It's been a while...

Ok it's time to play catch up :)

My mom had been sick and they couldn't figure out what was going on so her doctor put her on blood pressure medication to try and get her BP down to "normal" but she had a severe allergic reaction to the medication. Her doctor put her on HCTZ and mom has been fine with that ever since. Then mom went in to the hospital for a Thyroid scan a while ago. We got the results today and mom has an overactive thyroid gland but the scan showed that there were NO masses and NO tumors :)

Ryan raised $140 for his Diabetes school walk (one of the top 3 in his school).

I've got tons of pictures and a bunch more to say but I've got Ryan home sick today and between him and Kaleigh's "terrible 3's", I don't have much time.

I'll write more soon

Not much time

I don't have a lot of time to update this like I had hoped. My mom is feeling terrible today and I need to get her to the hospital again this morning for the 2nd half of her thyroid scan.

I will get on here as soon as I can and update

Random thoughts

I've got tons of pictures and lots to update everyone on. We are on our way out the door, we have to take my mom to the hospital this morning for her thyroid scan.

I will write tonight so watch for lots of new stuff :)

MIA

I haven't been able to update this because my mom has been really sick. She's still sick and still at home so I'm taking care of her on top of what I usually do.

I will write when I can but I will be MIA probably until she is better and back at work

Another day is almost over

You know it's bad when you don't have a clue what day of the week it is!!

I had no idea it was already Thursday, it feels like Monday to me.

Ryan's home and in a great mood. I got lots of stuff taken care of today. I'm listening to old Christmas music right now, don't ask me why because I'm sure I don't have a reason to justify it.

Tomorrow I have to go pay the electric bill, I hate having to do that because it's right in town and at the time I can go it's usually really busy and nowhere to park. That means Kaleigh and I will be walking for a few blocks just to drop it off.

I found a great christmas tree at Home Depot. I just have to figure out how to get it home after we buy it. It's so much better than the tree we have right now and it's really big!

And now I'm babbling, I'll write more later

What a week

First, I have to say this before I forget--

Ryan has some really amazing people that have sponsored him for his Diabetes school walk! I'd love to mention them on here but I don't think that's the right thing to do. I was telling Ryan this morning how this was more than just a walk around the school, it was a chance for him to see how generous people are and how everyone wants to work together to fight diabetes.

Mom had been sick the last 2 days. She had some problems with her blood pressure. She seems to be ok now, she's back at work today. Hopefully she feels well enough to make it through the whole day.

Kaleigh was sick on Tuesday (the day mom was sent home from work) but she has recovered from that.

I spent most of the last two days taking care of mom, cooking her meals, getting her up to use the treadmill and making sure she was feeling ok. I think this was a huge wake up call that she just needs to start making a change. I told her not to do it just for herself but to do it for Ryan. I think she's inspired.

I'll write more later, I have to catch up on laundry and house work.

Little Miss is sick

That's right, Kaleigh is sick. We got up earlier than normal today and got ready to take Ryan to school. I told Kaleigh that because she was so good yesterday, I'd take her to HEB and we'd get some donuts for breakfast. We went there, got half way through the store and she started whining.

She didn't stop whining until about 30 minutes ago when she crawled up on the couch, got under the blanket and laid down. I just checked her temp and it was right around 100. Now we get to look forward to the constant temperature checking and medicine. I sure do hate when she's sick.

Yesterday when Ryan got home from school, I checked his school work. He got the following scores on his work; 20, 57, 67, 75, 92

We got busy on correcting that work so he can take it back in.

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today, I'll write more when I can.

It's been an all around great day

Let's see, it's about 1:30pm and Kaleigh has been up from her nap for like 30 minutes I guess. I've gotten 5 loads of laundry done, all the windows are open so I can enjoy the last "cooler summer" type day. I'm way ahead of schedule on cleaning so I have some time to write here.

Kaleigh is watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie right now and it's so quiet! I love it!

I let the boys (Baby Kahn and Derby) out on the screened in back porch for about a hour. They were so happy! Derby eventually wanted back inside the house and now he's napping. Baby Kahn curled up in Kaleigh's wagon and crashed for about a hour. Poor Sasha, she was asleep under the bed and missed the whole thing! Oh well.

Last night I was rather upset about something that Brian said. He said (and by said I mean he quoted) something about praying to God and realizing he was praying to himself and that made him God. I was so angry, how ridiculous can someone be. I mean I can understand and respect someone's opinion but at the same time I expect them to respect mine too. He was obviously throwing that in my face but he backed off when he knew how mad I was.

Brian's birthday is this Saturday. He'll be 35! Kaleigh said she wanted to go see him for his birthday and surprise him so I guess that's what we will be doing. I already talked to Sandy about it and she agreed to keep it a "surprise". I'd rather not see him but who can argue with a 3 year old about seeing her dad??

I need to make some food but I really don't want to. Does that make me lazy? I think I'm just tired of doing the same things every single day. It gets rather annoying and boring.

Oh, not to overlook Thanksgiving, but Christmas is like 40+ days away!! Can you feel my excitement?? Yeah I'm really excited about it. I've been working on the little details for about a week now. The only thing working in my favor at the moment is the jump start on moving around furniture.

Ok that's it for now, I'll write more later most likely

Revolting developments and general confusion

So I didn't post much on here because I was sick and Kaleigh wasn't feeling well at all yesterday so I didn't have a chance to really sit down and write.

Yesterday morning my mom and I were going through Ryan's backpack and ran across a letter from the Gifted and Talented teacher. The letter started off saying that we should be proud of how creative Ryan is and he shows great potential blah blah blah. Then it goes on to say that Ryan's test scores fell below the required score to get in to the program!!! I was so confused. Ryan would have tested better if it was one on one with an adult but they did it as a group of 3. On one side of him was his best friend since Kindergarten (Bryan) and on the other side is a good friend he's known since he was about 4 years old (Brylie, who is also Trisha's daughter). So naturally he goofed off, I can understand that.

Later we find, not just in his backpack but also hidden in his room, tests, school work and homework that he received 50's and 60's on!!!

Needless to say we are VERY concerned. He went from an A student to a failing student in about a month. He went downhill after his accident on the playground. It all made sense why he didn't get in to gifted and talented after finding those papers with failing grades.

He says that he doesn't understand what he's supposed to do and doesn't understand the money work. He suddenly doesn't know that 3 quarters equal 75 cents. I'm not sure what's happened to him.

So we all had a long talk yesterday about how important school is and about the grades he's bringing home might be bad enough to keep him in 2nd grade another year. That scared him. I told him it was important to turn in work that he's proud to put his name on and that if he is confused or needs help to never be afraid to ask his teacher for help. He thinks if he asks for help that it means he's "stupid".

Because of the low grades and the fact that he was hiding them from us, he won't be allowed to get on the computer and play his transformers game until the grades come up. He also is not allowed to do anything when he gets home from school until his homework is complete and 100% right.

I'll write more later, but there are pictures below for you all to look at :)

This shirt says it all!!! :)

Now I found a set of 4 of these, they all have a different soup recipe on them. I know what you're thinking, "so what" :) Well my grandma used to have these exact same cups and when I saw them at a yard sale, I got them ALL!

A really old camera from 1953

Probably the first compact camera made by Kodak, this was made in 1957 I think.

It's time to fall back...

Well I've been sick since Friday afternoon. It seems to be a sinus infection. Yesterday I went with Ryan to some yard sales and found some really good stuff. I started to feel better yesterday afternoon so I went to Wal-Mart with Ryan to buy blinds for his room but when we were about to leave there, I kept feeling like I was going to pass out.

I still feel bad, usually the worst part is in the morning and then it comes in waves after that.

Ryan will go to church again this afternoon and I think before he goes we will go pick up pecans again from the front yard.

I'll post some pictures of some of the things I bought at the 7 yard sales I went to yesterday and maybe some new pictures of the kids.

I'll write more later

Halloween Recap

We had a blast!

Yesterday afternoon we went over to Sandy's for about 2 hours. Kaleigh wore her costume only about 15 minutes though. She had so much fun out there. She got to ride in the cart and on the riding mower with Grandma. Sandy sent home a bag of goodies for both Kaleigh and Ryan.

After that we went by Great Aunt Debbies (she lives 2 houses down from Sandy) and surprised her with a visit. She wasn't expecting any trick-or-treaters so she didn't have any candy but she gave Kaleigh $5 and told her to get candy for herself and some for Ryan too.

We got home about 5 mins before Ryan's bus pulled up. I paid for another month of bus service for Ryan and then we came in the house and cleaned a little before it was time to go out for the night.

Mom came home and told me that Kyle at Covert called her at work (after she specifically told him the day before to NOT call her at work again) and he yelled at her for wanting to know the warranty information on the car. She ended up hanging up on him. He's a jerk! I told her we'd not think about or look at cars until Saturday and then we'd go up to Benny Boyd (about 3 miles away) and see what they can do for us. They have a "no haggle" policy so what you see is what you get. All their used cars come with warranties so that's a bonus. I told her if things didn't work out with Benny Boyd that we'd put money into the Mazda to keep it running until Christmas and then the Monday following our Christmas Party, we'd go to another dealership and try again. I figure that close to the end of the year they will really be willing to work with us.

We left here at 5:30 and walked across the street to Kristi's house first. After that we went about 5 blocks down on Main Street and entered Kaleigh in the costume contest for 0-3 year olds. The lady was rude and I wasn't very friendly back to her. Kaleigh didn't win but at least one of the top three winners actually deserved it. After that we tried to find Trisha but she was eating at Anita's and couldn't slip away. Her husband knows literally everyone in Bastrop so when they go out, it's a big event.

We left Main Street and walked to Pecan Street and started Trick-or-Treating. We went to probably 15 houses, it was still early so not everyone was handing out candy. After that we went to the Church festival and played a couple games then came home.

We tried to get pizza delivered but because we are in downtown Bastrop, surrounded by all those events, they couldn't even get to us to make the delivery.

Kaleigh passed out shortly after we got home, she slept good last night.

In about 30 minutes we are going up to Wal-Mart to get her a couple pairs of pants and some more socks.

Here's the Halloween Past and Present Video I just made. There are bunches of pictures in there :)

I'll write more later

Major apology!

I am so sorry I haven't been keeping up with this. It's not for lack of trying though. Things get so crazy around here so fast.

I will probably only post one more time today on here. Kaleigh and I are going to visit Sandy this afternoon then we will do the trick-or-treating thing with Ryan tonight. I'll post some pictures and video of that. Kaleigh tried on her costume yesterday and she looked so cute. I took pictures but I'm not going to post them until tonight.

Kaleigh got up this morning and said she didn't feel good, she said her tummy was hurting. If she still doesn't feel good then I might not take her out tonight. We'll just have to see how it goes today. She has had a runny nose for a while now but this thing with her tummy is getting a little ridiculous. It's like every week she has trouble. I need to start a journal so I can figure out if it's something she's eating or if it's a food allergy of some kind.

Ryan started his "official" testing for Gifted and Talented on Monday. I just found out about it yesterday though. He was telling me he won't get in to the program because he's "not THAT smart". I told him not to think like that, I told him that he was extremely smart and that Miss Morgan would see that. She's been working with him for a month now so I know she has recognized the difference between him and other kids.

The new car drama that won't end. I mean that statement basically sums it up right? Yesterday Kyle at Covert called mom (at work) about every 15 minutes. He wants to get her in a car with NO WARRANTY at first for $300 a month and now for around $200 a month. She's going to tell him today that if she takes it with no warranty, she wants the car for closer to $100 a month so she has wiggle room for repairs if it needs it. I don't think that's too terribly unreasonable. She can get a 2006 PT Cruiser with low miles and a 12 month warranty at another dealership in town for the SAME monthly payment. I think we are going to talk to them on Saturday.

I just got Kaleigh's bath started, she's all kinds of excited about today. Regardless if she can go out tonight or not, she'll get to wear her costume this afternoon and have fun with her Grandma.

I don't feel very good this morning. I'm really shaky. I thought I needed some caffine but my coffee is making the shakes go away so maybe I need sugar.

I got a bunch of sleep last night. I was asleep before 8pm :)

Ok I'll right more later, too much to do and not enough time

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

No rest for...

me!!

I thought I'd get a weekend off but that didn't happen. Saturday I was up early and started rearranging the back porch (it's like a sun porch) and then I went grocery shopping for Ryan. Then in the evening, Ryan asked me to go throw the football around to him so I did. That lead to a basketball game which I had to let him win because he told me "If you win, I'm going to cry harder than you've ever seen". I laughed so hard when he said that.

And then yesterday I mowed the front yard. I took Ryan and Kaleigh out before that and we picked up pecans in the yard. We must have 10 lbs at least in the kitchen now and there are a bunch of pecans still sitting out there.

Our neighbor brought over two hedge bushes that she pulled out of her yard. I planted both of those and she said she'll bring one or two more over depending on how much space she needs to make.

Ryan went to church yesterday, Kaleigh was a good girl so all in all Sunday was good.

Now today, I feel so sick. I think it's from being outside so much.

I'll post some pictures and maybe a video a little later.

Short post...

Don't have much time, we took a nap later than normal and Ryan will be home in probably 10 mins. I'm still doing laundry and cleaning. I'm so far behind!!!

I'll try to write more later

Shocking revelations and good mornings

Last night I laid down the law with Ryan and Kaleigh. They are no longer allowed to play together, UNTIL they can learn to (1) share, (2) stop telling eachother to shut-up and (3) play nice.

I think I just must have been really tired of hearing all the fighting last night. I usually don't exercise my power in the house unless it's absolutely necessary but last night was hard and I was frustrated.

I watched Grey's Anatomy last night after Ryan went to bed. Kaleigh stayed up with me to watch it. I think it must have been about 9pm when Kaleigh finally went to bed. Once she was asleep, I got my shower and relaxed for about 20 minutes and then I was off to bed.

I'm not really sure what the plan is for today. I should do more laundry and be productive but I'm not in the mood. Not that my mood will stop me from working, it just makes it harder.

I have to go get cat food tonight, some bread and a few other things from the store tonight. But it's FRIDAY! If the football game is in town tonight, I might walk Kaleigh up to see the football game. She's been asking to go for a few weeks but I wanted to get past the Homecoming Game before I took her up there.

I'll write more later, Kaleigh is already pissy.

The picnic, the whining child and the obnoxious

So Kaleigh woke up from her nap today in a horrible mood. Every so often she'll wake up so cranky. Honestly she whined and cried for a hour. I kept asking her to help keep the house clean by cleaning up the mess she had made and she wouldn't do it. I finally told her that I couldn't take her outside for her picnic if she wouldn't help clean up and she then tells me "fine".

After two hours of listening to her complain, I started to clean up her mess. She finally jumped in and helped. Granted it's not as clean as it was yesterday but before bed, both of the kids will do some chores.

Mom went out with some friends after work. She won't be home for a few more hours. I sure am glad to see her go out with her friends. She doesn't do that nearly enough. I know she feels guilty about leaving me with both of the kids but I really don't mind. I kind of like the quiet roar of them in the background.

It's been chilly all day. It's not really cold right now but it seems like it doesn't ever warm up. I guess that's because of the wind.

Kaleigh is feeling better today, she's eating real food and so far so good. I am just going very slow with her.

Here is a video of the kids outside singing their ABCs. I'll write more later.










...

Wow where have I been?

It's been non-stop around here so I haven't been on here as much as I want. Well no I've been on the computer just not on this blog updating!

I'm going to keep cleaning today, I've got 2 more rooms to do and then I think I'll be done until the weekend.

Kaleigh's playing with her pretend fruits and veggies. I think she's getting them all together so she can play at her kitchen. She didn't sleep well last night. I think she's hungry for real food. It's been like 2 days since she's had anything besides bananas and toast. I think she's feeling better now so we can start eating other foods.

Halloween is only 5 days away! I'm so excited! In addition to going trick-or-treating and to the church festival, we will go right down the street to one of the elementary schools and join in their activities. It will be a FULL night. I will be taking Kaleigh over to see Brian's mom before all that starts, probably around 3pm or so.

Well, time to get started on things. I'll write more later

My free moment

I apologize for not writing this morning. Kaleigh was sick last night and is still not at 100%.

Between taking care of her and adding things to our family tree, I have been cleaning like crazy. I'm not just talking about a quick pick up, I'm saying a DEEP CLEAN. It can't hurt right?

I think mom is getting off at 2 pm today so she can go to the bank and set up another account.

I'll write more later today, I have to finish up washing the blankets.

Icky sickness

At about 4:30 this afternoon, Kaleigh got really sick. A couple weeks ago she had a stomach bug and she was throwing up all day. This time, it's all coming out the other end. I'm not sure which is worse.

To make things more difficult, I wasn't able to get out and get her some medicine because the headlights on the car don't work right now. I called Sandy (Brian's mom) and asked her if she could ask Brian to slip out and get her some medicine and bananas. I told her exactly what was wrong with Kaleigh and specifically asked for anti-diarrhea medicine. She said it was no problem. I waited a hour and a half and Brian finally showed up with bananas and laxatives for kids. LAXATIVES. Since when do you fight diarrhea with laxatives?

I had to laugh because it just shows how removed he is from Kaleigh's life.

Kaleigh's feeling a little better. I've kept her hydrated and I've been giving her bananas and toast. She finally fell asleep at about 10pm on the couch next to me.

I'm headed to bed but I'll write more tomorrow

Drama! Finally...

I skipped the 2pm update because we had some drama!

Baby Kahn and Derby (the boy cats) were fighting but this time was different. There was hair going everywhere, hissing and howling and claws actually puncturing skin.

They are ok, I'm not sure what started it but they are fine now. Poor Derby, he already gets beat up every day by Sasha and now Baby Kahn tried to kill him.

Kaleigh napped until about 1pm and then she watched her Dora movie. Ryan's been home about a hour and he's working on his homework.

I'll write more later but I wanted to add...My Gadberry book is now 500+ pages! Thanks to Cousin Ron and his wife Yvonne who helped with 350+ pages of it.

Baby it's cold outside...

I got out of bed this morning and HOLY COW it was cold!

The sad part is that it's not really ALL that cold, it's like 49 degrees at 7:30 am. How will we ever make it this winter!! I'm just glad winter is here and the heat of the summer is gone.

Ryan fell asleep at 7:30 last night, as instructed by my mom. Mom got home from her meeting at 8pm and that's when Kaleigh and I went to bed.

We just got back from walking Ryan across the street to Miss Kristi's house (his morning ride to school). When we got back to the house Kaleigh said "woohoo that wasn't bad". She's been making me laugh so much lately just from the cute things that she'll say.

I was watching the news about the fires in California, it's terrible. This is going to sound really bad but why do those people build those expensive houses when they know there is a good chance of a fire? Sure the movie stars and millionaires can always rebuild but what about the people with just normal homes living on a modest income? I'm no rocket scientist but I wouldn't build my house there regardless of the weather and how close it is to the ocean!

The other thing, and I really wanted to make this blog anything but political BUT I just have to say after reading about Guiliani, why is he even considering himself a republican? Ok keep in mind I am not a republican NOR am I a democrat. The person I will vote for is labeled a "republican" but he has very independent values. I'm not even going to say who it is that I'm voting for :)

Anyway Guiliani is for gun control amongst other things, why is he not a democrat? Does he want to be a "very liberal republican"? Is there even such a thing?

Ok Kaleigh is in a pissy mood apparently. She's upset because her jacket is red!!! It truly is a tragedy.

I'll write more later

Great afternoon...

Ryan came home from school and he's been in a great mood!

The first thing he did was kneel down on the floor and hold his arms out and say "where's my Kaleigh??" and she went running over to him and they hugged. It was so cute.

So sadly, I have no real drama to talk about right now. This is a pretty boring post :)

I'm about to start making dinner, we are having macaroni & cheese and some zucchini and squash on the side. YUM!

All is quiet...

Kaleigh is napping and I'm thrilled!

I started a load of laundry, picked up the TV room, cleaned up the soon-to-be Christmas room, loaded up the dishwasher and I'm about to tackle the bathroom.

I stepped outside to take out the trash and BRRRRRR it's cold. I love it though, I'd rather be cold than hot any day.

Kaleigh's got a runny nose and a cough, looks like the cold weather doesn't agree with her.

I heard from Kaleigh's Grandma (Brian's mom). I absolutely adore her. The only two good things that came out of my relationship with Brian were Kaleigh and the friendship I have with his mom. I had been emailing her off and on giving her updates on the car situation. She's been so supportive and helpful.

I wrote my first draft of the Gadberry Book last night. It's only 18 pages long but I will be adding more. A fellow Gadberry family member and I are going to create the "Big" Gadberry book so that future generations will be able to read the stories and get the information without having to search and search. We've been lucky enough to find eachother and other Gadberrys so it hasn't been too terribly difficult but it has taken me almost a year to get to this point.

I've got an email sitting in my inbox from Yvonne (Ron's wife in the Netherlands). She probably sent me some information I need to add to the book.

It's been a busy day so far and soon Ryan will be home so I have to get some more stuff done.

I'll write more later.

Brrrrr...

The cold front came in at 5:28 this morning! It was cold and rainy until about 7:30 am and now it's just cold.

I woke up at about 5am and Kaleigh woke up around 6:30 this morning. I got her all dressed and bundled up so we could walk Ryan across the street to catch his ride to school.

I'm posting this early because I'm going to be busy most of the morning. I have to burn a DVD for a family member and I've got some cleaning to do. Yes, I'll probably do laundry too :)

I LOVE this time of year. The weather for the rest of the week is going to be perfect. I think every day, Kaleigh and I will have a picnic in the backyard and I'll take her to the park for a special picnic on Thursday.

Mom has another meeting after work tonight, it's called E3. A bunch of influential people in the community get together and plan out things for the school and troubleshoot. It's a cool thing that she gets to do but it's complicated by our car trouble. We'll take her to the meeting at 6pm but we won't be able to pick her up at 8pm because of the trouble with the headlights on the car. Have I mentioned yet how happy I'll be when this car drama is over??

Kaleigh is in a great mood today, hopefully it will carry over to the afternoon. Everything usually starts falling apart around 10am when her nap time is getting close.

Here are some pictures as promised. I'll write more later

Kaleigh and Ryan playing on the back porch on Saturday.

Ryan playing with his army toys.

This is Kaleigh running around on the back porch Sunday morning in her PJs.

The life of a cat must be amazing! This is how Baby Kahn and Sasha spent the weekend.

Here's Kaleigh this morning with her special winter rain gear on.

And finally, here's Ryan just before we left to take him to catch his ride.

Off to bed...

That's right, this girl is exhausted! I ran around all day doing stuff and preparing for the big cold front that's coming through tonight. I had to move stuff on the back porch (mostly the kid's toys) and make sure the plants were tied down outside. They said there will be a bunch of wind with this cold front.

It should come through here between 2am and 6am and probably when I walk Ryan across the street to his ride to school, it will be raining. I'm not looking forward to that but it's not a long walk.

Kaleigh fell asleep around 8:30 tonight. She didn't have a nap today so she was exhausted.

I'll write more tomorrow

Sunday, a day of rest and...

Stress!

Yesterday I didn't post anything because I was trying to relax. This worked part of the morning until I realized I could go to some yard sales and get winter clothes for Kaleigh and Ryan. This triggered a chain reaction, that lead to doing something else and that lead to something else and it was non-stop all day.

We decided to ditch our salesman at Henna and go with Kyle at Covert and start over. He can get any car we want on his lot for only $200 extra dollars so we are going to see if he can get the car we want from Henna.

Today I mowed the backyard. I know, I said I couldn't do it because of the antibiotics BUT it was cloudy and cool this morning so I mowed. Now that's done and I don't have to worry about it for a couple weeks.

Ryan is about to leave to go do some youth activities at the church down the street. While he's gone, Kaleigh and I will go out and play probably.

I'll be posting some video and pictures probably tomorrow.

I'll write more later

The bed is calling my name!

Kaleigh fell asleep, sitting on my lap, at 7:30. It's so quiet and calm right now!! I put her in bed and then got my shower and I'm headed to bed shortly.

I did the quick and easy dinner tonight. I made the kids a pizza. I've got some jalepeno poppers in the freezer calling my name and I'm debating on if they are worth the cooking time or not.

Ryan and I will be going to a yard sale that they are having at one of the churches in town tomorrow morning. I'm looking for winter clothes for both Ryan and Kaleigh and hopefully I can find some good stuff for really cheap prices.

I pulled 2 bell peppers and 3 banana peppers out of the garden today. I'm not even sure if we will use them. I want to but I can't think of what to use them with. Maybe I'll come up with something tomorrow.

I had planned on putting pictures up today but my camera battery is dead so I've got that charging right now.

Tonight was the first night of my 10 year high school reunion. I obviously didn't go. They insisted on charging an arm and a leg for these 3 days worth of "reunion events". All the people I want to see I still stay in contact with and I can see them at any time. I don't need to pay $50 a day for 3 days to spend time with them.

Ok I've made my decision. I will NOT eat my jalepeno poppers until tomorrow.

I'll write more tomorrow and goodnight everyone!!

And then the drama starts...

Ryan comes home and the drama starts.

We apparently aren't getting a new car this weekend because mom doesn't want to have to do anything to get the deal done. I don't think I'm being unreasonable by asking her to make one phone call and sign the papers while I did all the work to get it to the price she wanted. Oh well, I did what I could and it will just have to be her problem.

I'll write more later

No favorite time today!

That's right, Kaleigh refused to nap today which in a way isn't really a bad thing. No nap means an early bedtime.

I'm still waiting on mom to call the salesman about the new car, she's dragging her feet though.

I got all caught up on Grey's Anatomy. I had missed the last two episodes.

Ryan will be home in 40 mins so I need to get things finished up. I'll write more later.

It's a new day...

Obviously I didn't make the evening post. I think I need to change the update time in the evening. So now I'll update at 10am, 2pm, 4pm and 8pm (CST).

Mom is stressed out today. Something happened at work yesterday and unfortunately she will have to take the blame for it. I think some people have it out for certain other people and because the person that started it all is working in mom's office, she has to take the heat for it. She is so nervous and scared. It will only be a lecture but still, nobody likes to get in trouble at work. She thinks that if she just lays still that the principal will just sniff her and leave her alone. I told her to apologize constantly and maybe he'll get tired of hearing it and let her leave his office.

Kaleigh woke up in the most amazing mood today. The first thing she asked me was "where are Mimi and Ryan". I told her that Mimi went to work and that Ryan was at school but they'd be home really soon.

I've done 4 loads of laundry already, I've got a lot more to do though. I did all the towels last night so the hardest part is over. I just have a lot of folding and hanging up to do today.

Today is Ryan's picture day at school. He's very nervous that everyone will be able to see the scar on his head. I told him to just tilt his head up slightly and look to the right a little and it should be ok.

I've come to the conclusion that Ryan was accepted into the Gifted and Talented program. He meets with this specific teacher every other day of the week and they do one on one time once a week. I asked him if he was the only one in his class that got to do that and he said yes. They do special projects that the other kids don't get to do. Nothing official has come from the school yet so I'm not 100% sure. Mom says they may do that with him because he's "high risk" because he doesn't have a dad. The teacher was talking to him yesterday about marriage and divorce. I guess she wanted to know more about the situation between mom and Ryan's dad. Ryan said he didn't know but all he knew was that he didn't have a dad.

The cats are in their usual spots. Sasha is hiding under the bed and we won't see her until 3pm when Ryan gets home. Baby Kahn is in the window and Derby is laying on the chair.

It was nice and cool this morning, cool enough to where I needed to wear a light jacket. I love this time of year!!

So like I said yesterday, Halloween is coming and I'm so excited. This is the first year that Kaleigh REALLY understands what's going on. Last year she kind of got the idea but this year she's super excited about it. We usually leave the house at 5:30pm and walk to the street behind us to do our trick-or-treating. They block off the entire street and all the kids in the area go there to do their trick-or-treating. Then towards the end of that street (about 2 blocks from our house) the church has this festival. It's free to go to and they have games and stuff for the kids where they can win Halloween prizes. The only thing you'd have to pay for is food or drinks. Last year we didn't get back from doing all that until after 7pm but this year I'd like to be home earlier.

I'm feeling better today, not in as much pain as I have been. I've got to look for Kaleigh's winter clothes this weekend and pull out all the things she can still wear so I can determine how much money I'll need to spend on clothes. The great thing is that I think she can wear almost everything from last year. :)

Every day that passes we are one day closer to Melody's visit! I'm sooooo excited! I can't wait to see all of them again and I know Kaleigh is excited too. She asks every day if "Miss Melody" is coming.

I should have some pictures to post later on, depending on if anything exciting happens. I think the dryer is done so it's time to move everything and start a new load of laundry.

I'll write more later

Frustration and angry eyes

I don't know why but I've done all this work to get my mom an awesome deal on a new car and now she doesn't even want to call the salesperson and go over the final details!! What is that all about??

Well that explains the frustration but the angry eyes are coming from my left. Ryan is sitting there staring at me and he doesn't look too happy. Maybe he didn't like what I fixed for dinner.

I will write more later

My favorite...

My favorite time of the day is almost over. Kaleigh will be awake from her nap soon, the rooms that I have cleaned will be destroyed and soon Ryan will be home. Here is some proof why nap time is not just the most amazing time in a stay at home mom's life but also why nap time is magical!

Let me update you all on the car situation. I heard from Craig at Henna today, he was some how able to get our monthly payments below $200. I still don't believe this quote includes TT&L but hey it's progress.

So before Kaleigh took her nap, she decided to put on all my clothes. No seriously. At one point she had 2 of my shirts on and she topped it off by wearing Ryan's boxers that I had neatly folded and put on the bed for him. Needless to say I couldn't move fast enough to find the camera. By the time I located the camera, this is what I walked in to see...

And then it hits me, I now know why I feel like I can't keep up with laundry. Kaleigh does this "dress up" thing every day. Sometimes she uses clean clothes that are freshly folded and sometimes she pulls stuff out of the dirty clothes basket. That's where the problem is. In my hast to clean up after Kaleigh, everything goes in the dirty clothes because by that time I have no clue what was clean, mainly because laundry is the one thing I do constantly.

Nap time is also wonderful for the cats. The boys (Baby Kahn and Derby) sleep and play during this time. Derby has learned to "fetch" his little ball toy and bring it to me. He must be part dog.

Baby Kahn is busy doing what he does best.

Oh I wanted to show everyone what the kids will be for Halloween too.

So there you have it, Spiderman and the Spider Princess! How cute is that??

I think the dishwasher is done and according to the clock, it's time to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. I still have a few things to do and then I need to start dinner so it's ready when mom gets home.

See ya at 4pm!

If you are bored, try this!

I strongly recommend everyone to go over to www.jibjab.com and sign up for an account. You can make cool movies just like the one below :)

Exhausted yet calm

So yeah, you probably noticed that I didn't post at 11pm last night. I fell asleep with Kaleigh at about 8pm. I didn't mean to fall asleep but I was so tired that I just couldn't stop myself.

So here is how last night went:

I went grocery shopping, spent $68 on food and lots of tylenol. I got home and for some reason I was shaking. I made dinner for the kids (mom went out to eat with some friends). Ryan took his bath at 6:30 and was out by 7pm, just in time to watch Kid Nation. Do any of you watch that show?? Last night was probably the best episode to date.

Anyway mom gave me specific instructions to have Ryan in bed at 7:30 so when that time rolled around I told him to go lay down in bed and turn on the radio. He whined and pleaded but I told him that mom said he needed to go to bed. He came up with every excuse to get out of bed, first he needed a drink then he needed to finish his homework and then he was hungry again. Finally mom got home around 8 and put an end to Ryan's stalling.

It was shortly after that when Kaleigh and I crawled into our beds and fell asleep.

This morning I woke up around 6:30, took my usual round of tylenol and antibiotics and then walked Ryan across the street to Kristi's house. Kristi offered to give Ryan a ride to school in the mornings until we finalize this new car thing or until the time changes (whichever comes first). Kaleigh slept in until 7:45 and she woke up in a great mood. She's been in the living room playing quietly and watching her morning cartoons.

At 9:30 we are going to run my mom's lunch to her at work (she forgot to take it with her this morning) and then we'll come home and Kaleigh can take her nap.

I just took some pictures of Ryan's artwork and his "fish tank" that he made yesterday, hope you all enjoy them!

I'll write more later

Here is the fish tank, it's kind of hard to see. I must have been too close when I took the picture. That redish thing to the left, that's his "fish"

This is MY favorite of all the things that Ryan has made.

I'll be honest, I have no idea what this is but it's pretty neat.

Ok for those of you that don't have little boys around, this is a Transformer :)

Ryan is making his own book called "Kat Kong", I'm not sure if he's copying a book he picked up at the library or if this is really his own creation. This is the cover to his book.

This is mom's favorite. It seems like it's been on the refridgerator for YEARS but apparently it's only been since March 2, 2007.

My hair is washed...

and I'm almost finished getting ready to go to the store and get some groceries.

Things have remained fairly calm. Ryan and Kaleigh used a brown paper bag and a piece of paper to make me a "fish bowl". It's cute, I'll take a picture and share it tonight.

Ryan's fish that he got for his birthday, Betta Betta St. Clair, went to fishy heaven about a week ago. I suppose this is part of the healing process.

Kaleigh's still not feeling good. She still has a runny nose and she lost all the color in her face. I hate to see her get sick again but like I said before, it's just that time of year.

We are looking for a ride for Ryan tomorrow morning. The headlights on the car don't work and we have to leave here by 7:25 to get him to school on time. Because of the cloudy sky and the fog, it's too dark at that time to get him to school. Hopefully we can find a ride and HOPEFULLY this car drama will be over soon. I keep crossing my fingers that I'll wake up in the morning and look in the driveway and see a brand new car with a big red bow on it (you know like in the commericals) but each morning I'm slapped in the face with reality.

I'll write more tonight, I have to finish trying to look "presentable". Apparently there is a dress code that all the women in this town live by when it comes to going grocery shopping between 4pm and 6pm. Sure I could have gone this morning when the elderly shop at our HEB but I still wasn't feeling that great and because Ryan was sick I couldn't have gone anyway.

Shocking revelations and unusual children

I have come to the conclusion that these two kids can't hear me when I tell them something. 80% of the time they don't even acknowledge me and then the other 20% of the time they stop, look at me and then continue with what they were doing.

Right now they are fighting in the living room about who gets to be Underdog.

Kaleigh has had a runny nose most of the day and that always makes life more exciting.

I've come to another shocking conclusion, purchasing a car will be the most difficult thing you do in your life. Forget raising kids, forget school, forget everything. This car buying business is a giant game and you have to play to win or you get screwed.

We started looking for new cars 2 years ago, yes you read that right 2 YEARS ago. In the last month we've really started working seriously with dealers.

The wonderful part about all this is that my dad used to sell cars so when I called him last night, he gave me some amazing advice. He told me what a salesperson would say in every possible scenerio and I ended the conversation feeling very confident so we'll see how it goes.

Right now I'm playing the "the ball is your court" game with Henna Chevrolet. I sent them a "firm" email last night that stated the monthly quote they sent us did NOT reflect the final monthly payment amount because I was fully aware that they hadn't factored in TT&L and I told them that if they could not fax my mom a copy of their work on the monthly quote and the original invoice on the car, not the invoice PER car but the invoice on the volume of that model that they had on hand then we could not go any further with the purchase and that I appreciated their help. I only heard one thing from Craig at Henna and it was "I'm sending your request to the finance office" and that was at 9am this morning. It is now 2pm.

So I did not go grocery shopping last night and I'm kicking myself right now. I have no pain killers left but the good thing is that the pain isn't too bad at the moment. I'm working on the grocery list right now. Well I should say "trying" to work on the grocery list. Ryan and Kaleigh were just playing in the hallway and Ryan decided to drag Kaleigh to the other end and he ran her head into the wall.

I will write more later.

And so it begins

Fall is here, the leaves are falling, the mornings are cool and cloudy and let's not forget---all of the children are getting sick!

Sunday Kaleigh was really sick. She was throwing up all day and wasn't able to keep anything down. Last night, Ryan was up most of the night doing the same thing. So needless to say, he is home with us today and in case you are wondering...it's insanity!


You wouldn't know it to look at him, he doesn't even look sick and certainly doesn't act like he's sick. I like having him around but he's always on patrol (he's like an undercover police officer).


So Ryan woke up at 7am, Kaleigh woke up shortly after that at 7:15. They sat down, had their toast and started watching PBS. See, Kaleigh and I have this routine where we take Ryan to school and then come home to have breakfast and she watches her favorites on TV (Curious George, Clifford, Super Why and Dragon Tales). While she's watching those, she'll come check on me or try to help me with what I'm doing but it is our morning quiet time and I enjoy that. After Dragon Tales is over, she knows it's nap time and/or quiet time. I don't really care if she naps or not just as long as she "rests".


When you throw Ryan into our daily routine, it makes it complicated because he's so active. So far it hasn't been too bad though. I've had to get on to Ryan about running around and yelling (more proof he's not THAT sick) and Kaleigh has been good.


I still don't feel good, I'm hoping I start feeling better soon though. I think some of it has to do with the weather but a big part of it has to do with how I feel mentally. It's been up then down then up then down, nothing constant and it's wearing me out.


On a good note, Kid Nation is on tonight. I don't know if any of you watch it but I think it's a good show. I can't wait to see the episode tonight!!

Here are some pictures, as promised. I will write more later.

Ryan the day he busted his head open (after we came home from the hospital)

And here's what his head looked like last night

And here's one of Kaleigh playing basketball with her football...go figure

Time for bed

It's almost 11pm and I'm exhausted. I had planned on posting pictures tonight but I'll wait until tomorrow. My head hurts and I forgot to take pain killers at 7pm soooooo yeah I'm tired and ready for bed.

It was an eventful night. Ryan got scratched by the cat and then a hour or so later he hit his toe on something. Of course Kaleigh got blamed for it all, somehow she is the "cause" of all his injuries.

Kaleigh is now sleeping on the bedroom floor, I'm not sure how that happened and Ryan is asleep. It's so quiet and I'd love to stay up but I just cant.

Will post more tomorrow

The calm before the storm...

It is now almost 4pm, Ryan has been home but has yet to start his homework. However, he has been helpful with cleaning the house.

There has only been one fight between Kaleigh and Ryan, so far. Oddly enough it was a fight over who was going to bring me the broom. I guess there are worst things children can fight about.

Oh and for those that are wondering, Ryan's head is healing nicely. The glue came off on Sunday and it looks great. I will get a picture of him and post it for you all tomorrow.

The kids wanted to watch Dora so they are sitting down, watching the movie and being QUIET!! I live for easy days like this.

The dishwasher is loaded and running, the "community" rooms are clean and I am trying to decide if I should go grocery shopping today or tomorrow. I'm having trouble with a tooth but it's not as bad today as it was yesterday. Do I chance it and go today or do I wait until I'm out of tylenol in the morning to go. Hmmm decisions decisions.

The cats are all looking at me. All six eyes are screaming "FEED ME!". They will have to wait a little longer though.

My mom will be home in about 15 minutes. The house should fall apart shortly after that. When she gets home, everyone goes crazy. The cats start knocking things down, the kids get all worked up and run around screaming. That is when the fun begins.

I will write more later.

The day is almost over...

It's almost 2pm right now, Kaleigh is awake from her nap and I was lucky enough to sneak in a short nap after doing some chores around the house.

Let me just throw this question out there- Why is it that when you don't feel good that your kid/s tend to be on their worst behavior and make the biggest messes?

I can't say this is true for today but it was for yesterday. Nothing seemed to go right for us. I placed an order for pizza at 5:35 yesterday, it didn't arrive until 7pm. I cleaned up the house numerous times and within 15 minutes of each time, it looked like a disaster. And exactly how many times do you have to say "no" before you are actually heard. Sometimes it seems like I'm talking but nobody stops to listen.

Ryan will be home in a hour and should be in his usual bad mood. Hopefully he will sit right down and do his homework but I don't see that happening.

Kaleigh is watching "Little Einsteins" on the other computer. She really likes that show and I have to admit, it's very cute.

It's been cool and very cloudy all day, maybe that's why I feel so tired out.

I will update again later and I'm knocking on wood in hopes that the rest of the day will remain stress-free!

Kaleigh and Ryan last week at the Homecoming Parade

Ryan at the "Pumpkin Patch"

The Pink Dragonfly- I took this last weekend from the back porch

The Lizard- also last weekend from the back porch. Kaleigh calls this guy "wittle green wizzard"

Welcome

And here's my first post on this blog. I have 2 other blogs that I manage, both of which are family blogs that help me to keep in touch with my family.

This blog will be updated mulitple times during the day (depending on how much the children give me to write about).

Look for updates at the following times;

10am CST
2pm CST
4pm CST
11pm CST

A little bit of background-

I am a single mom who is also lucky enough to be a stay at home mom (temporarily). My daughter is 3 years old and her name is Kaleigh.

I am also a big sister! My little brother's name is Ryan and he is 8 years old. We are 20 years apart in age (long story) but I adore him.

We live in a small town just outside of Austin, Texas. I was born and raised in the Austin area and it's the only place that will ever feel like "home".

We live very modestly, getting by with what we absolutely need. That adds to our daily drama but all in all I think that we have a good little family.

Here's a cute video of Kaleigh and Ryan






I will write more soon and I hope you all enjoy this blog