Minnesota Vacation

This past week we went to Ottertail Lake, MN with Jared's family a trip we do every year and we look forward to every year.  This year I was looking forward to getting away and some relaxing time but it wasn't exactly all that but was still a great trip overall. 

Great friends from college (basketball friends)

Jared and I had a wedding in Omaha on Friday July 12 (Lindsey Stineman, a good friend from college).  So we went into Omaha late Friday afternoon in time for the 6:30 wedding hung out until about 11:30 and then got back on the road to head back to Sioux City to get some sleep before getting up to finish packing and get on the road.  We left the boys in Sioux City with a sitter so they didn't have to be in the car any longer then they had to.  Our plan was to get up about 5:30 and on the road between 6-7 well we missed that time and got on the road about 8 but thats ok.  The boys woke up on their own so they got their normal night sleep and then we got going.  I drove first and was real tired but drove about half the trip to Watertown, SD.  It is about a 5 1/2 hour trip from Sioux City.  We were unsure how often we would have to stop but the boys did pretty good and only one stop for us so not too bad.  We got into the cabin about 2:30 and Jared's rest of the family were already there Thursday and Friday so we got unpacked that day and tried to organize stuff. 


Most of our days consisted of boys waking up about 7 or so and hanging out trying to be as quiet as possible while everyone else slept (older kids would sleep until 11 or so).  After the boys had ate I would take them on a morning run to burn some more time and get my workout in for the day.  We would get back boys would play outside or sometimes in water then eat lunch play outside and then nap time, once up usually water time and jet ski then dinner and bed.  We tried to stay as close to 8-8:30 bed time as possible because if not my boys are bears and are not happy campers.  The weather was great every day except Monday was rainy and gloomy so we just hung out in the cabin, napped, and caught up on our lives.  Tuesday was not a very good day for the boys or myself.  It was just one of those days were the boys would not listen and were off the wall ornery.  They were just being naughty and all I wanted to do was call my mom for some Motherly advice on raising ornery boys at this age.  She was always so good at telling me the right things and how to handle and approach them so I would not get so frustrated and upset.  I sat in my room on vacation a lot this day and cried and thought of What am I doing wrong, am I a bad mom, I just want to talk to my mom like we used too.  Now I don't want a pitty party at all and I know I have a ton of support out there and I am very thankful for that but sometimes I just want my mommy.  I asked Jared if we could go home, I have never in the 13 years I have been going to Minnesota wanted to go home but this day I was very serious about going home.  I know Jared's family would have been supportive if I needed to talk to them but at the time I didn't.  I just hated the thought of them thinking our boys were being naughty and I was a bad mother.  I thought to myself try one more day and if Wednesday is not better that the boys and I would head home.

Luckily Wednesday was a little better and most of days to follow were not too bad.  Our days again just consisted of lots of outside and water time and just hanging out with the family!  All in all was a pretty good week.

Our trip home was great boys did awesome they napped right away for about two hours then we stopped for dinner and then back on the road again and they did great.  Towards the end of the trip they were ready to be home and in their beds since it was after 8:00.

Many Emotions

 This weekend had many emotions in it.  My brother Ryan and his family were coming home from Arizona, a birthday party, fun family time, and something I have dreaded for awhile now but knew it needed to be done putting my mom into a “home”. 

Jared, I and the boys headed home Friday night to mom and dad’s and just hung out most of the time.  Saturday morning while everyone was gone my mom and I were sitting there playing with the boys and I told her what the plan was in a way that I thought my mom would take best.  I asked her how she would feel about going somewhere so she wasn’t alone all day while dad was gone?  She said well I don’t like to be alone (my thoughts phew that wasn’t as bad as I thought but we will see).  I said I know you don’t and this place where you go there will always be someone around and activities to do and they will take you places.  She said well we could try it…(phew again)  I said ya we can just try it and see how it goes.  Then I told her that we would be getting things ready for her new place and packing her clothes and such, she said ok.  Then we went on playing with the boys and about our day.  Alison and I started getting her clothes together and things around the house to take to her new place.  Kristy and Levi had went to the store before hand to get bedding, curtains, towels, and other things she needed.  While we were getting her clothes ready she came in the room so I just had her start trying on clothes and seeing what still fit and such.  (This was not too much out of the norm from back in the day as mom and I would do this often).  Then Mike, Levi, Steve, Kristy, Alison, Wyatt and myself went to her new home and decorated her room.  She was going to be going to the Windsor Manor in Algona, which is an assisted living with a memory care unit.  This place is new just opened in June 1 and you got to decorate your own room and bring things in that were “hers” which was nice.  We brought old pictures of us kids and some new ones but the old ones is what she remembers most! (Many may wonder but yes she still remembers all us kids and most of the grandkids most of the time).  We went on a tour (Mike, Alison, myself) with Scott the Manager of the place and saw the Memory care unit and such which is going to be so nice, but I had a moment and broke down in tears just the thought of it all, I had been trying to be so strong.  She is in the Assisted Living part right now because there is no other patients in the Memory care unit so she just has someone on her24/7 until she goes to bed and then they check on her and have an alarm on her door so if she wakes up and goes out of her room they will know.  Once they get more patients back in Memory Care she will move back there where it is a locked unit, only 10 rooms and always has a caregiver of some sort in there.  Then that night we went to church and to Johney’s to eat. 

LOVE these all these guys more then words!!

Gonna miss swinging with my mom 

Sunday was the day Ryan and his family got there and the birthday party.  So we tried to enjoy the day with all of us family there for the last time as a family “at home”.  (We can still take mom out of the home but we are not sure how the transition will go so we will see on that).  We grilled out, played bags, and kids played in the dirt for hours.  It was so nice to just hang out catch up and watch all the cousins play together.  They all played so NICE and got along, we hardly knew they were there.  Being around family is so much fun and since my family is far away and we were going through a tough time as a family it was so good to hang out and just be “us” again.

Tristan

Landon

Logan so good with the little kids... LOVE THAT!

grandkids missing a few

FAMILY!!!

too sweet cousin Stella and Gracie swinging in Grandma's swing

sisters

The ladies even played bags

Logan loving his cousins up!

the LADIES!! Love these girls so much

Birthday girl Stella wants her cake

two love birds enjoying cake

enjoying some cake adn ice cream

LOVE this funny, caring, loving, soft hearted man more then anything 

Boys love to wrestle

Logan being silly with cousin Walker

Of course we got the bags out...Jared loves this game

Monday was the day (we as a family were not looking forward to) we would put our mother, our sweet, caring, loving mother and wife into a home to get better care.  So as I got my mom ready (which I always did every day when I was home), got her showered make up on and hair done I told her again where she was going and such and her response, well we can try it.  So far so good as far as mom-taking going into a home goes.  She always told dad and I don’t put me “away” please don’t put me away, so you can imagine the guilt we felt as this day came upon us.  Dad asked if we could all go together and I said sure, Levi and Mike were already in town so mom, dad, Steve, Ryan and myself got ready to leave.  I got them all in the car and had to turn back to the house and RUN in as I lost it, again trying to be so strong so mom didn’t see and ask what was the matter.  Danielle was there holding Stella so I hugged her so tight I prolly broke her!  I went into the bathroom and had to gather myself before getting back into the car.  Mom had her bear (kid), she carries around dolls, stuffed bear, stuffed dog and thinks they are her grandkids, refers to herself as grandma. So those went along and things were pretty good as she hung onto it.  This is something that is a good ting for Alzheimer’s patients so as we learned this we went with it and took them with her.  As we drove there with not a whole lot of talking and dad crying we arrive there.  We get out and mom say’s I remember this place and talks about how nice it is how much they have done to it.  Now we don’t know if she really remembers it at all or just saying that but dad did take here there awhile back.  Then we walk in and meet Lisa and she walks us back to her room and she says lets see what you remember, mom walks in and sits down in the recliner and we all start talking.  Then we had to do some paper work so they started on that and mom got up.  I asked where she was going and she said bathroom and then I took her to the bathroom and Mike walked in after she was down and he said, this is real nice Ma and she said I know they have done it so nice!  That warmed my heart so much that she was adjusting ok with it thus far.  So then Mike, Steve, mom and I went on a walk around the place looked at the Memory care unit talked to some ladies and looked at the birds.  Then we headed back to her room and I helped dad with some questions as my brothers ordered pizza.  Then we were done and the ladies said “Judy are you ready for dinner” and she said sure.  So we all started walking to the front and dad turns to me and said I need to go… I said it is fine just keep walking it will be ok and he said no its not going to be(he was getting nervous). We all stopped to talk to Scott and then I gave mom a couple hugs(my dad kept walking) and I said mom I love you and the lady took her to dinner(lunch).  As she walked in front of us we followed her and then we got to front and I LOST it!!! I went to Levi and needed a hug then made my brother cry.  It was one of the hardest things I have ever done was see my mom walk away from me know what was in store.  I cried hard for awhile and then gathered myself and we talked a bit more.  Watched mom eat and she was getting a long just fine so made things seem better and it was going to work out good there.  So we left went back to the house had some pizza and as it was hard not having mom there and to be honest a bit weird it is all for the better especially for my dad and my mom’s care.  We hung out for a bit kids napped, then went to the pool with Ryan, Danielle, Caden, Mabel, Stella, Alison, Wyatt, Weston, Walker and us.  We had a good time playing in the pool with all the cousins.  Then we went back to mom and dad's and had dinner and then headed back to Sioux City late.  Leaving was a bit tough.  Leaving dad was hard, when I went to leave, he started crying and then of course I did.  I told him I would him I would be here for him and that it was going to be ok and was better but would just take some getting used to.  We got back late but I wanted to hang out with dad for awhile.

boys with Mabel and Caden

Boys climbing fence at farm, even got in the pen with the cows and horse

little ones playing with tractors and cars in the dirt, easily entertained and they got along SOOOO well!

Great weekend with some old friends!

Before I start let me apologize for the lack of posting lately!  I will be trying to update it this week. 

Onto the weekend, how did this come about...we were at Whoopers and Hoopers and Lindsey Stineman was asked when her bachelorette party was and her response was I don' t have one.  that was followed up with many girls saying, WHAT you don't have one...well you will.  so we were going to go to Vegas because one of our Friend's live out there.  Well, after looking into tickets that were too expensive we decided to have one back here in Sioux City visiting all the old sompin' grounds and that I offered to host it.  It was so much fun, a lot of work but worth every bit of the work and stress I put into it!  Stineman was so happy and so grateful for everything that we all did.  I had so many people offer to help and that stepped up and helped with different things, food, games, money!  If was great!  We had a group of us that came in on Friday night and we just went to a nice dinner at Minerva's and then went back to my house and caught up on each others lives.  Most of the attention was on one handsome little boy Aaron, my friend Lindsay Blevins baby boy.  He was so good and such a doll.  Everyone spent the night at my house for the weekend.  The boys were there Friday and then my friend Sara Horn(volleyball coach at Morningside) took them all day on Saturday and overnight until Sunday morning.  I am so thankful she did, I would have gotten nothing done. 

Saturday was the busy and crazy fun day!  We started with a surprise bridal shower in the morning with mimosa's and brunch, some gifts and more hanging.  Then at 1:00 I surprise Lindsey with a body massage.  We had planned to go to pool that afternoon but it was raining hard in the morning and then was humid and no one wanted to get in a suit so we just hung out together drinking my slushy vodka drinks at the house.  As the afternoon went on we started to get stuff ready for the night food, games, and ourselves ready.  We had 12 ladies getting ready in my house, some of you may say WOW... I say, it was so awesome and so much fun!  We ate, did some games, opened gifts, and DRANK, wow did we have a good time!  I rented a bus for the night so we could go anywhere and everywhere with no worry of who was driving and such.  We had a really good time going to the top of the hill of Briar Cliff for old times sake, going to old bars such as Princes Tom's, BA to name a few.  We all had a partner we teamed up with to do a scavenger hunt through out the night which was fun, as we are all a bit competitive.  Heather was my partner and one of them was kiss a girl, be creative...that she was when I was in mid conversation she kissed me on the lips...OMG right, I know I was thinking the same thing.  I was also thinking I should have given us 2 points instead of the 1 it said we should get.  We had an interesting time at the Firehouse, another bar when some ladies(high 40's early 50's) were dancing on stage (during a pickle contest) taking their shirts down and have their boobs flappin' all over, yep no pickle anywhere.  Then they thought we were talking shit but really Amanda had just said gross.  Their friend tried to fight Amanda first then lady the ladies went up to Stineman and asked if she was calling the sluts and she said no, but I was thinking it, then they said did you call me a whore, she said no but I was thinking it.  Finally a bouncer stepped in and we were all on the bus heading to Ickey Nickel to dance some more.  After that is was back to my house to eat some of the food left over and go to bed.  We all did pretty good no one threw up, but Katie but she said she ate to much when we got home.  Then all went to bed and left the next morning almost everyone was gone by 9:30 I was in shock! I said hey ladies no kids why are we not sleeping in:)  It was so much fun hanging with our old teammates again, we always have such a good time. 

She was a litle surprise about getting the Ninja blender

she wanted penis' everywhere so we did our best

before the leaving for the night

silly picture before leaving

panty poem

all our models,,,they did great!

get the broom stick in the toilet paper

Meg and Crumly were the winners

Piñata fun!

After getting home at 2:00AM, not bad

being silly at 2:00 am

After the weekend I looked back on the memories made and how blessed I am to have meet these girls and to have stayed so close to them!  I truly believe God brings people in your life for different reasons and I am just so thankful all these friends were brought into my life to go through some of the best times with me through college and since.  We had many highs and some lows throughout college and went through some hard stuff (with basketball) which I believe is why we become so close and are so close til this day.  It doesn't matter if the 12 of us(plus some that were not there) talk weekly, monthly, or every so often when we get together there is nothing but good times had.

Thanks to all who came for such a great weekend!  The ones that missed it we missed you and you were all probably involved in a story or two throughout the weekend of memories from college.  Love you all!

will post pictures tonight, don't have them on this computer!

Potty training

So this week I decided to start potty training, the boys seemed ready so I started!  Well, lets just say I was pretty frustrated the last couple of days.  The first day was just easing into it, day two was full underwear and they did GREAT! Only a couple poopy accidents and one pee from Landon.  Tristan woke up dry from his nap which was a big step!  Tristan was dry all day until we had to go to kindermusik which I thought was hard because the toiliets there were BIG and they had to have a pull up on.  Day three was pretty good for the sitter in the morning only poopy accidents and went pee on potty.  but for me in the afternoon is when frustration set in.  Landon woke up wet from nap(no big deal expected) and tried to go but didn't have to.  Tristan woke up DRY from a three hour nap so I was thinking wow Tristan is really get the hang of this!  But then...we sat on potty both boys and neither went so that is fine (I thought) we will try again in 20 min.  (I had the timer set for 15-20 min).  Then we go outside and with in a minute Tristan pees and Landon pee a min. later.  So as I am frustrated we go back in try again and change and go back out.  Yep you guessed it another accident.  So then I decide maybe they are to busy outside we need to go inside for awhile.  And they Landon was playing with the potty and Tristan was trying to go and I got frustrated and min. later we were ALL crying! :)  sorta funny now but Wednesday was not so funny:).  Anyways our afternoon went on with more and more accidents.  So I woke up Thursday with different attitude and said they are only two and maybe they are not ready but I will try again.  The sitter texts me saying potty training is not going as well today... and it continued when I go home.  Lots of accidents.  I even got new books and potty's for them.  They were excited for the potty's and books we sat on them for about 15-20 min. reading and then outside to pee (accident).  So I decided to try another idea my friend gave me with her boy.  Since it is nice out we went outside naked, just a shirt, I had been doing just shorts or just underwear.  This way I said if they went potty I would just say good job you went potty and not go through so much clothes and maybe they needed to figure out peeing more then I thought.  That went ok, they peed and POOPED, yep Tristan pooped outside:) I sorta laughed at that.  He says, "mommy poop, mommy poop".  I said, "you pooped?" Yep he said and I went over they and yep he sure did.  So we went inside cleaned up and stayed inside with just shorts on and trying potty every 20-30 min.(I didn't know if I was having them go too often).  But we kept having accidents so about 5:00 after a good 4 days I decided they were NOT ready yet and I just need to relax and try again some day.  I was getting too frustrated and it was not worth it, I was getting mad at my little guys for no reason(well reason but not a good reason).  I was talking to a friend of mine and she said don't stress this small stuff it will happen sooner than later and then the real stress will come when they are driving. I stopped and thought about that twin 16 year olds driving...now that is STRESSFUL!!:).  So as much as I thought they are ready and showing signs maybe they are not.  I hope to try again in a couple weeks or so when i can find some time and hopefully it goes better.  I started comparing myself to others...I would hear my 18 month old is totally potty trained, boys are harder to train than girls, boys are easy, why are you trying already they are too young, when are you going to potty train?  UGGGGHHHH so with that I leave you with don't stress the small stuff and my kids nor anyone else will go to high school with a diaper on.  If they are not ready they are not ready.  I told myself that they are my boys and perfect in their own way even if they are not "potty trained" by such an age or date!  When they are 5 or 10 no one is going to say you were not potty trained until xx years old, and if they do I may have words with them.:)

Happy FRIDAY everyone!

Weekend at home and Mother's Day

Jared, the boys and I went home to the farm this weekend and it was once again busy but fun as always!  Friday afternoon we went to Jackson (my nephew) track meet and then out to dinner.  All went pretty well, the boys LOVE outside in anyway so they were fine there but at the restaurant they were tired and HUNGRY so acting in prime form.  Saturday we cleaned mom and dad's house, hung out for most of the day went to church and then to my niece, Kelli's graduation party for a couple hours then back home.  Sunday was Mother's Day so we hung out with my mom and the kids.  Levi, Steve, Kristy, Alison and the kids all came over for breakfast and then after a little bit of hanging out all the kids (younger ones, 6 of them) and mom and I went to the park.  We played there for a couple hours and then back to mom and dad's for some lunch.  The kids had a blast at the park playing with their cousins, swinging, going down slides and just being outside.  One of my good friends from high school (Jill Cruise) was back this weekend too so her husband, her and their little boy Lennon came to the park too. Lennon is only one so he didn't get down and play as all the rocks would have went in his mouth:).  It was really windy but pretty nice for the most part.  It was so nice to see Jill and catch up on life.  Lennon was also in the NICU for awhile (24 days I think), so we compared stories and how we have different look on life and little things now.  After lunch we packed up went to the farm to see the "moo's" and got on the road.  The boys were falling asleep and didn't even want to get out of the car they were so tired!  So we got on the road and they slept almost the whole 3 hours back!  They were tired after playing all weekend with their cousins and outside at the park in the morning. 

Gracie and Landon on the left adn Tristan and Ellie on the right, they love their cousins... Wyatt and Weston were on the slide

 

As always it was great to be home especially on Mother's Day! I am not sure if I mentioned in an earlier post yet or not why I have been going home so much or not. If I did sorry to say it again and if I didn't here goes. My mom has progressed and gotten worse with her Alzheimer's. It is getting to a point that is too hard for my dad (the main caregiver). So the weekend before Easter dad had called saying he was putting mom in a nursing home April first (Monday after Easter). I was caught off guard, not that it was happening as I knew it was in the near future but that it was happening so quickly! So that week before Easter (right after boys surgery) I went home on Wednesday just me to spend some good quality time with just mom and dad and me! Jared and boys came later in the week. It was so NICE!! Then I went home many times since. As I love being home it has been hard not to be in Sioux City my home getting things done but it is all worth it. I just know once she goes into a home it will be a lot different then being in your "own" home. With having two year olds going to a home is not going as much fun and relaxing and they will be running around an bored quickly so that is why I am trying to spend as much time as possible at home. It is also nice when I go home that dad gets more of a break. Usually when I am home dad goes a lot which is fine! Mom usually follows me EVERYWHERE, which is also fine, I know it won't be forever. The plan is to put here in a new home that is being built and opens the first weekend in June. However, we are waiting on insurance to come back with what they are going to provide. It has been a long process but if she is not approved of getting more insurance money she will have to go to the older home which will be fine but it just is very institutional like and not "homey". A long story for the insurance stuff the "new" place is an assisted living with 10 rooms of memory care that is a locked unit for Alzheimer's patients. WIth it being a locked unit I don't understand how it is not covered but I guess that is why I don't work with insurance stuff. It is so nice and new and you bring your own furniture which I think will help her a little more too. But because this place is mainly an assisted living place the insurance is only guarantee $80 a day and it cost $170 a day, yes A DAY!! (can you believe that). So it is all in how they word it and code everything if more will get covered. The lady in charge of the place its called Windsor Manor thinks she can get her more money but all depends on the insurance company. My brother Ryan has been dealing with the insurance side of it which has been very nice of him, especially since he understands it all the most. We hope to have an answer within a week so any prayers for them to approve more money would be great!

Thanks for all your support and prayers in advance!

Swimming

This past week we decided to start the boys in swim lessons and it was trial the first week, which was nice.  That way if they absolutely didn't like it or didn't want to get in the water we didn't have to do it.  Well, at first they didn't like it(more scared then anything) but it was just at first and by the time they were in the water they were ok as long as I was right by the side of the pool.  I had to hold Landon's hand when he was sitting and waiting his turn.  When it was time to leave they cried because they wanted to stay.  So it was a hit and they were excited to do it. 

Tristan went first, Landon is more reserved and likes Tristan to do things first then he will!

Landon's turn!

 

We also do Kindermusik on Tuesdays so right now with swim lessons on Monday and Wednesdays and Kindermusik on Tuesdays the boys are pretty busy for 2 year olds! I told myself why am I putting them in all this when they don't have to, because in a few years they will be in everything and we will never be home. I guess I do it because they like it and it is good for boys socially. Kindermusik is learning different thing with music. They do colors, numbers, dancing, balance, all sorts of different things. It is fun our class is babies-3 so all ranges of development in it. The boys don't always participate a whole lot during the class but will go home and do what we did in class.