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