Merry Christmas from the Brannon's!

the Wiggles were here!

last sunday was the long awaited Wiggles show in tulsa. i was fully prepared for this show unlike last year's dallas show. we bought bones for wags, roses for dorothy and we had a poster. walking in to the bokcenter you could see the parents looks as they realized they should have done the same. i felt their pain, if only for a minute...I was the prepared parent this time!

we had really good seats and the kids had a great time. murray came up our aisle and gave will a high five. when it was time for the wiggly dancers to come by and pick up the roses and bones they missed us. sean tried to walk will down closer and he just stood...waiting. murray saw him from the stage and hopped down to get the goodies himself.



later on in the show murray was reading all the posters and ours was read! of course, the the "t" in kate didn't look so good from far away so he said "will and kale love the wiggles." oh well, we knew it was ours.

the show was fabulous, i am not sure who enjoyed it more, me or the kids!

i think we are wiggles groupies know and will see them again somewhere close!

The Wiggles are Coming to Tulsa!

yesterday sean was in class so the kids and i ventured out to run to the post office and also to pick up our yearly ration of trash bags from the city. as the rain came pouring down the radio was on. between the thunder, outside traffic and two kids telling me it was raining i barely caught something that said, "wiggles front row tickets before they go on sale." WHAT? WIGGLES? i raced home, got the kids out of the car and went straight to the computer to check. WHY YES! the wiggles will be in tulsa on august 2nd.

we took will to see the wiggles last august when they were in the dfw area and it was a fabulous time. well. except for the meltdown. when he realized he couldn't go on stage with them when a little girl was invited on. all in all it was fabulous time and we said we would 100% be back again.

this is a pic of will and the guitar we bought him. $25. RIP-OFF. NOT! this guitar has been used most everyday since last year. it will come with us to the wiggles concert in tulsa.



i cannot even tell you how excited i am to see them again. i realize will is at a perfect age to really enjoy this, more so than last year. kate loves the wiggles just as much as will so she will enjoy "wu" as she calls them. i have entered both sean and i in a radio station's contest for front row tickets plus we are bothering two people we know who have connections at the event center. i am pretty sure i will pay most anything for front row tickets. gosh, do i have a life?

cancer sucks

this blog is supposed to be about the adventures of the brannon clan and not anything down and depressing however, i do want to be serious for a minute. we have all been touched by the dreaded “c” word in some form or fashion. my daddy has lymphoma or more scientifically, chronic lymphocitic lymphoma, a blood cancer. he has been winning the battle for 10 years and he will continue to win it for another ten years. my father in law won the battle against hodgkin’s disease (another type of lymphoma) some 30 years ago. literally months after my daddy was diagnosed with his cancer sean’s father was diagnosed with non-hodgkin’s lymphoma. he passed away in 2003, not from the cancer but from complications due to just having a weak body after fighting for so long.

cancer is a part of my family on a daily basis. there is not a day that goes by that sean doesn’t think of his dad and wonder what he would do with his grandkids. would they get private tours of the rainforest at the zoo since he was a docent at the tulsa zoo? would they enjoy personal basketball shooting lessons? i know there are times that he just wishes he could pick up the phone and ask him if he just saw that play that the rangers made (a love they shared together and I hope that will can share with his dad) or can they talk about march madness and their brackets.

i wake up everyday thanking God for allowing my daddy to still be with us and healthy, well as healthy as a man with cancer can be! i live with the fear that this might be the last birthday or Christmas or father’s day or that he won't see his grandkids learn to drive a car or graduate high school. i have no regrets with him, he knows i love him more than anything in this world. there is a special bond between daddies and daughter and i only hope kate and sean have the same.

my friend deana, many of you have heard me talk about her, is currently in houston at md anderson undergoing chemo for burkitt’s lymphoma. her doctors in california told her to call hospice in, that it is a matter of weeks if this last treatment doesn’t perform a miracle. deana and jack have two boys – zane (4) and zach (2.5). you see, deana and I have a bond, adoption. i met deana through the most wonderful online community you will ever encounter http://www.carolynsboards.org/. i became a part of this community while researching the adoption process. deana was one the first ones to reach out and answer questions. she checked up on me while i was pregnant with kate. she is one of the most wonderful mothers and adoption advocates you will ever meet. deana’s plight was setup as a cause on facebook and now has over 1000 members praying for her, not to mention thousands of others who have heard about her through blogs, emails and word of mouth.

i believe in miracles, God brought me two healthy, beautiful children that i thought i would never have. i believe God willl grant deana a miracle so she can raise those two boys and watch them learn to drive and graduate high school. so, if you are the praying type please say a prayer for deana and all those out there fighting cancer.

if you are the donating type, you can click on the button to the left to help jen raise money for the leukemia and lymphoma society team in training. jen is training for a marathon and will run in honor of our mutual friend deana. this is personal to me, lymphoma is around me way more than it needs to be. please help find a cure!

Like Mother, Like Children

anyone who knows me knows i am not a cook. i am trying, in fact the last two sundays i have tried out two new recipes. one a childhood tradition at my home...chicken and dressing and the other a taco soup from paula deen. it was fabulous and i even had a co-worker taste and want to make her own!

i am thinking from the two pictures i have posted that my children do not know what the proper use of a kitchen is....they only climb on it and in it! i am going to try to set a better example in the near future!

Santa

it was a beautiful but extremely windy day in broken arrow. we did a few errands and then decided to take the kids to bass pro to see santa. we walked in at 74 degrees and walked out at 55, it is now currently 23 as i write this. it dropped 50 degrees in five hours. no wonder my wrists and ankles hurt so bad. only in oklahoma.

so, the kids saw santa. will was super excited and not the least bit scared. he hopped right up and posed for his pic. he tried to smile but it wasn't a fun one, just his serious face. he asked santa for toys and lots of them. thankfully, he didn't ask for anything specific. last night he asked josey, our elf, for santa to bring him a telescope, viking, pirate and a farm. all of which we do not have!

kate had to be placed on santa's lap, she immediately stuck her arms out as soon as i put her down. she did sit long enough for a pic but she was scared. she didn't cry, didn't make a sound. this pic is from our camera, the ones we got from the store are much better.

merry Christmas from the Brannon's!

Teeth

bug loves to brush her teeth. she doesn't care whose toothbrush she uses. if she goes missing she is either one of two places....the sink or the litter box. i prefer the sink, it is more sanitary.

she even wears her shoes into the sink. have i mentioned her love for shoes? that is a whole 'nother topic.

this time she had daddy's toothbrush and will's toothbrush (spiderman). can you tell she has her shoes on again...no pants but shoes.