Chocolate Bug

We have another "choco-holic" in the family!

And when she finished... she crashed.

Church Bags

Austin and Andew have a tendency to get a little rowdy during church, and every week I forget to bring either their coloring books, or crayons, or their scriptures. It's just hard to remember everything, so in an effort to encourage responsibility, I made them both their own church bag.

I took them to JoAnn's and they picked out their own fabric, and I finally finished them!

The blue one is Andrew's and the green one is Austin's. I thought they turned out cute!

My Flowers

Update on Austin

I took Austin to the doctor yesterday and found out that his rash was poison Ivy from the ward baseball game Saturday. He has asthma, and phenomena. He’s going to be home for the next few days.

He has so much energy and is running everywhere you would never know that he was sick… until he starts coughing from the running… it’s a pretty ugly cough. His energy level is even worse now that he started his medicine! One of his medications has a hyper side effect, so he literally can’t sit still for a couple hours after taking it. It’s not as bad this morning as it was yesterday.

Well, I’m going to try to knock out some dishes, and laundry while Alyssa takes her nap.

A Weed of a Day That Ends With Flowers

Some times you just have one of those days where just when you think it couldn't get any worse, it does. Monday was one of those days.

Alyssa was up at 4am, and doesn't go back to bed. I ended up with only 4 hours of sleep. I started the day extremely tired, that's never a good sign.

7:45 I finally give up and get out of bed. I got Andrew and Austin breakfast, and they fought over who gets the green bowl... you know because cereal just doesn't taste as good in a glass bowl I guess.
8:25 time to get going to school so I can help with “Happy Feet”. Happy Feet is a program where the kids get to school 30 minutes early and they walk laps around the playground, it's a good way for the kids to get their exercise and get their morning wiggles out before class. I look and look and can’t find keys to car, and I notice that Nate left his cell phone at home. That's never a good sign. I give up and we bundle up and speed walk to school. It was really foggy that morning, and cool, probably in the upper 50's, not too bad, but still, cool.

8:50 – I get to the school and drop off the kids, I run in the school real quick and check my PTA mailbox, and turn around and walk half asleep back home… the hills are getting to me.

9:05 – get home, put stroller back in the van, and go inside, I'm anxious to put Alyssa down and bundle up in my warm blankets and take a long nap. As soon as I get inside though I know it's not going to happen. Turns out the school called my home phone and both cell phones… some thing is up. I checked the messages and it's the school nurse saying that Austin has a rash, is coughing really hard, and can’t catch his breath, they were afraid he was having an allergic reaction, and his throat was closing off! Come as soon as I can, and bring Benadril!

9:07 – call the nurse back and tell her that I’ll be there ASAP, but I’m walking.

9:10 – desperately look for keys again. Fail. Pull out stroller, bundle Alyssa back up, and run all the way back to the school. Those hills are much steeper when your in a hurry.

9:20 – Get back to the school. Have to go and talk to the nurse and explain why I didn’t see the rash (he dressed himself, and I only noticed what looked like a mosquito bite on his cheek this morning), I think that the run to school that morning set off the coughing, they think he might have some sort of asthma. They also think he has strep throat. Great.

I put Alyssa in a back pack that I brought, and Austin in the stroller and get ready to walk them both back home. I’m exhausted, and I think it showed. One of the teachers insists in driving us back home. What a blessing.

When I got home I really started stressing over how I’m going to get Austin to the doctor, and Andrew to his first baseball game because we know that Nate won’t be home in time to take us, I called one of my friends Crystal up to ask her is Wayne was home to look at Austin, but he wasn't, and out of no where I start crying. I think the exhaustion was really getting to me. Crystal offered to drive us to the doctors office, just to let her know when the appointment was going to be.

I called the doctor but I couldn't get in until the next morning, that was actually a relief. Now my only problem was figuring out how to get a hold of Nate to get the van key off of his key ring.

I called Sara Martin who works for VCOM setting up all the rotations for the 4th years, and I ask her how I could get a hold of Nate, she said she would call the ENT (Ears, Nose and Throat) office and see where he was at and call me back.

There wasn't much I could do at that point so I put on a cartoon for Austin and told him I was taking a nap. I got about 10 minutes in when Sara called me back saying that Nate was in surgery all day and that maybe I could call the hospital surgical desk and leave a message for him to call me and see if he gets the message.

I wanted to go back to sleep so bad, but when my head hit the pillow I immediately felt wide awake and I had the strongest urge to call the hospital right then. I looked up the number and talked to the receptionist for a minute and while she was taking down my message she says, "Oh wait, he's coming right now!" Next thing I know Nate says, "Hello?"

I quickly told him that today was the worst day ever, but I'd give him the details when he got home, and asked if he could leave the van key with the receptionist so I could come over and pick it up. He said that that would work! Hurray!

I call Crystal back and she drove over and picked up the van key for me. What a blessing to have such great friends.

Once I had the key in my hand things picked up. I somehow had more energy from that 10 minute nap.

I pick up Andrew from school at 3:30, had him do his homework right away, and at 4:15 we leave and pick up some McDonald's on our way to the game.
The game is in McCoy which is about a 25 minute really pretty drive.

The game was so much fun! Andrew hit the ball, more like a bunt, it went about 2 feet, but he somehow pulled a double out of it! When the next kid hit the ball Andrew makes it two more bases to score for his team! We all had so much fun at the game. Here is a video of Andrew's first time batting at his first baseball game!

I got home from the game at around 7:30, Nate still wasn’t’ home from work yet.

I started getting the kids ready for bed, and I hear Nate pull up in the car. I went to meet him at the door and he was carrying flowers! They were a beautiful mix of flowers, yellow, red, purple and green, they smell so good!

So that’s how my day started as a patch of thorny weed, but ended in flowers!

Alyssa

Austin

Andrew

Nate and Becky

This is my family. My beautiful children, my amazing husband, who I'm grateful to say is my best friend.

I fill so full today. I'm grateful for all the little things.

The sound of church music quieting singing to me in the background to giggles, slurping from bottles, Andrew reading to Austin, Nate whispering into Alyssa's ear, Alyssa's babble, Da Da Da Da Da, I'm anxious to hear Ma Ma Ma Ma.

The smell of Sunday Dinner cooking, my Apple Cinnamon Candle burning, my prelude to Christmas.

I love the feel of snuggling, in a warm blanket right out of the dryer, my daughter nestling into my neck, the bear hugs of my boys, the gentle embrace from Nate.

I love the sight of eyes lighting up from learning something new, forts constructed in my living room from chairs and blankets, a clean kitchen, a made bed, my family smiling.