Long overdue update!

I am obviously not very good at keeping updates on here. SO I will update the best I can or what I can remember.

The updates are about the same as always. The girls both survived volleyball with a good year. They both were on "B" team for volleyball this year. We enjoy watching them both play because they both have strengths and they both have their own weaknesses to bring to volleyball. Basketball is still going on but this was our first test of sibling rivalry. Michelle made "B" and "C" team, while Elizabeth made sub for "B" team and "C" team. I am so proud of my daughters for not fighting each other on whose better than who. I am glad they both see their strengths and weaknesses. We are looking forward to track, softball for Elizabeth and Baton for Michelle. As you can tell they for sure keep us busy between sports and all the other things they do. They are also both very busy with our church C.E. group which Nick and I are head sponsors for this year. We have done a swim party, wiener roast/corn maze, Christmas caroling, gonna be doing movie night this weekend, and then "Know Jesus" at Hesston College. They have also worked at the soup kitchen again this year in Hutchinson. I am amazed everyday at what my girls notice about others and what they know from right or wrong. I know I am a little partial to them but I think they are wonderful girls and I think they will make even better adults. Speaking of becoming older Elizabeth will be driving in a few short months. (RUN AND HIDE IF YOU LIVE CLOSE...HA HA) As you also may know that soon we will have two teenagers daughters. Michelle is turning 13 in May! I just wish sometimes I could slow down time so that I would have more time with my girls before they are gone.

As far as Nick and I well that is just about the same. We are both still working our current jobs. He is still working at Cole Street here in town and I am still doing daycare. The only big news I have for us is that I will be returning to school hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I have been accepted to HCC and I think I finally have nailed down what I want to do but for now I am just gonna start with general classes and see what happens. I am for sure a little nervous about this new chapter but for sure excited about what I have proven to my daughters. That no matter what you can always go back and achieve your dreams. "NEVER GIVE UP" The girls are excited for me but we will see how excited they are when I need them to help me on my homework. HA HA As we as a family have endured alot in 2010 but remembered that as a family we can conquer anything.

I am hoping 2011 will be a better year for us as far as all of our health statuses. Last year was kinda rough on Michelle and I but this year we are prayer for better health. I did make a new years resolution. It was to be true to myself and to do for myself this year without the guilt of feeling like I should worry about others. I am gonna take charge of my life and my future because even though I wish I could I can't fix everyone Else's just my own. I pray for healing for those in my family who need it, I pray for those who have started this year off by losing a loved one, and I pray that the two people who have been there for me all of my life to have the happiness they deserve.

Well for now that's all I have but I am sure in a few months I will try to update again but NO PROMISES! Happy New Year to all and I hope all of you do something for yourselves.

Wow!!!

WOW! That is all I can say as to the year we have had here at our house. The girls have finally started back to school this week. I am amazed at how fast and how much my beautiful daughters have grown. As the last couple of months have gone by I have realized just how much life is passing me by.






Needless to say we have had a heck of a year. So that this doesn't drag out for hours I will give you the short version of our live. Our year started out with me getting sick and being put in the hospital in Colorado and back here, Michelle finding out she has asthma, a week later she broke her arm, and a few weeks after that she got two of her teeth knocked in. Tomorrow we go to have a root canal done on one of the teeth that was knocked it because it is dying. So to save us some money HOPEFULLY they are gonna do the root canel then recolor it to match the rest of her teeth since the tooth has now turned gray. My father has been in and out of the hospital with lung problems. My brother Michael had a close call when a roof fell in while he was on it and life watched to wichita. Lucky his "Angel" happen to be on duty and he walked away from it for the most part okay.
On a good note the girls have started volleyball. They both are on "B" team and seem to both being enjoying it alot. They are both staying busy now with school, volleyball, and their friends. I am sad to say they are starting to need us less, and less as the years go on and this has been terrible hard for me. I guess I always wanted them to be independent and strong so now I just need to hold on for the ride they take us on now.
Nick and I are both doing well. His job is keeping him very busy and must I say that for those who doubt things happen for a reason him being laid off has brought him to a wonderful job. His bosses have taken very good care of us and have been awesome. I am still doing daycare and if I must say sad to think of how old my little ones are getting now. I now have 7 kids I care for and one more on the way. WOOT WOOT I love babies!!!!






Well for now that is all I will post and I hope everyone out there is doing good.

Lots of news!

We all doing well here. I am gonna try to catch everyone up since it has been a while since I posted anything.

Nick is still loving his job at Cole Street Service. I feel this job has been a serious blessing for us. His bosses are the best! They have allowed Nick to be off for the girls games, and they always make sure his family is first. He hasn't done much hunting this year because he has to take so much time off for the girls games but hopefully he will get to go out to deer hunt when black powder opens up again.

I am staying busy with my daycare, chasing girls, and making sure everyone gets to their appointments on time. I now have a 3 month old, 1 year old, 16 mo old, 21 mo old, 2 yr old, 4 yr old, and a 5th grader. They keep me very busy. Feeling very blessed with the group of kids I have right now. Nick's little brother and his wife has a new baby a few months ago. My brother and his wife also had a baby this year. So this brings Nick and I's total to 6 nephews 5 nieces. They range in age from 16 years old to just a few months old. Couldn't be prouder of them all.









Elizabeth is doing great. Keeping her grades up in school while trying to juggle basketball, homework, church, and her friends. She has been on the honor roll all year so guess I can't complain to much about the grades. She finally got her cell phone she has been wanting for 3 years. She is doing well in basketball she plays some B team and also plays C team. They have only lost 1 game this season. She is looking forward to going to Colorado in January with her youth group. Nick and I are sponsers for this group so we also get to go. She is gonna be 13 in a few months and this has been a very difficult adjustment for us. Elizabeth had her 13th ear surgery on the 23rd of this month. They went in and repair the hole in her right ear. They tooks some tissue from behind her ear and repaired the hole. She has done really well so far. I am hoping this works and they will repair her other ear and then HOPEFULLY she will be done having surgery.




Michelle is also doing really good. She is on principal's honor roll all year. She also got a cell phone for Christmas. Which is funny because she professed that cell phones are a waste of time but she hasn't put it down yet. HA HA Michelle got braces this month. She has struggled with them a bit because of how much they have rubbed on her mouth and her tongue. But things are getting better everyday. She has also been sick recently with broncitis. But again everyday its getting better. Her team is doing very well also they haven't lost a game yet this year. We have had a few close calls with some pretty good teams but they held out and won. She will be turning 12 in a few months and man I am telling you this child might not have the attitude the other one does BUT she makes up for that in the roller coaster of mood swings.

I am feeling very blessed to have god, my job, a great family, and wonderful friends. This has been a roller coaster of a year but I feel we came out on top and are continuing to move forward. I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and I wish everyone a wonderful New Year's!!!!

Time to catch up!

I hope everyone is doing well out there in the world! I have came to the realization that I need to try to update a little more often than once every other month or so.
Well things on the Graber front are cruising along at a quick pace. We have made it thru our first month or so of school and so far no major happenings.

We have done a few things this year so far. We took the girls to their first KSU football game and they loved it. We are working really hard on slowing down on the weekends and spending time together as a family with our families. Just amazed how time flies so fast. Our beautiful daughters are going to be 12 and 13 before we know it so we are just trying to capture a few more moments with them before they are off doing their own things.





Elizabeth is playing volleyball on Thursday evenings and if I am not mistaken they have only lost one match. They are all doing well and seem to be growing more everyday in the skills of volleyball. Elizabeth has had to deal with some hardships with the sport of volleyball but all in all she is loving it. We are enjoying our time of going to games which sadly to say will end at the end of October. She has decided at this point(but we all know how girls work about changing their minds) that she doesn't want to play basketball. Kinda sad she doesn't want to play but she has to be the one to make that decision. We are looking forward to everything our lovely ALMOST a teenager has in store for us in the days to come. *NOTE TO ANYONE READING THIS IF YOU HAVE A MANUAL ON TEENAGERS MAY I PLEASE BORROW IT*

Now on to our other lovely daughter. Michelle is still surviving sixth grade so far. Her grades are excellent and she loves school other than to her it is boring. She is still playing the Trumpet in band and thankfully still loving it. She is the only trumpet player in the sixth grade so she gets a little stressed about that because now if she messes up everyone will know it is her. She is enjoying going to watch Elizabeth play volleyball with the excitement to know that next year she gets to play too.

Nick and I are doing good. We are working on trying to find Health Insurance so when our Cobra runs out we have something lined up. I am still plugging away at home doing daycare and loving it most days. HE HE I still have the normal crew with hopefully a new addition being added soon. Nick is still thankfully working at Cole Street Service down town and he is enjoying what he does. I just wish we could keep our own vehicle out of the shop. But by the time we are done this should be good for another 100,000 miles.

Well I hope my little update gives you something good to read and I am looking forward to another great year!

First Day of School

Well I am gonna make this short but here is our first day of school picture. I must say I am feeling a little older knowing I have a 6th and 7th grader this year. I am excited too because Elizabeth starts volleyball this year. Nick and Elizabeth have been getting up at 545am and running so good bonding time for them. Michelle says no way will she be getting up at the crack of dawn to run but if they want to run at night she will be more than happy to go. LOL Well I hope everyone is doing well.

Graber Happenings!!!

Well it has been a while and I have no excuse but just didn't take the time to update. Well here goes nothing the last few months have flown by here. I think school starts in 17 days and I am SOOOOO ready.
First I will give you an update on Nick and his job. He loves his new job it comes with some frustrating moments but overall he is glad he took it. He also got a call back from the Bradbury company just under a month ago to come back to work. I am pleased to say he said NOOOOO! I think this job is a good fit for him and he is less stressed then he was when he was at the other place.
Nick and I just celebrated our 14 yr anniversary on July 15th and for our anniversary we are gonna go take a motorcycle coarse at Hutchinson college. I am so excited to take this class. I purchased my first bike a week ago and I made my first long ride over to Halstead. For those of you who don't live around here that is about 17 miles one way. I think I did pretty good and I had a great time. I layed it over lastnight on it side. I didn't hurt the bike but I have one heck of a nasty bruise on my leg. I survived the fall, picked up the bike and took off.



The girls are loving the bike and enjoy taking rides on them. Nicks dad has a bike and we have been borrowing it to go ride. As far as the girls and their summer goes they are sad it is almost over. They have had a very busy, busy, summer! They were attending library 4 days a week, they were doing softball(which I believe we finished with only three losses.), Elizabeth has been volunteering down at the senior citizen center every Thursday, Elizabeth has attended two sports camps for volleyball and basketball, both girls went to camp Mennoscah for a week our final camp this summer is Volleyball camp, and of coarse as much swimming as they can. I can't believe we are the proud parents of a 7th grader and a 6th grader.

I have one more week of work then I am on vacation for a week. The girls and I are going to go stay out at the lake for that week with my mom. Can't wait!!!! Well I hope everyone else is having as much fun as we are this summer.

Life has been crazy here.

I am sorry it has taken so long for this update but things are finally going a little better for us.


Elizabeth's 12th birthday was on April 2nd! I can't believe how time goes so fast. We celebrated Beth's birthday on Saturday April 4th with family and friends.



On April 6th Nick got his notice that he was being laid off from Bradbury after 16 years. It was a major shock to us and to our family. I think Nick took it well cause he kicked into have to get a job and take care of my family mode. I was just another bitter wife of a recently laid off husband. We got a harsh reality check with the fact that no matter how much you give to a company you are just an employee so all those years of loyalty meant nothing. But there is a happy ending to this story and that is Nick did get another job here in town at the service station just a week or so after being laid off. He is now a greese monkey and loves it. He has been there almost two months now and things are going great for him there. He WILL NOT be returning to the Bradbury Co and I must say I can't be happier with that decision.

The girls have alot going on these last few months. Michelle performed at McPherson May fete and the parade on Friday for baton. Beth marched with the Middle School band in the same parade.




Today is Michelle's 11th birthday. It is still hard for me to believe that my baby is 11 years old. I sometimes wish there was a dail that we could turn and slow time down just a little bit. We will be celebrating her birthday this weekend with family and friends. I am just glad that my girls even though they fight sometimes can get along and love each other.





Well on to me and my job here at home doing daycare. Today is the final day of school for the year. Which for me means 6 kids everyday from 6am to 530pm. I have 8 kids enrolled in my daycare now ranging in age from 8 months to 11 years. I am excited for summer to be here and for the kids to get some time off.

We are now heading into softball season for both girls. This year they are on the same team so our schedule is a little less busy but not by much. I am hoping I can get back to updating my blog a little more often now that things aren't quite so crazy here.