Snowman accessories

A couple of years ago Eli's mom bought the girls props for a snowman. The girls and I found them with the Christmas decorations and they have been playing with them all night.

The tree is finally trimmed....

FINALLY.....the tree is done and the girls are watching "Frosty The Snowman". Eli bought the tree on Sunday, put in the house on Wednesday and now it is decorated! Eli is on his way home from work and is off for 11 days. Makenna is feelin poopy but enjoyed decorating the "rismas ree", and the girls decorated the entire house with all the knick knacks. I have a little more shopping to do tomorrow with my little bro David. Ahhhhhhhh. Christmas here we come.

A little touch of the croup

When I got home last night I found Makenna in the hallway crying an coughing. I slapped some vapor rub on her chest and plugged in the vaporizor in the bedroom and cuddled with her. She coughed a lot through the night and this morning woke up about 6 saying "ear hurt momma". So off the pediatrician we went, she has the croup. She is running a little fever and has fluid in her ear but no infection....YET. Poor Kenna.

Downtown Main

Cathie's Blow Pop

Tracy and Diane

Cathie and I

Last night, a few of my people tried out the new martini bar that opened up in Brighton called "Downtown Main". We had ordered and shared quite a few martini's, and tried this blue cheese nacho platter that was pretty tasty. We sat together on black leather comfy couches, a little too comfy. Like usual Cathie and I were the last ones left in the whole bar. It was a little smoky in there even for me, due to all the older men smoking cigars. It was a nice bar, a little pricey, but a great evening all together. It was nice to get out with some girls and do the girl thing, it was long overdue for me.

A little off the end

BEFORE

AFTER

Erika is a little lazy in the morning, she hates taking care of the tangles and whines and complains about having to brush it out. She wanted her hair cut off, we settled for shoulder length, with Daddy's permission, which was about 3-4 inches and she had some layers added. I love it, but it makes her look so grown up. I can't believe my baby will be 8 years old in just a couple of weeks.

Haircuts

BEFORE

AFTER

I took Erika and Olivia to get their hair cut for Christmas. This is Olivia's before and after. She is trying to grow her hair out so there isn't huge difference, but she still looks very pretty!


Little did we know, Auntie Kimmy had a hair appointment that night as well and Olivia was so happy to see her there and show off her new trim.

Who said 3 is a crowd...

Now that Makenna is getting older, it is so much fun watching the girls interact with one another. I'm not saying everyday is a walk in the park, but it still is something special. I hope my girls will always love each other forever.....Sisters by chance, friends by choice. For the most part, they look out for one another. Olivia and Erika love to teach Makenna new things, the patience they have for Makenna is just amazing. I could learn a thing or two from them. I love my girls and I am so excited to get ready for Christmas and do the family thing. They have grown up so much in the past four months.

I said NO

Makenna mean muggin......NO NO NO!!!

Goodbye Physiology

This is my lab group. We were the only group that started and ended with the same people and nobody dropped out of the class. We celebrated with a few drinks last night. All of us, except for Holly (on the left), is going into nursing. Holly is transferring to Central next year for physical therapy. Our ages range from 19 - 31 (yes I am the Mom of the group and they reminded me of it every time, and I was told that I was old). There was never a dull moment. Physiology was HARD, to say the least and our teacher was horrible, but we stuck it out and we laughed through it together and some of us even slept through the lectures, I won't name any names.

WOW what a ride

I have just finished my investigation protocol and it is all pretty and ready to hand in tomorrow. All I have left to do is take my final tomorrow night in physiology. The best part about it is that I only need to get 65 point out of 105 to get a 4.0 in that class. BIG SIGH! After the last 4 months of pressure, I think I can pull that off.

My grades are posted for my other classes and here they are:
Algebra 4.0
Pharmacology 3.5
Human Growth and Development 3.5

So I don't have a 4.0 GPA anymore, I have a 3.87 and I am ok with it. I am proud of myself and I feel overwhelmed with so many emotions right now I can't even put them into words. I did it, I survived a 14 credit hour semester as a mother of 3 and 2 part time jobs. Yes my house is filthy and I have laundry downstairs that should have been folded and put away, yes I have 3 little girls who miss me terribly and husband who is about to go on strike, and yes I miss all of them just as much ~ even more, and yes I miss my family and friends.

So I am going to take my LAST final tomorrow and then I am going to go to the bar after and have a drink because I was invited to go with my lab group (who are all under the age of 24) ~ HA!

I feel at this moment I am right were I belong. Everything I worked so hard for and prayed for and pleaded for and cried over is all right here in front of me. If I have calculated my points correctly.....I have a ticket to nursing school. I remember looking at the 8 prerequisites saying, it's going to take FOREVER! Well forever was just a year and yes it was as bad as I thought it would be.

I am a strong person, but only because of God and the people who stand behind me to catch me when I fall and the ones who stand beside me holding my hand encouraging me to be who I was meant to be.

I DID IT!

Thank you for putting up with me!

Procrastination

I say to myself at this moment as I am on my 6th cup of coffee for the day and my head is killing me, "why are you writing in you blog?". The reason being is that I think my brain is on strike and doesn't not want to take in anymore information and I am the biggest procrastinator I know, well not to the extent of my mother (sorry Mom). I am spent and exhausted. Yes I am almost done. I have a quiz, final, and oral presentation on Tuesday and a final and lab report due on Thursday. That is all that is left. Do you think I want to study or do my homework anymore? NOOOOOOO! I should be studying, Makenna is sleeping, the girls are playing NICE and Eli is at work late. I don't want to. I have to work Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Today was my last full day to devote to studying for Tuesday and I didn't do as much as I should have. Thinking about it now, I think I have screwed myself. So I guess I will go and fill up my coffee and read more about all the different classes of antibiotics and how to treat diarrhea and constipation .......whoooooopppppeeeeeee!

I told Eli this morning that I thought I was coming down with mono. He laughed at me, made fun of me and told me I was just tired and I just needed to get through the next week and I will be fine. I want a vacation, a girls night out or even just a comfy bed with no alarm clock would be nice. I desperately need to be with my husband, my girls, my family, my friends. Thank God for my Mom. She has been doing so much for us the past couple months. I couldn't even be doing any of this without her.

Ah, off pharmacology land. Hope everyone is enjoying their Friday night and doing something much more exciting!

Makenna doing the hula hoop

This video was from Thanksgiving night over at my parents. All the kids were hula hooping and Makenna wanted to try. This is Daddy way of teaching her. Not sure if teaching the girls how to "shake their butts" is such a good idea but it is still pretty darn cute!




Here is Erika doing her hula hoopin. She is a pro. She must get it from her Nana. Nana was the hula hoop queen back in the day!
Ryan even tried to get in on the action. Poor guy, he needs to have more boy cousins.....Uncle David are you up to getting married and having one?

The Holiday Hop

Erika is on the jumproap club at school. This is her second year doing it, and she loves it. Her and her little girlfriends are all on it together. They were reindeers this year. It was so much fun to watch. The differences from grades 1 through 5 and even some kids that are now in high school came to show their stuff. Amazingly some of the 4th and 5th grade boys were the best. They added all sorts of stuff in their jumps. Afterward I let Erika ditch the rest of the afternoon so she was happy about that.

Here are the rest of the pictures

Holiday Hop 2007

The results are in....

Makenna's doctor called yesterday and told me that she tested positive for the epstein-barr virus and the cytomegalovirus. The good thing is that he doesn't think that she need to keep going in and having and more blood drawn and her urine is still clean. So now we just have to watch out for mono, since these viruses can cause mono and chronic fatigue. He said it lasts about 4 weeks and then goes dormant. I am relieved and praying mono doesn't enter this house. I have never had it and I don't want any of us to get it. I have 2 finals next week that I can focus on.....sigh!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help, their support and their prayers. I am so blessed to have such great people in my life. Thank You!

Happy Birthday to my brother from another mother!

Jeff turns 34 tomorrow. To celebrate we went to Brighton Bowl. I was happy with my 157 game. I even won poker for a buck with my pair of A's and 7's. After bowling we set off to the Meadors so the guys could play guitar hero and a game of euchre. Eli and I whooped Diane and Jeff. Apparently Diane is always the common denominator for the loosing team.

Makenna Mean Muggin

Makenna has the nastiest dirty looks, not sure where she learned them from, definitely not from my side of the family. She is just the funniest 2 year old and has so many different expressions. She can be as kind as to say I love you until you can't hear it anymore and then 5 minutes later tell you to shut up. The joy of having two older siblings. This is her look. She randomly gives it to anyone, me included as the picture show. I can't help but laugh sometime, cuz damn-it she means it. Time out has been being used frequently.

Sophia Rose

The Dennis Family is now a family of 4. Kimmy and Bobby had their bundle of joy a little earlier than expected, on Saturday November 24th. She is absolutely beautiful, just like her big sister Marina. Mom is recovering well from her C-section and Sophie is a quiet baby, which makes the transition from 1 to 2 that much easier! Erika and Olivia are excited to soon babysit, with adult supervision provided of course.

Thanksgiving

My Mother making her mashed potatoes.

Eli giving Makenna a snuggle.


Thanksgiving started out hectic and crazy because we weren't feeling all that wonderful after all that wine the night before. We set off to St. Joes with Makenna's viral issue and then off to my parents for dinner. I was exhausted and stressed because of Makenna's sickness but managed to enjoy my family day. It has been difficult to get us all together because of schedule conflicts. Keith, Kevin and Dave came out to celebrate the holiday, the boys were busy playing pool and the kids had a great time. My Mom had a meltdown because she didn't have "kitchen bouquet" and wanted to call off dinner because her gravy wasn't the right color but we managed to talk her out of it. Her gravy was delicious anyway despite the light brown normal color.

Happy Anniversary to us

On November 21st 1997 we were married by a strange woman with big hair that was actually shorter that me and resembled the old lady from poltergeist. Eli was an hour late and it was snowing. It is hard to believe that was 10 years ago.

Eli's Dad bought us this bottle of wine that year. It was the same wine we drank on our honey moon. We have been waiting forever to open it. First we said we would open it on our 1st anniversary, then after Erika, then Olivia, then Makenna, then we just said we would wait till our 10 anniversary. I personally thought we should open it to celebrate Eli's vasectomy but we thought that would be a little inappropriate. Well first of all, according to some website it was worth ~$250 and it should have been opened last year. Second, nobody told me to store it in a cool dark place. It was ultimately the nastiest bottle of wine I have ever had and was severely altered. We chased it with a few more and found our new favorite....A recommendation from the manager at The Melting Pot, where we went for dinner, we stuffed ourselves.

We are not like normal couples and most of the time we don't buy each other gifts. Not saying that we haven't but mostly we don't. We give the gift of love.... After Eli and I opened, well drank, the first normal non altered bottle of wine, he decided to go to his car and get my anniversary card and then signed it right in front of me.

We had a romantic evening. After dinner we came back to a quiet house and watched our wedding video. The first time we actually sat together and watch the whole thing. It was great to see how much we changed, how much other people changed. Remembering who we were back then and how we beat the odds.

Makenna is going to start rackin up frequent flyer miles at St. Joe's

Yet again, Makenna has taken another trip to the ER, her 4th trip since January. Yesterday she woke up with something called petechia, all over her face, ears, butt, and left shoulder. Eli and I spend Thanksgiving morning with her at the peds unit at St. Joesph Ann Arbor. They tested her blood for a few things. Nothing major was determined except for a few abnormal white blood cells that are consistent with some blood viruses. We followed up with her regular pediatrician today. What we know right now is that she has some kind of blood virus and that it caused a vasculitis but they are not sure what kind of virus. They did say they were going to monitor her blood and urine every week for the next month for any abnormal signs or "flags". At home we are to monitor her mood, any sign for joint pain, fever or more spots, in that case we are to immediately return to the ER. When I asked what they are monitoring the blood for, he told me that there wasn't anything that indicated "leukemia"at this time, but he wants to stay ahead of the game. He assured me that he is on top of it and will be watching her closely but does believe it is just a blood virus and she will be fine in a couple of weeks, he even told me to take a deep breath, easy for him to say. Makenna is acting fine and behaving like her 2 years old typical self, cute as a button. Except for the red freckles all over her face she looks relatively normal. She didn't even cry for the 2 blood draws that she has had so far. Mommy was so proud of her big girl.
So if you could in the next couple of weeks keep Makenna in your prayers. I'm sure she'll be fine, but a little prayer couldn't hurt. She is such a trooper and she is too cute for words.

Happy Birthday Eli

Today Eli turns 32. Happy Birthday ELI ~ I LOVE YOU!

He is probably tired and exhausted from being up all night last night.....not why you think. We had 2 girls up sick and screaming all night long. He was off to work by 5 am. That just shows what a great Daddy he is. Thanks for you help with Kenna last night....wasn't the birthday present I was looking to get ya! lol

We are putting the celebrations on hold until the weekend!

I am pleased

I was getting a little nervous that I didn't get a call from AEC, totally second guessing myself, maybe I messed up or someone thought I was a total B#*$%. Gosh, what was I thinking. Dr. Robertson called and apologized for not calling yesterday. So I got the job! YEAH! I go for training next week and am working two Sundays this month 7am to 4pm. Yes I will be giving up church for work this month, I'm ok with that and God totally understands why. I think I might still go to the other interview on Sunday, just to check things out and for practice. Maybe something will work out where I can help out there too, once in a while. Eli thinks I'm crazy. He asks me "how many jobs do you want?" Just 3 ~ is that too many?
I just want to be happy! Paying off debt, helping Eli, putting food on the table and taking care of my girls....that makes me happy! If I can help, I want too! Plus student loans aren't free....

Another Interview

So I didn't hear from AEC yesterday. I am wondering if I should call or just give it a couple days. I think I'll wait until the end of the week. I did get a phone call on Sunday from the original place I wanted to do relief work at, Brighton Towne and Country Animal Hospital. I had sent them a resume in September and Dr. Gerster called me a few days later and told me she didn't have any openings but I would be first in line when something opened up. Well.......something opened up. It is the midnight shift 11pm - 7am Friday and Saturdays and she said that if worked out I could work as a relief tech there during the week at nights and there would be more shifts opening come early spring. So off to another interview. Sunday night I will be doing a working interview from 8 till whenever. Good part about this place is that it is literally 5 minutes from home with traffic. Bad part, I live in this city and will run into people I know all the time. I'm a pretty outgoing person, but sometimes it's best not to know, you know? Anywho......this week isn't going how I planned and I just need to get through Friday. I have a quiz today, a test tomorrow, a test Thursday and my big and only paper due Friday, that I still have to work on. Tomorrow is Eli's birthday, he will be the big 32! So that is my highlight for the week. Hopefully we will get to celebrate sometime this weekend. I would tell you this great story about how Eli already started his birthday celebration last Sunday, but I wouldn't want to spoil it. You'll have to get the story strait from him. It's a pretty great story and will be remembered for some time to come.
Now I'm just procrastinating because I don't feel like studying so I should go!

A Second Job

I have interviewed at 2 vet emergency facilities. The first one was at VCS (Veterinary Care Specialist) and the second, AEC (Animal Emergency Center). I turned down the job at VCS because I didn't feel like it was the right fit for me. My second interview was great! I loved the facility, the doctors and the staff. Yesterday I had a working interview from 3 -7 at AEC. I ended up staying until 8, I didn't even notice it was 8. We were swamped. I was supposed to "observe and interact with the staff". Ya, that didn't happen. I jumped right in and had a great time. In the 5 hours I was there I learned a new blood machine, digital x-ray, blood pressure, 2 different style IV pumps with fentanyl piggy back, and nebulizer. I'm not saying I have a complete grasp on all of it, but it was so exciting to learn something new. All the girls were so helpful and nice. The two doctors were great. I placed a catheter on a 9 week old puppy that only had one vein to work with and I was nervous but I was pleased with myself, especially when everyone is staring at the new girl. There was even a "welcome Dana Schultz" sign on the bulletin board, I thought that was nice.
I worked at an vet emergency facility part time along with my job at Jeffrey's before we had Erika and I loved it. It was too much working 50+ hours a week, so I had to quit. I love emergency because on the busy days your are constantly going and you just don't stop and it is exciting, there is no set appointment schedule, what comes in comes in, always unexpected, never know what your gonna get, every case is different. The one thing that sucks is working holidays and weekends. I don't mind midnights, but it is going to be hard to be away from Eli and the girls more on the weekends.
So I should hear from AEC on Monday if they liked me or not and if I get the job. I am praying that I do. If I do, I make my own schedule and choose my shifts. It is part time, relief basis. So it's not a set schedule and if I can't work, I don't schedule myself to work, no big deal.
This is not to replace my job at Jeffrey's, it's an added job for some extra money. I have 6 weeks left in this semester and after that I am hoping to be working full time between the two places until I start the nursing program.
I am in the final stretch with my classes, I finished algebra early, so I technically am only taking 3 classes now. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and my attitude is starting to shift.
I have to say, I am exhausted and almost feel a little hung over. I was at work at 7:45 yesterday morning and didn't get home until almost 9:00 p.m. Working two jobs in a row was a little tiring. I forgot how to work the 12 hour shifts. I didn't realize how tired I was until I sat on the couch with Eli last night to catch up on Heroes. Good thing we gained an hour last night.

Goodbye Piglet

It was the last year for the piglet costume and I wanted to cry. Erika wore for her 2nd Halloween and she wore it to visit Olivia and I in the hospital when Olivia was born. Olivia wore it the first year in the house in Brighton, when she was 2. Makenna was the last to wear it and now it is retired. It is the cutest Halloween costume ever! Where did the time go?

Erika holding Olivia

Erika pointing to her "big sister sticker"

Olivia with two suckers in her mouth. One is never enough! GIMMIE CANDY MOMMA!

Makenna all grown up ready for "trick or treats"