Christmas 2014 #1 (St. Joe, MO)

We already have a Christmas done and out of the way!  Amazing huh?
Saturday around noon, we headed out to St. Joe, MO.  The 3 hour drive was fairly smooth - we were hoping Cora would have napped, but of course, she didn't...  it actually surprised us.  She's a very good napper, and it was around the time of nap, so not sure what was wrong.  But she never did close her eyes.  
We got to the hotel around 3pm...  got unloaded and met up with everyone else.  It was good to have Blair and Martina and the kids there...  Tate, K and Cora played great, running around like crazy.  It's a good thing that hotel wasn't busy - we would have gotten kicked out!  LOUD kids!  :)  

Soon enough, Aunt Maagie, Jimmy & Diana showed up to hang out with us... and celebrate our Christmas with them.  We had a very nice time...  enjoyed a nice meal... gifts for the kiddos (which they were thrilled about!)... and trying to get some conversations in!  We took the kids swimming too, which was a blast for them.  The water was surprisingly WARM, so the kids (and adults) really enjoyed it.  It seems like we always keep our swim trips short cuz the water is always cold!

I think that wore them out - at least Cora for sure.  Instantly after bath, she was laying down in random spots...  just waiting for us to stop moving and put her to bed.  Poor girl!  We got the kids in bed... and enjoyed some quiet time with just us adults. 

Today we got up and enjoyed the breakfast at the hotel... and got packed up.  Unfortunately we didn't really have time to hang around... Ryan had to be back on the road to MN tonight at 5, so we headed out from St. Joe around 10am.   We got home safely... started laundry...  and doing our 'Sunday afternoon' duties (minus groceries).  

It's been a pretty good evening...  I got the kids to bed (wish it would have happened a little earlier than it did), but that's ok.  

It's been a great couple days - we are very blessed.  

Cora - always wanting to be with Landry!

with Aunt Tina!

Kiddos with Aunt Maagie

Attempting Memory with Papa!

Kiddos!

Funny faces before swimming!

So sweet.

Lots of cannon balls & throwing up in the air!

"I do myself!!" she says...

the gang!

A puzzle K received - he loved it!

Minnie jammies she received!

Thanksgiving 2014

We headed to Clarion Wednesday afternoon...  roads were fine until we got about an hour away... then it turned south!  It got much colder... windier... and starting snowing.  The roads quickly started being 'covered' and slick.  As Ryan says - "it wasn't that bad."  Ok honey.  I was a nervous wreck!  :)

We got to the farm safely...  yes - thank you Ryan.  :)

We just hung out with Mom and Dad for the evening...  the kids played pretty well too.  Cora kept Mom very busy - Mom just fusses over her a ton, and does whatever with her.  We got the kids to bed fairly early, and then we tried to relax a little.  It was a tough couple hours watching Mom...  Dad has always said that she has a hard time at night time - she just will not sit still... at.all.  The farm house is covered with hand towels, wash towels and rugs.  I'm not joking.  Ryan and I tried to pick some things up (in preparation for today), and just de-clutter a little.  It didn't work.  The moment we picked something up, she had already put it back, or something in it's place.  It's amazing.  Amazing what a brain can do.  

Anyway...  soon it was this morning.  Of course, I didn't sleep well at all.  We got up and started our day.  I did a little cleaning and again, attempting the de-cluttering, which was fairly successful.  Mom typically sleeps in, but she must have heard the kids and commotion, so she was up early.  

Jill's and Tricia's came out around 11...  and we did have a really good time.  The food was great and we just really enjoyed ourselves.  This afternoon, Cora took a nice rest...  and us girls played a round of Phase 10.  Always a family favorite.  We had some great laughs.  

Everyone started heading out around 5:00 this afternoon.  We packed up as well and were on the road around 6.  It was a good trip home... we are all unpacked and kiddos are asleep.  I'm tired too.  :)

I took some random pics... none of us as a family, but that's ok!  

Watching Papa make popcorn.  A favorite of Kayson's.

Milk & Popcorn - just like Papa Paul

Kayson read his Thanksgiving story to Papa.  So nice.

Cora playing with some old toys that I played with!

Ashley & Cora

Linds & Cora

So many 'selfies' taken today!!  :)

Alzheimer's Disease

My mother has Alzheimer's, or Dementia.  She was diagnosed nearly 3 years ago now... and 3 years ago, it was simple - life was simple.  She forgot random things, but we knew something was happening.  Life went on...  we were concerned, but didn't see that much changing, which we were thankful for.  She still took care of herself quite well... still did her 'jobs' at the church, etc.  Things did change within a year...

The family (mostly my sisters and Ryan and I) would try hard to just make light of the situation, laugh of some of the things she'd say/do...  we did that for awhile.  (knowing deep down it was bad, but we just had to do something)...  I don't see us doing that today.  It's just changed.  

Now - over the past 8 months, I would say this disease is significantly worse for her...  and us. I really, really don't like talking about this, but something triggered me tonight to just write here.  I guess part of me wants to write to make me feel better... and again, like re-reading all this stuff to my kids when they get bigger, I hope to be able to re-read this to them as well.  They don't understand now...  and soon enough, they will - or at least Kayson will.  I want to make sure I do a good job of being their Mom and helping them through their questions and letting them know how I feel/felt. 

Mom has shown some significant decrease in being able to have a conversation...  a short 3 minute talk over the phone includes her asking about the kiddos at least 5 times and being confused about what time it is.  This is so hard to explain.  

She's also shown a behavior difference.  She's gotten mean.  Period.  I, personally, have not experienced this yet (thank God), however, my sisters and Dad have.  I hate this.  I hate the fact that she gets mean and says hurtful words to them.  That's not fair.  At all.  My sisters remember our Mom's Mom doing the same thing.  (Yes, our Grandma had this terrible disease as well).  Lovely right?  So that goes into how much my mind races - will I have this awful disease as well?  Will my sisters?  Will my CHILDREN?  I think about Ryan growing old with me.  I think about how medication is now - will it get better? 

We don't see my parents often... we just don't.  We are so darn busy with our own lives, and sometimes when we have a free day, we just want to be in our own home.  It's a tough situation to be in.  So with us not seeing them that much, I know that she struggles 'knowing' us.  She knows us, but I do think it makes things harder...  "out of sight, out of mind" type of thing.  

There's so much to say... so much more to give examples of the things we see and experience.  I just pray every night that there's a miracle that will happen with this disease and my Mom.  I don't know what that miracle should be, but something better than how things are now, would be great. 


Some random facts I found:

• Over 5 million Americans suffer from the disease.  5 MILLION.
• 6th leading cause of death in the U.S.
• 1 out of 3 seniors die from this disease.

Seeing those numbers makes me sick... and more sad.  

Saturday/Sunday

I have no pictures to post from the weekend, but we had a pretty darn good one... 
Saturday, Ryan and Mike (along with Uncle Bill and friend Lester) headed off to a gloomy day of football.  JeanAnn spent the day with me and the kids.  We didn't do much in the morning... the kids helped her make chex mix (which is awesome).  I love that they are interested in stuff like that, cuz I totally don't do stuff like that with them!  We had a quick lunch...  then I was off to do some errands.  I needed to get a few random things done and didn't want to haul the kids.  Then JeanAnn did a few errands herself once I was back.  All during this, I was sneezing and coughing like crazy... I almost felt like it was allergies, but I couldn't really tell.  But it wore me out. 

The kids were pretty good all day...  sure, we have some meltdowns, but it was an okay day... however, still long.  Having Ryan gone for over 12 hours...  not exactly the best day in the world.  :)  But we do it!   By the time Ryan and the guys got back, I was beat...  kids were too.  

I haven't been sleeping well over the past week...  so I crashed hard, but then woke up about an hour later... tossed and turned, and ended up on the couch.  Then Cora woke up fairly early... so Ryan got up with her, which was great.  I did sleep longer, which was much needed.  

Anyway...  today around lunch time, we got our family pictures taken.  Kayson did amazing - he's our little model.  :)  Cora - she was a stinker...  however, I do think (or least REALLY HOPE), the gal got some good smiles out of her.  We went to the Botanical Center, which is way neat... but HOLY HUMIDITY.  My hair was a disaster.  :(    SO...  we shall see how those turn out.  ha.  

The remainder of the day has been pretty quiet... and quick.  I've done laundry and got groceries...  Cora took an ok rest, Kayson has just had some quiet time.  

I'm looking forward to the short work week, but we have such a busy Wednesday night through Monday - I'm not sure if I'm really looking forward to it!  I mean, it'll obviously be nice to be with family and not have to work...  but man, it exhausts us when we aren't at home!   Here's to a short work week!

Kayson Kindergarten Fall Conference

Tonight was an exciting evening here (even tho this Momma was anxious!).  We had Kayson's first parent-teacher conference as a true school student!  Nicky and Avery came over to keep Cora entertained... Ryan, K and I were off.  

When we arrived, Kayson showed us a few things that were on the walls - some drawings mostly.  Then we sat down (as we were waiting) and looked through his Profile.  It was full of different items - like his writing, some math work and some social drawings.  It was SO neat to see all of this... and have him tell us all about the stuff in there too.  He seemed so interested and was excited to tell us about it!  There was also a book in there - he read the whole thing to us with only a few mistakes.  It was AMAZING.  By far - that was the best part.  Just seeing him read to us and be confident in that. 

Then Mrs. White was ready for us.  We all sat down and just talked a little about how Kayson's doing... she showed us a few of the basics (what Kayson knows and some 'test' that he took).  He also read a little more of that book to us again (so Mrs. White could listen).  Then he was free to play on the iPad there - all learning apps of course!  :)  It was then time for the adults to talk.  Mrs. White has no concerns about Kayson academically.  She says he's doing really well and she's very proud of his work, especially his reading and writing.  I LOVE IT!  

One thing we were curious about was if Kayson is a leader or a follower at school.  Our guess was follower.  Mrs. White corrected us instantly - he's a leader, she says.  She says he is confident in his work and learning, that he tends to be the leader.  We were thrilled to hear that!!!  Very cool.  She also said that he's very responsible... she said she has a few students that she asks to do things for her or the class and they do it with no question.  Kayson is one of them, he's always asking to help.  This didn't surprise us at all - Kayson does NOT like to be bored.  Sure, he can sit quietly on the iPad or watching a movie, but if he's not doing that - he wants to be busy.  We plan on giving him more things to do around the house - helping out, etc.  Mrs. White thinks he'll do really well with that. 

So overall, the conference was great.  We are very proud of Kayson and how well he's done these first 3 months or so.  It's pretty awesome seeing all the neat things he's doing and everything he's learning.  Learning rocks!!  :)

Snow Weekend & Christmas Prep

We've had a really good weekend...
Friday evening, we got a sitter and went out with some neighbors.  Downtown we went to Malo's.  Wow - we had a great time, and great food.  We'll so be going back!  Good times.

Saturday morning, Ryan went into work for a bit...  kids and I drove each other crazy.  Yes.  :)  Once Ryan got home, Kayson and I went to the book fair at school...  quick trip to get us out of the house.   The rest of the day was spent inside...  cuz it started snowing!!  We were prepped to not go anywhere, and that's what we did...  we watched the big, fat flakes fall all afternoon.   Of course Kayson wanted to go out and shovel the SECOND it started snowing, but we made him wait!  ha.   I got some cleaning done and laundry too.  It was just a good day to be inside.

Today has been another day at home...  this morning, however, I went out with Nicky and Avery to take a few snapshots of them in the snow.  It was a quick, cold time, but we had fun.  Then this afternoon, we got all the Christmas stuff out - tree is decorated, kids' tree is decorated and some other random stuff is out.  It's SO early for us to do this, but next weekend is fairly busy... and then the weekend of Thanksgiving is completely packed.  So it's done.  

I finally did take some pictures of the kiddos over the weekend...  Enjoy!

Cora loves Murphy...  Murphy does not love Cora.  :)

So sweet.

He LOVES this.

Our snow bunnies!

Great Weekend

Friday we started our weekend off by our normal El Rodeo dinner out... we got groceries following that.  We were prepping for company!  Blair, Martina, Tate and Landry were going to be with us all weekend.  They arrived around 8:45...  We had put Cora to bed, but let K stay up...  of course, Tate and K were excited to see each other, and down the basement they went!  It was a late night for them... but they did so great. 

Saturday, everyone was up early (BOO HISS), but it just started our day...  lots of playing and mass chaos coming from our house!  The boys played, fought, argued, played, laughed... you name it!  Martina spent the afternoon and evening with some girlfriends for a Bachelorette type day, so I missed seeing her, but overall, we had a good day. 

Saturday night, the four of us went out to our friend's farm in Adel - Lindsay grew up with Ryan, and her and her family have a beautiful home/land...  they were hosting a bon fire.  They had invited us months ago, so we felt we needed to go - we typically miss their party cuz there's usually a Iowa game, but this year it worked out.  There was a ton of people there...  and it was a ton of fun for the kids.  We got to see some friends we hadn't seen in awhile, the kids got to roast marshmallows, stay warm by a HUGE bon fire, and just enjoy the pretty nice weather.  We had planned on being out there just a short time, but I think we were gone for about 3 hours!  Bed came at around 9:30 for the kiddos...  

And then today, all the kiddos slept in...  minus Miss Landry...  she kind of had a rough night for Blair, so that wasn't fun for him.  But man, she was happy!  ha.  Funny how that works.  :)   She's such a pretty little girl.  I'm so glad I got to spend some extra time with her - she's just growing up so fast already (5 months already!)

We hung out this morning and had lunch out... and Blair and Martina headed out.  The remainder of the day was great.  Ryan and Kayson worked outside - cleaning up the garage, doing one last mow job on the yard, putting away some outdoor toys... just prepping for the cold weather.  Meanwhile, Cora took a super short nap - had a really hard time laying down, then just couldn't rest well.  I did about 7 loads of laundry - clothes, sheets, blankets...everything!  I rearranged the living room... yes, I love doing stuff like that!  I even scrubbed the kitchen floor!  I was on fire... and now it's caught up to me.  I'm wiped out!!!  The kids went to bed a little earlier than normal...  so it's just quiet now.  I'm super pumped that I have tomorrow off!  YEA!

I have no pictures from the weekend...  but it was a good time, and lots of memories were made.  Love those guys.

This & That

• Thank God it's Thursday.  :)  It's been yet, another crazy, busy week... mostly at work, and a little at home.  
• Our 'business' trip Ryan and I took about 4 weeks ago...  'business' has come to an end.  Long story short - Ryan was approached once again by the Co-Op in Fort Dodge for a job.  Like last November, we talked and talked... even got to the point of accepting the job.  Once Ryan did though, things changed - he was very hesitant to leave DSM and his current job... and most importantly up-rooting the family.  Lots more thinking, talking, going back and forth...  in the end, Ryan's heart is in his current job, so the job was then declined.  At this point in our lives, this is where we are meant to be.  This time around was probably harder on us and definitely brought us closer...  I support Ryan fully.  He is our provider.
• My good friend, Jessica (a blogger as well) - has been doing this 'Random Reader' thing, and I love it.  SUCH a cute idea.  I've thought about following her footsteps, but I honestly don't know WHO reads my blog... so I won't do it.  (Maybe I'll be one of her topics...)  :)
• Kayson's really been struggling with following the rules and listening...  again, lacking respect.  Gosh, it's so hard.  It's probably been the hardest thing I've dealt with over the past couple weeks.  I'm not sure what's triggering it.  Teaching an almost 6 year old how to respect??  Yeah, good luck right?!
• We have school conferences in a couple weeks...  man, I'm SO intrigued to get there and hear what Mrs. White has to say.  I pray every night that he's doing well and behaves at school!!! 
• Cora has been a big ham lately...  dancing and singing a lot, "Hey Janelle!!!", she's finally saying "Kayson", rather than "Brother",she gets to giggling a lot when her and Ryan wrestle...  or when Kayson's doing something funny.  I've also realized when she's dancing in the car - she loves to look at herself in the rear-view mirror and fake sing and make faces.  It's hysterical.  She's such a girl.  :)
• We are in the planning stages of Kayson's birthday party...  we are doing Sky Zone.  It seems crazy that he'll be 6.  He's just gotten so big...  and tall. 
• Ryan and I have a day planned to go Christmas shopping.  Yes, Christmas.  I hate it... I hate the idea of the hustle and bustle... but it's got to be done.  Monday I'm shopping with my sisters to get that side of the family done...  then we'll concentrate on our family and Ryan's side.  Lord help me.  :)

Kayson - Lost 1st Tooth

Tonight was a big night at the Taylor house.  Kayson lost his first tooth!!!  Saturday night when we were in Clarion, he did a slow panic and told us he had a tooth loose.  We felt it, and sure enough, it was...  but it still had a ways to go.  By Sunday it was a little more loose... and tonight - it was just hangin'!  

Kayson got nervous as both Ryan and I said - "It's gotta come out!"  Ryan took a kleenex and pulled - out it came!  Tears came from Kayson - he was so scared... and then he saw the blood, which made him more scared!!!  BUT... after about 3 minutes of tears and us being so excited - he was all better.  He had a huge smile on his face!  We called and texted our families... which he thought was pretty cool.  

This was a pretty bittersweet moment.  Ryan's words were - "I'm so happy, but man that makes me sad - he's growing up."  Right on.  

Weekend

So... another week is gone, and another weekend.  It's so depressing.
Friday evening we stayed in...  we had a long week and it was just best to stay home, just us.  Saturday morning, Ryan and Mike (along with two others) headed to the IA game.  Cora let me sleep til around 7, which was nice... Kayson slept til about 8:30.  Even nicer.  We had a pretty good morning, until it got closer to lunch time.  I'm not sure what happens to Kayson, but he gets a terrible attitude when it's close to eating time... OR when it's close to having someone come visit.  JeanAnn was coming to visit for a bit, and do an errand...  Kayson just struggles to show respect (mostly to me) and listen.  I don't get it.   Anyway...  he did straighten up, and JeanAnn took him with her to do her errands.  I enjoyed some quiet while Cora rested.  

Once Ryan got home from the game, we packed up and headed up to Clarion.  It was a long drive with the kids.  I don't know if we (as parents) were short tempered or what, but it was a long trip.  I couldn't wait to get to my sisters.  ha.  Anyway, we got settled at Tricia's... and let the kids play, and we just sat and talked and laughed a lot.  We had a really good time.  It was exactly what I needed.  

This morning we headed to church - my nieces and nephew (Eden, Lindsay & Ryan) were being confirmed at church.  We felt it was important to be there.  Kayson did really well during church - Cora was a typical 2 year old.  Talking (loudly), not sitting still and just being busy.  We had lunch with everyone, then we headed home.  We all were tired... not much talking on the way home, two sleeping kids.  

That's all I've got for a 'weekend' update.  It was busy... it went by way too fast... it's a blur a little.  

Here's to a better week...