So Much Has Happened

Kirsten left on October 13th for her Dad's. It was so hard to see her go. We did enjoy a meal and some laughs before she had to board the plane though. I miss her. I miss Sean. Man they sure grew up fast.

Last weekend It's My Heart had a booth at the ZooBoo Friday and Saturday night. It was neat to see all the dressed up kids. The second night was much busier than the first night. Gabriel came out for a couple of hours and loved it! He has trick-or-treating down pat. Well, he doesn't say trick-or-treat but he always says thank you! He was dressed up as Frankenstein. So cute! Ben stayed at Mom's both nights and I'm sure got spoiled. :)

This week I wasn't feeling all that great for a couple of days including a headache last night and today. Feeling like I'm coming around though. Just sleepy.
Tomorrow I am throwing a fresnomommies Halloween party at Mom's clubhouse. It should be a big turnout! around 75 people is expected! Thank goodness it's a potluck. My friend Lisa and a co-worker and fellow Halloween finatic, Ricky, from work will both be helping decorate in the morning. The party is from 4-6pm. Gabriel is going to be Buzz Lightyear and Ben will be a dinosaur I think. (he has 3 outfits to choose from)

Sunday we go to Church in the morning and then the boys will go to Gma Peg's afterwards and nap. I will be going home and gathering some decorations and heading back to Church to help with the Harvest Festival. Lisa and I will be decorating the van with the theme "Spider's Lair". Gma Peg will bring the boys in the evening to the festival. They will be Frankenstein and Dracula. Too cute! I will wear a black gown and have spiders all over me I think. I'm also supposed to bring a cake for the cake walk. I haven't figured out when I'm going to get that made yet. Maybe Saturday night I'll bake it and Sunday morning I'll decorate it.
Busy Busy!

Ben had his Cardiologist appointment this past Tuesday and all is going good and he doesn't have to go back until he's 18 months old! Yay!!

Nate is doing good. He was kinda bored at work this week. He had to cover at the shop for a guy that went on vacation so he wasn't outside working. He was inside cleaning and organizing a warehouse! Now he has the boss there and the foreman at the job site fighting to each keep him!! Nate does great work and is so productive. He is doing so well. He is going to work at Whole Foods longer than we had hoped now though. At least through June. He was going to quit after Christmas but we will need the money since I need to send money up to Washington for Kirsten. And can you believe after 9 years our Landlord called yesterday and is going to raise the rent $125 per month starting in December?!?! Crazy timing. This house is still a steal though and we have no plans on leaving. Our Landlord was afraid we would move out but was happy to hear "no way!!"

And don't forget on October 28th Sean Jr turns 19 years old and on November 5th Kirsten turns 17 years old!! Crazy!!
Happy Birthday kids~ I love you

A lot will change

Kirsten has decided to move up to her dad's and will be leaving this month. No set date yet but it will be soon. She has already been pulled out of school here. I am sad but if it is going to make her happy then I will accept it. Right now though I am sad. When Sean left I was sad too but he is 18 and it's easier to accept. She's still 16 and I'm not done raising her yet! I will look forward to phone calls, emails and IM's.

Sean and I IM'd for an hour a week ago. It was nice. I enjoyed "talking" with him. He is maturing so much now. The past year he has changed really. Around Thanksgiving he is supposed to take the GED and in January start Junior College! He has decided that he wants to get into gaming and help create games. A friend of his Dad and Lori's is a game developer and has said that if he takes the related classes that he will get him in the door!!

Ben is now 7 months old and I just got his pictures done last week. We took quite a few poses with out a shirt to show off his scar! They are really cute.
Gabriel is learning so much at daycare and he loves going. Here is a link to the Learning Center's web site: http://brownbearlearningcenter.wetpaint.com/
Angela posts a lot of pictures. Today they made their own pizzas and Gabriel was friend of the week so he got to share his favorite book, movie, music, toy and snack. He brought a Baby Einstein book, Toy Story 2, "Rocketship Run" CD, his Little Einstein's rocket ship, and for snack, grapes, cantelope and graham crackers. Yummy!

Nate is in Electrician school this week and actually just finished today. The other day he was proud since he scored the highest grades on the tests that they took not to mention he was the only one that completed all of his homework! He is doing great!

I am loving being back at work and have started planning for the company holiday party. I have a lot of HR things to take care of and I am nearly complete making a new handbook. We really need it!

And....halloween is coming!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Visitor!!!

Sean came home to visit! He got here Sunday evening and will be here until Wednesday afternoon. He has requested his favorite meal for dinner so we bought everything to make it tomorrow: meatloaf, parmesan pasta, garlic bread and Gma's salad. Mmmm yum.
He's just hanging out since everybody works or goes to school. Gabe and Ben are sick so I am staying home with them tomorrow so inbetween the snot wiping and hacking (poor little guys) Sean and I can hang out together. He is doing good and likes it up in Washington. He's gained a little weight too!!! It's good to see him!
I managed to get a pic of him and Ben together tonight. You know how Sean hates pictures...

My Bday and the Fever

My birthday was a quiet one which is really what I wanted. I worked that day but Gabriel was running a fever so he stayed at Gma Peg's house while Ben went to daycare. The boys stayed until Nate picked them up around 5:00pm. Peg came to my work and brought me flowers, a card and a monetary gift! Lisa at work got me a card and this drink mix just because she knew that I would love the bottle. It has a skull and crossbones on the back and "blood" dripping from the cap. The liquid is red and I proudly have it on my desk along with the flowers. :)
When I got home Kirsten had made me caramel walnut brownies and my Mom brought over an ice cream cake! The picture above is Kirsten's "Top Chef" presentation of the brownie. What a great job! She also got me a Fresno State Bulldogs Tshirt. Mom and Gma and Gpa gave me money too. I'm up to 37 dollars from Gma and Gpa! lol
Nate also told me that I get to spend some money for Halloween stuff. My favorite thing to get for my bday!! He also bought us Speedy Zapatos. Mmmmm...
I rented some movies and watched Baby Mama that night before retiring to bed. It was a good bday!
Sadly though we are ALL sick in the house now...

To Be Young Again

I'm going to be 37 tomorrow. What in the world? Mentally I'm 16 but physically I'm 60 years old or more...
Birthdays are more fun when it's someone else's!

It has been awhile seen my last post. I am back to work and Carol the office manager had her last day this past Friday. Happy retirement to her! It feels good to be back and have a desk too! I was floating for awhile and sort of took over Dean's desk. It's hard to get my brain working with numbers again after so long away. :)

Ben is 17 pounds now and eating constantly. He might have a tapeworm...just kidding.
Gabriel is sick again and Kirsten is happy to get some internet time.

My friend Lisa and I started going to church! Yes me! And I am willingly going. And so far I really like it!! Crazy I know. I look forward to each service. We took our kids this past weekend and they had a blast playing with the other kids. Clovis Hills church is very modern and laid back which is why I think it fits for us. You can dress casual and drink your coffee during service. The Pastor has a wonderful way of explaining things so everyone understands. I am not familiar with the bible or how to read and understand it at all so he makes it fun. Hey, they have a rockin' band too! We are going to try to attend a bible study too. I can't believe how much I am into it. It is truly amazing.

I've posted some recent pics of the family and one of the yard sale to raise money for IMH Fresno. We'll be having another one sometime this month after it cools down. We have a ton of stuff leftover and this past Saturday we raised over $300!!

OOOhh...Halloween is getting closer!!! I am throwing a kids party through a group I'm in called fresnomommies.com on Oct 25th. It should be a blast! Of course I can't bring 75% of my stuff since it would scare them but it will still be a great time. ;)

Good Day and Sad

Well it was back to work today! I am really happy to be back. I wasn't sure how I would feel but it is nice to be back. Oddly it almost feels like I never left. I mean it does but doesn't you know? It will take a bit to get back into the groove and to learn the changes that have been made over the past SEVERAL months but I look forward to it.

Sadly though my return also was right after the death of the company's owner Jeff Dockstader. He was and is such a wonderful man, father and friend. I truly will miss him always. It doesn't seem real that he is gone. It was very hard for his family today. Jeff was an amazing person. So many people loved and respected him. This Friday the shop will be closed and we will be attending his funeral that morning.

It does warm my heart to know that he now has been reunited with his mother and long lost love. His first wife passed away about 17 years ago after a horrible car accident the family was involved in. Please don't get me wrong. It saddens me that his wife here on Earth has lost her love and he has lost her but I can only imagine how joyous it must be for him up in heaven right now. Jeff led a marvelous life and has raised eight beautiful children.

I will remember his unique laugh, his lack of remembering people's names (haha), his compassion, his thoughtfulness, his generosity. He always said hello to you and asked how your family was doing. And he meant it.

I remember before I came to work for Fresno Body Works when I worked at Fresno Dodge/Lexus Jeff would bring popsicles on hot days, donuts on the days we all seemed to need one (or not!), and apples in the fall. This is what he did. Up until his passing. He always maintained wonderful relationships with businesses and tried to always see that every customer received the best service and treatment at his shops. Something that his family will continue on in his honor. And those of us that feel like family.

I only wish I had seen him more recently than a few months ago. I had visited the shops a few times but never ran into him. The last time I saw him was the night before our Ben's open heart surgery. He and his son Dean came to our home and gave a Holy Blessing. It was so thoughtful and so heartwarming that they took time out of their busy lives to do that. The night will forever remain special to me not only because of the emotional times with Ben and the comfort of the blessing but also because that was the last time I saw Jeff. What a wonderful way to remember him.

Jeff passed away this past Friday night driving home. He suffered a heart attack just down the street from his home. No one else was injured. Please say a prayer for him and his family.

Truly a remarkable man.

Time is Running Out

Wow. You would think that after being off of work since early December that I would want to go back?!
Nope.
Nada.
Don't get me wrong. I love the job and the family I work for and the people I work with. I just don't want to go back! I love being home with the kids. I do enjoy away time and I know I will get back into the routine of working but looking ahead to next week I just want to cry!
Next week!
This Monday!
AHHHHH!
It sure doesn't feel like I have been gone this long. It's not like all this time off was fun and games. Haha. I keep waiting to find a solution to stay home. Maybe I should have been playing the lotto all this time...