Now It's The Alternator

I apologize for getting this blog up so late, it was a very busy week for us. Sunday was Ted's birthday party, it was a very nice get together. Monday was Ted's first den meeting, he was so excited to go. On Tuesday I had a mandatory Home and School Board meeting at the kid's school. Wednesday was the first day of Greek School, you should have heard all the moaning coming from this house! Last night we had our support group, the kids enjoyed themselves. I don't feel like I fit in, the other women are having a very tough time. I did realize one thing last night, my faith has really carried me through, more than I thought. I can't really explain how I came to that conclusion without breaching the agreement of privacy for the others. I'm sure you have had moments when you were angry with the world because of something terrible happening in your life, that's pretty much the gist of it. Today I spent the day cleaning the house, Ted's having a sleep over tonight with a couple of his friends for his birthday.

On top of all of this, I have been dealing with car problems. I know I mentioned my fuel pump going out, did I mention my alternator? Just a few short weeks after the fuel pump needed replacing, the car decides it wants a new alternator too! Jerry, the friend who fixed the fuel pump, replaced the alternator, checked all the gages, and everything was fine...not!! The next day my battery light went on once again. I took the car back to Jerry, he checked everything over, it all looked fine. I called the garage I usually take it to and explained what was going on. I was told to bring it in when the battery light was on, otherwise everything would register fine. Every morning when I would take the kids to school, the light would be on, but when I would go to leave, the light would turn off, it was a crap shoot! Finally one day I was able to get it to the garage. While they were looking at it, the alternator kicked in, so they didn't get a chance to get a really good look. They suggested I have the alternator replaced to see if it was a bad one. If that wasn't the problem, it could be the wires leading from the alternator to somewhere in my dashboard. I told Jerry all of this and he agreed, the only problem was getting the alternator when the battery light was on. I have been driving around for at least three weeks, waiting for the perfect time. That time came yesterday, the light was on almost all day. I noticed it on the way to the grocery store, which is 30 minutes from my house. The mechanic told me, once the light comes on and stays on, I have about an hour to get home before the car dies out. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it back home. While we were driving towards home, the light clicked off and stayed off for a good 20 minutes, I knew we would be fine. I only drove the car to our support group and back. The needle on the battery gage kept getting closer and closer to the orange. I took the kids to school this morning, picked up the cupcakes for the sleep over and came home, I barely made it. Jerry came by and replaced the alternator, everything looks good so far. I have had the battery charging all afternoon, hopefully it's fixed. My heart will definitely sink if I see that battery light go on! We will then have to explore the possibility of the wiring...CHA-CHING!!!!!

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue





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Helen's ButterflyGrace's Butterfly
Evan's day and night

Robbie and Evan in jail

I thought having all the kids in school at some point would give me the opportunity to "catch up" on cleaning the house, it hasn't. I can't believe how full the calendar has become since school started. Maybe it's just this week because Ted had an adjustment appointment at the orthodontist, and Helen had a check up with the pediatrician. I'm trying to get ready for Ted's birthday party on Sunday and since it's already Thursday, I'm starting to feel the pressure! This house is just so...not my kind of clean, does that make sense? My mom used to call it surface cleaning, when you clean so that the house looks presentable, but it's not truly clean, clean. I'll start by doing my "surface cleaning", and maybe next week I'll get to the real nitty gritty of things.

Our church festival went well, I enjoyed myself. I helped with the meat raffle, a local meat store sells us meat in bulk, and we raffle it off. I bet your thinking I walked around selling raffle tickets, I surely could do that job. When I arrived they needed someone to do the announcing, guess who got the job, me! Most of you don't know me, so let me give you an idea of my personality...shy, shy, shy, shy, shy, and even more shy!!! I bit the bullet, I channeled Peter,(he would have been in his element) and I got the job done. Most of the parents couldn't believe it was me behind that microphone announcing what we were raffling off, and talking them into buying the tickets. To be honest, I surprised myself, I felt somewhat comfortable behind that microphone. By the end of the night I was announcing the fact that we had parents sitting in the dunk tank waiting to take a dip, and all the food going for a dollar because we had so much and it was getting late. Peter was definitely with me that night!!! We went to the festival the next day to have fun, and the kids did. Grace, Helen, and Evan had their faces painted by the local clown, Cuddles. She does the most amazing work, as you can see. She has a partner clown called Billy Boy and he does balloons, he is also very good at what he does. The kids love it when they see the two of them at parties. Robbie's friend Adam put him jail for eating too much and having too much fun. Evan put himself in jail for not having enough fun! I agree, there wasn't too much for the older kids to do, Ted was even bored.

Helen's check up went well, she didn't have any blood work done, Yeah!! She is such a hard stick, I cringe every time I hear the word Lab. She is in the 75th-90th percentile for her height, and 75th-95th% for her weight, that's on the Down Syndrome for girls scale. She is growing at a nice even pace. When looking at her growth chart, you can see the point where she was diagnosed with Celiac's Disease. Her growth had come to a halt, I was amazed. Helen received two shots yesterday, chicken pox(because her white blood count had been low for awhile they wanted to monitor it) and the flu shot. Grace and Noah were lucky to have been there because they too received a flu shot! It made my day because now I don't have to make an appointment for the three of them for that shot. I was even happier when I realized Katie has an appointment on Saturday, so now she, Ted, and Robbie can get theirs. They aren't too happy about it, but at least they'll have it over with, and I won't have to deal with another appointment! I swear by those flu shots, before they got them, our winters were filled with somebody being sick with something and passing it on to the next person. We can now go a whole winter with hardly any sickness, yeah!!!

We have our first Cub Scout pack meeting tonight, the boy's in Robbie's den are going to tell knock-knock jokes. Here is Robbie's-

Knock, Knock

Who's there?

Beet's

Beet's who?

Beet's me!!

Ha!!:o)

Until next time-

Take Care,

Sue

Foot note: I wrote the blog with paragraphs, when I added the pictures it put all of the text together. I have tried to fix the problem with no luck, I apologize if it's hard to read. I knew you would appreciate the pictures so I wanted to leave them up. Again, Sorry.

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Popsicles, Popsicles, Popsicles

This morning was supposed to be my first morning alone, but Robbie came home from school yesterday with a headache and vomiting. He is doing better, he still has the headache, but at least he is able to keep things down. I just gave him some medicine, so he should be feeling much better soon.

Today was the first day of school for Grace and Noah, they were so excited. Grace is an old pro with preschool, she was happy to see her friends from last year. Noah, on the other hand, became a bit overwhelmed with all of it. He wouldn't leave my side when it was time to sit in a circle, I even made Grace change places so she would sit next to him. Working in a daycare center all those years ago, I knew it was time for me to just go, he would be fine. I just called, he is doing fine, he is working on puzzles with one of the other boys. The teacher told me he cried for about 5-10 minutes. She tried to comfort him, when she walked away from him, he stopped. It's an adjustment for him, he is used to being with me all the time, in fact, it's an adjustment for me too!

Helen started school this week also, it didn't start soon enough for her, she was getting so bored. If Helen could go to school everyday of the year, it would be a perfect world for her! She wouldn't get off of the playground at recess again, so she didn't get a Popsicle. The second day went better for her, she got the Popsicle. I'm hoping she won't give the teachers a hard time at recess. I think she just needs to get used to the routine, during the summer she can come and go as she wants from outside. I think she will be fine, especially if they keep using Popsicles. Helen is always the first one up on the week-ends, and during the summer. If I forget to check the refrigerator to make sure it's locked the night before, look out!! Helen will go into the freezer and help herself to Popsicles, fudge bars, and whatever else is in there. One day I found a gallon of ice cream sitting on the table with a fork in it. She doesn't eat just one, I have found her sitting in the living room in the middle of a circle of Popsicle sticks and wrappers. I would say, "Helen!!", and she would say, "What?", like she's not doing anything wrong! Last night I was in my room folding laundry, the kids had Popsicles. Helen came into my room and was watching me, she had a purple Popsicle, she left. When I went to put the clothes away she had come back into my room and was sitting on my bed, this time with a yellow Popsicle. To say she likes Popsicles is an understatement!!!

Our church is having a pig roast this week-end, I'm working at it on Saturday night. I told the committee people, they are mom's of Robbie's friends, "This is my night out, I hardly ever get one, I don't care where you put me, as long as it's somewhere by the band!" They have me as a "fill-in", wherever they need a hand, that's where I'll be. I think it will be a good time, even though I'll be working, I'll make the best of it.

To those of you who are being effected by these hurricanes...stay safe, I am praying for you.

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue






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