Resurrection Sunday / Easter 2012

Our Easter celebration had a bit of a hicc-up when my father landed in the ER with some chest pain the night before.  I am glad however that A:  it wasn’t a heart attack and B: we don’t need to celebrate the reason for Easter ONLY on Easter because in reality – our entire year should be considered a celebration of our risen Lord and all that he has to offer and all he has done for us.  This is the time of year when he was said to be crucified and then rose from the dead so of course we chose this weekend.  But like I said,  it doesn’t have to be just this one tiny time of the year.   Special church attendance(s), or pretty dresses, and uncharacteristically open ears does not a true believer make.  No,  a true believer is one who has accepted they are a sinner.  One who knows that only being a good person or doing good deeds does not get you into heaven.  A true believer knows that the ONLY way to come to the father is by accepting him as your Lord and Savior,  by asking for forgiveness and then doing your best to set an example for Christ.  A true believe will place him/herself at the feet of Jesus and not above him….  Look,  I don’t say it well.  I never have…  It’s not my thing.  Personally, I feel I am much better with my actions then my words- hopefully you can honestly agree with me on that.  If not,  then I’ve got more work to do.  Oh wait,  I’ve ALWAYS got more work to do!  As much as I strive for perfection I fail miserably – good thing I was never meant to be perfect but I continuing work in progress.
Here are a few sites that might better help answer any questions you may have.  ♥  If you’ve never accepted Christ and have questions, or even if you have accepted and still seek more, check out these sites…

• How to know God / Would you like to know God?
• What DID Christ do for us?
• Peace With God

We did make it to church – ALL of us!  That seems to be a miracle in itself lately as some little person in our home has been sick nearly every Sunday for the past month or two and I am very adamant about not sharing my kids germy, green, boogy noses with others.  I can handle a clear snot nose – but once it goes green,  nope,  keep your kids home.  Pretty much feel the same about nasty wet coughs, especially with the younger ones who just can’t seem to grasp the concept of the inner elbow cough.  Amazing just how far those sprays can go.
And no,  I’m not a “hide-your-kid in the house type of parent.  I truly do believe exposure to germs is actually healthy but I do not see a need to purposely shove my kids or others into them either.   My older three kids are pretty “germ resistant” but my 3yr old has just not been exposed as much so the older ones bring it all home to her and she’s the only one who keeps getting sick – go figure!
Again,  I digress…
Here are a few “fun” traditional pics of some ways we celebrated Easter this year!

The race for the Easter Baskets…

Who doesn’t love an Easter Monkey Bunny stuffie!

More eyeballs for the hand!

Guess who was most thrilled with getting an Chocoloate Easter Bunny!

Easter Goldfish crackers!

Love that she is excited about the seeds she received from the “Easter Bunny”!

Holy Smokes – One chocolate Easter Bunny nearly completely gone already!

Eyeballs for the hand – FUN!

Nah, no one is excited about the hunt about to take place…

RUN!

Perfect for wee one!

Note to self – next year, place more at JUST the height of the oldest!

Ah-HA! Now that one was tricky!

Playing checkers waiting for dinner…

Love this girl! She’s as sweet as she looks

And…she can cop an attitude too…HA!

Our version of Easter basket hair…

Love the natural curls on this kid!

No idea what to call this but she wanted 1 egg on each side of her head so…we did it.

My handsome, growing to quickly – 10yr old. And yes, he’s due for another trimming…

Might not be the “best” but they are all looking!

Top View

Braided, with an egg, then “rolled” up

She loved it!

Showing Papa her new Easter bracelet the bunny brought her…

Chill’n with Grammie

Gotta love a 3yr old with attitude…

Beautiful 8yr old

Love!

From tongue to bright eyes! Love this girl!

Easter Hair!

With Easter only being a few days away but today being the girls last day of school before Spring Break (Or in our case, Easter Break) I went and did their hair all up fun!  Let me tell you tho,  While the hair style was actually a bit easier than I anticipated it did take a long time and resulted in a not-so-fun morning all around.  Poor Boy was late for school and non to happy about it being because of the girl’s hair, then we had a melt-down from one of the girls because I was unavailable to help take care of things to get her ready (keep in mind she is 8 and perfectly capable of finding her own backpack that was sitting the floor right in front of her), socks, snacks, missing water bottles…  Awe yes,  that is but a small insight into my school day mornings.  Getting 3 kids ready in the morning is always such a pleasant experience especially when you only have two hours to try to get some extra fun hair styles going.  No, really,  most days go more smoothly.  It just happened to go that route this morning.  Oy!

( Small disclaimer:  No,  I don’t think it is OK for any of the kids to be late for school because of a fun hair style )

Here are the hair pictures from this morning!

Giving credit where credit is due,  I must encourage you to go check out the awesome website I found this idea at!
Princess Piggies

And our own little late creation!  We “sewed” Ella’s hair through the eggs, using her own hair as the thread!   I had about 10min not really to get this done!  It was rushed and we needed to do something fast to get some Easter eggs in her hair since her younger sister obviously had quite the hair-do going today.   She seems to like it all the same!

Easter Eggs "sewn" in her hair!

…and of course the youngest sister who, still in her jammies with her bed hair as she’s not in school yet, was feeling left out and wanted her pic taken too. ❤

She actually looked at the camera – SNAP!

3yr old got her hair done too – we only went with one egg on each side with her because well, she’s 3 and 3yr olds just don’t hold out very long with things like this. It didn’t take very long all considering but I will say, she was certainly done by the time the last twistie went on. LOL

The back view – sort of. At least you get the general idea. LOL

 

From cleaner water to septic issues…

In the past two days we’ve gone from getting a new water filtration system put in to sadly discovering our septic system in on the fritz.  Have to say I felt pretty bad for the water filter guy.  He spent a lot of time getting the thing set up and ready to run.  Told me he was done and I could use the water again – I did.  Then I was running out the door to make sure he hadn’t left yet because there was water flooding my basement!  YIKES!

OK so it wasn’t a big major flood but it was enough to get my hiney in gear and start hauling the still unpacked cardboard boxes out from under the new waterfall we apparently acquired in a small corner if the basement.  It was just enough to cover the top of my barefoot feet but not enough to completely soak through the cardboard of any of the boxes except one.  Truth be told, I think it only managed to soak through that one because I totally forgot that box had gotten wet and rediscovered it sitting on it’s wet side over an hour later – DRATS!  I did manage to set all the other ones upside down and rip them open immediately so I saved all the childrens books in the other really wet box – notta one book got wet!  THANK YOU GOD!  The other boxes that had gotten wet happened to have plastic binders or a small plastic storage bin in the bottom of them.  Again!  YAY!  Oh,  one did hold the kids computer tower but again,  it was totally untouched inside the box by water!
Now the one box that I forgot about did have all of my 10year olds medical records from when he was a newborn and even some of mine.  It also held a special 4th of July card from my 3yr old’s first 4th of July how those two things managed to be in the same box is beyond me!.  But while that card got wet – it still played it’s music when you opened it.  And the medical records – well,  thanks to my mom’s suggestion I used up an entire roll of wax paper to separate each and every sheet before they could dry and stick together.  I will say I am a bit unnerved by the fact that there is now quite a lot of “yellow” around the edges of these white papers…  I’m hoping that is just from the fact they were in a manila folder and it bled onto the papers and not from um…well,  our newly discovered issue.

SOoo,  now that all the “hidden” boxes are now out in the entertainment room and my daughter is completely blocked from safely entering her bedroom, my house could once again be considered a disaster zone and I feel like I’ve got to start ALL OVER.  *sigh*  I am however more inspired to get rid of even more stuff now.  How I wish I had access to a huge warehouse for a month.  Just one month.  I’d unload all our my possessions and then slowly move back in what we actually NEED and sell the rest – gosh,  I could probably buy a car, with cash, if I did that!
Notice I didn’t say what sort of car – I might have a lot of stuff but truly it’s not worth to anyone else what it once was to me.

A sewer guy came today and did drain all the crap and nastiness (pun intended) out of the septic tank but he also had me come out so he could explain what was going on.  Let me tell you – standing next to an open Sewer tank is not exactly the most pleasant way to spend even 30 seconds and I was out there for 15min at least!  Oh it was AWFUL!  I was very thankful I had worn a thick sweatshirt type thing so I could nearly suffocate myself with the cuff on the arm… Oh but back to the subject at hand…
The sewer guy (after laughing at me for covering my face and gagging) asked me if I heard all the running water.  Why yes,  yes I did.  Of course I just assumed it was water running from the house pipes into the tank now that it was “empty” from his draining it out.   “No”, He says, “No,  that is water running BACK into the tank from the drainage field because the drainage field isn’t working right and…”   Um yea,  apparently it’s not supposed to do that and that is a HUGE sign of a major problem!

He gave me about 2 weeks before he’d have to come back out and re-drain it again.  Well, either that or they dig up the entire backyard and put new drain tiles in and all that good, lovely, and fun stuff.  So much for having a fenced in backyard again for the kids to play in all summer long.  But hey – they will have a huge mud pit to play in and what kid doesn’t love MUD!  Wait…  that mud will be in part due to sewer drainage issues…  Scratch that – we’ll stick to the pool and friends houses!  No mud – not at this house – not this year!  YUCK!

Long story short here…  I am so glad we are not the actual homeowner right now.  For once I feel that renting is a bit of a God send because there is just no way we could afford a $5,000 to $15,000+ sewer job right now and this my friends,  is a MUST FIX situation.    I am also very grateful for a landlord who is so nice and understanding and willing to not leave us in the lurch and in fact can joke with us about the whole situation.  It might not be our ideal situation but it is our current situation and quite honestly, we are very fortunate.

That said,  I now have an adorable little 3yr old who has been put to bed for the night and is not exhibiting very adorable behavior so I must run and deal with that.  But you my friends might want to thank my 3yr old for acting up and consider my exit a blessing because I do have a lovely picture I could share with you, of a small hole in my yard, that is filled with nasty, black, gooey liquid that smells as awful as one can possibly image…However,  I shall have to pass on posting it so I may deal my sleep resistant child.
G’night all!

A Month in Review…

I’m not even sure where to begin!  We’ve been SO VERY BUSY since Valentines day.  In the times I did happen to have a moment I went brain dead and watched a TV show or got sucked in by my newest love – Pinterest, and eying what possible treasures there might be to find on Craigslist or my local Freecycle.   Oh if I had the time and the space – the treasures I would bring home.  Well,  they would start out essentially as trash to everyone else but in my dreams they are treasures just waiting to be discovered.  One day I will prove myself worthy of these dreams but until then,  their fate shall lie in the hands of those unknown…  Well,  except for the beautiful desk and plain-Jane dresser soon-to-be shelving unit I did bring home much to the hubby’s dismay.    How can be blame me tho,  they called my name and alas,  he was far away in Texas for work and they needed me to save them NOW.   (If only he knew the gems I passed on…  HA!)
Anyway,  I digress.
To try and get myself back on blogging track we shall make this painful and simple, er, I mean painfully simple.  I shall attempt to upload a months worth of pictures to catch you up on our lives here.
Where to begin…

*   Valentines Day – well,  I posted on that   * We’ve celebrated our first birthday of this year * A treasured pet frog passed away and we had a proper burial, casket and all! * we had a good knock to a tooth on the  school playground and now we have a crooked big tooth but that’s OK because we already knew we’d be getting braces eventually * We made visit(s) to the dentist for cleaning * a tiny finger got slammed in a bedroom door and we’ve been watching it prepare to fall off * We tore up carpet in a bedroom and recarpeted as well as painted it too * I made two trips to the ER with the youngest.  One for the finger in the door and another time for seemingly instant dehydration from getting instantly sick – that was a fun 10hrs in the ER (YaWn) but at least I brought home a healthy kid again * Got a new fridge * We’ve spent time outdoors in this crazy, warm, beautiful March weather that I am now freezing my butt off in again * We’ve watched thunderstorms roll through * called for the thunder after the lightening * I went on a field trip with my 5yr old then proceeded to stay with her and walk around this amazing place for another hour or so after * Played at the school (park) * Played with bubbles outside * did a photo shoot with legos * trimmed trees and bushes * visited the in-laws at their farm house * found toads in the collected water on the pool cover – LOTS of them, watched them produce LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of egg strings and are now watching a bazillion tadpoles! * I (we) survived a week with Jeff gone * Molly, Jeff, and I had a secret Molly, Mommy, Daddy day when Jeff came home and took a day off work * got ice cream from two different places on the same day! * fed the ducks and the geese and played at a wonderful park by the water * completely reorganized the still packed boxes in the basement to prepare for room for a new treadmill * got the new treadmill * now have to completely reorganize it all AGAIN to make room for a new rented water system to be put in so we don’t have to smell the yucky water anymore.  HA! * and wow,   that pretty much brings us to now…  Somehow jotting it down in a “few” words like this just doesn’t seem like as much as it feels but alas,  I have been pretty busy.
Below are some pics & page links  from the past month plus some…

Ella is 8 now!

Frogs and Toads

BUBBLE ATTACK!

Getting to know Stucky the frog a bit better since Sticky passed away…

Introducing Stucky to all Sticky’s old playmates…

Eying each other…

1st dentist appointment for a big 3yr old! So excited!

This water suction thingie is kind of fun…

OK, I’m done… Don’t want to have my teeth looked at any more!

Nothing like being a 5yr old SuperStar in the dentist chair!

Trying on My old glasses from when I was a little girl. HA!

I think I must have been a bit older then 3yrs old when I had these glasses as a kid – at least I hope so as they seem to swallow her face! LOL

Such a happy and excited 3yr old in her newly painted and carpeted room!

LOVES the gigantic Dora sticker she got waaaay back at CHRISTmas that we can finally put on the wall!

The very next day – after running around like a lunatic in her newly redone bedroom she’s down for the count – literally! We spent 10 1/2 hrs in the ER overnight due to instant dehydration from getting instantly sick – CRAZY! She’s all happy with a Popsicle and free ride tho. HA!

Sounds asleep getting fluid and snuggling with a new stuffie the ER staff gave her ❤

…on a walk with mommy we discovered a fairy door in a tree!

(I can’t even begin to tell you how I wish this tree were in my yard – I’ve got lots of fun ideas for this “door”!) HA!

Gotta love newly fallen leaves on a gorgeous March day!

…trying to hide from mommy’s persistent camera – no such luck, sorry babe HA!

Our goofy “beast” of a dog watching us arrive home from our walk…

Someone is SO EXCITED we’re home to play!

Who doesn’t love a good strong wind in the face…

Like Dog – like Boy…

Someone told my 5yr old that if you can put salt on a birds tail you can catch it…

…Guess who was obsessive about running around the yard with the kitchen salt!

…planning out a method of attack. Darn that the bird is in the street and she’s not allowed to go there because you KNOW she would have caught this one. HA!

PROOF! They do get along from time to time!

Oh yea – Love this blackmail – er, proof!

You know I’m keeping the camera ready now!

Nothing like a leprechaun bearing gifts ❤

My shaggy-haired boy (hair cut came shortly after this pic!)

Dinosaur on the loose – watch out Mr. Leprechaun!

Spring MUST be here – the Robins have arrived!

Good little helper!

Playing in buttons like Mommy used too – awe, memories!

Love this little “hat” button that came in our button lot!

Someone has fallen in love with the little button candies – one guess who!

How a fly managed to get his head stuck in the pool fence is beyond me. He was there quite a long time but relax and know he did manage to free himself.

Neat birds we saw on a field trip!

I love swans!

We discovered Lilly Pads look like hearts!

So elegant and beautiful

Blue Herons (?) nest HIGH up in the trees! Who knew – I didn’t!

“Look mommy, do I look like the Statue of Liberty?” Um… yes, hun, you sure do. (What?)

I’m just a little giddy at the thought that maybe even just one of my kids my like photography!

Swan nest on land – surprising close to where people walk.

Little more where I’d expect for a swan to build her nest – away from people…

Our silly Boxer loved trying to “catch” the water from the little watering can and Molly just thought it was the silliest thing in the world!

Molly’s treasured “flower” (grass and weed flower)

Massive ant location that Molly tried to drown them with her little watering can.

Watching a thunderstorm outside

Waiting for the lightening so they could call thunder – awe, the memories ❤

Well over grown thorny bushes in our yard that I despise. If they weren’t pretty I would just destroy them but alas, I did leave some in tack but just incredibly smaller!

Even time I see these bushes, I can’t help but wonder if this is the bush that Christ’s crown of thorns was made of… Ouch! Maybe that’s another reason I didn’t chop them down completely – they serve as a constant reminder to me of what he went through for me…

They really are painful!

Enjoying a beautiful March day!

BUBBLE ATTACK!

The “beast”… When one thinks of the word Boxer they tend to think rough and tough sorta guy but yea, when you associate the word Boxer with the breed of dog – yea, you get nothing. Nothing but cuteness and the perfect family dog. He is nothing but another child who needs constant love, attention, and approval. We love our “beast” ❤

OK,  I think about catches us up.  I still have other things I’d like to post but truly,  I’m not sure I picked the right blog host to do it all…  We shall see.  Look for more pics / posts to come of  hairstyles we tried and just spring and summer fun!
Time to go – eventually I hope to have a garage sale and with this early nice weather – I have a feeling they will be starting sooner this year then I planned – LOTS TO DO!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

No big plans for this Loving Day in our home but we did do up the girls hair all fancy and fun and made sure to make one special valentine for the boy to give to one special girl in his class

Molly and I will hang out and clean and I’m hoping she’ll take a nap with me in a bit here, especially since I was up late last night putting finishing touches on Valentines and 100th day of school stuff.  *Yawn*

Before we get our day started I thought I’d post a couple of quick pics of the girls and their Valentine hair.   LOL

And then just a few extra pics from recent days… (include repeat pics from the Valentine hair since I can’t seem to figure out how to do them separately.  HA!)

Hair Bows created from her hair!

Daddy / Daughter Dance 2012

Daddy / Daughter Dance 2012

Daddy / Daughter Dance 2012

Daddy / Daughter Dance 2012

Ethan and Mommy

Take The 5 Love Languages profile with this widget

Great quiz to take!  I’m even going to have the hubs and the kids take it later today,  if they will that is.  LOL
One thing to remember is that you are supposed to answer it how you would like things to be.  Not how they are, unless of course they are two in the same.  ♥  It doesn’t explain that part of it very well.  Be honest,  even if it’s tough to do so.  No one will know the results unless you want them too.

The Scrap Box…

SO EXCITED!   Put a post on our local FreeCycle looking for glass marbles and one of the responses I got was not for the marbles I wanted but suggesting I check into this “store” because they might have some.  I went and looked up the stores web site and OH MY GOODNESS!  I’m so excited!  Change of plans – my mom, who is helping out visiting for the week and I are heading out!  YAY!!!!   I’ll tell you more about it late but I just had to share in my excitement!

A sickie in the home…

Wow!  What a morning!  Was awaken at 1am and 2am with an uncomfortable little girl.  At 3am I woke up to a still asleep but uncontrollably shivering and teeth chattering little girl with a temp of 105.6!!  We’ve had high temps in this house before and I don’t like them.  Nope, not one bit.  This one was a bit different in that we’ve never had a child react with uncontrollable shakes before from it!  REALLY don’t like that.  Woke the hubby,  got her into a cool bath, shoved a Popsicle into her mouth and squirted some Tylenol into her mouth and called the nurse.   Managed to get the temp down to a more “comfortable” 104 but still… WoW !  Sure am glad I chose to sleep with her on the couch last night.

She is SUCH a little trooper .  Even I thought the water was cool to my touch but she didn’t complain nor did she want to get out.  She wanted all the toys in with her but didn’t play with a single one. ❤  We fell back to sleep on the couch together until my 10yr old came rushing upstairs noting it was 7:30am and we leave the house at 8am for school!  Whoops!     Except for the 3yr old and I, everyone managed to get fed, dressed, and hair done in record time and out the door.  No one was late and I still had time to grab coffee between intermediate and elementary drop off.  Gotta love it, very proud of my family this morning!
Now just the two of us are back home.  Molly is holding her own with a low temp of 99 and soaking in the cool mist from the vaporizer next to her while watching Mickey Mouse Club House and sipping on some Orange Juice.

I’m hoping this is a sign of healthier things to come for the weekend because it’s been a crazy week!
——-Here is our crazy week so far—————–
Monday,  sweet Molly sounded a bit raspy.  Monday night she seemed to have acquired an ugly cough.  I just chalked it up to this crazy and unusual January weather.

Tuesday, around 3am Molly woke up around 3am with 102 fever.  Gave her some Tylenol.  All day Tuesday she coughed and coughed and ran a low temp. She even went to bed at 5:30 today just because she was exhausted.  We missed Molly’s favorite thing of the week – Library day!   =(

Wednesday, This is the day the fun really began…

• 1:30am – temp of 102.6 – Tylenol
  3am – awake with a fussy and grumpy 3yr old taking over my bed.
• 6:50am – temp 102.4 – Motrin

Called the nurse at the peds office to question the cough as it’s getting worse.  Nurse can hear her over the phone.  Says she “borderline” for coming in.  I decide to give it the night and if not better will bring her in tomorrow.  (Later I am kicking myself for that decision.)  Gave her Motrin around 1pm and we settled in for a couple of hours worth of napping before heading out to get older siblings from school.  I also cancel my dental appointment for Thursday (GLAD I did this!)

• 1pm – temp of 103.3 – M
• 5:30pm – 104 – T
• 6:30pm – 104.3…  wait, what?

OK,  now somehow the high temp didn’t go down this time – off to Urgent Care.  Turns out Molly has Croup.  In 10 years of having children in our home, this is our first case of Croup.  Sure we’ve dealt with RSV and childhood asthma but never croup.  =/   Came home with a steroid (even tho her oxygen was only 97  that’s not really that bad.  We’ve seen worse in this home) We get home around 9pm,  Her fever had come down a little while at Urgent Care (of course) but I gave her some Motrin and we went to sleep.  1:30am I woke up, checked her temp…

Thursday, It’s apparently going to be a *yawn* kinda day.

• 1:30am  I am awake to an uncomfortable little girl and then suddenly everything changes…  (Re-read the start of this post)

It amazes me how quickly things can change.  I am so glad I made the decision to not lay her in her own bed last night.  I am the one who woke up to her nasty shivering.  I’m not sure she would have awaken.  I’d like to think so but I don’t have to think about it because she was right with me and God woke me up to deal with it.
I’m also thinking this scary high temp was her little body’s way of going on a massive attack but her temp has not been higher then 99.5 so far today.    She’s done this to me before so I’m thinking it might be “her thing” when she gets really sick.      We also have 3 days of this prednisolone for the croup but getting it into her is already a challenge.  It might smell Ok but the taste is a totally different story and no matter how I try to mask it, she notices.   LOL

So there’s where were at today.  It’s only 10:30am and I’ve got a moment to breath but now I’m signing off to go snuggle up with a sick 3yr old and sleep watch Little Einsteins.

Hope you all are staying well!

Ella’s Hair…

Nope,  didn’t cut her hair either but I found an amazing style and tried it on her this morning!  I’m so excited about this one.  While I didn’t perfect it I’m comfortable enough to say I nailed it close enough and I think once I have a better opportunity to watch the video from  Cute Girls Hairstyles  AND I have more then 10min to actually do the cage-braid,  I think I’ll get better at it.  Seriously,  this is so adorable and so very easy!  WHO KNEW!

Here is the style I attempted to copy.  Click on the link and you’ll be able to watch the video and learn how to do it yourself!  This Mom is amazing!

HAVE FUN!

Rain Boot Clogs

Ever have a child with a favorite  shoe or clothing that they refuse to part with?  At least without a hassle.   my 3yr old has a pair of rain boots that she LOVES!  They are not all fancy or girly and in fact are at least a size to big for her but she does love them!  I didn’t mind her wearing them,  I mean they did keep her dry up to her knees!  Until they didn’t…

At the end of fall, just before it was supposed to be time to pull out the winter snow boots I began to notice her feet were getting wet.  Upon a good look-over of the boots I noticed the back heels both now had cracks in them.   After that I gently encouraged her to wear her lovely winter snow boots.  Something much easier said then done when it wasn’t snowing.  Then it snowed!  Not much but enough to bring a happier attitude about the transition and the rain boots were not a thing of the past.   Until today…

Today, in January, in Mid-Michigan it not a cold, snowy, white, wintery day.  No,  it’s a beautiful 47 degree day with too much green grass and birds fluttering about in my bushes all confused but enjoying themselves.  I decide to pull out clean out the mess of shoes, boots, hats, mittens near blocking out garage door to the house entrance and in that process, the beloved rain boots made an appearance.  Well,  I convinced my sweet 3yr old that they were not good to wear anymore but she was so sad that I came up with an idea.  They may not be water-proof rain boots anymore but she LOVES her new…

        RAIN BOOT CLOGS!

And yes, this is the pic she “granted” me.   LOL!