Today

Hey all. Today hasn't been a very interesting day in the Cox house. The girls woke up, we had breakfast, then went for a walk. We came home. While playing Maddie walked up to me and started cuddling saying NINININININI. I took this to mean she wanted a nap. I got her a sippy of water. Then laid her in her crib. She laid down, drank her cup, threw the cup out of the crib, took her pants off, then crashed. two hours later, she was still napping. Wow! She must have really been tired. Kenzie on the other hand has been a little hellian. She wouldn't do her chores. I even threatened to e mail and call santa and tell him to give her v smile to someone who was a good girl, she said "Daddy will buy me one" and that was that. Ryan went to Maxx's house after work. That is about it. Now for last night, I LOVED GRAYS ANATAMY SO MUCH THAT I HAD TO WATCH IT A SECOND TIME ON THE COMPUTER TODAY while Maddie napped! Loved it! Was great! Can't wait for next week. I also watched ER which I don't do, I may have to tune in since I am liking it! I guess that does it.
Love,
Dawn

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,
My name is Kenzie. I have a little sister named Madison. I call her Maddie. I try and be a good girl, but sometimes, I break the rules. When I do, I have to sit in the thinking chair. When my time out is over, I tell Mommy I am sorry. For Christmas this year, please bring me a V Smile game system with a Cinderella game. I really like Cinderella. I know that it is a big gift, but Santa, I try really hard to be a good girl, and although sometimes I make mistakes, all in all I am a good big sister. I think Maddie would really love the V Smile Baby Game System. I think she could really learn from it. I also think that the V Smile system will help me with the Letter and Number Recognition that Mrs. Brittany tells Mommy that we need to work on. I will write you again closer to Christmas to tell you how much I love you and what I want to give to Mommy and Daddy for Christmas.
Love,
Kenzie Cox

EBAY IS THE WAY TO GO BABY!!!

I will have to admit that I was wrong and Ryan was right! Yes I know ladies, I admit that a man is right for once. Ryan taught me that ebay is much more affordable than buying direct from the store. Take for example the girls christmas. We researched what we want to get for them including shipping, there are several of the same item some with more accessories, that would cost me less to have delivered than if I went to the store and bought it myself. Wow! Thanks Ry! I now know that I will be shopping on e bay in addition to some of the other stores in person for christmas this year. In other news, Kenzie woke up this morning very upset because of the thunder storm we were having. We really needed the rain, but I didn't need a 4 year old who was shaking so bad that I had to dress her, pack her to the bathroom so she could potty, and pack her to the bus. She was literally shaking like a leaf! Poor Baby! I felt so sorry for her. We gave her to option to stay home and cuddle Mommy or to go on and go to school and play with her friends Jayden and Skylar M. She chose to go to school. She was like, "I am not staying home. I want to go to school." This is awesome. Then after school, Kenzie did her homework. We are trying to come up with more ideas for letter recognition and number recognition with her. I got out some beads, and she counted them time and time and time again. She is getting good at counting objects, now if I could only come up with a fun activity for her to recognize the numbers she is saying. I am taking any suggestions that any of you can throw at me for Letters and Numbers. She writes her numbers, rather traces them, everyday when she does her name. She is now recognizing when her name is written. She also recognizes that the letter K is in her name. When I asked her what a K was she said "in my name" I figure that is a step in the right direction. Maddie is about the same except for one thing. Poor babe got soap in her eyes tonight. It was awful. I have never see a baby want to open her eyes so bad, but know that if she does, it hurts! I am working on a few other things this week, like orgainization of Madison's clothes she has outgrown. Carol, please have Aunt Linda e-mail me. Thanks. I spoke with Amanda yesterday, she is hanging in there. Having a complication with her health right now, but all in all she is doing well. I also got a call tonight from Mom. Please keep Jessica in prayer. She is a girl that goes to Mom's church and she is pregnant but the baby isn't doing well. I guess that sums it all up.
Love,
Dawn

Maddie did it!

I was running around the house doing a few things as Maddie took her nap. When she woke up, I simply went to her room to get her out of the crib when I found that not only had she taken her pants off, but she managed to get her shirt off too! The little stinker! She is just growing so fast. I want to slow her down, but I know that she has to grow up at some point. In other news, Kenzie took her "homework" to school and Mrs. Brittany called her to her desk and then put a happy face on it and told her what a good job that she had done. I was so happy that the teacher is feeding into her desire to do homework. She loves it. Ryan has been doing ok. He hasn't had much going on other than work and Fantasy Football. CONGRATS RYAN ON DEMOLISHING YOUR DAD! (Roy, I had to!) I am trying to decide colors for some of the other rooms in the house and make lists of what to get for everyone for christmas. It should be interesting... We are going to Florida this year for Christmas, so we will see what kind of trouble we can get into! LOL. I got Kenzie's school pics back today, and I am highly pleased with them. I think they turned out good. I will be getting them out in time. I know that I didn't order enough, so I will need to get more. She had a green background with a leopard print top on. It really made her pop out of the pic. I don't have much else going on for me. I would like to start doing more, but it will be a little while before I can do that since Maddie is still young. In time, I will be able to start doing cakes again. I have that on hold since we moved, but soon enough it will be back to normal. I guess that does it for now.
Love,
Dawn

MMMMMMMMM

You Are an Ice Cream Cake

Surprising, unique, and high maintenance. You're one of a kind, and you don't want anyone to forget it. You're fun in small doses, but it's easy for people to overdose on you!

What Kind of Cake Are You?

Homework

At my request, Mrs Brittany sent home homework for Kenzie to do. So, we started working on "homework" today and Kenzie loves it! She let me make letters out of dots and she traced them. She did her name 5 times, all of the abc's and the numbers 1-10. I really was surprized at how good she tolerated sitting there and doing something constructive, but since I told her that Mrs. Brittany said for her to do her homework, she did it with no problems. I also took some pics that I thought you might like. So, here they are."Mommy, I love doing my home work. It is fun!" She really enjoyed doing this! She didn't want to quit. I had to make her stop because I didn't want her to get to where she didn't want to do it anymore. I had to show you this one. It as just too goofy!

Crazy hair Kenzie! She had so much fun having me do her hair the other day and here was the results! Crazy Hair!

I have named this picture the "Barbie Bicycle riding ballerina princess Kenzie" She had me take her training wheels from her princess bike and put them on this one. I was shocked when she was so willing to ride it since we got her a princess one for her birthday and she wanted nothing to do with it after we let her pick it out! I will just save the princess one for Maddie. She will love it!

That does it for the happenings right now.

Crazy Weekend at work...

Let me see, where to begin??? How about Saturday... When I got to work, Polly (the weekend supervisor) asked me if I would mind going to work in the brain injury unit instead of the one I was scheduled for. I went because I knew that I didn't like the unit I was scheduled for for first shift. When I got to Pathways, the nurses said, "You will be behavior tech on Life Skills today." I though, Oh My Gosh! I had never done that, but it was not an 8hr shift. Instead it was a 12 hour shift, locked on a unit with people who are known to have behavior problems. On a normal basis, they will only put someone they have formally trained to be a bt over there. Not saturday. At about 2pm, Polly came over and said that Kim had called off for Sunday too, and would I do the first 8 hours of my day on that unit again for Sunday. I said I would do that, then on Sunday, she conned me into staying over there for the next four hours also. Let me tell you by the time I got home on Sunday night, I thought I needed to be admitted into a psych ward. Those people without understanding what they had done, had driven me completely nuts! I couldn't believe how easy it was for them to do. Maddie had a good weekend. Ryan said she just walked around the house yelling my name! She missed Mommy! Kenzie was a good girl he said. They did a great job staying home with Daddy. This is the first weekend they both have been ok and knew that Mommy would come home after she got off of work. Today, Kenzie got up and got ready for school no problems. She got on the bus and off to school she went. When she got home, she said, "Mommy, I didn't sit in the thinking chair and Mrs. Brittany is happy!" I took this to mean that she didn't have a bad day today like she did on Thursday. At about 4pm, I was working on a few things, and saw my e mail notification thing pop up, so I checked to see what I had. It was from Brittany, she said "Kenzie had an excellent day today." I was so relieved. I guess that does it for now. Hope to have more good news as the week goes on.
Love,
Dawnie

For all the moms!

BEFORE I WAS A MOM....
Before I was a MomI never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom -I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so doctors could dotests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a MomI never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Hmmmm quite the day... yesterday was....

We had such an (for the lack of a better word) interesting day yesterday. Kenzie and I overslept and she just made the bus. Not good! She was off her routine. So, I e mailed Mrs. Brittany to give her the heads up that we had overslept and I didn't get the folder in the backpack. She appreciated the heads up. So, until right about 11am, I thought things were going ok. She e mailed me and said that Kenzie had needed to sit in the thinking chair for not following directions, throwing toys, running in the classroom. It was completely not Kenzie at school yesterday. In addition to that she started crying when she got there wanting mommy. After they told her she was at school and after school she would go home to mommy, she was fine. Then right before she left school, she didn't make it to the bathroom in time, which is again unlike her! She came home in a different pair of jeans and panties. She doesn't have accidents like that anymore, I wonder what is going on with her. Mrs. Brittany thinks that it is because her routine was off yesterday and she felt rushed. I kind of think it was because on weds. she had a long nap and so we had trouble getting her put to bed that night. So, there will be no more naps for Kenzie. So far nothing else going on. Will post again if any developments occur.
Dawn

Not a lot happening...

We don't have much going on here. Same old stuff different day! Hope all is well with all of you. Kenzie has been going to school. She loves it. Maddie is getting a bit tempremental here in the last few days. Angel is Angel and I think I may have found a home for her. Kenzie is so scared of her that I have to get rid of her. I hate to do it, but I can't have my children deathly afraid of thier pet. Ryan has been doing good at work. We found out that work will pay for him to go to Physical Therapy school and me to License Practical Nurse school. We are really thinking about it. It would definately help with money. And, we would only have to guarantee that we would stay with the company for an additional year. I have been there for 6 years now and Ryan 4, so I don't see us going anywhere anytime soon. I like the company, I just feel like I am sort of stuck if I continue just being a cna. I will be looking into seeing if Ivy Tech is on the approved list of schools that work works with. I will keep you all up to date on the happenings there with all of that kind of stuff. Also, we would only one of us be able to go back at a time because I won't leave the kids with a sitter after what happend last October with Crystal watching the kids. The girls only leave our sight once every two weeks to stay the night with my mom. They love it up there and I can't take that from them. I guess that is about all that is going on! I will try and get some more pics later in the month for everyone... Keep in touch!
Love,
Dawnie

Our week.

We took the girls to Lanesville Heritage Weekend in Lanesville, Indiana on Friday night. I got a few pics. Kenzie had so much fun and she surprised me! She go on the tilt a wirl with me. Then I rode the Carousel with her and Ryan rode with Maddie. Then we split up. I took Maddie in her Stroller with Mom and Pop and Ryan took Kenzie for another ride. After they got back with us, I learned that she rode the SCRAMBLER! Ryan said she loved it! He said she was laughing and having so much fun that she pee'd everwhere! I couldn't get upset with her because it was a true accident, but she was so upset about it that we left and came on home. She told me "Mommy, I ride with daddy, I laugh, I pee, Daddy run out of tickets!" It was so cute that she could put it all together like that. So now on to the pics...

I tried taking several pics of them on the Carousel, but htis is the only one that came out. I thought it would work. She really didn't care about it. She was just like "OK, I am going around in circles. What is so cool about that!" We wore Maddie out to the extent that while we were walking through the booths toward the car, she fell asleep in the stroller! I couldn't believe how angelic she looked! Just kidding. She is just so sweet, and I felt bad that she was sleeping sitting up like that! Cutie.

In other news, Saturday was Maddie's 16 month birthda! She is growing so fast. She is trying to say several words. She is into everything. She wants to skip her naps. Play, Play, Play is what is on hermind. She has figured out how to take her pants off and tries to help put her feet in to put them on. She is trying to figure out how to take her shirt off. She is also doing a great job with feeding herself. She doesn't quite have the spoon down to pat yet, but it will come with time. I guess that is about it for Maddie.

Nothing much else going on. Talk to you soon!

Love, Dawn

Lots of mentionables... Be prepared for pics!!!

Today, we have lots going on! Kenzie brought home several things from school. One was where she had cut and pasted her name in order K E N Z I E. One was a picture of her with a cut out of an apple with her name below her. One was a cut out of the letter A. One was a newsletter from Mrs Brittany. In a nut shell it said:

This week (that would be next week) they will concentrate on Family and community!

Here are the suggested things for us to conversate with her:

*What did you read today?

*What was the story about?

*Who are the people in our family?

*What are some of the things that our family does together?

The suggested home activties are:

*Letter Hunt

*Morning Routine

(the newsletter gives details about each activity that I have chosen not to put here.)

The note from the teacher is this:

"Dear Parents, We are learning about our families. Please send in photos that can be cut. The can include: Parens, siblings, pets, grandparents."

I have gone through the ones that I have printed (I have most of them in albums on Kodak waiting to be printed.) and selected several to send in for her. So Kenzie will have pics of all of her uncles (except Uncle Derrick since I don't have any snapshots that can be cut of him), Kenzie, Maddie, Mommy, Daddy, Yaya, Pappy, Nana, Aunt Amanda, Riley, Shelby, Nick and Anthony. I think that should suffice. They might not use all of the ones that I am sending, but atleast she gets a selection!

On to other things, I have some cute but crazy girls! They are a hoot! Maddie is now trying to tell us that she will NOT NAP! She prefers to stay awake and play with "INZI" that is what it sounds like anyway. I think she is trying to say "Kenzie". It is so cute when she does this. Now for some pics.

Look at all those teeth! She is such a cutie! And this was the only pic I could get her to show her teeth to me!

Here is a 4 year old with spaghetti o's for lunch.....

And now for the 16 month old. Quite a difference isn't there?I can play pat a cake too Mommy!

See! I told you I could!

Here are my barbie nightgown wearing goofy princesses! They had a blast with being in pink nightgowns together!

THE ATTACK OF PRINCESS MADDIE! (Kenzie's favorite wrestler is King Booker so that is why I put it that way!)

"I AM GONNA GET YOU MOMMY!" that is what that face remind me of!

Look at the happy girl! She was such a hamm last night as was her sister. We had a blast!

Hope you all enjoyed them as much as I did taking them. I will upload more when I get the chance, but those basically went over what fun we had yesterday! The girls are great!

Love, Dawn

Changes being made....

Hi everyone. Hope things are going well for all of you. I know that things have been kind of rocky for me and Ryan here. We have had some developments (that I care not go into detail about). Those developments prompted me to make some changes. I have already made many of you aware of those changes. I will continue changing things over the next few weeks, so be prepared to know about those. I will be making my blog private, so if you want to continue being able to see what is going on with the girls, please e mail me at flutterbye0419@yahoo.com (this is my junk e mail and I don't check it very much, so please be patient). In order to go private, I have to list the people who I want to be able to read my blog by e mail addresses, so you will have to provide me with the e mail address that you will be viewing my blog from. Thanks for understanding. Now on to other things.... We are making changes in the house. As you saw from yesterday, we painted the kitchen. When we finish the border in the kitchen, we will be buying the paint for Kenzie's bathroom. It will be like a turquoise color. I also need to do the floor in Kenzie's bathroom. So, that project will take some time, since I am doing the floor, I am going to go ahead and do a complete remodel on that bathroom since afterall, my mom has a vanity set for me that she was going to use for this house, she said I could have it, so really all I have to do is to paint, restain the cabinet in there, and do the flooring. I think we can do all of this pretty easily, but who knows. We will definately keep you all updated. Now that we got the drip in the basement fixed, we will be calling in that claim for the stove. I am missing being able to bake cakes. It sucks. I want to get back to it as soon as possible. Although, the last cake that I did, the person ordered it, said they would be here to get it, then never showed up to get it and didn't pay after I did all that work! I was very upset. It really wasn't a nice thing to do at all! But life goes on. Now on to the kids.... Kenzie just got on the bus about 10 minutes ago. She loves getting up for school. She told me as she was getting dressed today "Mommy, Thank you for waking me for school!" I was so happy to hear that. Maddie is trying to weasel her way out of one of her naps. She usually takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but here lately, she has only wanted one about midday. I really miss her napping in the morning, but it is ok. I survive. I used that time to get a little more work done here in the house, but I will have to find a way to do it when she is up. I will work it out soon enough. Ryan is doing fine. He and I are making plans for finishing this house so that when our two years is up, we can sell and then buy something a little better for our budget, and then we can make that our home for good! I love this house, but I want to be able to get the early inheritance out of it that Mom gave me! I thank her for that! She was great to do that for us. I don't hear much from any of the boys. I mean, they all had my contact info until one of them had to ruin it for everyone, so I changed all of our phone numbers to unlisted, and none of them get the numbers, mainly because I know that they will tell one another, and I don't want any trouble from any of them. Other than that not much. I have one more pic of Maddie, but my memory card wasn't in my camera when I took it, so I have to find the usb cord so I can transfer it to the computer. When I do I will upload it for everyone! Have a great day!
Love,
Dawn

As promised...

Hello everyone. Kenzie here. I thought now would be a good time to put another blog in. Mommy doesn't let me on the computer much, but I wanted to share some pictures with all of you. And here I had put all of my barrettes in my hair for Yaya and Pappy. They were comming to see me and I wanted to look "pretty".

We ate dinner after they got here, and Yaya and I did dishes. I have now started helping Mommy do the dishes after we eat everyday. I really like helping Mommy. It is fun! While I was helping Yaya and Mommy paint in the kitchen, Pappy sat in the living room on our new couch (Thank you Aunt Jan) and talked to "Uncle" Maxx and Daddy.My Daddy's friend "Uncle" Maxx came to help arrange furniture and talked to Daddy and Pappy when they were done with the furniture thing while Mommy, Yaya and I painted in the kitchen. Mommy has been looking at samples for the countertops even though she knows it will be a while before she can have them replaced and the ones she has are in good condition so don't have to be replaced, she just doesn't like the color of them, so the marbled looking chip above is what she thinks she wants on the countertops and the solid one is the color of the walls.
Here is a picture of the kitchen after we painted it.
Pic #2.
Pic #3Pic #4And another of the kitchen. Here is a close up of the artwork that Aunt Amanda and Uncle Derrick gave us. Thank you so much it looks great in there!And another one that they sent us.
This is the last one that they sent us, and I think it is Mommy's favorite! She loves that fat chef for some reason!

Angel loves her new toys! She also likes to nap!Well that is all for now. Hope all is well for everyone else!

Love,

Kenzie

Wow! What a week!

As many of you know we had our family in from Ohio and Florida this past week. It was a busy weekend! I still had to work, but that was ok. Roy and Carol got here on Thursday evening. I had started painting the kitchen, she helped me finish it. Now all I have to do it to pick up the border that I want, and it will be finished! I can't wait. I know that it will be a couple of weeks before I go and get the border because I am now satisfied with the paint color in the kitchen. Carol used a rented carpet machine since it was stronger than mine and shampoo'd the carpets. I scrubbed the kitchen floor with the help of Ryan. Roy and Ryan worked outside raking the yard, picking up leaves, pressure washing the house, cleaning out gutters, the breezway was finally cleaned up and Roy even got the deck pressure washed. The previous renters, had let the place go, so it needed some tender loving care, which we all gave it this past week. Grandma came in from Ohio on Friday evening. I worked the weekend. Then today, Roy and Carol put Kenzie on the bus and stayed here until after they went home. I do really appreciate the help they gave us, but lemme tell you, I was getting stressed out for a couple of days. I know that they just left, but as Ryan says, it seems wierd in the house without them. We miss them already. Kenzie was such a big girl when they left that I cried. My baby is growing up... She stood in the yard holding my hand waving as they went out of sight and then declared "It's ok Mommy. Yaya and Pappy will be back!" I couldn't help but cry because she is getting to be such a big girl. Maddie is doing well. She went to her doctor's appointment on Friday, and well, the LITTLE STINKER doesn't weight 20 pounds yet. She is so close. I asked the doctor about that and she said "I am not worried about her. She is at a healthy weight for her height." so with the doctor saying that I am not worried. Not to mention that she is only 2 ounces shy of 20 pounds. She did prescribe an epipen jr for Maddie just in case since she had an allergic reaction to Honey Nut Cheerios. I have learned how to use it, and so I feel really comfortable with doing it. Other than that nothing going on with her. Ryan is himself. He is at the store right now, so I decided to take advantage of the few minutes I could blog. I am just here. I am a little upset about a few things, but I know with time, God will reveal why things happen the way they do. Hopefullly I will start feeling like myself again. Kenzie has her school pics tomorrow, so when I can, I will upload some pics that were taken when everyone was in town.
Lots of Love,
Dawn

A Glimpse into my day...

Just thought you might like a glimpse into what my day has been like so far... Forgive the unprofessional photos of the house, but, I thought you might like before and afters. I started the kitchen earlier, and now I am waiting for Ryan to get home so that he can help me get the area's that I am too short to reach. No joking there please, I know I am vertically challenged... I don't need any puns about that... Anyway, in addition to that I got a few snapshots of the girls... And without further ado, here they come..

Would you look at that! We have baby Linus! She enjoyed carrying her red fleece poncho around with her today! And I couldn't resist the photo op! She is such a cutie...

Little Miss Jealousy! She got jealous because I was taking pics of her sister and not her! I had to take a couple of her just so that she would be happy. So I admit, one came out great!

Look Mom, I can wear it too! I put it on her and she thought she was the most amazing creature on earth! It was too cute! What can I say, the kid gets excited over the most mundane things! But who is complaining??? And now the paint fumes are starting to mess with my brain LOL!

Here is a not so good pic of the kitchen. The walls were all yellow until we let Kenzie play painter on them for a while one night. We did this because we knew we were going to be painting it a different color anyway. I am not happy with the way it was looking...

But, then again, here is the new color. And you have to overlook the countertop in it. I hadn't cleaned up any of my supplies before taking the picture. No, it isn't finished, but when it is, I will put the final pics on here. I am quite please with the color. I really will like it when it is all done. No, this wasn't the original color I was going for, but I had to settle for it because Home Depot (forgive me Beth, I know Josh works there) was giving Ryan a run for his money, so we ended up going to a competitor to get the pain. Again, Forgive me for going somewhere else, but it was late when we were out to get the paint, so we had no choice but to go to Walmart. Anyway, I am off to talk Ryan into working on the Kitchen while I go to the grocery store!

Lots of love,

Dawn

Today...

Well, we all got off to a not so good start. Ryan got off to work ok, but then, Kenzie and I fell back asleep and I didn't hear the alarm go off. She missed the school bus. So she stayed home with me. It was ok because we didn't know what time Roy and Carol would be here and well, she hasn't been feeling real good anyway. Batteling with her allergies just like I am. She got some well needed sleep and if I hadn't woke her up at like 8:30, she would have slept even longer, but I wanted her to be sure she went to bed on time tonight. I called in a claim to my home warranty company yesterday, so they came out and fixed the leak in the basement today. Thank you Mom for getting me the warranty. I was going to pay for it, but she decided that that would be her housewarming present to us. I really appreciate it. I am finding that yes, AMANDA, you were right. It is well worth it! I will continue buying them annually. I really like the plan I have! Right as the plumber was here fixing the leak, I faintly hear a doorbell, and Pop was here to pick up the bikes that Dustin left behind and the two wood burning stoves that we weren't allowed to use due to home owners insurance purposes. So, I had to put Maddie in her crib to help him. Let me tell you, that was a job! One of them was a cast iron one! It must have weighed 500 pounds. In the mean time, Kenzie was playing on her swingset to stay out of our way because she saw we were having a little difficulty, when out of no where, I hear a scream, Kenzie had fallen and scuffed up her knee again! So we took a break to fix the boo boo. Then back to putting stoves on the trailer for Pop to get back to work. I also was able to talk to him about the roof. He said as soon as we have the funds together for it, that he will come and quote us and then he will cut me a deal on it! Thank you Pop! We are now pondering the thought of starting the kitchen. I was thinking about painting it before Carol and Roy get here, but I am unsure now. I will make my decision very soon! Now I am off to work on tidying up Kenzie's room. I will chat when I can!
Love,
Dawn

Happy Be Lated Birthday to me!

Yes, that is right. I finally got my birthday present from Mom. She had promised me that for my birthday, she would take me to Derby Dinner Playhouse. So, I called her last week and told her I wanted to go see the performance called Sing Hallelujah! and she got me a reservation for tonight. Let me tell you it was great! If you have the chance, go see it. We had a great meal, awesome entertainment, which was centered around a church setting. And dessert was great too. I had cheesecake, Mom had the chocolate peanut butter cream pie (which was so good. I had a taste of it) and her friend Hilda had Hummingbird cake (or pie I can't remember, but she had me try it, and it also was a great dessert). So then after the show, Ryan picked me up and we were off to Walmart to get paint so that I can start painting the kitchen tomorrow. I was a little bummed out when I couldn't get the red I wanted, but I settled for a color called Paprika. It is a lighter more orangy color than I originally wanted, but that was the color I had thought about many times. I will have pics up as soon as I can. Kenzie was a very good girl today. And when I went in to get Maddie from her nap, she was chanting, "Yayayayayayayaya" for those of you who don't know, the girls call Ryan's Mom Yaya(which is Greek for Grandma). I thought it was the cutest thing especially since they will be comming into town tomorrow... Ryan is doing ok. Now for the goods. I rarely do this, so enjoy while you can. I had Hilda's daughter take 2 pics of me and Mom. I am putting the one I liked best on here for you guys. Hope you like it. Keep in mind that I am very camera consience. I don't like them, and for the most part, if I am the subject being captured, they don't like me. So here you are....

Love,

Dawn

happenings in the cox house

Well, we didn't do anything special for Labor Day since Ryan had to work, but that is ok. The kids hung out while I stressed about our family comming in from out of state later this week. So I have started the major washing of the baseboards and scrubbing stains that the other peeps left in the carpet before we bought the house not to mention I picked the color for the kitchen and I think I have decided that when I get home from Derby Dinner Playhouse tomorrow night, I will do the masking tape around the baseboards, outlets, windows, and paint in the kitchen as late as possible hopefully having it done before I go to bed. I will definately post pics as I do the project. I will be so happy when I have the kitchen done. I will feel like the house is really mine. I have chosen a color called Chili Pepper. It is a really nice red. Kenzie went to school happily today like always and came home with a note in her folder stating that she was the FIRST to learn ALL of her friends names. I am so proud of her. She also brought home the annual fundraiser thing. I will have to look at it later. I just don't know what is in it yet.. It looked like a range of things... Maddie has been a little testing today, but we are getting through it. And now I am off to finish a few things like a load of dishes, laundry, etc...

my weekend...

This weekend was interesting... I took the car both days which is a rarity... I usually dont' take it on Sunday's because I don't like to drive on less than 5 hours sleep. But this weekend, I felt surprizingly able to do it. I didn't have any trouble out of it. My troubles were at work and it was not fun... I was doing ok until 3 pm yesterday when they pulled on of our cna's to another unit, then it all went downhill from there to the extent that we didn't think we would get our 1/2 hour lunch breaks... when I finally was able to take one, I decided it wouldn't me for nourishment in the form of food, but nourishment in the form of a talk with God. I basically had a moment to revamp with the help of the HOLY SPIRIT. Then was able to go back to the floor feeling like a different person. I could have gone to the chapel for this time, but I went instead to the break room not even remembering about the chapel. I only had one thing on my mind and that was time with God. I will in the future go to the chapel though. I like the idea of having a chapel at work where I can do those kinds of things. when I got back to the unit, I was able to feel like I was ok until Toya went on break and instantly, the fire alarm went off! I was the only aide on the floor and the nurses don't really like to help secure the facility for the fire emergencies... well at least the ones that I was working with that night... we were able to secure it quickly and then the people started going crazy wanting to know what was going on, but I couldn't tell them because i didn't know what the problem was until the fire department got there... and found a malfunctioning smoke detector. I was able to finish the night and got home in record time. I just wanted to come home and sleep off the day. So today, Kenzie didnt' have school and she was upset about that, but we got through it didn't we. I will be finding out from the home warranty company some info about two claims I am about to put in with them. It will cost me a chunk, but I would rather pay it than pay a lot more to fix the problems. I guess that is all for now. Talk more later!
Dawnie