Sick, Sick and More Sick - Updated

My saga starts last Friday. I got the dreaded call from the office that my child's school was on the phone. They told me that Halle had just thrown up. So, I freak out a bit because our V Day parties were on Friday instead of on the actual day(which is a huge blessing, school parties during the week are hard). So, I go to tell Jax that I probably won't be at his party and he bursts into tears. He really wanted me there. I felt hor-ri-ble.

So, I go get Halle and she says that she is hungry and seems fine. I figured if I feed her and she doesn't throw up and feels fine, that maybe something she ate just didn't agree with her. She eats chicken nuggets (lunch of champions) and dances around the house for the next 2 hours. I deem her healthy and we are off to the V Day parties.

Our first stop was Jax's party. His little face lit up when he saw us. He LOVES his little sister and it was extra special that she was able to come! Halle ate a cookie and a cupcake at this party.
The next stop was my class's Christmas party and Connor's. Connor is too cool to care too much about his mom and his baby sister being there. ;) At these parties, she had a bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup, more cookies, and a ring pop.
Brock and I had a date planned that night and Tony and Debbie were keeping the kids. We were so excited since we do not get to go out often and we were going to my all time FAVORITE restaurant. I was so happy that Halle seemed okay so that we could still go.

We went to Four Winds that night with Blake and Jaime and had a great night.

The next day Halle developed a fever and had diarrhea. She really just slept all day and was fine Sunday.

Monday morning about 4:30 am Jaxson woke me up and told me that his tummy didn't feel good. This wasn't unusual, so I told him to get a blanket and pillow and lay on my floor. A few minutes later he was in the bathroom throwing up. He threw up 3 times before I left for work. Brock decided to stay home because he was still awake and hadn't slept at all.

About 10:30 I get a text from Brock saying that he isn't feeling so well and thinks he is getting it too.

About 11, I got a call from Stonebrook that Kaden had thrown up. Apparently, he threw up at lunch all over the table. Oops! He was so bad that they had to give him a shower. So, Brock went and picked him up. Jaxson actually didn't throw up again, but Kaden threw up over and over.

Kaden threw up every 30 minutes to an hour for a full 24 hours. Poor baby!!!

Monday after school, I went to get soup and 7Up. We decided that Brock, Kaden, and Jax would stay in my room so that we could try to keep them away from Connor, Halle, and me as much as possible. I took Halle with me to take Connor to basketball practice. I figured it was best to keep the healthy people away from the germs as much as possible.

When I got home, Brock was feeling pretty bad and slept most of the time. Kaden threw up over and over and Jaxson was running a 102.2 fever. So, I slept on the couch!

Kaden continued throwing up through the night every 30 minutes. Brock even had to give him a bath at 2. He said that Kaden just laid there like a zombie.

On Tuesday, Jax was feeling much better. He no longer had a fever, but slept pretty much all day. Kaden stopped throwing up around 10. When I got home, they all seemed to be feeling better. Brock definitely seemed better. Kaden hadn't thrown up in hours but he wouldn't eat. He had a fever and then he fell asleep. Jaxson felt much better but had a little bit of a fever. So, I decided that I would stay home on Wednesday with Jax and Kaden.

It is now about 11 on Wednesday. Jax has diarrhea, so I'm glad I didn't send him to school today. Other than that, he seems fine and is playing XBox. Kaden still doesn't feel good. He won't eat and he's sleeping. So at this point he hasn't eaten in 48 hours. He sure still looks cute!
I thought that the sickness was going to end, but Kaden was still throwing up and Jax had no energy so I stayed home on Thursday as well. Jaxson and Kaden both threw up and had diarrhea through Thursday night and into Friday.

We didn't go to Parent's Night Out on Saturday and stayed home from church on Sunday. By Monday, we were all better and back to life as usual.

December 2011

I don't think that I have ever had a bad Christmas and this one didn't disappoint. It seems like we celebrate the whole month of December! I don't know what I would do without my big ole family. Seriously, Brock and I never imagined that we would have four kids, but I can't even begin to think about what life would be like without any one of those 4. They keep us busy and they keep us very, very happy.

Our first Christmas party was the Edmonds party. We had a great time visiting with that side of the family. The following is a picture of all of PawPaw and MawMaw's great grandkids....Averie, Hannah, Halle, Kaden, Jaxson, and Connor.
Next was the boys' Christmas parties at school. This is a picture of Connor and his buddy, Peyton.
This is a picture of Jaxson with his best bud, Brett.
Every year we make and decorate Christmas cookies. This year Connor decided that he didn't want to make cookies with us... :(
We had the Jackson Christmas party next, at our house. I made LOTS of cookies and had them ready for the kids to decorate at the party.

This is a picture of me, my parents, and my siblings. I'm not sure when the last time we have taken a picture together.
All of the grandkids are in the picture below. We have all been blessed with wonderful kids. I wish that we could all get together more often.
We had a great time decorating cookies, eating dinner, and opening presents. Kaden and Halle were pooped.

The exhausted kids woke up to put out food for Santa's reindeer.

We also put out cookies and milk for Santa.

Christmas Morning!

Brock and I have said since we got married that we love our extended families and will spend time with them for Christmas, but Christmas morning is for just our little family. We always spend the morning eating breakfast and opening presents. This year Christmas was on a Sunday, but several of us were under the weather so we stayed home. Here are a few pics from our morning.

We spent the whole day playing and spending the day together.

The next day we went to Tony & Debbie's to have Christmas with them. The kids always love going to their house.

(Halle loves Papa and Nana even though her expression doesn't show it ;))

Thanksgiving 2011

I have a wonderful Thanksgiving week this year. I got to start it out by spending the weekend before Thanksgiving with my grandma in Illinois. I had been wanting to go visit her for awhile and I was so excited to spend this time with her. I got to see most of my dad's side of the family and met several of my grandmother's friends. I don't get to see her much, but she and my aunt are two of my very favorite people! I missed my kids, but it was so nice to focus on spending time with my grandma and not chasing the kids. I hope to go back to visit very soon! I got back late Monday night (waiting for my luggage at the airport is a whole other post, ugh).
I didn't get a chance to take pictures while I was there, but this is a picture of my grandmother and her 5 kids many moons ago. My grandfather died about a year and a half ago, but I would have given anything for him to have been there for me to spend time with as well. Oh how I wish heaven had phones....

We didn't do much on Tuesday other than clean the house and hang out. I missed my kids so it was nice to have a day just to hang out. On Tuesday, we went up to the church to assemble and deliver Thanksgiving baskets to families in need. It was a great lesson to the kids and a great "others" activity. After that, I went to see Breaking Dawn with some of my dear friends. We had a great time!

On Wednesday, I took Connor and Jaxson on a day date. We went to see "Puss in Boots" and ate at Ruby Tuesday. It was nice to concentrate on them since Kaden and Halle demand so much of my time.

On Thursday, we got up, got ready and went to Tony and Debbie's house for lunch. We spent a couple of hours with them and PawPaw and MawMaw. Brock and Blake went to the Aggie/UT game so when they left, we left to go to to Tracie's house.

It is not very often that we have the whole Jackson clan together, so it was really nice to have everyone together.

After dinner, I took the kids back to Tony and Debbie's so that I could do my Black Friday Shopping (that is another post as well).

On Saturday, we went to the Studio Movie Grill to see The Muppets...the kids and Brock loved it...I am not a big fan of the Muppets!

All You're Ever Gonna Be Is Mean

One day Halle just started belting out this Taylor Swift song. I'm not sure how she knows it so well, but I think it is super cute. I caught her on video singing it last night.

Halloween 2011

We had such a great Halloween this year!
Connor wanted to be something scary this year....
Jaxson was Harry Potter and was very excited about it!
Kaden was Spiderman and so excited to be a super hero. I was so excited because I got a Frankenstein costume at Children's Place for like $8, but he really, really wanted to be a super hero so Spiderman he is.
Miss Halle was a Fairy. She was very cute!
We had Trunk or Treat at church on the Sunday before Halloween this year. We loved having two chances to trick or treat this year.
Jax and Halle have a really sweet relationship. I believe he was casting a spell on her in the following picture!

Long Time, No Blog

I realize that I haven't blogged since we started back to school, but I don't think I have stopped moving since we went back in August. We have been so busy with everything. It has been an adjustment to have Connor and Jaxson both doing homework and having to study for tests and I am .

Aside from school, Brock is doing the radio broadcasts for Texas A&M - Commerce again this year. It is really very neat that he gets to do that and he is really good at it. I am so happy that he is able to see a dream of his come true. I am so proud of him. BUT, with that job comes a little extra work for me. He is obviously gone every Saturday for the football games and sometimes he is gone overnight which leaves me to take care of all 4 little monsters by myself. Again, I am SO excited for Brock that he gets to do it, but it is hard for me to remember that sometimes during the season.

This fall, Connor and Jaxson are both playing flag football and Kaden is playing soccer. That means that we have 3 practices a week and 3 games on Saturday. Luckily, since Brock is gone most weekends, he decided that he needed to take the boys to practice. So, I haven't had to really deal with the practices. Now, 3 games every Saturday is difficult. Add the fact that Brock has had to miss about 1/2 of them and several have been overlapped and sometimes I am a little overworked on Saturday. I LOVE watching my kids play their allotted sport, even though half of the time, I have no clue what is happening.
This was Connor's first season of flag football and he loved it. He has played a season of soccer and several seasons of both baseball and basketball. He is good too. He ran a touchdown, caught a touchdown playing quarterback, got a safety, and pulled several flags. Early in the season, he got a touch down, spiked it, and did upside down horns as he ran through the endzone.
This was also Jax's first season of flag football. He has played two seasons of soccer and a season of baseball. Jax also LOVED football. He is SO fast. He could blow past those other kids. He got a safety and pulled several flags. He loved playing the rusher. That is really the only placed he asked to play...constantly.

Last, but certainly not least, is Kaden. This was his first season to play any sport. I'm not sure he was quite ready. The team K played on was on of THE youngest teams and K was one of THE youngest boys. He LOVED to practice, but he really didn't like to play in the games. He loves to play soccer for fun, but when those big kids were coming towards him, it really intimidated him. He got excited every Monday for practice, but was not happy on game day. So, I think that we will play soccer for fun at home, but he will probably sit out the next year or so.
Then, there is Halle. Miss Thing had to sit through 9 games for each of her brothers. Halle sat through 3 or more hours every Saturday and it wasn't easy but she did it. I'm sure that within the next few years, we will be adding another hour for whatever Halle is doing that makes her happy. She takes dance during daycare and loves it, but I do not have a chance to take pictures. I can't wait to see them perform.

My marathon Saturdays have come to an end for the fall. Brock has two more weeks of college football and then it is time for Thanksgiving and all of the holiday festivities. Connor and Jax will start basketball by the end of November. At least we will have about a month before practices for basketball start.

I love my family and thank God for it every day!!!!! Tired, but very blessed!

Back to School, Back to School...

Last week was the start of a new school year for us. I started back to work for my week of professional development and the Kaden and Halle started their new school.

Brock is taking the kids this year, so he was told to snap a picture for me. He said that Kaden was happy and went in without even saying bye to him! Halle cried a little bit, but was fine! When I went to pick them up each day, they were having a good time and seemed perfectly happy. Halle is already learning so much! It is amazing how spongy kids are and how they soak EVERYTHING in. We are very happy with their school. We will see what this year brings!

Jaxson and Connor with me on the first day of school! We had a CrAzY first day and I will explain all about that in another post, but I made time to get a picture of us on the first day of school.
My sweet 1st and 4th grader in front of the Hays sign at the front of our school. I have taken a picture of Connor here every year since the school has been open which just happened to be his Kinder year. Jaxson joined in last year. It is crazy to think that I have just two more years to do this with my Conman. I think they are extremely handsome!!!
Connor with his fabulous 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Barineau. I can't begin to express how excited I am that my BFF is my sweet son's teacher this year. Not to mention that I am also his teacher this year. We are departmentalized in 4th grade and Debbie and I team teach...so he has Debbie for half a day and me for half a day. It is going to be interesting, but I am very excited to get to know my son as a student.
Jaxson and his fabulous teacher, Mrs. D'Alessio. I was very excited that Jaxson got Mrs. D. She was my long term sub when I had Halle and then got a full time position at Hays the following year. She is an amazing teacher and I couldn't be more excited! Jaxson needed the right balance of love and discipline from a teacher and I know that Mrs. D is the perfect teacher for the job. He needs to know that she will make him tow the line, but that she loves him at the same time.

I am very excited about my classes too. I have a very sweet class and I can't wait to get to know the kids better. There are several challenges that I can't wait to tackle as well. All and all I am very excited about this year and where God is leading my family! Remind me of this in February!