Last week after I got back was spent at VBS. It was a good week and resulted in two children accepting Christ as their Saviour! It did wear on all of us though. It was a really tiring week.

This weekend we pretty much took it easy. Made it to Sunday night service, which we rarely do.

Today we started back to school. Took the last two weeks off. Got caught up on the dishes. Tomorrow is laundry. I also spent a good amount of time today researching a project that I'm working on. More about that down below.

It looks like God is answering prayer concerning my Grandma. Talked with my Dad this weekend and it looks like she's probably moving up to live with him and they'll be taking care of her instead of her other "caregiver" until she passes. It looks like the caseworker will be removing that caregiver, which is what we were all praying for. The caregiver was basically ushering my Grandma to her grave...Praise God things seem to be working out!!! We still need prayer though. This whole thing has caused quite a rift in the family, it's basically the whole family against one person, and it's caused quite a bit of stress on all of us, but especially my Grandmother who just doesn't need this "stuff" in this phase of her life....thanks:)

I've decided that I'm going to be entering that "wool contest" that Hannah entered last year. I think I'm going to do something a little non-traditional. I'm making a skirt but will be embellishing it and making it sortof scrappy. This is where I've gotten my inspiration from....

These are the Skechers shoes that I totally fell in LOVE with a few weeks ago. I think I'm going to do the skirt this same grey color of wool and embellish it kinda like this. I can picture it in my head. We'll see how it turns out.....I can't ever do anything *normal* LOL. Becky, I can hear you laughing all the way down here!

This is Me, Rikki (my sis), Hailey, and Suzy at a mexican restaurant next to Grandma's house called El Serape. I didn't have my camera with me and I wasn't thinking too clearly to get one of BECKY with us. Sorry Becky!

(Becky, I sniped this from Suzy's blog. Hope you don't mind!)

BTW, if you're wondering what in the world is with the polly pocket go to Suzy's blog. Becky bought one for Hannah and they are now pen pals via their blogs. You can see Hannah's at http://myfriendabbey.blogspot.com

This is my Gram holding Hailey. Precious times....

This is my Pa washing dishes at Gramma's. The apartment is built for handicapped, so he's washing dishes on his knees. Would've posted a better picture but this is the only one that I got of him. We had an eventful visit, I'll leave it at that.

Michelle, my step-momma holding Hailey.

Auntie Rikki holding Hailey.

This is where I stayed in Washington, the Hillbilly Hotel.

Full amenity hotel, complete with kitchen, shower and both a twin and queen-sized beds.

This was the view from my "room". Isn't it gorgeous?!

All of that for *only* $0.00!! Great deal huh?!

Thanks Dad and Michelle for letting me use the camper while I was there. Love ya:)

These are pictures of flowers that are in the gardens of the residents of my Gram's complex.

So NOT like here, everything's dead here.

"Where have you been!?!"


For those of you that don't know already, I left Thursday for a 5-day trip up to Wa. My Grandma has lung cancer and we thought she was very "close" to passing. Thank goodness things are better and she is doing very well right now. She's still "terminal" but she has months left not weeks....

I had a pretty good visit with family. My Pa and Michelle were down, my uncle flew in from Tx, and Grandma was up a moving around. Yesterday right before we left for the airport, Gram was strong enough to hold Hailey up and they were smiling and loving on each other. Very precious. Should have gotten pics of that but didn't want to disrupt them or distract Hailey.

Our family could use some prayer though right now. There are some very real problems within the family that we are trying to resolve. Can't go into details but it actually affects Grandma's level of care greatly. Thanks.

Anyways, I've got some pics from my trip that I'll post later tonight. I had fun playing photographer:)

Woohoo!!! I landed a big account! And....by myself. As a "recovering" shy person I wasn't sure I was going to be able to "sell" and get business...my first account was with hubby's work so he got that one for me. Oh, I am so happy I've been going around with a goofy grin on my face:)

This is what Jake was doing while the other kids were getting wet....

"I'm going skating."

"Here I go!"

"I think I can get to the pole..."

"Splat!"

"Owwww, that hurt!"

"Ok pole, here I come!"

"I think I can-I think I can!"

"I did it!!!"

De'Etta, my camera is an HP Photosmart M517, 5 mega pixels. It does take good pics as long as the lighting is good. It takes blurry ones if the lighting is not good and you don't have it at the right setting (of course!). In order to get those good ones I posted I had to take about 45 or so. There were other ones that were "ok" but I kept the best ones. HTH!

On that note, I've got some more pics that I took this weekend of the older kids....

The kids were begging all day to run through the sprinkler. It was *only* 107F at 6pm....

Matty usually avoids water at all costs...that night he found the courage to join in.

"Look, me wet!" (giggles)

My "smiley" boy and his smiley-face ball....

Got a call from Jake's Dr this morning and all his labs came back perfect, PTL! Thank you for praying!

My weigh-in this morning was 177. Almost to my pre-pregnancy weight!

Got a lot still to do today so I better go. Will probably post more tonight.

Today was a normal day at church. I learned though that my "secret prayer sister's" husband is feeling really bad from his radiation treatments. They stayed home, but we got to meet thier son and his wife along with their little 2 year old who are in town. My heart is aching for my secret sis. I had Michael run me by the Bible bookstore after church so I could pick up a card to send her and hopefully lift her spirit knowing that I'm praying for her. I also found a neat little pocket poem with a lapel pin attached specifically for "secret prayer sister's". Here's the poem...


"God Made Secret Friends"

It isn't secret to God why you're so special, and
though I can't tell you who I am, God knows.
You're in my thoughts. You're in my prayers.
You're in my heart, and in His also. May your
day be brighter and your load lighter today,
just knowing God and your secret friend both care.

Hopefully it'll bring a smile to her face during this difficult time. Almerry, remember my secret sis is Mrs. Brady...

Came home and took a very short nap. Then printed off my flyers to hand out at the business park where hubby's office is. Headed to the office to clean it. I was making good time and was on pace to finish in 2 hours instead of 3, but goofball me, I locked myself out of the office when I took out the trash. The door locks itself when you go out and I of course had the front door locked with my keys and cell phone sitting on the front counter. I had to walk 2 blocks down to the La Quinta to borrow the phone to call hubby. He had a co-worker who lived close by come and unlock it for me. I kept apologizing but he seemed to not be bothered too much by it. He actually said that everyone in the office does the same thing from time-to-time. Anyways, it ended up taking me 4 1/2 hrs from the time I started until I got done.

Got home and just checked my email and I have a lady who wants me to clean her house tomorrow or Tuesday as a "move out". I just now got her email so I'm hoping she hasn't found anyone else yet and that she'll hire me. I'm also expecting a call in the morning from a man who contacted me on Friday. I'm REALLY hoping he hires me to do their regular office cleaning. It's not too far from hubby's work so I think that would work out great. I'm getting alot of response from craigslist.com! I posted an ad on Wed, Thur, and Fri and have received 5 responses. Not bad heh? Now, I'm a little worried about advertising too much and not having enough time. I mean what am I supposed to tell someone if I can't do their job?

Ok, enough rambling. Got an early morning and FULL day tomorrow so I better go. Now that I'm a working girl, I can't be a night owl anymore. I'm so physically exhausted!

Oh, almost forgot. Tomorrow is weigh-in. I'm hoping to be 177. Last monday I was 184, but I weighed myself yesterday and I was down to 178, hoping that all my hard work tonight bumped me down another pound. And I was stressing because we couldn't afford a gym membership, all I had to do was start a cleaning company to get my workout! LOL

Oh the last 2-3 days have been whirlwind!

Thursday evening I worked on the new website for our church. Just a rough draft. I was asked by hubby to be a part of the "I.T." committee at church, involved in the website. I said "sure" and whipped one up and got prices. Got to bed a little too late and paid for it the next day, Friday...

Friday, I called the new peds office to schedule and appointment for Jake and Hailey's 4 month well baby check. Jake has had a bump on the side of his neck for 3 months now and I had the Doc at the old clinic check it out 2 weeks ago at Hailey's 2 month check. Anyways, the Doc seemed not very concerned and told me to let her know if it got bigger. Well, it did get a little bigger and I was not going back to that clinic hence the call yesterday. They told me to come in at 3:30, it was 2:00 when I called.

So, I rushed to get everyone ready to leave the house. In the midst of getting ready I got a call from a potential "client" wanting to hire me to clean their office. I called him back, he told me he'd call me right back. Meanwhile it's 3:00. I waited 10 mins and didn't get his call and I had to leave for the appt.

Got to the appt, the new Doc checked him out thoroughly and found that his spleen is enlarged as well as some other lymph nodes other than the one on his neck. She ordered a complete blood workup on him to rule out a blood disorder, allergies, and leukemia. We headed over to the lab for his blood draw, it couldn't have gone more perfect. I was expecting a serious temper tantrum since he's not had a shot for at least 2 years or so. The kids just joked around with the tech and he proclaimed, "It didn't even hurt!". Please pray for him though. I'm sure he's fine, and the Dr. seemed not too concerned, but still....he's my baby! I'm not worrying very much at this point. It's on my mind a little but I'm not anxious or sick over it. Phil 4:6

After the lab we went to the dollar store so the kids could spend their allowance. Left there a totally frazzled. Imagine 4 kids all saying, "Mom should I get this?" "How much money would I have left?" etc. the whole time. My ears were "tired". LOL

After that, we went to Walmart. I know I'm glutton for punishment. Left there even more frazzled. The baby decided to start screaming while we were waiting in the looong line. Jake was running through each checkstand looking for a toy cell phone that we had seen 2 days before and wanted to spend his allowance on. He was mad that he couldn't find it and mad that I was rushing and trying to get out of there. Michael took him back later that night and he got his phone.

Last night I spent most of my time on the computer creating a flyer to handout for my business. I'm cleaning hubby's office tomorrow and want to put one on everyone's door in the business park.

Today I went to print off my flyers and ran out of black ink. Got everyone ready and went to Office Max, got my black ink. Came home and ate dinner. Went to print off my flyers and my computer was not working right. Hubby fiddled with it and got it to work and started printing them for me. They weren't printing right....I ran out of colored ink! Hubby ran to Office Max, they had just closed. He went to Walmart, they were out. They called the other store closest to us, they were out! Target was closing now. Looks like I'm not printing flyers tonight. So, here I am updating my blog. Oh, we picked up Hailey's pics from Sears today also. So, while hubby was out trying to hunt down a printer cartridge, I finished up Hailey's birth announcements. I'll be sending those out on Monday, FINALLY!!

Well, better go! Bye:)

Ok, couldn't help it. Was playing around and had to post 2 more....

This one is so sweet and innocent-looking....

Look at that mischievous look....

Here are some of the pics that I took today of Hailey....

Couldn't get her to look at me....

She was serious like this most of the time.

Got her to smile....

Looks like she's got a secret....I love this one!

Sisters.....isn't this a sweet one!

This is the squash book that I made to put pics of Hailey into. The colors are a bit off, the "h" isn't quite so red, it's a dark salmon....

It opens up into....

This. I obviously am not done with it yet. I've got to order prints to put into it. These are pretty cool and I'm going to be making some more.

These are the birth announcements that me and Hannah made.
As soon as I get these pics back from Sears this weekend, they'll go into the announcements.

This is the "diet" "goal" journal that I made for myself. Using it to keep track of weighins, meals and such.

Today was spent mostly at home. We made a quick trip to Walmart after daddy got home so he could get a calling card for work. We got some school done today but are having a slow week. I worked on a couple of projects and had a photo session with Hailey. Oh, I also spent some time online posting an ad on Craig's list trying to drum up some business. I got one lead so far. It's a "model" who lives in Phoenix and travels all over the world. She's currently in West Africa. She wants me to thoroughly clean her house before she flies back home. Cool kinda but not sure I'll get the job. We'll see.

I'm uploading some pics to my computer right now and will be posting a few in the next couple of blogs. Better do that now.

Another installment of a special feature here titled, "Funny things heard around my house.".


Me: So, what do you all think about going camping this Summer?

Brandon: No way! Camping would be boring!

Hannah: Yeah, where would we go?! Like up in the mountains?

Brandon: No!....no way.....

Hannah: Ok, all of those people who want to go camping say, "I".

Various "I's!" and "No's!" heard thoughout the car.....

Hannah: All opposed, same sign. Motion carried!



That is what happens when your daddy is a deacon at church and you have to sit through business meetings.....you conduct family discussions according to Robert's Rules of Order!

Since it's been a week since I've last blogged I'm gonna do a day-by-day...


Tuesday:
Hailey's 2-month checkup. She's growing well. 90% in length (height), 50% in weight, and 25% head circumfrence. She received 3 shots as well as the oral rotavirus thing. Gave that Peds office "one last chance" and they totally blew it. Won't go into details but I'm NOT going back there. That was really the big event of the day. We came home and did schoolwork and had a normal evening at home.

Wednesday:
We were supposed to go over to someone's house for the 4th but ended up staying home because Hailey was not feeling well from her shots the day before. She was literally wimpering in her sleep. We grilled some steaks and Mom came over and we watched movies most of the day.

Thursday:
Hailey was feeling better. Her fever was completely gone. We did schoolwork and some chores then headed to Tucson to stay with daddy in the hotel.

Friday:
We hung around Tucson till daddy got off work. We went to the "bead" store and I let Hannah go in and spend her allowance. Then, we went to the mall there. Pretty good mall. Again, I found some shoes I REALLY wanted to get but didn't. Gotta' stop going to the mall, I end up coveting!

Saturday:
We had a family over from church again. We had a GREAT time! I fixed "taco" stuff so we could just mix and match things for us low-carbers and the kids. Their son (6yo) made dessert and brought over the cutest cupcakes! They were baked in star shaped tins and had white icing with M&M's on them. Me and my friend are low-carbin' it so we didn't get to eat one, but they looked so yummy!

Sunday:
Church as usual. We made it to Sunday School. We've only missed 2 or 3 sunday school's since Hailey was born. MUCH better than I thought we were going to do! She's been such an easy baby! The Lord must've known I needed an "easy" one so I could keep up with the others. I talked with the lady who runs our "Sparks" group for AWANA today. She is a Kindergarten teacher. Well, I've been working with Brandon really hard on his reading and he's just plain having problems. He has a problem with his eyes where when he's reading, cutting, writing, etc. one eye crosses and he can't see. He literally closes that eye when he's cutting things out for school. We've taken him to 3 different Dr's and seen a Ped opthalmologist and a regular eye Dr. and just been blown off. Anyways, our teacher friend is going to evaluate him for dyslexia and see what's going on with his eyes when he works so she can point us in the right direction for help for him. I was tears today talking to her, I'm just so frustrated and sad for him. It's keeping him from learning to read and function normally.

I'll not be doing a weigh-in tomorrow. I've just had too many bad days this week. I've been really stressed about my above-mentioned son and doing school with him this week and ended up having a hard week diet-wise. So, if you're interested in that, you'll have to wait till next week:)

Ok, I've got some more time to blog.

The headband that Hailey was wearing in her pictures today I made on Friday night. I'm going to make some more to match other outfits, they are CUTE!

I was supposed to get Hailey's pics done yesterday after church. I got to Sears and waited 45 mins and everything. Went into the room and realized I had forgotten her clothes at home! What a "doof" I am! I ended up going back today...

Me and Hannah have been scrapping together. Last night we made her an embellished journal from a "composition" book. It turned out really cute. She's wanting to make one for her friend Aurora in Washington. I made a "squash" book on Friday night. It turned out really cute. I've gotta order prints from my digital so I can fill it now.

We're still on track with school. Some days are better than others but overall we're doing well.

It is sooooo HOT here! It's supposed to be 116F this week!!! Oh, it's miserable to go out of the house.....It's supposed to be 107F at 10pm on the 4th, fun huh?

I got Hailey's pictures done again today. They turned out pretty cute I think!

She's 2 months already. Can you even believe it?!

My weigh-in today was 180. Lost another 2 lbs. I would've lost more but had a rough Mon, Tue, and Wed last week. Set me back a pound or two I think. Overall, a good week though! Especially since I'm not doing any formal excercising....

Yesterday was church. Hubby didn't get to come with us. The internet guy came yesterday morning. The only appt they had this weekend was Sunday morning of course. Last week when they hooked it up, they connected it to Brandon's room, not the living room. Anyways, I was in nursery during the worship service and got to know one of the other ladies a little more. It was nice visiting with her. Between SS and Worship though our Pastor's father (the founding pastor of the church) had to go to the hospital in an ambulance. He's been having heart problems and is having surgery soon. Please say a prayer for him/them, we're really worried.

We got invited over to a couple's house for the 4th of July. That will be a nice time of fellowship and friendship!

We also invited our friends over again that came over a few weeks ago. We had such a good time. Me and the lady have alot in common and are almost the same age, we get along very well. It ONLY took me 2 years here to start to branch out a really make friends.....we're looking forward to them coming over!

Ok, batteries almost dead. Gotta go!