Fair time

Slave drivers I tell ya!! If it's not my mom saying "ummm... I haven't seen any recent pics of my grandkids lately" it's my SIL Jody saying "umm.... I need you to send me those pictures" Give a girl a break! ;) We've had a busy potty training week at our house and have made great progress! While we still have a ways to go, I'm so proud of Randy... er, I mean, Kason! He's doing so well for his first few days!

So, it's fair season! Yay - so we headed to the good ol' HC Fair. Call me redneck if you must, but I was SO bummed that the demolition derby was not on the Friday night we were going. SO bummed! I would have loved watching Kason get so excited watching it and learning to love it as much as mommy does!

Yep, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the redneck out of the girl!

Kason was so excited to see the tractors when we walked in!

Then after grabbing some greasy fair food... on to see the animals.

I love Kaid's hand on her brother's shoulder.

Cooling down the chickens

This one was sitting on a frozen water bottle. Yep, it was a scorcher!

This is the face of one excited little boy!

The kids were so nice - they didn't hesitate getting their animals out for the little ones to pet

And "hug" or strangle - whatever you wish to call it!

Gobble Gobble

Kason was NOT about to pet this cow. Check out his feet, he was trying to get as far away from it as possible!

This kid knows how to give mommy a heart attack. He did pretty good climbing to the top... he only scared my by almost falling through one time - I ran under the bleachers to catch him if he did fall. Then at the top. My big man - so brave and without a fear in the world. Mommy... not so fearless. When we finally got him back to the bottom. He looked at me with his big sweet eyes and said "I sorry momma"

So, I left for the first time soon after this picture... My FIVE year old, yep that sweet cooperative one (for the most part) threw a HUGE fit. Mommy was NOT about to let her get away with that so we marched out to the car with her screaming the entire way. Yep, it was a very proud mommy moment.

Once we got home, the kids got a bath and Kaid went straight to bed. At 7:30. Tough mommy - I think she got the point! Mom came home to stay at the house while I took Kason back for some rides! No reason Kason and Avery should be punished for how Kaid acted! So, the two little ones had a blast!

Going on their first ride...

A little unsure...

They loved it!!

Then Kason wanted to go on the "Choo Choo train" AKA Roller coaster!

After the first time around they were both screaming their heads off! By the point I got this picture Avery was trying to be tough... but you can see the fear in her eyes!

Kason was still screaming. Poor guy, it broke my heart.

By the time they got of Avery wanted to go again, but Kason was DONE with that ride! Although before we left we asked if he wanted to go on it again and he said yes. haha

This ride was one of Kason's fav's and didn't want to get off.

The Mary-Go-Round

The last ride we went on was the School Bus - they wanted to go on it all along, but Jody and I weren't sure if it would be too scary for them. They hoped on and about 2 seconds after I snapped this picture, Kason changed his mind and bolted! Little miss Avery rode it all by herself.

After Avery was gone we only had enough tickets for one more ride and wanted to get them over with so I went up and rode it with him. He loved it!

Then we thought it was a good time to get Kason out of there and miss Avery had one more ride on the pony's.

What a fun night the kids had. I ran Kason home, got him in bed, then headed back down to pick dad up who was locked in the sale barn for the beef sale all night to bring him home. (mom had taken his car home to stay with Kaid) Yet another great year at the good ol' HC fair. :)

Counting my blessings

Wow - it's been a week. So many heart breaking things going on around us. Losing a child is something no one should ever have to face and 3 families we know this week have had to take on this burden.

Please say lots of prayers for these families and their friends.

An old co-worker of mine lost her full term beautiful baby boy this past week during labor. I know what it's like to lose a baby at 17weeks and I don't even want to think about what it would be like at term when you have everything prepared and ready for that little life. Then to come home empty handed. My heart breaks for her and her husband.

Then, a friend of Kaid's from preschools older brother lost his friend to cancer this week. Sam fought for over a year and lost his battle a few days ago. I've talked to Kaid's friends mom and her son is really struggling with saying good bye to his friend. No 9 year old should have to learn that lessen so early. Please pray for his parents and 2 little sisters and also his friends who are also having such a hard time.

Then this afternoon we found out that Randy's cousin Michael lost his 6 year old daughter this morning. Kassandra had a twin sister and other sibs that I'm sure will be lost without her. She was going to be starting Kindergarten this year. They believe she had pneumonia. I don't even want to think about how their hearts are breaking right now.

How quickly life can be taken. Made me hold my kids a little closer. And even through those difficult parenting moments we all have, they would give anything to have just one more moment... even if it's in the form of a temper tantrum... to hold their babies. One day they will again. Heaven is much richer this week.

She's growing up!

I can't believe I am now the mommy of a school aged kid! My baby girl is officially a Kindergartner! Amazing. This past Monday we went for our sneak a peek day to meet her teacher and bus driver. She was pretty quiet, but was excited.

And the big day! I'm so glad she is only doing half a day. All day would have been too much for mommy! :)

An excited little man watching for the school bus!

Giving sis goodbye hugs

Now where is that school bus. She was a little late with it being the first day with a bunch of kindergartners.

Big girl all ready with her backpack on!

Mommy and my growing girl

See my pretty flowers I killed?

The kid didn't even hesitate! She is going to love school! I am just so impressed at how grown up she can be *most of the time*! Mrs. Jan her driver was there to welcome her - she seems amazing with the kids.

Bye Bye Kaidrie!!

Kason and I hopped into the car and drove to the school to watch her arrive...

This was Kaid's friend Brandon getting off the bus.

And Kaid's turn! Mrs. Jan showed her the way! She was surprised and happy to see us there to take pictures!

Kaid laughing while she walks away and Kason cries for her!

Mrs Jan taking her to meet up with her new classmates and Miss B.

Already talking to someone....

Waiting in line at the front of the line. Look how much taller she is than the rest of the kids.

Going into school for the first time by herself. And once again... laughing at Kason yelling BYE!!

Then the home coming. Kason was so excited - I'm not sure if it was to see Kaid or if it was the bus! Mrs Jan invited him up onto the bus.

My big girl coming home from her first day at school!

She did great. She had so much to tell me about when she got home. She met lots of new friends and is really looking forward to Monday when she goes back. I think it's going to be a fun year for her! I'm so proud of her and can't believe how she's grown. What a big girl!

The end of the road - updated

Just wanted to let all of you who I haven't talked to yet that things have finally happened. Such a relief to know this long 3 month journey has finally come to an end. I've never been at peace after a miscarriage than I am with this one and I know all of the prayers have helped.

Things finally started happening on Sunday a little, then Monday night the "dam" finally broke. (Don't worry, I will spare you all the details!) Wow. It was quite the 4 hours and I was bleeding so much I thought I should be going to the ER. Luckily I stuck it out and by bedtime things seemed to be slowing down. I would have been very interested to see what my hemoglobin level was the next morning!

I tried working on Tuesday but couldn't stick it out any longer at about noon. It was the strangest thing. I had no uterine cramping at all - well, I guess maybe just a little achy, but my legs! The backs of my legs (especially my right one) hurt so bad I could hardly stand it. It would come in waves and I would think I could make it, then it would start up again and I knew I couldn't finish the long 12 hour shift. Finally last evening around 4 or 5ish I finally passed the rest that needed to come out and I have felt 100% better since. It's done as quickly as it all came on.

Thank you all for your continued support. I had my HCG level drawn again this morning, so my Dr should be calling tomorrow with my results and I've got a list of questions for him. What a crazy ride, but I'm so glad it ended much better than I feared it would... with either another D&C to weaken my cervix more or with lots and lots of pain.

We don't know where life will take us from here. There are so many uncertainties... with selling the house, finding a new perfect house with the hope that ours will sell, and with the unknown on where to go from here with expanding our family. Just pray that things all fall into place as far as timing. We can't be moving while I'm pregnant for obvious reasons, yet, if the house doesn't sell for a year or more then we could have done the baby thing in there somewhere. I know things will work out in their own time, and that this planner just needs to sit back and let God plan. But that's hard to do when you ENJOY planning :) Thanks all and I'll keep you updated on my numbers this week.

Update on my numbers - 959 this week. Another huge drop. I'm hoping next Wed. is down to zero - that way I can be done being stuck!!

Weekly update

Well still nothing much to report. Things still haven't started yet but my Dr called today to check up on me and let me know my lab results. HCG is down to 6,500 which is another big jump I am thankful for (yes, still trying to look for the "good" in a pretty crappy situation.) I'm getting to the point now where I'm getting a little cranky that things aren't done already. It's been such a long journey. I would be 12 weeks tomorrow and about a week away from my cerclage placement and here we are still waiting on my body to realize what happened 5 1/2 weeks ago.

I've realized again what I realized a little over 3 years ago when we were going though something even harder to deal with than this. I think I have a major pride issue. I don't like being the one people pity and feel bad for and even though I'm thankful for all of the kind "I'm sorry's" "I feel so bad for you's" they make me cringe. We are blessed. Very blessed, and yes, we are going though a hard situation (and don't get me wrong - we couldn't make it through without every one's support! I can't thank you enough for that), but I'm trying to concentrate on the blessings. Please help me focus on the good right now, it's what I need. We make beautiful, perfect babies but for some reason, getting them here safely is just something that we are going to struggle with.

Being at work and seeing all of these new babies being brought into the world hasn't affected me at all, until the other day I worked. I had a mom who had had a few induced abortions, did drugs during her pregnancy and how is it that she has a good outcome and people like me, my sis-in-law, some good friends of mine who are having trouble getting pregnant or have lost babies, who do everything right have troubles? All of these babies being born into bad situations and ones who could be born into a loving home are taken away...

Sorry about my rant... just had to get it out. Also I just wanted to say that IF we decide to do this again (it won't be for a while if we do - we are trying to concentrate on selling the house and moving into a new place before we even talk about it again) it will be a long while before we tell anyone. Please do not be offended if you don't hear anything until... "guess what, pray for me and baby during my cerclage placement!" I feel it's emotionally draining enough for us, we don't need to drag everyone else along for the ride too.

On another note - we had our first showing yesterday. From what it sounded that they liked the house, just aren't sure what area they want to move to yet. So, just hoping that it doesn't take long for that perfect family to come and fall in love with the place. We go on Monday to look at a few places that I found online that we think we would like. So, that is exciting. I'm ready for a change.

Sorry, no pictures this week. I don't even think I took any!

Tell your friends, your family, your co-workers looking for a great home!

After a couple of years of talking about it, we've finally done it! The house is officially FOR SALE. It's such mixed feelings seeing that sign in the yard. It's been a great home and we LOVE it, but just want a place in the country.

If you know of someone who may be interested, just send me a line and I'll get the person in contact with our realtor. It really is a beautiful house, with wonderful neighbors and a huge back yard for this area. Perfect for the family who doesn't want to have to work on a house, all that is left to do is maintain! It's been loved on and cared for and would be the perfect home for a new family - it has been for us!!

Note from realtor: "YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE HOW NICE THIS HOUSE SHOWS.BEAUTIFUL DECOR, PRISTINE CONDITION & EXCELLENT CARE! A MAN CAVE OF ALL CAVES INCLUDING THEATRE RM, WORKOUT RM, BAR,KITCHENETTE, FULL BATH & BUILT INS...YOU WOULD NEVER NEED TO COME OUT. HUGE FENCED BACKYARD W/2 TIERED DECK! 4TH BR IS CURRENTLY LOFT-OWNERS WILL CONVERT"

Two Story, Built in: 2003, 2760 Square Feet, Single Family, 3-4 Bedrooms, 3 Full, 1 Half Bathrooms, Garage/Parking: 2 car garage, attached garage, opener, Deck, Dishwasher, Fenced Yard, Gas Range, Refrigerator, Security System, Other Rooms: Loft, Dining Room, Eating Space/Kitchen, Great Room, Rec Room/Basement, Utility Room/Non-Basement, A/C: Central, Basement: Block, Full finished, Exterior: Stone, Vinyl

There is a large 2 tier vinyl deck perfect for entertaining. A little raised garden to the left side of the house, fire pit and landscape pond complete with koi and goldfish. New siding post hail storm in Oct.06 and new roof in May of 08.

As you can see we have a rather large corner lot - completely fenced in last summer and freshly stained white a few weeks ago.

The little pond..

A wonderful hand made playhouse and swing set for the kiddies

Landscaping is done throughout.

Inside there is a huge living room. We loved the big open floor plan and are sure the next family will too!

The bump out is a nice sized coat closet with a plant ledge on top.

The view up into the loft. The realtor listed it as a 4 bedroom because we are willing to drywall this in if someone needs it as an extra bedroom. Otherwise it is a beautiful open area for a home office, scrapbook room, playroom - you decide!

Wonderful high ceilings and paint is fresh from a year ago - no need for tall ladders to re-paint!

There are nice cloth blinds from Pottery Barn that will stay throughout the downstairs, up stairs has blinds on all windows also.

Gas fireplace - no need for messy wood, just turn the dial and it's on!

The open kitchen right next to the living room with a sliding door that goes out onto the vinyl deck. The kitchen has a nice sized pantry (you can see the door straight back the hall).

All appliances will stay with the home, with the exception of this refrigerator - The one in the basement will come back up and this one will go with us.

The half bath on the main floor

Large 1st floor laundry with plenty of storage!

Front door and coat closet

Master bedroom. My favorite room in the house. The walls have a suede look with the Eddie Bauer suede paint.

Nice plant ledge

Doors to go to master bath on the left then on the right to go into a nice sized walk in master closet

Nice large master bath with double sinks, shower,

and soaker tub with jets, perfect to relax after a long day!

Medicine cabinets are in all 3 full bathrooms.

Bedroom #2

Hallway bathroom

Bedroom #3 and Kason's BIG BOY ROOM! Yay buddy!

The 3rd bedroom slightly smaller than #2, but has a huge walk in closet.

The hallway to go back in the bedrooms, bathroom and has a large linen closet

This is what we use as our loft, but the option is there to have us close it in for a bedroom #4 if needed. If buyers want the desk we would be willing to leave most of it, but if they will be taking it out we will take it with us.

The rest of the oversized loft

And as our realtor wrote... a Man Cave of all Man Caves. He wouldn't even have to come out (but believe me, that was not my goal!)! haha

The water meter, electrical box, sump pump all have built in cabinets to hide them.

There are lots of great build ins. And open that little cabnet to the Left

And it's a great hid away club house that the kids LOVE!

Since we have no clue how to even begin getting the fish tank out, it will stay with the house. It is salt water, has lots of live rock and 2 salt water fish and many snails to keep it clean!

We use this back area for a work out area, but it would be a great pool table room, with bar also. The little half door can be closed and locked to keep the little ones out of the danger zone. Men, don't worry - the Jeff Gordon car comes off - it's only a fat head so you won't be stuck with a race car driver you don't like on your wall! :)

There is a nice Kitchenette and a spot for a fridge and of course nice big doors to go into the storage area. This fridge is the orriginal one with the house and will stay. The one upstairs will go with us.

A full bathroom for the man of the house.

And there is even room left over for a nice big storage area. Shelves will come with us.

Although it will be a mix of emotions moving out of our first home we built together, we are excited to see where all of this will take us. Praying all goes smoothly, that we find the perfect buyer that will take care of our home we have loved so much the past 7 years, and that the timing is perfect to find our next perfect home for our family.

Please pass this info on to anyone you know who may be interested! We have so much to offer in this house and we hope someone sees that! It is listed on the HER website.