More Christmas Pics & New Years

One pic that just didn't make the Christmas card this year.

Alexis & her best friend Bentley got matching Justin Beverhead shirts for Christmas.

These two were nice & cozy during our New Year's party.

Santa brought a wii this year & Alexis is totally addicted. Here we have a game of Mario Cart going on.

The kids already had the large pillow pets, but wanted the mini pillow pets and slippers to match.

At home getting ready to dig in and see what Santa brought this year.

Nolen is very happy with his tractors.

Passing out gifts at my moms house this year.

Christmas Eve supper at my moms. All 5 grand kids.

Birthday - Hospital - Christmas

Nolen turned 4 on December 19th. He had a Spiderman party this year.

My lovely hospital room. I got sick the night of December 12th. I went to the doctor on December 14th and he thought it was just a virus and that I should take Tylenol and get plenty of sleep and should be better by Friday. Friday rolled around and I was so tired of being in bed. My back was really aching & I thought it was due to laying around too much. After lunch I got worse. Had a cough that would not stop, a very high fever, a sharp pain in my back, and I felt worse than I did on Monday. After a phone call to the doctor, he decided to admit me to the hospital on Friday, December 16th for observation to see what was going on. My fever got to 103.6, I was dehydrated, my potassium level was way too low and my white blood cell count was high. They thought I might have the flu. They put 4 bags of potassium through my IV as fast as possible that night. After a night of no sleep, the doctor informed me that I had a kidney infection on Saturday morning. That would explain the very sharp knife like pain in my back that would not stop. They put me on some strong antibiotics and before long the pain was gone. I would get dizzy a lot getting up & down. They were pumping me full of fluids. I was very hard to relax in the hospital with having to use the restroom every hour or two and the nurses coming in the check things all the time. My first IV started to leak & my arm started to swell. On Sunday morning they tried to get another IV in my other hand. After 4 tries, they called in the main nurse and he got it the first try. I was finally released to go home on Monday, December 19th, Nolen's birthday! Had to take strong antibiotics for 10 after I was released. I missed 8 days of work as well. I did visit my students a little bit on their last day of school before Christmas break to hand out their gifts & to prove to them I was still alive. When I got home I found an envelope full of get well cards from them. I'm glad I had a lot of my Christmas shopping done before I entered the hospital. It took a while before I felt like my old self again. It is January 1st and my wrists still hurt a little where the IV's were. I'm hoping that goes away soon.

Santa showed up a few days early to check on the kids.

Greg showed up before Christmas to hand out a few gifts to the kids.

I just love Nolen in this pic!

My beautiful kids!

Me & Alexis

This photo was taken 3 days before I got sick.

Nolen & Alexis all dressed up before they were in the Ebenezer Christmas program. This was taken in the hospital waiting room. I missed a lot of things while I was in the hospital. Alexis really had a tough time while I was in there. It really bothered her.

A cool way of making Pumpkin Pie!

I recently had the Richland County Farm Bureau Manager visit my classroom. She let the students make pumpkin pie in a very neat way & I'd like to share what we did. No oven needed!

Here is the recipe.

What you need to have:

- gallon Ziploc freezer bag

- 2 2/3 cups cold milk

- 2 packages (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix

- 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin

- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

- Graham cracker crumbs

- 25 small cups

- scissors

- 1 can whipped topping

- 25 spoons

What you need to do:

1. Combine the milk and instant pudding in the Ziploc bag.

2. Remove the air and Ziplock it shut.

3. Squeeze and kneed with hands until blended for 1 minute.

4. Add the pumpkin, cinnamon, and ginger.

5. Remove the air and Ziploc it shut.

6. Squeeze and kneed with hands until blended for 2 minutes.

7. Place 1/2 tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of small cups.

8. Cut corner of freezer bag and squeeze pie filling into cups.

9. Garnish with whipped topping.

10. Add a spoon. Eat up!

Happy Halloween from the Seals Family!

Maid Marian & Robin Hood

Maid Marian & Monk (our friend Greg)

Alexis as a rock star & Nolen as Spiderman.

Is 2nd grade ready for Alexis?

Nolen, proud mommy, and Alexis

There she is Miss 2nd grader!

She is wearing the cardinals outfit because her classroom is the Cardinals room. Her teacher invited the students to wear Cardinals clothing on the first day of school. Wal-Mart had NO Cardinals t-shirts in her size, so I bought a ladies tank top and we decided she could wear it as a dress. Then later I guess I can wear it.

Being Crafty

So I have had the crafting bug lately. Had to come up with decorations for tables. Thought I'd share my idea cause it was so easy and could be modified for any occasion or holiday.

Flower bouquets made in tin cans.

What you need:

- tin can of any size (The schools always have plenty of the large cans they need to get rid of, just ask them & tell them you are recycling)

- spray paint

- ribbon

- glue gun

-styrofoam

- artificial flowers or what ever you want to display (I used a flag and star tinsel also)

- craft sticks

- scotch tape

- moss or any kind of filler

- rocks or sand (optional - for weight)

Directions: Spray paint your tin can. I first turn the can upside down & paint it once. After it dries I turn it over and spray it again. Two layers seem to cover well. After the paint is dry, glue ribbon around the can. Glue a piece of styrofoam to the inside bottom. Stick your flowers or decorations into the styrofoam. I found that some of my flowers were too short for the large cans so I used scotch tape and attached a craft stick to the bottom of the stem to make it taller. Then just stick the craft stick into the styrofoam. Use moss as a filler or colored shredded paper. You might want to add rocks or sand on the inside before you add the moss if you need some weight.

Note: I didn't think I was going to find flowers for this project cause all the stores seemed to be sold out of red, white, and blue. I finally found the red & white flowers at the Dollar Tree, but they were sold out of blue ones. I then thought of adding the flag for the blue.

Other tin can crafts: I paint cans orange during Halloween and paint faces on them. They are so cute & I display them every year. I even made corn bags (had to put corn instead of beans in them cause that was what was planted in our field that year). Made a toss game & the kids loved it.

Wrapped material around a tin can and made a pencil holder to match my kitchen colors.

Painted a can white and painted a rabbit on it for Easter. I display it every year as well.

I have some cute paw print ribbon & I'm thinking about using it to make something with the school colors for Alexis.

Summer fun has begun!

We started our summer with a trip to the Embarrass River. The river level was way up due to all the rain. The guys didn't catch as many fish as they normally do. All the kids had a blast getting muddy!

Taking a boat ride on the river.

Pete showing the kids the fish that were caught.

Jordon plants beans in our field.

Nolen finds a mud puddle at the park during one of Alexis' softball games.

Alexis with her best friend Bentley at the softball opening day. I wish I had taken more photos early this year because her last four games were cancelled due to rain. In her league, they don't make up the games.

Alexis' friend Katie from Alabama arrived in the area for two weeks. We had Katie over often & had a blast. Here is Katie trying out our 3 wheeler. She is now trying to talk her dad into getting one for her.

We celebrated Marks (Katie's uncle) 40 birthday. Mark gives all the kids a ride.

Took Katie & Mark fishing on the lake. Everyone caught fish, though Alexis caught the most & was sure to let everyone know it.

Fun on the Slip N' Slide.