Holiday Wishes

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Is This Thing On?

*tap, tap, tap* Is this thing on? .... Don't you just love hearing that mic test? Cracks me up every time. Don't know why.

Just droppin' in to give a quick update. You'll all be happy to hear that Derek got a terrific report last week at his six-month check-up with the oncologist. (Can you believe it's been six months? Me either!) To top it all off, in July, he broke his monthly sales record by bringing in a whopping 121k and set another sales record (for back-to-back 100k months) in August. Lots to celebrate!!!

We've enjoyed a quiet summer. We did a little traveling - went cruisin' in Alaska. Wow - that place is beautiful! We hope to go back. There's still so much more to see. We also made a little trek to the ranch with some friends. It's always good to get out to the country - away from the noise & traffic of city life. Wish we could do it more often!

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet. What about all of you?

HI All!

Yeah yeah i get it. I was one of the founders demanding that this blog be created and now I've waited about 2 years in between posts!!! Agh! It was great to see you all the other month (yes could have been better circumstances, sad face). And I SWEAR that after I get back from the wedding I will actually share the cute family photos I took of all of us at Uncle Jerry's the other month. So anywho, that's my quick update. Since I last posted I got engaged and now I'm leaving for St. Croix, USVI in exactly 10 days to get married! Our wedding day is Friday May 1st and we're just SO EXCITED! I'll return bearing beautiful scenic wedding pics! I'm so grateful I have awesome parents and he has awesome parents that supported us marrying in St.Croix. It will be a great time and HOPEFULLY everyone got their invite (some got lost) and I wish you all could make it! I will be walking down the aisle with a small charm framing a picture of Biggie and Papa on their wedding day secured to my bouquet. I thought you all would appreciate that, and it means so much to me. Anywho, we also bought our first house EVER! We will be moving in after we return from the wedding. I'm grateful for that (and the slummy real estate market), because we basically got a brand new fully upgraded house THROWN at us by some big shot builder who just had too good of a deal to pass up. I keep being told that i'm very lucky that my first house is so nice. So I appreciate it. Anywho, wish me luck! Details about how it goes later!

Let's Blog Already

It was terrific to see everyone over the weekend. Though I really wish we'd stop meeting under those circumstances! It would be better to meet for fun - tour a museum, go to a park - you know, fun!

Alrighty. So I think we all established that we need to be better at keeping up between visits - whether it's through email or this blog or letters or phone calls or ... well, you get the idea. I realize several of you may have forgotten how to sign in & then actually write posts. Blogger will help you with both - just click on Help or Forgot my Password or both. *wink*

I'll be honest, I'm much more likely to write regularly over on The Foxhole. But that doesn't mean that I don't hop over here & look for posts from all of you! So write away. Even if you don't think you have anything to write about, just say you don't have anything to write about. If you read The Foxhole at all, you know that I often ramble a whole load of nonsense when I have nothing to say. And that happens a lot. *grin*

Oh. And if any of you decide to start your own blogs, let me know & I'll link 'em on the sidebar.

Now what are you waiting for? Give us all those updates!

The Quarterly Update

Hey. Where IS everybody? Seems like we've all forgotten that this handy little tool is out there for us to use. (Us included!) So here's the run-down from Rowlett.

Derek's currently kicking butt & taking names at work. He's an entire MONTH over quota at this point. So to say he's doing well is really an understatement. The entire branch is over quota right now, so they're all sittin' pretty. There's been some rearranging of territory & Derek's gotten another big account. So he's now working, working, working more than ever. BUT he's still having time for fun, so never fear.

I've finally wrapped up my major singing responsibilities for the spring. I'm on hiatus with my church gig. And my other stuff has wrapped up too. In June, I spent a week chaperoning teenagers on choir tour in Memphis. All in all, it was a great trip - we had fun, the kids behaved, and the concert was well-received. Friday I'm off to Ireland with the Irving Chorale. It's a "working" trip but with a lot of fun built in, of course. I hope to put up some posts on The Foxhole while I'm away, assuming I can get to a computer & the remote posting works. Derek will be staying home - work is just too frantic to allow a long trip. Plus, he'll be leaving for a business trip as soon as I get back.

We're still not sure about an "us" vacation. We're tossing around an August trip. But we'll see how things work out. The price of gas (and subsequently airfaire) really puts a damper on things.

Other than that, I guess there's not really any news from us.

Hope everyone is well.

Holy Smokes! I finally remembered how to post a blog. Seriously though, that is pathetic!!! Shawn just sighs and shakes his head sadly when I make my degree of computer helplessness known! Good thing he's around to bail me out when I really screw things up! Anyhoo - sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. I switched jobs in October and went from working two days a week to working five. Oh, did I mention the, one hour, one-way commute? Not alot of fun. I had not had that type of schedule since we had Garrett nine years ago and to say that it threw my family into chaos would be a gross understatement!! So, I now work for Aetna in the Disease Management Program and I really like it. Basically I do patient education to Aetna's members so that they can better understand their disease processes and manage them more successfully. Aetna doesn't have to pay so much because their members are healthier and better educated, I still feel like I make a difference to sick people, so it's a win-win situation. The big kicker is there are no weekends or holidays and starting in August, I will be working from home. Hooray!!!!
The boys are well but very busy. Baseball season has started again and this year both of them are playing and that means that we are at the ball field six nights a week. In other news, my oldest son Garrett was nominated to be a Great Lakes Scholar for his academic success and I think that's pretty nifty. We are going to a Cleveland Indians game in July where he will be (with many others) rewarded for his accomplishments ON THE FIELD!! (Big deal to a ten year old!!) One lucky kid will also get to throw the first pitch of the game and Garrett is so revved up about this, so sure it just has to be him that sometimes he can't sleep. My youngest son Spencer is doing great in Kindergarten and is already reading at a 2nd grade level. I don't know where they get their smarts from, honestly. It's not me, and it's not their dad either! There really isn't much else going on. We are just trying to make it through ball season intact!! OHHHH! I did get to go see Michael Buble' in concert and I swear I almost passed out! That man is amazing and I turned into some kind nutcase during the show. I love him, love his music and he was outstanding in concert if you ever get a chance to go see him. So, that's about my one big highlight so far. Not much, but when you are a mom and working full time, you take what you can get!!!
Aunt Debi - you totally rock! I love imagining you as a biker babe! I am glad Rog is healing well. That is a brutal recovery, but my patients would always come back months after the surgery and tell us how great they felt and how their knee never hurt anymore, so tell him to stick with it - he will be glad.
Aunt Mickey - how's the family tree business going? Keep me updated. Miss you. Derek and Susan, I am positively jealous of the trips you have been taking. Maybe one day I'll live a life like that!! Ha, ha. Susan - I have not scrapbooked one page since I started my new job and I'm a little sick at how behind I am. Ugh. Jessi - your loft sounds sweet and I think of you when I am watching HGTV and they show places like the one you described. I am happy you like it so much. Everyone else - I love you all but I have to go. Aunt Mickey 0 give Gramps a big hug and kiss from me and tell him I love him.

Hey Everyone!

Gosh it's been a while since we've posted something, sorry for the long silence. It looks like everyone's been busy! Mickey, thanks so much for the pictures of Grandpa! It really has meant a lot to see some of the little moments in his life and we really enjoy them! Debbie I'm glad you're settling in to Florida, and it sounds like Rog is on the road to recovery, that's great. Rachelle and I were just talking through our vacation plans for the rest of the year, I'm sure we will be down to Florida at some point to visit her mom. I'll let you know once we've got the dates finalized, we'd love to spend some time with you while we're down there!

We've had a calm few months here in Ohio, after last year with all the unexpected trips and job change it's been nice to have some low stress time to just be with the kids. I don't know if you guys heard about the blizzard at the beginning of March, we got almost 2 feet of snow in 2 days. Here's a picture of the kids on the "snow mountain" we made with the snow blower. They're actually about 5 feet off the ground. We were trapped in until they plowed the subdivision. We roasted marshmallows in the fireplace, and tried to make snow angels (the snow was so deep you would just disappear when you laid down). It was actually kind of fun for everyone.

We had a lot of fun for Easter this year, I have to admit Millie stole my heart in her pigtails and pink dress. She was sick so she didn't get to go to church, Rachelle stayed home with her while I took the boy's. It's a shame she didn't make it because she would have been the cutest toddler there hands down (not that I'm biased or anything). In the memorable Easter moments category, we tivo'd the Charlie Brown special and the kids watched it about 50 times. So on Easter morning we had all the baskets and eggs hidden around the house and when the kid's got up, Brennan came running into our room and said "Daddy Daddy, the Easter beagle came, the Easter beagle came". I don't think I'll be forgetting that one anytime soon. Also from the department of funny kid sayings, the boy's and I have been reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Tonight we got to the part were Mr. Tumnus the fawn talks about the White Witch who makes it always winter but never Christmas. When I finished that sentence Ian literally gasped and said "Oh, that is so rude". It's moments like this that make me love being a dad.

Well, that's the recent news from Ohio. Take care everyone. I'll try to post again before another 3 months has passed. Love you guys.

Shawn, Rachelle, Ian, Brennan, and Amelia (Millie).

Boring

Haven't really had any note-worthy stuff going on lately. Derek's started off the year with a bang at work, making quota in both Jan. & Feb. Aside from caseload, he's made some set sales and has several still in the pipeline. He had a big meeting today about a product that could generate a fair portion of his quota each month. The doctor was very interested in the product. So we'll see where that goes.

Things for me are slow. But that's my choice. I haven't picked up any singing gigs in quite a while, aside from my paid church job (which keeps me plenty busy!). Have a few things to decide on in the coming months. Right now, I'm preparing music for Easter & working on selections for the voice studio recital. Summer will be busy with several singing trips -- Memphis & Ireland. So no time for theatre this summer. The fall will be busy too as I'm committed to give a recital for a fine arts series at the regular paid gig. And that brings us into the busy Advent season. All in all though, I'm home more than I'm gone & I'm really enjoying the break.

Dori's doing really well. You may remember that she got really sick in the fall. Once we got a firm diagnosis & began tinkering with meds (took a month or two until we found the right combo), she's been doing great. She's finally looking like herself again -- with a healthy amount of fluff. And she's definitely back to her perky self. The best thing for her, aside from getting well, has been the addition of her buddy Meeko, the Siamese. They both love to play, especially with each other. We get lots of entertainment from their romp sessions.

Other than that, we haven't had that much going on. Don't know if we'll be taking any trips this year. More than likely, I'll just be tagging along on some of Derek's work trips. We'll see. Thus far, my singing hasn't allowed any trips. But once Easter's over, it will be a little easier to take some weekend jaunts.

Hope all is well with the rest of you. Would love to hear some updates. (Aunt Debbie, Derek will be in FL next week. Can't remember where. Maybe Ft. Lauderdale? Is that anywhere close to you? Email him if it is at dtdguy AT gmail DOT com.)

I'm s pig

Hi guys, Sorry for ignoring everyone. I keep forgetting how to get onto the blog. I am hopeless at computers. Shawn, you really need to give me a course. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Chris and Josh, I am so sorry I didn't get a card at least to you guys, but I have no current address for either of you. Chris, I hope you had a happy birthday. I thought of you but had no way to get hold of you. Please send a phone number or address. Josh, please send a picture of LLoyd, I'd love to see him. Hope he's healthy and growing fast. How was his first Christmas? Amanda, how are you keeping up with school and a baby? I know it's hard, Jessi was two when I went back for the last two years full time. But with Derrell to help me study and Mickey to fill my stomach and a few others, I made it. I know you will too. When you guys get a break, please come to Fl. We'd love to have company. Shawn, Shelley, Derek, that goes for you guys as well. Shawn, isn't your Mom here ? I forgot where. Tell Shelley to get her butt on the blog, I'd love to talk to her. Mickey sends me pictures of Pop often. He's such a sweet soul, and I thank God every day that Mickey is there for him. Derrell sees him daily and Jerry is there often, so he's very lucky and seems happy as a lark. Susan, thanks for the pictures you put on, I enjoy them so much. I've never been to Napa before. Rog and I went to Vegas a couple of times for the PBR (bull riding) finals and had a great time. I suck at gambling, so we mostly walked and looked. Lots of great shows for free at the different casinos. Hope you have fun. Rog made it through his knee replacement fine, but he still has alot of pain at night and doesn't sleep well. He's back at work full time and doing physical therapy after work 3 days a week. So he's coming along. I'm volunteering at the Humane Society and no I haven't brought anymore dogs home yet. Six is enough for now. Goldie is 15 though and Gracie is 12, so I hope they have a few more years left and I won't need to replace them! Susan, I've known dogs to eat rats and get Hepatitis, but if your dog is vaccinated yearly ( DHLPP- the H is for Hepatitis) how in the world did it get it? Where did the vet think he contracted it? Be sure you guys look up www.jaxcudas for pics of Jessi's hockey team. This is probly the last year she's dancing for the Ice Girls. Can't think of any more news. Love-Debi

Merry New Year! Happy Kwanzaa!

Errr, and Christmas too. Hi all! Was just gonna drop a line to see how everyone was doing and wish you all a merry x-mas! Things are swell here. It was still 85 degrees until today where it's still not cold, just cooler. Gotta love Florida! Anywho, mama is very busy right now cuz daddy got his knee replaced on Tuesday. I think other than the actual surgery going well, everything that could go crappily did. She's about to draw blood with some of the people at the hospital. But yeah, you guys should call the house and just say hi and feel better since i'm sure she won't have time to write anytime soon with daddy propped in a hospital bed in the living room and Nurse Debi waiting on him hand and foot. Just my update. I'm swell tho! I'll give more interesting details later. Everyone have a merry Christmas! Hope Texas is well and you all get to see each other. We'll come for a Christmas soon. Hope your mom is ok Mickey, and someone hug Papa for me. Tata- Jessi