We have a winner!

Well we just went through the annual tradition of dressing up the kids in their Christmas outfits, pleading with them to behave and not kill each other, and taking a thousand pics in hopes of one that is presentable for our Christmas card, and I do believe we have a winner.

Of course the fighting that went on before and after the picture are another story altogether, but we'll just go with this one - they are pretty darn cute huh?

Aaargh

Every day since the beginning of school we have the same meltdown. Justin screams 'I wanna ride in daddy's car' and I wrestle him into the car while he fights, kicks, and slaps me. Daddy drives Lindsey to school because itt's on his way to work. Justin's school is in the opposite direction so I drive him. We tried switching cars - that doesn't help either - he just wants daddy, and daddy doesn't have time to go that far out of his way. You would think after 4 months of school he would get that no amount of tantrum is going to change the plan, but nope.
Anyway, once I get him in the car and start driving he screams. And he doesn't stop till we get there. He also pulls off his socks and shoes and throws them. Sometimes they hit me, sometimes they land way in the back. So I would get to school and then have to search the van for his socks and shoes in the carpool line. So I quit attempting to put shoes on him at home. Now I take his socks and shoes and put them in the floorboard out of his reach and he rides barefoot to school and we put shoes on when we get there. He's fine once we're there. One morning a few weeks ago I got to the carpool line and not only was he barefoot but Houdini had also removed his shirt - while in a 5 point harness.
So anyway yesterday was like the rest, meltdown, kicking, hitting, etc but now I also have bronchitis and I'm so not feeling up to dealing with this, but I wrestle him into the car and we ride to school. We get there and I turn around and look for the shoes and I don't see them. "Justin, where are your shoes?" - "at home". Ok, totally my fault for failing to get them, but that little turkey knew his shoes weren't in the car, and he let me drive all the way there. So, 15 minute drive home and he cries while I get his shoes, because he wants out of his carseat and wants to come in and then we drive back to school - again. Little turkey.

Now that I've had my daily panic attack...

So I was talking to my dad about Thanksgiving and stuff and while we were talking I could hear Zoey picking at the rug in my bedroom, so after we hung up, I went to investigate. This is what I found. I know some people think they are cute, but I have a standing rule of 'no rodents, no reptiles' in my house, and this was a flippin' reptile loose in my bedroom so I am beyond freaked out. I called hubby and he laughed while I ranted about the reptile. After Zoey finally moved it to the hardwood floor, I swept it out the front door, but not before she bit off it's tail and left it on the rug for a present. Still, for a 12 year old cat who has lived indoors all her life, she's apparently a decent hunter, so I'm proud of her for that at least.

Countdown to Turkey Time - 11 days

Well, since we have the new house, we volunteered to host Thanksgiving this year. What was I thinking? I can't even handle a raw chicken breast without feeling nauseated and now I have to pull the innards out of a turkey? Ewwwwwww. I'm playing the FX "I have sensory issues" card and making hubby deal with that part. Ewwww, ewwww, ick.
So, anyway I'm currently glued to the Food network watching everything possible about how to cook a turkey and make gravy, which I also don't know how to do. I'm planning to brine the turkey - sounds good anyway. Good grief, I just hope I don't start a fire or give the whole family food poisoning.

Sigh, I really should be cleaning or even unpacking, but I'm just so unmotivated. Blah.

pictures

It's been a while and I need to update the pictures so here are afew recent ones. This one is one of my favorites, because it captures my kids so well. The pink shiny boots don't match and she doesn't care - they are pink and shiny and she loves them and would wear them with everything if mom let her do it. And Justin who has a 50/50 chance every time to get his shoes on the right foot and but seems to always get them wrong and walks quite happily with his shoes on the wrong feet, which makes mom a little crazy...

They had fun. My parents came over to pass out candy while we took the kids around the neighborhood. We had over 350 kids - it was crazy and fun.

AWOL

Oops, sorry it's been a while hasn't it? Well since my last post we've sold our house and moved into the new one, and it's been keeping me a bit busy. We still really need rugs and art for the walls and I still have a LOT of boxes to deal with. And I volunteered to host Thanksgiving this year, and I've never cooked a turkey before, so I'm nervous. There will be somewhere between 13 and 17 people here, so it should be a fun day. :)

Justin is acutally sleeping better now. I guess giving up the nap worked, but he's a really cranky little bear in the afternoons. I finally got our ped to prescribe the med changes suggested by Dr H on our trip to the MIND Institute. The pharmacy had to order them, so I'll go pick them up today and we'll see how that goes.

I'm feeling desperately disorganized and scattered and pulled in too many directions right now with preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, stuff happening at school, trying to unpack, and of course deal with the constant mood swings of my 4 yr old Jekyll/Hyde boy. I find that getting time for me - to exercise, read my Bible, or just have a minute to myself - is just not happening. Of course, I've always been really good at putting me last on the list anyway. I've had some spa gift certificates for over a year now - I just can't seem to fit in a mani/pedi - how wrong is that?

So anyway, I really need to work on my time management and do things a bit better. Otherwise, life is pretty good right now. I'll try to make some time to post more often. :)

Home Sweet Home

We had a great trip, but it's always good to get home. 8 days in a hotel room with the kids - it's kinda tight quarters and we only had a few small toys so we were all a bit bonkers and ready to get back to normal life - well, as close to 'normal' as life ever gets for us, anyway.

Let's see, we spent 4 days at the MIND Institute. I feel like I answered a million questions at least. We had lots of parent interviews by various people. The kids and I all had IQ testing and medical histories taken among other things. Oh we also had blood draws - yikes. Mine was easy, but Lindsey was so pitiful, and Justin had to be strapped to a board - his was the worst, but he recovered much quicker than Lindsey, who I'm afraid still holds a grudge.

Lindsey also did a research study related to anxiety and Justin had speech and OT evaluations. We got lots of suggestions for med changes and IEP changes from Dr Hagerman, so we'll start working through those soon. I feel like I learned a lot, and really enjoyed meeting everyone there at MIND. We met another family from Birmingham with an adorable little 20 month old boy, who I got to keep an eye on for a while while his parents were in parent interviews. We also met a family from Dallas with 3 boys, who were staying at our same hotel, so we saw them a lot also. Everybody we met was very nice and it was just good to talk to people who totally understand.

Oh, we got pictures of the kids with Louise Gane(genetic counselor) and all of us with Dr Hagerman.

We spent Friday taking a day trip to San Francisco. None of us had ever been there before, but Justin can only take so much in a day, so it was a whirlwind tour. It was a gorgeous, sunny windy, cool day - maybe 65-70 degrees, which was amazing after being in Sac all week with temps over 100. The Bay Bridge was closed so we drove south and crossed over the San Mateo Bridge. We went to Hyde and Lombard and saw a cable car and walked down the steps a bit there(this is that really famous curvy road in SF) took lots of pics and then drove down it - twice.

We went to the Fisherman's Wharf area and walked around Ghirardelli Square, had lunch there at Lori's diner outside overlooking the bay.

We walked down along the street a bit and down to the little beach area right there. Then we came back and had hot fudge sundae's from Ghirardelli's. Justin got a toy cable car and I got a cable car Christmas ornament. We left and drove through Chinatown, and then across the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped on the far side at a scenic overlook and took lots more pics and then walked partway back across the bridge. It was very windy up there, but the kids loved it.

Then we drove back to Sac and collapsed for the night. If we had it to do over again, we would have left our hotel in Sac and stayed closer to SF for Fri and Sat nights as the weather was so much better and there was lots to see and do there. As it was, we went Saturday to Old Sac - they were having Gold Rush Days, and it was really great - felt like we were back in an old Western movie, but miserably hot, so we all were done after only a few hours there. We did take the train ride. Justin got a cowboy hat, Lindsey got a t-shirt, they both loved the pony rides.

Justin wasn't too crazy about the cannon they kept firing. Oh and after we left, we drove to Rancho Cordova just to see a different part of town and we went to an In'N'Out Burger - don't have those back home - it was yummy!

The flights were the hardest part. Bhm to Dallas (90 min) Dallas to Sac (3 1/2 hrs), and then Sac to Houston(almost 4 hrs) and Houston to Bhm(90 min). Justin insisted on squealing, fussing, and kicking the seat in front of him and on our 2 longest flights the person in front of him was not understanding at all. The dvd player held his attention for maybe 5 minutes, so the flights were beyond draining. J and I did get bulkhead seats for our first short flight, but that was the only one.