Good bye 2009

Well I wouldn't say this was the worst year I have had in my life but it definitely wasn't the best! We as a family have learned a lot and have grown a lot through all the trails that the year 2009 brought with it. We had some really fun trips and good memories along with the not so fun stuff. I am just so happy and blessed to be here another day with my family so for that 2009 couldn't have been *that* bad. I will say I am looking forward to starting fresh with a new year. So let's make 2010 the best year EVER...well at least a good one!

It would be nice to start the new year with an offer on our house too...I'm just saying.

Merry Christmas!

I sit here almost 1pm on Christmas day in my pjs still. I love the laziness of today and how we can focus on what a great Savior we have and enjoy the blessings of family. This year J and I decided that we weren't going to go crazy with presents for the kids and in fact we weren't suppose to get each other gifts either. (He doesn't follow the rules) The kids each got a big gift and then a couple small gifts from each other. I really want to teach my kids to give and not always look to receive. We took them to the dollar store and we let each kid pick out two gifts for each of their siblings. It was really cool to see all the thought that each child went through to get gifts that each of their siblings would love to get. My favorite gift opening was my oldest GG, she has been asking for a baby alive for so long. Her friend down the street has one and they would play with it over the summer and I got to see really what that doll was all about. I love the concept of teaching our girls to be loving and nurturing mothers, they have to feed, change and everything else with this doll. She opened that gift and went CRAZY. Last night she had gotten a stroller for *this* doll but she thought it was for her other babies! I loved seeing the joy on her face. As for J not following directions he went out and got me presents anyway. I knew I was going to get two gifts...ones I get every year...a precious moments ornament and a calendar. He also got me a new water bottle since I had to get rid of the one I got last Christmas from my sil and bil. Then about an hour after all the gifts were open there was a present sitting on the couch with the camera pointed at it. I was confused as to what was going on. We had said NO GIFTS. He said it was for me and to go open it. He had gotten me a pair of Uggs. I can't even tell you how excited I am about that. Now my feet will be warm and snuggly. I have wanted and thought about getting some Uggs for the LONGEST time. I just couldn't do it with the price tag. I am a little spoiled this winter because a few days ago I finally broke down and bought a real down winter coat that goes almost to my feet and with a hood...it is so warm.

We are going to be celebrating Jesus' Birthday after Peanuts nap. I made a cake that we can actually eat I just hope it tastes good! Here is the recipe if you are curious...

2 1/2 cups coconut flour
2 tsp.baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. organic butter
3/4 c. agave
4 tbls flax powder
1 medium chopped apple in food processor
3 large carrots in food processor
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9 X 13 inch pan.
Mix together dry ingredients.
Make a slurry with 1 c. water and 4 tbls flax powder. Add in the slurry mixture. IN a separate bowl add in applie, butter, vanilla, agave. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix thoroughly. Place apple and carrots in a food processor and pulse until fine. Add carrots, stir and pour into pan. Bake for 75 minutes or until done.

Cool and serve.

I made a frosting with almond flour, almond milk, vanilla and agave.

Finally some more news...

The doctor's office called today with 3 of the kids c4a levels back. Just a reminder the normal range is 0-2830. I was 19,605. GG, who gets migraines had a level of 8316...no wonder she has headaches. Monkey, who had tummy issues like me, had a level 7069. Peanut who had the highest level of arsenic had a level of 7281. It will be very interesting to see what happens when Red's tests come back. Speaking of Red's blood work, he had his blood taken a week before the other kids. Then that night they called and asked me to bring him in the next morning to get more blood, so I did. Then when the tests should have been back I called to find out the results and the lab said they needed me to bring him back in and get more blood drawn. I was not a happy mom, to say the least. He got his blood taken yesterday for the 3rd time and hopefully we will get the results in about 3 to 4 weeks. Also got back the three other kids leptin and VEGF and they are all within the normal range so that is good! I went to the store yesterday and got a bunch of veggies and some fruit to juice to help me detox and also the kids. I figure if I am making myself some juice I can make them some too. My hope is to do a 3 day juicing fast I just need to decide when. We have two celebrations coming up on Sunday and Monday. I could start Tuesday but then my fast would end on the big New Year's Day party we go to that has TONS of food. Thinking that would not go over so well with my digestive system! Maybe I will do a one day on the 29th to see how I do and then try the 3 day Jan 2nd through the 5th or maybe longer depending on how my body does. I really want to do a 20 day fast at some point to really detox my body.

Other than all of that stuff the kids are doing great. They are eating food that I NEVER thought they would eat and they are asking for seconds. Last night I made chicken enchiladas minus the shells and the sauce on top, so basically the ingredients that you put inside of them. But they loved it and asked if I would make it again. They are eating asparagus soup and stuffed peppers, without complaining. Though I will say that Peanut does not like the stuff peppers, she sat at the table for almost an hour with the same bit in her mouth. I remember doing that as a kid. She is so my daughter. I can see so much of me in her...poor girl. They are getting used to giving away the candy they get from school and church to other kids.

This post was interrupted by my three oldest kids preforming "We 3 Kings". They sang the words and had motions to go with it. VERY cute wish I could of recorded it :)

I have found a few families around here that are dealing with the same health issues as us and the kids and I are meeting with one family next week. I am excited to get to talk one on one with another mom/women who has been battling the same pains and doc appointments and so on. I think it will be great for the kids to be able to talk about all the stuff without feeling alone because they will have kids about the same ages to play with and talk with. If nothing else they have in common that both of their moms have been sick for a long time and struggling to get better. I know I am getting better but I have a LONG way to go to be completely recovered. My body reminds me of that weekly. Though in no way do I feel the way I did 6 months ago. I feel better physically and I feel empowered to get better with the knowledge I have learned on this journey. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. I'm so thankful to be able to spend another Christmas with my family and bonus to be feeling better!

10 years...

J and I finally made it into the double digits of being married. As I sit here thinking of all the things I want to write about I smile and I tear up. We have been through SO MUCH stuff. But I would venture to say that most married people go through good and bad things. In fact people in general go through that kind of stuff. Though looking through the years I wouldn't take any of it back even the really bad and ugly things that have transpired. It has made us who we are as a couple and has strengthened us. God has been so good to protect us from things that could have happened in different situations. If you have read this blog for any length of time you know that I was sick with an unknown something for the last two years and over the last 3 months have started to recover and get better. There were seriously days I thought I was going to die and I'm pretty sure that J thought the same thing. That is only a fraction of our married life. We have celebrated many things through the years. The birth of each of our four beautiful children, J getting his first job, buying our first home and going on fun family vacations just to name a few of the big ones. But I would have to say the day to day happenings are probably the best memories I have, playing games with the kids, doing family devotions, or just chilling at home together as a family. God is so good ALL. THE. TIME.

Tonight J and I are going out on the town. We are going out to eat and then walking around the Mall I am hoping to get some new clothes but just being with J one on one is really good enough for me. I want to end this with 10 of my favorite things about J.
1. His priorities: God 1st, Me 2nd, Kids 3rd and then everything else.
2. How he provides for the family with a good attitude. (Attitude is so important to me)
3. How he makes me feel special.
4. How loving he is with the kids but firm when needed. They love their daddy.
5. When he plays the guitar at home or at church. Giving God all the glory.
6. That he is a leader in the church, not just as a Deacon but in the children's ministries.
7. How handsome he is, he still makes my heart skip a beat when I see him.
8. How playful he is, even when he jumps out at me when I come out of the bathroom and freak me out.
9. How helpful he is around the house and therefore teaching our children to serve others by helping.
10. Basically I love everything about him even his little quirks! I can't wait to spend many more years with you, J.

movie time

here is the other movie that too long to upload the other day but I think is just so funny because of all the words she says incorrectly but so cute! Enjoy ;)

Fun Times with a 2 year old

I just love the days when it is just Peanut and I at home. She is just such a funny little girl. Today I am attempting to make apple butter for the first time. I had bought a jar at a pumpkin farm in October and LOVED the way it tasted. I came across a recipe for apple butter in my new cook book of things I can eat so I thought I would give it a try. Well Peanut is a very chatty girl and asked me about a million times what I was doing as I was peeling the apples. It got so bad that I started asking her what she thought I was doing! But I do love her. I am currently trying to upload some really cute videos to my facebook account but it isn't working so I thought I would go the good ole blog route! I hope this works :) The first one is of her singing away in the manger kinda sorta anyways! You will have to wait for the second one because the first took too long!

More pictures! Halloween and Christmas :)

We traditionally put up our Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) but this year we didn't. It was in the garage at our old house. J and I had talked about whether we should bring it or just not have a tree this year. He was saying we should just leave it and not have a tree this year because we don't know if that tree was infested with the mold or not. After not having it up the first few days after Thanksgiving we both decided that we needed to go get it and put it up. It just didn't "feel" right not having one. Here are the pictures from our Christmas tree decorating night. The kids each put up the ornaments with their names on it from years past oh so fun!

I know this is a lot late but here is our Toy Story crew!
Monkey: Woody
Red: Buzz
GG: Jesse
Peanut: Bo Peep

PICTURES

Yeah I know the ole blog has been lacking some pictures. Here are the pictures of our puzzle in progress during our Thanksgiving break. We had a lot of fun doing it together!








I just realized that I didn't bring the other memory stick for the camera that has the new sidebar pictures for the kids. Ugh! They are going to be so outdated by the time I get them on here.

Thanksgiving

I think I have to say that this year was the BEST thanksgiving I have ever had. It was just the six of us in our new place. We had all food made from scratch and just spent time together as a family. We played the Wii, built more of our puzzle and of course ate until we were so stuffed. The kids seriously ate so much food. I had no potatoes or zucchini left! We have just under half the fruit salad and about only half of the 12 pound turkey left. Good little eaters. Then came time for the pies and they once again did not disappoint I 4 pieces left of both pies. I am just so happy and thankful for my little family. We aren't prefect but we are certainly perfect for each other. I thank God every day for the people He has placed in my life and for the children in my care. We have such a great and loving Heavenly Father. I am also so happy to be feeling better everyday. Thank you Lord for loving us and blessing us with exactly what we need.

Thanksgiving Break

The kids have been off all week so we have been keeping the kids busy with activities so that they aren't misbehaving. We started a 1000 piece puzzle. The only one helping me put it together at this point is GG. She is really good at puzzles though this one is a bit hard. We get about 50 pieces put in a day during the two little ones naps. On Monday the kids went to Trader Joe's with me and they were so absolutely well behaved. It was so much better than the last time I took all four grocery shopping. They each came away from the store with a balloon, stickers and a fruit chew. They found Gorilla Joe which is why they got the fruit chew! Tuesday they each had a friend over. Yay there were a lot of kids in our house but they had a great time. Today they have been helping with making food. GG helped make the pie crust for the apple pie. Red and Peanut helped with making two different kinds of bread. The banana bread is for tomorrow and the other is for me. GG is going to peel potatoes for me tonight and Monkey is going to help with the apple pie filling. Red is going to help make the fruit salad after his nap. I love making everything from scratch it taste so much better is SO much healthier for us! Our menu for tomorrow is Turkey with garlic and rosemary, fruit salad, stir fried zucchini, red mashed potatoes, apple pie, and cheese cake. We are going to be eating good. This is the first time I have made EVERYTHING for the feast. Well the puzzle is calling my name...oh yeah I have taken a picture of it each day when we are finished so hopefully I can post them when I am done.

Some News

The kids doctor's office called with some of their labs back. The good news is that their CBCs are good and there was no lead found. I was not shocked to hear any of that as that is what I was hoping for. However, the heavy metals did not turn up so well. GG, Monkey and Peanut all had levels of arsenic in them. The normal range for it is 0-50. GG was 19, Monkey was 17 and Peanut was 46. Peanuts labs concern me BIG time. To the point where I had trouble sleeping because I really didn't know why there is arsenic in her body and why hers was so high. I did some research to find out how arsenic gets in your body. It is naturally occurring in our drinking water, salt, some foods, and wood. Now you might notice that I didn't have a level for Red that is because there was none found in him. This put in into a whole different thought process. Out of all my kids Red has had the least amount of vaccines. Do they put arsenic in vaccines? Well they put mercury in them so what makes us think they wouldn't put that in them. I did some more research to see if I could find arsenic in vaccines. My search came up empty. Though I did find some other very alarming chemicals and things that are put in vaccines. When I had my labs done I had small amounts of other heavy metals plus arsenic being the highest level of 7.7 and J got his back and his arsenic level was higher than mine. Something is not right that is all I have to say. I am very thankful that Red doesn't have this harmful metal in him but I want to know why the rest of us do! When we get the rest of our results back it should be very telling. I am waiting for 2 tests for Red and 3 for the other 3 kids. I did get Red's leptin back and it was fine so that is good. If anyone reads this and has any knowledge or understanding of arsenic if you could pass along your information to me that would be great! I just my kids completely healthy.

Waiting Game

I think this is one of the hardest things for me to do is just wait now for the doctors to call. I am waiting for my doctor to call with a referral for an acupuncturist. I am waiting to hear from the kids doctor about their blood work though I know this will not come in until the beginning of December I am waiting all the same.

I started reading My Sister's Keeper. Man, it is a good book but not a good thing for me to be reading while I wait. The little girl got diagnosed when she was Peanuts age and I keep thinking what if they call and find that there is something really wrong with her. Then I have to give those thoughts over to God because I know HE knows the future and He will take care of every little detail.

Then we are waiting with our house. Waiting to get the paperwork from the hygientist that clears our house of any mold issues. Waiting for an offer of someone to buy it. Waiting and researching to see if we should lower the price and still be able to afford another house. I really think God is teaching me patience as there is nothing I can do to make any one of these things move any faster.

Rough Week

This week has proven to be pretty rough and it is only Tuesday. J is working some overtime this week with some grant money that needs to be used up which is nice but he has to be at work by 6am which means he isn't home to help in the morning. Plus, I wake up when he gets up at 5am. Today was the worst. J had to be at work at 7am so not as bad for him. However, Peanut woke up at 6:15 today, way too early. After I dropped off the kids Peanut and I headed to her doctor appointment. I purposely planned it where it would just be her and I. She got her blood tested and that was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. She also needed to pee in a cup as we got there she said she had to pee and I told the lady and she took her sweet ole time getting the thing for her to pee in that she peed in her pants. I was so annoyed. I had to go out to the van with a half naked baby to get her new clothes. One thing I miss about not having a diaper bag. The blood oh the blood, they needed to take 5 tubes. They first stuck her in the left arm and got two before the vein popped. Then they had to stick her in the other arm to get the rest. I held her in my lap and one lady held her arm and the other lady took the blood. It was torture hearing her crying and I couldn't do much to help her. I told her while the needle was in that when we were done I would get her some ice cream. When it was all said and done the lady says to me, "Hopefully she will forget about the i c e c r e a m." I was like what. I told her I was giving her ice cream I'm not going to renege on what I said. What would that teach her: mom isn't going to do what she says. So I took her for some ice cream. Then it was off shopping for much needed things for the house. Then we had lunch and she took a nap. While she was sleeping the lab called and said they needed me to bring her back because they didn't put her blood in the right tube. I was so MAD. My poor girl was going to have to get stuck 3 times in ONE day. Ugh. It wasn't a huge deal to bring her in because I had to bring Monkey and GG in for getting blood taken. It was just a LONG day. J has to be at work at 6am Wednesday and Thursday and then hopefully the madness will end. Oh yeah and J is at a church board meeting tonight so we haven't seen each other more than 30 minutes today. J said to me tonight, "I hate this season in our lives right now." Me too. I feel so overwhelmed, exhausted and burnt out on driving so far. Ok, next WILL be better :)

where did I leave off?

We have started a new thing and driving in to the suburbs together to try and save on gas money. It has worked out pretty well so far but as the weather gets colder it is going to be harder to find places for Peanut to take her naps. I have tons of errands I can get accomplished and many doctors appointments to attend so we aren't hurting for activities it is just after lunch I need a place for 2 hours so she can sleep. What we have been doing is parking the car in a location that has wifi internet and she naps while I get online. I actually have the windows in the van rolled down about 4 inches as it was getting too hot in here!

We not only have big changes in our address but the kids and I all got new doctors. I switched to the same one J goes to and the kids go to a doctor who sees under 14 in his office. Red had his appointment on Tuesday and this doctor was AWESOME. I explained everything that we have gone through he listened to me and then asked what I would like to see happen. I told him that I would like to get the kids blood tested so we know how much the mold has effected them. He was completely on board with it. YAY. Though I had to bring Red back again today to get more blood taken the first guy didn't end up taking enough. He was a trooper. He says, "It doesn't even hurt!" He is so funny. The other kids go to the doctor next week to get their blood taken. We are moving in the right direction. Once we get them back we can go from there. As for me, I had a follow up with my primary today after he sent me to the infectious disease doctor. I am so excited that he is going to be sending me to an acupuncturist. That will help dry out my insides and promote death to the fungus! J stopped in my doctor's appointment and he got on him about getting his blood tested so he is going in on Monday. Score. Do you know how long I have been asking him to go get tested? Way to long. I want the chance to grow old with him and if he isn't healthy we won't have that opportunity.

Just an interesting tidbit though you might think it is gross. About 2 months before we moved J and I each got planters warts on our big toes. He had two and I had one. He had been going in to see his doctor to get it freeze dried off (maybe 4 times) and I had gone in once. Well today he looked at both of ours and did nothing to mine because it is almost gone and had to freeze J's again, though his are much better they still needed a little help. I learned that mold/fungus when it is in your body is sticky and therefore viruses stick to you. Warts are viruses. Since I changed my diet to mostly anti-fungal foods it has gone away on it's own. Mold is bad, very bad. I am thinking that is probably why I get sick so easy too.

Other things on my mind are Christmas shopping. This year we are going light on gifts which is kind of a nice relief. I think that all we need to get for our kids are one gift for each of the boys and all the kids pj's that they open on Christmas eve. J and I are talking about getting internet for Christmas but we'll see where we are at that time. Who knows our house might have sold and we might be moving into a new house, in that case we would just wait. I'm going to trust God's timing on all of this.

I have new pictures of the kids in leave piles but I don't have the camera with me to put them up on the blog. I will have to remember to bring it so that I can update the pictures on the sidebar. I am going to try and get better at updated more frequently but then again I have no internet so...we'll see.

happenings

There is so much going through my head these days. I am consistently thinking of all the things that need to get done at the house while I am away and then when I am home I have all the kids and need to help them with homework, get dinner on the table, do a quick clean up, and get them to bed. By the time all of that is done my chores have just be begun. I then handwash all the dishes from dinner, pack the kids lunches, do laundry, do my Bible study (that really isn’t a chore but I *need* to make time for it or it doesn’t get done) sweep up, and get the kids clothes out for the next day. It is just pure craziness. J is usually gone most of that time. On Saturday we went to our old house to finish cleaning for the open house and then he went to work. Then Monday he started doing compliance checks at local businesses for tobacco so he won’t be home until late for those and they have to go to every place that sells tobacco. It is good overtime though. With Christmas fastly approaching we could definitely use the extra cash flow. Selling our house would be much nicer!

Monday was Jack’s wake and the three older kids each wrote him a note. This is what they said:
Dear Jack,
I miss you. I remember when you bought us ice-cream. I always liked the way you called T~ red. Or when he hit us on the head and said it was a bird. He was such a fun neighbor. The dogs are getting hungry! I loved him SOOOOOO much! (she had the soooo underlined)
Love, B~

Dear Jack
What I like about Jack. Was whene Jack let us feed the dogs. And whene he called T~ red. And when he let us draw on his sidewalk and driveway. And whene he let us shufl his driveway. I like doing that. He wanted us to rake his leafs whene it was fall. We love you Jack so so so so so so so much.

to: Jack
from: B~

Dear Jack, (I dictated for Red)
I hope you go to heaven with God and I hope you have fun. I always liked helping you feed the cats and dogs. Bye Bye Jack. Your going to heaven and I am going to miss you. I love you, Jack.

Love, T~

When we walked in Peanut says, “Jack is sleeping. He is taking a nap.” It was so sad yet cute at the same time. J told me later that when he brought her up to the casket that she said, "Jack died." Then she rubbed her eyes. He asked if she was sad and she said, "yes". After she learned to say mama and dada her next word was Jack. He was outside all the time and the kids really enjoyed playing with him. They would even go to his house if he wasn't sitting outside and ask his wife Marilyn "could Jack come out and play."

Sad Day

It is a very sad day for our whole neighborhood. This morning J went by our house to check on some things and saw a bunch of squad cars at the neighbors house. That is when he learned that our dear beloved neighbor Jack had died this morning. I am just so sad. I don't want to have to tell the kids. It is just such a shock I just spent 2 hours with him on Wednesday afternoon. He was looking and acting fine. We were talking about Halloween and sitting outside with the bonfire. He wanted to see the kids in their costumes it is just horrible. I have no more words.

relaxation

so the opposite of my last post. HA. J and I are small group leaders at our church. A couple in our group has a cottage (well it is actually his grandmas) so this past weekend our small group went to there for a retreat. We had so much fun. Though we were missing one couple because they had prior commitments and another couple who is going to be joining us was unable to come as well. Once we got there we unloaded and then headed out to lunch. After lunch we went to a pumpkin farm and walked around. We got hot cider and I got some apple butter that I am really excited to try out. There was this really cool hay maze where you could only make right turns and it took them forever 20 minutes to figure out!!! It was really fun to watch. We went on a hayride and then left. After that we headed to a food market and did a little food shopping for dinner. I got some food for me to eat for breakfast and I'm glad I did other wise I would of been starving before lunch. We went back to the cottage and played a couple of games before we started dinner. The girls won the first game and the boys won the second. We grilled out for dinner and then did our Bible study. Then two of the couples left and the rest of us hung out and talked and tried to play a couple more games but we were laughing so hard and getting too tired to try and function well enough to play said games. The next morning the men went golfing and us women were suppose to sleep in but I just couldn't stay in bed past 8:15 so annoying. It didn't help that I really had to pee. When the guys got home we left for lunch and to head home. Our trip was a little longer than planned but I won't go into those details!

Once we got home we got the kids and did a few errands and left town again. We pulled the kids out of school for Monday and Tuesday. J had a career fair in the town we used to live so we thought it would be fun to bring all the kids to visit. On Monday we met with Ted and Jo and their two boys for a play date. I also got to see my old boss at the YMCA. Then we went to the store to grab some food for lunch and get some snacks for the room. While the two little kids took naps I sat in the hall with the older two and we worked on getting their school work done. We almost got it all done but the kids were wearing out after 3 hours of work. I was telling them that this is work that they do in 8 hour days for two days. Then Red woke up and we started working on his school work. He only has a few pages to color and he is done. I am hoping to get the other two kids work done tomorrow while the other kids nap again. We'll see!!!

Busy Bee

that is what I have been. I am sitting at church right now while the two oldest are in children's choir and the two little ones are hanging out in the coffee house. Having no Internet has been somewhat of a blessing especially because we don't have a dish washer in our new place! I never realized how many dishes 6 people can use in one day!

Yesterday Red was home from school because he had a low grade fever on Monday night and he had a cough as well. He woke up without the fever but still had a pretty bad cough. It was nice in the sense that I was able to clean the house, get laundry done, get all the dishes cleaned and got dinner ready. Then I had to leave for a chiropractor appointment and get the kids from school. Then it was the 30 minute drive home and then homework, dinner, baths and bed. Then I had to make the lunches for today and finish the dishes from dinner. Simply put I'M TIRED!

Funny story about our new meals. I made a spicy chicken soup. It has chicken (obviously), onion, tomato, zucchini, and a few spices. The kids kept calling the zucchinis cucumbers. I was not about to correct them because they think they don't like zucchini. They all ate the soup. Though I did bribe them with dessert.

Today I worked in the garage going through more stuff and I got a lot done. While I was at the house our neighbor Jack came out. He has been in and out of hospitals and nursing homes for about a month and I haven't seen him in so long. I know I mentioned this before but he has been diagnosed with 3 different kinds of cancer. Since we are putting the house on the market I wanted to tell him in person instead of seeing a sign hanging on our lawn. It was one of the hardest things I have had to tell someone. We love Jack and Marilyn like grandparents. He told me he was sad to hear that and that he hopes we never sell it. I felt so sad. That is all of my update for now as it is Mom's night at girls Truth and Training and I need to get the kids to the locations they need to be at. Thanks for all your kind comments and encouraging words. There is a learning curve to this eating healthy business.

Internet

I thought we had it but then it went away. We are hit and miss right now with our access to the internet. Just wanted to get on here and kind of document some of the things going on or planned.

I had an appointment with an infectious disease doctor, they are the ones who handle mold illnesses. I came in there with all my information and knowledge and she just kind of looked at me like, "wow you know way more about this subject then I do at this current point" I left feeling pretty good about the appointment but also left with nothing in my hand like I was hoping for, I wanted an anti-fungal medicine. She is going to do some research on the subject and talk to some colleagues who handle these illnesses on a more consistent basis and give me a call next week.

As for the new house things are going pretty good. Peanut's acne is clearing up, GG isn't getting headaches as often (was 4 times a week or more) and the boys aren't having as many tummy issues which is great. We are trying to figure out our diet to make everyone happy. The kids are getting a new doctor come Nov 1st and they have appointments scheduled so hopefully we can get them tested so we know what we are dealing with for them!

Our house is being packed and purged by my wonderful hubby. He is going into the house and pulling everything we want to try and keep and bringing it to the garage and wiping it down and then packing. We have been talking to a Realtor so that is moving along. We are hoping to get into the house a couple days here soon without kids to really get things moving along. She wants the house on the market by Oct 18th we are thinking Nov 1st might be a better time frame. We'll see.

Lastly, is our food issues. I am on a super strict diet and am trying to get the kids and my hubby to eat better too. I am trying to figure out the best place for the best price. I have been grocery shopping 4 times this week trying to restock our fresh fruits and veggies. I have learned that there are some things I will have to go to Whole Foods to get but my friend said that she does a co-op through them for cheaper so that could work. Then Trader Joe's has a lot of stuff we could eat for cheaper than WF but they don't have everything. Then there are things like eggs and most diary that I can get at Aldi's for the cheapest. It is all a learning process and I have many wonderful women in the church that have a lot of restrictive diets that are coming along side me and helping. One of the ladies had been making me almond bread. I need to get the recipe and start making it myself but she has been wonderful. Another lady walked me through TJ today and showed me around and answered any questions I had. I am hoping to get it all squared away and that our food budget will come down from this week which was almost triple what I normally spent before.

A few minutes

I had a little time yesterday to go through some of the pictures on the DVD we got at Disney all the other pictures are being held captive at our old house on our big computer. One day I hope to get them back. So without further ado here are some I thought were cute but I didn't get to go through all 300 of them!


I also wanted to take this time to document how wonderful my hubby is. Last week he told me that his parents wanted to have us over for lunch on Sunday. Nothing out of the ordinary there. We went over and his mom made a yummy lunch like always. Then we put the kids down for some naps. He had mentioned to me that he was going to ask his parents to watch the kids so we could go out and talk about all the things that are going on with us right now. Well at about 2:30 he comes to me and says, "Are you ready to get going?" I thought for sure we were just going to hang out around the house because a football game was on. We got in the van and he started driving. I asked where we were going and he hands me an envelope. I was being to wonder at this point what is going on! I open it and inside is tickets to see Blue Man Group at 4pm. I was so shocked. I kept saying."Is this for real? Are we really going to see them?" He told me it was my birthday present...which my birthday is at the end of the month and it is my golden birthday and he has already made it a special one! I love him so much and I love that he did that for me. Last year for my 30th he threw me a surprise party. I love being fussed over on my birthday and he does a great job :) The best part it isn't my birthday yet...

Halloween Contest

Yes, I am trying to help get the kids stuff at the cheapest possible way...FREE. 5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a Halloween costume giveaway. I would love for my girls to be able to wear this fair dress up. Especially since going to Disney a few weeks ago and seeing the fairies they will love this outfit in a size 6/8. If you haven't check out their site you should they have tons of giveaways and contests going on all the time! Thanks Ladies for all the fun your site brings to moms.

Contest

5 Minutes for Mom is hosting another picture contest and I just couldn't pass it up! With everything going on at our house and having to get rid of all our porous items we could really use this money!!! I thought I'd enter a picture of Peanut being silly on the photo shop.

Man do I love this kid! She is such a fun little girl.

No flogging me

I know that I promised Disney pictures this post but they are in the house and I am not going back in there! We ended up going to look at the new place on Tuesday night and everything checked out fine. On Wednesday I grabbed a bunch of clothes and washed them at the laundry mat, went shopping for some new things and then we moved it all over to the new place. I order to really see if this new place will be a safe place for me to stay I have decided that I am not going back into the house for at least a week if not longer. J has really been a trooper and just getting a TON of stuff done since I can't do any of it...cause it is all in the house. He goes into the house and grabs things to pack then cleaned them and then packs them. He really wants to get everything moving right away and get this house on the market. As for the new house we slept there last night and it was so nice to be in a house and be warm. You really have no idea how good you have it until it gets taken away unexpectedly. Though we are still adjusting to the whole 20 minute drive as apposed to the 5 minutes drive to school in the mornings. It is only temporary. That is my quick update on what is going on in our crazy lives...off to go talk to the assistant principle about an incident that happened at school yesterday. Oy, I really don't need to deal with this right now but it is something that has to be dealt with.

The Goodness of God Through His People

If you read my hubby's blog you know that I totally stole that title from him! But I know he won't mind, love you babe :) As you all know we have been "tenting it" in our garage for about a month now. And the weather isn't getting any warmer out. Last night at church a man from our church pulled J aside and started talking to him about our situation. He has an empty 2 bedroom house right next to his house that he said we could stay in. What an amazing blessing. We are going to be going over there on Wednesday night during the kids' choir practice and checking it out. I can't even begin to tell you how blessed I feel and how at peace I am with all that is going on in our lives right now. God is really showing himself faithful to those who believe in Him. I can say through this whole process I haven't been afraid of what is going to happen to us or where we are going to go I believe that God would work it all out on our behalf, and guess what, HE did! Even though we haven't moved there yet or checked it out I just know that He will take care of us one way or another. I will say that my head was going crazy last night thinking about all the changes a move would make for us and how it would all work out but as soon as I gave it over to God I was able to sleep. That is HUGE for me, usually when my mind gets like that I have a terrible time falling asleep and then staying asleep. I will say lastly that the next time I update I will provide at least a few Disney pictures as they are on the computer in the house and we are working on making the house clean for me to be in a few hours at a time!!! Now praying that my hubby's need to get everything done in a 3 week period won't drive me CRAZY. He wants to pack, paint, and sell the house! People have asked if we are doing all the things to make is clean of all mold and spores why are we moving? Well we really and truly have out grown our house. We feel this was the push to get us to buy a bigger house so we aren't so cramped. Though I will say that our next house will not be bought on a whim like this house nor will it have been a foreclosure.

No Disney pictures just yet...

We did get the cd in the mail a few days ago but there was about 300 pictures on it and then the ones from our personal camera adding it to about 500 that we took during our trip. I am hopeful to be able to go through and find some of my favorites to share with you! But I mainly got on here to give an update on what is going on here. We got our second set of tests back and they still have 3 kinds of toxic mold but the guy who came to our house said that he couldn't find any evidence of mold growing in our home. He gave us some suggestions on what to do. As it sits right now we think that our house has been cross contaminated by a previous living situation that just got some mold testing done as well. The levels at that place where higher than ours. The only thing is that we have lived here for 5 years meaning we haven't lived there. We are still trying to sort some things out. Though we do have a game plan now on things we need to do to get our house livable and get us out of the garage. On a good note we did get an offer to stay at one of J's families houses that is completely empty. The only thing we need to worry about is the fact that it has been empty for 2 years. These are the houses that tend to have issues with mold. We are hoping to be able to go over there sometime next week and check it out, our environmental hygienist has given us things to look for at this house. If it checks out with appearances we are going to give it a try. If I feel ok we'll stay while we get things squared away at our house and if it does make me sick then we are back to our garage and looking for another place to stay during the cold time. The cool thing about this house is that it has 4 bedrooms and it will also give us a chance to see if 4 bedrooms will work for us and our family. If not it will either be 3 or 5 bedrooms we look at! I am excited to see how God works in all of this. I know that he is really working at my heart right now. I am really struggling through this all. I can feel the prayers of friends and family but I could so do without the comments of some people. This situation has also opened up talk about my homeschooling the kids and J isn't completely against it as he was about 3 months ago. All I know is that the kids being gone makes me miss them but sometimes when they get home I want them to leave. I think that they are just so tired from sleeping in a tent for the last almost 4 weeks. Just to put this out there too, at bedtime I go in the tent with the kids and become the sleep warden. I think I say, "stop talking" and "lay down" about 50 times before they give up and go to sleep usually 2 hours after we first got in the tent. I am trying not to get mad at them but when they don't go to sleep when we come out here they don't move in the morning. But if I homeschooled them then we wouldn't have to get up so early or even leave. I have faith that God will lead us in the direction we should go. With everything going on I can say that I have peace even when I am struggling I have peace.

Disney

Now that the dust as sort of settled around here with getting back from vacation and then starting school I finally have some time to talk about the trip we took to Disney almost 2 weeks ago. That morning we woke the kids up by telling them to get up and dressed we are going to Disney! Their faces were so cute. We got there at 12:30 on Saturday the 6th. By the time we got a bite to eat and put our luggage in our room we were at Magic Kingdom by 2:30ish. We went straight for the buzz lightyear spin but it was closed. The kids told us that was the first ride they wanted to go on, oh well. Right next to it is was a newer attraction that wasn't there the last time called Laugh Floor from Monsters, Inc. The first character that the kids got to meet was buzz lightyear Peanut did better than I thought she would be so was a little nervous about him. We spent the rest of the day there and there was magic hours until 1am. Since we had been up since 5:30am we decided that we would leave before it was all closed. The second day we got up and headed back to Magic Kingdom. That is my favorite park out of the four! I really don't remember which park we went to which day unless I have pictures to show for them and we are waiting for the cd of pictures of our trip. We went to all 4 parks and did almost everything possible to do at each one meaning our days were busy and fast paced! Here are some of the high lights I would like to remember from this trip.
* Peanut going on her first air plane ride! Though Monkey threw up while we were landing on the way there, so not fun.
* sleeping in a bed for a week was so nice.
* Jeff was in the Indiana Jones stunt show and I have a video of him doing the dying scene! Kids thought that was super cool.
* GG getting picked to talk during the Laugh Floor but I missed it because Peanut had to use the bathroom but just hearing her tell about it was all the excitement I needed to make it a memory.
* Red being talked to by the army men from Toy Story during the parade at Hollywood Studios. Red had on a camouflage shirt and the guy pointed him out and said, "I like your camouflage but it isn't doing you any good right now because I can see you. I bet if I stuck you in the forest I wouldn't see you at all." His face was the best part of that interaction!
* all the yummy food we ate!
* meeting Tinker Bell even though it was the longest we waited for anything that whole time!
* The character meals were really fun too.
* all the rides that they kids were able to go on this time that they were too short to go on last time, like the Rock N Roller-coaster (GG and Monkey) and Tower of Terror (Red).

Those are my high lights though the whole trip was a complete blast! The kids did a great job walking and not complaining too much since it was over 95 degrees most days with a high humidity level. And I don't even think they fought one time!

Things I have learned...

Over the last few months when I started to suspect mold as being the reason I was getting so sick and being in so much pain I have learned a lot about that nasty fungus. I think I will do a bullet for some of the facts and tidbits I have learned about mold.

• when your doctor is baffled at why you are sick and all tests come back negative then you have to think outside the medical field and into your environment.
• toxic mold is a endocrine disruptor and can cause miscarriages and spontaneous death in unborn babies.
• toxins from mold and any other toxins pulls our spines out of alignment hindering our brains to fully communicate to the rest of our body.
• stachybotrys is one of the worst molds to have in your home. Dead mold spores are just as dangerous to your health as live spores of this mold. There are other toxic molds that are just as harmful but easier to remediate.
• if your pets are having random illnesses or getting tumors you might have a mold issue in your home.
  
• children are usually effected the most by mold exposure but adults can obviously have health issues from it as well, I'm living proof.

These are just a few of the things I have learned, there is so much more on this topic that has interested me on this journey. I now am learning how to detoxify my body from fungus. This is going to be a long and slow process but if I can stick with it I will benefit greatly from the journey of detoxing.

Our Peanut turns 2!

I can't believe that it has been 2 years since she was born. I am so thankful for her in so many ways. She brings smiles to everyone and just so much fun to be around. But I think I am the most thankful for her coming out by c-section. If she would not have been born that way my body probably wouldn't have showed signs of distress from all the mold in our house. It just makes me in awe of how God works for the good of those who believe in him. Everything in our lives are so up in the air right now and can be a bit scary or overwhelming but I know that God is bigger than all of this and he loves us so I have peace that we will get through this and we will be stronger as a family because of this storm of mold in our lives. So, thank you Jesus, for your precious gift, of our baby girl! We love you little one.

I was a bit sad last night to not be decorating her room with streamers but the first thing she did this morning was open her cards and all her siblings loved on her with Happy Birthday and hugs!

Disney, School and Mold

You like my title? Yeah well that is the best I can do because I'm tired! We got back from our Disney trip late last night and we had a great time. The kids start school tomorrow and I have mixed emotions about that. And the mold still haven't gotten any answers on that front either and I am frustrated about that. J just came out to the garage for the night and I am taking up too much room with the laptop so this is going to be short. I will update more tomorrow when the kids are not home and Peanut is napping!!!

Absentee

I have been a little out of the blogging lately. I have a lot on my mind and a lot going on at home. I thought I might share some of it with you and maybe help myself through this process. If you have been following my blog for any length of time you know that I struggle with an unknown illness. Well over the last 2 weeks everything has come to a head and we now know why I am sick.

This is the run down of events that happened. Went to a friends house for some girl time late June. One of the ladies was talking about a radio show on Moody Radio. I don't really listen to talk radio so I would have never heard this. She was talking about a family called the Fabry's who were talking about mold illness and mold poisoning. That night I got on the computer and pulled up the program from that day and listened. It intrigued me and I went to Andrea's blog. I read through their story and some of her posts. I left her a comment but she wasn't able to respond to it so she gave me her email address. I started emailing her with questions I had. She was very encouraging and answered most of my questions the best she could. I was really scared to think this could be causing my illness especially with all the kids in the house. I finally got up the nerve to go to the doctor and ask for the blood work to be done. The first results came back within a week. Every blood test has a range. I was under the range for the Leptin. I was starting to think that the other tests weren't going to ever come or they got lost or whatever. On Aug 27, I will never forget this date, the doctor called with the other two lab results. The VEGF with a range of 31 to 86 was under 31 but it didn't give a number, this explains why I have been so tired, lack of oxygen. Then the big test specifically for mold, c4a, with a range of 0-2830 came back and showed my blood was 19,605. Yes, almost 7 times higher than the allotted range. I then started an anti-fungal diet and we went camping. That weekend I felt the best in 2 years. Came home and slept in the house one night. Next morning wasn't feeling very good. Decided that camping in the garage would probably be the best place for our whole family until we got more answers. On Wednesday we had our house tested for mold. Today we got part of the results back. We don't have the paperwork on the tests because there was something wrong but the guy said that there is definitely high levels of mold spores in our home. We also have the bad mold that is hard to get rid of so we might have to completely walk away from this house and everything in it. Though I will say that through all of this Jeff and I have communicated better and gotten closer as a couple and since our family is sleeping in the tent we have been bonding more as a family as well. So through all the bad that is going on God is showing his glory in all of this and helping us to take one step at a time. Praise the Lord we finally have an answer as to why I have been so sick.

Camping

This weekend we went camping about 40 minutes away from our house. It was so much fun and I felt the best I have in the longest time! Praise the Lord. I feel like we are getting closer and closer to figuring my health issues all out. Yay. I didn't bring my camera camping but my mom-in-law did so I will maybe steal some pictures from her facebook page or maybe not, we'll see. I was a little nervous about the weekend because it rained most of Friday and stopped about 3:30pm. We got to the camp site around 5pm and set up camp then went to grab a bite to eat.

When we got back my in laws showed up and set up their tent in the site right next to yours. We made a big fire and sat around and talked and laughed. The kids watched a movie in the tent so us adults could talk with less interruptions. It worked out great. About 50 minutes after we got in the tent it started to rain. I know this because I was awake from all the noises going on around us. One guy decided that 11 something at night was a good time to chop his fire wood. Um...so not cool. Then there was some cat whistling going on it was just interesting but as soon as the rain came it all stopped!!! The kids woke up super early the next morning. It was before 7am so not heard of in our family. I know you hate me, sorry. We got up and had eggs, donuts, and bananas. Then walked down to the beach for some fishing, way too cold to swim. GG caught 2 small fish, Monkey caught one, and Red got really good at casting with his pole. Peanut played at the park at the beach. Then we went back for lunch time and nap time! I slept good. Though we missed the family hayride, oh well. We just hung around by the fire until it was dinner time. Liz and her boyfriend David (Davey, hahaha) showed up just in time for food we ate hotdogs, brats, and spaghetti with garlic bread. Making the garlic bread was pretty funny over the fire but that is what making memories are all about! That night we told stories and had smores around the fire. David and Liz slept in the kids tent so J and I just had Peanut in our tent.

The next morning I had eggs and the kids had pancakes. We packed up all our stuff and we went back down to the beach for one last time fishing. Then we left and went out to eat for lunch.

Some of my favorite moments/quotes of the trip:
"Oh I'm farting"
"Where's my nuts"
"You have to kiss your worm before you put it on the hook"
All the camp fire stories too many funny lines from them we had a 4 year old participating.
"Come with me to the bathroom and push the shower button while I poop"
J pretending to cut off his finger with the ax while chopping wood and using ketchup for the blood. We got a video of his sister's reaction! We love you Liz :)

It was an all around great weekend and I want to continue this tradition with my in-laws they are so fun to be with.

Dentist!

You know that place you go every six months to get your teeth cleaned? Well we went today and now my teeth are clean and sore. Apparently, my mouth doesn't like those sharp metal things messing with it. Go figure. Well our appointment was at 9:30am. We get there and I was first to go. Red and Peanut wanted to be with me so they brought two little chairs into the room and they both just sat there and watched for the first 35 minutes. The last 5 minutes Peanut had to go potty so off the chair I go with the bib thing still strapped to me and I took her potty. Once we got back in the room to finish she wanted to sit on me so I laid down and she sat on me while I got finished up it worked pretty well. Then the dentist took Red and did his teeth while the hygienist did Monkey's teeth. Red checked out all well and no cavities! Monkey has two very slightly loose teeth though I couldn't feel them move at all! They put some fluoride on his teeth because his 6 year old molars are coming in, yeah I know he is 7 but my kids are late teethers all around! Last was GG and by this time the kids were starting to get restless so I took them outside so I could make a phone call. And this is when everything went down hill. I was on the phone and the boys weren't listening to me when I told them to come back to the back yard so Peanut followed and stepped in animal poop. I finally got them all to the back where they were suppose to be and she finds another pile of poop and puts her finger in it. SO GROSS. I take her in wash her hands talk to the dentist about GG's teeth and off we go. Then I realize that by carrying Peanut she has gotten poop on my pants and it was on her dress from her hands. Home we got to change and start some laundry. The two youngest are napping right now and when they get up we have to run to the bank and then to my doctor's appointment. I just hope it goes better than the last 20 minutes of the dentist appointment!

interesting

First thanks for letting me know the font was too dark, I hope I fixed it and it will be easier for you to read. Yesterday our internet was down and I wasn't able to get on here and update, which is funny because I actually had things I wanted to blog about! The first one was that I went into the doctor and they can't get me a referral for the chiropractor I want to see, but they possibly could get me one for someone else, not too fond of that idea. The next thing is the reason for the title...

Yesterday my step mom came over to watch the kids so I could go to the doctor without all four of them. Though I didn't have an appointment when she came over because I had to call that morning and I was fortunate to get in at 11:30 well that was about 2 hours away and since I didn't sleep very good the night before because of stomach issues, that are getting more frequent and more annoying, she let me sleep for those 2 hours and I was out cold. Anyways, when I got back from my appointment my dad was pulling into our driveway. I asked what he was doing here, I thought he was working. He said he came to take us out to lunch. The kids and I went out to lunch with him down the street from our house and across the street is an ice cream shop. Well my dad wanted to take them there after we ate. We walked in and the ice cream section said closed, then two more groups of people walked in after us a single women and a man with a boy about the age of 10. Since we were the biggest party they waited on the others first. While the kids were waiting to get their ice cream my dad was goofying around with them by blowing the straw wrappers at them. Well Red went to hit my dad on the but and missed and hit the kid's butt. What happened next will probably be itched in my mind forever...

The kid turned and looked at my dad, I was sitting at one of the tables across the room watching it all transpire, and says, "Your son just hit me." My dad tell the boy, "He's not my son." Then Red walks away and towards me. Meanwhile the man that was with the boy asks him, "Did you get injured?" The boy said, "No" then took his ice cream and walked outside crying. When Red got to me I told him he needed say he was sorry because he made that boy cry and if he didn't he would not be getting any ice cream. Red asked if I could walk with him, so I did. We got to the boy who you would have thought just broke his arm the way he was carrying on crying. Red said he was sorry two times to the boy and he just turned and walked away. I was annoyed at this point and I said to the boy, "You could at least acknowledge his apology." I seriously feel bad for this boy he obviously is going to have major problems down the road, first Red didn't hit him that hard to make him ball his eyes out and secondly he had no respect to acknowledge Red's apology. My dad kept saying what a wimp, he so doesn't help situations like this. I had a long talk with Red about spanking in play which my dad does with them ALL the time. He didn't mean to hurt the kid he wasn't even aiming for him. It was just an all around interesting experience.

Oh yeah and the boys camped in the living room last night. J put our smaller tent up and that is where the boys slept so fun and cute!!! What a great daddy.

closer

Last night J and I had a date night, not really but we were alone without the kids. Rewind about 2 weeks ago to the corn fest. One of the booths was a chiropractor that did assessments and x rays for $20. Me and the 4 kids went and had our backs checked and x rayed. Last night was the meeting to discuss what was found from all the information collected two weeks ago. We sat and talked to this doctor for about 45 minutes going over all the things she found. Let's just say my back is messed up. Probably due to giving birth to 4 kids and being in car accidents. What I didn't expect was how bad Monkey and GG's x rays were no wonder they have sinus problems and migraine headaches. Red wasn't too bad but he still didn't have the best possible spine position. I feel like I am getting closer to figure out what is wrong and seeing how messed up my spine is is a huge step in the right direction. Your spinal cord sends out all the messages to the rest of your body and if it is not in the proper position your body can't function at its maximum potential. Another exciting thing is that I have switched primary doctor's to J's doctor who he LOVES. Well I called to make my first appointment and they told me he wasn't taking new patients like they told me last time and I explained how J had talked to him and he is expecting me as a new patient. YAY. J went into the office today to pick up the new patient packet and medical release forms for my old doctor. When he was in he asked my new doctor how he felt about chiropractors and he was very positive about them and he wants to help me get a referral so we don't have to pay thousands of dollars to get me better!!! If we can get referrals for the kids too that would be awesome. I feel like GG should not be having migraines at her age and if the chiropractor can help I'm all for it.

real quick

The church team placed second. They won the first game and lost the second. They did a great job though and only lost 2 games all season. I was proud of them.

Secondly, I had my allergy appointment today. They tested me for 20 different things and 16 of them were for foods. No reactions. Of course! That is the story of my life. The end.

slacking

Man I really have been a slacker on the ole blog front! Lets see...tonight is a double header for the church softball team which means it is the last Monday of hanging out with friends consistently. The guys play the first game at 6 and if they win they play for 1st place and if they lose they place for 3rd place. Either way they team is in the top 4 teams. Do I need to mention that there are only 8 teams? I am very proud of them. I will hopefully update the results when I get home.

The kids have 4 weeks left of summer vacation and then it is back to the daily grind of school. Though we all have mixed emotions about that! I don't want to be forced to wake up so early but I do love my time with just Peanut and J and I's once a week lunch date. Once Peanut gets in school it will just be the two of us for those dates, can you hear the excitement? I love my hubby.

Update on me. Last time I told you they took some more blood work. They called me saying that everything looked fine. I asked them to send me the results. They tested me for 4 things and there were 3 on the sheet. Of the 3 that had come back only one was the right test. And it was under the range, though they told me it was fine. The other two tests that came back were the wrong tests, stupid doctor's office. I called and talked to them about retaking it and the nurse said that was fine but when I went today to get the blood taken the doctor was uncomfortable with the tests. WHAT? It is just a blood test. I think he was uncomfortable with the fact that if he did this test and it showed up with something wrong he didn't know where to go from there and he is LAZY. So I called my insurance company and I have a new doctor starting Sept 1st! Finally after 2 years of no answers I got the nerve to get rid of those quacks. I do have my allergy appointment tomorrow so I will try and remember to update that though I feel like it might be like all the other tests and come up with nothing. But I am still hopeful.

Aladdin and other fun stuff

I won tickets to see Aladdin awhile back and we finally went to the show. It was really cute and had some funny lines in it that pertained to today. The kids really enjoyed it too. Peanut was a little restless towards the end but all in all I think she did pretty good. Before the show started I told the kids that there was going to be fog and not to get scared. When the show was over Red asked me, "Mom where was the frog coming out? Did I miss it?" He thought I was talking about a frog! I explained what fog is and he then understood. Also after the show 3 character come out and sign autographs and get pictures taken. Here are the pictures we got!

Peanut is scared!

spontaneous photo!
The Genie picture!

The kids were a little disappointed that Jasmine or Aladdin didn't come out but the Genie did! I was frustrated while we waited in line for the Genie. This lady with a walker kept running into me and her daughter was jabbing me in the back with the corner program. I wanted to turn around and yell tell them to give me some personal space. It was starting to ruin my day but after we left and I was able to decompress I was fine. They were so rude the whole time stepping on me and then when we got to the Genie the lady didn't stay back so we could take a decent picture it was a race for J to snap it so she wasn't in the picture. Seriously women back off! As we walked away I hear the daughter tell the Genie that her mom was 90 something years old...way old enough to know better than to be so rude. We had packed a picnic lunch and ate outside it was beautiful out. We walked around and watched a few free shows. One of the shows the guy called Red up and instead of doing what he asked he did some kind of crazy walk/crawl across the stage, what a goof ball. I also went to see if our picture is still at the Children's Museum and it is, so excited. When we were done there we went to the shoe store and bought the kids new shoes. They are going to be wearing them around the house to wear them in until our trip. They are the kids school shoes so we don't want them getting trashed. I can't believe how much shoes cost! And to buy 4 pairs at a time is rough, ha. That was pretty much our fun filled day. Minus the rude people :)

Dad and the kids by lake Michigan!
Mom and the kids by lake Michigan
kids on the anchor.

I need a slow down button...

though I don't think they make them. Yesterday I met my mom in R-d and then sat in traffic because of construction so not fun. When we got home J was home shortly after and we were out the door for the play off game for the church softball team, it started at 6 our normal games were mainly at 7pm. We played the last ranked team because we were the first ranked team. Needless to say we slaughtered them. My favorite comment of the game was within the first 2 minutes from the other team, the guy says, "I see why you are in first place." Priceless. I believe the second play of the game was a double play. There were other interesting comments but that was my favorite. Then we took the kids for some ice cream, Mc Donalds style. They are having 49 cent cones!

Today we are having a play date at the park for lunch and then to the kids appointment for the chiropractor. Then tonight I am on a secret mission with another lady from church. I don't want to elaborate because I'm not sure who reads this from church and I don't want to spoil anything! I will just say it should be great fun for all involved.

Wednesday is back to R-d to celebrate my brother's 8th birthday at Chuck E Cheese and then at night our church's annual mini golf and hot dog dinner. We will be just going for the golf! Not a big hot dog family.

Thursday we are heading to Aladdin the musical. I won tickets awhile ago and I am finally going to be using them. We thought it would be prefect timing a few weeks before our trip! After the show I think we are going to head to the children's museum. I want to see if they still have our picture hanging on the wall.

Friday GG got invited to a water games birthday party, need to find something to do with the 3 other kids while she is there because it isn't near our house. Saturday is our friends baby's first birthday party, and Sunday is a going away party for one of the girls in our SS class going back to the missions field. See a slow down button would be so nice. The next week has 2 free days and I hope it stays that way. And these blog posts have been boring but I want a recorder of our craziness so that they kids can't say we never did anything fun. HA.

This week

It has flown by me. Recap of our busy schedule!

Monday : VBS 9am to 1pm. Home at 1:30pm eat lunch and naps, 6pm leave to go to church softball game get home at 9:30pm.

Tuesday: VBS 8am to 1pm (Jeff made breakfast this morning). Home lunch and naps. National Night Out from 6pm to 8:30pm.

Wendesday: VBS 8:30am to 1pm. Home lunch and naps. Clean house and make dinner for the H. family that was coming over. Hung out with them until about 8:30pm.

Thursday: VBS 8:30am to 1pm. Home lunch, kids piano lessons from 2 to 3. Chiropractor appointment for me at 3:15. Planning on night swim tonight at 6:30pm.

Friday: VBS and closing lunch for workers. Friends from out of town coming at 2pm. We've had a busy but very great week! Also found out I am getting another newphew in January :)

Vacation Bible School

This year we were blessed to be able to go to two VBS's back to back! This week it is at our church and I am working in the kitchen like I have done the last 3 years. Two sisters run the VBS together. The only major difference this year is that the one of the ladies is in China getting her adopted daughter this week. Before she left she asked me to go shopping for the week for all the snacks and breakfast foods. They serve a cheap breakfast for workers and their families so that they get there on time! Yesterday I took the 4 kids to Costco's near our house. I have never been in this particular Costco so I wasn't fimilar with it. I was walking up and down the isles looking for good snack foods to give the kids, but also not too expensive I was shopping for about 160 people. One of the ideas I had for a snack they didn't sell there so I had to rethink a new snack. The kids were loving it because they had samples throughout the store. By the time we were done getting all we could get from that store we had 3 carts full of food and it was 2 1/2 hours later. I must say that my kids did great in the store and were such huge helps pushing the extra two carts I had! The only bad part was when Peanut bit Red. That was something new from her. But she felt so bad after wards that she kept saying sorry and giving him hugs and kisses. I have a new appreciatation for these two ladies and all the work that goes into planning this week long event...I only had snack stuff there are crafts and lessons among other things. I was so excited to see that we had 122 and about 40 workers if not more I didn't get a count on them. And as far as I know the snacks were a hit today...at least I didn't hear any complaints.