Day of Rest, Mostly

I went absolutely nowhere today! I need to tomorrow, but today I took off. We didn't do much at all. Jeff took Travis and Tyler to Game Crazy to spend some of their Christmas money, but other than that we were pretty lazy.

Highlights of the day: Jeff's mom came over to visit for awhile. A friend stopped by for a few minutes. I got the "you are in charge of the nursery now, right?" phone call. I read a story to my kids. Tommy got into everything. We decided to leave the tree up a few more days.

I realize I never blogged about my tree, Rainbow. We did not get out all the fancy decorations this year. It was really very simple, so I wouldn't have to keep getting after Tommy or getting frustrated. He made a game of pulling the chain off the bottom branches, throwing it on the floor, and stomping on it. It's a little worse for wear. We made a rainbow paper chain, and some candy cane heart ornaments. I added some small bell decorations, a rainbow, and a castle. I thought about putting some fishing line on a couple unicorns, but realized I would be pushing my luck.

The picture was taken today, so is minus some candy canes and a gift or two. It's nothing like the trees we're used to, but somehow it fit this year. It did look better in person.

December 29

I remembered to eat breakfast myself before heading over to the hospital. Only Tyler and Travis were awake when I left the house.

Jeff was ready to leave when I got to the hospital. The doctor had already been in, and we only had to wait for the dietician to talk to him before he could be released. The conversation didn't take long, and I loved that people kept telling Jeff over and over again what I've been telling him for years. He actually said he should listen to his wife—amazing!

We picked up his prescriptions, picked up some vacuum cleaner bags, and picked up some groceries on our way home. When we got here we found Scott & Amanda and Josh already here. The boys were sure glad to see Jeff back home. He has to take it easy for a few days, has a doctor's appt. for next week, and is expected to be released to go back to work in 2 weeks or less. Okay….so everybody needs to stop waiting on him and let him do what he can do. There's enough stuff that he can't do.

Okay, yay! Relax for a day before I start to think too seriously about the job I promised to start this week. It's only a few hours of work, I can get this figured out later. Hey! The mail made it here for the first time in over a week. Boys check the mail and bring it to me, thank you. Here are some Christmas cards…one from Jeff's nephew and wife, one from another nephew's ex-wife, one from my dad…….what????? I was stunned, and was just staring at the return address. My dad's name….addressed to me. Huh. Hand the envelope to my mom who is sitting next to me…she goes blank too. This is comical. My husband takes the envelope, and asks who this is…I just start crying.

It was definitely from my dad; I opened it up and found a "Daughter" Christmas card signed "Dad." This is completely foreign to me. I don't know how to respond. He wrote me a letter also. Wow. Okay, I haven't heard from him in what, 16 years? I'm not sure I'm emotionally stable enough at this point to deal with this. Actually, I'm starting to feel a little emotionally bankrupt. Of course I tried to call my best friends, and, or course neither of you answered. Ugh! I wasn't even sure if Melissa had arrived home yet, Australia is a long way away. When I did talk to you later, you both pointed out that my dad had recently come up in conversation. Melissa reminded me that we had pulled out the old photo album last week, and also reminded me that God has been answering prayers lately, and maybe I should figure out which prayer this answered. Thanks for that, Melissa.

Okay, get on with life. Deal with this later. Make dinner for Jeff. Make dinner for Tyler. Make dinner for Josh and Travis. Make dinner for myself. That's not normal; we usually all eat at the same time. Mom left. Scott & his family left. We get to go back to a semblance of normality. Deep Sigh. Tomorrow is another day.

I need to thank all the people for all the help and prayers these past few days. There were phone calls and visitors I didn't mention all the friendly offers for "anything" we need. The care of the children, the time spent with Jeff, the support for me, and the prayers!!! When trouble comes, true friends come to help. Thank you all.

December 27-28, 2008

Jeff in the hospital

Saturday was a busy day. I over-slept-in, I probably needed it though. Scott and Amanda came over so Scott could help me get Jeff's truck back home. Trav and Ty rode along just to get out of the house, and Travis rode back with Scott in the truck. I think it did him some good to be with his uncle for awhile.

I had to call a friend from Scouts to say I wouldn't be at the meeting that had already been rescheduled twice, and of course I had to explain why. I didn't know who to call about my not being at church the next day to work the nursery, because the person I would normally have called was out of town, and as of next week I am officially the Nursery Coordinator, and I would be the person to call. Oh well, I figured Ken and Jan (pastor and wife) knew, and they would explain if need be.

We had our Christmas present time with Melissa and Geoff. Then they had to finish packing up their stuff. I took them by the hospital, and then took them to Melissa's parent's house. They had to finish packing and spend as much time with family as they could.

Christmas with the Milners

I went back home to get Mom and the boys. They all wanted a chance to visit with Jeff, so we went to do that. Grandpa was there when we got there, and Jaycee popped in for a minute. She works in ICU, and was also substitute leader for the children's program the next day. I was able to tell her I wouldn't be there and felt that I had done my part, as her kids were the only ones we could think of that might actually make it to church the next day…lol

Visiting Daddy at the hospital

One of Jeff's nephews and his wife had stopped in to see him and had left a gift card. That was kind of them. It was also very useful. We went up to Fred Meyer's and bought Jeff a pair of slippers for the hospital and a new outfit to wear home. We took the slippers back to him right away because he really didn't like the hospital socks. Melissa and Geoff came by for a few moments.

When we got back home, we converted our guest room into Travis's bedroom, and moved his mattress and DVD player in. He spent his first night in his own room.

On our way home

Sunday morning I went over to the hospital alone. Scott & Amanda got there shortly after I did. We were present when the doctor came in and went over what needs to happen in the future. Jeff needs to be done smoking. He will be on medication for the rest of his life to help with his cholesterol, blood pressure, etc… He needs to eat right and get some exercise. Because a good portion of this seems to be genetic, I'm glad Scott was there to hear all of this too. We've also re-stressed to the children that they need to take care of themselves.

Geoff and Melissa stopped by for one last goodbye on their way to the airport. We don't know when we might see them again, but I'm sure it will be years. I am so glad they were here for us during this time, and I am glad they stayed with us as much as they did while they were in the states. I'm grateful for the internet and the telephone that makes it possible for us to stay in touch. We're hoping to meet in Hawaii sometime in 2010, but time will tell.

Goodbye at the Hospital

Mom called to say I had the diaper bag, oops! So Amanda and I went back to our place to deliver diapers. The rain and warming up seemed to be doing a good job of melting the snow and ice, so I took Mom to get her car, we ate, and then Amanda and I went back to the hospital. We left Jeff relatively early so he could get a good night's sleep, expecting him to be released the next day.

December 26, 2008

I think the chaos of the previous weeks, and the excitement of Christmas Day got to Tommy. He would not settle down, and he had me up most of the night. I finally got him settled down in my bed, and went to sleep on the couch. Wow, to finally get some rest….

Jeff woke me up about 8 a.m. to say he wasn't feeling well and was going over to Urgent Care. I remember kissing him goodbye and thinking he'd be gone for a couple hours and offering up a quick prayer that he would be safe and okay. Tyler got up, wondering where Daddy had gone. I kept napping, as Tommy was still asleep.

At 9:14 I got a phone call from the nurse at Urgent Care telling me that my husband was being transported to Harrison in Bremerton via ambulance because of his symptoms. Oh! Damn. Okay. Everybody is pretty much snowed in; I have three kids to take care of, 2 friends that are expecting me to pick them up, and a husband on his way to the ER. I called mom and made arrangements to meet her and pick her up to watch the kids at Grandpa's house. I called Melissa and told her that I wasn't coming to get her because Jeff was on his way to the hospital.

Travis helped get Tommy ready, I threw some stuff in the baby bags, Tyler helped carry stuff out the car. A quick prayer and we were on our way out to the main road. We made it too, or almost….if we hadn't had to stop for traffic we would have been fine, but we did have to stop, and we got stuck at the end of our road. Our prayer was answered, and we were only stuck about 15 minutes before a gentleman came up to help dig us out. A second man stopped and together they pushed until we were clear. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!

We picked up my mom, stopped at Jeff's truck for his cell phone, and then went to the hospital. When I got there Melissa and Geoff were waiting for me. The nurse took us to a waiting room and told us the doctor would talk to us when he was finished with Jeff. Melissa drove my mom and the kids up to Grandpa's house to wait for news. We figured that would be the most comfortable place for them.

While Melissa was gone, Geoff and I tried to talk about pleasant things, Christmas dinner, and the like. A nurse came out and told the couple across the waiting room that their wait would be a little longer, as a man had just come in through ER having a heart attack they were working on him now. That wasn't the nicest way to have my suspicions confirmed. Melissa came back, and we waited. Finally the nurse came back and led us to a small, private room to wait for the doctor. I don't remember exactly what the doctor said, Melissa or Geoff would probably remember better. He seemed like a nice man. The gist of it was Jeff had had a heart attack, the artery was completely blocked as opposed to partially blocked, they had inserted a stent, there was build-up in the other arteries as well, this had been coming on for years and years, his body had grown new blood vessels to try to compensate and those new blood vessels stopped it from being a lot worse, he would have to be on medication for the stent for a year, he would have to quit smoking.

Okay. Deep breath. Lots of prayers. We were led to the elevator and directed to a waiting room in the cardiac unit. I had no problem getting there, and it didn't take me long to break down once I was there. This was the last place I saw Grandma last year. I'm welling up with tears even now. We waited, and finally they wheeled Jeff up. We said hello, and they took him to get settled. We waited a bit longer, and then went to see him. He looked a whole lot better than I expected. I am so grateful he didn't die. We talked for a bit, I scooped up his stuff to take with me, told him I'd make some phone calls and take care of some business, and we'd be back. He needed to rest now anyway.

We drove up to Grandpa's house. I stopped on the way in to ask God for the right words to explain this to our children, and I wasn't disappointed. I calmly explained to the boys that Daddy has had a heart attack and would need to make some changes and take some time to recover. When I told them he had to quit smoking they cheered! They just needed to know that Daddy wasn't going to die. I filled my mom in quickly on what had happened, and then called Jeff's brother. Scott agreed to tell their mom for me, and I left that in his capable hands. Mom called and got Jeff added to the prayer chain. I was grateful that was done.

Melissa and Geoff were there for me every step of the way. They ran out to do my banking for me while I rocked my baby boy to sleep and got myself something to eat. Scott, Amanda, and Jeff's mom were at the hospital with him. After a bit I took the boys to see their Daddy on our way home. We ran into Scott, their sister, niece, and niece's boyfriend at the elevator. I knew we only needed to stay a minute, long enough for the boys to see he was okay. Jeff had plenty of family around to keep him company.

The boys visibly relaxed after seeing Jeff. They almost fell asleep in the car on the way home. We got stuck on our road, so everybody got out and pushed. We made it home safely and took a moment to breathe. Then Melissa and I went back to the hospital, taking his robe and some personal items for Jeff. Geoff and Mom stayed with the kids. Scott & Amanda stopped by to see if we were okay or needed anything.

After visiting with Jeff for a few minutes, Melissa and I went shopping. We got him some Word Search puzzle books, a silly top to play with, and a picture frame that I filled with pictures for his bedside table. We dropped those back off to a sleeping Jeff (except the pictures), and went home. It was the last night Melissa and Geoff stayed at our house.

Christmas Day

Jeff and Geoff got in a little after midnight. The adults sat up and talked for a bit before heading for bed.

Tyler was up at 4:00 a.m. I sent him back to bed until 6:30; but he was kind enough to let us sleep until 7:00 before getting up for stockings and presents. We got through the gift-giving craziness of the morning, and greeted Melissa and Geoff as they arose.

I don't recall if any of us had breakfast. I know that Jeff took Melissa and Geoff over to their family for Christmas, and then picked up my mom and Daymon for Christmas at our house. Mom made a turkey dinner at our house, because I had said I didn't want to do any work on this holiday. I just made the gravy. Scott and Amanda came over.

The boys played outside some on our white Christmas Day. We played a little Rock Band, but mostly just hung out for the day. Jeff wasn't' feeling well and he didn't want to do much. We were all pretty tired, so everybody went home fairly early, and everybody went to bed fairly early. All in all it was a nice Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!

We had a fun Christmas Eve. Melissa and Geoff were here for the night. Scott, Amanda, & Josh came over for the evening. We were really busy, but it was fun.

It was snowing, again, but Melissa and I snuck out to do some last minute shopping anyway. Jeff and Geoff got to go out and run some errands. The snow and wind brought down some big branches in our yard, I'm glad nobody got hurt. There were some amazing icicles in our front bushes. When we were all safely back at the house we made clam chowder and Jeff made his traditional bread. Yummy dinner.

Glad the kids weren't on the swing set.

Pretty Icicles

In the evening we dissected frogs. Yes, I said we dissected frogs. I volunteered Melissa to take the lead on that project. I never really like science class when I was a kid. The boys all started off a little bit squeamish about the whole thing, but by the end everybody was fascinated; poking around in there trying to identify the different parts became a bit of a party. I'm pretty sure we spent more than an hour with the frogs. We'll probably do it again in a few years.

Getting Started

This is Fun!

Check out the Webbed Feet!

What's That?

The kids got to open one gift each. Then Scott, Amanda, and Josh left for the night. I pulled out the "What God Wants for Christmas" interactive nativity that was in my church mailbox a couple weeks back and we went through the nativity story. That was a hit! I like that better than our "Night Before Christmas" tradition. Even Tommy stopped fussing long enough to listen to the poem and see what was in the boxes.

They went to bed at a reasonable time, but somehow the cookies didn't get left out for Santa....oh well. Santa didn't put any chocolate in the stockings this year either.

Snow!

It sure is pretty to look at, but being snow-bound for the last week before Christmas does present some difficulties....

Geoff did get to experience his first snow...amazing! I think he probably would be happy to never see snow again. It's been so cold here, and they were pretty much trapped at our house for almost a week. His hard work shoveling the driveway helped to get our van out today for a test drive. I think I can pretty much get out and about as long as the snow holds off, and starts to go away!

Jeff's truck was the only vehicle leaving our driveway. Jeff's boss called and told him not to come in Thursday, Friday, etc... He finally worked a semi-normal shift tonight. Tomorrow he'll work in the morning, being Christmas Eve.

Melissa, Geoff, and I did walk out to the main road a few days ago, just to take a look. Here's my Jeff coming home in his truck.

The children like the snow, and they like playing in it, but they are not getting enough exercise. They need to burn off some of their energy, or we will all go crazy being stuck in the house together. There seems to be lots of napping on the couch lately....

Hey, things are looking up! The temperature is rising! It's crept up above freezing!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Tuesday's Vegetable Soup

Melissa suggested I blog Tyler's soup, complete with pictures. So, here it is....

Doesn't that look good?

I think everybody enjoyed it.

Tyler ate his veggies!

We've been staying busy. I got spoiled a bit yesterday. Melissa made everyone a fabulous breakfast, then we got to spend the afternoon in Silverdale craft stores. Yay! Tyler made dinner, yummy. We had pumpkin pie and ice cream for desert. I felt like I was being a bit lazy.

Today I got my workout in. I got a call asking me to sub tonight at WOW! as several adult leaders will not be able to attend. Not sure what roll I'll be filling yet, teacher or nursery attendant.

Later!

I am so tired!

Dress Rehearsal at Church

I am way off my schedule, and desperately need to get back on it. I'm not eating right, not sleeping right...ugh!

Miss you Rainbow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a good day, and virtually stress free! I got up, got the turkey in the oven, and got my workout done. Tyler was sweet enough to wake up in time to babysit while I did my workout and took my shower.

Jeff was up and dressed before Scott & Amanda arrived. Amanda ran around with Tommy while I got dinner made. My grandpa stopped by for about an hour, before taking dinner w/him to share at home with a friend. My mom and Daymon showed up just in time for dinner.

I made most of dinner, but Amanda brought green bean casserole, and Tyler made the biscuits. That was probably the most time-consuming part of dinner. We made butter from cream (everybody had a hand in that, it's so time consuming) and then we used the left-over buttermilk in the biscuits. It was fun to have Tyler's fresh, hot biscuits smothered with our homemade butter!

It was a fairly simple meal: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams, green bean casserole, mixed veggies, and pumpkin pie.

It was all ready to eat just as the game was starting. So I announced that I was going to sit down and watch the game and let somebody else dish up and serve me. I then poured myself a glass of wine that my grandpa brought over, and tried to stay out of the kitchen. Well, I mostly stayed out of the kitchen. Mom brought me my plate, thanks, Mom!

We watched Dallas trounce Seattle, then spent a few hours playing Rock Band. I think everybody had a good time. We all took turns, and I ended up playing every role at one time or another. It was fun. I told Melissa that everybody except Mom and Tommy played, but Tyler reminded me that Tommy had sat on his Daddy's lap and played the drums. Hmmm, I guess only Mom didn't play.

Mom did help clean up the kitchen. It's nice that I don't have to worry about that. The dishwasher is running for the 2nd time, and I know the boys will empty it in the morning.

Jeff doesn't go back to work until Monday. That's a first for us. He usually has to work the day after Thanksgiving, and the Saturday after to make up for the holiday. Instead, he gets to go hunting with Scott in the morning. Good luck, guys!

Well, that's all for now. We'll probably see Melissa and Geoff sometime tomorrow. If not, we'll get together Saturday. I want to go to JoAnn's to buy a pattern for a potential Christmas present....can't say more here, the kids read my blog sometimes.

Good Night!

The Night Before Thanksgiving

I can hardly believe it, but I am feeling no stress! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, we're having dinner at my house, and I am not the least bit worried about any of it: not about the condition of the house, not about the food, not about the people. What a freeing feeling!

I told my boys I would blog tonight to tell the world what a blessing they are to me. They have been incredibly helpful this week...I'm not sure what's gotten into them. Maybe Jeff's reminders that they need to do what I ask them to do when I ask it, not later. However, that doesn't explain Travis loading the dishwasher while I was gone yesterday morning. At any rate, I am appreciating their wonderfulness very much.

We were talking about making a thankfulness tree, and writing what we are thankful for on the leaves. My boys....Travis instantly said "family" and Tyler said "what the Lord has done for us." I think they are on the right path.

Tommy got a special treat this evening, he got to walk through the grocery store instead of riding in the cart. Travis was his escort, and I'm not sure who enjoyed it more. I was very impressed with Mr. Thomas when we got home. I took him out of his car seat and he headed straight for the front door. It's a good milestone, when they don't need you to carry them or hold their hand every second.

So, it's getting late and I have an early morning. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, and that you have plenty to be thankful for. Personally, I'm thankful for a loving, supportive family; kind, generous friends; a caring church home; a good social circle for the whole family; the roof over my head; the food in my pantry and freezer; the van in my driveway; and most of all a Heavenly Father who is loving, forgiving, and patient with us humans.

Good Night All!

Melissa and Me!

Ugh! No make-up! What was I thinking?

Time Flies…

Wow! Where does the time go? I can't believe it's been so long since I logged on to my computer. I have to catch up on everybody else's blogs.

So, the kids and I were sick last week. We still have a terribly cough that just won't go away. Somebody advised me to rub Vick's Vapor Rub on our feet and then put our socks on before going to bed. It worked! I finally got a decent night's sleep when I tried that, instead of waking up coughing every 15 minutes or so. I don't think I even turned my computer on last week. When I did finally check my e-mail on Friday, I had over 500 messages! Yikes! Then I didn't check it again until today, and I had over 100 more. I may have to unsubscribe to my homeschool group if people are going to continue to be super chatty.

We made it out to Costco on Saturday. Yay! I really wanted to get some Johnny's Garlic Spread, and I can't find it anywhere else. I also really like their pumpkin pies. That was a busy day. Travis and I headed out first thing in the morning for a decorating/work party at the church. Our mission: to help decorate 6 bulletin boards throughout the church. We both had a good time. Travis was a huge help, hauling stuff to the far ends of the church and up the stairs, some of it was heavy stuff too. He basically took all of the supplies to the various bulletin boards. He then helped to put the borders up on a couple of them. I was assigned the bulletin board near the church nursery. I was handed directions and supplies to make a 3-D angel on the board out of gold wrapping paper and aluminum foil. I think it turned out pretty good. I'll try to remember to get a picture of it. While I was finishing the bulletin board, Travis played pool. He first faced off against a church elder, then against a lovely young lady from the church.

The fellowship hall was set up for the congregational Thanksgiving dinner, and I couldn't help feeling a sense of belonging as we walked through there, knowing I helped to get that set up. Travis was feeling it too, because he said something about having set out the salt and pepper shakers.

On our way home we swung by Lowe's and picked up the kids' project for Tyler. I wasn't able to take him down there, and he wasn't feeling well anyway. I got home and started to make dinner and do the housework. My mother-in-law came over, and shortly after she left my sister-in-law came over. After she left, my mother came over, she watched the kiddies for us while we went shopping.

On Sunday we went to church and the Thanksgiving dinner. That was fun. We sat on the pews along the walls where Travis has set out the individual tray tables for overflow seating. That fellowship hall was packed! But that was the point. After we got home I turned on the game and fell asleep before the Seahawks finished losing.

Monday was Scout day. Only 2 out of 5 of our Bear Den showed up, 2 were home sick and 1 is in Idaho visiting relatives for the holiday. We couldn't really do our skit with only two boys, but the Webelos were very helpful and quickly learned the skit. Tyler ended up having the punch line, which pleased him. I had originally told him he couldn't do it, and assigned it to one of our absent scouts…I can't have Tyler in the lead role every month, no matter how much he wants it. However, under the circumstances Tyler was the only scout who knew the joke and the role, so he got to do it.

They boys got their popcorn selling prizes last night. Travis earned a survival kit—two pocket tools: one with a knife, spoon, and fork; the other with everything else (corkscrew, knives, screwdrivers, etc…). Tyler got a Wal*Mart gift card.

After Scouts, Melissa and Geoff came over. Yay!!!! Yay!!! Yay!! Yay! Wow! She looks great! I am very impressed and very happy for her. Geoff watched wrestling with Travis while Melissa and I chatted in the kitchen. The boys had been chomping at the bit, waiting for them to show up. I had to convince them that we don't need to squeeze everything into the first hour, or even the first day. They wanted to tell our guests everything, show them everything, I thought they would burst! Today they were antsy waiting for M & G to come back, but I think I have finally convinced the boys that they will have plenty of time to spend together and to just relax for awhile. Obviously, Melissa and Geoff are important people to my guys.

I am pleased to report that I have gotten my work-out in almost every day, and have walked at least a mile every day. Travis is a good one for reminding me to walk. He likes to get out for the exercise and the fresh air; he also likes to buy chips at the store that is .6 miles away from our house. I registered a loss at my meeting this week. Cool! I also have a non-scale victory of having dropped a pant size. Cool, cool!

Well, that's all the time I have for now. Don't know when I'll be back. Hope you all are doing well, you're in my prayers! Happy Thanksgiving!

Coincidence

Read Rainbow's post today?

I kid you not, I opened up the new file posted to my home school group today, and the very first thing on the page is this:

Taco Soup

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 14 oz. can tomato sauce
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes w/green chilies
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilies
2 cans corn
2 cans dark kidney beans
1 pkg. taco seasoning

Toppings (not included in nutrition info):
Frito chips
Fat-Free Cheese
Fat-Free Sour Cream



Directions

Brown ground beef over medium heat.
While cooking beef, simmer the following items on low heat in a large pot: tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, green chilies, corn, kidney beans, and taco seasoning.
Add beef. Bring to boil, and then simmer for 15 more minutes.
Serve and enjoy. Garnish with chips, cheese, and sour cream!



Not exactly the same recipe, but pretty darn close!

Time to Breathe

I have nothing scheduled for the next few days, provided Jeff goes on the field trip with Travis on Saturday. The next place I am "expected" to show up is church on Sunday morning. What a glorious feeling!

I told my boys that they cannot go spend the night anywhere, nor can they have friends spend the night at our place, until I can park in the garage again. I am hoping that will give them some incentive to either help me in the garage or help me by watching Tommy.

The Veteran's Home visit today went well. We sang the songs, passed out the cards, said our thank yous, and shook some hands. Most people there seemed pleased to have us come, many people said they used to be scouts or den leaders.

I had Travis wear his uniform too, and he didn't even question it...until another Boy Scout showed up not wearing his uniform. The other boy argued that it wasn't a Boy Scout outing, it was a Cub Scout outing. However, a third Boy Scout showed up in uniform, and the general consensus was that it was a BSA outing, so any member of the BSA should have been in uniform. Who says boys don't have their share of drama?

We had to go straight to the church from there, so I got a few comments about being in uniform. Most of the comments were positive, so that's a good thing. Travis had thought ahead, and was wearing his church T-shirt under his uniform, so he left his uniform shirt in the van.

I am once again up an hour past my bedtime, and am supposed to be meeting someone to work out at 7:00 a.m. Before I sign off, I will answer the clothing question. Because everything I tried to order was out of stock until just before the day of the dinner, I had to wear something I already own. I ended up wearing the pink shirt that I wore to Tommy's birthday, over a black sleeveless turtleneck and black slacks. The overall effect reminded me of I Love Lucy maternity wear. Maybe I'll still be able to order an outfit or too, now that they're back in stock. Que Sera Sera.

Good Night.

Is it Monday again?

Nothing new in this: I am worn out!

Saturday got away from me. I had intended to go shopping first thing in the morning, but Tommy was being fussy and Jeff was sleeping, then it was almost time for Tyler to get home. When Des dropped Tyler off, she stayed to visit for awhile, and the next thing I knew it was 1:30 in the afternoon!

I hurriedly frosted the cupcakes, and then went through several different outfits, before settling on the least worst one. All my nice clothes are too big for me! Jeff did not look approving when I voted for just wearing my jeans and a sweatshirt.

We left by 3:30 (I think) to catch the chartered bus with Jeff's Tacoma co-workers. I bought Tyler a pocketknife with his name on it in the gift shop. The dinner was nice, but we did hit some rolling waves a few times. It may have been ferry wake. We played some blackjack with the script (fake money) they gave us, and bought the maximum allowed raffle tickets with our winnings. Surprise! I won a new digital camera with about a million different features that I need to play with and figure out. Then we all caught the bus back to Tacoma and came home.

We still didn't have Tyler's birthday present, so we had to find a place open in the middle of the night where we could get a gift for a 9 year old boy. Jeff insisted we needed to get a spark plug for Tyler's dirt bike (it was Tyler's 2nd favorite gift). We also got that Veggie Tales movie, and stopped to by cherry sours for the cupcakes.

I think we were ready to fall into bed by 3:30, only to have to get back up at 8:00 to get ready for Sunday. Breakfast and coffee had to be made, the gifts wrapped, and the party favors, balloons, and cupcakes had to go out to the van. Jeff got to sleep until 9:20, lucky him. I was grumpy!!!! But, we all made it out the door in time for church.

Tyler was very happy to be singled out with his buddy, Joshua, and sung to by the entire congregation. Then there was cake during the coffee time after services. In the parking lot, Tyler opened his present from Grandpa. He was so thrilled!!!

Then we went to Kart Trax for 6 hours. Yes, 6 hours. But all the kids seemed to have a really good time. I do have pictures to post at a later date.

Within 5 minutes of arriving at home Scott, Amanda, and Josh turned up. Scott & Jeff helped Tyler get his bow set up and went over some serious weapons rules with him. Thank you, men, for reinforcing all that. Amanda helped me out and gave Tommy his bath. By the time they left, I was ready to collapse.

Today Tyler went shopping with my mom to spend all his birthday money. He came home with a toy gun (no surprise) and a really cool target for shooting at with his bow. This meant we had to go shoot his bow.

Scouts tonight, responsibilities to both groups...got through it though. Deep breath. Grocery shopping tomorrow and maybe talking to my friends. Oh, and school, of course. We're still working on citizenship. Today the boys made some nice cards to hand out to the veterans on Wednesday. Travis is really starting to get into some of this stuff.

We have a science project to finish also, so I can do away with our moldy pumpkins. Yuck!

I'll post pics when I get a chance. It looks like Wednesday might be my last busy day this week, if Jeff will go on the field trip Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Good night all!

Where Does The Time Go?

Time is just zipping by, it's crazy! On Sunday, Tyler will be 9 years old! 9! Can you believe it?

Alissa, Vian, and Stephanie came over this morning to stuff goodie bags for the party. Have I mentioned we're having a 3-person birthday party at the Go Kart place on Sunday? Well, anyway, we went shopping for party favors, plates, etc… last month and split the cost. Now we're splitting up duties. Vian will be bringing pizza. Alissa will be bringing cakes to the church and balloons to the party. I will be bringing cupcakes to the party. Then we are each paying for our guests, which breaks down to 5-6 kids each. It's a good way to get the party rate, which we couldn't have gotten separately.

Tyler doesn't know this yet, but my grandpa bought him the bow he's been wanting so desperately; the bow that he tried to sell $1100 worth of popcorn to earn…but only sold over $600. He'll be thrilled. I'm thinking about getting him the Veggie Tales Pirates movie…he said he liked that. I haven't decided yet, and still need to talk to Jeff about it.

I have 5 dozen cupcakes to bake tonight, and to decorate tomorrow morning. Fortunately, decorating will be simple, a swirl of frosting, some sprinkles, and a cherry sour. Tyler was going to help me with that part, but he's gone off to spend the night at his friend's house. His twitch returned as soon as the plans were finalized. Odd. It made an appearance when they went to hockey night a couple weeks back too. My friend is starting to feel like it's her or her family that causes it, but I don't think it's personal. I think it's being with people other than us. It just happens that they are the only other family he spends much time with without me. I remember the twitch during children's church, so I think it's unknown or new circumstances.

Tomorrow evening is Jeff's yearly company dinner thing…We have to leave for that before 4 and won't be home until after 11.

Well, I guess I should stop messing around and get to those cupcakes. I hope all is going well with everybody.

Until next time….

WOW!

The children are nestled all snug in their beds....it's amazing!

We had a good day today. We studied some American History, and some government...go figure.

While we were walking, Travis and I had a discussion about the presidential election: what an historic event this is and how much race may have influenced the outcome. I wanted him to understand that I think people voting for Obama just because he's black is racism, and every bit as bad as not voting for him just because he's black. I wanted Travis to know that it's the moral character of a person, what they believe in and what they stand for that is really important.

I wasn't sure I was getting my point across the way I wanted to, until Travis made his own observation. He basically said if both candidates had been black then we would know that people had voted for the best man and not the "black" man. Okay, he shut me up....I knew he understood what I was saying, lesson over. He may have learned two lessons, the 2nd one being the surest way to end a lecture is to show me you already know what I want you to know. That boy makes me proud.

Travis has been very chatty lately, but that's a good thing. I want him to tell me what he read in youth group and what the kids are saying. He seems to be in a good place emotionally right now, and with these tumultuous hormonal years times like this are a blessing.

Tyler made his "Be a Good Citizen Poster" for Scouts this afternoon. He's working on his Citizenship belt loop and pin. He needs to make a collage about America next. This is part of why we were learning about American History.

I can't believe how much I love watching them be artistic. Travis has been writing stories. They are pretty typical for boy his age: aliens, war, friends being weird.

Poor baby Tommy. He seemed very confused tonight, as Travis and I sat together reading and talking. Tommy was very demanding for attention, not understanding that it was Travis time. It got worse when Travis left for a snack and Tyler jumped in his place. Then Tommy didn't know if he should try to get my attention, or Travis's. He was going back and forth between us. He is really growing up too quickly.

I'm tired, so off to bed. Good Night!

TOPS Tuesday

I made it through Halloween and still managed to register a weight loss this past week! Hooray! Now I have to wonder how things would have gone without the cupcakes, candy, pumpkin pie, and drumstick ice creams. Oh the holidays!

Not much to report today. I hope you all are doing well.

Congratulations to Barack Obama, our new president elect.

Scouting Monday

I made it through another Monday. I am officially a drop-off parent for Travis when it comes to Scouting. I haven't even talked to his leader recently. Travis is getting better about relaying information. Tonight he gave me the details on their REI outing scheduled for the 15th, yay Travis!

However, over at the Cub Scout side of things I have too much to do. I thought getting there 1/2 hour early would give me time to set up my room and do some paperwork. Not a chance! We are going to have to put a limit on just how early the drop-off parents drop off their kids. 20 minutes before our official start time we had 15 boys running around, and being the only adult in uniform I got elected to round them up and entertain them. So much for getting my room set up. That made getting through our den meeting challenging.

We stayed busy from beginning to end, and we were late getting back to closing. Oops! Oh well. This month we are working on a service project as a pack and we are working on earning a belt loop as a den. Our pack will be visiting the veteran's home on Wednesday the 12th. We're taking cards that the boys are making, and they will be singing 4 songs.

While I'm thinking about it--Geoff, do you read my blog????? I want to work with my den to earn the Language and Culture belt loop next month. I would love to have a guest speaker come in to answer a few questions about living in a different country, and also to help them complete a requirement in their Bear books: talk to somebody who was a Cub Scout a long time ago about what Scouting was like (uniform, activities, etc...)

1. Talk with someone who grew up in a different country than you did. Find out what it was like and how it is different from your experience.
2. Learn 10 words that are in a different language than your own.
3. Play two games that originated in another country or culture.

Any ideas of games from another country or culture?

Well, I had better be headed for bed. Tomorrow is another busy day.

Thanks, Mom, for babysitting. See you Thursday!

Creative Day

I may actually get to sleep by midnight, maybe.

I was good and got my workout in this morning, making yesterday the only day I skipped it. Maybe that will help counteract the Halloween candy...

I picked up Amanda this morning and took her to the fabric store. I taught her how to buy fabric and ribbon and lace. Then we went to the other craft store so I could pick up some stuff for the Barbie furniture and we went to the dollar store. Silverdale traffic was crazy! No wonder I usually avoid that town on the weekends.

We stopped off at the grocery store on the way home, and I was thinking this time....bought enough dinner for everybody for 2 days, and enough for just our household for the rest of the week. Glad that's over with.

Amanda did a good job of putting her albums together. She really didn't need much help. She mostly just needed somebody to tell her she was doing it right, and to give her a few little pointers. She finished one, and mostly finished the other one. It's drying on my dining room table right now.

I was thinking earlier how nice it was to have the cupcakes in the fridge, glitter on the couch, and 3 different craft projects going in the dining room.

It was nice talking to Rainbow this afternoon. I told everybody that we could have talked for a couple hours. We really need to live closer so we can have coffee afternoons.

Okay, I hear Tommy saying it's bedtime. Good night.

Halloween

Whew! What a day! We have been busy almost all day.

Tyler and I started this morning by decorating the cupcakes for the church, which I forgot to take a picture of. Bummer. Then we moved into decorating pictures for some friends and for ourselves. That was fun, and I think they turned out so cool! It was worth driving all over town trying to find the right candies for them. We'll have to make these again.

Travis working on cupcakes

These we kept, aren't they cute?

When the cupcakes were finished, it was time to get everybody into their costumes so we could be ready to leave the house a little after 2:00. We took pictures, said goodbye to Jeff, and were off.

Rock On!

We dropped off cupcakes to our friends, picked up Mom, and headed to Silverdale to get Josh. Scott painted up the boys, and we left for the church.

Cupcakes for our Friends

We dropped the cupcakes off at church, then went to Grandpa's house to change Tommy's diaper and kill the half hour before Fest-A-Fall started. We spent three hours at Fest-A-Fall, but I think all the kids had fun. I forgot to take the camera in with me, oh well!

Tommy was into everything for awhile. It's a good thing he's well-loved there. He pulled all the footprints off the floor at the cake walk, several times. Then he decided to go across the way and help Mrs. James with her booth. She was picking up the little Velcro balls and putting them in a bowl. He helped by taking them back out and scattering them around, with intent. I watched him look for empty places on the floor to toss them: some in front of him, some behind him, some off to the side. It was funny.

Tyler had fun throwing darts at balloons, and playing mini-golf. I think he had fun doing everything else too, but those seemed to be his favorite. Travis and Josh mostly hung out with the rest of the youth group.

On the way home we stopped and bought pumpkins, because we hadn't done that part of Halloween. Tyler is becoming so independent, and artistic. He did his jack-o-lantern from start to finish with no help at all. He gutted it, carved it, put a candle in it, took it outside, and lit it up. Good Job, Tyler!

More bragging time for Ty: he is very proud that he earned his Whittling Chip this week, allowing him to carry a pocketknife, and he has been making use of his art set every day since he got it. Yay Tyler!

Alright, it's 1:00 a.m. and the kids are sleeping. Time for bed. I hope everybody is doing well. Good Night!

WOW!

Tyler won 1st place in the 3rd-6th grade costume contest! He was so happy. He was asking me before we left the house if I thought he could win. I walked into the room just as they were pronouncing him the winner. Yay Tyler! His prize was an art set: crayons, colored pencils, paints, scissors, etc...

I did get some comments from a couple of parents, who clearly thought I had allowed things to go a little too far by actually shaving his head. Hey, hair grows back, and we'll buzz the rest of it after Halloween. The army guys thought it was cool. One mom I know said she could tell it was inspired by Rock Band.

This is the picture I took this afternoon that I think is really great! He was just looking up from reading his book, and didn't know I had the camera ready. Before we left for the church, we gave him a 5'0 clock shadow (make-up), unbuttoned his shirt, and got him those tattoo sleeve things. He looked really cool. We'll do it again on Friday and get some shots of it.

We brought a friend home from church with us. Apparently they aren't having school in Bremerton the rest of this week for conferences or something.

I got the cupcakes baked, and they are cooling, getting ready to be decorated tomorrow. I'll try to take some pictures of them when they are finished.

One last thing...I had to laugh when I got home tonight and checked my caller ID. I guess all I have to do is call you out on-line, you both called me while I was out tonight. LOL! However, Rainbow, Melissa, neither of you left a message!

Jeff just walked in, it must be late. Good night all!

Is there anybody out there?

Hello!?! Is there anybody out there? Am I all alone in blogger land? Rainbow, Melissa, where are you?

Well, it's Wednesday. We have church stuff to do tonight. Right now Tommy is napping, and the older boys are off at the store with Jeff. This is why I have a few moments to type.

This week feels like it's dragging a little, maybe because we haven't been so busy. The Pack Meeting on Monday was fun. We seem to have some new energy with our change of leadership, and that's probably a good thing.

I turtled, again, at TOPS. So, I have renewed my dedication to exercise. So far, so good...I have managed to get in a 20 minute cardio each day, and at least 10 minutes of strength training. In addition to that, yesterday I walked a mile twice; the first time I walked the boys halfway to Billy's house, and the second time I met them halfway as they were coming home. It has been more difficult to get a walk in every day, now that all the evening activities have started, and we have school work to get done. I'm still trying to get that worked out.

Maybe next week I will renew my dedication to logging my food and tracking my calories. I know that makes a difference. I get it into my head that I don't want to spend the rest of my life writing everything down; I forget that I can stop writing it all down once I've reached goal weight. As long as I can maintain without tracking it, that's great.

First thing this morning Tyler got into his costume. They're having a costume party at WOW! tonight, and he's a little anxious. I took a picture of him reading his Cub Scout Book, and I just love the look on his face. I can't wait to share it with you.

I think I hear the boys home now. Gotta go!

Time to Settle In

Alright you guys, you haven't been blogging....what's up?

There was a luncheon at the church today after services. It was a Pastor and church staff appreciation luncheon, and I decided that we would just stay there and benefit from the food and cake & ice cream. The boys all seemed to enjoy it.

Desiree made it back to pick up her kids before Jeff and Travis made it back. They all seemed to have a good time, and all seemed to be tired. Des said I spoiled her kids....huh? Then she starts listing things: you bought them flashlights, they got cake and ice cream, they went to the corn maze, they got hot chocolate, they watched a movie, they got shiny gold dollars....oh. Well, some of that stuff wasn't from me, the flashlights came from the Dollar Tree, and the rest of it just sort of happened.

Scott, Amanda, & Josh were here earlier. They just left about 1/2 hour ago. Amanda, Tyler, Tommy & I got our fresh air and our exercise as we went up to the store earlier. Ty was on his bike, and Tommy in his stroller, of course. It was pitch black out by 6:30. We'll definitely have to move our walks to the morning.

That's it, nothing terribly exciting today. I am looking forward to sleep, after I get these kids into bed. They need to get back on schedule too.

Good Night.

The Corn Maze was Fun!

It took us more than an hour to get through it, but it was really fun. The boys had to stop and stare at the cows, and we had to take the long way around so we could say we went through the whole maze, but we got our cards punched at all 6 checkpoints, got some fresh air, and killed some time. I have pictures to post. I've blurred Tyler's friends' faces because I haven't talked to their parent's for permission to post them.


I'm tired. I was up until 2 this morning, and back up before 7. We got Jeff and Travis out of here by 8 to meet up with the Troop. Jeff dropped Travis off to ride with the Scoutmaster; then came home to load up more firewood and the camping gear.


Tyler, Tommy, and I went to Lowe's at 10 a.m. to build a pumpkin project and meet the other boys. I am very proud of Tyler for doing all the building himself. Most of the other parents were doing the projects for their kids, or at least doing the hammering anyway.


I bought myself a new hammer when Tyler told me he let Jeff take his camping. I'm wondering why Jeff didn't take his own hammer, but I needed to replace mine anyway, it disappeared a long time ago.


The boys were really good about going to bed a little after 8 tonight. We had dinner when we got home from the maze, they played a little, brushed their teeth, made up their beds, and settled in with a movie.


Now I just need to settle Thomas. He is getting into everything while I type this, and I'm tired. I think it's time to go to bed. I need to go start the dishwasher.


Good Night!

Time for a snack

The cows were pretty loud.

Where to from here?

Let's go that way!

Den Totem

This is the totem the Bear Den made at our meeting this week. The little yellow bird on top is the example I made, and is not actually attached to the totem pole.

From the top down, not including mine, we have a snake, a "jousting bear", a dolphin, a dragon, and a platypus.

I love that most of them have tails too, except for the snake, of course.