JOB!

I.GOT.A.JOB!!! I have been mostly unemployed since the move from KC, with a side gig doing medical transcription for my fabulous uncle. Today, I got a contract transcription job editing for a radiology group. The company that I will be working for has doctors and clinics and transcriptionist in the U.S. and overseas. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the radiology company that I will be working for is in... YANKTON! What are the odds?!? Needless to say, I am over the moon.

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7 Years Old

I can't believe it, but my little boy is 7! That's right. Josh turned 7 yesterday. Sadly, he had to spend the majority of his waking hours at school, but we made the most of it. He got to open his big present, a bb gun, on Sunday. He loves it, and I must admit, so do I! BB gun might be making the Christmas list for me this year! I don't know if I have ever posted it on here, but Josh is a weather fanatic. He loves all things weather. His favorite dot com (what he calls a website) is weather.com. I found out that the dad of one of the kiddos in 1A is a meteorologist at a tv station in Lincoln. He said that we should definitely bring Josh in. What a great experience! We had so much fun. We got to learn about the weather, watch them tape the 5 o'clock news, and Jeff and Kevin even talked some Husker football.

I will post pictures from Josh's b-day later. But, just to reiterate, what a fantastic day, with my fantastic boy. I am so very thankful that I was chosen to be his mom.

Katie

DROID

I got a new phone! what's more, is that I am now able to blog from my phone. Not much new going on here. Josh is liking school. He told me that math is so much better than recess... really? I guess that is a good thing!

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Too Long!

Has it really been over three months since I last updated my blog? That is crazy! What I find funny about it, is that I get annoyed when the blogs that I follow don't update every couple of days. Hypocrite. Oh well. The last time I updated, Josh had three weeks left of kindergarten. Now, he has 6 days left of summer vacation. So, here is a recap of our summer and some pictures.

May - We FINALLY got a new dog! Bella is a (now) 5-1/2 month old black lab. She is adorable and so sweet, but full of all that puppy energy that we hadn't experienced with Tommy for MANY years. So, it is very different. She is very much a hunting dog to. She loves to fetch, although she doesn't always do so well with bringing the ball back. She also caught her first bird, a dove, just last week. Gross. I think that Jeff may have to resume hunting now that we have her. We all love her to bits. She was just what we needed. Josh finished kindergarten. My dad was informed that his cancer has returned. :(

June - Josh learned to ride his bike WITHOUT training wheels. He is so proud and just loves riding around. I wish we had more pavement for him to ride around on, but he rides on the rocks and grass too. Doesn't seem like there was much more in June... there probably was. That is a reason to update more often.

July - Well, the drama of the month was me getting burned by an artillery firework. No fun. The good news was that the burn was small, and healed entirely in about 3 weeks. So, I am now rocking an even shorter hairdo than before. Josh and I went to Yankton for the Relay for Life. It was so stinking hot, but always a very moving tribute to loved ones (mom and Carolyn) who have lost their battles, and for my dad who continues to fight. It was a quick trip, as I went home the next day, but Josh stayed with Papa, Pauline, Grandma and Grandpa for about 5 days? I was so glad when he got home. I just miss the little guy so much. We were also able to go to Kansas City one weekend to see my good friend Jenny Rohret get married. We are so happy that she found Scott. Congratulations to Jenny, Scott and Miss Elizabeth. We were able to see my bff's Kara and Carrie and their families while we were down there, so it was a packed trip. We were there less than a day!

August - Not too much has happened this month. Josh goes back to school the 19th. The 18th I have a job interview at his school for a teacher's aide position. I am hopeful that it will work out, as that is what I wanted to do when we moved up here. We'll see. Fingers crossed! Jeff leaves that day for Wyoming for a couple of weeks. So, it will just be Josh and I. We are going to my dad and Pauline's that weekend because my sister, David, Natalya and Niko will be visiting from Arizona. I am so excited to see them!

Blogger is being a turd, so I will upload pics later!

Katie

May 2, 1995 and May 2, 2010

This day stinks. There is no other way about it. May 2, 1995. I remember sitting in the kitchen at my parent's home in Yankton, SD with my mom's best friend Carolyn Larsen. It is lost on me as to who else was there. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa? I don't remember. What I do remember is being super hungry... at 2am. My mom had been rushed to the hospital at approximately 9pm the night before. She had been battling cancer for just under a year (from diagnosis), but her struggle had been going on for about 18 months. We knew she wasn't going to beat the cancer, but we never would have thought that it would end early that morning. I was a senior in high school. I had spent the early evening of May 1st at a friends house addressing graduation invitations. At about 9, I got a call saying mom was really sick, and I needed to come home. The rest of what happened from 9 until about 2 is a blur. At about 2, Carolyn and I popped a Totino's Party Pizza in the oven. Not too much later, I remember seeing my dad and Pastor Bob drive into the driveway. Complete and utter devastation. My 12-year-old sister and I were now motherless. Even when you know it is the inevitable, it still sucks. I don't think we got very much sleep that night. I remember calling my best friend, Marie, at 7:30 to tell her. She was in the shower. She was on my doorstep, dripping wet by 7:45. I don't know to this day if she knows how much her friendship meant to me. The next few days were a blur of planning, family, tears and hugs. Fast forward to May 2, 2010... today. For some reason the anniversary of her death has hit me especially hard this year. Don't know why. I think it might be because, in 2 more years, she will have been gone more than half of my life. Let's face it, that is just sad. Not only that, but my "2nd Mom", Carolyn passed away from brain cancer almost three years ago. So, I was having a bit of a pity party for myself. I think once in awhile it is deserved. Anyway, I joined the Catholic Church April 3, 2010. I love our church. Our priests are awesome. But, I think what I like best, is the music on Sunday mornings. The music director at the church, Ellen Soukup, is AMAZING. A love of music is something that I shared with my Mom, Dad and sister. I have always been a huge fan of gospel music. Ellen is an amazing vocalist and pianist who can bring tears to my eyes during a regular church service... this did not bode well for today's service! We had received our weekly Catholic newspaper Friday a week and a half ago. On one of the inside pages, I saw a large picture of Ellen. It was announcing that she would be putting on a benefit concert for the Pius (Catholic High School) students wanting to attend World Youth Day in Spain in 2011. Obviously, with my love for Ellen's music, my interest was piqued. So, I read on. The concert was May 2nd, and it was honoring Mary, and our mothers here on Earth and those in Heaven. Well, it was almost more than I could bear, but Jeff, Josh and I went to the concert. It was amazing, and Ellen didn't disappoint. She was amazing. So, that is how I spent part of my day. Celebrating my mom's life. Also, I asked my friends on Facebook to leave memories of my mom. And they too didn't disappoint. Thanks to all my FB friends. Thanks to my family for putting up with my crazy the last week or so. Mom- I love you so much, and miss you more each day. I wish you could be here to see the women that Kara and I have become, and to see your grandchildren. I know you would be spoiling them like crazy. Love, Katie... PS- Take care of Tommy for Josh... he misses him... we all do. Katie

March and April 2010

Hey out there. So, what has been happening with us since my last post? Lots, I guess. My big news is that on April 3rd, I became a member of the Catholic church, after 7 months of weekly classes. It was a very exciting time, and I am excited that Jeff, Josh and I are all of the same faith now. I find that at the age of 32, I am finally to the point where I ENJOY going to church... took me long enough. On that same note, we enrolled Josh in the school at our church for the 2010-2011 school year, so he will be a St. John Jet. He is excited, but I am sure there is some anxiety about the switch.

Jeff is getting busy with travel at work again... we knew it would happen! He and I planted a garden (or most of it) in the last week and a half or so. We are trying to grow radishes, beets, peas, green beans, sweet corn, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and we have yet to plant the zucchini and cucumbers... maybe this weekend. Jeff also got the yard mowed for the first time this year. He bought a sprayer since we have our fair share of crab grass, thistles, and dandelions.

Josh is enjoying what is left of Kindergarten. Next week we are going to be going on a field trip to the Lincoln Children's Museum. He is way more excited about this than I am... that is a lot of kindergarteners! We also got him signed up for T-ball. We were a little behind schedule, so he didn't get on a team in Eagle. We will be trekking to Waverly for the majority of his games, with one in Eagle. He will be on the blue team this year. We have a meeting on Sunday night to meet the team and discuss team names. I suggest to Josh the Bluejays. I told him to come up with some other ideas. So far, I have heard Blue Bulls (ummm... I think not), Blue Horses, Blue Dogs, Blue Cats... you get the idea. We'll see!

This coming Sunday, May 2nd, will mark the 15th anniversary of my mom's death. While I remember it like it was yesterday, it still seems so long ago. It has been harder than usual for me for some reason this year. Not sure why. The pianist/soloist from our church is putting on a concert this Sunday (May 2nd) at the church celebrating Moms and those who cared for us. This singer brings me to tears during a normal church service with her beautiful voice and piano skills. I can only imagine what the concert will do to me, as I will be thinking of my mom a lot that day anyway, and my Chuckie is never far from my mind either.

Well, I guess that is all for now.

Katie

Tucson Trip - Feb 2010 and New Nephews

Hillbilly Papa and Hillbilly Josh, sunning their extremely white bellies! Hopefully the neighbors weren't blinded!

Josh and Niko

Papa, Niko, Taly and Josh.

Well, it has been two and a half months since I did a blog update. I think that is bad, but know that there are only a couple people who check this thing out anyway, so who cares!

Since my last entry, we survived two more blizzards here in Nebraska, one of which kept everyone away from home for Christmas. So, we spent our first Christmas in Nebraska by ourselves. The snow started Tuesday, and we didn't leave the house until Saturday afternoon, and that was just to drive around and check out the snow... probably should have stayed home. The weather was so bad, that when we tried to make it to Lincoln for Christmas Mass, we got about one mile west of Eagle, and the roads were drifter shut, so it was a no go.

January brought us three more snow days, so Christmas vacation didn't end until January 11th! Crazy! Josh was ready to be back to school, so that was great for him. My sister and her fiancee David finally made things official on January 5th.

February has been an exciting month for our respective family's, and also sad for Pauline's family. On February 11th, Brad and Heather welcomed Lincoln James Hilfiker to the world. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces. We haven't seen him yet, but are hoping to tomorrow. I've seen a couple pictures, and Grandma Del Rae assures me that he is super cute, and a good eater. February 22nd, Kara and David welcomed Nikolas (Niko) Omar Ash to the world. He weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 7 ounces... she was only in labor for 5 1/2 hours, and actually complained that she felt like she was jipped out of the labor experience, because once she had the epidural, she slept until she pushed. That sounds like heaven to me!

Pauline's mom, Marge, fell and broke her hip and collar bone February 18th. Pauline drove up to North Dakota the following day. The injuries, along with her other medical problems proved to be too much to overcome, and she passed away on February 28th. I only met Pauline's mom once, but know that it is difficult to lose your mom.

Dad couldn't wait to get down to Arizona to cuddle his grandbabies, so Josh and I joined him on a whirlwind trip. We left Friday at 3pm, and got to Tucson Sunday about 1. Niko and Natalya were super cute, and it was great to see everyone, and see where Kara lives. The weather was nice other than the first day. We left Tuesday at noon, and got home Wednesday at 10 pm. If you counted, that is 5 1/2 days gone. Two down, two back, 1 1/2 there. We actually drove 16.5 hours on Wednesday. It was a really long day, and I don't think I will do that again. I am attaching some pictures.