The JMB Family

Yesterday we said our final goodbye's to grandpa. I cant exactly describe the day in one word or even ten.. It's never easy to say goodbye to someone you love and you know you're going to miss. Everyone was able to be there. Which was nice. My cousin Debbie and her family. (came from Virginia) My Uncle Bruce and his wife KC (came from South Carolina). And all of the family from MN too! We got one photo yesterday.. Joey, Mikey, Kimmy, Me & Joe One of the funeral directors was a complete pain in the butt! He was very pushy and rude and annoying to say the least. He was the 'squirly' guy! He honestly sounded like a squeeky squirl when he talked. Kimmy and I agreed that we were going to shove our feet up his you know what if he didnt back offf!! He told everyone that they would be closing the casket soon and that if we wanted to say goodbye then we needed to do it now.. So everyone went in to say goodbye. While mom was still saying her goodbye, he was very r...

Our Christmas was small and unusual. But it was GREAT!! We started out our Christmas activities by going to Carver on Christmas Eve. This is the day that we celebrate Christmas with Joe's grandma, aunts, uncle, and cousins on his moms side. Here are the few pictures I got that night. Nathan LOVED playing with the wrapping paper! Kaylee opening her gifts Natalie opening her gifts! Me and Lady Lily!! She wanted to play with the camera. After Carver we went home and got everyone to bed so Santa could come. Kaylee helped be Santa this year. She knows the secret. That night was a rough night of sleep for everyone. Between Nathan and Lily, I was up every 1/2 hour - hour with a fussing baby. To top it off, I couldnt easily fall back to sleep because Natalie and Kaylee decided it wasnt a good night for them to stay asleep in their beds. I caved around 5:30am and just headed out to the living room to sit and wait for everyone to come out of their beds. Nan and Kaylee in Kaylee...

Today is one heck of a day! 8:31am: Joe sends me a message 'Brad from Zieglers left me a voicemail to call him back... my knees are shaking' 8:33am: I respond 'Yes!!! praise God! go call him right now!' 8:52am: Nathan rolled over for the first time from back to tummy 9:16am: I get another message from Joe '$xx.xx/hr $xxx.xx a month for Blue Cross Blue Shield medical and dental included and they start after 30 days. need to call him back with a start date' 9:16am: me to Joe 'OMG!!' 9:18am: me to Joe 'You did it Joey! u did it! tell him the week after Christmas! Next monday if they r open! or the 1st Monday of Jan' 9:42am: Mom calls me to let me know Grandpa just died. Really!? Why does good news always have to have bad news to follow? I can't be happy about Joe getting a job with such a heavy sadness on my plate and ITS NOT FAIR TO JOE! I should be able to be happy with him! But NOOOO!! Dont get me wrong because I am VERY happy that he has got...

Friday night Joe, Kaylee, Natalie and I went to go see 'Mickey's Magical Journey on Ice' with Kaylee's Girl Scout troop. The girls LOVED it and I enjoyed it too! Not so sure what Joe thought about it, but all that matters is that the girls enjoyed it. I got pictures (until my worthless camera died after being on the charger all day) ad just need to go through them and edit them so you can see better.. :o) The show got out around 9:00pm and we had to go pick the babies up from Grandma's house so we got home and got everyone to bed around 10:00pm. Yeah Saturday was terrible! Well I guess I shouldnt say terrible, but it was tough.. Shakopee got 21.5" of snow.. On top of that we had high winds. So the weather folks said blizzard.. and we were stuck in the house all day long.. With living on the farm, the driveway has the worst snowdrifts because it has fields on each side of the driveway. We started the day out with cleaning the girls' bedroom.. that took 4 hou...

Giving something new a try.. Instead of having to log into blogger each time I want to create a new post I am going to try using Windows Live Writer. If it goes well I will keep using this.. An update on our Sunday & Monday.. Sunday we spent the entire day in Carver while Joe helped install a new front door for his Grandma. We missed Kaylee’s Girl Scout meeting as I was parked in and wasn't going to ask a bunch of working guys to move their vehicles. It was darn cold on Sunday too.. but, it was the warmest day that we are expected to have all of this week! Our highs are supposed to be in the single digits with lows in the below zero ranges!! Eeekk! I hate MN winters! Snowy roads, freezing temps, etc.. Yesterday was a stay at home day for everyone.. Joe made a beef roast with potatoes and carrots for dinner and then I headed out to visit with my girlfriend, Debbie! I sat over by her and talked for about an hour and a half and then I went to pick up a kitty! Yup She is prob...

Today the girls and I went with my mom, sisters, and nephew to the Christmas party for TORO.. We saw the movie tangled and got popcorn and a drink and the girls got to talk to Santa and got a gift too.. In the middle of all of this, Lily wet out of her and all over herself and me too! Oh and Natalie also got to draw the boys' name out of the bucket for the $100 bike gift card, and of all of the little boys there, she drew Dakota's name! (my nephew for those that dont know) After that I took all four of the kids up to Methodist Hospital to visit with my grandpa. Nathan and grandpa had never met before today! Grandpa liked 'the baby'..  He kept saying something about black hair.. Grandpa isnt the grandpa I remember. He is very difficult to understand and even more difficult to talk to.. But since he is Grandpa the visit was needed. His days are limited and you can tell that he is shutting down. Its tough to see people like that... 

I have a big heart when it comes to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I can't believe that you are human if you don't as well. Normally my sister and I volunteer to answer phones for the K102 St. Jude's radiothon. This year however we didnt get the email asking for help and since I cannot afford the extra $30/month right now I am asking you to become a Partner In Hope if you can afford it. I believe in a world free from cancer, that's why I support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Call 800-345-4673 and become a Partner In Hope right now. And in the meantime, sit down and take a few minutes to watch this amazing video and listen to the amazing song about a little boy named Dax. Right now they are trying to raise enough money to run St. Jude's for just one day. Every dollar helps!!!! Follow the link to watch the video! Matthew West - One Last Christmas

Tonight Kaylee has her first reconciliation! This means that her First Communion is coming up this spring! She has already asked what she is going to wear and what her dress is going to look like.. I would really like my mom to find my dress that my grandma made so she can wear that!! :o) Otherwise Joe and I will take her shopping. After that Joe and I will be heading to Montgomery to 'celebrate' John leaving Allied Waste for a new job! And if you are Joe or myself, that is something to be celebrated haha! Tomorrow brings on a movie and a visit with Santa! My dad's company, TORO, is providing a Christmas party for the kids again! Lily has never met Santa before so this should be interesting.. I would really like to take the kids to the Eden Prairie mall on Sunday morning or early evening so I can get pictures with Santa! But I cannot take them all by myself so we will see what Joe says.. After the Christmas party tomorrow I will be making a trip north of the cities to see a...

Wow... I guess I may sound harsh or insensitive but I dont know how else to word it.. I sit here on the phone with my mom and she is telling me that it's grandpas time to go.. They have him on hospice.. He isn't looking so good.. pneumonia is what is going to kill him.. He can't eat or drink because he cant swallow right.. it goes into his lungs and badda bing badda boom there is your pneumonia.. They are taking him off of a lot of his medications so that when he does get sick again it will just go quickly.. It has been 3 weeks since his last case of pneumonia and he just got it again and believe its gone now and that it wont be long before it happens again. The doctor said maybe a week, maybe a few weeks, maybe a couple of months but he most certainly wont make it another year. I am not sure what to think. My grandpa is not someone that I have ever been close with.. It was always grandma! When I was a kid my mom would bring us kids to Apple Valley so she could cut the gras...

I revamped my blog! Changed the header, the layout, the background, etc! Be sure to become a networked blog follower if you would like to be able to keep up with my posts via facebook and twitter! It's a great way to keep up-to-date with the Family Fun (the family updates), Making Memories - One Photo at a Time (my Creative Memories journey), and Mommarazzi (our pictures)!