New kitten & the taping of COPS at a truck stop

One of the little boys on my bus told me his cat had lots of kittens and wanted me to have one. Of course I coudln't refuse that. Especially when I found out that they were going to take the kittens they couldn't find a home for to the pound. I took Will with me to look at the kittens and he held them and when I gave him the third little girl kitten he smiled and when I took her away he started to cry and point at her. He had picked out his kitten. We ended up naming her Chelsey. Right now Sasha & Dakota are unsure of her and keeping their distance but I have a feeling they will come around. Stanley says it took Dakota 3 days to accept Sasha when we got her last summer. Will absolutely adores her! I was holding her and at first I thought he was jealous that I wasn't giving him attention. Boy was I wrong - he wanted the kitten - not me! LOL. He actually even says "Kid-dee" now. He really is my son!

Today (Sunday Oct 4th 2009) Stanley was driving thru Indianapolis so Will and I went down to see him. When we were almost there Stanley said cops were all over the place at the Pilot Truck Stop he was at and for us to park at the Omlette Place across the street. Apperantly a Lot Lizard (prostitute at Truck Stops) held a trucker at gun point (at the Mr. Fuel) when he didn't pay for his services she had preformed and stole all his money and some electronics. As soon as she drove off he got on his CB radio and asked other truckers to see where she went while he called the cops. She was a big idiot and she and her pimp when across the street to the Pilot to get gas where Stanley had parked his semi. Some truckers heard this on the CB radios and two truckers used their bobtail semis (w/o trailers) to block the entrance so the Lot Lizard could not leave before the cops came. When I arrived there were at least 8 cop cars, 2 news vans, and the COPS TV show van. Her car was wrecked after she tried to run into one of the semi's and she was hand cuffed and on the ground along with her pimp. It was so funny to see a line of truckers on the sidewalk with their cameras and cell phones taking pictures of all this happening. Of course Stanley & I were talking to each other so neither of us got any pictures but I'm sure it will be on the Indy News tonight and we'll look for it on the COPS show too. Stanley heard that she had done this to several other truckers too and they had been looking for her. I am so glad she was caught!

Stanley better NEVER use a Lot Lizard for more reasons than just that happening.

2 funerals and the death of a car

On Sept 17, 2009 Stanley's great grandma Georgia Pugh died. She lived a long life and was in her mid 90's. A few days before she passed away our friend Rachel's grandpa also died. Grandma Georgie's funeral was on Saturday and Rachel's grandpa's fuenral viewing was on Sunday so it worked out where we could go to both.

I was very worried that Stanley wouldn't make it home in time to go to the funeral but he did! We weren't able to go to Grandma Georgie's viewing but we were scheduled to go the funeral on time and when we were almost there we got a phone call from my sister in law, Martha. Their car had died about half an hour away from the funeral location. Stanley & Martha's mom was able to have a friend go and pick up Martha & 2 of the kids to make it in time for the funeral but they didn't have room for Radek and Christian. I dropped Stanley & Will off at the nursing home where the funeral was and went to pick up Radek & Christian. It was more important for Stanley and Martha to be there for their great grandma's funeral. Radek, Christian, and I made it only 10 minutes late, which isn't too bad at all. We were able to go to the graveyard. I am so thankful that Rachel came to the funeral too because when Will got fussy she was able to take him out so he wouldn't disturb anyone else.


One of my favorite parts of the weekend was seeing the twins Ethan & Dallas again. They are finally taller than me, which I knew would happen sooner than later. They also made me so proud because they know tons of baseball stats, probably more than I know! I was also excited because I could tell them apart! (Dallas is on the right & Ethan is on the left in the picture of both of them) They were both so good with Will too and played with him and gave him his first popsicle. He definitly loves them and they love him! Hopefully we'll get to see them more often then just weddings & funerals.

On Saturday night Radek borrowed our car to take his family home and then brought the car back to us and then we would drive him home that night. So he got to tag along with us to Rachel's grandpa's viewing. We thought it started at 11 but it didn't actually start until 2 so we killed some time by having fun at the park. Even Stanley & Radek had fun by playing on the teeter totter!

I will end this by saying it was very good to see family. There was a lot less tension this time then there was at Janna & Terry's wedding. I hope this means we can actually be a family again and put the past behind us. It was neat that we were able to take a 5 generation picture with Will's great great grandma Betty, great grandma Sharon, grandma Sheila, Stanley and Will.

It was also nice that I got 3 days PAID off for grievance so I was able to spend more time with Stanley alone! (We paid for the babysitter already so we took him and had a much needed date day!)

I can't believe it's been 8 years since 9-11-01

8 years ago today marked a day in history that no one will ever forget. I remember walking into the Blair-Shannon Cafeteria and seeing a ton of people huddled over the TV in the lobby of Blair. I wondered what was going on but went ahead to the cafeteria and got biscuits and gravy for breakfast and sat down in the TV room to see what was going on. As I sat there I watched the second plane hit. I didn't even take a bite of my breakfast. The girl at the next table was crying because she had family in New York. I was just in shock. I remember walking to my psychology class and the teacher had left a note on the door saying class had been cancelled and to spend time with loved onces and be sure to watch CNN. I went back to my dorm room and sat on the couch with my suite mates Heidi & Darci and we just watched TV all day and cried and called our love ones. I personally didn't know anyone in the towers but I still get chills everytime I watch a program on TV about it or think about what happened that day.

I thank all those people who gave their lives to try to save people and that day will never be forgotten!

An old fashioned movie of my favorite pics of Will's first year!

Dear Will

Dear Will,

You are now 13 months old and I have no idea where the time went! I can't imagine life without you and what I did with my time or money. Whenever I buy anything I usually have you in mind. It's amazing how life changes when one tiny little boy enters a family.
You made your dad and I a family! I wish daddy could be around more and watch you grow up but he's doing what is best for us at the moment. Hopefully someday soon he'll find a job at home. I don't see a lot of Stanley in your physical looks but I see a lot of him in you in your actions and smiles. You are onery just like him! I hope you're just as handy around the house too. I'm sure he can teach you. He loves you so much and I am thankful for picture mail on cell phones so I can send him pictures of you.
We just got off the phone with daddy, actually. When I put the phone up to your ear you tried to show him your ball and said ball probably eight times in a row. You love balls! You have an arm on you too! Maybe you'll make mommy proud and become a baseball player. But if you want to play basketball or soccer that's okay too. I want to take on the philosophy that my mom took with her kids and that we had to be active in something but we could chose it. I wouldn't mind if you wanted to be a gymnast but I know daddy wouldn't be to happy with that.
I also talked to Colleen tonight, Emily's mom. We are already planning for Halloween and we're going to go trick or treating in St. Charles with the White Family. She is going to let you wear Aaron's old Tigger costume! I bet you will look so cute! I wonder if you and Emily & Anna will be friends in the future or even in a relationship. It's crazy to think of you having a girlfriend but I'm sure you will have tons. I just hope I can help to raise you to be respectful of ladies and be a nice boy. (Unlike how your daddy was in high school. LOL)
Well you are actually getting clingy now so I am going to end this letter and put you to bed. So you know I still enjoy watching you sleep. You are absolutely perfect and I thank God everyday for you! I can't wait to make you a big brother!

Love always,

Mama

PS - Thank you to Kendra for the great idea to write letters to Will in my blog. I hope I can write several letters to him a few times a year!

Lucky # 7

Well Stanley and I officially going to TTC and I have been thinking about baby names a lot. Ok, who am I kidding? I think about baby names all the time. Especially with friends who have babies or who want babies. I think about my cousin Michael and his family and how all their kids initials spell something (William Owen W, Ryan Andrew W, and Luke Alexander W). Another cousin has Anthony, Brandon, and Cody - ABC. Then there is my friend Paul's family who are all named after names in the Bible.
Stanley mentioned liking the name Abigail and I have fallen in love with it. But how is that cool? Well it just occured to me while I was chatting with my friend Jennie that Stanley, Tiffany, William, & Abigail all have SEVEN letters. And we got married on 7-7-07!!! So now my plan is to name all our kids with 7 letters. It's not as obvious as ABC but I think it's still pretty awesome! So here are names we like and may very well use in the future:
Girl Names: Abigail, Madelyn, Isabela, Kristen, Whitney, Brianna, Nichole, Bethany, Chelsey, Allison (I love that name but we wouldn't use it because Allie Allen would be mean!)
Boy Names: Zachary, Garrett, Matthew, Cameron, Patrick, Tristan, Spencer, Gabriel, Michael, Brendan

Let me know if you can think of any other good names that have 7 letters. I tend to typically like names that can be shortened to nick names like Abbie or Zach.

Keep us in your prayers that God will give us a baby when we're ready for one! We'll definitly have fun trying! :)

It's been almost a year since I've blogged.....

So I've been totally slacking in my blogging and I hope to do better. I'll give you a quick recap of what's happened in our life since September 2008.

*In November Stanley got laid off from his job at Wabash National (they laid off everyone with less than 12 years experience!)

*I got a job with a temp agency working as a bus monitor/classroom sub at Head Start a week after Stanley lost his job

*Will began crawling very early at 5 months old

*Stanley looked for jobs and the only one he could find was becoming a truck driver and he got his CDL in Feb. 2009.

*Will took swim lessons at the YMCA and loved it!

*I helped him to get his CDL and they were hiring a bus driver at Head Start so I decided to apply for the job and get my own CDL. I finally got mine in March.

*Stanley finally began driving solo in April and while he was gone I water damaged my phone due to crying because I missed him so much

*I got to spend the whole summer off and spend time with Will. We went to St. Louis in June for Robyn's wedding and ended up staying for 5 weeks!

*Stanley and I celebrated our 2cd wedding anniversary together! He was going thru St. Louis and I got to meet up with him and enjoy cupcakes and a little time alone with my husband.

*Will had his first birthday party on July 19th in Lafayette, which Stanley got to come home for!!!

*Will had another first birthday party on July 25th in St. Louis

*We found Donald a new home with two adorable little boys that will really love him

*My mom and sister got to go be with David on his naval ship for 2 days while my dad, Will, and I drove to Virginia to meet the ship and be there when David came home from the Persian Gulf

*We spent a few days in Norfolk, VA and then went to visit Washington DC and Annapolis, MD.

Currently I have started up back at work. It's been a very hard transistion for both Will and I after being together all summer. I do love my work and the people I work with but I miss spending so much time with him. I can only imagine how hard it is for Stanley to only be able to come home once a month to see his son. But at least he has a job and that's hard to get in this horrible economy. I just have to remember that God will only give us what we can handle.