Sleep Over with Little Chefs

Last night our friends David and Ashlie and their daughter Candace came over for dinner.  We had dinner, the girls played, and then the sleep over began.  It began with a call from Ashlie that David's truck could not even make it off of our street because of the snow.  Mike and David's brother Steven (who is our neighbor) pulled the truck out, but they stayed in the guest room leaving this morning to head to work.

Candace and Alayna had a great time this morning, just playing and watching movies.  At lunch time they doned in their cooking aprons and the girls made their own lunch, pizza bagels, and dessert, home made vanilla ice cream.

 

 

They had a blast, ate their own foods and went down for a nap.  It's been a busy day... I think I need a nap too.

 

Come Like A Little Child

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

 

~ Mark 10:15 

 I find it amazing that while I'm trying to teach my daughter about God, and the importance of prayer,  she is opening my eyes to things in my faith that I have taken for granted.

I pray, every day, sometimes multiple times a day, but praying with my daughter tonight opened my eyes to how much i take for granted in my life.  How much I have that I don't appreciate.

Tonight my daughter prayed and thanked God for various members of her family, then she thanked God for her friends and family in general. Then she thanked God for her mommy's hair, eyes, and belly.  Then she thanked God for her bed, and my bed, and the door, and the bedroom door, and her fish lamp, and her hot air balloon decoration.  Then it was my turn to pray.

I begin and Alayna goes

"Wait! Wait! I forgot something.....' and God thank you for my roller skates'  okay mommy your turn"

How do you compete with that?  you don't, i just stared at my daughter in awe of her faith.  It may seem foolish to us to thank God for something as inconsiquential as a pair of playschool roller blades, but my daughter has the right idea.

God has given us everything we have from the most valuable (our friends and family) to the most minor (the bedroom door).  She's even thankful for the things i wish i didn't have (my belly), but shouldn't i be thankful for that belly i wish would disappear? I have enough to sustain me that i wound up with a belly in the first place. 

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose

 

~ Romans 8:28

 

 

 

At three years old she is my reminder that we need to be thankful for EVERYTHING, no matter how big or small. 

Where did it come from?

 I have been told that it feels good to start over.  To get rid of everything and start from scratch.  You stop taking what you have for granted and appreciate everything you have.

Another good reason to do a mass dumping of possessions is to declutter.  As I've been working on packing I have realized the mass amount of junk Alayna and I have accumulated in the past two years.

I am not carting this stuff back to PA... Today's main goal

TO THROW AWAY AS MUCH JUNK AS POSSIBLE

If i can reduce the trash in this place i have a feeling i won't have as much stuff to actually pack.  the junk is overwhelming.


Where did it all come from and why have i not seen the junk as junk?

Memorial Day 2012

On Memorial Day I normally pull the music video "Arlington" by Trace Atkins and put that with a few poems and a thank you to all the soldiers who have served.

Today I began thinking about those who i know who have served in the military and have served in various wars.  As the list got longer and longer i realized how lucky I am, as everyone I know and care about have come home safely, well at least alive.

Some explinations:  *R - retired  *AD - active duty  *SU - Status Unknown :  *M - Marines
 *A - Army   *AF - Air Force  *N - Navy   : *POW


Uncle Danny O'Donnell (great uncle) - *R:*AF:*A (RIP - 2006)

Mr. Don Gilson (family friend) - *R:*A

Mr. Dave Glover (friend's father) - *R:*A: *POW - Vietnam

Uncle "Major" John Skovran ( great uncle) - *R: *A - Major

Aunt Karen Skovran (great aunt) - *AD: *A - Seargant

Adam Altimus (my best friend's brother) - *R : *A -  afghanistan

Mike Haines (friend from HS) - *AD *A -Afghanistan and Iraq

Beth Kurtz (friend) - *AD *A - chaplain,  Afghanistan

Lee "Buddy" Harvey (friend) - *SU:*A -Ranger -Afghanistan & Iraq - Injured in line of duty.

Eric Leer (friend) - *R *A : *AD *N

Tim Vogt (friend's husband) - *R *N

Daniel "DJ" Hawks (cousin) - *R *AF

I am sure there are others that i know who have served, and I am sorry if I have missed your name. 

Freedom is not Free.  Sometimes it costs time with friends and families, some times it requires a life.  These people were and are willing to make that sacrafice if needed.

While I want to thank all those who served, I want to send a special thanks to those I personally know who have served.

Thank You!

Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

The Tragedy of Treyvon Martin



Treyvon Martin, 17

From the time first news report came through about this case something didn't feel right. Not because of the supposed racial tension brought on by the crime, but the fact that George Zimmerman was still free.

I understand Florida's self defense law.  What i don't understand is how any law enforcement officer would see a grown man stalking (even after being told not to by non emergency operator), and approaching while armed, an unarmed child, and then shooting him self defence.

To me any fight Treyvon put up against Mr. Zimmerman was the self defence.  Zimmerman was the aggressor, the kid was scared, probably scared for his life and rightly so.  And then Zimmerman shot him, twice, while Treyvon was armed with skittles.   How frightening for a grown man, all that sugar, i'm sure it warrently a bullet to the heart.

If Zimmerman had followed orders and not approached Treyvon, Treyvon would still be alive.  If Zimmerman wasn't carrying a gun (something neighborhood watch isn't suppose to do), Treyvon would still be alive, or at least Zimmerman would have had to fight like a man rather than cowardly shooting an unarmed child.

Though zimmerman might not read this.... Zimmerman, one report said you felt shame, you should, you killed a child.  Being black and walking at night does not make a person suspicious or a menace to society.  But running around at night with a loaded gun, following people, makes you both.



Happy Valentine's Day -- Now let me whip you!

I remember being in school and loving party days... I wonder if my teacher's hated them as much as i do?

The kids are always so wound.

so far today one kid took off his belt and hit another kid with it

and one of the girls in my class was pretending to be a dog and pretended to lift her leg and pee on another child.

her defense "i didn't actually pee on her"

WoW

lunch is almost over for me, so when i get back we'll be preping for our party.  They're all ready wound, now lets given them sugar... have fun tonight parents.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!!

A Sick Child -- A Whole New Hell

Everyone kept warning me of the terrible two's.  My grandmother keeps saying 36 months till about 3 years old will be the most trying time as a parent.  And it's true, it is like one day a switch was flipped and my little bundle of joy caused in me a bundle of nerves.

Tantrums, pushing the boundries, finding her stubborn voice of this world,  i can handle all of that no matter how stressed out it might make me.

What I can't stand is when my baby girl is sick...

This has been one of the roughest weeks I've had with her in a while.

Monday evening she spiked a fever, nothing severe 100.1.  She still had it the next morning.  I gave her some ibuprofin and took her to school.  She got sick at school, we came home early.

She seemed to rebound, we had dinner, she brought it up and her fever spiked again.  Wednesday her fever wasn't going down even with Tylonal so i took her to the doctor.

He said it was an infection and prescribed her Augmentin. She got sick again after she ate that night.  Fever still wasn't going down.

Stayed home thursday (yesterday) with her.  Fever went away, she seemed to be doing much better.  Then evening came.  She refused to eat and fell asleep.  She woke up and was shivering.  Her lips were purple, and even with 4 blankets on her she wasn't warming up.  Only to find out her fever had spiked again.  now at 102 she was having massive chills.  I had called the on call number for her doctors office and they told me to put her in a warm bath to help her feel better.

After her bath she asked for some juice. I gave her apple juice.  she drank some and brought it up (she hadn't eaten much at all that day).  I cleaned it up and gave her a little more juice. she brought that up too.

at 9pm last night i took my daughter to the ER.  While feeling so sick she still manages to have a sense of humor.

We get to the ER and i get out of the car and as i do i hear Alayna go "mommy take me with you".  "I'm not going to leave you Alayna, you're the reason we're here"  She goes "I know".

We get to intake and they go to take their vitals, and she won't take the oral thermometer.  We had to have it checked rectally.  I was expecting a fight but she didn't.  When they got done she was less than thrilled.  Temp was 102.5

They gave her some zofran for the nausia, some tylonal AND motrin for the fever.  waited and gave her some juice.  She kept it down, i took her home. Before we left they did her vitals again.  This included the rectal temperature check.  Alayna does well again with it, when the nurse got done, Alayna looked at me with the most pathetic look and goes "mommy my butt!"

 Dad took her prescription to walgreens to get it filled so we had it for this morning.

Alayna wanted to eat when we got home. she went to sleep.  I couldn't wind down...

I HATE it when she is sick.  I am powerless.  I can fight off most any other threat to my child, but when she's sick, all i can do is reassure her she'll be okay and pray. I trust prayer, but when she's so miserable I feel like i should be doing more, when there is nothing more i can do.

She's eating today.  Slowly and not much at any one time, but she is eating, the zofran is doing it's job, i'm to rotate giving her tylonal and motrin every 3 hours today and if the antibiotics aren't doing their job by tonight it's back to the doctor tomorrow.

I'll take the terrible two's any day.  There is nothing worse than a sick child!

Flying with Soldiers

Everyone has see them as they go through the airports.  The soldiers, going home, leaving to their new assignment.  If you're lucky you get to talk with them, you get to thank them for what they're doing.

Alayna and I got to fly with them last night.  There was about 5 of them on our plane, only two of which i really got to talk to.  The one never gave his name, the other one gave two different names (he was probably too drunk to know what his own name was, he struggled with the names of everyone around him).

One of the 5 sat way in the back, wisely away from the three that sat near me.  One of those three fell asleep.  The 5th one sat about 6 rows infront of me.  He didn't talk much, he was too busy making out with the girl he'd met while boarding the plane.

It was to say, one of the more amusing flights i have ever been on.  The two soldiers and another 4 of us talked and joked around.  I've never laughed so hard on plane ride before.  The down side to riding with these soldiers was that they kept forget there was a young child there and well lets just say it'll be "fun" if Alayna uses any of their words at church or anywhere else for that matter.

So to those soldiers -- Thank You!  For what you do for our country and for the most entertaining flight i've ever been on.

Thank you to ALL who helped that poor dog

Last night a beautiful orange, white and brown, walker hound showed up in our backyard.
He was a friendly dog with a cheerful disposition.  But one look at him and you could tell he'd had a hard life.  He was skin and bones, like some horror story they show you on TV, he was dirty, had fleas and was missing an eye.

When my step mom went outside to give him a bit of food and some water, he waged his tail, if he could have, he would have smiled.

We called animal control, they won't pick them up unless they're vicious.  We posted stuff on facebook to find someone who might know someone who rescues dogs in distress.  I even called my pastor but he didn't know what else to do.

My brother's girlfriend refused to give up on this dog and she got my bother Tyler to make a series of phone calls our local SPCA and our local Sheriffs office.

They said they don't rescue strays but if the animal is vicious or in distress they'd come and get it.  Tyler discribed the dog to them and they said they'd pick it up.

While waiting for them to come get the dog, my brother's girlfriend, Kenley, made a call to the ASPCA, who said that once the dog was picked up they would send money for his vet bill.
According to the SPCA the dog is at the vet  getting repaired (eye stitched up) and looked over, and we will find out more later this evening.

Thank you to everyone who has helped this sweet, but abused dog.

Where's Dick?

So today a little boy in my group at the daycare i'm working at came up to me with a puzzle i'd given them to entertain themselves with during quiet time (little kids who are on the other side of the divider are napping) and he tells me that he likes the puzzle, and wants to do it, but can't read.

The puzzle, i should explain,  is a picture with a list of things to find in the picture.  Not difficult but does require some reading skills.

I told him he could work with another boy who can read if they will whisper only and not talk.  He said they would and joined the other child to work on the puzzle.

A few minutes later that same little boy comes back to me, "Where's dick? I can't find dick."

I didn't remember any names of people on the list so i asked him "what are you looking for? "

He goes "Dick! see (pointing to the word in the list) this word right here"

"Oh!!" I replied after reading the word, "You're looking for a dUck"

My Week... I think i'm just going back to bed....

It has been not one of "those" days, but one of "those" weeks.

Saturday Night / Sunday Morning we lost an hour when we sprang ahead one hour on our clocks.  I want to blame that for my week but it's not the only thing pushing me ever closer to a small padded room.

From Sunday to Wednesday Night I slept on average 2 hours a night.  Wednesday night was the topper when after worship at church i got suddenly dizzy and sick ( i did make it to the bathroom in time).  I went home and slept till my alarm went off the next morning.

School hasn't been much better.

Monday felt like Monday, Tuesday felt like Monday.  The kids, while not "bad", would hear but not listening to directions, ALL week long, forgetting the rules that haven't changed since the beginning of the year.  My class isn't the only one suddenly having this problem.  More than one occasion everything has been stopped and my kids have had a time out (heads down on desk, mouth shut, not a sound allowed).

By Wednesday I'd heard "miss weller!!!!" so often i told the kids i was going to change my name because i'm sick of hearing my current one.  To which one little girl asked "what are you going to change it to?"

Tomorrow we take a field trip to see Elmo live.  The kids are excited and that's great, but after this week i'm not sure i can stomach 90 minutes of elmo's shrill little voice, surrounded by how many hundred gushing screaming kids.

Anyways it's bedtime,  If sleep favors me tonight I may make it through tomorrow no straight jacket required.

EEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

IF YOU ARE EATING OR HAVE A WEAK STOMACH YOU MAY NOT WANT TO READ THIS!!!


This has been a vomit filled week for me.

Sunday afternoon my daughter ate a yellow crayon and brought it back up.

Sunday evening she ate dinner and brought that up on me, i had to call my dad to come help me i needed someone to keep my daughter still so i could clean myself up before i cleaned up her and the puddle she left of the floor.

Monday morning she spit up in the car on the way to day care.

Today I got to experience another episode of a child getting sick.  It wasn't my child.  It was one of my students.  which has to make it a thousand time worse.

Him throwing up at rest time wasn't that bad.  I couldn't have managed passed the smell and gotten it cleaned up without too much of a problem if it wasn't for the other students...

"Miss Weller, what did he eat to make it look like that?"

"miss weller, when --h-- threw up it sounded like this (gross gagging sound inserted here)"

"Why is it chunky?"

and the best one came from the little boy who got sick

"I'm sorry, i got sick in preschool too, but it was pink"

The smell is in my house, the smell is in my car, and now it's in my classroom.  There isn't enough Febreze in the world to get this smell out of my nose.

Wal~Mart Never Ceases to Surprise Me

I thought I'd heard EVERYTHING during the 3 years I worked at Wal~Mart.  I was wrong.  Tonight took the cake.


I'd made a quick stop for some cold medicine (for myself) and for what i'll need for Alayna's and my classes Valentine's Day Party.  While picking out a gift for Alayna's teacher i knocked something off the shelf and was afraid it was going to break so i put my leg out to let it hit and roll down.  To my amazement it worked.

This guy in the isle with me picked it up.  I said "i work so hard to keep her from grabbing stuff off the shelves and then I go and knock something off".  He chuckled and said he had six kids. Of course my reaction was "wow".  He goes asked how old Alayna was and I told him.  He then told me he had two girls and two sets of twin boys.

He continues by saying that his twin sons were all roughly the same age.  His wife and her best friend were pregnant at the same time, and then added "but that was their fault".

um...yeah....um.... I'm done shopping now, have a nice day.

Adventures in Potty Training - Day 2

Day 1 was not that bad.  Alayna went potty in the potty,  she was dry all morning. Wet during nap and even pooped in the potty in the afternoon.

Day 2 has not been as successful.  Alayna told me AFTER she pooped in her panties today, but she did pee in the potty late this morning.

Alayna is only almost 18months old, but i knwo i need to set high expectations for her, she'll only achieve was i expect of her, so if i think she'll fail at it at this time then that's what she'll do.

I know my big girl can go potty like a big girl, but it is nothing shy of an adventure.

Round and Round I Go

I'm about to go crazy....

When i moved to Louisiana from Pennsylvania i tried to get my registration transfered over, then i didn't have the money to do it so i put it off.

the reason i didn't do it when i had the money at first was because i was missing a piece of paper.  The piece of paper that says i paid my initial sales tax on my vehicle when i registered it in the first place.

When i bought my car, i lived in PA, but i bought my car in OH, and then registered it and paid the taxes in PA.  so purchase paperwork and sales tax paperwork were not together.  I can't find my sales tax paper.

I emailed the Pennsylvania department of transportation (PennDOT),  they are bound by law to not disclose sale tax information so i was redirected to the department of revenue.  Who told me i need to contact penndot.  AAAAHHHHHH

I explained to the nice, clueless,woman that they said they were NOT ALLOWED to help me, and that they (penndot) had given me their information.  So she transfered me to an agent. and I left a message on his voicemail....

He called me back "i'm not sure why they directed you to me... I deal with estate taxes and wills... but here is the number to the department of motor vehicle sales tax"

REALLY?!?  It took three people before they figured out that THAT might be who i need to contact?  i would think PennDOT would know of the existance of that department, thankfully the man at the department of revenue in the office of estate taxes knew that my question regarding proof of my motor vehicle sales tax paid should be directed to the department of motor vehicle sales tax... WOW what a concept!!!

At least i have a direction to go in now

I Have Not Yet Reached That Age... or maybe i have....

There is an age at which adults need to realize and accept that they are no longer teens. That their bodies have more rule on them than they have on their bodies. 

Today my students got to go on a field trip to Skate Heaven, Roller Skate Rink.  And they begged to come roller skating with them.  I was good, really good at roller skating in highschool.  But it's been a good 9 or 10 years since i last put on a pair of roller skates.  But I gave it a shot.

I can still roller skate.  And i still do decently well.  I got a few kids of mine going at a decent pass on their own, and i had a good time and a good work out.

And then I learned how much more it hurts to fall when you're older.

So it was time to get back on the bus and return to school.  I got one of my students off the rink and went to check on her older sister who'd just fallen.  After she was up on her feet again i circled around to leave the rink and help my students get their skates off and turned back in.

One of the "Refs", those employed by the rink to keep watch over the rink, in the rink, and I collided.  He didn't realize i was exiting the rink and tried to cut between the exit and myself.  I couldn't stop, neither could he.

He hit hard.  I heard him lose his breath. I didn't hit as hard as he did, but i did hit my elbow off of his knee.  I have a nice lump and bruise on my elbow.

Lovely...

But i had fun and so did my students

SPIDERS!!!!!

Hello, My name is Rhiannon, and I suffer from arachnophobia.

THERE I SAID IT

I'm pathetic when it comes to spiders.  I get freaked out by pictures of spiders.

My grandmother likes to tell the story of when i was a teenager, freaking out over a spider in the shower.  I screamed as though i was being killed, hit my leg off the faucet, bent the faucet.  Grandma couldn't find the spider even with me pointing at it.  It was small, and was the same color as the wall.

In highschool I had a teacher who had a pet tarantula in his classroom.  I was less than fond of it.  My teacher wanted to show me that they were harmless so he got it from it's tank and stood next to me with it on HIS hand.  I shook and cried.  When the spider escaped from its tank, my teacher told me he'd taken it home while it molted.  when it showed up in the tank a few weeks later, he THEN informed me that it had been loose in the classroom.

I asked him what he would have done had it crawled up by me during class.  His response? "Probably scrape you off the ceiling".

So flash forward to today...

One of my students brought a GIANT remote controlled spider to school today.

I knew it was there, he was good about it.  Only got it out to play at recess

I was watching the play ground, not the ground.

I feel something touch my ankle and.....

THERE WAS THE SPIDER

I screamed, jumped, ran

He laughed, fell on the ground, laughing to hard to even stand back up.

Then he took to chasing girl in my class around with it.  After that the spider was forced to be a captive to his book-sack.

I hope he enjoyed himself.  I'm afraid I'm going to have nightmares.

Is It A Full Moon? Because the Crazies are Out.

This morning, as i sat and waited for a traffic light to turn green, I noticed a large cross at the corner across the street.  In the south, crosses in someone's front yard isn't that uncommon.  It is after all part of the Bible Belt.  What got my attention was that the cross had never been THERE before, and there was a street evangelist standing in front of the cross.

I've been involved in street evangelism (when i was a teenager - something we did at church camp), i can tell you, that standing by  a 4 lane highway at an intersection with a two lane high way and jumping out at the cars, screaming and waving a Bible, is NOT an effective way to bring people to God.

It is, however, an effective way to get hit by a car.  Or carried off in a straight jacket.

I mentioned this to one of my co-workers at work.  She replied, "we passed by there this morning, my daughter kept asking me; ' mommy why is that guy yelling at us?'"

I wonder if he got arrested, i think you might need a permit to be crazy on the side of the road...

My other question is.... How did he get that 6ft+ cross to the street corner?

Shower Shocked!

Today was a busy day. I had a lot to get done.  Dropped Alayna off at day care, went to the camp to clean, came home and finished cleaning, even got my car cleaned out.  Got Alayna from day care and came home to play.

After dinner it was bath time.  Bathed Alayna, got her dressed, left her to play with paw-paw and dee-dee, and went to take a shower of my own.  Got a hot shower going and climbed in to clean off and relax.

Too my surprise when i got out of the shower, 1/2 of my clothes were missing.  My shirt and my bra were gone.  Just gone.  And then i realized i left them near the bathroom door.  My daughter pulled my shirt and bra out of the bathroom by reaching her little fingers under the closed door and getting a hold of the fabric.  so now i'm standing at the door going "um... Denise?" lol.

Thank you Alayna! I love you and appreciate your "help".

So Much to be Thankful For!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, a time to thankful for what God has blessed us with.  I have been blessed greatly by God in the last couple of years

August 13th, 2009 5:52pm @ Meadville Medical Center, in Meadville, PA, My baby girl, Alayna, was born 7lbs 11oz, 21 1/4 inches long

In February of 2010 I learned that the man I'd always thought was my father, who left when i was 7 and I never heard from again until i was 21 may not be my father. 

In March of 2010 the DNA came back positive, Brent Caldwell, not Mark Weller was my biological father.  So many questions answered.

In May 2010 I got to meet my biological father and the rest of my family in Louisiana.

 In July 2010 I received a job offer to teach Kindergarten at a private christian school outside of Baton Rouge. 

Alayna and I moved to live near my father and so that I could to take the teaching job.  I love my job. And I found a church that feels as homey as the one I grew up in.

August 13th 2010, my angel turned 1 year old.

In September, I met someone.  Someone I all ready knew of, but didn't really know.  We met on facebook, and chemistry was felt immediately, on both side (i know he told me so).

Mike S. and I got to spend some time together recently when he came for a visit.  Yes, I moved from PA to LA and met a guy from my hometown who still lives in PA.

Spending time with him let me know that EVERYTHING i thought i felt I really feel.   I've never been so happy in my life.  I have so many wonderful blessing in my life, how can I be anything but happy?