Planning for the 2010

This year is already booking up fast. Last year we put away some money for us to plan a trip to Disneyland so that is to be our first big trip of the year. Although I am hoping to go to Vegas in February for a all girls cousin reunion. Which would be a blast. Fingers crossed I can go. I REALLY hope I could make it out to Indiana this year for an old friends wedding. And Lincoln and I will be celebrating our 10 yr anniversary. However he says he doesn't have a plan and I believe him. Not a romantic here. So if you anyone can put in a good word that would be great.

Life this year is going well. We are adjusting to three schools and three schedules. It just can't be simple. Lincoln's schedule is all over the map. However we have each other and our health. So we cherish our time together more.

Becca and I are working out together and keeping each other on track so that is good for the both of us.

Really no news to tell. Update on Ryley, All I have to say is that my sister has a long battle ahead of her with her therapy and another long ridiculous battle with the school. I am so proud of her for standing her ground and standing up for her child.

What a blessing for us all.

Well we got her. Rebecca, age 13 and what a blessing to our family. She is a big help with the kids and a sweet well adjusted girl. However it may take time to get her caught up on keeping a clean house with the rest of us. It is some age and some of not being in a clean enviorment. But we will break her! I will be the first to attest that I am a little more finicky about certain things that must be done around the house.
Anyways Becca started school last week for a few days before the Christmas break and was able to meet some new friends. YEAH!
My Dad came into town this week and will be here till the middle of January. I always look forward to his visits and playing cards with him.
The kids are very excited about Christmas and all our plans. We decorated our giant stocking last night and they can't wait to hang them.

This week we got news from the doctors about my niece's condition. She was diagnosed with a sensory disorder. So as far as I can understand and it is very complex, she has been going through life feeling like she is not grounded. Like she is just floating. I guess her neutrons aren't signaling to the brain normally. Gosh could you imagine living your life like you have no control over your body. They say she sees life like we would in a fun house with all the crazy mirrors. On top of that she was diagnosed earlier this year to have a hearing impairment, not related in any way to her sensory disorder. So now she is wearing a hearing aid and is going to be having occupational therapy once a week. At least my sister has answers now of why she was behaving the way she was. There are other reasons out there that are far greater than ADHD for kids that have attention and behavior problems. Not many doctors can properly diagnose it and very little educators are aware of it. My sisters mission is to educate others. For years she has been judged and frowned upon for her child's behavior and people just thought it was a bad kid or bad parenting. Now there is a medical explanation for it. I am asking everyone to please pray for the therapy to work for Ryley and pray for persistence and tenacity for my sister and her family.

Busy life and a new addition to the family

Well it has been about a month so there is a lot to tell. I listed my first house and I found buyers for it within the first week. YEAH! I am double ending it. CHACHING!$$$ IOf course it is a short sale so we are still praying that all else will go smoothly. Uppercase Living has kept me so busy. I have been doing about two - three parties per week. I love what I do. The boys are doing well. Same ol thing for them, fighting and playing hard. Kaelyn is getting so big and sassy. She is now picking out her own outfits.

our Thanksgiving was great. We had some family and friends at our house and Lincoln smoked the Turkey for the first time. OH wow, it was so moist and yummy. I guess my job was reassigned to him for now on. No problem.

The weekend following Thanksgiving we celebrated my Grandma's 90th birthday and visited with family that I haven't seen in a long time. We had such a great time.

We will be hopefully getting a new addition to our family this month. My 13 year old god daughter is moving in with us. She is such a great kid and needs a good home. So we are commiting to raising her for 6 years. Please pray that no one chnages thier minds for selfish reasons in the next two weeks.

Well that is our life wrapped up in a nutshell. It is a busy life.

Picture

Rylan's special award!

I had to make her a bow to go witht her favorite shirt. My sweet Indaina girl.

Me and Lincoln at Ceaser's waiting to go to the show.

My new shower. I have a great tile man.

KJ and Lola on Halloween.

Trip,Rylan and bathroom

Well where do I start. Last week Lincoln and I got a way for three days and ran off to Vegas. We had a blast it was my third visit of the year and Lincoln's first trip ever. I am proud to say that he came back the same man. He did not waiver. The first day we walked and walked and walked and saw all the sites. Then next day we had a game plan. We got to see a REAL Vegas show. Jubilee. AMAZING! I highly recommend it. Yes it is a topless show but it was so well done it was classy. Before the show we were walking through a casino and Linc stopped to watch the end of the World Series and so I pick a close by penny slot and won $50 on my second hit. WOW! He was so proud of me I was his meal ticket that night. He even played a FEW penny slots. Afraid that if he played to much he would get struck by lighting. OK so I corrupted him a little. We went on a gondola ride and went up to the Strat tower. We had a great romantic time. Oh however our hotel room was far from romantic. It was more like a disco truck stop. We stayed at the Tropicana and it was like staying in a room from the 60's. No kidding. Bamboo motif and mirrors on the ceiling. Maybe that would have been cool on our honeymoon but not ten years and three kids later. Not cool.

It was great to get away and get Lincoln's mind off the bathroom for a while. Which I am glad to say is almost complete. Lincoln has been working so much on the bathroom. He is my hired slave. I can't wait to relax in my tub just taking in the new look with a bottle of wine.

Rylan got his first major award at school yesterday. He made Reader of the month. The first in his class. I am so proud of him. He loves to read and just loves to absorb learning. At his parent conference I was told he is one of the top 3 kids in his class. We know he doesn't get it from me. I give all that credit to my super smart hubby.

We are so blessed to have our kids in all their personalities and minds.

3hr trip turned in to 7.

Well to follow up on the bathroom before I move on, it is coming along. I am so proud of my handy husband and all the talent he has with power tools. I come up with the ideas and he puts them into reality. If I can figure out to do pictures I would like to get them up. The niche is made, backer board up and we are ready to tile. I painted Monday and Linc is starting the tile today.

So with that said. Yesterday I traveled up to San Francisco to visit my mom who was coming into the state for some medical tests. Hawaii doesn't have the best medical services. Anyways I knew leaving Fresno it was going to be windy trip. That was just the half of it. I decided to take all the kids so I wasn't on a time restraint to get home. Which now I am glad I did. However we weren't even on the road an hr before Rylan started bugging about oh he was thirty and hungry and are we there yet. 1 hr an d15 minutes into the trip we had to make a pee stop. Mind you we ate a big breakfast just before we left. My plan was to stop just outside city traffic in Liverpool to get something to eat, so I put him off. The wind was so bad that it was pushing my suburban into the other lane a couple of times. SCARY! I was white knuckled the whole way. What tension. We finally stopped in Liverpool. 1 hr away from our destination. Feed and settled we were back on the road. 20 minutes later I am flagged down by another motorist telling me I had a flat tire. GREAT! Pulled over off the freeway at he next exit, called AAA for the tow guy to take 1 1/2 hrs to tell me he couldn't get my spare tire off. He then filled me up with air and sent me down the street to the tire shop. 1hr later and 3 squiggly kids we were back on the road. Toll bridge and traffic and we were here in San Francisco. Finally. Not looking to the trip home. But I do love remembering all the memories I have of San Francisco.

Bathroom demo

I have waited four years to get my bathroom redone. With mauve 90"s tile it is just screaming at me everyday. I hate cleaning it, I would always tell Linc one day you are going to come home to a bathroom torn a torn apart on a cleaning day. YUCK!!! When we were ready two years ago to redo it, it got put on hold for us to redo other things in the house so that my Grandma could move in. Now it is my turn. My bathroom. The boys were so excited to get to help Daddy. With hammer in hand they were ready to hit some tile. Our copper sinks came in and the granite is in so things are going according to plan. Ok I really don't have a plan but I must say the bathroom looks better with nothing than it did with the mauve tile. I think I found the tile for the wall and I have had the floor tile for about 2 years now. I never pay full price for anything so the budget is looking good too. I still and always reserve the to change my mind in anything. Linc loves that part, haha. There maybe some electrial things to get done so I have to check out it is worth sending for my daddy to come out and do the work. I still have to decide if I want to go with a jetted tub or leave it. However since the market is the way it is I see us staying here for a LONG time. I think we should do it right if we are gonna do it. I will keep posting our updates.