Beckie's room before/ Yahaira and Rose's room after

This is how Beckie's room looked early Monday morning, a very empty room compared to most of the summer when 3 people occupied the space, but with Beckie returning to college on Sunday we emptied and cleaned preparing for Ryan to paint on Monday....














and this is the after on Wednesday night...the colors are from the dress hanging on the wall shelf...loved this dress on yahaira and loved the colors, added purple just for some fun (been watching too much "Get Color" on HGTV....they always have 3 colors in a room) The white pictures hanging from the metal strip...(cool idea it's magnetic so you can hang their art work on there, no need to tack it up or gunk up the walls) will have pink handprints and purple feet added, (when I get brave enough to finish it...paint and small children is such a fun mix) should resemble flowers when all is said and done, those will be matted and hung on another wall. Have a few more things to add, some wall art words and some butterflies...the girls loved their room, rose especially loves the butterfly mobiles...

a couple more pics, the walls all primed it took 2 coats and this is the view from the other side of the room, you can just see the bottem of one of the butterfly mobiles. Not sure what beckie will think when she returns home...now Anthony and Cassandra want thier rooms painted. oh fun! we all know how much I love painting...actually I didn't paint at all Ryan did all the work, I had the easy part, picking out colors and stuff to go in the room...he did an awesome job. so perhaps we will have to talk to him about painting some more rooms...

do you hear that?

the sound of my house sighing as it relaxes back into it's pre-summer size. Ok I may be doing a bit sighing here also....this weekend was spent packing and moving our two oldest children for their returns to their respective colleges. I miss them, really I do, but, it was time for them to return to college, it's amazing how your change/grow after the "first" one leaves for college, I honestly never thought I would say, it's time for them to go back :)
now to picture the chaos that was my weekend, did either pack early? uhhhhh no! saturday was the day, (why would you do anything early? just because your mother would, it's that organized brain of mine) so imagine what that entailed two different people trying to pack any and everything they think they might need, all the while the thorn in their sides (yes that would be me, is asking do you have this, could you do this, what are you doing taking a nap when my house is in utter turmoil???? that may have been yelled, or screamed depending upon who you ask) naturally when a room is empty that would be the best time to clean it...so add that into the fray...and let's not forget the 4 little people presently living under this roof, nor cassandra who seemed to have issues just because she can. all in all the weekend was a blur. I must admit that yesterday afternoon while I sat on the couch and just breathed it was mixed with relief and a bit of happiness, (bad mother I know, I should be crying and bemoaning how much I miss them) but all I could muster yesterday was whew..... both called later in the day to say they had arrived and were settling in, maybe my calmness in regards to them leaving just simply means that I have confidence in them, they have good head on their shoulders, they make good decisions, and both worked their butts off this summer, which showed much maturity and responsibility...I have great kids...so yes I will miss them, I just won't miss all the extra work that comes with all those kids.
Today we have no water, city is working on the lines so we are waterless for the day and possibly tomorrow also...ok so why is it that usually I am reminding them "did you wash your hands? did you flush" and the answer is always no...today, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr the little angels are flushing and trying to wash their hands left and right, what is that????????
We are painting beckie's room, I know she is barely gone to college and we are redoing her space...she knew it was coming, since Yahaira and Rose virtually took over her room this summer, will post pictures when all is done. ... I should clairfy I'm not painting, ryan is, I just picked the colors and stuff to go in the room...I am so not a painter.
well enjoy your monday,
later,
Debbie

Weekend away

It was nice to get away, and yet it was nice to come home to our normal routine. We visited the MN Zoo, took in some of the shows this time,kids loved the dolphin show. This was Rose's first visit to the zoo...She did awesome, I wondered if she would know where to look or if she would even be interested in the animals, she had a blast! We also did Underwater adventure at the Mall of America...That was fun! The kids loved the tube you go thru, with all the sharks and fish swimming around you. Spent some time watching airplanes landing and taking off at the airport, Rose Loved! The loud noises, imagine that. Naturally I snuck some shopping in, how could I not? Busy busy weekend, it was a bit interesting keeping all three on somewhat of an even keel.. Schedules and routines seemed to disappear. But they were troopers and did amazingly well.
I may be offline for awhile, we are switching providers should be a go by the end of the week. So I'll be back in awhile...
enjoy your week,
Debbie

mosquito's

are killing us here....actually had to take Yahaira out to the dr this past weekend, thought for sure she was having an allergic reaction to something she ate. Nope bug bits....she looks horrible. They swell up and spread out and then get red and blotchy...and then a few days later they start to fade and look like bruises, nice! Now imagine trying to keep a 2 year old inside to try to prevent further spoltches and such on her body, no it hasn't been easy...bug spray seems to help, of course one needs to catch her to apply...

I did it...rode my bike around the new bike path, it circles St. James lake. Thought i was going to die...too many times...and the hills just about did me in ( no I did not know we had such major hills in the st. james area, of course anyone suggesting I may be a wee bit out of shape would be a brave person indeed) and I did it in under 35 minutes...woohoo....next time will be easier right? ok tell that to my bottem which is rebelling in a major way right now.

received the rest of my layouts I ordered loving them...simply amazing work, and I have my layout ready to enter in the contest I mentioned earlier...I like how it turned out way different materials for me...and format, but all is good, we'll see what happens.

going to get away for a few days, yesssssssssss! I am so ready for a different routine.
well enjoy your weekend,
until next time take care.
Debbie
the layout above is one of Rose, this is the dress she wore for her 1 year pics...the detials are simply amazing, right down to the sandals she was wearing, too cute!

Swimming

These are a few pics from our trip to the pool....A big adventure for us, since we usually just put the wading pool out in the driveway for the little ones. So after packing the van full of all various "stuff" needed for little kids to swim we head off. It was a very hot day, but the pool was freezing, I made it up to my knees and was thinking I needed my down comforter to warm up, I know I'm such a wimp. But when Rose began to turn blue, we decided to move them to the kiddy pool. Now that was perfect. Anthony had fun playing with the other kids in the pool, Yahaira could walk throughout the pool which she thought was the best! And Rose she just hung out in her floaty thing, every now and again she would pop the cover on the valve and start the darn thing deflating, which generated much movement in Kevin or I too quickly fill it back up. It was a game for her, obviously the fact she was sinking was no concern to her. This child is a thrillseeker....I see a future Valleyfair lover in the making.
on some scrapbooking notes: Saturday I picked up a kit at Picture This/Scrap That in Fairmont. They are running a designers club for three months beginning in September. You pay 30$ for the three month commitment and each month you receive a bag of supplies with which you create a page, card, mini album wall art...Completely up to you, the catch you can only use what is in the bag no other items aside from adhesive and cutting tools may be used. You return your entry to the store, where all entries will be judges you stand the chance of winning a gift certificate to the store. They are beginning with 9 kits, so I figured why not? I feel like lately I'm in a rut, using the same colors, same styles, same companies so if nothing else this will be a good thing for me, just to experiment with new and different styles. There were still kits available, if you are interested.
I recently ordered some new page kits. The person I ordered from has a blog which I read daily, great organizational tips and scrapbooking hints. Her daughter and her work together to create these pages with personalized dolls on each layout. They did some sets for me last spring, the one of Cassandra prom dress was amazing, the details were incredible. They just introduced a new line for babies and toddlers so I ordered a few sets...Well they have the two MN Twins sets I ordered, up on their website go here if you want to see them http://rockester.blogspot.com/ on the left side is a "flickr" banner if you watch it scroll thru the two I ordered are the baseball, MN Twins layouts 1 is for Anthony, the other for Yahaira, they even included her little hair scrunchy, how cool is that. All layouts are customized to the picture you send. I can't say enough about the quality of work and attention to detail....I loved the previous ones they did, and can't wait to see the rest of the ones I ordered. If you click on the layout as it scrolls by you can see a larger version of it.
enjoy the rest of your weekend...
Debbie

finally!

blogger let's me post a pic... enjoy your weekend.
Deb

wondering....

where this week went.....
last night we attended the VBS performance at church, my niece, neighbor and many daycare kids were in it.... It sure has changed from when I went to bible school. Fun program, and only a 1/2 hour service, very kid friendly. Rose enjoyed the music, dancing and clapping along. Yahaira fell off the pew, good thing for diaper padding...never a dull moment :)
Beckie left yesterday for WeFest....she was very excited to be attending. Cassandra is going to the cities this weekend, valleyfair/science museum are on her agenda. Hard to believe summer is almost over and soon school will be starting.
We switched our phone serive to Mediacom in June, we have had cable and internet thru them for years with very few problems. As soon as we switched it everything stopped working. If I had phone I didn't have internet or vice versa. After about two weeks of no phone service or very sporadic we decided to just switch back to sprint now Embarq. Of course I wanted to keep my number (big mistake) so we had to request that mediacom release our number could take up to 10 days Embarq said. well we are well over 30 and still no number released, so last night I tried calling mediacom to see if the could explain the hold up, of course they couldn't, but the customer service rep was trying to be helpful and gave me a number to call in the morning when the correct tech's would be in. Called it this morning, omg rude doesn't begin to touch how this person responded. Said the number I called was an internal number and I had no right calling it. Ok like I would know that. Told me to never call it again and hung up on me. Ok so now I'm a bit crabby, ok very crabby. so I call mediacom and wait out the button pushing/hold game for 30 minutes and when I finally talk to a "live" person I explain what happened she was very kind, shocked actually, and then she puts me on hold, 2o minutes later she comes back with a we are still searching, and 30 minutes after that someone comes on and explains that the reason my number can't be released is because they are submintting the wrong address. WHAT??? I said so she reads the address to me and I'm like that is my address, no she said the address on file with us has the N (for north) at the end of the address not in the middle YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME I said...also she said they spelled out Saint we have it as St. ok I said how many "Saint" James do you think are in Minnesota, well we can't take the chance it has to match identically. So for over a month they are refusing to release my number due to the placement of the letter N "did you mention at all when you refused to release my number as to why you wouldn't release it?" "No" she said "that would be data privacy we are not allowed to share such info" "did you think to call me and question why a company is trying to switch my number?" No you're the one switching it's not our responsibility to contact you. "so" I said "just what is your responsibility? " no answer of course. So once again we try to get our number released over a 1/2 dozen attmeps to date. Wondering why I didn't just go ahead a switch numbers, ( at the time thought it would be a major headache switching but hey it's been a headache this way) so we give it another try if not done by tomorrow we will be switching numbers I absolutely refuse to pay mediacom another month of service. Unbelievably poor customer service and very poor phone service. Did I mention that we still don't have a working phone most days. Sometimes you can call out, sometimes you can't. Sometimes it rings in, often it doesn't. Now that's a quality product. If you're thinking of switching to mediacom I would caution you on that move. Unless you like headaches.

Wild wacky weather

Last night....And I missed it! Now some would say that the fact I was in my basement (where I should be) was a good thing but I disagree. I have to confess I have always loved the summer weather/storms. (as long as no one I know or myself gets hurt or damage done to their property, nothing like adding conditions right?) I secretly want to join those tornado chasers who follow the storms. A note: I was watching that very thing on the Discovery channel Monday night, fascinating stuff. Didn't expect to be experiencing a version of it the next night tho. So last night the kids are playing in the toy room, (the little kids, the older ones were busy doing older kid stuff, translation I have no idea what they were doing) I'm on the phone and the sirens go off, so a quick oh sh*t! and I hang up on Kelli (sorry kelli) and stand in the daycare room contemplating(briefly) whether it is for real or not...In fairness the picture out the window didn't look threatening, or ominous, just cloudy like it might rain. So I did wonder briefly if it was a false alarm but the rational side of my brain kicked in and quite quickly I'm handing babies to Josh and Cassandra (who quite magically appeared as soon as the alarm sounded) and ushering Anthony and Yahaira down the stairs, maneuvering around the dog who has to be the center of all activity. Get things settled in the basement, fly upstairs for some flashlights and my cell phone, and shoes. I have this thing if you go to the basement during a storm you wear your shoes..After all who wants to crawl over debris in bare feat? One always should be prepared (I see you rolling your eyes I'm anal I know) Kevin calls to make sure we heard the siren...Oh hello it's a block away. Then Linda calls wondering if it's a false alarm...I repeated what the radio had just said, a tornado on the ground south of Butterfield, she says I'm on my way over. Linette calls to see if Beckie made it home she saw her running back into JB Fitness and was wondering if she had car trouble...Maybe you should check on her...Ok that would mean I have to go out in this???? Heading upstairs to check on Beckie, who walks in just as I reached the top of the stairs, she had forgotten her yoga mat and ran in to get it.. (now I'm rolling my eyes) saved the lecture for anther time on sirens blaring and you go back for a "mat"? Soon my other neighbor joined us in the basement and shortly thereafter her husband also joined us. Katie came quite quickly her work had sent them home...(ok am I the only one who finds that odd that a place of business would send it's employees out in bad weather, rather than putting them in a safe place?) so for over an hour last night my basement was full, we all were perched on chairs or blankets listening to the radio and trying to keep a lot of little people happy and entertained. What a way to have a neighborhood get together, it was National Night Out last night...Not the way I pictured spending it but interesting none the less. No damage near us, a few homes were destroyed one south of town another near Butterfield, not a good thing. No one injured which is a good thing, stuff can always be replaced...Watched some footage on the internet from a local TV station, thinking it was a good thing that system stayed south of us, it looked fierce (still a little part of me that wishes I could have watched it live rather than riding it out in my basement) aahhhh well perhaps someday when I don't have little people to protect first I can be a storm chaser :)

It's hot!

loving this weather....ok that will probably get me shot most normal people do not enjoy the high temps mixed with equally high humidity but I love it! Love the heat, do not like the cold! So anytime the temp is above 40 I am so very happy. Today we are in a heat advisory...guess I won't be able to run, or ride my bike or mow the lawn, aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh darn. (not that I would do any of those activities on a mild temp day) planning to be lazy. now let's see if it works.
last night I walked out to the fairgrounds for the Relay for Life...I'm always humbled by the turnout and efforts put forth by so many. I think the best time is at night when all the luminaries are lit what a sight that is. Fun to connect with so many people I rarely see...and yes I did say walk...what was i thinking?????
well best keep this short, Rose is explaining to me (crying) why a nap isn't part of her plans for the day....naps are so wasted on little people...someone wouldn't have to tell me more than once to go take a nap.
enjoy your weekend...will try to post pictures as soon as eblogger decides to let me.
Edited: go figure the time I try to post a pic it finally does it of course this pic has no relevence to this post..it was suppost to go with an earlier post...but enjoy! this is rose age 1.
Deb

trying not to shock anyone

by posting twice in one week....goodness what happened?

She is 1....Rose that is. A little over a year ago if you had told me I would have a newborn in my home I would have laughed and then looked really scared. We had wondered if there was a Rose, for a few months before the actual announcment but chalked it up to rumor. About a month before she arrived the county confirmed that there was a baby, but I think at that time everyone still believed the parents would leave and therefore no baby to place. The call came the day she was born saying mom was in labor and the a placement would be imminent. I think throughout that time I just didn't believe it was possible (mental block, or denial if you will) but reality hit home later in the afternoon on July 7th when the call came saying it's a girl (somehow I knew that, the few things I had purchased just in case were all girl things) (so much for denial)
we were told to be at the hospital on the 9th to pick her up. ok nothing, and I mean nothing can prepare you for a newborn, it really doesn't matter if you have raised 3 children of your own, or that you have taken care of countless babies/children..... a newborn is simply amazing and exhausting. (there is something to being pregnant for 9 months honestly it does prepare you for no sleep) Waking up one morning to a newborn well, it isn't pretty, exhausted didn't begin to describe how I felt, did i mention I didn't take any time off, kept right on working...let's not forget the other 5 children in our home, no none of them took a break from needing us. Yeah it really was an amazing ride. We have weathered much this past year, adjusting to visits with her birth parents, adjusting to life with 6 kids, just simply adjusting. And through out it all in the back of your mind is the question will we still have her at 3 months, or 6months, or will we celebrate her 1st birthday. Well here we are a year later, we have reached those milestones and so many more, celebrating Rose's 1st birthday was an amazing event, made more special just simply because she was still with us. She has woven herself into the framework of our family and enriched our lives in ways I can't begin to count. She is unlike any other child and yet compliments us so wonderfully. We still have uncertainity, will we see her walk, will we celebrate a 2nd birthday... those answers I don't have, but I plan to keep enjoying what I do have and that is the time right now to be with her, the rest we will know when the time is right. no matter the outcome I am always grateful that at this time in my life I have rose. life is truly good.

and a few more pics :)

anthony and Kevin riding the ferris wheel at the county fair. Anthony loved! the rides, Yahaira was a bit reluctant at first but after finally riding one ride she was totally excited about it. Rose loved all the farm animals as did Anthony and Yahaira and Daphne.
and a pic of Yahaira modeling her new sunglasses from Kelly.

Beckie and Cassandra's busy month of July...

Bekcie is now the proud owner of a car yikes! A necessary purchase and one she handled with a lot of maturity...(when did she grow up?) She bought this car on her own, what an exciting day that was for her. Paying for the car insurance wasn't such a fun thing, and I have heard her mutter about the cost of gas :) welcome to the world of a car owner.
Cassandra had an incredibly busy month of July, we hardly saw her, she began with dance camp in Iowa for 4 days, home for 2 days and then on a bus heading to San Antonio Texas with our youth group from church, she was there for a week and had a blast. It was nice to get her home, missed her a lot!

more pics....

I am playing catch up today, finally getting pics from various summer activities uploaded. We attended a MN Twins game early in July, we had all 7 kids in attendance, Linette and Kevin, Gracie and a friend also joined us, the twins won! Yeah. all in all the little ones did quite well.
also a pic from the 4th of July...Rose loved the fireworks, no fear in this baby at all. We had a BBQ at our home, then headed out to Memorial Park to watch Attitude perform and ended the evening watching the fireworks over ST. James lake.

Pics from Rose's first Birthday....

for some reason blogger isn't let me load pics...here is one that finally worked. yes that is a new face on the left...her name is daphne she has been with us since the end of June, she is also 1, actually she is two weeks older than rose.

It has not been a month

Since I last posted. Honestly you blink and time flies. (it is not an age thing, or at least I refuse to admit that)
So where have we been? Just trying to live life as normally as possible. I have tried hard to not focus on the unknown. Waiting for this decision by the judge is by far the hardest thing I have had to face. As I looked at summer and all the events that would be happening, I truly did find myself wondering, will the kids be with us when we reach the 4th of July, will we be celebrating Rose's 1st birthday? And so on and so on. As we reached each milestone/or event I found myself simply thankful for being able to share one more thing with them. Trust me we weren't always upbeat and cheerful, often it was quite different, as you let uncertainty slip in...Some days it was quite easy for me to slip into quite a miserable place. Thankfully we are surrounded by amazing family and friends. People who often unknowingly pulled us back, and stayed positive for us when we weren't able to be that positive. We did receive a ruling from the judge yesterday. Custody was not granted to Grandma. As with everything in this case there are many unknowns. But this is a positive ruling. So for now we focus on that. I think I am learning that nothing with these children will ever be just a clear cut decision. There will always be more just below the obvious. What does the future hold? aahhhh to know that answer would be the best feeling ever...But I can speculate, and in that I believe we will be beginning to travel the road to adoption...How long will it take? No idea. Will it be a smooth road...Ok that I think I can answer quite firmly.... No! I imagine we will still face many bumps along the way. I hold on to my faith, God did bring us here, and thru this he will be there...I look at the people who have traveled this path so far with us, offering support and strength...With them how can we not make it? And perhaps these three little ones won't be legally mine in the time frame I want, but ultimately if they are ours some time in the future, that will be a good thing. For now I am going to just keep loving them. Enjoying each moment granted us, celebrate each milestone. And simply thank god for bringing them to us,and for putting so many amazing people into our lives who have supported us.
I will leave you with some of the activities we have enjoyed during the hot days of summer... The fourth of July, Rose's 1st Birthday, (she was completely unimpressed) Cassandra's trip to San Antonio, Beckie's new car. I trust you are finding some fun in your summer too.
Edited to add: no pictures attached see later posts, eblogger was being difficult today and not allowing me to upload pics. I finally got them to work later in the day.

Hello....Hello (that would be an echo)

Yes I am still alive.... And honestly busy just sounds so lame...So I will give no excuse for not posting more frequently.
today is Railroad days in St. James....Just waiting for the kids to get up from their naps to head up and take in some of the activities. Last Monday night was PowWow in Mt. Lake, it is an annual tradition for us to attend the parade there, and also enjoy a corndog or two. This was Rose's first parade and she loved it! Especially the loud sirens and horns....Not a bit scared. Imagine that! Anthony finished swimming lessons on Friday...He has improved so much from the first time he took lessons...Still uncertain about the whole jumping of the diving board thing, even with the bribe from me...I promised to take him to Pamida and buy him a toy...He was torn...Next time I think he will do it.
Last night we did family pictures...Yeah what was I thinking 6 kids and two adults...Crazy!!! Everyone had some attitude during the 30 minute session, but we did capture some great pics. Despite all that attitude. Here is the link if you would like to view the photos online www.quality1hrfoto.com click on Haycraft,D and enter this password: 12658-1 enjoy! (you may need to look by date, that would June 23rd, 2006.
Well time to head out to take in some railroad days fun....Until next take care.
Debbie

Happy Summer,
we are enjoying the warm weather and sunny days completely. Our lives have moved outdoors, the kids love spending all waking moments outdoors. Last Friday night, in fact we moved the videos outdoors and watched movies by the fire pit and under the stars...Anthony was so excited, he asked the next morning if we were going to do it again. We have ushered in the no school routine with some fun activities, at the top of the list swimming, we haven't made it to the outdoor pool yet, but the kids have been splashing in their wading pool. We also visited the Minnesota Zoo, in Apple Valley, and even tho it was "hot" we had a great time. They have a new exhibit this summer called summer on the Savannah, how cool it was to see Giraffes, and Zebras. Coming home was interesting, Yahaira got sick just as we were leaving the cities, just as you can imagine that was a icky job, she of course was completely happy after. Tomorrow I begin my Friday's off for the summer. I'm excited and so ready for a long weekend. Planning to take Anthony and grace to see "Cars"...gotta love Disney movies. Will try to post more frequently, hard to do when we are outdoors so much, another good reason to get a laptop. :)
hope you are enjoying your summer...Enjoy the sun!
Debbie

Happy Mother's Day....a day late

but at least I posted :) spent a quiet day, a tea at church with Anthony, end of sunday school/mothers day celebration. cleaned my scrapbooking area, tried to organize it.... I always seem to be rearranging things to find the best use for my space. Went to eat in Fairmont at El Marachi restrauant, Linette and her family joined us, along with Linda and her family, Betty also came with us, it was quite a group, I think we stressed out the waitress. Home to organize some more....amazingly low key for our household :)
Checking blogs lost night and on Karen Russels site http://www.karenrussell.typepad.com/ she has been running a fund raiser for women to women international. check here http://www.womenforwomen.org Karen had lined up some giants in the scrapbooking industry who agreed to do a 2 page layout for the winners, as this progressed companies also joined donating prize packages. by the end of the two weeks over 200 prizes were being awarded. The grand total she raised was 12,484.22 amazing! last night as I read thru her blog, scanning the list of winners I almost fell off my chair when I saw "my" name on the list. I won a package from Chatterbox, how cool is that????? I was so excited, of course my family didn't hardly glance my way asI sat in front of the computer freaking out I was so excited! can't wait to see what I won, and feel good I donated to a good cause all around everything is good.
Tomorrow the trial begins for the kids, keep them in your prayers, this would be for grandma's custondy request...trying to remain positive.
I will leave you with some pics, of Yahaira's 2 year photos will post another day about the white dress from her grandmother that Yahaira hated...quite a story there...
enjoy your monday,
Debbie

Where have I been...

Busy, imagine that....Honestly I think I met myself a couple of times this past week.
this weekend was the perfect topper to an overly busy week, Saturday morning was Gracie's dance recital, pics to come once I get them fixed, Saturday night was prom, I never imagined all the work involved in getting a daughter ready for prom...But she looked beautiful and so grown up.. Sunday was Beckie's speech at church, she did awesome, completely comfortable and confident in front of a crowd, that she doesn't get from her mom :) Sunday afternoon was pics of yahaira at Nichole's these were her 2 year pics, she did quite well....Until we brought out the trike then she didn't want to get off the trike...Go figure...Sunday night was Yahairas birthday party, josh surprised us by coming home for it. We grilled hotdogs over the fire pit and enjoyed being outdoors, Yahaira loved all the bubble toys she got, (so did everyone else) will post pics once I get them loaded. All in all a great weekend...but I sure am glad that it's Monday.