C.A.A.D.D.-----Funny

I received this email from a friend.....this doesn't really sound like me but it sure sounds like Chuck....he can never focus on one thing.....the more I think about it....this can sometimes be me!!! YIKES!! What's it going to be like when Allison is a toddler?!?!?! ENJOY!



Subject: Found: New Strain of Attention Deficit Disorder
Tell me this isn't your life. . .
Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. - ChildActivated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the laundryroom, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floorand my car keys are in the cereal bowl.I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my car keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trash can, and notice that the trash can is full.

So, I decide to take out the trash. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left, my extra checks are in my desk in the office/playroom, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice.I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide Ishould put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup in hand, a plant on the counter catches my eye --it needs to be watered. I set the sippy cup on the counter, as I discover the baby wipes that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back in the bathroom, but first I'm going to water the plant.I set the wipes back down, fill a container with waterand suddenly I spot the TV remote, one of the kids left it on the kitchentable. I realize that I will be looking for the remote later on as we allfight over who lost it, but I won't remember thatit's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den wherebelongs, but first I'll water the plant. I splash some water on the plant, but most of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back down, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the laundry isn't washed,
the bills aren't paid,
there is a warm cup of juice sitting on the counter,
the plant isn't watered,
there is still only one check in my checkbook,
I can't find the remote,I can't find the wipes,
and I don' t remember what I did with the car keys.
Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm reallytired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to getsome help for it,

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming.

What a great weekend!!

This weekend was a great weekend. My parents and my sister came down from South Dakota (akron, ia) for the weekend. They arrived Friday evening. I made my first ever Roast!!! And from the compliments I did pretty good.....my mashed potatoes could have been a bit better...they still had some lumps in them. And the brustle sprouts tasted awesome too!!! Saturday we spent the day shopping...took the family out to Nebraska Furniture Mart....it was hectic there. For those of you who know my dad....he well....doesn't like a whole lot of people....like huge busy crowds...so we didn't stay there very long considering that. After we got home from a day of shopping we sat down for dinner....homemade pizza! It was awesome.

So eventually everyone ended up in front of the tv. We watched CSI and Law & Order. Then I had mentioned something to my mom about some clothes I wanted her to try on...my closet is just busting with clothes saying...Wear me!!! So we went downstairs to the guest bedroom and pulled the clothes out, then we came back up to our bedroom and pulled out more clothes...pre pregnancy clothes, well actually like clothes that i wore 2002-2005ish. Then I was a stick!!! So I had fun trying on some...."smaller" clothes that didn't fit my butt and my mom and sister enjoyed watching me try them on. It was a great time. We probably spent an hour or so just in the bedroom trying on old clothes!!! I really cherished that time with "The Girls" and will always remember it!!!

The family left today around 4ish after Church and Tacos for lunch. We really enjoyed having them down and wish they could have stayed an extra day, but things wouldn't work out b/c Katie had to get back for school tomorrow and mom and dad have to work. I'm sure they'll be back!!! And I really hope they enjoyed spending time with us...especially with Allison...she is just growing so fast!!! We'll see them again in February as we are headed to Iowa the last weekend of the month....so I'm looking forward to that time!
That's it for our weekend....Chuck goes back to work tomorrow after 2 days off, so it's back to the normal life again!
have a great week!

Baby Bumbo Chair

So we got this new chair for Allison....Grandpa and Grandma Palmer got it for her from Target Tuesday evening. It's called a Bumbo chair and once your baby is able to hold her head up for a long time they say you can put your baby in it. Robin (mom in law) said one of her friends got it for her son and just loved it. I love it to. It's so perfect. Allison can sit in it while I'm folding clothes, unloading the dishwasher or just whenever. She loves being able to sit up and seeing everything around her from a different view (normally she lays on her back in her gym). Plus it helps her develop her back and tummy muscles and she has fun!!! Here's a picture of Allison enjoying her chair..... aren't her lil bear pants cute??? A Christmas gift from Aunt Katie!

Oh by the way....Allison is 15 weeks old today!!! And trying to put everything she can grab into her mouth!!!

More Snow

Well we got a few more inches of snow this weekend. I think here in Raymore we got about 3 1/2 inches. Lucy is enjoying pouncing through the snow chasing the birds out of the yard. We have now seen so many birds in our backyard eating the bird seed we can't count anymore. Pretty neat when I see a new bird and then go check out what they are on the internet. Never thought bird watching could be so.....interesting!!!

We also discovered last week that we have bunnies living under our deck! Lucy discovered this and everytime she goes out to "play" she'll check to make sure the bunnies are all out of her yard.

Not too much more going on in the Palmer household this weekend. Chuck worked and now has 2 days off...we'll spend it doing some house cleaning. Mom and Dad are coming down for a visit on Friday. I think my sister Katie is coming too, but not quite sure. So we are all excited to see them again. And i'm sure they are really excited to see Allison again, since she's grown so much since Christmas.

Oh and I'm sure that the schools will be closed once again tomorrow....even though the roads are fine. They didn't have school at all last week....b/c it was too cold....it was only 20 degrees, okay maybe 15 or 18 degrees....but still.....we never got out of going to school in iowa b/c it was cold. Unless the boiler wasn't working at the elementary building.

Well have a good week!!!

School cancellations, still????

So it's wednesday, and the sun is shining, however it's pretty cold out. We got a lot of ice/freezin rain oh and some snow this past weekend. but yea, it's wednesday 4 days since it's rained and...well.... kids still don't have school!!!!
It's nuts.....they cancelled school today b/c the parking lot is covered with ice!?!?!? Um....ever heard of a um....sand truck??? or salt maybe??? how about a snow plow??? All that tax dollar money....just sitting there???

Ya gotta be kidding me? So kids had 3 days off of school.....well monday was b/c of MLK Day, but if it wasn't MLK Day they would not have had school. Oh and not only did they cancel school but on sunday they were canceling church? I think I remember maybe having church cancelled once when I was little....maybe twice. But I guess down here it's a normal thing to do if there is the slightest chance of ice or snow. However my church did not cancel, but i think almost every other church in the metro area did, but we didn't go to church b/c Allison was sick.

Then another is with the city of Raymore. I'm pretty torked about this. They never and i mean never come through and blade our streets!!! We pretty much slide down our street when driving.....which is fun....fish tailing a little bit....can you tell i'm from rural iowa?? Not only do they not blade but they don't bother to even put some sand down or salt....nada, nothing!!! I should just go buy out the shelf of kitty litter at walmart and give it to the city so they have a cheap way of doing something for our street!! It really isn't that bad, but when you have cars parked on the street when the street curves and it's harder to see if traffic is coming...it makes it a bit harder to stop when there is are car coming at you than what it would be if they would just lay something on the ground to give you traction. ????? makes sense doesn't it, instead of spending even more tax dollar money for the police dept. to show up and write up an accident report???

And yea, then we have the way people drive down here when it's snowing or raining or i guess freezing rain. But mainly when it snows....I don't think they teach you down here in Driver's ED. how to drive in snow. Well they might, but it sure doesn't look like they do!!! HAHA. They are all driving like 10 to 15 mph and chuck and I are just scootin along, driving 55 or 65 or whatever the speed limit may be. It's ridiculous sometimes, b/c the people that are going really really slow think that they are going pretty fast for what the weather is like and they drive in the "Fast" lane, when they should be in the SLOW SLOW VERY SLOW lane!!! Hilarious.
I think that if you don't feel comfortable driving in the weather, then they should stay home!! Make things a lot easier and decrease the amount of accidents that occur!!
Anywho....that's my hootin and hollarin for today. Just a lil chuckle.
Sorry if i offended any "Missourians" and "Kansans"

Okay, have a good day!!!

The Price of Children

I like this one! I'm sure some of you have seen this one before, but just in case you haven't enjoy.

The Price of Children

I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,

* $741.38 a month, or

* $ 171.08 a week.

* That's a mere $24.24 a day!

* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

* Glimpses of God every day.

* Giggles under the covers every night.

* More love than your heart can hold.

* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.

* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.

* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites

* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up.

You get to:

* finger-paint,

* carve pumpkins,

* play hide-and-seek,

* catch lightning bugs, and

* never stop believing in Santa Claus!

You have an excuse to:

*keep reading the adventures of Piglet and Pooh

* watch Saturday morning cartoons,

* go to Disney movies, and

* wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay on Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.

You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,

* taking the training wheels off a bike,

* removing a splinter,

* filling a wading pool,

* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:

* first step,

* first word,

* first bra,

* first date, and

* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal.

You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.

You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits.

So one day they will be like you and love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & Great grandchildren!!!

Allison's Milestone....

So despite being a bit on the sick side, Allison has had some major milestones these past couple of weeks. She had her first giggle at mommy when we were in Iowa for Christmas at my parents house. More of a squeal than anything, but you can definately tell that she was giggling just by the smile on her face!!!

Another major milestone.....she rolled from her back to her tummy just 2 days ago!!! She suprised the heck out of me b/c i didn't think she'd be doing that so quickly!! Now we just need to get her on her tummy so she can do some "push ups" and roll from her tummy to her back!!!
Another highlight, she now holds herself up when you place her feet on the ground. Eventually she'll let her legs give out and will want to lay on her back again and stare at the bright lights!!! And she has also found out that she can bring her "binkie" to her mouth. she normally holds onto the knob on it and pulls it in and out of her mouth!!!

Well thats about it for now....maybe next time I write she'll be doing "push ups"

Ahhhchoo, Cough Cough, sniffle sniffle......Cold weather getting to us...

Well, it's been a rough weekend and first part half of the week. Allison and I are fighting off colds.....Chuck is starting to get over his severe cough and cold....however he went to the doctor and got some medication for his. I do believe that he passed it to me and then I passed it to Allison. Will probably have to make a doctor's appointment for her next week....she is just plain tired all the time. Eat and sleep and an occassional dirty diaper, but no "talking" with mommy as much as she was before. Hopefully she isn't getting sick sick!!!
We visited the ER back in Iowa when we were in Akron. The doc at Mercy Hospital in Sioux City said she looked okay and just had a lil cold.
Well that lil cold has turned into a bigger cold I think. Plus we are sucking more and more "junk" out of her nose everytime she gets a diaper change, wakes up from a nap or goes down for a nap.

I believe I'm getting worse too. Just plain tired and don't want to do anything. I think we might just need to get out.....but I don't think that'll happen this weekend due to some nasty weather we are suppose to receive. Please pray for us to get healthy!!!

Cardinals...ever seen a female cardinal???

So since we moved again in August, we have this great backyard. We have 2 trees in our yard and then the fence in the back is lined with trees. I came to notice that we had Blue Jays living in the trees along the fenceline in our yard and the neighbors. It is so amazing to see these birds....and even more amazing to see them since we are so close to the city. And we not only had just a few Blue Jays, we had....ooddles of them....like 10 or 15 of them!!!
Just this past November...maybe earlier....I started noticing a Cardinal....so BEAUTIFUL. It's bright red colors are so amazing. Then another bird started hanging around and it looked like a Cardinal...but it wasn't red....only on it's tips of the feathers....it actually looked green! However I've read up and they say it's brown.

I wish I could get some good pictures of our Blue Jays but they are just too quick for me to snap a picture of them. As for now, I'll continue my birdwatching and enjoying the beautiful creatures that God created. Here is a picture of 3 males in our tree and also a picture of the lone female.

New Years Resolution....????

So I've sat here for a few days, wondering what I my new year resolution shall be....there are so many different things that I can do....or attempt to do....So here is my list:

1. Learn to have more patience...this was my resolution last year, I got better, but I would still like to be more patient.
2. Lose 20 lbs....I don't care how long it takes, I just want to lose 20 lbs and be able to fit into the clothes that I wore before I got married and had a baby.
3. Learn to Cook!!! This is a big one....especially since Chuck and I are trying to lose our excess weight and become more lean and fit. Also a big thing since Chuck has high blood pressure and cholesterol. So I think I'm either going to attend a cooking class....or just try everything on my own and if it fails...who cares....at least I tried, right???
4. Become a more organized person. You would think since I'm such a picky person that I would be an organizational freak....well guess again....I would like my house to be much neater and would like to have certain spots for everything in my house instead of just putting it wherever it will fit.
5. last but not least....get our finances straightened out....enuff said!!!


So there ya go, my new years resolutionS. Check back with me January 1st, 2008 to see if I accomplished them!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

January 1st, 2007!!!! Wow that will difficult to get use to for a few days...maybe a few weeks!!! Here is a recap of 2006 for the Palmer Family:
January: Emily accepted a position as a Nanny for a 2 year old in Lee's Summit, MO
February: We found out that we were EXPECTING!!!
March: Not too much happened in March. Emily had her first check-up to see how her and baby were doing.
April: Made a trip home to Iowa to see our family and friends.
May: Emily turned 22, and spent half of the day in the ER. (Everything was fine) We also found out that we were expecting a girl on May 8th.
June: Chuck turned 23 on the 30th. We spent a week up in Okoboji with the White Family....enjoyed the relaxation with family and also playing croquet and the bean bag toss game.
July: Spent the 4th in Raymore, MO with Chuck's dad and family. Watched the fireworks, grilled brauts and hot dogs and sat by the pool most of the day.
August: Emily headed back to Iowa for a long weekend....went to Camp Okoboji to visit many old friends at Youth Week. Enjoyed seeing all the people she went to camp with "back in the day." This was also Emily's last trip to Iowa before Allison was born, so she also made a trip to Mom and Dad Heisterkamp's house. And at the end of August, Mom and Dad Heisterkamp came down to Lee's Summit, Mo to help us move...again...to Raymore, MO. We moved into a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom duplex....with a double garage and a fenced in backyard. Which lucy (Our Dog) enjoys much. Also...lucy turned 1 on the 10th of August.
September: Was filled with lots of R & R and preparation for the arrival of Allison. Chuck's co-workers held a baby shower for us on the 9th. Emily started arranging a bedroom just for Allison, Chuck put together the baby bassinett and the changing table.
October: Chuck took October 1st thru the 14th off from work. We celebrated our 1 year anniversary on the 1st. Went out to eat at Olive Garden and enjoyed an evening together. The following days we waited and waited as we anticipated the arrival of Allison. She finally arrived on the 13th at 8:08am.
November: On the 5th we baptized Allison at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Raymore. Our whole family was there, so that was a very special day for us. We also celebrated Allison's first Thanksgiving. Daddy had to work, but Emily's mom and sister came down to keep her company over the long weekend.
December: Emily made a weekend trip home to Iowa with Allison the 2nd weekend of the month. One of her best high school pals was home from California and it would be the only time her friend Jessica would be home for awhile, so she wanted to see Allison.
On the 13th, Allison had her 2 month check up. She weighed in at 12 lbs 4 oz. and measured 23 1/2 inches long. Doctor Phillips said she is growing great and looks very healthy.
ON the 21st, we headed back to Iowa once again, this time to Fonda first. We spent the 1st part of the holiday weekend in Fonda and then headed to Akron (Heisterkamps) on Christmas Eve. It was so great to see all of our family, including cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. It was also a fun time at Grandma White's house b/c there were 2 new babies there, Allison and Jeremy and Lorena's daughter Mackenzie.
Chuck headed back to Kansas City on the 29th. Emily and Allison will be heading back to Raymore on the 2nd of January after they say goodbye to Emily's brother Jon Paul and his wife Heidi as they move to Panama City, Panama to do some Church Mission Work.

So that was 2006. We are praying that 2007 will be filled with great health and much happiness for everyone and for our family. Happy New Year!!!