Christmas

Christmas 2010 was a busy one.  I worked alot for the petsitting company.  I had up to 8 visits a day for 4 days.  It's very tiring.  I'm slowly catching up on my sleep.  Everyone had a great Christmas.  Shelby got a netbook from Santa.  Kota got a BMX bike from Santa.  Lacey got a huge Barbie house from Santa.  Larry got my wedding ring fixed, bought me a fish tank and stand.  I bought him a power tower which is a piece of workout equipment.  Of course, everyone got many other things and we have all been blessed.  It's all working out and we are ending the New Year on a good note.

December Busy-ness

Last week the kids had some congestion and head cold symptons.  This week Larry and I are sick.  It started as headcold symptoms but then we went to the doctor and got a flu shot...now we are terribly sick.  We think we have the mini flu.  It sucks.  We've had so much to do this week.  I missed two meetings and we missed a friend's daughter's wedding that was tonight.  We ache with headaches, congestion, runny noses and weakness. 
We did get the tree decorated.  The weather has been perfect for putting up the outside decorations but we have been to sick to do it.  But here's are tree:



Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a success!  Everyone had a good time. 

We have a new family member

This is Porkchop!

He is so sweet.  He likes to talk and be held.  He's getting used to being out of his cage for most of the evening when everyone is home.  He likes carrots, parsley, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, cucumbers and yellow bell peppers.  So far, he doesn't like kale, spinach and strawberries.  He is starting to like toys.  Shelby wants to teach him how to come and circle. 

 

This week

Monday-Had dog visit this morning,  Shelby has a dentist appointment and Koty was released from Cedar Springs.
Tuesday-Met Courtney at Sister's Grove to get Averie while she had a doctor appointment.  Took Koty to get his hair cut.  Saw Sam and visited briefly.  Ate lunch at Subway with Averie, Courtney and Koty.
Wednesday-Took Koty to his school to meet with some of the staff and teachers to update them on how he's doing.  He stayed the whole day and had a good day.  Had a Service Unit team meeting.
Thursday-Drove to Pueblo to visit with Kristin.  We tried to find some thrift store but they were all closed/shut down.  We did find the Arc and found some bargains.  Koty had a dentist appointment and he had some cavities.  Met with Sam at a new customer's house to learn a new animal visit.
Friday-Worked at Remington Elementary from 7:40-3:10.  It was fun.  I traveled to different classrooms and help certain kids with their work.  We all went to Walmart for Subway and groceries.
Saturday-Had animal visit this morning.  We started to put the Christmas lights up on the house because it's so nice but didn't get to it.  Told Kota and Shelby to pick up the wood that they had got out during the summer.  They picked up part of the pile then pooped out.  We told them they could take a quick break but they had to finish.  Kota threw a big fit and said no.  This blew up into him running away.  About an hour or so later Larry gets a text from Tiny.  He had picked up Dakota but he had cut up his arms.  Larry brought him home.  He had calmed down.  We went to the mall to buy some birthday presents.  Shelby has a sleepover birthday party tonight.  Tomorrow is Kota's 14th birthday.

Halloween 2010

The girls were so excited about school today.  They were allowed to wear their costumes.  Lacey is a pink cheetah.  Shelby is a Roaring 20's Flapper.

Here's some pictures of our pumpkin carving night!!

Feeling Better

I feeling a little better today. My husband and I went to the hospital yesterday. We spoke with the doctor about all the meds they want to give our son. He explained each drug and what it does. Our son, Koty is on 4 different meds.  The doctor reassured us that the meds are safe and seem to be working.  After talking to the doctor we talked with the therapist.  Koty wants to come home.  We think it's because of upcoming events like Halloween and his birthday.  Koty seemed more alert and aware.  He looked good.  He spoke with a little more confidence.  I want to have good feelings about this but past memories make me have my guard up.  How will he be when he gets home?  Did all this make him realize what he's doing?

Uneasy

Yesterday was a horrible day for me.  The hospital staff kept calling me for this or for that.  The doctor wants to put Koty on this medicine or that medicine.  It was so pressuring and I just had a meltdown at about 4 pm.  All I could do was cry.  I was sad, mad, worried, scared and hurt all at one time.  But then while the girls and I were at the store Koty called.  He said he was ready to come home and that he really wanted to work hard at home and at school to be a better person.  I was so relieved that he actually said he wanted to come home.  This is a first.  Now today I'm a little anxious about the family meeting we have today at 2 with the doctor and the therapist.  What will they say?  Will they be able to answer all our questions about the medicine? 
I'm asking myself-How will he be when we get home? 

Hmm

Koty's still in Cedar Springs. He is on crisis which means he was found with cuts on his body. They are closely monitoring him. This was after a family therapy session where he told me "I haven't had the need to cut in almost a week". Turned out to be a lie. I'm so tired and frustrated with him right now. I just want to scream.

I just got a great deal

Had anyone ever heard of Groupon?  You can purchase great deals like 50% off purchases at local businesses.  I just bought a $30 certificate for $15 to a local skate shop so I can buy some birthday presents for my son.  It works like this: the groupon email goes out to people that signed up,  you have limited amount of time to purchase the deal (usually 24 hours), they have a set number that they have to sell and once that number has been met then the deal is good and you receive it and are charged.  If they don't sell the set amount then it's No Deal and you won't be charged.  Basically, the idea is they will sell you a great deal if a group of people go in on it.
Here's a link http://www.groupon.com/r/uu4274478
Check it out! It's great and legit.

Girl Scouts

Troop 3080 on a Hike.

Girl Scouts seem to be more fun this year.  We have a good meeting location (school cafeteria).  We have parents willing to help so much and the girls are awesome.    I think this is going to be a good year for Girl Scouts.

Silly Troop 3080 on our hike.

Labor Day weekend

Saturday was a busy day for the family.  We got up extra early to go to the Balloon Classic.  It was fun and the girls got a patch for their vest.

After watching the balloons launch we went home and took naps.  We were going to a Sky Sox game that night so we knew we would be up late.
We had extra tickets so the girls ask one friend to come along then stay over. 

Lacey invited Emma

Shelby invited McCaela

All the girls bought a basement with a case in the store.  They had so much fun watching Sox the fox that they decided they wanted him to sign their balls.

It was great fun.

Making memories. 

The past week

The past week has been horrible.  Dakota ran away on Sunday.  Found him at school the next day.  He had spent the whole night at Wal-Mart.  The school recommended I take him back to the hospital because of this incident and cutting.  They admitted him even after saying they didn't have a bed.  He is very unstable.  Poor guy.  The doctors have change the dosage of his med and started a new medicine.  Through talking to a therapist we come to the conclusion that Dakota has abandonment issues because of an incident that happened when he was five.  They are going to tranfers him to the residential part of the hospital and keep him 2 weeks or more. Gosh, I hope he gets better.
I've been so tired this week.  I've had animal visits ever morning so I've been getting up at 5:15 am.  Tomorrow we are getting up around 4:30 to go take care of dogs then go to the balloon classic.  Tomorrow night the whole family is going to a Sky Sox game.  The girls invited a friend and they are sleeping over.  Should be a good time and a busy weekend.

Hugo

A few days ago, Aug. 6, we had to take our dog Hugo to the vet.  He was peeing alot.  The vet he had diabetes-a severe case.  We would have to change his food and giving him injections for the rest of his life.  Or we could put him to sleep.  We chose to put him to sleep because he was 11 years old and more than likely had many other health problems like arthritis.  The vet also said he was blind which we didn't know.
Rest in peace little buddy.  We will miss you.

Summer

Well, summer vacation for the kids is almost over.  We took a road trip to see Bishop's Castle.  We visited both fountains in town.

Kids spent some time at Grandpa's house.  The girls had some friends over to play in the new pool.  We had one trip to the library today.  Tomorrow we're going to Lake Pueblo with Courtney, Averie, Kristin and her kids. 

Troop 3080

Lacey's girl scout troop went to Build a Bear today.  They each got an animal and a brownie vest for their animal.  They picked this to spend some of the cookie money. 

Lacey picked the tiger animal and named it Tigeress.  After the party we all went to lunch at the food court.  The girls really enjoyed themselves.

The pool

We bought a 2 foot pool for the kids to play in this summer.  The pool requires the ground to be flat because of the way it fills and stand up.  Well, since our property is nothing but hills it was really hard to find a level spot in the back yard.  We tried twice but failed.  The second try we got it almost full then the sides caved and it turned into an egg shape and the water started running out.  After a discussion and examining the back yard we decided we need to haul in some fill dirt.  I drove the old Toyota pickup to Pioneer Sand and back three times.  We found out the truck holds about 1 ton in it's small bed.  It only cost us 22 bucks and we had a level area for the pool, the erosion by the concrete porch filled and all the holes filled.  Took 3 tons of dirt and alot of shoveling.  But now the kids have a fun thing to play in this summer and we got a work out.

This pic is the second attempt but the left and right sides gave way and turned in to an egg shape.

Dakota

Dakota was having a very hard time at school last week.  Friday I was called by the assistant principal to come get him.  He said alot of rude things plus said he didn't want to be here and nobody would miss him.   They suggested I take him to Cedar Springs Hospital for an evaluation.  After the evaluation they admitted him.  They took him his meds because he was misdiagnosed.  He does not have ADHD or depression.  He has childhood onset bipolar disorder.  They put him on a new medicine watched him for a few days and sent him home.  He was there for 5 days.  He's home now and seems much better.  I hope this is a new beginning to a great life for him.  Tomorrow is the last day of school.  I'm taking him to school to turn in books and say goodbye to his friends and teachers.

Can my life get any busier?

The past 3 weeks have gone by so fast.  This is what happened in a nutshell.

• got hired by the school district-had to fill out all paper work, go down to police dept for fingerprinting and return to office for job briefing
• Larry transferred to Phoenix for work for 2 weeks
• Lacey's birthday party and sleep over
• Sam put me to work pet sitting with visits 2-3 times a day
• took another "job" for the girl scouts as Service Unit co-lead and co-treasurer-had to meet at the bank to transfer banking info plus meet with 2 others about service unit campout
• GS troop meetings and bridging
• PTA and head room parent job putting together the last teacher potluck and fundraiser/family fun night
• Koty's seeing a new therapist and psychologist so he had appointments.

I don't thing there was a day that I didn't go somewhere and that sucks.  I need at least 2 days at home to plan the grocery list/meals, laundry, cleaning...all that domestic goddess stuff.

So, Lacey and Shelby bridged today in Girl Scouts.  Shelby is a junior girl scout and Lacey is a brownie girl scout. 

We were supposed to have our bridging at the Garden of the Gods but it snowed today so we have to do a quick change and have it at the Meridian Ranch Rec Center.  We made a bridge out of chairs and aerobic steps and decorated it with table cloths and potted plants.  It turned out to be a great ceremony.

Coyote and snow

We've had 3 snow storms in the last 2 weeks that have shut down many roads.  Lots of wrecks and terrible wind.  They closed school today because of some freak snow we had over night.  Because we've had terrible terrible wind for the last 3 days, today all the snow blew away. 
Sunday, Larry spotted a coyote crossing our field.  It had a hurt front leg and was limping.  Since then we have seen the coyote 3 times.  One evening I heard a ruckus outside... Remington, our border collie, was escaping out of our backyard fence.  He ran out in our field after the coyote.  The coyote took off but I was so afraid Remington and the animal were going to get into a fight.  I haven't seen the coyote since but I think he's bedding down over our hill by some trailers we have parked out there.
Larry called the Division of Wildlife but they said they couldn't do anything.  They told Larry to call someone to trap it or shoot it.  Well, we don't want to shoot it!  So, I'll called my friend Sam who is an animal freak and knows alot about rescues and such.  She told me to call the wolf rescue, human society, and some other animal rescues to see if they have any suggestions.  I told her I hadn't seen him today so maybe I should wait.  She told me to put on a thick coat and boots, grab a bat and go see if he's out there in the wind and snow!!!!  Are you crazy?  Am I crazy cause I'm thinking about doing it?

Blizzards and blizzards

We have no snow or very little snow all winter then when I'm itchin to get outside we get snow storm after snow storm.  We got about 12 inches a couple of days ago.  Now it's snowing again and they are predicting another foot.  I hope this is it so I can get my raised beds made and my garden going.

Doctor appointment today

So, I went back to the doctor for a follow up about the B12 shot.  I had my first shot 2 weeks ago and it was supposed to help with my fatigue.  Yeah right.  It didn't do anything.  I still have all the symptoms-coughing up stuff, sinus headaches and pressure, burning eyes, runny nose, no energy.  Today, doc thinks I have some underlying allergy and wants me to go back to the allergist.  Even though the allergist said I have no allergies.  I have all kinds of allergy symptoms but no allergies.  I got another B12 shot today hoping that I notice a difference.  I have another appointment in 2 weeks for follow up and another shot.

Sad news

Shelby's 2nd grade teacher died last night from cancer.  Mrs. Torrez was 29, a wife and mother.  Her little boy was almost 2.  Shelby loved Mrs. Torrez.  I was her head room parent last year and enjoyed every minute of it.  She was a great person and the kids loved her.  It was a sad day at MRES.

Christmas fun

I'm trying real hard to document our life and to keep blogging.  Sometimes I need to be reminded.  Listening to podcasts help me to remember.
Christmas was nice.  Everyone received what they asked for.  Larry and I chose not to get each other anything but we did buy a Wii game for the both of us and some cute little flash drives in our stockings.

 

 This picture was taken at La Foret.  The Black Forest Fire Dept. family Christmas party was held at a cabin in La Foret.

 

Santa came to the party in a fire engine.

                                                                                       

Shelby, Lacey, Koty and even Averie got to talk to Santa.

 

The youngins had fun decorating.