a long long time that feels really short

Rob and I celebrated our 24th anniversary today... I find it hard to believe we've been married that long- it feels like such a short time.. We have been through so much together: a critically ill child, him being diagnosised then undiagnosised with MS, me being diagnosised with lymphomia than not having it when operated on (miracle from God), my being in college for three degrees, his fathers fight and death from cancer, my fathers fight and lung removal from cancer, his car accidents 3 in all that left him hurting in the cold and rain, my accident to my right leg and being told I would never walk again- God proved them wrong once again, our kids growing up and having kids of their own. I could go on forever after all its been 24 years...

I asked for and received digital cable for our anniversary- i wanted discovery health channel and i gave him a new frying pan. His was messed up recently and the teflon started to flake off. We are going to a place called Catalina Island off the southern coast of Cal. the end of January- beginning of Feburary. We will be celebrating both our anniversary and his birthday.... Its a really cool sounding island that you have to get to by ferry and its out away from everyone hopefully cell phones won't work there either but with my luck they will. His customers called while we were in hawaii and drove me nuts...

Oh well i must go but just wanted to say I am really glad I married Rob he is a terrific husband and although there are times I could kill him but for the most part he really is a keeper... Sherri 01/02/85

Christmas 2008- family fun for all

This is a group photo of our entire family including but not limited to the dogs...

There is Heather with Daniel, Allie and Nick with their dog weezer, Robbie holding Bekah and Ashleigh, Bud and Cirus, and in front are Rob with our charlie, and me holding Audrey...

Our family is growing by leaps and bounds. Christmas was an adventure to say the least. We all met at our house on Christmas eve to open our new pj's (santa won't come if you are wearing old pj's) then some of us went to church, others went home (not feeling well) and others went to hang out over friends houses.

The next morning Christmas- rob robbie and i opened presents together and then we chilled. i mean we did nothing all morning execpt for rob who was a dear sweet soul and made me a everything bagel with ham, egg, and cheese on it.. yum yum.... Ashleigh got here around 12 and joined us in doing nothing... the turkey was in the oven the ham was ready to go and all was well.

Around 1 everyone else started to trickle in: Bud Heather and little ones following and Nick and Allie. Audrey wanted to open presents first thing so while we all got our energy reved up again i gave her the Elmo live doll papa and i got her- she loved it... and that kept her busy for a while so we could mash the sweet potatoes, and clean the asparagus to be cooked. then came the flurry of wrappings and presents along with the shouts of "i can't believe i got this" and "how did you know I wanted this". I was busy taking pictures with the new camera rob got me.. i love it...

After everyone ate their fill and buttons were about to pop - things were packed up and put in cars along with children and dogs and everyone went home to head for richmond in the morning.

Heather dropped Bekah off at 6:30 and then they headed out. Rob bekah and i left around 10 and stopped by gary and judis then bekah decided to throw up in her car seat as we were driving down the road. after stopping cleaning her and the car seat up and changing her clothes we met allie and nick at the border station. Soon robbie caught up with us and we were all headed to richmond to see jes, jon, mom and dad. We all had a great time there and i would add pictures but they would kill me and i don't wish to die yet...

So until later... Happy New Year and May God bless everyone with good health, lots of wealth, and exciting new year... Sherri

audrey and the gingerbread house

The Sunday before Christmas Audrey came over after we went to church and we made a gingerbread house together... she was all ooohs and aaahs as i unwrapped it. Then she grabbed one of the sides of the house - yells cookie and almost took a bit out of it. I showed her the picture and explained that we were going to decorate it together and her reply was "do we eat it"? So all is going well we 'glue' it together - well actually i glued it together Audrey ate the glue that dripped. I held the roof on and then we went to watch tv for the 20 minutes it took to dry.

After the waiting period and millions of "is it dry yet" we went back into the dining room to decorate the house. I was spreading the icing on the roof and Audrey says, "Audrey lick it" I asked her what and she replied, "just one lick please". Audrey wanted to lick the icing off the roof.. No i didn't let her but promised her one of the gingerbread man after we finished.

After the roof was iced i poured the Candie on the table and told Audrey to decorate the roof- she decided to eat the candy instead. half went in her mouth and half went on the cake... then we decorated the men and their tree- afterwards and i mean seconds afterwards Audrey looks up at me with her big blue eyes and says, "Audrey eat it now". I explained to her that it had to dry a little to stay together. so we went back to the TV and continued to watch some kids movie that was on. i looked in the dining room a little while later and noticed the roof sliding off the house. Rob came to the rescue with a can of green spray icing an two toothpicks and glued the house back together and propped up the roof with the toothpicks... It shows that those years owning a construction company paid off.

A little while later Heather arrived with Bekah and Daniel. Audrey showed them the house and then told Bekah " we get to eat it" so i gave in gave them each a gingerbread man to eat. Bud came over later and ate the tree...

So there is the first and only gingerbread house i've ever made and i think audrey enjoyed eating it instead of making it...

Tater bud, audrey, bekah and the rest of us

Tater bud (daniels nick name of the week) is growing by leaps and bounds. He is already holding up his head, looking around, and eating like a hog... he loves to eat, burp, and pass gas - i guess he takes after his papa (robert). His eyes are still blue, his hair is dark and he is beautiful.

Bekah is trying so hard to keep up with Audrey. When I take Audrey to Potty she cries to go with us and then she repeats over and over pee pee so after the new year we will (just when she is here) start letting her us the potty. She is super moody and God forbid you bug her when she is in a bad mood. She hits, kicks, and bullies everyone execpt tater. she is so gentle with him. She loves her big sister but they fight over everything.

Audrey is getting super big. Her favorite saying now is "duh" and "whatever" and she says them all at the right times. We (rob and I) took her Christmas shopping today. She was sooo good. She was amazed at all the Christmas things at Garden Ridge.. We took her to Chick Fil for dinner and she got to play in their play room for about an hour. She loved the slide the best and kept going through the maze and sliding down.

The rest of us are doing great. Robbie is still in Richmond- hopefully he and Ashleigh will be here for Christmas. Heather and Bud of course have been busy with three kids and daniel keeps them all up when he cries. Nick and Allie are finally in their own house and are doing great although their basset hound got out and we have to look for it tomorrow after church.

Rob is doing great and his shop is getting busy... He is decorating the house and putting up the Christmas tree tomorrow. He's a busy little beaver. one of his customers gave him a bushel of oysters and he is making oyster everything for dinner tomorrow.

I am finishing up all of my final projects this week for school. I finish this semester next friday and i am really looking forward to being done... one more semester left and I graduate... i think i decided to go to florida tech university on line in the fall to get my masters in healthcare admin. but i haven't enrolled yet so we shall see... until later... sherri

Tater has arrived... Daniel Keith Thomas Newell

Welcome Daniel Keith Thomas Newell!!!!!!

Heather and Bud finally have a son: Daniel Keith Thomas Newell was born to day at 2:25 PM. He weighed in at 8lbs 6.5 ozs, 21 inches long and beautiful...

He has spots of black hair and blue eyes... And yes, his Ga Ga thinks he is wonderful....

Audrey wasn't too sure about him until they took him away. Then she cried "wheres baby- I want my baby". Bekah just decided that he was hers and didn't want anyone to touch him.

He has Heathers nose and maybe Buds hair line but thats all we see for the first day... I know he'll change rapidly but for now he is his own person. Hopefully he will grow into his super large big toes but other than that he is beautiful.

Heather is doing great and Bud is staying up at the hospital with her. Nick and Allie are watching the little princess' at their house....

I'm sure there will be more pictures soon... Sherri

Nick and Allie's wedding...

Nick and Allie got married on November 8th, 2008. The wedding was so beautiful and both of them looked so great. Robert was the best man while Rob and Bud were groomsman. Audrey was the cutest little flower girl that I have ever seen. Heather still has not had daniel but looks like she will any day. The wedding was a wonderful experience and the food was outstanding. Rob looked so great in a tux (only him and George W can get away with wearing boots and a tux). Ashley flew in from Penna. to go to the wedding with Robbie. They both looked great : ) Bekah was beautiful in her black and pink dress. She and Audrey danced up a storm and their favorite food was the chocolate that I made. Kathy and Carol (from the office) came and took pictures for the wedding - they did such a super job. To them I am very greatful and in debt a lot. All in all the wedding was great- we missed some people that couldn't make the wedding and wish they could have been here but life happens. Have a great day and wish them luck if you see them...

halloween with the girls

We went to Nags Head Churches' trunk or treat with the girls. Audrey was a cheerleader, but if you ask her she will tell you "princess cheerleader" and Bekah was a pink dinosaur complete with a huge fat tail... They got more candy then Heather will ever let them eat.. The church gave away candy, hot dogs, cotton candy, and popcorn. Bekah and I sat on the floor eatting the Popcorn and drinking lemonaide. I had to force Bekah to taste cotton candy but once I got her to taste it she loved it... The Girls are absolutely beautiful and seemed to have a good time. Audrey is always saying "trick or treat" when she sees me and I give her candy. She had an expression on her face when she had to wait for candy as if to say, "ga-ga does this faster". Gotta love the girls.. Daninel should be here anytime and then we will have a boy to find bugs with.. Audrey is scared to death of bugs- ants, beetles, etc but she loves snakes. I hope Daniel doesn't figure it out or Audrey is going to be in big trouble. Bekah however loves cars, dirt, and such so a little brudder is exactly what she needs... until later... sherri

Okay So I forgot...

We (Rob and I ) worked this morning at the OBXnation's church fair... It was a blast... Rob got to help with the games and gave a lot of candy and prizes out to the kids. I got to play 'first aid' and put a total of one band aid on and that was on the preachers wife (she cut her finger the night before and needed it replace because she got chocolate icing on it from a donut). Bud, Heather, Audrey, Bekah, and Samantha (Bud's younger sister) came up there and played the games, ate the food, and won a lot of the raffle items. I got a $25.00 gift certificate to a tanning bed and gave it to Allie to use before the wedding...

We (Rob, Nick, Allie, Bud, Heather, the girls, and myself) went to Heather and Bud's church this evening for a huge "chili-cook off". There were 19 entries and Rob won third place... His chili was sooo good. I am so proud of him and he was over joyed. Heathers church is starting the 40 days of the purpose driven life series and I've decided to go there for the next seven weeks and I am going to go to one of the small group meetings each week. I love the books by Rick Warren and I am really interested in this lesson..

Okay so I am finished for now and will write again soon... Blessings

Latest News on the Jenkins front.....

Time for a quick update:
Robbie is off traveling the entire US. He has been to Pittsburgh, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and finally he is back in Richmond. We text message each other all the time. I am so very proud of all he is doing. His talent still amazes me and yes, I still think he is good enough to be on Broadway. He is going to come home one weekend really really soon...

Heather looks like she is about to pop.. They say her due date is November 16th- I think they are wrong. I still think she's due around the 28th of October. She looks so cute- kinda like she swallowed a watermelon seed. She doesn't feel so great and waddles when she is walking but then again she is very pregnant.

Nick is getting married on November 8th. Yes, I've had six weeks to plan the entire wedding. I absolutely love Allie so although I am tired and worn out- I think it is wonderful and love being able to help. They both are living with us for the time being. Nick had to come back to the beach to live because he kept having nose bleeds in Raleigh. Raleigh is where he met Allie. Yes, he is working for Rob again and he is really good at doing this kind of work...

Audrey is a monkey. One of her favorite things to do is look at dresses on the Internet with me. We have been looking at flower girl dresses for the wedding. Okay so she thinks every dress is hers and I need to buy it for her. We picked out the cutest flower girl dress- it's white with small white roses at the waist. She is going to wear a "halo" of flowers with chocolate brown and orange ribbons flowing down her back... She will look just like the angel she is.

Bekah is going to watch the wedding from a seat with her very pregnant "I'm not going to be in the wedding like this" mommy. I did buy her a beautiful pink and black dress to wear. Audrey saw it and tried to put it on. Thank God Rob stopped her before she was able to get it out of the closet. Bekah is talking up a storm. She loves to keep calling my name over and over and then laughs when I answer her. She was here the other night and when Heather asked her if she was ready to go home and bekah ran over to me- laid her head on my lap and said "no"... She is so cute.. I get to have both of them over here tomorrow night.

Rob is insane. He is making a four tier wedding cake for Nick and Allie. He and Allie picked out all the stuff needed and it was sooo cute to watch them. He is working soo much lately and is always tired. He loves what he does and his customers have come to love him. They were also really glad to see Nick working with him again. I keep telling him he is getting old and turning into an old man before his time. He did go fishing a few days ago and caught speckled trout and some other kind of fishy.. I can't remember it's name but it sure tasted good...

I have my finals next week. I also have two projects due- one I am almost finished and the other I haven't even started yet... Yes, I know - I better get on it... Then after finals I get the entire following week off of school... yeah, maybe I will be able to get all the wedding stuff done. We (Rob, Nick, Allie, and I) are going to the North Carolina Fair on the 17th- we go to Raleigh on the 16th, the fair on the 17th, and then come home on the 18th... I can not wait.. I have been looking forward to this since July...
Oh well, enough for now... Peace out

I have come to realize...

I have come to realize that:
all men no matter how strong they look whine when not feeling well.
I have come to realize that:
The children you expect the least problems with usually surprise you with the most.
I have come to realize that:
you can teach your kids your values but that doesn't mean they will follow them as they get to be adults.
I have come to realize that:
Once your kids are adults -or at least the legal age of adulthood- you can not control their decisions nor correct their mistakes.
I've learned a lot in the past two days. Rob whines - he had surgery on his hands and though he won't let me help him do things he whines when he hurts himself doing things.
My kids surprise me a lot but the one that I thought would be the hardest to handle seems to be the one I have the least problems with and the one that actually is doing what he has always dreamt of doing. My gripe is over but I'll continue on with this story in the very near future...