Oct 8 - 17

Oh look! An extra long post! PLUS an apology! Yep, all  in one! Aren't you lucky!?! The week of the 8th was one of those emotionally turbulent weeks. It's that "going in to the home stretch" deal. The False Finish. Stephen was supposed to make it home by Tuesday, didn't happen. What were we to do other than say, "We love you. We are fine. We will see you soon!" When in reality we were thinking, "DUMB BOAT! QUIT BREAKING! WE WANT STEPHEN!" Yes, in all caps our thoughts flew out towards the boat that continued to have trouble. However, in addition to thinking in all caps we prayed. The Lord knew we needed him home for peace of mind, comfort, laughter, and strength/support. So, we called God out on it. Stephen came home on Friday evening!

To be honest, I don't remember much of that week other than Wednesday. We go to Awanas out our church. That was the first night I had the opportunity to go! Kyle had to sit and do homework throughout the entire time, but he did it! He did the best on homework he has done this school year! It was a wonderful experience for him because he finally had an epiphany! We have been reassuring him of how intelligent he is, how he can do anything he sets his mind to! Kyle didn't really believe us because he hadn't seen it just yet. Well, that night Kyle did all of his homework and did a fabulous job on it! I praised and bragged on him up one side and down the other! Thursday's homework went just as smoothly! Kyle finally understood it takes a bit of focus and effort combined with positive thinking! Friday Stephen came home and we all breathed a sigh of relief that he had arrived safely! Saturday was full of the kids getting properly spoiled by Daddy whilst Mommy went shopping and just HAD to get her first grande pumpkin spice latte of the season...in addition to a triple tall americano with cream. =) So yummy! Sunday was a wonderful time between church and family time, but it flew by so quickLY!

Yes, two caps at the end to emphasize speed...well, speed in typing. I have a 13lb-er on my lap trying to get into trouble. Yay for puppies!

Anyhoot, the thing I told Stephen the most when he was nearing the end of his trip was this, "I need a day with you." He gave it to me. =) We went for a walk. We ran errands. We (I) took a nap together. He picked up the kids (because I hadn't yet woke up) and did homework and dinner! I needed that rest. Abby did a fantabulous job on her Student of the Week poster that day as well! I merely showed her the supplies and helped glue, tape, staple, etc pieces where she told me to! I'll show a picture later.

Now? Well, now it is again Wednesday. The kids got their report cards today! Kyle made Principal's List! That means he earned As and Bs. Abby made the Superintendent's List! That means she earned all As. We are SO proud of both children! They have started in their 2nd school since moving, using a new curriculum, making new friends, and still rockin the awesome grades!

That is our life right now. It is SO nice to have such a wonderful hubby! It is so free-ing to go back to being just a mommy. I can keep up with the house, yard, cars, dogs, laundry, homework, meals, errands and still have time to play with the kids!

LOVE IT!!!!!!!


PS. It's fall!!!!

Oct. 8 - 14

Sorry no pictures.

Stephen made it home.



Oct. 1 - 7

Here are the pictures from the Monday "storm"

 

 

That mud path created the need for baths.

Dogs & I got soaked.

My white tub turned brown. =(

 

 

 

I LOVE my Big Man!

 

Frankie snuggled with me to make up for being such a mess today.

 

Yeah, I look awful. It was one heck of a day.

 

Abby lost her first 2 teeth on Tuesday!

 

 

Kyle got the packing from surgery removed!

 

Yummy Chicken to help us celebrate - plus, we don't have this where we live!

 

I love daisies!

 

Funny face!

 

I was tired. Cut me some slack...that's as "funny" as I could get!

 

On Wednesday I lost Frankie.

Completely MIA.

Searched what I thought was the whole house.

 

 

However, as you can see above, he didn't really go missing.

I still snuggled with him despite the fact he was a stinker and got up when he shouldn't have!

 

 

Sorry this pic is SO fuzzy!

One day this week, I don't remember which, we got to Skype with Daddy!

 

 

Saturday was semi-lazy.

The kids helped me clean.

We ran some errands.

We ate waffles w/ chocolate chips for dinner!

And we all bundled up with our favorite blankets to watch Planet 51.

No, they couldn't snuggle with me...which broke my heart.

My stomach is up in arms and my fear was...well, you can imagine.

 

 

 

So wonderful!

Check out our new waffle maker!

 

 

Funny face and smiles for the night!

 

 

 

Sunday dawned gray and gloriously cool!

55 degrees! YAY!

We celebrated by going for a walk!

As you can tell, the kids prefered walking in the ditch. =/

 

 Both kids had to act like Spiderman climbing a wall!

They also helped walked the dogs for me!

Ironically, Kyle chose the little dog (Stephen's)

and Abby chose the giant (mine)

We don't differentiate His & Her dogs, the dogs themselves tend to cling to the respective people.

It's kind of funny like that....

 

Abby has been begging to make cupcakes out of her kids cooking book.

Sadly, we will be using a different recipe tomorrow.

The recipe made bland waffle flavor chalky dough balls.

Yes, I followed the recipe to a T.

 

Stephen is on his way home!

My hope is to continue these picture posts.

It helps me count my joys, like out of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

You should check out that book.

It's life changing.

Sweet dreams!

Love & prayin for ya'll!

I will praise YOU in the storm

Seems to be fitting for today.

Kyle woke up incredibly slowly, no big deal

Abby woke up in tears from a tummy ache, but didn't want me to touch her after getting a hug.

It promptly became my fault Kyle was tired and Abby was hurting.

Long story short, I did not earn "Mom of the Year" award because I finally said, "Enough! I'm done! I'll be back once I'm calm & ya'll aren't angry."

Which didn't happen.

 

Abby threw up.

Kyle made it to school perfectly on time.

(Thanks to the fabulous Franklins..they are a common name in this blog it appears.)

Frankie left a wet present whilst I took care of Abby.

I put both dogs out, after they got uber wet & muddy I left them in the mudroom and went to try to make myself presentable for the now necessary doctor's visit to get a school note.

Guess who opened the mud room door so she wouldn't be alone!

Guess what happened to our home!

yeah...

 

Oh...a cramp...but...not a typical cramp.

Something was off.

Exercise!

That's a good thing to do!

Dogs went out, got muddier, also left in the mudroom again.

Doctor appointment set for 2:15pm.

 

Cramps increase...they are so not in the normal place!

 

growling?

Not from my stomach.

Barking!?

NOOOO!!!!

....

yes, Abby let the muddy wet dogs out again.

We took the dogs to go get Microchipped.

We have a FABULOUS vet!

They showed Abby the squirrels they were prepping to be released, she loved it!

As we were checking out, low and behold, Abby went pale as a ghost, clutched her stomach and proclaimed ready for launch.

I threw the pen & receipt at the poor receptionist and hurried her outside.

Frankie got a less than graceful entrance to the truck while Kaden was required to sit in the rain as I helped Abby into the truck.

I raced back in and asked for plastic bags because I somehow ran out of the 50million I normally keep.

CRAMP!!!!!

Kaden is graciously waiting for me without so much as budging an inch!

I loaded him and got Abby home.

She slept for 2 1/2hrs without incident.

Never got sick, PTL!

Her appointment time arrived.

At this point, cramps were rocking my boat!

My right side felt hugely swollen & tender.

Hmmm...does that sound reminiscent of December to you?

I had been running to the restroom a lot more than normal as well.

Abby got her throat swobbed.

Poor baby! It was awful & she burst into tears right afterwards.

She had developed a low grade fever and was hurting.

Next they decided to do a blood lab. Again tears and I don't blame her!

She did fabulously and I held her as she cried.

A urine sample.

We ruled out strep, thank You again Lord!

We ruled out a UTI, YAY! Thanks God!

We have to go back for another blood lab.

Boo!

OUCH! CRAAAAAMPS!

Hey, I think that was a kidney stone at that restroom break.

UCK!

We dropped Abby's nausea script off, got the tank filled with gas, picked up Kyle, and headed home.

Both dogs literally ROLLED in mud this time.

SERIUOSLY!?!?!

I gave no opportunity for them to be loosed on my house this time.

Straight to the bathroom!

Frankie did wonderful!

Kaden? Oh how I love him!

He did great right up until he squirmed and got me soaked, the bathroom sprayed, and almost knocked me over. Oh how I love him! However, I will say, after his bath I had him laying on his bed next to Abby on the futon. She was crying from her tummy ache & sheer exhaustion. Kaden tenderly laid his head 2 inches from her face and stared into her eyes. He never tried to kiss her, simply stared. Abby reached down, hugged his huge head tight, and cried into his neck.

Tender lovins....

Pictures from today will be posted at the end of the week, but I wanted to let you know God is there in the storm. He shows up in the most "unglued" moments of your day. He holds you tight and hugs you through friends, family, and pets. Roll your eyes if you wish over the pets part, but who created those pets? And WHO placed your pet in YOUR home? I guarantee you only have the things in your home that God graciously allows you to have.

PS. I love my hubby and am so excited he gets to come home soon!



Sept 24 - 30th

Is this a new week?

For rizzle?!

 

Wow - let me show you our week!

Despite what you may think, IT WAS FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Poor Doodle-bug decided to get a stomach something.

It was not a good something as you can tell by the picture at the top.

We were feeling better by the middle picture!

He surprised the kids and came home!!!!
(Thank you Master Chief & XPO on our boat!!!!!)

 

Of course, true to form, life throws curves and the bottom picture is courtesy of a 12 hour tummy something that Kyle caught. Stephen was my hero!

He helped Kyle through uckiness every 20 - 30 minutes.

 

Kyle informed me he couldn't sleep after staying up all night being sick.

We put him on our bed.

Neither Daddy nor Kyle moved from the positions in these pictures for about 6hrs.

 

Kaden & Frankie on the other hand got restless and we went for a walk.

Walking requires a stop at the fountains so they could drink & roll in the water.

 

Monday afternoon I received a call about moving up Kyle's left tympanoplasty.

(ear drum patching.)

I called Stephen who got sent home to us Tuesday evening.

Abby was still sick.

Kyle got sick and it looked like we would have to cancel.

Thursday was upon us before we could blink!

Kyle took it like a man!

The bottom left is a cool clock in the 1st waiting room!

 

Kyle joked! Practiced blowing up his breathing baloon!

He made it through with a couple of stiches and some yucky packing in his ear.

It leaked a little the 1st night, so that's why it's all yucky looking.

He gets drops 2x a day and bacatracin on his stiches once a day.

Friday was filled with groceries, errands, hair appointments, dinner, laundry, cleaning, oil changes - I burnt out! Stephen was a Knight in Shining Armor and helped me A LOT!

I still zonked out early and woke late.

But I got a surprise!

 

They made me breakfast in bed! All of us sat on top of a spare sheet and had breakfast together!

Stephen helped do a lot of the house stuff that day to help me because he's just amazing like that.

 

Surprise number 2 for me was top left!

Abby got bottom left!

Then we all went to run some errands and got some funny pics in.

 

I love my hubby!

 

 

You can't have a day of errands without a treat!

(yes, I sinned and had a pumpkin pie blizzard - it was delicious!)

 

Frankie felt left out in all of the craziness of this week.

Abby decided to help him by creating a monster fort in our dining room too.

 

Stephen left this morning at 8am.

Both kids are emotional and I still feel like he will walk around the corner at any moment.

Abby was blessed to be able to go stay with some good friends while Kyle was in surgery! She had a wonderful time, but her 6yr old mind only added up the minutes Kyle spent with Daddy.

Those minutes weren't equal to what she received.

Right now he is spending Daddy - Daughter time with her and she is jabbering away at a hundred miles an hour. He knew just what she needed!

I'm sure when he gets back he will be subjected to playing her games and more!

=)

 

Love you guys!

Hope you had a fantabulous week!

(I'd love to hear about it!)

Praying for you!

Sept 17 - 23

As you can tell by the previous posts, it's been a crazy week!

On to the good things!

PICTURES!

Monday was rough on all four of us.

We left Stephen in St Louis and came home.

 

 

You wish you could drive in this, don't you!

We were cruising at a beautiful 45mph on the highway at that point.

 

 

Kyle pulled out a tooth!

 

 

 

The tooth fairy found us, despite the fact we moved since the last time someone in our family lost a tooth.

 

My children would rather look like this for the camera than smile!

 

 

LOVE IT!

 

When the kids went to visit their family in AR, I had my dress sent off to be heirloomed.

It came in!!!

 

Yes, it's in a box...not what I really hoped for, but you will see later why I am now happy with that.

 

 

I love my dress =)

Someday I'll fit into it again!

 

Our tiny new addition has decided to lose all teeth at the same time.

It could have something to do with playing tug of war with someone 9x his size.

Anyhoot, he was in so much discomfort from all that teething (4 molars and all front teeth top & bottom coming in at the same time) that it was recommended I give him some children's Tylenol.

 

We discovered a new energy level in the little guy!

 

 

1 mile in to our walk, I decided to turn back. Frankie wasn't even phased at that point!

I think it was all the new sights and smells.

We came home & he slept pretty solid (outside of potty breaks) from 9am until 3pm.

 

Kyle lost tooth #2!

 

 

That night he tearfully asked me to tell him the truth. He knows I won't lie to him, period. That's our agreement. So - I told him it is what he believes in his heart that counts. If he wants to believe in the tooth fairy, that is fine. It's like Santa. Kyle didn't fully accept that. So I told him this:

 

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who had a very loose tooth. One day, after playing with that tooth quite a bit, the tooth fell out! The little boy was so distraught that in an effort to make him feel better, his momma told him to put the tooth under his pillow. In return, the toothfairy would come and leave money for that tooth! The little boy carefully cleaned the tooth, placed it under his pillow and happily went to sleep. Morning came and he quickly checked - there was a whole dollar in place of the tooth!

 

You can judge me on whether or not I lied.

Kyle asked if the story were true.

I told him no, but that was how the tooth fairy probably got thought up.

 

After all of that, the tooth fairy forgot to come. Kyle had even left a note asking if he could keep the tooth. When he checked and found the tooth still there, he was happy. Then he said, "Last time the tooth fairy still paid me for my tooth. I wonder if she's upset since I asked if she were real."

 

YIKES!

 

Saturday we enjoyed spending some wonderful time with great friends!

We celebrated a birthday, went bowling, and had cake!

The birthday boy had chosen shrimp alfredo for his birthday meal.

If you know my daughter, you know she loves shrimp!

So of course, we had to go home and making something of our own with shrimp in it.

 

 

So yummy!

 

Today we played it chill.

We did church and movies.

The End!

 

The kids watched Tooth Fairy 2 whilst I cleaned out some areas of my room.

My closet is TINY and I'm working on getting rid of things instead of being such a pack rat.
DISCLAIMER FOR MY HUSBAND!

No, I am not getting rid of everything. Just some things. So when you come home, you may not notice a difference, but I will!!!!

 

Anyhoot, look what I found!

 

 

Found a few in the back corner of my closet.

A few ON MY BED!

*shudder*

The traps will be baited and set tomorrow.

EW!

 

 

The day ended well though...

 

 

I love my Big Man!

 

Of course, as is the story of all lives (seems like ours especially!)

The day never ends without someone or something getting injured/broke.

My stoic little puppy (literally the little puppy) was acting funny.

Timid.

After watching him walk around I noticed something.

He had been injured while playing! The top picture is AFTER I cleaned it up.

Kyle & Abby would not go to bed and sleep until they knew he had been cleaned and bandaged.

 

 

As you can see, he feels he is now entitled to sleeping in Stephen's sleeping bag.

Because I am a softy, I am allowing it until I leave this room.

That "softy" side almost got me today.

Doodles has been acting a little under the weather. Today she played it up and almost got out of church. However, as my heart was melting into those pathetic blue eyes and sad little face, she twitched a smile.

That was the end of that.

I told her if she hadn't gotten sick to her tummy, she could probably make it through church.

"I feel like I could get sick really soon though."

Me?

"Well, when you are sick to your tummy & have a fever we will stay home."

My heart HURT to say that, but what else could I do?

Abby?

"Ugh! I wanted to stay home!"

My heart stopped hurting...

 

 

I love ya! I'm praying for you! God is going to do some great things this next week!

 

Well, I know it's late. So I will leave you with this...

 

 

Sweet dreams =)

 



Words...their a favorite!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love words. Especially big words! I don't always use them, but I love the way they feel and I love meaning! However, words have lately been my enemy. With Stephen off on his trip, I have been a tish bit frazzled. A lot of you think, "Wow...seriously? 2 kids and 2 dogs and you're frazzled? Psh! Try 6 kids and some of those toddlers!"

 

God knows I'm not ready for 6 kids yet - I'm not denying I'd love it though!

But yes, 2 kids and 2 dogs is keeping me hopping!

 

I am so embarrassed to admit this but lately my words have been a struggle. My tone has been lacking love. So - not only are the words coming out less than uplifting, but my meaning is not uplifting. Could I possibly do any worse?!

 

I don't think so. God says there is life and death in words. Think about it. HE spoke and you came in to existance. At His Word, time began. I have the opportunity to reach out to two precious hearts and help mold them for His kingdom, and I'm failing.

 

NOTE: I don't want sympathy. I am "confessing" of sorts and asking for prayers!

 

I became acutely aware of this tonight. Our precious Doodles was asking me to help her get seconds from dinner. I went to stand up out of the recliner. My cheekbone connected with the side of her head. Instead of checking to see if she was ok and laughing it off - I got upset. My words came out angry. Why!? Why do I do that?! It wasn't her fault entirely! I should have looked up to make sure she was off to the side. I should have just chuckled about my lack of coordination and gone on after checking her. I did make it "right" by apologizing. But I know I also hurt her feelings.

 

There is also my wonderful Kyle. He has been going through some moments. More often than not I find myself frustrated and thinking, "Grow up!" Did I mention he is 9? Yeah, he needs to be allowed to be a kid WHILE being responsible.

 

My words aren't speaking life.

My meaning is not speaking life.

God is working on me with this. He is using my family and supporting me His Word.

 

I just needed to get that off my chest. In the unlikely event you struggle as much as I do, know that I'm praying for you. We all have the power to speak LIFE through our words and meaning (which is perceived through word choice, tone, and body language.) Let's purpose to do it!