Kindergarteners just want to have fun!

Due to district rules that do not allow older/younger siblings to attend the parties, a sweet neighbor watched Rhett so I could help out with Grant's school Winter Party. I was sooooo excited, and so was Grant...

Disclaimer - once again I could hardly get Grant to smile for the pics. Shocking, I know.

...Which is why I was surprised to be greeted with this face...

It didn't hurt my feelings at all...

But he finally began to loosen up and got over his shyness of Mom being there, and that made me feel much better - (even though my feelings weren't hurt in the first place.)

After all, who couldn't have fun with their two bestest friends in the whole widest world?

Nick, Owen and Grant

These three boys do everything together at school!

Including the Silly Freeze Dance

and showing off their green candy cane tongues.

The room mother (Nick's mom) asked me to be in charge of games, so I let Grant help me pass out candy canes after one of the games.

After all that fun, there were only two things left to do.

1. Hug our friends and teacher goodbye.

Do these kids love Mrs. Williams or what???? Actually, now that I write this, I see one little boy loving her in an extra"special" way. Too bad he didn't put his hand lower. It would be ME that would unknowingly snap the shot at that exact moment.

2. Snatch Ashlyn from her classroom and head home for the holidays!
Hoo Hoo Hoo (Rhett's pronunciation for Ho Ho Ho) and Merry Christmas to all!

Scoodle Doots Shopping

I welcome you to visit my Scoodle Doots site for fun gifts for spunky loved ones. New items are added weekly!

Personalized name shirt with matching headband

These onesies and headbands were ordered for 3-month-old twin baby girls, Ava and Ella.

Personalized Travel Mugs

Personalized Ribbon Hoodies

This fun sweatshirt was made for a spunky fifth grader.

The design was based upon her favorite colors.

Hope you'll stop by for a visit as I slowly but surely add creations to the site! Just a short list of items I make =
PERSONALIZED... holiday wear, birthday wear, team wear, school/teacher wear, parent/grandparent wear, travel mugs, sippy cups, sports bottles, lacy baby diaper covers, ribboned hoodies, baby gowns, baby beanies, hooded towels, burp cloths, mouse pads...

On a side note, I would L.O.V.E. for you send me pics of your little ones in their Scoodle Doots designs so I can share them on my Scoodle Doots blog. Adding your pictures/notes is extra fun!

The newest addition to the Food Pyramid

Not only do I find little boy surprises in Grant's pockets like acorns, rocks and sticks, but I also find boy surprises in his lunch box. Leaves and sticks are his top two favorites. Before I can make his lunch for the next school day, I must first literally clean out the boy's lunch kit. Too bad I don't have a compost heap I could add this stuff to. It goes in my "Favorite Grant Memories" section in my heart instead.

Once in a Houstonian's Lifetime...

...It does this...And just when you think you've seen it all, it becomes clear that today is the day pigs must be flying because not only is the snow suddenly falling in a way that would make one believe the heavens truly had opened up, but the snow is actually starting to stick...

Wow!

And all of this could only mean one thing = SNOWBALL FIGHTS with neighborhood kids!!!!!

BIG snowball fights! Take it from someone who found out first-hand = You don't want to get hit in the face with one of these things! (thanks, Ashlyn) These aren't your every day snowballs! (Yes, G was given a heavy coat and gloves. Yes, he did take them off. Yes, his little hands were FREEZING. No, he did not care.)

It means knocking down the middle school kids' snowman (with permission) down the street... (This pic was taken after school. You can see the snow is beginning to melt, but it still gracefully draped the rooftops.) But the snowman was too cold to touch, so the kids resorted to chopping it up with sticks.

Kevin, a sweet neighbor kid, teaching Grant how to roll balls to make a snowman - a lesson that most Houston kids needed that day...
Another lesson learned was that touching snow without gloves makes your hands go numb. Thus the boys decided that maybe playing inside would be a good idea so their hands could defrost.
It was truly an unexpected, magical day. The reports the night before said we had a 50/50 chance of snow. I was one of the thousands that was sure the snow would hit further north. Thank goodness I was wrong. It was so fun to see the kids enjoying the wonder that snow is. Snow is truly a rare occurrence here, so I wanted to be sure the boys got to see, touch, smell and taste it -who knows if/when it'll happen again.

Thank goodness the boys finally decided to come INSIDE by the fire! It was COLD out there.

When Daddy's away, bad luck comes out to play.

Ugggggh. What a night! Grant had a sudden asthma attack at about 1 this morning. I tried to gain control over the problem in the same progression I always do. We start off with a breathing treatment and wait ten minutes... If no luck, we do another breathing treatment and wait another ten minutes... This is when I would pretty much bet my bottom dollar the attack will be over. But Daddy is away, and that means that all things that would normally take a familiar progression decide to take a vacation. After doing two breathing treatments with Xopenex and a steroid, a dose of Singular and Mucinex and still not having any luck, I decided to try something that Cook's Children Hospital did when Grant was there two years ago with asthma. They switched back and forth between Xopenex and Albuterol. I figured this was our last shot before the E.R., so I crossed my fingers and emptied an Albuterol vial into the machine. Fifteen minutes later, I dare say he was actually getting worse. This is when I picked up the phone and called my mother and father-in-law b/c I needed someone to come stay with Rhett so I could take Grant to the hospital. If I felt the situation was bad enough, I would've called an ambulance or perhaps even ripped Rhett out of his pleasant slumber and drug him with us. But Grant was not turning blue/purple, and he was not using other muscles to help him breathe, so I really felt like we had time. While we waited for Dude-Dad to arrive to watch Rhett, I quickly packed an E.R. bag and got myself dressed while Grant did two more Albuterol treatments and cried from exhaustion, tired tummy muscles and the fear of shots that may occur once at the hospital. I tried to calm him b/c crying does NOT help asthma. I succeeded a tad. By then it was about 3 a.m., and I was starting to feel drowsy and really bummed that our night would spent in an E.R. and we would emerge sometime later that day with Grant being exhausted, poked and prodded, and I would be left with a nice hospital bill. Just when the feeling of "This stinks! Wake me up when it's over!" began to really set in........... Grant stopped coughing. Just like that. He went from coughing at least 50 times a minute (which I also know is bad for the heart and that's another reason I wanted to get him to the E.R.) to not coughing at all! FINALLY, the medicines had kicked in. After five breathing treatments (two Xopenex and three Albuterol) in 2.5 hours, an oral steroid, and a dose of Singulair and Mucinex, the episode had ended. Whew! Dude-Dad stayed a while as I put Grant back to bed to make sure everything really was okay and his babysitting services weren't needed after all. When all was clear, he went back home, bless his heart, and I was able to finally snuggle down into my warm bed next to Grant and close my eyes knowing that Grant's lungs were finally at rest.

I don't think he's coughed once today.

Now the big question is, why can't these things happen when Daddy is in town? Lest we forget the time when Grant was two and I was prego with Rhett and he stuck a pea up his nose which landed us in the E.R. Daddy was gone then.Lest we forget Spring Break two years ago when Grant's asthma got so bad that we had an ambulance ride and E.R. visits to two different hospitals. Daddy was gone then.

Lest we forget last year's Spring Break when Rhett was admitted into Cook's in Fort Worth with dangerously low blood sugar caused by a stomach bug. Daddy was gone then, too. \


I'm telling you people, Kerry leaves, and I cross my fingers that bad luck will keep its distance. Maybe the next time he leaves I should also throw salt over my shoulder.

It's okay that this week...

... I told Grant that Rhett and I would eat lunch with him at school on Wednesday and that I'd bring McDonalds with me and ended up showing up with donuts and chocolate milk instead. Hmmmm, it seems that McDonlads doesn't sell lunch food until 10.30, and I needed to order my food at 10.15. Grant sure didn't mind the change of the day's menu. Not sure what I can say about what his teacher thought. I was feeling guilty about it until I realized I could possibly win a Nobel *prize for it since it seems those things are being handed out like hot cakes to just about anyone.

...The loud thunder kept us up last night which meant that Rhett was crying b/c he was scared so Grant couldn't sleep and then Grant needed a breathing treatment at 3.30 a.m. due to coughing that was keeping ALL of us up. Why do these things happen when Daddy is out of town?

...I left the sunroof partially opened in my car overnight. Not a big deal, but since it rained outside, it rained a bit inside my car as well and we, along with the a little neighbor girl, Ashlyn, had to drive to school in a wet car on a cool morning. That's a great way to start the day, huh?

...I left my favorite dessert (chocolate brownies with chocolate icing and colored sprinkles) out within Madalyn's reach while picking up Grant and Ashlyn from school. I came home to find this.

But despite all the "fun", there were some high points. My favorite being that Grant got to go to the Treasure Chest today at school and pick out a prize for once again earning all of his positive reward stickers. Instead of getting something for HIM, he got something for ME. He said he knew I would like it b/c it had flowers and lots of pink. HOW SWEET!!!!!!! I think it may be the sweetest thing he's ever done for me.

Grant drew a picture of Thanksgiving at school this week. What are the black arrows pointing to, you ask? That would be the big white wind-powered windmills that are between Texas and New Mexico. I know that when I think of Thanksgiving, I often associate windmills with the holiday as well as pie and turkey.

Oh, and who can forget another high point of the week?! My little brother, Garrett, got engaged to his high school sweetheart, Danielle. She is beautiful, sweet, smart, gentle, quiet and just about the skinniest thing with perfect naturally curly hair you've laid eyes on. They are looking forward to a summer wedding. I am looking forward to getting another perfect sister!

Scoodle Doots

So... I have this little business called Scoodle Doots where I sell all things monogrammed = shirts for fun, shirts for holidays, shirts for special events, sippy cups, travel mugs, sports bottles, burp cloths, hooded towels for babies/kids, diaper covers for baby girls, mouse pads, and so on.

Recently I have been wanting to get my own website or a spot on "Etsy", but Christmas orders are coming in from many sweet friends and I just don't have time to do both a website and get Christmas shirts mailed out. Thus, my little business has a blog until I catch up with time. Only Christmas items are posted now, but soon I hope to add all the other spunky crafts I have to offer as well.

So, stop by and check out how Scoodle Doots can help your little ones celebrate Christmas in their own unique way. I have several designs to choose from, or I am more than happy to work with you to create a specific design for you.

Hope to see you at Scoodle Doots soon!

*Although only Christmas items are seen on my Scoodle Doot blog at the moment, I make a lot of other personalized items that make great Christmas gifts... Let me know if you are interested.