Way To Go!!!

Congratulations Karre on a job well done! Last night at the season end swimming banquet Karee received two awards. She lettered for the first time. There is a lot of work involved in receiving a letter and she has certainly earned it. The second award is one that was totally unexpected. She got "hardest worker" award. This is an award that is voted on by all of the swimmers and coaches. It goes to the swimmer who has the best attitude and work ethic. The younger girls are watching and very much respect Karre and she is a great role model for them.

Now we need to go letter jacket shopping as it has always been the rule that if they earn a letter and want the jacket we will get one for them.

The Long Weekend

Rene` decorating the tree. She did not want any pictures wearing her pajama pants so she kept hiding behind the tree.
Paul got a lift from Trevor so that he could reach higher while decorating the tree.
It is a mans work to get that tree skirt under there just so. These two have mastered the task.

We had a really nice long weekend with everyone home. We had the Thanksgiving feast with all of the required good things to eat plus some extras too. We had leftovers enough to take care of feeding everyone the next day too.

Dad, Rene`, Jared, and I went to see The Blind Side, it was well done, but if you want details read the book.

The kids wanted to decorate while Trevor and Rene` could be home to help so they put the tree up. Rene` and Karre made some cute paper decorations and snowmen to decorate the stairs. Jared made some hooks so that the stockings could be hung up on the fireplace. This is a project that I had been hinting about getting done for several years. Last year I had actually purchased the materials to do the project and had asked Jared to do it. Needless to say he did not do it, oh well. When I asked this time he did it without any complaining and it will work well. Those things that you can buy in the store really do not work.

Of course we could not go without some Hanna drama. Everyone is used to that so she pretty much just does her thing and we all go on with whatever we are doing around her. Sometimes it gets a little loud and she needs to be re-located but that is easy enough with her brothers around.

it`s Not Fair

It`s Wednesday, the one day of the week Dad needs to be to work early, no issue there because it is worked into the schedule. Jared has gone off to a part time job he got catching chickens, don`t laugh to hard, it pays pretty well, he is in good shape and can catch those crazy chickens and it gets him outta bed early so it makes Mom happy. Karre, Lauren, and Allen have school today as well so that leaves me home with Hanna and Paul.

Paul is his usual busy self, running, playing with cars and chattering non-stop. I have learned how to work around him and get things done.

Hanna is wandering around here wearing only a pair of pink pajama bottoms with green frogs on, yelling at full volume "it`s not fair". She has been throwing things and kicking the wall so I have to stop everything and keep track of her in order to make sure that she does not hurt Paul, herself, and hopefully to preserve the walls as well.

I am sure she is referring to the fact that the older kids have school and she does not. Well who is it not fair to her or me. In my opinion it is not fair to me because I have to deal with her outrageous behavior all day instead of getting things ready for Thanksgiving in peace. It looks like I am not gonna get much done here today.

Whatever the older kids and I can put together tonight after some crazy acting loud, people go to bed is what we will have tomorrow. It does not matter anyway because all of the kids will be home for the day, healthy and full of youthful energy, and that is itself is worth being thankful for.

No Call But....

I did not get any calls from schools today, that does not happen often around here.

What I did get was a kid who had borrowed (if you want to call it that) a green marker from someone on the bus or at school, I don`t which and it does not matter. She had taken that marker and drawn stick figures of all shapes and sizes, with Botox lips (big lips) all over her arms and legs as well as on her stomach. She had also written BFF all over the place. When asked what she thought she was doing she claimed that those were her tattoos. There is only one problem with those tattoos, they washed right off with a little soap, water, and Mom power.

Waiting For The Call

There are only two days of school for the elementary kids this week with conferences and Thanksgiving break. Hanna was acting very weird, okay even more weird then her usual self, this morning. She was being really, really slow about doing everything. She actually combed her hair without being told to do so ten times, and volunteered to tie Allen`s shoes. When I searched her before she went out the door I found a toothbrush and a piece of paper with a bunch of junk written on it that made no sense at all.

I do not know what she is up to and I am sure it is nothing good, so now I am waiting for the call from school, that is if they happen to catch her in the act of doing what ever dumb thing she is bent on doing.

Sweet Sixteen

This beautiful little girl is sixteen today. She is the most lady like of our girls. Her favorite color is purple, she likes to dress up in pretty clothes and get her hair and nails done, and she likes all things girl.

It is a miracle that she survived infancy and given the fact that she was not expected to live everything she accomplishes is all the more wonderful. As a little girl she was such a happy, cheerful kid who would work harder then everyone else just to do the things that we all do every day, such as learning to feed herself, crawl, stand, and walk,to open a door, zip a jacket, or ride a bike. From twelve to fifteen years of age there were lots of really rough days as Lauren realized that she was different from other people. She could not walk or run like other kids, it took her a long time to write or color, she needed help to dress herself, feed herself, and all of the other things that come along every day. This frustrated her to no end, she just wanted to keep up and she couldn't. She has become much more comfortable with who she is and what her abilities are. We still have those days when she gets frustrated but they are rare rather then the every day routine.

I enjoy this young lady, watching her blossoming into a gorgeous blonde haired, tall, slender, more sure of herself person all the time, and she still has those same amazingly large baby blue eyes that melted my heart the first time I saw them. It is really special to have sixteen year olds around. They are amazingly immature, do some really dumb things, yet they are so sure of themselves and know what they want even if it is off the wall it is just a riot watching them and remembering being that age. Lauren enjoy being sixteen, its a wondrous time in life, Happy Birthday!!

Patience Do I Have Any More?

I filled out every form imaginable, answered every question a hundred time over, gone to numerous meetings, conference calls and appointments. I am working with two physicians, a public health nurse, a social worker, and a medical ethics board to get the issue resolved. I will only say here this involves one of my girls and it is a mom`s worst nightmare. The kid has missed a LOT of school and we have been working very, very hard to get this issue resolved for more then ten months now. We are making head way towards a resolution but it is taking FOREVER and I do not know how much more of this I can take.

One of the doctors told me yesterday that things will be taken care of in the next ninety days or less. I am trying, I mean really trying to be patient and wait it out. I hope that she is correct and and we get this resolved sooooooon, before this mom goes crazy!!!

December 24-31

Since we have four adopted kids all who have special needs, two of them have birthdays, one adoption was final during the last week in December we have a lot to celebrate. We do celebrate all of these things, but we do it our way. There is much routine here and we keep things the same for the holidays as well.

!. We have the same get up time in the morning and the same bed time too.
2. We draw names so each person is responsible for the gift or gifts for only one other person. This teaches the kids that they have to save their own allowance to go shopping. For the kid who has lots of anxiety in the store we let her shop on line.
3. We attend children's mass on Christmas Eve because it is geared toward younger kids, is a little shorter, and is at a good time for us.
4. Since Allen`s birthday is also Christmas Eve I have something in the oven to eat after church. We let him open his birthday gifts (wrapped in birthday paper) and then we load up the van, turn on Christmas music, and drive around looking at the lights while eating a plate of cookies we bring along. It is Allen`s day and he is perfectly happy with this celebration.
5. Santa has left presents for everyone under the tree Christmas morning. This Santa is very practical. They get things like tooth brushes, deodorant, pencils, socks, t-shirts, etc, etc, that the mom and dad would have to purchase if Santa did not. They will all get something that they do not need such as a gas card for the drivers, the purchase of the high school year for the junior,etc. Santa wraps everyone`s gifts all in the same paper for example Karie's is red plaid and Lauren`s is silver with snowmen this year. There are no name tags to mess with, how you figure out which one is yours is by digging in the stocking and finding a little gift wrapped in your paper.
6. To save on the chaos of opening gifts the youngest goes first and opens all of his and then we move up the line from there. Everyone to the best of their ability, waits until all gifts are open before leaving.

We do not go to visit the relatives during this last week in December because there are to many of them and we do not exchange gifts other then with the kids Godparents. They now understand that our kids can`t handle the get togethers at this time. Now that our kids are getting older and we are dealing with girl friends/ boy friends they know the routine and are welcome to be there but if they choose to have other plans that is okay as well. We will be home for them when they want to be here.

Car Wash

Paul LOVES cars, trucks, vans, trailers, tractors, and anything else that has a motor and wheels. He never cares where we are going just as long as he gets to go for a ride. He keeps track of all of the vehicles in the neighborhood and watches for them when we are waiting for his school bus to arrive. He knows the sounds they make and will let you know that the bus is coming before it even gets around the corner. Today he will get a special treat as it is going to be nearly fifty degrees outside again, so we are going to take my very dirty van to the car wash, that will make his day and he will talk about it for the rest of the week.

I like this thing where you can make a kid really, really happy just doing chores that need to get done anyway.

Once Again...

Yeah, once again I am headed to the orthodontist with Hanna. She really did a great job of messing up her dental work this weekend. I could hardly floss in there the last couple of days because of the mess. All she is worried about though is the fact that she is getting only liquids for dinner tonight, because that is what needs to happen after the medication she needs to take today. Trying to explain that if you leave your mouth alone you will spend less time out of school at the orthodontist, and you will get food for dinner more often certainly is not sinking in here. I can only hope that some where along the way she figures things out, but I am not counting on that happening any time soon. She has four to six years to work on it and the way she is going it is looking more and more like a six year plan.

Weekend Recap

Karre corssing the Root River on the zip-line.
Hanna with the rabbit which she took on a wagon ride. She deided its name should be Bunny Poo-Poo and I have no idea where she came up with that.
Lauren and Karre with their rabbit on the ride.
We had cake and lots of other junk food, too.

It was great to get together with some people that we do not see often and some who were new to the FAS retreat as well. Three of our kids behaved very well and the two who were along working as PCA`s did a fine job.

We had one kid who just could not hold it together. She usually saves the behavior for when we get back home, this time she was at it all weekend. She was caught with a pocket full of Oreo cookies, a pocket full of rocks that were being used to play Bingo, and a deck of cards that did not belong to her. Why she takes these things I do not know, she certainly had enough treats and fun things to do this weekend. It is just one of those things that the why of it is probably not worth trying to figure out. Then this morning she wanted to hang out with some other kids and I told her she needed to wait until I got the dirty clothes packed up so Dad and Jared could take them to the van. Instead of waiting the ten minutes it was going to take me she threw a shoe and hit Lauren, started screaming that our family was "the stupidest ever" and then she stuck her fist in her mouth and broke a major wire part on her braces. That was the last straw, we were going home. We loaded up the van and headed out. Lets just say that it was a very loud two plus hours and not the way the rest of us wanted to spend our day.

Outa-Here

It has been a rather stressful week around here, lots of Hanna drama that I do not have time to blog about right, but I will fill you in later.

We are packing up to go to the FAS family retreat this weekend. We need to do this right now as everyone needs a break from this life sometimes. The kids will all likely do pretty well this weekend, but when we get back home we will pay BIG time for going.

I had better get my little guy dressed and jump in the shower myself so we can get outa-here.

Ratty Old Sheets

Mr. drench, soak, saturate the bed every night, even though he is wearing two adult diapers, and is escorted to the bathroom around 11:30 pm by Dad, every night, has had a dry bed THREE days in a row. It has never happened before so it is huge news.

The other day, the one when everything was going wrong.all three sets of his Sponge Bob sheets, all six waterproof mattress pad covers (we use two at a time), and all three comforters were in the laundry. I just did not have time to get them washed. I dug around in the linen closet and found a set of ratty, old, gray, sheets the ones that should have gone in the garbage long ago, and two tattered blankets that the kids use to build forts. I folded one of the blankets in thirds and put it on the bed as a sort of mattress pad, then I added the sheets, and topped it off with the other blanket

It does not look at all pleasant, but as long as those sheets stay dry they will stay on that bed. It will not last I am sure so I will enjoy the break for now. I have even had time to wash all of the other linen and I folded it up and put it away in the linen closet as well. This kids bedding rarely gets folded much less put away.

Kari you should get yourself some of these ratty, old sheets, maybe it will do the trick for you, too. No, I will not let you have these.

A Mom Salutes

We are a military family since our daughter Rene`entered the United States Navy on August 11, 2003. I think that I will forever be a military mom and I carry that label with honor, once you become military you remain there always.

Rene` began her service before she had turned eighteen so I and her dad had to sign the forms for her. That is something that I would hove never thought that I would do,let alone do for one of my daughters, but given the fact that she had carefully thought out her plan, she was responsible, hard working, and intelligent I let her carry on as she desired.

She was in boot camp on her eighteenth birthday marching and taking the swimming and diving tests which she passed easily since she had been on the high school swim team for six years and knew what she was doing. She completed basic training in October and was stationed in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Just four months later her ship was deployed to somewhere. In the Navy you never know where they are going or how long they will be gone, but they ended up in France, Italy, Croatia, and the Middle East before it was all over. Every day I prayed that they would be able to complete with courage, the mission and return home safely.They are gone and you get about twenty-four notice upon their return. That meant that we were packed and on the road in less than an hour in order to be in Virginia Beach when the ship came in.

I will never forget the warm spring day in May, when the ship pulled into the harbor as they returned from deployment. The shore was packed with families waiting. There were infants dressed in sailor suits, flags and banners to welcome the sailors home, and people everywhere wearing red, white, and blue. We waited it seems like forever, while they carefully maneuvered that huge ship into position, and anchored it in place. We searched the decks hoping to spot our sailor among the hundreds. They were all dressed in their summer dress whites so they all looked alike. When the captain announced "liberty for all" the sea of white disembarked in mass. There were tears of joy, hugs, and kisses, and a massive sense of relief that they had all come home safely.

Our daughter was deployed two more times and spent three of the four years she served at sea. We had to carry on at home while she was gone and we tried to include her in every way we could. You will never know how valuable a phone card, access to a computer, or the Red Cross is unless you have someone deployed. We sent care packages which were greatly appreciated when they finally got there. Her birthday gifts did not get to her until six weeks after her birthday, but deodorant, a tooth brush, and some sunscreen were welcome gifts from home along with some art work her little sisters had made and school pictures.

Rene` is on reserve duty now and attending school in North Dakota only about six hours away from home. I now know where she is every day and that she is out of harms way which gives me much peace as her mom. I know that she learned a lot serving her country and brought home with her a great appreciation for being an American. We as a family have that same understanding as we have been on the military journey. Not a day goes by that I don`t give thanks for those people and their families who have served our country,serve today, and will serve tomorrow. They are all truly heroes who allow us all a wonderful life filled with much freedom. It is a privilege to be Americans!

Late Late Late

I am the type who has a schedule and I actually follow it, not because I can`t be flexible or anything but because the schedule allows me the time to get things done when they need to be done.Today was one of those days were things started off schedule and never even came close to getting back on track.

The first school morning of the week is always the worst and since it was quarter break and they did not have school yesterday things were moving along pretty slowly. Allen insisted that he only needed one of his shoes so he was not going to cooperate and get both of them on. Hanna was rummaging around in her lunch box and discovered that I had not put a green spoon in there so she was going nuts, like you can only eat your yogurt with a green spoon. She found one in Lauren`s lunch box so she took it and did not put a different one in there so Lauren was screaming at her for taking her stuff and being stupid, which she was being. I have no idea if either of them had a spoon in their lunch box when they left but they finally got out the door.

I rushed around for the next two hours and fifty minutes while Paul went to school, trying to get the laundry under control, lasagna made and ready for Dad to put in the oven later, check beds , and fill out two forms that needed to get to school today.

I made it outside at the appointed time for Paul to return and I waited and waited, when the bus had not shown up in fifteen minutes I got worried because they are always right on time. I called the school and found out that a kid had a seizure (not my kid thankfully), on the bus so they had to stop and wait for assistance. Paul was forty-five minutes late. I had to get him fed. Then a PCA who was supposed to be here was not so I had to call Dad home from work. He was not a happy camper.

Jared called to tell me that he was running twenty minutes late coming home from his girl friends so I was waiting again. He was going to go with me to take the girls to some appointments. He got here and we headed to the high school to pick Lauren up for an appointment to take photos of her broken teeth. The insurance people are crazy because they will not accept the photos that were taken in September so we had to do it again, as if those broken teeth are looking any different less then two months later. Anyway we go to Lauren`s school and even though we are twenty-five minutes late Lauren is still not ready to go so I have to get it into her head that she needs to get a move on it.

We next went to get Hanna`s school to pick her up as she has an appointment as well and I have to hunt someone down in order to check her out of the building.

I get back in the van and Jared says "I need your credit card because we are running on E".

We haven`t even gotten out of town yet and we are forty-five minutes behind. we have to deal with city traffic yet , oh my goodness. Jared just do not get pulled over. He drove us safely to where we needed to go. Traffic was not bad in the middle of the afternoon.

We make it to Gillette only about fifteen minutes late and they were running late so we were okay. We got to sit around in a very crowded waiting area that is cluttered with construction all over the place, what fun. We get Lauren`s photos done. They did some major work on Hanna`s upper braces and also put them on her lower teeth. We finally left the clinic at six.

Just like my day has been running the clock on this blog is running about four hours late. It has been doing that for some time now. It is bothering me but I don`t know how to fix it so I will have to get one of my computer smart kids in here to do it some time soon.

I am ready to call it a day and hope I can get back on schedule tomorrow. For me a schedule is security and today I did not seem to have that security.

Monday Madness

It has already been a pretty long weekend mostly Hanna acting up. Today it continues as there is no school here since last Friday was the end of the quarter. Lets just say that not much housework, cooking, and the like is going to get done here.

Karre is taking my van for an oil change and she has volunteered to take Paul with her. He will enjoy walking around the parking lot of the car place for a half hour looking at the cars.

This afternoon Paul has as EEG scheduled. That is two hours of great entertainment. It is a rather complicated task to hook up all of those electrodes to a very wiggly head containing a massive amount of hair. The second task is to try to get him to lay still for an hour or more until they can find what they are looking for. Finally all of the electrodes have to come off with some stinky fingernail palish remover. This is the part that he dislikes the most. We will get it done and hope that it will finally be clear so that we can begin to take him off his seizure medication. If it is not clear we wait another six months and repeat the entire procedure again. I hope that he does grow out of this seizure issue at some point.

Miss Sabotage

It is a gorgeous day and the plan was for everyone to go biking and hiking and to have a picnic lunch, but as usual we have Miss Sabotage here who is in full out melt-down mode. she has been at it for more then an hour now, since I made her take a shower. What is it about being gross and disgusting that make her so happy, I will never understand. The plan has been revised and I will stay here and work in the kitchen and let her do her thing. Tomorrow Karre and I are going shopping so I will get a little down time from this.

Laundry And The Lady

We are well into November now and it is warm enough to hang laundry out on the line. I can not ever remember being able to do that, it just does not happen here in Minnesota, God has blessed us. While hanging the laundry on the line I am usually greeted by the old lady who lives next door, (well actually I do not know how old she is, but she is retired), She always says something about how much laundry I do and I go about explaining that when there are eight to ten people who live in a household there is going to be a mountain of dirty clothes. I do at least three loads of laundry every day in order to keep the pile under control. She then walks away and goes to sit in her rocking chair. She sits there for hours and hours taking in all of the activity which occurs in our back yard. She yells and swears at the kids and the dog and when they are not out there to give her a show (they can give her a pretty good show at times) she just sits there and watches the laundry on the line.

A couple of months ago I went out on a limb and invited her to join us as we were heading to a local park to build a fire, roast hot dogs, make s`mores, and let the kids run for a couple of hours. I figured since she gets such a bang out of watching us then she might just as well join us. She declined to show up at the park and no one was at all surprised, but hey we offered.

Well anyway yesterday, today, and maybe even for a few more days next week we will provide her with the entertainment of watching the brightly colored t-shirts and blue jeans waving in the breeze while they dry on the line. I will be sure to send kids out there after school to do their thing as well. I actually wonder what she does all winter long while the clothes are spinning in the dryer.

The Why Question

I was up at 3:30 this morning and it was not because I had to deal with Hanna. It was a surgery day for Lauren. This is now part of the routine for her. I get up get showered and dressed, grab a glass of orange juice, and a banana to consume. At 4:00 I get Lauren up showered, dressed, and out the door, no food or drinks allowed. That is a hard one to explain to her because she just does not understand. Jared was my assistant this morning as I need someone who can help me with the lifting involved throughout the day. We headed north on the mostly deserted highway in order to arrive at Gillette Children's Hospital by 6:00. Lauren was prepped and in the operating room by 7:30. She was having Phenol and Botox injections done and some other stuff to help reduce the tightness in her lower limbs. We have been doing this routine for nine years now, sometimes it is a lengthy surgery, casts, Bradley Bars, to hold her legs straight, hospital stays, and therapy, and sometime we get in and out all on the same day, such is the situation today.

Then comes the waiting game. I waited with the dad of another girl who was having the same type of procedures done today. In fact Lauren and Jenna have been doing this routine together for several years now. The hospital is willing to schedule this way for them. Jenna is a beautiful young lady eleven months older the Lauren. She has very similar issues as Lauren does. The difference being that Lauren`s are caused by a non-accidental traumatic brain injury and Jenna`s are a result of a stroke that she had before her birth. Anyway the two girls have become friends and they look forward to seeing each other at the hospital, and therapy. Usually Jenna's mom and I catch up during their procedures, but today mom could not be there so I visited with dad.

He commented "Why the heck would anyone throw a seven week old baby at a cement wall? That is just so unthinkable to me".

He is correct of course, for most of us that is something that is just not going to happen, but it does bring up the why question. This is something that I have considered from time to time.

Was it that he was young and not ready to be a father? I do not think so because he was twenty-four years old and he was already the father of another child. (I dread to think what has happened to that kid)

Was it that he was heavily intoxicated? Yes he was, but he chose to consume that alcohol of his own free will and certainly knew the affects of its consumption.

Was it that he was not intelligent enough to understand the consequences of his actions? This is a extremely intelligent well educated person.

How it happened, when, where, and who did it are all questions that are easy to get an answer to, but the why of it is something that there just is no acceptable answer for, None of the excuses given above nor any of the hundred others that have come up for that matter can justify such behavior. There is no just cause for attempting to kill a child, any child so the why question can not be justly answered. Therefore that is one of those issues that has to be let go of. Things are the way they are just because and we move ahead rather then in reverse.

As a side note I left Dad and Angela our PCA in charge at home today and Dad got four medical calls to schedule this and that, and rearrange as well as one behavior call from school He says I can keep this job because he would goes nuts if he had to do it every day. Yes I will send him off to work tomorrow and get back to doing my own work.

Now it is time to get people to bed so I can crash. Its been a long long day.

Is She A Hamster Or What?

I just spent about four hours cleaning up downstairs where the kids spend a lot of their time. I really do like the fact that we have that space available just for them. It contains the clutter and allows for less congestion throughout the remainder of the house. Picking up toys, books,crayons, games, and all the rest is not the issue here as I have been a mom for twenty-four years now and I have that task mastered. I am a pro at shelving, sorting, and throwing away the junk.

What I found down there is just so disgusting that I can not even describe it. Hanna has chewed up the movers for the Trouble game, three doll shoes, four or five of Paul`s board books, a notebook, and the pegs for Battleship, she even chewed up two of the ships, Not only did she chew all of this stuff up she stashed it in two different piles in the corners of the room. It looks like two very colorful hamster nests. I have no idea what she intended to do with this gross pile of yuck. Maybe we need to provide her with a cage and some empty toilet paper tubs so that she can really enjoy this chewing thing. Her orthodontist is going to go bananas when she hears about this one!

Raisin Bran?

I was putting Lauren`s hair up while Hanna got herself some cereal for breakfast. I was not paying much attention to what she was doing until I noticed that she was eating really, really, slowly, then I saw the reason. she was eating Raisin Bran. Hanna HATES raisins and never eats this stuff so I asked her what on earth she was doing?

Hanna`s reply " I eat this stuff because I being bad".

Now where in her really messed up brain did she come up with that one? She choked down a very full bowl (she always takes as much as possible), of Raisin Bran washed down with a glass of milk and a glass of water. She is not supposed to be eating raisins with her braces on and I never thought that I would have to worry about keeping those away from her.

What a kid.

Silly Old Bear

We have this Winnie the Pooh costume which was purchased in 1994. At the time it seemed to be a little crazy to pay $16.00 for a costume, but it has been well worth the cost. It is roomy enough for coats and even snow pants if needed. Trevor was the first to wear it, Allen wore it for a record three years in a row, several foster kids have had turns along the way, and yesterday Paul got to take it out for the fifteenth Halloween.
1994, Jared as a hockey player, Karre as Piglet, and Trevor our "silly old bear".

2003, Allen is ready to get some treats. He is two months from being ten years old here. He has grown a bit in the past five years. Allen has always been extremely small for his age.

2009, Paul got to be the Pooh bear. He is joined by Lauren (pink/blue princess),and Hanna as a witch. Kari`s Ben is the parrot, and Anna is Sponge Bob.