One Little Monkey Swingin' In a Tree...

CJ has been trying to work up the nerve to climb this tree all summer and she has finally done it today! She was so proud of herself. I was, nervous, and a little proud! Every other time she's tried she's always just slipped down the trunk, she could never make it to that lowest branch. She made it today and then she didn't want to get down, and when she did, she just went right back up again!


Climbin'
and
Hangin'



Made it to the first branch!


Chasing a boy up the tree!


CJ's first tree climbing ouchie.

Update!

I had a pretty good week. My only downfall was that I didn't keep my goal of 2 workouts for my upper body. I only did one. I hate my arms, but I hate, hate, hate working upper body, it's such a miserable experience. I will try to talk myself into 2 upper workouts this week. We'll see how it goes! ;) Other than that, I stayed active, and kept track of every little morsel that went in my mouth. I'm down another 1.8 pounds for a total of 31.2! I have about 23-28 pounds to go. I know I can do it, I've become really good at losing. But now I know I have to start looking into maintaining, I'm not sure how I'm going to do that. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Unbelieveable and Heartbreaking

This is so heartbreaking. All I can do is think of this poor boy. His face is burned into my brain. We even walked down the train tracks a few days ago looking for places for a little boy to hide or evidence that a boy was there. The BPD keep saying they think he ran away. He does seem to have a lot to run from. This makes me so sad.

Trail of tragedy follows family of missing 8-year-old Boise boy

In the hunt for Robert Manwill, an anguished family legacy emerges.
BY PATRICK ORR AND CYNTHIA SEWELL - porr@idahostatesman.com; csewell@idahostatesman.com
Copyright: © 2009 Idaho Statesman
Published: 07/29/09

On the fifth day of an exhaustive search for a missing Boise boy, court documents revealed a family tale of abuse, tragedy and more.
Robert Manwill's mother is on probation for fracturing the skull of Robert's infant half brother, a boy the state removed from her custody.
Robert's mother's boyfriend has been convicted of burglary, battery and possession of drug paraphernalia, and is banned by the courts from being alone with Robert's half sister.
Robert's father, meanwhile, has already lost a son. In 1993, his first wife stabbed their 4-year-old boy in the chest. She spent 10 years in a federal prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Boise police won't talk about the family or the details contained in the court documents.
The family has declined to comment except for brief statements by Robert's aunt. But police have repeatedly said they have no suspect - or even evidence to believe there is one - in Robert's Friday night disappearance at the mother's Boise Bench apartment, and have no evidence of any foul play.

"We've had questions from the media ... who we have talked to,what can we say about certain people," Boise police Deputy Chief Jim Kerns said Tuesday. "It's the very nature of police investigations that until the case is concluded - in this case, until we find Robert - specifics and details of this very active priority investigation cannot be released."
Police say the family is cooperating fully.
"We have a single focus - that's to find Robert ... he's an 8-year-old little guy and he needs our help," Kerns said. "We remain hopeful we are going to find Robert."
Here's what the court records say:
ROBERT'S MOM
Melissa Scott Jenkins pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of injury to a child, after an October 2008 incident that left her infant son with a fractured skull.
According to court records, Jenkins "did willfully inflict" the wound "by striking the child's head on a surface, causing a fracture to the child's skull," on Oct. 19, 2008. She was sentenced to 29 days of work release, fined $75.50 and put on probation for two years.
In February, at least, the child was still in the care of the state Department of Health and Welfare, court documents said.
Jenkins, reached by phone Tuesday, declined comment and directed inquiries to Trisha Burrill, the boy's aunt who has spoken on the family's behalf.

Burrill, flanked by Jenkins and several other family members, addressed a group of reporters Tuesday night while clutching Robert's teddy bear.
"We are a joined family at this time in this crisis," Burrill said. "We are acting as one, with one goal in mind. To bring Robert back."
HER BOYFRIEND
Daniel Edward Ehrlick - Jenkins' boyfriend and the father of her infant son - has served time in Idaho prisons and faced multiple charges.
An April 2008 court document outlining Jenkins' visitation rights with her 2 1/2-year-old daughter states that the girl shall never be left "alone with Danny Ehrlick." The document does not say why.
Ehrlick, too, attended press conferences with the family.
ROBERT'S DAD
Robert Manwill's father, Charles Manwill, has had custody of the boy since January 2008, according to court records.
The records show Jenkins was admitted to the hospital that month for early pregnancy complications and was unable to care for Robert, who has lived with his dad in New Plymouth ever since. Jenkins has visitation rights, and the boy was visiting her the night he disappeared.
Almost 15 years earlier, Manwill was an officer at Fort Polk Military Base in Louisiana, in his early 20s and married to a woman named Silke Fatma Manwill.

In November 1993, according to federal court documents and Louisiana newspaper reports, Silke Manwill "upon sudden quarrel and in the heat of passion" stabbed their 4-year-old son, Michael, in the chest.
She was charged with first-degree murder; that charge was dropped when she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
She served 10 years in federal prison and was released in 2002, federal documents show. Her sentence included five more years of supervised release.

I don't know what to do

I'm at a loss. As I type this my cheeks are stained with tears. All day long CJ and Brian have been fighting. They yell, scream, hit, kick, anything to cause the other pain. I'm angry and sad. I don't know what to do. They have been just getting worse and more aggressive with each other. I have tried to separate them. As soon as they're back together, it starts all over. They are fighting just for the sake of fighting. I'm at my wits end. I'm trying so hard not to show anger towards them. I'm trying so hard not to yell. As soon as I walk away from them they just start all over again. I can't keep them permanently separated. I don't know what to do. I feel like a failure.

Wish List

Money. I know it sounds bad. I just wish I could have a mysterious benefactor dump and extra mil or 2 in our bank account!

College trust fund for CJ and Brian. I don't want to tell my children that we can't afford college, but at the rate tuition is going up I'm not sure we could ever save enough money for their education.

Angelic behaviour from CJ and Brian when we're out in public. We get out of the house and they suddenly forget they don't live in the jungle with wild animals!

Wash and wear hair. I have curly hair. I have never had wash and wear hair. It has always been a nightmare!

Sex Offender Island. I wish we could move all sex offenders to an island close to Antarctica. Hopefully populated with a large community of very hungry polar bears.

Health and Happiness for my family and friends. I never know what to do when someone I love in hurt or ill. I feel so powerless. I want to help, but never know what to do.

The Clean House Wand. I would wave my wand and dishes would be done, laundry cleaned and put away, floors swept and moped, windows clean inside and out, toilets sparkling, you get the idea.

What's on your wish list?

My Super Son!

Yesterday afternoon we went to the park. Brian refused to leave the house without his red cape. Of course the first thing he went for was the swings. When I was pushing him I couldn't resist the urge to take a picture! You know me, always out to embarrass my children by saying "Oh, hold on, let me take picture! Smile! Say e e e like a monkey!" Luckily this time, Brian didn't even know I took the picture.

CJ's Catch of the Day!

When we were at the Aquarium CJ picked out this grow shark. It started off about 3 inches long. We started growing it in a big mixing bowl, it out grew that. Then we moved it to a roasting pan and it out grew that! This is her fully grown shark. She loves it. Now it's starting to shrink again. When it's small, we can put it back into water and watch it grow again.

104

That's supposed to be today's high temperature! We've had too many 100+ days. I think if this goes on much longer, I'm going to melt! I want to go outside and play with the kids, but it's just too dang hot for me! I think we're going to the pool again tonight. It's even too hot to cook. I have some chicken breasts marinading in the fridge. I really hope Kyle will BBQ them tonight. I really don't want to bake them!

Seriously, I'm done complaining, I'd rather too hot than too cold!

Update!!

I had such a pleasant surprise this morning when I weighed myself. About two days ago I was asking Kyle, do you think I've lost anything this week? Usually I'm prepared, I know if I've gained or loss, this week I really wasn't sure. I am down 2.8 pounds! I lost the vacation 1.6 plus an additional 1.2! I'm now down a total of 29.4 pounds! I am so close to going down another size! I feel fantastic! I really need to make a commitment to work my upper body more than just with the trainer. It's the area that I see the least improvement. That's my goal, upper body 2x/week!

I Love Karma!

I love karma! There is this woman that I've seen at the pool twice. She has what looks like an 18 month old daughter, and she brings a basket full of pool toys that the before mentioned daughter never plays with. Both times she's defending this basket full of toys as if it's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. CJ and Brian go into stelth mode and try over and over again to sneek toys out of the basket. I have an opinion about this, (of course!!). I think that if you are at a public pool or park and you bring toys that your children are not playing with, then let other kids play. Just ask the child to return them to you when they're done. If you leave, ask for them back. If they are near and dear to your child's heart, put your name on them. If life couldn't go on without these toys, DON'T BRING THEM!! Anyway, about half an hour before the pool is supposed to close I tell the kids that it's time to go. As we're gathering up our stuff I hear over the intercom "Attention, due to an accident everyone must evacuate the pool, gather your belongings and leave". I really didn't care, we were leaving anyway. On the way out I noticed the lifegaurds fishing out pieces of one of the pool toys, they were asking each other if they know who the responsible parent was. I stopped and said, "I know who those belong to, and I'll be happy to point her out to you." And I Did! What happened to her? I dunno! Hopefully they tell that selfish Mommy to leave her toys at home.

Funny Girl

CJ is so goofy. Last night Kyle was cutting up squash. She took half a slice and put it on the edge of her cup. She then brought it to me and said she needed an umbrella and straw for her water. I said, "that isn't a lemon" she said, (in a very annoyed voice) "I know, I'm pretending" I told her to pretend that she had an umbrella (ella ella) and straw for her drink because I didn't have any. She said "I can't pretend those" and stomped off angry at me for not having all the needed items for a pretend tropical drink.

Update

As you know, last week we were on vacation. So there was no update. Before we left I told Kyle, I'm willing to gain 3 pounds. I have the tools to take it off, I'm ok with 3 pounds. We got back on Sunday. On Monday I was back to keeping track of the food I ate and I was also back in the gym. I actually took Kyle with me! He kept up with my workout for about the first 40 minutes. After we lifted legs, Kyle was ready to give up. I was still going and had another 30 minutes before I was ready to leave! He was still sore yesterday! Yay!

So, now for the reveal...

I only gained 1.6 pounds! That's about half of what I allotted for myself! I actually did really well until we got to Seattle. Well, to be exact, until we got to Safeco Field. Between Ivars, cotton candy, peanuts, cracker jacks, and licorice; I may have gained all my 1.6 pounds at Safeco!

When They're Out, They're OUT!

Almost asleep



I know he's not sleeping, but it's still funny. He took off his shirt and then threw it up into the front seat to Kyle stripper style.

Super Vacation! Part 3 Coeur d' Alene

At last we came to our final destination, not to mention the most familiar, Coeur d' Alene. Of course the first thing we had to do was stop in Spokompton to shop at the Nordstrom Rack. I picked up 2 dresses and some leggings. CJ and Brian each got a new pair of flip flops and converse shoes for school. Kyle came out empty handed, bummer. Then we went out to Rathdrum and spent the evening with Greg, Julie, kiddos and Norm and Jan. It just so happened to have been on the same day as Harley's birthday party. So we were treated to cake! The kiddos always love hanging out with their cousins. They were so sad when we left, that is until we told them we were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house!!

They love it there. My Mom keeps toys for them out always. Whenever we show up, surprise or planned, those toys are in the same place and easy access for them. They always give hugs and kisses and then they go straight for the toy cubby. Then I get some mostly quiet time with my Mom and Dad without worrying what CJ and Brian are up to. My Mom and I were up entirely too late chatting, but I think it was worth it!

The next morning my Mom had a class to go to, so we spent the morning outside in the backyard drinking coffee and chatting with my Daddy-O. CJ and Brian were happy playing with chalk and skateboarding! Brian's first skateboarding accident

Later we met Greg, Julie and Co. and Norm and Jan at Independence Point. We were supposed to have a nice quiet afternoon at the park, swimming and enjoying the company of our family. It didn't really work out like that. CJ, Brian and I swam for the first hour or so. After I got in the first time, I made the mistake of telling Kyle how I forgot how cold that lake is. He didn't get in at all!






Then we ordered lunch. Kyle walked down to Hudsons (greatest burgers in Idaho, if you're ever in CDA you must go!!!) to pick it up. While he was gone CJ got really cranky really fast. I started to hold her and rock and then suddenly she was out cold. I put her down in the tent for a nap.

Sleepy girl. Little did we know, she was also a sicky girl.

After we all had lunch Julie, Jan and I (feeling left out because I'm not a "J") walked down to Del Sol. Del Sol is a cute little store that everything they sell changes color in UV light. I loaded up on nail polish and bought CJ and few new hair ties. When we got back CJ was crying like crazy. She was screaming that her forehead hurt and she wanted to go back to Grandma's to sleep. I tried taking her to the shade and rocking her again. She wanted nothing to do with sleeping in the park anymore, she wanted out of there ASAP! I carried her back to the car while Kyle packed up. After a long nap, CJ woke up again crying that her forehead hurt and started vomiting. I took her temp, 102.9, Kyle took her to Immediate Care.


The Doc looked at her and listened to her, and thought it was a urinary track infection. How the Doc jumped from headache and vomiting to urinary is beyond my wisdom, (that's why they don't call me Doc). Urine tests came back fine. He gave her some Tylenol, she puked it up. He gave her the rectal version of Tylenol and her temp started to go back down and she seemed like she was perking back up. He decided it was something viral. He told us no solid food for 24 hours, keep an eye on temp, Tylenol is perfect, she may have diarrhea. Yay! We were scheduled to leave the following morning for an 8 hour drive home! That night her temp kept going up and down. She had ice cream and frozen yogurt for dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner. After we got home and she spent a night in her own bed she seemed perfect! Maybe she was just sick and tired of such a long busy week. I think our next vacation will be a little less action packed! Not to mention far fewer driven miles in 1 week.

Super Vacation! Part 2 Seattle

When we first booked the trip we booked a hotel in Kent for two nights. It used about half the points as any of the hotels in Seattle. While we weren't paying with money for the hotels, we were using Kyle's reward points. He worked very hard for all those dang points and we didn't want to be wasteful. So this hotel has smoking and non smoking rooms. Now usually when a hotel is mixed like that they separate the rooms. Like smoking in the east and non smoking in the west. Or smoking on floor 2 and non on floor 1. Something that keeps them from sharing a ventilation system. Not this hotel. It was literally every other room was smoking. From the moment we walked into the hotel it stunk like an old smokey bar. I just thought that after such a long drive the kids were ready to relax. I figured our room was non smoking so we would be ok. When we got to our room I opened the window, turned on the fan, and I thought we would be ok. I was so wrong. After we went to bed CJ started coughing and gagging so bad that she vomited. I changed the sheets, Kyle slept with her. I gave her several hits of albuterol. By morning we were exhausted and angry. When Kyle went to complain, there was some @$$h0!e smoking in the hallway right outside our door!! We wanted to check out, and use points for another non smoking hotel. That was such a pain! Somewhere in all this I lost a contact! So my sight is terrible. I call my Dr, get my prescription faxed to a local optometrist and get a new pair of contacts. We finally get to check in a NON SMOKING hotel in Seattle. Finally we can enjoy! We went to the market, had some kick ass gyros for lunch, and... what else was there? Oh yeah! We went to a Mariner game!!

Funny pig chair

I think this picture was taken in Newport, but it's just a random goofy moment for Brian

Getting ready to go

A couple of excited girls!

Take me out to the ball game!

the view from our seats

Dinner during batting practice, turkey sandwiches

We went all the way to Seattle, payed $20 each to go to a Play Land?


They each got a foam finger. Those fingers were later used to beat the man in front of us. Sorry dude.

CJ and I found the Moose in the Moose Den and then called Kyle and Brian and made them come over for a family picture.

This might be our Christmas card picture.

Yay! Someone bought us peanuts and cracker jacks! Thanks Kyle!

Cotton Candy yumminess

I was caught blue handed!

Cotton Candy blue tongues

These looks? That would have to be, sugar high!


Hey Dad, what's that you got? The camera?
We practiced this dang song for weeks before the game. Then when the time finally came to sing it, Kyle and Brian were in the bathroom!! When they got back I made them sing it!