It's Getting Cold! Brrrrrr...

Friday morning Mackenzie left the house for the school bus and she came back in telling me it was freezing outside and she needed a jacket. I made sure the other 2 kids were in blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt but didn't worry too much about it because it'd be a little chilly then warm up. Wrong! I think the high was 54 on Friday. It was ridiculously cold. It hit all of the sudden without any warning. The weather had already been dreary and nasty this month any way. Through the 15th it rained 13 out of the 15 days. I am so sick of the rain. It also keeps the kids inside and they don't get all of their energy out.

I think in my last post I might have mentioned how my office is being shut down. I have a new job that I start a week from tomorrow, on the 26th. My office will be onsite at the Wells Fargo building but I will be working for the title company who handles all of their title work. I am the liason between the two companies. This company handles all of the title work, subordinations, etc. for the HARP loans (these are loans that the government enacted that there is no qualifying and you can borrower up to 125% of your houses value). Right now there are 20,000 applications in process in the Birmingham office. That is a LOT of loans!

I fly out next Sunday to Los Angeles to the title company's main office for training on their software. I will then fly from there to Minneapolis on Wednesday to sit with the girl at that office who does what I will be doing. I then will fly back home that Friday. I have to admit I'm more excited to go to Minneapolis because I will be able to meet face to face the underwriters I have been working with since June. There are 6 of them up there that work on our loans. I am most excited to meet Scott and Paul. They have always done the best jobs and are easy to get along with.

I will be sad to be leaving the kids for the week but I doubt they'll miss me too much. Jackson was so excited when I told him I was leaving because he can't wait to go to Grandmama's. My poor mom is going to be worn out but I am so thankful and fortunate to have her and my dad to help me. If it wasn't for them I couldn't do this. I am nervous about flying. I hate flying and especially such a long flight to LA but I'm sure the Xanax will help some of the nervousness.

Mackenzie got her first report card of the year and she had 3 A's and 2 B's. I am so proud of her. Her conduct was good and her other social skill areas were all perfect. She is such a smart, caring and just all around wonderful child. She is amazing! This is Jackson's first year in a learning environment and it's only been since the last week of August since he's been in the pre-k program. I was really concerned about him being behind because of this but he has really done a great job. He's learned the Pledge of Alligiance, ABCs and he came home spelling his last name. It was really cute. He recognizes a lot of the letters and can tell you what things or people's names that go with them. I know he's 4 and should already know a lot of this but I am so proud of what he has learned in the past 8 weeks.

Avery isn't reciting her ABC's yet but she is all over the place. Besides her very toothy smile now she is standing up on her own and walking all over the place while holding onto the side of the bed, couch or our hands. Just last week I was on the phone with my dad and looked at her in the bathroom and she flipped the laundry basket over and then started pushing it across the tile as her own personal walker. She'd get to one end of of the bathroom and start pushing to the other side. I thought it was so neat how she just did that on her own. She is still such a good, calm and happy baby. I cannot believe she turns 1 next month. Time has flown by!

The kids and I spent last Saturday with Lee. We all went out to lunch and then went bowling. Lee does not like to bowl but he knew how much the kids wanted to go (oh okay, and me too!) and he obliged. Even he ended up having a good time. It was Jackson's first time bowling and he had a blast. Mackenzie was pretty darn good too. The kids and I all had a great time seeing Lee. He was very clear headed and looked good. He seemed to enjoy them too. He held Avery quite a bit and seemed to really savor the time.

Even though I thought he looked good I still couldn't wonder in the back of my mind if he really looked sober or if I just couldn't tell. For so long I was fooled that I have a hard time knowing the truth. My dad had a meeting out past Lee's restaurant last week and he stopped by there for breakfast. Dad said that Lee looked real good to him and he sat down with him for a bit. He said he really enjoyed talking to Lee. I talked to Lee later and he said that it was good to see my dad. Let's be honest the only people Lee sees are those from work. He has no parents left and to my knowledge hasn't seen his sister. I know my parents aren't his own family but I hope seeing my dad helped him. I just can't imagine not having anyone around me that I was close to.

So that's all that's been happening around here. Things are pretty dull and boring. It's the same routine day in and day out. We're happy and healthy and very blessed. This weekend last year I was in the hospital for the 1st time during the pregnancy. I had been taken by ambulance to Pensacola. It wouldn't be until that Monday at midnight that Lee came to pick me up. I was scared out of my mind. I was 29 weeks pregnant and they had given me the 2 steroid shots to develope Avery's lungs. My Dr. didn't think I was going to make it through the weekend without giving birth. I did though. All of those ups and downs and I have a perfect daughter. God is so good.