This is it!!!

These were the only pictures I took this week. Sunday morning Dolan dressed Hannah in sweats because of the lower temps. Hannah decided she wanted to wear shorts. She came in wearing these over her clothes. She needed help with the straps but otherwise she dressed herself.

A week of illness!

Monday evening Hannah came down with the stomach flu. Tuesday morning she also had a temp of 102.3. After calling the doctor and the doc saying to wait 24 hours, Hannah started getting worse. Come Wednesday morning Hannah had to be woke up after 12 hours of sleep and then wouldn't stay awake. She was very unlike herself...she normally is extremely active but in this case was not moving much at all. We ended up going to the doctors office. Our usual doc was out but the one that we saw wanted to put her in the hospital for an IV. After he reviewed Hannah's chart decided against it. He didn't want to put her through the pain of digging and searching for her veins to have them not be found again. So we were given strict instructions, (same as the last hospital stay) and sent home. We were also told that this was normally just a 24 hour thing. (Not for Hannah) By Friday Hannah was herself again except now she has a runny nose. We are now 16 and 3/4 months without an ear infection. For some reason the doc was surprised at that.

Friday Dolan stayed home from work, he ended up with this crud as well. He slept most of the day yesterday with only a few lucid moments. I had escaped this horrid illness up until last night. Now I'm lying down with the chills and aches.

Jas has avoided this so far. She has stayed at Grandmas, 1 for the lack of getting to her bedroom because of the work in the bathroom, and 2 because I didn't want her to come down with this so I've kept her away. I hope she remains healthy.

Hopefully you all can avoid this.

Easter

Our Easter was a good one. We woke and went to church. Celebrated the Resurrection of Christ. Then came home and finished preparing our Easter celebration meal. Saturday I had done most of the preparations for the meal that way all I really had to do was stick everything in the oven before church and it would be ready when we got home. Well Murphy's Law was at work again. I made the mashed potatoes on Saturday then put them in a casserole dish ready for the oven Sunday morning. When pulling the food out of the oven, I noticed that my potatoes were a little funny. I went to stir them up and it turns out that they turned into soup. So quickly Dolan peeled some more potatoes and I chopped them to make a new batch of potatoes. After all, our meal turned out wonderful! My parents showed up, Dolan's mom was there too. We also had Lloyd and Bill with us from Estes Park Colorado. After the main course we all enjoyed fresh strawberry cake. It was refreshing and delicious. Jasmyn then hid some eggs for Hannah to find. She had a blast!!! Then I hid some eggs for Jasmyn. She had a harder time then Hannah did locating them all. During Jasmyn's hunt a huge dust devil came and picked up Hannah's basket full of eggs and carried them off across the yard and into parts of the pasture. It was quite the sight!!!Hannah all dressed up in her Easter best!

Jasmyn in her Easter best hunting for her eggs.

Hannah hunting
Spotted one!Where?

We had a wonderful Easter day.

10 things about me

I was tagged by....Sara

Here's how you play. Once you've been tagged you have to write a blog of ten weird, random things, facts or habits about yourself. At the end, you choose five people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them to be tagged. Don't forget to leave them a comment "You're it!" and tell them to read your blog. You can't tag the person who tagged you. Since you can't tag that person back, let her know when you've posted your blog so she can read your answers.

1) I love to read

2) I am over 50% grey-- I started greying early teenage years--

3) I don't really remember my natural hair color

4) If I could I would sleep until 10am. A couple of years ago I would have said noon.

5) Kids give me the creeps!!! I get really nervous around other peoples kids. (It's a fear of germs)

6) I love to sing....but can't read music

7) Secretly my favorite season is Winter, but I hate the cold-I love the look of fresh snow-Spring and Fall have the best temps and better colors-but my fav is Winter.

8) My first real injury was when I was 16. I was the only licensed driver in the vehicle but was not driving. The vehicle had hydroplaned, flew over a ditch, and ran threw over a 100 ft of fence before it came to a stop. My head ended up breaking out the side window of a Chevy s-10 blazer. I ended up with a concussion, 10 staples in my head, glass embedded in the skull (also cracked skull), and the scar to prove it.

9) I graduated high school at the age of 16.

10) I hate cleaning but yet am obsessive/compulsive about cleaning. (When I start I go all out)Vacuuming my living room only takes an hour and a half if not longer. I have to continually go over the same spot to ensure it is clean. Something may have been placed on the floor while vacuuming the other area. Or dust may have fallen on it. Needless to say, Thursdays are "house cleaning" days and it takes all day.

I am now supposed to tag 5 people- well, everyone has been tagged that I know. So I will Tag...

Jasmyn-I'm your mother but let's see what you are hiding.

A busy couple of days

Yesterday was the quiz bowl for 5th and 6th grades. It was held in Stratton this year. The rounds went fast with anywhere between 10 to 12 questions per round. During the last round, the buzzers had a malfunction. We had to wait for another room to finish so we could change out the broken buzzers. Our school did an excellent job even though they didn't place. They were more prepared and jumped right in and answered questions. They also seemed to have a good time doing it. After all it was a good day.Jasmyn and the rest of her team waiting for the round to start. All in good spirits.

The whole group having fun between rounds.
This is at an award ceremony for the 6th graders for essays written for the American legion. It turned out that Jasmyn won first place.
Jasmyn embarrassed about winning 1st place.
The top three finalist.
The top three with the judges.

The funny thing about this is that Jasmyn had thrown this essay together in a hurry due to the fact that she had misplaced/lost her original that she was working on for the longest time. Either way she did a really great job and I am very proud of her!!!

Calling in the family...

I received the phone call last night that my Grandfather was being sent home to live out his final hours/days. For a while I have been praying that his pain would ease and God would call him home. A few years back he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and since then he has been on a downward spiral. He doesn’t know where he is half the time, what decade it is, or who other people are. It must be complete hell living inside yourself and not knowing what is going on around you. He has also needed blood transfusions on a weekly basis. His body is riddled with cancer (this is a new discovery).
His blood units are dropping dramatically. The family finally decided it was time to let him go. The doctors said it was time to call in the family to say their goodbyes. He is finally at home with his wife. He isn’t feeling any pain. They are giving him morphine. They state with the blood loss that he will just sleep his way peacefully into earthly death when Jesus calls him home.
I know that I am being selfish for I don’t want to go and see him this way. I want my last memories of my grandfather to be nice ones, not ones of him not knowing and dying. So therefore as I sit here crying, not only for him but because of my selfishness, I am waiting for the call that he is gone. My Father is braver then I am. He is flying out today to say his goodbyes. I will wait for the funeral to go back.
Since I received the call last night, I’ve been going through an inner turmoil. My nerves are shot, my stomach feels as if it is in knots, and I have a terrible headache. I know that I should go and say goodbye. But it’s too hard. Instead I stay here in my own misery.

At the risk of being unpopular

(Wait I already am)

There has been a lot of commotion around Palisade lately about daycare being needed. I was recently brought into this due to the fact that we own a building on Main Street, with a big lot, in Palisade. I received a phone call one afternoon a couple of weeks ago asking permission for the building to be used. Not wanting any part of this, knowing that my husband would not as well, I went on telling the person that the building is not suitable for such purposes. Since then, several others have also asked again. This whole daycare situation has gone to the local school board. Again the daycare was denied.
On I ramble…
I am a stay at home parent. My husband works hard that way our children will be raised with the morals and values that we wish our children to have. We make many great sacrifices just so this can be done. It has been well over a year since my hair has been touched by a professional, my nails don’t get done anymore, and television service was turned off a long time ago. We don’t go out and do things that cost money anymore, the park is a great alternative, and we all have a great time. Grocery shopping is always a big event. Some people may argue that they can’t afford to stay at home. There are all kinds of sacrifices that can be made.
I’ve heard it said that it takes more then a parent to raise a child, it takes a society as well. Well, I greatly disagree with that!!! Society today is something that I am ashamed of. Why should I want my child raised with the ideas that society says is acceptable: to drink yourself into oblivion on a regular basis, stealing is acceptable if you can justify it (that just doesn’t even make sense), wearing clothes (or the lack of) that show off what God gave you, and disrespect are just a few. I’m sure that you can name numerous more.
As a parent it is my job to raise my children, not yours. As a parent it is my job to teach the morals and values that my children should have. As a parent it is my job to teach my children manners. As a parent it is my job to be a parent.
I can honestly say a couple of things…
1. My job is never boring
2. I may encounter repetition, but the outcome is never repeated
3. My job is rewarding…the smiles, the hugs, and the laughter

My job is one of the most important there is. I am responsible for tomorrow. How I choose to raise my children affects their whole life. With something that important how can you let somebody else do it for you?