Treya Joy

Miss Treya Joy is my new niece. She is such a blessing. Born on Thursday, April 14th, on a stormy day, she made such a joyous presence. She is BEAUTIFUL and precious!!!!

More pictures later. Zach's at boyscout camp tonight where Shawn and him will spend the first night ever at a camp. Zach shot a BB gun today and also did pretty well on his archery (from what I heard). He also went fishing, but Chance's aren't really known for their patience, so I'm thinking he didn't do as well as he'd hoped. Shawn said his phone died so no more pictures of that. I had a Tupperware party today that was very successful in terms of great friends and family. I love the people surrounding us right now. Finally, Grandma Pam asked about taking Logan and Malachi home tonight so I could get some homework done. She is SUCH a Godsend! I am so thankful for my kids having such a wonderful grandma that loves them and WANTS to spend so much time with them. They also love playing on the farm at her house too. So, I've been working on homework for an hour, taking a "house-cleaning break" for half an hour and now I'm ready to hit the books again. Graduation day is growing ever closer. :)

Boy Scouts

Zach is really enjoying boy scouts. He is earning badges left and right and also built a bird house a couple weeks ago. It was a fun project for him. I am happy that he has a creative outlet like this.

Boy Scouts and Jury Duty

Last night, I had a webmaster meeting that I couldn't attend because Shawn got called in to work. He NEVER gets called back in, but both last night and tonight there have been critical exams that he's had to do. I guess I never realized how nice it was when he was on call for x-ray, he could just go and do an x-ray and be home within an hour at the MOST. Now, by the time they call him, he has to call Topeka Pharmacy to get the drug doses and they have a certain call-back time to get there and mix up the dose and send it on the way to Manhattan. So already its at least an hour. Then the nuc med exams are usually at least an hour if not 2 or more hours long. So, when Shawn called me at 3:00 and told him that he would have an exam and couldn't pick Zachary up for his boy scouts meeting, I knew I had to step up and get it done, no matter how I felt. I know my icky attitude couldn't have made it much fun for the boys, but we got-er-done.

Zachary had a great time on the hayrack ride. Logan, Malachi and I were on for the first 5 minutes before some of the adults noticed the flat/low tires, so we all jumped off and let the "kids" ride. Some adults didn't get that message! :) It was boredom at the extreme and trying to keep 2 rowdy kids from playing in the dirt and making a mess all over was not easy to do. I missed Shawn because this is "his" thing to do with Zachary. I love having Zach in boy scouts and know how proud he is to be a boy scout and how happy its made him, but I'm just not boy scout material. We had to stay FOREVER to get his awards and then left after that. It was just one of those nights that we were close enough to Manhattan that I decided to just run to town for supper- at 7:30pm! We usually eat at about 5pm, so I'd been feeding Logan and Malachi snacks and gum from my purse to tide them over. (I'm not going to the Best Mom Award FYI!)

Here is a snapshot of us on the hayrack ride. Its pathetic, I know, but kinda funny! I had my little camera, so don't pay attention to the poor quality.

I had some photo-ops with the little boys while Zachary was off on the hayrack ride.



And Logan made an instant friend, who had a rock-chasing dog. This dog was the sweetest dog and she retrieved ROCKS! She wouldn't budge if you threw a stick, but if you threw a huge piece of gravel, she was after it right away. It was all fun and games until a rock went off course and hit an old horse trailer. (It wasn't thrown by my boys, just so ya know.) Then, I realized that it'd probably be a better idea to just pet the dog rather than play fetch, even though it was pretty cool.

Logan liked the campfire. He really was intrigued with the embers from the fire. He said, "Ah, you see all those little baby fires????" And as he was trying to walk around the fire, the wind shifted, sending some of those his way, which got him jumping and running and freaking out. It was hilarious! He took this picture:

Brotherly love:

Strength:

Fear:

I had my first ever jury duty today. It was STRESSFUL and then relieving. I really wonder what the outcome of it was though. Anyone know how I can find out????? I got almost to town and realized I didn't have my purse with me with my Driver's License, and I didn't want to be late, so I rushed home (sped a little) and low and behold- my purse WAS in the dirty van, under my teacher bag and jacket!!! Urgh! By the time I got to the courthouse, I was 5 minutes late instead of the 10 minutes early that I'd planned to be, but still got a good parking spot, no ticket, and dismissed from the jury after about an hour and a half of questioning. I have my husband to thank for getting me out of it, although it really sounded like an interesting case that I would have liked to have heard the rest of. Some woman was arrested at Mercy Regional as she was watching her father be administered drugs that she didn't want them to and it resulted in his death (I think was the jest of it). She was charged with trespassing and assault or something on a law enforcement officer. She was also defending herself, which I think was a HUGE mistake. Oh well.

Tomorrow is back to work for me and I will still have a substitute teacher because I have to help give assessments to my students. There is a LOT of stress at work and the good week that I had had seemed to have disappaited as I checked all my emails tonight (since they don't go to my phone anymore right now). Please pray for this situation and guidance. Shawn and I have been praying and are making some MAJOR life-changing decisions about our careers, living situation, and family life. I want to fill you in, but want to make sure we have discernment on the issue first. Thanks for praying for us. I'm praying too that work can get a little less stressful and that everyone can work as a team and appreciate others' efforts and be as positive as possible.

More this week about: health (I know this is boring, but remember this is my journal and way to keep track of somethings like this); relocating (don't want to completely scare some people but we are considering possibly relocating FAR away from here); reviewing products (see post below), and of course, the concert we went to Sunday night. It was beyond description. I want to blog more about that and Logan's funny sayings later. Its bedtime for now. Another night skipping IV treatment, so hoping tomorrow I can maintain blood pressure and strength. :) Thanks for the prayers.

Mr. Cub Scout

Last night, Zach had a "pinning ceremony" or something of the sort. I think it was a big deal, but I was too exhausted to try going to it AND dealing with Logan and Malachi at the same time. So, I stayed home and Shawn did the daddy thing of going and helping Zach. So far, Zach is LOVING boyscouts and of course, the most adorable little one in his outfit.


This was "seriously, mom? Another picture?"

Tonight was the respect calls for Grandma Dorothy. I was trying my hardest to explain it to the boys before we got there so they would be prepared. I just knew with how "loud" and "honest" Logan is, that we could be in for a disaster in a sad situation. After I explained that we would go see Grandma's body even though she was dead, Logan exclaimed (like a light bulb came on), "Oh, I see! So, we're going to go to heaven to visit Grandma?" Then while we were viewing her body, it was just Logan and I and as I wiped some tears away, he said, "Mommy, why did you tell her you love her?" I said, "I guess I just wanted to make sure she knew that." Then he said, "But mommy, those aren't her real ears. She's got them in heaven." I just love the "Loganisms" that keep me smiling even in sad times.

Tomorrow will be the funeral and I'm ready to be done with it. I know it is necessary, but I just hate grieving. It was comforting to see so many of my family tonight. A cousin from Seattle and one from Texas flew in. I haven't seen them in a long time. Prayers would be appreciated as we get through tomorrow. I am so thankful for the memories I have of Grandma.

State Fair 2010

I think I'm officially recovered from our state fair trip- 3 days later! We had planned to stay an entire day, but left 3 hours late (slept in) and then tuckered out fast. We still got in some great fun and sight-seeing. We didn't do the rides at all. Shawn hates them and I just hate standing in line, so maybe someday when the boys are older they will want to ride the rides.

Here is Zachary at a construction site. He has really wanted to be a construction worker when he grows up.

We met up with my cousin Anna. The boys LOVE her.

They loved the birthing center/KSU Vet building with the baby animals.


I think Logan wants a baby pig. He said, "Oh, its just like poor Wilber!"





This poor lady that held the chicks. Logan was pestering her with a million questions. Will the chick bite me? How old is it? When will it get tall? Where's its mommy? Why isn't the mommy with it? Are those its brothers? Where are the feathers? (You get the idea.)

She was very kind and gracious about the questions and also very stern with Logan's insistence about holding the baby chick.



Probably one of the funniest parts of the trip was when Zachary got bit by a goose. He's showing the blood blister bite. He still has the mark as of this morning! Shawn was pestering thos geese and Zach was just minding his own buisness following behind us. By the time Zach got by the goose's pen, it had found a hole to poke its head out. Lucky Zach! :)

Logan went into a trailer that showed what its like underground. Pretty nifty!

And then the boys wanted to try their hand at caddle herding.




I like how Malachi is looking at Logan here:

These pictures were taken in a largely populated and overly-crowded building. Good thing you can't "hear" the behind the scenes because it went something like, "No Malachi! Zachary stop it! Don't touch! I told you DON'T TOUCH!!! Where did Logan go? Shawn did you have Logan? Malachi stay here? Could you guys please look for at least one picture?"


Shawn's dream pumpkins:

Painted and decorated pumpkins:


Here again, was the "could you PLEASE look at mommy for just ONE picture????" NO don't touch! No, Logan those aren't alive. They won't hurt you. Really, Zachary, did you HAVE to do that? Okay, we got what we got. This is it."



I could swear a girl was behind me with the way he's got his eyes in their charming look.

Malachi loved the firetruck. Logan practiced dialing 9-1-1. Let's just pray that Zachary is with us if we have an emergency! Logan .. . . well, we'll keep working with him, bless his heart.

Ice cream- peanut butter- was delicious.

Overall, looking at the pictures, we did have a great time. We didn't go in the arts and crafts building because I could only imagine trying to handle all 3 through there, but maybe next time.

Zachary started Boy Scouts this past Sunday. He LOVES it. He truly does. I'm so excited for him to have an "outlet" and things to look forward to now. We have to help him sell popcorn though. I hate trying to sell things because the way the economy is and also just hassling to ask people. That's not really my type. But. . . if you are one to enjoy the Boy Scout popcorn, give me a holler: schance@hotmail.com and I'll get you hooked up. Zachary would be so excited to get some sales.