Our Dad, layout #2
This is the same picture I posted a couple of days ago. I made
some minor adjustments just to make it interesting. This scanned
very crooked for some reason. It is not that crooked "in real life".

Rhebeca in ballet class...age 3
I have been sorting my picture and layouts to try to get them
in some sort of order so I can get them put in scrapbooks. I
am not naturally organized but keep trying. I just loved this layout
of Rhebeca when she was just a little thing!

I am really tired tonight. I think I am starting into my cycle that I seem to be getting a glimpse as to when it comes and the physical effects that come with it...like a red mask across my nose and cheeks, bloating, more pain and on and on. This time every joint in my body hurts too. I just can't seem to be able to get out of pain tonight. I try to keep busy and keep my mind occupied and it helps a little bit

Katie got a call from the family doctor this afternoon and got the results of her MRI. She has chiari syndrone. The best I can explain it is a malformation in the brain at the stem where it meets the spinal cord. It causes headaches, dizziness and several other things that I can't rememer right now. She is taking the news quite well but I can see the terror in her eyes and my heart just aches for her. Our doctor doesn't think she will have to have surgery but is sending her to a neurologist to more thoroughly research it. Please remember her and her family in your prayers.

Our son called me this morning and told me his back was so much better. He went to jui-jitsu last night and sparred (sp?) with a guy much bigger than him. Alan told him not to be too rough with him. Well, the pain went away after his "fight". He has had the sciatic nerve pain and it was really getting to him. He thinks that as he moved around on the floor that it was like traction to his back and allowed the disc to move off the nerve. I am happy for him and hope it stays permanently. He sounded so relieved to get a little relief from the pain. Believe me, I know what that feels like .

I am closing for now because I keep falling asleep...I almost fell off my chair the last time I fell asleep.

Kael and Kaleb

This picture was taken several months ago but I love it...two

brothers sleeping together. They really don't look alike at all but

they will most likely be great friends as they grow up. They are

only 2 years apart and are all ready enjoying each others company.

Cheerleader Rhebeca

Rhebeca went to cheerleading camp this summer. She

is really a natural in cheerleading...she is always doing

cartwheels and jumping up and down repeating some of the

things she learned at camp. She has many things that she will

be capable of doing because she has a lot of talent...it will be

interesting as a grandparent to see what she decides she wants

to do!

Kael, Kaleb and Rhebeca

This was taken several months ago but is a

great picture!!

I don't know if I've had this layout on here before or not but it's worth

repeating. I have read a lot of articles on taking pictures and one thing

they all agree with is to take lots of pictures and you should get a good one.

Here is a great picture that Kristi got of Jacob when he was about 6 months old.

It's hard to believe that he 's walking, climbing and running all ready.

I had quite a weekend:) I had the stomach flu that started on Saturday morning and finally let up today. I even had a fever with it with the chilling, sweats and body aches. Then by this morning I realized I had another urinary tract infection. The other antibiotics must not have killed the infection when I took them about 10 days ago. Hopefully this isn't going to become a chronic problem along with everything else.

I got our mail this afternoon and there was a letter from the social security disability department that they rejected me for disability. I told Wayne I wish they could spend a few days with me...then they'd realize I truly won't be able to turn me down. From what I've read from others on the internet....it's not uncommon to get rejected the first time around. Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 tries.

Wayne and I picked up Tyler at school today. I got really tickled as I saw Tyler and Wayne walking to the car. Tylers mouth never stopped moving. Katie said he had asked if Wayne and I could pick him up today and she said no but then she had to run some errands so wanted us to get him. We played games and went to the library again. I kept falling asleep at the library so I really wanted to go home. He was so sweet and said....sure!! I love that he's not embarassed by my walker and is happy to ride on it when when we're leaving the library. I enjoy spending time with him and just wish both other families lived closer so I could do these things with the other grandkids too. I just try to do other things to keep them included in my life and take advantage of the time we do have together. Jacob has been calling me occasionally and even though I can't understand most of his words I love talking to him and building a relationship.

Christmas Tree Part 2
This is the same thing as yesterday....two pages that look
very similar but are for 2 different books. The first one is
Tyler's and the 2nd is Rhebeca's. It takes a lot of thought to
ome up with a layout...as least for me it does....so once I
use a layout I like I repeat it with the same pictures...a lot faster and
I don't have to think much about what to do!

Part of these layouts were cut off again by the scanner...mostly
on the bottom and top.

I woke up today and felt like I'd been run over by a truck. I have had several good days in a row so I was due for a bad one and got one. The humidity is high and it looks like maybe another storm is brewing. I know the humidity is high when the windows are steaming. I'm so thrilled to have the anodyne unit here...My feet have been better all ready having the anodyne unit at home.

Today ended up being an interesting day. I woke up feeling like I would be able to do a thing but by about 10:30 I snapped out of it. Tyler came here right after school. I wanted to be able to look at the library books with him. We also baked cookies, ate lunch, played a game, played computer games and more. We had a great time as usual.

Tyler helped me bake cookies and one thing that struck me funny was watching him measure out the flour and put it in the bowl. For me it's not a messy thing but it ended up being all over Tyler, all over the cupboard and floors and it actually did make it into the cookies.

We decided the cookies would be for his Daddy because his Daddy had a bad accident today. Thank God for his safety. His guardian angels were watching over him today. He was on 49 N (heading north out of Valparaiso) and got into a construction zone. He was going 45-50 mph and there was a lady stopped in his lane and he didn't know it and rear ended her. It probably totaled both cars and he actually hit her so hard she hit the truck in front of her. I'm so thankful that he's all right. Katie called and was crying....I just think she was feeling the reality of what happened and what could have happened.

I guess it isn't Steve's time to go and he has a lot to live for. He's got two litle boys and a wife that depend on him.

I think the anodyne therapy is still helping here at home. My pain has continued to let up and now instead of having pain in the ball of my foot and all my toes...the pain is now in the tip of my big tow. It could backslide but I'm hoping it won't.

Playing Grandpa Wayne's crane
It's pretty nice to have a Grandpa that owns a stuffed animal
crane route. We have machines in our garage off and on and when
Tyler sees one he always wants to play it. Grandpa showed him
what to press to keep getting free games...could it get any better than this?

Tyler is giving himself some more credits on the crane here!

Rhebeca acting silly:)

These two layouts look like they are identical but if you look closely they are pretty different. The first one below is for Rhebeca's photo book that I'm making for
her. The second one is Tyler's picture. I have so many pictures to scrapbook that
I will need to live to be at least 90 to get all my scrapbooks of the grandkids completed.
I am just taking my time and enjoying the process of being creative

I had a pretty decent day today. I ran several errands and got pretty tired doing that. But overall I can see that I'm gaining strength little by little. I am even getting dressed more often.

My feet are even a little bit betterl I got the anodyne unit today and have used it all ready a couple of times. I'm hoping if I do it more often that the healing will take place even quicker. The lady from the company told me it can be used for headaches, knee pain and neck pain. Wherever you're having pain the unit can be used for almost any type of pain.

A cute grandchild story before I close. My Mom & Dad sent Kael some money in his birthday card. His Mom asked him what he's going to with his money. Are you going to buy something with it? He said no. are you going to put it in your bank? He said no. He thought for a little bit and then said I think I'll buy a bus and some bugs:)

My latest scrapbook page
I will have several pages to go with this one because
from this one photo it's not real obvious it's cutting
down a Christmas tree but I should have the others
done soon. For you scrapbookers I used Bazzill
cardstock...my personal favorite and Basic Grey Blitzen.
I just love the Basic Grey line. They are so unique and artsy.

The camping trip

Our daughter and her husband and little Jacob spent their vacation this summer

camping at Hot Springs Arkansas. It was really hot when they tent camped the

first two nights. After that they rented a cabin at a KOA and it had an air conditioner

so they were able to be cool when they slept. Jacob did pretty well camping for the

first time. He slept between his Mom & Dad in his own sleeping bag and liked putting

his face on top of Mommy's face....lucky Mommy....what a fun way to sleep:)

Helping himself to some breakfast

Transportation

Eric and Kristi drove the volkswagon bus to their trip.

They had no air conditioning and it was SO hot. Kristi

said it wasn't too bad.

Home away from home!

Camping in the age of technology!

In the first picture, Jacob is watching a movie on the dvd player

and in the second picture he is watching cartoons on his Mom's

ipod. Camping has come a long way.....but I'm not one to talk about

r0ughing it. My idea of roughing it is camping in our motorhome with

air conditioning, comfortable couches and bed.

This blog can be frustrating at times. I was dong fine today. The pictures downloaded right away and everything was working and then above the last two pictures it decided to double space the lines. I have no idea why. If anyone knows how to change that, please leave me a comment.

As far as my health...my feet continue to give me problems For the last couple of weeks I've had to go in for therapy with the anodyne unit every day. I really could do it twice a day and probably get relief faster. It is helping though...even though I still have pain. When I started the anodyne therapy all my toes and the ball of my foot were numb and burning and now it's only my big toes and the toe next to my big toes. That's a huge improvement. It's kind of interesting because I can feel things happening when I'm getting the treatment. I can feel some shooting pains and then my foot will start to itch. The therapist said that's a good sign that it's working. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for their help I will be getting my own unit probably tomorrow. I can use it on my feet every 4 hours. I really think that will speed up the healing. It can also be used for migraines, low back pain and any joint that is causing problems.

Whenever the back pain starts of some new back pain starts I get very scared. I'm afraid that it will stay with me and the morphine pump won't help. Last night I got pain down my left leg. It lasted for a little over an hour and tried walking around and changing positions and it finally went away...thank goodness:)

Rhebeca starts 2nd grade today. I hope it goes well for her and she likes her teacher and she is treated well. I think it was Monday that Tyler was the "helper" in his class and I'm sure he loved being the helper. His mind is just constantly working and he loves to learn. When he plays a game on the computer or otherwise he always wants to try the hard version rather than the easy one. My Mom taught him about japanese beetles this summer and he was very impressed that they eat the plants. He is always looking for traces of them outside. A couple days ago he was walking out the door when he noticed our plants were cut down. He said...WOW!!! Look what the japanese beetles did to those plants. I had to explain to him that Grandpa Wayne cut them down because they were getting so big that they were covering the sidewalk.

I tried and tried to upload the scrapbook page this morning. I switched from AOL to Internet Explorer. I finally got so frustrated that I went into the group help and someone said to download the Firefox browser and it will take care of the problem. Sure enough it did take care of it. The picture loaded the very first time I tried it! If anyone is interested in downloading Firefox here is the link.

Rhebeca, the poser

Rhebeca came over to our house one day last week and

was looking for items she needed for a slumber party

she is having. She has planned and made things all week

for this party. She is calling it a movie premier because they will

be watching "The Cheetah Girls" or some name close to that. I

don't think I even knew there were movie premiers when

I was her age. She tried to get everything cheetah theme but settled

on cats and tinkerbell. When we were looking for some

things she needed we came across this long piece of fur. She right

away put it around her neck like a boa and posed for

these pictures. Since the time she was a little thing about

a year old she knew how to pose for the camera and

this Grandma takes advantage of those times!

I was so excited that for 2 days my feet were a little better. Yesterday I didn't have any pain at all and today the pain has come back full force. This neuropathy is a nasty thing to have. Now that the morphine pump is working well and I can get out of back pain these feet have to start in. The anodyne therapy really helps and I'm just praying that the insurance will approve the home unit.

Tomorrow I go to the dentist again. If you remember...the last dentist "fired" me...I guess that's the best way of putting it. He had to give me 12 shots for 2 teeth and still didn't get me numb. I know he was very frustrated and went over the alloted time and had people waiting on him but it still doesn't make it right to drill on someone and hit the nerve time and time again without the patient being numb. It only adds to the nervousness I feel when I go to the dentist. The dentist I see tomorrow does sedation dentistry so I just hope it works for me. Here's crossing my fingers:)

The second glance I took of Rhebeca's picture I noticed the messy bedroom in back of her. You can see a little bit of my recliner where I sleep and rest. I love that our windows have a marble shelf and it comes in handy to have that shelf for all my little things like glasses of water, finger nail file and all the other little necessities of life.

Tyler's first day of kindergarten

Both of Tyler's parents went with him for his first day of school. They

thought he seemed happy to go to school. He is in a brand new building

that they are still working on. Here he is lined up with his classmates.

Tyler gave both of his parents a kiss as they left him there. Katie said

they thought a kiss in front of his friends wouldn't last too many more

years! It reminded of me when I took Alan to kindergarten. I went into

the room with him and was getting ready to leave and Alan yelled out

so everyone could hear it...Hey Mommy, aren't you going to kiss

me good-bye??

Getting ready to go in to the school building

All lined up and ready to get started .

Caden had to wear his backpack too and walk in

with his big brother!

The pain in my feet has finally let up just slightly. I will still be ready to go into therapy and have the anodyne therapy again tomorrow. All the paperwork is in to the anodyne company and they will be filing it with insurance and hopefully they'll pay for a home unit.

All day yesterday and still today I felt like I had a bladder infection. I decided I didn't want to wait till Monday so went to WalMart's new med center. They have a nurse practitioner that works in there. She did the test and sure enough I have a bladder infection. It's just always something. I think maybe that's why I've felt kind of rotten for a few days.

Yesterday was my pump refill and the first time I worked with my doctor's associate. He was just as knowledgable and friendly as Dr. Grove. I asked him about medicine for break through pain. He said as long as that's how I use it, that's fine. He said do not be using it every day. Use it only when I'm doing a special activity...like Monday going to the dentist. It will be more effective that way and I won't build up a tolerance for it and need a stronger medicine. Made sense to me. I told him that's what I'd do so he wrote a script for vicodin.

Katie's husband is gone and helping a friend drive home from a job in New York. She went out to a movie with her girlfriends last night...they all got babysitters and enjoyed their "free" night out. Well, Katie's purse got stolen at the movie and it had her cell phone, car keys with the house key on it, garage door opener, credit cards and her social security number. She was so upset and worried that someone would try to come into her house now. Please keep her in your prayers as I will be doing that she will be safe from harm.

Rhebeca, if you are reading this, I tried to get the pictures I took of you loaded on tonight but had trouble with it...I don't know why but I will get them on tomorrow...I wouldn't forget about you:)

Katie (our daughter) and Eutemia (our daughter-in-law)

Rhebeca and Tyler

Rhebeca and Tyler are cousins and great friends that enjoy

each others company. They don't really have a lot in

common but they can always find something imaginative

to do!

Proof of their friendship...could anything be more touching?

Burger King Play room
Caden enjoying the slide.

Tyler

Today was Tyler's first day of kindergarten. He is going in the mornings and is in a brand new school.

His Mom told him he could pick the place to go out to lunch today. He picked Burger King and their indoor

playground and I got to come along! His Mom kept trying to get him to open up about what he did today

and he had the typical kid answer of I don't know and I don't remember. I told Katie she better start

getting used to it because it only gets worse. He did say that they took a tour of the building and his

teacher read to them and they sang...he said...you know all that boring stuff:)

This blog can get very frustrating at times. Although, it's usually not the computer but the user. I don't know why it decided to double space under the caption of Tyler's picture. I don't know how to change it so it will just stay the way it is.

My feet were so bad last night with that burning pain that I had trouble sleeping. I have a unit called "The Rebuilder" and I tried using that last night and it made my feet even worse. I went for therapy this afternoon and told the therapist and he thought that maybe the unit is undoing all the good that the anodyne is doing. In a half hours time of sitting there with these pads on my feet and legs all the pain goes away. Tonight I have just a tiny bit of pain...nothing like last night.

Today was a decent day for me physically. When I have days like this I have so much I want to do that it seems I only get done a fraction of it done.

I had a miserable weekend with my foot pain. I had that feeling again where my feet were burning like they are on fire and also had that feeling like rubber bands were tight all over my feet and toes. I went for my Anodyne Therapy at 12:30 today and the pain went away completely. I am so thrilled. I still don't have any pain. I have begun the process of applying with the insurance company to get a home unit. Please pray with me that the insurance will approve the purchase. Using the Anodyne therapy is like the difference between night and day.

I have been a little concerned lately because my knees are beginning to be sore and painful. When they flare up I can hardly go up or down stairs. I'm beginning to feel like a little old lady with all my aches and pains.

I was able to finish 2 layouts also over the weekend. They are below and are of Rhebeca at Christmas 2004. She had wanted a blonde Rapunzel Barbie and that's all she really kept talking about. I looked EVERYWHERE!!! for it and finally found it. It was so much fun to give it to Rhebeca and see the look of surprise and delight on her face.


Rhebeca Christmas 2004

These layouts are 12x12 inches. They do not fit on the scanner and for

some reason they always end up crooked no matter how much I try to

keep it straight. I have to scan 1/2 of the page and then the 2nd half

and I use a scrapbook program to "stitch" them togetoher.

Alan (our son) had fun playing around with his friends new MacIntosh computer. Alan said it has best photo software he's seen. I think they played aound with it last night and it looks like they had a very good time.

I think I'm getting a headache:)

Alan the geek!
Eutemia, what big eyes you have
The Jay Leno Look!

Alan, you really ought to wear bangs. Your forehead is a little on the large side.

Eutemia's close set features and tiny little nose.

Tyler on the slip 'n' slide

At the beginning of the spring season I bought a cheap slip 'n' slide at WalMart. Tyler

saw it today in the garage and wanted to play with it. Wayne said "ugh" because

he just wanted to relax but I talked him into helping us put it together. The only

problem with it is the water sprayed out instead of in on the slide. Wayne used

the soap in the bubbles bottle to make it slippery and it did help. Tyler got quite a few

runs in..more than I could count!!

Wayne's boat at Dixon Lake

Wayne has had this boat for a couple of years. Kristi got it for him for

Christmas one year and he used it a lot several years ago...and it's been shelved

for a while. Wayne was in the mood to get it out today....it's so beautiful outside today

that it's nice just to be out. Tyler not only watched the boat go but he enjoyed throwing

rocks in the lake and trying to catch little fish. He was so much fun to watch because he would just

jump right in the water and try to catch the fish with his hands. He also had fun looking under rocks

to see what he could find. .He had such a good time. He also has a longer attention span than even I do.

My feet have been pretty bad this weekend. They burn like crazy and feel like there's rubber bands wrapped around my feet really tight. I have a home unit that helps a little bit and a little bit is better than nothing. I didn't sleep hardly at all last night. I think at most I got an hour and even that was interupted by waking because my feet hurt.

Yesterday was one of the best days I've had for a while. I had energy and felt SO good. It never lasts very long it seems. I keep striving for even a week feeling good. I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

I listed the American Idol tickets on ebay. So, if you're interested you can look up the tickets. I keep falling asleep at the computer and typing several lines of r's or p's, etc. So, it's off for a nap I go.

Jacob playing games with the big boys!

What is the attraction of these video games that even a little one

less than 2 years old will want to play them? Kristi sent this picture

and said she and Eric were both laughing at Jacob. They were

eating at CiCi's Pizza and Jacob took his chair and scooted it into

the game room. You have to do something to compensate when your're

only a couple feet tall! Jacob has discovered chairs and Kristi says he scoots

them all over the house to get to where he wants/needs? to be. It's not a very

big picture but Jacob is the one in the middle standing on the chair.

Rhebeca and Kaleb

This was taken a little over a year ago. Kaleb was 1 day old.

Isn't he a beautiful baby with a beautiful older sister?

The scaner cut part of the top and bottom off...it always does

that for some reason. This scrapbooking layout is my accomplishment for the week.

It's not much but it's better than nothing.

I had a little better day today except I made a mistake this morning. I took the newest pill that the pain doctor gave me for my feet. It really seems to help without many side effects. I do seem to have one side effect with it and that is it makes me extremely sleepy. So, I didn't get much done today and got dressed about 4:00 to go out and get a prescription.

The mailman came to the door again today. I have never been dressed (I do have a nightgown and robe on:) when he comes to deliver a package. Today he delivered a birthday present for Rhebeca...I wonder what it could be?? Rhebeca reads my blog so I'm not gonna say but I think she'll like it!

Not much else new...not much happens when you sleep and surf the web most of the day.

Rhebeca playing Uno

I have tried for about 10 days to get these two pictures of

Rhebeca on here and they finally decided to cooperate

with me. I'm sure it's the fault of the user and not the

computer:)

Card Shark!
Three little guys watching the rain

These little boys would rather be outside but it was raining. I thought it was so

cute that all three were standing at the window looking outside.

From Left to Right it is Tyler,Caden and Kael.