End of March 2010/ April 2010

This all started when I got a call from Dad's wife's daughter at the end of March 2010. Dad's wife, Ruth was in the hospital due to a broken hip. Unrelated, but four days before she broke her hip, she suffered a very mild heart attack. Ruth was set to have surgery to repair her hip and then would need therapy afterwards. Dad, who suffers from Alzheimer's would need supervision during all of this. Simple as that...dad would stay with us for a few months, when Ruth was better he would go home and life would be back to normal. Side note: Ruth is 86.

Hind sight: What bubble were Todd and I living in?

Within days of learning of Ruth's hip, Todd flew to CA to pick up dad. I think we found out on a wed and dad was here that Sunday.

Catch up fast!

So it's been awhile! I didn't realize it was June when I last wrote anything. In a nutshell, my dad has been living with us since April of this year, my brother got married in August and about a million other small things in between. Also, my sweet dog Maddie who was so sick for a year (I wrote about in previous posts) is/was doing great, but has now been missing for over a week now. Back in June we had 2 dogs...Abe and Maddie. As Maddie was making her recovery from Blastomycosis...Abe died on July 18th...totally out of the blue. Maddie seemed to be going through a depression and was crying almost every day for very long periods. Long story short: we got another dog. I found a 2 yr old red bone hound on trade radio. We brought Dixie home and Maddie and Dixie were doing really well. That was about 2 months ago. Then last week a really crazy storm blew our gate open and poof: both dogs: GONE! WE have been searching everywhere. I have called every animal control in our city and the surrounding ones. We like Dixie, but had not formed the attachment to her yet. Maddie is 7 and we have had her since she was 7 weeks old....this has been horrible. I'm hoping they or at least Maddie will find her way home. On a different note, I'm going to change my blog up a little. I'm still going to write about my crazy life, but I'm also going to chronicle our life since/ with my dad living with us. My dad is 75 years old and has Alzheimer's .

Redneck Dinner Table

So I was beginning to set the table for dinner tonight. After putting the plates down I looked down and realized a staple gun and fire crackers are laying right there beside everything else. Luke insists at every possible moment to do these stupid firecrackers....maybe we can finish dinner and light these babies up for dessert?

Update: Todd just came in and we were getting ready to sit down for dinner.....but then Luke

grabbed the fireworks and Todd took him out front to set them off...

Yard Sale....& other stuff

Well today some friends and I had a joint yard sale....it was really fun hanging out, but definitely not very profitable. I think our last yard sale spoiled us in to thinking this was going to be a huge money-maker! We almost got really rained , but we closed up just in time! Oh well...you win some, you lose some. On a side note, recently a consignment shop in town asked me to put my painted children's letters in their shop...I've had a few sales already, so it's been really exciting!

This is a custom letter I just completed...

A few letter plaques I have done....

picture worthy...

A couple days ago I was planting some stuff outside and the boys were running around playing. We had been out for awhile when I looked up and noticed Ben looked funny....

The front view was also hilarious because both diaper tabs were still stuck to him, somehow the front part just slipped.

The Boys

Earlier today I took some pictures of the boys outside. There are some great shots of Luke and Ben separately, however my attempts at taking some of them together were not successful.....just see below:

Below are 2 of my favorites....

Ben

Luke

Patience is a virtue.

One the biggest lessons learned in motherhood is patience. I feel like I'm pretty laid back and that it takes quite a bit to really truly bother me. I've accepted that I am always late now. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how early I get up to prepare for something. There's just no accounting for one or both kids having poop run down their legs at the precise moment I walk out the door. A big change lately...(this is not a monumental change)....has been that we switched sides in my car where the boys sit due to the fact that it gives Luke a lot more leg room. For the past several days every time we go to the car, Luke goes to his old side and then proceeds to ask why it's changed. I get that it's different. The whole time I am just repeating to Luke, "You now have more room for your feet...get in the car on the other side!" Seriously, I say this phrase 4-5 times, meanwhile Ben is screaming his head off at the back door because he thinks I'm not coming back for him. Finally, everyone is buckled. Luke is begging for a movie even though we will only be in the car for 20 min. I usually take a breath or two before starting the car and I'm OK. I guess my point in writing this, is that by the time I arrive at wherever, it usually crosses my mind..."was it really worth leaving the house?"