Are any one else's kids wierd like this? He loves to pulll up his boxers and run around saying, "I'm an ol' grandpa!" Oh well, he may be odd, but he's mine - all mine:)

Will is down and out with strep. Miserable couple of days around here. THis is how he fell asleep (the first time) last night. He never does this, so I know he must feel pretty rotten. Just pray that no one else comes down with it. Jeff and I are exhausted from dealing with Will, so if the others get it, we may be pushed beyond our limits!

Jeff and the kiddos wiped out. Sweet picture though knowing that Jack won't want to do this much longer.

Jeff, I'm sure will appreciate me plastering his pasty white legs all over the internet:)
We got the test results back from Jeff's dr earlier this week and found that not only his is blood pressure too high, but so is his cholesterol. He eats well here at the house, since typically I only provide pretty healthy stuff, but he really needs to get a handle on portion control and changing how his body craves sugar and salt. I'm so proud of him since he really hasnt' had the opportunity to take baby steps with this - we've had to go full throttle to limiting alot of his "favorites." The hard part will be when he's on duty - eating out will be a true test of his ability to make smart choices. Pray for him if you would?

The tooth fairy dropped the ball

Sunday Jack and EK were wrestling, before church because yes, that's how we roll in our house. Anyway, Jack comes running into the kitchen and tells me that EK hit him in the mouth with her elbow and has knocked his tooth loose! OH my. In reality, it was the front tooth that was already loose, she just gave it a big ol' head start to falling out. We proceed to get ready and go on to church, and then at lunch Jack takes a bite of his chicken and sure enough, out came the tooth! The staff was so sweet - brought him a little cup with a lid to keep it safe. That night we tucked it safely in a baggie and hid it under his pillow. The next morning Jack says to me, "Mom, I don't understand. My tooth is right where I left it last night. I went to sleep! I promise!" Oh dear! Boy howdy, did the tooth fairy (aka me) drop the ball or what? Yikes! Being the quick thinker and wonderful mom that I am, I immediately turn it back on to my sweet son, "are you sure you were asleep ALL night? Maybe the TF didn't believe that you were actually asleep since most nights you have such trouble going to sleep." I know, how horrible am I? At dinner Jeff even had the gall to suggest to Jack that it was his discipline issues of late that had kept the TF from coming as scheduled. Oh my - can we say THERAPY for this one? Anyway, after initially trying to blame my poor kid, I did let him know that it had been a rainy night and perhaps the TF's wings couldn't get wet, thereby causing the delay. Pretty good, huh? He bought it and until he's old enough to read this blog we're safe. Which brings up another point - we don't expressly push the TF and other myths, even Santa, on our kids, but we figure they're only little once and it will be gone before we blink. Their foundation is in Christ and this other stuff is superfluous. still, sorry Jack. Didn't mean to dash your fantasies so early:)

OK, so I can't believe I forgot to pass this on. Our friends who were battling cancer got the reports back that he his cancer FREE!!!Everywhere - they can find NADA:) Praise God! Got me to thinking though - how often do we send out urgent prayer requests and then fail to follow through when God moves mightily to rescue/heal/restore. Maybe it's just me. Maybe that's part of my problem:( I remember writing in my journal when I got to those parts of the OT where the Israelites purposefully and intentionally put down a reminder of God's goodness or in the case of the Ebeneezer stone, how God had brought them THIS far. Not looking ahead any further, but knowing that God had been with them through some pretty tough times, never left them, never neglected to love them. If HE had come this far with them in their unbelief, ugly hearts, lack of obedience, then surely He would be with them through anything that was to come. Sooooo, on this day, the day that my mom went home, even though I tried to lay on her to keep her from going (yes I know I was merely squishing her,not stopping my Jesus from carrrying her to glory), I choose to praise Him for sticking with me this far. He carried me through this past year, carried me because there were many days when I certainly was not physically capable of walking on my own. He kept my family together especially on those day when I was not a nice mommy/wife/friend. Grief, thine name is selfishness. I choose to NOT look beyond this day.

I am not sure that I will be able to write a whole post. What I want to say is that my heart hurts. This time last year my dad phoned and said that we needed to get to FL to say goodbye to mom. What? Goodbye? How could that be? She had not been well, but certainly we had hope - how do you ever give that up? i woke Jeff up (he was still on 3-1 shift) and we immediately started packing...everything we could think of. I had no idea how long the kids and I would be gone. I went from room to room picking clothes out and putting them in bags, trying to think through what the kids would require for the car, the beach (of course they would want to go to the beach, they're kids) etc. I remember going through my closet and putting the one dress that fit me (still nursing Will and carrying post-pregnancy LBS) into my suitcase, thinking, this is the dress that I will wear to my mother's service. Many calls back and forth to my sister, aunt..call Jack's school. They were great - told me they would take care of everything , and they did. It was a long day in the car. More phone calls - friends, family. Instructions to friends who would care for the dog and cat while we were gone. sweet friends who later cleaned, did laundry, until Jeff got back. Stopping for the night because we couldn't physically stay awake any longer, but not believing that I would have to delay seeing mom one more day. Getting up the next morning, arriving at the hospital. the rest is for me. I can't talk about it, but in bits and pieces. Last communion. Family hugs. Laughter, yes laughter. Memories. Tears. Hearts aching. I have an over-active imagination and it makes it incredibly difficult to stop playing the loop of those days. What is an asset as an English major, book lover, makes life hell when you just want your mind to shut down for a while. OK, enough for now. I will lay this pain before His throne and trust that His heart aches for me in a way that I cannot yet imagine.

I got violently ill Sunday night. Don't know what happened, don't know what caused it. All I know is that I am still feeling the effects - I pretty much strained my neck/back during the course of the upchuck session. There was also a nasty bladder control issue involved...ah, sweet pregnancy. How I shall miss you. I will, but I'm also already done being pregnant. And that's unforunate given that I have 16 more weeks to go.
A Simpson children update:
Will is mean. I'm not kidding. He pulls hair, bites, pushes, slaps. What in the world? Is this because he doesn't feel like he is communicating? Not sure. What I do know is that it is a FULL-TIME job protecting the older two from this holy, yet tiny, terror. he is promptly removed from the situation and then made to apologize; nevertheless, this does not bode well for the newest little one coming along. Will we have to hire a round-the-clock body-guard for baby brother? Only time will tell...
Jack finally got a haircut. Poor kid wants to grow out his hair like the other "cool" boys in school, but he inherited a massive amount of hair that grows out as much as it does down. The result is a helmut-like mound that will never take on that super hip retro 70's 'do that the other boys are sportin'. Oh well.
Ella-Kathryn is still the greatest helper ever, but that sassy 'tude is rearing it's ugly head a bit more and more. We are working with her daily to understand how her words are a reflection of her heart, but boy howdy, there are some days I just want to tape her mouth shut! And her eyelids so I can't see her rolling her eyes at me, which we treat in this house as the same offense as mouthing off. Someone please tell me that doing the hard work now will help curb some of the teen issues??????
Jeff's mowing season is in full swing - God bless that man and his work ethic! Hopefully the rain will hold off for a while. The beach trip is planned and it's all the kids talk about. I'm excited too - bobbing up and down in the waves will feel great. Just hope no one tries to harpoon me:)

This is what happen when you let your sister use you as her dress-up partner!

May the Force be with you young Will.

Play-date at the park. He's really getting the hang of climbing and loves sliding!

CHEEEEEEEZ!

Yes, my mommy's tummy is rather large, but don't say anything to her or else she'll cry.

Well, I haven't posted in a week - it just flew by! We had a great weekend, had some family time on Sat and then had a great Mother's Day. And that's saying something considering it was my first without my mom here. I was actually holding up ok until I got to church and they started the worship music off with "Forever" by Chris Tomlin. That was the song that my dad chose for my mom's celebration of life service! UGH!! Then, during the message, our community pastor referred to Timothy's grandmother, Lois. Lois was my dad's mom, the rock of his faith, a woman who truly left a spiritual legacy through him and my sister and myself. My dad and I joked later in the day that church was one of the hardest places to be - maybe we should just stop going! HA!
Hope all you mommas out there had a great day and I'll post more later.

I haven't forgotten anything. My children are tucked into their beds. Jeff is getting ready for work. My house is semi-tidy (note I did not say clean), but still there is nagging, a niggling in the back of my brain. It is May. Almost one year ago mom died. I have survived my first year without my mom. There are so many things about that sentence that are so very wrong. She was/is a Christian, so I have confidence in her place in His kingdom. But I'm still here. Without her. My dad is still here. He really hates Saturdays. THat was their day to get out, explore, relax, enjoy time together. My sister is living in mom and dad's house. Surrounded by mom's friends. THat really hard sometimes. Mainly it's just hard. Grief does not come to your front door, ring the bell, shout out I'm here, pass in a calling card. If you don't have the time right then to have a mini-break down, grief doesn't just say, oh, well ok, I'll come back later. Grief just comes and camps out whenever, wherever, however. Not nice. Not fair. But like my mom always said, whoever said life is fair.

20/20

Sweet Jack. I remember last year, in kindergarten, one of his classmates got glasses. Jack wanted glasses too. He tried to convice us that he NEEDED glasses. He did not need glasses. The subject was dropped...or so we thought. His school vision exam in the fall revealed no problems. But, later in the fall semester, I recall going up to have lunch with him and he again asserted that he couldn't see far away. I made him read the various signs posted on the cafeteria walls - no problems. Then we had the injury to his cheek, hospitalization for infection etc. and as spring started and stopped about a dozen times, allergies ran amuck on the poor boy. Which leads us to Tues. morning when he woke up with gunky eyes. We did switch to Zyrtec a couple of weeks ago and have seen good results, but I, in my frugality, left the windows open that night and I guess it was too much for him. They cleared up as the morning went on, but when Ella-Kathryn, Will, and I headed up to meet Jack at school for lunch on Wed, his teacher said he had been complaining of not being able to see again. He assured me that it wasn't the allergy stuff, he simply had blurry vision. I admit I was worried - was this residual effects from the infection? We never confirmed the exact bacteria that caused the infection to begin, so maybe it was still lurking in his eyes, making my poor baby go slowly blind!!! The horror! I marched him straight into the school nurse and asked if she could do another eye check - no time that day, so it was set for Thurs. She found 20/40 in both eyes, with the left perhaps being a bit worse. Oh my! I scrambled to get him seen as soon as possible and wrangled an early AM appt at the eye dr in Sams - supposedly on our vision plan. This morning, get there, no, sorry, the vision center that fits you for glasses etc. is covered, but not the actual Dr.. What in the world??? But, knowing that I often have to wait weeks to get an appt. for myself, I decide to just fork over the cash and have him checked then and there. He did great - didn't even flinch when they blow that puff of air at your eye. Then on to the exam. dr. asks him can he not see far away or close up. Umm, Uhh, both, Jack says. OK. Sets him up to that huge eye exam thingermerbobber and starts asking him to read the lines - I can see the line backwards reflected on the wall and note that he starts at the 40. Jack struggles, mixing up the F with an H and then fumbles on a couple of others. MOve to 30 - same thing. Makes some adjustments. asks to read some more. Then pulls out of the drawer two round lenses, holds them up to Jack's eyes moves it to 20 and asks him to read it - no problems. Does this with another set of lenses then Dr. says ok, we finished. "Hey Jack, why don't you go with my assistant and get a picture taken of your eyes." Dr. closes the door behind Jack. my heart is pounding. Is my child going blind? Will he know what his newest baby brother even looks like? How will he match his clothes in college? THe Dr. turns to me and says, "his vision is fine. He doesn't need glasses." WHAT????? OK. He then explains that some kids just get caught up on one line of the exam, really want glasses and then go from there. Yes, my kid did this to me. Who in their right mind wants glasses? I've had to wear them since I was ten - it stinks. Dr. says, it's not that he was lying per se, it's just that he wanted the glasses enough to make himself not say the letters right. I am laughing at this point, but also wondering how will we deal with this because, really, he did lie. He was capable of reading the eye chart perfectly, but decided to not. Yikes. Heart issue here people. His desire for some thing overrode his willingness to be truthful. Got to nip this one in the bud - maybe tomorrow. Oh, and as I'm paying the bill, the asst. informs me that Jack asked him how much money he made? The guy was quick, and shot back, " how much do you think I make?" Jack says, "at least 1,000 a week!" We all laughed but I'm thinking the doc probably does! Anyway, when I related the story to Jeff later, Jack says, "I asked him because they must make alot getting to use all that cool equipment" I really expected him to bark like Tim the ToolMan. That's my boy!