Cooper can spell and count. sort of.

9 and 3

with winter, comes the boys' birthdays. jonah got his long awaited nintendo DS and cooper got several items, one being a fun robot that he soon after chose to test its water-proof abilities in a quick bathtub dunk. ya, it wasn't water proof.

some Christmas

this year christmas was quiet like i like it. and i'm also a little embarrased to admit that though all the decos came town timely, we had an undecorated tree in the living room up until the 3rd week of Jan. oops.
here's a couple pics of the boys and their toys!

see Donna and Eddie play wii

around Thanksgiving time, Craig's parents made an unplanned trip to CA for the unfortunate passing Eddie's sister Nonie. they made the trip worth their while though and stayed for a couple weeks. one of the highlights of their visit (for us anyway) was having them over for dinner one of their final nights and talking them into trying out the wii. we couldn't get them to leave! hehe.. just kidding! Donna made attempts since we were pushing 10pm on a sunday night, but Eddie was having too much fun =)

and the cousins got some play in too at Jill's.

the sister

in other random news that i didn't report timely on:

my sister Gayle graduated LVN school and also passed her board tests. you can tell my mom is only a little excited for her =)

In even more updated news, she's also living in WI right now. she had an opportunity to go live with a friend and test out something new. so she went. she has a place of her own and 2 jobs and loves it. so yay for her, finding something she might be able to build on.

the dad

Well it's now March 2009 and i'm just getting around to my first post of the year! not that there hasn't been anything exciting going on that's been worth sharing.

so school. ya, i didn't quite finish the semester which i'm definitely bummed about. but at the same time i realized i unintentionally may have bitten off more than i could chew. as if starting a new (and intensely focused) job wasn't enough, i had the drama with Jonah and school as well as the decision to 're-locate' my dad again. i haven't beat myself up too badly about it though.

in November, i made a communal decision to discharge my dad from the convalescent home. so he is back at Ben's house. it was for his own good, he was just way too high functioning to be expected to live amongst aging adults who couldn't care for themselves. the fact that the staff and administrator preferred him in a wheelchair rather than walking around independently was sign enough that if he continued that lifestyle, his own self worth would deteriorate much faster. it was another re-adjustment at first, dealing with the home health nurse, getting all his meds and diabetic supplies situated with the pharmacy. oh and reminding him that he because he was 'on his own' didn't mean he gets to eat whatever he wants again. that in itself is almost a daily discussion with him. because he can't be trusted to remember such things, he doesn't get an allowance to spend as he wishes anymore. so i get constant calls. there's the legitimate stuff like toilet paper and toothpaste. but i also get the calls that he wants money so he can go to the store and buy a pie, or some chips or some chocolate milk or, get this... some sugar to put on his cereal! so having to step up my involvement with the smaller details like that has been challenging. but i'm very thankful that Ben also stepped up how was able to and helps my dad test his blood sugar and meds, and even learned how to give insulin shots! so that helps tremendously and we don't have to worry about being there everyday to manage that piece of it.

so tra-lal-la, we carry on.

Free at last

haha... i've kept that 'title' in my mental notes for the post on my dad, but it could serve as two-fold today.

Our appt. re: Jonah's delinquent ways was postponed because Craig's aunt Nonie passed away and the funeral was scheduled at the same time. Fortunately, we only had to wait a day.

So yesterday we met with the T-bolt probation officer and long story short, the case is closed with no further action. However, (due to our highly efficient/effective legal systems in place, i'm sure) she couldn't guarantee that the charge would not reflect on his permanent record. so her only advice was to check Jonah's record in about 3-4 yrs. and if the charge is still on there we can proceed to either have it removed or have his record sealed so that it does not affect his future, the latter being the more realistic option. not really the greatest peice of info. but an end (of sorts) nonetheless. Another factor that i found interesting though, is that the other parents are in law enforcement with another county!!! The probation officer herself also couldn't figure out what these parents were hoping for as an outcome and was surprised that they chose not to handle the matter [through common sense methods] by speaking with us. either way, i suppose this is an acceptable conclusion. thanks to those who expressed your concern! =)