A tough list

Jen from Walk With Me tagged me to write about 5 Things I Have Done Right In My Life. This was HARD. It's so much easier to think about all of the things that I have done wrong. I have to say that even though I've made a lot of mistakes I don't know that I would really change anything if I could. All of my wrong things along with all of my right add up to make me who I am today. It was nice to try and focus on the things that I have done right for a change, so thank you Jen for tagging me. :) So here we go..... 5 things I have done right in my life:

1.) I'll have to start with one of the same things that Jen said and that is going to YWAM. I wasn't a Christian when I went. So going to YWAM for SST, DTS, SOE, and some other 3 letter acronym was a life changing experience. Friends I made, lessons I learned, God changed my life... definitely something I did right - YWAM.


2.) Deciding to go to a new church - and the young adult group. After returning from YWAM I needed a new home church. After church hopping I found my current church which I love. It took a few months to get up enough courage to walk into a young adult group meeting. So glad I did. Though it was months if not years later it was where I met my husband.



3.) The decision to homeschool our kids. A huge undertaking but this is the right thing for us. I don't desire to shelter out kids, just give them a great education, with plenty of Bible study and quiet times. And honestly the thought of what high school will be like by 2021 scares me just a little bit.



4.) This one is still a work in progress but I have made the decision to lose weight. Yes, I have made the decision before but a light went on this time. It's a new thought process. It's working. I will be healthier. I will be happier. I will be able to chase my kids with more energy.



5.) Going to marriage counseling before Roger and I got married. Our church requires it but I would have wanted to go anyway. It was a time where we met with a "seasoned" married couple and went through a few weeks of great discussion. (though sometimes uncomfortable) Roger and I were just talking about this the other day. That was such a good time for us. We talked A LOT before we got married but counseling gave us some other things to think about. I think one of the biggest things we learned was how to fight fair.

(I'm on a roll!!)

6.) I'm going to throw in one more and add reconnecting with old friends. Christin and I had lost touch due to some random silliness and as God would have it we entered each others lives again just as we were both packing up to move to TX! I am SO thankful for that! Through her I have been able to reconnect with Sylvia and Jen. They have both been a such a blessing in my life.


Now, I'd like to tag Sylvia and Jolanthe if you ladies care to play along. :)

A high school friend

I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around a piece of information. While watching the news I learned that a high school friend of mine commit murder. Even writing those words makes me shake my head with disbelief. This was a person that I was close to. We spent countless hours together. We walked to school together every morning for years. We went to parties. We were friends. I don't know what happened since high school. Something changed. The murder was violent. It was intentional. My heart is so heavy. I don't know how to process this information. I've heard over the years of an ex-boyfriend who is now addicted to drugs. Though that bothered me I found I was able to deal with it. This... I don't know what to do. The night that I found out I couldn't even sleep. My mind was racing, playing out the whole scenario over and over again. Had this person not confessed I wouldn't believe it. All I can do to settle down the thoughts flying around my head is pray. For the families that were involved. For the friend behind bars. God bring healing.

I've gotta watch this one

Nehemiah was sitting on my lap. We were drawing and counting. He loves numbers. We stopped at 20. I said "Thats how old Mommy is" knowing full well I'd get a laugh out of Roger. Joseph over heard and laughed along with Roger and added a "yeah right!" I jokingly said that I was going to cancel his birthday party if he didn't say "My mommy is 20 and beautiful" The witty 4 year old that I have said "My Mommy is beautiful but thats it" goober

The Next Generation

Joseph is growing up so fast. He's such a little man. He is a HUGE help to me during the day. The other day I was in desperate need of a shower before we headed out to run some errands. I put on a movie and ran upstairs for a super quick shower. I could hear Joseph talking to Nehemiah and Hannah. He was telling Hannah "It's ok Mommy will be right back. Where is your baby doll?" He was just so good - no power trips. No bossiness. So I decided that I would reward him for his behavior.
We were supposed to be checking out small items. You know like $1 or $2 stuff. I was proud but come on, it's almost his birthday AND Christmas. Everything I pointed out he turned down. Then... he saw it. The Lego aisle. I think this boy dreams Lego. He gets that from Roger. Roger has a Lego collection that would put some ebayers to shame. (go ahead, check it out. People sell them at 35 lb lots. He can beat that I tell you. He can beat that.) A few weeks ago Roger busted out one of his Lego totes. Joseph was in awe. Every day he asks if they can play Lego's. He will happily watch as Roger builds.
So there we are, in the Lego aisle... he found what he wanted. A fire rescue vehicle. I caved. I convinced myself that it would be some good Father and son time as they built the thing together. Joseph carried it around with him for the rest of the day. He was extra proud because the box says "for ages 5 and up". He's only 4. He wasn't sure the people at the store would let him buy it. He must have been extra good because they were ok with it. :) He's so cute.
When Roger got home from work they immediately sat down to create.








There it is. His first Lego masterpiece. He is very proud. So are we.

Christmas Survey

Hey, incase you missed it... still hoping for answers to my Christmas Survey. Thanks. :)

What do you feed your 1 year old?

I already knew Hannah liked yogurt



But in the past few days I have discovered some other things that my picky little eater will actually eat.... such as jelly and cheese sandwiches. Or, as pictured here, chips and salsa. Yes, that is a mouthful of salsa in the 2nd picture.





Thats my girl.

Excuse the Mess

I am messing with my HTML. Roger wants me to listen to him, but I don't always want to... so this may take awhile. :) I'm not stubborn.

Long Weekend

Oh, the Thanksgiving weekend, where do I start?

Thanksgiving Eve Nehemiah got sick. I'll spare you the details. I will say 3:00am, strange noises emerged from the boys bedroom. Roger dealt with it. Thanksgiving day we still went to my parent's house as planned. Nehemiah was running around the house playing so we figured he'd be ok to go out. It wasn't going to be a huge affair anyway, just my parents and us. By the time we were ready to sit down and eat I had 3 cranky kiddos. The youngest 2 only ate grapes - not a normal part of our Thanksgiving feast, but I have picky eaters and came prepared. Joseph ate a roll with some applesauce and a few bites of cranberry sauce. He wanted to be sure to save some room for pie. The rest of us enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving feast.



Thank you Mom for all the hard work. It was delicious. I, um, sliced the cranberry sauce. Your welcome.
Thanksgiving night brought on much commotion. As I awoke at 3:00am... I will spare you the details. Black Friday we still tried to get out and catch some good deals. We went to the mall, after I loaded up on tylenol.

After driving around the parking lot for 15 minutes we decided we saw enough of the mall on black Friday and headed for home. I napped. It was heavenly.

Saturday we had some lovely plans in action to meet up with some ol' YWAM friends! Unfortunetly Roger got sick Saturday morning and couldn't come along to meet up with my friends. So 3 children and I, who by the way all decided to get up before the sun - the children decided that not me, went to visit my friends for lunch. It has been 2 years since I saw Christin and her family. I had never met her youngest. She is just as beautiful as her sisters. I haven't seen Jen in 10 (or was it 11?) years! I got to meet her husband and baby boy as well. That kids going to be quite the lady charmer. Too cute for his own good. Lunch was.... exhausting. Did I mention that my husband was home sick? I was there. visiting. with friends I haven't seen in YEARS. with my 3 kids. by myself. Yeah. Jen's husband, Dave will always have a VERY special place in my heart... not because he is a sweet man (he was a very nice guy) and not because he footed the bill (Dave, that would have been a nice touch) :) but he will always have that special place in my heart because HE FOUND NEHEMIAH! Now, in order to find something (or someone) it first must be lost. So, yes I'm sure you are piecing this together just fine on your own but let me spell it out for you. Nehemiah was lost. He took off running. I was behind him. I paused to ask Christin's hubby to keep an eye on Hannah while I chased the 2 year old. Thats where I went wrong. I blinked. Mental note. No blinking while taking care of Nehemiah in crowded building. The next 2 minutes are a bit of a blur. I'm recalling hearing a faint cry - of what I thought sounded like my Nehemiah. I prayed that Christin had found him and he was mad about it. I tried to follow the direction of the cry. After rounding a few corners I saw Dave and Christin. My prayers were answered. Dave actually found him. Near the toys. Thats where he caught him anyway, he was running. My heart started to slow down to a normal beat once again. I was torn as to what to do next. Do I leave? Do I buy duct tape and make sure he doesn't leave my side the rest of the afternoon? We stayed and visited awhile longer. It was crazy though. I wish I would have been able to actually VISIT more with my friends, but oh well. Maybe next time? Will you ever visit again? :)



Today is turning out to be a nice day. Roger is feeling better. My mom took my shopping. I actually found clothes that I like... and she paid for them. :) I spent a few hours without children. That was lovely. I think everyone is finally done with this bout of yuckiness that passed through our house. A perfect way to end a crazy weekend... a birthday and some cake. Happy Birthday to me.

All because it was on sale

In the past we have made Gingerbread houses and it has been a lot of fun. Sometimes I buy a kit, other times we use graham crackers and regular icing. This year, due to a bad experience with mice and an old gingerbread house I decided NO MORE. ...but I saw this at the store, and it was on sale, and it wasn't a gingerbread house so I bought it. Cute, right?




Now, I consider myself to be fairly competent with a pastry bag. I know my way around a kitchen. I enjoy this kind of thing and have many years as a daycare teacher (and Mom) to have a few tricks up my sleeve when it comes to building things with icing. I was feeling good going into this. I was sure that I would have to clear a place on the hutch for our cute little cookie Nativity scene.
And then I opened the box.
After at least 30 minutes of mixing the 2 separate bags of icing, and coloring them 7 different colors we were finally ready to decorate. I should have had 3 more people here helping. 7 colors, dyed, with WICKED food coloring and 3 children who suddenly seem to have very long arms.... this was not going to be good. I was constantly grabbing dishes from them "No, not yet honey. Let's leave it on the table. It's not to eat!"

Joseph had fun. He loves crafts.

Nehemiah got the hang of it pretty quick.

Hannah wanted to eat everything

Bowls of icing were flying around the table. Hannah wanted to be ON the table. Nehemiah had to be reminded not to eat the sheep. Joseph kept on asking "Is this enough? Should I do more?" I tried to get some icing in bags so we could do the eye, hair, button details, it wasn't going so well. The bags are cheap. The icing is thick. THICK. We improvised. This is what we wound up with

We have a ghostly baby Jesus.

A Camel that had some sort of accident?

I think thats supposed to be Joseph, and I'm thinking he looks more like a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head.

Someone vandalized our manger

And this is it. All of our Nativity pieces. It's sad. Very very sad. They look more like a Halloween set up than a birth of Jesus beautiful piece.

Here are some more pictures of our project gone bad

He ate all of the icing off of the sheep.

She ate as much icing out of the bowl as she could.

See it all over her face? I couldn't get it off! It was so crusted on there that I actually scratched her face when I tried to wipe it off! I had to soften it up first and then wipe it up.

Diving into a messy project, Joseph is a little unsure. Just to note - he was perfectly clean when he finished. The rest of us look somewhat like an Easter Egg.

So...the moral of this post? Should you find yourself shopping, and come across a nice sale item such as this. RUN!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Ok, sorry this one might not be appropriate for those of you that are visual thinkers.
No words were involved, but it was too funny not to get a spot on my blog.

I was getting dressed after taking a shower. Roger brought Hannah upstairs with me because she was sad I was taking so long. She was standing at my feet crying, that is until I started to put my bra on. One glance of me and her mouth was open like a hungry baby bird. Roger and I were laughing so hard she forgot that she was cranky, and hungry.

Another Hannah story... I have a shirt that is rather large on me. It's just way to big, but I wear it because I don't have a lot of clothes. (Yes Sara, that is why you see me in 1 of 2 shirts every Sunday. ) :) I was sitting on the couch and Hannah came up to me, pulled the front of my shirt down and said "boobie" !!!!!!!!! Ok, I was floored. We don't say that word. It certainly wasn't mistaken either, it was crystal clear, and her gestures sure fit in with the word. I do think it is time to wean.


and now all you visual people can read once again

Nehemiah doesn't cry when he wakes up anymore. I'm happy about that. He does however stand at the end of his bed (he's in a big boy bed now!!!) and yell "Mommy! Daddy! Can you hear me!?" yes dear, loud and clear.

Never before has Lysol smelled so sweet

ok, if you have a weak stomach you may want to ignore this post.
Don't say I didn't warn you.









I was happily sitting on our big chair. I had just nursed Hannah and she was sleeping. (we'll talk about weening another time) With Hannah and the laptop on my lap I was content. The boys were being good. Joseph was watching a short movie and Nehemiah was playing cars. All was good. Joseph had asked me for a drink seconds after Hannah fell asleep. I told him I'd get him one in a few minutes. I wanted her to be out before I put her down. (Yes I know... I do read parenting books. I know they should be put down awake. They scream that way. I don't like it) :) A few minutes passed and Joseph came in screaming at me about getting a drink now. He seemed a little "off" Just not himself. He never talks like that. I scolded him for such rude words... but looked at him funny at the same time "Are you going to throw up?" He assured me he was not, he just needed a drink. "My throat needs it!! I can't breathe right I need a drink!!" I was shifting in my chair to put Hannah down and take car of his drink situation when it happened. He threw up. A lot. All over the chair. The chair that I was just about to put the laptop down on. I don't do throw up. It makes my stomach do things stomachs should not do. So... change of plans... put Hannah in the stroller so she doesn't try to play in the nasty smelly puddle, because she is now awake. I cleaned up Joseph and got out the wet vac. All the children grabbed front row seats, they love the wet vac. I chanted "Oh God help me!" for 5 minutes as I sprayed and vacuumed massive amounts of nasty. Then I realized something. If I stuck my nose in my Lysol wipes container I could handle the clean up process. So, with a raised brow my wet vac audience watched on as I sniffed Lysol and chanted "oh God help me". It got me through. The chair is good to sit on once again, thought I know I personally will be avoiding it. The thought of sitting in that chair makes me want to run for the Lysol container. Oh, sweet fresh scent, I love you.

Christmas Survey

Ok, lets take a survey. I know blogger has a poll that I can add to the side, but it wasn't working for me. I really wanted to hear what you have to say anyway... I don't want to limit your answer to 1 of 3 choices.

How do you spend your Christmas holiday with your extended family? When do see the in-laws? Your parents? Brothers? Sisters? Do you travel? Does your family travel? I want the full scoop here, leave me a novel if you must, I really want to know. :) Oh, and please also let me know how you feel about this arrangement. Is this the perfect way to do things for you or do you wish there would be a better way?

Thank you

ER round #2

I took Roger to the ER again last night. My Mom, who is sick with mono came to watch the boys. We went to the hospital, and waited, and waited. It was about an hour in the waiting room, then 15 minutes of waiting back in our "room". The Dr this time was much nicer than the first time we were there. This guy actually gave us the time of day. He was very nice, well, thats pushing it, he was helpful though. So with yet another suggestion of what could be wrong with Roger we're turning to the internet for a lot of research. Hopefully we figure out whats wrong soon.





Hannah was an angel. She slept almost the entire time we were there. (About 2 1/2 hours) Here she is, still looking mighty sleepy. She's intrigued by all of the gizmo's in the room.

Joseph strikes again

I thought someone might find this amusing. It's in reference to Joseph and his brain comment... I said something to him yesterday and he smiled really big "Thats it! Thats using your brain Mommy! You must have had your batteries replaced!" yes dear, thats just what I did. Sorry, I had forgotten to change my brains batteries along with daylight savings time, all is well once again.

Random pictures

SPAGHETTI




All I could think was "Don't touch me!"
you have a little something above your eye honey
um... you need bath



RANDOM PHOTOS

She is such a climber! The wonderful Mommy that I am, I ran to get the camera before getting her down from the table. It's no wonder my children are naughty. :)
As naughty as she is... she's got the cutest little hiney ever!
My 3 boys. I don't know what Nehemiah is doing here, thats just our Nehemiah. :)
I missed it. A nanosecond earlier and this would have been the most amazing picture ever. Then Nehemiah got that glint in his eye and pulled Joseph over.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

I was talking to Joseph today. He was remembering things we did around the holidays last year and the year before. I was amazed that he remembered, and with so much detail. I said You have quite the memory Joseph! "Yeah, I know I use my brain. You guys don't use yours"
Well yes son, I do use my brain. Currently it's thinking Just laugh at rotten little boy, his day will come.

bye bye birdie

Ok. This is gross. My husband LAUGHED at me. I was with my jaw on my lap for more than a minute. I was driving, the family was in the car. I hit a bird. I didn't know that was possible, they do after all FLY! A whole flock was flying away and I saw this thing, man this dumb bird, it looked back for its buddy and never saw me coming. It hit my tire and the force shot that thing across the road. It was very disturbing. The thud was nasty. My husband laughed. a little too much.

My silly children

Ok, I know I just mentioned this movie... but I have to tell you how Joseph pronounces it. He will point this movie out wherever we go. "Oh look Mommy! They have RatPatoonya!" :)



Hannah was excited that I let her walk into the house yesterday. It was a little warmer out so I thought I'd let her taste a little bit of freedom. I put her down while I grabbed the diaper bag and our jackets from the van. She darted for the coupe car in the driveway and plopped herself down in it. Did I mention that it had rained the night before? Her bottom was SOAKED! I brought everything inside and came back out for her. She was sitting there as happy as could be, in a whopper of a puddle. I said Ok Hannah, it's time to come in. She looked at me and shook her head NO! I had to laugh, she's never done that to me before. Stinker.

Here we go - again

I think in the past 6 weeks Roger has worked about 2 of them. One trip to the hospital. One slightly panicked call to the Dr on a Saturday evening questioning if we should go to the hospital. I have no idea what is wrong with Roger. No one does. Our family Dr's have done all they can. We're beginning the rounds with specialists - again. Friday was the asthma and allergy people. Today I scheduled an appt (over 1 month away!!) for the pulminary specialist. More blood work later today. It's something to test the blood gases. The pulminary specialist will put a camera down Roger's throat to see if there is something abnormal there. But thats well over a month away. They won't do that at the first appointment. I don't know what they are going to do. He's had all of the "normal" tests done already. We're reaching our limits here. An employer can only be so patient. I can only pinch the same penny for so long. Please pray for us, for Roger.

Ratatouille

Thats what I'm watching. Ratatouille. It's almost midnight. Nehemiah is still awake. Roger and I got back from his appointment with the specialist at about 6:00pm. We had an easy dinner consisting of sandwiches and chips. Nehemiah curled up on my lap and fell asleep. My little boy has been boycotting naps, but can't survive until the end of the day. He didn't sleep for long. We know the dangers of long naps, especially when the nap starts at 6pm. Apparently he had one doozie of a power nap. I put him to bed twice already. I cuddled with him in his bed for 45 minutes. Every time he moved he said "goodnight" He didn't mean it. So here we are, watching Ratatouille. again. at 11:30PM.

At 12:30 Roger put him to bed. He fell asleep in about 60 seconds. Stinker.