The Wedding of Bethany and Huey Hooks... Pictures!

Well, for those who didn't make it, these are the pictures of them right after the sealing on Thursday morning. Hope you enjoy them!

This was the "I'm cold" huddle!

The Dress... it was gorgeous!

Mom putting up the bustle on the dress.

More soon to follow!

I'm an Auntie again!

My neice was born this evening at 6:15pm in Idaho. Her name is Sydney Elizabeth and she weighed 7lbs 5ozs and is nursing well! I will post a pic when I get one!

Bethany's Bridal Shower

We had a bridal shower for my best friends daughter who is getting married in less than a week! It went so fast. I did the photos at her bridal shower and have finally finished putting them into a slide show. Enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Santa Picture

We had our annual Christmas party for the kids at Church. We played musical chairs, decorated Christmas cookies, did crafts, and had a snowball fight with balloons. They seemed to have fun. The best part though was meeting Santa! Zach was very concerned that he could not see Santa's sleigh and reindeer. He kept running outside and looking on the roof! It was pretty funny.

Here they are with Santa...

Real Furniture!

So Tom had time to kill the other day and stopped into an Estate Sale. Well it was in a low income part of town, so he didn't expect to find much. He came home all excited because of the furniture! They had a China hutch and a beautiful dresser. We had been talking about getting a dresser because Dunkan's had completely fallen apart. We had a dresser in the living room, but needed some place to put everything in it. We thought for sure the guy would be asking a fortune, but turned out he wasn't! It ended up being less than $100! WOOOHOOO! After a little searching, they appear to be high end antiques as well. What a find! Just had to share! Merry Christmas to Tom and I! LOL!

It was tomatos!

So Isabel has had this TERRIBLE rash for forever. We tried everything. Rash cream, yeast cream, acidophillus, powder, homeopathics, breastmilk, cloth diapers, no diaper, disposable diapers, different soaps, etc. Nothing worked at all. She suffered for months with this rash. Even her doctor was stumped. Her bottom would even bleed! It was awful.

So, as a final attempt to solve this nasty problem, I took away almost all foods. We went back to what she started on. Banana and Avocado. She was nursing alot too. She wasn't happy, but I needed to know if it was food related. Within 1.5 days, it was gone. So obviously those two foods were fine.

We went to park day and we made stone soup. I watched everything go in, potatos, corn, onions, barley, carrots, etc. Everything seemed innocent enough. What I didn't see was the tomato juice they poured in! Well, low and behold, the rash was back.

So I called our homeopath for her thoughts on the tomato thing. She suggested putting her on a diet based on her blood type. Based on the descriptions, I assumed she was type A (doesn't do well on acidic foods) and went by that. For her, it meant no more tomato or oranges. The tomato is hard!! No spaghetti sauce or taco soup or chilli... her fav foods.

Guess what though... not even a hint of a rash! Completely gone for over a month now. I am totally amazed. We have been doing the similar things for Tom who is also type A and have seen improvement on his stomach issues as well.

So, if you are at all interested, check it out! It is called Eat Right for your Blood Type.

Very cool stuff!

Cutting down our Christmas Tree

This was our third year going to Wintergreen Farms in Van Alstyne, Texas to cut down our Christmas tree. We just love it there and love the couple that runs the farm. So family friendly and beautiful trees at great prices. Worth the drive!

Anyway, we went on a Monday afternoon and got a later start than we planned. That meant it was more crowded than normal... instead on being the only ones, there was another family! Oh the joy of homeschooling!

So we headed up there and selected our tree and cut it down. Dunkan cut the tree down again, with a little help from Zachary. We were really lucky to actually get somewhat cold weather. It was in the low 60's. It really stinks to sweat when cutting down your Christmas tree. It had been in the 80's the day before.

So we arrived and took our annual family photo on the tractor. Then we headed out on the hay ride to the fields to get our tree!

VIDEO: Kids looking for trees and hugging!

VIDEO: Isabel holding Dunkan's hand while she walks

VIDEO: Izzy on Mom's Back and Dunkan and Zach funny dancing

VIDEO: Dunkan cutting down the tree and Zach watching intently

We had a great time. We love the tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree. We really miss the snow, but at least now it is cold!

Homeschool Family Dance

Each year our homeschool organization hosts a family formal. We all dress up, dance, eat snacks, and have a great time. Everyone had a great time. The first picture was done by one of our members, Bob Nine, who also has a photography business. Great guy and fantastic pictures. You can find him at boblog

The kiddos at home before we left for the dance

Who knows what was up with Zach!

Zach and Isabel dancing

Dunkan dancing with the girl mom wants him to marry because he would have GREAT in-laws! Plus she is sweet, smart and gorgeous!
The daddy/daughter dance
The Mom/son dance
Dunkan and his friends

We had a wonderful time. We love to dance and it gives us a chance to get to see the littles and the bigs dancing their hearts out. We stay moving the whole time. Last year Dunkan reluctantly danced with his mom only and this year we had to drag him away from the girls to go home! I guess that is why church dances start at 14, huh? LOL!

Ummm... Halloween?

Yeah, I am a little behind! Oops! It just didn't seem right to not catch up. You would have missed the halloween costumes. So without further ado...

Isabel as a Cowgirl

Zachary as a Cowboy

Isabel after trick or treating and the ONLY picture I got of Dunkan. By this age they totally ignore their mom with a camera. Anyway, Dunkan was a Chick Magnet (see below)

The Magnet...Made by mama and no pattern! (I can't believe it actually worked!) He wore it around his neck.

The Chicks! He had 4 chicks that were stuck to the magnet. Then he just dressed studly!

Zach and his 6 shooters. Yeah... Tom DID buy him caps.

We have a Trunk or Treat at Church. We all decorate our trunks and then the kids trick or treat from trunk to trunk. They hand out prizes for decorations and we won this year! We didn't have much Halloween stuff, so we went with Christmas. Tom even tracked down a Santa suit! Ofcourse, it was 75 degrees and he was pretty hot. Poor guy. He really wanted to win! LOL!

I dressed up as a hippy and as I am always behind the camera, there is no picture. The running joke was everyone asking me why I didn't dress up! I guess I am just too "Hippy" to start with!

Enjoy and Happy Belated Halloween!

Whew. What a week.

Well, it has been a crazy week. I have been at the hospital a lot, just trying to be there for Margaret through all of this. It goes fast.

I have set up a blog for her. Just follow the link...
www.margaretjohnson.blogspot.com

Hopefully this will keep everyone up to date. I am not going to redo everything I said there. I am too tired.

My best friend...

Is in the hospital.

(From left to right: Me, our friend Carolyn, and Margaret)

I am overwhelmed. Her name is Margaret and she is an amazing woman and mother of six. She is my inspiration and "bosom friend". She was healthy and fine one minute and not the next. She has a brain aneurism that burst at the base of her neck in a major artery leading into her brain. She is undergoing brain surgery tomorrow morning to have it clamped off.

The doctors say she shouldn't have even made it to the hosital alive, much less be doing as well as she is doing. Tom and our good friend Dan were able to go up and give her a blessing almost immediately after it happened. Through them, God performed a miracle. That is the only logical explanation.

I am overwhelmed. I just want to cry. I want to curl up in bed next to her in the hospital and stroke her hair, tell her I love her, and that everything will be alright. I know I cna't so I am trying to keep busy at home. The more I do, the less I think. I am tired though.

She woke up tonight and seemed pretty aware. She asked where I was. That just killed me. I am at home holding down the fort. I should have been there with her. Doug (her hubby) told her that I wanted to be there and that I was at home taking care of her kiddos. I know that comforts her, but it doesn't help me!

I am spending tomorrow at the hospital. She is scheduled for her surgery first thing. I want to be there when she comes out of recovery.

The worst about all this... I can't even cry on the shoulder of my best friend. Normally I would call and she would be there to listen and love me. Sigh.

Tom has been amazing. He is great at things like this. He has been helping and supporting me and spent all of today at the hospital with Doug. Dunkan has been a great help too.

We'll get through this. One awful day at a time.

Swinging and Sleeping

We were at our Homeschool park day and Izzy was swinging. Zach decided that he would join her! I guess we now know why there are two sides to the infant swings. After the park we had to run some errands and apparently they were both swing'ed out because they fell asleep in the car. So sweet!

Fall in Texas

Means bikes and sunny afternoons! We spent the afternoon outside enjoying the warm weather and getting fresh air. The kids rode their bikes and ran around. Isabel was pointing at her brothers who had taken off without her! Oh, and don't worry, Izzy WILL be getting a helmet for Christmas! LOL!