My niece Natalie Irene 7lbs 8oz 19.5 images long. born sept 4th

My new baby camera.

I finally got my Giftcard from Sears for the defective camera I sent back. This isn't the one I wanted but the next step up. So far I am VERY happy with it. It has all the toys options that the GE had plus some. So far my favorite option is the Backlight, so many times people/subjects turn out to be shades dark because of a poorly lit room. Now I do not have to worry about it. I was playing with it last night using first my foot as the subject then, under my bed lol. My foot got to use the backlight option as I was holding my foot up in front of the ceiling light, under the bed was the night mode. I did both of them without the correct option first and then with the correct option. Lemme tell you, there is a HUGE difference and I no longer grumble about the fact that although the web said they had 3 of the ones I wanted and the store said they had none. Happy days indeed lol.

Update

Update on Hubby's Aunt and Cousin:
The Dr's went in and looked at the mass they noticed and found that it was a cyst so that is very good news. Cousin L (oldest son of Aunt S and Uncle B.) is having kidney function trouble and I believe lung problems as well. (it is all on their caringbridge site) He was advised to stay away from dust which is hard considering his career but he has started to wear face masks when he goes out. He is to be married in 2 weeks which is VERY exciting for everyone. A little good news is so very welcome for that family right now.
Please keep them in your prayers that Aunt S keeps responding to treatment and that Cousin B has no further problems with his grafts as well as Cousin L's treatment to work so that he does not have to wear a afce mask to his wedding.

Father's Day

Father's Day is a bittersweet time for Hubby and I. We love that the boys get into celebrating Dad and all that he is to them, but this is the 3d Father's Day without my FiL to celebrate it with. He passed away just before Father's Day in '06 and not a day goes by that we don't think of him. We go out many times during the year to visit him, but always make sure to see him on Father's Day and all the major holidays/important dates. This year Lil One was very cute, he told Grandpa Happy Father's Day, I love you and Miss you and then looked at his dad and said....Dad, Tell grandpa Happy Father's Day. Of all the grandkids, Lil One held a spot in Grandpa's heart, he loved them all but our lil big one had him wrapped around his finger from the time he was minutes old. We lived, and still do, and hour away but grandpa would come out at least twice a week to see his Little sh!t monster and just hold him and talk to him for hours. Because of this Lil One knew Grandpa the most and always had a smile. When grandpa passed away he would still talk to him at night before he fell asleep. He was 21 months old at the time and was still learning his words but no matter what through the baby monitor we heard babbling and grandpa come out of his mouth for at leat 1/2 an hour before he would go to sleep. It always ended with Ni Ni Grapa. Yesterday as we were leaving to go home he said I will talk to you later Grandpa..he never says goodbye. He believes that grandpa is here protecting him and keeping him safe and I gotta tell ya...I don't think he is wrong.

Yes Real Men play with dolls save lives

Oldest pulling the dummy to safety at fireman's training.

A Boy and his toys Hose

Lil one at annual town festival learning how to aim the hose at fireman's training.

Prayer Request for a Dear Friend and also a Member of my Extended Family

I got a call from a very good friend from High School Kim asking for prayers for her husband Peter. 3 years ago Peter fought and beat colon cancer but it is now back and has moved on to his liver, lungs and kidneys. They were told that without treatment he had 3 months to live and with treatment maybe up to a year. The last time he had theis battle he was very ill from the chemo and radiation and they had to pray on what course of action they wanted to take, did they want 3 months of him feeling 'ok' or a year of him dealing with the side effects of chemo and radiation. They decided to fight it as aggressively as they could with the hopes that the Dr's were wrong and that he could beat the odds and be around for many more years. Please pray that Peter is able to enjoy whatever time he is blessed with, with his children and the rest of his family.
Another prayer request for my Hubby's Aunt S. She has been fighting Breast cancer since Christmas and was thought to have been beating it, last thursday they found another mass in her lung when doing a routine x-ray to check the progress of the chemo. This family has had many difficult trials the past year with their youngest getting third degree burns on his legs from a burning gas can and their oldest getting diagnosed with a form of vasculitis. Please pray for all 3 of them as well as my Hubby's Uncle B as he helps his family through these trying times.You can view the caringbridge site for updates on all of them. You do need a caringbridge visitor account to sign in.

Sad Day for Me

I just dropped my 3 month 14 day old (for me) GE A835 8 MP, 3X Optical Zoom Digital camera in a UPS Drop Box to be shipped to the claims department of Sears. I have been having problems with it for over a month. I would put in brand new batteries and it would A) tell me that battery power was exhausted or B) not even turn on. Last weekend I was in charge of taking pictures for my nieces birthday party and it was a pain in the behind. I had to hold down the power button, hold up the battery compartment (to get a connection between battery and camera) and push the button to take a picture (all 3 with one hand) I had major hand cramps and many times my fingers would loosen up on either the power button or battery compartment and the dang thing would just turn off. I had called the claims dept on friday but did not like that I would have to A) get a shipping label and send camera back and get a gift card back 3+ weeks after they got the camera (1 month of no camera during busiest picture taking time) or B) go buy another camera and wait 3+ weeks to get reimbursed again after they got the camera back. I could not get permission to just go get another camera first so I called the claims dept back today and got stuck with a male who could not figure out what I meant when I asked him questions. All I wanted to know was how they determined the camera did not work and how many times they tried because sometimes out of nowhere the camera would work for as long as the batteries (which it sucked dry pretty quickly) lasted but as soon as I replaced em had nothing but trouble again. He took this to mean 'how do they determine if it is a defective camera or it was consumer maltreatment of product' I finally just told him I was tired and busy so did not have the time to spell it out for him and to just file the claim to which he said 'Oh you want to file a claim?' Well DUH! Then asked did I buy the product protection plan(PPP)...again DUH! why else why would I call the Product Protection Claims Dept if I did not buy it in the first place? It was 15 minutes of utter CSR horror. I wish I had been able to talk to the person I had gotten on Friday, at least she was female and understood what I said. (not that I have anything against guys mind you) ANYWAY I have been looking on Sears website since I can't get a check from them to buy my camera at another store I have to get a gift card, and all the cameras I want are not available to be shipped to the store..they have to be paid for online and shipped to me, not too bad if I did not have to pay extra for the PPP and I am looking at getting a Nikon (I hope) which is a bit more and all I get back is camera cost as well as tax. I do not want to pay S&H and I HATE to use my CC online, just not a comfortable thing for me with all the hackers out there. I am hoping when I FINALLY get my GC from them that they will have this camera in stock at the store or this camera, I just do not want to do GE again if I can get away with it and I am really not a Kodak fan.

Please Pray for April Rose those in need

UPDATE: It appears as if B mom of April Rose is a fraud and was exposed as such. I do not know the whole story but I do know that the blog has been removed and is no longer available for viewing. I am removing the widget from the side bar and removed the link from this post.
UPDATE 2: Here is a link to an online article about Beccah's story You can also go to MckMama's website and read what was posted here and again here
Please pray for all families who have loved ones in hospital or are caring for them at home.

April Rose was born Sunday, she was born alive and thankfully is still here with her loving parents. Please Pray for April as well as B & D as they go through a very trying time. They have had many nasty hate e-mails and I think if all believers showed their support and prayers it would be most welcome.

Many Happy Nights Days to come

June is coming and with it we have many special occasions from Birthdays to Dad's Father's Day. Family friends will be coming to stay at my MiL's for a few days so we can catch up with them as well. Of course as you I know July will be even bigger since that is official run away vacation month for us. My Mum will be coming for awhile and we are hoping to go to the Black Hills again. So hard to believe we are already talking about vacation, seems like we just got back from vacation.

Mobile Update Happiness Sadness

I found out the hard way that I cannot upload pictures to Blogspot via my phone. All I get on the blog is funky little letter/symbol things and since I have yet to figure out how to delete a full post I now have 1 blank post. Maybe I will go back and put something inane another prayer request in. At least I can still do updates from my phone..just not the fun ones I was hoping for.

Sweet Cousin Emma

Please Pray for my cousin Robin's little girl Emma,you can read her full story here

Please Pray

Please Pray for Baby Faith
Update: Baby Faith is now in the arms of Our Heavenly Father please lift her and her family up in your prayers

Just doing a test run to see if my mobile updates work.

Weekend

I had a busy busy weekend. Saturday was Oldest's birthday party at wowzone. All the kids had a blast, Youngest bowled with them and was hilarious to watch. He would roll the ball using both hands and then jump while watching the ball go down the lane, run back to me and jump some more until the ball hit the pins..usually 8 of them. Then we ate pizza had an awesome cake, (will upload picture of it later)It was a picture of a boy holding a Laser Tag gun and even though they did not know what oldest looked like the boy looked exactly like him without glasses. It was awesome lol. Then after food and gifts the boys used their gamecards until the laser tag arena was open. Youngest ended up not doing laser tag, the dark scared him. I do haev to say that having the party there was great for me since it came with a Party Host. I had to do nothing, worry about nothing...loved it! I am usually running around making sure everything goes smoothly so miss the excitement of the party. On yes a FUNNY..I had told oldest to out the bag of goodies for his party in the car before we left. he went outside with it and came in without it. On the way to town I asked him where the bag was, he said 'you did not give it to me.' I told him I had given it to him earlier and that he had gone outside with it and returned empty handed. I got to thinking then asked him if he had thrown it away, he said the FCO bag? I said yes and he said um...yeah. lol so hubby brought us to the party and turned around to get the goodies, luckily they were tied up in the bag so did not fall out in the can, that and the can was empty so there was nothing to dig through. At the time wasn't funny but as I think back on it, it is pretty funny.
Ok after party we had Jungle Boogie (fundraiser for lil ones Pre-K)at the secondary school and oldest had Saturday night madness at the rec center. Both boys had fun and I got many pictures of lil one dancing and playing at the Hippo Hop.
Sunday we woke up bright and early to go up to Como Zoo in St Paul...we were there an hour and a half since it was still a bit cold so the outdoor exhibits were closed but we had fun watching the sea lion and the gorillas. Plus there were some tiny babie monkeys born just a few weeks ago. On to the Mall of America in Bloomington, we walked around, had lunch, kids played at LegoLand and then we went and had fresh Crepes...we shared a strawberry one and a banana nutella one and man were they YUMMY. The boys said they didn't want any and ended up scarfing both of them down, hubby and I got like 2 bites each. I got one of those water massages...talk about heaven...I paid for 10 minutes got 15 and did not want to get out, I could have sworn had only been in there 5 minutes lol. After some more walking and browsing we went home, we were only in the Cities for 5 1/2 hours but man was it a full 5 1/2 hours.

The NEW Three Stooges

Not sure if the casting director got all the possible actors for characters right.

Sean Penn is set to play Larry, and Jim Carrey is in negotiations to play Curly.
Benicio del Toro is a rumored possibility for the brothers' taciturn leader, Moe.

Stellan

Way back in August, when little Stellan was still in the womb and the doctors had given him a pretty grim prognosis MckMama followers from near and far started sending her pictures of Stellan's name spelled out in snow, apple pie, crayons and other crazy, beautiful things. And it encouraged MckMama and displayed to the eyes what was happening in the spirit. People were loving, remembering and praying for Stellan. Fighting for him the only way they knew how.In MckMama's own words from her August 8th blogpost, "What a testimony it will be to see such reminders of all the people who prayed for Stellan, that he would live!"

contest

Please Please vote for #11 lol, is an opportunity to get a picture put to painting for free.

http://x.jimanddoni.com/?p=903#comment-38843

Contest is open until Sunday March 8th 8pm mst

Arrow of Light ceremony

Oldest one officially went from Cub Scout to Boy Scout yesterday in the Aroow of Light ceremony held at the annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. We wavered between happy and sad moments...the happy moments are obvious but the sad moments are because my FiL was not able to be there to watch Oldest walk across the bridge. He passed away two and a half years ago suddenly and there has been a hole in our hearts since. He was the one to help Oldest build his first pinewood derby car since dad was in Afghanistan that year. He had gone to every scouting event Oldest had from banquets to pinewood derbies even down to the Flag Ceremonies on Memorial Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day. Anything that Oldest was in he was there. He was such an awesome man that he is still missed to this day from all who knew him. Next month is the last Pinewood Derby for the oldest since this year the Cub Scouts are letting the ones who crossed over come back 1 last time and Oldest said he wants to do another memory car for Grandpa. Every year the car has something of grandpa on it, usually his family racing numbers and his name. This year we are going to put grandpa's patch from when he was a scout on the car. This is the time of year that we miss Grandpa the most, when all the scout things are happening. I know he is up there watching Oldest take this next step in his life, and rooting him on...I just wish he was still here to see it from this angle in life.
On a happier note...Oldest made Great-Grandma's day/week/month. He asked us to bring him to her house last weekend and when we got there he formally invited her to attend his Blue and Gold banquet/Arrow of Light ceremony. He told her that he wanted her to be there as he shaed the blue uniform for the tan one. She was so excited that she told any and everyone who would listen that he made sure to ask her himself in person. Nothing was gonna stop her from going. Hubby went to pick her up and he said the whole way to our place to get the rest of us she would not stop talking about it and then the whole way home she kept telling him how proud she was of Oldest and that he (hubby) better make sure and tell oldest how proud he was also. She is a true spitfire my Great-Grandmother-in-law.

Black History Month Writers Contest

Please click the link below if you are interested in the details of this contest.

http://coloronline.blogspot.com/2009/01/black-history-month-writers-contest.html

Endoscopy is over and now on to others

The endoscopy went well other than a bit of a reaction(seizures) to one of the meds I was given. They donot know which med of the three I was given caused the seizures since they were all given simultaneously via IV. I am just hoping my next procedure that I am having this wednesday does not go the same way. I did talk to the Dr and he said he would use the old method of sedation instead of the way used last wednesday. I have had the upcoming procedure many times before using the old way and have had no problems at all. I will be allowed to take my meds this week though as one of them prevents my migraines and after the seizures I was gifted with one of the worst migraines I have had in years. I so do not want that to happen again. Will update as I can on Blogger, Twitter will of course be updated more often...

Road to pain free

For a few months now I have been having some severe abdominal pain. I had gone into the ER where a CT scan showed 5 spots, 2 in intestines, 1 in right kidney, 1 in liver and 1 on left ovary. The Ovary is a normal so I was not worried and now we know kidney is cysts which will be taken care of at a later date and liver is due to the kidney. I finally got into the GI last week and he is telling me the worry spot is the one past the stomach, he needs to go in and assess the damage so an endosopy will be done on the 21st of this month or wednesday this week. It is a simple 5 minute procdure with an hour recovery. Their only worries is my asthma which has a tendency to cause me to stop breathing during any thing that I have to be put under for and the endoscopy is one of those things. I am used to it by now but I don't think nurses ever get comfortable with it. I of course always have a few worries but know that all will be well and I will have my Best Friend with me holding my hand until I go back. She has always been and will always be my biggest supporter as I am with her.

New Year's

This year is the first year we let Older one stay up to ring in the new year. I had talked to him about to see if he thought he was up for it and he jumped at the chance to stay up so late. (go figure) We had planned to junk out on snacks and play chess/checkers all night but dad had bought a new Wii game that just had to be played so we did one game of chess and I snacked while they tried to beat each other at Wii football. I did share with them when they looked away from the TV. At about 11:30 we turned on Dick Clark's rocking new years eve, lemme tell you it was very sad for me to see how much the great man had aged in just a few years. He used to be ageless then happened his stroke and the aging process began. I was happy to see that Dick was able to participate and thought he looked amazing considering, but in my mind I will always think of him as the ageless Dick Clark. Below is the only video I could find of it that wasn't too blurry/shaky.



As soon as the ball dropped we sent Oldest to bed and I sent myself to bed since I worked the next night. I woke up when the Littlest came into my room about 8am, oldest was in bed until 11am and hubby woke at about 12pm then napped when I did. All in all I think new years went well and the 1st was a great resting day.