Belated Merry Christmas!

I feel as thought I've been neglecting my blog lately.  It's not that I don't have things to write about; it's just life is getting in the way.

Since Christmas break has begun, Cullen went down for a few days with some virus.  I felt so bad for him because he was just miserable.  He pulled through just in time for his cousins to come for Christmas. 

Andrew's brother, Paul, and his family came Christmas Eve and spent Christmas with us!  We were excited to have them come and spend this special day with us.  All my kids were super excited to get to see and play with their cousins.  Since we live in different states, these visits are few and far between.  We all had a good time, and they headed back to Louisiana the Friday after Christmas.

On Saturday, Andrew caught (what I believe) is the same virus Cullen had.  He was down and out for a few days.  He is still slowly recovering.  Adults don't seem to bounce back as quickly as kids.

I've been disinfecting the house for what feels like forever, and I am seriously over everyone being sick.  If one more person gets sick, I might just hop a flight to Arizona and visit Matt.  I'm done.

Here are a few pictures from before Christmas Eve Mass.  We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  And I will be back and writing more regularly again after the New Year.


As close as I got to getting everyone looking at the camera

All the cousins!

Because we had to do one goofy picture!

Andrew's brother's Family

Rock N Lights

Last Tuesday, Andrew and I took the kids to Rock N Lights.  It's a drive through lighting display at our local park.  We like to go during the week since a) I had a coupon (yes, I'm cheap) and b) it's not nearly as crowded as the weekends.

We packed all the children into the car and off we went.  Jackson and Cullen had a great time!  They loved sticking their heads out the window to get a better view.  Luckily for us it was a comfortable 62 degrees outside.  Sawyer liked to look, but he's two so he was just happy to be along for the ride.  Cassidy did not have a good time at all.  We were in line to enter when the screaming started.  And she screamed and screamed and screamed.  She would not stop.  I was ready to jump out the car and walk through the display just to get away from it.  I ended up having to climb into the back, unbuckle her, and she sat on my lap the entire time to see the lights.  She was completely fascinated and stopped screaming (yea!).

Since my hands were full, I lacked the ability to take a lot of pictures.  I was able to snap a few.  Another awesome lighting display put on by Round Rock Parks and Recreation.

Family Christmas Pictures

Normally, I just post the Christmas card, but I thought I would post the actual pictures this year.  I was so happy with how our family pictures turned out!  Here are the pictures and blurb from our Christmas card.

As the year comes to a close, we are blessed to have had such a wonderful year!  Jackson (5) started Kindergarten this fall.  He is loving school and learning lots.  He's reading well and played soccer this past season.  Cullen (4) is enjoying his preschool class.  He's taking gymnastics and learning to write.  Sawyer (2) started preschool this fall.  He's talking more and more these days.  He's learning to survive with his brothers which means lots of rough play.  Cassidy Marie joined us on March 8, 2014.  She is a blessing to this testosterone driven family!  She's crawling, cruising and seems to be on the path of walking early.  Andrew and I are loving our loud, large family!
We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cassidy is 9 months!

I cannot believe my baby girl is 9 months old!  The time has just flown by, and I do not like the way all my kids are growing up ridiculously fast.  It's not fair. 

Cassidy had her well check today, and she is growing beautifully!  She weighs 19lbs 12.5oz which puts her in the 75%, and she is 29inches tall which puts her in the 92%.  I have no idea where she gets this from because it isn't me.

She's been crawling since 6 months, but now she's pulling up and cruising a little.  If she keeps following her pattern, she'll be an early walker (NO!).  Seems my baby girl wants to keep up with her big brothers.  Andrew and I have found her several times climbing the stairs.  One time we found her upstairs.  She climbed the entire set of stairs all by herself.  Now, the baby gates are readily accessible to us.  Too bad we can't use them without the boys deciding it's a new fun obstacle game to climb/jump over.

Here are a few pictures of my little girl in her Santa hat.

A few staples in the head later....

Another trip to Urgent Care happened.

 

Cullen jumped off the kitchen counter he was sitting on.  He didn't quite make it far enough away, and his head hit the granite.  Granite versus Head.  Granite comes out the winner!

 

Andrew and I didn't realize he had cut his head open at first.  "Oh Shit!  He's bleeding!  He's bleeding!" was the first thing I heard.  I looked and saw a waterfall of blood coming out.  I know the head bleeds a lot, but I always forget how much until I have to deal with it.  I grabbed paper towels and slammed them to the back of his head.  He bled through those, so I had to get some more.  It took us a little while, but we finally got the bleeding to stop.  When I finally got a good look at the cut, I knew immediately he needed stitches.  I was hoping they would glue him back together, but it wasn't an option.

 

The Urgent Care place was right around the corner, so Cullen and I headed over.  The doctors and nurses were really nice, took us straight back, and starting getting things ready.  The doctor said she would have to staple it shut.  Luckily, you couldn't see bone, but you could see the start of the fatty later under the skin.  Poor Cullen had to be strapped down so they could numb it, clean it, then put 3 staples in his head.  He cried, but he really was so good.  I am very proud of how brave he was.  The worst part was he didn't like to be strapped down which I understood.

 

Cullen will get the staples removed on Saturday.  He hasn't had any problems and calls it his 'Master Boo-boo'.  I hope I do not get intimately acquainted with Urgent Care, but with my kids, I have a feeling it might happen.

 

 

School Drop Off/Pick Up should be an Olympic Sport

School drop off and pick up zones are the most deadly and lethal things out there.  It is crazy what some people do while in a school zone.  It's as though people lose all common sense when it comes to dropping off or picking up their children.  Only the elite can survive and not be the bane of teachers and administrators.

1)  The school has a drop off and pick up plan for a reason.  This is not some frilly piece of paper to get buried amongst everything else at the beginning of school.  Pick it up, study it, and please follow it!  They put this out so traffic flow will be smooth and easy for everyone.  Those people who do not follow it (let's for the sake of conversation call them morons).  Morons hold up the traffic line and piss everyone else off because they think they're special and can do whatever the hell they want.  Is it really so hard to go around and use the turn lane.  Is it?!  At our elementary school, the administrators have specifically told parents not to use the stop signed street across from the back entrance.  Come down the main street and turn into the school.  Can parents do that?  Nope.  They feel they should be allowed a three way stop to enter and feel it's shorter.  It's not.  It holds up the line, and then you jet across the traffic to ensure your spot essentially stopping in the middle and blocking the entire road.  Please stop!

2)  Your kid can walk the extra 30 feet to his building.  During drop off, you always have that one parent who doesn't want their kid to walk too far.  They will always be in the middle of the traffic line where the 5 cars in front and 5 cars behind let their kid out to go in the building.  This one special person doesn't let their kid out, drives up an addition 30 feet when traffic starts moving again, then lets their kid out which stops all those other people behind them who are done.  You and your kid are not that special.  He can walk the extra 30 feet.

3)  Do NOT honk, get out of your car, or have a 5 minute conversation with your child before you decide to pull out.  Get in, get out and go is the correct philosophy.

4)  Use a legal cross walk.  If the police and road crews blacked out the crosswalk you want to use, there's a reason.  It's not safe.  Go around and use one of the ones in the traffic plan (yes, follow the traffic plan!).  If you are going to cross in front of me and I don't see you because you are not in a legal crosswalk, do not get pissed when I almost hit you.  It's your own damn fault.

5)  Please be nice to the teachers and administrators.  They are trying to have everything run smoothly.  It's not their fault some moron parent can't follow directions.  Be nice to them!

6)  If it says no left turn 7am-4pm, do not turn left.  Take a right and stop cutting off others!

7)  If you are going to continuously cut off people everyday so you can get an extra car length in front of everyone else, please take the Christian Church sticker off the back of your car.  One, you're not doing your church any good by cutting people off then advertising you are a good Christian.  Two, it makes your car easily identifiable so I will take every opportunity to piss you off since I know you are going to pull this shit everyday!

Or if you're like Andrew and I, leave early every day to skip the drop off fiasco and leave late every day to miss all the craziness that is pick up.  I may be one of the last ones to pick up my kid, but at least I follow the traffic plan and don't cut anyone off.