There is a lot to be thankful for, even in these economic times.  I would like to celebrate Thanksgiving by giving away some more handmade jewelry.  Just leave a comment on this post and tell me what you are thankful for, and your name goes into a hat.  That’s it, no catch.  The winner’s name will be picked and posted on Thanksgiving Day.

NOTE: If you grab the logo above and post this give-away on your blog/site, just come back and tell me and I will put your name in TWICE 

What am I thankful for?

• My precious family (hubby, boys and baby girl)
• My extended family (so many, spread out all over)
• My church family
• My friends
• My blogging buddies
• Living life in the Light of Christ
• The Holiday Season
• Oh, and I can’t forget to mention Chocolate!

Now YOUR turn…  What are YOU thankful for?

I suppose I was a little hypersensitive yesterday… Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the killer sinus headache due to the Mold count being in the quadrillions, maybe it was hormones.  It was probably a combination of all of the above. We were out and about and I swear there were several people who gave Sydney the “double-take” look. You may know what I am talking about. The glance at the baby, then the double-take back at her… then the glance up at me, who was pushing the stroller. One of these doesn’t bug me too much, a few in a short period of time does. I got several in the length of the mall.  It made me want to see if she had some spinach stuck in her teeth. None of the looks were ill-intended, rude, pity ridden, or anything like that. They were just… curious.

I live in a world where Down Syndrome is a fact. It’s really not a big deal. But there are days where I step on a landmine and yesterday was one of them. This time the landmine was one of aggravation.  Part of me wanted to stop people and say “What?  She’s a baby, big deal”.   My husband was with me and he thinks that I am crazy on this. He didn’t see anything odd. But then again, we are different people and he wasn’t suffering from the above mentioned issues like I was.  But I made eye contact with these folks, and I really don’t think that I am nuts. There is no revelation here, just the fact that “it happens”. People are curious, they will do double takes on occasion. It is what it is.  It was a landmine, and I stepped right onto it. 

Today was a better day.  The Longhorns won, “Hook ‘Em Horns”  (Sorry Barbara) and we got to spend a nice afternoon at Central Market with my dad.  I got a nap (YEAH!  Thanks Honey) and it was a nice cool day.  So, life goes on.  Luckily these landmine wounds heal.  Praise God!

We have been incredibly lucky with Sydney and her health.  Praise God!  In the last year and two months, she has only been sick twice since the initial NICU stay.  Well, she caught something.  Frankly I think that cutting 6 teeth at once brings down your immune system.  She woke up yesterday morning with a strange barking cough which sounded like Croup to me.  I took her to the doctor and he said that she showed no signs of it (of course she didn’t cough for him).  Anyway we are to keep an eye on her and monitor any fevers and listen for a continued or worsening cough.  She only coughs at night and is feeling okay although she had a few rough moments yesterday and today.  For the most part she is typical sweet smiling Sydney, but we are seeing some sad, clingy, whiny times where she is just plain uncomfortable.  As a mom, all I can do is hold her and try to make her comfortable.

It has really made me think about the three kids that we are praying for: Zoey for lukemia, and Emma Rae and Dylan for heart surgery.  They are going through so much more, and I can’t imagine how helpless their parents must feel.  From my little place in the heart of Texas, all I can do is pray for them.  Sydney will recover and be herself again soon.  Between the teething tabs, Tylenol, and a washcloth with crushed ice cubes inside…. We will get through this.  And continue to pray for those three sweet babies.

To bring you an unsolicited product endorsement;

Is your child teething?  Is she waking up multiple times each night chewing on her fingers and wimpering in mouth pain?  Are you risking your fingers in the jaws of life while trying to apply Orajel, all the while just ticking her off?  Besides, it doesn’t last that long anyway?  Bottles not working?  Rocking not working?  Nursing not working?  Are you walking around like a zombie with dark circles highlighting your bloodshot eyes?  Are you falling asleep at innopportune times?  

WELL, Have I got a product for you……

Hyland’s Homeopathec Teething Tablets!

Sydney slept through the night last night for the first time in two weeks!  Can I hear a Hallelujah?!?  She had some moments of minor whimpering, but she was able to soothe herself back to sleep. 

Randall asked me yesterday afternoon, when I was admitting defeat to the teething process, if I was using the Teething Tabs…. In the words of the immortal Homer Simpson “DOH!”  I totally forgot about those!  I dug around and found them and AHHHHHHHH, they worked like a charm.  She accepted the first dissolving tablet and opened her mouth for the second.  We have one good night down!  So, I popped two in her mouth this evening and I am hoping for the best.  BTW, I highly recommend these.  We NEVER would have made it through Ant’s teething without them.

Now I return you to your program, already in progress……

Big Blueberry Eyes did a “letter game” post on 10 things that start with “L”.  This sounded interesting so she gave me the letter ”M”.

1. Marriage (I love that wonderful hubby of mine)
2. Motherhood (I’m hooked)
3. Mickey Mouse (We go WAY back)
4. Mardi Gras (our Buddy walk theme)
5. Mistletoe (Tis the season, almost)
6. M-n-M’s (yummy)
7. Monkey (Ant’s nickname)
8. Music (who doesn’t love that?)
9. Maui (where I’d like to go back to)
10. Miracles (They happen every day)

There is a photo contest over on 5 Minutes for Mom that is hosted by Prego.  The winner gets a $500.00 grocery gift card.  Here is my faorite food shot.  It is Anthony at about a year old.  He was enjoying his spaghetti.

I have to tell you all about my fabulous weekend and the wonderful things that happened. 

1st:  Yesterday I went to a Special Needs Ministry Training at the Hill Country Bible Church.  They have a phenomenal Special Needs ministry.  This was a session that DSACT co-hosted to promote church support for special needs.  HCBC has been putting on these training sessions for a while now.  I attended one last year when Sydney was only 6 months old.  I was looking to see what our church could do to be sure that Sydney and anyone else that comes to our church would be welcomed with open arms and that the staff would be trained.  Well, DSACT has been working on a church inclusion project for the last 6 months and my role in this project has been to develop a Sunday school curriculum for adults and teens/tweens to discuss the scriptural support for people with Special needs.  ANYWAY, we had our first joint training session and it was a success.  I was able to give the lesson and it went well.  We are going to have a second training in the Spring.  I am so excited about building awareness and making other churches open and loving to people with Special needs.  It is such a tragedy when a church turns away a family because they do not know what to do with a Special Needs child.  We have seen it here in my area with DS families.  Churches are the direct link to the body of Christ and should be the refuge that people seek, not a place of rejection.  So, this is my mission…  and I choose to accept it.

2nd:  The Longhorns won.  We are now ranked 3rd.  Hook Em Horns!

3rd: I went to church this morning and it was such a good day.  The sermon spoke to me, the music was great and then after church we decided to head to lunch.  We asked another family to join us, and off we went for mexican food.  YUMMY!  We went to a restaurant a little further out of town than usual, and when we got there, Laura said that we were close to her salon and would I like a haircut today?  She gave me her card about a month ago when I asked about her salon.  I just haven’t found the spare cash or the time.  She then said that she knew that I was dying for a cut and knew how hectic things have been and offered a haircut, her treat.  SWEET!  I can’t tell you how much of a treat a haircut is for me.  I don’t get my nails done, I don’t do any kind of pampering and since we went down to one income, haircuts are just not in the budget, not to mention finding the time.  So, this was truly a gift.  We had a great lunch and she did an AMAZING job on my hair.  I walked into that salon a “2″ and left a “10″.  Thank you Laura.  YOU ROCK!

4th:  Funny thing happened on the way to dropping Zach off after the weekend. (bummer part of joint custody), we were talking about his school.  Randall and I agreed that we wanted to meet with his teacher and just check in on how he is doing in school.  I asked Zach what his teacher’s name was and he Replied Mrs. Clune.  I asked “How do you spell that?”  He replied “M-R-S…”  Randall and I just died laughing!  I was totally expecting “C-L-U-N-E”!  We were laughing so hard that we were crying!  I looked at Randall and said… that’s as good as Camel Squash!  I SOOO have to blog that!  Anyway, I am not sure if that translates in text, but it sure was funny.  He kept saying “What?  What did I say?  Why are you laughing?”  We explained it to him and we all got a good chuckle.

5th:  Silly thing really.  Randall had to run out to drop off some rented movies and returned home with a cold Diet Coke.  What a guy!  Today, I got a haircut, a spiritual lift, a good laugh, and a cold Diet Coke.  Life is good… God provides!

I don’t know if any of you (besides Barbara) have ever noticed that I always write my posts after 11:00pm.  Sometimes they are even as late at 1:30am.  UGH!  It seems to be the only time this house has finally calmed down and I don’t have anything else to do before going to bed.  Then, as I make my way to my room…  the glow of the monitor in my room beckons to me…   “Come hither, there is much to read!”  Before I realize it, an hour or so has gone by.  So much for “I’ll just check email”.  Anyway, I think Father Time, the Sandman, or whomever the keeper of time is… has finally caught up with me.  I just put Sydney down to bed and I have to round up the boys and get them in bed.  Then, regardless of my need to write thank you notes, pick up the living room, do more laundry, etc. I am going to turn in.  Hopefully I can make it.  You see, part of my exhaustion is that Sydney is cutting at least five teeth.  YES, I said FIVE teeth.  She has not slept through the night in two weeks.  I am up at least twice a night trying to console her, cram Tylenol down Old Faithful, and rub Baby orajel on the jaws of life.  Poor baby, she doesn’t feel good. 

So, although I have a bunch of blogs that I love to read and a wonderful day that I am anxious to write about, it will all keep until tomorrow.

Thank you to Heidi Marie over at Henry’s Mommie for passing on this award.  Unfortunately she did this a week ago and I have had my head in a fog.  You should check out her site.  She is a neat lady and her son Henry is ADORABLE!  This award is a Pay it Forward award so here goes the script and the nominees:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.     

Please give more attention to these writers!

I am chosing some new people who I am getting to know through cyberspace, and some of them frankly just crack me up! 

These are my FAVORITE Christmas recipes!  I must give a shout out to my MOTHER!!!  These are the recipes that she made every year when I was growing up.  She combined these along with a bunch of other Favorite recipes and bound them into a cookbook called “Mom, What’s for Dinner?”  This was one of my all time favorite Christmas presents.  So, here are my traditional Christmas recipes that are SOOOO yummy that I continually give out these recipes.  All of my closest friends get a goody package of these items each year.  Print these out and make them for yourself and you will agree that My mom rocks!

Christmas Cut-out cookies (CAUTION: Totally addictive!)

3 c flour, 1 tsp nutmeg, 2 tsp baking powder

1 c sugar,  2 eggs,  1/2 c margarine,  1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 T heavy cream or evap milk

Sift together all dry ingredients and set aside.  Work margarine until light and gradually add sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and then stir in cream and vanilla.  Gradually add flour, beating until smooth.  Chill dough for at least 2 hour.  Set oven at 350.

Roll out dough on floured board and cut with your favorite cookie cutters.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until light brown.  I personally use air bake pans and they turn out perfect every time.  Cool on rack, then frost with cream cheese frosting and your favorite colored sugar and sprinkles.  HINT: I typically make a double batch.

Snowball cookies (pretty AND yummy!)

1 c soft margarine,  2 c sugar, 2 eggs, 5 c flour (sifted), 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 3/4 c sour cream, 1 cup coconut

Cream butter and sugar until light.  Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.  Add dry sifted ingredients, sour cream and coconut.  mix well and chill for several hours.  Make 1 inch balls and roll in colored sugar (I use three different colors of sugar, red, green and yellow, and a few rolled in colored candy balls)  Cook on ungreased cookie sheet (or on parchment paper).  I ALWAYS use air bake, regular pans burn the bottoms.  Cook at 375 for 10 minutes.  Yummy!   HINT:  Store in an air tight container.  IF they get hard, place a piece of bread in your container overnight and they will soften up again.  They may have coconut, but they taste like shortbread, not macaroons

Cinnamon Nuts (your house will smell wonderful making these!)

1 c sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 cream of tartar, 1/4 c boiling water, 1/2 tsp vanilla,  1 1/2 shelled nuts (I use pecans or walnuts)

Mix sugar, cinnamon, cream of tartar and boiling water in a tall pan and boil until 246 degrees (firm ball) stirring constantly.  Take pan off of the heat and cool a few minutes before adding nuts…Stirring constantly in order to keep nuts separated.  Add vanilla and continue to stir.  then turn nuts onto a flat surface and separate.  HINT:  These are better than the ones at the state fair.  I make a tripple batch of these because they are so yummy.

Chinese Walnuts (Good salty contrast to the Cinnamon walnuts.  These are more work, but soooo incredibly yummy!

6 c water, 4 c walnuts shelled,  1/2 c sugar,  salad oil,  salt

 In a 4 quart saucepan, heat water to boiling, add walnuts and return to boiling and cook 1 minute.  Rinse walnuts under running hot water then drain.  Wash pan and dry well.

In a large bowl with rubber spatula, gently stir warm walnuts with sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  (let stand if needed to dissolve sugar)

In the same saucepan add 1 inch of oil and cook over medium heat until 350 degrees.  With a slotted spoon, add about half of the walnuts to the oil in batches.  Fry for 5 minutes or until golden brown, stirring often. 

Remove from oil with slotted spoon and place over a rack with a paper towel underneath or a course seive to drain the oil.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and toss walnuts to keep from sticking.  After cooling completely, store in an air tight container.  HINT:  Keep away from me… I will eat them all!