Outgrown Pump Pouches

Is it possible?  That she has more pump pouches that she can't wear anymore?  Sadly, it is.  : (  She's going on nine years now.

Do you know anyone who needs a new one (well..not so new)?  Junko, does Emily still need some? : )

They fit Medtronic Paradigm pumps, have a zip top, velcro adjustable waist (about 8" growth in each one), and reversible (left or right close zip depending on which side your pump site is located.  Just send me an email or leave a message if you want one.

ps-EsPeCiALLy if you know a Mary Claire with diabetes who uses a Medtronic pump!  We could be fast friends. ; ) (I also have some monogrammed clothes they might need..) heehee    Hugs!

Chocolate and Diamonds

Still in the midst of a house for sale..which means our house is (hopefully) perpetually clean!  That is quite a task when I have a teensy on-the-move boy.  He can open drawers, cabinets, and climb stairs if I forget to put up the baby gate!  He is a one-man tornado if I'm not careful.  Whew..I've started tying all the cabinet pulls together.  I started tying them in knots, but then I'd have to cut the knots, then get more jute string and retie..until I figured out (shh...he can't untie a bow yet!)  I feel so smart. ha!

And now that the weather is warming up, we have this afternoon routine playing with the big kids outside-on the TrAmPoLiNe!  We love it..but it gives us so much static.

The kids are now home on spring break, so we took them south to Murfreesboro to hunt for diamonds.  Yes, real ones!  It is the only public diamond mine in North America.  They turn the soil over once a month, and people still find diamonds.  Three were found on Friday, the day before we went.  They were small ones, but big ones are found too!  I took them in too-small, really old (like trash clothes!) just in case we got super muddy.  It had been dry for about a week, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be!  I took a box of trash bags (for all the dirty tools and clothes afterward), an extra suitcase of clothes and shoes to change into post-dig, and our regular stuff for our adventure and hotel stay.  Lovely in their fashionable clothes:

 

And for fun, I took a video of Carter pushing an aluminum chair around while the boys were still digging.  He had so much fun! (until a park ranger came upstairs and told me he had to stop..it was too noisy downstairs!)  Oops.  (I know we are such hillbillies.  But it was 85 degrees, and I didn't bring him any flip flops or shorts...it was HOT!)

 

And.. he LOVED unpacking.

But wait!  Spring break is just getting started.  Today we played and ate lunch with friends at the park!  Then we went to our local Hershey's office and stuffed Easter eggs for the annual hunt.  They only needed 25,000 stuffed!!  Wow.  We only made a teensy dent with our two trashbags full.  It's a community give-back for our local JDRF, mainly for the ambassadors (Mary Claire!) and their families.  They really enjoyed it..and even managed to stuff some eggs, ha!  Seriously, they were all about organizing the eggs/candy/tape, making assembly lines ("methods"), making sure the blue eggs held blue wrapped candy/pink held pink candy, etc. and a little healthy competition. 

These were the bags of eggs we filled, they each held a gross of eggs (totally not gross..filled with Hershey's!!), and we probably did about 7 bags.  I looked up on Oriental Trading, and they are $8/bag, and we had to fill them with Hershey's candy..so can you imagine..Hershey's bought 174 packs of eggs ($1392) and filled them with candy ($2083), paid for pizza and drinks for workers, told them they could eat the candy, so they will donate over a week of work (oh yeah..we didn't put a dent in the total needed, it's a week-long event!), and over $4000 for this Easter Egg Hunt.  This is why we love Hershey's!  (well..that and the c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e!)  Thank you, Hershey's, for investing in our community!  If you are in our area, here is the webpage for the Easter Egg Hunt, the proceeds of the event benefit the NWA Children's Shelter!

Clay has started baseball practice, and he's helping a fellow boy scout on his Eagle Scout project at our church.  I've been holding little Carter through his throw up virus (picked that up in Little Rock, yay..a souvenir), got him back to formula (soy now), and we are expected to get some freezing rain and/or snow by the end of the week.  (Welcome to Arkansas!  85 to 26 degrees in one week.  Don't worry, it'll be back to the 70's within a week.  We keep a variety of clothes handy.)  Hopefully, we can still fit in a few more adventures before they go back to school.  Have a great spring break, ya'll!

Home for Sale

I'm secretly kinda nervous.  Our house is going on the market tomorrow.  Officially.  As in a SiGN out front!  Our realtor came today to take pictures, and she has a really nice wide angle lens..like it can see farther than you can (like when you turn your eyes really far to the left and right)!  It's must be like a fish eye.  I thought the pictures turned out great!  In the rooms I played "assistant"-I was moving some stuff around to get better pictures.  We still had a baby swing in our bedroom, and she said it might be best to take it out.  But there was a cord showing..so she said we could move a chair in.  Well, I didn't have a chair..so I got one tonight!  Here it is:

Ok, in my dark room, the blue pillow matches the chair.  In the bright flash..not so much.  Anyway, it fills a spot! ; )

Color me exhausted from the cleaning and preparations.  I've been cleaning corners and closets and storing little extras in our storage unit not too far from here.  Me and the nice lady there?  New BFF's!  She's getting furniture and clothes and wood and metal..she takes it all.  Really, she's so nice!  She takes the clothes to the Women's Shelter and the furniture too if they can use it.  All the extras they take to the dump (there's some politically correct term..but I can't think of it!) about once a month.

The real estate contract we had expired at the end of February.  And the time between November and now?  Gave us time to know what we want..to build for sure!  We are hoping we aren't c-r-a-z-y to sell our house.  It's been a wonderful home, and the yard is amazing.  We've poured blood, sweat, and tears into it.  Ches is ready for fewer trees, less yard to mow, and less upkeep (read: areas to mulch, flower planting, and leaves to rake!)  I want Carter to have a room with a closet, and a bigger laundry room for me.

So..that's been keeping me busy.  The other hours of the day?  Carter is still sick.  We are on day 22. : (  I'm wiping his nose, and we are now fans of Boogie Wipes.  (Cool invention, with saline to loosen up mucus and boogers) (sorry for ruining your breakfast!)  His nose has been red and hurts.  I feel awful for him.  He can't sleep very well, so I'm rocking him alot.  He's also completely on formula now.  He never did nurse again. : (  I was sad, but I'm glad I didn't have to make the decision about when to stop nursing.  He made it for me.  No guilt.

Clay "likes" a girl at school.  I'm not supposed to really know (much less say anything..so shhh!).  He even wants to be a car rider so he can see her after school.  And that requires lots of other people changing their lives!  It means I have to leave here by 2:40 to get in car rider line for Mary Claire and Ethan to pick them up at 3:00, then cross town to get in line to pick him up at 3:15 (which means I'll get there by 3:30).  If they ride the bus home, littles get home at 3:20, and Clay at 3:40.  But heaven help me, he wants to talk to the girl.  Do I accommodate just this once?  I can't do it every day..but I could do it once.  Good grief, I remember what it was like to be twelve!  Drop-in conferences are tomorrow so I figured I could get him, park, and conference.  A one-stop shop. ; )

** Ok, I must point out that we've told our kids from Day One that we don't have boyfriends and girlfriends.  They are just too young.  But apparently nature has other plans? **

..Because Ethan has been begging to have a friend come over to play.  And it's a girl!  She seems sweet enough and keeps sending him home with cards and drawings (with hearts!).  Ethan even figured out how to use the phone to call her MOM!  He brought the phone to Ches a couple nights ago when he was in the shower and said, "her mom wants to talk to you!"  Ches told her that I'd need to talk to her.  He was so shocked Ethan made the call, and to the right person!  That boy.

Mary Claire is still growing.  She can wear my shoe size, and is about three inches shorter than me.  It won't be long now.  I've prayed for her to be taller than me, it was really tough to be so short.  In third grade, I was the same height as the kindergartners!  In junior high I really grew, but then I maxed out in high school.  I'd have really appreciated another two or three inches..but God felt otherwise. ; )  haha

And because I uploaded pictures..finally (like Santa pictures!), here are some recent ones:

One of Mary Claire's girl scout cookie booths!  They kept the cookies organized in a rainbow by box color.  Sweet girls!

Mmmmm...teaching this baby right.  Us in the red Hot Now glow!

..and because my motivation right now is a bigger laundry room...isn't this one great!?  Except I'll sacrifice a few cabinets for WiNDOWS! : )

I should go, my bed is calling my name!  The kids are all in bed, and I've been up since 5:40!  I'm tired.  But my house is clean and neat! ; )  Love on your kiddos and be thankful if they don't have this awful cold that is going around.  We need some warm weather to build up our bodies (and get some vitamin D!).  Hugs!