Brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Winter storm hit us pretty hard last night. No snow but lots of ice. 500 schools closings which included my kids school so I have stayed home with them. Not that I would have drove on ice to begin with because I feel much saver at home then with all the crazies on the road that have no clue how to drive.

Compass Camp

Fun, fun fun!!!
We learned so much at this camp. More then I thought could be possible. Learned that I am a five stepper and Kay is a two stepper. Learned how to get 100 ft by sight (although I'm not sure I could do it right now without thinking about it for a minute) We did a sort of scavenger hunt at night with our compasses and a GPS. Out of 5 troops we took 2nd and we were the youngest troop there! Pretty impressive if I must say so.
We were cold though (I tend to get very grumpy when I am cold!) We were outside most of the day and it was yucky cold.
We did get to stay in the tree house though and they are heated cabins....thank goodness! I can't handle sleeping in the cold!
lots of fun.

GS Compass Camp

January Book finished

My 2008 resolutions are starting with a bang. I finished my January book and it was fantastic!

A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity by Bill O'Reilly

He is my absolute favorite news show and his book was wonderful. I have read a couple of his other books but this was best by far. Talking about his childhood and the way he was raised. Fabulous! I totally recommend this book.
4 out of 5 stars

You Can Paint

We went to a painting workshop for Girl Scouts yesterday. We painted 2 pictures. 1 with oils and 1 with watercolors. It was fun and if you look at the pictures they actually turned out pretty good.

Alligator Ophthalmologist

The reason I started this blog with the word alligator is because of Aaron. My very sweet little boy. I am going to give you a quick back ground story as to why we say it (in case you don't know) and then I will tell you why I say "Alligator Ophthalmologist."

When I would take Aaron to daycare I would say "see ya later alligator" when I left. Very common phrase that I am sure most of you if not all of you have heard. He picked up on this when he started talking but he would just say "alligator" so we all shortened it to "alligator" whenever we left. We don't use it often anymore but every now and again I think back and remember how he was as a baby......his chubby cheeks with the very blond hair saying "alligator" to his mommy. Cute cute cute! Very fond memory.

No as to why we are saying this to the eye doctor. Aaron has been seeing the ophthalmologist since he was about 4 months old (maybe it was 5 months) we have come to know the doctor quite well. Sitting in his waiting room, getting the eye drops into his eyes, the doctor looking in his eyes with the flashlight. Lots of good appointments but at the same time some very scary appointments. We know this doctor well and we have very bitter-sweet memories with our friend. Aaron had his yearly check up on Monday. The Dr. came in and looked in his eyes and then they dilated them to get a deeper look. He started out by telling me that "the worst case would be that the nodules had moved to the optic nerve......." I caught my breath and said "what?" to which he responded to me "no no everything is fine, that is the worst case scenario" I started to breath again. He said that would be the worst case but he sees none of that and Aaron just has a little bit of near sightedness and will probably need glasses within the next couple of years. He told me to continue having him see the Optometrist but that he was going to discharge Aaron. We should come back if we ever notice anything or if the optometrist ever says there is anything strange but he thinks everything is fine and we don't need him any more. Relief washed over me. I have been waiting to hear these words almost 8 years now and they have finally come to be.
This is why I say "Alligator Ophthalmologist" It is a term of endearment to our friend the doctor. He will be missed but it was music to our ears to have him say those beautiful words.

Look at this mom

Christmas Cactus up above.......remains of a Aloe Vera plant down below.

My mom gave me this plant when Matt and I bought our first house in Rapid. A Christmas Catus that is quite moody but if you leave it alone it will be happy. Well all of these years I have left it alone. I don't move it often and I water it when it looks a little dry but not droopy. It has never bloomed for me....not once! there has actually been times when I thought maybe it was dead and just stayed looking green. Regardless I continued to ignore it and water it. A couple of weeks ago I discovered that my aloe vera plant was in serious need of some attention and sunlight. I decided to move it to the bathroom window by the Christmas cactus because it gets the best sunlight. I had no idea this would cause a shock to my aloe plant but make my Christmas cactus thrive!

Signs of Spring.....

To bad it iced the next day and froze everything.

Girl Scout cookie time is here

The start of selling GS cookies was on Friday. I took the order form up to work and Aunt Skris took one to her work and we kept one here to walk around the neighborhood. We just got back and I have to tell you the sales are not that great! We have always sold a ton in the neighborhood but this year is a complete bust. I guess we are going to be at a lot of booth sales this year!

This is my horoscope for 2009

Year 2009 Overview

Wonderful things are in store for you this year, Virgo! You're experiencing tremendous feelings of rebirth and, as you release old ways of expressing yourself, you'll find yourself walking into all kinds of new experiences. Virgo loves to make sure everything is clear, concise and methodical, and this will help make it easy for you to graciously receive and beautifully adapt to the growth you are experiencing. You'll feel very peaceful with the changes happening both inside and outside of you, and you welcome the opportunity to express the new knowledge you gain.
There's a renaissance going on within you that seems to have been asleep for sometime now. You discover where the doorway is and are ready to consciously find new meaning in your life, and to manifest who you are in your own way. Mentally, culturally, instinctually and spiritually, you'll be going through incredible transformation this year. Your fresh take on life will give you the ability to manifest a new reality. You take a big leap forward as you share these changes with others.
A re-emergence of your inventive and creative self will give you new ways of taking action and bringing your talents into the world. You will feel secure, safe and centered, which allows you to achieve anything you want in your life. You will feel more spiritually balanced in 2009 than ever before.

Happy New Year

I signed on to blogger last night to type this post so that it would be fresh into the new year but for some reason blogger wasn't working very well last night. I'm not sure if they were doing updates or if there was so many people signed on that it made it really slow.

Anyway here is is my midnight photo. My introduction to the year 2009. It is going to be a fantastic year.

Last year my resolutions were to become more informed politically and to read a book a month. I succeeded in both of these and was very proud of myself for fulfilling these resolutions.

I decided this year that I am going to keep up the book a month resolution, keep up the more informed politically resolution with adding to it that I will learn more about what is going on in the world whether that be with wars in other countries or learning more about other animals and people in other countries. And I am also going t0 make sure that Jackie boy and Angel get out and get walked more.

There you have my new resolutions for the new year. Wish me luck.

This is what Matt made for dinner

As you can see Kaylee was a little hesitant at first but she did end up really liking the lobster. She said the crab had a good flavor but she didn't like the texture. Matt didn't put the shrimp and crawfish in the gumbo because Aaron and I do not like seafood. it was really good with just the chicken and sausage.