We took the kids to see Santa this afternoon at the Bass Pro Shop. On our way Brooke was all about Santa and giving him a big hug and telling him she wants a pink bicycle. It was our turn and she immediately changed her mind and began to want me to hold her. She and Ben both sat in his lap but she was not to happy about it. Her eyes filled with tears and would not give him a second look. Our little man proceeded to tell him a long list to goodies he wanted for Christmas.

We got our picture (which Brooke was pretty much in tears...Ben was grinning from ear to ear). We got a little treat ourselves. We got 2 kids eat for free coupons to Islamorada (spelling) in the Bass Pro Shop. It is a great restaurant with delicious food. A good ending for the night.

Ben 1st Arenacross Race

On Saturday, Ben raced in his first arenacross race. When Tim and Ben first got there Ben got cold feet and nervous. The bigger kids were practicing and going really fast and jumping. He finally meet a kid his age and begin to get more comfortable. Once he started, he loved it!!!!!

We thought they were going to have practice that morning and then race later that night. Well after 3 practice rounds and a qualifying round, there was only a couple hours before the main race. It turned into an all day affair.

Ben did great for his first race. He came in 3rd. He would have finished 2nd but he wrecked in a rut. He didn't get hurt or anything. He pretty much just got stuck and fell over. He also caught some air a few times. Not intentional by no means....but those hills were pretty big.

We are so proud of Ben. He did great. For more professional photos, you can go to ohcropphotography.com. Look under galleries, then arenacross, then Autaugaville Arena 12-18/12-19. His photo numbers are 12_19_0041, 12_19_1042, 12_19_1084, and 12_19_1085. You can also go under my wall on facebook and look at the complete album.

Brooke watching her big brother!!!!

Ben #99 and his friend, Elijah #60, waiting to line up

One of the really big hills

Ben and Elijah

Remember Those That Are Less Fortunate

Bear with me on this. It it's a little long. About 2 wks ago I put my old Christmas tree on craigslist to sell. I immediately got a response from a girl, let's call her "Becky". Within our second e-mail exchange she began to poor her heart out about how her husband had lost his job last year and they did not get to celebrate christmas and they have 2 young children. Both are under 6. My heart ached for them.

When I shared the story with Tim he warned me to be careful of scams. The girl said she would like to get it after Thanksgiving, maybe over the weekend. I said that would be fine and provided my cell phone # for her to contact me. Well come Friday after Thanksgiving, she sent out another e-mail and said she was not going to be able to make it because she did not have any transportation and they had to use the money to pay there power bill. Continuing along the way to share stories of how their car had been in the shop for the past 3 months. She had to take her 6yo out of school because she couldn't walk him to school anymore in the rain with her 14 month old.

By this point I was wandering what was going on and wandering if I was being scammed. Not following my heart I reposted the tree again and began to get several phone calls wanting the tree. Another lady was going to be in town on Tuesday and was going to come get it. All this time I had not received a phone call or another e-mail from "Becky". Come Monday afternoon I get an e-mail from "Becky" wanting to know where we could meet so she could get the tree. I responded letting her know that I had another lady coming to get it tomorrow. I immediately get a response from her begging me not to sell it. She had already cleaned out a spot for the tree and told her 6 yo they would have a tree this year. And if they didn't get it he would be heartbroken. Plus her dad had already rearranged his day to come get it. I mean come on people.......have you ever told your life story to someone you had never meet. So, I told her to call me Tuesday morning so we could make arrangements. "Becky" finally called at 11am on Tuesday morning and we made plans to meet. She told me that she would be with her father and he drove an "old brown looking mater truck". I finally got to meet "Becky" and she appeared to be all that she had been telling me about. They were very poor looking and it was an old mater truck. I didn't want to take her money for the tree but she insisted.

On the drive home I felt terrible not believing any of her story and plus I had just taken $30 from her. I sent her an e-mail when I got home. Hoping she didn't take it the wrong way or be offended, I asked her if I could give her some clothes for her boys. I also offered her some toys. She sent back an e-mail overwhelmed at the offer and said she did not think it was offensive at all and very thankful. She even sent me a picture of her 2 little boys and they are the cutest things. Next week I will be going to their house and taking the boys clothes and toys. I am also going to give her back her $30 in a form of a gift card from Wal-Mart.

The whole point of the very long blog is to get everyone to remember those that are less fortunate this holiday season. Just the smallest act of kindness can make a huge difference.

It's Been A While

Boy has it been a while. 10 months.......so sad and lazy on my part. Let's see if I can give a quick run down of what has happened to get everyone caught up. February, Brooke turned 2. She had a Dora the Explorer birthday party. The day after it snowed. Did you remember that? March, Brooke was officially released from physical therapy. April, Tim & I celebrated our 6th Anniversary. May, Chopper was deployed to Iraq for 1 year. June, Tim found out he was going to be transferred to Prattville. It was on trying to get the house sold. Tim did a lot of traveling between Helena and Prattville. Decided it would be best to get an apartment for him. August, Ben turned 5. He had a pool party at the neighborhood pool. We got the contract on our house in Helena. September, Ben & Brooke both had the swine flu. I missed my last week of work to stay home with the kiddos. The last week of September we moved. Packed our suitcases and lived in the apartment life for 1 month until we found a house. Let me just tell you the kids thought it was one big playhouse. Then October was one crazy month. My mom had robotic open heart surgery to close her ASD on the day that our furniture was scheduled to be delivered. I went through the house putting up post-it notes everywhere so the movers would know where to put things. That was just a small taste of everything. And now I am still trying to get things organized and the busy holiday seasons is upon us. I know I have left out a lot but that gets you to today. And yes, I am still in school. Oh yeah, the kids are in a great school East Memorial Christian Academy and they love it!!!

Physical Therapy Has Begun

I went back to see Dr. Lemak yesterday and he said everything looked good. I can now start bearing weight and by weeks end hopefully be off crutches. Next week he wants me to try getting out of my lovely boot. Which I will be so glad but I am sure I will be paranoid because it provides so much protection. My muscle tone is terrible. You can tell with the visual eye that my entire right leg and calf is smaller than my left. It's amazing how quick your muscles can atrophy. 

I also started PT (physical therapy) yesterday. I was lucky to get in the same day. The session went really well. A little pain and discomfort involved. I have hardly no movement in my ankle. They did measurements before we started and Dana said "well its zero" I said Oh, that's good. Her reply "zero is neutral position". Oh, not so good. I have a long way to go to get, hopefully, full range of motion back. 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Today is Andy & Brandy's 3rd anniversary. Although they have been married for 3 years, they have only lived together as man and wife for only half of it. Those months spent apart Andy was serving our country over in Iraq, seeing and doing things that we could only vaguely imagine. He is now safe at home helping recruit young men and women to brave the wars that are still going on today. Hope you guys have a great day. I Love You.

Date Night

Can I get a WOO HOO!!! My mom was gracious enough to come stay with us tonight and allow Tim & I to have a date night. Well she pretty much insisted (she usually comes and stays with us about once every couple of weeks but we always stay at home). She knows how stressful it has been on the both of us these past 4 wks. So we took her up on it and went to Firebirds. One of our favorite places to get a great meal. We both had a great time. It was nice to be able to sit back relax and talk without having to referee the kids or be interrupted while we are trying to talk. All you parents know what I am talking about. Its par for the course. We had a fabulous meal. We both had prime rib, which is to die for. A BIG thanks to mom (aka Granna) for keeping the kids while we got out for a bit.