Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We are enjoying our trip with my family down in Louisiana. Kids are having a blast with their cousins, they are running circles through the house laughing.....Good Times! We cant wait for the Turkey dinner gathering, my mom is in the kitchen and has the house smelling good as I type, smells wonderful. Tomorrow she is passing on her Dressing recipe, she'll have us all in the kitchen teaching us how its done. That I am really looking forward to she makes the best dressing/stuffing! I've missed my family so much so this trip is such a blessing! Lots to be Thankful for this year!




I've got lots of updating to do, lots of bad news, but I cant bring myself to talk about it right now. So when we return home I will update you all of the downs but right now just good notes here! Warm turkey wishes to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

New found love

Ok so when we took our venture out and was looking at vehicles I found a new love of a car. Have you seen them its called a Ford Flex http://www.fordvehicles.com/crossovers/flex/gallery/
Man this thing was awesome, looks like the old station wagons. I always loved those cars and now here it sat one on the lot we where at. It was a cinnamon color and had loads of room. I think it just may be my next car, of course in the years to come. I'm still loving my Tahoe, you know in the 4-5 years that we've had it we havent had to do one thing to it. Now thats a good car, I sure hope his truck turns out to be just as good. Kids will probably be teenagers before I get a new one...he told me no more cars....LOL!
Well there you have it my blog of the day....Sorry not a lot going on! Kids are being kids fighting then being sweet, then back to fighting again, the usual sibling arguments. But with my two it consists of Cami snatching and Caleb saying hey you arent being fair then he takes it back and she screams and then she starts hitting and then he cries and then she runs trying to look innoncent like she wasnt in the room when it happened....teehee. Shes is a stinker and we are trying to teach him to stand up for hisself, I mean for goodness sake they are 3 years apart and she beats up on him! But at school she is the perfect angel and shares, guess she does it here because its her brother. You know the one she is so protective over. Like if he gets hurt and starts crying she drops to her knees beside him and crys with him not letting me or Jason near him....Its a love hate relationship....LOL! Goof balls they are. Now I look over at them and they are sitting in the rocker together watching Icarly and she is rubbing his ear and all is calm but they where just figthing and screaming at each other 2 minutes ago over a rolling bag. Believe me I dont even try to understand, guess its payback from our wild figths when we where younger!
Update of this week:


Camerans speech is getting more clear she is saying Hi and Bye to everyone, its the sweetest. She has also joined the runny nose and cough team this week.....ugghhh remind me again why I so love this time of year! Sick kids every where you turn. The thing going around schools now is fifths disease. Last month it was chicken pox and bad things about both of those is you are most contageious when you dont even have signs of having it, and then when the rash appears its too late to take precautions, its already been passed....lovely huh! Gotta love schools.



On to Caleb the boy is braking me at the bookfair, he could never have enough books, guess thats a good thing though. But of course he is way over the reading level of those level 1's and 2's ...the 3.99 or 4.99 books he is reading chapter books that cost $8-10.00.....that really adds up. But they have some awesome stuff this year, so I dont mind besides the sales help the school!
So there you have it another boring but busy day in my household! A little wishful mommy thought, a little sick, a little fight a little money and a whole lot of love ;)

Gearing up for the Holidays

Ok so where has this year gone, can you believe its almost Thanksgiving! The 1st part of the year for me always seems to drag by, usually not alot going on. But come September it flys by faster than I can even keep up with. We usually get jammed with Birthday Partys, camping, school activites then there is the Holidays. Could it slow down any please. I'm not ready for the big Holidays to start yet but its coming and the kids well Caleb is sooo excited, actually couldnt get here soon enough. Funny thing is that as soon as Christmas is over he'll say how many more days till the next Christmas......ACCKKKK! And for those people already putting up their Christmas Decor stop it already.....its too soon! Wal-mart was already putting out their Christmas trees about a month ago, I would still like to enjoy the fall please and Thank you! Can you tell I'm not ready, not one thing bought and typically I'm considered one of those last minute shoppers. I put it off as long as I can,usually the 2nd week of December. I hate the large crowds, its already started so I think I'm sticking with online shopping ;)

This week is gonna be a busy week, Calebs school is having there bookfair and I have volunteered for the week! Calebs turkey day lunch is scheduled for this Thursday, and then Friday its to Nashville for a Vandi appt for Cami, a follow up sleep study. Wonder how that will go, we never did try the Lunesta, never felt the need to. Right now things are going good she is sleeping pretty good. Some nights she is sleeping through the night and others she is only waking once. I did have a scary night last week, I think I may have seen her have a seizure. She was in the bed with me and she started moving around alot then she did it....her arms went up real tight then it paused then she did a quick jerk her arms came down and she started to cry, but she never woke up! Not sure what it was. SO I wonder if she is still having them occasionally. I just dont know and would it be worth another sleep study? What are the chances to catch one? Uggghhhhhhhh! I almost dont want to tell him because I know thats even longer on her meds. But it has to be done!

After this week time will really start to fly. Saturday we have a birthday party to attend at 3:00 then we are hosting a baby shower for some very close friends that same day at 5:30. Dont know how I'm gonna pull that one off, probably send the kids with their daddy to the party so I can get my cooking done for the shower and then go set it up. Then Sunday its packing day we are headed to my familys for the Thanksgiving. The kids will have to be taken out of school Monday and Tuesday but its well worth it. I've never been to my moms on an actual holiday for atleast 11 years now. My family is all in Louisiana so its a long drive 9.5 hours but it is well worth it. I miss them so much, dont see them nearly enough maybe twice a year. Its really hard not getting to see my neices grow up....Man the fun we would have if we lived closer lots of movies, park trips, visits and maybe even some shopping for the moms ;) So this trip is gonna be a great one, now thats a Holiday date I would happily count down too!
We leave Monday the 24th and return on Friday the 28th. Jason has to be back at work on the 29th. And me and the kids will spend Saturday relaxing from the long drive. Then Sunday the 30th its Thanksgiving with Jasons family....so yummy for the tummy for 2 turkey dinners! Hopefully I'll be able to get into my pants after its all over with....TeeHee!
Now my tradition since me and Jason have been married is we always put our tree up after Thanksgiving dinner and this will be the first year a lil different. So we will put our tree up that Saturday of our return. I tell you I'm worried though, Cameran has really showed alot of intrest in the trees in Wal-mart, she reached out and grabbed that thing and was shaking it. So I may just leave it with just my pre-lit lights....lol! I just dont think I have the energy to fight with her this year about staying out of the tree. Last year she climbed underneath it, shook it, pulled my ornaments off and even broke a few. Come Christmas last year Jason took that thing down as soon as the gifts were open, he had had enough....shes a lil stinker! I guess we shall see how it goes this year.

For my hubby Christmas came a little early this year. We ventured out this weekend and when you have too much time on your hands, well unexpected things happen. Well last night we came home with a brand new truck. Its beautiful and a long time coming. He has been wanting a new one since we got married. Every time we went to look we ended up getting me a new car because the time called for it. Well when my car got payed off back in July he has been on a search. We had it narrowed down to 2 but once we got to the lot the one he had really been interested in was being drove off the lot.....SOLD! SO there it sat the other one we had looked at the week before thinking this is really nice. We where very picky this go round, the dealer had a tough time with us. Our window of specifics was very strict. We either wanted blue or gray, had to be a full four door truck, full front console the list just went on and on so! This truck far exceeds what we wanted its great and rides so smooth. Its great, 6 disk changer, controls on the steering wheel for the radio, and ac., leather interior, sunroof, only 41,000 miles, new tires, tonneau(sp?) cover, Power memory seat, and heated seats woohoo for that felt like a heating pad on my back perfect for a gal thats had two back surgeries, it will come in handy!
Cant wait to see how it does on our drive to Louisiana. So Merry Christmas Hunny guess it was well worth the 10 years of wishing! Heres some pics of his new Pride and Joy, its a 2004 Ford F150 Lariat super crew.















Coming soon pics of Cami in her new bed. We finally took down her Pediacraft bed. So anyone out there who is in need it is still up for sale. It came down very easy so Please contact me if you are interested. Oh and stayed tuned for some cute fall pics of my sweet peas!

Generic vs. Branded Drugs

I dont know why I never shared this before! I was reading Jens Blog and this was one of her latest blogs. Its about Generic vs Branded name drugs for Epilepsy. Now Camerans Neurologist has always warned us of this from the beginning making sure we always stayed clear of the generics when it came to her seizure meds. For many it can make a difference and he wanted to make sure she always got the full pontential of the medicine he prescribed. So I'm glad Jen put this out there, maybe it will make a difference for some! Heres her post:

November 12, 2008 at 2:42 pm by Jen S.
I learned some interesting stuff at the Epilepsy conference last week.

Many know that a generic drug varies from a branded drug in terms of binding agents and inactive ingredients, while still maintaining the same medicinal component. But here is what I found most interesting.

The FDA law approves a generic drug if it provides 80-125% of the medicinal drug component of the branded drug 90% of the time. So you can get anywhere from 80% to 125% of the actual drug. Also, the drug may hit your bloodstream at different intervals or “last” in your bloodstream for less (or more) time. For most drugs, this isn’t a concern, but for people with Epilepsy, this is critical.

Also, it is important to note that generics made by different manufacturers vary also. So a generic by Company A may work for your child, but a generic from Company B may allow breakthrough seizures. The pharmacy that dispenses your medication may vary the manufacturer MONTH TO MONTH!!

By law in most states (and here in NY), the pharmacy HAS to give you the generic drug version (if available) and the doctor has not written “Dispense as Written” on the script.

For instance, if you are currently on Keppra with a 12 month script renewal, come January 09, the pharmacy will switch you to the generic, levetiraceratim. (note this website says March 2010 http://epilepsy.emedtv.com/keppra/generic-keppra.html not sure of the correct info)

I urge everyone to talk to their neurologists about this and get their opinion based on your child or your scenario.

One last thing, I also learned there are about 6 new neurology drugs in the pipeline for the next 2 years. So for those that just can’t get seizure freedom, keep hoping!

Fall Fun Day

Oh what a great day with Cami! I so enjoyed watching her in her school routine even though it wasnt actually their everday routine. But even through a different schedule she had the rules and listening down perfectly and did everything she was asked to do, it blew my mind. And then I started asking myself why she doesnt act this way when we go out.
The kids where so cute, outside participating in their Fall Fun Day. They had a face painting center, marker center, bean bag toss, fruit loop necklace center, spider ring dig and potato sack races. There was much more but we didnt get to it all. But I tell you I was really impressed with Cami's classroom and how they handled themselves outside. To be a special needs class they held it together nicely.
First stop was face painting and Cami really didnt care for it made lots of faces. But she ended up with a cute little pumpkin. While waiting for our turn at the next table they played on the slides and then once our turn was next they called them over and Cami turned those listening ears on and followed all her friends over and waited in line. Whoa baby girl!!!




When asked to sit down and wait in line she would sit and wait....Perfect! Why cant I get her to do that? She amazes me that she is capable of doing this at school but why not at home???? What am I doing wrong?
She didnt try to run off from her group and even in a tempted outside setting with playgrounds all around she stayed focused on what they where doing! I was truely impressed!




On the necklace making section I had to help her alot she couldnt get those little fingers grasped right on those fruit loops to string them on the yarn but she was giving it a great shot. She can grasp them good just cant figure out to turn them on the opened loop to get it on the string. But in the end she had a great little snack of a necklace.


"Cami and her teacher"



Next was the sack races and my girl was ready. She ran over and grabbed that sack and started climbing in. And get this she had figured out how to do it by watching the other kids and started hopping it was so sweet. She then got tired and started walking/shuffling those feet and wasnt getting far so mommy stepped in and helped hop her down the rest of the way. She loved every minute of it!!!!




At the end of the outing they asked all the class to go line up at their door. They where 2 playground areas away and Cameran dropped what she was doing and ran to their door and stood in line waiting for her teachers to get there. WAY TO GO CAMI! I would have never pictured her doing that but she did and is doing great following directions.
So proud of my girl on all these things. Just 6 months ago she would have never understood how to do these activites. Weird thinking that it was just that short of a time that we had to work soley on getting her to sit still for longer than 30 seconds. And now look at her sitting and waiting in line for her turn isnt that amazing! She is such an inspiration to me, Love you baby girl.


This is Camerans buddy Mr. "J". He was one of her teachers last year and this year she mainstreams with their new class. And get this she can say his name so clear they say. I'm so happy that she is settling in well at this school! They are all really great with her.

Trick or Treating Camping style

We had such a fabulous last camping trip of the year! Every year for the past 5-6 years we have done a double birthday party for my niece and cousin and its always followed by our Halloween bash! But this year was the first time we all had campers and made it a Camping Party Weekend with the whole family. We actually had the whole loop(8 campers) all to ourselves and man was it nice.






This place was set right at the foot of the Centerhill dam and the weather was perfect specially if you love to camp! A campfire is what its all about on a cold cold night. The leaves are in the mist of changing, the air was crisp and all you could hear where the sounds of the kids laughter! It was PERFECT! Our sites where settled in the very back of the campground backed up to a creek. Our campsites made a loop around a pavilion with a huge fire pit in the middle. That was our hangout for the whole weekend. The grown-ups got to sit and visit around the fire, while the kids made circles on their bikes around us.



I believe we used a whole truck load of firewood that weekend. Saturday was the big day for all the activities front and center at the pavilion around the fire pit nothing like a toasty fire. We started out with a Yummo lunch provided by the birthday girls mammas and man oh man was it a perfect hit for the Chilly weekend. Can you say homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup, Taco Soup, Vegetable Soup and Chili, man did they hit the spot! Then next was celebrating the girls, which together made a number of 18....ack thats a scary thought!

Gifts, cake and ice cream! After the kids wound down a little we rounded them up for the next party Trick or Treating Camping style! And oh boy where they all cute, you had 2 pirates, a witch, a princess, a baton twirler, a Dr., a horse and a grim reaper, so a little of everything! We let them go camper to camper in our loop and we had lots of exciting faces. Grandparents spoiled them with goodies!









The all got lots of good treats to rotten those teeth....lol! Speaking of teeth My lil Caleb lost his stubborn loose tooth thats been hanging in since April, that thing finally fell out that evening after taking a bite into a hot dog.....HOORAY for mommys little jack o lantern ;)....But would the tooth fairy make it to the camper? Yeppers he got a silver half dollar and ten bucks....now thats my kind of tooth fairy!




Anyhow once the sun started to set we brought out our pumpkins around the camp fire to do some carving. And was there ever some cute pumpkin turnouts.






This was a first for me, thats right I had never carved a pumpkin before. My sis-in-law pulled out some adorable pumpkin stencils. Caleb was surprised with a seahorse. I picked a camper settled at night. Of course Caleb got as far as cutting the top off his pumpkin and lifted the top and saw what was inside. He said now what I told him you have to dig all that out by hand, he said no way....lol! But guess what I wouldnt do it either...they get it honestly! So we let daddy do it...teehee. Then once ready to start marking our pumpkin he helped somewhat then took off with the rest of the kids leaving us for the carving part.








Now I tell you it looked alot easier than it was. No wonder everyone else choose easier ones. It took me a good hour but it took Jason a while to do mine and then my father in law took just as long. But the ending result was worth it, they turned out really cute.

You had cat carvings, a pirate ship, Winnie the pooh, an airplane, a campfire, and a few classic pumpkin faces. Take a look:





It was great! Lots of good memories that weekend including Cami's surprise of talking! Cant wait to go back next year!!!!!