Down Time

Yesterday I had surgery.  They corrected my bunions on both sides of my left foot.  A few years ago I had my right foot worked on.  The first doctor who did it wrecked my foot requiring me to have a second surgery from a different doctor 6 months later.  I swore I would never do it again.  However the last year I have been having increasing pain in my left foot.  It really got bad when I started working out again.  

So, I gave in and had the surgery, hoping that this will be an easier, quicker recovery.  They shaved the bones and placed 2 screws on each side.  Today has been rough to say the least.  Thankfully Will is taking great care of me.  He has kept the kids busy, house picked up, and has done all the duties that I usually do throughout the day.  Plus he has gotten me ice packs, drinks, meds, and anything I ask of him he graciously does it.  I'm so lucky to have him!

I don't do well with just sitting.  I have been going a little stir crazy already and it's only been 24 hours! I'm pretty swollen and have slept on and off most of the day.  Hoping tomorrow is a little better and I can venture out of my chair at least.

Long time no update

Well a lot has happened since I last blogged 8 months ago.

Jake graduated from High School in May.  He spent the summer at home working 2 jobs.  He worked at Fazolis where he had been since January.   He also worked at a Fitness Club in Bondurant, which he absolutly loved.  He repeatedly said it was his dream job.

He got accepted into the Fitness Management Program at the Des Moines Area Community College in Boone.  He moved out in the middle of August and is living in Boone in the student apartments.  He is sharing an apartment with 3 other boys.  So far he seems to really like it.  He quit working at the fitness club and Fazoli's before he headed to college due to the distance and gasoline costs.  He is now working part time in Ames at the Panda Express.



This summer Tony spent a lot more time outside than in years past.  He started roller blading and riding his bike almost every day.  He also learned to mow the yard this summer which was very exciting.  He grew a ton, about 30 pounds in 3 months.  Part of that is his medication and the other part is that he is a 16 year old boy.

He started his Junior year of High School.  He is taking the year off of band and thinks he may join the Tech Club.  He has been working with grandpa about 1 day a week and seems to really enjoy that.  He is hoping to get a job at Batteries Plus in the near future.  He has a teacher at school that has been helping him with that.

 Brodie just started 3rd grade.  He was excited to get back to school.  He really missed all of his friends this summer.  Baseball kept us pretty busy the first part of the summer.  Football season is coming up now and he couldn't be happier.  Dad has Iowa State season tickets and Brodie can not wait to go with him to a couple games.  We signed him up for Flag football this year and that will be starting in about a week.  He's ready.  He's been practicing all summer.






 Mr. Drew just started 2nd grade.  He too, was excited to get back to school although he misses his momma more than the other boys do.  He had a tough summer, battling recurring ear infections with ruptures.  Our ENT doctor feels that it's all caused from his very unhealthy looking nose.  We are getting ready to have some allergy testing done to see if we can identify the problem.

First day of school!

Dad went into work late to see the boys off on their first day of school.

 Then there is this little peanut.  Oh Emily Joy keeps me on my toes.  Just today I got all of my preschool stuff out and organized.  I plan to start preschool with her next week.  She keeps asking "can we do pretty school today?"  She really misses not having her boys home all day to entertain her.   I miss them too.

Where to start?

Hmmm.  I don't even know where to begin.  My father-in-law informed me the other night that it had been almost a year since I  last blogged.  Now just 2 weeks shy of a year since I last blogged I sit here and don't even know what to write.  A lot has happened in a year.  All the kids are a year older and I have hundreds of pictures that I need to sort through and share.  That all seems too overwhelming so I am just going to start with the present.

I'll start with a little update on each of the kids and see where that takes me.















Jake is a senior in highschool.  Even writing that seems hard to believe.  He will be 18 in 3 1/2 months.  He is currently still enrolled in Saydel however he already has all the credits he needs to graduate so he doesn't have to go the  highschool for class.  In the mornings he starts an internship on Monday at the Altoona Campus for personal/physical training.  He will work there in the mornings from now until May.  In the afternoons he attends DMACC in Ankeny taking some business courses.

He is graduating in May and plans to attend DMACC to get his 2 year degree in business and then maybe transfer to Iowa State for Athletic training.  He just finished football where he was voted team captain.  His team won their first game in week 2.  This was the first game the team has won in 5 years.  It was a pretty big deal.  He was also elected to be on the Homecoming court.

 Walking across the track and being introduced on senior night.  Makes me sad to see him as a senior but I am so proud of him and excited to see what his future holds.

Tony is a sophomore.  He keeps himself busy building Lego sculptures, coloring, whittling sticks and anything else that can keep his hands busy.  He has a fascination with the history of weapons and can pretty much tell you anything you could ever want to know about them.  School pretty much bores him but he has been involved in the marching band and has had a good time with that.  He is doing percussion and has had some major parts this year in some of the competitions.  It has been fun watching him.

Brodie just celebrated his 8th birthday.  He had his first friend birthday party.  It's awesome to watch him with his buddies.  He is such a peace keeper.  If anyone was fighting or feeling bad he was right there trying to make things better.  He is such a good kid.

He loves football and has gotten to go to a few Iowa State games with Daddy.  He constantly plays football in the backyard.  He has gotten a lot of help and advice from his older brother.

Drew is in first grade now.  Part of him loves school and the other part of him would much rather be home with mom and Emily.  He is Emily's second mom and is always trying to take care of her.

He started wearing glasses last Spring.  We had no idea how bad his eye sight was.  They have helped him greatly, although he is still just as clumsy.

Emily Joy.  I don't even know what to say about her.  She is busy.  She is learning so much.  She loves to play with her babies and take care of her puppies.

She loves to be outside and play in the dirt and dig for worms.  This is a recent photo of her and a tomato hornworm we found that she cared for and played with for 2 whole afternoons.

She is finally getting some hair.  It's pretty long in the back.  But you can't touch it.  She hates when I brush it, run my fingers through it, and you definitely can't put it in a pony tail.

Whew, ok.  There is the short and sweet on all the kiddos.  It only took me 2 days and multiple interruptions to write this.  I am hoping to schedule time a few days a week to add photos and write a few posts.  We will see how I do!

What's been happening.

A lot has been going on this last month.  Summer is in full swing and it has been busy with all the kids being home.  Here are some of the highlights of the last couple weeks.

Jake got his driver's license.  He can now drive without a parent.  It is terrifying and exciting all at the same time.  I love that he can run errands for us but I get nervous every time he leaves. 

I have been busy in the garden every day.  I have been harvesting lettuce, spinach, kale, snow peas, regular peas and as of yesterday green beans!  Emily loves to help.  She is really good at holding the bowl and sneaking bites of anything she can. 
This is my first year growing pod peas.  It is so exciting!  Everything in the garden is doing pretty well.  My tomatoes and cantaloupe are blooming and I have squash and zucchini that has set on. 

Another major event that happened recently was closing ceremonies for T-ball.  At our last game we gave Will this ball.  I had all the kids sign it and present it to him.  Seeing who got the game ball  at the end of each game was always exciting for the kids.  That night they got to give their coach the game ball.  It was pretty neat. 

Closing ceremonies was held last Saturday.  Will thought he was going to miss it because he was taking Jake to Iowa City for a football camp.  He was able to walk across the field with the boys and watch them get their medals before leaving for the camp.  I was really glad he was able to make it. 

Here is Brodie receiving his medal. 

Baseball is officially over.  Football will start here in a few weeks and Will has already committed to helping out with that too.  The fun never ends! 

Weekend Update

We had a quiet weekend.  Well, at least I did.  I spent it in my recliner with my foot elevated and iced most of the time.  I am pretty sure I officially have a bed sore, or I guess a chair sore.  I am more than ready to get up and get busy.  I know, I know, stop lecturing already.

Starting tomorrow I can be "weight bearing as tolerated" according to my instructions.  That will be good.  I know I still need to periodically sit and ice.  I see my Doctor a week from today for my post op apt.  I am actually going to call this morning and see if I can move that apt up.  Another week with the bandage on and the constant itching may send me to the loony house.  I would much rather have pain than itching.

Last post I gave props to my awesome father-in-law who came and played my role for a few days last week.  He changed diapers, made lunches and was a constant entertainment for all the kids. This post I have to give a hat tip to my awesome husband.  He has been truly amazing.  He works all day and then comes home to make dinner, clean up kids, do bedtimes.  He is truly awesome.  This weekend he took the kids out for a few hours so that I could rest, he had everyone help clean the house (although I think he did most of it) he did all our laundry and got it put away.  He didn't have a whole lot of down time.  Now he has to start the week all over and it is going to be a terribly busy work week for him.  And what did he do before he left this morning??  He made my coffee and delivered it to me in my chair.  Man, I love that guy.

I am anticipating a quiet day.  The weather is crappy out...again.  Looks like it is going to be a rainy, hot week. Not good for me since I rely so much on sending the kids outside to play.  Guess I better get the board games ready.  Today is the only day this week we don't have something on the calender.  Guess I better enjoy it.

Update...A Happier One

Things are slowly getting back to normal. Brodie returned to school yesterday after having almost an entire week off due to his ear rupturing and being sick. Drew is finally on the mend and only has a couple days left of meds although we will continue the nose spray cause that has really seemed to help him. Jake's throat is feeling better. I guess I should say the ulcers are feeling better. He informed me this morning that he feels like he is getting sick and he has a sore throat. His arm you say? Well we go in on Friday to have it x-rayed again. He is suppose to be wearing a splint but hasn't been.

Emily is better. Her secretions have gone from green to clear so that's a good sign. Her ear is not draining anymore. Tony seemed to dodge every bullet which he tends to do. He was the only one that wasn't getting a round of medicines with his breakfast every morning...oh wait....

So...life is better! Calmer. Happier. Now I can play catch-up with laundry, cleaning and baking. My husband has returned to bed with me. Poor guy spent last week on the couch so that I could have the kids who were sick sleep with me.

The one thing I don't look forward to? All the medical bills. Ugh. I was just getting caught up with 2011.

It Keeps Going

Monday morning I took Drew into the doctor for a strange rash/sores that he has had the past month or so. He also has been battling a terrible cough, sore throat and drainage. He was diagnosed with possible impetigo and a sinus infection. While I was there I mentioned to our Pediatrician that Jacob had gotten a pill stuck in his throat a week or so ago and ever since then he had been complaining that food was getting caught. It was very painful and he was starting to get some chest burning as well as shortness of breath.

Our Pediatrician was immediately concerned and told me to go home but keep my cell phone close because he was going to call a Pediatric Gastrointestinal specialist and see what they suggested. Not even 2 hours later he called me and told me that the GI doctor on call was going to meet us at the ER to evaluate Jake. Not really what I wanted to hear.

To make a long story short, an hour and a half after we arrived at the ER we were standing outside the operating room because Jake was going to be scoped. They wanted to look to see if the pill was still in there and check for any ulcerations. When the doctor finally came back out he said the pill was gone but it left behind quite a few ulcers in the esophagus.

We were able to go home that night and Jake is now on 2 different medications. One is to coat his throat and the other is to reduce acid. He seems to be feeling a little bit better today. Lesson learned. If a pill gets stuck it is a big deal. Apparently it can actually erode the lining of the throat and cause a hole. Thankfully Jake's hadn't gotten to that point.

The 3 younger kids and myself have all been battling a terrible cold the last few weeks. Brodie stayed home yesterday because he had a really deep nasty cough. In the afternoon he started complaining that his ear felt full. By evening it was painful and by bedtime he was crying it hurt so bad. After an hour and a half of him sobbing and holding his ear we decided to take him to the ER. Thankfully we were in and out and on our way home around midnight.

They ended up giving him pain medication as well as an antibiotic for the ear. Of course it was an antibiotic he was allergic to so I had to go back to the pharmacy this morning to pick up the correct one. Sigh... When he woke up this morning I realized there was blood on the pillow. His ear drum had ruptured and it was oozing pus and blood. So another call was made to the Pediatrician for advice.

It has been a crazy 48 hours. The baby is sick now too. She has a terrible cough, congestion and runny nose. I just hope it doesn't go any further than that. One of these days we will all be healthy again and I'm really looking forward to that.

For now we are going to try and enjoy our night and celebrate Tony's 14th birthday! It is beautiful out so we are going to grill. I'm hoping the fresh air will make everyone feel better.

This is Brodie. He's sound asleep in his bed. The pink and purple blanket he has wrapped around him is actually my robe. He loves to snuggle with it. He says it's soft and smells like me. He loves me.

Sometimes I get wrapped up thinking about what all needs to be done. Yard work, house work, baking, cleaning, organizing. Sometimes I forget that I have 5 children who all love me. They all need my attention. They all want me to sit and listen to them tell me about their day. Sometimes I forget to listen. Sometimes I tune them out. Sometimes all I want is a little peace and quiet.

But these children won't be children very long. Jake is already 15. In less than 4 years he might be out of the house. Tony wants attention. He needs attention. He just wants someone to listen and hug him. Brodie is in school already. He is realizing there is more out there than just mom and Dad and his siblings. He wants to play with his friends but he still wants his parents close. It won't always be like that. Drew just wants me to do something with him, anything, he doesn't care. He just likes to spend time with me. And then there is the baby. I am her whole world for now, but that won't last either.

I asked my husband the other day if he thought we were being the best parents we could be. We certainly try. Some days more than others. There is always room for improvement. I just need to learn to slow down. Enjoy the moment. Feel good about my role and be the best mom I can be.

I hope my children always remember how much I love them. I want them to know that I did my best and I would do anything, anything to protect them and keep them safe.

There will always be chores. The house will always need tiding and the laundry folded. My kids won't always be kids. They won't always chose me first when it comes to playing, or give me play dough hot dogs and fries for lunches. They won't always want to sleep in my robe just because it's comfy and smells like me.

Update

I am extremely behind on blogging for this site. I have been so busy lately that this blog kind of got shoved to the back burner. I am hoping to use this more frequently for updating friends and family with what has been going on.

This blog use to be a place where I shared events and crafts I did with the kids. It will now be more focused as a journal for me to keep track of things that our family has been doing. There are so many things the kids say and do that I want to record. I don't always have time to stop and dig out their baby books and add in these little details but I don't want to forget them either.

My goal is to try and update this blog a couple times a week. I want to keep track of what is going on in our lives and record any special moments that happened throughout the week.

For now I will be posting some pictures and events that happened with in the last few months. I have lots of pictures I want to share so I will be backtracking a little bit.

I used to journal a lot as a child and I really enjoyed it. I am hoping to start that hobby again and record it here. If you want to follow along with me, feel free. Please keep in mind that this will probably be a bit more personal and a way for me to share my feeling and memories.

Behind

Yes I am behind in blogging. I have a long list of things that I want to cover and pictures I want to share. I am hoping to have a "blog night" one of these nights and get caught up.

School is out for the summer! This school year went really fast. In the fall I will have a sophomore, 8th grader, kindergartner and preschooler. Hard to believe.

I am sure we will have an incredibly busy summer. I am looking forward to having the kids home. I am sure it will bring even more pictures and events to share so I guess I better get busy!

Busy

This has been an incredibly busy week. All has gone well though so I am not complaining.

Jake is finishing up his track season. He had his last track meet last night. He has been running the 2 mile and the 1 mile with an occasional 800 meter here and there. He has done so good. He is always bummed cause he isn't in the top few but he forgets he is a freshman running with varsity kids. He has nothing but improvement ahead of him. Since he is varsity he will get a letter this year too so that is way cool. We have his banquet tonight. I am excited to attend that.

Last night he ran the mile in 11 minutes 54 seconds, his best time this season.

Last evening went a little like this. Headed to Dallas Center at 3:40 to watch Jake's meet. Left at 5:15 and headed home so Tony could change into band uniform. Head to school to watch Brodie and Drew play Tball at 6, watched the first 25 minutes of the game then headed up to the highschool so Tony could get ready for his concert at 7. Got home around 8pm, kissed little boys goodnight, nursed the baby and went to sleep.

Big Helper

Things have been busy around here. I Haven't stayed real up to date on this blog. School is winding down, less than 4 weeks left and then it will be Summer break. Jake has been busy with track and weight lifting up until a recent fractured hand. Now weight lifting is on hold till his cast is off.

Tony has been busy with band, reading and trying to figure out a good 4-H project for the county fair in July.

Brodie and Drew have been having a blast playing T-ball. Emily has learned to roll over, and over and over to get where she wants to be. She also likes to help momma bake!
The next couple weeks will be extremely busy but I will try and be better at posting at least a few pictures here and there!

Late Night Visitor

This last week we have had our compost bin on the deck raided quite a few times. The other night while Will and I watched TV we heard a huge thud. At first we thought it was a child falling out of bed. After finding everyone snug in their beds we tuned the lights on outside and found this on our deck.

The reason behind the late night messes. This huge coon was feasting in our compost bucket. I had even put a brick on top of it and he managed to get it off and knock the bucket over. He wasn't scared of us. Will and I stood and watched him through the window in the door. Even turned the light on and off and it didn't phase him. He just looked at us.

We had a great weekend. Friday night we spent the evening with some friends that we haven't seen in forever! We had a good time catching up and letting our kids play (between the 2 of us we have 9 kids!)

Saturday we had Will's parents and sister and my step brother over and we celebrated the kids birthdays. We played games and laughed some more.

Sunday was quiet and we spent much of the day watching movies. It raining and windy so it was a perfect day to spend snuggled under a blanket.

Whew! What a crazy week it has been already and it's only Tuesday. Our Jeep died last Thursday, we finally got it taken into the mechanic yesterday. Today they called and said there was nothing they could do for us because it is a computer problem. Now we have to try and get it in somewhere else yet today.

Not having a vehicle has made it difficult to get Brodie to preschool. Thankfully I have family near me who are willing to help us out. THANK YOU!

We also have had problems with our internet and phone not working. So I spent 25 minutes on the phone this morning trying to solve that issue. Jake has been home for 2 days with a fever and sore throat, so I am taking him into the doctor this afternoon. Crossing my fingers it is nothing major and the other kids stay healthy.

I have been busy going through the last 3 years of photos on my computer. I am trying to get them organzied and ordered so that I can start scrap booking again. I am excited to do this but not sure how much time I will actually have to spend doing it. Once warmer weather gets here most of my time will be outside in the yard!

Speaking of Spring, I am trying to figure out my garden plans. Needing to take inventory on the items I canned last year to see if I want to do more or less this year. Ahhh so many things to do, so little time.

We have spent the entire month on a spending freeze. We are doing really good. I am blogging about it over at my other blog. We have only spent about $23 on groceries for the month. I feel very thankful that we have enough food to eat solely out of our freezer and pantry. I'm grateful we butchered our own chickens this past summer. Thankful my shelves are filled with healthy home canned fruits and vegetables. Thankful the chicken are still giving us 5-7 eggs a day. I like being as self sufficient as possible.

I am starting to feel a little cooped up. Happens this time of year. The weather hasn't been near as bad as last winter. Not as much snow at least so I shouldn't complain. I am looking forward to spring and gardening. I can't wait to spend time outside and not worry about boots, snowpants and mittens. Right now I basically stay inside while everyone else goes out since the baby obviously can't go out. Just a few more months and the grass should be getting greener...

2011 New Years Goals

So I have been thinking alot lately about what I would like to accomplish this year. I posted my goals on my other blog but figured it would be a good idea to post them here as well. I am even adding one more.

1. Learn to sew. I have the machine, now I just need to learn to do it. My sister is awesome at sewing and anything crafty and has offered me lessons. Now I just need to find the time.

2. Start scrapbooking again. I used to scrapbook and I loved it. Again time is the issue.

3. Build up our emergency fund. My goal is to have 6 months of expenses saved. We had this done this year but used it all to pay for a basement remodel.

4. Eat more real food and less processed. I have expanded my cooking and have learned to make alot of things from scratch. I want to continue to plan meals at home and eat out less.

5. I have been thinking alot about milling my own flour. I have seen the Nutrimill and have contemplated saving my money for one and making my own flour. I haven't committed to this one yet but I have been strongly thinking about it.

6. I want to have a large garden again this year. I really need to thin out the strawberry patch which will take some time. I am hoping to can enough produce again to last the winter months.

7. Drink more water.

8. Spend less time worrying about the house and other little things and spend more time enjoying my family. Sometimes I have a problem sitting down and relaxing. I want to be able to feel ok about leaving the dishes dirty or the laundry unfolded and just enjoy spending time with my husband and children. (This is a big one for me.)

9. Get all my pictures organized and get some ordered so that I can start #2.

Christmas is 3 days away. Tonight I had planned to make ginger bread houses and ice cream cone trees with the kids. But here we are 7 o'clock and almost half of my family is asleep already. The other half is curled up watching movies. Drew got sick yesterday afternoon and is still feeling a little funky tonight. You can tell by the picture above his cheeks are still rosy from running a fever.

Emily is just plain cashed out snuggled up with daddy. Will has a headache, I have a headache. The older 3 boys so far, knock on wood are feeling ok. I feel though we are a ticking time bomb, waiting to see who the next victim is. I am hoping and praying no one else gets sick. It wouldn't make Christmas very fun.

We are Done!

We got Jake and Tony moved into their new rooms last week. They are loving them. We set up the TV room downstairs too. They kids have already watched a couple movies in there.

We are finally finished with the little boys room. We got the painting done and everything moved. We let the boys pick what colors they wanted. Brodie's favorite color is blue and Drew's favorite color is yellow. So it worked out pretty good because they looked great together. This is my new favorite room! Here are the before pictures.

And here are the after pictures.
Amazing how much it changed the room.

We purchased bunk beds and new mattresses for them as well. We just got those put up last night.

Now I just need to get the baby's room ready. It is cleaned out for the most part. I am going to try and sell Brodie's car bed. I am a little sad about getting rid of that, but we just don't have room to store it for the next child (assuming it is a boy). I thought the room needed painted (and I still do) but Will thinks it will be ok after a good scrubbing. We will see. :o)

Update on the Basement Remodel

We are done! Whoo Hoo. We finished up officially last night when Will layed down the metal strips over the carpet between rooms. Now it is time to move the kids in! We are hoping to get that started as soon as possible.

If you remember I left you with the rooms looking like this. Here they are once all the painting was completed. Tony wanted to have a red room. We settled for one red wall. The gray that is on the other 3 walls matches the gray in the TV room.
Tonys room.

Jake's room. Jake wanted black walls. We settled on 2 dark gray walls and then two light gray walls. I really like the way his room turned out. For the TV room we did the light gray. I love it too.
Tony's closet.
TV room.

Here is Tonys room complete with carpet!

A look at his closet. This gave us some trouble because it fell under a beam. We had to order different doors and have them cut to fit.

Here is Jakes room.

A look at his closet and door.

Here is the main TV room. The door is leading into Jake's room.

This is looking from the main room towards the bottom of the stairs.