Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Trying to break the cranky



When: Sunday afternoon.
Where: local park and rose garden
Who: K, Adison, Ainsley, Abigail and yours truly
Why: Super cranky, feisty kids needed a break in atmosphere and physical exercise 


Every once in a while a bad mood, cabin fever mood runs through our house.
It appears to be contagious.
When such an event occurs the usual prescription is a change in scenery.


Every Autumn and Spring I get a bit twitchy.
I know that our frolics in the sun and the cool wind on our faces will come to an end.


Why you ask?
Because we have the pure joy of experiencing the extremes of the desert and the tundra.
{Note: some sarcasm and over-exaggeration being used}


The reality though is that we have some pretty wicked Summers and Winters.
It's just a fact of living in the Midwest.
It comes with the territory.
We have very few weeks of mild, outdoorsy weather and when they show up we try to embrace it.


Sunday afternoon.
Beautiful day outside, a storm inside.


K and I knew what had to be done.
Get outside IMMEDIATELY.
This need was so necessary that we even had Abby skip her nap.
Skipping a nap for a two-year old is some pretty serious business.


It was a blast.
The kids ran around, playing hide-and-go-seek in the rose garden.
Balance beamed around the koi pond.
Ainsley even managed to score some bread off of a nice couple there to feed the ducks and some fish.
{She even shared some with Abby, Adison was too busy running around.}


Then we got home, ate some food and shuffled the children off to bed.
Sigh.
It was a good day.

Monday, October 15, 2012

National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day


Today, October 15ths is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
A day to remember the precious babies that we have lost.


The sonogram picture above is from our 7th baby.
Sadly we lost this little one, he or she is up in Heaven.
Just like so many other babies.

The loss of your child is one of the worst experiences.
The loss of life, of hope, of a future that you envisioned.

I know so many women that have lost their babies.
Their lives as well as the lives of their spouses and children are forever changed.
It is absolutely heartbreaking.

If you have lost a baby, please let me know so I can be praying for you.


Thursday, October 11, 2012

5



Holy smokes Ainsley, the years have flown by. 
This girl, well, she turned 5 today.
Without even asking, the nerve!
She told me that Jesus told her that she could turn 5, so I'm okay with it...sort of.
This girl, who I prayed daily, hourly and sometimes by the minute for is 5.
It seems surreal to me that:
A: she stayed in my bell until full term
B: she's here, real and not some figment of my imagination
C: that K and I were chosen to be her parents.

Regarding item C, I have to tell you that this kid rocks.
She's got compassion and nurturing in spades, she is a major goofball, has a wicked sense of humor, has a will that tests mine like crazy and is just all around awesome.
In the words of K "She's a goober pants."
One of her nicknames is goofball supreme.
She is super goofy, it's awesome.


Have I mentioned before that Lee is obsessed with the movie Pocahontas?
She is, big time.
K and I decided that for her birthday we would try to get her Pocahontas and John Smith.
{She has always asked for the boy to the princess.}
Did you know that they don't sell the Pocahontas/John Smith dolls in stores?
Plus, we don't have a Disney store here.
wah wah wah
K found an awesome deal online.
The above picture was her excitement at getting P & JS.
The below picture is her posing them, she's a hopeless romantic already.


Happy Birthday Lee, we love you more than words could express.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

She up and decided to turn 10 on me



Adison's first picture as a 10 year old.
Double digits.
Yikes.
K was so kind to point out that she will be gone, at college, in 8 years.
I didn't appreciate that reminder, at all.


This girl.
Sigh.
She slays me.
She is so kind, intelligent, witty, insanely goofy, talented, artistic, athletic, creative and thoughtful.


My mom came in town this past weekend to celebrate all four girls' birthdays, my niece's plus our three girls.
She also watched my brother and I run in The Color Run, yes, I did it again.
I'll do a post about that tomorrow.


Neither one of us look very excited in this picture, but we were.
We had just finished Adison's dinner choice, Pasta Bake AKA Baked Ziti.
She's not a fan of cake so we made sundae's for dessert.
The girls loved picking their own toppings, girls love choices.


My Dad got Adison a Barnes & Noble gift card, she is an avid reader.
She perused the shelves several times, carefully choosing which books she wished to purchase.
It was funny watching her pick out books, then declaring that she was only going to get paperback because they were cheaper.
Then, we needed to tally up the prices because she wanted to have some money left on her gift card.
It was awesome.

Happy Birthday baby girl!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Dear Mom,



I am so looking forward to seeing you this weekend.
Knowing that you will be cheering Joe {my brother, lovelies} and me on at The Color Run on Saturday is exciting.
I have to tell you though that I've caught the girls' cold and hope I can run the whole thing.
::cough cough::

I know that you say that you come to see us and not check on how clean my house is, but Mom, it's a mess right now.
Abby's sleep issues have driven me to the brink of insanity.
In an attempt to get her to sleep before 11:00 I have kept her from napping the last two days.
Mom, I can tell you this because you love me unconditionally, but she is driving absolutely batty.
The temper tantrums and the attitude of an overly tired two year old are starting to wear on me.
She is totally worth the exhaustion, she is after all my baby {smirk}, I would stay up forever for her.

Back to the clean house thing.
Trying to keep my house picked up while having three kids, two of which are still so young and close together in age is impossible.
I feel like I am attempting to herd cats amidst a tornado.
There's just no winning in this situation.

Yes, Mom, I know that I can complain to you at any time and you listen, but I'm sorry for being such a whiner.

I am so looking forward to seeing you and celebrating Adison and Ainsley's birthdays with you.
Can you believe that Adison is going to be 10 and Ainsley 5?
Can you believe that 10 years ago today I was already past my due date with Adison?
Do you remember how gigantic I was and how I had all but given up on her ever coming out?

Mom, I miss you like crazy and I'm ready to hug you and share a cup of coffee while the house erupts into chaos.

Love you Mamacita, DD

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

I thought she was going to eat my brain or something

I don't like scary movies, at all.
K loves scary movies, a lot.
Normally K will watch a scary movie in the living room while I lounge in the bedroom before falling asleep.
Noticed how I said "Normally"???
Occasionally {read: to be a punk} K will decide to watch a scary movie in the bedroom when I am trying to go to sleep.
For me it's as painful and awful as you can imagine.

It normally ends with me begging, pleading and threatening him to turn off the movie or turn down the sound which ends with him taunting me.
No, honey, this part is totally not scary at all. Said while the girl is climbing the wall like a spider.
Yes, it's done in good fun, it's what makes our marriage work.
In response I will tease him with horrible medical facts which makes him want to puke or pass out.
See, marriage is about compromise AND freaking each other out.

Back story {because you know I love them and pretend that you do as well}:
We were spending the weekend at K's parent's house.
I went to bed early {shocking} and K was going to stay up watching some shows.
I'm at the blissful spot between awake and asleep where you start to feel all floaty and rainbow-y.
All of a sudden that blissful feeling is interrupted by someone wearing a mask from Scream and menacingly standing over me.


Cue freak out, major freak out, screaming and I am sure some choice four letter words.
K laughing like a loon.
Not fun.
I know for a fact that there was retribution, I just don't remember what form it came in.
Probably something along the lines of me asking him to come into the bedroom while some weird medical show is on and freaking him out completely.
Payback my love, payback.

Anyways, I hate scary movies.
I have way too active of an imagination and my nerves just can't handle them, at all.
{Which is why it is so humorous that I took a class in college called: Psychological Profiling of Serial Killers. For real. The class was even at night. For real. As life would have it we were studying the BTK killer WHEN he reappeared in Wichita again WHILE we were living a couple of hours away AND going to visit friends in Wichita.}

Monday night K and I were catching up on our shows {Castle and The Mentalist} when we hear a boom from upstairs.
Someone fell out of bed.
I went upstairs to investigate, K stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting for a report.

At the top of the landing I find Ainsley.
Crouched down, hair hanging limply around her face, not saying or doing anything.
I sit down next to her, thinking that she's still out of it from sleep, and try to talk to her.
No response.
Nada.
Lee? Are you alright?
Nothing...
She starts doing these creepy giggle.
I looked down at K, Honey, she is seriously freaking me out.
Danna, just pick her up, she's probably still sleeping or something.
Lee?
Maniacal giggle.
No way. I'm NOT picking her up. You can pick her up.
Ugh, don't be such a baby. K muttered as he came upstairs and picked her up.
She starts doing the creepy giggle again.
No verbal response to anything until K gets her downstairs and they sit on the couch together.
She told him that she was okay.

All is well, I take Lee back to bed, I came back downstairs to finish The Mentalist.
I look over at K, Dude, she was totally freaking me out.
K finally admitted, Yeah, she was pretty creepy, I thought she was going to eat my brain or something.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Zombie Mermaid sighting


Happy Monday lovelies!
How was your weekend?
Can you believe that it's October already!?!
Adison and Ainsley will both be having birthdays NEXT week.
I will officially have a 10 and 5 year old children.

This weekend went by in some weird super fast painfully slow manner.

Fast:
Sharefest on Saturday morning.
K was still feeling ill so I went by myself.
We had a blast sprucing up one of the local high schools.
Ivory painted handrails were the name of the game for us that morning.
After I got home I got a call from one of my friends at church asking if I could help out in the nursery that evening.
We were crazy busy and the night went by so quickly, I love spending time with the precious kiddos.
On Sunday we celebrated our niece, Cameron's, birthday.
The party was a-maz-ing.
When my sister-in-law, Betsy, post her pics I will let you know.

Slow:
Cranky, messy kids.
I swear I vacuumed the house 8 times in 2 days.
I don't know what was going on, oh well.
I was able to redirect Lee's attention towards making Halloween pics like the one above.
She makes an awesome Day of the Dead/zombie mermaid.
Her father and I are so proud :)


This is one of the pics that Lee made, she was so proud of herself and loved being about to make it herself.
She even figured out how to change the color and sizes of different things.
When I would try to help her with something she would say I know how to do it Mama!

I'm thinking we might do some Halloween decorating today.
I don't have much in the way of Halloween decorations, but we'll see what we can come up with.