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!!!