Laundry Can Be Fun?

We were able to purchase a new washer and dryer, I didn't know laundry could be a good source of entertainment for the kids. Don't worry it didn't last long and now laundry is an evil word.

Our Little Hawaiian Girl

Wow it has been a whole month and more since my last post, and things have been BUSY!!. Before the kids got out of school I laid out our summer plans with excitement, had the summer schedule made and I felt really good about our schedule and activities; and then WAM life hit us. This time life did not hit us with any health problems so despite the fact that life has been really busy I can count our blessings that we have all be healthy. Grant at work got hit with two projects at the same time. One of the projects is in Maryland and one here. The project in Maryland takes him away from the project here. Since school has been out Grant has either been in Maryland or working 12 plus hours a day and a few hours on Saturday. I have been busy being a single parent and trying to not only keep up my responsibilities but also Grant's. The kids have been a lot of help as we have all worked together to support Daddy. Anthony has learned to mow the lawn and together we are able to get both lawns mowed. Anthony has done good with keeping the garden watered and together we work on cleaning our above ground pool. I have to admit that things do get a bit lonely around here and at times I want to pool my hair out; but through all that my heart is filled with gratitude because my husband has a job and is working hard for his family. I have been reminded that my Heavenly Father loves me and hears the pleadings of my heart; and most of all I have learned that I have the strength to rise to any challenge. I didn't think I could do this, but with Heavenly Father helping to carry me and the team support of our children I can conquer this challenge. However, don't get me wrong I will be ETERNALLY grateful for when Grant finishes his two projects and can return back to his family.

Now with that all out of the way, lets get on with the title of the post: "Our Little Hawaiian Girl." One of the last projects that Madeline had to do for school was to trace her body and dress herself up as a Hawaiian girl. Madeline really enjoyed this project and though I was a little annoyed that we had a project to do the week before school got out, in the end the project ended up being a lot of fun. My frustration probably was from the fact that I was more ready for school to be out than the kids. Madeline enjoyed going out on a date with her Daddy to find materials to make a "modest" Hawaiian Girl. Madeline and I worked together on the decorating Madeline and putting all the final touches together. This project really pointed out how tiny Madeline is compared to her classmates. In the end Madeline was a really cute and modest Hawaiian girl.

Gastric Emptying Scan

Madeline has been experiencing bad stomach pain since December, and it has slowly gotten worse. In April Madeline essentially was not eating and was only being sustained through formula put into her g-button; but then that started to be a problem. We had put several calls into her GI doctor as well as to the dietitian and they would suggest something and we would do it and then a few days later we would be back to where we started. Her GI doctor could only say that Madeline has an eating disorder and that she is special. Well I was not happy with that answer. I know my daughter is special but she needs to eat and you need to fix it. By mid April I was at my wits end because for three days straight my daughter had not eaten a drop and I was just struggling to keep enough liquid down her to prevent another hospitalization. So I put in another desperate call into her doctor and the response I got was "I am out of options, there is not much else to do." I was livid, I felt that my hands were tied and I was reaching out for help and it was being denied. I was not going to watch my daughter suffer any longer, and so with that I fired the doctor. I called over to Dallas Children's hospital to see one of their GI specialists and surprisingly I was able to get an appointment with what looked liked a skilled GI doctor the next day. Within being in the room with Madeline's new GI doctor for five minutes I knew my prayers were answered and we were going to get help. She immediately put together a three step plan and immediately had a direction that she was headed towards. She decided to first start with putting a camera down Madeline's stomach to see if her gastritis was flared up again. We were scheduled for camera test a week later where it was discovered that my daughter had a yeast infection in her stomach caused by the steroids she takes for her asthma. Grant and I were greatly relieved that it was a simple problem that is easily treated with medication, but at the same time we were annoyed that my daughter has been suffering since December and close to hospitalization due to not eating for something that you have been easily detected if he had put a camera down her stomach. Since then we have done two other tests and both have come back normal. One of Madeline's stomach problems is that her stomach does not empty like a normal stomach. She is on medication to help her stomach produce motility so that it will empty like it should. Madeline's GI doctor wanted to do have another gastric emptying scan to see if the medication is working and to make sure that it is not contributing to her stomach pain. This test is a "fun" all day thing. Madeline gets to start out the morning eating chicken noodle soup mixed with eggs and steamed veggies and then for the next four hours we take 8 pictures at different times. There is a period of time where you wait an hour between pictures. During this time Madeline is not allow to eat nor is she allow to lay down. Since this has been our second time, we knew what to pack and how to prepare. We brought movies, books, and other activities to do to pass the time away, but we didn't need those because the children's hospital recently opened a Build A Bear store and Madeline absolutely loves Build A Bear. During our hour wait we participated in the fun at the Build A Bear store dressing up our new stuff animal to add to her growing collection. Madeline was a smiles which was nice to see. Afterwards we visited the gift shop where she found a monkey puppet that had her name written all over it. Madeline loves monkeys and so she was excited to get a puppet to add to her collection. All these things helped to pass the time away and this time around the test didn't seem to drag on. It really felt like we blinked and the test was done. Afterwards Madeline and I ate a gourmet lunch at the cafeteria in the hospital, Madeline sure enjoys the pasta they have there. Though I wish the circumstances were different, I sure enjoyed the time I had with Madeline. I love the moments we have together and the experiences that we are able to create. It makes having a medical procedure not feel so scary when you can have a date with Mom.

On a side note, Madeline is getting better her pain has gone almost completely away and her eating has improved. We are not quite where we should be, but we are no longer having to be sustained through a g-button. Now we are just doing our usual supplemental feeds and for the most part life has turned back to normal and Mommy and Daddy are no longer worrying about their daughter.

Garden Thieves

Look what we found in our backyard one beautiful morning. These two raccoons knew their way around our backyard like this wasn't a new gig. We believe these two rascals are the reason why plants keep disappearing.

S for Spencer

On May 10, Spencer turned four. It is still hard to believe that he is four, in the last year he has come so far in his development and speech; the preschool program that he is in has helped a lot. He still has issues with large groups or unfamiliar places. If he is faced with a large group of people or a group activity with lots of kids/people he immediately draws to a corner to stay.

This was the first year that Spencer understood what birthday was and so it was fun for us because every little thing we did he would get excited and say "for me, for my birthday." At breakfast we all sang happy birthday and at school you get a special birthday ribbon when it is your birthday. At Spencer's school you are not allow to bring a birthday treat to share with the class, but since he is in preschool and they have snacks you can bring snacks to share with the class. I decided to treat the class with fruit snacks to go along with the usual cracker snacks that they have. After school I took Spencer to get his birthday lunch and birthday balloons. When he saw his balloons he was jumping up and down with excitement, especially the balloon with his name. After lunch it was time for me to make his cake. Spencer loves the letter "S" and loves to point it out wherever he goes "S for Spencer" is what he always says. So we thought it would be fitting to make a letter "S" as his cake and in true Spencer fashion he chose purple as the icing color-the kid loves purple (both of my boys love the color purple). Also to celebrate Spencer, I used candles that spelled out Happy Birthday because Spencer has a fascination with letters. With the letter "S" cake with purple frosting, covered with his favorite M&M's and letter birthday candles Spencer was having a hard time resisting the urge to "explore" his cake. I quickly finished the decorations and put the cake in place and then Daddy was home and it was office for buffet pizza (Spencer's choice). After dinner we all came home and sang happy birthday to a boy that was smiling from ear to ear, watched as excitedly blew out each candle one by one and then there was dead slience as we were all enjoying the yummy cake. After cake it is only natural to open presents, and keeping in true Mommy fashion I didn't wrap them and once again Spencer didn't mind. I ususally have the kids go on a treasure hunt to find their presents, but Spencer hasn't reached the age to trully appreciate the treasure hunt or to understand it, so maybe next year.

Grant has a white hat that the kids made him one year for Father's Day, but Spencer seems to take it whenever Grant tries to wear it. Spencer justifies his decision because on the hat is Spencer's name. Grant decided that he was going to make Spencer his own white hat with his name on it. Grant put a big letter S on the front with Spencer's name written on the back. I made Spencer a super Spencer cape because he is always asking us to tie his blanket so he can be Super Spencer. We rounded out the homemade gifts with a foam sword and shield, and foam bath letters to make bath time even more fun. I had some games planed after the gifts, but when Spencer saw his cape and hat with sword and shield he took over the entertainment. He immediately put the hat on with his cape, got his shield and sword in place and proudly proclaimed "Super Spencer to the rescue." Anthony and Madeline joined in the fun with their swords and cape and had an epic battle out in the backyard.

I think Spencer had a great day and I think he felt loved by his family from the gifts, money, cards, and phone calls all wishing our special four year old a Happy Birthday. For me the best part was to sit back and watch Spencer enjoying his special day and understanding for the first time how magical birthdays are.

FIeld Day Fun

Anthony and Madeline had their field day at school. I was Madeline's little buddy and followed her around to all the various activities. It was fun to see Madeline out there having fun and it was touching to hear her classmates and teachers cheering her on. The difficult part was keeping Madeline cool and out of the sun, by afternoon Madeline had her fill and we checked out of school a little early. Field Day is always fun and it is enjoyable to see the kids in action and enjoying themselves with their friends; but next year I think it is Daddy's turn to run around, jump through hoops, and piggy back a very special little girl.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Little Artist

Anthony came home from school a few weeks ago with an exciting piece of paper. The piece of paper was informing us that Anthony submited a piece of artwork to the BISD art show and he was selected. The surprising thing was I didn't even know about this art show. The teachers just asked all of the kids to chose a piece of art from their portfolio to be considered for the art show. I don't think Anthony thought anything of it, until his artwork was chosen; in fact he was the only one in his class to be chosen. Since Mom and Dad had no idea that he entered an art show and we sure didn't know what art work we entered we had to go and see the winning selection. It is fun to see his talents shine through. Way to go Anthony!

Space Out

Anthony was rockin in outer space for the third grade performance at school. He sure enjoyed making his shirt for the performance. He wanted to use glow in the dark t-shirt paint and fill his shirt with comets and shooting stars. He did a great job with the design and execution. It was really neat to see his creativity shine through.

The songs were cute and entertaining and you could see Anthony really enjoyed himself. The performance was definitely out of this world.

My Kitchen Threw Up

It is spring time and with spring time we think of nice temperatures, beautiful sunshine, enjoying lots of time outside, and frequent allergy attacks. However, this time we have been inflicted with a virus and it has made its rounds through the house. This virus is different though, because it doesn't involve any human member of our family. As a reader of our blog I am sure you are confused; "How can you have a virus in your house where no human family member is affected?" Well it is very simple, MY HOUSE is sick. Still confused, well apparently my house threw up because wherever you go, wherever you step, and wherever you look there are messes. From my observations, this virus is not a simple 24 hour bug; but rather it takes a few days for it to run its course. To make things worse when you think you are on the upside, the virus comes back with a vengeance. I have yet to find the right medicine to heal my house of the virus that seems to plague it often. I have decided to no longer be in denial of this virus, but instead I am going to embrace it. No longer am I going to turn my head in hopes that it will just disappear; no I am going to love it, embrace it, and welcome this virus. It is my hope that this will help my house rid itself of said virus or at least help prevent me from going crazy.

After a few days of loving TLC mixed with a little bit of work my house has seem to come out on top.

It has been a few days and so far so good, but I know that won't last. You see I have three little angels and they like to have fun and create magic, and I have to admit I enjoy having fun along with them. Because of that I am not always able to attend to my house to prevent it from getting sick. Therefore I will embrace any sickness my house throws out at me because I don't want to miss the joy that comes from seeing, exploring, and enjoying life with my kids. So house if you need to throw up feel free to do so, but just know it might take me a few days to clean you up for I am busy enjoying being a mother.

Sunday Morning

Nothing can beat a simple Sunday morning.

Tired Spencer

Jazz Festival

Every year during the last weekend of April a nearby city Denton has a Jazz Festival. It really is like any other festival, and the only "Jazz" part is the concerts. Grant loves Jazz music and always enjoys going to listen to the concerts. Well in Texas we all know that April is usually our stormy season and so with the Jazz festival being outdoors a lot of times the weather gets in the way. Grant and I went before Anthony was born and had a fun time listening to the music. We went the next year with Anthony and he enjoyed to dancing a long to the music. The last time we went the festival was cut short due to a tornado in the area. Grant being the smart man that he is decided not to take cover in a safe place, but to get in the car and out run the tornado since we were going in the opposite direction of the tornado. Me being the go with flow kind of wife I said sure. Things were pretty intense for a few minutes as we navigated ourselves around a town that we are not familiar with as well as a tornado on our heals. Well since that memorable time we have not made it back to the festival due to rain and other events going on in life. This year the weather was perfect and so we decided going to the festival would be a nice activity to do as a family. The festival has a kid area full of kids crafts and activities and the nice thing is that they are all free and so that is where we hung out. Our kids were not interested in sitting on the lawn listening to music so the only music listening we did was while we were participating in the kids activities. After we were all worn out from all the fun we hopped in our car and headed to a near by old fashioned soda ice cream place and enjoyed a special treat.

TAKS Celebration

This year was Anthony's first year to the TAKS ( state wide) test at school. They have been preparing for this two day test all year. The schools/teachers can have a tendency to build the test up making the kids a little nervous, and so at home we tried to play it down and helped Anthony to see it as a way for him to show what he knows. To make the TAKS test fun, I bought him two lunchables ( a very rare treat in this house) for his lunch during test taking days, as well as his favorite breakfast. To top off the celebration I took Anthony out for a TAKS test celebration. We went to one of his restraunts and had a fun time together he and I. After our eating out expereince Anthony enjoyed going on a few errands with me before coming home to his favorite ice cream treat a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich. As long as we live in Texas the TAKS test isn't going to go away, so we might as well turn what can be a stressful time into a celebration and a family tradition. Hopefully by focusing on the celebration it will take some of the stress off of Anthony shoulders that he might get at school.

Easter Fun

For the past few years I start every Easter season with hopes and plans of doing a little devotional about the Savior's life starting on Palm Sunday and ending on Easter Sunday with the Resurrection. So far we start out well, but by Wednesday things begin to unravel and plans go by the wayside. This year Madeline was sick with her ongoing stomach problems, and on Easter Sunday Madeline was sick and her exaughstion kicked in and so she was out; so we celebrated Easter in spirit. We did manage to get our Easter Egg hunt and Easter baskets done on Saturday. Madeline is not allowed to have dairy and she doesn't care for sweets and stickers remind her of bandaids so stuffing her eggs was a bit of a challenge. After thinking about it I decided to empty out our coin jar and fill the kids' eggs with money. So as to be fair and make sure that not one child got more eggs than another and that everyone would have a fair opportunity to hunt for eggs, I wrote the letters to their names on the eggs and when you spelled your name you were done hunting. Spencer really got into it, but Spencer was all about order and had to start with the letter "S" before he would move onto "p" and so forth. There was no jumping around. The kids really like the money especially Anthony and Madeline. Spencer on the other hand thought it was neat for a few minutes and then he moved on to other things. It was a good thing he just got pennies which ended up back in my coin jar.

With Valentines Day and Birthdays the kids go on a hunt around the house using clues to find their gift; and the Easter basket was no different. This time instead of clues they had to put together a puzzle that would reveal where their gift was hiding. Maybe next year Spencer will be into putting puzzles together, but this year he was content as well as preferred Mommy to do all the work. However, when he saw what the picture was, he was all about finding his treasure. Who knew that a paper notebook could make a four year old so happy.

Well that sums up our Easter, and hopefully next year we will get through all of our plans. Easter is such a special time and a wonderful time to reflect on life and our Savior's love. We talk a lot about the resurrection at our house, it seems that it is Madeline's favorite topic and one where she asks lots of questions. During one of our discussions I was prompted to tell her what the resurrection means to her. For Madeline the resurrection means no more pain, no more sickness, and her body completely whole. After letting the new information sink in, Madeline with a smile from ear to ear asked "and no more IV's," which I gladly responded "no more IV's." The resurrection will be sweet to be able to watch Madeline as her mother receive a completely whole body. I can imagine giving her a hug and telling her "you did it." "You endured well, you fought the fight, and now your body is whole." I am grateful for our Savior's love, for his willingness to come to earth live a perfect life, and to suffer and die for me so that I can be able to walk back to his presence and live with him forever with my love ones. I am grateful for my knowledge of the resurrection and to know that when we die it isn't the end. Easter is such a special time of the ear and it is wonderful to be able to teach my children what Easter truly means and to help them gain a testimony for themselves of what Easter is truly about.

Spencer's Egg Hunt

Spencer had his Easter Egg Hunt at school. Due to the snow storms that we had in Feb, the kids went to school on Good Friday as a bad weather make up day. I had a doctors' appointment schedule for that day, but Grant was off from work so he took up the parental duties and off he went with camera in tow to enjoy Spencer's Egg Hunt. Grant reports that at first Spencer just had fun running around, not really headed in any direction or with any goal in mind-just running. It took Grant a few minutes to get Spencer's attention towards the eggs and that he was suppose to pick up the eggs. Once Spencer realized that their were treats inside the eggs, he was all down to business collecting his eggs to fill up his egg carton. When I came home from my doctors appointment I was greeted by a very excited Spencer and his eggs, I believe those eggs entertained Spencer for the rest of the day.

Kids Just Want to Have Fun

Conference Weekend

Conference Weekend for our church took place the first weekend in April. It is now a month later and I am now just getting around to sharing our Conference Weekend traditions. Hopefully soon Madeline's health will calm down and some what of a normal life will resume and I will be able to get caught up on the mounds of work around the house.

When Conference Weekend rolls around it is a cause of celebration around our house. Our weekend is full of traditions and activities all to help us listen to our prophet and other leaders. In years past I have done Conference Baskets ( similar to Easter Baskets) filled with activities and treats to help the kids get through four sessions of Conference. This year I decided to do things different and have Conference binders. Each child had their own binder which had the Conference packets, games, coloring pages, and a pencil pouches with their crayons pencils and other supplies. I used tab dividers to divide up the different activities to make it easier for the kids to find what they needed/wanted to do. I then had a bucket with other games that I made revolving around conference for the kids to do. For me this simplified things during Conference as well as leading up to Conference. I think we will stick to Conference binders instead of Conference Baskets. Another one of our traditions is to get out our 72 hour kits change out the food and clothes and update any medicines and other supplies that need to be updated. We take the food from our 72 hour kits and snack on those throughout Conference Weekend. The kids love it and I love not having to worry about meal preparations.

On Saturday I took advantage of the time I would have and ironed. I was hoping to only ironed to during the morning session, but my wonderful skill at procrastination caught up to me and I ended up ironing during the morning session and little in between and during the afternoon session. I was glad to see that ironing pile gone.

After the Saturday sessions were completed we all gathered in the kitchen to make pizzas. We normally have Daddy go out and buy the 5 dollar pizzas but since Madeline cannot have dairy we opted to keep our tradition and instead make our own pizzas. Madeline was able to use her cheese made from almond milk as well as toppings that suited to her taste and health needs. The kids enjoyed rolling out their pizza dough and creating their own creation of toppings. After pizza Daddy was off to Priesthood session and we continued our tradition of fun. The kids gathered for a movie while I prepared a special treat which was homemade strawberry short cake. I decided to make chocolate angel food cake instead of the usual white. Our yummy treat finished just as Daddy came home and we were able to gather around the table to enjoy our treat and to listen to Daddy as he told us what he learned.

Sunday morning we woke up to another tradition of having cereal from our mini cereal boxes out of 72 hour kits. After breakfast we all made home made play dough which nicely entertained the kids during the morning session of Conference. With the ironing behind me, I spent the Sunday sessions tying a quilt I made for the boys' room. I much prefer tying a quilt then ironing. In between sessions we all went out and enjoyed the nice weather at the park.

Our Conference Weekend was filled with family traditions as well as being spiritually fed by our prophet and leaders. It was nice to put all worldly distractions aside and listen to our prophet and spend the weekend as family doing activities that not only create memories but hopefully build family unity. I know our kids get excited when Conference rolls around and I hope their excitement never dies but continues to grow.

Spring Break Day Three-Five

For Day three through five of Spring Break we went camping with Grant's parents, and boy was our camping trip and memorable one and an adventure. The weather was shaping up to be real nice, with no rain and temperatures just perfect at night and during the day. Grant and I were actually excited that for the first time in a long time we were able to actually go camping during spring break and that there wouldn't be any storm threatening/ruining our fun. Well we learned don't count your eggs before they hatch. The temperatures were great, there were no storms, but the wind was a force to be reckoned with and proved to be a challenge for us during our trip. We had plans of going fishing in our inflatable raft, but the wind changed those plans; fishing this year was done from the shore. We had plans of making kites and flying them, but the wind would have taken the kite and us with it. We had plans of picnicing by the fire, but the wind took our food, so Mommy became really good at preparing food in the car and getting it to the kids in the tent in one piece. Daddy used tarps to create enough wind blockage so that our propane stove would stay lit, and the real kicker was that Mommy and Daddy became real good at holding up the tent with out feet throughout the night so as to prevent the tent from falling down on top of us. Camping for Spring Break 2011 was real fun and a real adventure. Though our plans changed during the campout we still had fun and when the wind was nice to us we enjoyed the campground before it was time to hunker down and brave the gusts of wind. There were times that I felt like we were stuck in a windpool and that the wind was just stuck circling us. Our camping trip was suppose to end on Saturday, but after braving the wind Wednesday and all day on Thursday Grant decided Friday morning that he had enough and there were no arguements on my part. We bid farewell to Grant's parents while they rode out the wind comfortablly from their RV and we went home to the our sturdy house where we don't have to hold it up during the gusty wind.

Camping isn't fun unless their our adventures with it. You don't really remember the camping trips where everything goes perfect, you remember the ones that are a little crazy sprinkled with adventure. The kids enjoyed themselves and when they returned to school, Spencer could not stop talking about his camping trip with his family. We sure weren't planning on the wind, but we were not going to let us prevent us from camping; instead we just took gusty wind with us along for the adventure and boy was it an adventure.

Spring Break Day Two

Day two of our Spring Break adventures led us to being scavenger hunters. Spencer woke up with a fever and what to be the signs of a spring time cold, so our adventures were put on hold until Daddy came home from work. Since Mommy gets to have a lot of the fun with the kids and Daddy misses out; Daddy went on this adventure with Anthony and Madeline. Prior to day two, Grant and I went to Cabelas and took pictures of different things around the store. I then used those pictures for a scavenger hunt. With pictures in hand the crisscrossed the store looking to find their match. The hunt took them upstairs, downstairs, and even to the back corners of the store. They had to find certain shirts, a nemo life jacket, a certain colored stuff fish, and the right turn table of sunglasses. Some were easy and some took a little more time looking and making sure. After their exhausting but successful search Anthony and Madeline were ready for some fuel and Daddy was just the ticket they needed. After Anthony, Madeline, and Daddy's fun adventure they came home full of excitement and eager tell anyone and everyone the fun they had crisscrossing Cabelas.