Ok, so here they are.......

Ah, Crazy Day

Black Friday. Yes, we joined all the crazy people shopping today! BUT.....Jake's Christmas is almost all the way done! Actually, we got everything we set out to get.

Yesterday, we joined Amy's parents for Thanksgiving dinner, it was WONDERFUL! The BEST Chicken and Dumplings EVER!! We also got some great pictures, which is the whole point of this blog. These are Great! I guess I'm sort of giving away the Christmas card themes, but oh well.....ENJOY!



Ok, I've realized all the good pictures are on my computer which Tom is working on now, so check back tomorrow! I'm too tired to mess with it tonight!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

Well, it's beginning to look like Christmas in our house. Jake has been dying to put up the tree for the last month! I've been telling him, "As soon as Grandpa gets here." Well, he got here....and the first thing Jake said was "I put up the Christmas tree now mom?!" So, we rearranged the living room and got the tree set up. I also got a small, pink Christmas tree that is so cute!

I took dad to the dermatologist yesterday, he had to have 3 spots removed. They rushed the results so they could get them while he is still here. They called this morning with them and he had to go back to the doctor. One of them was a "basil melanoma" (don't think I'm spelling that right, but oh well) and one was pre-cancerous and one cancerous. So they scraped and froze the cancerous spot again and burned the pre-cancerous one. Ouch. They also said he had precancerous cells all over his lips, so when he gets home he has to start treating that. He'll apply a cream twice a day that will pretty much remove the top several layers of skin. That's going to be the most painful. But hopefully they caught it in time. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

On a more positive note, Jake and I will be spending an additional 10-12 days at Grandpa's for Christmas! Tom is going to drive the car back by himself. He swears he prefers that. I feel bad, but everyone says it's better, and we get to spend more time with dad.

So enough blabbin'....here's some pics.






Never too big for daddy's lap! :)



And the stockings were hung......


I hate this picture of me, but it's good of the boys....


I Love these guys!!

I know, I'm really proud of these pictures!

Ok, so I'll publically thank Robyn for these pictures! I LOVE THEM! They are just the sweetest thing ever! Plus I'll add a few more from my house. These two are just too cute.








But anyway, I got registered for classes yesterday, I'm taking 18 hrs in the Spring. It'll be tough, but I can handle it. I'm SOOOO ready to be done! One more year, YEA!

Conrad's tumor was BENIGN! Thank goodness. But, he's still getting old, he'll be 9 in the Spring. :(

OH YEAH! Funny story....well kind of. The other night, Jake was coloring. Tom gave him markers, said go color on the coffee table. Ok, fine. I was busy on the computer not paying too much attention, and Tom was in his office. A few minutes later I looked up and Jake was on his knees, leaning up against the couch with his back to me. When I saw this a light went off that reminded me Tom just told him to go color! So I said, "Jake! What are you doing?!" He turned around with a piece of paper and said, "I'm drawing a Death Star Momma." (I'm guessing that's something from Star Wars, or something Tom's told him.) Well, you know the rest of the story. A 3 year old boy isn't exactly the best at staying in the lines, and mine even has a hard time staying on the paper! So as you can guess, there were blue marker spots on my tan colored furniture. **Sigh** He started crying when I got on to him, therefore rubbing his eyes. Here's some pictures.....







So anyways, that's about it. Not much information this time, sorry. I really just wanted to share the pictures! :)

Halloween Pictures

So, apparantly we survived the weekend. Friday afternoon/night was very busy, but Jake had tons of fun. When we first left the house, we went down to the office so Jake could trick-or-treat down there. He got to see Grannie and Paw Paw, and run around like a crazy man for about 15 minutes! He and Paw Paw had a cute game of chase! After there, we went to the Hughes Center for about 45 minutes. He played some games, got to see the police cars and firetrucks, and rolled in the hay. When we were done there, Macy joined the group, and we headed off to Cove Landing.

Waiting for us there.......was a trailer full of hay. We met up with some of Tom's friends, their kids, and their kids' friends! There were so many people. It made it pretty crowded most of the night, but overall it was fun. Jake and Macy got a ton of candy, saw some ghosts, mummies, and werewolves, and got to go on a hayride. They had so much fun. We got home around 9:15 and they were pooped!

So Saturday was a day full of "I want that piece, I want this piece!" I don't think I've ever actually LET him have that much candy in one day, but hey, it's the day after Halloween! Also, Saturday night we all went to a haunted house at Tech. It was a really good set-up, pretty scary, and Jake didn't cry once! (Although a couple of times he hid his face and closed his eyes) Actually, when we walked out of the building, he said, "Lets do that again!" but of course we couldn't.

So, enough of that, here's some pictures!

Here's one before we left.


At the office


Inside the ambulance


This was the "find the tiny pumpkin in the massive mounds of hay" game, it was a lot harder than it looked! But he finally found one.


Jake and Macy ready to Trick-or-Treat!



Jake wouldn't sit still long enough to take a picture with me.......but Macy did!


This was the coolest house. They also had werewolves hiding in the bushes when you walked up!

TGI almost F

Man, this has been a crazy week. I can't wait until tomorrow at noon. Classes will be done, the week will be over, and it's time to start having Halloween fun! I have one more test to take in the morning. I took one today, finished up a paper Monday night, wrote reports, worked a little Monday and Tuesday, picked up a trailer of hay today, did the trunk or treat yesterday, and we're having a hay ride tomorrow! Whew............Oh yeah, and Tech's having a haunted house that I want to take Jake to sometime before it closes. Saturday night's the last night, which is when we'll probably have to go. I have to study tonight, and we'll be out trick-or-treating tomorrow. Sunday is lookin' REALLY good right now....NOTHING IS PLANNED!!

So, I feel like I can officially say, "Tom has quit smoking" !! Yeah! Saturday will be two weeks. Now we have to think about when we can get started on the dippin', quitting it that is. Baby steps....baby steps.....

I have come to the conclusion that Conrad (my cat) knows how to open the doggy door, even if it's locked. I've been trying to keep him inside with that bandage on his foot, but he's determined. At first I thought I was going crazy! Because I made sure I knew he was inside when I left. (Which he was, he was laying under the table on top of the vent) Then I came home and could not find him! So I checked the dog door and it was unlocked. So, I thought, "dang, guess I forgot to make sure that was locked." So at that moment, I locked it. When we left last night for the halloween thing, I came home and couldn't find him again! This time, the first thing I checked was the dog door, and it was unlocked! Hmmmmmm. The only thing I can fathom is that Conrad has learned how to move the switch from one side to the other, locking and unlocking it. I guess now we're going to have to get a little more creative! Anyways, I'll be calling the vet tomorrow to see if they got the results back from the path lab, keep your fingers crossed for me. And also for Jake, I would feel really bad for him if he lost TWO pets in a month. He's been saying the last few days, "My kitty's sick momma." And he's been loving on him a lot more than before. I don't want to have to give him any bad news. Not right now anyways.

So, enough of that, here are some pictures from last night. Jake was a Storm Trooper. He's going to be Batman tomorrow.

Jacob and Macy



The Moore's, the Jones', and Jake

Macy, Mason,and Jake. They're all in the same class at school.


And of course there were games.....

Poor Kitty

Well, I'm kinda sad. Sunday our neighbor Mr Kellner noticied a bump on Conrad's (our 8 year old kitty) back leg. We both thought it was an abscess, so it would be ok until we could get him to the vet on Monday. Well, he was ok. We took him in Monday afternoon. Dr Stump said he wasn't too sure what it was but that it needed to come off. It was definately not an abscess, there was no fluid in it. They had to keep him overnight. And let me tell you, they HATE Conrad down there! My cat is NOT my cat when he's there. He is SOOOOO mean! It's pretty humorous actually. But one girl said that everytime she walks by the cage he wants to eat her! For those of you who know my cat, I know you are wondering how could this be?? That's not Conrad!! And I know, that's why it's so funny. He has NEVER bitten anyone and Jake crawls ALL OVER HIM! He never moves. He's fat and lazy. But the way he act at the vet is just.....well, I can't even really explain it! Anyways, I picked him up today and talked to Dr Oates. (Dr Stump was gone) He said when they took it off, physically, it looked good. It was a tumor, but it was growing outwards, which is not typical of malignant cancer. Usually malignant cancer grows more inward through the tissue. But, when they looked at the cells under the slide, that it DIDN'T look good. In Dr Oates words, he said, "Those cells looked really angry". But we won't know anything for sure until we get the test results back. (They sent the mass off to pathology). So lets hope for the best, I love my kitty! I've had him since he was 6 weeks old.

And on a more positive note, I actually held and petted Conrad today and tonight without scratching my eyes out of my head! I was sneezing though and my nose was running a bit, but at least I could SEE! So, that's an improvement, guess those allergy shots are starting to pay off!

Conrad's foot is wrapped up in a cast, he can't walk. And he's very voiceful about it. I foresee a couple of long nights the next few days! So, here's a couple of pictures I took tonight, he's so sweet. How could anyone say he's mean?!