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