Back to normal

My sister and nephews left Thursday morning. I actually managed to not bawl my head off the night before as I said goodbye. I DID stop by again on my way to work though! I snuggled on Griff and hugged my sis goodbye, but Koen wasn't up yet. That was probably a good thing because he is more sensitive and I wouldn't want to upset him with a quick hello and goodbye. Here are a few of the playhouse pics that I promised. Tobin did such a great job with this little house that it had to make the journey back to AL. Koen would carry all of his important things in there (brown bear, pink bear, lion, squirrel...) and then want me to tickle him like crazy! If I tried to leave the playhouse, he would physically try to push me back in! It was great fun! Koen and Griffin even had some peek-a-boo style interaction.

>
Tobin is going hunting again , so we had "date night" tonight. We got Pasta Express take-out and he drove us to a park near our house. He had blankets all ready in the truck and we had a little picnic. We planned to do our normal "listen to music-get a frappuccino-I read scrapbook mags-he reads hunting mags" thing at Borders, but we ended up at Bass Pro. Go figure...LOL. It was a nice quiet evening together until he bought a turkey call and practiced all the way home!!!




I spent every evening at my mom's for two weeks playing with them. I won't see them again until Thanksgiving Break. Mom drove down with them and returns this Sunday. Someone always flies down there and journeys back and forth with Mel. It would be difficult to do with two boys in car seats on a 12 hour ride! There is always a DVD to switch out, diapers to change, snacks or juice requests to meet, and so on.
I am in withdrawal mode for now, but I will get used to their absence soon, I guess.

More family time~

Well, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, but I am exhausted! I am out at my mom's every night until about bath tme or bedtime. We went out there last night for a family gathering with my aunt and cousins. Tobin made deer appetizers on the grill, wrapped in bacon with a dab of cream cheese inside. They were delicious! Mel made us all lemon chicken with oriental veggies and wild rice. YUM.


Today, we are headed to Monett to hang out with my dad and his new wife. Tricia and Justin will be there too.

OH! I took some wonderful pics of Koen playing in the playhouse that Tobin made him. It is the cutest little house made out of a pumpkin bin that he got at work.
It has smiling pumpkins all over




the outside, plus a floor and a roof! Tobin carved out two windows and a door.
He used a knife on one of my rattan kitchen fruit baskets and cut the handles off so he could use them on the playhouse door! I didn't need that bowl anyway! I'll have those pics downloaded soon!

Silly boys

Thought you might enjoy seeing how much fun they have in the sand box! Melody calls Griffin a snickerdoodle-head, but scolds Koen for smearing the sand on his brother's noggin. Griff was totally unaffected and more interested in eating the sand. The pic of Griff coming out of the Cockscomb flower bed was cute to me. He isn't smiling, but the colors are great!

I have a conference today and won't be at school or near a computer. Tobin has to mow again in Walnut Grove. UGH. So, I will be back out to mom's for more fun with my nephews!

Soooo Much Fun....

Yes, I know, I shouldn't have been lifting anything heavy, and definitely not swinging small boys around....but, if you could hear Koen request it, you too would find it hard to resist! I'm just a little sore, but not too bad.

Wow, looking at the time, I really should be going to bed to rest up for the continued fun tomorrow, but here I am blogging! I plan to stop by my mom's everyday after work. I was wrong on the previous post comments; I have already taken over 90 pics and here it is the second out of 14 that they are in town! Sooo many cute pics, but I'll just include a few. No need in us all being

overwhelmed.... :)

The first one was on Saturday, when it was sooo chilly. The boys both had fun running in the field behind mom and Dave's. The second pic was this afternoon. Much fun was to be had in the front yard, at mom's, and the sandbox was the place to be. Griffin is the best for tickling! He just loves it! The fun moved indoors onto Koen's new race car bed. This is where I act like I am gonna tickle him silly, and sometimes do, just to hear the belly laughs. I've gotta say, I would have loved a bed like that when I was little!

Dave and Tobin grilled some awesome steaks for dinner. GeGe and Jason came out to see Mel and the boys. Mom and Geeg looked at all the flowers in bloom right now. As you can see, mom's elephant ears are thriving ridiculously! You can barely see the house from the driveway! LOL The cockscomb looks awesome too. I got some great pics of the boys walking a little path into and out of the "flower forest."

Melody used to always play in her toybox, so this last pic was for her! Griffin looks so adorable in that box. I had looked down to fix a toy that was broken and the next thing I knew, Griff had climbed into the box and was just grinning like crazy!

Well, I need to get up early and get to school early, so I better sign

off. I cannot remember what I am teaching tomorrow. Hopefully I

planned it before I left school on Friday! I usually do, but my weekend has been so much of a blur that I don't remember! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I CAN HARDLY STAND IT!!!!!!!!!!!

They are almost heeeeere!

Well, 4-5 hours, but I'm anxious, eager, happy, elated, ready, impatient, ecstatic, excited, hopeful...........

These lil' stinkers are going to receive MANY, MANY hugs!!!!!

The photo on the right kills me! I have a series of pics where Koen is trying to bum a ride off Griffin! But, in this pic, Koen decided..."I think I'll pick at my toe... right HERE and right NOW ....oh, am I squishing you?"

Back to school tomorrow!

I have finished 3 pages while in recovery mode. It is still a little uncomfortable to sit upright for very long. Mel, this first one is an extra from scrapbook club (last year) that I refurbished, after a student screwed it up and then left it at school. It was a two-page spread, but this was a all I could salvage. It's yours, if you want it...ready to go...all you have to do is add your pics. The second and third LOs are ones that I plan to do with the girls at school in the next few months. I think they can have fun with the brown/pink/light green one deciding how to place their pics. They could even fit more on there if they use the little school pics that they will be getting in the next month or so.

Very simple, obviously, but I liked the colors and needed a quick layout, since they will also be doing the one below on the same night. They are only there for 2 hours and have to stitch.

This one is also a quick page, but I really like how this one turned out! Trish~I hope you like it!

One more day to rest!

Well, my recovery continues. I am feeling pretty well, but not quite back to normal. I don't move as fast, can't multi-task, get nauceous some, and have to hold my belly a lot! :) For some reason, it is comforting to hold onto my bellybutton area, where one of the incisions is, as if that is going to help. It actually does help when I drive. I have only driven twice since the surgery. Once was last night. I had to drive out to the middle school and make lesson plans for my sub. Tonight, I made a quick trip to Sam's for some photos. Other than those outings, I just hang around the house. Reminds me of summer! Today, I just sat in the sun, on the patio, and stitched and read scrapbook magazines! I messed around with Photoshop quit e a bit. I have tried to not take my pain pills, but I just get too sore and tender. So, I may have to refill that prescription before I return to work this Thursday!
This is one of the cutest pics of my youngest nephew! They will be here this Saturday!!!!!!!!
YAY!

Recovery Time

Hello all! I thought I better get on here and let everyone know that I am still alive! I have had some ups and downs, but I am healing pretty well so far. Tobin has been WONDERFUL, to say the least. He has done everything possible from keeping me on my pain meds, to fixing meals, laundry, changing my DVDs, going to get me treats (iced cappuccinos from McD and Dilly Bars from Dairy Q), and making me get up and walk every few hours. Getting into and out of the bed can be painful still, but I have been keeping a pillow stinted across my belly. I showered and took off the bandages yesterday and decided to look at the incisions. BAD IDEA!

I immediately went very woozy, clammy, and hot. Tobin had to come to the rescue! My breathing became very erratic and I almost fainted even though they are not that bad at all! He was very sweet and calming for as long as I needed him. I have no idea why I get that way.

The flowers above are from Hollie! Isn't that sweet? They are placed directly across from the bed, so I get to look at them all day! The plant to the right is from the faculty and staff at LRMS. It even came in a cool pot! Mr. McPheeters told me not to even think about getting sick very often in order to get more cool plants! How funny. He's a great principal! Tobin's mom got me the inspirational book for scrapbookers! What a neat idea!
Well, I'll close with a hideous shot of me
(i should chop my head off in this pic and just show the loving dog), but it is cute because it shows how Bailey has been by my side through this whole deal. Babs too, but she wasn't on the bed when Tobin took the pic. Babs actually cried because she couldn't get near me last night when I had my above-mentioned episode. It's funny how dogs sense our needs and emotions. I have a pillow over my abdomen in this pic and Bailey is resting her head on it. Sweet doggie.

FYI

Well, I have gone back and forth about posting this, but for those that wonder about the details, I DO have my diagnostic surgery tomorrow. The surgery is scheduled for 9:30 am and I should be coming off the anesthesia around noon. No telling when I will feel like sitting upright and blogging or emailing, but I will let you know as soon as I can. Hopefully I will return to school on Monday. For those of you that pray, I would greatly appreciate any prayers you could send my way. I am just praying that God guides the hands of my doctor and gives him the wisdom to find out what has been causing my pain for 5 years and that they can take care of it. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, guys. Love, Hol

Quick page~

I am sooo tired, or my body is, but I wanted to post this quick page from this past weekend. This page is about the surprise party that my old roomate, Sarah, threw for Tobin and I. My family all helped organize the food and invitations and such. Somehow, no one spilled the beans and I never found out. As you can see in my expression, I am simply flabbergasted and overwhelmed with surprise! That was the coolest thing and I'll never forget it.!

I worked with 9 girls after school today for scrapbook club. There should be 12 more tomorrow for the same spread. I have never, in my life, thread so many needles and gotten so many knots out of DMC floss EVER!! I know, I know, just wait for tomorrow! I have also never hand cut so many felt ovals or poked so many holes (for the clouds and sun on my inchworm layout=147). Some of the kids decided they didn't want any grass on the bottom of the page, after sewing the clouds and sun. LOL! That used up the whole 1.5 hours and they left without any pics on the page. Maybe tomorrow will go well!

My Saturday

Well, my tomato plants no longer look this good, but they are still producing tomatoes! Probably not one fit for the grocery store floor since they have blemishes, but they taste just as good once the bad parts are cut off! lol This plant produces grape tomatoes which are awesome in a salad! Great flavor.

Good part of my day: Tobin and I went to a movie tonight! Amazing that I got him out of the house and NOT to Bass Pro. We saw Knocked Up and it was hysterical!!!!!!!!!!! He said it was pretty good for a chick flick and had enough guy material in it to make it tolerable, even though it was predictable. I thought it was great! I teach a lot of that reproduction material, with no personal experience, but it was a funny movie either way.

Bad part of my day: I had the lovely job of going through
the contents of the vacuum cleaner bag, with my bare hands, and the bag was full. Tobin decided that the long shag living room rug was a good place to set his wedding ring and then forgot where he placed it. So, since this makes him sick and he gets dry heaves, I had to be the strong one to sift through the dog and cat hair, cat litter, and God knows what else! BTW, his ring was in the last inch of material I went through and it was mangled. Can you tell this made me pissy? lol