Happy Thanksgiving!

Most of us are celebrating this holiday by stuffing our faces and watching football games because we're to full to do anything else. Some of us use this time to reflect on what we're grateful for. A few may actually see this as the holiday that we were taught in school in which the pilgrims had a feast with friends to be grateful for the bounty that the Lord had given them. However, the best explanation that I have read for this holiday is from a website called skateandannoy.com.

"For our readers outside of the States, we’re celebrating the memory of the white man spreading small pox to the indigenous population of North America, otherwise known as Thanksgiving. We cook and eat turkeys to commemorate it." -Kilwag

Hope you have a healthy holiday!

A Good Saturday

Although Sunday and now Monday seem pretty depressing, we did have a really good Saturday. Jillian was actually a model kid and only had one minor fit all day. She went to the bathroom on the potty every time and was really pleasant to be around. In the afternoon we took a bike ride (Jillian was in the bike trailer) to the park to feed the ducks. Here a few pictures from our trip.

Here We Go Again...

Jillian got another fever last night. 103.2. I give up... Today, she woke up and after much coaxing, let Dada take her temp and it was 101.7. I stayed home this morning and John took the afternoon shift which included a trip to the doctor! We'll keep you all posted. I hope the doctor has some magic feel better pills. 

*on another note, Missy is really slowing down and her legs seem to be giving her some trouble. She is pretty much deaf, unless the noise is really loud and then she jumps. She is spending most of her time sleeping (nothing new) and hanging really close to us. I think the cold weather is getting to her because she slept under a blanket the other night.  Photo to follow. 

Keep Miss-Dog in your thoughts!

I'M SICK OF IT...

So I came home last Friday night not feeling so well. By Saturday morning I was done. Fever, chills, etc. I spent the whole weekend on the couch while John played mommy and daddy to Jillian. Went to work on Monday feeling so weak. It was the first time I had spent more than 2 minutes in the vertical position. Not to mention that all of my kids at school were sick in some form or another... wonder where I got mine?

Anyway, I pick up Jillian at school Monday afternoon and her teacher says she didn't nap too well because of a cough. 

I put her to bed that night with some tylenol and hoped for the best. 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning I thought I would still be asleep. John had already gone in to check on Jillian and brought her into bed to sleep more. Jillian and I had the day off (veteran's day) so we had a couple errands planned. Well, Jillian's cough got bad and puked all over me!  FYI: puking on a parent means "I LOVE YOU."  

Took her to the doctor, just a virus, the doctor was very nice. Who knew that Mao Mao and I have heart beats in our knees?  Her temp has gone from 101.0 to 103.0, that's one hot tamale! Spent the day lovingly caring for my offspring, and will stay home and do it again tomorrow. 

Just want to say, "Thanks Mom!!!!"  You are a truly selfless, wonderful woman!

A disease

It's a disease I tell you. It's not like every board that I see I go gaga over, but sometimes I just see a board that calls to me. Luckily the surfboards that do are too expensive. The one above is an example.

It's kind of a funny phenomenon. We have what we need but are always looking at something else that is totally impractical. Like the teenage boy who has posters of expensive sports cars on his wall and dreams of owning one. The majority of them will never be able to buy one. Or the woman who has 30+ shoes but always looks for more.

Well, I'm not getting anymore surfboards, but if I could only have one would it be the one above? Well, it would be until the next one caught my eye.

Bicycle

Now that the rain has started here, mountain bike season is pretty much over. I got two good rides in before that time started. I also missed two good days of waves in doing it. Now there are no waves in the near future and the nearest mountain biking is probably 3 hours drive away. What to do, what to do.

Presidents

Hunter sent me this collage of the presidents. I'm not sure who originally did it (possibly Patrick Moberg?), but it's cool.

A New President and hopefully more.

I'm sure you all know about the election results by now. If not then you just came out of a coma. For those of you wondering, I did vote. I was truly unsure if I would after being completely disillusioned in the past two elections. I'm still not sure if my vote matters, however. But that isn't my point here.
What is truly amazing to me is that we have a black man as President. Growing up in Texas, the n-word was used commonly at family gatherings. I don't believe that they meant it in a derogatory way (at least most of the time), but more as what was taught to them growing up. Lucky for me, my parents were different. I was raised in a house where I was taught not to judge others solely based on skin color. We were, and are just people. However, I would have never thought I'd see a black man as our President in my lifetime. In fact I'd thought we'd see a woman President before that ever happened.
I'm truly glad to see that the consensus of people in the United States have actually come as far as they have to see beyond color and to see people as people. It was only 40-50 years ago in which lynchings of black men in the south were a reality. I truly believe that this is the biggest thing I have ever witnessed in my short lifetime. That includes the Berlin Wall coming down, the fall of the Soviet Union, the ending of Apartheid, the World Trade Center coming down, and the Space Shuttle both launching and exploding. I can actually say that I'm proud of human beings today. Hopefully this is the beginning of bigger things to come.

YES! YES! YES!

OBAMA!

no need for anything else...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Jillian and I saw a picture of Penelope' Cruz and I said in a funny accent that every one in the world thinks that she is beautiful. Jillian turned to me and said, "No Mama, she's not." I asked her who she thought was beautiful and she said, "YOU!"  I had to give her some love for that one!!! When she's good, she's good. 

Then I went into the bedroom and asked John if he paid her...

We'll Always Have Next Year!

So we were sitting around the T.V. Saturday night watching the Texas vs Texas Tech game and it was looking really grim until Texas scores a touch down and is actually ahead. The next thing we know, Texas Tech sneaks in a final touch down (seconds remaining) and seals the fate of the Longhorns. A crushing 39-33. Yikes!  John is searching the internet for any hope that his beloved team can still be National Champions! It's gonna be a rough season at our house.

Trick or Treat

This was the first year we took Jillian out to Trick O Treat. We drove over to Uncle Hunter's house for some chocolate and then over to Jillian's Best Friend Owen's house.  She was so excited that she yelled "Trick o Treat" really loud before Hunter even opened the door!

After our visits, we came home and answered the door till 8p.m. and off to bed she went. It was a fun night and she is very excited to do it again next year.