A new addition to the family...........

and no, not another baby. That won't happen until September. We are the proud owners of a new puppy. And this is what she looks like:
We have named her Cocoa and she isn't old enough to leave her momma yet, so she won't be joining us until the 20Th. That's only a little more than a week away.

We had her here for a short visit last night to introduce her to our other dog, Prancer. I can say that Prancer wasn't very impressed with her. She seemed to be afraid of the puppy and she drooled a lot as if to say, 'my, what a lovely little snack she will make when they're not watching'! Prancer has always been a little stand offish with smaller animals but give her one her size and she will run and romp and play with the best of them. I anticipate them becoming very good friends! Or maybe I'm just humoring myself!

Cocoa is 3/4 Lab and 1/4 Austrailian shepard. She will get to be good sized, but not to big. Prancer is 1/2 boxer and 1/2 sneaky neighborhood dog! Okay, the vet says probably German Shepard or Austrailian shepard, but no one knows for sure!

Hoping this doesn't turn into a "Marley and Me" type of thing!

Growing up.............and away!

I knew this day would come. I dreaded it, but I was sure it wouldn't be much longer before it arrived. Amber is growing up and away more and more each day. She is busy with her friends more and isn't as excited to come here every weekend and would just as soon stay and go places with her friends and/or have them over. I'm really not upset, but it always surprises me at how fast this time approaches once the become 13 going on 14. It is a natural thing and it is a good thing that there are plenty of younger ones that still want to come here all the time. Although, their parents don't allow every weekend vists like Amber use to do, it is still a pleasant time when they are allowed to come and spend a night or two with 'Mema'!

And while it is a bit sad, it is also such an exciting time to watch them grow and see who they are becoming! I love every stage of their development........even the one when they become 's**t head teenagers' and give their parents a lot of grief. I call it getting what they deserve for what they put me through. What goes around, comes around! Ha ha!

Wow, it's already January 25Th..........not many days left in this month. Is it just me because I am getting older, but does time seem to be going faster?

It is cold out today.........high right now of 14º but no wind so we don't have to worry about wind chills. And I keep telling myself with every day that passes 'we are one day closer to spring'. I think that is the only thing getting me through the rest of this winter. Although, one very big and good thing about this winter is that Amber is much closer to us and it is much less time consuming to get her for the weekend.......and a lot less stressful than driving on icy, snowy roads for such a long distance!

She spent this weekend with us. I picked her up Friday morning since she wasn't feeling well and didn't go to school. I'm sure it was just a cold and she is already feeling better........it must be some of that TLC she always knows is available to her here......and good, warm comfort food that makes everyone feel better when they have a cold. Homemade chicken noodle soup, frozen apple juice to cool a sore throat, etc. Good ole' Mema knows all the tricks. Her mother makes her go to her room and stay in bed until she is feeling better. How much worse I would feel if I had to be isolated from everyone!!

I will have to return her back home later today, but for now, I will enjoy her visit and her hugs!

Really tired..............

I'm so tired, I can hardly keep my eyes open. My nose is getting stuffy and the whole right side of my head feels like it is being squeezed in a vise! I hope I'm not coming down with something.............I just don't have the time for it. My life is too busy to get sick right now.......of course there really isn't a better time either. My live never seems to slow down any. Maybe with any luck it is just a passing thing and I will feel much better in the morning. At least, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have to be into work early because the head honcho from our corporate headquarters is meeting someone there at 8:30 AM and I have to have the coffee ready and the office presentable for this meeting, which means I will have to arrive early in order to accomplish this.

So on that note, I will say 'good-night' and sleep thight!

Here's hoping the New Year improves...........

after being sick for 4 days after Christmas and hubby coming down with a sinus infection, little Drew having pneumonia followed by a sinus infection and ear infection and visits to the ENT doctor and finding out that they want to put tubes in his ears and take his adenoids out, we were wondering what more could happen. We should have left well enough alone!

Then it was back to work and we ended up having Amber and Alissa on New Years Eve and we played the Wii until the wee hours of the morning and there just didn't seem to be any time to get on the computer. It seems to me that in my 'partial retirement' I should have more time to do the things I want and less time to have to do other things............not so it seems!

Thursday morning on my way to work as I was driving south on 18Th street before getting to 135Th Ave where I must stop and turn left, I knew there was ice underneath that snow so I had only been traveling at about 30-35 mph and as I began to pump my breaks in plenty of time, my car decided to swing around on me so I was headed east on a north/south road. Fortunately there was no one in close proximity and I was able to stop inches before going into a ditch. Which gave me ample room to back up and make the car straight again and go to the stop sign and make my left hand turn and continue on my way without any further problems.

Friday morning, Emily wasn't as lucky! On her way to school, traveling on the same road (18Th street) she lost control of her car and went down a pretty steep embankment and ended up way past the ditch. The tow truck driver who pulled her car out said she was very lucky she didn't roll it! Fortunately she was not injured and the only thing that broke on her car was the drivers side outside door mirror. If you wish to see some photos, you can go to Michelle's facebook..........that's where they are posted. I guess this will be a day she will never forget and it happened to be Steve's 20Th birthday too!

Also yesterday, Virginia had her surgery and everything turned out fine. I got Zaidyn Thursday night so they wouldn't have to deal with him while getting the rest of the kids up for school and out on time to catch the bus before they had to leave. Bumpa picked Hunter and Harley up from school Friday after he got out of work. He had to come home and get the car seats first and I had called school and informed them that he would be coming and not me. They said since he was on the card too, it wasn't a problem, but they would tell the kids that Grandpa was coming instead of Grandma. I sheepishly told the lady on the phone that they would not know who she was talking about if she told them Grandpa instead of Grandma. They only know us by Bumpa and Mema and actually get angry with Doug if he refers to Tom as Tom instead of Bumpa. They are not bothered if he calls me Mom though! So Harley and Hunter went to bed last night without giving us any problems...........they usually are good about that here. Zaidyn on the other hand was cranky and crying. I tried everything to calm him down and he seemed intent on making me miserable too. Until around 1:30AM, when he finally pooped...........poor little guy must have had a tummy ache and once he pooped and had his diaper changed, he fell fast asleep. I got to bed around 2AM and Harley came into my room at 6:30 and asked if she and Hunter could get up. I took one look at the clock and told her to go back to bed, it was still nighttime. She did, but I don't know if they went back to sleep or not. I certainly did and slept until Zaidyn woke up crying, thinking he was starving to death at around 8:30AM. It is now 1:30 PM and they all have been fed (the big kids twice plus a snack, and Zaidyn......several times) and they are now watching a movie and Zaidyn is sleeping. I need to take a shower and get dressed myself, but I'm not sure how long he will remain sleeping. But I think I will end this post and give it a shot............wish me luck!!!!

Happy New Year!

Although New Year's Eve has passed, and Chirstmas 2008 is over, I am now just getting around to posting some Christmas photos of our family and home. This has been a very busy year for me. I began working in March and was supposed to only be 2half days a week and then was changed to one full day per week. With the quitting of one of the gals I job shared with (and she gave no notice), I picked up more hours. So my part-time one day job became 3 full days part-time job! Granted, I have a four day weekend every week, but it is a lot harder to accomplish things here at home than I ever dreamed possible. So I want to tell all you working moms out there that I think you all ROCK! I don't know how you do it!

So, that having been said and done, on to the photos:

Amber's Gingerbread House



The stockings were hung by the chimney with care!



The Kentucky kids: Trenton, with Darian on his knee, KeAira, Rachel and Cayden.




Amber decorating the tree!

A prayer answered................

I am thrilled to tell you that my 13 year old grand daughter, Amber, is living with me at the present time. I have been given temporary and emergency guardianship of her while her mother is incarcerated in a county jail. We will hear tomorrow for how long this guardianship will last. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the judge will demand that she take some parenting classes and anger management classes as well! And until those classes are completed satisfactorily, that Amber remain in my guardianship or that of her daddy's!

We went to visit her daddy this afternoon and stayed for dinner. Then Amber talked them into letting us bring her newest brother, Zaidyn who is almost 2 months old, home with us for the night. It really didn't take much talking on her part. They haven't had a full nights sleep since he was born back in September, so this could really be a welcome relief for them! And I know that I can do it for one night anyway. I don't have to work tomorrow, so it won't be too hard and I suspect that they will be here fairly early in the morning (probably around 9 at the latest) to pick him up. I don't think they will be able to stand not having him much later than that. In fact, I suspect that they will come as soon as all the other kids get on the school bus and are headed to school!

Bumpa called tonight and still no deer for any one up there. Makes me wonder what the big attraction is to going deer hunting in the U.P. if the majority of the deer are down this way and are corn fed and taste much better than the ones from the U.P. anyway! Perhaps it's just a 'MAN' thing!