Lyons Family
Mike and Michelle
Chase, Devin, Kayleigh, & Paige
John and Cassie Casto
My Daddy's here, and look who's the happiest about it LOL!
Dad and Cassie arrived early yesterday. I spent the afternoon with my step-Mom baking pies and preparing for today. This morning, we went to church early and came home to celebrate Thanksgiving together.
I am so very thankful they are here this year and able to spend a few days!
My Daddy is on his way!!! He's driving here all night long from Ohio and will be here sometime in the morning. I absolutely cannot wait!! I've had a horrible week and am so looking forward to hugging my Daddy for the first time since July.
Once a Daddy's Girl....
Always a Daddy's Girl!!!
Paige and Juli waiting for the guests
Back Row: Mary Leigh, Madelynn, Paige, Emma, Adrianna Front Row: Emma, Carissa, Teresa
Presents, Presents, and more Presents!!
Strawberry Mousse Princess Cake.... YUMMO!
Paige and Juli... Long Distance Best Friends!
L to R: Rene (ST), Beth (PT), Evelyn (OT), Lisa Jo (PT), Michelle (OT), Tricia (PT) 
Rene, Tricia, Beth Evelyn, Michelle
First... I owe a huge apology to Jenni for forgetting to tell her Happy Birthday yesterday!! I can't believe I forgot! She's actually on her way to North Carolina to our house... I'll have to make it up to her by having something special here waiting!
Love You Both!!
For the first time ever, I got hurt at work today. I was transferring a patient from his wheelchair to his bed - usually he's "stand-by assist" or supervision. He lost his balance and I reacted by breaking his fall and twisting myself into a pretzel to get him to the bed instead of the floor! Now, I know that we are trained as therapists to assist a patient to the floor and not be Super Hero. But really - once you're in the situation - "it just don't work that way!".
During the transfer something in my lumbar spine "snapped". The nurse heard it across the room and I did all I could to not alert my patient that he had indeed hurt me. She stepped in immediately and I very calmly, and SLOWLY, walked out of his room, stood in the hall, and then just froze in pain... excrutiating pain!!
So - tonight I'm barely moving, not comfortable, aching, whining, complaining, and yes - even crying at times! It hurts. That's all there is to it! I seriously think that this pain is worse than labor!! I've taken the Skelaxin they gave me, as well as 800 mg of ibuprofin and Mike coated me with Biofreeze. So far... nothing's working and i'm just plain miserable. Mike had to leave for work and I had to pee.... poor Devin had to help me get off the recliner because it hurt so darned bad to even stand up. Then he had to help me get all the pillows back in place to attempt to be comfortable again!
I have a newfound respect for all of those who have chronic back pain. This is a first for me and let me tell ya... it sucks!
Drug me... someone please just drug me!!
After we retrieved all the kids Sunday afternoon, we put up all the Christmas decorations - with the exception of the tree. I forgot that last year we realized this house is so big we need MORE decorations thoug!! We'll finish with the Christmas tree when my Dad comes for Thanksgiving next weekend.
The problem now... Mike and I are ready to do some serious Christmas shopping and we don't have time!!
This was our weekend getaway to Charlotte, and the kids weekend getaway from us! We cannot thank Leigh, Dawn & Brian, or Beth & Mark enough for their part in it!!
Devin stayed with his best friend David. His Mom, Leigh, is also a good friend of mine. According to Devin - they just "chilled" all weekend. That's all I could get out of him... typical teenage response. Leigh had her hands full with 4 kids of her own, 2 soccer games, and an extra kid around!
Kayleigh and Chase both stayed with Dawn & Brian. Chase and their son Justin had a blast all weekend inside and out! Kayleigh and their daughter Ashley have been friends for a few years now - they spend a lot of time together either here or there. Dawn was in a bad car accident on Thursday, yet was still willing to take on our kids for the weekend! Bless her!
Beth and Mark have only been married a few years and have no children as of yet. So... for them... to have PAIGE, of all kids, was quite a handful! Beth kept Paige entertained all day Saturday as you can see in the slideshow! They started off with another coworker of mine and her son with a hike to Pilot Mountain, which Paige apparently loved until they hit the big cliff - then she freaked out! Along the way they were able to some horses. From there they visited SciWorks Science Museum with Tricia and Tristan also. After heading back to the house, Beth and Mark took Paige to see High School Musical 3 (poor Mark!!) Then it was off to Applebees for dinner. I tried to call to say goodnight - but Paige was sound asleep!! Paige attended Beth's church today and then had a blast at Beth's parents house with all the other kids.
As for Mike & I. We spent all day Saturday in Charlotte at the Concord Mills Outlet Mall - literally! It took us over 4 hours to go through the 2 mile long mall (yes, it really is 2 miles if you walk it all one time!!). We followed that up with a wonderful dinner at Texas Land & Cattle. We enjoyed sleeping in without hearing "Mommy, can you get me breakfast?" and got a good start on Christmas shopping.
Thank you again: Leigh, Dawn & Brian, and Beth & Mark - for giving us this getaway for our anniversary!!!
Paige Olivia.... 6 Years Old!!
We're hopeful that today ends 7 days of bad luck! Started last Wednesday when Mike busted his hand up at work - got it caught in a projector! Fortunately - he only fractured one finger in a few places and just was swollen and badly bruised. Also - it was his left hand, and he's right handed.
Sunday night, at the bonfire, Mike reached down to grab a piece of wood off the fire that he didn't think was hot.... he was wrong!! Burned his right hand and blistered immediately in three spots!
Last night, Devin was sitting on the couch and started itching funny. By this morning - his face and eye was swollen and he was covered in poison oak: cheek, eye, around his mouth, by his nose, his ear, his neck, and now even down his right arm! Now.... if you remember correctly, Devin is horribly allergic to poison oak and has twice gotten cellulitis as a result of it, once even had streptococcal cellulitis. So... off to the doctor we went today. After a round of steroids, oral steroids, topical steroids, and an antibiotic for good measure... he should be ok. Until then, he's home from school until at least Monday!
So... think happy thoughts for us that this is all over! Mike and I get the weekend to ourself... we hope! We already had to give up a trip to Savannah to see old friends and meet a new one. We'd like to at least be able to spend the weekend alone without any sick, itchy, contagious kids LOL!
With it being our anniversary week, I chose a picture of Mike and I on one of the 4 happiest days of 17 years together!I think I finally got the video from last night to upload. We had a lot of fun and it was in our back yard which makes it even better!
You all know I think about my Mom a lot... that was evident last night when I was taping this. Without thinking I said something about my Mom having a fit when she saw the video of the kids that close to fire. It's been almost 6 years since she passed, yet I still blurt things like that out all the time.
Even though the original creator of "Not Me!" Monday, MckMama, has taken a week off to be a brand new Mommy... I decided to go ahead with my "Not Me!"'s for the week. Try it, talk about a stress reliever!!
First, my 15 year old son did not have to find his own way to and from church last Sunday because both his parents were sick in bed! Afterall... if a teenager WANTS to go to church then the parents should make sure he gets there despite illness in the house!
I did not take my laptop to gymnastics and do work while my daughter was flipping, tumbling, and twirling over bars. And, when she asked me "Mommy, did you SEE what I DID today" all excited, I did not lie to her and say "I sure did! I'm so proud of you! You're getting so good at gymnastics". I was sitting at the table with my eyes on her every minute of the practice.
I did not watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" episode with Mike and Paige, and laugh at every "it's a rock..." like a child and have a goofy grin on my face for the entire show. Cartoons are so childlike and I am NOT a child.... I also did not absolutely light up like a Christmas tree when Devin and Kayleigh BOTH came into our bedroom to sit on the couch and watch it with us!
I did not have to go to Target at 8am on Friday morning - Halloween Day - to try to find Chase the costume that he absolutely loved because I was not too busy the previous two weeks to get it before hand. And I did not sit in the van in tears on my way home that afternoon because the only Black Spiderman costume they had left was missing half the outfit and I ended up buying him a Batman costume instead.
I did not thoroughly enjoy trick-or-treating in the neighborhood and seeing all our new friends from church with their little kiddos all dressed up also. And I did not enjoy watching Chase and Paige running around in their costumes and then coming home to count their candy. I also did not eat any of their Halloween candy... they earned it, not me...
Whew..... what a week!
We Were Young... 
We took Chase and Paige trick-or-treating in the neighborhood behind our woods. We ran into a group of people from our church - it was fun to see all their kids dressed up and just as excited as ours.
Paige's costume was a graduate this year. After about the 50th person said "oh... aren't you a cute graduate" she finally blurted out "HOW does EVERYBODY know what I AM?". The lady just started cracking up laughing and poor Paige go sooooo embarrassed!
Chase went as Batman this year. The only time I could get him to put the mask on his face was for this picture. He hates having anything over his eyes and face. I thought he looked cute... he was much happier when Michael told him he looked scary!
Devin started out walking with us. He enjoys taking the kids as much as Mike and I do. But - about half-way through a huge group of girls surrounded him and we knew his time with us was over! If you look closely at this picture - he's smack dab in the center of SEVEN girls!! Wow his he just like his father... always being chased by a bunch of silly girls!!
Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
