Please take me home!!!

So Anitra called me today and said that there has been a cat in their backyard for the last 3 days. He was crying non-stop and cold and hungry and Anitra did not want him. They were going to take him to the shelter or I could have him. Hmmmm....well, I stopped on the way home to check him out. Sure enough, he was freezing, but not hungry anymore because Brian had gone down to Anitra's with some food for him. Senica's eyes were red because she had been crying because she wanted to keep him! Anitra told her that maybe I would keep him and Senica said that it could be her cat that just lived at my house. No pressure there, right??!! I told Senica we would see how Graw liked him and if they could get along, I would keep him.

Well, we loaded him up in the carrier and took him home and sure enough, Graw HATES him. No love at all!! I let the kitty be in the kitty room and locked Graw out, so the kitty could eat without getting growled at. He ate, drank water and even went into the little box and went potty. Obviously, this was someone's cat! Since he has been hanging out at Anitra's for so long, I am sure someone just dumped him off.

Well, we let them roam the house together and neither one would stop growling. So, we put a space heater in the garage with blankets, a kitty litter box and a food and water dish. That lasted for about 30 minutes. I couldn't stand to let him out there....so, we brought him back in. The kitty went upstairs with me and Graw stayed downstairs with Brian. He jumped up on the bed and curled up in a ball on the blanket and took a nap. He's so loving!!

The kitty went downstairs and we thought maybe they would get along...the kitty was sleeping on the couch and Graw crept up on him and swatted the kitty right on the head.

So......my heart is breaking, but we can't keep this kitty. Does anyone want him??? He is super sweet and responds to "here kitty, kitty, kitty" (awwwww) He is good with kids too because Ty was jumping and yelling and it didn't phase him at all!

If no one wants him, we are going to have to take him to Pet Refuge! :(

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today we are celebrating my mom's birthday! It's a lot harder to find pictures of her than it is the kids. She is usually cooking or
"behind the scenes" when we all get together. My mom is a wonderful mother and an amazing Grandma. She is full of life and is always, always making me laugh! I have been blessed with a wonderful family and it all started with my mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

Happy Birthday Ty!!!

Wow! I cannot believe that Ty is 2 already! It feels like it was not that long ago I was driving Senica to the hospital to meet her brother. I can remember how excited we both were! Excitement would be a good word to describe what he has brought to our lives!

Ty, we love you so much and we can't wait to see what new adventures you are going to take us on in the coming year!

Some of my favorite things about Ty:

They way he says "Addi"
How when he's really tired, he loves to cuddle with me
When he prays
Those blue, blue eyes
How he "growls" for no reason (none of the girls would do this)
How he calls Brian - "Bay" for BK
How when I walk in the door, he smiles and runs to me like he hasn't seen me in months!
His kisses! :)

Happy Birthday buddy!! We love you!

Visit to the ER

Last night Brian was working on some of our pipes that have ice in them. He was sitting on the kitchen floor, hunched over, one leg out, one leg in...are you getting the picture? Not very good ergonomic working conditions. He had the kitchen snake, yes, THE snake and was shoving it through the pipes. He was using such force that felt something painful in his lower right back. He thought he would just take a break and go at it again in a few minutes. I was in the living room with Janae and Senica when we heard him crying out in pain. He was on the floor saying that he hurt his back!

I asked if we could get him anything or what we could do and he just wanted us to let him lay there. I got the kids in bed and by now he was on the couch. I asked if he needed anything and he said he was ok, but I put a little heat pack on his back. I went to bed and told him if he needed me to just call for me. His pain then was at a 7.

He woke me up a little before 6 telling me that yes, he did want me to take him to the ER. Now, my husband has a high pain tolerance and really hates hospitals...so for him to say this, I knew he was in pain! His pain then was at a 9.

So I called Anitra and asked her if she could come get the girls. Then, I woke up Janae, Brenna and Senica and told them what was going on. Janae said, "Well, we better start praying" Isn't that so sweet?! So I got the girls coats on and Seth came and picked them up. He also helped Brian to the car because I had no way of helping him myself. So thanks Seth!

We went to the Goshen ER because I wanted to know that he was getting good care. I was glad we decided that b/c one of his best friends dads was working in the ER and so that helped Brian a little. Then, when they came to take x-rays, it was someone that I used to work with and she said I could go back with him when she took his x-rays. I felt much better knowing he was going to be taken care of.

The doc said nothing showed on the x-rays, which I figured he would say. They gave Brian some Phenergan, Valium and Dilaudid. He was pretty loopy after that...yes, that is when I took his pics with my camera phone. They sent us home with some pain medicine and muscle relaxers and said to rest until Tues. and then follow up with the family doc, who should order an MRI at that point if Brian isn't feeling better. He said no work or physical labor at least on Mon/Tues.

When we got home, I got him upstairs and into bed. He's been there ever since.

Please keep him in your prayers. And me too...I am not used to my husband being laid up, and I still have pipes under the sink that have been taken apart and not put together. So, tomorrow I need a plumber to come to the house and fix it. Sigh...

Oh and please pray for Senica too....Anitra called me when we were at the hospital and said that Senica threw up before they made it out the door for church. ugh!

Sleepovers and Swim Meets

Friday night I picked up Janae and Brenna for a sleepover. When we stopped to get Senica, Ty stood at the door saying "I go Addi's", so he came too! You know me...I couldn't leave him behind! We had a good time! The kids played and played.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast, the usual pancakes, eggs, sausage and has browns. After breakfast, Ty had a really yukky I'll-spare-you-the-details-diaper and so we called Anitra to come and pick up him. Then the girls and I got bundled up and headed to Goshen to watch our cousin, Mia, swim. We really enjoy watching her compete. She is such a good swimmer and it is so fun to hear the 3 little ones yelling "Go Mia!, Go, Mia!!" After the meet, we went down to the cafeteria to have some cake and punch with the team, b/c it was Senior Day. The girls got to hang out with Haylie, another cousin, and take some pics with Mia too. :) They had so much fun!!

When we were leaving, there was a wrestling match going on so we stopped and watched for a little bit. Our cousin's nephew was wrestling and we were going to try and stay to watch, but the girls were starting to get "wrest-less". :) At one point I turned around and Brenna was in a wrestling stance, trying to slap Senica like some of the boy-wreslters were doing and Senica was saying "Brenna, I don't think this is a really good idea!" ha!

So we got loaded back up in the car and stopped by my Aunt Jeannie's house. The girls call her Grandma Jeannie. :) She got out the coloring books, crayons, construction paper and scissors and glue so the girls to do some projects. Brenna of course, went in the computer room to play on her Webkinz. :) I laid down on her couch, and just like my Grandma Pauly's old couch, I was out! Thanks so much Aunt Jeannie for entertaining the girls and letting me have a cat nap!

Then we headed to Grandma Pottenger's for our Christmas with her. (bottom collage) We ate dinner, the kids played, the adults talked and then we exchanged gifts. We laughed so hard at Grandma trying to mimick Anitra doing excercises! ha!! We had a wonderful time...thanks Grandma!

It was decided at Christmas, that Janae, Brenna and Senica would come back and spend the night at our house because today we were supposed to have Christmas with Bob at our house after church. Brenna was asleep by the time we got home and I put her right into bed. Janae and Senica stayed up for a little while with Janae reading Junie B. Jones to Senica and teaching her how to spell and right new words. Just like both of their moms used to teach me whatever they were learning in school. :)

Boy's night/Girl's night

Last night some guys got together to go to the ND Hockey game. The ladies headed over to the Grassman's house! We had salad, yummy lasagna, and rice krispie bars! For once, Senica was out numbered by all the boys!! We missed baby Addie, oh and you too Stacy! ;) Thanks Sarah for hosting!

Sorry Matt...another post, but how cute are your boys?? :)

Blue-eyed boys!

Last night on my way home from work, as I was driving by Seth and Anitra's, there was Ty and his daddy shoveling the driveway. I stopped to say hi because I was having Ty withdrawal. I hadn't seen him in 3 days!! Well, when I bent down to see him, he was shivering...a constant shiver! Anitra and Senica were taking a nap and so I told Seth I would take him down to our house to warm him up! :) We had hot chocolate and watched Uncle "Bay" (That is how Ty says B-K) from inside the front window where it was warm! :)

Please ignore Ty's runny nose, no matter how many times I wiped it before a picture, it was back before I could snap the shot! ugh! Anyway, I still love that middle pic with my blue eyed-boys! Brian's tinted glasses kinda hide his. :(

**Update

Brian just got off of the phone with his dad and he said that they ended up amputating his pinky toe and most of the toe next to it. It seems like they got the infection out, but are going to run labs in the coming days to make sure. They are looking at next Tuesday for a discharge date. He is getting a PICC line inserted today so that he can continue his antibiotics at home.

Thank you for your prayers so far, please keep them coming. :)

***PRAYER REQUEST***

Brian's dad has recently been having problems with his foot. This week, he agreed to go to the dr. and they admitted him to the VA hospital in Indy. He has an infection in the bone in his foot and a broken toe. To make matters worse, his blood sugars are running extremely high. He is scheduled for surgery today at 3:00pm. They are going to try and scrape out the infection. Please keep him and Brian's mom and brother in your prayers as well as Brian. He is having a very hard time with all of this...it's hard to see your parents hurting.

Thanks for the prayers!! I will keep you update!

Overnight guests

Seth had to go to San Diego for a baseball deal, so Brian and I had overnight guests, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We loved having Anitra, Senica and Ty over during our break. Senica slept downstairs with me every night and we had a lot of fun! She likes to watch all the wedding shows on WE with me! :) I loved it! Ty was very entertaining for Brian too. I don't know how many times he said to me...I love that kid!! Ty is in a very funny stage right now. He had us laughing non-stop!!

Senica can't stop singing "I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas" and Ty couldn't stop singing "Santa Claus is coming to Town" Each of them only sang pretty much one-line from each song, so this morning I woke up with both those songs in my head.

I can still hear Senica...."I tied a knot is Susie's hair, somebody snitched on me....I tied a knot in Susie's hair, somebody snitched on me....over and over. :)

Miss you guys already! :)

Pizza and game night

Our friends, Mike and Sarah, had some people over for a game night this weekend. We had so much fun and a LOT of laughs. My sister is crazy and sometimes, on rare occasions, still shocks me! :) The kids had a great time playing and Senica and Ty really enjoyed getting "tossed" into the bean bag! Little Luke is on the move. That top, middle pic is of him, soooo close to taking off!! :) Senica Loves holding baby Addie too! :)

I love the bottom collage of the adults playing. Anitra looks like she is directing the planes on the runway...and Dustin's facial expressions are still making me laugh! The wives really enjoyed buzzing their husbands too! Great night!!! Thanks Mike, Sarah and Luke for having us over.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Brian and I had April and the girls and Anitra, Seth and the kids over for New Year's Eve. The kids played in the play room and then watched a movie (1/2 of it). Brian and Seth went to the store to run errands. It gave us sisters time to hang out and talk. I love days like that...just spending time with my sisters. :)

Seth had to leave early in the morning, so Anitra, Seth, April, Ty, Adria and Jacinda left before mid-night to spend the night at Anitra's house. Brian and I kept Janae, Brenna and Senica. The girls and I slept downstairs. They all made it to mid-night. Then the fireworks started. We opened up the window so the girls could try and see them. We couldn't see them, but we sure could hear them! :)

The next morning, everyone came back down for breakfast. We had a wonderful night/morning! :)

Missing this...

Was our last full day in Mexico really a week ago?? I miss this!

Fun with the Girls!

Yesterday morning, April called to see if I would watch the girls so she could go shopping. Well...of course!! I didn't get to see them on Christmas, so I was happy to spend the morning/afternoon with them! :)

It's a little hard to take pictures with four kids 7 and younger, so I let Janae take some for me! Didn't she do a good job? She took all of these pics, except the one of her. Isn't she talented!?? :)

We had a lot of fun and they were so good for me!! Adria is quite busy and into everything...she is very quick too. Jacinda is so sweet and fell asleep right in my arm. Janae and Brenna each got a Nintendo DS for Christmas, so they played with those for a while. We also printed some pictures for Janae for her new scrapbook.

April found some good buys....great day for everyone!! :)

Thanks girls for coming over...I had so much fun with you!

Christmas & Birthday

Tonight we had Christmas with Brian's side of the family. Talis & Linda and Andrew and Katie came to our house for dinner and presents. Today is also Talis' birthday, so I made him a cake to celebrate too! :)

Brian and I got Red Lobster gift certificates from Andrew and Katie. Brian also got a real nice shirt..and his favorite...a Wii, WWII game! I got two different Willow Trees. One is a figurine and one was a Memory box! :) I also got a tart burner, but it's electric, not by candles. I love it....it is literally smelling our whole house with the scent of Mulberry as I type! Mmmmmm!! :)

See where Graw is laying on Linda?? It should be noted that she is NOT a cat person!! Doesn't like their tails. :) I told her she could put him on the ground, but she just let him lay. She's too sweet!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!! Happy Birthday Jesus!! :)

Christmas morning...

Anitra and Seth had us down for Christmas morning. They always have a birthday party for Jesus with pancakes and we read the Christmas story. Then we get to watch the kids open gifts...Always fun! :) Senica got a hair salon and Ty got a dump truck.

Christmas Eve Christmas

April had all of us over for our annual Christmas on Christmas Eve! :) I will just let the pictures tell the story...the kids got lots of gifts and I think they all were very happy!! :) Somehow, I missed Papa...he was holding the trash bag for all the wrapping paper.

Super powers

The resort we stayed at had many different colors of bracelets. Different colors with different meanings...Pink = honeymoon, Purple = Children, Silver = Palace Premier Member and Black = Palace VIP member. There were many other colors and meanings, but that was what we saw the most of. Anyway, we were black thanks to Dr. P!! :)

We loved the hotel and the service was amazing! We have mandatory customer service hours that we have to get every year at work and I told Brian, I think they should send everyone who has worked 5 or more years at the hospital here to learn about customer service. :) We were treated so great we felt like we had super powers! :)

The only negative thing we had was upon check-out...after the band was cutoff our wrist. Apparently, when we arrived, our guy who gave us the welcome packet was supposed to also give us a time to be at the front desk for our ride to take us back to the airport upon departure. I saved everything he gave us and nothing had any time on it, except that check-out was at noon. So, at 11:40, we get a phone call saying that the shuttle service is there to take us to the airport and will only wait another 5 minutes. So Brian and I hurry and get downstairs and they have already left. So we went to the customer relations desk (our bands are now cut off) and explained that the shuttle left, but we were never told a time to be there...at this point, it is still before noon. After a few phone calls he tells me, sorry, nothing I can do for you. Take a taxi to the airport....it's $25 us dollars. Well, we had left all our money in tips for the maid service, so we had to go to the ATM, which charged us $9 just to use the service. UGGHHH! I was really upset. But, we took a taxi to the airport...and I calmed down.

Once we got to the airport, we had 2 1/2 hours to kill. Then, we checked the flight board...and yup, delay! :( So, we went to Bubba Gump's and had a late lunch. It was a really nice airport...and clean! :) The nicest airport bathrooms I have ever seen!

The was our only real flight delay. We were a little late leaving Minneapolis, but got to Chicago at our scheduled time. By the time we got our luggage, found our car, dug out our car, and drove home....it was 5am Christmas Eve.

The collage shows you how our day started...to how it ended! :)

Overall, we had a WONDERFUL trip!! It was a beautiful resort...with amazing food, awesome accommodations...and really, for all but the last day at check-out, AWESOME customer service!! One day by the pool, Brian and I planned how we could come back with my family! They had really, really neat things for kids to do too! :)

I asked Brian if it was better than our honeymoon?? He said, he liked the location of the USVI better, but hotel, service, food...WAY BETTER! Snorkeling in the USVI was better, but I think it was because we didn't go on the snorkeling excursion.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Dr. P!! We had such an amazing time!!!