Snow!

We got our first snow last night. It's not much only about 1-2 inches but the wind is blowing so much it is soooo cold. Jordan was happy she got to wear her boots and mittens to school. She's getting more excited to go to grandma's on Sat. She is going in for another EEG on Fri. The children's neurologist here in Fremont thinks she may not have to be on the anti-seizure meds. We will find out more next week when she gets the results in. I have to take Fri. off work because we have to go to Omaha for the EEG and her appointment is at 12:30 but she has to stay up till midnight and then wake up at 6 am so that pretty much shoots the day for work. Oh well it will give me time to get ready to go to my mom's on Sat. morning. We will be taking the train over and have to be in Omaha for that by 5:30. It's an hour drive there so I will have 2 nights with not much sleep. I'm planning to sleep all the way to my mom's (after me and Jordan have breakfast on the train). I'm going to try to work on our end of the year letter this week too. I may have cards sent out by the new year :) Or I may do an email letter like I've done before. Oh the joys of technology.

Casey's new home

I have been thinking for a long time that Casey wasn't getting enough attention and was spending way too much time covered up because he's been noisey. After lots of thought and prayers I decided to give him away. I found a couple, Leland and Carla Watson, who live on a farm about 2 hours from Fremont. Leland is handicapped (he's missing a leg). They told me Casey could spend all day on his shoulder. After we were there for about a half hour today Casey seemed right at home. Thank you Leland and Carla for giving Casey a wonderful home! Carla raises goats for milk and show. Here's her website if you want to check it out http://www.freewebs.com/playritefarm/ . Jordan and I had a great time visiting their farm today even though it was VERY cold out we had to peek at all the animals.

Update

So I've been asked to post an update that DOESN'T have to do with the animals :) It's so hard because I love my animals.

Things are going good here. I absolutely love my job and it is so convenient for it to be right across the street from my house. The 2 year olds can sure give us a run for our money but it is great. The other new girl and I have started implenting the curriculum that was supposed to have been used all along but the other teachers hadn't been doing it. The only bad thing is we can't cram everything into the afternoon when we work so the kids aren't getting all of it. We do a craft each afternoon though and that's the most fun part. We went in last weekend and rearranged the whole room and set up centers. Hopefully the other staff will start helping us out some though because it's been a big chore for just the two of us to do all the planning and prepping. There will be 6 staff members in our room starting on Mon. Donna works 6-noon (she's an older lady and is supposed to do the "Jesus Time" with them each morning), Brandy works 7-2 (she's the new one coming in our room from the toddler room), Jake works 9-4:30, Angie works a split shift 7:30-11:30 and then again 1:30-4:30, Paige works 2-5 and I work 10-6 three days a week and 11-6 two days a week. So our staff is pretty spread out. No one has full time hours at this job because it's sponsored by the church and we don't have benefits. Even though I'm scheduled until 6 each night I never work that late. I'm usually off between 5:15 and 5:45. When the kids numbers go down they start sending staff home and combine classes. Except Mondays are my nights to close so I'm there until all the kids go home but even then I'm usually gone by 5:55

Jim is doing alright. He has been working a lot of overtime lately and his back is really bothering him. We are praying he doesn't have to have another surgery. He is having a good time getting his Harley winterized and playing with his puppy (oops I mentioned the animals). We will get to working on this house more as the weather cools and he isn't playing with his bike as much. We did get the carpet put in Jordan's room. It's not tacked down or cut but it's in there so at least she can play on the floor.

Jordan seems to be enjoying school and has been doing pretty good on her weekly spelling tests. If we can just get her to make her b's and d's and l's and j's the right direction she will improve a bunch. Jordan now rides the daycare bus to school in the mornings because the lady that was giving her a ride is the morning bus driver now. And again I get this service for FREE! Normally it's $10/week/way for transportation. Kelly picks Jordan up from school in her own vehicle though because someone else does PM transportation and they don't go to Grant (Jordan's school) in the afternoon. The only reason the bus goes to Grant now is because Kelly's kids go there and she said she couldn't do transportation unless she could take her kids.
We go see the neurologist here in Fremont on Monday and hopefully they will have all her records from Washington and we can come up with a plan for her treatment. She still hasn't had anymore seizures that we know of. She's getting excited to go spend a week with my mom next month when my sister and nephew are there. She and I will take the train over on the 13th and I will come back on the 14th and then drive to Des Moines (about half way) to meet them the following Sat. to pick her up.

We had a good Thanksgiving with Jim's mom and dad, grandma and James. We had the traditional fixings of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and rolls. Jim's mom makes a great corn casserole that has macaroni in it and she made a strawberry dessert too. I took over a peach cobbler too. We brought home leftovers so I didn't have to cook tonight either. Thanksgiving leftovers are always good.

I was going to go out and do Christmas shopping today but then decided not to. I didn't want to fight the crowds. I will probably go sometime next week on a day I don't work until 11. Jordan and I are going to go to the scrapbook store in Omaha tomorrow. I need to get some Christmas cut outs for work so it's a good excuse to go :) That's about it from around here. Hope that's enough of an update for you Gigi, and I only mentioned the animals once. More updates on them coming soon though :P

Cat and Dog Antics

As I said in my previous post Simba and Jesse fight like crazy but are the best of friends. Lately Jesse has really been getting the best of Simba and actually making him yowl in pain. But as Jim keeps pointing out Simba always comes back for more (I think it's his revenge). The other night though Simba really got Jesse. They were playing in the laundry room and somehow the small laundry basket got knocked over on Jesse. I laughed so hard because Simba finally had him cornered and "won" in my opinion. :)

Jesse say "Simba, so help me, when I get out of here I'll get you.

I mean it now you get me out!

Simba says "ha ha ha, you're trap!"

Jesse!

Our beloved Jack Russel Terrier, Lucy, was stolen this summer while she was at our friend Leon's house. Jim bought a new JRT in Sept. shortly after he was born. Jim, James and Jordan went to pick him up this last Sunday. His name is Jesse and he is quite the cutie. He and Simba fight like crazy but they are also best buds. Here are a few pictures.

Jim with his new baby

The collar doesn't fit him so he decided to just chew on it while he layed in the toy basket

What a cutie

Best Buddies (sleeping in my basket of clean laundry)

Halloween recap

Well Jordan thinks halloween lasts for a week now. :) At least it does in this town. We started with the week before halloween on Thurs. they had trick or treating in old town Fremont. We got down there kind of late and some of the stores had closed up already even though they were supposed to do candy until 8:00. We missed the haunted bank because that closed at 7:00 and we didn't get to that end of the block until after that. Then that Fri. was the fall carnival at her school. They don't have a halloween party but they have a free carnival where the kids get candy and play games. Sat. there was trick or treating at one of the little strip malls but we didn't go because Jim had to work and had to use the car. The next Tues. was Trunk or Treat at the YMCA. Then Thurs. was trick or treating at the Fremont Mall (ok, I wouldn't even consider this a mall because it's so small) and finally Fri., actual Halloween, there was a Fall Festival at the church we've been going to with free food, games, candy and activities. I did let her go trick or treating at a couple of houses and we went to Grandma Diane's and Jamie's houses too. Suffice it to say she probably has enough candy to last her a couple months. She has it stashed in a sand bucket but we are only letting her have 2 or 3 pieces a day.

She loved squishing the pumpkin guts between her fingers

Simba thought it tasted good

Jordan drew the face on for me to carve :) Simba wasn't too thrilled when Jordan put him in the pumpkin

A scare!

Well Jordan gave me a scare yesterday. I take my 1/2 hour break from work from 3-3:30 to walk the 8 blocks down and get Jordan from school then walk back. Well yesterday on the way to school she told me she wanted to start walking home instead of waiting for me at the school. She gets out at 3 so she had to wait for me to get down there. It takes me about 11 minutes to walk down there. I told her she could walk 1 BLOCK to the big tree, by the stop sign at the busy street. I didn't want her crossing the 4 lane street by herself (even though there is a crossing light). Well I'm walking down there, it's one street straight up, and I don't see her at the big tree, I don't see her outside the school either. I'm getting mad because I only have a half hour to get down there and get back to work. I start to go around the school to the main office entrance and my cell phone starts ringing. It's not a number I recognize so I ignore it. They leave a voicemail so I listen to it and it's a lady saying "Laura, this is Michelle, I'm at the corner of Grant and Military and there's a little girl, Jordan, out here crying. Can you please call me back." HOLY CRAP!!! Grant and Military is 4 blocks north of where she's supposed to be. I call the lady back and I'm frantic by now. She says Jordan is standing outside her car and is very upset. I tell her I'm on my way up there. By the time I walk the 4 blocks I'm crying. I thank the lady profusely. Luckily this is a small town where people are friendly. If we would have been in Omaha I doubt anyone would have stopped for her. The little boy in the car said he recognized Jordan from school. The lady told me she was sitting on the sidewalk curled up crying saying she was supposed to meet me by the big tree at the stop sign but there's no big tree there. There was a stop sign but it's 4 blocks in the wrong direction! UGGH! My poor child gets so turned around. I thought she would be able to walk one block, straight up the street we've been walking on all week but no that's not going to happen. So I told her we are back to me meeting her AT SCHOOL by the parking lot for a while longer. I'm just so thankful that she remembered my cell phone number. I had to call my boss and tell her I was going to be late getting back. I got back 12 minutes late but she let it go this time.

Just for fun

Just for fun I dug out all of Jordie's pics from Vala's for the last 6 years. The only one I don't have a picture of her in front of the sign was from 2002 but she was only 7 months old and so she wasn't really standing yet.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch 2008 visit

We had our annual trip to Vala's pumpkin patch tonight. We had a good time even though we dind't get to do everything. We skipped the hay rack ride because the wait was over an hour long. UGGH. We got there late (we went after Jim got home from work) and got to tired to see everything. Here are a few pictures though.

The annual picture if front of the "how tall this fall" sign

Riding on Cherokee

Waiting for the Pig-Tuckey pig races to start

Bunnyville

This is right where she belonged today with her attitude :)

Farmer Jordan

In the petting zoo

They have a new 5 acre corn maze. We got lost in it! It was dark, they have some lights and loud music playing. We kept seeing where people had gotten off the trail and made their own trails through the corn. After about a half hour of wondering around we understood why they did it and ended up following some other couple and their kids to get out of the stupid place!

Kid for sale! Goin cheap today :)

A pumpkin amounst the pumpkins!

Pictures from our trip back to Nebraska

Ms. Brooks (student teacher) Jordan and Mrs. Julien on her last day of school at Betty Kiefer

My nieces Emily and Teresa with Jordan at my friend Dina's stuffed animal store

Me and my friend Dina


This is how packed our car was on the drive home.


It reminded me of something out of a movie :)


Riley was not happy to have Simba sleeping on him but it was too cute not to take a picture


Jordan took this picture of Tid Bit riding in the back seat



Simba decided to get up on the dash and play with the leash while I was driving


Riley, Simba and Jordan playing around in the tent on our first night camping


Simba fell asleep with his back legs on my shoulder and his front paws up on the back of my seat. It was too funny. He slept like that for almost an hour.

Back in Nebraska and Online!

Let me tell you after having dial up Internet all summer and then having no Internet for 3 weeks, I was in heaven last night when our cable got connected. We are getting settled into our house in Fremont. It needs alot of work but we are making it "home". Jordan starts school Monday. It's a year-round school and they were on a break when we first moved back here. It's about 8 blocks from our house but straight down the street so it will be an easy walk for her. I have an interview on Monday with the daycare that's right across the street from our house. It would be so convenient to not have to drive or walk anywhere to work. The weather is starting to cool down so Jim won't be able to ride his motorcycle much longer and will have to use the car to get to and from work in Omaha. I will post some pictures on here later of our camping adventures and about our drive back out here. Just wanted to post a quick hello and let everyone know we made it. I had over 400 email messages to go through since I was without internet for 3 weeks :) For those of you who have emailed me I will get back with you as soon as I can. Gotta run to Walmart right now and get some things.

Deer

My dad has deer that quite frequently come down from the mountain, cross through his corral and then go out in his field. We have really enjoyed watching them this summer. Jordan always comes running in the house saying "Deer! Deer!" whenever she sees one. Last night there was a doe who was being really friendly with his dog Molly. She let Molly get right up close to her. These pictures came out grainy because I had to zoom all the way in to get them. She would let the dog get close to her but not us :)

Simba Sam

This is how they slept last night.


He is such a cuddle bunny :)


Jordan got a kitten yesterday. She named him Simba Sam. First it was just Simba, then it was Sam now she says Sam is his middle name. Isn't he a cutie!

Rest In Peace Uncle David

My uncle, David Radcliffe, was senselessly murdered along with five other people on Tues. Sept. 2nd in Alger, WA.

First day of first grade!

Jordan started first grade today at Betty Kiefer Elementary. Betty Kiefer was a well known teacher here in Rathdrum and they named the school after her. Actually, my sister Angie had Mrs. Kiefer for a teacher. I took Jordan to school this morning and then she took the bus home. There are 3 other kids who get off the bus at her stop too.

Her new outfit


Showing off her backpack that we got over the summer on clearance for $7


She has the same lunchbox as last year.


Posing proudly in front of the school


This was the "Ok mom, I'm fine now would you please leave" picture :)