I have my Christmas tree up now. I'm very pleased with it. Kris let me go and buy new lights and garland. They make some really cool garland now--not that silvery stuff that falls off. So I got some that have snowflakes on them. Anyway, I'm really into putting pictures up here on my blog, so here are a few more!

I finally have two floral arrangements I am mostly satisfied with. Kris apparently really liked them. Kris has been working on our website for the floral arrangements...he wants us to put them on Froogle and see what happens. We might put the Christmas ones on there. We'll see. Anyway, here are the two I did today. If you know anyone who likes these kinds of things, feel free to pass on my name or my sister's! :)

It's been a long couple of days. Kris came home last Wednesday (right before Thanksgiving) and told me I needed to type this inventory list in by Monday morning. It was 170 pages, which with 4 days to do it wouldn't have been a problem, had it not been a holiday. Jenny and Raju were in Wednesday night, then we had company over for Thanksgiving, then we went shopping and out on Friday and so I didn't get started on it until about 3pm on Saturday. I finished it up around 12:45am today. But on the bright side...I do get paid for the 16 hours that I worked on it. I need that--since I spent way too much at Kohl's! But I got a lot of great deals and most of the shopping for Kris and the kids is done. Plus, they were giving out Kohl's cash for spending certain amounts, and I ended up leaving with $70 in Kohl's cash. I gave it to Kris yesterday, along with a few items to return and he did some Christmas shopping for me. It's seems strange, though I know it's not really--Kris' paychecks go for the bills, so I have to give him money to get ME Christmas presents. But I guess before I was working he would give me money to get him presents!


I put my Christmas tree up today. It was nice to have a break from that inventory list and be able to do something that I wanted to do. Some evening when we are all home together, Kris and the kids and I will put the ornaments on. I have water aerobics tonight--so maybe tomorrow. I'm hoping to wrap some presents and put together some floral arrangements today. Jenny and I sort of 'officially' have our own little online business. Katherine gave us the name "Two Blossoms", which seemed to fit perfectly. We aren't active yet--we'd like to build an inventory first...but Jenny got about 7 done this weekend out here. Here are a couple of pictures of them. I think they turned out great.


I think that this one is my favorite on that she has done. We got so many great deals on the fall floral stems. They were 75-90% off at Garden Ridge, so we just stocked up. Some of the things I got were .01 and .17 cents. Crazy!








Then this one for the holiday season is really pretty too. She did a good job.

Well Thanksgiving is over and Christmas will be here before we know it. My sister Jenny and her husband Raju were out here this weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. I did WAY too much shopping, but at least I have a job that can actually help pay for it! They just left a little bit ago. But Jenny and Raju brought little outfits (indian ones) for Kaleb and Katherine. Raju is from Bangledesh and so they wanted the kids to have the traditional 'costumes'/clothing from that culture. The kids looked really cute. Here is a picture of Katherine and Kaleb with their Uncle Raju in their little outfits. They looked really cute. Kaleb wants to wear his ALL the time. He really likes it.

It was funny, though because the first time he put his on, and I saw him in it...it looked just a little strange. Check it out--in case you can't see, the character is Spongebob! He's so weird sometimes!-Not in a bad way!

This picture turned out really cute--their expressions. Plus it is a better picture of the entire outfit that they have on. Katherine got these bangles that she really likes. And it's cute to 'hear' her walking around because of the jingling they make. See!! I finally put some pictures of Katherine and Kaleb on here! Of course, it's not a picture of them in their Halloween costumes like I've promised...but one day...maybe next year on those. :)

And this last one of Katherine just shows how...hmm...what's the word....well, it's just part of her personality I think. She just looks really cute in it, I think.

A duck was the culprit with the bird flu thing. H5N1 virus--the bird flu. "It could be a catastrophe." The chances of getting a vaccine if there is an outbreak of the bird flu is likely to be 0. Worst case scenario-2-300,000 people could die in the US. The best hope to stop the bird flu is containment. Entire hospital wings WILL turn into isolation chambers. A 2 week quarantine will be required. Retail stores and shopping malls may close. Bank may be drive through only. In a bad outbreak--SCHOOLS WILL CLOSE FIRST! Keep the bird flu away in that case! We'll have to wear masks. Steps to plan for bird flu--buy a mask. They say that you can get more info (especially what steps we can take) on their website. I'm going to check it out.

Here is a line that is on the KMOV website regarding the bird flu: "So far, the virus is not passing from human to human, but if that does happens, there could be millions of deaths worldwide. " This next line just makes me laugh: "In this jet age a human bird virus could spread around the globe in a matter of hours." I understand what they are trying to say, but if you take that sentence as is....um...are there human birds? It seems to me that of course if there were human birds with a virus that yes it could spread quickly, but are we really at risk if there is not even a human bird in existence?

Kris is trying to help me understand this. A guy said that there was a 100% certainty that there would be an outbreak. Kris tells me that basically all that means is that at some point there will be some sort of outbreak of something. The people on channel 4 act like it has already happened and that the danger is imminent. Kris just said we needed to buy masks. Maybe I should start an internet business where I custom design face masks for when the outbreak of the bird flu hits. I wonder if I could make some money that way!

Ok, I don't want you to stop reading my blog because this topic bores you....but I just checked out the website on what we can do to help prevent spreading the bird flu...and it was hilarious. Maybe I should take this a little more seriously....but I just can't. If there is an outbreak of the bird flu--you can all send me a letter scolding me for mocking channel 4's over-exagerrated concern for the bird flu-but make sure you write it in the sunlight and that you are wearing a mask and surgical gloves when you are writing it. Apparently....the bleach and the sunlight will be our friends WHEN (because apparently it will) it stikes. This is the last thing I will put about the bird flu for now....there was a link on KMOV's website: http://www.avian-bird-flu.info/birdfluprotection.html. Take a look at it if you'd like. I found it very amusing. Here are some of my favorite bird flu protection suggestions (things in red and parentheses are my own comments):

If possible make sure all interactions with non-family members take place outdoors in full sunlight. Ultra-violet light kills viruses

Get your groceries and other essential purchases delivered (sounds to me like another way to make money). Keep the transaction in sunlight.

Spray or dip the contents with dilute bleach solution to disinfect. This includes fruits and vegetables. You can always rinse the solution off before eating them (in case you had concerns about eating the bleach solution and wouldn't have thought to wash off the solution).

Wear a flu mask, and insist on others wearing one as well (INSIST!).

Do not touch anyone. (EVER--make sure you avoid any kind of contact with anyone else ever)

After leaving work, you should strip, and shower, before touching anyone.

Leave your clothes outside exposed to sunlight to sterilize. (I guess washing them just will not be enough, even with a bleach solution)

Wash clothes and allow to air dry outside if at all possible.

"Hunting will only be a danger for the deer." Read it again.

"Hunting will only be a danger for the deer." Seriously--think about it.

Is this the news they come up with now? Were there no other pressing stories? This was one of the top stories tonight on channel 4. I'm confused. Why, first of all is that a top story, and second of all, was there ever a time when hunting was NOT a danger for the deer?

We actually have channel 4 on so that I can find out about that crazy bird flu. I think what intrigues me the most is how serious channel 4 makes it out to be as they describe the upcoming report. They start talking vaguely about this bird flu, and then say things like "Will you be able to go to work? Will your kids be able to go to school?" Find out they tell me, so find out I will and I will let you know what I find.

I had a bad Weight Watchers week last week, but I am back on track today and hopefully will make it through the thanksgiving holiday unscathed! I'm determined to keep going and by summer my goal is to be ABLE to wear a bikini and feel comfortable in it. I will NOT however, actually wear a bikini--I just want to be thin enough to feel like I could wear one if I wanted to. I'll finish up my water aerobics class at the YMCA this session and next session I think Kris and I are going to try to Absolute Abs class.

Has anyone heard of this bird flu? Apparently Monday on channel 4 we can get all the info we need--whether we have what we need in St. Louis to deal with it, etc....bird flu? Does a bird have to peck you first? Do you have to catch a bird and spend a certain amount of time petting it and being around it? Do you have to drink out of the same glass that a bird has been drinking out of? Anyway...

Kris and I had our first day (afternoon anyway) out without the kids. It was fun. We got to spend some time together without having to worry about even a new baby. We should do that more often. Not that I don't like the babies...I do, but it sure is nice to have a few hours off.

In fact, we get another night on Friday...my sister and her husband are coming in for Thanksgiving and the four of us are going out on Friday night. Should be fun. My sister Jenny and I are going to brave the crowds on what is apparently called Black Friday. There is a website that shows you the stores and the specific items that will be on sale. I HAVE to go to best buy--not for myself of course. Kris and I have about 50 best buy bucks and you can use them all on a larger item so I'm sure I can find something to get him for Christmas from there. The website to find the stores and deals is: http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/. It's cool...you can click on each store and find out what their specials will be.

I am hoping that a few months from now the pictures will look even better, but for now, this is the first time I've had a picture taken of me in a long time, and I thought I would put a couple on here. I am amazed that I got as large as I did. Look at these-the first is me at my largest, and the second is me presently.

Abbey is home now from Branson. She went with Cindy for the weekend. She actually came home Monday night but I am just now writing about it. I've been busy trying to get some work done so we have some money for Christmas. And someone answer me this--why does personal property tax have to be due right at the same time as Christmas? I think that is stupid. Nothing says "forget holiday spirit" like a $200 bill for personal property tax! Oh well.

Anyway, I think Abbey had a good time. She went to see the Dixie Stampede. She didn't tell me too much about her trip--basically she just answered my yes and no questions. She looked big to me when she came back.

Olivia is getting much more expressive now. It's fun to sit and talk to her. I make little noises and she smiles and tries to mimic them. Kris got to see it last night for the first time. It was cute.

The pictures are from Abbey's trip. I still don't have Katherine and Kaleb's halloween pictures on here do I? Maybe someday I'll get around to it.

I think it is really strange that Abbey was drinking out of a cowboy boot cup. Apparently Cindy and Dean didn't want theirs (they were probably frightened of them) because I ended up with three of them. I'll have to figure out how to sneak them back into their house! I guess it's all part of the atmosphere at the Dixie stampede. Who knows!

Here are a few new pictures of Olivia. Cindy has my digital camera this weekend and hopefully she will get a couple of shots of Abbey that turn out. She has a habit of taking terrible pictures but I just can't see how you can mess up on a digital camera. We'll see.

I know she looks just like the other girls...for all you know these could be pictures of Abbey. Oh wait...we don't have very many pictures of her! Having some space in between helps with getting back to taking lots of pictures. Poor Abbey and Kaleb. I'm sure they will survive!

I woke up this morning and went to get Abbey some milk and saw the strangest thing in my refrigerator. There, bunched up on the bottom shelf was Abbey's blanket that she sleeps with. She's so strange. I looked at her and laughed and said "Abbey, what is your blanket doing in the refrigerator??" She just looked up and smiled, like it was the most natural thing in the world to put her blanket in the fridge. And so I left it there. I figured there was no harm in it and if she put it in there, she could take it out if she wanted it. So when we were getting ready to leave the house, I told her to go and get her blanket. So she went and got it out of the fridge and said "My blankie cold." It was funny.

Abbey is gone until Monday. She got to go with Grandma to Branson. Kat and Kaleb have taken individual trips and this will be Abbey's first. She was pretty excited. She gets to go and see Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede or whatever that popular thing is there. I'm sure she will have a blast.

Tonight we went up to a harvest party at church. The kids had fun. Not that we didn't--we had fun too. It was the first time I've played bridge with real people (for a while we just played online quite a bit) in a long time. It was a lot of fun. We played with our friend Mary and her son Jason. The entire time at least one of us had a small child in our arms. Things have changed from 2 years ago when Kris and I were the only ones with kids in our arms during a bridge game. It was really fun though. I miss playing. We talked briefly about starting something up at the church where we teach people to play and then we can have our own little bridge club. Yeah, that may not sound fun to most of you (and when I say most of you--that could be no one because how often do people really read this???), but we like it.

I do hate when we have gatherings with food though. It makes it so difficult to stay within my Weight Watcher point range. I had done really well and still had a good deal of points left when I left the house tonight, but I think I have used all of my flex points for the week, which means I'll have to be really careful tomorrow and Sunday. I was trying to save them up because I knew I was going to Bread Company tomorrow...and my Cinnamon Crunch Bagel favorite with Hazelnut Cream Cheese is 12 points by itself...it will have to be breakfast and lunch if I want to stay within my points tomorrow. Maybe if I am lucky I'll get really full after half of it! We'll see.

Hopefully I'll make it to the Y tomorrow. I have already gone three times this week. It feels good to exercise. I walked/ran a mile on Thursday--18 laps = 1 mile...I alternated between walking and running but in reality I think I only ran 4 of the 18 and walked the rest. BUT....a year ago I couldn't have run even one lap and walking 18 of them would have bored me to death! But I'm motivated now that my size 12's (which I have just recently gotten down to) are starting to feel loose. I'd be happy at a 10....that's what I was in college....my secret goal is an 8, but I'll settle for a 10!

Well, I should try to get some sleep. The weekends seem to be the only time I can get any sleep. Kris is pretty good about helping out during the night on the weekends...I'm so blessed to have a husband like him.

Last night Katherine was awake after the others went to sleep. Kris had let her have a book in bed and I heard her in there trying to apply what she has been learning at school. So, she was in there reading some of the blends and trying to sound out the words, all by herself with no one around. She loves reading, even though she isn't technically reading yet. But she can spell most three letter words you give her to spell. It's awesome to watch her learn.

I went to Kris' office last night to get some work done. They had been having problems for about 5 days so I couldn't do anything...which means no money was made! But I'm back on it now and have plenty to do. I hope to get more done from home today.

All the kids are sick--well, they have colds. I heard Katherine coughing all night. Abbey's got the disgusting runny nose that causes her hair to stick to her face constantly! Kaleb has a sore throat and cough, but he refuses to take the liquid cough/cold medicine. The only medicine I can get him to take willingly are those Tylenol meltaways. Well, they help with fever, which he doesn't have. I have to literally force him to swallow the other stuff and it's just not worth the fight. Kris gets frustrated with him, thinking he is just being stubborn....but I understand Kaleb in that all too well. I hated taking medicine, still do. I could not and still cannot handle swallowing the liquid cough medicine. It makes me gag and want to throw up. But there isn't any kind of pill for kids that I can give him...plus how do you teach a four year old how to swallow a pill? Poor kid. It was frustrating when he kept spitting the medicine back out over and over again...but I felt bad for him because I knew exactly what he was going through.

How is it that when you start working, your paychecks are spent long before you get them? I got paid yesterday and of the $174, I only have $30. I would've had $70 but we bought some books from Scholastic for the kids for Christmas (which Cindy already paid for) and I still owed Cindy money for Abbey's dollhouse we chipped in for, for her birthday. Oh well. That's actually not bad, the $30, considering Kris gets paid again next Tuesday and hopefully I'll get a lot done so my next check will be pretty significant.

I'm excited tonight to be able to blog about something cute that Katherine did. I know it seems like I favor Abbey--I don't. It's just that she's the one that is with me all the time. We just put the kids in bed and I was in the living room with Olivia. Katherine and Kaleb get to listen to music at night and Katherine has this CD of Bible/Sunday School songs that she likes to listen to. And she is starting to learn the words to some of them and it's cute to sit in the other room and hear her singing different parts of the songs. Well, I was so proud when I heard her singing "The rains came down and the floods came up" along with the CD. My proudest moment and one that gives you one of those ear to ear grins is when the "O you can't get to heaven" song came on. I kind of heard her singing along, but then there was the rocking chair verse. When that one started, I heard her sing "Oh you can't get to heaven, in a rocking chair" and then she just started giggling. She kept singing that verse, giggling the whole way through. I tried to get Kris to come in and listen, but on the next verse she wasn't giggling. Well, at the end of the verse, I figured out why. It said "oh you can't get to heaven, in a limousine...." And she was singing along and as soon as that verse was over, she said (to herself) "what's a limousine anyway?" It was adorable and hilarious at the same time!

Abbey ended up having a cold and kind of throwing up this morning. So I will not be going to Indiana until Friday. But I think I have convinced Kris to leave early so hopefully we will be in before 9pm that night. With stopping to feed the baby and the hour time difference the 4 hour trip will feel like 6 hours. But it will be better than getting in at midnight.

I wasn't able to get pictures of Katherine and Kaleb in their Halloween costumes yet. I'll have to have them put them on soon and get those. I do however have pictures of Abbey and Olivia in their costumes. At first, I had Abbey as a lady bug and then decided to put it on Katherine. But I do have a picture of Abbey in the lady bug costume as well as in her princess costume. Olivia is a little lamb. All of them were cute. So I thought I'd share those pictures with you and I will put Katherine and Kaleb's on here when I get them.

I started my pre/postnatal water aerobics at the Y last night. Kris and I figure that for $60 a month, it's a real deal for us, since we get 'free' babysitting for 4 kids each time we go. We definitly think it is worth it just for that--and beyond that, we get the added benefit of working out and raquetball which both of us love. The class was fun. It aggravated my ankle, but it is feeling better this evening.

I am in a hurry to get this blog done--I need to finish packing. I decided last minute to head out to Indiana with Abbey and Olivia tomorrow. We were planning to all go out on Friday, but I am going to go out a little early and spend some time with my sister. Hopefully it will be a good drive and the girls will do well. This will be the first long trip with Olivia. We are having Thanksgiving dinner with my family this weekend. We are looking forward to that, of course. I'll have to save up some points (Weight Watchers) for the desserts, which are my real weakness.

Olivia is sleeping now. I should take advantage of it and finish packing and then go to bed...hopefully she will sleep for a while. I am getting up extremely early to babysit my friend Bethanie's 4 year old and her twin boys. That will be interesting. She tells me they should sleep until noon though, so hopefully that will be the case.

Ok...I'll try to get back in and update this again next week when I return. I can't believe it is November already.