Christmas Pogue-Style

Jack Margaret Pogue, my sweet grandparents =).

I have a large family. My dad is the oldest of six kids which means I grew up with lots of lots of cousins. Growing up, we spent most of our weekend holidays at Nolin lake with the family, and our Thanksgiving and Christmas in Louisville. Our family is expanding by leaps and bounds YEARLY. Most of my cousins are married, and lots of them have children. Each year it gets harder and harder to get together.

This is just a handful of my cousins.

-----

About two years ago, the towel was thrown in all together~my grandparents have a place in Florida and had decided to spend the holidays there. I certainly didn't want Christmas to pass and not have a chance to see my beloved Pogues. A few of us put our heads together and decided to meet in Elizabethtown for Christmas. We celebrated in early December at Ryan's Steakhouse in E-town. From there, we decided to start rotating Christmas get togethers each year between the aunts and uncles.

(L-R); dad Lindle, Jackie, Linda, Beverly and David. When I was a junior at WKU, my uncle Mark passed away after battling a rare form of cancer =(. He was the "life of the party" kind of guy. I was fortunate enough to be in Louisville the summer prior to his passing. I had an internship with the Courier Journal and was able to spend lots of time with him and his family. We still miss him lots!!!

I love the fact that we still try to get together (even if it's early in December). My family is SO GOOD to my kids and always get them so many nice gifts. I mean REALLY, the more people who can love on your children, the better, right. Kids need lots and lots of LOVE. This year my Uncle Dave dressed up as Santa and delivered presents to all the children. Their little faces just LIT up when he arrived. It was such a nice party.

----------

Prior to our Christmas-ing with the Pogues, we had our first Sparks game at Cumberland Trace on Saturday. I have to admit I was nervous about coaching =). We've never practiced/played full court -or- with opposing team members. We only have 6 girls so defense is a little hard to teach. BUT, it all went fine, and the girls had a good time, which is the MOST important thing in my playbook.

Miles ran out onto the court TWICE to get to me. I had to quickly swoop him up so he didn't get trampled and run up and down the sidelines with a toddler in my arms. He also had to wear his Kentucky jersey so he could be like his big sister.

Me and my basketball player #4.

A one, a two, a one, two, three, four

Happy Grand kids day to you

Happy Meme Day to you

Happy Birthday dear Nana

Happy Birthday to Matt too.

Here's how most of our November was spent. No wonder I've gained about 10 pounds this month.

Tis the Season

Why can't I simply learn to keep my mouth shut? Karson truly got her need for constant chitter chatter and back-talking from me. After our bout with the infamous stomach bugs last winter, I was determined this winter to keep our kids as healthy as possible. Our house stays clean, we Germ-X and wash hands, keep towels, sheets and blankets laundered, and have been loading the kids up with lots of vitamins. What does this have to do with my big mouth? Well, I was telling a friend at church Wednesday night that our kids have been spared thusfar from the winter sickness besides the nagging coughs and general croupiness (is that even a word?) that changing weather always brings. I also told her that I probably just cursed myself and WHAMMO, I did. Miles came down with Pink Eye on Friday morning. I posted this video of him applying his doctor skills. Dr. Pink Eye was informed by our pediatrician Dr. Chris that he missed his 2 year and 3 year check ups. Come on (warning: here comes my smart mouth), am I really going to bring a WELL CHILD in during the height flu season for a check up. Give me a break! I know he's been to the doctor since he was 2 because of all his breathing issues. Dr. Chris proceeded to tell me that Miles missed a follow-up booster (one of those gazillion shots they give children--seriously, who can keep track of all those). And, here's my dilemma, this booster is one that Isaac received--not Karson--and doesn't even go on their school immunization record. They get a ton of shots at age 4 prior to entering school, why on earth do they need one at age 3 (AND one that isn't even needed for school)??? I went ahead and made the appointment begrudgingly. It will be a rough day on December 2 for me and Dr. Pink Eye =(. For now, enjoy the video =).

Keeping Up With the Deaton'dashians

Oh my, it's been a while since a post. I thought I needed to get something on here but have no idea where to start??? November has been busy thusfar:

(1) I'm officially coaching Karson's basketball team the Sparks. We are composed of a whopping six girls and playing division I (which is 6 & 7 year olds). I had the opportunity to attend a coaching seminar featuring the Lady Toppers. Besides the team and Coach Cowles, I was the ONLY female at the coaches meeting =). The Tops were running all kinds of "plays", "defenses", and "fastbreaks" that you can run with your team(s). I was thinking to myself....hummmm, I doubt most of mine even know how to tie their shoes, much less set a screen, pick and roll, while cutting down the lane to the basket???? We'll be doing good to shoot on our assigned goal and not need a water break every five minutes. We had our first practice on Friday. The girls were so excited and did so well. I would have pictures to post on here, but being the coach and all, I can't multi-task that well =). Maybe Matt can snap some soon???

(2) Like October, November is full of birthdays in our family. My mom just celebrated hers on Friday, the 13th, Debbie, my mother-in-law will celebrate hers on Thanksgiving Day (the 26th), and Matt will celebrate at the end of the month on the 30th.

Karson and company at Ansley Vernon's fairy party this month. Karson was super psyched about applying her own make-up. She even attempted mascara alone causing her to have an ultra RED eye the next morning =).

(3) Karson finished up with her Super Saturday classes at WKU. She had a performance showcasing all the things she had learned this past Saturday. Her class was called "Molding Magic With Monsters" based on the book "Where the Wild Things Are?" She could HARDLY wait until her performance and got up at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, got her clothes on and was asking me at 7:15--"Mom, when are we leaving for my play?" (her play didn't start until 11:20).

Karson's cheering squad.

We are the SKY monsters, we are, we are!!!

After Karson's performance, we took advanage of the beautiful scenery on Western's campus and attempted some family pictures. (My blogger header is one of them).

(4) My cousin Jennifer got married at the beginning on the month to Andy Clark. It's always fun getting together with my family in Louisville. Speaking of weddings, I'm happy to report that I'm gaining a new sister-in-law. Matt's brother Andrew got engaged to MacKenzie White this month. They are planning a September wedding next year.

Andrew and MacKenzie

(5) Lastest obsession: I'm completely addicted to eBay lately. I've found the best deals on there for children's clothes and my new favorite Matilda Jane WOMEN's LINE.

Halloween High Part DEUX

Breakfast this morning consisted of a sausage link and a Hershey bar.

This is definitely a breakfast of Halloween Champions!

MayKayla, Karson and Kaylee at the "Fall" Party at Plano.

Karson has finally made some GIRLfriends this year. I'm sure she had a few last year too, but she seemed more interested in playing with the boys. One day last year, I was walking with Miles and noticed her class out on the playground. I decided to swing on over for a visit. Karson was playing imaginary baseball with a group of boys. Her playdates last year included Logan, Nathan and Jameson (and she was invited to their mostly boy birthday parties). So, I was super excited this year when Karson came home and told me all about Kaylee and MayKayla. We were able to spend some time with MayKayla last Monday when the kids were out of school. We're hoping to get together with Kaylee soon. I could certainly use a little CALM around the house with some more little girl playmates =)!!!

Karson has become close to at least one boy this year. His name is Dakota. Ms. Kolzow told me that the two of them are close and work really well together. I have NO idea who the other two boys are, but the one in the glasses was really wanting me to take his picture. He said, "we need a picture of the two Spidermans."

Karson and Cody playing the Mummy game. And, Karson carefully stringing all her candy necklace beads. Looking forward to some Halloween fun this afternoon!!!

--------------

The is TOTALLY off-the-subject, but I must blog about it. I had one of those unexpected laundry moments last night. UGH. Occasionally, the kids will leave stickers on their shirts or have something in their pockets but rarely is it a big deal to clean up. Last night, we went to the 10 K Pasta Party where I purchased TWO BRIGHT ORANGE meal tickets. I unfortunately left them in my jean pockets while washing my white load last night. My oh my, the orange dye was EVERYWHERE mainly targeting some of Karson's shirts and attacking my jeans. It was AWFUL. I've Oxi-cleaned, lemon juiced, Shouted, baking soda-ed and nothing seemed to work to well. This morning, I decided to do bleach on the pure white items and had success. However, it's the non-solid-white items that I'm stumped with??? How do you get dye out of blue jeans, cream shirts and patterned white shirts??? Laundry woes =(.

Halloween High

The sugary filled fun has officially begun. The kids were out of school on Monday. I tried to come up with some "projects" for our time together. I decided to make my famous roll-out iced cookies. These cookies take two days to prepare (mainly because the dough has to be good and cold). I whipped up the dough on Sunday. Monday morning, I was Betty Crocker--flour everywhere, cookie cutters, rolling pin, and COLD dough. The kids were more excited about ICING the cookies than eating them. I mean, REALLY, why do we even need the cookie =).

Later that afternoon, we decided to carve our pumpkins. I bought one of those booklets that came with a seed scooper, mini saw, spooky eyes, patterns and a crayon. Our pumpkins were a bit to small for the faces to look good, but we sure had fun carving them!

Wednesday night our church hosted its 1st Trunk or Treat. Church families are just the best, aren't they! I especially love Community--sure, you're thinking, well, you should, your husband is the minister there. And, that's true. BUT, the main thing I love about our body is the things we do for the people in that area of town. Our church is located in the heart of some of the poorest areas in Bowling Green and with that comes some REAL unfortunate children. I love that we have things for the kids like our block party, movie nights, and now a trunk or treat. We also try to financially help a lot of people in that area with their bills, providing them with Thanksgiving meals and Christmas goodies. I know lots of churches do those sorts of things, but we tend to draw a lot of that type of crowd mainly because of our location. It was nice seeing all those children come and participate last night--who knows, it may be the safest place for them to trick or treat.

All of our church trick or treaters, and Ms. Windy our wonderful leader!!!

The ol' Deaton Spooky Tattoo Shop.

And, a picture of our sweet family!!! Happy Halloween!!!

My Girl is 7!

I don't know who gets more excited about my children's birthdays, them or me? Birthdays are the most SPECIAL days when you're a kid (and a Mommy). More than anything, I want my children to know how special they are and how happy we are celebrating their life. I asked Karson what she'd like to do for her birthday this year. I'd suggested taking her to OpryMills and going to the Rainforest Cafe. She told me, "Nah, I want to go to Imagination Station." When I mentioned to her that we could do GloGolf, see an IMAX movie, venture into the Aquarium and or go to Build-A-Bear, she immediately squealed with joy and chanted, "Build-A-Bear!"

I was all over town today--teaching at EEP this morning, picking up donuts at Great American afterwards, grabbing a few gallons of milk at Kroger, picking up the boys at Meme's, filling up my gas tank, dropping the boys off at Emmie Lou's to play, racing home to get a shower, speeding over to the school, balancing all my birthday goodies in my arms and walking into an anxious 1st grade classroom at 2:40. Let me just offer this advice up (from a teacher's perspective), if you're going to bring in birthday goodies--especially if those goodies have to be store bought--don't waste your money on those bright, neon cupcakes. The kids WILL NOT, I repeat, WILL NOT eat them. Sure, they may lick some of the icing off; but, rarely, do I have a kid at EEP that will actually eat the entire cupcake. Bring in something like cookies, a cookie cake, snack cakes, brownies, donuts or something of that nature. You can guarantee all the kids will eat them.

All the kids sang to Karson and many of them made her the cutest pictures and wrote Happy Birthday on cards. It's sweet how much kids enjoy celebrating with their friends on special occasions.

Since it was a school night, we had to leave immediately after school. Shannon and Elizabeth joined in our fun tonight (I bought the girls matching BFF shirts in Destin so they could wear them). My mom also came for some girly-time fun!

Karson, being the planner and all, had already got online and chose her animal. I was happy that she chose the Autumn Bear. It's the cutest and will look superb with our fall decor (especially when she gets older and doesn't like it anymore).

Stuffing and fluffing the bear, kissing the heart and making a wish. I would've LOVED this place at her age and secretly love it now. Anyone want to go there with me on my bday?

Elizabeth chose the Spooky Kitty which was purple and super cute for the fall too.

The girls bathing their freshly stuffed animals. They were serious about getting them clean =)!
Selecting the perfect outfit is tough at BAB. There are many to choose from. Karson chose pink flip flops, a Hello Kitty tank, and corduroy skirt for her bear. Elizabeth chose a princess outfit complete with sparkly gold headband for her kitty. Meme purchased costumes for the girls' animals. AND, the animals, of course, needed matching cell phones to call each other on.

We finished out the evening at Rainforest Cafe. I love this place (minus the food). I have actually been to a real rain forest in Costa Rica but don't remember it being quite as cool as the one at Opry Mills. And, no trip to the mall would be complete without a visit to Claire's Boutique. Meme bought Karson a bag full of Claire's goodies for her birthday. Karson's room is like a mini-Claire's. According to Karson, it was the best day ever. Those words sure do make me happy when the birthday is over. Life sure is grand and so is BAB!!!