Well I had a pretty good weekend at work, there is definitely alot of Upper Resp. and Gastrointestinal bugs going around I must say I meet alot of interesting and wonderful people through my job. I have learned way more from my patients then I ever did in Respiratory Therapy school. I love to sit and listen to the geriactric patients stories. There is alot of pain and sorrow in my job, but hopefully I have made a difference in someone's life. Sometimes I find myself helpless and I realize that medically nothing more can be done to help a patient so I just sit and talk to my patients or I will rub their heads as they fall asleep and sometimes I hold their hands as they pass on.  When I went to college I thought the most important part of my job was going to be making people better by helping their lungs and heart, but I find more and more that I can help them the most by just being there to comfort them as they make their journey, I find myself questioning my decision alot about staying in the medical field, because there is quite a bit of stress and emotion involved in caring for sick people however after almost 20 yrs I am comfortable with  who I am as a therapist and I am confident in my abilities to care for my patients, and yes I am attached to them. I hope I have touched their lives as much as they have touched mine. To be quite honest with you, if I didnt have to deal with admin. and all that bs I would probobly do it for free because I probobly get more out of it than my patients do.   Its kinda like Christmas everyday, you get to give presents out to perfect strangers and reap the benefits yourself. Well here are some picture of Avery from her Color Guard performance....I must say she didnt miss a beat. 

We had the Banquet today for 2010 Motocross. Dalton received 6 awards this year. Including 2 #1 plates for being champion and #1 in his class along with several other year end awards....Great accomplishments and we are very proud of him. Here is a picture of him and his awards.  

here is a pic of Kenzie Dalton and Kevin Windham at Supercross 2010

So today went to dentist again for more packing for my dry socket he said "I wasnt out of the woods yet" Darn!! So back to see him on Monday, I think they just like me there, because this all is being done probono!!!! Since it was a tooth that he insisted he do a root canal on 2 months ago after I asked him to extract it then. Bill got hay today and put a roundbale out for the horses, he also changed my rear roders and brakes for me and replaced his headlights as well, I meanwhile made supper and dirt pudding, while Kenzie helped Aiden with homework. All in a days work at our house. Oh I also picked up a baby shower gift......so cute, almost makes me want another.................NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So all of Kenzie's applications have now been recieved at the Indiana Academy, so in 4-6 weeks we should know if she will complete her last  2 years of high school there!! Crossing our fingers, it would be great if she could graduate from High School with and Associates Degree!!And would save us mega $$$ in the process, so glad she has been such a good student all these years, hopefully it pays off, either way I am soo proud of her, and I know she is going to do great things!!! Below is saying a friend posted on facebook today , I really liked it so I thought I would share it.


~*there's only two people who've ever died for me. Laid down they're lives just so I could be free....they never picked a fight but they're there to pick up the pieces. God only knows who we'd be without Soldiers and Jesus*~ 

DALTON CLEARING 110 FEET

New sofa was delivered today, I think it was a hit with the kids, amazing how easily they are amused. More dental appts today. Kid braces are coming along nicely. Dalton has been having issues with his stomach, Dr. thinks he has GERD or Gastritis, hope the medication kicks in so he starts feeling better. I am worried about the twirp!! Kenzie's car is gonna cost around $750 to fix YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!! The last owners evidentally tried to do some electrical work themselves, I am happy the car didnt catch fire with the kids in it. Well here is a pic of our sofa . God Bless  

Had a good day with the family, took the girls to Horse Bowl and Hippology practice and got groceries...WOW... didnt realize we needed so much stuff. Moved our old sofa out to make room for the new one to come tomorrow. Supper was a group effort tonight we made mac and cheece, pigs in a blanket, french fries and chicken nuggets. Now to get all kids bathed and ready to start the new week. I hope everybody stays well this week!!! Here is a video from one of my fav. artists. Hope you enjoy!! Have a wonderful week. God Bless!!

Avery went to her Mini color gaurd clinic today and Loved it! While she was having fun, Bill and I went shopping for a new sofa, ours has just plain had it!!! We didnt really want to spend the money but ours was literally falling apart, I have been sweeping stuffing from the cushions off the floor for months now. So the new one will be delivered Monday, hopefully this one will hold up longer than the last.  I sooo love our current sofa I wish it would have lasted longer. So this means we have to pull out and sweep behind our sofa before they deliver the new one, I wonder what treasures we will find LoL!!! Here are a couple of pics of Aiden the first one is his first pony Jr. that now lives with the Verheys and the second picture is him on Sassy having fun.

Sent all kids off to school today praying they would all make it all day without coming home sick, no such luck! Oh well with some rest and relaxation hopefully next week we can make a new start. We had to take McKenzies car in to get worked on. Hopefully it doesnt cost to much to fix. Tomorrow Avery has a color guard clinic to participate in....hope she has fun, then she will get to perform at the Varsity Basketball game on next Friday. Hunter is very excited she is going to get to help our Friesian friends in IL at the horse fair by either warming up their mares or helping with the weanlings.  We will not be doing riding lessons tomorrow as the weather is to cold and all the kids have been ill, so its better to postpone till they are all back up to par. and hopefuly the temperature rises some. I think my dry socket is doing some better today, still quite painfull but doesnt seem to be as swollen. I dont know how your suppose to keep the packing in though, I took my antibiotic this morning and swallowed part of it, the last packing came out when I brushed my teeth.  I guess I am just hard on them LOL. I was sitting here today being down because of everybody being sick and because of my tooth ordeal this week when it occurred to me how lucky I am to have 5 beautiful, talented and wonderful children and a wondeful husband that supports me no matter what. God is Good even when we dont realize it. Every night before I go to bed I pray for the same things, First and foremost I Pray that God keep my children happy, healthy and safe, and I pray that the Lord help me to be a better wife, mother and person. I pray that all my chidrens dreams come true and that the Lord help us to do right by him and that we become more Christlike everyday!!        Here are some old pics, the first one is when we only had 2 kids and I had hair LOL. and the next one is Dale (grandpa) and Hunter when she was a newborn

So I made another trip to the dentist today, he says that it still looks pretty bad, however I was feeling considerably better today before he started messing with it and repacked it. Aiden was home today, he had me up most of the night coughing his head off. Hopefully all 5 kids can make it to school tomorrow and make it all day. McKenzie's car has to go get worked on in the shop in Logansport, as with these new cars, Bill doesnt have the proper equiptment to deal with the computers within. So I am sure that is gonna cost a pretty penny ugghhhhh!! Bill had to stop and pick up Bentley a new winter blanket today as the temperature is going to drop considerably and we cant have our baby boy getting cold LOL.  This will be his third this year already, he is so darn hard on them, I need to learn how to mend them. Here is pictures of our outside doggies Bear (lab,huskie mix) and Zeba (German Shepard).   

Went back to dentist today and YES I have dry socket, and have to go back tomorrow, Kenzie's car is broken down and Dalton had to be picked up at school for vomiting today and Avery was already home sick, I think there is a black cloud hanging over us this week. Maybe tomorrow will be better! Here is a picture of our cute inside doggies Allie the Daschund and Snookie the Boston Terrier.

So today was just as interesting as yesterday, woke up to Avery having a temp of 102 and everybody whining they didnt feel good, however being the mean Mom that I am LOL I sent everybody to school except Avery, only to get a call at 11:30 that Aiden had vomited and then again at 1:00 that Hunter needed picked up as well. Ughhhhhhhh!!! Thankfully my mother-in-law was able to go get them for me as I was tanked up on pain meds from my tooth ordeal from yesterday and in no shape to drive. So once everybody was home we all settled down to rest, then it was time for the other 2 to come home from school and low and behold Kenzie walks in with a fever as well and goes straight to bed. Im thinking maybe we need quarentined LOL. The joys of having a large family!!! We tend to share everything. On a brighter note as you all may know motocross is a big part of our life around here, so here are some pics of Dalton over the last year, he has made some great improvements and can not wait to get even better.   

So woke up this morning to 3 sick kids, Bill took 2 to the Dr. with sinus infections and I went to the dentist for my 5th trip on the same tooth to get it fixed, well it is fixed this time!! He had to remove it in pieces as well as part of the bone, he is hoping he saved enough bone for a prothetic tooth to be placed once all the infection is gone, sooooooo glad I had that darn root canal 2 months ago NOOOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!! I made sure I told the Dr. I told you so, but I probobly should have waited till after the procedure. Oh yah and he had to leave a portion of the root as he was unable to get it out, lets hope this doesnt cause any issues or I am not gonna be a happy camper. On a lighter note here is a picture of our Drum colt Brody he is growing so fast, also here is a picture of Hunter and her KMSH dressed up for the 4-h costume contest. 

So Bill, Dalton and McKenzie have left Chicago and are on their way home. Dalton did great last night he placed 3rd out of 12 in the 125cc class, and he also raced the 250b class on his 125cc bike and placed 6th. Great job son!!! Today the girls (Avery and Hunter) have Horse bowl and Hippolgy practice so I will be taking them to that and then back home to spend some time with the family before everybody has to go back to school and work tomorrow. I am sure everybody will be very exhausted when they get home, so we will probobly leave the unloading till tomorrow. Aiden is having fun figuring out his new video game for his PS2 he used his own money to buy it, so he is proud of himself. While the girls are practicing today I will pick up some groceries for the week. God Bless and have a safe and wonderful Sunday everybody
Love, The Packards

These last couple of days have been pretty eventful around here!! Bill ,Kenzie and Dalton took off for the Sears Center in Chicago for Dalton to race some Arenacross and I have stayed back with the other 3 to take them to horse riding lessons.  Well riding lessons turned out to be quite a commical experience for me, not so much for the girls. LOL I couldnt help myself I know it is not funny when a horse bucks with your child on it, but for some weird reason it just struck me funny!! Our horse Sassy has never bucked once in the 2 years we have owned her but apparently yesterday she decided she did not want to Canter. Well tooooo baaaaaaaad Sassy!!!! First Avery roder her and she bucked......Avery did great didnt get scared and held her ground and went on to do some wonderful jumping with her later on in the lesson. So I thought after the lesson was over that maybe Hunter should show Sassy some manners and so she did and it was quite hilarious. Everytime Hunter asked her to Canter Sassy began to buck and every time she did that Hunter dug her heals in and continued to make her Canter, I dont know who was more tired Hunter, Sassy or me from laughing so hard. In all seriousness though Sassy could very well have thrown the girls off if she was intending to, I think she was just being a little spunky because she is in heat and she was at an arena she had never visited before and on footing she had never tried before........we still love her very much!!! and will continue to until the day she passes on, after all we all have bad days.  And I know that Sassy was not trying to hurt my girls because Lord knows if she wanted to she is quite capable of doing so and she chose not to. And also I and the girls' trainer were right there beside them.  So followers please dont try this at home LOL. And also my girls wear protective equipment to keep them safe.  Sooo on to Dalton.  He made into his main events without any problems, and he and Ryan Hoover battled it out the whole race but kept it clean and Dalton ended up finishing 3rd out of 12 riders ......NOT bad for his first arenacross race ever.....SO PROUD OF MY BOY.......AND GIRLS!!!! So he has decided to enter 2 different classes tonight and has managed to make both main events also.........I am praying he rides safely and finishes well, however Bill called and said the bike is not running at 100% Lets hope it makes it through both of his main events and brings him in safely!!! Took Avery to a slumber party so I am sure she is having a blast. So Good Night Everybody!! Lets see what tomorow brings!!!  God Bless!!