Time is priceless... use it well

Bunnies in the garden today...

2009-06-04T10:18:00.003-05:00

Teny Tiny

They are sooooo cute! Click the video to view a clip of the bunnies.....

Jake recorded a bit of the storm today

2009-06-02T22:30:00.003-05:00

This is our front yard.......

Jake recorded a little of the storm today....It was raining so hard, hailing so hard and the wind was crazy.......if you watch the tree on the right you'll see the limb break off and fall into the street.......

Syd's condition

2009-06-02T12:28:00.002-05:00

Syd started complaining about a week and a half ago about a rapid heart beat.....she kept telling me at odd times of the day and I was just busy I guess and dismissed it...... After about four days of her telling me her heart was racing with me not responding she finally came up to me said.........MOM, LISTEN TO ME......MY HEART FEELS DIFFERENT, IT'S BEATING HARD AND I WAS JUST SITTING ON THE COUCH......SOMETHINGS NOT RIGHT.......FEEL IT! She got my attention. I spent the next 12 hours talking to Dr's and nurses.....they sent us to St. John's to get an EKG and a 30 day heart monitor. I called the cardiologist office and spoke to the nurse yesterday. She had all of Syd's recordings and said it looked like sinus tachycardia to her. We have an appt set up with the doctor in June but she said she reads these daily and that is what she would say it is. She said it was good news and not critical....... they are going to still monitor her recordings to make sure and to see if they can find a cause.... The heart normally beats at a rate of about 60 to 100 beats per minute at rest. A rate faster than 100 beats a minute in an adult is called tachycardia. Most people experience transient rapid heartbeats, called sinus tachycardia, as a normal response to excitement, anxiety, stress, or exercise. If tachycardia occurs at rest or without a logical cause, however, it is considered abnormal. We'll know more after the appt so I'll keep you all posted...... Thanks for keeping Syd in your prayers

Syd's recording of our take off....

2009-06-02T10:40:00.003-05:00

Click the arrow above to view video.....

Getting ready to fly....o my goodness

2009-06-02T09:44:00.003-05:00

Press the arrow above to view video....

We went flying..... and we didnt' tell Grandma!

2009-06-02T08:08:00.002-05:00

Can you believe how small this plane is? O my goodness Syd's excited....

She kept posing for pictures around the plane.

She's a co-pilot now!

This is her serious look!

We made it home safely....now we can tell Grandma we went flying!

Springfield soccer tournament

2009-04-09T09:19:00.000-05:00

Jake is heading to D.C this summer

2009-03-25T13:50:00.003-05:00

We recently got the ininerary for the 7th-8th grade trip to Washington D.C this summer. Jake is very fortunate to be able to go on this trip with some of his classmates. They will travel to Williamsburg for two days and will visit Jamestown, Yorktown, and Colonial Williamsburg. They will drive back to DC in the evening on Sunday and stay in Gaithersburg. They will visit Mt. Vernon, the National Cathedral, Pentagon Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam and Korean Memorial, FDR and Jefferson Memorial, National Archives, Holocaust Museum, Supreme Court, White House, Capitol, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Smithsonian, Ford’s Theater and Petersen House, Arlington Cemetery and hopefully Ft. McHenry. What a great experience for him to be a part of. He's looking forward to the trip and I and can't wait to see all the pictures.

Sydney's pain

2009-02-05T10:40:00.003-06:00

Sydney started complaining last week about a knot in her back that was bothering her. The pain was in her shoulder area right by her right shoulder blade. I brushed it off and told her to go take a hot shower. The next few days she still complained, so I started rubbing her back after her shower at night. I used Icy Hot but she didn't like that too much. I used some of my Aveda rub that I bought at my last massage...........didn't work. Well, this week she is still hurting so I called the doctor and they suggested an Ibuprofin regiment, three times a day to see if that worked. She's also been getting back rubs every night.......We are on day two so hopefully this will work. If not, the doctor wants to see her and try physical therapy. Good grief! I don't get physical therapy when my back hurts. I did change her backpack to a rolling one this morning........She was using a messenger bag over the shoulder so I was thinking that maybe that was doing it. But why all the sudden and not at the beginning of the year? Who knows....... anyways hopefully she'll get better soon. Thanks for listening, Connie

Shhh- don't tell anyone

2009-01-28T20:17:00.002-06:00

This is Annie..... she decided to invade Sydney's elaborate set up of "Non-Barbie items." Sydney doesn't play with Barbie's. She set up this really cool "Veterinary Clinic" this week with Vet Techs and Assistants.... Not Barbie's mind you. Well tonight Annie decided to take a rest on one of the beds in the clinic.....pretty funny huh? She stayed there long enough for us to get a pic.

Fun in the snow!

2009-01-28T19:36:00.002-06:00

Josh's jeep can go anywhere!

Bella wasn't to sure about the snow!

Jake just threw snow at Sydney... She didn't like that too much! Nice fort Jake!

Syd, you are way to cute!

Feeling a bit better...

2008-11-26T07:37:00.002-06:00

Dr. said there was no break or fracture......woo hoo. Just really bruised and swollen. The meds are helping a lot. I'm still sore, but I'm able to actually sit on the couch now. Ya just don't realize how much you appreciate your bottom until you don't have it. HAHA Thanks for all the "BOOTIE" calls. I've never had more phone calls start off with "Hey Con, How's your butt?" It was pretty entertaining. Love you all.

x-rays

2008-11-24T19:36:00.002-06:00

So I've been in some serious pain this weekend. I called the doctor this morning and she had me come in for a checkup and she sent me for x-rays. They took a lot a x-rays so hopefully they will be able to figure out whats up. She gave me a perscription for Naproxen which in an anti-inflamatory and some perscription pain medicine as well. I'm still sore, but it is taking the constant pain away for now. They should know if it's broken or fractured or just bruised by tomorrow....... I'll keep you posted.

I hate falling.....it hurts!

2008-11-22T20:58:00.004-06:00

So stupid me............I fell down the stairs at Laura's house on Friday afternoon. She has a split level like me, six hardwood stairs down to the landing and then six or so carpeted stairs going down to the daycare. Yes, of course I fell down the hardwood stairs all the way from the top. I had gone upstairs to get a water bottle, the phone and my laptop. I only had my socks on, which is normal and just slid right at the top of the steps and went all the way down. I did manage to hold on to the laptop. The rest of the stuff went flying as I tried to grab the railing. That didn't work so well for me, I just ripped the crap out of my hand on the way down. I think my tailbone took the brunt of my fall........I really think I hit every step. Laura wasn't there, but her daughter Alex was and she freaked out because it was sooooooo loud. She really took great care of me.........I just sat there for a long time on the landing and yes I did cry a bit. It hurt like a "you know what!" I was in so much pain last night I finally took a hydrocodone of Josh's that he had left over from his knee surgery. Hydrocodone is a perscription pain pill. That seemed to help me sleep. I did wake up and take another one at 3a.m because the pain was really bad again. Today I think it's worse. I didn't take the hydrocodone because I was driving around so I was only taking Ibuprofin.... We looked up info on the internet and I really think I may have cracked my tailbone or severly bruised it at least. Doctors don't do anything for either case. I just have to wait it out. Nice huh? What a bummer.

Accident

2008-11-18T16:06:00.002-06:00

Here is the old TV from downstairs..... the one that is complete broken now. Jake and his friend Joe were playing downstairs and not really using their brains. Well, Joe swung a lacrose stick and smacked the TV. Needless to say, it doens't work anymore. Yes, Jake is alive and well. He is very upset with what happened. When he called me about the TV I was with Sydney at soccer practice, which was probably a good thing. I was able to think for an hour about what had happened and simmered down a bit. At first Jake said he had done it, but then soon confessed that Joe had actually broke the TV and he was trying to cover for him. This is our new TV that Josh put in yesterday....... he even hooked up World Tour for Jake to play...... Josh and I thought this was pretty funny. Jake, well not so much. He was like.......hmmmmmm

Bella is almost covering half of the TV......................ha

The TV is being replaced by Joe's parents and by Jake himself......which is great!

Test results

2008-11-06T20:33:00.002-06:00

So, it has been "the longest" week for me.... The doctor finally called today at 4:15p.m. He said the biopsy came back and everything looks better than what they were anticipating. The Atypical cells were inflamed but were healing themselves already. Everything was okay. I'll have to go back to the doctor in six months, but other than that, I am cleared. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I really do appreciate all of you. Love Connie

Syd's 7:15a.m game on Saturday

2008-11-05T21:26:00.002-06:00

This is a picture of the girls and their soccer field on Saturday morning. The fog was intense and we actually thought the girls were going to have to play in this. We were at the field at 6:45 for a 7:15 game. We got up at 5:20a.m to get there.........ya. Granite City Illinois, 45 minutes away. Yes I'm crazy. Cool picture though.... you've gotta admit to that?

Words to live by...

2008-11-04T21:18:00.002-06:00

I was looking online tonight for some inspirational advice. I've been a little worried about my test results and have just been thinking about my life, how I live it and the people in it. I came across this quote and really enjoyed reading it, so I thought I would share it with you all. Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good or bad luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, if they be events, illnesses or relationships, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere. If someone hurts you, betrays you , or breaks you heart, forgive them. For they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to who you open your heart to. If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them. Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people you have never talked to before, and actually listen. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don't believe in yourself, no one else will believe in you either. You can make of your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.

Doctor's visit

2008-10-30T16:22:00.002-05:00

I had my follow-up appt today with the doctor. He did a closer exam of my cervix with a microscope. He did take a biopsy of the cells to send to the lab. We won't know more until we get those results back. He didn't seem very worried, which was nice. He says it just may be abnormal cells and if needed they can do a LEEP procedure and clear out the outer lining of the cervix... They may need to do nothing. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all caring so much about me......Love you all

Hopefully Nothing....

2008-10-27T14:41:00.005-05:00

I got a call from my OBGYN today. She said they had gotten the results back from my Pap Test earlier in the week and the test did show some Atypical cells. The doctor said they just want to be sure, so they scheduled another visit with my regular OBGYN doctor this week. It's probably nothing they said..... He's going to do another test and see if he sees anything abnormal. Please say a few prayers for me.... Thanks, Connie

Frog Legs anyone?

2008-10-25T22:23:00.002-05:00

Yes, this is an actual fried frog leg......o my goodness. When we were down at the lake with my parents, we went to a restuarant that served frog legs. Jake "really" wanted to try one. He just wanted to be able to tell his friends he ate a frog leg, ya know. Well, they wouldn't let us buy just one, so we didnt' get any. Tonight my mom and dad asked us to go to Hodak's down in the city for a chicken dinner. My dad knew they served frog legs there, so he told Jacob to order them. They let us order two..... THEY WERE HUGE....I MEAN SERIOUSLY, LOOK AT THIS THING? So Jake took a bite and then another....my dad took a bite too. Then Jake said here mom, try it and handed me a bite. It looked like a piece of chicken, so I took it and popped it in my mouth...... OMG. I did try to chew it..... really. I did try not to spit it out on the table......really. Well, now I know...... I don't care for frog legs. That taste is just WRONG. I'm kind of gagging now just thinking about it.......eeeewwwwww Jake ended up eating about half of one leg. Josh, Mom and Sydney were like..................AHHH NO THANKS! WE'LL PASS. I was proud of Jake for trying them. Sorry the pics aren't great. I only had my camera phone with me.

Josh's house

2008-10-24T22:25:00.000-05:00

Josh's house and back yard....

Duncan's story has a happy ending...

2008-10-22T13:40:00.003-05:00

I'm sure most of you know about our cat Duncan and his crazy experience. We got him declawed on Good Friday of this year and he had some complications and died. Dr. Britt was able to bring him back after a few minutes, but he was in a coma. He made it through the next few days and recovered very slowly. He was stiff, couldn't sit upright, eat, go potty or even see. He was blind. I took Syd to see him every day and we called all the time to check on him. Webster Groves Animal Hospital was amazing. They went above and beyond in the care they gave Duncan and us. A few days after Duncan was in the "kitty ICU", I went up to the doctor and asked what this was going to cost me. They looked at me and said, NOTHING. This was an unusual case for them. Only one or two cats a year react to anestesia (not sure if I spelled that right) They said they would take care of all the costs and just wanted Duncan to get better. When Duncan was in the hospital, Syd had gone in her room and grabbed some of the angels. She placed them all around Duncan's picture and said prayers every day. She also put Duncan on her computer as a screensaver and put more angels around her desk so they were looking at Duncan. Today, Duncan is completely back to normal. He's back to his old crazy, annoying self again. He puts everything in the water bowl, so if you're missing an earring, a hairbow or piece of playmobil please check the water bowl. It's most likely there. Sydney decided to do something different for her birthday this year. She had a soccer party with her school friends and she decided to ask for NO PRESENTS. Instead, she asked for donations to Webster Groves Animal Hospital. She raised $350......How cool was that? We finally got to drop off the donations a few weeks ago, and of course we took Duncan along with us. The doctors and nurses were so excited to see him again and they were so thankful for the donations. They took Sydney, Jordyn and Erin on a tour of the hospital. They got to see x-rays of a pregnant dog and a x-ray of a dog's broken leg. They got to see the surgery room and Dr. Britt was in there. She was able to pose for a snapshot with Sydney, but then had to get back to work. What a cool tour they gave us. Dr. Britt said that the money Sydney gave them would help other people care for their pets that wouldn't have been able to do so. Way to go Syd...

Last Cross Country Race of the year

2008-10-22T12:44:00.002-05:00

This race had 53 girls all from 3rd and 4th grade...

Syd was pretty far ahead of the pack by now...

Syd got first place for the 1000 meter race... Her friend Erin placed 4th...

Great job girls... they were the only two runners from our school this time.

I'll blog soon, I promise

2008-10-15T14:30:00.002-05:00

I promise to write on Friday..... I have lake pictures from our trip this past weekend. I have Syd's last cross country race pics, I have Duncan's visit to Webster Groves Hospital pics. They were so excited to see him again. I've been crazy busy this week. I have the PTL meeting that I'm preparing for and so much drama going on with Sydney and school and friends. I can't keep it all straight. Jake was my easy child for sure....... haha

Little Chip

2008-10-01T19:17:00.002-05:00

Chip hasn't been feeling very well this past week. Syd went over to visit him last Friday and he was not in good shape. Syd found out today that her little Chip died last night. She is very sad.

Jake's Birthday was Sunday

2008-09-22T14:46:00.003-05:00

Jake's birthday party was a hit. He had invited seven of his friends and we also invited the dads to play if they wanted too. Well, most of them did. Most men don't pass up the opportunity to run around in the woods shooting each other..... I think they all had a great time. Some of them went home with a few bruises and war-wounds, but it was all in good fun. The paintball cupcakes turned out pretty cool. I googled paintball cupcakes images and got a snapshot of some like these and thought they looked pretty cool.

Syd's cross country

2008-09-17T19:59:00.003-05:00

Syd ran in her first of three cross country races of the year. She's only in 4th grade, so they are only allowed to do these 1000 meter fun runs. Well, there were 39 third and fourth graders. They took off and Syd pulled out in the lead. When you look at the pictures, you'll see there is a high school girl in front of Syd in the red shirt. She's a runner called the "bunny". She leads the pack and shows them the route they are supposed to be running. Well, as you can see, Syd was right behind the "bunny", and actually ends up running with her and then eventually passes her. Syd said the "bunny" wouldn't let her pass her, so she had to keep slowing down and then the "bunny" finally said, okay, go. So Syd ran ahead of her and finished the race. Is that funny or what. She beat a high school girl..... Way to go Sydney!

Paintball field is under water...

2008-09-17T12:12:00.002-05:00

Well, what a day. I called the paintball place this morning where Jake is having his birthday party this weekend. As I suspected, they are under water due to the storms over the weekend. The guy was great and referred me to a new location, not under water, in the area. I called them and was able to switch the party to this new location, same day and same time......thank goodness. I've emailed all the parents of the boys that are going and hopefully this party will go as planned. Could anything be added to my weekend? I'm thinking not. Jake has two games, a youth activity Saturday night, a friend sleeping over, his party on Sunday morning and dinner with my parents Sunday night with Madison, my niece. Madison's birthday is Sunday too. Syd has a game Friday night, three games Saturday, soccer pictures, and two games on Sunday. OMG

Jake's Birthday

2008-09-16T11:48:00.002-05:00

This Sunday is Jake's birthday. He's going to be 13 years old. Wow, can I actually have a 13 year old kid? That just seems crazy. He decided to have a paintball party with a group of his friends. They are going to get all geared up, go out into the woods and shoot each other as many times as possible in a three hour period. Boy that sounds like fun....... guess it's a guy thing. It must be because David, Josh, Josh's roommate Jim and some of the dads of the other boys are all playing too. Guess I'd rather have Jake wanting to be out in the woods instead of wanting to go get pedicures or something..... that would not be good. The only question I have is......How the heck am I going to get pictures of this party? Can you see me in full camo up in a tree somewhere in the middle of this paintball field.............ha. That would be a site. Not sure how I'm gonna pull this off, but I "will" have pictures to post.

O Jacob

2008-09-15T09:19:00.002-05:00

Jake was invited to a mixer Friday night with some friends from school. If you don't know what a "mixer" is, it's just simply a dance. Well, some of the libraries are hosting small mixers to gives kids the opportunity to get together in a social setting that is safe and fun. These kids are only 12 years old. They had a DJ, refreshments and I think a total of 30 kids. I wasn't sure if Jake was going to go, because he's a little shy when it comes to dancing, but when he found out that 4 of his other friends were going, he was excited to go. Well, he had a great time, meet a girl that he's now talking to and making plans to go to the karoke night at the library on the 26th. Aren't you just the ladies man Jacob?

Things are getting better...

2008-09-10T10:39:00.002-05:00

Well, most of you know that my job has been in jeopardy. I've been pretty upset about the whole thing and with the PTL meeting going the way it did, I've just pretty much shut down emotionally. A few weeks have gone by and things are looking a little better. We had a little girl start this week named Cora and this morning we interviewed for two little girls. One is only 4 weeks old and won't start for few weeks but her sister is going to start part time for now. We've also got a few leads on three more kids so thats promissing. Laura and I are also working on our new business idea with the elderly. We've got our presentation together and all of our paperwork. Now we just have to make contacts and get the business off the ground. Hopefully we can do both businesses at once.........I'll keep you posted.

Sydney's playing soccer...

2008-09-06T19:31:00.004-05:00

Sydney is in the green and blue in the picture above.... Syd's got the ball... Syd's in the white and white in the center

Jake's playin soccer

2008-09-06T19:28:00.000-05:00

Mice, mice everywhere...

2008-08-30T16:09:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official. My daughter is the proud mother of three, yes three mice. She and her friends Jordyn and Erin have had this "mouse plan" all summer. Jordyn's dad, Mr. V finally caved in and said when he got his new house, the girls could get their mice and they could all live together at his house. Yesterday was the day. The girls went to Petco, got their mice ( 12 of them all together ) and haven't left the mouse room since.....ha. Today I went over to take some pics of my new grandmice...... Yes, I held each of them, one by one. Chip is my favorite, Syd's too. He's little and fluffy and kind of looks like a hampster.

Funny Morning

2008-08-20T09:25:00.002-05:00

When we woke up this morning for school, Syd realized that she had forgotten "most" of her things at her friend Erin's house last night. She had gone over there after school for a bit and then went to soccer practice with her. Josh had picked her up after practice and had no idea what she needed to have with her...... So this morning we didn't have tennis shoes, her school skirt, her homework folder or her lunchbox...... huh. So I went looking for an extra lunchbox to use for today. I found one in the shelf that's way above the refrigerator. I'm one of those stackers and I have stuff on the top of my frig..... My sugar container, my flour container, some oreos, suckers.....etc..haha. So I handed Syd the flour container while I opened the shelf and found the lunchbox. I took it to the counter and told Syd to put the container back on the frig. We went about making her lunch. A few minutes later, I opened the frig and the flour container, which was tupperware thank goodness, fell off the frig. I closed my eyes because I knew it was going to be a loud bang. As I opened my eyes, I see that the lid had popped off and flour was everywhere. I began to scan the floor and follow this huge trail of flour across the room. At the end of the trail stood Sydney, completely covered in flour from head to toe.......................OMG We both just stared at each other in amazement, not knowing how the other would react. I cracked up and so did she....... How funny. I had left my camera over at the daycare so I didn't get a picture - bummer- but what a memory. How that flour made a direct bee line to where Syd was standing was beyond me. What a great way to start the day..........

Boys and their toys...

2008-08-12T09:36:00.003-05:00

Poor Josh hasn't been able to drive his jeep since he hurt his knee. His jeep is a stick, so it's nearly impossible for him to drive with his brace on. Well, he's getting a little better now and can drive it more, so he decided to get new tires. Apparently the wider and taller and bigger they are, the better. He had just put the top rack on the jeep the week before his accident so he hadn't gotten to enjoy hauling things around over his head......haha. I think he's a child stuck in a 31 year old body.......lol He's got his own life size Hot Wheel.

Who did it?

2008-08-05T11:43:00.002-05:00

One of Jake's friends came over to spend the night this past week. Alex's mom called and asked if I ate squash and zucchini ? I told her I did so she brought over a huge bag full that night. Well, she gave me the bag, I placed it on the kitchen table and went about my business. I heard some commotion through the night but that's just what it's like having four cats in the house. It's never quiet. But, when I woke up and went into the kitchen, this is what I found. O my goodness. Who did this? I asked. I looked all around and all of the cats were looking at me like...............????? What? Where's Duncan, I asked? I looked around and finally found him on the steps with his head lowered and a totally guilty look on his face. Can you believe he malled these vegetables like this? How weird is that? The guilty look for sure................O DUNCAN

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY SYD

2008-08-04T10:56:00.003-05:00

Today is Sydney's birthday....Double Digits......we're off to Six Flags with a bunch of her cousins and her friend Maddi. I'll post pics of our trip soon............

I'm on a diet......woo hoo

2008-08-04T10:45:00.002-05:00

Okay, I lost a ton of weight after I had Syd doing weight watchers. I am a life time member....haha So I decided that I really wanted to lose like 20 pounds or so before jean season gets here. I want to wear my skinny jeans.......don't we all? So last Monday I joined the online program and I just track what I eat and drink daily on their system. I had to plug in my age, height and weight and they told me how many points a day I get. Laura, who I work with is doing weight watchers too and so is Katie our girlfriend next door. Katie's lost 19 pounds in three weeks on the program.....wow. She just had baby Harrison in Feb. How awesome is that? So anyways, I got on the scale today and I have lost five pounds..................YEAH. In one week. Imagine if I exercised... that was just doing the food. This week I'm starting to walk so hopefully that will take off a few extra pounds. Yeah ME....

Vacation was a lot of fun....

2008-08-01T11:36:00.002-05:00

We took a trip to Branson with my parents. We just went for the weekend. The kids loved having Grandma and Grandpa with us. We went to the Dixie Stampede one night which was fun. They don't allow cameras in there so I don't have pics, but it was a neat show. The kids got to swim and play in the creek. We had a Yahtzee game that lasted two days. The winner of the Yahtzee game was Jacob with like a zillion Yahtzee's...... He of course thought that was awesome. Before Grandma and Grandpa left, we decided to go to the go cart track. Grandpa was a great sport and raced with us. The kids thought that was so cool. After go carts, we played Laser tag which I have never played before. What a fun thing............we had a blast. Then we went to Lake of the Ozarks for the rest of the week. One of Josh's friends has a condo at Pelican Bay so we were able to stay there. The kids got to fish every day. They love to fish?? Syd caught 19 fish, Jake caught like 8, I caught 3 catfish and poor Josh caught a teenie tiny little catfish..........one. But you've got to give him credit. Every five seconds he was baiting the kids hooks or taking a fish off. I officially baited my own hook this year, and yes dad, with worms. EEEWWWWWW.............. and only when Josh wasn't there to do it for me......haha We really enjoyed getting away for the week and just relaxing.

Update on Josh

2008-07-18T09:42:00.002-05:00

Josh's surgery went well. He's in some pain I think, but doesn't like to admit it... They have him on Vicadin so hopefully that's working for him. He says his knee feels like it's burning. That can't feel good? He did manage to make it up the flight of stairs last night to his bedroom. I think today he's gone up and down the stairs a few times. I just think he's getting bored over there....haha

Josh has surgery tomorrow

2008-07-14T11:22:00.003-05:00

Well, we go in tomorrow morning at 7:00a.m for Josh's surgery. They are going to do a complete ACL repair on his left knee. The doctor said it was a 45 minute surgery, which is nice. He'll be in recovery for a while until he comes out of the anestesia. Please say a prayer that everything goes well.

I got my haircut guys.....yikes

2008-07-09T21:43:00.003-05:00

Okay, I don't like pictures of myself, so that's why I don't post many. This picture was taken today with two of my daycare kids and Laura who I work with. It's late in the afternoon and we'd been outside for an hour so my hair is not "fixed" very nice...it's kind of hangin..lol I'll have to take some in the morning when it looks super cute.....haha It's longer in the front and then short short in the back. I've never had it this short in the back actually. I like it.....

Monday's update on Shayla

2008-06-30T16:28:00.000-05:00

I am so happy to say that shayla had her surgery today and doctors say that it was a success! Thank you God!!! Our many prayers were answered. Of course she's still in the hospital until Wednesday, but I think the worst is over. She may need to have the procedure repeated when she's older, maybe 13 years or so, but she's doing well now. Shayla's family asked me to let everyone know how grateful they are for the many heartfelt prayers for their little angel! I really appreciate it too! God Bless! Sincerely, Tracey

An update on little Shayla...

2008-06-27T22:10:00.001-05:00

Thank you for all of your prayers but please dont stop yet. I went to see Shayla in the hospital today and she's looking much better and eating again. All of her other tests came back normal so now they just wait until Monday for her balloon procedure. The doctors are very optimistic that it will work. So, now we wait and pray. Thank you for forwarding my e-mail to your friends and church families. It's so amazing what the power of prayer will do! It really means a lot to us! Sincerely, Tracey

What......I didn't do anything...........really

2008-06-27T16:02:00.003-05:00

If any of you recall, this is Duncan. He is our little miracle kitty. He has made a full recovery. I posted in one of my first blogs that Duncan used to put my necklaces, earrings, and all of Sydney's hairbows in the water bowl on a daily basis. Well he hadn't done that since his surgery. So this morning, I went to fill the water bowl and look what I found? Laura's diamond necklace (yikes) that I had borrowed yesterday. I love this necklace and wanted to wear it to the wedding we have this weekend. I guess Duncan thought it was beautiful too........ Sorry Laura

Update on Josh

2008-06-26T12:43:00.002-05:00

Josh and I went back for his follow up visit with the orthopedic surgeon yesterday. The MRI said his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament -which is one of the four major ligaments of the knee ) was torn for sure. He is set for surgery July 15th. The doctor says he needs to wait a few weeks for the swelling to go down. He's in a knee brace and on crutches, but he's doing okay. He has a home office, which is really nice so he can do 95% of his work from there. He's in some pain, but he's pretty tuff so he doesn't complain. If you ask Josh how he torn his ACL, we is claiming that it was a Bear attack....lol He claims his roommate was being attacked by a bear in the back yard and he had to save him. Actually, he and Jim were playing whiffle ball in the yard and the ball went over the back fence. Josh decided to jump the fence to get it and when he did, his foot went into a hole in the neighbors yard. His knee twisted and with his body weight and force of jumping over the fence, he was toast....He heard the crunch. I'll post some pics soon. Keep him in your prayers too...

Prayer request for Shayla

2008-06-26T12:39:00.002-05:00

I just received this email from my cousin and I thought I would post her prayer request. This little baby needs all the prayers she can get.... I have attached my cousins email below to give you all some info...thanks so much We're asking for prayers for this little sweetie. Her name is Shayla and she's only 2 weeks old. She is in Cardinal Glennon Hospital right now because she has a heart condition called Pulminary Stenosis. The main valve to her heart is not opening enough so they will need to put a balloon in there to try to open it. If that doesnt work, she'll need open heart surgery. They went to church with us last night but Shayla started looking blue under her eyes and beathing differently so Breea took her to the hospital. She got worse through the night and wasnt responding. She's a little better now but still on IV's. Their waiting to hear if the doctor will do the surgery today or not. Please pray for her. I'll update when I know anymore. Thanks so much! Love, Tracey

Sydney's Artwork

2008-06-25T09:48:00.002-05:00

Sydney was coloring this morning and brought me this picture. "What a cute little turtle", I said. Sydney just looked at me and said, " I was just drawing the different colors all in a pattern in the center and when I looked at it, I saw a turtle shell..... so I made him into a turtle." She does this all the time and I just think it's so creative. I was proud of her little turtle, so I wanted to share it with all of you. I need to take a picture of the drawing I have on my bedroom wall. She has all these cute little animals clustered in the picture. I thought it was so cute, I framed it and put it on the wall next to my bed.

2008-06-24T15:13:00.002-05:00

Sorry guys, Yes, Jake is back from camp. He had a great time and only had a few bruises on him. I sent him with a weeks worth of clothes and he came back with half a suitcase clean and untouched??? His buddy Sam came back with ringworm....................eeeewwwwwww So far Jake is clean and shows no sign of it. He said he loved the cafeteria food and now wants to have a paintball birthday party. Nice! How am I ever gonna get snapshots of my son paintballing? That's not even cool.

I MISS JACOB......

2008-06-12T16:40:00.004-05:00

Okay, this has been the longest week EVER..............Jake left for camp last Sunday and we haven't been able to talk to him since then. I know that he's fine, I'd just like to hear his voice. Cell phones are not allowed at the camp and they can't possibly let every camper go to the main office and call home whenever they'd like.................ya know? Well, this morning I got a call at like 8a.m. He said he was a counselor from Jake's camp and my heart just fell to the floor. I figured that if they were calling, it was for a reason and probably not a good one. Well, the first words out of his mouth were, Jake's fine, nothing's wrong..................OKAY, I can breathe again. He proceeded to tell me that Jake's counselor had left for the day to go to Mizzou for orientation and he had mistakenly taken Jake inhaler with him in his fanny pack. He was going to come back to camp tomorrow, but was just making sure that it was okay that Jake didn't have it today and tonight. Jake hasn't needed his albuteral for a long time, like a year, so I was fine with that. We just sent it just in case. So anyways, I was thankful for the call. I did ask how the boys were doing. He said the boys were having a blast. I asked if anyone had gotten hurt and he said that the boys have daily counts of there war wounds during lunch. The paintballs are pretty painfull when they hit you and leave huge bruises and marks on your skin if you get hit directly....yikes. I'm so ready for him to come home......................

Jacob went to paintball camp on Sunday :(

2008-06-09T12:56:00.004-05:00

We dropped Jake off at Camp yesterday afternoon. He's at a camp in Illinois about 40 minutes away. He's with three of his friends from school and I know about 4 more school friends from other grades. He was really excited about it. This is the first time he's gone away for any camp. We learned about it through our church and school. We pick him up on Friday night. I hope he's having fun and is not getting shot up with paintballs......... yikes. My poor baby boy! And NO, we didn't make him walk to the camp on the railroad tracks............... we drove him. This is just a cute picture that I put in because he wouldn't let me take any pictures when I dropped him off............

My new favorite cookie

2008-06-03T21:59:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine made these yummy oreo truffles the other day. O MY - are they wonderful. I went online and found a recipe and had to make them myself. I made them in both white chocolate and milk chocolate. I actually like the white the best. With the oreo, fudgey center, having the milk chocolate on the outside made them too rich for me. I need to get a slotted spoon though, I think that would make it easier to dip the dough into the chocolate. "less messy". Well, the kids love them too, so I'm sure this tray will be gone in a few days.

Select Soccer

2008-05-26T18:41:00.002-05:00

Sydney's been playing in a foot skills class with a group of her friends for the past 5 weeks or so. This is just a six week training session that teaches the girls new soccer skills and lets them practice those skills in games each week. Well, last week we received a call from a coach at St. Louis Soccer Club that said he had watched Sydney play in her game last week. His daughter was playing against Sydney so he was able to watch the entire game. He said that he was very impressed in Syd and asked if she was playing select? If not, would she be interested in it? Long story short, he came to another game last Friday night and watched Syd play. Afterwords, he told me Syd had a spot on his select team if she wanted it. How cool is that? What's really neat is that he also offered Erin, Sydney's best friend a slot on the team as well.

What's Missing from this picture?

2008-05-20T11:22:00.003-05:00

It was such a nice day on Sunday that we decided to go to the zoo. We parked at Turtle Park and walked around aimlessly............ Guess what was missing from Turtle Park??? The TIEMEYERS We couldn't find you guys anywhere. We were so sad :( The kids thought it was really funny and they jumped on the big turtle and told me to take a picture so we could send you this message. WE MISS YOU GUYS!!!

Family in town

2008-05-20T11:16:00.002-05:00

I look so tall in this picture. My cousins Sherry and Pam came in town this past weekend from Florida. I don't get to see them very often, maybe once a year. We are all first cousing, but we sure don't look alike do we?

My Mother's Day gift...

2008-05-14T21:55:00.003-05:00

I was surprised with some nice landscaping for Mother's Day this year. The front of the house looks good too. We got some pretty potted plants and I got the lawned. Thanks guys....

How cool is this...

2008-05-05T10:47:00.002-05:00

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house yesterday to visit. Grandma told the kids to go look at the birds nest on the fence. Apparently a pair of robins had built their nest there right in the open and laid eggs. The neighbor was really worried about the eggs when they began to hatch and made this make shift shelter for them out of a Domino's box. (Pretty Cool) Well, the eggs hatched and three little birds are now in the nest. Aren't they so cute. When I got close to them with the camera, they thought I was their mother and was going to feed them. Are these the cutest pictures are what???

Yes, I'm still painting....

2008-04-29T09:58:00.002-05:00

While I was painting Lauren's table and chairs I decided I wanted to make another set. I was going to donate this set to our school auction, but it turned out so cute that I thought we needed it at the daycare instead. The kids really love it...

Our new furniture

2008-04-29T09:30:00.002-05:00

We all love our new furniture. The kids think it's big, soft and comfy. We do need to get a coffee table and put the mirror and pictures on the walls to finish it off, but it's almost done.

Happy Birthday Lauren...

2008-04-23T09:53:00.003-05:00

Today is Jake and Sydney's little sister's birthday. Lauren is three today!!! We wanted to do something special for Lauren so we went shopping. We picked up this table and chairs set at Michael's, unfinished. We found these really cute flower decals called wallies. We got paint to match the wallies and we were ready to go. Sydney painted the two chairs and Jake painted the table. I of course went back and touched up any mishaps and put the decals on. I think it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. We put a lot of time, effort and love into this project........... I think she's going to love it.

I'm painting...

2008-04-22T10:57:00.002-05:00

So last week I went out and bought new furniture for downstairs. We haven't had furniture down there in over a year. The room was just being used for the kids to play ball in. Nice huh? Well, I was really excited about the new furniture and re-doing the room, so I went out and bought paint. I stepped out of my "box" and went with a dark chocolate color....yikes. I figured I had the sliding glass doors and the three windows for light, the staircase and a couple of white doors to take away from the dark color. I cleared the room out Friday night and started trimming around the edges. I'm sure my parents are not going to like it, but I really like the color. The furniture is being delivered this Thursday, so I'll put some pics up later on this week.

Earthquake in St. Louis

2008-04-18T09:19:00.002-05:00

Yikes, about 4:35a.m our house starting shaking........I woke up right away and tried to figure out what was going on. Sydney and Jake soon started hollering........"MOM, WHAT'S HAPPENING?" I was half asleep and half awake and just couldn't think straight..... OMG, I think this is an earthquake. Well, when I said that, the kids flipped out. I was thinking, okay, what do we do? Do we go in the bathroom??? No that's for a tornado....haha Do we get under the table? No that's a tornado thing too? Crap, what do we do? So we just went in the dining room and looked out the back window? I'm not sure what I thought that would accomplish?...... By then the house had stopped rattling and making crazy noises. My hands were shaking because I didn't really know what to do? We turned on the tv and within ten - fifteen minutes the news came on and they confirmed the earthquake. 5.4 on the scale. Today I'm hearing 5.2, so whichever it was it freaked us out..... SO, I've been up since then, it's now 9:30. I'm already getting tired.....ha I've talked to my parents, Josh and David and none of them felt anything last night. All of my daycare parents that live here in Kirkwood felt it for sure..... Email me and let me know if any of you felt anything? Connie, Jake and Sydney

The Tiemeyer's visit St. Louis

2008-04-14T21:28:00.002-05:00

I was so excited to see Shannon, Jason and the kids. It's been years since Shannon and I have seen each other. Shannon and I were friends when we were what, 18 years old?? We lost touch for a lot of years, but some how, Shannon found me on the internet in January of this year. We've emailed and kept in touch ever since. She is the one that got me doing this blogpage. She's living in Texas with her husband and "nine" children. You go Shannon. I give anybody credit for having nine children..... Well Shannon, after spending the afternoon with all of you, I came to the conclusion that you are still amazing. You're kids are awesome and Jason is still the great guy he always was. He always makes me laugh!!! I feel very fortunate to have you guys back in our lives. I can't wait to visit Texas. Thanks for including us in your busy weekend..... I hope you like the pics... I think they're pretty cute. Love you, Connie, Jake and Sydney

Updates

2008-04-10T13:56:00.002-05:00

Okay, so no broken bones in the wrist. The doctors said Syd's x-ray was clear. They told me to keep her wrist wrapped and give her tylenol for a few days. If she's still complaining, they will send her to an orthopedic surgeon to have it looked at. So let's hope the pain goes away. Duncan's getting better..... we think he's seeing a little bit. He's jumping on and off of the couch and beds so that's a good sign. He's also looking right at me when I talk to him. He hasn't been doing that since he's gotten home. He just kind of looks off into the distance. Keep your fingers crossed. Love you all, Connie

Sydney

2008-04-09T09:47:00.002-05:00

Well, Sydney's been complaining about her wrist hurting for about two weeks now. She fell at her dad's house and probably just fell on it wrong. She "has" been complaining about it to me lately, but she's Sydney, she complains about a lot of things.............lol Yesterday, her teacher said that she's been complaining a lot in class while she's writing or drawing so she thought I might need to get her looked at. So we stopped at Walgreens this morning and picked up an ace bandage and wrapped it so maybe that will help for today. She has achievement tests this week in school so she's really writing a lot. I have a call into the doctors office now.... Well, I just got off the phone with the doctor and they want her to get an x-ray to check it out. Hopefully it's nothing, but I'll keep you all posted. She has broken this wrist before, so hopefully she hasn't done more damage to it. I'll write soon, Connie

Happy Birthday Josh

2008-04-04T09:23:00.002-05:00

Josh's birthday was Tuesday, April 1st. He turned 31.....The kids and I made him dinner and bought him a cake. Syd decided we needed to put these crazy tall skinny candles on his cake. Pretty funny huh....

Duncan's Home

2008-04-04T08:11:00.002-05:00

Duncan made it home. He's looking so much better. He's eating, drinking and is off all of his medicine. He still doesn't have his eyesight, but the doctors say it can still come back. Sometimes it takes a month, they said. He's doing well getting around the house. I think being at home has really made him feel better. He's become a real lounge kitty. He's so spoiled.

Another Update

2008-03-28T13:14:00.002-05:00

Duncan's doing better every day. We get to visit him in a little room now instead of just in his cage. The doctors took his IV out yesterday. They want him to start drinking water on his own. He's eating dry food now mixed with a little wet food. I think he'd rather have a steak though, he's such a meat lover. He's still thin, but he's looking better each day. We're hoping to bring him home tonight or tomorrow. YEAH!!! Sydney is so excited to get him home.

Too Funny

2008-03-27T12:45:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago David hired some of the landscaping crew from Treeland to come to our house and clean up the back yard. They raked up all the dead leaves and bagged them and hauled them away for us. Most of these guys are from Mexico and don't speak a lot of english. Lauren, Jake and Sydney's little sister, calls these men the (HOLA'S) Because when she sees them, the only thing they say is Hola.....(this means hello in Spanish - too funny) So my kids call them that as well. So this morning, Sydney and I are in the bathroom getting ready and she says "Mom, did you know the Hola's plant onions in our yard?" I don't think they should have done that? She said that she and Jake were out on the trampoline on Tuesday and Jake went over in the yard and pulled on one of the long green grass thingy's and he was really grossed out. His hands smelled like onions really bad. So I told her that the onions were already in the yard and that the Hola's probably just uncovered them when they raked the leaves and the water from the rain made them grow faster. Hmmmm.........she said, are you sure? I still think the Hola's did it!!!

Skinny Duncan

2008-03-26T11:33:00.003-05:00

When we got to the hospital last night, Duncan was sitting up like this. He hasn't done that since his surgery.... He meowed and meowed the entire time we were there. He is a bit skinny, but the doctor said as soon as he starts eating real food again, he'll fatten up. The doctors are very happy with his progress this week. He should be able to go home soon. We're still hoping his sight comes back.

Tuesday's update on Duncan

2008-03-25T09:12:00.002-05:00

Duncan's improving every day.... He's still weak from all the trauma, but he's hangin on. We went to see him after school yesterday and took these pictures with the camera phone. The doctors seem really positive. They say he's doing great. The doctors said he still can't see, but his eyes do dialate with light and dark, and he can still get his sight back at any time. He'll stay in the hospital until he can eat on his own. Then they can take out the IV and he'll be able to walk. His one leg with the red tape on it is a little swollen from the surgery. (the declaw) They just have the tape on there to relieve the pressure and help the swelling. The blue tape is holding the IV in place. POOR DUNCAN!!!

Thanks for the prayers everyone.......

Love, Connie, Sydney and Jake

A quick update on Duncan

2008-03-23T22:36:00.002-05:00

We've been to the hospital more times in the past few days than I can count.... Sydney doesn't want to do anything but visit Duncan, including a quick visit this morning before church. She says that Duncan knows that we are there and that it helps him get better. Duncan's slowly making steps in the right direction. They took him off of his heating pad last night to see if he could regulate his own body temperature and he did... Today he was in a normal little cage, not the incubator box thingy anymore. He's still not able to see anything, but the doctors say that's neurological so his sight may come back at any time. He was sitting up on his chest with his arms in front and head up which was a huge improvement. He can't sit all the way up on his bottom or walk yet, but he will. He had no control of his body yesterday at all. The doctors hand fed him this afternoon and he gobbled up a little food. Another good sign. He's still on an IV for fluids and will probably be there another day or so. I did ask the doctor over the weekend about the cost of all of this..... I love Duncan to death, but no one was telling me anything and I needed to know what this kitty was going to cost me. The doctor said that I had come in for a declaw and that was the only charge I would recieve. I was shocked. She said that this these reactions only happen 2-3 times a year and they feel as badly about it as I did, so the hospital was going to absorb the costs. I just teared up and hugged her. Duncan's been in kitty ICU since Friday, 24 hour care and they aren't charging me? Wow. What a wonderful gift. I've met the nicest people at this hospital. The doctors and techs come over to talk to me when we're there and they all know about Duncan and most of them had worked on him in when he was in cardiac arrest. They are all stopping by on their days off to see him and calling themselves to check in on him. It's really neat. These people really care. I hope you all are still saying prayers for Duncan. He needs them.

Say a little prayer for Duncan

2008-03-22T09:02:00.002-05:00

We took Duncan in yesterday morning to get declawed. He's looks big, but he's only 7 months old. Well, we got a call from the doctor around 4:00 yesterday afternoon and it wasn't good. Duncan went through surgery okay, but had problems in recovery. He went into respiratory distress and died. The tech that was monitoring his recovery was able to call the doctors in right away. They gave him CPR, no kidding and a shot of epinepherin. His heart started beating right away, but it took them 5 minutes or so to get him breathing on his own. So here I am with Sydney in Kohl's shopping for Easter clothes, talking to the doctor, and I have tears in my eyes..... Sydney knows I'm talking about Duncan so she starts crying. The doctor tells me that he's in a coma and it's just touch and go. He may live, he may not. Sydney was so upset. As all of you know, she loves cats more than anything in the world. Especially her own cats..... So Syd and I drove to the animal hospital to see him. He looked so sad. He has a little IV in his leg and he's stiff as a board.... He did meow about 4-5 times while we were talking to him. The doctors said that was a good sign, that he probably heard us and recognized our voices. He was blinking and swallowing which is also good. I called this morning and he's doing okay. We're getting ready to go see him. His body temp needs to be a little higher. He's in a warmer with heating blankets on him....poor thing. He hasn't had any seizures which is a good sign. I asked the doctor if he could have brain damage and she said maybe, but he's a cat. Cat's don't really need to read books or write essays so that's good. He just needs to eat, drink, go potty and be loved. I'll post more later on today and let you all know what's up..... I don't know if it's okay to say prayers for animals.....but please say one for Duncan if you can. Thanks, Connie, Sydney and Jake

See Grandma...

2008-03-13T21:47:00.001-05:00

Hi Grandma, my head is feeling better. It still hurts a little when I touch it but it's not to bad. It's still green. No more bump... Love you!!!

HAPPY CHEESE

2008-03-13T21:37:00.002-05:00

I kid you not, I pulled this piece of cheese out to make Jake's deli sandwich this week and could not believe what I saw. I had Happy Cheese looking right back at me......pretty funny huh? I always get the kids provolone cheese sliced thin from the deli each week, but it's never looked back at me when I opened the baggie. I showed Jake and he thought it was the funniest thing. I walked around the kitchen wondering if I should put it on his sandwich. It was so happy, and Jacob was going to have to eat it..... how sad is that??? If you're wondering...... yes, Mr. Cheese was gobbled down at lunchtime.... Jacob did say he felt quite happy after lunch that day, but he couldn't explain why??? LOL

Sydney's on an elephant...O MY

2008-03-13T13:28:00.003-05:00

Good grief, Sydney's riding an elephant. How many of us can say we've rode an elephant? Not too many I'm sure. Sydney and her friend Leigh Ann thought the elephant was huge and a little bumpy. Pretty cool huh?

We did ask Jake if he wanted to ride, but he just looked at me with great big eyes and said........"ARE YOU KIDDING ME, I"M NOT GETTING ON THAT THING"

70 degrees in St. Louis

2008-03-13T07:28:00.003-05:00

We hit 70 degrees yesterday. We are the only ones in the neighborhood that still have snow. Samson is hanging on.......

So Pretty

2008-03-11T21:34:00.002-05:00

I got the nicest surprise this afternoon. A beautiful bouquest of roses was delivered with my name on them.......(yeah me) Aren't they so pretty? I've never gotten 30 roses at one time before...... They smell so good and they are absolutely gorgeous. Thank you Josh, I love them...

OUR SNOWMAN'S HAVING A MELTDOWN

2008-03-10T19:03:00.002-05:00

Our snowman, who Sydney named "Samson" is not fairing too well. He's having a meltdown!!! Sydney and I decided to take his picture yesterday and sure enough, an hour and a half later, his entire head fell off..... SO SAD!!! We'll see you next year SAMSON....... THANKS FOR VISITING US. WE SURE ENJOYED YOU.

Something to think about...

2008-03-10T09:56:00.002-05:00

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried out. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off! The Moral of the story is: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping and never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Remember these five simple rules: Free your heart from hatred - Forgive Free your mind from worries - Most never happen Live simply and appreciate what you have Give more Expect less

Sydney's letter to her teachers...

2008-03-07T10:57:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago, Sydney was typing on one of Josh's laptops just playing around in MICROSOFT WORD. She likes to practice her typing skills that she learns at school. She usually just types random things, but this time she typed a pretty cute letter to her teachers. I thought you all might like to read it. It's really nice to know she loves and appreciates her teachers so much...... This is what she wrote: My teacher, Mrs. Giordano is one of the coolest teachers of all. Do you know what I mean, like have you ever had a friend or a teacher like that. Sometimes I’m just having one of those days where I just don’t feel the same, and she just has that certain touch, do you know what I mean? I just can’t put my finger on it, but whenever or whatever it is she just makes me smile. She makes most of the subjects actually fun, even when it’s your least favorite subjects. Don’t you think that’s pretty cool! Sometimes she makes the day actually Go Faster. Isn’t that amazing! Then there’s Mrs. Cox she’s our reading, spelling, science, and spanish teacher, and well of course a big help to Mrs. G. I bet it is a lot of trouble sometimes. I mean twenty-nine kids. Not saying my friends are crazy or anything, but I can understand that it could be hard. Sometimes I bet you get the biggest headaches ever. But back to the better stuff, like well, do we have any homework on Monday. LOL. Now, for our closing, Mrs. Cox and Mrs. G sound pretty fun don’t they? Well, it’s because they are. There the best teachers you could ever have. Written by Sydney Walker

POOR SYDNEY

2008-03-05T15:40:00.011-06:00

I got a call from the secretary at school today around 2:45p.m. She said that Sydney was in the office and that I probably should come and pick her up as soon as possible. She apparently had hit heads with a friend of hers in gym class and wasn't doing so well. I asked who she'd hit and she said it was her friend Amanda. Well, Amanda is one of the smallest little girls in her class, so i thought how bad could this be? I went into the office and saw Amanda sitting there with ice on her face and dried blood coated down one side of her face and hair. Amanda took off her ice and her eyebrow was split clean open. "EEEWW" She just looked at me and smiled. This little girl, along with her twin sister always have smiles on their faces.... I just adore them.

I scanned the room and saw Abby, Amanda's twin sister sitting next to Sydney. Syd also had ice on her head.... When she saw me, she moved the ice and O MY......... A HUGE GOOSE EGG!!! Right in the middle of her forehead. Her face was all red and she just looked so sad.

I did call the doctor and they said to watch her tonight and give her tylenol and make her comfortable. If she started to throw up I should call, so let's hope she doesn't do that.

Amanda's dad just called me a few minutes ago....it's 8:00p.m. They are still at the hospital with Amanda waiting on a plastic surgeon to see them. They wanted a specialist to look at her and do the stitches since it's on her face..... Poor thing

They sure hit hard didn't they???

Duncan Duncan Duncan

2008-02-28T22:13:00.002-06:00

I kept seeing a hairbow in the cats water bowl day after day. I wasn't really paying much attention to it, but fter a while, it was getting old. I went to the kids and asked them which one of them was throwing hairbows around? Sydney said it wasn't her and Jake just kind of looked at me like "Come on Mom, are you kidding me? Why would I have a hairbow? So I just left it at that and then the next morning it was there again......OMG Then I started finding my earrings and my cropping stuff in the water bowl.......buttons, pieces of ribbon that I use on my scrapbooks....."MY STUFF" I knew it had to be one of the cats? So one night not to long ago I was sitting in the living room watching TV. I took my watch off....Yes, my Bulova watch that Josh got me for Christmas, and put it on the coffee table. Two seconds later Duncan jumped up on the coffee table ,grabbed my watch with his teeth and jumped off the table. I watched him tramps across the living floor and into the dining room with my watch dangling from his mouth and heading straight for the water bowl..... I screamed and jumped up as fast as I could. Thankfully Duncan dropped it and ran before it made it into the water. What a little shit. I couldn't believe he had done that.

Jacob's book report is done

2008-02-28T22:03:00.002-06:00

Jake's project is due tomorrow. He's really been working hard on this one. He had to read a book, do a book report and create a game that used characters and places from his book. He decided to use the monopoly theme for his project as you can tell. We used thick posterboard and drew the lines ourselves. Jake spent a lot of time writing all of the info in the boxes. Josh helped him make some fake money to use and I used one of cropping tools to cut out the game title. It does make it look really good doesn't it? He has really worked hard on this one, so I hope he gets a good grade....Good Luck Jake.

Dad would be so proud...

2008-02-28T21:50:00.002-06:00

Okay, yes this is a tub of butter. I would like for you all to see how very smooth and non messy this tub of butter is. A while back my dad came over to our house for dinner. Obviously the kids had been in the tub the day before probably with forks instead of knives and were probably buttering chocolate chip muffins or something like that. Well, needless to say my dad was not pleased with the way our butter was kept. He said it looked like wild animals had been digging into it. The next time we visited my parents I secretly looked in the frig for "their" tub of butter. Well, it was perfect..... just like the one you see here. Wow. So since then, we have all made an effort to keep the butter smooth and neat looking... almost to the point of a slight obsession thank you so much Dad. This past weekend while I was sick, Josh came over and made the kids pancakes for breakfast..... He came down the hall and showed me the butter tub. He was so proud of himself...... It was so nice and perfect we had to take a picture.. See Dad, you've even rubbed off on Josh......haha

Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T09:48:00.004-06:00

I got the nicest Valentine's Day card in the mail yesterday.... It made me cry. Seriously, like one of those Hallmark commercials that they play during the Hallmark movies. You watch them and all the sudden you have a lump in your throat and you're tearing up..... Kind of like that. And no, it wasn't from Josh... he got me Diamonds.... O SO PRETTY!! It was from my mom. This is what it said.

For my Daughter

If I could gather up all the smiles, laughs, pride, and memories you've given me over the years and return them to you in a beautiful Valentine bouquet, I would.

Maybe that way you'd understand just how much it means to have a daughter like you, and why you're one of the most important people in the world to me.

No one could ever love a daughter and believe in her more deeply than I love and believe in you.

Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day

Love You,

Mom & Dad

SPENDING THE NIGHT WITH OUR COUSINS...

2008-02-13T07:34:00.002-06:00

Sydney, Hannah, Jake & Kyle Walker

A few weekends ago we all spend the night at Christee's new house. Spending the night with Kyle & Hannah was so much fun. We're so lucky to have such cool cousins. Christee and I made dinner and just caught up on everything that was going on in our worlds.....and the kids had a ball playing guitar hero on the Wii. Christee and I ended up organizing picture frames of all different sizes on her stairway wall. Of course this was right up my alley. I love doing anything that is creative and challenging. We got a ton of pictures on the wall by the nights end and we were exhausted. Time for bed.

The next morning we got up and went to church with Christee, Kyle and Hannah. This was a new church experience for us. We really enjoyed their church and cannot wait to go back. Thanks for inviting us Christee!!! We sure had a great time.

My Little Munchkins...

2008-02-12T12:59:00.000-06:00

Some of my daycare kids.....aren't they too cute.

Chelsea and her x-rays

2008-02-11T16:07:00.000-06:00

Cheslea holding her x-rays today and one snapshot of her up close..isn't she pretty

Chelsea's X-rays

2008-02-11T15:49:00.000-06:00

My niece Chelsea has scoliosis, which is curving of the spine. The doctors braced her a few years ago, but her curve still advanced. This year she was told she would have to have a spinal fusion to correct her back. On Jan 22nd, Chelsea had her surgery. The x-ray on the left is her spine before the surgery and the one on the right is here spine now. The doctors put two titanium rods on both sides of her spine and 24 screws to brace her spine. Isn't it amazing what doctors can do? Chelsea's still in some pain, but she's walking and hopefully will be back to school within the next month or so. She has a long road ahead of her physically, but she's strong and she'll do it.

Way to go Chelsea.....thank you to everyone for your prayers..

SYDNEY"S SICK

2008-02-11T13:45:00.001-06:00

Sydney woke up this morning with a 103 fever. She's not been feeling good since last Wednesday, but hadn't been running a fever until now. I called the doctor and took her in. They stuck the popsicle stick down her throat and swabbed her at the same time and ooooo - she did not like that. Then the doctor came back in and said the strep test was negative and she had to stick another swab up her nose..... She looked at my like .... Are you kidding me?

Well, after the swab up the nose and a few more tears, Sydney was diagnosed with the FLU

Bummer huh? All we can do for her is Motrin and Tylenol and Lots of fluids and rest.

Swimming in February.....woo hoo

2008-02-10T21:32:00.000-06:00

Sydney & Regan

Sydney, Erin & Regan

Swimming Party Snapshots

2008-02-10T21:27:00.000-06:00

Sydney went to a birthday party today for two of her friends from school. She hasn't been feeling too good this past week, but she willed herself to feel better today so she could go to this party. She did have a great time, but she soon pooped out. Can you find Sydney? She's standing up on the right side with the white and teal two piece swimsuit. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail.

Harrison

2008-02-10T21:26:00.000-06:00

I LOVED THIS SHOT OF HIM TOO.....

Harrison

2008-02-10T21:23:00.000-06:00

Katie asked me to stop by the house today and take a few snapshots of Harrison. Of course I couldn't pass up seeing the baby.... This was my favorite shot.. I think it's adorable. I have it in color as well, I just really liked it in black and white. He is so alert for being 5 days old isn't he?

Harrison's Birth Announcement

2008-02-09T21:24:00.000-06:00

Baby Harrison's birth announcement turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. When I was at he hospital taking pictures of him last Tuesday, Katie and I were talking about using one of my pictures of Harrison for her baby announcement. I told her I'd look into birth announcements online and see what I could come up with. O my gosh, they are so expensive..... unless you do the cheapy ones from Walmart that everyone else does with one picture on it. NO NO NO...... The announcements that I liked were like $1.50 a piece.....WOW. That was without the envelopes too. That was just not going to happen. So I thought maybe I could make my own announcement for Harrison. I looked at tons of announcements online, and with Josh's technical support and Laura's creative advice, we came up with our own template using Microsoft Publisher. It took us a couple of hours and a little tweaking here and there, but I think it turned out great. I made a couple different samples for Katie to choose, with different pictures, and she chose this one. I think she really loved it.... I really had fun making it too, which was cool. We sent it off to winkflash.com today to be printed into 5x7 prints and guess what it will cost us?? 14 cents a print....HA You can't beat that can ya.... I'd love to do something like this for a side job.... I think maybe Laura and I should think about it. Photography and creative thinking all in one..... we may have something here....

2008-02-08T13:21:00.000-06:00

Well, as many of you know, yesterday was a horrible day in Kirkwood. Last night we went to dinner with my parents. As we were driving home down Lindbergh Road, police cars were racing past us... Police car after police car flew by. We think probably 20-30 in about a five minute span.. people were just stopped on Lindbergh hugging the sides of the street while the police and ambulances flew by. Something huge was going on for sure. I called Laura and asked her if she knew what was going on. She was also in her car on the other side of Kirkwood. She said she'd seen as many police cars passing her in the other direction, so we knew whatever was happening was in downtown Kirkwood. As I passed the Magic House and got closer into downtown, I could see it all. Downtown Kirkwood was completely lit up with police lights... it was amazing... The street was blocked right at Monroe, and the police were directing us to turn right and go over to Taylor and around the area. As we detoured around we saw the police start to tape off City Hall with the yellow tape. Sydney was getting scared at this point because all she saw out the windows were policemen everywhere with huge riffles walking up and down the streets. So we turned up Taylor and then swung back around and up to Kirkwood Road right by the Farmers Market. We watched policemen from every county flow into Kirkwood. What a huge response this was. We saw cars from Clayton, Manchester, Webster, Maryland Heights, St. Ann, St. Louis County, State Troopers and dozens of unmarked cars. Laura called me at this point and said that something happened at City Hall and shots were fired... We headed home back down Kirkwood Road and tried to figure out what was going on....... When I turned into my subdivision, I saw my girlfriend Dotti's house and it all hit me. O my gosh, tonight was the council meeting to rezone our subdivision..... The plans to rezone have been posted in our neighborhood for the past few weeks. Last week, I was at Dotti and Mike's house and we were talking about the rezoning.... Mike was telling me about it and said we should go to the meeting and see what its all about..... Thank goodness, I FORGOT ABOUT IT. I immediately called Dotti's phone and she didn't answer. I called Mike's phone and he answered. What a relief. I asked him if he'd gone to the meeting and he said they were going to go, but Dotti got off work late and they had ran an errand and were on their way into downtown Kirkwood when it all happened. So they were fine....thank God. Two policemen , three council members and the gunman were killed last night. Mayor Swaboda is still in critical condition with two wounds to the head. They do not know if he will pull through. The shooter was a long time Kirkwood resident that had a lot of issues with the council. Last night he walked in and said "Justice will be served" and began shooting everyone. Police finally shot and killed him. One of the victims, Connie Carr has a daughter that is a friend of my niece Chelsea. She goes to school with her. This little girl is 15 years old and her life just got turned upside down because a man with a gun decided to walk into city hall last night and start shooting. How horrible..... Please say a prayer for these families....

SYDNEY'S PERSUASIVE LETTER

2008-02-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

Sydney had a project in school to write a persuasive letter. She thought about who she wanted to write it to and she chose to write it to my mom. I never saw the letter myself. My responsibility was merely to send in a stamped envelope with my mom's address on it.. Well, my mom received her letter this week and I think she really enjoyed getting it......I thought it was so cute, I had to share it with all of you. This is what it said... Dear Grandma, Grandma and Grandpa, I've been thinking I really have been missing you lately. I've been wondering how much you've been missing me. I'd really like to do something. I would like for you to consider if I could come to your house. (Very persuasive if you ask me ) I have been missing you. I'm free this weekend. (which she was not.....she was going to her dad's house for the weekend) I'd love it and I'll be good. I'll give you as much hugs and kisses as you want. (She's usually really stingy with her hugs and kisses.....) Same for you Grandpa, so get ready. SO PLEASE CAN I COME? And if Maddie is free, can she come too? Love Sydney p.s Get the Kitty Cup ready Grandpa.... (Grandpa- My dad, hates cats and Sydney thinks that's just not acceptable since she loves them so much.... so for Christmas, Sydney got my dad a coffee cup with cats all over it....hahaha He says he's only going to use it when Syd's at their house) Too funny.