It's been a while.....

I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted here. Since the last post, in July, there have been a lot of things going on!! (FYI - This post is long.... but please, read it. There are two more short posts about the boys that I did today immediately after this one).

In August, we enjoyed a road trip to Destin, Florida. It was Me, James, Nelson, Henry, Cary, Mom, & Shaylynn. We made a pit stop at John's house, just outside of New Orleans, and spent the night. It was great to get to visit with them. Our vacation in Florida turned out great. Our condo was very nice and comfie. It was a short walk across the street to the beach. We liked it so much we added an extra day to our stay! We were So glad to have Mom & Cary with us. Mom didn't feel great because the weather there was rainy off and on...that does not agree with her RA. But I know she enjoyed the day she got to spend on the beach watching the kids play and all the time we spent hanging out in the living room waiting for the rain to pass.... plus the seafood was great.

We got home from vacation on the 16th. Cary had to be at work on the 17th and Mom had Chemo on the 18th. This round of chemo really got her down and she ended up going into the hospital on the 22nd with a fever.

School started for Nelson on the 25th and as much as he dreaded it, he really enjoyed it when he got there! I was SO relieved!!

On the 27th they moved Mom into the ICU. Surprisingly, they let her back in a regular room the next day. I spent the night with her that night and although she didn't feel well, she couldn't sleep so we spent the entire night, until 4:30a.m. talking! It was really nice to talk so much. It was the last real conversation I've had with her. I left that morning to go see Nelson off to school and when I got back, things were not good. She was having a VERY hard time catching her breath. Karen, her sister, and My grandparents were there and by lunch time they had her back in the ICU...that was the 29th. It was really hard to see her fighting to breath like that... heartbreaking really. The night her other sisters made it in and got to see her. She was able to squeeze our hands and twice she asked what day it was. That was the last time any of us have heard her beautiful voice. Saturday morning they had to go ahead and put her on the ventilator. John and his family came in to see her and because they had to evacute New Orleans thanks to Hurricane Gustav. I was glad she was still somewhat responsive that day because he hated that he missed getting to talk to her. She did squeeze his hand and even opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. As far as I know, she hasn't opened them since. John has since had to go back home. Cary, Me, and My grandparents spend a good part of each day at the hospital waiting. Everyone else comes every chance they get. It's hard for them to be away. I think Mom has been sedated enough since the day after John got here that she hasn't responded to us by squeezing our hands or anything. She's still in the ICU and will probably get a tracheostomy tomorrow since it's now obvious this is going to be a long term thing. For those of you who are reading this and don't know, she has Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, also known as ARDS. www.ards.org

I guess that' sall for now...... hope this finds you all doing well.

Henry is Four!

Henry is well... Henry! He's really improved lately with his crazy behaviour. He minds well most of the time and has taken a big interest in being read to. Of course, coloring is still his favorite pastime. He still colors almost non-stop! He turned four on September 1st. It still seems like yesterday that we brought this tiny fuzzyheaded blue eyed baby home with us! His birthday was kind of hectic for us so he ended up spending it on the lake with Nelson and their Pops & Nina (James' Dad & Step-mom). All Henry wanted anyway was to eat carrot cake on the lake so it worked out well. On our way to visit my mom, James and I dropped off some carrot cake with them. Henry really enjoyed it! The previous two days, James and the boys spent a lot of time at the lake with the Armstrong Family: Bud, Leah, Delanie, and Mary Kathryn. We were all suppose to go but my plans changed. By looking at their pictures, they had big fun!

Nelson's in First Grade!

So it's the end of the third week of school. Nelson is really enjoying first grade... yes, that's right, first grade!! I'm still in shock that he's that old already. Anyway, I really like his teacher this year. She is very enthusiastic, positive, helpful, and is great at communicating with me. He's reading really well and so far has made a 100 on all his spelling tests. Go Nelson! I have a couple of pictures of him that I'll post another day. But here are a couple stories that I thought you might enjoy:

Me: Nelson, who is Jacob's teacher?
Nelson: I don't know her name but she is tall and thin and so old her face is crumbly. But she can still kind of do her job.
Me: Oh. (chuckle)
Nelson: And she's like me, you know, she's skinny and not Obeast.
Me: Obeast?
Nelson: Yes Mom, you know OBEAST, like she's not fat.
Me: LOL!!!!

Yesterday after school Nelson quickly informed me that I was going to get an email from his teacher because he got in trouble for talking (what's new??). I asked him to tell me about it and he said: I was just talking a little in the classroom. I didn't know we weren't suppose to be talk ing and she just said Nelson stop, I'm sending your mom an email about you talking! He then told me that because of it, he had to have a silent lunch (lunch at a table by himself with no talking). I just reminded him that he wasn't suppose to talk at school unless his teacher gave him permission to.
Well when I got home sure enough there was an email...this is what it said:
Mr. and Mrs. Suggs,It has been a rough day forNelson. He has talked nonstop all day long. He had to sit in silent lunch because he wouldn't listen to me. He continued after lunch. At recess I made him sit out for 10 minutes. I told him I was going to write you. I think the only other option is to move him next to my desk to keep him from talking. He such a smart boy. I know he can be a good example for the other children. They already look up to him because he is so advanced. I would appreciate your help.Sincerely,

So apprently Nelson didn't remember all the talking he did! I read him the letter and he said, Oh....yeah.... We went over the school rules again and he promised to do better and stop talking the first time he was asked so he wouldn't have to move his desk next to hers. It just tickles me because he GETS IT HONEST! Those are the same kind of notes my mom got about me when I was his age. Talk talk talk....plus that is the way he is at home. Sometimes I just have to yell BE QUIET FOR A MINUTE!!! LOL :)

Moments like this...

Moments like this really warm my heart!

Nelson has really improved on reading a lot. He and Henry love the Dr. Suess books.

Sorry....

I have had some venting on here lately and well, here I go again!!! But first, I'd like to THANK TXU for reading my blog and then contacting me to get our issues resolved.

Now.. back to the griping. Our A/C is just not working right. We know what's wrong but it takes money to fix it and the people that installed it, a few years before we moved in, failed to fill out the warranty information... t hey did leave the warranty paperwork though,a lot of good that does us. So, we are waiting for the previous owners to return our call so we can contact whoever installed it and get it fixed!!! I cannot have another high electric bill because the blasted thing is running non-stop.

Second.... As most of you know we sold our house in Murchison in January of 2007. We had the home and the land titled separately but we sold it combined. Apparently the title company dropped the ball somewhere because the tax office, school & county, show that we still own the home. We get the statements from them on the taxes owed and forwarded them to the new owners who lease the home out. After the second time, we sent it certified and they responded assuring us it would be taken care of. Well, today we got letters in the mail from two attorneys notifying us of a lein on OUR property AND that it is being foreclosed on if payment isn't received. So...we are back on this issue. I am of the mind to call someone to go hook up to that stupid house and haul it off somewhere, then pay the measly $300 in taxes and sell it AGAIN. If the new owners want to pay all that money for less than an acre of land with no home, then so be it.

Scissors: Just Old or Really Old?

Today James found a rusty pair of scissors buried in the yard. If you know me you know I watch too much HGTV including the show If Walls Could Talk. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a show where people buy really old homes (like mine! - built in 1905) and find "treasure" and links to the history of the home in the yard, walls, closets, etc. I've always wanted to find something, even a rusty pair of scissors, that were some how linked to the people that first built this home or even the second or third owners. So I was pretty excited when James brought the rusty scissors in. There was quite a thick layer of rust on them and they wouldn't open or close. I cleaned them up using some acidic toilet bowl cleaner and got most of the rust off. Now, for all I know these could just be a couple years old, left behind by the couple we bought the home from or.... maybe they're really old................

July 4th Weekend

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Friday James worked so the kids and I went out to Berryville to watch a firework show. It ended up being pretty neat... people bring their own and shoot them off on the beach there then the VFD does some big ones! Plus, there were other areas having shows that we could see all around the lake. The boys really enjoyed it!

Saturday when James got off, we went out to his Mom & Al's house for a swim party. It was a lot of fun. Nelson & Henry got to swim most of the day with a couple of other little boys that were there. We got to visit with Al's kids which was really nice. I'd like to get to know them more. We had a hard time getting the kids out of the pool to eat. When we finally got Henry out, he consumed HALF a chicken, literally. And it was not a small chicken. Al injected it with a jalepeno butter marinate then deep fried it like some people do turkey. Henry LOVED it. He loved it so much that he carried the carcass around chewing what he could get off of it (yuck). Nelson did great swimming. He kept his floaties off most of the time. Us "big kids" played a game of water volleyball.. my first time.. and it was really fun too!

On Sunday we drove to Arkansas. A very dear aunt of Debbie's... James' great Aunt Sissy... passed away. She has been ill for some time now so it was expected but sad nonetheless. James spent a lot of time with her during his childhood summers. She lived in Texas back then but they made many trips to Arkansas to see his Nanny and other family and to fish. The country up there is beautiful and the lake .... I took some pictures but they do not do it justice. Even under the circumstances we had a nice visit. Nanny and the rest of the family, Uncle Bubba, Aunt Kim, Courtney & Chelsea, hadn't seen Nelson since he was 8 months old and had never met Henry. The boys took right up to them. James and I both regret not making more of an effort to go see everyone before now. I expect that we will go back again soon. It was so good to see everyone, it's really a great family. I hate that I didn't get my camera out sooner... there's not pictures to show of everyone... only the lake! After the viewing we went on back home. The drive wasn't as bad as I thought, it only took 3.5 hours.

So this morning.... James had to head in to work and the kids and I slept in. It's been a couch potato kind of day. Thankfully, James has been slow at work so he and Eric were able to come by and do a little project (new phone jack in the living room) and have lunch with us.

Well, here are some pics for you! Enjoy!