"Judge Judy"

haha... This was emailed to me and I couldn't help but laugh. It hits so close to home... I've never been one to sit around and wait for things to be taken care of. I've always been very driven and conscience to be sure to honor both my parents. I've lived my life in a way to make them proud.. I strive to especially honor them and their wishes in their deaths. I was feeling a little doubt/insecurity about a few issues of as late. Then this was emailed to me. After I saw Judge Judy's reaction... well... it just is, what it is.... (I use to call my mom Judge Judy because of her blunt, straight up, don't beat around the bush attitude toward things).





This one's for you mom! ENJOY!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLXJNYg4sZc

A "runner" ?!

So... I've decided I need to start doing something for myself, to benefit myself. We're trying really hard to 'not' spend $ (David took my credit card away.. for real this time.. GGGUULLPPP) so joining the gym isn't an option. (On a side note, he took it away a mere 10 days before Walmart opened in our "middle of nowhere" oasis. SHEESH.. imagine how hard it is for me to shop and have to actually "keep track" of what I spend. It's almost as if the magic is gone....)

SO.. back to "running". I have a friend that trained for and ran the PF Changs half marathon in January. She had an injury and was out for a few months. I talked to our mutual friend who ran and trained with the same group. I thought maybe I could start running with her. Turns out she's currently at a 9 1/2 min/mile pace. Yeah... I don't think that will work any more then about 15 feet for me. SOOO... she suggests I call KA because she wants to start again and goes at a 14 or so minute mile to start off. KA and I hook up and "make a plan".. because that's what runners do.

Today was our first morning... 5:40 my alarm went off. My first thought was I forgot to shut the alarm off, Laynie doesn't have school Sundays. I rolled over to hit snooze and realized it was much earlier then I get Laynie up. THEN I remembered.. oh yeah... we're starting to run today. WHY am I doing this?! (get in shape, save myself loads of $ because as said above "we're not spending" and none of my clothing from last summer fits, alleviate stress, decrease tension, anxiety, just improve my over all well being).

SO.. I get up get ready and as KA has always been 2 minutes before 6 she's in the street waiting for me. We head to our running destination and get ourselves ready to go. I essentially copy everything she does. She stretches her feet, I do the same. She walks a few steps, I do the same. We started off walking. I was happy. Yeah... THIS I can do. After a bit she says okay "Let's start, slowly." I can do this!! For about 100 feet. Then my muscles start to react so I think I'll walk fast. NOPE... not good enough for my "trainer". "Keep running, just stay slow. I know this is slower then you can walk but you have to stick with it". OOOKKKAYYY, just to the street. So we made it and walked then started up again. The nice thing was having her there to keep me going and hitting the point where I felt good in the stride we had.

I'm not a natural runner so it's going to take time and effort. I'm committed to sticking though. I need to stick. I've got 15 lbs to fit into my clothing (all gained from the beginning of the year, btw). All in all it's now 4 1/2 hours since our run and I'm feeling pretty good. I had found a blog by a MD that's a runner, wish I'd have saved it because she had some really good information posted.. like run so slow you're friends would laugh if they saw you initially. AND.. no matter how great you feel only run the distance you decide before you start.

Nick is getting into things he shouldn't because I'm not paying attention to him. Both kids are doing great! I'm amazed every now and then with the notion I seem to keep loving them "more". It's great. I'll get some pictures up soon. I've got them loaded to the PC (laptop is down...) now I just need to pull them to Picasa or use Slide. Someday...

Okay.. here's one of Nick's new "poses", what a ham! This was at his last night of 'mommy & me' pre-school.

Laynie with our first tomato from our "bucket garden". We're very proud of our growing skills and the flavor of the tomato beat any store bought one we've ever had!

Okay.. and here's one last shot of part of the "bucket garden". This was inspired by KA earlier this year as well. YUM, YUM! We (being Laynie and I) planted Armenian cucumbers, jalapenos, tomatoes, basil, a couple flower pots and the plant that died and we're "nursing' back to life! We've also just started, this past week some thyme, lavender, oregano and a ginger plant from Hawaii! Hopefully the herbs will take off. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cooking with them!

Mothers Day

SO.. this was my first official Mothers Day *as* as a mom but *without* a mom. =0(

This whole week has been tough.. really tough. Every time a Mothers Day commercial came on I'd cringe and think about how unfair it really is. I miss MY mom. I'm really thankful for Mary.. she's treated me like I was her own ever since the first time we met. I remember the first Christmas I went to Corpus. We had decided not to buy gifts but she said "sorry, I couldn't resist. She gave me all kinds of fun girly things.." Of course, that was the same holiday Jerry said "you and David need a baby.. not a puppy" and look how that worked out... for ALL of us! =0)

Anyways, the day ended up really good. David and I decided to take the kids to evening mass instead of morning mass because he let me sleep in. At first he was going to take Laynie and go himself (Nick can be tough at church and it's just too hot to hang in the parking lot with him) but we decided we'd all go at 5 to the "childrens mass" instead. I spent a lot of the day telling myself it would be okay to "check out" during the part of mass where they honor the moms. SOO.. we went to mass and nothing was said until the end when we found out about the "Mothers Day Brunch" that us evening mass attendees missed. Every laughed a bit, I felt relief. There was a solo of "Ava Maria" which was my dad's "other" favorite song. It was REALLY nice, during communion. I took it as a sign from my dad that all is well with my mom.

I was reading the bulletin and Fr Velasquez had this to say: I think it's a good sign that we can recognize the sacrifice and love which our mother's gave to us. To thank our mom's is good but to imitate their example of sacrifice and love is a great thing. Let's truly honor our mothers by living the life of grace they pray that we live.

LOVE IT!

Cure for Crabby

Sooooo.. I've been really crabby today. I mean really, REALLY crabby.. to the point where I spent a great deal of the day cleaning just so I didn't have to deal with myself. I came across this video and HAD to post it because it really put into perspective how silly it is for me to stay crabby. My emotions are my choice, after all. I've watched this a bunch of times and I crack up each time. The title says it all "Everything is amazing, Nobody's happy"

Fun Times at the Park

Nick Swinging

Nick getting on the swing... at 2 1/2. I have another video of him STANDING on the swing to make it go faster... This child has NO FEAR. The funny thing is that I don't really worry about him...

I wish I had video of Laynie to post but we were with her pal and she was too busy... Here are a couple pics though.

They were swinging side by side and bumping into each other.

Yeap, you guessed it.. monkey see, monkey do...

She was throwing the ball for Molly

Laynie and her buddy "K"

After the day at the park. I keep telling her "keep your shoes on so you don't cut your feet". EVERY time we go to the park I tell her that. EVERY time we go to the park she's barefoot, within a few minutes. She cut her foot on something this day... sad for her but I wasn't very sympathetic...

House Party

WHOO HOOO... I signed up for this site a couple months ago but had a hard time finding any interest in it. I have a few friends that have done it and had some fun "parties" through it. In a nutshell, you test products with your friends/family by having a 'house party'. They send most of what you need including, goody bags, coupons etc. (Some party examples are "Fisher Price toddler toys", "Velvetta/Rotel", "South Beach Diet")

Anyways, I saw one for a "Keurig/Green Mountain Coffee" that I decided to sign up for. Anyways, I got an email saying I was selected to host a party and I needed to be one of the first 700 to call to claim a machine (had to pay $11.95 but got a Keurig single serve coffee machine plus 4 boxes of coffee. I can cancel the 'membership' without penalty whenever I want but think I may keep it on a quartly order.. the cups are cheaper then I can find in store and the variety is awesome). I was SOOO excited to call in and make the cut off, even though it was almost a full day after I got the email.

I just logged onto House Party to see if the "party" went live and it did and I got all signed up! If you get an email from them, it's just me... =0) I'm SO excited I can hardly stand it. If it wasn't already almost 1am and I didn't need to be up in 5 hours I'd make a cup of coffee right now.

I've been keeping myself pretty busy/entertained on www.bzzagent.com as well. Same concept. You set up an account, answer a few surveys and wha lahh you're on your way to testing products and spreading the word.

Aside from this both kids are doing well. We had some special visitors a couple weeks ago. They came for spring break.. brought the flu with them. Needless to say, we stayed home sick and they went to the Grand Canyon without us. Not how I hoped it would go but at least we had the chance to visit! I'll post pictures soon. Both kids are growing like weeds. Nick has a full blown vocabulary now. He's been sick and a little whiney. I think I whined alot as a kid... hopefully it's not just a personality trait. We've been working on potty training for a while. Finally decided Sunday was "the day". Yesterday he did GREAT.. today, not so much. On the bright side, I'll start the day tomorrow with 6 pairs of fresh, clean undies and another day of experience under our belts!

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