Christmas thoughts

We had our DirectBuy Work party last night, including Famous Dave's BBQ catering, a "white elephant gift exchange" (MY PERSONAL FAVORITE!) and kaeroke to turn up the heat. My thoughts go to last year and where I was. I was teaching Jr High and doing gift exchanges in my classrooms amidst my students. I miss receiving so many random "teacher" gifts (candles, chocolates or cards). This year I settled for a Circuit City gift card and Jared ended up with some golf balls.

I feel bad that we don't have any decorations up for this year, mostly for my boys. Isn't Christmas about your kids? So, we have to go to Wal Mart or the library for Wesley to light up and say, "look mama, Christmas tree!" I simply have no room or energy to unpack and pack things up, knowing that we will hopefully be moving FOR REAL at the end of this month.

Despite the fact that we have completely BUILT and REMODLED from the ground up TWO CUSTOM HOMES, somehow Jared and I are still somewhat sane and married to one another. There has been so much stress in our lives this last year (our AZ home was finished in May, and this TX home hopefully will be done in Dec/Jan), with our moving, finances, stability and dealing with construction men....remind me never to do this again!

I watch those HGTV home decorating shows and get so antsy to get into my own home. They make things look SO DARN EASY, but in reality, it is hard work~~~~!!!! I think the hardest part could easily be dealing with the sub-contractors and the laborers. They over charge you, sometimes don't do quality work, and usually DO NOT do it in the time frame that you gave them. I try to put on a "hard face" when I go to the house to see what they are doing (actual work and not wasting time talking to one another!), but it is hard to be the boss when your two toddlers are running around, getting their feet muddy with grout or crying to be held b/c the "tile saw" scares them with it's loud vibrations.

So, another day passes and Jared and I are still anxiously awaiting the chance to just live in a house for once~ I am able to do some laundry though, just have to go every hour to swap it out there in the garage and leave my kiddos in the car waiting for me to get done.

The last question I will post, what does Adrienne want for Christmas? Obviously, just want to be in my home. But, my second wish would definitely be to have a digital baby grand piano. Is that too ambitious?

A basic update:

At 26 months old, Austin is officially potty trained! hoo-ray! It took 3 months to get the poopies thing down, but he did it and we are proud of him! NO more toddler diapers!

We are hoping to start to lay down tile in our remodel this next week. This gives me the HOPE that maybe we can move in by December 23rd??? Should I still decorate like my heart desires?

Last night I officially started the "pureed hidden veggies in my kids' food" system! I made homemade mac 'n cheese with butternut squash...the kids gobbled it up and didn't notice at all. This morning I made scrambled eggs with cauliflower...again, another hit. Of course I spent all afternoon up to my elbows in steamed veggies and puree all over my counter. But, it gave me a fun kitchen project to work on, and less time to be discouraged about my life! (Deceptively Delicious cookbook).

I will never take advantage of having a washer and drier AGAIN! I can't wait to have my own and not have to haul it everywhere to load, unload, dry, fold and take back home.

My dad and Olga (his wife) are now back in Mexico. They moved after staying with us for 3 months. I will miss them greatly, especially the company during those late nights. I also enjoyed the loving (and free!) babysitting they provided so I could run to Wal mart at 10pm...

I got all of my Christmas shopping done by November 24th! This is a new record for me, I usually get stressed out mid-December...I got most of it at Marshall's of all places. That place really does have name brand stuff at a great price! I took advantage of my last day that my dad was around to babysit so I could bust out the credit card. Boy was that a fun spree!

I am going to start teaching kickboxing at another gym here in town (EP Fitness). I have wanted to go there since I moved here (4 months ago) b/c their facility is so new and big. I guess I am a fitness snob b/c I just am not happy enough with the older YMCA. So, after I buy my own liability insurance, they will allow me to sub once a week to see how I do. Wish me luck.

I WANT TO DECORATE MY HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS!!! I am so so so ready to moooooove!

Blue Man Group

Jared and I have been traveling quite a bit this month of November. We hit up San Francisco earlier this month with my parents (Grandpa Lowe and Tia Olga), where we loved the blue skies and city life....

The highlight for me was to take the Alcatraz Tour of the island where convicts used to live. Did you all know that Native Americans lived on that island for 3 years shortly after it was deserted? They wanted to be able to claim a bit of land from the government...in the end, they had to leave b/c their supplies were so limited (they had to bring water in from the mainland by boat only!

I also didn't know that families, with school aged children lived on that island and there were little communities formed during the 30 year prison. The tour was amazing b/c they gave you your own personal headset for the audio tour and took you around from room to room. We saw the actual cells where prisoners escaped (the three were never found, but perhaps sailed away to South America or drowned), where their cafeteria was, where the rifles were stored on the second floor, and watched the cell doors slam shut. It was very enlightening.

We then spent a week from the other part of the country in Orlando, FL for an annual DirectBuy Conference for all employees. Despite lots of meetings and a TON of travel, it was a lovely convention where we stayed at the Gaylord Hotel. It had a gorgeous attrium inside, real alligators (small ones), beautiful Christmas decor everywhere, and of course gigantic conference rooms for all the 2,500 DirectBuy people.

My favorite part of the Orlando experience was the Blue Man Group show that DirectBuy provided for their "elite" group. (We barely qualified by having an excellent month of October that showed our progress in El Paso).

We were pretty excited to attend. They were amazingly funny. By far the best entertainment I have seen in person. Such random acts, such funny performanes of marshmallows, paints, tubes, tissue paper, music and twinkies. I would totally recommend the show to anyone...hilarious and worth every penny!!!

We are now spending time here in AZ....we are traveling from sea to shining sea (or desert!). The Wilsons have provided a lovely Thanksgiving meal and visit. It is fun to cram 15 people in a house and see what happens!

No news about our remodel yet. I PRAY that we can move in BEFORE Christmas!! If we can't get in to hang up any holiday decor, that will really put a sad spot in my heart. This is the best time of year and I want to participate! I can't even remember what decorations I have anymore...

Did anyone go shopping on Black Friday? I picked up a few items, especially this MoonSand for Wesley. It looks like a great and somewhat clean craft project.

Eat your vegetables now!

This blog is dedicated to us mama's out there of kiddos that refuse to eat "healthy veggies" and find ourselves fighting at the dinner table over it! I found the solution...

Many of you know that I love Oprah (went and saw her last year with Arianne Pearce in person!).She did a show on this new book by Jessica Seinfield (Jerry's wife). She found an idea to secretly put in the veggies into normal toddler foods without the kids knowing about it. It is called, "Deliciously Deceptive."

I picked up my own copy at Barnes 'N Nobles (they were sold out, but I was persistent)...She makes everything very simple in terms of what things you need in your kitchen (wisks, pans, etc) as well as the "how to" puree the veggies in liquid form and hide them in your Mac 'n Cheese...

I love this book! I am excited to use it...of course I need a kitchen that I actually WANT to be in first though...hopefully by Christmas we will be in our house...

Tonight I made Beef Stroganoff (not a recipe from the book, but I added pureed carrots and onions and the first thing both my boys said were, "yummy!"). Miracles do happen.

As an update...Austin goes to the Neurologist later on this year to check out his cyst. His ears look good, lots of dry blood, but he is acting his normal and emotional self. Wesley roars like a lion and he cries like a baby. Good mix of personalities.

We are leaving this weekend for Florida for a business conference for DirectBuy...a few days without the kids is always refreshing, even if it is business related. We will try our best to enjoy a few yummy restaurants and hit up some tourist sites for sure.

PS....I also took my kids Visiting Teaching today. I haven't been teaching with them for like 6 + months and boy could I tell that they are not old enough for it! They were roaming around, fighting with each other, Wesley was his typical "lion" self (which we are still working on making him stop!), Austin was spilling all of the treats all over the floor that I had brought, and both of them were just begging for attention. NOT an ideal visit for me or the ladies in my church!

What's a girl got to do to share a spiritual thought without having to discipline in the middle of my testimony!

"I know that we should always work hard on not procrastinating the important...wait boys! Stop fighting...Wesley, go to time out. Austin, pick up your pretzels....No, you may not get down, and stop hitting!....And that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy...etc"

Next time I will opt to find a babysitter...

If any of you get the book, let me know your thoughts!

$1000 blown away in 4 days

Austin had a nasty fall on Halloween ...turns out that blood has begun to sickle out of his ear as a result....scary! We got him seen by a doctor today, only for him to tell me that I had to go immediately to the Hospital to get him a CT scan for a possible fractured skull. The doctor's visit was $95 dollars for the "sick visit." I was thinking to myself, what kind of co-payment is that??? Hefty bill if you ask me!

I had just come from my YMCA class, so you can imagine how lovely I was looking in my workout clothing and matted hair. I was not anticipating a day FULL of doctor's and hospitals, at least I would've liked to have had on a bit of make up!

I arrived at what is the "block" of hospitals here in Centro El Paso. There are 4-5 different hospitals, doctor offices, ENT's, plastic surgeons, etc all within the same radius of 4 blocks...no exaggeration. So, trying to find where the doctor was, was quite the challenge. Did I mention that the day earlier our transmission went out on our new Tahoe? What the heck? So, instead of being able to use my familiar GPS system (which I rely on so much being new to this state and city), I was an official Mormon Mama in a Minivan and lost as could be.

Eventually I found the spot, of course parking in the wrong lot and having to haul Austin around across parking lots to get to the right location. I arrived at the CT scan place after following the signs, only for them to ask me, "do you have your paperwork?" My what? Oh yes, you have to register as an outpatient before doing any of this. This is obviously all very new to me.

Not only did we get to register, but that included waiting for about an hour in the waiting room amidst a billion other patients...and this was all on an empty stomach for Austin since they told me they would be sedating him...he was begging for food and water this entire time (pobrecito, it was already 1pm and you can imagine how he was feeling!).

To make a long story short, we eventually got him back to the CT scan room on an empty belly, where they DID not sedate him, but just wrapped him up in what looked like a little coffin and straight jacket to keep him still. I held down his face as he bawled through all of this and begged to get out. We sang songs (more like I sang them to him as tears streamed), and what seemed like an eternity passed before he was able to get down. This cost me $700 out of pocket.

The next day we went to the ENT to determine that his fall had NOTHING to do with his blood coming out of his ear!!!! I could've saved myself that $700 bill (although we did find a cist in the x-ray, more to come about that later as find out). The doctor was too quick with all she was doing, didn't explain anything about his infections and seemd anxious to just go to lunch. Slow down sister! She took out his bloody tube out of his right ear, keeping the left ear tube. I can only imagine that he will be getting tubes put back in before long since the blood came from an infection. This trip cost me $150 out of pocket.

Later on that day I was able to spend ONE HOUR at Wal-greens picking up his ear drop perscription. Lucky for me, they lost the order and I had to wait the hour there as they re-qualified it all and made it up, unfortunately Jared and the boys were waiting for me in the car. i couldn't have been more frustrated at the lack of service there. The drops cost me $90.

Overall, grateful that Austin is doing better. What's a $1000 when it is someone that you love?

Octopus Arms

There is one main thing I am SO ANXIOUS to have again in my new/remodeled home...A GARAGE! One can't appreciate it until it is snatched away from you...take today for example.

In order to get to my apartment, we have to park in a parking area a good 150 feet away, hop over a wall to make it only 50 feet away, and then climb the second story to get to my house.

This is not easy for grocery carrying, nor days like today when I needed 8 arms instead of 2.

Austin was crying and took off his shoes, did I mention he also peed all over himself in the process? So, carrying him would've been ideal, but I had no extra arms. I was already carrying: 6 small pumpkins from a craft project that went bad, including the pots that they had fallen out of, Wesley's preschool backpack, two jackets, a binder with pens, Austin's leftover shoe and sock, my purse, and let's see....oh yes, Austin was screaming for my hand to hold...

Wesley usually helps me, but this time he had put his "nasty" gum into his fingers and was trying to figure out how to get it off....he was concerned only about how to get clean...

Needless to say, garages are the best for mama's to load up toddlers, sippies, bags and other essential items ONE THING AT A TIME...and not all at once like I am having to do these days...

Halloween Madness

I drove to AZ from TX this week for my best friend Arianne Pearce's birthday (which happens to be ON Halloween)...leaving Sunday, with plans to leave again today (Thursday). It has been a delightful visit...her life is non stop with preschool carpooling, dinners to fix, an ulcer to attend to (while being pregnant), pumpkins and costumes to create and the list goes on. Of course we made her favorite homemade pancakes and syrup for her b-day breakfast (she is known as the Pancake Queen to all who know her....willingly will prepare a huge batch made from scratch at any moment...including 1 or 2 in the morning). I enjoyed a lovely visit with my other good friends as well, and it felt as though I had never even left this state~ Good friends are hard to find, especially ones that are this unique. Why can't they all move to El Paso?

The Halloween night was evolving just fine, we had finished dinner and were about to head out the door with our costumes prepared (Austin being a Harley Davidson Street Biker and Wesley being a MotorCross Dirt Biker) and bags in hand when disaster struck....we heard a crash, a scream and our poor Austin face down on the kitchen tile floor. Evidently his high chair tray table came off on accident and so did poor Austin. We rushed over to pick him up, only to find a HUGE GOLF SIZE BUMP had formed in 1.2 seconds on his little forehead. He was screaming in pain and I was scared stiff with this huge formation!

Luckily Dr. Bret (Arianne's medical student hubby) was right there I trust Austin into his hands asking him what was going on...I was very nervous that he might be having internal bleeding, it might affect his brain, that he was going to have some serious issues. I was already thinking about my insurance back in TX, where to go for the ER, how we would get this figured out, etc. Bret said that it was a "hematoma," where the blood vessel expands HUGE until the swelling finally stops in the body. If he started to vomit, seemed disoriented or couldnt' talk, then we needed to start to worry. Other than that, it was just going to turn into a huge black eye/forehead and we would need to of course give him lots of TLC.

I was bawling, Austin was bawling and so was tia Mon Mon (who came to visit). After getting over the initial shock of it all, I realized that Austin was also upset b/c everyone was leaving to go trick or treating. I just assumed that he wanted to stay back and cuddle with me (that is what I wanted to do!) Nope, he wanted to be part of the group too! Off we went, at a slow pace, with me being very cautious of his behavior and actions.

A scary experience for mama Adrienne! I hope that Austin has a fast recovery. I am also including some pics of Austin's potty training days, his 2nd b-day, UTEP game...and I updated my SLIDE show...