A few Christmas pictures

Christmas at the Revlett's:

December 23 - Finally caught Brandon in a pic with his Santa hat on!

We opened Christmas presents from Jeff's family on Christmas Eve. Gunner got a Star Wars "Light Saver" from Maw Maw and Paw Paw!! He was so happy. We'll be sure to tell him it's a Light Saber some day.......

Brandon got a police truck that makes sirens sounds and such. He loved it. From Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Jerry. (I don't have time to post all the pics!)

Christmas morning before we opened the gifts! Gunner has his arm wrapped around his present from Santa. Brandon's still playing with a truck from Christmas Eve.....he still hasn't figured out the opening gift thing.......

Brandon and Gunner opening their gifts from Santa on Christmas morning. We made them wait until 8 o'clock! Was that mean? It just gave everyone time to wake up. Brandon slept in and I felt bad making Gunner wait so long!



Brandon LOVES his Monster Playground Ball from Aunt Jill. He still has a pile of gifts to open, but he'd rather be kicking that ball. Gunner's working on his T-Rex Hot Wheels thing. He's been playing with it for days. Santa did good this year! :-)

Priceless Christmas morning photo! To be used in later years.............

Practicing magic tricks! Gunner got a magic set from Granny Patty and Grandpa Pete.

We had a fabulous Christmas and too many toys, but it sure was fun. The boys are still enjoying their gifts so it's time to think about cleaning out the closets........more work for Mama.

Now we say, Happy New Year!

Our family motto is going to be:

"EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE FINE IN 2009!"

It's Almost Time for Santa!

Hello Friends and Family!

We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2009!

We are getting so excited at our house for the holidays!! The new photo on the blog is for our Christmas cards I finally dropped off yesterday and picked up today. I think the digital camera timer took about 15 photos and this one was the best. Brandon's the only one without his mouth wide open. Oh well, trying to get a toddler to cooperate is enough work.

Things have been nuts for us just like everyone else this time of year. I am happy to say that my shopping is done and my wrapping is done! I still have to help Gunner wrap his gifts to Brandon and Aunt Jill. We just haven't had a chance.

Gunner and I attended the children's Christmas party at church today. They made gingerbread houses, played games, made reindeer out of flower pots and filled them with candy (SOOO CUTE!) and made pine cone Christmas trees. We had pizza for lunch.

Gunner's last day of school for 2008 was Friday. We plan to bake cookies and decorate this week (once Aunt Jill arrives). He's getting excited about Christmas and makes sure our outdoor lights are plugged in every night. Side note: the timer's broken and I haven't gotten a new one

Gunner doing homework last Wed.

Brandon's now a full fledged toddler! Into absolutely everything. He has figured out how to climb up in the kitchen chairs to get to things on the table. Nothing is safe from his little hands anymore. He opens the silverware drawer and gets butter knives. Constant supervision at this stage I must say! He also loves wearing Gunner's boots. He gets them out of the closet and brings them to me to put on and then he wears them for a long time. It's so funny because they almost cover his knees. He's starting to say more words and I hope he will soon be a better communicator. The screaming out because he doesn't have the vocabulary drives me, Jeff and Gunner crazy!!

Still in his PJ's the day I took this photo. We're working on getting rid of that pacifier too! Now that his teeth are almost all in, I think it's time! He mostly just chews on it anyway.

Jeff is done with school for the semester. He starts back mid-January. Less than a year to go....I'm sooo proud of him for sticking with this thru all of the things going on this past year.

Goldie's just Goldie. Not much to report on her this time.

Me. Well, I feel great and love the fact I don't have to sit for 3 hours a week getting chemo right now. All of my chemo is in pill form, so I am totally responsible. As much as the ladies from church and other community friends helped earlier in the year, I'm glad I don't have to call them to keep Brandon for several hours one day each week. I only have to get an infusion once a month for a bone strengthening drug and it takes about an hour. Big, big difference. For the details, see my blog.

PHOTOS!!

These photos are all from the week leading up to Halloween. The Sunday before Halloween, we went to a local Methodist church to purchase our pumpkins and played on the playground afterwards. Gunner and I worked on carving the pumpkins on Oct. 30. Gunner attended a birthday party and brought home a cupcake to Brandon.....he certainly enjoyed it!

I'll get photos from Halloween posted soon! Sorry I'm soooo far behind.

Wait a minute! November's ending next week?

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving and I haven't even posted anything about our Halloween adventures nor anything else for a month! With all the changes in medication and such (see my journaling blog), I haven't been spending hardly any time online other than paying bills and checking email. I haven't even found time for Facebook other than updating my status now and then.

The last part of October was great! The boys had such a great time getting their photos made in their costumes at Sears before Halloween. (I sent the link to those of you whose email I have....I will not post it here) The pics were great and I had a hard time choosing.

Gunner had the countdown to Halloween going and Friday FINALLY arrived. Our neighbor across the street really fixes his house up and scares the daylights out of older kids! It's a hoot to watch from our porch as we pass out candy. Gunner really talked up not being scared of his stuff, so he was definitely set up. I tried to film it, but it was too dark and I was laughing too much that it didn't turn out well. Poor little guy took off running screaming for me. So, here's the gig....they had this electronic butler at the end of the walk that would start talking as you walked by, lots of spiderweb stuff on all the bushes, tiki torches in the yard, a graveyard, other spooky stuff, and on the front porch, a witch stirring a stick in a cauldron plus a smoke machine. Also on the front porch were two guys dressed up sitting still as statues and the one by the door would say "Boo!" when the trick or treater(s) would reach out to ring the doorbell. First scare! So as that happened, the trick or treater(s) would turn around to run and the other guy had moved behind them and yelled too. It was a bit much for a 5 year old, but he got two big hand fulls of candy for making it to the front porch. I never thought he'd make it that far alone......that was the deal, after all his talking for 2 weeks, he had to walk up all by himself and he would get two handfulls of candy if he made it to the porch.

So after that, we continued on our trek down our street and one other. It rained a bit, but we toughed it out. Brandon even tried to say trick or treat a few times and was just adorable! Gunner was an old pro this year. We came back to the house, then Jeff and Gunner headed out to more of the subdivision and had a blast. It was the first year I'd been trick or treating with Gunner since 2004 in Montana at the mall. Did I mention that Jeff and I dressed up too? Also, since Mom was here, she got the honors of passing out candy for us.

Rewind one day. I went to Gunner's class and read a book. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I don't like to be in front of people at all. I get very nervous even with just a few kids. I think his class is 19 kids. I made it fine and kindergartners are just so cute and sweet. After a rhyming activity with his teacher, we headed to lunch. It was also fun to share a meal with Gunner on his turf. We were at the guest table all alone, so we had fun talking about his class and school. I can't believe how grown up he is!

Since Halloween, the biggest event that sticks out was the Thanksgiving celebration at Gunner's school on November 13. Jeff and I went to his classroom and they entertained us with cute songs about turkeys. They had made vests out of paper grocery bags and headbands. Gunner did a great job on his. Then we had lunch together and enjoyed meeting some of his friends and their parents. Kindergarten is SOOOO different from preschool! I just don't get to socialize with the other moms every day or get to know the other kids.

Last Sunday, Jeff and I got to go to a Buccaneers game in Tampa Bay. It was quite cool that morning, but a beautiful day for a game. The tickets were part of a celebration function for one of Jeff's company's customers. We attended the tailgate party in the tent before the game and then went to our seats. The game was not overly exciting, but it was tied for a while. The Bucs won and we had a great time. A couple from church took care of Gunner and Brandon ALL DAY for us (Mom had left for home that morning as well and made it just fine!).

We're now looking forward to a "short week" of school and work. Gunner goes Monday and Tuesday. Jeff will work from home on Wednesday morning for sure since I have a doctor's appointment. He may have to go to the office for the afternoon, time will tell. Jeff also has no school over the holiday weekend so we have him all to ourselves! :-) I'm sooo looking forward to his few weeks off for Christmas break.

Some of my girlfriends from Oklahoma are in California this weekend trudging thru the 3-day 60 mile Susan Komen walk! ...you trained long and hard and I wish you the best! Thanks for all your effort on behalf of myself and the many others you are helping thru your efforts!!!

PS - I'll add the pics later as I am very tired and it's not even 9:30 yet!

AHHHH! Cooler weather makes it seem like fall!

Can you believe we FINALLY have morning temps in the 60's? I'm loving it! Gunner, Brandon and I rode bikes to school today and it was sooooo nice! (Brandon doesn't ride a bike, he sits in the trailer behind mine!)

Anyway, I have downloaded any photos lately, but just wanted to give a quick update.

We're in full swing of halloween costumes and decorating. Probably going to get pumpkins this weekend and carve closer to halloween. Gunner's cowboy costume came in yesterday, so he tried it on and all the pieces fit.....he got a vest, chaps and bullet belt to wear with his hat, jeans and cowboy shirt. Brandon's hat came in too. We have a camouflage outfit that was Gunner's, but Goldie (in her puppy days) had eaten the camo hat. He will be the little hunter. Jeff is also dressing as a cowboy and I will find something of Jeff's hunting clothes to dress up in as well. Since Mom's here helping out, she's going to stay at the house to pass out candy and we will all get to go trick or treating together! I'm excited! The only time I've gone trick or treating was with Gunner at the mall in Bozeman back in 2004.

It's great having mom around the next couple of weeks. I hope to get some more posts done (with photos). The boys are really growing up fast. Brandon's made lots of changes recently. All four of his molars have come in completely and 3 or 4 canines have broken thru the gum. :-) I think he's grown a bit taller in the past month or so too. 18 month pants are just the right size and he's just about ready for 24 month tops.

When mom got here, we finished preparing for my community yard sale. I'm proud to say that with all the stuff we had (hers, Jill's and a few things of my neighbors) we made just over $400! We set up for Friday and Saturday both. Originally we were just going to do Saturday, but I'm glad we decided to change. Mom took the majority of the leftovers to Goodwill afterwards because they were open til 8 pm. I feel better having all that stuff we were no longer using out of here!! It just marks a change in our lives......a lot of what I sold was baby items. Things that were Gunner's and got passed down to Brandon. I had no more use for them nor room to store them.

Look for photos on the next post! I'm outta here for now!

Recently.....and reflecting

Let's see.....it's been awhile, but freshest on my memory starts with this past Saturday. It finally cooled off a bit here and Gunner thought it was really cold.....He played outside like this for a while, then shed the jacket, gloves and hat. Needless to say, I was very comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. I think it was somewhere between 70-75 degrees.

Yippee!!! Jeff has completed the first year of the two year MBA program!! Just one more year to go. We are so proud of him and his dedication. Found out yesterday that he continues with his 4.0 GPA! This last class was the toughest yet and he has heard that it is the toughest in the whole program. He doesn't get a day off from school on Saturdays until Thanksgiving week. He's been back to school since the end of July. That's a long stretch for all of us.

The rest of the weekend was crazy with the boys sleeping......actually NOT sleeping. I was up with both of them thru the night on Saturday. I didn't make it to church on Sunday because I was so tired. Sunday night, Jeff got up with Gunner about 4:30 am.....he had gotten sick. YUCK! Jeff took care of him and didn't wake me.

Jeff left for a meeting on Monday morning and I was left with washing sheets, blankets, clothing in hot water so as not to spread the icky stuff around. Gunner stayed home from school. He never got sick again but ran a fever all day. I noticed Brandon felt warm too, and he also had a fever all day. I discovered that Brandon is finally ready to be monitored with crayons at the table. All previous tries he just wanted to eat them. He had so much fun scribbling, but mostly taking crayons out of the bowl and putting them back in. Gunner drew some pictures for me and Pop (Jeff). Both boys were fine by bedtime (thank goodness). Gunner and I watched "The Incredibles"....it was a treat because he'd taken a nap, Brandon was asleep and we just wanted to veg. He also didn't have school today, so I could let him stay up past normal bedtime. And you know what? Both boys slept all night! :) This made their mama very happy.

Today was a day off from school, so in essence, Gunner got a 4 day weekend. It wasn't all fun, but today was much better than yesterday. Since they didn't have fevers and felt fine, we headed to the library for story time. Afterwards we ate lunch at Burger King, came home and walked Goldie before the rains. Brandon napped and Gunner watched TV while I worked on paying bills and organizing the accumulated papers in our home office. Late afternoon we did the crayon thing again! (the photos are from today) After supper we played outside a while and both boys were in bed by 8 pm.

SEPTEMBERS

Anyway, I have been thinking about our Septembers. It seems to be a month of memories for Jeff and me:

September 1998: Our first vacation for just the two of us (after 5 1/2 years of marriage) was to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada (when I truly found out how much I loved being with my husband and I fell in love with the Rocky Mountains). We spent the entire week outdoors hiking and sightseeing and talking. It was so awesome.

September 2000 was our first trip to Montana - trying to decide if we wanted to take the job offer for Jeff. We decided on the trip NOT to take the job, cut it short and returned home. Less than a week later we changed our mind and ended up moving to Montana the first week of November 2000.

We all remember where we were September 11, 2001..........

September 2002 we found out I was pregnant after many years of trying!! We kept it quiet until week 13 - sometime in November. Only our immediate family and the doctor/nurse knew before that.

September 2004 we were in the process of preparing for a move again. I don't remember the exact date, but by November 2004 we were in Oklahoma.

September 2006 I was pregnant and we were contemplating another move......as you know, we accepted the position and moved in December 2006.

September 2007 Brandon had surgery for craniosynotosis and I was terrified that my baby's head was going to be operated on. I also had a mammogram and ultrasound that month because I found a lump.....was told it was nothing. Here we are at the end of September 2008 and what a difference a year makes!

Halloween.......

Gunner LOVES Halloween. I think it's because he likes to dress up as so many characters. He's already wanting to get things going for this year (it's too soon for me....)

Anyway, I was looking at our local library's website and came across this website. We had some fun with it this afternoon. There are games to play, pictures to print and such. Seems kid friendly, so have fun! And yes, they do promote their ice cream!!

www.benjerry.com/halloween

VBS (September 6, 2008)

Our theme this year was Veggie Tales, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything". We did an all day VBS on Saturday and had two stories: Moses and the Burning Bush and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The memory verse for the day was Philippians 4:13 and the kids were encouraged to "Be a Hero for God". The kids had a wonderful time and there were so many people who put in a lot of effort for a one day event. A ship was built in our fellowship hall and it was truly awesome. One of the ladies made a Larry the Cucumber costume and different adults/teens took turns dressing up and having photos made with the kids. The teens "performed" the stories for the kids in the auditorium and they used the ship for puppet shows to retell the stories. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the skits as I was helping in other areas. We had just over 100 people (including the adults who came and the workers). That's a great number for a one day VBS! On Sunday, during the Bible study hour, the kids gathered together again and reviewed the stories. We finished off with a hamburger/hot dog potluck and the Veggie Tales movie about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (The pirate movie doesn't get released until October). Anyway, I took a few photos........

Here's my Little Brandon with Big Brandon! They're buddies. Playing peek-a-boo and just hanging out. The teens did skits for the stories, so they had down time while the young kids were in the other rooms on rotations.





















Here's Brandon and Emily. They had a lot of fun together too. Emily was in charge of Brandon's lunch too! He ended up napping in the office for a couple of hours in his playpen.
















This is the magnificent Pirate Ship and some of the teens practicing while the young kids were in the other rooms doing crafts, science, etc. Just to put in perspective, the little guy looking up at the ship on the left is my Brandon!


And finally, the pirates! Marilyn got Brandon to wear a pirate bandana! Aye, Aye Mateys!! A fun time was had by all. (I didn't get any good photos of Gunner!)

Tropical Storm Fay (August 22, 2008)

I am FINALLY posting photos from when Tropical Storm Fay came our way. The photos show the flooding in our yard. Thank goodness the water never came past the swing set! The yellow stick is where the water rose to at midnight on the 21st. It kept rising through the night and then began receding later in the day on the 22nd. By the 23rd, there was no water in our yard. We were definitely spared and so were our neighbors. No one had water in their home from the flooding. Some in our subdivision had water in their homes due to leaking roofs or cracked stucco.
Jeff found a tiny crawdaddy in the yard!

Here's Jeff and Gunner going to check out the flood waters.



An up close picture of how deep it was in the back. Jeff went to the back fence and said it was between 2 & 3 feet deep in our yard. Some of our neighbors had at least 4 feet or more (the fences are 6 foot high)

When does summer end?

I think the end of summer is officially in a couple weeks. Will the heat ever cease? It is so hot and humid. Everytime we go outside we sweat. We really sweat. That's gross.

Gunner doesn't have actual recess at school. They encourage reading in everything, which is good, but he's 5. FIVE How many 5 year olds can concentrate that long? Oh, they do have room activity time and the school is so huge they walk a lot when going to other classes. (his elementary school, K-5, has about as many students as my jr. high (grades 7, 8 & 9)! They rotate on a weekly basis between PE, Music, Art and Science. So, one week out of the month he actually gets a PE class, outdoors. He has 10 min or so of homework each day, Mon to Thurs. This has gone well, but even better since I've figured out we need to go outside for a lot of activity when he gets home. Did I mention how HOT it's been? Did I mention how much we sweat? Gross-- because I have to fix supper after I sweat. I don't have time to shower before cooking. Gross. Gross. Gross.

Brandon loves the outdoors. We have an oak tree in our front yard. It's September.....we have acorns. We have LOTS of acorns. After I dropped G off at school on Monday, Brandon spent a long time picking up acorns in the driveway. He couldn't hold more than two or three at a time. I had a margarine tub in my container collection in the garage, so he collected several in his little "bucket". I was surprised he didn't really try to eat them. He put one in his mouth and I got it out and told him a firm "NO!". It must not have been good because he didn't put another in his mouth! Even at 9 am in the morning, we sweated. Gross. I don't have time to shower til bedtime. Gross. Gross.

Goldie gets 2 walks per day -- morning and evening. Jeff takes her out in the mornings. If he's out of town, she's out of luck. Evenings we sometimes manage a family walk, sometimes the males ride bikes and I walk Goldie, sometimes Jeff walks Goldie after the boys are in bed and sometimes I do. Regardless, it's hot, it's humid and we sweat. Gross.

Oh yeah, after TS Fay, we have gazillions of mosquitoes. Would anyone like some? In my spare time I hope to invent a trap for them. I do not like spraying with OFF! everytime I go outdoors. It smells. It smells really bad when you sweat after you apply.

I'm not complaining. I'm really not. I just don't like to sweat. I don't like mosquitoes. I don't like to smell like sweat mixed with OFF! (My family doesn't either) We just like to be outside.

Tell me again, when does summer end? Oh yeah, we don't have winter here. I think it's summer year round............come see us if you want to sweat and you like OFF! :-)

Local Splash Pad

August 11, I took the boys to the splash pad in our town. It was not busy, and they had a ton of fun. Gunner met another little boy to play with and then a few other kids showed up. Brandon just did his own thing. He didn't like the spraying water at first, but by the end of the hour he was having a blast. Gunner absolutely loves playing in the water!


Brandon's still getting used to having water splashed in his face. You can also see his belly button very well in these photos. For those of you who don't know, he has a herniated belly button, so it REALLY sticks out. If it doesn't correct itself by the times he's around 2 years old, he'll have surgery to fix it.

Peek-a-boo!!

Brandon LOVES to play peek-a-boo! Especially with the laundry room door. These photos are from Aug 9 and he had a big time opening and closing the door. These are the best shots.

Haircuts Last Wednesday

Two Handsome Revlett Boys!!

Brandon was sooo overdue for a real haircut. The last time we went was in June and he screamed the WHOLE time and I even held him. The gal that cut his hair wasn't able to get it very short, and there were places that were uneven. I was not looking forward to this visit, but he did great! The guy used clippers on his whole head and this is the result. I think there were 2 and 3 inch pieces clipped off! He is now a little boy! The baby look is starting to fade..... :(

Gunner got his cut too, but I've never had anxiety over taking him, not ever.