Oh Wow

Not too many words describe the week I've had (well, not words that I can use here at least!)

This past Monday started out as any other Monday except that we were all eager to get through a short work and school week before the Thanksgiving festivities began.  We weren't running behind really (shocker) and David thought for a moment that he would be able to take the kids to school but after looking at his schedule decided against it, so I was the driver.  When the kids and I got on the highway that morning it was a parking lot, literally.  Cars were not moving and we were 20 minutes away from Blaine's school already with only 20 minutes to spare!  I quickly exited and took the back way to school arriving almost ten minutes after school started.  Ugh.

I threw my phone (which I will mention is a not-so-cheap iPhone that is only 4 months old) in the front of my purse which was sitting in the front passenger seat.  I grabbed my keys, hopped out and hurried the kids out of the car.  For some reason this morning two things crossed my mind:

1. I noticed two men standing about 30 feet away from me, in front of Blaine's small school building watching me and I thought what they were doing was strange.
2. I lock my car 90% of the time, especially in this new city of ours, but I was in a hurry and I thought very specifically to myself, "I'll be gone a moment... I'm at a preschool... my purse will be fine."

On any other day if I would've had these thoughts I am sure I would have grabbed my purse or locked my car.  Simple enough, I realize.  But on Monday I didn't and four minutes later when I came back out to my car my purse was gone.

Panic, questions, fear, anxiety, anger, frustration, and sadness all describe what I felt in those minutes following the realization that someone had violated me and my space and stolen my purse.  My mind raced through what was in my wallet - iPhone, wallet, medicine... Blaine's medicine.  My heart sunk.

I ran inside and one of the building administrators called campus police.  In the meantime I called David who headed up to Blaine's school to bring me some money for the day and help with Hannah.  Police arrived, asked me a bunch of questions and in so many words told me, "You're stuff is gone and you're probably not getting it back."  While I was trying to figure out what to do next David called the school to get me on the phone.  He was up the street, about two blocks away, and had found my purse in an empty parking lot on the same street he drove to get to the school.  Minutes later he was at the school with my purse.  Everything was taken out of my wallet and thrown into my purse.  They took my cash, phone and Blaine's medicine and left everything else. 

There is a high school behind Blaine's preschool so there are plenty of kids walking around the area and the officer thinks that it was probably some kids, or parents that had seen me on my phone and giving Blaine medicine in the car every day at pick-up.  Whoever it was got away with some pretty important items of ours and really ruined my day! :(

Blaine was devastated when I picked him up and told him what happened.  He sobbed and asked me what I thought, "God is telling the bad people" that took my phone and his medicine.  Several times throughout the day he told me that he thought God was going to "get them."  I assured him that God would take care of us, we prayed that the person would be convicted in their heart of wrongdoing, but I also told him that God still loved the person that took our things.  Not the response he was looking for, but the best I could come up with.  Today he asked me, "What kind of person steals?!" He is still working through the shock, I think, as am I.

So I've been without a phone, texting, and google maps for almost a week now.  'Weird' is an understatement.  We don't even have a house phone so I've been relying on email to communicate and since I'm not on Facebook anymore, I'm sure some people are wondering what the heck happened to me.  I did put a lock on my phone but when I went to Verizon today to get a new phone the guy told me that Cricket (the phone company) takes phones from any carrier and "flashes" them, (making them available to be used through Cricket's network and not just Verizon.)  They are the only carrier that will take stolen phones and do this.  The guy at Verizon said "they just want the business and don't care where it comes from."

Unfortunately I did not get a phone today because my contract is new so I can't use my upgrade credit which means that the phone I want is $700.00, instead of $300.00.  Bummer.  Big bummer.  I am going to try to find one on E-Bay now so I don't have to pay for one (because I won't spend that much on a phone.)  Until then I am going to be going old-school with no phone. 

So, if you need me... email or call David :)

Cutting Back

In an effort to make more time for the important things in my life I deactivated my Facebook account.  Family and friends were shocked and frankly I don't know how I survived today without it - but I did live to write about it!  Just kidding :)

There are several projects that God has been nudging me to work on for a few years now and it is not that I have been on Facebook so much that I have avoided the projects but that I have not been serious about them and I have made choices (social media) over said projects.  So yesterday was the day and I actually enjoyed not "having" to check FB today... though jokingly I texted David that there was no point in having an iPhone now because I don't have a FB account. Ha!

Hopefully I can make more time to write here now - at least twice a week would be nice.

David has had two work trips over the last few weeks - one to NYC and one to Chicago - so we've been missing him being gone.  When Hannah cries (which she does every time he leaves) Blaine explains the following (verbatim) to her:

"Hannah, do you like to swim?  And do you like to go to Boondocks and do you like to have food?  Because if Daddy doesn't go with his work friends on this trip he will not be able to pay money for you to do those things!  Do you hear me Baby?  Do you want Daddy to pay money?"

Hilarious.  Mister tells it like it is.

While D is off "paying money" we're left to enjoy long... (very long) days together. (Insert laughing :)  We are so lucky to have so many amazing museums and a zoo near us and even this fall/winter weather is nice enough to be outside in so we are still spending a lot of time at the playgrounds.

And just this week I realized that Thanksgiving is in one week.  One week.  Really?  Did you all know that?  It seems too early... but it is apparently happening whether I like it or not.  So since the moment it 'hit' me I decided it was time to make a list and while we were toying with buying Turkey dinner or (me) making it, we decided that I would make it again this year because we really want homemade gravy and you have to make the turkey to make homemade gravy and Mimi's cornbread dressing is a must, which we have to have the gravy to go with and then green bean casserole (because it's GF and all)... so I was voted as our T-Day chef and off to the grocery I go.

And you know what Thanksgiving means (besides ginormous calorie intake and tight pants)? Drum roll please... CHRISTMAS DECORATING!  Oh my, we're so excited.  So excited in fact that the kids and I put up the Christmas tree tonight.  Blaine screamed like a school girl and was in charge of plugging in the lights.  Hannah said it was "bootiful."  We're actually going to get two trees this year so we just put up the artificial tree tonight (but no decorations yet.) 

Happy times!

Thankful

We flew by the seat of our pants last week which I guess is no different than any other week except last week included this little holiday called Thanksgiving!  Our original plan was to stay home and not battle the other holiday travelers.  I was going to make Thanksgiving dinner and we were going to have a quiet four day weekend at home.  Of course none of this ended up happening but everything worked out in the end and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Keith ended up staying in Houston longer than expected and we decided that we would go see him in Houston if he hadn't been discharged by Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving.)  Wednesday afternoon came and he hadn't yet been released (not to mention I had not purchased one item for our Thanksgiving dinner...) so we packed up for an overnight trip and headed to Houston.  The stress over it about put me over the edge but we had a lot of angels come together and take care of some of the planning.

And Thanksgiving dinner? Well, we were grateful for an invitation to David's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Perry's house (who live north of Houston) for dinner.  We couldn't have asked for a better day.  My in-laws and brother-in-law were also at Thanksgiving dinner and they took care of the kids while we drove downtown to see Keith at MD Anderson Cancer Center.  We were also able to visit with Ray, David's grandmother's husband, who just had double bypass surgery.  Both were doing quite well especially given that they had to be in the hospital on Thanksgiving.

After visiting we headed back to Conroe where we had quite the meal.  Many thanks (again and again) to our wonderful family who took care of us on Thanksgiving and allowed us to go be with Keith during this difficult time.  The meal was fantastic and I am sure I ate my weeks worth of calories in one sitting! And Uncle Matt kept his favorite nephew busy most of the day with playing and dinosaur videos on his phone.  (Thank you everyone!)

We arrived home safely on Thanksgiving evening around 11:00 pm and the kids went straight to bed.  Friday brought a day of fishing for the boys and one of my favorite activities... decorating for Christmas :)  As I put the tree up I remembered how much I love the smell and imperfections of a fresh-cut Christmas tree. But one thing separates a real tree from a fake one and these six little letters make me do the happy dance: Pre-lit.  That's right, our pre-lit artificial tree makes me so happy.  I threw that baby together in five minutes flat, plugged it in and voila - a Christmas tree!  It's the simple things in life. 

Hannah admiring the tree

She loves picking out the ornaments with "babies" on them.

Excited!

I'm pretty proud of myself because I am nearly done with our Christmas shopping.  The kids presents are hiding in our spare bedroom and I have attempted putting everyone else's gifts under the tree.  Of course this means that the kids are fascinated with the gifts and Blaine has asked at least five times since yesterday what is in each box.  So, if Blaine tells you what we got you - it's not true! :)  Hannah is mostly obsessed with the "balls" (ornaments) and has only taken two off.  But none are shattered... yet. 

Speaking of obsessed, check this out:

Yes, that is our daughter with TWO ba-bas in her mouth.  Breaking this habit is going to be hard!

In other news, we are extremely proud of Blaine today.  The YMCA we belong to has a water slide and a water obstacle course (on the weekends) but kids have to pass a swim test to be able to use these features.  Blaine has wanted to do these things since we joined one year ago.  To pass the test kids have to be able to swim from one end of the pool to the other by themselves.  Last night when David took Blaine to the pool he passed!   YAY!  He was thrilled and we spent most of today at the pool to celebrate.  Nice job, buddy.

This is part of the pool.  Blaine swam from one end to the other by himself!

See the yellow slide back there... That is B's new best friend.

Given all that happened yesterday, it was probably one of my favorite days ever.  Why?

1. Michigan Football.  Not only Michigan football... but the Michigan, OSU game... and the boys whooped 'em!  Hail!

2. Christmas decorating.

3. Wrapping Christmas presents.

4.  Baking.

5.  It rained, Y'all.  It rained for almost 4 hours straight.  This had to be the highlight of my day.

And the kids thought I was totally crazy screaming at the TV while the game was on.  Hannah was yelling "Gooo Booo" ("Go Blue" for you Texans) and Blaine was (of course) fascinated with the players tackling each other and asked me, "Mama, did you play that game when you went to that school?"  To which I replied, "No, baby, Mama was too busy going to class."  LOL!

Other than all of that, it really was a low-key weekend.


Pie

I forgot to post these pictures of Blaine conquering the Cherry Pie.

That's my boy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I did it. I made thanksgiving dinner and (drum roll please) it was excellent (if I do say so myself.) David said he liked it, actually he said, "You exceeded my expectations!" Unbeknown to me, he thought I was going to struggle making a meal like this but with some awesome recipes and prayer (a LOT of prayer) it turned out very well. Thanks to my mother-in-law for passing on her recipes and offering some emergency phone call support. I also asked my Dad for advice and he muttered something about there being "no hope" when I asked if the turkey had to be thawed before I prepared it. LOL.

Speaking of my Dad, today is his birthday! I asked him if he was born before or after the trip on the Mayflower and he made a funny joke, as is usual with my Dad, and then said that he's pretty sure he came after. Happy Birthday Dad, I love you.

Here is our meal. I'll work on presentation in a few years...

Blaine waiting patiently for dinner and Nana's famous deviled eggs.

David carving the turkey.

It looks so small...but it was a 9 pound turkey.

Still waiting...

Banging silverware now.  Patience has worn off.

Turkey, dressing, gravy, acorn squash, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls and cherry pie.

This does not look as good as it tasted.  Dark meat, dressing, and white meat.  Mmmmm.

In other news, both kids (actually all of us) are sick.  Blaine is running his second day of a fever and Hannah's fever broke yesterday.  No throwing up, just congestion, cough, fever and loss of appetite (for Blaine at least.)  We always know when he's not feeling well because he asks us to hold him and he wants us to do everything with one hand so we can continue to hold him.  Plus, he slept in until 6:45 am today (GASP) and that was when we knew that he wasn't well.  Both kids went to the doctor this week but I was sent home both times with "it's just a cold", although Sister's doctor said she might have a U.T.I.  I declined the catheter and said we'd give her a few more days to see if she got better.  Her temperature was suspicious to the doctor because there were no other obvious reasons for a fever (ear infection, etc...)  I think she is on the mend today though, so we're grateful for that.

We hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day.  I am grateful for my family, our health, and the too-many-to-count blessings in our lives.  Especially thankful for my Dad today, on his birthday, and am glad for his health and happiness.

With love ~ Jessica

 

 

Prepping for Thanksgiving

For the first time ever, I will be making Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Me, myself and I - that's it.  David's mom and her husband are going to Hawaii, so I am left to the task of preparing dinner but I am really looking forward to it.  I'll let you know how it goes... but I can already tell you that if cooking for Thanksgiving is half as difficult as grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, then I am in real trouble.  The store was c.r.a.z.y. tonight.  I don't know what I was thinking going to get all these groceries on a Sunday night.

Mister has a cold and I worry that he's getting yet another ear infection.  He sure is acting like it and I just keep hoping that his ears will drain and that fluid doesn't get infected.  I think we'll give it another few days and then check in with Dr. Howard.  Blaine continues to amaze us with each passing day.  David gave him a book (Winnie the Pooh) the other night as he was helping him get ready for bed and Blaine (very matter-of-fact) "read" the entire book verbatim.  Of course, we know that he's not actually "reading", but he knew what words were on each page and was able to recite.  It was pretty cute.  He likes to make his sister laugh and he can usually accomplish this by screaming or making some loud, funny noise.  She gets a kick out of his antics and his constant motion.

Sister is moving all about.  She rolls all over the place and when on her belly can scoot pretty far.  She looks like a caterpillar when she moves.  She continues to light up the room with her smile and is quick to smile for anyone that will pay attention to her.  Her reflux has gotten worse in the last few weeks, but I think this is due to her medicine being at the end of its shelf-life.  I also have to be super-diligent about the dairy that I consume.

Good Times

Mimi and Pops treated us to a wonderful weekend at Casa de Siebert in Plano, TX. We arrived 1 hour before Thanksgiving dinner was put on the table (I don't know how we pulled that off, but it felt weird not helping with the dinner - sorry Mimi) and then we put on the feed bag. Marie is an amazing cook - everything is cooked from scratch and she puts a lot of love and time into her meals. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the food - I guess we were too busy salivating over the dishes :) On the menu: A moist 17 lb turkey (and gravy, of course), about 8 pounds (no joke) of cornbread stuffing (it's called dressing down in these parts), carrots, green beans, rolls, creamed corn casserole, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, cranberries (am I forgetting something??), pumpkin pie, cherry pie, and homemade whipped cream! Mmmmmm Mmmm! We laid comatose after stuffing ourselves but somehow managed to eat another meal that night... leftovers, of course! :)

Friday we hung out, took Blaine to the park and helped decorate the Siebert home for Christmas.

Saturday we were treated to a day at the Dallas World Aquariam and then a seafood dinner. We managed to squeeze two movies in: Australia and Marley and Me. Both were tear jerkers which this pregnant lady cried through. David spent his free time watching the WFN (the World Fishing Network) and told his mom he's moving back in so he can watch this all the time (we don't have this channel :)

Blaine had a big time and got spoiled with new toys, new snacks, lots of hugs and kisses and lots of new people (to acquire his attention and give him bites of their ice cream!) Blaine did not bless us with any time sleeping in. We thought maybe our vacation time would kick Blaine into his "sleep-in" mode, but no, he was up at 4:45 - 5:00 AM every day. Poor Nana endured the early mornings because she was sleeping right next to our bedroom and no-one within 60 feet could escape Blaine's early morning wrath (screaming, laughing, running, jumping, etc...).

Here are pictures from our wonderful weekend. Thank you for having us Mimi and Pops and we love you both so much.

Gluttony, Eye Emergency and Tree Drama

Blaine's totally-bored face.

Daddy cutting down the Lyon Family Christmas Tree!

"I hope none of my friends see me here with my parents!"

"OMG, are we done yet?"

Sweet baby in his Christmas sweater.

The Gluttony:

We went to Plano, TX for Thanksgiving. Marie and Nana made a meal fit for Kings (and Queens). Wow. I ate way too much, way too often, for way too long. I felt so sick on Saturday night from over-eating and eating too much sugar. It was all so tasty, but too much of a good thing ruins my waist line. Thanks for the hospitality and taking good care of us, Marie and Jeff. :)

Eye Emergency:

Before we left on Saturday I went to put my contacts in (as I always do) but mistakenly used contact disinfectant (not saline solution) to clean my contact, then proceeded to put it in my eye and then screamed and cried in pain as my cornea burned off. No joke. I basically put Hydrogen Peroxide in my eye... and the contact (and the deadly disinfectant) sucked to my eye, so I couldn't get the sucker out. Finally when I did, I flushed with water, but the pain was unbearable. I cried and cried and cried. Which was actually probably good for it. Needless to say, I've been wearing my glasses since Saturday. My eye is improving, but when you burn your cornea, it doesn't get better over night. My eye was/is fire engine red where there should be white. Poison control and a nurse (and the Mom of the Pharmacist at Walgreens (my most reliable source, thus far)) said that there is nothing a Dr. can do... just keep flushing it out with eye cleaner, so I've been doing that. Please keep me and my right eye in your prayers for a full recovery!

Tree Drama:

Every year, David and I go to Elgin, Texas and we cut down our own Christmas Tree. This year was no different, well except for the fact that I have only one good eye and we have a 9 month old superstar on our hands. It was chilly--the perfect weather for cutting down our tree. Because we're in a drought, the tree selection was not that great, but after about 45 minutes, we found "the tree" - it was full and beautiful from all angles. Or so we thought. David cut it down and we took it to be shaken (to get all of the dead needles out) and tied up for the ride home. Much to our surprise and sadness, when we got home, this 8 and a half foot monster of a tree was actually a very pathetic, very bare and very sparse tree. The poor thing had lost so many needles that it was essentially bare from the ground up 2 feet, so David had to cut 2 feet off the bottom, and we were left with what you see here. It doesn't look too bad in the picture... but trust me, this tree is hurting! I did what I could to make it presentable and we think it turned out just fine, regardless of its lack of needles :) Now the house is all decorated, except for some lights outside that we need to hang this week. It looks good: Simple but pleasant and festive. We have a holiday party for David's work here this weekend and then a company party next weekend, then the Gay's arrive for some good ol' fashioned Christmas partying. Phew... I am a tired Mommy...