Thanksgiving weekend

We had a wonderful thanksgiving. We celebrated with Donnie's family. Donnie's mom is the youngest of 15 children, thus it is quite the gathering! We gathered at his aunt's house and everyone brings plenty to eat! Autumn was able to be home for just the day. With her job, she wasn't able to stay any longer as she had to work early the next morning for all the crazy early morning shoppers! After stuffing ourselves, we play a highly competative and skilled football game. Donnie and I were on opposite teams and he was less than sportsman-like at times! :) Justin, Autumn and I were all on the same team. I won't say who won as that's not important! :)

The kids then played a physical game of spoons. There was some wrestle mania going on with that game. I don't think Treyton ever won but did come away with some battle scars! His cousins don't mess around when it comes to playing spoons! I was good to see everyone.....including you Lisa! :)

On Friday morning....I got up early and went shopping amongst the crazy crowds with my friend Sheri. I've only gone one other time about 4 years ago and that wasn't for very long. I came prepared this year with lists for specific stores, coupons, etc. Sheri laughed at me when I got in the car and I think was a bit embarrassed when I brought my notebook into every store! I did end up getting the big ticket item I was after so I guess it was all worth it!

After shopping we went to the Christmas Tree farm with Sheri's family. We went along for the experience and to purchase ornaments from the gift shop. Since Treyton had to work, we decided not to cut down our tree just yet. We will head back out once he is able to join us. Didn't get a tree but got some fun photos from the day though........

Zachy got to wear his new heavy coat and hat! How adorable is my boy.......

He also got to ride a train w/ mom......that's popcorn in his mouth! You can't ride the train without a snack! Those other two hands in the popcorn bag belong to Addie and Bradley. Zach is giving them a cautious look about getting into his snack!

Zach loved the horses that pulled the hayrack rides. I was surprised he wasn't scared of them but he was way in to giving them loves!

They had a playground area with a playhouse. I love this pic of Bradley. He was in the loft hollering down at me. He looks so innocent in this picture doesn't he?!

Tried to get some pics of everyone on Santa's sleigh before he arrived. Sheri's kids are hard to get to all look at the camera at the same time! Here's our attempts.....(Aiden's not in the pic as he was napping).

Here is our crew.....notice the one in the photo who decided NOT to wear a coat despite the chace for snow! One would think he would've learned his lesson from the pumpkin patch trip when he froze to death there! Guess not! He was of course freezing the whole time we were there!

Zach met Santa! Last year he was just a baby so wasn't scared of him. I was certain he would cry and we would have a hard time getting a picture of him. He surprised me and just sat there staring at Santa with a perplexed look on his face. Anyhow...I think it's a cute picture of them!

The remainder of the weekend was spent shopping and working around the house. Not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, but only work 4 days this week as Donnie and I are headed to Memphis where he will be runnin in the St. Jude Marathon (he's running the half). If anyone is interested in sponsoring him, you can! He's out running now so when he gets home, I'll have him help me post the link on here for anyone who wants to donate.

Hope everyone had a blessed holiday weekend!

Dannon

Tagged again!

Hey there.....made it back from my trip to Chicago. We had a great time, but it was a long time to be away from home. The train ride was a bit interesting and if I had to ride the train again for 12 hours there is absolutely no way I would do it without being in a sleeper car! We called the online number 3 hours in to our trip to see how much the upgrade would cost us and unfortunately is was like $400 so we decided to tough it out! Our stewardess (if that's what you call them) was a bit cranky and even hit all 3 of us at separate times with a travel pillow. Her people skills were definately lacking! We were bummed out when we were loading up to come home and she was standing there taking tickets. Michelle tried to snap a picture of her so we could have it for memory but she wasn't cooperative and we didn't want to be obvious! Chicago was beautiful and it lightly snowed our last 2 days there. They were starting to decorate for Christmas there, so with the snow, decorations and Christmas music playing it totally felt like we should be celebrating Christmas instead of Thanksgiving! Anyhow......had a good time, learned some new stuff at the conference and thankfully Donnie didn't lose any of the children while I was gone! :) No really, he did great! I have to say that or he'll never let me go out of town again! :)

Now on to what I planned to blog about. My friend Monica "tagged" me cuz I tagged her last time. The topic this time is about my relationship with my husband.....YIKES! Not sure I want to write about that for all to see! :)

Thought since the topic was on my husband, I should share some pics of us first. These first 3 are some of our engagement pics from a couple years ago. This first one is the pic we sent out in in our wedding invites.....

Awwww, isn't this one sweet........speaks for itself don't ya think! :)

I like this one too.....it was VERY hard to pic the picture we wanted to send out with our wedding invites as so many of them were good.

This pic is from the Christmas tree farm like 3 years ago or so......

I don't know why I like this picture, but I do! We were over at my friend Sheri's house carving pumpkins. That's my sweet nephew Bradley that you all met a couple posts ago from the pumpkin patch pics. He looks so little in this picture!

Ok......so now on to the content of the tag.....gosh it has taken me a while to get to that hasn't it! :)

Husband's name: Donald Robert (I call him Donnie though cuz my dad's name is Donald and that's just a bit too weird for me!)

How long married: We celebrated our second anniversary in September! We had originally planned to get married in November 2006, but my little brother received orders to go to Iraq and I really wanted him at my wedding. Thankfully there was still 1 weekend available that worked for the church and our reception hall that was in September just a week before he was shipped out!

How long we dated: Depends on who you ask! Our first date was April 10, 2004. However we broke up later that year for about a year. Then thankfully we got back together and have been together ever since! I refer to that year we weren't together as "the break." I don't know that Donnie sees the humor in it! After "the break" we dated 7 months before getting engaged. Our engagement was then 8 months. So you do whatever math you want to decide how long we dated! :)

How old is he: Donnie is 36....cradle robber! He's a whole 2 years older than me! (We just had a "discussion" on how old he is as I had put 35 on here and had to be corrected! Good thing I had to do this tag as I could've gone around confused about his age for who knows how long!)

Taller: Most definately Donnie! As you can tell by the pics I posted, it's not even a contest! I don't think I would be taller even if I stood on a box or something!

Who can sing the best: Again, depends on who you ask! :) I think I do but that would pertain only to when I sing in the car or at home! Donnie has sung on the praise and worship team at church for 12 years......so I'm guessing since I'm not that would make him the better singer! :) He has had to take a couple months off from singing as he has this weird throaty thing going on. So maybe I'm the better singer right now....but that's a REALLY big maybe! :)

Smarter: Geez......this is probably another depends on who you ask! Probably depends on the topic. Donnie's a teacher so he knows lots of middle school stuff.....he teaches math and science so obviously is better in those areas. It kills him though cuz I can beat him at Soduko puzzles and that's math related! :) He is also into weather and such so knows lots about that. I'm a therapist and a mom, so know more than he does about feelings and stuff with the kids. I think we both have pretty good common sense so I would say we tie about that.

Laundry: Used to be mainly me, but with Donnie being a teacher he is home over the summer and started doing more of the laundry then. We both do the laundry now. Whoever is home first switches out the load. We disagree on what temp to wash clothes in, so whoever is doing laundry gets to pick! He doesn't like the way I hang his work pants, thus I try to avoid folding that particular load whenever possible.

Paying bills: Definatley Donnie! I hated doing that when I was single and couldn't wait to hand that over to him once we got married! We make big financial decisions together and I know what accts we have, where our financial spreadsheet is and all that. I just don't have to be the one responsible for getting stuff where it needs to be on time!

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me. Why? Cuz that's where I slept before we got married! After we first got married I tried to sleep on the left side and just couldn't so I managed to "talk" Donnie into switching! :)

Mows the lawn: All Donnie there! He prides himself in his mowing and I think he actually likes it! He started mowing my lawn when we were dating before "the break" and continued to mow it after we broke up for a while. Then I had to take that task back over for a while when he quit showing up to do it! :) Thankfully I had teenagers at the house who could also mow. I grew up mowing a HUGE amount of grass as we lived on a farm and had to mow all over the dang place. So I think I have mowed my fair share in life!

Cooks dinner: Definately me! When we were dating, Donnie would cook 1 night a week. That hasn't happened since we got married! Now that we have Zach, Donnie has to cook something on Tues/Thurs for him as I am not home from work until after dinnertime.

Who's the first to admit they are wrong: This also probably depends on who you ask! He would say that he is and I would say I admit when I am wrong but it happens so rarely that I don't have to do it very often! :) Just kidding! I'm much better at admitting I'm wrong about little things than I am about bigger things. Donnie will admit when he is wrong when I tell him he needs too! :)

Who kissed first: Our first kiss was actually interrupted! It was interesting to date with kids in the home. I was already a foster parent when I met Donnie, so always had kids around! Donnie and I were out in the driveway saying goodnight when both the girls I had living with me at the time caught us! Dang motion sensor light!

Who wears the pants: Geez......I hesitate to answer cuz I know Donnie's going to read this blog! I would say we are equals, however there are certain things that we each trump each other on. Usually not anything big though. If it's about the kids, then I usually decide on stuff unless it's discipline issues with our big kids....then we do that together. If it's household decisions we make those together too. Donnie makes basic financial decisions unless it's something major. So I guess no one wears the pants......that's of course not literally! :)

So that's the end of the tag! Gosh that was long and you now know a lot more info about my husband and I! So now I get to tag someone else. I'm going to tag my friend Audra, my coworker Michelle and Donnie's coworker Michelle! Have fun girls!

Dannon

Yard work......

Well, I'm up late waiting for 1:15AM to arrive.......I am headed to Chicago for the next several days along with 2 of my coworkers. We are headed there for a conference and are taking the Amtrak train. Sounds fun, except the travel schedule is not what I would pick exactly. The train leaves Newton (which is 20-25 minutes North) at 3:02 AM. Yes that is AM I typed! We then arrive in Chicago at 3:15 PM on Thursday afternoon. Soooo, we will be on the train right around 12 hours! I didn't start packing until 1o this evening and I'm just waiting on my last load of laundry to dry so I can get the final things packed! Our conference runs from Friday thru Monday. We are leaving a couple hours early as we have to catch the train back home. We will leave Chicago at 3:20pm on Monday and arrive in Newton around 3:30AM Tuesday morning! Then we have to drive to Wichita.....so will probably get home 4-4:30 that morning!

Donnie and the boys will be home alone.....so those of you who work with Donnie be supportive cuz he has baby duty all by himself! Zach has been sleeping horribly (worse than his normal 1-2 times he gets up per night) so he may need to take a nap during his lunch break! Sunday night Zach was up 5 times (one of those being for an hour and a half) and then Monday night he was up 6 times. Can you believe he then only took about a 15 minute nap Monday during the day???? He did take a better nap on Tuesday, but not what you think he should take not sleeping much the night before. I'm hoping he's getting a new tooth and that's what the problem is. I'm praying he doesn't get sick or anything major while I'm gone! That's usually mom's territory......makes dad a little nervous to decipher when/if/and how much meds to give for various things!

Anyhow.....Since I'm up waiting....thought I would blog from a couple weekends ago.....

Two weekends ago, the weather was beautiful so we decided to take advantage of it and get some much needed yardwork done. We started with raking up leaves. I decided to see how Zach would like playing in the leaves so tossed him in.......

He quickly wanted his arms OUT of the leaves and didn't like the feel of them.....

Then he thought about bolting.......

Then he thought it was a little funny......although this is kindof a cautious laugh.....

which quickly turned to tears.......he's looking at his dad to come over and rescue him as his mom was busy trying to photograph the event!

The he spotted me and was pleading louding for me to get him OUT of the leaves. For some reason he was immobilized and was unable to get himself out! I did then put the camera down and rescue the boy......

In the front of our house/yard, we have a little sitting area that we have plants and various things. Well with our remodel job we are doing in the basement in order to add 2 bedrooms down there for the big boys, we are putting in firesafe windows so I can sleep at night and so the foster care licensing folks are happy! Soooo, I have to move my stuff. I decided since it was nice out, I would transplant my plants to a spot by the back patio that has nothing in it buy weeds at this point.

Here's the before pics of the sitting area......

Zach decided to "help" out. He first would help dig and then after I loaded the plants I was moving into the wheelbarrow, then Zach would get in for a dangerous trek to the backyard! Such a long walk he had to pack a snack for the trip! :)

Yes.......that would be crackers AND dirt he ate for his healthy snack!

Here's the finished product of where I moved plants to. This area is kind of tucked away from everything else, so have never really focused much on it. The gate is nailed shut because our lab is naughty and can open it, so we don't ever enter/exit through it. I think it looks pretty good compared to what it did look like. I didn't take a before pic of it so you'll have to take my word for it!

In addition to helping me with transplanting flowers, Zach also had to help his dad mow the yard! He's a busy guy that Zach. He could probably complain he was overworked this weekend as he did more "work" than the big boys at our house! :)

As the evening wore on, Zach found the pumpkins we had gotten at the pumpkin patch. I think he thinks they are balls, he was more interested in throwing and rolling them than anything else!

Well, best head to check on that last load of laundry.....only have a half hour til my ride gets here! If any of you see my baby boy this week while I'm gone....give him some extra lovin from his mama! I miss all 4 of my boys already! I miss Autumn all the time cuz she's away at school.....plus the boys seem to need me more than she does at this point in her life! Doubt I get to blog while I'm away......so see ya when I get back!

Pumpkin Patch.....Part 2

There were so many pics from the pumpkin patch, that it was hard to pick what to put in! But there are other things to post about so I had to limit it to just a few. Ok, I had a hard time picking just a few so be patient with me!

The playground area had all kinds of fun things to do. There were several playgrounds stationed in different areas. They had neat forts w/ slides, bag swings, regular playground equipment, etc, etc, etc. Our kids would've been happy to stay here for most of the day I think! We had a hard time pulling them away to go do all the other things.

Donnie "helped" Zeke climb up the fort ladder and then down to where the slide was. Donnie actually managed to then squeeze himself down this tiny tube slide! I had helped Zeke the time before this and I made all the kids get off the ladder so I could climb back down as I didn't want to risk ruining the pumpkin patch trip by getting stuck in the tube! :)

Here are some random pics on the hayrack ride out to the actual pumpkin patch. You'll be able to tell it was a bit windy and chilly. Derek, Sheri's grown son, is in the blue jacket next to her husband Mike. Sheri is holding Aiden and Alleyah is next to Sheri.

Treyton in the hoodie, Sylvia, Addie and Bradley......

Did I mention it was chilly on the day we went to the pumpkin patch???? Ask Treyton how he feels about the trip? :)

I love this picture of the twins. I can only imagine what they are thinking!

Here we are out picking pumpkins. We found one for Zach that "matched" his look. It has a little scab up where the forehead would be just like Zach! :)

Sylvia found 2 pumpkins.....

Even Zeke carried his own pumpkin......my such concentration!

Isn't he cute......

Justin found a river that was next to the patch. The water was evidently high at some point and drug several vines into the ravine and water. Justin of course HAD to pick a pumpkin from the water as it is much to easy to pick it from the patch!

Here's the last photo of the day from the pumpkin patch......Zach was ready to go at this point, thus the serious look he's got going on! I don't think we were 2 miles down the road before he was crashed out! Actually our entire carload crashed. I took pics of that too, but they are a little blurry so didn't put them on here.

I feel much better now that I have the pumpkin patch posts out of the way! I had a ton more pics to pick from, but these were a "few" of my favs! :)

For those of you that have been praying for Jeremiah I'll give a little update. He was in PICU from Tuesday to Friday. They are still not sure what is causing his symptoms, but they are running tests on his kidneys and adrenal gland. For whatever reason, when he drinks fluids his sodium levels drop to a dangerous level which they feel caused him to have the seizures. They are limiting his fluids til they figure it all out and its about to kill Jeremiah. He LOVES to drink and is thirsty all the time. They have thought for some time he has a form of diabetes that effects just the kidneys....but they are questioning that now too! Soooo, still don't know what's wrong so please keep him lifted in your prayers! Jeremiah was thrilled to be going home and the other kids were so excited for he and Sheri to return home too!

Finally.....the Pumpkin Patch....Part 1

Finally, Donnie spent a whopping 2 seconds on the computer/camera problem and of course got the pics on the computer. I'm SURE the camera was fearful of the rath of Dannon thus decided to be cooperative and had NOTHING to do with Donnie's skills! :)

The weekend before Halloween, we went to the pumpkin patch with my good friend Sheri. You will hear me from time to time refer to her and her kids. Sheri has adopted 5 children and continues to do foster care as well. I am Aunt Dannon to her children and she is Aunt Sheri to mine. I love her kids dearly and we often get together. We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Sheri came across Walter's Pumpkin Patch last year and we have decided this is the place for us to return every year. They have acres and acres of fun. We were there a little over four hours despite it being very cold and didn't even get to all the fun things to do! I took an enormous amount of pics in preparation of doing a scrapbook (tutorial one at that thanks to Jake's Aunt Mo!). I have so many to share I will have to show pics in more than one post. Prepare yourself as this one is long and has lots of pics......

On our way to the Pumpkin Patch!!!!! Donnie and I drove one of Sheri's vehicles as it took 3 to get us all there. Sheri's gang included she and her husband, her grown son Derek, 17 year old Alexis, 6 year old Bradley, 4 year old Addie, 3 year old twins Jeremiah and Alleyah, and 1 year old Aiden. Our crew included Treyton, Justin, Zach, our niece Sylvia who is 7 and Zeke who is 2. Quite the entourage! Just a few more kids and we would've had 0-18 covered! Sheri took a van full, Donnie and I drove a car load and Derek drove all the teenagers. Here's our carload all excited to go!

Before entering the patch....we stopped at a wagon for a photo. This is all of Sheri's kids and mine, plus our niece and nephew. Soooo from the left we have Treyton holding Zach, Addie is sitting next to Trey in the green jacket, Sylvia in brown shirt, Zeke in red jacket, Jeremiah in blue vest, Alexis in bright pink holding Aiden. Back row is Alleyah in the white vest, Bradley in the camo vest and Justin in the hoodie. Quite a good looking bunch if you ask me!!!!

Immediately there was a photo opportunity upon entering Walter's.....Zach was less than excited about my excitement! Or maybe he was just feeling intimidated by the size of all those gourds......

They had a very fun train just as you enter that is impossible to resist! Everyone had their own cart complete with annoying horn! We pretty much filled the whole train with just our crew!

Zeke.....

Bradley......

Addison.......

Alleyah......

Jeremiah......

Sylivia and Zach.......

And Aiden.....

They had a giant thing called a jumping pillow. I'm not sure how they did it, but it was a huge nylon canvas pulled tightly but was close to the ground and rounded to where the kids could jump on it and not fall off. They had a ball!Zeke was a bit cautious......

Zach took it all in from the sidelines......

Having fun on the homemade horse......

Treyton and Alexis got a little bored and thought the pumpkin patch was a little lame at times. Although I didn't get anypics of them having a blast at the underground slide cuz they went without me. I'm guessing they had just as much fun as the little kids!

Sylvia and Zeke......Sylvia was showing a little sisterly love atop the haybale structure they had. Zeke got a little scared up so high!

Alleyah got tired of walking......so Justin caved in and carried for the remainder of our trip at the Pumpkin Patch.

While waiting for the hayrack ride to return from the field for our turn, we took advantage of some photo opps......here's a couple from that.....

Treyton our comedic drama king.......he does that to mock me cuz I take pics of everything and it drives them crazy!

And Justin is a close second.......

So that's part one......the next post will have more fun and the actual pumpkin picking! Then I have Halloween pics to post. And then some pics of our weekend work around the yard! Goodness I'm behind in posting! Dang camera/computer technical difficulties!

Please put my nephew Jeremiah in your prayers. He was the adorable little guy in the blue vest up above. He has been in PICU since Tuesday. He had a grand mal seizure at home Tuesday morning and went to the ER via the ambulance. He had another seizure while at the hospital. He's been in PICU ever since. They are not sure what is causing the seizures at this point. He's having a hard time maintaining his sodium levels and they think his kidneys are not working properly. Checking him for several things but so far nothing is coming up as the definately culprit. He has a heart condition which makes things a little more dangerous for him so please pray for his health and for the doctors who are trying to figure out what's wrong. Ever since the seizures he's been disoriented and is very confused, and has slept very little in 3 days now! Sheri has not left the hospital and is exhausted as he has only slept about 2 hours total during the night and then just intermittedly during the day. Hopefully they figure things out quickly and that it is nothing too serious!

Have a good week......