the end of January

seriously, it's the end of January already. the old adage is true...the older we get the faster time moves. it is flying by at the speed of light x 100 million!!

so much has happened in January, i cant even keep up.

Asher had his 5th birthday. Esther told Rachel that Rachel was her best friend. (way sweet)

Levi started cutting molars.

Abigail has made huge advances in her reading. there is no stopping her.

Elizabeth went to Aquire the Fire this weekend all by herself (with a family friend's youth group).

we had the Honda put in the shop for 2 weeks to fix the heat panel.
Readen, our Cocker Spaniel, went into heat & we wont know until the end of February if the beagle next door got to her....i dont think he did...i never saw or heard a tie between them...and if they actually tie...you know it!
our White Leghorn, Napolean, started laying white eggs & Abigail's little black chicken, Cutie, started laying brown eggs (at least we think it's her).
we finally got to visit GA & SC. we went down last weekend. we left on Thursday afternoon - the 19th. then rode up to GA on Friday, spent the day, & came back to SC by 9PM. Clay's folks are doing good. They of course, are aging. His dad couldnt remember any of the kid's names. and he couldnt speak articulately. He is 76 & the stroke really messed him up. The Dr. told them that he had the stroke because he has an irregular heart beat. Mrs. Simmons is wearing herself out taking care of him.
We spent all day Saturday & Sunday with my family at my Daddy & Mama's house. everyone was there. all 3 of my sisters, Lisa, Renee, & Christi, Renee's husband, Brad & Christi's husband, Chris; Lisa's 2 girls, Olivia & Emily, and Christi's 2 boys, Cody & Lance. of course Memeer & Papa were there also! Olivia even brought over a friend - that is a boy. they are just hanging out for now. he was a cute, very nice young man. he even has a job!! i dont think we embarrassed her too much.
Asher was enthralled with my Dad's room & with my Dad. he would go back in my Dad's "office" and just sit & watch tv with him & talk with him. I love that. i'm so glad that he will have those memories of chilling with Papa. Levi pretty much was impressed with Papa too. On Monday morning when we went to leave, Levi just screamed when my Dad put him down. My Dad had to meet friends & had to go but Levi was not happy. He just kept reaching for him. i love that too! and my Dad like it too i think. Levi is a sweet baby. But he wasnt feeling that great that weekend. His teeth - molars - were coming in & he was a grump.
not only that but on the way home on Monday, Jan. 23 Elizabeth started throwing up about 1 1/2 hrs into the 8 hour ride. let me back up....Esther threw up on Saturday morning about 3 times. Levi threw up on Sunday morning 2 times within about a 5 minute time period. They both have been on probotics along with Asher & Abigail. I think that is why their vomiting issues were slight.
Too bad for Elizabeth she hadnt been on probotics for the 2 weeks prior to our trip. She vomited the whole way home about 1 time every hour. it was horrible. then when we got home she still vomited well into the night, up until about 11PM. i thought for sure everyone would be sick by the time we got home because of being locked in the van, but nope.....not everyone.
when we got home about 8PM, my sister Christi called me & started asking me about Elizabeth's symptoms because her son Cody was throwing up & sadly having diarrhea at the same time. She said that he said his stomach hurt & he was actually crying. We both thought it sounded like his appendix so she took him to the ER. He was so sick with this particular stomach flu, bug, virus....whatever it was....that he was admitted into the hospital and had to be kept until about 1PM the next day.
probably about 11PM that Monday night I started throwing up & i threw up well into the early morning hours of Tuesday. and Tuesday & Wednesday i was just wiped out. i didnt mention the case of bronchitis i had also. i am actually still dealing with the throat issues today.
then Tuesday afternoon, Rachel, who i had kept home from her co-op because 1. i needed her help & 2. i didnt know if she was going to be sick & didnt want her to spread it if she were going to be, started throwing up & she threw up well into Wednesday morning. I actually took her to the doctor today. She thought she had strep throat but the rapid strep test came back negative. She ended up with an ulcer in the back of her mouth on her throat. The dr. today said her throat looks infected but he didnt medicate her. he isnt her normal doctor. her normal doctor would have written her a prescription for an antibiotic, especially since she was presenting with a sore throat that looked infected & just in case the culture comes back positive for strep - which he said it wouldnt surprise him if it did. whatever. we are trying to keep her comfortable.
anyway, then Emily, Lisa's youngest daughter got sick. Christi got sick. My Dad & sister, Renee both got sick. so out of 19 of us all together, 10 of us got this nasty stomach virus - 5 from my family. i guess that's the law of probability when you have as many kids as i have.
anyway, thankfully this virus was fast moving....the actually symptoms lasted between 4 - 6 hours, maybe up to 8 hrs & then you were just left weak for a day or two. oh man, but the symptoms were horrible. i hate throwing up. it was sooooooo horrible. but i am so thankful that Abigail & Asher didnt get it. i dont know how we would have survived that.
so today i did get some laundry done (waiting on a load of whites to finish now so i can start a load of darks & finally go to bed. i mean hello, it's only 3:13AM). i also got all of our movies straight in their binders. (when i say straight i mean in alphabetical order in dvd binders. we dont keep the cases) I cleaned out the office because Clay has a guy coming tomorrow to finally move his gunsafe into the office. it was a good excuse to clean out & clean up. now i have to do the music cd's tomorrow (yep, make sure they are still in alphabetical order) & find a external floppy disc drive to download pictures off of floppies & get rid of the floppies. i have about 100 VHS i have to transfer to the computer harddrive also. i want to rip all of our 500 music cd's to the computer but i dont have one right now that would hold them all. plus the laptop i am working on now is almost on it's last leg. i have seen the blue screen of death about 3 times in the last week. thankfully i have backed up all the pictures & music to an external harddrive so i wont lose anything. i told Clay we needed to upgrade to a mack daddy desk top & get rid of the 2 we have. i want to move to an Apple product...i guess in the Mac field. and then i can dump this laptop & just restore it to factory settings & just use it for internet stuff or for him to do whatever he wants to or for trips, etc. laptops just dont hold up like desktops do.
but back to today...i was loading the dishwasher & i had a helper. so i will leave you with these pictures & go click through pinterest while i wait on my laundry to finish.
hope you had a great January & are looking forward to love filled February!!

you think he knows he's cute? ummmm, yep...no doubt!!! (rachel snapped these pictures)

short & sweet

considering i am running out of fuel fast, i'm not going to make this a long post. i havent slept in about 40 hours. i have terrible insomnia & i can only sleep when i just crash. plus i have to teach children's church tomorrow so i have got to crash tonight. i actually was going to try to take a nap around 4:30 but Levi woke from his nap with some blood in his urine & i had to take him to the ER. thankfully, it's nothing serious...just a little yeast infection. should be cleared up the weekend.

so to recap the last 2 weeks, Asher had a birthday. my first born son turned 5. can you believe that? i cant. where did 5 years go? & he received a hair cut. he was looking way shaggy. i dont mind the shaggy for the most part...i would love to grow his hair all out to one length to rest on his shoulders, but his hair is so fine & he can look way scraggly. so i took him & got it cut. the guy cut it in a skater/surfer type hair style so it will kind of flip over his ears. he told me that Asher had the right hair to wear that skater/surfer type longer look.
he is so sweet.
he had a great birthday.

and i dont have a clue if i told y'all this or not but Levi is walking.

and we are going to SC/GA on Thursday. i'm excited about seeing my family. it's been a year. a whole year since i have been home. that's insane. the last time my mother & 2 older sisters saw Levi he was 6 weeks old. Esther wasnt even 2 yet.  that just seems so wild to me.  anyway, i'm dreading the drive but looking forward to the visit. i'm dreading the preparing the laundry & the unloading when we get back. i dreading the whining. but it's worth it to see our families.

ok, well considering i am tired, i'm going to post a few pictures on this little dealio & go to bed.
first i'm going to post my to do list before i leave town:

- finish 3 quilts
-finish feather hair clips
-finish crochet slippers
-mop/clorox kitchen floor & wipe down counters
-make commission assignments
-mail Jenny's package for her boys
-copy 17 CDroms for the Dennys
-get caught up on C&G's book work
-get pictures & video out for Mema to see
-keep laundry straight
-spray pain esther's box.

that's just the big things. that doesnt include doing math, reading, grammar, writing, science, history, typing & french/spanish, piano & karate.

it never ends.

but life is good.

ok so the pictures arent in order, but i will put captions. i'm too tried to take the time to arrange them properly.

we went to red robin for Asher's birthday. esther was watching a movie on my ipod & holding the ear buds in her ears...otherwise she was being whiny. rachel helped keep her busy too.

Asher with is 18" tall Spiderman 2 movie Spiderman. I got this spiderman off of ebay about 6 months ago for about $25. I had it hidden in my closet with every intention of giving the spiderman to Asher for Christmas. Well the little sneak went into my closet & found the spiderman so i took him & hid him in a better place & made him wait until his birthday to get Spiderman. Sadly we took him to church the day after Asher's birthday for small group & a young lady there broke spiderman in half. But dont fret...i just won another one on ebay tonight as a matter of fact. look slike i will win another one & if i do i will put it up for Levi. even clay was sick about the Spoiderman being broken. he's a cool looking spiderman & all of his hoints move. he has 67 points of articulation. and would you believe that in the last 6 months that spiderman has went up drastically in price....well for most of them. there are still deals to be had...i am only paing $32 & that includes shipping. it's still expensive for a "doll" but spiderman is a cool "doll".

our friends Edgar & April Isa came over on Friday Night & watched a movie with us - "Facing the Giants".I love that movie.  Anyway, the brought with them their dog Duke. We love Duke here. He is fun & soooo nice. love him. Plus he's cute to look at also. Well we found out that Asher has really developed a liking for Duke. as you can see from the picture, Duke doesnt seem to mind the attention.

Asher with one of his many transformer toys. he really loves his transformers & he loves polymer clay crafts. i pray things are ok today. ok i just realized i typed those words in italics. i have no clue what i am talking about. that's how tired i am...i'm typing things that make no sense. i'm going to bed.

Clay & Elizabeth while Edgar & April were here. Elizabeth has just turned into a gorgeous young lady. I'm so proud of her developing into a productive member of our family.

some of the balloons i blew up for Asher on his birthday that he released to heaven. it was fun but those balloons can choke. i guess all balloons can choke & the goal is to be super intuitive & watch yoru kids. i try, but getting the milar ones worked better.

Asher with his transformer cake. he picked it out.

Abigail & me at Red Robin's on Asher's birthday. I had gotten a InStyler straightening brush for $55. it is purple & comes with a bag to travel with it, a counter protector from the heat all the accessories...etc...Anyway i straightened my hair. i enjoy having straight hair on occasion.

oh & this is Levi after we got home from the ER with him. As per the doctor, every time i change Levi's doctor for the next week, he needs to be allowed to go "commando" for about 5 minutes before i make him get dressed. As you can see from the pictures....he likes himself pretty good.





2012

2012 is here & isnt stopping. time is moving on. as i type it's already January 3rd, 2012. 3 days into the New Year. That's insane! my first born son will be 5 on the 9th. it's killing me that he is growing up so fast, but man he is growing up into a sweet little guy. and so full of energy. he opened his window today without telling anyone because he wanted fresh air. he also had a batman metal sign up in his window (we have half circle windowns over the regular windows in their front bedrooms). i sat the batman sign up there to block the morning sun that comes in first thing & wakes him up. he is an early bird. well he climbed up in his bunkbed today & threw the sign in the floor because he wanted to be able to look out of his window when he laid in his bed. this is the kind of thing he does.....he puts spiderman in the dishwasher. not sure when or why, but spiderman was sitting there waiting when we unloaded it.

elizabeth received a sewing machine of her very own for christmas. it's a nice little janome with good reviews. i thought elizabeth would enjoy sewing. she tried to learn to crochet but really couldnt get past the chain stitch. she did finish her latch hook that she got for christmas last year. it took her all of 7 months but she finished it. now she can put it on a pillow herself. i dont have too!! yay me!
anyway, she got right to work - christmas day - sewing a quilt. granted the quilt was already cut out and the directions were very clear...but this girl put this rag quilt together - having never sewn before - in a week. i'm impressed. maybe you will be too after looking at her pictures. i will say it again, i'm so proud of her. i love to sew & now i have a daughter that enjoys one of my passions. God is good to give us this type of common bond to build our friendship. i'm very excited to help her with her next project!

i found a picture of a multi-sensory board for toddlers that i wanted made for levi & esther. the original builder was in finland i believe. anyway i printed off a picture and asked clay how hard it would be to make. i guess not to hard because clay made it for christmas for levi & esther (and abigail & asher like it too). anyway, i'm so proud of this board. it's probably one of my favorite little kid toys ever. and levi loves it. he loves flipping the switches & the latches. he loves pulling on the chains. esther loves using the attached key & opening the lock. their little fingers are learning how to work things. they love to open the little doors. one has a mirror & the other has a picture behind the door. we hung it on the wall by a window. its at perfect little kid height & they can look out the window & play all at the same time on cold days.
they can move the bolt from one side of the board to the other along the routed path. they can move washers up & down & count the chain links. they can learn to use the clips & clip pictures to the board. there are wing nuts on there they can screw & unscrew. so much to do...so much fun. it does keep them busy. again i love it. i did a good job coming up with the idea & clay did a good job on building it. oh & i did an outstanding job on the number & letter stickers!! ha!

ok so this morning when i was nursing levi in my bed he whipped himself about to see what clay was doing...as clay was getting ready to take a shower & getting fresh clothes out of the closet. when levi did that he poked me in the eye & scrapped the white of my eye. i couldnt open my eye. it hurt & was watering. so i put on my prescription sunglasses so i could at least see this morning. well i came out & sat on the sofa while the kids got up & started to function. and ... well i dozed off. i actually woke up as this picture was being taken. you know i dont take myself so seriously if i can put this picture on here. i told clay i looked like ray charles passed out on drugs. hope you get a laugh. and on a good note, when i woke up i could take the sunglasses off because my eye was better. and just to defend myself, i was awake by 8:45 after having been up until 2:12AM & having to get up at 5AM to feed Levi & then put him back to bed to have him back up at 7AM...when he scratched my eye. we came out into the living room by 7:30 & by 8:00 i had fallen alseep. oh well. tomorrow we start back to school - today was still a holiday.

and now for cuteness.

 

Have a Blessed New Year!