Too busy to write

Clowing around with Lance at their house

Enjoying the lights at the Spauldings Christmas dinner

I have been SO busy lately, I just don't have time to blog. January is my busiest month as I have the Atlanta and Dallas Gift Markets back to back. Additionally, I am trying to design some new products (stay tuned to see pics...). So here are just a few random pictures of us enjoying the last couple of weeks...I decided to take more of little Rachael as I hardly have any of her on the blog compared to Emma!! Gotta love her baby blues!

I also got a new camera (thanks Alan, for our birthday gift!) so I can't wait to add more photos taken with it.

Hannukah in our Pajamakas

Emma's school celebrated Hannukah Friday with "Hannukah in our Pajamakas"...everyone got to come to school in their pajamas. I decided to join in, though once I got there, I realized none of the other parents were wearing pajamas. No mind! The teachers were in pajamas and so were all the kiddos. Emma had lots of fun and so did I...

Check out our family photos

Here is a link to my friend, Karen's blog, featuring some of our family photos. You should all have my holiday card by now (if you sent me your address) which features one of these lovely photos...

http://ksphotography.typepad.com/capturethejourney/2008/12/still-here-still-kickin-barely.html

My dad turns 83

The waiters at Gloria's singing Happy Birthday to my Dad

My Dad turned 83 last week so he came up to Dallas to celebrate. Actually, Alan had to fly to Houston to bring him here (and take him back) because my dad's failing memory makes him not want to travel any more. His short term memory is terrible. He forgets everything and is very confused. It is hard to see him this way. But his long-term memory is still good. Funny how that happens.

We went to Gloria's to celebrate and he seemed to have a very good time. He is so lonely without my mom (aren't we all?) and I know he enjoyed being around family. I was feeling very under the weather (see next post), but I'm feeling much better now. I went to the opthalmologist and thank God, my iritis is getting better. No more dilated eye! Yeah!

Under the weather

We had an overly busy weekend and I was very under-the-weather. We all have colds, and Emma just got over a case of pink eye last week. I also got a case of iritis this weekend, a chronic condition of my left eye that feels like I have a migraine behind my eye. The only way to treat it is to dilate my eye and use steroid drops Needless to say, I don't enjoy having a dilated eye and having to go around with sunglasses on. Emma had 2 birthday parties today and I know some of the parents thought I was trying to be ultra-cool with my shades on, when the truth is that I was just trying to keep the pain out of my eye. I am going to see an opthalmologist tomorrow to see if there is anything else wrong with me. I know I am very stressed out, and not sleeping well with 2 kids who don't sleep, but I hope I can get this figured out because it is very hard on all of us. I am about to head into my busiest month (January -- 2 Gift Markets...Atlanta and Dallas) and need to be well for those. I was toying with the idea of giving up my blog today just so I have less on my plate...sometimes I wonder who I am keeping this blog up for anyway, myself or my friends? I really had wanted some of my family and my late mom's friends overseas to read my blog so they could keep up with us, but I am not even sure they read it (Either because they are technically challenged or maybe they just don't care). As you can tell, my mood is not too good today...that's what happens when you feel like your left eye is about to burst...
My dad was in town and I will post some photos of our dinner last night later on.

Football and dinner with the Waters family

Emma, Jenny and Ryan playing outside in the fall leaves

Greg took the photo, so he was missing...Rachael was napping...

Emma and Jenny on the slide

Hitting the ball...

Our friends, the Waters, invited us to watch the Cowboys game and eat a little dinner on Sunday evening. It had been WAY too long since we had gotten together with them, but since they live in Flower Mound (1/2 hour away), it is hard to just pop over to each other's houses...

Nancy is my oldest friend in Dallas...we met 3 months after I arrived here when I started working at Texas Instruments (1992...wow 16 years ago!!). We have gone through thick and thin together and are happy to still be friends. Nancy and Greg cooked yummy burgers and chicken and everyone watched the game (though, of course, I didn't exactly know what was going on). After the game we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Apparently the Cowboys lost and Brad was pretty annoyed about it.

Rachael was a good little angel and played by herself or napped the whole time. Emma was great, too. She played with Jenny and Ryan the whole time and didn't bother us at all. We told Nancy that Jenny is welcome to come play or stay overnight at our house ANY TIME. She is such a great "big sister," and is SO great with Emma.

Thanks for a great time, guys. Hope to have you over to our house soon!!

Ceramics! Yippee!

Painting a bowl for the kitties...

The finished mugs for Emma's teachers

After about 3 years (!!) of not firing my kiln, Emma and I went to the ceramics store and bought some new glaze and bisque so she could make some Hannukah gifts for her teachers. (My, how prices have risen in 3 years! the glaze has gone from $80 a bucket to $110 a bucket!)

Emma had a ball decorating mugs for Miss Kathey, Miss Paula, and Miss Amanda. (with a little help from mommy). Then I let Emma decorate cat bowl for Maddie and Max (our cats) and she really enjoyed that because I didn't give her any direction. It was a true work of art! I can't wait until the day when Emma, Rachael and I can spend the whole afternoon painting ceramics! (without me having to help out, or wipe up spills every 2 seconds!)

The Great Wolf...just so-so!

Emma, Sarabelle and Sammy (Sarabelle cut her own bangs!!)

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, we went to the Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of days. Our joke while we were there is that it should be called the "So-so" Wolf Lodge, not the "Great" Wolf Lodge! For those of you who have not heard of the Great Wolf, it is a hotel with a huge indoor water park. Sounds great, right? Warm water and slides and rides in the middle of winter. Wrong!! The water park was FREEZING!! Ok, it wasn't really freezing, but on the first day that we went in, Emma's lips turned blue and she couldn't stop shivering. We went with my brother and his family, and Alan told us we had to hang out in the hot tub for a while to warm up, then go back to the park. This worked pretty well, and we spent a lot of time in the hot tub with Emma and then did enjoy a lot of the park. Emma was too short to go on most of the rides. It will definitely be more fun when she gets older (Alan's kids had a blast, and were able to enjoy all the attractions because they are older and bigger). (I didn't get any photos in the water park, but you can log onto their website if you really want to see it!!)

The food was also kind of mediocre and EXPENSIVE, so that was a bit dissapointing. All in all, we had fun, but we won't be rushing back. We were glad we didn't have to take an airplane to get there and only had to drive 1/2 hour. (we talked to some people who had come from as far away as California!) Rachael spent a couple of nights with Brad's mom, so that did make it more fun for us that we were able to spend a lot of time with Emma. We can't wait until Rachael is old enough to swim with us...!

Thanksgiving at the Spauldings

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at our friends, The Spaulding's House. Unfortunately, I forgot the card for my digital camera, so I wasn't able to take any photos! I took some with Rayne's camera, so, hopefully I can upload them soon! Rayne made such an awesome meal, and she was gracious enough to invite my brother and his family as well! We all had a great time and left with full bellies and hearts!

Thanksgiving Feast at Emma's School

Emma's school had a little Thanksgiving party today and we all went to celebrate. We actually had a photoshoot this morning for our family pictures (stay tuned for a link to see these photos in a few weeks), so all 4 of us were in the car and "dressed up."

Emma had been cooped up all day yesterday, so she was happy to be around other kids again. She ate lots of goodies and a cupcake, which made her wired. Rachael slept through the whole thing, it had been too busy of a morning for her (and besides, she had been up since 3:30 am wanting to play with Brad!! Yawn!) The kids in Emma's class got a kick out of Rachael and kept coming by to look at her. What is it with kids that they all love babies!!!??? I love how they always fuss over Rachael, and she seems to like the attention (when she's awake).