The Birk House Just Keeps Gettin' Crazier...

New Goal...

2011-10-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

So I would like to say that I am going to try blogging once a week, but even that may be too ambitious with three kids!

Today I think Jack is a good topic. Everyone at work gets to hear my crazy Jack stories! This boy is definitely keeping mommy on her toes! He LOVES everything he isn't supposed to have! Batteries, markers, gum, butter...all in his mouth of course. And then there's the eggs on the floor, running from mommy when we have something we shouldn't, and let me tell you he is fast! I just wish he could TALK. I know that everyone tells me I shouldn't wish that but it would be so much better than the unrecognizable words he is still using at almost 2 1/2.

I feel partially responsible for his development. I play the "what if" game as in what if I had taken the shot they offered instead of just choosing to have the cesarean...how much longer would I have lasted? Same goes for Shelby but at the time I didn't think I had a choice. Now I know better...

Jack's fave song is "Tonight Tonight" by Hot Chelle Ray and his fave show is the "Upside Down Show". He is NOT interested in potty training! I thought maybe he would soon, but maybe I should wait until he can communicate that better.

He loves hummus and so it's a new thing he and I share before his nap; hummus and pretzels and a fruit. Then he gets something more kid style when he gets up from nap.

I am blessed to have such a happy boy and just hope and pray that he grows up to be a good man.

Life in general...

2011-10-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Life in general lately has been a downer...lots of sadness at work...crabbiness at home...so I am making an effort here and now to rectify the situation! I haven't blogged in over a year and I think getting back to putting my thoughts on "paper" will help my cause...I talk to the walls (kids and hubby) at home and don't get a response so we'll see what we get here! ;)

We went to California this past summer and had a great time! Jamie and Jack did not get to go so my goal is to get them out there soon. The weather is AMAZING and there is so much to see! I have realized though that there are many things here in Missouri that I have never even seen or done...hmmm...my goal list is already getting too long. Ha! Maybe I will make a bucket list here and see what I can accomplish. Life is too short to sit on your butt and be lazy, right??

Audrey is dancing and doing fantastic. She is definitely my performer! Third grade is going perfectly and she decided to try violin this year. Let's see if she keeps up with it!

Shelby is now in karate and is having a great time! I am so glad she has found something she likes! Karate is perfect because she doesn't have to keep up with anyone and her performance is solely dependent on her. It's perfect! She's really good, too! Fifth grade doesn't seem to be too hard yet...she likes her teacher and seems to be enjoying herself.

Jack...well, Jack's job is to keep me running! He is always in to something and keeps me crazy. His new thing is this show called "The Upside Down Show". Unfortunately there were only 13 episodes made so we watch the same thing over and over but it's the only thing he will sit still for! He is currently in speech therapy and making progress but we still have a long road ahead of us.

My camera is broken so the only photos I get now days are from my phone, but part of my new goal/plan is to get a new one or get mine fixed so we can capture these moments! I will post pictures very soon...you'll be amazed at how big the kids are all getting!

Whew...Summer Birthdays are OVER!

2010-07-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine what life would be like with kid's birthdays spread out through the year...I don't get that. I get 3 birthdays from June 15th to July 10th. That's right folks...25 DAYS OF BIRTHDAY FUN! My idea is to always have combo birthday parties until they have a BIG one, like their 5th (before kdg) and then their 10th (double digits) and then their 13th (teen...OMG). Some may disagree but I am not paying for 3 parties in as many weeks! Anywho...this year was a fun BBQ with family and friends. All went well except for my jalepeno experience that left me kissing an ice pack for 40 minutes! Leigh and her kids, along with Cindy, her mother in law, came in from Nebraska! It was a rushed, but fun time.

So my Shelby turned 9 this year...Jack's little momma...

My little Audrey turned 7...spunky little blonde!

and Jack turned ONE! Oh don't worry...I'll put a better, more manly, picture up tomorrow. It's late and I thought this was cute for a stand in! Just pretending I have 3 girls...

Happy Amanda?!? :) I'll do more when I have time!

Springtime Is Here!

2010-04-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yay! I love that the weather is getting warmer and the flowers are blooming! I don't always love the yardwork, but I'll deal with it! :) We seem to be busier lately...maybe it's the two committees I have joined at work. I am currently serving on the Mercy Service Team for Labor and Delivery and the Nursing Clinical Council for the hospital. Both seem to be positive and forward moving so I am excited to see what we can accomplish this year! The downside is that I seem to have lots of Tuesday meetings...less time to clean and play with Jack. :(

Jackson is now 10 months old. He is very mobile now, crawling everywhere! He likes to cruise around his crib, but I have found that that seems to be the only area he can cruise. I am going to work on rearranging the furniture to give him more area to walk. He now has 6 teeth and LOVES to use them. We pretty much are only giving him table foods...daddy seems to think that ice cream and cookies are acceptable foods too!

Audrey and Shelby are going to be playing softball this summer, which brings back lots of great memories. Audrey is playing for St. Norbert's in Florissant and Shelby is playing for Concord Baptist in South County. Let's just hope they don't have games on the same day...might be a big haul from one side of the city to the other! The doctor thinks Shelby has asthma and has given her an inhaler. I hope it is just seasonal and will not be too bad over the summer.

Birthday Season for the Birk family is well on its way. Jack is June 15th, Shelby June 29th, and Audrey July 10th. I think we will be having one big party, maybe at a park or something. Audrey didn't have an individual 1st birthday party so keeping with "being fair", which she is SO concerned about, we will not have a separate one for Jack either. Nana suggested the girls each taking a friend to Six Flags for their birthday since we just got season passes.

In addition to Birthday Season, our wedding anniversary is coming too, July 8th. 10 years this year...unbelievable! I can't believe how much our lives have changed in the past 10 years and am excited to see what's next!

January

2010-01-28T23:14:00.001-08:00

I feel like there's not much to update, but here's what I CAN think of!

Jackson: Jack is now 7 1/2 months old...he still does not roll over, and he isn't interested in trying to crawl. He DOES however, LOVE to stand and all I keep thinking about is how Audrey started walking at 9 1/2 months! EEK! He is trying to pull up on his crib and toy basket and constantly wants me to hold his hands so that he can stand. He gets all giggly and starts bouncing, but is still kind of unstable and that is fine with me! :) He still only has two teeth, on the bottom, likes to squeal and make noise, but isn't saying anything yet. I still can't tell what color his hair is going to be...or his eyes for that matter! His hair looks blond in one light, and almost strawberry in another. His eyes are blue on the outer ring and brown on the inner. Who knows who he will end up looking like?!? Cute though...definitely cute!

Audrey: We have decided to quit...ok I decided to pull her from competing gymnastics. She's not thrilled about it, but I wasn't thrilled paying an arm and a leg for her to BEGIN learning all-around gymnastics. I am going to talk to the coach and see if she can just take one class/week instead of 6 hours/week and then get her and Shelby into swimming lessons. Pool time will be here before we know it! She is doing really well in school...her teacher's comments are things like "Audrey is working on giving her friends a chance to answer questions...and Audrey likes to help her friends when she is finished with her work...". We sometimes think she might need a little medicine too though with her non-stop talking and movement! :)

Shelby: Shelby is such a good kid...she is going through a lot of changes at school right now with the IEP we just put in place and she seems to be handling it all like a trooper! She is going to be having a few extra tests in the near future for something called Central Auditory Processing Disorder. The evaluators that worked on her IEP thought it might be a piece to the puzzle, and if so I think it's a BIG piece. It means she hears you, but can't process what you are saying. This disorder overlaps a lot with ADHD and looks similar, but auditory testing will prove whether this is affecting her or not. She still loves school and loves to help take care of Jackson! I think I am almost ready to teach her to change his diaper, but soon he will be able to get away from her so maybe not! :)

So I think that's about it for us this month! I kind of like when there's not a lot to tell...Calm is good!

The kiddos...

2009-12-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

Jack went to the doctor today for his 6 month checkup and shots...yuck! Being the bad mom that I am, I forgot to take his binkie in to the office. He actually did really well with the shots and didn't cry too much until the soreness started to set in to those thunderthighs! He was 18.7 lbs which I didn't think was too bad! :) Both of those bottom teeth are fully through now thank goodness, hopefully now the runny nose will go away!

We had a meeting yesterday with Shelby's IEP team at school. For those of you that don't know, an IEP is an individualized education plan through Special School District. I asked for an SSD evaluation back in October because even though she is on medication for her ADHD, she is still really stuggling in her schoolwork. She did qualify for assistance through SSD which will be really helpful...but they also are going to take a look at something else that might be slowing her down. The screener seemed to think she might have a central auditory processing disorder (deficit?) and that might be what is causing many of her educational problems. I still have a lot to learn about it, but the counselor did give us a few papers with info and tips. Reading over it I found myself saying "yep" and "see...I told you it was something else" a lot! I am not excited for my beautiful, talented daughter to have another diagnosis, but I am intrigued as to why it has taken us this long to discover this as a possibility and how it may help her now that we have discovered it! Stay tuned for more updates on her progress!!

Audrey...well Audrey never ceases to crack me up! This evening she gave me part of a cookie she got at school during their holiday party. I was shocked that a parent paid to have Cookies by Design cookies made with their names and all. They had them for Halloween also and are delicious! I told her that the next time she got one she couldn't eat any of because I wanted to eat it all! She stated in a funny voice, "It's okay...I'm sure I'll get one for Easter...and I'll get two." She asked me how Jack did with his shots today. She can be a very caring person...and then manipulative and cunning all at the same time...I hope the next 11 years are kind to us, or at least she is! :)

Funny story and then I HAVE to go to bed...I was cleaning house last night and was wiping down the kitchen table. We have an Advent calendar on the table that has doors and holds candy inside. I decided to take a peek through the rest of the month because Audrey had 4 candies after dinner and I was confused. Not anymore! She must have been behind and was catching up to her sister...who has already eaten her candy all the way to Christmas Day! I questioned Shelby about it this evening and her only response was..."How did you know?!?"

Time...

2009-12-15T00:50:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Jackson is already 6 months old. It really does seem like yesterday that we brought him home. I asked Shelby this evening if she even remembered how little he was when he was born and she said no. I remember exactly how tiny he felt when I picked him up...I miss that. But now we are heading into the last half of his first year and I want it all to slow down! He already has his two bottom teeth, they came in this last weekend. He is STILL not rolling over but is starting to at least become more active while playing. He LOVES his bath. I wish I could get a video of bathtime to post but everytime I try to video him or even take his picture, he freezes! No joke! It is the craziest thing. He stops laughing, playing, everything...it is really funny. His 6 month check up is this Wednesday so I will post stats as soon as I get them...too big...too fast!

The girls are both fantastic. Soccer is over for the season and now they are down to one activity each. Shelby is bringing her violin home for two nights every week and is showing us the songs she learns at school. I am glad she is interested in music...I think it is a good outlet for her.

Audrey is busy with gymnastics. Her first meet is coming up soon and should be interesting! She just got her aerial cartwheel tonight (no hands) which is awesome. Many of the older girls can't do one and she is only one of two in her level than can do one. She was pretty proud of herself! I will put up info for the meet as soon as I know more. I'm sure she would enjoy a few extra friends/family cheering her on! :)

The fun we've had...

2009-10-25T03:49:00.001-07:00

So since August we have been pretty busy...school started (yay!), Audrey has started gymnastics, and they both are in soccer right now. Shelby has another activity going on but right now we don't have the joy of participating. She is learning to play the violin and they have not been able to bring their violins home just yet. I wonder how much it would cost to make that continue for a little while longer?!? Just kdding! I tortured my mom with the saxophone and clarinet for a while...we can handle it! Here are a few photos of what we have been up to for the past couple of months.

2009-08-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Two of the Fairy Doors in Downtown Ann Arbor, MI.

Roy and Nancy with 3 of the 4 grandkids...Jack was home in St. Louis with me.

And it's here...

2009-08-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's the beginning of another school year already! Shelby will be in the third grade this year and Audrey is heading into the first. They are both REALLY excited and have already made me purchase their supplies, clothes, and new high top tennis shoes. It was hilarious picking them out because Audrey kept telling me I didn't know anything about high tops, since I had never worn them before. Does she think they JUST came out with this new concept of bringing the shoe up a little higher on the ankle yesterday?? When I had informed her that yes I had worn them in the past she was amazed! Kids are so funny sometimes...

The girls and Jamie just got back from Michigan this past Monday. They went to visit Jamie's dad and step mom. Everyone seemed to have a good time swimming in the lake, looking for Fairy Doors (pictures to follow), shopping, etc. Audrey was more glad than anyone to come home since she can't stand to be away from her momma for too long. When I had Jackson she even asked if she could stay in the hospital with me!

Other than that, not a lot going on here. Jackson's last weight at the doctor was 10 lbs and 12 ounces. That's a 4 pound weight gain from when he left the hospital 6 weeks prior! He isn't smiling yet or being very active, which worried me at first. Then I remembered...he's really only a 3 week old baby if you look at it since he was one month early! He's fine and I am sure it will all start to kick in very soon.

2009-07-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

So Jackson had to come into the world with a bang...he couldn't let his sisters out do him, right?? I had been contracting all night at work and went home to shower, shave my legs, you know...get gussied up for the doctor. I called the doctor on my way home and told him that my contractions were 5 minutes apart and that I would be right back to the hospital. When I got there, they hooked me up to the monitors and we find that I am now contracting every 2-3 minutes. My mom starts giggling as I am having to breathe through these contractions and tells me that I have always wanted to experience labor, right?!? They check me and call the doc to tell him that I am NOT dilated, but that I am in an extreme amount of pain. He gives me the option to go ahead with the delivery or try and stop it since I am preterm. I was not yet 36 weeks. I said GO...get this over with...I am DONE being pregnant! They move me to get my epidural placed and call the doctor to let him know that we are ready. Jamie arrives...having missed all the fabulous pain, breathing, moaning...just in time to get dressed for the OR. My mom and Jamie both get to go to the back this time, which I am excited about since my mom has not seen any of her other grandchildren be born. Then in comes Chaney, my fab nurse!, and wants to know what is going on because Jack is having decelerations of his heart rate. They turn me to my side and decide to start moving to the OR. We get to the back and hook Jack up one more time to check his heart rate...56! Not good since there should at least be a 1 in front of that number!! Dr. P and Dr. DR move quickly to get him out and hand him off to the NICU staff. APGARS were 5 and 7...not too bad for a little guy one month early and a heart rate of 56 about 5 minutes prior! The NICU staff take him to their nursery and Jamie and my mom follow. All in all...he did great only spending a day and a half in the NICU and getting to come home with me 4 days later. Thanks to Dr. P and Dr. DR...Kris P and Chaney...Jamie K and Dr.O'Neill we have a beautiful addition to our family and couldn't be happier!!

Introducing....

2009-06-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

Baby Jack has made his arrival...more details to come soon!

33 weeks and counting...

2009-06-02T21:26:00.001-07:00

Jamie starting to get the nursery ready...nothing like waiting until the last minute right!?!

I can't believe I still have 6 weeks to go!

Dance recital 2009

2009-06-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the 2nd and last night of recital...as I type I am trying to upload some video that I took during the performance, sorry Kristi! They all did a beautiful job but I am definitely glad, as I am sure Jamie the super dance dad is, to have some time off this summer from dance. It gets to be a lot being there 3 nights a week, not including extra practices when competitions come around. Luckily I have a husband that doesn't mind taking the kids to dance...and so I let him...probably more often than I should! :)

I called Grandpa today just to check in on him and see how he was doing. I was cracking up as I hung up the phone, mainly because he rushed me off the phone so that he could get out of the house to get his day started! He told me he had a doctor's appt today but that first he was going to go to the church, find something to eat over in Cape, kill some time, and then head to his 2pm appt...this was as I was talking to him at 9am!! I called my mom and told him what he was up to...giggling the whole time...and she started laughing too. My aunt says he is going to start volunteering at the senior citizen building in Jackson or something and has been spending some time over there along with going to visit the firehouses in Cape. I am glad he is keeping himself busy. It makes me wonder how much his "Alzheimer's" really affects him...

Ok...well the video won't upload. I guess I'll have to play with it a little more and see if I can get it to work.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

Mom went down and got Grandpa this weekend. He spent the weekend at her house, but lots of time with Jamie and the girls since she was on call. I was supposed to work Friday night and happened to get the night off so we ordered pizza and sat around talking while the girls swam...yes they have already hit the pool! Saturday they all went to the Cardinals game with Jamie's sister and brother-in-law and then spent the evening back at mom's. Jamie said they had pretty good seats and that everyone enjoyed the game...of course they did...the Cards won!! Sunday Charlie and Sue went to church with mom and Grandpa and then to lunch, and by this time Grandpa was about ready to head for home. Mom, Jamie, and the girls took him home Monday morning and I got to stay home sleeping the day away! I'm glad he had a good weekend. It sounds like he really enjoyed himself!

Audrey FINALLY lost her first tooth Saturday night. She had her Nana pull it and now walks up to you with a really goofy grin just so you can see the hole! I am just glad it finally happened...she's been trying to tell me she has a loose tooth for a year now!

Tomorrow I go for a growth ultrasound to see just how big mister Jack is these days. Mom is going to go with me because she hasn't seen any this time around. The girls will also be there so they are excited to get to see their little brother! A girl at work last night asked me what I will call the three of them as a group since I can't say "the girls" anymore!?! I hadn't really thought about it until then but am sure it will slip out a few times before I get used to the change!

Recital is coming up June 1st and 2nd. I am glad then to only have to worry about Summer school for Shelby...well and keeping them occupied all summer! :) Other than that it seems that the birthday parties have started which keeps our (Jamie's) weekends pretty busy! We seem to have a lot of friends with summer kids...I can't complain since I too will have 3 of those now. Don't worry people...it's called a Birk Birthday BBQ, no gifts needed!

I hope everyone has enjoyed their day off and has thanked a service man or woman for their contributions! Thanks Ryan...

Long time...no blog

2009-05-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

So it's been quite a while since anyone in our family has used the blog...I think almost all of us have moved to Facebook and seem to be doing the same type of communicating there which is great! I decided then to change this blog to the Birk Family blog if that's okay with everyone else.

For those of you not in our family that follow this blog...a few things have been going on in the Baker clan. First and foremost, we lost Grandma Baker 2 weeks ago today. Grandpa says it was very sudden which is relief for me. I wouldn't have wanted her to suffer, but it was also very hard since we didn't get to say our goodbyes. We knew she had a heart condition but she had just been released from the hospital the day before so we thought she was cleared and doing better, but if you knew Anna Belle she had to be in control! She wasn't taking all of her medications properly and we think she ended up with a blood clot. To be honest, it still doesn't seem real. Maybe it's just that I am so busy with the kids and getting ready for #3 that I haven't had time to wrap my mind around it, but I don't think I have finished dealing with it. I am afraid when Jack is born it might hit me that he will never get to meet his great grandma, and what a GREAT grandma she was!

That leads me in to the next portion, JACK. I am 32 weeks today and am going to the doctor weekly. I have gestational diabetes, which stinks, but am learning to deal with it. I just have to keep telling myself that it is only for 7 more weeks and that it his health I am caring for too!

The girls are great! They have finished their competitions for the season and are getting geared up for the recital. Shelby will be attending summer school again, which she is really excited about, no REALLY. She loves school so another 5 weeks is ok with her! I am pumped about all the cool things we are going to do this summer...Science Center, movies, Magic House, Zoo, pool, Six Flags. etc. I am probably getting ahead of myself considering my feet are swelling just talking about it all, but luckily my mom is a big help and loves to do fun stuff with them too!

Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this even after the baby...it does make it easier than individual emails! :)

What a yucky day...

2008-12-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

I have to say that I was very sad I couldn't sit and conversate with the fam on Thanksgiving. It stunk having to go in to work...especially when I didn't deliver one baby that night. Others did, just not me! Speaking of those things...nice job keeping my "predicament" on the low down that day. The girls still know nothing, even though Audrey is convinced I am just because she has prayed about it!!

I talked with grandma tonight and she says they had "a nice lunch at Delmonico's" on Thursday. I hate that they didn't want to come but they are homebodies and stuck in their way, right?

Haven't heard from anyone on here in a while...update us and let everyone know you're still doing well!

Reva

It's me. Jo-D@att.net

2008-11-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

It's true, I have joined the world of High Speed Internet! My e-mail address is changing to Jo-D@att.net. Tom and I will be leaving next tuesday for Texas. So I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ryan has to work, so we will be having Thanksgiving Dinner with hundreds of soldiers. We're excited.
Cheri toke Philip to the doctor yesterday, and guess what, he has a testical that has not decended. Just like his Daddy.
Thanks Gail for getting Dad's liscense renewed.
Jo-D

New pictures...

2008-10-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

The girls have new pictures that were taken last week...the website is www.lisalawsonphotography.com then go to gallery and client photos. Click on Birk obviously and the password is Reva with a capital R.

Mom just got back from grandmas and said she and Aunt Lana discussed having someone go in and clean their house while they are in St. Louis for Thanksgiving. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to chip in to hire a company for that. Let me know what you think!

Reva

Kimbel updates

2008-10-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

Jamie and Carrie are home from vacation. They had a great time laying on the beach and swimming. They only had one rainy day. Julia's doc. appt. are this Wed. and fri. They are still not to worried, so I won't worry! Hannah is beginning to talk. She says, "were's Julia?" She can't say Ashley yet.
Ryan and Cheri have signed the papers for a 4 bedroom house on post in the Commance II Village. It will be ready in about a week. They have now moved out of the motel to on post lodging until their house is ready. Much bigger for the 5 of them. The dogs or in a kennel. We are looking forward to go to texas in November for Thanksgiving. They cannot get the boys back into school until they have an"address". Each village has their own schools.
Jo-D

Update on Kimbel's

2008-10-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ryan and Cheri arrived in Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday, Oct. 2nd. They are staying in a motel. They have put their name on a list for housing, but they are told it will be 3 to 4 months. So they are going to look for an apartment for the mean time. The motel is eating them alive in cost. Ryan has a buddy that arrived a few weeks before them. They have an apartment, and Ryan and Cheri has been able to spend time with them. Plus they have a pool at the complex. They were able to do their laundry there yesterday.
I spoke too Jamie yesterday. They left for Gulf Shore this morning for 5 nights. The girls are on fall break. Julia had a Doctors appt. this week after having a fever for a few day. The pediatrian discover a unusual heart beat. Possibly a mermer. She will see a cardioaligist when they get home from vacation. Also she is only see out of her left eye Her left eye is doing all the work. It's not from poor eyes, they are thinking maybe something with the brain that is causing her vision to be impaired. Then...she failed her hearing test. So after they get back she will be going through a lot of test. Jamie and Carrie are not overly worried. They just need to get things checked out for their piece of mind.
Just keep both of the boys in your prayer.
Jo-D

Disney...again.

2008-10-03T13:42:00.003-07:00

So we just found out this week that the girls will be competing in Orlando next July. First of all it's the weekend of the 4th of July, can we say OMG Florida HEAT! Secondly, 4th of July...holiday...CRAZY! Thirdly, we were just there this past May and made a big hoopla because we thought we wouldn't be back for some time...AND if you will remember the best thing for them was the POOL! Needless to say I don't think we will hit Magic Kingdom again...way too expensive for the small amount of fun the girls had.

Reva

Good Thing!

2008-09-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Grandma is so excited about this picnic. She called last night to see if my company was here yet. She had all of her potato's and eggs boiled, and she needed to go and get the rest of the stuff for her salad. At least she remembered she was suppose to make potao salad. That's good. I called her after Ryan and family arrived just so she would be able to relax.
Jo-D

Balloon Glow '08

2008-09-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Really something everyone should experience at least once...

Thank you!

2008-09-17T11:25:00.001-07:00

I just needed to say thank you again to uncle Doyle for calling his locksmith friend Sunday when my husband lost his keys...oh somewhere...IN THE EDWARDS JONES DOME! Needless to say I asked how many times he had been around the building looking for them...I don't care how big it is! :) Keep Looking!

Reva

The Birk's

2008-09-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

I thought I would just say hi and give an update as to the workings of the Birk household...

I am still loving my new job. This week I am in the operating room doing c-sections. It's pretty interesting to see what I have been through twice already...almost makes me not want to do it again! They actually take your whole uterus out and check for bleeding...it looks kind of like a turkey, weird!

Shelby and Audrey love school and I love their teachers. It makes me sad now to think that we are trying to move because they are both doing so well...we just really need a bigger house! They have started back to dance and are taking about 3 classes each. Makes for a pretty hectic week for Jamie and I but it's also a great socialization time for us.

Jamie is having to change his schedule right now to accomodate my new job, and unfortunately might have to make the change permanent. We've thought of every alternative and just can't get around it. He's such a good sport I am afraid one day he might explode from all the crap he's had to take! :)

Well, I am off to get ready for my garage sale. I need to get this in before fall hits!

Reva

Finally Home!

2008-09-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ryan is finally home in IN. with his family. Today he and Philip went fishing with pappaw Tim. He is happy to just be resting and watching TV with his kids and Cheri. He will need to report to Fort Hood Texas Oct. 4th, so they will more than likely pull out of IN on the week-end of Sept. 26-68. I do plan on having a picnic for them. He and his Daddy prefer that it be here in Ryan's home town. My plans are for September 20th. in Jackson City park. I will provide all of the meat, bread, drinks, condiments, paper ware and baked beans. If my family would be so kind as to furnish side dishes, I would greatly appreciate it. We would love to see everybody be able to come. It would mean so much to Ryan and to us. This way we do not need to get Mom and Dad to St. Louis.

Today they went to the Arbor Day homecoming. I called around 3:30 to make sure they were back. They had a good time, good food, and visited with lots of people.

Philip took a spelling test on Friday and made a 100%. Wow, I almost hate for him to have to leave IN. and the teacher he has.

Please respond to our invitation.
Jo-D

Everything is on the move!

2008-09-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

After much effort and lots of Fleets, Daddy's bowels are on the move. He called me yesterday to tell me he was heading to the hospital. I ask him why and he told me he can't poop (he didn't use those words). I called his nurse and she called him and told him to sit tight (no pun intended). She called me and sent to Wal Mart with a list of thinks sure to get things moving. After several hours and to many stories about KY Jelly, he decided to go to bed and tttrrryyy to sleep ( "but it's hard to sleep when your butt is burning"). This morning there was still no action. I returned to Daddy's for another dose of fleets, ex-lax, and yes KY Jelly, things finally moved later in the morning. When I called to talk to him this afternoon, he said he "filled the toilet". I know now why Gail is a nurse and I am a pre-school teacher.

How did you all spend your Labor Day!

Jo-D

Kimbel news

2008-08-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

I took Grandma to see her eye doctor yesterday. He explained to me that her eye condition has taken the eye sight in her right eye. She can see shadows and bright lights, but nothing else. Her left eye is doing ok for now, however, she is suppose to be taking a vitamen for her eyes, which she is not taking. He told her if she does not take the vitamen, she is going to risk the chance of losing her left eye as well. She does have cataracks on both eyes, but not bad enough to take them off.
Cheri left today at 4 a.m. to see Ryan. She and Jacob arrived in Virginia at 3:00 p.m., The last time I talked to them they were eating Mexican. Ryan will have a 4 day pass this week-end and is due to process out on Tuesday. He will be home for a few weeks before they move to Fort Hood Texas. A 12 hour trip for Tom and I. I plan to have a picnic for them before they leave. I would like to do it in St. Louis at a park. I will let you all know.
Jacob and Ryan started school two weeks ago. Philip loves school. His teacher says he is a sweet heart, but we knew that. He is eager tp participate and is first to raise his hand in class. She says he will excel fast, and is disappointed that he will not remain in IN for her to witness his progress.
Jo-D

Proud Missourian

2008-08-18T06:46:00.001-07:00

Saturday, Keaton and headed to Sedalia for a full day at the Missouri State Fair. We had perfect sunny 80 degree weather all day and had a fantastic time. We started the day with a pig race and ended it with a girl shot out of a cannon. We also saw people blow-drying cows and bulls, we saw Brian's brother Brent at the Swine Barn, a girl I went to high school with was the entertainment in one of the tents, she is trying to make it big as a country singer, Candy Coburn, and Keaton did push-ups to get a big poster of the MU football schedule. Keaton loves to relive the highlights.

Have a great week. Caroline

First day!!

2008-08-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

Today was Shelby's first day of second grade and Audrey's first day of kindergarten...I only cried a little!

Kimbel news

2008-08-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

I am writing from my newly assembled computor desk. It only took Tom 13 hours to put it together and another 4 hours to re-hook all of my electronics. But I love it. We had new carpet installed thursday in the family room. No Lana, he has not been brave enough yet to lay the bathroom tile. We went to Hutsons Saturday and ordered new family room furniture, along with new bedroom furniture. They had great buys. I have never in all of our 33 years in marriage had a head board. Tom is looking forward to going back to work part time. He will be driving for St. Paul Luteran school this fall. Very well behaved children. He drove for them while he was on the police department.
Ryan recieved his orders this week. He will be going to Fort Hood, Texas. The boys start school tomorrow. They will be ableto get a few weeks in before they move. They are very excited about going to Texas. We figured out that it will be a 12 hour drive for us. Which is better than we had thought. He still does not know when he will get a leave though.
Julia and Ashley started school Wednesday, August 6. Carrie said Julia did not even cry on her first day. Good girl. She has Ashley's kindergarten teacher, which helps, because she knew her.
We took Mom and Dad to Aunt Armella's 90 th birthday party today. There was a very good crowd there. Aunt Palma's kids were there. Aunt Armella wispered in my ear, "take good care of your Mom and Dad, Your a good girl". Mom said she is down to 194 pounds. She is working very hard to lose weight. She just decided it was time to cut back on her eating. Good for her.
I wish I could have been with you girls to paint. We take our kids to Creative Ewe. It's a pottery place. We love it.
Better go to bed.
Jo-D

Camp Nanna-Last Day

2008-08-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

The end of Camp Nanna is near. We may finish off with bowling. Paul has them out for sno-cones right now.

On monday, we did duct tape crafts: Ella made a huge swimbag and Caleb made a wallet(of which he is very proud). Monday afternoon we went to the movies to see JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.

Tuesday, we made banana bread and zuchini bread to sell at the bakery booth at the Walk Back in Time. Great bread! That afternoon we went swimming.

Wednesday, was a learning lesson for Paul and me. Kids don't always want to do what you have planned. Anyway, Paul and I made two really cool bird houses. From scratch mind you!! Then we went to St. Louis where as you know, the boys went to the game, and Ella and I spent time with her cousins.

Thursday, we went to brunch at the Original House of Pancakes.(recommend highly) Then to Children's Museum.

Today, Friday, Ella and I painted the bird houses.

One busy week. I kept the house clean and even went to a dinner meeting on Tuesday. Needless to say I'm tired. But it was all worth it, Both kids kept telling me thank you for everything we did.

Next year Keaton will be old enough to attend Camp Nanna. Must rack my brain for fresh ideas.

Painted Pot

2008-08-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Lana, Paul, Caleb, and Ella all came to St. Louis today for a day or two of fun.

Paul and Caleb went to the Cardinal game, the girls went to paint pottery! The girls wanted to paint more than one item and were told that it wasn't happening today, so they just kept painting the same piece over and over. Here is what they ended up looking like. I have to say Lana was wonderful in letting Ella do whatever she wanted to to her fairy, I made the girls stop when it started to get to be too much!

Four Weeks and Four Days

2008-08-05T17:43:00.000-07:00

I promise Reva, I log on all the time. Twice I started to blog, once I lost my entire post and the second time I got an error when I tried to attach a picture. I gave up.

Our summer has flown by, however I feel that we officially have four weeks and four days left. We do not have the start of school to put an end to our summer, we have Tiger football. The first home game is Saturday, September 6th. We are not going to the Illinois game in STL, but we will not miss a home game in Columbia. We hope to make the best of the rest of the summer but have little planned other than a trip to the State Fair to see the pig races on the 16th. Hopefully, we can get in a little more pool time and ride our bikes.

Mom and Dad came over this weekend and took Keaton and I to the Royals game. Keaton is a huge sports fan, he likes it all, baseball, football, basketball and soccer. We hope to raise him right, to be a STL Cardinals fan. So far, so good, his favorite baseball player is Skip Schumaker.
Anyway, Keaton had a great time.

Now, I remember why I don't post much, I don't have much to report. I promise to keep a better update.

Caroline

ED Trip '08

2008-08-04T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hopefully our only one this year...Shelby jumped around in the pool yesterday and cut her knee open on who knows what. We took her to the emergency department last night and they gave her 4 stitches. Then today we ended up at the doctor's office because it was already starting to look infected and they hadn't prescribed any antibiotics. Anyway...we're hoping to be done with it until I take them out next week. I am hoping I can get her to hold still! :) Audrey was jealous of sister's hospital bracelet so I had to make one for her too. Here's to hoping that she doesn't start kindergarten Monday with that thing on her arm.

Mom's excited to be moving in to an apartment. She moves the weekend of the 22nd, so party at her house! Just kidding.

Lana, I guess I am writing to you since we are the only ones left! :) The girls are excited to see Ella this week, wonder if I am invited this time!?!

Reva

All nighter...

2008-07-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah, well I figured it wouldn't be an all nighter but at quarter to twelve they were still going strong. Then I got worried because Audrey kept dozing off for a few minutes and waking qute refreshed! We did nails, hair, makeup, baked a cake, and then settled down for a few movies. Enchanted was completely viewed, but Scooby Doo was not...thankfully! Both were out by 12:15! It was fun and adorable that they thought they could hang with the best of 'em! I think we will make it a yearly thing so that when they are 30 still having an all nighter with their good ol' mom.

Just returned from Jackson

2008-07-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

Gail, Audrey, Shelby and I just spent 4 days at Granny Belle's and Jim's. We had a great time, thanks to Aunt Jodie, who provided most of the entertainment. The girls spent the days at Smallworld Two, where they swam and bowled and had an all round good time. They couldn't wait to get there in the morning. She also provided the supplies for us to make duct tape purses(CUTE). They were ready to get home though, because Thursday night was their stay-up-all-night time. Shelby was soo excited, she just knew she would make it all night.

Mom still has issues with their medications, although she doesn't realize she has issues. She's is convinced that the doctors are prescribing more medications to get more kickbacks from the drug companies.

Mom's new sofa is real pretty and looks great in the livingroom. Now if we could get Dad to get rid of his recliner in the tv room. When I left Dad was putting up a new mailbox. One that opens from the back as well as in the front. Now they don't even have to step out into the street to get the mail. Soo high-tech.

Dad's back is still bothering him. To what extent we don't know, it kind of depends on who is listening to him, and who is there. Gail is concerned that if he continues to favor it, it is not going to get better and he'll stay slumped over. He walks slouched over because if he straightens up it hurts.

We tried for 4 days to get them out of the house, finally we went to lunch on Wednesday, and went to Wal-mart and Lowe's. Gail insisted that Dad change his clothes and take a shower. He changed his clothes.

I feel sometimes like I'm snitching on them when I relate what is going on when I'm there, but still I think it is important that we all know what life is like for them. Really, They are both quite content, and I wonder to what extent we should disrupt that contentment. I just want them to be healthy and vibrant for several more years.

LC

Long time since posting

2008-07-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I posted, I thought that I would fill you in on what is going on at the Parmenter's. Really not much! We spent a few days in Fredericktown with Sue and Dave, Beverly and Marvin. Before that I did a week working at History Camp. Two weeks ago was Bible School and I worked the Weaving and Basket Shop at the Jerusalem Market Place. A very different kind of Bible School.

We have been going to all of Caleb's ballgames. He is now swinging at the ball and connecting some. He executed the last out in the game Tuesday to win. Very exciting.

We've created a new little courtyard on the north side of the house. It needs some time before it will look great, but is a vast improvement on what was there.

We celebrated our 39th anniversary last Saturday! The girls reserved a small room at the club, and they took us out to dinner. It was a great evening.
Paul gave me a digital photo frame. Now I need to learn how to download music to the frame. It really is too cool.

Nate fell down the stairs last week and cut his head. It scared Caleb and Ella to death. Sara said that it took longer to calm them down than it did Nate. Poor little guy, he also got a huge splinter in his thumb. I think it stayed there a day or two because he wouldn't let anyone touch it.

Keaton had a big week at school last week. He tried to get on of the teachers to hold down his "you know what" while he pottied. She told him it was his, he could hold it down himself. He then asked her what she had in her pants, a big one or a little one? The teacher gave Caroline a call and told her that maybe they should have a talk with Keaton. He has also moved up to the Beetlebug class. That's a big step. A Rite of Passage so to speak.

I made plum jam and jelly from plums procurred at the country club. I now have plum chutney ready to jar up. I have decided that jam and jelly making is a great pasttime. I bought strawberries to make some more jam and now I want blackberries.

LC

Baker Dr. visits

2008-07-02T18:58:00.001-07:00

So I took grandma and grandpa to the doctor today. They both went to see Dr. Shoenberger. This was their last visit with him because he is retiring and has suggested a new doctor for them. Grandma had to go as a follow up from Dr. Melles last week because her blood pressure was through the roof last week. Today...it was fine. Maybe just being in Dr. Melles office was enough to raise it. It happens. She is to make an appointment with the new guy for 3 months from now. Jo and mom are on that task.

Grandpa went today as a follow up from his ER visit at the end of May. His back is still bothering him. I have to be honest, and understand this man is like a father to me...I think he's putting us on a little. He was doing ok and then we went in the office...BAM back pain. I think he really is having some but maybe not THAT much. No matter, after being checked out he was prescribed more muscle relaxers and pain pills, moist heat and rest. We'll see how it does.

Then I took him to the doctor about his ear. The doctor gave him a few options and then after hearing Grandma say she changes his pillowcase about every other day decided just to remove the portion that looks like it may be cancer. He also noticed a spot on the tip of his nose that he is going to remove. He says they will take a graft from either his cheek or his neck for his ear. That surgery is on August 5th, no word yet on a time.

Grandma's Aricept was increased to 2 times a day as was the Nimenda (sp?) This was from the Dr. Melles appt last week.

Her couch is super cute and she has purchased new rugs for most of the house...YEA. She seems to have forgotten that she wanted to pull the carpet in the bonus room as of today and mentioned she thinks it's in okay shape. :)

I think that's all for now. We are going to be in Arnold for the 4th bc unfortunately we got and RSVP'd to that one first. I hate that everyone's going to meet my mom's new beau before I am! Blog, blog, blog.

Reva

Board Certified RN, BSN! Thank goodness...

2008-06-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

So I took boards on Tuesday and was terrified that I didn't pass...it was really hard. Today I found out that I PASSED! Elated is not even close to the fact that the past 18 months was worth it. Now I can relax...

Reva

2008-06-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

So far we haven't heard if her sorority house or house she's renting next year had any damage...I guess no news is good news!! I looked at pictures online and many buildings on campus were damaged including the one that Kate spends a lot of her time in:-((

Doyle, Grandpa and Uncle Jerry had a good time at Wappapella (sp?) Lake...fishing wasn't too good but a good time was had by all.

LB

Crud...

2008-06-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I am horrible about birthdays...I think I know where I get it! :) I hope Jodie and Jamie K. both had wonderful days! Stinks getting older, huh?? I'm already losing it!!

Love ya!
Reva

From Jackson

2008-06-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

Tom and I spent two days cleaning out Dad's flower bed at the corner of the house. Oh my gosh!
We planted flowers and mulched. We left the middle of the flower bed empty for Dad to put pepper plants in. But we can't find any. When Dad got home today from fishing with Doyle, he told me the flower bed looked good, but why did'nt we finish it? Ha Ha!! Doyle said they had a great time. When I stopped by they were all sitting in the garage eating left over chicken. I thought they went fishing!
The mailbox has been moved to the side of the house. Mom could not be any more pleased. She was worried about how close it was to the street on the other side too. Now they need a path or a sidewalk to the mailbox so they don't have to go through the wet grass. Any takers? Stepping stones would be great.
I hear Lana has already wore out her new swing.
Jo-D

I spent $216 at the vet yesterday on ONE of our dogs!

2008-06-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Beth went in the backyard Thursday to look after her garden and was greeted by our chocolate lab, Diesel, rubbing his bloody head on her leg!

I was finally able to get him into the vet yesterday morning not knowing if he had scratched himself raw, he had been in a tussle with Rusty, scratched himself on something underneath our back addition where they hang out, or had been attacked by some other animal.

Our vet concluded that some fly bites had been bothering him and he had been trying to relieve the itching. Only a dog would rub his head on the ground until it bled. Anyway, the vet gave him a shot for pain relief and some sedation so he could clean/treat the area without Diesel squirming, which was about $60 of the total. Then we had to buy a steriod/antibiotic cream to put on the area to help that heal, some insect repellant to keep the flies away, AND some medicine to more aggressively treat the ear infection that had gotten worse since he was in the office in April for shots.

At least we got some quality time together.

Still in Florissant...

2008-06-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

So the house is still on the market, sadly. It has been 5 months now and I have to keep telling myself that 5 months is still considered a short amount of time for a property to be on the market these days...

The girls are having recital on June 29th. Yucky birthday present for Shelby if you ask me.

My new job started last week and so far stinks. We have really done nothing but sit in orientation for a full 10 days. I thought school was over!

I was wondering if that Kansas tornado damaged Katie's house at all...

We are going to Grandma's this weekend for Father's Day so I will blog after we get home if anything happens.

NOTHING MUCH NEW AT 320 WOODLAWN

2008-06-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

We had several of our trees trimmed last week. They look great and allow more sunlight on the front lawn, maybe the grass will grow better. Next week the painters are coming to do the upper level work.

The work on my swing is coming along. The air is so humid that the paint is drying very slowly. So it may be a week before I get the whole thing done. But, it is going to look gooood.

Caleb had a ballgame tonight. He gets on base every at bat, but Tony thinks he hasn't swung the bat yet this season. They won tonight 15 to 7. Paul babysat with Nate while we went to the game. Good man!

I made a quick trip to St. Louis today. MY FRIEND Beverly was in the hospital,
a cat scan showed a spot on her brain. Sue Hanner and I went to be with Marvin while doctors ran more tests. It turns out she had a lesion caused by one or more small strokes. They were very happy with that news, because the doctors were mentioning tumor. This they will deal with happily. She will have a stint inserted into the coratid artery next week. I called Gail to find out if Reva was at the hospital today, but could not get her. I did not have Re's cell #.

I started a water-walking class today. Great work-out. I told Paul not to expect me to use my legs for anything today. A person could burn 500 calories in 1/2 hour during a session.

Jodie took care of the mailbox situation at Mom and Dad's. You just have to know the right person. Gail will go down in a day or two.

LC

Grandpa and Grandma

2008-05-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

I spend three days in Jackson and managed to get a few things done. We got Molly to the groomers and cleaned up(she looks real good). Once again, a groomer would not do Trudy(too temperamental). I told Mom that we might as well give up and just keep her bathed. I tried hard to get her bathed, but Mom was resistant because Trudy had already been traumatized.

We had all the medications filled. Mom had one from 4/10/08, Aricept, that she had not been taking. Dad's were for back pain and something else, I forgot.
They get their medications all confused, it is very hard to get them to get it straight. I set them up with a dispenser not too long ago, but Mom did not like it, so she took all the medicine out of it. I don't know what to do. Gail's says that she will take care of it when she goes down next week.

Dad's back(according to him) is still just killing him. He has medicine from two different doctors who can't find any thing wrong, but muscle strain.

We got the family room carpet cleaned, and the traffic area in the living room. It looks real good. Mother would like to put hard surface down in the family room.

I noticed that in the front bathroom, there has been a leak or something. The baseboards are molded and in the back bathroom the side of the vanity is warped and discolored where water has damaged it. Charlie and Doyle what do you think?

Oh, another thing. When the city put in the sidewalk in front of their house they made Mom and Dad move their mailbox across the street. I don't like that at all. No better than Mom can see, I'm afraid that she'll walk out in front of a car when getting the mail. Dad talked to the mailcarrier, and he said there wasn't anything he could do about it. The carrier still comes up their side of the street. I would like to see the box put back on their side. I'm going to call the city of Jackson.

LC

Next...

2008-05-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's someone else's turn! Jo goes out of town and is gone only a few hours when we get a call that grandpa's in so much pain "he can't breathe". Mom talked to him and we decided that I would go down and see how he was. (She's on call and couldn't leave town.) When I walked in he was in his chair, dressed, waiting for me. We started talking and I made him laugh, which made him cry because it hurt too bad to laugh. In the car we got and headed to the ER. I could have gone to an urgent care I guess but I knew they would be able to do any test possible at the ER so that's where we went.
After some blood work, x-ray, and CT scan they couldn't find anything significant. They said he was anemic, but it looked like he has been for a long time. The doctor thought it might be muscular from GRANDPA PICKING UP THE BACK END OF HIS RIDING LAWN MOWER LAST WEEK!! They said it is a waiting game right now to see if it will go away or get worse. If it gets worse they might have a better chance of figuring out what it was. He was given some pain relievers and muscle relaxers which he has not had filled yet. He also has to go to his regular doctor this week as a follow up. I did learn today that Great Grandma Gertie used to work at Southeast Hospital in housekeeping, she did laundry.
I guess that's it for now, except for the fact that Grandma is interested in having her carpet pulled up in the bonus room and I am trying to talk her into to just cleaning it. I told her she could have it done or I would rent a steamer and do the whole house myself. We also need to have a "cleaning party" at the Baker's and a "let's try and sneak the dogs to the groomers" party. Hopefully I will get responses to those get togethers...

Reva

A week at the Kimbel's

2008-05-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

Philip has managed to keep us busy for two weeks. We are taking him home Saturday morning. Bright and early. Then we are going on to Austin In. To meet one of Tom's buddies and from thee we are going on to New Jersey.

Philip managed to do what none of the rest of us have been able to do. He talked his grandpa into getting his bike off of the hooks in the garage and go for a bike ride. Two nights in a row.
Philip finished all of his testing before he came to MO., and they are going to start him in the fourth grade in the fall. They feel he will have very little trouble catching up. He tested very high in math. Much higher than his reading. He is going to summer school, so they also think that will be a big help. Jacob will finish school next week. Philip had three teeth pulled to make room in his mouth for his new teeth, and Jacob is getting ready for braces.

Our real estate career was short lived. The owners of the house we wanted would not except our offer, so we took our house of off the market. We are going through with refinancing our house and we will put on an addition in the back with a bathroom.

I took mother with me yesterday for a haircut. She was in bad need of one. We will take Molly over on Friday for them to watch while we are gone. Molly also had a haircut this week. She will make Mom and Dad's dogs look bad.

I'm going to go and make Philip get in the shower. (Which is like pulling teeth)

Love: Jo-D

Oh the beautiful Florida weather...

2008-05-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Well our Florida trip is finally over...the girl's fave part happened to be THE POOL. Can you believe it! We spent how much money for the "Disney Experience" when all we needed to do was go to the Holiday Inn down the road and let them swim! It was a lot of fun and Audrey enjoyed meeting Minnie and Mary Poppins. Shelby was too scared to go meet them in person.

Congrats to Ryan on his graduation. I have talked to him a few times and he seems good.

Congrats to Chris for taking the math position. Definitely a lot of thought was put in to that decision! I have to say that no matter where you teach Chris you will always have struggles (no parent support, too much parent "support", admin, paperwork, etc) and you will ALWAYS be a role model to your children! I wish you the best.

Looks like Ella and Keaton had fun at their parties! Pinatas are a good time...until someone gets hurt right! :)

The girls had their last competition yesterday. Audrey and her partner did really well given their are 4 and usually the only ones in their category! She has lots of plaques and 1 trophy which just makes Shelby sad because as a big group she doesn't get those. They get one for the group and it has to go to the studio.

Ok...lots of catching up to do today. When's the next time we are all getting together??

Reva

Ryans graduation

2008-05-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hey I did it. This is just one of the pictures that we took. Get aload of those glasses.

Whoa is me!

2008-05-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

I guess I should say whoa is Grandpa Jim. I went over this morning, because I had to take Molly over so MLS could view our house today. Mom was upset because Dad told her he guessed he would just kill himself. Now don't get alarmed just yet. Dad's back is hurting because he picked up the end of his lawn mower yesterday and hurt his back. Mom does not show the sympathy that Dad thinks he deserves. She gave him some aspirins and he went back to bed, after his comment to Mother. I went in his bedroom to see how he was. I ask him what is wrong? He said he did not feel good. I ask him why he told Mom that? He did not remember telling her that. But when I went back just a while ago, he was hiding the in bedroom from me. Mom said he was on a rampage. He is mad at Mom and me.

They did not go get thier blood work, but I checked all of thier papers that the Dr. gave them where he ordered blood work. They said they would go tomorrow when they go for Mom's mamagram. She thinks they see the doctor more than they need to. I'm going to lay low for a while. Someone else might want to stretch thier neck out there. Just call and talk. "Just checking on you" thing.

We will know at 5:00 this afternoon if our counter offer has been accepted.

I'm not sure I gave everybody Ryan correct address. ryan.kimbel@us.army.mil. He called me last night to talk. His platoon has not all arrived yet, so he has not started his training yet for his MOB. He is a little depressed. After training so hard at boot camp, and now just kind of waiting around, he feels like he is wasting time.

The weather today is rainy. So maybe it has Dad down? I told Mom they need to get out and do more than just sit around the house. Maybe Tom, Philip and I can do something with them this week-end. Tom will finish his bus driving job next Friday. He can't wait. His first SS check will come the last part of June. He will continue to drive in the fall for SEMO. Has Katie bug left for Europe yet. D0yle did you get Pistol home safe?

Jo-D

Latest on our house!

2008-05-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

We made an offer on Monday, they came back today with a counter offer. Now we will go back and counter offer. They are giving us until 6.00 p.m. tonight. That sound hopeful don't you think? I am stressing. But no matter, God has a plan. If we don't get this house, we have decided to put an addition on the back of the house with a bathroom.
Mom and Dad went to thier medical dr. yesterday. I talked the the Dr. (because I thought it would be a routine visit) Which it was. But he wanted Mom and Dad to go for blood work today, which meant they would need to fast. Mom has an appointment on Friday for her Mamagram and Dad has an appointment for his ear on June 2nd. Dr Schoenberg says it is cancerous. When I talked to mom last night she was not clear about the blood work, fasting or who was suppose to go. She was getting a little testy, so I let it go. I have not talked to her today. But I drove by this morning on my way to work, and there sat Dad watching the progress of the sidewalk in front of the house. I'm sure they did not go have blood work. I think Mom is beginning to feel like we are hovering over them.
Ryan now has a cel phone (some of you already know that). He also gave me his e-mail address, but I can't get through with it. ryan.kimbel@us.army.mil. good luck. He does not have a lot of time to get on the computor, but I'm sure he would love to hear from you. His cel phone is 812-766-0494. He will have the most time after evening chow to talk.
His graduation was very impressive. He looks very good. He has lost a lot of weight. He had his baby face back again. The kids had a really good time with him and he was very glad to see them. When he gets home for a while in July, I would like to have a bar-b-que. Hopefully at our new house.
I will let you all know about the offer on the house. We will be leaving Friday night, May 23rd. for New Jersy to go see Tom's Veitnam buddies. We will be back on Saturday.
Jo-D

Ella and Keaton

2008-05-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Just birthday pictures from the weekend. I highly recommend a pinata for all of your future parties. These kids loved it.

Big Weekend at the Parmenter's

2008-05-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

We did have a big weekend! It started with a golf tournament for Paul and Tony at the club. I went to a Go Red For Women Luncheon, sponsored by the American Heart Association, chairs with covers to the floor with red satin sashes. Very elegant.

Ella had a Princess Birthday Party on Saturday for her 5th birthday. Caroline, Keaton and I went over to help. Sara's screened in porch boasted a multitude of pink, very pink, and white tulle. Sara had done the cake in the shape of a crown(adorable). Caroline hleped with the activities and Keaton entertained Nate.
I was just there.

Saturday night, Sara, Caroline, Ella and I went to the ballet. Yes, Mexico has a ballet troupe. They performed Snow White. Very nice.

Sunday, we did Keaton's birthday which was actually Saturday. All of Brian's family came to my house for lunch and the party. We had a great time with the kids and a pinata. The fact that it was Mother's Day made it special for me and Brian's mom Judy.

Ryan called last night and we talked for a long time. It was great to hear from him. He's delighted to have a telephone and a few other perks.

Congratulations to him and to Reva on their graduations. Congratulations to Ella also who graduates from pre-school on Wednesday. I am very proud of Ryan and Reva. Thanks to my brother Charles and sister Gail who called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. It was one of the best.

Chris, good for you, it sounds like you put lots of thought into your decision. I am very proud of you also. It sounds like you have a great head on your shoulders. Keep up the good work! Beth is a very lucky girl to have you.

My family is the best!!

On a more serious note, I don't like that Dr. Lee was not nice to my mother, but I too have often thought that she doesn't try hard enough to remember things. Or maybe she says that she doesn't remember before she stops to think. I don't know.

LC
LC

My Job Update

2008-05-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Very sorry that we were not in Jackson yesterday - Beth had to work from 10:30 to 7:30! What a terrible shift!

After much, much, much deliberation with myself, my wife, Jen and Grant, my parents, and many others, I decided to take the Math offer that was presented to me at McCluer North. I think when I last wrote I had not yet been to that interview, and so was unsure how they were going to respond after my interview.

In making the decision, there were several factors that went into my decision, and reasons I felt were valid to go to McCluer North or to the Riverview school. I was not overly worried about the "challenge" factor and ego deflation that teaching in a troubled district would have brought, and felt very comfortable with the prospect of working with the all of the teachers I met at the Riverview school. However, when it came down to it, my ultimate concern was in ensuring that at the end of the day I still had enough energy, love, and attention to give to Beth when we were home together. With the challenges of my first year of teaching AND learning math, I was already presenting myself with enough challenges for now without adding the interest of the troubled district. A large pull I felt toward Riverview I think was God showing me what a servant and role model I could be for those students. However, if I end up honoring those students and devoting myself more to them than my wife, then I would not be honoring my marriage, upon which I think God places a greater importance.

So, I'll be at McCluer North this fall teaching 2 hours of Algebra and 3 hours of Geometry. I'm also in the process of building a personal library of math related books and seeking donations if you have any lying around. I've spent the last 4 years slowly building up a pretty sweet collection of social studies based books in anticipation of using them as supplemental texts in my classes, so I've got some catching up to do!

Happy Mothers Day to all you Baker's

2008-05-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

See, I do exist. My daughter has graduated from college once again. But the really cool thing, ( I could cry). She followed in my footsteps. How awesome is that. Being a nurse is the best, best thing my Daddy ever did for me. He came home one day and said " you start nursing school tomorrow". I just think Reva will be the best little nurse there is, (next to her mom). I love my job so much and love being a care giver. I know there are all kinds of nursing jobs, but hands on caregiver is the best. Daddy says he thinks she will use her nursing and teaching career together some day and that will be great. But for now, she wants to bring life into the world. I told someone yesterday, she is going to bring them into the world, I ease them gracefully out of the world. I am proud, I am thrilled she is done, for her and for us. I guess this is what a father fills like when his son follows in the family business. She doesn't want a party and I'm OK with that, so everyone just join me in congratulating Reva on her new endeavor of nursing.

I am cutting back my hours at Metro Heart Group as of the 1st of June, I am staying part time so that I can build up more for my retirement. I am going to enjoy part of the summer with the kids and when Shelby finishes summer school, we are going to spend some time with granny and Jim.

Oh, buy the way, Aunt Joyce is comming to town. I will be picking her up from the airport on June 5th but I won't bring her down to Mom's until the 9th. It will just be her, not Allen. She will be here for about two weeks, Jo.

Gotta finish packing, going to see Mickey tomorrow, Mouse that is. See you all soon.

Finally...

2008-05-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

I am so glad the day is over...today was graduation! I kept thinking I wouldn't even go but I think it was therapeutic for Jamie and my mom to see that I really am DONE. Now I just get to study for boards, which is basically doing review questions for the next 6 weeks or so. They suggest to do a few hundred a day but we'll see how that goes. So anyway...I can't use the excuse "I have to study" to miss many more functions, huh?!?

Reva Birk, R.N. (almost)

Took Mom to the Dr.

2008-05-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today I took Mom to the Dr., Dr. Lee was very rude to Mom, I thought. So I switched her over to Dr. Mellise, Which is who Dad sees. I made her appts. for the same day as Dad's. Mom did very well answering his questions. But he thought Mom "did not use her brain" in answering some of them. He ask her to spell "watch", which she did very well. But then he ask her so spell it backward, she had to think about it a little, and he thought she should have been able to rattle it off just like that. He ask her over and over and over to spell it backwards. She got very agitated and could not remember the three word he gave her earlier. Spider, Nail and Africa. So she just told him, "I don't know". So he thought she did not do as well and wanted to have her tested agian. I told hime no. We are going to switch Dr. Done.
We'll be back to blog after Saturday.
Jo-D

Our House!!

2008-05-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

I am so glad you all went and looked at the house. We meet with the realator tonight, and he said there had been 33 hits on the house. That means 33 people had looked at it on line. I just laughed, and told him I was not worried, at least 13 of them was my family. We took Mom and Dad over tonight. Dad made himself comfortable on the front porch. He said the porch alone was worth the money. So when we get back from S.C., we are going to make an offer. Pray that they will except what we offer them. I can see myself in that house. There is a room off of the living room, Lana, that would be used as an office like yours. I love the sunroom.
Linda, we have not talked about Mothers Day, but we will just be getting back from S.C., so going out would be good. I am thinking it will only be you and Doyle? Would love to see you all. Gail, I think has to work. We are going to have Philip. He is coming home with us. Cooking out would be good too. Mom and Dad's birds will be gone by then. They think they will get bored without the birds.
Jo-D

It's me...Linda!!!

2008-05-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

My first time to post:-)

Doyle and I worked out in the yard all day today getting some much needed work done. It seems every time we wanted to get out the weather wasn't very cooperative. Hopefully we'll be able to get some deck flowers soon!

Kate was home a few weeks ago and we celebrated her 21st birthday. Hard to believe it's almost 21 years that we first brought her home. She leaves in a few weeks for her school trip to Ireland, Scotland and England. She found out when she went to the bank to get US dollars changed to Euros and pounds just how weak the US dollar is in Europe..."Mom I lost half my money!"

Paul and Lana, glad you had a good time. Doyle and I did Tunica last month and had fun. It's amazing how long you can play with $20 on the penny slots. We've decided we wouldn't mind going back sometime if nothing else just to visit our money!!!

We'll be going to Jackson for Mother's Day...JoD do you know what the plans are? If we're cooking let me know and I'll plan on bringing something down.

Linda

We Have Returned

2008-05-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

We left HHI yesterday morning with the intentions of stopping somewhere around Nashville for the night. The further we drove, the more we wanted to be home. So we drove until we got here. I estimated that we would be at home by 10:30. We stopped in front of the house at 10:31 pm. The drive was really quite good.

Our trip was great, although we wore ourselves out. The biking was wonderful, and we rode for long distances every day but one. We golfed at a course called Island West. Very nice. I took pictures of some of the wildlife on the course, including an alligator. We spent one day in Savannah, a beautiful city! Very historic. I could have spent more time there. We ate at Paula Deen's restaurant.
Great food, but I have to say that my banana pudding is better.

When I get my pictures on a disk I'll post a couple. Thanks to Carrie, I have pictures. I forgot my camera, so she loaned me on of hers.

We spent the night with the Kimbels of Alabama. The girls were sooo glad to see us. They thought I would never come again after our last trip. I did their nails while I was there and told Jodie that she would have to go again in two or three weeks to do them again. They like really bright polish on their toes.
Hannah is such a doll, she loves attention.

Now we have to work in the yard. Tony mowed while we were gone, but the fertilizer Paul put down before we left has down the job. The yard is lush and in need of a trim. Caleb is coming over to help.

LC

2008-05-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

Has everybody gotten tired of Posting? I realize Lana and Paul have been out of town, but think of how disappointed they will be to come home and the first thing they do is run to the computor to read the Baker happenings while they were gone. I'm sure they will be full of pictures and exciting reports of their trip.
Tom and I, for the first time in our 33 years of marriage, signed papers to put our house on the market. We are looking at a very large, old home on Bellueve in Jackson. It has 5 bedrooms and two baths. We are taking Mom and Dad over Monday to look at it. You can view it at www.houseviewonline.com. Top 10 listing. 108 Bellevue.
We will be leaving Wednesday for South Carolina for Ryan's graduation from bootcamp. After he graduates, he will be able to have access to a computor, providing he has time. He will be at Fort Lee Virgina for AIT. I will get his address for everybody again. Thanks to all of those who wrote him. We will be taking Cheri and the kids with us. Pray for Tom and I! Libby does not travel well!!
Tom will retire at the end of May from School bus driving. Yeah!!! He turned 62 on April 28th. He will draw his first SS check in June. His plans are to continue to dreive, Part time, for the Southeast Mo. State U. shuttle. College students are much easier to handle than 65 screaming grade school kids.
Have a great day. Love you all.
PS. I talked to Ashley this morning, She had a ball game this week and earned the Game Ball! She had 3 RBI's. She was very proud. Her Dad put the ball up for her, "Way High".

Jo-D

Oh yeah...

2008-04-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

By the way...Happy Belated Birthday Tom!

Birks

The birds!

2008-04-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ok...so the Birks made it to Jackson to see the birds that Grandma now call her babies! They are pretty cute, but we found a few more they didn't know were there. Grandpa's trellis in the front is housing a nest with at least one baby bird, and the gourd in the front tree might be but Audrey wouldn't look again after the mother came flying out at her face the first time. Poor thing was a little shook up...

Grandpa's new mower is very nice but he tried to push the old one off on me. I told him I didn't want the hunk of junk but he is trying to fix it (rig it) up just the same. Maybe some poor ol' chap will take it off his hands soon. Some neighbor lady was getting rid of her push mower and well, he thought he could fix that one up too.

We got to talking about how there are quite a few lefty's in our clan. Grandpa said it was nice when he was working with his dad in the field because they could each be on one side husking corn or baling hay and never got in each other's way. It was also their strong side so they were able to work better I assume...

I found death certificates for some of our family members we never got the chance to meet. First I found Gertie Ann McClain, grandma's mom. She passed on April 15th, 1944 from shock of blood loss following a hysterectomy. Gertie Ann's dad, grandma's grandpa, died from heart disease on Feb 1st, 1929. She (grandma) was only a year old. On grandpa's side I found Ethel May Bond's death certificate, Reva Marie's mom? grandpa's grandma?, that shows she died from heart disease on Feb 24th, 1950. (Note: She also had diabetes so it runs on the Baker side) I also found Great grandpa Eddie's mom, Eve Adeline Baker. She died on April 2nd, 1940. She had pneumonia. Grandma was really interested in what I found so I will see if I can find more.

Hope all is well with everyone!
Reva

Oh joy!!

2008-04-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

Oh how exciting to see my oldested on the blog. I knew sooner are later he would come around. Blogging just does something to you. Welcome Jamie!
I took pictures of Mom and Dad's birds the other night. I will need to go back over Caroline's instruction's to figure out how to post them. All four have now hatched. Daddy is very protective of them. He wants to make sure Mom does not touch them.
We are going to look at a house tonight. It has 4 bedrooms and two baths. A sunroom and a basement. There is no garage, but there is room to build one. We'll let you know. It is on Bellevue Jamie, off of main street. Infact, you have mowed the yard at one time. There are a few minor things that need to be done to ours to get it on the market, but nothing major. We will wait until we get back from Ryan's graduation to get serious. As a matter of fact, you can go to...Houseviewonline.com and look at it. It will be in the top 10 list. Lana it will need some landscaping.
I talked to Mother and Dad a while ago. Dad bought a new riding lawn mower, since Monday mind you. He said his was "crap". A piece of junk to be exact. He has put his out in the yard for $25.00. He really thinks Tom needs it though.
I am on my lunch hour, so I better close and get back to work. How goes it Reva? Any word. Where have you been?
Jo-D

Weekend update

2008-04-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Paul and I went to Cape this last weekend. First we stopped at Mom and Dad's to change clothes and pick them up to take with us. I had taken Mom some new clothes, some I had bought, and some that Linda had bought. She wore a periwinkle blue sweater with a scarf. The color was perfect for her and the length of the scarf was slenderizing. She was very happy with the look, and several people at the party commented on how pretty she looked.

She is doing so well on the medicine that she is taking. There is a new spark to her eyes, and she is much more aware of what is going on around her. I was very pleased and so was Jodie.

Paul mowed this morning for the first time this season. The grass is beautifully green, but patchy yet. Hopefully, the sun and warmer temps will encourage heavier growth. I have buds on my lilac bush. I only put it out last year so I haven't seen it bloom yet. I will take pictures and post them, then we can all enjoy the beauty.

We leave for Hilton Head this Friday. We are stopping at Jamie's on the way out, but coming home a different way. We plan to golf, bike, maybe even fish if we can rent the right kind of fishing gear. Paul says that mine probably isn't suited to coastline fishing. Again, we'll take pictures.

LC

Birthdays!!

2008-04-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Sara. I hope you had a good day. Your Mom was telling us what a hoot Nat was last night for his birthday. We just left grandma and grandpa's. I gave Daddy a haircut. He was afraid I was going to cut his hair like I cut your Uncle Tom's.
We had a good meal at Margaret's party. Mother looked great in the new outfit your mother bought her. Even Daddy commented on how good she looked.
Love you:
Aunt Jo-D

Satuday Morning

2008-04-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Tom felt the tremor on Friday morning. He was up getting ready for work. For some reason he felt the need to wake me so that I would know there was an earthquake! He said my dishes in my hutch rattled and our pictures on the shelf shock. OOOKKKK!!! And you woke me up, Why? The second one I was at my computor at work. I jumped up and took off for the front of the school, sure there would be a student or a teacher go nuts, but no one felt it. So I queitly went back to my office.
Tom and I watched the ball game with Mom and Dad last night. They have a Robin that has built a nest on the garden hose hanging from their privacy fence. There are 4 eggs. Their question is..How long will it take for the eggs to hatch. And how long will it be before the birds will fly after they are hatched? They are enjoying having the bird so close to the house so they can watch her. Dad has become very attached to her. I think he is ready to name her. He keeps telling me to bring the kids by to see her.
Mother remembers when her mother used to take a pencil and mark the eggs that were laid so that she would know when to expect them to hatch. Dad said his grandma hatched hundreds of eggs in an incubator.
Tom and I, along with Cheri and the kids, are going to SC in 2 1/2 weeks for Ryan's graduation. The boys are excited, because I made reservations at a motel that has an indoor Putt-Putt golf. How cool is that.
Jo-D

Sleepy Saturday

2008-04-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

We didn't feel tremors here in KC, although my friend at work swears that is why she woke up at 4:30 Thursday morning.

It is a lazy Saturday morning as we tried to sleep in a little, 6:30 am is actually an hour and a half later than usual so I guess I did. Brian is still in bed, I'll let him sleep as long as he wants today. Then when I make him do chores around the house and run 100s of errands today he cannot complain. Or better yet, I go run the errands and he entertains Keaton.

Brian and I went to the Tiger Ball last night - the KC Alumni Chapter's fund raiser for the Tiger Scholaship Fund. We had a great time with our friends Kristi and Jon. Check out the blanket I won in the "super" silent auction. The live auction was very exciting, it was very hard not to participate, but the opening bids were out of our price range. The live auction raised $43K. We didn't hear how much was raised from any of the silent auction items.

Have a great weekend.

Caroline and Keaton

PREPAREDNESS!!

2008-04-18T14:47:00.002-07:00

Back in the day when the guy in New Mexico was predicting earthquakes, we had earthquake drills all the time. This was in Advance and Fredericktown. Just inside the door of my room we kept a bag on a hook that contained rosters, medical supplies, even medicine that some of my students might need in case they couldn't get home. We had a trailer in back of the school in Advance that contained bottled water, blankets and such. We experienced a 4.5 one morning while I was taking attendance. At first we thought that it was a delivery truck for the kitchen. Then I realized what it was. I kind of vibrated across the tile floor. My students and I were in shock. This prompted the safety measures.

Paul and I went to a ballgame one Wednesday night. We have a package of seven games. Our seats are really quite good. Two on the aisle only one row in front of us. We are over an entrance, so there will be no one walking in front of us. Just to the left of the right field foul pole. They won, which was a plus.
The metro was packed after the game, so we took one train with the intentions of changing trains at Forest Park and DeBaliviere. Some guy offered me his seat. I almost turned it down, but took it. The guy next to me asked for my name. I gave it to him, then asked his name. "David" he said. I was quick to introduce him to Paul. David said that it sure was good to meet new people. He told me that he was getting off at Grand and then taking a bus home. We chatted for a minute, then he showed me a badge that labeled him as an OFFENDER. He said that he had been in prison for 5 years. When they let him out just that day they put him on the metro without a dime. Could I see it in my heart to give him bus fare. I told David that I was broke also, without a dime.
He guesses that the bus driver will let him ride anyway. I said that maybe he should squeeze out a tear. Anyway, Paul was not paying any attention to our conversation. So when we got to Grand, he thinks we should get off there and catch the next train to Lambert. I didn't want to be with David any longer , but didn't know how to gracefully tell Paul that we were in the company of a sheister. We stood next to the metro police until our train came. End of story, we made it home.

Today is Nathaniel's 2nd birthday. Tomorrow is Sara's hmmm birthday. I don't know if she is telling the year.

LC

Earthquakes

2008-04-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

How much did you folks in KC and Mexico feel the quake? What about the Alabama Kimbels?Did you feel the aftershock at 10:15? I was in class during that one, which I was kind of glad for because I was disappointed that I had not been conscious for the beginning of the first. It was neat feeling the waves of the aftershock roll through the stool I was sitting on. Beth was not even aware that the midwest ever had earthquakes (my fault for not educating her) so then I told her about the New Madrid fault and the giant quake someone predicted for Missouri in the early 90's that of course never happened.

Did they ever have earthquake drills in the 60s and 70s, or were you too busy with hiding under your desks to protect from nuclear attacks? Both are pretty useless, as far as I'm concerned.

2008-04-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the birthday wishes Aunt Lana and Caroline! I spent Thursday at home studying with my roommate, Kate. It's so funny to live in a sorority with 75 girls and having each of them telling me happy birthday... multiple times! :) Friday night I ventured out to Aggieville. (Caroline, I see why you wrote in my graduation card you and Brian would "always be up for a visit to Aggieville!") It was very fun and I was very safe and responsible! Overall, it was a wonderful birthday!

The weather here has been absolutely ridiculous. Yesterday, it was sunny, beautiful and 70+ degrees. Today, it's rainy and disgusting with temperatures topping out at 50 degrees. It's been like this all semester... but it's getting old now. It's really putting a cramp in my style, ya know?

Pistol has been a very good boy lately (even though I'm sure he feels slightly neglected!). He's patient and brightens my day when I have a chance to visit him. He has already told me he is very excited to go home to St. Louis in a few weeks and spend lots of time with dad. (He also misses mom because she likes to spoil him with lots of treats!!)

School horses have been pretty good too. I've seen lots of babies come into the world and have done a ton of post-partum work. The guys are finally accepting me into the "Horse Unit Cowboy World"... Basically they're not ignoring me or being mean to me anymore. It's a pretty big step in our "relationship."

I'm heading home this weekend to see my parents one last time before I head off to Europe. My trip is only about a month away!

I hope all is well, that everyone is safe and happy on this fine Thursday.

Love you all very much,
Katie

Hi guys,

2008-04-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

I talked with Mother last night, Daddy was going to go out and take a tour of his back yard and see if it was OK to mow yet. (dry enough) I agree Caroline, some of the Motel/Hotel gym's are questionable at best. I prefer the treadmill but I am becoming a liker of the elipticle.

My daughter was searching the net for somthing, I don't know how she wound up on the site that had obits from 1910 on it. Any how, she found death certificates from some of Mother and Daddy's family. Moms mom and dad and some of daddys as well. She printed them off and will take them down on our next visit. that will give daddy some new topic for discussion for the next few visitors.

Just had a minute here in Pacemaker world. Blog soon,
GMB

Late Night

2008-04-15T21:17:00.001-07:00

I think my peonies have died, I didn't see any sign of life during my last tour of our yard. I'll try again tomorrow when I get home.

I am in Dallas doing some training with a new Director of Revenue Management. This is what happens when you've been in your position too long and your company doesn' t know what else to do with you because you aren't "transferrable." If I had only listened to the wise words of Paul David Parmenter, "You can marry more in 15 minutes than you can make in 15 years." I could be a trophy wife who does charity work and dresses her child in Burberry and Ralph Lauren. BTW, they don't let you put "trophy wife" as your next career move with Starwood Hotels. I do, however, mention to Brian Niemeyer every now and then, but he hasn't seemed to catch on.

Katie Baker, you are 21 years old! I hope you spent your birthday at home in the sorority house drinking hot chocolate and eating chocolate cake. That is exactly how I spent mine.;)

I guess I should try to get some sleep, the alarm goes off very early to hit the gym. Unfortunately, there is a hotel full of drug reps and they all go to the gym just in case their manager is there and they may need to impress him/her. This morning, I had to use the stairmaster because nothing else was available. I hate the stairmaster. If I have to use it, it is a good sign that it might be a "horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day."

Good night.

Caroline

What happened Chris?

2008-04-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting with baited breath for Chris' decision on teaching positions. As a teaching major I made a good state trooper but I am still interested in your decision. I don't feel qualified to give advice but I do know that math teachers are considered a precious commodity and once you get on that tract you may never get out. You might also consider Reva's experience in north St. Louis County. Good luck with what ever you decide.

Please don't stop!

2008-04-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

The posts certainly did slow down, but I think that can be expected, you know activity, inactivity, activity. Don't you love my philosophy. Chris, please continue to post. We love hearing from you and everyone else.

LC

The trees, they are a leafin'

2008-04-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Paul and I just took a tour around the yard and discovered that many things are thrusting through the soil. The trees are leafing, albeit slowly. The peonies are up, as are the hydrangas. We sat on the porch to have our afternoon coffee, the front porch that is. The sun was shining, but still a cool breeze.

We are planning our wardrobe for our trip to Hilton Head next week. Paul mentioned today that we should get the bikes out soon and see how our legs are going to fare on the biking trips we plan to take around the island. He got his golf shoes all spiffed up and shiny.

We went to the lake this last weekend and froze our tails off. We couldn't play golf and fishing in the sleet wasn't any fun either. I had on five layers of clothing at one time and was still cold. The fish were smarter than we were.

We're going to Cape this weekend to Margaret Makin's 60th birthday party. It is hard to fathom that the friend I have had for the longest is going to be 60. Jodie, Tom, Mom, and Dad are going also. I bought Mom a new outfit maybe we can get her to wear it.

I must wish Katie a belated birthday. She turned 21 on the 10th. That is hard to believe also. Our youngest niece is 21. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE.

I must wrap this up here before, I get too morbid .

LC

There is light at the end of the tunnel !!!!

2008-04-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys, I am so excited. My daughter (Reva) graduates from College on May the 9th. Yipee!! I can not wait for her struggles to be over. She is already astounding me with her nursing knowledge. Of course look at the tutor that she had. I have had some fun with her studies. She will be at the computor studing and state a question out loud. I give her the answer I think it is and she sometimes disagrees with me. Most times I am right. I am cutting backt o part time at my second job so that I can spend more time with Mom and Dad. I am ready for warm weather and fun time with my grand kiddos too. Thank you, Jodie and Lana for the complements. It is a work in progress. I hear Caroline is very awsome looking as well. Can't wait to see her as well.
See all soon, GMB

2008-04-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Caroline...thanks for the card. Very sweet!

I can't believe the honeymoon phase of blogging is over already! No one is posting info about their days, family, etc. I guess since spring has hit everyone is outside gardening??

The girls have a dance competition this weekend in Collinsville. Audrey is taking her duet which should be hilarious and then Shelby has 2 numbers. Shelby is really oblivious to all the hype...I think she'd rather be a "soccer girl". That's her terminology. Maybe next year we will try that instead of dance, who knows!

Reva

Interesting Job Opportunity (Finally!)

2008-04-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have been graduated from Mizzou with my BS in Education since August 06 and even more obviously, am not teaching in a school somewhere.

I'd been quite frustrated with the apparent "drastic teacher shortage" that politicians and media talk about often because here I was, ready to teach some social studies and I was gettin' no love! I had been sending out resumes and such to schools for a year and a half and had not even gotten an interview.

Sometime in February I decided that it was time push my pride aside and try to add some other certifications to my qualifications so I could get a job somewhere! I took both the middle school math and science tests on March 15 so I could be eligible for those positions for next year. Lo and behold, that seems to have been the magic move because I am finally getting some contacts; schools are actually calling me!

Here comes the dilemma - I had a terrific interview for a math position at Westview Middle School in the Riverview Gardens District. Quite unexpectedly, they called me 2 hours later and offered me the position! My struggle is that I know I have at least one other interview (but not exactly when) for math and probably one at Lindbergh High School for social studies. I would not have a problem with missing out on the other math opportunity, but I would hate to take this position right now and miss out on a social studies job (my #1 preference).

Any help?

Finally!

2008-04-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to post earlier in the week, however time got away from me. Work is incredibly busy and I usually post from the office.

Brian and I went to Chandler, AZ, over the weekend. We took advantage of the free airfare that I had as I flew out on Wednesday for a meeting. We stayed at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort. It was fabulous! It was so nice to sit in the sun in 80 degree weather. I can say without a bit of remorse that we did nothing but sit by the pool. Next trip we'll try to get in some golf and hopefully a horseback ride. The resort is owned by the Gila River Community, two Native American tribes, the Pimas and the Maricopa, that came together pre-civil war. The history is fascinating. BTW, the Pimas originally grew Pima cotton.

Keaton is refusing to use the potty, yet begs to be moved to the Beetlebug room at school. A little person cannot be a part of the Beetlebug room without being potty-trained. We are trying our first shot at bribery with a new backpack if he will use the potty all the time. I don't have high hopes as I am pretty sure that I am going to be considered a failure at potty training. I am willing to live with that, so I hope Brian will take over those duties.

The picture was taken from our balcony of the hotel room.

Caroline

2008-04-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

Ditto Reva, Happy birthday. I called Ashley today, but sorry, I forgot to call you.
Yes, Lana your new suit was fabulous. I too was envious of Gail. But hey, I got a new pair of Tommy capris. I have decided Tom and I need a new pillow top, king size mattress.
Everybody loves the pictures of the Alabama Girls. I am getting the pictures in my camera
developed Friday and get you all a CD.
Mother remembered that she has a DR. Appt. tomorrow. I'll let you know what the Dr. says.
Now that our Trip to AL is behind us, we will beginning making our plans for South Carolina and Ryan's graduation.
Jo-D

Happy Birthday, Reva and Ashley!!

2008-04-09T11:10:00.004-07:00

April 9th is a very good day for Reva and Ashley. Ashley had a cake and some presents with her cousins over the weekend, but I'm sure she'll have a big day today also.

The Alabama girls will become the St. Louis girls next year, as we have decided to move the site of the gathering annually. Next year we will do it tin the fall so that we can do different types of activities. Yeah, that means Ella and I will only have to drive for 1 3/4 of an hour. We had an unforgetable time, but the drive was a killer.

Ella, too, has been talking about her weekend. She named a dinosaur at pre-school, Julia. She and Tony had a big fight over whether she was going to wear her new flip flops to school on Monday.

Keaton was here when I got home, but Paul had already put him to bed. We got to sleep until 5:30 on Monday. Then we played lots of games before we took him to meet Caroline at noon in Boonville. He was ready to be home also.

I don't know if any of you have seen Gail lately, but I couldn't keep from looking at her all weekend. She looks fabulous!! I am anxious to see Charlie and Sue also.

Jodie and I are working on a healthier life style, wish us luck. Oh, my bathing suit was great.

Paul is getting ready to hit a golf ball. I'm seriously considering a nap.

LC

Alabama Girls

2008-04-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

For those of us not privileged to go to Alabama with the great cousin migration of this last weekend I thought I would share a couple of the pictures with you. For greater clarity of pictures you should see one the the Baker sisters.

PDP

YIPPEE!!!

2008-04-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

This is Reva Birk, labor and delivery nurse at St. John's Mercy Medical Center...how can I help you??!!

I GOT IT! I had my second interview this past Tuesday and then went in for clinical Wednesday. The manager came up and said she forgot to ask me something Tuesday which scared me because we were in a classroom with a few other people and I didn't want it to get personal! She then said she forgot to ask me if I wanted to work Labor and Delivery and I almost fell out of my chair!

I won't start until June 3 or so, but that will give me a few weeks off after graduation and Disneyworld. YEAH...can you tell I am excited??

Tech blog? I really don't mean to...

2008-04-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

Paul, there are three solutions for you.

1. Download a copy illegally from a file-sharing website using a torrent program. (Which opens makes your computer to the outside world and places you at great risk for being attacked by spyware unless you are militaristic about your security software and firewalls. But really, who wants to hassle with that?) I'm going to go out on a limb and guess this doesn't seem like the option for you. :)

2. Download an open-source alternative to Microsoft Office. The one that I have used is OpenOffice and is available at www.openoffice.org.
From this front page you would click on "I want to download OpenOffice.org," and then follow the instructions. There are several things about OpenOffice that I like besides the fact that its free. The best is how they allow you to choose what you download from the package. You could download all of the applications they have developed, or nicely for you, you can choose to only download the word-processing application. They also offer a lot of support if you get stuck or lost while becoming acquainted with the application.

3. Use the web-based Google Docs. (Another incentive to get a Google ID.) docs.google.com

This route gives you fewer features when creating documents, but you can access your documents from anywhere and any computer because you actually save to Google's servers instead of your own computer. You also will need to be connected to the internet to use Google apps, so if you needed to type on the road or somewhere without Wifi you would not be able to access the program. Google also has a tour/tutorial you can follow from the frontpage of Google docs.

This is what the interface looks like when you are word-processing.

I like OpenOffice as the best option because its more of the features you're accustomed to using on traditional word-processing applications. Also, it's difficult to take a document created in Google Docs and save it to your computer. (It's a little easier to import documents created on your computer into Google Docs, but if you could make a document on your computer, you wouldn't have a need for Google Docs!) It got really annoying when I was playing around with Google Docs and wanted to use a document I created there in a software-based word-processor.

Thanks Chuck

2008-04-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

We appreciate your help with the blog. It makes it a lot easier, even though I am not sure what you did.

As long as you and Doyle (lol) are the computer gurus maybe you would answer another question. What software can you buy for you laptop that does word processing alone and not the spreadsheets and other misc. stuff that Microsoft Office provides. We don't need most of the stuff for the laptop and Office is expensive considering we won't use most of what it provides.

Thanks
PDP

Posting with your own name

2008-04-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

The reason my name came up on my last two comments instead of "baker blog says," was because I was logged in using my google account. Because Google owns the company the owns blogger, they have the two systems linked.
That method only worked for comments, however, so I decided to research the site for alternatives. I took the liberty to enable anyone to comment, which in theory would let any random person to comment, but that doesn't seem very likely. It does allow you to just enter your in a box when publishing your comment so that you may identify yourself without a Google account.
Even better, I discovered that we can have as many as 100 authors to the blog, so you can generate posts that have your name tagged on them. Becoming an "author" on the blog is as simple as clicking on the "settings" tab at the top of the new post page and then choosing the "Permissions" tab after that. There is then a box where you can invite yourself via email. Follow the hyperlink from your email account and you'll be directed to a page that will help you create your google account.From this screen make sure you "create your account now," because if you sign in with audrey03 you'll just be logging in with the info you already use. The thing I like best about Google accounts is you don't have a new login name you have to use - it will be your email address just as Reva's was when she created her account.

If you go on to create a Google account you can now use your Google account to login to Baker Blog and write to your heart's content.

Ready for the weekend

2008-04-01T14:59:00.002-07:00

I FOUND A BATHING SUIT. Now this may be an oximoron, but I found a really cute old lady bathing suit with a skirt. I am ready to wow them at the hotel this weekend. I haven't packed my panties yet, but I'm thinking about it.
Shelby and Audrey would be proud.

Paul put in two new faucets for me this morning. Since we're on a fixed income, I'd be happy to hire him out as a faucet-putter-inner. He's not cheap though, it costs a lot in gas for the number of trips he makes to the hardware store. He can also install light fixtures. Any takers? There are a couple of draw-backs to hiring Paul. I have to come too, and you must feed us.

We have baseball again tonight!
LC

well giddy up ya'll

2008-04-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

hey guys , hows everyone? have'nt been on for a while. Been playing on the computer a lot , trying out a few things, honing my skills, you might say. learning a lot too. got students paying top dollar to do thier homework for em. just takes a couple weeks per page, hope thier not in a big hurry to graduate.

talked to kate out in kan. a lot, she's had to spend the night at the barn a few times waiting for another foal. but she'll tell you all about that i'm sure.

hey , i'm still trying to figure out how to label comments. you know, instead of the header saying "Baker Blog said" it can say "doyle said" . chris, you seem to have the answer to the

question, cause you did it on your comment to jo-d. help us out

Comments

2008-03-31T16:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks Paul and Chuck for your comments. I knew there would be someone out there that would be able to relate to Ryan's expeience in the Army. He is proud of what he is doing and Tom and I are proud of him too.
Jo-D

Weekend of March 28

2008-03-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

We, at the Parmenter House, had a great weekend. Caroline and Brian came in Friday night. Ella stayed the night also, because Keaton was here. Keaton and Ella had a fine time all weekend playing together. Nate too. They all play real well together. Each with their own personalities. I love to watch them interact.
Caleb, of course, is above all the baby stuff, but he is good to all of them.

Caroline and Brian went to a wedding Saturday, but were back in the evening. We all had brunch here this morning.( a good time) Paul and I had a pretty good nap this afternoon. Tomorrow,
we clean the basement. It is suppose to rain again, so there will be no working outside. I am also going to finally finish the upstairs bathroom. I got a lot done last week and actually only have a bit left to do.

We had Sara's kids Saturday night also while they went to a dinner meeting which Tony MCed. He has done this for three years now. He is asked a lot to MC meeting and dinners. If I were him I would start charging for services rendered. Bill Clinton does and makes a fortune. What is good for the democrat is good for the republican, and Tony is probably a better speaker, and has never had to explain why he spends so much time in a coat closet.

I am going swim suit shopping this week, every one pray for me. I am forever grateful that companies are now making suits in mix and match so that a person can buy one size top and another size bottom.
LC

Letter from Private Ryan!

2008-03-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

We had a letter from Ryan yesterday. He is doing good. He finally got a letter from me. I received two, "return to sender" this week and I was getting very angry. One letter that was sent back to me had been opened and retaped?
He said last week was the best week by far. He did the Gas Chamber last week. He was nervous, but he came through, after gaging and getting sick. But he was able to recite everything he was suppose to before he left the chamber. He has been learning combat with a bayonet, and something that looks like a big q-tip? He also did an obstacle coarse that was the biggest he had ever seen. With hurdles, rope climbing, crawling under barbed wire and lots of mud. He has started to shoot his M-16, which he says he is pretty good at. He has marched in full "rattle Battle" which when completed dressed out, weights about 50lbs. He has 5 more weeks until graduation. He says these last weeks will be marching, camping, more marching and camping.
He says keep on writing and sending those cards.
love Jo-D

Oh What Fun!!!

2008-03-27T18:50:00.001-07:00

Linda, that's a great idea! No one will notice she's a little different.

Ok...I started my preceptorship this week and it is a blast! I helped deliver 2 babies yesterday, a boy and a girl, and then today worked in the evaluation unit where they are admitted and determined to be in labor or not. They (the other nurses) said I am catching on very quick and think I should work there. I told them to pass the word on to their superiors and one said she already has!!

Shelby lost another tooth today but left it at school. Jamie told her that the tooth fairy doesn't pay up on your word. Ha!

Tomorrow is my last day of school, thank goodness! Especially now that I have a carpet issue to take care of. Last week when we had so much rain, it came in through the floor of the basement (we presume) and soaked 1/4 of the carpet. Now it smells a little foul (moldy)and we've put the house on a "no show" until we resolve the issue. Any ideas??

Reva

2008-03-27T17:18:00.000-07:00

Tom and I took Birthday cake and Ice cream over last night to Dad for his birthday. They had Chili/Beans and corn bread for supper (could'nt tell). We got there just at "feeding of the hounds" time. Whatever she was feeding the dogs looked a lot like what they had for supper! Dogs had cake and ice cream too!!
Two of my letters that I had mailed to Ryan came back today, "Return to sender". I don't know why. Lana used the same address I used and he got her's. I am really bummed. I just know he feels like I am not thinking about him.
Jo-D

My new granddaughter...

2008-03-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud...maybe next year I could bring her to the girls weekend!!!!!!

LB

Kansas Update

2008-03-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

This is the beautiful filly I delivered on March 7th. (She's 7 days old in the photo!) She's growing up so fast...

I just got back from Spring Break 08. A couple of sorority sisters and I went down to Corpus Christi, Texas. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful.

Alpha Xi Delta is keeping me very busy and I love it. We have so many philanthropies and functions coming in April!

Pistol had a great 5th birthday... He's a big boy now!

Love and miss you all!

Katie :)

Grandpa's day!

2008-03-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

Sounds like we all had a good Easter. Relaxing, yet eventful. Today is Daddies 79th birthday. I talked to Mother last night and he had walked up the street and brought back someones trash (or should I say Treasures). He was in the gargage trying to get a fan to work. I was suprized that mother was not concerned about him walking up the street alone. He walks up to Westlane.
I also talked to one of my parents in the pre-School about Mothers brain shrinking. She is a nurse and her husband is a brain doctor. She said that shrinking is normal for a 80 year old. If you took a poll of 10, 80 year olds, 7-8 of them will have brain shrinking. She said she would be more concerned with the eye problem. Once they have lost their eye sight, they go down fast from there. She had a grandmother with the same disease. She would put on the same cloths with stains on them too, because she could not see the stains or that they were cloths that she had worn for 3 days. When I talked she sounded very perky!
Sisters, I have sent you an e-mail. Check it out.
I agree about the pictures, I too had #2, #7, and # 14 on my list. I think Cheri will choose #38 or #39 of Libby. That will give us a variety.
Jo-D