Merry Christmas!

 359/366

Last Day of School

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Time to blog and scrap and do things that I've been putting off.  

The Boys wish you a very Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

They can be pretty sweet when they want. 

Yesterday was a Crazy Day!  

The littles had Gymnastics in the morning, and Jacob had a birthday party for a school friend at noon. 

While I took Jacob to meet Moana at a Birthday Party for his school friend.  

While we were there, the big boys went to a Piano Theory class. 

We learned during the afternoon that our friends the Webers were in town for a Dance Competition, in which 2 of their kids participate.  So we basically hunted them down just to be able to see them.  

We tried to catch Jack dancing, but they were too fast for us, so we just hooked up at the hotel.  After some debate we opted to get pizza and bring it back.  So did half the city, the Keystone Sheraton was Crazy! 

We chose to have a floor Pizza Picnic in the hallway with all the ballrooms, because nothing was going on in that hall. 

We brought the crazy.  

Initially, there was shyness between the kids.  It was our kids and their kids kind of separated.  

But then we started telling them what all their favorite things, they all love Hamilton, and Star Wars, and Legos.  Suddenly, they had things to talk about.  

And they are crazy... just like our kids.  

They ran rampant in that hallway for the better part of 2 hours, and they had a great time.  

We got to chat with our friends, and get to know their kids a bit.  

And it was Awesome.  

They even let me take a few photos. 

They had to do a crazy one first. 

Then they posed sweetly for me.  

Remember when there were only one for each of us? 

Then we had to repeat the awesomesauce photos.  

It's very hard to get 6 kids to keep still.  

They are kind of Awesome. 

And here we are.  Chris took this, and 3 others and all are a little blurry, oh well.

We've been friends since before we all started dating.  Joe was Eric's roomie in college.  And when Joe had a bit more hair, it was red, and he was one of Eric's Groomsmen.  It was kind of Perfect timing to see him this weekend, since it's been 20 years since he stood up for us.  It had been almost 4 years since we'd gotten to see them.  It's been a rough year so far for the Weber family, but they have kept their smiles and humor, and they could continue to use Prayer. It just did so much good for us to find them. It reminded me of old times to sit and laugh with them, and worth every bit of the insanity of chasing them down, driving all over town, and being gone all day.  

They made my day.  

Secret Recipe

30/365

A Secret

The Photo of the Day is A Secret.  

While doing my research for my Oil Party next month, I found the Secret Recipe for making the Lavender Lemonade they serve on the Young Living Farm in Mona, Utah. 

I got hit with a whammy of Motivation today. 

I'm wishing of warmer days, planning goals, and plotting schemey schemes for my Oily Career! 

That's my Secret today.

Merry Christmas

Last Day of School

Happy Thanksgiving!

With Love, from our home to yours. 

Post op 1 week!

It's been a Week since my surgery.  I've been pretty gorked out for most of that time.  I consider my husband a lucky man, since I only made him take two days off.  I've been also Blessed this week that people have been bringing us food.   Last night, a friend forgot, and he turned around and ordered pizza, then brought us the pulled pork he promised last night, again for tonight.  We'll be good for a few days now.  I'm so Thankful that people have been bringing food.  Although I've gotten a bit further away from Eric having to do everything for me, he still needs to be my Gopher sometimes.  He writes down all the times and dosages for my drugs, though I've been getting away from taking the hearty narcotics by day.  The neurotin seems to be enough.  It makes me sleep and relaxed, but not as stupid.  I can be home with Jacob that way.  My Dad brought Jacob home from school today for me.  So I just rested.  I'd planned on napping. But I also missed having an afternoon nap yesterday by napping too long in the morning.  It's pretty exciting that although I just rested, I didn't sleep, so that I could nap with Jacob.   He and I nap good.  If napping was an Olympic sport, I'd be a medalist.

 Princess was by my side.  

Isn't she the sweetest.   

She is such a good girl.  She steals my pillow that is supposed to be supporting my arm. 

I don't mind so much.  

She's ready for her Close-up!

Prinny has been doing a great job of keeping me company, and just staying close. 

She's a good comfort, and a cuddlebug. 

OK, since it's been a week, here's something for all four of you following to get a big kick out of:

Before/After shots

Yes, I wore the same clothing, for a better comparison.

OK, I gotta say, I am pretty impressed at how perky I am now.  I love that my bosom is now up above my elbows, that's a new development.  Ha ha!  I could make boob jokes all day! 

Sweet flowers from my Sweets

This was what greeted me on Valentine's day morning.  

Everyone received a giant chocolate covered marshmallow heart from me.   And some thought it was appropriate to start that before breakfast.  

My poor Sam, he hadn't eaten the night before, and when he doesn't eat, his stomach gets Angry in the morning.  On Vday, it took him a while to perk up. He started out the day pretty pitiful.  He missed church, but with some Digize, peppermint, and juice, and rest, like not going to church, by lunchtime he was back to crazy.  I confess, I totally kept him home from church, anticipating he just needed some Brat diet food, juice and bread, in order for him to rest up and feel better by going to church later. The church was having a Kids Only Valentine's Day Party - and I wanted them all to be able to go.   

Eric got me an orchid.  It's a Blue Mystic orchid.  

I hope I don't kill it.  

This was my bouquet that my boyz picked out for me.  Eric said it was called "crazy daisies", perfectly appropriate for me. 

I know they aren't a color that occurs in nature, in fact, the water turned purple when I put them in, but they sure are beautiful.  

There's something very happy about these flowers.  

They make me smile. 

I'm not the only one smiling for Valentine's Day.  The boys got to go to a special Valentine's Day party at the Church.  They had a great time, got pizza, watched movies, and decorated their own cookies.  They came home sugared up.  In the mean time, we made dinner at home.   We even ate in the dining room alone and everything. We found some frozen bacon wrapped scallops at Costco, along with some heart shaped ravioli.  Eric sauteed them up and covered them in a tomato creme sauce, then steamed up some asparagus with parmasan cheese.  Oh yeah!   Then we bought Ant Man digitally, because nothing says True Love like snuggling up for a superhero movie. 

I did talk my sweetboys into posing sweetly for some cheesy Valentine's photos for me.  

I love them, they love me, and we love you, our dearest friends and family.  

Happy Memorial Day!

 What a Fabulous day for some Quality Family Time.  I got to take Sam to go see the new Disney movie Tomorrowland, a good Date, just the two of us.  We thought it good Preparations to see it before we take our trip.  Then Eric got to take Christopher, and we all got to come home and talk about our favorite parts.  So the boys got to see it, but we didn't have to fight Jacob to sit through a movie that isn't a cartoon, he'd not have tolerated it.  It worked out quite well.  It's nice having some family time at home.  And the boys mildly tolerated my required photo session.

We picked up the most adorable Mickey Flag shirts at the Disney Store last month, when we went for Jacob's birthday.  Well, technically, I got them online a few days later, but I'd seen them at the Disney Store, but the store didn't quite have enough to fit us all.   I bought big so we can use them for all our Patriotic holidays for a while.  

I love all of us dressing Patriotically. 

This shirt works double, because it can cover Patriotic holidays, AND our trip to Disney World.  

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you have a Happy St. Patrick's Day?  

We sure did!  We started off the day right with Daddy's homemade green biscuits and gravy.  And the boys rustled us some St. Patrick's T-shirts, and were kind enough to pose for me before they headed off to school.  

I was borrowing Piper for the week, this is her last week, so I decided we would do some special St. Patrick's Day things.  First, we had to start the day with our manditory viewing of the Veggie Tales story of St. Patrick.  

These were my little lovebugs ready for an afternoon of people watching!

We scoped out a spot at the corner of Meridian and Vermont, just at the end of the Parade route.   It was Perfect!   I have lived in this town most of my life, and never gone downtown for the St. Patrick's Day parade before.  It was Great!  It was like the feel of being in Brownsburg for one of our hometown parades, but still being in the 'big city'.   It was Fabulous!  

The first group that came around was the IPD motorcycle brigade, that waved flags, and literally spelled the word Indiana, and made fabulous shapes as they wove around the street.  Amazing.  And I was so Thankful that I had the kids locked down in the stroller.  That motorcycle was perilously close.  Too close for my taste, but that was part of the trick, they had mad skillz.   

And the kids Loved it.

The kids had so much watching all the floats go by.  

And I enjoyed them too.  There were easily a dozen different bands of sorts.  I loved that. 

Did not love when a kid from Shortridge gave the finger in our general direction. Trashy. 

Luckily, my yahoos are too young for that. 

Kathleen caught up with us, and we got to watch the parade together for a bit.  We got the much needed Irish Godmother picture,  It's becoming a Thing.  

It doesn't get more Irish than these two leprechauns. ;) 

Then we got to see Emily walking with her Irish Dance troupe.   They weren't dancing as they walked by us, but about 50 paces later they stopped and danced.  Luckily, she was wearing a hard-to-miss red sweatshirt, so it was easy to spot her bouncing curls.   But that's all we really saw.  She did see us, smiled and waved at the kids. :)  So that made it worthwhile.   

And who doesn't love the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.  

I must confess Sam wasn't sad he missed the parade, he was sad he missed seeing this car in person.

Maybe next year I'll take them with me.  It's good for kids to get some 'culture'.   They don't need school All the Time, do they?!

For me, this pic sums it all up:  an Irish flag, marching band with bagpipes, and a giant man dressed as a bottle of Guiness.  This is My Town!  I loved this parade, I don't know why it's taken me 39 years to get down here.  I loved it, and can't wait to go back again! 

Drinking like a Ningxia

I mentioned earlier, that for one of our New Year's goals, we were going to do the Ningxia Red Challenge, as put forth by my upline.  Eric and I drank an ounce or two every day through January.  We didn't really notice a difference.   Until the third week.  At that point, the only claim I could make was "Well, we haven't gotten sick this winter."  That doesn't sound like much.  But then I looked around me, at the people who Weren't drinking it, who Were getting sick.  And thinking back to winters past, and remembering how often we got sick then.  And I started thinking, next year, we need to start drinking in November!    

Well, when I mentioned to Eric that we could stop drinking daily, (it isn't exactly the cheapest beverage), he said to me, in his infinite wisdom, "It's a habit now."  And that's really it.  But the more I thought about it, it is pretty amazing that we haven't gotten sick in January.  Especially Eric.  He's been keeping terrible hours the last few weeks, not getting any kind of decent sleep. He should've gotten sick.  And then me.   But we haven't.  Frankly, it's rather amazing we haven't.  I guess he's right.  We gotta keep drinking, at least through the winter.  This stuff really is boosting our immune system.

I've been making the greatest little daytime 'cocktail' for Eric and I.  Since he gets interrupted a lot at work, and it's crunch time for a big project, thus the not sleeping, he's been working a lot from home.   If he hasn't slept, I've been making him this little drinkie.  It's Dynamo juice blend from Trader Joe's, a pineapple blend that is happy, peppy, and orange.  Then I spike it with an ounce of Ningxia Red.  And depending on the time of day, I'll spike it with a shot of Ningxia Nitro.   The Nitro has wolfberry puree like the Ningxia Red, but also Green Tea extract with a bit of natural caffeine.  That's the punch I'm looking for.  But I've learned in the last couple weeks, I can't do the Nitro, entirely on my own at 4 in the afternoon.  Just like the effects of coffee.  But if I split it with Eric, then we're both ok.  Plus, it's a tasty beverage.  I've heard folks freeze the Ningxia packets in summer, like a popsicle.  I might need to try that when it's not winter anymore.  This is good stuff.  I'm not sick! It must be working.