We seem to have a new theme going lately for our holidays . . . Over the river and through the woods–to the Emergency Room we go!

On Thanksgiving morning, Greg (my husband,) awoke with pain and discomfort in his lower back which wouldn’t go away and made finding a comfortable position impossible. So, off to Centennial Medical Center we went. The ER doctor confirmed that Greg had kidney stones. So, while Ethan and I celebrated the rest of the day with Greg’s parents and brother (Scott) + family, Greg was fully medicated and crashed in the master bedroom.

Now, we are visiting my family in New Mexico for Christmas, my brother’s wedding and New Year’s. Ethan has been fighting a cold, which [of course] worsened after our flight. Overnight the nasty green goop residing in his sinuses migrated from his nose to his eyes and continued to get goopier all day.

Instead of celebrating Christmas night with our family and preparing for Jake’s wedding tomorrow, we made an impromptu trip to the San Juan Regional Medical Center ER. The staff was kind and we didn’t have to wait long, but it is just as we suspected–Pink Eye. ICK! Poor kiddo.

 Putting antibiotic ointment in his already irritated eyes is not exactly how Ethan anticipated spending this evening. I’ll be honest, this wasn’t on my agenda either, but I figure it could be much worse. At least Santa was super generous with gifts to help him pass the time and according to Dr. Greer, we can still attend the wedding and reception! (We’ll just be extra careful about hand washing and warning friends and family to do the same. ‘Tis the season to wash hands, after all.)

 Merry Conjunctivitis to all!

 Oh, and Merry Christmas, too.

With winter break upon us, although the temperature here in the DFW area was a comfortable 60 degrees, Ethan’s elementary school was teeming with parents and young siblings ready to party with the students in preparation for Christmas and the New Year.

As one of the room mother’s for Ethan’s pre-K class I’ve been coordinating with the other mothers for about a month. We selected a theme, ordered paper goods, prepared personalized ornaments as gifts and selected an activity for the cute kiddos to do after we hopped them up on sugar. (Note: we did offer fruit and cheese to go along with the cookies; many loved former just as much as the latter!) I figured we [room moms] were on top of the planning and preparations enough that pulling the parties off would be [ahem] a piece of cake. Famous last words; I know.

Needless to say, the parties were fun but I came home feeling absolutely spent. Helping meet the needs of 40 preschool kiddos throughout the course of a day is an exhausting task. (Sheesh, let’s be honest, meeting Ethan’s needs throughout the course of a day is exhausting!) I salute the professionals, like Ethan’s dedicated teachers and MY MOM, who teach the youngest of our public school crowd–every week–five days a week! Thank you OH DEDICATED ONES; we are indebted to you. My prayer is that you thoroughly enjoy your time off with your families and come back in 2008 feeling refreshed and ready to educate and help raise our little ones in the New Year.

Watching the Pre-K students and parents share carefully crafted and wrapped Christmas gifts with Ethan’s hard working teachers did my heart some good. I feel more in-sync with The Christmas Spirit and find myself looking forward more than ever to sharing this special season with Ethan and the rest of our family!

Merry Christmas! May you all find someone to salute this Holiday Season.

Last Thursday and Friday marked the first, of what I hope to be many, school visits to share my new novelty element book for children–ALL BETTER: A Touch-and-Heal Book!

My son attends Pre-K at our neighborhood Elementary and I personally could not have imagined a more supportive place to read MY first published book aloud than the spacious and inviting Sem Elementary library. The adorable and well-behaved Kindergarten and Pre-K students were very gracious to this newly published children’s author. What fun it was to experience the group dynamics of reading with a gaggle of attentive and interested youngsters again. (Since I stopped teaching 5 years ago, I sincerely miss read alouds the MOST . . . )

Sem’s friendly and helpful librarian, Sarah Lincoln, was very kind about the program I presented and has offered to share personal recommendations with any interested parties. I must admit, I look anxiously forward to reading with more of the kiddos in the DFW area.

 FYI: My next scheduled reading of ALL BETTER scheduled is January 24th in Bedford, Texas–more information to follow in future posts.

 FYI 2: A public book signing for ALL BETTER is scheduled February 9th at Barnes & Noble location in Plano, Texas, noon-2pm–please mark your calendar and watch for more information on this topic in future posts.

Happy Reading,

~Leigh