Birthday!

it is amazing to me how MANY people when they found out it was my birthday today would ask how old I was!?!?! Not kids adults people. Not that I really care to keep it to myself but I just thought that wasn't a question you asked people over 21 ;) The best was when I would look at them and ask "how old do you think I am?" One guy said, "26" and another guy said "25" both of these people know I have a 10 year old...WHAT?!?! You think that I got pregnant at 16 or 15! I think when I would say that they felt bad and immediately said. Well you look so young. haha poor guys! Other than that my children once again embarrassed me at church during trunk or treat by asking the live band to sing happy birthday to me. I even pleaded *with my eyes* for them NOT to sing to me but it was already out there and so it happened. I am happy to say that another birthday has past and I really don't feel much older but do feel a little wiser ;) Off to open my present from the family which is a really funny story...

Last night Jeff left for church and I said to the kids, "I wish I knew if Daddy bought me the Just Dance for the Wii because if he did we could open it tonight and play it." The kids told me that is what he bought then the search, by them, to find the gift ensued. I finally told them to stop. Then they said about 20 minutes later...that's not really what we got you for your birthday. Fast forward about an hour later I put Red to bed. He was sad about having to play the Wii with Peanut because she "doesn't know how to play" so he really didn't get to play much. I told him that since the kids can't play the Wii together very well that for my birthday I want to throw it away. To which he starts crying "But then we can't play the Just Dance game."  

A dream fulfilled!

When Jeff and I first started dating we talked a lot about being youth workers, we both wanted to work with high school students. When we got married we were both still in college and shortly after getting married (4 months) we got pregnant with our first child. We attended a church on campus that didn't have a youth group because it was all college students. Once Jeff graduated and got the job he has now and we moved by our parents we still talked about wanting to work with youth in our church. At the time we had two small church and we were just not in a place to really be leaders. After we added two more kids to the group we started working with the younger kids. I worked in the nursery and toddler rooms and Jeff worked in the older kids 1st through 4th grade. But we both felt like we wanted to work with the older kids. Jeff started doing worship for the Jr High ministry on Wednesday nights and that led to him working with them on Friday nights. He would come home and tell me all the fun things they did. I felt such a strong desire to come along side him and work together with the Jr. Highers...but we have 4 kids!!! I talked to the youth pastor about wanting to join the leadership team and he said that would be great and they would get a sitter for the kids! This is my second year working with them and Jeff's third. I feel like being with these kids is helping prepare me for when my kids are that age. What a blessing this ministry has been. I truly love the kids I work with and they are pretty funny to boot. I feel like we are finally living our ministry dream even though the though was High School at first but maybe one day we will move up to H.S. but for now we both feel this is where God wants us to be serving.

Also just wanted to update on my tooth removal. It hurt the first day but not a ton. I didn't take any pain medicine until I laid down to fall asleep and was having trouble. I took one Ibuprofen and was good until morning. Now as I sit here I do have a little pain from chewing my food today at lunch. I had to really get it mushy before I could swallow it. I will keep this in mind for tomorrows meals.

Tooth

About 3 weeks after my oldest daughter was born I had horrible tooth pain. It hurt so bad that I wasn't able to fall asleep for 3 days straight. I was an emotional wreck. I had a no born baby and I was a first time mom. I felt like such a failure because my tooth hurt and I couldn't do anything. Also remember around that time I got a bloody nose while breastfeeding it just added into the sense of failure I felt. What was wrong with me?!? Why was I having tooth trouble and a bloody nose? Well it turned out that I needed to have a root canal because the tooth was really infected. I went in and they drilled the cavity or infected part out of my tooth then packed it up and sent me home. Not even 4 hours later my mouth hurt just as bad as it did before I had the drilling done to it. I called the dentist again and they met me at their office after hours I believe it was like 9pm at night. They took the temporary filler out of my tooth and the pain was instantly gone again, yay! Fast forward about 10 years later. My root canal tooth the one that is suppose to be dead is causing me trouble. I talked to my dentist and we decided that it was time for this tooth to be removed. After doing some research online about the connection between teeth and your whole health it all started to make sense! Here is the meridian tooth chart I looked at. My root canal is tooth number 14 which is related to...drum roll please ;) THE STOMACH! I have had so many issues with my stomach. I am really hoping that I can start to heal once this tooth is removed. I am also really nervous that it will throw my whole body out of whack in a good way but that I might not feel very good while my body is able to heal properly. I also have a strong desire to get the 4 mercury fillings removed from my mouth. One hurdle at a time, though I think I found a dentist that will do it safely. I am just ready to have this metal out of my mouth and this dead tooth as well. Did you know that dentistry is the ONLY practice that takes a dead organ and keeps it in your mouth?!?! That is crazy. Now off of my tooth soap box ;) I hope to be a healthier me on Saturday! I also hope it doesn't hurt because my birthday is coming up soon and that would stink to be hurting for that.

Fall is HERE!

We have been busy busy around here. The weather has been pretty nice and we have been able to have the windows open during the day and heating the house up to 70! We have gotten leaved raked (no pictures) and pumpkins from our garden carved (with pictures!). I must say that this year was by far my favorite year so far of pumpkin carving. GG did everything by herself. Monkey did almost everything on his own too. Red and Peanut both required help which I helped Peanut and Jeff helped Red. It was GREAT! The kids also sorted the pulp from the seeds so that I can bake the seeds. Here are a few pictures from our carving adventure...
  

 I asked her to put the seeds in the bowl so she did a great job making sure they all got in there!

 

On Friday night Jeff and I went to a David Crowder Band Concert! Some friend of ours also had tickets so we were able to meet up with them at the concert. I had so much fun even though we stood for FOUR hours. There were 3 bands that played before David Crowder came on and then he played for TWO amazing hours. It was such a great night and I wish we had more money to have been able to take our kids to see them too. David Crowder Band is Red's favorite band next to Toby Mac! We do want to share the joy of concerts with our kids we just have to figure out what is a good age to stand that long!

Mini Vacay...

Jeff went to a career fair at the college we both attended a few years ago ;) Since we still have friends down in that area we decided to all go with him. The kids were super excited to get to miss a few days of school. We stayed out our friends Ted and Joanna's house for the first night (Sunday night) and the second night we stayed in a hotel minus Red he spend the night again at our friends house. Ted and Jo have two boys one in 1st grade like Red and the other is 13 days younger than Peanut. We had a great time just being able to hang out with them. On Sunday when we got into town the first thing we did was eat at ISS (International Sandwich Shop), um I lived on that place when I was pregnant with GG. Then we headed over to Ted and Jo's. The kids played outside because the weather was fairly nice out. They got to take rides on the gator type of a thing which they loved. That night was hilarious trying to get the kids to fall asleep. I think it was like 10something before they were all sleeping. The next day we were going to see if our two youngest could go to school with their kids but their 4yo woke with a fever so it was a doctor's appointment for him instead. Jeff went golfing and we hung out at the house until it was time to get him. We dropped Jo and Jake at the doctor's office and picked Jeff up and then went back to the doctor's office to see the midwife who delivered GG and Monkey. I like to stop in and see her when we are in town. After that we went to check into the hotel and then went to Wally world to get stuff for lunch and birthday presents for this weekend. We have 3 parties to attend!!! Jo and I wanted to see Footloose so we drove by the movie theater to see the playing times, the first show time was at 1:15 and it was 12:55. We noticed that Dolphin Tail was playing too at the same time. Jeff decided he would take all 5 of the kids to see that while Jo and I went to see Footloose! It was a really cute movie but now I'm really curious to see the original again just to compare the two movies. I have seen the first one but it has been a long time and I don't remember a whole lot about it. After the movie we went back to their house and played Just Dance Now on the Wii. I have to say I really like that game. It was so much fun plus I was really good at it, which helps liking it ;) Then we went to Rocky's for dinner. I love that place. The mozzarella sticks are the best I've ever had. As we were walking out a guy Jeff, Jo and Ted worked with and I had a class with walked in. He was in town for the very same thing as Jeff and the next day their booths were very close to each others. After dinner Red went back with them for the night and we went to the hotel. It actually worked out great having one less kid because everyone fit in the bed! Jeff was able to get a ride to the career fair with his co-worker so that the kids and I could relax that morning. After we ate breakfast we went swimming. And at this point I saved Peanut's life. She was hanging on to the side of the pool moving down toward the deeper end. On her third of forth time down her hands slipped off the side and under she went. I had a hard time grabbing her because she was flapping her arms trying to get to the top. I did get her out very quickly but as it was happening it felt like an eternity. Her eyes were open under the water and you could she the terror in her face. As soon as I pulled her out I just held her so tight. That had to be one of the scariest mommy moments of my life. I have no idea what I would do without my little side kick. The kids swam maybe 10 minutes longer than we went back to the room to get showers. The only bad part was that we got out of the pool before Red came back which meant he didn't get to go swimming. He wasn't very happy about that. Once we checked out we went to the Old Dairy for lunch and then headed over to the Union to see Jeff. We got a pretty close meter spot and score it had 1hr and 10 minutes on it!!! I planned it so that the fair was almost over when we got there so the kids walked around and got some goodies right before it ended. Then we went to the bookstore and bought some stuff. We do that every time we come to town. Oh and get a load of this, I brought my camera so I could take pictures of the kids playing and what not but I never brought the camera out! The last day we were there we met Ted and Jo at Pizza Hut and got a quick picture but one without Jeff or Grant (their 1st grader). At least I got one picture though. That little mini vacay has thrown off my calendar though. I kept thinking today was Monday!   

Figured it out!

So I figured out why I'm not feeling good and it has nothing to do with the dog. It has to do with the floors we just had refinished. The chemicals that were used are really doing a number on my body. I honestly think I have lost 5lbs in the last two and a half days. It is so bad that tonight I have opted to sleep downstairs away from the flooring to see if that helps. I am really upset because Red has his field trip to the Apple Orchard tomorrow and I am planning on going but I feel like absolute garbage. I have gone on field trip feeling like this before it is just no fun and I feel like it is unfair to my kiddo. But at the same time he is really looking forward to this field trip and me going with that I really hate to bail on him. If you read this before tomorrow morning just pray that I can sleep good tonight and wake up refreshed and ready for the field trip. Oh and if you could add that food would actually stay in me that would be great too. I'm starting to feel weak, which I so dislike that feeling.

Hmm

Can dogs get you sick? I haven't been feeling very good since Tuesday afternoon. Today all I've had to eat is a few carrots and some nut thins and tons of water. And even when I eat them they don't tend to stay in my body very long, ugh. Today Maggie hasn't been eating very much either so I wonder if she is not feeling good either. Anyway, I am going on a field trip on Friday and I want to be feeling better by then. Nothing worse then going on a field trip feeling bad, trust me I've done it before. I am going to go to the chiropractor tomorrow morning for an extra adjustment to see if that helps get me feeling well quicker. Speaking of health I am really excited and also really nervous to be getting my tooth pulled. I am hoping and praying that this is the break through with my health. I have been feeling good for the most part but there is just something that I can't seem to get under control which is my digestion/stomach pains. I did some research and the tooth that I am having pulled which is already a dead tooth has been linked to the stomach. It makes you wonder. It is being pulled at the end of this month and two days before my birthday so I'm hoping that I don't feel bad afterward.

So NOT a dog person....

I think I like the idea of a dog and not actually the owning a dog part. This has been very good for us (Jeff and I) to see how much work goes into taking care of a dog. I was about to lose it this morning. Before Jeff left for work he let the dog in the backyard with the kids. When it was time to get the kids in the van and to school the dog would NOT come so I could put her on a leash. Then she escaped the backyard when I went to go get her a treat to help get her to put the leash on. UGH I was so annoyed at this point. We were already late getting the kids to school and now the dog was running through the neighborhood. After 20 minutes GG was able to grab her and we could get going. The kids got to school 4 minutes before the bell rang. I really hope they were able to get to where they needed to be in that time. After we dropped the kids off Peanut and I headed over to a friends house to play. Our floors get refinished yesterday and the house kinda stinks so I wanted to get some fresh air. Since Maggie (the dog) is going to be in her crate most of the day tomorrow I thought I should bring her with today. But she didn't eat her breakfast so I brought it with. Such a bad idea, first thing Red does when he gets in the van is spill her food all over the place and it even got in my purse, so gross. Then as I was driving Maggie steps in her food and then jumps on my lap while I'm driving because Peanut wasn't doing her job at holding her tight. So I got dog food all over my pants. We get to our friends house and go to the park but Maggie decided she didn't want to be leashed so she chewed through her leash. Yeah thinking there will be NO dog in our near future. At this point Friday can't come soon enough. But I must say that the kids are LOVING her which just makes it that much harder on me. I just hope the next few days are better and no more escaping :) I let her outside to play unleashed as soon as we got home and the first thing she did was run to the gate to try and escape but I put things against the fence on both sides and she gave up pretty quickly trying to escape and I hope she has completely given up! I hope to get some pictures with her but I just haven't had much time...

Dog sitting

Well tonight is our first night officially dog sitting for my in-laws. Maggie is a puppy so she likes to chew on things. Which means we have to watch her like a hawk and make sure the kids pick up their toys. So far in the 4 hours we have had her here things have gone smoothly. But it is now bedtime and there is NO WAY I'm letting her sleep in our bed. She is in her crate. I have heard her whimper a few times but all seems quiet for now. The kids are loving the dog...except when she jumps on them. Jeff and I are pretty certain we do not want to own a dog at this point. I know we have only had her a few hours and I have to say she is a really good dog. She pretty much just sits on the couch while you sit on the couch and goes where ever you go. She is house broken so we shouldn't have any accidents. It is just something about a dog and the responsibility of a dog that just isn't appealing to me. But for the next few days it will be nice having a dog here. 

october?!

I can't believe it is October already that means I am going to be getting a year older...I'm really okay with that. I think we have finally somewhat gotten into a routine with school. The kids have all seemed to be adjusting fine to this year, which makes me SO happy. We have some really great teachers this year which makes the year just that much better as a parent! One of the biggest changes this year is not having Mrs. A. we have had her for the last three years and she was such a wonderful teacher I still stop in and see her. Red will get her in 3rd grade as long as she is still there! It just amazes me how fast the day goes while they are in school I never have enough time to get the things I want to get done. Peanut and I are enjoying our together time sometimes a little too much togetherness because she has started not wanting to be without me at church. Oh boy! I am really excited about this month. I am going on two field trips with the kids, taking a trip down to the college Jeff and I graduated from and seeing some friends who still live there and of course at the end of the month is my birthday. Four wonderful things to look forward too :)