Just a few ramblings..

Yesterday was a so-so day.  It wasn't the best, but I have had MUCH worse.  JJ wasn't coughing as much during the day, but when I checked him, he had a low grade temp.  Last night, he tried every excuse to stay up.  He was going to sleep on the couch again.  I slept on the big couch (if you can call it sleeping), so I would hear him if he was sick during the night.  After 11pm, he still wasn't asleep and even tried to get the little sweeper.  He said he was going to vacuum for a little while.  I made him get back on the couch, and I turned out the lights.  He finally went to sleep.
Mike called me yesterday afternoon wanting to know my plans for the evening.  He said he hadn't spent much time w/ Andrew lately, so he thought they would go riding around for about hour or so after work.  They went riding alright... right to Lowe's!  They bought me a new Weber grill.  I'm sure you are thinking... "She is excited about a grill?!"  Yes I am!!  I love to grill.  They tried to surprise me, but I heard them drive up and caught them trying to put it together.  I will be grilling some chicken tonight!
Melissa has been working on pics that she took at Bekah's party on Saturday.  They look awesome!  Looking at them makes me realize my babies are growing up.  Andrew and Laura look so grown up.
Well time to get busy.  Love ya bunches!

Bekah's party and the new "jumpoline"

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We celebrated Bekah's 3rd birthday yesterday.  Even though there weren't many people attending, we had a blast.  Of course, Aunt Lissa was there snapping pictures.  Love you Lissa!  Thank you so much!  My camera was acting crazy.  I'm thinking the shutter wasn't closing fast enough.  I will cry if it doesn't start working right.  I guess I can't complain though, b/c I have had it since Emi was a baby.  Bekah loved her Tinkerbell candle.  She got a set of Tinkerbell walkie talkies that she took with her to Honey & Granny's house last night.  hehehehe  Uncle Tracy, Aunt Lissa, and Matt Matt bought her a new tutu set, which she put on as soon as we got home.  We took two cute pics that didn't turn out b/c of the shutter malfunction.  I was so upset when I downloaded the pics and realized what had happened.
When we got home from the party, Mike and Andrew decided to put the "jumpoline" together.  The box had been sitting outside under a tarp for a week and a half waiting for the weather to be decent and Mike to have some free time.  I was the first to jump on it thanks to Mike. :o)  It was almost dark when they got it finished but we let the kids jump anyway.  They were excited beyond words.  Thank you Uncle Todd and Aunt Kathi.  I think it is going to be a lifesaver this spring when the kids are full of energy. 
Jacob had us hopping in the middle of the night.  The poor little guy was coughing so much and so hard that it made him sick.  He had a low grade temp when he went to bed.  I'm praying it isn't his ears again.  If so, I think I'm going to mention tubes.  I made him a bed on the loveseat and I slept on the couch so I could hear him if he got sick again.  He coughed all night.  Mike sounded the same way when he got up at 2am to go to work.  I just hope they keep it to themselves.
Well, my littlest man is hungry and I'm the only one that can help him.  Enjoy the slideshow.  Love ya bunches! 

Life...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A visit with family

Last night, we invited Tracy, Lissa, and Matthew over for supper.  I was going to cook a meal, but then decided to just go get pizza so we could enjoy the visit.  I didn't want to be in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning up the entire time they were here.  We had a great time.  Of course, JJ was so happy to see Matthew.  Let's just say that the house was NOT quiet.... especially with the new foam swords Uncle Tracy brought for JJ and Luke.  Oh my goodness!  Uncle Tracy also brought Andrew a treat... a little remote control helicopter.  Now JJ can actually play with his helicopter that they gave him for Christmas.  Emily just loved the puppy huggable massager that Lissa brought them.  Oh my... it was the source of a LOT of laughs last night.  Of course, what is a visit from "MyLissa" without books!  She brought more books and Bekah made her read two of them.  Two of the books included cds, so they will be able to listen to them when I can't sit down to read.  YAY!
Today, I'm hoping to get the first coat of actual paint on the boys' bedroom walls.  Each time I have tried to get in there to get it done, something else has come up.  I really want their room finished this week.  Mike has the trim to put up after I'm done with my part.  I'm ready to get the bunkbeds out of the schoolroom floor and get my house back in order.  As soon as I finish the boys' room, then I have to paint the kids' bathroom.  After the bathroom, I have to finish painting the little girls' room.  After that room, I have to paint Laura's room.  Then, I will paint my bedroom.  Looks like my projects list is taller than I am.
Going to be productive.  Love ya bunches!

From one extreme to the other

Okay, you remember me blogging about Jonathan having a what seemed to be neverending bout w/ diarrhea.  Well now, he is pooping at all.  He may have smeared 2 diapers this week.  Geeze!!!  I have tried almost every thing I know to do.  I have tried Karo syrup, a suppository, etc. with no success.  I'm going to try giving him some apple juice, b/c that always makes the others have upset tummies.  If that doesn't work, I'm just gonna cry.  I know my little man's tummy has to be hurting.  He has just fallen asleep on the shoulder and looks just like Bekah.
Have a blessed weekend.  Going to try to get some painting done.  Love ya bunches!

Happy Birthday Bekah Rae!!!

My baby girl is 3 years old today.  She has been telling us for weeks that it was her birthday.  Mike is hoping to get home earlier enough to take her on a Daddy date.  Oh how our kids live for those special one-on-one times w/ my wonderful husband. :o)  I'm thinking I need a date w/ him to celebrate my UNbirthday!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

The 12th already?!

Goodness!  We will blink our eyes, and January 2010 will be gone.  It has been so crazy around here that the time is flying by all too quickly.  My babies are growing up.  My Bekah Rae will be 3 on Friday.  Jonathan is already 2 months old.  I have TWO teenagers in the house.  I'm telling you that as crazy busy as my life is, I'm not looking forward to one day not having any kiddos in the house.  Although, I would have grandbabies by then to love and spoil!  And I would get some quiet time w/ Mike, which is something we don't get to enjoy as much as I would like.  I will miss these days of not knowing which way to go next, noisy afternoons b/c it is too cold or wet to go out to play, huge messes to clean up after the little ones are finished playing, etc.  I will miss the long days of lessons with many interruptions, the mountains of laundry.
Mike and I took all the kids to SAV Sunday afternoon.  Of course, Bekah had to add a little excitement to the trip by getting car sick.  We have become very good unbuckling and grabbing the trashcan as soon as she does "the cough."  You moms know that cough.  We started our day at the outlet stores.  I got a couple outfits for Bekah's birthday and a few other gifts.  Then we headed the Oglethorpe Mall.  All I can say is we hit the jackpot at Old Navy.  We walked out of there w/ 3 big bags full of clothes for $90.  Of that total, there was a sweater for Laura that was $24.50 and a belt for Andrew that was $15.  We got pants for the little ones for $1.47, matching button up shirts for the three little boys for $1.47 each (glad I didn't buy those the week before Christmas for $14.50 each), t-shirts for $0.47.  Laura and I just glanced over the women's clothing, but didn't take the time to really dig through them.  I'm sure if we would have had the time to really look, we could have pieced together some cool outfits.  But the natives were getting restless and hungry.  We took them to supper at Masato's... YUMMY!  We didn't have to share a table with anyone b/c we took it up with our small army.  YAY!  The only drawback to Masato's is that you have to share a table with riff-raff sometimes.  The meal was sooooo good.  It was Luke's first time there where he actually knew what was going on .  His reaction to the fire... "Wow!  Wow!"  He loved it.  I forgot my camera in the van, and it was too late to get it by the time I realized it.  After a wonderful meal, we went to Target to walk some of it off.  We were so full that we were miserable.  Of course, we brought our leftovers home for lunch the next day.  Anyhoo, back to Target.  Laura had money from Christmas that she wanted to spend on clothes.  We looked around Target and she found a cute dress.  I found several cute dresses that I would love to have, but my clothes have to be separates until I am finished nursing Jonathan. :o(  We had a great day together. The little ones loved their trip to Target.  Not sure why, but they love Target as much as I do.
Well, off to start another load of laundry.  Love ya bunches! 
   

A few things going on around here...

Adam, Kara, and Makenna left Monday morning to go back to Pennsylvania.  I have to say I wasn't ready for them to leave, but then I don't think I will ever be ready for them to go back.  Mike and I are trying to work out details to go see them in March.  We will stay a week in Iowa, then hopefully head to Pennsylvania for a week.  YAY!  Logan will be born at the end of February, so we will be able to get some baby sugar. Emily, JJ and Bekah will be excited to spend more time with Makenna.  Here are a couple pics taken Sunday night.  Emi was NOT happy that Makenna was leaving.  I'm going to be nice and not post the pic of Kara and Jonathan, b/c Kara would kill me.  She didn't want me to take the pic, but I needed a pic of her and Jonathan.  I wish I would have gotten a pic of her and Bekah.  Bekah stayed right up under her most of the time. 

Monday afternoon, Mike and Andrew put up the new light in the kitchen.  I love it!  The bulbs we got for it are so much brighter than the bulbs in the old light.  The new light matches our other light fixtures in the kitchen much better.  Since there was nothing wrong w/ the old fluorescent light, they put it in the laundry room giving me a lot more light in there.  I didn't take a pic of the finished project.  Sorry! 

You all know that JJ has been the source of a lot of excitement around our house.  Well yesterday, he provided more!  We were all in the other end of the house when Laura and the little girls decided to get out the Easy Bake oven to make some goodies.  Laura heard some water running and thought someone had the sink on in the bathroom.  When she asked who left the water running, JJ said, "Well.... it might have too much paper in it."  She ran to their bathroom to find water standing at least 1/4", with the toilet continuing to pour out water that was flowing right into the vent.  I ran in to turn off the water while Laura started searching for dirty towels.  Of all time for me to be caught up on most of the towels!  We were able to find enough to stop the water from flowing into the vents.  I sent JJ to his room b/c I was too upset to deal with him at the moment.  When he saw that the toilet was overflowing, he turned out the light and closed the door so he wouldn't get in trouble instead of coming to tell me.  He had put a half roll of toilet paper in the toilet!  Mike and Andrew had gone w/ Papa to get feed for the cows.  I called him b/c I was afraid the water had went into our unit that was under the house.  He came home to find that the flexduct had gotten so heavy w/ water that it fell to the ground... keeping the water out of the unit.  The water had torn down some of insulation too.  Needless to say, JJ spent the rest of the day in his room.  Mike and Andrew had to go buy more ductwork and then put it up in the COLD.  They weren't too happy.  Mike talked to JJ about coming to tell us if something like that happened again.

Well, enough about the excitement around here.  I need to get some sleep.  Jonathan's stomach has finally stopped churning, so maybe we can get some sleep.  Love ya bunches!

 

Happy New Year!

Wow!  I can't believe it is already 2010.  I was just getting used to 2009.  The year 2009 wasn't so bad for us.  We made our annual trip to Iowa in March.  While we were there, we found out we were pregnant with Jonathan.  We are blessed that Mike still has a job when so many others in this country are without work.  We have 7 healthy children that bring us a lot of joy. 
I was soaking in a hot bath when 2010 came in.  Does that mean I will have a relaxing year?  LOL  I doubt it.  Laura and I took the tree down and put it away after midnight.  The ornament boxes are ready to go in the shed as soon as it starts raining.  Bekah was so upset when she got up and couldn't find the tree.  She wanted to leave it up all year.  Laura or Andrew told her that the Grinch came and took the tree.  Gotta love teenagers!
Well, I'm off here to get some things done.  My laundry is FINALLY caught up.  Now I'm just doing maintenance laundry.  Praying the New Year is full of blessings from God for each of you.  Love ya bunches!