Wonderfully Complex

Twas the night before Christmas, And all through the home, Only one creature was stirring, A late night scrapper alone.
While she cropped and she trimmed, Under her breath she was muttering, "He hid my darn Hermafix", The poor wife was stuttering! When out on the lawn, There arose such a clatter, She sprang from her table, And dropped her Magic Matter. Away to the window She flew like a flash Thinking maybe it was UPS Bringing more for her stash! But what to her wandering eyes Should appear But a miniature (die cut) sleigh And eight (punchie) reindeer! With a little old driver So lively and quick She knew right away It was old St Nick He carried a sack Filled up to the brim With paper packs, cardstock And idea books crammed in. There were punches, and stickers And eyelets galore There was even a Cricut font Not yet in the stores! He went quickly to work Storing it all under the tree The wire, the fibers And all acid free! "Those whale Punches are heavy" She Heard him exclaim Then he turned to his reindeer And called them by name: "On Buyer and Stasher Puncher and Cropper, On Scrapper, on Trimmer, On Cutter, and Puncher" And he sprang to his sleigh But before he could leave, The woman yelled "STOP", And pulled a camera from her sleeve. She snapped some quick photos For future keepsake, Thinking all the while, Of the layout she'd make! And she heard him exclaim, When she finally let him go, "Happy Scrapping to All "And to all "HO HO HO"

We were so surprised to get an email from Granny this year saying that she had bought a Christmas tree from a local tree farm in North Carolina… not because we didn’t think she would buy a tree, but because we would have never guessed that she bought one for us! It was going to be shipped to us and Dylan couldn’t get beyond himself to think how it would fit into our mailbox. Then it became what kind of truck would it come in? Would the post man have it on top of his little truck or would it be UPS? Our days soon became… Mom, has the tree come? I think I here a truck. Is it here? Mom, will you call me at school if it comes today? Dylan and I were both so happy the day is arrived.

After a long trip from North Carolina to California our tree got here safe and sound... check out how pretty it is!

I REALLY wanted to take the kids back to see Santa. You see, Faith was completely out when we went the first time and I at least wanted to give her a chance at the ol’ man’s beard. No really, she normally likes him and I thought… hey let’s go after school! So off to school Dylan went and I sent out a quick text to Lauren with my idea. She’s in. Yeah!

As the end of school approaches I get Faith ready for her big moment with the big guy. Swing by and get her bangs cut and then off the school to pick up the Hampton girls, and then to get Dylan. Did I mention that none of the kids knew what we were up too? I picked them up and told them we were off to see Santa. What fun!

Today at therapy... well just watch this...

One step in the right direction! It was a quite the day!

It has been over 4 years since I jumped in the car and traveled to Las Vegas. Doesn’t sound like a big deal? Well, for me it was. You see, Las Vegas isn’t just “Viva Las Vegas” for me as it is for some. Las Vegas represents family to me. The last time I was there was when Faith was 6 weeks old and before she had started any of her testing or therapies. Boy, what I didn’t know then! Well, Thanksgiving was a perfect time for us to take the trip… so we did!

Thanksgiving day we rolled out of bed and got on the road. There were light showers along the way, but nothing to be concerned about. We arrived in my dad’s house in LV around noon which gave us a little bit of time to settle in before the rest of the family came over. Plus Grandpa had a few activites up his sleeve for Dylan.... with an air soft pistal we had one HAPPY boy! We enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and the kids all played and watched a movie while the adults chatted over coffee and pie. I have to say that as I sat there with my brother, my dad, and the rest of the family…. I did not take any pictures! Can you believe it? Instead I sat there and took in the time I had with these marvelous men and the rest of the family. I knew there were a couple cameras going and I was told that I would get copies of the pictures, but truly, I wanted to be present in the moment and so I did.

We ended the night at Jason and Roxanne’s house with the boys camping upstairs in a homemade fort. Ava was snug in her bed, and Faith was too when …she woke up! Oh yeah… Faith doesn’t sleep at other people’s houses. Bummer. Faith stayed up until about 5:30AM when she collapsed on the floor and I was able to put her to bed. By 8:30AM I was back up and getting ready for a day with my niece and nephew. We had places to go and things to do… IHOP, Santa, and a little shopping. Did someone say coffee? I had a blast with my family and the trip seemed entirely too short.

As we drove home Friday night all I could think about was catching up on some sleep and the next day when we were going to another Thanksgiving dinner. (note to self… make more pie in the morning) We got home around 1:00AM and my head hit the pillow pretty hard.

What a truly Happy Thanksgiving!