Why are we not home yet?

Our Thanksgiving travels led us four hours away from home.  We had a great time, but we were all eager to get back home.  We were given directions for a short cut back to I-85 which takes us down to Montgomery.  It was a new road that was not open the last time we were up in the northern country!  It was much better than our old route because it avoided all the twists, turns, and zig-zags.  John Mark and I were excited that we had made it back to the interstate (approx 1 hour into the return trip) when Lauren piped up "Dad, I thought that this was a shortcut."  

Dad replied, "It is, Lauren!"  

Lauren snapped, "Then why are we not home yet?"

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Thanksgiving Prayer for You

Thanksgiving prayers & wishes

  that God will smile on you

And send you lots of blessings,

  and lots of happy moments, too!

I know this is a little early, but I will not be at the computer on Thanksgiving Day!  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Deck the halls!

Or actually deck the house on the outside!  I just wanted to share pictures of our house decorated for Christmas on the outside.  On the inside, I have not really gotten to that!  I did taken down all the autumn/pumpkin decor and decorate the fireplace.  I will have to put up the trees after we get back from Thanksgiving.  I am running out of time.  we are leaving in the morning to go out to the lake for a few days.  Nothing big.  We just want to get away, and good family time is so much easier out at the lake with no distractions and no telephone!

Update on Corynne

"Wow! She is amazing!"  That is all I have to say.  She is so independent and confident.  We checked into Children's South in B'ham at 7:20am this morning.  After we were assigned to our waiting room, Corynne went down to the playroom to hang out with the other kids until it was her turn to go back to the OR.  She made it very clear that I need NOT hang out with her.  "I am fine, Mom."  JM and I enjoyed getting plenty of time to catch up (3 hours to be exact)!  We discussed how this would be different if it was Tyler who would be so nervous that he would make himself sick kinda like his mother, or Lauren who would become the tiny baby for the attention or Lyndsey who would have us running up and down the halls until they placed the gas mask on her face!  God is good!

Corynne had no problems at all today.  Many thanks to all our prayer warriors who held her (and our family) up in prayer today across the country.  We are blessed to have so many who truly care for us and our children.  Corynne came home today very tired, but ready to greet people who stopped by.  We were so humbled by her teacher who drove into Montgomery on a day off to stop by and check on Corynne and bring her a gift.  She is a godly teacher who went above and beyond her "job", and Corynne so appreciated her.  And I must acknowledge Corynne's sweet friends who brought her a cookie cake and balloons.  She is blessed by sweet girlfriends.  Thank you Cami (and family) and Mary Phyfer and Francie (and mom)!  God is good!

I could not resist adding this photo!  I think Lauren has sympathy pains or a need for the attention!!!

Christmas Decorating

I came home from church this afternoon and started my Christmas decorating.  I hung all the outside decorating.  Of course when it came time to plug it all in, I discovered (as always) that the extension cord mouse had visited our house again and misplaced all those cords I bought last year.  JM saved the night by stopping by Target on his way home from work tonight.  Now we look like Christmas is coming on the outside.  I will take some pics tomorrow evening and post them.  It looks great if I do say so myself!!!

****Important **** Corynne gets a new set of tubes and her adenoids removed tomorrow at 8:30am!

Tennis Time.

The kids and I went up to Pelham (about 1 1/2 hours) today for Tyler to play in a tennis tourny. It was very cold when we left the warm house!  It was a small tourny, so he and 3 other boys played a round robin for the 10&under division.  JM signed him up for this tourny verses a bigger one because as we feared - he would be on call and I would have to take him by myself with the girls.  He won his first match 8-1 while the girls watched a movie in the warm car and I froze watching him!  By the second match, it had warmed up a little (maybe 43 by now).  At least sitting in the sun was bearable!  Tyler won 8-2!  

I had packed our lunch and there was a park right next to the courts.  The girls enjoyed playing at the park while Tyler and his opponents played football between matches.  Is this a good idea???  Where did the football come from?  Oh, please not tackle guys!

By the third match, the temp was dropping again!  The girls returned to the car for warmth, popcorn and a movie.  Tyler was playing really good.  He was up 5-2, and my thought was "lets wrap this up and go home."  5-3. 6-4. Come on Tyler! 7-4.  Oh no, Lauren has to have a potty break right now.  Tyler finish this up while I am gone! 7-6.  What happened in those five minutes?  If he losses this championship match, the car ride home will not be pleasant.  Finally,  8-6!  He is a Champion (of a level 5 tourny) complete with a personalized trophy!

 Time to go home for the night and sit by the fire!

It's Cold!

I do not mind the cold if I can enjoy some snow, but this cold wind stuff really gets to me.  It doesn't help that I really don't like sweaters, jackets or coats especially when I am running errands.  My kids do not like dressing warm either!  Tyler in his typical style went to school today in shorts and a short sleeve shirt even after I recommended many times that a long sleeve UnderArmour under the uniform would be a GREAT idea!  Did I mention that it was in the high 30s this morning?  I think I may have to turn on the heater this weekend.  It is suppose to drop to 27 tonight!  

PTO Night

Every fall the girls' school has a PTO program night.  It is a night of songs, quotations and chants by each of the classes.  Basically, the songs are all focused around what they are learning and not the typical seasonal classics!  Every class recites a Bible verse or passage or chapter (or book - oh what class was that- that was so long - i hope that is not next year!) that they have learned.  Then they each have songs about verbs, prepositions, science vocabulary.  My point - while it is fun to listen to your own child - everything else seems to just drag along!  It is a long night!  The girls did a great job, and we were all glad to get home for the night! 

 

Today is my birthday!

I have had a pleasant birthday despite my visit to the gym this morning!  JM took us all out to dinner tonight.  He and the kids had decided on Olive Garden on the way to school this morning!  That sounds good to me since I love their salad and the desserts are great!  Oh yeah, I split the pumpkin cheesecake with JM.  I think that it was the most sugar I have had in months.  A bad headache set in within minutes, but it was worth it.  Yummy!!!!!!

Tyler loves to mess with the girls.  He had them so messed up on my age that Lauren told 2 people sitting around us that I was 55.  JM was laughing.  He said it was payback for the 3 years I remained 29 before Tyler figured out that I never got older!  As many times as I corrected them that I am only 35,  they still kept messing up:(.  Are they just messing with my mind!  

A Week in Review...

I am not good at this daily blog stuff.  My life seems to take up too much time!  I know...my kids are in too too many activities.  One day I will have to say pick one, but for now I just enjoy the fun!

Tuesday, November 11 - A big day for ME.  I got a new Suburban!  Big thanks to my sweet hubby for finding the great deal and setting up everything for me so that all I had to do was go sign and trade!  It was so much fun!  Tyler, Lauren and Lyndsey went with me to make the trade.  Maybe I should have stayed around for the "new car briefing"  because in 4 years, Chevy has moved things around quite a bit.  Let's just say that I find out how things work hourly!  

On Tuesday, JM took Corynne to the Children's Hospital ENT specialist.  Her hearing has gotten worst, and we just gave up on the ENTs here.  The recommendation was a new set of "long term tubes" and having her adenoids removed.  He said this would not fix the problem, but it was a first step in the right direction.    She has a lot of damage in her left ear (the one she does not hear) which will take time to repair and heal- possibly years.   Needless to say, this left me very emotional for my sweet Corynne.  God love her.  She just greets everything with a smile and a "lets just be friends and be happy" attitude.  She deserves to have no struggles!!!

Wednesday, November 12 -  Having completed 2 kid holidays and a lot of fun, Wednesday arrived too fast!  I have not finished my Bible study homework.  I struggled getting dressed this morning because I just do not like going to class incomplete!  I went.  I sat silently and I learned what others studied last week.  I feel so defeated, but that will make me work harder this next week.  I WILL have my homework done next time!

After Bible study, I went straight to the gym for my next trainer visit.  This is the 5th visit and I am physically exhausted.  Today is my leg workout, so my prayer was that I could walk later this evening.

Thursday, November 13 - JM has always joked that I tract exactly how much he spends on chewing gum, cokes, and coffee each week.  I can not help it!  It is the accountant, type A in me! My computer crashed a few weeks ago.  The computer with my "fancy" accounting software that is REALLY out of date(circa 1996).  I have had a new MAC computer for a year now, but I have never switched my bookkeeping over to the MAC.   It was just so much easier to keep going on the old software since it was not MAC compatible.  Now I am 2 bank statements behind and stressing, because I was not able to print any of the reports from my old program to help me set up the new software.  SO MUCH LOST!  All of this to explain that I was at home all day today recreating the past.  I still have a huge gap, and a lot of information to update and figure out before I can compile our tax return this year.  BUT I have finally started.  I just have to learn this new program over the next few months.  BooWho:(  

Friday, November 14 - I had so much fun this morning.  I got a call from Tyler's room mom that the science/ss teacher needed help on Friday morning.   I had to jump on this opportunity since Tyler is always fussing that I spend so much time at the girls school and never at his school.  They were doing Indian weavings, so the activity was right up my alley!  I had a great time with Tyler's class.  Oh, here was the big shocker for the morning!  The teacher told the parents (4 of us) to pick a table to help get started.  I  started walking over to the front table.  A boy sitting next to Tyler said, "Mrs. Vermillion aren't you going to help our table."  I looked at Tyler because I just assumed that this would be unacceptable to him.  His attitude has always been you can come Mom, but do not talk to me and I will not acknowledge you.  To my surprise, he looked up and said, "Come on Mom help us!"  It was a great morning for me and my 5th grader.  He actually told me, "Thanks for coming to help, Mom."  I had to run out of the room before the tears started flowing, and I became the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mom again!

Saturday, November 16th - The terrible mom returns.  Tyler was late to his team tennis match this morning.   Actually, it was just straight up 10am.  There is no early check in for team tennis, so he was only late by his standard!  I dropped him and Corynne off for their matches.  It was a bit chilly to hang out with the little girls so I decided to go to Sam's for my weekly run that did not get done this past week.  

The neglectful mom returns.   I was a step away from the buggy and I see Lyndsey flipping out of the buggy.  I dropped the items I had in my hand to grab her, but I was not fast enough.  Her little head hit the ground.  I was terrified, but she bounced up crying with a big red knot on her forehead.  A remembered from Corynne's encounter with Tyler's bat 3 years ago, an immediate red knot is good!  I remained calm and sent JM a text.  We were already going to the hospital for lunch in an hour so he could check her out when we arrived!  Did I mention that this is the second time she has done this?!?  The first time was in the grocery store, and I caught her arm as she was flipping out.  I saved her from the fall, but I was so sacred that I had broken her arm when I grabbed it and pulled up.  No harm done :)  Except for my handprint around her arm:(  I can only pray that she will learn to sit still before she kills herself.  She just can not be still.  YES! YES! I buckle her into the cart tight each time, but she can squirm out of it in 2 seconds!   This is probably why I only take her to the store except for emergency runs!

Now, you know what has been going on in our lives this week!  It is never dull in a house of six!

Double the Chaos!

Here we go!  Another crazy week in the Vermillion house.  This is the second time this year that the kids different schools did not coordinate their holidays:(.  I know that technically Veteran's Day is tomorrow, but Monday is a better holiday for parents!  Is is not?!?!  Well, the girls were home today, but Tyler had school.  Tomorrow, Tyler is home, but Corynne has school.  I have a hard time keeping it all straight.  

Tyler is now enjoying time with his cousin who is sleeping over tonight and playing tomorrow morning before he leaves to go back home.  The girls had to tuck in early for school, and I am waiting for JM to get home and save the night!  They are upstairs trying to create a silly utube video of themselves.  I have so much to learn about pre-teens and how this is actually fun!!!  

Another day at the courts

We are in the middle of another tennis weekend here in Montgomery.  The matches were rained out on Friday afternoon, so we actually did not start the tournament until this morning.  Tyler lost his first match 7-6, 6-7, 8-10.  It was a great match, but not the results he wanted to end on.  He played in the first round of consolation late this afternoon.  Tyler won the match 6-2, 6-3.  He was proud of himself!  Many thanks to his cousin, Preston, who shows up to support Tyler when they are at the same tournaments.   You can see Tyler's game and confidence improve when Preston walks up.  Tyler really looks up to him, and Preston is a great role model in tennis for him!

I did not know that a stapler could cause me pain!

Today was my once a month, copy helper day at the girls' school.  I actually do not mind standing at the copy machine for over 2 hours copying and sorting.  On my day, I copy for the 4-6 grade teachers.  Honestly, it is an easy job and the teachers are so grateful for the help.  Today was like all the months past.  I stood there and copied, stapled, hole punched, cut, and bound just like the teachers requested.  And being the type A personality that I am, I checked and rechecked everything to make sure it was perfect.  I was so excited to be almost done when in walked a teacher to explained that last week her papers were not done correctly and she needed them fixed.  I smiled and said, "what would you like me to do?"  She explained that this 7 inch tall pile of copies was stapled together wrong.  She wanted 10 sets of each chapter stapled individually.  No problem!  Wow.  There were ten big sets and had to be broken into 22 chapters each and stapled.  About half way through my arm muscles would not push down any more!   All those push-ups, bench presses and boxing yesterday are paying me back!  I was  in tears as I finished the last batch!   

Great, Now I get to go to Sam's and lift 4 cases of water, 4  cases of cokes, multiple 1 gallon jugs of juice and milk, and much much more.  This should count as a workout!  Right?!?

Still in pain!

When Lyndsey started crying at 3:30 this morning, I jumped out of bed to go quiet her down before everyone woke up.  Did I say jumped?  Actually, I did!  Then I folded over in agony.  I can not move!  I made it to her room and got Lyndsey and Lauren back in their beds to sleep.  It happened again at 6 am when the alarm went off.  This time I tried to go upstairs.  It took forever to get up to Tyler's room to wake him up.  I decided to just sit and bump down the stairs.   I can not believe that I am this out of shape.  I thought that my legs were pretty strong, but I must be wrong.  I get to go back to the trainer tomorrow.  I may have to rent a wheelchair to get there!!!

Exercise is NOT fun!

Okay, I finally did what I thought I had been wanting to do for years.  I signed up to meet with a personal trainer a few times a week.  I just was not seeing the results that I wanted by exercising on the elliptical trainer 3 times a week.  So nervously, I showed up for my first scheduled visit this morning.  Oh my...  He said this would be a "see where you are physically" workout.  Oh my...  I was shaking from head to toe by the end.  Oh my... my legs hurt.  I guess I do have some muscles left in my abdomen, because they hurt.  If I hurt this bad a few hours later, what is tomorrow going to be like!?!