Hallelujah!

As we're checking out at the grocery store today Asher says "Hallelujah!" (with the H silent) and then says, "Mom, that's Spanish. I can speak Spanish." I smile at him because I think he's totally cute and then I notice that there is a Hispanic man standing nearby. He keeps saying it over and over! The man must of understood him a little because I noticed a slight smile on him! Print Page

Tell-Tale Tonsils

Speaking of Asher... This morning he came up to me and informed me that he had a loose tooth. He only said this because his sister Ainsley has been working on a loose tooth for a while now so he thinks he has one too. Well, as he opened his mouth to show his "loose tooth" I noticed something in the back of his throat. It looked like a piece of clementine that he had been eating so I asked him to swallow and open back up so I could see. It was NOT a piece of clementine. His uvula looked to be attached to the side of his throat or a 'growth' on the side of his throat. I was nothing short of worried. I asked him if his throat hurt and he assured me that it didn't. For the last couple of weeks his voice has been extra raspy (it's normally a little raspy) but he consistently said that his throat didn't hurt when asked. Andyn had a check-up on an ear infection this morning so I took him along and asked the Dr. if he could just peek at his throat. The 'growth'? His tonsil. I'm embarrassed to say that 4 kids into this parenting thing I had no idea where his tonsils were supposed to be or what they were supposed to look like. One of his tonsils is EXTREMELY enlarged and it appears that the uvula is attached to it! The doctor said that the concern is when the tonsils are not equal in size but they don't really want to do anything about it until they're at least 4 yrs old. He gave me a referral for the ENT. We'll know more after we talk to him.

This is a picture of normal tonsils (as rendered on wikipedia) :

This is a picture of Asher's:

This is the best picture that I could get. On the left side is the enlarged tonsil and the uvula is as attached as it looks. Print PagePrint Page

New Year's Eve

We came back from my dad's just in time to spend New Year's Eve with our friends: the Beishlines! We had a really good time. We played a new game that we bought them called Ark of the Covenant and played XBOX 360 Rock Band. Well, I actually only tried it once and I stunk! But everybody else did pretty good. This is a video of Geoff, Daniel, and Roxie performing Dead or Alive. Everybody enjoyed it! We watched the ball drop, toasted some sparkling grape juice and sad our goodbyes to the tune of our very tired 3 yr old boy screaming his head off!! Joy. I love bringing in the New Year with good friends. I was just a little bit sad that Shelley wouldn't let me call her at midnight our time to scream "Happy New Year!" at her. Oh well. Happy New Year, everyone.

It's That Time Again!

It's the time when everybody decides THIS is the year! They are going to lose weight! I imagine that Geoff and I are among those throngs we just haven't officially announced it. But for those of you who HAVE announced that you're in the running I thought that you might be interested in this website: MyPyramid It's the new Food Pyramid that the government came out with a few years ago. I like because it tells me how much of each kind of food I need. Shelley and I talked about how people should make small goals to start out with. Like getting my full servings of vegetables each day. I think that I will start with that. I haven't been very good lately at getting all my vegetables in. Or drinking at least 8 cups of water each day. That's another one that I've slacked on. So, if I take it easy I think that I will be more successful. Print Page

Christmas at Papa"s

We celebrated Christmas with my dad on Thursday and, as always, it was enjoyable for everyone! Print Page

Sophia Lauren Rogers

My newest, most beautiful niece! All 6lbs 14oz and 17 1/2 inches of her! Isn't she... beautiful!! It was a little rough going at first but they're home now and doing great. She was born on Dec. 28th @ 8:26 AM. Print Page

Old Man!

**shaking my head in disgust at the black dress socks with shorts** I love you, honey. But, come on! Print Page

By The Way

I lost my camera on the ride home from Michigan so the pictures will be few and late coming on a lot of these posts (I'm using disposable cameras). Print Page

Holly Trolley

Geoff's family has a tradition of renting the local 'Holly Trolley' and driving around the town with friends and family singing Christmas carols. It's a lot of fun. When we were there after Dawne passed away Karin's kids had free tickets to take a ride with one of the local banks so they invited us to come along. It brought back lots of great memories. I think Dawne would have loved it! When we went back with the kids Karin and Kent rented it for the whole family. I think everybody really enjoyed it. As we were loading a lady that we didn't know got on also with a couple of big sacks. As we were finishing up our trip we were informed that someone from the Salvation Army was there to give each of the grandchildren a teddy bear in honor of Dawne Gibson. I have to admit, I struggled to stifle the tears. Very sweet. Print Page

The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.... Of Flying

Good: Sitting next to really nice people who make intelligent conversation and are genuinely interested in what you have to say.

Bad: Losing coat in terminal. De-icing of planes.

Ugly: Over hearing a lady say (screaming baby in background):"I hope they're not on my flight". Just rude!

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Ainsley's Sleepover

So, I let Ainsley invite two little friends over for a sleepover for her birthday and these are some pics from that evening: I bought these little purses in the craft section at Walmart and some rick-rack to decorate them with. We have a bedazzler so they used that too. Before we could get started, I had to take them to Walmart to get craft glue. I think they really had a good time going to the store in their PJ's and slippers! They really had a fun time making their purses look pretty! They spent the rest of the time playing with our millions of dress-up costumes. At one point they all came in and announced that Ainsley (dressed in a wedding dress) was soon to be married to Asher. It was so funny to watch him try to be so 'prim & proper' during the wedding 'ceremony'! They even kissed on the lips. I figured I would say something if it got out of hand. The only time I had to say anything was after the 'bride & groom' kissed one of Ainsley's friends announced "Now you can have sex!". I almost choked! I just calmly said, "Hey, we're probably not going to talk about that." I'm such an idiot. I didn't know what else to say. I hope she's getting her information from her parents. I'm pretty sure she is - they're really good people. As you can see from the pics they had a really good time with our afro, too. The girls even got to marry a giraffe... now that doesn't happen everyday! Print Page

Thanksgiving

Below are a couple of pics of some fun stuff from Thanksgiving. Mostly cute pics of Andyn and Emma. I think they are going to be great friends. They played together on the blow-up bed at Aunt Terra's, Roxane shared her pumpkin pie with them both (I don't think she got any), and the last two are the girls at the back door. I'm not sure what they were looking at (maybe reflections) but I had my nephew Preston go outside to take a picture of them from the outside. They are SO cute! The following pictures are from my mom's house. This is the first year in a long time that we've had Thanksgiving at my mom's. It was a lot of fun! Terra made dressing with cornbread... I made a 'cornbreadman' out of the leavings. Then we helped mom decorate for Christmas. In years past mom hasn't really wanted to decorate too much so we offered to help out. Making good memories. These pics were just some that I snapped while sitting on the couch at my mom's. Just for fun! Print Page

Blogging Binge II

So, I'm in Walmart the other day and I run into someone I know (we live in a small town so this happens with every visit to Walmart) but haven't seen in a while. Her kids used to go to school with my kids but now attend a different school. I haven't seen her in a long time. After we say our hellos she informs me that I need to update my blog! I was slightly shocked (but pleased) to find out that she actually reads it!! I guess I have a wider fan base that I realized!! Thanks, Melissa, for your continued support!! For Melissa and all of my other adoring fans out there I must apologize. Things have been a little crazy here. Two trips to Michigan in one month can really screw up someone's schedule! It's all good. We had a really good visit in Michigan last week but are really glad that we're back. It was one crazy trip! You are all about to experience another one of my blogging binges. I have many blogging topics that I have been waiting to publish. I am going to try and post most of those tonight! Print Page

Christmas... Nothing Short of Exciting!

Like many of you the last couple of days have been filled with late nights, gift-wrapping marathons, baking or cooking of some sort, and of course some really fun gift exchanging! I thought I would jot down some of our events before I forget because the topic has been added to the long list of blog topics recorded on my phone!

This year we did really good and had almost all of our shopping done by the day after Thanksgiving! It made life so much easier for us. Especially with Dawne passing away I was grateful that shopping was not on our list of things to do when we were traveling so much.

This year Aspen has figured out that we the parents are Santa's 'helpers' (as well as helpers for the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny). She's really excited about this new found knowledge because we agreed that as long as she didn't tell her siblings that she would be allowed to help. She reminded me of this early yesterday afternoon by whispering "I'm in on it, Mom." I was confused at first but she clarified that she was ready to be a helper! I reassured her that I would come get her after her siblings fell asleep. The time came and I informed her that we help Santa fill the stockings with candy and fruit and that she could help us do that. She filled them all and then asked if she could have some of the cookies and egg nog that we left for Santa. I agreed... as long as she left plenty for Santa in case he needed an energy booster. Can I just say... Totally Fun! It was so much fun to watch the excitement in Aspen's eyes as she was able to help create some Christmas Magic for her brother and sisters! The only downside was having to wait until she fell asleep to finish up Christmas Magic! We were up REALLY late tying up loose ends but the kids didn't get up until 7:15 so it worked out OK.

The kiddos were all very happy and had a great time opening their presents. In our house we decided a few years ago to give the kids 3 gifts only. Christ received 3 gifts from the wise men and so we thought that it would be nice to keep that idea going in our house. They get one gift from Santa (gold) and 2 from mom & dad - one spiritual (frankincense) and one educational (myrrh). It makes gift giving a whole lot easier! Something that I found very interesting - this year the kids really got into MAKING gifts for everyone. Especially Aspen. We helped each kid (except Andyn) make one gift for each of their siblings. Asher created miniature rock gardens with flower bulbs for each of his sisters (very easy - rocks, bulbs, put in small container). Ainsley made homemade playdough for Asher & Andyn and bejewled a little purse for Aspen. Aspen made dream catchers for all three siblings. But, Aspen went above and beyond. She spent hours working on homemade miniature Christmas cards for each family member (Dawne would have been very proud)!

Once all the presents were open I went to make some breakfast. This is when the real excitement began! Every year on Christmas Eve we deliver homemade candy and Christmas Eve Sticky Buns that we've made to our friends. This year we had a pan of the sticky buns left over so I decided to make for us Christmas morning. Now, I've made these once before in our house but I used my own pans. Everything turned out great and they tasted wonderful (I'll post the recipe on the recipe blog later). It didn't turn out near as nice this year! The pan that they were in was too small and so they rose over the edges and all of the butter and sugar that was added overflowed and caught the oven on fire!!! A real fire! I totally freaked out screaming at Geoff to do something!! Thank goodness we had a fire extenguisher in our kitchen and thank goodness Geoff had presence of mind to actually use it and put out the fire! I was a mess! (This is a picture of my hero (cape and all)... getting ready to put out the fire?) The house was FULL of smoke. The girls got heelies from Santa so they were perfectly fine with going outside for a while (It was only like 55* - thank goodness) and we sat Asher on the front porch with his gameboy - Andyn with a Baby Ruth and covered them in blankets! Meanwhile Geoff and I set up fans and opened all the windows. The smoke was gone soon but the smell may be there for a while! Can anyone say "A Christmas Story"? Next step was the Chinese Buffet! We got the kids all packed (to go to my dad's) and loaded into the van and went to eat Chinese for lunch! Geoff and I laughing the whole time and the kids not having a clue what was so funny! (I'm still not so sure it's that appropriate a movie for little kids - leg lamp) We joined lots of Jehova's Witness' and Mexicans for lunch on Christmas Day. What a riot! Geoff and I kept singing "Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra" over and over. We tried to explain it to the kids but it's just not the same as actually watching it!

*sigh* Merry Christmas Print Page

12 Days of Christmas

I thought this was pretty clever. Print Page

Isn't He Cute?

If you think this little guy is cute then you're on crack! It's 4 AM and I am fully awake because of this nasty creature!!! His squeaking woke me up about 45 minutes ago. I have several shopping bags next to my bed hidden under a couple of pillows because they contain presents for Christmas and I heard this nasty creature messing around with MY special things!! The nerve! A couple of weeks ago Geoff and I heard some miniature animal stirrings in the kitchen cabinets and I found some of its poop in a baking pan under the stove. I bought some sticky traps and Geoff put them under the sink (this is where we keep our trash - we heard him there too) and under the stove. We've been checking... no mouse. When I heard this evil thing this morning I started having some anxiety because I was sure this was a DIFFERENT one! Which means we probably have a whole stinkin' family of them living with us!!!! If you haven't noticed, I really hate these creatures! I mean REALLY hate them! I poked Geoff and told him that I thought that there was a mouse in our bedroom. He woke up long enough to hear the stirrings and agree that we had a mouse in our bedroom. I realized that it was a little unfair for me to expect Geoff to get up at 3:30 AM and... chase it with a broom or something but I laid there for a good 10-20 minutes TRYING desperately to just go to sleep but I just COULDN'T!! I kept imagining it climbing up the head board and inadvertently falling on my head or something. Well, he started squeaking. Squeaking Loud! And I just couldn't take it anymore. I poked Geoff really hard and begged him to do something! There was no way I was sleeping with this intruder in our room! He reluctantly got up and went and got some... weapons. A broom, a flashlight, and 2 planks of laminate flooring (I have no idea why the flooring pieces - I'll have to ask him about that tomorrow). He mentioned that he thought he might be trapped in the sticky trap under our bed. Glory Hallelujah!! I didn't realize that Geoff had put one there! Sure enough, upon closer inspection with the flashlight there he was all trapped! I proceeded to the living room with my MP3 player and head phones so I couldn't hear or see the removal of the evil creature! I'm crossing my fingers that was the same one from the kitchen but some how I doubt it!

Now I would like to relay to another story about a mouse that created a really funny memory for me. When we lived in a different house we heard a mouse in the cabinet above the stove moving around. Geoff decided that he might could catch it. (Absolutely insane that one.) He got out an old plastic margarine container and some kind of stick - I don't remember exactly - and proceeded to "catch" this creature. What happened next is forever etched on my brain. I will not forget this as long as I live and it will forever be a source of hysterical laughter for me (even now I'm trying to stifle my laughs)! The mouse jumped out of the cabinet onto my husbands HEAD and then to the floor and scurried off to hole in our floor (where, incidentally, we caught him with a sticky trap later)!!! It actually landed on his head!! Can you believe that?! He screamed like a girl! The tears are welling up in my eyes even as I write about this... it was so funny! Print Page

FREEZING FOG (by Geoff)

STARE AT THE PICTURE BELOW FOR THREE HOURS

Hello, friends. Many of you know about our recent trip to St. Louis and Michigan, and Steph will create other blog postings to describe other aspects of our trip. One of the most memorable (although not the most pleasant) memories occurred on the trip from St. Louis to Michigan.

Ever heard of "freezing fog?" Neither had I. Until last week. We were driving through a very thick fog; so thick that I couldn't see or read those huge interstate road signs. I would have pulled over if I could have found a good place to do it, but I couldn't see the off-ramps, and I was afraid to park for fear of being hit by another driver. So, I just kept on. This was tough driving; the picture above is nearly identical to my driving view. To further appreciate the experience, please stare at the white area above for...I don't know...say three hours. It's amazing what you will see. I found every astigmatism and eye floaty in my optical apparatus come into clear view, since there was nothing else for my brain to focus in on. Driving through this was much tougher than driving for four hours in the ice and slush on the way to St. Louis.

Oh, I almost forgot. The reason it is called freezing fog is because it accumulates as a fine crystalline ice on everything moving through it. Our van looked a little like it had been iced by a cake decorator. It was actually amazingly pretty - I wish I had taken a picture of it.

We wish you save driving, and safe road conditions this Holiday season. Best wishes, Geoff and the Gibsons Print Page

Dancing Traffic Cop

I love The Today Show!! This was one of the segments today! Print Page

Kohl's Cash, Baby! - Update

I was convinced! I needed a new bra! (I closed out the poll-I was sad that nobody voted for the rooster cookie jar) I drove 30 minutes to the closest Kohl's on Wed the 28th only to get there and discover that I had forgotten my Kohl's cash ticket at home!! I could've kicked myself!!! The problem was that they were having a huge sale and I could get 2 bras for the $40. I asked if there was anything that I could do and they said that they would honor the 'cash' if I brought it back by Saturday (when it expired). I would just buy what I wanted and they would take it off my credit card and use the Kohl's cash. Well... Dawned passed away and so I didn't make it back in time. I just thought - 'who cares. I'll just return the bras.' (I do NOT pay $40 of my own money for bras!) When I went to return the bras I explained what happened and they honored it for me!!! Can you believe that? What they had to do though was give me a merchandise credit for the purchase that I had already made and then they used the Kohl's cash ticket to repurchase the bras. Granted, now I have a gift card of $40 for a store that I don't normally shop at but it is quickly becoming my favorite store and I hear they have some killer sales and clearance sometimes!! Print Page

How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey

Big 'Thank you' (I think) to my husband for keeping you all entertained while I play catch-up. I don't know if I will ever catch up on my blog but here is one more attempt:

Asher's class made this book for Thanksgiving:

Inside the teachers typed up the kids' responses to: How to Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey

I thought that I might share with you Asher's response along some of his classmates' responses. (Names have been changed so I don't get in trouble with any parents)

Asher: Mom goes hunting and gets the turkey. She cooks it in a pan for a couple days. That's all I can say.

Joey: Daddy kicks the turkey. Then he shoots it, "Bam, bam!" He puts it in the freezer and washes it off. He cooks it at the store for five minutes, then it stinks.

Lisa: My mamma buys it at the store. She cooks it in the microwave. That doesn't work. After, she eats a sandwich.

Deana: Mamaw goes hunting and gets it at the hospital. She cooks it in the ovenwave for hours. It's big, big, big!

We Are Thankful For:

Asher: A family, Mom, Dad, my sisters, and that's all I can say.

Andi: Dog, a frog, my mom and my dad who love me, and a chicken at my house.

Pretty cute, huh? Print Page