Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween! We are planning on trick or treating from about 5 to 7, because tonight is church. But I think the kids will get plenty candy :) We will just stay in our neighborhood. We carved pumpkins last night. The kids really enjoyed that, although I ended up doing most of the work :P Here a couple pictures of what my kids are for Halloween. Taylor is a black cat and Blake is Captain Jack Sparrow from pirates of the Caribbean.

Update for Monday

Well it is Monday evening and several things have happened today. The guy that I had left a message with this morning about the motorcycle called me back and was extremely interested in the bike. He actually drove from Oklahoma City down to Dallas to borrow money from his bank (He is going to Oklahoma University but is from Dallas) and then drove up to Sapulpa tonight and gave us cash for the motorcycle. He said he drove like 437 miles or something like that. But he was thrilled to buy it and we were thrilled to sell it! It worked out AMAZINGLY! I thank the lord, I know he worked it out.

I babysat, or as my niece called it "kidsat" today. I love my nieces and nephews. Elisha, Stormie and Samuel came over and I really enjoyed them. Hehe, I have forgotten what 2 year olds are like, Samuel LOVES my purse, he knows that I have mints in it. SO...when we had our yard sale a few weeks ago, he had gone through my purse. And he did it again today. I wasn't mad, I just thought it was hilarious! He had ate all my mints and unwrapped my woman stuff, LOL.

And just a few minutes ago, I was looking at Taylor and noticed some Fifth Disease on her arms, so....HERE WE GO AGAIN :P

I want to thank anyone that remembered us in your prayers, because everything really did turn out better than I thought it would this morning. I was just so thrilled that we sold the bike so quickly.

Bummed out!

Hi, it is Monday morning. I hate Mondays. I got a call from the guy "buying" our bike and he said that his truck was not working on the weekend and so he would have to put his money towards getting it fixed. So I called the other 3 interested in the bike and 2/3 said they bought another bike on the weekend. And I got the other's voice mail, so I left a message. But I don't know anything about him, if he is still interested, anything. And not only the bike, but several people that I cared a great deal for, have passed away within the week. Sis. Joyce Easter from Oregon; Sis. Rhonda Morris from Vici, Oklahoma. And the third I don't know FOR A FACT that he's gone yet, but last night my mom called me and told me that one of my Dad's first cousins, Paul, had a brain aneurysm and didn't have much time left. My grandma died of a brain aneurysm and it took her within 3-4 hours. So I am assuming he's gone now, but I haven't heard yet.

On the bright side, a new baby was brought into this life yesterday. Congratulations Swanky's ;)I'm so happy it is all over with for them.

Please continue to pray that we sell the motorcycle, we are trying to get all of our debt paid off and stay debt free (except for maybe a house payment :) We have been watching and reading Dave Ramsey stuff and want to get debt free. I have wanted rid of the motorcycle from day ONE. It scares me to even own one. I always worried that Ryan wouldn't come home when he went riding. They are super dangerous! So remember us, please. I hope everyone else is having a good Monday.

YAY! YAY! YAY!

I am 99.9% positive that we sold Ryan's motorcycle! ANOTHER BLESSING! Three days ago, we put the motorcycle in the Bike Trader and I got a call on it today from a guy from Stillwater. He said that he wanted to come look at it tomorrow, and I told him it was slightly damaged and he was okay with it. Then a little while later he called and was at his bank and needed me to fax the title over to him and get the payoff information for it. So I did all of that. And I just got a call from the banker and he said that he was sending a payoff check to our bank that it is financed through, and he is giving the guy a cashiers check to bring with him tomorrow when he comes to look at it. He could still not buy it, but after going to all of this trouble, I doubt that he won't take it! If he doesn't, we'll just not take the check and my bank will just send the check back to his bank. But like I said, I don't think that will be a problem!

All of you know that Ryan is doing so great spiritually now, but this bike was the beginning of all of our problems. Not the bike itself, but the people that rode bikes together, not a great crowd.

Just keep us in your prayers today and hope that everything goes good!

Another blessing for us

About one and a half months ago, Ryan wasn't working and he applied at this company called Paragon. He was hired very quickly after that and we were both thankful. His pay wasn't as good as we were used to but they told him that they worked a lot of overtime and the pay was better with overtime. He really wanted a day job, but that was filled up so he had to take evenings/nights. He went in at 2:45 pm. and was supposed to get home shortly after 3:00 am every morning. They also worked him 6 days a week, so as you can imagine, he had no life outside of work. He worked at least 70 hours a week. He would come home and have to wind down for about an hour and then slept during the day. Then they started keeping him longer hours, and it wasn't consistent. They would just decide the night of how long they were going to stay. So he never knew if he would be home at 3,4, even 5 am. And another thing started to bother him, they have a day crew and a night crew. Well the day crew would ONLY work 10 hours a day. They would make the night crew make up for the "quota" that the day crew (most of the time) didn't make. Also, Ryan said that they treated him and everyone TERRIBLE! Ryan didn't get to go to church Wednesday nights, we couldn't go visiting nights, like we wanted to. And even on Sundays, he had a hard time getting up to go to church, and he really wanted to go. So he has been very stressed lately.

Well, he talked to a brother (yesterday) that does tile and started working for him today, so we will get to go to church 2 times + a week together and go visiting! I think this will be so much better on him spiritually also. So God has really blessed us!

It's finally gone!

I noticed that today Blake had no trace of 5th disease left, yay! Yesterday, there was just a little bit. I haven't been keeping up with the progress of it, sorry. I did take some pictures of it about 3-4 days ago, it was very ugly. But it is gone now. Someone told me it may come back one, two, or even more times. I hope in his case it doesn't, but if it does, oh well. Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know it was gone now. But like I said, here's a few pictures from about 3-4 days ago.

My handsome Broncos Fan!

Today I got Blake's pictures done also. I am so excited to get all these pictures back. We took in a Denver Broncos flag and a #1 finger and used them. They turned out SO cute. Again, I had to turn them down for now, because I was going for the "school picture" look. But hopefully they will send a spec sheet with the Broncos flag in the background and I'll buy them then. Well, here are the proofs of Blake's pictures :) (I chose the third row down, last picture on right as my package)

Charlie Chaplin is back.

Last week at Taylor and Blake's school, some photographers came to do the annual school pictures. They were going to do individual and also group pictures. I was excited about it for 2 weeks prior to that. The reason I'm so excited every year is because I am doing this 13 picture collage. It has a 5x7 in the middle where my kids' senior picture will go and has 12 small ovals (mini-wallet size) all the way around it for Kindergarten through Junior year. So I'm always excited to add to my collage. Well, the order forms came in and I started looking at the prices...YIKES. All I was really interested in were the mini-wallets to put in the collage. The SMALLEST package available was 4: mini wallets and 1: 3 1/2 x 5 and the price on that package was $8.50! Ridiculous! It's not the price that really bothered me, it's the amount of pictures that you get for that price. So I quickly changed my mind on school pictures, however, I did order Taylor and Blake a group picture. So I immediately made an appointment at JCPenneys, because they also offer mini-wallets. I looked online and found a coupon that gave me a free sitting fee, free 8x10 and a package deal (1: 8x10, 2: 5x7, 4:3 1/2 x5, and 16 wallets) for $7.99. Then, when I go to pick up the pictures they send a thing called a "spec sheet" which has the mini wallets. I think it is $9.99. So I will get SO many more pictures this way. And, I get to actually pick which picture I wanted, instead of just hoping that the school picture looked good from the school.
So, picture day came and we went to JCPenneys. They let us bring one extra set of clothes for a change in the middle of the session. She started out with denim jeans, a pink shirt, covered by a denim jacket. Then we changed her into some black pin-striped pants, a white blouse, covered by a black sweater. The photographer saw the outfit and ran over and got this hat and asked her to do a few things with the hat, like raise it, hold it with her hand/hands, etc. She mentioned to me that she wished she had a cane. I knew that she was meaning that she reminded her of Charlie Chaplin. I knew those pictures she was taking with the hat would be cute. We got done with the pictures and they said that they like to play around with the pictures for about 30 minutes and show us some things they can do with the pictures. Taylor had some birthday money leftover so we went into the mall and let her spend it. She decided to buy an outfit for her bear (at Build a Bear Workshop). We went back to JCPenneys and another lady (not the photographer) came up and said that she was having a lot of fun playing with the pictures and requested a few more minutes. So we waited and when she was done we looked at all the pictures. They were all SO cute! She had taken the "Charlie Chaplin" pics and made several collages with it. She even wrote on the collages,"Charlie ain't got nothin' on me!" So she thought the same thing as me and the photographer. It was SO hard to turn down those pictures, but the only reason I got her pictures taken was to put in my collage. So I had to. She asked me while we were looking at the pictures if I would sign a release form to the company, so they could use those Charlie pictures if they wanted to. That's how cute they were. It was really a fun day. I'm getting Blake's done today, they would only let me do one child per day. I enclosed the proof sheet to give you an idea of what they looked like. (The second picture is the package I chose.)

Glad the weekend is over.

I had a super busy weekend, and am really glad to have it over with. For the last week-2 weeks I have been going through everything and getting ready for a yard sale. Sapulpa had a community yard sale on Saturday and there were LOTS of people out. Cherrie and I had decided to have the sale together, which was SOOO nice. I enjoyed having someone to visit with. Actually, there were 3 people to visit with: Cherrie, Ryan and Chantel. I have had to run yard sales by myself the last few times and that is NO fun! We didn't sell out, but we did get rid of big items, yay! The rest we are just hauling to Goodwill. And I feel so much better about getting rid of some clutter! Ryan put his motorcycle in and had 3 different people inquiring about it. Just pray that at least one of them comes back! We NEED rid of that bike! Overall, it was a successful sale, but it is always so nice to have it over with.

On another note, Blake's 5th disease has spread all over his arms, all over his back, and now on his legs. But it is getting lighter this evening, I think. Hopefully Taylor won't get it and Blake can get rid of it soon.

Taylor and Blake only have school 2 days this week, I am hoping that Taylor and I can do some scrapbooking maybe Thursday night. I LOVE scrapbooking and haven't been able to in about 1 1/2 years. So needless to say, I'm very far behind!

Hope everyone else had a good weekend :)

1st day 5th disease pics

I just want to display these and and see if they get worse, the lady at the school said it may get worse, we'll see. I feel sorry for Blake, however, these are not painful or itchy. Thank goodness!

Fifth Disease

While I was helping Cherrie and Lee paint their house in Drumright I noticed that I got this UGLY rash on my arms. It looked like a bunch of dark red splotchy spots all over my arms. I had them a little bit on my chest also. I at first thought that I had an allergic reaction to the paint. Then last night I noticed that Blake had a few red dots/pimples on his face and I thought it was just dry skin. So I put Vaseline on his face and when he woke up, the red dots were still on his face. I didn't know what to think, but he went on to school as normal. Well... I got a call from the school and they said that Blake has a thing called Fifth Disease. It is kind of like chicken pox, but not bad like them. We all know pox itch and are just miserable. Well, Fifth Disease doesn't itch or anything, it just looks ugly. But like pox, you are contagious before the breakout. And it lasts 1 to 3 weeks when you finally break out. And supposedly you don't get it again, your body becomes immune to it. They said that he was fine to keep going to school though. They wanted to just let me know what it was, which I really appreciated. It is just a thing that is going around, so I thought I would let everyone know, because I had no idea what the rash was. Anyway, you get a fever about a week before you break out. I now think back to before I had the rash and I was sick but not throwing up. I had a fever and felt terrible. And it was about 1 week before the rash showed up. I will try to post a picture of Blake's skin, but for now, I found this picture, the arm in the picture looks EXACTLY like the rash I had a couple weeks ago. So this is just for all of you to know ahead of time, just in case ;)

Angelic voices

Today I went to Brother Jacob Bocook's funeral. He moved to Delta when I was a teenager and he started hanging out with my good friend, Velvadene, so I also hung out with him as a teenager. We weren't close friends, but was definitely good friends. I just felt so bad for his wife, Renee. She also was a good friend of mine as a teenager. It is so strange to see people that I am/was friends with being called home. He left behind 5 children and 1 on the way :( I just can't stop thinking about poor Renee. She is going to have quite a trial ahead of her. But as I was standing at the graveside, they asked that we all sing a couple songs. I have heard some beautiful singing, but today I just listened to the voices harmonize and it actually (to me) sounded like a bunch of angels. It comforted me. I don't know why that was the most comforting thing to me, but it was. I think it was only about 3 months ago that I saw Jacob and Renee at RD and Andra's wedding and it was so nice getting to catch up with them. I told them I was going to try to come and see them. And you know how time goes by SO quickly and I've gone through a lot of things in those 3 months, but now I just am so MAD at myself that I didn't. I hope that this will be a lesson for me that we can NOT take advantage that everyone will always be there and we can go see them just whenever we want to, because that isn't always so. He was only 35, his family needs all the prayers possible.

Slumber party

We had a slumber party over here last night that was full of laughs and plenty of goofiness! I had went to Cherrie's to help her get started packing/rearranging, but we really couldn't do much until we had some room, so in a few days, when her shop becomes vacant, we are going to get in gear! Anyways, I had LOADED up on caffeine, thanks for the DELICIOUS coffee Cherrie ;) When it was time to go home, I invited Stormie (Taylor's BEST friend). We got home and I kind of let the girls do whatever. They started watching Parent Trap and I had a LOT of caffeine running through my body, so I decided to clean and organize Taylor's room! I am soooo happy with it now. That kid had WAY too many toys. Cherrie and I both are planning on having a yard sale next weekend, so I am trying to get RID of stuff that we don't need! Mission: ORGANIZATION! Taylor had this huge toy box, full of mainly stuffed animals. The toy box looks like it is for a little girl (like 2) so we are getting rid of that and I had a pink storage container, less than half the size of the other, that I made into her "new toy box." Plus... I went through and took summer clothes out and put fall/winter clothes in. In the middle Stormie came in and wanted to help me. I told her she should enjoy relaxing and she insisted on helping me. What a sweetie! And she was a great help! But after the room was done, the girls continued to have a great time together! Taylor is really going to miss Stormie. But it was a really fun night

The moon is so so sad...

I just realized that I had 2 blogs on Taylor and none on Blake yet, so I came up with one for my baby boy :) (I'm all about equality). Blake LOVES drawing pictures. He doesn't have the talent of drawing like Taylor, that girl WILL be an artist. But he LOVES coloring and drawing. By the way, he LOVES Harry Potter! He drew this picture and I asked what it was and he said it was a moon and a warewolf. He went on saying, "The moon is SO SO sad because the warewolf yelled at it." I just started laughing, it was so cute!

Will Taylor EVER grow her 2 front teeth?!

Taylor's 2 top front teeth became loose in the last part of June and I waited to enforce pulling them until after her birthday, July 15th. Well, I think the next day we did pull the top 2, they were VERY loose and appeared to be ready to be pulled. Well...it is now almost 3 months later and there is still NO sign of adult teeth showing through. It usually (for the other teeth) took less than 1 week for the adult teeth to show through. Has this happened to ANYONE else? I teased Taylor before her birthday about singing "All I want for my birthday is my two front teeth." But like I said,I decided to be nice and let her keep them until after her birthday. I'm starting to worry that we may actually have to have her sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

There's something about those Easters ;)

I just thought of something to write about: my neice, Savanna P, is getting married on August 8th. at 7:00 pm in Delta, Colorado (08/08/08). She is my sister, Sue's, youngest child. Her sister, Stephanie just got married in June and I have been waiting for Savanna to announce that her and Trevor B are engaged. It is kind of funny, BOTH Stephanie and Savanna chose 2 of Ryan's cousins. Ryan's grandmother was an Easter. Stephanie's husband, Jeremy Easter is Ryan's 3rd cousin. And Trevor's mom, Therese was an Easter (Ray's daughter). So Ryan and Trevor are more like 4th or 5th cousins. But I always tease them about wanting to be double related to me! I guess there is just SOMETHING about those Easters that my family (including me) love ;) The top picture is Trevor and Savanna (soon to be Bellew) and the bottom picture is Jeremy and Stephanie Easter. I chose green because that is Savanna's favorite color :) I guess Taylor is going to be a candle lighter and Blake is going to be the ring bearer. But for those who know them, I knew you would like to hear the news.

I met the (real life) Sheriff from CARS

This happened 2 weeks ago, but I really thought it was neat talking to this guy, plus my life is kind of boring right now and really wanted to write about something ;) And you all are probably wondering what I'm talking about. When the people that made the Disney/Pixar movie CARS, they based all of their characters on real life people. Well, my family met the Sheriff. His name is Michael Wallis. VERY nice guy, he lives in Tulsa. He kept saying things that the Sheriff in Cars said (ie: "BOY, you're in a heap a trouble.) He asked the kids if they've been out tractor tippin, and just other things like that. He has written 14 books about Route 66. He's not FAMOUS, but is semi-famous (I guess). So it was pretty neat. He had A LOT to do with the making of Cars. If any of you own the DVD of CARS, you can see just how much he had to do with the making of Cars. Just go from the Main Menu to: Bonus Features. Then go to: Inspiration for Cars, and watch that documentary (16 minutes long), it is really neat. Also, if anyone wants to see the characters the movie is based on, here is a web address: http://rwarn17588.wordpress.com/2006/06/09/a-route-66-guide-to-the-cars-movie/

You tell me what this reminds you of ;)

A couple weeks ago Taylor was sick and you know when you are sick, you think you are hungry but you're really not. Well, Taylor asked for an apple, so I gave her an apple in bed, because she was sick, and she fell asleep after only two bites. So...any guesses on what this reminds you of? I'll give a clue: Lips, red as a rose; skin, white as snow; hair, black as ebony (but not really). I really did feel bad for her, but saw her with the apple in hand and had to take a picture of it.