Just hanging out...

Hey everyone,

It's Saturday night and I'm bored and thought I'd write in my blog while I had the time. It was my day off today, though I didn't really do anything. Or maybe that's the point? To do nothing on your day off. lol Anywho... I talked to my parents today, went to the grocery store, made lunch, then dinner, played online for a bit. I should have done some laundry, but I'll do that tomorrow before I go to work because I don't have to work until later in the afternoon.

Jason and I watched a movie and now we're just playing on our computers again. I'm missing the kids terribly. We had a rescheduling issue recently, so we won't be getting them the weekend of the 7th like normal...but we'll get them two weekends in a row. We'll get them Valentine's Day weekend and then we'll get them the weekend of my birthday. So that is good news, of course. I'm really excited for that.

Earlier today, I had sifted through the pictures I took of last weekend to find some of the better ones to make a slideshow with and post them here so some of you that don't have Myspace could see them. However, when I got to the end of all of the uploading, I got an error and basically uploaded all of the pictures for nothing. So it didn't work. Ugh.

It's getting late though, so I'm gonna get going. Just wanted to write and say hello to everyone and I hope everyone is well! :)

Love,
Cole

"Happy Birthday to You..."

Hey everyone!

Wow, what a weekend we all had! Jason picked up the kids on Friday like usual and we just took them home a few hours ago. Grandma Stella's surprise 70th birthday party was this weekend, so my parents made the trip up here for that. We also ended up having Shawn's birthday party this weekend to, due to some scheduling issues we had. I was frustrated about it at first, but in the end, I think it worked out even better because there were more people here for it.

Kelly, Anthony and Hannah came up Friday night and then John and his son Zachary came up on Saturday...but grandma didn't know that they were even coming. Mom and dad came up around 11:00 on Saturday and brought Travi to see me! I had asked earlier in the week if Travi and Daniel could come along. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't able to come, but Travi was and it was so good to see him. I was really excited about seeing him, I miss him so much. So, my parents, Jason, the kids, Travi and I all decided to go out to eat at The Depot, which is Virginia's only sit down restaurant. LOL They have really good food though. We ate there the last time mom and dad came down too. After that, we all headed to Manito, IL for grandma's surprise party.

She was very surprised...there were probably around 75'ish people there. They had two cakes, a bunch of homemade dishes, balloons galore...however, eventually all the kids ran out of balloons because they kept popping them. So my dad, Jason and Travi went to the Dollar Store in town to get some more balloons. We stayed about 2 hours and we came back home because we had to get ready for Shawn's birthday party. Thankfully, mom and dad were able to stay though preparation, presents, and the cake.

I asked mom to wrap the gifts Jason and I got Shawn because I never did get around to wrapping them...bought them, bought the wrapping paper...just didn't wrap them. And mom's a good gift-wrapper, so she was perfect for the job. lol My dad and I went to the dollar store we have in town for a few last minute items. I came back and started making the cupcakes. They were the good kind: "funfetti" mix and "funfetti" icing. Yum. I bought these spongebob and patrick (from Spongebob Square Pants of course) cake topper candy things to put on top of them. I made a small cake for Shawn and then a bunch of cupcakes for everyone else. I sent a few home for Travis, Eve and Travi...even though I think Travi had like 3 cupcakes before he left. haha

We passed out the presents...he was very excited and got some good gifts from everyone. The funniest thing was when he was opening the big bag of gifts from my mom and dad, though. Mom had put a few batteries attached to one of his gifts and he pulls it out and gasps and says, "A BATTERY?!?!?! HOLY MACCARONI! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!" Everyone started busting out laughing. Great stuff, great stuff. Then we all sang Happy Birthday to him and had our cupcakes and ice cream. Mom, dad, and Travi had to leave after that. Kelly and her neighbor (who also came up for grandma Stella's bday party) went to meet their husbands at a hotel in Jacksonville that they stayed in overnight. All of the kids stayed here though.

After that, all of the kids were in the living room playing with their balloons and looking at Shawn's toys. Jason set up the karaoke and his brother and his cousin were having fun goofing off and singing. I took video of them and Jason recorded them singing....it was hilarious. Anthony just cracks me up.

Kelly, John, Anthony, Hannah, and Zachary all went home this afternoon. We took the kids home a few hours later. Now, Jason and I are just kinda hanging out. I'm uploading some pictures. Myspace has this thing now where I can send a link for people who don't have a Myspace to check out my pictures. I will post a link as soon as I'm done uploading all of them. There's quite a few between both birthday parties and some snow pictures today.

Love you all!

-Cole-

Christmas and New Years Eve Pics

Hey...

I know I promised some pictures a few posts ago, and I think I may have a way that will be easier for all of us. I've uploaded all of the pictures on Myspace.com and I've temporarily set a few of the albums for anyone to view (that way if you don't have a Myspace account, it's not a big deal, you should still be able to see them). I'm hoping if I just give you guys some links that you'll be able to view these albums. If there are any issues, would someone please let me know? I'd appreciate it. Thanks! I hope you enjoy the pictures...there are a few hundred of them! LOL



http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=95154763

The link above is page #1 of my albums...just start towards the bottom with the picture of Luke and Jasmine that is labeled "Christmas in Mo (at mom and dad's)...and continue to page #2:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=95154763

There are 8 albums total. I hope this works for you!

Love,
Cole

"Can I call you mom?"

Hey everybody,

It's Saturday and I have to get ready to go to work in about 26 minutes, but I thought I'd write a little bit until I have to leave. We were supposed to get to keep the kids until Sunday...but yesterday we were called and asked if we could bring them home a day or two early because the kids' aunt was in town and wanted to see them. So, we took them back yesterday. I guess I can't really complain, we had them for a long stretch....and we get them again next weekend. But I'm still in a really crappy mood because of it all.

In some ways, it's almost not good for me to have them for so long because I start feeling myself just completely let go and take the mom role. Which can be a bad thing sometimes because it makes me really upset knowing how much I want to be their mom and to keep the kids with us all of the time, and we can't. And I'll never be their mom. I love having them so much. We all had so much fun during their Christmas break that we had them. We did all kinds of stuff. It just makes me so sad when they leave because it's too quiet.

I titled this post, "Can I call you mom?" because of Shawn. The other night, I was giving him a bath and I was talking to him. I asked him if it was okay that I was going to be his stepmom soon. Every so often, I talk to the kids about it, to see how they feel about it. I try to get them comfortable with the idea...even though I don't think they need it; I feel I owe that much to them. And I said, "Hey, is it okay that I'm going to be your stepmom, soon?" And he smiled and nodded yes, and said, "We can call you mom, now, can't we?" And I said, "Well, yes, if you want to." And he said, "You'll always be Cole, but, can I call you mom?" I almost started crying, but again, I told him that if he wanted to call me mom, it was okay with me. Okay, so I lied...it would me so much more than okay with me. lol And then when we were taking them home yesterday, he asked me again in the car if he could call me mom. I gave him the same answer. lol

So even though I'm really bummed that our time with them is over for right now, we had a great time having them for so long. I can't wait to get them back next weekend.

Well, it's just about time to go to work. Talk to ya'll later! :)

Love,

Cole

New Years Eve

Happy 2009 everyone!

We all had a good New Year here. We still have the kids, if you remember from the last post, we have them until this coming Sunday...and then we have to take them back. :( Anyway, I had to work 11:30-7:00 on New Years Eve. But earlier in the day, grandma and I went to Walmart and bought a bunch of snacks for everyone. About 5 different kinds of chips, Chex Mix, veggies, veggie dip, the little ham/turkey rolls that have cream cheese in them, salsa, little smokies, pizza rolls...everything. lol It was a full house: Jason and I, grandma and Torrey, our three kids, Matthew and Christian, and Laken and Blayke. The last four are Jason's little cousins. Laken is the oldest, she's thirteen.

Whenever I got off work, I was so exhausted already...I just wanted to go to sleep, but I knew I couldn't yet. lol I played Chutes and Ladders with the kids. Shawn won. Luke won Candyland the night before. I guess us girls just aren't as good as the game as the boys. lol

When grandma and I were at Walmart, we bought this box full of decorations. There was enough for 10 people. There were hats, and lei's (not sure how to spell it), tiaras for the girls, and horns. Shawn called the horn his "whisperer." lol We all just ate and hung out until midnight...and then the kids started blowing their horns...and then they went to bed. lol We let them make the exception for one night to stay up that late.

Today we didn't do too much of anything. We hooked up (well, Jason hooked up) their gamecube and they played one of their games for a little while. We made brownies a few hours ago. I have to work tomorrow from 3:00-10:00, so I won't have much time with them tomorrow. They'll likely be sleeping by the time I get home. Then on Saturday I work 2:30-9:00, so again...not much time with them. On Sunday, I work 8:00-3:30. And as soon as I get home, it'll be time to take the kids home. So, again, no time with them. If you can't tell, it bugs me. The kids ask me everyday if I have to work, and they get upset when I tell them yes. Jasmine asked me today, "Nicole...when will you stop working?" I laughed and I said, "Sorry Jasmine...I don't get to stop working anytime soon!" LOL

Right now, I'm just playing on the 'net, about ready to go to bed. Just figured I'd write a little something. I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and here's to a wonderful New Year!!!

Love,

Cole