control that kid

I took some of the girls from the center out to lunch today. We sat next to a table with a mom, her three kids and the grandparents. Other than a few toddler outbursts and whining next to us, lunch went well. It did, however, confirm to the girls that their adoption decision was right on. At one point the frazzled mother took her young son by the arm and led him of the room as he said "I will be good, I will be good..." Unfortunately it was too late for him. As they came back into the room a few minutes later, mom in the lead, the boy (probably about 3 years old) said to his mom "I am so mad," to which she replied...."I don't care if you are mad." I got a good laugh at that one.

look out martha

Ok, so I may not cook, bake and decorate as well as Martha Stewart, but I have to say that I did a pretty handy job yesterday cooking a bird and the fixins. More on that in a minute.

Christmas went very smooth. This is why it pays to plan ahead. Two years ago when we were in FW for Christmas with Scott's family it didn't go so well. Feelings got hurt and plans were being made last minute...there was just a lack of communication. I started planning for Christmas in September, well actually August with gifts, but September with the events of Christmas Eve and Day. I didn't want there to be any tears or sadness this time around. Scott and I decided to spend Christmas Eve together, just the two of us. Well, I ended up in the kitchen all day prepping for the next day while he was out doing last minute shopping. I had to be on call at the center on Christmas so I had to make everything ahead of time so if needed they could just pop everything in the oven for warming. We went to the candlelight service at our church on Christmas Eve and then went out to dinner. On our way to dinner we were talking about setting some Reasoner family traditions. I guess it would be easier to do that if we had kiddos, but it was fun to talk about. This was our third Christmas together since being married. I remember when us kids were little we used to get in our pj's and get all bundled up and drive around and look at Christmas lights in December. When we got home from dinner, Scott helped me make caramel corn, that is at least one tradition we have every holiday. By then it was close to midnight, but we decided to exchange our gifts. That could be a fun tradition to do at midnight each Christmas, but I can't imagine that would go over well with little ones. On Christmas morning we went to Scott's mom's house for a quick gift exchange and then on to his step sisters in Granbury. They live way out in the country with chickens. After lunch we headed back home to prepare our evening meal. Who really needs that much food in one day???

The menu for dinner last night consisted of:

• Roasted Stuffed Chicken
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Green Bean Casserole
• Salad - which I x'd and the last minute....just too much
• Pumpkin Pie
• and....Raspberry Tea
  

I have made green beans before, but everything else was new. Thanks to the internet, I got recipes for exactly what I wanted to make. Sometimes searching in cookbooks gets me nowhere. It all turned out pretty well after several phone calls to Mom...which in turn got me teased by the brothers! :( I even made a centerpiece with candles. I could have used about two more feet of countertop space, a double oven, and some of my serving platters that are in storage. All in all it was a joyous occasion.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Heidi sent me an email with some pictures of the kids. They are having a great times with Jacob's parents in Arkansas. Enjoy!

where did this guy come from?

All is well with the Reasoners!

The past two days have been so wonderful! I think that we are in anticipation of the new year and Christmas being in a couple of days. Scott has been helping me out so much. When I was sick he not only fended for himself, but helped me get better and did things around the house. He has been cleaning and running errands for me. I love it! As I write, he is shampooing the area rug in the living room that was passed onto us from his dad. His dad has dogs and the carpet doesn't smell that great. It looks nice and is a very classy rug, but stinks none the less. I was a bit worried yesterday when I came home last night at 9:00 to him cleaning the toilet. No worries, he is fine. I am not sure what got into him.

We had a candlelight dinner is sweats tonight. It was kind of a last minute decision. I made an awesome meal which my hubby said I outdid myself preparing. We were supposed to go to some friends for dinner with the Weisiger's, but I gave Marissa the flu (she said I didn't, but I did) so we are going to the Ellis' for dinner on Sunday night. I was kind of glad it got changed due to all the things I had to get done today. That included, last minute Christmas shopping for some unexpected people, straightening clutter from our big switcharoo that happened yesterday. We finally switched massage and bedroom back and love it. I will post some pics, but I got cords every which place in the house. I visited with a girl in the hospital today that had a ceserean yesterday. I took her some goodies and loved on her for a couple of hours. It is no fun to be in the hospital during the holidays. Thankfully she gets to leave tomorrow in time for dinner out with the rest of the girls that didn't get to go home for Christmas for one reason or another.

Tonight we are supposed to meet up with some friends for a late dinner. We, of course, won't eat, but they were on the receiving end of our Nutcracker tickets on Saturday night and wanted to do something for us in return. I am sure Scott may be hungry again.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to having a fun day of wrapping gifts, cooking and baking, and laying low....oh and drinking egg nog. We finally came across the non-artificial, no color added, kind that is sweetened with sugar and not HFCS. It is sooo ymmy!

We were just talking last night about how glad we are that we decided not to move. This house if just right for us right now and we finally feel like we are getting adjusted with being here for a while. It only took us three weeks to get to that point! :)

I hope you are all enjoying the season as much as we are. Merry Chrismas!

tis the 'flu' season

Scott has the next week off from practice, so we are trying to take advantage of our time. We went to his dad's house on Friday afternoon after a bit of Christmas shopping. You see, his dad admittedly has an issue with buying things and trading out his decor quite often. It works out great for us because we have been able to furnish our home with his leftovers. I believe that we have purchased maybe two small items for our home. The rest have been given to us by friends and family. We are truly blessed. Our latest "garage shopping" experience, as we like to call it, landed us three area rugs, a coffee table, a new kitchen table and chairs, a side table, and a new shelving unit. I am not sure how we are going to configure all of these new items into our tiny house, but believe me, I will make it happen. Our bedroom and massage room are getting flipped in the very near future. The massage room now is bigger and has the door to the outside. I just don't need that much space in that room though and our bedroom is too small for the furniture. My plan was to do the flip yesterday....until I started puking.

It got me....the flu bug that is. I didn't get out of bed yesterday except to shower and of course.... Scott was a real trooper. I kept sending him for things for me. I was so achy and dizzy and had a fever. At one point I got up to take a shower and when I got out he had surprised me by setting up a little Christmas tree in the living room. It looks like we will be having Christmas after all. The worst part about it all was that Scott's dad had given us GREAT ticket to see the Nutcracker at Bass Hall and we had to give our tickets away to friends. I have been waiting to see that ballet for three years. Maybe next year.

Anyway, it is interesting that just recently the conversation came up in another blog of what you will never eat again because you saw it again...you know. Well unfortunately, Friday night was a girls night out for Marissa's birthday. We went to P.F. Chang's downtown. At this point, I never want to eat there again which is a real bummer. I love that place. We had a good time downtown and then we went to our friend Katie's house to play games. There were only four of us left by then. We had a good time and I got home about midnight. That is late for us and especially the moms of the group.

Here are a few pics our night out. I am unintentionally hiding the b-day girl in this picture. It is so much fun to go out with the girls. They all have kids and great husbands that stay home with the kids on nights like this.

There is the birthday girl!

Sister-in-law, Trish and sisters Rebekah and Elizabeth

the verdict is in

So, I believe I have to keep the most meaningful dresses and pass the rest on. Thanks for the input everyone.

My husband is one of the cheapest people I know. That isn't always a bad thing. He keeps things until they are absolutely broken or unusable. For instance...his cell phone. He got it when he got his very first cell phone plan in the fall of 2005. He uses about 75 minutes a month so, as you can see, it doesn't get used that often. When the screen started to go out on it about a month ago, he thought it would be a good idea to get a new one. Today was "the day" for a new phone. He was, of course, eligible for a $150 upgrade. As it turns out, my two and a half year old phone was also eligible for an upgrade! Yippee! So we payed for new phones and sent out the rebate for the entire purchase and essentially got free phones today. And, as you all know, I love free things. All we paid was tax...$8 or so. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how they work and setting all the features. I bet Daniel or Nathan could have figured it out in half the time it took us, but for some reason we are a bit technologically impaired.

Shopping is stress relief for me much to my husband's dismay. I have been known to spend half a day shopping just to take everything back the very next day. Today I spent two hours at the mall Christmas shopping and left with two gifts..... for other people. I didn't have much of a plan when I got there, but believe it or not, I was a little less stressed when leaving. The mall wasn't a mad house today, thankfully. Now, only two more gifts to go! Happy Holidays :)

What is stressing me? Thanks for asking. This is a science lesson. If you read up on the chances of getting pregnant after losing a fallopian tube to an ectopic pregnancy, it is considerably decreased. I guess 50%....but, this isn't what I was told after surgery. I still have two ovaries, just one tube. Did you know that you can ovulate up to three times in a row on one side alone? I think this is all very fascinating. I have a new appreciation and empathetic feeling for women who struggle with infertility. The Holthus woman has always been very fertile though. I was not surprised that I got pregnant the very first try this summer. But, one less tube decreases fertility. I pray for patience and, of course, fertility....what else can I do? It is what it is and will happen when the timing is right.

old stuff

My mom called me this morning. She is cleaning out closets and wants to know what to do with all of our formal dresses. I do not fit into them anymore and would probably never wear them again, but I made all of my prom dresses and the thought of giving them away is uneasy. Hours of designing, sewing, ripping. and resewing went into these three dresses. She wants to donate them to a good cause - a store that provides young girls with dresses for formals that cannot afford them. I also have several bridesmaids dresses too. Why do I all of a sudden feel like the girl from the movie 27 Dresses? You feel crumby for thinking about keeping something you will surely never wear again. I mean seriously, the 90's are so over....I guess they could come back. But, the memories of them are fun. I can picture having a little girl or Joely playing dress up in them one day. But that isn't really a great cause. I guess that is what pictures are for. The right thing to do is donate them and never look back...as my husband would say.

I have a cookie party for work today. We are all getting together at my boss's house. I think that it will be a lot of fun. I made cookies last night when I got home from Lamaze class at 10:00.

I will be glad when Lamaze is over. I will be anxious to take the Bradley classes when I actually am pregnant. Lamaze is for doula certification. It was the fastest, easiest way to get childbirth classes out of the way. You can't be pregnant to get the class for the certification. Bradley classes last 12 weeks, Lamaze lasts 4. I did the math on that one. Last night we toured Harris Methodist downtown. It is a nice hospital and they are redoing the labor and delivery floors. I just can't picture having a baby in hospital myself, but 99% of women do it.

My husband just got home from work and said "what is for lunch?" I need to grocery shop, but until then I'd better rummage something up.

Hugs....stay warm!

imagination station

Last night I called Andrew to wish him a happy birthday. He told me all about his day and the party they were going to have today with all of his friends. He was very excited in telling me about his chocolate dinosaur cake and how it was going to come alive and get all the bad guys. Kids are so funny.

And....
Several billboards scattered throughout Fort Worth read:
Vaccines are like hugs,
You don't want to miss one.

Seriously???? Don't get me started!!!!

Note to self: Don't drink coffee in the afternoon....even if it is free.

free stuff rocks!!

This week I got card in mail for $25 off a $25 purchase at Office Depot. I got a much needed 2009 planner today. I am a planner myself, but more importantly I have things going in 2009 that I need something to get them down on, births, reunions, travels, etc. Then I got an email with $15 off a $15 purchase with which I went Christmas shopping with. That is one less person on my list now. And, I have a coupon to use for a free cup of coffee at Barnes and Noble. I think that I shall enjoy that tomorrow morning.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Andrew, Happy Birthday to you! We love him and miss him so much. I can't believe he is getting so big.

it's ch-ch-chilly

Um, burrrrr......very cold in my non-insulated 1940's home today! Frost bite has set in.....

I broke down and purchased a "bundle" from Charter that provides us with internet, home phone, and cable sevices. Previously, we just had the internet and now we only pay $17 more to have all three. But, I can already see this is going to be a problem because I could sit in front of the t.v. for hours and not even know how long it has been. I don't even watch t.v. that much. Seems like when it is available I have to watch. You see, for the last year we have had bunny ears. ABC came in the best. The other channels were pretty fuzzy. Scott had to rearrage the antanea each time we changed stations. So, we got used to shows on certain stations because we were too lazy to get up every hour. With the new t.v. changes happening in February, we decided to go ahead and get it now. So today as I was lying on the couch being sickly, I decided to catch up on A Baby Story which I hadn't seen in over a year. Wow, is all I can say. One girl said "C-Section is the only way to go". Seriously??!? Her baby ended up in the NICU for eleven days with fluid in his lungs from not being birthed vaginally. Apparently the vaginal birth would have forced fluid out of the lungs. Can you imagine the bonding that was lost between mother and baby? Ok, I will get off my soap box. But, as a doula, this is good to know. The previous show was a delivery in NYC. Pretty standard, medicated hospital birth. Funny thing was that later this afternoon Scott and I watched a movie I had ordered called The Business of Being Born. One of the doctors that was at the NYC birth on The Baby Story today was on that movie. Great movie by the way. Rent it if you are going to ever have kids someday.

Last night I was catching up with Nathan online. Somehow, now sure how, the subject of nursing/breastfeeding came up. He was actually interested which I thought pretty cool since most teens, especially boys, would want anything to do with that kind of conversation. I think it is really cool to have younger brothers that I can be an influence on for their future. Someday he will get married and have kids and hopefully have a lot more understanding for things like that than most guys. I told him I would love to chat with his wife someday when it comes to that. Seems so far away. Thank goodness he has two older sisters to keep him in check. ;)

It saddens my heart, but I think that my days of being a massage therapist are becoming very limited. Last year in December I started developing wrist pain in my left wrist. It has continually gotten worse and now my right one bothers me. The kind of deep work that I do will not allow me to continue. I have had to cancel several appointments in the past few weeks. I looks like I may need to limit myself to prenatal massage which is not as taxing on my joints. Just need prayer please. This has really gotten me very down. It was my main source of income and has really kept us afloat since being married.

I have been fortunate to have picked up some doula business and hope to pursue it seriously in the coming year as I finish my certification. I have been networking and making connections in addition to putting together some marketing tools and reading all I can. The most difficult thing I struggle with is not have the birth experience of my own. I cannot relate to the pain, nor can I fully understand the true nature of breastfeeding. Part of me knows that I really can help women and part of me is wondering what in the world have I gotten myself into? But, soon enough I will have all that.

Thanks for listening to me this evening. My heart feels like it is wide open and I just put it all out there. Thanks for your prayers. Love and Hugs to all! :)

we are scrooges

Scott and I are officially bahumbugs this year. I think that we have decided not to decorate for Christmas. I am a little sad about this. In 2006 we decorated for our first Christmas. In 2007 we had Andrew to help us decorate the tree. It is so much fun to decorate with kids around. This year all of our decorations are in a storage shed across town. By the time we really realized we weren't going to be moving at Christmas we just thought that it would be too much of a hastle. I can't believe I am saying this since I love Christmas and love decorating for Christmas. I did put up a brick snowman that I made in 4th grade. That was because my mom sent it back with me after Thanksgiving. I have been listening to Christmas music 24/7 to at least be in the spirit of the season. So, next year we will definitely decorate for Christmas. We will have a better plan going.

I heart my niece and nephew!

Jenae's blog is a must see! She was in Arkansas this weekend with Heidi and Jacob on a Christmas shopping extravaganza!

back at it

It is a new day...yesterday was not a happy day and we were a bit glum. But, today we started over with a fresh attitude and will press on. We will not let this house thing get us down. Bigger and better things are in store for us!

I took my gym membership off freeze this week. I thought that I should get back into it after four months off. Truth is, I could have started working out a lot sooner after surgery than now, I was just being a slacker. So, I am back into my routine. I work out at LA Fitness. There are two in Fort Worth. This morning I decided to check out the one that Scott works at. It is much nicer than the one I go to that is closer to our house. It is very convenient for him since he can work out at work. His membership is free! Unfortunately, mine is not. But, it has gotten a bit too freezing to work out outside so I am back in the gym.

When we lived in Arkansas and I worked at a gym doing massage, it was easy for me to work out. I was working out 3-5 times a week. And, on top of that, the studio Heidi works at was right next door and I was taking private Pilates once a week. Needless to say, I lost 15 pounds during our six month stay in Arkansas! Well, nine of them have come back so I have a bit of work to do. Something about Texas makes me accumulate the pounds. I have one of those body types (Scott could tell you what it is) that tends to gain and lose really easily. The gaining parteasy...losing is takes real work. :)


The only other thing I do is drink a protein shake....or smoothie. I have tried all kinds, but find the pea protein to be my favorite. It is vanilla and I add blueberries, strawberries, half a banana, rice milk and a handful of raw spinach to it. YUMMY! I have Andrew hooked in it. He used to always like to share my shake when I made it when he was around. That was when I used to drink chocolate flavor.

Tonight is popcorn and a movie night. Scott is going to Nachadoches (sp?) tomorrow (5 hours away) for a game so we are having togetherness time tonight. We still haven't gotten our Christmas decorations up. I wasn't going to put any out this year if we were going to be moving, so we will have to go over to our shed to get them out and put them up. I love decorating for Christmas, I just am not really in the decorating mood. Maybe this weekend we can find time. Maybe...?? Yesterday I went on a cleaning rampage. I have spent the last six months mentally preparing to move so I would say to myself "I can live with that until we move." I rearranged and thoroughly cleaned the bookshelf in the kitchen. I rearraged a closet and started on another. This house has very, very and I mean very limited space. I have about three feet of workable kitchen countertop space and three less closet than I would like. Not having a garage doesn't help because I end up storing things like paint and tools in the house that would rather belong outside. We do have a shed full of lawn equipment...thank goodness for it. Anyway, we have three closets for housing clothes that one day in the coming weeks I am going to totally redo. I am not sure what we would do if we added another person to this house....hmmm. I wish I had a little bit of money to have a professional come over and do organizing for me. It isn't that I can't do it, I just need bins and baskets and shelves and whatnot.

Ok, I just realized that I am rambling. Everyone stay warm and cozy! Hugs to you!

what makes it perfect

I am not writing this to get any symphathy, so nobody needs to feel bad, ok?

This year had been an especially rough one though. In our efforts to create the "perfect" little life, we have had more difficult things happen. At the end of last year Scott lost his job so we moved in February. I am grateful, because we do love Fort Worth and our life here, but moving (again) was hard. Then we lost a baby in August....and now....it's a no go on the house. I know this year has been tough for a lot of people with the economy and people loosing their homes and jobs. I feel very blessed to have a roof over our heads, even if it means staying in the house we live in. I know that there are so many better things out there. I feel like I am always having to learn life the hard way though.

All of this just gets me thinking. In my head I think that life is a progression of having the perfect job, getting married, buying and house and starting a family. Why is it exactly, that I think it HAS to be this way? I am definitely limiting myself. Ok, I am going to stop this crazy venting blog, but I just had to write it out.

2009, watch out for the Reasoners!!!

saving the house

So, the house, oh the house. Long story short, we are having to draw up another contract on the house because it appraises for less then our original offer. Thank goodness they are allowing us to do this. We really want the house, but hadn't done the "research" we should have on the front end and are having to back track. We haven't worked on it for several days as we wait to see if our new offer will be accepted. Much prayer would be appreciated. I am really okay if it ends up that we don't get it, but I would really like to be a home owner. Scott, on the other hand, is a bit more upset. He has really put hours and hours of work and effort into the house and really does not want to lose it now.

He is sweeping the kitchen floor from all the sanding we have done. We have started and plan to sand every piece of woodwork in the house. It is a lot of work, but will pay off. The old paint was just chipping away and wasn't prepped well when painted this past time. I have the oh so wonderful job of taking off the 1/4 round that needs replaced and sanding the baseboards. As you can see, I am thoroughly enjoying this job! NOT! Listen to the lame excuse my husband has for not getting on his hands and knees..."I'm too tall". Oh please...well I am glad to do it really, it is just so tedious. I guess I can give him a break, he did sand the entire kitchen for hours while I was gone to Arkansas for a weeklong training. But sanding is one of those thankless jobs that has to be done. I will look very classy when all done though. We still haven't turned the gas on because we don't know whether it is a go still. So, it is freezing in the house and we have to bundle up. We stopped and got a coffee to share on the way over.

Thanksgiving in Kansas

I headed out of town on Tuesday night. Scott's team was playing in Moore, OK against Hillsdale Baptist. I was hoping to catch the game, but seeing as how it took me over an hour to get out of Fort Worth because of traffic, I didn't' make it. I met up with my college friend, JoAnne, and stayed overnight with her in Norman. We stayed up late visiting and then woke up early to visit some more before I hit the road. It is fun to catch up about old times and things that are going on in our lives since we were college roommates nine years ago.

I woke up with a bit of a throat tickle and it progressively got worse as the weekend came. I am still fighting a bit of a runny nose and had to cancel two clients today which I hated to do. I didn't think they would enjoy sniffles during their relaxing massgage let alone being exposed to what I have. I was not the only one sick...my sister and Daniel and Joely were sick as well. Thankfully we could relax most of the time in Kansas. No Black Friday shopping for us. Heidi and I knitted and watched movies. Unfortunately, sweet baby Joely girl had a rough go at it on Friday and Saturday nights and didn't get a lot of sleep. My poor sis was exhausted. It is so hard to have a sick kid. I hope they are feeling better today.

I headed back yesterday afternoon. I left at 1:00 and got home close to 9:00. I only made two stops, but the traffic was crazy. The line for the toll south of Wichita was two miles long. OKC held me up as well. I was in 5 mph traffic for well over 30 minutes. But, I made it safe and sound. My hubby did well on his own while I was gone. My house was not a disaster and in fact it was better than how I left it!

So, we lined up to take a "Holthus" kid picture and look who snuck into the bottom right! Growing up we used to always take a picture in the spot. I think it started when Henry was about Andrew's age and there was only three of us.

Yes, we do claim this crazy bunch of guys. Andrew says it easier to wrestle with is shirt off....hmmm.

Andre turns three in a few days so we had a "breakfast party" for him before we all took of on Sunday. See his fingers. He got a soccer ball, a puzzle, race cars, stickers and Thomas books. He definitely hit the Jackpot!

Jacob and Andrew are wrestling with Drake.
Andrew: "Dad, come and play with Drake, he is such a good dog."

Poor baby girl was sick and fell asleep on Daddy while he made chili for us for supper on night. We had a feast of chili and turkey noodle soup.

Andrew: "Hannah, come and see what my dad killed while he was hunting."
Hannah: "Ew"
Andrew: "It's not gross!"
Oh the hunting stories this kid can tell. He will have fun with his dad later on when he is big enough to get out there. He already tells the most outrageous hunting stories like he was actually there. In his story, he has a four wheeler and they hunt in the forest. They load the deer and turkey up on the end of it to take them home and eat them. This was the last hunting day with one rabbit and two pheasants. We had duck poppers one night for dinner after a day of duck hunting. My first taste of duck, not too bad. They had a couple that got eaten by Drake before they made it home safely. Drake apparently likes to eat their heads off. Now that is really gross!

Papa with his two grandkids....just chillin'.

a birthday celebration

The weekend before Thanksgiving Scott and I headed to Odessa where Grandmother Hutson lives. She turned ninety on November 23rd and had a beautiful birthday celebration. Scott's mother, his aunt Barb, and uncle Stan were all there. She had a dinner at a local restaurant with several friends on Saturday evening. It was fun to hear of old times and stories of the family growing up. She is still living on her own and is very spunky. Can't wait to be at her 100th!

Scott with Grandmother.

Stan, Shirley, Barb and Grandmother.

The sisters...awww.

Scott with his uncle Stan. Two tall men!

Too bad this picture of us is so blurry, I kind of liked it.