Ucks

That's what Avery calls them....

We went to Ellis Lake today and walked around for a little bit to get out of the house. Billy has weekend duty (BOO!) and needed to sleep all day. I needed to get laundry done and the kitchen cleaned. We went to Walmart to get a few groceries this morning...On the way home, since it was so close to lunch, I picked up a little pizza for me and Avery to share from the Subway in our Walmart. I got a Dr. Pepper and of course Avery wanted some, so I offered it to her, knowing she can't figure out the straw thing. She just licks the straw and then gives up. Or that's what she used to do anyway...

She definitely figured it out today. She got a mouthful and was so startled, all the Dr. Pepper came right back out. Then she wanted more, so I gave her a little and her eyes got all watery and the carbonation kinda took her breathe away. It was so funny. Then I realized I would have to get rid of the soda, so I took another sip, threw it out and told her "all gone". She bought it today, but at some point she will realize it's not all gone. How do they get so grown so fast? I swear she was just born last week!

Fast forward 4 hours after nap time and 4 loads of laundry and there we were, me and Avery, at Ellis Lake in Yuba City. As soon as we pulled up, I realized I should have brought bread. There were ducks and geese EVERYWHERE. I got Avery out of the car and the stroller out of the back and let Avery go out on her own for a little bit and the geese and ducks surrounded us and I was getting nervous becasue they were getting a little too close and aggressive, so I turned back to get the stroller, but couldn't. The geese started howling and hissing....I was pretty scared. Stupid goose. How could I be scared of a goose? Then a man with 2 kids pulled up in a Jetta with 3 loaves of bread and saved us.

We wandered around for a while. There was a pretty white pavilion and a little stone bridge. It was a nice little park. It had a trail all the way around.

Other than the "attack of the hungry, stupid goose" adventure, things here have been pretty normal. Avery has been preetty sick with one thing or another for the past few weeks. She missed school on Thursday with a fever. Her ear is infected. Weird, I know since she has tubes. Well, Avery has supersonic, resistent infection in her ear...She came down with the strep a few weeks ago and was on antibiotics for 10 days and the day after finishing her meds, she got this whopping ear thing going on. Her ears are draining, but apparently not well enough. I have called her ENT doc and asked them to request more visits from our insurance so I can have him look at it. WOW, that was pretty boring. Shoule I talk about my ovaries next? I'll save that for another, edge of your seat blog entry. Loves to all.

Exposure

In the past 10 days, Avery has been exposed to the following diseases:

Chicken Pox

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Strep

and the last one is pretty unbelievable.....

SCABIES.


So we gave her a really good scrub down tonight in the bath. (Those are earplugs in her ears). If it was humane and legal, I might have tried to wash her with rubbing alcohol.

Luckily, she got Strep and not anything else.

One more reason I just want to go back to Florida.

No weirdo diseases.

Beautiful Tahoe

So we went to Tahoe on a whim this past weekend. It is absolutely beautiful there. It was mostly a windshield tour. We were not very prepared for getting out in the snow...We tried to get Avery to at least touch it when we stopped for lunch, but she wasn't very interested, given the fact that there were men everywhere.

It's a Long One....

Billy left on the 19th for Dallas, for the last game in Texas Stadium. The Boys lost to the Ravens, but Billy had a great time with Larry. He didn't have a single picture...he left his backpack, with the camera. Oh well...It will live forever in his memory, I suppose. There was a big post game show and everything. The end of an era...now onto next year in the new stadium. Did I mention we officially "own" seats in the new stadium. We won't even discuss that one...It's a whole seperate post. Let's just hope Avery gets a scholarship to college.

Avery and I left on the 21st for Colorado. Once again, she was a champ on the plane. I was not. I thoughtI had motion sickness or something. By the time we arrived in Denver, I thought I was going to die...and we still had a 90 minute car ride. I spent all nigth and most of the morning hung over a toilet. No more Panda Express for me again. EVER.

Billy arrived on the 22nd from Dallas. Avery was so happy to see her Daddy. She was so happy to see all the men in Colorado at Uncle Alex's house after spending 3 days alone with Momma.

The week was filled with all kinds of fun stuff...we made sugar cookies for Santa. Avery helped a little...she mostly played in the flour and ate raw dough, but we did manage to make a butterfly cookie.

We went to Mr. Biggs. An indoor go-cart, laser-tag, arcade kind of place. It was super fun being a kid for a day. Laser-tag rocked. I only got to play once the first day, but managed to play 3 or 4 times the second day (it was so fun, we went back)

We managed to make it to Wal-Mart at least everyday we were there, except Christmas. Sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. God Love Wal-Mart, but when I die, I hope there is a Target in heaven.

Christmas was pretty unbelievable. TONS of presents for the kids. Us adults did a Yankee gift exchange. It was pretty funny. Especially when Alex opened the first gift and got Bare Essentials Make-up!! Christmas dinner was an adventure...when the stand for the turkey fryer was accidentally left behind in New Mexico, Uncle BK rigged up a red neck turkey fryer in the grill. Did I mention the grill is hooked into a natural gas line...looking back, it was probably not the wisest thing we could have done. We truly could have blown up half the neighborhood! But let nothing stand between a man and a deep fried turkey!!

Coming home was a relief. We had such a great time, but all the traveling has taken it's toll. Avery was not sleeping well, at all. She is not too keen on a pack-n-play for more than 2 or 3 nights.

Did I mention the best part of the trip was beating all the men in a mean (and unbelievably LONG) round of poker? I won $50.00. Billy did his best Phil Helmuth impersonation, but in the end, he was pretty proud of me, I think.

So here we are, all Christmas hung-over. I still have so much to do. I didn't get the Christmas newsletter out this year. So I have decided to do a 2008 recap and send it soon after the new year begins. Did I mention I am back on dayshift now? Maybe I can find time to clean bathrooms and mop the kitchen floor now...perhaps do an entire load of wash from beginning to end, including putting it away. Not that cleaning is necessarily a measure of a person's life, but geez. It's bad. And not in a good way like Michael Jackson sings.

The Reasons

I could go on and on about how much I love my family

Though we may not be all together in this life, I know he is with us, that he comforts me and hears my whispers. I know that he watches out for his Princess. I feel in my heart that she knows him and remembers him.

In this season of remembering our blessings and the sacrifices that Christ made for each of us, so that we could all can live together forever in eternity, I am the most thankful for my family. I know it is forever and not tied to the physical bounds of this earth. And for that I am so thankful.

Christmas Wonderland

We put the trees up....Eventually we will get all the rest of the decorations put up and the lights hung up outside, too. And I hope to get the Christmas Newsletter done and out this weekend as well...Oh and we are going to the UC Davis Cancer Center to give gifts to the kids.

I think we are a wee bit busy.

MIA

MISSING:
One Right Shoe

Size: 4

Color: White and Pink

Last Seen: Linda CA WalMart

The victim is a size 4, Nike Tennis Shoe, Pink and White, slightly worn. It has not been seen in 23 days. It was last seen int he Linda WalMart at @1800. Her family, the Left Shoe, is useless without her.

The sock monster has a cousin that lives at WalMart.

And it only likes the expensive shoes....

It almost claimed another victim yesterday...