Disney Adventure - Day One Complete

Well, it is 9:00 on New Year's eve 2010 and we are turning out the lights! We have had an awesome but long day! Mattie May is already asleep, Frank is watching football and Katie and I are headed to la la land too. We have to leave the hotel in the morning at 5:30 AM to get to the airport on time and go through all the security measures.

One short note, I gave Mattie May a journal for Christmas. I don't know why. She doesn't spell very well yet but I saw it and thought she might like it. And for other reasons unknown, I threw it in the suitcase as we were packing. When I saw it in there this afternoon I had the bright idea to have her tell us her favorite part of the day each day! She loved the idea!! So I left her a little room at the bottom of the page and she added a picture! When we get home I will scan the pages and make those my posts! If I have time after we arrive in FL to do any post, I may tell some of the story but I won't let you know that was what she wrote about!

One last funny note - when we finished writing in her journal tonight, she looked up at me and said "I'm going to have these in a book one day." LOL My Mattie May, already planning on writing her life story!

God Bless Your New Year!!!

The Excitement Continues

Well Christmas has come and gone and we had a great time. I hope to get some pictures up this week but I'm not sure that is going to happen. The excitement continues around our house as we get ready for Mattie May's birthday trip. I can't believe how close it is! Look at our countdown calendar in the right side bar. It has gone from over a year to just days! Mattie May reminds us daily how many more days we have so I really don't need that calendar! LOL

We have already started packing and getting things together for the trip. Last night Mattie May packed her backpack. Such a smart girl, she asked her mom for a spare set of clothes in case hers get dirty! I promise, no prompting from any of the adults in the house. She did that all on her own!

I have been looking back at my little blog post from this past year. There have been not nearly enough. Call it a resolution if you want, but I am going to try hard this coming year to post each day. Even if it is just a short one to remind me that life is great and everyone is happy. 2010 started out great, but before the first month was over, things went downhill. It has been a difficult year, with so much of it being focused on that wreck. We never thought it would be that time consuming, but it was a major focus through about mid year. We then started trying to focus on our trip, but Mattie May started school, soccer and karate and our focus was changed again.

Frank had knee surgery in August, and much of my time went to that. Not that he couldn't do things for himself (he walked out of the clinic by himself!), it was that I just kept worrying about his recovery. That's just the way I am.

So now with the holidays mostly behind us, we can get ready to go. 2011 is going to be a great year and we plan on starting it off with a bang. There will be many firsts to report on this trip, for all four of us. Starting with Mattie May's first ride on an airplane! That should be fun.

This is the first time that any of us have been to Disney! Frank said he plans on being a big kid! I don't know why he thinks that is any different than what he usually is, but we are definitely going to have a great time.

Just in case I don't get back here until we get back, I wish you all safe and blessed new year! 2011 is going to be great!

Ephesians 6:14-15

We are so close to Christmas, I just can't believe it! There are only four circles left on Santa's beard (Mattie May's count-down-calendar she made at school) and only three chocolates left in her advent box I bought for her at Christmas in November. I don't have a single gift wrapped, and I am sure I will find a few I still need to buy. We have just been busy. With what? I really don't know. We are just doing something all the time.

"The Chronicles of Narnia - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" has been in theaters for weeks and we have yet to see it. That is because Mattie May and I are reading the book and we aren't finished with it. As much as she wants to see it, she agrees with me that we

should finish reading before we do.

We have made cookies and cupcakes this month and if you have been keeping up, a gingerbread house was completed too!

It has been almost a month since I posted that I had all my Christmas cards addressed and ready to mail, and they were, sort of. There were a couple being mailed overseas and it took me a little longer to get to the post office than I had intended and then I had to give them time to arrive. We then received some cards from several people that were not on my list and we had to order more cards. That was a first for us.

Thankfully, we chose to have the cards printed instead of me making them. I don't know where I would have found the time to make more.

This is the fifth addition of our card to feature Mattie May. She has really changed this year, from a toddler to a little girl. Long gone are the dog ears that I love so much. Looking back at the last four cards, we just couldn't see how we could keep doing them the way we were and trying to make the next one better than the last. So we agreed to make some changes but keep the cards the same (clear as mud, right?)

In 2006, we were given an amazing gift from God, and what better way to give a gift than to wrap it up in a box with a bow...

2006

We had the angel announcing the birth of the King of Kings...

2007

The next year, we let her chose who she wanted to be and she chose one of her favorite stories, Esther, a wonderful story of faith...

2008

She also chose her character last year. She loves to play "mommy" so of course she chose Mary, so very tired from the journey to Bethlehem but lovingly caring for her new born son, the Son of God...

2009

We just felt that we couldn't make a better card and with her starting school, we couldn't find the time to do the picture. She is so very tired when she gets home in the evenings; school all day and then karate until about seven. Then add a tournament and belt tests on top of that and we were really pressed for time. And once the pictures were done, I would have to find the time to make the cards.

I was going through some pictures I had taken at her latest belt test and I found one of those lucky shots. You know the ones I mean, a great picture among some that are not so great. I showed it to Frank and he had the same idea I did. And to top it off, I had just read a scripture that fit perfectly.

Mixon Family Christmas Card 2010

Ephesians 6: 14 - 15

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled

around your waist, with the breastplate of

righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted

with the readiness that comes from the

gospel of peace.

I added this larger picture so you could see it a little better.

See...I told you the card was going to be different, but I promised it would be the same. A scripture from His Word and a picture to help tell the story.

In all the hustle and bustle that comes along with this time, please remember to sit with your children and remind them that it is not about all the gifts but about The Gift that was given to us by God.

From our family to yours, we pray for you a very Merry Christmas.

Things heard while building a gingerbread house

My family built a gingerbread house the other night and these are just a few things I heard when I would pass through the kitchen.

"GRUMPY! You have a crack!"

" I don't want to be the brick man!"

"Put in on my tongue!"

"I think I'm going to get my drill before I go any further"

"Hey it looks like pthhhhhhhh!"

"Uh, H.el.l.o.O! I need ssome S.n.o.w.O.W!"

"If they have an M on it put that side down so no one will know!"

"And I'm doing a fantastic job"

"It's OK, if you think its peppermint it's not."

Grumpy - "what is it"

MM "It's icing!"

The finished house!

Christmas Cards 2010

I know, it has been almost a month since my last post. So sorry! But time is just getting away from me. I know I promised you some first, and I will get to them, it just may be after the first of the year. But I promise, I am keeping track of them all and will get them posted. Remember, I keep this blog as record of all the fun things Mattie May does, so I have to get them in here eventually.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. As much as I love Christmas and Easter, I do think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. We spend time with family on every other holiday, but they all seem so rushed and commercial. Thanksgiving almost gets overlooked. For us it is a time of visiting with those who have traveled to see us and this year, on Saturday, we will be going to visit Ralph and his family. We are hoping that some day we will be able to actually spend Thanksgiving day with them, but it just isn't in the cards right now.

One thing I have done this year that I can almost not believe, I have my Christmas Cards ready and waiting for stamps. Yes, your read that right. They are done, addressed, sitting in their pretty white envelopes waiting for stamps so they can be dropped in the mail. Surprising, I know!

If you have read my blog for long, you know this is a big deal for Frank and I. They are special to us, and we put quite a bit of thought and work into them. This year, there is a change! Oh don't get to worried. They are the same yet different. There is a special scripture and of course the picture of Mattie May, but the style is a bit different. Sorry, but they haven't been mailed yet, so I can't share them just yet. But I probably will next week. In the mean time, scroll down to the tags on my right side bar and click the Christmas Card tag. It will bring up all the post of my past Christmas cards.

I can give you a hint - the scripture comes from Ephesians. I am afraid to give more than that. If you keep up with us and Mattie May, if I am more specific, you would probably figure it out! I promise, you won't have to wait long for the results!

I hope you all have a safe and fun holiday. And if you see me Friday morning, be sure to say hi and tell me who you are. I will probably still have sleep in my eyes and won't be able to focus very well. And I don't see that good anyway!

Y'all have fun and remember the number one rule of shopping on black Friday - HAVE FUN AND KEEP A SMILE ON YOUR FACE!!

A Few More First

Yes, I realize I have been MIA for a over a week. I don't know why, I guess I have just been busy. So I will be catching up on some of the first from the last 10 days (some of these things are probably TMI, but I do post to have record of memories of Mattie May, so please bear with me. Just skip over the parts that gross you out!)

Friday September 24, 2010 - First Blister Bug Bite

Yes I skipped over this little detail from my last post. I really didn't think it was that big of a deal. While getting dressed for bed, Katie noticed something on Mattie May's...um...rear that concerned her. To her it looked like a cigarette burn, to me a bite. I told her we would check on it the next morning. And we did. OH MY! It was a huge blister and I new instantly what it was. I have had one before. Yuk! We managed to get a band-aid on it (not really a place for a band-aid where it was!). After soccer, we checked it out again and it had burst. We tried hard to keep it clean, dry and covered, but it was just in a terrible place.

Tuesday September 28, 2010 - First School Field Trip

Mattie May's class took a field trip to May Farm. Oh yes, she has been to May Farm on more occasions than I can count, visited the animals (and Mrs. Brenda) at the fair and at church during SBA, so this was nothing new. What was new? She got to go without parents or grandparents and she rode on a school bus to get there! The first thing she did was find Mrs. Brenda and give her a gigantic hug and probably a kiss. Then she got in trouble for putting feed in the water trough after being told not too! Oops! Sorry Mrs. Brenda. She had a great time but no pictures. I really didn't trust her with my camera without any of us around!

Wednesday September 29, 2010 - STAPH and other gross things!!! (Queasy? You may want to skip this part!)

Yes! I know! Yuk!!! After school, karate, supper, then church, it was bath time which Mattie May normally loves! As soon as she sat down, she started crying and saying her bug bite hurt and she wouldn't lower her rear into the tub. We got her to lay down in the tub so we could look and the spot had gotten much bigger and looked like a burn that was healing. Frank told us to get her out and we headed to the walk in clinic. The PA took one look and gasped that it looked like staph. She took a culture, prescribed an ointment and antibiotic and told us they would let us know ASAP the results of the culture. OH!!! Mattie May did not like that ointment at all! We managed to get it on twice a day and on Monday they called us to let us know it was staph, but that they had put the ointment on the culture and it killed the infection. After visiting with Dr. Cooksey, he told us to continue what they had prescribed since it seemed to work in the lab. On Thursday, as I was getting home after picking Mattie May up at Karate, Katie was getting her out of her car seat and noticed her scratching her head. Yep! You got it! Lice! UGH!!!!! So after an extremely quick supper, Katie started the process of treating her head and I started the

process of cleaning beds, furniture, linens, anything that child had touched in the past week was either bleached or treated! (I know this is gross!!! But do some research on lice. They like CLEAN heads!!) Lesson Learned! Now that she is in public school and after talking to Michelle, we now have a product to treat her head with daily! Ask the pharmacy for it if you are interested! Let me tell you a few things you can count on, if your kids go to public school they have a good chance of getting lice and if you come to my house 1) it will always have a supply of treatment for hair and furniture 2) My house will always smell like bleach!

Saturday October 2, 2010 - First Belt Test

Mattie May had her first belt test. She was so excited. Not once did she ever get nervous. She did great! Even though she had a bit of trouble on the obstacle course (she had trouble jumping the bars with her feet together), we think she did great and now has her Little Dragon Yellow Belt. That is a first for our entire family!

Sunday October 3, 2010 - First Soccer Goal

Due to the rains the previous weekend, her team had a make-up game on Sunday. I'm not crazy about having things on Sunday because that is family day, but thankfully it was at 1:00, so it didn't interfere with church activities. And because it was on a Sunday, Poppa and Lorraine were able to be there. She actually acted like she was glad to be there playing. At the time, we were ahead 1-0. They kicked off and Mattie May took off with the ball. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. The only problem was she was headed the wrong direction!!! Yes that's right! The first time she scores, she does it for the other team! We were laughing so hard! But that was OK. She took off and never looked back. And to make it even better, with the next kick off, their team took the ball and scored in our goal so that made it alright!

Thursday October 7, 2010 - First School Pictures

We had no problems getting her out of bed today! She already had decided what she was going to wear - her red "rock star" outfit we had bought before school started and high top sneakers! To many things to describe so I will post a picture once we get them back!

WOW! Are you as tired as I am?! That was a lot for 7 days! This weekend she has another first to look forward to and hopefully, I will get that posted before the news is a week old! I hope you have a blessed weekend. I am going to get a nap before the weekend starts!

It's Dropped below 100!

I just noticed my countdown to Disney has dropped to below 100! WOW! I still don't know if I have everything together! But what is even more unbelievable is that Christmas is now less than 100 days away too!

Everybody get ready for the rush!!

First, First time at Karate

This post is a few weeks behind, but I just cant seem to catch up! It's as if we have something to do every night. But I love it! It is so nice to have a little one to chase around again. It's been a long time since Katie was this little!

When Mattie May started Pre-K, that meant that she couldn't go to her day care any longer. They don't pick up from school, so Katie had to find someone that would. She had seen advertised that one of the martial arts schools had an after school program so she called.

We were a bit nervous at first. None of us had ever been in any type of martial arts. When Katie and I went in to get her signed up, she was allowed to go into the class that was going on to see if she would like it. Let's just say she did! She didn't want to leave!

And we love it too! When she gets home she is hungry so she eats her supper. She is stinky from the 2 1/2 hours she has spent at the DOJO and is ready for a bath. And she is so tired so is usually asleep before we make it through one chapter of her book! So it works out great for us all!

Enjoy the pictures. Since I don't know much about what it is she does, I will let them speak for themselves!

God Bless!

Soccer Practice #2

Today, Mattie May had her second soccer practice.

It was another very pretty day.

After the rains we've had the past two days, it wasn't to humid.

As soon as we got there, she said she wanted to go home.

Who could blame her!

She had just had 2 1/2 hours of karate!

Grumpy got her to stay.

She picked at the grass a couple of times,

the water breaks were too many to count,

and she only eyed the birds for a minute before she decided they were faster than her.

This is my favorite picture of the night.

I think maybe she's having fun!

First, First Soccer Practice August 30 2010

This should have been posted last week to continue Mattie May's week of first, but oh well! Lolo gets behind sometimes! On Monday she had her first, first soccer practice. Katie took my camera and she and Grumpy stayed for the fun. I went home to get supper done so we could keep her schedule as best as possible.

It was a fantastic August day in west Texas, beautiful blue sky's and just a little wind.

Mattie May was ready even though she had just gotten out of karate, she was ready to go play soccer. I guess we forgot to explain to her what it meant to "practice"!

But she was ready none the less.
There was absolutely nothing that could distract this kid!

Focus! That was the plan! Focus on the ball..

Really staying focused on the ball!
Nothing could distract her, not even the practice cones

Well, OK! Maybe the practice cones!

Now, on to some kicking drills.

Uh, Mattie May, kick it with your foot! It's soccer, we don't use our hands!

Getting a little personal instruction from the coach.

Well at least she has the waiting her turn part down.

She has another practice Thursday and her first game on Saturday. I hope her coach has lots of patients. I think she's going to need it!

A First for Katie and I this Weekend!

Time is getting away from me again! Since Mattie May has started school it just seems like we are busy every night!

This weekend, we went to Dallas. Katie and I attended a wedding on Sunday afternoon that went into the night. It was a first for both of us as it was a traditional Indian wedding. We Americans think we have the costly traditions for weddings but they don't hold a candle to what we saw this weekend. I am so thankful that Katie chose me to go with her. It is an experience that I will never forget. From the beautiful (and colorful!) saris that the women wore to the food we ate. It was all beyond description! The wedding was held at the Adolphus hotel, which was another first for both of us. We had never been to this hotel which was, for lack of adjectives, amazing!

Frank and Mattie May stayed at our hotel while we were at the wedding. They swam and ordered room service. That was a first for Mattie May. We have ordered pizza in our room before but not actual room service. I think she enjoyed it!

Monday, we headed to the Dallas Zoo. Of course, what Mixon trip would be complete without getting lost! Even with GPS technology, we seem to manage this every trip. This time we got lost in downtown Dallas. But as usually happens, we were glad we did. We found a historic cemetery and a memorial to cattle drives in front of the convention center. I guess that is what you would call it. I did take pictures so you can help me decide once I get them posted.

Hot and crowded, those are the adjectives I am choosing for the zoo. We had to park in the overflow, overflow, overflow parking! We almost didn't go, but try explaining that one to a four year old that you had already told you were taking to the zoo! Nope, that wasn't going to happen! It was fun and once inside, really wasn't that crowded. We had a really good time and Frank rode the monorail for the first time. Or the hot box as our guide described it! They normally don't allow food or drink on the train, but due to the heat we were allowed to take drinks on. Thank you Dallas Zoo. I hope to have pictures of this later this week.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend. I will have more first pictures from last week soon. I have to finish my fair entries today. My mom laughed and said it reminded her of the "good ol' days" trying to finish 4-H projects into the wee hours of the night. I guess some things never change!

Continuing with Another First

This past week, Mattie May started school. You can read all about that here. And we finished the week with another first, she went to her first Texas Rangers baseball game. It was a lot of fun. (Please note that I forgot my camera, so the following pictures are from Frank's, Makaley's and my cell phone cameras.)

We had to take a picture as soon as we got in the hotel.

(In the window of course!)

Then she had to check out the bed!

We finally headed out to the Ballpark at Arlington.

We rode a trolley from the hotel to the stadium.

Kauy and Mattie May were having a blast.

Grumpy and Mattie May played some games,

got some tattoos,

and posed for some pictures for Lolo.

She fell in love with this window. Look how high she is

and it looks like she is standing outside.

(This is in the restroom!)

We found our seats.

then a picture with Mommie and Makaley.

Then she got some cotton candy!

(Frank took this picture. Isn't it great?)

Then he changed it back to color!

Duck lips!

WOW! Those are some blue lips!

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel.

Then we headed to Grumpy's favorite store,

Bass Pro Shops!

Naming the fish.

She is getting pretty good at this!

She had to show us a few things to add to her Christmas list!

A little camping with some friends.

Practicing getting to weigh in.

(She plans on being the first woman to

win the Bassmaster Championship!)

She loves this crazy shark.

Grumpy decided she needed to do some kayaking.

Then back to the fish tank.

An albino catfish

Then we did some shopping at Grapevine Mills mall.

She got so tired she just couldn't hold her head up any more.

From here we went to visit Ralph and then headed home. It was a great weekend even though we were just gone overnight. We look forward to our next trip to this area and hope to make it to the zoo next time.