Tough

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post today.
Two days ago, was a very bitter sweet day, for a sweet little baby was born sleeping into the arms of Jesus. Natalee, a good friend of mine from high school, was overdue with her 5th baby, a boy- Sawyer Jude.
On the morning of the 24th, she went in to get checked because the baby was not moving, and that is when they found that he no longer had a heartbeat.

She posted this on her facebook yesterday:

Sawyer Jude, 8 lbs 6.4 oz, 21" long and absolutely beautiful and perfect. He was born, sleeping peacefully at 1:18 A.M. May 25, 2012 ♥ It was the date that, for weeks now I'd hoped he would come into this world on... I loved the sound of 5/25 and how easy it would be to remember when asked all five of our kids' birth dates ♥ It will now be the second hardest date to remember....today's ...will be the first...as we have to give him all the kisses of a lifetime, all the hugs and try to memorize his every feature....all the things we wanted to a whole lifetime to do before we have to give him someone else and leave without our sweet baby boy. I can hardly breathe or see for crying. i want to take him home....I know he's at home with Jesus, but I wanted him longer with me, we all did. I know he's the lucky one, and I'm so thankful for the hope we have in Christ. We are, Jesse and I and the kids having to do something we never imagined.....please continue to cover us in prayer and encourage (we are reading all of it) us as we also begin to plan sweet Sawyer's memorial service ♥ I want to be overtaken with the peace only my heavenly father can give....I'm running to Him. I'm thankful for and so in LOVE with my son and our lives have been forever blessed, forever changed having him dancing in my belly these last 41 weeks ♥

 

Please, if you will, pray for this family.  I cant even begin to imagine going through this. I had early miscarriages, and that was hard, but to carry a perfectly healthy baby for 41 weeks and then suddenly he dies when he should have been born.... to leave the hospital with empty arms, and empty dreams, and then to have to plan a memorial instead.  To have to go home, and face the questions of curious people, deal with the comments of well-meaning people who just say the wrong things unknowingly, to have to walk into your house thats now set up and ready for a newborn.  All the little painful reminders that you were indeed supposed to bring home your baby to love and care for.

 

Its so hard to understand why these things happen. I know God had a bigger plan, and through this He will make something beautiful.  And as Natalee said in her post above, Sawyer is the lucky one to be in Heaven with Jesus. Im so glad they have such a strong faith.

 

I have read many blogs that I found through a miscarriage and infant loss website after I had my miscarriages.  I noticed the same two trends.  The blogs from women who were not believers were very bitter. Cold. Angry. Depressed. And some of these blogs were written years and years after their child passed, and they were still feeling these emotions. While the blogs from women who were believers and had faith were still sad, but there was hope in what they wrote. They knew their babies were in the arms of the Father, and that someday they will get to see them again.  They know God has a purpose and a plan for everything.  They were not bitter.  Obviously yes they were sad.... you'd have to be emotionally dead to not feel sad from losing your child, but it was a hopeful sadness.

His plan for little Sawyer was just as it was; to never take a breath of the outside world.  His little life has touched so many people already.

I was doing so good...

I was doing so good posting regularly there for a few weeks.... then life started to feel like it was getting back to normal a little bit!  And what I mean by that is, Jadon is acting a little more like himself lately.  Getting into trouble.  Acting up.  Being a stinker. Exhausting me in the process.Not worrying nearly as much.
Bedtime has improved dramatically.  Getting him to get ready for school has improved 10 times over.  Getting out the door to preschool has greatly improved.  Pretty much everything has improved.  There are still a few little things that are suffering.  He's still worrying about separation, though not to the degree that it was, and this is apparent when we actually get to preschool and he refuses to get out of the car.  Although once he is in the building he is fine.
He's also still worried about getting sick, and this was made evident the other night when he and Avery both got in trouble before bed and lost their bedtime snack in the process.  He was worried that he'd get sick from being hungry..... (long story short, he's gotten sick from being too hungry before)...... so he was up for a few hours crying in bed that he was scared.
So the plan for his councelling is that we are going to continue weekly until the end of the school year, and re-evaluate at that time again.

For mothers day we decided to go do something as a family, since we've really done nothing fun this year because of circumstances and jobs and just busyness of life.  So we went to the coast to the Tillamook cheese factory, and the Tillamook air museum, looked at a lighthouse, and spent some time on the beach.  It was a lot of driving for one day, and Avery was being especially "two", particularly at mealtimes.  Nothing is more embarrasing than a child throwing a tantrum in a restaurant.  You can feel all eyes on the parents and they are all thinking "cant they get control of that kid?!"  Well, if you've ever dealt with a headstrong two year old, then the answer is no. The only thing you can do is take them away, which is what Derek did.  Avery went in timeout in the car 2 times while at lunch that day... and lunch was only about 20 minutes long, maybe even 15.  So, it was really unpleasant.

Unfortunately the beach was about as unpleasant as the 2 year old.  At least the sun was shining, but the wind was whipping so hard that the sand was pelting our legs, and felt like we were being sandblasted.  Not to mention, it made the temperature, which was probably in the low 60's, feel much cooler than that, and we were all in shorts because the weather men said it was going to be in the 70's and 80's on the coast.

By days end, we were ready to be home and out of the car. 

Lucky me, the next day was my birthday, and Derek took the day off of work, but that day we just hung around the house, running errands and shopping.  Jadon had preschool. We ate out for lunch which is something we do as a family ritual on birthdays. The kids and Derek bought me a toaster oven for my birthday, and a new blender for mothers day, since my old blender pooped out on me recently. The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  I had exercise class that night, and unfortunately we got to class and found out our regular instructor was out all week camping and we had a sub. in her place.  She was alright, but lacked the pep that the regular lady offers. So in other words, it was a struggle! 

I'm going crazy with a few things.  Meals.  Dinners in particular.  I feel so unorganized and I cant stand it.  So thanks to PINTEREST I found a menu chart that I made and starting in June, i'm going to have a monthly dinner menu to follow!  This will make life soooo much easier!  Then 4pm wont roll around every day and i wont have to think to myself, What am i going ot make for dinner tonight?!?  I'll have my menu in place, i'll buy ingredients ahead of time and i'll know what i need when i need it.  Eventually i'm going to print out all the recipes as well so i have them all on hand.  I'll throw in a new recipe here and there, but my family doesnt seem to be too fond of trying new things, so i'll keep the frequency at a minimal on this.... but i'm sooooo excited to start!!  I'm so tired of not knowing what to make for dinner every night!
I'll take a picture of it when i get it all set up!

The end of yet another exhausting week

I'm glad this week is done.  It was quite a hectic one.  Derek was gone again for half the week in Wisconsin for more training for work.  Jadon didn't do very well with him being gone this time... something we found out he was not very thrilled with at his last councelling session.
Jadon doesnt often tell us much what he's thinking or feeling, probably because he either doesnt understand it or doesnt know how to explain it.  So he apparently said something about Derek going to Wisconsin again to his councellor, who then told us that Jadon was a little anxious about Derek going to Wisconsin. This was news to us.  As far as we knew, Jadon couldnt have cared less.  He's alot like me and keeps his emotions bottled up inside... both happy and sad ones.

So, Jadon was VERY anxious while Derek was gone, and would not go to sleep at night, once asleep he didnt sleep much, and getting him to school was an absolute nightmare.... I wish I could have seen what my blood pressure was at during those 3.5 days. It was very frustrating. 

Monday I had to go grocery shopping.  Everytime i go grocery shopping, when I leave the cart to get something off a shelf, I turn around to find Avery making out with the shopping cart handle.... AND. I. JUST. ABOUT. DIE.
Its so discusting!!!!  Grocery cart handles are one of the dirtiest things you ever touch, let alone put your MOUTH on!!!! Dirtier than a toilet seat!!!!!!  Oh barf!!!!!!  Then in the car after our grocery trips, her hands are all over in her mouth and nose...............So on monday, I was prepared!  I took a hand sanitizer wipe in with me (since Winco does not offer cart wipes for their carts... by the way, thanks winco for that.)  Wiped the cart down really good. 
Of course, this particular trip, she barely even touched the cart with her hands, let alone her mouth.  And when we got in the car, as usual, I made her wipe her hands with a wipe.  And of course this time her hands were no where near her eyes/nose/mouth.  So, of course, the day i'm prepared to fight off the germs, she does not do anything gross.  However, had I not washed the cart, or her hands, her mouth would have been all over the cart, and her hands would have been all over in her mouth and nose.
Such is life.


Derek and I have been talking about how exhausted Jadon has been making us over these last couple months. He has literally worn us out.  I have not done anything fun with these kids, and I feel terrible.  I used to do crafts with them all the time, or take them places, but I feel like Jadon has kindof sucked the energy out of us lately.  Monday I decided that while Derek was gone I needed to try to do at least a little something fun with the kids, so we made our own pizzas.  I bought a pack of 3 mini crusts and put out some toppings that we all like and I made my pizza first because I knew they'd hog all the toppings, and its a good things because shortly after they started in, Avery sneezed on the cheese.  Anyways, they had fun making their pizzas, and it was a short enough "activity" that it kept their attention, yet long enough that it satisfied them. 
Jadon's turned out pretty decent.  Avery's had an inch of cheese on it, so I intervened and removed a bit so that it would cook.
Avery, of course, did not eat her pizza though.
And Jadon does not like leftover pizza, so basically I ate most of the pizza over the course of the next 3 days.

Tuesday was Jadon's kindergarten orientation day!  He was really excited about it, until right before, then he clammed up and got nervous, and we ended up walking in late. He had the option of going to play in the classroom with the teacher and the other kids, while I went and listened to the principal talk, but he didnt want to leave me.  After the principal finished talking though, all the parents got to go get their kids and check out the classroom and meet the teacher.  It was crowded with a bunch of adult bodies and a little overwhelming for Jadon.  He met his teacher momentarily though, and we'll get a one-on-one with her again the week before school starts.  The thing Jadon WAS excited about however-  riding the school bus.  It will stop right at our house, and now everytime it goes by our house he gets Sssssssuuuuppppeeeeerrrrr excited!  After orientation, Jadon and I went and got gelato together.

Wednesday, we had a playdate after preschool with a buddy from Jadon's preschool and his younger twin brothers. All the kids enjoyed that, and it was the only non-rainy day out of like 5 days, so we got lucky.  It was still chilly, and breezy, but the kids didnt notice. They had a grand time climbing the trees, and that one was big enough for all 5 to get in, unfortunately its impossible to get a picture of 5 kids ages 5 and under to look at you at the same time and smile for a picture.

Derek came home early thursday morning and had to go back to work that same day.  He was exhausted. But surprised me friday when he was given the day off of work :)

So friday was a big day for a little girl who's growing up too fast. After months and months of me not wanting to convert Averys crib into a toddler bed, we finally, on a whim, converted it.  So now, my baby girl, is one step further away from being my baby. :*(
She was scared of her "new" bed when she took her nap, but did pretty good last night.  She stayed in bed!  And didn't even get out of bed this morning when she woke up!  I sent Jadon in her room to get her out of bed.  She'll get the hang of it.... in fact, i'm sure next week at this time i'll be blogging about how she wont stay in her bed anymore and i'm ready to rip my hair out.  :) 

And one final piece of information for the week.  Jadon has a new tooth coming in!  However, he has not lost a tooth yet.  This tooth is coming in directly behind one of his baby teeth.  I've been feeling his baby tooth, and it isnt loose yet.  Although last night I felt it, and it looks like it might be getting a tad bit loose..... so, we'll see!!!!!  I am going to sew up a tooth fairy pillow of some sort.  I have to find one that I like first though.  I'm trying to get Jadon really excited about having a new tooth, a loose tooth, and losing a tooth, because he got a bit freaked out at first about the thought of losing a tooth and was worrying.  So, ive been trying to build it into a big exciting thing!  Probably wont work since nothing seems to calm his fears.  But yes, we might have a loose/lost tooth pretty soon!!  Both my babies are growing up so fast! :*( Waaaahhhh!

Diagnosis

Jadon had his first "official" counselling session yesterday, and the therapist diagnosed him at that time.  His diagnosis is: adjustment disorder with anxiety.

So I came home and did a little research online about adjustment disorder in kids, and here's what I have found. Its usually brought on by a sudden stressful event, like a divorce, a big move, a death in the family, a major illness of a loved one... ahem!... etc.
Symptoms are: intense separation anxiety, irritable, anxious, subdued, resists going to sleep, frequent temper tantrums, regression in the ability to toilet independently, acting out by biting, hitting.  And not all kids will react to big stress like this.

Jadon's symptoms have been mostly intense separation anxiety, and resists going to sleeps, however, he sometimes goes through periods of irritability, anxiety, and he's a little subdued.  He's been acting out a little more than normal, especially when his schedule wavers at all from his "normal"... whenever we do anything other than what we typically do on a normal day to day basis. 

I'm very relieved to know that what he is going through is something very real, and he's not just losing his marbles or has a loose screw.  The therapist said that after spending time with Jadon, he seems completely fine otherwise, a little worriesome in nature, and he might have a little underlying generalized anxiety disorder, but otherwise he's a really enjoyable boy to be around, and he is very well adjusted.

We're going to do 6 sessions with the therapist and evaluate from there the progress.  After my research, the good news is that is sounds like adjustment disorder, unlike post traumatic stress syndrome, goes away after about 6 months with help.
We've done the right things sending him to therapy though, as i read its very important for people to get help if they have this disorder as it can get worse if help is not sought.  And another good thing is that he will hopefully learn coping skills for the future so that he'll be able to better handle stress in the future.... I hope!  I pray!  Poor little guy! 

I'm hoping this is all a good thing in the long run though... him getting this adjustment disorder. I'm hoping that through all this, we will learn alot about Jadon (since he keeps his emotions and his thoughts to himself most of the time), and to understand him better, and that we can all learn how to handle stressful situations better, for Jadon, and for ourselves. I love that little guy.

Spring :)

Spring is finally here!  At least for a few days! Its so nice to finally see some green growing on the trees again, and some color in yards again.  Its nice to hear lawn mowers, and smell the fresh cut grass.  To know that the promise of summer is getting close.  I love the longer days, getting to cook dinner and eat dinner with our blinds open and sun shining into our windows, and have it be light enough afterwards that we can take a walk or play outside for awhile. The fresh air. The warmth. The overall good mood that the sunshine seems to bring to almost everyone. Theres not much about spring and summer that I don't like!  There's plenty about winter that I don't like.

With spring, comes kindergarten registration for fall. We got Jadon's kindergarten registration packet in the mail, and in a week we have orientation where we get to go meet his teacher, see his classroom and school, and sign up!  I cant believe it!  Didn't we just sign him up for his first year of preschool last week???  My little man, my firstborn, is getting ready to head off to elementary school.
Preschool has been really good for him. He's made friends who absolutely adore him,  learned to write, learned numbers and he can count to 30 by himself, knows his ABC's (but he's known those for quite awhile, you may recall a video I posted on here before Avery was born when he was saying his ABC's?), he recognizes all his letters- upper and lower- and knows all the letter sounds, he is even doing a little bit of reading now, and we recently found out that he has reading groups at preschool.
His first year of preschool, he grew in leaps and bounds socially, and this year he's grown so much mentally, and he is very eager to learn now.  Yes, i'm 100% certain that preschool was the right choice for Jadon. 

On a different note, Jadon started counseling yesterday. His anxiety over his health and his seperation anxiety is not improving, sometimes it seems worse, and we want to get it taken care of before kindergarten.  And, he's only 5, we want him to be able to enjoy life without having to worry so much. :(  Luckily we were able to get him right in to get started, and next weekend will continue, and I imagine we'll be continuing each weekend until he is doing better.  Thankfully our insurance covers an unlimited number of visits, so as many as he needs will be covered, whether its 10 or 1000.... after our deductible that is. 

I did a little spring shoppin' for myself the other day... afterall, i've shed a few more pounds since last years shorts season.  I'm happy to announce that i'm in a size 8 now, and even fit into a 6 in one pair of capris so of course I bought that pair!!!!  Hip hip horray!!!!! :D

Derek ordered us a new dishwasher yesterday.  Ours is 8 years old afterall, but its starting to fall apart inside, and rather than spend $300 to replace the parts inside and have it die on us in a year, we just decided to spend $500 and get a new one that will be QUIET.  So, we wont get it for 2 weeks, but i'm a tad bit excited!  I've hated our dishwasher since day one.  Its incredibly loud, and i'm not exaggerating.  We cant run it and watch tv at the same time.  So, we always try to run it when we go to bed so we dont have to hear it, but alot of times we forget to run it when we go to bed.

Organizing..... again? still?

I'm organizing again.... or maybe i'm still organizing.... I dont know.  Either way.  I feel like i'm constantly going through all of our things, and purging, recycling, donating, trashing things to make room for the kids. They are growing like weeds afterall, and you all know how big our house is, and how much storage space we have... and why does it seem like kids toys are all bigger than they are?  This is true before they even turn 1 year old!

So anyways, our garage is not only our laundry room, its also our yard storage, tool storage, attic storage, game storage, food storage, and everything else storage... its also our playroom. Why would anyone want to park their car in the garage????  I mean, dont people enjoy having to get out in the rain to load up and unload the kids from the cars?  And don't people enjoy scraping the ice off their windows on a brisk 20 degree morning?  Or sitting down and burning their bums on their seats on a hot 90 degree day?  Yeah, garages for cars are WAAAAAY overrated! 

So back to organizing, I dont know how much more of our stuff I can get rid of before all we have left is large toys!  I'm fairly certain the large basketball hoop could double as a couch though.  And the bikes could be chairs. ;) 

I decided that I dont need to keep all of the kids artwork, even though it is all so precious to me, every piece of it.  As a solution, i'm taking pictures of all of it, and i'm going to make a collage of it all and put it in a photobook so we always have it, but its not going to take up so much space.  This is going to be time consuming. And i'm afraid i'm going to have to go through every bin in our garage again to see what I can get rid of.  I keep telling myself that in the end, its just STUFF. Keep a FEW special things, and the rest of the things take pictures of and put into a photobook if I always want to remember them but dont want to physically keep the stuff.  We just really dont have the space to keep so many bins of memories.  I'm pretty sure my sanity is more important than bins full of memories that will probably never get looked at.

With that said, my mom saved a bin full of papers from my school years K-12, and I went through that the other day.  It was interesting to see report cards, teachers comments, and stories I wrote.  On every report card the teachers comments were:  "Alicia is very quiet, but has some great ideas!" "Alicia is shy, but I just love her sweet spirit in my class!" 
In other words, Alicia is really quiet and I have no idea what else to write about her so i'm going to add something else that sounds good!  I'm so sick of the "shy" label... actually, i'm so sick of the "shy" label being such an issue with people.

So anyways, I enjoyed reading my papers.  Unfortunately Mom you didnt write any dates on any papers so I had to guess about the age and grade I was when i wrote things.  Here's a few papers.

I'm guessing these were around 1st or 2nd grade (and i'll type my spelling, punctuation, grammatical errors too as those add to the humor):  About my cats and dog!  I have same cats and my bruther has a dog before bed time for my cats and dog they haft too go outside and go too the bathroom when it is morning our neighbrors wack when cats or dogs chocke on samething my mother helps them and sametimes dogs eat poyven ivey when they up and our cats and dog wack up and the ather dogs and cats wack up sametimes do they diye it is sad when my cat diyes I will still love him even if he srached me it herts too be hert! by Alicia

My friend Erica!  My friend is nice. Her name is Erica! I innvited her to my birthday party! She invited me to Blow Birds. She is very very very very nice. She is a good friend!  The End by Alicia!
(Blow Birds was supposd to be Blue Birds... girl scouts)

Do you know about the bionic man?  My aunt wears a bikini when she swims.  Christmas is in December! Bumble-bees hurt when they sting. this one was dated 4-28-87  (I was almost 7)

My cat.  My cat is a very good cat. he tells me when he wants in sids our hose.  his name is tricsie.  Some times tricsie is playful. so you shude't pick him up!
(Trixie was my first cat)

Then this one was when I was in 4th grade when I switched to Christian School. We were supposed to write a love letter to Jesus, on one side of the paper was a love letter that He had written to us, and then the other side of the paper was a space for us to respond to Him. Here was my response:
Dear Jesus,
I love you to, I will try to get along with my brother.  He just makes me mad. On December 19th 1989 he trogh a napkin in my breakfast.

:)

This n That

Avery and I had to make a stop at the craft store yesterday and I came across the cutest dress pattern for girls and I couldnt resist getting it!  http://www.simplicity.com/p-5098-childs-dresses.aspx  I want to make all 6 dresses for Avery!  They're just too cute, and Avery has.... I think just 1 dress, and its very plain and second hand.  Yeah, she's not much of a girly girl. I guess I shouldnt say SHE isnt a girly girl, its that her mommy puts her in all pants because its cold.  Summer will probably bring more dresses and skirts, hence the pattern for dresses! :) 

Now to decide which one to make first, they are all so cute!
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So, as always, i'm struggling with time management.  I'm finding it so difficult to balance my time between housework, time with the kids, time working on my tutu stuff, and everything between- meals, errands, preschool, appts, activities for the kids, etc. etc. etc.  I just cant seem to find a rhythm, and its driving me crazy.  I like consistency. I like routine. I'm like the kids, I like predictability.
Yesterday, the only time I sat down was when I was eating, driving, playing with Jadon, or folding laundry.  By 4:30pm, I was totally beat. At that point, I had baked potatoes in the oven cooking, the kids were occupied, so I sat on the couch, set my phone alarm for 10 minutes, and shut my eyes.
Something has to change.  I need to find a way to organize my time better.  I need to spend more time with my kids. I need to spend more time on myself and my business, and I need to spend more time with my husband. I think the house gets enough of my attention, it just needs to be orchestrated better.

When I was cleaning my upstairs bathrooms yesterday, I was thinking that maybe i'm going about cleaning my house all wrong.  I've got a weekly checklist on my fridge, nothing too difficult, and I recently modified it to make it even more manageable.  Still, i'm struggling to get things done.  I've been trying to tackle at least one thing every day during Averys nap. Averys nap is now quite short. Its only about an hour, and in that hour, I have to do that chore, as well as spend my one-on-one time with Jadon. If she goes down for nap late, which often happens on preschool days since lunchtime ends up being late, therefore setting the whole day back, time with Jadon sometimes gets cut short.  I do NOT let Averys nap go past a certain time, otherwise she will not sleep that night. 
So when I was cleaning, I was thinking that maybe I should just be taking 1 day a week and tackling ALL the house cleaning on that day, then I have the rest of the week to focus on the kids, the errands, tutu's, etc.  It sounds alot better in my head, but is it really do-able?  I dont know, I think I might try it for a couple weeks to see if it works any better.  Couldnt be worse than what i'm already doing.  Sounds much less chaotic in my head!  If I wasnt doing tutu's, I wouldn't be having this issue at all.  However, I am enjoying having something extracurricular to do!  And I like making things. And sewing things.

Thoughts or ideas anyone??? Also, how often do you clean?  Bathrooms? Dusting? Mopping? Clean showers? etc.  Do you have a schedule or routine you follow?  Id love to hear!

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There was a show on HGTV a couple weeks ago called "Clean Freaks".... and it was ALLLLLLLL about ORGANIZING!!!!!!!!  I made Derek record it for me. I have to be able to sit and watch it when I have nothing distracting me so I can get lots of great ideas for organizing.  I may even watch it with a pen and paper so I can write things down! ;)  I'm very very very excited to watch it, since, you know, I love organizing, and the show is all about it!

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After 6 weeks of break, we started exercise class again last night.  I'm feeling it this morning!  Its sooooo hard going back, and its so easy to see why people never start exercising in the first place!  But, once there, it felt good.  Tough, but good.

Sunshine

We had a sunny day today, not quite 60 degrees, but close.  It was the kind of day we havent had much of around here.... in fact, I can count on one hand, and probably even a hand minus a couple fingers, the number of days this year we've had that have been that nice.  So lets just say, it was very WELCOME at our house!
So most of the week has been rainy; typical.  And the forecast for the rest of the week is rainy; typical.  So i'm bummed.  Sometimes it scares me how much the weather affects my mood.

Anyways, I signed into Pinterest tonight.... always a bad idea.  Everyone who has Pinterest knows that you can not get on Pinterest for a few minutes. Its impossible.  Pinterest is like an addictive drug.  So I was trying to find ideas for wall art on Pinterest, because i'm tired of my walls looking so drab.  I have zero decorating creativity when it comes to my walls.  ZERO.  I came across alot of pictures and quotes and such.  Alot of quotes are from Dr. Seuss, which I found interesting.  One of them was: "Don't cry because its over. Smile because it happened."
I've been grumbling tonight about the weather because this evening the clouds rolled in, and I know what the forecast holds.... and i'm a pessimist.  Derek said that the quote was perfect for me and today's weather. 

Sometimes I hate when he's right, but I have to admit, my pessimist attitude does ruin my enjoyment of living in the moment sometimes.  And when it comes to the weather, i'm horrible at living in the moment.  Sadly, i'm already thinking about next winter, being cooped up inside; the cold; the rain; the gray; the short days.... every year it gets harder and harder to endure winter, and it seems like every year winter seems to last longer and longer into spring time!  I have to admit, the thought of moving some place warmer, less gray, less rainy.... its extremely tempting. 

April 7th???????

Sometimes I feel like such a slacker.  Or maybe its just that things sneak up on me before I have a chance to even think twice about them.  For example, a few weeks ago, my mom asked me what we were doing for Easter.  "Its just a few weeks away you know" she said.  Seemed like months away at the time.  I swear that was yesterday she asked me.  And here it is, the day before Easter and I am literally, as I type this, just now boiling eggs for the kids to color.  I dont even have an egg coloring kit. 

I dont have any Easter outfits either.  Which isnt a terrible thing... I dont think I had any outfits last year either.  I feel like its such a waste to buy special clothes for 1 single day, so if I buy them "Easter outfits" or "Christmas outfits" I try to make it something that they can wear again and again.  In the past, I've just made tutu's for Avery and she's worn shirts that she already has, or i've bought a shirt to go with them that she can wear again. The tutu's then get used as play outfits, which by the way get used quite frequently by both kids..... yes, even Jadon likes to put them on.  They like to put the tutu's on and then dance to upbeat music.  I TRY to be frugal as much as I can.

So this means the kids dont have lots of shoes.  Its ridiculous for kids to have lots of shoes.  They grow out of them in a matter of months, so you've wasted $15+ on a pair of shoes that only gets worn for a couple months.  Avery has 2 pairs of shoes- a pair of shoes that are nicer looking that she can wear with dresses or pants, and then a pair or tennis shoes.  Jadon also has 2 pairs of shoes- 2 tennis shoes- 1 nice pair for school and another pair for play, although we havent had to worry about wearing the play pair since we've been stuck inside for the last couple months.
Then both kids have a pair of rubber boots.

So anyways, here it is Easter tomorrow, and we havent even gotten the kids baskets. Its been a hectic few weeks I tell ya!  I'm usually on top of these kinds of things!  I'm a planner!  I like things planned months in advance!  Even things as small as Easter baskets! :)  So, I kindof feel like i've lost control. I'm not used to feeling like i'm constantly a day or so behind since i'm always living a day or two in the future.
It would sure be nice to have 3 additional hours to the day.  However, i'd never make it through a 27 hour day.  I can barely make it through a 24 hour day, i'm totally wiped out by the end of the day and it takes me no time at all to fall asleep once my head hits the pillow.

YAY!!!!!!

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers over the last 5 weeks!  I'm very very happy to announce that Jenny gets to go HOME tomorrow!!!  And I get the feeling she's ready to be out of the hospital and home with her hubby and her Hank (her dog.) 

We went up to visit her yesterday and we informed her that was the last time we wanted to see her at the hospital!!!

The kids went with us this time, and Jadon has been very insistent about wanting to go into her room to see her this time.  So he did, and while he was very hesitant and kept his distance, and was very concerned every time he heard a beeping noise outside the room, i'm very proud of him for going in.  Being a fellow worry-wart (and the one that passed the gene on to him:( ), I know he was probably feeling very jumpy inside; still not fully understanding hospitals and sicknesses.  But, he didnt even have a night terror last night! 

He's still struggling with separation, particularly from me, but I imagine this is something that will take a bit longer to get over.  Sounds like its something that happens in some kids around age 5-6 anyways.  Also separation anxiety in kids his age is a normal thing that happens in times of stress... like when a loved one becomes ill. And I dont think that him seeing me being hooked up to the heart monitor helped much.

The hardest part has been preschool though.  I'm having a really difficult time getting him to preschool.  Particularly getting him to get ready and get in the car.  Once we're there, i've been staying there with him for awhile, and the teachers are totally fine with that.  And i'm sure they'd let me stay the whole day if I wanted, but I know that won't do Jadon any good.  Monday he had a really hard time, probably because it was the first day back from spring break.  I ended up staying 45 minutes, and he was glued to me. I kept trying to get him to play with things or his friends, but he just wanted to sit in my lap. Finally his teacher had him go work on his math with the other teacher, of course I had to go with him, but I stood off to the side several feet.  While he was doing that, Avery was off playing with the other kids, and I quietly sneaked to the other side of the room so I could monitor her better, and once Jadon realized I wasn't standing in the same spot I was in, he had a moment of panic before he found where I was again.

Which brings me to a gross story about Avery.  So I dont know if you have noticed little girls pants these days or not.... but alot of them are low rise like womens pants.  Which is dumb.  It drives me nuts.  So in the preschool setting, and probably elementary setting too, you see a lot of little girls butt cracks because of these dumb low rise pants.  So Avery was on the floor next to a couple of the girls in Jadons class, and one of the girls had on low rise pants, and low and behold, her butt crack was showing when she was bending on the floor playing.  And while Avery was sitting next to her playing, Avery noticed her crack and decided to poke it with her finger.  Gross.  I'm glad I was sitting right there, I grabbed her hand so fast!  That child is so curious.

So anyways, back to Jadon.  He started crying when I told him I was going to go, and Jadon doesnt cry.  So, we always know when he is TRUELY upset about something when he actually has tears. It breaks my heart.
The pediatrician recommended a pediatric play therapy for Jadon to help with his worrying, so we may pursue that.  Poor guy.  I think people like Jadon and me have an overactive "fight of flight response" thingy.  The question is, why?????

Anyways, here's a picture of Jenny and Avery yesterday at the hospital. Obviously Avery had no problems with the hospital setting, but then again, she's only 2.5.  BUT, then again, Jadon was 2.5 when Avery was born, and he was already worried about the hospital and didnt want to come near me.  So.......... maybe that was a prediction into the future?  Maybe his fear of hospitals all started when his little sister tried to rocket out of me before he could even leave the room, and he was seeing me wailing in pain??

I'm pretty sure he would have been afraid of hospitals no matter what.  The boy's just too much like his mommy :(  Sorry little man ....

:)

Just thought id share this picture I found of the kids the other day.  Its from February.  I just love it!  This pretty much sums up their relationship most of the time.  They get along so well (right now).... as long as Avery does what Jadon wants her to do, all is well!  They have their moments, but usually this is what it looks like around here- playtime.
Their smiling, happy faces make me feel so blessed :) 
Lottery?????  Who needs the lottery when you're already a billionaire, for clearly I am quite rich!

***They sure do love each other***

April Fools Day and Lotto

Last night when I was tucking Jadon into bed, I was explaining to him that tomorrow (now today) starts a new month, and that its April 1st, also known as April Fools Day.  And I explained that its called that because people sometimes play jokes on people on April Fools Day for fun. So then I told him about the time when I was in 5th grade, and my teacher made all her students cupcakes, only cooked a cotton ball into the middle of each cupcake but didnt tell us, so when we were eating the cupcakes, we got to the middle and found the cotton balls!
Jadon thought that was great and decided he wants to do that as a joke on daddy today.  Unfortunately Daddy's not a fan of cupcakes to begin with.... how do you think he stays so trim???
So the morning started of with lots of little jokes:  "Hey Jadon, there's a bunch of chicken's downstairs" says Derek (yes, Jadon actually fell for this) he ran downstairs, then ran back up and Derek says "April fools!" Jadon caught on then, so he said "Theres a bunch of brocolli downstairs!" ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did you buy a lottery ticket?  We did not.  We never buy lottery tickets, but Derek was going to pick one up this time but forgot.  Yesterday I was reading an article in the paper about people who bought lottery tickets and what they would do with the money if they'd won.  Being the negative person that I am, I always question peoples responses to those types of questions:
"I'd donate most of it to charity"
"I'd start a foundation for _____"
"I'd build my grandma a new house."
Is that really what people would do with the money?  Money can really bring out the worst in people. We see it all the time, people murdered for owing money; friendships ruined over $5; lives thrown away either to gambling away money, or because money is everything to people. 
Yet what people dont understand is that money does not buy happiness.  It doesn't.  How can it? 

So, Derek and I were talking about what we would do with the money if we won the lottery, and we both agreed, we'd be annoymous.  Why?  Well because suddenly everyone you know would become your best friend.  And i'm not cool with that.  I dont want people to be my friend just because I have money. Obviously you know their motive.
We'd put enough aside to put the kids into decent schools and college.
We'd pay off our house and buy ourselves a bigger one, although nothing huge.  In fact, nothing much bigger than 2000 sq feet would be perfect since I dont want to have to clean more than that! And no, I do not want a maid, even if I could afford one.  But something a bit bigger on a bit more property than .07 acres!
We'd get me a new car, an SUV so we can take family trips in it, and have more space.  But we'd keep Dereks car because he loves his car.
Derek says he'd upgrade his computer. 
We'd pay off our families houses.
Probably put some into savings.
We'd most likely give most of it away. 
And as far as our every day life goes.  Derek loves his job and he would not quit.  And I love my job and obviously wouldnt quit. So I dont see our everyday life changing at all, other than being a little more comfortable in our living space and car.  And honestly, I wouldn't want it to change. I am totally happy with where we're at.  Which brings me back to my point of money cant buy happiness.  Afterall, if we had enough money, didnt need to work for anything... what would we be doing all day long?  playing?  eventually we'd get tired of playing all the time.  It feels good to work towards something.  To have a goal and to reach that goal.

It is finished

After several weeks I finally completed a pettiskirt for Avery!  Took forever, but I got side tracked by alot and the project would sit for days, or I ran out of thread and couldnt get in to the craft store.  Not to mention, its hard to sew with the kids awake since they are intrigued by my new sewing machine and want to touch it and push the pedal and try to sew my fingers to the fabric in the process.  Not to mention, theres LONG pieces of fabric involved in these little skirts, and I have a tiny house that during the day is covered in toys which makes it difficult to lay fabric out on the floor, especially long pieces.

She was SOO excited to put it on and has been bugging me for the last couple days to put it on, but it hasnt been done so I've said no. So this morning, when I said "ok Avery,its done, come put it on!" Her eyeballs got huge and she smiled and was excited and then I got it on her, and she wanted daddy to look at her once..... and then pretty much she didnt want anyone else to look.  I tried to get her to pose for a picture, and she refused and kept trying to run from me.  She would not twirl or anything.  She loves the skirt though.  She's just 2 and wishy washy and one minute wants to have every ounce of attention and then when she's finally got it she wants nothing to do with it.  So anyways, love the terrible twos.  But isnt the skirt stinkin' adorable?????  And it was so easy!  Time consuming, but easy.

So that is the first of a couple of new products i'm adding to my tutu business.  Or, at least hopefully.  I need to figure out a good system for making these so that i can get them made in a timely fashion without taking time away from everything else!  It would sure be nice if I had a craft room.

So anyways, I think the next skirt will be a little quicker since theres less fabric involved, but i'm still trying to understand the directions.  I'm really excited to get started though! :)

Oh, and yes, I dont know if I mentioned in a previous post that I got a new sewing machine?  I know i've mentioned that i have been wanting to, and i'm SOOO glad i did!!!!!!!  http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02098030000P?prdNo=7&blockNo=7&blockType=G7 Here's the one I got, and while it doesnt have all the bells and whistles, its not top of the line.... it did get really good ratings, it does everything i was wanting and needing it to do, and it has been a dream come true!  I dont know how I used the other one for so long.... which was only like a year and a half if that?  Bless Jadon's little heart for getting that other one for me.  Up until then, I had no interest in sewing and when I needed something sewn i'd just do it by hand (pain-in-the-NECK!) So, in buying my other machine, Jadon sparked my interest in sewing more.  Oh but good heavens that machine did not make things easy to sew on!!!!!!!

Blah blah Blah blah

I wish I had a computer in my shower. Why? Because I do a lot of my deepest thinking in the shower. Why? Because thats where i'm uninterrupted... most of the time. So alot of the time when i'm in the shower, i'm blogging in my head. Is that weird? So i've got like 5 different blog posts going on in my head during any one shower.

And if im not shower blogging, i'm thinking about the things that are stressing me out, trying to think of how i can organize them so they arent stressing me out anymore.

I'm so glad March is almost over. The later part of the month has calmed down from the beginning of the month. It was quite overwhelming though. Last week I signed the kids up for swimming again. I had intended to start them in April, but after this month has been so overwhelming for everyone in the family.... except Avery.... Derek and I decided to wait until May and give ourselves an extra month to recover mentally and emotionally. We didnt feel like starting the chaotic schedule of swimming lessons up again just yet. Neither Derek nor I felt like we were mentally "there" just yet.

So I know you're probably wondering what in the world could be causing me to be stressed out. I dont work, i'm a stay-at-home mom. I've got plenty of time, right? LOL. I keep asking myself the same question. I keep thinking that I should have a ton of time, but I cant figure out where it goes, other than today that has been wasted with responding to emails and blogging. But, that has to be done too, right?
To be honest, my mind feels so jumbled lately, and this has been happening for a few months now. I am a big fan of lists, so I always write out what I need to do on a list so I can see exactly what needs to be done, then its not all bouncing around in my noggin creating chaos.

I'm making some changes to my tutu business. Big changes. Changes that will be taking more time, and i'm not sure exactly how to apply the changes into the business. I do know that i'm excited that i'll be selling a product that is of much better quality. Boutique quality. Sewn. Not just a tutu where a piece of tulle is tied around a piece of elastic, which is something that any blonde can do. I'll still make those too, and charge cheap for them. But i'd much rather make a product that I will be much more proud of! And much more proud to sell!
So that has been a big stressor because I feel like I have a TON to do and NO time to do it. I've been hoping to have some products made by now, but it just hasnt happened. I ran out of thread. So, Debra, Karla, (and anyone else who's willing) i'll definitely be asking for your help in the near future. I've tried recruiting my husband to help in the past. God bless him.................he tried. ;)

Have I ever mentioned how impossible it is to get ANYthing completed during the day when the kids are awake, that includes blog posts? I think i'm going to stop this post now before I go nuts because i'm about to go nuts because i keep hearing every 5 seconds "mommy mommy mommy mommy i need i need i need i need i want i want i want i want i want" and apparently a tornado of crayons, markers and colored pencils came through the kitchen, as well as coloring books.

Winter keeps on going

I mustve read the calendar wrong.... I was certain it said that spring started yesterday, but surely I wouldnt have woken up to a couple inches of snow had spring started yesterday, right? But then again, this is Oregon and the weather never follows the rules. But then again, it sounds like the weather isnt following the rules anywhere these days!
So yes, we woke up to snow on the second day of spring, which is rather depressing to say the least. This time of year I get major spring fever and all I can think about is how badly I want spring/summer warmer/sunny weather to be here so I can get outside in my yard and plant flowers, smell the freshly cut grass of the mowed lawns in the neighborhood, and not have to be freezing to death! Now that i've lost so much weight, I no longer have that extra insulation to keep me warm, so the cold weather has been MISERABLE for me, it has been sooooooo cold!!!

Whats even more ironic is, we hardly ever get snow in the WINTER, so the fact that its now spring and we are getting snow is maddening. Its been snowing all day, it has not let up. The flakes havent been real big, nothing to make any more accumulation really, but its kept it from melting. Which is also ironic. Here's how snow works in the Willamette Valley. We are rarely lucky enough to have it snow on the valley floor to begin with. But, when it does, it will only snow and stick for awhile if it snows at night. So you wake up in the morning and its snowed. You get excited (in wintertime that is), schools close, everyone freaks out about an inch of snow, but then by 9am, it has stopped snowing and has already begun to melt. By noon, everything has melted except for spots that are shaded, but by days end, those spots are also mostly melted as well. And usually after noon it starts raining.

So, today is ironic on many levels.
1- its snowing
2- its spring and its snowing
3- its after the noon hour, and its still snowing.
4- its after the noon hour, the snow is still coming down, and the stuff that you woke up in the morning to is still on the ground.
Someone please tell me WHAT IS GOING ON???????

Another ironic weather story, last week when Derek was in Wisconsin, it was 80 degress there. In Wisconsin. In March. Wisconsin. Its just weird. Its all weird. Everythings just been so weird this month. When will normalcy return???? Will it return??? Its hard to stay focused when everything seems so out of whack.

On a POSITIVE note.... today I get my migraine medicine refilled. Imitrex. The stuff I take after I get a migraine to make it go away. The stuff I was taking way too often and running out before I was allowed to get it refilled again. The stuff that I had to take so often that my doc decided to put me on the preventive migraine stuff. Usually by the time I am able to get Imitrex refilled, i'm completely out, have been for several days and have been borrowing Imitrex from my MIL who seems to have an Imitrex tree in her house somewhere. This month, i'm happy to announce, that I still have 3 out of 9 pills left! Which is equivalent to 6 migraines. If that makes sense to anyone other than my fellow migraine sufferers. In other words, I had at least 6 less migraines this month than I have in the previous months. I dont know yet if its the preventive medication or not because every once in awhile I do have a "good" month where I dont have many migraines, so we'll see how the next few months go. I'm hopeful though.

I also receieved the results of my 24 hour heart monitor. And they did see that I was having some palpitations (duh), but nothing to be concerned about unless it is persistent or worsens, then i'll need to see my doctor again to talk about it further. But, since the day before Jadon's birthday party, i've only had it happen once, and that was when Derek told me he had to go back to Wisconsin again, which I knew about, but thought it was only for 2 days, but apparently its a bit longer than that. The heart thing has got to be stress related. Which is rather freaky. But then again, completely treatable... I just have to figure out how to relax myself. Wait! I know! See ya'll later! I'm going to Hawaii for a few months, i'll be back in July when the weather gets better and maybe by then life will be back to normal, then i'll leave again in October when the weather gets crummy again!

Oh, i've compiled some pictures on Smilebox. They are of Avery's gymnastics and Jadons birthday party (cant remember if i've posted those or not), and todays snow day.

Photo album generated with Smilebox

Five

Five years ago I met this little guy, and he changed my life :)

First birthday
Second birthday

Third birthday- I have a hard time believing this was his 3rd birthday.... what a big difference there was between his 2nd and 3rd ! Not to mention, it really seems like just yesterday!

Fourth Birthday

And here he was on saturday at his 5th birthday party at Wacky Bounce. Any traces of baby are gone now, he certainly is looking like a boy now.
As you know, i like to make the kids cakes.... they havent turned out that great in the past, but i keep doing it anyways for whatever reason. I guess i feel like its more meaningful. I like making them even though they arent very good... what can i say, i'm a glutton for punishment i guess. Lucky for me, this year we looked at cakes online, he saw a simple lego cake online that he liked best and thats the one he wanted me to repilcate. Thank goodness it was a simple one! That cake was his cake, and the other kids got cupcakes with legos on top. The legos I made with molds and candy melts- eazy peezy!

The party was good, the kids had a blast! Tomorrow is his birthday snack day at preschool, so I get to make more cupcakes and i've got leftover legos that i'll put on those as well.

Every year that I can remember, the weather on Jadon's birthday has been so unpredictable. Afterall, its springtime (or just about) in Oregon. I dont know what it was like the day he was born, but I think every year either on his birthday or during his parties have been stormy. Last year a freak wind storm blew through. This year, is no exception. We've started out the morning with some snow. Yesterday we had some high winds that knocked the power out, which of course had my worry wart son.... well.... worried. And it was daytime! Imagine if it had been nighttime! :)

Jadon Matthew, I love you! Happy 5th birthday my sweet son!

Stress

Stress is a weird thing. It can effect all people differently.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that March was to be a busy month for us, and that I was already feeling overwhelmed. Then Jenny got sick, and suddenly it just felt like everything started to unravel in our house. Seems like one thing after another, little things, big things, health related, house related, etc, it just keeps hitting. (Just for the record, I do not in ANY way blame Jenny for this... God is just throwing us a curve ball right now to see how we can handle it.)

My health has taken a new turn as well. I'm not sure whether its from my new migraine medication, or whether its stress, but my heart has been skipping beats. Some days it happens only once, other days it happens more often. I mentioned it to my doctor on tuesday and she seemed to think that it was stress. She said it was extremely common, wasnt worried about it, but put me on a 24 hour heart monitor anyways (I think she was humoring me.) Of course, it only happened a total of 3 times in that 24 hour period though. I havent gotten any results back yet on that heart monitoring. Oh, and since my last appointment a month ago when I started on my new migraine medication, I have lost 6 pounds, which was a little alarming to my doctor since i'm at an acceptable weight now. (no, i havent been trying to lose any more weight) My stomachs been in knots over the last couple weeks so i've found it difficult to eat large amounts. Stress.

Jadon is having a really difficult time dealing with the events of the past week. Last sunday we went to see Jenny, and he wanted to go back and see her, so we let him. I think it hit home with him, and he's been worried ever since. Worried for her. That night he wouldnt go to sleep because he was worried that Aunt Jenny would never wake up. He's also scared to death he is going to get sick and end up in the hospital with things attached to all ends of him. He seems to be having some kind of separation anxiety with us at night, so we've had to stay with him in his room until he falls asleep, and we've had to leave his bedroom lamp on all night. He doesnt want to go to school or to his birthday party because he has a bit of a cold and doesnt want to make his friends sick. He's so paranoid about anything related to illnesses, sicknesses, hospitals, doctors, etc. We have to be careful to word everything cheerfully and in a very easy going way so as not to scare him, and anything else has to be talked about when he is not within earshot. I hope he eventually gets over this, but its really hard watching him worry like this right now. This, of course, makes me worry more.... its a vicious cycle.

I just feel like between Derek, Jadon and I, we are all feeling so broken- mostly emotionally and mentally. Sometimes I wish I were a turtle so I could just pull my head into my shell and block out everything going on around me.
But then i'd still be left alone with my thoughts....

Jenny

Its a little ironic how my last post was about germs. The next day my sister-in-law was taken to the E.R. and is now on life support. I dont want to give out the wrong information, and there has been sooo much info thrown at us all in the last few days its overwhelming, but sounds like it may have all began with strep throat and pneumonia, and progressed to much more, someone please correct me if i'm wrong.
They have now figured out that she has streptococcal pyogenes. She needs your prayers. Please pray. Continually. We've seen the power of God exactly a year ago when my friend Tiffany was going through her life threatening things, and she is a miracle today, and I love going into her store and seeing her smiling face standing behind the counter!

Jenny is not only an Aunt to my kids who love her to pieces, she's the baby sister to my husband, an amazing sister-in-law to me, and a friend to both of us. We love her so much and cant wait for her to open her eyes again and say something smart alec! :)

Germs! Germs! Everywhere!

So far it seems to have been a fairly mild winter with regards to flu's, colds, viruses, illnesses..... then out of nowhere BAM!!!! One day I sign on to Facebook, I scroll down to look at everyone's status updates, and here's what everyone says:

-Hubby is horribly sick.
-Kids were up all night sick.
-All 6 of my kids have been sick all week with no end in sight and now i feel like i might be getting it.
-I'm so sick I want to die.
-Everyone in the office is sick.
-I'm sick. Hubby is sick. Kids are sick. Even the dogs and fish are sneezing.
-Vomited my guts out all day.
-Went to ICC today and sat in the waiting room with a vomiting kid and a woman who said she needed to vomit her mcdonalds up.
-My throat hurts so bad i cant eat.
- I have a fever of 120

Ok, so the only one that was actually on someones status update was the one about the person going to ICC with the vomiting kid and the lady wanting to vomit up mcdonalds. But, you catch my drift. All I see is posts about everyone being sick. Miserably sick. As a person who is highly germaphobic, this literally sets me into panic mode. Literally.
I'm on edge. March is turning out to be a heck of a busy month, and I am already feeling overwhelmed by it... the last thing we need is to be crippled by illness.

I think i'll go bathe in some bleach now! ;)

Headaches

You know you get alot of headaches, when during the dinnertime prayer, your 4 year old son prays that mommy's headache will feel better, even on days when you dont have a headache.

Yes, this happened several weeks ago. Jadon said "...and please help mommy's headache to feel better..." only that night I actually didnt have a headache! It was cute, and very sweet.

Its been an entire week- yes, 7 days- since my last migraine. I've had little tiny headaches that have come and then gone as fast as they came on, barely noticeable. I have not had to take any OTC's in 7 days. I have not had to take any triptans to treat migraines in 7 days. Dare I say that maybe the medication is starting to have a bit of an effect? Or have I just had a really lucky week? I'm not quite to the full dose yet, i'm at 75%. Of course, now that I open my big mouth and say all that I'll probably wake up with a doozy of a migraine in the morning! Never fails. Derek will read this and he'll undoubtedly chastise me for even thinking it.

Oh well, its not like i'm not used to having migraines. ;) Thank goodness for triptans!

Shhhhh!!!

Its quiet!!!!! Derek and Avery are still in bed, Jadon's upstairs playing and I don't think he's realized that i'm up yet. So here I am downstairs in the quiet of the house with only the gentle hum of my laptop, and the muffled sounds of Jadon talking as he plays in his room............................................................... annnnnd there goes that moment of peace, Avery is now awake. At that exact same moment, Jadon comes looking for me. Let the day begin!

Anyways, I just wanted to post come pictures!

So the first two pictures are of the cupcakes that I made for Jadon's Preschool Valentines Day Party. I was very pleased how they turned out! Usually when I make goodies for... well... ANY event, I always dream too big and try to make bigger and better than I know how or have the time for, so this time I finally nailed it on the head! I even made the little chocolate heart molds on top and they were a big hit with the kids I was told.

Here's Jadon riding his "motorcycle." Avery got this bouncy horse? thing for christmas

from Gramma Debbie and Grampa Byron, however I think Jadon has equally enjoyed it! ;) He decided to use it as his motorcycle one day. It made me laugh how he was sitting on it..... the picture really does not do it justice!. And we finally convinced Jadon to get his hair cut at the barber shop! It was his first time getting his hair cut from anyone other than daddy (or mommy in his babyhood.) He was not thrilled to be going, but once he sat down in the chair, you could tell he thought he was one cool dude. Now he has announced that he no longer wants daddy cutting his hair because daddy is "too slow."
I took a before and after picture, but I apparently forgot to take it off the camera.

So whats the agenda for the week? Dereks car got maintenanced for $400+ earlier this week, and sometime this coming week he ordered new tires to replace the bald ones he is currently driving around on, so those will arrive this week at Costco and will cost another $400+ . And I'd like to order a new sewing machine. And thats how we spent our tax return, howd you spend yours?

I know you're wondering why I want a new sewing machine, arent you?! Well, I want one for several reasons. I've found that I really really enjoy sewing! I've found a ton of things online that I really want to sew! AND, i've found something for my business that I want to do that will require sewing, but I will not tell you here and not until after I've completed it and introduced it .... I dont want the "competition" to find out and try to steal my idea!!!

So why do I need a new sewing machine for this? Its easy. The sewing machine I have is a beginners one. VERY basic. VERY slow, only 1 speed. I do have problems with it alot, like the bobbin getting tangled, and if I dont feed the fabric through constantly it will get stuck and stitch in one spot and turn into a big knot of thread down below (sorry, i dont know how to explain it any better.) This happens alot and is quite annoying. Anyways, I just need a "grown up" sewing machine so I can do more grown up work. I'll keep my little one, it might come in handy. The machine i'm eyeballing comes with 10 presser feet, 100 built in stitches, automatic needle threader!, etc. Its a step up from what I have, but certainly not the top of the line with all the bells and whistles!

My current project though- preparing for a little boys (or is it a big boy?) 5th birthday party in just a couple weeks!!!!! I cant remember if I mentioned it or not, but I booked Jadon's birthday party at the bouncy house place, and we invited his entire preschool class last week. Yesterday we had our first rsvp, and hopefully the rest will come too!

I made his invitations, and we're going a bit with a lego theme. So a while back we looked at cakes online, and we saw lots of legos cakes, and the cake he decided he wanted was very simple (thank goodness!!!) and i'll make a little cake for him, and cupcakes for his guests. And I bought some silicone molds of lego pieces and lego people, and i'm making candy molds out of them, and i'll put those on his cake and the cupcakes. Very easy peasy! Thank goodness! As I mentioned earlier, I tend to dream too big with these things and they never turn out, so I think I might be able to handle this one! :)

Ok, so another post that has taken me over an hour to type!

ZZZZzzzzzzzzz

It seems like its been a lot longer since my last post, but i'm pleased that its only been a week! :)

So far I havent really had any relief from the medication, and after researching, I found out that I wont notice any difference for a month- which makes sense since that is when I will finally have the full dosage in my system. And, I wont notice the FULL effects for several months.

Life seems like it just continues to get crazier. How can that be???? I continue to feel like I never have enough time in a day, or a week, or a month..... so is the life of a mom I guess! I feel like i've got a million thoughts, ideas and projects, as well as chores, to-do lists, and worries rolling around in my head, but when I go to write it all down I can never remember more than 2 things even though I know theres at least 10 times that much!

I feel like my ears are constantly being talked off. Take now for instance. Sitting here typing this, the kids are sitting here with me painting with watercolors, and every 5 seconds at least I hear "mommy...." "mommy...." "mommy...." and someone is needing something or wants to tell me something. Its taken me 3o minutes to write this. I have to keep re-reading what I wrote.
And about every 10 seconds I have to get up for something, whether its something the kids need, or something I need, or food is cooking and needs stirred... whatever it is, i'm up every 10 seconds. Then I look over at Jadon who's just gotten down, and he's playing with- no wait, let me rephrase- trying to break- the vacuum (that we just got less than 3 months ago.) "JADON!! LEAVE THE VACUUM ALONE!" He knows he's not supposed to play with the vacuum but does it anyways and has an excuse for why but its been 5 minutes now and has already slipped my mind.

Before they sat down to paint, I had to wipe the table off (they had just drank smoothies and Avery had made a mess), Jadon was being impatient and saying he wanted something, so I had to explain to him that I have 2 hands but one body and my 2 hands are connected to just my one body so i cant possibly be in 2 different places at one time, therefore he's going to have to wait for me to finish what I started before I can move on to the next thing.

And earlier today, I asked the kids to help me clean up the living room so I can vacuum it. Jadon helps me, but his little sister is a bit more stubborn and refuses. Outright refuses. So what does she do? Attempts to hit me so she can go to timeout instead!! Then sits and BEGS to go into timeout! Obviously going to timeout will not be punishment, so I tell her she does not get her binky for her nap today. She does not seem phased. She does not believe me. Nothing makes me more irritated than when they think that i'm not going to carry through with a consequence, so i'm sure she was more than surprised when she got thrown into nap without her beloved binky. She screamed in my face and I said ok I love you and walked out. She was asleep within 15 minutes though. Phew. She never did help pick up toys.

So that is how my last 3 hours have gone- Cleaned kitchen after lunch, made some candy molds for Jadon's birthday party, cleaned living room, fought with daughter over cleaning toys, won the battle of the binky, vacuumed, played a bit with son, woke daughter, made strawberry smoothies, painted and started writing this. Its no wonder i'm exhausted all the time!

One thing I also forgot to mention.... Once upon a time we worried about Jadon and being creative and using his imagination..... Today he took a pile (4) of Avery's wet diapers (they were wrapped up, but I had been too lazy to take them into the garage to put them into the diaper pail yet.... [see above paragraph]), then he and Avery took some blankets out of Averys room and I heard Jadon saying they were planting plants. When I went upstairs, there was a trail of blanket piles with diapers wrapped in them.

Apparently they planted diapers.

Parenting is such an exhausting job, and even though they talk my ears off, wont let me pee in privacy, and basically wont ever leave me alone all day long, its definitely got to be the best job ever. I get paid whenever they hug me and say "I love you mommy"

So there ya go, an hour long post that will take you 2 minutes to read! You had better enjoy it!!!! ;)

Migraines

I get migraines. A lot. A LOT of migraines. I've gotten migraines for as long as I can remember. I remember getting them as a child, not very often, but once in awhile. As a teen, i'd get them more frequently and it continued that way into my early adult years.

Despite what everyone says that pregnancy often cures migraines, at least during pregnancy....didnt happen for me, in fact pregnancy aggravated my migraines. I'd get them every other week, and they'd last for 3-4 days, and unfortunately I couldnt take medication to help them, so I had to suffer. Fortunately with Jadon, the migraines DID stop during my 2nd and 3rd trimester, but UNfortunately with Avery they continued throughout the pregnancy.

Obviously hormones are a trigger for my migraines. As well as pretty much everything else in life- sleeping too much, sleeping too little, stress, nerves, illness, skipping meals, eating meals late or out of schedule, squinting (from sunlight for example), bad posture, neck tension, hormones, etc, etc, etc...... I havent found any foods to be a trigger yet, but I haven't closely followed that either. I really dont think that any foods are a trigger for me though. I do however think that stress is a large trigger for me, and since I am a worrier, I'm always stressed.

Anyways, since about a month after I quit nursing Avery, my migraines have gradually became more frequent. In the last half a year, they've became so frequent that i've been almost running out of my migraine medicine each month. I take Imitrex whenever I get a migraine. I basically have 18 pills a month (9 pills that I cut in half), which means I can have as many as 18 migraines, however, sometimes a migraine will require more than 1 pill. EIGHTEEN migraines! That is alot of migraines!

Derek has been pestering me for years, even before the kids were born, to talk to the doctor about being on some kind of preventive medicine for these migraines. I hate going to the doctor. But I finally had enough. I saw my doctor last friday and she started me on a preventive medication. Unfortunately I have to start it slow. 25 mg for 1 week. The next week 50 mg. The 3rd week, 75mg, and finally the 4th week the full dosage of 100mg. She said you have to start slow because of some side effects. I've been taking the 25mg for 6 days now with no problems; on saturday I get to up my dosage. I've never wanted time to go by so fast!! I pray pray pray that this will help. I'm tired of migraines.

Ooopsy

Soooooorrrrryyyyyy! I know its been a long time since I posted last. We havent had much going on, and to be honest, whenever I sit down at the computer, i'm distracted by spider solitaire. :)
Anyways, we've been pretty good! Jadon's birthday is next month, and so i've been thinking alot about that. He wants to invite his whole preschool class, and we're doing a lego theme, and we'll probably be going to Wacky Bounce for his party. We certainly do not have enough room for all those kids in our house unfortunately.

To make up for the fact that I havent blogged in a couple weeks, i've got lots of pictures for you. :) Here are pix of Avery potty training her toys- her My Little Pony, and her favorite stuffed animal that she sleeps with- an Easter Lamb that we've named Wilbur.
And i'm sure you're probably wondering if we are training Avery right now as well. The answer is no, not really. We are pretty much letting her call the shots. She's at that age where everything is a power struggle (and she is one heck of a stubborn little girl), so things will go much smoother if we let her call the shots rather than "forcing" her to train. Right now, she has been asking to go pee in the potty several times a day, and almost always goes. We ask her alot if she'd like to go on the potty and sometimes she says yes, sometimes no. Last week i asked her if she'd like to try wearing big girl undies for a couple hours while Jadon was at preschool, and she said yes. She LOVED wearing them, but in 2 hours she had 3 accidents and zero pees in the potty. Then she threw a fit when I told her we were putting the diaper back on so we could pick Jadon up for school. I'm pleased with her progress, and i'm in no hurry. There's no point in forcing it and getting into a power struggle with her, as long as she's trained by the time she goes to preschool, which is in a year and a half!
She is much more responsive to praise than Jadon was though, so anytime she goes in the potty and we cheer her on, she gets really excited.


Know what that is???? Its a parking ticket. The first one for us. How did we get a parking ticket??? Well, on saturdays Avery has gymnastics in Corvallis. So this past saturday after her class, we had several errands to run in Corvallis so we stopped at a sandwich shop in downtown for lunch then were going to run our errands. We parked in a metered area, however there were no signs that said what the hours were for the meters, and since it was the weekend, we were pretty sure that we didnt have to put money in the meters. Fast forward 45 minutes when we were going back to the car, and we were welcomed with a $10.00 parking fee! Derek later found out that only on Sundays in Corvallis you dont have to put money in the meters. Nice. Wish they would have had a sign showing that little bit of information!

Here's my almost-5-year-old doing his most favorite activity- Playing mario cart.

Ok, I broke down and did it! I straightened Avery's hair last week! Why???? Well, her hair is so tightly curled that its not getting any longer. We've been curious how long her hair actually is, and she's always wanting me to use my flat iron on her hair. So here are some pictures. She looks so much older!

She's such a pretty little girl :)

Life

I could not be more proud of Derek! This month, he earned 2 certifications for his job which now makes him very valuable to his employer! One of them he earned the week he was in Wisconsin. While there, he had 3 days of intense training, and on the 4th day he took an 8 hour test.... a test that he was told only 60% of people pass on their first try. He, of course, passed with flying colors! I knew he would, he's a smart guy, especially when he applies himself.
Unfortunately, in March he has to return to Wisconsin again for another week of training. :( And unfortunately it falls during a very bad time.... Jadon's birthday.

Avery started her gymnastics class last weekend, and she really enjoyed it. At first, she was timid and didnt want to do anything, but once she started having some fun and seeing that it wasnt so bad, she liked it. She especially liked when she got to do things on the bars. She loved hanging on the bar and swinging, she got to hang on the bar with her feet on the bar too and she liked that, and she also got to climb a ladder that was about 7 or 8 feet tall, and she liked that too.
Its a parent involved class, so the parents were all there working with each kid.... let me tell you, it was a workout! I was sweating! But it was alot of fun, and if it worn me out, id like to hope that it worked off at least a little of Averys energy! :)

If you've been following the weather for our area, we've had quite a week of weather! After having a BEAUTIFUL October, November and December.... quite rare for our area..... the typical Oregon winter weather came. The week started with possibilities over several days for snow... but of course, why would we get any snow??? We woke up to snow a few times, but it was just a dusting, almost like a very heavy frost, and it melted off by mid morning. And it snowed off an on for a couple days, but never really stuck.
Then later on in the week, the temps warmed up, and a series of rain/wind storms came through. It rained non stop for over a day. So, with the heavy rainfall, combined with the warmer temps melting the snow, we have some flooding, and theres no end in sight for the rain showers.

The other day I noticed how incredibly small the kids pajamas are looking, especially Jadon's. His shirts have seemingly overnight shrank into belly shirts. Pajamas that I just got him in early fall....size 5 pajamas.... are getting too small for him. Remember a couple weeks ago I was talking about him being hungry and wanting to eat constantly? I guess I know why now- he was having a growth spurt.
When I bought Jadon's jammies, I also got Avery some jammies as she had outgrown hers. I had bought her a pair of 2t footie jammies, and a couple pairs of 3t jammies that she could grow into. The 2t pair is too small all of the sudden.
So, the kids and I made a trip to Costco and got some more pj's while we were there. Sizes? Jadon- size 6. Avery- 3t. These kids are just growing too fast, I cant keep up. They are both getting so tall! (big surprise!)

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Derek finally comes home in the morning, and I could not be more excited to see him!!! I might not sleep tonight! I'm actually giddy, and its kindof nice to know that after over 12 years, he still makes my little old heart go pitter-patter and my stomach go flip-flop! :)

A new year

Its hard to believe its 2012! Derek and I met 12.5 years ago! And I have to say, I love him more and more every day! And since he's halfway across the country right now, i'm reminded of that phrase "Absense makes the heart grow fonder." Sure is true! I really miss my best friend. :(

2011 was an eye opener for me. I came to realize just how important family really is. And i'm not just talking about my husband and children because i've always felt that they were incredibly important, i'm talking about our immediate family. You know, that time in your life when you realize that your parents really arent stupid like you thought as a teenager. ;) I couldnt be more blessed to have such wonderful people as my family. I couldnt ask for a better set of parents and siblings. Of course, there's always black sheep in every family it seems, but hopefully someday those black sheep will come to their senses.
I'm also talking about Derek's family as well. I'm so very lucky to have gotten inlaws that I like! I've heard such horror stories of horrible inlaws.
I've also got two awesome sister-in-laws! I've heard horror stories of horrible sister-in-laws as well, and i'm soooooooooooo glad that my two sister in laws are normal... for the most part! ;) just kidding.
To my younger brothers: you had better marry nice girls as well, I dont want to break the chain!
My grandparents also are so amazing, and some of the most generous people I know!

So what is my new years resolution this year? Well, I plan to take more pictures of the kids. Not JUST pictures of the kids; in creating my 2011 slideshow, I came to realize that most of the pictures we have are just of the kids. We have very few pictures of Derek and I, and our families. So one goal is to take more pictures of family. This will be hard for me as I hate having my picture taken, so i'm going to just have to suck it up and do it.

Also, i'm going to keep my distance from drama that seems to always arise from the dumbest things. Whats the point in drama anyways? I have no idea, but its always the same people that cause it! I'm tired of drama. I'm not a dramatic person. I am washing my hands clean of all the petty drama that 2011 held!

Of course, almost everyone has a fitness or weight loss goal as a new years resolution. This year, I am starting off the year 40 pounds lighter than I was 2 years ago, and i'm pretty satisfied now. I'm a little shocked that I actually met my ultimate goal, as I first started out hoping that I could lose just ten. So this year, i'd just like to maintain my weight and continue exersizing for my health.

And speaking of weight, Jadon has been eating like a P-I-G! He's eating me out of house and home! I dont know if he's having a growth spurt, or if he's trying to make up for the weight he lost when he was sick. He's requesting to have a snack just 30-60 minutes after a meal. And its not like he's not eating much at mealtime.... he's been having seconds, and thirds, and eating more than I do! The boy can definitely put the food away! From what I hear, boys are pretty good at eating alot, but I always thought this was just teenagers, but apparently its boys of all ages!

Pizza

I'm so glad Jadon is feeling better, and its obvious. He was up and around more yesterday, but still petered out around 3 and laid down for awhile and watched a movie. For most of the day yesterday he didnt eat a whole lot, understandably, but he ate a really good dinner! And thats about the time he started talking about pizzza.

This morning when he got up, he came and got in bed with us like he does most mornings, and was singing the theme song from "Thomas and Friends"............ and talking about pizza. Eventually I told him he could go downstairs and turn the tv on. He went downstairs, but came back up a few minutes later with a "list" that he had written. The list was a grocery list of what we need to buy from the store today: yogurt, and pizza.

Later on, he was telling Derek that I had told Jadon that we were going to buy pizza from Ray's because on Friday's we eat pizza. He had also told me something similar about us eating pizza on fridays. (Just for the record, I never said we were going to buy pizza or that we eat pizza on fridays.)

So that brings us to the current. I asked Jadon a few minutes ago what he wanted to do today, and his response:

"Buy pizza."

I'm Stressed

I cant believe its already Dec. 29Th! I don't know where the last week went!

We had a very nice, relaxing Christmas eve with my family, and a very nice, relaxing Christmas day with Derek's family. Just how we like them to be! Drama free! And once again, our families spoiled us, and we are so grateful to everyone. Thank you!

So why am I stressed? Well, Christmas night Jadon came down with a stomach bug. And he was sick throwing up for over 24 hours. He couldn't keep much of anything down, even tiny sips of water, so I was scared of him getting dehydrated. It was horrible to watch him go downhill so quickly, and I'm so so so grateful to my wonderful husband for being here.
Jadon was finally able to keep some liquids down after more than 24 hours of vomiting, but on Tuesday he drank a grand total of 9 oz of liquid. I was so worried, his eyes were beginning to look sunk in, and he was so weak, and lightheaded and dizzy, and he complained that his head hurt also. Wednesday he was able to eat a few bites of things. When asked what sounded good to him, he said pickles. He desperately wanted a pickle. So i gave him a small piece of a baby pickle, and then a little while later another small piece.

He took a really good nap on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, and by Wednesday evening he said his head wasn't hurting anymore, and that seemed to help revive him a little. He also slept really well the last couple nights, thank goodness. Needless to say, the parents are totally exhausted.

Today, Thursday, he says he's still just a tiny bite dizzy, and still has a tiny appetite, but no headache, and he is up playing some with Avery today, and acting closer to his normal self.

Since he looks sooooooooooo skinny now, Derek weighed Jadon last night, and he weighed 36 pounds. To give you an idea, at his 4 year appointment back in April, he weighed 35 pounds, and I'm pretty sure he was close to the 40 pound mark before getting sick.

So again, why am I so stressed? Well aside from worrying about Jadon's health, and worrying that the rest of us might get sick (you know how much I loathe vomit), and being totally exhausted... Derek is leaving in a few days for Wisconsin for a week of training. It will be the longest we've been apart since probably since we met. We've never been apart for more than a couple days. Might sound silly to some that it will be so hard for us, but he's my best friend, and I look forward to him coming home from work every night. I never get tired of being around him, and as far as I know, the feeling is mutual.
So I'm worried about him getting Jadon's stomach bug while he's there, and I'm worried about his safety. And I'm worried about him being stressed out with work. Yes, I'm an extreme worrier

This week has felt so weird, since we've been home all week in our pj's, out of our normal schedule and routine, and so focused on Jadon's health.... Derek had already taken Mon/Tues/wed off this week, and today is his first day back. He spent his whole time off of work nursing a sick child... what bad timing. Things just feel strange. I feel like everything is out of whack. Like I cant remember how our schedule was before Jadon got sick. I have completely lost all track of time and routine.

On top of that, I haven't eaten well all week. My stomach has been in knots, and my mind has been full, so it makes eating difficult. I know my problems seem silly to probably everyone, but I strive on routine, continuity, schedules. Things like having a very sick child, or having my spouse leave for a week, totally throw my whole routine off. I don't like spontaneity or anything that strays from my normal routine, unless its something that I have plenty of time to prepare for. And as far as Dereks trip is concerned, I've had a month to prepare, but I have been unwilling to let it have any place in my mind until a week ago. Denial?

My new baby

For a long time now, i've been scoffing at the appearance of our kitchen sink. Its become quite an eye sore. Its a white porcelin sink that over the years has developed stains that I cannot remove with anything or any amount of scrubbing. It also has scratches all over it. The pictures actually do the sink justice as it looks terrible in real life. Our faucet is quite dated also, it was the faucet that the builders used, and not surprisingly, its bottom of the line.

Thats fine though. Over the years, i've gotten a chance to make the home more like a home, by getting new windows for the living room, doing painting throughout the house, changing lighting/fans, etc. There is still a TON of work that we want to do to the house while property values are down and we arent going to be selling.

With that said. Earlier in the month, we took advantage of some sales and free shipping offers, and bought a new sink and faucet for the kitchen! Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, nothing top of the line... but a NEW sink. A shiny new sink of stainless steel, and a more updated looking faucet. Again, nothing fancy, but its so much prettier than it was! The first time I used it, I promised the sink i'd take good care of it to keep it looking beautiful.

So, here is our old sink and faucet.

Really, the camera actually makes it look better than it was.

And now, without further ado, i'd like to introduce you to our new sink and faucet!

I know, nothing that exciting, but it sure is for me!!! Even Jadon says he likes the new sink. My wonderful husband knew that I wouldnt be able to wait until after christmas for this baby to be installed, so he spent his saturday putting it in. Thank you sweetie :)

Time to breathe

Last night I concluded a busy couple of weeks of making orders, today I made two deliveries, and tomorrow I make my last two deliveries! Such a relief! I intend to spend alot of time with the kids this week since they've gotten less attention from me in the past couple months. Jadon has the week off of school, and we have no lessons of any kind, so my calendar says "make christmas cookies" and "decorate christmas cookies" as my agenda for the week! Oh, and one night this week we will go drive around and look at christmas lights. But thats it! :)

Hard to believe the new year is just a couple weeks away! I signed Avery up for a gymnastics class at OSU starting in January for a couple months. And we're going to do something else with Jadon.... possibly soccer again, although the parks and rec offers a karate class that i'd like to put him in for a change and so he can try a variety of activities. As far as swimming, i decided to take a little time off from swimming, and then just take the kids myself to toddler time once a week or so, so they can play around and we can practice a little. Both kids seemed to really benefit from when we went a couple months ago.

Thats about it! I'm exhausted from a busy few months, as is Derek. Although i'm sure we will be sick for the next 5 months. We started off christmas break sick again. Last year Jadon got a stomach bug as soon as his break started, and from then on, someone in the house was always sick with something until around may. So far we are following the same trend. The kids both came down with a good head cold over the weekend..... better than the stomach stuff, so i cant complain too much! I just hope we arent sick for 5 months straight again!

Christmas program video!

So the song on the video is The 12 Days of Christmas, and each of the kids in Jadon's class had a solo. The boy who was supposed to be the "5 golden rings" (Jadon's little buddy) absolutely refused to stand up front and sing, so he sat out and one of the little girls took his part as well as her own. The reason i'm telling you this is that the teacher gets a little confused in the song since the new "5 Golden Rings"kid is standing in a different spot. So she had to stop Jadon the first time to get back on track. Jadon is the "6 geese-a-laying."

The child you hear singing loudest............ well thats Jadon. Who wouldve thought that he would be so comfortable up there? Preschool sure has brought him out of his shell, i'm so glad for that!

Christmas program

Jadon had his christmas program tonight, and he did AWESOME! He sang so loud we could hear him over the others. All the kids had a solo part also, and Jadon did fantastic on that too! So proud of him! He's really came out of his shell, and I thank his preschool and teachers for that. I will try to post the video of it soon, but its pretty long so we'll see if it works!

Acapella

Derek informed me today that I have turned him on to acapella music. This makes me happy because I am a sucker for good acapella groups! Perhaps its because I was in an acapella choir in high school? Actually, i'm pretty sure that is where I found a love for music! The human voice is incredible and can do amazing things that you would never think were coming from a voice!

So we've been watching The Sing Off for the last 3 years since it started. If you've never watched it, you need to! The season is over now so you'll have to wait until next fall when it starts again. Anyways, its a competition for acapella groups. Nothing like American Idol, which I got so sick of. The annoying drama from the judges who have no idea what they are talking about, the annoying drama they show from the contestants.... it just became too much for me so I quit watching a couple years ago. Thats why i like The Sing Off. Theres no annoying drama. The judges know music very well, and its just singing! I love it! The only downside is the host, who drives me nuts.

So today Derek sent me a message from work, telling me to go to the link he posted and click on a specific song. It was an acapella group, and these guys are amazing! So now i'm sharing it with you! Click here. Then go to song #7- The 12 days of christmas. Turn up your speakers loud so you can really hear it! Actually you could click on any of the songs, but #7 is really fun. Jadon loves it, he starts laughing. :) Hope you enjoy as much as we do!