Christmas Season 2011

Now that Christmas 2011 has come and gone, I suppose it's time to update the ol' blog. I hope everyone had a fun Christmas. As usual we had a busy Christmas season, attending multiple family Christmas gatherings.

The gauntlet of family Christmas gatherings was kicked off with the Kacharos family Christmas party. Believe it or not, this was the only picture I took the entire night. Not sure how that happened, but before I knew it the party was winding down and I hadn't picked up my camera. Anyway, here's a shot of the kids, who had gone WILD with excitement about getting to play with each other and made for an impossible situation of getting 5 kids to look at the camera at the same time! I have NO idea what is up with Luke and Chloe's faces!

The next day we attended a family gathering at Chris' aunt's house, but in my mad rush to get out the door for church, (the party was immediately following church services) I forgot my camera....so no pics of that one.

Next, we move on to Christmas Eve at Nana and Pop's house. As you can see, the kids were bursting with excitement. The next few pics are my futile attempts at getting a good picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree. This one is the best attempt. The look on Chloe's face is priceless.

This one is okay

This one says, "I'm tired of taking pictures, so I'm just going to act silly."
This one full of forced smiles....

Finally time to open some presents....

Kaylyn's "Just Dance 3" game. She's been begging for this one for the past 3 months....the perfect game for her.

Kaylyn's animal shoes....there are no words.....

Next, it was time for these two kiddos to get home to get all snuggled in their beds, with visions of gum drops dancing in their heads.

Because my children have made it a habit of getting up in the middle of the night and sneaking to see what Santa has brought, I was tired of not getting to see their initial reaction to their presents. So, I decided to have a little talk with Santa and asked him to wrap ALL of their presents this year. Oh, and he could not put names on any of the presents. This little prank led to some frustrated kiddos at 3 a.m.!

Santa did leave them a little note telling them who's presents were wrapped in red and who's were in green.

The big hits this year were iPod touches. Both kids have been begging for one for months. I am very thankful Santa brought these, now I can have my iphone back!

As you can see by their faces, Santa did good!

Kaylyn's drums. Short story here: Kaylyn has been begging for a set of drums, literally for 6 months! My reaction to her request: "#1: Why??? and #2: ABSOLUTELY NOT!" I admit, I give in to a lot of my children's requests, but drums???....not going to happen in this house! We already have too many noisemakers and their names are: Kaylyn and Luke!

After checking out Santa's goodies, it was time to pack up and head to my Grandmother's house for more Christmas fun. The kids got to open MORE presents and the adults got to play dirty Santa.

Well, that's a wrap to our fun family Christmas! Wishing everyone a very happy 2012!

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

Changes. Not normally a fan of those. But, there always comes a time when a change is needed. That time came for me about a month ago when after 12 1/2 years I left the ER and joined the Diabetes Team to become a Diabetic Educator. It has been a lot like leaving home for the first time. The ER raised me from a brand- spanking new - 21 year old - fresh out of school - baby nurse, to a real grown up nurse. There comes a time when everyone must leave the comforts of home.

While I miss the ER tremendously, I really do love my new job. I am learning so many new things and the people I work with are so nice and have welcomed me with open arms (literally!) I love teaching the families of the newly diagnosed diabetic patients how to care for their children. Plus the fact that I get to work like a normal person is a big bonus!

Iron Bowl 2011

Guess who spent this past Saturday in Auburn at the Iron Bowl???? WE DID!! We had a good time and I, for one, was very pleased with the outcome of the game. (Chris, on the other hand, feels differently about this subject.)
This cute litte cheerleader was kind enough to stop to pose with the kids. (Luke standing a little taller with his goofy grin.)

Chris in his Auburn gear stood out in the sea of crimson.

Me and my Bama babies waiting for the game to start.

A few of my latest heroes in pre-game warm-ups.

First play of the game.

Enjoying the game.

Big Al

The UA and AU band united at half-time as a tribute for the victims of the April 27 tornados.

Kaylyn decided to play with my camera during the game. Chris was happy about something....must have been a good play by Auburn.

Self portait by Kaylyn B. Chilton

The final score. Rammer Jammer!! Then we got to make the LOOONNNNGGG drive back home on hwy 280 game day traffic. Uggghhh! But the game was well worth the drive!

Ground Breaking Ceremony For Our New Church!

As most of you know our church was destroyed during the April 27th tornadoes. After 6 months of planning the design and sorting finances, we had the ground breaking ceremony for the new church building. The day was a very emotional day for the entire congregation. The theme of the ceremony was the future building on the past: Upon this hill, God's vision to fulfill. I can't wait to see this new church building become a reality. I know it will be beautiful!

Kaylyn stopping to pose before the ceremony

Chloe and Luke playing in the dirt. Why is this significant you may ask? You see the scrap wood they are playing with? That's leftover wood from the old building. I realize it's just scrap, half rotten wood, but it's a part of the building, which was so much a part of my childhood and adulthood.

Pastor Ryan, the architect, the contractor, and the chairman of the building committee turning the first ground.

Notice the buildings in the background. Those are the buildings of mainstreet, which are FINALLY slated to be demolished. The last physical reminder of that dreadful day. Now to just rebuild on all this bare ground around here!

The next group to turn the ground consisted of the elders of the church and the youth of the church. Luke was chosen as one of the youth. I hope he will always remember he was one of the one's to use the "golden shovel," as he called it and realize the significance of that event. At 7 years old, he was just thrilled to get to play with the "golden shovel." I hope when he is a grown man, and the church building is celebrating it's 20th anniversary he can remember he was a part of it's beginning.

And here's a sketch of the future Long Memorial United Methodist Church.

Halloween 2011

Halloween has come and gone. I hope you all had a wonderful time. We sure did, with the exception of Luke being sick. We were still able to make it to our annual trick-or-treating event for a little while.
This year the kids picked out their costumes, with no persuasion from me.

Kaylyn wore a "Devilrina" costume....

....complete with a tail, which she loved.

Luke decided he wanted to be something scary. He picked out the "Scream" costume. He has no idea exactly what the Scream costume is, since he's never even heard of the movies, but he thought it was scary and ugly, so that's what he wanted to be.

It came complete with oozing blood on the mask, which he loved.

Oh how I long for the days-gone-by when I got to pick out their costumes.

*sigh*

Chloe's costume was a cute little Smurfette....

....complete with a ginormous blue nose. She really got into the whole trick-or-treating thing this year and kept saying "I like this!"

The Great Hives of 2011

******Update******

So I get a call from my doctor today with some lab results. It turns out my Lyme Disease test was "VERY positive." THAT explains alot! Like why I still feel...just bad. Tired, dizzy, nauseous, AND why I'm still SO darn itchy! So I'll get my antibiotics and be as good as new again!

___________________________________________________________

So, exactly 1 week ago today, I awoke having an allergic reaction and I am STILL not over it. Yes, it's 7 days later!

Last Sunday, I woke up with a few very small patches of hives on my wrists, feet, and chin. By that evening, they were EVERYWHERE and I was miserable. I finally gave in and went to the doctor, got some Epi, Decadron, and Benadryl shots, and sent home with some steroids and antihistamines. I woke up Monday morning hive-free, but they had returned by Monday afternoon, and by Monday night they were back with a vengeance. I went back to the doctor Wednesday when, at that point, I not only had hives, but leg and feet swelling, and purpura. (I have some pretty cool pictures, but I'll spare you the gory details. They are not very pretty!) Luckily all of my labs were normal and I was given MORE steroids and antihistamines. Keep in mind by this point, I literally had not been to sleep in 3 day because of the steroids I was already on, so I was less than thrilled to hear I would need a few more days of meds. Luckily, these meds have seemingly worked. The hives are gone, the swelling is gone, the purpura is fading, but I'm still itching!

I'm told I had a "hypersensitive reaction." To what, you may ask? Well, that's the million dollar question of the year! I will have to go for allergy testing to find out what this mystery assailant to my body was, but I can guarantee, I will NEVER go near it again....once I know what "it" was!!

Feathers and Mismatched Socks

Kaylyn, like every other 5th grade girl in America has discovered the latest fashion fads and I have finally given into the hair feather craze. Yes, Kaylyn is the proud new owner of turquoise hair feather!

And the next fad......

...Mismatched socks??? I really don't understand the point, but it sure does make laundry day easier!

Over Due

So I was told it was time to update the old blog. Yes, I realize it's been almost a month since my last update. There really are no excuses, except we live a boring life...and I like it that way! Seriously, nothing blog-worthy going on around here.

The school year has started off great. Both kids are doing well and like their classes and teachers. Kaylyn's class is planning a trip to Washington, D.C. in May and she is so excited about that trip. Dance has also started again. This makes year number eight for us. So far we have 3 competitions scheduled for the Spring. Looks like it will be a busy Springtime for us! Her dance school is going to Disney World to dance in the parade at the Magic Kingdom next summer. We are still deciding if we want to do this trip. We were contemplating going to Disney again next summer anyway, but the trip with the dance team sounds more like work than a vacation...like rehearsals once we actually get to Disney, then the parade (which is not just go and dance in the parade. It's be at a certain location at a certain time so she can get on a bus and be transported to a certain location, then dance, then be hearded back to a certain location, and so on.) I don't know, we're still thinking about it, but I'm leaning toward just going to Disney and her NOT dancing in the parade because, who wants all that hustle and bustle on their family vacation? I'll let you know what the final decision is when I actually have to make the decision, which is not long!

Luke is just hanging out. Enjoying first grade and learning lots of new things. He's doing pretty well with the whole test-taking thing and has learned the difference between a "D" and a "B" :). He really wanted to play pee-wee football, or "little man football" as he calls it. We decided he needed to wait at least another year. He's just too little! Baseball will be here before we know it! He is still just as funny and quirky as ever. The other night he was eating a bowl of ice cream and this is how the convo went:
Luke: "This ice cream is really good. It has chocolate syrup and coconuts in it."
Me: "Coconuts???"
Luke: (very matter-of-factly)"You know, peanuts with cocoa on them."

Well, that sums up the last month. Stay tuned for the next update....

Back To School!!!

Yesterday was the kid's first day of school. Kaylyn started 5th grade (sniff, sniff) and Luke started 1st grade. They are growing up too fast! They were happy to be back at school with all their friends and have been ready to go back for the past few weeks. Both kids even got up early AND willingly yesterday! That, in itself, is a miracle! We'll see how long that excitement lasts, but I'm giving it about a week before we're going through the daily battle of getting out of bed and getting ready for school. What can I say, I'm a realist like that :)

Both kids had good reports from the first two days and were happy with their teachers. One of the firsts for Luke is he gets real grades on his school work this year. Today, as he bounced in the car, this is how the conversation went:
Luke: (very excited) "I got a D on my test!!!"
Me: "You got a D?????"
Luke: "Oh, I mean a, um, B.....I think...."
Poor child, doesn't know the difference between a "D" and a "B."

Happy Birthday Luke!

My baby boy turned 7 YEARS OLD today! I can't believe it! He is growing up WAY to fast for me. We had a very relaxed day today and had a family party for him. He has been so excited all week and was so happy the big day FINALLY arrived.

This year he picked a Transformer's cake. Yes, it has grey icing. I couldn't help but think of Steel Magnolias when I saw it: "It's got grey icing. I can't even begin to think how you make grey icing."

In case you were wondering what grey icing does to your tongue....

His favorite part of the day

This was a hint from his Nana. Coupons for a haircut at Hair Pro....He doesn't look excited, but I promise, he will be getting a haircut before school starts!