Birthday Girl

 After having read this entire blog after I printed it all out, Avery has informed me that I never talked about her birthdays. I told her she's the middle child, so its a right of passage! 😄

So this post is dedicated to Avery and all her birthdays.

October 2010- 1st birthday- We had family over. I made her a 2-tiered birthday cake, pink and purple, and I ordered some cute little dragonflies that I'm sure I spent way too much money on, but it was before I knew about Amazon. She got a little doll, a my little pony, and a turtle toy that you sit on and bounce. 

October 2011- 2nd birthday- She had cute little pigtails. She got a little remote control car thing, and a beauty case with nail polish, lots of hair bands and bracelets and necklaces, and a leap frog alphabet toy. We had family over again to celebrate. For her cake, I made her ice cream cone cakes, and a sheet cake. We had last minute My little pony decorations. 

October 2012- 3rd birthday- This was our last birthday party in our old house! She was so cute! She's always been cute though! ;) This was my favorite cake I made her. It was strawberry shortcake, with fondant stripes, and a strawberry shortcake set on top. Family again for the party. She got a lego friends set, A strawberry shortcake doll with hair accessories for the doll, and a my little pony train set.

October 2013- 4th birthday- We mustve been really busy for this birthday. I made her a cupcake, and we didn't have any party. She got another lego friends set. 

October 2014- 5th birthday- We celebrated with her friends at the bouncy house in Corvallis. She had a sweaty blast! I made her a frozen birthday cake. We got her a new bike, Frozen of course. I remember that spring and summer she would be outside singing frozen songs. She was super into frozen! We also got a new puppy that month.

October 2015- 6th birthday- She had a new baby brother for this birthday. She had kindergarten on her actual birthday, and they were on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. She got to drive the tractor for the hay ride! We had family over to give her gifts. I was very busy with an infant, so this year was a last minute cupcake again. She didn't seem to mind, it was sugar. ;)

October 2016- 7th birthday- This year was a FUN birthday! We had an art party and had a bunch of her friends over. They got to decorate their own cupcakes, do several crafts, and goof around. It was one of my favorite birthdays to plan! 

October 2017- 8th birthday- This was another quiet birthday. She had just started swim team and had practice on her birthday. I made her a cupcake and she blew out her candles in her bathing suit before practice. I don't know what she got that year.

October 2018- 9th birthday- This year I was behind on everyones birthday parties. We didn't celebrate Jadon's until July, and we threw Carters in with his. Avery's didn't get celebrated until December. And we had to cancel the first appointment as we got the stomach flu. BUT, once we did have it, we had a Just Dance party, and she invited a handful of her best buds. They had a great, sweaty time dancing.

October 2019- 10th birthday- Another great party! It was her first slumber party, and they made dream catchers, blindfolded makeovers, and ran around playing some weird game they made up. Watched a movie and ate popcorn. It was also kindof Harry Potter themed. So we had cupcakes that had surprise frosting inside- yellow, red, blue and green, each was for a different "House". (Griffendor, hufflepuff, ravenclaw, and slitherin.) They each got to pick their cupcake and then once they bit into them they got to see which house they would be in. Avery was slitherin, which she was NOT happy about! But I think this was still one of her favorite parties overall. There was so much laughing! 

October 2020- Its not quite her birthday yet, but since we are in a global pandemic this year, there will be no big party. Jadon didn't get a 13th birthday party, Carter didn't get a 5th birthday party, and she wont get an 11th. :(  Every year of school, we've taken treats into her classroom. We wont get to take treats this year either, because school is all virtual. We WILL be celebrating at Grandma's house on Sunday though, so its not a total loss! ;)

Bottom line here is, even though I didn't blog about all her birthdays as they happened, we still have wonderful memories and pictures to show, and I hope she realizes that we love her so much regardless of whether or not I blogged about them. 

Avery, we love you more than you'll ever know!

Weird Times

 We are living in weird times for sure. Half of Oregon is on fire. It looks like the Apocalypse outside. It started earlier this week.... Monday or Tuesday I think. We had perfect conditions for some bad fires.... hot, dry, windy conditions. The fires spread so fast, some towns were destroyed. People didn't have time to do anything. People have lost their homes, and some even lost their lives. More and more stories are emerging of people running from these fires. One family had to leave behind grandma with a leg injury. A 13 year old ran out with his dog, only to be found dead in the car with the dog lying on top of him. A family ran for the river near their house and stayed in the water for an hour. Luckily the winds finally died down, and we are safe, but had the winds continued, this might be a different story. The fires are in no way contained yet, but at least the winds have died, and the firefighters can hopefully start containing the fires. For us, we've been smoked in for days. I miss the sky. I miss the sun. Its like there's a constant fog. Its blocking out the heat of the sun, but one morning we woke up and it was orange outside, and then it went dark again. The sun was supposed to rise around 6:30am, but it was still nearly pitch black at 8:30am. It was all so surreal. There is ash flying about, covering the ground, our cars, our grass. Its piled up on our porch entryway, and any slight breeze it swirls around. It smells bad, like a constant campfire. For a couple days, I was glued to my phone looking for the latest fire warnings. Cities near us, like Brownsville, are on a level 1 alert. Jadon's school started this week, and they cancelled the whole week (except the first day) due to air quality and 24 hour fire watch. The air quality is so bad, its considered hazardous. We are stuck inside, unable to take even a walk because its so bad. The ash gets in your eyes, as well as your nose. 

Linn county fairgrounds have been where around 500 evacuated have to, and we went and bought pillows and blankets, cat food and dog food to donate. It was wonderful to see all the people of Albany coming together to help, and they continue to do so. Its a little silver lining in all this tragedy.

The fires are all around us. To our east in the mountains, to the north around Salem and up to Portland, to the south around Eugene and Medford, even Lincoln city on the coast has fire. We were wondering where we would go if it got to the point that we would have to evacuate. We didn't think it would get to that point, but we were preparing a list of stuff to grab had we actually got to that point. Its good to be prepared and have that just in case. 

Anyways, weird times. Eventually the fires will be contained, supposed to rain in a couple days, so that is good. I just look forward to seeing the sky again. And getting to take walks again. 

On a different note, my little hummingbirds are going crazy! They are constantly fighting at the feeders! One bird thinks he owns the place and tries to run off every other hummer that tries to snack at the feeders. I have to wonder if its because of the ash covering everything. They have used my feeders for awhile, but just since this started it seems they are at the feeders nearly constantly. 

Well, that's what going on here. 

Carter

My baby boy is 5 today! I can't believe where the time went! He still seems so little to me, yet in a month he's going to kindergarten. :(

Anyhow, this boy was born at 3:41pm, July 28, 2015. He's been a mamas boy since the day he was born, and I really don't mind that at all! :) Hes an EF5 tornado!
He is one heck of a loud child, always talking (loudly), always giggling about something, always talking about farts or poop or weeners because thats what big brother and sister talk about so it must be pretty cool! He's Mr. Social like his big brother. He never hesitates to pick the flowers off of my plants, or the dandelions, and give them to me. If i'm sitting on the couch with a drink, he brings a little chair over to me so I can put my drink on it. He always thanks me for making dinner. He cuddles with me every morning, with his stinky breath and all, but I don't mind. He still sleeps with us most nights. He starts in his room, but he ends up in ours, and he fits so comfortably in my arms. But  at some point in his sleep he decides he needs his space and sprawls out like a star fish, but this star fish kicks and kicks, not enjoying being under the blankets. He still picks at my moles. Its sooooo weird! 😂 He's constantly moving. And he never lets me leave the house without giving me a hug goodbye.
Nursing was his favorite thing ever, and we finally stopped in May. It was sad for me, it felt like I was letting go the last of his babyhood. About the same time, he stopped wearing diapers to bed, and is now fully potty trained.
He seems to feel everything deeply. He gets intensely mad when he loses at games, his feelings get hurt easily, but he loves fiercely.
He is not a big eater. Its hard for him to sit for long and eat, especially when others are up and doing other things around him that he wants to do. He's not as picky as Avery, but he's not as accepting of food as Jadon. He loves top ramen, watermelon (which he pronounces "wather molen"), berries, muffins, danimals and gogurts, pasta.
He loves video games, including Minecraft, cars of all shapes and sizes, and running and jumping.
He enjoys harrassing Macy. I don't think hes intending to harrass her, I think he just loves her so much, and all animals for that matter, that he wants them to love him too and play with him too.

A few weeks ago, he was outside with me, and I was watering plants or something. I felt him put something in my pants pocket but didn't think anything of it, until he says "Oh mooom, I put something in your pocket....... its a dead spider!" My heart starts beating faster and I check my pocket and sure enough, he had put a dead house spider, the kind of spider that I am DEATHLY afraid of, in my pocket, and there's no way for me to get it out without touching it or taking my pants off and shaking it out. But my first thought was that maybe its just playing dead, and I've got to get these pants off as fast as I can! I almost ripped them off right there on the deck, but I ran inside and made it to the hallway before they were ripped off of me. I felt like spiders were crawling all over me! It was awful!!! And then once I had redressed, I went to get the spider out, but my nerves were so shot already, and I was afraid I would touch it, so I said "Someone is going to have to get this spider out of my pocket because I can't do it." So Jadon comes over, takes the pants, exposes the spider and starts running at me. I run and hid in the closest room which happened to be Carters room, and slam the door shut. I hear Avery screaming then, and I open the door quick so she can take shelter with me! It was quite the ordeal!

Yes, he's a little stinker. But i'm so glad we have him. He's made me a very tired Mama. He adds additional noise and chaos to our house, but he's such a funny, loving little guy, and my heart is happy to have him, and I can't imagine our family without him in it. 💓💓

Avery

Sheesh, now I understand why I quit blogging! I never know what to blog about, and time passes so quickly. Even though we are in a very slow pace of life, I still feel busy. I've been painting one of the classrooms as church, trying to make it into a funner, more inviting place that the kids will be proud to bring their friends to.

Anyways, this post is about my girl.
I think Avery was a kindergartner when I last wrote about her. She will now be entering 5th grade! I'm not sure how that happened so fast! I remember her last day of preschool, I was so emotional. I was 8 months pregnant, and I couldn't believe my baby girl was already done with preschool. Then a few months later, off to kindergarten she went. And I balled my eyes out for most of the morning. That whole week was difficult for me. She was my little side kick. Luckily, I had infant Carter to distract me.

Back when she was little, we used to call her our comic relief. She was so easygoing and funny. She still makes the best faces sometimes though. She has since mellowed out. She's now a shy, quiet, sweet girl, with a serious stubborn side! She's our Avery sandwich, the quiet, loving child smashed between two extremely loud and crazy brothers. She will befriend anyone that is willing to give her a chance. She is quick to hug everyone. She has a style that's all her own. She loves to shop and she LOVES to craft. Her room is a disaster almost all the time, with craft stuff and clothes lying all over the floor. She will spend an entire Saturday in her room, refusing to clean it. She really loves the dollar store and Hobby Lobby. She loves to read too.

She's quite smart. She's in the TAG program in math. But she excels in all her other subjects as well. Her teachers all love her and have nothing but good to say about her. We are never surprised at her conferences.The kids at school all think she is a very nice, sweet friend.

She tried gymnastics for a year, but its not her thing. She tried indoor soccer for a season, but that was definitely not her thing. Then she tried swim team, and THAT was her thing. She loves the water, so much! Shes comfortable in the water. She becomes a fish. I love to watch her in the pool! We are so proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and doing some swim meets! She loves to do the breast stroke, but most of all she loves to be a dolphin and spend her time under water.

She also wants to be a teacher. Specifically a preschool teacher. She dreams about her classroom. And sometimes she plays school with Carter, though not much lately since Carters driving her nuts.

She doesn't like to be told what to do though. She gets very angry at us when we ask her to do anything. I think thats why she wants to be a teacher, so she can be the boss. ;)

She is still a picky eater, but I think she's learned over the years that she has to eat her veggies, its not optional, so she doesn't sit at the table for hours now refusing to eat them.

I don't have much to say about her, she's been the easy child. I really hope that as she enters into teenage-hood that she will continue to be the easy child. My fingers are crossed!!!!! ;)

Jadon

Over the next few posts, i'm going to center each post on one child. Its been so long since I blogged, there's a lot to catch up on!  So many things have happened, and I want to fill in the big blank area that is 4 years!
So today's post is all about my first born child, Jadon.

This boy. He's nearly as tall as me now. He's 13. How can that be??? We have a teenager?!?! Wasn't he just a stinker of a 4 year old, like, yesterday???????

So I believe in my last posts, he was already diagnosed with anxiety. Hes been on medication for it for several years. He's been seeing a therapist for years as well. We have seen such an improvement! You may recall, alot of his anxiety was centered around illness and medical, especially throwing up. I think alot of it, he is outgrowing.
A couple years ago, he was also diagnosed with ADHD. He takes medication for that as well. Its helped him so much!
He also has a condition called Premature Adrenarche. He started getting B.O. when he was 5. He had hair growing in his armpits at age 8 or 9. We see an endocrinologist twice a year to have his bone age measured and to see where he's at with puberty.
Premature Adrenarche is: Adrenarche is a lot like puberty; it’s characterized by changes in the body as your child enters her teen years. Premature adrenarche is when these changes begin early, before age 8 for girls and age 9 for boys. It’s usually nothing serious, simply your child’s body maturing in its own time.

What’s the difference between puberty and adrenarche?

It may be helpful to think of puberty and adrenarche as separate processes that your child’s body goes through, usually at the same time, but not always.

• Adrenarche means “the awakening of the adrenal gland.” The adrenal gland is responsible for making hormones including androgens—sex hormones that cause changes such as the development of pubic hair, oily skin, oily hair and body odor. There is one adrenal gland on top of each kidney.
• Puberty is the name given to the stage of life at which the body becomes capable of sexual reproduction. During puberty, the brain sends signals to glands in the testes for boys and ovaries for girls, spurring the development of sperm, eggs and other secondary sexual characteristics (such as breasts for girls and a deepening voice for boys).

So because of this, its likely he will stop growing earlier than he would if he didn't have it, therefore he will probably only be around 5 ft 9 inches tall, whereas he could have been well over 6 feet with a tall mom and a tall dad. 

The last appointment we had, his bone age had barely changed, which is a good thing!!! His bone age previously had always been 2+ years ahead. The doctor thinks he has good genes on his side though, and that since he has tall parents, he will be a bit taller. 

Once upon a time, he was afraid of swimming, but he managed to learn how to swim thanks to our private lessons teacher from years ago, and is no longer afraid, and jumps off the high dive and goes down water slides, and does all the fun things you can do when you can swim without fear. 

He had a rough time in school in 4th and 5th grade. The boys were starting to be mean to him. He struggled. He hated going. He would call home from school with a "stomach ache" sometimes. He would get off the bus crying because the kids had been mean to him. Or he have an outburst at home, and we'd find out he had a difficult day at school. It was heartbreaking. A few times I cried when he wasn't looking. It just broke my heart to see him struggling with friends. It was also the time when we were figuring out that he had ADHD. 

In 5th grade, he visited East Linn for a day. He really enjoyed it. Its a small christian school. We were worried about him going to NAMS for middle school as bad things had been happening there, and he was such a follower. But ultimately we gave him the choice to switch schools for middle school, or stay the course. He decided to switch. It was the absolute best choice. Its expensive. We have to pay a hefty tuition, but its so worth it. He changed so much that first year! He was so happy! He had friends, he was getting good grades, we had no issues whatsoever, and he never called home with a stomach ache. He actually enjoys going to school now! Thank you Lord for showing him and us where he belonged!!

He joined the soccer team, the basketball team, and the track team. He has grown in soccer, but is still very tentative. He has improved a lot as a basketball player, and he really enjoys playing. He is a really good track star. He has learned how to run properly, and he is so fast!!!  Sadly, he's missing track this year.

So lets see. That brings us to today. He's finishing up 7th grade.... from home unfortunately with Covid-19 and the closure of the schools. But he is obsessed with girls. (Insert my eyeballs rolling around in my head here.) He's a handsome kid though, and the girls all seem to like him. He is obsessed with his hair looking good, and isnt happy with the haircut I gave him while stuck in quarantine! His other obsession is airplanes, and he wants to be a pilot someday. He soaks in all the information about aviation he can like a sponge. This is the same kid who was scared to fly years ago!

He is very outgoing. Extroverted. And talks a lot. Its weird that I have a child so extroverted, but I admire his outgoing nature since i'm the opposite. He also makes a great big brother!

In just a couple years, he'll be driving, and a couple more years he'll be graduating. I am sadly and acutely aware that we are on the down slope of raising this child, and the slope feels like its getting steeper and faster. 😢 Our time with him will be over soon, and he'll be flying off to start his own life. (Quite literally he could be flying off, if he continues to want to be a pilot when he's grown.) 

7 years!

That's how long we've been in our "new" house! I was reading posts from when we first moved in. We are still working on our yard. Its been a really really long and expensive project. Its not perfect by any means, but at least we have a flat area and "grass" (clovers mostly) that the kids can run around in. We acquired my parents old play structure, and bought a trampoline a few years back. The swings get played with every day that the sun is shining. Carter loves swinging so much!
And the trampoline gets nearly daily use still! It was such a good investment!

Anyways, the yard is a mostly completed mess. The soil is thick, sticky, horrible clay so plants and grass don't always grow very well in it (but the weeds sure love it.) The weeds every spring are so overwhelming. Our neighbor next door has been building his house himself for 6 years. And its still not finished. Super nice guy, but good heavens im not sure that house will ever be completed! And since he's not done, his yard isnt done so its all weeds. He weed eats it every so often, but i think it still spreads. Doesn't help that we have a field in our backyard as well.

Looking back, we talk about things we wish we'd done differently when building our house. Like installing the granite instead of the formica. We ended up spending nearly as much as granite would have been on making it look "fancy" with fancy edging. The backsplashes are all coming off now, and Derek has has to fix both bathrooms. The kitchen and laundry are also in need of fixing, but its a long process and we cant use the counters for a week.

Our carpet is a disaster. They didn't stretch it properly when it was installed, so its getting lines of lumps all over. I just want to replace it all with Pergo, but again, lots of $$$.  This is a problem in every single room. And it frustrates me to no end.

Another thing I would have done differently, is making the kids bedrooms about a foot bigger. Their rooms are pretty small.
And I would have also added on a bonus room. The kids are getting older, they need a place they can go hang out with their friends thats not in the main living area where we all have to be. Im still holding out hope that we can make this happen, but by the time we can, the kids will be grown and moved out.
These are things we didn't think about when building.

I got tired of the paint color that was in every single room. The kids rooms have been painted a few times each, but the rest of the house color was really wearing on me. It was a yellowish color. So I finally painted the main areas- kitchen, dining, living room and hallways. I'm SOOOO glad I did! It was a lot of work, but it was well worth it!

Another thing I would have done, made the dining area just a bit bigger. Its fine how it is, but I just like more space around my chairs and the rest of the stuff around it.
And a half bath would've been nice. I didn't want to have to clean 3 bathrooms, so we didn't add that to the plan. But for some reason, we all seem to have to use the bathrooms at the same time! 😂😂

Things I LOVE about our house-
The kitchen. I still love it. Its big, its so much bigger than our old kitchen, and I have so much room to keep everything!
The laundry room. I will not take for granted having my laundry inside the house as opposed to the garage. And having a utility sink has been life changing on so many levels! ;)
Our hallway. It has soooo much storage and I LOVE that!!!! You know me, i love organizing! In the original house plans, that storage area was supposed to be a stairway to a daylight basement. We didn't need a basement so we took out the stairs from the plan, leaving a nice big hallway and wonderful storage closets in its place!
Our big living room. Looking back, our old house had such a small living room. It had toys all over too. We kept the toys out there since the kids bedrooms were upstairs and I didn't want Avery climbing the stairs and tumbling down them. Now all the kids toys are in their rooms, and the living room is wide and open.
The big lot. The kids need that room to run. Carter would have never survived in our old yard! He loves to run, kick balls, swing, spend his time out there in the sun. I'm glad we get to have a garden (although the garden beds are being used by a certain 4 year old as a construction site....) Our house faces the opposite direction as our old house, so in the summer, our afternoons and evenings we get to spend out in the backyard and on the deck where its shaded from the hot summer sun by the house.

Dont get me wrong, I dearly loved our old house, and I still think about our time in that house. So many wonderful memories. Our first home. We brought home 2 of our 3 kids to that house. The yard was easy to take care of since it was so tiny. The house was easy to clean because it was smaller. And I just thought it was a cute house, and a nice layout. It was nice and bright. And perfect for a young couple just starting out.

In the end, i'm so grateful for the house we are in now. We are so blessed to be where we are! And i'm so grateful for the house we started our life together in. Yes, we were so blessed there as well.

11 in scrabble

Today was my 40th birthday! I can't believe it came so fast! I feel like it wasn't very long ago that we were throwing my mom a surprise 40th birthday party! But that was well over 20 years ago!

The day was nice. Since the world is in quarantine, we stayed in. Derek was working (from home.) Jadon had online school. Avery and Carter went and spent a few hours at Gramma Debbies playing with the chickens. It was so quiet when they were gone!

Derek got me a brand new set of pots and pans, stainless steel!
Avery got me a beautiful hummingbird feeder. And Jadon got me a lap desk. I love them all!
I'm a little worried about using the pans, I feel there will be some trial and error with using stainless steel cookware. But they are beautiful! Our other set is a couple of cheap pans from costco that are a couple years old, and some pots that we've had since the wedding!

It was pouring down rain today. Never know what kind of weather we're gonna get for my birthday. Could be like todays was, or it could be 80 degrees and beautiful and sunny.  Derek and i did manage to take Macy for a walk this evening when there was a break in the rain.

Avery gave me a card, and in it there was a picture of scrabble pieces that spelled out "Forty"... but, she said, in scrabble i'm only 11! 😅

Overall it was a nice, quiet day. And i'm not upset to be "Over the hill" now, actually i'm a little happy in a way. My 30's were much better than my 20's, and i've heard 40's are even better than 30's.
So, here's hoping or a great decade!

And the cherry on top of the nice day was when Carter got out of bed to come give me a hug tonight and tell me happy birthday. 💓

Good heavens

I decided I wanted to start blogging again, but I forgot how quickly time passes between posts! I feel like I just started this again and its already been a week somehow since I last posted.

I'm glad I blogged though. Ive been slowly going through each post and printing them all, keeping them in a binder. Avery has started reading them. That girl loves to read anyways, but she is enjoying seeing how life was before she was born, and when she was little. And I have to say, I enjoy looking back on all of the posts as well. It brings back so many memories, and things I would have otherwise forgotten.

Life feels really good right now! We aren't crazy busy, we aren't in the car constantly, and we have lots of time together. I know it will end eventually, but for now, i'm trying to soak it all in!

We've been reading The Hunger Games books with Jadon and Avery every evening after Carter goes to bed.  We are almost through with the final book. We've watched the movies as we finished each book. The movies are not nearly as good as the books, but that typical of most movies based on books.

Last summer we dubbed  "The Summer of Harry Potter." Avery had finished all the Harry Potter books, and was obsessed with anything Harry Potter. So we were watching the movies as a family for her. But then, the rest of us got hooked on them. All summer the kids would watch the movies.

Carter told me today that he wants us to get a little pool, and fill it with water and fish so he can fish in the pool. That kid. He can make me want to lose my mind one minute, then look at me cutely the next and I melt.

Anyways, again, another post thats all over the place. Thats kindof how my thoughts are lately... all over the place! ;)

My back has been bugging me again. Its been bugging me off and on since my physical therapy back when Avery was in preschool. But usually when i'd lift things wrong or bend weird. But its been hurting me a lot lately. I've been doing my stretches more, and doing core strengthening exercises, but it still sometimes will bug me. It was bugging me at the end of last week (today is Sunday). I took it easy over the weekend,did a lot of stretching, and yesterday it was feeling really good and this morning I woke up and thought I was back to normal again. Then for some reason around lunchtime, it started hurting again.  I immediately started my stretches, but that didn't help, and now i'm in misery again. I can barely do anything. I am relying on everyone else to do everything, and it just about kills me. I was so frustrated this evening as I was doing my stretches that I was tearing up because of frustration. I'm trying to think of what I could have done to make it hurt again, but I come up with nothing. I was bending over a little, but thats life. I wasn't picking up any heavy objects, or any objects for that matter. I feel broken.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, the 'rona.....

Doesn't matter what you call it. It has completely turned everyones lifes upside down. The entire world.

We have been in "quarantine", sheltering at home, practicing social distancing, since March 12th. We are not supposed to leave the house except for essential items, like groceries. 50% of people are wearing masks or gloves or both, and all non essential stores and restaurants had to close. Some restaurants still offer take out though. There are lines outside of busy stores, as they allow one person in, as another one exits, so they don't exceed a certain number of persons in the store.
Everyone is supposed to stay at least 6 feet away from each other, except within your immediate family.
The kids are doing "distance learning." I'm amazed by their resilience and ability to adjust to an unknown situation so easily. Jadon's school was able to easily convert to online learning as the kids all had chromebooks. Avery's school wasn't so easy. They missed several weeks before they were able to send out books for the kids to work in. But its not much. Around 15 minutes a day. So we have Avery do other stuff as well. Carter is doing some small stuff at home.
They are stressing that don't worry about your child falling behind, every kid in the world is in the same boat and they will catch back up next year.

Sadly, school has been cancelled for the rest of the school year. It made me sad because Avery is missing out on so many fun field trips in 4th grade. Today we picked up all her school supplies and papers and anything else she had at school. We pulled into the parking lot, and her teacher, wearing a mask and gloves, brought everything to our car and we didn't even leave the car.

This is such a surreal time. We encouraged the kids to write down stuff in a journal because this is historical. Someday they will tell their kids all about the time that we were quarantined and school was cancelled for 6 months.

In stores, everyone had stripped the shelves of TP, flour, sugar, and rice.
Today, April 30th, there have been 1,031,659 cases of Covid 19 in the USA. And a total of 60,057 deaths.

I'm kindof all over the place with this post.
Life has definitely changed around here. We are working from home, kids are "homeschooling" and we hardly leave the house except for groceries or Rx's. We have spent 24 hours a day together for a month and a half. You'd think we would all be at each others throats. But, I think its been good for us to slow down significantly. Jadon and Avery are getting along wonderfully again. I'm teaching Avery how to cook and Grandma Debbie is teacher her how to sew. Avery and Carter and I planted a garden. Something we haven't been able to do in a few years because of time. After Carter goes to bed, we've been reading The Hunger Games with the older two kids. They've enjoyed that.
The kids have A LOT of down time, which is where they struggle, they don't know what to do, so they just want to play video games and watch YouTube, but we put a limit on that. Once they come up with something to do they are great.
I think its even been good for our marriage. Derek and I have been going for walks together with the dog, and sometimes Carter. Its nice to have that time together where neither of us is stressed out or mentally exhausted. Its definitely making me rethink continuing my job. But i'm feeling happier, less stressed, than I have in years.
And surprisingly, none of them are driving me crazy. In fact, I'm soaking in all this time I've been given with them. I'm dreading when things go back to normal again and we have to be constantly on the go. Its like a dark cloud over my head.

Sure, we are running the dishwasher every day now, and going through TP much faster. But its so been worth it.

The years flew by....

Wow, its been 4 years since my last post. I figured I was done with this blog! I had forgotten how to get into it for a long time, and I just plain haven't had an ounce of time to blog. Last summer I almost just deleted it completely. I'm glad I didn't. I'm trying to figure out how I can print the blog without spending an arm and a leg.

I decided to read back through some of my posts, and boy did that bring back memories! I'm soooo glad I had the blog to document some of these things! Most of them I remember, but some I do not. None of the pictures show up anymore, because we've since created a "photo library" and all of our pictures were moved and sorted into the library. So none of the pictures show up in the blog anymore, but I know exactly which pictures were there still.

Its amazing how fast time goes. As a kid, it went so slow. I thought the years would never pass. But now they just keep going faster and faster like a snowball rolling down a hill.

In my last post, Jadon was in 3rd grade, Avery in kindergarten, and Carter was just 8 months old. They are now 7th grade, 4th grade and preschool. Carter starts kindergarten in the fall already.

Jadon is 5ft 4in now, just a few inches shorter than me. Its so weird to be over to look at him almost eye to eye!  On top of anxiety, he has ADHD, and Premature Adrenarche. He might not get to be taller than me, but luckily he has tall genes in his family so fingers are crossed.
He plays soccer, basketball and track. He is a really fast runner! Didn't see that coming! From the boy who used to clomp and stomp his way across the basketball court, to one of the fastest kids in his grade. (Someone taught him how to properly run.)
He really likes girls too. ;) And the girls seem to like him as well. He is Mr. Socialite. He talks a lot, has no trouble making friends and being around people. Its so weird that I have a kid like him that loves to socialize since i'm such an introvert.
He wants to be a pilot someday, and aside from girls, planes and flying are about all he thinks about.

Avery, my sweet girl, she is 5 ft tall. She.'s been about a head taller than most of the kids in her class throughout elementary school. She is artsy, crafty, creative. She loves quiet things, like reading, writing and drawing. She's a TAG student (Talented and gifted) and has been labeled as TAG in math, and her teacher also thinks reading or writing, i cant remember which. I personally think she is a very talented writer. But she's always been good at reading too.
She does swim team. Yep. Reading back when Avery was in Waterkids at 18 months or so old, I had typed that she loved jumping in and loved going under water. I've always known she'd love the water. She has done several swim meets, and has won quite a few ribbons.
She's still as stubborn as ever though. Holy moley is she stubborn.
Avery and I enjoy when the boys are gone and the house is quiet and we can hear each other talk! :)
Avery wants to be a preschool teacher someday. She got to help out in carters preschool class a couple of times.

Carter. Oh my little Carter. He's mama's boy through and through! He will crawl into bed with me at night and snuggle into me. If I have my back to him, he will spoon me! 😂 Hes always picking me flowers, or i constantly hear "mom, watch this!" and he'll do something that he thinks is totally awesome and amazing. He talks CONSTANTLY. Like, it never stops.
He's probably the most headstrong of the 3 kids, he's also stubborn like his sister, but not quite as bad. He's fast. He loves to play anything that involves running or a ball or jumping.
He's very social like his brother.
He was much easier to potty train than his siblings.

Derek is still working for the hospital. He's become quite a respected, important person in his job, enough that they suggested a manager role, but he doesn't want to manage anyone (i dont blame him.)

I started working part time at our church as children's ministry director in November 2017. Since then, we've been non stop on the go. Between church and the kids extracurricular activities, we have no time to breath. I've never liked being overly busy. I enjoy being home, being able to take care of my house and my family. So its been quite an adjustment.  And lately i've been praying about even continuing the job. My kids have grown up and I feel like i missed the last 3 years of their lives. So, we will see how God answers my prayers, whether he wants me to continue, or whether that season of my life is done.

One thing is for sure. I feel old. I'm tired. I don't have the energy I used to. I was a better mom to Avery and Jadon when they were little than I am to Carter. He knows I love him, but we spend hardly any time playing on the floor together like I did with Jadon and Avery. This is why you have kids in your 20's, and not any later! 😜