Christmas is over!!!

I love the holiday season it's always so much fun and very nerve racking for myself but I'm glad it's finally over. My grandparents received their clogs and seem to enjoy them. My parents loved theres. Mikie's need to be felted and I need to knit up mine and Lanes. Yes I'm always late! Just never enough hands or enough hours in my day.

Lane received wonderful things from santa clause. Although he can't quite understand why santa brought him underwear. Just one of those mystery's I suppose! He received 2 swings and a bar/ring set for his new wooden swing set, a tool bench, flannel camo sheets for his bed, 2 games, hooked on phonics for pre-k, wooden airplanes, 4 dvds, trampoline, real train set, remote control car, remote control transformer, craft easel, guns, cars, coloring books, underwear, boxers and so on. He was quite happy with all his new toys and I think he'll be even happier when the swing set is complete and the trampoline is put up.

Mikie received a really nice shotgun shell box, 5 boxes of shot gun shells, academy gift card, long sleeve camo shirt, 1 camo sweatshirt, tacklebox, fishing pool, new jacket, boxers, carseat covers, wallet, watch and some other odds and ends.

I received a james avery charm bracelet with the 2000 charm (year I graduated HS), a beautiful 10k necklace with lane's birthstone, blue crocs, bath and body work stuff, a new pink brush popper shirt, a really nice black hooded sweatshirt with a barrel racer on it saying "turn em and burn em", gift card to baskins (for a pair of jeans) and some angel coffee mugs.

But the most important christmas present actually came on christmas eve. We found out we are going to have another baby! :) We are due at the end of August. I'm waiting for all the paperwork to get finished up for my medicaid and then I can see the doctor. Thus far, I've felt totally different and didn't actually believe I was pregnant. No sickness or tenderness like with the last one, just some cramping (not unusual with the endometriosis). I know I will still have to have my cervix tied shut, but hopefully this mean things will be better. Keep us in your prayers.

I'm off to do some cleaning up and get myself dressed to run some errands! Please pray that the weather stays nice and that some more work pops up for Mikie. They don't have a lot of working "waiting in the wings" so to speak, so it's time for more things to start popping up!

~danielle~

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to make a post to wish everyone a very merry christmas. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holidays as they visit with friends and family.

I was able to get grandma and grandpa's clogs mailed out Monday. I hope they make it to Aunt Polly's tomorrow, so she can give them to them tomorrow night! Our post office isn't open on Saturday's and they weren't quite dry enough to box up Friday. I was able to get mom and dad's done. They are wrapped under the tree. I am almost done with Mikie's and Lane's I haven't started.

Lane has been fighting a cold (just like myself) off and on for a couple of weeks. Yesterday it really started to get bad. The mucus gets so thick, the only way he can get rid of it is to throw it up. So on top of having a running nose, a cough and now a fever, he throws up randomly. I took him to the doctor's this morning (before the fever started) and she said his chest sounded good, he had no wheezing or tightness, his ears and throat looked good and to continue with the musinex every 4 hours and the nebulizer treatments every 4 hours along with his regular asthma/allergy medicine. Only to bring him back if he got worse, refused to eat or drink or ran a really high fever for more than 24 hours. He hit 103 at 6pm, but the motrin and tylenol have helped that.

So I've had to abandon my knitting since I'm having to keep track of a very sick kiddo. We are supposed to go to Mikie's dad's house tomorrow night for christmas eve and then to his nana's on christmas day to exchange presents and eat, but if Lane is still hacking up his lungs, we wont go. Most everyone smokes and that will be a killer for him. We are still hoping to go to SA on Friday, but at this point in time, we will have to play it all by ear.

I hope everyone has a very MERRY christmas and pray for a speedy recovery for my kiddo! :)

~danielle~

I did it!

I submitted my application today to go back to school to obtain my teaching certificate! I'm looking to teach either math or language arts. My hope that is eventually I might be able to teach a digital arts/graphic design class. I don't really enjoy math, but I am good at basic algebra and for some reason I'm pretty good at breaking it down to teach it! Atleast my mom says so when I spent endless hours helping/teaching her her college math stuff. I love to read but grammer isn't a strong point for me, but it's something I could do! Supposedly most of the classes are online with a once a month saturday class. I'm hoping to get all the stuff done this spring/summer and be ready to student teach this fall when Lane goes to school. I just have to get the financial aid to go back! I hate to take on more debt, but it will pay for itself.

Lane goes to the dentist today. He's not thrilled about it, but it's something he needs to do!

I've been thinking about my after christmas knitting. Here's a short list of things I plan to work on finish up!

1. Mix and Mingle Afghan I started a year ago.
2. Pinwheel sweater (put aside to work on christmas, just the two sleeves left).
3. Baby blankets for my charity knitting.
4. Some catnip toys to send to Best Friends with the pet snuggle
5. Chemo cap for a friend who has cancer and loosing her hair!
6. Crochet some prayers shawls for church. I've been slacking on this.
7. Work on some socks!

That's a good start to get me going after the new year! Mikie and I will celebrate our 5 year anniversary in January. We're hoping to go away for a weekend to hot springs or something. Our honeymoon was the drive from Virginia to Texas :-P

I have finished knitting grandma, grandpa and dad's clogs. I need to do 1 more clog for mom and then I need to start felting them so I can mail them by the end of the week or on Monday (priority mail!!!!!). I'm going to knit a pair for mikie, lane and myself. I'm hoping to knit 2 hats (mikie and lane) too. GAR. I need another week.. or two!

~danielle~

Boy is time going by fast!

I've been so busy nursing my cold and taking care of a sick kiddo and knitting and trying to keep warm. I know I shouldn't complain too much as it's much colder in places like Ohio, but geez. I'm about ready to see the sun and the heat coming back! Part of the reason I can't get better is because the weather gets really cold (ok 40's is cold) and then is back warm again, like today, which was around 70. It was a good day to work on the computer room and then I was able to ride my horse.

I didn't get to ride in the Harleton christmas parade yesterday. Lane was pretty sick Friday and Friday night and I just felt the cold air wasn't good for him (asthma/cough/runny nose) and I didn't feel like it was fair to ask my father-in-law to watch him while I rode since Mikie had to work. When lane gets a really bad cough, he throws up b/c of all the mucus running down the back of his throat. Poor guy. That's not fun to deal with. So there will be other parades and other times to ride!

I think I've come to a life-altering decision. I'm going to go back to school *gasp*. Don't all faint at once! LOL. I'm going to get my teaching certificate and I'm planning to become a HS teacher. Now I know you never saw that coming! I never pictured myself as a teacher, but I know that Lane will go to pre-k this fall and I need something to do with myself if another baby doesn't come. Plus it's decent (not great money, but you don't teach for the money) money, good hours b/c I'll have the summers off and most holidays and I believe we'll be able to get benefits,which we don't currently have. Most of my classes will be online, with a few Saturday classes thrown in. It should take about 12 months to complete and then upon passing my exams, I'll be certifid to teach!

My best friend from Ohio (rebecca) called me last week to tell me she was getting married. Rebecca and matt have been together 7 years, so it's about time :) I'm still waiting for her to pick a date, but it looks like we'll be going to Ohio in the next year or so. I'll be her Matron of Honor. I've never been in a wedding before (other than my own), so this will be an experience. I wonder if I can wear my jeans and boots? Probably not! :)

I've got a little side job working on a website for bearcreektrophies.com/net. It's an exotic hunting ranch and they've got some really coold animals! I'm enjoying it and hope to get a few more things done on it and then present it to him for a first draft. I'm learning alot about some of these animals too!

Still knitting away on clogs. Still scrambling to get christmas presents together/done. One day at a time!

Off to do something drastic!

~danielle~

Update on my "Books to Read'

I like to update once in a while about books that I have on my TBR shelf! These are in NO order, just how they are picked up!

1. A McKaslin Homecoming - Jillian Hart (Inspirational Romance)
2. Trick my Truck but don't Mess with my Heart - LuAnn McLane (Southern Romance)
3. Knit Two Together - Connie Lane (Harlequin)
4. Mary: A Novel about Mrs A. Lincoln - Janis Cooke Newman (recommended by Kathy Patrick)
5. Life Strategies - Dr Phil
6. The Will of Wisteria - Denise Hildreth (Borrowed from Allison)
7. The Knitting Circle - Ann Hood
8. Reposition Yourself - T.D Jakes
9. Moon Woman - Pamela Duncan (recommended by Kathy Patrick)
10. Plant Life - Pamela Duncan
11. The Healtiest Kid in the Neighborhood - Sears Parenting Library (Dr Phil Recommendation)
12. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
13. Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind (Hubby recommendation)
14. Chosen by a Horse - Susan Richards
15. J.D Robb - In death series (about 10 more to go)

I am currently Reading: Dancing Shoes and Honkey-Tonk Blues by LuAnn McLane. I am currently finishing up dad's first clog (Grandma and Grandpa's are knitted, but need to be felted). I still have to do my mom's, mikie's, lane's and myself!

It's very cold today, so we're curled up inside, awaiting the spring to come! or maybe that's just me! :)

~danielle~

PS. I get ALOT of my books from paperbackswap.com. It's totally free to join and very easy to use! You get a credit (to get a book) everytime you mail a book to someone! All it cost you is the postage, but in turn you get to pick a book out that you want! Want to try it out? Mention my user name as a referral: Mikiesbrat! All it takes is for you to post 10 books you'd like to trade! The more books you list, the more books that can be requested from you, which in turn gets you more books!

Kansas City Southern Lines!

Lane and I went to the Kansas City Southern Lines Christmas Train last night! It was brought in by Roy's Toys and Trains in Jefferson! It was totally amazing! I think I enjoyed it as much if not more than Lane did! The train cars were decorated inside and out! The first train car you entered in, had a fireplace with Santa. Lane didn't want his picture taken but he stopped long enough to tell santa that he "wanted everything" for christmas. Santa laughed and told him he might have to make 2 trips to his house this year! That's my kiddo for you.

There were LOTS of really neat decorations, santas, ornaments hanging from the ceiling. The last train car had 2 sets of trains which were really neat! The background was even painting to go with the train sets. I was just amazed and Lane informed me he wanted "one of those".

It was well worth the time to go, even though it was really cold! It was FREE which was really neat! I would of paid to go see it though. I really hope it comes through town again next year!

We came home for a bit after the Christmas train and then went back out to see the Jefferson Christmas Parade. We parked right on the end of Nana's street so we could sit in the car as long as possible, get out watch the parade, and then hop back in the car and drive to Nana's and then sit for a bit until all the cars cleared out so we could get home. It was nice. Lane didn't cover his ears this time. He's getting better and he really enjoyed it all!

~danielle~