Our Missouri Christmas

***For those here because you received my email about a new post...be sure to read the one right below this, also***

Hey!

I meant to write a review of our MO Christmas, but we've been so busy and I've been uploading so many pictures that by the time I'm done, I don't feel like spending more time on the computer typing a bunch. But here I am...enjoy. lol

We picked up all three kids on Friday afternoon after they got off from school. I made them all a sandwich, apple slices and some chips for on the way down. We stopped a few times for the normal stuff...bathroom breaks, drinks, gas, etc. We got into Arnold around 8'ish...I called Kelly and John to let them know we were in town and we had a safe trip. When we got there, we started downstairs to hand out presents. They got all kinds of stuff from my parents...little guitar hero hand-held games, Spiderman and Sleeping Beauty hoodies, Cars stuff, Disney Princess tea party set, pajama's, new clothes, all kinds of stuff. They had 14 presents each. We took lots of pictures of all of their presents and got some pictures around the tree over the weekend. We had a late night...after we did all that we came up and ate some of my mom's vegetable soup...which Jason complimented as being, "fantastic." And I told my mom that was a sincere compliment, because he can be picky. lol He had two big bowls of it before he had to stop. After that, we put the kids to bed. One of the gifts the kids got were some sets of books...all Disney books, like Nemo, Dalmations, princesses and things like that...each pack came with three books, and three CD's so that you could just put it in a CD player and let them listen to the CD read it to them. I put one of those in for the kids while they fell asleep.

My mom had set up the spare bedroom for them...their own room for their stay. lol It was really cool. She said she wanted to paint it too, but hadn't gotten around to that part yet. There were beds, and a big desk full of stuff...crayons, puzzles, books... They all fell asleep relatively quickly. After they went to sleep, my mom wanted us to help her stuff the stockings. Well, my dad had found some old recordings of when he used to play the drums for the family reunion...so he went in my room on my desktop computer and let Jason listen to some of them. It was really cool, my dad and Jason just sat in my room for a while listening to the music, critiquing it, and talking...I sat in there for a few minutes, and decided that I'd just go help my mom stuff the stockings so we could get more done faster so we could go to bed. lol I was so tired. After all of that, we ended up staying in the kitchen with all four of us talking for a little while. Then we all went to bed, knowing that the kids would be up by 7.

Sure enough, the kids were up by 7, so I got up with them and mom and I got them some breakfast. They started playing with some of their toys for a little bit. We had to get ready and make cookies...so once everyone was awake and had eaten, we all started making cookies. We had Daniel with us too, so there were four kids, four adults...we all took a kid. I had Jasmine, Jason had Luke, dad had Daniel, and mom had Shawn. There were four bowls, and four sugar cookie mixes, so they could all make their own cookies. My dad and Jason didn't want to help make the cookies, but before long, they found themselves helping anyway. LOL All the kids bailed on us, so it was just my dad, Jason and myself making the rest of the cookies, with my mom trailing behind us cleaning up what she could while we were still making the cookies.

After that, I gave the kids a bath, and then myself a shower so we could be ready for when family came over. On Saturday, we had Travis, Eve, and Travi, Aunt Joyce and Uncle Dan, Daniel, and Aunt Kathy. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone...I think that was all that was there on Saturday. We opened some presents with everyone. Everyone that came brought presents for the kids, which was really nice and meant a lot to me. Travis and Eve got Jasmine a camera and the boys a Spongebob toothbrush set. They've been using it and they think it's cool. Aunt Joyce and Uncle Dan got the boys a Hulk and Spiderman toy. I think they were on motorcycles or something. And they got Jasmine a Barbie doll that came with a dog...that pooped. LOL It was funny. Jasmine loved it. Though, Aunt Joyce was embarrassed because she didn't know what the dog did. Mom had put some chips and snacks on the table downstairs for everyone, and she made her shrimp dip stuff...which I think is gross, but Jason was intrigued, and he loved that, too. I made some BLT dip, which seemed to go over well, I know Uncle Dan really liked it. My aunt Kathy bought us 20 scratch off tickets and put them in a card for us...so we had 10 a piece. I'll get back to that later.

About 5'ish, we gathered the kids together so we could go to Crystal City and visit Kelly, John, and all of their kids. We had a nice dinner over there and opened some presents. They got me several Debbie Macomber books that I had asked for. They also got Jason some books that he asked for as well. They also got us a Tupperware chopper thing...I know it's not the technical name, but I know what it means. lol We stayed there about 4 hours or so and then made our way home. Jason and I decided we'd scratch off our tickets when we got home. We took a guess at how much we thought we'd win... he thought we'd be lucky to win $10...but he didn't realize how many tickets were in there either. We got home, divided the tickets...and together, won $64. Then the next day when we turned them in, we used our free tickets, and won another $10. Pretty cool, huh? I called Aunt Kathy to let her know and she said it made her day...she was so excited.

When we got home, my mom had said Travis and Eve called and wanted to come over in the morning for breakfast. So around 8:30, they came over and mom and Eve made breakfast for us. It was nice to have them over again. I hurried to get the kids baths and myself a shower and by that time, my grandma and grandpa were there to visit. They were going to come on Saturday, but they had to be home because they were getting a washer or dryer delivered and they needed to be home for it. We visited with them until about 1...and opened more presents. We got all of our stuff packed up and then started to head out. We started saying our goodbyes and giving hugs, and my mom started crying, which made me start crying. lol And then we all got in the car, and all three kids are in the back going, "Bye grandma, bye grandpa, love you!" Which is so cool because we've never told them they have to call them grandma and grandpa, but they do on their own. I know it makes them feel good and it makes me feel good, too.

So that was pretty much our weekend home. We took like over 200 pictures all together! That took me a while to upload. Well, that's about it...

I love you guys...

Cole

Christmas 2008 (What a difference a year makes)

Hello everyone!

Oh my...I don't even know where to start. It's been a few weeks since I wrote anything. I am so tired of being on the computer though, because just in the past day or so, I've uploaded 185 photos. Right now, the kids are taking a nap, so I decided I would write in my blog while I have the time.

Christmas break started for the kids last Friday. Kelly, John, Anthony, Zachary, and Hannah all came up from MO to have Christmas with us and Grandma Stella. On Saturday, Kelly and I were on our way to Pekin, IL just to look around, when I decided to see, since we were headed right by Danielle's house (the kids' mom), I'd call her and see if we could get the boys. She wasn't home, but she was in Pekin...so she said she'd meet us somewhere and we could get Shawn. Luke was with his grandma, so we picked him up seperately.

We had Christmas here with Kelly, John, and all of their kids. They left on Sunday. On Saturday, Shawn and I made gooey butter cookies from John's special recipe...and they're all gone now. lol

On Monday, Jasmine called Jason and asked if he would come to Havana to pick her up because she wanted to see us. So, while grandma and I made dinner, Jason went to pick up Jasmine. Later that night, Jasmine, Luke, Jason and I had a tea party with Jasmine's new Disney Princess tea party set she got from my parents. We had some hot tea and gooey butter cookies. Jason didn't want to attend our tea party, but finally conceded. LOL

I had to work on Tuesday, so we didn't do much of anything. I was off on Wednesday, Christmas Eve. We had to take all three kids to their mom's side of the family about 5:00 on Wednesday for their Christmas dinner and activities. The kids and I made cupcakes, so they could have something to take to their Christmas dinner with their mom's family.

I had to work on Christmas...and Jason picked up the kids betwen 4 and 5 on Thursday...and I got off work at 9. We did some last minute stocking stuffer shopping and headed home. During the course of Christmas, I spent half the day on the phone calling everyone to wish them a Merry Christmas. When we got home Christmas night, we were both really tired...so we made sure we had everything ready to go by morning. I let the kids help me wrap their present for Jason...and then he let them help him wrap their present for me. The boys weren't feeling very well, so they didn't get up until almost 9, but Jasmine was up around 8. I made blueberry muffins and they had cereal and muffins for breakfast. Then we all went upstairs and sat by our tree and opened presents.

I took quite a few pictures...here's some of the stuff each kid got.

Jasmine: Her three favorite gifts that she got (out of all of her gifts from everyone) were her easy bake oven (from us/Santa), a light up medical set (also from us/Santa), and a pink girls guitar (from her mom). I don't know which order those were in, but she said she had three favorite gifts. With her easy bake oven, she got some mixes to bake with. She got a few dolls, coloring book, a Hello Kitty video game, a pony set, and some other various toys...it's hard to remember everything.

Luke: He said his favorite was a spiderman kids laptop...not sure who it was from though. Out of the stuff he got here, he loved his K'Next set (it had 400 pieces), and some of his Ben 10 characters...he seemed to pick out some of the smaller stuff as his favorites.

Shawn said his favorite was his laptop. We got him a VTech kids learning laptop. It comes with a regular mouse, and it has this little monkey on it that talks and helps him learn things. It has all kinds of games for him to play. He freaked out when he opened it, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. He said, "Cole! Now I have a laptop, just like you!" He always wants to play on my laptop and he thinks it's so cool, so I thought a little kids learning laptop would be perfect for him.

We got each kid one big gift a piece and then a bunch of smaller gifts. Jasmine's big gift was her Easy Bake Oven, Luke's was his 400 piece K'Nex set, and Shawn's was his laptop. Which is funny, because those were their favorite (or among their top few) favorite gifts. Each child had a different kind of wrapping paper...Jasmine had bears on hers, Luke had Santa's on his, and Shawn had penguins on his. It was the cutest thing...Shawn couldn't say penguin correctly...so he said, "pen-ga-len". LOL Then he got embarrassed because everytime he'd say it, we'd laugh.

The kids got Jason a Gillette for Men gift set. It had shampoo, body wash, deoderant, and a razor and shave cream. They got me some St. Ive's products...some body wash, lotion and this stuff that exfoliates your skin. I don't think I'm spelling that right, but oh well. lol I used my stuff in the shower yesterday and loved it. And Jason's favorite deodorant is Gillette...so he was happy.

After we were finished opening presents, we had one more stop to make. We went to see Jason's dad and step mom. We got everybody dressed and off we went. His dad lives in Havana, IL, which is where Jasmine lives and where Jason grew up. We stayed over there for 3 or 4 hours, I'd say. The kids opened some presents over there. I took a bunch of pictures there, too. They got Jason and I (well, I guess it was more for me, really...) a two-sided crock pot! I was very excited about that. lol We just took an 8x10 of the family picture we had made in a frame and then a 5x7 of the picture of just me and Jason and framed them. Gitana (his step mom) loved it. We got his step sister a Hannah Montana make up set. And we got his step brother some Axe stuff...shower gel, deodorant, and cologne.

When we got home, we had all of the kids take a nap for a little bit. Then we had dinner, got baths, and opened more presents! Grandma Sella and Torrey had some presents for the kids as well...so we let them open those. Shawn went to bed early...but Jasmine and Luke stayed for a while playing with all of their new toys. Finally, we said it was bedtime. That brings us to today...which we haven't done anything special. We're all so tired and worn out from constantly going from place to place. lol

Tomorrow is the 28th and it'll be a year and a half for Jason and I. We're really not big celebrating each month, but we do mention, "Hey...guess what today is...the 28th.." and that's about the end of it. LOL But, we got a gift card for the Olive Garden from Kelly and John, and as long as the weather is okay tomorrow, we're going to Springfield (the nearest Olive Garden) and have lunch with the kids. Jason has never been to the Olive Garden, and the kids probably haven't either. I love O.G. but I haven't been there in a while. So, it should be fun.

We have the kids until NEXT Sunday, January 4th. The go back to school on Monday, January 5th. We've got to keep them the majority of their Christmas break, which has been GREAT! We've really enjoyed having them. Grandma says when they get up from their nap, we will make some cookies.

I was telling Jason about some of my observations between last Christmas and this Christmas. Last year at Christmas time, we were only together for six months...and I had known the kids about 4 and a half of those 6 months. So, I wasn't as close with them then as I am now. Last year, Jason and I bought seperately for the kids. We realized how goofy that was and decided next year, we would by together for them instead of seperately. Obviously, this year we bought together...and I guess I started having those worries that every parent has....I kept asking myself if they would like what we got them, if there were enough presents, wishing we could have got them more, things like that. And I realized...this is it. This is what every parent goes through, but this was the first year that I really thought about things like that. It's amazing how quickly I forgot I'm not the biological mother of these kids. But I love them like my own. And it may sound weird because I don't technically have one of "my own", but if you're in a similar situation as I am, you understand. Shawn has slipped up three times so far and called me mom....which is nothing new, he's done it before, but every single time he does it, it stops me dead in my tracks. The other night when he wasn't feeling good, I gave him some medicine and he said, "Thank you mom...um...Cole, thank you." I just smiled, tucked him in and didn't say a word.

In fact, the other day when Jason picked them up from thier mom's, Shawn immediately asked, "Where's Cole? Is she here?" and before Jason could even say "no," Danielle said, "No, Cole's at work...but you'll get to see her later." And Jason joked, "Ya know... I dont know if they come to see me anymore, or just Cole." Danielle said, "Oh...Cole. Trust me, it's all I hear about...Cole, Cole, Cole." LOL

In their stockings, Santa left them a Webkins pet. For those that don't know, it's just a stuffed animal...but it has a code with it, and you can take it online. You can choose if your pet is a boy or a girl and name it...and you've adopted a pet. Jasmine named her girl dog Wanda, after Fairy Odd Parents (a kids cartoon), Shawn named his boy cow Biscuit, and Luke named his girl Tiger, Cole...can you believe that? Cole...he named his tiger after me. It was cute. And Jason thinks that Luke has a crush on me. Which is funny.

ANYWAY...I'm about done with all of the pictures...at least until I take more. The kids are still napping. I'm snacking on some chocolate. And I'm supposed to come up with 5 songs that I want Jason to learn on the guitar and he's going to learn them for me. lol In between everything else going on, I'm on the second Twilight book, called New Moon. I'm loving it. Back to reality now... I'll either upload some of the better pictures later, or figure out something you can all see some pictures.

Love you all,

Cole xoxoxox

P.S. Jason wanted me to tell everyone he said hi! :)

Wrapping, cleaning, packing!

I was off work yesterday, so Jason and I decided to get out all of the presents for the kids so we could see where we were with them. Jasmine had a few more gifts than the boys did, so Jason went out to even it up a little bit. While he was gone, I popped in my Keith Urban DVD (the latest one) and watched the concert again while I wrapped presents. It took me quite a while to wrap all of those presents. I wrapped Shawn's, then Luke's and took a break. Jason offered to wrap the rest, but I did Jasmine's anyway.

The rest of the day I spent just cleaning upstairs, doing dishes, laundry, and odd and end things like that. I have to work at 3:30 today...but either before I go to work or tomorrow (because I'm off tomorrow) I'm going to start packing to get ready for coming to MO shortly. I can't pack much of our stuff (meaning Jason and I) but I can get the kids' stuff packed.

I'm so excited, I can't wait! :)

Love,
Cole

Saturday, December 13th...

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to make a quick announcement for those who don't know... Jason and I will be making a trip to MO with our kids the weekend of the 12th-14th. We will get into Arnold late Friday night. Mom is making some food in the afternoon for people to come and visit. We're just going to open a window from 1pm-4pm for anyone who wants to stop by and visit with us. We will NOT be in for Christmas, so this is our Christmas with our families in MO. I realize none of us will know how the weather will be and that may keep some of you from traveling, and we understand that. We're doing it this way so we don't have to stop by several different houses. We'll be staying at my mom's like usual. About 4:00 is when we'll be going to visit Jason's family for the evening and do Christmas with them.

We look forward to seeing everyone! :)

Love,
Cole

What are YOU thankful for?

Hey everyone!


Since the Thanksgiving holiday is just a few days away, I thought it would be intriguing to reflect on some of the blessings in my life. There are so many things I'm thankful for that I'm sure I'll unintentionally leave some out. In the midst of this life we live, I feel it's important to remind ourselves of our blessings and be thankful for all of the people in our lives.

If you receive an email from me every so often to remind you to come and check my blog, you are an important part of my life...THANK YOU.

I'm thankful for... (in no particular order)

My parents for always being there for me no matter what. For realizing and accepting my dreams. For teaching me so much about life. For loving Jason and the kids as if they were our kids instead of just "his" kids. Thank you for showing me a thing or two (or a hundred) about parenting. I continue to learn so much from you...even if we're a few hours away. Thank you for your never-ending support.

Jason for his never-ending love. For the times he makes my day when he looks at me and tells me I'm beautiful. For every laugh we share because I'm finally happy. And for so much more that I can't put into words even if I tried. He means everything to me and I thank God for him everyday. He's a beautiful person inside and out and I can't believe this is my reality...it's amazing and I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING!

Jasmine, Luke, and Shawn...oh my God...the three of you will never read this, but I feel the need to include you. You three have taught me so much about life, love, and happiness. You are my world and I love you so much more than you will ever be able to comprehend. I am so proud of you and look forward to each day ahead. You're all so beautiful to me. You bring me an endless amount of joy. I'm so thankful that I will get to be on this journey we call life with you and watch you grow up.

All of our family back in MO. Thank you for reading my blog and viewing all of my pictures. Thank you for your support...and even those that don't. I miss all of you and I can't wait to come to MO and see you all soon!:) TIGGER...yes, my cat! Every cat I see reminds me of you and it makes me sad because I love you and I miss you like CRAZY! I can't wait until you can move in with us. I miss cuddling up with you and holding you. See you soon, buddy!

I'm thankful for so many things...my health, the people that surround me, the fact that I have somewhere to live and food to eat. I'm thankful that I'm happy and that I'm following my dreams. I'm just thankful to God that I'm alive!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with your family. Don't forget to think about what you're thankful for. It's never too late to remind those you love that you're thinking of them and that you're thankful they're in your life.

THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU!
-Cole-

"White Horse" and "Love Story"

Hey everyone,

I have a lot of new pictures and things to post, but before I do all of that, I just wanted to gush a little bit. lol I'm a huge fan of Taylor Swift and she just had a new album come out November 11th, called Fearless. Two of my favorite songs on the new album are titled "White Horse" and "Love Story." The latter is her latest single, and the other will likely be a single (I believe it's already gone #1 on iTunes). I thought I'd post the lyrics to these songs, for those that haven't heard. I like her music so much because many times, I feel like she has snuck her way into my head and has written the very stories of my life. It's weird, I know...but some of her songs just hit that close to home.

"White Horse" is about when you're in a relationship with someone and you break up and it's that moment when you realize that the person you fell for isn't who you thought they were. It's when you're fooled into this fairy-tale feeling that isn't anywhere close to reality. It's the moment you stop and think, "Wow...this isn't the one that is going to sweep me off my feet." I think it's something that many people have been through...including myself. Here's the lyrics:

"White Horse"

Say you're sorry
That face of an angel
Comes out just when you need it to
As I paced back and forth all this time
Cause I honestly believed in you
Holding on
The days drag on
Stupid girl,
I should have known, I should have known

[Chorus]
That I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet,
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town,
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around

Baby I was naive,
Got lost in your eyes
And never really had a chance
I had so many dreams
About you and me
Happy endings
Now I know

[Chorus]
That I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale
I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet,
Lead her up the stairwell
This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town,
I was a dreamer before you went and let me down
Now it's too late for you
And your white horse, to come around

And there you are on your knees,
Begging for forgiveness, begging for me
Just like I always wanted but I'm so sorry

Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale
I'm gonna find someone someday who might actually treat me well
This is a big world, that was a small town
There in my rearview mirror disappearing now
And its too late for you and your white horse
Now its too late for you and your white horse, to catch me now

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa
Try and catch me now
Oh, it's too late
To catch me now

Hearing the actual song would be better (so I encourage you all to "YouTube it"), but you get the idea. The next one is called "Love Story", and if you listen to country radio, I'm sure you've heard it a half a dozen times already.

"Love Story"

We were both young, when I first saw you.
I close my eyes and the flashback starts-
I'm standing there, on a balcony in summer air.

I see the lights; see the party, the ball gowns.
I see you make your way through the crowd-
You say hello, little did I know...

That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles-
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet"-
And I was crying on the staircase-
begging you please don't go...
And I said...

Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.

So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
We keep quiet, because we're dead if they knew-
So close your eyes... escape this town for a little while.
Oh, Oh.

Cause you were Romeo - I was a scarlet letter,
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet" -
but you were everything to me-
I was begging you, please don't go-
And I said...

Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes-

Romeo save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.
Oh, Oh.

I got tired of waiting.
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading-
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
And I said...

Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting, for you but you never come.
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think-
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said...

Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.
I love you, and that's all I really know.
I talked to your dad -- go pick out a white dress
It's a love story, baby just say... yes.
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh.

We were both young when I first saw you.


I love this song because in a way, it resembles my life with Jason now. Mainly, it's the difference between the two songs. In the first song Taylor sings, "I'm gonna find someone someday, who might actually treat me well," and that is exactly what I've found. I also love the princess theme in "Love Story" because I feel like Jason treats me like a princess. My favorite verse of the song is this one:

"Romeo save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.
Oh, Oh."

The reason this verse stands out to me is because I have felt this. I know what it's like when people are trying to tell you how to feel or how to take a situation. And sometimes it seems overwhelming...but it's real. It's great knowing that you have someone who will walk with you side by side. Someone you can say, "Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess..."

I just love these songs, and I love the entire album. And obviously...I love Jason. :)

Cole

Saturday, November 15th

Hey everyone! As promised, I'm back to write to all of you. Yesterday was so much fun! My mom and dad came up to visit for a little while yesterday. They ended up getting up here about 12:30. Before they got here, I told the boys (we didn't have Jaz this weekend) my mom and dad were on their way. Luke says, "Where are we going?" I said, "Well, do you remember seeing all of those pictures on my computer of me in those white dresses? We're going to go to a place where I can try on dresses." There was a new bridal shoppe that opened in Jacksonville (the town I work in), and we were going to go check it out.

They remembered the pictures and both wanted to go with us. Shawn said, "I want to try on dresses, too!" I said, "No Shawn...dresses are for girls. Boys wear tuxedos. Don't you remember your mom's wedding? You both wore tux's then." They just sort of stared at me and finally Luke says, "Yeah but I didn't get to wear a bowtie and I want a bowtie!" So I promised the boys in our wedding, they could wear bowties. lol Then later on, Torrey came home from work and I said, "Hey Shawn...why don't you tell Torrey where you went today" and he said, "Torrey! We went to...um...the princess store!" It was so cute. LOL

So mom and dad arrived about 12:30 and we helped carry all the stuff upstairs that they brought us. THANK YOU! :) After that, the boys were very anxious to leave, so we started out for Jacksonville. We started walking around looking for bowties. They did have one on a mannequin, but they didn't have any to try on. The woman told us if we decided we wanted to order them from her shop, they'd have to special order some. I tried on three different dresses. One dress I tried on twice. It was beautiful. I'm torn between that dress and the one other favorite dress I had from the bridal shoppe in Festus, MO. Shawn looked at me and said, "Cole, you're so pretty!" It was cute. The boys were actually telling me which dresses they liked better. lol

After that, we made a quick trip to Walmart and headed back to Virginia. We met Jason at a little hometown diner called The Depot just a few minutes away from our house. None of us had ever been there before, but grandma recommended it to us. The prices were good and the amount of food was enormous. We all had to take doggie bags home with us. We came back home and took a few pictures and said our good-byes.

The rest of the night was spent just hanging out here at the house. Mom had sent the boys up some camouflage long johns and matching slippers. The boys put their new long johns on and Shawn wanted to call my mom and thank her again. Shawn fell asleep pretty early. Luke was too busy playing puzzle games on the computer.

My dad got me the new Keith Urban concert DVD and we're going to watch it tonight whenever we get back from taking the kids home. We're going to watch it on the big TV screen.

Shawn is taking a nap and it'll be time for baths pretty soon...and time to take them home. :(

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Even if you aren't a member on this site, you can still reply to my posts by email...so please let me know what you think about the dress!

Love,
Cole

New hair cut!

Hey everyone,

I just got my hair cut today...rather than try to explain what it looks like, here's a visual:




It looks kind of weird in the picture...but it looks really cute in person. I love it! And I can still put it up in a pony tail when I get lazy and don't want to mess with my hair. lol I had today off and we didn't do a whole lot...just got my hair cut, browsed Walmart for a few minutes and came home. Jason's been trying to fix a laptop. I've been re-doing this site.

Did you notice I changed the background? I also added a few "graphics" to the right side of the page. Then a little further down on the right side, I added some pics. Just a few of my favorites...of course I have soooo many favorites. I also added my poem, But I Aint Momma because everyone seemed to like it so much...and I'm extremely proud of that poem. I really like all of the updates...it brightens my page up more and it shows more of who I am. The site I got all of the graphics from, is a site called Aerocharm. I love that site. The reason I like it so much is because it recognizes step-mom's...and step-mom's are so often overlooked. The background I chose was a site called Pyzam...which is a pretty awesome. I just liked the tiara...and the color behind the tiara was a fall-ish color.

I'm currently reading another book by Debbie Macomber in the Navy Series. I've read the first two...I don't have #3...so I skipped to book #4. It isn't hurting anything though because there aren't any character ties in this series, so it's okay that I skip around a bit. After that...I think I'm going to read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I've heard a lot about this book and it looks interesting. Matthew (Jason's cousin) just got it at a school book fair...and he told me that I could read it whenever I wanted to. Anyway, I'm sure sometime this weekend I'll write some more!

Until next time...

Love,
Cole :)

I cannot WAIT for this weekend...

Hey everyone,

It's only Sunday, but I've been excited about this upcoming weekend since...oh, last weekend ended! lol

I'm not sure what it is, but this week I have been missing the kids a little more than usual. Sometimes our weekends just seem to fly by so fast and I'm left wondering where the time went. It seems like it takes forever for Friday to get here when Jason picks up the kids, and then I don't get off work until 10 at night, and when I come home, most of the time, they're asleep. Then Saturday is usually full with activities, and then Sunday comes. I don't like Sunday because we have to take them home. It seems like Sunday is nothing but run run run. It's up early in the morning for breakfast, play a few hours, eat lunch, get baths, and take them home. I get a little bitter sometimes, but I just wish there was more time with them. Anyway...this weekend should be fun.

My mom is coming up to hang out with us on Saturday and I can't wait! There is a new bridal shoppe that opened up in Jacksonville (the town I work in), so we may take Jas up there with us and look around. I think she'd have fun. And I have a feeling Jas won't be the only one that wants to go. lol The boys will probably want to go...maybe not Luke, he's always stuck up his dad's butt, but Shawn will probably want to go as well. We'll see. All three of them have seen the pictures of me in the bridal gowns I've tried on, and they thought it was cool. Luke even told me I looked "pretty in that one dress", which I thought was so cute. lol

It's 2:20 and I have to be at work at 3:30 and I'm so not looking forward to it. I'd rather stay here all day. lol Oh well...I have to work until Wednesday. I'm off Thursday and then I work on Friday...then I have the weekend off with the kids! I'm ready for Friday!

Love,
Cole

P.S. For those of you that have children that live with you...you have no idea how lucky you are. Sure, they may drive you crazy sometimes...but you don't know what it feels like not to have your kids but a few days out of a month. And for those that are in situations anything like mine, you know exactly how it feels. You know that immediate emptiness that takes over your entire body once you say goodbye and drive away. Don't take the life you have with your kids for granted. Others aren't quite as lucky.

Gleason Halloween 2008

Photobucket Album

Hey everyone!

I hope your Halloween was good whether you had kids to take out trick or treating, handed out candy, or just sat at home. lol Our Halloween was pretty good. I took off on Friday, since it was Halloween, so I could be here to help get the kids ready to go. We picked them up after school and got home around 5:00. I made dinner and by the time we were done it was almost 6:30. So we got the kids cleaned up and put on their costumes.

Jasmine was a Barbie princess. She said she didn't want to do anything with her hair, she just wanted it down. She did ask if she could use some of my make up, which I let her. Luke was Superman...complete with a make-shift cape. The costume was given to us by a woman I work with, and it didn't have a cape with it. Of course when he tried the costume on a few weeks ago, he didn't mention wanting a cape. But on the night of Halloween, he wanted a cape...so Jason made that happen. Shawn was Spiderman. My mom had sent up Halloween baskets for them, so they used those.

We only went to about 10 to 15 houses. We went trick or treating here in Virginia, and it wad difficult to find houses lit up giving out candy! Our favorite costume of the night was the little UPS boy. The second house we went to, there was a little boy wearing an authentic UPS uniform, complete with a hat. And his candy basket was a UPS box! It was adorable! I assume his dad is a UPS driver or something.

Before we took them to houses, we told them when they went up to the door, they should say "trick or treat" and make sure to say "thank you" when you're done. Well, what we forgot was to tell them not to grab candy...and let the people give the candy to them! The first house we went to, the lady handed Jas and Luke candy, but hadn't gotten to Shawn yet, and he got impatient, so he sticks his hand in the basket and grabs a handful of candy! lol So, after we tell him that he's supposed to wait and it's not nice to grab candy...a few houses down, the lady holds out the candy and tells them they can grab what they want. Shawn looks up at me and says, "Cole, can I?" LOL So then we modified what we told them...we told them not to grab the candy out of the bowl unless they say it's okay to pick what they want. Luke is the shy one and was just happy to get candy. Shawn on the other hand...every time he was given candy he'd ask, "What is this?" LOL And Jasmine would make conversation about the cats and dogs that people had by saying, "Oooh... I like your dog...did you know that I'm an animal person? I have a cat..." LOL

They did pretty good for themselves...they eventually started slowing down quite a bit and we all agreed to come back home. That was pretty much our Halloween...we all had a lot of fun!

Oh and just like last time...the big picture you see at the top of this post...CLICK ON IT! It will bring you to my Photobucket album and you can view all of the pictures. I really hope doing it this way doesn't make it any more difficult for some of you. If it does, I'm sorry. The other site I use to make slideshows (RockYou.com) was down today. Last time, I tried Photobucket to make it easy for my mom to get pictures and print them, but that didn't work very well. lol Anyway, I hope you can all see the pictures!

Well, that's about it for now. Until next time...

Love you all and take care,
+Cole+

More Magazine Covers

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

A little bit of everything...

Well this is the second time I'm writing all of this...I was talking to Jason and I apparently hit something on my keyboard and it erased everything I had written...not the first time it's happened, and it's quite annoying. And I don't even know which combination of buttons I hit that erases everything, but I sure do a good job of it...So, I'll try and write with the same enthusiasm as I had before...

Hey everyone,

I just noticed I currently have 118 profile views on my blog, which is pretty cool! It's nice knowing that when I send the link to come and read it, you all actually do! Thank you, I appreciate it. Sure, I love to write and post pictures, but you're the reason I do it...so knowing that you're not completely bored with me yet helps! lol

Most importantly, my dad is doing much better. Thank you to those of you that kept him in your prayers. He's eating much better now, and because of that, he feels stronger. He was having trouble eating and keeping anything down because he was so nauseated from his medicine. He was put on three different medications (asacol, prednisone, and levaquin). His doctor also gave him a medicine to help him with the nausea, but I never found out the name of that one. The technical name for what he he has is ulcerative colitis. Translation: bunch of ulcers in his colon. The main thing is, he's able to keep food down now. He went back to work this past Wednesday, and as far as I know, he's still doing fine. I called him on my break a few days ago and said, "I just want to go home!" and he said, "And I just want to go to work!" Funny how that works, isn't it? lol

I had yesterday and today off, which I'll get to a little later.

We had the kids last weekend and we had so much fun! There was this gospel event in Jacksonville (the town I work in) at Nicholas Park that Grandma Stella wanted to go to. So on Saturday around noon, we left with the kids to Nicholas Park. Neither one of us had ever been there, and we went by directions that grandma got from one of the men she spoke with on the phone from the park district. Unfortunately, we were given wrong directions...he directed us to Lake Jacksonville, which was about 14 miles OUT OF OUR WAY! So much for that. While we were heading in the opposite direction, we did find a little pumpkin patch that we decided we'd come back to...once we knew where we were supposed to go (we called someone else), the pumpkin patch wasn't very far away. We arrived at Nicholas Park and the kids immediately went crazy because it's a huge park. We went inside and listened to the gospel singers for a little bit. The kids enjoyed that more than I thought they would. We ate lunch there...they had homemade chili and hotdogs and some other various things. Shawn had his bowl of chili and at least half of my bowl. The singers were telling the audience to shout out "amen" at certain parts of the song, and to wave our hands in the air and clap and sing along. The kids were waving their hands in the air and shouting amen and clapping...it was so cute. It would have made Grandma Kelly proud. Anyway, after we ate, we let them go play outside in the park. We were running around after them for nearly two hours when Luke decided we needed a potty break. We all decided just to leave and go get pumpkins after that because it was already 4:00. We went back to the pumpkin patch and let them look around at the pumpkins for a bit. I got them one baby pumpkin each, a medium-sized pumpkin each (to paint) and the one big pumpkin for Jason to carve. They had a duck race and got to see and feed some fish in a little pond they had. Grandma and I were exhausted, so we rounded the kids and their pumpkins and headed for home...which where we were was a good 45 minutes away.

Before we did all our activities that day, we went to Walmart to get a few things. While we were there, I asked the kids if they had ever made their own pizza before. They hadn't and thought it would be fun to make one, so I bought everything to make some homemade pizza. When we got home, we all deemed it necessary for the kids to take a nap before dinner and all of the pumkin activities. When they woke up, they all teamed up and wanted to make pizza's...which I originally told them we'd have for lunch the next day...but they really wanted to make them, so I caved. They thought it was so cool to make their own pizza.

After dinner, we let them sit at the table and paint their pumpkins. Unfotunately, we didn't get the right kind of paint (which will be evident in the pictures), so the paint just kept coming right off the pumpkin. But they're kids, so they didn't care and had fun anyway. After they were done, one by one, I gave them baths...the other two kids that weren't taking a bath at that moment, was watching Jason carve their big pumpkin. In the carving kit we bought, they had some carving ideas and Jason told them we'd vote on which one to carve. Well, they actually all agreed on the same one. So, it took him about an hour to carve it, but it turned out so cool. The kids loved it. Then...it was bedtime. Finally. I was exhausted.

Sunday wasn't very eventfull. We went outside and took some pictures, but other than that, we didn't do too much. I had to work Monday through Wednesday...which leads me to my two days off. Yesterday was rather boring...it was cold and rainy outside, so it was one of those days you just wanna stay in bed all day. I felt very lazy most of the day. Early evening, Jason and I went upstairs and started rearranging our room a bit. We moved a few things around, re-organized some of our boxes...which let us be able to get rid of a few boxes. We bought a maroon area rug...we doubled the floor space, it looks really nice up there.

Today was a good day. Still cold and rainy outside...but still a good day. I've been reading books by an author named Debbie Macomber, which is an author my mom turned me on to. I had read a series or two of her books and decided to see what else I'd be interested in. I came across a book I really want called Twenty Wishes. Right now it's only hardcover. I did a little research and realized that book is #4 in a series called Blossom Street. So, naturally, I wanted to get all of them. Jason mentioned a used bookstore in Havana called The Neverending Story...he also mentioned he could get some books free because he gave the book store a bunch of books he didn't want anymore. So, he gave the store a call and he had 12 free books. So, we made a trip to Havana and I was able to get six books. He didn't find anything he was looking for...but the book store was awesome. When we first walked in, there was a sign that read, "Two cats on this premisis." I thought, "Yes! Cats! I like this place already!" They had two rooms...one was full of books and the other was full of nicknack type things...cards, candles, calanders, etc. I was able to get the first two books of Blossom Street, and the first two and #4 of the Navy series, and a Christmas-ish book called The Snow Bride. I called my mom and told her and she has the Blossom Street series, except for the latest release, which is the one I was looking for, Twenty Wishes. So, at least I can read the third one that I wasn't able to find at the bookstore. My mom had never read the Navy Series, so I finally get to let her borrow some of my books, versus me always borrowing her books. lol The cats in there were HUGE! They were so adorable, though. The girl was white and the boy was black and gray. They were chasing each other through the bookshelves, knocking stuff over...I bet they're fun to clean up after. lol The white cat was really attached to me. She kept coming up to me meowing and climbing on me when I was knelt down looking for books. She was so cute.

After the bookstore, we stopped for a quick lunch and headed home. I decided to start reading the Navy series...and I'm liking it so far.

By the way... I have a TON of really cute pictures I want you all to see...the post before this, you'll see a big picture of Luke with a pumpkin...click on it. It will take you to a new page on Photobucket's website and it will have all of the pictures there for you to see. If you want to see one bigger, just click on it. There are 6 pages of pictures...there are a lot of good ones, so please go take a look!

Thank you all for reading...I'm tired of typing now and I want to get back to my book! I love you all and until next time...

Take care,
Cole xoxox

Fall is here!

Photobucket Album

My dad

Well, most of you are probably aware that my dad is at St. Anthony's Hospital right now. I know he hasn't been feeling well for the past few weeks. When he told me that he was coming home to go to the doctor, I really knew that he felt bad because my dad doesn't like going to the doctor, and usually my mom and I have to push him to go when he's sick. He's always working so much and just doesn't go. The past week, I knew he was feeling pretty bad because I could hear it in his voice when I'd call him.

So he went to the doctor on Tuesday and they did four tests. At that point in time, they thought he may have food poisoning. The doctor gave him something to help him feel a little better until they got the test results back and found out what was wrong. My dad has been calling to see about his test results and only one has come back so far. They tested him for E Coli and he doesn't have that. His doctor told him that if he didn't feel any better by morning (this morning) to go to the ER because he'd be dehydrated. So... I called this morning and around 11:00'ish, my mom took my dad to St. Anthony's. Since then, they've done more tests. They thought he may have mononucleosis, but the test came back for that and he doesn't have mono. They did a cat scan on his stomach. They found a spot on his liver, so apparently they're doing more testing to see what that is about. They've got a GI specialist coming in tomorrow morning to do a colonoscopy (I don't know if I spelled that right) to check his colon (obviously, lol). So, all he can eat is jello and all he can drink is white soda. My mom said that he's been sleeping a lot since he got home on Tuesday. They've re-hydrated him. And he's finally in a room, which is actually a private room. A few hours ago, he finally got to go outside and smoke, so I know that made him happy. lol My mom brought up his computer to keep him busy, but he doesn't have an internet connection in his room, so he's bummed about that.

I've talked to my mom nearly ten times today, I think. Needless to say I'm worried, even though I'm trying not to let my dad hear that in my voice when I talk to him. I talked to my mom about 4:30...and as soon as I get news, I've been relaying it to Jason, who's been trying to comfort me. And finally I just started crying, and he grabbed my hand and looked at me and said, "If you need to go home, just let me know." I wanted to go home and see my dad. I called my mom first though, to see what her opinion was. She thought that things were okay for now and she said she'd call me if anything gets really serious, since we're the farthest away. But she didn't see a need right now. So, in a way, it made me feel better knowing that things are seeming to be okay. I just really hope they find out what's wrong with him soon so they can treat him and he can get out of the hospital.

So I'm trying to remain calm until we find out what's going on. It's almost 11:00pm and hopefully he's getting some sleep. I hope everyone is praying for him. It's difficult knowing that my grandma, brother, sister n law, nephew, aunt and uncle have all been up at the hospital today and I feel so far away that I couldn't be there. He knows that I love him and that I'm thinking about him, so I hope that's enough. I'm praying for you dad, I love you.

-Cole-

Fall is finally here!

I'm so excited that fall is here! I love all of the beautiful leaves turning red and orange. I love the cooler weather...it's hoodie season! I miss wearing my hoodies. Halloween is less than a month away and we're getting all three kids this year and I CANNOT wait.

I was talking with one of the pharmacists that I work for about having the kids for Halloween and costumes. Jasmine wants to be some sort of princess, Shawn wanted to be Lightening McQueen, and Luke would most likely want to be some sort of superhero, though he hadn't told me for sure. She had mentioned that she had some extra costumes from her kids that we could have. She said she had a Superman costume and some princess-like costumes. So, she brought them into me at work on Friday. Luke really loved the costume. It's a little big, but we may try and hem it up a little since it's ours to keep now.

On Saturday, we left around 9'ish and did a little bit of the Scenic Drive. It's basically town-wide yardsales. We went through Havana, Canton, Lewistown, Pekin, and then came home. I've never been to Lewistown, and I got to see the little computer shop that Jason did his internship at. I've been to Canton once, but this time he showed me his college. It's called Spoon River College. It was a lot bigger than I thought. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. I took a few pics of it. Jason got his associates in Computer Information Systems there. He got his associates in a year and a half...impressive, considering it takes most people at least 2 years.

When we got home, I took out the box my mom sent up that had Halloween decorations in it so the boys could help me decorate. They liked putting up the window clings. I don't think they've ever gotten to decorate with window clings before. Thanks mom for all the stuff. :)

After a little while, we went to Walmart to pick up Torrey (grandma's husband). We let Shawn look for a Halloween costume because once he saw Luke's Superman costume, he wanted to be Spiderman. So, we found him a Spiderman costume. We tried it on him earlier today and it fit him perfectly...he looked so adorable in it. We bought them some winter coats too. They're like the Carhart style. They were a little on the expensive side, but they look like they're made well. They had good insulation in them, they've got pockets and a hood. They both tried them on in the store and they didn't want to take them off. lol They wanted to wear them outside, but it was too hot to wear that thick of a coat. lol

Then we came home and made cupcakes. That was a lot of fun. I let them do a lot of it. When it came time to ice them, Shawn had already fallen asleep, so Luke and I iced them and decorated them. My mom sent up some Halloween cupcake holders (that had little pumpkin toothpick decorations), and we ran out of cupcake holders, so I just put the extra batter in a pan and made a little cake out of it. I let Shawn decorate the cake since he was asleep the night before. I let them take some of the cupcakes home that they made and we kept the cake and a few cupcakes here for us.

The weekend was a lot of fun, but it went by waaaay too fast. It's another long two weeks before we get to see them again. I figure the next weekend, instead of cupcakes, we'll make either caramel apples or apple crisp or something. Each weekend we have them, we'll do something a little special until Halloween. Did I mention that I'm REALLY excited? :) I hope you enjoy all of the pictures. I leave you with a few that I forgot to add to the cupcake pics...these are of Shawn icing the cake.

Love,
Cole

I just need to vent...

Hello all of my blog readers,

I just need to vent about a few things. This does not apply to all of you, so for that, I apologize for those that have been supportive. With that being said...

I'm tired of people trying to make me feel guilty about OUR decision to move to IL. I'm tired of people acting like I don't miss my family at home. I'm tired of people saying hurtful things because my life hasn't turned out the way THEY wanted it to. Well, you know what? I am EXTREMELY proud of the way my life has turned out. Hence, I said "MY" life. I'm sorry if I'm not that naive, ten-year-old girl that you can mold into anything you want anymore. So, when you say that you think I've "screwed up my life", why don't you take a look at YOUR life and tell me if you still have room to judge me.

I know it's difficult for some of you to comprehend that I'm engaged (and marrying) a man that's a few years older and that has three kids. Get over it. We're happy. I know some of you only say the things you do because you're not happy in your own lives and have to try and tear other people down that are living the life they want to. This is my life now. Unfortunately, some people just like to judge because they have nothing else better to do.

So, for the people that have been just as loving and supportive all along, THANK YOU. Mom, Dad, Kelly, John...thank you. You are not included in my rant. We really appreciate everything you've done to help us. There are just a few select people that are making it really difficult to miss because of the things they say and how they act. Regardless of that, I still love and miss all of you. I miss everyone from family to my old store on Vogel. Did you seriously think I was going to stay in Arnold, Missouri living with my parents all my life and never finding love? If so, you're sadly mistaken.

I'm happy. Can't you see that? Isn't that what you all say you want for me? If that is the truth, then you should be thrilled because I'm very happy.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox. I sure hope I've made my point.

Love,
Cole

My digital camera incident :(

Hey everyone! I know my blog has been slow as of late, but that's mostly due to the fact that I no longer have my digital camera. For those who don't know...here's the story:

A few weeks ago (right before we came to MO) I had my laptop and digital camera sitting out because I had my camera hooked up to my laptop uploading pictures to either Myspace or this site. I got up to go upstairs for something and I closed my laptop and placed it in the computer chair, with my camera (in its case) sitting on top. I came downstairs a few minutes later and started getting the kids ready for bed. I had them get in their pajama's and I asked Shawn to take his dirty clothes upstairs and put them in the laundry basket. Here's a fact for you...the kids love my camera. They love taking pictures with it. Well, one night, it was just Jason, grandma, Torrey, and myself sitting around and I said, "Hey...I still can't find my camera. Has anyone seen it?" Jason gets up and starts looking for it...under the couch, on top of shelves...just about everywhere. I decided that I was done looking for it for now and I went downstairs to switch our laundry from the washer into the dryer. I got to the bottom and grabbed the last item of clothing when I heard something...I looked in the washer, and there it was. My beautiful camera. Dead. No longer in working condition. I was so upset. Not only do I love my camera (a lot), I hadn't had it for very long. My dad had given me several gift cards for Best Buy that he earned with his job and that paid for about half of it. Jason and I paid for the rest of it. That's why my blog has been so slow. I haven't had any new pictures and I prefer to have pictures to brighten up my posts.

So basically, I don't know if I grabbed the camera when I went upstairs, wasn't paying attention and (for some odd reason) sat it on top of the laundry basket. Or if Shawn grabbed it without me even knowing and took it upstairs with him when he took his clothes up and put it in the basket, of course, not knowing any better. Either way, it's really unfortunate. I still have my old digital camera, so my mom is going to send that up with John and Kelly when they come up in a week or so. My old camera was kind of annoying towards the end because the little door that opens to put the batteries inside was broke and I had to keep it shut with tape. So, besides the fact of going through a bunch of batteries, each time I'd change the batteries, I'd have to put more tape on it because it wasn't strong enough to hold.

I'm really excited about the next week or two. I just received my schedule and I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm off today and then I work Wednesday-Friday and I'm off Saturday and Sunday. And I even get off early on Friday...so I'll have a nice, long weekend with Jason and the kids. Then I'll work Monday-Wednesday of the next week and I'm off on Thursday...which is when John, Kelly, Ant and Hannah are coming up. I'll work Friday and then I'm off on Saturday. I was just informed about a fish fry on Saturday, so I guess we're going to that. Then I have to work on Sunday. That's all of my schedule that I know so far. I can't wait for all of them to come up because I miss them!

Well, there really isn't much of anything else to talk about right now, so I'll end my blog with this...I love all of you and I miss you. Take care!

Love,
Cole

"We Weren't Crazy"

Since my blog has been really slow lately because of my camera incident (long story...I may post later), I decided to just post some lyrics of this song that Jason and I have been listening to a lot lately. It reminds us of...well, us. lol

"We Weren't Crazy" by Josh Gracin:

We headed out to California
Everybody tried to warn us
Said we wouldn’t make it any Further
Than that worn out Chevy would

We broke down a time or two
Thought “maybe we didn’t think it through”
We were all we had to turn to
When it wasn’t lookin’ good

We’re lookin’ back laughin’
‘Cause they called us crazy

(chorus)
We were young, we were wild, we Were restless
Had to go, had to fly - had to get away
Took a chance on that feelin’ - baby
We were lovin’ blind - borderline reckless
We were livin’ for the minute we Were spinnin’ in
Maybe we were a lot of things
But we weren't crazy

Just a couple kids a couple years ago
Now we gotta couple kids of our own
We turn out right - proved them wrong
Look at us goin’ strong

Lookin’ back laughin’
‘Cause they called us crazy

(repeat chorus)

Coulda set it down
When things got tough
Coulda walked away from this love
But that’d been crazy

We were young, We were wild, We Were restless
Had to go, had to fly, had to get Away

Took a chance on that feeling
We were lovin blind, borderline reckless
We were livin for the minute we were spinning in
Maybe we were a lot of things
Oh maybe we were a lot of things
But we weren't crazy

We Weren't Crazy
We Weren't Crazy

We Weren't Crazy Lyrics

More pictures!

Here are some more pictures that either me or one of the kids have taken the past few weeks. There are some REALLY cute ones in here. Enjoy. :)

The visit to MO

I know I haven't updated in a little while, but I've been really busy with work, so I'm finally off today and have time to upload all of these pictures.

My grandma and aunt Joyce have been asking me for the past several weeks if I was going to be able to come to the family reunion this year. For a while, I didn't think so. Then, I found a place in my work schedule where I was off for a weekend and decided to surprise them. So, I kept telling them that I didn't know if we could make it or not. Not to be mean...just wanted to surprise them. It was also my granmda's 21st birthday, so I thought it would be special. ;)

On Friday, the 22nd, I got off of work at 6:30 and Jason came with the kids to get me and we left to come to MO. The kids loved the "big silver bridge" and the "big boat" (in Alton). They stayed awake for the majority of the trip. So, this is how this post will work...I'm the narrator and here are the illustrations.

Leaving to come to MO:

Friday night when we got there, we came in through the basement door and as soon as we walked in, they all saw my dad's drums and wanted to play. Shawn played first, then Jasmine, then Luke. Jasmine was the loudest and she really looked like she knew what she was doing. lol They had a lot of fun with that. Jasmine said, "When I get older, I'm gonna be in a band with a drummer!" lol

Here are a few misc. pics of them playing...

On Saturday, we had planned to go to St. Francois Park with Kelly, John, and all of the kids. We made it out there around 12:30 or 1:00, I think. We had a spot that had sand, so the kids had fun with that. Jason was helping the kids catch little fish. They thought that was just the coolest thing. My dad grilled...oh my Gosh, I really miss his grilling. He's the best. One of my favorite things is when he gets something cooked, he'll bring me a few samples of it. He brought a plate down of one rib cut into a few pieces and we all pigged out on it. Ant loved them! He said my dad should be a chef. LOL I think that made dad feel good. I think we all had fun...it just flew by though. It didn't seem like we had much time. We came back to the house to get the kids baths and everything. My brother told me to call him when we got back because he wanted to stop by and see us for a little bit. It took me a while to get a hold of him, but we ended up just going over there and visiting for a little bit. We didn't get to go see his mom like we wanted to, but we started kind of late. They're coming up in a few weeks, so at least we'll get to spend some more time with them then. I think my brother really missed me. Here's the pics from the park:

On Sunday morning, we got everything packed and Jason loaded everything into the car. I got the kids quick baths and we headed to Walmart to get my grandma a birthday card before going to the reunion. I had this idea to even call my grandma to wish her happy bday and to pretend we were in IL to be an even bigger surprise. Jason said that was mean. lol Anyway, so we headed to the reunion. It's this little tradition to go to KFC and get a big meal. So my mom picked that up on her way over there. The reunion was at Arnold Park, like it's been since I can remember. The reunion isn't anything like it used to be. For those that don't know, my dad used to play the drums in the family band. The past several years my dad hasn't been able to play because of his job. This was the first time he's been home for the reunion in several years. I used to fall asleep in my playpen listening to the band play. Anyway...after my dad got his traveling job, they had some young guy playing for a few years. After that, the band just stopped playing. So the past several years it's just been karaoke. I wanted to sing this year, but my voice wasn't up to par because I was sick.

The kids had fun dancing...Shawn and Jasmine were asking people to dance with them. Jasmine asked my dad and my brother to dance with her. She grabbed my dad's hands and asked, "Will you dance with me?" My dad said, "Well...I don't really dance" and my mom is going, "Oh come on...she wants you to dance with her." So he just kind of stands there while she's twirling. LOL Then she asked my brother to dance who told her, "Sorry kiddo, I don't dance." That time she just danced by herself again. Then Shawn was my dancing partner the majority of the time. I did dance with Jasmine and Luke a bit. Shawn is the one that really loves to dance. He wanted my mom to dance with him, so she did. Shawn was even dancing in the middle of the floor all by himself. It was kind of funny. We didn't get to stay very long because we had to make the trip back home and of course take all of the kids back. They were all telling their mom and grandma about the weekend they had. I think they had a lot of fun. Oh, and they liked my grandpa's Harley, so there are some pictures of them on that too.

Here's the pics from the reunion:

Here a few more pics that I had of the weekend...