Today as I write this I'm super exhausted. As many of you know Spencer is in Boy Scouts. So last night was the big Bear Hibernation lock in. Every parent of a boy scout, knows about this event. It's huge - I think there was around 250 little boys ages 8-10(3rd graders) and their dads/moms. For the central mn area it was held at Hallenbach(sp?) Hall on SCSU campus. It was busy, fun and exhausting. They kept the boys very busy pretty much all night. I was really impressed. Jessie was supposed to take Spencer, but made the HUGE mistake of having an egg salad sandwich for breakfast before he left SD yesterday. It was a bad sandwich.
So after leaving Dawn "in charge" of the guys, Spencer and I left for the lock in about 8:30 for the lock in. They were divided into letters/troop no. They had LOTS of physcial activities for the boys. They had: Basketball, floor hockey, badmintion, beach volleyball,ice skating, swimming, bb guns, knot tying, archery, team activities and etc. Everything was done in stations, for about 20 minutes except for swimming which was an hour. SCSU has a really nice pool by the way. Just long enough for all the boys to enjoy it, and not get bored. About midnight, they had pizza and pop, which was perfect for everyone to replenish.
It was really neat seeing the dads and the boys playing dodgeball from 1:30-6am this morning. I bet there are some seriously dead tired guys out there today. lol. Spencer had a BLAST!!! He had a minor collison with another little boy when we were playing beach volleyball. The two boys collided trying to get to the beach ball. Spencer ended up with a bloody nose, and a swollen lip. Not to worse for wear though.
We both managed to stay up till 6am this morning. So as you can imagine how tired we are, coffee is going to be my best friend today.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Potty Training time.
As many of you know, back in February, I started watching a little boy by the name of Jacob again. That has been an interesting adventure, having him back in the house. Last time I cared for him, Jacob was just starting the process of potty training. Cyril had NO interest in doing it himself. He wanted to "help" everyone else, by giving them toilet paper, but no interest.
Fast forward to now, about the same time Jacob started coming back (he's now potty trained), Cyril was interested in using the potty, I think more curious then anything. So we went can got the supplies, including big boy underwear, and pull ups. We tried it for a couple of days, and he wasn't concerned about being wet or anything. So I thought - just not ready yet. In the meantime though, every time Jacob used the potty, Cyril had to be in there. Jacob was NOT happy about it, till I explained why Cyril was in there.
Now this week, it's been hilarious, because every time he has to try to go potty, he strips. I mean down to the birthday suit. He sits on the potty (whether it's the potty chair or the Thomas toilet seat) for about 20 minutes, nothing happens, but he thinks it's cool. Just wish it wasn't RIGHT before we have to leave to get the older kids from school. lol.
Then just a few minutes ago, both of the little boys had to go potty. Cyril stripped of course, and then he comes out just grinning. He says"More, More, more, down, down, down." and the toilet was running. So I asked if he had used the potty, "Yep", I asked if he had flushed the toilet, he told me, that he had. I asked if he went pee-pee "Nope", he pointed to his butt. I asked if he went poopy "Yep! More, and more and more. Down, down down" Then he held his hands up, in the all done sign. I wasn't too sure that he really had, but I praised him like crazy anyways. I checked his diaper there was nothing there, we went to put a pull up on, and sure enough I had to clean him up a wee bit. So he wasn't kidding. lol.
I think it's funny though that we moms get so excited when they use the potty, and the process of potty training has started. It's so tiring, and can be a frustrating job. But sometimes you wonder who's more excited about them using the potty when they finally do : The child or the parent?
God Bless~
Fast forward to now, about the same time Jacob started coming back (he's now potty trained), Cyril was interested in using the potty, I think more curious then anything. So we went can got the supplies, including big boy underwear, and pull ups. We tried it for a couple of days, and he wasn't concerned about being wet or anything. So I thought - just not ready yet. In the meantime though, every time Jacob used the potty, Cyril had to be in there. Jacob was NOT happy about it, till I explained why Cyril was in there.
Now this week, it's been hilarious, because every time he has to try to go potty, he strips. I mean down to the birthday suit. He sits on the potty (whether it's the potty chair or the Thomas toilet seat) for about 20 minutes, nothing happens, but he thinks it's cool. Just wish it wasn't RIGHT before we have to leave to get the older kids from school. lol.
Then just a few minutes ago, both of the little boys had to go potty. Cyril stripped of course, and then he comes out just grinning. He says"More, More, more, down, down, down." and the toilet was running. So I asked if he had used the potty, "Yep", I asked if he had flushed the toilet, he told me, that he had. I asked if he went pee-pee "Nope", he pointed to his butt. I asked if he went poopy "Yep! More, and more and more. Down, down down" Then he held his hands up, in the all done sign. I wasn't too sure that he really had, but I praised him like crazy anyways. I checked his diaper there was nothing there, we went to put a pull up on, and sure enough I had to clean him up a wee bit. So he wasn't kidding. lol.
I think it's funny though that we moms get so excited when they use the potty, and the process of potty training has started. It's so tiring, and can be a frustrating job. But sometimes you wonder who's more excited about them using the potty when they finally do : The child or the parent?
God Bless~
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
It's cold again
I can't wait for spring to get here. I know, I know, I live in Minnesota I should expect the snow. lol. I don't have a problem with the snow or the winter, it's about this time of year that I get tired of the cold just like everyone else. I love the snow, I love the four seasons of Minnesota for that matter. It's just when we go from having spring like weather(which we all had this past weekend) to now as I type being 1 degree, not counting the windchill...it's hard to appreciate snow.
But I did get some terrific pictures of the kids playing in the snow, yep, during the snowstorm. Dawn & Spencer were mad at me because I wouldn't let them play on the computer anymore (each had an 1hr of time) nor would I let them change the channel on the TV (I was watching the news). I had told them early if they didn't stop their bickering they were going outside to play. A funny thing happened after dinner, Spencer(shocker - I know.) asked to go outside for a little bit, then Dawn piped up that she wanted to go too. The next I know, I'm getting Cyril dressed for outside, and off they went. It was adorable watching the older two play with Cyril. They pushed him on the swing, helped him on the slide, and pulled him around on the sled in the courtyard. They did get close to having to come in though at first, they were surprises of all surprises bickering on who should go down the slide, on their sled 1st, or if it wasn't that it was that the other person wasn't moving out of the way fast enough. Then you see little Cyril, yelling in excitement at the fact that he was outside in the snow, kept yelling at me "I play, I play!" They were outside for about 45 minutes, before I made them come in. Who knew I'd have to do that with how cold it was.
On a side note: Mom and I did awesome last week at Weight Watchers. I lost 5.2lbs bringing my over all total since I joined, 9lbs lost bringing me to a grand total of 17lbs lost since Christmas. And I'm not sure what the exact amount that mom lost last week, but her total is now 5lbs lost. I'm not sure how well I will do this week, I was sick last week, and had some other things going on, that affected me on the scale. So I will try to continue to do what I did last week, minus getting sick and see if I have just as good of results.
~God Bless
But I did get some terrific pictures of the kids playing in the snow, yep, during the snowstorm. Dawn & Spencer were mad at me because I wouldn't let them play on the computer anymore (each had an 1hr of time) nor would I let them change the channel on the TV (I was watching the news). I had told them early if they didn't stop their bickering they were going outside to play. A funny thing happened after dinner, Spencer(shocker - I know.) asked to go outside for a little bit, then Dawn piped up that she wanted to go too. The next I know, I'm getting Cyril dressed for outside, and off they went. It was adorable watching the older two play with Cyril. They pushed him on the swing, helped him on the slide, and pulled him around on the sled in the courtyard. They did get close to having to come in though at first, they were surprises of all surprises bickering on who should go down the slide, on their sled 1st, or if it wasn't that it was that the other person wasn't moving out of the way fast enough. Then you see little Cyril, yelling in excitement at the fact that he was outside in the snow, kept yelling at me "I play, I play!" They were outside for about 45 minutes, before I made them come in. Who knew I'd have to do that with how cold it was.
On a side note: Mom and I did awesome last week at Weight Watchers. I lost 5.2lbs bringing my over all total since I joined, 9lbs lost bringing me to a grand total of 17lbs lost since Christmas. And I'm not sure what the exact amount that mom lost last week, but her total is now 5lbs lost. I'm not sure how well I will do this week, I was sick last week, and had some other things going on, that affected me on the scale. So I will try to continue to do what I did last week, minus getting sick and see if I have just as good of results.
~God Bless
Thursday, March 5, 2009
I'm excited!
Since the beginning of January, mom and I joined Weight Watchers. I'm not sure what that final moment was for mom, but for me it was this past Christmas, when I weighed the exact same amount of weigh when I delivered David. Trust me, there's not another baby in there, so I had no excuse.
When we started I had already lost 8lbs. Today, the journey on the scale, as been up and down. I've only lost a total of about 5 more pounds. The exciting thing though is, when I took my measurements last month, I had lost an inch every where. :D And then to top it all off, this morning when I got dressed, I put on a t-shirt, and it was loose, in the arms, around the stomach and hips, just everywhere. So even though the journey has been bumpy, it's going to be a worthwhile ride.
Mom is doing great! She's up to walking 2 miles everyday, since she started Weight Watchers. She's lost almost 5lbs, but the fact that she's walking every day makes me so happy and excited for her as well.
When we started I had already lost 8lbs. Today, the journey on the scale, as been up and down. I've only lost a total of about 5 more pounds. The exciting thing though is, when I took my measurements last month, I had lost an inch every where. :D And then to top it all off, this morning when I got dressed, I put on a t-shirt, and it was loose, in the arms, around the stomach and hips, just everywhere. So even though the journey has been bumpy, it's going to be a worthwhile ride.
Mom is doing great! She's up to walking 2 miles everyday, since she started Weight Watchers. She's lost almost 5lbs, but the fact that she's walking every day makes me so happy and excited for her as well.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Snow storm
Yesterday was a very interesting day. As you know the snow storm came hard and fast, we ended up with around 4inches of snow. Shelby and Mason got released 2hrs early from school (12:10), and thankfully mom was able to pick them up from school. I had little Jacob T. and Josh T for the day, so with 3 carseats in the back seat of the car which only sits 5 legally there was no way I could pick them up early. Josh's mom went and picked up his sister early, so I didn't have to do that either.
Having 5 children in a 1200sq. ft apartment was interesting. Normally it's not been a problem in the past, but we are on the 2nd floor and could not go outside, since the 2 little boys didn't have winter gear. And 4 boys (9.5, 2 - 3.5yr, & 2.5yr) in a 2nd floor apartment is not a good thing at times either. I felt so bad for our neighbors below with the boys horsing around. They were either, running from the boys' room to the living room, jumping on the floor, jumping from the couch to the floor...you get the idea. I ended up having the oven catch on fire, while i was making tater tots, and fish sticks. Leave it to me for that to happen! The mainteance guy believes it was either the oven element or the aluminum foil that I have at the bottom of the oven. He'll hopefully get a chance to fix it today, but I'm not holding my breathe. It stinks not having a working stove or oven. Thank goodness for microwaves! Naptime around here, was nice and quiet believe or not.
Mason and Josh played on the Wii for a little bit, and Shelby was able to get her biography book report done. She had to pick someone that had a contribution on the world, so in the end she choose Princess Diana. I think and hope Shelby found it interesting. She didn't like writing up the book report, but she liked some of the facts about Princess Diana.
Mason is still having off days lately (it was very apparent last night), not sure what that is all about. Lots of tantrums, and tears when things don't go his way, or we don't understand what he's trying to say. It's gets really hard and frustrating on my part, and I'm sure on his part. He's also had a really terrible cough all week, following the head cold he had this past weekend. I'm not sure it's anything to be too worried about, but with his asthma, and the fact he gets croup...I don't want to take any chances. Especially if we go up to the in-laws this weekend for little Blake's 1yr birthday party, so off to the doctor's we go.
The exciting news today so far, is the knowledge that Jessie by this time tomorrow will be home from Kansas, well at least for the weekend. I'm so excited, the kids have had a hard time with him gone this week, and to be honest so have I. It's hard the first couple of weeks, when you know the new rail year has started. You'd think I'd be used to this stuff, by now.
Having 5 children in a 1200sq. ft apartment was interesting. Normally it's not been a problem in the past, but we are on the 2nd floor and could not go outside, since the 2 little boys didn't have winter gear. And 4 boys (9.5, 2 - 3.5yr, & 2.5yr) in a 2nd floor apartment is not a good thing at times either. I felt so bad for our neighbors below with the boys horsing around. They were either, running from the boys' room to the living room, jumping on the floor, jumping from the couch to the floor...you get the idea. I ended up having the oven catch on fire, while i was making tater tots, and fish sticks. Leave it to me for that to happen! The mainteance guy believes it was either the oven element or the aluminum foil that I have at the bottom of the oven. He'll hopefully get a chance to fix it today, but I'm not holding my breathe. It stinks not having a working stove or oven. Thank goodness for microwaves! Naptime around here, was nice and quiet believe or not.
Mason and Josh played on the Wii for a little bit, and Shelby was able to get her biography book report done. She had to pick someone that had a contribution on the world, so in the end she choose Princess Diana. I think and hope Shelby found it interesting. She didn't like writing up the book report, but she liked some of the facts about Princess Diana.
Mason is still having off days lately (it was very apparent last night), not sure what that is all about. Lots of tantrums, and tears when things don't go his way, or we don't understand what he's trying to say. It's gets really hard and frustrating on my part, and I'm sure on his part. He's also had a really terrible cough all week, following the head cold he had this past weekend. I'm not sure it's anything to be too worried about, but with his asthma, and the fact he gets croup...I don't want to take any chances. Especially if we go up to the in-laws this weekend for little Blake's 1yr birthday party, so off to the doctor's we go.
The exciting news today so far, is the knowledge that Jessie by this time tomorrow will be home from Kansas, well at least for the weekend. I'm so excited, the kids have had a hard time with him gone this week, and to be honest so have I. It's hard the first couple of weeks, when you know the new rail year has started. You'd think I'd be used to this stuff, by now.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Pretty snow
Today we are supposedly going to get anywhere from 5-12 inches of snow, it's a really fast moving snowstorm, so you never know. I like to say: "The weatherman has the only job around where you are right 50% of the time and can still keep your job." (Even though I know they have a tough job in predicting the weather and etc.)
This morning was MOPS morning, and I'm supposed to be in the childcare room assisting. That got scratched as a result of the snow. In the time it took me to take Dawn & Spencer to school, come back home, we had about 1/2 of the pretty fluffy snow, the parking lot was covered.(On a good day, that's only 45 minutes). I'm watching two extra little boys today, and I couldn't run the risk of getting in an accident with other people's precious cargo. I feel really bad for letting the group down, but I couldn't risk that. Watch, now that I'm not going though the snow will stop, and we will only end up with that 1/2 an inch. Just can't win lately it seems.
It will be nice though to get enough snow to cover the grass back up. This part of the year is not my favorite part of the year. When the snow is melting, it's dirty, everything is muddy, nothing is growing, and even though you see grass, it's not green it's brown. YUCK! I would love if it could magically melt over night, and be spring right away the next morning. Not going to happen though. lol.
This morning was MOPS morning, and I'm supposed to be in the childcare room assisting. That got scratched as a result of the snow. In the time it took me to take Dawn & Spencer to school, come back home, we had about 1/2 of the pretty fluffy snow, the parking lot was covered.(On a good day, that's only 45 minutes). I'm watching two extra little boys today, and I couldn't run the risk of getting in an accident with other people's precious cargo. I feel really bad for letting the group down, but I couldn't risk that. Watch, now that I'm not going though the snow will stop, and we will only end up with that 1/2 an inch. Just can't win lately it seems.
It will be nice though to get enough snow to cover the grass back up. This part of the year is not my favorite part of the year. When the snow is melting, it's dirty, everything is muddy, nothing is growing, and even though you see grass, it's not green it's brown. YUCK! I would love if it could magically melt over night, and be spring right away the next morning. Not going to happen though. lol.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Musical praise
Dawn started back up with her piano lessons a couple of weeks ago. I was really nervous how this long break (since the car accident) would affect things. Granted she hadn't been taking lessons for very long, but you never know.
I had always hoped that I had inherited my grandfather's musical talent. Nope, I have his appreciation for music and what not, but not very musically talented. lol. Dawn on the other hand it seems, has inherited his talent. So it skipped a few generations, no biggie. Dawn has always wanted to play the piano since she was 2-3yrs old. I pushed it off for the longest time thinking it was a passing fancy, an expensive one, but it wasn't.
Over a year ago, I finally came to the conclusion it wasn't going anywhere, so I started looking for a piano teacher. Do you know how hard it is to find one in this area? Jeez! So I just prayed about it, and knew that if she was meant to take lessons, I would eventually find the right teacher. And we did.
So yesterday was her weekly lesson, and I talked to her teacher Miss J about how it seemed Dawn was doing. She is on her 3rd book, and keep in mind she's been on consistent lessons since January. She said that Dawn is doing amazingly well, she can't get over how quickly Dawn is progressing through her lessons. It will be interesting to see those results at the recital in April.
Dawnfinally picked her song for the recital and will start working on it in the next couple of weeks. Now if I can get her to practice on a more consistent basis....then she would be even better. But I know that's a problem for every parent who is the same spot as me. It felt very good though to hear how well she is doing, since I only hear the practice side of things.
I had always hoped that I had inherited my grandfather's musical talent. Nope, I have his appreciation for music and what not, but not very musically talented. lol. Dawn on the other hand it seems, has inherited his talent. So it skipped a few generations, no biggie. Dawn has always wanted to play the piano since she was 2-3yrs old. I pushed it off for the longest time thinking it was a passing fancy, an expensive one, but it wasn't.
Over a year ago, I finally came to the conclusion it wasn't going anywhere, so I started looking for a piano teacher. Do you know how hard it is to find one in this area? Jeez! So I just prayed about it, and knew that if she was meant to take lessons, I would eventually find the right teacher. And we did.
So yesterday was her weekly lesson, and I talked to her teacher Miss J about how it seemed Dawn was doing. She is on her 3rd book, and keep in mind she's been on consistent lessons since January. She said that Dawn is doing amazingly well, she can't get over how quickly Dawn is progressing through her lessons. It will be interesting to see those results at the recital in April.
Dawnfinally picked her song for the recital and will start working on it in the next couple of weeks. Now if I can get her to practice on a more consistent basis....then she would be even better. But I know that's a problem for every parent who is the same spot as me. It felt very good though to hear how well she is doing, since I only hear the practice side of things.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Weekend in Rochester
This past weekend was a great weekend. Not only did the state hit a little heat weave yesterday. ( It was 46 degrees) But I got to see my cousin Lynn's twins: Dylan & Aubrey. Let me tell you they are adorable! It's amazing how little Aubrey is compared to her big brother, she's like a little doll. I had so much fun helping Jessica & Reed out with the twins. It's a lot of hard work, parents of multiples, I salute you. We stayed at their house, the kids and I did, while mom stayed at aunt Nancy's.
It was also the 1st time that I saw Lynn's new place. I liked it, it's perfect for their blended family too. It was perfect timing for us to come down this weekend, because Taylor & Alicia were there visiting for their weekend visit. All four of the kids have such a great time together, and they all play so well together too. Reed took at four of the other kids sledding. Spencer reported that they went to 3 hills to go sledding on. Which I found very interesting considering he didn't want to go, and whined about it while we were at lunch. hehehe. I knew he'd change his tune.
We had lunch at OCB (Old Country Buffet) which didn't help mom or my journey on weight watchers. But it was worth it, because we got to visit with Grandma S. For those of you who don't know, Grandma S is my "adopted" grandma. She is uncle Steve's mother, but has allowed me to call her grandma for as long as I can remember. She is one of the neatest ladies you will ever ever meet. She has lead interesting but tough life. It's hard though watching the people you love so much get older as you get older. It's tough seeing them get older and know that they aren't that far from death's door. Each time I see her, it becomes a reality that I really don't want to accept yet. She's my grandma, grandparents are suppose to live forever!!! ;) But if her time with us is almost up, I'm so glad that I got to see her, give her hugs, and show her that I love her.
It was a very late nite at the S house. lol. The older 4 were up till around midnight, while Jessica, Reed and I watched the movie called "dutchess", it wasn't too bad of a movie. It's been a while sit I sat down and watched a movie. Cyril passed out on the family room floor while the older 4 were playing. It never ceases to amaze me how little ones can sleep so deeply.
And then today, aunt Nancy gave both of my boys hair cuts. I was quite surprised how upset Spencer was in getting his haircut. I wasn't expecting that, but he was very out of sorts too. Cyril just cried and cried. It broke my heart, but it's amazing how with this hair cut he doesn't look like my toddler boy, he looks like a little boy. He looks so much older. :(
It was also the 1st time that I saw Lynn's new place. I liked it, it's perfect for their blended family too. It was perfect timing for us to come down this weekend, because Taylor & Alicia were there visiting for their weekend visit. All four of the kids have such a great time together, and they all play so well together too. Reed took at four of the other kids sledding. Spencer reported that they went to 3 hills to go sledding on. Which I found very interesting considering he didn't want to go, and whined about it while we were at lunch. hehehe. I knew he'd change his tune.
We had lunch at OCB (Old Country Buffet) which didn't help mom or my journey on weight watchers. But it was worth it, because we got to visit with Grandma S. For those of you who don't know, Grandma S is my "adopted" grandma. She is uncle Steve's mother, but has allowed me to call her grandma for as long as I can remember. She is one of the neatest ladies you will ever ever meet. She has lead interesting but tough life. It's hard though watching the people you love so much get older as you get older. It's tough seeing them get older and know that they aren't that far from death's door. Each time I see her, it becomes a reality that I really don't want to accept yet. She's my grandma, grandparents are suppose to live forever!!! ;) But if her time with us is almost up, I'm so glad that I got to see her, give her hugs, and show her that I love her.
It was a very late nite at the S house. lol. The older 4 were up till around midnight, while Jessica, Reed and I watched the movie called "dutchess", it wasn't too bad of a movie. It's been a while sit I sat down and watched a movie. Cyril passed out on the family room floor while the older 4 were playing. It never ceases to amaze me how little ones can sleep so deeply.
And then today, aunt Nancy gave both of my boys hair cuts. I was quite surprised how upset Spencer was in getting his haircut. I wasn't expecting that, but he was very out of sorts too. Cyril just cried and cried. It broke my heart, but it's amazing how with this hair cut he doesn't look like my toddler boy, he looks like a little boy. He looks so much older. :(
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Bow to Mr. Clean
I love Mr. Clean magic erasers!!!! You can put me on record for that. I just got down wiping down the kitchen hallway wall. These things are a miracle. I think I have found one of my new baby gifts to new parents. Who knew that we would have a Pablo Picasso in our family. Now if we could just get him to color in coloring books. Life would be great! lol. I need to by stock in these things. The walls are starting to look like they are new.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Surprises...
I have never been entirely thrilled over surprises. Then again does anyone truly love surprises? Here I thought with the start of the new year that we'd be done with surprises, or at least the negative ones. One could hope right? lol.
Anyways since New Year's Day the Buick has been running very funny. I mean the check engine soon light kept running constantly and wouldn't stop. If that wasn't bad enough, every time the car would come to a complete stop it would start vibrating something fierce. So it hasn't been driven since, Jessie & I just dropped it off tonight at the shop to be looked at. This is starting to be a running joke for us. Every year except the year of our wedding we have spent either all of or almost all of our tax return on vehicles. It's not a surprise anymore when one of the vehicles starts acting up around this time of the year, we know that it's tax season. It's kind of frustrating, because there's sooo much more that we could use that return on. Can't we all? So anyways, crossing our fingers it's not something major, if it is, that more then likely it will throw out the possibility of getting a mini-van which we need, out the window for another year. We've needed a new family vehicle for awhile now, we had hoped that the dodge would hold off thru this winter, but we all know where it is now. The mini-van would be an answer to our prayers for not only our family, but also when I'm transporting other children, or when I start my daycare business up again. Answers to come in regards to the Buick. Thankfully mom has been nice enough to take the kids the last two nights, to take them to school in the morning, otherwise we would have been leaving to catch the metro bus a little after 6am.
The good surprises: This afternoon we got a surprise phone call from Mary H down at HCMC. She was the lady that did Spencer's speech evaluation. When I sat down and talked to her, originally she said that he had passed all of his tests with flying colors. She acknowledges that he does mumble awful lot, but that wasn't really something that he could or would qualify for services on that alone. Well I guess after looking at all of the test scores together, and going over the notes from Dr. Wills, that decision has changed. Spencer will be getting some sort of speech therapy. To help with his mumbling and with his overall ability to interact with peers his own age. Which we know he's having a huge problem with. Nothing will be decided till after all of the team have met and gone over everything.
The 2nd surprise is with fingers crossed that Jessie says with this current bid till the end of February. He's working nights down in Northtown rail yard till next week, then he'll be on nights at the Wilmar yard. Granted it's nights, but all in all it's a job. And if he stays on this bid like I said, it will be the first winter since he started working for BSNF that he's been employed the entire year. We were told that it would happen after he built up enough seniority. So it will be nice if this proves true. Also this will be the earliest he will be starting work come February. It's a relief that the bid he got is one that he can't get bumped off. There was a little bit of question earlier in December if he was going to even get a bid this year, but things happened, corrections were made, and he ended up getting one. YAY!!! So hopefully this will be a better year for us then last year.
Finally now that the carpet business has settled down, I was able to play with my Christmas present. I got a digital picture frame from Jessie & the kids. So this afternoon, the kids & I had fun looking at all of the pictures that we've taken over the past 2 years. Trying to pick which ones has been fun and hard at the same time. lol. Speaking of pictures I guess we need to add some here too. Don't you think?
God Bless
Anyways since New Year's Day the Buick has been running very funny. I mean the check engine soon light kept running constantly and wouldn't stop. If that wasn't bad enough, every time the car would come to a complete stop it would start vibrating something fierce. So it hasn't been driven since, Jessie & I just dropped it off tonight at the shop to be looked at. This is starting to be a running joke for us. Every year except the year of our wedding we have spent either all of or almost all of our tax return on vehicles. It's not a surprise anymore when one of the vehicles starts acting up around this time of the year, we know that it's tax season. It's kind of frustrating, because there's sooo much more that we could use that return on. Can't we all? So anyways, crossing our fingers it's not something major, if it is, that more then likely it will throw out the possibility of getting a mini-van which we need, out the window for another year. We've needed a new family vehicle for awhile now, we had hoped that the dodge would hold off thru this winter, but we all know where it is now. The mini-van would be an answer to our prayers for not only our family, but also when I'm transporting other children, or when I start my daycare business up again. Answers to come in regards to the Buick. Thankfully mom has been nice enough to take the kids the last two nights, to take them to school in the morning, otherwise we would have been leaving to catch the metro bus a little after 6am.
The good surprises: This afternoon we got a surprise phone call from Mary H down at HCMC. She was the lady that did Spencer's speech evaluation. When I sat down and talked to her, originally she said that he had passed all of his tests with flying colors. She acknowledges that he does mumble awful lot, but that wasn't really something that he could or would qualify for services on that alone. Well I guess after looking at all of the test scores together, and going over the notes from Dr. Wills, that decision has changed. Spencer will be getting some sort of speech therapy. To help with his mumbling and with his overall ability to interact with peers his own age. Which we know he's having a huge problem with. Nothing will be decided till after all of the team have met and gone over everything.
The 2nd surprise is with fingers crossed that Jessie says with this current bid till the end of February. He's working nights down in Northtown rail yard till next week, then he'll be on nights at the Wilmar yard. Granted it's nights, but all in all it's a job. And if he stays on this bid like I said, it will be the first winter since he started working for BSNF that he's been employed the entire year. We were told that it would happen after he built up enough seniority. So it will be nice if this proves true. Also this will be the earliest he will be starting work come February. It's a relief that the bid he got is one that he can't get bumped off. There was a little bit of question earlier in December if he was going to even get a bid this year, but things happened, corrections were made, and he ended up getting one. YAY!!! So hopefully this will be a better year for us then last year.
Finally now that the carpet business has settled down, I was able to play with my Christmas present. I got a digital picture frame from Jessie & the kids. So this afternoon, the kids & I had fun looking at all of the pictures that we've taken over the past 2 years. Trying to pick which ones has been fun and hard at the same time. lol. Speaking of pictures I guess we need to add some here too. Don't you think?
God Bless
Saturday, January 3, 2009
what strange couple of weeks.
This has been one of the busiest, craziest winter breaks/Christmas I have ever had. lol. I will forewarn you this is going to be a very long entry, so if you don't read it all, I understand.
First off, we went to Jessie's folks for Christmas Eve. We all had a great time, my father-in-law (fil) Gordie dressed up as Santa Claus for the kids. Everyone got a kick out of it, but Cyril and little Blake weren't quite sure what to think. Gordie even had a mask on, so you couldn't tell if was Gordie, it sounded like grandpa though. Jake, Dawn and Spencer loved that Santa Claus came early to visit their house, but this would lead to a little bit of confusion at the Zemke household come Christmas Morning. (Little Jake thought that Santa Claus was coming to his house sometime that morning, so refused to open his presents till Santa came. Adam and Rochele had to explain that Santa came while the kids were sleeping.) Dinner was wonderful, and it was great to see everyone. Kenny even brought his girlfriend Bri, who I think by far is the best girlfriend, he's had since I've known him. Everyone had a blast opening their gifts, Jake was "Santa" passing out all the gifts, it was funny watching him get so excited, that he'd either mix up who the gifts went too, or threw them at the person. Jake did get a little wild that night from all the excitement, but I think we all handled that pretty well. The Zemke family brought their new 4 legged addition over. He's an adorable golden retriever named Cooper, but it sounds more like Hooper when Jake calls him.
The children seemed to have a blast with Cooper, and he seemed to enjoy all the playtime the kids, especially Dawn gave him. Even though it was chaos with all the kids opening gifts, it was a fun time watching all the children open their gifts.
On Christmas Day, Dawn & Spencer were so cute. They woke up before Cyril did. I was surprised, because he spent his first night sleeping with them on the floor. He did very well, but like I said I was surprised he didn't wake up first or wake when the kids woke. Anyways, Dawn & Spencer saw the gifts that Santa left, and refused to open any of theirs till Cyril woke up. When I woke about 9am and the kids still hadn't open them yet, I gave them the go ahead. It was cute watching the kids get so excited about all the presents. We had one slight mix up with Santa. Apparently Spencer has stopped collecting Pokemon cards, and failed to tell Santa. He didn't get upset or anything, just looked at me and said "Mom, Santa didn't get the memo." lol. It was a ball watching Cyril watching open up gifts this year. He gets so excited with all the decorations, the Christmas lights, Santa, the presents and everything that it entails. It's been a challenge this year keeping everything safe from him. The kids and I talked about baby Jesus, and all David kept saying is "Baby nigh-night, mommy Baby nigh-night" He'll get it.
On Christmas Day, we also went to Jessie's grandma Gall's house. She always haves a get together on Christmas Day. I love going over there and seeing his grandparents. We hardly get to see his relatives very much these days, for one reason or another. I think it's sad, but when we do, I enjoy the time all the better. We couldn't stay very long, because this year it was my mom's turn to have Christmas Day with us. So we headed home, and this my friends is when our interesting adventure begins.
We arrived home about 3pm, we dropped off some stuff, figured we'd let the kids open up some of their gifts. Since we were at Jessie's folks, and it's a house we didn't right away realize how chilly it was in the apartment, I mean that it was chillier then normal. Can you all guess where this is going? lol. I turned up the thermostat, and we all headed off to mom's shortly after that. We went over to mom's for dinner and had a wonderful time. It was great spending time with mom and uncle Greg. The kids had a blast opening up gifts there too. Several hours later, we came home and noticed it was still very chilly, which is odd, considering we're in apartment. So I called the ER maintenance person, to let him know, in doing so I noticed this rather huge wet gray spot in front of our entertainment center. As I got ready to scold the kids for dropping water, I noticed tons, and I mean tons of steam coming from our water heat registers. Can you guess yet? As I'm on the phone with Matt, the ER maintenance guy, thru the conversation we realized what happened. So we had the kids start moving all of the toys from that corner to put in the boys room. As a toy was removed from beneath the register is was like someone had turned a water hose on. Water started gushing onto the floor. Later it turns out that right below our AC unit, near the patio door about 1 inch crack in the pipes was the cause. Somehow or another the pipes froze while we were gone and we didn't realize it till after we turned the thermostat up. Thankfully, no water damage got down to the apartment below ours, I would have felt terrible either way, but right were our water spot was, directly below was their TV.
I was really tempted before this happened to tell, Jessie that the kids and I wanted to go back up to his folks house to visit with everyone, while he took Spencer ice fishing. Can you imagine the disaster we would have come home too? So we decided that I would stay here, while they repaired the pipes. Jessie took Spencer back up north for his 1st ice fishing experience. And that was an adventure for Spencer in itself. lol. Spencer had a blast, caught more fish then dad, but also stepped in one of the holes shortly after they started fishing. SO I'm not to sure if he wants to go again. Also the stinker stayed up all night from Christmas Day, to 6am the next morning watching movies while everyone at Jessie's folks place were sleeping. He's NEVER done that before. Jessie told me he wasn't sure if he should laugh in surprise or not, he later sent him to bed, but we were surprised that he would stay up that late. Back at the Johnson's household, since Matt had to turn the heat off to the apartment, we had to leave the oven on low ALL night, it finally went from not registering on the thermostat to about 75 degrees at around 2am. It sure didn't feel like it though. Thankfully the kids were dressed warm, (I had bought earlier this year 3 down-alternative blankets for their beds) and several quilts to keep them warm. It was a long night of almost no sleep for me, I was worried about the kids staying warm, keeping warm myself, and worried about how safe it was/wasn't to let the oven on low all night. By 9am Friday morning we had heat! After talking it over with the landlord, since we've lived here for almost 5 years, she made the choice to have our carpet replaced the next following week on New Year's Eve (the 31st).
That made a very fun, interesting weekend. The boys room, and our room was a disaster area, because we had to move furniture so they could get to the shut off valves, the Christmas bins for the decorations, in ours, the toys from the living room in the boys, and trying to figure out how we were going to get all the living room furniture off the carpets. Jessie couldn't take any more time off cuz of the holiday break, so it was left to me to get almost everything moved by Wednesday morning. I think everyone would have laughed seeing this little adventure. It was interesting watching TV, and playing board games with the kids Tuesday night on the living room floor. Wednesday morning Jessie arrived in time to help move the TV, and the carpet was done shortly there after.
I will never forget Jessie's reaction when he saw the carpet that was chosen to lay down in the apartment. It's a light color carpet. While we are very grateful and appreciative that the landlord had this done, we wonder do they not realize that 3 children live in the apartment???? So now I need to find some huge rugs to cover up the living room, and hallway so that it's not destroyed while we live here. The bonus though is that we discovered the wonderful invention of Magic Erasers from Mr. Clean. Little Cyril'sPablo Picasso moments on the walls are gone now...well at least in the living room. I still need to tackle several other walls.
While this in itself with 3 kids was interesting to tackle, did I forget to add that we had neighbor's kids, over visiting too? I don't know how moms of really large families get it all done. I had to make meals for 5-7 kids, do laundry, other household chores and rearrange a living room. Plus I needed to get two Christmas gifts out for my secret Santas 'that I'm doing, and still have failed to get them out. I was quite pleased when New Year's Eve came, the carpet business was done, and we were able to go to a friends' house. I enjoyed myself thoroughly that night.
Also Spencer yesterday had his 2nd round of appointments down at HCMC (Hennipin County Medical Center). He had his ears looked at due to the car accident in September, his speech looked at because he's always mumbling, and to visit with a neurologist since he hasn't talked to or seen one since his 1st fall 4 years ago. His hearing passed with flying colors, so we all know he can hear perfectly, he's just tuning out. His speech passed, but there are a few things that need to be worked on. Nothing though that warrants services, we just need to work at it, at home. Which I'm okay with. I want him to get the services he needs, not the ones he doesn't need, just because he can get them. The neurologist, wants him to have an MRI done, to see if there have been any changes in regards to the PVL, and to see if the 2nd TBI had done anything to the brain. We (meaning the doctor and I) do not feel it will show any changes, but just to be sure. So he will have that done here locally, and we will go back to see the neurologist in February. So I believe all the tests, and doctors that need to see him, have been done. Now we wait for what they have to say, and see what the new game plan is. I had several people remark at how detailed Dr. Willis was in her assessment of Spencer back in November. I'm very thankful for that, because she hit everything on the nose.
So that's it in a long, long nut shell. Hopefully now that I have access to a computer again, I'll be able to up date more frequently. lol.
God Bless~
Carlena
First off, we went to Jessie's folks for Christmas Eve. We all had a great time, my father-in-law (fil) Gordie dressed up as Santa Claus for the kids. Everyone got a kick out of it, but Cyril and little Blake weren't quite sure what to think. Gordie even had a mask on, so you couldn't tell if was Gordie, it sounded like grandpa though. Jake, Dawn and Spencer loved that Santa Claus came early to visit their house, but this would lead to a little bit of confusion at the Zemke household come Christmas Morning. (Little Jake thought that Santa Claus was coming to his house sometime that morning, so refused to open his presents till Santa came. Adam and Rochele had to explain that Santa came while the kids were sleeping.) Dinner was wonderful, and it was great to see everyone. Kenny even brought his girlfriend Bri, who I think by far is the best girlfriend, he's had since I've known him. Everyone had a blast opening their gifts, Jake was "Santa" passing out all the gifts, it was funny watching him get so excited, that he'd either mix up who the gifts went too, or threw them at the person. Jake did get a little wild that night from all the excitement, but I think we all handled that pretty well. The Zemke family brought their new 4 legged addition over. He's an adorable golden retriever named Cooper, but it sounds more like Hooper when Jake calls him.
The children seemed to have a blast with Cooper, and he seemed to enjoy all the playtime the kids, especially Dawn gave him. Even though it was chaos with all the kids opening gifts, it was a fun time watching all the children open their gifts.
On Christmas Day, Dawn & Spencer were so cute. They woke up before Cyril did. I was surprised, because he spent his first night sleeping with them on the floor. He did very well, but like I said I was surprised he didn't wake up first or wake when the kids woke. Anyways, Dawn & Spencer saw the gifts that Santa left, and refused to open any of theirs till Cyril woke up. When I woke about 9am and the kids still hadn't open them yet, I gave them the go ahead. It was cute watching the kids get so excited about all the presents. We had one slight mix up with Santa. Apparently Spencer has stopped collecting Pokemon cards, and failed to tell Santa. He didn't get upset or anything, just looked at me and said "Mom, Santa didn't get the memo." lol. It was a ball watching Cyril watching open up gifts this year. He gets so excited with all the decorations, the Christmas lights, Santa, the presents and everything that it entails. It's been a challenge this year keeping everything safe from him. The kids and I talked about baby Jesus, and all David kept saying is "Baby nigh-night, mommy Baby nigh-night" He'll get it.
On Christmas Day, we also went to Jessie's grandma Gall's house. She always haves a get together on Christmas Day. I love going over there and seeing his grandparents. We hardly get to see his relatives very much these days, for one reason or another. I think it's sad, but when we do, I enjoy the time all the better. We couldn't stay very long, because this year it was my mom's turn to have Christmas Day with us. So we headed home, and this my friends is when our interesting adventure begins.
We arrived home about 3pm, we dropped off some stuff, figured we'd let the kids open up some of their gifts. Since we were at Jessie's folks, and it's a house we didn't right away realize how chilly it was in the apartment, I mean that it was chillier then normal. Can you all guess where this is going? lol. I turned up the thermostat, and we all headed off to mom's shortly after that. We went over to mom's for dinner and had a wonderful time. It was great spending time with mom and uncle Greg. The kids had a blast opening up gifts there too. Several hours later, we came home and noticed it was still very chilly, which is odd, considering we're in apartment. So I called the ER maintenance person, to let him know, in doing so I noticed this rather huge wet gray spot in front of our entertainment center. As I got ready to scold the kids for dropping water, I noticed tons, and I mean tons of steam coming from our water heat registers. Can you guess yet? As I'm on the phone with Matt, the ER maintenance guy, thru the conversation we realized what happened. So we had the kids start moving all of the toys from that corner to put in the boys room. As a toy was removed from beneath the register is was like someone had turned a water hose on. Water started gushing onto the floor. Later it turns out that right below our AC unit, near the patio door about 1 inch crack in the pipes was the cause. Somehow or another the pipes froze while we were gone and we didn't realize it till after we turned the thermostat up. Thankfully, no water damage got down to the apartment below ours, I would have felt terrible either way, but right were our water spot was, directly below was their TV.
I was really tempted before this happened to tell, Jessie that the kids and I wanted to go back up to his folks house to visit with everyone, while he took Spencer ice fishing. Can you imagine the disaster we would have come home too? So we decided that I would stay here, while they repaired the pipes. Jessie took Spencer back up north for his 1st ice fishing experience. And that was an adventure for Spencer in itself. lol. Spencer had a blast, caught more fish then dad, but also stepped in one of the holes shortly after they started fishing. SO I'm not to sure if he wants to go again. Also the stinker stayed up all night from Christmas Day, to 6am the next morning watching movies while everyone at Jessie's folks place were sleeping. He's NEVER done that before. Jessie told me he wasn't sure if he should laugh in surprise or not, he later sent him to bed, but we were surprised that he would stay up that late. Back at the Johnson's household, since Matt had to turn the heat off to the apartment, we had to leave the oven on low ALL night, it finally went from not registering on the thermostat to about 75 degrees at around 2am. It sure didn't feel like it though. Thankfully the kids were dressed warm, (I had bought earlier this year 3 down-alternative blankets for their beds) and several quilts to keep them warm. It was a long night of almost no sleep for me, I was worried about the kids staying warm, keeping warm myself, and worried about how safe it was/wasn't to let the oven on low all night. By 9am Friday morning we had heat! After talking it over with the landlord, since we've lived here for almost 5 years, she made the choice to have our carpet replaced the next following week on New Year's Eve (the 31st).
That made a very fun, interesting weekend. The boys room, and our room was a disaster area, because we had to move furniture so they could get to the shut off valves, the Christmas bins for the decorations, in ours, the toys from the living room in the boys, and trying to figure out how we were going to get all the living room furniture off the carpets. Jessie couldn't take any more time off cuz of the holiday break, so it was left to me to get almost everything moved by Wednesday morning. I think everyone would have laughed seeing this little adventure. It was interesting watching TV, and playing board games with the kids Tuesday night on the living room floor. Wednesday morning Jessie arrived in time to help move the TV, and the carpet was done shortly there after.
I will never forget Jessie's reaction when he saw the carpet that was chosen to lay down in the apartment. It's a light color carpet. While we are very grateful and appreciative that the landlord had this done, we wonder do they not realize that 3 children live in the apartment???? So now I need to find some huge rugs to cover up the living room, and hallway so that it's not destroyed while we live here. The bonus though is that we discovered the wonderful invention of Magic Erasers from Mr. Clean. Little Cyril'sPablo Picasso moments on the walls are gone now...well at least in the living room. I still need to tackle several other walls.
While this in itself with 3 kids was interesting to tackle, did I forget to add that we had neighbor's kids, over visiting too? I don't know how moms of really large families get it all done. I had to make meals for 5-7 kids, do laundry, other household chores and rearrange a living room. Plus I needed to get two Christmas gifts out for my secret Santas 'that I'm doing, and still have failed to get them out. I was quite pleased when New Year's Eve came, the carpet business was done, and we were able to go to a friends' house. I enjoyed myself thoroughly that night.
Also Spencer yesterday had his 2nd round of appointments down at HCMC (Hennipin County Medical Center). He had his ears looked at due to the car accident in September, his speech looked at because he's always mumbling, and to visit with a neurologist since he hasn't talked to or seen one since his 1st fall 4 years ago. His hearing passed with flying colors, so we all know he can hear perfectly, he's just tuning out. His speech passed, but there are a few things that need to be worked on. Nothing though that warrants services, we just need to work at it, at home. Which I'm okay with. I want him to get the services he needs, not the ones he doesn't need, just because he can get them. The neurologist, wants him to have an MRI done, to see if there have been any changes in regards to the PVL, and to see if the 2nd TBI had done anything to the brain. We (meaning the doctor and I) do not feel it will show any changes, but just to be sure. So he will have that done here locally, and we will go back to see the neurologist in February. So I believe all the tests, and doctors that need to see him, have been done. Now we wait for what they have to say, and see what the new game plan is. I had several people remark at how detailed Dr. Willis was in her assessment of Spencer back in November. I'm very thankful for that, because she hit everything on the nose.
So that's it in a long, long nut shell. Hopefully now that I have access to a computer again, I'll be able to up date more frequently. lol.
God Bless~
Carlena
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