A personal problem.....

I have a personal problem and it is greatly intensified this time of year. I take all of the parties, and company, and beautiful decorations, and shopping, and gift-giving as invitations to completely obsess about everything! My problem is that I am an extreme over-achiever. This, coupled with the fact that I am a huge people-pleaser is not a stress-free way to live. I just got home from a ladies' night at church and I had such a great time. There was a short devotional and the lady who spoke, used the example of filling a bowl with big rocks. Then she added pebbles. Then sand and then she added water. She said you can always add more, but you have to put the big rocks in first. We have to prioritize and realize that the little things aren't as important as we think they are. Still, I am sure that I will be spot-cleaning my horrible carpet before my family comes for dinner Saturday night, and that I will have to get my tree up and decorated before they get here. Also, I will try my hardest to get Anna's bed painted before her birthday party next Saturday .... which I am sure I will obsess about when I have time . I am crazy.....I know!!! Well, I will pray about it.....but I guess admitting that I have the problem is the first step!!!

An update on "happenings"

So, I took Luke for a follow-up appointment with Dr. Trumbull (who I love) and I was in for a little surprise. I told him all about Luke's symptoms and gave him the papers. He said that there is no way Pneumonia could have come on so fast. I told him that our other thought was that it could be allergies. He has always broken out in a rash when we are in different surroundings or for no reason that we can tell, and he had done this the night before. He said that was definitely it. This was both a relief and a little nerve racking. A relief because he didn't have Pneumonia, but apparently, he could just have an allergic reaction causing him to stop breathing at any time without any warning. He gave us a prescription that will help with his allergies, but I have to basically carry an inhaler with us at all times. I never know what he will have a reaction to and I still don't know what caused this one. I will just pray that he quickly outgrows this sensitivity to whatever is bothering him.......On a slightly less important note, (I hope you know I am kidding) my mantle is still not here. SHOCKER!!! I am still keeping up hope that it will be here soon!!!

Happy.....well, scary Thanksgiving!!

Brandon and James
Matthew, Luke, James, Anna, Brandon and Grant
My sweet Luke!!!
We went down to Florida last Tuesday evening for Thanksgiving and were having a great time. We woke up Thanksgiving morning and noticed that Luke was having a lot of trouble breathing. He also had a fever and a horrible cough. The weird thing was that there was no sign of this the night before. Anyway, Brian and I decided to take him to a 24 hour clinic and "thankfully" there was one open that day. Well, they gave him a breathing treatment and sent him home. When Brian walked him through the door, I said, "You have to take him back." His lips were blue and he still wasn't breathing well. Brian took him back and they gave him another breathing treatment. They checked his O2 level and it was really low. They sent him by ambulance to the hospital. I pulled up just in time to see them hooking my little baby all up to machines and he had a breathing mask on. I had to follow the ambulance but Brian did get to ride with Luke. Can you imagine how I felt? It was pretty bad. My heart was lightened a little when they rolled the bed out of the ambulance Luke said, through his wheeze and the mask,"This is fun, Daddy". I love that boy. He had everybody smiling. A few chest x-rays and several hours later, they told us it was Pneumonia. Scary. They gave us steroids and an antibiotic. Thankfully, he is doing much better now. Sometimes, we get a wake up call as to what we need to be thankful for. I am thankful for our health!!! Anyway, we did have a great time in Florida. Thanks to Steve and Leslie for putting up with us last week. We had a great time with y'all, as usual. It was great to be able to spend time with Chris and Melissa, and the boys, too. We had a really great visit.

A New Tradition

This evening, our family started something new and I hope it will become a family tradition. We decided that since we will be going out of town for Thanksgiving and will SURELY be in the holiday spirit when we return home, I decided I would like to have the house already decorated for Christmas. We started by going out as a family and letting the kids pick out their own decoration. They each picked a little nutcracker and they are absolutely adorable.( I love it when they pick something that I would have picked....alright, there might have been a little encouragement in the favor of the adorable nutcrackers, but can you blame me?) I picked out the cutest metal houses that hold a tea light. Anyway, after our shopping trip, we came back home and had supper and hot chocolate together. I could not find my Christmas CDs so I turned to the "Sounds of the Season" channel of TV. (we later found that I had "cleverly" packed them away with the Christmas decor) I love this channel by the way. So cool!!! We went on to decorate everything except for the tree. I just have to have a real one and therefore the tree will have to wait to be picked out until our return.....shortly, of course, after our return. It has been a fun family evening and I hope my family will remember it as fondly as I will!!!

Baby, it's cold outside....

I am so excited about the weather. I am sitting here drinking my first "justified" cup of coffee for the season. Usually I just drink it because I like it, but today....it is cold. I know 50 or so degrees is not cold to some people, but I am a southern girl, and to me, a slight chill is COLD. I can already see that this Christmas season is going to be ......can we say......DANGEROUS for me. I have already spent so much time on amazon.com. It is great, but also a little bit addicting. Oh well, I will just have to keep my "holiday spirit" in check!!! Also, my mantle WAS ORDERED and should be in today or the beginning of next week. HOOOOOOORRRRRAAAAAYYYYY!!!!

My Mantle!

Well, I think my mantle might actually be ordered tomorrow! I am so excited. This has taken so long and I am not exactly sure why. I guess I am seeing first hand how home improvements are not as easy as they seem to be. I was hoping to get my mantle before Thanksgiving so I could decorate for Christmas. I will be happy now if I just get it before Christmas....I know it is just about impossible but I can dream, can't I? I just have this "get it done now" personality and it is so hard for me to wait. Anyway, it is being ordered.....at last.....as far as I know!!!

Trip to Helen, GA

This past weekend, our family, my parents and Allison's family went on a trip to Helen, GA. The plan was to actually see Helen. But once we saw the cabin, we decided to stay in....and around. We all stayed in a cabin together. We enjoyed the place so much that we only left once. This, one time, of course, was for a good cause...THE CABBAGE PATCH FACTORY!!! It sure did seem like a bigger deal when I was 5 years old. I don't think they have changed one thing about it since then. I am not quite sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing!! No, we had a good time there. The best part of the trip was where we stayed. Brandon did a great job picking the cabin! It was nice and secluded, and there was a beautiful creek right outside. The kids just loved it! We played in the creek(well the kids did), watched football, played cards, and just had a great time. It was really great to be able to spend time with my parents and Alli and Brandon and their kids. It is good to be home though...wow, that relaxation really wears me out!!!
The Cabbage Patch Factory!
Anna and Olivia- Aren't they cute?

Priceless!!!

This bench is right by the stream. It was so nice.
My baby girl and me.
Look Mom....no hands.(and not too sure about it)
I am glad I was the picture taker!

My Little Nerds

Anakin and Yoda, ready to defend the force!

The kids have been excited about Halloween for about 5 months and they knew exactly what they were going to be. Luke was going around telling everyone,"I be Yoda". I don't think he knew when or why he would be Yoda.....he just knew that some day......he would be Yoda!!! We had our trunk-or-treat on Sunday night and it was great. I think that this trunk-or-treat idea is genius! Get everything done in one central location....plus blow up jump things and hay rides!!! Great!
Padme and Yoda
My little Star Wars junkies!!!

Happy Birthday James!

I just can't believe that it has been 7 years. It has been such a blessing having James in our lives. He truly is such a sweet spirit. It is just so neat to see how he is turning into a little man right in front of our eyes. I am so proud to be his mom! I love you James Clark Wakefield!!!
My precious James!