Growing up too fast....

Well...this week is Gideon's big test.....Time to see whether he is ready or not for kindergarten....I am pretty sure he'll do just fine but somehow I am feeling some pressure for him. Tonight we have the Parents meeting to find out just what all this testing involves. We've already been given a clue by his Preschool teachers who have been preparing him for some of the testing...like teaching that the diamond is not a diamond but rather a rhombus and the oval is not an oval but an elipse....these are questions asked in the testing. When we had parent-teacher conferences last week Mrs. Diane informed us that Gid was ready...no problem...so that was comforting...she had done a test flashing cards with pictures of people, places and things on the cards and gave him 3 minutes to name as many as he could.....in 3 minutes he named 71 out of the 75 cards! I was pretty excited! Of course I don't know if all the other kids got 75 out of 75 or not but I was still excited!! But...needless to say...even though I know he's ready I'm still nervous about it....trying not to show him at all...but still nervous. In his parent teacher conference while we waited I overheard the teacher talking to some other parents about how their child might not be quite ready and how he was behind in gross and fine motor and speech...etc....I thought....."that is going to be us with Lucy" and my heart just broke for them. I came home from the conference more worried about Lucy than Gideon I think...I keep telling myself she won't be going to Kindergarten until she's almost 7 anyway so that gives us PLENTY of time...and my mom informed me that she was the same with me and my older brother Brad....Brad excelled at everything...I was usually behind in everything....so that made me feel a little better! Maybe it's a first child/second child sydrome... who knows....So...anyway despite the nervousness of the testing I am feeling like my little boy is growing up way too fast...I am not ready for Kindergarten quite yet!! We were sitting around the table the other night and Gideon turns to me and says " Mom....we forgot to have Cinnamen Rolls this morning....It's Cinnamen Roll Sunday" (we stole the naming the days of the week breakfasts from Keith's cousin...and it has done wonders for Gideon learning what day it is....Thanks Kelli!!)--note....I do not make Cinnamen Rolls every sunday...way too much sugar....way too much work!! Anyway I said...."Oh...I am sorry buddy....we'll have to have them another day" He responded confidently..."No mom....just mix them up today and then pray to Jesus that he makes Sunday tomorrow too!"--Problem solved...God has made the sun stand still before...he could do it again......maybe he'll make the sun stand still for a while so I can hold on to my little Gideon a little bit longer and he doesn't grow up too fast..... :)
On another note....I have officially had Ella weaned for 1 week tomorrow.....I am absolutely miserable but Ella has adjusted AWESOME!!! and is a MUCH...MUCH...MUCH happier baby...she was getting to the point that she wanted to eat all the time...wanted only milk and when she wasn't nursing she was screaming to nurse....anyway...I thought it would be awful...but she has offically gained her independence and has now realized there are other people in the world besides mommy....suddenly she loves to be held by daddy and squeals and giggles when Grandparents arrive needing to be cuddled by them right away....Praise to Jesus for his mercy in this easy adjustment!! Now...if my body could just get used to not nursing anymore!!!
Hope you're all having a great week!

Better Luck Next Time.....

So...yesterday was an interesting day in the life of our family....I was loading the kids up to take Gideon to his preschool...not even a minute down the road by the way and Gideon was first to open the door and walk out into the garage while I got Lucy and Ella. I loaded them up, buckled seats and everyone was in the van when I noticed a pair of socks Ella had taken off the previous trip in the van, on the floor...I thought..."oh I'll just throw them in the house quick and put them in a wash load when we come back" I opened the screen door and tried to open the main door to the garage...and.....low and behold....it was locked....in panic and frustration I began frantically twisting the door knob and saying quite loudly I might add...."No...No.....NONONONONONO!!!!" You see, we country folk don't carry our keys with us usually when going on small trips not even a minute away...we just shut the garage door....AHHHHHHH!!! I have to take Gideon to preschool so I get in the van...once in the van I confront Gideon....(by the way I had had a terrible morning in which the kids were fighting and screaming and crying quite a bit and was so looking forward to some quiet...no kid time-no excuse for my behavior though) I said "Gideon....did you turn the lock before you went out the door" to which he responded..."Yes"...I was so upset...I said "Gideon you are in so much trouble!" MAJORLY REGRETEDLY adding "You better have fun at preschool because when you come home you are in big trouble mister...to which I added...how many time have I told you not to TOUCH THAT LOCK?"...Gideon was looking very forlorn in the back seat and I snapped out of my nasty mean mommy coming out episode and immediatly regretted the words I had spoke!! I apologized to Gideon and told him I knew he didn't mean too, asked him to forgive me and gave him a hug....it was one of those I hate myself moments and even now as I look back on it I cringe. Anyway I got home and went to my neighbors house for help...and to use the phone. I called Keith...he didn't answer...my neighbor and I went to work on the door but had no luck so I camped out at my dad's house for the afternoon until Keith came home from work to bust the screen off the kitchen window and climb in....(on a side note...he had a blast breaking into his own house:) So....solution...in the future I will be carrying my house keys with me at all times....not just when leaving the house for a minute or two.!!! And....I need to work on my patience in panic mode....

The other big news to share is my wedding ring blues.....feel free to add suggestions in the comments column as I am at a loss as to what to do....so.....almost 9 years ago I married a wonderful man and we went to the jewelry store and bought our rings. The ring he bought me fit with my engagement ring perfectly and it was on a special sale rate of $99.00 dollars. Ok....so fast forward to 3-4 months ago when I look down and one of the brackets on my wedding ring is completely and totally gone....seeing as though we don't have a lot of time or money to mess with stuff like this I put off going to the jewelers until the past two weekends where I first went to repair the ring, then contemplated a new one when told that I could trade the ring in and the original price we paid would be subtracted from the price of a new ring ...the new ring just had to be double the amount of the original....so I looked at all the rings and decided.....to send it in for an estimate to fix the old one....the estimate came back today.....a whopping....$300 to fix it! AHHHHHH!! What do I do....I love my old ring....Keith gave it to me on our wedding day...I really don't want to trade it in and never see it again...but $300 dollars!!!! AHHHHH!!!....so let me know what you think I should do because I have no....stinkin....clue....!!!!
Have a great week!!

Excited but Exhausted...

This week has turned out to be quite a big week. Number one, it has been absolutely beautiful with sunny skies and temps mostly about 58/60 degrees everyday....I love the warmth of spring....it cometh soon.....tomorrow!! YAHHHHHYYYYYYY!!
So....on with the week recap...so I have spent most of the time the kids have been in quiet time, at school and or taking naps outside working in the yard doing major clean up work from our trees and cleaning out flower beds and let me tell you we still have a lot to do! Luckily two angels (who happen to be related to us:) came to our house about a month ago when we were in Virginia and Maryland and sneakily picked up what remained of the branches and twigs in our backyard saving us a TON of work!! Now we just had to give the yard a good rake and try and "spread out" the needles so the grass didn't die underneath the mass of them in the yard....that however has taken us a good month to get done...it wasn't that we didn't have the time because it really didn't take very long...it was more like we didn't have the freedom to do it....you know how it goes with kids....I was kinda waiting for a time when Keith would not be traveling and could watch kids while I worked or vice versa....well that never happened so this week, since it was so nice....I got out there and raked and raked and the backyard is officially well....raked...not to say it's perfect....I will have to be careful in my mandatory (in my own opinion) bare-footing in the summer but at least now it is at least feasible and I won't get too poked....anyway so then we had this massive pile of leftover branches and pine needles to disperse of and I planned to do it on Saturday with Keith...but....my AWESOME neighbors snuck around in the rain yesterday and burned them up in their burn pile....did I mention that I have AWESOME neighbors? Mind you this is not the first time they've done something like this. In the past I have caught them picking up sticks...mowing the lawn...spraying weeds.. trying the clean carpets.....bringing meals....shoveling snow..and all sorts of other stuff. Now....it is true that they don't have any kids and now no dog either to care for so they may be bored but they are soooooo unexpectedly kind hearted and I just love them!! We need to really pay them back sometime for all the ways they've bailed us out in the past anyway...huge blessing now we just have to fill up some holes and clean up the wood chips left from the stump chopper...move back our barn...plant grass and bam a new yard....well maybe not that fast but still...it's coming along. Today I worked inside the house cleaning and scrubbing my floors and bathrooms....I am absolutely exhausted and don't know if I can make it til Keith gets home but I am happy with a clean orderly house and a nicer yard....Clean feels good.....no matter how tired I am!

The excitement came just about 1 1/2 hours ago when my big brother called me to tell me I am an aunt again....YAHHHHY!! Everybody is heathly and happy.....They have a little girl...Jessica who is two and now they have a little boy Lucas Bradley....I love the name!! So...I am super excited but not about to go visit with my circus any time soon...I guess I'll just have to wait for pictures!! He was 7'bs 13 oz...smaller than the tank that we call Walter and the chub that was Gideon but still at the least a pound bigger than Jessica, Lucy and Ella! Welcome little Lucas!! We love ya already!! Can't wait to meet you and give you lots of kisses!!

Explanation

Ok----so Keith and I were looking for things to do on Sunday night and everyone knows we have a sick sense of humor sometimes.....well the kids had been playing with eatable playdough....made out of peanut butter...and we thought it looked an awful lot like baby poo and well.....tada......:)
Hope we didn't gross out too many people....it was kinda a spur of the moment impromptu thing...I was laughing so hard I was crying....you can hear me in the backround trying not to laugh outloud and see the camera shaking.....

Ahhhhh....we are so sick....

Oh Crap....

Happy Blog

Ok...so my last blog entry was incredibly negative so I thought I would write a positive one....

This last weekend was really fun!! We headed to Cleveland to celebrate Jacob and Josh's birthday with a swim party. Les and Jay had rented a hotel room next to the pool and we swam...and swam....and swam....and ate really good food....and swam and swam and swam...it was an amazing 72 degrees outside too so it was especially nice...felt like end of April rather than beginning of March. Gideon had a ton of fun. He was in his arm floatys most of the time....swimming all over the pool....we took them off to do some tricks but for saftey purposes and because he's not quite strong enough yet to be over his head without them....he had them on most of the time. Lucy took a bit to warm up to the water but once she did she was even letting go of us and trying to swim (with her life-jacket of course) Ella loved the water too...I think she could have stayed in the water the whole time. We stayed the night at their house and then headed home Sunday afternoon. It was a great trip...always good to see and spend time with family.

Yesterday I watched Devin...a foster kid of my friends one last time. He is going home to live with his parents now. Gideon was pretty upset that it was the last time we'd probably watch him. I don't know why....him and Devin were fighting back and forth quite a bit this time but still they have fun togethor I guess. My foster care babysitting jobs are working out quite well...although I am not...and I repeat NOT gifted at babysitting...having kids their ages helps out a TON!!! Anyway I am getting paid in meat....yes....meat...we are bartering...instead of payment they give me meat to stock my freezer. They go to the food bank for thier food for fostering and they can get up to 700lbs of meat and food for 7 cents a pound...so they are passing the savings on to me! It's great in these economic times...why mess with the money...it saves me a trip to the store and the gas money to get to the bank to cash the check and back home again! So...anyway it's working out well. Last night we were able to take the kids out in the backyard for a little bit of baseball and swinging. I am really looking forward to the warmer days ahead. I am already loving having more light in the evenings!! Well...I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy!!

Don't you hate it when.....

I absolutely hate puking...I admit it fully that I fear it like I fear a gruesome death....(I'm feeling very honest today:)...anyway...what frustrates me more than that is when one of my kids is sick specifically the one that can't talk.....and they can't communicate with me what's going on...how they are feeling....if they're tummy hurts...give me some warning that they are going to vomit...etc.....Seriously....it is so hard for me to just sit and wait for the inevitable....I want to be prepared....but ....unfortnetly with infants...there is little to no preparation until it's just too late....so a mother is stuck unable to do much to help the little one.....that's how I feel today...While I was taking Lucy out to the bus Gideon screams out the door...."MOM...ELLA SPIT UP EVERYWHERE"....Yah....great.....so I came in and diagnosed the situation....I asked Gideon if he had given her anything....like a pretzel or something....he said yes....I said did she choke and then throw up (I don't know why I expected a 5 year old to be able to answer this logically)....first he said yes...then...no....then....she just spit up....Ok....so Ella was screaming not letting me put her down.....and I have puke to clean up.....I manage to distract Ella with toys and clean up the puke....Ella then starts to whine again...I think...Ok...it must be the flu and not a choking episode....I have Gideon run and get a bucket and a towel.....no puke...in fact.....she is hungry....I give her a cracker...she eats it...and then another.... I then think....ok....she must just have choked....so I try and go about like normal and put her down....she starts to whine and cry.....this proceeds ALL MORNING!!! She is eating a little....which gives the indication that she is not sick but she won't let me set her down and is incredibly fussy and coughing a lot which gives the indication that she's sick...she was incredibly tired so I put her down for a nap early...I guess we'll just have to see when she gets up if she's fussy....I just wish she could say..."mommy...my tummy hurts and I don't feel good" life would be so much easier to be in the know as a mother !! Needless to say at this point I am not looking forward to the rest of the day!I am hoping she wakes up happyand herself and then my questions will be answered...but the not knowing and the waiting may just push me to my max today.....I think I am learning a lesson in patience.....sorry about the negativity....I just needed to vent! Wishing life with 3 kids could be easier at this point!

Pic's of the kids and Baby Walter

Only a matter of time.....

Feel free to zoom in on the picture so you can get a clear shot of what is to the left of the tree......Ahhhhhh can you guess what is going on.....Spring is nearly here....it's time to prepare the fields...and how do we prepare the fields......you guessed it....with nice warm manure.....MMMMMmmmmm....can you smell it.....it's only a matter of time before I do.......:) I found this particular "poop-flinger" quite interesting.....as it "flung" the unmentionables through the air...I could tell, because of the coldness of the day that the poo was actually warm....do you see the "cloud" following the tractor....I believe that to be poo steam....Yummy!! :( You see the ground is WAAYYYYYY too wet to create such a cloud so it can only mean that the "fertilizer" is warmer than the air and ground....Oh how I love living in the country....YEHAW!!

Anyway....enough potty talk (does that term count when it comes to a cow?? oh well)

So...we ended out the week last week quite differently than I thought it would...Keith was gone almost two nights rather than just one as I had hoped....he got stuck in the Minneapolis airport on the runway for about 2 1/2 hours because a blizzard was striking the area....Yah...this made me incredibly uncomfortable because of the recent downed planes due to such conditions....they would plow the runway....de-ice the planes and then allow a few to land and a few to take-off before they had to start the process all over again. Luckily he made it home in one piece and even earlier than first assumed! So, that kinda threw plans for a loop....the kids and I changed plans and went to my mom and dad's for supper for some "out of the house" time. Unfortunetly I didn't get much time with daddy because he got home around time for bed and then the next morning he worked until it was time for me to go work at the auction so we saw eachother in passing. Sat though we finally got some time all togethor as a family...which I was in desperate need for!! Sunday at church we had 6 baptisms and a young man who is an offensive lineman for Michigan spoke and was baptized. He has such a testimony....he grew up in the neighboring town and planned to go to OSU his whole life until he met the scouts for MI....anyway he became a Christian because of his girlfriend in highschool but unfortunetly last Christmas Eve his family was in a car accident and his dad and girlfriend were killed and his brother left paralized. Such a sad story.....but God is using him in awesome ways...leading guys on the football team and other friends to Christ because of how his life experience has changed him. Great message and even Keith enjoyed it....despite his feelings for MI :) Anyway it was really good! Yesterday we started out the week with a bang...I worked at the hospital and had to go to mandatory meetings...yay.....I learned all about infection control.....joint commission......saftey.......terrorist attacks........how you could freeze to death from the liquid oxygen tanks in the back of the hospital....real positive material :) But...at least I got it over with.....anyway then Lucy had an eye appointment....everything looked ok....but Lucy's got a cold and the Doc wants us to check a couple things when her cold is over to make sure there have been no changes in her condition.

The rest of this week looks good....we are busy with dentist appointments and other events. On Sat we are headed to Jacob and Josh's swim party....which Gideon is incredibly excited about. He wants to show off his swimming. I am amazed at how this "parent-child" swim class has helped him to swim. He has come leaps and bounds from where he was a year ago. He can actually "swim" now without floaty's or much help from Keith. I think we may enroll him in actual lessons this summer to perfect the basics he has learned but he should be pretty good to go...in fairly shallow water now! Anyway I hope everyone is staying healthy! We've been blessed so far but recently...as in yesterday have started with the respiratory junk that is going around.....COME ON SPRING....lets kill those bugs!! :)