I've been Tagged, have you?

I guess I have been tagged! The lovely Brea has tagged me. Of course all this blogging stuff is new to me and I had to double check that I was doing the right thing BUT turns out being tagged is SIMPLE, lol.

Of course there are rules, and one is to tell 7 random/weird facts about myself. hmmmm, not sure I wanna share but here goes!

1. My first name is not Morissa. Some of my close friends do not even realize this sometimes, even my dad, yes my own dad, forgets sometimes. When I was in the hospital having Jace he called there looking for Morissa Davis. Both wrong names according to my drivers license.

2. I do not like when my food touches my other food. I freak out and sometimes remake my plate. Call me a freak if you will but I do not like the juices from my food to touch my other food. Slotted spoons are my friend, draining is the key to my sanity.

3. Mary Poppins is my all time favorite movie. I know what you are thinking, I am far from Mary Poppins, one can dream right.

4. I despise snow. This may not come as a big suprise to some of you. I make this very well known at every chance I get. I hate it.

5. Sometimes I think my weirdness is normal, therefore making this list very hard! Admiting that things that I do are weird is not all that easy. I bet if I asked my husband he could come up with a million and one quirky, weird, strange things about me.

6. I am obsessed with cleaning my ears. I bet I have the cleanist ears in the world. Wax free is the way to be.

7. I am obsessed with reality television. It took me a while to start watching but once I did, I was hooked. I think I have about 25 shows that I watch that are all reality (or claim to be).

According to these rules I must tag some bloggers too. I would have tagged the required 7, however I have to get some work done and must neglect the rules.

1. Angie from GoGoGadgetLegs
2. Tasha from Simply Me who made my lovely banner by the way.
3.Cassie from Wasem Family
4

I did not feel like mopping......

.....so I ripped up the kitchen floor.





Okay so mopping was only part of it. The floor was terrible. I am not sure if the builders put it in or the previous owners, whoever did it should be ashamed. The flooring was a solid sheet of linoleum. It was basically just laid down on the floor and then glued in ONE spot. All the edges were curling up and all kinds of nastiness were collecting under there. There was a 16 inch rip near the pantry door that I tripped over every day. Oh and did I mention it was WHITE with BROWN speckles in it (that resembled dirt). I got tired of it- so I ripped it up. After the holidays we will be able to put in the kind of floor that we want, until then.... plywood and splinters it is.

Some days are better than others.

For a while now we have know that there is something going on with Jace. He is not talking well at all for his age. Yes I know he is a boy and a second child but all sterotypes aside, I knew there was something going on. There are things going on that you can only understand if you are here with him on a daily basis and interact with him the way we, as his parents, do. The boy can't talk. He can not express what he wants to us and he is getting really frustrated, as are we.

After talking with my Parents As Teachers educator we decided to take Jace in for a hearing test today.

He failed in both ears.

Our next step is to go to the audiologist and have further testing. They will determine if he needs to see an ENT. The ENT will then determine if he needs tubes (due to fluid back up).

I was so sure that this was not the issue. He understands things that I tell him to do. I know he can hear. The nurse explained it to me this way though--he CAN hear. It is how he hears that may be the issue. If there is fluid surrounding his ear drum then he may hear me like I would hear if I were underwater. If this is the case, this may be how he has always heard. Children are so adaptable at this age and he could just be adapting to the sounds, body language and lip movements of people.

He may have always heard his name said as jaw-ce instead of Jace. He may think this is how his name is pronounced. Same with all the other words.

I am glad that we have some answers and are moving forward with further testing. It can get pretty tense around here when I can not figure out what Jace wants or needs. Maybe there is an end in sight and there will be more good days to come.

Christmas

It seems like every year I get a little less excited about Christmas. I am less excited about decorating, cleaning the pine needles up, spending gobs of money on gifts, schlepping the kids all over town for events, and cooking all those elaborate meals.
Every year it seems like everyone else is getting super excited about Christmas and here I am acting like Ebenezer Scrooge. Then I realize- it is not Christmas yet, Thanksgiving is not even here yet, there is still hope.

I thought I would share some ghosts of our Christmas pasts with you.....

This is Christmas 2004-


This is the first time shopping for our own Christmas Tree December 2005. I was sick as a dog and we had Nylin's birthday party the next day. I insisted that the tree but up and decorated for her party. I think I puked right after this picture was taken.



Here it is all decorated!



Here is my awesome Stocking, don't be jealous!



Nylin as Mrs. Claus in 2006




The loot in 2007 (this is the year my Aunt Donna and Uncle Allen came up so this is not all for Nylin!)



Nylin with our cousin Ciera,



Christmas 2007






Ok now I have a little Christmas spirit.

Parties make you older.

Here is my conversation with Nylin this morning:

Nylin: Mommy, you know my birthday is coming up right?

Me: Of course Nylin. Remember I asked where you want to have your party?

Nylin: Oh yeah. Well I sure have been thinking about this and I think you need to give invitations out this weekend so we can have the party.

Me: Well I have not even made them yet. I will make them next week and you can hand them out in another week or two. Your party is not for another 5 weeks.

Nylin: Can we make it next weekend? Are we busy? I really need to have my party soon so I can be 5. My friends are all having parties and turning 5. I want to be 5. Please lets move my party so I can be 5.

I guess having your birthday party makes you older :)

Attention Money Savers.....

You can get a free photo book from Snapfish, a $30 value!!!

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081029_tows_messyhouse/7

You have to enter the code by Friday and order the book by Sunday, so get busy!
These make AWESOME Christmas gifts.

Election Day

Nylin and I went to cast our vote around 8:45 this morning. We were in and out within 20 minutes. It actually paid to be at the end of the alphabet this time! The lines for the beginning of the alphabet were much longer.

I am proud of myself for voting AND Circle K rewarded me with a free coffee. I hear that Starbucks with give you a free coffee, Ben and Jerry's will give you a free scoop and Krispy Kreme with give you a free doughnut. Even if I did not plan on voting and I knew all this, I would go vote :)

Tonight should be interesting. I wonder what time I will make it to bed???? I always stay up and watch election day coverage. I have turned my TV off for the time being but I am sure my will power won't last long!!!

Did you get out and vote yet?? Are you taking anyone up on the free offers of coffee, ice cream and doughnuts today? Do you know of any other free items given out for voting?

Halloween

My camera broke on Friday so I do not have many pictures this year.
Nylin was a Spooky Witch for Trick or Treating but was The Wicked Witch of the West for Butch and Donna's Halloween Party. The theme this year was 50 Years of Movies.

As a Spooky Witch


The Wicked Witch of the West (makeup was half gone by this point)



Jace went as a Spider (when he left the costume on!)





And last but not least--Ms. Kara was a Bumble Bee
If you look closely at pic 2 you can see her "antennas" (and maybe even a booger)





And of course, Mommy as Daphne (from Scooby Doo) I wish this was a full body shot--I had on the coolest boots EVER!)



and finally---the Sleeping Witch, she was WORE OUT!




All in all we had a wonderful time this weekend! It was very busy and very tiring, we are all recovering today.

If I do not log back on here today--remember that tomorrow is election day. Get out and vote! This country is in serious need of citizen participation and remember, if you don't vote, you can't bitch ;)