Little girl, big bed!

Last week, while Dana was gone I tried letting Ellie nap on the bottom bunk in Ryne's room, she didn't like it at all!! In fact she fell asleep on the floor in front of the door and I wasn't able to get into the room. So after that I gave up and decided to wait, the last few nights when it's bed time she has been running in and climbing on the bottom bed and every time I put her in her crib she would scream bloody murder. Last night we decided to give it a try, she was so excited when I laid her down last night, she said "nigh, nigh" and gave me kisses. She played for awhile and kept getting out of bed which was really bothering Ryne, but after about 20 mins they were both asleep! I thought Ellie probably fell asleep on the floor but she didn't, she was snug in her bed.

Ellie slept all night in the twin bed without falling out, I didn't have to get up once!! It was great, I went in this morning to get her up and I just had to snag a pic, my baby is getting so big I can't believe it. I love how the bed swallows, she's still so tiny but according to her it was time to move on!

Sentimental Saturday

This week has been a hard one, and just when I thought things would never get better they started looking up. Here are some things that meant a lot to me over the week....

Kaleb sneaking into my bed at night and whispering "I wove you mommy".
Ryne was the adult when I wasn't and enlisted the younger kids to help her clean the house.
Ellie being extra affectionate, she usually doesn't lay her head on my shoulder or give lots of kisses but she spoiled me this week.
I kinda had a break down one day and was baling my eyes out and Kaleb came over with tears in his eyes gave me a hug and just sat next to me and held my hand.
Kaleb was quick to forgive me when I yelled at him and blamed him for something that he didn't do
A neighbor has been dropping off clothes for Ryne
Ryne telling me thank you for taking good care of her
A clean car and Ryne saying "WOW!! The car is clean, I want it to stay this way forever!!"(and it smells really good too!)
Kaleb telling me "Nice painting job MOM!!" or "Nice cleaning the floors mom"
My mom I have really needed a shoulder to cry on and she has been there for me even when she wasn't feeling the best herself.
Ellie brought me her shampoo and body wash grabbed my finger and led the way to the bathroom, I don't know why I just thought it was sweet.
Just knowing that others actually care.

As hard as life is at times, I wouldn't change anything all the experiences I go through are for a reason and even though they may seem impossible at the time I know I can get through them with the help of my family and my Father in Heaven. I have had a constant prayer in my heart this week and I think they were answered by all these small things that most people wouldn't really think about or see as answers or blessings, but I know I am so truly blessed and I am very thankful.

She is a CHILD you don't take her WORD!!!

Ok so I went to pick Ryne up from the bus stop, to my surprise she wasn't there!! I thought maybe she beat me to the front office (they get candy from the managers), I went there but no Marryne!!! I kept telling myself not to panic, I asked a few of her friends if she was on the bus to which they said no, WHAT!? I double checked with a couple of the older kids just to make sure they too said she wasn't on the bus. I started to panic just a little, I tried calling the school no one answered so I called the classroom again no answer, by now I was saying "What the HELL!!!? (I don't normally swear so no offense to anyone, but that's really how I felt). I called Dana and had him keep calling the school while I loaded the other kids in the car (thank goodness Ellie was up from her nap), Dane calls just when the school comes into view and tells me Ryne is in the front office. Apparently Ryne had a substitute and she believed Ryne when she said that she was a parent pick up instead of riding the bus and instead of double checking to make sure that was right she just believed her SERIOUSLY!!!! YOU DON"T TAKE THE WORD OF A 5 YEAR OLD!!! It ticked me off a little more when the office had the nerve to tell me that I shouldn't have my 5 year old relay the message that I was going to pick her up NO DUH!! I told them that I thought the only way to pick them up if they normally ride the bus is to send a note or call, which they said was correct, then I asked them if I did either of those things? Of course they said no, then I said why would you believe my 5 YEAR OLD, and why wouldn't you CALL to make sure that was right!!! They apologized and said it wouldn't happen again, I was glad that she was at the school and not some where else but still I was so scared when she didn't get off the bus, and really they should have called me!!

Picture Day

Last Thursday was picture day for Marryne, we had only 1 day notice nice hu!? Anyway this isn't the best picture cause the sun was in her eyes, but this is what she wore and how I did her hair.She picked the outfit, she told me that she "always where's purple for picture day" this time she wanted it to be different. It helped that grandma made matching pants to go with this shirt!! I can't wait to see the pictures hopefully they did kindergartners first, by the time she got home her hair was as flat as could be!

p.s. I got the paint for my front room!! I am so giddy it's not even funny, I will post pictures when it's done. :)

IEP's, second cars, and car payments

Last week was a busy one, my hubby was preparing to leave for a trip to Illinois to pick up a car his parents are giving us (THANK YOU BILL AND NANCY!!), and we had picture day, and IEP meetings, Karate, scouts and well you get the idea we were busy. So now that I have a minute to sit and blog I will catch everyone up on what's going on with us.

Dana flew out on Friday to pick up a car, I am so excited to have a car during the day!! The kids are still getting use to it, they are so use to not having a car that when they look in the car port and see it there they think Dana is home!! I was glad to have to car on Friday, we dropped Dane off at the Airport by 7:30 then we headed home, we had just enough time to get Ryne dressed and fed before I had to take her to school, she thought it was the coolest thing ever to be in the "parent drop off line" she asked if we could do it more now that we have a car. Kaleb's bus didn't show up it's suppose to be here by 10:49 although they usually don't get here till 11, we waited till 20 after I didn't hear anything from the school and quite frankly I wasn't about to call transportation, they get irritated when parents call (the bus drivers do that is), so we hopped in the car, the teacher was really surprised when I dropped him off, I told her about the bus then she informed me they decided to have a fire drill at 10:30 so the buses had to wait NICE. I'm sorry but that's a stupid time to have a fire drill. I had an appointment at 3 with Kaleb's teacher and therapists to go over his IEP and to talk with and OT that evaluated him. I have been to a couple IEP meetings before so I wasn't really expecting to hear somethings, and I am still trying to process them, I am going to talk to Kaleb's pediatrician about these new concerns and to take steps to find out what is going on with him, when I know more, you will know more. We had a little incident, my meeting was suppose to be done by 3:30 so that I could be home in time to get Ryne off the bus, well it went over do to the OT being a little late cause she was coming from another school that's a far distance away, so I got don't right at 4 that's when Ryne gets home. Well I thought about that earlier, I told Marryne that if I wasn't at the bus stop that I would leave the house unlocked, she was to walk home not say a word about no one being home and just and lock the door, so when my meeting went over I wasn't panicked until I realized I didn't unlock the door!!!!!! I panicked, I got home as quick as I could of course hitting every red light possible, she wasn't on the front porch I check the back porch no sign of her, once the other kids were inside I went looking for her, my first thought was to check the front office, and sure enough she was there poor thing was in tears. She hadn't been there more than a few minutes, she thought I would be mad that she wasn't at the house, I told her she did the right thing by going to the office, I apologized for not being leaving the door unlocked she responded with "that's why I need my own key!". I promised it wouldn't happen again, I'm glad I was only a couple of mins late but still I shouldn't have been.

It is really strange to look out and see the car, I'm not use to it being there and I think of all the possibilities, I can make Dr. appointments during the day, and I can pick up sick kids from school, and I can take Ellie to the park or library, oh the possibilities are endless, and it is so nice. Getting the other car was unexpected, we were figuring it would be another year of saving before we could afford to get another car, then Dane's parents got new cars and were planning on donating there old ones, we talked to them and they agreed to give us one if Dane could drive it home. Dane is making a vacation out of it ,on his way home he is going to visit a friend and his sister in Texas. The kids are having a hard time adjusting to Dane not being here, Kaleb especially but we are doing fine, I am actually kinda liking it cause the house and car are VERY clean and they are staying that way!! Also speaking of cars we made the last payment for our Rendezvous this month WAAHHOOO!! I am so excited now we own 2 cars free and clear, and we have a few extra bucks to put towards things we really need, I am so stoked!!

Ok well I think that's it for now, I'm sure I will think of more things to add later! :)

A much needed Home Makeover!

With our tax return we bought some new flooring for the house, enough to do the kitchen and front living room cause heavens knows we needed it, this is what we had before..... Ugly right? I hated this carpet we lived with it long enough it had to go.

My brother is super awesome with this kind of stuff, so he drove the kids and I home and stayed a couple of weeks to help us with the new floor...
he textured our walls and got rid of the seams (yeah!!!).
and a wall came crumbling down! Now you see it.....
Now you don't!!
I haven't taken after pictures yet, we still have a lot to do like paint the walls and all the cabinets in the kitchen and we are going to put in a new back splash in the kitchen, so stay tuned for those reveals.

Everything turned out awesome, I absolutely LOVE my new floor, I LOVE that my walls have a little more life and character, I LOVE how open everything is and how much bigger my kitchen feels and ...I LOVE my brother for taking some time to help us out, we couldn't have done it without him.

The weekend...

Was very pleasant! Friday I worked my but off getting the house as clean (as I can get it with everything we are doing to it) I figured with the long weekend coming I wanted a somewhat livable house. I was pleasantly surprised to wake up on Saturday at 10 a.m. yes you read right 10 a.m.! My hubby got up with the kids at 7, and figured it would be nice for me and boy was it!! When I finally got up I was a little nervous about going out into the living rooms cause let's face it, my husband and children + being in the house without my supervision equals disaster! You can imagine my surprise when I walked out, the morning dishes were done, the living rooms picked up, the floors swept and they were getting ready to vacuum, I was in HEAVEN I honestly had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn't a dreaming, it was absolutely awesome!! We had a nice relaxing day, we watched movies, played games, and I actually got do do some reading, it really was a great day.

Dana got up with the kids again on Sunday, but do to me throwing up all night and feeling like crap I didn't sleep in, which was a bummer I was looking forward to it. We worked together to get dinner in the crock pot, then Dane took the older kids to church, I laid Ellie down for a nap and had plans to clean the bathrooms but my exhaustion over took me and I slept the entire time they were gone, it was nice. We had dinner when they got home, made cookies for desert then sat and watched Alice in Wonderland (the new Tim Burton one) it was really good, I didn't think I was going to like it, I really don't like Tim Burton that much and the pre-views really freaked me out. I thought it was going to be really dark, but it wasn't there were a few gross parts but other than that I loved it. The kids really liked it too, Ryne decided she wants to be "the big Alice with curly hair" for Halloween, so we shall see how that goes. After the kids were in bed I took a much needed shower and went to bed.

Everyone was up about 7 a.m. yesterday, we had a nice breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast (the only thing missing was the orange juice). After breakfast we tidied up the house, once that was done we went swimming for a couple of hrs, even though I still wasn't feeling 100% it was still fun. We had English muffin pizzas for lunch, while the older kids watched a movie and Ellie took a nap Dane and I cleaned up the yard, and got rid of some furniture that was falling apart. Some friends were going to come over for a BBQ but there kids were pretty tuckered out from the long weekend, Ryne was really upset but was comforted quickly when we had a warm chocolate chip cookie topped with scoop of ice cream on top for dessert! We watched The Spy Next Door with Jackie Chan, again I didn't really think I was going to like this movie, the pre-views I saw made it look cheesy but it was really really good. I am going to have to watch it again with Kaleb cause he fell asleep within the first 10 mins!

We had such a great weekend, everyone worked together to keep up with the house and because of that I was able to sit and spend my time with the family instead of cleaning. Everyone seemed to be a lot more patient and understanding with one another and I feel well rested and ready to start a new week!