Happy Halloween

I think if I went back and copied most of our blog entry from Halloween last year, it would be a lot the same! We went to the church last night for the annual chaos fest! It's really just me that has issues with it. Apparently I don't do well in large groups of people - and this party is always a LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE!!

Of course, as usual, the party was great! The kids always have a fabulous time - the decorations were great - the games were great. It's always just so much fun. In addition to the games and the trick or treating, we also had a chili cook-off! There was salad and bread sticks - and so much chili! It was so good - as chili always is on arctic cold nights...like, oh say, last night!

The kids dressed up in the old faithful costumes. We aren't a family that is very interested in venturing out of our comfort zone when it comes to dressing up. We pretty much stick to the tried and true costumes! I could put up last year's picture and I think we'd see the same costumes, just on different bodies!



Mom snapped this picture just because Joe is so darned cute and it was one of those rare moments when he didn't have a binkie stuck in his face! And it counters his not-so-happy face from the picture above.

The week in review...

Last Saturday was Taco Soup and apparently Joseph's serving had sleeping powder on it. Luckily, he saved a little soup on his cheeks for after his nap.



We sure enjoy Jaynie - she has such a little personality. She's very shy and quiet most of the time. But when she's home during the day w/ just Malorie, mom and Joseph, she turns into such an out-going, playful little girl.



One day during the week, Malorie goes to a little Play Group / Pre-School thing with a few friends from "the neighborhood". There are only about 6 kids, so it's a managable group. This week, they went and rode ponies. Malorie LOVED it!



This weekend was Megan's play, The Little Mermaid. She was a seahorse. We were very surprised when she said she wanted to try-out for the play. She's very shy, also and something like play try-outs seemed SO out of her comfort zone. But she did great and made a wonderful seahorse. This is Megan (right) with her cousin Marielle (left).



See, she's a little shy - always!



Here's a video of part of her play. It's about 2 minutes long, so it may take a while to download. Megan is at the far far right, on the end. Her cousin is the one next to her.



Megan's play was in the school gym. After the play we stayed and helped put chairs away. Jared decided he needed to play on the bleachers - dad had the camera and caught him being goofy.

Good Thing He's So Cute

So we've decided that Joseph is most likely never going to talk. Oh, we know it's our fault for keeping a binkie stuck in his face for the last 15 months of his life. He has been our only baby to take a pacifier, and it was HEAVENLY! However, he's now 18 months old and says nothing, except "Uh, Oh!" (And sadly, he say THAT a lot!)

So here he is being cute and using his sign language - really he just figured out that we think he's adorable when he waves HI so here he is doing it!



And just for fun, here was our view out the living room windows this weekend. Not a great picture, just a candid picture taken from the kitchen. It's definitely Fall - the leaves have all turned their yellows, reds and browns and now they're starting to pile up on the ground.

Happy National Boss Day

Brandon came home from work yesterday, after spending the day in Moses Lake with his co-workers and said "Hey, today is National Boss Day." Naturally, I instantly had a reply to that, but kept it to myself! He showed us a great card signed by everyone that works for him and then opened a wonderful gift from them - A Kodak Smart Picture Frame.



He said he's sure they decided to give him the picture frame b/c the family pictures he has up in his office are about 3 years old - I don't think Jaynie and Joseph are even IN the pictures he has there! LOL

I also wanted to share the card because, well, I'm just so happy to know that Brandon works with such great friends. It's never easy getting up and going to work every day - who wouldn't like to be independently wealthy or gainfully self employed? We're neither, so he drives in to work, every morning at 5:30 am.

I know he'd hate having to go in if it wasn't for the great team of people he gets to work with every day. He always speaks so fondly of every member of this group - what a blessing to be in such a great work environment!



(Inside)

Missing Grandma, still....

October 13 - it was on this day, 12 years ago, that my grandmother passed away. I still miss her so badly! I can still hear her voice and I can still remember some of our conversations. I remember the things she liked and the things she didn't. I love flowers and birds because of my grandmother. Nobody appreciated the beauty of the world the way she did. What a wonderful thing to pass on to your children and grandchildren! I know how much she'd love to see the changing colors in our forest right now. Because of grandma, my kids and I spend a lot of time pointing out the beauty and the changes that we see.

I know I've said this before - but today is one of those days that I'd give anything for just one more day with her. A day to look into her eyes and a day to hear her voice. An opportunity to ask her questions and to tell her "thank you" for so many things. A chance to feel the love and tenderness and strength in her hands - a day to see her meet the seven children she never had the chance to. I guess then I'd just have to say good-bye again - maybe that's why we get memories instead...saying good-bye a second time would probably be worse than the first. I miss you grandma.

Our Fall Family

We had hoped to get real pictures taken last night, but that didn't work out - so we were stuck with mom's handy work. Next time we'll schedule better and go earlier in the day so we don't have to fight with lighting...and hopefully there will be a couple of warmer, sunny days left before winter - last night was just miserable!

Joseph- can you believe he will be 18 months in October! Man he's growing up so fast!



Jaynie - she's 3 1/2 going on 15.



Malorie - I think she really is 15...no wait, she'll be 5 in January.



Jared - 7 1/2



Megan - 8 1/2



Jacob - 10 1/2



Madilyn - 12



Jason - 13 1/2



Dad and the kiddo's -



Mom and the kiddo's -



Dad & Mom - 14 years and still tickin'



Mom says, "Say cheese!" and this is what she gets...

Happy Birthday Grandma Lee

Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday Dear Grandma...Happy Birthday to YOUUUUUUUU!!!

We sure do miss you. Have a wonderful day and know that we wish we were there to eat cake with you!

Happy Birthday, Mom

"Are you going to put YOUR baby picture in the blog today, mom?" Ugh - sure, why not. However, if I thought finding a digital picture of Madilyn was hard - imagine finding one that was 3 times her age. I'm not sure if I can upload a picture chipped in stone?

Today is the big 37. Madilyn said I could tell people I'm 29 - geee, thanks! LOL

The little kids and I have spent the entire day in our jammies - not because it's my birthday, but because Malorie was kind enough to share her cold with me. Oh SHE is fine now - full of pep and energy - I, on the other hand, would be very content crawling under a rock until Spring.

I don't have a current picture of myself, and I promise nobody wants me to take one today! But here I am 30-ahem years ago...



(I think I'm more like 6+mo in this picture - if I come across any pictures that are more "baby" than this, I'll add them later.)

Happy Birthday Maddie!

Right now, 12 years ago, my baby girl was only a couple of hours old! I had spent the day before canning and juicing plums and I was SURE that the pain in my back was from standing at the stove all day. Actually, it was Madilyn Joy, planning her grand, early entrance! She wasn't "scheduled" to arrive for three more weeks, and after having Jason come just one week early, we weren't considering having a baby for another couple of weeks!

I remember making Brandon fix our vacuum before we went to the hospital at 1:00am so we could vacuum the floor before we left. I wanted to come home to a clean house and his sisters were coming to stay with Jason while we were gone. I think we got to the hospital around 3am and just after 6am, Madilyn was born. I remember the nurse asking me all of the tedious admitting questions and in the middle of it all, I said, "My water just broke." She paused and said, "I'll check and see if it really did." LIKE I WOULDN'T KNOW!? "Oh, it sure did Mrs. Lee." I figured since I'd been potty-trained for the past 23 years, I knew what I was talking about!

I was only in the hospital for about 13 hours so we don't have many "in the hospital" pictures. And since Maddie was "pre-digital" I don't have many baby pictures readily available on the computer. But here is our baby. She's 12 today. Holy Cannoli, how did THAT happen???

Maddie Coming Home From The Hospital



Birth Announcement Picture



Maddie 12 years later

Megan's Day

Today Megan received the Principal Pride award. It's the same award as we called Student of the Month in our previous school.



Sorry the pictures are so small - I was half way to town when I realized that I'd left my camera at home - so I had to rely on my trusty cell phone camera. Considering I took these pictures from clear across the gym, they're not bad.

Megan shaking the Principal's hand.



They also had a fun reward for the kids - one of the local grocery owners, Jeff W, had some contest going with the kids and apparently the kids won because Jeff got a pie thrown in his face at the assembly. What a good sport! The kids loved it. You should have heard them chanting, "Pie in face, pie in face..."







Again, sorry everything is so small this time. It was the cell phone or nothing...

Jared's Open House

The video has nothing to do with the Open House - just with the "school lunch" dinner they served everyone in the cafeteria. For some reason, dinner served on styrofoam plates with ketchup packets is always my kids' favorite...no matter WHAT it is! Jared is loving 2nd grade. He has a fun teacher that he really likes.

Jacob earned his Webelos badge.

We sure do enjoy seeing our boys do so well in Scouting. Last night, Jacob had a Pack Meeting and was awarded, along with several Activity Pins, his Webelos badge.



He really likes being in a den with so many boys. Before we moved he really only had a handful of boys that met each week. It's nice to be a part of a big, functioning group like this!



And this one is just because I caught him being cute!

A busy week!

I keep saying I'm going to do better at keeping this updated - ugh! Things just happen so fast around here, it's all I can do to keep up, let alone write about it all!

Jacob started band this week - he decided he wanted to play the saxophone, which of course is the most expensive band instrument! LOL He's already doing well at it - he says his "years of playing the recorder help" - :)



My parents stopped by to visit last night. Dad is doing so much better. He says he's feeling great. Not quite ready to head back to work yet, but he's getting there. The kids were sure happy to see him. I told them he was ok, and like I mentioned before, we don't sugar-coat things with our kids - so they know that if we say things are ok, then they don't have to worry...but it was still a relief to have him in our home where the kids could see for themselves that he's doing great!






I don't even know what to say about this video really - other than I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it w/ my own eyes! My little girlies went through a phase of being afraid of EVERYTHING when we first moved out here - spiders, flies, kittens, puppies, fish in tanks...everything! Now look at them! (Oh, and they look like orphans b/c I had them in the house to take a bath and before I got the water drawn, they got dressed and went back outside - hence, no pony tails...ALSO...regardless of what it looks like at the end of this video, no animals were harmed in any way, shape or form!)

House Update

We got a lot done on the house this week. Well, Brandon and his brother Brian got a lot done, I kept kids out of the way...which I realize is helpful, but I don't feel like I can say "I" helped on the house.

The plan was to pour concrete for our garage and sidewalks on Monday - so all last week, Brian and Brandon leveled out the front yard and made forms for the sidewalk and the garage. It was great fun having Brian around - and it's always fun to have dad home from work, even if we just watch him through the window most of the day. We did sneak out and visit a few times - and even got to ride on the bobcat!



The goal is to get a real deck built and stop using our Tiny Tykes Ankle Twister porch as soon as possible! :)



By Saturday night, everything was ready - which was good because that's the same day that Melanie had contaminated the family and I was down all day with the flu - that night, Brandon was hit with it. He was out all day Sunday and probably still felt like garbage on Monday - but you could never tell by how hard he and his brothers worked on the concret.

Like clock-work, Brandon's brothers showed up Monday morning to help. I don't know what we would have done without them, not just this week - but throughout this entire house building experience! Whenever we need someone, they're always there.

Here they are, Carson, Courtney, Brandon & Brian...and don't miss Jason who got to stay home from school to help.





Here is the cheering squad. Megan and Jared wanted to watch too - I'm kind of a push-over that way. Maddie and Jacob want to try for 100% attendance this year at school, so they didn't stay to watch.



Brandon and Courtney working on the sidewalk.



Brian working on the sidewalk's finishing touches.



Brandon goes back to work tomorrow - he got a lot of landscaping done with the bobcat. A lot of leveling and smoothing out of the yards - oh and there was this one little mishap - fear not, he walked away unscathed. I think he may have even enjoyed it a little.

Update on Dad

His first heart attack was confirmed, thankfully however, he was medicated and treated and able to avoid a second that they feared was on his near horizon.

The fluid around his heart is decreasing and nothing in his echo showed a need for surgery.

He's still taking antibiotics for pneumonia. He still has a pretty high fever - the shakes and sweats. He'll have medications to take for his heart, probably for many years to come. But what a small price to pay to be alive.

I had a good visit with him tonight. He looks so much better than he did last night! I didn't realize how poorly he looked last night until I saw him tonight.

He'll be in the hospital here for a few more days - then home to rest for a couple of weeks - then if the meds do their thing and his check-ups go ok, rumor has it he can go back to work. (Of course I wish he'd just move into a safe little plastic bubble for the next few years, but nobody ever listens to MY ideas!)

Thank you all for your love, prayer and support. It means the world to our family.

Prayers for Grandpa

We've been down with the flu the last couple of days. I was pretty sure I was going to die Saturday afternoon. Aches, chills, nausea, fever - everything Melanie had had the day before. Madilyn came down with a lesser version of it that afternoon too. Around 3pm I ran a bath. I figured either the warm bath would make me feel better - or if I were lucky, I'd become unconscious and slip under the water and drown! Well, just before either one happened, my sister called.

L: Hi, are you coming up? (She was at my parents' 1hr away)
Me: Uh, no, why?
L: For dad.
Me: (Truly clueless) Dad's what?
L: He's in the hospital, didn't mom call you?
Me: Doy, no!

Dad was sick with the flu a couple of weeks ago and never really got better. He took a week off work, which should have been enough for us to insist that he see a doctor as he's never missed a day of work!

Long story short, he became ill again Friday night and Saturday morning my mom told him she'd had enough and he was going to the doctor.

They did find a spot of pneumonia on his lung (which he suspected) but they also found that his heart has a large amount of fluid around it - his blood pressure drops far too low - his enzyme levels are off - they suspect he had a heart attack back when he thought he had the flu - and they suspect he's likely to have another one soon if something isn't done.

The plan was to keep him in the little home-town hospital until Monday when there would be a tech to do an echo-something test - but apparently he had a "bad night". Ran a high fever, shakes, sweats - and Dr. Quinn decided he'd better go to the "big city" hospital. An ambulance is bringing him down as I type. I went and saw him last night - wearing a very attractive surgical mask and all! He looked tired. He looked a little scared. But he was trying so hard to make us all think he's blowing it off, "no big deal". It was just all so familiar of being at the hospital with Brandon's dad. There is just something about seeing the strongest, most important men in your life as a patient in a hospital.

I'm selfishly asking for prayers for my dad. We haven't told the kids anything yet. I don't want to tell them that it's ok if it's not - and I don't want to tell them it's worse than it really is either. Our kids truly do better with the truth - no sugar-coating! I hope to have some answers in a few hours - and I pray they are the answers we want to hear.

I know! It's been a week and NO updates!

I promise we're all still alive - and I promise a ton is happening...I just haven't gotten anything blog presentable.

The kids all survived their first week of school - well, first "week" that included a 3 day weekend...whatever. Jared did manage to miss the bus home the first day - because I used to pick him up last year, the school thought I would this year too, so they told him he was a "pick up" and didn't put him on the bus. They called me at 3:45 and said, "Hi, we have Jared here waiting to be picked up." And I said, "That's what the school bus was supposed to do!" Luckily, dad was on his way home from town and was able to stop and get him! And thankfully, Jared was none the worse for ware!

We signed the final papers on our little house last night - hopefully we'll see a large deposit in our bank account by 4pm tomorrow! It'll be so nice to have this little adventure of selling a house behind us!

Now we're moving on to our siding, decking and concrete - oh and driveway - here at our new place. Brandon's brother Brian is here for one more week before he leaves for school and I believe the plan is for the two of them to get as much done before he leaves as possible.

I'm sure there's so much more I could share - I'll throw in the part about my sinus cold and maybe y'all'll understand why this is such a disjointed entry!! I'll do better! I'm sure we'll do pictures of the changes to the outside of the house this week. In fact, I swear I'll go out and take pictures before they get started today, just to have a starting reference point.

First Day of School

Today begins another year! I can't believe summer is over already! Didn't it just start yesterday? The kids are all very excited to get back to school and see their friends and teachers again. They didn't want me to drive them today - this is the first time I haven't taken them on the first day. Jared didn't want me to take him because "It's too sad when you leave." How cute is that! So, I walked them to the bus stop, did hugs and pictures and last minute mom reminders. I waved good bye to them as the bus pulled away, and then I bawled all the way back to the house. Ok, not full on bawling - but I will admit I cried more than anyone else did this morning - and that includes Joseph!

Here's the gang...I can't believe how big they're all getting to be!


Maddie - 6th Grade


Maggie - 3rd Grade


Jacob - 5th Grade


Jared - 2nd Grade


Jason - 8th Grade


*sniff*sniff*


I'd include pictures of the stay-home-kids, but Malorie is still in bed and Melanie and Joseph are still in jammies watching Wonder Pets - we're heading in to McDonald's Playland to meet some friends in a little bit - maybe I can get some pictures there.