The Last Allergy Shot...Maybe

John has taken 2 allergy shots, twice a week, for almost 2 years. Yesterday we went in for what was supposed to be our last set of "regular" shots. After you finish your complete set of shots, then you are just on a maintenance plan, where you go once every 2 weeks, and then eventually once a month. Believe me, when you have 4 kids that come with you to the allergy shots twice a week, this is really something you look forward to.

Yesterday, John had his last shots. They don't really bother him, usually. After we waited his 20 minutes to get checked, we went back into the shot room. John has asthma, so the doctor measures his breathing before and after his shots. Before the shot, John blew a 210, after his shot, he couldn't even blow a 105. He had to have more tests and medicine, and he will have to have more regular shots. His body couldn't handle the last dose, so we have to keep working on more smaller doses. So, we thought we were done, but we're not...at least we only have to go once a week now.

Look at the picture of John - such a big boy. If I had to get 2 shots twice a week, I would cry. John never gets upset, he never cries - he just takes the shots and moves on.

Mags and Santa

We finally found all of the Christmas decorations. They were in the attic at the old house. Brian went last weekend and loaded up the truck with merriment.

I'm not sure Mags really "gets" the whole Christmas thing, but she sure likes Santa. Here she is sittingin what we call the "Santa Chair". She loves to run to the chair and hug on Santa.

We also have what we call "blow dryer Santa" because he has a little fan that runs when he's plugged in. Mags really loves blow dryer Santa - he's just her size.

Here's a little video of Mags showing us Blow Dryer Santa and letting us know that Santa says HO HO HO! I've never done video before, so I hope it works. By the way, the little red jammies that she's wearing were originally John's. That means she is the 4th child to wear them. Now those are some good pajamas!

Tom Turkey

This Thanksgiving, for the first time ever, Brian and I stayed home and cooked. Brian was in charge of the turkey. It was his 2nd turkey ever - his first Thanksgiving Turkey. I must say it turned out fabulous.

Brian cooked a 20 pound turkey in his Roaster Oven. It cooked super fast and was really great. The good news about the roaster oven is it frees up my regular oven, for things like mac and cheese! YUM.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We are thankful for all of our family and friends. Speaking of family - mom, dad, lara, baby cate and susie are coming this weekend. It should be tons of fun. I'll try to post pictures after our big weekend.

We are Thankful

Thursday was the kids' Thanksgiving Program at school (Palmetto Christian Academy http://www.pcagwd.org/). This picture is Will's class (5 boys!). As you can see, Will is an Indian and so is his friend Grant. Some of his friends were Pilgrims and his friend Graham was the turkey. So cute.












Sarah Grace and her friends were Pilgrim girls. She and her friend Laura (sitting right next to her) are 2 peas in a pod. They even had the same costume! Both girls were so cute.


After the program we (the PTA officers, comprised of me, Laura's Mom and Grant's Mom) put on a Thanksgiving Dinner for the whole school - we had help from all of the families who brought something to share - sort of like the first Thanksgiving). It is so nice to have a small school. We invited parents, grandparents, special friends, etc. Everyone came and we served lunch for 120.

We hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving. Be thankful - I know that I am.

Grancy & Grandpa's China Cabinet

We have moved into our new house - we are working on unloading boxes and arranging furniture. One of my favorite rooms is our dining room - it has my grandparents' china cabinet in it. My Grancy and Grandpa Degenhart gave us their dining room set and I love it. When I look at it, I think of all the years, all the dinners, all the people that have eaten there.

My grandparents have been married for over 60 years - this set is almost that old. It's so great.

I think I got this set by default - Grancy and Grandpa had 8 kids and my family is the only family close to that size - it's perfect for our family of 6.

The house is going well - we'll keep you posted on the progress.

Halloween - better late than never

Halloween - what fun. John was an Indian. He wanted to be called "Running Deer". Sarah Grace was a scientist. She wore a white coat and carried a beaker of green water. Will was a cowboy, with chaps and all, and Maggie was the Tooth Fairy- note her toothbrush.

We all had a really good time - we went to the church carnival. They had candy, popcorn, jump-on rides and games. This final picture is a picture of Maggie and Will, jumping around on Jump-on ride. This was right before Maggie decided she had had enough of being bounced around and decided to hurl all over her brother, sister (Sarah Grace was on the ride, too, you just don't see her), and, of course, the ride. Needless to say we cleaned up everything and everyone and made a hasty exit. Ah...the joys of motherhood.

FALL

Growing up in South Texas, we didn't experience the leaves changing colors and a typical "Fall". Fall meant football season and following the Mighty Alice Coyotes, but it did not mean leaves changing colors or really even cooler weather.

I really like fall in South Carolina. All of the leaves change colors, the weather gets cooler, but not too cold, and, of course, it still means football season, but now its following the Carolina Gamecocks.



Here are some pictures from our new house. One is looking toward the house and the other is from the front porch, looking toward the pond. As you can see, we have some fabulous trees in our yard and they are certainly changing colors gloriously.

Look at the sky, today is going to be a fabulous day with what Brian always calls a "Fall Blue" sky - it almost looks clear. It's supposed to be 76 degrees today - looks like a day to play in the yard!