Sweet Words from a Sweet Boy

When I put Garrett down for his nap and at bedtime, he always likes to tell me a secret before I go. Today he pulled me close and whispered this in my ear:

"I love you sooo much! When I get big, and I pick someone to marry, can I pick you?"

"Yes, Buddy, you can pick me."

School Christmas Program

Today was the big day: School Christmas Program!

There was no doubt that Charlotte would perform her little heart out and

Garrett may or may not show up!

True to character, Charlotte sang every song, did every motion,

rang her bells and smiled on cue!

Garrett was in a play (although he refuses to call it that! "Its a program!") He played a boy in pajamas listening to the Christmas story. He was the cutest pajama-wearer there! He didn't even leave the stage, which is a first for him!

I'd love to show you the video, but my driver isn't working at the moment!

You'll have to be satisfied with more cute pictures!

A New Tradition

Apparently this book has been around for a while, but its new to our family this year:


We started reading it last night and soon gave our elf a name: Jingle Bell (as dubbed so by Charlotte).


Each night, Jingle Bell flies off to Santa to report on the kids: naughty or nice. In the morning he returns in a new hiding spot where he watches the kiddos throughout the day. Here's where we found him this morning!



Garrett is my critical thinker (I have no idea where he got it!) and he is a little skeptical. Every once in a while when he does something sketchy, I find him peeking over to Jingle Bell! Is he really watching? Just in case, Garrett's not taking any chances!


I've heard these elves tend to be a little mischievous at night, sometimes getting into things they shouldn't! Watching movies with the remote in hand and popcorn spilled on the couch, fishing in the aquarium, baking in the kitchen with flour spilled on the counter!


Where will he end up tomorrow?

Snow!

Well, its the first snow of the season here in Nashville and the kids were itching to get in it!

Me? Not so much! It was 16 degrees! I got guilted into it by my friend Courtney -- thanks a lot!

We stayed out long enough to get red noses, throw a few snow balls, and for me to get a few pictures!

Nothin' says lovin' like rubbin' snow in your sister's hair!

I bribed them with hot chocolate to get them inside!

Garrett's Beads

Looking for a Christmas gift?

My mom is making necklaces to help raise money for

Garrett's medical bills and future DMD research.

His school is selling them as their service project this year.

They are calling them "Garrett's Beads."

Would you like to be a part of this project?

Would you like to help us End Duchenne?

Let me know how many you want!

ambersapp81@hotmail.com

A Modern-Day Mary

Notice anything missing?

Its Mary...you know, the mother of Jesus?

This is where I found her.

Me: "Charlotte, why is Mary in the kitchen?"

Charlotte: "She left her baby."


Me: "Why did Mary leave baby Jesus?"


Charlotte: "She had to go to work!"

Will you help save hearts?

This is a letter I recieved today:


During the holiday season, we are especially reminded how precious family is and how precious our children are.

Earlier this year--even as the Duchenne community was pushing forward promising research, clinical trials, and other amazing achievements--we were receiving terrible news. In the past four months alone, we have lost six boys due to cardiac complications.

None of them had yet reached the age of 15.

Heart issues don't just affect some of our boys; they affect all boys with Duchenne. And, in fact, even carrier moms and daughters can eventually develop heart problems. We must face these issues of the heart as one community--as One Voice--and come together to find answers.

That's why Parent Project Muscular Dystropy is starting a new $2 million cardiac initiative in 2011. But to fund the vital research and advocacy at the core of this effort, we need your help.

Our goal is to raise $100,000 to launch our cardiac initiative by December 31st. Will you make a gift to kick-start this vital new effort?

We cannot afford to let these precious lives slip through our fingers.

For the cardiac initiative, PPMD will work with leading pediatric cardiologist, researchers, thought leaders, and the entire community to address the problem.

When you dontate to our new cardiac initiative, your money will help us fund vital research, support advocacy efforts with NIH funding, build consensus around care for the heart, and inform our community--including physicians around the world--about overall findings.

Every penny we raise online during this holiday season--and we're hoping for at least $100,000--will be put toward this urgent cardiac initiative. We're not naive. We know that it will take so much more to combat the heart issues every boy faces. But we have to start somewhere. And although we've taken great strides in improving and extending the function of our sons' bodies, we need to make sure their hearts are strong and healthy enough to handle the advances.

We've seen how powerful our community can be when we speak in One Voice. Let's save some hearts this holiday. Make a tax-deductible donation today.

Thank you for all that you do.

Best regards,


Kimberly Galberaith
Executive Vice President
Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy

WILL YOU CONSIDER DONATING TO THIS CAUSE TODAY?

Sapp Crunch!

I love Harry and David's Moose Munch, but refuse to pay their prices! So, 2 years ago I came up my own version that I am now calling "Sapp Crunch!"

I would love to tell you that there is some leftover from when I made it 2 days ago, but alas! It is all gone and I'm not sure where it went [wiping chocolate off my face].

It is so easy and only takes about 5 minutes. Add this one to your holiday repertoire this year.

All it takes is a box of this spread out on wax paper:

About half to 3/4 package of this, melted: (although, you could use a really yummy milk chocolate chip)

1 of these, with the melted chocolate poured into it: (you could also use a zipper bag)

Cut off the tip of your piping bag and drizzle it over the popcorn 1 direction and then the other direction. You can't get too much chocolate!

Let it sit out to dry; it will only take a few minutes.

Try not to eat it all in 1 sitting! It does make a nice little gift for Christmas. Last year it put it into the pastry bags (that are cone-shaped) once it was all dry and tied it with some curling ribbon. Very cute!

Happy Blah-Blah Thanksgiving

I know you're all dying to hear about our wonderful Thanksgiving full of family traditions, and thankfulness, and giving to others. But I've got none of that for you.

We headed to Florida for Thanksgiving again this year with a sick Charlotte throwing up in the backseat. Thursday, Garrett was throwing up and by early Friday morning Randy and I were throwing up! Let's just say that we will not be eating corn or green beans for a looong time to come!

It took us 2 full days to recover and then we had to drive 12 hours back home, while stopping every hour or so because Garrett still had some belly issues!

We stopped in Ghettanooga, Tn for yet another potty break and Charlotte and I prayed the whole time for Jesus to protect us while our boys were sick in the Burger King.

We arrived home to a 56 degree house (as our heat was out) and all slept together in a way-to-small king-sized bed with sleeping bags and a space heater. (UPDATE: we got a new furnace today!)

My husband says I've been complaining a lot lately...hopefully this will get it off my chest!

Shop Amazon. End Duchenne.

As you know, Garrett was diagnosed this year with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. There have been a lot of partnerships this year to raise funds to fight the disease through an organization know as PPMD (Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.) Another such partnership has recently developed with Amazon.

This holiday season, when you shop through Amazon, a percentage of your purchase goes directly to PPMD. All you have to do is click here for more instructions. The more people who use this, the higher the percentage of every purchase that supports our fight to end Duchenne!

Shop Amazon. End Duchenne. Save Garrett.

Headline News!

Its no secret: we live in a small town. But we didn't know how small until we saw the Sunday paper yesterday! Front page, mind you! I'm not talking about a small picture, it was a good 5in x 10in!

A fall ritual
Randy Sapp performs a fall ritual, blowing leaves on a Saturday afternoon. “We like them better when they are up there on the trees,” he quipped. Staff photo by Thomas Johns

He is sporting a P61 shirt too! You can see the page here!

Wisdom

One thing I pray for my children is WISDOM.

On so many levels: WISDOM to make good choices, WISDOM to trust in GOD, WISDOM for circumstances that Almighty God himself has chosen for us, WISDOM for things to come...

Everyday, we have to stretch Garrett's legs 2 times a day: when he wakes up and before he goes to bed. Its not a difficult thing to do, but it is a constant reminder to me of his disease. One morning, he was complaining about the stretching hurting his legs and that he didn't want to do it that day. Garrett said to me before I could even respond:

"I don't want to do theses stretches, but I know that if I don't, my muscles will get tight and I will have a hard time walking."

Then, he layed down on the couch for me to do the prescribed stretching routine, without complaint. I didn't even know he knew those things, but God granted him WISDOM for this time.

I don't know why I'm often surprised to see God granting prayed-for-WISDOM in their lives, but I am. If only I could apply the same WISDOM to my life and accept the things God has laid out for me because He knows best.

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5 (NASB)

A Shameless Plug

I did another photo shoot on Monday and recently put some of the photos on my photography blog. I'm working on the new look for the photo blog plus adding some more features, like a contact page. In the meantime, you can always email me at ambersapp.photos@gmail.com or at ambersapp81@hotmail.com!

If you know anyone who needs family Christmas photos for gifts or Christmas cards or even business photos for corporate Christmas cards, let me know! My new business cards should be in any day.

www.ambersappphotography.blogspot.com

Shameless!

Giddy!

I have a deep relationship with my camera. I've been rough on the old-girl and she has been good to me. A few weeks ago though, my lens started acting up. So, I decided that I was going to look into a getting it fixed or getting a new one. Well, as it turns out, getting a new lens costs as much as getting the old one fixed. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a new camera! Why buy a new lens for an old camera when I could get a new camera AND and new lens?

So, I began hunting for a new camera to meet my needs ("wants" is a more appropriate term!) I've done a few small photo shoots lately and wanted to upgrade to something a little nicer. So, Saturday I picked up this baby:

Super fancy, huh? It has a hugo-fat lens on it that covers the same ground my old 1 did plus 60 feet! It has 12.3 MPs and an ISO capability of 100-6400! The lens is 67mm across! It can shoot 6 frames per second and has a 3 inch LCD screen with the new Live View option. It even shoots HD video with sound! Crazy, huh?! This is like car-talk for men! So, I am giddy! I get to use it tomorrow on a photo shoot and am so excited to see how things turn out!

By the way, if you want some family photos done before Christmas and before all these great leaves fall let me know soon. With the cost of this baby, my prices are gonna go up really soon!

Every family has one

I'm feeling a little rough today...you know, sweatshirt-and-Randy's-flannel pants-feeling rough. I had a photo shoot scheduled for this afternoon and I'm glad the rain cancelled!

Charlotte and Garrett pretty much had the run of the house this afternoon. They watched a lot of TV and had a lot of quiet play...a little too quiet!

As you know, Charlotte is my little "tester." This is what I found:

Upon first glance, you might think: "How precious! She's reading God's Word!" Look closer!

Yep, that's marker all over her face.

No pants and a little boogie picking too! Garrett said, "PUT some PANTS on!"

Pair it up with Mom's trouser socks AND striped Hello Kitty socks.

Makes for one cute little stinker!

Fallapalooza 2010!

We've had a very busy fall! We been to Gentry's Farm, had fall parties at school and fall festivals at church! I've been lazy about blogging about it all, so I'll Recap it all here!

I'm not sure if you all know this, but I take a lot of pictures! My kids just know to pose when they get around props like these!



These are from Gentry's Farm, where we go every year for some fun fall family fotos! (how 'bout that use of alliteration?!)


This is the kids' first year at a MDO program, and they love it! They have the sweetest bunch of teachers and helpers! Here are some shots from their fall parties! They had a hayride, pumpkin patch, and lots of sugar!


This is Charlotte's little class!




Here is Garrett's hayride!

Here is the annual pumpkin carving! This year, Granny and Papa joined us.

The kids dubbed the pumpkin innards as "goo!"

That brings us to the fall festival at church. The evening began with Daddy splitting his pants on an inflatable slide! I don't know why he wouldn't let me take his picture while he was still wearing them!

Here are Buzz and Princess Aurora! See the way she adores him!

Every princess has to twirl a little!

She is quite the poser!

Garrett talked Nana into going down the slide this time. Not sure who had the most fun!

This was actually taken at a little assisted living facility where we trick or treated a few weeks ago. There are not many photos, as my kids were not too happy we were there! The first room we went into, there were a lady's false teeth laying on her walker on which sat the bag of candy! Mommy had a hard time with that too!

Here again is a little sister who LOVES her brother! He can do no wrong in her eyes!!