Cayden

When I was in Green Bay a couple weeks ago, I got to hang out with my nephew's kids on the 4th of July. Debbie and I took them to the park for the afternoon. We had so much fun playing and taking pictures of them. This is just a fun layout I finished up tonight. I was taking Jessica Sprague's Now We Are Rockin' class. Of course I got behind and am just playing catch up but that layout was perfect for the pictures of Cayden.

Summer is flying buy

Seriously where has the summer gone. I can't believe we are already into the end of July. Last week was party week at our house. I had my birthday on the 19th (ewwww 41) but the day was great. I got some stuff done around the house and than hubby took me over to Dickinson to eat dinner, do a little shopping and go watch the races at Southwest Speedway. It was a lot of fun and just a great evening.

Than on the 22nd we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe we have been married 19 years already. Next year for our 20th we are going to take a trip together. We aren't sure where yet but we are kind of in the middle of starting a new chapter in our lives and it is just great getting to spend time together. For all of our marriage we have always had kids running around and traveling with us. Now we are about to be grandparents in February, our middle daughter will be leaving town in just a couple weeks to move off to college. Our youngest will be a junior in high school this year and really doesn't like to travel or do things with us. It is great just getting to hang out with Sam in the evenings when the kids are working. We usually eat dinner together and just visit and catch up on our days.

I already know I am going to enjoy this new chapter in my life. I love spending time with Sam and just enjoying the relaxed lifestyle of not having to run around after young children, being able to just head out of town together for an evening or weekend. I have to say through all the difficult years with little kids, jobs and everything else in a new marriage, I never imagined it would be this great after being married so long. I am loving it.

I am back!!

I drove out to Wisconsin and have been spending time with my family for the last week and half. It was a great visit and I really needed the time with them. My dad had his surgery to remove his last leg. I didn't think I would get to see him before the surgery because it was scheduled for Wednesday, July 2nd but than it was postponed because his blood sugars were up over 550. So I drove out there and got there with several days to spend with my dad before he had his surgery. He was in the hospital while they worked to get his sugars down and under control but it was still great to get to visit with him before the surgery.

He had his surgery on Sunday, July 6th at 8:00 am. The surgery went really well. I am not sure if he realized what life would be like with no legs. I know he was just glad to have it gone so that the throbbing pain he was experiencing would stop. He seemed to be a little depressed after the surgery but was recovering pretty well. He ended up getting moved down to the rehab area so he could begin working to build his arm muscles up and progress in learning to care for himself and hopefully reach his goal of going home. On Wednesday evening he ended up having another stroke and being moved back to the hospital. He is still currently in the hospital and is slowly recovering. Hopefully in a couple more days he will be moved back to the rehab part of the hospital where he can work on learning his skills.

The ultimate goal is to have him able to take care of himself and able to go home by himself in a couple of months. His doctor thinks he will be able to have prosthetics for both legs and walk without having to be in a wheel chair. We ended up moving him out of his trailer because he would not be able to get into the bedroom or bathroom with a chair at all. So if he didn't have his legs on all the time he wouldn't be able to use the restroom. We discussed it with him and decided it would be best to look for an apartment once he is ready to come home.

While I was in Wisconsin it was great to spend time with my aunts and uncles, my sister and brother and my dad. I even got to meet my nephews 3 children and hang out with my niece.

Birthday Boy

Hard to believe my little boy is 16 year old now. Wow it seems like just yesterday we were having little kids running around our house. Now I have a 21 year old, 18 year old and now my baby is 16. I just don't feel old enough to have kids that age. Jerad's birthday was a great relaxing Sunday. I made a bunch of cupcakes and decorated them for him instead of a cake. We seem to eat cupcakes up, but cakes tend to sit and go to waste. We went out shopping and got Jerad a new CD and he got to spend some money at Kmart. Than his dad made him his favorite dinner of baby back ribs that had marinated in bbq sauce all day and than cooked really slow on the grill for several hours. Oh they were melt in your mouth good. It was great to sit and have a family dinner today.

Amanda had her first ultrasound today. Her due date is set for Febraury 11, 2009. Almost 8 weeks along already.

I am heading off to my dad's house on Wednesday, they have moved his surgery up to Wednesday. I won't get to spend a couple days with him now before he has surgery, but I will be there to visit with him and hang out with my sister cleaning and organizing his house for him.

The good thing is that strawberries are ready for picking and door county cherries might be ready by the time I am ready to come home. Oh yummy, I am hoping to bring home several gallons of cherries and strawberries to make some jam and jelly. Oh and I can't forget to bring home some cheese curds for the family. My kids can't wait and even my neighbor loves them. He is in his 80's and use to work in WI back in the 50's. He loves it when I bring home goodies!

:( day

Well my dad still has his one leg, but only for about another week. He will be going in for surgery to remove the leg below the knee on July 6 or 7, it will depend on when they can schedule the surgery. He was going to have it removed last time he was in the hospital last week, but they ended up hearing a faint pulse right before they were going to do the operation. Of course my dad is such a smooth talker, he talked them into waiting to see if opening the vein even a little bit would save the leg. They now know that it wasn't enough to save the leg, but my dad now is to the point he knows they tried everything. He is resigned to the fact that he will be in a wheelchair now. I worry about depression after the surgery. He now talks like he will only be in the hospital a week, than in a rehab facility for a couple weeks than going home. This is so not realistic because my dad has steps to get into his house. He will have to learn to do everything without legs. I am just not sure he will even have the upper body strength to lift himself like he will need to.

I know I am probably on the opposite end of things that my dad, but I don't see him going home after the surgery. He has let himself become pretty lazy about his daily care and thus I think after this it will even become worse. Right now I am trying to figure out when the best time will be to go out and spend some time with him. I am not sure if I want to do it after the surgery or go before and than be there while he is in the hospital. I just don't know. I do know that if there is a chance he will go home we will need to do a lot of work in his house to get it organized so he will be able to get around in a wheelchair. I guess I will have to make a decision this week when I will be going out to Wisconsin.

Diabetes Stinks

My dad has had type 2 diabeties since he was about 38 years old. He is now 70. He had his first leg amputated about 4 years ago after he dropped a log on his foot and it didn't heal and ended up gettin infected. Now his other leg is in really rough shape and isn't getting enough blood supply to keep it alive. This last Friday they did surgery to try and open some of the arteries in his leg. On Saturday, they were set to amputate the leg just below the knee. They ended up getting a pulse so one of the veins had been opened a little bit. The doctor decided to give it another week to see if that was enough to keep his foot alive enough to save it. This coming Monday the doctor will make the decision on if to amputate or not. Either way this is devastating for dad. He could manage with one leg, but now with loosing the other one it is just the end in his mind.

My sister and I struggle with what to do with him. With both legs gone he will be confined to a wheelchair. This will mean his home is no longer accessible for him. It was hard enough getting around in it with one leg and a cane, but having no legs and a wheelchair will just not work where he lives now. More than likely he will be going to a nursing home after the surgery at least temporary. It will depend on his will to rehabilitate and get on with his life. If he wants to be more functional in getting around it will be up to him to learn that process and move forward, or to give into the depression. We will just have to wait and see what he will decide to do for himself.

Hey Grandma!

Okay I am not exactly ready to be a grandma, but I don't really get to pick the time I become one now do I? Well last night Amanda and Greg came over to the house to let us know they are having a baby! I don't feel old enough to have a grandbaby running around the house yet, but than my husband reminded me that when I was her age, I was married and pregnant with my second child. They are so excited. I am sure I will have ultrasound pictures soon! In just 7 short months I will be taking tons of pictures of baby toes and a my first grandchild. While I wish she would have waited a couple more years to enjoy each other a little longer, she has always wanted to be a mother. She will be a great mother I am sure.

On another note, it is suppose to finally warm up this weekend and be fairly nice. I got my rasberry plants and rhubarb in the ground the other day so hopefully they will start growing. I am hoping to get some windows cleaned and painted this weekend so I can get some layouts put in them for the craft show. I really need to spend some time in my scrapbook room this weekend getting some stuff done.

Rain Rain

Go away. I am a little tired of all the rain. It seems to rain everyday here. I thougth we were suppose to be in a drought? I am sure come July I will be wishing for the rain, but right now enough already. It has been so cold and chilly most of the time, that my garden I planted back in April is still trying to breakground. I thought all my seeds were rotten, but it is slowly coming up! This weekend my rasberry plants will be here. I can't wait to get them planted and growing. Hopefully they will come back again next year.

Driver's education.... my youngest is in driver's ed. He got his permit last week on Friday and has been driving us crazy with wanting to go out driving around. He is still a little scary, but he is getting better. We have been having him learn to drive the stick shift pickup. He has been doing pretty good with it. He is saving up for a new vehicle, but hopefully we can talk him into waiting a couple years till he gets ready to head off to college to get it.

Yesterday, Megan and I finished up her application, dorm application and all her paperwork for college at MSU-Billings. It is really hitting me that she will be leaving in just 2 short months. I am so proud of her for taking such a big step and heading off to college. It is such a big step. I am realizing how un-prepared she is (or at least I think she is) because she has never driven in a bigger city at all. We might have to take a road trip this summer so she can get a little practice.

I posted another layout that I have been working on tonight. I am really loving the digi scrapbooking, but I tend to be running out of photos now that I can get several digital layouts done every night.

Megan

I love this fun picture of my daughter and her friend Shain. They always have so much fun together. Sharing the love!! Of course I had to turn it into a layout to add to her album for her.

Megan has finally made up her mind to attend college in Billings. She will be playing tennis for MSU-Billings yellowjackets. That is the same college I received my BA degree from. I am so proud of her for making a decision to leave home and branch out on her own. Off into the big world. I am really nervous for her going off to college in the big city by herself, but I know she will do fine. It has really hit me that in just a couple months I will only have 1 of my 3 children living at home with us.

This summer she is working for the city, teaching tennis lessons and also working in the evenings at Frosty's (drive in dinner). She is saving money big time. I have to start saving to get her that laptop she will need for college.

Spring Cleaning Bug

Well last night it hit me. I usually get the bug about the middle of March but this year with the cold rainy weather it has been delayed. I finally decided to dig out my capri's and start wearing them even though it is still pretty chilly here. But that led to the closet cleaning bug.

I ended up taking all the clothes out of my closet (well half the closet). Some of them I hadn't worn in ages and were covered in dust. I washed, folded and sorted. I got rid of a lot of clothes that I hadn't worn in awhile. I filled up 3 full bags that I will donate this week. It took me about 5 hours to get that half of the closest emptied and restocked with the clean clothes that I know I will wear. I even talked hubby into making me a hanging bar so I can hang all my work shirts up on it. Now that I have a job where I will be wearing dress clothes, I figured I better have a place where I can hang them up and keep them neat and ready to wear to work.

I have half a clean closet now. I will work on the other half tonight hopefully and get it all done. I am amazed at how old some of the clothes are that I have, time for them to go and new ones to take their place. It always feels so good to have stuff cleaned and organized. In my house, I need to do a lot more of it. With three children (well 2 still at home) it seems like for years we were just looking for places to store stuff, never organizing it.

My next project will be to clean off the freezer in the laundry room. The top of that thing seems to be the place that anything that doesn't have an assigned place goes. It is piled so high of stuff that hasn't been used for years. Time to organize and declutter the house. I love the feeling I get when I get a project done.