Our Christmas Break

Elijah and I are off for two weeks for Christmas break and Jacob will be home for a whole month. My hone still has to work, but has the next three days off! We have actually gotten to sleep in a few mornings and we are enjoying the nice weather.

I completed my Master's Degree in Special Education from Texas Tech University this month. I am not a certified Educational Diagnostician. I am still waiting for my diploma to arrive in the mail! I can't wait to get it. I was able to print my certification out on the TEA website, and that definitely made it feel more real. I can't believe I have my master's degree! Jacob has only one more semester left in school and he will graduate with his associate's degree in May of next year!

Elijah is doing well. We went to see his doctor for his Tourette Syndrome, OCD and ADHD. She got to see a lot of his impulsivity at this visit. He was persistent at trying to get his way when she tried to talk to him. We are changing his medication a bit, and will go back in about six weeks. She mentioned a genetic test that might help pinpoint which medications would work best for him. The interesting thing, is this was mentioned at the Tourette Support Group meeting we attended back on Dec. 12th. I called the genetic company, and our insurance is not on their list yet, but I was assured the out of cost for me would not exceed an amount that I am willing to pay. I am going to take him next week for a cheek swab and then see what we can find out. The family at the support group meeting said that when they had the testing done, they learned a lot about the medications that would help their son and it has been very helpful. The doctor wants to possibly change his ADHD medication, but it is hard to know what to change him too, but hopefully this testing will help. I am excited about it, but don't want to get too excited

We are very excited about Christmas. Elijah got a new bed, which my hone, Jacob and I put together yesterday. Elijah helped some, but it was a small room and we needed all the room we could get to put the bed together. He did run some things back and forth for us and keep an eye on our progress. He was so excited to get his bed. Jacob's big gift is the car he is now driving. I have a few surprises for both boys. All of my other shopping is pretty much done. I have a few more things to pack. My honey and I want to go shopping and look at some jewelry. We just aren't sure if we want to fight the crowds tomorrow.

We have also been busy baking. I have been making snow ball cookies and will be making pralines later this week. We have also been making truffles! Jacob and Elijah love to help make truffles.

TRUFFLES

 My honey and I roll out the truffles and then put them in the sprinkles. The boys are in charge of making sure the truffles are covered in sprinkles.  They then put them in the mini muffin cups. Every 10th truffles requires a taste test for quality control and we each take our turn testing the truffles. We let them know what time we will be making truffles and the boys make sure they are there, or they know they miss out. We have fun as we make the truffles and it is a nice time to talk! We have made several batches of truffles.



Jacob and Elijah making truffles.

Today my nephew and niece came over and we made Christmas cookies. This is something else I enjoy doing this time of year. We had a lot of fun and the kids got to cut out cookies, bake them, and then decorate them. We use sprinkles on the cookies as well! My honey also has some Christmas favorites she likes to bake. We have been baking for several months. Elijah takes treats to all of his teachers and I hand treats out to my staff.


I am looking forward to 2016. I can't believe how much has happened this past year!! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!


Decorating the Christmas Tree!

Jacob, Elijah and I spent the day decorating for Christmas! Jacob helped me get all of the boxes and the Christmas tree out of the attic. He then got the box of ornaments that we keep in his room. Grandma Linda made him this box back when he was a baby to keep all of his ornaments in. After Elijah was born, we started keeping his ornaments in there also! These are the ornaments that either my mom or another relative has given them. Some of them are the ornaments they have made over the years. Both boys like hanging their ornaments, along with the other ornaments we have collected over the years. Whenever we travel, I look for ornaments. We now have a "Blue Bell" ice cream ornament from Brenham and an ornament from the birthplace of Texas; Washington on the Brazos!

One of my favorite ornaments is one I made when I was in the Girl Scouts in 1976. It is a ceramic gingerbread woman! I painted it and it was put in a kiln (I think that is what it is called) and finished, so it has held up nicely over the years. I also have some ornaments that my mom actually made when she first got married. I have ornaments from Fredricksburg, Texas and Gulf Shores, Alabama. I have ornaments that friends have sent me. I have a group of 10 women I have corresponded with for about 18 years and we do an ornament exchange each year. I love finding these ornaments.

The three of us had a really nice time decorating the tree. It was nice to see that both boys enjoyed it and didn't consider it a burden. They enjoyed finding the ornaments they had made in school. I told both of them that when they are married and have their own families, they will get to have some of these ornaments, and that they will begin their own new memories!