Welcome back!

So, I really stink at this blogging thing!  Had a lot of stuff going on and didn't write about it.  Trying to decide if I should do one long post or several itemized posts to catch up.  Going with the one long post.

Oct. 7th Rachel and I took Bekah, Jake and Lilly to Iowa to watch the end of an Extreme Makeover build for the Gibbs family.  It was a lot of standing around and talking to people.  Fun to catch up with the crew that did our  build.  Josh was the director on this build rather than the assistant.  We came home on the 9th and Jake had a pamidronate treatment at St. Jude on the 10th.  While there we got him a flu shot.  While getting the shot, he tensed up and fractured his right humerus.  It was so bad that the nurse and I both heard it.  Very traumatic!  Dosed him with pain meds, splinted him and headed home.  Took him in for an xray on the 13th just to make sure he did not bend the rod.  Rod is in place but really bad fracture.  He is still splinted and in fact fractured at the top of the cast they put on him so that shoulder is broken now too!
On Oct. 24th Rachel and I drove to Joplin Mo. to help EMHE build 7 houses in 7 days. We stayed the first night in Rolla Mo. We stopped at a winery and a few souvineir shops.  Got to Joplin Sunday, checked into the LaQuinta, met up with a few designers and handed out lots of ice water because it was so hot.  Beyond amazing to see hundreds of volunteers in blue shirts all working towards the same goal. To bring safety and security to 7 families who were left homeless by a tornado 5 mo. ago.   The devastation that remains in this town is beyond comprehension. Rachel and I are aghast at what this town endured.  We sipped a bottle of wine with Kathie before turning in for bed.  The next day we worked in 'bin city'  Wind speed of 30mph + lots of dirt and no grass or trees = one dirty momma!    Everytime we drive through town, we see more destruction. It takes our breath away, the size of the area, the total destruction, the large number of people working together to rebuild. You have to experience it to actually wrap your brain around it. I have seen tornado swaths, a lot....I have lived through troubling times with my kids health, but then I think, I still have my kids. I have a hubby who loves me, I am one lucky woman!  We learned the stories of some of the families.  One man is a fireman who was working that day.  After the tornado hit, he could not phone his wife, he had no idea if the family was OK.  Later he was on the firetruck doing his job, in his neighborhood which was literally gone, and saw his family wandering down the street! That is how he knew his family survived.  Two women who lived around the corner from each other had taken cover in their homes and were laying over their children to try to protect them.  One woman lost one of 2 children, the other lost 2 of 3 children.  The kids were sucked out from under their mothers bodies and found among the rubble later.  I was so overwhelmed by this that I can not even remember the other 4 family stories.  On Tuesday night we worked in a house and hung curtains until 2am.  The reveal was scheduled for Wednesday and Rach and I decided we had done the job we came for, we helped. 

 We have no desire to be on TV and we can see the reveal when the show airs, so we headed home early.  Wed. we learned that we were 5 miles from the Oklahoma boarder so we decided to drive to Oklahoma and get Chad a shot glass from there.  Somehow we ended up in Kansas, so took a left turn and in 5 minutes we were in Oklahoma.  We laughed until we were sick, 3 states in 10 minutes, what are the odds?  Then we ended up on an unmarked toll road and had to pay 75 cents to get off of it.  We ventured on to Laura Ingalls Wilders home and took photos for the kids.  We are going to read a book, then cook a meal out of Laura's cookbook which I bought.  We spent the night in a Quality Inn in Rolla Mo.  The next day we took old Route 66 so it took a lot longer to travel.  We stopped at some of the tourist sites and another winery.  The next night we stayed in the holiday inn at 6 flags St Louis.  6flags was closed to the hotel was pretty quiet.  Had a nice dinner there since the room was free using my priority club points. LOL.  Continued the trip home stopping at one more winery, then surprised the kids because we were not supposed to get home until Sat. or Sun. 

We spent the weekend getting ready for Zach's halloween party.  They had a bonfire and cooked hotdogs and smo-ores.  We had pumpkin cake and pies, pecan pies, rice krispie squares and witch hat cookies, chips, hot mulled cider and cold cider.  The kids all went trick-or-treating.  I think my favorite part of the day was when Stephen Ray answered the door for trick or treaters in his batman costume complete with black spandex, cape and hooded mask.  All in all a great day.
 
Spent the 1st packing away halloween and decorating for Thanksgiving.  Went out to dinner at the new grill in the Bass Pro Shop.....nothing to brag about, won't go back, just expensive hamburgers.    Lilly had no school on the 3rd or 4th so she was home with me all day.  The evening of the 3rd, we went out to eat at the rib place in the mall in Peoria.  Steve bought new shoes and we walked the mall.  On the 4th I got my hair frosted and we made an appearance for Easter Seals at the Paradice Hotel for their appreciation dinner.  Abby, Bekah and Jake said the pledge with Representative Schock.

The extreme experience

I was just cleaning out my document folder and found this memory that I wrote right after we appeared on the Extreme Makeover Home Edition television show....

Our story began over 8 years ago when we brought a new foster baby home from the hospital. This was nothing new for us, in the past 25 years we had fostered hundreds of sick babies. But this little guy was a little more special. He was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta and he was never going back to his biological parents.



We brought Jake home at 10 days old. We dealt with some of the more common issues with OI babies. Hernias were repaired, pneumonias were fought off, we used oxygen for a while, had a nissen procedure done and a g-tube placed. Once we had him physically stable, it was time to start the therapies.


We started off by going to Easter Seals. Though the years, we had several children with special needs and we knew that Easter Seals had all the services that we would need in one location. Jake did Physical Therapy, Occupational therapy, speech therapy, feeding therapy, developmental therapy, play therapy and water therapy.


At one visit, Jake’s occupational therapist said that she did not know what else to do to help Jake be more independent because of the limitations of our house. She jokingly said all I can do is build you a new house. Then she asked how we felt about applying for Extreme makeover Home Edition. We refused. After all, we had a home and the people on that show did not have homes that were inhabitable. She kept asking and pushing me to let her nominate our family. Finally after over a year of this, she came to our home for a therapy session. She went though every room and showed us what could be done if money were no object. It was shocking to us. With the correct adaptations our son could be totally independent!


All of this time, we thought we would just take care of him forever. We stressed that we wanted him independent, but in reality we took total care of him. We decided that it was a disservice to him to keep him dependent on us, so we allowed Angie to nominate us. There were forms to fill out, and videos to do. Every 6 months she would send more photos and letters. Once a year she sent a fresh application and video. After 2 years they made contact. But that was not the end. They were in contact, asking for more information, more photos, more newspaper articles, faxes, texts, photos…..on and on for over a year. We were interviewed, a background check was done and references were contacted to make sure our story was true. We don’t actually know what all was done and how it was done because the show is very good about keeping things secret. That is part of the fun of the show, the surprise. And surprise is not even close to describing what happens. This is my humorous take on the whole shocking adventure.


We were told that we were one of 5 families in Illinois that were finalists for October. We were told the date that, either Ty would come to our door or we would get a phone call. What a tortuous few weeks it was. Afraid to leave the house in case ‘they’ called, Afraid to talk to anyone for fear of saying the wrong thing, Afraid of getting disqualified because someone in the family got a speeding ticket. Then the day arrived. Our family was in the back of the house, eating donuts and laughing, playing a game to pass the time waiting for the phone call. There were people from our town outside our house and we felt bad for them saying how disappointed they would be when no one came. We all planned on working on the chosen family’s house. Then we heard the famous bullhorn, “Good morning Grys Family!” All of the kids took off running, I stood there stunned, picked up Jake and slowly stumbled out the front door. (This is when I entered my coma) There were cameras and people everywhere. I remember asking “Is this real?”


There were hundreds of people all busy doing things. It looked like a hive of bees, very busy bees. There were interviews, photos, more interviews and we all had a ‘deer in the headlights’ look on our faces. We asked for it, prayed for it, hoped for it, but when it actually happened we all were in shock. Soon we were tossed into a limo with the clothing we had rapidly packed (one suitcase was full of splints, acewraps, fiberglass casting material, scissors, and any other medical equipment I could grab.) I stuck advil, hydorocodone and valium in my purse and we were off. At this point they took our cell phones and computers and we were not allowed to watch tv. Isolated from the world (kidnapped by ABC!) In the limo I looked at my husband and panic set in. We only had $60 cash between us! No worries, ABC provided all of our food and lodging for the trip, but it was a helpless feeling being so far away from home and no cash on hand. Next we were put on a plane to Disney World and a wonderful man named Matthew met us in the airport in Orlando. Mathew was a blessing. He stayed with us until he put us on the airplane to return home. He made sure the kids got to see and ride whatever they wanted and made reservations so we never stood in a line to eat. A dream vacation. (Too bad I can’t remember much because of my coma.) After 4 days it was time to board another airplane to go home, where ever that was! What a weird feeling to not be able to picture your home, where you will be sleeping tonight!


We realized early on that strangers were going to go into our home and pack up every single thing we owned. Strangers were going to touch ALL of our stuff. Strangers were going to see the dust bunnies, (or full grown rabbits) behind our refrigerator. This caused a panic attack thinking of how dirty it was under the beds! Oh well, let it go and move on. It was over and done with.


We arrived at the set. (it is a real TV show with cameras, directors, actors, designers and people watching the filming) We had just adjusted to the new life at Disney, being led around by the hand by our hero, Matthew. Now we were in a new world. When that bus moved, our lives would be forever altered. When we climbed out of the limo, thousands of people were screaming our name. Everyone we knew and everyone else in the world it seemed, Just a sea of smiling faces, yelling our names. So surreal! Then they started chanting “move that bus”. When they finally did move the bus, we were stunned. The house was beautiful. How did they know what colors and styles we liked? But wait, there is more.


We entered the house and it was beautiful. It looked like a big clean beach condo! The consensus was AWSOME!!! Everyone got to run and look at their bedrooms, but what we all wanted to see was Jake’s room. We couldn’t wait, THIS was what it was all about. And we have to say that ABC and the designers hit a home run! Jake’s room was big enough for all of his ‘stuff’. His bed is a tempurpedic mattress that is sunken even with the floor. No way can he fall out of bed. But they thought of everything. There was also a twin bed that can have rails put on for when he is broken and needs to be cared for, that way we don’t have to lift and lower him to the floor. There is a swing mounted in the ceiling for his favorite activity, swinging. The floors are all cork, softer than wood or tile. Great to scoot on or push a wheelchair! The bathroom is amazing! There is a stool sunk into the floor so he can get on and off himself. It has an automatic flush and even a bidet to wash and dry him! He also has a regular toilet for when he is broken. Along with this is a wonderful commode/shower chair that is on wheels to use when he is casted. We put him in it, roll over the potty, take care of business, roll to the shower and then to the bedroom. Better than that, there is a large stainless steel sink that is at waist height. There is a padded countertop attached to it so again, when he is broken, we can bathe him, dress him, cast him at our height, so much better on the back! They also had a custom sink made that sits on the floor. It is one of a kind, with motion detector water supply and a huge mirror so he can brush his teeth and eventually shave there. There is a roll in shower, but it is functional at two heights. One regular height with an additional hand held and another shower head about 2 feet off of the floor with another hand held near the floor. There is a electrical on off, temperature switch that may even be voice activated (some day we will be able to read all of our instruction manuals!) His bathroom floor is a soft tile, and is heated so his little bum will stay warm as he scoots around.


Then there is the indoor therapy pool. It is 9ft x 9ft and about 5 ft deep. There are steps on one side and a bench on the other that is just the right height for him to walk on. The temp is supposed to be around 94, but he likes it a little warmer. This too is surrounded by the soft tile flooring.


A wonderful tour of our new home, though we still felt like we were on vacation, just moved to a different place. Then came the shocker. All of the volunteers that stood and watched us come home started carrying in boxes. Then more boxes and more boxes until the basement and garage were full of boxes of our old ‘stuff’. We contemplated just sending it all to an auction house, but we needed to find things like our underwear, birth certificates, photos, family movies, high school diplomas….just little things like that. So we started the horror of going through 25 years of ‘stuff’, Gathered by 9 people. Multiply that and you can only imagine!






We worked for weeks trying to get things straightened out and finding somewhere to put what we still needed to keep, And finding somewhere to donate the rest of it. I am talking trailers full of stuff, goodwill will never be the same!!! During this time, we received phone calls and letters from around the country. Some people were just well wishers, others were people with OI that wanted to talk to someone else with OI. What a gift to be able to be a contact person for all of these people! We were able to put some young adults in touch with other young adults that we knew and friendships were formed.


As soon as we were getting our feet on the ground, it was time to decorate for the holidays. So we drug out all of our decorations and tried to find someplace to put them so they looked like they fit there. This took at least a week! Before we knew it it was time to take down the decorations and pack them away, which took another week. All during this time, we had to keep the house perfect because there were certain people we had to give tours to. We never knew who was going to call next!


Finally, things started to settle down. I stopped acting like I was the keeper of the museum and started ‘nesting’ in our home. I moved some things and changed a few things. Not much, little decorator touches. We are just getting our feet on the ground. I tell friends I have just come out of my coma and have very few vivid memories. The last few months are like watching a movie in fast forward. I have flashes of things that I can remember and other things are just gone. LOL. I run into someone and start talking to them and they tell me that they were there the day we left, or the day we got home and we talked then. They probably think I need psychiatric help because that moment in time was a blank. Sorry friends, if you called or wrote and I did not get back to you, I was trying to function in a haze. I am now back to normal so if there is anyone that I did not get back to, you might want to try again. I guess I should not use the word ‘normal’ as I have never been that, but I am back to my old self.


What a gift and joy this experience has been. What a change in our lives. We went from giving total care to Jake to him being totally independent. He can wash his hands, get a drink, fix a sandwich, answer the phone (bad news!) and open the door to go outside. We are implementing new rules, things that other kids learn at 2 or 3 or 4 Jake is learning now. You have to ask to use the phone, you don’t need 4 showers a day, you can’t go outside without asking…..and on and on.


Our life has changed, but what a wonderful change

Livin the dream

So, a busy week, dong mundane, invisible things.  The finch have decided to multiply, right now I have 5 babies.  arghhh, I really don't need another living thing to take care of right now!  Finally sorted through and put away 4 boxes of books that got drug out during the search for garage sale items.  This included sorting through tons of cookbooks and giving some to Rachel.  Been dealing with daily headaches for Abby and Jake's continuing struggle with his right tibia.  Called today about Jake's wheelchair, they have had it over a week and this old one is falling apart.  I told them we either need the good one back, like now, or they are going to have to make a house call and tune up this old one, the footplate is almost dragging on the ground and it is stuck in a foreward position.  Jake asked me last night to enter him in some contests to win a trip to Disney, so I spent several hours online doing that.  Straightened up the house, ran the dust mop under the couches in the living room.  Bleached some cloth diapers that we picked up at a garage sale, preparing for Steve and Lindsey's baby.  He is due in 3 weeks, but they are thinking anytime now.  Trying to find something to get Lilly for her birthday.  The good news is I got the bills paid and have cooked dinner....  Such an exciting life!  LOL  Suzy homemaker I am not.  Although I do have to say that Sunday, Rachel and I gave it a shot.  I baked bread, roasted a chiken and some veggies and Rach and I attempted strawberry jam.  The jam itself ended up more like a syrup, but the canning thing went OK, all jars sealed.  We have more confidence for the next adventure which I am sure will have something to do with apples since we are taking a trip to Tanners Orchard Sunday.  Zach is wanting to drag out all of the halloween decorations.  Geeze, I don't know if I am up to that disasterous mess!  I mean between what we have and Zach's stuff (it IS his favorite holiday) I think we have over 10 tubs of crap.  ARGHHHH

does anyone really do this daily?

Who thought up 'journaling'?  Does anyone really remember to do it daily?  If so, I am a total failure, cause I can barely remember to get dressed and fix dinner every night.  I have been trying to have a garage sale for 2 weeks, last week it was over 100 degrees so moved it to this week.  Today it is raining....really?  I will have this stuff in my livingroom yet another week.  If I don't get it out and sold next week, it will be donated and I will move on to my next project.
Zach got a call from LeCordon Bleu asking him to return and finish the next semester.  Don't know if he will after what they did to him with the financial aide, but they are having a meeting Monday to consider it.
I think I will start the other kids bios so people who don't know us, will get an idea of the craziness of grysland if I ever open this up to be read.

crazy days

I am getting nothing done that I thought I would when Lilly started to school.  I think we found Zach a car yesterday so Steve can finally get his back.  Working on the begining 'bus issues' with Jake.  New driver, new wheelchair tie downs, driver does not know how to work the lift.....arghhh.  Then I had to deal with Abby's work seminar class.  Teacher is still on maternity leave, the plan that she and I had in place was misunderstood, so an aide/job coach made a new plan but failed to tell anyone but Abby about it.  Arghhhh.  Maybe homeschooling wouldn't be that bad.  Got a few doctor's checkups out of the way for me, one to go.  Got Jake's school physical and 2 shots....oh, the drama....from a child that lives with broken bones every day!  Speaking of which, we got an xray of the tibia Monday and it just looks like it is not healing well from the surgery, though there is a big new ball of bone there, or he fractured it through the healing osteotomy, either way, he has a new toe to knee splint on.  Also, the pharmacy sent out a new bottle of hydrocodone, but I did not look at the label (other than to see if it was hcd.)  The doctor changed the strength of it from 2.5 to 7.5 so his dose went from 1-1 1/2 tsp. to 3.5cc.  Of course, I did not bother to read the label so I have been giving him 5cc for weeks......at least the tylenol was not over the weight limit for Jake so I did not damage his liver.  Arghhhh I think I need more estrogen cause my thinking process is not what it used to be.  I always used to double check everything.  Jake evidently needed the extra narcs cause he has been in real pain the last 2 weeks.

Eventually I need to finish up my kiddos bios, but I am still not up to the daily blogging thing.  Heading towards it but struggling to remember.

Quite the week!

The twins got off to school on Monday as did Daddy with no issues.  Wednesday was Lilly's first day, ever.  Her mommy and daddy and other grandma and Jake and Steve and I were all here when the bus came on her first day.  Rach went to put her on the bus, and the little angel in the parochial plaid jumper, blew a gasket.  I could see her grab her mom on the top step of the bus, I turned to her dad and said, "should I lend a hand?" (after all, I have had her 8 hours a day every day since she was born) he said, no, Rach could handle it.  About that time I hear the blood curdling scream and see her climb up her mom's body  over her head and grab ahold of the back of her hair.  I turned to the son-in-law and notified him that 'this is not going well'. tee hee.  Rachel carries the screaming bundle across the street to me and I head back across the street with said bundle thrashing around on my hip.  At which point the bus driver slams the door in my face and pulls away from the curb.  As I put said screaming bundle down on the sidewalk with an underwear wedgie and proceed to ask her how she intends to get to school.  She said she would ride the bus tomorrow.  I told her I was NOT taking her to school so before we drag our tails back across the street to the stunned audience, she better get a plan.  She decided her mom could take her to school and she could ride the bus home.  I told her she better get her butt on that bus if she wants to come home cause her mom, dad, grandpa and other grandma were all going to work, and I was too busy to come get her.  She did arrive home on the bus, an hour late, and soaking wet with sweat.  She notified me that they did not have air conditioning on the bus, again tee hee!  We later found out that the after school driver did not know who she was so after they took everyone else home they asked her what her name was, called the bus barn and brought her home.  That was a "God Gotcha!"  Day 2, no mom, no dad, no grandpa or other grandma.....Lilly and I put Jake on the bus, then watched another little boy get on the public school bus, then her bus pulled up, I walked her across the street, she started up the steps (while I giggled at the two little boys about 4th grade who were standing up to watch the show) I walked away, crossed the street and waved like we did it everyday.  Heavy sigh! Success, thank you Lord, I was up half the night trying to come up with plan 2 if she lost her mind again.  Arrived home 5 minutes after school got out, evidently she is the first stop....at least she is now!

This blogging thing

I don't know about this blogging thing!  First off, I should probably do something every day, too bad I can't remember. tee hee.  Secondly this whole adding photos thing is tough to figure out.  They never go where I want them to, just randomly pop on the page then I try to move them around and write around the empty spaces.  Looks kindof like I know what I am doing but, dumb luck so far, hopefully I will figure out how to really do it right!

Honestly I have not had time to write anything because it is that time of year.  Trying to get everyone ready for school, shopping, physicals, registration, bus schedules, first days.....along with all of that, Jake is in another fracture cycle.  It was his lower back the first weeks of this month, then his left femur cracked, but that only hurt for a few days.  Now this darned right tibia again!  It is the bane of his existance!  About every third break is that bone.  It has been rodded more often than any other bone in his body.  I don't know if it is weaker, worse bone composition or if it never fully heals.  But it is a pain in the rear.....or leg.  Anyway we are on day three of being in a splint/cast and on narcotics.  Tomorrow is Lilly's first day of school, if you can call it that.  She goes until 11......for 3 weeks, duh, just enough to screw up the day!  Jake starts a full day Thursday, but he goes to the doctor at noon for his school physical.  I know, couldn't get in before school started, so he has to miss school to get a physical (the kid that sees more doctors more often than any other being in this family) so he can attend school.  Weird.  Ayway, Friday will be my first day without kids, for 3 hours anyway....

Home from Zombie Hell

Well, we survived the 4 day extravaganza.  As you can see, I learned how to add photos.  Now that I am not just sitting in a hotel room, I will see how well I do with this blogging thing.

Comic Con update 8/14/11

You will be happy to know if there is ever a zombie appocolypse, some are ready.  there is some kind of nation wide emergency response team, no kidding, who respond to national disasters, which can include zombies.  Ummmm whatever!  But on to the  report. covering the last 2 days...

Nerd update: Jake is beyond speechless. Patrick Stewart came up and talked to him for "at least 2-3 minutes". Jake froze in the face of stardom and Zach had to talk for him. Sir Patrick asked Jake to think of a good question to ask him tomorrow at the question and answer session, so Jake is thrilled that he will get to 'talk' to him again. Though alas no photo as of yet, cause autograph and photo op was $70! But the man left his table with a line of people with $70 in their hand and went to the side to actually talk to Jake!  The quasi playboy girls, called the Suicide Girls fell in LOVE with Jake.....just great.

On another note, Just found out that the Horror Movie convention is here at our hotel. NOt as large as the comic book one, but the guy who plays Freddie Kruger and the one that plays Jason from Friday the 13th are both here. Zach talked to the makeup people who do those two guys, he was pretty stoked. When they got back to the room and told me this, it made sense to me about my face to face run in on the elevator with the bloody clown. Full makeup, he was getting off as I was getting on. WOW! Really?

 

The guys just arrived. They met a professional makeup artist in the lobby of our hotel. She is meeting them in the morning (happens to be staying on the same floor that we are, LOL) and she is doing their zombie makeup, Jake is excited that he does not have to use the blood that Zach made out of Karo syrup. She is using her stuff! The photos should be awsome. They also had a guy who has a comic book series called Redeemers, (yeah I know right!) anyway, he had comic books with a blank cover, so he did a characature of Zach and Jake in their super hero costumes and drew it on the front of his comic book then signed it so they are the star of the comic book! The artist that draws the Iron man cartoon came up to Jake to talk to him. Then he gave him a thing that he drew of ironman and signed it!

 

 Patrick Stewart told Jake he will be looking for him tomorrow. Jake is busting, can't sleep, thnking of the 'perfect' question to ask that will earn him a free photo op, LOL what a little planner! He is also all excited about James Marsters. OOOzing enthusiasm!

 

Saturday

‎2 boys still asleep, better get them up and feed them, they have a makeup appointment at 10am. LOL Zach warned Jake he will not like it because latex will be involved to make fake skin and injuries, or rotting flesh or some such thing......IDK!!!!

Spent over an hour and between the professional makeup artist, and me, a mom who can fix about anything, we have two bloody zombies.  'Monk' was grossed out at first but finally stopped gagging and was very tolerant of it. I mean it is full makeup, with fake skin made of cotton and liquid latex, then painted. Then fake blood (made out of velvet cake mix by the way) on his clothes. Slap on a tie and a top hat and viola....a zombie evidently. IDK, never seen a zombie movie, but he looks like all the other nerds here. LOL  Off they go...

 

Back with a report, the Patrick Stewart Q&A session was a bust.  The big nerds pushed the little nerd out of the way so he did not get to ask the question he worked on all night! Darned old big nerdie comic jerks!  but he did get his photo taken with two of his fav actresses, they came up to him and talked to him.  One was from smallville, Alaina Huffman..he loves her. Then there is Falicia Day from Buffy the vampire killer,  The other is the little girl from the Walking Dead named Addy Miller.

 

 

We GOTTA get some real food. We have lived off of boxed doughnuts, gatorade, cheese crackers, trail mix, peanut butter sandwiches, and a little caesers pizza for 2 days. I need meat and veggies (yeah never thought I would hear me say that either).  They guys just came back, it is 8:30pm and they are starving.  I can not in good conscience hand them another peanutbutter sandwich!

Have you ever seen two zombies walking in the rain under a red umbrella? I just did :_)) the boys are off to the evening session after eating yet another sandwich.

So decided I did not care the cost, we tried to go to the hotel restaurant, 2 hour wait! I should have thought earlier of reservations, duh, the nerd/horror conventions have thousands of people in these hotels!   Ended up ordering Italian, delivered to the room. Jake is mad but it is the best this mother of the year could pull off at 9pm. Is this weekend over yet? Nope, zombie world is in full swing tonight. Scariest crap I have ever seen! Can you say adult halloween but full of hollywood? Holy Cow, I am keeping to my room reading a book, I don't even know who these people are that the boys are drooling over. I mean, who has heard of Cid Heig? Other than Zach Grys? LOL and he saw the guy that played Jason, or maybe it was Freddie Kruger, either way, the guy was getting on the elevator.

Sunday

day at nerd world. The zombie bash is over. I have 2 'normally' dressed boys, who had milk and fresh fruit and doughnuts for breakfast, and off they went.  I on the other hand am packing up a room full of costumes, clothes, bloody makeup, food and souvieners and waiting it out.  I did get a 3pm check out time (thanks you priority gold club!) so I only have to sit in the lobby for 2 hours waiting for them to wrap it up.  It is like going to Disney, so much to do, so little time!  They are having a ball and that is all that counts, though they are exhausted.  Zach rolled in at 5am.  He had a blast on the zombie bus after putting Jake to bed.  He met lots of people from the horror flash back convention.  They did miss the Zombie ball because Jake was just too wore out, his back has been killing him all weekend, but the little tiger pushed through it, with is best friends hydrododone and dilaudid on board!  Zach de-zombied Jake in the bathtub and tucked him in before he went back out so he missed the ball also, but I think the party bus made up for it.  Oh to get home to dishes and dusting instead of blood and guts and scary clowns!!  I would say that this is a guy thing, but there are some weird chicks here!  Most look like a cross between a hard ass biker chick, a pink haired punk and Alice in wonderland.  Hard for an old woman to wrap her mind around.  One poor lady in the elevator had a special badge on and a young guy asked her who she was.  She was probably my age and she said I am Kelly (I think).  when I got back to the room I looked her up, she was one of the scream queens from the 70's.  Poor thing was here as a star and no one recognized her cause in the movies she is 20, now she is old as dirt, LOL.  I wanted to offer her some sympathy but how to do that tactfully?

Looking at the long haul

I think possibly I will start this with a post daily featuring one of our children.  That is after I get home from this comic book fest we are attending.  That will take up over a week.  Yes, I do have a little OCD and am stressing already over what I will write in the future and who the heck will care!  Though I am wishing I had done this years ago.  I have a few diary entries that I started when the kids were in the hospital with serious things, but never kept it up.  Maybe someday I will look back on those and share some past events.  Also, pictures will be added as I learn how this thing works!

Day one

So, I am sitting alone in a hotel room in Chicago for the weekend.  I brought Jake, our youngest son, and Zachary, our third child to Chicago to the Comicon.  For those who are not nerds in the know (me as of last week), Comicon is like the biggest comic book convention ever.  Not only does it have super heros, but zombies, and movie stars. It has wizard school and costume contests.   It has writers and animators and producers and well.....stars.  Some notable things that are across the street right now are, the original batmobile, the Delorean from Back to the Future, the Mystery Machine from Scoobie Doo and Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. 

Movie star wise there is Bruce Campbell from the Evil Dead and Burn notice, Patrick Steward, LeVar Burton and Tia Carrere from Star Trek, there is a 'Buffy Fest' of stars one is Julie Benz, from Buffy the Vampire slayer. Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future. Anthony Michael Hall from Sixteen Candles. Lou Ferrigno from the Incredible Hulk. Vivica Fox is here. Peter Mayhew who was Chewbacca from starwars will be reading and signing his new children's book, My Favorite Giant,  about how being different doesn't have to be a bad thing.  Louis Gossett Jr. is here, which kindof excited me!  Peter Tork from the Monkees.  Some people I have never heard of, but the boys seem very excited to meet are James Marsters, Edward Furling, John Connor, Alaina Huffman, Pam Grier, Ray Park, Tia Carrere, Felicia Day and Jeff Lewis, Mimi Rogers..  James Masters will have a concert

They are having a wizard art school and question and answer programs with leading creators (Ivan Brunetti, Michael Golden ??? and others, dont ask me IDK) There is a screening of a new movie, a theatrical program of a zombie musical (again IDK!!??)  There is costuming with the 501st, which is a famous group that will critique and tell you how to improve and build on your costume. (yes most people here dress up LOL) There is a Willy Wonka Reunion with stars.  Big wigs from marvel comics are doing a portfolio review all 4 days looking for new talent. There are going to be professional wrestlers giving the fans trade secrets on how they do some of their moves (jake is especially excited about some half naked girl called Torrie Wilson).  Also a lot of people are here from Jake's fav. TV show, Smallville, especially a girl who plays the charactor 'Black Canary'    There is a Wizard Writing school where they explain writing and editing comics. there will be a film screening of The Evil Dead

Zach has already bought a DVD, maybe called Unicorn City, or maybe it was a book?  He also bought a book of half naked girls called the suicide girls that all of the girls signed, heavy sigh here, Looks similar to playboy to me..... but I have to remember that he has designed costumes, dressed in a spandex costume for his brother and is now standing in line somewhere so Jake can see and possibly meet Patrick Stewart, who plays a super hero who is in a wheelchair in the  Xmen Movie and Jake is beside himself.

Tonight there is a VIP red carpet Party at a neighboring hotel where you can smooze with the stars.  There is also a party called Drink and Draw where you go to a cocktail  party with the animators and artists that is in the hotel adjoining ours, I am sure that Zach will be there!  Tomorrow night there is a Zombie masquerade ball at the hotel across the street, we have different costumes for that...yes, we have self made super hero costumes for 'Redeemer' (Jake) and 'Gallaxie' (Zach) and zombie costumes also which include a trip to walgreens makeup counter.

There is so much to do and see and so little time!!!!!  I on the other hand am sitting in a hotel room on a heating pad because once again my back is out, handing out money for autographs and batteries for cameras, sipping gatorade and starting a new blog.  Welcome to my world!  You gotta laugh!