Fun at aunt Shelly's house!!

My kids always have fun at their aunts house. She always does a great job at entertaining the little guys. Below is a picture of my boys, Shelly's stepdaughter Kendra and her stepson Micah. They obviously are goofy when they all get together.

christmas morning!!!

We had a great christmas with lots of spoilage!!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone who visits my blog a very Happy Holidays!! Even to those lurkers out there who never leave comments(shame on you) I know your out there!!! On a serious note I hope everyone has a safe and fun holidays and you all get what you want from Santa :)

He's a teenager already!!!!!

I woke up to find this on Adam's door. For some reason this totally cracked me up. He was mad at me for making him go to bed the night before. I seriously am not looking forward to those teengage years around the corner.

I've got pictures!!!!!!!

Okay I have some pictures to share. Some of them are from my family christmas party. There are also a couple of random pictures I threw in there. Then there is a couple of pictures of deshawns christmas program that was today.





Here is Adam and santa. I think Adam is starting to question the big man!!!!





Here is Deshawn and santa. Deshawn absolutely loves Santa. He loves to hug santa too.




Here is a picture of parker and santa. You would of never guessed he was hiding from santa minutes before this picture was taken.



And here is a picture of deshawns head. He decided he was going to play barber shop with Rick's beard clippers. Really funny now, Not so funny when it happened.






I thought this would be a funny picture. I love my dog she cracks me up. She honestly thinks she is going to freeze to death. She likes to sit on the heater vents when they are blowing.





And why is there a matchbox car in my fridge??????????????





Dee is in the green. This is him singing at his christmas program today!!! The pic isn't that great because I had to zoom in to get them.

Deshawn's IEP

Okay his IEP went really well. He has improved in so many ways. The speech therapist says she is a little frustrated because she has tried every way in the book to get his speech skills better but none have worked well enough for him to retain what she has taught. So she said she is trying something new to see if it might help. Also we might start putting together an image book. It will have alot of pictures in it and he can point to them and express what he wants us to understand. Even though he can express his needs through sign not everyone can understand him because they don't know sign. So the book should help with that. They all say he is very eager to learn and participated well.

His physical therapist says that she has seen HUGE improvements in him. He is getting more confident in his actions. He still has coordination issues and things like throwing and catching a ball he is still not doing it age appropriately. But he has come a long way. So she is going to keep working with him on those things and some galloping with right and left leads. She is going to try and get it so he can start off smoothly and rotate leads smoothly which is quite hard for him now.

As far as the overall preschool his teacher says that she can tell he understands things age appropriately and she is going to be working with him on sorting exercises and beginning to end scenarios(which is basically she has three cards with pictures on them and she has him put them in order beginning to last).

All in all everyone is proud of how far he has come in the last couple of years. Our main concern is of course his speech and hopefully that will come sooner than later. I have a feeling though that it will be the later.

This week is draggin!!!!

Does anyone else think this week is draggin?? I can't seem to get anything done nor do I want to. I still have to go and get presents for my boys for the santa bag for our family christmas party and I can't get motivated to go and get them. Maybe it's just me but this cold weather makes me just want to hibernate.

I am sending out a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother in law even though I know he doesn't read my blog but ya know maybe the vibes from my blog will get him. He is turning the big 3-0. I went and bought him an old man kit from the party store here and Rick is taking it to him today. Hopefully it will put a smile on his face at least for a minute. We will be going to a bed and breakfast in park city this weekend to celebrate his finally turning 30. We won't get up their until late because we have my family christmas party. But their hot tub and pool are open 24 hrs so I am sure we will make the best of our time there. I think most people are going to go skiing on sunday but since Rick isn't much for skiing we will probably head home.

Oh yeah Deshawn has his yearly IEP tommorrow so I will post tommorrow and let ya all know what happens. Ta Ta for now!!!!!!!!!!

Highlighting Deshawn

WARNING: This is the longest blog I have ever written. Stop now if you don't have an eternity to read it.


I just wanted to highlight my little guy!!!






Isn't he the cutest thing in the whole world!!!!!!!!!!!!!1


Okay I thought I would blog about my adoption story since some of you might not know.


So me and Rick had been trying to get prego and of course once again we were having no success so we started talking about adopting. But we never really could make up our mind for sure and then one day in November I got a call from one of my cousins and she said she knew of a girl that was in foster care that was wanting to place her baby up for adoption and she wasn't feeling good about using an agency so my cousin mentioned that she knew her cousin (me) was looking into adopting and she said she wanted to meet us.

So we set up a time to meet her and I was sooooooo scared and nervous. Who knew a 16year old could be so intimidating huh. Anyway I was really impressed with how she handled the "interview". She asked us alot of questions and she even had a list written of everything she wanted to ask. I knew right away that she really loved this baby. She later told me that she had a list of requirements like that we had to have at least one other child and that we had goals set for our future and a whole bunch of other things and we passed everything she wanted in adoptive parents for her baby. It was sad because I know she wanted to keep him but she already had a one year old and she was a foster kid and I know the foster care people were pressuring her to give him up or they were going to place him. The whole thing was really sad but I know that she felt much better that she could be the one to place him where she felt was best.

So we waited for a week to hear from her and it was not the news we wanted. She had told us that a couple that were her previous foster parents were going to be adopting him. Well I was pretty sad but I knew there would be ups and downs with the process. So I put on a brave face and we decided to start the homestudy process and see what we could do to start the adoption process with an agency. Mind you Rick was enrolled in school and technically not working so we really didn't have money to adopt but we just kept feeling like we needed to move forward anyway.

Well on December 19th we got a phone call from Deshawns birthmother saying she had changed her mind that she felt that we needed to be Deshawns parents. She was going to be going in for a csection in the MORNING!!!! So we frantically tried to get our lawyer to handle all of the legal issues. Mind you this guy was EXPENSIVE but we didn't care we just figured that we would figure it out some how. So I call him and basically tells me because it is so close to christmas that they would never be able to pull off all the things he needs to get done to make it all legal. So once again I was crushed.

So I frantically try to figure out what to do and I called Rick's sister because she was dealing with the whole adoption thing and she told me about this estate attorney that practices in our area that does adoptions on the side. He has adopted and he has also helped open agencies in foreign countries so he has a passion for it.

So I called him and told him what the other attorney told me and I told him that I felt very strongly that this little boy was supposed to be my child. He laughed and told me that our attorney was just lazy. So he said it will be no problem and that he might have to pull a few strings with some judges but he would be able to do it.

Okay so now we are down to the 20th. This day was so stressful. She went in got her csection at 7:00am and we waited out in the hall where you could watch the babies being brought in for the baths and to be weighed and such. WOW what an experience that was. He literally took my breath away. But there was still a part of me that was scared that it wouldn't happen. So we went into the waiting room and found out that the state still wanted to take that baby into custody. My heart once again shattered. I told them that I would contact my attorney and see what he could do. And after awhile my miracle worker had convinced them that this was best and this is what the mother wanted.

So we were there at the hospital everyday and couldn't wait to bring him home. I could tell she was trying to stay at the hospital as long as she could because she didn't want to let him go. She was trying to take him home and finally her foster mom told her that they had no way to care for the baby. It is not that she didn't want to still place him up for adoption but it was christmas time and she just wanted to keep him until after christmas.

Finally, she was able to let him go. It was very hard to watch her breaking down as she handed him over to us. I was excited and devastated all at the same time. We took him home knowing that we did not have custody of him legally yet. That was scary because things could still not happen until she relinquishes her rights. But I "knew" that it would all work out.

Christmas Eve-- We met at our lawyers office and she relinquished her rights and were were awarded custody of him. Wow what a feeling. Amazing! What a beautiful little boy. He was our's. NOT!!! We still had to wait 6 months. Six more months of home studies before we could finalize our adoption. So six months later he was officially ours forever and ever.

To top it off our attorney did this adoption for cost. That means he only charged us what the actual costs were to him. He did it for FREE!!! We still had to pay for our home study but we were able to pay that per visit so it wasn't as hard. We also had to pay for court costs. But we were still under $2000 when all was said and done.

What an amazing journey it has been. He has had his struggles but I know he knows he is loved. Every decision I make for him I hope is the best. We did finally decide to give him medication for his PDD-NOS and I have seen huge improvements with his speech and his behaviors are changing alot. I am sure he will always have his issues but I really feel this is helping him right now.

Yesterday I was doing dished and the boys were watching cartoons and al of the sudden I hear Deshawn singing. Okay he doesn't ever just start singing on his own like that. No one prompted him to do it he just did it on his own. I was overcome with pride. I really hope all we do for him will help. You don't get a parenting handbook when you have children (I wish ya did) but I know we try our best and hopefully we don't let this little guy down.

Here is a picture from the finalization of Deshawns adoption.



What.... What's that you see????? It looks like I am prego!!!!! So you know when deshawn was about 5 weeks old I found out I was pregnant. Imagine That!!!

My little men!!

So we tried to make gingerbread cookies for the first time. I think it was a success, what do you think????





I love watching my little men so into our little projects we dream up. I love them so much. I think they had alot of fun making our gingerbread men. This is one of the reasons I love christmas time so much because it gives me an excuse to do extra fun stuff with my little guys.

Hope everyone is doing great!!!

This is fun!

You Are Mint Green

Balanced and calm, you have mastered the philosophy of living well. Your friends seek you out for support, and you are able to bring stability to chaotic situations. You're very open and cheerful - and you feel like you have a lot of freedom in life. Your future may hold any number of exciting things, and you're ready for all of them!

What Color Green Are You?

I am not sure how accurate this. This is FUN though!!

WHAT'S WITH.........

Okay what's with people at christmas time.....

I was at costco today and this guy almost backed into this minivan and she kept honking at him to let him know she was there and once she finally got into her parking stall she came flying out and the guy pulls right up next to her and they both just start screaming at each other. My poor kids had no idea what to think about the whole situation. I just quickly ushered them into the store. I am sure normally these people would never have acted like this if it weren't for all the hustle and bustle of this time of year. It does get stressful shopping during this time of year.

I think I have the perfect solution to avoid the christmas crowds and enjoy the christmas spirit. I decided this year I would get all of my christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving. I not only accomplished that but I have everything wrapped too.

So I thought to myself I should grocery shop for the entire month of december so I can avoid those crowds as much as possible. So I spent the majority of this afternoon and grocery shopped for the entire month. WHEW!!!! That was alot of work. But now that I am done I will hopefully only have to swing by the store for a couple of things I may have overlooked. WOOHOOO.

I am really looking forward to just enjoying this christmas season. Christmas lights and sleigh rides. I love this time of year.

thanksgiving fun

Here is a cute picture from the kiddie table on thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house. We had a great time and we were stuffed to the max!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate healthy people....

...Well hate is a strong word. I guess I am just jealous of healthy people. I just came back from the doc and I am frustrated. Since they put me on insulin I have gained like 10 pounds, my A1C(overall 2 month blood sugar average) is high and my blood pressure is high. Hello I feel like I am falling apart.

My blood sugars have always been high but last appt they were in target range and this time they were a little above. I have discussed this with my doc and I am going to try some tweeking with my insulin and this should help.

As far as my blood pressure goes I am going to try my hardest to get that down. They want me to go on a blood pressure med but I really don't want to add another med. So I have got to really crack down on that one. I also have to test my blood pressure at home three times a week until my next appt. JEEZ!!! You would think I was 50 years old and 400 lbs.

Another thing that has been bothering me is I have been having real bad body aches. They are mostly in my legs but I do get them in my shoulders and elbows too. So I talked to my doc about that and he made sure none of the meds I take cause that and they don't so he wants me to go and see an internist and have them check me out. They also ordered some blood tests to see if he sees anything on that.

I get very frustrated because when I was ignoring my health issues I wasn't stressed out at all. Now I feel like I am under a microscope and I feel like they are always going to find something else wrong with me. I like it much better when I was living in denial.

I dunno what to think. I am glad I have this blog so I can vent this stuff out. Otherwise my poor husband would have to listen to it. Instead you all have to listen to me.

This is too funny!!

A little late....

Sorry I know these pictures are a little later than I said but I got busy and well the rest is history.....

I love the table and it is so nice to sit down as a family again and have meals. The table has 2 leafs that hook on on the ends they are really cute too. I was lazy and didn't want to put them on just to take a picture so you can use your imaginations.

Today is the day!!

Well today is the day I should get my table. They called and said they will be here some time this afternoon. So....I am waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. And waiting. No I am not a patient person.



**update** IT is 11:12 and they arn't here yet. Still waiting!
**update#2** It is 1:04 and yes I am still waiting!!!
**update#3** It is 2:39 and it is FINALLY here. I love it sooooooooo much! I will post pictures a little later. Now I have to find me some lunch or I might pass out.

I'm so excited!!!!!

*****UPDATE***** I googled my table and found it. This is the table and chairs. We didn't get the arm chairs but we got 4 of the armless chairs and the bench which is not in the picture(the bench is a diff brand and I can't find it online). I also have a closeup picture of the chairs so take a look below!

Well me and Rick finally made what I would call our first purchase of furniture that is not walmart quality or hand me down quality or even yard sale quality. We purchased a dining room set that is really cute and (OUCH) expensive but hopefully it will withstand the little demon boys we have. Stupid me forgot to take pictures of it before we left the store so you all will have to wait until it is delivered on Tues before I can show you but I tell you we have been without a table for over a year now and I am ready for some good old sit down dinners. Okay here is the best description I can give: It is rectagular shaped, It has two end pieces that will come off or you can keep them on for an extended table, It is mission style table, the chairs are black with the wood seat, and we also ordered a backless black distressed bench that is kindof chunky. I can't really explain it too well but that is the general description. We have always put every extra dollar into to redoing our house and now that we are done renovating(except the garage but we borrowed money for that) we can start to replace some of the things falling apart around here. We are coming up on 12 years of marital bliss and it seems like everything is falling apart. It was all cheap stuff to begin with so hopefully we can replace things one at a time and get some more quality pieces.

One more Pic

Okay here is one more picture of the boys taken at my mother in law's work on halloween!

The kiddos

Here are some quick pictures of the kids in their costumes this year!!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!!!!!
I just have to say that halloween is my favorite holiday. I love this time of year.


Here are a couple of pictures of me and Rick this year.

PDD-NOS

Okay so I promised some of you that I would post some of the things dee does:


He has severe anxieties.
His speech is significantly delayed
He does not USUALLY play with other children. He likes to play on his own.
OCD(obsessive compulsive disorder) I guess he just has tendancies not actually OCD
He wakes up in the night and wanders
He hates change
Never ending tantrums
He hand flaps when he is excited
He has abnormal attatchments to objects
He has some physical delays(not horrible but it is delayed)
He screams and sobs uncontrollably for little reasons
He has alot of fears

These are most of the things that I can think of that he does. There are other things that people with PDD-NOS do that dee doesn't but the majority of the things he does do.

HOW DO THEY DIAGNOSE?

They do a medical assesment to rule out any other things like chromosomal and what not.
Behavior rating
Behavioral observation
Psychological assessment
Education assessment
Communication assessment
Occupational assessment

They did all of these things to determine his diagnosis.


WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR DESHAWN?


Well he is going to always have some kindof delays. Hopefully we can help him with the behaviors and anxieties. Hopefully he will have a seemingly normal adulthood. We really won't know until he is older. But the doctor believes he is intelligent and should have no problems there so maybe with meds or other treatments we can make this as easy on him as possible.

Dee's doctor visit

Well deshawn's doctor visit went good today. He did get an official diagnosis of PDD-NOS. This is not autism but it is in the same family. Hopefully now that we know what it is we can search our options and make a more informed decisions on how to care for him. There is no cure all but there are behavior therapies, speech therapies and there are also meds that can help with the anxiety issues he has.

Just google PDD-NOS and you can read more about it.

Thank you all for your prayers and kind words I really appreciate you all!

somber sunday

Well today is being a sad day for me. Well all week has actually been hard. Rick came home on Tuesday and told me that one of his workers' and his wife had just lost their baby. She only had a couple of weeks to go until she was due. This is the first time since our little Kasey was born that we have known someone that has had a stillborn baby. Their story reminds me alot of ours. I still have no idea why God can let a woman carry a baby to term and then just take it away in an instant. I accept it but I will never understand it. Well I don't know if I really accept it either but it is what it is and I have to. This death has left my feelings a little raw this week.

I also attended a funeral for a very special lady. She is my aunts mom and she was a wonderful person full of love for everyone she knew. She always showed me love and I appreciate her for that. She has been suffering will Alzheimer's for a while now and she finally succumbed to it.

Today I found out that one of my dearest friends' sister died. She was only 28 and has a 7 year old son. My heart is breaking for their family right now. The situation reminds me alot of my cousin shane and of course that just makes my soul hurt. We all miss him so much. Everytime I see his beautiful children I can see him in them and I really miss him.

So like I say I am having a sad day(week). I think life is tough and not fair. But you just gotta deal right? Certain things will always bring you back to times that you don't always want to remember but I guess that's life.

Oh yeah just to remind you all Deshawns appt with Primary childrens is in the morning. Say a prayer that we will get the answers we need. I will post as soon as I get a chance tommorrow.

Finally!!!

We finally signed on our house loan so now we can begin the process of adding our garage and whatever else we can afford to do to make this the home we want to stay in for the next little while.

Oh yeah other good news. We were also planning on adding a woodburning stove in our basement. Well Rick was talking to one of the contractors they do work for and he mentioned that he was getting rid of his stove because he was replacing his with a pellet stove. Rick told him that we were planning on putting one in our basement and he told Rick he could have it for FREE. WOOHOOO that should save us a few bucks anyway.

Well tommorrow is our family halloween party. Pictures will come soon from that event.

Not much else to say!

Why are they so cute?????

Seriously why can they be little stinkers one minute and the cutest little guys you ever saw the next minute?

I was downstairs and I could hear them upstairs in the kitchen having waaaaaaaaaaaay too much fun and I thought to myself oh no what are they doing? So I instinctively grabbed my camera thinking that this might be blogworthy and sure enough to my surprise it was blogworthy.

I caught them (get this) PUTTING DISHES AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!




Adam's new after school chore is to unload the dishwasher so I guess they are trying to be like their big brother. (lucky him......he doesn't have to do it today)

breast cancer awareness month!

Did you all know it is Breast Cancer Awareness month? My Aunt Connie was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago and is going through her chemo right now. She is going to be fine but if she was not faithful about her yearly mammograms than she wouldn't be as lucky so please take care of yourselves ladies!!

I told you the good lord always hears my prayers!

I am totally shocked. I received a letter in the mail yesterday from the state saying they are going to cover me for another year. I am speechless actually. I know we make over the income limit but maybe they took into consideration that I am uninsurable and Rick does not get health insurance offered to him where he works. I don't know the reason but I am thrilled and very humbled. I really feel like my prayers have been answered. I really have nothing more to add than that. I just feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

Now lets hope the house thing will happen soon (I guess I shouldn't be too greedy with the blessings huh?)

Too much stress!!!!

Okay I just need somewhere to vent because today is stressing me out(and it really has nothing to do with PMS).

Okay first thing that has me stressed is my stupid house loan. We have been trying for three months to get this stupid loan. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. We have extremely good credit, Rick makes decent money, we have never paid anything late EVER. Yet we still have to prove ourselves like we are criminals or something. We even decided to not do our addition except the garage just because the banks were having a fit about us borrowing 90%. So we decided to add the garage and take out the kitchen downstairs and add a food storage room and then possibly combined the two bedrooms downstairs to make a larger master. We are also going to add french doors in the kitchen and make a deck outside. Well we were supposed to be signing this week and the appraisers that appraised our house called me this morning and said the lenders want proof we don't have renters in our basement. So they came over and took more pictures. I don't know how that will prove we don't have renters but whatever. I am so tired of this process I could scream.

Next stress is my health insurance for me and my kids. We have had our kids on the CHIP program since the company that rick works with does not provide insurance. Well it is time to renew and I always stress out because this really is our only option for the kids to be covered by any insurance. I think what set me off is the lady from the state just called and wanted proof that Ricks work doesn't offer insurance. Whenever I talk to them I get really nervous because we really need this help. We honestly have never used anymore money than we have paid in but I just like knowing we have it just incase something happens. The other part of the stress is me and rick have had some coverage from another state program because our income was low enough but rick has gotten a couple really good raises this year and we no longer qualify which as you all know this really sucks since I am diabetic and that is not a cheap disease. So now we are faced with paying for all my medical expenses out of pocket. OUCH! These all add up to almost $500 a month and when I have a dr visit that is another $140 a visit. SCARY..... I did find out however that two of the oral meds that I take are on the $4 walmart prescription plan so that will be helpful.

Sorry I had to vent I am really feeling stressed today for some reason. I am sure everything will work out.....it always does. The good lord always seems to hear my prayers. Thanks for listening.

It's a boy!!!!!

Well my cousin Brian and his wife Mary found out today that they are having a boy!!!!! I am so excited for them. I think boys ROCK! I can't wait till he gets here.

Hi everyone!

There hasn't been much going on in this part of the woods. I just felt like I should tell everyone hi. We have been super busy. Rick worked on his sisters house this weekend and the whole family went with him. It is supposed to be a 2 hour drive that took us 4 hours to get there. The traffic was horrible until we got out to the country. The weather was horrible too. It rained so hard we could barely see. Plus we were hauling the work trailer so that slowed us down too.

We had a great weekend with the family. I can hardly believe how big my nephews and nieces are getting. I got the chance to go to the movies with some of the older ones which was alot of fun. I felt like I was back in the teenage years hangin out with a bunch of friends. But it was even better because each one of them are so special to me.

The drive home was alot faster and it was a beautiful day so the drive was nice. Excluding the fact that Adam thought he had to sit in the front seat with us and then decided I would make a great pillow for his nap that he decided to take( I secretly loved it since he doesn't snuggle up to me that often).

Anyway hope ya all have a great night!!!!!

I have nothing to report.

I really haven't had anything to exciting to blog about. The most exciting thing this weekend was going out with my hubby and friends. We went to Salt Lake City and went to dinner and then a club downtown. It really has been a long time since I have been to a club but it was my girlfriends birthday and it was her choice. For dinner we went to market street grill in downtown and I wasn't too impressed for the money. The service was waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy too slow.

The next night we took my sisters baby again and also her stepson for the night. I really am starting to feel old. The baby thing was kindof hard. I am not use to getting up in the night anymore, especially since being diabetic. I think most diabetics agree that a schedule is the best way to stay feeling good and good sugar control. So as happy as I was to take the cute little guy I was pooped out. But as tired as I was I will be stupid enough to do it again. I just can't get enough of his new little giggle.

Other than that nothing too exciting here. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Oh yeah I just wanted to shout out to my cuz Risa CONGRATULATIONS on her engagement.




Below is a picture of the cute little lovebirds:

It's Frinday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TGIF people!!!!!!


Just giving a little shout out to my cuz Brian. He had his appendix out yesterday. So I hope you get well soon!

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

And the end is here!

Well saturday was the boys last day of soccer yeah!!!!! They were really too cute this game. Dee is always good to play but Parker has wanted nothing to do with soccer other than wearing the jersey he thinks that is pretty cool. But I did some major begging along with the coach and talked Parker into playing goalie since this was the last game. The picture above is after the game was over. They all got their medals for playing this year.


Here is a picture of Parker playing goalie:





What a fun year. Hopefully Parker will do better next year.

Birthday fun!!!!!!!

Well yesterday was Adam's 9th birthday. Wow, where does the time go? He is halfway to adulthood. It really seems like yesterday when we were struggling so hard to get pregnant with him. After 6 months of fertility drugs we finally got the happy news that we were going to be parents. After 2 1/2 years of trying to get pregnant our dreams were coming true. His amazing spirit was so eager to get here he came 3 weeks early. What a true blessing he has been to me.

He really is a rock in my life. Don't get me wrong he definetly keeps me on my toes but I love him and appreciate him so much in my life. When we lost our little Kasey Adam was the only thing keeping me going. He needed me so much and that made me realize how much I needed him. He will never truley know how he saved me through those trying time. Like I say he is a true blessing in my life.

Enough with the sappy stuff. I hope you had a great birthday buddy!!!!! I appreciate all you do to help me with your brothers. You are always an example to me when I see how kind an gentle you can be with them. (even though there are times that you are not so kind and gentle......but hey you are the older
brother...right??)





Here is a picture of Dad showing the birthday boy a thing or two about bowling!






Here is a picture of my nephews preston and lance just chillin at the bowling alley!




Dee is all smiles





Parker trying to show us how it is done.


All in all we had a great time!!!!!!!!!

Boating fun!!!!

Well the boys decided to build a cardboard boat. So of course I couldn't resist snapping up a picture for the good ole' blog. I love watching their imaginations at work.


Oh yeah TGIF everyone. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!!

braggin

I thought I would brag about the 4 posts in one day. Whew how about that!!!!!!!

sweet deals

okay so I thought I better let people know about some sweet deals going on at albertson*s, I got 26 boxes of cereal and 4 boxes of instant oatmeal for 30 bucks. This is a rockin deal so if any of you are bargain shoppers like myself head on over because it is going fast. The deals are on quaker brand items which include all of the capt crunch cereals including life cereals(cinnamon or regular), crunch berries, regular, peanut butter or chocolate plus a bunch of the granola bars and breakfast bars and the instant oatmeals. The deal is 10 for $15 or if you have a preffered card it is 10 for$10. Anyway happy shopping!!!!!!!

A new puppy!!!

Looks like I got a new puppy!!!!!







While I was waiting for the boys to walk home from school I noticed this cute little puppy and decided to keep him.

Parker thinks he is a "real" puppy. I just love when they come home from school and are so dang cute.

yesterday was picture day!!

Well yesterday was picture day for Adam and Parker. I am normally really prepared for things like this but this year I am sick with a horrible head cold (thanks to my lovely husband who thinks he has to share everything) Anyway I didn't have any certain clothes picked out so I had to scramble to find something for Adam. I hope his pictures turn out. I was not with it at all yesterday morning.

By the time I got home I realized SH*T I forgot to give him the envelope with money in it for his pictures. So instead of a relaxed morning I had to hurry and pull a hairdo together, throw a bra on, brush my teeth, and put something on that doesn't resemble pajamas all in about 5 minutes so I can take him his envelope and not embaress the hell out of him. He is now a 3rd grader and I am stepping on thin ice when it comes to the my mom is still okay thing. I don't want to jeopardize anything ya know.

Okay so when we get home I immediatly put Parker's envelope in his backpack so I don't forget it. So our day proceeds without any further problems. I send Dee off to school on his bus and then I load up Parker (who was very excited about picture day) and we dropped him off at school.

So I go do some grocery shopping. Which by the way I didn't feel like doing but we have very very bare cupboards so I had too. When I get home I walked past the mirror and realize I really do look like death is at my doorstep. I thought to myself I know I looked better than this when I took Adam his envelope (right). Anyway I took the rest of the afternoon off and just relaxed.

Well 3:30 rolls around and here my boys are. So cute!!!! Parker had to tell me all about how his pictures went. I was really excited for him. So I get all of their backpacks and start going through them and UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! Parker's envelope with his money was still in his backpack. Those damn envelopes are going to kill me.

So I called the photography place and they just let me pay over the phone. I tell ya I was very relieved because I really wanted pictures of Parker because he is the baby and I have slacked on the pictures for him so I was excited to have pictures of him.

Anyway we survived yet another day!!!!!

well the weekend is almost over!!

Well what a weekend. I had a shoe party on saturday morning which was alot of fun. I had a good turn out and had alot of fun seeing people that I haven't seen in awhile. My cousin Dee brought her precious little Riley which is always a treat. She was being so cute talking and playing with her little lamb. Saturday evening me and Adam went out to my parents for a family bunko night. We always have alot of fun playing, eating and lots of laughing. What a great family I have. I love that we can get together and have a good time and enjoy the company.

Today we haven't been to productive. We did venture out to go buy Roxy a new color and leash. Plus we bought both Bailey and Roxy new name tags. I really wanted to get roxy a blingy collar because she is a girl and I don't want people thinking she is a boy but Rick on the other hand had to argue with me that she is his dog and he doesn't want bling on his dog. If I want bling on my dog it has to be on bailey. So we settled for a harley davidson collar and leash.

When we got home we took the dogs for a walk. It was fun to watch the boys walking the dogs and playing around. Rick and I stood behind and watched them and all I could think was what a great family we have created. I love my family so much and I am constantly a proud mother and wife. My boys are the most precious things in my life and I am greatful for each one of them (even the big one).

Pictured above is a picture of Bailey at christmas last year. She hates it when I dress her up but she always keeps it on. She just gives me dirty looks when I do it. Wait until she see's what she might be wearing for halloween this year HAHAHA!!! She is gonna hate me. We'll see if I decided if it is worth the money or not. I might just have to dig out her chearleading outfit.

It's been one of those days!!!

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you are walking around in a cloud? Or like you just never woke up and are walking around in a dream all day. That has been my day today. I am very sluggish and well I haven't wanted to do too much. Don't get me wrong I have cleaned my house, fed my kids got everyone off to school and home. But I haven't done too much more than that. Enough with me.

So the kids are all loving their schools. Parker is the one who has surprised me the most. He loves going everyday. Last year he would fight me to go to preschool and he only went 3 days a week. He really thinks he is a big boy. But I know he will always be my baby.

The pictures above I just got this week. It is there soccer pictures from this year. WOW!!! I really can't believe my boys are old enough to play sports.

guess who had their first sleepover????

Well we had a very special visitor spend his first night away from his mommy. My nephew Lance got to spend the day and night with his favorite auntie(sorry shanda he is too young to vote for his favorite so I am doing it for him). He was such a good little guy he only had a couple of moments where I felt like I had no idea how to console him. When it was time to go to bed for the night he had a hard time finding a comfortable position but as soon as he did he was out like a light. He slept from around 9:00pm to 3:00am so I made him a bottle and he could barely stay coherent enough to drink 2 ounces and then he fell back to sleep until 7:00am I was amazed. I was expecting to be up all night. I have had fun watching him. I can't wait till next time.

aaaaannndddd...... We are off!!!!!!

We are leaving today for some much needed time alone. With lot's of hiking and getting up before the sun. I have no idea why this sounds fun but I can't wait!! Everyone have a safe and fun weekend.

you are going to kill me

For all of those expecting pictures from our recent adventure...... SORRY!!!! You know how there is always something you forget when you are going camping?? Well the one thing I forgot was my camera. OOPS!!!!!! I was so ticked off when I got there and realized I forgot it.

We had a great weekend. Rick and Adam ditched me, Dee and Parker most of the time. They were hunting while we were just camping. But we had 2 of Rick's brothers, 1 sister his dad and all of there families there so all the cousins had a blast playing together. I just love it when we all can get together and spend good quality time together. These are the times when I feel closest to my nephews and nieces. Each one of them hold a special part of my heart. The oldest boy nephew who is 12 years old got his first little buck. The look on his face was priceless. He was so proud and it was fun to see his little cockky side. I am amazed how fast they grow up.

Me, Dee and Parker went on a 4wheeler ride clear up to the top of the mountain to a real remote pond up there. It was so beautiful. The ride up on the 4wheeler was a little hairy but we got there in one piece. We also did a lot of fishing too. I think between all of us we caught over 50 fish and they were big fish too. All in all we had a ball.

Rick and I are heading back down on friday without children woooohooo! I am soooooo evil. It will be some good times for us since we never get any alone time anymore.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention. I am officially a free woman tues-fri in the afternoons. Dee and Parker started prekindergarten this week and they are both in the afternoon classes. Dee is in special ed preK at another school and Adam and Parker attend the same school. Dee only goes 4 days a week while Parker goes 5 days (oh yeah you heard that right 5 whole days). I am really excited to be getting a little break. I have had my hands full for the last few years and I finally feel like I might be a person and not just a mommy.

I will post again when we get back after the weekend.

see ya in a few days!!!

Well I am off to go deer hunting with the hubby. This year the whole family is going so it could get interesting. I will post when we get back on sunday. CHOW

One thing after another!

For a while now I have been concerned about the behavior of my little Dee. He is a total sweetheart but he can be very challenging too. I have noticed the last couple of months there has been alot of contention and frustration in our home because of Dee and his "ways".

Me and my family have joked about him being OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). He has to have his things his way. He has to do things his way. It's basically his way or the highway. And with a whole summer with us all being cooped up together we are all on our last nerve.

Dee is a screamer. He is also a crier. He is constantly frustrated. I think he is frustrated due to the fact that he is nonverbal. He can say limited things but his pronunciation is very poor. I have had him with therapists since he was 2 and he will be 5 in December. It has helped some but at a very very slow rate.

He was tested for autism when he was 2 and his testing came back that he was not autistic. So we have been concentrating on speech and physical therapy.

Well I decided to finally talk to my pediatrician today about all that has been going on with him. I just know there is something that is not right. I have been thinking all along that it is probably OCD because he does weird things sometimes that reminds me of that. I had ruled out autism because of the testing we had even though he shows some but not all of the symptoms. Anyway my pediatrician has now referred me to pr!mary childrens to a behavioral specialist because he thinks he has one of two things, the first thing being OCD then the other thing would be autism. He is leaning towards autism because of the speech problems he has.

I told the doctor that we had already had testing done for that and he came back fine. But he said that he could have a lower form of autism and when we had him tested earlier it could have been misdiagnosed. Ultimately he wants a pediatric behavioral specialist to make any diagnosis.

I just want everyone to keep him in their prayers. We will manage whatever they find out. But my hopes are still that it is nothing other that pure frustration over the fact that he has a hard time communicating. The worst part is we have to wait until Oct 29th for our appt. So just keep us in your minds and prayers and hope for the best.