Here are some new pictures of Ella Grace.

So, we have moved Ella into Bethany's bedroom........Bethany loves it. I took a day off of work last Wednesday, Beth and I went through her room and packed up 5 bags of toys and lots of large toys and stuffed animals and got her room all cleaned out. It looks completely different. Eric and I have started a new xbox game that Micah, Dev, and Eli let us borrow....Halo 3.........awesome game. Kara has been baking in a frenzy over here....cookies, cupcakes, etc. Leandra has been fighting with Amanda (things seem to be coming up missing whenever Amanda leaves). Katie has been hanging out with friends, etc. Tricia is about to start a new job. Ella spoke her first word "hello".......of course she will only say this to Bethany...and now she has been saying "dada". I have been doing nothing but working......Twelve hours Friday, twelve hours today, and a couple of hours on Saturday and a couple on Sunday. Saturday Dave and I replaced his water heater......that took up most of the day. Saturday night I stayed home with the kids while Tricia went to a Bachelorette party. That's about all that is going on around here.

Last weekend Eric and I went fishing and shotgun shooting, so I figured I would post a couple of pictures and videos. I forgot to videotape Eric shooting the shotgun.....but he loved it. We spent the day out on the boat fishing, had lunch, went fishing some more, then packed up and shot shotguns for about a half hour. I was hoping he would not get bored being out there all day, but he did great. We all had a good time, caught a bunch of fish, got away for the day, and blasted some cans with the shotgun. Can't beat that........not only that.......I was out of cellphone range.

So, it's Friday again. Leandra's trying to get out of school. Kara and Ella have a doctor appointment, Katie's mad because it's picture day and she doesn't have any makeup, Eric is watching cartoons, and Tricia, Ella, and Bethany are still asleep. Personally....I am just glad the weekend is here, even if I am on call. I do believe it's Dara's weekend to have the kids too. I am looking into getting a couple of laptops from work for Christmas presents for Katie and Eric. Everyone at work just got new laptops, so I have already talked to Jeff about getting a couple. Not much else going on around here.

TGIF

So.........TGIF. This has been an extremely long week and I am glad that it is finally to an end. I have worked all week, gone to school, replaced a door knob on Leandra's door, finished painting Eric's room, scraped off all the fingernail polish off of his widow and sill, hung his door, replaced all the electrical outlets, light switch, and covers, completely dismantled the shopvac and fixed the motor (Katie had broke it), soldered and repaired Kara's new laptop cord (the dog had chewed it up), fixed Jesus' dryer, moved in new tenants, dealt with the normal idiots around here...and I'm sure there is more that I am forgetting. So needless to say I am completely burned out. Tomorrow after the meeting I am meeting with my team members to finish our final project for Monday night's class, the Birthday Party, hook up mom's new modem, and Sunday hook up Robert and Laura's wireless router. So my weekend is full.......oh yeah, then there is homework as well. But, only 1 week of classes left....YEAH>>>>>>.
I will be so glad to be done. And I can't wait for the kids to start school. Tricia apparently got 3 jobs this week.......I don't know how she thinks she will be able to work them all. Other than all that, everything is nice and peaceful around here.

UPDATE

So Ella's movie was my first attempt at uploading one of my movies. Tricia got me an awesome camcorder for our anniversary. I love it so much I have been walking around irritating everyone. I have a lot of short clips I will be adding, hopefully they turn out as well as that one did. I have only 2 weeks of school left...........then I will be a graduate. I'm already trying to figure out where I will go to school at next. I will of course take a short break first. Ali goes home Friday, and Eric will be coming home Sunday........and school starts very soon for the kiddies. Thank you GOD. Somehow we have managed to survive another summer vacation........I don't really know how. I AM JUST GLAD IT IS FINALLY OVER.

So, it's been a while since I have had the opportunity to blog. Micah rode home yesterday with Diane, and Ali is staying for awhile longer. The girls had fun at the Disney concert last night.........Thank you G-Goodie. I only have four weeks of class left (I am counting down the days). I am sooooo ready for a break, it's about to drive me crazy. Katie and Eric have changed rooms; Katie, Ali, and Daniel painted her room Sunday night. Tricia is stripping Katie's old room so I can paint it for Eric......He wants Darth Vader and Yoda on his walls. Had the downstairs carpet cleaned yesterday.......it was in definite need of attention. LeAndra is working her last week of work with her mom.......she finally realized she was making about $ 2.00 an hour...and was not happy. Amanda turned the big 19 last Friday, so we had a dinner party for last night.....Kara of course made the cake....and cupcakes......and cookies. Sorry no invitations for anyone; at Amanda's request she didn't want the usual family Birthday party. Eric is spending time with his dad until the middle of August. Ella is doing great.....she is up to almost 13 pounds. Anyway...that's about all that is going on here..............never a dull moment. Oh yeah; Tricia and I are going to a Hotel next weekend to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary.

Katies shark incident at the Lake

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here is the newest picture of Ella so grandma can steal it and post it on her wall. Only took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to post it and I'm still not sure how it happened cause Ethan had to finally come do it for me.

So, it has been just a little hectic around here lately. Birthday parties on Tricia's side of the family, Father's day get togethers, etc. Amanda came over yesterday afternoon and had a seizure as she was putting Ella in her chair. Luckily, Tricia was here and knew what to do because she had her out of the seizure before the ambulance got here. So Amanda was in the hospital until around 10:00 last night............she has to go see a neurologist today. Lost a hundred dollars somewhere around the house...........just gone, no one saw it. I am again overloaded with homework, thank goodness this is almost over. We got approved for a home loan for something like 150,00........so we are gonna look at some houses. Tricia passed her Kansas insurance test, so she will be starting work Monday.
I have decided that I am sick of dealing with crazy tenants and trying to keep the apartments full....which would have something to do with our wanting to move. Last weekend I spent most of the weekend running a tenant and former tenant off the property and cleaning up their mess, looking at refrigerators, hot water heaters, posting signs, talking to hopeful tenants, etc. That was probably the last straw, I think my time of doing this job is coming to an end. So, there is a new housing development off of 24 highway by Barry's old house and they have new houses for 99,000.........so that is where we are looking first.
And who ever thought a stupid swimming pool could be so much work. Every time I clean it, it storms and I am back to square one. Or the neighbor kids come over and get in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, until the pool is dirty. I am cleaning that crazy thing and adding chemicals every day......I am beginning to wonder if my ex wife did not give it to me as a joke............ha ha ha.
This is probably the most random thing I have written, jumping all over the place with ramdom insane thoughts and conclusions but it is early and I haven't posted anything new for a while.

Does this ever stop?

Well, I would be blogging more often but it has been quite hectic around here. Since being out of school the last 2 weeks I have went back to working a million hours a week. I was on call this last weekend and worked all weekend long. Dara gave us a pool for the kids, and after repairing 20 to 25 holes we finally got it set up. Only for the neighbor kids to repeatedly get in and out of it until it was so dirty that the filter was getting wasted in about an hour and I would replace it for it only to last another hour or so. After I finally told everyone to stay out of it because of the condition of the water everything settled to the bottom. And I must say...............no wonder the dang filter was continually clogged; the whole bottom of the pool looked like a sand trap. So I have emptied it tonight so it can be cleaned out tomorrow. Tricia and I went to Worlds of Fun Sunday evening; that was quite enjoyable with no kids. School started back yesterday..........what a joy that was.

So, it has been wonderful to not have class. I can't imagine having any kind of a life again......one more week of relaxation. The kids have been out of school for 2 days; Leandra started her first job the day after school got out and I'm trying to talk Rick into working Kara at the online bookstore in the apartments behind our house. Hopefully he will go for it because she really wants the job and he asked me to find a woman to work back there with his daughter in law. All of the kids are growing up..........such a shame. LOL. Eric went to his dad's for the weekend and it's Dara's weekend to have the kids, so all is somewhat quiet around here.........other than Ella teething and not feeling well. I will go back to being on call next weekend; unfortunately. Not much else to mention around here.

Memorial Day Weekend

We overall had a pretty good weekend. Saturday Ethan went to school for his last final of the quarter and when he got home we just took it easy all day. Saturday night Ella was up most the night due to teething which was oh so fun and so Sunday I opted to stay home while Dave and Ethan went fishing all day. They caught quite a few fish so I guess we will be having a fish fry some time soon. They both came home looking like lobsters. Sunday evening we went to an AA bbq over at the apartments, which was a well needed little break from the ordinary chaos that I have gotten quite accustomed to. Today we got up and took Eric, Beth, and Ella to the lake to go fishing. First we went to find the bluffos (Beth's way of saying buffalo) which were not even close to being seen and then we tried to fish and Eric caught a log and it started to sprinkle so then we decided to go feed the fish which was actual pretty fun and the kids had a blast. We then went to my sisters for a bbq with my entire family. The most enjoyable thing I experienced this weekend though was this afternoon when I talked my loving husband into letting me paint his toenails purple and then I figured if he let me do that then I should see what else I could get away with so I got to shave his feet and toes. The sad part is that will probably be the highlight of my month with all the kids stuff, school , work, kids appointments, house stuff, and apartment stuff that I deal with daily. My life is so sad luckily I love every minute of it (most the time).

My wife is wonderful; I really don't know how I managed to get everything done before my lovely wife came along. It seems as though she is constantly taking kids to the doctor or dentist, doing laundry, picking up around the house, cooking dinner, taking care of the baby, collecting rent, dealing with crazy tenants, dealing with crazy kids, going to the store, and a whole lot more that I cannot think of right now. Now that I look back over the past five years I really wonder how I juggled everything and did not go absolutely insane. So, once again; my wife is wonderful.................I often wonder how (or why for that matter) she puts up with all this. But I am eternally grateful that she does, because I am sure that I would be lost without her.
On another note; this quarter of school is only one weekend away.........thank God for breaks in between quarters.........I don't know how much longer I could continue those 3 classes I had this quarter................I have NEVER had this much homework in my life and I NEVER want to again. And I am sure mom will be glad I will be taking back over the Sat morning meeting...........I know I will be glad. I have really missed that meeting; I have been doing that meeting for almost five years I think.
Anyway, the kids are all in bed and it is finally quiet around here so I think I will go spend time with my wife. Laters.

I am really bummed out..........apparently there was a party at my house last night after we went to bed...........and I wasn't even invited. No, I just got to wake up to the aftermath; a sink full of dishes, pots and pans on the stove, dishes in every room downstairs, candy bar wrappers and doritos on the floor, an overflowing trashcan, popcans and cups everywhere, and of course 3/4 of a pot of coffee.......still warm I might add. Needless to say; I was not even remotely happy when I awoke and stepped out of my bedroom.............considering the house was clean when we went to bed. And of course upon my drilling of the children as I woke then up..............no one knows anything about it. So I spent the beginning of my morning cleaning; which was at 4:20 thisd morning. Other than that it was a great weekend. I went to school Friday night and it was a makeup night, so I ended up getting out at 7:45 instead of 10:30; and I got Saturday's assignments as well. So I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning doing homework so I could have everything for Saturday's class done when I arrived there Sat morning.........which was good because then I got to leave early on Saturday (at noon instead of 2:00). That in turn gave me time to get some well needed things accomplished Saturday afternoon. I got the garage completely cleaned out (I am still amazed at how much room there is, and how much junk I have accumulated). Dave and I got new spark plugs and fresh gas for the riding mower, and I got the yard picked up and mowed, the front yard weedeated, and the bushes trimmed up. Yesterday after church we went to Home Depot and got some flowers; Trisha planted flowers in the front yard and I spent the entire afternoon cleaning out the car.........and I must say that it looks wonderful, other than I will never go to the carwash I went to yesterday to wash my car, ever again. Trisha did spring cleaning around the house Saturday while I was working out in the yard and garage; she took all of the miniblinds down and cleaned them with bleach and got the laundry caught up and stuff like that. So, all in all, it was a very productive weekend..........although I didn't get my Sunday afternoon nap.........which I so much enjoy.Today Ella goes in for another eye exam and I will be going to get a steroid epideril in my neck this afternoon..................can't wait for that. I was very happy to get to go to a meeting Saturday night and yesterday afternoon though.........they were much needed. I even made a new bar-b-que grill out of an old gas grill and got to try it out last night; it works awsome (if I do say so myself). On another note, I am completely jealous of Chandra getting to go to Jamaica for week.........with NO KIDS. Must be nice. Congradulations to the newlyweds, hope your honeymoon was good........so sorry we couldn't be there to enjoy it with you guys. Anyway; that's about all the time I have for this morning.

Well, it has been an exciting weekend of birthday parties, new tenants, the park, company, kids leaving, hospital visits, kids throwing up, school, and whatever else I have forgotten to mention. I am somewhat glad to be going back to work. Katie has left for Illinois with mom, she has been awaiting trip with anticipation for quite sometime. Bethany was throwing up last night, and Tricia was in the hospital all yesterday morning with lymph node infections. I had an mri done Friday morning.........I have a dislocated disk in my neck. I moved in four new tenants over Friday and Saturday; one more to move in today. Eric had the blowout birthday party at his aunt Becky's with a moonwalk out in the backyard..........I spent the majority of the party in the moonwalk with the kids. Took the kids to the park yesterday morning after Tricia's hospital visit so she could get some sleep; we then went and got ice cream...................of which Bethy dropped hers on the back deck when we got home; so I proceeded to give her mine............of which she dropped on the ground as well. Eric had friends over most of the day yesterday, and the girls where in and out of the house all weekend. Kara's boyfriend had a lung collapse and is now in the hospital.......I think that happened after he left here Friday. Staurday after the big Birthday party we went to Jesus's birthday bar-b-que and then to the 6:30 Maple House meeting; 7 celebrants, an hour and a half long, packed house, and virtually no air conditioning. Eric found a tick on his chest yesterday morning.....of which I promptly removed.
I did have quite a funny event Friday night with Eric though. I was in bed with Tricia (she was asleep) and I was watching "the Wrestler" on the new flatscreen. Eric came in about half way through and informed me that I could sneak out of bed if I really wanted to........mom would never know.......in fact she wouldn't even wake up. I asked him where he thought we were gonna go and his reply "I don't know.......just sneak out of here. After a couple of minutes of prodding I finally informed him we should just stay in bed; he could play his new psp and I would watch the rest of the movie.

So today is take your child to work day. Eric will be riding with me to fix carwashes, Leandra will be staying with Tricia, Kara went to her mom's, and Katie opted to go to school. Eric rode with me last year and had a good time, even "fixed a carwash" if you ask him. Katie has a big dance at school tomorrow night, we went out and she picked out a dress earlier this week...........black of course. Amanda has been going to GED classes a few times a week and will hopefully stick with it. Tricia has a job interview tomorrow and will hopefully be starting work after Ella's eye surgery next week. I have spent my free time creating a webpage and email account for the apartments, and getting ads posted with the website link. That is about all that is new around here.

So, I often wonder what is running through the mind of a three year old when they are............oh say ......pouring 60 oz of bubbles out of the bubblewand bottle onto the carpet. or writing on my bedroom wall with a black permanent sharpie. I often ponder what is going through the mind our dog as he is chewing up the back of the brand new sofa we just purchased. Or why perhaps, a thirteen year old would continually clean out animal cages in the bathtub, washing all that nasty bedding down the bathtub drain.................only to clog it and get yelled at..............again and again and again and again. We will finish this later.

Why is it that living with eight people in a house the only people who think that the house needs to be picked up and cleaned on a daily basis are the adults? The older girls and Eric come in and immediately drop everything in the front living room and then proceed to the kitchen to destroy it and leave it in a wreckage. Bethany believes that her toys only need to stay in her room at night and then they all need to be scattered everywhere during the day. The part I love the most is that it never fails that Friday evening they all expect their allowance for "helping around the house". This is just madness! I just needed to vent a little.

Can you say MENTAL HEALTH DAY!

I will make this short and sweet..........I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of homework it is about to drive me crazy. That's about all I do...or so it seems. I seriously do not think they realize the ramifications of all this paperwork. I honestly do not have time to do anything and it is driving me crazy......and I am beginning to fear for my sanity. And my only thought is that this better be worth it in the long run or I am going to be highly upset......to put it mildly. But that's enough about that boring subject. Ella is doing well, she is outgrowing her clothes and is cute as ever. The rest of the girls and Eric are doing well, and I think Tricia is fed up with dr. and dentist appointments; I know I would be.....it seems like she is taking someone to an appointment daily. Since getting rid of Lucky we have brought a new edition to the family; a miniture pincher pup. We all felt so bad about letting Lucky go (he was adopted out the same dy though) I had to do something. Katie and Ali are attempting to convince Tricia and I that Katie should be going down with G-Goodie to Chandra's. And that's all I have time for this morning.

I realized today just how small my baby actually is. I went to Truman Lakewood to see a friend of mine who had a baby this morning. Every thing went well until we attempted to leave. I rang the buzzer to get out and a nurse came on the speaker and asked me to turn the car seat around to the camera to make sure that I was not leaving with one of the newborns. I turned the seat and she said please hold on one moment and i will be back with you. Not a minute later there are 3 women walking towards me. They asked me if she was mine, if i had her birth certificate and they even looked at her belly button to see if it was still new or not. I told them that she was 4 months old and the nurse smiled and said " 4 month olds are bigger than that". They finally believed me after they saw her belly but that was a good twenty minutes of my life that I will never get back.

So we were at Blockbuster at midnight Friday for the big "Twilight" movie release..............more like madness. Finally got to sit down and watch it tonight and it was a pretty good movie. But the big highlight of our weekend was a brand new stove and dishwasher. I have never had any brand new appliances before so it was a pretty big deal to me. My wife on the other hand was just happy to have an oven again..............it has been about 6 weeks since we have had a working oven. Katie got her "Twilight" movie and a 5 foot tall poster of Edward from the movie, so she was extremely happy...needless to say. LeAndra got to practice driving today; she did very well I must say. Bethany and Eric got the huge boxes from the stove and dishwasher.......so we made houses out of them; that made them happy. Ella is beginning to outgrow some of her premie clothes. I am just now realizing (once again) that the weekend is over and that they are not near long enough. But the kids do have to go back to school, so I guess that will suffice for now.

It's a wonderful thing to be up at 5:00 am and have absolutely no one up. It is completely silent and peaceful around here..........and I am enjoying it tremendously. We went to Walmart Sunday afternoon for formula and Eric and I decided that he needed a bb gun. So we got a pumpmaster 750 with a scope and 4000 bb's. We have set up a target range out back, with some cans and a large piece of sheetrock with a poorly drawn punk rocker to shoot at. So far no one has been shot and there have been no lawsuits or damage. The girls have been playing the F.E.A.R. 2 game that Kara picked out the other day. I couldn't get that controller out of their hands even if I had time to play a video game.
This quater's classes are completely ridiculous; I dont think these people understand how limited and important my time really is. The only good thing I see happening out of this is that after thids weekend I informed my boss there is absolutely no way I can be on call for the next 11 weeks. Every Wednesday there will be a page to a page and a half paper due for homework. Every Friday there is a lab and about fifteen pages of typed homework to be done. And as if that is not enough, every Saturday there is about a seventy page lab (I managed to get the first 3 pages done Saturday in class) and about thirty pages of typed homework due. And that's every week...................like I really have time for all that crap. I have spent the majority of my weekend and last night doing homework and have barely put a dent in it. I honestly don't think these people realize that I have a family or life outside of school.
Bethany got a new fish...Pink (hers and Eric's had died within a few days of being home). It's a pink glowfish, and we got her a new aqaurium to go with it. She has been throwing up all yesterday and last night...........JOY. I took her to Blockbuster last night to get a Barney movie to hopefully keep her somewhat occupied briefly. And today is the big day we've all been waiting for.....yes Twilight hits the movie store this morning. So we shall be trying to grab that one this morning before it's gone and I have to hear about it from a certain teenager.
Kids are roaming the house getting coffee, so I guess that's my que to get ready for work.

So, it is Saturday morning and I am going to class today. What could be more thrilling..........cisco routers perhaps.........lets hope so because that is today's class. At least I have the same instructor Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; and I do prefer him as far as instructors go. I am just glad to be off work for a minute. Eric had never seen Independence Day...so we all watched that the other night, I forgot how good of a movie that was. Nothing else really going on; I did take Kara and Beth to Blockbuster last night so Beth could pick out a movie and Kara could get a video and game. And you all have already heard.......she chose F.E.A.R 2........how cool is that. Eric went to Cabo this weekend with his aunt and we are all stuck here in Missouri. Tricia's cousin gave Katie 2 more ginea pigs; she was asleep on the couch yesterday afternoon and sat straight up when I mentioned to Tricia that G-goodie knew someone that was giving away some rabbits/babies. Ifound that somewhat amusing......that she sat up out of a sound sleep when I mentioned baby bunnies and who's got bunnies...I want em. Unfortunately for her we are no longer accepting applications for wildlife or pets to become members of the family.

The addiction has returned. Ethan went to blockbuster and came home with FEAR 2 saying that Kara wanted it which I find extremely hard to believe. I just wanted everyone to be aware so if he crawls back into his shell of not answering his phone, or the door then that is why. We are all still alive over here just confined to the house due to the placement of the XBOX but we will return to society as soon as this new obsession has subsided

Happy Birthday Mom! I don't have much time here, so I shall be brief. Bethany's birthday party Saturday was a success.........I'm glad we decided to have that at Pizza street and let them clean up the mess. A certain teenager made it through her grounding without a single incident, bad attitude, or negative comment. I am thoroughly amazed........that is a first...........I thought I had that one pegged. Tricia has dentist appointments set up about every other day for the next month between us adults and all the kids. That should keep her busy for a while. Ella has eaten her first bananna....thanks to Kara, and has been eating vegies and rice every day along with her bottles. This is my last night of freedom, I go back to class tomorrow........fortunately this is almost over.That's all for now folks.

Eric and I are on to a new game, it's called BIOSHOCK..........and it is pretty creepy. F.E.A.R. 2 is like $60 and I refuse to pay that much for a stupid video game, although I have heard it is quite awsome. T.G.I.F.; I am so glad it is Friday, I really do live for the weekend. Oh yeah, and for the kids to go to their mom's house.......that's not wrong is it. Katie's new pet has a cold; or so I am told. I took Amanda to her first court date, and last I hope. Her mom refused to take her, probably something to do with the fact Amanda was using my divorse lawyer. All went well, 2 years unsupervised probation, no walmart for 2 years, and no conviction.

I always thought that the birth of my children was the happiest day of my life well I found out that I was wrong. The ending of the FEAR obsession is way more exciting than anything I could ever imagine. The other day I had to run to the store so I told him that I made a bottle in case Ella needed it and I would be back in a moment. I came home to her screaming and he was so wrapped in that game that he did not even hear her. How the older girls survived is beyond me. If he decides to get FEAR 2 I may have to seek counseling for him or I may have to seek a lawyer lol.

So you'll never believe what happened last night. I was quite excited yesterday evening when my wife told me I could play F.E.A.R. after bringing in the groceries. Eric and Beth were watching as I was attempting to make it out of the hospital level, screaming at all the creatures as I was destroying them, laughing at me when I got shot and ultimately died (multiple times). They both then began cheering for the enemy, repeatedly warning me that I was not gonna make it out alive. Suddenly I defeated what seemed like a hundred armored guards in a huge gunfight, the screen blew up, everything turned red, we all started freaking out. Then the credits started to roll.............I defeated it..............a week and a half..................and it's over. I really don't know what to do. Eric and I were completely in awe, he couldn't figure out how I did it. That was the highlight of yesterday. I suppose it will be time for F.E.A.R. 2 or another game, I really wasn't expecting that so quickly.

Kids and wife are all well, nothing exciting to mention as of yet, but just give another day. I am fully expecting the beginning of W.W.3 tomorrow morning, it should be fun. The girls will be going to their mother's for the weekend, and I am enjoying the no school at the present moment, and glad it's almost Friday. Everyone at work is fearing for their job, I am sure we will lose a couple of technicians soon. We lost a chemical salesman earlier this week, and their are no new installs for the install crew........which is not good news for them. I was assured that mine and Mike's jobs are secure, and that my supervisor would go before Mike or myself were let go; so that was somewhat reassuring.

Yesterday was crazy sock day at Eric's school, so he borrowed the craziest pair of socks from Kara and proudly wore them all day and night............even to bed. Today is pocket day where you pull your pockets out and let them all hang out all day. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

So, not much to add to add this morning. Tricia and I took Dave out to Red Lobster last night, his dad past away the day before yesterday. Not that I'm prejudiced; but we appearred to be the only white folk in the place other than the servers. It only took an hour and ten minutes to get our food, I'm glad we weren't hungry or anything. Dinner was pretty good, although Dave's gumbo soup he ordered smelled awful (in my opinion anyways; not that it amounts to much). A certain teenager (who shall remain unnamed) has been grounded amd decellphoned for a week. She should be a total joy to be around by this weekend. I already know how this will play out, let me clue you in. It's generally the same tactic; although she hasn't been grounded in quite some time. The tactic is just this with hardly an exception; no problem in taken her punishment, no problem turning over her cell phone, she remains in good spirit for a few days until the fated Friday morning arrives. Then she faithfully intimates that her naturally good attitude, response to her punishment, and good behavior should be highly rewarded with the dropping of all punishments. And when that doesn't happen she will become quite irate. That will happen Friday morning before school, she will beg and try to make any kind of deal possible to leave the jail. Then by Friday afternoon when her plan has failed she will become very irate and somewhat irrational, and the good character she has displayed all week will be lost in vain. She will spend the evening listening to loud music and ignoring us all, except to look at us as though we are all losers and have no right to be here. Staurday morning will be a slight change in character to try her tactics yet again, only to fail miserably. Right back to the attitude of the previous night, we have no right to punish her, we are all losers, this house sucks, we suck, and we're gonna be sorry for this (you just wait and see). It will be that way for the entire day, we are better off just avoiding the good tempered, rational teenager. Then finally Sunday evening this will begin to subside, so long as we all have suffered with her in this miserable, rotten, hellhole. Monday morning we will aqll wake up and pretend that this never happened. This scenario will happen just as I have explained and we will not vary from the way this all goes down. Why.....................................because it never changes..............no never.

Finals are over; YEAH!!!!! That is the highlight of my week. I am so glad that is over, now I have a whole week and 2 days before I go back. And I have began moderation in the F.E.A.R. department. I only played it once over the weekend and again yesterday afternoon, so I guess there is still hope.

Ok, the F.E.A.R. thing is not quite as bad as I may make it out to sound......then again denial is the first sign (or so they tell me). Whatever happened to the old simple games like Super Mario Bros. and Duckhunt? Well I will say that the only video game Tricia likes is Super Mario Bros; and guess what I found last weekend.......you guessed it..Super Mario Bros. Dave and I both bought these controllers last weekend that plug right in to the tv. 73,000 games on this crazy thing, and all are the old school video games like Super Mario Bros, Duckhunt, DonkeyKong, DigDug, BurgerTime, Excite Bike.......the list goes on. that thing is awsome, It sure brings back memories of my sisters and I playing the old Nintendo up in my bedroom on the old 13" tv. Those games are freakin awsome.
And now for the rest of the story....I am feeling much better, Ella is doing good, and everyone else appears to be somewhat normal (whatever that is). I am trying to step this up a notch and comment on some of yeralls blogsites. Did I really just say yerall...WOW. TGIF - that's all I have to say. It has been a long week, tonight will be my MicroEconomics final; oh the fun. Thank goodness that class is over, Economics...and on Friday nights...oh the joy. It is now 6:30 in the morning, I have already drank an entire pot of coffee and can see my whole day flashing before my eyes. I plan on trying to work on our bedroom some more this week since finals will be over Monday, and clean out the garage, work in the yard, and other fun stuff like that since I normally don't get to anymore....but that may just be the coffee talkin.

F.E.A.R. ......and that picture is of KaraBear

Not much to add today, Ella had an eye exam yesterday; so she was a bit cranky all day. Tricia thought Katie needed a rewarded for bringing all of her grades up so she bought Katie a guinea pig (don't know if that's spelled right). So we have a new addition to the family; Mr. Wiggles, he pretty cute I suppose for a pig. Finals for Linux class last night went well I think, didn't really seem too hard. I have finals again tomorrow and then on Monday, then I will get a whole week off of school........Yeah! Kara is well, I am still sick though, but still getting better day by day. And I am realizing that I am really addicted to this stupid XBox game FEAR; and that's probably an understatement. I went home for lunch yesterday to have lunch with the wife; only to find no one at home...so guess what I did? That's right, FEAR. Wife comes home after I get home yesterday afternoon after work and am I studying...no... that's right-FEAR. Yesterday morning 6 am; take a guess at what I was doing...ok I think I've said enough; but yes it was more FEAR. I appear to have lost control of how much I play, when I play, or for how long I play; but don't worry I've got it all under control. I often womder where this game has been all my life? How have I done without it? What will happen when I beat the game? OK...all that's just a little extreme but I do really enjoy playing that game. My little bro called yesterday to see if I wanted a "tampolene"? I said yes but all I think about is another doctor/hospital visit and bill. Not really; what I was really thinking is that if I only had that trampolene in my game FEAR there would no stopping me...I could jump higher and further and never ever get shot and die. Not really, but you can see the effect this stupid game has had over me. Got to go.

Since my last update, Ella was in the hospital from Friday the 20th until yesterday afternoon. I have been sick since last Tuesay, and Kara has been sick the last 2 days. Tricia spent the weekend up at the hospital, and the kids were at their mom's for the weekend; or supposed to be anyway. Eric and Bethany spent the weekend at their grandmothere's house, and I was here with the dog and cat all weekend. I am finding that I obviously don't have the free time that you all do to be updating this on a regular basis. This week is finals for Linux administration and (my favorite) MicroEconomics; NOT! Next week will be Database finals (another of my favorite classes); NOT! I will seriously be glad when this all over, it is not getting any easier. There is only about 1/4th of the people that I started with left, I didn't realize so many people would drop out. I bought this Xbox for the kids a few weeks ago, and I have now become totally addicted to this game FEAR - awsome game. I started playing it over the weekend while everyone was gone and now can't hardly put it down. Friday morning, between Rickie and Jesus, my entire house got refurniturized (I don't think that's a real word but what the heck). So, new matching furniture and entertainment center in the video game room, matching chairs to replace the table in the office, new matching sofa and chairs, coffee table and end table in the living room, and a new bunk bed for Eric's bedroom. The house looks quite different, needless to say. I was amazed, I set out all that old furniture in the front yard while all the new was coming in, and the old stuff dissapeared before I could even get the new furniture arranged. Anyway---that's all for now folks!

So,it's been a week or so since I've had the opportunity to update this thing. I will try to do better at keeping you all up to date. I myself have been sick the last couple of days, and Bethany has been sick for a few days now. Whatever she has just keeps hangin on, coughing etc. I am preparing for finals next week, only 22 more weeks of school after this round of finals. While most companies are downsizing Nu Look is acrually growing, we took over abot 20 more carwashes and they are talking of hiring 2 more service techs. It's about 6 am this morning and I must say I enjoy the peace and quite, it's actually one of my favorite times of day, before anyone else is up and around. Carissa watched Ella Grace last Friday so Tricia and I could do our Valentine's Day thing. I had flowers sent to the house during the day and bought her a ring. Then Friday night we went to Red Lobster and got a couple of movies from blockbuster. Swing Vote I believe is what we watched, very good movie. Then Saturday the Dains kids came oveer and stayed the night, baby Wiz went home early, and we went and got movies and video games and partied it up. We are preparing for Bethany's B-Day party, I believe it's going to be at Pizza Street. Anyway, that's all you get for now.

"Monster Jam"

So, Monster Jam was a big hit with Eric and Kara. It was fun, Eric got a "GraveDigger" flag to wave around and screamed his little lungs out. I really didn't think he would have a voice left after it was over, but of course I was wrong. And we had the family birthday party for princess Leandra, that went well too. So, over all it was a good weekend.

Long week

So, it's been a week since I had a chance to update this. The kids survived our night away at the hotel, man that was awful relaxing other than the fact we bed went to bed by nine; that really made me feel old. Get rid of the kids, get a hotel room and go to sleep. Monday was LeAndra's 17th birthday, that made me feel quite old as well. We had a big dinner with the family and her friends, then on Wednesday we went to the mall. LeAndra got a couple pieces of jewelry (she couldn't find anything else she wanted), Kara ended up getting a new G1 phone, I got a new wedding ring (one that actually fits), Katie got a pair of black suspenders with bleeding hearts, and Tricia got a late Christmas present, a gold, silver, diamond, and amythest heart necklace. Considering the fact that we have seven kids between the two of us we had decided not to get each other anything at Christmas and just buy for the kids. Ella is continuing to keep us up at night repeatedly; I really hope she ends that soon, it gets quite weary. Tomorrow we shall be going to "Monster Jam", should be exciting. By the way, this picture is about how I feel right now.......a little crazy.

"Mortal Kombat" and "Monster Jam"

Well, Eric and I went and picked up a new toy this week; Xbox360. Pretty cool gaming system, immediately had to go pick up "Mortal Kombat - D.C. Heroes". Got some classic games too, "frogger" and "pac-man", some of us prefer the mortal kombat though. And we got tickets to "Monster Jam" at the Sprint Center, neither of has been to a monster truck show, but we both can't wait to go. Eric went to his dad's for the weekend, after he was reassured that the monster truck show was not until next weekend. Beth went to her grandmas house, so the wife and I decided to leave the older ones to fend for themselves, and we went to a hotel for night. Hopefully the house is still there when we get back, notice I didn't mention the kids in that statement. Just kidding. Ella will go to church for the first time tomorrow morning, Pastor Joey is going to dedicate her hopefiully in the next week or two.

Ella's BIG sister!

Well initially I set this site up for my wife, but it looks like I will need to get this thing going. Ella had her first round of shots today (don't know how that went yet). She also got to come visit her dad at work today and meet a few of the Nu Look staff. Her sisters at home have taken quite a liking to her as well. Bethany apparently think she needs to constantly hold her and take care of her. It's quite a site, I think she gets a little jealous of her at times too.

Ella "I'm home"

Ella Grace is finally home and doing well. She was 2 months old Tuesday when she got to come home. Our dog Lucky is quite amusing around her, if she even makes a peep he comes immediately to the bassinett or crib and does not leave until she quites down. She is weighing in at a whopping 5+ pounds now.