Love This!!

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there,
Ours boasts it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere.

For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges are on the doors.
I should apologize, I guess,
For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with my children
And we played and laughed and read.
And if the doorbell doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to choose
The one job or the other,
I'd like to cook and clean and scrub,
But first I'll be a mother.

Good Bye 00's!!

So...I had an entire post written about why I am ready to see 00's leave. Then I decided it is time to focus on the future and what we are thankful for from the 00's.

Thankful for:

• Our Family
• Our Friends
• For Zoe
• For the Little Blonde Firecracker Zada that pushes Zoe more than anyone else on this earth. She wants nothing more than to be able to ride bikes with Zoe...one day baby...one day!
• The doctors that saved little Zoe's life on October 21, 2004
• The doctors that continue to help her lead the most normal life that she can
• The therapists that come to our home each and everyweek to push her a little further
• The wonderful company that Tom works for
• We are mostly thankful for our second chances in life...with marriage, god, family...

What we are looking forward to:

• Zoe walking, talking and feeding herself
• Zada starting school
• New friends
• New memories
• Being better with our finances
• Lots of time together

25 Random Words

Just because...i have nothing to write about that should be on a blog ;)

Rule: Type the first word that comes to mind when you read the list

1. Cell phone: Crackberry
2. Husband: HOT
3. Kids: Precious
4. Mother: Loving
5. Father: miss him
6. Work: kids
7. TV: DVR
8. Fruit: watermellon
9. Pizza: Pineapple
10. Future: Ready
11. Car: HHR
12. House: too big
13. School: thinking
14. Cousins: miss them
15. Computer: Husband
16. Holidays: Family
17. Church: Want to
18. Shopping: Target
19. Food: Healthy
20. Cartoons: YUCK!
21. Today: COLD
22. Bills: Hate
23. Bed: Queen
24. Closet: Clean
25. Bathroom: Plain

Pictures to come soon...

saturday...

• it is cold
• the mountains are a deep purple
• christmas music is playing
• the tree is lit
• kids are watching tv quietly
• dinner will be done shortly
• Tom is off doing a computer job
• the bills are paid
• i love today...

Zoe Update!

I forgot to mention yesterday...

Monday during Zoe's PT (physical therapy) here at the house...she went down two step into our family room by herself! We are talking about standing and doing it! Oh so proud! This girl is well on her way to walking. We have waited 5 long years and I feel blessed to watch her make this journey.

And being the spazzy mother that I am...I didn't take any pictures! *tear*

I have been thinking...

...that when you remove the negative people from your life you are so much happier! This is not meant for the people that we have not been around because we can't seem to kick this sickness that has been looming over Candlewood Dr. for the past month! We have been thru 3 cans of lysol, 3 doctor appts to only be told it is "viral", 6 boxes of tissues, tons of soup & crackers, 15 gallons of OJ, unknown packages of cold meds...and I think we might be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Thanksgiving was different for us this year. With me doing childcare out of our home it seems that we never get a break away from everything. SO...we rented a camper and went with Tom's boss over to the Imperial Sand Dunes in Cali just past the Arizona border. The boys spent many hours on the quads and us girls mostly rode the sandrail. We had a good time until the winter storm decided to come a day early and cut the trip short. But it was nice to have the extra day to unpack and get things done before the work week started. Not to mention how nice a real shower and our bed felt! Also it had to better than last year when we spent the entire day cleaning carpets because SOMEONE (not mentioning my OCD husband's name) got on a kick of cleaning them.

Now the tree is up, the outside of the house is partly decorated, some shopping is done and we are ready for a very simple and quiet christmas season. We are cutting back on presents this year. I have been thinking about the 3 gift idea...like Jesus got. Does anyone else do that? We would do 3 gifts for each of the girls, one large gift for the both of them and then stockings. I think we have spoiled our girls every year and I do not want them to grow up and not know the true meaning of the season. I feel they are young enough now to not remember the mounds of presents that they opened in the last few years. Plus most of the toys just get pushed to the side and they go back to the old favorites after a week.

Zoe and Zada are both growing like weeds. Learning new things everyday. And keeping me VERY busy!

Tom is working like a work horse. I am so thankful that he loves his job or I know he would hate all these hours. We are talking 12-14 hour days ... 5 days a week.

Christmas cards are addressed, the letters will be printed tonight and they should hit the mail by thursday morning. I am only a few days behind and that isn't bad for taking 5 days of doing nothing for Thanksgiving.

We hope this Christmas season finds everyone happy and healthy!

ps...no pictures...maybe later this week! I need to get back to blogging weekly

Blog Slacker...

There are no excuses so I won't even post any :)

A little rundown on the past 5 months!! OUCH!!

• Zoe started school off going full days but it was WAY too much for her so we cut down to half days.
• She had surgery on Aug. 12 to release her hip muscles and ham strings in hopes that she will be walking. She was casted from the top of her thighs to the tip of her cute toes. All clad in PINK of course! Her cast also had the bar in the middle to she could not move her legs.
• Zoe turned 5 on Aug 31st! We didn't have a party because she was not in the spirt.
• Zoe took 2.5 weeks off of school to recover from her surgery. She learned quickly how to get off of the couch and scoot herself around.
• Sept the casts were removed and honestly I was sick to see the scars that were suppose to be 1" long ...they were 3.5" LONG!!! It was a huge shock but a small price to pay to help her lead as normal of a life as we can.
• In Sept it was back to therapy as normal and slowly we got out Zoe back. She was scooting and not crawling until mid-October. Then she was off like a rocket. Up and down the stairs, jumping on the couch, escaping out the back door, playing in the dog food and water...our baby was back to normal.
• 4 short days after the casts came off we went to pick up her braces. Usually this takes 4-6 week but there was a cancellation so they called us! Her braces are light blue with butterflies all over them...very girly. They don't seem to bother her at all.
• She is now cruising the furniture and will walk with assisstance. We are hoping to get her walker by the end of the year to give her some more independence. She tires very quickly but we knew it would take some building up to do.
• Zoe is doing WONDERFUL in school. She is more involved and is getting use to structure. She gets so excited every morning when she gets in her "kid kart" to go out and wait on the bus. On the way home she usually sleep because she is totally wiped out.

Now on to Zada...

• She is "Little Lacey" from sun up till sun down. NO JOKE!
• Zada will be turning 4 on saturday (Nov 7th). She is super excited to have her party and her little friends come over!
• She is learning so fast that Tom and I can barely keep up! She will say stuff and we are like "WHAT?!?!?"
• Her new favorite saying is "Mommy you are the bestest mommy ever." Quoted straight from her.
• She loves to play dress up and watch "WW" with her daddy. (WW means WWE)
• She is very protective of Zoe and will let anyone know that.
• She is starting to understand that Zoe is a special child. She will ask questions and we explain to her the best we can.
• We are teaching her how to write her name. It is the last thing she needs to learn to test into school early next fall.

And us...Tom and Lacey

• Tom is still working for an amazing company and putting in lots of hours. We are so blessed that he got this job when he did...right at the collapse of the economy.
• I am trying to chase the kids, pack lunchs, clean house, cook dinner, shop and be the best wife and mom I can.
• I am still babysitting and love it! Finally got a good group of kids and parents...NO DRAMA!
• We enjoyed our 4th anniversary in August with Dinner out and a trip to Walmart. We left Zoe and Zada with Jaye and Lisa but at the time Zoe was still having a hardtime so it was best to make a quick date.
• We have finally closed up the pool for the "winter" and hope to be back in it in April.

I will try to update more...but life is crazy busy right now.