Goodness,
we've done so much in the last month. Baby showers, Lego Robotics
qualifier, my baby is potty trained, had our first snowfall, and has it
been longer than Halloween? Eek! I made a couple costumes! ; )
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| old shoes...get transformed into.. |
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| New Shoes! Super Girl styled with red shoes laces. : ) (We totally just painted them with craft paint!) |
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| This puppy is a keeper. |
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| The
kids all split up on Halloween. Peyton and Clay took Carter
trick-or-treating, and Mary Claire had some friends over..and they went
out alone! Ches took Ethan out in the neighborhood while I answered the
door. : ) |
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| Veronica's
beautiful shower, and her daughter, Isabella, absolutely adores her
mommy..and she's so excited to have a baby sister!! |
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| Just my cutie. |
Finding
all kinds of pictures to share. I'll need them one day to remind me
what I did all day every day. Ha! I'm currently making wreaths for the
front doors, just until Thanksgiving. I want real boxwood wreaths for
Christmas..so I'd better get a move-on, or these will be useless.
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| Deciding between the two sizes of monograms..bigger is almost always better, right? |
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| Painting this was no picnic. |
Clay
made it into Symphonic band, which is the top band! I'm always shocked
at my kids' ability to play all those fascinating notes. Really. I
totally loved percussion since I could just work on rhythms instead of
notes. Mary Claire is sounding really beautiful too (she plays flute).
I'm impressed the way the band directors can coax such beautiful music
out of first year students. They are certainly working in their
spiritual gifts.
Ethan went back to the ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor last week. His hearing is way below normal, and he'll have surgery for his t-h-i-r-d set of tubes, this time with tympanostomy tubes (they
have a T-shaped backing that is more sturdy and holds them in longer
than pressure equalizing tubes, but essentially do the same thing).
They should last more like 3-4 years. He is having an awful time
hearing. He turns his head at a sharp angle, and turns his good ear
toward you just to hear. His school work is better since I explained to
his teacher. Now she looks at him, speaks close to him, and gets his
attention first. I know it's hard on everyone else, not just him.
We're praying it goes well, safely, and cures the hearing loss.
Carter is potty trained, and I'm so proud of him. He's so smart, really.
Do I say this about all my kids? Ha, probably. He just speaks so
clearly, and reasons well. And his manners are so good. Maybe I'm just
in love with my last baby. In that case, just ignore me. ; )
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| Went number two in the potty chair..a big deal! : ) |
We've
all been sick for the past month, two pneumonias, two cases of
bronchitis, and I'm pretty sure we had two cases of flu. I'm trying
super hard to feed everyone well, give them vitamins, and make sure they
get rest. We all need to build our immune systems back up!
Mary
Claire's Lego Robotics team just competed in the local qualifier, and
they have made it to state! I've started helping with the team and
going to all the meetings, so it's been a big family commitment. Ches
has had to step up and take all the boys during all the meetings (two a week now).
Maybe that's why my wreaths aren't done, ha! The team has been working
so hard on their presentation, robot missions, and a video. They get
kinda tired of it sometimes, but they love to hang out together! I love
their faith. Mary Claire is just sure they can win at the state
competition, but only one team moves on. I can't dare speak against
her faith, who knows what could happen. : ) Sweet girl.
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| Checking schedule.. |
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| Rick's Bakery cookie animals to sugar them up! |
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| Judges are giving them the results/points earned on the last round. |
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| They qualified for state, scored fifth overall, and first in the Nutty Professor tournament! : ) |
Clay has been saving and working to earn money. His latest thing is an Xploderz gun. It shoots these little water bullets. I don't even know how to describe them better. They are teensy tiny pellets (like the head of a pin)..and you soak them in water to make them bigger (almost a small marble size).
Then..shoot them. They don't really break on the target, but
apparently they slowly dehydrate? The water soaks into the ground..or
your plants, depending on where they shoot them! Def. interesting.
Last, but not least, we hosted the girl scouts at our house for a badge on New Cuisines. We tried a new food (fried plantains), a recipe from the past (fizzy drinks with fruit), a recipe from our region (biscuits with chocolate gravy from Arkansas), and modified a recipe (exchanged oil and eggs for bananas and applesauce in a brownie recipe). Obviously they girls got to vote on their choices, and so we had a lot of sweets..it was almost a tea party! But..YUM!!
I
am always exhausted at the end of each day. But somehow, I still wish I
could do more. Sometimes I still feel like I fail in so many areas.
Do you ever feel that way? Diabetes has been hard lately..and with the
kids bigger, they go through the insulin in their pump reservoirs and
have to be changed so often. I did complain a couple nights ago (after 1 am!) that I wished someone else
would learn to change sites. It's hard having to do it all. I didn't
even want to do it, but the fear of the high number by morning pushed me
out of bed.
The
kids are playing the lets-pretend-I-checked-my-blood game. They give
me a nearly perfect number, and I ask to see the meter. They disappear,
hope I'll forget, then really check their blood. It's so fun.
Some
of the JDRF moms and I went to the NWA Boutique Show last weekend, and
it was so fun. It really helps to be friends with these great women who
get it. Sick days just mean ten times the work, and insurance issues
are always fun. Kids get tired of diabetes just like we do. And we
have to a.) talk it out, b.) tell them to suck it up, or c.) tell them
we hate it too. All depending on a.) our mood, b.) their mood, c.)
their number, or d.) the weather. It's just a crap shoot, and we hope
we all make it out alive still loving one another on the other side.
Oh
yeah, I had to leave before we all went to dinner since Carter was
headed to the ER for a head injury. We wrapped up our evening seeing
doctors! Totally par for us. ; ) He is fine now. We had to wake him in
the night to make sure he was responsive and that his eyes continued to
dilate. He's (almost) learned not to stand on things.
We
never say our life is boring. Or dull. Nope, we keep it exciting.
Hope your life is going equally well. Don't you love knowing no one has
it perfect, ha! We're all in this game together. Hugs to you!
..complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:2-4
