Opening gifts

Sledding in Pierre

I have a ton to tell you about, but wanted you to see this video. If you get motion sickness from home videos, this video might not be for you. Or perhaps you could take a Dramamine as an h'ordeurve while you wait for the clip to buff. As always, it's up to you.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Dreams

What do you think it means when you dream that you live in a trailer.....

and have a full size buffalo as an indoor pet?

Oh my!

Claire's hat

This picture was taken of Peach in October of 2006. Isn't she adorable? So cute. She loves that hat.

I was whipping through the closet the other day trying to find something causing the hat to resurface. Claire couldn't have been happier. I told her that the hat didn't fit her anymore, but she wasn't having it.

She put it on.

What was I thinking?

'Like a glove'. ;)

Jack counts and Claire's gellin'?

I TOTALLY! thought she said she was gellin'.

...because I think it's adorable

Are you ready?

If you are one of my clients, you'll be asking and asked this question.

Are you ready for Christmas?

I ask every single client this and they ask me. My answer is no, I'm not ready. I have some things, but I have quite a bit more to get. I have Nathan and Claire's big Santa gifts, but very little for Jack. He's still so young and easy to buy for. It's nothing a trip to Toys R us can't fix.

I don't have my Christmas cards done. Done? I haven't even started them. I planned to do that this past weekend until the flu knocked on the door. Damn flu.

This weekend I'm working until 2 on Saturday and then Tracy and I are taking the kids to see Winnie the Pooh in Brookings on Sunday. I'm looking forward to that. It will be Claire and Caymen's first time at something like this. As usual, we have almost front row seats if I remember right. I think Tracy and I got our tickets way back in June. It should be fun.

However, when am I going to get my Christmas letter done?

I have an idea. I think I'll buy some really fancy Christmas paper. I'll make the heading "Greetings from the Meyer's". Then the body will say something catchy like 'We've had a busy year. You can read all about it on my blog. We hope you're all doing great." The end.

Usually I'm excited to write the Christmas letter, but this year I'm not feeling it. Christmas is coming fast - so fast that I feel like I can hear a clock ticking in my ear; tick, tick, tick......

Anyway, today I'm going with my Mom to see the Neurologist. I'm not sure what to expect from him. I think the only thing he can do to help her is give her medication for her MS. I guess we'll see. I'll also get some shopping done. Maybe I'll somehow be inspired to write my letter. (That last part was a complete lie. It's just not going to happen.)

So back to my question.....

Are you ready?

Quick update

I don't have much time, but I thought I'd better update.

Early Sunday morning, Claire woke up at 12:30 throwing up. She was down and out for about 2 days.

Early Tuesday morning, Nathan woke up at 12:30 throwing up. He was down for only one day.

I came home sick from work yesterday.

We all seem to be better today.

Justin and Jack have yet to get it. We hope to keep it that way.

There you have it - quick!

This makes my day

The other night, Justin and I were watching TV when this video came on. I, of coarse, LOVED it. Justin thought it was pretty good too. He happens to like Brad Paisley - and I do too, but I love Keith. :)

You'll have to watch either GAC for CMT for it. It's good. Watch for Keith at the end of the video - he blows in Brad's ear. Funny! I found the video on, well, you know where. It was a bit hard to see on my computer screen - but my computer screen needs to go. Ohhhhh Santa.......

Not your daddy

I was reading this article on CNN.com when Jack came over and started pointing at the man in the picture. He said "Daddy! Daddy!" over and over. When I shrunk the story down he said "Where Daddy go?" This is the man he was talking about. See the resemblance? I think it's the hair.

O! so cute :)

I think it's pretty cool that Jack is 2 years old and knows an O when he sees it. He thinks 0 (zero) is an O too. As it would turn out, we have O's all over the house. I have one on my Columbia coat. I have one on my Madison shirt too. As you'll see, I have two on my Broncos shirt. Who knew an O could bring so much joy? Need I remind you that this is coming from the little boy who needed therapy? The little boy who leaned to the left? The little boy who now says O!

Sometimes I feel like life sucks. Then - I hear this precious little voice say O! Who knew it could bring so much joy? Who freakin' knew?

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Test results

Yesterday I met my mom and step-dad in Sioux Falls to get her test results. I had no idea what to expect.

The answer - Dementia caused by MS.

My mom's MS is getting worse and that's what caused her memory problem. The good news is that she can get medicine that will help her MS. The bad news is that my mom's memory won't get better - it will only sustain. She'll always have 'this' memory.

Mom felt very relieved when she heard the news. She felt that not being able to remember things was her fault. Now she knows that it has nothing to do with her and everything to do with her disease.

We left the doctors office around 3ish yesterday afternoon. At 7pm she called to ask me if she had dementia - because she couldn't remember.

It's painful.

It's frustrating.

It makes me sad.

But, she's my Mom and it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Thank you all for praying for her and checking in on me yesterday (and the day before ;) ).

My dad and step-mom are coming today and will stay until Saturday. We're very excited.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Even with shitty MS taking over my mom's body, we have so much to be thankful for.

Peace.

In case you too are in need of a reason to smile.....

With her permission, respectively

I've written this and deleted it at least 4 times now. Every time I write what I think I want to say, I read it and delete it. It's either too wordy or too....something.

So, here I go again.

For the past few weeks I've been going through a personal hell. As you may know, my mother has Multiple Sclerosis. She's had it for 37 years. I know that she's more fortunate that some, but her day to day living isn't easy.

She walks with a walker and has a brace on her leg. On most days her leg jumps as she has muscle spasms. I have the same muscle spasms due to Restless Leg Syndrome. It hurts. I feel lucky to only have to deal with the pain about once a week. She deals with it every day.

Some days she has a hard time getting out of bed. The summer heat makes her tired and weak. The bitter cold makes her body hurt.

Her bladder and bowels don't work as they should. I'll just leave that as it is.

She can't reach into her pocket for change because she can't feel with her fingertips. Her writing is very hard to read because her hands also don't work as they should.

And balance? There is no such thing with her.

As if this weren't enough, she's losing her short term memory at warp speed. I'm not talking about she can't remember what she had for lunch yesterday. I'm talking she can't always remember what she did 20 minutes ago.

When she wakes up in the morning she has to go to the computer to see what day it is. A calender is of no help to her. She'll know that she has to do something after lunch, but after lunch she'll have no idea what it was she was supposed to do.

I took her to SF for some testing on Monday. It's supposed to show where the memory loss is coming from. She cried because she knows she didn't do well on it. I have no idea what's wrong with her - I only know that something is very wrong with her.

She talked to my sister Monday night and forgot by Wednesday.

I'm scared for her.

I'm scared for me.

I'm meeting my Mom and Step-dad in SF to get the results of the test on Tuesday. I need you to pray that medication can help her.

I really, really need you to pray.

Yeah - That helps

She's going to be such a fun teenager (....sigh)

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

Another first

A few weeks ago, I came home after working a late night at the salon. I'd gone to the grocery store and saw one of my neighbors. She said that she was moving and taking her 3 kids with her while her husband stayed in Madison to finish up school. It made me really sad for Nathan. He really likes their oldest daughter. They were in the same Kindergarten class last year. Claire had also grown fond of this little girl.

At the house I saw this on the table.

Isn't that precious? I guess she came over and gave this to Nathan and left. He said to Justin "I don't even know where she's moving". So Natey called her and said "Where are you moving?" she answered and he said "Ok. Bye." and hung up. For some reason it struck me as funny. Anyway, Justin said that Natey got a little misty eyed after he read the note. He was sad to see his friend go.

We had Rianna over one last time before she left. Here are a few shots from the day. (Jack was sleeping and therefore MIA.)

I edited these pictures and then sent them off to be developed. I hope they turn out ok. We shall see. If they look ok, we'll send Rianna a copy of them in Kolrado (Colorado). Seriously - how cute was her spelling and the little sad face on that card?

We'll miss you Rianna!

This and that

***This post was written Tuesday night, but posted Wednesday morning***
It's been one hell of a week already and my mind is racing. I didn't forget Jack on his birthday (with a post). I found out about the upcoming weather and had to figure that out. I really wanted Justin at Natey's surgery - Justin wanted to be there too, but we had to figure out what to do with the two little kids. I'm terrified of ice on the roads, so we decided that I'd take Nathan to SF Monday night and Justin would meet us there as soon as he could on Tuesday.

Before I loose you any more than I already have, the surgery was to take care of Natey's teeth. Remember?

All in all Natey did very well. Tonight, other than being very pale, he seemed fine.

I can't believe that we had to spend that kind of money on his baby teeth. We didn't have a choice - his teeth had really started hurting. At least it's done, but we'll be paying on them for a long time. I really should have been a dentist (except I don't like teeth - so maybe not).

I'm going to be losing my family from Thursday until Sunday when I go pick them up. Justin is going deer hunting and I'm beyond booked at work on Saturday with no other options of child care. Therefore, Justin is taking the kids with him to spend some time with their cousins, aunt and grandma. As much as I guess I should be happy for the 'time off', I'm really not. I'm already missing them and they aren't even gone yet. I'll leave for work on Thursday and see them Sunday. Seriously - this makes me sad.

Today is Veteran's day. It's not a day that I want to overlook. I'm happy that military men and women of today are held in such respect, but many who served in Vietnam still feel shame - and that makes me sad.

Last night on the way to SF, Nathan started talking about War(s). He wanted to know if we knew anyone who was in a war. I told him that Ferber was in a war. He said "Yeah, I know. Anyone else? Was Papa Wood?" I told him that Papa Wood served in Vietnam. He lit up like a fire cracker on the forth of July. He couldn't WAIT to tell his teacher that his Grandpa had been a soldier. I told him that I was very glad that he was so excited and suggested that we called Papa Wood to tell him Thank You for serving our country. He thought if he felt ok that we would. However, he didn't feel like talking on the phone tonight.

I also told him about one of our friends who lived through 2 tours in Vietnam. Nathan was amazed. He wanted to know when the next Vietnam was going to happen. He obviously didn't understand - and that's ok. I'm just happy that he thinks that being a soldier is so cool.

So, for now, I guess that's it. Thank you all for thinking of us while Nathan had his surgery. I really appreciate it.

Live! from Sioux Falls

Update
***Nathan's out of surgery. Everything went well. I'm waiting to see him.


I'm in sf today w/ Nathan. We came last night, thankfully. Today it's freezing rain. I'm not even sure if we'll get home today.

Last night natey and I stayed up late watching Jon and Kate plus 8. Late. Like midnight late.

Today he woke up just fine. Didn't seem overly nervous. He couldn't remember what freezing rain was called, so he called it chili rain.
We got to the surgical center right on time. We got checked in and waited to be called back. After a short wait, it was our turn.

We went back to the room where Natey was given some hospital pj's to change in to. He still was ok...until...the anesthesiologist came in. Then all bets were off and poor Natey was looking for the nearest exit. The tears fell like rain. Poor little guy.

He left and the doctor came. Again the tears returned.

Justin planned to be here w/ us, but Mother Nature had a different plan.

So now I'm sitting here waiting for Nathan to get out of surgery. The weather is getting worse, snow on top of ice. Of coarse.

I'll try to update when I can. Until then, please pray for peace for him.

Playing catch up

Here are Claire's preschool pictures. I thought they turned out so cute!

The class picture wasn't as....cute. She has a dress on - and thankfully it has the shorts things under it because she has her legs open. I'm not sure why they thought that was the best picture, but so be it. We'll always remember it, that's for sure.

Here are the pictures we had taken at Estelle's on Halloween. If you don't do this with your children, you're really missing out. You get a 5x7 for $5. FIVE DOLLARS people! I got some wallets of my kids as well - to give to Grandparents and such. They turned out very well I thought. We had to have a picture of the whole crew......

...and then one with just the Meyer kids.

Jack's party

Today we celebrated Jack's birthday. His actual birthday is on Monday, but we sure had a fun time celebrating it today. My mom and step-dad couldn't make it and neither could my sister-in-law and family. That was a bummer, but the weather didn't cooperate like we'd wished.

Justin's parents were able to come and so did Tracy and the kids. Grandma Sandy and Papa Ken came too. We had a good time. Jack got some great gifts and had a fun time opening them. I had to help him stay on track. He wanted to open and play, but thankfully he could be persuaded to open the next gift.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

I made this last picture special for Justin's mom, Sharelle. Claire wants nothing to do with ANYONE when Grandma is here. So this is one for you, Sharelle. ;)

We had a great day. More pictures to come!

Resemblance much?

It's all about the eyes.

Bubbles,bubbles everywhere

Years ago (I'm talking pre-children) I got this machine that has a mat in which you put in the tub, and viola, a jacuzzi (kinda).

I used it a few times and put it in the closet. A couple of years later I was going to throw it away, but I couldn't find the mat.

Well - I found it. However this time I didn't think about throwing it away - I thought "My kids would LOVE this!"

I was right! They liked it so much, they took a bath the next night - only this time - together!

PEAS! DANK-DOO!

We had some major Halloween fun this year. Mine started at work Friday morning. Everyone dressed up but me. I know = FUN HATER, right? I'm really not. I didn't dress up because I wasn't going to be there long. I only went in to do a perm and then I took the rest of the day off.

The elementary kids have a fall festival at school and I got to spray paint hair again this year. I didn't dress up at work because I knew I'd only have about a half hour to get out of my costume at work and then get ready to go to the school. The girls at work sure had fun though.

This is Jackie. She owns the salon.This is Cathy. She and Jackie obviously shop at the same store. =)This is Leslie. I couldn't look at her without laughing. She was a little girl and even had a uni-brow. Holy cow she cracked me up!This is Natae. She's doing one of the most adorable clients in the world. She's the daughter of one of her good friends. It's obvious that this little girl knows that Natae is her personal stylist.This is Lavonna. We put the mouse, that finds itself all over the salon, in her hat.Leslie decorated the salon. She made a witch over the shampoo bowls that I forgot to take a picture of. I did remember to get a picture of this lovely lady.Here are a couple of pictures of Natey scooping out his pumpkin. He drew the face on it so I could cut it out. He was very proud of it.I never did take a picture of the finished products. Use your imagination. They looked like carved pumpkins. :)

And here is the crew. My kids, along with the Ferber's, were the Wizard of Oz. They looked Great! Jack really got into trick or treating. He would walk up to someone and yell PEAS!!!! (please) And when they gave him candy he'd say DANK-DOO!!!! (thank you). It was precious!This year we did things a little different. Instead of going to the wrinkle ranch (nursing home), we went door to door. It was a lot of work for the parents, but the kids sure had a blast. If you're reading this and thought we would have come to your house, I'm sorry. We did as much as we could before running out of steam.

Check out Tracy's Halloween pictures of the kids on her blog.