Anyone else having trouble with static?? :)

What a great week

This week has went by way too fast. I had all of my guys home all week long. Dave had his extra day off this week so he was home for 5 days straight. I love times like that. On Monday we went to Belleville to the Shrine to see the Christmas lights display. They really go all out. I cant imagine how much time goes into it. It is so beautiful though and Mychael always loves it. Brayden seemed to not care either way :). Hes getting a little more interested in all the Christmas decorations around the house EXCEPT the snowman in the pictures below. Still having major attitude with him and hitting him and knocking him down every time he passes him. Tuesday we had a birthday party we went to. Wednesday Dave had a meeting he had to go to in the evening so it was just me and the boys. I wasn't really feeling good for the rest of the week so we didn't do a whole lot except take it easy and just relax which is just as nice.

I am so excited for Monday. I am SO behind on my Christmas shopping. It almost sends me into a panic attack every time I think of how many days are left. I am usually done by now. So Monday I am going to attack the Christmas shopping and try to get it done. Hopefully I can find everything I want so I don't have to stress over it all. That is why I usually try to get it done early. After how much Ive kicked myself for not getting it done this year NEXT year I will probably have it done in July LOL!!

I am been baking like crazy lately. I am finding that I really like baking and have been trying new things. Ive tried a couple of pumpkin cakes (both turned out GREAT!), then I tried a cake (also turned out great but it was UGLY!), then the other night I tried a recipe for cream cheese cookies (turned out HORRIBLE!), and then today I made gooey butter cookies (I have never had these before so I don't know if they taste right or not. Waiting to take them to the fire dept to find out). So if anyone has any good recipes let me know. I am trying to bake all of this for the firefighters so it all doesn't end up in our house and on my ass. I make Dave take it to work so its not even tempting.

Well I hope everyone is doing well. I don't really have any new pictures. I will download the camera and see what I have and post next time

See ya!
Christy

It wouldnt be Christmas without JibJab

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas time!

Well we got to put the Christmas tree up this week. This is one of my favorite things to do with my family. I love to watch all my guys while it is going on. We have a tradition of watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation while doing it (as you will see in one of the pictures lol). I really thought we would have a problem with Brayden wanting to get into everything and so I was nervous about putting everything out but as we were putting it up I tried to get him into the tinsel and he wanted NOTHING to do with it. He hated all of it so I figured I could put all of my stuff out and it'd be safe. Unfortunately today he has discovered the ornaments and likes to tug on them so that will be an issue. He is so cute though. He has some serious attitude going on with a dancing snowman that I have. I was taking pictures of him and he was posing and apparently he didn't like that the snowman was stealing his shot so he decided to beat him down :) So these are the pictures from that and then some of the pictures from us putting up the tree.

See ya!
Christy

The past week

Well Thanksgiving came and went. Dave had to work for it and Mychael was with his dad and Tracey so I went down to Chester with Brayden to be with my family for it. I think Brayden was pretty overwhelmed by all the people and immediately wanted to attach himself to my leg and stay there. We ended up leaving early and driving back so he would sleep and get in a better mood. He was back to happy when we got home so I spent the evening playing with him and eating leftovers. On Saturday we had thanksgiving with Daves family. Just a quiet nice dinner. It was good that we got to be with both families for the holidays. I always feel bad if we miss one or the other so this year it worked out great.

Last night was the football banquet. Mychael was so excited to go. Brayden stayed home so it was me and Dave, Mychaels dad and Tracey, and Mychael. We got there and sat around and talked and then got in line for dinner. They had a nice restaurant in Granite cater it and so we ate good! After that they had a few guest speakers. They were all nice to listen to and I enjoyed hearing their stories (even though one went on forever and you would have thought he was trying to recruit incoming freshman rather then talking to a group of 8-12 year olds) and what they had to say. We made Mychael perk up and listen. I want him to learn that there is more to it then just the game. Its hard to keep an 8 year old listening when even half the adults in the room were playing with their cups and looking around bored :) After that it was on to them introducing the coaches and then each coach gave their team members a medal and introduced them. Then their team was presented with the trophy for winning the championship. I love watching Mychael in situations like this. He is just so proud looking. It makes me happy for him. His coach said something that will stay with me and made me laugh. He was talking about education and grades and he said in his house is goes like this...getting an A means awesome. getting a B means be careful. getting a C means caution. cause getting a D means death. I LOVED that!! LOL!! On the way home we talked to Mychael about grades and how all of that plays into getting to play football. I told him that when you play for the school if you get bad grades they don't let you play and when you play for the park district if you get bad grades WE don't let you play. He seemed to get it. Although the kid is an A student it never hurts to try to scare him into staying that way. So here are the pictures from last night.

See ya!

Christy

Bathtime!!!

Had to post these cute pictures before I went off to bed. I will write more about the holiday tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great one!

Dave was giving Brayden a bath the other night while he was in the greatest mood and I got some great pictures I have to share.

See ya,

Christy

Maroon Eagles are the CHAMPIONS!!

Well last night was the championship game for Mychaels football team and they WON!! The boys were so fired up during the game it was comical. The coaches were just as fired up which is sometimes even more comical. It was a really close game and it came down to the very end with all of us on the sidelines stressed out to the max but they pulled it off and won! Even his coach said that he had only expected the kids to win one or two games because they were the team in the league that had never played before and they were the youngest therefore the smallest team out there, Like he said though they have heart and always tried their hardest. I am so proud of Mychael. He played one of his best games last night. He has decided that it is all about football and no other sport lol. We tried to explain that he can do it all but football is all he wants. :) We will have to see. His coach wants them to do wrestling (yeah cause my heart really needs that!) so I guess we will see. Here are some of the pictures from last night and also his official football pictures.

So heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time

Well Georges funeral was Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday Kristan came over and spent the day. I was supposed to go over there but she didn't really want to hang out at her house which is understandable so she came here. We got to spend all day and part of the evening together. It was good to be with her all day and talk. We talked about everything. She is doing about as good as you can do in that situation. Tuesday was the viewing. We got to see a lot of people from MedStar that we haven't in years! Most we were really excited to see (Scooter if you are keeping up with this blog you should comment sometime and leave your email for us!) and some we could have went a few more years without seeing LOL. Mostly the owners :).

I was not looking forward to Wednesday. Firefighter funerals are always so sad anyway and on top of that for it to be an EMS funeral doubles that sadness and to see Kristan in that kind of pain makes it horrible. They played the bagpipes as they loaded the casket onto the firetruck that would carry him to the cemetery. Its amazing how many firetrucks / ambulances from all over come to show their respect when something like this happens. On the way to the cemetery the lineup was the firetruck that carried the casket, then his family, then tons of MedStar ambulances and vehicles, then all of us, and then at the end of the line were tons of ambulances from other companies and tons of firetrucks from all around. All emergency vehicles in front and back had their red and blue lights flashing all the way to the cemetery. It is one of the saddest things and one of the most beautiful things you can see. Ive went to two funerals like this and both times could just look at all the lights flashing following the casket and cry. Then once we were there they presented her with his fire helmet, rang the fire bell three times (I'll explain what that means at the end), and then they made his last call over the MedStar radio. That right there breaks your heart. They come over the radio and call the attention of all employees and then they go on to call his truck number for his last call and then read his date of death etc.. Every person there cried. It is one of the saddest things Ive ever seen/heard. I'm sure George was looking down and smiling at all the people who came out to pay their respects and give him such a spectacular goodbye.

*** The ringing of the bells at a firefighters funeral -- A 200-year-old tradition, the bell once chimed in firehouses to symbolize crews returning to station after a large blaze.
Now, it rings at funerals for firefighters who have responded to their final call home. *** This gets me every time. I told Dave that I had to pass away before him because I can't handle all of this.

The newspaper was there and got some pictures of the funeral procession. The pictures don't do it justice but here they are. As you can see the line of emergency vehicles went on and on and that was the ones at the end. They didn't show all the vehicles in the front. The second picture is of them loading the casket onto the firetruck, and the last is another one of some of the emergency vehicles.

See ya,
Christy `

Make sure to watch her second song and listen what she says to Ellen!

EVEN A 7 YEAR OLD GETS IT!!! NOW IF OTHERS WOULD OPEN THEIR MINDS LIKE THIS LITTLE GIRL. Make sure to listen to what she says to Ellen before starting her second song. You will have to mute my music player.

Sometimes I just don't understand

Ive never talked about my time in EMS on here and I thought now would be a good time. I LOVED working on the ambulance. I was so upset when my doctor told me I couldn't continue working on it. A lot of people don't understand that way of life. You work for 24 hours every third day. You sometimes spend more time with your EMS family then you do your real family. You spend holidays together, you fight together, you cry together, you are at your goofiest with them (Dave has yet to hear me sing and my partner Kristan has heard me belting it out more times then she probably wanted to lol) , we understand each others feelings on things better then so many other people can. You spend such great moments with your partner and sometimes you spend your worst moments with your partner. One of my worst calls I ever ran was a bad car wreck. The 17 year old had went halfway out the sunroof of the car and the car flipped on top of her trapping her half way out between the car and the road. She obviously died before we ever had a chance to work her. As weird as it sounds that part wasn't the upsetting part to me. When we finally figured out who she was we realized that she was the same girl who had checked us out when we bought our supper at the grocery store that day. We had talked to her and I knew who her family was. We took the body into the hospital and while we were standing there they brought her parents in to identify her. I can still hear her moms cry, her screaming out. That sound will never erase from my memory. The only other person that can understand how I felt at that exact moment is the partner I was working with at that time. I couldn't go home and explain it and have people understand and I won't even try to explain it on here. The reason I share all of this is so some of you can kind of get an idea of how close you are to your partner and those you work with. The good and the bad.

Yesterday morning I was woke up with a phone call telling me that Kristan's (my partner when I worked on the ambulance) husband George had died. He was 23 years old. He was working his shift on the ambulance and died in his sleep. When his partner went to wake him up for a call he was gone. All of the medics worked him anyway. These medics were his friends and in EMS his family. There is no worse nightmare for anyone in EMS then to have to answer a call for family. I feel so bad for those that had to do it.

I have talked to Kristan. I am going to go to their house tomorrow with her so she can get some stuff together for the funeral the next day. My heart is breaking for her. Every time I think of her I cry. I remember when they first started liking each other. We tried to have a girls only movie night and she couldn't stay off her phone lol. They've only been married for a year. His dad lives here in Granite and we went over there after the wedding to celebrate. I just cant imagine what she is going through. I try not to imagine what she is going through. It is my nightmare.

I just had to get this off my chest. I came home tonight and got on ksdk.com to see what was going on in the area and the main story was about George and it had a big picture of him attached. I am going to paste it here along with a picture of me and Kristan that was taken one day where we got posted at a kids event while we were working and all the kids wanted us to paint our faces so we had them paint the EMS star of life on our cheeks.


KSDK-- An emergency medical technician who works for Medstar's Washington Park base has died in the line of duty.

George Schaub III was working a 24 hour shift that began Friday. He made the last call around midnight, and was found unresponsive at shift change Saturday morning. So far, there's no word on what caused his death.

Visitation will be held Tuesday from 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. and Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with the funeral following at 1:00 p.m. Both will be held at Renner Funeral home in Belleville.

George Schaub was 23 years old.

Prop 8 Protest...please watch

There will be a nationwide protest on Saturday November 15. If you are looking for something to do and want to go out and support a very important issue visit this website to find a city near you http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/?t=anon``

You will want to pause my normal music player before you watch the video so you can hear it

Maroon Eagles are #1

Well yesterday was the last normal game of Mychaels football season. They won the game which means that they are #1 in the league. It makes me so happy for the whole team. As I have mentioned before on here Mychaels team is the only team that is made up of all kids who have never played before. The other teams have all played before and are made up of older kids. So our team was the youngest, smallest, and most inexperienced and they went out this season and kicked butt! I am so proud of Mychael and of the whole team. Now they have to play the championship game in a couple of weeks. I put together a slide show of the last couple of games including yesterdays. In some of the pictures you can see the size difference in the teams. It makes my heart almost stop sometimes but it doesn't seem to faze Mychael at all. Ill keep you updated on the outcome of the championship. My family will be coming up for it so I'm excited for that as well.

See ya,
Christy

Nothing much to talk about...but Im sure I'll still fill the page :)

Man am I SICK of all the racist jokes being passed around now that Obama was elected. I keep getting texts with all these stupid jokes. Its just old. Its like everyone saved them up just to use them the minute the results came in. Oh well...hopefully it will get old quick and will stop. I am still emotional when I think of it all. I tivoed Obamas speech so Mychael could watch it and even watching it again I sat there and cried. It doesn't help that I'm at that "emotional time" so I'm crying easy anyway. I was so proud of Mychael last night though. Being a kid I know it is sometimes hard to understand that the differences in peoples skin color means nothing and its whats on the inside and so I wanted to see where he stood with it so I kinda tested him. We were getting ready to watch Obamas speech and I said "you know his daughter is really cute. You could start dating her and that way all of us could go to the White House" and I really kinda expected him to say something about how shes black even though I know we have taught him that its whats on the inside of people that counts. So he said "where is she?" and I told him that she was getting ready to walk onstage. So we waited and when the family came on stage he goes "yeah she is pretty cute!". It made me feel like we have taught him well. I'm not ready for the dating stage yet but the fact that he doesn't care about the color of skin (she just has to be cute!) makes me feel like he understands. I would think a lot of kids his age wouldn't understand white/black or gay/straight. Luckily Mychael understands both and accepts people for who they are. Hes such a sweet kid.

Speaking of gay/straight. I am saddened by the Prop 8 passing. Even though I don't live in California I watched that one closely and my heart hurt for those it affected. I cant imagine how it makes you feel to be told that you don't have the same rights as everyone else. I cant imagine how it would feel if Dave got hurt and someone told me I couldn't go into the hospital room. I cant imagine someone coming up to me now and telling me that our marriage was being annulled because people decided we shouldn't have the right to be married. How powerless and helpless I would feel if that were to happen to me. That is why my heart hurts for these people who are affected. No one has the right to tell you who you should/shouldn't love. Marriages between man and woman don't always go the way that they are technically supposed to. Cheating and divorce aren't supposed to be a part of marriage but a lot of times is these days. Isn't it supposed to be "til death do you part"? I know a LOT of people (me included) that it didn't work out for the first time. Does that mean that once you didn't do what you were supposed to that you should lose your rights?!? Should those of us that broke the vow we took in church not get a second chance? I just don't get why anyone has the right to judge that part of anyones life. Anyway...I'm probably not making sense because I'm getting fired up. I have a hard enough time making sense when I'm not getting worked up and trying to get my millions of thoughts typed out quick. So Ill shut up :)

Think good thoughts. think good thoughts...hmmm what to talk about now

So tonight Brayden and I watched Mychaels football practice. I was pretty excited because once it gets dark so early they cant practice for very long so that means less time sitting in the cold. I had also been counting the moments until it was dark so we could leave and I could finally eat for the first time today. So it finally gets dark and I'm ready to pack it all up when some dumbass parent decides to pull his truck in the field so his headlights would provide a little light for them to finish up. Well then that starts something and everyone starts pulling their vehicles out on the field to circle the team. Before I know it my daydreams of Arbys roast beef was slipping away headlight by headlight. So over an HOUR later the park security guy finally comes by and tells everyone they cant put their vehicles in the grass and to move it. I was ready to jump him and kiss him. My stomach was loving him. So finally I think we are leaving cause it is then pitch black and they cant see the ball right?? Yeah but they can run in the dark!! So then we sit out there for another 25 minutes while they ran. I love watching Mychael play but today was one of those days where I had my plan (meaning dinner) and I don't like when my plan gets screwed up (meaning don't mess with my food!).

Marlene (my mother in law) came back from Germany tonight. It is good to have her back. It seems like she has been gone forever. I was excited for her to see Brayden because of all the new stuff he is doing now. So she got to spend some time here after Dave picked her up at the airport. Then she went to Tanjas to see everyone and stay the night.

Well I am getting distracted by a tired and crabby Brayden so I am done for tonight. Told ya I could still fill the page LOL

See ya,
Christy

Our new President!! WOOHOO!!!!

I am so emotional right now. How exciting it all is!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Just a little something for you. We love you and hope you had a great birthday!! You might have to mute the music player to be able to hear it.

Old OLD pictures

Tonight I was going through pictures and came across a few that I scanned onto the computer just so I could embarrass myself and my family. Some of them I came across were just cute and so I wanted to share those too. A lot of them made me go "awwww" and some of them made me go "ooohhh my God". Im sure you will be able to tell the difference between "cute" and "what the hell were we thinking?!?!" LOL. Hope you enjoy! I also added a few new songs on my playlist. The second one that comes on is called "Cheater Cheater" and I think it is so funny so make sure to turn your speakers on.

all the girls on a "girls only trip"

oh Lord

cool Mom

me getting into stuff (Im being paid back

for that now with Brayden)

me and my great Grandpa with our false teeth

awww...Jimmy and Nathan

Oh wow...no words

I seem to be concentrating on what could be

in the box and Julie just looks irritated to be there LOL

me, my dad, and Dillan AWWW

I think this one is so cute! My brother feeding

Nathan as me and Julie look on

we look so young!!!

See ya,

Christy

I've been slacking

Lately I have not been keeping up with the blog and I apologize. Daves procedure went good. We should have the tests back soon. I didn't get to go back to the recovery area so I don't have any funny stories from him coming out of the anesthesia :( The nurses did tell me that he was cracking them up saying some off the wall stuff. I asked him if he was nice but he didn't have a clue lol.

So in the last week Brayden has figured out how to get into sitting position on his own. He could sit before but you had to put him into the position. Now he crawls around and then sits for a while and then crawls some more. Its so fun to watch him. Then two days after he started doing that he shocked the hell out of me and Dave as we were sitting here messing around on the computers. I was sitting on one couch and Dave on the other and we both looked down just in time to see our little baby boy pulling himself up on the couch to stand!!! So now he crawls over to the couch and pulls himself up and stands here looking around. We were in shock. Hes only 7 months old! Hes not supposed to be getting so big so quick! So now hes a crawling, sitting, pulling up machine. I guess the only thing left is walking. He better not start that in a couple of days! LOL

So tonight was Halloween. Dave had to work so he couldn't trick or treat with us :( but we did have a lot of fun going around the neighborhood (besides getting a little...okay a LOT lost). Mychael decided this year he wanted to be Darth Vader. He looked pretty badass in his costume. I had bought Brayden a fluffy puppy costume that I was so excited about and after he woke up from his nap I colored his nose black with some eyeliner and went to put the costume on and it didn't fit. He was too long for it :( So instead he went as a firefighter. After we got done trick or treating we went and seen Dave at the fire department. The guys seemed to get a kick out of his costume although I'm sure every firefighter has dressed their sons up as firemen LOL. We took pictures and I'm posting them underneath this so make sure to check them out.

Well I'm off to try to get Brayden to sleep. He was trying so hard to go to sleep for like an hour around 9pm and I wouldn't let him so we could go to the FD and then come home and eat and after I fed him apparently he got a second wind. Tomorrow Mychael has a football game so we are heading there in the morning. Ill write soon (I promise!)

See ya,
Christy