End of the Year

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you are looking forward to a great, fun, spectacular, boozy New Year's!!!!

Here I am...absolutely FREEZING...in Wisconsin!! Emily and I are having a lot of fun however, with my sister Karen and her family! All of "our men" have gone up north to go snowboarding and ice fishing~they can have that fun without us girls:) We are not at all interested in those kinds of things!

I am super excited that the Vikings have finally made it into the playoffs!! I have been an extremely devoted fan to a team that has not always made wise choices with their draft picks and players who seem to "freak out" at the end of every season. As the stats show, I believe their "freak out" is in danger of reappearing this weekend. I will continue to be devoted and I have started to Pray that they will win at least their first playoff game!

Christmas has past and here I am without getting a Christmas picture and letter out. The time just seems to fly by way to fast for me to manage it all. I am planning to get something out in the mail...late...but that is better than nothing at all!!!

I am still amazed that almost everyday I seem to shrink more when I am by my children. When did they get so big? Patrick is really pushing 6 feet now and I can't believe on 2/2/09 he will be 16...my 1st baby will be driving....HELP!!!! Something must be in our water as Tyler has grown incredibly fast again...he is now 5' 6 1/2"...what is going on?! Poor Ben is all of a sudden about 8" shorter than Tyler, for only being 13 months younger he sure is a lot smaller. Ryan is ecstatic as he received a true life drum set from Santa....please pray for my sanity!!! With Ben and his electric guitar and Ryan and his drums I am going to need it! Also, little miss Emily has taken to periodic, ear piercing screams...we can't seem to figure out why!!! She is very happy to have received Baby Alive who really goes potty from Santa...this is helping Emily with her potty training progress!

I just wanted to send out a quick note about what's going on and let you all know that I am still here!

Mary...so sorry...really about the Bears loss...NOT!!!! (Love Ya though)
Kristin

Pre-Holidays

Hello,
My life has been a whirlwind of activity for the past several months. Time seems to fly by more quickly than I realize! Work has been keeping me very busy and stressed most of the time. We are still Praying that Owensboro sales will increase-hopefully once the new "big" sign arrives our sales will skyrocket?! Please pray with us as we need all of the help we can get.

Ryan has had all of the testing that can be done to someone regarding his abdominal pain and "ill" feelings every week. Thank God there is apparently nothing wrong with him other than probable pain from intestinal cramping and normal digestion. The specialist has come to the conclusion that he is extremely sensitive to his body functions and that he will need to overcome this somewhat on his own. She did prescribe a medication to reduce intestinal cramping and somewhat slow down his acid production. He takes this when he is in pain and "knock on wood" it seems to be lessening the pain!!! Ryan is playing basketball this year again and is having a lot of fun.

Patrick is recovering from his 2nd-3rd degree burn on his left arm. He will end up with a scar, but it has healed well and without getting infected! Patrick is now 5'11" and 155 pounds. I believe he is heading for a growth spurt as he has gained 15 pounds in the past 2 months and he seems very tired all day long.

Tyler has been busy doing his "projects" that he thrives on. He has grown as well and is 5'5", I know that he weighs 105 now as he is a freak about his weight...this is worrisome to me! He weighs himself before he eats and then after he is done eating...if he gains weight he doesn't eat as much later! I have talked to the dr. about a possiblity for anorexia...only to be shot down as Tyler has grown a lot and gained quite a bit of weight in the past year...still, I am ever watchful of this!!!! He is also proud of his six pack that he has deligently been working on.

Ben is still the same old Ben. Tom and I are still convinced that he will or should become a lawyer. Ben argues about everything, he even continues arguing even if you have agreed with him. I think he likes to argue so much that it takes him a while to comprehend that you have agreed with him. Ben is still noticably smaller than Tyler as he is 4'10" and weighs 78 pounds. His time for growing should be heading his way soon!

Miss Emily is having some problems with potty training. She knows exactly what she is supposed to be doing, but, I fully believe that she doesn't "want to" do it yet! Every once in a while she will just go to her potty and go, however, when I make her sit on her potty she refuses to go potty!!! Talk about being in control!!!!!! She is really starting to talk quite a lot more and most people are able to understand pretty much everything that she says. We are finding that she has quite the Southern Accent. It is just adorable. She keeps talking about Santa bringing "Lots of presents, toys and dolls"...this is her "catch phrase" when asked what santa will bring her. She is extremely excited this year about the whole christmas season and all of the decorations. It is a joy to watch the "awe" we see in her eye and face and to hear it in her squeals of delight! This will be a fun, fun Christmas for her.

I had better be going now, I will try and get my pictures updated soon! Take Care, K

Been Gone A Long Time

Hello,
I can't believe that it has been 2 months since I have updated my Blog...what a bad thing!!! Life has been kinda crazy and I am just feeling flooded with everything. I need to update this at a later time though as I am starting to (finally) get tired...it is 4:05am! I will talk to you all later

Hey

How is everyone doing? Well, I heard great news today for Mary about her power...finally being back on...after enduring 7 days of Houston weather....with no air!!! Robin, I am hoping that your power is still up and running and that Joel and the kids were able to return home! Not much new in Newburgh...(like that)?! We are slowly recouping from the damage due to IKE. I am sure that it will be several weeks before we are able to get our "big" sign replaced, if not months.

So, this past week has been kind of a bad week for me. Ryan, Emily and I arrived home from Janesville at 11:40pm on Monday. Tuesday it was back to school, daycare and work! Then Tuesday night at 10:30pm I started to work on the computer changing the pricing for the Evansville Culver's. Can you believe that it took me over 5 hours?! I was finally done at 4am...needless to say, Wed. was a "Migraine" day for me...no work! Now, I have seemed to develop an illness which has robbed me somewhat of my voice...a fever is starting and overall I fell like, well, crap! I suppose that I will end up at the Dr. for meds before the end of next week.

This weekend Tom and Ben head to Cinncinati for a Brewer game, not sure who they are playing...does Cinncinati have a team? I can't stand baseball...so I truly don't know. They leave Sat early am and return sometime Sun. Over the weekend Patrick & Tyler work on Sat and Sun and of course there is Religion! Did I mention that by Sunday evening I have to have all of the prices for Owensboro changed?! You know it...I get to spend another 5+ hours on the computer...this is the only time I don't like to be on the computer!!!! Of course, I will try very hard to get these changes done prior to 10pm on Sunday...no more 4am nights for me...unless I am kicking back with my friends and some margaritas!!!!!

Finally, Monday morning is Ryan's appointment with the Pediatric Gastroenterologist!!! I will let everyone know what she says and/or what testing is to be done on the poor kiddo!

Take care and I will see you all later....Kristin

Dr. Report

Hello everyone,

Well, good news is that I don't have a fibroid tumor. The report showed that I do have a uterine lining that is thickened and that I have ovarian cysts on both ovaries. My rt. ovary is much worse than my left...there was even quite a large cyst that had ruptured. I have to have another U/S on October 3rd. I have not talked to my dr. yet, so I am not sure what the plan is. I am thinking that after my next ultrasound I will know if there is anything that will be done.

Once school has started I find that I have less and less time for me. The boys have an extremely large amount of homework so far this year. I have to get used to the fact that Patrick is in 10th grade and that yes there are a lot of reports and speeches that have to be done in the same week along with other homework...welcome "back" to high school, mom and dad!!!! Ryan's teacher I am now calling the homework nazi for lack of a better word. She assigns way more homework everynight then Ben has in 7th gr. I am also not that fond of Ryan's teacher...she hasn't done anything wrong...I just need to let her "grow" on me I guess!

I decided that I am sticking with my plan and going to Janesville, WI this weekend! (This was the weekend of my neice's bridal shower!) I want to visit my parents and see them in their new home! I will also get together with my sisters and their families.

I will keep you all updated about my status, it will be over a month before I know more though! I really appreciate your Prayers!
Talk to you later....have a fabulous day!!!

Very Late

Ok...here I am again...it is 3:30am and I absolutely cannot sleep! I am getting really tired of this lifestyle. I did get a prescription for mild sleeping pills, but, I hate to take them as I don't want to become addicted to them.

I am still waiting to hear from my doctor about my ultrasound. I guess that would be relatively good news. I will probably double check with my nurse at the end of the week. I really appreciate everyone's Prayers and Love. I am sure that I am fine though!!!!

Shocking news...my niece, Danielle has postponed her wedding! Karen and I were all set for her shower on Sept 14th. I had to write a letter explaining the postponement, we will mail that out to all of the ladies. We feel really bad for Danielle and Craig...they really want to get married. Hopefully, they won't have to postpone it for a year like they are thinking. I know that weddings are expensive and they did not really give their parents enough notice to save for it. Anyway, Karen and I are disappointed about having to cancel the shower as well. What a BUMMER!!

One of my friends, Courtney Weber, her husband and their three sons welcomed an adopted daughter/sister, Isabella, into their home this past week. Isabella is from Guatemala. The Weber's were part of the very last group of parents who were able to adopt from that country, as Guatemala has stopped all future adoptions. I saw Isabella tonight at our Welcome Wagon Ice Cream Social...she is really cute, she will be 1 next week so she will only know the Weber's. She is behind physically as she can't even sit up alone, but, she will catch up quickly. Courtney stated that she is already letting her 3 new brothers..."have it"...if they do something that she doesn't like. I believe that will be quite often!!!!

Nothing else is really new. The boys are definately back into the swing of things with school and they are half way done with their first grading period...1 of 6 report cards they will receive!

I had better let you go for now. Mary, I will call you soon...I have been really busy the past couple of days, sorry for the delay in getting back to you!

Once again, thank you for all of your Prayers...it really means a lot!

Kristin

Time Flies

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I posted anything new!!! Life has been hectic and busy, but we are slowly getting into the "back-to school" mode. The boys started school on August 11th, so they have completed 2 full weeks already! Tom and I celebrated our 18th anniversary on August 25th. We can't believe we are only 2 years away from our 20th!!!

I have a funny story to share: After Ben's 7th grade orientation he came out of the school in "shock"...I guess that is a fitting word! He just couldn't understand how the school has all of this beautiful land with such nice grass and...guess what?!....he doesn't have RECESS!!!!! Can you believe it?! Poor Ben, went on and on about not having recess and the fact that the school doesn't even need to have land then! I guess that being the 3rd child I never gave it a thought that his brothers didn't tell him about no recess. Thankfully, I believe his shock is behind him now...I still think he is disappointed though!

My sister Karen and I went on a wonderful "girls getaway" in Indy...Aug 14-18. We had such a wonderful time reconnecting and just hanging out together. It definately brought us back to our childhood and sharing a room with each other! We have decided to make this an annual event...next year we plan on bringing our mom with us and flying out to CO to visit our sister, Vicki. That should fun as well!

Karen and I are busy organizing our niece, Danielle's bridal shower which is Sept 14th in Janesville, WI! Karen is doing the cake, invitations, decorations, games and prizes and I am doing all of the food. I will be going to WI the Thursday before to start shopping and making everything. We are so looking forward to the day. Their wedding is Oct 4th in Sycamore, IL.

My parents...FINALLY sold their home in Wis. Dells after being on the market for 2 1/2 years!! They are now living in their BEAUTIFUL new home in Janesville....they did NOT downsize...they upsized!

FYI: I have been having some personal issues so I had a pelvic ultrasound yesterday. The ultrasound tech really wasn't supposed to tell me anything but she said a little...the lining in my uterus looked thick...that indicates a possible Fibroid Tumor (benign). If I don't have a tumor then I may need a D&C, if I do have a fibroid tumor...a possible Hysterectomy would be looming in my future. Please pray for me that it is nothing worse!!! I will keep you updated when I get the actual report from my doctor...the tech may be way off base as well!

Today starts a new life for Emily again...she has enjoyed staying home this summer with our neice, Collette, who is her Godmother. Collette has taken the rest of the week off in preperation of her last year of college which resumes on Monday. Little Miss will have to go back to Kindergate...her daycare center. That is not going to be fun for her or mommy!!!

I need to be going now...talk to you all later! K

OMG

Here I am STILL at work...10:00pm! My work computer crashed on Tuesday and my new one didn't arrive until this afternoon. Thankfully, our friend Dave S, agreed to transfer all of my old files...pending they were on the hard drive and get my new computer set up! He arrived at 5:30 and is still working away...with some problems...but, my files survived...YEAH! Dave and I have to meet again tomorrow and get some additional equipment so our big Culver's sign will work, that as well is linked to my computer.

Other than that I am scrambling to try and get all of my work done as quickly as possible. I need to have a couple of days off before school starts as we have no school supplies, etc yet. We don't have a lot of time left...August 11th...first day of school!

Ryan has been visiting my parents and I will be meeting them to pick him up either on Sun. or Mon. Then I need to hustle back to my payroll and monthly accounting for 2 restaurants.

My nephew, John's wedding was great! We are so happy to have Jessica in the family. Emily did an ok job as a flower girl. She was pretty scared before the wedding and ended up walking down the aisle with my neice, Danielle who was a bridesmaid. She stood by Danielle for a couple of minutes and then she spotted me...that was it...she had to sit by me. After the ceremony she walked back down the aisle with the 2 other flower girls, my nieces-Olivia and Ella. The biggest highlight for Emily was the dance. Once the music started she never stopped. We had to get her off of the dance floor for the bride and grooms first dance...but she was out there for everything else...including with all of the guys to catch the garter! People just loved watching her...she kind of was the center of attention!

My sister, Vicki will be leaving around Aug 4th to start her new endeavor in Thorton, CO at a Culver's that is floundering. Hopefully she will have great success.

My sister Karen, my mom and I are busy planning my neice, Danielle's, wedding shower. That will take place in Janesville, WI on Sept. 14th. Of course...I am making all of the food...why you ask? Because...that is my thing, I love cooking! Karen and mom are doing all the rest. Danielle will get married on Oct. 4th...not much time for her and Vicki to plan the wedding. We are so looking forward to having Craig in our family!

Hopefully I will be able to leave work in about a half hour or so?! I need to sign off...talk to you later!

Late At Night

Ok, here I am at 1:15am wide awake! I am not sure what to do about this situation. My insomnia has been going on for several years, I think it is getting worse!

It has been an extremely sad week for me. First; I found out my first cousin, Julie, who just turned 50 was diagnosed with 4th stage Adenocarcinoma. It started as ovarian cancer and spread to her abdomen, lungs, colon and liver! Poor sweet Julie, she is such a positive person and has such a wonderful outlook on life! Please join my family in praying for Julie and her family. We are praying that she is not in too much pain and that she will be comforted!

Yesterday, my dad's brother Joe, passed away, he was an extremely nice person! Always doing for others and genuinely concerned for all people. Uncle Joe will certainly be missed. The services are this coming Tuesday, in Florida, and with my nephew getting married this coming Friday in IL and Emily being a flower girl we won't be able to attend his funeral. I am thinking of and praying for all of my cousins and their families.

Hopefully, my extended family members will be comforted through Prayer and through the love of their families and friends.

I also found out that my sister, Vicki, is moving to Colorado in early August to take over an existing Culver's. She will be moving to Thornton, CO along with Danielle, Craig & Jaxon. John and Jessica will remain in Sycamore, IL. I don't really look forward to being so far away from her! 6 hours was bad enough...I haven't even figured out how far apart we will be now! I am praying for her move and her new adventure! Vicki, I know that everything will work out great and that you will do an excellant job of turning that business around! We will miss you all!!!!

This past weekend we found out that my niece, Danielle is planning on getting married on October 4th or 5th of this year! Her son, Jaxon was born on 2/6th and she will be marring his dad, Craig! My sister, Karen, and I will be busy planning a shower for her in Sept. We are all looking forward to this happy event!

I have started the count down to the start of school...August 11th! I am always sad when school starts, it seems that the summer has flown by and once again I did not get spend as much time with the kids as I wanted too! It is hard to believe how old the boys are getting to be! Patrick a Sophomore...already?! WOW!!! Tyler-8th gr., Ben-7th gr. & Ryan-4th gr. In January I will even be enrolling Emily in 3 year old pre-school! I believe that she will be attending NUMPS=Newburgh United Methodist Preschool...I am not overly impressed with the Catholic preschools in the area. Emily will be attending public school instead of Catholic grade school, so I don't think it really matters where she attends preschool! I can't believe how times jets by!

Tom and I discussed tonight that maybe I should try my hand at writing a book. I started writing 2 books several years ago, but I gave up way too soon. I have ideas for a romance novel, a pre-teen book and a children's book! What does anyone think? I think I am just going to go for it! Maybe it will take me committing to all of you in writing so I will follow through with a book. (Just a thought)

I suppose that I should try and shut my mind down now so I can try, try, try to fall asleep...sometime around 3:30am or so!

Hope you all are well,
Kristin

Stressed to the Max

I want to start by saying to Mary that your visit was way to short!!!! I had a blast on Wed. evening, Carol and I felt like it was old times. We both miss you tons!

On Thursday I finally went to after hours at the drs. office. After waiting over an hour in the waiting room I was finally called into a room where I waited another 15 minutes. Thankfully there was a really nice dr. on call and I got all the meds that I needed. I ended up with bronchitis, a sinus infection and an ear infection...not to mention an increase in my asthma reactions. I walked out with four prescriptions and I am starting to feel somewhat better. All in all the whole appointment and med pick-up took 3 hours!

Yesterday I took Patrick and Tyler to the dr. for their physicals and found out that they both have bronchitis! We are a sick bunch!

Today we are having Ryan's belated birthday party. It is a sleepover with 6 boys attending. They were supposed to sleep in our tent and be outside; but, wouldn't you know it...severe storms are on the way today and tonight! What am I going to do with a total of 10 boys and 1 toddler in a house with NO basement?! Ok, I have decided for sure bowling and maybe laser tag are in the forseeable future!

On top of that next Sat. is Ben's belated birthday party. Same scenario as Ryan's...six boys invited. I am praying that it will be much nicer next Sat. as I believe 7 future 7th graders are much more of a problem cooped in the house than 7 future 4th graders are! Smells and everthing....YEW! I won't worry about this weekend too much yet.

Last night I agreed to make dinner for my friend, Joy, who had her 4th daughter. What do you make for Vegan's? I spent quite a lot of time on-line looking up recipes. There were things I had never heard of in the ingredients so I decided to do something that I had never done! I ordered a veggies pizza and a cheese pizza, brought over a mixed green salad with dressing (organic of course), a fruit salad and "pre-made" cookies and popsicles! I am still feeling quilty about not making anything myself...but I am sure that I will survive...esp. since they were very happy with everything!

I am awake trying to get going this morning and get a jump-start on the day...not feeling like that is going to happen. Once 3pm rolls around and the boys have arrived I am sure that I will regret it!

I better get going, I hope you all have a great day and please pray for my sanity!

First Blog

Hey everyone,

I thought it would be really cool to start my own blog! It will probably take some time for me to get the hang of this. Life has been pretty busy lately and the summer is flying by way too fast for me. I can't believe that the boys start school in a little over a month. I am not in the "school" mode at all.
The boys are staying busy at home with friends and I believe they are having a good summer. Patrick and Tyler are both working at Culver's and doing a great job. Patrick has moved into the kitchen and really enjoys that much better than working out front. He is practicing driving...not as often as he should...in preparation for his 16th birthday. He actually is driving extremely well. Tyler is still into building rockets and is a total outdoorsman! He is always outside without a shirt on...sawing limbs off trees or working on projects. He is working out front at Culver's and does a great job making Custard and taking orders. Ben is continuing with his guitar lessons..this is the start of his 4th year of lessons. He has also expressed an interest in drums...we will have to wait and see on that. He has been very busy with 2 boys in the neighborhood this summer. Ryan has been taking drum lessons for 9 months; he has a new teacher who is much "cooler" than his old one, hopefully his interest level will continue. We usually find Ryan with his "twin-Tanner" a neighborhood boy. Those to are together everyday, they are as close as brothers, fighting and all!!!
Emily is so into being "2". Everything that is hers' should not be "touched" by all people. She truly believes that she is in charge...rough times lie ahead for her!! She continues to go to "Kindergate" daycare and enjoys playing with children her age. She is truly a "girly-girly" but she does like to play in dirt as well. She is fascinated by bugs and then she freaks out if they get too close to her. She says, "eewy bug.....gross"...she is a one topic girl so we have to remove the bug or she can't move onto the next thing. I believe that she takes after my sister Karen, as one of her favorite things to eat is icee-ceam...she must have ice-cream several times a day!
Tom is recovering from his rotator-cuff surgery...slowly but surely. Neither of us was prepared for the length of recovery with this surgery. I remember helping in surgery for this procedure but I had no idea about the long recovery. He is finally down to visiting his Physical Therapist once a week and he has moved up to lifting a 2lb weight. He is wondering if he will ever get back to normal again?!

I hope you are all great...talk with you soon.
Kristin