Cave Kisses....

Today I got to accompany Grace and 39 other 1st graders (along with 2 teachers and a handful of parents) to Cave of the Mounds.

Grace and some of her friends

I went with Jack's 1st grade class and Grace couldn't wait for me to go with her. She woke up at 5 a.m. this morning asking what she should wear and can she have breakfast. She was a bit excited! We had a perfect day for the Caves...a bit warm but not as muggy. The bus ride was a bit breezy and loud :).

Grace on the bus!

First, we explored the caves...VERY cool (literally..it's 50 degrees down there & figuratively...it's amazing what God can create beneath the surface of the earth). Because it is the rainy season for the cave and we got a good amount of rain yesterday it was a very drippy day in there. The tour guide called it Cave Kisses....basically it was water running off the cave ceiling and dripping all over you :). The kids loved it!

My favorite picture of the caves today.

The tallest Stalagmite

The place where drippy Cave Kisses come from:

Then, everyone (parents and teachers included) got a bag of sand to take and dump into a sifter to see what fossils we got. One kid was so excited because he got 2 dimes in his bag of sand :). Next, a very nice lady took all the kids up on a hill and explained each of their fossils that they had found.

After that we went into a big barn classroom where the kids learned about how fossils are formed and got to hold petrified turtle poop (a big hit with the kids). Finally, it was time for our picnic lunch only to find out that all the kids in Grace's class that had the school pack their lunch didn't have a sandwich in their bags...only a bag of chips, a bag of cookies, a string cheese and a drink...I still have to call the school and figure out how that happened :). Luckily, I had brought a lunch so Grace could share with me so she didn't STARVE.

You would think after running outside and walking through a cave all morning (and not getting a full lunch) kids would be tired and the bus ride would be a bit quieter....WRONG....it is louder on the return trip :).

All in all it was a great day and I was happy to share the morning with my Goose.

Kate's 1st Puddle

After it rained the other day, I took Kate out....still in her pj's because she LOVES Elmo so much she never wants to take them off. She walked around it a little. Looked at me. Smiled a HUGE smile and jumped through it. She had so much fun in that little puddle....until she decided to blow bubbles in the water. I just couldn't let her keep doing it...it is gross...it is on the driveway and I have no idea what kind of chemicals are in that water. Everytime I turned on the video camera she would splash or jump for a moment and then down she would go to blow bubbles....enjoy :). Obviously we have some work to do on listening and obeying Mama.

A little heaven for everyone...

Kate. Kate is learning so much lately. Talking...she lets you know what she wants and we can usually figure out who she is tattling on. She will come out of her room and yell one of the kids names "Jack" or "Gase" and then go onto her fast jibberish of how they have wronged her. And don't laugh at her...she doesn't appreciate that when she has been wronged by someone :). Climbing...she is a climber. Good thing she is so short, she can't get far :). She can now get up on the couch by herself. Well, she could until we sold that couch and brought the couch from downstairs up to the livingroom. Now it is a whole new obstacle to overcome. We just found a little climb and slide thing on Craigslist so she has something to do outside. She LOVES it and it keeps her busy for a long long time :). Just wait until I buy the little plastic pool and she can slide into the water! The same house I got the climber slide at also just gave me a sand/water table.

So far it is just a water table that Kate loves to lay on and splash the water out of....Toddler Heaven!

Eating...I just let her feed herself pudding (chocolate pudding) for the first time ever. She feeds herself cut up food just fine but I have never just given her a spoon and let her at it. She could have handled it much earlier but I wasn't ready for the mess that I know comes with a toddler and chocolate pudding...and if I just gave her the spoon how would we share?

Grace. She is growing up too fast. She is such a kind and friendly (aka hugger) little girl. She is just finishing up 1st grade and isn't ready for summer break. She asked many times if we could still do math and reading over the summer. So, I talked the cirriculmn coordinator at their school and they are going to give me the math and reading books for the summer and see if she can catch up to the next higher level in those subjects. As long as it is something she wants to do and learn I am all for it. It can't hurt, right? This summer she is also signed up for swimming lessons at the Verona pool. I hope they help her swim and not just play around in the pool like they did with Jack's lessons when he was 4. Grace needs help with relaxing while she swims. She is so muscular she is like a brick in the pool...it is a bit scary and she is a bit big to hold onto or put a floaty on. She is 6 1/2 and it is time to sink or swim girl....here's prayin' for swimming! Grace just got to be a Jr. Bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding a couple weeks ago. She looked gorgeous and sooooo much older than 6. We are in trouble if this trend continues :). She loved getting dressed up and having Lindsey do her hair...and even got some makeup on...she was in 6 year old (going on 16 year old) heaven!

Grace and Abbey walking up the aisle

Grace watching everyone being seated before the wedding...she looks a little worried :)

Jack. Jack is 10 and can't wait for football and hunting to start. We just have to make it through the summer :). Right now he is with Jared out at a friends house siting in Jared's gun. 10 year old boy heaven! He loves going to Nana's house where he can ride 4-wheelers and check on deer stands, hunt for Morelle mushrooms, hunt turkey with his older cousin, Isaiah, and generally live outside for the entire time they are there. Jared went up with the 3 kids a couple weekends ago (YES....that means I was home all alone for the entire weekend....ALONE.....Mommy heaven). When they got home from Nana's, Jack cried for about 2 hours that he was 'homesick' for Nana's. It was sad. Someday son, we will have land for you to roam around and hunt on...someday....because everytime Daddy goes to Nana's house he too comes back 'homesick' for hunting land :). I am just thankful for the land my sister (Sarah) and her husband (Jeff) have for Nana to live on and us to visit and for Jared to hunt on...Daddy heaven!

This is the typical picture of Jack lately:

Jack and Kate at the wedding:

Genetics

Isn't it interesting to watch how much genetics play a role in your kids.

Kate for example has the exact cheesy smile I used to have.

Kate at 19 months old

Me at about 19 months old

Grace looks like me and I think has Jared's personality (read: master teaser).

Jack looks like Jared and his dad (Papa) but I think has more my personality for now.

Kate looks like a lot like I did as a toddler (cheesy smile and crazy blond hair) and I'm not sure of her personality (funny like me, naughty like Jared was as a kid....hehe).

3 totally different kids.

Jack is built like an ox, Grace is long and lean and Kate is our short stack.

Totally different personalities.

Jack is a rule follower and very caring of other people's feelings, Grace is FUN and very snuggly, doesn't always like the rules and doesn't always care there are rules (at home...at school she is the master ruler follower) and LOVES to tease and scare people (she will hide for 10 minutes under Jack's bed just hear him scream like a girl!)

Kate is silly, loves to make us laugh and we are working on following the rules (read...working VERY hard because she knows when she does something wrong but really doesn't care).

Kate seems to be a perfect combination of Jack and Grace.

Totally different kids and yet so alike in so many ways. They all love each other (yet tease and fight like normal siblings). They love Jesus and let you know it. They are each other's best friends. We are so blessed :).

Digital Scrapbooking....ahhhhh...

I love to scrapbook but have found less and less time to pull everything out, find my creativity and put together a couple pages. I have looked online for a while and got some tips from a friend (thanks Tawnya!) on digital scrapbooking. We finally purchased Photoshop Elements 8.0 and I became COMPLETELY confused. I couldn't figure out that program and was having a bit of buyers remorse, but I know you can't take software back and we paid good money for it so I was determined to figure it out. I watched tutorials (thanks Pioneer Woman) and would pause the tutorial and try what they were doing on one of my pictures. Slowly, I am figuring it out. I found a bunch of websites that let you download scrapbook paper, embellishments (ribbons, buttons, tags, letters, ect) for FREE! With Photoshop I am able to make that paper any color I need and the beauty of it all....it never runs out! I have found a place online that will print 12 x 12 pages for $2 or Costco in town will print them in one hour or less for $3. I am also considering at the end of the year looking at all my pages I have scrapbooked and uploading them to make a photobook for the year. We will have to see what works better. I still have TONS to learn about Photoshop but I have been enjoying making scrapbook pages and not having a mess to clean up and I can work on a page and leave it and come back to it knowing no little hands have "helped" me make my page. Here are some of the 1st pages I have done....

My baby is 10!

Happy 10th Birthday Jack!

These are some of my favorite pictures of Jack growing up. He is such a funny kid and I am blessed to be his mom :)!

10 years ago today I held my first baby in my arms. He was so amazing and HUGE...Jack was 10 1/2 pounds at birth and had to be dragged out with forceps. 10 years ago right now (10:30 pm) I was laying in my hospital bed crying because my new baby was in the NICU hooked up to an IV due to very low blood sugar. Jack was born at 3:06 pm and by 4:30 pm he was taken to the NICU because his blood sugar was registering at 15....it has to be above 40 or 50. I made Jared go with him because I was still getting cleaned up. I made him promise not to leave his side, no matter what. The nurses told us that Jack would be there for a couple hours at the most until they got his blood sugar back to normal and he would be with us in our room just like we planned. When I finally got cleaned up and made my way up another floor and down some loooonnnng hallways I saw my not so little baby in a plastic house hooked up to moniters and iv's. He was sleeping peacefully. I wanted to open the top and hold him (I had only held him for about 45 minutes before he was taken to NICU), but the nurse told me I couldn't because his body temp would fall and then his blood sugar would fall more. I asked when he would be brought up to our room and she LAUGHED and said they were hoping he would get to come home with us when we left in a couple days. I couldn't believe it! I was devestated. I wasn't prepared for this part of a new baby. I had prepared myself for a possible c-section or the need for an epidural, but I was not prepared for this. I wanted my son to be in my arms, to meet his grandparents and all our family and friends. Instead, I had to leave him there and the few family and friends that did come up to the hospital I had to greet with empty arms. I spent as much time as I could in the NICU before I HAD to go and lay down. The day I was being discharged from the hospital we prayed Jack would be allowed to go with us. We sat in the NICU after I was all checked out and waited for the final test. If his blood sugar level was above 40 (or 50...I can't remember) he could leave. The 3 hours before that they started checking his levels with no IV running and he started in the 70's. By the time they took the last blood test it was 3 points above what they wanted and they released him. They didn't seem to care that every blood test taken, his level was dropping. I trusted them and we were OUT OF THERE! I finally had my baby in my arms and I wasn't letting him go. We stopped briefly at Yaya & Papa's so they could finally hold their 1st grandson and then we headed home to bed.

It was wonderful and Jack was fine. We had to take him to see his Dr. the next day but that was completely uneventful...they didn't even take his blood sugar levels. So, that is the short story of Jack's crazy birth. I am so amazed and blessed by Jack's giving attitude. He LOVES his little sisters so much and wants more (preferably brothers)...the jury is still out on that. I love his smile and his laugh. I love watching him play with Grace and Kate and all of his friends. I love how much he loves God. I can't believe 10 years has past this quickly and I pray the next 10 years will go slowly...I know it won't but I can hope.

This year, Jack is saving all his money for a hunting gun. I asked what he is going to save for after he has his gun and he said, "I will keep a couple dollars out when I get some money, but most of it I am saving for a car." Then he told me he can start driving with us in 5 years and he really wants a car and he figured he can save enough for one if he starts now. I wish I was that smart! I think at 10 I was saving money for Barbies....cars weren't even part of my thought process yet. So, tonight as I tucked in and kissed my 10 year old goodnight I prayed that he would continue to make good choices, stay sweet and most of all love God more everyday. I will close tonight with my favorite Jack story (I have many....)

Jack was 3. We were driving somewhere and he said:

Jack: "I want to have a restaurant in our backyard for homeless people"

Me: "What do you mean bud?"

Jack: "I want people that don't have a home to be able to come to my restaurant and order food. They never get to choose what they eat, so I will make a menu"

Me: "what food is on your menu?"

Jack: "Robin Noodles, Hotdogs, Chicken Nuggets and French Fries"

Ok....I don't even know how he knew about homeless people at 3 years old, but he knew there were people without houses and he knew they didn't get to choose their own food. That is the giving heart I was talking about.

Ok....One more story to show he isn't all perfect!

Jack again at age 3 (he was a funny kid)

Jack: "Mom, when I grow up I am going to have my house in your backyard so I can have breakfast with you everyday."

Me: "What about your wife?"

Jack:"She can make her own breakfast"

His wife is going to hate me unless we can convince him to have breakfast with her too :).

Happy Birthday Budder and thank you for making me a mom!

WOW....I'm Baaaaackkkkk....

So I left off with Week 5 of training. That was like 3 years ago right? I made it to and through Week 7 (run 25 minutes without walking)...and then the van broke. We have been using only one vehicle to do everything while we save up the cash to buy another "new" van or SUV (Jared's request....please no more Man-Van for him). So, that last sentence says alot...
1) One Vehicle= no time for the gym to do training. I like to work out in the morning right after the big kids go to school so I can get the rest of my stuff (read: laundry, dishes, laundry) done before lunch. We are either working in the morning or Jared is at his other clinic the opposite mornings with the one working vehicle.
2)Saving up Cash....we have not charged anything on our credit cards for over a year now. We are sticking to Dave Ramsey's plan of becoming debt free....that is quite a task in our situation. We will go without another vehicle until we have the cash in hand.
3)Saving....Jared and I are creatures of instant gratification. This is how we got into the above mentioned debt (that and Chiropractic college). We have forced ourselves this past year to stop and think before impulse buying. In the past couple weeks we have had my computer die (for good this time...Jared threw it on the ground...another story), my camera start taking pictures upside down (no I was not holding it upside down) and Jack needed a new bed so Kate could have the bottom bunk in Grace's room. We were all ready to go out and buy a new computer but God stopped us by allowing someone to buy the Apple computer that was on sale just as we were deciding to buy it. Then, we decided I would use the kids computer and instead of buying a new camera (that started working again after I took the battery out for awhile) we were able to get Photoshop Elements 8.0. And the bed.....I mentioned to a VERY good friend that we were going to start saving up to buy a new bed so Jack could have our bed and she mentioned they had a King size bed they weren't using and we could have it! WOW...God knows our desires! So, all the things we wanted to buy would have cost us $2000 easily BUT we spent $150 total. Amazing.
4)The Man-Van: We need to start looking at prices on vehicles that can tow, hold the entire family, has 4WD and ISN'T a Man-Van...SUV's here we come....when we have the cash :).

So, I have been stuck at week 7 and am really hoping I can jump back in without losing too much ground. I signed up for a 5K in 3 weeks...or is it 2 weeks now...YIKES! I am going to have to start going to the gym at times I don't like to go to the gym.

That is my return to blog post....I will definetly be back tomorrow because it is a certain kids double-digit birthday that I can't wait to write about!