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...

Look what I made :)

Dad's visit

Yesterday I had the day off. We didn't do a whole lot yesterday. We took Shawn to Walmart with us in the afternoon. We were going to take Luke, but he asked to stay home with grandma so he could play his game. We took Shawn to pick out some "big boy underwear" since he is potty trained now. He was excited...he got Spiderman and Cars....or "My Queen Car" as he calls it. If you've seen the movie, you know why. LOL He is very proud of his new underwear. We got some other various things and made our way home.

My dad came by to visit last night. He was working in Springfield during the day and made his way out to us about 7:30 or so. He wasn't able to stay for too long because it was getting late and he had to drive back to Arnold, but it was a good visit. I got to show him the upstairs bedroom we have. There's still stuff to move out of the room and some more cleaning to do after that is done...but we're getting there. He dropped off some things he picked up for us and the kids...chicken noodle soup and 7-UP (for me), beef jerkey, jello, Oreos...and I said, "Oooh...Oreos!" and dad said, "Those are for the kids, Cole." LOL

Shawn wanted to take pictures because my dad was here. He took several of my dad and then he went over and sat on his lap and wanted me to take pictures of him with my dad. It was so cute. I'd take the pic and then he'd run over to see what it looked like and day, "Take it again!"...he did that about 4 times. lol I'll post the pics a little later. I'm not in the mood to load them right now...I know...lazy, right? lol I have to work 2:30-9:00 tonight. Beginning at 2:30 today, I have a very long week ahead of me...yay. I'll be glad once this week is over and it's time for the weekend!

I hope this finds everyone doing well. :)

Love,
Cole

Springfield

I'm starting to feel a little better now. I've been taking DayQuil instead of the Tylenol Cold and it's working better for me. It's about time to take my next dose though.

Yesterday, we decided that we'd go to Springfield today. We thought about going to Pekin, but opted for Springfield instead. Last night, we were able to get the boys...so we went and picked them up. Today around noon, I started getting ready to go. While Jason hopped in the tub, I got the boys ready to go. Once I got them dressed, Shawn walks over and puts my shoes on. I wear a 9 1/2 in tennis shoes...so it looked funny. I took a picture of him and he wanted me to take more pictures. So, we started taking pictures while we waited for Jason to get done. The majority of the pictures I took, but there are a few that Shawn took...believe it or not, he wasn't half bad at centering, considering he's 3 years old.

We went to Springfield and went to White Oaks Mall. Oh my...I really wished we could have spent more time there. It was so much fun. They had a build-a-bear workshop, this huge carousel (yes, INSIDE the mall), a glow in the dark mini golf course, and a ton of stores. It made our mall seem pretty tiny. We went looking around Target for a little while and we all went to Subway for lunch. Now, it's around 5:30 and we're just back relaxing. In a little while, I'm going to go upstairs and clean out our room a little bit...that's exciting! And I'm going to take our boxes and things upstairs.

Grandma is making fried chicken for dinner...YUM.

Just wanted to post an update and the pictures. :)

Love,
Cole xoxoxox

My dad told me a few days ago that he had a store that was due by the 14th in Springfield, IL. He wanted to stop by where I live now and see us for a few minutes and drop off some school supply stuff that my mom bought for the kids. I've been getting a lot of hours at work lately, so I told him to let me know what day is good for him to do the store in Springfield. He emailed me that he planned to come up on Sunday. I had to work at 3 on Sunday, but I didn't think it would be too much of a problem.

I think the plan was originally to come up here and do the store, drop some things off here and visit for a few and then head to wherever his next store was. I called him Sunday morning around 10:00'ish. He said he was finishing up some things and he'd be on the road as soon as he could. He called me back a little later to say that he had too much to do and if he stayed to take care of it all, he wouldn't make it in time to see us, so he was going to take Monday off and just come up here. Since plans had changed, my mom was able to come up with him...and they brought Tigger so I could see him... I was thrilled! :) Sounds like a great day so far, right?

I called around 12:30 to see where they were...and I figured it would be about another hour and they would be here. We had the kids this past weekend, and neither of them have ever met Jasmine, so they were looking forward to meeting her. When we brought the kids to MO, she didn't come down that weekend; just the boys. Well, my mom and dad ended up getting lost. So, instead of a visit that should have been about an hour and 15 or so minutes...it was only 20 minutes. Can you believe that? They came all the way up here for 20 minutes and then all the way back home. Jason said they must have really missed me. lol My dad traded in his truck for a new one recently...and Tigger apparently used my dad's truck as a bathroom facility...oops.

The good part...I did get to see my parents and Tigger for a few minutes...I did get my things delivered. I just wish the visit could have lasted a bit longer. I wish I would have been off.

Another thing that bummed me out was that I was at work when Jason picked the kids up on Friday and I was at work when he took them home on Sunday. So I got a very limited amount of time with them this weekend. Now it'll be another 2 weeks until we see them. Definitely something to look forward to, though. :)

Speaking of the kids...I have some cute pics I wanted to post. Shawn loves to sing and dance. He always asks Jason to turn music on or tells him to play his guitar so he can sing and dance with me. He's so adorable. He likes to slow dance with me and he always wants me to pick him up. While we were waiting for my mom and dad to arrive, Shawn and I were dancing. Jasmine was taking some of the pictures...and in that one picture where Shawn is kissing me...he wasn't posed like that, he just did it right as Jasmine snapped. I thought it was a really cute picture. Don't you? Luke isn't in the pics because he was too busy playing on the computer. That little dress Jasmine is in, we bought outside of Walmart on the clearance racks for $3. She loved it. We bought it Friday night, she wore it Saturday and then wanted to wear it Sunday too. I washed it for her on Saturday night so she could wear it again. lol

Sunday night was a really crappy night at work. Not only were we really busy, we had a bunch of scheduling issues. Then it was 10:00, but I decided to take one more customer before I left...BIG MISTAKE. Just to inform any of you who may do this to your pharmacy...don't. So this woman walks up with her son. I ring her son out with his script and I assume I'm done. The woman tells me she'd like to get a refill. I asked her what her date of birth was, verified the necessary info and asked her, "Okay, what would you like refilled?" Her response was, "Everything." Please, please, please don't do this...ever. If you have more than just one or two meds you need refilled, you need to have the bottle with you with the refill numbers or have a list of the meds with you when you go into the pharmacy. It just makes life so much easier for everyone. Seriously. This lady had 15 meds to refill. And of course, she doesn't know what she needs refilled exactly...so I searched by last fill date and I'm naming off all of these meds and she says, "I don't know if I need that one...what's it for?" I wanted to scream.

I am not feeling well today. It started last night when I got home from work. I've been taking some stuff today, but it's not helping all that much. I hope I feel well enough to work tomorrow. I work tomorrow and then I'm off on Thursday. There's a new episode of Eureka on tonight that Jason and I will watch. Since I had the day off, Jason and I decided to go up to Canton, IL because I had never been up there before. We had lunch up there and went to a few game stores and just browsed around to see what kinds of stores were up there. Jason showed me the fishing holes him and and his grandpa used to fish at before he passed away. I got to see the hospital that Shawn was born at. Jason showed me the trees he planed when he was in 6th or 7th grade. It was an eventful day...even though I felt like crap. One minute I feel fine and the next I feel horrible. My throat hurts, I feel feverish, my body aches everywhere, I've got a cough...yuck.

Anyway, I will leave you all to enjoy the pics...take care!

Love,
Cole

Luke's Artwork

Two posts in one day is rare, but I felt the need to post Luke's artwork. Jason and I told him he needed to find something to do that was quiet, and he grabbed his Magnadoodle thing (if that's still what they're called now) that we bought him for Christmas and started drawing. Jason said, "Draw me, bub." Luke smiled and said, "But I can't draw dad's hair!" After we laughed, Jason said, "Okay, well draw me bald, then!" Luke started drawing and he looked at me and threw his hands up and said, "Cole...I need help, I can't draw dad." So, I got down on the floor and helped him draw Jason. And this was the finished product:



And here's a few others that he drew...

If you notice, there is a pic of Luke and his drawing of several stick people. I asked him who he drew in the pic so I could show everyone. He said, "It's me, my dad, you, Jasmine and Shawn." I said, "But there's one more person...who is that?" Without hesitation he said, "My girlfriend!" LOL How cute is that?

Oh, and grandpa John, he said he's ready to go to the mud trucks again. He still talks about that...months later.

Work tomorrow...ugh.

Love,
Cole

Final Day of Relaxation...

I thoroughly enjoy every single day that I don't have to work at home with Jason and the kids...or Luke...or just Jason. Depending on the day and who's here, of course. Today is my last day of relaxation for any extended period of time because starting tomorrow, work picks up. For those that are curious, this is my schedule from now until 8/11.

Monday 8/4- 11:00-7:30
Tuesday 8/5- 1:30-10:00
Wednesday 8/6-OFF!
Thursday 8/7- 9:00-5:30
Friday 8/8- 9:00-5:30
Saturday 8/9-OFF!
Sunday 8/10- 3:00-10:00
Monday 8/11-11:00-7:30

The senior tech told me last week that by tomorrow (Monday) she'd have the rest of Augusts' schedule up from the 12th forward, so I'll have the rest of my schedule shortly. Yay.

So needless to say, I'm just trying to enjoy my last day before I have to go back to work. At least my schedule is pretty decent. I'm liking that I have more day shifts rather than night shifts. The only thing I DON'T like (at all) is that we'll have the other two kids this weekend...and I have to work. I'll have to work when Jason picks them up and I'll have to work when he takes them home. That really stinks. Such is life.

I decided to see if this little town of Virginia had a library. Grandma said it did, and it was just a little past McClausland's IGA (little town grocery store). I wanted to take Luke to the library and get a book. I read to him every night (or most nights) before bedtime...it's part of the routine. All of the kids really like the Dr. Suess books. I wanted to get a book for myself as well. So Luke and I took off for the library. It was Saturday, so I didn't know what the library hours were. We got up to the front door when I saw a sign that said to use the back door...then the hours posted below that. The library closed at 1:00 on yesterday. "Crap!" I thought, and looked at my cell phone. "Of course! It's 1:05." And the worse part was that they weren't open again until Tuesday, and I had to work. A little dissapointed, Luke and I started to walk away as I explained to him the situation. A woman came from around the back and asked us if we needed anything. I told her we didn't really need anything, I just wanted to get a book for my little one. She said that if I came around back, she'd give me a paper that had the hours on it. She asked Luke what his favorite author was. He just held my hand and kept his eyes fixated on the ground. "Dr. Suess is his favorite. I was hoping to find him one he hasn't read yet," I said. So, once we got around back, she said, "Well, maybe we'll have to find you one really quick. Will that do?" A very quiet, "Yes" and a little smile appeared on his face. He decided on "The Cat in the Hat." A different lady helped us at the counter. I asked her if she had any Debbie Macomber books. She said there was a whole shelf of them, and told me that I could go look quickly, if I wanted. I picked out two. One is almost done. Once that one is finished, I'll probably start the next one. Luke enjoyed his book, by the way. We read it last night. Of course we thanked them and went back home.

Luke came home and shortly thereafter took a nap. When he woke up from his nap, he was crying. Jason and I both tried asking him what was wrong, but he wouldn't say anything but, "Owie." Grandma came in and he told her that his ear and head hurt. Long story short, we put some ear drops in, gave him some medicine, and put a plastic glove full of water on his ear, and that worked. It didn't take long and he was just fine. Previous to the earache, I told him we may go swimming today. But I decided because of yesterday, we'd "play it by ear." Then when I woke up this morning, it was pouring down raining.

Now we've all had lunch and are just relaxing. I'm eager to get back to my book in a few minutes and Jason just put new strings on his guitar.

Until next time,

+Cole+

Luke and Uno

For those that don't already know, to make a long story short, when we took the kids back to their mom's house on Sunday, Lucas wanted to stay with his dad. So, we've had him since last Friday night. He's the middle child, so sometimes his thunder gets stolen by the other two. Shawn and Jasmine are both very outgoing. I always thought Luke was really shy. That's until the past few days where it's been just him. A few observations...

-He asks so many more questions that Jas and Shawn combined.
-He's not shy...
-He's hilarious, just like his dad.
-He LOVES grandma's fried chicken.
-He's stuck on me so much more when it's just him.
-He likes Guitar Hero.
-If he's awake, but no one else in the room is, he will actually just lie there until somebody else wakes up...instead of getting up and playing like he normally would.

There's probably more, but those are just a few things I have learned about him. If anyone read my blog yesterday, Luke and I went to the pool as I had mentioned. This was the first time we went just by ourselves. We went to the kiddie pool and it was completely empty. Finally, a little girl would come over for five minutes, then leave for ten, then come back for a few. He was getting bored because there weren't any kids to play with...and I guess I wasn't cool enough. lol So I took him over to the big pool. He did pretty well...he stayed hanging on the sides quite a bit. When I'd take him out further, he'd be okay for a few minutes and then he'd say, "Cole, I want to go back to the edge again." lol We left about 3:00 and came back for an ice cream cone. He's been wanting an ice cream cone for the past week...so we went to the store this morning after we went to the gas station for Jason to get some ice cream and cones. We each had two ice cream cones, then I told Luke it was bath time. I'm almost always the one who gives the baths, but he asked his dad to give him one this time. A few minutes later, Jason walks in the living room and says, "Cole...he wants you to do his hair." So I went in there to help him with his hair and he says, "Cole, I wanna smell like dad..." So I asked Jason what he uses. His answer was, "Whatever I grab. Whatever that black bottle is." lol So, he used the same shampoo/conditioner that dad uses. That made him happy. He wants to go back to the pool tomorrow. I told him we'll see.

Later on, I asked if we could play Uno. So Jason, Tim (cousin-sorta) and I played Uno. We count the points when we play, and whoever reaches 500 points first loses. It took us about two hours to finally finish. After quite a bit of back and forth, Jason ended up winning, then I came in second place, and Tim came in last. It was a lot of fun. Now it's late and I'm getting ready to go to bed pretty soon.

I love and miss you all. Thanks for reading.

Love,
Cole