A NEW YEAR!!!

This was a rough Christmas for us, my Papa was in the hospital for 5 1/2 weeks (November 29 - January 6) and during that time he had 5 heart attacks and 1 mini-stroke. He got to go home for a week and had a massive stroke with brain hemorraging on January 12th. Right now, we don't know what his brain function is going to be like. For several days he was on life support but now he is able to breathe on his own but he has not talked or done much yet. It is a very sad and emotional time for our family. I have found myself with very little patience and am not being the mommy I want to be, but I am trying to hold it together. Other than my grandfather's struggles, we had a nice Christmas. We got to see our family and the time in the car went really well. The boys were very well behaved and we are so glad! Heather is always good in the car and she has her ipod and cell phone to play with if she doesn't like the movie the boys are watching! We did come home in time for Christmas so Santa found us at home and we had a very nice Christmas Day! The order of my pictures is going to be fairly random because I have stopped and started this post so many times, I'm not really sure anymore how I inteded to do it originally! How sad is that?!?!



The two pictures were taken in San Antonio. The first is Paul's dad's backyard, their pool has a crack in it and is empty. The kids had a great time going in there and throwing acorns at one another. I did not approve of this game, but Paul encouraged it. In the picture, Heather is pretending to be overwhelmed by her little brother's acorn throwing abilities. The second picture is Caleb with April & James wearing his UT football gear. Go Longhorns! (Better luck next year!)

The next three are of the kids coming down the stairs Christmas morning. That was really a fun day!


These three pictures were taken in Alexandria, La. In the first picture they are playing football at my Nanny & Papa's house. In the second picture Zachary is trying to hide in his suitcase and in the third we are at Steve & Sonia's house playing with their new puppy.

To ring in the new year, Paul and I went to Austin to see April and James while the boys stayed with Paul's mom. Apparently, their cute smiles and repeated requests to go to Itz won over Mr. Doug. After that, the boys, Becky & Mr. Doug shot a few fireworks and played with Sparklers and had a very fun night! We went to an Indian restaurant in Austin and then played some games and chatted. It was a nice break for us and I always enjoy hanging out with my sister-in-law.

Surprisingly, we all slipped on our fitness and healthy eating routine over the holidays (SHOCKING!) and have been back to healthy eating and a lot of exercise. We are trying some new foods and are all a little apprehensive. I made a vegetable curry that was actually very good, though it took hours to make. Tonight we are having a lentil & spinach dish that no one is too excited about. The weather has made exercising difficult, but we go when we can and we are definitely eating better.

Heather and the boys started back to school last week; Heather was less than thrilled and the boys were ecstatic. Isn't it funny how a few years makes such a difference! Some of the kids in Caleb's class were clingy to their mom's on the first day, but not Caleb. He hugged Ms. Mercedes and ran off to play, I had to chase him down for a goodbye hug! Zachary was a little unsure, but once Ms. Vera picked him, he was ready to go with her. One of Heather's friends took a very cute picture of her with her boyfriend, Jacob. Heather looks so happy! She and this boy, Jacob, have been together since November 15 and they are sickenly cute. "I miss you so much" "No, I miss you more" -- ah, puppy love!

I am working hard to get the house back in order and I am going to try to really organize some things that I've been putting off in the next few weeks. I'm tired of all the junk everywhere! Isn't it funny how you get so used to your accumulations of random stuff that you don't even see it anymore? I am hoping to change that.

Here is the boys picture with Santa this year. Zachary didn't cry, but he doesn't look thrilled either. This year, Caleb was really excited to see Santa and couldn't wait!