Ringing in the New Year!

This will be my last post of 2008!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We are ringing in the New Year in a way we never would have imagined. Brad went to go down to the basement last night only to find that the basement had flooded. We had 3 inches of water in the whole basement. Brad immediately went to Menards and bought 2 new sump pumps and some other odds and ends that we were going to need. We got most of the water out of the basement last night. Now, it's like a parking lot after a really good rain. What we found out was that the drainage pipe that goes from the sump pump burst under our back porch and the water was coming in through the basement window. I ordered a dumpster this morning and it was delivered about an hour or so later. We have brought a lot of stuff up for the trash and then another fair amount for Goodwill or Amvets. We still have a bit to go as well. It was really sad seeing so many of our possessions being thrown away. I know that most of the stuff we didn't need, but there were some keepsakes that brought tears to my eyes. Years ago I had packed up a bunch of Brad and Dawn's stuff from their wedding for the kids when they got older. Well, it was sitting on the floor of the basement and all but a couple things were trashed. It killed me having to throw all that away. I brought the girls down and showed them the stuff before we threw it away. I think it meant a lot that I had tried to save stuff for them. This is definitely not how I envisioned us starting out the new year.

I love the author Neta Jackson. She wrote the Yada Yada Prayer Group Series and to say that I enjoyed them would be a HUGE understatement! I love them. Love. Love. Love. I have all of them and I've probably read each of them at least five times. She has just started a new series called the Yada Yada House of Hope. The first book in the series is "Where do I go" and I bought it yesterday. I started reading it last night and had it done by about 6 this evening. I cannot put her books down! Her husband, Dave Jackson, has wrote "Harry Bentley's Second Chance" and that just came out. A snippet from their website says: "We're trying something new! Not just for us, but something completely new in Christian fiction: "Parallel novels," two stories taking place in the same time frame, same neighborhood, involving some of the same characters living through their own dramas and crises but interacting with and affecting one another ... just the way it happens in real life." I am anxious to read "Harry Bentley's Second Chance". Hopefully I'll be able to get that sometime in the near future. I am also going to start reading "The Power of a Praying Wife" tomorrow. I really want to do better about praying for Brad. Anyone want to join me??

I should really get off of here for right now. I'm so exhausted! It's 10:30 on New Year's Eve...Brad is alseep next to me on the couch, I want to be asleep and Haeley, Jasmine and Gabe are still up playing Wii. When did Brad and I get so old???

Home, home on the range

Sing with me...

"Home, home on the range

Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day..."

I don't know why that song is stuck in my head, but it is. I had my appointment with the Neurologist this morning and he confirmed that I have nothing at all in my head. =) Okay, all joking aside, I have congestion in my ears (which I had *no* clue you could get), a cyst deep in my sinus cavity, and he thinks I have chronic sinusitis. Sounds like fun, huh? I think now he is going to send me to ENT so that they can look into this further and get this all figured out. I also talked to the Endocrinologist's office today and they said that the nodular goiter appears to be a benign condition. I go in on Monday to see her and talk about whatever the next move is. I am SOOO thankful to FINALLY be getting some answers!!!

Alrighty...gotta run...the kids are driving me batty!

Oh my word.

Why do I bother to clean this house? Will someone please answer that for me??? I had the boys room oh, about 90% done. I spent SEVERAL hours in there on Saturday. I went up there about 15 minutes ago to see that they had DESTROYED it!!! GRRRR!!!!!! It is so frustrating!

Okay...got that out....I'll update more on my appointment this am later.

Well, as always we've had a busy couple weeks. I am so exhausted lately and the last thing I want to do it put 2 thoughts together on the blog. Hopefully we'll get all this mess with my thyroid figured out and then things will be better! Last Sunday I had a good 40 ounces of coffee before church and I was still falling asleep in service! It was ridiculous!

I did manage to get all of my Christmas shopping done. Although I was out on Christmas Eve trying to get finished up. We had a really nice Christmas. The kids were thrilled with everything. Legos were a HUGE hit for the boys and Haeley *loved* getting Mall Madness. I think Jasmine is really digging her flexible pogo stick thing. She's been using it in the house the past couple days...Spring can't come soon enough so I can send all the kids outside to play and burn some energy! BUT until it does, I just have them do the Wii Fit for a little while and get some of that energy out. =) They are really cute with it too. Benjamin even has his own Mii character and does several of the activities. We didn't have a big Christmas dinner because I forgot that I didn't have my roaster pan! Instead we had chicken, mashed potatoes, and cresent rolls. And the big news was that Benjamin ate some of it all! He can be such a picky eater so this was WONDERFUL! We got the kids to bed and then Brad and I went outside and sat at the bonfire with cups of hot chocolate. It was such a nice way to end a wonderful day. Before we opened presents that morning Brad read the Christmas story and then he played his sax and we all sang Christmas songs. Brad was praying and I happened to look up at the kids and saw Jasmine with her hands high above her head outstretched in praise. I teared up watching my little girl. I'm so thankful for my God sending his Son to take the place of my sin.

Our weekend has been a nice one. Yesterday it was absolutely gorgeous! We got up to 67! In DECEMBER!!!!! I opened windows and aired the house out. Brad installed ceiling lights in the kids rooms and replaced the alternator on the Neon. I started cleaning the boys room and then my girlfriend Corrie from GA came over to visit. It was so great seeing her. Before she moved to GA she would come over once a week for dinner and we were able to visit and become very good friends. I loved getting to see her. We also all went out to lunch today at Panera.

This evening Haeley and I went to Target and had coffee and did a little shopping before meeting Brad and the kids at Kroger to go grocery shopping. All in all it was a great night!

Merry Christmas!

5 Years Old...

Monday Justin turned five. I still can hardly believe it. He is turning into such a sweet little boy. I can't find any pictures on here from when he was born. I know that I have some cds with pictures, but these will do. Last week I was coughing and he came into the living room and said, "Mommy, are you okay?" I said, "Yes, Justin. I'm alright." He then says, "Okay. Well God Bless you......and God Bless your heart." That same day he told me that he didn't want to grow up and be a parent. When I asked him why he said, "Because when I'm big like a parent you and Daddy won't be able to pick me up anymore. Because, Mommy, Papa can't pick you up anymore." And how my heart aches when I think of the day when I can't pick him up anymore. I want to cherish and hold onto all the moments that I have. I know some days won't be pretty, but all too soon they will be gone.

6 months old

19 months old

3 Years old

4 Years old

5 Years old

Recap

Since it's been over a month since I last posted I could make this really long. BUT, I'll really try to not bore you with all the details. :)

The Monday before Thanksgiving I had a doctor appointment with Endocrinology. My TSH levels had dropped from my last test. In October my levels were .02---it is supposed to be between .3 and 4.5. When they rechecked me the TSH had dropped to less than .01. I have been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, but as of right now we aren't sure exactly what type of hyperthyroidism I have. Apparently there are several different types. This coming Wednesday and Thursday I have an "uptake and scan" scheduled to figure those out and then on Friday I have an ENG and MRI scheduled to try and figure our the dizzy spells. I feel like I'm falling apart! Hopefully by the New Year I will know what's going on.

Jasmine got sick right before Thanksgiving and I thought that was going to potentially derail our after Thanksgiving VA trip, but it didn't. In fact, I thought that we would just have a very low key Thanksgiving with my husband and kids. Little did I know, my sister had been in cahoots with Brad and she flew in on Wednesday to surprise me. It was DEFINITELY a surprise. I had NO clue she was coming. Wednesday night the sickness continued with Justin and Haeley. Justin threw up all on Brad as he was going to carry him up to bed. Then during the night Haeley woke me up because she had thrown up too! Then on Thanksgiving Gabe ran a 102 fever all day. Whoo hoo! We had ham, mac n cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple crisp pie. It was delish!

We did leave out of here on Friday and low and behold Friday night on the road Justin started with diarrhea. Poor little guy. And he felt the need to share it with me. Lovely. We made it to my folks Saturday around 5 pm. It definitely took longer than I would have liked. Jenn then got sick on Sunday and Brad followed suit Monday night.

While in VA, Brad was able to go surfing twice. I know that he really enjoyed being back out in the water again. He and I also got to go on a lunch date to the Cheesecake Factory. MMMM! It was our first time going there---why did it take us so long??? We also ran into some old friends, Robb and Shaula, in the Cheesecake Factory. What a nice surprise! Then we went shopping at Kohls and visited for a couple minutes with our good friend, Lettie. That night we went to see the lights on the beach with my family and that's when Brad really started feeling sick. I felt awful for him!

Tuesday Brad was still not feeling well and Mom wasn't feeling all too hot either so I loaded the kids up and we headed down to the mall. I let them ride the carousel and they loved it! I wish we could have done it a couple more times. Riding that with them brought back memories of me taking Cullin and Matthew on it. I took the kids to the food court and we had lunch and then browsed the mall. I was going to get their picture taken with Santa, but he wasn't going to be there for a bit yet. :( By the time we got home Brad had gotten up and showered and appeared to be feeling a bit better. He even ran some errands with Dad that night.

Wednesday wad Brad's birthday. He and the kids went down to see his step dad for a bit and I wasn't feeling too hot that morning so I stayed back. As the morning went on I started to feel better so Mom and I headed to run some errands. We went to the mall and I got a couple new bras from VS. Amazing how when I was fitted a month ago the woman put me 2 cup sizes above where I should be!!! We got some Christmas presents and then we also picked up some stuff for our Japanese dinner we were doing that night. We had yakisoba, sushi, and miso soup. It was so good! The kids loved the sushi! :) :) I have raised them right! ;-) We did a couple presents, cake and then it was time for the kids to go to bed.

Thursday we headed to Brad's brother's. Mickey and Joyce have 4 kids and we were bunking with them for a couple days as the whole Smith crew was beginning to descend upon their house for a get-together. Brad's Mom got in that afternoon and then Dan and Summer and their 3 kids arrived that evening. That night Joyce, Sue and I headed out to go shopping...at 11. Kohls didn't close till 12, so we hit there first and I got a fabulous hat and scarf and some jewlery too! By the time we made it to Wal-Mart I was exhausted, but we browsed, and bought stuff and had fun. :)

Friday we hung at the house and Brad, Mickey, and Dan put up a gate across the driveway so the dogs could go out without leaving the yard. That evening the fun was about to begin. Luke, Melissa, and Kayla were getting in that evening. We had 22 Smith's in the house and then there was extended family also. My dad, mom, sister and nephews came. Brad's cousin Pam and her daugher MacKenzie, and then Brad's Aunt Marilyn and three of her children came. It was a full house (33 to be exact) but wonderful! I loved every second! We did Christmas that night. The kids got presents from Mickey and Joyce, Sue and then my folks. Mom and Dad bought us a Wii for Christmas and I love it! We all do!

So since we've been back we've been trying to get back into the routine of school and juggling life. Next week will be tricky as I have my appointments, but we'll make it work. We also haven't done ANY Christmas shopping yet, so I've got to get that done! There are some funny stories that I've got of the kids, but I need to get off of here and tend to my Christmas tree and decorations. I really will try and do better updating this...and yes, I know, I've said that before...