The days of my life :) :)

I love my life, and I am most definitely blessed to be able to stay home with my grandchildren so they don't have to go to daycare, and my girls don't have to pay the enormous day care fees.  When Jessica was living in San Antonio, Payton's day care ran $660 a month.  That is as much as some peoples rent around here!!  I really feel sorry for people who barely make minimum wage or just above it, I don't know how they pay for things like day care. 

Wednesday is our day "off".  Jackie and her husband Cody have the day off from work, and they keep Adleigh with them of course on that day.  When Payton was so sick last week, we promised him that if he would take his medicine, we would take him somewhere fun.  Every day for the last week, he woke up and asked, can we go somewhere fun today??  He woke up yesterday morning and asked me if I had money, which was a funny question coming from a 4 year old.  I told him yes, and then he said, do you have A LOT of money?  I was really wondering where he was going with these questions by that point!! I told him I guess I did, and then he said GOOD...LET'S GO TO CHUCK E CHEESE!!  I knew why he was asking those questions, his mom had told him that it costs a lot of money to go to Chuck E Cheese!!  :)

I was so proud of myself, I didn't fall for the "trap" at Chuck E's where they have you buy one of their "specials"....I figured it up myself and ordered each thing individually, and still got him tokens, and only spent $23!!  I was so proud of myself  LOL.  We ordered and sat down, and there were a few games right behind where we were sitting.  He ran over to one, slapped the ball thing on it, and out came about 15 tickets.  He never even put any money in it.  He is still young enough that he didn't realize what had happened, all he knew is that he got tickets and he was sooooo excited!!  He was jumping up and down and yelling and so happy!!  He kept hitting it, and the tickets kept coming out.  I was starting to feel a little self conscious about it, he wasn't putting any tokens in, and he was getting TONS of free tickets!  It was crazy!!  We ate our pizza and he went to the game right next to the first, and I'll be darned if it didn't just shoot out free tickets at him too.  Literally, he had about five games do that to him while we were there.  I have never ever seen that happen before.  He had some machines just spit out gobs and gobs of tickets.  By the time we were ready to go I was feeling like maybe I should have him go pick out a lottery ticket or something, he was so lucky!! 

Today while we were driving down the road, Payton saw a pawn shop with a kids drum set inside.  He yelled MIMI and told me he wanted me to stop and buy him that drum set.  He even pointed out that we were in the pickup and the drum set would fit!!  He's so cute!!   I always want to humor him, and especially what he is interested in.  But geeze, a drum set??  I would hate for him to be the next drumming prodigy though, and us never know it because we never let  him try!!  I just don't know how I could keep from going insane from having to listen to constant drumming!! We need an extra room built on the house or a storage shed converted into a drum room!!

Adleigh is going to be two next Monday.  I believe she has set out on a mission to make me crazy by then.  She is so funny, yet so aggravating at the same time.  Her new favorite thing to do with me is to change her mind every two seconds.  For example

She wll say "Bed" and point to the direction of my bedroom like she wants a nap.
I will pick her up and start walking with her towards the bedroom.
She will then say..."That Bed" and point the other way towards Jessica's room, like she doesn't want to sleep in my bed..  The bedrooms are on two totally different ends of the house. 
I start walking back the other way and she says 'NOOOO THAT BED"  and of course points back to my bedroom again.  arrrrggghhhh

After I changed her diaper this morning, I was putting her little pants back on and she started play screaming and kicking her feet and saying NOOOOO
I stopped, and didn't put her pants on....then she screamed PANTS...PANTS....
I started putting them on again and she started screaming again...NO...NO PANTS.....
I then walked away and she layed down in the floor and cried because I didnt' put her pants on. 
I am going to be CRAZY by weeks end. 

The kids are on a roll this morning.  I called my husband to ask him a question about something.  He started laughing and said it sounded like I was at a Circus, because both of the kids were hollering about something at the same time!!

I then had another phone call, and Payton and Adleigh decided to play tug of war over a box of sidewalk chalk.  We don't even have a sidewalk.  They were fighting over that box like mad.  They were also so loud and so horrible that I couldn't get a word in edgewise to the person on the other end of the line.  It also never fails, that if you walk to another room, while on the phone with screaming children in the background, those children will follow you to that room and continue their fussing and feuding.  Adleigh is at the age, where if Payton has something, she has to have it.  If he sits somewhere, she has to sit riiiiggght next to him, or on him, which annoys him to the nth degree.  He can't escape her, and she ADORES him...she also knocks over all of his buildings he builds with his stackable blocks and legos haha....

We're having Adleigh's 2nd birthday party Sunday.  I've been sworn to secrecy about the theme, but be looking for photos coming soon! I haven't even had time to shop for a present for her yet!!  What a bad Mimi I am LOL!!  I'm thinking about getting her this.....both she and Payton could play with it outside here at my house and as much as both of them like to splash in water it seems like it would be perfect!!



Have a great Thursday everyone!  I am going to work hard on not losing my mind today!!  :) :) It's a very distinct possibility!!

Unusual Thanksgiving/Holiday Traditions

I have been suffering from a major case of writer's block, or actually extreme "busyness" with my little granddaughter being sick with the flu!  I was having fun searching the web for blogging ideas when I came across this website of blogging prompts!  This one struck me, because of course, wouldn't you know, we have one crazy tradition and one more normal one!!

A few years ago, we were all gathered here at my home for a wonderful Christmas celebration.  I truly enjoy having my whole family here for the holidays!!  We always serve a big meal, open presents, visit, and then sing Christmas Carols!!  We are also very mindful of  "The Reason for the Season"

One particular year I think we sang every Christmas Carol we could think of.  As we sat around in silence for a moment, my stepmother started singing...Ohhhhh say can you seeeee, by the dawns early light....and we all joined in and sang the whole Star Spangled Banner.  Yes, we sang the National Anthem at Christmas.  It has now become a yearly tradition, where we don't feel complete unless we sing the National Anthem.  We have also started singing it at other family gatherings.  We threatened to sing it at my daughter's wedding in November, but somehow in the excitement completely forgot.  I am sure she is grateful for that. :)



It never fails that we have a guest home for the holidays who is wondering WHY we do that....we just laugh and say it's a Dison tradition now!

The other tradition we have, is to have "Christmas Crackers" next to each plate at Christmas Dinner.  They are so much fun!  They are brightly colored foil wrappers filled with tiny little toys etc....you pull both ends and out pops your toy!!  It's a fun way to end dinner!!  There you go, our two traditions :) :)


This is a photo of my daughter Jackie and son in law Cody, Christmas '08 haha wearing the paper hats that came in their "Christmas Cracker" :)



THE IMPORTANCE OF A SECOND OPINION

I am sharing this story in hopes that it will help at least one person!!  I was reminded of this yesterday when my daughter came home from the dermatologist, and told me what the PCA (patient care associate), who has no medical training, had told her. 

The PCA was taking her medical history, and she told them that her dad had been diagnosed with skin cancer on his lip.  The PCA told her, well, it must have only been "pre cancer" or they would have removed his whole lip.  Unfortunately, for those who haven't researched it locally and gotten a second opinion, this is the case. 


Some time in the middle of last year, my husband had a small raised brown spot on his lower lip.  He really didn't think much of it, and ignored it, thinking it would go away.
It grew larger and larger, and he finally made a call to our local family physician.  He told him that he thought maybe it was skin cancer, and referred him to a local dermatologist.  This dermatologist is  "in our network", and all of the local dermatologists work under this umbrella of dermatologists and opinions in the local region (within about a 40 mile radius or so).

The dermatologist examined him and decided that it was indeed skin cancer of some kind and that he would need to have it removed.

He went to visit a plastic surgeon, who told him that he would "remove his lower lip and then turn it outward to where it resembled a normal lip, and that eventually it would look like a normal lip".  This DID NOT APPEAL to my husband of course.

As he was checking out that day, the business office told him that we would be required to pay all of our deductible before he could be treated.  Our deductible at that time was about $3000.  Not only were we facing drastic surgery, we were also facing paying out a huge chunk of money as well.

I decided that surely he could get a second opinion from someone.  I had to really search to find a dermatologist not affiliated with this network, and finally found one about 60 miles from our home, but still within our medical network.  We called and told them our situation, and they were able to make him an appointment within a weeks time frame.  We went to the appointment, they were able to confirm that it was skin cancer, and he would need surgery. 

This time, however, this office uses an advanced method of working with skin cancers.  They were going to use a method called MOHS Micrographic Surgery.  This is a method where with the use of a laser, the physician cuts of a miniscule layer of skin, one at a time, until the skin cancer is removed, leaving the area looking basically like normal. 

Here is the link to the surgeons office where we went
http://www.longviewdermatology.com/cancer.asp

The wonderful thing about this office as well, is they only required us to pay our co-pay. 

Had we only visited and listened to the first office, we would have been out of $3000 and my husband would have been traumatized unnecessarily. 

The physician prayed with my husband before he ever even started the procedure.  He ended up having to cut off many, many layers of skin on his lip to make sure he got it all.  We had to return a week later for a check of his lip.  He had huge bandages on his lip, which required lots of manipulation and changing by yours truly LOL.  They told him they had never seen such a fine job of bandaging by anyone!! :) 

It was a very scary time for us both.  My husbands dad died of Malignant Melanoma when my hubby was just a young boy.  We were both worried that they might find that it had already spread into his blood stream.  It's somewhat of a frightening thought when you are there wondering if your world is going to turn upside down and you are going to be the sole person responsible for everything and also lose your spouse! 

He had his six month checkup not too long ago, and got the all clear for now. 

He now makes sure to tell everyone, if you are out in the sun, which he was for years, working, please put on sunscreen of some sort, even on your lips! 

Also, research the treatments available, and be willing to travel and GET THE SECOND OPINION ALWAYS!! 

Feel free to comment or leave a message if you have any questions!! 

Saturday DIY Project - Child's Wooden Peg Rack

My grandson has so many little ball caps that we have been looking for a way to organize them in his bedroom.

We went to Hobby Lobby and purchased most of the supplies we needed, we purchased the stain and picture hangers at Wal Mart.

This is the wood peg rack....purchased at Hobby Lobby for $6.99, there was a 30% off sale though so actually it was less :)

Minwax can be found at most all Hardware stores, we bought this at Wal Mart for about $3.50

The little wood cutouts were .67 a piece and the glue was about $3.50, both at Hobby Lobby

The picture hanger brackets and hooks were .97 per pkg at Wal Mart

A close up pic of the glue

We cut up an old T shirt and dipped it into the stain.  We rubbed the t shirt with stain across the surface, which allows the stain to have an even coverage.  If I thought I could make a living staining furniture I would!!  It's one of my most favorite things to do!!  Since it is a stain, I would recommend taking it outside to work on it, as we did.  The fumes can get really strong.  The picture brackets are very easy to attach!  Just flip your rack over and mark where you want them to be.  The brackets come with teeny tiny little nails which are incredibly easy to nail in.  Just attach the picture hangers to the wall and hang your peg rack up!

Gluing on the wood cutouts

The finished product which my 4 yr old grandson LOVES!!  He picked out all of the little cutouts himself, so this way it reflects exactly what he is into at the moment!!  Now to just get it hung up on the wall!!

Total cost of the project was less than $16.00 and took about 30 minutes to finish tops, and we got a completely customized look out of it, by picking the color of the stain we wanted, and by choosing the cutouts...there were literally about 40 to choose from, and you could also use paint instead of stain!!

Now that I have done this one I am just going to have to do one for my little granddaughter as well!  I am thinking, pink, green, and yellow to match her room!  She will be 2 in just a few weeks, and I am sure there is something her momma could hang up in her room :)  Be looking for those pics to be coming up soon!!

Tiffany Bridal Shower

 

My youngest daughter was recently married this last November.  Her wonderful friends (who also let me help)  put together a truly fabulous bridal shower.  I absolutely LOVE to plan parties!!

I thought I would post the pics and ideas in case it feeds some inspiration for anyone else!

This was her beautiful cake!  It was a fondant top and ribbon.  It was a four layer amazingly enough, the two fillings were chocolate fudge and raspberry.  The cake itself was vanilla.  It was soooo yummy!!

My beautiful daughter Jackie!

We rented the napkins, glasses, and silverware and assorted serving trays and chafers from a party rental store.  It is most definitely worth looking into, as the cost is either the same or maybe a little more than purchasing them, and they bring an extra look of elegance to your table.  The tablecloths were purchased at the party store.  We had her shower at the church, and come to find out only afterwards, they had white cloth tablecloths we could have used!!  The boxes are super easy to do!  We bought them at Hobby Lobby, they are made out of some sort of fiberboard and cost about $3.99 a piece!  We bought two colors of paint and blended them together to get as close as we could to the Tiffany color.  We went to the ribbon department and found some large width white see through ribbon to use for the ribbon.  The other centerpieces were also purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The vases are easily found there, and the little white floral picks were in the floral department. 

The food that was served consisted of:  Cheeseburger Sliders, Pigs in a Blanket, A Fruit Tray, A Cheese Tray, and some Gourmet Cookies!!

We had a "non alcohol" shower since we were in a church setting!  One of the glasses had white grape juice, and the other had lemonade!  Everyone really enjoyed both drinks!

Jackie's good friend Taylor found these rings at the party supply store as well!  They make great napkin rings for any bridal shower!!  It's really easy to roll these napkins up and insert them into the rings!

Both of my daughters!  Jessica and Jackie!!  Jessica was of course her Maid of Honor!

The Bridesmaids!  One was not able to be there!

The younger ladies who attended the shower!  Us "older ladies" did not get in the pics :)

Her bridesmaids decided to surprise her with a bracelet from Tiffany's. They each chipped in about $20/person so it was a feasable thing to do.   It was Taylor's idea, and she ended up calling the Tiffany store in the Dallas Galleria, and they shipped it to her, without even charging shipping charges!!  She wrapped it in about six boxes, large to small!!  It was hilarious watching her open all of them!

Something else her Maid of Honor did while the Bride To Be was opening gifts was write down everything the Bride to Be said.  When she was done, it was read back to her as "What she would say on her wedding night".  This has got to be one of the funniest things to do EVER!!  Everyone young to old thought it was sooo funny!  The Bride will almost always say things like "ohh that's so cute", or "what do you do with this"...so to change the context into what she would say it just a hoot!!



One of the funny games we played was called "Toss the Bouquet".  One of her bridesmaids purchased a cheap bouquet from Wal Mart.  You will also need a CD player of some sort.  We were lucky that we had a whole sound system because we were at a church!  We played Big and Rich's "Lost In This Moment". 
Have your guests pull their chairs into a circle.  The bride starts out holding the bouquet, and someone starts the music playing.  The bride tosses the bouquet to the person seated next to her on the right.  The bouquet keeps being tossed to the next person until the music is randomly stopped.  (Much like musical chairs).  The person holding the bouquet when the music stops is OUT!!  It was hysterical and everyone young and old enjoyed it!  (It is great if you have  good friend who will volunteer to do the music and not play the game)  Let me tell you, these ladies get really competitive and start just "chunking" the bouquet at each other as hard and fast as they can...it is so funny to watch!!



Jessica and Sarah manned the music....they did a great job!

The last two!!  Elaine on the right ended up being the winner!!  She is the mom of one of the bridesmaids :)



Some have heard of this game, and some haven't.  It's called....Make a wedding dress out of toilet paper.  You break your guests into teams and have them choose who they want to be their model!  We chose two teams and two models.  This requires a jumbo pkg of rolls of toilet paper!  The guests get pretty creative while trying to make "stunning" wedding gowns!!  The Bride to Be then has to choose a winner!  That is probably the most difficult part!!

Lots of fun was had by all! 

Here is the link to the blog I posted with her wedding pics!!  She used brown, fuschia and avocado green for her colors!! 

http://flamingtacoshells.blogspot.com/2011/01/jackies-wedding.html

Preschoolers are Funny!!

I just have to share these two stories, they made me laugh so hard!!

Payton, my 4 year old grandson, made several people a Valentine card on Valentine's day.  One of those people is our next door neighbor, Jesse.  Jesse owns one of our local Mexican restaurants.  He is a truly awesome neighbor, and we all get along great.  I have no idea why Payton wanted to make him a card, but he did. 

I will also preface this with the fact that for some reason, known only to four year old little boys, he loves aliens now.  When we were in the exam room at the ER, we had to pretend with him that the Dr's and nurses were aliens. 

On Jesse's card, Payton drew a giant bird.  He also drew a big heart and it was really cute.   He colored the bird black.  It looks very much like a giant Ostrich.  He insists that it is an "Eagle".  However, he also insists that it is also an "Alien". 

My neighbor is Hispanic. We are a family who gets along with every race, creed, color etc....so don't even think that we would judge anyone by what their background is!!   He (my wonderful neighbor) may think it's really funny, but I just can't bring myself to take Payton over there and hand him a card and then have him say, I drew you an "Eagle Alien"....it just sounds too much like he's saying "illegal alien".....I think I will hide the card and tell him we gave it to him and he just loved it.  I will bring it back out when he is about 16 and try to explain why we  just couldn't give him that card.  Ohhhh the funny situations we find ourselves in. 

Today we took the kids out to lunch.  There was a TV playing in the restaurant dining room.  A commercial came on for ProActiv.  Payton blurted out  "Look Mimi, that's for when people have polka dots, they put that on their skin and they go away".  Then he looked at my face at a mole and said "Mimi you have polka dots"...hahaha...Fun Times!! 

Hope everyone had a great Monday! 

Quitman Tx FFA

One of our local FFA Chapters a few counties away has been struck by an unimaginable accident. 

Yesterday evening the Quitman FFA show team was on their way to the San Antonio Livestock show when their suburban ran off the road.  When the driver tried to get back on the road she over-corrected which caused the Suburban the students were riding in to roll several times, ejecting a student who was killed, and seriously injuring the other six passengers. 

It breaks our hearts, as we are a family who has been actively involved in FFA in some fashion for the last 33 years.  We know how hard these kids worked to get their projects together to go to a major show, and how excited they must have all been.  We know how hard their teacher worked and was probably super excited to get to carry them down to the show.  Their young friend who lost her life will leave a void in all of their lives and their lives will all be changed in ways they could have never imagined. :(  This is a very small close knit community and this loss will have of course leave a giant hole on their campus. 

Their teacher is going to need lots of prayers because she was doing what almost all small schools do, letting them ride in her suburban instead of a school bus, which will be met with lots of criticism.  Bless her heart. 

Please keep them in your prayers.

Quitman Tx FFA, you are in our thoughts and prayers, sincerely,

The Dison's

The Jacksonville, Tx FFA

and the

Plano, Tx FFA