Cindy-Lou and Store # 4972

I called my old store earlier tonight to talk to Kelly for a few minutes and I had a request to update my blog...so here I am, updating my blog. There hasn't been too much to update really. I don't have many new pictures. I prefer to have pics accompany my blog posts...so I guess that's why I haven't posted much of anything in a while. But that's changing right now.

So, I admit it. I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss my old store and I don't care for my new one much...at all. I just keep telling myself that I will get used to everything and it'll be fine. It takes time, I guess. Everybody there is nice and procedures aren't much different than Vogel. I just miss the comfort of "my store." Vogel will always be "my store", regardless if I'm working there or not. I think I was just too spoiled at Vogel, maybe that's it. I walked in there already knowing two people, so that helped me out. I miss Wednesday nights there...me, Kelly, Cindy...I really miss you guys! It was nice to hear that Cindy still reads my blog. That makes me feel really good. You know how it is...people leave and say they're going to stay in touch, but then they drift away. So, I was glad to know that she still reads it. So, this update is just for you, Cindy. I hope you enjoy it.

I guess it's just taking me some time to get used to the changes...but so far, it's good. I'm totally loving this taking care of my family thing. I love getting the kids ready for bed, supervising them brushing their teeth, reading them bed time stories and tucking them into bed. Then getting up making breakfast. I'll admit, I'm no Betty Crocker by any means. And Jason is generally up with the kids before I am...but I still like to make breakfast for them. Cereal is fine and all, but I try to give them something different sometimes. They've gotten to where they can't go to sleep until I have told them "sweet dreams, I love you." And even after I tell them, they'll be like, "Cole...you didn't say sweet dreams." I'm always like, "Yes I did...but sweet dreams again!" I love everything about it. Jason thinks I'm a little crazy, but I love it. haha Luke and I are going swimming tomorrow. He didn't like that I had to work today. It was kind of cute because when I told him the day before that I had to work tomorrow (which was today-Wed), he said, "You have to work?" (with a sad and confused face) and I said, "Yeah, I have to work tomorrow." He said, "But...when you work, who's going to watch me???" I said, "Well, your dad is still going to be here...he'll watch you." LOL When I got home tonight, I was told that he didn't want to go to bed because I hadn't eaten dinner yet and he wanted to eat more with me. Then he'd go to bed when dad and Cole got home. Too cute, right? :)

Well, I'm very tired and I'm sure Luke will be up early in the morning, so...

Until next time,

Cole

Well, here's a day to day summary of this week.

Monday: We didn't do too much on Monday. Grandma Stella had to go to the doctor because she had been really sore and her legs and arms were swelling up. She had an appointment in Rushville. I had never been to Rushville before, but it kind of reminded me of Virginia. Cute little town. Well, she had talked to Kelly and she thought it may be good if I went with her to the doctor. Jessica had to work at 4:00 pm. She works at a Super 8 Hotel in Beardstown. So, we took Jessica to work, and then went to the doctor. We got out of the doc's office around 5:30 or so and went to Walmart to fill the scripts the doc gave her. The doc just thought it was her arthritis acting up. We met Torrey when he got off of work back at the hotel so we could leave the car for Jessica and then Torrey gave us a ride home.

Tuesday: Jessica needed to get a few of her nails fixed. She wanted to go to one of the beauty school's in Jacksonville. So she invited just the girls to go along. Lakin and Blayke were here for a few days because Crystal (Blayke's mom and Lakin's step mom) had an emergency surgery. So it was Jessica, Lakin, Skyler and myself. We went to the beauty school, but they had a lot of their students on vacation, so there wasn't anyone available that could fix her nails. On the way there I had told Jess that I've been wanting to get my hair cut, but we didn't really have the money...but since it was a beauty school, I might as well get it cut. So...I got it cut. The layd told me it was going to be $7.50 to get my hair cut. I was okay with that. Then the girl that was washing my hair asked me if I had ever been there before. I told her no, I'm originally from MO. She said, "Oh, well then you get $5.00 off for your first time coming here." So, I only paid $2.50 for my hair cut. Nice, huh? I got an inch off the back and I got my swoop bangs back again. I missed those. Some of you probably recall when Great Clips "attempted" to give me swoop bangs and they messed up. Well, this girl did them right. So after they all waited for me to get my hair cut, we went to the nail place Jess usually goes to and waited for her to get her nails redone. While we waited for her, I took the other two girls walking around some shops in the plaza. We went to Hallmark, Claire's, and Dollar Tree. I had an idea for all of us to get grandma something. I know she's been under stress lately with all of us here and she hadn't been feeling very well, so I thought she'd appreciate it. Lakin, Skylar and I picked out some artificial flowers, a bear (she collects them) and a card. Lakin and I took the card to everyone and had them sign it and write a little something in it. She really liked it...when we handed it to her, we all said (in unison), "We love you, grandma!" So, there is a pic of Ant signing the card and then what we got her. After we got back from our "Girls Day Out" several of us went up to the pool to swim. I actually got Jason to go! Can you believe it? Mr. "I don't like public pools" went with us. lol

Wednesday: Yesterday was rather uneventful. It's probably the laziest day we've had here! With all of these people, it's NEVER a dull moment...let me tell ya. We watched a few movies, but that was most of our day.

Thursday (Today): I hadn't been feeling well most of yesterday and the part of today either. Timothy and Anthony wanted to go fishing, so before Grandma left for her appointment in Jacksonville, she dropped the boys off. They asked for someone to come get them around 8:30 or 9:00. Kelly called me around 5:00'ish because the boys wanted to come home. Jason and I got in the car to go get them and he pulls out of the drive way and stops, backs back up and then puts it in park. I asked what was wrong and he says, "Hold on" and gets out of the car. Great...we have a flat! Well, when he stopped and backed into the driveway again, it was completely off the rim. So, we went looking for Troy, who we thought was sleeping (he works nights) but he happened to be awake. What is great about Troy is that he has everything to fix anything. lol While he fixed the one tire, he found a screw in another tire! But he fixed that too. By the time we were able to use the car again, we were on our way to get the boys and they were walking along the side of the road carrying all of their stuff. So here we are now. We've already eaten dinner and now we're all just relaxing. I thought I was going to get to work tomorrow...but the girl that asked me said she didn't need anyone to take the shift, she can work it after all.

That's pretty much what's been going on. My dad sent Jason and I an email about Rodney Carrington (a comedian) is coming to St. Louis (and Chicago) later this year. We'd love to go, but I don't think we can go. Christmas present anyone??? :) Haha.

Until next time...

Love always,
-Cole-

I love my life

***DISCLAIMER: Before I begin the actual post...I don't know what's happening with my slideshow. Some of the captions are cut off and I have no idea where the music came from. lol I didn't intend the music to be there...so just turn your volume down.***

Okay, so I've finally had time to upload the photos I've been talking about. I know I briefly described how it's been up here, but I'll go into a little more detail now. So when we arrived on Tuesday night, we just all hung out until we got the boys Wednesday afternoon from the boys' babysitter, Mary. Grandma Stella picked up Jasmine when she went into Havana on Thursday. We've had them until earlier tonight...and I missed them as soon as we put them in their car seats to take them to their mom.

We went into Havana to watch the Firework show on Friday, July 4th. We stopped by Bill's (Jason and Ant's dad) to pick Ant up so he could go with us. Since there were too many of us to fit in the car, we walked to the park area. We spread out a big blanket and waited for the show to begin. Now, it sure wasn't any Fair St. Louis, but it was still pretty cool. Lucas was a little scared because of the loud noises. Shawn was clapping after all of the fireworks went off. That was kind of funny. After that, we dropped Ant back off and brought the kids back here to supervise some fireworks.

Grandma Stella went to Chicago, IL with her granddaughter Laken to support her in a beauty pageant she was in. I sure missed her, that's all I'm going to say. lol I started work at the new store on Tuesday. I mentioned how the kids (or Shawn at least) were asking about me when I was at work. Well, Saturday when I was about to leave for work, Jasmine and Luke came to give me a hug before I left and Shawn says, "Cole...I don't want you to go to work. I want you to stay here. Dad, can her stay here?" Then as I'm about to walk out the door, I say bye to them and I see Shawn and he has his lip out and he starts to cry. That about broke my heart!

I've enjoyed my day off for the most part today. Around 11:00 or so, I decided that I'd take the kids up to the pool. Ant agreed to go with me. Around noon, Jason's phone rang, and it was the kids' mother wanting to know when we were bringing them home. Since I didn't know myself, I gave the phone to Jason, who told me that she wanted them home by 5:00. So, I got the kids lunch and then put some sunscreen on them and we went up to the pool for a little while. We had a lot of fun at the pool. I was so impressed with Shawn. I've been potty training him the last few months. Since he's been with us for a longer period of time than two days, he was getting used to telling me when he had to go. So of course it didn't matter what I was doing, if he said he had to go, he expected me to come with him...which I don't really mind. I assumed that since he was going to be swimming and having fun that he wouldn't want to tell me, since he'd have to get out of the pool. Wrong! I was so proud of him. He told me twice that he had to go and Ant took him. See, Jason went to try and get Little Swimmers, but the store was out. So, we had to put him in "big boy underwear." We didn't know for sure how he'd do in them, but he made me so proud. Luke kept calling the pool the "tub." LOL Ant took Jas to the big pool while I had the boys in the kiddie pool. Then Ant took Luke because Luke said, "Cole...ask Anthony to take me to the big tub!" How cute is that? lol As you can see by the pics, we all had fun. Once we got back, I got all of the kids baths and ready to go to their mother's house.

After we dropped them off, Jason was telling me a story and he mentioned the bowling alley his grandpa Bill used to run. I always hear stories, but I've never seen the actual bowling alley. Since we were in town, he took me over there. The couple that runs it now happened to be there, but they were closing up. Jason was very close to his grandpa and he grew up in that bowling alley. He played on several leagues and was really good from what I hear...and I've seen him bowl now and he's awesome. So, I'm sure it brought back a bunch of memories. He introduced me to the couple and they seemed happy to see him. The woman let us come inside so he could show me. It was really nice. It had 10 lanes in it...small compared to what we have in the Arnold/Imperial area, but we're in a small town. It also has a banquet area...which I thought was pretty cool and not expecting. So we chatted with the woman for a few moments and left. We came back and ate dinner, then sat down and watched a movie. We've just been hanging out with all of Jason's cousins for a while. Now it's time for bed, but I've been wanting to finish this blog post since I've been too busy to do it the previous several days.

I've had so much fun with the kids the past (almost) two weeks. It's kind of funny, lately Jason has been saying, "your kids" instead of "the kids" or "my kids." He'll say, "I'm going to go take a shower...keep an eye on your kids until I get out." lol I love those kids to death and I've had a great time taking care of them and Jason. Jason, the kids and I are finally getting a more solid routine down now. The kids are learning more what they can and cannot do. It's so hard when we only have them for two days at a time. But this time, we had them for a lot longer. When I told them we had to get ready to go, they didn't want to go home, they wanted to stay with us. If this past week or so is any indication of how the rest of my life will be, I consider myself extremely blessed. And again, I must say how much I love Jason...I'm so glad I have this partnership.

I'm getting pretty tired now, so I'll stop writing my novel. I miss everybody back in MO...I love you all...and I miss my Tigger! Mom says she's taking good care of him and he's doing well. Thanks mom. :)

Until next time...

Love always,

Cole xoxox

Considering today is July 12th, I want to give a shout out to my nephew Travis...he's turning 11 today! Unfortunately, I can't be there for his birthday party because we're all in IL right now. I just tried to call, but he's still sleeping. Apparently, he had some friends over to spend the night and they were all up late. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAVI, I LOVE YOU! :)

So when we were down here for the Virginia BBQ, I noticed a sign advertising Tracie Lawrence in concert at a fair somewhere around here. It was on July 12th. Well, we didn't really talk about it anymore until a few days ago. I was called to cover someone's shift for today, and unfortunately (now) I said yes. Jason found out the day after I committed to working that the tickets for the concert were FREE. So we're missing a FREE concert because I have to work. Oh well. What is most annoying though (besides it's free) is the fact that this is the second time this has happened to me...with Tracie Lawrence!

So today I have to work from 3:30-10:00. I really don't feel like going to work today. I enjoyed my day off yesterday. I still don't know when we're coming home...we haven't really talked about it yet. Tomorrow (Sunday) would be the next available day though. Who knows. The kids are watching Flushed Away for the second or third time. At least we're getting a break from Spongebob. I still have to upload some pictures but I've been lazy and haven't felt like uploading them. I'll be glad when I get to come home tonight...

Until next time...

Cole

Virginia, IL and my completely random thoughts

Jason, Anthony and I came up here to Grandma Stella's house last Tuesday night to stay for a little while. The next day, Jason and I dropped Anthony off at his dad's house and we went to pick up the boys. Grandma Stella picked up Jasmine on Thursday. And since then, we've had the kids.

I've been having a lot of fun getting to spend so much time with them! Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures to show for that because I didn't have my USB camera cord for several days and I realized it was in my purse the whole time. I haven't been taking pictures because I was afraid of running out my battery and not being able to charge it. So, I'll try and take some more pictures before we leave.

Anyway, I'll start with Fourth of July. We took the kids into Havana, IL to see the firework show. It was funny, Shawn was clapping after each firework that was lit off. Luke was a little scared of the loud noises. We basically went into this big field and sat down on a big blanket and watched them. Then when we got home, the kids got to light some fireworks off (with help of course) that my mom had sent them. Thanks mom! :)

Since then, I started my "new" job at the Walgreens up here in Jacksonville. It's okay, but I REALLY miss my old store. As far as the way things are done, it's not all that much different...it's just the staff that I miss. I miss my other techs! I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and I'm off today (yay!) and I work on Saturday. I'm just enjoying my day off with the kids and Jason. Ya know...when I used to work at Vogel, I worked with Kelly on Wednesday and Sunday nights. She would always be texting John throughout the night asking about Hannah and all of the other kids and how things were going at the house. I can totally understand why she did that now. I hate leaving for work knowing that the kids and Jason are here. I asked Jason if he was watching the kids or if the kids were watching him! ;) haha. Just kidding... I just feel like I'm missing out because they're usually taking a nap whenever I leave for work...I miss dinner with them, I miss taking care of them. At least they're usually still awake by the time I get home so I can get them ready for bed. Apparently, the first night, the only kid that even asked about me was Shawn. Jason said he asked him about six times, "Where's Cole?" And each day the kids are like, "You have to work today???" Jasmine told me the other day when I was giving her a bath that if I had to work again that day, she wasn't going to eat lunch. LOL

Just as a side bar...I have Ant sitting next to me and I'm REALLY tired of hearing "ownage." Now he's upset because I'm writing about him. haha! And for those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about...you don't want to know, he's a dork. :) Love you Anthony!!!

I feel like I haven't updated my blog in forever, so I'm just going to write a novel here. I just have to give a shout out to my wonderful fiance... I just asked him to go get me some tea...and I asked for sugar. He not only put just enough sugar in it for my taste...he went above and beyond and put ice cubes. How sweet, huh? LOL

I've been wanting to take the kids swimming with Jason, but he doesn't like public pools. He has an aunt that has a nice pool apparently, but he hasn't called her and it's a little late notice now. Kelly, Dana (her best friend) and her kids are coming up for a little while today. They're going to go to New Salem. It's been raining a little bit here today, so I think the swimming is out for today. So right now we're just hanging out. The kids are watching a movie. We're going to make some popcorn after dinner for a snack.

Grandma Stella just got back and she brought me so clothes from a yard sale that Jason's uncle is having. There's several pairs of pants ranging from $0.25 to $1.00 and then two shirts that are $1 a piece. I'm going to go try them on and see what fits! Well, I'm going to go for now and I will post pictures soon! :)

Love,
Cole

Random pics and thoughts

Above are just some random pics that I have taken the past week or two. My dad has been wanting to play music with Jason for a while now, so Jason came up one day a week or so ago and he brought his electric guitar and amp with him. It took them a little while to find something they both knew well enough to play. My dad hasn't been playing drums consistently for several years...since the family reunion. They both had a lot of fun playing...and they sounded really good. I have some video, too. I may try to get those up later.

The picture of Daniel in the mask was on Father's Day. Glen (and Daniel) treated Jason and I out to brunch at Denny's. That mask was something Daniel got with his kids menu and coloring pad. I thought it was funny, so I took a picture of it.

Tigger is doing much better now. He's eating just fine. Lately with all of the fireworks he's been going a little crazy, but it's so funny to watch him jump when a loud firework goes off.

It's Thursday and Jason and I are in IL with the kids. We'll be here until sometime later next week. I'm working at the Jacksonville Walgreens (which will be my new store... #5602) next Tuesday-Thursday. Right now, Shawn has went to bed and the other two are playing in the living room. Jason and Torrey are watching the ball game and the rest of us are just sittin' around. Well, that's all for now! We're going to go watch the fireworks tomorrow night for a little while. I'm sure I'll have some pictures from that.

Until the next post...
Love,
Cole

Trying on Dresses # 2 (David's Bridal)

Okie dokie, so on this past Monday, my mom and I decided to go looking at more dresses. We had planned to meet up with Kelly and Hannah at IHOP and go to a few bridal shoppes. My mom and I went to Michaels and browsed their wedding section. I got a lot of stickers and things for my scrapbook. I have a pre-wedding scrapbook and then I'm going to make a scrapbook after the wedding with all of our pictures and everything. Anyway...while we were almost finished at Michaels, Kelly called saying she was unable to meet us due to a change of plans. That really bummed me out, but things happen. So my mom and I went to Party America and then we headed out to David's Bridal after we had breakfast. Daniel was with us. He was so funny because he was getting bored and tired of going from one place to another looking at "girly stuff."

When we arrived at Davids Bridal, I started looking at some dresses I wanted to try on. The lady informed me that I was just supposed to tell her what I liked and she would pick out the dresses. Easy enough, right? I went into room 40 and waited for her to start bringing dresses. I tried on five or six dresses there. The really cool thing is...I've been to David's Bridal's website and I have "favorited" several dresses that I liked. After I got home I started flipping through the book they gave me at David's Bridal and I saw several of the dresses that I tried on in the book! The even cooler thing is that I realized one or two of them that I tried on (in the book) was also on the site that I said was my favorite. Call me a dork, but that was so cool to me!

My mom and I were going to go to one other place in Fenton. It was called Budget Bridal, I think. She said she went there several years ago for her bridesmaid dress for one of my cousins' wedding. However, whenever we got there, they were out of business. They were still listed in the current phone book though. Oh well.

I'm so excited because I'm finally getting more ideas for the wedding. I don't want to share just yet though because we're in the very beginning and who knows how much ideas and stuff will change. I'm so excited though! I can't wait!

Til next time...
Love,
Cole