It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas....

The tree is up! Kristin requested a real tree this year, so yesterday afternoon we went down to Lowe's and got one. As I was putting on the lights, sneezing and wheezing, I quickly remembered why we haven't gotten a real tree in years. Oh well, after taking a ton of antihistamine, I think my body has adjusted.



Kristin is sick. Other than having the chicken pox last month, this is the first time she's been sick this fall. That's pretty good, considering this time last year she'd already had strep throat several times. So, I guess having her tonsils taken out has helped. Right now she has fever, nasty cough and slight sore throat. I'm guessing it's bronchitis, which is a yearly event for her. Part of having asthma, I guess. I always get it too at some point during the winter. Anyway, she's going to the doctor tomorrow so we'll see what they have to say.

Here is a picture I took a couple of nights ago. Kristin and Chris fell asleep while watching tv and I thought it was cute how they both have their arms over their heads (both were snoring as well).

Fun City!

We survived Kristin's party at Fun City. Everyone had a good time. I was a little stressed because everytime we needed something, I had to hunt down our hostess (I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted either) and I was starting to feel not so great. But the party went on with pizza, games, and cake. Woo-hoo!











When we got home Kristin was still wound up, as you can see....



I, on the other had, was running a temp and feeling worse. We stayed home today and didn't go to the Thanksgiving dinner at church tonight and I know we missed out on some good food! It's been rainy and yucky all day, which matched me completely. I did wrap Kristin's box for Operation Christmas Child. We've got it packed and ready to go. I think she's planning on writing a letter (she's sending it to a girl, aged 10-14) and a family picture. I love that she gets so into this...she even used her allowance money to pay for part of it :) Next is to send a care package to a soldier, which was also K's idea.

Here's Kristin and her box which we stuffed with...socks, headbands, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, washcloths, candy canes, pens, pencils, erasers, a notepad, picture album, and a purple tote.


I'm taking more NyQuil and heading to bed!

Happy Birthday, Kristin!

Yesterday Kristin turned seven! SEVEN!!! How in the world??? Of course, she thinks she's 17but that's another story!

We started out the day with a birthday breakfast. Of all the things she likes for breakfast, she picked toast! Oh well, at least it was with our yummy strawberry preserves and apple butter! She had to have candles with her breakfast, I mean, how can you start a birthday without them????





Don't worry, I didn't let he go to school with this bad bed head 'do!

I ended up having to work late that night so Chris went ahead and took her to Wal-Mart to pick out her cake and present. We decided just to let her shop, which I think she enjoyed. After I got home we ate supper at K's favorite place, "The Beans Place," aka Taqueiro El Rancho. Kristin got her usual cheese enchiladas, rice, and yes, beans. And she ate my beans. She loves beans. That explains a lot. Anyway, I'm getting off the subject. We came home after supper, had cake, ice cream and K showed me how her present works. It's some kind of ICarly thing...the dolls basically have conversations with each other. Kinda scary. She also got some Camp Rock body wash and shampoo I ordered for her a couple of months ago and almost forgot about....







Kristin told me her class sang to her, as well as everyone on the bus coming home from school. She also was serenaded at Awana the night before. Then she got numerous phone calls from Grandma and Grandpa, Nene, Dr. Walter's office (our dentist), toys-r-us...so it was a big day.

Tomorrow is the party at Fun City. She is super pumped and ready to go. I, however, am not feeling so pumped and hope to be feeling better in the morning. This weatehr is wrecking havoc on my sinuses. It's 8:30 and Kristin's already asleep, which is not normal, so hopefully it's just a fluke. She had a big day today...field trip to the Walton Arts Center to see "Strega Nona."

Oh, I almost forgot...yesterday I had K's birthday announced durning the birthday segment of the morning show on 101.1, a radio station from JBU. Well, they pick a name to win a gift certificate to Marketplace Grill and Kristin won! Marketplace, here we come!

I'll post pics from the party soon!

Seriously???

Yesterday afternoon the phone rang and I was fully expecting it to be our usual telemarketer afternoon calls, but no...it was for Kristin. One of her friends from school was calling! In first grade??? She was calling to let Kristin know that she was coming to her party Saturday, but it was still funny. Really, what do you talk about in first grade? I asked Krsitin and she said "stuff." I guess I don't understand since when I was in first grade I was not social and was pretty shy. I know, hard to believe now, but yes, I WAS quiet and shy. I have no idea what happened... Anyhow, they talked for about 10 minutes until I told Krsitin it was time to get off the phone. I hope this is not a sign of things to come...





Tonight Kristin got her Sparks vest for Awana. She is SO proud. As soon as we got home I had to iron on her first badge that she got last week. I'm so thankful she's gotten involved in church activities and loves them as much as she does. Again, I think being social has something to do with it as well. Any place she can do some talking is good for her, be it church or the soccer field!




Tomorrow K turns SEVEN! I cannot believe it. We are having a party at Fun City on Saturday. So far most of her friends are sick or going to be gone, but there are a few coming and I know they will have a good time. Saturday will also be three years that Dad passed away...time sure flies....

Last Soccer Game

Last night K's team lost their game, so that was the end of the season for them. They were dissapointed, but they played hard and had fun. Kristin was pretty hesitant throughout most of the game, I think being kicked in the face in the previous game made her a little leery. But she had a good time, especially since Grandma and Grandpa surprised her by showing up at the game! When we were walking to the fields, she said "That guy looks like Grandpa....that IS Grandpa!" So sweet. Kristin informed us last night that she will play in the spring, but only if she can be on Pastor Tad's team (I'm not sure how that works) and dissapointed Dad and Grandpa when she told them she was DONE playing softball (hehehe). I don't blame her though...I'm as ADD is she is and I got bored at the softball games...just way too slow.

Warming up before the game....


After the game we went to eat at Callahan's. As you can see from the pictures, it was getting late and Kristin was getting tired and wild. You can see the crazy look in her eyes...she was all over the place!



Kristin's "food art"....yes, she was playing with her food!







Wednesday night I went to Kristin's parent teacher conference. If you remember, last year was not a good year for K...she did not get along with her teacher and it was just a mess. Well, I was somewhat apprehensive about the conference. Mrs. Taylor went over K's report card...she has an A in math, reading right where she should be and her handwriting is advanced for her age (where did she get that? definitley not from me or Chris!) and that she is doing very well. I just waited...waited for the "she talks all the time and I can't get her to pay attention" but instead I got..."she NEVER talks!!!" WHAT!!! I about fell out of my tree! Are you kidding me??? Actually Mrs. Taylor said she talks, but not excessively and she does get unfocused, but apparently Mrs. Taylor is able to get her back to concentrating on her work, whereas her kindergarten teacher just wanted to be able to give her an assingment and not have to check up on her. Sorry, not going to happen, not with an ADHD child. Anyway, the conference went well and Kristin is doing great. I'm so proud of her.

Also on Wednesday night K got her first badge in Awana. That really made her night. She has changed so much over the past year. And in 6 days, she'll be SEVEN (going on seventeen....). She's just scootin' right along!!!

Tick-or-Treat, Smell My Feet!

Another Halloween has come and gone. Seems like once Halloween is here, the holiday season flys by! We had a great time last night. Earlier in the week when Kristin broke out with the pox, we didn't know if Halloween would happen or not. But thankfully, by yesterday all her spots were gone and her temp was down. She's still been lethargic, but that wasn't going to stop her from getting some candy! Here she is all dressed up and ready to go.



She had neon greeen spray in her hair, but her hair is so dark that you could barely see it. It took months for her to decide what she was going to be this year...she considered Lucy from Narnia, a vampire, Bella Swan, various other characters, but finally decided on a witch ( a good one, of course!). We (I) also carved a pumpkin this year. Usually Kristin just decorates her pumpkins, but this year she insisted we carve one and roast the seeds. So we (I) did. Here's our gremlin pumpkin.





We started trick-or-treating at Shawn's house and her neighborhood. After that we went by Brenda's and went to a few houses on her street. Finally we came back to our house and Kristin was ready to pass out candy. I really think she enjoys that more than getting candy. She LOVES sitting outside handing out candy. What can I say, she's very social.



After about 30 minutes of passing out candy, she decided to walk around our block, so off we went. We got home, she passed out candy a little while longer, then she was done. We didn't make it to Fall Fest, but the illusionist will be doing a presentation at church this morning, so we are all excited about that. We had a great night and got lots of good candy :)