Turkey Day, or was it? And Krissy's birthday fun.

This was the cute turkey that Emma made. We made these with my 2nd graders and I brought home some extra material so that my kids could make the. Obviously I helped them with the glue (and most everything).

One of the parents in my class made these shirts for all the students. They are adorable. We had them write in the feathers all the things that they are thankful for.

Grandpa and Jack at Jeff and Michelle's house for Thanksgiving dinner.

Grandpa and Emma. Do you think she loves her Grandpa???

Caroline eating her Thanksgiving dinner. She is so adorable.

Jack playing in Caroline's room.

Shannon and Matt

Jack playing with a toy/real phone.

Caroline walking behind her shopping cart. She is walking pretty good now!

Dinner at J.Alexander's to celebrate Krissy's birthday.

Lee & John

Chris & Carrie

Mike & Whitney

Gina, Krissy & Lee

Carrie, Krissy, Gina, Trisha, Lee and Whitney


This year Bobby could not get off work on Wednesday for Thanksgiving so we stayed home. For me it just did not seem like Thanksgiving. For as long as I can remember we have been going to MS to have Thanksgiving dinner at my paw paw's house. All of my cousins and Aunt's and Uncles were there this year. One day all the little girls had a tea party. I know Emma would have loved being there with all those girls. Last year she had so much fun with Hanna (my cousin Kristie's little girl). I know this year she would have had even more fun with her. Also she loves her cousins Grace and Laney were there as well. Hopefully we will make it there next year! This year we were invited to go to Jeff & Michelle's house. We had a great time! The food was sooooooo good!! Of course we all ate way too much. They had 18 people over for dinner. It is so funny how our extended family keeps growing. Jeff and Shannon are like my brother and sister to me. We grew up with our parents being best friends. We consider them part of our family. So it was definitely nice to spend the holidays at their house. Michelle's sister Amanda has a son that is only a month younger than Jack named Caden. Caden, Emma and Jack played in Caroline's room and had a great time. They did not want to leave.
The day after Thanksgiving we decided to do a little Christmas shopping. Boy, that was mistake. I wanted to get a few things at JoAnne's and I walked in there (Bobby was still in the car with the kids) saw the checkout line literally was all the way to the back of the store and walked right back out! Our next stop was the mall. We drove around for literally 20 minutes just trying to find a parking spot. Unfortunately we forgot to bring our stroller as well. So our trip was not fun at all. The kids did pretty well, but the check out lines were very long and they place was just packed! The only line we did not have to wait in was the line for the carousel. The kids love riding on the horses. Then we went and got a yummy Auntie Anne's pretzel and went home!

This week I went to the Dr. for my 18 week appointment. My appointment was at noon. I waited in the waiting room for an hour and 15 minutes. I normally would have been antsy, but I was even more so because I had scheduled Emma her 3 year appointment at 1:45. I finally saw my Dr. and he said give me a high five. I was a little confused, but you normally do what your Dr. asks. Then he told me that I have gained the least amount of any of his current patients at 18 weeks. I have gained 6lbs so far. You would never believe it by looking at my belly. I feel like it is HUGE! I asked him at one of my appointments why I looked so big but had not gained that much weight and he said that it did not have to do with weight as much with your 3rd pregnancy, but that your hormones know what is going to happen and they kick in and make your belly look bigger quicker. So once I saw the Dr. I was out of there in less than 10 minutes. I went home and got Emma and took her to her 3 year appointment. She weighed in at a whopping 26lbs and was 37 inches. She is still in the < 5% as far as weight is concerned, but the Dr. did not seem to care since she has been consistently in this category. They asked her if she could jump and count to 3. I almost started to laugh since she can count to 30 and could probably count to 20 at this time last year, but I know that no all kids develop at the same rate. We both got flu shots. This time I felt really sad when they gave her a shot. She looked me right in the eye and asked why did the Dr. hurt her. How do you explain to a 3 year old that it is so that she does not get sick later?? That is a tough one for sure. But we got out of there with a clean bill of health and that was great!

So another big thing that is going on in the Duerre household is the choosing of our new babies name. We kept going back and forth. I initially liked Will the best. Then we decided that his name was going to be Nicholas James. Everyday we would ask Emma what name she liked best for him. There were five names that we really liked: Will, Nicholas, Joshua, James and Asher. So Bobby and I would ask Emma what name she liked best. The first few times she told us that she wanted her brother to be named Lightening McQueen. Then she said Sally (another character from the movie Cars). On Monday we asked her again and we would go through a random list of names and always including our top 5. We would ask her "Do you want your little brothers name to be Will?" Then she would say no. We got to Joshua this time and she said yes. Then we asked her the next name and she said "no, I want my brother's name to be Joshua". We did this over several days and everyday she told us that she wants her brothers name to be Joshua. It was not the first choice for either Bobby or myself, but it was in our top five. So since Emma said that she wants it to be Joshua, Joshua it will be. This week I have my 20 week ultrasound and Emma cannot wait and go see the movie of her brother. She had so much fun at our other ultrasound watching her brother. So we are thinking that his name will be Joshua Nichols, but we have not decided on that 100% yet.

Last night we went to J. Alexanders for dinner with a few friends to celebrate Krissy's birthday. We had so much fun. We had such a large group that they could not sit us at one table. We had 2 tables next to each other. We sat with Trish & Aaron and Lee and Jon. Trish has not changed one bit since we were in high school. She is hilarious. She really missed her calling. She should have been a stand up comedian. Then when you add Jon in the mix, wow, you have a little chaos. It was so great to see some of my old friends that I do not get to see very often. We all have kids so it is hard to get out and about. My parents babysat for us and I knew that they were tired from traveling all day so we were home by 9pm, but our other friends stayed out a little later. I wanted to join them because one of our old friends was meeting them up a little later and I have not seen him in 10+ years. Oh well, I guess next time. We had a great time! On the way home Bobby kept on commenting on how funny Jon and Trisha were.

Halloween and Emma's 3rd Birthday Party-In reverse order.

My dad with Grace, Davis and Aunt Danna.

Emma and Paige blowing out Emma's candles.

Here is the cake that I made for Emma. She wanted a princess cake.

Austin, Paige and Jake sitting at the table at NP mall.

Emma, Jack and all their cousins! Davis, Grace and Laney! Next year there will be one

more at that table. Who would have known that my parents would have 6 grandkids!

Laney, Grace and the back of Jack's head.

Laney, Jack, Grace, Austin and Paige. Notice how Emma and Jake

are missing from all the pictures? Neither had a nap earlier that day!

Jessie and Austin with his bear.

Laney, Jake and Emma giving their new bears a good washing.

Emma and her empty bear.

Aunt Danna and cousin Davis.

What a little cutie. Emma's cousin Davis.

Laney and Grace standing in line to give Emma a heart for her bear.

Jack, Emma, Grace and Laney receiving their hearts for their bears.

Jake taking it all in.

Paige with her Daddy and Mommy.

Jack, Jake and Emma at the beginning of Emma's party.

Emma on Halloween night enjoying her favorite treat!

This is me trying to dress Jack for Halloween and Jack giving me a fit because

he does not like his costume! He ended up going as himself in his regular clothes!

Emma and Jack getting ready for Halloween.

We celebrated Emma's birthday party last weekend at Build a Bear at the Mall. She had 8 of her friends there. I actually think she was a little young for this party this year but they all had a great time! Emma and Jake missed out on their naps earlier so they were in their own world most of the time. We reserved some tables at the food court and they did an awesome job. They set up two small tables with two L-shaped tables to put the food on and for the adults to eat at. They also roped off the area for us and and gave us place mats that said Happy Birthday Emma. How adorable! They also gave us some carousel passes and all the kids got to ride. They loved it.
On Halloween night I was trying to get Jack dressed in his lion costume. He threw a fit. He did not like the fake lions feet that were on top of his feet. I tried to get him dressed in his costume, but he would just not have it. I finally gave up and just dressed him in some warm clothes. Emma of course loved her princess dress. She got to wear it earlier in the week to choir practice at church. All the people there was telling her how much they loved her dress. She was so happy. This year we went trick or treating again with our neighbors Kate and Stephen. We are sad that they are moving soon to start their own church in Denver Colorado. We wish them much luck in their endeavor and will miss having such a great neighbor.

This past week I have been super busy studying for a test that I should have taken 5 years ago. I had the option of taking a Human Growth and Development class or taking a CLEP test to exempt me taking the lass. Well of course I choose the test option since one class costs about $1500 and the test is only $90. Well My test was on Thursday and I did not realize it until the night before, but if I did not pass the test I would not be able to retake the test for 6 months. That means that I would not graduate in December, but next spring! Oh the pressure! I was the only person taking the test in this room and I pushed the button at the end and up popped a score of 55. I thought I failed. I went up to the lady and told her that I got a 55 and thought I failed. Well she said, wait a minute and let me print out your sheet and we will see. My heart is pounding out of my skin. I am so nervous. The sheet finally printed and she told me that I need to get a 50 to pass and I got a 55!! I started crying because I was so filled with emotions. Excitement and Relief! The lady handed me a tissue and I let her know that she made my day. So now the only thing I have left for my Masters degree is one more observation and turning in my portfolio. I have gotten all great reviews on my observations and my portfolio is just about finished. I only have 3 weeks of student teaching left with one of those weeks being Thanksgiving week in which I only work 2 days! Yeah! I will miss my students so much. They are adorable. All of them keep asking me if I am going to teach 3rd grade so that I can be their teacher next year. Two weeks ago, Emma got a mild case of the stomach and I felt like I was going to get sick, but never did. I called in sick the next day and hung out with my kids. Wow, I had no idea how much that I missed them!

It's a ....... and my rant about why Obama is a HORRIBLE choice for America!

Nice profile picture of our baby.

This is a 3-D picture with our babies hand over his head

and his other hand looking like he is about to suck his thumb.

This is the 2nd picture to confirm gender.

This is a cross section-looking down into his lap.

This is the first gender picture that she showed us. This is looking from underneath.

Today we went and paid for an ultrasound at 16 weeks. I just cannot stand it, I had to know what we were having. I was 110% sure we were having another girl. I feel like I am carrying way low like I did when I was pregnant with Emma. When I was pregnant with Emma I had lots of energy, was working full time and driving to Athens for grad school two nights a week. When I was pregnant with Jack, I was so tired I could hardly stand it. I had to take a nap everyday or I could not function. Well during this pregnancy, I am feeling great! I am doing my student teaching now and get up everyday at 6a.m. and am on my feet most of the day. I have lots of energy. I do go to bed around 8:30-9, but I did that when I could with my first two pregnancies. So today we went to a paid ultrasound service close to our house. It only cost $75 for a gender determination. My mom came with us to help out with the kids and to be there when we found out. The ultrasound tech was trying to get a good view, but the baby kept moving. She said that she thought she saw something. I said, did you think you saw girl parts? Cause I was sure that it was a girl. She said no, she thought she saw boy parts, but was not sure because the umbilical cord was around there. So she kept trying to get a good picture. Well a minute later she spotted what she thought was a pretty clear picture of boy parts and told us that we were having a boy! I still was not convinced. She did some 3-D shots (which weren't that great because our baby is only 16 weeks!). Then she went back to 2-D shots and got a cross section shot of between the legs. Well you could definitely see that there was something there! It's a BOY!!!!!!!!! I started crying. Bobby and I are so excited. I am still in shock. I was so sure that it was another girl. We have 2 names picked out that we like, but we are just not 100% sure on the name yet.

My Rant!
I just cannot stop thinking about this election. How is America so fooled by Obama??????? The only thing he is is an eloquent speaker. I have to say that I am literally scared that he will be president in January. He is going to be our commander in chief. He has NO experience!!!!!! How is he supposed to help our country? Oh, wait, I know, his solution is to punish the people who are successful by penalizing them with extra taxes and giving it to the lazy people in this country who pop out kids, sit on the lazy butts all day and have no drive to do anything. This just infuriates me! My parents raised me to be a hard working driven person. I started working at Chickfila when I was 16. I worked there for 6+ years. My first two years of college I worked full time while I was going to school. Then I transferred to UGA and got a job at Jennings Mill Country Club while continuing to come home on some weekends and working at Chick fil a. During spring break, summer break and winter break I would come home and get in as many hours as I could so that I would have some $$. I got a waitressing job at a restaurant downtown Athens my second year there. It was good cause since I was a business major most of my classes were on north campus and I could just walk to work after my morning classes. I was still coming home on the weekends to work when I needed the money. After graduating, I got a job at $3 cafe. A few months later I got a job at a company that sold ziplock type bags. I worked there AND $3 for 5 years. I got a job at E*Trade Financial and quit the bag company, but stil worked at $3. I finally gave up on $3 a few months into working at E*Trade because we were working 60 hr+ weeks. We were so busy. I worked there for over 6 years and while I was working full time there, I went back to school and got my Masters degree. I quit working to raise my daughter. It was really hard for me. I have never been at home all day. Having a newborn is lots of work. But, after only being home for 4 months, I took care of two of my friends babies while they finished up with their teaching for the year. When I was done with that, I started my own embroidery business. So I have 2 kids under the age of 3 and started my own business. So do you think I support a man who wants to punish hard work by taking away wages of hard working Americans and give it to people who sit on their rears all day???? That really infuriates me. The next thing that infuriates me about Obama is his stance on Abortion! He spoke out against a law that would require Dr.'s to revive a newborn if a person went in for an abortion and the baby was alive!! He is also for partial birth abortions. And people voted for him. I just don't get it. There are so many people in this country that cannot have children that want to adopt and would make great parents. If you want to adopt a healthy baby in the US, there is over a 2 year wait. It also infuriates me that the media is so biased towards Obama. I watched CNN one day and I counted them talking about Obama in 10 different stories and they were all positive, but they had 2 about McCain and only one was semi positive. All of the other stations and newpapers were very similar in their stories EXCEPT Fox News. That is the only station that I could stand to listen to. I heard a speech that Joe Biden gave about how corporations were making record breaking profits. He said that this was horrible and that they needed to "share the wealth". (This comes from a man who made $320,000 last year and only donated $995 to charity!!! In the past 10 years combined he has only donated $3,690 to charity.) I just have a question, if they share the wealth, who gets that money? The government doesn't just put it in our pockets, they tax the corporations so the government gets the money. Doesn't this sound like the definition of Socialism?? I looked it up and this is the definition of Socialism-Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy. Our nation was founded on the principals of free markets, not socialism! Another thing that I do not agree with is socialized medicine. When did medical coverage become a right and not a benefit from working? After I graduated from college I did not have health care so what did I do? I was responsible and bought emergency coverage. My parents are only working right now so that they have health insurance, but do you think that they are for Obama's plan, HECK no. Next, Obama went to Iraq for a visit to the troops, but our cousin who was stationed there was there and said that he cared so little about the troops that he did not even bother to visit them at all. Of course all the media covered it and had a positive spin on his visit to Iraq. Our cousin needless to say did not vote for Obama either. We cannot just pull our troops out of Iraq and leave those people high and dry. I believe that it is our responsibility to get them back on their feet so that they have a semi-stable government and will be our ally in the future. Another issue that is a deal breaker is Obama's spiritual mentor Rev. Wright. Here is a direct quote from him: "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." Then he goes on to blame America for the 9/11 bombings. If my pastor ever said anything like that, that would have been the last time that I saw him!! The next thing that bothers me about Obama is his association with known terrorists. He started his campaign in the living room of Bill Ayers. A known terrorist against the United States. Bill Ayers quote "I don't regret setting bombs...I feel we didn't do enough." He set several bombs in the early 1970's. The Department of Justice also found Barack and Michelle Obama's name on a "friends" list of the company Kindheart. This busines was founded by Hatem El-hady. The feds came in and closed this company down because "KindHearts is the progeny of Holy Land Foundation and Global Relief Foundation, which attempted to mask their support for terrorism behind the façade of charitable giving," said Stuart Levey, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
I could go on and on and on but I would like to spend some time with my family now. It really saddened me that this choice has been made for our country. The captain of my tennis team sent me this quote and I love it.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up
by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage
by taking away people's initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
- William J. H. Boetcker