A gorgeous day

Earlier this week it was absolutely gorgeous. Like shorts and tee shirts gorgeous. Windy...but gorgeous. The perfect day for kites. Praise the Lord for homeschooling freedom. We put down the books and went outside to play. We threw rocks in the creek and watched Cooper swim in the frigid water and then flew kites until they had all be sacrificed to either power lines, treetops, or trash cans. It truly was a dream afternoon. And even better....it was a Friday (my hubby's day off). This is what family is made for. You could not get the smile off my face for anything in the world.

Momma

Lots has happened with my mom recently. None of which is very good. But, on the bright side, none of which is terribly related to her health. She is living at a nursing home that is about 20 minutes from our house and I am able to go see her about once a week. She is stable in her health and I really feel as though her meds are appropriate and that this facility is better equipped to serve people with her type of disease.

The issues I am having are with the nursing home. They recently had to fire an employee for being rude to my mom. They "punished" her for wetting the bed by making her change the sheets herself. While I was trembling with anger over this mistreatment, I was pleased with the managements response to the employees actions.

But then just days later I got a call saying that mom had choked and was being sent to the ER just to be sure she had not aspirated anything. I was in St. Louis for a wedding and was unable to travel to get to her. I guess that I just assumed that they would send a representative from the nursing home with her. However, I later learned that she was in an ER bed by herself...with no one. And to make matters worse the ER was so busy that they could not transfer her back to the nursing home for 8 hours after she was discharged. And as hard as I tried and as much as I kicked up a fuss, the nursing home would not send someone to get her. They kept saying, "there just isn't anyone here to go get her. it's the job of the hospital to transport her back." I was L.I.V.I.D. The thought of my mom all alone in that hospital for all those hours was heartbreaking. Now, I am glad that she is okay (she did not aspirate anything). And I am thankful that she has caregivers who want her to be healthy and are cautious with her health. But, I am not sure of the next step.

I want to let the nursing home know that I am not okay with my mom's care currently. But I am not exactly sure how to do that. I want to be direct....but, I also don't want to be mean. I still need her to stay there....I don't really know where else we would go. Please pray for us. Pray for some resolution between me and the nursing home. Pray that God will either give me incredible peace about her care or show me exactly where we should head.

And while you are praying....would you mind to ask the Lord to heal her? I want so badly for her to be whole again....and whether that is on earth or in Heaven I don't care. Wholeness....that is my dream for her.

Fall Fun

We have had the most gorgeous weather lately. The kids can go outside and play almost every day still. In the midst of riding bikes one day last week we decided to rake leaves and jump on in! I grabbed my camera (I wish I would do that more often than I do).

Just look at those beautiful faces! Is there anything more precious than that...true love!

Those 3 hold my heart....they make me smile, cry, laugh, scratch my head in wonder, and count my many blessings.

Cooper

Our little puppy is no so little anymore. Weighing in at over 45 pounds at just 6 months of age, he is certainly a giant. He looks Aubri in the eyes and he weighs more than each of the kids. He is a beast....but a beautiful beast. He is graceful when he runs. He is playful (especially when you have a baseball or a tug-of-war rope). And the dude thinks he is a lap dog....especially when the lap that is available is mine. Lots of people comment that he has a very "cartoonish" quality. And I would have to agree. He is a Golden Doodle (mom is a poodle and dad is a golden retriever)...or as they are more affectionately referred to, the teddy bear breed. He is simply that....a big ole teddy bear.

Halloween

Well....I officially stink at updating the blog. I blame it on a few things really....

1. homeschooling

2. I am mostly online on my iPad now and I can't upload from my camera to the blog on that

3. Pinterest. That website is at the top of the list of things I am loving right now, things that are occupying my time, and things that I am totally addicted too.

I will do my best to catch up and to do better. (you can't see it, but I have my right hand held high promising to improve.) So, without further ado....here are the Halloween pictures...

The little comedian

We went to eat at chili's tonight before doing some shopping at target and Nathan and I had a funny conversation. I will break it down for you:

N: hey mom, I have a really hard question for you.

Me: ok. What is it? (knowing full well that he's about to ask me something like which kid is my favorite)

N: who, in our family, has the prettiest eyes?

Me: daddy (ha! Take that!)

N: who is second?

Me: no one else even compares!

N: ok, but who's second?

Me: I don't like to answer things like that because it can make people feel bad, and I don't want people to feel bad.

(Long pause)

N: I'll take that as a Nathan.

That little stinker. He sure does keep us laughing!

Update on my momma

So very much has happened in the last 2 months that it would be hard to tell everything. So instead I will give you the highlights:

Mom was taken to the hospital because of some sexually promiscuous and dangerous behavior. It turned out to be a side effect of some of her medications, but she was needing to be admitted to figure out what sort of mess would be more appropriate.

I wouldn't let her be admitted to cmh because I felt as though they were the ones who had originally jacked up her meds. The next nearest hospital with a bed in a psych unit was in Joplin. And because BoMo is just so wonderful.....I had to drive her there myself. The ambulances won't drive more than 100 miles after midnight. Yeah....we were there at 12:03 and the Joplin hospital was 101 miles away. Can you say RE.DIC.U.LOUS?

She was in Joplin for two weeks. Then, she was released. Oh wait. My bad....we have to back up. About 3 days after she was taken to the ER her nursing home called to let me know that she was not allowed to come back and I needed to come and pack up her things. I went round and round with those people....needless to say I still have a bad taste in my mouth about that.

God totally provided. He got us in contact with a home in humansville (about 20 minutes from me). They have a true dementia unit. S they aren't put off by her behavior....they know just how to deal with it.

Her behavior has leveled out, but her biggest issue now is her speech. We have narrowed down the problem. Through daily speech therapy we have discovered that the issue is a disconnect between her brain and her mouth. She has no trouble reading words off a page, but when she is trying to tell you how she feels or what she needs she can't get it out. She stutters, stammers, and her tongue literally twists up in her mouth.

But bless my sweet wonderful mother. She has always been strong....and terribly stubborn. She does not give up. She worked with her therapist and I for 20 minutes and the result.....I found out that she missed her mother. So we called my grandma and it made her day. What a joy it was for me to hear her tell me what was in her heart. And her request was all too familiar to me. I miss my mom too.

I am learning, however, that it is a joy to serve her in this way. Most daughters love their mothers, but don't know how to show them. How wonderful that I can show her each and every day just how much I love her. Prayerfully we will keep chaos free for quite sometime. And I am also praying for continued successes in the speech department. I so desperatly want to know what happening inside her.

Hard to keep up

It's been hard to keep up with the blog here lately, but I am hoping to take some time next week to update, I should have time to make some posts while sitting on the beach...toes in the sand...diet mt. Dew in hand. It's okay....take a moment...compose yourself. I know you are jealous. Rayden and I are headed to west palm beach on Sunday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I am so very excited. I am nervous about leaving the kids ( we have never been on vacation without them) and I am TERRIFIED of flying ( so please pray for me...and Rayden!).

I hope to get all caught up with my posting because there is so much to tell you about...
- moms trip to the er and then the hospital in Joplin and then to a new nursing home
- my aunts death and my decision to not tell my mom
- kaleb's 7th birthday and the superhero party
- the end of the school year
- my new crafting adventure
- a difficult, yet fabulous mothers day (I am typing this post on my mothers day gift!!!)
- our homeschool curriculum purchase
- discovery toys!
- the church's big vote

So stay tuned.....you can get all informed about our lives and maybe catch some pictures of the sand and surf. Ahh....I can almost hear the waves now....if only I could skip the airport...gulp!

True love

Farmer Jones

"Howdy ya'll and how'dya do? I'm Farmer Jones and I welcome all of you."At the Kindergarten program my baby was the star of the show. The play was about a farmer and how he grows crops, finds worms, and works hard. And Nathan James got his 15 minutes of fame when he was given the role of Farmer Jones.
The whole family came out to support our little superstar and then we had an ice cream party at our house afterwards.
He was certainly the handsomest little farmer this world has ever seen....with his boots, hat, flannel shirt, and overalls (which by the way, do you know how insanely hard it is to find overalls for kids his size? If you are 12 months old or 50 years and over it'd be no problem whatsoever. But those inbetween are hard pressed to find them.) he was as handsome as can be.
With a whopping 3 lines he stole the hearts of all in attendance. He did them perfectly!
Have you ever seen such a cute farmer in all your days? I reckon not!

time to plant

We planted 25 strawberry plants in our raised bed today. It was fun, hot, and messy. But we are hoping all our work will pay off with fresh fruit and jam this summer. Yum yum!

Randomness

This week we are in Dallas, Texas because my husband is taking a 5 day graduate class and I didn't want to be left behind. I figure that surely my boys can catch up from missing 5 days of school....after all, it is just kindergarten and first grade. I am fairly certain they can (and will) bounce back.

Tonight, Rayden is visiting with a friend that he made during the last class he took and I am in the hotel room monitoring 3 sleeping babies. Lots of things are floating through my mind. Want me to share? I thought you might...

---I am so amazingly proud of my husband. He is such a hard worker. He is a genius communicator. But mostly, he is a man with complete integrity. What you see is what you get. And what you will see if you really take a gander is a man who loves the Lord, studies Scripture with fervor and tenacity, changes his ways to match HIS ways....even when it's unpopular, and a man committed to his family. I am a most blessed woman.

---Tonight at dinner my friend Katie called to let me know that we were not going to get to see each other next week as we thought. It's kind of a rip off (not really "kind of" more like a "tremendously huge" rip off) She lives in Dallas but was leading a mission trip to Branson this week. We completely missed each other. Bummed as I am, I am thankful for such a sweet friend. To say it late nineties lingo, "she's the bomb diggity, yo!" I can not believe that after living together throughout the majority of our college years she still wants to be my friend. Perhaps what she really wants is to be my cohort. Either way, I'll take her. She's the best. She's held my hand as I squeezed an almost 10 pound baby out of my lady parts and she's made silent sympathetic glances at me in the emergency room waiting area as doctors evaluated my mentally ill mother. I'm doing my best not to stomp my feet and throw my fists in the air thinking about what trouble...err...fun we would have found ourselves in next week had the stars aligned in such a way that we could be together again. No use, I suppose. But, thinking about her makes me know that I am a blessed woman.

---Thinking about Katie makes me think about other darling friends who live too far away for my liking. And thinking about such precious people makes me terribly sad and embarrassed. I am embarrassed at how horrible I am at long distance correspondence. You would think that facebook would make it almost idiot-proof to keep connected over the miles. But...I am here to say that in spite of all the amazing technology the world has to offer me I am failing at letting those wonderful friends know how much I love and miss them. Karen, Lindsey, Danielle...this is lame I know.....but a Blog apology is all I got right now (the kids are sleeping and we are sharing a hotel room so I can barely type quietly enough let alone make a phone call!). I want our lives to be continually connected and I have let distance physically take precedence over emotional distance. I will work to change because I know that because of you I am a blessed woman.

---I took the kids to the zoo yesterday and we had such a blast. I am going to love the field trip aspect of homeschooling (oh yeah...did I tell you that we decided we are going to homeschool next year....probably not....I'll get to that later). We learned so much. For instance, did you know that the difference between monkeys and apes is that monkeys have tails and apes don't? Well, if you didn't before, you do now. Consider yourself blogschooled. Also, otters are super smart. They find clams and lay them on the beach. Then they sneak off and wait. The clams decide to sun themselves and when they open up....swoosh....the otter jump in and have their dinner....no effort involved. The kids loved reading the signs more than I thought they would. I am a blessed woman.

---Rayden and I have enrolled in Financial Peace University. We are in the 5th week and it's been so great. Our group is hysterical and we have so much fun together. Not to mention that Dave Ramsey is pretty much a money stud....and hilarious to boot! Anyway, as a part of this we have created our zero-balance budget and have begun to knockout our debt. Thankfully, the only debt we have is our van and a medical bill or two (not counting our Memphis house). On the way to Dallas we were discussing our goals and we considered that we have 17 payments left on our van (boo!) but our "gazelle intense" goal (if you know anything about Dave Ramsey you will understand that term) is to pay it off by 2012! In just 9 short months we will know we can set and reach big goals. And for this I am a blessed woman.

---I love being away with my family. There are no other 4 people that I would rather be with. But, I also love being HOME with my family. And what is so fun to me is that God is reshaping my idea of home. Forever I have considered St. Louis my home. Living there from 6th grade through highschool and then again when I got married. All the way up through becoming a parent 2 times St. Louis was home. But now....home looks different. Home is much smaller. It has a beautiful square in the center that looks gorgeous lit up in Christmas lights. It has one main road that is so terribly frustrating to turn on to in the middle of the day. Home has grandparents that adore my kids and help us raise them to know and love the Lord. Home has an amazing church that is striving to honor God in EVERY way. Home has the most amazing friends that I never expected. Bolivar has made me a blessed woman.

Perhaps you have noticed a theme. As I end this I will snuggle down into a warm cozy bed, wrap myself in a big white comforter, sigh a contented sigh, close my eyes, and thank Jesus for the life He has given me. I am indeed a blessed woman. How are you feeling tonight?

babysitting

Every Monday through Wednesday we have an extra friend around our house. We have the privilege of keeping our friend's baby, mason. Aubri and I are having so much fun with him! She is such a sweet helper with him. And I have been pleasantly surprised that I have not caught baby fever. In fact, God has used this to confirm in me that our family is complete.

Ummm....excuse me mommy...

We are all playing, working, reading, in the living room the other day when Aubri says, "ummm...excuse me mommy. I put one of those beads up my nose." And sure enough that little stinker stuck a perler bead up her nose. Luckily, it wasn't very far up there and it is a hollow bead. We were able to get it out with a pair of tweezers. This girl sure keeps us on our toes!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

March 2nd was Dr. Suess's birthday and the kids were supposed to dress up like a character from any of the many Dr. Suess books. Of course, I didn't remember this until about 8pm the night before as I was tucking the boys into bed and Kaleb said, "I can't wait to see my Wocket costume tomorrow". Oops....better get to work. it's a good thing I had a pretty good stash of scrap fabric.

We started the morning with what else but....Green eggs and ham! Nathan claimed that he didn't like the eggs...even after we explained that they were just regular eggs with green coloring on them. I guess our mind really can trick us sometimes.

Nathan was the Grinch....with a shirt showing that his heart was two sizes to small and a santa outfit. It really worked to my advantage that the santa suit the grinch makes is really raggedy. Because amazing seamstress I am not. But I think I did alright converting this clearance target fleece throw into a santa jacket.
Kaleb wanted to be the kid from "there's a wocket in my pocket". I took a tshirt of mine and altered it to fit a 6 year old. Then I took the extra fabric and made a pocket for the wocket stuffed animal that Grammy got him for Christmas.
The wocket was a big hit at school. kaleb said that he even earned two lassos (making good choices bracelets at the kid's school) for helping out his teacher and staying quiet all day. he thought that was awesome!

A birthday party...lego style

If a lego party is what you want, then a lego arty is what you get. We started out with some simple decorations made from what else but....Legos! A number 6 and a picture frame displaying some of my favorite shots of him from this year (courtesy of the best photographer I know....Mrs. Danielle Tripp!) I also did my best to make a Lego cake (It's a regular rectangle cake made from a 9 by 13 pan and then I put 6 mini cupcakes upside down on top and iced it. I used an upside down cookie sheet covered in foil for the base of my culinary masterpiece!

We played a building game to see which team of three could build the largest tower in 2 minutes. We sorta let the little girls cheat by using the giant blocks instead of legos.
We also had a spoon relay. But instead of eggs they carried Legos.
I bought a lego ice cube tray off of Amazon (for free using gift cards I earned through swagbucks) and melted some of our old crayons in them to create lego crayons. There is a big difference in using cheap crayons and Crayola. The cheap ones separate into plain wax and colored wax.....it was weird. If you ever plan to do this go for the Crayolas....you will not regret it.
We ate lunch. We served little rectangle and square sandwiches, chips, grapes, and juice.
We built many, many creations.
We played carpet ball. (it's kind of like tabletop shuffleboard only with pool balls.
Foosball anyone?
It's cake time. You can see I also used my ice cube tray to make multicolored chocolate legos....they were the hit of the party I think!
Make a wish...
Open your presents....more legos than even one 6 year old boy could dream of...
And be sure to tell everyone thank you!

In the blink of an eye

6 years has gone by so very quickly...

Holy cow...I was H.U.G.E. and I don't look so totally comfortable. Maybe it's because of the giant manchild living in my womb.

And here he is....all 9lbs 9oz of him. He looked like a two month old next to all the other newborns in the nursery. But he was the handsomest little (big) baby in all the world.
That smile can turn my day right around.
What a little lovey...I miss smooching those little fat rolls.
Time has gone quickly....and I wish that I wouldn't have wished so many moments away because of my lack of patience or my tendency toward worry or irritability. But, as I look back I will cherish every memory and every photo. And as I watch him today I will be grateful for the little man he is becoming and will pray to God that He will make me more patient, gentle, and nurturing so that I can enjoy every second I have with this precious fellow.

Birthday boy!

February 22 is always celebrated all over the country. Most people celebrate it as George Washington's birthday. And they usually celebrate with a day off of work or school. Around these parts, however, we celebrate for a much different reason. We celebrate because it's the day we met Nathan. One of the greatest gifts we have ever been given in this life. It is so very hard to believe that he is 6 years old.

We took brownies to school to kick off the celebration.

We even took Kaleb out of his class to join in the fun.

What we did over winter "vacation"

If you patrolled facebook during the monster snow storm you would find tons and tons of moms sharing their stir crazy stories of rambunctious kids who need to burn off steam. Some were even begging for the schools to reopen. That was NOT the tune we sang in this home. While we were, at times, stir crazy and full of energy that was difficult to expel, we had the best little mini vacation. Of course I am sure it helped that Rayden got to stay home with us. But, I think I caught a glimpse of what homeschooling can be....and it delighted me. We did so much together.

We built castles out of tinker toys and protected them with lego men...
We learned how to measure things using the measuring tapes they give out at Ikea (I may or may not have taken about 50 of those the last time I was in Dallas to use for such a time as this)...
We watched our St. Bernard....oops...I mean our little cockapoo play in the snow. She was in heaven out there...
We (unsolicited) built a replica of Moses and the Burning Bush out of Legos. Warms a mother's heart...
We painted sun catchers (how blessed we were that I had just gone to Michaels the day before the snow hit to buy a few Valentine's treats...we made good use out of those for sure)...
We colored...and colored....and colored...
We learned how to do two digit math....very quickly I might add....I have some very bright boys (if I do say so myself....which I do...in case you were wondering...and I know you were!)...
We colored and constructed 3D models...
We played games.....war, battleship, Guess Who. You name it, we played it...
What's this you ask? Why, that is an empty hamper. In fact, my house had 3 empty hampers all week long. Holla! Can I get an amen?! Now, don't ask to look in my hamper today....that's a different story altogether...
We actually worked together without fighting several times. If that isn't a miracle of God, I just don't know what is!