New Year antics

I have been thinking that I needed to update family and friends on the going on's at our house.   We have been pretty busy doing lots of different things, but at the same time we haven't been as busy as I think we have.   I am seriously looking for a job.   And I would like to get my job back at my same hospital.  Since I have worked there for over 6 years and was vested after 5 years I hate to lose that.   Plus, I really like most of the people that I work with!   I have been applying and to date have applied for over 10 different positions there.   I am hoping that the recruitment staff gets tired of all my applications and eventually will call me in for an interview.   In the mean time we have had to switch over to Cobra insurance and of course after the first of the year the rates went up :(   So now we have been filing for Obama care and so far it looks like it will save us some money and hopefully it will be good insurance.

I have also filed for unemployment.    Since it seems that it will take a while to get my job back it was only a good idea to file for unemployment.   I need some income here!   I have my phone interview with them on the 4th.

Okay on to what has been going on around here with the girls.   New Years Eve the girls wanted to stay up and watch the ball drop.   I kind of figured that half of them would get tired and go to bed early, but I was wrong!   We had a toast of Sparkling Grape Juice for them and I had water.   The Dad couldn't hang with us girls and was sound asleep before 11:30 p.m.  

Kendalan participated in the 3rd and 4th grade Spelling Bee.   She did fantastic and we are really proud of her.   She won third place which is the alternate position.   So if one of the other two who won would be ill, Kendalan would fill in for that person.   She was broken hearted that she spelled her word wrong.   As soon as she spelled it she knew it was wrong.   The word was bassoon and she spelled it with only one O.  There were a lot of tears but she made it through.  And there is always next year.

The girls participated in their first Taekwondo tournament in Abilene a couple of weeks ago.   They were in the novice division as this was their first ever tournament.   They were a little nervous, but they all did great.   Kendalan was the first to battle.   She took first place in her form and sparring. Next Tessa, ZoraLin and Jordis were all in the 9 to 11 division.   Jordis and Tessa sparred each other and Jordis received first place in sparring, Tessa came in second and Zora was third.   Tessa received first for her forms, Jordis second and ZoraLin third.

RaeAnne participated in the 12 to 14 level.   She was the only novice in her group.  So she took first for sparring and her form.   All the girls were pretty excited to have gotten so many awards.  I think they may have the fever and we have another tourny coming up in Springfield, Missouri in February that we may go to.   Their Dad and I was super proud of the girls.   Mr. McCollum has said that RaeAnne turns into a whole different person when she puts on her sparring gear.  She becomes aggressive and really goes after her opponent.

Branson end of the year

So we have been in Branson since Saturday afternoon.   It was pretty nice when we arrived.   There were also lots of people out running around.   I bet it would have been the perfect day to go to Silver Dollar City.   Of course, we were ready to unload our suitcases, unpack and rest a while.   Instead we stopped at Bob Evans to have a bite to eat.   Then on to the hotel.   The hotel has a perpetual Christmas tree that they decorate for each season.   During Easter they had bunnies on it and it was so cute!   Now they have all their Christmas trees up and they are beautiful.   They look professionally decorated which are gorgeous, but I like trees like ours too that are decorated in ornaments that have been hand picked and some hand made by my girls.   It makes it home spun and beautiful in their own way.  I had to take some photos of the girls by the trees and then by the baby grand player piano that was decorated with nutcrackers!

Sunday was Daddy's 60th birthday!   It was a blustery cold day.   We slept in late and then went to IHop to eat breakfast along with half of Branson!   At least the line moved along pretty quickly.   We decided because it was so cold, we would skip SDC and go do some shopping at Best Buy.   Daddy had to buy himself a new Nook because his conveniently died on the way down!!   After we stopped there we decided to drive around town and see what else we miss when we don't just take our time to look.   We found a new shopping area that we have never been in before and we found the Cinema II which was playing "Frozen".   We parked and they said that the next show was in 10 minutes.  Great timing!!   And it was in 3D!   What a cute show!!!   We ALL liked it!!   What's better than kind of falling into being somewhere at the right time and having it all come out great!

Then it was time for Dad's birthday dinner choice.   He wanted to eat at Joe's Crab Shack.  Made all the rest of us happy too!   What wasn't so great was the cold frigid weather.  We managed to brave the cold weather anyway and Yummo was it good!   Jordis and I both had the steam pots..mmmmmmgood!   We were all happy with Dad's choice.

Monday was much warmer.   We slept in again...okay, I should say some of us slept in, others were bouncing out of bed and eating breakfast every morning.   My room was the slackers!  Rae, Zora and I missed breakfast each day, opting to sleep in till noon!   We hit the Tanger Outlet center where Zora, Tessa and I scored some new shoes.   Then we filled up our vehicle with gas and discovered Billy Bob's Hamburger place.   We had shakes, but we will definitely be back to eat there in the future!!

By then it was Dixie Stampede time!!   We found a front door parking spot and the girls posed with one of the greeters.   We then went in and watched the pre-show.  It was a different juggler act than we had seen last time.   This guy was really good and we enjoyed watching him.

Then time for the show!   We were rooting for the North.  Unfortunately the North lost but we had a great time and good food.   The girls were thrilled with the holiday show.   We were out of the show by 7pm and remarkably 76 Blvd was empty.   We were headed back to the hotel and we started talking about going to SDC to see the Christmas lights.   Traffic was so light that we were at SDC before 7:30pm.   Mark decided to sit in the car while the girls and I went in.   It was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!
We watched the light show at the large Christmas tree and then we headed down to the candy shop.  Had to stand in line for EVER for peanut brittle but walked out just as the parade was coming by.  The girls and I really enjoyed the parade and then we were ready to go back to the hotel.    Great day!

Ho Ho has left the house!

And what a mess is left behind!   The Chinese tornadoes ripped through their packages early Christmas morning.   Okay...Mom insisted on a little semblance of order.   We started opening one present at a time starting with the youngest and working our way to the oldest.   I caught a lot of smiles as the girls opened their gifts.   Ah, that always makes Mom happy because it must mean I made the right purchases!   The "sticks"  are Jahng Bong or a staff.   Weapons for self defense in Taekwondo.

After all the present were open the girls cleaned up all the wrapping paper and they sit down to work on projects they had received or play with some of the games they got.   Time for Mom to head off for a little winter's nap!   I had every intention of baking a turkey for Christmas.   Of course, when we went looking for a fresh turkey all we could find were frozen ones.   Well, I know you can thaw a turkey out quickly, but we compromised and bought a turkey breast from Honey Baked Ham & Turkey instead.   Not nearly as good as my turkey but we managed to eat it all up!

I would like to wish a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to the readers of my blog!!
And Yes that is a pink gun in some photos.   The girls received a 22 that they will be learning to shoot soon.

RaeAnne is 14!

I can't believe that my baby is growing up!!   December 21st she turned fourteen years old!   Her BFF Hollie was here from Lindsborg for the occasion.   We couldn't start the Winter Solstice without snow and our Kansas weather didn't disappoint.   They were predicting anywhere from 2 to 10 inches of snow with wind.   The girls went to Taekwondo practice that morning and then we were going to go to RaeAnne's choice of restaurant for dinner but the snow scared us off.   We did eat at IHop for lunch and that satisfied the girls for the afternoon.   They had to eat tuna casserole for supper but that was a hit too.

After we ate we got all the candles on Rae's cake.   She couldn't quite get them all blown out in one breath, it took her two.   Then we gave her present to her.   She was thrilled.   All she had been asking for her birthday and Christmas has been tickets to see 1 Direction in concert.   Dad and I looked into that and the closest they will be to us in 2014 is St. Louis, Missouri in August.   That would be after school had started.   The concert is on a Wednesday night so she would have to miss at least one day of school.   Dad suggested that I could drive her down and she could take one or two of her friends.  Well we found out that the tickets alone for four people would be $800.!!   So we had to break her heart and we gave her the next thing that she wanted which is a video camera.   This will be great to have a videographer in the family!!

Hollie and RaeAnne have been besties since Kindergarden.

Happy Bithday RaeAnne!   We love you to the moon and back!!

The next day we took RaeAnne and the crew to eat at HuHot.   That is a family favorite, well except for Mom, but I will put up with it for my girl!!

Tessa's red cast is off!

I am playing catch up.   December 17th I had my last dose of radiation!!!!   I am so glad that treatment is over!   Now let me catch up on Tessa.

December 18th we were in Overland Park at Children's Mercy South to have Tessa's cast taken off.

 We were anxious to see what her new hand looked like and so was Tessa.   The office was very full and it was obvious that they were busy.   After a long wait we were called back and Tessa was taken first to the cast removing room.   The nurse explained to Tessa what she was going to do.   The nurse told Tessa that the saw was very loud but it would not cut or hurt her in any way.   The nurse then put earplugs in her ears and started up the saw.   Tessa immediately asked if she could have some earplugs!   The nurse gave her some and got right down to work.   In no time the red cast was cut in half and removed.   Tessa made some very funny faces during that time!

After the cast was off, there was still the cotton wrap to remove from her arm and thumb.  Tessa watched the nurse very closely.  We finally got to see the thumb.   It had a pin in it just like the Doctor had told us it would.   Tessa was not very impressed with the thumb.   She said it looked funny and she really didn't like looking at the pin.   The thumb is still swollen but looks great to Dad and I.   Tessa then went to x-ray and we were put in an exam room.

Dr. Cheng came in and asked Tessa how it looked.   Tessa didn't lie, she told her she didn't like it!  The Dr. told her the same thing that we had, that once the swelling is gone it will look great.   Dr. Cheng removed the pin said that she would like to put a waterproof cast on it for a couple more weeks just to make the thumb more stable as it was still kind of "floppy."   So we headed into another room with another nurse who put on her waterproof cast.   She can actually go swimming in this cast, take showers or baths without having to wrap it in plastic and try and keep it dry.   She will get this cast off on December 27th.   She picked green for this cast in keeping with the Christmas colors.

I noticed that the return visit cards said that she will be having a cast "change" on the 27th but the Dr. had told us that she would be getting her cast off that day.   I will have to call and confirm exactly what will happen.   Right now she has been doing great with this lighter weight cast.   The hardest part is remembering to get the cast wet at least once a day.   They told us if we didn't that it could very easily stick to her skin when it is taken off.  Here she is with the green cast at home for RaeAnne's birthday...that is another post!!

Christmas is in the air.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!   At least in our little corner of the house.    I put the Christmas tree up the Monday after Thanksgiving and tonight the girls decorated it.   That was after Mom fell UP the stairs trying to get the big box of ornaments up to the living room.   Fortunately I didn't break anything and only took a little skin off my arm on the wall!

My helpers hung all the ornaments and they laughed a little over some ornaments that they had made over the years.   I had to give the oldest two the "As long as you are living in MY house you will follow MY rules speech to get them to wear a Santa hat and pose in front of the tree for me.   If you look close you will see a little look of unhappy with Mom glaze in their eyes!

It always makes me think of my Mom when we put up the tree as she made me so many ornaments in her last few years that I absolutely LOVE.   I miss you Mom!   I am sure that she is watching from above and is enjoying our Christmas too.

And our Christmas season would not be complete without Dasher here!   Our elf arrived Friday night and right in our undecorated tree.  Maybe he was trying to tell us something?!

Happy Holidays!!