I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. I love writing this blog even if no one is reading. I have certainly allowed life to get in the way. So much has happened in the last few months.
The trio had a good birthday party. A few class mates showed up and they just played and then enjoyed pirate cupcakes. We had rented a moon bounce for the party and the kids loved it.
Daddy went to Michigan for his annual hunting trip with grandpa. He had a good week but only got one deer. He came home just in time for Thanksgiving. My dad, step-mother, and little brothers came down and spent 5 days with us for Thanksgiving. It was a crazy but good time. We had 22 people in the house for Thanksgiving dinner. We had 2 turkeys(one 22lbs and the other 12lbs) and a 10lb ham. All the fixings to go along with it of course. We didn't have many left overs! Grandpa required a trip to the ER for a nose bleed that lasted 12+ hours. They were able to cauterize it in the ER. Of course, this started Saturday night and they were to leave Sunday morning. Needless to say, they got a very late start as we didn't get back from the ER until about 3 in the afternoon. That was a long and late drive back to Kansas.
Caitlin didn't spend Thanksgiving with us because her dad and step-mom came in for Thanksgiving. The following Monday Caitlin came to the house and told me that her dad was in the hospital. They had returned to Colorado the night before and he pretty much went straight to the hospital. He was in the ICU with liver and kidney failure. I went with her to break the news to his mom. His mom and sister left 2 days later and drove to Colorado. We were trying to figure out how to get Caitlin there, as things weren't looking good. Matthew, Hayley(Matthew's girlfriend), Caitlin and I ended up driving up there. We left Friday evening and arrived Saturday morning. We drove straight to the hospital and dropped her off. Since we couldn't check in to the hotel until the afternoon we had to find something to do. We found a natural area that wasn't too far away and hiked for a while. We were in Ft. Collins area. It was beautiful but certainly not the way I planned on visiting Colorado. After picking Caitlin up from the hospital she told me they had made the decision to take him off of life support the next day. Sunday we took her back to the hospital and Matthew and Hayley insisted I join them back at the natural area. I got the message from Caitlin's aunt that he had passed so I left Matthew and Hayley to finish hiking so I could go and get Caitlin. There is a lot more to the hiking story but that is for another post. It still seems very strange that he is gone. Although we really haven't had much contact in the years since we split, it still seems strange that someone that I loved so much at one time is gone at such an early age. Our family has much loss in the last year and a half. Some of us have handled it as best we can and moved on. Others haven't handled things as well but seem to be coming out the other side a little better off than before. I was so worried about Caitlin after his death. I was so afraid she was going to slip back into a horrible depression and start drinking again. She has done well this time. Maybe because she wasn't as worried about me this time so she was able to grieve a little better than she did when my mom died. I don't know. Maybe she just realized that what she did before didn't work and she couldn't go down that road again. Again, I don't know.
We had a nice, small Christmas. The kids each got 3 gifts. We have decided that we are going to keep it small from now on. New Years Eve was fun. We spent way too much on fire works but had a great time. The poor trio were so tired when we got done they were asking to go to bed. Again, we had a full house New Year's Eve, although, not as full as Thanksgiving. My nephew and his fiancee and her son spent the night and so did Matthew and Caitlin and Devin. We had a good New Year dinner. Our family tradition forever has been to have country style pork ribs, sauerkraut, corn, and mashed potatoes. My nephew is a mechanic but he has a passion for cooking so he has always been my cooking helper. I really wish he had gone to culinary school instead but he says he loves working on cars too. As long as he is happy.
Matthew had surgery in January to remove the two plates and 11 screws from his right tib/fib/ankle. He was in bad car accident 3 years ago and broke his right tib/fib in 5 places and dislocated his ankle. He was having problems with numbness so they decided to remove everything. When they went in they found that the nerve to his foot was encased in scar tissue. They were able to free it up and got everything out with no problem. He is doing well.
Lucy and Josh are still going to the Wellness clinic. They are both making strides in the right direction but we still have a ways to go. Still kind of frustrating because their last labs weren't that great. Josh's cholesterol is still terrible. His bad cholesterol is way too high and his good cholesterol is way too low. Lucy's triglycerides were almost 300 and her A1C is creeping up. It's still ok but has gotten higher which is very concerning. I certainly don't want my 6 year old daughter to have to deal with diabetes.
I have done lots of canning, well, I OK, maybe not that much really, but, lots for me, in the last several months. So much fun. I have made strawberry jam, blackberry jam, apple sauce, and most recently tomato sauce. Everything sugar free of course. The kids have loved the jam and apple sauce. We haven't tried any of the tomato sauce yet. I am trying to plan out a garden and get things planted in the next few weeks. I'm hoping I can actually grow some fruits and veggies and have an abundance of stuff to can. I'm still working on getting rid of all processed foods. I have made a progress with it but still not 100% processed food free. I really am terrible with my time management and I'm still trying to get better about it. One thing at a time I guess, however, I suppose if I got better about that other things would fall into place.
Oh, and I still love being a (mostly) stay at home mom. I have also had the chance to do a little teaching at my company's EMS academy. I really enjoy that and have a whole new appreciation for adult educators.
Maybe I can actually rememeber(make time) to update a little more often. Markas has his 6 year check up during spring break so if nothing else maybe I can remember to update then. Speaking of which. Lucy was 52 inches and 83lbs and Josh was 50 inches and 60lbs. I'm anxious to see if Markas has gotten anywhere close to 50lbs yet. I know he is probably right around 48inches. I will also be asking for a GI consult since his meds don't really seem to work that well.
Here are a couple of pics from Colorado and Christmas.
