Now this is FUN!!

I added three new pictures to the post from Thursday. They are from the Zoo

We are all doing so well here. The kids are having a blast!
Today we went to the mall for lunch and then headed to Build-a-bear Workshop! We had so much fun in there. Amy chose this cute little white and pink bear that she has named Loveable! She had her choice made in less than 2 minutes. She was very sure what she liked and went with it. I SO wish that I was like her in that area. I can't make up my mind very fast at all. I second guess my every move. Joel was wonderful the entire hour that we were in the workshop making the bear!! (PS....for aunts and uncles this would make for a great gift for that special little someone in your life. They have gift cards available!)

When we came home Amy and my mom went swimming and Joel took a nap! This has been our best day so far. I am going to have a hard time leaving this warm place. I just talked to Emily on the phone and she said that it might snow the day we return home! Maybe we should stay here a little longer!!

Yippee!

Today has yet to be determined, but I wanted to post about yesterday before it got too late. Everyone is feeling better!!! Joel had his best day here, he was back to his normal self. Amy has not really had much of a fever. She is doing great. Yesterday, we spent many hours at a beautiful park. It was so nice to see the children run around and play. I needed them to be happy again! Joel is actually playing by himself right now. That is huge! I have not been able to leave his sight unless he was sleeping.

Thank you, Lord!

Okay, I am actually doing better than I ever expected that I would do under the circumstances. Lord, you must be in control.
We went to the zoo today. Both children seemed to be doing okay. We were there for about 30 minutes, when Amy said that her head hurt and she needed to sit down. I figured that she was just bored. NOPE! Not only is Joel sick, but now Amy has gotten the same thing! She is not doing too badly yet, but my knowledge of what the others have done says that the worst is yet to come!! This vacation has been anything, but a vacation. My family will need to lock me in a room when I get home and not disturb me for an ENTIRE day! I must say though, "Thank you, Lord for not letting me get sick too!" I am having a hard enough time dealing with all the fussing as it is.

Please no more "FUN"

Okay, I will catch you up on everything. As you know the boys have been sick. I had been very busy taking care of them and trying to decide if I should take Joel to AZ with Amy and I or leave him because he was sick. Monday night I had made my mind up... I would leave him with Jeff! Tuesday morning I was so depressed. I didn't want to leave him. I was angry at God for not keeping Joel healthy. I cried and prayed. At around 9:00, we were getting ready to pack up the van. I went upstairs to get Joel up and he was happy for the first time in three days! I was so excited. Jeff and I figured that if I kept Joel really medicated, I COULD take him!! YEAH!! We worked real fast to get everything packed again for Joel. We got on the road in record time. The two hour trip to Chicago was uneventful and that my friends, was the end of uneventful for the rest of my day.
I planned for us to get on our flight in Chicago just in time to get into our seat and take off for our three hour flight. That THREE HOUR TOUR (as I lovingly call it now) took four and a half hours! Let me give you all the details. We were planned to leave at 1:40, but some paper work kept us at our gate. After 30 min. of the cockpit telling us about this "paperwork" a man came to the seat across from me and told the lady in it that she has to get off, because our plane is over our weight limit. ( The man in front of me said, "She didn't look that over weight to kick her off the plane!" I just about died! ) The cockpit voice came back on and told us that we were free to leave now. The reason for the delay was because there was a HUGE storm in Salt Lake City and we needed extra fuel for the turbulence ahead. Man were they right about the turbulence!! I have NEVER been bounced around so wildly before and for SO long!! I am glad that Amy is young enough that it will not make her fear flying. When we got to SLC we were heading to land at the north end. Then they made us go back up higher and go to the south side. This is NOT a joke, 15 min. later when we made it to that side they made us go back to the north side. After 45 minutes of seeing more of SLC than I ever cared to see in the first place we were finally cleared to land in 15 minutes...on the south side! ( I forgot to mention, that between each change of directions that we took we had to go back up into the STORM clouds. I promise you this...I was praying as though it was my last prayer. I begged God to take care of Jeff and the children and to let us die quickly! ) As we landed I saw my next plane at its gate. We were scheduled to take off on it in 5 minutes! Amy and I ran as fast as we could, but they left without us. They were very nice to put us on another plane....2 1/2 hours later. At first I was not happy about the whole thing, but after I called my dad I felt much better. ( This is a whole another story as to why I couldn't call Jeff at that moment. I forgot my calling card and we do not have long distance, so I couldn't call him collect.) I really feel that it was God that allowed us to be delayed in SLC. After 4 1/2 long, SCARY hours on that last plane, we NEEDED the break and the Burger King. Thank you God for suppling all my needs. We made it to Phoenix with out much problem. Actually Amy made a friend on that new flight. Her name is Miss Jenny and she let Amy talk to her almost the whole 1 1/2 hours. Thank you again God! Our day was almost done, we arrived in Phoenix at 11:00 PM! Amy and I went to bed around 2:00 in the morning. I had Joel on the floor next to my bed and Amy in bed with me. I was between stuffy nose (Joel) and heavy breather (Amy). Not much sleep for the weary, but I actually feel pretty good. I hope to get some good sleep tonight!

More sick days

Thankfully I don't remember us ever being so sick before. Joel and Daniel both have fevers and I have a stuffy head. The boys are not eating much at all. In order to get Joel to eat some breakfast, we made eating FUN. We put his Cheerios in his dump truck. He liked that and he actually ate some of them! With all the sicknesses, there really is not much more fun going on around here than that.

I just had to add this picture of Joel in his diaper and slippers. He looked so cute walking around the house that way.

Amy has been our entertainment today. She has said some of the funniest things. Here are the things that we can remember.
Amy has not been responding sometimes when we talk to her. Yesterday I asked her if she was having trouble hearing us. She said, "No." Today must have been different, because she asked me if I would take her to see the doctor. Her "ear sight" was bad today!! (HAHA)
Earlier Amy was singing Rock A Bye Baby to Joel. She sang...Rock a bye baby on the tree top, when the wind blows the CRATER will rock. ( We guess that she doesn't know the word craddle and just put a word in that she does know.)
There is one more, but we can't remember what it was. I promise you though, it was adorable. I will add it when we remember it!

Emily is feeling fine. She is just sad because Amy, Joel and I are leaving in two days!!

Thanks Dad!!

I was wrong. Daniel's fever is GONE today!! I am so excited. He is doing much better.

Amy and I went to the doctor's this afternoon. She had a patch of warts that needed to be looked at. Well, not only did they get looked at, but they got frozen. Hopefully they will not bother her anymore.

I had the BEST conversation with my dad tonight that I have ever had with him before. We got to discussing his first jobs. I found out that he used to set up the bowling pins for bowlers. I was very interested in how this was all done. He did this during the winter and he caddied during the summer. He started working when he was 10!! When he caddied he would do it for around twelve hours a day and make only $6.00. I asked what he spent his money on and he mentioned candy, pop, and pizza. When he got his first full time job at 16, he QUIT school. I never knew that about him! (The things you learn when you ask the right questions) I wanted to know what he spent this money on and he said cars. The funny thing about his childhood spending habits is......that they are STILL his spending habits. That man never buys clothes, shoes, furniture or toys. The best thing about these habits though are, if he is not spending it on his own food or cars, he is buying us food or a van. (Thanks Dad, you take such good care of us!!) I love you, Dad. Thank you for sharing with me tonight about your childhood. I will cherish our talk for forever!!!

Sick days

Today we had a sick day from school. I couldn't make Daniel do school. He has had a fever since yesterday. He has developed a cough during this fever. He looks pitiful. I expect tomorrow to be the same. We will probably hear from him in the middle of the night. Not much else is going on here.
I am packing and planning for our trip. We leave early Monday morning to head to Chicago. We are going to go to a free "Goodwill" there. It is actually a ministry of Wheaton College. People donate their used goods and those of us in ministry can go "shop" for free! It is wonderful and a lot of fun!! After we go there we are headed to Jeff's grandparents house for the night. They live in northern Illinois, about an hour from the airport. On Tuesday we will fly out for AZ!! YIPPEE!!

Another reason

Here is reason #11 (why I love my kids) because they look so cute in sun glasses.

Today has been a great day. I received two phone calls from friends. Karen Sutton was my first call. She called to ask about the weather. It was so nice to hear her voice. I really miss her while she is away. The next call was for a MUCH more exciting reason! Amber and David Hammack are going to have a BABY!! I am so excited for them. Amber is going to make such a GREAT Mommy!!

Joanna Maines is spending the night again tonight. She makes me think that teenagers are not all that bad. Joanna is probably one of my favorite teens. Actually she is my favorite, for at least another four months. Then Lauren will take that place. Yes, you read that right. Lauren will be 13 in July!! On November 1st, I will have THREE children in double digits!! I guess that it is not just my baby that is growing up!

I love my kids

Things that I love most about my children....
1. They make me laugh
2. They cause me to think of someone other than myself
3. Their HUGS
4. Their differences (only God could make 5 people SO totally different and yet SO much alike)
5. Their ENERGY
6. The way they play together
7. The sparkle in their eye
8. Their many talents and abilities
9. Their love for small children
10. Their love and acceptance for Jeff and me

(This is just a small list. I could go on, but I don't want you to get bored. This was so much fun for me, maybe I will write more another day this week.)

I would enjoy hearing from you. What are the things you love most about your children?

The "new" toy

(This is the second time I am writing this post tonight. The first time... I was all done and went to publish it and it VANISHED. I lost the entire thing. I hope it works this time.)

The new fun thing to play with this day is a slide. Daniel brought it in from outside for Joel to play with. I was very nervous at first. I was sure that Joel couldn't do it by himself and that he would get hurt. Man was I wrong!! He went up and down the slide so many times all by himself! This is just one more piece of evidence that my baby is growing up!!

The other fun thing that we did today was to go to Daniel's LAST basketball game of the season! I wasn't allowed to rejoice for long enough. During the game, my friend reminded me that SOCCER starts next week!! Don't get me wrong. I love to watch my children play the games, it's the combination of games and practices that bother me. Both together are very time consuming! This season we have four playing, but only three teams to cordinate our lives around. The upside to this whole thing is that Jeff is coaching Amy's team. That is one practice that I do not have to go to.

March Madness

For those of you who have no idea what March Madness is, let me explain. College Basketball from noon until midnight!! The boys think it is great!


We girls think....well lets just say this picture says it all!!

Actually I am just teasing. We don't mind all the basketball. Lauren had taken this picture of Amy while I was away. I just thought that it would make for a great post!

Jeff and I worked at Granger again tonight. It was our last extra night. I had 10 children in my class. I was supposed to have 25! The low number made for a BLAST of a night. We all had so much fun. I honestly didn't want it to end!! One of the highlights of the night was sticking stickers on ourselves and each other. I wish that I had the picture that was taken of one of my helpers. She must have had over 100 stickers on her back. ( By the way, we were not wasting stickers. These stickers were going to get thrown away anyway. So I thought, why throw them away in the trash when we can just have some fun with them!!) You should have seen the parent's faces when they came to pick up their children. Some of them were very amused! I LOVED IT!

Joel

I am sure that I am prejudiced, but isn't he adorable to you too?! Joel has found a new place to climb. He climbs up a couple of stairs and then leans over the back of the couch!

Less than two weeks and I will be with my mom!! I CAN'T WAIT!!

This is all I have for today. I will have something more exciting to write about tomorrow or I will make up a very interesting lie and tell you all about it!

Bible Quiz?

I read the strangest thing in my Bible today! (I don't recall ever reading it before, but I must have.) I read about the boy that fell asleep in church, during the message and fell out the window to his death!! When I asked Jeff about it, he knew immediately where it was found. Do you know where to find this story?

Hopefully tomorrow will be better

I only have two things to say.

Number one.....I had a VERY frustrating day with a particular male child of mine!! He will remain nameless, but not faceless! (I love you, Buddy!)

Number two is......today I was given the BEST snack mix I have ever had. It is Rold Gold Colossal Cheddar Snack Mix! If you enjoy this kind of stuff you have to try it!!

Where else can you....

These two pictures are from Friday. It was a beautiful day, but still very chilly. I was out taking Joel for a walk and we found Jeff doing some work outside. We all had on our winter coats and snow was everywhere.
These are from today! Where else can a child wear a winter coat on Friday and then wear a bathing suit on Sunday? Can you tell how anxious we are for summer to come? It really isn't that warm outside (49 degrees and snow still on the ground), but kids just don't seem to care. I will say that the 49 degrees feels a lot warmer with the sun out. (Not warm enough to find me out in a bathing suit, but warmer!) Our van is now clean and the children are inside to watch a movie.
Yesterday I spent a good part of my day organizing our storage stuff. I have two van loads full of just garage sale stuff. It is so exciting to get rid of clutter!! I can't believe the stuff I have held onto for years. We are in the "get rid of it" mood and that is what we are finally doing!!

Several thoughts

I have so many little things running through my head. I hope that you don't mind my random thoughts tonight.
My mother-inlaw is doing great. Thank you for praying for her. She is home now. She went into surgery yesterday and she was better than they thought. She didn't even require a stent. I have heard that she is sore and tired, but doing great!
Joel went to nursery tonight at Granger. My GREAT friend Maria was in charge of the nursery and she was willing to let Joel cry as long as he needed to. He cried at first, but he did very well over the course of the night!!! We are so excited and HOPEFUL!!! He also went to bed very well for Jeff tonight. YIPPEE Joel!!
Today is my favorite neighbor's birthday. Happy Birthday, Karen!! I love you, friend. Thank you for puting up with me day after day! You are VERY creative and I enjoy being with you! I also love your smile and your laugh.
Tomorrow is a day off from school here. Jeff will be going to work while the office is empty, and he will once again take off Wednesday. I will be busy cleaning this house. I have let "somethings" go while working at Granger.
Today Lauren, Joel, and I went for a walk. The temperatures were in the 50's! I look so forward to this summer. Joel is going to be a blast. He loves the outside.
Joel is a very fun eater. This means he wants try new things. He gets bored of the same things. Tonight I made a tater tot casserole. Only three ingredients and the children loved it!!
One last thought and I am done for the night. I got an email from my brother-in-law today. It was labeled "For you chocolate lovers!!" I opened it and this is what he had written about the attachment. (Good News!! I thought of you immediately! Joe) That was very funny, Joe. You know me too well!!
Well, goodnight everyone.

Wisdom for Mothers

My friend Jenny Tolleson sent me a Bible Study workbook called Wisdom for Mothers. I started it today!! It is awesome. Today I read all about the Proverbs 31 woman. I have always seen her as perfection, someone I could never be like. I am starting to see her in a whole new light and I think that I just might like her now!! The author, Denise Glenn, pointed out the character strengths of the Proverbs 31 woman. They are trustworthy, compassionate, diligent, hard working, and wise. We all can attain these strengths with God's help. This will sound so stupid, but I like to be open and honest, I never thought that I could be like that PERFECT woman because I can't sew and I have NO desire to learn!!

Thanks to the Suttons, Daniel and Amy are now able to "ski" down the hills behind our house. They are borrowing the equipment for the afternoon. Jeff thinks winter is coming to an end soon. (PRAISE THE LORD!) So the kids have better get their "skiing" in while they still have some snow!!

Emily likes to shop!

Today was Jeff's day off. Emily, Joel, and I went shopping. I love to take Emily places with me. She is so easy going and in no hurry. Today my plan was to just go to Meijer to return something and then go to Walmart and Aldi to buy groceries. Emily actually asked me to go to two extra stores. Not just any stores, but two FUN stores!! We went to Goodwill and to the Dollar Tree. We had a great time. Joel was very tired by the end of our time, but he had fun getting out of the house too!! He enjoyed the freedom of walking around the Dollar Tree.

I am having some trouble with Joel that I never had with the other children. He will not let us leave his sight when we are away from home. He won't go to nursery without one of us there with him. Yes, I have left him there and let him cry, but the nursery workers can't handle his crying, because he doesn't just cry, he SCREAMS.....the entire time!!! They always come get me after not too long. So I have just given up and send one of the kids with him into nursery. Well, he is now SCREAMING at home when he gets put to bed. I am the toughest person in this house and I let him scream for how ever long it takes him to go to sleep on his own, but the rest of the house doesn't like me for doing it! I must say though, that after several days of this, the girls are starting to see the benefit of his crying himself to sleep. (He has gone from SCREAMING for over half an hour, to crying/yawning for about five or ten minutes.) Daniel on the other hand is not yet convinced that this is how a mommy should treat her baby! He gets angry with me when Joel is crying. I never had to deal with this when they all were young. They just went to bed without crying and joyfully went to nursery. I have seen the need to change Joel's dependence on us for sometime and I think that Jeff is finally seeing it too. I am determined to change Joel's behavior and SOON!!

I should have mentioned this earlier, but please pray for my mother-in-law, Sharon Herdklotz. Tomorrow, March 8th, she is going in to get some blockage near her heart taken care of. She is very nervous. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and that they can just put in a stent and not have to do any major surgery!

3 weeks from today

I have been keeping myself busy lately by thinking about my trip to Arizona. Three weeks from today Amy, Joel and I will be flying out to see my mom. We can't wait to go!!! We have been waiting for a long time, I bought our tickets last October when the prices were a steal! I had to save the money to pay for them, so I bought them when I didn't think the price would get any better. $128.00 each roundtrip ticket!!! It is my desire to go visit Mom every year. I plan on taking a different child with me each time. Joel was free this year so we chose Amy to go so that this trip would be kid friendly. We are not doing a lot of car traveling, next year we will go to the Grand Canyon and other site seeing places.

Mistakes

Many of my blog friends are making lists. Here is my list for today!

Mistakes I have made as a mother.
1. Want things MY way
2. Spanked out of frustration instead of out of love
3. Saw their negative character traits instead of their postive ones
4. Spoke in harsh tones (yelled at them)
5. Forgot to smile
6. Didn't enjoy them when they were small
7. Didn't believe that God could really change them or me
8. Get caught up in the day and forget to just hold them!!!

I have made many more mistakes than these, but these are the major ones. My children are growing up so fast and I really regret the mistakes that I have made. The Lord and I have been working on my mothering skills. Praise the Lord I am no longer the angry mom that I was when the three older ones were little. My children have forgotten that mommy and Amy and Joel will never have to meet her! It has taken me years to forgive myself and to change to the mom I am now. I have so much fun with them and we really enjoy ourselves together.

10:30

I woke up early this morning with Jeff. (He went to work today, while no one else was in the office, so that he could concentrate and get a lot of work done!) I read my Bible and prayed and then I went back to sleep. I figured the children would wake me up when they got up. I was wrong. They are getting old enough to do my job for me every once in a while. I woke up all on my own at....10:30!! I came out of my room and saw everyone eating Emily's homemade pancakes for breakfast. (Didn't she do a great job with the pancakes?) The children had taken care of Joel and made sure that he had eaten. Everyone was enjoying watching a movie. A lot of people told me that life gets harder as the children grow up. I 100% TOTALLY disagree!! Things are different, and some aspects are harder, but I will take them any day over four children 6 and under! It was SO hard when they were all young, I never want to go back to those days. My neighbor next door has three children
under 5. I remember what it was like and all I can say is, "You will make it through, you are not a horrible mom, and life will get a whole lot easier in a few years."

More Friends

My friend Rachel Pappas asked me if I would watch her three children for a couple of hours today. Everyone had so much fun. The time seemed to fly by. The girls played house. In the picture of the girls are Samantha, Reagan, Emily, and Amy. Samantha was the mom for most of the time. She is real sure of herself and knows just how to be the mom. She spent a long time "vacuuming" my floors with one of Joel's toys and talking on the phone. She is very funny to listen to. Reagan was the baby. Amy at one point spoon fed lunch to Reagan. The two of them sat at the table for about twenty minutes feeding and eating! It was precious to watch. The boys played basketball in the living room. They had a lot of fun. Joel enjoyed watching everyone else play. He laughed and tried to be a part of it all. The only child that did not have fun was Lauren. She woke up feeling just fine, but soon after our guests arrived she got sick. I just pray that no one else gets sick!

I cleaned our bathroom yesterday. While I was cleaning it I wondered to myself, "Why don't I like to clean." I grew up basically an only child. If anyone made a mess it was ME! My mom was a real neat freak. I would keep my stuff clean and no one messed it up on me. NOT SO NOW! I clean and they just go right behind me and mess it all up again! Don't get me wrong, they do a lot work around this house. With so many people in this small house it never stays clean for very long at all. I am stating all this, because I realized yesterday that it doesn't matter if I like cleaning or not....I still have to do it! I am the MOM!

Shipping is FREE

Daniel put himself in this box. I figured I should ask while I have a box big enough, does anyone want me to mail him to you?! As stated above....shipping is FREE!

All is going well here. Jeff's day off was great. The fun thing that we did was play in the snack shop. It is so nice to have a play room right across the street from our house. I will take pictures the next time we go, so that you can enjoy it too!

We are off to Granger again tonight.