Movie Day

Today, we took it pretty easy at home (slept late, late breakfast/brunch), and then we went to see Marley and Me at the new theater by our house. We bought the tickets online, so we just picked them up at the kiosk. LOVE that. Of course, Mark was late with Grams and Papa, and he thought it was funny to pretend that he thought the movie was 2 hours later when I called to check on them. What a comedian! The concessions at the new theater is a bit different. It is like going through a cafeteria line. You get popcorn, self-serve your drinks, pick up candy, etc and then pay on the way out of the line. It works pretty well, but it was different. From my theater working days, I like the idea of trying different things. I am not sure it is much more efficient, but it is new. :)

The theater has a dining area where only adults can go. Since we had the kids, we had to sit in the “regular” theater seating. Even though we got there early, the theater was full, and we had to sit in the third row. Man it was close! The seats were nice and rocked. The movie was fantastic. It definitely ranks in the top 5 movies I have seen this year. It even made the entire family cry. Been a long time since a movie got everyone! I thought it was pretty typical of relationships and it was great with the people/pet relationships. It was just a great movie. After the movie, Chris drove us to the new mall for Morgan to get the book Twilight. Katie has been reading it and is now on the second book, so Morgan is now wanting to join in. She seems to love it so far. Chris is getting better at driving. It is fun to watch him learn.

After that, we went home and relaxed for a bit. Mike and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Awww...

The Day After Christmas

Gift cards were burning holes in the kids' pockets, so we went shopping today. Michael wasn't feeling well, but he was a trooper anyway. We went to Best Buy where he picked out his electric keyboard, and the girls got Sims expansion packs. Amy looked at elliptical machines again.

I have been getting requests to join Facebook, so I finally made the plunge today. I am still figuring it out, but I couldn't believe that I let Mike and Mark both beat me to a social networking event! :) So, now that I am there, come on and comment on my wall! :)

We went to Travis' for a party in the evening, and the new margarita machine got a workout! I think it was a huge hit. Mike must have made 20 pitchers of margaritas, and the kids had virgin strawberry daiquiris. The Bond boys were hysterical, and Heather C finally arrived late with Aidan and Sean. Sam even remembered his bathing suit this time! Abhijeet was wanting the chicken wings from Publix so much that he went to pick them up! The sushi was a huge hit and was demolished pretty quickly. Kim had her new baby there, and she is adorable. Jennifer proved that she is fantastic with babies (we think we might have to ask her to babysit!). Mark McCune even showed for a while! It was lots of fun and it was great to unwind after the hectic holiday schedule.

The Bond Boys hamming it up.

Morgan and the Bond Boys

Camden and the adorable oven mitt


Jennifer holding Kims' Beautiful Baby

Camden Scolding Uncle Mark

Riley (the previously shy one) singing Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (Morgan's FAVORITE when she was younger)

Hysterical Moment when the hot tub drained and the jets were pelting the kids (listen for "turn off the jets, turn off the jets")

Group Photos and Evil Mike

Waiting for Mike's report on the MyVu glasses...(Amy is so jealous!)

McFalls and Gleasons (And Abhijeet!)

Raided these from Morgan's Camera today

Merry Christmas!

I am back from my blog holiday, and I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I needed a little break, and it has been pretty stressful with work, holidays, and kidney stones (I am getting them blasted by lithotripsy on Jan 5). I was in Atlanta last week, and my family arrived Monday/Tuesday for Christmas. Cleaning, shopping, working, etc was pretty hectic, but thankfully we made it to Christmas and have now survived the holiday!

Grams and Papa came in on Monday (they drove down), and Mike came in on Tuesday. I worked on Tuesday and part of the day on Wednesday, and I am off until Monday. :) Grams and Papa braved the traffic to get Mike during rush hour, and then we all went to the new mall for dinner. Cantina Laredo, which was very good the first time we went, was very bad this time in the service department. The food was good, but the service was horrific. In fact, it was so bad that I asked for a manager and NEVER had one even bother to come to the table. They did rescue us by sending a different server - thankfully. My mom didn't care for the margaritas (I like them though), and she said her food was so so. I had the fajitas and they were great. Morgan asked for some plain cheese dip early on, but they didn't bring it for over 45 min). Also, we asked for water and margaritas several times with no luck. She was dreadful. Thankfully, the new waiter was much better and turned the service around.

Mike and Mark stayed at our house, and it was really nice to have the family all together. It was too bad that the kids weren't here though. They didn't come until today as they were in Atlanta with Dana's family.

I took Morgan to the doctor on Christmas Eve as she was still hacking away after 5 days of the antibiotic and 12 days of coughing. He gave her an inhaler (which took a while to convince her that inhalers were not only for kids who have asthma) and some prednisone. Hopefully she will be better soon.

We had fantastic paella for dinner (Papa makes the best paella/jamballaya),and it was just fantastic to be around each other. Mike and I did some last minute shopping to try to work around Mark's apparant dislike for the presents that we got him. It was hysterical. Mike and I were cracking up). It was almost as if he knew what we had gotten and was messing with our heads.

We hung out Christmas Eve and even sang some Christmas songs. Morgan woke up the earliest she has in years for Christmas morning, and we got up around 7:45. Santa was very good to us, and we had a great time today. I got a new watch that looks nice for business, a Margaritaville margarita machine, a Tennessee serving tray, earrings (4 pair!), a beautiful Mom bracelet, a wine club membership, some euros for our trip, gift cards, money, and more! The family even got a blue ray player from the cats! :) The kids arrived around 2, and Alice, Marion, and Matthew arrived a little before 2. Abhijeet came over for dinner too! We had a fantastic time and a fabulous dinner!

I hope everyone had a fantastic day!

Morgan's Christmas Concerts

On Thursday, Morgan's chorus at her school had a concert. It was in the cafeteria and was very nice. There are three music teachers at her school, and Mr. G was my favorite. He was hysterical and entertained the parents.



On Friday, the same chorus performed the same concert but at the new Wiregrass mall here. The new mall is HOT as it is outside and very nice. This area has been very starved for a mall, and the new one is very popular. Right now, they are doing a Christmas lights show as you can see below (a very quick samples).

Here is a sample of my favorite of her chorus songs. It is called Pinata!

Scary Pharmacy Incident

So, I have to go back for another visit next week for lithotripsy. There is some new machine that will supposedly work better for my remaining stones, so I will get them all blasted next week too.

I got a new prescription for Urocit K (Potassium Citrate) which is supposed to get the pH of the urine to a level that kidney stones won't form. So far, I have been taking 1 tablet twice a day. So, today, the doc upped my dose to 2 tablets twice a day. Well, the Walgreens pharmacist misread the script and filled it as THREE times a day. I was looking at it and thinking, "Didn't he say twice a day??" So, I call the pharmacy and ask him to verify it. He says, "that b and t look an awful lot alike" and then he says, "oh, it must be twice a day as he wrote for 120 tablets and 4 tablets a day times 30 days would be 120 tablets." HOLY SHIT. This is a perfect example of why we need electronic prescriptions and e-prescribing. My doctor wrote the script at the bedside on a pad, but if he had done it on the computer it would have been legible, accurate, and would have been waiting for me when I got to the pharmacy. When we were in Hilton Head for Thanksgiving, the doctor faxed Morgan's script (not e-Rx but better than handwritten or printing). When we got to the pharmacy, it was all ready to go. LOVE to see what I do apply to ME for a change. I wish it had been the same today. Postassium is not exactly something to mess around with either.

Regardless, I am home, safe, and on pain meds trying to feel better before I go in again for the "new and improved" lithotripsy."

Thanksgiving in Hilton Head

Even feeling badly, it was great to be with family for Thanksgiving. Once again, Mom and Dad had quite the spread every single day, and we enjoyed being together. Unfortunately, Morgan and Mike started feeling badly on Wednesday night, and they both got progressively worse.

The Vols won, and the Titans won. The rest of the family had a rough weekend.

It was not fun on the way back. It took us 9 hours to get home, and it rained the entire way. Traffic was awful, and Morgan and Katie were both feeling badly. Katie now has the sore throat that Morgan and Mike have. Lovely. Mark and I want to spray ourselves with Lysol every day.

By today, both of them had fevers. YUCK...

I am ready to get these stones out. Will be a happy day.