Day 63

The day started out at 5:30 this morning.

I had to have Makkiah to the doctor by 7:15 this morning.

He still weighs 39 pounds and we are going to leave him off his ADHD med until school starts to see if he picks up any weight.

Dr wants to see him back before school to check his weight.

He is also going to send Mak to the peds ENT for the thing on his neck. Dr thinks it might be a tract in his neck like some people have on their tailbone. He thinks that the tract might be getting infected and that's what is causing the pimple looking thing on Mak's neck.

After the dr we headed off to find curtains. We finally found some white curtains to put in Mak's room that go really well with his walls.

Then we stopped at the flooring place and I accomplished more in one day than I did with the previous place. Needless to say I'm going with the new place and I should have the new floor in the kitchen by next Friday!!

Came home and the roofers were here. They had loaded all the materials yesterday and got started on it this afternoon. They will be back either today or Monday to finish!!

Rod also called me as he is within cell phone range. I was pleasantly suprised to see Rod cell on my phone. Unfortuanetly I was talking to the flooring guy and couldn't stay on the phone long. I felt so bad but I needed to get home since I knew that the roofers were there since Ladaria had called right before Rod to tell me that they were early.

So I came home- hung Mak's curtains, peeled paint off the door so that I can repaint it, hung 4 shelves and put up Taniyah's fan. Her room stays much cooler with the fan and the light makes it seem much brighter than the other light.

So another productive day!!

Day 62

This morning I got up and took Ahma and Poppa to the airport as they head off to Oregon for some visiting up there.

Came home and got to work.

The wall in Makkiah's room used to look like this:

After spending several hours here and there scraping off the layers of paint, retexturing and priming I finally got to start painting!!

So at the end of the day this is what his room looked like:

That was my accomplishment for the day!!

Day 61

Today I took Taniyah to get pictures done.

It didn't work out as well as I had planned and I think I give up on taking my kids to get their pictures done!

I made a new appt for when Mom could go with me and hope then we can at least get some none crying faces!

Then I headed to my MOPS meeting.

It was good to see all the ladies from MOPS who I haven't seen in several weeks.

Then I headed to lunch with some Navy wives.

It was fun to meet some new people.

After lunch I headed home to prime the wall in Makkiah's room.

Mom was busy while I was gone and got curtains hung in several rooms and laundry done.

The house is definetly coming together!

Day 60!!!!

I've made it 60 days without my hubby home.

I'm still in one piece and so are all of my children!

So much has changed in the last 60 days and yet so much has stayed the same.

Things in the house are coming along well, changing and improving.

We are two children less than we were 2 months ago.

The kids are out of school, Makkiah is looking forward to starting kindergarten and Ladaria is looking forward to high school.
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Today I finished texturing the wall in Makkiah's room.

It's now ready for primer and then to paint.

I have the border that I'm going to use picked out for in there and now to get it .
done.

By the time I got that done and the house picked up it was time to take Tyreque out to lunch for his birthday.

He invited his friend Spence to go with us to Red Lobster.

It was so cute watching them learn how to eat crab legs and lobster tail!

We had a great time and the two teenage boys were behaved so much better than the three girls I took out for Destini's birthday.
______________________________________-
I also started a new discipline chart system.

We used to do one a few years ago until we ran into some problems with a social worker.

It really worked well for us and now that I think about it I'm disappointed that we stopped using it.

We allowed the fear from this particular person to rule our home and it really had a huge impact on our children.

Yesterday I made up a temporary chart and this morning the new chart was hanging in the hallway ready to go.

I think that today was a much better, calmer day than we've had in a long time.

People thought about how they spoke to others so they wouldn't move down on the chart and lose priveleges.

I still have a few things to figure out with it but it is working already.

Makkiah had an EXCELLENT day and stayed at the TOP of the chart ALL day!!

Yesterday was a little rough with him but I think he's realizing that he's not in charge and it has really helped him out.

I'll try to keep up with our progress with the new system on here so people know how we are doing.

Have a great day!!!!!!!!

Day 59!!-Happy 16th Birthday Tyreque!!

Today Tyreque turns 16!!

He's growing up to fast and is doing great.

He's in that limbo area between not quite an adult and not quite a kid anymore.

He's a good kid though.

He spends the majority of his time at home.

He's not into drugs, girls or fast cars.

He doesn't do all the things that so many teens get in trouble for these days.

He does have his good days and his bad days but I'm glad that he chooses to have them here - at home - where I know that he is safe.

He was 8 years old when we first met him so we've now had him half of his life.

Hopefully we've had a good impact on him and helped him to travel a road that he otherwise wouldn't have chosen.

Tomorrow I am taking him out to lunch.

He wants to go to Red Lobster!!

Should be fun!

________________________________________
As the days go up the countdown gets lower!!

It's been 2 full months since Rod left.

2 busy months!

I've gotten a lot accomplished in the last two months and I can't wait for Rod to get home to see all of my projects!!

______________________________________________________
Got a call today from Rod's mom.

She just wanted to check on us and see how Rod has been doing.

She's doing well but didn't talk for long as it was late there and she was headed to bed.

That's what happens with a 3 hour time difference!

Day 58 - New flowerbed

Today was HOT!

The wind was even hot.

During the hot part if the day I textured Mak's wall.

I think it's going to look much better when it's done.

I've had the paint for his room but needed to redo this wall before I can paint it so that's almost done.

After it cooled of some I went out and finished the new flowerbed.

It covers the space between the yard and the nieghbors fence.

We could only get 10 blocks at a time so it too several days to get all the bricks that we needed for it.

I got it finished and filled with dirt.

Planted a hibiscus and transferred some rosebushes and some other flower that was growing in the yard into the bed.

I have to say that it looks much better than the gap that was there.

The front yard is almost finished.

Day 57 - Busy days

I was brave today.

Not only did I crawl to the other side of the house in the space above the ceiling.

I crawled under the house!

It's the first time I've been under there and it's not a place that I want to spend to much time.

I know have all the outlets in my house working AND the hall lights all work.

Went to HD and got stuff to retexture Mak's wall, outlet covers and some new plants.

I got another portion of the flowerbed done.

10 more locks and it will be finished.

I also got to talk with Rod this morning.

That is always a nice treat!!

Day 56-Lights (well some anyway!)

Today I got to work in the crawl space above the house.

We had some lights that weren't working so I crawled up there, along with my trusty helper Brayana and Mom down below to flip switches.

After a trip to the store to get a flashlight and a junction box I was able to get the lights in Makkiah's room to work.

I may have also figured out why the freezer is shocking people.

There is a wire coming from the outlet into the attic that just ends.

It's not capped or anything.

By the time I got that done it was to hot to do anything else up there so I had to come down.

More on that tomorrow.

Then I went in to scrape more paint off the wall in Mak's room.

I think I have all the flaking stuff off and will be able to retexture that wall soon.

Got it all cleaned up, showered since I was dusty and then I relaxed!

Here are some pictures that Rod sent me from WOG day on the ship.

WOG day is the day that the ship crosses over the equator.

All the people who haven't yet crossed the equator are called "pollywogs" and those who have crossed are called "shellbacks".

The day goes back to the story of King Neptune.

It's all a day of fun (at least the shellbacks think so!)

At the end of the day they throw their clothes overboard and have swimcall.

Day 55- Projects and patience!!

I actually got something accomplished today!!

First I got a phone call from PCO saying that I had been referred to the PQR board due to the number of children in my home and Rod being gone.

I know that I've heard those words before and I'm SO tired of that social worker!

I will NEVER take any of her kids again!!

How can someone come to my home one time and determine that I'm overwhelmed and have to many kids?!

She has an obvious prejudice and I hope that she is dealt with accordingly.

So now I'm on hold until at least July 5th when the board meets.

They will decide if they want to meet with me or not.

After that I started scraping the paint off of Mak's wall.

Somehow that turned into pulling the tile out of the hallway.

I wasn't sure what I was going to find underneath but was pleasantly suprised when I found hardwood floors.

They need to be redone but they were a nice thing to find under there.

Taniyah wouldn't walk on them at first, but quickly decided that they were ok!

Then I called the criminal psychic.

She gave us some information, some that we hadn't thought of in a while but was pretty accurate, other info that was new.

I'm not going to put that info on here as I gave the info to the detective and don't want to mess anything up.

Hoping to get more work done this weekend but it's supposed to be in the triple digits - YIKES!!

Day 54-VTC Day!!

WOW!!

I can't believe it's been 54 full days that Rod has been gone.

I can't wait for him to get back home!!

Today we got to go do another VTC.

It was so good to see him.

All the kids were so excited to see him, they all were trying to talk at once, getting mad that they coudl do it and they hadn't had a turn yet and wanted to tell Dad their whole life story since he's left.

It just doesn't work when you have 7 people and 30 minutes.

I'm so glad that I got to do one by myself (well I had the youngest two but they were quickly drawn to other things in the room!).

Then I headed back to the dentist.

Tyreque had his cleaning with no cavities.

Bray and Mak got thier fillings done so I'm finished again for 6 months!

We raked all the straw out of the yard so it's strawless now.

Don't know that I can say much more for it!!

We have about half of the new flowerbed done.

It will nicely cover the gap in the fence between our yard and the neighbors.

Should be able to get it done within the next few days.

Day 53- Dentist

Well, it was dentist day today.

I left baby Vinnie and Taniyah home with Ahma and Poppa.

Tyreque was in school so I took the other 5 kids to the dentist.

3 of them had great check ups.

2 of them had a total of 5 cavities (although small ones) and will be going back tomorrow when Tyreque has his appt.

Then I took the kids shopping at Walmart so they could spend mre of their gift cards from Grandma Bernice.

Three of the kids still have money on their cards and the other four have spent all their money.

Can't believe how long it takes them to shop for nothing.

Up and down the aisles, back and forth, up and down and they end up with, well, nothing really!

A pair of sunglasses that cosst 88cents, an ice cream, and some army men. Ladaria bought a CD player with some of her money but still has most of her card left!

By the time they get all of their cards spent it will be time for Christmas again!!

Day 52-Happy Monday

I'm babysitting for Linda, who is babysitting for Cindy.

So baby Vinnie has been here since last night.

I forgot what it was like to have a baby in the house!!

Put him to bed and putted around on the computer.

Laid down in bed and he decided that he needed a bottle.

So no sooner had I laid down that I had to get back up!!

Oh well, still beats the attitide, back talking and stealing that comes with some of the older kids.

He is a good baby when he's not itching.

He has really bad excema so I've been putting Makkiah's lotion on him.

It seems to be helping!

We have decided to put a new flowerbed in the yard so will be doing that project over the next few days.

Will post pictures of it when we are done.

In the meantime here is a picture of Taniyah!

Day 51 Happy Fathers Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my hubby who is the best Dad in the whole world to his kids!!

I sent Rod a package for Father's Day and I gave Poppa a new shirt that says "Navy Dad" on it.

Since hubby wasn't here I really didn't have a whole lot to do.

We went to church and then lounged around the house.

It was a lazy sort of day.

Day 50!! Happy Birthday Destini!!!

Today Destini turns 9 years old!!

Instead of doing a big party this year I am taking the birthday child and 2 friends out to lunch.

Destini invited two girls from her class to go to the Home Town Buffet.

They were also invited to go see the movie The Wild with us.

Three girls who think they are teenagers but are only 9 was more than interesting!

Destini opened presents and they played for a little while before heading off to lunch.

At lunch they ate lots of ice cream and french fries.

Then we came home and waited for the movie.

After having them unlock the door and telling them that they needed to dance with ALL of their clothes on I decided that we should head for the movies.

The two girls decided that they were going to go put on makeup in the bathroom instead of watching the movie.

I had to go herd them back inside and let them know that I would take them home before the movie was over.

They decided that they would like to watch the movie instead.

After the movie they wanted to know if they could stay longer and play.

My response "Sure, until your Mom's come to pick you up at the scheduled time!!"

I was ready for them to go home!

I sure hope my kids don't act like that when they go somewhere.

Day 48 - Ladaria's promotion

Today was Ladaria's promotion ceremony.

It was really hot and we were far away.

I didn't get any really great pictures but I did get some decent pictures.

There were a LOT of people there and lots of teenagers.

So she is officially a high schooler now. She has left her middle school days behind her and she is moving up!!

Then I came home and slept!

I was so tired.

I haven't slept well since Rod's been gone so it was nice to just get some good sleep!

Day 47- Makkiah's promotion

Today was Makkiah's promotion from Headstart.

They had a nice ceremony at the park for all the kids.

Here is him with his "diploma" .

He goes on Monday for his Kindergarten testing and I'm confident that he will do great.

Mom discovered the teacher that Makkiah has a "personality confilct" with and it didn't take her long to figure out why that is.

Makkiah's teachers thought that Tyreque was my brother and couldn't believe that he is only 15.

They thought that he was several years older.

I put him to work at the end and he helped clean up and pack up tables.

While we were at the graduation Poppa went to have a meeting with the manager at Home Depot about our lawn mower.

Rod bought a lawn mower in March but I don't have a clue where he put the receipt.

The second time he used it he thought he had bent the blade but he didn't get a chance to return it before leaving.

So Poppa tried to use it and discovered that the motor mount was broken.

They wanted more to fix it than we payed for it and it wasn't our fault that it was broken.

I don't think the little bit of grass that we had at the time would do that to the lawn mower!

Poppa had his meeting and we ended up with a new lawn mower.

He didn't want another of the same one so he upgraded for us!!

Now we have a self propelled bagging mower. THANKS POPPA!!

Then Mom, Poppa and I went to a support group meeting.

We were the only ones there.

I think I'm going to be done with it.

It's pointless to go when noone shows up.

If they hadn't of come with me there wouldn't have been anyone there.

(Pictures from Makkiah's graduation can be seen by clicking on his picture)

Day 46 - Fair Day!!

Today we took the kids to the fair.

The ACTION team was presenting so we got into the fair without cost.

Each of the kids had an adult chaperone, Destini got a free ticket for reading 10 books, Taniyah and Makkiah got in free. So no charge to get in.

Poppa bought all the kids, Ahma and me bracelets -THANK YOU POPPA!!- so that the kids could ride all the rides.

The presentation went well and we rode LOTS of rides.

Even Mom got in on the action and rode some rides.

Poppa told the guy selling the tickets that he was "too damn old to ride those rides!!"

Poppa pushed the stroller, watched Tete and had refill the water bottle duty.

Tyreque and Ladaria went with their friends to ride and we headed to the Kiddy Zone.

I think we rode just about every ride that they had there.

Then we went over to the Fun Zone and rode some of the bigger rides.

The only rides that Makkiah didn't ride are the ones that he was to short to ride.

We ended the day with a ride on the water log ride and headed home.

By the time we got home all the kids were ready to head to bed.

If you click on the picture below it will take you to slideshow of pictures from the fair.

Day 45 - Floors

Tyreque pulled out all the tile from the kitchen.

It was put in about 2 years ago but it was defective.

It cracked and we are starting to have pieces missing in the tile so it really needed to be redone.

The neighbor has a roll-off bin and said that we could put the tile in there.

That means that we get to dispose of it for free.

Mom and I went to Carpeteria and picked out vinyl.

Rod and I had discussed putting in vinyl that looked like wood floor.

The guy at the store suggested against it since we have so much wood already in the kitchen.

He said that it would clash so instead I picked out a vinyl that looks like tile.

It's a similar color to what we pulled out but it won't crack and break.

It should be easier to keep clean as well.

There was mildew under the tile where it was cracked and had gotten wet.

Luckily there was a moisture barried between the subfloor and the tile so the subfloor is fine.

They are coming on Friday to measure for it and it should be installed next week.

YEAH!!

Day 44 - Cleaning

My Mom decided that she was going to do some cleaning today. She got out the vacuum and the cleaners and she cleaned. She also assigned me with chores to do!! BUT I had the camera!! We cleaned out the fridge, under the fridge, the trash compactor, the base boards, the drawers. Things today are cleaner than they were yesterday.

After our cleaning spree we headed off to Wallie world. We took Taniyah and Makkiah with us. As we were looking in the cologne section Makkiah points and says "I need that". My Mom looks at what his attention has been drawn to. It was Jovan Sex Appeal for Men!! We laughed along with everyone else who was around us. It was pretty funny!!

Day 43 - Hair Day

Today after church we relaxed Ladaria and Brayana's hair.

Mom and I tagged teamed it and got it done.

We started out with Ladaria, who has long, thick hair.

It took both of us putting the stuff in to get through it in the 8 minutes that was allowed.

Afterwards we did Brayana's hair.

She has less hair but also less time to get all the stuff in her hair.

The other thing with her hair is that the total time that you leave the stuff on starts when you start.

I think that thier hair turned out well. They both have pretty straight hair now!

Day 42

Went to VBS training this morning for a few hours.

It's that time of year again.

I'm teaching the 1st and 2nd grade class and Ted is helping me.

We'll have lots of fun!!!

Then I took Destini to the store to buy a birthday present for her friend.

Dropped her off at the birthday party and then came back home.

She went to a chocolate obsession birthday party.

Lots of girls, lots of chocolate!!!

Went and picked her up from the party and fed the kids dinner before heading off to the movies.

I took the kids to see "stick it".

It was a good movie and Taniyah did well for most of the movie.

Towards the end I stood in the back with her.

They had an area boxed in, I'm not sure what for but it worked well for a playpen!!

The kids really enjoyed the movie.

Day 41 - Awards

Today was the monthly awards assembly at the elementary school.




Brayana got an award for
perseverance. She didn't think that she was going to get an award this year. She has done really well but had not recieved and award and was upset. She was really happy that she got one today.











Destini also got an award for
perseverance. She also got a thank you certificate for working in the cafeteria during the year. She only worked in there so that she could get free snacks!! But hey she helped, without whining!!








After the awards assembly I went and got my haircut. I love it. It's right above my shoulders and layered. Really brings out the natural wave in my hair and is much lighter and easier to take care of.

Poppa cut the plywood to go into the new access hole in the ceiling. Now I just need to paint and it will look like it always belonged there!

Mom took her nighttime pills in the morning instead of her daytime ones so she dozed most of the day - OOPS!!!

Day 40!!!

Today was a busy and productive day.

Mom and I headed off to Walmart to do some shopping. Fringe, pillow stuffing, a new pair of sandals and moth balls!

Then we stopped at the farmers market to get a few things and headed off to pick up Makkiah from school.

After coming home Mom and I reupholstered the bench that I bought last week at the thrift store. I also made some pillows to go on it with the extra material.

Poppa bought some molding and is making a new access hole in the ceiling where our hole was. It's easier to make an attic access that to try to patch it.

I will caulk it and then I will be able to paint the ceiling white. All one color of white instead of the 5 or so different colors and finished of white.

Mom also fixed the clock that Rod bought when he was on his last deployment. So now it works again - YEAH!

Then Mom and I made dinner and fed the kids.

Tomorrow will be another busy day.

Day 39

Today was a pretty laid back kind of day.

Took Makkiah to school.

Found orange cat a home! I took him to Makkiah's school and someone there wanted him. I'm so glad that I didn't have to take him to the shelter. I don't know if I could have left that poor, little innocent kitten at the place. It's a great place but I still don't think I could have left him there.

Then Mom and I took apart the old crib and put the new crib together. It looks really nice and the side rail goes up and stays up!! Taniyah likes her new bed!!

Made dinner and went to a meeting. Not much happening here today!!!

I'll leave you with a pitcure of Ladaria and Taniyah!!

Day 38 - VTC!!!!!!!

I got to "see" Rod today!!!!!!!

We did a video teleconference and it was awesome.

Taniyah and Makkiah came with me since the other kids were in school.

I did get to video tape it so that the other kids could watch it.

We may get to do another one since so few people have signed up!

It was so great to be able to see him AND talk to him at the same time.

Taniyah was so cute.

In the beginning she just STARED at Rod.

She could figure out WHY it was that he was on the tv talking to her.

Then she decided that she would wave at him and say hi.

By the end of the 15 minutes she was clowing him kisses!!

We brought the tape home and she was waving and blowing kisses to him on the tape.

The kids all loved being able to see Dad on the tv even though they didn't get to talk to him.

Maybe in a couple of weeks.

Day 37- Happy Birthday to Me!!!!!!

Today I turned 29!

For a few weeks I'm the same age as Rod.

Then he will turn 30!

Yes I will be 30 next year but he is 30 first - HEHE!!!

My Mom gave me a coffee cup with the kids picture on it.

I love it!!

Then I got cake and ice cream - Thank you Poppa for going to the store to get me a cake!!

After cake and ice cream Mom gave me a beautiful bracelet.

It has the words - loving, daughter, forever on beads with some white and pink beads.

It really is beautiful!!

I also got a call from Rod and he told me Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow is my VTC with him!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited!!

Day 36

Went to church this morning and worked in the nursery.

Still no change in the status of the Children's ministry.

Amah, Poppa and the kids all sat in the sanctuary.

After we came home I went grocery shopping.

Two stops and three carts later me and the boys were headed home.

When I got home Tyreque and Ladaria had a relaxing time prepared for me.

They had bought some ice cream and had it in my bathroom.

Soft music playing and candle lit.

Bathwater ran with bubbles in it!!

They told me to relax and take my time.

They would unload the van and put all the groceries away.

So I took a nice long relaxing bath!

They are so sweet!!

Day 35-Hot, busy day

We got up this morning and headed off to the La Mesa Flag Day Parade.

It was SO hot.

They say that it was over 100 degrees outside and I believe it.

Thankfully we brought lots of water!

Brayana played the flutophone with her classmates.

We walked along behind them and tried to keep from melting!!

Then on the way back we saw these ostrichs in the parade!

We left the parade and went to get lunch before heading off to pick up Mom and Poppa from the airport.

We got there just as they came out from collecting their luggage!

Great timing.

I put some new pictures in my Flickr account.

Day 34

Today I returned my camera which had decided to stop working.

Since I've not had such good luck with Sony I got a Nikon instead.

It takes nice pictures.

You can set it to take black and white photos.

Or color, as well as several others.

Then I noticed that my nutty cats had once again been out to the beehive! Here is a picture of carmel who looks like he had a bad reaction to a collagen shot!

Day 33

Today I took Taniyah to the park because we were bored.

There was nobody at the park for us to play with either!

So we went shopping instead!

I love going to the thrift store and finding great deals.

While I was there Mom called to get my address.

Taniyah sang for everyone.

And then threw a tizzy because we had to pay for her purse!

She thought the guy was going to actually put it in the bag instead of giving it back to her!

Went to a foster parent meeting.

It was potluck and socialize night.

It was fun and we laughed a lot!

Only two days intil my Mom gets here.

Only five days till my birthday!