Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Snappiest

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This week Christopher's school is celebration being voted a 4 star school. Combined with the Super Bowl Mania as Indianapolis is having the Super Bowl in town it's a Super week! Yesterday he dressed in his Bulldog gear, his purple bulldog t-shirt.

Today's theme was to dress as Dr. Snapp, the Superintendent of the School Corporation. They even showed a picture of him with glasses, suit and tie. Chris was convinced he needed to borrow my glasses. We were able to talk out of that, but he still got pretty dolled up by borrowing a tie from Daddy.
We tolk him he looked pretty Snappy. (Get it, Snappy? Dr. Snapp. Ha Ha!)
Anyway, Sam disagreed. He said he was Snappy.
No, yelled Chris. I am Snappier!

Finally, Eric screams, "Boys! BOYS! You're Both Snappy!"

And with that, they posed for a picture for me, Who's the Snappiest?!

Party On

30/366



Yesterday was a crazy busy day. Sam's new Monday session Kindermusik class. Then Sam and I met Amy P.for lunch as she was visiting in town, along with Elizabeth and Gabriel, then we joined Kathleen and the twins for frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf for dessert. I love that place, it's beginning to become a dangerous habit, almost as bad as my Starbucks habit.

I should've spent more time preparing for my Pampered Chef party, but I didn't, I spent my lunchtime socializing. And we had a Wonderful day.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Scrappy Times

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Kind of a wacky hodge podge of weirdness type of day today. Sam woke me last night, and I was up half the night. My wonderful husband let me go back to bed after the boys got up, and he even got them dressed, and ran Chris over to church. He returned home to me, armed with Starbucks to help me get going for the day.
It was Great! We enjoyed church, the boys behaved. We got to visit with our friends Emilie and Brian and have lunch, very overdue. They recently set the date for their Wedding, they're getting married on New Year's Eve. WOOHOO! So we gabbed about wedding planning. How Exciting! Brings me back to my newly affianced days. Ahhh... Remember the Love?! True, it came in the form of an early nap and Starbucks this morning, but remember the mooshy squooshies days when we were first falling in love. We were gross, all sickeningly sweet, and together. I just love being around people like that again. And Emilie and Brian are so sweetly in fresh new love, it's Infectious! After lunch, we went to Orange Leaf for Frozen Yogurt dessert, and more gossiping about wedding and honeymoon plans. If only Orange Leaf could cater their wedding!



My wonderful husband has really let me get caught up on some much lost sleep this weekend. Bless Him. He even captured this great photo of me and Sam while we were at Orange Leaf earlier. I love it.



We came home, and did some quality time, well, the boys played Lego Batman the Video Game, while I watched, and the boredom gently lulled me to sleep. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.



Then I spent the evening digitally scrapbooking. :) I think I'm really enjoying my new hobby. The MyMemories SpeedScrap tonight was a hard one, my 'homework assignment' was to use 6 pictures, 12 embellishments, and 4 different papers. Can you spot them all? It's insane. And yet... kind of fun.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

The Latest Character Meet and Greet

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No, not another Disney picture. We didn't go back or anything crazy. We went to The Children's Museum, to meet Mr. Potato Head!



They just opened a new Adventures of Mr. Potato Head exhibit. And we snagged some members only free tickets to meet the big guy.



The exhibit replaces the Frogs thing they were doing there, which my little ones didn't like. This one, they like! There's tons of hands on stuff to play with, on, all over.



Mr. Potato Head in the jungle, underwater...



Chris's favorite was Potatoes In Space.



After Potato time, we grabbed a snack, and in the lobby they had a table where we could make flags for nonverbal communication. Chris thought it was pretty cool. See the Letter C!




And on to Dinosaurs!



Sam does a little digging for dinosaurs. But then he took his goggles off and had a tantrum.




Chris just flits and floats, dig a little, run a little, crazy crazy.



But they played together sweetly by the trains. For a minute or two.



Then we were on our merry way. Sam and Daddy raced up the ramp as we left. Sam Won! We were proud, but this was the first time we had gotten a chance to do something like this here in town in a while. And on a Saturday? When the Super Bowl is going to be here next week. Pure Madness!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Peekaboo

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Oh Sunshine! How I've missed you.

I was so excited to see you peeping out of the clouds today, I took a picture!



Imagine my surprise when you really stuck around for a few happy fleeting hours. I drove with my window down. 40 is not so very cold. I was so excited that I took my car to the car wash, put on my sunglasses. Oh happy day. Then, I looked at the weather report, I'm sorry. I should've known it wouldn't last. And I jinxed it by washing my car.

But I'm not the only one that was fooled.



My flowers think spring is here too.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Orange Leaf

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Sam + Frozen Yogurt + Naptime + Speed Scrap = A Good Day!

Java-n-Stitch

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I had 3 friends and their kids over yesterday morning for our 'new' Java-n-Stitch group. (Aka Stitch and Bitch) We let the kids play crazy, we drink festive beverages, and then we break out the yarn. I made mint mochas. We all crochet or knit. And while the kids play we get some Quality Yarn time. Dogs and Cats! I popped in the Care Bears and all 6 kids froze on the couch for like 10 entire minutes. It was historic! So I made a Page for it. :)


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Go Us!

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OK. I haven't had a good run in over a month. Really. Our Disney Run wasn't a good run. It was Fun! But it was 2 weeks ago, we jerkily stopped and started, we didn't cool down properly, and then we ran ourselves into the ground. Or maybe we already had. It was still Awesome, but it wasn't a 'good run'.

Then we got sick.

Today was the first day that both Kathleen and I were healthy enough to run. Of course, we realized that we weren't up for a full 5K right from the getgo. So we backtracked a bit, and after discussing, we settled on starting back in Week 5, 5 minutes on, 3 minutes off. Then we got a really wild hair. We decided to run outside. It was a toasty 30 degrees, and not snowy or raining, so we went for it. Of course, as soon as we got moving, we saw little flurries. I couldn't call them snowflakes because they weren't big enough for that, just little falling crystals. Not a lot of them, just enough for us to realize it was Cold outside.

It was Cold.


But we did it!



Woohoo! Yeah, baby, we're Back!

And we have a goal. We're going to be running the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Race for the Cure.

OK, I know, I have joked and called it the Breast Cancer Mosey, since there are so many people, I won't be even walking at a good clip for most of it, but I don't care. If I can do something to make a difference to help folks like my friend Juli's Mom Ann, or my friend Amy, then you bet I will!


And you're going to love this...


Our Team name is the: Hakuna Ma-TaTas!


CLICK HERE to visit my personal page!

Little Tears

23/366

My heart and mind have been in other places the last few days. My body is falling apart, my endo is back, and its been stressing me out, besides being painful. Eric and I are looking at the possibilities of having surgery this year. Me for that. Him for these headaches, which is most likely caused by massive deep sinus infection.

The bravest woman I know, who I am honored to call friend, was having major surgery yesterday. I was literally praying without ceasing all day. She reports doing well. Please joining me in praying her recovery continues to go well.

But I had to get out of dodge. We're all so frazzled, sometimes having a plan is the best thing I can do. Sam and I drove up to visit my other friend Amy who moved out to the boonies last spring. I brought donuts and we drowned our sorrows in happy carbs, and we let the kids play. And it was good.



Amy has been borrowing a little baby, 8 weeks old for a while, and expecting her fourth. I thought it might be rough for me to be around itty bitties. But it really wasn't. So much cuteness made me feel good. I kept reaching out to hold her as she cried. She was just a wee slip of a thing, and she was getting a case of the snoochies, and couldn't get comfortable. It was so obvious she needed to sleep. Oh honey, don't I know that one. We've been rotating colds all winter long, and I could only sleep with drugs. At one point, she had been crying in spurts for a solid hour, she's cry herself to sleep, and as soon as her thumb shifted or a kid looked at her, she'd wake up and start crying. Finally she fell asleep on me.

With one little tear in her eye.



I didn't want to move. But you know, life has to continue. I was reminded how hard those days are, with the little itty bitty ones. On one hand, I don't want to move, want to freeze moments in time. Sam is so wonderful right now, I want him to stop getting older. I sit down to write about him, and I don't know where to begin.

On the other hand, all that screaming. I had a monster headache. I would have given anything to make it stop. Nope, don't miss that. But the bonus was I got to pack up and go home, I just got my sweet snuggle fix, and got to give her back. That was pretty good too.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Speed Scrap

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Two years ago, Eric got me this digital scrapbooking software. I loaded it on the computer, and haven't done much with it. Until this year. We made our Christmas card with it, and I friended MyMemories on Facebook. Twice this week, I sat down and they were starting what they call a "Speed scrap". The first time was at naptime, so I decided to give it a whirl. They force me to think fast, to hurry up and make a decision, because they make me build the page in an hour. It's kind of cool. This was my first one, on Tuesday, taken of Christopher on MLK day when we went out for a snowball fight.




But today I was sitting down to upload the days photos when they were starting another Speed Scrap. I figured, OK! It gets me scrapping, and I have done pages. Maybe I'll do this once a month, and have myself a real album when done. Nah. That's just crazy talk. Well, maybe....



My Sams. Sure, he's enchanting. Until you notice the dried macaroni bits all over his sweater. But this was today. We'd come home from Brunch with the fam, and it was time for Sam's nap. But he was more interested in being adorable than going to sleep. Well, it worked, we had a little photo session.



But he was tired, so he kept moving around. I like this Speed Scrap picture Best.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Cherishing Miracles

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I had most of today free, I got a massage this morning, and then went to the Baby Shower for a friend of mine from college. They don't let me out very often. But when they do it's a Good Day! She's adopting from Russia, and just recently found out she can go back in 2 weeks to bring him Home. Permanently. She gets her Gotcha Day in 2 weeks. I don't know if I'd be strong enough to wait any more, knowing my son is waiting thousands of miles away. But she's been amazingly strong, I admire her strength.



There was so much to celebrate, it was the Sweetest of occasions. I'm so Happy for her, I had to hold my tears back. It wasn't a crying sort of affair, this was a Happy Day. And this was the kind of Happy Shower that you would pray a friend who has been fighting and praying so hard for, would have, that she be showered literally in gifts and love.



And her friends were so generous, and enthusiastic, full of excitement and joy, as it should be. I really felt like Everyone there today was cherishing the Joy, not just the simple Joy of a new baby. There was Love, and words of wisdom, laughter as we played funny games, and sweet dreams of the days to come. Cherishing the Miracle. This one was a little older, 18 months, he hasn't had it easy. She had such trials in trying to have a family. And somehow God works wonders taking each of their pains and is weaving a new strand, a new family, a new love, a Miracle.



And to be able to see others cherish this miracle along with her was a Gift for me. She and I had lost touch, and recently found each other again. We bonded further over about our battles with Infertility. So Wonderful to be able to Praise the Lord for this wonderful match he has made.

A few years back, I had another friend who adopted, though I didn't see her for a few months after she brought her sweetboy Home, when I finally did get to meet him, I brought her a present. She was touched. She told me, No one had thrown her a shower. They'd had to get everything for their little one themselves. I was appalled. No one? That hurt my heart. For her. I would have wanted to shower her with love and spoiled that sweetboy like he hadn't been spoiled before. Maybe she was surrounded by people who didn't get it.

It's funny. Not that people that get pregnant naturally, or easily don't deserve it, I'm not saying that, and I'm not saying that they don't cherish the miracles they have. I don't doubt that there are plenty of folks out there that cherish their miracles, even if they came easy to them. But it seems that for those of us out there that it didn't come easy for, we really Cherish the Miracles. The miracles not cherished seem to go to families that don't care one way or the other, and that's part of the hideousness of infertility. I feel like we really 'Get It': the amazingness of God working through the science of creating new life, the tiny miracles as God conducts his Plan through the work of others, how wondrous it is when he lines up the perfect child to fit within the perfect family. I really Cherish the Miracles. There are so many associated with this whole process, I don't see how people don't Believe, but that's for another soapbox.

I believe my heart has been called to Adoption. I'm not sure of God's Timing of the subject, but since we had so much trouble trying to have our family, adoption has always been a possibility. One of the many Miracles associated with Christopher's birth was that we'd given up being able to conceive. I had started reading Adoption for Dummies. I was about halfway through it when I went for my annual exam, to request drugs for my 'wacky cycle' only to find out I was expecting. I kept the bookmark in that same page, which made my friends giggle when they were helping me move. But really, it's a Miracle. I had given up, moving forth to our other choice, and God said, "Not Yet." And He gave us Christopher. But he didn't say chuck the book out the window. Hold on. That time will come.
Is it coming now? I don't know. My Endo has been giving me fierce fits the last few weeks, and obviously I'm not pregnant, though we've been attempting for #3 for just over a year. Right now, I'm feeling the call to help others. I feel like we've been so Blessed with a wonderful family, and wonderful home, I just need to share it. In the mean time, I'm Holding On. I'm waiting for God. I just need to stop and listen. He's not always in the crazy, but the whispers. But today wasn't a day to discern God's Will for me in the whispers of my heart, today was a day to Shout for Joy about the wondrous Love of God, and Praise Him for this match between Annie and Luke!

WOOHOO!!!!!!

Conclusions from Rainbow Poos

20/366

Have you ever heard of the Feingold diet? Interesting thing, my friend Amy posted a link to a blog she stalks, the woman has 8 children and people call her crazy. She homeschools and does the Feingold diet, but it has worked wonderfully with her ADHD son's behavior. Huh? A crazy boy's behavior improving with diet? I've heard of this miraculous rumor before. So I hopped online and started doing a little research. Turns out kids with sensitivities to artificial colors have behavioral issues or rashy bottoms. Well, I have been prayerfully considering it, and trying to make mental notes while I consider if this is the right way to go for us.

So, Thursday Chris came home with 100 fruity o's that he wanted to pound down for a snack. That made Sam want some too. I had been refraining giving them to him for a while since I'd read that link, I was testing I guess. Not consciously, but kind of. So then Sam wanted some, we had a half a bag, of the generics. So I let them have them. Well, Chris was a hot mess for me for the next two hours, I got called "BAD MOMMY!" And we had to have some come-to-Jesus kinds of discussions. But I was actually proud of myself I didn't beat him senseless.

Sam was fine, just his normal bitchy self when he needs to eat more fat and protein. I've come to expect that from Sam. When his sugar nose dives it gets Ugly. Gets that from me and my mother I guess. We don't do well when we're hungry.

But then yesterday he was Fine.

Until we went to the library, and he'd had some juice as a snack. Well, it went Right through him, filling his diaper three times with foulness whose like I have not seen since Chris's ostomy days. And the color: Green. Bright green. oh my word, I'm gagging just writing about it.

By the time we got home, the pantless wonder's bottom was bright red, rashy, and starting to a little bloody.

OK. There's my sign, as I threw him in the tub. No more Fruity O's for Sam.


(picture Not taken by me)

And I threw them away.

Sam in the meantime enjoyed a wonderful bath, in the middle of the day, All By Himself.



Good Times.



His bottom looks much better today since we slathered him up with Desitin. :)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Backyard pines

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I think it's going to be a while before I tire of the gorgeous trees at the new house. This is the view from our back porch of the empty lot next door. Gorgeous!



We have a row of pines along the back lot, and with the gentle dusting of snow that fell today, they just looked phenomenal. I still can't believe this is my backyard!



Ready for this closeup Mr. DeMille? Yeah Baby!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

Gold Card

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Oh Boy Oh Boy! My new Gold Card is here, my new Gold Card is here! I feel like Steve Martin in The Jerk this week, "The New Phonebooks are here, the new Phonebooks are here." Yesterday I got a, much coveted ;) Invitation to join Pinterest. And Today my Starbucks Gold Card arrived!

Seriously, I'm totally Stoked!

17/366



I know it's a bit blurry, but it was raining horizontally and the bus was coming as I sent the boys off to school yesterday. In their Matching Raincoats and Rainboots! Thanks Santa!

It seems Santa is just a big a sucker for matching clothes as Mommy is. ;)

Monday, January 16, 2012

Not too late to get Resolved

With everything that was going on, I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions.

So I'll make a little one. I'm going to get better with all the stuff that I was striving to do last year. I really fully intended to back track and fill in all the monthly updates that I didn't continue throughout the year. Alas. It's midway through January, I don't think all three of you that read care about what I did in June. Though this blog also doubles as my journal and photo albums, so I really should get cracking.

My goal this year will be to take one picture a day, and hopefully post a blog to either here or the boys' blogs at least once a week. I also want to get healthy, get my family healthy, boys get bigger, me get smaller. And finish a 5K in less than 45 minutes. Reasonable, right? Right.

I have been taking pictures, so here you go. Let's get caught up!

1/366



Happy New Year! We started the new year right, taking my sweetboys to Orange Leaf, the scrumdidlyumptious frozen yogurt shop that just opened up on the corner.



These were all our goodies. Best choice goes to Eric! Fruity Pebbles, who knew?!

2/366



The Big Surprise! We surprised the kids with a trip to Walt Disney World! Best Surprise Ever! And Chris's dance of joy made it all worth it, well, the trouble of keeping the secret, not everything we'd been through the last year or so.

3/366



There are only about a thousand pictures that could symbolize this day. I took a ton, but I'm going to try to post pictures I haven't already posted when I blogged about our trip to Disney World. Going to try anyway. ;)

4/366



Since we did two different things on this day, going to Hollywood Studios as a group during the day, then going on our hot date at California Grill and hopping over to Magic Kingdom, I opted to chose one picture from each.



5/366




And the kids had so much energy, they pushed on. Above, the Julius girls all three making a mad dash for the Magic Kingdom. Below, the boys find this days theme is Hurry up and Wait. We did so much, we conquered a good chunk of Magic Kingdom and knocked out Hollywood Studios. It was Awesomely Exhausting.



6/366

Our Goal Accomplished! Kathleen and I run in a 5K. Not just any 5K, but the Walt Disney Fiesta Family Fun Run! When the running was rough, we pictured running under this giant ball.



And we did it!

7/366



Another amazing day in Disney World, spending time with each other, seeking new stars, experiencing new worlds.



And Finding Joy.



8/366

Suspicions confirmed, that I married a Goofy man.



9/366



Recovering. We stayed in our jammies all day. We thought this was going to be a unique and novel thing.

10/366

This is Sam.



This is Sam sick. He came home with the snoochies. Tuesday morning he puked. We stayed home in our Jammies all day, and he watched a lot of tv. He fell asleep on the couch later that morning. And he was watching here about lunchtime, and just drooling a puddle. He seemed to feel better by evening, though, Good enough to get a little annoying. Tuesday evening, however, I started getting a tickle in my throat and a runny nose....

11/366



Cheating a little here. I started to get sick Wednesday too, a bad cold, lots of sneezing, snots and watery eyesso we only went to Chris's doctor's appointments at Riley and came home. The kids were the only ones with energy. Eric found this in Fina's crate.

12/366

I didn't take any pictures, just this one video, which is too big apparently to put on here, because I felt terrible. Thank you Walt Disney World for all your fabulous cooties.

Eric on the other hand took these photos of Christopher's first Dance Class.



He gets two kinds: tap AND ballet! And he loves it!



13/366

By Friday, I was a hot mess. I couldn't think a clear thought. Except that my head was exploding when I coughed. So I called the doctor. We also had to take Fina to the vet. So between these errands, I found the need to stop for a drink, hot cocoa at Bob Evans sounded good, because it had snowed all night, and it was Cold outside.
Turns out Bob Evans has a couple of pretty little blue spruces right out front, and Sam was happy to play in the freshly shoveled snow.





I had bronchitis, and got started on drugs right away. And Eric came home feeling terrible.

14/366

One of the errands I ran on Friday was popping by Kathleen's, (We hadn't seen each other in a whole 5 days!) to pick up the Christmas ornament we ordered in Disney World. Luckily (?) since Eric was feeling terrible too, neither of us had taken any of the Christmas things down, except the outdoor lights over New Years weekend, when it was 50 outside. So I got the chance to put our new ornament on the tree!



We got it personalized with 2012 painted on with pixie dust, and it turned out so pretty!



15/366

I have a guard boxer. This is her new favorite spot. Fina can see anyone that comes and goes here.



I am glad she prefers this spot to my bed, she kept peeing in it. She hasn't done that here, yet. She's got some nasty rashies on her feet, and we've begun ruling out a food allergy, a fancy new food and a new antibiotic. She's becoming a little expensive boxer in her old age.

16/366



Finally feeling better and the weather not as bitter cold, Chris requested that we go outside and play for a bit this morning.



Great idea!



The snow was melting, so it was great for making snowballs. I taught Chris how to make them. Then we practiced throwing them.



Some hot cocoa and we feel much better now.