Goodbye November, Hello December

Thankfully November is almost over. Hoping December is a much better month for us. November was full of germs for us. First Arianna, then Makenzi, then Scott and I, and then Braxton. We all had different symptoms but definitely all had the same bug. Thanks to the piggy flu.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family though. Scott came home on Wednesday and got a bunch of stuff done around the house. On Thursday he got up and went bird hunting with my dad, brothers and 14 year old nephew. They do this every year and had a good time. When the kids woke up we headed over to my mom's house to help her prepare for our dinner. Everybody made it this year which was a miracle with all the sickies that everybody had. We played cards, the kids played together and just had an all around good time.

At 4 we left there and headed to St. Louis, MI to see Scott's family. We had a big dinner with them as well. It was nice to see everybody again since we haven't seen his siblings since this summer and some since January! We hadn't seen his parents since October. Braxton had a blast with Annabelle, he still talks about her daily. Kenzi had a lot of fun playing Rummy Cube with Uncle Eddie, Aunt Natalie, Uncle Joe, and her daddy! She is really excited to go back and see everybody at Christmas time. I think we are going to have to make an extra trip out her in a couple weeks...she wants to see them for her birthday!

I can't wait to get the next couple weeks over with! Finals for this semester so I can then have a 4 week break! It is desperately needed! I just finished my 7 page Culture paper...thanks to Kat and Cris! Colombia and Chile are very amazing cultures!

Some things our family is thankful this year:

~ We have a warm house with new windows, siding, foam board, and new plaster going up in the dining and bathroom.
~ My husband has a very good job.
~ Our children are amazing.
~ Our parents and siblings are wonderful and fun to hang out with. That we all have children close in age so they can play and have a great time together.
~ That we have 2 reliable vehicles.

There are many more but it is time to relax for the night and enjoy some peace and quiet!

What a Month

Man November has been a rough month at our house! I am ready for summer already.

The beginning of November I got a speeding ticket :( . That was a bad day all around. Scott was involved in an accident that day as well...thanks to his student driver and the driver of the other vehicle. The other driver was found at the most fault so a ticket was avoided...thank you State Troopers. This was especially good since a month ago Scott received a speeding ticket in Lansing while driving the semi. Driver's legal fought that for him since his cruise was set and he was going down a hill when he was clocked. Scott won so he didn't get any points! I have decided that I need a Driver's Legal Plan so if I get pulled over they can fight it and win so I won't get points on my license.

Last Monday when Kenzi got off the bus I knew she wasn't feeling well. She had a fever and a cough that she had had for over 10 days already. We headed to Urgent Care in Frankenmuth. Her ears, lungs, and throat all looked good so they ruled it viral with 99% certainty it was H1N1. Thankfully she had a short week at school anyways so she only missed 2 days but with the 2 days in October she is up to 4 already. She got lots of rest and fluids and quickly recovered but never fully bounced back. She started complaining of an earache so Friday we took her into the pediatrician. Her right ear was severely infected so she was put on antibiotics. Thankfully she is back to school this week and I am praying she stays healthy.

Braxton got to bird "hunting" with my dad one day. They took my dads new dog Gator out in the woods to run off some energy. Braxton was so excited he got to go hunting for the day! Braxton is also loving this time of year because all the combines are running. Every day he wakes up he ask if it is still harvest time! He is definitely going to be a farmer when he gets older.

I am ready for the germs to cease and summer weather. It is going to be a long winter I am afraid but I have the house stocked with vinegar, motrin, tylenol, soup, crackers, tissues and a puke bucket. Praying we stay healthy for the rest of the winter!

Annual Shopping Trip

Every year the girls in our family go shopping for the day. We plan for weeks. We look through the ads, make our lists, and get all excited. Saturday morning came and we met at my moms' house (my 2 sister in laws and myself). We headed out around 845 and headed towards Saginaw. We went to Kmart, Toys R Us, Game Stop, Joann's, Target, Gander Mountain, JcPenney, Meijer, and Walmart. We were gone a total of 17 hours. We had many things go wrong during our trip this year. At every store we had something hold us. We got some great deals as well though. We had a lot of fun. I am still shocked that we didn't make it home until 215 this morning though. I felt like my head hit the pillow and we had to get up already to head to a meeting we had scheduled this morning. My Christmas shopping is almost completely done though. Just a few small things that I need to pick up and I will be ready for the holidays.

Crazy Things happen

Have you ever had something happen that you weren't real sure how it unfolded that way?

This morning we were running late (nothing new lately) and Braxton was giving me a hard time. I pulled out of the garage and halfway down our driveway and he informed me he couldn't get buckled. I stopped the van, unlocked the doors and jumped out of the van. I left the driver door open and went around the front of the van. I reached the sliding door to get to Braxton and when I grabbed the handle the van started to roll backwards. I knew there were cars coming from both directions and I ran around the van and was able to jump in and slam on the brakes just as the van was at the end of the driveway. All I could think about was how Braxton was not buckled and it was going to be bad if the van was hit by a car or hit the ditch across the road. Thankfully I left the door open so I could just jump back in otherwise it would have been worse. Braxton was in a panic, screaming for me to stop the van and Little miss Ahna had no clue thank goodness. Needless to say I forgot to put the van in park...duh. I am still stunned that the van never moved until I got all the way around it. I am just thankful that it worked out well but man it made my heart stop.

Craptastic Week

This week was a rough one in our house. Sunday night Arianna woke up with a fever around 11pm. My first thought was an ear infection since she had just come off an antibiotic the night before. On Monday I figured I should take her in because she was still running the fever and was digging/rubbing at her ears. We had a 4:20 appointment and the waiting room was overflowing. We were in the standing room only category. I tried to stay far away from everybody else because I didn't want anything else. We finally got back to the room at 445. They took her temp and it was 104.7 Lots of nurses entered the room with cool wash cloths, motrin, tylenol and thermometers. The doctor finally came in and her ears were clear, throat looked good. They swabbed for Influenza A and B..both were negative. They decided to do a blood test and a urine test. At 600 they drew the blood test (CBC) and a blood culture. They tried to get a urine sample but Ahna was refusing to drink anything so she wouldn't pee. We came home with the bag. I took her sample in on Tuesday...of course on the way I got pulled over by a cop and received a ticket...that really helped top my day off. She has to redo the urine sample because she had blood in her urine as well as sugar. That has been quite the process in itself.

Now Makenzi is home sick today. She is complaining of a tummy ache and headache. No other symptoms though. I guess time will tell.

I tried registering for my winter semester classes but the classes I need are waitlisted. I really wish Delta offered more classes in the high demand fields. A Math class should not be waitlisted.

Family Update!

Scott~ is doing very well. He is loving his job which is great. He is still driving for Werner Enterprises and doing training for them. He has his stable run from London, OH to Lansing, MI to Grand Rapids, MI back to London, OH every day. He has been now taking his break in Lansing, MI and working during the day with the guy that trained Scott at Werner. This guy owns his own business where he purchases houses, remodels them, and then rents them out. Scott has been helping with remodeling, cleaning etc for the last few weeks. He enjoys this. It keeps him active during the day instead of sitting around bored in the semi, plus it gives him more experience in this field which he enjoys.

Me~ I am doing well. School is going very well. I have thankfully fallen into a routine with school work so that is helpful. I really enjoy my communications class, government is boring as it always was and psychology is interesting but requires way to much time and work in my opinion. Oh well I gotta get it done now so I don't have to redo it later. I am staying busy with the kids as well.

Makenzi~ is loving kindergarten. She has informed me that the teacher says that she will be reading by Christmas time. That is so shocking to me but I am excited to see Kenzi learn to read. I guess Santa needs to bring some early reader books. Any suggestions? Kenzi has started writing sentences the last week or so. They are silly sentences but sentences none the less. I am a cat. I am a dog. I am a mom. I am a dad. She is even starting to sound words out and write them like cat, bat, sat, man, ran, can, etc. It is so exciting to watch her do all of this stuff.

Braxton~ is enjoying school but never wants to go until we get there. We went on a field trip on Tuesday to the Fire Department. That was fun. We walked 3 blocks with 19 preschoolers (age 3-5). They all did extremely well. They got to see a fire fighter dressed in all of his gear, sit in a couple different fire trucks, got to spray water out of a fire house. They had a really good time. Next week they are going to Leaman's Greenapple Barn. I am excited to go with him on that trip as well. Hopefully we get a nice day.

Arianna~ is growing up so fast. I miss that little baby but enjoy watching her do lots of new stuff. She can now go up and down the stairs. Going down still requires some close observation and always being ready to catch her. She is getting good at following one step directions. She loves to get her shoes, her coat, her blanket, throw her diaper away. She is starting to really talk now too. She says momma, dadda, hi, yes, no, uh oh. Just last week we couldn't really get her to say anything so this is major improvement. We have decided that she says momma and dadda a lot more now because she gets left behind more than she used to. When we come home she runs to us saying momma or dadda and raising her arms to be picked up.

Success!

Well after a year of trying to potty train the boy we have success! He has been pee trained for a few months but not until I fully took the pull ups away did it really happen. That was a huge step since he was still pooping his pants every day. I was at a loss with him. He could hold it for several days and the second we forgot to watch him he would sneak off and do it. I was at a breaking point thinking he would be graduating high school still pooping his pants.

Last Friday my mom had Braxton for the day and he pooped his pants at her house. The war was on because she had had it and we had discussed it and knew we didn't have any more options. I told her I was willing to try anything. She gave him one swat on the butt, made him clean out his own pants and his butt, plus he got a time out and he had to come home. I wasn't so sure it would work but I knew I had to give it a shot.

On Monday the next time he had to poop he went in and sat on the potty willingly when we put him on it. He ended up going within just a few minutes. I have never seen so much excitement over somebody going potty before. He has gone on the potty every time since. It was so awesome. Within just a couple days of this he was telling us when he has to go. We still need to watch his signs but overall I can finally say that my son is potty trained! Such an amazing achievement. Braxton is so proud of himself as well. Now I don't have to worry when he is at school, church or a friends house. Such a relief.