I think I can, I think I can ...

Well a few weeks ago I decided I was going to learn how to install chair molding. It took a little bit of trial and error and a bit of getting over my fear of using a miter saw but I finally figured it out. We decided to paint the bottom half a brown color and one wall in the living room. We painted the entryway bottom half white. Anyway, it took a lot of work and I was exhausted trying to finish. We still have to put another coat of white on the entryway, and I also have picture box molding to put in the entryway I am waiting to cut and install. Overall I think the walls look better if at the very least cleaner. We had flat paint before and that was a mess!

My project was complete and Caleb's project to learn how to walk with crutches began. He is doing very well now. He moves fast on the crutches and can go up and down the stairs all by himself. He even slides down the hall fast if he doesn't have his crutches. Ben calls him lizard boy. Just 3 more weeks and the cast might be able to come off.

Elijah is talking a lot. We can't understand all of it but he is definitely saying words and he knows what he is saying. He is happy to have Caleb back in his room. He had trouble sleeping when Caleb was sleeping in our room. Now all is back to normal and no more fights to go to bed or constant waking up at night. Amazing what children get used to and what is comfortable to them.

Loryn is still same old Loryn, into dressing up, baby dolls, and pretending. She lives in her pajamas. She'll come home from school and before she is up the stairs her clothes her off and she is headed to her room to find some pajamas. I guess it is more comfortable. She has added a lot of whining and not listening lately. Going through another phase of testing mom. Here she is with swim glasses on. She came up to me and says "mommy I'm swimming, I'm swimming". Gotta love her!

The latest trial for me is keeping the kids out of the fridge. They go through gogurts (which are yogurts in a tube) so fast. I fixed the lock on the fridge but the only one that keeps out is Elijah. I learned that today as I went downstairs and found 6 empty gogurts on the floor. I am contemplating drilling in a lock with a key.

My Poor baby!

Well, it finally happened. One of my kids broke one of their bones in their bodies. I have been dreading and actually hoping that it would never happen. After all, I never had a broken bone and neither has Ben. Last night Caleb went to wrestling practice and in all but 2 minutes managed to break his leg. As was told to me: he twisted his leg and and the same time the other kid came in and "snap!". Ben rushed him to the emergency room and as soon as I begged my neighbors to take my kids I rushed there as well feeling an indescribable pain I think only a mother can feel. My baby is hurt and I just couldn't get their fast enough. The whole thing just tears me up! When I got there he seemed to being doing fine and only screamed when they had to move his leg and when they put the IV in (which we had to hold him down for them to do it). They gave him some demerol, took x-rays, put his foot in a splint and sent us home. I went to Walmart to get lots of goodies like ice cream and pop tarts and anything I could think of that he could eat in bed and spoil him rotten. The night went fine except for when we had to force him to go potty which again was a fight. I don't blame him, I am sure he is in a lot of pain. But at five (opps! almost 6!) understanding that you just have to do something even if you don't want to is hard to grasp. This morning we with to the ortho doctor and he got a cast put on, yellow, his choice, or I should say bright hurt yours eyes so bright yellow. Or maybe "hey everyone look at me I have a cast on yellow". As Caleb says "now I can play in the forest and be the lantern". Currently Caleb is watching a movie and resting. Loryn and Elijah are both upset to see their bubba hurt and are being so sweet to him. I hope he heals quickly! As the doctor says only like 6 weeks.

Merry Chirstmas!

I know it has been awhile but here are some pictures from the last month of activity. We have been busy. School parties, christmas shopping, family guests, and long driving trips. Last week we had Cheri and Dave, Ben's dad and step mom, over for a few days and had a lot of fun. We went to Rock City, Opryland in Nashville, and also just hung out and visited. After Dave and Cheri left we had to get ready for our road trip to Gulf Port MS to my Grandma Ladnier's house. My mom and her husband, Bob flew out from CA, and my Aunt Jennie and her husband flew out from Alaska. We had the weekend to visit and celebrate my grandma's 70th birthday and Christmas. We had a great time and only wish we could have stayed longer. We headed back Christmas Eve just in time to get home go to bed and wait for Santa to come. Here are some pictures of the last few weeks. I still need to get MS pics from my mom. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

Halloween 2007

Well... all I can say is that we made it through Halloween. Loryn started out last week with strep throat. The boys followed on Sunday, and by Tuesday Elijah thought he would spice things up a bit and get a tummy virus (lots of thowing up) on top of his diaria and other stuff. Trunk or treat was fun for Loryn and Caleb but not for mommy, as she had to tote around a sick 2 year old. The things we do to make our kids happy.

By Halloween night Elijah hadn't thrown up all day and seemed a lot better so we took him out trick or treating. We went to a local church who puts on a huge trunk or treat then hit up a few houses on the way home. We have waaaay to much candy! We were supposed to have my best friend Julia and her family over for BBQ and trick or treating but because of Elijah's illness nobody wanted to take a chance. It was probably a good thing since Caleb threw up this morning. After a hurried pumpkin cutting minutes before eating and trick or treating and last minute planning it all came together and the kids had fun.

In Memory Of Grandpa

I was going through and cleaning out some of the old documents saved in our hard drive from my college days and ran across a class where I had to write a journal. One of the journals I opened described my conversation via email with my Grandpa Ladnier ( my mom's dad, who passed away a year ago March). This took place in February 2000. I thought most of you would appreciate what my grandpa had to say regarding his experiences with war. The following is an account from my journal:

I wrote my grandpa and told him I was taking this class. I asked him a few questions and he responded with delight that I am interested and said that he had always wondered why I had never taken interest before. I thought about that and came to the conclusion that I was not confronted and was not aware of war or the effects of it. I never thought to ask. He mentioned how when his uncles returned from wars he “as a youngster, ‘hung onto’ every word they said”. He went on to say that what you learn about in history books is just not all the facts. Here is what he wrote to me:

Thinking of Vietnam I can't help but recall a statement that
General S.L.A. Marshall made during a luncheon. General Marshall, of
W.W.II fame; I introduced him as a guest speaker and afterwards we had
lunch - he was 86 years old then! He said, "...we will lose our next
war because we have become too civilized". I learned from my tours in
Vietnam what he meant - - the Vietcong beat us because "we were too
civilized". They didn't play by our rules - - i.e., they routinely used
children and women as weapons against up. Try to imagine seeing a young
girl, like Marie, walking toward a dozen of your friends and you KNOW that she
has a bomb and if she reaches your friends they are all dead - - but, if you
shoot her, you save your friends! We as Americans, could not handle
this! We would go into villages and rebuild them - - set up schools
and give them everything so they could have the advantage and freedom that we
all knew. When we left, the Vietcong would come in and select the mayor of
the village, hang him by his feet, slit his stomach and force his family,
children, wife and all the villagers to watch as the pigs eat his hanging
intestines - - we could not compete with this cruelty! Yet, we saw more
and more of the American public, the News Media, Hollywood stars, like Jane
Fonda, supporting the Vietcong. We became the enemies and not the
Vietcong! It was more painful for me to travel to and from Vietnam in the
US than actually being in Vietnam. I clearly remember my uncles returning
from W.W.II and their reception. The people understood the sacrifices they made
to insure that they and their families forever would enjoy the freedom that we
enjoy in this nation. When Vietnam veterans returned they were only met
with hatred! Waiting in a California airport, in Green Beret uniform, I
was approached by this nice looking young lady. She said, "I just want to
show you how much I appreciate what you are doing for our country by treating
you to the best breakfast you have ever had". Since I had time
before my flight home I agreed and we went into the nicest restaurants there and
she ordered for both a dream breakfast - - steak, eggs with all the trimmings.
She finished eating before I did and grabbing the bill said she had to rush
for her flight. When I finished and starting walking out the cashier
stopped me said that the young lady had not only not paid the bill, but had got
a considerable amount of gum/candy saying to add it to the bill and I would pay
on my way out! That was her way of expressing how she felt about
Vietnam Veterans!
I was in RVN twice as a Special Forces,
Green Beret, operator. The first time in the mid 50s, in civilian clothes,
after the French had been defeated. I suspect history will
show that our mistake was not supporting them against the Vietcong (Vietnamese
Communist). Their last stand was heroic and deserves to be
remembered. I met, worked with and partied with many of the French
Legionnaires who were there and survived. My home base was Saigon and I
lived in an upscale hotel -- then a beautiful city.

Returning in the 70s, this time in Green Beret uniform, we were involved in
establishing and operating intelligence networks and in recruiting locals,
training, equipping and leading them in battle against the Vietcong. It
was an economy of force operation - - a 12 man A detachment would recruit and
lead a local Army of up to 5,000 soldiers. We were convinced that it was
our duty to help the Vietnam people know and enjoy the freedom that we had known
all our lives. I was following a long family tradition of going to War and
believe that one has never lived until they have almost died - - the comradeship
and trust that you develop for your fellow soldier is close to
love.
There is a community of Vietnamese here in Gulfport
that was forced to leave their country when we left. They are good
citizens and becoming productive members of our nations. The
irony is that they were provided more US government help, money, training, etc.,
to get resettled that Vietnam Veterans were given!

The real heroes of Vietnam were the wives that stayed home and took care of the
children. Alice did wonders. Even our children made sacrifices - -
your Mom did - - but when I came home and Karen would put her arms around me and
say, "I love you Dad!" that made it all worth while.

Our nation will continue to be challenged by
aggressors throughout the world and there will always be a need for someone to
sacrifice to insure that we all can keep this great freedom we
have.

Water Water Water

If only we did have a lot of water via rain this summer my grass would not have practically died nor my other plants struggle to survive. With the cooling temperature we have finally been able to get out and get wet.


Car Wash - the kids helped Ben with washing his car the other day. They had a lot of fun. Of course Ben would get frustrated because they liked to keep washing the side that was already done or kept dumping out the water bucket with soap in it. Caleb pored almost the whole bottle of soap in and pretty much washed the driveway. But they all had fun!



Sunday the kids had fun playing in the pool. It was perfect weather!


Elijah's face is all healed up. He has a little scar on his cheek that I hope will eventually fade away.

Crazy

Things have been a little crazy around here. In the last 3 weeks I have started my new Bradley classes, seem to have every kid in the neighborhood over, of which I am either actually officially watching or just over to play. Last week I babysat a little 18 month old and kept extra kids. Some of those days I had more than 7 kids I was watching. One of those days I had to keep the house clean for my Bradley class that was starting that night. You ever try to keep a house clean when 7 kids are running around? Close to impossible! I am also Caleb's homeroom mom, so I have already had to do some work for that. So I have been busy and when something has to go, unfortunately it is things like my blog or laundry, which is piled to the garage roof right now.

Caleb still loves school and so does Loryn. She asks me everyday if she has school today. I think she wishes she could everyday. According to Caleb's teacher is doing great, is always helping others and is one of the most well behaved in the class.

Caleb read his first book by himself!!! Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss is Caleb's first real read. The other day he sat out back on our porch and just started reading it. He only needed help with a few words but mostly got it by himself. His teacher was so proud of him too that she let him sit in her rocking chair and read to the whole class. He was so excited and now he just loves to read. Ben and I had tears in our eyes when we listened to him, we are so proud of him!

Caleb started playing soccer. So far he has won 2 games and he is making lots of goals. He is definitely more confident than last year. Elijah wishes he could play. He goes with Ben to the practices (Ben is assistant coach), and dribbles the ball back and forth between the nets. We have had comments such as "can he teach the other kids to do that", and "he is going to be really good when he starts playing". That's our little athlete. We will probably let him play next year.

Well, that was an attempt to catch up. We are all doing well and starting to enjoy the cooler weather. I have never looked forward to fall and winter so much in my life! This summer was for the records, no rain and extreme temperatures - yuk!