HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMARIS

Today is Amaris's 7th birthday. As with Sam it amazes me how much she has changed since joining our family. When we were trying to choose her new adoption name we decided 2 things. 1. we really wanted HER to choose her new name. and 2. we wanted her new name to have special meaning. So we gave her 4 names we liked and she picked Amaris: Hebrew meaning God has provided protection. There is no other name more fitting for her. Because God has held her in His hand since the day she was born. Protecting her from things we could never even imagine! I know He has amazing plans for her life.

A few things about our Amaris:

1. She is a girly girl who loves high heels and glittler!

2. She loves to "Do Hair"

3. She looks up to her big sister and lives to spend time with her.

4. Amaris loves to sing, if there is no particular song going on, she will make one up.

5. She makes very realistic frog and owl sounds....most people find fascinating....but they both drive me nuts!

6. she has freckles which makes her look more like Madison and Isaiah.

7. She is the first to offer a prayer if I have a headache.

I am blessed to have God trust me to be her Mommy. We are heading up to school today at 1:00 to have a little party.

HAPPY BIRTH DAY SAMUEL!!!!

Today is Sam's 5th birthday! In honor of the number 5 I will tell you the 5 most wonderful things about Sam.

1. He has one of the most unique little giggle laughs in the world, however, if he and Amaris are laughing at the same time you can't tell them apart.

2. He loves to be out doors. But hates to be dirty.

3. He loves to hum and sing. Happy songs fill the air.

4. God brought him into our family for a special purpose. we love him so much.

5. He is extremely stubborn which one day will be an asset to him for sure, but right now? Not so much.

Some of his nick names...Noodles, Sam-I-Am, Sam-A-Lam-A, Big Bad Sam, Snicker Butt.

I thank the Lord everyday for the work He has done in Little Sam's life since they arrived in our family. I wish you all could see the pictures we took the day they arrived. What a difference love and security makes in the life of a child.

Home school and a science project.

Today we studied about some of the planets. Isaiah was curious about how the craters were formed on Mercury.

So, I filled a bowl full of flour and placed it on the ground by the picnic table. Isaiah collected several balls of various sizes and weights. He then dropped or threw them into the flour. Funny thing the golf ball left a larger "crater" in the flour than the baseball. Because he dropped the baseball but threw the golfball.

The craters when he was finished. Pretty cool!

More Roses and Thorns

Rose: My mom is a nurse and lives right down the street.
Thron: Friday I flunked mom 101 again! Madison ended up in the ER because they thought she had apendicitis (how do you spell that anyway?). For the first hour she laid on the floor I didn't believe her. (she tends to be a drama queen).
Rose: I called my mom, as previously mentioned she is a nurse, she came up and checked her out, off we went to the urgent care. then off to the ER. Finally at 11:30pm they determined it was not her appendix but an ovarian cyste that ruptured. Pain meds on board we were on our way home.
Thorn: My hand is still causing me a lot of pain and I have a wedding cake and 500 mints to make in just a few weeks!

Rose: Tomorrow Samuel will be 5. Happy Birthday Sam-I-Am!

Rose: Dominique started his classes this week at Grand View. He had Pizza for his first day breakfast. He had a good day.
Thorn: He has a 15-20 page essay to write for one class. AND he doesn't think he wants to go to college after all....Kleenex please!

Rose: I think we are still in the waiting game for our next trip to MN with Isaiah.
Rose: this has been a good few days for him as far as pain goes.
Thorn: Our insurance is denying all MN claims they decided they wont pay any more for out of state services that they think COULD be provided in Iowa. I have another name for this but should not say such things on here...

Rose: We had Group conferences at school tonight and had the opportunity to meet the new principal and teachers.
Rose: My kids really like their new teachers.
Rose: I actually had time to chat with a friend without a kid (or husband) beckoning me to the van!
Rose: Isaiah got to go to school for art Monday and he had a great time!
Thorn: I wish I had more time in my week to volunteer.

Thorn: I have been feeling sad lately, I don't know if it is Dominique making me feel old or the fact that I miss my kids when they go off to school or maybe its hormones..who knows....maybe its a mom thing and every one feels this way at times. Secretly, I hope it is the latter of the list. That would mean I am not crazy and maybe not a half bad mom either.
Well, this is the end of the second edition of Roses and Thorns

Injury

Wednesday I injured my wrist and hand, I have no idea what I did. I can't remeber hitting it on anything. I ended up having to go to the doctor yesterday. I saw the same doc who set both of Dominique's broken arms. When he walked in the room he started looking around and asked me where Dominique was. I told him it was me this time. He said, "Don't tell me you were riding his skateboard!" NO I wasn't and when I told him I don't know what happened he told me I need to work on a good story. We did x-rays, he did not see any fractures. I have some bruiseing and clotting that is putting pressure on the nerves that is causeing pain. I took some pain meds last night that knocked me on my rear. I have no idea how people can get addicted to those crazy things. I hate how I feel when I take them. I would rather deal with the pain than feel like that. The bruising is very strange it goes all the way around my wrist and down the side of my forearm half way to my elbow and my pinky is numb. I am surprised it isn't broken from the way it feels. I am supposed to wear this brace for a week or so.....BUT....I can't get anything done with it on. So, I don't really use it.

Roses and thorns...

Rose: We made it through the first week of school with out any major issues.
Thorn: I wasn't ready for schol to start, I miss my kids when they are gone.

Rose: Isaiah is feeling better and his toe is beginning to return to its original color, AND Scott has received forgiveness from Isaiah for the hammer.
Thron: I think Isaiah will always throw jabs at his dad for the hammer.

Rose: We got Dominique's senior pictures in the mail yesterday. They are a thousand times better than I anticipated them to be!!
Thorn: I can't get the disc to load more than 30% so I can't upload any onto my blog.

Rose: Our Kids Crusade is over at church our total offering was $302 and some change.
Thorn: We got slimmed with this awful mixture that required me to do laundry (same load) 3 times to get all the goop out!
Thorn: My kids have been very grumpy all week. Being the first week of school and church every night was way too much for them.

Rose: We have had fun with Amanda visiting.
Thorn: She has to leave tomorrow. That means another year before we will see her again.

Rose: September will bring city wide garage sales so I am going to try again to raise money for Isaiah's hospital account.
Thorn: I hate having garage sales....

Rose: We have 2 birthdays in our house next week. Sam will be 5 on the 29th and Amaris will be 7 on the 31st.

Rose: I have been making homemade tomatoe sauces and freezing them for winter.
Thorn: It took nearly 40 pounds of tomatoes to get 5 quarts of sauce, that is not fair!

I thought I would try something new. I saw something similar to this on someone elses blog and liked the idea. Let me know what you all think.

Campus Tour and a silent tear

All of you should be proud of me, I was able to get throught his whole trip without heart palpitation and tears! The tears were silently falling in my heart.
Today was the day Dominique and I got to go to Grand View College and talk with an admissions counselor and take an "official" tour of campus. I was so excited, when we arrived at the office of admissions there in the lobby for all who entered to see was a big sign "Grand View College welcomes: Dominique Russell." I said,"look Dominique, did you see that?" He said, "I can't believe they did that I wish they would take that down." I was surprised really. I thought he'd have liked the welcome. I infromed the family at dinner that I want to be welcomed home next time I return with a sign that says: The Albers house welocmes Mommy home. Or some variation of that. We talked a little about major options and financial aid and total tuition etc. Can I tell you all how incredibly dumb I am?? The lady puts this brochure down in front of me, at the bottom of the page it says total cost: $22,000. So, what do I say?? "That isn't as bad as I anticipated for 4 years." Trying to conceal her grin she says, "Uh actually, that is per year! Boy did I feel stupid!" We took the tour of campus, renewed his parking permit from last semester, and checked out a few class rooms. I think we are going to try to change his classes around a bit. I will be making calls tomorrow. He seems a little more willing to consider higher education after graduating. Keep praying every one!!

Thanks to my mom for watching kids so I could do this with Dominique. Thanks to Jodi for the help in finding our way around the construction and parking issues over at the campus.

All in all we had a good time!

School

"The walk of fame" before school, Amaris in 1st grade, and Elijah at his desk in 2nd grade!

Armor

We have to remeber to put on the full Armor of God before we leave for school! Elijah helped me cut out and put together the door decorations over the weekend. We will be putting our Armor on EVERY DAY!!!

first day of school pics

Isaiah decided since he will have 2 first days of school he will split his breakfast, today he had the milk shake half next Monday will be the honey bar b qued chicken. (I know, gross!)




Amaris had the same as Elijah, she wasn't as sure as him as to whether or not it was a good choice.

Oh yeah! Chocolate milk shakes make life happier!

Madison had toaster struedel and pineapple for breakfast.

Elijah had french toast sticks and a chocolate milk shake. right here he is still sad.

Ready or Not

This morning began bright and early. I stepped out of the bathroom after my shower to find Elijah curled up and crying in the doorway of the bathroom. Mommy I don't want to got ot school. After cuddles, bribary, and prayer I convinced him to eat and see.

I then trudged down the stairs to wake Madison. Although she was slow as molasses this morning, aside from forgetting to take her water bottle and almost missing the bus, she was off and running. Her bus arrived only 10 minutes later than I thought it would.

After getting her on the bus I woke Amaris and Isiah to get them ready. You would think the fact that they got to Pick what ever they wanted to eat for breakfast they would have been a little more excited about getting moving....HA! No such luck!

Of course Isaiah was up quite a bit last night with pain issues he didn't sleep well. I have no idea what Amaris's problem was. Breakfast done, laundry started and switched twice, more tears and clinging from Elijah. Time for our devotion arrived.

I opened our devotional to August 20....and guess what??? Not afraid was our title for the day! How cool is that? Psalm 56:3 "When I am afraid I will trust in You." We talked about how even when we are alone, we really are not because Jesus promises us in the bible that He will never ever leave us. Just like that Elijah asked me to wear my lobster necklace (another story) and he was ready for school. We each prayed and then it was time to get shoes and back packs....

Hold it! Not so fast! remember I am home schooling Isaiah this year, today was the day he was to go to school for art. Do you think we could get a shoe on that boys foot?? NOPE! even his sock caused tears to flow! I tried everything I could think of to get something on his foot so we could go. Finally when I thought we would be late I abandoned all attempts and tucked him in on the couch with an ice pack and loaded the other 2 in the van.

Our school does the neatest thing on the first day of school all teachers and faculty and any parents who are there line up along the side walks and clap and cheer as the kids enter the building. It is something to see in order to completely appreciate how incredibale it is! I took pictures and visited class rooms. And was home by 9:45.

More laundry, phone calls and decided to take Isaiah to the doctor and have the toe looked at. Just as I thought, treat it as if it were fractured buddy wrap and open shoe for 7-10 days.

Off to the store to purchase the items needed to take care of the toe.

Home to cook dinner and be ready to hear all about the first day of school!

I am happy to report even Elijah had a good day! After dinner it was off to church for Kids crusade, not really happy about the timing for that! We finally got home at 9pm and did the whole bedtime routine. WHEW! I am beat!

Check out the fun photos from the day!

Iowa State Fair

Today marked the end of another year of the Iowa State Fair. I remember when Grampa used to work at the fair every year parking cars...so funny...this year Scott and I just couldn't work it out to be able to go. Seems something always came up. We ended up giving some of the tickets to Dominique and the rest to Philip so he could take Amanda. She loves to go to the fair when she visits. Funny Story...my mom went to the American Idol Concert tonight...I am not really sure Why that makes me giggle so much but it does! Amanda came home with the most annoying pen she got for free in the cattle barn while they were searching for the fainting goats. I don't think they ever found the fainting goats so now Amanda thinks Philip made it up....LOL I am happy she is enjoying her visit. I know it is very different for her to come here where we live in the middle of no where with nothing to do and about a million kids to do nothing with!! ;0)

Traditions

Every year the night before the first day of school we order pizza and have a family night. we end the night each one praying for the new school year to be blessed and great! I love building these simple traditions into the lives of our children. Some days pizza just tastes better than others, tonight was one of those days!
Back packs are full and lined up by the door, outfits are laid out neatly waiting for warm little bodies to jump into them bright and early in the morning. My favorite of all is that every year since Dominique was in Kindergarten I let the kids pick WHATEVER they want in the whole world to eat for breakfast on the first day of school. We have had some crazy breakfast ideas over the years. I will let you all know tomorrow what they all choose.

The Ugly Truth

So here it is, the ugly truth in all its glory! The famous broken toe! Forgiveness is getting closer. I think, but has yet to arrive! I am a little concerned as to whether or not we will be getting a shoe on that foot in the morning. Isaih wasn't feeling very well today so he stayed home from church.

I hate it when that happens!

This afternoon, Scott was goofing around with his hammer in the dining room and he missed catching it on the way down....needless to say, Isaiah caught it with his foot and I am pretty sure the hammer broke his toe! Yeah that HURT!!! We spent the day: ice on, ice off, ice on, ice off...it is a beautiful shade of purple although this evening Isaiah decided it was more of a "radish" color. I am sure he will be hobbling around for a few days. Scott apologized and Isaiah told him, "See daddy, that is why you don't play with tools in the house!" Forgiveness will come later I think!

A sneak peek

I heard from Erica this evening. She is mailing our photos Monday! YEAH! Here is one of the many she took during Dominique's session last week. To see more amazing pictures she has done (of other families too) go to http://www.feelingthephoto.blogspot.com Erica has a true gift. We have been blessed! I can't wait for the mail to come this week!!!

PS: Isn't he a handsome guy??!! Not that I am prejudice or anything...;)

This and That

Life has been full to the brim and over flowing at Albers & Company....
1. After much discussion and debate and prayer, we have decided that the best thing for Madison (and my sanity) this year would be for her to return to school full time. It was a struggle for me to make this decision and I still have moments of uncertainty, but we took a tour of the building and introduced her to Mr. Steffen, her principal this morning. Tomorrow we will be having our final IEP meeting to confirm all decisions and get her schedule set. From there we will be heading over to the high school to walk through her schedule and meet her teachers.
2. We baked cookies for the teachers at Runnells this week and took them up to the school. Actually we made 2 trips to the school, trip #1 we found the doors locked. Trip #2 we were able to get in and deliver the container of cookies to our amazing teachers! I hope they enjoyed them, it is the least we can do to help the first week back a little sweeter!
3. Amanda is still here visiting, its like having another Madison in the house. They both talk fast and never stop!!! ;) I wont know what to do when she goes back home and Madison is in school all day.....I am not real sure I remember what quiet sounds like....
4. Amanda has enjoyed Wednesday night church for the last couple weeks. She has been asking Philip lots of questions, which I believe is good for both of them!
5. Isaiah had his friend Wade come over to hang out this week. I am teling you what....it did this mothers heart good to hear him chattering away and laughing with his good friend. I found myself praying they would stay friends for their life times....would that be the neatest thing??? Life long friends are hard to find.
6. Elijah also had a friend over to play this week, it struck me that he is growing up so quickly....listening to them talk about what they did all summer and the things they like to do for fun....yes, I admit I am a bit sappy and got misty eyed.
7. As I write this my Elijah is at his VERY FIRST friend sleep over!!!! For those of you who know him I know you are amazed at the thought! Although the night is still young....he went prepared, Blankey is hiding in his back pack! He was so cute, he packed first thing this morning and parked himself at the front window an hour and half before they arrived to pick him up. I hope he is having a ball of fun! My boys are growing up!!
8. As previously blogged Dominique had his senior pictures taken Tuesday (by the best photographer I have ever met.) That too brought mist to my eyes. What is wrong with me???? I must be getting old!
9. Dominique and I will be meeting with an admissions counselor at Grand View College next week to talk about future options. maybe they will have better luck convincing him that a college education is a great thing to have in ADDITION to fulfilling his dreams of traveling the country playing drums in a band....I know...this has been hard for me. I do believe in his dreams, and believe it or not I even support his dreams of fame and stardome. BUT I also believe in education, he is so talented and smart there is nothing stopping him from having it all!
10. Noah was able to come home from the hospital for a couple days this week. He is handling the chemo like a champ. His Mom is one of the bravest (is that a word??) ladies I know! They headed back up to Mayo today I believe...maybe it was yesterday.
11. Isaiah is going to be home schooled this year but we will be spending time at the school too. He is excited because we will be studying Ancient Egyptt and he wants to mumify a chicken. And thanks to the EXTREME encouragement and amusement from Mrs. Goode, he is looking for fresh road kill too! Please pray for me...that is all I have to say about mummies for now. keep an eye out I am sure it wont be the last you'll hear on the subject! I can't tell you how blessed we are to have such loving teachers at our school. They all love him and want what ever is best for him. It will be a good year for him I think! If we could only figure out WHEN we have to have surgery then I would feel better. I kow one thing at a time, and in this family we never do things one at a time!
12. As most of you know Scott was in the hospital with Kidney stones this month.....can I tell you I may be in the hospital for other reasons if he doesn't relax about what is in eery thing he eats! He is making me a little crazy!
13. Sadly we wont be able to go to the fair this year, ok, so I am not as sad as Scott. I just like going places without all the kids!
14. Isaiah just may have broken out of his obsession with Legos Star Wars and expanded it to include all legos builind kits. He is well on his way to the next $100 mark I see a trip to Toys R Us in the very near future.
15. Sam has been diligently working on his birthday wish list. He will be 5 on August 29th.
16. Amaris is also working on her list but has had some help from her big sis and cousin Amanda...her 7th birthday will be August 31. I am thinking about taking her to Libby Lous and getting her ears pierced....we will see!
17. I have finally made all the school supply purchases I need, and out of 6 kids half are ready for the first day of school......Amaris got her clothes from Abby's Attic, Elijah got a new pair of sneakers and camo shirt, Madison got new sneakers and people give her clothes all the time, she is so thin all her friends give her their clothes and most of them look brand new! Isaha has not gotten anything yet, Sam is not in school yet and really doesn't need anything right now. Dominique???? Well, he is 17 and thinks the only way to buy clothes is off the internet. So, he doesn't have any yet either!
18. So, as you can see, we have been very busy! In between all those happenings I have managed to cook, clean and BLOG!
19 Oh! I almost forgot, I am still waiting for the proof of senior pics to be posted and I can hardly Stand It! I am very excited to see them!
That is al for now.....

CAN'T WAIT!!!!

I am so excited! Erica came out last night and took Dominique's senior pictures. They are going to be so amazing! I can't wait for them to come back! I will be sure to post them when I can!!!

Weekend get away

Amaris lost her two front teeth just in time for our trip.

Of course, Mom forgot to take the camera when we actually left the hotel. So, the only pictures I have are ones I took at the hotel. We had a great time. It was so nice to get away from everything and just have fun!

Scott got stuck trying to crawl through the bunk beds like the kids.

Even Dominique had a good time once we gave up the museum quest...LOL

Thanks to my Mom, we are taking the kids (yes, all 6 of them) to St. Joseph Missouri for the weekend. We will be leaving in the morning. Staying at the Stony Creek Inn, which happens to be the only place with a suite large enough for our family, it even has bunk beds which I think the kids will enjoy! I have been researching things to do there. Seems like there a lot of free things to do. (I love FREE!) We haven't taken a weekend trip or vacation of any kind in a couple years. It will be so nice to be able to get away and have some fun with the kids for a change. We have to save all our time and money for trips to the hospital. So this little trip, compliments of Camel Gramma, will be really, realy nice! I will not be blogging until Sunday night or Monday.

Bad hair day

So, yesterday morning Dominique called me from his friends house. He had spent the night over there. May I go back and preface this by saying his senior pictures are scheduled for Tuesday evening...next week. That said....He says to me, "mom please don't be mad. (can I say that this mother cringes every time one of my kids begins a conversation with 'Mom don't be mad'...) But you know my friend Scott? Well, last night he wanted to straighten my hair, I told him no I don't want to mess up my hair because I am having my senior pictures done next week. Scott told me if I didn't like it it was reversible and he could make it go right back to the way it was before. Then he said it was just like if I used a hot iron like Madison uses on her hair. I told him I really didn't want to. Then he told me if I let him he would buy me dinner. I was hungry so I let him...but I have washed it like 4 times and it wont go back! I don't know what to do."

To which I replied,"Son you need to come home so I can help you figure out what is going on."

When he arrived home he had a hat on and his hair was partially straight and partially frizzy. I tried washing it with dish soap, called several places to see what we could do. But since his goofey friend used a permanent hair relaxer, and did not follow directions....we had to make a trip to a salon....I even tried to call Joslyn in Maryland (his Godmother), Lisa in Florida (his step-mother), and my sister in NJ (who is a beautician). No one was answering their phones!

We arrived at the salon at 3:25 they were ready and waiting for us, the ladies were so kind and felt so bad for him. By 5:10 when we were leaving the salon we had a plan. see if he can live with the cut he got and if not she will fix it again before pictures on Tuesday.

I am so upset! What a dirty rotten trick to play on a friend! He believes it was innocent and a mistake....I believe his friend knew exactly what he was doing....ARGH!!!!!

If only they could have waited until after senior pictures!

I wanted to take a picture but I felt so sorry for him I didn't have the heart to. I can't even begin to describe how upset my boy was! Then just as he was comfortable enough so he could go to church....it began to pour down rain as soon as we stepped out of the door. Which totally undid all the work they had done! So, the hat went back on and off to church he went for band practice.....

This is Amanda, I consider her to be my niece. She is visiting from Michigan. This picture does not due her justice, she is a cutie with huge dimples! Chatter chatter chatter. Amanda talks as much as Madison....that is not easy to pull off. Philip traveled to Michigan for the weekend and brought her home with him, last year we did this and had a lot of fun. This year with Philip living down the street, we will have her all day but she will be with mom and Philip evenings and over night. Fun Fun Fun!

migraine

I have been struggling with a migraine for several days now, today is the first day since last Thursday that it is down to a dull throbbing. It has been several years since I have had one this bad. WOW! Last night I thought my head was going to EXPLODE!

candles

In an attempt to lift my mood of ugliness I decided to light my favorite candle. Hazlenut cream. Usually I like fresh, flowery, or fruity smells in the summer-time but this smells like Grammy's kitchen when I was a little girl and fills the dark corners of my heart with a little bit of sunshine.

Has any one else ever had a day when they feel like this????? For the last couple days I have felt ugly and grumpy inside and out. It is times like these I wish I could go off on my own and just be ALONE. So noone would see how ugly I am. ACK! I hate feeling this way!

New Theory

above would be the full plate

view the bigger plate....:0)

OK, here is my new life theory.....I came up with it while sitting in Scott's hospital room....

Never, ever, ever say 'I am sorry I can't help you my plate is full....'

Because, that is when...........

God decides to hand you a bigger plate......then you have PLENTY of room......according to my new theory I am now the proud owner of a beautiful dinner platter! Yeah me!!

nothing yet...but we are home

Well...The doctors seemed to think it was a great idea to send Scott home to finish the process of ridding himself of his new friends the "rolling stones". So, with some good pain meds and a strainer we are home.
It is good to be home but he's still miserable poor guy!