well hey....this keyboard is dirty. and other {more sentimental} sentiments.

Seriously, I've gotta be one of the worst bloggers EVER! But, in all honesty, I've said all I need to say over the last several weeks, and it is just now that I have anything else I'm wanting to get written down.



First some updates and what we're up to, etc. (forgive me if any of this is repeat information, I don't always remember what I share where, socially speaking).

Christmas:  We had a good Christmas; we spent some time at home, some time with family, and some time doing things as a  family-- volunteering at the City Rescue Mission (we will be doing this 2-4 times each month from here on out, as we are able), visiting the OKC Museum of Art, eating downtown at Coney Island, watching movies together at home....we had a good break.  We were all surprised (well, maybe not BDawg...okay, definitely not him, but the other 3 of us were) when this was in our living room Christmas morning:

 

Sawyer deemed his name "Thunder," so that is what we're calling him.  Isn't he the cutest???

Here we are on Christmas morning:

  

Okay. so there's that. 

BDawg just started back to work today, so that means S and I started up some new Kindergarten learnin'.  Today was slow-goin, because of a couple of things-- well, actually 3.  1) It was the first day back...so naturally, it took 12 times longer to do everything. 2) we have a dog that needs tending to, now...because we want him to think he's a person, not a dog, so we try to include him in a lot of things....so today, he mastered writing his name, complete with correct pencil position.  I know, you're impressed.  3)  Ridge is just getting over some sickies. 

Let's just segue from 3 to here, stating the already stated obvious.  Ridge.got.sick.   Now, I'm still going to be the best defensive player ever in that arena, because I don't want him to ever get sick.  BUT, ladies and germs, you need to hear this-- The boy got sick. Sawyer had some sort of sore throat with low grade fever the other day. Fearing strep like I fear alien invasion (or not), he was promptly taken to the after hours clinic, where strep was DENIED, but abx were prescribed anyway, just to be safe, because his ears were red.  So he was better, like, within less than a day--in fact, he told me he got better because he ate some TGIFridays loaded potato skins chips or something.  Good job, kid.  So that was last Thursday.  I didn't think we had anything to worry about when no one else had the sore throat demon Friday...or Saturday....or Sunday....or Monday.  But lo and behold, on Tuesday, Ridge had fever.  Like...102.  Which meant, a year ago, we had to pack our junk and hit the road to Children's Hospital, "just in case" his line was infected.  No line=no rush trips to the hossy (hospital).  Sooooo...we had to decide what to do. He probably didn't need abx, since they didn't really apply to Sawyer's sore throat anyway.  So we decided-- tylenol, and wait.  So we did.  And today?  My normal ridge was back! no fever or anything (good thing we went and spent $50 on new thermometers last night).  Best news: he didn't bleed AT ALL from being sick/the fever/etc!  Seriously!  If we make it through January with no more hospital, then we've made it a YEAR without being there for anything other than checkups/removal of his line!  We have gone with no transfusions for six months.  Really...let's do a cartwheel.  I'll sit here and wait for you, because I don't know how to do one.

Okay. so there are some updates.  Here's what Christmas and the New Year are bringing to me...
1) Reading. Lots of it.  I've read Heaven is For Real, The Hunger Games (book 1 only, so far), and most of The Glass Castle in the past 2 weeks.  Part of that is due to the cool Kindle Touch my parents gifted me for Christmas.  My largest reading feat is a Bible Reading plan-- read the Bible in 90 days (interested? Check out Youversion.com).  I'm totally stoked about this, and I'm only 4 days in, but I haven't missed a day yet.  I know when I get to all the law and genealogies, it's gonna be brutal...but that isn't THAT much of the Bible.  I just finished Genesis...and it was neat to read such big chunks at a time to really feel for the stories  more than previously-- to be honest, I've never intentionally read the entire Bible-- I may have read most of it in passing over the past 30 years (oh yeah, I turned 30 a couple of weeks ago.  yep. here i am, all wrinkly and old).  So anyway, check it:
Joseph takes his sons to Jacob's bedside at Jacob's deathbed....and Jacob, their grandfather, who hasn't really ever even met them because Joseph's been in Egypt ruling stuff...places his hands on the foreheads of the young men (Joseph's sons) and says: "May the God before whom my fathers  Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd  all my life to this day,
 the Angel who has delivered me from all harm    —may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name  and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.”

Love.It.  Super old man Jacob and young men Ephraim and Manasseh...and that blessing-- that God, who has been Jacob's shepherd all of his life....may that God bless those boys.

That's a good blessing from a grandpa. 

2)Running.  no, I'm not kidding-- so those of you who KNOW me, can pick your jaw up off the floor, or stifle your laughter, which is totally warranted, bc I look like a fool, I promise.  I'm hitting the pavement 3x a week training (along with some other friends in other states! get it, girls!) for a half marathon due in Dallas in October.  While it'd be expected for me to say it's because I want to get fit or lose weight or whatever, that wasn't my motivation- if it were, I'd have done this well before 2012, people.  Here's what's extra awesome about this race-- it benefits World Vision (you know, the organization we bought the goats and ducks through at Christmas time)-- the money raised for the marathon benefits building clean water wells in Africa.  Now, that's totally something worth running for!  I'm horrible so far, but I've managed almost 5 miles this week, which is a big ol deal for this lazy bones.  More to come about this in the future. 

3) cleaner floors. partly because we have a puppy.  partly because dirty floors drive me insane. but mostly because for my birthday, my momma gave me this sucker-- which disinfects your floors using only steam.  I bet I use it at least 4 times a week.  It.Is.Awesome.

And...that's about all we have to update over here.  Here's to hoping I'm sitting at this filthy keyboard (which I'm about to clean) more this year-- at least in the bloggy sense!