*I'm still not good at figuring how to get the pictures and words where I want them, oh well*
Last night my mom and I watched Jared and Nikki's kids for a couple hours. Giving Nikki a little break to get over some sickness. I hope she got some good rest. We took the kids to my place and had cookies and ice cream. They lucked out that today was the first day I decided to try out my oven and make cookies to give away. And I still had a little ice cream left over from when I friend brought some over. Thankfully the kids pounded that all down like there was no tomorrow. Then I learned quicklike that my house is NOT in the least bit child proofed. I did have some blocks for them to play with though. I left them to wonder when I was holding the baby and sure enough two of them came out of my room chewing gum. dang it kids! you better not spit it out anywhere. I will find out later I guess if stickiness and problems are to be found anywhere else. I'm sure a few pieces of trash made it to the baby's mouth. They begged to write on my chalkboard wall and to take a bath at my house. Grandma was awesome enough to bring pj's. Bath time happened. Jennifer decided she was going to sing to me while the other kids took a bath. I have no clue what she was singing, but she was all about song. I let her listen to my new favorite "Everybody" by Ingrid Michaelson. I think by the time they got home she knew it by heart. She loves music. I should've posted the picture of Jennifers creations on my book shelf and posted them. I have a little wood set of a man, woman, and a temple. She was posing them and telling me to take pictures. One time they were kissing. That's right Jennifer, you have the idea. haha Hilarious. I still can't believe I've had that since I was 12 or something. Then after the kids were cleaned we loaded up to go home. It had to have been 930 at this point. Feeling like 1130 with four kids. All buckled up and don't you know it, the car won't start. I had to take a step back and breathe....I said maybe we should pray. My mom said a prayer, and we tried a couple more times. The car started. Jennifer Gasped ! Heavenly Father started the car! It was the cutest thing. After getting back to Xenia I dropped my mom off at the grocery store to pick up some things for Nikki. I then asked the kids if they wanted to go see where Jordan was living. They wanted to go see him. Jordan has been at the adult detention center in xenia since mid june. I guess it's always easier to say jail. I told them we could see where he was living, but he was in trouble so he couldn't come out and see them yet. We drove by ADC and Angela said, "hmm its nice" haha I love kids. We had some good conversation about how he has been away for awhile and we can't see him yet, but we can write him. They also likened it to their daddy being away and they can't see him right now either. Then they started asking me what its like there. They asked if he was in a cage. I tried to explain what he is doing there. Reading books, playing cards, watching TV. He lives in a big room with lots of bunk beds, but since he is in trouble he can't come out and play. I think it must've been Angela at this point that said, OH ITS LIKE TANGLED! haha yes, he is in a tower and his mom wont let him come out. But the tower is that concrete room in a big bldg and the mom are the police. I don't suppose that maybe you think they sing and dance in there huh? :) Just my thoughts. I think it would make it a way better place to live. I guess Jordan has been visiting with the missionaries twice a week and his branch president has seen him a few times as well. His friends came with me to go to his court hearing last Friday. I guess as soon as one more thing is settled in the juvenile court system he will be going to a halfway house for around 3 months I think. Its hard to keep up with whats going on. I am just trying to be better about writing letters. Me and Jordan have been playing tic tac toe in our letters. I sent him some pictures to catch him up on my life a little bit. Yes, back to the kids. I told them we can write him a letter if they wanted. They were so cute! I can write my name, Jennifer shouted. I said we can trace your hands and then you can write your names in them. Then they said, yeah and we can draw a heart so he knows how much we love him. Then more ideas of things they could draw started flow. Pigs, chickens, butterflies. wow, this letter was going to be awesome :) We got home after picking grandma back up and mom was sleeping in her room where the paper was so we stuck to just drawing on paper towels. I have now got the cutest little letters to send Jordan. Guess I don't know what kind of envelope to put them in. I hope he appreciates how much these kids love him. I hardly see the kids lately, but the stories are great every time. Best imaginations ever. I have been asked to give massages at the princess bday party coming up in october. haha what 4 and 5 yr olds do you know that ask for massage at their party!? haha awesome. I'm there. Speaking of kid imaginations, all this jail talk reminded me of when I was younger. I believe I was around 8 yrs old. Still young enough to have a wild imagination, but old enough to worry. Bad combination. We all went to the doctor to be tested for TB. I have no idea to this day why everyone in my family BUT me tested negative. I could've sworn I was just bitten by a mosquito in the same place that they poked me. It itched. It itched really bad. I don't know specifically how it all went down. But being that young, you are never talked TO, only ABOUT. I am not deaf. I could hear them talking about all sorts of things. Obviously never getting the full picture. I didn't know what disease I had, I just knew it was bad. I didn't always get along with my family, I wasn't the nicest kid all the time but I didn't think I was ready to be shipped away to some hospital up far away in the mountains (I'm sure if tangled was already made I would've put myself there in my mind) locked up a room that only had a small hole at the bottom of some bars where I could be fed through. I was going to be all alone and no one around. It might be funny to hear about this. But lets just say I don't think I slept well for a long time. I couldn't sleep I was crying so much. I know my dad gave me a blessing one night. I had to be okay with taking medication every morning. It was torture. I got yelled at lots for hating the liquid and crying every time I had to take it. So we switched to pills, yeah, pills?? I thought I was going to choke every time. They were crushed, cut in half and put in orange juice lots of times. Maybe I was overly dramatic about it all, but I hated that I was the only one being forced to take medication for some disease and I didn't feel one bit different or sick. It didn't seem fair. man, that was a rough time. Not to mention thats the year that my cousin that lived with us and was only one year old died. hmm okay that was off topic for sure. Anywayy... kids and their imaginations. They can get outta hand. Hopefully some day I can show the kids pictures of where Jordan is and explain things a little bit better to their little minds. Or maybe Jordan will be able to share when he gets through it all.
