October Update

I know it is really November, but just a day into it..

October was a busy month for us...  Trevor finished his football season.  The Freshman had a record of 5-3.  Trevor did well, playing most of every game.  He has a week before basketball starts.  He has been driving to school every day and has been pushing us to let him drive more, but we have been tough and stuck to the law, even though at times it would be easier not to.  He ended with all A's for the first nine weeks of school.  YEA!!

Mac and Brennah both have one more soccer game - then they are off sports until March.  They both had great reports at their parent/teacher conferences.  Mac is reading at a 5th grade level.  Brennah continues to do really well in all her school work.  She is proving to be very responsible for making sure all her work is done, everything is signed and ready to go for the next day.  I am happy to see this because she has always seemed a little bit carefree...  which in an of itself is not a bad thing, but she sometimes tends towards forgetfulness...

Rodney finished painting the outside of the house and did a good job.  He still needs to put the shutters back up and paint the doors, but the body and trim are done in time for the winter weather blast.  My friend Chrissy has been painting the inside of the house and has done the whole ground floor and upstairs hall.  She will be doing our bedroom and bath also.  It is so so good to have it done.  It makes me happy every time I walk in.

I had my wrist surgery.  It was more involved than I thought it would be.  The cyst wound through my wirst bones and it took a little more work to remove than the doctor originally thought it would.  I had a very large cast on my arm for 2 weeks and then moved to a removable splint.  I wore it pretty much constantly for a couple of weeks and am just now going without it for much of the day.  The scar was larger than I thought it would be but should end up being pretty invisible, blending into the wrinkles of my wrist.  I am still working on getting back full mobility. 

I had two lesions removed from my right leg and tested for skin cancer.  the spot on my calf was noththing - and the one of my thigh showed some abnormal cells, but was not cancer.  Thank you God for that...

I have had a cerivcal and endometrial biopsy done and will be waiting on the results of those within the next two weeks.  I have been worried, spending a lot of time praying and having trouble sleeping, but trying not to show the worry so the kids don't get worried before we have something to truely be concerned about.

Anyway...  updates to come more frequently now that my wrist is on the mend.....

September Update

I was going to try to update once a week but our life has been taken over by the fall sports season...  At least it hasn't been two months this time...

Alyssa has finished her fall softball season.  They had only four weeks of practice and three weekends of playing.  They didn't get uniforms for the fall season, but did get 3 t-shirts and a pair of shorts to wear.  She seems to really like Friends and the people she has met.  Here is a picture of her pitching last weekend.

Brennah and Mac have started their soccer seasons.  They have both had two games and have been having lots of fun.  I am surprised every time I see Mac playing...  he is one of the smallest kids out there, but he is not scared to get in there and make a play on the ball.  He also runs surprisingly fast for the kid I am always waiting on and always have to tell to hurry up.  I am glad that he enjoys soccer.  He needs to have an outside activity that interests him.  He is quite the little book worm and would be happy to read all day long.  He is learning to write cursive and has been practicing.

Brennah's soccer team has been having a hard time.  They don't quite seem to know what to do.  Brennah played last year but seems to have forgotten what she is supposed to do.  She is doing well in school, but getting in trouble almost every day for talking too much.  She has been reading chapter books and is finding the love of reading.  I am so glad because reading can take you places in a way that the television can't.  She has several friends in our neighborhood and has been having fun playing with them when we manage to stay home for a weekend.

Trevor has been playing football on the Freshman football team at GHS.  So far they are undefeated, beating McPherson 18-14, Maize 20-0 and Derby 24-0.  Trevor plays pretty much the whole game - coming out for only a few plays each game.  He is playing Slot Back on offense and Outside Linebacker on defense.  He has 1 touchdown and several QB sacks to his credit so far.  He is doing great in school -pulling straight A's.  He has a terrible cold right now so hopefully he will get better soon.  Goddard football homecoming was last weekend.  Trevor went to the dance but said it wasn't very fun.  This Saturday he has been invited to Bishop Carroll homecoming by his friend Kelly.  BC has a formal homecoming so he will be going to his first fancy dance.  He got a black shirt and pink striped tie to match her black, white and pink dress.  They should look pretty cute together.  The football picture below is from last year...  I don't have any from this year yet.

Trevor had the idea to decorate our basement with sports photos of the kids.  All the ones shown here will be on our basement walls.  I still have a bunch to choose, but these are going up for sure.

Rodney is on furlough this week and is supposed to be painting the house...  but here it is Wednesday and no paint had gone up.  I wish I could really count on him to follow through on what he says...  our house really needs caulked and a good coat of paint before winter.  I grew up with a father who always took care of things that needed done before they really needed doing...  it is frustrating being married to a man who takes care of things long after they should have been done....

October is going to be pretty stressful for me.  I have to have an operation to remove a cyst from inside my right wrist.  I will be in some sort of a cast/brace for 6 to 8 weeks afterwards.  I later have to have two supicous spots removed from my leg to be tested for skin cancer - and have to have a biopsy because of an abnormal pap smear....  All the procedures are scheduled about two weeks apart so I guess that is good, but part of me wishes they would just do them all at the same time...  This is what happens when you go in for your annual physical....  haha....

Back in the Swing of Things...

So - a lot has happened in the last couple of months... but - maybe more about that later - here is the world as we now know it...

Kids are all back in school!

Alyssa is at Friends studying education. She is thinking about what area to specialize in. She had orginally thought lower elementary but is now thinking maybe elementary or middle school science. She has a while to figure it out... Her fall softball practices start September 1 with tournaments the first three weekends of September. Then she is done with the fall season. It is nice that Friends seems to be much more focused on the academic aspect of school at least in the fall. She made a trip to KU this weekend to see her guy and some other friends.

Trevor started high school. He seems to like it so far. He is playing football and should be starting both ways for the Freshman team - Slot Back on Offense and Outside Linebacker on Defense. They had a scrimmage Friday night and he did well. Their first game is Sep 7th. He is also playing fall baseball when he can. I think the games start mid-September. He turns 15 tomorrow and is all about getting his drivers license. I think we may let him drive to/from school because truthfully I am getting tired of driving out every evening to pick him up from football practice at exactly the same time I should be cooking supper.

Mac is in 3rd grade and likes school. He will be playing soccer and joining Cub Scouts this fall. The Cub Scout thing is new so we will see how that goes.

Brennah is in 2nd grade and also likes school - but is more in it to see her friends! She will be playing soccer also this fall.

Rodney and I are just working and taking in all the kids stuff... He plans to paint the outside of the house in September when he is off for his work furlough... I hope he manages to come throught this time. The last furlough week he was supposed to paint the inside of the house and only managed to paint part of the basement.

More of the same

We have been stuck in the work/ballgame circle... work all day - ballgames all night.

This week is the first week of Rodney's work furlough. He has three weeks off in a row and then four additional weeks before the end of the year. It is a blessing that he still has a job - but will be a struggle without his full paychecks for those weeks. So many of our friends have gotten laid off that we need to be thankful for what we have. Sometimes it is easy to start feeling sorry for ourselves and forget out blessed we are.

We take off this Friday for Gulf Shores, AL for a family reunion. We will plan to get there on Saturday the 4th. I found that we could go to a concert - Montomery/Gentry and Little Big Town for the low price of $13 per ticket and the little kids are free... needless to say we are going - it is going to be fun. The arena is an outdoor arena in Orange Beach and there will be a fireworks show after.

It will be fun to see everyone. Some folks are staying at cabins at Gulf State Park and some have beach houses... we aren't fortunate to be staying in either place. We got a hotel about 15 miles away. I was trying to be frugal, but still have enough room for our family... so the $300/night beach house wasn't going to work out.... We are staying in a Comfort Suites - which sleeps 6 for less than a third of the price....

When we get home (July 10th) we spend one night and then Rodney & Trevor are off to St Louis for a week for Trevor's national baseball tourney. Alyssa, Mac Brennah and I will be taking of to KC for the weekend for a USSSA softball tourney for Alyssa and then back home Sunday night... a full week of work and then the four of us will be back in KC for another tourney. I think I figured I would be home 14 full days in July, and all 6 of us would be home only 10 days together ... what is this crazy life we are living? At least we all get to spend 32 hours in a car together durning the drive to/from Alabama... haha!

Ball Games, Ball Games, Ball Games

We are fast and furious in baseball and softball season. Once again I am wondering if we are crazy...

With 4 kids playing on 4 different teams we are living a crazy schedule. Two weeks ago we had a total of 16 games - and last week we had 10. I'm not sure what this week holds - I just try to take it a day at a time.

Alyssa playing in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Trevor playing in Kansas City, Missouri

Mac playing in Goddard, Kansas

Brennah playing in Wichita, Kansas

I think it is so cute how the younger kids want to play the same positions as their older siblings... Mac wants to be a catcher like Trevor and Brennah wants to be a pitcher like Alyssa....

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school for Trevor, Mac and Brennah. I have mixed emotions about this... Alyssa is going to babysit for us this summer so the kids will all be home - which I'm sure at times will drive me nuts. The up side is that Alyssa will be available to drive the kids to their camps and different activities and I won't have to mess with that. Also - I would rather pay her than someone else. The trick will be getting Mac and Brennah to go to her instead of me when they want something or are having a problem. It will also be difficult to get them to pick up after themselves and not leave the house in a mess.

I have no idea how I managed to raise such messy kids... they have always been told (and we have made them do it) to pick up after themselves and take care of their belongings.... but should we have to tell them every day to pick up their stuff and pick up their rooms? For some reason I don't think that other people have these problems. I really think the kids (all 4 of them) would be happy to just play - watch TV and lay around all day long - with Rodney and I working 24 hours a day to make money (working at our jobs), clean house, cook, do laundry. I thought that Alyssa would be different after living on her own for 9 months, but it does not appear that she has changed. I guess I just don't understand how they can be so lazy and ungrateful for the things that are done for them and the things they have. How to I change this????

Rain Rain Go Away

I am so sick of all this rain... It feels like it has been raining for a month. We have had so many events cancelled that will have to be made up later... Don't get me wrong - in the middle of the summer - when we are busy every night I would give anything for a rainy day to cancel some things, but all these things that have been cancelled will have to be made up later and will cause us problems...

Trevor had his last Confirmation class last night. Yea!!! Confirmation has gotten to be a lot of work. I understand that a young person needs to understand what his faith is about and what his church stands for, but they seem to be going overboard with the requirements. Each requirement in and of itself is good and worthwhile, but when you add them all together it gets very overwhelming for a kid that has other things going on.

My right hip has been killing me - it hurts to walk - especially up the stairs - that is almost unbearable. I went to see Dr Kabler today (after 5 days of pain) - we'll see if he is able to help before I go to the regular MD.

Alyssa has her regional softball tourney this weekend. If they lose they are done for the season (which can't come soon enough) and if they win, they will go to the National Tournament in Utah...

Alyssa has a new puppy - Parker - he is half Pekinese and half Maltese. He is the cutest little furball. I'll put up a picture this weekend when I get one...

Grand Slam!!

Trevor's baseball team went to a tournament last weekend - unfortunately the tournament was called off after they played one game due to torential rains.... but in the one game they did play, Trevor hit a grand slam home run - his first over the fence home run ever... and it was on a 400 foot fence... Yahoo!!

Yucky Week

So - I had one of the most stressful weeks last week that I can remember. One of the kids was having problems - and caused several sleepless nights. Things are better now - after several talks... and everything seems to be back on track. Thanks to everyone who listened to me talk about things and I am glad to know that God is always there. I have started writing to God - on the suggestion of Pastor Goltl and it really does help.

We had Easter dinner at our house... we had bone-in ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, deviled eggs, macaroni & cheese, rolls, strawberry shortcake and cupcakes. It was all so good... yummm. There were the six of us, Mom, Dad, Kevin, Sherri, Lucille Doolittle (mom and dads neighbor and Regina Lehr (Alyssa's friend). It was a lot of work. Mom usually does the holiday dinners but they were out of town until Saturday evening so I volunteered. I guess now that I am 46 it is time to be a grown up.

Alyssa is planning to move back home and go to school at Friends next year. It will be nice to have her home. I have missed her and I think Trevor, Mac and Brennah have been feeling a little disconnected from her also. It will be good to have her back as an active part of the family.

I finished our taxes... we had to pay more this year than ever before. Thank goodness that we have the money to make the payment.

Rodney's mom has pneumonia - she is doing a bit better... Other than that - we have the nightly practice thing going on and Trevor has a tournament in Broken Arrow this weekend so he and Rodney will be gone... back to the single parent weekends.... haha...

Calendar for My Mom and Dad

I made this calendar for my mom and dad for their anniversary - It took me a while to get these on here - I had to figure out how to do it and then make the time to get it done...

Blizzard on my Birthday?

So... tomorrow we are supposed to have a blizzard - on my birthday.... so wierd.

My mom and dad took me to lunch today - we were going to go tomorrow, but you know... the upcoming blizzard.

So my friend Chrissy is doing Match.Com to try to find Mister Right.... it is fun listening to her - it is truely amazing how some men are. She is emailing one that seems really nice - I hope she finds someone - she is really an amazing person and deserves every happiness - after what she has been through.

I'm supposed to be going out to dinner and drinks with Chrissy and a few others on Saturday night for my birthday - but we'll have to see... about the blizzard.

I will be oddly disappointed if we don't have this blizzard with tons of snow. The good thing about snow in March is you know it won't last too long.

Spring Break

So - I beleive that spring break is really not much fun when you are working instead of spring breaking... Randy and I had an agreement that I would take off spring break one year and he would the next year. Well this is my year to work and Randy and his family are at Disney World.

The kids have been home and pretty much driving me nuts - one the the huge downfalls of working from home. Trevor is supposed to be weatherizing the deck this week in return for my buying him a new iPod. He is going really slow - and since tomorrow is Friday and I doubt he will be done I guess I will get to be using his new iPod. Alyssa has been in and out and has helped some with Mac and Brennah, but she has been sick also and will be going back to college for practices and games tomorrow. Mac and Brennah spent Monday night with my mom and dad so that was good. Rodney has been off playing with Jeff and Tony almost every night so I have been left alone to deal with the kids and all their practices.

I guess I need to start planning now for my wonderful spring break - next year!

My Life - Part 2

My life? - I was hoping that I would get into the swing of things and get over my self pity for having no time to myself... but sometimes I get so frustrated by the demands of other people... usually I feel this way for a couple of days and then it is over - but this time it is taking longer...

I just wish that some of my (not really mine - really for the house) priorities would transform into Rodney's priorities. If he has something as a priority it gets done - he doesn't care what it cost other people... why can't he make it his priority to paint the house - why do I just feel like I'm nagging about it. Of course if I do it myself he will pick apart the job and do and never let me forget the little imperfections... I had told him a few years ago that I would never paint again.... enough ranting about paint...

Alyssa's 19th birthday was Sunday. She had a party with her friends in El Dorado on Saturday evening and then came home for a while on Sunday. We took her to eat at Red Robin - along with Justin. He gave her a new promise ring - since she lost her last one. It is really pretty... we gave her an iPod Touch.

Brennah was home sick yesterday - tummy ache. Her daddy stayed home with her - I know it is totally amazing!

Trevor got his braces off today... he gets his retainer on Monday.

Trevor has a baseball tourney in Chickasha, OK this weekend... not sure who all is going with him.

My Life????

So... I have been feeling like my life is not my own and it is really starting to get to me. Mac and Brennah are starting up in soccer again this week and Alyssa's softball is in full swing... Trevor has been having 3 baseball practices a week an his first weekend tournament is in less than two weeks... I am so tired of having somewhere to be almost every week night and every weekend. I feel like I don't have any time for me and I am getting really really tired of it....

I should be fired from my blog

Hmmm... So I guess I am the worst person ever at doing this kind of thing.... That said... Trevor's ankle got better - I guess that the ligament he tore is one that you don't really need so now he will go the rest of his life without it. Basketball is over YEA!!! Baseball games don't start for a month so hopefully we will have a little free time to get some things done around the house. The list is very long and never seems to get shorter.

Alyssa had her first tournament last weekend. We weren't able to go. It almost killed me - we have never had one of our kids games without someone from our family there. I feel like a bad mom... They did pretty well - they won 4 and lost one. The softball website is http://grizzlies.butlercc.edu/softball/index.cfm They will be having little stories about the team there if you want to take a look. Alyssa pitched one game (they won) and finished two games (one win and one loss).

Friday I had the ganglion cyst on my wrist drained... it hurt a lot more than I thought it would. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't this... I hope it doesn't come back - I guess they would drain it one more time and then if that didn't work it would be surgery. It is attached to a tendon so it is painfull much of the time.

So... anyway - I resolve to do better....

Updates...

So... Trevor has a torn Anterior Talofibular Ligament in his ankle. They PT told us that it is a ligament he doesn't need... he has his 3rd PT appointment today. They have him doing some exercises and contrast baths. He gets to run at little - but no basketball just yet. We have to get him ASO braces for his ankles. Supposedly they are wonderful - we can only hope.

I have been working on a calendar for my mom and dad - using pictures that I have taken and also some that Julie finally sent me.

Why can't I sleep at night??? it is driving me crazy - and I feel like I am walking around in a fog half the time...

Alyssa starts school again today... She has 15 hours, but only 12 are "real" classes... Art Appreciation, Children's Literature, Economics and English Comp II - the other hours are Varsity Softball and Muscle Pump. It seems weird for her to be gone again... even though when she was here she spent most of her time with Justin...

Trevor got hurt

So - yesterday at 8:00 am I get a call just as I am leaving the house from Trevor... Mom - I think I rolled my ankle in practice this morning - gosh - I sure do hate getting those calls... so I get ahold of Rodney and he goes to the school to get him... His ankle is huge and he is on crutches... I call the doctor and we go have x-rays and have it all checked out.... the good news is that it is just a bad sprain and he is in an aircast for a few weeks. He has therapy next Tuesday so we'll see what they say - and then back to the doctor next Wednesday. Hopefully he will be up and going again in the next couple of weeks...

Back to School

So - the kids are back in school today. YEA!!! They were really starting to get on my nerves... I mean I love them to death, but I can only handle so many questions and requests per day when I am trying to work. I guess that is one of the downfalls of working from home.

Alyssa starts school in a couple of weeks. I'll miss having her around... even though she really isn't home that much - usually at Justin's apartment. She starts practice next week, but she is thinking she will mostly drive back and forth.

Trevor has a game on Thursday - I hope his team has had some sort of miraculous transformation over the holidays and they can win some games... they really play pretty well, but just can't seem to make baskets... and well - you can't win a game with no baskets...

50 Years

On January 3, 2008 my parents celebrated their 50 year anniversary. I think that it is wonderful that two people can make the commitment to stay married for that long. I know I have heard the stories that my dad asked my mom several times to marry him before she said yes. I guess they are proof that you can make a marriage work for the long run if you are sure about the decision and committed to making it work.