Is it Luck?

Wow, time has gone by like you wouldn't believe and with it have quite a few events. We had a garage sale on the 3rd and ended up selling quite a bit of stuff. It's really amazing how much "stuff" everyone has in the U.S. Just look at all the people giving to Good Will on weekends (after garage sales).

Around the same time period, Jayden and Josie got pink-eye and then gave me the pleasure of experiencing it too. Needless to say Josie ended up getting it twice and Jayden three times before it was all said and done.

Kim's Mom had surgery back on the 19th so I watched the kids (I took last week and this next week off from work) while Kim went and waited with the rest of her family. We took the kids to see Grandma Pat that afternoon and then went back again that night to help Kim's Dad get back to our place to stay the night.

This memorial weekend was rather interesting to say the least. On Friday Kim came back from shopping with a friend and said that she had some interesting news for me. As soon as she said it was about her Dad, my heart sank as his health has been questionable as of late. The good news is no health problems that he currently has was the issue. The bad news was that he had been struck by lightning while sleeping Friday morning. Dale was sleeping when he felt the lightning bolt start up his feet and continued up through his spine and ending at his head. He especially felt it when it hit his back as he has metal rods in his spine from previous back surgeries. He told Pat that he thought his legs had blown off when it initially happened. It's odd that he even drove himself to breakfast that morning as he was pretty incoherent later that morning. The lightning knocked the picture off the wall and left a mark on the white paint (see larger image from link above).

So we decided we'd head down to Creston on Saturday after attending a couple of graduation parties. It's always an eery feeling going somewhere when you're not sure what to expect. Yesterday Dale feel asleep a lot (he fell asleep with his breakfast in his lap). He also slept through Dinner. Fortunately he was doing a lot better today. He even drove himself to the restaurant for breakfast this morning.

It's amazing that more damage hadn't occurred and I consider it a miracle that Dale even survived. So all in all, quite an eventful month.
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American Idol - Neil Diamond

"Oh this is the Grandpa one." - Jayden

An Ode to My Blanky

Tonight Jayden sleeps for the first time without his "blanky" since he got it when he was just a baby. It's quite monumental to have him part from it. He decided today that he would give it to another baby who really needed it. The baby he chose was Josh and Jodi's baby, Olivia. He didn't have too hard of a time going to sleep, but you could tell he was sad. I thought  it would be fun to write a short poem. So here goes.

I miss you so, my taggy blue.  

Please bid Olivia well.

You gave me comfort,

through thick and thin.

From the time of constantly carrying you,

to the having you only at night.

Take care my taggy blue,

I'll miss you so. 

 

Single Parenting

This past Friday and weekend Kim and her Mom, Sister, and Niece took a shopping trip to Minneapolis, MN. That means I got to take care of the kids for the weekend. I did have planned to go to Humboldt to help my Brother and buddy, Scott, put in some cabinets that Scott had ordered from my Brother's business. But, Tasha, one of our friends that was going to take care of the kids while I was gone ended up getting the flu. I wasn't quite sure if I should even attempt to take the kids for an hour and a half drive by my self. I ended up taking them and managed to stay sane. Josie cried for at least a half an hour on the way up and both of them had their moments on the way back, but I managed.

How does a single parent manage to handle two kids? All I can say is I don't know how. Take the simple thing as having Jayden needing to go to the bathroom. We stopped near Ft. Dodge on the way back and had some McDonalds (I know, I usually dislike eating there, but it's quick and the kids usually eat something there). Well, about half way through our lunch, Jayden needed to go use the bathroom. Not a big deal if Kim and I were both there. Obviously, I took Josie (with chicken nugget in hand) in with Jayden and I. Everything worked out okay, but still, it's not fun having to deal with both of them at the same time...making sure Josie doesn't touch something she shouldn't and keeping her chicken nugget off the floor.

All in all, the kids were pretty good for the whole weekend. But, it sure is nice having Kim back home. :)

Dirty Business

This will probably be short. It's amazing how fast Josie is catching on to things. She's almost 19 months and so far has sat on her potty and gone in it 3 times. Yeah! Amazing, I know. To most people this isn't a big deal, but to a parent, this is huge. :) Now, if we can just find small enough undies for her. The ones Kim got last night are huge and that's the smallest they make.

Having Some Fun

Well, we're in the new year. Christmas was great and we all got lots of goods from everyone. The kids are finally over their colds/flu and all that jazz so we're moving along with some fun times. Josie is getting more teeth in all the time so that makes her a little crabby at times to say the least. Today Josie even told us potty when she went in her diaper and walked into the bathroom...so who knows, maybe she'll be potty trained before Spring. :) One could only hope. Jayden's been playing full time with his toys and loves to play with his train sets on his train table in the basement.

Josie started making some funny tongue noises the other day so I thought I'd share them with you. Enjoy the video.


Funny Tongue Noises from Kevin Minnis on Vimeo.

Till next time...