Chores and Ball

I have not blogged for awhile, sorry. It's been a little crazy and to be quite honest I haven't felt like tending to the task by the time I get done with everything else.

I actually have a question I need one of my blogging friends to answer. How do you post and put pictures in other places in the post instead of always having them first?

Having said that I wanted to share some pictures of the girls doing chores and "playing" baseball with their new ball and mitts Grandpa Gary sent. They love them. I only wish the weather had help up so that we could play with them outside. Madeline is developing a nice little throw and I am starting to fear for my house. I thought I was safe by sending her downstairs but at this rate I'm not so sure. Yes, that is her with the veil throwing the ball. You can take the girls to the ball diamond but she's still a princess!! And the ball made it to the target... a door. We are going to have to figure out a more appropriate practice field. Madeline has also been quite intersted in helping with house work. Trust me I'm encouraging this as much as possible:). One night I came home and found her putting all her and Lillian's clothes away!! Yes!! She's also very good at making their beds, taking the recycables to the garage and a variety of miscellaneous duties. On this occasion she actually asked to vacuum. I of course said YES and hope that this will continue knowing that it won't!! It's not long before she'll decide her room is hers to own and we won't ever see the floor again and she'll pretend the vacuum is something dinosaurs use. Anyways here are the pictures, enjoy. TTFN Delanie

Tag!!

Oh boy, why do I feel like I'm about to tell some of my deep dark secrets? Actually, maybe some of you know me so well that you already know these things!! I've been tagged by two friends for a game where you have to list 7 little known secrets or facts about myself. Then I have to tag 7 friends so they can join the fun. The problem is that everyone I blog with has already been tagged!!! Hmmm. Ok, so here goes.......
1. I count letters in words as people talk... there's more to it but you don't want to know.
2. I count stairs as I travel up and down them. Sorry, I know a little weird.
3. I took piano lessons for 10 years, played flute in band, and sang in so many different choirs I lost track.
4. One day I want to have a third babe and the next I really don't!!
5. I've been known to make the crust for a cheese cake just to eat it!!
6. Sewed two of my prom dresses.
7. I love Bon Jovi....still... Yes I'm that old!!

There that wasn't too bad was it? I tag Kelsey and Trisha. I really need some of my friends to start blogging!! Shelly, Whitney, Mandy... come on.
Don't you wish you could know the secrets I'll never tell?
TTFN
Delanie

Memory Loss Meme

I have been tagged for a blog game by Rachelle at "joeyswalk". Check them out in my blog list. The rules are that I have to open the 6th file I have of pictures and post the 6th picture in that file hoping I remember what it is. As it happens, I do!!

This was a trip to the zoo with my hubby, mom, brother Coyde, nephew Austin, and of course Madeline. I was pregnant 3 mos. pregnant with Lillian. We had recently moved into our first house, where I plan on staying for a long time, and life was good. Note: the kids and adults around and behind mom are the sextuplets from Iowa that have been on T.V. etc. This was before John and Kate Plus 8. We thought re recognized the dad and figured it was someone we knew from Scottsbluff. Eric finally asked if we knew them when they told us they were the McCaughey (pronounced McCoy) sextuplets. Here are a couple other pictures from that day. It was rainy outside but it was a perfect day to travel through all the inside exhibits. As long as they kept the pregnant woman fed!!

For some reason I can't seem to figure out how to put the pictures in the right order. So for clarification the picture on the bottom was the 6th picture in the 6th file. Oh, and I tag Amy.

TTFN

Busy Blogger

Ok, I know I've given alot of reading material in the last 12 hours but I really needed to catch up and had a lot to say!! As always!

The latest is that we received our first blog award. This is from a friend that I have gotten to know from work. She's a parent of a child I work with. You can check out her blog as it's listed on the side of our blog.

One of the rules for receiving this award is that I nominate others so here are the results!!

Amy, Rachelle, Brenda, Natalie, Cris, Trisha. Congrats ladies. You are my blog friends forever. I really hope some of my other friends and frequent readers will catch the bug so that I can nominate them sometime!!

TTFN, Delanie

A great afternoon with G. and G. Fickel

Meet Bucket Where's Lillian? There she is!! The grass is taller than she is!
Worth a millian words.
That tickles!!

While we were in Chadron for the funeral we had a chance to spend some time with Grandpa and Grandma. It was one of the best times I've had with mom and dad in a long time. The girls loved every minute and in Madeline's words, "This was the best day with Grandpa and Grandma ever!".

Madeline was very excited about "riding the horse" but Lilly was a little less enthusiastic. Especially, when Bucket shivered to get rid of a fly. That did it she wanted OFF!

Reflections, hopes, and worries

By now you know that I traveled with my brother Coyde, Madeline, and Lillian to Chadron/Crawford for my uncles funeral. We left Saturday and returned late Monday night after the funeral. This was different than any other funeral I have attended due to long time circumstances surrounding family. For a long time my father and his brother Monty were not very close. I have never understood the grounds completely and have always been a little baffled and saddened about the wedge this drove between our families. In some strange sense this was Monty's opportunity to heal some of these gorges that had been dug. My dad had been reaching out to Monty in the recent years and it seemed like we were on our way to being able to fill in some of those gorges unfortunately while I am grateful that it seemed like dad and Monty were patching things up they were cheated out of time to say everything and do everything they wated to do together. My dad is a proud, stubborn man who in the recent years has had alot of pride to swallow. This has not always been done gracefully. It seemed without all of us knowing that he was on his way to accepting and mending bridges that were damaged by his difficulty in this area. I know he is saddened that he did not get to fulfill some of these and give complete closure before Monty passed. It tears me up inside to know that he was on his way to see his brother, offereing a piece of what they both needed to move forward in their relationship so that their families could be families again, the very morning Monty died. Although dad did not get to directly give this gift to Monty his actions and love for Aunt Gerry, and his nieces and nephew this week have more than made up for anthing in the past. Dad, I love you and hope we can have the same oppotunities to say and do the things we need to do before out time is cut too short.
To my cousins, I hope we can keep in touch and be the family we once were or the family I remember through childrens eyes.
Your loving daughter, Delanie

Plan

OK, the toe is sore, swollen and purple. I'm actually not sure it's broken but it doesn't like to move with the other toes and it hurts. The plan is that I'll drive to Chadron tomorrow with the girls and by brother. Eric will go the game as planned. I'll be back with the girls and hopefully by Wednesday morning things will calm down. I appreciate everyone keeping track of us. I'm looking forward to seeing family and mom and dad even though the circumstances aren't good ones.
Delanie

OUCH!!

I broke my freaking toe!!! I woke up with Madeline and Lillian chattering in bed with me and felt like today was going to be good. So, I was looking forward to spending the morning with them and then going to work in the p.m. half an hour later I was screaming in pain. Go figure. Madeline was very sweet and was trying to make it all better. It's now turning pretty shades of purple. I can tell it broke because it's laying straight unlike it's usual curved self. I've always had toes that curved and pinky fingers that curve. I've been told it's the Wohlers trait. I am showered so if I can keep the pain to a minumum I should be able to make to the radio station to record a radio spot and make it to work to see kids I cancelled yesterday to take Madeline to the dentist. It just happens to be my right foot so driving to western Nebraska could be intersting. Did I mention the cruise in my car isn't working? If we don't leave for home till Monday than the football game could be intersting trying to navigate. GRRR. Sorry for my ranting but it does help!! I promise one of these posts will be a happy note. Hopefully sooner than later.
Delanie

What?

When we began this week I knew it had potential to be busy as we had extra "things" going on. I had no idea what an understatement that was. I'm not sure it turned out to be all that much busier but for some reason it was harder, emotional, and taxing. What went wrong? I started with Monday when I got frustrated at work with some scheduling and stats. It continued on Tuesday with getting called in to Mory's to do a speech eval which wouldn't have been bad accept that meant I would not get home till 7:00 (at least). It got worse. I was the last one at work with late patients and because I misplaced my key a couple of weeks ago realized I had no way to lock up the clinic. So after begging a co-worker to interrupt her supper (thanks Natalie)to come lock the door so I could leave I finally make it to Mory's. It is now 6:45. I quickly realized that this patient was not willing to have this eval done and there was absolutely no paperwork, including the script in her chart. I kind of need these things. So, at 7:15 I give up and go home knowing that I'll have to figure out how to this the following night. On top this I was stressed with feeling bad that my program Baby Signs was not getting the registrations needed to make this program fly. So once I'm home Eric brings Lilly home so that I can see her for awhile and then picks Madeline up from Gymnastics. It's now 8:00. Clue: Madeline doesn't deal well with coming home, not seeing mom till this time and being told she has to go to bed. Yikes!! Lilly was not all that happy either. Talk about Mommy guilt.
Wednesday: I felt "light" as I left the house but was sure I had it all together and today would be better. Wrong. We received news that our friends dog was not doing well and not expected to make it much longer. This was hard as it brought up alot of feelings of grief for Chad. Recently, I have realized that I'm at the stage where you feel angy and then you feel guilty because you are angry. I'm angry that we never got a chance to intervene. I fear that we may have missed our chance to intervene. I'm angry that now anything we do is twinged with sadness and grief as we realize our group is different, changed, and that we have to think about it. Even when it seems like it shouldn't play a part in the event it does. I want to go back and have the joy of seeing friends without feeling pain. It makes me mad. And feel guilty that I feel that way. Bailey is now with Chad and as Julie put it Chad must have been calling Bailey and like the obedient pet Bailey listened. I want to apologize and thank my co-workers for dealing with me on Wednesday. I started the day grouchy and this didn't help. Then I realized at 2:00 as I was setting up for the rest of my patients that I had forgot to take Madeline's dance uniform to the sitters in the morning. Yikes. So, I had to call the neighbor and ask her to bail me out once again. I also panicked because it was Parent Day at dance and while I knew I could make it the class I needed to make sure that Jill was still planning on getting Madeline there and not counting on me as I wouldn't have time to get Madeline and get there on time. Exhausted yet? After dance I had to go back to Mory's to try to do this eval. By 6:45 I was done, tired, but knew that the rest of the night was mine to spend with Eric and the girls.
Thursday: I had to get Lilly to play group at 8:30 and be at Parent Teacher conference at the same time. Once again, Gaylene to the rescue. This should not have been any big deal as Lillian is typically more than thrilled to do anything with Gaylene and Don. However, this morning for whatever reason was different. She screamed and cried and I had to strap her in and watch her leave with tears streamiong down her cheecks. More Mommy guilt. It's the worst. There was more to come. Parent-teacher conference success. On time, good reports. Happy teacher, happy kid, happy parents. Madeline is doing great. Next, drive to Omaha to take Madeline to the dentist for what I thought was going to be an awful visit. She was suppose to have a cavity filled, a cap put on a tooth to fix one that the previous dentist killed, and have two teeth pulled to allow space for adult teet to come in. Madeline was being very quiet and half way there I turned to look at her and she was crying with tears running down her cheeks. Great... When we arrived we realized that all that needed to be done was to have two cavities filled as the dentist decided to hold off on the extractions and the crown. YES!!!! Things are looking up right? Madeline must not have believed us because she screamed through most of the appointment. Thanks, Dr. Scott!!! We are glad your liver is doing well. Just as we are finishing this appointment my mom calls to tell me that my uncle died. UHG. I can hear my dad in the background and it's not good. I don't know about anyone else to hear your dad in that state is a little unsettling. Dad had not been very close to Monty for a long period of time. In fact, there were times when we were cussed at when he would find out that we had been visitng or corresponding. But over the course of the past 3 years with Monty fighting colon cancer, heart attacks, ect. and my dad surviving a couple of heart attacks and bypass surgery and both suffering from kidney failure it seemed like they were mending fences. My sister would often report a sighting or know of a conversation the two had a we all smiled that they were able to bond once again. So, we at this time are in limbo. I may leave with the girls and drive with Coyde on Saturday to attend to funeral if it's on Monday or if it's on Tuesday leave Monday after work and return after the funeral Tuesday. So much for hoping for next week to be easier. I should know by now that doesn't exsist. I guess I won't get to go the the husker game:(. Stay tuned for more fun!!!
Delanie