Columbia Inferno

Tom was able to get 4 tickets to the Columbia Inferno hockey game last night from work. Well just like when he gets football tickets, these were GREAT seats! They were box seats, against the ice, first row!!! Brittanie said it was incredible being that close to the players when they smashed into each other against the glass. It was Taylor and Katie's first time at a hockey game. Taylor loved it. She and Brittanie did the chicken dance and the cha cha slide when the announcer would call for it. They just cut loose and had fun. Katie on the other hand could not get used to the screaming and wanted to go home within the first 5 minutes. Of course Tom refused and she cried. After trying to engage her in having fun and having her just get madder, he plopped her down in the seat and told her to sit there and cry or whatever because he was going to enjoy the game no matter what she does. She stopped crying. But she wasn't happy. This was her first but will be her last for a long time. Sounds like the game was very exciting. It ended in a tie and they had to have a penalty shot (I think that is what you call it) shoot off twice to decide it and we lost...by one point. Brittanie said it was a GREAT game and GREAT seats and she had a GREAT time except for Katie so next time daddy gets hockey tickets, she is taking Randy. lol

At one point, they were shooting T-shirts from a cannon. Brittanie said she would have caught a shirt but the guy next to her had longer arms so he got it. But he was a nice guy and gave it to Katie. It was too big for Katie so she gave it to Taylor. There is a picture of Taylor with the shirt on. The front of the shirt was just an advertisement and it wasn't a flattering picture of Taylor so I'm not going to post it. The picture of the three girls shows Katie wincing in anticipation of the flash. She is a little vampire like Tom and Brittanie. They would live with absolutely no lights on in the house if I allowed it. And you can clearly see Katie's attitude in the cutout picture. She was not a happy camper. This was taken when the game was over and she was going home but she will still mad at having to stay there. I feel sorry for the man she marries. If she is this grumpy and difficult at 4, can you imagine what she will be like at 24?

Anyway, here are some pictures they took at the game last night.

Everybody loves Randy

You've heard of the TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond?" Well in our house, it is Everybody Loves Randy. He is such a sweetheart. Here are some pictures of him with the girls.Tom finished cleaning out the attic closet upstairs yesterday and Brittanie was so excited that she would actually have her clothes upstairs that she went to work cleaning out the closets downstairs and bagging up the stuff she no longer wants so we can give it to There is Hope Ministries and moving the stuff she wants upstairs. Randy did take alot of her t-shirts that weren't girly that she no longer wanted. Brittanie had ALOT of T-shirts. Imelda Marcos has shoes. Brittanie has T-shirts....and shoes....but ALOT more T-shirts. She ran to Wal-Mart tonight and bought a Rubbermaid container with drawers and some hooks to hang her purses on. Here is the final product.This one is when you walk into the closet.

Here is her wall of purses and some berets/hats on the hooks that she put on the wall.

Jackets.Church clothes to the left and school clothes in the middle and right.

Uniforms.

Jeans.

Everyday shirts and sweats.Formals and school shirts.Her Sonic rollerskates that she got for Christmas, JROTC uniform shoes, and the shoes she wears to school.

Little weirdo

Today, Tom was dancing around the living room with Katie....ring around the rosy style....and when I grabbed the camera, first he took it from me and kept dancing. When he put it down, I grabbed it and he plopped down in his recliner so I couldn't take a picture of him dancing with Katie. Katie said "you want a picture...here you go!" and she made this face.
She's as weird as the rest of us....maybe more. hahaha

Katie loves to run and slam into us. I HATE it when she does that. But I know she gets that from her daddy. Well I turned around a minute ago and she was down in a football center stance and Tom was on his knees in front of the sofa about 3 feet from her. She yelled "HUT!" and went running and slammed into Tom and they started rolling on the floor. Think she watches a little football with daddy?

A blast from the past

Today, Tom cleaned out the closet in the attic so Brittanie could use it. We have 5 closets downstairs and Brittanie's clothes take up three of them! The attic closet is ALOT more convenient for her and huge but it was full of junk from the past. So Tom has been working all day to get rid of that junk. While going through the junk, he found some pictures. There are some of Brittanie pretending to be a bride and I promised her I wouldn't blog that but trust me, they are adorable!! But I am going to post some others that he found that I liked.

This is the one that means the most. This is Brittanie with Grandma Sightler, Tom's grandmother. She died a couple of years ago. She loved all of her grandchildren. I am glad she was able to hold and love on Katie before she died. Jenny took this picture at Aunt Doris' house.

This is Taylor and Brittanie on the swing at my mom's house, spring break of 1999. That's my Jonathan in the corner of the picture. I just couldn't crop him out of the picture, even though you can't see his face.
Taylor was 4 1/2 here and Brittanie was 8 1/2.

This is why our girls are fearless and tough. Tom always played with them like they are boys. That's why they have so much fun with their daddy! This was taken on Thanksgiving of 1998. Notice Brittanie is in shorts?? You gotta love Louisiana....summer all the time.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Here is Tom, on his laptop in his recliner. This was New Year's Day 1999. That was 8 years and two recliners ago. Check out the puny Christmas tree. Have mercy! We start getting BIG, real trees the next Christmas. By the way, Brittanie put that hat on his head. He isn't that festive.

My mom's son

My mom's son (who I absolutely refuse to call my brother) is such a LOSER! I can prove it. I was talking to Taylor and we were going down the family tree and she thought her mom (Tammie) and I were sisters. Actually, I'm Tammie's aunt but she and her brother, Randy, are more of a sister and brother to me and always has been. Randy was born in 1968. I was born in 1969. Tammie was born in 1970. In 1971, they moved in with us and forever more they became my brother and sister. Well my brother only cares about his wife's children and grandchildren....not his own. When he comes down to see his wife's daughter and her boys, he NEVER goes to see his son and daughter and their girls. I didn't realize how bad it was until I was talking to Taylor and Taylor didn't know who he was. She and Lyndsie have always referred to him as Paw Paw Clayton but they thought that was just something they called him....like Katie calls Jimmy Watts "Paw Paw." When I was telling her that Paw Paw Clayton is her mom's daddy, she was totally stunned. She didn't know that. My girls may not see their grandparents often but they know who they are. Katie is 4 years old and I asked her who daddy's dad was and she said "Grandpa." I asked her who daddy's mom is and she said "Grandma." I asked her who my mom was and she said "Maw Maw." Why? Because they are in her life! My girls may not see their grandparents but a couple of times a year but they do know that all of their grandparents love them....they make sure our girls know that. Clayton should be ashamed!!! He has two kids and three granddaughters that he has nothing to do with. He is a sorry excuse for a son, a father, a grandfather and most of all...a man!

Today his son, Randy, called at mom's house to see if mom wanted to go ride with him to pick up his new utility trailer he bought for his DJ equipment. Clayton answered the phone. So Randy reached out to him and asked if Clayton wanted to go ride with him to get the trailer. He covered the phone to ask his wife's permission, then came back and said he couldn't because he just got up, hadn't eaten breakfast, and had Dillon....his wife's grandson who is ALWAYS up their butts....with him. Randy called me and was very upset and angry. Dillon always comes first.....ALWAYS. I feel for him. It has to hurt to be rejected by his father. His mother abandoned them when he was 3 and Tammie was 1. And his loser father has made it clear that he doesn't love them. But my mom will always be his mom and loves him as if she had given birth to him. But it still doesn't make up for the fact that my mom's son is a big loser. One day he will have ALOT to answer for.

ADDENDUM: Tonight, my mom called and she told Taylor that Paw Paw Clayton was there and Taylor said "Do you think he would remember me?" She wasn't being sarcastic. She was serious. That says it all!

I'm so proud of her!!

Wednesday night, Brittanie found a picture with an untrue caption under it on a girl's myspace page, followed by a stupid comment from another girl. Of course it made her mad. I told her to let it go because these two girls LIVE in drama world. They aren't happy unless they are neck deep in all kinds of drama. She had a problem with these two back in July and now out of the blue they take a pot shot at her. Because of the way they chose to live, neither of them will amount to anything. One is even a high school drop out who does nothing but play on myspace all day. So obviously what they think and say means absolutely NOTHING. Brittanie has a very bright future ahead of her. She may end up a USC or Furman or Carson-Newman or Westpoint...who knows??? Bottom line, these girls can do nothing positive towards Brittanie's future so why bother with them. Brittanie told off the drop out....in a message and when the girl called her yesterday. She went to confront the other one at school yesterday but it was obvious the girl was avoiding her. But she said now that she has said her peace to at least one of them, she is done with it. She blocked both of them and all of their friends from her myspace, her e-mail, her instant messenger, and all aspects of her cell phone. Now she is moving on. I'm very proud of her. She has a good little mixture of me and her dad in there. Tom never deals with things like this. If someone upsets us, he says "The heck with them" and ignores it because to him they are meaningless and so is everything they do. I'm a polar opposite. When someone hurts me, Tom, or our girls, it sticks to me forever unless I get to have it out with that person. Tom does NOT want me doing that. So I don't and unfortunately it piles up inside of me...some things for 18 years because to me they are unresolved. But I'm so proud of Brittanie that she said her peace and now she is done....washed her hands of the whole thing and moving on to focus on her future. She inherited my temper, unfortunately, Tom's sharp tongue that she can use when necessary, as well as his logical thinking, and her own discernment to know which to use when. I'm really proud of her!!

I just can't wait until high school is over. I swear girls are meaner nowadays than they were when I grew up. They love to wallow in drama. I just don't understand that. How can you create situations to upset yourself on purpose??? That's just stupid!

God doesn't like ugly!

"God doesn't like ugly." That's a direct quote from Tom yesterday in reference to Reggie Bush's somersault and then his childish celebratory dance....while they were still losing no less! That showboating is stupid and immature and definitely doesn't show team spirit. Unfortunately, his showboating made the Bears turn up the heat on the Saints and the result of it is Bears in the Superbowl. The Saints can thank Reggie Bush for costing them the game. Good job ham bone! I'm not the only one who thinks that the Bears got a second wind to prove a point to Reggie Bush. The Northwest Herald in Chicago and the Chicago Sun Times think so too! Watching this childish display almost made me have the unpalatable desire to actually root for the Bears.....ALMOST. The class act of the day was Urlacher. When asked what he thought of Reggie Bush's hamming it up, he said "I think we are going to the Superbowl." I like Urlacher. That is a man with intelligence. They just won the championship and he wasn't about to let Reggie Bush steal their moment.

The worst thing about the Bears going to the Superbowl is having to relive Superbowl 20...complete with that stupid "Superbowl Shuffle." It is already starting. I love Peyton Manning but I really wanted the Patriots to win so that they could redeem themselves with the Bears from Superbowl 20. I really wanted to see the Patriots squash the Bears the same way the Bears killed the Patriots back then. We won't get to see that this year but I am REALLY hoping Peyton Manning leads his team to victory over the Bears. The only thing worse than the Chicago Bears is the Chicago Bears when they win a Superbowl.

But if you remember nothing else, remember what Reggie Bush learned yesterday...."God doesn't like ugly!"

Taylor's going skating

Taylor has made a few friends at school and they are going skating tonight and then spending the night at one of their houses in Hidden Valley tonight. They are going to have fun. Taylor looked so pretty after she straightened her hair and put on her little make-up so I just had to get a picture. I bought her her own roller blades also so I have a picture of them too because they are so cool looking. She is doing great and I'm so proud of her!!! I was able to give a good report to her mom of how great she has been doing this week and her mom is very proud of her as well.

By the way, one big cultural difference we are dealing with is terminology. In Louisiana, especially in the area we live in, when a baby is born, the parents pick godparents who then forevermore referred to as "Nanny" for the godmother and "Paran" for the godfather. Well I have been Nanny to Taylor and Lyndsie since birth. That's all they have ever called me. Here in South Carolina, a Nanny is a term used for grandmothers. Well since Taylor has been here, when she says something about me, she calls me "Nanny" and people think I am her grandmother. That I don't like at all. I'm only 37. I am NOT old enough to be a grandmother! (Ok technically I know that if Brittanie loses her mind, technically she could make me a grandmother but then I'd have to kill her so I still wouldn't be a grandmother. lol)

That is one cultural difference I hope we overcome soon because I hate people thinking I'm a grandmother!

Southern cheerleaders!

You don't have to live in the South to know that FOOTBALL IS KING! But the game wouldn't be complete without the cheerleaders, and here are some of our finest:

The LSU'S Golden Girls

The Alabama Crimsonettes

CLEMSON RALLY CATS

Did you see the new Clemson football uniforms?

Progress report

Taylor has been with us for 18 days now and things are going well. She loves school and has made a good friend that she is going skating with this weekend.

A big part of the reason she is here is because she was constantly fighting with her mom and sister. She would throw a tantrum and has a sassy mouth when she didn't get her way. Well the whole family knows how disciplined Brittanie is and how hard we are working to get Katie to be as disciplined as Brittanie (which is going GREAT by the way). So my niece/Taylor's mom, asked me to get Taylor under control. Taylor had been begging since October to come to my house. Well now when she gets bored and wants us to take her somewhere, instead of throwing a tantrum like she used to do, she cries. The first time she cried, I believe she was genuinely homesick. Now I see the pattern and realize that every time since then, she has been using her tears to manipulate us into taking her somewhere. It isn't like she was used to being on the go 24/7 because she wasn't! But she thinks that since we can afford it, we should be on the go all the time. We aren't like that. We like our time at home. I had been letting her call home anytime she wanted. But I have put a stop to that because she was calling home begging her mom and dad to come get her. She will be just as bored, if not more, down there and will go back to fighting with her sister and mom, which I think is what she misses. Well she is here to break that cycle and get a good education. She was tested in Louisiana and they deemed her to have the maturity of an 8-year-old. Well she came here acting like she is 8 and she is going to go back acting her age, which is 12. We will NOT be manipulated by the crying any longer. I have taken the phone away so she can only make calls home on Monday afternoons and she has to sit in front of us while she talks and if she starts to cry, we are taking the phone. She is just rebelling against the discipline and using tears to do it because she knows a tantrum will get her a sp an ki ng. So far, things are going well. It has been 4 days since I took the phone away and she started to cry one time, the first day after I took the phone, and I told her to dry it up because I'm not like her mom. If I say something I mean it and all the begging and crying in the world isn't going to change it. She stopped immediately. We are enforcing the same rule on her as we did on our kids. You can cry but you have to do it in another room with the door closed because I don't want to hear that crap. My girls learned to soothe themselves from an early age and were never cry babies because of that. Taylor is going to go back to Louisiana no longer being a cry baby in May. As I told her Tuesday, she begged to come here, her parents thought it was best for her to be here and they are right. So she is going to live up to the promises she made, which was to stay here and to learn to behave, and take responsibility for her actions. And I put it plainly...."You are NOT going home until May 25th so stop asking or you will be grounded." She hasn't asked since.

Yesterday she was all excited to talk to her new friend, Katy, on the phone and make plans to go skating Saturday. It was great seeing her all excited and that mood stayed until she insisted on waking up Brittanie's new hamster, Gerard. He promptly bit her. It didn't break the skin but she whined about it too long. I told her she has already had a tetanus shot. It came from PetSmart so it doesn't have a disease, because their pets are tested, and even if it did, it didn't even break the skin! She couldn't have caught anything anyway. She didn't cry though. I was very proud of her. Before we got tough on the crying, she would have cried, called home and cried more. She is starting to grow up and I'm proud of her.

She did get mad at me last night because I made her and Katie get out of the kitchen so Brittanie and Randy could have a goodnight kiss. Sometimes Taylor forgets that Randy is Brittanie's boyfriend and not hers. She did not like being ordered out of the room like that. But I didn't let that get to me. She has to learn. Brittanie said Taylor does that immature "EWWWW" thing when Brittanie and Randy kiss. Well who wants that around when you say goodnight? Normally they go outside for their goodnight kiss but it was way too cold last night.

Anyway, it is going to take some work to get her out of acting like a cry baby and start to mature. But it is well worth it. I love her. She is just a normal kid....they want their way and will use any tactic to get it. It's our job to make rules and stick to them. I am glad she is here. I love having her around.

We don't want your yankee opinion down here!

Article on WLTX.com

US Senator Dodd from Connecticut....NOT South Carolina.....thinks we should remove our confederate flag from the state house grounds. He makes a point of saying that we should be honoring our US Flag because that is what our troops are dying for. Agreed. That's why our US flag and our South Carolina state flag are both on top of our statehouse.

What makes this ignorant yankee think he has the right to dictate to us what to do here in South Carolina? He needs to pick up a book and find out that people died for that confederate flag as well. That flag has a rich heritage, which was not about slavery or African Americans. It was about not wanting government to tell us what to do. And that hasn't changed....we still don't want those ignorant yankees in government telling us what to do.

So Senator Dodd....stay in your state and mind your business or we may just return the favor and go to Washington and force our views on you!

Did they learn nothing from the Superbowl?

We were watching the Saints vs Eagles game tonight and the camera turned on the crowd, like usual. But they picked out one girl in particular to show. She was wearing a black half shirt that said in gold letters "F*** da Eagles." Only it wasn't starred out like I just did....it was spelled out! Have they not learned from CBC's problem with Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction?" That is just inappropriate and if they don't get a fine from the FCC....they should! You can't say that word on regular TV, much less spell it out like that. It was VERY plain to read. Look out FOX....here it comes....and you deserve it!

9 months and counting

Tonight, Randy took Brittanie to Ruby Tuesday's to celebrate their 9 month anniversary. Randy is such a respectful guy and so good to Brittanie. In the 9 months they have been dating, there as been absolutely no drama/problems. Her boyfriend before Randy was exhausting. There was always some kind of drama with him. He has gotten dumped by at least 4 girls since Brittanie dumped him 9 months ago. Randy is like part of the family. We really like him.

Here are a couple more pictures I took of them before they left.

It's gonna be a better day!

Last night, I put Katie to bed at 7pm for hitting me. Today, she woke up with a whole new attitude. Just when I thought I had given birth to the meanest child on the planet, she did an about face this morning. Normally she is grouchy like the rest of us in the morning. But this morning, she was walking around the house singing a verse from "God is so good." She was singing "He answers pwayer. He answers pwayer. He answers pwayer. He's so good to me." It was so sweet I just had to hug her. I told her I was so proud of her attitude, which is proof right there that God does answer prayer because I prayed that God would help her get a better attitude today and she has one. I told her I was so proud of her. She didn't get all that upset when I put her jacket on her, which is always attitude provoking. She is just like Tom and hates heavy jackets. Well it is 25 degrees outside right now. She HAS to wear that heavy jacket.

Now I just need to pray that Tom gets a new attitude. Like I said above, it was 25 degrees this morning. So I took my spare key to his truck and started it for him so that when he went out there, the truck would be ready to have the heater turned on. He told me I was crazy and that it wasn't that cold. He wasn't being mean. He just didn't think it was necessary. He doesn't think anything is cold because his office is next to the computer room and they have to keep it colder because of all the computers. So his office, to me, feels like the arctic tundra. But he likes it. He comes home to a normal temperature at home and breaks out in a sweat. Let's hope Zeus doesn't open a plant in Greenland, he may just volunteer to move us out there!

Make it stop!!!

Katie has gotten so aggressive lately. Since before Christmas, she has been slapping us in the face and hitting us. That's bad enough but then everytime Randy (Brittanie's boyfriend) comes over, she bites him on the butt. She never bites the rest of us and she never bites him anywhere but his butt. I don't understand it but today I had had enough of it. After she once again bit Randy on the butt, I made Brittanie bite her back on the butt, through her shorts. Obviously she didn't bite her hard enough to break the skin or anything but she felt it. That is what we are going to do everytime she bites Randy's butt. I don't know where she would get the idea to do such a thing! But not long after she bit his butt and got bitten, Randy was sitting on the floor at Brittanie's feet and Katie walked up and slapped him in the face. She got a s p a n k i n g for that one. (I spaced it to keep the pervs from searching that word and finding my blog.)

Tonight I sent her to bed at 7pm because she hit me. She is always worse after being with my mom because my mom still treats her like an infant and wants everyone to bow down to her. I won't bow. I have to live with the repercussions of that.

How many years till I can send her to college? lol

How cute!

Today, I was washing my hands in the bathroom and Katie came running in all excited telling me she wanted to show me something. I asked her what it was and she said she had to show it to me. So I walked out of the bathroom and she picked up her Barbie laptop and said "See! I spelled my name!!" I looked at it and she had type "K T B." That's what we call her....Katie B and sometimes we do pronounce it K T B. I thought it so cute!

USNLMA

Brittanie has been nominated by Major Norton as a USAA Leadership winner. She now qualifies for scholarships. This is the second time she has been recognized for her leadership abilities. Last year she was inducted in the Society of Distinguished American High School Students. We are very proud of her. Major Norton is tough to impress. So it is quite an honor to be his choice for this.

Wife Swap

Tom and I were watching an episode of "Wife Swap" tonight and they swapped a Christian African American woman from North Carolina with an atheist, freakish white woman from California. The atheist dad was rude and down right mean at the mention of God. He was a real jerk. The African American woman told him that he prides himself on being open minded and wants his kids to chose things for themselves, but yet is extremely close minded and won't let his kids even entertain the thought of God. He thought about it and decided to go to church with her. Well she found a church in California to take them to, obviously it wasn't her home church since she is from North Carolina, but she found one that is much like her home church. The church opened their arms and their hearts to him and his children. They played games, got to know them, etc. It had to be hard for them because their kids were tattooed like their freakish mom and one even had a mohawk. But nobody in the church cared about their outward appearance. The dad made a VERY profound statement. He said "If this is what Christianity is all about, I need to rethink my position because these people have treated me and my family with love and respect and welcomed us into their fold."

THAT is how Christianity is supposed to be. It isn't supposed to be picking apart someone for the way they dress. Afterall, being a Christian is a heart conversion, which comes from within. I wondered how many churches, good Bible believing Christian churches, across America would have welcomed this man and his children the way this church in California did. None of their members were tattooed and pierced everywhere, wearing freakish hairstyles. But they looked past the outward and loved that person like God commands us to do. So much emphasis is placed on clothing in churches across the country that it is no wonder people don't want to go.

Right after my dad died, my mom came to stay with us for awhile. She came to meet me at my job one Wednesday night and we left my office and went straight to church. I got off late so my mom didn't have time to go home and change into a dress or skirt like we thought she would. That night at church, over half of the people we crossed paths with looked down at her pants/looked her up and down. She said she has never felt so uncomfortable in her life. These people didn't know if she was unsaved or that she had just lost her husband of 54 years. That didn't seem to matter because she was in pants!!!!! The God I love, who sent his son to save pants wearers as well as skirt and dress wearers, would not approve of that holier than thou/look down your nose junk.

We need to all take a lesson from this church in California as well as "Big Mama" (that was her nickname on the show) and love one another like the Bible says.....no matter how they look!

Katie stuff

We got back Katie's K3 class picture and her second report card of the year. They really really should have used Tom's cousin, Jenny, for class pictures because these pictures are awful. They are blurry and obviously the photographer wasn't too good....only two kids are smiling. It is really hard to find a good photographer these days.By the way, the pretty little girl in the red sweater is Ashley...the one Katie is always saying she can't stand. I think Ashley and Katie are both leaders in the class struggling to become the boss. I honestly think they don't like each other because they are too much alike.

I am very proud of Katie's report card. In case you can't read the comments, it says "Katie excels at school. She is a leader among her classmates. Katie is very cooperative and cares about her friends." I knew she was a leader....she is very bossy at home. hehehe She loves school and her teacher, Mrs. Barnes, is excellent. She had a medical issue at the beginning of the year and was out for 6weeks, coming back right after Thanksgiving. Katie had Mrs. Nicholson for those six weeks and she was excellent as well. Grace has an outstanding Kindergarden program. The teachers are so loving and caring and very good at what they do. Katie has learned ALOT in just a short time.
(click to enlarge either picture)

Weekend update

We had a pretty quiet weekend so I decided to make just one post to cover the whole weekend.

I promised Brittanie that when her contract with Verizon ran out in May, I would get her a Cingular phone since it actually has signal in Gaston. Well now that Taylor is here, I decided not to wait. I gave Taylor Brittanie's Verizon phone and bought Brittanie a Cingular phone....a red Razr. I wanted Taylor to have a cell phone because the school has a rule of not letting them call home. I HATE that rule. If my kids need me, I want them to be able to call me. I understand the rule because they have 500+ students in Taylor's school and 1000 at Brittanie's school. If they all tried to use the phone, it would be chaos. But Taylor's teacher told them they could have a cell phone, as long as they keep it in their pocket, turn off the ringer, and never use it in class. This phone is perfect for Taylor because she won't run up the bill because it doesn't work at our house (she can use the house phone if she is at home anyway) and the contract runs out in May, which is when she is going back to Louisiana. It is also tiny and so is Taylor. So it will do well in her pockets. The Razr came in Friday and both Brittanie and Taylor were very excited Friday night with their new phones.

Saturday, Frank and Lynn came over with their daughter and her boyfriend and played Pictionary with us. Tom was in a GREAT mood and sometimes his great moods are worse than his bad moods. He was picking on everyone! Fortunately, they are like family so they didn't take his picking seriously. But there was no living with him after they left. We played several games with different combinations of players and the team he was on won everytime! He had a hard time getting that swollen head through the bedroom door that night. lol But we had a really good time. We got a big 3 foot sub, had cheese and salsa dip, chips, and Lynn's DELICIOUS Heath bar cookies. They love our dip and we love their cookies. Lynn let us have the cookies that were left....they didn't last long. They were gone by Sunday morning.

Tom didn't realize that the cookies were actually Heath bar cookies. He thought they were cookies with toffee. So the chocolate gave him a migraine today. He suffered with it all day. I know migraines are miserable. But those cookies are worth it!

Saturday night after everyone left, Taylor got homesick. She was sitting on the sofa and then said she was going to bed. Katie said "good" and we fussed at her and told her she was NOT allowed to be mean or ugly. Taylor went upstairs to meet Brittanie and shortly after, Brittanie came down with Taylor and Taylor was crying. She said Katie had been mean to her all day and was even hitting her. Taylor would never hit her back....even though she should. We told her that she needs to tell us everytime Katie is mean and when she hits her because she is 4 and we can't punish her hours after she does something....she won't understand. She has to be dealt with immediately when she does something. Katie is something else. She can be sweet as pie one minute and mean as the devil the next. I hugged Taylor for a bit and let her know we love her and we are so glad she is with us and that being homesick is very normal. Brittanie took her upstairs and talked to her for awhile. When they came back down, Taylor was smiling and laughing and they were talking about going skating next week. They wanted to go Monday night but can't because the rink isn't open again till Friday night. So we will take her then. Brittanie is going to take her one day this week to get her own roller blades before Friday. I'm going to get Katie some too so she and Taylor can skate outside too.

Today was really quiet. Tom watched the football games while holding his head. I think it finally broke around 9pm but it gave him body aches all over. He just can't eat ANY chocolate or the migraines will kick his butt.

Taylor's first day of school

Taylor had a great day at school. She made some friends and they liked her outfit. There was a girl in one of her classes who had the same shirt on. She was amazed at how big, clean, and new her school was. She liked being able to pick what she wanted for lunch. She really likes her teachers too. I asked her on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best day she has ever had at school and 1 being the worst, how would she rate her day at school and she rated it a 10. She couldn't wait to call and tell her mom and dad what a great day she had.When she got back home from school, she played a little outside with Katie, came in and did her homework, and then went back out to ride the Jeep with Katie.Tom got home while I was out there taking pictures of them riding in Katie's Jeep. So I took a
couple of pictures of Belle because I didn't have any. Belle has a routine she follows everyday that Tom comes home. When Tom opens the door of his truck, Belle jumps up with her paws on Tom's seat and waits to be petted.