BRIGGOR WANTS TO BE SANTA

On the way to AWANAS last night, Briggor and I were having a conversation.

He wanted to discuss Santa. :}

He had QUESTIONS??  LOL

So, he proceeded to ask the question 

"Why does Santa come down a chimney?"

I said, "Because that is how he gets in the house!"

BRIGGOR: Why doesn't he come through the front door?

MOM: HHmmm, well, son.......

You are right. Some houses DON'T have chimneys.

BRIGGOR:  Puzzled look on his face.

MOM: Well, there is also another way.

BRIGGOR: Eyebrows go up...waiting for my answer.

MOM:  Santa has a magic key that only works on Christmas Eve.

No other time of the year.

Remember, Santa IS magic.

BRIGGOR: SMILES really big!

(Enter some silence)

BRIGGOR:  I want to be Santa.

MOM:  You do, why?

BRIGGOR:  Because of the magic key.

I want to go to peoples houses.

Walk in.

I want to wake up the little kid.  Not the baby because it will

cry and wake up the whole house.  Just 

the littlest kid.

I will give him a wrapped present to open 

before anyone else.

That's what I would do if I was Santa.

MOM:   (warmth in her heart)

P.S.

For those of you who are doubting my mom instincts, magic keys ARE real!

It looks like we will need a magic key next year! ;)

Andrew coming home....

Well, our son, Andrew is trying to get home for Christmas.

Yes, I said TRYING!

He left Colorado Springs late which was to be a

direct flight to Burbank.

But, the whole plane ended up in Denver.

Battling poor visibility and blizzard conditions, that

is as far as he got last night.

The funny thing is....according to Andrew, Denver wanted to know

why he and the other passengers were in Denver when they were suppose

to be on there way to Burbank.

Andrew looked at the ticket agent and said,  "Do I LOOK like the

pilot?"

The airport had to re-route all the passengers on other flights due

to pilot error - we are assuming! :(

The picture below shows where he will be staying

for the night in Denver International Airport til morning.

I think Santa needs to make a special trip to Denver to

get my baby boy home for Christmas!!!

Elfcades AGAIN??

One morning when we woke up, we found Oliver fishing in our fish tank.

Look at the smile on his face!

He was having a great time!

 Oliver took the time to announce to the family that

there are 7 days until Christmas from 

a piece of toilet paper!

Sunday Morning Polar Bear Plunge

Sunday morning, 35 degrees outside!  Mark offered any of the kids

$20 towards Christmas money if they would

take the Polar Bear Plunge

into our pool.

Bud and Jade were up for the challenge.

More Elf-capades

We woke up one morning to find Oliver, our house elf,

teaching the other toys "why we love elves?"

 Either Oliver was missing Santa or he was trying to get

a little drink!! :)

 We think Oliver was riding the pony all over

the house!

Mark's Sleep Apnea Test

Mark went to his sleep apnea test last night.  The following is his story about what happened and the results:


They scrape small spots on your scalp, face, neck and sides with some small Q-tip that seems to be made of sand paper and steel wool. (almost til you bleed) Then in those 12 places they put electrical contacts and wires. 2 tight elastic bands with monitor leads around your chest and one on your stomach. Then the worst. A nose mask fastened tight around your head. Now, this mask doesn't gently drift air like a hospital or the sidelines of the NFL. No.... this has pressure. It causes that flap in your throat to close so you MUST breath through your nose. And the pressure (even though hard to deal with when you breath in) is still pushing when you try to exhale. So you start out forcing yourself to calm down, learn how to breath all over again and force your exhale to overcome the pressure of the machine. (or thats the feeling. Clearly the feeling) All all 18 wires are tied back from your face and scalp behind you it literally pulls on your skin the whole night. The cords restrain a lot of your movements. And the mask, sorta like pilots face gear, doesn't allow you to lay flat on your stomach ever. The fact that the doctor was 6 foot 5 with white long hair and was easily the last true representation of the hippie generation didn't help me. I fell asleep. After 1 hour I woke up with him trying to wake me up telling me he needed to adjust the machine because I quit breathing. At hour 4 I awoke myself in a panic of not being able to breath and claustrophobia so strong I ripped all the gear off of me. The Doc rushed in and informed him I was done. He said he got more than enough info.

The bottom lines were easy for him to determine and hard for me to hear............

He said they like to see 95% saturation of oxygen and never below 90%. 90% doesn't give the heart nearly enough oxygen and at my age and size I am damaging my heart each night. My doctor said my already enlarged heart will get worse til I have a heart attack if this isn't corrected. This Doctor said he had been doing medical research for 19 years on sleep apnea. He wrote some of the first papers on the problems. And with over 50,000 test subjects he is quite certain what he is talking about. The Machine looks like this (last night) only this isnt me and its missing the hose and the mask was bigger.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/delina/2593459041/

OK, so here is the question Mary asked last night, that I refused to answer, and the one some of you will ask me now. Whats next and how severe? I need to lose at least 50 pounds ASAP, take medication to help open my passageways, Sleep each night with this crap on my face, and take a pill each night that will reduce my anxiety. (long other story about suicide thoughts that come with this territory for some people) I , unfortunately, am one of them. Yes, I have woke up nights with the most horrible fear.... and no cause. The feeling of dread adn wanting to stop life..... and I don't know why. Those nights it is all I can do to use logic and reason and try to stay sane til it passes.

Our Neighborhood Car Wash

Where in the world can you go through your 

neighborhood car wash and

get your picture taken?

Here in our town.

Mark took his truck through the car wash - TWICE!

Briggor and Dad

Megan and Dad

More Elf-capades

Oliver, our elf, sure likes to stir up some trouble.

We never know what we are going to find when

we wake up in the morning.

He made himself an Elf Bath full of marshmallows!!

 He is really liking the Christmas decorations.

We have a few more weeks of his mischief.

He brings a smile to our faces everyday.

Bakersfield Christmas Parade

Last night, the kids and I braved the chilly weather and went downtown to

see the Bakersfield Christmas Parade.

We had a great time!

Enjoy the bands, the floats, the people.

It was great to see the kids screaming

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

to all the people in the parade.

Megan, Megan's friend Skylar, Tasha, Jade, Briggor and Bud

Briggor with his Spongebob Smile!

Megan and her friend Skylar

Tasha and Jade

Buddy the Elf

Briggor and Bud

Briggor and Mom

Our House Elf, Oliver Snow

Our House Elf, Oliver Snow, has gotten into A LOT of mischief the first few days he has been here.

Santa wasn't kidding when he wrote in his letter that 

elves can me naughty.

One morning, we found Oliver on the kitchen table making snow angels in

the sugar.

 Then he made himself a zip line from the ceiling fan to the table lamp.

He was caught in the morning hanging from a candy cane.

 Then, we are not sure what he was looking for but he got himself stuck,

upside down in my flower vase on top of the mantel.

Briggor's Afterschool To Do List

Briggor with the help of Megan wrote out an Afterschool To Do list......this is precious!  Not necessarily in any order whatsoever   :)

1.  Chores
2.  Video Games
3.  Play Cars 2 game
4.  Eat Snack
5.  Go to Bathroom (maybe)
6.  Do homework
7.  Watch Dragonball Z (maybe)
8.  Rest
9.  Fall Asleep (maybe)
10.Eat Dinner
11.Drink Water
12.Watch a movie at night
13.Play on the computer
14.watch Cartoon Network
15.Get into comfy clothes
16.Empty out backpak
17.Acting like a dog in the car!  (NOTE FROM MOM:  He likes to hang out the window after I pick him up from the bus  LOL)
18.dessert
19.going to bed

Tasha turns 15!!

Today we celebrated Tasha's 15th birthday!

Cozy Fire Pit

Spending  time around the fire pit is one of our families greatest memories.

It's a place we can laugh, share, and just relax.

We had a few guests last night around the fire.

The men were smoking cigars.

The ladies had a warm cup of hot chocolate.

It was a wonderful evening of sharing!

Andrew

Brandon

Kenzie and Ryan

Brandon on guitar

Christmas Lights

See what happens when you come home for the holidays.....

Andrew was recruited to put up my Christmas Lights with the

help of his little brother.

Will post the finished project in a later post.  

It looks beautiful!

Our Christmas Elf Arrived.....

The doorbell rang after dinner on Thanksgiving day.

Nettie heard the door bell and opened the front door to find a package addressed to the

Mendenhall Family.

 Briggor was so excited to see the package.  He opened it with a smile on his face.

The package was from Santa and a letter from Santa was inside.

Santa explained that he sent a Christmas Elf to our

house to live and watch over all the children here from now

until Christmas Eve.

 This is Oliver Snow, our Christmas Elf.  He is still by day but roams the house at night.

He checks on all the children and observes them from different locations

around the house.

Santa warned us that elves are known for their mischief and that we should be

aware that elves like to play and get into things at night!

Oliver Snow is to report to Santa on Christmas Eve when he arrives with a report about each child's behavior - good or bad.

On Christmas Eve, Santa will take Oliver back to the North Pole with him.

This should be an interesting month before Christmas!

Elf stories to follow........

Mendenhall Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving!  All 8 of our kids were home for the holiday.

The kids hung out together, played games together, caught up on everyone's life.

 Andrew and Ryan spent time playing video games.

 Mark left a message for the family!

 While the turkey was in the oven, Mark oversaw the Mendenhall Turkey Games.

The games were a great way to pass the day.

The weather was perfect.

It was girls against the boys.

 Shooting hoops..... best out of 10 shots each!

 Tasha shooting hoops with style!

 Bud showing off his style!

 Our boys!

 Our girls!

 Turkey egg race!

 The raw egg toss!  Andrew and Tasha receiving the egg toss from Ryan and Megan.

 Oops!  Tasha dropped it!

 Smiling faces, making memories, enjoying each other.

 Skateboarding to see who can coast down the driveway the longest!

 A little frisbee golf!

 Andrew and Brandon, our bonus son!

 After an afternoon of games and a skavenger hunt, it was time for turkey and

family talk!

We stuffed ourselves with food all day!  It was a great day for all!

We all joined hands and Mark prayed over our meal.  He thanked the Lord for making it

possible that all our kids were home!  I cried because I love my family so much!

Another Mendenhall Thanksgiving complete!