Boston

Yesterday we went to Boston so Jared could go to Children's for a follow up. He went there in April for his eczema, which he has had his whole life.

When he was a baby his skin was so bad that we used to have to hold him down just to put his cream on him. He would scream and cry like we were killing him. I am surprised that no one ever called DSS on us because if I ever walked by while we were putting his cream on I would think that they were torturing someone. Jeff would have to hold him down and I would lather him up. It was very difficult and the older he got the more he moved.

Finally after 10 years the doctors decided that they have done as much as they can for him and we are now going to Children's Hospital in Boston.

Last time his skin was awful and they gave us about 10 different meds and creams. This time his skin is looking great. There are still some spots on his feet that need work, and we are trying to find a way to fix those.

So all and all he is finally at a point were he is looking good. Yeah, it only took 11 years!

Tip of The Day

Today's Tip!

Enjoy your children. It goes by so fast and they get big so fast that sometimes I think we forget to just sit back and enjoy them. Yes they drive us crazy and Yes they do not do everything we would like. I bet if you really look at your kids they are good and they just stress you out because you have stress in your life.

So today sit down and just watch them. Listen to them and enjoy the wonder of being a child.

End of year party

Every year for the past few years we have had an after school party at Alice's house. This year was no different except that certain people decided that they would start a new one. I find it very interesting that Sandy will say "oh we are friends and we should be able to get along"

Then she has a separate party and does not invite any of the old people. I think she just likes controlling everything and can not let anyone have their own thing. Funny because at one time this would really bother me and not it doesn't now. I am not sure why she feels the way she does I just think it is sad.

Enough of the boring stuff.

The party was a blast and I had a great time. The kids had a great time. It is funny to watch them as they get older. They still play games and act like kids, then they talk about who likes who and why this one is mad at this one and so on. I love talking with them and finding all this stuff out. It matters to me that they are comfortable talking with me. Then the sleepover talk started and Alice said no way, boys are not sleeping over.

Last year they has a sleep over. It was Jared, Devon and Gage along with Rachel and Stephanie. They had a great time and they all slept in the living room together. This year they wanted the same thing and we were like yeah NO. (I will blog about children and sleep overs later)

Graduations

Jared graduated from 5th grade and Jordan graduated from kindergarten. It was very interesting to see how different these 2 events were.



Jordan's classes sang songs and did little skits. She even had her own solo song. She got to sign center stage all by herself with her classmates sitting behind her singing.



My mom said "she really loves this doesn't she" I said "Oh Yeah she would be on stage all day if she could" After they did all of there songs they got diplomas, which took forever because parents had to take so many pictures. Jordan decided to stay in school after she graduated. It was just her and 2 of her friends.



The 5th graders on the other hand did not sing any songs. The principle talked about all that they have accomplished and how much they will be missed. She also talked about the new road they will be traveling in middle school.

When the awards were given out Jared was very surprised that he got one. He told me that he came in 2nd in the spelling bee and he was very mad because he does not really like the girl that beat him. They went back and forth for 1/2 hour so the teachers felt they both deserved awards. He was so excited about that.

After graduation the kids came home and we had a little party with some of Jared's friends. I love being the hand out house.

Schools almost over

Well it is that time of year again when the sun comes out and the birds are singing and I am getting ready to put on my battle gear. The kids will be out of school in 3 1/2 days and I can not wait. I love this time of year.

Most parents hate when school gets out for various reason. For those who work you might have day care and that can be expensive and for those who stay home it is constantly trying to find things to entertain the kids.

NOT ME I LOVE IT! I love not having to get up in the morning. I also love that my children are getting older so they can get there own breakfast. I love spending the days with my kids doing new things or just hanging out. This is my favorite time of year and I know some of you may find that strange.

Last year Jared, the oldest, tried to convince me to home school them. I said "There is no way I can home school you because you would never learn anything. We would stay in bed and the house would never get clean" He thought this was a great idea, unfortunately though, I am unable to do this.

So begins another wonderful summer of playing like a kid and loving it. We have many big plans for the summer most of which I am sure I will tell you all about.

Happy Father's Day!

Tomorrow is Father's day and my kids are very excited because we got Jeff a Wii fit for Father's day. He has been talking about trying to lose weight for about 6 months now and his first plan is not working.

The deal was that every 5 lbs he lost he would get a nice gift from me. Basically he wanted a blow job. Now why this is different then anything we already do was beyond me, but I guess he thought that if he could only get one after he lost weight then he would lose it.

Well that lasted about 1 day. He lost 2 lbs and he looked at me and said "2 lbs right".

I said "Nice Try".

Since his first plan is not working I thought I would help him along. I think the kids will be using it more then he does.

Blue Moon

Jordan is watching tv and I hear Jared tell her.

"The name of this episode is Blue Moon"

Jordan " Oh Blue Moon, Mom my show is about Blue Moon"

Me " That is nice, what is it about"

Jordan: "Blue Moon is alcohol Right Mom"

And now I know I drink to much in front of my children.

Being Scared

Jared could not sleep last night and he kept coming down stairs to see me. I get frustrated by this because he never tells me what the problem is only that he can't sleep. Now he is the oldest and knows that in our house you can tell us anything.

Finally after 1 hour of this back and forth I finally got out of him what was wrong. He gets afraid that some one is going to take him and kill him. Pretty big stuff for an 11 year old. I told him so guy is not going to break into the house to take an annoying 11 year old who will just bug him all the time. I think he understood because he knows I am always complaining about that.

Also, he had not talked to Jeff and I think he was really missing him. This is the longest he has been away and the kids are just not used to it.

So Jared read until 11:00 and then even after he went to bed he still came in 3 times to tell me little things.

It is going to be a long summer if they are getting up at 7 am and not going to bed until 11 pm. I am going to have to start drinking more vodka just so I can me it through.

Soccer Jamboree

Saturday Devon had a soccer jamboree. This is were the kids play 3 20 min games, one right after the other.

The heat was awful, it felt like 100 degrees and I thought the kids would be dying on the field. We only had 1 sub so the kids had to play all the games.

And they did awesome. Devon made more saves then I could count. I hate watching him play goalie, but it is his favorite postion and he did so good on Saturday I could not have been prouder.

After the second game his coach picked him up off the ground and spun him around. They had played a team that was a division up from us and Devon did not let anything get buy him.

It was a great day!

Tired

I am so tired tonight I really should go to bed, but figured I had not written in a while so I would. The kids only have 13 days left of school and while this makes me very happy. I hate getting up in the morning to bring them. I know after about 1 week I might be sick of all the whining and complaining. Well now that I have totally changed what this was about I am going back.

Jeff left for Denver on Thursday and I woke up throwing up. It was so bad that I could not even bring the kids to school. They were great though helping me and getting me freeze pops.

I told Jared "See what you have to look forward to. When I ma old and you have to start taking care of me"

He was not happy about that and now when ever I ask him to do something he is like "Mom, remember when you were sick and I helped you." Like that should get him out of doing anything for at least a month.

Friday I slept all day and then my weekend went crazy. I never realized how much I relied on Jeff until he was gone. He does a lot more then I think and I really can't wait for him to be home, but don't tell him that.

I had a great weekend and I will write about it later. Right now I am going to bed!

A Great Friend

I know most of you do not know this, but one of my very good friends is going through a ruff time right now and I am halping organize a benefit dinner for her family. She is 34 years old and has a husband and 2 wonderful boys, ages 9 and 7. The following is a brief description of what her life has been like for the past few years.

In 2006 while battling Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), she was diagnosed with stage 4b Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma and under went a blood stem cell transplant. She was better for about 4 months and then they started seeing signs that the cancer had returned.

Now, two years later they are faced with the same issues as before, as well as some new ones. We just learned that Brandy may be losing her Health Insurance so it is very important for us to be able to help them. The doctors are hoping to give her a partial blood stem cell transplant, to hold off the cancer until a perfect match donor can be found for a full blood stem cell transplant. If she does not have insurance these procedures can cost up to $100,000. Brandy has not worked in 3 years and she will be unable to work for at least another 2 years.

This is what her husband had to say about her “She is an amazing person and wants to be around to see the kids grow up. Doctors have told us other people don’t make it this long. She is one for the books and I am lucky to have found her,” Eric said.

One of Brandy's favorite sayings is “there is always tomorrow, there can always be a better day"

How true that is.

24 hour Blood Pressure

So today I am doing my 24 hour blood pressure test. It is kind of a pain because I have this huge blood pressure cuff on my arm and then I have a monitor that I have to wear as well. I look kind of funny and the this goes off every 1/2 hour.

It gets so tight that I lose feeling in my hand and I feel like my arm is going to fall off from lack of blood. I can not wait to see how it feel tonight when I am trying to sleep.

All of this just so they can tell me that there is nothing wrong with me and I have to keep taking my meds for the rest of my life.

Isn't fun to get older!