Thanks guys. Dennis was actually grilling before his surgery day, Katkin. But it gave us so much hope and pleasure to have the The grandkids here, cheering us up all the time. Dennis will be back at his grill soon!!! Lisa I throw whatever fert I have on hand at the bananas. I really like the organic mix I get to blend in with soil or even water to feed everything. (I'll tell you what it is, after I look at the sack-it is wonderful) By the way, I was thinking of you today. Did that blackberry I rooted for you ever take off? If not I have discovered another shoot starting if you want it. Tonight wass not so pleasant for Dennis. He has been having sharp pains in his side today and after a 1/2 hour of attempting to lay down in bed, he finally went back to the recliner. He is only parttially laid back and sound asleep with his head resting on his hand. Surely his neck is going to be sore tomorrow. But we go back to the Doc in the morning. So I am going to curl up next to him tonight on the sofa. You all know how much I love my him, he's my world. It pains me to see him hurting. We will get through this! Love you guys!

Happy New Year to you too Jane, and all other members here. You can download the camera in 2 ways. Using a USB cable that came with the camera you just hook the 2 together via the USB port. The connection on the camera will be covered by a protective flap. The other method that I think most people use is to use a card reader. Many printers and even computers now come with card readers built in. If not you can buy one for about $20. Then you simply remove the card from the camera and slide it into the reader which should automatically bring up a menu for you to follow along and download the pics. Always replace the card in the camera at completion of the transfer. Nothing more frustrating than taking a load of photos only to realise the card is still in the reader and the camera has no photos on it. If you leave the photos on the memory stick it reduces the number of photos that can be taken so I always transfer all of them and delete from the memory stick at the same time. The I use Windows Explorer (Start/All Program/Accessories/Windows Explorer) to do what ever I want. Probably you will have created a sub folder inside 'My pictures' so look on the left side and click the + plus sign beside 'My pictures' then click on your photo folder to highlight it. Now you will see all the photos listed on the right side. Now click on 'View' at the very top of the screen and in the drop down menu select either Filmstrip or Thumbnails to actually see the photos on the right side. This makes it easier to move through viewing and deleting those you wish to remove. To view these full screen right click on the first photo then click 'Preview'. Once this photo is full screen click the 'Slideshow' icon on the bottom row, the fifth icon in on my computer.

I know there is a lot more to the story than you could possibly ever tell us and that sometimes you have to be there to actually understand. I just tried to look at what you were saying and tried to offer help. When I said about them going to court and taking the kids~I meant to also add that they could also just come and get them. Going to court was of course the extreme. It does make the situation a little different when I know they had you take them so they wouldn't totally loose them. Most people in they're situation would be in denial of a problem and keep the kids until the state did step in and even then they're in denial. It is good that they realize to some extent that there is a problem. What happened with your DIL that she is the way she is? Did her mother do the same as she's doing with her kids and that's why she never learned things? Or is it that she had a problem that they didn't accept was there and this is the end result? Most of the examples of things that she couldn't do are simple things that can very easily be learned, as you said. I guess it makes you realize just how lucky we are. We take advantage of being able to every day little tasks that are VERY hard for others. After reading your last reply I have a different out look with your situation. I can see that your son isn't really trying to be selfish. He made a few mistakes (like getting her pregnant this time) but he has to really love her to deal with all of this. I guess from what I read previously I just thought he thought it was easier this way and didn't care if he had the kids or not. Does he call and come see them and does your DIL also? I would think this has to be hard on them, too. Has anyone tried to contact your DIL's parents? Maybe just to ask them what her history was and so on. I thought it sounded like she just disowned them but why? Like if the sexual abuse story was all made up, what was the reasoning behind that? (Just went back and reread and I saw about her mother calling SS when the daughter got outside while the mother was asleep. I can understand why she called SS~the child was in danger. I wish my MIL had the guts to do that to SIL and BIL. The kids about 2 years ago~they were 4 and 2~packed a bag and decided, well Eric decided, to go get Mommy at work. They were outside in t-shirts and diapers and/or underwear in the middle of winter! Meanwhile they're father was in the house sleeping away. They were too cheap to send the kids to a sitter so BIL worked 11-7 and then had to stay up with the kids until his wife got home around 3pm. The kids were forced to nap or stay in they're rooms most of the day while he would sleep! They got out twice! They happened to live across from the school and one of the teachers saw these two and took them inside and called the police. BIL just happened to think he better call the police and report them missing. Later that day they were laughing about the whole thing!!!) Her past may be of great help for you guys now to deal with all this. Did she come from a very loving home? Would all the attention and love and support be something that could help her greatly? I know you said she would make things hard if she came to live with you but would the outcome be better for her and your son and their kids? Would it be any harder than it could be to care for 3 kids until they are adults? I don't know if I am any help. I guess talking about it and getting this out helps a little more than anything. Taking it one day at a time will help also. You can't really worry about what will happen when the baby comes until that day comes. I'm sure you'll do alright no matter what happens. It truly does sound like your grandson is doing much better with you and you're teaching him so much. I hope you're enjoying this time. It also is great to know you took in Caroline because she's not really your biological grandchild and many people are different with step grands. Maybe you can help her out before it's too late, also. Many of the "problems" that you have with her may just be because of her age. It's that pre-teen age and you think you know it all. Also I don't know if you had daughters but some people will say they are harder at this age and if your other children were boys, that will make it harder for you. It's certainly going to be different. Also, she's older and had more influence from her mother and others in her life. It also sounded like she had to take care of herself a lot of the time and maybe she thinks she doesn't need help now? Plus she probably wasn't used to having rules or someone at least making sure she stuck by them. Zachery was pretty small and young when you got him so he's learning most of his stuff from you. YOu and your husband will be in most of his memories as a child and you'll have a great effect on who he becomes. I just greatly admire you for what you have taken on. Good luck with the future!

Hello Houzz friends. Another update. we hung 3 shelves over the dining table. They are not decorated correctly yet so disregard that. I love the placement and it does a few things for me, 1. Fills the space without overwhelming it, 2. Allows for changing of decore and art when desired, 3. I didn’t buy anything new, just used what I had 4. Adds some color to my room which is predominantly black, white and grey. we tried moving up the light in the space but it looked super weird. I think it stays where it is. I ordered new knobs for the cabinet, they arrived today but were the wrong ones. 🙃 Last things to do for now are wallpaper inside the black hole that is the cabinet and recover the ottoman. A few throw pillows and good to go.