Water

Small hands playing with water. We love dumping water over and over so the small hands can continually play with the water. Made for a neat photo, too.


All is well here. We hung out at home all day. We got our new furniture delivered and really like it. We hated the other stuff and returned it. Shawndra went to a Pow Wow with Grandma Rhonda. They had a good time, too. I'm really loving not having to work on the weekends.

Today's Happenings

There will not be a picture today as I have been way to busy. The day started by listening to my husband blow out the driveway at 3:45am. I thought that was a bit upsurd as did the other neighbors (probably).

Then I headed in to Brookings for a half day of training for the job. The meeting was actually kind of interesting today, however, I did catch my mind wandering several times.

Then I went to Walmart to pass a few minutes before the next appointment. While there I grabbed my paycheck and looked at the schedule, which I was not happy about. I knew I was putting in my two week notice tonight, but after seeing the schedule, it made me possibly think otherwise. I called Mike and talked to him, then went on my merry way shopping. I did buy an Ipod Nano. :-)

Next, was my much needed hair appointment. My stylist and I have a terrible time trying to find a time that works for both of us. I have called and called. Today I was thankful to finally get a trim done and an eye brow wax, boy were they needing it! I even scheduled my next appointment with her, so now we have something in concrete!

Once Mike and I talked, we decided I was done at Walmart. My family is too important and I want to be home on the weekends. After having the last two weekends off, I really didn't want to start in again, so I called my boss and QUIT! Sure, I felt bad that I didn't give my notice, but I put priorities in order and family won. :-) I'm down to 1 job working 40 hours a week!!

After that I came home, checked out the mess of the house, and grabbed Shaylee to head back into Brookings. Shaylee and I had a brief talk, the typical talk we have often, about her attitude and tone of voice. She asked me if I knew why she talked back to me and I said no. She then told me it's because she's trying to make me understand something or prove her point. I told her she does it in the wrong context, with the wrong tone of voice and it doesn't get her anywhere. I catch myself thinking a lot how the teenage years will be....oh boy.

I headed to Mr. Movies and rented some movies for the weekend. I mean since there's nothing else to do now, I can actually do this stuff!! Then I came home (again) and started cooking supper. Jayden was playing peekaboo with his hands over his eyes and was being unbelievably cute.

After supper I started loading the dishwasher and picking up dirty clothes while running water for Jayden's bath. Yes, I can multitask! I gave him a bath, got him dressed and here I am, almost 8 o'clock and I haven't taken a single picture today.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day. And today was way to busy with all kinds of other stuff as you read.....if you got this far. ;-)

Harley Skeleton

I was getting kind of used to the spring like winter weather we were having and then I got smacked in the face with real winter weather again. My drive to and from work today was slightly interesting. Of course I met another plow, or actually the same plow as last time who was hugging the center line, or should I say, was cross over the center line. Needless to say, snow buried my car and I was livid. Not much I could do though. Still contemplating writing the governor.

Then on the way home I got to watch my windshield crack all the way across. That was definitely a sight to see! My big rock chip literally crawled across my windshield all the way to the other side. It went slow enough that I could watch the crack become larger, much like watching a drip of water roll down the windshield, but slower. In fact, I thought it might have been water, so I turned on the wipers, except it didn't go away. Sigh. Guess I'll be replacing the windshield next.

You gotta check out this picture below....it's from today. Neat.

I get such a kick out of this "lawn ornament". It's a skeleton on a "Harley" with a flag. It's actually pretty cool.

Star Gazing

Jayden got a new pair of sunglasses tonight. His first pair, actually! He always gets so mad when Devin gets to wear hers in the van, but he doesn't have a pair.

The girls have been dying to go star gazing so to speak. Shaylee has been learning about Orion and other stars and planets. They asked if they could go out tonight and look and we didn't care. We didn't think they'd see much since it's starting to get hazy, but Shaylee claims she spotted Orion and pointed out in detail where it was. I guess I was obviously looking the wrong direction ;-).

Joseph and Dalton

Dalton pulled a fast one at the birthday party. Just as I was snapping the picture, he popped the bunny ears up on Joseph. He laughed, right along with everyone else.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not take my almost 2 year old to Wal-Mart and listen to him throw the hugest temper tantrum while gurgling and screaming in the cart. Because I did not do such a thing, then I definitely did not chuckle as EVERY person in the store looked at him and me like I’m crazy. And when I reached the diaper aisle, I did not grab a package of pacifiers, rip them open and stuff one in his mouth right there because that would be absolutely desperate of me. Finally, I did not shake my head in disbelief when he threw it out onto the floor and I did not make the fastest get out of Wal-Mart trip in history.

We went to grandpa and grandma’s house on Tuesday night for a night of visiting with relatives who live far away and I did not warn the kids to not touch anything, there will be no kids toys, and to respect everyone’s belongings. I swear, the minute we entered the house, they all left their listening ears in the van and did not do anything I had just warned them about. While inside, I did not ever, not once give them the “look” that means death could come early because that would mean I was not in control.

I did not find myself staring awkwardly at people I do not know well, and I certainly did not pull my own teeth out in my mind trying to come up with something to talk about other than my job or the weather. Nope, not ME!

While driving home from town, I did not lose myself in complete disbelief as my sock kept twisting on my foot that when my husband honked the horn, just to see how hard he had to push, did I not jump out of my seat. And my husband did not laugh in complete hysterics at me. Immediately after jumping from my seat, I certainly did not think that somehow me moving my foot would cause the horn to honk. That would be absurd!

I did not find myself the least bit scared as I sat in an automatic carwash while the waterpressure shook my car from side to side. And I did NOT for one single minute imagine my windows or my windshield shattering and getting pressurized by the water. And then, I definitely did NOT go back through the same car wash 2 hours later with a different vehicle and have terrible visions of drowning in a car wash. I do NOT under any circumstance suffer from a bit of a phobia or anxiety when it comes to car washes.

While at an indoor water park this weekend, I did NOT like all the smiles on peoples faces as they looked at my 2 year old son. And I did NOT even pay attention one little bit when people stared at the scars on his tummy or his feeding tube. And while he was sporting his cute belly and shorts, I did NOT enjoy every single little minute of it.

And finally, I DID NOT under any circumstances get upset, frustrated, angry, or the littlest bit stressed out when Blogger wouldn't upload pictures. And when I took over 45 minutes to upload 3 pictures I did NOT feel like throwing my laptop at Blogger. Period. Nope. Not me! Oh and since I am NOT speaking about my lovely experiences on Blogger, I have yet to figure out why all of my pictures show up on my screen as links instead of pictures. That definitely does NOT puzzle me at all. And I most certainly DO NOT want to know how to fix this. :-)

Jayden Helping Out

Jayden loves to help unload the dishwasher. When he sees it's time to unload he comes over and grabs the silverware and takes it to the silverware drawyer. When he's all finished he pushes the bottom rack in and shuts the dishwasher and the silverware drawyer. How amazing is that? He's only 2 years old!!

Night at the Ramada

We celebrated Jayden's birthday this weekend by spending a night at the Ramada in Sioux Falls. The kids have been begging us to go there again, but we always find an excuse or reason not to. We finally decided it was time.

Here is Shaylee and Shawndra coming down the waterslide together. Shawndra actually caught up with Shaylee. I should mention this is the view right outside our room door!

This one might be a bit blurry, but it's so cute of them after they've "landed".

Joseph bobbing around in the hot tub. It was really busy, and there were tons of people hanging out in the waterpark area.

Devin had so much fun. She played and swam until her lips were a purple black color. She said she didn't want to go swimming anymore, took her suit off, got dressed and that was that. Well, after supper she decided she wanted to again, so back on with the suit she went.

Dalton also had a great time. He loved going down the slides and crawling around in the pool. His swim trunks always filled with air giving him a bubble in his butt.

Jayden hated the water. He spent a few minutes in it, but was more content wrapped in a towel hanging out on the side.


Today we had a bunchh of family over to celebrate Jayden's 2nd birthday. It was an awesome weekend, but we are all tired and "fighting" it. I will probably post some more pictures tomorrow. I fought with Blogger for over 40 minutes tonight trying to upload pictures.

New Furniture Upstairs

We finally got new furniture today. It was so big they couldn't get it through the door, so it came upstairs in pieces.

This is our loveseat. We put it in front of the glass showcase. The showcase is nice, but it makes me nervous with the glass on both sides, so it's nice to have something solid in front of it.

Here is the couch. I can't believe how much bigger this furniture is compared to our old cheap couch. This couch sits an entire foot in front of the end table from the wall. Our old couch sat flush with the end table. I look at this picture and it's amazing how a new couch can make an already old endtable and lamp look shabby.

This is the view going into our living room. We're down to a walk way to enter. Haha. Now I need a new entertainment center, lamps, and endtables....and that's just ONE room! Haha. I should also mention that Jayden got a new dresser. Sorry no pictures of that one.

A Picture of Pictures

I made a collage of some pictures I have at work today. These are all the kiddos I see each week. They are so cute. Of course the picture was not taken with my new camera and it's a picture of a bunch of pictures, but you get the idea. :-)

MRSA Again

I talked to the doctor today about the cultures they took on Jayden's ear. He has MRSA again in his ear. It is draining constantly and we can't seem to get it to stop. We're switching medicine for the 6th time and if this one doesn't work, then
we have to try some exotic drugs next.

I feel so bad for him that he has to suffer through this again. It's been going on for too long and we just want him to be healthy and not have to suffer with MRSA and all the medicines that go with it.

We are supposed to go to the hospital for an Upper GI on March 9th in Sioux Falls and then see the surgeon afterwards to discuss the removal of his Mic-Key button. If we don't get the MRSA under control, the surgery will not happen. Please say a prayer for him that his precious body can heal itself with the help of this new medicine.

Devin

We ventured over to Elkton tonight to visit with some of Mike's family who was home from Alaska. Of course, the kids being in an unfamiliar territory, not to mention in a home with absolutely no kids toys did not cooperate well at all. Jayden was throwing his cup, throwing figurines, trying to grab the camera, hitting, and trying to tip the chair over and that was in between his moments of tantrum throwing on the floor. Then the other two boys (must be something with boys in general) had zero listening skills which was beyond frustrating for me and had me frazzled within minutes. Of course, they thought spinning in grandpa's chair, playing with his cane, crawling under the coffee table, running and sliding on the wood floor and jumping on the couch was fun. UGH.

Anyhow, I did catch a few pictures in between trying to be the best parent I can be (cough cough). Here's a shot of Devin indulging on a cracker with meat.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT turn another year older this week. And I definitely did NOT hope for the biggest piece of Blizzard Ice Cream Cake. But when my wonderful husband dished out the biggest piece of cake to me I did NOT induldge in it. Nope, not me!!


I did NOT jump, startle, or freak out when a gigantic rock whapped my windshield at 65mph. And when I noticed how big the rock chip was I did NOT immediately start freaking out because it was in the most inconvenient place. I mean, really, a rock chip anywhere on my windshield would be better than right in front of the driver's site! And in order to take the picture, I did NOT lick the back side of the Quarter to make it stick to my windshield because that would be disgusting...definitely NOT something I would do.


After putting on a nice clean pair of jammies and sitting down to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks with my family, I did NOT fly out of the chair when my butt got wet. That would be far to fast moving of me and certainly NOT something I am capable of. Thanks to my almost 2 year old, I did NOT laugh when he looked at me with a toothy grin and I did NOT let out one little giggle.

I did NOT gag at the aroma coming from my almost 2 year olds diaper this week, due to his 5th round of antibiotics. Nope, not me!

There you have it, I hope you enjoyed!

Sunday

We've had a pretty good day today so far. We went to church this morning, followed by a Hy-Vee run where I enjoyed a blended coffee. :-) Then we went to Rude's and purchased our new furniture and a dresser for Jayden. It won't be delivered until Friday. (certain delivery drivers were requested NOT to be involved) Kathy will understand that comment. It was wrote on our ticket, so we'll see how that goes.

We came home and grilled brats. Man I forgot how much I liked grilled food. I have to say, Mike sure can grill some good food. It ended up being a late lunch, so I'm not sure what we'll end up eating for supper....hopefully something small and easy.

We even went out and cleaned out the vehicles. Now if I could only find the air fresheners, life would be perfect. I love the Pears air freshener.

Don't drool over the brats!

Shawndra's First Game

Shawndra had her first basketball game today. She has only had 1 1/2 practices. The score was 32 to 3. Needless to say, I think we needed a few more practices. Shawndra had fun.

I actually got to stay home today until I had to work at Walmart tonight. That was nice for a change. Devin actually slept until 11:30. I went in and checked on her several times, but she didn't have a fever, so I just let her sleep. She actually woke up at 8am and shut her door to go back to sleep. She's had a nasty cough, plus she finished antibiotics last weekend.

Jayden still has draining ears, runny nose, and a nasty cough, plus he's not eating well. That's been going on for awhile now. Mike and I took both him and Devin to the doctor. Devin has ear infection and Jayden, who knows. The doctor switched his meds and took a culture of his ear to see what type of growth becomes of it. Pray it's not MRSA. He's becoming immune to so many medicines, it's crazy to even come up with another one. We're hoping he doesn't end up needed IV antibiotics.

I'm also sick, again. I chalk it up to my job. I work with 10 families and the past couple weeks I think over half of them have been sick. Hand-washing only goes so far to cut the germs and I don't always have access to a sink right away. I'm paying the price now.

I honestly didn't take hard any pictures today. I was busy cleaning and doing other things. I did try to get a picture of Jayden when he had the cookie hanging out of his mouth, but that didn't work. Once he noticed I had the camera out he started posing. Here's a cute shot I got of him.

New Color of Love

Why is the new color of love Green? I'm making cookies for Shawndra's Valentine's Day party and the cookies are green. When I think of green, I think St. Patty's Day, not Valentine's Day. But Walmart doesn't have any pink, white, and red M&M's. Oh well, I know the kids won't care.

Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday and it was a good day. We had my favorite supper, which is bbq's, chips and dip, and jello. It's so simple and the kids love it too. Then we had a Blizzard Cake that Mike brought home. He's so sweet. And after that I got to open my present. (I'd only been dropping hints for 6 months how bad I wanted one!) I have to say he did a good job this year!



And for those who still don't know what it is (which I hope everyone does), it's a Blue Tooth Head Set for my phone. It will be very handy for my drives to and from work. I hate holding my phone up.

Ugly Addition

I had a not so great trip to Madison this morning. It first started with a semi-truck that I met who threw a rock at my windshield and left one heck of a mark. Then about 2 miles down the road I met a snow plow driving down the center line. Apparently he was sanding, which was surprising enough since the road was wet and it was raining. Anyhow, it was dark and I met him head on and I didn't realize he was in the center line, so I darn near ran right into the side of his plow. After the fact, I was upset because he was in my lane, in the dark. I firmly believe the plows need to move over for oncoming traffic in the dark! Daylight is different because we can see where they are, but DARK is a different story. I'm contemplating writing a letter to the govenor....we'll see if I simmer down.

And yes, that is a Quarter next to the rock chip, which is right in my line of sight.

Rain

What's the significance of today? What really makes today important? Well today waas the first rainy day of the year! And it sure melted a lot of snow. I'm still hoping for a good thunderstorm, but who knows if that will come, yet. I took this picture of a drop of water dripping from the roof.

What are you doing over there? I'm not so sure I want to see.

A Day With The Lesnars, Inventorying Personal Losses

I spent the day out with the Lesnars, helping them inventory all of their losses from the fire. It turned out to be a good day, with a good handful of people to help. However, with the broken windows and holes in the walls, we all were very very cold by the time we were done.

This was a beautiful display in Grace's room, now only to be destroyed by fire and smoke.

A shot of the boys room after we finished with the inventory in the other rooms. Sadly, this room will have to be done through memory, as everything was destroyed.

Kathy and I stopping for a posed shot, shortly before quitting. A picture we will remember for ever. (Kind of like the mudding pictures.)

Nicki, taking a break from the inventory to model a very sporty jock strap. Doesn't she look great?

And this picture was just too cute. This was the doll crib I gave to Grace last year. It's so beautiful and fun for her to play with. Kathy and I thought it was quite funny that the beautiful crib had poor Ugly Shrek inside it. :-)

Sound asleep in his crib. He's so sweet. I honestly didn't get any pictures taken today because I worked all day in Madison and then all evening in Brookings at Wal-Mart. So I came home and thought, what am I going to take a picture of? Well, Jayden happened to sigh, so that triggered the thought.

Joseph and Dalton headed out with grandpa and grandma Thielen to go to Minnesota for the weekend. It's my nephew's 1st birthday party. Shawndra went to a birthday party tonight. The rest of the clan came and said hi to me at Wal-Mart. Kind of sad when your family has to come there to say hi.

Jayden is turning 2 in two weeks! Where has the time gone?

Shots Thru The Tree

Both of these pictures come from the pine tree in my front yard.

Icky, Sick, Disgusting Spider

I went to sit on the toilet in the bathroom at my office and this stupid disgusting gross bug, which my husband calls a spider was directly in front of me. I still shudder when i see it. It's front legs or back, whichever they were were over 2 inches long. What the heck kind of spider looks like this!!!?? YUCK! Still creeps me out.

Mileage

Found myself watching my odometer very closely on the way to work. I knew I was gonna hit this cool number. I even pulled over to make sure I didn't miss the opportunity to take a picture.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT find myself in a situation at Wal-Mart where the customers were like "insects coming out of the woodwork on a hot sunny day" and my fellow co-workers did not start referring to them as "insects" for the rest of the day. I would NOT have done something so silly as that.

I also did NOT drive through 15 inches of deep water, just to see if I could make it to the other side, rather than go the long way around to get home. And I did NOT take any pictures of the deep water before taking on this adventure.


While on a shopping trip in Sioux Falls, I definitely did NOT talk to people who were in their vehicles with their windows down while stopped at stop lights and I obviously did NOT make them laugh.

I did NOT crack up at someone who put their license tags on sideways on their vehicle and I really really really didn't take a picture of it. Hint...scroll down to NOT see what I'm talking about.

And finally, I did NOT wake up with a tongue and mouth so dry it felt like sandpaper that made my husband tell me I had a cat tongue because that would just be NOT perfect like I so am NOT.

My beautiful daughter

Here's a picture of Shaylee tonight. She has the most perfect face and the the most amazing eyes. I love her.


Asking for prayers for my friend, whose house was involved in a bad fire today.

Snow Chair

The snowman that Dalton made. Shawndra gave it hair.

Shawndra making her snowchair.

And finally sitting in it.