Valentine's 2010

Valentine's is always a fun time of year especially when you're young and in elementary school. To give small notes of friendship and of course as Tanner would say..."THE CANDY!" This year it was no small feat for me to make it thru the small holiday for the boys at school. During open house at the beginning of the year we somehow got signed up to take the snacks for not only one class but TWO classes this year. It turned out fine as my mom volunteered to help bake some cupcakes for me. She did one batch as I did the other. Thank goodness for my mother dearest she has helped me out of some tight spots and this isnt the first time this year either. I ended up sick on Tanner's birthday this year and she baked them and took them to school for Tanner. He was very grateful for his Grandma Weezee that day :) As I was! Anyhow, our lovely morning turned into a total nightmare as for the first time in my life my cupcakes didnt rise or turn out very well. Of course I wasnt going to take those to school and give the kids... I just figured if they tasted ok my kids could eat the flops... and they did as I suspected.

In the end I had to go to the grocery store to buy cupcakes which I despise doing. But I had to do something of course. I get to the store and they have NO cupcakes on the shelf. But the lady behind in the bakery saved my little tushy and was making up some more and she made them specific to my needs which I thanked her for and she acted as if it was no biggie. Well it probably wasnt a big thing to her but to me it was and I was thankful that she was there. I thanked her many times for her generosity and kindness to me. In the end the kids in Tanner's class got grandma's cupcakes and Brandon's class got my purchased ones. I felt terrible but at least they had cupcakes :) Delivered on time and with some extra candy from me to hopefully keep myself from feeling completely like a failed mother... They ate them of course and loved them cuz they were so pretty. I was gonna do some neat stuff but I just didnt get the chance cuz I had BAD cupcakes! I have no clue as to what happened but I have never had that problem before ever! I am still at a loss.

Saturday proved to be a wonderful day for the boys as Grandma Weezee took them to Wichita. They spent the entire day with her on a "kids" day out with grandma :) They really enjoyed that. It's been a while since she has done something with them like that. They went to Wichita and ate at Burger King of all places but they stayed and played for an hour or better there. After leaving there they headed straight to the mall for a little shopping with Grandma at their favorite place on earth... The Build-a-Bear Factory :) They had gift cards to spend and they were determained to spend them and more of course as you cant seem to get out of there without spending an arm and a leg on your teddy bear of choice and of course some accessories to go with them. This time they bought camoflauge tents for their newest additions to their bear families :) It took Tanner about 2 seconds to pick his new friend which of course is a monkey-no suprise there and named him Max. Peyton did suprise us by getting a camoflauge teddy bear that he named Brandon LMAO! And Brandon my sweet boy loves his teddy's. He has one that is getting kinda worn in his advanced age and is ripping in a couple places. He has been bothered lately by this and so he walked in on a mission looking for a replica of his Teddy :) They didnt find one just like Batman Bear (he named him batman bear lol during his b-man phase) but he did find one very close to the same. One that he was at least satisfied with. The lady was very nice about helping him because they didnt have any in the bins that he liked to choose from. This nice lady went into the back into the stock and searched for a bear that would match Brandon's request. She found one and he was content with him. He is a honey color and actually a very pretty bear. Brandon may be 9 but his teddy's are still his friends and I wouldnt ever take that away from him. He takes them to his Dr. appointments so I know they mean more than just a bear to him. They are his friend yes but also some security during his laser treatments. They go thru it with him and I am sure that is how he looks at it. That helps me in a weird way to know even though I am there or grandma is there...he isnt going thru it alone and he is comforted by the fact that his bear goes with him. So his new friend is Barry. I am just thrilled that they had a good day with Grandma. They were needing some grandma time that was well over due. There is just so much drama from another in the family that it prevents my kids from having time with my mom. It is really unfair to them but doing what is best for MY kids is what I have to do. So...Thats they way it is and if my mom isnt careful with how she is handling this situation she might find that she loses how close she is with my boys. Due to stupidity from other sources. But anyhow they had a good day and that was a Valentine's Trip made of pure love for them and that was the best day they have had in a very long time.

I will add a picture of Peyton with his new friend. He will have a new friend for a long time to come with proof in the picture :)

Oh My Its Been A While!

Oh wow its been a long while since I have made a post to our blog. LOL! Busy days, Busy Nights make it somehow seem ok but then again I know that it's just an excuse that I shouldnt be using.

Things around here are as nuts as ever. Since my college graduation with my RN, I have been to London and Paris while I left my dearly loved children at home to finish the school year with their grandmothers. They work with each others schedules very well and trade off with the kids as needed. Haley isnt big about the farm and it with it being in the middle of nowhere she isnt big about having to go there either. So after school was out she of course spent the rest of her time with my mother in town. The boys dont mind the farm. They are little farmers to the core and love being out there. So they of course went to the farm. Tanner & Peyton had some home sick issues and eventually came back to town with my mother. Brandon-no problem-he hung out at the farm the whole time :)

Haley has started her last year of middle school and we are now currently in the last semester of 8th grade. She just finished up her cheerleading season yesterday.  She has done wonderful with it and it has brought her out of her shell more than I had ever dreamed it would. When she was little she used to be so shy and to herself. Well by about 3rd grade that had changed and she had become a little social butterfly. Well by 7th grade and the beginning of cheerleading...she has become a beautiful young girl with lots of friends and having tons of fun. Thats what I love to see and hear about from her. She is excited about being done with Middle School but I am positive that she doesnt realize that High School is a whole different story when it comes to what they themselves are responsible for. I am sure that she will do fine though. Come the spring she will be starting band competitions and it will be the first one for them. I am super excited about this because the 8th grade band is amazing! I cant hardly believe I am hearing 8th graders playing. They actually sound like they are a high school band. I am super proud of her and her sax! I love listening to them play. I listened to the 7th grade band this year and was shocked at the difference I was hearing. Our band instuctor is amazing here and I adore what he does with these kids but his class of 2014 is special I think. He has made a note or two of it also at some concerts without going overboard of course with the other class bands there. But Mr. B deserves so much credit for what he does with our band kids for PHS and LMS!

Brandon is in 3rd grade and I cant hardly believe how big he is getting already. I am happy with him that he has such awesome skills when it comes to hand writing and spelling. His hand writing is something else. It's perfect and at the begining of 2nd grade it was just terrible. Awful and you couldnt read a stitch of it. But by the end of 2nd grade he had the most perfect hand writing I have ever seen especially out of a boy with ADHD. He had the best writing in the class and still does. He carries A's in almost all his classes and 99% in spelling. I am really proud of him. He has made a huge turn around and I dont know what brought about such a turn around but none the less I am Super Duper Proud! He loves football and baseball. He loves to be at the farm or even out on the truck with his Uncle Robert. He and Tanner got and Xbox 360 for their birthdays in October 2009 and now they seem to think that Grand Theft Auto is the bomb and the also love to play one called Need For Speed Under Cover. They play that one Online against other people and they play in the area called cops and robbers. I might add that they are getting very good at it and that kinda scares me :) But boys will be boys. He continues to have laser treatments in Denver every 3-4 months now. He is about to the point where we are just doing maintenence treatments and I am thankful for that. That means we are where we need to be with his treatments and we are just keeping him where he is at so he doesnt get worse and he is about as good as he is gonna get. Poor guy I hate the thought that he has to do this for his entire life.... but nothing could change how much I truly love my son.

Tanner Boy...he's a little mess right. Mouthy as ever, crys all the time, he's a real momma's boy on top of it all. Thats ok tho as I am sure it wont last long. I still get my hugs and kisses everynight from the boys and that's perfect for me :)
Tanner's improvements this year-he reads to me at bedtime now. Some times I cant hardly believe the huge words that he can sound out. He knows some really hard words. Last year it was such a struggle with him and reading but now he reads aloud and reads books to me and I couldnt be happier with that. Of course he is our kid that excels in sports. His report cards always has Mastered under PE. That doesnt suprise me at all. This kid is so sports oriented that I think he eats, sleeps, dreams anything sports. He is so proud of his hoola hooping that he runs around the house begging everyone to watch him. He can throw a ball further than any third grader and can knock a baseball out into the green and he was 5 when he started that. He made a double play on his first t-ball game of the summer 2009 season. He was 6.  LOL! We were very proud of him. He is already sliding into base and he was ready to make bigger plays but with t-ball rules he couldnt. So he is really looking forward to this year since he will move up a league. Brandon also plays so they work together in the back yard all the time. It's nice when they get along :)

Peyton-where to begin with him. He is my baby. My sweet sweet baby. He has a royal temper though. He can get crazy mad and you practically have to sit on him to keep him contained till its over. when it passes he just cries and cries to release his frustrations. I was really worried about him because at the beginning of the school year he started kindergarden.  He was so stubborn that he refused to even write his own name. He was also put into speech therapy because he was having some issues on a couple sounds and they said he should have those at five. I reminded them that he turned 5 the first week school started. Cut off for age is the last day in August and his birthday is the 24th. So he was very close to the cut off date. I was unsure about him. I thought we will see how the first nine weeks goes and I will either pull him out or let him continue. Tho I have let him continue I am thinking that he may have to do kindergarden again. That would be hard. None of the other kids have had to redo any grade and I dont know how I will feel about that. I sure hope that with him being on his medication now for ADHD also that he comes around before the end of school and we make some progress. That is the only thing I can do right now is hope beyond hope that he improves. I dont want him to struggle though either so its a toss up...we will just have to wait and see...

Justin is still at Basic Energy where he has been for the past 10 years. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary in September. I cant believe how fast time flies. It seems just like yesterday that we were married. Now we have 4 children, a home, jobs, kids activities, church and so much more. I was working in wichita on the pediatric floor for Via Christi but the drive got to be to much for a part time job so I quit. I am waiting for the new hospital to open in Greensburg and that is only a 30 minute drive instead of an hour and a half. that puts me way closer to home in case of an emergancy and that is something that I always have to think about with such a large family. That and to be home with them as much as I can when I am not working. I was driving 3 hours a day when I worked and that was just way to much. I could have had two hours or better of that at home had I been working closer. It made for short sleep nights by the time I got home. I was working nights so Justin would be home with the kids at night time. So that is what has been happening in our lives since I last posted. I hope this catches you all up and you continue to stay involved with our lives. If you are far away and not here this is a fabulous way to keep up with what is going on with the children. We love you all~