The past week

Last Tuesday Nathan had his preschool Christmas program. I camcorded it but I have an older camcorder so I can't post it. He looked soo handsome! Wednesday we got in the van & headed to Malad, ID to spend Christmas with my family; my grandpa & wife LaJuana, my dad & wife Amy, my brother & wife Lyndsie, & my niece. The roads were not too good. It took us 5 hrs to drive from Sidney to Billings. We saw 5 cars in the ditch between here & there. A normally 11 hr drive took us 13 1/2 hrs. While down there we had a nice Christmas dinner & my grandpa's. Thanks LaJuana!!
Then Saturday after Christmas my niece Brynn had to fly to Spokane to spend a week up there with her mom. The rest of us drove down to Layton & Ogden to go see Avatar-3D, it was all sold out. We tried Alvin & the Chipmunks that was all sold out too. We went across to this really cool indoor sports park, it had indoor surfing (flow rider) really cool!, a rock wall, an arcade, we played a few games, a bowling alley, & upstairs there was ifly (indoor skydiving) SWEET!! Pretty FUN!!
Late Saturday night Neil's mom called & told us his grandpa wasn't doing to well & they were on their way to Billings to see him. They didn't make it in time, before he passed away. Here is his OBITUARY
On our way home Sunday, we stopped in Billings to see Neil's family; grandma Char, MIL Connie & husband Ken, & Aunt Bonnie & husband Rick. Neil's brother Chris & wife Jamie were in Miles City visiting her family over Christmas, they drove to Billings. We stayed in a motel Sunday night. Neil had already missed 4/5 days of work & we thought we should just come home & drive down Wednesday for the funeral. The kids each stayed with friends, THANKS Trevinos' & Deans'!! The Trevinos' had just gotten in the night before from their Christmas with her family in Canada. And the Deans' hadn't been home much longer from their trip from Texas. Thanks!!
It was really nice seeing EVERYBODY!! Not soo nice under those circumstances, but still enjoyed our time. We drove down & back in the same day. Neil is back to work today.
I DO have pictures to post but not right at this moment.
Hope everyone had a VERRY MERRY Christmas!! And WILL have a SUPER DUPER New Year!!
No plans tonight for us, but what about YOU?!?!!?

SANTA 2009

So I registered w/ facebook. That has been taking up my time :-0 My new interest. Always something, right?!

I took the kids to Billings last weekend to see SANTA!!

Here


Click on pic to get up close & personal with my little cuties!!

Can you say diarrhea???

I'm sure you can, but do you want to?? NO!!!

Nathan has diarrhea. He has had it since Friday. Poor baby boy. Last night he threw up after I tried to get him to eat some mac & cheese. Today he threw up after Neil heated him up some pizza. Nathan's tummy ache could be the tamiflu medication he was on last week. The kids were running fevers 2 weeks ago & I took them to the DR. It was just assumed that they had H1N1, because that is what is going around. He was given tamiflu, an antiviral medicine. When Nathan had is first two 'episodes' I said "Oh Honey, you have diarrhea" He said "what's diarrhea?" To which Jessica replied "it's when your poop is watery".

Neil is feeling MUCH better! I DO believe he had H1N1. He stayed home,from work, for 3 days. He was running fevers & felt lousy all week.

Jessica came home from school on Thursday with an ear ache. She still has is today (Sunday). Fortunately I have some ear numbing drops. So between Tylenol & Motrin & the drops she is barely surviving this probable ear infection.

There wasn't any school on Friday. Friday was Nathan's last day of taking Imuran!! YEAH!! He was pretty stoked about it!!

Even though they weren't feeling really good, on Saturday the kids went to their grandma Connie's to make apple cider donuts.

Today I woke up feeling kinda yucky too. I threw up & have felt nauseous all day.

Last night I rented Princess Protection Program & Monsters VS Aliens. Last night we watched Princess Protection Program. This morning the kids & I tried to watch M vs A & both kids fell asleep.

Today as Neil was flipping channels, he came across some racing, Nathan asked if it was "Nascar or "Nashcar"? Neil told him it was Nascar. Nathan asked why? Is it "Nas-car" because they get all nasty?? LOL That was funny!!

Today I put some fake finger nails on Jessica. They are cheap & keep falling off.

I will be taking both kids to the DR tomorrow.

Halloween 2009

Here is my Prince






Here is my Princess



Here is my Princess & nephew Xander Scarecrow




I let Jessica pick her hairstyle, I gave her 3 choices, she chose this basket weave. At first I wasn't excited about it. It was harder than I thought. But when it was done it was awesome!



Here I am "The QUEEN"



Here are our jack-o-lanterns - Neil carved the cat silhouette in the moon for Jessica & I carved Chewbacca for Nathan

Eating WORMS....EwWwW...

Another late but NOT forgotten summertime moment. This summer the kids found some worms. I'm not sure whose idea it was to taste these gross things but both kids put one in their mouths. I had to run & get my camera. So here is 2 videos. Jessica just didn't want to give up on trying to get this slimy creature down. Watching Nathan react is just as funny as seeing Jessica slurp it up. So you MUST watch both videos!!

Visiting teacher brings her horses

This summer one of my visiting teachers brought her horses to my house. We were at church when she asked if she could come over to visit & she would bring her horses too!! Of course I said YES!! So, she lives 10 miles out of town. She saddled & loaded her horses. She & her dogs parked across the street in the lot. She unloaded her horses. Jessica & Nathan got to ride a horse with her & along side. She is a LOVELY lady!!! She has 2 dalmation dogs & an appaloosa horse that she shows & rides in events. Her dogs listen to her commands & follow along side the horse. It is just neat! Here is pictures & video of the FUN.

Sick & Happy Birthday

So it seems I'm always posting about illnesses. Everyone except ME (knock on wood) is sick. Nathan has been running a fever & coughing since Sunday. Jessica started running a fever last night. Neil thinks he was running a fever yesterday. I kept Nathan home from preschool yesterday. Jessica was SO upset that she had to stay home from school today. As today is her teachers birthday. She threw herself on the floor & just cried. ;( She usually doesn't cry, that is one way I know she is not feeling well, she cries. I mean I'm sure she is sad that she wont get to see her teacher & sing happy birthday to her. Neil did check his temperature this morning before going to work & he was 103!! Guess what?!?! He STILL went to work. Die Hard. I tell ya he is a DIE HARD!! Work-a-holic!! Gotta LOVE him!! And God Bless him!! So after being on the phone for an hour this morning, calling Nathan's pulmonologist & pediatrician, & public health nurse, & ALL my friends, I am gonna get them seen this afternoon in Poplar.

Pray everyone in my house gets well soon!!

Happy Birthday to Jessica's teacher, Mrs. Beyer!!! :)

Just a quick

Couple of things....

Today is Jessica's show & tell. She took her cat that she got for Christmas last year. That is what she took for her show & tell last year in Kindergarten too. She was excited to take it but then at the last minute tried to change her mind, because some kids already saw it last year. I told her that it was ok.

Jessica got her ears pierced last Thursday. I still need to take a picture to post & develop. She LOVES them!! She was wishing her show & tell would've been earlier in the week so she could've showed her EARS!!

Jessica had a check-up dr appt & chest x-ray. She is clear from the pneumonia.

Tuesday both kids got shots. Jessica got the influenza seasonal shot. Nathan got the H1N1 flu shot. Nathan & I already got the influenza seasonal shots a few weeks ago. Jessica can hopefully get the H1N1 in the next few weeks. It is only being given here to those aged 6 months to 4 yrs.

Yesterday Nathan had blood work, he got poked twice :( we have been weaning him off his medication. So the dr wanted to check his levels & make sure everything is ok.

Neil, me, & the kids went out for supper last night.

Air Show

Sidney had an air show a couple weekends ago. We watched it from our house on Saturday. These are a few pictures I took. On Sunday we went over to the airport to watch it live!! :) It was windy, windy, so windy that the skydivers didn't jump & the Canadian snowbirds (9 jets) didn't fly. They fly like 5 feet from the next jet. It was awesome!! I enjoyed watching it more than my kids did!!

Dr appt update

Well last Thursday, Oct 1, Nathan had a DR appt in Billings with the Pediatric Pulmonologist. They still know nothing more than I know. No answers as to why he got as sick as he did last year. Nonetheless, it was suggested that we begin a wean off the immunosuppressant medication that Nate has been taking for the last 16 months. And after 3 weeks he will need his blood drawn. If we could get prayers, for Nathan during this time, they would be greatly appreciated!! We will follow up with the PP in 3 months, if not sooner.

In the meantime, I am going to be looking into replacing the carpet throughout our house. As I'm realizing how much allergens could be in this old carpet, that was here in our house when we bought it. And the people before us did have pet(s).

Injured & Not Injured

I HAD to post this!! I wanted to post the picture of Nathan a while back but didn't have the picture of my dad & brother. Well, my dad just emailed me this picture of him & my brother.

This year my dad fell and injured his right leg, it was suggested he wear this boot to help with his healing
This summer my brother broke his ankle, sliding into base while playing baseball, he had surgery & it was recommended that he wear this boot



We went to visit my family while they were wearing these boots & when we got home THIS was Nathan for a few weeks (he is wearing an inner boot to some skate we have) pretending to have a "hurt" ankle.

Some pictures

This summer we went to the Yellowstone River to enjoy the outdoors/sun, search for agates, & the kids brought buckets & shovels to do some digging





Here is Nathan his 1st day of preschool
1st one taken at home NERVOUS about going

2nd one taken at preschool CRYING

So I'm falling

It seems I am falling behind. I still haven't posted pictures of Nathan from his FIRST day of preschool. Which wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be.
But here is a picture of Nate & Jess for his 2nd day of preschool.

Monday will be Nathan's 5th day of preschool. I think he WILL march right in there & NOT feel bad about being away from ME for 3 hours!! Once I pry his hands off of my arm & leave, he does just fine & is actually LOVING it!! I'm enjoying listening to him sing the songs he is learning - such as I'm a little tea pot, 5 little monkeys swinging from a tree, & thumbkin. I'll have to get him to sing them for me on camera!!

Today we went fishing didn't catch anything worth keeping - here is my baby holding the baby fish I reeled in on Nathan's pole - he threw it back.

Days of School

I found a few pics on my cell phone that I took. These are of Jessica from the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd days of school.

BEFORE the float

Here is a picture of ALL of us that floated the Missouri River this week.



Back: Kayleen, Peggy Ann, Bonnie
Middle: Melissa
Front: Lorraine, ME, Sharon, and Sarah holding baby Jimmy

Come & Gone & now kids are SICK

Jessica's first day of 1st grade has come & gone. I took pictures & had every intention on posting about it. But yet I haven't done it. Nathan doesn't start preschool until Sept 9th. Jessica really LOVES school. Her teacher is Mrs. Beyer. She has a few good friends from last year in her class. Jessica was coughing a week before school started. I was thinking it was allergies. Not really sure she has allergies - just guessing. I'd been giving her benadryl. Well she isn't getting any better. And in fact she was running a fever. So I made her a DR appt yesterday Wednesday, Sept 2. She has pnuemonia. The PA heard it in her lungs & it showed in her chest xray. It is probably viral but he still gave antibiotics. We are also doing nebulizer treatments. She is going to miss the rest of the week of school to get some rest. Last night Nathan started coughing. So he is going to start nebs as well, before he gets any worse.

It is just frustrating. Pnuemonia. That was Nathan's diagnosis before he got sick & was sent to Children's Hospital in 2008. He was hospitalized twice with "pnuemonia". And now here this is Jessica's 3rd bout of "pnuemonia" in less than a year.

Totally off subject, I floated the Missouri River this week with my church friends. Nathan was upset about going to a sitter. BUT one of the mom's I floated with, her husband volunteered to watch ALL our kids!!! Crazy??!!?? He watched Nathan, Zander, Howie, Anna, Brian, & Daniel. PLUS he had his one (Callista) home too. All 7 are under 4 yrs old. We plan on floating again as a group with our families this next weekend. I'm hoping the sun will be shining bright on that day for us. The sun kept going behind clouds making for a chilly time. It took 2 1/2 hrs to float probably 2 1/1 miles. My innertube was a little small for my butt but I managed. I had never done that before & now I know what to expect for next time!! Looking forward to it. I will post pictures as soon as I get some.

Yesterday was my brother BRIAN's 29th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU!! BRIAN!!

Today is Neil's brother CHRIS's ? birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU!! CHRIS!!

FAIR

So the 1st weekend in August was our Fair. I had Jessica's hair done in corn rows. She ABSOLUTELY LOVED it! It was so cute how she was strutting around afterwards.



The kids & my 16 month old nephew Xander.



The kids on the carousel. I must say it is hard to capture the kids in a good pic as they are flying riding past you.





We left Jessica's hair in the corn rows for a week. Only 4 days after we had her hair done Neil kept asking when we were gonna take it out, because of the fly-aways. If she had her choice she would have worn it that way for probably another week. Let me tell YOU, her hair was BEAUTIFUL after we took it out!



I entered some stamped greeting cards I had made & some photos I had taken in the fair this year. First time I've ever done that. I must say it was FUN trying to find my work. I won a ribbon for (I think) everything I entered, 1st, 2nd, & 3rd, making my winnings a total of like $38 or something. Pretty exciting!!

Did anyone notice the hair cut??

I meant to post about it. But as I glanced over pictures I realized I didn't. Did anyone notice Nathan's hair? He got it cut. He now says that he is "bald"

BEFORE




And AFTER

Think it is about time

Ok so it has been a few weeks. Still trying to figure out my computer. And trying to NOT spend hours on it.

Here is a pic of my kids from July 4th weekend. We went to Malad, ID to see my dad, brother, & grandpa, & the rest of the family. It was ALOT of FUN!! Soo glad I went. They got to ride with the band in the parade, THANKS Troy!!


Here they are watching & cheering for Shalae in the hot dog eating contest!!


This is Nathan with a spider on his face. Sidney's Sunrise Arts in the Park July 11. It didn't last long, as soon as we got home he washed it off because it itched.


Here is Jessica with pretty swans on her face. Man, this looked so much better in person.


We took the kids fishing on the river July 12. They caught a TON of catfish. But we didn't keep any. Next time. I put this picture of Jessica in the paper & she has had LOTS of comments on her BIG fish


We went to Gartside reservoir with some friends from church. The kids had a blast!


Saturday night Jessica's friend Stefi had a sleepover. Sunday we went to church (all of us 'cept Neil), Nate even came with us! I taught both CTR & Sunbeams class.

Tomorrow we are gonna go to Culbertson to meet one of my church friends for some pizza & either take the kids swimming or the park.

This is the last week of swimming lessons. The kids are both happy about that.

The following weekend is our fair/carnival!! I am looking forward to the FOOD!!

On the 18th of this month (July) Neil & I celebrated out 11th Anniversary!! We went out for supper.

WONDERING????

Were any of you ever wondering what the heck happened to ME??!!??

Well about 3 weeks ago Neil downloaded a virus onto our computer. I thought I had fixed the problem & things ran fine for a few days. Then nothing. Just like that it died. We have been without a computer since.

Right now I am on vacation. The kids & I left on Saturday, stayed in Billings with Grandma Char. We drove for 6 hrs on Sunday. Monday we went to Lagoon. Had FUN!!! It was perfect weather, not too hot, not too cold. Yesterday we didn't do much of anything. Today we went out of town for a quick trip. Tomorrow Neil will fly in to SLC from Sidney!! Exciting!!!

I think we will buy a computer while we are down here. There is definately alot more stores to find our BEST deal!! So when we get back home, Sunday, I should be back in business.

Jessica was on

The front page of our local newspaper Sunday.

Take a look HERE

Found on my memory card

I found these pictures of Nathan taken May 14, 2009 and wanted to share my honery handsome boy!!

Last Day of School!!

So today is Jessica's last day of school. She is SO ready for summer!! She wanted to sleep in & not even go in today because 'all there doing is playing'. They are done at noon. Then we are gonna drive to Walmart to do some shopping!!

Not much going on. Nate & I went to the river one day this week to watch my friend paddlefish. She didn't snag anything while we were there but the next day she went back & caught her fish. The kids are in t-ball, on the same team, & had practice & a game this week. I didn't take my camera but a friend did & she said she would email me the pictures. As soon as she does I will post 'em.

I went to my friend Lorraine's house yesterday to make some cards & get some mom time. The kids had a picnic outside in the yard.

I have been snapping pictures just for FUN!! Here is a few of those taken this week.

On Sunday we drove up to Menard's to get Neil's door for his new shower. While we were there we went to the zoo. Grandma Mona gave both kids $10. On our way home we stopped at Walmart. This kids bought themselves snorkels. I was trying to take pictures of Nathan but he dumped a cup of water ALL OVER the bathroom floor & so he was removed from the bath tub. But I still was in picture mode. So his photos are taken in my bedroom after his bath.







These two were taken at home after her year-end Spring program.




One way you can tell summer is here is by my face, I'm outside more & the freckles begin to 'glow'