Parenting Time

Since the beginning of this blog, I have written about my weekends back in Des Moines with the kids. Well, I am happy to say that at least for the most part, that is now a thing of the past. The judge ordered yesterday that I am now able to take the kids with me to Omaha.

This really is a wonderful thing. The first thing Carter said when he got in my car on Friday was "Are we going to your house?" Carter and Em have both been wanting to see where I live and to meet Lindsey. I know Andrew is also happy with this change. I'm not sure that Johnathan really gives the whole thing much thought. He will be 18 in three more weeks, so he will no longer be governed by anything that has been ordered by the court anyway. I really think he is to the point where he can leave for college and be done with all of it. I know things have been hard for him, and all I can do is to try to be there for him in any way that he might need.

The reason I stated that my weekends in Des Moines were done "for the most part" is the fact that the kids still live there. This means there will be times when they will have activities and such in Des Moines on my weekends. On these occasions, my weekend will more than likely be spent in Des Moines with them. However, it will be from a hotel rather than the house. Again, I think the kids will enjoy this fact and we will make the best of the situation by being able to use the swimming pool, hot tub, and any other amenities that we choose to.

November?

Well, my atttorney finally got back to me with an actual date for my divorce trial. It's not set until November!

I couldn't believe it when I read that. I still don't know what to say about it. I had to ask him what the reasoning was for it being set that far out in the future. His answer was simply, that is what the current backlog is in the Iowa court system right now. Wow! It really doesn't sound like I am going to be able to do anything about it other than continue to push for a deal so we can get things done without the need to wait for the trial date.

On another note, it sounds like visitation might be changing soon anyway. In fact, I think I won't be needing to make the trips to Des Moines anymore. The kids will be coming to Omaha to see me instead. This is still being discussed and there is nothing finalized yet, but at least tentatively, it sounds like that is what is going to happen. There is one small caveat with this though. In the event Johanathan is busy on any given weekend and can't do the driving, I will need to go to Des Moines to pick them up (tentatively anyway... hopefully, we can get to an agreement where she brings them half way).

Anyway, just thought I would share the bad news / good news. Now get off the computer and go enjoy some of this wonderful weather outside!

Ready for Spring?

Em was definitely feel a bit of spring fever this past weekend. She was loving the warm weather and wanting to be outside all the time. She picked out her outfit and I loved how she topped it off with the matching sunglasses. I thought it was adorable.

I also noticed something new this past weekend. Em had her pretty little ears pierced. She was so happy with them. She said she cried when it was done, but when I asked the boys, they both said that she did very well and has been great about letting them clean them for her and everything.

I did hear that she lost one of them while playing at the park, but they were actually able to find it and get it back in with no problems.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and I enjoyed being able to spend time with all four of them. Johnathan had to leave for work a little before it was time for me to go, but other than that, we were able to spend the entire weekend with all of us and no interruptions.

Happy Reading

Just a quick post to let people know that yes, I am smart enough to know that there are ways to read this blog without it being shown in the activity feeds displayed on the blog. I am also smart enough to know of other ways to know who is reading it.

Happy reading!

Even Supergirl gets tired

Hey, it takes a lot of energy to keep saving the world all the time.

... and after all that work, it's time for a nap!

Quiet, Calm, HAPPY

Things have been nice and quiet the last couple of weeks. It's been great. I haven't updated on here for awhile, so I thought it was about time.

On the Des Moines side of things, the ball is in her court. My attorney has typed everything up and presented it to her for consideration. Hopefully, I will hear back soon, and that chapter can be over, done with, and closed for good. However, I am not going to hold my breathe. The longer it takes, the more I get the feeling she is trying to come up with additional things to ask for. Oh well, I guess there is no point in worrying about it until I actually hear something.

The kids are all doing well and healthy. Yesterday was the first day back to school after spring break for them. I'm sure they were all sad to see it come to an end. Even Emmy. She loved having the boys home to play with for the week.

Johnathan is loving having his own car. Actually, I think all of them are enjoying it. They all have much more freedom now and no longer need to depend on their mom or their friends to get around. The addition of car also caused another change. With the addition of a car, creates the need to pay for gas money. Johnathan started his new job at KFC over spring break. Not exactly the best way to spend spring break, but he is acutally enjoying it. He is such a great responsible kid. I can only hope that the rest of them will turn out as well as Johnathan is. Not that I don't think they will or anything. I'm just not sure that I will be able to be quite that lucky.

Anyway, on the Omaha side of things, it has been relatively quiet. I have been working to get into the routine of the new job, which is not all that difficult. I just need to get used to the early morning hours. Lot's off coffee is always a help, but I think I need to start getting back into the habbit of regular workouts too. I'm hoping that will bring my energy level back to where it needs to be.

This past weekend was Lindsey's birthday. It was a fun day, ending with dinner and drinks with one of her friends from school. It was great being able to get out for an evening, and forget about all the stresses of every day life, at least for a few hours anyway.

Hopefully, I will be able to keep this updated a little more than I have been recently. Maybe I will have some good news to post about from the Des Moines side soon. One can only hope!

Smile

Okay. So maybe that's not the greatest smile I've ever seen on her, but she was in quite the silly mood and wanted me to take pictures.


This one is a little better reflection of the mood she was in.

It was a great weekend, and she never left my side. Anytime I would even start walking towards the door to get something out of the car, she would run to me and wrap herself around my leg telling me to stay.

I did manage to get out of the house for about an hour with Johnathan though. We went out to look at a car for him. I'm happy to say that he liked it, and we bought it on the spot. He went downtown the next day to get plates and everything taken care of.

The weekend was over far too quickly, and saying goodbye to everyone was a little difficult. After all, we were in the middle of a Monopoly game and I was doing pretty well!



Oh... and for those of you that have "moved on", it really is amazing how much traffic this site gets.

Back Home

While I was having a good time with the kids in Des Moines, things weren't quite so quiet and calm back home here in Omaha. Lindsey ended up having to get her things out of storage from what she thought was her friend's house. I'm not sure what happened. Did they do a 180 and change, or were they never the people I thought they were? Either way, I am glad the trailer park grade school drama is over and we don't have to worry about the gossip anymore. Who needs that kind of stuff in their life? I know I don't. I guess some people do though. For some reason, or somehow, I think they use it to make themselves feel better about their own life.

Another item that upset me was the fact that others would attempt to do "first" things with other peoples kids. Are you kidding me? Why on earth would anyone intentionally do things with kids that are not their own knowing that their mother or father wants to do those items with them? It is just wrong! Due to the fact that some people cannot grasp this simple fact, I am going to have to make a few "firsts" myself. I think it's going to be a fun weekend!

Busy Weekend

This was my weekend to go back to Des Moines and spend some time with the kids. It was a great weekend in that respect. However, just not long enough.

Andrew was gone most of the weekend with show choir and speech competitions, so I only got to spend a few hours with him on Sunday. However, he did quite well in both competitions. Ankeny took first in the show choir competition ending the season a good note, and he received all ones on his speech, which means that he qualified to go to state for speech. So, although he did not get to spend much of his weekend with me, it was still a great weekend for Andrew.

I think it was a pretty good weekend for Johnathan too. He never really says much and keeps to himself quite a bit, but I took him out over the weekend and we got him a car. It's not the greatest thing by any means, but considering what my first car was, I don't think it's half bad. It is older, but has reasonably low miles on it (only 87,000). Being as my car has 132,000 on it, I thought that was pretty good.

Carter and Em just wanted to cuddle and watch some movies. My ex had actually left the xbox this time. However, the power cord for it was nowhere to be found. Good thing I brought a dvd player with me just in case. I also made a trip to Walmart to pick up an antenna so they could watch tv when she decides to do things like that and I'm not there. It's ridiculous what those kids have to put up with.

Overall it was a good weekend though, and we had a lot of fun playing and snuggling. Of course it was too short, and Em really didn't want me to leave. That is the hardest part, knowing you have to go and be out by a certain time, while you have an adorable three year old that is hanging onto you hugging you and telling you to stay.

Stories from Des Moines

The more I talk with my two older sons, the more I just can't believe what things are like back there. The other night, I called Johnathan at 8:30. I asked him the standard question of what are you up to, and he responded by saying he was just getting home from school. This is not all that unusual for him due to the number of extra curricular activities he is in, so I proceeded to ask what he had been doing after school. This is where things got a little interesting. He had nothing after school that day, but was simply waiting for my ex to pick him up. My next question was why he would wait that long, why not get a ride from someone or find another way home? To this he responded by stating that he does not have a key to the house, and she will not give him one. Is it just me, or is that just completely insane? He is 17, and almost ready to graduate from high school and be off on his own. Yet, he is not even trusted with keys to the house? I did not know how to respond to that. I still don't. I'm at a complete loss... total disbelief.

I have decided one thing I can do to try to alleviate some of it though. I am planning to buy him a car this weekend. Maybe then he can at least go somewhere else to spend his time and wait, a friends house or something. There is no reason for him to be forced to sit at the school for five hours at a time waiting for her to give him a ride.

A quick snack

Em kept asking for some cake, so I started to look in the cupboards to find out what was available for making some cake. Then Johnathan suggested using some of the carrots in the fridge and making some carrot cake. Since there was a bunny shaped cake pan sitting there, I decided that sounded like a good idea.


They turned out pretty good, and with the carrots and all, I thought they were reasonably healthy, at least as far as cake goes anyway.

They at least looked like little bunnies and were half way healthy, at least until I added the cream cheese icing on top of them...


Oh well, they still tasted great and it was a nice break and fun cooking with the little ones. They are always a great help in the kitchen and an even bigger help when it comes to eating anything sweet.

Tired

This is what it looks like on the weekends when I have to get both of my older boys to school by 6:00 am for their various activities, and therefore have to dump the little ones in the car to go with us.

I don't think she was even aware that she ever left the house.

New Job

I'm starting to get used to and settle into my new job. There is a lot of things to learn, and a ton of reading to do. The insurance industry is new to me, so I need to pick up on the lingo and learn as much as I can as quickly as I can.

The project itself does not sound like it is going to be too bad. However, there will of course be a few obstacles to overcome. Everyone within the organization is willing to make whatever changes are needed in order to make the system work. The problem is going to come down to how much will there be that the new system can not do, and therefore, either new manual effort needs to be made, or additional customizations that could effect the timeline and budget.

These are the things that I need to figure out in the next couple of weeks in order to ensure that the scope of the project is nailed down. Without that, there would be no way for me to be able to say at the end that I accomplished what was set out for me to do.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick update as to the new job. So far, it looks like it is going to be a lot of fun and yet quite challenging at the same time. I will try to keep this updated and get back to posting more regularly.

A Great Visit with Family

It was a long drive, but everyone slept most of the way both directions, so it was a good trip. We all had a lot of fun and got to catch up on things a little.


Carter got a helicopter for Christmas and the other boys all got airplanes, so we had to go outside for a bit and have some fun playing with those. Good thing it is considerably warmer down there. Hopefully, some of that warm weather came back with us and we can actually get outside once in awhile here too.


My mom and dad were both very happy to finally be able to get everyone together. It has been awhile since all of our schedules matched up and we could all get together.


My sister brought her puppy, which of course made Emmy very happy.


Although, I think latched onto Nicholas even more than she did the puppy. She would lead him around the house and kept him at her side as much as possible.

One of the first things my sister wanted to do was to do Em's hair for her. Em being the only girl, she was pretty much the center of attention. Of course, she did not have any problems with that.

Anyway, I just wanted to post some pictures from the weekend. Everyone had a blast, and we all agreed that we need to do it again soon.

Back to Work

Well, I guess the vacation is almost over. One more week of "vacation" time left, and then it's back to work. I'm looking forward to my new job. However, I am a little nervous at the same time. It is the first contract position that I have taken, and with that, I am not sure of what all to expect. Over all, I think it will be the same as other positions, and can't be any worse than the last organization I was working for. The contract term is for 18 months, so at least it will be awhile before I have to start thinking about looking for another position again.



Anyway, I wanted to give everyone a quick update. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts.

Snow Bunny

I just thought I would share some pictures of our friendly family bunny that lives out front. He has pretty much successfully eaten the remaining leaves off of our bushes out front.


He just stays there when we go in and out. We even bought some carrots on our last trip to the store just to make sure he had enough to eat.

A Good Christmas

I think this had to be the biggest hit out of everything. She loved her princess dresses and is still playing with them all the time.


She is such a little princess. She loves to pose and smile for pictures all the time.


Em had to do a little convincing to get Carter to join in the fun and put on the crown.

... but as you can see once he got started, he had a blast too (even with coordinating his shoes). He even asked if he should take his pants off because they didn't look good showing under his dress!

Those two are pretty much inseperable. They were heading back to the castle to play some more at the end of the day.

All in all, they both had a great time, and the older ones and I all had a blast watching them. It was a great Christmas and I am hopeful that it is a sign of what is going to be a great 2010.