It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

J and I chopped down a tree today. Yes, just J and I. Well, we sawed it down, not chopped. That's another one on J's list of firsts. R was in KY visiting JT as he is still in the hospital with his staph infection. T was working on the Jeep and A was lured by a friend of ours who offered her money to help decorate instead of staying home to help us decorate for free. So it was up to J and I. We picked a nice small tree so that it doesn't take up half the living room. J then helped me decorate the entire house. He was quite the helper and things don't look like they usually do but I let his creative juices flow and he was totally into it. He had a little trouble going to sleep tonight. He wasn't being bad, just restless. I don't know if it's all the excitement of the weekend, going back to school tomorrow after a long weekend or what but I hope and pray he sleeps through the night.

We all overslept this morning. My dad called at 7:35 to see if he could use his own barn to work on his own vehicle but T's was still in it. I asked what time it was and didn't believe him when he told me. He said he thought we'd be getting ready for church. Um, yeah, we usually leave at 7:50-8:00. I threw the phone at T and ran to wake up the kids. I woke A up and she got going and then I went up to wake up J. I said, "J, it's 7:35 and we overslept and I'm still in my pajamas and we have to get going quickly!" and his eyes popped open and he said, "It's seven tirty-five and J is still dormez?!" In his just woke up, still sleepy state he used Creole at the end of his sentence. I laughed and said we were all still dormez. We managed to get ready and leave the house in record time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm getting ready to make some sweet potato casserole and the bread is rising, and R is making a green bean casserole. We're all heading over to my brother's place. Today is my nephew's birthday and on Saturday is my niece's so we'll celebrate them today too. It's also our first Thanksgiving with J here. We struggle at times with the adjustment but there is a lot to be thankful for. So here's a little thankful list; I'm thankful that J is finally here, thankful for family and friends, thankful for our local public school and those who have been so helpful with J, I'm thankful for jobs, thankful for pets, and I'm still thankful for dark chocolate (have I ever mentioned that?).

"Dey talk?"

On the way to school this morning I told J that they were calling for snow flurries on Thursday evening. He didn't respond which I thought was strange because he has talked about seeing snow since I was in Haiti picking him up. It was quiet for a minute or two when he finally asked quietly and incredulously, "Dey talk?" I asked what he meant and he said, "De fluwwies, dey talk?" I laughed a little and said no, what do you mean? He explained, "You said dey was calling for snow fluwies. Do dey talk?" I busted out laughing and had to try to explain weather forecasters and who "they" are and when he finally figured out that there might be snow flurries on Thursday evening, he got really excited. Now I'm afraid we're in for some trouble if it doesn't snow. I was telling my SIL about this and she said he was probably thinking what an amazing country America is where even the snow flurries can talk.

My throat is getting better. Thank you to those who prayed. I still have a lot of nasal congestion but am feeling human again. J is still coughing but not as bad. I guess we're mending.

We are having a time trying to put 2 households into 1 as R collects more and more things for her own home. Our house is not real big by American standards. T moved everything in to the music room/office and now I can't use the treadmill. Not that I'm really sad about that or anything, but this is a time of year when you really could use it. Dexter is enjoying the little perch that was inadvertently made for him.



Here is a pic of J in his basketball uniform. I'd say he's pretty proud of it, wouldn't you?
And here's a pic of him and his team in action. Oh, T used a thumb tack to make a button so we can take pics again with the camera. It won't review them on the screen but at least we can take them.
While us ladies were at bridal shower number 2 Sunday evening, T and J were hosting a "bachelor party" in honor of R's fiance (his initials are very similar to J's so let's call him "JT"). Here are some of the guys whose wives/mothers were helping out at the shower. They were toasting JT with their root beer.

1st Bball game

J's team won their first game! What a feisty bunch of kids. It was a lot of fun to watch the game. J got to play and I have some pics of it but I managed to drop the camera under the bleachers and pretty much killed it. A sweet little girl climbed underneath and got the camera for me but it won't stay closed and the button to take the pics with is missing. Sigh...I'll work on getting some pics posted. My dad took quite a few.

If y'all think of it could you say a prayer for my throat? It is so incredibly sore. We're wondering if it has something to do with having had the abscess removed last week and getting a viral infection/flu on top of that. Whatever it is, it hurts. Thanks.

Flu, shmoo

I guess T didn't get the snotitis, he just thought he did. Or, he had a really mild case like A did. J is still coughing his head off but seems to feel fine. I am not feeling fine. I by-passed the cold stuff and went straight to flu, complete with horribly sore throat, fever, chills, aches, congestion. Yuck. Praying that no one else in the family gets it.

More snotitis

T and I have succumbed. My throat is more sore than anything else at this point. And I'm still on antibiotics from my little throat procedure last week. Sigh...J is mostly coughing. A seems much better. R has not come down with it yet. More power to her.

T's bee sting

T has been painting the ceiling in the "overflow dining room" at our church in preparation for R's wedding. He was painting Sunday afternoon when a bee stung him. This is what it did to him.

Pretty nasty, huh?

J went to school today with no problems. At least, I haven't heard anything yet. A is doing plays today and the rest of us are hoping we don't get the snotitis.

Weird question. The dishwasher keeps depositing nasty white stains on our dishes. It's gross. I've tried 2 different dishwasher cleaners, vinegar in the rinse thingy, using less soap and making sure the water is hot before I start the dishwasher. Nothing works. Any ideas?

J-isms

I was playing wii with J this evening. We were bowling and every time one of us got a spare he would say, "Nice swear." It took several tries to correct him saying, "No honey, they are saying, 'Nice spare'". I was watching him play wii baseball and he kept saying, "Let's give it some hustle," and "This is so not happening." I don't know where he heard that last one but I thought it was hysterical.

The girls just informed me that those things came from High School Musical so now they're not quite as funny as they were before. That kid loves High School Musical.

A also told me that he was looking at her jeans that have a big hole in them (they came that way) and he asked her, "Did you rape your jeans?" She was like, uh, I have a rip in my jeans. Talk about lost in translation.

Another one that he always pronounces different is he doesn't say toilet like we do. He always pronounces it "twa-let". I love that one. And of course, he still calls all meat chicken.

Learning

J stayed home today. I figured it would happen so I was prepared for it. I knew he would feel bad when he first woke up and he whined a little bit while I was getting his clothes out and stuff and then he started with the louder whining about his throat. I told him to come down and get a drink of water and see if that helped. I explained to him that when people have colds they ususally feel worse when they first get up and that once you're up and moving you feel better. I gave him the choice of staying home in bed or going to school. If he had a fever or was obviously really sick I wouldn't have given him a choice, I'd have just kept him home. He chose to stay home in bed.

So today he learned some things. He learned that if you are so sick that you have to stay home from school, you are going to spend most of the day in bed. He looked at books and did some coloring and played quietly with some toys. He also learned that I don't just sit around the house on my days off that I actually do quite a bit of work. And the best thing he learned was to entertain himself somewhat when he's really bored. Entertaining himself is a huge thing as he has not been able to do that so far.

He is now watching a movie and I've given him instructions not to run around or get too excited, etc. He has decided to go to school tomorrow. I hope he is well enough to go.

A went to school today and has plays to do tomorrow. She sounds congested too but neither one of them seem to feel bad. And no fevers, so that's good. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

Sick

Both A and J came home with colds today. They are both sneezing, sniffling and snotting like crazy. Sigh...the week before last it was A and R with stomach bugs. A seems to be the common denominator. She needs to take it easy but is much too busy with life to do that. Oh well. I sprayed lysol on all the door knobs, light switches, phones, computer keyboards, faucets, etc. They don't seem to feel real bad, and so far no fever. We are thankful for that.

Hunting and showering

Well, J had another first yesterday. He went hunting with Bampa. I have no idea why his eyes are like that but it's kind of funny. He did well but they didn't see any deer. Surprised?
He also went to bed for the first time without me in the house. Because I was at R's bridal shower. T has put J to bed plenty of times but I've always been in the house. They both did fine. And the shower was really nice. Look at these cute little cookies my SIL found.

And this is the cake.

Here is the bride to be.

She got a lot of nice gifts and only one repeat.
Her fiance called while we were at church today (he is at boot camp). The whole church got to say hi and then he got to listen to us sing. R was singing with us this Sunday. It was pretty cool.

Much better today

Today was a much better day overall than yesterday. J had no problems going to school and even got a good report from one of his teachers. He did more sight words than he's ever done and has the 2 times table memorized, or just about. He read a book to me tonight, one of his regular "bed time books" that we've been reading to him. This kid came home 2 1/2 months ago unable to read much of anything. Wowzer.

My throat is okay. It looks kind of gross but doesn't feel as bad as it looks. It's a bit sore right now but that's after a day of normal talking activity and even a small amount of singing earlier today. I'm quiet for the rest of the night now.

T's foot is looking better again after a couple of "iffy" days. We're thankful for that.

Thanks for the prayers. Please keep praying for J's full healing. He has a lot of "past" to work through.

Hmmm....

...not a very good night last night, Horrible morning with a capital H (worse one yet since J has been home), calming down and making some breakthroughs with reconciling the past=progress. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't fun but I think we made some progress with J. And we are so thankful for his school.

Remember that spot on my "I had them out 30 years ago" tonsil? It was an abscess that I had drained/removed today. Throat is a little sore but nothing unbearable. The weird part was that the school called while they were working on me. I had told them about our difficult/Horrible morning and when my phone rang and it was the school, I freaked just a little bit, just briefly. The doc laughed and said to tell them I had needles in my mouth. I had needles in my mouth?!?! They just wanted to let me know that J had settled down and was doing okay. My mouth was quite numbed so I slurred a response and thanked them for calling.

Thanks for praying for Stellan. He has some more hurdles ahead of him but seems to be doing quite well given his circumstances. You can check his progress at www.mycharmingkids.net

Please pray for Stellan

I'm not even sure how I found this blog but please check them out and pray for Stellan and his family. We waited 4 years to get J here and understand the "mountain after mountain after mountain" thing and the endless list of things going wrong but I don't even want to imagine the helplessness that McMama is feeling right now. www.mycharmingkids.net

Fall

The huge amount of huge acorns that have been raining down on us and that continue to rain down on us brings a whole new meaning to the word "fall". Our yard is literally covered in them. I tried to take some pics to show you but they don't do it justice. And I have no idea why the second and third one are vertical. I don't know if it's blogger or my computer. Anyway, here are the acorn pics.

See? They completely cover the ground. We have not seen this many at one time in the six years we've lived up here. Like I said before, if the quantity of acorns is truly related to how bad the winter will be, we're in for a wild winter. Let it snow.

In other news, my romantic nephew asked his girlfriend to marry him this evening by getting his buddy to fly them over my brother's farm just after dusk where he had written out in Christmas lights "Marry me!" Yes, with an exclamation point not a question mark. They've been dating for several years and of course she said yes. We were all down on the ground watching them fly over and then we had a little engagement party. They are a very sweet couple. So that's two weddings in the family in the next several months. Zoiks! Congrats to P and M!

A is sick again. I'm not sure what's up with her but I wish she'd get over it already. R has been fine since about Thur. afternoon. ??

Happy Fall.

Ahh, Saturday

We had another dry night and J didn't wake any up this morning. Hallelujah! It didn't help T and I sleep, nor R either. We all woke up at our usual times. Sigh...but it did give T and I some time to talk. That was sweet.

Both girls seem recovered from their stomach bugs. My mom, R and I did some wedding shopping yesterday. Zoiks!

T drove home his "new to him" Jeep Wrangler Sahara yesterday. It's not new by any sense of the word and has well over 100K miles but he is a happy camper. I hope he drives it more than the '66 Chevy Stepside that sat in the driveway for 3 years. The Wrangler would be one of his "dream" vehicles, along with a late 60's, early 70's Dodge Coronet. This allows A to have a car to drive but she is going to be responsible for gas and insurance. She is job hunting.

Wow, the wind came up and it's raining acorns on the house.

Happy Saturday.

What the day will bring

The girls seem better. They both went to school this morning. R made it through her 2 classes but T had to go get A and bring her home. J seems okay even though he's had diarrhea off and on this week. He ate 3 pieces of chicken and two plates of rice if that tells you how he's feeling.

We had a ROUGH night with him again last night. He couldn't get settled down and never really got to sleep good. I think he was over tired and over stimulated. I spent an hour with him, then T spent about 40 minutes with him and we thought he was out for the night and were brushing our teeth when he came down again saying he was scared. I stayed with him for about 30 minutes and then we tried to go to sleep. He was up again bursting into our room before either one of us had fallen asleep. That's a rude awakening when you're just dozing off. T took that shift. Then we laid in bed until like 3 a.m. thinking every sound we heard was him coming back down. He got up this morning like nothing was wrong. Go figure. When asked about it he held eye contact and genuinely said he was sorry for keeping us up. We're working on ways to help him deal with his fear. Sigh...

We've had a few more dry nights this week. Hallelujah. After paying me a dollar for choosing to throw away a used but perfectly good, dry overnight pant he decided that there was nothing wrong with re-using them if he didn't wet them. Smart boy.

He lost another tooth yesterday so now both top "canines" are missing. He has figured out that he can make some really silly faces by sliding his bottom lip behind the four front teeth and into the holes that his missing teeth left. It's quite funny.

If the old tales of judging how cold and snowy the winter will be by how many and how big the acorns are, we're in for a rough winter. Our house is surrounded by trees and our yard is literally covered with huge acorns. I'll try to take a pic to show you. They hit the house and make pretty impressive noises. My parents live next door and one of the acorns hit my mom in the head one day and she thought it might have broken the skin. They are BIG and there is an ample supply. To that I say, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. We want a nice 6-8 inches at one time. That's a big deal where we live.

You just never know what the day will bring.

Yuck

The Puke and Heave Show came to our house today. Both girls were home with stomach bugs. They may or may not have gotten it from J, who informed me at about 8:50 Monday evening, after about 45 minutes of trying to get him asleep, that he had diarrhea all day at school. Sigh...hopefully tomorrow will be better and the rest of us will remain well.

I started a small list of the long list of things that J says that absolutely crack us up on a daily basis. I thought he was really getting the hang of the English language the other night when he called his daddy a "dweeb", at a time when T was being a dweeb. We laughed hysterically and then he used the word wrong over and over because it made us laugh the first time. Some of his mispronunciations are; the other day I was making pumpkin soup and when it was time to put the cabbage in he kept referring to it as garbage. He still hasn't figured out the difference between DVD's and tv. He asks us to pause the tv or to fast forward commercials. And the other day when we asked him to turn off the tv for dinner, he said, "Aw, they are going to give papilonni next." He meant that Pippi Longstocking was coming on next. He refers to anything that gets you wet (bath, ocean, swimming) as a shower. He told me he wanted to "shower in there" last week at the beach while pointing to the ocean. He called all covers on his bed "sheets" when he first came home. He now knows the difference between sheets and blankets but calls the blankets "banklets". He had the hiccups yesterday and I asked him if he had hiccups and he said yes. About 5 minutes later I hiccuped and he said, "You have 'hock its' too?" He cracks us up.

Finally, some pics

Whew! We've been so busy this last week. I'm glad we're through that and can move on to planning a wedding. Zoiks!

We had a good time at the beach. J loved sleeping in the camper because his bunk was right over our bed and he knew he wouldn't be by himself. He liked the beach. He got to see dolphins and a fisherman caught a shark and he got to touch it. He found his first fossilized shark teeth. He enjoyed roasting marshmallows, although he likes to make torches out of them before he eats them. We played some card games and dominoes and found that he loves to win but he's not the best loser. He's working on his sportsmanship.

He rode his bike all over the campground and made a few friends. One family called him "Juice Box" because the two year old thought that's what he said his name was. Talk about lost in translation. When we were leaving they were all standing in their campsite and waving and hollering good-bye Juice Box! It was quite funny. One of them accidently hit J in the eye with a large sand shovel. His eye was bloodshot for a couple days and it cut the skin right in the crease at the side of his eye. Scary, but after a couple days under an awesome bandaid (nexcare) it looked really good.

J had his first basketball practice on Wed. He did well but he doesn't understand all the rules and he would pass as soon as he got the ball. He's good at guarding and blocking.

He also went on a field trip without me for the first time. Oh, and we've had several dry nights this week too. Always thankful for a dry night.

In other news, R's book has not been ordered yet but as soon as we have some we'll post some ordering info. The wedding plans are coming along.

A is in another play. Like we needed something more to do. She's also in some dance thing with a friend.

T has a bum foot. The doc can't figure out what it is but they drew a little fluid off it for a culture.

I'm just busy.

Okay, some pics. It was cold the first couple days at the beach but at least the sun was out.


J with his first shark tooth. It was a pretty nice one for his first find.

One of his goals was to build a sand castle.

His didn't turn out quite like he wanted but he had fun working on it. A and her friend E, who went with us, built this sand castle. It actually stayed for a couple days until someone ran it over with their golf cart.

This is E, A and J catching some waves. It was cold but we were at the beach and weren't going to pass up an opportunity to catch some waves.

Ooo la la.
The trees were turning colors and I snapped this pic on our ride home from the beach.

The day after we got home J came downstairs in his chaps, cowboy hat, laser guns and sunglasses. This is his cosmic cowboy look.

Today has been a beautiful day here and we went for a walk after church.The fall colors are really coming out.


This is a weird tree that got bent over but continued to grow. The branches are curving up but if the tree was straight they'd be pointing down. Feel a little sermon there?

Ah, the boys doing boy things. Like knocking dead trees down so they can feel big and strong.

We have mutiple sink holes on our property. This is one of them. It goes about 8 feet down and is about 8 feet long.

Some more fall colors.

It's been very rainy here so all the "wet weather creeks" are flowing.

J telling me something.

Oreo the labrador retriever mix retrieving a rock or stick from a pond.

So, now we're up to date on pics. And probably on to another busy week. J has a lot of funny little sayings and words that he mispronounces. I'll try to make a list of them and post them some time this week.