funky friday

no news today on Kim. we have worked it out that i will visit in the evenings after work. this is kinda nice. now i don't feel guilty trying to find a sitter or being to busy during the day. we talk on the phone but at least i can visit more often. Kim is really looking better. we sort of discussed when she gets out about getting some things like will and funeral arrangements ready for the "just in case". I want her wishes honored and i need to know what they are.

I have also discussed her having a journal to get out all her feelings out on paper about anything. this will be a great reminder for when she beats the cancer to look back and to see her struggles and her triumphs.

*so this is one of my favorite shirts that my brother got for wyatt. recognize the colors?? it's a John Deere "Got Dirt" tee. I almost don't want it to get dirty its so cute.

So I'm not into making new years resolutions but i'm totally into making new years discoveries. case in point. Rob was asked to lead this sundays church service. after prayer and talking to me he found that he had nothing convicting that he could discuss for 20 minutes. no matter how many ideas i threw at him. his response became for me to lead the service. um... no. But now i wonder if i really could do it. lets rephrase that. i know i can do it, it's the sick to my stomach feeling that i don't want to deal with. even now just typing this my heart starts to beat fast and my hands shake. earlier today i called rob with an idea i had about our life in a kinda of "It's a wonderful Life" way. Now i don't remember the whole movie but i got a brief synopsis on it and that its about how one life affects those around us wether we know it our not. and that in the grand scheme of things we need each other more than we can even begin to understand. it was also about how you treat others and i think this is where i will base my discoveries for this coming year. i want to make this year more friend and family driven. these are promises I have made to myself before but now feel more convicted than ever to act upon. Oh and Rob turned down leading the service so pastor Rod is coming over from his church to lead.

so here is one of the only picture of me on christmas with the spidy that i need to exchange. I must give a big shout out to my hubby, my 5 in1 reflector showed up today and i have already tried playing with. combine that with the cool photog books my bro got me i'm a happy camper.

So have a happy new year and be safe. I plan to take the tree down and put christmas away till next year. Cheers everyone. lots of hugs and kisses. carrie

christmas update

okay so i finally uploaded my photos from christmas day. this one though blurry is christmas morning. we are still at the stage where we had to wake at least one child (wyatt). my house was packed with presents. ya know, when your shopping it doesn't seem like very much but then you multiply it by us, 2 grandmoms and a honorary grandpa and an uncle and you get a small living room with no place to sit and no more room under the tree. please understand i'm not bragging just trying to give a visual about what it was like. present wise it was a great christmas. everyone seemed very happy with what they received.

as a fun gift i bought both of the guys these marshmallow shooters that have a pump action. the guys loved them and of course mini marshmallows were flying. the kids loved eating the mallows and somehow i ended up sitting on some and getting my jeans sticky.

After the presents we started getting dinner ready and wouldn't ya know it i dumped the potatoes in the sink when i was trying to strain them. wyatt was climbing onto any boxes he could and getting into trouble left and right. kelly was just being plain bossy and you know how inlaws can be. so to combine all this i was in foul mood by the end of the day. so the kids got a few bulky gifts and this last picture is one of them. he so acts like rob when he bangs his drums. but that boy loves to play the drums. now with his own set maybe he will leave robs alone. as i was taking pictures i have one that has his arms raised above his head but he would bang so fast that all the pictures are a little blurry in the arm area. ohhhh well, my brother bought me a couple of photo books that i have been asking for so i'm gonna start working with those. so far i really like the author and the way he writes. i have heard nothing but great things about Bryan Peterson and so far so good.

***Kim update****

they are going to let kim go home because her kidneys are back to normal and before they start the chemo. her slides have been sent from tucson to phoenix now to houston to be gone over to find out what type of cancer and what stage. all tests done in tucson have confounded the lab so they are sending it to a cancer institute for more testing. so far they do know that she has uterian, cervical and stomach node cancer and lymphoma in her neck. they have found four lumps the size of almonds in her neck. so it doesn't look great right this minute and hopefully we will have more results soon. i'll try to keep posting.

Carrie

not so merry christmas eve

What a weekend so far. finally got a call and some news from Kim. they still don't have the stage results in but they have found another lump in her neck about the size of an almond. to top it all off her father is now in the same hospital for heart problems (go figure?)

So the plan is for us to go up tomorrow afternoon and take up their presents. we will bring christmas to them.

this just so sucks. thankfully they have neighbors who will look after the dogs so i won't be running back and forth from that. sorry don't want that to seem heartless but i know it sounds that way.

i'm just asking for prayers that we can stay upbeat and have a nice christmas.

love you all and please take care of yourselves. love Carrie

update

Happy Friday all. This has been a rough week. Kim has been diagnosed with cervical cancer that has attached itself to her bladder and as of this morning we still don't know what stage she is at. to top it off i was spewing my guts yesterday morning. when asked if i was pregnant i say i doubt it but it could be possible. i'll let you know when the flow hits. i think i just ate some bad food. anyway i off to wrap some gifts that i can and when i get home from work tonight i will try to wrap the kids'. ugh. i still need to make two dozen sugar cookies for tomorrow. i really need to get busy. plus i need to wash kids clothes.
SO i'll keep you posted and i will post over the weekend.
lots a love Carrie

not good news

I don't know where to start. I've been working and really like it. I've been baking for some of mom clients and that is bringing me some scrappin money. Did all my christmas shopping on sunday. went to tucson mall (they opened at 7am) and nobody was there. was in and out in about an hour.
now for the bad news. Kim has been in the hospital since sat morning with severe stomach pains. well the results just came in. she had surgery this morning because she had stints put in her kidneys because they weren't functioning properly. they found cervical cancer. we have to wait for the biopsy results to see what stage she is at and the cancer has grown into her bladder wall. this is all i know so far. i'm not going into work tonight, instead i'm going up to the hospital to be with Kim. If your are the praying type please pray for her.
I'll post more as i know it.

i so suck i know. but i think i have been kinda busy. i said i think because i really can't remember much of this week. i know today was a full day and i'm about to head out to the scrap social. we will see how it goes. i'm thinking about stopping that and going to making memories once a month. this way i think i can get more friends together and have more fun.
i don't have much time otherwise i would post a picture. i have been trying to take more of wyatt. well i took a couple of him earlier this week and i took some of both kids while i was making apple bread this afternoon.
I have been going through a LOT of photos this week trying to find more to scrap. granted i still haven't printed out much of this year. i am actually on the hunt for some pictures of kelly when she got her big girl bed. i thought i had like three sets of photos that i still need to process but i *gasp* can't find them, thus the manhunt.
*weekend to go as follows: social
Sat. work 1-930. Sun. go christmas shopping mon. bake 6 doz choc chip cookies and 6 doz dec. pretzels and have home group christmas party. kinda a full weekend :O!! hugs all C
P>S> i am NOT sending out christmas cards this year.

weekend update

ugh! sorry i got kinda sick on sunday and just started to feel better half way through monday.

was supposed to meet my friend michelle and her kiddos at reid park playground but something funny happened and we had to postpone it for tomorrow. *she decorated her christmas tree with a TON of lights and when they went to use the microwave the blew something. not even flicking the circut box switch helped, so michelle has to wait for the electrician to come. i couldn't stop laughing when she told me. she said she has a least six strands of 300+ lights on a six foot tree plus whatever she found in the box so only God knows how many lights are on that tree.

so today i plan to do at least 15min of cleaning in each kids room and get the dishes done plus pick up the living room. so i have one hour to get all this done so i can SCRAPBOOK!! whoo hoo. i had planned to do it on sunday but that was a big no go. so it fits just fine for today.

speakn' of scrapbooking. i went through on saturday and counted that i have roughly jan-nov of '06 to print and that is 1500+ photos. Yes thats one thousand five hundred. to have them all printed and shipped will cost $285.00. thats $.18 per photo and flat $2.00 shipping. yowsers. but i was smart and broke it down by months so that i can plan my course of attack and hopefully when tax return comes in i can print the rest. Rob was like can't you delete some of those? Do you need all of them? This is my philosophy, I want to print them all to 1. see my mistakes and learn 2. not have just the perfect photos printed. someone once said and i hold it true that with the new digital era that our kids are gonna have a complex because only the perfect photos are printed and anything not perfect is deleted. they will think they have to always be perfect. what are some of your favorite photos as a kid? i bet they werent the olan mills perfect setup. they were the slightly blurry, funny faces or christmas/ birthday shots that show the love and fun that you were in. this is what i want for my kids, that all shots (well almost all) are important. there are some that were just too blurry to keep, or the back of someones head. yes you can delete those.

okay enough i need to get busy. have a great day.

Just for Julie***

went to Joanns when i got off work at 9:30p on saturday. said hi to a couple of girls and did some fast shopping since they were closing in 20 min. Lupe was closing with 4 girls in the front and 1 in framing. okay... go backs were not done. garbage was not done. the store was trashed and when i walked out at 10p they had not done carts, pulled in the baskets from outside, guest service was trashed. this was crazy nasty. and of course lupe was nowhere to be found. The girls really missed me and megan told me that frannie was really pissed that i left early that last night. i guess she even made a comment that i shouldn't be allowed to teach since i walked out. go for it. i could care less at this point. so when i do the social on friday i will mention it. just thought you would get a kick out of it.

Hugs carrie

kelly-ism's

this one was said to us this morning when told to go to her room and put her slippers on, she huffed and said "I'm in charge".
lately, "good grief" watching way to much charlie brown
"Come check it out"
or not so much anymore was "mommy chill out"
gotta love it! and don't want to forget it either.

of course now that we have the van it's me saying, "all aboard the mommy train". they like that one

so today has been a nice relaxing day except that rob is not feeling well. I'm sure he will be fine tomorrow but it's 8:30p and he is already asleep.
So mom and i had an appointment with santa claus today. this is what i tell the kids whenever i have to go christmas shopping. we had to go to wally world and manuever around the crazies to pick up some of the kids' gifts. pretty sad when your mom buys your kids more presents than you do.
i say this every year but after christmas my kids are set for several months. they don't need anything. which is a blessing but such chaos on x-mas day when you see the sea of gifts for those two kids.
I've been on a hunt for a couple of gifts today for the adults myself, just trying to find them is hard enough let alone a decent price. found a couple of sites that search for you that have helped. whats funny is i found this one product from the same manufactuer with 2 different names and several different prices. haha i know how to shop around and read. i'm no dummy.
plus today i made a list of what i'm gonna pick up and roughly the price so i know how much i'm spending. this way i can stay in my budget and get something for everyone.
I'm looking for some cheap funky gifts for our home group to give out. anyone know a off the wall website that can help?
oh well i will keep searching. hugs c

Part 2

Okay so i know i said i would tell you about tres amigos. here goes

I like it. i mean it is very easy and the only pain is the computer, which i'm starting to get the hang of. last night for instance i was to accessorize on tops of furniture that needed it. it was taking me forever because i kept changing my mind and it's not my style of stuff so it's harder for me to work with. they were so cool as i kept switching things. i mean this job is like having fun and doing work at the same time. everyone so far is just nice. i know this sounds trite but it's true. if you can't get something done it's okay someone else will finish tomorrow and no one is bitter about it. no rushing or stressing it's cool.

we had the company christmas party on sunday and it was held at El Charro. cool. free food and at least one free drink, if you answered questions you won more drink cards. so after dinner the owners gave a little speech and then on a table are all these gifts. yes there were some cheesy gifts baskets but there was also some pretty cool stuff. this year they did it according to seniority. i guess last year they drew numbers and it corresponded with the number on the gift and all the new people got the good gifts so they cahnged it. Okay the gifts were..... 2 different tools sets, dvd's, coffee grinder, wine openers (good ones), movie tickets, gift cards to see's candy. dvd players, clock radios, dvd/vcr combos, 2 different tabletop steros, play station 2 and an ipod. how cool is that?? and what did Carrie end up with???? a chocolate gift basket. rob said i got screwed but i'm enjoying it. not much in there but its good. we will see next year, maybe i'll get something better.

So on monday the kids got sick and rob and i didn't get much sleep because we kept getting up to change twels and pajamas. yep they had gotten food poisoning. so i spent most of yesterday doing laundry and trying to chill before work. but today the kids are much better and full of pure energy. since it is such a nice day out i tried to set up a christmas photo shoot. yeah, this lasted about 5 minutes. and i had to bribe kelly for the single shots i took. For the life of me i cannot get a good shot of them together. one or the other is always funky. this is the best of the 3 i could get before wyatt ripped off the hat and went back to playing. I told kelly if she would let me take pictures she could watch a movie. that got an instant okay. the very first picture she had the hat over her face then it was the partial looking up and then her telling me to shush. then just a nice smile.

Okay enough updating. i need to feed the kids and myself. I'll do better in keeping up with this thing for the rest of the month. cheers. carrie

Part 1

I'm so sorry. i didn't realize how bad i have been. so this is what i did on the 30th. the kids (pretty much kelly) helped me to put on the lights and decorate the tree. if you can see it, you can tell kids helped because all the decorations are in one area and I put all the breakables near the top.

*our big tv is still on the fritz but now it's worse. you have to hold down the menu button and either the volume or channel buttons to change anything. the input button does not work at all. EXCEPT once and it switched to a different antenna and now we have NO picture. so now we watch tv on our computer. so the only times i am on is either late at night or not. so i have put blogging to the side.

But i have been taking some photos. typical toddler and a boy at that, Wyatt won't sit still for 10 seconds let alone a photo shoot. so miss Kelly has been my muse. she is just so gorgeous. and i like that she is starting to have fun with the camera and not just those cheesy grins (which I still get plenty).

Otherwise life had been pretty normal. gearing up for the holiday season. I am not doing christmas cards this year. as of right now i'm just not in the mood but that could change. hell i haven't scrapbooked in a couple of weeks either. I have been cleaning and cooking and chasing kids.

getting ready to go christmas shopping with Kim in a couple of weeks. we are gonna head up to Tucson mall on the 17th to get it all done. i need to hit disney and old navy and a few others. i know what to finally get my mom and rob that they aren't expecting and will both enjoy. i have a list for the kids, now i just have to find something for robs mom. i will find something to inspire me. so look for part two in just a few minutes as i finish catching you up.