Here is another recent scrapbook page - one of my favs :)

Fat Belly Sicko

Ignore the fat belly, the pants I had on push my gut up over top my waist! HA! But here we are readin' :)



Good evening to you! I wish it was a better feeling evening for me, but unfortunately I have a freaking cold/bug. I just took my temp via the kids ear thermometer and it told me I'm at 103. Neato! NOT. Molly has been crying on and off since I put her to bed at 6:30p. She didn't nap worth a poop this afternoon and I know she is exhausted, she just doesn't feel good either. Jack, Mikie and Erk seem to be doing marvelous so that's a good thing. Let's hope it stays that way, but it won't :)

I had plans to head to the hospital this morning with 2 girls from church to visit our pastor's grandbaby with Cystic Fibrosis. I just couldn't even chance it with what started as a scratchy throat. Now I am SO glad I didn't.

Last night, Shawna and I hosted another gala event (kiddin :) at Erk and her hubby's company to introduce/reintroduce more women to the world of digital scrapbooking. We had fun and a very nice crowd. Wouldn't you know when we went to demonstrate our website, it WOULDN'T work!?! I finally figured it out, sheesh. The crowd understood and we laughed about it. Soon after it started, in walks "big Molly," I was totally shocked! She came cause she got our email newsletter saying we were holding this tonight. I was so excited she was there - one in a million, came to see what it's all about cause she knows it means something to me. You are somethin' MOL!

Well, I suppose that's all I've got. Erk just went up to hold Mol for a bit. Poor baby... She is getting so big, it's like it hits me every so often that she's growing taller and getting older. The boys are so rare too, Jack has been wonderful (seems he had a great day at school Monday even and his little enemy in his class (not really but for lack of a better word) asked him to sit with her at LUNCH on Monday. Jack didn't cause he likes his "new spot" too much, but how cute is that - he mended ways with her (this is his new approach we've been coaching him on, be kind to everyone and smile) and now they are buddies. He had a girl last year that was his rival too, but by the end of the year they were friends. Perhaps his someday wife!? :) HA!

Good night - here's to hoping you are doing well and had a good day...

Molly squared

Hey, it worked! Here is a recent digital scrapbook page I put together with the Mol's :) I'm starting at the beginning with lil Molly, so it's fun to go back to last years pictures and make pages!

Isn't Anything

Good afternoon! I just got up from what I guess you'd call a nap, although I just laid there awake more than I slept. But that rest was oh so nice! Mol just got up and the boys did too (they napped without any major fits) and Erk just took the boys to the bike trail to go for a ride. It's sorta glum outside as far as weather goes, but not raining so that's good.

Our website works the way it should now and Shawna and I are thrilled! This is even more exciting than having it go live :) I just tried putting 3 digital scrapbook pages on here to show you, but the file sizes are too big. I'll try to post just one to show you a recent page I made. Fun FUN!

I had double nursery duty at church this morning and Mikie and Mol tagged along. Jack stayed home with Erk cause he's got the starts of a not so nice cold. I guess besides that, there isn't anything too interesting about our day! Hope you are having a good one! Ernie

Ernie Wrap

At first Mol didn't know what to think of this white strap around my noggin. I have a zit or something on the side of my head that I end up picking at and wouldn't you know, it bleeds! A lot! I know, quit pickin! The other night when I got my haircut, Heather combed that spot really hard and it was just this huge line of blood streaming down my wet hair. So when I picked it yesterday (thinking it was almost gone anyways) it started to bleed and I thought the kids would think I was funny with this on my head. Turns out Bean was kinda thinking it was funny too!

Once again caught in the act of going thru a bag/purse! This kid is such a WOMAN!

Ok, this dog is nuts. Last night I sat upstairs scrapbooking on my laptop while Erk watched political stuff on tv down here. Bean joined me to hang out. Well, when it came time for bed and I checked the dryer and our mattress pad thingy wasn't quite dry yet, we opted to "camp." We call it camping when we just fold quilts over in half on each side of the bed, like a sleeping bag, and sleep in that. Well, as I laid Erk's quilt out for him, Bean wouldn't budge. She loved being all warm and cozy. I had Erk come upstairs to see her. So he got her to hop off the bed, I go check the kids and come back to find her, ummm, on MY side of the bed! Spoiled animal!

BYE MOM!

Hello there! Man, I'm not sure what I am right now, kinda tired, kinda in between being excited and not sure if I should be YET, enjoying the peace of Molly nappin' and the boys at school... I just got off the phone with our designer and things seem to be headed in the direction we want/NEED them to be! YEAH! But with as many hicups as we've hit before, I don't want to be prematurely excited. Let's hope and pray this is what will work and the past 2 days of constant back and forth between 3 of us (which is now just 2) was the best move we could make!

It was hard to see poor Jack struggling yet again this morning before school started. He is still having a hard time with the lunch situation - simply because of his teacher's aide. She said to him on Monday "Jack, this seating arrangement at lunch is only temporary you know, you won't be sitting here all year." His little heart was broken. I contacted his teacher to see if maybe Jack didn't quite understand what she said, but her and I haven't been able to talk about it yet. Either way, the kid has a literal stomach ache about it all over again. So come Wednesday, I went and had lunch with him at school to see what his new seating arrangement is and to let the lady know I was gonna stay on top of it. This teacher's aide isn't the friendliest of people, makes me wonder why she is in with 5 year olds!! We do love his teacher though. Anywho, where he has been sitting at lunch is wonderful. Cute kindergartners who talk and share their Cheetos and talk about wanting to play together on the playground. The little girl who sat across from me kept talking to me the whole time, even when I wasn't paying attention :) And I thought - now this is what his lunch setting should be, where he is comfortable, able to open up and make some new friends... The other issue that he's been dealing with is the bus. I may have mentioned this before, but he told me that the neighbor boy (Michael of all names) that his friends on the bus have been picking on Jack. So Jack has said "I will just sit somewhere else, Mom." POOR KID. So that worked for a few days but he is so freaking nervous about it (I see him watch where Michael sits and then Jack will go back about 5 rows) that today, I took him to school. I never thought I'd be a parent who took her kid to school, but you know what? I think it's necessary to help ease his mind and belly. He's FIVE years old. What the beak! Man, life just ain't easy... And when you're a mom, you can't help but take it to heart for your little one. And I'm not sayin' he's perfect, but I do know as time has gone on and he's still having a few things at school going on, he can't help but react to the stress by say kicking the kitchen or not thinking about what he's saying. My heart goes out to him.

Then after we got home from dropping him off (he was so relieved getting in the truck to head out), Mikie got in Papa's truck and headed to preschool. Mikie wanted Papa to take him this morning so I called last night to get that arranged :) Mikie turned around in his carseat and kept waving and mouthing "BYE MOM!" as they pulled away. It was so cute.

Here's to hoping the boys have a good morning at school and our website stuff is peachy and all is well! Mol is taking a nice nap so I'm able to make some of these phone calls again (I have to call my cell provider and I hate doing that!). Have a good day all :)

I'm DONE

Hi, my name is exhausted, how are you? Man, what a long and sorta stressful last couple of days. I've been on the phone or computer it seems WAY too much and my eyes and ears are gonna pop out/fall off. Our website has been having some issues that need resolvin' and it's been quite the few days. I am probably way over my cell phone minutes cause of being on hold and calling everyone and their brother! Ahh, ohh well. I feel bad for canceling plans tonight with the "girls" for dessert, but I just need to sit and recharge the ol' battery - and I don't mean on the laptop! No more computers (after this ;), no more talkin' on the phone, just good old couch potato-ing it. Hope you have a nice evening! Bye for now :)

Some recent pix

Since I've neglected you in the picture catagory, I thought I'd show you a bunch from lately... ;)

OREO time!

the end result and naked baby!

three kids can play in harmony :)

Jack beating up Mol!

Bean dog

Caught in the act of emptying my purse!

This is the way we like it! Healthy and climbable PAPA!

Jeep

Good mornin - I'm attempting to fold all of the laundry that is puked out onto the laundry room floor from the overflowing baskets. This is not a fun job! We are hanging around home this morning to wait for the windshield replacement folks for Erk's car. We "borrowed" a Jeep Commander overnight so Erk got to take it to work today while the car patiently waits for a new pair of glasses, so to speak! I will have to meet Erk this morning to pick up some stuff for our web bizz, so maybe we'll swap cars then so I get another turn with the Jeep! It's fun to drive something different, even if just for a day or two. We hope to try out a few different types of vehicles and I'm gonna call today about our trailer and all. We'll see if that all will work out...

Well Mol is on the move and the boys are watching tv and haven't had breakfast yet so I'd best scoot. I hope you have a nice day!

Priceless

Thank you to all who have emailed, called and been praying! Dad is HOME now, came home last evening and has been inundated with awesome phone calls, emails, etc. Wow, we are blessed with so many who genuinely care. We are even more blessed that he is alright. Praise God for healing my dad!!!

So they are calling what he had "transient global amnesia." Nice name, eh? We still aren't convinced that is what it was, but it does give pretty similar symptoms. Not sure what happened and he still doesn't have that four hour time frame Friday morning back as to what the beak was going on, but the rest of his memory is restored and he's... well, DAD again! As I lay down to bed last night, this came to mind -

Ambulance Ride: $834
CT Scan: $1942
EKG: $932
Cable TV while in the hospital: $200
Stress Test: $866
Sharing a room with another man in a lot of pain who forgets to turn his tv off all night and has nurses coming in every 30 minutes to check his vitals, but the man telling Dad that he's been realizing he needs to have a relationship with the Lord?: Priceless!

As is he being home. It's so amazing. The feeling of overwhelming thoughts flying here and there as to what is wrong, how we will deal with the end results, to wow - he has a clean bill of health. We all do hope though that he'll maybe eat a few less cheeseburgers and maybe walk around the lake from time to time :)

On that note, I'm headed to bed. I hope you are well - Thank you Jesus!

Ain't Coming Home

We just got up from a nap, Mikie, Molly and I. Felt GREAT. Jack opted to play and interupt my nap about 5 times with questions, but I got a chance to snooze so it's all good. I finally told him to grab Chloe's leash and walk her around the yard a bit. She had been jumping up and licking my foot hanging off the bed (it was one of those naps that I laid horizontal across the bed, it felt great!). Anywho, Jack yells up from downstairs, "Mom, there is POOP down here!" Okey doke. That is actually the second time today she's pooped in our house. The first being right when we got home from the hospital this morning and found 4 turds on 3 steps. I had to go like a relay around orange cones that time cause my focus was getting Molly upstairs for a much needed nap. I then came down to pick up the lovely tootsie rolls. What the beak? Again, I guess this animal just prefers to be at her own home!

This morning Jack woke me up to tell me Chloe had peed in the hallway and my reaction as I woke and realized I'd have to get up right that second? "Shit!" Hmm and ya wonder why he said THAT at school! I right away said "ohh Jack, Mommy shouldn't say that word, and I got up and got stuff to clean the whiz.

Erk, the kids and I had breakfast and headed down to the hospital. As we exited the expressway, we hit cops at traffic lights cause of a race (running) downtown. Every way we tried to take was blocked. I finally told one of the people blocking an intersection, "we need to get to the hospital!" He probably figured I meant I was bleeding to death, but COME ON! There was no getting around it! I guess there finally was cause we got there, but sheesh. We then get in the parking ramp where I am putting Mol's carseat in Erk's car (the boys put their own in the car but Mol's is a pain in the rear) and as I'm all contorted doing this, Erk thinks it'll be funny to hit the "panic" button on his keychain. It startles me and let's just say, I was NOT happy. I went off on him in that parking ramp! It wasn't funny to me until we reached the entrance to the hospital. I was pissed!

We went up to the 4th floor and Dad was coming out of the waiting room area getting himself some coffee. He looked great and as we all sat and had coffee/hot chocolate with him, we were excited to see he was doing SOOOO much better. He was piecing together things from yesterday, knew that Erk and Meg had been there last night, remembered some of their conversations, etc. What a bright spot! Erk left after a bit to head to a buddy's cabin but the kids and I stayed. We had lunch at the hospital (a whole nother story which included me, a tray full of stuff balancing act, Molly crying the whole time, narrow doorways, Molly taking out an entire row of styrafoam bowls cause she could reach them so well, and Mikie dumping his choc milk all over). From the cafe, we headed back up and waited to see the doc come in with any results. They had done an MRI this morning and that even came back clear. THANKFULLY on one hand, but what the heck happened on the other? Then the meal lady comes in and asks what Dad wants for supper tonight, breakfast and lunch tomorrow and we realized he ain't coming home today. He was a bit bummed, as the longer goes by he is MORE AND MORE Dad... But he understands.

While we were there we heard him talking with the doctor about the pain he's had in his chest and shoulder the past few days. As a matter of fact, he was going to call his doctor yesterday if the pain persisted. It has been for a few days this week. SO... we can't help but wonder if whatever is going on in his chest cut off the blood flow to the brain? Not sure - but that's why they'll keep him - he was leaving for an EKG when we headed home, and they are going to do a stress test at some point. So that is that. We are thankful to see Papa coming back and making strides, thank you SO much for all your prayers! Please continue :) Ohh and our pastor's granddaughter is in the hospital too, she is 15 months old. Found out today that she has cycstic fibrosis (sp?) so the family would also appreciate prayer. Off we go to take the poopy dog back to her own headquarters!

A Day I Will Never Forget

Where to even begin? I guess with how I am feeling right now. Tired, somewhat drained, chilly (the windows are open) and thankful.

Today started like any other day, got up and did our routine… Ivan came this morning to hang out while Shawna helped in Chet’s class and Ivan, Jack, Mikie, Mol and I stopped on our way to preschool to get a snack for Mike’s class. We checked out, went to drop Mikie off, then Ivan, Jack, Mol and I took a ride to a dealership with a cool truck on their website for sale. I talked to a salesman for a minute, then we went to a park for a bit for the boys to play and run the bases on a baseball field there. Then we drove up to another dealership and I talked quickly to another salesman on the same type of truck and then we headed to meet Shawna. Jack, Mol and I then went into Subway to get lunch and ran over to pick up Mikie.

As I was pulling out of the preschool I see I had missed a call and had a voicemail. It was my mom and she sounded funny. The kinda sound that you know something is wrong. I called her back right away and that’s when an “ordinary day” gets turned upside down.

Mom proceeds to tell me she called an ambulance… Dad is “acting weird, he’s repeating himself and asking the same questions… he can’t remember if he took a shower this morning or not.” I offered to head right to their house, but knew we’d be in the way. The first responders were there and Dad was being asked all kinds of questions like “do you know when your birthday is?” which he did, and “do you know who the President is?” which he did. I kept it together while talking to mom and told her to call me as soon as possible. I hang up, uncontrollable tears and sobbing takes over. I’m driving and Mikie is asking me “what’s wrong with Papa, Mom?” and I tell him to give me a second. What is WRONG with Papa? The day my dad agrees to go by ambulance – that means there is something TERRIBLY wrong here. “Please Lord, please Lord, PLEASE be with my dad… PLEASE Lord” I’m praying over and over.

We get home and get the Subway lunch out – it all seems like I got the kids situated and fed without even thinking about it. I was shaking like a leaf uncontrollably. Mom had asked me to call Andy and Meg once we knew more but by the time we are eating our lunch, I had already called them both. Meg then fanned it out and called a few people and there I sat, waiting. I called Shawna and started to lose it, asking her to pray. I then sat, waiting. That was it, we were gonna head to the hospital. Right then my mom calls and begins to cry, “Ernie, he’s not remembering things. The same questions the first responders asked him in the house, he didn’t remember when they were loading him in the ambulance.” I cried with her and told her we were on our way.

As we pull outta the driveway onto our gravel road, I think to call “big” Molly to let her know what’s going on. The drive to the hospital after that was, well just a matter of getting there. We whiz into the ER entrance and Kristen is standing there ready to receive. She took the boys in with her and I quickly went to park the truck. On my way to the parking ramp, I pass Mom and our pastor. Mol and I head in and Kristen stayed with the boys in the lobby waiting for Andy. Erk was headed that way too, shortly. Kristen asked if I wanted to go back to see Dad, that she’d stay there with the kids. So I did…

They hit the button to open the door to the ER area and I followed the receptionist down the stark white fluorescent hallway, around the corner to where my dad lay. He lit right up when he saw us, big smile. For a second there was a huge relief, “he’s ok!” I told myself. It wasn’t until we were there a few minutes in the room (with Mom, Pastor Riley and soon Andy) that normal Dad turned into repetitive Dad. His sense of humor there thru and thru but he kept asking the same questions. “How did I get here? Which hospital am I at? Am I wearing any clothes under here?” When he asked the third question the first few times I felt it was just Dad being Dad. But when I realized he really didn’t know he was asking it repeatedly, it hit me. And we were asking him what he remembers. He couldn’t recall the past few days, what they had done, where he had been – they went up north a few days ago and he didn’t remember that. He took the boys to lunch and the park yesterday for a few hours, went to Andy’s last night to pick something up, our aunt and uncle had been there at my folks during the day yesterday… he didn’t recall any of that. And then he’d say again, “I sure hope I’m wearing clothes under here, am I wearing anything?”

After being in there for a bit I had to step out. It’s hard to explain, but I had a hard time (selfish I know) seeing my dad like that. I’ve often said and wondered how people are so patient with loved ones with alheimers. I went to the waiting room where Erk was now with the boys. Erk headed back with the kids to see Papa and I stood in the waiting room. My aunt and uncle, grandparents and Molly arrived and headed back too. I just stood there with Molly trying to take it all in. Then we went back again to his room and he was like, “hey Ernie!” “Hi Dad.” :)

I’m not sure the exacts from there but somewhere in the time today in the ER, I received an amazing gift. This new light on the subject of Dad. You know what? If he wants/needs to ask the same exact question to me 43 times, I will answer it. No different than the first time. If he wants to say the same jokes (we were all in hysterics with his jokes, GOODNESS GRACIOUS), I’ll laugh every time. If he doesn’t remember I was in the room just 3 minutes ago and I have to act as if I just got there? I will. I would walk thru absolute fire for my Dad.

A bit later, Erk took the kids home and I was able to go up to his now “room” (he was admitted) and sit next to his bed and answer some of the questions we had heard all day. The nurse came in and was asking other health questions and some of them I could answer. I felt this amazing peace from sitting there and looking my dad right in the green eyes and trying to help him understand how he gotten there and “did I ride in an ambulance?” “Boy, I don’t remember that at all.”
At that point, with Grandpa and Grandma, Uncle Dick and Aunt Gill leaving too, I’d give Mom and Dad some time to rest. Dad said “maybe I’ll doze off and wake up and this will all be a dream and I’ll be home.”

I was headed to their house to pick up some overnight stuff for Mom and get Chloe to stay here at our house, and told them I’d be back later tonight. Turns out Erk wanted to go back down and see Mom and Dad more and visit, and even though Shawna offered to come sit with the kids sleeping, I opted to stay home.

At this point, the tests that have been run have been negative, but there is some talk of “TIA” or a mini stroke.

It’s been a day that I will never forget. PLEASE PRAY FOR DAD.

Who is this Child?

I should head to bed rather than sitting here on my laptop. I've been looking thru used cars for fun, all part of a new plan that Erk and I have going to save some moola. We stopped by the RV show tonight (I had no idea it was going on!) and went in and outta some smaller travel trailers. Yep, smaller. We love ours and may very well keep it, but with the price to pull that thing, we've kicked around getting a smaller trailer and a smaller vehicle to pull it (ie, rid ourselves of the massive gas guzzler). It's fun to talk and think about, so we'll have to see. There are a lot of smaller SUV's that can easily pull the lighter travel trailers we were looking at tonight - like the one we really like - man, that trailer is SWEET! We'll see!

Jack came home yesterday from school all excited cause "Mom, I got to sit with the kindergartners at lunch!" He sat with another class and even talked with the kid sitting across the lunch table. Come to find out, that same boy rides his bus so now he has a buddy to sit with on the velveeta. Great news!

We went out for pizza tonight before heading to the RV show and Mikie just sat there so quiet and good. Jack was good too, but a bit antsy. Molly? That kid grunts loudly and makes all kinds of faces anymore! RARE! Erk and I look at each other like WHO IS THIS CHILD? Funny... girls are well, different! :)

Well, I'm gonna head to bed. I hope you have a good nights rest and nice start to the day tomorrow!

Kicked the Kitchen

Good afternoon! Mikie and Molly just headed up for naps and of course, Jack is at school today. He was a bit nervous about going, but we reassured him that the lunchroom situation was going to be resolved. Erk and I had a “successful starts” meeting with his teacher last night. Maybe I already mentioned that, but I guess not all elementary schools do them, but his does and it’s basically a backwards parent/teacher conference. They like to hear from the parents what to expect of the child, the child’s needs, etc. What perfect timing to sit down with Jack’s teacher to discuss what’s been going on!

She is a super nice lady, we were laughing and very “light” about the issues at hand with Jack so it helped us feel more at ease and that she is working with us to help Jack do the best he can. As I mentioned a few days back, Jack was shoving kids and crying at lunchtime. And after being there Monday, I can see why he’s upset. Well, we discussed that last night at length and his teacher is totally on board with finding somewhere else for Jack to sit. Be it at another table, or further down from those kids, what have you. I was glad it wasn’t forced that “kids need to learn to deal with it” cause that wouldn’t have been cool at all!

In the course of our meeting, Mrs. Orange proceeds to tell us Jack “kicked the kitchen” one day at free play time. He just walked over to play and kicked the stove or something, and went about his business. WEIRD. Then the kicker (no pun intended)… she tells us that he’s sitting at a table doing his “work” when he all of sudden says, “oh shit!” UMMM… OOPS. The boy across from him was in shock, his eyes got as big as saucers and Mrs. Orange heard it but wasn’t sure what to do. She considered laughing cause it was funny, but instead, she walked over and the boy who was in shock said “that’s an adult word, kids aren’t allowed to say that!” and Mrs. Orange simply agreed with the boy and talked to Jack a minute and it was done. She said Jack knew right away that he shouldn’t have said it. Of course as we are getting ready to leave our meeting, Erk made a joke about kicking something and swearing :) We are very fortunate to have her as his teacher, she is kind and light hearted and isn’t just at her wits end – she has 2 boys so she can kinda relate.

When we got home last night (the kids went and watched Ryan’s scrimmage with Nanny, Papa, Auntie Pat, Chris and Megan) Erk put the boys in the shower and I put Mol to bed. I come down to hear Erk say to Jack, “so we can’t push, shove, swear, or kick at school, ok Jack?” Ahh the pride that comes with those words! HA! Ohh well, this is our learning curve, there are worse things :)

I had to laugh, after I stood in the back of chapel at Mikie’s school today and watched him sing (he never turned around to see us there), we ran to McD’s for lunch. We ate in the car and as we drove, Mikie says to me, “I got all the mashed potatoes out.” I said “ohh, you got the potatoes out of the French fries?” He goes, “no, just the potatoes means it’s called a French.” RARE!

I hope you are having a nice day. Now I’m off to see what more I can do with our website. It isn’t working! I tried placing an order yesterday and it was frozen. I was so YANKED! I called Shawna and went off. But then I was able to pull it back together and we’ve been in contact with our web designer numerous times yesterday/today. Here’s to hoping they get it freaking working RIGHT. This whole web designer deal has been an uphill battle the entire time. Like Shawna said this morning, “we have all the stuff and it looks pretty, it feels like we are just playing business!” It’s true, just playing it and not running it yet without freaking huge speed bumps!

Ohh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA! And belated Happy B-day Auntie Jill!

Duct Tape?

Good afternoon! Mmmm the smell of dinner already cooking in the crockpot right after lunch is awesome! With this weather turning cooler, I love the smell of crockpot meals, candles going (granted those were going last night cause the house smelled musty) and the washing machine running (just a nice noise cause it means laundry is being cleaned)! Bean dog just stood here and whined at me til I let her out and I just spotted her in the side yard puking. Good call on her part to insist on me letting her out!

I just laid the kids all down for a nap and as much as I'd love to hear a "yeah Mom, you are right, I need a nap on days I'm not at school so I can catch up on my sleep," I'm not hearing that today. Jack is griping and moaning about having to sleep. How can you make a 5 year old nap? Perhaps duct tape!? :)

I need to call Creative Memories about installing my old paper palettes to this laptop. I've called them 3 times already cause I can't figure it out, what's a 4th call? Speaking of calls, we called a furnace dude to come this morning cause at the end of the season last year, our furnace wasn't working right. The guy came today and said there is nothing major wrong, just a cord that was loose! So he fixed it and only charged us the service call. What a blessing!

Bean dog is whining to come back in now. The animal is NUTS! I hope you have a nice Tuesday!

The Many Faces of Mikie