Friday, August 27, 2010

Quick Recap

It’s been a whirlwind of a week! Brad comes home tonight and I couldn’t be happier!! I miss my man so much! Thankfully because things have been so busy, this week has flown by! UNFORTUNATELY, it flew so quickly I was not able to accomplish everything on my “to do” list. Here was the list of the week:

Stain upper deck of master bedroom

Fill in hole at well pump

Scrape overspray off lower windows

Pack up first floor

Paint trim off master bedroom and lower windows

Plan next year’s schedule...ugh....

Ignore list and go to the pool :)

Of my list, I got the stain done, filled in the hole, packed up 1/2 the first floor, and scraped a couple windows. I did add a couple things to the original list and with the help of some friends got Justin and Benjamin’s room painted. We painted it 6 years ago and it was blue and orange. Not just blue and orange, but Florida Gator blue and orange. They loved it, but it was not very “seller friendly” so it is now a pretty cream with a slight yellow tint. I like it and that will be the color of Gabe’s room too. Actually, if I have enough of the blue that’s already in Gabe’s room I may just repaint the same color. Who knows...

I think I have given myself some gray hairs trying to plan next year (Guess I’ll just have to go get the hair done right??). I’m overwhelmed with figuring out exactly how to break up the Lifepacs. If anyone has experience, PLEASE PLEASE let me know. The kids are getting a little excited about school starting. I need to get busy because the plan is to start the day after Labor Day. Hopefully we will be a little further along on the house too and I can focus on schooling the kids and not so much on getting the house done. I was stressing last week about what I was going to do if I got a call to show the house while we were in the middle of school. I was really up in arms trying to make a plan and then I took a deep breathe and realized it’s going to be okay!! If I get a call, I’ll pack the kids up and head to the library or if it’s nice to the park.

I’ll post pictures later of all my projects in my “House Progress” album. :) But for now, it’s time to load more stuff in the canisters, pack some more and scrape windows. My man will be home in less than 8 hours!!!!!!!!! YAY!


Monday, August 23, 2010

Allergies! BOO!

Gabe’s inhaler is his best friend right now. His allergies have kicked in and the poor guy is having such a hard time! I had to tell him to quit talking the other night because his voice sounded so hoarse because of his allergies. He’s coughing, sneezing, and rubbing his eyes constantly. He’s on Singulair once a day and his inhaler as needed. However, it’s taken quite a bit of learning on his part for using his inhaler. He’s just had a hard time grasping how to breathe when inhaling it. He’s definitely gotten better about it though. I’m prayerful that once in VA his issues will decrease. Granted, when we moved here his asthma seemed to go away and things seemed okay until the past several years.

I had to learn to forgive myself with the little guy. We couldn’t figure out what was going on with him a couple years ago. He would come home from school and immediately lay down on the couch. I would make him get up to eat dinner and then he would go back to the couch. I took him to the doctor and we did some blood work and found that his histamine level was increased, but we didn’t know why and to what. He went on Zyrtex daily for a while and then it seemed to get better.

Till Spring hit. Then it came back again. This past Spring has been an extremely hard one on my kids. I took Justin in to get allergy tested and that didn’t turn out to well. He freaked out and I wasn’t strong enough to hold him so they could do the testing. The following week I took Gabe in to get his done. i was so proud of him. It hurt and I know it did, but he was a real trooper. :) We found out that day that he is allergic to a whole slew of things! The list includes: indoor and outdoor mold, dust mites, ragweed, an assortment of trees, and 4 different grasses. I’m not sure where my paper is that tells me exactly what trees and grasses he’s allergic too and that’s not really important right now. Right now I just want to see him healthy! I want him to not have to take his inhaler just to be comfortable. I want him to enjoy going outside and playing and not being so wiped because he doesn’t feel good after. But until this season passes I guess we just plod along and deal with it. This too shall pass!!!


Sunday, August 22, 2010

Our Weekend

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Brad got home Friday night and I must say all was right in the world again! My children were genuinely happy and joyful that night. We came home, popped some popcorn, pulled out the bean bag chairs, put on “Astro Boy”, and enjoyed the evening. Benjamin and Justin alternated sitting on Brad’s lap and loving their Daddy time. I looked over and found both Benjamin and Justin sound asleep on their Daddy’s lap. It was a moment that I know Brad just cherished. He misses his kids so much and he loved how much they were clinging to him. I loved sitting back and watching them all with their Daddy. Be still my heart!

Saturday morning I ran to Hilligoss bakery for some donuts, Starbucks for me, and the bank. I got home and we started working on the house. Some friends from church came over and helped paint and get some other stuff done. We got the PackRat canisters packed up some more, scraped paint off windows and some other stuff that is escaping me at the moment.

I went to church this morning to teach our Sunday School class and planned on leaving and coming home, but then I stayed through our morning worship and it was nothing short of amazing. Honestly I would say the morning worship was some of the *best* we have ever had. My soul was completely blessed!! I was further blessed this afternoon when listening to our Pastor’s sermon. Take a listen, you will be blessed too! I so love our church!!!!

This afternoon we spent some quality family time at the Greenwood Park Mall. We had to go and get Benjamin’s Build-a-Bear. He wanted a Polar Bear, but they didn’t have any so he settled on a black bear with a Batman costume. He named his bear Bat Bear---very appropriate if you ask me. :) Bat Bear is cute just like my Boo Bear! There was this hurricane simulator device in the mall that Brad and the kids went in and had fun having the wind blowing crazy at them. Then they had this bungee trampoline that the kids thoroughly enjoyed jumping on. Justin got really high and made me sick because he looked so small all up in the air!! He loved it! Benjamin got a little scared, but then loved it too. Gabe was going crazy and I think he really liked how weightless it made him feel. He said his legs felt wobbly when he got off of it. Jasmine’s hair was going crazy on it and her frog legs were all over. Haeley liked it alright, but I think she’s “too cool” for that now. She will be 13 in December. :)

We then went and got ice cream and then it was time to take Brad to the airport. =( I loved the time that we got to spend together having fun as a family! It has been a long time coming. Every weekend we have spent it working on the house and it was wonderful just enjoying being together and being a family. I am so thankful for my family! So thankful! Brad made it to VA safely and we are only 5 days away from him being back. I put some pictures up on the “My Albums” page. Check ‘em out and comment. Any lurkers out there? Comment and let me know you are reading. :) :) :)


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

PARTY!

Today was the first day back to school for Avon students and we had a blast not going back to school! We met at “our” pool at 11 and the festivities began! We had a blast! There were luau decorations, yummy food, music, good friends, and of course the water. The kids sang “Happy not yet back to school day to us......” before they ate their cupcakes and we celebrated at not being in school yet when we heard the buses going by. We took tons of pictures and once I get those sorted I will post them. :) :) Here are a couple though. :) Enjoy

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

My heart

We still are not ready to list our house on the market, but the Lord knows when we are going to move and who is going to buy this house. He has the details all worked out and I can’t worry about them, I just need to wait upon Him. Waiting upon Him is terribly hard. I’m so ready for our family to all be together again. I’ve got Brad coming home the next 3 weekends and prayerfully we will be ready to list the house at the end of that time. I’ve found several houses in VA that I really like but I’m not getting too excited about them. I know the perfect house for us is out there.

I ordered bean bag chairs for the kids the other day. I only ordered 3 because I’m stupid and thought they would be okay sharing them. Tonight I ordered 2 more. I hate admitting my moron moments. I could give several more, but I have a little pride.

The past two-ish weeks have been pretty eventful. I started feeling a little odd about 2 weeks ago and blew it off. My stomach just wasn’t right and I equated it to stress. By last Sunday night I was in some terrible pain. I wound up going to the doctor on Monday and after a CT scan I was diagnosed with diverticulits. I was put on 2 antibiotics and vicodin. By Tuesday night I was able to go off the vicodin and I was starting to feel normal again. My energy is still not back completely, but it’s getting there. My church was wonderful in coming to my aid. Some friends took the kids Monday night and kept them over night. I was able to sleep quite nicely. Then Tuesday started our meals. My kids and I have been very well fed and I feel very blessed to have these amazing people around us.

During this whole ordeal it was Benjamin’s birthday and I felt *awful* that I was laid up and not able to do anything for him. One of the couples at church that brought us dinner brought an ice cream cake for Benjamin. It was the sweetest thing. I was very grateful for that. :) I don’t have any good pictures though because I has misplaced my charger for my camera and had to use my iPhone. :( BUT, in good news I found the charger today!!! Just in time for our.....PARTY!!!

No, not for Benjamin (yet). My girlfriend Sarah and I are having a “It’s NOT back to school day” party tomorrow! We’re doing a Luau theme and the kids are going to get to kick back and relax when all the other kids from Avon are starting back to school. HA! Homeschool ROCKS! :) :) Speaking of homeschool. I decided on AOP’s Lifepacs and Horizons curriculum. I’m so excited for this year to start (BUT not till September). I’m going to do a geography unit study also with the kids. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do just yet, but I’m thinking one of GeoMatter’s products. I had ordered Galloping the Globe a couple years ago and loved it, but I was doing too many other things and I couldn’t get into it as much as I wanted. I really think I’m going to go back to that or Cantering the Country.

I know that the next couple weeks are going to continue to be challenging, but I’m so thankful for being able to put my trust in the Lord. I want to get back to updating this more often. I will really try to do better, especially when school starts after LABOR DAY!!!!!! WHOO HOO!!!!