Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day Weekend

It has taken me a few days to get my bearings. All three kids are now in school and for the most part loving it. Madelynn's pre-school is loving her.....more on that later.

Over the Labor Day Weekend my family was in town for a fun filled weekend. Everyone finally arrived before dinner Friday afternoon. Phil had to work late so Kaitlynn, Jackson, Madelynn and I invaded my parent's house for the initial meeting of the weekend. All of the grand kids just jumped right in and started playing.

Earlier this summer I was feeling bad that I could not take Kaitlynn on her summer trip until late in the summer. However it proved to be the best thing. Kaitlynn, Ruthie, Anna, Lily and Madelynn all had a weekend to play when we went to Mason. When the girls all got back together this weekend it was as if we never left. Jack just had to find his own way in to this girls club to get along.

Saturday we took the family to the Rec Center Water Park with a free pass. It was a great time and lots of smiles all around. Not to mention a few hundred pictures were taken. Sunday Morning we all met for the Family picture. Amazingly enough it only took 30 minutes to get all 7 adults and 6 children (6 years and under) to smile and/or be looking at the camera.

We all wish visits with family could be longer but Monday early morning The Schmeichel's and Ted headed back to Ohio to get back to work and for the girls to start school. It was a good time to be had by all and a great way to end the summer. While they were all traveling Phil, the kids and I decided to find out if we could find the yard.

Over the summer it was simply too hot to work on some of it or too difficult for me to do, and keep an eye on the kids while Phil was working. I carefully planned the yard when I planted it, (years ago) that something is blooming in the yard all year round. It is spread out through the yard so that I only have to maintain certain flower beds at a time. This is the time of year that I clean out all the summer ones, cut all the spring ones back so they will be ready and make sure nothing is choking back to winter ones to bloom.

We were exhausted and the next day 5:30am came very early. Getting myself and three children ready for work and school is quite a circus act. Phil is usually walking out the door before the kids are awake. It has taken me a few days to get my bearings. Phil has helped with some of the meals and the dishes. It was funny I fell asleep for a power nap while he was cooking dinner and was suddenly awakened by Madelynn tapping me saying "Soups on Mommy".

Attached are a few pictures from the weekend. It was exhausting but lots of fun. Can't wait till Christmas.

TTFN~

The new addition

We were not expecting or should I say I was not expecting to add anything or anyone to our household at this time. We have so many things we are trying to accomplish to make like simplier and this was not it. However, Phil journeyed to the animal shelter and voila! we now have a dog.

Her name is Cami as you can tell by her color. We can only guess she is about 3-4 months old. She is very playful and partially potty trained. She is doing well being locked in the kitchen during the day and loves running in the backyard. She and the kids are getting well aquainted and I am very excited for them. They are truly enjoying there Christmas present.

This Christmas season was not what I expected at all and Christmas isn't even here yet. But below is a picture of our new addition.

Farewell Lady Girl...........

Today was a really rough day. I came home from work and Jack found Lady on the floor not moving I thought she was dead. As I got closer I found she was still alive but something was seriously wrong. She could not move what you and I would consider waist down.

She had definitely had a seizure. She was stuck in a very bad position and could not move. I called the vet and they told me that they wanted $100.00 to look her over tell me she needed to be put down and actually put her down. Yikes!!!

I called the animal shelter and told them what happened. They were closing in 15 minutes. I left a message and they called me back. The very nice lady told me that she had an officer still out in the field and he could come by and get Lady and take her and put her down for me. I could no longer give Lady a good quality of life and we had 12 years with her.

So I carried her out to the truck, put her in and gave her a kiss goodbye.

There are not enough words to tell you how much I will miss her.

Phil was stuck finishing up at work so I would have had to do this by myself. I called my neighbors Mike and Amy and they literally came running across the street. Amy kept the kids busy while Mike and I waited for the county worker to show up. I let Katie and Jack give her a kiss good-bye and left them to play so they would not see her leave.

I am very grateful for the county worker having a heart and not allowing her to suffer overnight. She did not have to go out of her way to find the field worker to help us she could have just gone home. I am grateful to my neighbors who just came to help no questions asked.

Needless to say.....this afternoon just sucked and I am going to sleep it off. Tomorrow will be another day. A lonely day but another day.

TTFN~

Boring just once please...........

Certain things have really started to settle down and I don't feel so on edge with Maddie. I do worry about flu season. This will be Maddie's first real flu season and I need to keep her healthy. Other than that the days are starting to get routine.....which would be nice for a while.



That is until Monday morning.......................



It was really chaotic trying to get the kids up, dressed and off to school. If the routine is off by just minutes I am anywhere from 15-20 minutes late for work. It makes me crazy. Well I have told you about Lady and some of her idiosyncrasies. One of them is she stays upstairs until we get out the door in the morning because of the chaos.

So the kids and I left for the school and work drop off routine. I thought nothing more until I came home from work that day. I had not lifted the garage door yet but I could hear Lady barking. I had left her outside all day. I thought Phil let her in, at least that what he usually does. I do realize she is a dog, however she had no food or water and we are still in the 80's and she is a black haired dog.

She was panting horribly and drank a whole bowl of water and passed out on the floor for a while. After she slept for a while and cooled off inside she appeared to be fine. I am such a bad pet Mommy. Well I kind of left her alone to recover and had to take care of the kids for dinner, showers/bath and any homework they might have.

Phil gets home it is further chaos...................................

About 3am Katie woke up because she accidentally wet her bed. I was really tired. I stripped her bed helped her change her clothes and let her crawl in our bed. I didn't really worry about the lack of sleep because I was off Tuesday and I could take a nap when Maddie slept. Well at 6am I went to get Jack up and he too had flooded his bed. So badly that I had to put him back in the shower before school.

While I am doing this Lady starts dancing around. I told Phil Lady needed to go out. He was out of the shower but not completely dressed. I told him there are curtains on the windows go let Lady out no one will care at 6am. Well he did not heed my advice. Lady went running downstairs however, as soon as she hit the ceramic tile at the bottom the flood began. From the bottom of the stairwell at the front door all they way around the living room to the gate that leads to the kitchen and the back door Lady peed.

Phil didn't know it and stepped in it. To be honest, I laughed because I told him she had to go out but what does a wife know who only works part time. Phil yelled when he stepped in it and then I heard lights clicking on.......Phil was stunned at all the pee he saw. I figured I better go help him clean it up. So what does he do brings me the trash can and paper towels kisses me good bye and has the nerve to say Love you.

So I was in my jammies cleaning and mopping half the downstairs while Maddie was still sleeping, Katie was waking up and Jack was getting dressed. Phil usually lets Lady out before he goes to bed however he forgot. Lady drank a bowl of water and then let it fly because she had to hold it too long. Needless to say when I walk Katie to the bathroom between 11 and 12 I now let Lady out too just in case.

Although, my life with Maddie and her recovery is less and less exciting....THANK GOD.....there are plenty of other events that have decided to fill in where that part of life has left off.

TTFN

Lady Girl............

Since 1998, Phil and I have had this beautiful black and brown dog...Lady (see photo on right). She has had a pretty interesting life. Up until fall of last year Lady had a constant companion Leia. Not to mention the six cats she tolerated. Leia was put to rest after 12 years of life. At least once a week I still think about her and miss her. Since Leia left us we were also forced, do to Jack's allergies, to get rid off all of the cats.

So as of about October 2008 we were now a single pet home. We really should not have Lady due to Jack's allergies but he seems okay with her for now. Lady is almost 12 and has seizures so no one would take her. She still has a good quality of life with us so we will keep her till it is time for her to go.

Now think of things from Lady's perspective....She gets extra love and attention and she really loves it from the kids however she is very attached to me some days too attached. When no one else is at our home we let Lady sleep in our master bath floor. She has some strange attachment to the bathroom rugs. I thought having Katie, Jack and Maddie I would never get a moments peace or pee alone again but Lady takes the cake.

At 5:15 in the am I am sitting on the toilet peeing and I always get a cold nose or wet tongue on my arm. I tell her to go lay down she licks my arm even more. So I have given up stopping the behavior and just tell her good morning. She then proceeds to the closet with me to make sure no one is going to contact the fashion police on me as I pick out my clothes. After we both agree I will not be arrested today she follows me back to the shower and lays on the bathroom rug while I shower.

The funniest part about it is when I get out of the shower she goes in the bedroom and lays on her blanket as if to give me privacy. She also knows the instant I am dressed as she comes back in and lays back on one of the rugs. She remains there and watches the chaos as I get myself ready, Katie and Jack dressed and check Maddie's diaper one more time before leaving to drop the kids off.

However, one day last week her routine was totally disrupted because Phil and I overslept by about an hour and a half. We were running really late and trying to get everything done as quickly as possible and Lady kept getting in the way. At one point I am trying to put lotion on after a shower and Lady is standing right in the way. Believe it or not if you say, "Excuse me Lady." She will move.

So here I am repeatedly, "Excuse me Lady, Excuse me Lady." But Lady just stood there. I finally look down and there is Lady tied up in a bra that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door handle. She was so upset and just kept getting in the way. Finally, I thought maybe she would be better off outside till chaos settled down.

Well I arrived at work only about 15 minutes late. But I had called my neighbor because in the crazy morning I forgot to pull something out for dinner. I asked her to go across the street and pull something out of the freezer. When my neighbor called me back she told me she did and let Lady in and locked my back door.

So not only did I try to hang the dog, I left her out in a day that was to be over 90 degrees and left my back door unlocked. Needless to say THANKS DEBBIE and SORRY LADY. I try not to think about what Lady thinks of me because it just makes me laugh.

TTFN

10 years and counting......

Today is the day 10 years ago we bought our house. We did not expect to move in so quickly. We thought we were going to have to build. The memories already in the house is sometimes fun to think about......We closed on April Fools Day!!! The house was newly built so we are the only owners. All of the floors have since been replaced, every single room has been painted sometimes two and three times. Being an animal foster home for a while made for interesting finds when we came home from work.

Before the kids at our maximum capacity we had three dogs and six cats. The three dogs were Leia (died last year, she was 12 years old), Angel (adopted out), lady (still with us at 11 years old). Lady started having seizures when we would bring a new dog in so we had to stop and just kept Lady and Leia. The cats were Mr. Sophie (died, ill), Kelly (died, ill), Tigger (took from my sister and found a home), Sam and Boots(went to a new foster home), Forrest, Lt Dan and Bubba (went back to the shelter). We found out our son was allergic and we had to find homes for the cats.

It is still so strange to have a house with just one animal when the house used to be filled. Lady gets all the privileges and is spoiled rotten. But being a bigger dog and still occasionally having seizures she will only be with us for probably another year or two. I can't imagine her living past thirteen. Although our house will be very empty in one sense it will be very full in another.

Think about it in two years Kaitlynn will be 8, Jackson will be 6 and Madelynn will be 3. No need for the animals our house will be wild enough without any pets for a while. Phil and I always thought it was kind of funny we closed on our house on April Fool's Day. Later this year we will celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Where has the time gone?????

Have a Great Hump Day!!!

TTFN

Still Going........

What we do in our day to day life just seems normal to me........busy but normal. Until I hear, "Honey, I don't know how you do it"..............Some days I don't know how I do it either. I suppose that is why I only enter a blog and some new photos once a week to ten days. So here is how I have been doing it lately.

We officially only have one pet. Our dog Lady. She is 10 years old. Phil and I have had since before we got married. We have had her since she was 6 weeks old. Tigger the last of the cats went to his new home this past Saturday. I have heard from Tigger's new family and they said he is slowly adjusting but hiding a lot. I hope adjusts well because they are very excited to have him.

Katie was a star student this past Monday. If she meets the daily requirements of the class she gets a prize from the treasure box. This was the first time she has achieved this since the program started a few weeks ago. This is very positive for us because we were able to make a big deal about it at home. It also lets us know that she is adjusting well to Madelynn. I worry about that some days, I don't want her to feel lost.

Jack has been doing much better. He went through a period of accidents at nap (at school) which have stopped. His teachers had problems with him misbehaving, not listening and talking back. They still can not get over how smart he is. They suggested that I start teaching him at home the things that Katie is learning just in smaller doses. So this week, I started with the letters of his name (just Jack). He wrote his name. I can only work with him about 5 mins and then he will go play and I can work with Katie. But it is enough time for him where he is learning something that interests him and he asks me if we can practice everyday. It helps control is behavior. I don't know if three year olds are supposed to know how to write their name. I know he can spell it and type it on the computer too.

I found a web page for teachers that has great projects and printables for coloring. I printed off a page to color and a light project. I had to work a few hours this past Saturday and it left Phil with all three kids. So I prepared the coloring page and fall tree project and the kids loved it. It was simple gluing and coloring but it was great, I just have to do a little more research on Jack's behalf so I can challenge him at home. I have been really hard on Jack lately because I need to make sure he understands that I am in charge not him. Apparently, the teachers have noticed because one of his teachers talked to Phil yesterday and me today and asked me not to be so hard on him. So, now I have to try and find that happy medium that he knows I am in charge but he is allowed to make mistakes too.

As for Madelynn, she is doing superb. They love her at school. They wished all the babies were like her. I always hear that she is never any trouble. You know if she is anything like me it won't last long. She has really discovered her family and the regular caregivers at the school. She is instant smiles and she is cooing alot. She about kills herself to follow mine and Phil's voices. She has a doctor's appointment next week for her two month check up and some shots. We'll see how she is growing then. She is still sleeping through the night (praise God for small favors). She falls asleep about 7pm we wake her between 9 and 10 to feed her and she will sleep till 5 or 5:30. On the weekends if I feed her around 5 she will sleep till 8 or 9. So yes we are very lucky. I am not sure how long it will last but I am enjoying it now.

This past weekend Phil and I were very fortunate to get some free tickets to the Carolina Panthers game. So we arranged for Maddie to go to Grandma's and Katie and Jack stayed home with Heather. She is becoming their regular sitter and they really like her. We just have to work on Katie and Jack walking all over her. One of Phil's friend and co-worker was able to get some free tickets so the four of us, Louis, his wife, Phil and I, went. It was a great time to have some grown up time. Sometimes those days are few and far between.

But yes we are still going. Some days at lightening fast speeds. But we are still going. At the rate things are going it will be weeks before it slows down just a little bit. I treasure those days. hope everyone is well. TTFN

Our week in pictures....

You always see the week in pictures on the internet, this is ours. It reminds you how precious life is and what is really important. I was experimenting with a new feature on photobucket and below is the result. Although, it makes me cry everytime, I think it turned out pretty cool. I hope you enjoy it. TTFN