Christmas in Abliene and the pigs...of coarse

This picture is out of order, but I took it last night after Addyson had changed ALL of her babies(her 5 good ones) into their new clothing! 2 have new "bitty baby" clothing while the other 3 are sporting the "Walmart Preemie clothing line" She had a ball changing them all! Their names are:
Jason, Jennifer, Addyson holding Mollie, Jenny, and Lalie.

2 weeks ago one of the older kids in 4 H held a "Showmanship Clinic" to teach the kids what to do and how to show their pigs. I learned a TON!
Here is G using our pigs as examples.
Tyler working with "Bullseye" our Spot.

Kamron working with "Stripes" our Black Cross...see Rhonda, I think I have finally learned their breed!

Addyson with Bullseye

The kids had their Christmas program at church 2 Wednesday's ago. Here is Addyson with her BFF Jessie and little brother Kenny. He is a DOLL!

Addyson and Jessie

Kamron during dress rehearsal, at home! LOL

Addyson holding Jessie's baby sister, Casey!

One more of the 3 Musketeers!

During the play the kids sang "I'm Getting Nothing for Christmas" and this is Addyson's look during the Mommy and Daddy are MAD part!! I love her facial expressions!!! (See Kamron's big hair in the back!)

The show was our Music Director's remake of "America's Got Talent". Kamron was last year's winner! Tyler was the announcer and Addyson was in the choir! This was the boys last year in the Children's choir. Next year they will be a part of the gasp...YOUTH Department! (Tyler is not enjoying the hug as much as Addyson is!)
Addyson and her teacher! We LOVE Mrs. Lackey.
Saturday afternoon we arrived in Abilene at the Elegante. This is the only hotel our kids have ever stayed at (since we camp all the time). It is an AWESOME hotel and the kids were in the indoor pool within 20 minutes of arrival! LOL
Uncle John, Kay's brother, came all the way from Florida to visit. The kids loved having John around.
The hotel has "Happy Hour" and while the kids were drinking Shirley Temples, I had a Margarita. Addyson LOVED licking the salt off. YIKES!
Addyson and Mamaw. Addyson was born on Mary's 88th birthday! (This is Todd's grandmother)
While waiting patiently...cough, cough, to open presents....the kids made a train out of the extra chairs in the hotel restaurant!
Cousin Nicholas and Addyson were listening to Nana read the Christmas story in Luke 2. She was even quizzing them. See their hands raised to answer the questions.
Presents finally!!! Addyson got some really cute clothing and her American Girl baby clothing!
Uncle Cory, how do you describe him....he always give the boys the most fun presents, like the cars fueled by coke or other items found in the kitchen, or the bug maker, etc. This year Cory wrote on a box to each of the boys and then used a WHOLE roll, maybe not a WHOLE roll but close, of PACKING tape over the BOX! IT took them over 20 minutes to unwrap the box! Sorry Nicholas, we are already thinking about what we can do to your present next year! LOL

That is the tape we got off the boxes!!!!!!!!!
Nana made everyone stocking with lots of fun items in them. The boys got small Lego's, playing cards, etc BUT we ALL got Silly string! We had a Silly String fight in the hotel room with 12 cans of silly string. I am just glad that Nana started it!
The floor in the aftermath! We tried to pick up as much as we could, and even tried to locate a vacuum cleaner. We were unsuccessful though!
On our way out of town we went to Mamaw's retirement center and visited for a while. The kids did GREAT and played chess while we waited.
Nana and Grandear with all their grandbabies! Look how sweet baby Gabby is! (Wish you could of seen what Todd was doing to make her smile! LOL
The whole family!!! From the top: Cory, Todd, Tina, Kyra, Kay, Dan, KAmron, Addyson, Mamaw holding Gabby, Nicholas and Tyler
Addyson and Mamaw again. Addyson loves hugging on her!
Addyson holding Gabby...I didn't have my camera, but had my phone! Addyson loved it!
Merry Christmas to you all!!

He did it!

Today is better. Thanks for listening to me whine! Today was the academic UIL meet held for our district. There was 5 schools that competed in various events and the meet was held at our school. Although it was a good amount of work for our staff, it turned out to be a great day! Since Kamron got sick last week, he has been very upset that he would not be able to participate in his "Oral Reading" event. We have had lots of tears at our house over him not being able to participate. Today I got to school and our principal asked if I would allow him to come up and read his poem and then return home when finished. It made his day! He had that sparkle back in his smile when I told him! Todd's mom came to Muleshoe to take care of him these next few days so she brought him up in time for his event. He made the finals and ended up placing 3rd out of 20! He did super! He was SUPER tired when he got home and went to bed quite early, but all the hard work paid off. Tyler was in Spelling and Listening Skills. He didn't place in Spelling but his Listening TEAM got 1st place! He didn't place individually but helped the team to 1st place! VERY proud of both boys. They did super today!

May I have some Cheese with my WHINE!!

I have a feeling this is going to be a very WHINEY post. Please feel free to "X" out now if you are looking for something uplifting!

Because I do not Scrapbook, I often use this blog to record important things that happen in our life. This week has been very interesting and although I do not think I will forget it, I feel like I need to blog about it anyway. (I do have Thanksgiving pictures to post as well).

Kamron has MONO. He is one sick little boy. It started on Thanksgiving day, 2 weeks ago. He mentioned to me that he had some swollen bumps on his neck. We were in Mansfield at my sisters and he was in NO discomfort at all so we waited to take him to the Dr until the Monday when we returned. HE still felt fine at the Dr. office and was diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on major antibiodics. Things started going down hill from there. He never got better and started feeling ALOT worse. On Friday afternoon he came to my office complaining of his throat hurting. I could not believe what I saw. The ENTIRE back part of his throat and tonsils was COVERED in white pus. His tonsils were so swollen he was having difficulty breathing. We returned to the Peditrician on Saturday and she sent us to the hospital for labs. At the time she was 99% sure he had MONO. (Labs have since come back VERY positive, The EBV that is supposed to be 0-100, his is 1300!) HE is home all week and possibly next week. HE is extremely depressed about this and is missing UIL tomorrow. HE worked extremely hard on his oral reading poem and will not be able to perform.

Back to my whining....so Todd left on Sunday for Austin. Tyler started throwing up on Sunday night and Addyson complained all night about her stomach hurting. I stayed home with both of the boys yesterday and Tyler started feeling better so he went to school today. He came home today not feeling well and threw up AGAIN! We have 4 PIGS that I love, but the weather has not been to nice to us lately. With Todd gone I have had to go out to the pigs 2x a day and break ice and give them fresh water because theirs is frozen. I stayed home with Kamron today and Todd's mom is coming tomorrow for the next few days. It will be nice to have Nana here!!!

Enough WHINING: Here are a few pictures!!!

Here is Addyson in her new CHRISTmas dress I made.
Not too big to "pose" for mom!

Mr T playing one of the $0.99 games I found at Gamestop!! WooHoo!

Doesn't he look pitiful? He truely feels AWEFUL! He has been so upset about missing UIL, I wish there was someway he could perform, but just look at him...no way!

This was yesterday... doesn't he look jaundiced?? I did talk to the Pedi today and Mono affects the liver, so that is why. She said it will take 2-3 weeks for him to start feeling better and up to 6 weeks for him to be over it. Merry Christmas!! (Please PRAY no one else gets it!!)

Thanksgiving pictures: Here is my nephew-dog, Charlie. He LOVED the kids! The kids loved him too. I am sure he slept for days when he got home!

Charlie was determined to get up there with them!

The kids do a talent show every time they get together: Tyler was the "sound man"

Kamron reading his "Oral Reading" poem. He really did work hard! (His teacher even said she was pretty sure he would of placed.) He has a great poem for next year!

Charlie helping Tamora look at the circulars!