate them.
Heather, I wanted to tell you thank you for all that you have done for us and Brianna since August. You haven't said that you couldn't pick Brianna up, and I know that you don't mind it and you say its not any trouble. It's just that you have your hands full already picking up 2 kids everyday. I really don't want to add to your aggravation making you have 3. It would be hard to carry Ella and her things, plus helping Brianna and Carson with theirs, then loading them all into your car, strapping them in, listening to Ella cry, Carson & Brianna fuss with each other, all the way back to Greer. Then unload them all and wait for Brianna to get picked up. I know that you are Supermom and everything, but come on now!!!!!!
Probably the only downside to Brianna leaving Inman First, would be missing her little boyfriend Chandler.

CHANDLER & BRIANNA SITTING IN A TREE........

Ya'll know what comes next. A couple of weeks ago, I was informed that Brianna had a boyfriend. His name is Chandler Duke. When she told me, I said , "How do you know he's your boyfriend?" Brianna replied,"Cause he asked me." Chandler also confirmed this bit of information to me the next day. Well a couple days later Brianna came home and told me that Chandler had asked her for a kiss. Brianna told him,"Not till we're married!" Just this week, Brianna was getting ready for school and asked me if she could go watch Chandler's ball game. I told Mrs. Joyce, Brianna's teacher at school. She informed me that Chandler and his dad were going out to dinner the night before and Chandler had asked his daddy if they could go by and get Brianna. Uh hello, these are babies---4yr olds----I am talking about! It's really cute though. However, I don't think Brian is finding too much humour in it. Can ya'll just imagine what we are going to have to go through in Brianna's teenage years?

FINALLY GETTING SETTLED

It only took a week, but my house is finally looking like a house again, minus all the toys lying around. It's definitely an improvement from the beginning of the week. I have to make the dreaded return back to the DMV tomorrow. I have been out on vacation since December 21st, so it is definitely going to be an adjustment. Plus, they have changed our hours, making it a requirement that we are there at 8:15. Brianna has to go back to school as well. She has gotten so used to going to bed late and waking up late, I am definitely going to pay hell in the morning. Santa brought her an alarm clock, so maybe that will help get her up and going in the mornings. I'll let you know how it goes later. Ya'll have a good week.

BRIANNA & MR. PICKLES

For those of you that may not be aware, we have a cat. His name is Mr. Pickles. Brian gave him to me on our first anniversary. I just love him and he loves us too. Whenever we come back from vacation, he lays with us for days because he missed us so much. He cozied up with Brianna last night and again this morning.

13 THINGS I PLAN TO DO IN 2008

1. Get Well....I've been sick long enough:)

2. Unpack.....It's been 5 days already.

3. Turn 31....I'm not looking forward to it, but I guess it's better than the alternative.

4. Organize all my scrapbooking stuff....I keep accumulating more and more and have absolutely no where to put it.

5. Get the scrapbooks caught up....Still working on December 2006.

6. Go to Las Vegas....Planning on going in the spring hopefully.

7. Celebrate Brianna's 5th Birthday...She is growing up way too fast.

8. Celebrate Brian's 40th Birthday....I'm going to go all out for THIS party.

9. Update this blog on a regular basis...stay tuned.

10. Decorate our house....We have lived here for 8 years, it's time I start hanging stuff on the walls.

11. Consolidate bills and work really hard to get out of debt.

12. Strengthen the relationships that I have with family and friends.

13. Try to get pregnant....MAYBE!Brian and I aren't getting any younger, I guess we better start trying. Plus Brianna asks all the time for a baby sister.

NEVER GETTING UNPACKED:)

This is the mess that has been lying in my floor since Monday morning. I have just been too sick to even attempt to put up this crap. I'm beginning to feel a little bit better today, so hopefully I might get some of it put up. Wish me luck!

New Year's Resolution

"A New Year's Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous."

Why is it that everyone makes these silly resolutions only to quit on them by the end of January? I think that if you are going to make one, you should stick to it. I have thought long and hard about what I feel that I should work on for 2008. There are many areas that I need to improve in; financially & professionally. However, the most important part of my life is here with my family--Brian & Brianna. It seems that often times, we just get caught up in the day to day aspects of life, forgetting about why we are here in the first place. Looking back on years past, it doesn't seem like Brian & I have been a part of each others life for almost 13 years now. But we have. Times have changed and we have changed. Especially since Brianna was born. We used to be husband and wife, now we are "Mommy" and "Daddy". It's like if we aren't talking about Brianna, we aren't talking at all. (For those of you with children, I am sure you can relate.) I love my husband, and he means everything to me. So with that, I am making this resolution:
In 2008 I plan on being a better wife to my husband. I will listen to him when he needs to talk. I will share all my thoughts and ideas with him. I will give him little pecks on his cheeks and tell him I love him everyday before he leaves to go to work. I will do things with him that he enjoys doing(NOT THAT, you dirty minded people). I will show him in all ways possible that HE is the most important person in my life, and that without him I would be lost.

SOME RESOLUTIONS ARE WORTH KEEPING.

NEW YEAR, NEW TEMPLATE

So with the holidays finally over, I thought that I would change the template on my blog. Hope ya'll like it. Just to give you guys a quick update on what we've been up to since we got back home Monday morning. We got home at 2:30 a.m. but didn't go to sleep until 4:00. Santa had visited Brianna here in SC too, so she was too excited to go to bed. Can't blame her for that. Brian and I both spent Monday sick in bed while Brianna was at MyMy's. Tuesday, I managed to get in the shower and put some clothes on. I was invited to come eat dinner up at MaMa's; they were having the customary New Years Day meal of black eyed peas and collard greens. Yeah, it's not something I want to eat everyday, but its supposed to bring you luck and money in the new year. We will just have to see I guess. I also had to venture out to go grocery shopping. There was absolutely NOTHING here in the house to eat or drink. So I'm blogging this Wednesday morning so I must be feeling a little bit better, though I made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon anyway. I have been sick for almost a week now. Enough is enough.

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO HERE IN NY

Mostly we have just been hanging around the house visiting with family. For those of you that don't know, Brianna has 4 cousins that live here:Katelynn(who is just 2 months younger than Brianna) and her brother Christopher(9mths), Nicholas(almost 4) and his brother Ryan(3). As you can imagine, it has been a mad house here. Brianna loves it though and its nice to visit with Brian's brothers and their families. We have ventured out a couple of times. Our first trip out was a 3 hour trip to urgent care Wednesday morning. Brianna woke up crying with an ear ache and her doctor recommended we take her to urgent care. And no I am not exaggerating about the 3 hour wait. We got there at 12:35 and left at 3:40. Crazy I know, but we did leave with a prescription for an antibiotic because she did have an ear infection. We have also visited Chucky Cheese. That was alot of fun for her. I have to tell ya that I experienced alot of anxiety there. Especially since she decided to crawl up in those tunnels. Not only was I worried about germs(*Heather), I was scared to death that she was up there having a panic attack because she couldn't find her way out. And then what if there was a fire, I would have to somehow try to find her in there to escape the burning building......I know, I have a VERY active imagination. Like I said, I had a lot of anxiety about it. Yesterday, Nana & I took Brianna and Katelynn to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. We went to the 12:25 showing, only to find out that it was sold out and the next showing would not be till 2:50. So we had about 2 hours to kill. Which we did by going out to lunch at Wendy's then back to the movies where we waited in line for popcorn and drinks. The girls had a lot of fun at the movies. All I can say is that they better for the amount of money that I spent.....$56.00. And that didn't include the $16 that Nana spent at Wendy's on lunch. Today, I am wanting to try to get out to the outlets to see if I might can catch some bargains. If anything it will get me out of the house for awhile. Oh yeah, speaking of bargains, I went to Kohls the other night and got 4 shirts and 1 sweater and only spent $35. So all my employees at work, I would like to say thank you for my gift certificate. It came in handy, and I still have money left over for another trip to the store. I really wanted to go to the city, but I really don't know if we are going to. Brianna has been sick the ENTIRE time we have been here, from her asthma to now an ear infection. I really don't know if she would be up for the trip into the city. If we don't go to the city, maybe we could at the very least take a quick trainride or something. Who knows, its hard to make plans for something like that when you have family coming over to see you. This may be my last post till we get back to South Cakilaki. If it is, I'll just "blog" ya'll later.

BRIANNA GETS A VISIT FROM SANTA

Brianna woke up at 8:00 Christmas morning to see what Santa had left her. She was so excited to see all her presents. Santa had brought her an AQUADOODLE RAINBOW DOODLE, MY LITTLE PONY THINGS, RESCUE PET WAKE ME UP, BARBIE TAWNY HORSE DRESS UP, and a APPALOOSA HORSE. So she had all those toys there, and what did she want to play with.....a dinosaur skeleton that her Uncle Kevin had bought her Christmas Eve. So here goes Brian and I trying to put together a 50 piece dinosaur fossil. What fun!!!!!

PICTURES FROM CHRISTMAS EVE

BRIANNA IS READY TO OPEN UP PRESENTS


KATELYNN AND CHRISTOPHER JR.

NICHOLAS JR.

RYAN

LOOK AT THIS MESS. THESE KIDS WENT THROUGH ALL THOSE PRESENTS IN NO TIME.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Hello Everyone,
We just wanted to wish everybody back home in South Carolina a very Merry Christmas. Ya'll have fun. I will post some pictures tomorrow.

Love you,
Kristy

IN NY WITH A SICK CHILD

SO, AS I MENTIONED IN MY LAST POSTING, BRIANNA WAS COMPLAINING ABOUT AN EARACHE. I CALLED HER DOCTOR ON SATURDAY. SHE RECOMMENDED A DECONGESTANT AND SAID THAT SHOULD HELP HER EAR. WELL IT'S NOW 3 DAYS LATER, AND SHE IS NOT ANY BETTER BECAUSE THESE FRICKEN PEOPLE UP HERE HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THE MEDICATION THAT THE DOCTOR CALLED IN FOR HER. I HAVE JUST GOTTEN OFF THE PHONE WITH THE ON CALL NURSE, AND SHE TOLD ME TO JUST CONTINUE GIVING HER ALL THE MEDICINES THAT SHE TAKES ON A DAILY BASIS, BUT TO INCREASE THE NEBULIZER TO 4 TIMES A DAY. I ALSO BROUGHT ALONG SOME ORAPRED WITH ME, AND THE DOCTOR SAID TO GO AHEAD AND GIVE THAT TO HER FOR THE NEXT 5 DAYS. I GUESS I SHOULDN'T COMPLAIN TOO BAD, IT COULD DEFINITELY BE WORSE.(AIN'T THAT RIGHT, HEATHER).

BRIANNA FLIES TO NEW YORK

WE FLEW INTO NEW YORK FRIDAY NIGHT. I WAS A LITTLE APPREHENSIVE ABOUT HOW BRIANNA WAS GOING TO DO ON THE FLIGHT, ESPECIALLY SINCE SHE STARTED TO COMPLAIN ABOUT AN EARACHE ON THE WAY TO THE AIRPORT, BUT SHE DID GREAT! WE FLEW OUT FROM CHARLOTTE AND THE WHOLE WAY SHE KEPT ASKING WHEN WERE WE GOING TO BE AT THE AIRPORT. IT WAS EXCITING AND NEW TO HER AND SHE ENJOYED IT. IF SHE WAS SCARED, I CERTAINLY DIDN'T KNOW IT. OH, AND IF YOU'RE WONDERING HOW I DID, I MUST SAY THAT I DID PRETTY GOOD. I GUESS I WAS JUST SO CONCERNED WITH BRIANNA, THAT I DIDN'T HAVE TOO MUCH TIME TO WORRY ABOUT MYSELF BEING SCARED TO DEATH OF FLYING. I SAID A PRAYER BEFORE WE TOOK OFF AND LEFT IT IN THE LORD'S HANDS. I AM POSTING PICTURES OF BRIANNA ON THE PLANE.

BRIANNA VISITS WITH SANTA

Brianna went to see Santa Friday night with Carson & Heather. As soon as we walked in the building, Brianna started saying that she wanted to go home. All her friends from school were there. I tried to tell her that they weren't scared of Santa. I thought maybe that would make her want to stay. It didn't. She was determined to leave. Then I asked her if she would just go and talk to him, she didn't have to sit in his lap if she didn't want to. She said she would only if I went with her and held her hand. She must have had a change of heart because when it was her turn to see him, she hopped right up there in his lap. I was very shocked. I even got a picture of it. After seeing Santa, the kids went to play in the "snow". I don't think I have EVER seen Brianna have as much fun as she did last night running around in the snow. Too bad she's never really gotten to do that with the real stuff. Maybe this winter we will actually get some. The night ended with a cute litte puppet show and a trip to McDonalds. We really had a good time.

BRIANNA'S GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Brianna's class went to Chapman High School today to make gingerbread houses. She has looked forward to this all week. She was just so excited. I didn't even have to fight with her this morning to get ready. She was up and ready in no time! Too bad they can't make gingerbread houses everyday, it sure would make my mornings go a little bit smoother. She was just so proud of the little house that she had made, so I took pictures so that ya'll could see it. She really did do a good job. But I have to tell you, it smells soooo good and lucks so yummy I'm having a really hard time not eating it.

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NEW TEMPLATE

So, how do ya'll like the new template. I have spent about 2 hours this morning(not to mention about 1 1/2 yesterday) trying to figure out how to change my template for the holidays. All you other bloggers out there don't seem to want to give up the secret to it so I had to figure it out myself. After much work, I finally got it. I am a little disappointed that I lost some things with the new template, especially the Quotes From Brianna. I think I saved it though. I hope. Anyway, for any of you that may be interested in changing your templates just click on the link above my header. It really was easy once I found a site that would allow me to download to my blog. HAVE FUN!

O CHRISTMAS TREE

Brianna and I put our Christmas tree up last night. Ok, so it's the little one. But hey, that's what she wanted to put up. I have to tell you that I was so thankful that I didn't have to spend 3 hours putting a tree up. Heck, it took an hour to put up this little 4 footer here. The only bad thing about it is that we have WAY too many presents and they are all never going to fit under it. I also put some lights up outside on the porch. It looks really cute. Heather and I made it to the Holiday Fair in Greenville yesterday. We got some pretty good gifts. I bought Brianna a horse backpack. I thought that would come in handy when flying to NY in 3 weeks. I also bought her a pair of maryjane Crocs. They are really cute. I couldn't resist giving them to her now though. She was being so good, and after we finished putting up the tree and lights outside Brian and I told her that Santa was just outside and left her a little something for being sooo good. She got a kick out of it. I know what ya'll are thinking......................yes she is spoiled.

GREETINGS

HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF BRIANNA WHEN WE WERE TRYING TO TAKE ONE FOR OUR CHRISTMAS CARD:

HELLO EVERYBODY

Sorry I haven't kept you bloggers updated in awhile. It just seems like with the holiday season, there just isn't time for anything. Not to mention that I hardly ever get a chance to "play" on the computer because Brian and Brianna are always playing Webkinz. But at least they are playing for something. Brianna now has $3000 in Webkinz money. It won't last long though. She plans on buying another room and fixing it up. I really do think that Brian likes it more than Brianna. Everytime I come home from work, he's in here on this computer playing her games on Webkinz. He says he just does it to help her win money, but hey, those of you that know about Webkinz have to admit that those games are pretty fun. I have been spending some of my time in the evenings working on Christmas presents for the grandparents from Brianna. I can't really tell you all about it because I don't want to ruin the surprise. But it is a really cute idea. Maybe after the holiday, I will post some pics so that you can see them. Brianna stayed down at my mother's last night so that Brian and I could have a date night. It was fun. I beat him in GinRummy and we watched a movie. And I drank 3 beers. And let me tell you.....3 beers is alot for someone that doesn't drink too often. Let's just say I probably should have stopped at 1:) I am planning on cleaning this dirty house up this morning. We haven't put our tree up yet, so I have to pick up around here before I make a new mess with decorating a Christmas tree. It sure seems like alot of trouble to go thru, putting up a tree on Dec 1st just to leave on the 21st and come back home on the 30th. Just in time to take it all back down. But I have a little one here, and there is absolutely nothing that I would not do for her to make this time of year special. So anyway, after cleaning I plan on picking up a few more gifts and then hopefully Heather and I will meet up to go to the Holiday Fair this afternoon. And then later today, all the stuff will come out of the attic so that we may FINALLY put up our Christmas tree.