January 29, 2009 - I'm Ill

So, we went out of town over the weekend to keep my youngest daughter from bugging us. Then Ashlyn got sick, then my oldest daughter got sick, and guess what I am now sick.

I am having body aches, chills, fever, and am very sleepy.

I have pictures to post of the Ice/Snow storm and just cannot get the energy to do it today...I was hoping that I would...this is my first day back to work since Monday the office was closed for the past two days...at least I get to take PTO so I don't lose much pay.

This is also my first day of feeling sick and I mean I feel horrible.

January 23, 2009

Ashlyn and Great Grandpa Jim

Ashlyn is sick today so I won't get a chance to write much...plus with all that is going on I am not going to be on the computer much right now...I have a vent about it on my profile at CafeMom

January 22, 2009

Ashlyn looking at herself in the mirror at her great grandparents house in Doniphan, MO
My brother in law and my husband when they were little

Long day at work had a lot of things happening...we may be getting our office back on track and they will not be talking about closing it.

The weather has been nice but we are expecting another winter storm on Monday.

There is a lot going on with my youngest daughter and I cannot even begin to put it in this blog. It is wearing me out emotionally, spiritually, and physically. I am just so tired of her drama.

January 21, 2009

Picture of my mom that I snuck when I was showing Dale how to use the camera. She did not want her picture made at all this weekend. We could not even get one of her with the two great grandbabies.

She is sitting in her lift chair putting some pictures that I gave her of my second son and his youngest boy in a photo album that I gave her after Ashlyn was born. She adds pictures to it as they are sent or given to her.

She is still not able to get around like she wants and is suffering from a bit of depression because of it...plus knowing that she is still facing another surgery on the carotid artery that they did not do the last time she was in the hospital.

January 20, 2009

Pictureof the picture that my dad had painted while he was serving in South Korea during the Korean War...it is painted on cardboard.

Ashlyn thinks that she is a rockstar.

Ryan sitting there and being a good little boy.

Well, we are home and trying to get rested up. Neither baby rested well while we were on the trip and are now being very grouchy with us.

We are trying to get them back into their schedules and get things back on track.

It was great seeing my family in Arkansas and even swinging by SE MO to see hubby's parents but I sure wish that I had had another day off or something so that we could have spent more time with them.

January 19, 2009

As we were leaving Hot Springs, AR on Sunday afternoon my husband decides that we will travel to SE Missouri to see his parents as well...this is what the sunset looked like as we traveled toward Doniphan, MO.

We got to see his parents for about an hour and then headed on to SW Missouri and home. It was a long trip and the babies did not enjoy riding in the van for that length of time. Hopefully this next weekend we can stay home and have some quality time there. We have either had company, been working on the minivan, or taking a trip for the past three weekends.

I am ready for some down time.

January 18, 2009

Diego the cat was not sure what was in the cage that was set up in his house

Dora the cat sitting by the window while the humans are trying to sleep

Well, we made it to Hot Springs and spent the weekend visiting family...lots of kids playing and chasing cats...now, I am just very tired.

January 17, 2009

This is what the weather was like on Friday before we left for Hot Springs...there is a pond (creek) behind where I work and it was frozen over and the geese were able to walk on it.

January 16, 2009

The big boss just left and I am trying to get the work caught up so that I can leave as soon as the night shift person gets here...I GET TO GO TO HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS!!!!

Will post plenty of pictures from the trip either tomorrow night or Sunday afternoon.

January 15, 2008

Ryan telling Ashlyn that this is my picture and you cannot be in it.

We are hoping to make the trip to Hot Springs tomorrow night...not sure yet...but it is looking promising. Will posts pictures of the scrapbook pages in the morning if I get a chance...I may not get a chance to post until after I get back from Hot Springs.

I had two text messages from my youngest daughter who has been missing in action for over two months. She checked herself out of the family violence center the day that her boyfriend was released from the county jail...she did not even show up for her scheduled visit with Ryan. The first message said, "Momma I am in trouble" and the second message said "I need Uncle Bill's phone number". She is not supposed to have direct contact with us because we have custody of her children...all the contact is supposed to go through the caseworker. My brother, Bill, is in the hospital with pneumonia and there is no way that he can help her. PLEASE KEEP HER IN YOUR PRAYERS!!!

January 14, 2009

Ashlyn decided that Samantha would make a great horse.

Long day at work and I am worn out. I will try to post more tomorrow.

January 13, 2009

Ashlyn decided that she had to have a picture made of her blowing on ribbon...needless to say Mama took that away fast.

Today was my first dayback to work after having a couple of days off...remind me to never take time off again...the woman who covered for me and who works the evening shift had made a mess of so much stuff again and instead of having her fix it I had an email waiting for me when I got to work to all the person who is over us so that she could tell me what Pat had done and that she wanted me to fix it because I fixed it the last time Pat did something similar. Now they are threatening not to let her handle the money at all or to do any posting. It made for a day that was really long but it did go by fast.

Ryan missed me a lot and he let it be know that Mama was all that he needed when I got home from work.

Just Another Monday In My Life

I have calmed down some but not a lot...today my husband informed me that all of the parts that we have spent money buying for the minivan were not really necessary that it was probably just an air pocket causing it to overheat...GRRRR!!!!

Ashlyn decided that she is a photographer...she tried to grab the cameras and when she did she would look at us and say "cheese". These are pictures of her where she tried to grab the camera and of her pondering how to get it away from mama.

If the boss is in from corporate tomorrow I am going to talk to him and see if there is anyway possible for me to take an extra day this weekend...probably not but I think I will just check with him and see.

Worst Weekend of the New Year

Here is what the minivan still looks like after almost five days of work on it...yes, this is the minivan that we were supposed to use for our trip to Hot Springs...we have had to buy so many parts for it already that there is not much money left for the week.

Supposedly...I am going to Hot Springs this next weekend...the only thing is I will not have any extra days off...so it will basically be a trip down on Friday after I get off work, spend that night, and come back late Saturday so that hubby can go to work on Sunday...his vacation ends Saturday.

I am so frustrated because I arranged to have two days off work and I have to request them almost a month in advance and there is no way I can request more for this month.

I got on the computer and found out what my husband needed to do to repair the minivan and printed it off for him...but he had to try all of his fixes before he tried the one that I told him was wrong...each one of his quick fixes cost us money...then just about an hour ago he came and told me that he had broken a tool that he needs to finish the job and he had to go buy it plus two belts that he had messed up.

Hopefully, this minivan will be worth all of this when we are done.

Not Very Happy Today

I DID NOT GET TO MAKE MY TRIP TO HOT SPRINGS THIS WEEKEND.

I had arranged to have Friday and Monday off work with pay so that I could make this trip. This is my birthday trip that we usually make every year...this year we put it off until this weekend because it is the weekend that my son moved to Arkansas and he is supposed to preach.

We have been paying on a used minivan and paid the final payment on Wednesday and brought it home...it overheated on the way but according to my husband no big deal he could have it fixed in time for our trip. He worked on the van Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and even today and still it is not up to making that long trip.

This minivan is supposed to be my combo Christmas and Birthday present...I would not let them spend any money on me and told them that I wanted any money that they would have spent on me to be put toward the van and that is what we did...I had to have a different vehicle since the heat is totally out in mine...we are trying to sell it so that we can pay for the taxes, licensing, and insurance on the minivan.

I am just so frustrated...every time we go to Hot Springs lately it is basically a one day trip by the time we get there we get to spend one night and have to come back immediately...this was supposed to be my trip to have time to visit with family down there.

My birthday was messed up on the actual date because the kids were sick and now I did not even get to have my time with my mom and siblings like I usually do. I have not taken any pictures in the past couple of days...I will make some tomorrow and get them posted.

TGIF

Picture of my Mom and my niece's twins who were born 5 days after Ryan...my mom got 5 great grandbabies born in just over a week in May 2008

Well, I have today and Monday off work with pay...finally some time off that I can hopefully enjoy. We are leaving shortly to go down to Hot Springs...if I don't get my blog updated I promise to catch us with something for each day when I get back. I may not have access to my pictures while I am down there.

Another Day in the Life of Karen

My husband, Dale, with Ashlyn, Ryan, Patrick, Sheila, and Van in the back row

taken at my brother, Bill's, house...this is where I am going to this weekend

I am traveling to Hot Springs, AR to see my mom this weekend and to see my son at the church where he has accepted a youth pastor's position.

We finally made the last payment on the used minivan but as we were driving it home it kept overheating and would shut itself off...we are hoping to have it fixed so that we can take it to Hot Springs this weekend as we need the room and the heaters. We are still trying to sell my Taurus to help pay for the taxes and licensing of the minivan.

We got the summons today for Ryan's Termination of Parental Rights hearing against my youngest daughter. So it looks like he will be adopted by us about the same time we are doing Ashlyn's adoption.

Trying to Take Things Easy

Wish I could sleep like Ryan

Do We Look Alike

Me an Ashlyn
Samantha and Ryan

This is my oldest daughter and I with the babies...do my daughter and I resemble each other???

Since I had posted pictures of my sons I decided to post one of my oldest daughter...do not have a current one of my youngest daughter...we have not seen or heard from her in over six weeks. Very long story there most of it is in posts on my Cafemom account.

I get to see my mom this weekend finally...I will try to take pictures of some of the pages of the scrapbook before I take it down to her and post them here as well.

One Week

Some of the people that I have had at my house this weekend
My second son T.J.

I am sitting here at work trying to get the time to post something because I know that once I get home I will not be able to do much on the computer. So far everything that I had planned for this weekend is still not done because my plans got blown out of the water when my husband returned from WI a full half day before he was supposed to and so there went my plans for those hours when I could do what I wanted to do.

With my oldest son and his family at my home and then my other son and his family coming over the noise level has been really bad. This has kept Ashlyn and Ryan in an uproar and has destroyed all of their sleep and eating habits. I will get into the vent about different parenting styles later. Suffice it to say my two daughter-in-laws married my sons and they have their own style of parenting and I do not interfere in their parenting (I made them both a promise that I would not interfere before their children were born). So, I think that they should let me parent/raise the two babies that I have custody of without interfering.

I have more pictures to post to this later tonight after my oldest son and his wife go out to dinner and a movie while I babysit my oldest granddaughter.

I still have to finish my mom's scrapbook because we are going to Arkansas this weekend to see her. Nothing much got done on it and I really want to get it done so I can take it to her.

End of Day 6

The first picture is of the grandchildren.Me and my oldest son, Robbie

Well, I had all but one of my children here today...I also had all five of the grandchildren here at one time...Trying to get a picture of them with me and my husband was not fun...there is always one who does not want to cooperate.

My son and his family got here around 2 in the morning...I got approximately 2 hours sleep...I got a hours nap this afternoon...hopefully I will get to go to bed early tonight because I need some sleep before I have to work tomorrow...My other son came over from Mt Vernon, MO with his family and so the house was very noisy for most of the day. I am so tired I cannot think straight. I will post more tomorrow from work and add more pictures tomorrow night after I get home.

5th Day

Ashlyn decided to prove to us that she could still use the walker...even though Ryan is the one who is using the walker now. She climbs in on her own and can even climb out if we are not watching her.

Dale got back to MO around 8:47 this morning and Robbie, Dawn, and Naia should be arriving around midnight. Dale knocked down the "No Parking on this Side of the Street" sign when he was trying to back their moving truck into our drive way...I wish I had had the video camera going for that one.

Fourth Day

Pictures of Ashlyn and Ryan wearing a hat that Samantha found while cleaning her room. Ryan thinks it is so cool and funny to wear a hat and Ashlyn thinks that she is the cutest thing ever while wearing the hat.

Well, my hubby is in WI on his way back...driving the moving van with my son's belongings in it...his older brother went with him...he should be back home late tomorrow afternoon and my son should arrive about the same time...according to my son the moving van can only travel at the speed of 55 in IL...so that is why it will take my husband longer plus he has to drop his brother off at his home.

I had to work today and again the person that covers the shift after I leave was ill and did not come to work. There is no way I could put in a ten hour day and then come home and have to take care of the kids so we closed the office again at 6 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. The boss was not too happy about it...when my hubby is home and able to be with the kids I do not mind staying until ten (Friday's are one of the days of the week that he has off).

Day 3 Of My Life

Mikey, Robbie, Bill

& Naia

October 2008

As you can see the Christmas tree is still up in the living room because we are waiting for my son from Wisconsin to get here this weekend. He will be staying a few days before he and his family complete their move to Arkansas. Also above is a picture of my son and my two younger brothers when my son was down in Arkansas in October when he had to preach one Sunday so that the church could do a vote on whether or not to accept him as a youth pastor. That is my oldest granddaughter in the cheerleader outfit that she wore for her first time to go trick or treating (she had never gone before). I am so excited to be seeing my son in a few days and I cannot wait for him and his family to get here. He is my oldest son.

So we are busy cleaning and disinfecting (because of the kids stomach flu) so that we will be ready for their visit.

I also have to find time to work on and finish the scrapbooks that I have for my mom, brothers, and sisters for their Christmas gifts.