Daycare News...

Well, the State licenser finally came on Thursday and did my relicensing inspection and all went well. I am so glad that is finally over with. I talked to her about becoming a Preschool in addition to a Child Care Facility and decided to take the plunge and I am officially adding Preschool to my name. She is processing the paperwork to change my name and I have come up with a logo. I am in the process of setting up a blog for my Child Care and Preschool.

The name will be Kreative Kids Child Care & Preschool.

Here is a pic of the new logo I have come up with:



So watch for the new blog coming soon!!

Good Luck Ashlee!!!

Ashlee just told me about a show that freshman can audition for at the College. She found out that freshman are only allowed to be in one show the first year. She had to check and make sure that the audition and rehearsal times would fit into her schedule and not interfere with any of her classes and it all works out fine. The audition is next Friday, September 21st. She is going to audition. She also found out that they only take 10 freshman for this show. That is all I know for now. I will let you know more as I find out. Good Luck Ashlee!!!!! I love you!!!!

26 Days til we see Ashlee......Yippee!!!!!

We are going to see Ashlee on October 11th for Parents Weekend! I can hardly wait to see her! I miss her so much!! I made our hotel reservations and we are staying at a Hilton this time. Columbia College offers a special rate at this hotel for parents so we got a great deal and it is a nice hotel. We will be able to spend 4 days with her so that will be nice.

The weekend before we go to see her, my sister Kelly and her husband John are running in the Chicago Marathon so Ashlee will be able to spend time with them as well. Ashlee is really excited about seeing them. They live in Quantico, Virginia so she has not seen them in a while and they are 10 years younger than I am so they are closer to her age and they will have a great time with her! She really loves them. They just got married last year and are still newlyweds!!

"I Hope You Dance" ~ Dedicated to Ashlee!

You will notice that with this update that I have changed my song! I am dedicating this song and this blog post to Ashlee!!

Ashlee,

You have worked very hard over the years to get to where you are and you have always reached for the stars and achieved all of your goals and dreams! I am very proud of you and wish you only the best!! I blinked and you became an adult and I am not sure when that happened but you have grown into a beautiful young woman and I love you and I am very proud of you!!!

Love,

Mom

Ashlee is Working and Meeting Famous People!!!

Ashlee decided to transfer to the Abercrombie & Fitch in Chicago on Magnificent Mile. She is working on Saturday's and Sunday's. She loves her new store. She said it is the largest one in the Country. She told me that they have the male shirtless greeters there so I definitely need to check it out when I am there in October! LOL!!

Ashlee has been meeting famous people in Chicago! She has seen Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie more than once.

A couple of days ago Ashlee got to meet and shake hands with Bill Clinton!! She was so excited! She called me and she was so excited about seeing him and then when she got to meet him she was super excited! She is having so much fun there and I am so excited for her!! Chicago is definitely the place for Ashlee!!!

It's Back to School!!

Well it is that time already! Where did the summer go?

Lexi is in 5th grade this year and Mr. Strewler is her teacher. She was very excited when she found out he was her teacher. This is the first time she has had a male teacher, but she said she wanted him for her teacher at the end of last year because she heard good things about him and she liked him. So she is happy and the year seems to have gotten off to a good start!

Lexi and Sammy also started back to dance class at Madill's on Wednesday nights. They moved into the Hip Hop Level 3 class.

Matt is a senior this year. I am hoping he has a good year this year, but we will see what happens. He is on the Varsity football team and they have had a very good season so far! They are 3-0!! They played against Rice Lake on Friday and won against them for the very first time. Let's hope that they can keep up their winning streak. Their next game is this Friday, Sept. 14th and it is a home game.

Ashlee has started her classes and she loves them. She especially likes that all of her professors want the students to call them by their first names. She said she feels so comfortable there. She is so happy to be dancing again.

And with school back in session....pre-school is back in session for my daycare kids!! The first week went really well!! The kids and the parents seem to be very happy with the program and how the kids have done during the first week! I am very excited about our program this year and look forward to creating some new learning experiences for the children. I am also working on a blog for my daycare so I can keep everyone updated on what is going on within the child care facility. Watch for that coming soon!

Ashlee's off to College!!!

Chicago....here we come!!!

This trip was just Ashlee, Lexi, Butch and I. Matt had football practice and a community football meet and greet to attend while we were gone. He also had to pick up his school schedule and get his school ID pic taken so he stayed home.

We left on Tuesday, August 21st for Chicago and drove all day. It took about 7 hours to get there. We checked into our hotel which was right behind Ashlee's building and then we went and walked around downtown for a few hours. We got an idea of where things were and just took in the sights.

The next morning we got up and got the van and drove across the street and unloaded and proceeded up to the 10th floor to Ashlee's suite. Her roommate, Alexandria had already moved in and was there with her mom, Sitta. They are really nice. They are from Cape Cod, MA. We got all of Ashlee's stuff moved in, unpacked and all set up within a few hours. While we were unpacking we had the chance to meet some of the other girls and parents on the floor too. They all seem really nice and all of the girls seemed to get along really well.

Here are some pics of Ashlee's room:

Ashlee's Closet

Ashlee's Bed...Ashlee's Dresser, Shelf, Fridge, Micro

Ashlee's Desk................................ Bathroom

Then we went for a walk and got some lunch and went to the bookstore and purchased all of her books for her classes and we got some sweatshirts and tshirts.

We had dinner that evening in the cafeteria with Alexandria and her mom, Sitta and we had a chance to talk with them and get to know them a little bit better. We are hoping to see Sitta again during Parents Weekend in October.

Here is a picture of Alexandria and Ashlee

This was the first night that Ashlee spent in her suite and we went back to the hotel. That was kind of weird. It was just the three of us in the hotel that night.

The next morning we met Ashlee for breakfast and we went to the bank in her building and she opened a checking account and then it was time to say good bye. That was the hard part for me.

So we said our good-byes and we turned around and left and of course I cried.

We got on the road at 11 AM and almost 3 hours into our trip we got a flat tire going 70 mph on 94!! We did not even realize it until a semi driver pulled up beside us and was waving at us pointing at our tire. I waved back and we slowed down and we pulled off at the next exit which fortunately was only about 1/2 mile down the road. We pulled off at a truck stop and the tire was 1/2 flat. We had never had to use the spare on the van and we still had 5 hours to travel and did not want to travel that far on a spare so I called AAA. They said a tow truck would be there within 1 hour. Well, it took 3 hours. Lexi got her very first ride in one of those big tow trucks. The first place he took us to did not have time to fix the tire that day. So he had to take us someplace else. We ended up needing a new tire. 4 hours and $55 later we were finally back on the road. So we did not get home until almost 11 PM that night.

Ashlee's Going Away Party!!

We planned and planned and it was finally the week of the party. Thursday the hot tub was delivered and Butch picked up the party tent and the tables and chairs. We proceeded to turn our back yard into party central.

Friday during the day Butch put the tent up and set up the tables and chairs and the daycare kids and I moved all the toys to different spots and put some of them away. We had to leave some toys out for the kids that would be coming to the party. They had fun helping with everything. Friday night we finished the yard and I cooked all of the food! Then we soaked in the hot tub with Ashlee and Lexi!

Finally the big day was here....the big Hawaiian Luau!!!! The weather man said all week that it was going to be nice outside! Guess what...it was the coldest day of the year!!!

People still sat outside, but they had to wear jackets! It was the perfect weather for hot tubbing! The kids loved the hot tub! The little kids said "Auntie, can we go swimming?" LOL!! They had a blast! The adults came at 4 PM when it started and a few of Ashlee's friends came early. All of the adults were gone by 10 PM. Lisa came back with Brianna and visited with Butch and I and we decided to go inside and sit in the living room. I had changed into sweats and a tshirt and sweatshirt earlier for outside and when we came in I was so cold I put on a fleece shirt too. I could not get warm.

At 11 PM Ashlee's friends showed up and the "real" party started. Lexi and Brianna were sitting outside watching the big kids and when some of the guys decided to go in the hot tub in their boxers Lexi came running inside and said "mommy the guys are going in the hot tub in their boxers" and I said "I don't care as long as they have something on" and she just looked at me funny. LOL!! All of Ashlee's friends came into the living room to say hi to us and said that it was a great party and the food was great and asked why we were not out there partying with them. I explained that we had been out there since 4 PM and I was freezing and needed to warm up. Plus I was tired. They had a good time. We stayed up til 1 AM. I could not stay up any longer. I think they stayed out there til 4:30 AM in the hot tub!

We got up the next day and cleaned up the yard, put everything away and Ashlee opened up all of her gifts. Then I took her shopping for the stuff that she still needed and then we came home and started packing her stuff. We piled it all in the daycare room by the door so that everything was all in one place.

On Monday she wrote out all of her Thank You cards for her party gifts and we put them in the mail right away. Then we loaded up the van on Monday night. We took the back seat out and we were able to get everything in there. She even took two dressers with her. We filled up the drawers with stuff.

A little update on me!!

I am so sorry that I am a month behind on this blog. My life has been so insanely busy and I just need to set time aside for this on a daily basis. So my update for the past month will not be in any order just an update of what has happened in the past month for our family.

Here is an update on me and my RSD:

I went to the doctor on August 17th and he put me into O/T for another 8 weeks but he now has my therapist working on both arms. The only improvement that we have seen in my left arm has been that the shooting pains are gone in my arm. Other than that everything else is the same. My right arm has been showing signs of the same symptoms for some time now because of the over use ever since my first surgery and because of having a full arm cast on my left arm. Because of the RSD in my left hand/arm, he cannot do surgery on my right arm right now to fix anything. If he were to do surgery, I would get the RSD in my right hand/arm too and it would really make life difficult for me. So at this time, I have to live with the pain and do some therapy that will hopefully help.

I also had him look at some water blisters that had formed around my left ankle and he was very concerned about them. My left toes have also gone numb and he is concerned that the RSD has moved into my left foot. He thinks that the numbness may be RSD but the blisters may be something else so he is referring me to a neurologist for a full workup to find out what is going on. He does not want to treat me for something unless he is absolutely sure. That is why I like him so much....he is very thorough. Unfortunately....I cannot get into see a neurologist until December 19th. I see my doc again the end of September.

On a good note, with everything that has gone on and the way that I have changed my diet in the last few months...I am happy to say that I have lost 30 pounds!! I had not shared this with anyone except one very close friend (and Butch, Ashlee and Lexi of course) until now! I am very proud of myself and I feel very good! Now if I could get these other medical issues taken care of I would be in good shape!

I know some of you were a bit worried about me a few weeks ago when Ashlee left. I was quite upset. I also had some other issues going on at the same time. I want to let you know that I have been dealing with them and I am doing much better. I am doing much better with Ashlee being gone....I was not worried about where she was or her safety....it was our close relationship that I was sad about. But we talk on the phone 2-3 times each day and everything is fine and she is fine and I am fine. Some of my emotional issues have to do with my medical issues too and I just have to deal with them on a daily basis and just get through each day one day at a time. That is all I can do. I did not ask for this to happen...it happened and I have to live with it. My doctor said this would probably happen and I am dealing with it. Other family issues are always in the back of my mind and I am trying to find a way to deal with them and bury them but it is not that easy so I just have to deal with those one day at a time too. I am doing much better than I was though and I am definitely a much happier person these days. Thank you for your continued support!!