The great pumpkin carving event

Since all the trick or treating was done on Saturday we had a family dinner and carved pumpkins on Sunday.

Harrison is pretty scary with a knife! Fortunately there were no trips to the ER.

Sean and Tyson tired of the pumpkins quickly and went back upstairs to play with cars.

Alex and Loreal took their pumpkin carving very seriously. They were the only ones who actually finished their pumpkins.

Harrison liked the guts.

Alex made a Jazz pumpkin. Good thing they won tonight.

Sunday afternoon duck feeding

We decided to do a little duck feeding at Farmington Pond. As usual there were more geese than ducks. These geese were quite polite and would just hiss a little as they took the cracker out of your hand. Sean would throw food on their backs and laugh while they ate off of each other.

This was the most social goose. He really liked getting up close and personal.

There were people fishing and Sean watched them catch two fish. He has never been fishing before and found it interesting to watch.

We finished with a hike up the trail and looked at the fall leaves. There was so much sage brush that everything smelled really good. It made me want to eat stuffing! Maybe a stuffed goose!

Brrr

 Jaclyn and her girls came over for a little pre-Halloween trick or treating. Marin did her Miss America wave. She is very good at it!

 Sonia and Laila jumped on the trampoline. They are very good at that.

Trick or treat, I can't feel my feet, give me something good to eat!!!!!!!!

My goodness it was a cold rainy trick or treating night. We didn't stay out for too long.

We stopped and knocked on the door of Sean's brother from the same mother. Ryder is getting so grown up. They look like brothers. I think Sean looks more like Jenny than Ryder. His eyes are rounder. They are sure cute little guys. I wonder what they think when they look at each other.

Sean even shared his candy with Ryder.

One last house and lets call it a wrap. The funniest thing was Sean and Tyson outlasted the bigger boys.

History parade

 In what I think is an attempt to be politically correct Sean's school doesn't have a Halloween party they have a history fair and parade where all the kids dress up in costumes. The little ones all dressed in mid evil outfits (including one dragon). The bigger kids had assignments and gave a presentation on who they were dressed up as. Florence Nightingale, Christopher Columbus and Amelia Earhart were there to name a few. It was fun to watch the kids talk in front of a group. Some did well others were painfully shy. There is little girl in the school who was adopted from Haiti. She was dressed like Cleopatra and was stunning. I should have gotten a picture of her. After the presentations we did a walk through the neighborhood. It was a long walk. Especially for princesses wearing barbie dress up shoes.

 It was quite a walk. We stopped by a care center and said hello to the people who lived there.

 We were walking by the bank and were invited in for a treat. I was hoping they would hand out money but no, they just gave the kids candy. We then made our way up to Inkleys. I thought Marta was insane taking all those kids into the a photography shop until I discovered her reason. Inkley was doing free kids Halloween photos so each of their kids had their portrait taken. Sean was not having it. I bribed him with some candy but he still made a grumpy face. I can't wait to see that picture.

 We stopped by the post office in an attempt to get a picture of the kids. We might have succeeded had the water fountain (obviously turned off) not been home to a bunch of bees. The bees weren't overly fond of the visitors. Quite a few of the children were armed with swords so it was a fair fight.

 We made it back to the school and had lunch and root beer. Don and I had set the root beer up before the walk so all we had to do was add more dry ice for show and it was ready to go.

I like Sean's school for a couple of reasons. It's preschool through sixth grade. There are only 48 kids in the school. I really enjoy the interaction between all the age groups. There is another Sean there. He told me yesterday. "I am big Sean. I used to be little Sean then I was just Sean and now that there's a little Sean so I am big Sean." The girls love to "take care" of the little ones. I was walking next to a nine year old and she told me she has been at the school since she was three. I was trying to decide if I thought she was academically superior to the public school kids. I don't really think so but her Spanish was good.

Todays DCFS hearing

Today was a hearing for the judge to follow up on Jenny and Ryan's progress. Apparently they haven't progressed too much. Tammy said that the judge yelled at them saying it wasn't that hard to follow a no contact order and said that she didn't see any progress being made and that at the next hearing on Jan 24th if things hadn't changed they would start look at placing the girls for adoption. Tammy felt like it was a waste of time. I didn't have to endure the emotional drama of sitting through it but I thought it sounded positive. Times a ticking and they aren't changing and the dates between court hearings gets longer and longer. Tammy also said Jenny got a copy of the letter that Sabrina sent to the judge and was very angry. Ryan's attorney told the judge that Sabrina was "mentally unstable". DCFS attorney said "Sabrina is the kin placement where Ryan and Jenny both requested the girls be placed." Jenny gave her paycheck stub to the case worker and her check stub listed Ryan's address as hers.

Jenny's report was a little different. She didn't mention Sabrina's letter or what the judge said. She just said we can have off site visits with the girls, there was a no contact order and Ryan had to quit living with his dad. She then asked me to call Ryan and talk to him about Sean's birthday. Not going to happen! She told me she got hired at the center for autistic adults and that her criminal background check came back clean. What??? I find that hard to believe. Sabrina said she would see if it was true.

This kid is cute

Don, David, Sean and I all had dentist appointments today. David, Sean and I came out OK, Don needs $800 worth of pain. This was Sean's first encounter with the dentist. I picked him up from school and told him we were going to go get our teeth brushed. He was all sorts of excited. When we got there he kept asking "where are the tooth brushes?" When we went back he didn't want to sit on the chair by himself so he laid on top of me! He let the hygienist clean his teeth with the little whirley thing and squirt water in his mouth and use suction. It was amazing. He said "that was fun." He was happier about the teeh cleaning than getting his picture taken. They gave him a new toothbrush and he then had to leave immediately to go back to school to show all his friends. The hygienist was amazed that a two-year-old sat through all that. I told her it was because as Sean says he'll "be three in a minute."

Another cute Sean story. I didn't feel good on Saturday. I was trying to put Sean to bed and he wasn't having it. I kept telling him I didn't feel good and my tummy hurt. Finally Sean got tired of it and said in his meanest voice, "Mommy you are being whiny!" Hm, wonder where he learned that?

Another visit with the sisters

I over saw another visit at DCFS with the girls this morning. The girls are great. We made spiders and bats for Halloween. Jenny and Ryan have been a little pre-Halloween spooky. Saturday Jenny called me and asked if she could see Sean. I said yes. She came over about an hour later and picked Sean up. She asked where they should go and I said Sean liked the Centerville library park. I put the scooters in the back of her car and off they went. Two hours later she brought Sean home and came in to sit down and talk for a minute. She said "guess who we ran into at the park?" Hm, let me guess, could it be Ryan? She said "Ryan." Really, you ran into Ryan at the Centerville park, what are the odds? I said, "Jenny please tell the truth, you dropped Ryan off at the park came and picked up Sean then met up at the park." She said, "no his dad drove him there." I still don't believe her but whatever. Then she told me that Ryan had given the state a family member to talk to about the girls and that she had given them her brothers name at the states request. (I love it when there is a little truth in her lies.)  I asked her if she honestly thought sending the girls out of state to live with strangers was a good idea. I suggested focusing on doing what the state tells her to do. The foster mom told me yesterday that the out of state placements didn't work out. Apparently Jenny's brother with five kids who is going through a nasty divorce isn't up to taking the girls nor is Ryan's 68 plus year old grandmother.

Yesterday I got a call from the DCFS case worker. She wanted to know if Jenny let the girls talk to Ryan at the last visit I supervised. I told her yes, Jenny said the restraining order had been dropped. She told me she had a paper in her car from the judge. I told Clare that she had met Ryan on Saturday when she had Sean. Clare says that the family judge has not told them they could be together or communicate. Hm, Jenny lied to me, go figure? I told DCFS if they didn't want me to supervise vistits I understand. She said she would ask the judge what to do. Not that I belive what Jenny says to me but I don't like her putting me in the middle of her lies with DCFS. Jenny told me that she and Ryan might go to counseling and might get back together. (might, looks to me like they already are.) I reminded her that he had her put in jail a month ago and had a girlfriend but it appears that she is a very forgiving person.

I told Jenny today that Clare had called and about our conversation. She said she hadn't lied and she needed to go to the court and get a copy of the letter. (The one she told me was in her car) The social worker told me the report she was filing with the court was not good. It will be interesting to see what happens on Monday. I'm still not impressed with the judge. So far she's been very easy on them. Their judge has retired but according to my niece is still filling in. DCFS, the foster family and me are all hoping for a different judge on Monday. Jenny still parked her car in a parking lot away from DCFS. She thinks they haven't figured out that she and Ryan are driving the same car. I guess they have gotten away with lies for so many years they think that they can continue. Who knows maybe they can or maybe, just maybe they won't get away with it any more.

Wheeler Farm

 No school or preschool today so it seemed like the perfect day for me and Sean to meet up with the nieces and their kiddos and go visit Wheeler farm. Yes, I did invite both AJ and David to come along and they declined. Party poopers. Alika would have come but she had to work. It was Alika who gave me the idea of going. She took the women from the group home where she works to the farm last week and said she thought Sean would like it.

 We took a wagon ride. Here's Jaclyn and her pretty blue eyed girls and Jameson. Marin actually let me hold her today without crying. I don't know what was up with that but I felt pretty darn special.

 Those Hoskins boys taking over the wagon. What's a hay ride if you don't throw some hay?

 This was my final attempt at getting a picture of everyone on the wagon. I didn't succeed.

 This is my favorite picture of the day even though there is something fowl about it. Sean found two roosters in the corn maze and chased them until he was so tired he couldn't chase anymore and had to sit down. Sean would chase the chickens  and they would stop and wait until he got really close and then they would run again. If he got to close they would cut across a couple of rows of corn and wait for him. It was comical to watch. He never did catch those rascally birds.  And yes I know other kids weren't dressed up for Halloween but Sean has been dressing up since the beginning of October and we didn't see any reason why today should be different.

The turkeys are looking at the turkeys.

There is something innately wrong about chasing eight children around a farm, having a hard time keeping track of them and then letting them all run loose through a corn maze. We briefly loss track of Tyson but it was a small maze so he wasn't too hard to find. 

These last  two pictures do not show the effort it took to get all eight children in one place at one time and kind of being able to see all their faces.

All and all it was a fun morning for all the cousins.

Up to no good

Supervised my second visit at DCFS yesterday. The girls were great, they were happy and smelled soooo good! We did a little craft project. We made hand print wreaths out of plastic plates, foam, glitter glue and pom poms. The kids had a blast. Jenny said "I didn't know you could do stuff like this?" WHAT does that mean? After we were done with the craft the kids were drawing on a white board. Kylie drew a picture and said "that's my daddy and he's mad." "Nice" I said to Jenny. Jenny asked "why is he mad?" Kylie said "he's mad at Brie." "Nice, to bad Clarice (the social worker) isn't here for that little exchange." Jenny said "draw daddy happy" and that was the end of that conversation.

Jenny told me she is still working but her hours have changed to 4 to 8. I don't believe she has a job. She asked me to write a reference letter for a job at a home for autistic adults. There is no way she would ever pass that background check. I have just ignored her request. Ryan has had a job at a warehouse for a couple of weeks now which is amazing. I asked Jenny about her car and she told me she had been in a wreck but it was the other persons fault and the insurance company was going to give her $2000. Right, the car is worth $500. She said she didn't get a ticket. I can't imagine how she didn't get ticketed for driving without a license but time will tell. She then said "oh Ryan borrowed my car on Sunday because he didn't have any other way to see Sean." Hm, that's a shocker. She asked if the girls could talk to Ryan. What the heck call him. She told me the court said the could communicate in regards to the children. He talked to the girls. Sean didn't want to talk to him he was busy playing with his sisters.

Tammy emailed me this picture.

We went outside to play for about 15 minutes until Tammy came to get the girls. Jenny won't even look at Tammy except to literally glare. Apparently Tammy is the enemy. I guess because the girls are so happy.  When we were leaving I said "show me your car," and she said "it's down there." We started walking and the parking lot ended. "Where is it?" she said "it's over by the pancake house." "Why on earth did you park a block away?" she said "Ryan had a bike stolen at this parking lot." What the crap? She is such a pathological liar. She was hoping she could get away without me knowing she and Ryan were sharing a car but she had already "kind of" confessed.

I was irritated so I called Sabrina to vent. I am worried that those two are going to manage to get those girls back and ruin their chance at happy lives. She said "oh just let her enjoy her time it will be over before Christmas." I talked to Tammy later in the afternoon and she said that Jenny and Ryan had five months to give the state the name of a relative to place the girls with and two days before that deadline Jenny and Ryan both gave Clarice the name of out of state relatives who they say the girls have never met, that they want the girls to live with. As outrageous as it is the state has to follow up with these relatives and if they pass background checks and want the girls the state has to fly them out with a social worker to these unknown relatives. Unfreaking believable. Tammy said that could take months.

Last week Jenny's brother Tony called me and said he had met with the state and gone through a stack (he said over 20) checks for $850 that his name had been forged on. He said there were a bunch of other documents that had been forged as well. After talking to Tammy I was so upset I decided to email the state fraud investigator. He responded within 3 minutes. Here is our conversation:

 

Gxxx,

Tony Dye told me he met with you (or someone from WFS) last week and things were wrapping up. Any chance of an arrest before Halloween?


Hi Carole,

It was me who Tony met with. We had a very good conversation. Things are wrapping up definitely. With this agency we have 1 person who handles the cases that are going criminal. The cases that we elect to go criminal due to the criteria. This one is definitely going criminal. I did have it all put together, I did explain it to our person, he has sent it over to the District Attorneys office. So with any luck we'll get some notification back on this. As for a date, I don't know yet, but I'll try to find out.


Gxxx,

Thanks for the quick reply. I just live in fear that they are going to get their kids back from the foster family. The girls are so happy and clean and safe and loved in their new family. I just know if they go back the domestic violence will continue. I keep hoping, praying and dreaming that they get sentenced to a year (or are held up in jail for nine months waiting trial) and then they would lose custody……

In a perfect world Jenny and Ryan would change and be the parents those girls deserve.

Again thanks for the quick reply.

Carol
No Problem Carol, I have already sent off an E-mail to our Criminal person, and I hope to hear back soon as to where exactly we are at. When I personally took the case over to him, I did express that this case be put to the top of the list as there are children involved, and custody is at stake here. So I have pushed it pretty well, and will continue to do so. I also told Tony I would push it. I am completely on your side on this 100%.



I felt a little better after that and I reminded myself that things have changed in this case but the change has been slow and I just need to be patient and in time it will all work out. BUT, patience has never been one of my strong attributes. What I am REALLY good at is WORRYING!

So for all you followers of the girls saga that's our world in a minute!

A morning at the zoo

 Since Don works for the VA he had Monday off for Columbus day. First thing Monday morning he said, "let's go to the zoo." My first thought was "you can't be serious" followed by "what the heck, why not?" I asked Sean if he wanted to go to the zoo and he said "I LOVE THE ZOO!" which is pretty funny because he hasn't been there since he was nine months old. I told him we would see elephants and giraffes and he could barely contain himself. So off to the zoo we went. He liked baby Zuri the elephant.

 It appears Sean weighs as much as a baby rhino.

 This picture does not show how awesome this encounter with the tiger was. There were three 16 month old "baby" tigers each weighing about 300 pounds. They had cleaned out the tiger pool and were filling it up. The tigers love the water about half way full and were playing like... well, like tigers. The only thing between us and the tigers was the glass. Sean was standing up against the glass and I was sitting on the floor next to him. The tiger climbed on top of a little hill, looked straight at Sean and then jumped into the glass KABOOM! It scared the pants off of us. Then the tiger grabbed a ball and started playing with it. The tiger was pressed up against the wall and we were touching it through the glass. It was ultra cool. I have never been a zoo person but that was an intense zoo experience. Sean didn't want to leave we sat there for twenty or thirty minutes and watched these tigers romp. Every time they would jump into the glass we would jump. I know those tigers wanted to eat us!

 The giraffes were tall, (go figure) but not as much fun as the tigers. All they did was lick the building and that pole. BORING! I don't think the giraffes had any desire to eat us, lick us maybe.

 Sean liked riding "Thomas the Train" he kept asking where we were going. He was disappointed when we didn't really go anywhere except around the zoo. He wanted a more exciting destination.

To make the zoo visit complete we went up the canyon to Ruth's diner for lunch. It was a fun morning and when I woke up on Tuesday for the first time since surgery I felt normal. Yippee!! I even went to 4th street for IUD clinic. After two years at the clinic I got a name tag. I guess that means I'm somebody!

Midlife crisis and other stuff

Midlife crisis: Is it a true phenomenon or just a myth? If it is a true phenomenon I guess mine involved bringing Sean and the girls home almost three years ago. I didn't consider it a midlife crisis at the time I just saw it as a crisis. Come to think of it Sean is the midlife joy it's his biological family that is the crisis. The loss of my ovary has been a bit of a crisis. Not because I miss my ovary but because I am tired and it hurts! I expected to have as quick a recovery as I did when I lost my uterus. What is all this losing? I really didn't lose either of those body parts rather they were taken.

I digress, back to the topic at hand. My family has had some real whopper midlife crisis tales. There is my brother who after going through a divorce joined the circus. Yes, Ringling Brothers. If you are going to join the big top then you might as well join the BIG TOP! It was a relatively short stint at the circus, the tuberculosis lasted much longer than his employment.

I am sure my niece Jaclyn is reading this and saying WHAT are you talking about the Ringling Brothers for? What about the midlife circus my father made of my young adult years? (Don't worry Jaclyn I'm getting to it, the Big Top story is just more amusing) I have another brother who married one of his daughter's bridesmaids. Apparently the father of the bride was closer to the bridesmaid than the bride. My brother now has children younger than his grandchildren.

And lets not forget my ex brother in law who is now my ex sister in law. Up until two weeks ago he was the ugliest transgendered person I knew until I met one of my students Brian/Brandy. If there was a Miss Ugly Transgender America contest Brandy would win hands down! 

What you ask does all this have to do with me? Not a dang thing other than I am grateful for my husbands midlife crisis. It doesn't involve any of his children's friends, circus midgets, clowns, tuberculosis, additional children or my clothing, it involves AIRPLANES! Don is going to pilot school. He even flies a plane over our house while Sean and I lay on the ground and wave. We aren't always sure which plane he is flying so we wave to all the planes. We are in the path of the flight school so that's a lot of planes! Don is worried that he won't pass his flight physical because of his stroke. He's been to the doctor and is still waiting on some test. If he doesn't pass the physical then he will have to pick a new hobby.  

 There was an open house at the flight school this weekend and I dragged my one ovaried body out of bed to go see what Don has been up to. Sean thought the helicopter was cool. I thought it was the tiniest helicopter I've ever seen.

 This big yellow plane is used to spray mosquitos. As in abatement of mosquitos.

 Don really liked this plane. Once he gets his pilots license he wants to buy one. This little beauty is only $650,000. It seats four. Donations can me made to Don Lindsay midlife crisis fund.

 Sean thought it was awesome as well. He wants to start flying too.

 This plane is an older model, it seats four as well and has storage space behind the back seat and a cup holder! It only runs around $150,000.

 Sean liked the back seat of this plane. Very roomy! Fly me to Grandma Sharon's house right now!

 Look at that midlife grin. Doesn't it make you want to open your wallet and dig deep!

This picture is for Sharon. This is what I did with the corn we snuck away from the Illinois corn fields. When I went to put up the decorations I couldn't find the corn, I looked in the cupboards, under the cupboards, through the trash and at last I found it in the vegetable drawer of my fridge, placed there by the housekeeper who puts everything she can't find a place for in the fridge.

Miscellaneous notes: Ryan drove to Centerville to see Sean today, they are playing at the park. Third visit since the DCFS fiasco began. He drove a gold Toyota. Jenny says she got a new car I will be interested to see if it is gold Toyota.