Another Great Play

The Moran Clan went to TokyoHana for dinner on Christmas Eve after our church service. TokyoHana is essentially the Lake Highlands version of Benihana. The 5 of us sat at a hibachi grill while the cook prepared our food right in front of us, tricks and all. This was our kids first experience with hibachi grills, and they loved it!

At the end of the meal our sweet Japanese waitress asked the kids if they would like some ice cream. Of course they did! She then asked my kids, "You want BANILLA?"

Kyle's response: "What, what is that! Is that like Spanish for Vanilla?"

Nice one Kyle! (A little side note: Matt and I have resorted to speaking in Spanish often lately because our kids are too old now to figure things out whenever we spell words.)

Minutes later Kyle was served the "banilla" ice cream. He didn't really like it,so he proceeded to slide it across the table towards me. I stuck my hand out and actually caught it as it was flying off the table.

Kyle's response: "Another great play by Mommy!"

Today we went to our little cabin in the woods outside of Fairfield, Texas, otherwise known as "The Land". Kyle wanted a banana for breakfast, so I told him to bring it to me so I could open it for him. Rather than walking it over to me, he hurled it across the room. The banana hit the side of the bunk bed and landed on the floor. When Kyle walked over to it, he noticed the peel was split in half.

Kyle's response: "Another great play by Kyle!"

Whisper Down The Lane...More Like a Yell

A friend of mine once told me she uses the "whisper down the lane" method for gifts.  She tells her kids what she wants, the kids then tell her husband, and she gets what she wants without technically asking for it.  So about a week ago, I thought I would try the whisper down the lane method this year for Christmas.  I told Lauren to tell Daddy I would like gas logs.  About 5 hours later when he walked in the door from work, sweet Lauren shouted out, "Daddy, Mommy wants gas logs for Christmas!"  So much for the gas logs, because Matt doesn't really like to get me things I ask for--he likes to surprise me.  

So today, Matt left for the day to go "Christmas shopping."  He took the Suburban, and I have a feeling his shopping involved installing a DVD player in the car.  We will soon see.  I could be wrong, but I am pretty good at figuring out his surprises---except for the time he completely took me off guard by a surprise trip to the Virgin Islands for our 10 year anniversary.  And he also pulled off a surprise 30th birthday party for me.  So, I guess I am really NOT that good at figuring out his surprises.  

Last year we cut down our Christmas tree from "The Land".  This year, we unfortunately did not have time to go down to Fairfield to cut one down.  So this year, we had to resort to actually purchasing a live tree. We first went to Lowe's and they were basically sold out.  We then went to Home Depot and there were 2 trees left.  They were quite wimpy.  I told the man I didn't want to pay full price for such a wimpy tree--serves us right for waiting so long to buy one.  So here is our Christmas tree this year.  Not so bad for $43!  

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

from the

family ! ! !

Santa's Email

A friend of mine brought Luke home from school today because Lauren was not feeling well. She asked Luke what he wanted for Christmas.  His response was, "Nothing."  

She then proceeded to ask Luke if he was going to write Santa a letter to tell him about all the things he wanted for Christmas.  He responded, "I am just going to e-mail him." 

It is a good thing he wants nothing because I am not so sure Santa has e-mail!

Let it Snow!

OK so it seemed to have just snowed in White Rock Valley (our neighborhood). Here is our house with snow. The kids did NOT get a snow day, but I do think this is the most snow White Rock Elementary has ever seen!   

The kids built a snowman over at a friends house, and here he is a day later when the snow melted. 

With all the snow, I decided to break out my sewing machine, dust it off, and put it to some use to make some new stockings for the Moran Clan.  Notice there is only one...it may be 4 more Christmases before we get a full set of 5!  I am not so sure the hubby is going to like them; however, Lauren and I think they are FABULOUS!

A Win Win Situation---Not So Much a Winner!

OK, mommy had the brilliant idea:  I told my kids they could have 10 cents for each Christmas card they hand deliver.  We save 32 cents, and we all get to spend some time as a family riding bikes through the neighborhood.  I thought they would love it!  It all sounded great in theory.  We turned around after the 3rd block and headed back home.  Needless to say, almost everyone we sent a card to will now be receiving a stamped one.  This is not our Christmas Card photo because that would have been too easy, but here are our kids, Christmas 2008.  (The Moran kids were 0-1-3 for basketball this day.)  Again, not so much a winning day, but a winner of a picture---thank you Mr. Thomas and Santa!

The Hula Hoopsters!!!

Check out my kids' skills with their new hula hoops.

15 ER Visits (At Least That I Can Remember)...

Not quite sure of the exact order, but here they are:

1. Luke fell off the bed while sleeping.  Someone else was "watching him" (I mean talking on the phone with her boyfriend), and I was on the roof cleaning out my mom's gutters.  Matt was in trial and unable to be reached.  I waited several LONG hours at the Houston ER and Luke turned out to be just fine.
2. I tried putting Luke on my shoulders so he could dunk a basketball, and he fell off  onto the concrete driveway.  I was 8 months pregnant so this was not a wise move by mommy as my balance was a bit off.  Matt met me at the ER and Luke turned out to be fine.   
3. Luke stuck his finger in the oven vent and pulled it out resulting in 3 stitches.  Matt and I both took him into the ER.  They had to papoose him---too bad we didn't realize until after the stitches were in that there was a TV in the room.  It really would have distracted Luke!  
4. Luke ran into a sock display which cut his eye in the San Marcos outlet center.  Matt and I took him to the San Marcos ER and waited an extremely long time.  He was fine.   
5. Lauren was playing on the old bleachers at one of my soccer games.  A piece of wood about 3 inches long went into her hand.  I was playing soccer and had no idea any of this happened and that Matt had taken all 3 kids to the ER.  I was celebrating with my soccer team at Mexicali when I finally checked my voice mail.  The doctor got it out, no stitches needed.  I made it to the ER when Lauren was eating her popsicle and ready to go home.
6. Matt was extremely dehydrated due to a stomach bug.   Our friend Hite came over to watch the kids so that I could take him into the ER for an IV.
7. Kyle was trying on some of Lauren's underwear and tripped and fell and hit is head on the corner of a dresser.  Dermabond was used.  Our neighbor had to come over to watch the kids because Daddy was out of town.
8. Kyle cut his lip as he was walking on a pillow--an obstacle course our 6 year old had designed.  He received three stitches in the lip.  Daddy was hunting and he made it back to the ER just in time for the sedation.
9. I cut the top of my hand with a razor blade trying to change out the razor while scraping overspray off our living room windows.  I received three stitches and walked home from the Presbyterian ER.
10. Luke cut open his knee while playing football with a friend in our back yard.  He did "recover the football and run it back for a touchdown" before coming inside screaming his head off.  He received 5 stitches.  Matt was out of town, and the mom and 3 kids I had coming over for pizza that night ended up watching my other 2 kids for me.  Matt made it to the ER after the stitches were put in.
11. The day before Luke was to get his 5 stitches removed, he fell on his knee playing soccer with Daddy on Thanksgiving Day.  Matt and I missed the Thanksgiving Feast at my grandmoms so we could take him to the ER.  The doctor removed the 5 old stitches and put in 6 new ones.  Another 3 weeks of missing PE and recess for Luke in Kindergarten. What a bummer.
12. Lauren threw a red metal chair from the top of the fort in our back yard.  The chair landed right on Kyle's forehead---4 stitches.  I got all but one out so we had to call our Pediatrician to come up on his day off to take out the final stitch.
13. Lauren went to the ER in Tyler while we were at Family Camp because of what we thought might be an appendicitis, which actually turned out to be CONSTIPATION.  Matt took her while I stayed back at camp with the boys.
14. Our rollover incident off I-45 on July 26, 2008.  Lauren received 2 stitches (I really think she could have used a few more), and Luke was X-rayed for neck pain.  He was fine.  
15. I was tripped in my soccer game.  She hit me again in the air as I was attempting to roll out of it.  I landed straight down on my head and jammed my neck.  She did receive a YELLOW CARD!  It has taken me 3 weeks to heal, and I am still not 100%.  I went to the ER to make sure I didn't brake anything---thankfully, it was just muscle related.  Here I am icing my back after I was tripped.  We did win the game 3-1. 
    

Now here are some other Moran Clan injuries which thankfully did NOT result in a trip to the ER:

• Matt pulled his hamstring, but I still talked him into riding the MS 150 with me anyway.
• Kyle was stung by a bee in his friend's backyard.  He still played in his soccer game using his one good eye and really never complained.

The Lost Tooth!

It is amazing what will happen to one's front tooth when you bite a friend on the back because he won't give you the football.  Sorry CP!  I guess the question is---should the tooth fairy really even come?

Please Buckle Up!

It was July 26th, 2008.  We were headed back from Fairfield, TX,  to Dallas, driving North on I-45 just ouside of Ennis, to have dinner with some of our friends.  The kids were listening to a book on tape, I was driving, and Matt was sleeping in the passenger seat.  Lauren was in the far back passenger side of our 2003 white Suburban, Kyle was in the third row driver side, and Luke was sitting directly behind me in the second row.  The next thing I knew there was a dark SUV no more than 6 inches in front of me.  Knowing there was nothing I could do at this moment, we hit the back of the SUV, and I immediately started praying in my head over and over, "Lord keep us safe, Lord keep us safe...."  

We did a complete side flip in the air, hit the ground and rolled our Suburban two more times down the side of the embankment off I-45.  We landed wheels down and two men were immediately standing at my window.  All of our children were buckled and in car seats.  Matt obviously was awake now, and he surveyed the kids.  All of us were miraculously alive.  Luke had scratches and cuts all over the top of his feet from the window that shattered next to him, 

Lauren had a cut on her arm which resulted in 2 stitches that Matt wrapped up with a pillow case to help stop the bleeding,

and Kyle was completely unscathed. 

 

The two men at my window helped me climb out because the driver door wouldn't open.  They also helped us get our children out of the car.  Driving behind us at the time of the accident was a sweet couple who pastor the Cowboy Church off 45 in Ennis.  After seeing us fly through the air they immediately pulled over to help.  The wife held my crying daughter in her arms while I did my best to comfort our boys.   They helped us find our way down the hill, and were such a blessing to our family at this crazy moment in our lives.  They helped Matt find his glasses, gave us water and sat with my sweet children until the ambulance arrived. Knowing we could no longer drive our suburban due to its condition:

we opted to all take a ride in the ambulance which drove us to the Ennis Regional Medical Center.  Lauren received two stitches and Luke received X rays of his neck because he had neck pain.  Luke's X-rays turned out to be clear, yet another praise to God. As we were waiting in the ER (our 15th Moran family visit by the way) the couple from the Cowboy Church came by the hospital to see how we were doing.  They prayed for us, and we thanked them for being there for us.  

We called our friends to say we would NOT be coming for dinner as we were in the ER.  They asked if they could do anything for us and of course I said we were all fine.  I hung up the phone and 2 minutes later called them back to see if they could come pick us up in Ennis to take us back to Dallas.  Of course, they agreed---what great friends!  Matt and I were pretty sore for the next few weeks.  I thought I had glass in my head and saw the doctor a few days later, but it somehow seemed to have worked its way out.  I am truly thankful for the Lord protecting and keeping my family safe.  We never met or saw those in the dark SUV in front of us, but they too were OK.  So please, buckle up---even if it is just around the corner, or just down the street.  Please, buckle up.