Chaotically Busy

This time of year gets busy for us with all the holidays.  From the first week of October to January we stay so busy. But since literally the moment I woke up Friday December 13th, I've been on go go go and its December 17th.
December 13th ran errands for my parents and I. Then Brayden had his Winter Wonderland Dance 2018 at the same time as Ken's work Christmas Party.  Luckily they let us drop Brayden off 20 mins early so we could get to Ken's party. Which by the way was extremely awesome. We won a Keurig, $100, a tape measure, and a few other things.  My sister picked up Ryleigh from my parents, then Brayden from the dance. Once we got home we got the kids ready for bed after letting them tell us about their night. On top Saturday the 14th, Brayden ended up staying up ALL night. If you don't know Brayden has ADHD and Autism, sometimes with the ADHD medicine causes insomnia. So usually on Friday nights we let him go to bed when he wants to even though we still give him melatonin to help him fall asleep.  But this particular night we were out, so he stayed up all night and On Saturday, when I woke up I ran to town to run my mom a few errands, and when I got back to her house he was completely PASSED out. Meaning he missed his schools parade, so once I got home after that, we got ready and went to watch the Christmas parade that Ryleigh was in. It was FREEZING and began getting colder.  We went back to my parents, because not sure if I have really posted this about my dad being sick. But my fiance helps him get out of the bath tub, he can get in and wash himself but has trouble getting out.  So while doing that I had to get stuff from Walmart for my parents so I took Brayden, Cody (Ryleigh's Boyfriend, yes boyfriend), and Ryleigh to walmart with me and let Brayden spend his $4.00, I ended up added money to him getting a tamagotchi. Then once we got home we all got ready for bed, well once we drop Cody off, BECAUSE, the following day, Sunday December 16th, we headed to our family Christmas Party. Which was awesome, just the drive sucked. But it was worth it to get away from home for a little bit. 

Today is the 19th and has been the first time that I have been home since Friday and got to do anything. Mainly because my car won't start. But God has a way of showing us we have to slow down. 

However, I am still working on getting a blog up for my new Instagram name, HOPEANDLIFEAFTERALL but having difficulties. May work on that a little later but now gotta finish this house. 

My 9 Year Old Got What....

Before everyone flips their lid, yes Ken and I know our daughter is 9.  She has begged and pleaded for a cell phone for a year now. She has worked hard at maintaining her grades to continue to be on Honor Roll.  This was bought not only for her enjoyment but to teach her to respect things and along with people.  Ryleigh has never been a horrible child but like most she is a pre-teen little girl who on top of raging hormones that sync up with mine every month is red headed and has a mouth.  This phone we feel as parents will teach her to respect things and us as her parents. Ryleigh has alwaysbeen given   everything she wants by not only me but a lot from her grandparents especially her papa.  When it broke papa had the money to go get a new one. But over the past two years has learned mommy and daddy do not have the money Papa and Nana have.  She understands she has  this phone for two years and once its broke its broke. There is also grounds for getting it taken away. 

1. Respect my authority! (No back sas)

2. No hitting my parents out of reflex when I'mgetting spanked. (Spanking a child is normal, beating a child is abnormal. There is a huge difference between the two.)

3 LISTEN to my authority. When your told to do something there will be mo fit thrown over doing it.

4. Continue bringing home good grades.

I wanna say there is a few more but Ken daddy is sleeping. Therefore I can't ask. 

But these rules are grounds of getting her  phone taken away. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Eve. Goodnight to All. 

The photo above is a screen shot of a message I got from my babygirl. This shows me I'm doing everything right along with her Ken Daddy. 

Goody Bags Galore

That's right my floor is throwing up Christmas candy right now.  I have done 36 bags and 17 more to go.  Which I will finish in the morning because I'm extremely exhausted.  

I absolutely love Christmas but in reality I hate this time of year.  Stress, the cold weather, and I added Cosmo school. That blog is a long blog. I'm not sure if it's the added stress or what's going on but the last few days I wanna cry. Normal? I don't know. But once I figure it out I will let you know. 

Our Holiday Events

We seem to be getting a late start but here goes our Holiday Plans. 

Last night December 13, we went to Ken's work party.  It was a decent time.  Didn't last fairly long. The enjoyable time was we got to spend the night just us. (Very rarely happens!) even if it just ended us grocery shopping. The kids stayed with Nana and Papa.  

Today December 14th, was the Taylor Family Christmas party. It was nice to get everyone together even if it's once or twice a year.  Today is also ️My Nephews 19th borthday. 

The rest of our events are the week of Christmas. We are doing Christmas at my parents house Christmas Eve then heading to Kens families Christmas. 

That's about all this year. Maybe next year can be filled with my daddy side of the family. 

Starting to Look A lot Like Christmas

Thanksgiving "eve" was the last time I posted. Not because I want to leave everyone in the cold of what is going on but we have been preparing for Christmas along with two sick kids and mommy has been under the weather.

We have decorated the outside. Mainly just the porch. They are dancing lights and when they are set just right in a weird way it spells out LOVE. (You can kind of see the beginning of it in the picture below.) 

*excuse my red heads-head*

Along with decorating the outside we have decorated the tree in which I haven't gotten a picture of it yet!!!!

On to the funniest tradition of all, we have the "Elf On The Shelf" times two.  Our elves names are "Anna & Harper". 

They arrived with an important letter from Santa, reminding the kids that he is watching as well as teaching them that Christmas was the day Christ was born. 

Ryleigh wants a compund bow and a cell phone. Santa brought up ways for her to be good to be able to get these and not a "lump of coal". Brayden wants Skylander Trap Team and Santa let him in on the secrets of being a good boy. One is learning that he doesn't always get his way and throwing a tantrum isn't the eay to go about it.  

The picture above is the third day the elves have been here. Anna is above the picture frame and Harper is to your write. Can you tell me what they did? 

That's right they took dry erase markers and gave them all mustaches. Except for Papa he has a full grown beard so his got colored red. :) 

Indeed these elves can get into a lot of mischievous stuff but in reality it keeps the spirit of Christmas alive. Kids are getting younger and younger where they start questioning Santa. Why ruin it for them at such a young age? Hells bells I'm 29 and I still believe in Santa. But I am also teaching my kids that Christmas is so much more than receiving presents. 

With that being said I will move on over to the sickness that has come around to my house. This past Sunday ( November 30) ryleigh came down with one of her famous hacking fits. The hacking fits continued. I took her to the only wxpress care that was open on Sunday. Lord all mighty I believe everyone had the sick bug. There was at least 20 people in that waiting room wearing mask. I approached the receptionist and asked how long the weight time was..she replied two to three hours. With that reaponse there was no way I was sitting in there with mask covered people who all had symptoms of the flu. Went home and went to bed. Ry and Brayden both woke up sick. Both got into the doctor at 8:45 Monday morning. Brayden a sinus infection and an ear infection in the left ear. Ryleigh a horrible case of bronchitis to the point doctor said that if we would have waited any longer she'd admit her to the hospital.  Finally though after two doctors visits due to cough medicine not working we got her put in a Zpack and Nitquil.  Day 4 and she's doing tons better. Brayden is doing better as well. 

Wednesday December 3, i went to the doctor because of the same symptoms as my kids. On top of waking up not feeling my toes in my left leg alone was numb and my back had shooting pain.  Well since I hadn't had any known trauma and the only thing I could thing of was my spinal almost 6 years ago, she decided to do a x-ray. The xray determined that my lower back muscles are so tense and are contracting together so hard and it's been doing it for a long time that its causing my spine to curve. I have to so muscle relaxers and an anti inflammatory for a month and if that doesn't alievate the pain I have to go back in for an mri to see if it's a herniated disk. 

That has been the eventful Thanksgiving Break I have had. 

Stay tuned to hear more about the elves and what Black Friday Deals we scored.