Out of the mouths......

of my kids. SO both kids said funny things that made me laugh today....

On the way home from dropping off Laynie at school today we were listening to "Mickey Mouse music" (a CD Grandma got Nick for Christmas.. every time we're in the truck Nick wants to listen to it.). One of the songs is "This old man". The verse for the number 7 is "This old man, he played seven, he played seven up to heaven with a knick knack patty whack give the dog a bone"... Anyways, this morning when they sung the verse for 7 and said "up to heaven" the conversation went like this:

Nick: MOMMY

ME: Yes, Nick?!

NICK: HEAVEN, HEAVEN, HEAVEN!!!

ME: Yes, Nick heaven

NICK: Grandpa, Grandma is HEAVEN!

ME: Yes, Nick you're right... Grandpa Tom and Grandma Marilyn are in heaven.

WOW.... hard to swallow reading about my mom. I've said it a million times to them but to SEE it is another thing. =(

Here's Laynie's funny:

Laynie: mommy, can I marry Kyle and Laine?

ME: ummm, no you can't marry both Kyle and Laine.

Laynie: why not? I sure like both of them!

ME: you can like both of them but you can't marry both of them

Laynie: well I guess I'll marry Kyle then, since he lives across the street.

ME: alrighty then

Laynie: but Laine has a playground and Kyle doesn't so maybe I'll marry Laine instead

ME: I don't think where they live and what they have is what you should base your choice on Laynie.

Laynie: well then I want to marry both of them because I don't want to hurt either of their feelings

ME: you have a long time to figure this out Laynie so don't stress yourself

Laynie: I know.... I'll just give a present to the one I don't marry. How's that?

SO funny.... Here's a picture from a few days ago. One of these days I'll get this updated... just not today... =) Too much to do and too little time!

Tagged Again

One of these days I'll get more recent pictures up. I've been a little "distracted" with other things so my blog has taken a back seat. Kids are both doing well. Laynie's still doing great in school. We're working a little harder on handwriting (it's booorrrrinnnnggg). Since Christmas break she's been complaining of being bored at school. They're already working a grade level ahead so we're trying to do things at home to keep her engaged. We're also starting to look at options for next school year as we're unclear whether her current school will be around another year. Nick just learned how to peddle his bike. He's pretty excited about that and says constantly "wannaridemybike". We walked to Church yesterday and stopped at the park afterwards. David was a little freaked out when he climbed up the "big, sloping" ladder himself. I told David not to worry, he tacked it the year before. Physically I'd say he's where Laynie was around her 4th birthday.... funny how two kids in the same family can be so different... haha


Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

1. I detest cold weather and clouds.
2. I never wanted to have a family. I wanted a good job, lots of money and freedom to travel anywhere and do the things I wanted without having to answer to anyone.
3. I met David and that changed... quickly.
4. Both my parents passed away. My dads death "feels" more recent even though it was 12 years before my moms. I'm thankful my dad died first, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to know my mom as well as I did. It took me a lot of years to figure that out.
5. I'm thankful my mom had a second chance at love in meeting Paul. I hope the same for David or myself when the time comes.
6. My daughter has my dads eyes and my son has my moms.
7. I have no tolerance for judgemental people and strive daily to not be one.
8. I believe in Jesus Christ and am Roman Catholic. I believe everyone has the right to practice their beliefs as they see fit as long as they don't hurt anyone around them.
9. I feel a child is a gift, regardless of the circumstance, and should be treated as such.
10. I was raised to be honest, have integrity, to work hard and to be educated.
11. I feel sorry for people who use drugs and/or alcohol as a means to get through life. I try my hardest to stay away from them, regardless of the cost.
12. I try really hard to treat people the way I wish to be treated.
13. I hate getting caught up in gossip, I try really hard to avoid it but every now and then I slip.
14. I believe firmly 'what goes around, comes around".
15. I'm teaching my kids to "leave it better then we find it" anywhere we go.
16. Both my kids are very polite. My neighbors growing up told me my siblings and I were the most polite kids they ever knew.
17. I'm going to get my Masters Degree.. probably in Special Education.
18. I worked for 7 years in a group home with adults/children with autism. It was the hardest but best job I've had.
19. I volunteered for 6 years as a victims advocate for the Anoka County Attorney's office.
20. I'm running out of things about me.....
21. I have a really great group of childhood friends and wish they'd move to Arizona so we can see each other more often.
22. I always wanted a BMW. Now I'd be happy to drive a GEO if it meant I'd have no debt! (okay... not really but I'd like to feel this way...)
23. I miss living in Denver.
24. I want to go to Ireland someday... sooner then later!
25. I went through a Coach Purse phase that lasted until David figured out how much they cost. (THANKS KELLY!) Most were given to Goodwill when we moved. I gave one to my mom who had no idea what it was. I still have 4 but only use 1. I won't buy another purse until I'm working and can get something comparable.

TAGGED....

Is what I've been! I have to change the rules a little though because I'm not sure I have 5 friends that blog so here's the deal... If you read my blog and you have a blog you need to post the 5th picture in the 5th file on your computer! My initial thought was "this is kind of silly" when I saw the post I was "tagged" on. Then I thought "It's almost 1am. I still have a LOAD of gifts to wrap before I go to sleep, and I'm ready to go now. I think I'll see what my 5th photo in my 5th file is". SOOOO.... without further ado........ here's the long anticipated photo.....

Okay... a little story... my friends Tisha, Kayla and I decided to take our kids bowling one day. I can't remember it was a MOMS Club activity or just something we decided to do on our own?! Anyways, we went with Tisha's 4 year old, Kaylas 3 and 1 year olds and the two D's who were 3 and 4 days shy of 1.

We had SUCH a blast. I think it was both Laynie and T's first time bowling. Tisha and her family were on a bowling streak..seriously.. couple times/week! It was SOO much fun and now that I'm looking at the pictures and remembering back on the day I hope it's something we do again soon sometime! With half day kindergarten.. why not?!

I was going to post a few more photos from the big day but somethings up with either blogger or my internet and I can't get it to work. SO.. with that..

TTFN!
JP

A not so quick check in............

Just a quick check in as we had a busy weekend. We took the kids last night to a parade in a town a little south of us. They had their "electric light parade". It was fun, the kids REALLY seemed to enjoy it, especially Dominick! A float would go by and he say "another one!" in his special way. The kids were both really good with saying Merry Christmas. Dominicks sounded more like "Marie MISSMISS" but we knew what he meant. I'll try to get him on tape before the sounds come right. (He LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine and for a couple weeks I thought he was saying "Colson and Jen" (close friends of ours) and he was really saying "Gordon and Train"). Dalaynie had to point that out to me in her special little 5 year old way! Here are a few photos of the festivities...

Smiling All Cute with her hat!

Dominick is saying "CHHEEESE". Laynie's just smiling and David looks startled....

Laynie looking all cute again with the parade behind her. You can't see much but her!

Me and Laynie (I have gum in my mouth....)

This fire engine was soo cool. They had it all decked out with Christmas lights. Nick thought all the big trucks were cool until they'd honk their horns. Then he'd just want David to hold him really tight and protect him!

Our friends gave Nick a 3T winter jacket a while back so David tried it on to see if it'd fit. It's getting colder in the evenings (low 50's... YIKES) so he thought Nick could wear it at the parade if he got too cold. I was doing my hair when Nick started pounding on the door and crying to come in to the bathroom where I was. I had no idea what was going on and had to try really hard not to laugh at the poor boy. It was truly a "Christmas Story" moment when the little brother was all bundled up to go to school but couldn't put his arms down. Dominick was MUCH less impressed though. This was a HUGE sign for me that our family would never make it in Minnesota (or any where north of Denver for that matter!). Being the opportunist I am I had to grab the camera and take a few pictures....

I don't think I really need to caption the pictures as they kind of speak for themselves.... The big consequence of this situation was that what we use to call Nick's jacket now needs to be called his "sweatshirt" or he screams at the idea of putting it on. I wonder who's anal retentive personality both my kids both exhibit sometimes......haha!

On a more somber note, I'm really starting to take in my moms death. I think it was my cousin that said to me at the funeral in regards to my aunt "yeah, it took me a good couple of months to really accept she was gone. I thought I was doing well up to that point". I had told her I felt "OKAY" about everything and was really glad mostly that my mom's at peace. That was at that time. Now I'm just filled with anger and resentment over the way she was treated by those that claimed to love and care so much for her. I don't think I'll ever get over it and honestly, I think as long as I can move past it, that's okay. What goes around comes around... one way or another.

I took this photo of a rose that bloomed on my rose bush this past week. It isn't like any other rose that's ever bloomed there before, you can tell by the leaves. Unfortunately, Laynie decided to pick it yesterday so it's sitting in a glass on my counter, still beautiful. I was going to find a way to "preserve" it because for some reason it made me think of my mom each time I'd pass by it. Like somehow she was sending me a sign that things are good. If that's the case I hope she works her magic on my whole back yard this winter!

Meant to post....

PICTURES!!

Turkey #1 getting ready for a dip in the oil!

#1 almost submerged

#1 in the oil... bubble bubble!


Turkey #1 coming out

MMM MMM MMM gobbly goodness!


Oil bubbling in Turkey #2

Dominick wasn't suppose to go off the patio. He's pushing his limits!

David happy about his "cooking"!

My lame attempt at gardening!!

"Garden" from the side

Thanksgiving...

We had a good day! Started off with a HUGE thunderstorm about 6am! It thundered so loud I woke up thinking someone drove into our house! It stormed for a little bit but cleared up long enough for David to deep fry a few turkeys for our festivities. I got turkey frying pictures and a little diddy of the kids, I'll post. I brought the camera to the cousins for dinner but didn't take any pictures... BAD ME!!

Today was the day...

I decided to put up our tree, much to David's dismay! Here's a little ditty of the kids... Can you tell we got a new camera with a nice video function?! If you can't hear it because of the 'blog music' scroll down to my 'music box' and pause the function. You'll be able to hear the video sound then.

Our week has been good. Dalaynie took a written phonogram test and came home with 15/15 on the sounds and 10/10 on her handwriting. I was skeptical because this weeks test had 5 phonograms for the sound "er" (hER, nURse, EARly, WORks, fIRst). Fun times with the phonogram based learning...

I've decided "motivated mom" needs to step in and get Nick potty training. He's more then ready and has been for some time. I'm not quite as motivated as I play scenarios of using public bathrooms everywhere we go again. Hopefully he won't be terrified of automatic flush toilets like Laynie. He started the day wearing Elmo underwear and finished with his Thomas ones. I got him to wear the Elmo's by saying "Let's go show Elmo your underwear". Thankfully Sesame Street was on and he complied!

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the loss of my good friend, Murphy. =( I've been a little crabbier and out of sorts this week. If the afterlife is what I imagine it to be he's up there with my dad happy to have my mom around. I see them playing cards and remembering back to the good ole days. The only things they may be missing in my "perfect" world are cigarettes and alcohol.... Over the past couple years I've really opened my eyes to how toxic substance use/abuse really is and how many people are affected by it in ways they don't even realize.

I'm really missing my mom too. I made her spaghetti sauce for us for dinner last night. It turned out really well, I was proud of myself. We had leftovers tonight and it was even better. I'm thankful I picked up her love for cooking and baking. Hopefully with more practice I'll become as good as she was and Laynie and Nick will be able to pass it down more generations.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTIE "KAFFY"

Here's a little 'diddy' from each of the kids. Sorry it's a few days late, we hope you had the BEST birthday ever and have the MOST wonderful year yet! (Of course, that would include a trip to spend time with our happy lil' clan!). (To shut the music on the blog "OFF" scroll down to the music player and click the "pause" button and you'll be able to hear the video without background music)

The Verdict is...

Nick is HEALTHY!

YIPPEE... no sign of pneumonia in his lung after 10 days on antibiotics. What a relief! We decided to go ahead and give him the "pneumonia shot" though, hopefully it will keep us from this again. David's going to take him for some blood work to see if he has a genetic predisposition to catching it. With my lung history I won't be surprised if it comes back positive. In the meantime we're going to continue with the "nebby" until spring. The bright side of that is he tolerates it a lot better then before.

I've started trying to get Christmas pictures... here's a little preview of some of the pictures... TURKEYS! or should I say "NICK is a turkey!"

I can't imagine what's going to happen when I try to add Molly into the picture! Maybe I'll take a class on Photoshop or something......

Both kids are doing great. Laynie got her "mid term" report from school and continues to excel. She's scored 99.6% for this quarter so far. It's really fun to hear her read and actually sound out words. She's also doing pretty well with piano lessons although they end up being the last thing we work on. She's LOVING religious education (who thought THAT would end up being her favorite?!). She just started "running club" at school this afternoon. I tried to get her to join a few weeks back but her response each time was "no thanks". Then she found out one of her BFF's was going to try it and she was all about it! I took her to Kohls for shoes (something I won't do again with both kids anytime soon!). She picked the ones she wanted and told the cashier "These are my new running shoes. I'm in the running club at school now". The cashier asked how she liked it and she said "I haven't started yet". That was Monday and we slept through the first meeting. She and Nick were both asleep when we should have left so I decided to let lying beasts lie!

Nick is "NICK". Funny as ever. I'm working on having him spell his name. He either says "N O P Q.. NICK" or "N I C K .. L M N O P Q ... NICK" He's as dramatic as ever. I'm working more on potty training also. I think if I just buckled down and did it we could be finished with diapers in a day or two. LAZY mom prevails and he ends up in diapers by mid morning. I got him Elmo and Thomas big boy underwear a couple months ago because he REFUSED to poop in his diaper. He'd chant POOP POOP POOP until he was put on the toilet. I thought "Easy STREET, just like Laynie, this kid will be potty trained by 2". HAHAHAHA The minute I pulled out the Elmo's or the Thomas's he decided the game was over. I'm not sure what the hang up is but he still isn't too keen on them and I'm still too lazy to push it. I've started giving him "NMN's" as he calls them when he goes on the toilet.

He's finished with Tiny Tot Sports and his preschool class now. Each time we drive by the school his class was at he says "Nick Peekool". He got a certificate of completion for his class after a class party at the local Baskin Robbins!

Hopefully we'll have something like it to entertain ourselves with after the new year.

Anyways, I had no intention of writing a book. I should be packing for a trip back to Minnesota. Nothing fun to report this time. I told my sisters I'd help with whatever they need in terms of taking care of my moms "life". I'm going this weekend to inventory the items she had. Hard times but it all needs to be taken care of.

I miss her terribly but don't think I've yet fully accepted that she's "crossed over". I think I was lucky in talking to her as often as I did. I was able to hear her pain when I talked to her. She'd cough something fierce and moan without even realizing it. I'd comment that she didn't sound good and she'd say "I'm fine". I'm happy to have had the relationship I did with her. I know she respected me as a mother and was proud of the adult I grew to be.

Dalaynie has broken down at the strangest times and when I ask what's wrong she says "I'm thinking of Grandma Marilyn and I really miss her". I ask what made her think of her and her answer is usually "I remember when she held me when I was a baby" or "She sent Nick and I nice presents for our birthdays". I wish I'd have lived close enough for her to develop a 'physical' relationship with my mom but am thankful for the insight to have her on the phone a couple times/week, just to say hello. I know Nick won't remember anything of her but I'm glad my mom heard him sing his "ABC's", "TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR", "AMEN" and mostly "ALLELUIA" (just because it was SOOO bad it was good!). Laynie asks about sending her pictures and cards and often draws pictures of "grandma Marilyn with angel wings". The last one she drew she had a boy looking figure in the corner. She explained to me "That's God, he's taking care of Grandma Marilyn now". She suggests we mail pictures to heaven. I never really know what to say... I've thought about taking them, letting her address as she wishes then putting them into a memory box for her. I figure if she doesn't remember my mom down the line at least when she grows up and looks back at the stuff we saved she'll remember she once knew.

She's also been asking a lot of questions about my dad. She can't grasp the concept that both my parents have left this world. She keeps saying "PaPa Paul" can be your dad. We pray for both of them a couple times a day by her request. She likes to say the "Lords Prayer" but once asked to say the "dinner prayer" for my dad. I laughed and thought.. yeah, she knows him!

Anyways, I didn't mean to take this tangent.

TTFN

10/24 - 11/2

I meant to update this a few days ago but time just keeps getting away from me. Uncle Jim has been here this week for a visit. We had lots of fun things planned to see and do. Unfortunately, Nick got sick again so we didn't do much but hang out here. We did make it to the Desert Botanic Gardens the day before I took him to the MD.

Turns out the poor little thing has pneumonia again. Thankfully it's in his lower RIGHT lobe this time or I'd have had an anxiety attack. This is the fourth time in his two short years of life. The first three were in his lower left lobe. Anyways, he's on antibiotics for 10 days and we go back for a follow up x-ray and appointment with his pediatrician. If the x-ray shows the spot still there we'll probably just schedule an appointment with a pediatric pulmonologist. I'm not sure how we'll proceed if it's cleared up. We're so early in the season for this to be happening. It gave me a really good glimpse of what my parents had to deal with and the sacrifices they made for us. It's hard with one "wheezy" kid, I can't imagine having three! I'll post again next week to update what the situation is. Until then I refuse to stress over something that is beyond my control.

SO... I posted another slide. It's after this long post.

Our neighbors and close friends, Chris and Dutch have a little grand-daughter who is fighting a form of brain cancer. My good friend and neighbor, Tisha, and I decided to see if they wanted to come hang out with us in the street and watch Laynie & Kyle ride bikes in the afternoon. It ended up turning into an all evening thing with pizza ordered and margarita's and beer consumed. It was really laid back and steam and stress was released by us all.

David went and spent some much needed time with his friends in Dallas the next day. Kids and I went to a pumpkin patch & apple orchard with my friend Joanna and her family. It was a BLAST although a long drive (3 hours each way!). The kids seemed to like being in the 'country'. We decided to do a corn maze and hay ride. Laynie was so excited for the hay ride she could hardly contain herself. We went in the maze first though, the worker told us the rules; no touching the corn, no pulling the corn, no breaking the corn, stay on the path. She said she was a "corn cop" and there were other corn cops in the maze. If we were caught breaking the rules they might have us leave the maze. Of course, we stressed this so the kids would be respectful and we wouldn't need to spend the time reminding them. The workers stern warning and Laynie's lack of nap was the perfect combination to push my poor child right over the edge. We got about 100 feet into the maze and she lost her poor little mind and started screaming she was scared and wanted out RIGHT NOW. It took a little prodding to get her to say she was afraid the corn cops would get us so we reassured her (so we thought) that all would be fine. A couple minutes later she started screaming because Ben brushed against some corn, then Dominick, then Laine. If memory serves me she finally settled down when we ran across the woman who told her it was okay.

After the corn maze we went on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. ALL the kids really liked this. Little Ezra (Joanna & Ben's 20 month old) kept walking from side to side of the trailer as the tractor was moving. He's so cute!

We also went to an apple orchard and had a picnic. It was fun. The kids played in the orchard a little and we had a little homemade ice cream. I'm going to try to make some with my kitchen-aid ice cream attachment. YUM YUM. They had apple crumb cake and pumpkin pie ice cream!

This week we took it easy. Uncle Jim and David went to a Coyotes hockey game and had fun. Kids dressed up as an Ice Skating Princess and a Hockey Player for halloween. They were both sooo cute. We went to a Halloween Festival sponsored by one of our local churches Friday night for a few hours. It was fun! They had games for the kids and a few bouncy things. Members of their church were gracious enough to park their cars and pass candy from the trunks. We live in a great community with so many generous people! As the festival got busy we decided to head home so we came back and trick or treated a few blocks. Even though we were home late and only out for about an hour we went through 4 bags of candy! Not too shabby!

I'm tired and need to get sleep.

OH.. one more thing! I've been doing apple stuff this weekend! I made homemade applesauce (YUM), carmel apple jam and now I'm making some apple butter! I have a bunch of apples left so I need to decide what to do with them. Probably I'll make some cinnamon apple jam.

TTFN,
JP

Pictures 10/24 - 10/31

We got out and about this weekend!

We had a busy, busy weekend! On Saturday we decided to take the kids to the state fair. Mind you, we're not crowd people so we didn't think we'd last all but a couple hours. We're also not very patient, especially when it comes to standing in lines in the heat. Our kids don't wait well either... Anyways, we decided to go early before it got too hot (still in the mid 90's here in sunny AZ).

We had the BEST time and ended up staying from 11:00 - 6:30. Uncle Jim is coming to visit us, I told David I was going to take him with the kids. David said if I did he was going to try to meet up with us. Considering we couldn't get out of Disneyland or Lego Land quick enough because of all the people we figure this is HUGE. I don't think we saw even half of what the fair had to offer!

We got there and watched part of a monkey show then decided to walk around a little bit. We went and checked things out.. the kids did the little 'fishing game', they were both so happy to pick their dollar store quality prizes! They had so much fun that they played again later in the day. After fishing we decided to find the rides. The kids went on a bunch and had a blast! David tried to talk Laynie into going on a roller coaster but she refused (like mother, like daughter). We've come to the conclusion Nick will be his roller coaster buddy. Dominick LOVED the rides -- it was so amazing to watch him. He'd get off each one and RUN to me screaming "FUN FUN FUN". It was the best! Sometimes I treat him and expect him to act like a little baby.

After the rides we headed for the food, which we were surprised wasn't way overpriced. We had beef brisket and the kids had hot dogs for lunch then we all split a heaping mound of french fries and onion rings. YUM! YUM! YUM!

After lunch we headed into the exhibit building to see what was being sold. Laynie, my Food Network junkie and I got looped into sitting and watching a demonstration for Kitchen Craft "Waterless" Cooking system. With promises of the chance to win a free prize we stuck it out for the whole demonstration. The cookware was really nice and probably something I'd have "needed" if we were a two income family. David and Dominick wandered around through the building and found a water hose concept, vegemixer and I don't remember what else. OH.. he had a handwriting analysis done. In a nutshell it said he's a pretty good guy. We already knew that but in the spirit of the fair it was good fun!

After this we headed to the arts/crafts/baking exhibits. I might need to enter next year with some of my homemade jams!! I did say we were into the fair, right?!!! When this became too boring we headed for the 'animal' buildings. Both kids loved the livestock. Nick was especially fond of the cages.. you know anything with horizontal lines is a ladder in his world! After spending time here I decided I want to get the kids involved in 4H. How fun would THAT be for them?? HA HA Did I mention we LOVED the fair??

We finally met up with the cousins about 4:30. We took a small breather then decided to head for the kids areas. We spent the last couple hours in a building for kids.. David had a nice chance to catch up some while I chased our overactive son around. After this Vic & Mar wanted to head for the "Petting Zoo". We saw the crowd and decided it wasn't for us. That and all the germs.... ICK!

We got home about 7:30, had a quick dinner and put the kids to bed (it was a no nap day...). Then David and I had a piece of cheesecake with cherry topping my friend Joanna gave us. It was the PERFECT end to a perfect day!!!

On Sunday we planned to go to the zoo then a minor league hockey game. I fell asleep during the afternoon so David decided to let me sleep. I guess he sees the affects of 4 hours/night coming through and figured it best to let me rest. We headed for the game, thinking we'd be lucky to make it through the first period. We stayed the WHOLE game and ALL had a BLAST!! It was SOOO fun! We had tickets for a game in December but decided to buy for a few more games! Hopefully they'll all go like this. We talked to a guy that's really involved in the Peoria Hockey Club and he said we could start our kids at age 4. David told Laynie she could play and she said "NO THANKS". I could TOTALLY see little Nick all suited up and ready to go. I think hockey might be the ticket for him!!

Now that I'm thinking of all this I realize why I'm so exhausted today! With this time for me to get...

TTFN!

Our life in pictures 10/11 - 10/19

Laynie & Nick

HUH?

Always so sweet with her poses...

"Wannaridebike!!"

Back into the swing of things

We got back home late Friday night and have been adjusting and trying to get back into the swing of things. I have yet to grocery shop or cook a meal as some of my friends stocked my fridge and brought over a variety of meals. It's been nice, I didn't realize what a difference "meal support" makes. I declined when we had Nick because we had a steady stream of family here to help for the first couple months.

I have about enough energy to do the things I need to get done. The reality of my moms death hits in waves.. one minute I'm fine then the next I feel like my heart is in a giant vice grip. I'm still very thankful she didn't suffer but I sure miss her. I didn't realize how often in the course of the day I think of her... I just took for granted she'd always be there.

We were in the car yesterday and Laynie said "I love you, mommy". Nick followed her with "I love you, Laynie". It was sweet and the first time he's ever said it. He told me today "I love you mommy" and gave me a big kiss. I told him to say "I love you, grandma" and he did. Then I cried. He's a really sweet boy.

I'm trying really hard not to cry in front of the kids... Laynie caught me and told me "just don't think of her and you won't cry anymore". I didn't really know what to say to her as she's at the age where she's going to remember things. I don't want her to remember my mom as the woman that made her mom cry. I asked her what she liked best about Grandma Marilyn this weekend and she said "making eggs with her". That's a nice memory.

I find myself thinking weird things too.... Now that both my parents are gone do I lose my status of daughter?

We got a new camera so I'll post some pictures I took as soon as I download them.

TTFN

MN

The kids and I are still here and all is... Minnesota. My moms memorial service was last Monday. She didn't want anything big so a small graveside service was planned. She didn't want a big visitation or funeral. She's always been horrified that people go through that.. she use to say it just prolongs the pain. The prior priest at our church, Father Reiser, made the trip over to do the service. It was really nice as he knew her and my dad since they joined Epiphany Church in 1964. He's retired now so it was really special, to me, that he took the time to participate. At the end of the service we released balloons. Each balloon represented us kids and grandkids.

Last week went by so quickly. One Tuesday I took David to Fort Snelling Cemetary to where my dad is buried. Laynie was a little confused about what we were doing there. I told her we were going to see where Grandpa Tom is and she said "WAIT, I didn't know heaven is in the ground?!" hmmmm.... I guess we need to talk about that a little more. Her and Dominick pulled grass and made a little 'bird nest' on top of my dads headstone. I try to visit Fort Snelling each time I'm in Minnesota and this was the first time I've felt completely at peace being there... We left the cemetary then went to visit my friend Kelly at her store in the Burnsville mall. Then we went to visit Uncle Bill then Antie Jeanie. It was a long but nice day.

Wednesday we went to the Mall of America with the kids then met my friends at Fudruckers for dinner. Thursday we met Kelly's mom and sisters at McDonalds for coffee and let the kids play. Then we headed to Como Zoo for the afternoon. Kelly's sister came along then my sisters & niece met us. It was fun. David headed back home on Friday morning so the kids and I went and met Tricia for lunch then went and took naps and took it easy for the evening.

Nick was up most of the night Friday/Saturday coughing so I took him to urgent care. He has a respiratory infection... I guess a trip wouldn't be complete without him getting sick! Today we went to baby Isabella's shower. She's a doll baby. My mom and I talked about getting a gift together so I went ahead and got her what we talked about. I also told Cindy I'm going to get something else that I know my mom would have bought her.... Now I just need to follow through!

I'm hoping to get the kiddos to an apple orchard and a pumpkin patch while we're here. The weather isn't suppose to be ideal though so we'll just take it as it comes. I was looking forward to the cooler weather but now I'm looking forward to getting back to the heat... I'm just not a winter person.. or a fall person.. or a spring person...

My mom

Passed away this afternoon. I'm really going to miss her. I wish my kids would have had a chance to know her better and her them.

It turns out she had advanced stage 4 lung cancer. She wasn't one to complain so who knows how much pain she was in and how long the pain was there. She isn't in pain any more. Now she's with all the people she loved that went ahead of her.

I'm glad she didn't suffer. I'm glad she went peacefully the way she would have wanted. I'm glad I was her daughter and she was my mom. I hope I can instill much of her in my own daughter.

I will really miss her but I'm happy for where she is because I know it's somewhere great.

My Mom...

is going to be mad when she finds out I put this out here but she's on my mind so here I go...

She's sick. In the hospital. We know she has pneumonia. She also has a mass or fluid of some type on her lung. They did a few x-rays and an ultrasound today but didn't get the answers they need so tomorrow they're putting a camera down her throat, into her lung so they can get a look at what's going on. The idea of this scares the daylights out of me.

Her and Paul both quit smoking three days ago and starting using "the patch". I'm VERY proud of both of them. My mom was 12 or 13 when she started smoking and I think Paul was even younger so it's been a long time. I found out they quit because Stef told Paul my moms heart rate was erratic while I was on the phone with him. He told Stef to make sure the MD knows my moms wearing "the patch". I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER thought I'd hear the words "your mom is going to stop smoking". She's ALWAYS been determined to keep it up and thinks all the 'non smoking hype' is a bunch of crap. After Stef went to talk to the MD I asked Paul what "Patch" he was talking about and he said "the nicotine one!". I started laughing and said "you mean to tell me she couldn't even go to the hospital without worrying about a cigarette?" He said "no, I told her a few days ago if she'd quit smoking, I'd quit smoking so we're both wearing the patch now". I'VE PRAYED FOR THOSE WORDS!!

Anyways, after they do the camera thing I believe the plan is to drain the fluid and biopsy it. I'm very stressed about the risk of lung cancer but thankful that a genetic disposition isn't there making this a greater possibility. My dad had skin cancer, the 'easy' kind to get rid of, but other then that we've all been cancer free.

Please keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers. It is my hope that she recovers quickly, is able to stay away from 'death sticks' and comes to visit me! She use to come when we lived in Denver but this is an extra hour on a plane, which is too far for her to go without a smoke... or WAS too far in the past anyways!

A "Peachy" weekend!

We had a good weekend. It was busy but good! Yesterday we went to a Kids Day America event at our local middle school. We walked with the kids thinking there wouldn't be many people there. WOW were we wrong!! The whole gym was packed.. so much we could hardly walk! I ended up volunteering for a couple hours with the MASH Coalition, a local non-profit organization I've been volunteering for over the past year. I couldn't help but find myself in my "happy place" while I was there. I'm a volunteer by nature and love that I have the time and opportunity to contribute to our community. I volunteered with the Anoka County Attorney's office for 6 years prior to moving from Minnesota. I also volunteered with a couple of the homeless shelters on and off over the years. My favorite was working with the kids in a transitional housing shelter as a volunteer chaperon with my church's youth group. I never found anything that was a good fit while I was living in Colorado. I really missed it though and am glad to have the opportunity to do something I really enjoy! Hopefully I'll be able to instill the importance of giving to the two D's.

WOW... there's a tangent I didn't mean to take!

This weekend was a "Bountiful Basket" weekend (http://bountifulbaskets.org). They had a last minute offering of Peaches so a friend of mine surprised us with a box. I spent the day today peeling and making things with peaches. I made peach crisp (turned out more like peach cobbler though. Laynie was really excited for it until she noticed I tossed some raspberries in). I also made home-made peach ice cream with my new Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment (YUM, YUM!!). David made us all some peach smoothies, which Dominick SLAMMED and asked for more! Then I made peach puree for some peach sorbet and I froze 24 cups of peaches!! David came into the kitchen and made the comment about us being "peached out" before we know it! OH YEAH.. I also made 7 jars of peach jam! mmm mmm mmmm the lil' jars are popping as we're talking!

I got my hair done yesterday too. I decided to try 'dark' for a change. I'm REALLY happy with how it turned out. I've FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY after 2 and a half years living down here found someone I've liked enough to go back to. Laynie kept looking at me today and said "your hair is so pretty. it's so dark." I ended up pulling it into 2 'pig tails' because I couldn't find my pony holder (it was left in my truck) so I took 2 of Laynies. She thought it was really cute that I wore my hair like I've done hers so many times... hehe... I NEVER would have gone out in public with it like this but it was kind of fun for the day!

Nick "Pre-School"

We signed Nick up for a mommy/daddy and me preschool class. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but we're having a BLAST so far! Each class has a theme so we do projects based on that theme for the first half hour or so. Last nights class was the letter "B" and "CIRCLE". The last part of the class we do circle time. During this time we sit in a circle with all the other kids and parents and Miss Erin reads a book and we sing songs. Last nights book was about School Buses. Nick LOVES buses.. of any type so he was ELATED about the book. Here are a few pictures!!

One of the other parents commented that Nick was going to be a class president someday because he's so social! He's one of the funniest kids I've ever known!