Happy New Years!

I am getting to spend the evening nice and quiet. Well, as quiet as a house full of boys can be :)
After the excitement from Christmas, I really like to take it easy and try to reflect. Make plans for the new year. Start thinking about what to plant in the garden and what I need to organize in the house.
Barry scored the WII Mario Kart game with wheels for each boy. Thank you Grandma Betty and Grandpa Doug! It was a nice surprise for them today and is keeping them entertained. Although, Wyatt took a nap this afternoon and didn't get up until 6:00! It will be a long night....for Barry. He is the one who tucked him in at 3:30!!! I usually don't stay up for midnight. I celebrate on east coast time!
Barry will be back to work tomorrow night. His Huskers play tomorrow and he will nap after that. Then it will be back to the grind.
We need to update with some pictures. I did get a camera for Christmas. So I have no excuse now.
I want to wish all of my family and friends a very healthy, safe and happy New Year!

Wow!

What a whirlwind! We had a great holiday. Everyone was able to make it to our house through all of the snowy weather. It was so nerve racking waiting for them.
Garry and Susan made it on Christmas day. We had a relaxing time and a very yummy dinner!
The Dombrowski's had a rough trip over. 6 - 7 hour road trip which usually takes 3 - 4. We had a great time once they got here. Barry got the lawn mower out and pulled Ava and Max on the red sled. Hopefully, Barry will update his blog with some of the pics. The snow quickly melted over night so that was the end of sledding for awhile.
We have started the process of cleaning up and putting away decorations. I am tired but I am hoping to have a handle on it and be able to rest for the New Year holiday. Barry is back to work New Years day night.
All for now. The toy room is a mess!

If I don't have it now.....

I don't NEED it! I went out this morning to get just a few more things. Walmart was very, very busy. I can not imagine what it will be like tomorrow. I picked up a Bing Crosby 2 disc set White Christmas which includes my favorite holiday movie Holiday Inn! I am going to get some things done and then curl up with a cup of Jamies Hot Chocolate recipe (with a drop of whiskey in it). :0

I have finally settled on a menu for the holidays:
Christmas Eve it will be Italian shredded beef sandwiches. It cooks in the crock pot all day and then we will have leftovers for the freezer for next weekend. Lots of snacks and dips!
Christmas night Susan is bringing yummy scalloped potatoes with ham. I am making a festive salad from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook and my Aunt Bess's Green bean casserole (no soup involved!)

Next weekend it will be Lasagne. And for the next morning "Brad Pitt's Mom's Breakfast Casserole". It's a tradition!

For dips a hot crab dip and a blue cheese and mascarpone cheese spread that is amazing with apples!

Tonight I must wrap!

Let it snow!

Come sit in our chairs! It will be a white Christmas!

Home stretch!

Barry is back to work today. He is going to have to work tomorrow and we are expecting big time snow. We always feel "bad for Dad" when he has to go to work at 5:00 in the morning on very snowy days. We worry about him!
Me and the boys are going grocery shopping today. Always my favorite thing to do with the boys :). We are going to Winco where you "get" to bag your own groceries. I really want to get most of the groceries we will need for the week of festivities before this snow hits. Plus the parking lot should be relatively free of snow today so you can at least push your cart to the car against the wind and make it! Where is a valium when you need it.
We are hoping our families will be able to travel over here this week. We look forward to everyones arrival. We have so much fun relaxing and eating and the kids playing. O.K. the adults play too!
I had some eggnog yesterday. I tried the "light" variety this year and it is just as good. I realized though that I really miss our homemade hot butter rums. I haven't made any because they are so so so fattening. But it has always been one of the first things our family does to kick off the Christmas season. Grandma always made up a batch at our Saturday Thanksgiving. I think I will have to indulge myself!
I miss my Grandpa. I am also feeling very sad for my Grandma. She is at the rehabilitation unit and of course is not very happy. It is hard to remain focused on being festive when my mind fades back to what she must be feeling. Christmas is her favorite time of the year. She has always had alot of expectations of us which was not always convenient for us all. But she did create memories. I just hope she is able to find some calmness in her mind to help her through these next few weeks.
O.K. time to kick it into gear. This is it! The big day is almost here!

Boys having the fun in the snow. It is frigid cold here. Max had a two hour delay this morning. So we are kind of bunking in!

Just posted a pic of some bundled up kids.

pics

Isn't that the best looking dog!!!!!! How about that foot? I am hoping for more yellow tomorrow.

Hurray its Saturday

Barry is off today and I am going to do some shopping. I am hoping to finish up the Christmas list. Then I can focus on baking a few things and cleaning up this house.
My ankle is healing nicely. I can put weight on it. I just cannot turn it in any way. So I am getting around fine. It could have been so much worse so I am thankful that it is healing farely quickly. And the wreath looks great in the back! Barry put a few more lights on the bushes and the reindeer has real dear antlers on him this year. So now the gawkers have something to look at besides us when they drive by. :)
I have been without a camera for awhile now. Barry has one. But I nuked some pics in it somehow and now I hesitate to use it. There are lots of things I would like to share. Maybe Santa will bring me a new camera.
Last Christmas Cooper got a little stuffed Christmas polar bear from Uncle Dale. He was in with the decorations. Cooper found him and has not let go of him for 3 days. He feeds him. Makes sure that he has toys to play with, takes him to school and even to the bathroom where he puts the little bears butt in a glass and pretends it is a potty. It is the cutest thing. I need to have Barry take a pic of Cooper and Candycane. Cooper surprises me sometimes. He can really be entertained by the most simplest of things. I just love that! Max has always been too intense and hard for him to take a moment and enjoy the little things.
We have some wind damage we will have to deal with today. The beautiful climbing rose bush in the front completely fell down last night. The trellis that supports it came all the way off the house. I am just hoping there is limited damage to the plant. It has always been so pretty in the spring.

They moved Grandma to the rehabilitation center yesterday. She will be there 7 - 10 days and then I don't know what will happen after that. I talked to her and she "sounds" like she is going to give this her best effort. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Amazing women...Celebrate!

Grandma just got out of surgery and is doing fine. She has a hard road ahead. It will be up to her. They ended up giving her a spinal tap instead of putting her under. Her heart may have been too weak.
Thank you for everyones prayers!
I am going to take a deep breath!

What a mess!

Yesterday at about 4:30 I went out to play fetch with Hailey. I realized that I forgot to put the ribbon on the wreath at the back door. So I tried to just attach it while it was on the house. Then I realized that I needed to get it down. When I stepped off the step I twisted my ankle. It sounded awful. My ankle instantly swelled to a golf ball! Thankfully, the boys were such a big help and I put it up with ice. When Barry got home I was off to the hospital for x-rays. Thankfully, nothing broken but I am in an ankle splint. For two weeks! At least they said. How embarrassing!

The real news this morning is while I was dealing with my ankle, my Grandma had fallen down in her kitchen. Thankfully, my Mom had tried to call her and couldn't get a hold of her and went to check on her. She found her on the floor. She is in the hospital with a broken hip. She will spend 4 days there and then she will go to a rehabilitation center. After that she will have to go to a assisted living place. Her money is all tied up in property so I fear where she will end up.
Please say a prayer for my Grandma.

Well, if that isn't a big downer I don't know what is. Sorry!

I am going to try and keep my mind busy today with Xmas stuff! Cooper has school today.
I need to fix that wreath on the back door :)

Embarrassing

I can't believe how long it has been since I updated. I recently joined facebook and started a farm on that. What a time waster! But I am loving it. Sister Niki and friend Nicolle have one too so we have been trading trees and animals back and forth. So I think that has had a little too much of my attention. :)

We had a great visit with Niki over Thanksgiving week. She brought a bunch of crab and we had a feast! Coop is holding big crab claws in the pic. We had enough leftovers for Barry to make a quiche the next day. It was yummy! Everything turned out on Turkey Day. I managed to only burn a small spot on one finger throughout all of our cooking. Pretty good for me. I usually end up with more. Oven mitts should be on my list for Christmas!

Niki and I braved Black Friday at Walmart and Target. We had much success and Niki managed to get her shopping almost completely done.

We were off to Seattle on Saturday for Grandmas after Thanksgiving turkey day and decorating. The whole family made it this year! There were like 15 adults and 9 kids. Kids ages are from 9 years to 1 and a half. Wow, they were busy! Max got to learn how to play pool. We all had a fun time and I am so glad we made it over there.

Off to the Gellners in Browns Point for a one nighter. WII guitar hero for the kids and a wonderfull Lasagne dinner for the adults while the kids watched WALL-E. It was like being at a restaurant. Another great time.

We had a good week getting back in to our routine. I have been working on decorating the tree and stuff like that.

Barry and Uncle Scotty went hunting yesterday and Scott stayed the night. He pan fried some quail which I actually ate and rather enjoyed. It was nice and spicy. Steak and potato dinner and the movie Iron Man! Everyone actually stayed awake for it.

So today is a catch up day. I napped and now I need to get crack'n! Chicken Piccata for dinner tonight. I love those capers!

Wall-e day

This is one of my favorite pics of Cooper. We have it as our wallpaper right now. He was actually sitting on my lap at a pool in Leavenworth. He is really a beautiful boy! Today when he got home from school I asked him to take off his shoes and put them in the "shoe center". He ran off and did it (surprise!). A little while later I walked by the shoe center and he had tucked his shoes into my "ugg knock off slippers". He was so proud of himself when I found them.

Barry has been at a staff meeting at Suncadia in Roslyn! Poor Barry! NOT! But he is coming home soon with a mission of buying the WALL-E movie! We are so excited. The boys and I did see it and they all thought it was great. It is a very touching story.

My favorite holiday is fastly approaching! Niki called today and said that the annual Crab Feast is a GO! Man, we are going to be living next week!

Whats Up?

Sorry for not posting for awhile. We have just been doing our thing. We had some bad windy days and even some rain. Now it is cold but sunny. I am going to detach these kids from the t.v. and video games and get outside today. Wyatt has really started to play the games pretty well I might add. A hazard of having older brothers is that he gets exposed to stuff at an earlier age.
I need to try harder to find other stuff for him to do.
My rainboots came! They were such a great deal. I can stomp through the yard and not really worry about what I step on because I can just spray the heck out of them to get them clean :)
Max was right. The black ones were the better choice. Red with white polka dots would have been fun but I probably would have lost the fun in that eventually. Barry of course thinks they are just plain silly. $15.00 plus .97 cent shipping! Screaming deal!
The Pasco terminal is losing a trainmaster. One of the "young ones" got a job I believe in Sioux City. Matt was so great with the kids. He always played catch with Max when he came over and even bought them Christmas presents last year! We will miss him but wish him the best of luck with his adventure. We still have our buddy Tanner. I am sure that won't be for long.
Well, I need to go make homemade waffles. Max has decided that he likes them better than the frozen kind. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Slow start

Off to a slow start today. Max didn't finish his homework last night. So we have been working on that this morning. Every once and awhile he lets it slip and then it is a big push in the morning to get it done. Then I have to sign my name on his homework saying that I reviewed it. It is so embarassing when it comes back with corrections! Shape of an "L" on my forehead!
Barry is off work today but has dentist and Dr. appointments. Coop goes to school. I GET to go grocery shopping. Woo Hoo! Not!
Barry and I worked on the leaves in the yard yesterday. Lucky thing because it is raining again today. I ordered a pair of tall rain boots from Walmart.com. They have .97 cent shipping on all apparel! I wanted to get the red with white polka dots but Max wouldn't let me. So I settled for basic black. I wish they would get here. They will be great for working in the yard this time of year. I have lots of winter clean up to get started on.

Eevee

What a relief! Jason is going to keep Eevee.
I am going to try my best to detach myself from the T.V. today. It is going to be a long day. I am just ready for this whole election to be over. Move on and get this country fixed already!
No matter what the outcome tonight is! I hope you all vote!
O.K. it is pouring down raining and my neighbor is out running! She just ran past our house. Let's hope I can atleast get on the treadmill.

unsettling

Something that has been on my mind this weekend. We heard from Eevee's owner on Friday and apparently she doesn't like his new shorthair he got and has started fighting with her. So.....
He needs to find her a new home. We had asked him to let us know if he ever got in that situation. He thinks he has a friend that will take her. I just am really sad. I have this feeling that I really let her down. I think that any animal that has to make so many transitions like that is not going to fair well. If this "friend" really wants her than that is O.K. But, I don't want to see her go to the pound. I won't let that happen. That silly dog! What a challenge she is!

51 more days until Christmas. Something like that. The boys are gearing up. Trying to get lists made.

Fall back. Kids just don't get it. 5:30 this morning they were up! It is going to be a long day. They better get along!!! Momma's tired!

Good bye Halloween come on Turkey Day

O.K. I really like Thanksgiving. The food, the relaxing and reflecting and most of all no presents or too much candy! For me, it is a good holiday. My sis is coming again this year and we have lots of fun cooking together. We are hoping that the new Harry Potter movie will be out and we will have time to go see it. Some things to look forward to this month.

Thursday it was my turn to work at Coop's school. It was dress up day and was lots of fun. Everytime I work there I am reminded that it is a great place for our kids to get their start.

Coop couldn't wear his scary costume so he chose his astronaut costume. Barry has great pics on his blog.

Halloween wasn't without its troubles. For the second year in a row, Wyatt wouldn't put his costume on! He picked it out himself! So frustrating. And then Max's mask was hurting his face so after trying many things to adjust it, it was left behind. We had mild weather for the evening. I could even leave the door open and just use the screen door. Its nice when you don't have to bundle the kids up in hats and gloves and coats with their costumes. The boys had a great time.

Too much candy. Max weighed his bag and told me he has 7 pounds .

Some ramblings but now I need to put my groceries away.

Tuesday

School day for Cooper! He loves to go. I haven't figured out what I want to do today. I know I have to go buy our Halloween candy. The boys got some Pez Halloween candy dispensers from their Auntie, Auntie Carol. They were excited to open up the box. Thank you Carol! Same ol' thing around here. Star Wars on the WII and Cartoon Network on the t.v. At night this weekend there was some flashlight tag going on. That was fun to see. Trying to get the kids out while it is still somewhat nice. All for now.

A goulish night!

What a great time we had! Pam and Doug came with goodies for the kids and some goulish beverages for the adults. One was called "porch crawlers" and the other was a "brain hemorrhage". Very appropriately named I may add. What a hoot! Max's friend, Wilson came over and the boys all had fun. They were pretty tuckered out by the end of the night. Coop got a little cranky towards the end. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day and got crispy cold in the evening and the fire was warm. So thanks to Pam, Doug, Tanner, Matt and Wilson for a great afternoon.

Check out Barry's blog for more pics.

Pumpkin carving day

Today is our pumpkin carving day. These are pics from last years fun. Our friends Pam and Doug are coming over as well as a couple of guys from Barry's work. I have Angel Chicken in the crock pot and some yummy Velveta cheese dip! Yum!

We always have fun. Happy Friday everone!

New Blog

Well, Barry has a new blog. Check out www.gettogellner.blogspot.com

He has already out done anything I have on my blog. He will have great pics for every one.
Things are farely quiet around here. School day for Coop. I am going to try and get on my treadmill. I am hoping my ribs hold up. With the holidays coming, I know I will be eating so I need to atleast try not to gain any more weight!!!!
My grandma is having such a hard time. She misses Gramps deeply. She had the fractures in her back fixed only to fall a couple days later and refracture herself in a different place. She is lonely and always in pain. Emotionally and physically. I call her nearly everday and try to break up her routine. Max tells her to take her medicine. She loves that. She is needing a lot of care from my mom, aunt and sister. I just don't know what everyone is going to do.
I have lots to do and I am already avoiding the treadmill. I see my dear husband has moved it so now I can't see the t.v.! So I will have to muscle it back into position. Does that count as a workout?

Sunday

It is starting to get cold at night. Low 30's and then in the 60's during the day and lots of sunshine. A great time of the year.

Max had an orthodontist appointment and he only needs to wear his retainer at night. He has done a great job and remembering to

wear it. My ribs are starting to feel better. I can at least get up and move around a little with out extreme pain. I really do not have any new news.

The economy is weighing heavy on our minds. With the holidays coming there are going to be tough choices to make. On an up note Barry is off today. He is getting up at 1:00 and is going to watch football. Then a little fire in the fire pit! It should be a nice Sunday!

Results

I heard from the doctors office yesterday. My ribs are not fractured, just bruised. Holy crap! You must feel like you are dying if you break something!

Paul Newman

I want to also today say that I will miss knowing that Paul Newman is not in our present world. An amazing actor but most of all and amazing man and humanitarian.
I know you are in a very special place.

Random

My ribs still ache. I had an x-ray and I am waiting to hear about that. The doctor is treating me for bruised/fractured ribs which they don't do anything but help you with the pain while everything is mending. I am hoping they are just bruised so that they won't take 6 weeks or more to heal. The pain meds make me sick to my stomach so for the most part I am just using ibuprofen.
The pool is put away and the fire pit is out! Pumpkins are being harvested. Barry has found that we have a infestation of squash beatles so we are going to have to rotate the pumpkin patch to another location in the yard so we can overcome those pest.
Tanner has helped Barry with the pool project and with a cabinet assembly for the entryway. I can't stand to see the shoes and hats and scarves laying around. Thank you Tanner! I really didn't want to help Barry!
The boys are being boys. Hitting, shooting, screaming and name calling. But also giving their mom lots of hugs for my sore ribs!
Adele is my latest craze! I love her! Her music is very moving for me. Her voice is beautiful. Not like the Brittany, Christina or Jessica sound. Very soulful. Let me know what you think!

Monday

We had a productive weekend. My mom was here. Max had a couple of friends over on Friday and one spent the night. Then in the morning me and mom went to an antique fair. It was a little disappointing. But it was nice to get a way. Barry and I made it to the sausage festival. Had some beer and wine and watched traditional German dancing. Lots of fun.
Sunday Barry was back to work and we decided to paint the living room. We got the whole room done. It looks great! Now I want to do the dining room/playroom area. It wasn't without its set backs though. I moved most everything to the middle of the room while we were painting. Unfortunetly, I was coming down off of a chair and put my foot and all my weight into a box of kids books and fell back on to the arm of the sofa and then down to the floor WITH a full tray of paint in my hand. I wish I could tell you that I had put a cover cloth on all of the furniture. So I was in a panic to get all of that cleaned up. The damage is pretty minimal. But I landed on that couch arm right on the side of my rib cage. I can barely move. I am really not in good shape today and will be very challenged to get my stuff done. So I learned a big lesson yesterday. But one thing is for sure. I am no longer considering that we do the entry way ourselves. That would be a huge fall and from the top of the stairs. Yikes.
I hope you all have a great week. I am getting off to a slow start.

Not much, just a few things

We have a lot to do this morning. It's grocery day. I am armed with a list. I am hoping to be able to stick to it.
Barry took Max to soccer last night and then to open house at his school. I chose to stay home. I have been to his class already but I do feel guilty for not going. It is just 750 students and their parents and other siblings all at the school at the same time!!!! Gee, I don't know why I didn't want to take Coop and Wyatt. :) I stayed home and worked in the yard after it cooled off and the boys played with chalk in the driveway. Courtesy of Aunt Elaine and Uncle Carey. Total fun.
The downside is that the grasses at the soccer field do crazy things to Barry and Wyatt's allergies. So Barry came home and could barely breath. He is off to see Dr. Whitson today. Speaking of Dr. Whitson. If you all remember, last week I had to take all 3 boys to the doctors for my sinus trouble. Needless to say, they were loud and showing off the whole time the doctor was in the room. I had to go back to see the doctor this week for another blood pressure check. When he walked in he said "Where are the boys?" I said "There dad has them. Did they leave a mark in your mind when they were here the other day?" and he said "Let's just say that if I ever needed my building demolished, I know who to call." I wasn't offended. He raised 3 boys in his first "life" and now has a young girl. He knows what it is all about. He joked that valium is a good babysitter. Bring it on!!!!
My mom is coming so we have some things planned. She and I are going to the antique fair at the fairgrounds. I haven't gone in about 10 years so I am really looking forward to that. Saturday afternoon around 3:00 Mom is going to watch the boys and Barry and I are going to the Sausage Festival at Christ the King Church. We are going to be in the beer garden listening to the Umpa band or whatever they are called and drinking some german beer. Home in time for dinner as Barry is back to work on Sunday early.
Max is having his buddy Caleb spend the night tonight and we are going to make homemade pizza on the grill. Sounds like this may be the end of summer. It is going to drastically cool down starting tomorrow.
Time is ticking. We hope everyone has a great weekend.

TGIF!!!!!!

Wow, am I ever glad it is Friday. What a week. We had received a letter from the school principal saying that they were over crowded in grades 2 and 3. There solution was to have a combo 2/3 class for accelerated readers. If your child was reading in the 4th grade level you had an option to move him to the accelerated class. Well, Max is reading 5 - 6 grade level so I felt somewhat obligated to send in the form. After talking to some neighbors it seemed that they really wanted just 4th grade level so that the teacher would not have to adjust the curriculum. Then surprise! Max was asked to move. He went to the follow up day and when he got off the bus he was very, very upset! This was on Wednesday. He was crying so hard. He just wanted to be back in his old class. So I began this time consuming appeal to have him moved back. What a big pain in the ass! I will not bore everyone with every step. But I will say that the principal had to make sure that we understood that we just can't be moving from one class to another yada yada yada! So finally, today at the end of the day he was told that he would be going back to original placement. The principal also had to admit that Max is reading above the spectrum he had given the new class so he would be o.k. to go to his original teacher.
Max is so much happier and once again looking forward to being back with his teacher. To top it all off I woke up on Thursday with the worst sinus infection/headache ever! Then the initial dose of antibiotic made me feel sick to my stomach. I still have the worst headache ever and I am hoping by tomorrow it will be gone.
I managed to get the back yard mowed (Barry is still gone). Hoping to do the front tomorrow. I would let it go but I seriously am walking out this door on Monday and Tuesday and getting caught up on sleep in the trailer and quiet time for me. I love my boys....but they have really taken a chunk out of my head this week! Not intentional. But with the sinus problem every noise they make is just piercing my head :(
So it is Friday. The front door is open and all kinds of kids are coming and going. I saw the most heart warming sight today. After Max got home from school 2 Horner boys came down and then all the kids were off to the Horners for a little while. There was a big line of boys going down the street. At the end of the line was Coop and Wyatt holding hands! The two little ones that gave each other so many new bruises today. Awsome brotherly love!

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Here he is! We celebrated Wyatt's birthday on Sunday. Steaks and crab! Yum! Star Wars was the theme. He is an amazing 3 years old. We are going to go see the new Clone Wars movie today after Max gets home from school. We are all excited about that. Barry is in Fort Worth this week. We are taking things at our own pace. I actually didn't empty the dishwasher yesterday until 4:00! HA!

Cooper's first official day of school. He is very excited and says "I love my school". He finally went for his well check yesterday. Only a couple months late. Way to go Mom! He had 2 shots but was very brave. He was feeling pretty yucky last night from them though. But seems to have bounced back. It is Wyatt's turn tomorrow.

Fall is approaching. I can feel it in the air. The pool doesn't even have a chance to warm up anymore. Barry is on vacation when he gets home. So the pool will get taken down then and we will replace it with the fire pit! Almost time to harvest our pumpkins and have our pumpkin carving afternoon. Need to call Pam and Doug and see if they are up for that.

I have way to many tomatoes. We need to order a food dehydrator so we can preserve some of the harvest that way.

Niki was here all weekend and we had a great time. We went to 3 antique stores on Saturday and had a lunch at Olive Garden. I found a cool purse. An old saddle colored tooled western purse. It is so Maryjane Butters! I love it. Barry thinks I have lost my mind. We also had shopping at Costco. Picked up our "Ugg" look alike slippers for the fall. Still too hot for those but I am ready.

I need to make a difference today. I hope everyone has a great week!

Coop's day

Today is Cooper's orientation at school. He has so much energy! I can't wait for him to have some direction. He is very ready to learn.
We had a great visit with Auntie Carol and Uncle Dale and his son Roderick. Check out the web site www.get.to/gellner for some pics of the weekend.
The weather is really starting to turn. We haven't had the air conditioner on for awhile. Choosing to be a little hot during the day and opening up the house at night as it has been getting down to the 50's. So nice for sleeping once it cools. So it is sad that summer is almost over. It still will be in the upper 80's during the day which is great. I do love this time of year here. The bad thing is that the pool never really warms up enough. Barry has everyone go "Polar Bear swimming". Luckily, the hot tub is warm :)
Auntie Niki is coming this weekend. She will be here on Friday! I can not wait to spend some time with her. Since Barry will be leaving for Fort Worth next week with a stop on the way home at his Mom's, I am planning on doing some things with just Nik. There is an antique store I am going to drag her to and I have a gift card for Red Lobster (Thanks to Bry, Sue, Spenc and Ruby!) so some dinner will be on the agenda. We are also going to celebrate Wyatt Henry's 3rd birthday on Sunday. A few days early as Barry won't be here on the actual day. I am hoping that we will be dining on some crab legs and steak. YUM! Box wine and some swimming!
My baby is turning 3! He is determined to always hang out with the big boys. Going where they go and doing what they do. He has bruises all over! He is a tough one.
We made some brownies yesterday and went to a park. There was a little 2 1/2 year old boy there from down the street and Coop and Wyatt had fun playing with him. They hope to go back soon.
Well, we have the cleaning gal coming today and Coop's orientation, groceries and soccer for Max. Time to hit it!

Off to school!

Max is off to school today. He was actually very excited. It is so nice to see and makes my morning much easier. His teacher allowed us to visit with her after school yesterday so Max could see his desk and put his supplies away. She is very nice and I think she is very driven to keep the kids on task. It seems like 3rd grade will be a little harder, but I think Max is up for it. Big weekend. Auntie Carol and Uncle Dale will be here tomorrow. Hopefully, the force will be on my side today and I will be able to get what I want done. Can you hear me Cooper and Wyatt?
More tomato sauce last night. It is time consuming but I don't want the tomatoes to go to waste. Papa bear (not his real name) wasn't happy because when he got home last night his dinner wasn't waiting for him and the playroom was a mess. I almost sent him back to work!
O.K. ....time to engage in my day.

Bronchitis!!!!!

Well, I knew something was going on with Max. He has steadily gotten worse over the weekend and by last night he couldn't talk. So off to Dr. Albertini's we went. AGAIN! Why he didn't believe me when I took them in the other day!??? So now he is supposed to stay home for a couple of days which means he is going to miss the first days of school. We are getting a great start to the new year.

Garden harvest

We picked some veggies last night. I just love the colors. Max looks proud of the harvest. Like he had anything to do with them. If you know Max at all he, stays away from dirt, bugs and lets face it... vegetables in general :) It is fair day! It is only going to be 79 degrees today. And some rain! We have only been to the fair in 90 - 100 degree weather. Our goal is to see the "Brothers From Different Mothers". They are a group of jugglers that will be there at 1:00 today. After that we will be off to the animal barns and agriculture displays. I am sure sometime in there we will be splitting up. SOME of us will go to the rides. Speaking of rides, I asked the boys who was going to have a pony ride today. Coop said he will be too scared and Max just said no and Wyatt doesn't know what I am talking about. Broke my heart they did!
The boys have been battling sickness for two weeks. I took them to the doctor because they have all complained of different ailments. They turned out to be fine. No infections. I told them they were all in trouble for being pains in the butt lately and being infection free.
So we are on our way today!!!

Its fair week!

This has to be my favorite week of summer. I love to go to the fair and see all of the animals. I also enjoy seeing all of the homemade items that people create as well as flowers and vegetables that people grow. We are hoping to go on Wednesday. It is usually kids day. My sister usually comes this week but isn't going to make it this year. She has taken a lot of time off of work recently so we will have to go to the fair without her this year :(
We are all battling a cold. Sore throats and coughs. What a way to end the summer! School starts next Wednesday for Max and the following week for Coop. I have Wyatt registered for a one day a week class. I am going to cancel that. I really don't think that he needs 3 years of preschool before he goes to Kindergarten. Although I know he would benefit from it, that is $50.00 a month I can use somewhere else. Thats our milk bill for the month!
I tried the orange, mango and banana smoothie at Starbucks today. It was yummy and it has whey protien in it to help keep the hunger away for awhile.
Note to self.......still no painting done in this house! :(

Ouch!

So last week my Grandma had an xray of her lower back. Thank God she went to that appointment. There have been times since Gramps starting getting worse that she would cancel her appointments. They found out why she has been in so much pain the last week and a half or so. Seems she has a FRACTURE IN HER LOWER LUMBAR!!!! No wonder! They will be able to inject something in there to fuse everything together and hopefully that will work. It is just a matter of when they will do it. I am sure it couldn't be fast enough for Grandma. It is a relief to know that she has just temorarily lost some mobility and that she should gain some independence back soon. Hang in there Grandma!

Celebration of Life

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers for my family. Thankfully, there was some prep work done before Grandpa passed so the process has been moving along. We are having a "Celebration of Life" party for him on Thursday. We are looking forward to seeing our extended family and friends to share stories of our lives with Gramps. It will be a quick visit for us. We are going to leave on Thursday morning and come back on Friday. I am busy trying to get clothes washed and some kind of non stained clothes for three rugged boys to wear while we are gone :)
My Grandma is having a real hard time with her own health. Her pain has really increased in the last week. She just needs some time I think.

My Grandpa

My dear Grandpa passed away on Thursday, August 7th. He was so courageous. I left home on Thursday morning with the thought that he was probably going to live for 3 - 4 days. I made it just in time to be sitting with him when he took his last breath. His poor body had finally given in to the disease. Although, I knew he was going to die it is so overwhelming. He was surrounded by his family. Just how I thought he would have wanted to go. While we waited for hospice and the funeral home to arrive, our family pulled together in our true Palmer tradition. Cocktails were poured, our tears were flowing and hugs were abundant! A family that as we grew has spent less time together but none of that mattered anymore. We were all there to honor him and the life he had so selflessly shared with us all. I am so blessed to have been there in his last moments. "Family is Forever". Sometimes whether you like it or not and sometimes when you need each other the most.
I love you my Grandpa. Rest. But don't forget you are an angel now and that I still might need your help :)

August

The July birthdays are over. Big Thank you to all who have supported Max and Cooper in their birthdays! I hope some day to get back in to the routine of thank you notes. It is embarrassing how bad I have got at thanking everyone.
Barry took Max and Cooper last week to the Moses Lake Aquatic Center. They had a great time. Wyatt and I hung out at home. I had a Dr. appointment that day and got on some new blood pressure meds. I am hoping they will work better and that I can relax about that.
School starts for Max on August 27th, so we don't have much more time to celebrate the summer. It has been hot so our pool is warm. We hope to stacation a little more before school starts. I know the fair is on the list and we always look forward to that. Soccer starts tonight!
Cooper will practice on Tuesday night and Max on Thursday and their games will be on Saturday.
I will be heading to Seattle on Thursday. Barry's day off but he has to go to a haz mat meeting. Soooooo...... I will have to wait until afternoon to leave. My Grandpa is hanging on but we don't think for much longer. I am staying with my sis, Niki. I WILL eat at Angelo's. Yes I know I am predictable! Yes, I will eat whatever I want when I am there! I am already fat so who cares. One opportunity to eat at my favorite restaurant. I have a life time of weight issues! :)
Take care everyone!

Check it out

Barry updated the web site www.get.to/gellner with pics from Coop's big day! We had fun. Mondays at Chuck's is fun. It wasn't busy at all!
Cooper got the Indiana Jones game for the WII so the boys have been busy playing it since last night. When they went to bed Coop and Max said to each other "whoever gets up first wake the other up so we can play together" So far there hasn't been any fighting. Wow, what a break!
Barry got called in to work at midnight last night. So our weekend is being broken up. He is taking a quick nap and then is going to give me a little break before he goes back to sleep so he can work his scheduled days.
Don't know what direction I am going to take today. I have plenty to do. I need to pick something that I know I can finish. I need to complete a short term goal to motivate me to do a big one :) I still haven't painted. I keep getting derailed.

Happy Birthday Cooper!

This is one of my favorite pics of Cooper. 5 years ago today! Wow! He was two in this picture. He is very excited for his party at Chuck E Cheese. I need to bake some cupcakes so I better get going! Happy Birthday my Cooper!

What's new

We had a great time at the water park. It was very quick to get to and easy to find. I wish we would have got more pics then we did. The hit was the big slide. Barry told the boys to lube their shoulders up with sunscreen to make them go faster. Their shoulders would be solid white when they would stand in line! Wyatt would go down the slide with Barry. He loved it! Barry would ask him if he wanted to go fast or slow and he always said FAST!
Cooper's birthday is creeping up on me. I asked Coop what he wanted to do for his birthday and of course he said "Chuck Cheese". So I got online yesterday and booked his b-day party. They make it very easy. We are keeping it small. 2 kids from preschool and 2 kids from the neighborhood and of course our 3. I think he is going to feel really special that day. He deserves it!

We got our Monday back!

Barry's Everett trip has been cancelled! But on a bad note the guy he was working with in Everett tore his Achilles tendon. I hope it wasn't because of any bad Karma on my part. Yikes.
We have already made plans to go to the Hermiston water park. Some people from Barry's work are going with their kids. We have been wanting to go so we are looking forward to it. So I am sending some healing thoughts to Elgin in Everett. Hope his tendon heals quickly.
Max had his friend Caleb sleep over last night. All in all it was a good time. They didn't even stay up all night. I am thinking about taking them up to the farmers market. Sno cones!
Barry updated the web site with some pics of the vegetable garden. Check it out!
www.get.to/gellner

Fudgecicles!

This is what summer is about! Fudgcicles out in the sun and all over your face! It is hot here and we have been out swimming. Max's friend Caden came home from his trip to Wyoming. So he spent most of the day over there and then slept over! It was just me and the two little guys. We had fun. The neighbors came down for a quick swim before bed. Thanks to Barry's solor heating system we were able to get the pool heating up to 87 degrees again so I went in :)
I don't know what we are going to do today. Our day is open. I need to start prepping some walls so I can get some paint on them. We will have to see how that goes with kids in the house. Usually, I wait until Barry can take them all somewhere for the day. But I am going to give it a try. I am hoping I can get things taped up at least and then on Barry's next days off get the paint out.
I talked to my sister yesterday and Grandpa spent some time sitting up in bed and actually put his feet on the floor. He would like to go outside for awhile so we are hoping hospice will let him sit in a wheelchair. Originally they said that they didn't want that because he could get hurt. So we will see.
Grandma joined my Mom and Sis out by the pool. Although she didn't make it in. The pool was warm enough but Grandma gets cold when she gets out. Hopefully, they will have a hot day soon so when she gets out she isn't that cold.

Whatever

So I got an email from my husband this morning. Sent to me while he was at work last night. Seems the railroad wants him to go to Everett on the 20th of this month. This means that he will work three night shifts before he leaves. Which means he will sleep all day and work all night. Then on his first day off when he gets up early at 1:00 he will go with his buddy Tanner to Everett and then to Seattle. Come home for one day off and then work for another three days of working all night and sleeping all day. This kind of schedule crap pisses me off! That railroad better send me a nanny. With the stress of my Grandpa and my Grandma I am ready to go off on the people that run that company. It has always pissed me off that you are EXPECTED to work your days off. It is different when you don't have kids. There is no routine for them. The household routine changes with every shift change for Barry.
O.K. I am done now. I do feel better. Thanks for listening.

OOPS!

Well THATS a good reason to proof read before I post. We went to the movie store not the moving store. Yikes! I caught it, but not before my sister did. So all you gals who were planning on moving in on my husband........He is still mine!

Vacation over!

Well, considering everything we DID have a nice vacation. We saw friends and actually both sides of the cousins. The Gellners of Tacoma were camping at Lake Easton. So we stopped by for a couple hours on our way home from Seattle. Grandma Susan and Grandpa Garry were there too! The boys got to be in the kayaks and the best part was watching Max with Spencer and Ruby in a big inner tube on the lake. I remember spending a lot of time on Lake Tapps trying to dump my brother off of a rocking inner tube. Walking the logs. It was such a healthy, happy time. We hope that we will be able to meet up with Spenc, Ruby, Sue and Bryan in the future for some fun.
I walked to Target yesterday! I have been stress eating. For awhile now. But yesterday I decided to walk instead. There was a sale on some blow up adult sitting chairs for the pool and I WANTED one. But, when I got there they were all sold out! A bummer. But I walked through the orchard and it felt great.
This morning Max wanted to go to Denny's. We had been delaying this breakfast and since it was our official last day of vacation we went. The boys did great. Wyatt still needs some work on eating out. But, I cancelled out that walk I took yesterday. :)
On the way home, we went to the local farmers market. I had not been to the new one yet and I am so glad we took the time to go. There was a natural beef dude there and so I picked up a pound of hamburger for us and some dog bones for Hailey. I would like to consider buying some beef for the freezer so we are going to look in to that. Hormone and chemical free. Thats for me!
So then there were sno cones and a trip to the moving store to help with our transition with Barry being gone tonight. Oh, and of course kettle corn!

Only a couple of days of vacation left.

Barry goes back to work on Friday night. Vacations never last long enough. We have had a good one though. We saw our friends Pam and Doug. They came over last week and had some dinner and beers and wine! Swimming in the pool. The biggest whirlpool we have ever had! Sorry Niki! You will have to come over and work on some whirlpool technique! The 4th of July was fun and the neighbors. Lots of good food! Pasta salads that were so good.
We had a nice trip to Seattle. We pitched a tent at Scott and Joanies. The kids had a lot of fun. And it was wonderful being able to relax with family. We had a nice fire. I retired to bed (of course). So I missed some of Scott and Barry's partying. Thankfully, because they did not feel very well the next day. Thanks to the Dombrowski family for the easy stay!
We spent a good amount of time with Grandpa. He is confined to his bed in the family room and is so weak. It is alarming when you first see him. He is so frail. He needs help for everything he does. There were a lot of tears. But he still has humor. Makes jokes when he can. He reflects on his life with us. It is all so overwhelming. My brother, sister and mother have a lot on their shoulders. It is hard to not be of any help to them. My Grandma is just trying to cope. He loves her so. She seems scared to even spend time with him. She feels helpless. Dealing with her own physical pain and her own illnesses. She feels bad that she is not able to care for Grandpa by herself. It is truly taking every person in the family they created to care for them.
I believe they truly know how much they are loved.
O.K. so I have this constant ache in my heart. I spent some good time weeding in the garden with my husband. It was very theraputic. Our garden is full of life. My Grandma and Grandpa always planted a garden. We will plant raspberry bushes. I am determined to carry on Grandpa's berry picking
I plan on spending time in our pool the next few days to finish off the vacation. It is going to be 100 degrees today so I can't think of a better place to be.

We are on vacation

Barry is on vacation starting today. We have a lot to get caught up with. We will be going to Seattle on the 5th. My Grandpa is doing terrible. He is now in a hospital bed in their family room. He is finally on what seems to be the right medicine for pain. But this has made him sleepy and lucid. Atleast he is not feeling much pain anymore. So we are going to go over and the kids will get to swim in the pool and I will get to visit with Grandma and Grandpa.
Wall-E was a great movie. We recommend it for kids of all ages. Wyatt made it until the last 20 minutes before he started wandering around.
Max had a nice birthday. He got some birthday money from Grandma Betty and Grandpa Doug. I think he had it in his hand for 3 hours before he spent it! So now he has the Guitar Heros game for his Nintendo DS. It Rocks! So he has been preoccupied since last night.
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!
We are spending the 4th at home. Just us. Barry wants to get an early start on the 5th so I will have to be all packed by the 4th. I am going to the library today to find some books on tape or something for us to listen to in the car. We have dial up. Otherwise I would download to my MP3. Hopefully, we will make the change sometime soon.
Well, Barry is out mowing and I haven't done anything today but feed everyone. So I am off!

Happy Birthday Max!

My boy is 9 years old today. I can not believe it. Barry is working today. So we are going to go out for McDonalds and then we are going to go see Wall-ee. All 3 boys are excited. I am hoping that Wyatt can sit in his chair long enough. Wish me luck!

It is hot!

Wow, we have hit 100 degrees. The pool is 90 degrees. I love it. But I couldn't do it without air conditioning! Since it is so hot, Barry decided he wanted his head shaved. So we did that yesterday. He looks like Telly Savalis! "Who loves ya...baby"
Check out the family web site for a pic of Barry.
www.get.to/gellner

Motorcycles

We had a great time with Spencer and Ruby. It was non-stop motorcycles and swimming. The grown ups had a great time too!

The kids just went around and around in a circle on their motorcycles for hours. Except when Barry told them to change directions. Then the water balloons came out. The best is when Bryan got on a bike and the other guys tried to peg him with the balloons. It was like we hired our own stunt clown! At 9:00 p.m. I had to go out and shut "er" down. Before our neighbors did. It was only a 24 hour visit, but I think we made the most of it.

Barry is back at work on the night shift. I know Barry has a hard adjustment. But it is hard to adjust the kids. It just plain sucks without going in to all the details.

Vacation bible school is over. Coop and Max had a good time. It is a nice church and they make us feel welcome.

We have tomatoes and peppers! Walla Walla sweet onions! For our first "real" start at vegetables things are going well.

The toy of the week has been Lego mini figures. They mix them up and make all kinds of interesting people. Knights, robots etc. The great thing is that they all 3 can do it together.

Max is enjoying his motorcycle. We are thankful for Uncle Bryan. He tweaked everything while he was here. The bike is running great.

More later.

Yikes it is the 23rd

We have been pretty busy here. Saturday we had a mini yard sale. We got rid of some stuff but not enough. We didn't advertise or anything so we did o.k. Max and Coop had Upward Soccer try outs. They will start in August. It will be fun to watch them play again. Today, Max and Coop start vacation bible school. It is Monday thru Thursday. They went last year and had an awsome time. But now we have to get cracking in the morning! The pool is up and the temp got to 87 degrees yesterday. Wyatt just loves to swim. Luckily, he wears the arm bands so I don't have to worry about him so much.
Big week for us. Ruby and Spencer are coming on Thursday! The kids are so excited. We are going to have cake to celebrate Ruby and Max's 9th birthday. The temp is supposed to be in the 90's so the pool will definintely be used. Neighbor Dave has offered to let the kids ride some motorbikes. I really don't know how we are going to do everything that we want to do while they are here.
The railroad is messed up again because of the flooding in the Midwest. So they had to send one of the trainmasters here to help out. So you know Barry's schedule changed and now he is on the night shift. We should be o.k. because he has vacation in the beginning of July so the adjustment should go fine.
Got to get these kids ready!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads and Grandpas! We presented Barry with his Father's Day t-shirt this morning with all of our handprints on it. I am going to make a batch of brownies to celebrate.
Barry took Max and Coop to the BNSF company picnic. Since Wyatt has been waking so often and early I was hoping for a long nap so I chose to stay home. Unfortunetly my plan didn't work. He slept for 36 minutes and was up again. The other half of the family had a great time. They came home completly sugared out! They brought Tanner with them to help Barry set up the pool. So it is filling up and we are on our way with summer! I am going to take some pics today the boys are so excited to go swimming!

10 years!

Barry and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage today. He left me a nice note by the coffee pot this morning. It was a nice way to start my day. We hope to get away together some time soon. The time is not right now but we should be able to this summer.
Max had is fly up day and last day of school for the year yesterday. His new teacher is Ms. Mclaughlin. He was so happy to find out that his best friend Wilson will be in his class! We should have a good start next year :) His report card was excellent!
We are going to go to the Playground of Dreams tomorrow to celebrate and hook up with some friends. The weather is supposed to improve. Should be in the 80's
My days keep starting at 5:30. I wish I knew why Wyatt isn't sleeping in. The room is dark. It is not like the sun shines in!
Short note today! Hope everyone has a good one!

Last week of school!

It amazes me when we make it to the end of another school year. It feels like such an accomplishment. Not only for the kids but for us too. I feel like we should have a big firework display. Packing lunches, "I don't want to go to school mornings" and finding time for one of us to volunteer at the schools it is all so consuming. Today is field day at Max's school. Barry is going up to help. Hopefully, the weather will hold up.
Barry took Max and Coop to see Indiana Jones yesterday. They had a great time. Poor Wyatt had a fever in the afternoon. He said he had a sore throat. It was peaceful because it hurt him to talk. My poor baby!!!!! We cuddled on the couch while everyone else was gone. But then I realized it would be a good time to wash the floors :)
I went to a lovely graduation party for a young gal in our neighborhood. I got a chance to catch up with a few neighbors and it was a nice sunny day.
Today we are going to go pick up some gifts for Max's teacher and his speech teacher. This time of the year is hard. It starts in May with gifts for preschool teachers and then June for grade school and graduates. Then we have birthdays!
O.K. I need to get going. Lots to do!
Have a great week.

Max home today

Max caught the bug. Coop and Wyatt have had it for a couple of weeks. I could tell Max was getting sick. Bad temper is usually a give away. O.K. a worst temper than usual :)
So he is staying home today. It is cold and rainy so he can just bunk on the couch for the day. It will be a good day for it.
My now ex-hairdresser moved to another salon! I called to make an appointment at the shop I have been going to and she is no longer there. I hate that! They gave me all the info to get a hold of her but the shop she is at is not as convenient as the one I have been going to. So I had someone else do my hair. The cut is great but she put too much blonde in it. And of course she wants to do low lights in it next time. I have been trying to simplify my hair care. Just highlighting the top and sides. I don't want hair that costs me more than a weeks worth of food for the family!
Today is grocery day. Yuck. But Barry is going to watch the boys so that I can get the things we need. It is so much easier to shop without the boys.
So I better get going.
Have a great day!

WII Fit!

3 days ago we bought the WII fit board. We have all been having fun with it. So far Yoga is my favorite followed by the downhill ski jump. Although, it is not fun (for someone like me) to do the test in the beginning each day to find out your WII Fit age. Now on day 3 I have finally made it to my actual age :) It is a little difficult for Coop. Wyatt really can't do it at all. Max did a 20 minute run (once). Barry crashed with the ski jump and I don't know if he has been back at it yet. I would recommend it for anyone.
Sunday and Barry is off this week Mon. Tues. and Weds. so far. I think the pool is going to get set up. We are starting to have some consistent good weather.
I am on my way out to do some weeding.
It is Granpa Garry's birthday today. Happy Birthday! I am going to have grapefruit juice and vodka for the cocktail of the day in his honor.

rosebush

Well, I am back home. I have so much running through my head that I don't know where to start. Here is a pic of the rosebush on the front of the house. It is a vibrant red and so full of blooms this year.

I had a good trip to Seattle. When I got into town late tuesday and saw Grandpa he was not having a good day. He very sick to his stomach. The phone tag with the doctors office was too much to bare. They needed to call in some anti nausea/vomit prescription. Even by the end of the day it still wasn't done. He had not eaten and was very weak. It became evident that an aggressive push for hospice to be set up needed to happen...quickly. Part of the problem is that Grandma and Grandpa do not communicate with the doctor very well. So the doctor doesn't think they are having any problems. They are too proud to talk about it. So by 1:00 pm Wednesday the prescription was finally called in. I was disgusted with how long it took. I picked up the meds and took them down to him. I swear by 3:00 he had so much color back in his face. I don't know if he was just having a good day or the meds were helping. I was just glad that he was feeling better. He even went outside to watch Scott mow the lawn! I spent the afternoon trying to help Grandma with some things around the house. I had great chats with them and got to share with Grandpa my favorite memory of him and I blackberry picking up at the lake when I was very young. I was able to leave feeling good about the situation there. As I was driving home the hospice people were there and Scott and Aunt Bess were able to be there too. So things are in place for when he starts not feeling well again. O.K. enough about that.

I regret being convinced to cancel the cleaning gal for yesterday. Now I am faced with dirty floors and toilets. Yuck. A run to Costco for dog food. A run to Walmart. All with kids. Max gets out early and no doubt will want to have a play date. Barry finished the raised beds in the garden. What I really would like to be doing is outside planting some seeds. And weeding. On a good note, the weather is going to be in the 80's all weekend so I should be able to get out soon.

Many thanks to Joanie and Scott for their hospitality. I had a great time staying with them. It was wonderful being able to spend time with Jacob and Ava without my kids needing my attention. They are so much more quiet then these boys of ours. We had lunch with Ava at a friends restaurant and she was so good!

Hailey dog missed me. When I got home and started unloading she jumped in the car and wouldn't get out. Love her!

Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Coop's last day

We had a great time at Cooper's picnic for his last day of school. Here he is with Mrs. Wegener. She was Max's teacher also. So it was fun telling her that we would see her in a year and half or so for Wyatt's turn. Just then Wyatt ran up to Cooper and starting pulling on his hair. Really hard! I said " well maybe that is not such a great thing for you". "We will work on the hair pulling thing". Then Coop said" I have a wart on my foot". With that we decided to move on and have our snack on our blanket. Poor Mrs. Wegener!

My Grumps had an appointment today to review his recent scan. We found out that he has cancer in his liver, lungs and multiple places in his chest. He started with prostate cancer and it spread to his bladder. He has had treatments all along. He has decided to not have chemo. It would not cure his cancer only keep it controlled. I am going to go to Seattle on Tuesday evening and spend a couple days. I am looking forward to having some meaningful time with my grandparents. Since I have had the boys, it has been hard to sit and focus on just them when we are in town. I am filled with sadness that my grandfather will have to endure such pain. He has been a hard working, honest, family man. Devoting himself to all of us. But there is a part of me that knows that he will be taken care of. I know that a person that has lived this way will be blessed. I also know that I have always tried to be honest with him. So he knows that I have nothing but respect and love for him. I would never be prepared for what is going to happen. I can only do my best.

I love you Grandpa!

Cottonwood trees!

Sorry to all the faithful who check in to see what is new here. I haven't felt much like being on the computer. The weather is finally turning nice and so I have been able to get outside more. It has been a week since I last posted. We have almost hit 100 degrees. I love the heat. It takes some getting used to when it first hits. I told myself during the summers that I was pregnant and disgusted with the heat that I would enjoy it again.... someday. Although, not as much as in my youth but I still like it!
The pumpkin starts are in the ground. Barry had seeds from last years crop so he started those indoors and we also bought some new ones which we direct sowed. I am just about done planting the vegetable seeds. Still have the peas to go in and I would like to grow some lettuce which I still need to buy some seed for. I am looking for some cedar mulch, ground cover stuff. Shavings of sort. I don't want bark! I need to get the permanent paths covered before the weeds start growing. The scarlet runner beans are up. They were seeds saved from last year also.
We had a busy weekend. Max had two birthday parties on Saturday. Barry invited his buds from work over for beer can chicken and roasted asparagus. He was back to work on Sunday.
The cottonwood trees are spewing their venom all over the place. I am on Clariton and still having trouble. It not only gives me typical allergy symptoms but bums me out too. It doesn't help that I am still on antibiotics. I am just hoping that the broncitis doesn't come back.
This is a hard week. Barry will work his 3 days and then on his 3 days off will be in Skamania for a work seminar thing and then home in time to go back to work. We will need to work on getting the lawn mowed somewhere in there. Seems TruGreen over fertilized and we can almost see it growing.
We really need to spruce up this house. The walls are marked up and dingy and just need to be painted. The only part I don't want to do is the entryway. With the high ceiling I think it would just be easier to have someone else do it. Barry and I don't do projects like that very well and with our 10 year anniversary coming.... lets just leave it to the professionals. :)
That said, I have called 5 painting contractors and no one has called back.
Wyatt likes to try and play video games. He doesn't really play but sits there and stares at them and occasionally hits a button which makes something happen and then he starts screaming for someone to come fix it for him. Honestly, this starts at 6:00 a.m. Today I had to turn the games off and just listen to him cry.
Coop is trying to play with Wyatt more. He is learning how to be a big brother. When it works it is so nice around here. His last days of school are this week. I have got to sign these kids up for swimming lessons or they are going to kill each other.
Max is really growing up. . He is getting an attitude that school is almost over and that he shouldn't have to do much more. He also showed me how he is able to point at things with his middle finger. He knows that it is a bad thing but I don't think he knows why. A day after our discussion he thought when he got mad at me that he would show me the gesture :o
I was shocked, disturbed and really didn't think we would be going through this yet. The "tween"years!
I found a new magazine that I just love. It is called MaryJane's Farm. I loved it! Old time projects, environmentally friendly living, gardening and homesteading info. She has a web site. www.maryjanesfarm.com . The boards have great advice from real women who are trying to retain some old fashion lifestyles.
Quick note. Grandpa started radiation therepy. He is really nautious though. Not from radiation, from something else. So he has to have a scan of his organs to make sure something else isn't going on.
Wow, that is all for now. Teach me to wait so long to write. Have a great week everyone!

I give up!

I was hoping this pic would be clearer. I went up to take my shower and this is what I came back to! There is a whole other mess on the other side of the room. Oh joy!

Great weekend!

I was showered with gifts for Mother's Day. Max made this tile at school. It is hard to see here, but it says Mom on the top and is a vase with a flower and a cup of coffee on the side. Melted my heart! His teacher also took pics of each kid with a globe and a note on the pic that says "of all the mothers in the world, I got the best one" How cute! Cooper made a beautiful painting at school. Then on Sunday I got a new wand waterer for the back patio and new plastic tumblers for the summer.
Barry worked really hard. He got the garden rototilled and made us some raised beds for the vegetables Coop and I are going to plant. They look great. Nice and rustic looking just how I like. I got the tomatoes in and some red peppers and banana peppers. Coop and I are going to plant the seeds during the next couple days.
Friday I was back at the doctors office. The antibiotic didn't work so I still have a ear infection and broncitis. I noticed it all coming back so I went in before it got really bad again. So I am on another round of different antibiotics. Hopefully, it will not be resistant to this one and I can get rid of this crud.
Wyatt is getting the last of his 2 year molers. He keeps waking up every few hours or so. Which isn't helping my recovery any.
It turns out my dear Grandpa has bone cancer in his pelvis. He is going to do radiation therepy to help control some of the pain. Then I guess he is going to do chemo for the other cancer. I don't know. It is all so scary.
Well I need to go start my Monday. Wyatt just came in and told me "Bot!" Which means Coop isn't being very nice to him. For some reason Wyatt calls Cooper "Bot". If I ask him "who made this mess?" he will point to Cooper and say "Bot did". It makes me laugh. At first Coop didn't like the name but now he is actually proud of it. After I told him that his cousin Ruby used to call Spencer "Bebe".
O.K. Monday here I come!

Post Doctor's visit

What a long morning. The boys were so crazy. Wrestling, hitting and teasing. By the time we left for the doctors I was going crazy. We were all up at 5:45 so they had plenty of time to push my buttons. But I knew I was going to get even with two of them when the doctor removed those warts. Sick I know. Little did I know that they don't remove them off the feet like that. Plus it would be too painful for them (he said to me). I giggled at that and told him my thoughts of setting them back on their heels with removal of the wart. So he just scraped some of it off and gave us a prescription for some remover which will work in about 3 weeks! 3 weeks of applying this stuff with a bandaid. So they are just as full of themselves as they were. We stopped by the house then went to lunch and got Max off to school. They were having the scholastic book fair so I took Coop and Wy to get a book each. Of course they have to have a bunch of crappy toys and candy right next to the check out. I managed to get out of there for $17.00. Cooper got a animal book and Wy found a Transformer book. With the min-markers and stickers we were finally out of there and on our way home. Now, I need to get caught up at the house.
Barry called to see how Eevee was doing. Jason said "your wife doesn't want her back does she?" So she is sleeping in his bed sometimes and running with the quad at 18 mph I think that is what Barry said. So we can finally rest that she is well cared for and happy. Hurray!

Tuesday, Coop is back to school

Coop is finally back to school. He is back to his old self. His last day of school will be on May 22nd. I can't believe it. Then he will go on to Pre-K next year and Wyatt will start the 2-3 year old class. Max's last day of school is on June 11th. I can't believe it. Once these days get close they seem to just fly by! I need to figure out what to get there teachers for end of the year gifts. Ugh! They had teacher appreciation day today at Max's school. Our neighbor organized a luncheon for them so I sent a pot of potato cheese soup with her. I am thankful that she took it up there for me. I was going to take it up myself but with the other two kids with me it just seemed to easy to let her take it :) Lame on my part I know. I will have to make up for it some other time.

O.K. I am not looking forward to tomorrow. Both Max and Cooper have been horrified that they both have a wart on the bottom of their feet! We tried over the counter junk and nothing worked. So now they have to go see a podiatrice to have them removed. Their pediatrician won't do it. I was so hoping that Barry would be able to take them. But they switched him back to day shift so he will be working. Their appts are at 9 and 9:15. They are going to cry!!! I don't even know what to tell them or not to tell them. I can only hope that they will num the area first. I can hear Barry now.. " you are thinking too negative". But lets be serious. We all know when Max gets a scratch you can hear him for miles! So I am going to buck up. Take them with a smile on my face. Bribe them with whatever I can! That is the plan and I am sticking to it.

Max spent the night last Saturday again at Caden's. He left at 1:30 and didn't get back until after 4:00 the next day. Plus, he walked both ways. The young ones "Coop and Wy" had a good time. Barry put them in the tree and we got a couple good pics.

The weather has been getting better. I bought a new slip and slide and a sprinkler that goes every which way. They had fun last night cooling off. We are starting to shop for this years pool. I think we will go with a framed one this year.

We have been enjoying our back yard again. We have been kicking off shoes and boots and socks leaving them on the porch and guess what? They are still there when we go back for them and no holes! Dang Eevee.

Well, Got to go pick Coop up from school.

We have a bug!

Poor Cooper really is fighting a stomach virus. He has had it for 5 days now. I feel so sorry for him. He is so little and doesn't have that much to lose. Wyatt is starting his trek down this road. So far Max has escaped. I went to the doctor and have an ear infection and broncitis! My ear really does hurts and the coughing is so annoying. Barry is back to work tonight. He gets to work with Tanner. That will make them both happy. :) Grandpa is not doing very well. We will know more on Friday when he goes back to the doctor. He is in a lot of pain and we are sending him our thoughts and prayers these last few days. I just really want my Gramps to be comfortable. He means everything to me and has given me so much. I love you Gramps! Take those pain pills and find some comfort!!!!!!!!
The weather...Ugh!!! Move on already. I really need some heat!!!
Wyatt is loving playdough today. He is making worms and feeding them spaghetti. So cute! There has been only one good thing about Coop having a bug. He is too tired to "badger". He is going to probably miss another day of school and that will not make him happy. His appetite is better so maybe he is finally getting better. Between my cough and Coops 3:00 a.m. bathroom needs (yuck) I am again you guessed it... tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Time for dinner

MP3

I have made a big step this week. Thanks to Betty and my Grandma. Happy Birthday to me! I purchased a MP3 player. I got the Zen Plus. My brother said if I wanted to be someone I should get an ipod. Well, I gave up those desires long ago and I really just needed something for walking and going to the gym. So far so good. It is working great. I went for a walk with Hailey yesterday and to the gym today. Coop and Wyatt went to the Kids Club. Wyatt was sad for awhile but got over it farely quickly. Things are looking up!
It is back to work for Barry tonight. We were able to get some things done even though his back is still hurt. Barry got rid of 4 of the tree stumps in the back yard and I finally moved a 9 year old boxwood bush to the front yard. We have 3 of them in the front and now they are all relatively the same size finally. It was really bothering me that one was smaller than the others. I kept thinking it would catch up but it just couldn't fast enough for me.
I put Hailey on a enzyme/probiotic supplement the other day. It has really helped her gas problem! She seems to be getting over Eevee. 4 1/2 days and she isn't back. I like to think that she is happier where she is.
It is almost the weekend and my Mom is coming over. We have no big plans. I am sure Max will have some ideas by tomorrow. The kids have not seen her since Christmas. She is in luck the forecast is sunny and 68 degrees.
All for now.

And then there was only Hailey

Well, we did the best we could with Eevee. She finally dug her last hole in the lawn. Barry found a guy at work who has a good knowledge of over bred hunting dogs and he agreed to take her. We have been talking about it for awhile now but really it happened so fast. He made a call yesterday and Jason stopped by to see her before Barry went to work. It was a very sad time. She is a beautiful dog and so great with the kids. She just didn't get it. Once her and Barry had too many disagreements he just couldn't forgive her. It just became too stressful for the rest of us. The kids were very upset but they understand that Jason will give her a good home. Hailey seems pretty sad too. She is going to be kind of lonely for awhile. Coop and Wyatt and I are going to Petco to get her some special treats and toys. We hope that Eevee finally finds her place in this world. She deserves that.

Its Monday and I am motivated to have a productive week. I am trying a new shrimp and linquine recipe tonight. Barry is off for the next couple of days and he should only have to go in for one extra 4 hours. His back is still hurting him so I am going to make him an appointment with the Doc. I better go get Max off to school!

Friday night bliss?????

Max is off to his sleep over. His friend Caden had a hard week with bullys on the bus. Some serious words were spoken. It reminds me that we have to be careful and respondent in todays times. Even here. It is just Coop and Wyatt and I and it does feel weird. Max was so excited to go and have fun. I miss him. Although, he would most likely be starting an argument with Coop by now.

Max and I bought this buddha on QVC for my birthday. She is in the front garden and I think she is so cool. She is solar powered and her lotus flower in her hand and the base light up at night. I am hoping she will remind me to breath and take things as they are.

I made it to Friday!

It feels like it has been a long week. Barry's days off were Tues. Wed. and Thursday. But he had to go in two times for meetings etc. so our "weekend" felt fragmented. The lawn got mowed and Tru Green did there thing so it is starting to look good again. Cooper likes to help me weed in the garden patch. We are trying to get the big weeds out before we rototill. On Barry's way home from a visit to work today he stopped by the barber and got Wyatt's hair cut! He said he did great! What a difference a few months makes. It is a great length. Not sheared off. So it is Friday, Max was off the bus at 1:30 and needed a ride to a new friends house. It is hard to leave him at other peoples houses when you don't really know the parents. I can't really go over there with the two other boys and hang out for awhile to check things out either. The weather isn't nice so the park isn't an option. So far Max has had great judgement and he knows our phone numbers in case he needs help. Still it is unsettling. After his play date he may be spending the night at Cadens again. With Barry working all weekend it will be nice to have one kid entertained. But it will suck if he calls me in the middle of the night because I will have to wake the others up to pick Max up! Yikes! Max hasn't given me any reason to think he would need to do that but you never know. I am tired today. Coop and Wyatt have really starting the sibling rivalry thing. Wyatt is starting to fight back. It worries me because I just don't want Wyatt to get hurt. It is pretty funny though because Wyatt is getting bigger and he tackles Coop and they go at it on the floor.

Well, it is almost time to go pick Max up get Barry off to work and I forgot that I need to make Sloppy Joes! More later

Friday!

Hello to everyone! We are going to have some fun tonight. Max is having his friend Will over for a sleep over AND it is the night of the new special Spongebob "Pest of the West" They had a water fight and some hot tub time and are just coming in. We had great weather today and are looking forward to more tomorrow.
I have to share a story from yesterday. Max has a new video game that he is glued to and spent a lot of time on it. So Barry said to me " would you tell my son that I miss him and wish he would come outside and spend some time with me." I relayed the message to Max and without even taking a breath he said " will you tell Dad that that is how I feel when he goes hunting all the time!" Wow! I couldn't have said it better myself. Good Night!

Betty's visit

Well, Betty is on her way home today. We hope the American Airlines problem doesn't bleed over to her airline and wish her a safe and fast travel home. We all had a great time. Barry and I went out for Mexican food one night and yesterday went to the Bookwalter winery. We also started to the process of trying to figure out what we will replace our kitchen and family room floor with. It is not going to be as easy as I thought. I did have a pattern picked out but it seems it will have to be special ordered. Which is o.k. but now I feel that I really need to make sure I know what I want. Hardwood is not an option. The laminate flooring was a thought but apparently the gal said not to but it up next to the real hardwood in the hallway. It is such a small space. I can't imagine that it would be that bad. Especially, if I don't try to match the hallway and use a different color or plank size. So I will have to look into it further. Barry is busy getting the irrigation started. I have some flower seeds I am going to plant now that I have some water. Thats all for now.