Well Monday was our 14th Anniversary.......

Wow, 14 years.....what a ride. Mark is my 3rd husband, most people don't know/realize this LOL. I was married to Carl's dad in 1980, I had dated him from the time I was 16 and he was 18. We were married almost 5 years, he had this problem see, he was allergic to work, taking care of our son so I could work 2 jobs. So I sat down one day and made a list of pros/cons and guess how that turned out....so then about a year after our divorce I meet a very handsome guy who's 7 years older then me. He's middle age and going to college full time, living at home with mom etc...working that summer in a local factory....never been married...no kids....wants a career change....he's done all sorts of things I never have, exciting......I never lied to Dean about having a child from the get go, but when I look back now, I don't think he ever got used to the idea I had a kid. I really think he was just playing the waiting till he grows up and is gone game. Hell Carl was 3 years old when I met him and 10 when I left him. We dated for a couple years and lived in our own homes. We moved in with each other about 1987, he was still in school and it was cheaper for sure for both of us. You see Dean had a drinking problem, not bad at first, but as time went on it got worse-fast forward to 1992. I had bought a nice house on my own, and we were living together, being a somewhat normal family-except for the bouts with excessive drinking. And one day we got to talking about marriage, he had always said int he past, not kids, no marriage and I was ok with that at that time. Anyway he just up and said you want to get married??
I'm like huh??? This was in Jan 1992, so we plan a nice backyard wedding, very casual and we get married June 20th, 1992. By the fall of 1992, I knew I had made the worst mistake of my life, he was drinking every day, now mind you he had a white collar job and was able to go to work every day, he had everyone at work fooled. He started being really nasty to Carl, then he turned on me. It was right after Thanksgiving I told him I was sooo done with this and I wanted him out. Well he reacted like I thought he would and beat the crap out of me.... I'm just glad Carl was at my mom's when it happened, and of course the bastard took off, but the cops found him and arrested him.....fast forward again.....right before Christmas I was ask to fill in on a local bowling team, I hadn't bowled on a team in years (Dean hated the whole idea), well I thought this will help me get out of the house and make some new friends. Our local bowling alley-Arrowhead, at that time had a lounge/bar inside. So after bowling, the girls and I would go into the lounge/bar and have some cokes and listen to the DJ spins some tunes. Back then, line dancing was all the rage here in our home town. I had never seen it before, and thought that looks like so much fun. Well Mark's cousin was the DJ and he would come every week and help him set it up and stick around and visit with his cousin. He was very shy, but would get up and dance the line dancing. I notice he never danced with any women, just by himself. He was soo cute and I thought sooo young too. Well one night they were doing a couples dance I said would you teach me how to do that and he said he would and the rest is history.....he was/still is young, 5 years younger then me. He has been the best thing to ever happen to me and my son. It was hard for Carl by the time Mark came along, so his teen-age years were hard on all of us. But as the years have gone by, I see him being more comfortable around Mark. He has been a wonderful father to our kids. All the years we tried to have kids, he was there for me for all the testing and surgeries. He has been a good provider, same job he got one month after we married. He is my best friend, I know that sounds corny, but he is. We are just opposite enough to make things interesting. But on certain subjects we are alike. So the last 14 years of my life have been the best and I want to say I love you honey and thanks for the last 14 years and I'm looking forward to the next 30........

Well the boys Robert and Trevor that is started summer school yesterday. It runs from 8:15-11:15. As I was driving the boys to school, around the corner from my house was a mom and 2 kids waiting like for a bus, and I thought to myself, well we never got a letter about transportation so I assumed there would not be any provided. And I thought bull, I'm calling someone. The boys are not going to their home school for summer school and this school is to far for them to walk. Well come to find out, they are supposed to ride the bus, but for some reason we never got the letter. So I'm sooo glad, because Hayden goes into major meltdown when we only go a short distance in the car then come back home. This is common for AS kids, because they get used to a certain routine and god forbid you don't stick to it LOL.

Have not heard anything from ICWF, but I suppose we will when the trip gets closer, I know Julie said she would let me know the minute our tickets are booked.....

I tried my hand at some digital scrapping again yesterday and came up with this for my desktop. The actual layout was a quickpage I p/u free. What do you think?....




Well gotta run, Hayden just knocked over a shelf in Madison's room, btw, did I mention he knocked her princess tv/dvd player off the dresser this morning, never a dull moment.......

Notice anything new ............

Yes I finally learned how to make a video. This was a labor of love I tell ya. Tell me what you think?

Well I'm about ready to take the kids game cube and lock it in the trunk of the car. All day long they fight about who's turn it is to play, damn rain for the past 4 days has kept them inside and they are driving me nuts LOL.
Robert and Trevor will start 3 weeks of summer school on Tuesday, I so can't wait for a little break. We bought the kids school supplies last Friday while at Wal-Mart. They had some good deals, but can we say small loan.
Tomorrow night while we grocery shop we need to p/u their back-packs too. Robert want's a Car's one and Trevor want's Pirates of the Carriabean, Madison want's Hello Kitty. Hayden has a new one already, his great teacher Shannon bought him one in the spring.
Speaking of the rain, I put down 10 new pieces of sod in the backyard, and talk about great timing with the rain, I was so dreading having to water it everyday. So I hope with all the rain, the new roots are taking hold.
Went to a great web-site called Allears.net, and was able to see the menus for the different parks, this will help so much in planning where we will eat.
Well gotta run and help Mark with supper....

Great day at the local swim park......

We took the kids to the local park to swim today. Mark's work gave out free tickets or it would have cost about 35.00 to go. We had tons of fun, the water was very cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Hayden was very good about not trying to run off, only tried a couple of times. My nephew Jason came along to help keep an eye on Robert and Trevor and they had lots of fun with their 15 yo cousin.
Robert and Trevor passed a milestone today, they were able to go down the "big" slide into 6ft deep water and swim to the side. This is the first year for that, I guess my "baby" boys are growing up. Madison was bummed, she is to short to go down the big tube slide, next year for sure. Of course even with sunscreen Mark always get some sunburn poor guy. We also had free ice cream cone tickets for the frozen custard, yum yum...


Columbian Park Pool


Columbian Park Pool


Frozen Custard





Well as always-the washer and dryer are yelling at me.....

OMG, is it time for the kids to go back to school yet.....

LOL, it's been "one of those" days today. The kids have been wanting to fight a lot today, I know they are bored already with being home for the summer, and today it was very hot out. They did get to go swimming, but I think they are even bored already with that.
Robert & Trevor are scheduled to attend summer school starting the 24th, this will be for 3 weeks and then they will have a week off, then the 2007-2008 school year will start August 20th.
Well the farm is really my brother Bill's and his wife Nancy's, they closed this morning and they are moving in tonight. I just hope he can sale their old place soon. It's a fantastic place, a little remote for my blood, but it's perfect for his big family.
We contacted ICWF today, to confirm our trip time, and it's going to be the week of Oct 8th, which btw is my 46th birthday. Julie is making the plane reservations for us and will contact us when she has more information. I stll cannot believe we are going to WDW at all, let alone staying in a way cool resort called Give Kids the World.
I filled out the paperwork for the genectics clinic today, wow, talk about family history, good thing I took that year to do research after mom died.
Well gotta run, Hayden just knocked over a lamp, it never ends LOL.....

Wow, what a 4th of July.......

It started Tuesday night, Carl my oldest had to work late and since his wife Sirena could not get a hold of him, she had to bring my grandson's to me to watch, till Carl got off, she has to work till 8:00pm. And her sitter closes about 5:30pm. When Carl came in he couldn't hardly walk, he was bent over. I said honey what's wrong, he said my butt hurts so bad. I said well let me take a look, now mind you I have not seen this kids butt since he was 12 LOL. So off to the bathroom we go, I could tell he was embarrassed to show me his butt. I told him, Carl I'm 45 years old and have 5 kids, honey I've seen it all, bring it on. He had this really red raised area at the base of his spine, just as your butt starts. He was running a fever of 101.4 and his joints were hurting. So when his wife came in from work, I told her he needs to go to the hospital, something is really wrong, he had started crying, so I knew he wasn't just being a pain in the ass LOL. So she took him to the hospital, come to find out he had a Pilonidal Cyst, I had googled "butt pain" before the kids called and told Mark I thought this might be what he had, and sure enough. So they lanced it, it was really gross and I guess the smell is just unreal, they packed it and told him to come back Thursday night to get the packing out. So he and Sirena were not able to go out to my brothers for the 4th, but we took Spencer with us, he was so looking forward to going to "Uncle Bill's".......
So on the 4th, we woke to clouds and a very good threat of rain, so we were bummed, but as the day went on it cleared up. We have plans each year to go to my brother-Bill's for the 4th. But it was touch and go to the last minute, because his house is for sale, and he has bought a new one, and they kept pushing back the closing. He had not set up his pool and knew the kids would be so disappointed if they could not swim. So last Saturday, he said the hell with it and set it up, it's a 24 foot round Intex Pool, but the problem isn't setting it up, it's getting the water warm enough to swim in. Well he has a hot-tub that the pump had burned out of and it has a heater, so he took it off the hot-tub and hooked it up to the pool and the water was just perfect for swimming. All the cousins swam all afternoon. We had a cook-out and then everyone loaded up in their cars about 6:00 to go see his new house. He and Nancy bought 6.5 acres and a farmhouse/polebarn it's great. He had already moved his boat, motorcyle, lawn tractor out there, so he gave all the kids a ride on the motorbike. It has a creek running through the woods, just great for kids. Then we all headed back for one last swim before the fireworks. We had never been to Delphi for the fireworks, because it's so hard on Hayden, but this year we thought we would give it a try, and it was fantastic, we were right under the fireworks. And being a small town, it was not crowded at all. We parked over at the highschool. The local fire department puts on the show. I will have pictures later to post of the kids. We didn't get home till 11:00 last night, and I got up at 2:00, so needless to say I'm dog tired tonight....

Today, my sister Kim and her family visited, her son Layton, swam in the pool all day and her hubby Kurt played pc games all day. They are down visiting from Rockford, ILL. They will be here till Sunday, we are planning on a cook-out Sat.
It was nice just sitting out by the pool and just catching up. She trimmed Madison's hair and mine. She also cut Sirena's too. She has a shop in her house.

But the best news of the day is this, WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD, they called to let us know Hayden's wish trip was approved. We are thinking sometime in October. The only problem, might be is this, Mark has no vacation time left from work, but he was approved for Family leave, so I'm hoping they won't give him a hard time. If they do, we won't be able to go till after the first of the year. And the person I need to ask is gone till Monday, I hate waiting all week-end. We told the kids and told them, yes we are going, but we don't know when, I don't think they really understand it all. Well I have to watch the grandkids, while they go over to the hospital to take care of Carl's butt, see ya.....

Can't believe I have not posted all week......

Been a very busy week for sure. Clayton, my grandbaby, had his surgery at Riley Hospital on Weds. morning and came home on Thursday morning, he is just fine. He was born with a cyst on his chest, about the lower throat area. So Grandpa and me kept his brother Spencer Tuesday night and Weds. day, he had tons of fun with his Aunt Madison and Uncles Hayden, Robert, Trevor. Angie, his other grandmother, picked him up Weds. night and they went to a movie and went shopping. Been busy with the downstairs remodel and all too.
Had to take Hayden off the carnitine pills, he just cannot take this stuff, I'm not sure what the Dr.s will do now. We started him on the Aricept, this week too, so we will have to see how he does with that.
Went running around Thursday with the kids and paid some bills, also on Friday. Took my sister Wanda to pay some of hers too.
Today, the kids, (Madison, Robert, Trevor) went with my sister Linda to church. I don't mind them going, even though we don't attend a church. Mark and I are agnostic, 2 of my sisters and my brother are all baptist, so I'm sure sometimes they don't "get" us. I believe the kids should be exposed to all faiths and make their own choice.
Plan on going over to Mark's mom's today and cleaning her carpet, fun I know!!
I imagine the kids will spend the afternoon swimming, it's going to be a very nice day. Still no word from ICWF, I guess no news is good news.....