Trip to Home Depot

We headed to Home Depot to build calendars with the boys. I helped Joey and Kev helped Luke. This was the first time Luke got to go.

Orange Belt

Just a fun day

When I worked at Baptist I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful woman. She was the chaplain on my floor. She became a dear friend of mine. Then the night of September 12, 2002 when we lost Thomas, she was the chaplain on call. So she came to my bedside. I had seen her work with tons of people before and I think this might have been the only time I had seen her completely speechless. She helped us make decisions that we never dreamed we would need to make. My mom said at first she felt like she should just leave us alone. But after some time and some healing. We all realized that the chaplain and the social worker were the most helpful people at our side. When we had our tree planting ceremony, Chaplain Marie came and read some scripture and dedicated the tree in Thomas' honor. She seemed like the perfect person for this job. She was one of the few people in this world that got to see our precious son, she dressed him for us and brought him to our bedside multiple times.

When I left Baptist Hospital, I lost contact with Marie, the chaplain. The day I had Joey, who in the world walked into the room, but Marie. She had left Baptist Hospital and was now a Chaplain at Sacred Heart. This time we kept in contact. Well a few years ago, I ran into her and she was moving to Austin, TX. She was getting ready to start schooling to become an Episcopal Deacon. A few weeks ago, we got an invitation in the mail to her dedication as a Deacon. The ceremony was in Mobile. Kev and I decided to go. We got a babysitter for the boys and off we went. Marie has three more months in seminary and then she will return to the Gulf Coast some place to practice as a Deacon. I know that she will do wonderful.

The new Deacon Marie

After the ceremony, Kev and I decided to grab some lunch. It is a rare occurrence that we get to have some time alone. We went to a restaurant at Eastern Shore in Alabama. While we were eating Santa Claus came in to eat some lunch. He was walking around. Kev ask him if he could take his picture, so the boys would believe him. Santa Claus said sure, but he had to take it with me.

Santa Claus and myself

When we got home all of us took a nap. Then we headed to a Pensacola Ice Flyers Hockey game. I think we will have to go again. The boys had a blast. We had to take teddy bears, because after the Ice Flyers scored the first time we were to throw teddy bears on the ice for Sacred Heart's Children Hospital.

The men love hockey

Luke got a free t-shirt.

Joey bummed his brother's shirt and was dancing to the music.

Having some fun at the game.

TKD Christmas Party

Last night was the Tae Kwon Do Christmas Party. It was a wonderful event. The boys had a blast. At the party they also gave the results of testing from Monday night. Joey was testing for his orange belt. He did awesome. He looked amazing. He is officially an orange belt. He was super proud of himself.

Echocardiogram

Last week went Luke went to see Dr. Grier-Hall, she heard a murmur. She said it sounded like a still murmur, but she still wanted it checked out. She said if he played sports it would help things later.

Well I sort of dreaded this appointment. You see like 3 years ago, I had to take Joey for an echo for the same thing. Well Joey was awful, he wouldn't listen to anything that day. Luke was just a tiny baby and cried the entire time.

We headed and I had talked to Luke about it. He seemed fine with everything. He was awesome. He did everything that the tech ask him to do. His heart looks fine.

Now he is home resting and watching the movie that he wanted to watch so bad before we left for the test.

Cutting down a tree

We headed to Whispering Pines Christmas tree farm today. We hunted and hunted, but finally found a tree that we liked.

Luke loved playing in the water.

Luke didn't even try to hide.

Cutting down the tree

Two boys happy with our tree

Luke is hoping he can grab Santa's sled.

Luke and I (we had been checking out the peacocks and chickens)

My sweet Joey

Decorating the tree

Luke did much better this year than he did last year. (yeah Luke has his underwear on backyards)

Daddy would hand out the ornaments.

The final project!!!

Running

Joey's gym teacher sent out a letter inviting parents to run or walk the track with their child this week. They are going to see how far the school can go in one week. They have a walker in the cafeteria on a map to show how far the school can go. Well Joey ran 1 3/4 miles and I ran 1 1/2 miles. The kids were amazed that I would get out their and run with him. One boy told me "My momma couldn't run like that!" Joey was super proud to have me there. Everyone who ran 7 laps got a jingle bell, so he was super excited about that. I got a jingle bell also, because I have ran more than any other parent. Luke will be happy with me tonight.