I guess I am a little behind on my updates! Christmas has always been my most favorite time of the year but boy am I glad it is over. This year seemed much busier than years past. Here is a condensed recap of the past two weeks...Kylie had pneumonia as well as croupe and was down and out for a couple days. After a strong dose of some antibiotics she was doing much better and is now healthy. She had a wonderful Christmas and Santa was very good to her. She has enjoyed her time off with her daddy and sister as well as being able to play with her friend Juan next door. I have to tell you that we have the best neighbors in the world! They treat Kylie like one of their own and include her in almost everything. Makenzie is doing well and despite a small sinus infection that chose to come out her eyes (GROSS!!!) she has been healthy and was able to fight it off without having to go to the doctor. She is having to go back to the dermatologist tomorrow because her eczema is rareing it's ugly head again and this time with a vengance. Hopefully we can get something that will finally kick this stuff for a while. Santa was also very good to her even though the whole concept is still a little too hard to understand at her age. Rian and I had a wonderful Christmas as well and even though Santa does not visit us anymore we got some wonderful much appreciated things. I finally got a new camera so I will have new pictures up soon. I am just trying to find the best possible way for you guys to see them without having to put them all on here. We are looking forward to New Year's Eve and celebrating with friends that we have not seen in a long time. This time of year has kept us closer to home and busy with family functions! We are very glad to hear that Uncle Tom is doing better and hoefully on the right road to a full recovery! We are taking Richard to get two wisdom teeth taken out on Friday. He seems to think he will be back to work on Saturday night...If any of you have had this done I think that you will agree with me that that will probably not happen. I think I was down for at least 3 days although I may have just been being a baby and I had all 4 taken out! I hope that everyone had a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas and have a Very Safe and Prosperous New Year. I will post pictures soon or atleast instructions and I promise I won't go so long without an update!


"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man." - Benjamin Franklin

One week from this evening Santa Claus will be on his way!!! Things have been going well in the Ferrero household. Everyone is staying well and happy! This past weekend Rian and KJ went back up to Grandma and Grandpa's to finish up the basement before they went back south so me and the girls went to my parents house for dinner. My cousin Paul is back from China (he has lived there for the past 2 years! He is now married and has a brand new beautiful baby girl!) so it was nice to see him again. We sure have missed him. Kylie was 4 when he left and she took to him like he had never left. Kenzie also fell in love instantly. Saturday we picked up my cousin's son Ian for the night so that his parents could have a night to do what they wanted before their new baby comes in January. My cousin's husband is a police officer so he has to work a lot of Saturdays. Ian and Kylie had a blast and I have to say that he is the most well behaved 3 year old little boy that I have ever met in my life! I would have a third and hope it was a boy if I knew he would turn out like him! Rian got home late Saturday afternoon! Kylie and Ian made a pallet in the living room and ate ice cream and watched Horton Hear's a Who Saturday evening. They ended up sleeping out there all night. Sunday we met my cousin and sadly had to give Ian back. We had our usual Sunday night dinner at my parents house and headed home to get ready for the week ahead! This week is Kylie's last week at school before the Christmas break and I know she is looking forward to 2 weeks off of school. Tomorrow is her school party and I have volunteered to go help with craft stations! That should definitely be interesting! Then on Friday she gets to wear her PJs to school which is always fun for her. We found some new Camp Rock pajamas on sale at Target and she can't wait to wear them to school. I have almost finished my Christmas shopping, just a couple more last minute things and I will be done. Nothing like waiting till the last minute! That's me....always the procrastinator (sp?)! Hope everyone is well and finding joy in this Christmas season!


"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit, what a ride!" - Mavis Leyrer

Wow....

Wow is all I can say. It is 7:25pm and both of my girls are fed and asleep in bed. Even Kylie (I will explain why in a minute)! This is a new world record.
Now to our weekend...We had a wonderful time in the mountains with Grandma and Grandpa. We headed up Saturday morning and got there early afternoon. We spent the day hanging out and catching up. The guys watched Florida win the SEC championship (which Don and Arliss were happy about even though I just can't bring myself to root for Florida!!!!) and we had Pasta Fazool for dinner. Afterwards we opened presents and put the babies to bed. The guys watched some more football and the girls chatted down stairs. It was amazingly windy and I don't think I have ever been so cold in my life. It made me really envy Ally for not smoking anymore! The next morning we had breakfast and the guys went to work finishing the basement. Ally and I packed up and headed home leaving the guys to help get the basement ready before Grandma and Grandpa left for Florida next weekend. (It's getting too cold for them as well and I completely understand) We had a wonderful time and I love watching Kylie & Makenzie with them and how much they truly love them. Grandma loves playing games with Kylie and Kylie was even able to repeat a lot of Grandma's alphabet game for her Nana & Papa Sunday evening when we got home. Sunday we met Ally's parents and had lunch at Waffle House and headed home after picking up their dogs. We went to my parent's for our usual Sunday dinner. I have to say I was one worn out mommy when we got home Sunday evening! Monday morning I took Kylie to school and took Makenzie to my mom's since Rian was still in the mountains. Jessica is off work (after graduation) until January and my mom happened to have the day off, so it worked out wonderfully! I got off early to pick Kylie up from school and went to pick up Makenzie. They both had baths and dinner by 6:00 and Kylie was asleep by 7:00, Makenzie at 7:15pm! Now to the reason that Kylie was in bed so early....Saturday at Grandma's house I was downstairs with Grandma, Kenzie, Ally, and Aubry. Out of nowhere I heard one of those screams where you know it was not just a bump on the head or a fall but a truly painful terrifying scream! I ran upstairs to see Rian holding Kylie still in a panic state. I grabbed her from Rian as he followed me in to the bedroom. I asked her over and over again what was wrong? What happened? She just kept saying her hand! She was flinging it around so I could not see anything and knew I did not see any blood. I asked her what she touched and she finally was able to tell me the window. Seeing an outlet below I thought maybe she had touched that and somehow electrocuted herself. Rian went to inspect the window and there it was. A wasp! Apparently when I went to put Kenzie down for a nap and closed the blinds I had disturbed the wasp trying to escape the cold outside. He flew down and was resting on the string that you use to raise the blinds. Kylie tried to raise them without paying attention and grabbed the wasp on the string. We put tobacco (I knew smoking was good for something) on it and then Grandma taped a penny on it. I gave her some tylenol and things seemed to be better. She was fine on Sunday minus the little pain and itching it was causing. 1:30AM Monday morning Kylie wakes me up in tears saying her hand is itching and hurting. I gave her some Tylenol and put some anti-itch on it and put her in bed with me. Monday morning she woke up with a sausage thumb and a softball palm. It didn't seem to be bothering her as bad so I sent her to school telling her to call me if she could not make it through the day. ( This was her right hand so I was worried about writing and she even had trouble pulling up her pants). I never received the call. When I went to pick her up the swelling had reduced tremendously but the itching was worse and a strange red rash had started to creep down her arm. We headed to CVS (pharmacy) and had the pharmacist look at it. She determined that the stinger was still in her hand causing the "infection" look and we bought some Benadryl to help with the itching. Thus the reason she was asleep at 7:00! We are to watch her hand and watch for fever to make sure she does not need to see a doctor. Hopefully by the morning things will look a lot better! Never a dull moment. We are anxiously awaiting Daddy's arival home and hoping for a calm week before another busy weekend planned next! (more to come later!) Also, Everyone please say a prayer for Rian's Uncle Tom as we recently heard he is having back troubles and is in alot of pain. We are including you in our nightly prayers and praying for Aunt HelenMae's strength! Wish you guys were closer to help out. I know Rian would surely help with the wood! Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."

-Albert Schweitzer

Only 23 days until Christmas! Wow! It is so hard to believe that the year is almost over. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know that we did. The weekend was a good one as well and was spent with friends and family. Kylie spent the weekend with my parents helping decorate for Christmas. They said she was quite the motivator and they were very shocked to have it all done by Saturday afternoon! That's my girl! If you tell her that you are going to do something and it is something that she wants to do....she makes sure you get it done. Makenzie was with us all weekend and was able to spend most of the weekend with her cousin Aubrianna or Aubry as Kenzie calls her. Those two are quite the pair together. Everyone is well again at our house and we are very thankful for that as I am sure so are Grandma and Grandpa from Florida because we are heading to their house this weekend for our Christmas since they will be heading back to Florida soon! Rian's work has been slow so he has spent the last two weeks playing the "stay at home dad" game with the girls! I know it can be hard but I am pretty sure he is enjoying it! We are going to have to explain to Kylie what a recession is and that even though Santa "makes" the toys, he feels the strain as well! =) We are lucky enough that Makenzie is still too young to understand any of it! Like I said before though, we are thankful for what we have because there are so many others that have it much worse than we do! This week has been going really well so far and I am hoping to get our house decorated for Christmas before we leave on Friday! Have a wonderful week everyone!


"Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow."

-Dorothy Thompson