New Look

In Shock. LOL

Look what Melanie

did for Courtney.

Courtney don't blog much. She has wanted a new blog look for ages, but I don't know how to do that kind of stuff. When it comes to computers I just don't understand how to do all those headers and things to make the blogs look so pretty. I ask Melanie if she wanted to do this for me and she was very excited. She said she would try it. I think she did a great job. I was able to keep Courtney off of her blog so she was surprised when she saw the beautiful new look. Thanks Melanie.

Sisters

Brooke talking

This is a video of Brooke talking and saying her ABC's. She also said a spider got on her. That is not true. I think she uses her imagination to much sometimes. LOL

Better Late Than Never

Austin showing his gift.

Happy Boy

Clowning around

Sweet Cousins

My niece and her boyfriend. (cute couple)

Sweet

Wonderful hugs after 13 weeks apart.

Make a wish. (I bet I know what it was)

Enjoying his gifts

After about 13 weeks my sister was able to see Austin tonight. She went to the school and showed them her paper that she was suppose to have him and they let her have him. It was not a very pretty situation from what I was told. I will not go into that. I am just praying that Austin's dad and mom can try and get along for Austin's sake. It is a very sad situation. Austin was so happy to see his mom. There was tears of joy in everybody's eyes. Austin was hugging us all. Brooke was yelling that Austin was her best cousin. We missed Austin's birthday because his dad would not let any of us have him. We quickly ran to Wal-Mart and bought a cake, ice cream,plates, and balloons. His mom still had his presents sitting on her dresser waiting for him. Me and my parents had our gifts still waiting on him. We had a small party for him. Of course we did not have time to order him a cake because we did not know we was going to get to be with him today. We had to buy a cake that was already made. Austin did not care. He loved the cake, ice cream, and presents. I think he enjoyed seeing everybody again more than anything. He was so full of joy and happiness. My heart just breaks into when I think of what the child has went through. I think when divorce and separation comes, and you have no feelings left for the other person, you should do everything in your power to make the child comfortable. Children are the ones who hurt. I have so thankful that God allowed us to see Austin and celebrate his birthday even if it was over a month late. We love you so much Austin.

Post two from last night

I am going to try this again. I never got to finish my post from last night. I had a good bit more wrote, but I got sick and had to quickly erase most of it and click post. As I said I was totally wired last night. Melanie, when I say that I mean I had lots of energy. Melanie is from Spain. Sometimes she don't understand some of the words we say. I think she does good though. I had laid in bed and could not sleep. I felt like I needed to do something besides lay in the bed. I decided to blog and read a few people's blogs. As you know from Kevin's post I was not suppose to do anything but lay down. "Thanks for posting for me Kevin"
No sooner than I sat down at the computer the room started spinning with me. I have passed out before and I knew I was fixing to be out. My neck broke out in a sweat and I felt horrible. I had to call for Kevin. Bless his heart, he had just went to sleep. I was able to finally get back to bed and I went to sleep. I kept waking up itching really bad. I must of been having a reaction to the medicine. I am so thankful Kevin stayed home because Brooke kept waking up and I could not lift her. I can't say I slept wonderful, but I did sleep. It is almost 6:30 now, and I can't sleep. I decided to post.
Yesterday went well. I was very nervous and scared. I feel good about the procedure. I trust that my back will be better and no pain. Of course my life will never be the same. I am a go getter. I like changes. I have always been the type to up and rearrange my living room, or the girls room. If I wanted the bed moved, I would move it. If I wanted the couch moved to a different wall I would move it. Kevin would come home many times and things be re-arranged, and he would get all over me for moving it by myself.
I was the same way as a little girl. I would get bored looking at the same walls. I would tell me mom that I was going to be cleaning and I would surprise her with changing my room around. I guess all the years of doing these things has not been good for my back. I know I will never be able to do that again, and it makes me sad. Now I will have to have help, and even then I really can't ever lift anything heavy. The only thing that can heal a herniated disk is surgery or God.
Surgery is out of the question. My doctor don't even want to go this route. The shot is to help with the pain and hopefully get some of the inflammation down. I will have to always be careful what I do. I guess I did not understand the seriousness of where my herniated disk is at. It is basically pressing into my spine at the very bottom of the spinal cord. Anyway I am just looking forward to being pain free for awhile. Kevin says much of my problem has been I think I am better and I do to much. Like Monday.....I knew I was going in for the procedure so I cleaned way more than I should have, and trust me I paid for it.
I am looking for brighter days. Thank you all for your concern, and your prayers.

Totally Wired

It is 11:30 and I am totally wired. It must be the steroids. I am so tired of sitting and laying down. I can not go to sleep. My back is hurting a little, but I think it is mostly from where they gave me the shot. I feel like Courtney right now. I want to chatter. Poor Kevin is trying to sleep and I keep talking. I finally told him that I was getting up for a bit. Of course as soon as I sit down at the computer I feel sleepy.

From Kevin

Hello. Denna wanted me to tell everyone out in bloggerland that her procedure went great. The doctor wants her to rest up for the rest of the day. He even told her that she could not be on the computer for the rest of the day. She almost died when he told her that. She can't lift Brooke for three days. I took off work so I could be here with her. I don't mind taking care of our girls, but I'll let Denna take care of her blog after today. She said that she would be back at it tomorrow. Thank you for your concern.

Denna's Husband,
Kevin

I feel sick

I have tried not to think about tomorrow, but as each hour passes I know it gets closer. I just read over the paper work again, and I got so light headed. I felt like I was going to pass out. I don't know why I feel so scared. I guess the thoughts of a needle freaks me out. I hope I can sleep tonight. When I have things on my mind I can't rest well. I over did it today. I felt like the days before I had Courtney. I tried cleaning because I did not know how much I will be able to do after tomorrow. My back locked on me and I hurt for awhile. I have tried to slow down tonight, but I feel like there is so much I need to do. Kevin worked days today. He just got home. I think I like him working days. Well I guess that is all for now. I am fighting a really bad headache. I think it is worry. I know God will be with me. Pray for us all if you think about it.

Pampered Chef Two

I have had several emails that is interested in placing a order. If I have emailed you and already got your order skip this post.
My consultant told me that anybody can order and it will count toward my order. If you are out of town the shipping will be a little bit more because it will come to you instead of me.
If you are interested you can go to www.pamperedchef.biz/pcjoanna
You have to go to my consultants site NOT Pampered Chef. Once you are there and you find something you want, click place a order. It will ask if this order is for a show. Click yes, and enter my name. Denna Hardin.
Once your order is placed it will ask you if you want special shipping or have it go to host.(which is me) Of course if you live out of town you will click special shipping. The shipping will be a little bit more. Once your ordered is placed the computer will send my consultant a email with your information. I hope I have all this right. If it don't work email me direct and I will see what we can do. Thanks
Denna

I have been Tagged

I have been tagged two times, so I guess I can't get out of this one. Amy and Tonya tagged for the same thing.


You have to post these rules before you give the facts.


1) Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to you life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name that you wish you had.

2) When tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name facts.

3) At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that they're tagged and to read you blog.

I hate my middle name. My parents named me after a little girl that they used to live by.

T=True Love; I found true love when I fell in love with my Best Friend, Kevin
A= Always give your children hugs and kisses everyday. They grow up to fast.
W= Waiting on God is always best. God always has good results.
O= Oceans Apart. Our youngest daughter was Oceans away from us, but God allowed us to
become a forever family.
N= Nothing is impossible if you just Believe.
Now I am to tag 5 people. You guys make this to hard. I will tag Melanie,
kelly, Kelly, Vanessa, Heather

Pampered Chef

I am taking up orders for Pampered Chef if any of you locals want any thing. Pampered Chef has many great products. I want to share a few of my favorite things.
One of my favorites is their stones. The stones from Pampered Chef are the best. You can buy stones from Wal-Mart, JC Penny, and other stores but they are not worth what you pay for them if you ask me. I have used them, and I got rid of them.
I will share my story about Pampered Chef stones. Before I had a Pampered Chef Stone, I would burn my cookies every time. I could never get the nice pretty cookies. My biscuits would burn also.
Once I started using Pampered Chef Stones, I never had that problem. In fact, one time I got busy and forgot that my cookies was in the oven. They baked like 15 or 20 minutes OVER what they was suppose to. Believe it or not, they was not burned. They was very hard, but we could still eat them. Pampered Chef Stones have a three year warranty on them which is also nice. One of my stones cracked once and Pampered Chef told me to send them a piece of the stone and they would send me another stone. I have many of the stones. The round stone is great for Pizza.

I also like their cookware. Nothing sticks to it. Kevin is the one who cooks chocolate gravy the most. He would fix it when we first got married and it always stuck to the side of the pans. Once I got a Pampered Chef pan, we never have that problem.

I also like Pampered Chef Large spatula. This is the best thing for getting Lasagna out of the pan.

The mini Spatula is great for cookies and brownies.

My last thing I bought from them I love. It is a Mix and Chop. This little thing will chop your hamburger meat up just like Taco Bells. I love it.

There is more that I like, but these are my favorite and what I use the most. You can visit the web site and see if there is anything that interest you. If you find anything let me know and I will place it on my orders.
www.pamperedchef.biz/pcjoanna

Stone

Cookware

Large Spatula

Mini Spatula

Mix and Chop

Back Update

I am scheduled to have the shots in my back on Tuesday. I try not to think about it, because it makes me very nervous. I am easy to pass out at the site of needles. I have had a better week with my back. Please remember me Tuesday that things will go well and that the shots will work. I don't want to have to go through another round of shots, and I don't want to go through the pain that I have had for 13 weeks either.

It's a Long Story

Out with the Old

In with the New

As you locals know we got a Trailblazer. I loved it, and it drove wonderful, but..............................
I missed my seats so bad. We was not getting good gas miles at all. I told Kevin that it was sad that we was getting such terrible gas miles and we could not even carry the kids friends or our parents with us. The main reason for the trailblazer was to pull our camper. It was great for the four of us.....well except when the girls started fussing. I had to just deal with it. I could not put Courtney in the back like I did with our van. I also had a hard time getting Brooke in the trailblazer. The doors did not open very wide and with her carseat it was just to hard trying to get her in. If I ever rode in the back with the girls I felt like a sardine in a can. My husband is so good to me. We went to look for something else. We found it. We still don't get great gas mileage, but we can carry 8 people, we can pull our camper, and we are comfortable.

Thanks Kevin. I love you!!!!!

ROTFL

Somebody wanted to know what that means. It means Rolling On The Floor Laughing.
I have did that today. The only thing is this story is one of those where you would have had to been there. I took the girls to McDonald's. Brooke had to potty. I put paper on the potty and then sat Brooke on the potty so she could tinkle. This potty was one that will flush on its own. It has a sensor on it. Well Brooke is sitting on the potty when all of a sudden the potty flushes. Brooke's eyes get as big as saucers, and she has this terrified look on her face. I start laughing and Brooke is even more confused. She slowly turns her head and looks at the back of the potty. By this point her urge to tinkle has left her. I try to explain to her that the potty flushes on its on. I finally got her to potty. As soon as she uses the potty, it flushes again. Brooke gets the same look on her face and she grabs me. She has a death grip on me. I was laughing so hard that I could not talk. I don't know if she will ever use the bathroom again at McDonalds.

Sleeping Beauty

Here is some pictures of my princess sleeping. I love that second one. Look at her legs. I think it is so funny. I walked into her room and saw her sleeping like that, and I about died laughing.

Brooke's Song

I know many of you have heard this song. I wanted to post it again because I know there is many that have not heard it. This young man wrote this for Brooke a couple of years ago. "Thanks Johnathon. "


The song is so true. I know many of you are still waiting on your little ones. I hope this song lifts you. When I think about this song, it is true in so many ways. Some times when we are struggling with things and we don't understand why things are going the way they are we feel confused. We don't understand why we have to go through some things. During those times we have to commit it to God. We have to lay it on the altar and trust God. We have to keep the attitude that we want what is best in any situation. No matter if it looks like the storms, gray sky's, and valleys are in our way we have to commit it all to God. In Gods time he will answer our prayers and help us.


http://www.angelfire.com/al2/sinfree/songs/brooke.mp3

If the above link don't work try this one. http://www.angelfire.com/al4/our2littledarlings/
Once on this page click Brooke's song.


Enjoy!!!!

What a Day.

This has been a very tiring day. My dad had surgery this morning. My dad has had some really major problems with his sinus. They had to go up the nose and do some major work. I know it sounds pretty gross. The surgery was not major, but they did put my dad to sleep. Putting my dad to sleep has always been a challenge for the Doctor's. My dad has a short neck and it is very hard to get a tube down him. The last time he had surgery the Doctors scared me. They had several of the ones who put you to sleep come in and look at dad because they knew it was going to be tough. I can't spell their names, but you know who I mean. Ana something LOL I can't spell it. Anyways, it always makes me nervous when they have to put my dad to sleep. He came through the surgery well. He is still in the hospital. He should be able to come home tomorrow. When I left him he was suffering a good bit, and very sick to his stomach.


I am very tired because I took both of my girls with me. They was very good. Courtney did her schoolwork and Brooke ran around making everybody smile. At one point it was very quite in the waiting room and Brooke decides to test her lungs out. She embarrassed me so bad.


Kevin had to come home because he had to get some sleep before he went to work. I was home long enough to check my email and see the picture Melanie sent me, and to check my yahoo group on Ayla. Ayla is a beautiful little girl who was also having a procedure done today. I was praying for her while I was waiting on my dad to get through with his procedure. Ayla did well also. After I checked my email and a few blogs I went back to the hospital with my two girls. I am very tired now. Brooke is sitting in my lap saying "Hold me. I sleepy" I am sleepy also, so we are now going to bed.

I told you it was pretty

I think Melanie did a really good job with this. I think it is neat how she did it. To me it has a magical look about it. It reminds me of Disney. If you click the picture to make it bigger, you can see it better. It looks just like Brooke is letting the butterflies out. Thanks Melanie. I really like it.

Blossom Memories

Check back soon for some work from Melanie. She surprised me with a beautiful picture of Brooke. She will be putting it on her blog soon. I thought she did a great job. I want her to share it first. I am not for sure the time in Spain right now. Melanie may not post until tomorrow. I will have to check on the time difference. Does anybody here know the time in Spain compared to us?

Happy Birthday Jacob

Courtney and Jacob playing a game. I think they could pass for twins.

Happy Late Birthday Jacob. Sorry we missed your special day yesterday. We love you very much.

Friends

Blowing Bubbles

Friends Emily, Courtney, Alicyn, and Erin

They are in a deep conversation. Morghan had just got over pink eye in this picture.
She still looks like she feels bad.

Summer

I am ready for fall. This Summer heat is killing me. I think this is the hottest summer I ever remember having. I can't hardly breath when I step outside. I am ready for fall, cool weather, and camping.

Whirlpool to the Rescue

My husband is the best. He is not a plumber, but yesterday he worked so hard on plumbing a whirlpool for our Master Bath. Our old tub had to be replaced so we decided to get a whirlpool. Last Saturday Kevin and one of his friends put the tub in. They got a frame around the tub, but did not have time to tile it. Kevin worked all day yesterday trying to get water to the tub. He kept having bad luck. He would think he had it, and realize he needed another part. He would then have to go to Lowes. Finally about 9:00 last night it was ready. I was so excited to finally be able to soak in a tub again. I was even more excited to use the jets on the whirlpool. My plans was to soak for a long time and relax. Miss Brooke wanted in this big swimming pool. LOL I let her get in for a little bit. Finally Kevin got her out so I could relax. Brooke was not happy. I turned on the jets, and my back got the best medicine it has had in a long time. Of course both of my girls was so excited to see a tub with all these bubbles in it. They both wanted in. I felt bad for them, because they was excited also. Our old tub was a Garden tub, but not a whirlpool. Finally I gave in and let the girls have the tub. They had the best time. I could not let them get to hyper in there because the tile is not up yet, and I did not want the wood getting wet. I got Brooke out and she was so mad. She cried and cried. She kept saying "I want in that bathtub, right now" I am looking forward to enjoying the tub. I doubt I will use the whirlpool part much, but just having a tub so deep and wide is going to be relaxing to me. I just hope I can sneak some time in it, when Brooke is asleep. I have to say that last night was the best night of sleep I have had in a long time. I have been without our Master Tub for several weeks now. I really think the hot water and the massage on my back helped me to sleep. Here is some pictures of Brooke having fun and then being mad.

I love these bubbles!!!

This is fun Mom.

I don't want out.

Cousins and Friends

Brooke and Kalie

Pretty Girls

Princess gowns for pretty Princess

These are pictures from when we went to visit Kevin's brother and their family. Brooke and Kalie had so much fun together. I miss them. I wish they still lived here so the children could play together.

Silly Brooke

This is of Brooke jumping on the bed at a Hotel we stayed at. She is also being really silly.

Back Update

I have lost count, but I think it has been 10 weeks that I have suffered with my back. There has been very few good days with it. The past week I have had a few good days, but over all I have hurt. When I stand to wash my dishes my back kills me. When I sit for just a little bit I hurt. When I lay down I hurt. When I get up in the mornings I can't hardly walk. I can't even put my right leg in a pair of hose, because I can't lift the leg because of the pain. There is so many things I can't do. I hate to complain.
I have one pain pill that helps the pain, but it makes me so sleepy. The past week I have tried to not take any pain medicine. Today has been very hard. I had a appointment with my Doctor today. Kevin went with me. When the Doctor first came in he said " Now you stopped hurting for awhile right?"
I said "for about three days after all the steroids was gone." He was acting as if he had not looked at my results. When he pulled the MRI results out it did not take him but one second to see how bad my back was. I have to say it was pretty impressive to see those results. I have two herniated disk. The lower back has the worst. It was so obvious why I have been in so much pain. I wish you all could see the x-ray. My Doctor wants me to have some shots in the back. They are trying to get that for next week. He said sometimes the shots work the first time, sometimes you have to have it a second time. Sometimes it knocks the pain out for ever, or for 6 months, or three weeks.
If the shots don't work we would have to consider surgery. I DO NOT want that. The Doctor don't want that either, because he said it would be a major surgery because of where the herniated disk was located. Basically it is pressing into my spine. I wish I could show the pictures. I ask him about a chiropractor because many people have suggested that. He said a Chiropractor would not touch my back because of where the herniated disk is. I also ask about exercise to strengthen the back. The Doctor said he could send me for some heat massage for the back, but that he would not let them touch my back because of the location. I guess my back is in worse shape than I thought. I knew it was bad because of the things I could not do, without hurting very bad, but I did not know the seriousness of this. You would think that he would have done got me in. Which when they called with the results I was feeling better. Once the steroids wore off my back was back to hurting again.
I would really like to see this shot help. I am so tired of hurting and not being able to do things like I used to. Sometimes I feel like my body has got so old and wore out.
I will update later when I know the date of the procedure.

The Long Lost Passey

We have lost almost all of Brooke's passey's. My mom kept Brooke for me on Thursday. I could not find a passey anywhere. Brooke is the type that when she gets sleepy she has to have her shirt and her passey. I explained to her that she would not have it at grandmothers because I could not find it. She did pretty good without it.
That night as we was getting ready for bed I explained to Brooke that is was missing and I could not find it. She said "O.K"
Well it was not o.k. Brooke would not go to sleep. She tossed and turned and got out of the bed. I knew it was because she did not have the passey. I also knew that if she did have the passey that she would be asleep in like 5 minutes. After 25 minutes or so, I decided to look in my purse to see if one was in there. I found it. I go show it to Brooke and she gets so excited. She says "Thank you Jesus. You my best Friend"
I could not help but smile. I said "Brooke did you pray that Jesus would help you find your passey?"
Brooke said "YEP"
Many people may find that funny. It made me happy. Happy because Brooke knows that God answers prayers. It made me happy to know that we are teaching Brooke at a young age that God is real. We are teaching her that God cares about us, and he hears our prayers.
Many people say they are Christians, but yet they live in their sins, and they still do things that are unpleasing to God. I am so glad that we are living right, and that we are teaching our children about God. I know many children don't know God. I kept this little boy one time and we was talking about Jesus. He said "Who is Jesus?" He was four years old.
That made me so sad. This little boy has been in a terrible home life. He has been around parents that cuss, fight, drink, and have no interest in God. I was so sad thinking about this child. When Brooke said what she did the other day I started thinking about how blessed my children are. I am so thankful that I can bring them up in a Christian home. We put God first place in our home. If our children was to hear somebody say a cuss word they would have no idea what they was talking about. In fact my oldest daughter came up to me a couple of months ago and she said "Mom, What does this word mean? So and so said this to me"
I had to quickly explain to Courtney that it was not a nice word and that we don't say it. The word was more of a slain word than a cuss word, but we don't say those either.
Thinking back to that I can be proud that Courtney is nine years old and she has never heard me or her dad cuss. Like I said she would have no clue if she heard anybody say one.
You might be thinking that she hears it on TV. WRONG.....We don't watch TV. In fact we don't even own one. I will not get on that subject. I did not mean to get on any of this. This post was suppose to be about a long lost passey, but I started thinking about what Brooke said and I was so proud of her. Also if Brooke gets hurt, or she don't feel good she wants me or her daddy to pray. I don't care if she bumps her toe on something and it is hurting, Brooke will ask us to pray for it. To me, that is truly awesome that she understands that God answers prayer.

Brooke's Own Little World

As I have said many times, Brooke is in her own Little world when we are outside. I can't hardly ever get her to look at me for a picture. Here is some more great shots that Melanie did for me.

Kisses

Melanie from Spain did these photo's for me. She is so wonderful. Melanie is only 16 and she does a very good job with her pictures. I am so glad I met her. She is such a sweet girl. We have communicated through email and our blogs. I am so glad to have met another wonderful blogger. Check out Melanie's blog and you can see more pictures of my two little darlings.

Miss Right

Brooke had on a pink shirt today. She had a red hairbow in her hair. This is our conversation.
Me: "Brooke we need to fix your hair. That bow don't match"
Brooke "Yeh it do"
Me: "No it don't Brooke. You don't have any red in your shirt and the bow is red"
Brooke pointing to her shirt " Yeh me do, Right here mommy"
I look and sure enough there is two little red flowers in the pink shirt.
;0)

Sisters

Playing Dress Up

A little immodest here, but I thought it was a cute picture.

"Sweet"

Something is Funny.

School Days

Courtney doing Math.

Brooke trying to cut.

Coloring the number one.

The Summer went by way to fast. We started school this week. Courtney liked it the first few days. Today she decided that she hates school. Her reason is because it is to much writing. I told her she had many more years of school. I also told her that writing would be the rest of her life. I did let her take a short break to rest her hand, but I don't think that changed her mind. She still don't like school. To be honest..... I don't either. I wish I could think of some fun things to do with school, but it is kind of hard to find fun things when you have all these lessons that have to be done.
I did start using Saxon Math this year. I think I am really going to like it.
Brooke loves school. Of course she only does about 20 minutes or so. LOL I am going over her numbers and letting her do a few fun things. She can count to 12. I am working with her to recognize the numbers. We went over the number one and two and she calls both numbers two. Oh well we have only done school for four days. She will get it.