Family and Fun

We've been very busy. My cousin Grant got married last weekend to Carmen. The wedding was beautiful! We had family come in from Colorado. My aunt, uncle, cousins, their significant others, and my mom's cousin. After the wedding we had a family dinner at Julie's house and then sat outside on my Uncle David's porch. It was a very nice time!

Elijah and I have been taking a mini-stay-at-home-vacation. We have been to the Great Overland Station, Farmer's Market, library, history museum, and Mulvane Art Museum. It's been a lot of fun and we still have a few more places to go. His favorite is waving at passing trains at the station. Except for the one that scared the bejeezus out of him when it blew its horn.

Picture Blog...4th o' July and some extras, enjoy

Elijah and Miss Harper

4th of July Celebration with the boys




Parade festivities in Julie's neighborhood

MIA

Ooops! Kind of forgot about this!

Well, the summer job is over! Thank God, because the next week after we ended was an entire week of HIGH temperatures. The heat index was over 100 degrees for at least 5 days straight. I'm pretty sure I would have called in sick if we'd been working! :)

I got my car broken into almost two weeks ago. He stole my wallet with my debit card and spent over $1000 overnight. The bank gave me all my money back and I've replaced my DL. I had to have a window replaced and the roof is getting replaced in a few weeks. Apparently he tried to be smooth and pry the sunroof out first with no luck. Turns out it was my neighbor's boyfriend. Unfortunately the police are not particularly concerned with doing anything about it. It's been 10 days and still has not been assigned to a detective. I think I might call and leave a message every hour tomorrow...

Elijah is having a good summer. He loves to swim, catch lightning bugs, help me with fireworks, and ride his bike. Tonight he got to try out a baseball glove for the first time and loved it! He played catch with some friends of mine. My little man has quite an arm.

Julie and I are tentatively planning a mini-vacation to Texas with our Aunt Lori next month. We also have a family wedding which will bring all our favorite family members to Kansas ;)

I hope this finds everyone well and I will try to be a better blogger!

Love,

Jenny

Hello

I've been very busy the past few weeks.  Julie and I began clearing out dad's stuff and are trying to sell it.  We've had a little bit of luck so far.  You can't even imagine the amount of stuff he had, from fishing equipment to power tools, it's mind boggling!  

My two best friends had their babies last week.  Sarah has a new baby boy, Drake Dayton, born May 26, and Katie has a new baby girl, Harper Beth, born May 27th.  They are both adorable!  

I started work for Outdoor Ed. this week.  Wednesday was  a staff meeting, Thursday was environmental training at the zoo, and Friday was a canoe trip on the Delaware River.  That was exhausting!  Tomorrow is our first day with kids.  I have breakfast duty this week which should be fun.  Our first day is a tour of the Lake Perry Dam, lunch, then off to the camp for hiking and archery.  Then we will stop for slushes at Reese's Fruit Farm.  Should be a very busy day!

Elijah stayed all night with his grandma last night.  He fell this morning and got a nose bleed which started back up again this evening.  We had to have the nurse come out and give him his treatment at 10:00 pm.  We are tired!  

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer so far!

Summer's Here...almost

Today was the last official day on duty, but I've been so unmotivated that I still have to go back and finish stuff up!  I have so much junk in my room and it takes forever to go through it all.  I just have to throw a lot of stuff away.

I brought Dad's urn home today.  It's kind of weird, but I'm glad we finally got to bring it home.  I think I will take some of the ashes to Missouri/Table Rock Lake.  Julie and I still have A LOT of work ahead of us as well.  Plus my summer job starts in a week, so we really have to get busy and get stuff done.

Elijah's been really cute lately.  He's talking a lot and has a pretty good memory now.  He went to school with me yesterday and wore his backpack.  Once he warmed up to the kids he had a great time.  He got in line with them and played at recess.  They are all like little parents and want to carry him everywhere and help him do everything.  He ate it right up too!  He's going to go to preschool there in a year and a half.  When the preschoolers lined up on the playground he lined up with them too and started to follow them right in.  I guess he's ready to go already.  

Good Bye

Dad passed away today around 4:00.  He was ready and for the last hour he looked more comfortable and relaxed than I've seen him in a long time.  I'm sad he's gone, but I'm glad he is no longer in pain.  He's suffered for too many years and it was time for him to leave.  I got to hold his hand for about the last 20 minutes and I know that where he is now is a much better place for him.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Long Day

Dad is back in the hospital.  He's not looking too good.  His COPD is preventing his body from releasing carbon dioxide and he's having trouble breathing.  Julie and I worried all day about whether to place him on a ventilator if necessary, but then we asked him and he decided.  He said, "It's time for this to be over," and was very clear that he does not want a ventilator or other measures taken to prolong life.  

He's stable for now, but he will likely continue to get worse, so for now it's just a waiting game.  I was at the hospital from 8 am. to 11 pm. today and Julie is still there and staying the night with Aunt Yvonne.  

Please pray for him to be comfortable and to feel okay.  I will try to keep you updated.

Katie's Baby Shower

Left to right: Julie and Aidan, Sarah, Katie and Brody, Nichole, Jennifer and Elijah

Hello All!

I've been very busy battling a killer cold for almost a week.  It's draining all my energy!  At the same time, Dad has been in the hospital and it's been decided that he's going to a nursing home from there, most likely forever.  He's actually quite pumped about it.  I think he's ready to be taken care of completely and not have to worry about things anymore.  Plus, he loves Wheel of Fortune and talking to people so I think he'll fit right in.  Once that's taken care of, Julie and I have the enormous task of straightening out his finances and finding homes for the unbelievable amount of stuff he has.  Wish us luck!

I'm also pet-sitting a friend's bird for a few weeks.  It's actually been quite easy and somewhat entertaining.  Elijah loves the bird...the bird is not so fond of Elijah.  He always moves to the part of the cage farthest from where Elijah's standing.  A few nights ago Elijah started removing one of my window screens and was saying, "bye birdie, bye bye bird."  Uh-oh!  I will have to keep my eye on him every second now.  Hopefully he doesn't figure out how to open the cage...

Only 17 1/2 days left for kids!!!  I'm so ready!  This has been a great class, but the end of the year does something to them and it's not pretty.  But then a week after that, I start my summer job, so I'll be back to spending my day with kids.  At least the kids change every week.  

Everyone have a great weekend.  Love you all!

Catch Up

Sorry, I have been kind of bad about keeping this updated.  Nothing too exciting going on here though.  

I have been practicing needle sticking more, and I did Elijah's infusion again last week.  It was much easier this time and he was more upset about his sucker dropping on the floor than the fact that I was doing it.

We had a good time today for Easter.  Elijah was at his grandma's house for the day, so he didn't have lunch with us.  Aidan and I colored a few eggs together though.  When he got to Mom's he asked, "Has Peter Cottontail been here for me?"  Unfortunately we didn't know Aidan was coming so no, Peter had not stopped by.  I told him Mr. Cottontail would probably be by later this week to leave him some stuff.  Mom made a tasty lunch for us.  The ham was delicious.  

I only have 26 days left with students!!!  It's going to be a very busy month though.  I have one baby shower down and 4 more to go... a lot of babies coming soon.  I also found out that I probably have a summer job this year.  Outdoor Education summer camp...my employment is dependent on how many kids enroll though.  Either way I get to take the training class which I take every year and it's a lot of fun.  Easy college credit too.

Elijah got a hair cut the other day and sat in the chair all by himself for the first time.  He was a little anxious at first, but settled down.  He was mostly worried about the hair falling on the cape and had to keep brushing it off.  His new 'do makes him look much older.  

Hopefully in a few days I will get some new pictures on here.  I hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. 

A week's worth...

• Elijah is feeling much better.  He's had a few nosebleeds but is taking an oral medication for the bleeding.  We have officially entered the "Terrible Twos."  Actually I'm pretty sure we've been there for a while.  Wish us luck getting through them alive...  I did Elijah's infusion for the first time this week.  I sweated heavily, but I got it in and the nurse was very excited.  Elijah was not particularly impressed.  I don't think he's too thrilled that mom is causing him "owies" now.  I will go to a clinic in May to really learn the ins and outs and hopefully become much better at sticking him.

Beautiful Kansas sunset

• Here are some pictures of the Spring Break casino trip.  I won $100 on a penny slot, but then I spent it all...
  

The pictures downloaded in backwards order so start with the room picture and work your way up.

Sue at 11:30 pm

Sue at 7:30 pm

Sue at 5 pm

Hotel room, Tammie and Vanessa

• Also this week, 2 1/2 years after his birth, I started decorating Elijah's room.  I made these name decorations completely on my own!  I was pretty excited and Elijah even knew that it was his name.
  

•   I got some decorations from Uppercase Living which sells sayings and graphics and such that you apply to surfaces.  Here are the items I bought for his room.
  

Good News

Elijah did not have a joint bleed thank goodness.  He was just sick.  After a few days of saline drops, tylenol, and a lot of sleep, I think he's finally feeling better.  He's at his dad's today for a few hours.  I need to go to work, but I think I might take a little nap instead.  I can't believe my spring break is almost gone!  We have state assessments for the next two weeks.  I've done all I can so now it's in the hands of my students...crap!!!!  Just kidding, I think they'll do okay.  

Another one of "those days"

I'm taking my spring break trip tonight.  A couple of teacher friends and I are going up to the casino to stay the night.  Tammie got a free room for us since she practically lives up there.  We went discount shopping this morning, got a few clothes and gadgets.  I need to take a nap and pack and then we are leaving in a few hours. 

It appears Elijah has a joint bleed in his knee today.  He's going to his dad's and has a treatment this afternoon.  Hopefully the treatment gives him some relief.  He'll probably have to have one tomorrow and Friday as well.  Poor little guy...it was bothering him this morning, but I thought he just had fat knees and he was walking okay.  The babysitter called and said he'd been crying for an hour and wouldn't walk though.  He stays the night at Grandma's tonight, so I hope everything goes okay.  He just did too much walking and roughhousing yesterday.  

St. Patrick's Day

Well...we went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade today.  It was mostly fun.  A little bit crowded and hot for the boys.  They enjoyed the parade once it began though.  We had to walk 3 blocks from where we parked, and thought we were at the beginning of the parade, but we were actually at the end of the route.  So, we didn't even see the parade until 12:30.  Besides the grown people pushing their way through to get beads and candy it was fun.  Afterwards we went to Gage Park to play and have a picnic, then home for a much needed nap (for all of us).  

Busy Day

Today Elijah is at daycare and I am busy!!  I've been to school, the store, and Tammie's house.  I'm getting ready to fix lunch and then CLEAN!  Elijah has a treatment tonight and then we are going to stay at mom's house.  Aidan is supposed to come over and we are all staying the night.  Tomorrow we are going to the St. Patrick's Day Parade downtown.  I'm sure the boys will have a lot of fun!  I'm going to take pictures and will put them on in a few days.  Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Good Morning

It's after midnight.  Elijah is sleeping and I'm bored so I started a blog.  I'm going to try to keep it up to date!