The Best Deal Ever!

Well Jess's birthday is coming up and it's time to figure out what to get her that we can afford. I don't want to get her something she's just going to play with once or twice, or something that the dogs are going to eat because she left it down again. So while I'm trying to figure this out, two wonderful things happen: one, Sean cleans out the garage and we have a yard sale, so a little extra money; two, Toys'r'us puts out an internet sale a few times a year showing special sales and they just so happen to have one this weekend for friday and saturday, showing an air hockey table, which is a family game that we all love, especially Jess, that sells normally at $199.99, on sale for $39.99. After everything today and we tally it all up, including my urgent care bill, we decide that we're going to get that for her birthday, so I call them and they only have 2 left. Yeah!!! So we left our name on one and Sean and David went and got it and our neighbors are hiding it in their garage till the big day!! Isn't that just the greatest present ever!!! I'm so excited, I hope I can keep the secret till then, hope you can too!

Aren't You Jealous!

Well my nephew has been here for about 3 or 4 weeks now. My sister, his mom, asked aren't you ready to kick him out, which I'm not certain what that comment was about. But he's the best house guest we've ever had. Now don't get me wrong, I love when our kids come to visit and bring the grandkids, it sure makes me smile, but we've had others who have stayed and destroyed our home. Even my darling Amanda and grandkids, make some what of a mess, although she over comes that by being my company and helping me in so many other ways. But Sean, is just a great house guest. Everyone seems to love having him here. Jessica likes to asserht what she thinks is her authority occasionhally, but I think I've figured out hot to stop that, and he's so patient with her and doesn't lose his temper with her or argue with her at all. He's just really great with her and when I apologize for her, he's always oh don't worry she's a good kid, she's just being a kid and I invaded her space, so she's trying to tell me so. As her parent, I still don't find her behavior ok, but they seem to be working it by themselves. I just said the other night that I was very disappointed about how she's treating her cousin after all he's been through and all she knows about the gospel, she should know how she should behave. She looked a little hurt, but was a ton better to him, so maybe that's going to work. Anyways, back to Sean. He may not be able to contribute financially really, however, he did get emergency food stamps and gave most of it to us, which was great of him, but he helps us in so many ways and he's someone to talk to during the day for me. His foot and hands are stil bothering him quite a bit, so we're not pushing him to get a job right not, but he's so antsy, but his feet hurt too bad to walk to the bus stop which is pretty far away. We're working on getting him access for insurance, but it takes time. But he's so helpful around the house. He's done so much for David and I both. He made our yard look the best it's had since we started doing it ourselves, he really cleaned out the garage, not just rearranged and found tons of stuff for me, he cleaned out my pantry, cleaned the carpets and the couch, detailed our van inside and out, takes Jess to the park to play basketball, does dishes, vacuums, sweeps and mops and then still does the few things we ask him to do, the others were things he just decides to do on his own. Who wouldn't want a house guest like that! Plus he's such a good person and has such a great heart. We reminise about my mom and stuff and that is so great. I've had less nightmares about her since he's gotten here and we've been talking about mom. David loves having him here too, the two of then really connect, so it seems to be a good situation for us all. I'm just hoping that he continues to like it here and finds a job when he's ready and will be able to save enough money to get his own place and get everything all straightened out and have a great life because I think he's just had a bunch of bad luck and deserves a good life, because he has a heart of gold. He's also looking for family and trying to reach out to them. He's been looking up his dad's side of the family which has basically abandoned him, but then again, our side hasn't been any better. I wish I could get my other sister and brother to reach out to him and start communicating with him. But I don't if that will ever happen. Oh well, can't blame me for wishing and hoping. Well hope everyone is having a great April so far. This is such a busy month for us, so many birthdays. We have David's son, our daughter-in-law, our grandson, my aunt's, my brother-in-law, son-in-law, and Jessica's birthday all in one month and two weeks after Jess's is David's. So we'll be busy. See ya. Love to all!

Easter 2008

Well I hope every one had a great Easter this year and enjoyed the day. I couldn't believe how fast it crept up on us this year. I definitely wasn't ready for it. I had a back procedure on Friday and couldn't travel, so David and Jess went to Tucson to Josh and Erin's by themselves this weekend with the promise they'd be back on Saturday. Erin took the kids to the park to a big easter egg hunt and picnic thing with games and face painting. They all had a blast. Jess got painted like a big easter bunny and hopped all over the place telling her big brother that she was an easter bunny watch me hop! Then it got late and they stayed over anyways. So they had easter morning with them. Which I guess was a good thing because I was told by my daughter that she had the best Easter ever! The Easter bunny made a rhyming easter egg scavenger hunt for each one of the kids to find their candy filled eggs and toys and treats. Jessica loved it and said it was the best ever and could we have Easter with them again next year! So the Easter Bunny at my daughter-in-law's house is the best ever and deserves a lot of credit! Jessica was bowled over by the whole ordeal. Yes, they finally came home that day and made it to church. I was still supposed to be down with my back, so I stayed home, but it was so nice to see them. I'd missed them so much that weekend. Hope you all had as great a time as Jess did. Love from us all.

New Addition to our Home!

As of Friday we have a new addition to our home! My nephew, Sean, is coming to live with us. For how long, I don't know. I guess until we can't get him a job and a place to live, so how ever long it takes. He's been living in San Diego and not making a go of it and we've all been so worried about him, so that's a good thing. My sister worries about him all the time and so do we, especially Jessica. When ever it rains or storms, she prays and prays for him that he'll be okay so I think this will be a good thing and it will teach her that you help those that need help. I hope it turns out better than the other times we helped David's family, we've always wound up on the loosing end of that. But then again, I think Sean is a much better person than Alethea is in the first place. I can't see him stealing from us because he didn't from his mother, and Alethea stold from her father over and over again, starting since she was young and still does when ever we're away from the house and forget to lock the garage door opener. I've always thought he was such a good kid and that he just needed help, so I'm hoping that between David and I and the work services through the church that we can get him up on his feet, if he'll let us. I love him a lot, and I love my sister alot, and I don't want to cause her any problems in her marriage, so David and I talked and the best solution for everyone is for him to come here. My best friend Cheryl, went out of her way to help us too, and I'm so grateful for her. She picked him up from the hospital and took him in too while he was recovering until we could figure out what to do with him. How many friends would do that for you? I'm just so blessed to have such good friends and family that it's amazing. Anyways, after he's healed a little, David could use his help. David can't keep up the back yard with his feet like that and I don't have enough strength in my hands with the arthritis, so maybe he can earn his keep by helping with the back yard and pulling the little tiny weeds we get occasionally in the front yard. David keeps those intact with the help of Jess, but if there's just the littlest one peeking up we get a notice from the yard police (association). Anyways, it should be interesting and we're all excited to have him here. I'm hoping we can help him heal and get his life back on track. We just love him so much. Will let you know how it's going.

First night with only one puppy!

Well we only have one puppy left now, all the other puppies are gone. The one we have left did great last night to our amazement. We picked the one we thought would whine the least to keep, and he did great. He got out of his box and he does when ever he wants, but made it to the couch to Dad in the middle of the night and asked up and he put him up there and he just cuddled up and slept. Then I wasn't feeling well and laid down while David took Jess to McDonald's to play and he got out of the box and was asleep with his mom up against the bathroom door. What a good boy he is. He's just adorable and cuddly. If we don't sell him, Amanda's going to take him back with her after she comes back to visit in April. So we'll get the fun part and she'll get the hard part. Oh well, it's been so much fun, we've all enjoyed having the puppies, and with my medical bills and Jess's lately the extra income has been a blessing. We've spent over $800 in copays at the pharmacy in the last few weeks. So the puppies were born at the right time that's for sure!

David's accolades

David was published on the districts website this week for his accomplishments and it read:

Congratulations to Sunset Hills teacher David Pyle for being selected to serve on the state’s AIMS-Alternate Reading and Mathematics Alignment Study Committee. His expertise in special education will be used to help analyze the alignment between AIMS-A tests and reading and mathematics standards.

We're all very proud of him and excited that he got recognized for this and was able to do it. He's such a great teacher, husband and father and we don't think he gets recognized for it enough. So we're blowing his horn for him for all to see and hear.

We're also down to one puppy if anyone wants one. He's a real cutie and only $300, what a deal. You'll fall in love the second you see his little face. His brother is on Amanda's blog page, just click on her name, but his fur isn't as curly on the face and he has blacker eyes. Love to you all!

Jess's Conference and saying goodbye to our grandkids

Well today was a mixed day alright. It was hectic and sad, and proud all at the same time and I'm drained because of it. We celebrated, played, laughed and cried all in one day. I didn't sleep much last night due to the cough from the pneumonia, but I think it was due to a lot of anxiety too, because I knew my kid and grandkids were leaving today. Once they were up we were getting ready with my granddaughter at my side holding on to me and asking question after question about what I was doing. She was really fascinated about the contacts and putting them in my eyeballs, as she said. Then she helped me put on my shorts and my shirt and my shoes and put toothpaste on my toothbrush. I think she knew she was leaving today even though she's only 3, because she just wouldn't leave my side from the moment she got up today. Once we got in the car and went to Petsmart to get puppy stuff she was holding my hand, riding in my cart, asking me tons and tons of questions, pointing everything she saw to me, it was just so funny. Then when we walked out of the store I asked Amanda what else we needed to do and Maddy pipes up and says "feed me". I asked her if she was hungry and she says "yes, you need to buy me food and feed me." She's such a character. So Peter Piper has a lunch buffet right next door so we went there and Maddy and I walked over there while Amanda drove the other kids there. She just talked and talked all the way there. She was so cute. And then when we got there, she ate a little bit and then went to play. Jonny sat there with me playing with me and eating pizza, which was unusual for him. But he was content just playing with me. We left soon and went to get Jessica from school and the van. When we got to the school and I got out of the car Maddy started crying for me. I just think she knew she was going home today. We ran some errands and she stayed with me and Jess and then came home and Maddy and I played and played while Jess took a shower and then they helped Amanda pick up Jess's room. Then came the hard part, saying good bye. Maddy just kept saying bye bye grammy, while Jonny played with me on the car window, it all happened so fast I didn't even get to give Lizzy a kiss goodbye. We hugged them all and kissed them all and the marshmallow puppy goodbye and then we had to leave to for Jess's conference. It was so sad and hard! But luckily we were distracted by the conference and running late. The conference was student led, so Jess was running the show and it didn't matter that we were late. Jess was excited because she got to do it twice, once for me and then again for her dad when he got there after his parent teacher conferences in his room. She did an excellent job and the teacher was very proud of how well she's gotten caught up with as much school as she missed. She only has 2 projects left to complete and she said to do that over next weeks summer break. So that's great. Everyone should be very proud, She's getting over 94% in all subjects and 100% in science and social science, the average grade in writing is only 80% and her grade is 96% and the teacher says she always looks forward to her stories because they're so interesting and inventive. I have to admit, some of her stories, if I hadn't seen her write them myself, I would never have believed she wrote them and hadn't copied them out of a book some where. She really is a good writer. She's strugling a little in division for some reason, but the teacher says that she'll catch on eventually, but not to worry because she's still holding a 94% in math and has multiplication and geometry down pat. All I know is that I've always been really great in math, but I suck in geometry and I had to help her in her makeup homework this weekend and I had to look up the geometry words on the internet to even know what they mean. While she took a math test this morning and got a 98% on it. Don't know where she gets that from, even her dad sucks at math. Anyways, we took her to sonic after school and got her a shake and took her to the book fair and got her a couple of books she wanted for her great effort at school. Then after we got home, got the puppies settled and Jess to bed, the silence hit and I started crying. I mean the silence is a little relaxing, but I miss my kid and my grandkids a lot. I'm sure it won't be as bad tomorrow, but tonight it's just hard. I know, I'm just a glutton for punishment, but I just love the little mongers. I hope they're driving safely and the fact that they're meeting Guy's parents half way and driving the rest of the way with them, makes me feel a lot better. At least they'll have his Dad with them if something happens and his mom to help with the monkeys on the rest of the trip. Well, hope all is well with you all. That's all for today.

What a week!

Wow! What a week and a half we've had! Everyone in the house is finally on antibiotics, except Jessica who just finished hers and is finally back in school. Today was her first day back in a week in a half. So far we've had, strep, scarlett fever, asthma, pneumonia, ear infections, tonsilitis, upper respiratory infections, bronchitis, croup, laryngitis, estachian tube problem, sarcoid flare up, and high fevers in our house and with multiple illnesses to each person except David, he got away with only the onset of bronchitis. It was like a little hospital line up here. Amanda would hand out antibiotics, I would take temperatures, she would pass out the motrin and then Maddy and Jess would take turns on the breathing machines. What a week and a half, seemed much much longer. It seems a lot lighter just with one of them off the steroids and antibiotics though. Can't wait till we get more off of them. Unfortunately, I don't have to deal with the little ones after tomorrow though. Amanda is taking her little troop and her new puppy, or poopy as Maddy calls it, and are heading home tomorrow afternoon. It's been hectic and noisy, and yes, Jonny has gotten on my nerves some with his constant fits, but I'm going to miss them soooo much when they leave. They sure do make me smile and laugh a lot, and Jess is going to be devastated. Maddy and her are attached at the hip. But I think Maddy is a little homesick for her daddy too. She called him last night and talked and talked to him, I don't think he knew what she was saying, but she sure did. We got her to hang up by saying he had to go to sleep and flipped the cell phone closed. So tonight when she wanted to talk to him we caught her flipping the phone open and close and tapping on it saying wake up wake up daddy, wake up wake up. That was really cute, and then she said "oh shit". We couldn't believe our ears. But her dad says that word a lot I guess so she picked it up from him. I just know she didn't pick that one up here. Not one of the bad words we say. We were laughing though without her even knowing we heard her. It was funny though. She thought by waking up the phone she could wake up her dad and when she could she cussed at it. It was funny. She's such a cutie. However, my grandson made up for the cuteness by throughing the temper tantrum of all tantrums when we said no to a cookie at bedtime. He was kicking his feet and throwing his hands and hitting his head so we went to put him on the stairs and he started hitting me and kicking me. So I spanked him when he hurt me and then he put his fists in my face and tried to hit me again, when I moved out of his way he threw him self on the floor and started hitting the floor with his fists and kicking the floor and hitting it with his head. We just let him go and made him stay over there until he quit. The rule is he has to stay on the stairs while he's throwing his fits, once he stops screaming then he can get up and go to his mom. As bad as he gets, I've never seen him this bad. Maybe it's like they say, it's gets even worse right before it gets better because he'd been a lot better this evening and had been playing with me a lot and not throwing any fits for a change. Who knows. It was just amazing how much rage he showed. We were all shocked. But still, I am going to miss his smiling face, when it is smiling he's pretty cute. I'm definitely going to miss my little monkey Maddy. She can light up my face no matter what, and then there's the little angel Elizabeth who just turned 4 months old. She's been so good despite being so sick. Of course I'm going to miss my kid too. She's so helpful with all this sickness going around, even though she was the germ monger who brought it in the first place. Plus it's nice having someone here to talk to all the time about anything. She's not only my daughter, but she's my best friend. I hope when my younger daughter, Jessica, grows up we are as close as Amanda and I are right now. That the two of us can talk about anything like Amanda and I can. That would be great! I can talk to my daughter-in-law about most things, and then to have two daughters that I could talk to about anything, what a great blessing that would be! And to be honest, except for my health, I do feel blessed. I have this great family that surrounds me all the time and who could ask for anything more! So I hope this finds all of you in the same predicament and as happy as I am and I'll write more later. See ya soon!