On to Christmas....

Well, we are still in the hole, but we are on our way up.  We put up the Christmas Tree, stockings and a few other decorations.  That is big. We have not bothered with decorations for the past two holidays (Halloween and Thanksgiving).

Hubby is currently employed.  It may be 50-80% travel.  That is a lot...  That is hard on everyone.  Thankfully so far it has be 0%, but we know that will change.

We thought we had plans laid out, but funny how things change on a dime and you just never know.  Reminds me that you just never know what plan is laid out for you, nor are you ever meant to know.  Just gotta go along and take the sharp turns and sudden stops as they come.

Kasey had a pretty bad asthma flare up.  She had one a few weeks back, a minor one.  That prompted us to get her on her asthma meds on a regular basis that we are able to pull her off of for the summer. Then she got a cold last weekend and it launched her into a pretty bad asthma flare up.  I thought for sure on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, that she was going to end up in the hospital.  We took her to the doctor, but surprisingly her pulse oxygen was in the mid 90's!  But the poor thing could NOT stop coughing and she had barely slept the night before.  So, the doctor did all she could, dosed her on steroids and sent us on our way.  It really is all that could be done for her.  We need to get our own pulse-ox meter to put our minds at ease when we are at home.

We had 2 cadets this year for Thanksgiving.  It is rare that cadets are here for Thanksgiving, but sports schedules and such did not allow these two to go home for the holiday.  We were more than happy to open our home to them.  We have had them for about a week, and I must say, it has been fun.

Today we took the girls to the Nutcracker.  My mom took my sister and me when we were younger.  And today, she added on taking her grandkids.  They enjoyed it immensely, well, Kasey did until she fell asleep during the second act.

Well, the Thanksgiving fun continues, we are watching one of the Batman movies with a cadet.  Be well friends!

I like my hole!

So, Hubby's company is officially done, kaput, gone under.  Expected?  yes/no Sad? yes/no  Going to hurt us a lot financially?  Yes.

So, how have I been dealing with it?  Well, the only way I apparently know how.  Live in a hole.

I like my hole.  It is cozy in here.

What does that mean?  That means as little communication with the outside world as possible.  And in some ways, I just don't have the energy.  I am very sorry to those of you who I have missed your birthday, or your email, or your Facebook post.  Please be understanding during this time that right now my biggest priority is my family and my self.  And right now taking care of just those things is a challenge in many way.  Both mentally and physically.

I know we will be okay.  It's just getting to that point of being okay that is not going to be a fun ride.  So please, bear with us while we are currently "under construction" so to speak.

Thanks everyone!  Love you all!!

My soft spot...

If you know me, at all, you know I love animals.

I believe all of us have something that we love, we would fight for, we cry over, we donate to, etc.  We all have our own personal cause for some reason.  Mine is animals.  I may seem unemotional about human things at times, but when it comes to animals, forget about it...

Now, don't get me wrong, my kids/family comes first, but you know we all have our own things we gravitate towards outside that.  Personally, I believe that giraffes are the most amazing and beautiful creatures created by God.

So, why do I bring this up now?  Well, today we had an incident at our zoo:
http://www.krdo.com/news/lion-killed-in-fight-at-cheyenne-mountain-zoo/-/417220/22495874/-/pptmy2/-/index.html

One of our girl lionesses got in a fight with our new male lion, and she passed away as a result of it.  I had already fallen head over heels in love with our new male lion, Abuto.  And I know this is the circle of life.  And I know that Abuto is not going to be punished for killing the lioness.  In fact I would bet a lot of money (if I had money to bet and was a bettin' woman) that he killed her in self defense only.  But I can't even convey my sadness.  Tears have fallen for the lovely Jamila from my eyes.  I can not even imagine being a keeper tonight having witnessed what happened and not able to stop it, or a person just there enjoying the zoo.  I would be scarred for life.

I make it a point to not watch the National Geographic channel.  Heck, I can't even watch Animal Planet.  I do not work in the animal industry for the whole reason that my heart is just to freaking soft when it comes to animals.  So, when events like this occur, it hits me hard.  It shakes me to my core.  It makes me sad in a way that is hard to convey with words.

Why do I share this?  Because I believe all of us have our "thing" that our hearts are way to soft over.  And my prayer for you is that you know what yours is.  I love that is one thing that can join us all together, and that every "cause" has it's advocates.  If I didn't love animals so dang much, who would give money to the zoo?  If people didn't have their soft spot for kids with cancer, who would take care of them?  Who would have started the Make-A-Wish foundation?  See my point?  Every cause needs their soft hearted person to move forward in good way.  Find yours, and support it with all your might!

(but feel free to be sad with me for Jamila and her keepers tonight...  )  :)

September

I find that when I am facing stressful times it is best for me to stay away from my blog.  But tonight I realized that so much stuff has been going on that I really just need to update it.

So first, I am back to work full time.  I will not get into why now, but it is what it is.  I was very fortunate to find a job I really like and I am fortunate enough to have 2 bosses who I adore.  So, that makes the back to work full time transition a little less painful.  Which is good because I really miss my kiddos.  Especially because I was starting work just as Courtney was finishing school for the summer.  So, I didn't get this summer off with them.

Anyway, I am an executive assistant at a title company.  Here in Colorado when you buy a house, you close at a title company.  I know that some states you do that at a lawyers office, but in some states you use a title company.  Thankfully I do not have to do any of the title work, my job is really an admin job.

What eles...  Ah yes, lets see, June we had the Black Forest Fire.  We have several friends who still have houses just because the wind was blowing in their favor.  And we know of people who lost everything because the wind was not in their favor.  We do know it was human caused, we do not yet know by who/what.

Then there is the flooding.  Thanks to the Waldo Canyon Fire burn scar, poor Manitou Springs is almost going to be wiped off the map.  Every time it rains, the water just slides on down the hill and causes a real mess.  During one of these floods, I happen to be at a work event in Green Mountain Falls.  It rained, there was flooding, long story short, the 1/2 dozen employees and a few real estate agents that were stuck because Hyw 24 to get back down to the Springs was closed for hours, we spent the night on the floor of our Woodland Park office.  There is just nothing like sleeping on industrial carpet I am here to tell you.

Then, the last few days we have been having rain like its a 500 year flood.  It was really bad the latter part of this week.  Hubby and I kept an eye on our basement, as many peoples basements were flooding due to all the rain.  But we were good!  Our sump pump was draining water out from the foundation, and it seemed to all be groovy.  Then, it rained the rain of all rains in our neighborhood today.  (while we were at Courtney's birthday party)  We came home from the party and the major intersection by our house was closed due to flooding.  That is not a good sign.  And the debris and washed out landscaping told us on our journey home that we got hit hard.  As soon as we got home, I checked the basement, and sure enough, we had water.  Where the sump pump pushes the water out is on the back of the house, but the drain that sticks out is only about 1/2 inch off the house, so it drains right next to the house.  Normally this isn't an issue, but when we have as much rain as we have over the last few days, the ground can't handle it and it was draining into our window well.  And eventually it just started to drain into the foundation and wall.  So the water was seeping in under the carpet.

I called our neighbor who came over and helped us drain the window well, and then attach some PVC to the drain on the house and make it extend out several feet away from the house.  We have had so much rain, our sump pump has been running almost non stop the last few days.

So while Hubby and our neighbor worked on that, I worked on sucking up water inside, then pulling the carpet and then placing fans to dry it out.  Thankfully a friend of ours dropped off an industrial fan for us to use.  When I was making a trip to Home Depot to exchange some of the PVC piping that was the wrong size, I stopped by the rental department to see if they just happened to have any dehumidifiers.  Once they were done laughing, they said no, people would be dropping them back off the next day, but they were currently all out.  (Don't worry, they didn't really laugh.)

The last few days have been quite a mess all over Colorado with the flooding.  I even had a leak in my office at work.   Even my sister up in the Greeley area is dealing with a "No flush, no water down any drains" for at least 10 days.  Yes, that's right, no flushing her potty for at least 10 days.

But in the last few months there has been lots of good stuff too.  Courtney turned 7 just this past week.  She has been asking and asking to go to Build-A-Bear and get an outfit for her bear she made there last May with her Girl Scout Troop.  So, on her birthday I surprised her with a trip there and let her pick out 2 outfits of her choosing, including shoes.  She picked out a wedding dress and a Princess Aurora dress, and 2 pairs of high heels.  Yes, they have high heels for bears.  And she got her bear a sleeping bag, which she puts her bear to bed in every night.  She was in heaven.  She had so much fun, she had her bear try on her outfit in the store in their "fitting room" area.

Last weekend the girls and I went to Cripple Creek while Hubby went on a motorycle ride.  The girls and I took the train, which is just a short 40 minute ride out to the valley and back, then had lunch and then checked out the museum.  As an added bonus, the wild donkeys who still roam around were right out in front of the train station area, so we got to pet them several times.  We had a wonderful time.

We are currently up to 4 dogs.  We have 2 beagles right now who belonged to a co-worker of mine who moved out of the city.  She was headed to a place that she wasn't able to take them.  So, we are tying to find them a new home.  We will soon be working with Colorado Beagle Rescue to help them get a new home.  I love them, they are adorable, but 4 dogs, 3 birds, a hedgehog and 2 kids are just a bit too much.

Yes, 3 birds.  We picked up 2 more cockatiels this summer during the adopt a pet week special.  Dani and Star joined our flock about 2 months ago.  A week after we got them, our beautiful Indian Ringneck, Kiwi, passed away suddenly.  He was a very old bird and so it was just his time.  We were sad to have that happen, but it gives us great comfort that he got to spend the last year and a half of his life with us in a loving home with lots of individual attention.  So, for a week, we had a flock of 4.  But now we are at 3.

So, Courtney is back in school.  2nd grade this year!  Her school breaks it down into divisions.   She is in division 2, which is actually 1st and 2nd grade combined.   This means she has the same teacher as last year.  Which is wonderful, her teacher rocks and is such a great fit personality wise for Courtney.  Courtney has been back in school for a month now, and of course is loving it!

Kasey is going to a daycare facility near our home, and they work with the district to teach the same pre-school program.  This is nice in several ways for us.  One is that Kasey was already in the program so we were just able to switch her schools essentially.  Two is that Kasey is familiar with their teaching methods, so pre-school was not a radial change for her, and 3 having her in the district preschool program actually saves us money on daycare costs!  Bonus!  The first week we were taking her there was rough, but the Preschool program had't started up yet.  So now that it has, and she has made friends, it is much better.

Of course there has been a lot of other stuff happening the last few months, but this post is already getting long, and it is getting late.  Hope you all are well!

A month or so gone by....

Wow, I can't believed I missed blogging for the whole month of April!  It was just busy.  Not anything super exciting or new, just basics and busy.  I have even given up most of the games on my iPad I used to play like Words with Friends and Dice.  I just feel like my resources should be delegated to other areas.  Like spending time with my kiddos or cleaning the house or playing with the pets.  And believe me, I have been able to fill that time no problem. 

The bad thing is that I really don't have much exciting to share.  I do start a new full time job on Friday.  Not that I necessarily want to go back to work, but we sure do need some extra money around here.  I am going to be an executive assistant at a Title Company here in town.  I am looking forward to working for these folks.  They seem very kind and laid back. 

Well, I have 10,000 things to do to get ready to go back to work full time.  So I will end this very short blog post here!

past 24 hours....

This is how the past 24 hours with Bristol have gone:

He had his t-shirt on so that he and Maggie would leave his incisions alone.  But he went outside and peed on it.  So, I took it off of him.  Within moments I caught Maggie NIBBLING on his incision!!!  So, I watched them both like hawks.  This morning I put a different t-shirt on Bristol.  When I came home from being gone for about 2 hours, he had shimmied his way out of it....  His incision may never heal....  Oh and YUCK apparently isn't YUCKY to Maggie or Bristol.  It apparently should be called YUMMY.




This is how the last 24 hours with Kasey have gone:

I think she is suffering due to Hubby's first trip of the year.  Her behavior has been awful, worse than I have ever seen her! Last night it included a raging screaming and kicking her door fit because she didn't want to go to bed.

A few weeks back she had a cold, and got a dry spot on her nose.  Which of course she couldn't leave alone and she had a scab still on her nose.  Last night, while throwing her major fit and blowing her nose a lot, the scab came off and it started bleeding.  While I was putting Courtney to bed, Kasey helped herself to a bandaid....  See picture....

The overnight was rough from there.  When this kid is over tired, she has a rough night.  Apparently when she is overtired and upset, it equates into a REALLY rough night....

I. am. so. tired.....

Cookies, 2 more weeks to go

Sometime in about 2 weeks I will breath easy again.  It's still cookie season.  And to add to that, this past week our office moved.  GAH!  I sure hope this is the busiest week of the year, and from here on our it's smooth sailing.

Started last weekend with our first Cookie Booth.  It went ok.  We were at a Safeway store, which everyone is finding is not the best grocery store to be at.  King Soopers is!  And I say everyone, I mean the FaceBook board I belong to.  The chatter on this board is very interesting.  WalMart is a good place to sell (lots of traffic), but not easy to deal with.  King Soopers treats Girl Scouts well and the girls tend to sell LOTS of cookies.  Funny how things work that way.

Courtney and I stayed for the whole 3 hours at our booth.  That was kind of long for poor Courtney, but we were no where near home, and I had all the stash in my car.  I did end up having to go out to my car about once an hour to get another case or two of cookies.  We sold almost every Thin Mint we had.

Sunday ended up being an interesting day.  Hubby's plan were to get up early and go pick up a cadet.  He got to the gate at the Academy about 8:20am and they informed him that his Driver's License was expired!  He didn't notice that it expired on his last birthday!  So, they turned him away.  He had to come home and I went to pick up the cadet.  Funny how nowadays that we don't write checks at stores, you do not pay as much attention to your expiration date!  I just happened to glance at mine about 2 weeks before my last birthday and notice it was expiring.  Someone was checking it against my credit card signature, and it was just luck I glanced at the expiration date.  Hubby has now ordered one on line and should have it in a week or two. 

Tuesday was the big office moving day.  We got almost all things moved!  And I have spent hours this week unpacking.  There is still a lot of unpacking to do.

Wednesday it started to snow.  Some meteorologists were saying "lots of snow coming!"  some said "not so much".  The ones who said "not so much" were wrong.  At our house, we got a solid 6 inches.  Fountain, the town to the south, who hardly ever gets snow, got 9-10 inches!  Every district in town was closed on Thursday!  But Thursday was Hubby's big computer move, so he had to leave about 7:30am to go to work.  We knew before we went to bed Wednesday night that the girls did not have school the next day, but Hubby had to get up at 6:30am the next morning to clear the snow!  And of course one of the blades on the snow blower stopped working.  But he was able to get my side of the driveway mostly clear and he took my car to work.  And because of all that, our household was up and moving at 6:30am, on a snow day, when we knew the night before... kind of a bummer (for me, the Mommy).

The girls were giddy due to all the snow.  We went outside once.  The sun was out, but the the wind was still kind of blowing, so we were only out there about 30 minutes.  Due to the move this week, I was WAY behind on housework, and the girl wanted constant attention.  I called my neighbor and she sent her 7 and 4 year old over about 10am.  That was the best decision.  The 4 kids played and played and played!  Finally about 4pm they went home.  I was able to get 5 loads of laundry done and clean the living and family room!  And that night, my youngest just crashed!  My oldest crashed faster than she normally does, that was a good thing.

Which reminds me, for Lent, I gave up clutter.  My friend told me about the 40 bag program.  Basically you attempt to get a bag of stuff out of your house everyday.  I was able to get 3 bags out of the living room on Thursday!  2 trash bags and 1 donate bag!  Ahh, it has felt so good!  I created a list of areas of the house I want to clean out.  I am slowly but surely working my way through it.

Kasey now has a slight cold.  This is the fist time in months she has been sick.  (Knock on wood).  And Courtney seems to have a very slight version as well.  Which again is amazing!  The kids at her school have been knocked out!  There have been several kids out for a week and/or more.  I have been trying really hard to keep them well.  I have been doing the whole "bright fruits", vitamins, humidifiers, and anything else I can think of.   Thankfully it is apparently working!!!  :) 

Today Courtney and I went up to Sky High Ranch for a Girl Scout event, World Thinking Day.  It has been a "few" years since I was last at Sky High.  Ok, like 30, but hey.  Somehow the lodge is exactly the same, but a bit smaller... how does that happen?!  Sky High Ranch is our local Girl Scout Camp, about an hour from our house, up in the mountains.  When I was a GS, I went to camp there and several Girl Scout events.  It was kind of odd feeling to be there as an adult.  And how on earth did I ever think "camp food" was good?

We are supposed to have another blizzard tomorrow.  And my troop is supposed to have our last cookie booth.  We really really need to have our booth.  We need to sell all the cookies we have, we can not turn them back in!  AHHHHHHHH!!!  I think it is a Cookie Managers Job to stress about this.  I was having nightmares last night!  Then we get to the event today and see the Cookie Manager for the older girl's troop at our school and she mentuions how cookie stuff had her up at 3AM!  Good to know I am not alone.

Would I do it again next year?  Yeah, probably... But this is my learning year, so it's going to be the toughest one. (Let's hope anyway).  I have to say, as much as I am stressing as we get to the end, I still love it....  Although I am finding that having all these cookies so readily available all the time is really not a good thing for my girlish figure.

We are working to apply for a Gifted and Talented Summer program for Courtney.  Colorado College here in town puts one on for GT Elementary school aged kids!  You have to apply and there is limited space, so we are hoping and praying she gets a spot.  She had her choice of 3 classes and she choose one about "Investigating.  She seems to be getting very into mystery books, so looks like this would be right up her alley!  

 Well, it's getting late and I have been doing a lot of Cookie Work.  So, here is to hoping we do not get a blizzard tomorrow as predicted.  And here is to hoping my girls stick with a slight cold.  And also to hoping I have no more nightmares about Cookie stuff!!!

TCM

So, Courtney is a Girl Scout for the first time.  She is technically a Daisy in the Girl Scout hierarchy.  And she is loving every minute of it!  And now we are into cookie sales....

Since she started Girl Scouts at the beginning of the school year I have been an adult helper for the troop.  I am there every week to assist the leaders and girls with whatever they need help with.  So of course I have gotten to know the leaders well (one is Courtney's kindergarten teacher from last year, and the other one is the school nurse).  Well, they thought that I would be a natural fit for the position of TCM.  What is TCM?  Technically it stands for Troop Cookie Manager, but I always say that it stands for The Cookie Mom....

Yes, somehow I agreed to be the one with CASES of cookies, not just for my Girl Scout, but for the whole troop.  I am currently very thankful for my large car which is constantly full of cookies. 

Being TCM has its pros and cons.  Pro:  I move many cases of cookies!  Work out with out even trying!  (One day I moved 65 cases of cookies 3 times. My abs were killing me).  And I always have cookies with me!  CON:  I always have cookies with me.  Just about every day Kasey gets in the car and says "Mom, I want some cookies!"  And every day I have to say to her "those do not belong to us!"  Pro:  I sure am popular at school!  Con: I feel like a drug dealer with a large green decal on the back of my car that says "It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!"

Seriously!  It's amazing how crazy people get for their Girl Scout cookies!  I am exchanging money for packages constantly.  People can't get enough.  I supply the other adults of Girl Scouts in our troops.  I supply my friends.  I am telling you, it is very similar to everything I have ever imagined being a drug dealer would be like.  Today included me parked on a side street (near the school), a mom walking up to the car, me rolling down my tinted window, she hands me a wad of cash, I give her 3 'packages'  (they do not refer to them as boxes of cookies, but packages of cookies, really, I can not make this stuff up...).  It makes all of us Girl Scout moms and dads laugh.  They get it, it seriously is like a drug business!  We all joke about it.

So, I have decided that I need to write to one of the TV channels who do all of the reality TV shows and suggest my reality show:  "Cookie Mom's of COS".  From some of the things I have been seeing on our cookie FB page for COS, they would get plenty of drama! 

It's been a very busy job, and I am trying to learn how to do it on the fly, but I must say, it sure has been fun!  I have very much enjoyed carrying cases of cookies around in my car.  I enjoy seeing how much people 'NEED THEIR COOKIES NOW'. 

And this year they switched their tactic here in CO to an instant gratification thing.  We have the cookies with us when we knock on your door!  How smart is this?  First of all, people can get it immediately.  Second, we sell cookies for a month.  So, you sell them a few boxes in the beginning.  Then your buyers need a "fix", so you can resell to them before the sale is over!!!  Someone was thinking....

Well, I have spent many hours on the computer tonight entering in cookies and deposits and such, so I better go and do the mommy things I need to do!  Let me know if you need a "fix"!!!

Well, what do you know.....

Well.  We finally have answers.  Courtney is not ADD (or ADHD, which ever you prefer).  Are you sitting down?  She is brilliant/gifted/talented/smart as a whip (what ever you prefer).  Sure, we have known for years that she is gifted, super smart, etc.  But wow.  Folks, we are telling you, she is super smart.  We have the test results to prove it. 

I am still in the process of processing this.  Let me processes here a bit.  

First, I actually am uncomfortable telling people who don't know us well (or who don't know Courtney) that we have a gifted child.  We all realize/believe our children are the smartest children ever.  And that is how it should be.  So, when I say "our child is gifted", I feel like other parents (who don't know Courtney) think: Yeah, well my kid is too... or something along those lines.  Or that I am trying to brag.

Just because I say I have a gifted child, doesn't mean life with her is easy!  We have wondered for the past 6 years what kind of issues she has!  All this behavior stuff has had professionals wondering for the past few years if she is ADD, or bi-polar, or something else...  She has kicked a hole in a door.  She has thrown stuff at us.  Life is a constant battle with her.  Every thing is a battle.  I am not complaining, but I want people to realize that life with a gifted child is not a cake walk. I am not bragging.  I am wondering out loud how to get through the next 20 years of life with her. 

Right now, she is super smart, but she has the emotions of a 6 years old in that mind.  Later on, we are going to know how much she is capable and it will be a VERY FINE line of not pushing her too much.  She really doesn't following most standard parenting guidelines, or fit into most molds of most kids.  All the standard parenting tricks tend to not work with her.  Parenting her has always been a struggle.  And that is one thing that has most bothered me, how do we parent this child!?!?!?!

Plus, she has had her share of other issues, that she has worked very hard on.  Fine motor skill delays, oral motor delays, gross motor delays.  Remember, we did many years of Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Occupational Therapy.  Heck, we are still paying the bills for it! 

It is a huge relief for me to know she doesn't have ADD or is bi-polar, or something else!  But I still feel as if I am standing over the canyon of the unknown.  At least the canyon is a whole lot smaller now.  And we know what the canyon is made of now.  We just don't know how to navigate that canyon yet.

Funny thing is that the few professionals we have discussed this with over the past couple days have all recommended:  

A survival guide?  We need a survival guide?  Of course I say that knowing full well that we do.  Heck, I have been trying to find a survival guide to understand Courtney for the past 6 years.... Apparently she didn't come with her own survival guide.  I have to say, if there was a "Courtney survival guide" out there, I would pay big bucks for it.... 

So, anyone reading this thinking: well, you are just trying to brag that your kid is gifted, realize this:  we need a survival guide to raise her!!!  Do you need a survival guide to raise your child?

But, at the same time, I now feel like we have answers.  I feel like the giant puzzle that is Courtney and has been a puzzle for the past 6 years is now close to being solved.  The last pieces we need is how to parent this child.  And I must say, that is a relief.

I have felt so isolated for 6 years.  Our kid is so different from so many other kids.  Our kid was so difficult at home, but an angel at school....  But with the school she is at, with the other gifted kids there, I realize that I am not alone.  It is okay to have a gifted child.  She is in the right place!!!  Both for her and for Hubby and I. 

I have felt so much better with her the last 2 days.  I feel like I am now understanding her better.  I feel like there is hope as to how to parent her correctly now.  For the first time, with her behavioral issues, I have hope!  That alone is a good feeling!!!  I remember feeling that way starting each of the therapies (OT, PT, Speech) years ago.  And look where we are now....

She and I have come so far in 6 years...  My cup of love for her overflows.  We are going to be okay folks!  We are going to be okay!!!!

Mid-January

Mid January, here it is.  The girls went back to school last week and I think I had the hardest time adjusting back into the swing of things.  I am just not an early riser.  So, now going back to having to wake up an hour earlier is not fun for me.

Both girls love school, so they were excited to go back.  We had a parent/teacher conference with Courtney's teacher the Friday before school started back.  As usual, everything is good!  She doesn't misbehave at school which just bewilders everyone.  She is excelling at everything that is put in front of her, and she is over all doing exceptionally well.

I have been better about getting back into the gym.  You know it's bad when you walk into the childcare to drop your 3 year old off and the workers say "Oh, HI!  We haven't seen you in a while!"  I wanted to reply "yeah yeah, I was at home eating Christmas cookies...."  But I didn't...

My heart is still heavy for my friend.  She is still in such a state of grieving.  It is heart wrenching.

I have said it before and I will say it again now.  December was a hard month.  I have never prayed so much for Heaven and Hell to be real and "easy to get into" in one month, over two different incidents. 

Well, not much else is new, so I will leave you with Dave's obituary. 

David Paul Aldridge, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died unexpectedly on December 21, 2012 while he was running - one of his favorite things to do. Survivors include his wife, Holly Sue Bonnell Aldridge; son Spencer Wayne (6); daughters Leah Story Kate (4) and Maci Meeraf (3); parents Paul and Janet Aldridge; sisters Laura (Mike) Haynes and Linda (James) Watkins; parents-in-law Wayne and Judy Bonnell; sister-in-law Mindy(Taylor) Gordy; nieces Mary and Jennifer Haynes, Resha and Rachel Watkins; Olivia and Claire Gordy; nephew, Jacob Haynes. Dave was born April 22, 1973, in Prescott, Ariz. He graduated from Pagosa Springs High School in 1991 and Oklahoma Baptist University in 1995. Dave was the manager of Physical Therapy Rehabilitation at Memorial Hospital, Colorado Springs. But he was more proud of the titles "husband" and "daddy." His passions were his family, his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the great outdoors of Colorado. He loved climbing, skiing, camping, and fishing, and had summited all 54 of Colorado's "14ers," peaks reaching 14,000 feet and above. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church and the Headwaters class. Dave was known for his servant's heart: he was always doing for others' family, friends, clients and even strangers benefited from his desire to support and encourage. His friends and family are committed to making sure his young children grow up knowing how special their dad was, and how he had hope in Christ as he dreamed and prayed for them. There will be a visitation on Friday, December 28, 2012 from 5pm-8pm at Cappadona's Funeral Home on 1020 East Fillmore Street,Colorado Springs. A memorial service celebrating his life will be on Saturday, December 29, 2012, at 2 pm, First Presbyterian Church, 219 E. Bijou St., Colorado Springs. An account for the family has been established at the Bank at Broadmoor. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent to the "The Dave Aldridge Memorial Fund, Holly S. Aldridge" c/o The Bank at Broadmoor 155 Lake Avenue Colorado Springs, CO 80906.

Welcome 2013

Well, we all made it to 2013.  I am very glad to see 2012 come to an end!  What a year.  Cancer, hysterectomy, Hubby traveling a lot, behavior issues with Courtney, fires, mass shootings, a young husband dead....  Goodbye 2012.

As you know the last weeks of December were particularly tough.  With the shootings in Connecticut, and then my friends husband passing away unexpectedly.  And in the middle of all that Courtney was finally diagnosed with ADD.  Which as much as it stinks that she is ADD, it is really nice to finally have a diagnosis.  She still is going through testing, and in a few weeks we will finally know much more about her, how to parent her and help the teachers teach her.  I am very much looking forward to that. 

Our Christmas was good.  My heart was heavy thinking about my friend, but we had a good day.  My birthday was good as well.  I got to spend the day with my mom and sister shopping in Denver.  And then dinner with everyone that night. 

The next day I was able to continue my birthday celebrations by spending the day with my friend Margaret in Manitou Springs.  Her birthday is 9 days before mine, so we took the day to celebrate together.  We started with a nice lunch and margaritas and followed that with poking around the shops.  It was nice and relaxing!

Then I spent the next 4 days preparing for our New Years party that we have every year.  And in the midst of that I attended the viewing and funeral for my friend's husband.  That sure brought it all home and made it real.

My friend  is so visibly broken right now.  I think it's all she can do to put one foot in front of another.  She is just so sad.  I think of her often and pray for her all the time.  Her friends have created a care calendar and we are all able to sign up to help her out.  I get to start this Friday by doing laundry for her.  I am so happy I get to help her in any possible way. 

2013 will bring an office move for us.  The lease has been signed and Hubby's office will be moving further south on Union.  We will be moving some time between Jan 15 and March 10.  Thankfully we have 2 months to move and take our time, so that is nice. 

What else does 2013 hold for us?  We do not know as of yet, but here's to hoping it is way less eventful than 2012.