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MAX

2008-12-08T07:15:00.002-07:00

So....

a couple of days ago my "brother" Ken was over and Ambrelyn was pretending to be a doggie. It was quite cute and she was really going for it so I said to Ken "Have you met my new puppy? This is Max." Over the next day or two Ambrelyn would say "Hey momma, what is my puppy name again?" I would tell her "Max". So after a few days she has decided that she will only respond to us if we call her Max. She informed me that I need to tell her teacher to call her Max as well! If I accidentally call her Ambrelyn she will either not answer me or say "Mom, I am MAX, not Ambrelyn!" I am sure (Hopefully) that it is just a stage so we are going with it. It is kind of cute, although it drives her daddy nuts! We are hoping that in 14 years at her graduation we don't hear the words "Now receiving her diploma, MAX GRAMZOW"!!!!!!!

Haileah and the bowl

2008-09-22T21:26:00.003-06:00

OK....

I still cannot quite contain my laughter!

Haileah has a habit of getting up in the middle of the night and walking around. She usually comes into our room and is dead asleep, yet walking. We ask her things like "are you changing the tire on your car?" or "ooops, can't find your shovel?" she will usually answer in the affirmative. It cracks us up! We tell her to go back to bed, and she does.

Tonight, however, takes the cake!

I am in the kitchen and Corry is at the desk. We hear a door, look at each other and wonder just what Haileah will be up to tonight. So, she walks into the kitchen and I say "Changing another tire?" "get left on the side of the road?" She shakes her head no, walks right past me and goes for the cupboard. Oh, I think, she needs a drink.

Ummmmm....

the kid picks up a bowl, YES a BOWL and begins to walk away. Corry and I cannot contain our laughter. Corry says "So, what, are you gonna go snuggle with that bowl or something?" Haileah nods her head yes, (Remember, she is not awake!!!) and pads off down the hall to bathroom. (I am laughing so hard I am crying!!!!) Corry discovers that she is standing there in the bathroom with the bowl over her mouth just gazing off into the mirror! (Hello...... Haileah? Are you in there?) By now we are just hysterical with laughter. She never cracks a a smile or even changes expressions!!!!!!

Corry ushered her back to bed and we must have laughed (hysterically, mind you) for 15 minutes!!!!!!!

Kids.... I love 'em!!!!!!

I could no longer resist..... I had to share! Hope it brightens your day and makes your cheeks and tummy hurt from laughing!!!!

Be Blessed!!

~Jori

New fall jeans!!!!

2008-09-08T10:05:00.005-06:00

Hello!

I just had to share!!! These are my latest jeans that I made our girls and Caitlyn for Fall. The girls LOVE THEM!!!!!!

Love y'all!

Jori

Finally an update!!!!!!!!! :o)

2008-09-01T08:09:00.011-06:00

Hi all! I know it's been a while, but here we are again! We have been a little crazy here with school starting, fair time and news that Zavy's best buddy from school has cancer :o(.

The kids are loving school and are doing well.

Bunches of mine and Julie's sewing placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the fair and all 4 of our girls entered the Cotton Extravaganza that is in conjunction with the fair.

For the Cotton Extravaganza, each of the girls chose their own fabric for each of the 2 items we made for them. The purpose of the Extravaganza is to focus on cotton and mostly the girls. It gives them an opportunity to get up in front of people and to just have fun doing it! They had a blast! All of the girls win gifts no matter where they "place" in the competition. The seamstress (me) also places in the competition and win cold hard cash! Julie and I placed between 2nd and 4th in the 2 categories. We each created 4 designs. It was my first year and I placed 3rd, 3rd, 2nd and 4th. Not bad for the first time out. Next year I will have more of a handle on what they are looking for in each category and will hopefully do even better! We had a blast and that is the whole point of it all!!

We found out just about 2 weeks ago now, that Zavy's best buddy from school has Osteosarcoma (bone cancer). He is 8 years old. The boy's name is Lance Fletcher. With in 4 days of the diagnosis, Lance was at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee. Unfortunately, we found out on Friday that a spot on Lance's lung turned out to be Osteosarcoma as well. This makes the battle a little harder to fight, but we know Lance is at the right and best place for treatment! Also, we know that God is with Lance every step of the way. PLease pray for Lance and his family! We want Lance's name lifted up to God every minute of every day by someone around the world. Please help with that effort. If you would like to check on Lance's progress you can go to

www.caringbridge.org/visit/lancefletcher

If you know someone fighting cancer, another serious illness or injury, they can open a free caringBridge site to help keep their family and friends updated on their progress too. It is a wonderful, free site.

We'll try to update more often, please keep checking in with us!

Love

The Gramzow's

School....and fracture

2008-08-11T09:33:00.003-06:00

WOW!

I can't believe it, but school began today! Andrew it in 5th grade, Xavier is in 3rd, Haileah 2nd and KAylee is in first! Amazing! Ambrelyn has 1 more year of preschool before she will be a full time Kindergarten girl :o(

Well, it wouldn't be a Gramzow school year with out a trip to the ER!

LAst night everyone was all comfy in their jammies around 6:30 or so. Corry was wrestling on the futon with the kids. They started off playing "family stack up". A game where the kids all lay on top of Corry from largest to smallest until all 5 kids are piled up on dad at one time. After a while it was HAileah and dad. She was on his back trying to hang on as he was trying to dump her off of him. Well......

She would be the very athletic and strong one who held on for dear life and tried to "dump dad"!! She managed to dump them both and her hand ended up between his shoulder and the metal frame of the futon. She got up screaming and the hand instantly turned purple and got VERY SWOLLEN. So we were off to see the doc at the ER around 7 last night. The Xray showed a fracture in her hand bone at the first tiny bone on the top of her hand. She is in this velcro cast/splint thing and has to see a sports medicine doc on Wednesday.

The doc at the ER seemed pretty pleased with he way she fractured her hand. He said "better a dad that plays with his kids and the kid gets hurt than a dad who ignores his kids". This made Corry feel better. So did the big hug from Haileah at 10pm last night when we returned home from the ER. She told her daddy "it's not your fault daddy, don't feel bad. We had fun and it was just an accident. I forgive you." Amazing kid.... Amazing dad.

Will update the first day of school later!

Be blessed!

Farewell "Froggie Princess"

2008-07-01T08:56:00.008-06:00

Heaven is a brighter place today...

but the world is a little dimmer with out this beautiful little girl.

Little Miss Katie, our 4 year old "Froggie Princess" passed away Sunday surrounded by her family at her home in Clovis.

Please pray for her family. Although I know they are deeply saddened and miss their Froggie Princess, I am sure that they are also incredibly grateful that the princess is no longer suffering in pain.

Rest in peace in Jesus' arms little one.

(I first wrote of little Katie in May after meeting her Grandma at a craft fair, you can refer back to that blog if you are not aware of this little angel. )

School is OUT!!

2008-05-25T11:10:00.005-06:00

School got out on Thursday and the kids are thrilled!

We had an awards ceremony in the morning on the last day of school and were incredibly proud of all of the kids accomplishments.

Kaylee of course graduated Kindergarten and is heading into first grade. She made the A honor roll and was awarded "Puzzle champ" of the year! That girl can put together any puzzle, big or small! She is reading well and loves math.

Haileah made the A/B honor roll. She was awarded most improved student in English, met all of her Accelerated Reader points, and won an award for Art and Music. She is working hard and will be continuing to work on her reading this summer.

Xavier made the A honor roll and will be tested for the "gifted" program in the fall. HIs lowest grade was a 95, 2 97's and the rest were 100's! he was awarded the spelling excellence award because he did not misspell even one word on spelling tests all year. The teacher pointed out that he never studied because his spelling list was always shoved in his desk and never taken home! He also got the reading award, and the Award for art and music. He met his AR point goal as well

Andrew made the A/B honor roll, received the most improved student award and several awards in track and made his AR goal. He also scored a 108 on his New Mexico report. His was a 78 page scrapbook with 10 different subjects in regards to NM. The project was worth 100 points!

On Friday the 23rd Kaylee had her tonsils taken out. It was pretty rough friday night and Saturday, but she seems a little better today. Please keep her in your prayers!

God bless you all and if you have time after reading, leave a comment so I know you were here! Also, start your own blog! We would love to hear what's up in your world!!!!

4...

2008-05-21T10:55:00.009-06:00

Time goes by so very fast. :0(

Our baby turned 4 today. I am more saddened by that than most people are about themselves turning 40. I was ok with turning 40, no biggie. Ambrelyn turning 4, however, is another story. On one hand I am thrilled because she is so excited to be "BIG", yet I am sad because she is officially a little girl!

It seems like just yesterday that a baby was brought to me in a carrier. A baby that didn't look real because she was SO TINY! This baby slept so much! Too much actually. It didn't take long for me to realize that this tiny baby had to wake up before the world passed her by... literally.

So, we began waking her up to play, to eat, to exist. She began to come alive! She struggled through her first year and multiple formulas until a new formula was put on the market that she could tolerate with the help of the meds Raglan and Zantac. Her formula had to come in the ready mixed cans because her tiny little system could not handle her formula being shaken.

Soon we got smiles from her, giggles and the assurance that she finally felt secure in this world and was going to live. Our Ambrelyn was a fighter. She lived in newborn clothes forever! Finally at a year old we could put her into 3-6 month clothing, although they were still a little big! At 14 months she weighed in at a whopping 14 pounds! She was put on Pediasure and began to take off! Walking, running, talking, joking, snuggling. She was real, she was developing normally even if she was still tiny! Tiny is ok though! Once she hit 14 months, she really began to thrive! Life was good!

Our baby who we thought might not make it is now a spunky, adorable loving little girl who is incredibly bright, so sweet and sometimes whiney and yes, still tiny! I'll take it though! I can enjoy still shopping in the toddler section for sweet clothes. Ambrelyn still loves to snuggle and loves to be carried... because she is still tiny that is not a problem.

It is such a blessing to be Ambrelyn's Momma. Thank you Lord!

Happy Birthday to Ambrelyn Hope,

our tiny little 4 year old!

You are so loved!

Beach party

2008-05-17T21:48:00.004-06:00

I spent most of the evening creating Ambrelyn's birthday cake. She will be "one finger down" (4) on Thursday. It is hard to believe that "the baby" is not a baby anymore!

She wanted a water party, so tomorrow we are throwing her a huge beach party bash! Both swimming pools are full, the water balloons and squirt guns are ready and so is her rain coat since she hates people squirting her!! To go along with the theme I thought I would create a cake to match. It is an island in the ocean (Maui maybe??????) with beach umbrellas, beach balls, a cute little beach chair, a school of fish, hawaiian flowers and a palm tree!

I hand made all of it except for the fishies (thanks to colored Goldfish crackers!!!) It is entirely edible with the exception of the foam palm tree that I made!

It was fun and the kids all think I am the coolest mom ever!!!!! LOL

The Graduate...

2008-05-15T19:28:00.007-06:00

Well, Kaylee is a BIG girl now for sure! She graduated from Kindergarten yesterday morning and will be heading into first grade in the fall. The kids all sang songs and told the story of "The house that Jack built". It was very sweet. Prior to the graduation the teacher had asked the kids questions about their family and about their favorite things. As she introduced each child she read the responses the kids had to each question.

Kaylee said her Daddy is good at building rose gardens (something the kids and Corry did for me for Mother's day), she said I was good at sewing, and that her favorite color was red. Ok, we expected all of that but not this.....

(and no, it had nothing to do with adult married things!!!!!!)

Apparently when Kaylee had been asked who her favorite movie/TV star she replied "Dave Ramsey"!!!!!!!!!! Her teacher had been expecting Hannah Montana or even Superman, like many of the other kids responses, but not Dave Ramsey!

The teacher didn't even know who Dave Ramsey is, so when the entire front row (in which all of our family and friends were sitting) burst out laughing the teacher was baffled!!!!

For any of you not knowing who Dave Ramsey is, go to www.daveramsey.com and find out! He is a Christian financial guru who teaches others how to live debt free, build wealth and spend wisely. Apparently Kaylee has been listening! Our Kindergartner "gets it"! Way to go Kaylee!!!

Apparently everything you need to know, you really do learn (while you are) in Kindergarten!!!!

"Princess Frogie"...

2008-05-03T20:07:00.013-06:00

Today Julie and I were at the Clovis Trade days, a monthly, weekend-long trade show for crafters and other vendors. We were selling the custom children's clothing that we design and make.

We met a Grandma, her daughter and her daughter's 2 children. The Grandma noticed a photo of Ambrelyn we had displayed. Ambrelyn reminded her of her Granddaughter. Grandma began telling us about her Granddaughter (from her other daughter), Katie.

Katie is 4 years old, her Kidneys and intestines are failing. Katie is currently semi-comatose due moraphine to control the pain from an incurable rare cancer. Grandma said that Katie was likely going to die soon. She said that although she dreaded losing Katie, she would be grateful that Katie would no longer be in pain when God takes her home.

We began to realize who Katie is...

4 year old Katie is the little girl in Clovis with Pancreatic Cancer, an extremely rare cancer in children and a cancer that is rarely curable in adults. We have prayed for Katie, there have been fund-raisers for Katie.

Katie has the same Cancer that we were almost positive Zavy had, but didn't. It makes me wonder why one family goes through it all and another is spared. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful that our son did not have cancer and that he has been healed, I just wonder is all.

Grandma showed us some beautiful photos of Katie and her mom, Katie with her little bald head. She is a beautiful child. They call Katie "Princess Frogie", a fun, silly nickname not unlike those that so many of us have given to children we love. What is amazing is that we had a dress, a sweet silly little pink and green dress with frogs on it hanging on our rack... a dress embroidered with "Frog Princess" on the bodice. It was in Katie's size. The dress was one-of-a-kind...

God is simply amazing.

The family sees the dress and is in tears. This dress was made to be Katie's, but by the looks on their faces we knew that there was no way that they could afford the dress today. Katie is in the hospital nearly 2 hours away. With the price of gas today, I am sure that they needed the money to travel to Lubbock to see their sweet Katie.

With barely a glance between us, Julie and I put the "Frogie Princess" dress in a bag and handed it to Grandma to give to her Katie. She had told us of how she was at the hospital just yesterday that she said "How's my Frogie Princess?" to Katie and that Katie lifted her little arm and touched Grandma's head. The rest of the family in the hospital room drew in their breath, shocked. Remember, Katie is semi-comatose and has not responded to anything in a few days, yet she responded to this. Grandma and her daughter were overwhelmed with emotion from receiving the dress for Katie. Julie and I were overwhelmed also.

We were blessed to be Katie's "Dress Angels".

Although the feeling we had from giving this dress was overwhelming and we were so emotional, please know that this is NOT about Julie and I giving the dress.

It is about the fact that...

God knew that this dress needed to be made...

He put the idea in our heads...

Katie's Grandma was at "Trade Days" today...

so was the dress...

(The dress had been at many other shows, loved by many, but never did it sell)

Our sample book was opened to Ambrelyn's photo (we change them constantly throughout the day!)...

Grandma spotted the photo...

it reminded her of her Katie...

The words "Frogie Princess" came up ...

the dress was given...

None of this is a coincidence...

It is GOD.

Please pray for Katie, for her family and for those that need to be touched by this precious child while God still has her here on earth.

May you be blessed....

Adult Married things........

2008-05-02T21:39:00.008-06:00

Well we did it!

We went to Amarillo to do "adult married things" as Haileah has told her teacher! It was wonderful to spend time alone together and that is all you need to know as far as that goes!!! :o)

The concert with Josh Turner and Carrie Underwood was AWESOME!!! We were in the second row at the end of the "runway" that came out of the middle of the stage!!!!

Both of them sounded great, just like on the album and both were gorgeous and so sweet!

Here is just a tiny bit of video of Josh. He is on the actual stage during this part. You can tell how close we were! that was cool! Unfortunately my batteries needed charging and my camera died after a couple of short videos and pictures. I wasn't able to get any of Carrie Underwood or any of Josh on the runway. Oh well!

On Thursday we went to the AQHA Museum and looked around at how the quarter horse came to be. It was a pretty neat place!

It was awesome and we had a BLAST! I cannot wait 'til the next time we get to go away, I am just hopeful that it will be for much longer than one night!!!!!!

Thank you Julie for keeping the kids! It is so incredible to know my kids are at their second home when we were gone! I love ya so much sister!

Thank you Sarah for being on the field trip with Julie, and all the kids and taking care of Mika before she passed out from heat exhaustion! I love ya sister!

Cowgirl Cutie

2008-05-02T21:25:00.005-06:00

Ambrelyn was playing around tonight and stole her brother's worn out cowboy hat. She just looked too cute!!!!

Dirty Photos

2008-05-02T20:41:00.004-06:00

Hi~

I have some dirty pictures to share with you~~~~~~

Are you ready????????

Here they are......................

There was a wind storm on Saturday... or maybe we should call it a sand storm. We were at a get together with our Sunday school class and I left a window open in the kitchen.... ONE window. It was beautiful when we left for the party and I had no idea we were expecting wind. So when we got home this is what we walked into!

Thanks to my awesome hubby for cleaning up the heavy stuff! Thanks to Julie for the awesome help! We had to clean the cupboards inside and out, wash all of the dishes in the cabinets and drawers and of course, sweep, mop, clean counters, etc... it was gross!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to Cherie for the offer to help with a sick hubby and 2 sick kids on her hands. It is awesome to have good friends!

Adults ONLY!!!

2008-04-17T18:56:00.005-06:00

So.......

Haileah's teacher pulls me aside today after school. Apparently Haileah told her that her Momma won't be going on the field trip with her on 2 weeks. Naturally, Mrs. Jones asked "why not honey?" Haileah's reply was as follows....

"Well, daddy is taking Momma away for the night to go do adult things. They are going to adult places and they're gonna do married stuff."

In a feeble attempt to NOT laugh hysterically, Mrs. Jones said "well, that's good. Momma's and daddies do need their time together. " Haileah knowingly replied "Yeah, well, they ARE married and can do those things!"

Mrs. Jones said she had never seen my face turn so red before!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, I know what you were all thinking!!!!!!!!!!!! Shame on you!!!!!! :o)

In case you were wondering what we are actually doing....

For my birthday (yesterday) Corry is taking me to see Carrie Underwood and Josh Turner in concert in Amarillo on April 30th!!!! No kids... just us adults (doing adult married stuff!! LOL)

Jori

103.8...101.8...100.4... I am going CRAZY!!!!!

2008-04-13T09:39:00.008-06:00

aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

More sick kids!!!!!!

GRRRRRRRRRRR!

Why Why Why Why Why Why WHY?

Haileah is still running a fever.... 100.4, minor yes, but there? It has been 9 days now! She missed an entire week of school! She still coughs, is still crabby, and I guess we need to go back to the doctor :-(

Now Ambrelyn has a fever....101.8 and her head hurts! :-(

Andrew is 103.8 has a headache, sore throat and bad cough, his chest and tummy hurt (from the cough I guess)...... :-(

Kaylee stayed the night with Teri last night, she called and Mika has a horrible cough and her throat is red with a puss pocket..... no fever at the moment... :o( or :o) I don't know~

Can you hear me WHINING?!?!?!?!?

They eat well, run around, get plenty of rest and live in a clean house, so...... WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????????

ok... my rant is over.... (shrug)

birthday party, achy ears and a sicky chicky...

2008-04-07T20:20:00.002-06:00

Our friend Tristan, a.k.a. the Monkey Master turned twelve this past week! He had an awesome birthday party at a sports place that has several trampolines, a rock wall, and a giant foam pit with a swing rope! It is a cool place where olympic hopefuls train for gymnastics. It was a blast!!!!! Happy Birthday Tristan! We love you!

Unfortunately Zavy and Haileah missed the party! His mom Sarah was so sweet she brought them cake and goodies from the party!

Zave ended up in the ER Sunday morning with a horrible ear infection. We could not even touch his ear without him screaming in pain. It was very bad. the doctor said the inside of his ear resembled hamburger meat. We were actually given the same description a month and a half ago. In 2 weeks the ENT doc will check him for the possibility of getting another, bigger set of tubes. I believe this will be set # 6 or 7. the last set in December lasted all of 5 weeks! Zave's lymph nodes are swollen now, which is normal.

However...... This is how his long term mystery illness began 3 years ago, with an ear infection. A week later the huge nodes appeared, 3 months later, diagnosed with mono. We waited 8 more months for that to go away. When it didn't they finally did an ultra sound and then within 2 weeks we were in Albuquerque's UNM cancer unit! WOW!! that has been 2 years now since they told us they were sure he had lymphoma! We are so grateful for the healing he received and pray he will continue to be free from cancer! This does bring back memories and does stir those fears a little.... but our faith remains and we are telling those fears to get LOST!

Please pray for continued healing on his body, especially his ears. He began allergy shots. Of 46 environmental items, he was allergic to 37! The doc said once he is on the shots for a while, his allergies will improve, and therefore his ears will too!

Haileah is our sicky chicky! Her asthma is still not fully controlled.

She has some sinus issues and a fever now, which has led to lots of coughing and at times difficult breathing. Her fever now is 101. The doctor checked her today. Her lungs appeared clear and he gave her 2 new asthma meds and a decongestant. If she isn't improved in a few days we will need to get a her a chest xray to check for pneumonia. We are really praying for healing for her lungs and asthma issues. It affects her in her activity mostly, and she loves sports, which she can no longer participate in. She ends up missing out on so much... including school and friends parties!

Haileah began allergy shots this week and the doc is hoping that this could improve her breathing issues as well. We will pray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please pray for the Gramzow's health! We need all the help we can get!!!!!!!!!

By the way, although it is frustrating and we hate to see our kids sick, we are still smiling! (at least most of the time!! ) :o)

Love y'all!

God Bless!!!

Hoooooooooooooop, Skid Marks, Boys are the ENEMY!

2008-03-31T07:36:00.004-06:00

Wow!

I can't believe it took me until today to make this post! It has been a crazy weekend with basketball, church and preparing for back to school after spring break!

Hoop..... I am so glad that it is over! We spent way too much time at Dora~!

Andrew's team worked hard and did a great job! They placed 5th overall in the tournament, falling after their 4th game. I love watching this team play! The kids all have amazing attitudes. They are good sports, they try hard and have fun. Sure, they get disappointed if they lose, but they never lose heart. In my opinion that is much more important than winning! I must also commend the parents of Dora... Not one time did I hear a parent scold, fuss at or put down their child, a referee nor the coach. All around us there were parents from other teams and communities that we would hear yelling at the ref, yelling at their kid or even an entire crowd from one team that were screaming and making tremendous noise in an effort to distract a girl making a free-throw. The girl was probably 11 or 12! To me, it demonstrates such poor sportsmanship!

Many coaches were witnessed yelling at kids on their team and treated their own kids the worst. It was sad to see a young boy whom Andrew was playing against admonished by his father (the coach) for falling down and getting hurt. "What's the matter with you?!?! You're fine!! Get up and play!!!!!!!!!" his father yelled in a horribly mean tone. He didn't even appear to stop and consider that his son might actually be hurt. :o(

It really broke my heart for that boy. This is, after all not the NBA. Theses are young kids, still learning and developing their skills and their self-esteem!

I must commend our coach, Jake Van Ruiten for his fine performance!

Our boys took the floor, before and after their games, bowed their heads and prayed at half court. It was amazing to witness! This is a public school! Also, Jake would sit on the side-lines and allow the boys to PLAY! There was no yelling and screaming. There was no shouting at 3rd and 4th graders. I am sure that he would give reminders to the boys as they came off the court, "hey man, great job... remember, next time do this.... ". The only stress ever displayed by coach Jake was simple. We would occasionally see his ball cap move a little further up off of his forehead!! LOL! Never once though was a child admonished, yelled at, fussed at, embarrassed, or made to feel that they were not up to par... including his own son! Jake, I am proud to have you coach my son. You are a fine example for him to follow. Thank you!

Haileah got to PLAY!! Haileah's team placed 2nd in the tournament. The girls walked off the court with silver medals! Woo Hoo! They all played well. Of course there were many cute fumbles, mishaps and faux pas! They are after all, first and second graders. They too, had a wonderful coach who loved the girls through their game.

Unfortunately, Haileah did have an asthma attack after her game. We had given her a breathing treatment about an hour or so before her game, but the activity level during the game and after (she was trying to keep up with her friends who were running up the stairs!) got the best of her. We had to use her rescue inhaler 4 times before she could breath. It was scary! She recovered ok, but I will be making an appointment for her today to look at new medication options.

SKID MARKS... Well, on our way to Dora we saw the skid marks left by the semi-truck that nearly hit us! It was a little scary to see! I am thankful for out guardian angels! If you drive the Dora Hwy, please slow down and pleas be careful!

Boys are the ENEMY!!!!! This is the very first year that this over-protective mom has let her guard down a little and let the kids (especially the girls) have a little freedom and not have to be sitting within 5 feet of me. Haileah was playing under the bleachers, pretty much right under me and the also over by the wall not far from me. She was in my view and of course I would stop and look to check on her every few minutes while I watched Andrew's game. All of the sudden a friend tells me to get Haileah because she is talking to a boy who is 14 and was kicked out of school for inappropriately touching little girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!

I stand up and immediately call her to me as I see her play slapping him. At the same time another friend is walking toward them and speaks to the boy. My friend did not even speak to him and he was already denying that he did anything!!!!!! According to Haileah, he was taking her shoes off, trying to tickle her and asked her to sit on his lap. Grrrrrrrrrrrr! I had looked at Haileah not 5 minutes before and she was no where near a boy!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, my foster parent training reminds me that he was testing her and attempting to groom her to see if he could get close to her. He also was caught last year trying to lure a friend's daughter into the locker room "tunnel" where the basketball team makes their entrance. I happen to know the little girl he harmed last year. the family moved back to Utah very quickly not long after school began. I had no idea why they left so abruptly. The boy was at the game because he attends another school that was playing in the tournament. When Corry arrived, I informed him of what had happened and it was a good thing for the boy that he was no where in sight. Haileah's daddy's first response was "WHERE IS HE?!?!".

Needless to say, Haileah didn't leave my side pretty much the rest of the day! (Mika wasn't there and of course Ambrelyn was with me every second!) So, I had to have a little talk with the girls about boys. We pretty much determined that they are the enemy! Especially if they are big boys! Especially if Mom or Dad are not around for some reason. It is such a fine line... Protecting our daughters without making them paranoid and fretful over everything! We will keep on praying for protection for all of our kids from the enemies of this world! I will continue to be over-protective I am sure!!

Overall, it was a fun weekend! We are grateful to have our children at a school where most (nearly ALL) of the parents are on the right track, have their kid's best interest at heart and are watched by lots and lots of other mom's eyes! We are also so blessed that our kids have had nothing but wonderful, supportive coaches throughout their young lives! Our kids are praised for their efforts, regardless of the outcome!!!!!!!!!!

Have a blessed day!!!!!

More hoop and near death experience...

2008-03-28T19:15:00.003-06:00

HOOP... Haileah's team WON!!! Hooray!

They go to the finals tomorrow night. Her coach asked us to please consider letting Haileah play. Haileah is super good and LOVES the game! The coach has kids with asthma too and knows what to look for. Also, she agreed to only play her for very short bursts so that she won't over do it. We agreed to let her play providing that she takes a breathing treatment shortly before hand and that she pull her right away if there is any sign of breathing difficulties. Haileah was THRILLED!!!!!!!!!!!! It IS the championship game after all!!!!!!!

NEAR DEATH.... Well, on the way home from the game, on hwy 206 (the dangerous one Julie and I spoke of earlier). I was happily cruising along at the speed limit playing my kids "songs" (they each have a song that is mine and theirs and they wanted me to play them all for them). Meanwhile, a car is cluelessly tailgating me. AND an idiotic semi-trucker on the PHONE is tailgating the car behind me!! GREAT!!!!!!!

I make it a point to turn my blinker on long before I am at my turn off and I am sure to tap the brakes a few times since I know how people drive on this road. Well, as I approach my turn (blinking and tapping) there is another Semi coming from the opposite direction, so I could not turn yet and needed to stop. Remember I am blinking and tapping!! (Hellllllloooooooooo!!)

As I am attempting to come to a stop, the car behind me swerves onto the shoulder so it won't hit us. This leaves the cell phone occupied semi-trucker bearing down on us at full speed (or more). About this time the white car is pulling out in front of me, the semi coming toward us is passing by and the semi behind us is slamming on his brakes and SMOKE IS COMING FROM HIS TIRES!!!!!!!

I really thought we were all going to be killed! I had absolutely no where to go. The semi behind us did stop (Thank the LORD!).... however...... all I could see was his grill! He was just inches from my bumper!!!!!!!!

We were protected by angels I am sure!!! It was frightening to feel so helpless ! I could do nothing to protect my kiddos.

Maybe it was all in God's planning though.... I realize now 100% that we all have those "mom" moments when we are just "off", but I saw the potential to not be there for my kids... that would NOT be a good thing. They need me... and I LOVE and NEED them!!!!! By the way... thank you Sarah for the love and encouragement! It is good to know that ALL moms go through those "mom moments" when they fell like they either don't live up or their kids brains fell out somewhere along the way!! LOL!! It always seems like all the other moms are perfect! (Gee Sarah, maybe if you didn't always hog the brain I might have realized this on my own!!) :o)

I am so thankful to have them and so totally thankful that all of us are ok!!!!!

HOOP

2008-03-28T12:42:00.002-06:00

Today the Basketball tournament at Dora began. The Coyotes are off to a great start!! Andrew's team was awesome! They started off trailing 1 to 12 at half-time. Bummer right? Well, I am not sure what coach Jake told them at half-time but those boys came back STRONG!! At the end of the 4th quarter the score was tied at 18 each. The game went into overtime with just 2 minutes on the clock. Here came Andrew, scoring an awesome shot taking it up to 20 to 18! Woo Hoo!

Well, the Coyotes weren't satisfied with that so they just kept on going. The other team (Elida) hit one free-throw bringing the score to 20 - 19. It was tense for a little bit there, but the Coyotes pulled off a score of 26 to 19! Luke Cathey was the big scorer of the day! I think that boy smacked down a few bowls of Wheaties before the game! He was HOT!

WAY TO GO COYOTES!!!! AWESOME JOB ANDREW!!

The next game for Andrew is tomorrow morning at 11:20 a.m. You will get an update tomorrow!

Haileah's team did well also. They didn't win this time but played a great game. Due to Haileah's asthma, the doctor will not allow her to play right now. Her coach is so sweet though! She offered Haileah a "job" as assistant coach so that she wasn't left out! Her team plays again at 3:30 today! We are so incredibly proud of our girl's attitude. She LOVES the game and it has been a huge disappointment for her not to play, but she has kept a positive spirit about not playing. She is a winner and an awesome team player!

Also, I neglected to tell y'all about this a week or so ago.....

On the day of Andrew's last season game, we were once again in overtime and it was Andrew who must have had the Wheaties because the boy was on fire! He scored most of the 12 points that the Coyotes had by the end of the 4th quarter! In Overtime with the score tied at 12-12 and just 6 seconds on the clock, Andrew stole that ball from the other team and SCORED!!!!He put that ball up with just 2 seconds on the clock.... SWISH!!!! The game ended at 14-12 Coyotes!

Andrew was the champion of the game! You Rock son!!!

:o)

What was He thinking....

2008-03-27T21:55:00.004-06:00

Some days I have no earthly idea why God allowed me to be a mom.

WHAT was He thinking???

It seems like I can never manage to do anything right. No matter what I say, what I ask, how I say it or how I ask it, I can never manage to get much more than kids that think I am wanting them to cut off their arm or something!

I am just at a loss right now. :-(

Anything from doing chores, picking up their stuff, doing homework, even taking a shower... it is a constant battle and leads to tears or fussing (from them) and frustration and bewilderment (from me). I feel like most of the time I am grasping at straws or pulling ideas out of the air because I don't know what the heck I am supposed to do or how I should handle things these days. Then, when I do feel like I might have a clue, that backfires too and I am back to confusion and frustration (oh yeah, the tears sometime are there as well). I often pray for wisdom on how to handle things... I try it, I do it and then.... same thing.... crying, arguing or upset kids and a mom who feels lost and clueless.

It won't be long before the teenage years are upon us. Puberty, PMS, etc. How will all of that go over? I feel like the worst mom in existence now, what will it be like then?

Before I was a mom I had all of these lofty ideas of what being a mom would be like. Now here I am smack dab in the middle of it all and I haven't a clue what I am doing half (or most) of the time. These kids deserve so much more.

Like I said.... what has He thinking?

Dr. Luu and Nurse Dana (the healing nurse)

2008-03-18T12:29:00.004-06:00

When MiKaylee and I were admitted to the hospital, we were blessed to have Nurse Dana as our night-time nurse 2 nights. Nurse Dana is the the nurse that laid hands on Xavier and prayed for healing. As y'all know he was healed. Anyway, it was great to see Dana and catch up on her life and that of Xavier and the rest of the kids. She shared a funny story with us about our pediatrician's reaction to Xavier's healing:

One day at the hospital Dana was walking down the hall and heard Dr. Luu (with his thick Vietnamese accent) say "Hey, Dana! Dana! Gramzow! What's up with Gramzow?!? I try and fix him 2 years!! 2 YEARS!! Can't find what's wrong! You walk in and 5 minutes You fix him!!!!!!!"

Dana replied, pointing upward "not me Dr. Luu! God healed him!"

Dr' Luu said "yeah, I know but still!!! 2 Years! 2 years I try to fix him!!!!!"

I LOVE THAT STORY!!!!!!!

By the way, the update is as follows....

Xavier is now 4 foot 5 inches tall and weighs 70 pounds! He has gained 9 pounds since he was healed in October! That is 6 more pounds than Xavier gained in the 2 years we were struggling to find out what was wrong with him! We have had to buy him all new clothes and it looks like more purchases are on the horizon!

Xavier was baptized last month and feels God is calling him to be a preacher! he definately has the life history at only 8 years old to relate to a lot of people, he has a heart for Jesus, the compassion, the friendly nature, positive outlook and that knack for TALKING! :o) So, we think it is an awesome possibility for him!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home from the hospital

2008-03-18T12:06:00.000-06:00

Hi Y'all,
Well, here we are, home from the hospital!

Yup...
Kaylee got admitted to the hospital Saturday morning with a fever of 106.*!!!! Her only other symptom was a sore throat and those hazy lungs (probably a little asthma). The Dr. ordered more x-rays, mono spot, EBV serum, another set of blood work, more urine tests, etc., etc., etc.... and NOTHING! So, she was put on an IV, given antibiotics and tylenol and motrin around the clock for the severe throat pain. We finally got home last night and needless to say we were both exhausted. We are all thankful that she is ok and that it was not major.

The nurses at the hospital are great but I really would prefer to only run into them at Walmart!!!!!!!!!! LOL!
Thanks for your prayers. God bless!

Here we go again????

2008-03-14T17:48:00.002-06:00

Well.....

we just got back from the doctor's office with Kaylee. All of the sudden yesterday afternoon she gets a fever.... 101.00*. Not that big of a deal right? Her throat hurts, she is whiney, and falls asleep around 5 or so. This morning she is 105.2*!! The throat is very red and it looks like there may be a pus pocket on her tonsils, she has a headache, swollen and VERY tender glands. I am thinking strep throat. So, we call the doctor, give her the ol' lukewarm bath, some Motrin and take her into the office. The strep test is negative.... the flu test is negative so he opts for blood and xrays...... her lungs are "hazy" (oh GREAT!!), but it is not pneumonia.... at the moment, her CRP (C-reactive protein) level is elevated. This indicates an infection/inflammation.

So......

We are home at the moment but are on the look-out for Kaylee not improving within 24 hours on antibiotics , her fever going any higher than 105.3* or her becoming lethargic. If any of those things happen we have to go the ER or call the pediatric unit in Clovis so that she can be admitted to the hospital. :o(

We are so not wanting to do that again! PLEASE be praying for our girl~ as we will be too!

We will keep you posted!

Parent-Teacher conferences!

2008-03-08T08:03:00.005-07:00

Thursday we had parent-teacher conferences at school. Corry and I are so pleased at how well the kids are doing! School doesn't come easy for all of them.

Here are the updates:

Ambrelyn of course has no problems at this point, after all Preschool is FUN and there is no real work involved! She just has to show up, play, be cute and be nice! She got straight A's!!! LOL!

Kaylee is reading like a champ! The kids participate in the Accelerated Reading (AR) Program at school. The program involves reading a book and then taking a test on what they read. They get points for passing the test. Kaylee's goal was 4 points. She scored a 5.5!! Kaylee's biggest issue at school is her knack for being impulsive!!!! Julie recently turned us on to the fact that her once fidgety and impulsive horse was well tamed by a vitamin B supplement, so we tried a human :o) vitamin B supplement on Mika with astounding results! Her teacher is pleased with the results as well! Kaylee has all A's and B's! Hooray!

Haileah is very smart, but has difficulties in school. Her profound hearing loss in her right ear has created some definite issues in reading, as the sounds of each letter are not clear to her. She struggles so hard to read whatever words are on each page that she retains very little of what she has read. This makes passing those AR tests a real challenge for Haileah! She had a goal of 5 points and got an award for scoring a 7.7! WOW! That is a HUGE feat for Haileah! Haileah is blessed with the desire to learn and do her best and is blessed with the drive to give 190% (as her teacher says). Haileah scored a report card of all B's! WooHoo!!

School comes very easily to Xavier. He is #1 grade-wise in his class and has never misspelled a word on a spelling test yet! He never even studies! His grade's goal was 6 points and Zave scored 17.2! All this from a boy who at 3 years of age scored between 9-12 months on all developmental charts! WOW!! The progress that this kid has made brings tears to my eyes! Way to go Zave!!

Andrew is doing quite well in school as well. School is a struggle for Andrew sometimes. He has a difficult time putting his thoughts on paper and also struggles with spelling. Those letter sounds aren't always heard by him and those silent letters really give him fits. He sometimes struggles with certain types of math as well. His Auntie Julie has caught on to the fact that he is a lot like her and struggles with Dysgraphia. All of the struggles above sum up Dysgraphia. The cool thing about it all is that since Julie has it too, she can help him with the tricks she has used in her life to help Andrew learn! With all of his difficulties, Andrew pulled all A's and B's!! Andrew's AR goal was 10 points, he scored 21.7!!! All this from a boy who wouldn't pick up a book with out tears just 2 years ago!!! Awesome job Andrew!!

The kids are doing great and we are so blessed to have them at such a small school where their individual issues can be addressed. There is only 1 class for each grade and on average 14 kids to a class! If we were in town at a larger school, we believe the kids would get lost in the shuffle and would not receive the help and understanding that they need for their academic success.

Way to go Dora Schools! Go Coyotes!!

Way to go Auntie, for all the tips and help that you have given this Mom!! I don't know what I would do without you!! I love ya sister!

~Jori

CUPCAKES FOR COPPERS!

2008-03-06T22:29:00.004-07:00

We did it! Julie and I took in 2 dozen cupcakes to the Roosevelt county Sherriff's department!! Darren Hooker, the local Sherriff and our buddy just about laughed his butt off! He was very appreciative though! After all, it is not everyday that the cops get a big ol' batch of cupcakes to say "Thank you!" The photos are a little blurry, but the cupcakes read... We love RCS (Roosevelt County Sherriff) , "bubble light" (an item Sherriff Hooker promised us, but will never deliver I am sure!!!), "badge" (which Julie and I DID get... even if it was a junior deputy sticker!!), "NM 206" (the highway that is in ill repair and is set at 50 MPH where everyone goes 70ish!) and 50 MPH (the proper speed limit!!!!). Like I said, he thought it was great!

On a serious note though, we have seen the deputies out there everyday, and it IS making a difference! This may seem somewhat trivial to some of you, but I have know many people killed on this road when it was in good shape! The road is a mess right now and is barely safe in many spots at 50 MPH! Julie and I have been in many a near miss with speeding drivers making unsafe passes. Recently, I even had to go to the shoulder (with 10 kids on board!!) to avoid being a part of what was just a few yards away from being a major head on collision. The semi trucks are quite possibly holding the WORST drivers!

Sorry to all of you lead-footed drivers, but I prefer my family safe and in one piece as opposed to having to be scraped off of your bumper because you didn't leave on time or you feel the need for speed!!!

;o) Goodnight!!

Hi-Jacker!

2008-03-06T20:08:00.003-07:00

Well!

Some people's little sister's! They borrow your stuff, they follow you around and then they go and hi-jack your personal space to write stuff (like a DIARY!!). LOL!

Just wait until I get a hold of HER blog!!

~Jori

Hi-Jacked Posting!

2008-03-04T13:57:00.002-07:00

Yup, sometimes I hi-jack Jori's stuff....what else is a sister supposed to do! She claims that her life is really boring and how s she going to have any posts? So I will tell you what we did this morning!!

We recently cornered Sheriff Darren Hooker at the Ag Expo and begged him to send more patrols on the Dora Highway between Portales and Dora because of rampant speeder, suicide passers and basic reckless driving. I believe our words included phrases like.."Run traffic control or you will end up scraping our van off the highway" ... "it is only a matter of time before someone is killed." You know, things a Sheriff loves to hear!

This morning on our way in to school, we passed a deputy with a car pulled over. We CHEERED!! On the way home from morning drop off, we saw the deputy had pulled over another-we slowed down and applauded to him!! Then we called Sheriff Hooker and thanked him so much for the traffic controls.

Then we asked him for our very own bubble lights. After he finished laughing he offered us junior deputy badges! Now that was funny! We are now...hmmmm...Jori is now making cupcakes that we plan on delivering to the department later to day. Roosevelt County Sheriff Department ROCKS!!!!

We're HERE!!!!!!!

2008-02-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

Due to popular demand..... we are here!!! I now have a BLOG so that folks can know what is going on in our family! I have had many people ask me to start a blog so that they can keep up with the family goings-on! To me, it seems WEIRD! But...ok! Here goes! I am not sure about how well I will be able to keep up with this blog, but I will do my best!

Today I took Andrew to buy new shoes. I was SHOCKED! Our 10 year old son is now wearing a size 8 in men's shoes!! OMGosh!!!! I couldn't believe it! The kid is up to my nose! I first noticed he grew a week or 2 ago when I was getting on to him for something he did. I was mid-sentence when I realized that I no longer was looking down to speak to him.... I was looking straight ahead and there it was! I was looking him in the eye with my head held perfectly straight! AHHHHHHHHH! Where did my baby go and who is this man-sized child I am staring at?

I guess that is a Mom's life. :o( grrrrrrrrrr!

OK, I am NOT going to update each kid every time. This is just the latest "blurb" in the day or couple of days! That way you won't get bored! (I hope!!)

:0) ~Jori