The Great Toy Round Up

Yesterday started the old toy round up. It's a thing I try to do a least once a year. I go through the toys and try to get rid of any broken toys. Get any that are just to young for them and put them aside for giving away. I decided to tackle Lauren's room. Her room was a disaster. It took 3 hours and I removed 5 bags of trash. I went a little crazy. I labeled different drawers of her toy containers. I am hoping that will help when trying to pick up. You know, Babies here, horses here, Polly Pockets there. I am hoping to get the boys room next. I may even hit the toy box downstairs. This is the only way I can fit in the new toys. If lucky I might even start taking down some Christmas stuff.

New Photos of Mom

Lately I have been e-mailing a cousin of mine. We haven't talked in years. He and his wife are starting to look into the family history. I am currently the keeper of these records for my family. Anyway, John is looking for a family bible that I never knew existed. Really wish I could get my hands on it too. The problem is no one knows where it is. The good part is that we have been exchanging old photos. He spent some time with my uncle and got some old pictures of my Mom. They are great and I now have a photo of my Great-Grandfather that died in the first World War. Here they are. And yes, this is Samuel Ashton with Martha and Grandma Hahs for those in the family. I guess it's time for me to get back into research.

Christmas Photos

Here are some Christmas Photos. I hate to say I really didn't take that many. I was just enjoying the day.

Lessons for Arion

I keep having to tell myself that Arion is a lot like me. Poor kid. He has to learn the hard way. After surgery he was given some pain meds. The bottle said to take 1 to 2 for pain. He was only given a 4 day supply. I told him to try to only take 1 during the day and save the 2 for sleeping at night. I told him this would make them last longer. I tried to tell him that they wouldn't be giving him any more. Do you think he would listen to me? NOOO. He went on taking 2 most of the time and then found himself with no more pills. He then wanted me to call and get him more. You hate to say "I told you so" but what can I do. I told him to take Advil and see how it worked. Next time I think he will try harder to save the pills. Still, he is my baby and I worry. I wish some lessons weren't so hard.

Merry Christmas

I know, a little late. We had a great Christmas. Jim says it looks like a toy wave hit the house. There are toys everywhere. Christmas Eve was really fun. We went to church (even Jim) and the service was good, except that it was late enough that Brandon's med were no longer working. When we got home I made a quick dinner. We had been watching Santa on the Norad Tracker. It was fun to show the kids where he was. Also made it easy to get them to go to bed. Got really crazy when he hit Canada. They started screaming that he was almost here. We ran around to clean up and put out reindeer food and cookies and milk. Then they went right to bed. Half an hour later I went up to check and they were both awake. Brandon was steady looking out the window and was asking where was he. I told them that he doesn't come till they fall asleep and that did the trick.

Christmas day I woke up first and sat and listened for them to wake up. They were so excited. Lauren woke up Brandon. It was so funny to hear her telling him he had to get up and see what Santa had brought. As we started opening presents Lauren kept declaring this the best day ever. Brandon was able to unwrap all his presents in one sitting. Other years he would have to take a break and leave the room. Silly, I know, but progress. Later we went to my sisters and I got to see Arion (who spent some time with his father). We brought all his presents and I got to watch him open them. Generally the day went great. I would show you pictures, but I can't find the camera. I will post when I do.

The best quote of the day was from Lauren. I was running around trying to cook my special cheesy potatoes and an apple pie and she said "Mommy, you just have to learn to relax". I started to laugh. She was right. Hope everyone had a good Christmas.

New Photo for Lauren

I finally got Lauren school retake photos. They look pretty good. Of course there is no class photo. I don't think they take one in the spring. Guess I will have to do without for this year unless I can find someone that has it and will scan for me.

Arion's Surgery

We are back now from Arion's surgery. All went well, except the bone head won't stay still. Larry is here and keeps telling him to stay put. Yeah, did I mention that Arion couldn't take his meds today. On Tuesday Arion gets his "cotton tail" removed. Until then he just has to keep it dry and clean. I guess you could say "it's all well in the END" HA HA HA HA.

Screams in the Night

Last night Brandon had a splinter. Jim spotted it at bedtime. Just a tiny one in the palm of his hand. I told him I needed to take it out. This is when it all started. I took him into my bedroom to get some better light. He started crying from that moment on. He didn't want me to look and didn't want me to touch. When I got out the tweezers he started screaming. I hadn't even touched him yet. Arion came over to help and try to calm him down. I swear he screamed loud enough to shatter glass and I still hadn't touched him yet. He started pleading with me that the splinter was his friend and he didn't want it taken out. I ended up having both Jim and Arion help hold him and was able to push up from the bottom to get the top up enough to grab with the tweezers. I got it out and am only slightly deaf in one ear.

Stress, We Don't Have No Stinking Stress

God help me if I make it to Christmas. I still have shopping to do for Jim. He needs shirts, but he only likes one kind (you know - polo man). I've been everywhere and now it means I have to go to the outlet. I'm at work now, wrapping an endless stream of gifts. I keep thinking of people I've forgotten. I still need to make more cookies. Arion's surgery is tomorrow. Jim's sister is still having problems after her surgery and he's just a LITTLE stress out. Last night I flipped out on the kids because they unpacked their swim back that I had specifically packed before I left for work so I won't have to worry about it before trying to get them to swim class on time. My house is a flaming sh*thole. I CAN'T STAND IT. I can't even make my special rolls because Brandon broke my bread bowl. I might try to rise to dough in something else, but if it doesn't rise right I just wasted time, energy and all that flour. Work is insane. Both sites have problems. Jim hates his job too and promises to look for something else after the holidays. Arion wants to spend some time with his Dad, which is fine with me, but his Dad can't get off work. He wants to spend Christmas morning with Dad, but Larry is house sitting, which mean they have to go back and forth. This might be a problem if Arion is still in a lot of pain. HELP.

Go to Hell for a Day Card

It ought to be a sin. On Sunday Mary and I stopped by the cemetery to give Mom a Christmas Wreath. I got there first and was straighting the wreath when Mary walked up. She then said "Where is Mom's Bunny?" Here we go again. Someone has stolen her bunny again. She is supposed to have a bunny peaking around the corner of the stone. My mother always loved bunny's so we put one (or shall we say several) at her grave to keep her company. This must be the 3rd or 4th one we have had stolen. As we looked around we saw one 3 graves down that looked just like it. Funny that. No we didn't move it back. Just in case, I don't want to go to hell, but they should if they did. At least for the day. And did I mention that it is near impossible to find a lawn ornament in the winter.

This Weekend


This weekend was very busy. Jim took Lauren and Brandon to the movies on Saturday. He thought he would give me a break, but all I did was run around. I had to make a cake, cupcakes (Brandon's Birthday) and cookies. I got it all done but now I'm exhausted. We had a small party on Sunday. Today we have Brownies. We made cookies together and Brandon watch me ice his cake. Mary, Brie and Lexie came over and we made mini ginger bread houses. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Arion's Photo

Since Arion is a senior this year we have a lot we have to do. He had his senior portrait taken and now comes the part where we, or rather he, picks the one for the year book. Not as easy as one might think. You see when we had the photos done, Arion didn't want to smile. He really doesn't like to have photos done. We started joking around and he gave one of his famous crazy smiles. Well the photographer took a photo. It really captured the true Arion. Not bad, but not your normal straight laced photo. When we viewed them on line, Arion loved the crazy smile. He wanted that one in the year book. He said it fit his personality. I discussed it with his Dad and Jim and we decided that it was his choice. In 20 years it was his problem, not ours. So I e-mailed that photo place and told them what one to put in the year book. Not so easy. Today I got a phone call. They wanted to double check my choice. I explained to her that I felt it was his choice and that he felt it more depicted the true Arion. She understood but said she didn't think they would allow it. I am now debating if I should call the school and fight for the picture or let it go. Any thoughts?????

Brandon's Numbers

Last night was truly one of those nights when you want to say "Who are you and what have you done with my son". I came home from work and Brandon WANTED me to get down the pens and stencils to color with. OK. He usually doesn't want to color or draw. So he's making a picture, very cute and then he turns over the paper and starts another one. Next thing I know he asked me how to make a 5. WHAT. I looked at his paper and he has written 1-4 and has a line for 5. I helped him with the five and showed him on Laurens ruler the other numbers. Next thing I know he has written his number up to 15. HOLY CRAP. Let's consider this my early Christmas present. Not only has he learned his numbers, but he is now able to write them. And he did it on his own without anyone asking. It just blew me away. Please try to understand. Until a couple of months ago you couldn't get him to pick up a pen or pencil and now he WANTS to color and is writing his numbers. The progress since September is staggering. Here are the pictures and numbers. If your looking for 12, it's up by the boat.

Superman Goes Tree Shopping

What's that they say . . . you have to pick your battles. Well, last night was not going to be one of those times. Brandon had on his cape when I got home from work and did not want to take it off to go look for a tree. OK. So we put it on over his coat. You should have see some of the stares we got. Kind of funny and cute. We ended up going to 4 places and still don't have a tree. I swear we're going to get an artificial one. We go out again this weekend and hope to find a good one or we might just settle and get something cheap.

Forms for Lauren

Last night I got the forms from the school for Lauren. There was one for permission to test (OK, I sent in a letter requesting the testing, isn't that enough). There was also two questionnaires. I was up till 11:00 pm filling them out. Some questions were easy like what do I think is wrong but others I had to think about. Also wanted a full medical history. I'm sure there will be more to come. I like how they don't start counting the 60 from the date of my request, but the date I return the permission form that it took 2 weeks to get. Can we say dragging their feet. I also received the form for the Neurologist from the teacher. I hate to be mean, but this woman must pay no attention to what happens in her class. In the emotion section she made no notes about Lauren's crying or getting upset and frustrated. Her teacher last year always made a point of mentioning it when we talked. I can't imagine it's changed at school since it still happens at home. I mean come on, she crys when Brandon gets in trouble. She did mention that Lauren is easily distracted, has trouble staying on task and stares off into space. Funny. When I asked her if she thought there may be signs of ADD she said no. What does she think ADD is.

Jim's Back and Lauren's Ears

Thank God Jim is back. Jim got back from Chicago on Sunday. Brandon and I went to pick him up while Lauren went to a play with Grandpop and Gram. He was really glad to be back and the kids were really glad to see him. Lauren sat on the couch when she got home and wouldn't let go. She said she needed to make up for missed snuggle time. Very cute. Don't have the pictures, but will try to get on tonight to add.

Other activities of the weekend included Lauren getting her ears pierced. She has been asking for some time if she could. I kept trying to warn her that it hurt and that we would have to clean and turn them often. She was fine with it. So we went to the mall. At the store I asked them if they had 2 ladies with 2 guns. I told her she was only going to get one shot. They did and we did it. The look on Lauren face was not good. She immediately broke out into tears and cried. "That really hurt" was her comment. Yeah. That's what I told her. Guess she thought I was kidding. 5 minutes later all was fine and their doing good so far. At church she kept tucking her hair behind her ears and leaning her head so everyone would see. It was kind of funny.

A Very Good Day

Wednesday was a very good day for us. It was the day of Jim's sister's surgery. We were very fearful about the results and how she would do. Late in the day Jim called to say that everything went very well. They were able to fix everything that was wrong with her heart and say it is now 100%. Truly a miracle. I was hoping to hear more yesterday but Jim never called. I can't reach him because they are not supposed to used the cell phones. The second reason it was good was because of the house we bid on back in September. We went to an action for a house and didn't win. Two guys started bidding way over the value of the property. Well I got a call from the auctioneer and he said that the buyer walked away leaving his $42,000 deposit. They want to know if we want to make an offer on the house. OH MY GOD. So, do we want to? There are many pros and cons to the deal. The bedrooms are small, but that can be fixed. It's on 2.3 acres so you have plenty of room. It has everything that Jim and said we wanted in the next house. It even has a barn. The bad part that can't be fix is its by a major highway. I told Jim and he was freaking out. He was supposed to call me to discuss again yesterday. Still no word. The last thing is that Larry's Dad (Larry was my first husband, we're still friends) had surgery on his leg and things went well. I hope this good streak keeps up.

Single Mom

This week Jim had to go to Chicago for spend time with his sister. On Wednesday she has heart surgery. We are very hopeful that all will go well and her quality of life will be improved. She has a hole in her heart and several other problems. Back at the ranch I am alone with 3 kids and the dog and fish and hamsters. Tonight was girl scouts. Lauren was not herself. She seemed depressed and cried a little on the way home. I hope it gets better as the week goes on. The dog will take a couple of days. She probably won't come upstairs tonight and will wait by the door for the night.

Circus and Santa

This weekend was kind of busy. We went to Jim's company party, which was a circus and on Sunday we went to see Santa. The circus was small but fun. The kids loved it. We had to sit in the back and ended up looking at every one's butts. The kids didn't see to notice and had a great time. They loved the Magician and the elephants best. On Sunday we went to see Santa. Brandon got into a mood and it was kind of tricky to get a good picture. He had decided that he wanted his eyes closed tight. No, I don't know why. It was purely Brando's World. The woman final tricked him by telling him to open his eyes and she would count to 4 and take the picture. He was to close his eyes on 4. Of course she then snapped it at 2 and he was shocked after. I did get him to tell Santa what he wanted and now I just have to go and get it. Lauren, of course, looks great. The other child is my niece, Lexie.

New School Picture

Thought you might want to see Brandon's new school picture. It turned out pretty good. Lauren never turned in her money and now we won't get her's.