All I Want for Christmas is Well Children!

I considered not even blogging about this but then I remembered that one of the reasons I blog is for my kiddos. Instead of scrapbooking, I blog so that one day they can look back and see important things that were going on in our lives. And for Jill this has been a very challenging time to say the least! Months ago this journey began with strep throat and I breathed a sigh of relief because we all know how easy that is to treat and how quickly little ones are on the mend. However, the relief was short lived when two weeks later we were back at the Dr. with another sore throat. This time the strep was negative but her tonsils were a mess, so they called it tonsilitis, gave us meds and sent us home. After a couple of days the fever subsided but only for two days. Then, while still on the antibiotic, the fever returned and Jill's tonsils still looked, well, NASTY! Fortunately, this happened on a weekday, not a Sunday, and we were able to see our pediatrician. She did blood work, strep test, and mono test - diagnosis... mono! Little did I know how TERRIBLE a diagnosis this would be, especially as we were entering the fall/winter months! Since that diagnosis, Jill has had another round of strep, two tummy bugs, walking pneumonia, and today - influenza type B! Poor thing has already missed 7 days of school this nine week period and will miss this entire week! I was so excited when she made it to school everyday last week but that excitement was short lived.

Friday begins Christmas break for us and I am so glad that I will have all my kiddos home with me. As for Jill, her Christmas break began this past Friday as the Dr. doesn't want her back at school before Friday (and I don't want her to go Friday just to pick up another illness!). While they are all home, I hope to get them all well before I have to send them back to that germ-infested place called school in January. I think they each may find Airborn and vitamins in their stockings this year :)!

Wishing you all a germ-free, fever-free, doctor's office free Merry Christmas!!!

Santa!

What an exciting time of the year! We cannot wait for a visit from the big man himself, so while we wait, Luke decided he needed to go visit Santa and let him know what he wanted for Christmas...
"I want a race car and a motorcycle... and Jill wants a pillow pet!" (Poor Eli got left out but we know that he is such a good boy Santa will have no problem choosing some great things for him as well.)

Poor Little Jilly

To those of you who faithfully read my blog (must mean you are family or a really close friend) I am asking for prayers for my sweet little Jilly. You probably know that she was diagnosed with Mono about 6 weeks ago and since that time she has battled strep throat and two terrible tummy bugs. Well, once again she is one sick little girl. This time the diagnosis is walking pneumonia. I know that a lot of people who have WP never feel bad they just cough a lot but for Jill who is already down from the mono, she feels terrible! Please pray for relief for her and sleep as well! Everytime she tries to lie down the coughing just intensifies. She finally fell asleep this morning at 1:30 sitting upright in her bed after two breathing treatments. Hopefully, we will see this happy, feeling good face again very soon!




Thank you all do much in advance for your prayers and I will keep you all posted on her progress!

Thanksgiving and More

I know it has been a while and instead of playing "catch up" I am just going to start with the most current events in the Alexander household. For Thanksgiving at Jill's school we enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast prepared by the kiddos themselves. We made fried Navajo bread, cranberry relish, apple fritters, and homemade butter - so yummy! All the children made Native American themed t-shirts and wore cute little head dresses with their given Indian name. Jill's name was very fitting - Dancing Butterfly! She was very proud of her name!

Mrs. Conn and all her little ones - We LOVE Mrs. Conn!!!

Luke had his first Thanksgiving program at Mom Day Out and he was such a cute little pilgrim! He did so good on stage and I must admit I was a little nervous because this little boy loves the spotlight. I was afraid he may use the stage to get a few laughs but he did perfect!

On Thanksgiving Day we celebrated at the Nanny & PaPaw's house in Childersburg. As usual, we ate entirely too much but it is all soooo yummy, it is hard to resist!

Aunt Leesa and Uncle Aaron on their first married Thanksgiving.

The Man - PaPaw!

Trying to clean up and divide ALL the leftovers! Even as much as we ate there was still food left over! I don't know how that is possible!

After our Thanksgiving feast we headed home where we meet Donna and her family. They spent the night with us so that Donna and I could hit the stores at 4am for some Black Friday madness! We made it back home by 7am and then Jamie and I were on the road by 8am headed to Orange Beach for me to run my first half-marathon. This has been a dream of mine for so long and I can't even express the emotions I experienced! It was pure joy to see a dream become a reality!

I had the most amazing friend and running partner to run with. Angela Laughlin, who until two years ago cared nothing for running, agreed to train with me and run with me! I could NOT have done it without her! She encouraged, motivated, suffered, and hung in there with me for the past three months while we trained and on race day we completed 13.1 miles together!!!! Angela, you will NEVER know how much you mean to me - Thank you just doesn't seem like enough!

Here I am at mile 6 - Jamie and Angela's husband Brian, were at this point on the course to offer words of encouragement and snap a few pictures. It was so good to see them standing there!!!

And the finish - there were tears of JOY for a dream realized!

My sweet kiddos had a card for me and a 13.1 decal for my Suburban at the end of the run. I have to say thank you also to my sweet sister Donna and her family for keeping my three munchkins while Jamie and I were at Orange Beach. They had a blast!

And now to this man...thank you! Thank you for allowing me to train the countless hours necessary to prepare for this run! Thank you for taking me the five hours to the race and back. Thank you for cheering for me, for encouraging me, for supporting me, for being there when I crossed the finish line with a smile on your face! I love you more than words could ever express and am so thankful that God brought you into my life Decemeber 2, 1994! Thank you, Jamie for being the most amazingly wonderful husband on the planet!!!

It's Been Awhile...

So, it has been awhile since I last posted. We stay so busy and honestly I just let myself get behind. This will be a quick post with a few pictures that should catch everyone up on our crazy busy life! On September 1 Luke started preschool and he was so excited. Everyday last year when we would drop Jill off he would ask if he could stay. Of course the answer everyday would be "no" and he didn't like that. So this year, on his first day he walked in telling everyone, "I get to stay today!"

Greeting Mrs. Angela with a "five"

One of Luke's teachers, Mrs. Tonya
Luke went right to work!

Mrs. Lisa - Luke's second teacher

Here he is ready to go!

We are ready for fall here and had a cool couple of nights here in Chelsea so we had the opportunity to make our cool weather favorite - SMORES!

I think it had been a little too long and Luke had forgotten how to eat a smore but he enjoyed them anyway! We had to bathe him off before he could come in and get his real bath! Gotta love that kid!!!

Jill unfortunately was sick and so she is bundled up like it was 30 degrees rather than 55. I took her temp when we got in and it was 102. I knew it had gone up when she asked to go to bed!

Eli and his smore - he can make a mean smore!

Now last but not least - Luke has been playing indoor soccer however it is instructional soccer and Luke realized that he wasn't really playing a game. So Birmingham United Soccer has U4 Sunday soccer and we signed Luke up to play. He was so excited to get to play a "real" game and boy did he play! Most of the kiddos know absolutely nothing about soccer however Luke has an advantage in that he has been watching big brother play practically since he was born. The other kids would full on tackle so Luke would then get the ball, dribble down the field and score. The other kids apparently didn't know the rule that you do not touch a soccer ball with your hands so Luke was kind enough to keep informing them! He is going to be a force to be reckoned with!

Some Firsts....

We've had lots of "firsts" recently in the Alexander household...first day of kindergarten for Jill, first day of middle school for Eli, and first day of soccer with Coach Rob for Luke! Such an exciting time for us!!!

Jill looks so grown-up and I can hardly believe she is already in "big" school.
Eli started middle school this year and here in Chelsea middle school begins in the 6th grade. He has several "firsts" this year, changing classes & having a locker - just to name a couple. He has adjusted very well and that was a great relief for his Mom!

Chelsea Park Elementary where Jill is in kindergarten. Sorry, no picture of the middle school, that just wouldn't be cool to have your Mom out in front of the school snapping pictures!

Jill with Mrs. Conn, her teacher! I know she has no idea how much we have prayed and continue to pray for her as she teaches our little princess!

And now for Luke! He has been asking to play soccer since he could talk and finally for his third birthday, we signed him up for soccer with Coach Rob. It is an instructional soccer program called Turf Tykes for 3 & 4 year olds. Next year I am sure he will be on the real soccer field showing all the U6 players how it is done!

He could do this ALL day, EVERY day and never get tired of it!!!

Eli's goal is for he and Luke to play in the World Cup together one day. Watch for them!

Luke's Third Birthday - Ahoy, Mateys

The littlest member of the Alexander Crew turned three on August 2nd and we celebrated like a bunch of pirates! Leading our crew was the fearless Captain Chaos - also known as Luke!

We enjoyed some yummy pirate ship cake...

Watermelon and grape cannon balls & pirate swords with dip.
We left our loot on the deck of the ship.
And hoped that our loot was acceptable so that we didn't have to walk the...Plank.

We dug for treasure

with our pirate friends...

and found lots of loot to take home!

A great time was had by all and Captain Chaos was one happy birthday boy!

He even gave us a thumbs-up!

Thank you to all our friends and family who came to help us celebrate Luke's special day! It is hard to believe he is three already and preschool is just around the corner! We love you Luke - to infinity and beyond!