Got my donation packet..
for Haddie's heart walk. Her team name is "Team Hadleigh, We love a broken heart". For those of you who don't know Haddie's story...
Hadleigh is my great-niece who was born in October 2007 with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome..which means she has half a heart. She has had the first of three surgeries and is being screened next month to see if she is ready for her second stage surgery. We are walking next month to help raise money (similar to walk for a cure) for congenital heart defects. Please consider donating to a wonderful cause.
If you would like to donate, please don't hesitate to call me or email me!
thanks for being generous
wendy and haddie

Hi...
wow..what a busy crazy couple weeks. Last week my brother had his back surgery (wednesday) and came home yesterday. We had planned a dinner at mom's prior to his homecoming, so his first day at home was crazy and busy. We didn't know he would be released so soon! Anyway, on my many blog visits today, I saw a quote by matt at dear spike love dad.

"It's nice to do well in school. But it's better to do well in life."
This quote says a lot to me. I have been reflecting on the guilt I feel when dad was in the hospital before he passed away. My father was in the hospital more than he was home the last year of his life. I remember after I had Riles he was home for about 3 weeks and I would take her up to see him while I was on maternity leave. He didn't feel strong enough to hold her because the medicine he took made him shake. This was very hard for my dad because the first thing he wanted when he had a new grandbaby was to hold them. I would set her carseat by the couch and he would talk to her and when she would start to cry tell me "She's startin' to squeak in here." I am glad he got to meet her. When he went back into the hospital before he had his surgery, we "smuggled" her in to see him. I didn't get to spend a lot of time when my dad was in the hospital. I worked through the day and 2 nights a week (5:30pm-11:00) and on saturdays (8:30-3) I had classes to finish my teaching degree. My dad also had some type of infection for a while that prevented me from being there since I was pregnant. We (sisters) tried to remember what it was, but we couldn't.
Anyway, after his surgery he contacted a staph infection which ultimately led to his death. This is what started to cause his body to shut down. It was summer, I still had classes on Tues/Thurs nights and Saturdays, and mom and I went to the hospital through the week. I still have felt I didn't spend enough time with him. The university I attended docked me attendance points when I gave birth to Riley (I had her on a Thursday, so I missed my Thursday night class, Saturday class (two separate classes), but attended the Tuesday night class). One of the instructors I had at the time dad was dying refused to let me email her my papers as I got them finished. They weren't late, but I had borrowed a laptop from work and typed while mom and I were visiting. Her response was "It would be an extra cost to print them for the university." I volunteered to buy ink, paper, etc. I finally had to go to the dean to get permission to do this. The night my father passed away was before one of my last nights of classes. I was docked attendance points again for missing part of class because we were finalizing the details of the funeral.
I guess what i am saying in this post is, I wish i would have had enough backbone to do well in life, instead of school during this time.
wendy

bah..
just in a funk. got my mother's day cards finished..but can't post them. that's ok tho, cause they were a total scraplift of one i saw last week. i just used a different stamp. they are sooooo cute tho.
i hope my mood doesn't last long.. lots of things to think about this week
whimp

And now..

I can share the word album I made for a friend to give her cousin as a baby gift.. It is being delivered to bonnie today, so here it is. It spells KAYDIN. I cut the name out with SCAL using my cricut, the paper is Animal Crackers by DCWV and all animals were cut out from the Animal Kingdom cricut cart. I don't remember the font i used for the name sorry! I also used the distressed stickles to give the frog and alligator some texture. Thanks to mindy for introducing me to the distressed ones! lol

enjoy

whimp

How FREAKING cool is this?

Cindy and Karen always send me the cutest recipes for kids. I enjoy making fun recipes with my kiddos, both like to cook very much. I believe Riles knows the chocolate chip cookie recipe by memory. Anyway, yesterday I started my spring break, and today riles is home with me..with a 100.3 fever keeping us company. Aunt Cindy sent us an email with a recipe for rainbow cupcakes and rainbow cakes! How cool is this? We are going to try to make it for Easter dinner I think. Here is what it looks like.. (riles wants me to say love her, daddy, danny, mom, bubba, justin, uncle brandy, aunt mike, (HAHA), celeste, and katelyn.) (photo from Omnomicon blog)

Thank you...
isn't enough. Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, donated, or stopped to ask us how Ron is doing. He is doing well. They removed the ventilator yesterday, and had him sitting in a chair this afternoon. We truly appreciate everyone's concerns and prayers.
whimp

Please pray for us...
My older brother was in a seriously bad car accident today. We (sisters and bob) just got home from the hospital. He was life flighted to Creighton where he is in critical (we assume) but stable condition. He has a long road of recovery ahead of him. Please keep us in your prayers. We love him so very much.
with thanks
wendy and family

Spin-Tacular Event

We went to school last night for a free program to help raise money to build a new outdoor sports complex for the school. The complex will include a second gymnasium for the elementary. It included redoing the football field and track. There are other things involved including a fitness room, etc.
The spintacular event was a program called Champions Forever. Champions forever is a man, his wife, and their 12 children. Bruce Crevier and his family travel the world, spreading the word, and putting on a fantastic show. He is a 4x Guiness World Record Holder for spinning the most basketballs at once. I believe the highest number he has done is 21.

Riles came home very excited about the program they had at school. She kept telling me "He rides a giraffe unicyle that is 10 feet tall!" "Please take your camera so you can get a picture of it for me?" She asked so politely. So, of course we had to go see. It was a great show and we got to visit with aunt shell.

Here are some pics of the event.

whimp

Happy Birfday Danny!

You are a perfectly amazing young man. I have enjoyed every minute of being your momma (ok..we could have lived without the stopped breathing at 2 months, the seizures, and screaming at your sister). You have made my life richer simply by being in it. I hope your birthday was everything you wanted..with chinese food thrown in for good measure.
Love,
mom

Best part of the party..

COUSINS!

The party was fun, lots of cake was eaten, and three boys played wii into the night...

Danny and riles love their birthday presents. Dude came over and got to play all day with the riles. Logan and Brandon spent the night..even J.J. came to visit! I think everyone had a good time. Here are some pics to share with everyone. Thanks for coming and making the party great!

danny, riles, whimp, and chris

Happy Birfday Riles!
I love you lots and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots. I am so glad you picked me to be your momma. (most days) I hope we have fun tomorrow on your birthday. I hope I remember to take prozac before we go. (chuck E. cheese's)
love,
momma

Her gap tooth grin...

Riles lost her very first tooth yesterday. sigh.. guess I better go get some tooth fairy paper huh? lol... She got $4.00 from the tooth fairy! WOW.. i guess the toothfairy is the ONLY one not affected by the economy. We have an exciting week this week. I have conferences at school for my classroom on wednesday and thursday, the kids' conferences is tomorrow night.. and on Friday it is RILES 6th BIRTHDAY! YAY! We are having their party together on Saturday because DANNY'S 12th BIRTHDAY is on MONDAY. Wahoo.. almost a teenager..yikes. crazy. I can't wait for them to open their birthday present. I think i am more excited then they are.

lol.. Here are pics of gappy.

whimp

Goodness...

Cindy and I went shopping on Saturday. We stopped at Fareway and discovered fresh strawberries were on sale. Strawberries just happen to be Riles very favorite thing. So I picked some up for her, and radishes for danny..sigh.. he is an odd little duck ya know.
Here are some pics of Riles eating her strawberry goodness. I am broke, so no pics of danno. He has a "publishing" fee. lol

whimp

Wanting to get these for my kiddos.
http://lovelife.typepad.com/buy_lovelife/buy-custom-youareawesome-posters-here.html

Danny wants the cat or monkey, and riles wants the elephant.

Now, what should their words be? i thought spirited for riles and amazing for danny. What do you think. Positive words please.

thanks

wendy

Gearing up for another *girls* weekend..

Fickel, Mindy, and I are going to be heading to the middle of cornhusker land next weekend. We are attending a weekend long crop, and possibly state basketball tournaments, good luck Justin! I can't wait. I enjoy my time with these two immensely.

I have taken a personal day next Friday, as we head down on Thursday night. Thanks to momma pat and papa for helping get the kiddos to school on Friday. I love you both very much!

We (ok, I) spent the weekend cleaning out my house. Ugh. This job SUCKED. (Don't you just love my advanced vocabulary? lol) I cleaned out the kids rooms, the two hall closets, most of the toys in the front room(1 tub is left, mostly stuff Riles' plays with everyday), and the entry way. My big ole body hurt in places I didn't know I had! It feels so good to be decluttered. The next item on the agenda is cleaning out cupboards and scrapping stuff. I am going to wait to do this during our week long spring break. My kids will be in school, chris will be working, and I will be home cleaning and scrapping! Wahoo. This summer chris will tackle the outside.

I am in the beginning stages of weeding out 3000 children's books. Yes 3000! I have made a dent, but not a big one. (I will donate these items to a homeless shelter for their family area.) I am addicted to ordering books from Scholastic! lol.. I loved book orders as a child as well. Reading was and is one of my favorite hobbies. Both of my children love to read as well and I am so happy this is one of the things i can enjoy with them.(just never, ever take us all to a bookstore together!) It never mattered how low I was, as long as I had a book to read, the world was a better place. In fact, if I haven't read a "good" book in a while, I actually start feeling aggitated.

I wanted to post some pics of the last girls weekend with my sisters. We had a blast, and can't wait for our next adventure!

peace, love, and happiness (hey, isn't that a song?)

whimp

Sucks to have nothing to say..
imagine that, me, nothing to say. School was draining today. This is about the time of year, the kindergarten bound students are ready to be "big kids" and go to kindy, and we teachers are dreaming of summer :). It is also time for the most growth, and then things will start to taper off again.
Went on sister breakfast "event" this past weekend. We had lots of food, fun, alcohol, and shopping. It is always nice to get together and have fun. It is always nice to get away. I just wish everyone got to experience a guilt free weekend like most of us do.
I talked to uncle froot loop today. He and his wife have agreed to take on the riles and danno if anything would happen to us. This is such a hard task and hard decisions you never want to talk about, let alone act upon, until you have too. We will be visiting our attorney soon to put things in motion.
I don't want my kids separated if something should happen. As we all know, Chris is not danny's biological father. I have to will danny to him! lol.. I need to take care of these things in case something should happen, and since danny's biological egg splitting chromosonal (is that even a word) assistant is incarcerated for the next 26 years (his TENTATIVE release date is 2019..danny will be 22), I have to have a plan.
We will be celebrating the kiddos birthday next month. They both want Star Wars cakes. go figure. At least it will be easier on the decorations. Still haven't figured out if we are renting the comm center in T, or M.
I will get the pics from our weekend posted soon.
hugs
wendy

Love me some playdough...
I make my own playdough for school. One simple reason, it's cheap. Other reasons, it makes a big batch, I can put GLITTER in it, and it is super, super soft and lasts longer than store bought.
I got this recipe from a blog called Make and Takes last summer. LOVE IT (said in my best wheezy voice from dragon tales).

Play Dough Recipe (this can be halved for smaller ball)
2 c. Flour
½ c. Salt
2 c. Water
2 T. Vegetable Oil
¼ c. Cream of Tartar (found in spice section)
Pour all ingredients into a large saucepan. Food coloring can be added here if desired, 5-7 drops. Turn to med-high heat and stir constantly until the mix becomes very warm and starts to form together, about 3-5 minutes. Do not over heat, it will burn. Continue stirring until the mix forms into a playdough ball. Remove from heat and pour ball onto a wax paper sheet. Let cool for a few minutes and then knead until soft, 2-3 minutes. Food coloring can also be added during the kneading process as well, especially if you want to split the dough and use 2 or more colors. I suggest wearing baggies over your hands if doing this. Store your play dough in a ziplock bag and in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months, or until little white spots develop.

I DO NOT REFRIGERATE my playdough. It hasn't gone bad yet. Lasts for about 1 1/2 months with kids playing with it everyday at center time.
Enjoy

Chicken Pot Pie..
recipe I got from brandy.. is AWESOME! I put the chicken in the crockpot early this a.m. and then I doubled the recipe, used store bought pie crusts (gasp!) and used mixed veggies and an extra bag of corn insted of just peas and carrots. I could have used a bit more salt, pepper, garlic, but i didn't want to overpower it. Next time I make it, i will add more. AND i will also add some potatoes (cindy suggested the southern style hashbrowns). Good idea.
try it, you'll like it.
whimp

Hug them tighter, squeeze them longer, and love them just a little more each day.

This week is CHD Awareness Week. Congenital Heart Defects affect 1 in every 100 babies, that's 40,000 a year in the United States alone. Congenital heart defects are the leading cause of all infant deaths in the United States. Each year over 1,000,000 babies are born worldwide with a congenital heart defect. 100,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood. In the United States, twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. Congenital heart defects are common and deadly, yet CHD research is grossly under-funded relative to the prevalence of the disease.Only one penny of every dollar donated to the American Heart Association goes towards congenital heart defect research.Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward congenital heart defect research.(Source: Children's Heart Foundation)Our babies depend on awareness, which will raise funding, which through research, will save so many lives! If you tell just one person about CHD that is one more person that is aware of it, and that just might save one life.Today Curtis and Stacy are holding a "heart" party for Hadleigh. Hadleigh is my great-niece who was born with a CHD called Hypoplasty Left Heart Syndrome, which means part of her heart is missing. It can be repaired with a series of surgeries, I believe 3, she has had the first stage,and it waiting on the second stage. She is such a good baby. I call her the Mighty One. We are going to the heart party tonight. I have wanted to make something for Haddie for a long time. I didn't quite know how, or what I wanted to do. Well, with my trusty Cricut and SCAL program, I made her a word book of her name (well, HADDIE because I didn't have paper long enough to cut HADLEIGH). Here it is,

sorry for the weird colors. (The book is sky blue, brown, pink,and lime green). I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day. Happy Heart Day Haddie! We love you mighty one.

Love,

whimp and family

My Best Friends..

We have amazing fun together, we laugh, we vent, we rant, we call some men pigs, we call some girl in paris a floozy, we scrapbook. We love. I wish I could put into words what their friendship means to me. We have amazing fun together. Fickel is a nurse/care coordinator and Mindy (mindora) is a middle school math teacher (she deserves snaps just for THAT) (she is also the one I call with all my crazy questions, like how many cups of water are in 2.5 quarts...10 by the way). I just wanted to give them both a shout out and say "Thanks. Thanks for being this weirdo's friend." Also, to give mindy some well deserved hugs this week as she lost a very much loved pet this last weekend. Reagan will be missed.

hugs

whimp