Geyer family update

Hi family!  This week has been busy and full of evenings on the floor with my little buddy.  As crazy as my days may be, it is great to come home and play/laugh with him.  He is definitely to bright spot of everyday - I love it!  

New this week:

• high chair is assembled and he ate carrots and oatmeal in his "big boy" seat tonight
• peek-a-boo is apparently the funniest game ever (lots of laughs)
• six month old pics on saturday (i'll post a link when they are up)
• almost sitting up by himself (still a few slips/slides to the side, but getting much better)
• loving the bouncer (see pic)

Things change so fast!  I can't believe he is already 6 months old.  



Love you all! Carrie & Grant

email

Here is my new email so email me as soon as you read this so I can have yours since my entire email identity has been wiped out! Another post when I have time.   loribellar@bcpsne.info  you might still be able to contact me at lbellar@esu8.org 
Love to you all
LOLO

moving

It SUCKS!
lolo

Go Duke!

As you all probably know, unless you've been living under a rock, the sweet sixteen starts tonight!

My Duke Blue Devils barely squeaked by with a victory on Sunday...did you watch it? Holy buckets was I freaking out!

Anyway, for all of you who would like this lovely family member of yours to have a good night make sure you watch CBS at 8:00 tonight to cheer them on against Arizona!

Hugs from Fairbury! 

cindy finally gets techi

Hello everyone. Look at me blogging! Wow. you didn't think it would happen did you? I don't really know what I'm going to type. I don't have an exciting life like Taryn does. I was telling the girls this weekend about the new Rascal Flatts song, and looked up the lyrics.. they sound a lot better sung, but here is the jist...It's like a storm that cuts a path, it breaks your will, it feels like that. You think your lost, but your not lost alone, I will stand by you, I will help you through, when you've done all you can do, if you can't cope, I will dry your eyes, I will fight your fight, I will hold you tight, and I won't let go..It hurts my heart to see you cry, I know it's dark, this part of life, oh it finds us all and we're too small to stop the rain, oh but when it rains, I will stand by you, and i won't let you fall, don't be afraid to fall I'm right here to catch you, I won't let you down, It won't get you down, your gonna make it, Yea I know you can make it, cause I will stand by you I will help you through, when you've done all you can do and you can't cope, I will dry your eyes, i will fight your fight, I will hold you tight and I won't let go. No I won't....... Ok it really does sound better sung, but I think of you all every time I hear it...when Kim and Lori left Mom's on Sunday I just sat down and cried.  Having a tough week. One day at a time right? I Love you all, keep blogging, I love reading them. Type to you Soon, Cindy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hey there everyone! Happy St. Patrick's Day from my crew in second grade :)

Also, while I'm blogging, I think that I'm going with a space theme for my classroom next year. You know; astronauts, rockets, stars, planets, etc. If you see anything while out and about (nothing too expensive) and think of me...grab it! Doing orders for next year has gotten me pretty pumped. Now that I know so much more about second grade I feel like I can plan WAY more! Yay!

Love you all and hope you have a great, green day!
xoxo

P.S. My car is FINALLY finished! Woo hoo!

UHG!!

It's a Monday and a full week of school!  What more is there to say!!!!!
Spread the love--LOLO

Shamrock Shuffle

Hey there. It's me again. I guess that I truly am the only one who doesn't have a life...and loves to blog while watching The Real Housewives of OC.

So on a much lighter note than my last blog, I, wait for it....completed a 5K on Saturday! I would love to brag myself up and tell you all that I ran it and felt great after doing it. However, I will, because I know none of you will judge me, instead tell the truth :) I WALKED a 5K and...realized that I am TERRIBLY OUT OF SHAPE!!!! When I told Wade that I had finished the race, he was so impressed. Then he asked, "So did you have to walk at all?" I, in turn, started laughing, and said, "Duh. I walked the entire thing and I'm still sweating!"

Now, not to scare you all away; I had a blast. After we were done walking. The Shamrock Shuffle, as it was called, ended at the local bar, Chuckles, and included a hot dog lunch and massive amounts of green beer and green jello shots (ironic huh?) I am not at all embarassed, although I'm sure that my mom will be, to admit to all of you that I was ready to go home and sleep by 4:30. I can, however, now tell Ashley with much certainty that I am in for the 5K in KC. Sign me up!

Love you all and think about you all the time. I'm still walking around Fairbury, patiently waiting for my car. Thankfully my apartment is very centrally located. School, church, gas station, mexican/chinese restaraunt, downtown are all within five or six blocks of me. I'm telling myself that this whole walking thing is pretty great and that I should keep it up even after my car gets fixed. Anyone want to take bets on how long that will last? :) I'm sure that my mom would....or maybe that exercise bike that I bought and have used four times in as many months! Ha! 
xoxo Taryn

Reality Check

So family...I know that I've been MIA the last week or so. Don't worry. I've been reading all of your amazing posts and each one makes me SO happy. Keep up the blogging!
After surviving my long week of conferences...thank goodness they're over...I had a pretty awful Friday. My car had been making some odd noises so I, of course, took it in to get fixed feeling completely optimistic about the outcome. 300 maybe 400 dollars. I'll skip the shopping for this month and I'll be fine. At about 10:00 on Friday the guy from Riverside calls and says, "How much longer are you planning on driving this car?" I immediately panick. After about five minutes of mechanic talk, none of which I understood, he throws out 700 to 800 dollars. I start crying. I told him that I would have my dad call him because I had no idea what he was talking about.
So...I call dad. Still crying. This, by the way, is not the first time this has happened. He tells me to stop crying and calm down...in not necessarily the nicest way...and I give him the number to the mechanic.
Long story short. I have no car until at least Wednesday. And I now have an 800 dollar bill to worry about. To say that this was a reality check for me is an understatement. I have been working for almost three years and I have saved nothing. I feel like this was a bit of a wake up call and I have every intention of turning things around and building up my savings account, for instances such as these. Wish me luck! Along those lines...I thought of you all this morning as I was WALKING to church. Yes, that's right, I walked to church! I thought that you all would be impressed with that :)
I have another story for you all...I walked a 5K yesteray...but no time to type right now. Love you all and hope that you have a good week! xoxo Taryn   

GAP Goof

So, last week when we went to Illinois we stopped at the Outlet Mall by Iowa City....it is a good one, GAP, Old Navy, Nike, Coach, Banana Republic, Ralph Lauren......just to name a few.  Anyway, Gary dropped Mark and I off to shop our little hearts out ...for the whole time it took him to get gas....ha....talk about power shopping.....so we started at GAP, they had a huge sale on dress pants so I went and actually tired some on......while I was trying things on Gary and Mark went to Nike and while I was paying Gary and Mark came back letting me know my time was up........(I did manage to go to the Coach store while they ate at Arby's.....OMGG, even in an outlet store.....on the clearance rack making it an extra 50% off.....plus a 20% coupon the purse I liked would have cost me $238) so I just left and went to Arby's.

Later that night I was looking for my phone but couldn't find it......no biggie, I do that a lot and my phone does not sustain my life like my husband and children.....so I really didn't worry about it.  Monday night while watching Pawn Stars the phone rang and the number came up on the TV, Gary, being very astute said, "Who is that calling?"  To which I answered, "Ummmm, it's my phone, I wonder what he wants!" Ha, first of all, it was very surreal and second, I guess I didn't know until that moment that my phone was male!

So I answer, and yes, as you can probably already guess, I had dropped it at the GAP when trying on clothes.  The very kind young man on the other end explained, "They found it yesterday, but everyone was trying to figure out what to do so I took it and said, let's call home."  He then took my address and told me he would send it the next day by UPS.  I told him I would pay for it, just to let me know his name and the cost. 

So on Thursday afternoon when I got home from school, there was my phone, delivered by UPS.  Mark suggested that I just keep in in the BIG UGLY UPS envelope it came in so I could keep track of it, but I decided to open it and take it out!  Inside it was surrounded by lots of GAP bags, but there was no name and no mailing bill.....but there was a piece of paper.....a 30% off coupon......with a smiley face.........there are some nice people in the world.......and one of them is a dude by Iowa City that works at GAP!

So there is my "stupid turned feel good" moment for the month of March.  Not nearly as good as Taryn and Riley's but thought I would share.  Have been thinking of you all lots......sending lots of love......and hoping the blog gets more posts this week, I love reading them!

Kim

PS:  Taryn, how unfortunate that Nelly's mother named her one SON Nelly and then her other son Free City!  When you marry him, you can name your children something unusual, but hoping nothing like that!  :)

A call from Heaven

Okay--I just had to get up and share this with all of you because you would sooooo understand. 
Let me set the scene--I am in bed trying to get to sleep when I start crying and throwing a fit that I miss mom and that I want her here with me.  I kept saying I wanted her back--yes I even kicked my legs during this fit--anyway--I was crying uncontrollably begging that I could have more time with her to see her face to smell her and to hear her voice one more time.  I asked God (whom I have been a tad angry with lately) to please show me sign that she is still with me because I have felt so lost without her---so after continuing on with this fit-- I calm down and get ready to set my alarm on my cell phone when I noticed that I have a voice message-- I play it and guess what--
IT WAS MOM! 
It was a message that she sent to me on the 12th of February about us meeting in Lincoln--my phone was wanting to know if I wanted it deleted!  I did not delete it.  I couldn't believe it; it was so hard to listen to but then again it was the sweetest sound that I have ever heard.  I think I even smiled and I mean really smiled and meant it since this has all happened. 

Our God is truly an amazing and awesome God!  He does hear our prayers and answers them. 
Am I over the fact that mom is gone --no but I do know that she is with me and she is with each one of you.  She is the most amazing person; she is still taking care of me even from heaven. 

OUR MOTHER:  OUR ANGEL
All my love--
LOLO

holla for the heart y'all

hello all you thinkers, doers, and shakers out there...

i hope this finds you all pumped to get your heart pumping. and that this 5K business has sparked a spring in your step [because it sure sounds like the spring season isn't coming anytime soon. boo snow.] ever since my momma had her little a-ha moment, i've been investigating and obsessing. enter first born child and control freak.

after pages and pages and pages of google searches, i think the mother's day walk in kansas city [overland park] would be a great option. here are my top ten reasons why:
1. it is fairly close to all of us and we are familiar with kc
2. the royals are in town that weekend [play oakland on friday and saturday night] so that gives the boys something to do plus it is the perfect tribute to both grandma and grandpa
3. kansas city has pretty darn good shopping [pam and wendy are you thinking what i'm thinking? st. joe on the way down, kc outlet mall on saturday afternoon.]
4. free t-shirts will be involved
5. it might be a rough weekend for us otherwise. why not spend it together? laughing, remembering, drinking, relaxing.
6. it supports a cause that is now near and dear to our... heart. the proceeds go directly to the american heart association.

and if you are still doubting:
7. tori and i signed up for a 10K in boston last fall. got the t-shirt. and left. if you don't want to walk, there is no judgment here! you can just support the cause, get the t-shirt and cheer us on at the finish line.
8. if you do want to walk, there is no training necessary. if you can walk a block, you can walk a 5K. promise.
9. no need to take off work. meet in kc friday night or saturday, royals saturday night, walk on sunday morning, lunch and you're outta there.
10. i am happy to arrange everything. the hotel, the royals tickets, the registration for the 5K, everything. all you would have to do is show up. and i don't even mind if you call me a freak first born behind my back.

i found other walks in minneapolis [QVC store], memphis [shameless plug], and lincoln [thanks erica], but thought this one would be a great opportunity to come together in a city near us all, for a weekend away, to celebrate grandma's birthday and mother's day. thoughts? just give me the word. may 8th.

stay warm up there in the frigid north. i find myself complaining about the 50 degrees here. and then i think about you all in the four inches of snow and smile an evil little smile. love you so much and miss you like crazy. stay strong. i always have an open ear and empty inbox when you need it.

ashley

Thinker and Doers

Okay, I am putting this out here....I think we are a family of thinkers (thanks Grandpa Wiltz) AND I think we are a family of doers (thanks Mom) so, here's something I've been thinking about that now you can add to your thoughts.  (Wow, if I was grading this I would mark, REDUNDANT, REDUNDANT...ha, ha, probably only Roger and I are laughing at that) anyway.... I have been doing some reading about heart disease, especially in women.  It is STUNNING to discover that heart disease is the leading cause of death in women every year in the United States.  More women die from heart disease than ALL types of CANCERS put together.  It is called the silent disease because women, unlike men, do not have the tell-tell symptoms.  Many times the symptoms are as simple as teeth and jaw pain or flu like symptoms while other times there are no symptoms at all.  Also, there is much less research and money spent on heart disease than there is on cancer.....so I was thinking.....this cause has been thrust upon us.......and I think we need to DO something......so I was thinking we could all participate in a 5K for Heart Disease Research.......Go Red For Women is the main organization that I have found supporting this cause.  I talked to Ashley and she is looking into different 5Ks which she will be updating us about via this wonderful blog.  

PLEASE, before you think, "no" or even "hell no" a 5K is really just 3.1 miles and a few years ago I did it in Memphis without training and we can totally walk it.....and more important (it really should be more important...not more importantly...that is a common mistake, there's a little grammar lesson for you all) we will be DOING something to honor Mom AND maybe by our doing this we can save some family, some time in the future, some where, this never ending hurt/pain that we are now experiencing.  

I know Ash found one in Overland Park, KS on Mother's Day; however, she is going to  continue to look and give us other options as well...the cost of the OP run is $25 before April 25 and $30 after.........maybe we could make this an annual thing........we could get tee shirts made........we could stroll with Wyatt, Luke and Grant..........you feel sooooo good after you have finished........and we would be doers..........okay, if nothing else, this hopefully  gives you something new to think about......

Can't wait to read your responses to this!

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.....omgg, just typing that put me in tears.....I have GOT to get a decent night sleep one of these nights...........Miss you all and can't wait to be together again!

Kim

Nelly!!

Hey there family! So...I had an interesting Saturday night. For those of you who didn't hear, I went to see my long-time favorite rapper, Nelly, in concert! I convinced five of my friends to tag along and head out on a quick road trip to Lincoln!

Our first stop was to our hotel, at the Cornhusker. While we were waiting for our rooms to be cleaned, we, of course, hung out in the bar, where the waitress informed us that Nelly was "in house." I, of course, immediately began to form my stalking plan. What floor should I hang out on? Should I just sit in the lobby and wait for him after the concert? Etc.

Second stop, after much primping and back combing in our room, was Pershing Auditorium. When we first got there, the gigantic line was wrapped around the backside of the building. Thankfully, it moved pretty quickly and we found seats, all together, easily. The bathroom lines; however, were not so easy to navigate. I believe that I stood in line for almost half an hour one time. Ridiculous! 

After three hours of opening acts, it was finally time for NELLY! I swear to you all that I almost started crying when he came out. It was the most fun that I've had in as long as I can remember. I danced my heart out for three hours straight; my feet still ache to prove it. Nelly was just as amazing, if not better, then when I was sixteen. And having my best friend, Andrea, dancing beside me the entire time, made it even better.

After the concert, we walked back to the hotel. I was so tired, that I completely forgot about my stalking plan. Mistake number one. About an hour or so after the concert, Riley, who also went, called and wanted to come hang out at the hotel with us. When he got there, he called me and said, "Will you come down and get me so I can find your room ok?" I said, "Oh my goodness. You are twenty years old. I think you can find room 413 on your own." Mistake number two. About ten minutes later, Riley shows up in my room with a picture of him and Nelly. Nelly, of course, happened to be hanging out in the lobby at the exact time that Riley came in. The exact time that I refused to come down and get him. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!! I almost cried I was so sad with myself.
Later on, I did meet Nelly's brother, Free City, but it just wasn't the same. I will never again tell someone to find a hotel room on their own. Especially when Nelly is in the building :)
Sorry that this story was so long. I just thought that you would all appreciate it! I hope that everyone has a good week. Mine will be long. Parent teacher conferences Tuesday and Thursday. Wish me Luck! xoxo

Hello everyone!  I've been waiting for some free time to add a post.  This is actually really easy... hopefully I can find a few moments each week to add.  I'm following...  

I must say that I have definitely enjoyed the blog this last week.  It is a refreshing change from Facebook and has led me to laugh and cry at the wonderful memories I have stored of Grandma forever.  As I've told people about Grandma over the past 2 weeks, I've only told them of her presence at ever activity I ever had, christmas', games, and cookies...but really it is so much more...the love and pride in her children and grandchildren.  As I looked around Grant's room this week, I realized that she loved all of us just as much as I love him.  Which is crazy?! Maybe it's just the new mom in me, but I guess it never hit me like this before.  As I looked around his room it was evident that she loved him just that much too; the afghan in his crib, the cross picture frame on the wall, the teddy lovee she brought to the hospital, the day she rocked him to sleep when he wasn't feeling well.... she truly loved us all so much.  I'm posting a few more recent pictures from the hospital and baptism.   

Tomorrow we are headed to Auburn for Luke's baptism and it will be a great day of celebration as he becomes a Child of God. :)   Grandma won't be there sitting beside us, but she will be missed by all of us.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love you all!  Carrie

Can't sleep

Hello family:
Okay first of all I would like to say a belated happy anniversary to Randy and Cindy.  What a great example of love you two have been for the rest of us. 
Second of all, here is my top ten list of what to do when you can't sleep. . .
#10:  CRY
#9:  ponder life

#8:  CRY
#7:  toss and turn
#6:   CRY
#5:   take the dogs for a walk
#4:  CRY
#3:  surf the net
#2:  CRY
#1:  attempt to write on your family blog. . . . success

I love you all very much!
Lolo

Happy Anniversary...and I want you to be happy day!

So glad we have this blog....it's just the pick me up I need.  I have been really tired too....and I think all three of us have fallen asleep watching TV at some point this week.  (Not that that is too unusual for me and Gar!)

Happy Anniversary Cindy and Randy....I have thought about you all day long!  (And must admit, part of my thinking was of your wedding pictures and Tor giggling!) I am really happy that you are married too....and thanks for the great additions you have given our family!

We too have a three day weekend.  I think we are going to head to Illinois to watch Gary's Godson, Brendan (Anthony Tupper's son) play in a basketball tournament and if I get my way, stop at an outlet mall too!

I will be checking emails and the blog...so hope to "chat" with y'all later.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Happy Anniversary Randy and Cindy!!

Your anniversary makes me happy too. Especially the pictures from your special day. ;) You should know that every time I think about those photos I giggle and smile. :) They bring me joy. I hope you both have a wonderful day and a good time celebrating tonight!

Happy three day weekend to all of you who work in the school system and get tomorrow off!

Love you,

Tori

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

I hope Cindy & Randy have a lovely day.  I didn't get a card sent (surprise, surprise!) but I am thinking of you and glad you are celebrating another year together.
I have been sooo tired lately.  Last night I ate supper and went to sleep from 6:00 - 9:00, got up for about 45 minutes and then went back to bed.  Nick has also come straight home from school and slept.  I think last week is finally catching up with us and we are exhausted.  I do feel a bit more energetic today, though. 
I am glad to see that Tori & Ashley made it back to their locations. 
The JB boys are going to state BB next Thursday.  They play @ Lincoln High Thursday @ 2:00pm for anyone who wants to know. 
Have a Great Day!  Love You All!
Di

Happy I Want You To Be Happy Day!

I was just getting journal prompts ready for the rest of the month and the book that I have lists every random and unknown holiday imaginable. For example, today is, I Want You To Be Happy Day!

I thought this was ironic, seeing as how it just happens to also be my wonderful mom and dad's anniversary! I can honestly say that them getting married has made me happy :) I hope that they have a great day and I can't wait to celebrate with them this evening (no school for this elementary teacher tomorrow...whoopee!)
I hope that you all have a great end to your week! xoxo

musings from memphis

to my dear family,

i am digging this idea of a centralized location to share our thoughts. brilliant work diane and taryn! she would really love this, you know. all of us staying connected and in tune with everyone's lives. brilliant!

i, like all of you, am trying to sort through the monotony of every day life after our world was turned upside down. it has been a bit of an adjustment and a lot of a change in perception. everywhere i go, i am reminded of grandma. the river walk that we so much enjoyed when she visited, the halls of st. jude, my little apartment, the restaurant we went to downtown. at first it made me sad. and i cried. but, then i realized that the memory is okay. she is everywhere. and always will be. with each of us. and that is a blessing beyond what words can articulate, right?  

the weather has been divine so far. this weekend it is supposed to rain a bit, but still climb into the high 60s [tori, please omit the taunting "it's 85 here" comment!]. i plan on relaxing and catching up from last week. [pretty sure my traveling clothes are still in the hamper and i am eating all the non-perishable food left in my pantry so that i don't have to expend any more energy than necessary.] i hope you all have a chance to unwind and be still for a moment or two this week as well.

so glad to hear everyone made it to their final destinations safely! be looking for an email with an attached "ode to grandma" tonight or tomorrow. thinking of, missing and praying for you all. 
love you, love you, love you!
ash

Back in South Africa

LOVE this idea!

Just wanted to let you all know that I made it back to South Africa safely. It's noon here (4am in Nebraska) so I am exhausted. The flights were all fine ... long, but fine. I had two seats to myself from London to Cape Town so I was able to stretch out and sleep a little. At one point I started crying on the plane thinking about Grandma and I just wanted someone to hug, but obviously I was surrounded by sleeping strangers. Ugh. It will be hard being so far away from you all, but I think it will get better once I get settled in again!

Okay, after 24+ hours on a plane/in airports, I need to take a shower ... and maybe put off all that homework I have (I did NONE on the plane) and take a nap. :)

Thank you Diane and Taryn for setting this up ... cannot wait to read updates!

Love you all so much,

Tori

P.S. For those of you who never got my blog address: everythingislekker.blogspot.com

I'll try to update it with shark pictures, etc. once I get a little caught up on everything I have to do (aka..don't expect anything soon)! :)

Kim's attempt

Hello family!  At first when I was reading the instructions I thought, "No way I can do this!"  Then I thought to myself...Ashley took off by herself and went to Memphis, TN, Tor is traveling to South Africa (doesn't get there until tomorrow, Wednesday) I can MAYBE challenge myself and try to blog!   So far it is pretty easy, but I am not attempting pictures for awhile....baby steps!

Today was my first day back at work.  The kids were really sweet.  One little seventh grade boy, who I think has a form of autism, came right up to my face and whispered, "I'm sorry about what happened Mrs. Bender.  I was sad all last week thinking how sad you were."  Which, of course, made me cry.   Then about five others of those usually little brats came up and hugged me, so needless to say, the beginning of third period was tear filled!  In the afternoon I just was plain ole tired.  Came home and instead of doing anything productive...open cards, cried (which made me cough) and then slept. 

Maybe I will get something done later tonight...or tomorrow! Will definitely be checking our blog.  Great idea Diane...and really, if I can do it, you can all do it!  Hope to be reading posts from you all!  Love you all so much...so, so, so much!  We have a little boy who has been taken away from his home by social services (he's in first grade) and it is crazy to hear all the abuse he has endured from his parents...made me think, "Maybe we only had our parents for a short time, but how lucky we were to have THEM!"  We had/have so much LOVE surrounding us! Okay, signing off before I start writing more...English teacher issues, you know! :)

So...it's Taryn again :) Can you tell that I don't have much of a life? (Besides sitting on the couch watching tv and surfing the internet!) Anyway, if you've looked at my blog lately http://www.msbohlken.blogspot.com/ (like the plug?) you've probably noticed that I LOVE posting pictures. Now taking pictures of my sweet second graders is easy, they're crazy photogenic; finding pictures of myself that I like is much harder. I was looking through some old pictures from facebook to see if there was anything worth posting and I ran across some from Wendy's wedding. I finally checked my mail today and opened all of the sympathy cards that I received. Although it's so nice to know that those people are thinking about you at such an awful time; it made me miss grandma like crazy. I cried for a while and then called mom. Finding these pictures was hard but seeing grandmas face made me feel a little bit better. Hope it works for you guys too. Love and kisses!

Hey there everyone! This is Taryn. I worked on tweeking our blog a little bit today. Hopefully, you like what I've done. If not, then fix it yourselves! :) My goal tonight is to type up some "blogging instructions." I will post these on here and e-mail them to everyone. This should make it super easy for everyone to log in, make posts, put up pictures, change backgrounds, etc. I think that this will be the perfect way for us to share the things that are happening in our everyday lives. LOVE the idea Diane! If you have any questions, I check my e-mail, oh about every five or ten minutes during school days, so I can definitely be in touch!

The weather here is absolutely beautiful! I wish that I had the self motivation to go oustide and do something productive...most likely, I will take a nap on my couch instead! :) I can't wait to start reading all of your posts. Love you all so very much!