Back to school

Well, I gotta say I'm kinda sad today. I forgot all the ways having a job would inconvenience me and interfere with my life! I AM happy to be watching the babies tomorrow... although they are handfuls, they are very adorable, BUT i am not available to take my kids to their first day of school and I can hardly stand it! Normally the twins' dad will take Jake and Sarah to school for me and drop them off since he has to take Hunter, his 7 year old anyway, but I just couldn't bare to let someone my kids have known only a couple of weeks take them to their first day of school. :( THANKFULLY, my precious, wonderful, ANGELIC friend Dawn who is like a second mommy to them anyway has agreed to take them for me! Thank you Dawnie! You are the best! But still... sigh... it makes me sad.

On a happy note, we did get the truck back Thursday night! It was even slightly less than the guy had estimated so that really was great news.

We went to my brother's house last night for an early celebration for my sister-in-law's birthday which is today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHY! Anyway, we had SO MUCH FUN! My nephew Kyle had some kind of playstation game that has a fake guitar with it and you have to match the colors with what they are playing on the screen. It was extremely fun to watch! I tried it, but my attempt was unsuccessful to say the least. Jake rocked out though! Then later, Kathy got out her kareoke machine and we all sang these old songs from like the 70's. Remember the Styx song "Babe". I remember we used to couples skate at the skating rink to that song. Remember Diane? Beth? What a fun night. I feel I MUST buy one of those kareoke machines now. Maybe then Merideth would come sing for me! ????

Oh, other great news... my mom and John are moving to our neck of the woods! Well, at least within a 45 mile radius is what I'm hearing anyway. John is unable to go back to work full-time with his dialysis treatments so he is going to go on disability. It's sad for him, but good too because we will get to see them lots more!

Have a great week everybody!

Love and hugs!
Melissa

Jake, Sarah, Davis and Brooke cooling off with some popsicles! Brooke and Davis are the kids that I have been watching on Tuesdays. This Tuesday will be the last time... sad, but needed too since I have the twins the other 4 work days.

My cousin Cindy and her babies Lauren and Aidan. Are they too cute or what!

2nd day better!

Taking care of the babies was definitely easier with my kids there to help. I'm considering homeschooling so they can be there to help me! :) JUST kiddin. It did go much better yesterday though! Sarah is a born babysitter. I told her if she kept helping like that I might just pay her at the end of the week. She even fed Jackson his cereal for me while I was getting Madison down for her morning nap! Jake helped too, but only if I requested. He was really busy playing with Hunter. My friend Susan came over and her kids swam with the big kids. They had a great time. The babies LOVE being outside so I brought the port-a-crib out and they were very content as well.

I normally will have 1 day during the week off, but I still have Brooke and Davis at my house on Tuesday's through the end of the summer. So they are here today.

Still haven't heard anything new on the truck. I hate not having a vehicle. It is frustrating not to be able to pick up and go when you need to. Thankfully, I have sweet friends who are willing to haul me here and there!

First day on the job

Wow! Taking care of twin babies is ALOT of work! About halfway through the day I decided I need to get myself a better deodorant! ;) I also thought maybe it wasn't such a bright idea to let Jake and Sarah go with Mom yesterday! What was I thinking letting my helpers go like that??? Actually, Hunter (the 7 year old) was a really big help to me, but WOW, still alot of work! Madison, the smaller twin has to get her feeds through a pump because of her G-tube and if she gets too fussy she will throw up so it is a great feat in itself just keeping her continually happy. Then if Jackson (her twin brother) gets upset or cries, she cries too so HE has to be kept happy as well! Yikes! It got really hairy around lunchtime when I needed to get Madison's feed started and also feed Jackson, but luckily that's when Emily (the old babysitter) came by to check on us. I was like, "THANK YOU Jesus!" (and Emily too!) Pray for us on Monday! Better yet, just go ahead and start prayin NOW. :)

Lemme tell ya bout yesterday

So, lemme tell ya bout yesterday...
I had Ed's truck and drove to meet my mom halfway between her house and mine so she could have the kids for a few days. On the way back the truck starts vibrating and doing this "jerky, jerky" thing as I like to call it. So I pull over to the side of the road and call Ed. He says to call my brother Paul since I was close to where he lives. Anyway, I end up being able to drive it to Paul's office and after he drives it, he decides it's pretty bad. He and Ed thought maybe I could try and drive it on home, about another 50 miles, but when I got in the truck it just started making more noises and doing the "jerky, jerky" thing and I decided that was NOT a good idea. SO... I thought I would make some lemonaide out of my lemons and drive over to the movie theatre and see a movie and just wait till Ed was through with his day at work and could come and get me! I was SO over the whole being stressed about the truck thing by then and had made it that far with no tears so I was ready to get my mind focused elsewhere. Anyway, so I get to the movie at 5:15 and go up to the counter to get my ticket and they don't accept check cards!!! Urghhh! Even the little hick town I live in accepts check cards and I tell the guy that, but somehow it didn't make a difference to him. (Imagine that!) :) So he tells me the closest place with an ATM is Walmart which is right up the street. So, I'm thinkin, "GREAT! Now a trip to WALMART!" Well, between the movies and Walmart I see a "car fix it" type place so I decide to drop the car off and leave it to be looked at today and go ahead and walk to the movie. So... I get to the movie like 40 minutes after it starts and the guy keeps telling me that it's already 40 minutes into the movie even after I've explained that I don't mind. He really seemed put out to sell me a ticket to a movie that had already been running 40 minutes! So then my head started spinning around and I said in this really "gravelie" sounding voice, "Just give me the damn ticket!!!" :) He he, just kidding, that was only in my mind! I actually smiled nicely and repeated for the third time that I didn't mind missing part of the show. Well, after that movie was over I called Ed and he still hadn't left work (and it would take him an hour to get to me) so I decided to see another show! Ed got there about 30 minutes before that movie was over and waited for me to get out and then we were on our way home! We got home about 10 last night! What a day!

This morning the guy at the "car fix it" place called and said that the transmission is cracked all the way around and they don't work on transmissions there. He then referred me to a transmission place and they came and towed it. Ed got a call after work and the estimate is between 8 and 9 hundred dollars. Yikes! Good thing I have a job now, huh!

P.S.

Happy Birthday Diane! You are still older than me! he he

Happy 20th Anniversary Todd and Susan! You guys rock!

Hello!

Hi all! Thought I would write a little note while I'm waiting for the guy to come fix the air conditioning! Yes, I am sweating! It is hot, VERY hot in Tennessee and although I have the thermostat set on 72, it is 82 in here! Something wrong ya think? EEEEEkkkks!!!

I got adjusted at the Chiropractor for the first time today and I think I love this man! I already feel so much better... it is unbelievable! Thank you Deb for the referral!

Can't believe summer vacation is almost over for the kids! They go back to school July 27th which is next Friday! They have an "extended schedule" here which is kind of like "year round school". They get 2 weeks for Fall break, 2 weeks for Winter break and 2 weeks for Spring break. I really like it, but Jake's not so sure. He's like... "ALREADY???" Jake will be in 4th grade this year and Sarah in 1st. :( Where has the time gone?

I start my new babysitting job this Friday. I will go to their house since all their baby stuff is there and since Madison has special medical needs. I am excited about it and the kids are excited too! They will get to come over after school and play with the 7 year old, Hunter. This kind of work also helps curb my "baby fever" when I get it every now and then!

Hey, air conditioning guy came while I was writing this and it turns out we only needed an inexpensive part! Yay! It's starting to cool off already!

Don't forget to check out my American Idols Tour pics below!

Hugs all around!

Sweet Pic

Grandma and Sarah snugglin at Grandma's house last week...

American Idols Tour

Jordin and Chris

Blake

Jordin and Melinda

The pictures aren't the best, but here's Jordin!


Jake and Grandma watchin the show!

This is how Sarah watched most of the show... with her Uncle Paul holding her. :) Isn't that a sweet picture?

Me and the kids

Grandma, Sarah, Uncle Paul, Aunt Kathy and Jake

Jake and Sarah ready for Idols Concert!

Is that better Tammie Jo?

Hi Everybody~

Thanks for prayin for John. He was released from the hospital on Wednesday and was back to work on Thursday! He still has to go see his cardiologist, but they think that the pain was from gallstones. They discovered those LAST time he was in the hospital, but they had never bothered him so he had pretty much forgotten about it. Anyway, he is out of pain and doing much better!

We are home now. The kids and I got back from Mom's last night. We had gone to her house on Saturday because my friend Kelly from Indiana was going to be in the Nashville area and we wanted to see her. Also, we had tickets for the American Idols Tour which was Wednesday night so we were already there when all of this happened with John.

The American Idols Tour was fun, but it made me remember why I don't like to go to concerts. We were on the floor, about 20 rows back and there were people who stood almost the whole time. The kids were with us so they couldn't see without standing on their chairs and then the security people came around and made all the kids get off of the chairs. So frustrating! Also, the music was SO loud! My brother says that "if the music's too loud, I'm too old", but I think I'd just rather hear their voices! The music was too loud for Jake too and he's just 9! :) The solo preformances were great and made it all worth while. I'll post some pics later!

Have a great weekend!

Prayer Request

Hey Everybody. Please pray for my step-dad John Davis. He went to the hospital last night with chest pains and they ended up admitting him. They did a CT of the chest with contrast and found that he has some calcifications in his heart. The good news is that they did not find a blood clot, which was what they originally thought it might be. He had surgery a couple of weeks ago to put a new access line in his arm for his dialysis. I'm assuming that's why their first guess was a blood clot. The arm that he had surgery on has been really swollen and painful this last week too so we have no idea if that's connected. Mom said that his chest pain was so bad last night that it was not even controlled after Morphine was given 2 hours prior. He has really had a rough go of it and Mom has as well. The kids and I are here so hopefully we can help in some way.

Love~
Melissa

Fun on the 4th

Sarah hangin with her peeps on the 4th of July! Abby and Maeghan are a couple of her best buddies. I think Jake was hiding inside at that point. Ed and Greg grillin in the background. Mommies inside eatin all the dip!

Silly face photo!

My boys

Ed and Jake having some guy time...

Check up on Baby Kadyn...

I added a link to baby Kadyn's web-site today. This is the daughter of a very good friend who was born at, I believe it was 1lb. 11oz. almost 2 years ago. She has a trach and a g-tube, but she is doing great and is just as cute as a button! She has been nothing but a complete miracle. Please check out the site whenever you have a chance and pray for healing for her and strength for her mommy, daddy and big sister!

Have a great weekend!
Hugs~
M.

Look at that swing!

Sarah played girls softball this Spring for the first time. Here's a shot from one of her games. She got pretty good toward the end of the season. Look at that swing!

Movie review

Sarah and I decided to have a "girl's night" tonight and went to a late movie to see "Evan Almighty". We both absolutely LOVED it! We laughed our heads off! I thought it was a great story about having Faith and listening to God's voice. I've heard that it got mixed reviews in the Christian community. Some said that it was bad theology and even blasphemy! Holy cow (no pun intended) people! It's a MOVIE. The writers weren't trying to rewrite the Bible, just a movie. My advice... go see it, relax and ENJOY!

New "job"

Hey Everybody! Accepted a new job today. Just thought I'd share with you. I'm going to be watching twin 11 month old babies and a 7 year old little boy starting the last week in July. I am so excited! In May after being home a couple of weeks with both kids in school I decided that I wanted to do something as far as employment but didn't know just what. I decided against getting a "real job" because of the kids year round school schedule. I wanted to be able to be available for them whenever they are out. So with this I can do that. One of the babies has had trouble eating and has an ng-tube so she needs some extra care. She will soon have a g-tube which I am pretty familiar with because my friend Charity's daughter has one. The 7 year old little boy, Hunter seems very sweet too and Jake and Sarah have played with him a couple of times and had a blast!

I am also excited tonight because I got a call from my friend Robin tonight who is moving here next month from California! Please pray for her as this is a huge move with lots of big decisions to make. We will be SO glad to have her here. (And her wonderful children, Jessee and Mikayla.)

Hugs all around!