Family Time...

It has been a while since I have updated this, as we have had a chance to spend some much needed time together as a family.
Brent has had some time off due to "rolling layoffs" and we have been keeping ourselves busy, or shall I say he has.

First, we spent a long weekend in Saint Louis. This is our "vacation" for the summer. It was a wonderful little trip. We got a great rate on a hotel- I highly recommend Priceline! We spent the day at the zoo, that was wonderful (except for the rain). LOL I think the kids enjoyed the Build-A Bear the most. (GO figure!) That evening we had dinner with Brent's brother and his wife. The kid's were so excited to see them, we had a very nice time.Daddy & Anna on the Merry-Go-Round

Saturday, we headed to The Magic House Children's Museum. It was PACKED, a bit of advise...Saturday is the worst day to go, especially the weekend before a BIG baseball event! However, the kids still had an amazing time! Brent and I were POOPED! Sunday, we had planned to stop by his brother's new house and then go to the Arch on our way out of town. However, a big thunderstorm hit and scratched our plans for the Arch (maybe next time kids!).
Honestly, they enjoyed staying in the hotel and swimming, two things we could have done in Peoria!!! KIDS!!! :-)

These two weeks Brent has been off he has been NON-STOP....I am SOOOOO ready to send him back to work!!! Brent's latest "project". Sanding the deck...ready to stain. Did I mention he spray painted the step in the garage? He wanted to make sure no one missed it. Guess what color??? Yeppers!!! RED!!! LOL Gotta love it!

He does not understand how much of a "vegetative state" I get into when summer hits, especially after July 4th because I know the end is near, really near. Well, since he has been off it is like...GO GO GO , come let's get things DONE DONE DONE. Where I am more, I want to read a book, gradually get the laundry done. Slowly clean the house, no rush, I have the week to work on it. My goodness, I will be back to the grind SOON enough!!!! MEN FOLK...they don't get it. Maybe it's just anyone that is NOT a teacher that does not get it, as soon as August 20th hits, your feet hit the playground and you begin running 110 MPH until June 1. You may see a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, but it is just your shadow. This is the FIRST summer, I think that I have REALLY learned to say the HECK with it, I am RELAXING and resting up for the next rodeo! YEEHAW!

Our newest addition is doing well. He is just as cute as can be. Although he has had a few setbacks, he is still very young and we have to keep that in mind. The girls love him to pieces...we all do.

I was able to see Chloe yesterday, OHHH she is so cute.
How I miss her! She looked SO big to me compared to Oliver. I could not tell if she knew me. But she seemed very happy and well adjusted. She is such a pretty kitty. It broke my heart to walk away, again, but she is with a WONDERFUL family. I cannot be anything but happy for her and them. The children in that family could use her right now. :-)

I met some of my St.Jude friends on Monday. God Bless their little hearts. My little buddy Dax just found out his cancer is back. He must now start all over, he is just two. He is from this area and is a precious little boy. His mother is a strong lady, please pray for them. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/daxlocke

After what our family went through, I am very passionate about St.Jude. If I can give back just a little then I have made a difference. If I can offer a kind word to a suffering family, then I have made a difference. I know some people say that it adds undue emotional burden, however, when Michael was sick, I did not to anything to help our own family. This is my way to "Pay it Forward", educate our youth and teach them to offer compassion to others- just because they care. (okay...off my soap box).

I hope everyone is having a good week. Brent and I are attending his 20th high school reunion this weekend...ouch hard to believe!!! Seems like yesterday we wend to his 10th. My how time flies! Mine is right around the corner....UGH!!!

God Bless...

Healing Hearts....

It has been an emotional roller coaster in our home the last few weeks. We went from having two pets to one, to none, and now back to one. We had to make the tough decision to put down Carley down, she had been suffering with kidney and bladder issues for almost a year and was in a lot of pain. Her sister Chloe, had been following suit and peeing outside the box along with Carley. After Carley was gone, Chloe continued to go out of the box and was even finding new spots. She favored our NEW carpet. We had to make the decision to find her a new home. It was gut wrenching, however, we could not continue to cut out carpet where she was going. We have some friends that live in the country and they were willing to take her. She seems to be doing well.

After much praying and a lot of tears, we decided to get another kitten. The girls had asked of course, after we put Carley down if we could get another. We had told them soon. Our house was so quiet, even those few days after Carley was gone, and especially after we dropped Chloe off. We knew that now, while I was home for the summer, was the time to train a new kitten. We knew that once I went back to work, things would get crazy again, with school and activities.

We looked at a local shelter and found a darling little kitten. Then I called our vets office about something and she told me they had MANY kittens and they were a quite a bit less than the shelter. We went and looked, that is when we found HIM! We knew he was ours when we saw his birthday, he shares the same birthday as BRENT! And the fact that it's a male, the little boy Brent never had. The girls choose the name Oliver. He is sweet, very vocal and purrs a lot! He is SO small.

This is Oliver & his food bowls, to give you an idea of how SMALL he is!

He will ever REPLACE our girls, but he will help heal our hearts.
Happy 4th of July!