Good Time

A good time was had by all this Halloween.
We started the afternoon off by doing some errands in town. I had to go to K-Mart to pick up some scripts and try to find Bre a crown to go with her costume. She already has a collection of crowns but they are all broken and won't stay on her head for long. Next we went to Hibbett's Sports and JCP looking for basketball shoes for Marcus. We also grabbed our last meal of actual food for the day (sorry I don't count candy as real food).
Bre wore her princess costume during it all. I can not begin to say how many times we heard "ahh she is so cute". Of course she ate all the attention up.
Our first stop for candy was dad and Shirley's house. There Marcus changed into his costume for the night. I can not say it enough...him in this costume is the one of the funniest things if not the funniest, I have ever seen. More on that in a minute.
Many roads are flooded from all the heavy rains this week. I hated it but I didn't feel safe driving down the two gravel roads to get to great grandma's and Uncle Charles's. Sorry Joey, I know you always want them to go but the roads were covered in water. We did make it to MaryLou and Jonathan's though.
Next we stopped at a local convenience store. OMG it was so funny watching Marcus try to fit in through the door. Once inside the lady that owns the place busted out laughing and said "I have to start bringing a camera in here". Marcus then attempted to turn around and knocked over a whole display of chips. He kept saying "mom everyone is laughing at me". I asked him what in the world he expected wearing that, for people to be scared? He just smiled and embraced his size for the night.
We then went to meet Marcus's friends at Sammy's. We wanted the 'gang' to get together this year since it may very well be the last year that they all go trick-or-treating. Next year they will be in Jr. High and not want to be our little boys anymore. So Sammy, Cody, Greg, and Marcus piled in the back of Gary's truck for the night.

This post is interrupted by the Emergency Broadcast System.....Dylan called to say he is OK now but he and his car were floating earlier. There seems to be some contact with the road again at this time.
I repeat I am too young to be the mother of a 16 year old!!!
Long story short my oldest was out cruising the gravels and thought, yes thought, he could make it through the water over the road. Guess what? He couldn't! At this present time Jonathan is in the driver's seat with Dylan riding shotgun while the car is being pulled backwards through the flooded road cause it is too deep to pull it on through the other way.
I am sitting here laughing cause, well what else can I do? It is either laugh or cry and I choose laughter.

Update....as if anyone is still up reading at this time of night.
Dylan is home (his car is not) and so are his two hostages, I mean passengers. They are all safe and sound and I am pleased to announce the glow sticks around their necks remained unharmed despite the flood waters (I do have a sick sense of humor I know).
I am too tired and hysterical to go into major details I will just say that the water was deep enough that Jonathan had to dump out his KNEE high rubber boots when he was done with the rescue.
I am going to bed and try to chill out enough to fall asleep. Of course Bre will be up early but that isn't my problem. Oh no, that is Dylan's problem cause he will be the one watching her while I sleep in the morning. Yep the punishment has already started.

Happy Halloween 2009

It's going to be a long day around here. I have a princess who is dying to get into character and go round up some candy. All I keep hearing is "this is gonna take all day". Translation....I don't want to wait for this evening to go trick-or-treating, I want to go NOW!

It should be an interesting night that is for sure. It is 'gonna take all night' for Marcus to get in and out of the Jeep wearing his inflatable Sumo wrestler costume! I can just look at him in it and crack up.

I am also scared, paranoid, something like that. This is Dylan's first Halloween that he can drive. The thought of him being out with friends on this night of tricking makes me break out in a cold sweat. All I can do is say my little prayer to protect him like I do every time he pulls out of the driveway.

The rain store has been located

Our friend Christy found the 'Rain Store' the other day and came back with these cute Hello Kitty rain boots. Yeah Christy!

Ever have one of those days?

You know the type I mean. I wished today was over about an hour after it began.

Let me try to think of some highlights....

The day started off by trying to track down Bre's shot record. Her school did not have a copy of it and they had to have it by Friday. If not then she was not going to be able to return until it was in her file. Sounds like no big deal except for one thing, the lawyer who we hired to take care of her re adoption had it buried in a stack of Chinese paperwork. Once it was located I went by to pick it up. One huge problem though, nothing had been written on her American shot record. Her Chinese record was full of marks but not all had been translated.
When we first brought her back to the States we had blood work done on her to make sure she had been vaccinated and her shots were all up to date. Apparently the nurse had failed to record the results on her new shot record. This left me and the new nurse trying to decipher what she had had and what she hadn't. It did not turn out good for Bre and she had to get a DTP booster.
Now this next part had me laughing and crying at the same time.
When she saw the needle she said, and I quote, "Oh. My. God!" Once the needle went in she screamed "It hurts, it really hurts bad", while huge tears streamed down her face.
At one point this evening she wouldn't even walk cause of the pain but thank goodness for Motrin. She is still complaining some but is up and moving.
Marcus has been having chest pains. My first thought was he has pneumonia again but he said it wasn't his lungs. His chest actually hurt and his heart feels like it is beating too fast.
You got to be kidding me. Surely this kid is not that unlucky to also have heart problems. Anyway the doctor checked him out today and done a couple of tests which came back ok. He said if he keeps complaining then he will refer him to a cardiologist. Sigh.....
My bad 'day' actually started last night when I discovered a nest full of nits on one of the kid's heads. Oh yeah, I'm talking about good old fashioned head lice! I thought well at least I caught it before all 3 got it. While at the doctor's this morning he wrote me a script for medicine to treat it.
I then spent the afternoon de-bugging. I swear I picked nits off for around 2 hours! Anyone who has ever dealt with the little suckers know that it is not easy to get them off. When a lice lays eggs they are actually 'glued' on by some type of super bug glue. It is a very tedious and time consuming task.
Anyway I thought I had it licked when I decided to re check the other 2 kids just to be on the safe side. Of course one of them had it too. Back off to the pharmacy to pick up another
prescription of the stinky concoction to rub all over their head. Not to mention busting my good mommy bubble when I had to call my MIL to ask her to come down and check my head to make sure I was bug free (I am BTW).

So to recap.....
-Had to locate a shot record in a pile of Chinese paperwork
-tried to translate the names of shots that were written in Chinese language characters
-got to hold down a screaming 4 year old so she can get a vaccine
-Oh I just remembered I also had to hold her down so the lab tech could swab her nose to test for the flu since she has been running a fever-she is flu free.
-rub stinky lice medicine into a child's head
-hand pick nits off of said child's head for 2 straight hours
-check other kid's heads again
-back to pharmacy for another bottle of stinky lice medicine
-repeat the application process
-wash and dry all and any items that I can fit in the washer or dryer
-get MIL to pick through my own hair looking for bugs

I am off to ignore the phone and all three kids long enough for a bubble bath.

maybe part 3

Maybe she isn't sick?? Maybe she is and just chooses to run circles around the house with nothing on but a shirt wrapped around her waist.

Is she sick or is she not? I give up trying to figure it out.

maybe part 2

Maybe I was wrong and she really is sick.

I got a call from preschool about an hour or two after it started. She had a fever of 100 and was feeling bad again.

maybe ...

Maybe Bre just didn't want to go to school.
She finally got up around 9:30 bouncing. No signs of illness.

Will it ever end?

Dylan came home at 9 PM Saturday night sick. I knew he didn't feel good when he cut his running around time short. He is still feeling bad despite taking antibiotics.
Now the child who hardly ever gets sick, is sick.
I went in to wake her up this morning which should have been my first clue something was wrong cause this girl has always been an early riser. As I was rubbing her head telling her it was time to get up and get ready for school she told me something I have never heard come out of her mouth before...."Mommy I don't want to go to school, I want to stay home".
Oh no! She has never wanted to stay home instead of going to school before.
I couldn't get much information out of her, just she didn't feel good. So I tucked the covers around her neck and turned on her music and she rolled over and went back to sleep. It is now almost a quarter to nine and she is still asleep. This is definitely a record for her.
Once she gets up I will check her over and decide if a visit to the doctor is on the agenda for today.

Over the rainbow

Bre-Mommy have you got me any rain boots yet?
me-no I haven't found any
Bre-You have to go to the Rain Store. Do you know where it is at?
me-no I don't
Bre-Well you go over the rainbow, up the mountain and across the troll bridge. That is how you get to the Rain Store.
me-Oh, OK.
Bre-They also have rain clothes there. You know a slicker (where did she hear that word?)
me-I'll keep looking.

This girl is so entertaining!

Right now she is enjoying all her wonderful treasures from the Dollar Store. After we went out for breakfast this morning I took her shopping there. She loved it and I had to really watch what all she was throwing in the cart. Hopefully it will keep her busy this weekend.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Rain, rain go away. That is what Bre was singing once again this morning. She hates to wake up to rain cause she knows it means a whole day stuck inside and she is definitely an outside girl.

Panda Girl

Bre wanted me to take a picture of her panda clothes, so here they are.

And the mystery disease is......maybe

http://stephdpenn.livejournal.com/63679.html

http://stephdpenn.livejournal.com/63906.html

Sick again

Marcus is sick, again. So is Dylan.....ahhhhh!

I took Marcus to the doctor yesterday cause he was coughing so bad he was throwing up. His doc couldn't really find anything wrong with him. He prescribed a cough syrup and anti-nausea medicine. The kid goes right from one illness to another. I swear there was not even a day in between his stomach virus and this new sickness. I don't know what to do with him.

Open Your Mouth

Yesterday after dad left Bre and headed home she came up to me and demanded that I open my mouth. I looked at her like she was crazy so she repeated it "open your mouth". So I done as I was told. She shook her head and said "no, they don't come out". I am sitting there thinking what the ??? so I asked her what she meant. Her response made me chuckle...."Papa's come out, mine and yours don't. His doctor made his to where they come out". She was talking about dad's new set of teeth! Thankfully he found it as funny as I did when I told him about it later.

Pink Hair Fairy

Dad brought Bre home after church this morning. She was a happy little girl saying how much fun she had until.....she realized that she had left a new prized possession behind at grandpa's house.

One of Dylan's friends gave her an old, non-working IPod yesterday that she excitedly carried around saying it was her new phone. Probably in the haste of getting ready this morning she must have forgotten it.

She started crying those real big tears. You know the kind that just tugs at your heart. So I got out my emergency bag of surprises. In it there was a headband with pink hair attached, fairy wings, and a new Care Bear coloring book. All of it came from the Dollar Tree that I picked up earlier last week. I knew it would come in handy on a rainy, cold day or in a situation such as this.

Here she is in her costume that she is calling her "pink hair fairy".

Just My Luck

Dylan is out, Marcus is staying the night with a friend and Bre is at dad and Shirley's. I can't believe that this is my second night in a row to have no kids. It is just my luck though to be hurting from the neck down to my ankles. That is definitely not my idea of how to spend a fun weekend!
My pain had been just in my back but thanks to the torture I went through yesterday it is now all over. Again just my luck that a procedure that is suppose to make things better only made it worse instead.
Enough griping for now, time to brag on my young guys for a minute.
These boys are amazing! Yes they drive me crazy at times but I couldn't ask for two better sons. They both are so compassionate and caring. I honest to God don't know what I would do without them. Every day they help me out with household chores and daily living. They will only go off with their friends after they know Bre and I are taken care of and everything that needed to be done is done. I am one proud momma.

Packed and Ready to Go

Lucky for me Bre has been on the go this weekend. Here she is with her princess bag packed and ready to stay the night at grandma's apartment. Then today my dad came down to check on me and help out some and she wanted to go home with him for the night. She couldn't have picked a better time to decide to run around.

no wonder it hurt

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Can you help?

*Bre was in foster care through this organization and we are convinced the care and love she got from her foster family was key in her development and ability to bond with us. We continue to sponor a child in need and it is a wonderful feeling. We get updates and pictures of 'our' baby and it is amazing how much each one changes once they leave the orphange and enter foster care. This is truly a great cause.*

Dear Joe & Stephanie,
Thank you for supporting orphans in their time of need. Since we began Grace & Hope for Children in 2004, the generous contributions of donors like you have placed or supported over 1,500 children in foster care.

In the days before Christmas, it is our goal to sponsor 50 new children in foster care. Sponsorship will change the lives of the children when they need it most. You can sponsor a child now! Click here to see children who are waiting for an opportunity to live in a home.

Sponsor a Child Now

Sponsorship gives institutionalized children the opportunity to grow and develop in the arms of loving families. Your sponsorship also gives children recognition and value. Earlier this year a child named Emily was returned to an orphanage after being in foster care for years. Emily has Down Syndrome and her smile and joy were all but lost when she was returned. The orphanage was reluctant to place her in foster care again. Because of a donor like you, the orphanage was persuaded to place Emily in another foster home, giving her a new chance.

Please consider giving an orphaned child a "home" for Christmas. You can Sponsor a waiting child or make a Contribution to Our Work. The China staff and volunteers work tirelessly to bring Grace and Hope to orphans in need. See how we all work together to make a difference in our latest video.

Thank you for making a difference in the lives of children.

Faithfully,
Xiao Xiao



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Now that's pain!

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Apple of my eye

Bre wore this outfit the other day and got so many comments on it. These pictures don't do it justice, it is adorable on. It's from Gymboree (of course) and has an all over apple print. The tights have apples down the side of the legs even though you can't see it here. Ruby red sparkle shoes pulled it all together.

I love shopping for a little girl as much as I always thought I would. I do know my time is limited though as she is a very strong headed, independent little girl. It is only a matter of time when my opinion will no longer be valued and her fashion choices will be 100% her own. Till then I am going to enjoy every minute!

Marcus is sick, again

I had hardly been home an hour this morning from taking Marcus to school when the phone rang. It was the school nurse and Marcus was throwing up and just felt like crud. So off I go to pick him up. Almost positive it isn't the flu but some stomach virus instead. The really bad thing is that he has already missed so many days this year cause of various infections including pneumonia and all his flare ups with his fibro. Of course I take him to the doctor when needed but like today I feel it is a 24-48 hour bug that will resolve on it's own and antibiotics would be useless. I am afraid I probably need to schedule a chat with the principle and see where we stand on his absences and what I need to do. If he keeps on getting ill I will take him back to an immune specialist in St. Louis. He had done so well for a few years but the last couple of years have been rough again.

On a brighter note here are some pics from this morning of Bre showing off her Halloween clothes. I picked it up last year on clearance along with the black cat and ghost pony tail holders. She loved that her shirt and socks lit up. I told her she was dressed 'spooky' to which she corrected me and told me she was 'Halloweeny' instead.

Oh Yeah!

Celebrate, school is back in session!

Don't get me wrong-I love my kids with all my heart and soul but man oh man was I ever happy to say goodbye for the day this morning.

It's weird too cause they can be out for summer vacation and I don't think much of it. I guess because we have baseball games to play and they have friends coming and going. But being out cause of illness was rough. Then add the days of non-stop rain and that made it even worse. Their boredom equaled my misery but hopefully things are back to as normal as they get around here.

More Compromising

Wednesday on a whim I decided to take the kids to get their pictures taken. Sounds simple enough, right? Not when you have a sixteen year old wearing a Pantera shirt that read "Cowboys from Hell" that day. I knew that it was not going to be an easy thing to do to get him to dress in something appropriate. I decided it was best to try and compromise instead. I took him to JC Penney's and we agreed on the only shirt that we could. I then bought another one in brown for Marcus. I didn't pick Bre up anything cause I knew she had all kinds of new clothes in her closet that hadn't even been worn yet and surely I could find something that wouldn't clash too bad.
So there they are sitting on their stools waiting to get their picture taken and the photographer just couldn't stand it anymore after a couple of clicks. She walks over to Dylan and swipes his hair out of his eye. Now this is the eye that we hardly ever see because there is always a chunk of black hair covering it up. I snickered and told him once again to compromise by at least wiping some of it back. He did and all was going well till she went to take a picture of Dylan by himself. She had him to put his hand under his chin. When he did she immediately noticed his thumb sticking through a hole in the cuff of his new shirt (he cuts a hole for his thumb through every long sleeve shirt that he gets). She sighs and says "oh my goodness", walks over and pulls his thumb back through the hole. At this point I lost it and started laughing.
People crack me up. It is just hair, it is just a hole in his cuff. There are way worse things he could be doing. He will eventually cut his hair one day and as far as the shirt goes oh well, it is just a piece of clothing. If these were the biggest issues we faced raising our kids then we would be dang lucky. Of course I would rather him have a nice short haircut in his natural color and wearing a button up polo but that wouldn't be Dylan. He would be miserable and that in turn would make me miserable. There are just bigger things going on in the world other than long hair and a holey shirt.

Blur

If these pictures look blurry it is because Bre has been nothing but a blur of activity!

I grabbed the camera and took these as she was rocking out to Yo Gabba Gabba. She was a dance machine from the top of her head down to her pink sparkly shoes.

Right after this I cried Uncle and took her and Marcus to a movie, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. Marcus was bored beyond belief but Bre enjoyed it.

Please, please let school be back in for Monday.

Looking up at Halloween decorations

Please Read

http://watchingthewaters.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/family-needed/

The above is a link to a blog that I just started reading when I heard of their situation on an adoption forum that I visit sometimes.
I can not imagine being in their shoes right now, not for a moment. Their story only reminds me how truly blessed we have been with adopting Bre.
The mother is asking all who have a blog to post a link to her site with the hopes that somewhere out there there is someone who might be able to step up and make this adorable boy their son.

Welcome to the Crazy House

OMG! These kids are driving me nuts!

Not only are they home from school because it remains closed due to illness but it has rained for two days now with no signs of stopping. Plus my MRI and doctor appointment were cancelled so we have went nowhere since Wednesday. All three of them are stuck in the house and bouncing off the freaking walls.

Here are some pictures from today that shows a very, very small amount of the craziness going on.

What do you do?

What do you do when your darling daughter looks up at you with 'those' eyes and says in her sweetest voice "Mommy, I don't have one of those and it is sooooo pretty"?

Of course you buy it for her even though it is a pink poodle purse that is not on sale and that she has zero use for considering all those other purses that have been banished to the bottom of the toy box.

This pink pup even made it into the photo session that was carried out later on the same day. More on that later but for now I will just say that Dylan isn't very photogenic these days.

Up a tree, cat tree that is

Brown Box Clothes

Bre was very excited the other evening when the UPS truck delivered a box full of new Gymboree clothing for her. She had to help take each piece out of it's plastic bag and she oohed and ahhed over every item. So it was no surprise, yet still cute, when she saw the order I had just placed again last night. In a high pitched excited voice she exclaimed "mommy it makes me so happy when the truck brings me new clothes in the brown box!".
Nope, she isn't spoiled at all!

The Past Month

Geez, I went almost a week without posting. We are all still kicking, just been occupied I guess.

Joey left around noon to go back to Brazil. Some months it seems like he has been home for weeks then other months the time flies by. This was one of those months. It feels like I just turned around and it was time for him to leave.
He got a lot accomplished while home this time though. He took the kids camping for a couple of days much to Bre's delight. The garage also got cleaned out, the yard mowed, and the pool covered for the winter. I even have screens on the windows now! This is huge cause we have lived here for two and a half years and most of the windows were still without screens. I guess I kind of forced him into doing this chore. I told him I had been patient but time was about up, he could even do it himself or I would handle it once he left. That means I would hire someone to do it and there would be a big dent in the checking account to show for it. Needless to say I am sitting here right now enjoying the cool, fresh air that is coming in through the newly screened living room window.
Of course Joey has also had to handle most of the household chores too. He is so patient and easy going with me being sick (more about that on my private journal). He will do around outside, take off to shuffle a kid to an appointment then come back and fix them dinner. I couldn't ask for anything more in this area.
It figures that when he is scheduled to leave they let out school for the rest of the week.
Most of the older day care part of Bre's school is sick and Marcus's school has been hit hard too by the swine flu and regular flu. How in the world neither one of the kids have not gotten it is a total mystery to me. I am so paranoid that Marcus will catch it but so far so good. Joey took him on Friday to get a flu (regular) shot as well as a pneumonia and meningitis shot. I felt by him already having had pneumonia this year it was a good idea to get vaccinated just like he used to when he was younger and so sick.
I have spent a good bit of time Christmas shopping. I know it is only the start of October but anyone who knows me knows how much I hate to shop once the huge crowds come out for the season. By that time of the year I like to be completely done so I can sit back and laugh at all the fuss going on.
I think we are done with Bre's. Instead of a bunch of toys which she does not need, we decided to go with a new TV and DVD player. Of course they are both in a pink princess style. Who knew they made TVs with a golden crown on top or a pretty pink DVD player?
As for the boys, they are proving to be more difficult to buy for. Neither one of them buys or plays video games anymore. Everything they do is done online so that greatly reduces what I can purchase for them. With Dylan doing home schooling now he doesn't need a bunch of new clothes cause most days he doesn't get out of his sleeping pants. Then I feel like I have bought enough baseball and Cardinal stuff in the past for Marcus that we could start our own museum. Buying for them this year is definitely not as easy as shopping for Bre is. Of course according to her she wants EVERYTHING and says just that!
Dylan has a dentist appointment tomorrow morning and then I have appointments Thursday and Friday. Tomorrow is no biggie, I will just take Bre with us. Dad is going to babysit then the other two days so Dylan doesn't have to shoulder all the responsibility. I just find it amusing that I schedule my visits early in the day so I will be home in time to pick the kids up from school and now both are out for the rest of the week. Oh well, you can't time everything perfect.

Bre and her tattos

Poggie Lovin