Roses

Lance sent me roses for Valentines Day. I know many people get flowers every year or are used to getting flowers but Lance is a frugal man and flowers aren't his thing. The last time I got flowers on Valentines day was 12 years ago for our first Valentines day. My heart melted when the guy was standing at my office door yesterday, in fact I hung up on who I was talking too! I just kept saying "are you kidding me". My coworker finally said would you sign the paper so the poor guy can leave!

Nieces

Cousins

Alli, age 4. Madison will be 2 on Saturday. Colton 2 1/2.

Grandma Slack

You may know that I have been taking care of my grandparents since my dad died 5 years ago. My grandma has been suffereing from dementia for about the last 2 years. She has worsened since about August/September 2009. I was able to keep them at home in Pittsburg until that time with the help of a lady that would come in and check on them. We moved grandma into a nursing home in October. My grandpa followed shortly behind after a series of events that proved they just couldn't be home anymore. It has been one of the hardest things for me to do but I really didn't have any other option. Mid December my grandma started having some behavioral issues and they took her to the doctor. At that time she was admitted to the hospital. Up until this point she was talking, feeding, and ambulating on her own. It may not have made a whole lot of sense but she knew who we were and enjoyed having a conversation etc. To make a long story as short as possible, she was in this hospital for about 5 weeks and I tried and tried to get her out but they kept saying she was worsening and needed to be there. I finally asked how they were justifying her stay to Medicare and they let her out. When she got out she was no longer feeding her self, couldn't walk, only moaned and drooled, was confined to a wheel chair, and could no longer hold her head up. Being an RN, I don't have unrealistic miracle expectations for a recovery, I know that her dementia will progress and eventually this will be her normal. But i just couldn't understand how this just came about when she was admitted to the hospital. Last weekend Lance and I went back to Pittsburg and I went to visit her in the nursing home. She didn't know I was there, who I was and couldn't talk to me. I was prepared for this as I was informed this was her new "normal". I just had a hard time accepting the fact that there was no medical reason for this sudden decline (stroke, etc). In talking with the director of nursing at the nursing home she was surprised that just 5 weeks earlier grandma was a completely different person. We decided to give a hospitalization one last shot. So we asked Generations from Miami,OK to come evaluate her. They were hesitant to take her but I stressed the fact that I understood if they couldn't do anything, and I wasn't looking for a miracle. So they took her. Trying to shorten the story again...She went Tues and on Thursday she called me and I actually had a coherent conversation. Of course, not everything made sense, she does have alzheimer's but she is feeding herself and walking on her own again. They adjusted her meds and she is doing so much better. I gues what I am getting at is go with your gut. I now know I have tried everything and my sense of guilt is gone for now. I feel I have done right by her for now. I know eventuallly the way she was before this new treatment will be her norm but am thankful that they were able to give her a better quality of life for now.

Choo Choo!

We took Colton to Dr. Buth's house tonight to see his model train room. Dr. Buth is one of the Dr's I work with @ Galichia. It is amazing the detail and work that he has put into this, and Colton LOVED it! We had to drag him out of there and he cried the whole way home.

Snow Day!

We went over to Whitney's on Fri night to enjoy the snow with the kids. Jeremy pulled this kids with the "Gator". Colton loved it!

project

For my Mom's birthday earlier this month I had colton do his handprints next to a poem about handprints:

Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls
But every day I'm growing --
I'll be grown some day
And all those tiny handprints
Will surely fade away

So here's a little handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When I was very small

The neat thing about this is this is the exact poem that my brother and I did the same project in pre-school when we were little. Mom still has them hanging in her hallway and now she has Colton's as well.

Exploration Place

We took Colton to Exploration place to get out of the house today. It was "ok", that is about all I can say for it. Lance and I went years ago when we were dating and it was so much better. We made the best of it though. He loved the snakes and the train exhibit. They had a movie monster exhibit that was kind of boring. They are going to have a Mr. Potato Head exhibit in a few weeks. Colton probably would have loved that, he is big into Toy Story now.

BRAD PAISLEY!

We went to the Brad Paisley concert on Saturday night. We went with Landon & Maygan, Trisha & Dustin, & Jaymee & Jeff. We met up with Tanya & Jeremy Whitney & Chris Smith & Tonya Williams. We went to Old Chicago for dinner, then on the concert, then out to Old Town. We had a blast. Brad Paisley put on an awesome show.

all dressed up...

Lance and I went with our friends, Jay & Kristen Ewy to Crestview for New Years Eve. I loved getting dressed up, Lance wasn't quite as excited about that part of the evening but we both had a lot of fun!

Doll Family Holidays 2009

Click here to view this photo book larger

Colton & Santa Christmas Eve

I love my new FLIP Video Camera that Lance got me for Christmas!

Christmas Morning...

So the above picture is of the Mack tent that I was so excited about until I opened the box and put it together and realized that Colton is taller than it. Totally not what it looked like on the box but what do you expect for $13.99!

Colton was completely stressed out by the fact that Santa ate his cookies. If anyone asked him if Santa came he said "Santa ate my cookies, I have to go to store and buy more".



The train table was stressful for me. I wanted a Geo Trax train but it doesn't really go on a train table but he plays with a train table and wooden train set at church. So I started off with the Geo Trax then about a week before Christmas I wen to Target and go the wooden train set and then got a couple of the "Thomas" engines. On Christmas Eve I got them both out and let Lance decide and he decided on the Geo Trax. So at about 11pm on Christmas Eve we went to set out all the Santa gifts. Lance put together the Geo Trax train and it didn't fit on the Train Table and was noisy. So at about 1am, Lance said "Go get the other train". So then we put together the wooden train. I think it was definately the right decision. Colton loves it and it is QUIET!

Christmas Eve

Jumpin' Jakes

We went to Jumpin Jakes in Pittsburg with the kiddos on Saturday afternoon...we pretty much had the place all to ourselves. The kids LOVED it!