Our 2009 Holiday Season

Here's what has transped in 2009:

January - The New Year was wonderful. Brian and Alison made it to midnight while Keith and Kathleen fell asleep shortly before. Cole was asleep long before that. However, the fun soon ended when Alison caught a stomach flu, then Cole. Cole ended up in the hospital, for dehydration, and still fought off a lot of the bug after coming home. While he was in the hospital, Brian, Keith and Kathleen ended up sick. Nothing worse than trying to take care of a sick little one and having to run into the hospital room bathroom and talk to the porclean god. The family finally started getting better when Cole caught a cold, the washer/dryer broke and so many other things decided to go nuts.

February - The little family went to a friend's house for the Super Bowl. It was nice, they had not visited in a while and got to meet some new co-workers of Keith. Everyone had a wonderful time, and for once, there was another girl at the house Alison could play with. For Valentine's day, Keith and Alison went to the local Father/Daughter dance. They had a wonderful time. Also, Keith received a slight promotion at work, which made Kathleen that much more proud of him.

March -Spring break came and went without a hitch. Maybe Kathleen won't want to boycot that vacation anymore. The family is excited about an up coming trip to California to celebrate Kathleen's mom turning 70.

April - Plans are in full swing for the party at the end of the month in California. The kids are estatic. Kathleen is making plans with her friends from school. Some she hasn't seen in 20 years. Good thing this is uploaded after the event, because it was a HUGE party and people from ALL OVER came to wish Kathleen's Mom a wonderful 70th.

May - Kathleen had a great birthday and mother's day. The children are excited for the end of the school year to finally arrive. Both passed their TAKS tests with flying colors. Brian tried out for the "Athletic's Period" when he starts Jr. High, but didn't make it. Guess you have to be an "all around jock" to get into that. so when the Cross Country practice starts over the summer for Jr. High, he is going to attend that.

June - School is out and the summer is in full swing. The children are so excited to have a break, but Alison still loves to do some sort of "school" work. No huge plans for the summer, just really enjoying each other. Keith had a great birthday, Kathleen and the children made a little "party" for him when he got home from work. Sadly, another year she didn't get to surprise him at work, like she usually does, but it's all understandable. He also had a good Father's day. The end of the month brought 16 years of wonderful marriage for Keith and Kathleen, and they just couldn't be happier.

July - We spent the 4th with Keith's brother in Altus, OK. It was fun. The kids also got the chance to play with one of our friend's children at Gatti Town (Sort of like Chuckie Cheese or Peter Piper Pizza). They had a wonderful time. Cross Country practice started for Brian on the last week of July. He did great. Alison is running with the group as well. She is determined to get to a point where running will be a breeze and when 7th grade comes along for her, she will be a guarantee for CC then. Kathleen has started running during the practice as well, Cole in tow. She has been able to get to 1.75 miles jog/walk.

August - August was a pretty nice month. Brian continued his Cross Country practice with the High School kids. Kathleen had to stop, she injured her knees somehow. The five of them attended QuakeCon 09. It is an awesome event, and the venue was perfect. Kathleen like the drive to Garland much better than the one to downtown Dallas. Then, it was meet the teacher night for Alison. It was nice to meet all her 5th grade teachers, yet she was a little bummed because she didn't get any of Brian's old teachers. Brian celebrated his 12th birthday, and it was pretty awesome. The the big day arrived - the first day of school. Alison went with a neighbor and Kathleen took Brian. Cole was a little put out by all of the hustle and bustle of the morning, especially since his favorite toys left him and he didn't know when they were coming back.

September - Well, as we all know, the H1N1 poked its head out of the woodwork toward the end of the last school year. It seems that over the summer, the virus was given the chance to grow and spread, because Brian ended up getting the flu, along with Cole (who was doing great with potty training but that got put on hold), Keith and Kathleen. Alison ended up with Strep. This caused Brian to miss his first Cross Country meet, the family to spend a ton on medication and doctor visit, and even at the end of the month, Kathleen was still not doing well. During the month, Brian had Cross Country meets. He did well, but forgot that he had to be drinking water for one of them. Keith created a water drinking schedule for him and by the time the next meet came along, he was more than hydrated. He placed last, only because one of his peers said that he had promised his dying mother he would not come in last, so Brian helped him keep that promise. That made Brian the biggest winner of all. Over all, the Jr. High boys came in 3rd and the Jr. High girls came in 1st for that event.

October - Kathleen finally started getting better, which made things a lot better for everyone. It also helped get Cole back on the potty training path. He got the #1 down, but refuses to #2 on the toilet. Kathleen makes sure she asks and goes with him throughout the day, and after Brian and Alison return from school, Cole loves to make them go with him. Brian had his first Jr. High band concert. He is in the Symphony band (2nd highest of the 4 bands). I literally got chills when I heard his band play. I have NEVER heard Jr. High children play so well. Halloween was a blast! Brian was a mummy, Alison was a trendy witch, Cole was a dinosaur rider (he called it a dragon), and Kathleen was a tavern lady. Keith walked around a couple streets with everyone, then took Cole home because his little legs were getting tired. Then, Kathleen took Brian and Alison a few more streets. There weren't many people who were handing out candy, probably because of church festivals and the Little Elm Halloween Festival (first ever).

November - Potty training with Cole is still going really well. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the house. Alison and Kathleen made decorations. Keith and Kathleen prepared the dinner. The day was full of thankfulness for family, friends, food, God, and our way of life. Cole's third birthday was very nice. He had a Thomas the Train cup cake - cake (which he picked out all on his own).

December - What an interesting month. The beginning went rather well, things didn't go haywire until it was time to travel to Oklahoma for Christmas. The family car decided to start overheating, and the family had to turn back around and find a dealer who could fix it. The Service and Parts managers were amazing, not wanting to hold the family up, put all five in a loaner, along with all the presents and luggage, sending the Dugger clan on their way to Oklahoma. The timing could not have been better, because it was a very white Christmas across North Texas and Oklahoma. Keith's sister, Pam, & family, and brother, David, and family could not make it to the house because of the snow. Aunt Cleo was there, along with Dusty (nephew), Deneece (neice), Jackie, JC, Riley (neice, nephew, great niece) and of course, the hosts Vic and Shannon. It was a great vacation for everyone. The family back home to Texas, go their car, and then celebrated Alison's 11th birthday on 31 Dec. She had a great birthday.

Updated: 23 Apr 10