For Heather

IanConquersTheWall
Uploaded by drewnsam. - Videos of family and friends from around the world.

While Heather was in the UAE last month, Ian had a major milestone - he finally climbed the climbing wall all by himself! This is for you, Heather!

Santa Parade 2009

Waiting and freezing!!!!
(Cullen at upper left, Heather w/ Ian in front of Cullen, Alex and Beth)

Ian wasn't too sure about Frosty!

Alex was running away from Frosty!

There's my little snowflake! Kieren marched with her dance school again this year! She, of course, was the cutest one there!!!

Happy Birthday, Cullen!!!

Holy cow!!!! Cullen is 13 years-old today!!! My sweet blond baby boy is almost all the way grown-up! *sigh* He'll still always be my baby...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for you!

The First Thanksgiving

Kieren (my little Indian princess)

She was very proud of her headdress! (Kieren LOVES numbers and letters! She writes them on everything.)

The adorable Pilgrim working hard on Thanksgiving dinner!
(Thank you, Ian & Aunt Heather, for the kitchen!!!)

Ye Olde Pilgrim Pin-Up

Yeah, yeah...I know. There is something wrong with me, but this is the only way Kieren would pose for me with her Pilgrim hat on!

SHEESH!

I went to see the eye doctor again yesterday. Since my vision is improving, he wants to wait until my frames come in (in about a week) before deciding what to do about my eyes. I had quite a fever last night so I'm wondering if my constant sinus infection is acting up. I'm feeling better this morning. My double-vision is vastly improved, but still there. I have vertical double-vision. I see two images one above the other. Last week it was like looking at two whole hands when I held one up. By yesterday it was down to the first segment of my finger. Today it is about a quarter of that. YAY! I can actually walk across the room now with both eyes open! (Had to close one to walk without getting dizzy.) I may be able to chop veggies without taking off more than the tips of my fingers now!

Technical Difficulties...

Sorry about the lack of posts. I'm having some technical difficulties. Me. Not the computer. Last Wednesday, I went to have an eye exam. Eyes look great, need to change the 'script a bit, but otherwise fine. Yeah... As usual, my vision bugged me after the exam. When I got up on Thursday morning, I had double-vision. My right eye would work fine on it's own, as would my left. But, together they won't work. I sucked it up for the day and figured the optician had rotated my lens when she read it. Friday morning was much worse. The doctor can't see me until Monday so I grabbed a screwdriver and adjusted the lens myself. Better, but not good. Saturday brought major headaches, nausea and horrible vision. It also brought Cullen's birthday party with his friends. Nothing like being blind! Today, I have stayed home. Tomorrow I have to drive myself to the eye doctor (30 minutes away, through winding country roads then heavy traffic). Hopefully, he can figure out what went wrong and help! It will take about 2 weeks for my new glasses to get here (stupid insurance!) from the VSP lab. I don't know how I'm going to cook Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family while not being able to see! Not only could I cut off a necessary body part, but my eye-hand coordination is totally off!!! I keep dropping everything. UGH!!!!

Random Thoughts For The Day

(My friend Robin H. emailed this to me. Love it!)

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the **** are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever.
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? ), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How do I respond to that?
19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well..
20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Photos Of Heather At IKEA

At the beginning of October (God! That seems so long ago!), Heather, Liz and I did an "IKEA run". I left my camera in my purse until Heather started...ummmm...well...just take a look!






The great thing about IKEA - their items have multiple uses! When you aren't serving up a holiday snack in this attractive bowl, you can use it as a hat or as a guide for those trendy haircuts!

Soooooo...what is your cup (um...bowl?) size? IKEA makes the perfect size for everyone!
(Check out the sign to the left of Heather's head! It reads "AS-IS"!!!! Yep. I think Mom dropped her on her head as a baby!!!)

Hmmm...So many evil things to say, so little time! I'll just leave this one alone! It's killing me, but I'm walking away...

Apple Butter Festival 2009

I was going to post these last month, but never got around to it. The village we live near/in has an Apple Butter Festival every October. It's not very big, but it's okay. Anyway, this year Kieren decided she wanted her face painted. My daughter who doesn't want strangers to touch her or talk to her actually let a stranger paint her face! The woman was incredibly nice and Kieren was so good! Kieren chose to be a Rainbow Princess. Big shocker - not! She LOVED it!!!

What a goofball!!!

After Kieren got her face done, Cullen decided to have his painted too. Any guesses what he chose????

Ooooooo...didn't see THAT one coming!

Life Keeps Moving Forward

Cullen's 13th birthday is approaching rapidly. The theme has been chosen for months. The date and time have been set. I created the invitations and mailed them this past weekend. Now we have 2 weeks to run experiments and gather supplies! (Yes, my son still insists on birthday parties at home!)

Curious about the theme? Here is a hint:

Hard Day for Everyone

Don't feel like blogging today. Everyone is doing as well as can be expected. Heading out for dinner now. It's my dad's birthday. I'll be back tomorrow. Thank you for all the prayers and thoughts. We felt them today especially.

Love,
Sam

Halloween Fun!

My "snarky" pumpkin (left), Ian's cute pumpkin (middle left), Kieren's happy pumpkin (middle right), and Cullen's New York Yankees pumpkin (right).

Spiderman (Ian), Mermaid Princess (Kieren) and Hades God of The Underworld (Cullen)

The Evil Queen (Nanny - my Mom)

Ian was looking for where the scary sounds were comnig from. Cullen was scoping out the next house.

Kieren was checking out all the weird people!
(Sorry, but that's the best shot I have of Kieren's costume. I'll try to get her to put it on again, but I can't promise!)

Funeral Arraignments

Mark Edwards' funeral arraignments:

Visitation will be on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 5pm-8pm at Adkins Funeral Home in Enon, Ohio.

Funeral service will be held on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 11am at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Enon, Ohio.

Heather has asked that instead of flowers donations be made to American Heart Association or to St. Andrew Lutheran Church.

They Are Home

Heather and Mom are home. They are making final plans right now with the funeral director. I will let you know the times and dates this evening.

Update # Yada-yada-yada

Heather and Mom are in the air and on their way home. Mark's body will land late tonight in Toledo and the funeral director will bring him the rest of the way home tomorrow. I will pick up the exhausted travelers tomorrow morning. No funeral plans are confirmed at this time. Thanks for all the prayers. Now things will get harder. True grieving can start. Please remember Heather and Ian this week.

Oh! And one more thing, Heather REALLY HATES when someone asks "how are you doing"!!!!! So PLEASE don't do that! I know it's habit for most to ask, but she said she feels like she's expected to say "fine". She said there is no answer, especially one people would want to hear. She doesn't know how she is. It changes each minute. Thanks for listening!!!

Update #who-really-knows

Heather just updated from Dubai. I'm too tired to post (especially after talking to Heather on Skype for the last 1.5 hours!). Go read, give love. Thanks much.