McDonald's

There is really no place like McDonald's Playplace to reassure a person how wonderful and normal your own child and family is!!!! I just watched a little boy attack and bite the playplace employee when she told him he couldn't stand on a chair.... Wow!!!! Then go back after her later, and apparently mom didn't see this as any reason to discipline?!!

Though Cason finds so much joy in all the new friends he meets there! His friend Jasmine was thrilled to see her "buddy" when we ran into her! He really is already a popular little person, and I'm so proud! (and not just because of what I have witnessed at McDonald's)!!!!!

Merry Christmas

We've had a very Merry Christmas and I hope this year has brought as many smiles and laughter into your home as it did ours. Merry Christmas to you and may 2009 bring love, laughter and more happy memories!

Jimmy Wayne & Gary Allan in Concert

We had such a great time Sunday night!! We went to dinner at Newt’s, which is always so delicious. Then, we made our way to the Civic Center. We ran into quite a few people we knew and the concert was GREAT! I even got my picture taken with Jimmy Wayne!

Busy Weekend Ahead!

We have a busy, but fun weekend ahead! I am off tomorrow and got some house projects I am going to tackle. We have Elisa overnight on Friday night (can’t wait). And, Katilyn has a birthday party on Friday evening. Saturday, we are going to go watch JM wrestle and Cason has a play date in Plainview. Saturday night is Diane’s tap performance, which I can not wait to see! Sunday night is Gary Allen for Troy and I, so Cason gets to spend the night with Grandma!

Busy, Busy, Busy… but, we will definitely enjoy this weekend!

Cute Kid Stories

Cute story... last night we were getting ready to put up the nativity scene and the kids were helping me. I was reading on the boxes what we were opening and I got to the one that said "nativity." (As most of you know, Cason loves Jesus, stories about Jesus etc very much). I said, "Cason, this one says "Nativity" do you know who would be in this one?" "No, who?" he replied. And, I said, "Well who is Christmas all about?" And, he looked at me so honestly and said "Santa Clause!" :) (I must add his next guess was the Baby Jesus, though......)

And, this made me think of one more.... the kids were getting ready to decorate the tree and I had a bunch of our ornaments laid out so the kids could grab them and hang them where they pleased. Katilyn grabbed one that must have been of Baby Jesus and said, "Here Cason, you should hang this one because you love God so much!"

I love their innocence! :)

And the last of them...

I jsut couldn't pick which ones to post. So you get them all. Ok, if you know me, there's still more... but these were my fav's. :)

More pics from last post

Here are a few more pics....

Weekend & Wrestling

I wanted to share some pictures from the weekend and last night. I had a great weekend! I spent Friday night with some friends at Dueling Pianos and we had a ball! Saturday, mom and I spent the day shopping in Red Wing and you can see we ran into a very special somebody. We had a great day and got more Christmas shopping done.

Troy surprised me and came home early from his hunting weekend, so he was home Saturday night when I got back from Red Wing. It was so nice to have him home early! We spent Sunday putting up Christmas decorations. (That’s why our living room looks like a disaster in some of the pics of Cason, still a work in progress as we had to wait for the kids to finish up).

Last night, Cason had his first wrestling practice. It was so fun to watch him and as you can see, he’s ADORABLE in his uniform. Troy and Cason had fun last night practicing after we got home as Troy taught him a few moves. And, Cason seems to be catching on pretty quick to the whole concept. Gotta love those WRESTLERS!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to send out some Happy Thanksgiving wishes to everyone from all of us.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Troy’s side in WI this past weekend and had a great time. The kids got lots of outdoor time and Troy & the guys hunted all weekend. I even went with him for awhile, but a small incident on the 4 wheeler with Katilyn, Kevin and I brought Katilyn and I back to the house sooner than we anticipated.

I got to spend a lot of time with my nephew, Brady, as Tara was pretty busy with their dog Harley who had been injured while out exploring. He ended up having a blood transfusion and surgery on his leg. The time with Brady was SO fun. He’s such an adorable little boy.

We will spend Thanksgiving Day with my family and then Troy will take off for WI again to get that BUCK! I have plans with friends Friday night and a day trip planned with mom on Saturday. Both kids are gone… so the house is mine for a few days. It sounds nice, but I usually don’t enjoy it as much as I should.

Hoping you and your families enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, may your hearts and bellies be warm and full!

Love,
Troy, Jenny, Cason & Katilyn

Great News!

We had the ultrasound today…. I left my desk at work at 10:10 and was back by 10:45. Record time!

The ultrasound went very quick… and everything looked really good and clean! The bleeding has completely stopped as of yesterday afternoon, and everything looked healthy. I will have an HCG reading again next Monday, and then once I have one full good cycle, we will be able to start trying again.

Moving on and putting this behind us!!! Feels great.

Heart Wrenching

We talked with the kids last night about the miscarriage. They both had some questions, and they seem to understand well what happened. But, Cason was so upset. He was sitting in my lap and he turned, leaned his head into my chest and cried. My heart just broke.

I will say I was so nervous to talk to them, you feel like you have to say just the right thing to your kids. We are supposed to protect our children from hurt. Last night was definitely the hardest part of this whole experience.

When putting Cason to bed, we prayed for next time and for the baby to grow healthy and strong. I told Cason it was ok to talk about this and if he wanted to, we can talk about it at anytime. He said, “Mom, I am sad.”

Seeing your kids’ hearts ache is the hardest thing to take in!

Cute Cason Story

I have a share a cute story about my little lover-boy. There is a little girl at daycare. Her name is Iris and she’s about 1 1/2. She has these adorable white blonde curls and a fair complexion. So, so cute! She LOVES Cason.

This morning when we got there (later than usual), she ran to the bottom of the steps, looking up with her arms open wide she yelled, “Cason?! Cason?!” Erin said that she had been doing this when every child arrived and was mad when it would turn out to not be Cason. But, this time, it was Cason, and she was so excited.

He walked down the steps to her, sat carefully on the bottom step and said “Hi Iris, can I have a hug?” She reached her little arms out around him and then puckered up to give him a great big kiss. Then, she patted his legs, so happy to see him, “Cason, Cason” she said with a huge smile.

She was so happy to have her Cason there… and he was so sweet and gentle with her. “Come on” he said as he walked with her in to the play room.

My heart melted!!!!

Tough Friday!

Yesterday was a very tough day. Our fears became reality when I started some heavy bleeding and cramping at work about one PM. We have miscarried. My heart aches!

My husband has been the most supporting and loving man!! I love him even more today!!! I am so lucky to have the relationship I do!

We will mend and try again...

Until then, this weekend we are relaxing and just being together. I am anxious for this whole miscarriage process to be over! OUCH and YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Positive Thoughts & Prayers

So many people sent positive thoughts and prayers my way back when I was sick… and I really believe that is why everything turned out so well and I’m doing so well now!!

I’m going to ask that same favor again…. Troy and I went in for an ultrasound yesterday because I’ve been having some spotting and very light cramping for a few days now. The US showed that we are not 7 weeks and 4 days where they thought I should be. It only shows I’m 5 weeks 0 days (yesterday). This could mean two things:

My cycles are still out of whack and I’m only 5 weeks along and all is good. Everything looked good on the US, so we are very hopeful this is the case. Or it could mean that this pregnancy is not a volatile one and we are miscarrying. We have wanted this for so long, and were so excited when finding out we were expecting, that I pray and hope that all is ok, and we’ll just have a July baby instead of a June baby.

We go back in a week and I will have another US and we’ll know for sure what is going on. Until then,

I’m thinking positive and saying lots of prayers!!

Exciting News!!

We have some big news, but wanted to try and spread the word to family and friends in person or via phone before posting on the blog. Troy and I are expecting! We (and the kids) are so excited! We are approximately 6 ½ weeks along and have our first appointment this Thursday (6th). If the online calculator is accurate we will be due right around June 27th. COULD I HAVE PLANNED THAT ANY BETTER??? I will have most of the summer off!

We have already started “preparing” for a bigger family and bought a new minivan this past weekend. Though I swore in my younger years I’d never own one, I love it. It’s an ‘08 Dodge and has all the bells and whistles. I LOVE driving it!! The kids think it’s pretty cool too.

Thanks everyone for all the sweet emails, phone calls and messages…. I try to say it often but can’t express enough how blessed we are to have the family and friends we do.

Halloween 2008

Friday night brought some good laughs and good times. Katilyn is in Disney World with her mom, so Troy and I took Cason out Trick or Treating. Mom surprised Cason by dressing up as Tigger and showing up at daycare to pick him up. Cason had a ball with his friends and due to the nice weather had over 2 hours to trick or treat. He had to empty his pale twice and stuff Troy's pockets so he had more room! We are having a party at Grandma Jill's this weekend and will have more fun pics when we ALL dress up!

Weekend With Family in WI

We spent a long overdue weekend with Troy's family in WI, two weekends ago and had a blast. I learned how to shoot a hand gun and the kids shot Katilyn's PINK 22. All three of us did great hitting the target. In fact, Troy, my father in law and brother in law would not probably admit, but I'd say I outshot them! ha ha!! I've attached a few pictures. We look forward to getting back over Thanksgiving and I may just even get out there and do a little hunting with Troy!

Always Count Your Blessings, Even On Your Worst Day!

Last night Troy spoke on the phone with the family up the street from us that were also robbed last week. Hearing their story makes my heart ache for them and makes you realize that someone always has it worse than you do. You should always count your blessings, even in the worst of times!

The burglars took their time in this house. They broke in the back of the house and left about a ½ hour before the owner came home (neighbors saw the car leave).

They took over $2,000 in jewelry, ransacked kids and the family’s drawers. They took the time to find a cordless drill and remove the big flat screen from the wall that was hung with 4 inch screws! They took DVD’s, games, etc. (Which I still can’t believe they didn’t take any of ours and it leads me to again believe they were spooked and left our home in a hurry… which is so lucky for us).

With the security system in place, I’m feeling much safer. Yet with the wind and leaves blowing around last night… I had my first night where spooked myself and was awake from 3:30am to 4:45am listening to make sure nobody was trying to get in and getting up to check windows and on Cason a couple times after each “suspicious” sound our house made. (Horrible feeling).

On a better note: Conversion at the bank happened this weekend, and it’s such a HUGE relief to be on the downhill. Yet, this week will bring lots of interesting times as we find kinks and iron them out…. We are one step closer to “normal” again!!

In Custody

I just got off the phone with the Detective working on our case. I have to start by saying he was the nicest, most empathetic and understanding person. I’m so glad to have someone so awesome working on our case!

The info below is pretty choppy, but it’s the info the detective and I discussed and info I got.

They have the (bluish/ green) car that was used in our burglary and the owner of the car in custody. This guy will be charged with one other burglary and is linked to ours. However, they haven’t found the proof yet to link him to ours.

It’s a group of Hispanic males that live in Oak Terrace on Marion Road and have been doing these break-ins. They have searched their residences but no luck finding any of our property yet, and the hope of that happening sounds small.

People in our area had noticed some suspicious vehicles and Hispanic males walking around houses before and after ours. We have such a great neighborhood and everyone is always looking out for everyone and knows who/ what cars should and should not be around. We've been thankful for this many times.

Another home behind ours was broken into this Wednesday and their focus in their break in’s have been big screen/ flat screen TVs. (They have found some of the TVs.) They were scoping out residences in a time frame before our break in, and it’s easy to see how they saw in our windows and scoped what we have as I’m not a huge believer in curtains… I love the sunshine and “openness of a big window” but that may change now! Driving by our house at night or peeking in, may have lead them to believe we had a nice big screen…. Little did they know once they got in, it’s old and weighs A LOT and would not fit in their back seat. So, they may have taken a few things they saw laying around and moved on to bigger and better homes. It’s SO creepy to think someone may have been looking in and scoping this out at night while we are feeling safe and alone in our home. He said he can’t believe they came in our place… it’s not a “typical” target since we are on the main drag and they came right in the front of the house.

Another Hispanic male who had some stuff stolen also did confront this group and as the detective put it, “had his head bashed in”… so that is a little unsettling.

The detective did reassure me they have had 4 guys working on this and they have been very aggressive and did make the one guy in custody cry yesterday…. That brings some sense of peace to us! Remorse/ Fear??!! Who knows… but tears are good! Ha ha!

As of now, our case is staying open, and they will keep me updated. Please help pray for more property to be found and these guys to be caught!

The conversation ended by the detective saying, “Jenny, I have to tell you something. We’ve been emailing each other. You and I have emailed about the wrestling program I run and getting Cason involved in it.” WHAT A SMALL WORLD! I told him I was very excited for that to start and I look forward to meeting him in person very soon!

I worked with American Family yesterday and they were very easy to work with and we do not have to prove that we owned any of the stolen items like I was first told.

Troy is at home as I write this getting the security system installed!

There is a news article and clip on KAAL.com if anyone is interested.

Have a great weekend…. We are feeling MUCH better with every day and each new GOOD thing that happens.

Security System

We found a great deal on a security system for the house and it will be installed within a day or so. Troy knows a couple guys who use the same company and are very happy with it. It will cover our home (up and down) and garage. It includes doors, motion and glass breaking.

If you are at all interested, let me know, I can give you more details.

A Mother's Advice

I was pretty frustrated today and emailed mom to vent my frustrations about the burglary and the insurance process. Her reply is amazing, and I’ve shared it below… she totally turned my thinking around.

My two lessons that everyone should never forget to do:

1. Take Pictures of all your Valuables and keep them in a safe place. You may someday need the “proof” that you actually owned these items.
2. Always listen to your mother!

From my mom:
When we count the trespasses that are against us, sometimes the list is long. Every time something is stolen or taken from us we change...sometimes for the better. Troy stole your heart and you haven't stopped smiling.......

Please don't feel guilty about the ring. I know there are things that we each hold precious and dear. Fond memories and deep meanings get captured within beautiful objects. They bring us comfort, marks milestones and makes us smile. There are many things that you will inherit. Some you will keep and some will be passed on. Things mark moments in time. Each object tells a story. Each story has a beginning a middle and an ending. Find the meaning in the story, learn from it, grow and tell others the story.
Someday when you hold your new baby girl, and you see that her hands look like yours, remember my hands and tell her the story of "The Sapphire Ring". By then the ring may be tarnished, but we have the story.

A Good Buy

I just purchased something fun for our family. It's a game called "Table Talk" and it is a huge box full of questions like:

If you could talk to animals what would you want to find out?

What rules would you change if you could?

What famous athlete would you like to be?

I purchased the family addition, but there is a couples, girlfriends, and generic edition also. The idea is to get conversations going. Troy and I plan to use them at the supper table to build communication skills with the kids!

It was $29 at Tangerine in the Peace Plaza!

So, excited for dinner tonight!

First Blog

After reading some friends blogs... I've decided it would be a great way to keep family & friends updated on what's new with our family, and on their time. :) As most of you who are reading this know, we've had a whirlwind of events lately. I'll post an email most of you have probably already read, and then going forward will have nothing but HAPPY news to share!

Thank You are not big enough words for what we felt in the past couple days!!

As many of you know... our busy Thursday hit the paper Friday morning. Of course, it missed the most important item... our kids' piggy banks! We still can't get over that... that is where they made their haul, as our kids have way more money than we do! :)
I cleaned the house last night which gave me a little peace of mind. I had to dust my dresser... (Embarrassing to admit) but I could still see the square where the jewelry box sat and every time I glanced at it, it made me sick to my stomach.
We have a bid in the works for a security system... so we'll be working on that in the next 2 weeks.
And, then, as most of you heard, Katilyn went into the hospital Friday morning. She had an infection in her tonsils which created an abscess. She stayed Friday night, had surgery Saturday and came home Sunday. They drained the abscess and removed her tonsils. She's out of school this week and on an ice cream diet! :) It's been a pretty emotional ride for us, and we are so glad to have everyone back home, recovering and hopefully will regain some normalcy soon. Katilyn is feeling better, and we hope to have her feeling almost 100% by next Monday.
Through it all, I have to say that once again, Troy and I realized how lucky we are to have such a HUGE support system. The calls, emails, texts and everything were so amazing. Our phones were going off non-stop. Our friends and family are THE BEST!!!!
Thanks for everything the past couple of days!! We are so blessed!