A few updates.

Okay, this will be a long blog. I realized that I went off on a tangent regarding Christmas Eve, but never detailed the other party. Check previous posts, also, because I added some photos.

First of all, let me talk about the Bares/Koener/Scott/Hotchkiss/Jones Christmas Eve Party.

As soon as we got back from my relatives brunch party, we had to hurry up and finish cleaning, putting out the food. I still had to make Apple Crisp. So I had my mom, core/peel the apples (with our corer/slicer/peeler) while I got the rest ready.

Everyone seemed to arrive at the same time. Which was kinda cool. No waiting!

We visited and ate first. Then had the kids get started on their Christmas Present dice game.

It was really funny, because everytime Devin got "doubles" he would point his two fingers (like a peace sign) at the dice and go "DOUBLES" in this crazed kinda voice. He was so funny.

But at the same time, the kids would get upset that they didn't get doubles and sort of not-so-gently-toss the tray with dice at the next kid. So there was a lot of reminding to be careful going on.

And the kids had a TON of gifts to pick through too!

After that was all done, the adults started in on their version of the game. A lot of stealing was going on! The candy was being fought for so fiercly!

Then we moved on to the Indian Bingo game. Where there is one present per person and you draw a number. 1-?. You want the highest number. So I had #1. So I picked a present. Then whoever had #2, picked a present and then could trade with me if they wanted (not knowing what it was). #3, could then trade with #1 or #2. And so on. So whoever had #14 could trade with anyone.

I got stuck with some JONES SODA. Which is nasty soda that is a "whole meal" There are 6 bottles. One is Turkey and Stuffing, one is Mashed Potatoes and Gravy and so on. NASTY!

After that, we visited a bit more, had family photos taken and then people slowly filtered out.

All in all, it was a FUN night and I can't wait for next year!

A Merry Christmas...with a sad ending.

Christmas morning went well.

We opened all the gifts, the kids played, we saw Courtney off to her dads for the week. I took a nap, woke up and started making dinner.

Right before we sat down to eat our dinner, I went off to go to the bathroom before I sat down to eat and I walked in the bathroom to see Pitter (Amy's cat) laying in on the rug in front of the toilet. Her eyes wide open and her mouth hanging open... I didn't know what was wrong, but I feared the worst. She wasn't moving.

At first I wasn't even sure it was Pitter. I immediately screamed for Amy and she came in and my mom followed closely behind. My mom confirmed that Pitter was no longer with us.

Of course, everything is closed. So we have to wait until Tuesday to find out exactly what happened. We knew she was having problems breathing, but we thought she was okay with the medication we were giving her. Although as time went on, she would stress out more when it came time to give her the medication.

So we had to try and explain to the kids what happened. Courtney is not here, so we are going to wait and tell her when she comes home. No reason to spoil her winter break with her dad, with bad news.

I can't get the image of how Pitter's face looked out of my head.

The eyes and mouth wide open. Did she suffer? She was all alone in the bathroom (the steam helped her breath and she needed to be apart from the other cats) for who knows how long, did she know she was loved? The last time I saw her I was napping and she was laying on me and I pushed her off, did she think I didn't love her?

I will miss her constant vocalizing around the house whenever we walked into the room she was at, she was our only talkative one, and always let us know she acknowledged us.

Farewell, my Purrfect Princess Pitter, may you find happiness wherever you are and know that we love you very much and miss you even more.

Christmas Eve

What a day.

It started out good. We went over to my great-aunts and grandmothers in the morning to do gifts and brunch. My dad wasn't there yet, so we did our gifts and helped finish the get the food ready.

Finally my dad shows up and we said hi, he came in and set his stuff down. And the most horrid thing happened...

My ex-uncle, Skip, walked in (my dad's older brother). I immediately got a headache.

This man verbally abused me for 20 years. This man is so vile, that whenever he was around, my dad would even join in with him and verbally abuse me as well. I think it was a control issue. This man had such an influence in my father's life (as an authorative figure) that my dad became this kid that needed approval.

So he walks in. And I am immediately pissed. Pissed at the fact that they had mentioned that he would be in town and we specifically said we didn't want to see him, if he was going to be there, we would not. They said he wouldn't. For weeks they said he would not be there.

So we were pissed that he was there.

I guess I should explain, the main I reason I don't want to be around this man, was that the last time I saw him, we got into a HUGE argument, because he was trying to do the same thing to my son, that he did to me. Telling us to make sure he doesn't become a fag, etc. And saying this to Dominic, who was only 4 or 5 at the time. And he kept calling him sparky.

So I was extremely pissed, I immediately moved all our dinner plates to another table, away from them. But then they all ate in the living room, so that didn't help matters. Everything was pretty much okay, he didn't try to talk to me or my family. But the tension was in the air. Especially, with my dad, like he knew I was pissed and he was pleased at it. Which made me even more aggravated.

As we were getting ready to leave, they were talking about Mikayla in Dance and Dominic mentioned that he used to be in dance, but now he is wrestling (which he isn't) and then my ex-uncle says, "Good, we don't want you to become a sissy boy" (or something to that nature.)

I was so glad we were on our way out, that I let it slide and we immediately left.

So then we left and came home, and got ready for our next party. Which was such a HUGE hit. We had lots more fun. Everything turned out great and we loved seeing everyone!

Thankfully tomorrow is Christmas and it will be a better day!

Tis the Season to be Jolly...

Fa La La La La, La La La.....BLAH!

I haven't posted in a while, but a lot has been going on. Well, not a lot, but enough to keep my lazy.

I may have a job beginning in January, so hopefully that will go through.

We are busy, busy, busy making Christmas presents for everyone.

Not much else is going on. Amy has had to take it easy for awhile. Riley has been a little too active. She had early contractions a few weeks ago. But she is okay now, she just has to take it easy and relax.