Been a few days!

This time of year is definitely busy! Things have been going pretty good! On Christmas Eve we went to the Christmas Eve service at our old church and got to see a few friends I had been wanting to see for awhile. After that we drove through Frankenmuth and looked at the Christmas lights! This is something I did every year as a child and I wanted to continue it with my kids while we were here!

Christmas day didn't start out so good! Kiersten woke up at 5:30am with a high fever so I took her right into the ER! They did chest xrays and everything but couldn't find the reason for the fevers so they sent her home. The good news is that she didn't have any seizures and she was able to come home and open gifts with the rest of the kids! After we opened presents and ate lunch here at my inlaws I went to my Grandpa Wagners house! We had a lot of fun there! We also seen my dad and brother and sister that I haven't seen in 9 years! I am still the shortest kid in my family!!! Not sure how I feel about all of it yet but we will see how it goes!

This past weekend we did the family Christmas on Jon's side of the family! We went to a hotel and had a blast! It was so great to see everyone and the kids had so much fun! I love getting to see family at the holidays and hope that we can do it every year! We got back from the hotel today and we are all wore out! Those nights of staying up late have wore us all out!

Tomorrow I am taking Adrianna and we are going to go and get our hair done! Adrianna is just getting a trim but I am getting the highlights again and my hair cut! It is driving my nuts getting this long! I need to have something that is easier to take care of but looks good-no boy haircuts for me! I think this is pretty much all of our news for now! I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and has an even better New Year!
Stacy

Our trip so far

So things have been ok so far! We picked the perfect day to travel! We had no problems at all. If we would of left on Friday or Sunday we would of been in trouble but since we left on Saturday the weather was great! The kids were great! We had the normal little fights that the kids did but other than that things went well. Kiersten and Jon are the only ones that fell asleep on the way here. Kayleigh was just so excited to be traveling there was no way she was going to fall asleep when she actually got to go bye-bye!

Today has been up and down. My sister in law had her baby this morning. A little boy! He was 5 lb. 3oz. so he has to be in a special place in the hospital for observation for 24 hours. It is because he is under 5 1/2 lbs. I am disappointed because I wanted to get up there and get pictures of him and get the calendar done for Jon's mom. I am so glad though that he is healthy!

Please pray for Kiersten again though because this morning she is running a fever for no reason again! It was 101. I have given her Motrin and put a wash cloth on her to try to bring it down. I am not going to panick yet but we will see what happens! If I don't get on here again I want everyone to know that I wish them a Merry Christmas!
Stacy

New update

Ok-since tomorrow is going to be a very busy day I decided to get on here and wish everyone a great Christmas! Tomorrow we are surprising the kids with Christmas morning! We decided to do Christmas before we leave and just do the stockings when we are in Michigan! The best part is they have no clue we are doing this. That means they go to bed on time tonight and don't have any trouble sleeping, also they don't try to sneak downstairs to peek at their presents because they won't even know that they are down here! I feel like such a little kid because I am so excited!

After we do Christmas in the morning we will clean up and I will start packing our stuff in the can while DH studies for his test tomorrow night. Since he won't get home until late I want to get all of the stuff in the van before he goes to work. We want to get up and leave by 5am on Saturday so if we get everything in the van early tomorrow I can go to bed early and we will just have to get up, get dressed and leave! I can't believe it is just two days before we get to go see family! Finally-first time in 4 years we get to spend Christmas with everyone!

The kids are all doing good. Their first day off school was today and they have just been having fun around the house. I went up to the new school this morning and helped Adrianna's teacher with unpacking the new classroom. After they go back in January they will be in their new school and new classrooms but I just feel bad for these teachers that have all this work to do to get these new classrooms ready in such a short period of time! When I came home and opened the door I was greeted with the overwhelming smell of puke. The dog got sick in her kennel and layed in it so the whole downstairs stunk. My DH cleaned up the kennel but because she layed in it you could still smell it. So I scrubbed the kennel out and then took the dog upstairs to be bathed so now she smells good again!

Ok-I think that is enough of an update! I really hope that everyone has a great Christmas. My DH found out that I ordered a Poker Set for him so today I decided to order this acoustic guitar set that he had on his amazon account to try to surprise him with that. It is expensive and has me worried that we will not have enough for the trip but I just felt that he really wanted it and it would just make his Christmas. He wants to learn to play so he can't start until he gets the guitar. Problem is it may not arrive ontime-we will have to wait and see! Have a great day and holiday season!

Stacy

Great Day!

SO we went and got our pictures done at Sears this morning. I made it a morning appointment because I thought it would be best for the kids and I was right. We thought we were going to be late but we ended up getting there on time and the kids were awesome! The photographer was great and made the kids laugh and got them involved. I asked her if we can suggest her all the time and she said sure and gave us her name! I just loved all the pictures so much that we did end up getting the disk so we can make more prints! Jody thank you so much because we never would of went and did this if it were not for you! Your picture will be on it's way soon! You might have to give me your address again though because I may have lost the envelope with it on there!

I was so worried that the twins would not smile or the kids would act up and we did have our moments but it all worked out! The twins were so willing to do whatever the photographer asked. Justice was a ham, of course when is he not! The older two did great. Adrianna did have a melt down but the photographer whispered in her ear and she calmed right down. We did forget that she wanted to have her picture taken with a certain background and she started to cry but since they were not busy at all Jessica took the girls back in and used the background and then took on of the two boys together! I am so glad that she did because I love the ones she got. Jody, I totally forgot to ask about the birdseye view-is it the one that I got of all the three looking up at the camera because I feel so bad that I forgot about it? Anyway, here is the results of the pictures! Tell me what you all think and thanks again Jody! Have a great day everyone!
Stacy

Where has the week gone???

I am sitting here and I can't believe that it is already Wednesday! Girls-down for a nap and the older three at school! Rest time-not! I have been busy making my mother in law her calendar for Christmas! I just need a few other people to send me some pictures for it and it will be all done-oh yeah and waiting for one sister in law to have her baby-that would be a big one! I decided since she is having her baby early and very soon that we would wait so he can be in the calendar too!

Things have been going pretty good this week! We are all getting very excited that our trip is coming up so fast-just hope that while we are there that the time goes slow but you know what they say-time flies when you are having fun!

Ok-so you know that your dog is getting too big when you are sitting here on the couch and the dog puts his paws on the back of the couch and leans over your shoulder. Sorry random but as I am typing this that is what Daisy did!

So I think I better start making a list of things that we need to pack for our trip! The other day I thought about the little swimmers since we will be staying at a hotel for a few days for the family Christmas. I also remembered the girls seats they sit in to eat! I definitely want to make sure that I have those or we will never be able to keep them at the table!

Well, I guess there really is nothing new to post about! We have had a pretty uneventful week so I guess that is a good thing! Hope everyone else is having a great day!
Stacy

Another fun day!

SO the first Saturday of every month is supposed to be the day that we take the kids out for a fun not expensive day. We were not going to do it today because of the trip we are taking home for Christmas-we figured we would use that as our trip of the month but we found something fun to do. The base was having this toy drive thing. Their were 3000 guys that jumped from planes today for the kids. In order for them to be able to jump they had to bring in a toy for a child in need and then wait to see if they were one of the ones that had their number drawn. I think the idea is awesome! Needless to say we didn't know exactly where this was happening. Bragg is a huge base so we had to make some calls to finally figure it out. We ended up getting there very late but their were some pluses to that. First we got to park very close! No walking over a mile to get to the drop zone. Second, we got to see the last group of guys jumping (honestly-how long is a kid going to want to sit and watch people jump-I guess my kids would probably do it for awhile because they know that Daddy also does that but hey-they were happy with what they saw). Third, they also had rock climbing for the kids. Since we got there so late there was no lines so the kids got to get right up there and do it. They were so excited about it. Justice got about half way and then decided to look down and that would be about the moment that he got freaked out and decided he was done. Michael got a little over half way and then did the same thing. Then you had Adrianna who would of made it to the top except the fact that she slipped. They loved it. Ok-fourth good thing--cotton candy! What kid doesn't love cotton candy. I had to bring the twins coats home and wash them because they made such a mess with it but they loved it. And fifth-we didn't have to freeze for so long. WE were out there the perfect amount of time to where we were a little chilly but not too bad. And the sixth and best part of it all the cost-----absolutely FREE!!! I love when the military does things like that!

So after that fun time we went to Walmart and got our Christmas clothes! We are getting our pictures done next Saturday and I wanted to make sure that we had some nice clothes to wear for them! Us girls are going to all be wearing some shade of purple although the twins is more of a purple burgandy color but they have beautiful dresses. The guys are all going to be wearing nice pants and blue shirts. I can't wait for the pictures! Still praying that they kids all cooperate for this!

After we came home Jon took Justice out for his special day and they went out for dinner and then grocery shopping. They didn't get home until late but that is ok. Not only that but Jon went and bought some more clippers since we can't figure out where his went and now the boys will also have a nice hair cut for the pictures! I am very happy about that! I think the only bad part of the day is that tonight the flu sickness finally caught up with Michael. Earlier in the week he was feeling dizzy but never actually threw up but that all changed tonight. I am hoping that this doesn't mean that the twins still have a chance to get the flu as well! I am so ready for this sickness to get over with!

Well, I think this is all for tonight! No cool pictures because we forgot the camera! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and I will be back again soon with more updates!
Stacy

Sorry-forgot to mention

In the slideshow there are pictures of the girls leaning into eachother. It was so cute! We were sitting there eating our pizza and all of the sudden the girls started leaning over and whispering to eachother! I thought they looked so cute I had to get the camera out and take a few pictures! Just wanted to explain what those pictures were all about!

Fun night

So tonight our neighborhood center had a supper with Santa night! You got to tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas, eat pizza and make crafts! It was a pretty fun night. Kayleigh LOVED Santa. As soon as she seen him she ran up to him with arms wide wanting him to pick her up and once he did she settled right in for some cuddle time! He is her new best friend! And then there is Kiersten who was the complete opposite! As soon as she seen him she went into hysterics-kind of like she did at the doctors office yesterday! She wanted nothing to do with him! The kids had a lot of fun even though they already know that there is no such thing as Santa they played along and enjoyed themselves! I am adding a slideshow of some pictures I took tonight. My wonderful camera is broke so I had to use Jon's who's camera is no where near as good as mine but it is better than nothing! Hope that everyone has a great night and great weekend!
Stacy

Another New Update

So I finally got Kiersten into the doctors this morning. She screamed like a mad child when she seen the doctor. She totally flipped out and didn't want the doctor touching her. The doctor finally said that she has a virus and gave her Tylenol, Motrin and come cough stuff. I am not going to give her the cough stuff though because it says to talk to the doctor first if you have seizures. I decided if it is just a cold then I could help her deal with it without the cough medicine because I am not risking some stupid medicine causing more problems!

I am really in the Christmas mood. Just wish I had more money to buy things. I still haven't got Jon anything for Christmas and I really want to get him something special! Wish some ideas would pop into my head! We are starting to cut it close and I still have no idea! I still haven't put the Christmas lights on the outside of the house yet. We are leaving in 16 days and now I just don't see the point in putting them up. I have the Christmas tree up inside and I think for this year that should be good enough! I might change my mind later though-we will see.

I am starting to get a headache again! I swear I just need to get some more rest but that is next to impossible. I know I won't get any extra sleep while in Michigan either-probably less actually. I know that the kids will get up super early at Jons parents house and I will have to get up and make sure I keep them quiet so they don't wake up the rest of the house! Even when I tell them to stay downstairs so they don't wake up anyone else they never listen. They get to excited about being at Grandma's and Grandpa's and want to go straight upstairs and start the day even if it is before 6am.

I think Kiersten might fall asleep over on the chair. She hasn't had a nap yet today and is really tired. I am trying to hold her off until 3 when I can put both the girls down! Anyway, I need to get off of here and go take care of some things! Have a great day everyone and thanks for the prayers for my family!
Stacy

Quick partial update on Kiersten

I just wanted to let all of you know that Kiersten's fevers have gone down so far. THe problem is she woke up coughing really hard and is still doing so and she is saying that her throat hurts. No her temp won't even read normal-it is below so I am not sure what to think about that. Needless to say there are no appointments available at the clinic but they have called us back and said they want her seen today because of her history-they want to stop anything before it happens and they are trying to put a referral in for her to be seen at an urgent care clinic off post so we are waiting on the call for that. We told them that it had to be this morning since Jon has to be to work by 2 and they said it would be but here it is 10:35 am and still no call for the appointment so we will have to see about that! I will update again when I can but please keep praying that the fever at least stays away! That is what I am worried about the most!
Stacy

Ups and Downs

So the three older kids all made it to school today! Justice got his 7th Purple Cat in a row (on days that he has been there). He is getting so much better at being good at school. Needless to say now that he is home he is feeling sick again. I am hoping that this will pass and he will be better. The worst part is now Kiersten is running a fever. It is just a low one but with how fast her fevers rise I am very worried about her. I have started her on the Tylenol and Motrin and hope that this time we will be able to control it. I guess all that trying to keep her away from everyone and trying to keep her healthy didn't work. I just hope that the fevers stop without her having seizures this time! Please keep praying for her.

Other than that everyone else seems to be doing better! I am so looking forward to our trip to Michigan-just 18 more days! Also I don't remember if I put this on here or not but we are getting our pictures taken at Sears on the 13th thanks to my great friend Jody! By the way Jody-I need to know what size you want so I make sure I order it. I didn't forget that was part of the deal! I am so excited about this but also worried because it is always hard to get the five kids to look in one spot-you know how that goes Jody except you have even more-and the twins have only had their pictures done by other people four times! Once from Jody but they were too small to listen to you if you say look over here, twice at studios and they did awful and then this summer when my sister in law took the pictures and they didn't do all that great then either-but better because it was their Aunt Joy but that day Michael was having nothing to do with pictures and he was the oldest! All the ones where the girls were smiling and looking at the camera Michael was pouting or making mean faces! Anyway, after we do that I will try to find a way to scan the pictures or if they have disks maybe I will get one. It has been so long since I have done pictures in a studio that I don't know how they do things anymore!

Well, I think that is all the news for today! Hope that everyone has a great one and I will update on how Kiersten is doing soon. If I am not on for a few days then please pray for Kiersten because that could be the reason-other than that I will make sure I update tomorrow so you won't be worrying about her either!
Stacy

Kiersten's Cardiology Appointment!

So I took Kiersten to the Cardiologist today for a check up. They did the whole work up which surprised me but I guess since she is a new patient there they wanted it all for their records. She did awesome-even with the EEGor EKG can't remember which is for the heart and which is for the brain anymore since she has had so many of both! She just sat there and let them do everything they needed it was so cute and they kept saying how their kids never would of done that at her age. The cool thing was when they did the ultrasound on her heart they had a TV set up so she could watch Blues Clues and that made her lay there and let him do that-they were very impressed.



And for the results! When he did the exam where he just listened to her he said if she didn't have the scar down her chest you would never know by listening to her that she ever had heart surgery. That was so good to hear. He even talked about Dr. Jonas and how he is the best for her type of problem so she was lucky to have him for the surgery that Kiersten had! Then he did the ultrasound on her heart. He showed me the patch and said he thinks it is all covered up. There is one thing that bothers me that I have to leave to God. Before when they did the ultrasounds on her heart all of her leaks she had cleared up and there were no more. Well, today she has a small leak. The doctor doesn't look at it as a problem so I guess I shouldn't either but the fact that it didn't have any leaks before and has a small one now worries me. He did say that normal people with no heart problems can get leaks in the same place and it not cause a problem at all and they will just keep watching it. They also said that because of how big her hole was and where it is located she might have problems when she gets older with getting out of breath easily if she does sports and stuff but then again she may not. He said this because there is a spot that showed up on her EEG/EKG (again not remembering which) that shows that her right side works a little slower than her left. This is only because of the patch. They will continue to do this test as she gets bigger and if the difference starts getting bigger than they will have to figure out what to do. He said he isn't telling me this stuff to scare me-only because he had to give me all the info but he doesn't think that Kiersten will have a problem. All that being said we go back to the having to trust God with it all. I have to try to not treat her any different than the other kids-just because I worry all the time.



Other than that things are going ok. We are dealing with the flu here. Jon started it early Sunday morning then the boys were not feeling good and a few hours later Adrianna started in. Michael was better today but Justice and Adrianna stayed home from school still sick and now I am starting in I believe. I am just praying that the twins don't get it because usually what one girl gets the other does and I really don't want Kiersten to get the fevers that Jon and Justice have had. Please be praying for all of this and for us to be able to just trust God with Kiersten. It is hard to not want to go and just have everything fixed right now!

Oh what a day

So I woke up this morning to my husband getting sick in the bathroom and two boys not feeling well either. Needless to say I guess that means I can't go to church this morning. I was really looking forward to it to because the Pastor is in the middle of a really good series of sermons! Oh well-maybe they will have the sermon online or something!

Other than that things have been going pretty good lately. We got basically all of our Christmas shopping done. The kids are done we just have to buy for eachother and for Jon's dad. I am so excited about that. It is nice to have that all taken care of and not having to worry about where we are going to get the money to buy them! Now I just have to mail two gifts off and we are all set!

I just love sitting here and watching the kids play. The twins are so excited about the craziest things. It is so nice that they can be entertained by just about anything. I just wish they were not so interested in taking things off my Christmas tree!

Well, I think that is all that is new for now! Have a great day everyone!
Stacy

I was asked a question on what I was thankful for and it got so long and so important to me that I decided to post it on here! Hope it doesn't bore anyone! Have a great Thanksgiving and truly think about what you are thankful for!

There is so so much I am thankful for. I am thankful to God for giving me my beautiful family. My wonderful husband that I love more every day-through everything that we have gone through we have gotten closer and closer. He loves his family so much and works so hard for them. He is a great father to them and spends all the time that he can with them because he knows how special that time is for him and for them. I am thankful for the smiles on all their faces when they get to spend that time together. He is the one that makes the kids life so fun. I am greatful for my wonderful, beautiful children-the ones with me and the ones that are not for they have taught me to cherish the ones that I have. For Michael who teaches me new things every day. That boy is so so smart and loves people so much. He is such a caring little boy. For Adrianna, my beautiful girl who has her struggles dealing with things but has taught me so much about unconditional love. Her beautiful smile makes my day and how she loves her little sisters and cares about helping me and Jon just makes me want to hold her and hug her and protect her from anything that makes her uncomfortable or scared!


Ok-time for a new paragraph! I am thankful for Justice--oh boy! That boy has so much energy and brings so much laughter to this house! You just have to love him-even when he is bad sometimes it is hard to punish him because he is funny. He just has so much mischief in him but so much love and happiness. I am thankful for Kayleigh-she just says the cutiest things that make my day. I love when she says I love you-it sounds so so cute! She is such a happy little girl for the most part. She loves to be read to and give us hugs and kisses. She is such a little pleaser. And then there is Kiersten. Now I have to say right off the bat I struggle with this some times. I don't in any way favor Kiersten or love her any more than the other kids. I will say I am in awe of her. I feel so blessed to have her as my child. I feel God has given me a mircle-that is the only way I can explain her. First-not everyone has twins-obvious. I got a double blessing from God when he gave us the twins and even though I know that these two are not the two babies that we lost but I feel that God gave them to us because we didn't give up on him after everything and with them being due the day that we were due with the first baby that we lost and finding out that I was pregnant with them on the day that Bryce was supposed to be born I feel that was definitely a sign from God and then a few weeks later find out that I was having two babies-how can you deny that. But back to Kiersten-God has shown us so much through her. We have to totally rely on him with all of our children and with Kiersten I feel blessed to be able to watch her grow and laugh and just love. To think that if she was born maybe not even 7-10 years earlier she wouldn't of lived because of her heart problem and here she is bigger than her "older" and "bigger" twin. Even with the seizures it teaches us that we have to trust God everyday with the lives of our little ones. It is so hard to watch her go through these hard things and I wonder why she has to I really don't think it fair for her but God knows why she does and he also knows why she is here and with us. It just amazes me how much God loves all of us and I am thankful for every minute I get to spend with my family.


I am thankful for my In laws-all of you! You all have touched my life in so many ways. You all have helped us through so much and I know that I can count on all of you for prayers or advise when we need it. Especially thankful for Mom and Dad who has been there through so much. Letting me and the kids live with them when Jon went to Korea. That turned out to be such a tough year and I don't know what I would of done without them. So much happened with my health and the health of the kids during that time that there is no way I would of been able to deal with it on my own. That was the year that Justice got so sick and was finally diagnosed with asthma, Adrianna was diagnosed with the kidney disease and I was told that my kidneys were only at 50% function and it straightened up my act on not having the salt and caffeine that I loved! Without there support I would of went nuts. And then when Kiersten had to have her heart surgery they dropped everything and came to help us with the other kids and supported not only us but touched so many other people at the Ronald McDonald house in the process! They truly are an example of God's love!

Last but certainly not least I am so greatful for my mom and grandma. They are truly my best friends I don't know what I would do without them. They have helped me with so much through my whole life and I don't know what I would do without them!

Ok-sorry that was soooo long! Just so much to be thankful for!

A long day...

So when I woke up this morning at 7am I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to get up and bake 7 dozen cookies. That's right! I had to make cookies for Justice's class for their Thanksgiving meal tomorrow and I doubled the receipt so it made 7 dozen and now we have cookies for Thanksgiving as well! The kids are going to have fun decorating them on that day! Well, after that I had to get the kids ready for church and I decided I would try to go. I didn't have a fever today but still have the headache and coughing with runny nose! It is driving me crazy. Needless to day that by the time the service at church was over with I was exhausted and we still had things to do. We went to Walmart and finally got our turkey for Thanksgiving. Jon went to the Commissary and called me from there yesterday to tell me they had three turkeys left-all 13 lbs and were $55 each. I freaked out and told him no way-we would shop around today and get a better deal. Sure enough good ol Walmart had a better deal! We ended up getting two turkeys for less than half the price of the one at the Commissary!

I can't wait for Thursday-all the good food we are going to be eating. We are going to have turkey and ham and all the trimmings plus the stuffing and pumpkin pie. My Brother in law is also going to make a Carmel Apple Pie that I have never had before but boy does it sound good and I can't wait to taste it! The boys don't know it yet but since Eric has to work the next day they can only stay the day but the boys can be together for the whole weekend. Not sure if I am having one of Shari's boys and she is having one of mine or if she is taking all the boys but they get to spend the whole weekend together! They will be thrilled but I am not telling them till Thursday!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! First off-HELLO we are back in the States and close to family. Second our kids are all beautiful and doing well. With everything that we have gone through with Kiersten this year God is still with us and is keeping her healthy minus the seizures! She did only gain 2 oz when we took her to the doctors this last week so they want her to come back in three months and check things out. Now there is only 7 oz difference between the girls when there used to be 2 lbs. Kiersten is still a lot taller though.

Anyway, better get off of here and get some rest! I am not sure if I am going to bed early today or not---it is my favorite TV night but I can always watch my show on the computer tomorrow if I want so we will see! Have a great night everyone!
Stacy

Ok-I figured it out

I think the reason that I have been so tired lately is because I was getting sick. I have had this awful headache since Wednesday night-so bad that I have had to take Tylenol and I try to avoid that at all cost. Well, last night I started running a fever and still have one today now with back pains! Please pray guys that this is just aches and pains because I do have that kidney disease and it is starting to kind of feel like a kidney infection and I really can't afford one of those right now-or anytime for that matter! I might just be making an ER trip this weekend!

On a good note! I just may have the twins potty trained. Neither one of them have had an accident all day and here it is 40 minutes before bedtime! I am so excited about this. It has been a long time coming. If I could just get them to stop going when they are sleeping we would be all set. I also need to get the nerve up to take them out with underwear on. Maybe we will try this Sunday when we go to church-with extra clothes packed of course just in case! Anyway, I am off of here! My head is spinning so I need to go and lay down! Have a great weekend everyone!
Stacy

Long days

I am telling you-I have been so tired lately! I know that in 50 minutes when I go to put the older three kids to bed I am heading there myself! Not sure why I am so tired but I could sleep for a week!

Today has been a pretty good day. We finally got all the paperwork done and turned in for Jon's leave so we can head to Michigan for Christmas. You don't know how excited I am about this! I can't wait to see family again. The girl across the street is probably going to watch the animals too so that is nice to have that out of the way. Of course though Thanksgiving comes first and I am so looking forward to that too! Jon's sister and her family are coming for Thanksgiving and I am really looking forward to spending the day with them. And of course I am so looking forward to all the good food! I can't wait for pumpkin pie and turkey sandwiches and of course the stuffing! YUMMY!!!

Kiersten seems to be doing better! She goes tomorrow for her weight check. Kayleigh also has an appointment tomorrow. It looks like she may not be allergic to Eggs and Peanut Butter anymore. I am so excited about this! They did another allergy test on her last week and it came back that she isn't. She also has an appointment tomorrow with the allergist and we will discuss it all then. We know that the peanut butter does give her a rash basically a break out of her dermatitus but if that is it then we should be good!

The older three kids are doing good. Michael is getting so big-I just can't believe it. He is so smart and is starting to get so independant. He is always wanting to go to his friends house and stuff and I just want to keep him in the house because I am a worrier. I am learning to let go a little and let him be a kid but it is hard in todays world. Adrianna is doing so much better in school. We are going to have a meeting still to see about some testing still but I think she is doing great. Her attitude is starting to change a little too. She is having less freakouts and when she does have them they are lasting for shorter periods of time. Justice is still Justice although the last two days he has gotten purple cats at school. He is trying to behave so I guess that is a start! I just love being their mom! Each one of them is special in their own way and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world!

So I guess that is my blog for the night! Kind of boring but right now I like boring-it is better than some other things that have happened with us lately! Have a good night everyone!
Stacy

Ok-Now a quick update

So my Father in law finally got out of the hospital yesterday! He is very happy about that. They decided it is a problem with his heart. He has to go on medication and if that doesn't work then he will have to have surgery done. He has an appointment with the cardiologist on the 25th so please continue to pray for him. I think that Kiersten is doing a little better. She is eating more everyday so that is good. She still lays around alot though so I am still wondering what is causing that. I am just praying that she isn't having different kind of seizures and we don't know about it. Everything else seems to be going ok besides the fact that I don't seem to be able to get enough sleep! I am so tired all the time! I am also sick of not having enough money for things. I am so stressed out about money all the time. Some how each month we end up ok but this month I am afraid it is going to be different. We are supposed to go and get Justice's Christmas gifts with this check-I just hope we will be able to do it. With each check we are getting a different kids gifts. We already got Michael and Adrianna's now we just have to get the other three kids done. The girls I think will be easy-we are going to get them tricycles-probably the big wheel type-Dora or Barbie-and some dolls or something. Justice we are getting a bike since his got stolen the first week we moved here. Can you believe that-right off the back patio! We will get him a new helmet to go with that and then he wants a Bible! I think that it is awesome that he wants a Bible for Christmas! The only problem is that the bikes are so expensive. Oh well, we gotta do what we gotta do. Since they are only getting two gifts from us this year we pay the price. Anyway, gotta go and put the kids on the bus! Have a great day everyone!
Stacy

Quick Prayer Request

I just wanted to get on here really quick and ask everyone if they could please pray for Jon's dad. He went into the hospital last night with tightness in his chest and was admitted. They know that he hasn't had an immediate heart attack but are keeping an eye on him and doing more tests. Haven't heard anything new this morning and will update when I do hear something.

What a day!

So I am telling you I really am looking forward to Christmas vacation! In the mist of cooking dinner the beautiful babies that I have took pencils that my wonderful three children left out and wrote all over the front room walls! Yeah-not too happy about that! So I gave each one of the kids a pencil with an eraser (of course ones that are not sharpened) and told them to get to work. If they want to keep leaving things out for the girls to get a hold of then they can help clean up their mess! So then I decided it looked so funny having five kids on their knees erasing the wall that I would take a picture! Well-my camera is not working. It keeps saying that it can't focus. I have a nice camera and it was not cheap and I do not want to have to buy another one! I am hoping that Jon can figure it out or something because with the holidays coming up I have to have the camera! I am a picture person and I can't go without one-Jody will understand where I am coming from here! Needless to say since the girls didn't take a nap this afternoon bedtime is early for them so in about a 1/2 hour I will have them up in the tub washing off all the spaghetti and then to bed! I just may go to bed shortly after that too!

We also had Parent Teacher Conferences today. The kids are all doing pretty good. Michael doesn't always turn in his homework and has some issues paying attention to his Math to know what kind of problem that he is doing but is an awesome student! Justice is Justice! He is a great student but does have to stop following what the bad kids do! If we can work on his behavior we will be all set! Adrianna-what can we say about her! Lets just say her teacher raved about her! I am so excited about that! She said what a great student she is. How much better she is doing since the beginning of the year. She is making great strides and while she is not up to grade level on anything she is improving every day. Her teacher thinks that she will be reading fluently by the end of the school year. She told Adrianna that she has the hard part down. Most of the students that can read in the class without missing a word doesn't understand what they are reading. Adrianna understands all the stories and can tell you what they are about but can't read very well. We are just so blessed to have the teacher that we do for her this year. I think she takes special interest in Adrianna in this problem because the teacher also had reading problems growing up. It is just amazing to me how much Adrianna has learned and how much better she is doing! I am hoping that she will be on track by the end of the year and will get some confidence.

Well, I think that is it for tonight! If I can just get my beautiful Kiersten to calm down and not be so angry and upset about-I don't know what-we might have a good evening! Have a great night everyone!
Stacy

Kiersten's appointment today

Ok-so we just got back from her appointment. The doctor went over basically the same as before with me but added a little new info. Basically she now has an 80% chance of this happening again and because the first one happened before she was 2 years old (technically the first two since the second one happened just two days before her birthday) the likelihood of it happening again is good. He went through the timeline with me of the last episodes and said that she needs higher doses of the Motrin and Tylenol and it needs to be given more often-every three hours for each instead of the normal 4 hours for Tylenol and 6 for Motrin. Obviously we can't do this for days at a time but for 24 hours she should be good. He also wants us to get some Tylenol suppositories because she tends to throwup Tylenol. We no longer are to wait for 5 minutes of seizures before giving the diastat. He only wants us to wait for 1-2minutes at the most. He also told us that if she continues to have seizures and keeps having them close together like these last two he may have to put her on some sort of antiseizure medication. There are a lot of sideeffects that go along with them-like making kids very angry so we are trying to hold off and hope that she no longer has them. Thanks for all of the prayers and please keep praying that she doesn't have any more period. It is hard to watch her go through these and then have her in the hospital for days at a time not being able to move or function.

So other than that there really is nothing new here. Things have been mainly revolving around Kiersten and worrying about her. The other kids are all getting colds that I hope go away quickly but other than that nothing. My sister is moving back to Michigan today so I hope she finds what she is looking for there! Well, I guess I will update more later! Thanks for the prayers everyone!
Stacy

So it happened again!

Ok-for those that didn't know Kiersten ended up back in the hospital on Wednesday night. She woke up screaming at 9:55pm and when I ran up there she was running a 103.8 fever. After trying to give her some Tylenol that she threw right back up Jon and I decided to take her right in. When I brought her downstairs to put a new pull up on her she started screaming and jumping like she was seeing things so that freaked me out. Jon sped the whole way there and it was a good thing because literally when we walked in the ER and sat down she started having seizures. They took her back right away and started medications on her to stop them. She ended up having two different episodes of them and they decided to keep her and try to figure out what was causing the seizures. She again lost all control of her body-couldn't sit up or anything. This time she was complaining about her neck so they decided to give her recephin again through an IV this time since she actually managed to not pull it out. The doctors at the hospital thought that maybe she does have a seizure disorder but when they talked to DR. Jaffe-her neurologist-he said he still believes that it is febrile seizures and he doesn't think she needs medication. They don't have medications for febrile seizures so if they gave her the medication from regular seizures then it wouldn't help stop the seizures and would only give her the side effects of the medication. He said I could have an appointment if I wanted but I said it is the same stuff that he said before so I was fine. Well, they finally let her come home today. She still has low grade fevers but has most of her movements back-still a little unsteady on her feet and when she was outside a little while ago she fell and scrapped up her face. I was a little surprised when I got home though because I found out that Dr. Jaffe called and Kiersten does have an appointment to see him Monday morning so I am not sure why he decided to do that. Anyway, please pray for her. This really messes her up and makes her an angry baby so that is kind of hard to deal with-it is like Adrianna times 10! I will get on here after her appointment on Monday and let everyone know what the neurologist says!
Stacy

Our night last night

So last night Jon and I went out on a date! Can you believe that we were actually able to get out without the kids! It was such a great time! We brought the kids home from church, got them their lunch and then left. We went and did some Christmas shopping and then went out to eat at this Japanese Steakhouse! It was so good and so nice to be able to spend some time with Jon one on one without the kids running around like crazy-and nice to eat a hot meal without me having to get the kids their food first. My sister did a great job watching the kids too! When we got home dishes were done, house was clean and vaccumed, and the kids were all in their pj's ready for bed. Alot better than the last time I left the kids with a babysitter!

I will have to say thought that yesterday morning didn't start off so well! The girls have all of the sudden learned how to get out of their room so early in the morning I had two little girls in my room. They even shut our bedroom door. So I turned on the TV for them so they could watch cartoons. They decided that they wanted their blankets so I went and got them out of their room. Well, when I came back Kayleigh had my glasses and had broken the arm off them. So now I have the glasses taped and am trying to save some money so I can go and get some new ones! Not the way I wanted to start my day but it did end pretty good so I guess I can't complain too much! Hope that everyone else enjoyed their weekend. And another thing-if anyone knows how to get cat pee smell off things please let me know! Midnight has decided to start peeing on things for some reason including my nice reclining chair in my living room and I have to try to figure out how to get the smell out! It is driving me crazy! Talk to everyone later!
Stacy

Happy Halloween!

So tonight was a fun night. Jon had to work but Mandi and I took all six kids out trick or treating. The kids had so much fun. The girls loved going door to door and getting more candy. They got so excited they kept pulling the candy out of their bags to show it to me. The boys kept trying to go way ahead of us. Adrianna had a lot of fun passing out the bags from our church. She got so upset when this one guy said he didn't want it. She started balling. I am so glad that he is the only one that no to her. Anyway, it has been a long day so I am going to get off of here. I am attaching some pictures from tonight and the three older kids school pictures. I just love how they turned out! Have a great night everyone!
Stacy

Nothing Much New Here

Things have been pretty quiet around here. Mandi and Emily are still here. She has been looking for a place to live and wants to find a new job already so I am praying she finds what she needs! The kids have all been staying healthy! Did I write that-I probably shouldn't because that is the time they will decide to get sick! We went to a Halloween Party yesterday for the neighboorhood! It was fun but the kids were crazy. It was so unorganized. Everyone was everywhere-it was just nuts. I just hope that my friend is able to come over tomorrow night and help me take all these kids trick or treating. Jon and Mandi both will be working so if Lanna can't be here then I am taking six kids out by myself and three of them I know will not walk the whole way! Jon takes a test today for class. If he doesn't pass it he may either have to swith languages or go back to field artiliary. If he has to go back to field artiliary we will probably have to move and I really don't want to do that! I am just praying that they can figure something out. This Thai language is kicking his butt and he doesn't fail at things so it is really bothering him. Please be praying for him and us as he has to do this! Well, I better get going. It is almost time to put the babies down for a nap and get the kids off the bus! Hope everyone has a nice day and have fun Trick Or Treating!!!
Stacy

I can't believe I didn't realize

I was doing something with pictures today and it hit me that I took pictures while we were on the hayride and I didn't remember seeing them when I was going through them yesterday. I had to go ack through my picture program and find them! So I am adding a new slideshow of the rest of our Pumpkin Patch trip to this post. Other than that today went good. Church was great and it was nice to have Mandi and Emily there with us. I got to rest a little bit this afternoon and we cooked out on the grill for dinner. That was nice-I love cooking out and not sure how much longer we can do that this year! Please keep praying for Mandi though. She is feeling bad for leaving her husband and I keep trying to tell her that he is just going to keep treating her like crap if he goes back! Well, I think that is it for tonight! Everyone sleep well!
Stacy

Our fun day!

So I know that we are only supposed to go out the first weekend of every month but with Halloween next weekend we decided to go and take the kids to a pumpkin patch this weekend. We had so much fun. They had a petting zoo there, hayride, face painting (although when we were there they were at lunch), pony rides, bouncy houses and a live band. It was a neat set up-especially if you have younger kids like we do. The kids had so much fun. Kiersten lost it when her turn was up on the pony though-we really need to find a place around here where we could take the kids to ride ponies more often-they all liked it. I am putting on a slideshow of the fun we had. Of course Adrianna had one of her meltdowns because of something and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Jon took her to the van to calm her down while Mandi and I dealt with the other kids. When we walked over to the bouncy house a lady said hello to me. When I looked up there was Adrianna's therapist. She had seen Adrianna and Jon walking to the van and seen the fit. I was kind of glad she witnessed it so she could see what we have been talking about since she is an angel during sessions!

Mandi and Emily are now staying with us until they can find a place to live. Her husband kicked her out around 3am the day that she was coming over here for the interview. I told her it was probably for the best so she can have a clean break. Of course then he called her today and left a message on her phone asking if he could have Emily tomorrow for a fall festival. I mean really-is he totally stupid. Emily is not even his daughter and of course he will not be seeing her! Mandi did get the job though and started today so my babysitting of my neice has started and she seems to be doing good. She has only seen us twice before all of this so I was worried that she wouldn't react well to us since she doesn't really know us. I think having the twins help because the three of them play so well together-as long as Emily doesn't touch Kiersten's blankets all is well!

So I think that is all the news for now! Life is good this weekend! Hopefully we will have a great day tomorrow as well! Have a good night everyone!
Stacy

Things are better

So things are going better here. I am excited to say that my nephew will be coming home probably tomorrow. Not sure how that happened but I read it on the family site today. I am so glad that things are turning around for him and that Dawn and Kevin will be able to relax a little at home with their whole family!

Adrianna had her second therapy appointment today. I think we are making some progress at figuring out what is going on with her. She wants her to be able to see a psychologist as well to make sure we are not missing anything else. The thing that she thinks she has fits her perfectly. It also is something that can cause learning disabilities so it may be Adrianna's problem all the way around! Keep praying that she keeps getting better and all the things that we are trying will help her.

Please be praying for my sister as well! She is trying to leave her husband and is running into a few obsticals. He is a real jerk and I am praying that she can get away quickly. I got a call from her today and she has a job interview tomorrow over by me so she is going to try to head over here first thing in the morning. I told her to pack a few things that she is going to want that he won't notice and bring it with her so she can leave it at my house! Please pray that she is able to get this job and get away from where she is quickly. I just want a clean break for her and a fresh new start. In North Carolina you have to stay legally seperated for a year before a divorce but other than that I hope she never has to have contact with him or his rotten family again! At least he is not the real father of her daughter so she won't have to deal with him there either!

So other than that there is nothing really new here. Hope everyone is having a great day!
Stacy

My awful day!

I tell you-I could of slept through today and been happy about it. First off I want to ask for you guys to pray for my new nephew. He doesn't have a name yet but he was born yesterday three weeks early. He has been having trouble-he stops breathing at times and they diagnosed him with preemie apnea. They are going to continue monitoring him and as soon as he goes about a week without these episodes then they will let him go home on a monitor. So my day started with worrying about him and his parents and just continued to get worse. I am not going to go into everything but just want to say it sucked today! There was one bright point though. The kids and I make cut out cookies. I made the dough last night and after church today we came home and used the Halloween cookie cutters to cut them out! The kids had so much fun cutting them and frosting them when they were cooked! They don't look the best with the frosting but they sure taste good! Well, I am getting ready to watch The Unit and then heading to bed! Hope everyone had a better day than me and has a great night!
Stacy

Update from my fun day!

So the concert was awesome! We had a great time even though we got there an hour late because we got lost! Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman were awesome! After the concert we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. I had never been there before so that was neat-they had a live band and everything. We were able to sit outside and that was awesome-I am not used to such nice weather in the evening in October! From there we went to the Hotel that was on Myrtle Beach. The view was amazing! In the morning I got to watch the sunrise on the water and it was beautiful! We do now have a big orange stain on our carpet from when I was gone. I guess the twins got a hold of a glass of red koolaide and spilled it all over the carpet! The babysitter tried to clean it up with a steam cleaner but it just turned it orange! Not happy about that but at least the kids made it the whole time with no trips to the ER. I am putting pictures on here for you guys. Some are from the sunrise and me at the beach, one is of the new stars that I put on the girls ceiling-they glow in the dark and the girls love them. When you put them to bed at night they say that need to watch their stars-it is adorable! There are also a couple of the girls in the tub. They have so much fun in the bathtub now playing together! I just had trouble with Kayleigh because she is always wanting to put her head in the water and she still has the tubes in her ears so she isn't supposed to. Well, Hope that everyone has a great day!
Stacy

Potty Training

We have started the Potty Training adventure with the twins! We have done it off and on since we moved to the states but for the last few weeks we have really been trying to do this. Well, this morning Kiersten asked for underwear so I let her wear some since she has been the one going in the toliet. She had an accident in them and then in another pair when upstairs because someone shut the bathroom door upstairs. Other than that I put a third pair on her this morning and she stayed dry for the rest of the day except for her nap time! I am so excited! She was so excited everytime she went. She wouldn't even tell me she had to go-she would just take her underwear off and go to her toliet and then bring me her underwear to help her put them back on. I am so excited that she did so well today-she even got upset when I needed to put the pullup on for bed because she wanted underwear but I knew we were not that far into the potty training to let her do that. Kayleigh on the other hand will not go very often on the toliet. She will go poop but that is about it! She just doesn't want to do it that much. I am hoping that since she wants to put on the underwear like Kiersten that she will start getting into going on the toliet.

In other news-I get to go to the Michael W. Smith/Steven Curtis Chapman concert on Thursday. Just two days away! I can't wait until we get to go. Of course that is also the same day that Adrianna has her first therapy appointment. Please be praying that things go well with the appointment and the therapist can help Adrianna figure out what is going on with her and make her less nervous and scared of things! Well, I am off to bed! Have a great night everyone!
Stacy

A good weekend!

Well, here it is Sunday morning and so far no trips to the ER for Kayleigh! Yeah!!! I am hoping that because she has the tubes in her ears that is what is keeping her from getting what Kiersten has! This weekend so far has been a good one! Friday night we had a game night with the kids! They had so much fun! We even put the girls up to the table with crayons and coloring books so they were involved too! Last night we had a good dinner together and played games again! Justice really wanted to play Nacho Loco the first night but we played Uno instead so we played Nacho Loco last night and it was fun! We also played Rock Band with the XBOX but while playing that the XBOX froze up and we are not sure what is wrong with it. It is really annoying because we have only had it for 5 months so it shouldn't be screwing up already! I made Soy Sauce Chicken for dinner. I liked it and so did all the girls but the boys were not too into it. Justice said it was too salty and Michael said it had too much sugar so not sure which was really the problem but oh well. There are leftovers and I guess I will be the one to eat it up!!! You may be confused about the sugar thing---you take soy sauce and brown sugar and mix it until it is the way you like it and then put it on the chicken! My mom made it for us as kids and I have always liked it--just wish all my kids did as well!

So today we are getting ready to go to church. The twins are going to stay with us this time. Because of the colds and stuff I don't want to get any of the other kids sick. After church we are going to come home and eat, put the girls down for a nap and then head to our friends house for a late birthday dinner for Jon. Our friend is so awesome and wants to make a big deal out of Jon turning 30. We are excited to be able to spend a day with friends and just relaxing! I am looking forward to eating good food that I don't have to make! Well, I hope that everyone else enjoys their day and that it is as beautiful out at their house as is it here at ours!
Stacy

I'm so frustrated!

So Kiersten is sick.....again! She has been running low grade fevers for the last few days with runny nose and coughing. Kayleigh has had the same runny nose and coughing but no fevers. So today I called the clinic to try to get her an appointment and they told me that we are supposed to be seen by a civilian doctor. I argued with the lady and told her that the clinic told me before that this was a glitch with the computer system and that we are to be seen at the clinic and she even put a note in the computer so others would know that. The lady refused to give me an appointment even after telling her that Kiersten has seizures with fevers and that I really need her seen. I at that point told her that if my daughter had a seizure then I was going to the clinic and blaming her for it----so christian of me don't you think. I was really angry though because here I am trying to keep my baby safe and she had no compassion at all! So I got Kiersten dressed and took her to the clinic. I went to the place that I went to before when I asked them about the whole problem and they told me we are to be seen there and had me call Tricare right there to make sure it was taken care of for good. Then they looked to see if they could get me an appointment and the only one they had was for 1:50---Jon leaves for work at 1:30 and we are down to one car so I told her to book it but I wasn't sure how I was going to get there. After booking the appointment she then went and talked to some other people and one of the ladies went to talk to the doctor. They knew with Kiersten's history and how bad her last seizures were that it was important to have her seen. The doctor said that she would see her right then! I was so greatful to these people and will be sending them cards! Turns out that Kiersten has something called Bullous myringitis. It is a fancy name for blisters on her ear drums. It is a good thing we got her in there today because it usually is accompanied with walking pnemonia but we caught it before that happened. She said that it is VERY painful and gave her numbing drops for her pain and an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. It is contagious and since Kayleigh has the cold as well we have to keep an eye on her. If she starts to get a fever or says something hurts we have to take her right in.

Now on to my other frustration! Justice keeps getting in trouble on the bus and at school. Nothing too big. In school he can't sit still and likes to play when he is supposed to learn but he usually stays on purple cat (which is a good thing). On the bus he really can't sit still. That is a long time to ask him to sit still when all day long he is on the go. Even when he is watching tv he is swirling his chair around. This morning one of our neighbors-who has talked to me before-got on the bus right next to the bus driver and was talking to her. It frustrated me because this is also Adrianna's bus and the goal is to get her on the bus and have it pull away as quickly as possible in order for her to get over the anxiety and be ok for school. Well, this lady keeps talking. I even turned to my other neighbor and said I hope that it doesn't involve my kids. Well, at the end I heard the bus driver say that the neighbors daughter is no where near Justice. My heart went right into my stomach. I don't even know what the issue is because this woman never has said anything to me and I really would like to know what is going on. She then got off the bus-her son was petting Daisy and she grabbed her sons hand and stormed into her house. I was a little shocked and I would really like to know what Justice did because it must of been really bad for her to do that but my thought is-if someone did something to my son and I knew the parents then I would go to them right away and let them know and try to solve it that way-not go and not say anything except-in this case-to the bus driver and then walk by like I was the worst person in the world. Whatever he did it must of been really bad. WHAT DO I DO??? I have thought about asking the bus driver to move Adrianna and Justice to the front seat just so I know that he will behave and I won't have to worry about this! Any advise is greatly appreciated! Anyone who knows Justice-I mean really knows Justice LOVES him. He is a great kid but does have a mouthy side and is very hyper! Ok-enough ranting! Have a great day everyone!
Stacy

A great day...

Well the rest of the week has been good. Adrianna went to school all week-I was so excited about that. Kayleigh had her ENT appointment this week and everything still looks good. She does have to go and have a post op hearing test done-her surgery was in January so not sure why they are just doing this now. I am not worried about it though because I think she hears fine! She goes back and sees them in six months! It was so cute because she let him look in her ears and then he asked if he could look in her mouth and she opened it right up and let him. Kiersten has me on pins and needles tonight. She has a temp of 99.2 when I put her to bed I took it and that is what it was. Any of my other kids and I wouldn't worry about it but because it was her I pulled the motrin right out and before I go to bed I am giving her the tylenol.

Today was a great day. Jon and I both decided that the first Saturday of each month we are taking the kids on a trip. Nothing too expensive but just something that we can do as a family that takes the kids away from the house and lets us spend time together. We even invited Shari and family to go with us when they can! Today we went to the Childrens Museum here. Justice was supposed to go last week with his class but he ended up sick and couldn't go. They got him a free pass so we decided that we would use it and all go. We had a blast. On the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month they also have model trains on the top floor there and that was Kiersten's favorite part. She loved looking at them and each time one past her she would clap and say yeah! It was just too cute!

After we went there we came home and just spent time here. We had a good dinner and then after dinner we made carmel apples! This was the babies first carmel apples and they loved them. It was cute too because the kids helped us unwrap the carmels. Once unwrapped they were to go into the pan to get cooked. Kayleigh did an awesome job. She didn't eat any except the one that we let them each have. Kiersten......well let's just say more made it into her mouth than into the pan-too cute! Anyway, now that I know how to post slide shows on here I will be doing that alot. I took pictures at the museum and tonight with our carmel apple fun! Enjoy them and hope that everyone has a great night!
Stacy

Sometimes you just have to sit back......

So right now I am just sitting here feeling like crying. I think people just need to relax sometimes and realize what they have. It seems like I spend all my time trying to correct the kids and make sure that they do the right thing and punishing them when they don't. I am sitting here in my comfortable chair and just smiling because my three girls are running (and I do mean running) around the house, chasing eachother and laughing so hard---followed by the puppy of course. Part of me feels like I hould be correcting them and telling them not to run in the house but a bigger part of me loves to hear their laughter and see them having so much fun enjoying eachother. The boys of course are in the front room in front of the TV! Adrianna is so good with those girls and they are just having so much fun. At this moment I am realizing again-I go through this alot-how much I have even if we don't have money for things right now we have this wonderful family with these beautiful kids. They are all so special in their own way. Each one goes through their own challenges and puts us through some but it is all worth it when we see them so happy and playing and enjoying life. They are so young and they don't have to worry about the stresses of life. I need to just sit back sometimes and let them be kids-so what if they make messes or break a few things or can't get everything right on their homework-or even forget to shut the door when they go outside-they are my life and I love them so much. Oh to be able to enjoy life like they do and not know of all the evil things in the world (like worrying about who is the next President or the price of gas!) So I am on here telling you all to sit back and enjoy life a little-enjoy your kids if you have them! You are not garanteed tomorrow so live for today! Anyway-besides that here are the pictures that I took of Michael at 9 years and the twins at 2 years! Have a great night everyone!
Stacy

Ok-lets see if this works better!

Still trying to figure all of this out! Lets see if this works!

Just for Jody!

Sorry Jody! I know I have to figure this whole picture thing out and it probably isn't as hard as I want to make it. Here are some pictures from the party!














I didn't get many of Michael because he was always off playing with his friends but hope this is enough pictures for you!

Have a great day everybody!
Stacy

The kids party

So today we had Michael, Kayleigh and Kiersten's birthday party. Their birthday was on the 15th but Michael really wanted Jordan (his cousin) at his party so he was willing to wait until now to have the party. It went really well. We have no money right now so they didn't get the amount of presents that we usually get them but they had a great party nonetheless! Eric, Shari and the boys came and then Michael invited two boys from down the street. We made Hot Dogs and Hamburgers on the grill and had Pretzel Salad instead of Cake because that is what Michael asked for. We probably are going to go to Walmart tomorrow so Michael can spend some of his birthday money and we can get something for the girls with their birthday money!

The best part is we had the party here and my house is still really clean. I love when things like that happen. Shari helped me clean up the dishes after we all ate and the kids all cleaned up before they left. I just love to be able to sit here and relax instead of worrying about having to clean up a big mess! I will have to say too since we have been going to www.handipoints.com and having the kids do chore charts on there they have been making sure their jobs get done and the house stays picked up! I just love this place looking decent all the time. At least lately-you would never know that five kids live here. Anyway, just had to get on and update about my day! Hope everyone else had a wonderful day and has a wonderful weekend!
Stacy

So tired but hope it is a better day!

Wow-I tell you things have been challenging lately-of course when are they not. Adrianna finally went to school today! This is the first day this week that she has gone and it is Thursday. We have just been at a loss with her. I even went up to the school yesterday and told them I need help with her. I just don't know what to do to get her to school. So yesterday she had to stay in her room all day with no toys and no books to read-including magazines which is her favorite thing to do. Everything had to be done in her room except for going to the bathroom-she even ate her meals in there. She took the punishment well I will say that. She told me that she had all summer to be with me and Jon and that she is afraid when she gets on the bus that something is going to happen to us. I told her that we will be fine-I just stay home all day and Daddy goes to work. I also told her that if she didn't go to school today then she wouldn't be going on Friday when they would be going on their field trip. Not only that but if she doesn't go to school on Friday's that means that the whole weekend would be spent in her room just like she did yesterday. Needless to say she got up this morning and got on that bus with a smile on her face-I was scared though because Justice has a fever this morning and was not able to go to school so I thought that might make her not get on the bus. Hopefully she will be getting on from now on.

One crazy thing though-since she has not been going to school we still have been getting her homework and one of her assignments this week was to take a walk outside and then come in and write down all the signs of fall that she noticed. This assignment would of been much easier if we still lived in Germany or Michigan but not here. Luckily we found a few leaves that were changing colors and there was bit of a breeze so we had a couple things that we could write down. Well, here we are two days after the assignment and I think it would of been a better day for an assignment like that. It is cold and windy and rainy and everything-when I walked the dog this morning I was thinking-man this is fall for sure. Of course it all has to do with the disturbance that is off the coast of the Carolinas but hey-it seems like a seasonal change to me!

Other than that I am just sitting and relaxing today. I am so tired and I really don't care if a single things doesn't get done. The house is clean except for some dishes that are in the sink so I think that I deserve to relax a little today-tomorrow can be my laundry day and getting ready for Michael and the twins party on Saturday. We are not doing much for it-just doing hot dogs on the grill and instead of cake Michael asked me to make Pretzel Salad so we are having that. My sister in law and her family are coming and a couple of neighbor boys. My sister and her family as supposed to come but I heard from my mom that she doesn't think she is coming-just wish she would of told me that instead of someone else but oh well!

Hope that everyone has a great day and I will update again later!
Stacy

A bright day

SO after having so many bad days in a row we are having a few bright ones minus a few things. Jons parents are here visiting so we are having a nice time. It is a short trip-they got here yesterday and are leaving tomorrow but we take what we can get. Please pray for his dad to get better though-he hasn't been feeling well and then Adrianna started running a high fever last night. I am reall praying that Kiersten doesn't get it because she can't afford to get any fevers that could give her another seizure.

Well, I got several calls today that said my Grandpa's funeral was nice. I guess the place was full-more for the funeral than that are there for church. That is nice to know that so many people cared for him. Other than that nothing much new-unless we count the fact that Adrianna refused to get on the bus yesterday! I was not happy with her because I also had to go to the doctors yesterday so I could get my medicine refilled and had to take all three girls instead of just the twins. You would think she would help but she just got the girls all worked up while we were there. I just don't know what to do with her when she won't go to school. Any advise about that is greatly appreciated! Well, hope that everyone has a great day!
Stacy

This past weekend

Has been an ok one. I have had my moment where I have just broken down but for the most part I have held it together. I still wish I could go to Michigan for the funeral but we just can't do it-we have enough trouble just trying to pay for gas and food until we get paid there is no way we can add a trip into it. We have basically finished the house. It is presentable which is a good thing since Jons parents will be here tomorrow. We are all excited about that and it will definitely be a bright spot for us! They will only be here until Wednesday morning but we will take what we can get. Kiersten is doing pretty good. Back to her normal self. I am sure I am going to really be on edge with her for a long time. It took six months for her to have her second seizure so I am not sure when I will feel safe not watching her every second!

Other than that nothing much new here. Just working around the house and trying to spend some time with the kids. Please continue to pray for my family especially for tomorrow when they are all together for the funeral. Have a great night everyone and thanks for the prayers!
Stacy

Got the bad news today

So today I just wanted to stay in bed. So much so that after I got the kids off to school I went back to bed and when the twins woke up I gave them their breakfast in my room so they could watch cartoons and I could lay down. Today-well three years ago today is the day that I had Bryce and I was just having a bad morning thinking about it. Well, my phone rang at 8:30 in the morning and my first thought was that Adrianna was having trouble at school again. When I looked at the caller ID and seen it was my mom I knew that it was bad news-it was only 6:30 am her time and she usually isn't even up at that point. Sure enough she told me that my Grandpa had passed away this morning. I knew yesterday that it was going to happen today. I am just really sad today. The kids asked me a week ago if on Bryce's birthday if we could have cake and then send balloons off to him like we did at his funeral. So we had already planned on doing that but instead of sending the notes off to just Bryce we also went them to my Grandpa since we can't go to Michigan for the funeral! Anyway, so that is what is going on in my life. Hope everyone else has had a better day than we have. Have a good night!
Stacy

Update on Kiersten and My Grandpa

So took Kiersten today to her 2 year check up this morning. She is 50% in both height and weight while Kayleigh is 10% in height and 45% in weight-I will have to get the exact measurements later because right now I can't remember them! Everything went good there and she is right where she should be motor skills wise so that is good. This afternoon I took her to the neurologist and got the EEG done and then we seen the doc. He said the EEG was great and that he thinks she is just having the febrile seizures. He said that it is very possible that she will have more since she has already had two so that was so nice to hear (Please note sarcasim). He told me even if she starts to look sick but does not have a fever start the Motrin and Tylenol around the clock and do not stop it in the evenings. He thinks she may be one of those children that the fever doesn't just go up gradually but all of the sudden goes from normal temps to extreme temps and that is what is causing the seizures so that is why we need to give her the meds before the fever starts if we suspect that she is getting sick. He doesn't think that she has epilepsy but did say that she is at a greater risk of getting it than most kids although her risk is only 4%. I am still keeping an eye on her and am loving this new baby monitor because at this moment I am downstairs typing this but also looking over at the monitor and watching her sleep peacefully!

My mom also told me today that they are going to take my Grandpa off the ventilator tomorrow. They didn't last week because he got slightly better but things have gone bad from there. He did squeeze my Aunts hand but they also said that they can tell that he is in alot of pain and nothing that they have given him has helped that pain any. They will probably take him off first thing in the morning and go from there. If he breaths on his own that is great but he probably won't they think so I am trying to prepare myself for some bad news within the next few days. Kind of not a good time for me to deal with this because this week is also the anniversary of Bryce's death and birth so between thinking about that, Kiersten getting so sick and now having to think about losing my Grandpa I am not having a good time right now-not to mention the fact that Jons parents will be here in less than a week and I still have unpacking that I wanted to have done already! Please pray for him and the family as we all start going through all of this! Well, I am off to bed. Hope that everyone has a good night! Thanks for all the prayers so far!

Stacy

So long and so much information

Man-been awhile since I have posted and way too much has happened since then. I am going to give the short version. One day last week I got on and started posting about my Grandpa but something happened and I stopped and lost the post. Needless to say he is in the hospital on a vent and not doing too well so please be praying for him.

Prayer request number two: Adrianna has still been having issues-doesn't want to get on the bus and she kicked and hit her teacher because she wanted to leave which is not like her-especially since she loves her teacher. I finally decided that I am talking to a doctor about this so she can stop getting into trouble and the doc put in a referral for psychiatrics. I should have an appointment date sometime this week so I will update on that later.

Prayer request number three: Major one at that! Saturday Kiersten started to run a fever at lunch time so I gave her some Tylenol, fed her and put her down for a nap. I checked on her at one point and she was sleeping in her bed but after 4pm and I still heard no noise from the girls room I went and checked on them and Kiersten was laying on the floor having a seizure. It was so bad and we called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. (Making this shorter than it was) They put a breathing tube in her because they were afraid her airway would close and they still couldn't stop the seizing. After the breathing tube was put in they did a couple more tests and then put her in another ambulance to a hospital with a PICU. She got the breathing tube out that and started to improve (seizures also finally stopped). She was able to come home today which is also the twins and Michaels birthday and tomorrow she is going to Neurology to have an EEG done and then go from there. Please keep praying for her and I will get on here and update everyone as soon as I know more. That is all for now-off to get some rest!
Stacy

The fun we had!

So Adrianna and I had a blast last night! Yesterday we spent a lot of the day packing-although we didn't seem to get a lot of that done still whatever we get done before Tuesday will help alot! Needless to say Adrianna was supposed to go out with our friend Lanna and then stay the night at her house. She called to let me know she was on her way and asked if I wanted to come along as well! I talk to Jon and decided that I would go and I am so glad that I did! Lanna took us to a Japanese restaurant where they cook the food right in front of you and the food was so so good! I loved it! Adrianna was a little overwhelmed! They kept piling the food on her plate and finally at one point she told the guy-this is way too much food. The chef just laughed! It was so nice to get out and stop working for awhile. After the restaurant she also took us to an Ice Cream place called Cold Stone! It was the best ice cream I have ever tasted.

Here are some pictures of our night:




Well, that is it for now! Tonight I am going to enjoy my leftovers and pack a little more if I could stop yawning and get to work that would be nice! Have a good rest of the day everyone!
Stacy

So yesterday....

Adrianna had one of her meltdowns at school. I guess she went running out of the classroom to get me (I was already gone) and started freaking out in the hallway. She wouldn't go back into class and one of the counselors there walked her around the school to calm her down. I guess this lady is new here as well and told Adrianna that her mom told her that she had to get up and go to work anyway. Needless to say she took her to a kindergarten class to see if that would calm her down a little bit. It just so happened that the class she picked was Justice's. Justice gave Adrianna a big hug and kiss and sang to her and the whole class the Try Again song that he learned in Sure Start! That calmed Adrianna down and gave her the courage to go back to class. What a great little brother he is!

During the time that the kids were in school I had a relaxing day. My wonderful husband let me take a three hour nap! I was so shocked when I woke up and it was 1:15 and almost time to leave to get the kids. He not only did that but cleaned up the house as well and made dinner last night. He is so so great! I need to do something special for him as soon as this move is over with!

We are trying to potty train the girls still and house train the dog. Jon got them on a schedule where they are on the potty every 30 minutes-hasn't been working but Kayleigh did just go so hopefully we are making progress. The puppy is another story. I am wondering if she is not getting any better. She is acting better until this morning when she threw up. I am really hoping all this medicine works and that she gets better soon! The faster she gets better the easier it will be to house train her and I really wanted that done before we moved to the new house so we will see how that goes! Well, I think that is all for now! Hope everyone has a great day!
Stacy