Chair stealing and fish healing

After school today, I had to run to Walgreen’s to pick up a steroid pack for my first poison ivy rash of 2011. Not fun! I have it on my eyes, cheeks, neck, lips, ears, arms and tummy. I feel like an itchapotamus! However, our fence row is looking better and I’m so thankful that my eyes didn’t swell shut this time. I’m suppose to do something with Kim from Helping Me Up tomorrow, but I’m not sure she will want to be seen with me.

I’m so thankful that there is medicine that gives me quick relief in the early stages of itchiness. I have no self-control when it comes to itchiness. I barely got out of the Walgreens parking lot before I was popping

When Cole and I got home, we ate dinner quickly and took Audrey outside to play. She wanted to wear her pajama pants and ladybug boots.  She immediately headed straight for the mud puddles.

We took a walk to the pond and found an almost dead grass carp. We just had the pond stocked last summer, so it was nice to see such a long fish, just not in this condition.  John tried throwing it into deeper water, but it kept coming back to this spot. It made Cole sad that it was likely going to die, so he found a stick and tried to get it to swim back to the deeper water, but it wouldn’t.

On the way back to the house, Cole broke out the metal detector. He loves trying to find things around the fields. He’s found several neat, rusty, old farm machinery pieces, but no big treasure yet. 

Cole finally let me take a few pictures of him. When he got tired of it, he got silly.

After bubble blowing, Audrey chased Cole down to tell him a secret.

I love this picture!

It ended in her running off to her chair in fear. I’m not sure I want to know what she told him. However, when she got to her chair, this is what she found.

She wasn’t thrilled because every time she got out of her chair tonight, our dog, Copper, would jump in it and steal it away from her. At one point, Audrey was leaning forward in her chair and the dog jumped up between her back and the chair and sat there while Audrey held the cat. There is barely enough room for Audrey in the chair, so seeing all three of them in the chair was hilarious.

I am so loving this weather! I hope it sticks around for awhile before it starts getting hot. We left the windows open in the bedroom all night last night and it was so comfy to wake up to this morning.

Spring Break Recap

Our Spring Break has been filled with so much fun I don’t want it to end! I have truly enjoyed this time with my family. It allowed me to do lots of fun things with the kiddos, actually talk with my hubby for more than two minutes, and the time to get a few things done around the house.  I also got to spend time with my grandmas, my parents and my mother-in-law and a good day of scrapbooking with friends. You can’t ask for much more!

On Wednesday, I went with my family and my mother-in-law to Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. We had a great time! We bought several packs of vegetable seeds, some onion starts and some dianthus and morning glory flower seeds. We enjoyed walking around the little town and seeing the animals and vintage and antique items. Then, we made a little trip to Springfield. John went to a flea market. The rest of us went to DAV and then we headed to Hobby Lobby and Braum’s.

(Several times on this trip I noticed John and Cole standing the same way or looking very much like each other. I think the first two pictures show this very well.)

On Thursday, Cole, Audrey and I went to my friend Kim’s house to scrapbook. Shelly and her kiddos came, too. The kids had a great time playing inside and out and eating Kim’s brownies and the big girls were able to scrapbook a few pages. Cole & Audrey played hard! 

When we got home from Kim’s, we worked out in the field and driveway. Cole was cutting down cedar trees and Audrey and I were cleaning up the fence line in the driveway and at the road. It’s amazing how overgrown things can get.

On Friday, we took it easy. It was super windy outside, so we didn’t work as long as I’d expected us to.  John drove his pick-up down to the road so we could throw lots of limbs in it to be burned.  He and Cole did all the hard work while I broke the rake and only did about an 1/8 of what I needed to do. We still have a lot of work to do in this area.

Saturday was my Dad’s birthday. We spent the morning at home cleaning up the house and then headed to town to pick up my grandma. We went to three drive-thrus to get everything that everyone wanted for supper and then we headed to my parents house to celebrate. Cole & Audrey absolutely love showing off for my parents and they also like to get rowdy. They were having a great time! Dad decided he wanted a cake, so Mom and I headed to the store to pick up a German chocolate cake. After we ate and visited a bit more, we headed home.

Sunday has definitely been our day of rest so far. I’m still battling a cold that makes me cough every time I lie down. Needless to say, I haven’t gotten much sleep the last week. Plus, with the time change, I seem to be getting up even earlier.

It’s going to be hard to get up tomorrow and get back into our routine. However, each school day gets us one day closer to summertime and I can’t wait to have some more time off with my family!

Audreyisms

Audrey was on a roll with hilarious talk today.

This morning, she came into the living room and crawled up into my lap. She put her arms around my neck
and said, “I love you so much I want to kick myself.” 

We went to visit my mom in the hospital today and as we were leaving a medical helicopter was taking off. Cole mentioned something about it and I asked Audrey what it was and she said, “It’s a helicopter. I haven’t seen one of those in years.” Yes, she’s all of 4.

Boppa (my dad) took the kiddos to the hospital cafeteria to eat lunch with him. My kids love going to the hospital cafeteria as much as I enjoy going to Olive Garden. I know it’s weird, but they love it! Cole had pears and pudding since he had already eaten lunch. Audrey had a corn dog, fries and a huge Hiland chocolate milk. When she got back to mom’s room she stuck her belly out, put her hands around the sides and said, “Look at my chocolate milk belly. It’s big!” Since she was wearing a sweater dress, her tummy stuck out like she had a balloon inside it.

Dad took Mom to the hospital last evening. Her blood pressure was dangerously high and she was having trouble breathing along with chest pains. The doctors are checking her out and she will have a stress test tomorrow. I know she isn’t looking forward to it because she gets winded right now going from one place in her room to another. Walking on the treadmill tomorrow is going to be exhausting for her. I hope she does well and gets to go back home soon. 

I don’t know where she gets it

One thing Cole and Audrey have had in common from the time they were big enough to hold a pencil is their love of drawing.  Both of them have loved drawing, making creations and giving a little gift of themselves with each piece of artwork. Audrey has chosen to add a little detail to each of her pictures lately by giving us some background about her drawings.

I know you can’t see this one well, but she drew grass, the sun, flowers, a tree and a tree swing.

A snowman

I thought his one was cute. Then, she added, “This is my brother when he was a baby in jail.” I don’t know where she gets this stuff, but it was cute. I thought maybe it was crib or something, but no. The little black dot to the right of ‘Cole’ is the doorknob.

A “generator”

“Cole at school screaming.” The big red circle is his mouth. The black thing on top if his head is a hat. I’ve never received a phone call from his teachers about this, but apparently this is what Audrey thinks is happening.

A flower

Audrey gives each of us about 10 pictures per day. I’m not exaggerating. John keeps each and every piece of paper she gives him. I am a little more selective, but I do look forward to seeing everything she comes up with.

Walking by Faith

We started our day off at church this morning. One of the things the preacher mentioned was 2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” For some reason it resonated with me and when I came home and I was reading more about the verse, I realized that far too many of the decisions I make on a daily basis are by sight and not by faith. I tend to think of bigger things when I consider my walk by faith and not the day-to-day decisions that affect who I am as a Christian.

The ways I react to things my children do or things that my husband says are far different sometimes than the way I tend to regard my religion as a whole. In many ways I do not project my relationship with God, because I react impulsively without thinking about what He would expect of me. Obviously something I need to work on.

Each of us had to fill out a prayer card so we would have someone to add to our daily prayer list. I am glad to have someone to pray for and I’m excited about the thought of someone praying for my family.  Cole was asked by the preacher to hand out all the cards and distribute them again. Watching him made me realize he is really becoming a great young man. I’m so proud of him!

After church we went to my mother-in-law’s house again for leftovers. She makes the best food so it’s always a treat to eat with her. Audrey and her baby doll wore matching dresses. She got them as a Christmas gift from my parents. She loved the set! I didn’t get a good picture of her in it though because she wouldn’t slow down for very long.

When we got home, Audrey got out of the van and walked right through the mud where our pool use to be and she slipped and fell. Being the horrible mother I am (remember I’m a huge fan of physical comedy) I was laughing and then I did the same thing, except luckily I didn’t fall. Needless to say our shoes were covered in mud and I know I probably should learn not to laugh because I always end up being laughed at. Cole thought the whole thing was hilarious and made sure he was the first one inside to tell John.

 

This evening, I gave Audrey a kiss on the forehead and noticed she felt warm. She took her temperature and it was 99.9 degrees. Not high, but not a good sign either. I think she may be getting a cold. Poor thing! A cold rag on her forehead and some Tylenol worked wonders. We have the coolest Vick’s thermometer that shows green, yellow and red after a temp. has been taken to indicate the severity of a temp. After about an hour of having the Tylenol in her system, Audrey took her temp. again and was rejoicing that it was green! Down to 98.9.

For dinner, we ate the easiest and most yummy chicken quesadillas. I can say that because Audrey helped make them. We like to make it super unhealthy by serving it with sour cream. Here’s the recipe in case you’re interested. Chicken Quesadillas

After dinner, Audrey was helping me with the laundry. We always fold it together in my room. I had left to go put away the kitchen towels and when I walked back to the room, this is what I saw. How sweet is that? She was carrying the basket of towels to the laundry room and it was really heavy. We gave her extra kisses for being such a good helper.

It’s now 10:30 and I’m in denial about having to go to school tomorrow. I truly enjoyed my time home with my family and cannot believe our break is over. Cole gets to enjoy the day at home with John and Audrey. The teachers have  a Professional Development day. I am really anxious though to hear all the stories my students have about their Christmas break and all the gifts they received.

This is the way we celebrate

Most of our New Year’s Eve day was spent at home playing, cleaning and just enjoying the fact that we didn’t have much to do.

Audrey and I got her birthday thank-you cards finished. It was great practice for her writing her name and she really enjoyed it. When I made an icky face after licking too many envelopes, she told me she would do it. I think she felt the same way I did about the taste.

After we finished putting away the Christmas decorations, we decided to make a quick run to Wal-Mart. I treated myself to some new Paula Deen cookware with some of my Christmas money. Let’s hope the new pans will make me cook more in 2011 or at least maybe a little better!

When we were in the check-0ut line at Wal-Mart there was a younger man behind us that had two very large bottles of liquor. The cashier finished ringing up my items and said, “These aren’t yours, too, are they?” I looked at her, looked at my cart and my children and told her no because my things probably weren’t nearly as fun as his.

As I was walking to my van it made me think of how my shopping bags were full of food, things for our home, treats for the kids and that I was very happy that although my idea of fun may be completely different than others, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When we got home, we immediately put everything away and pulled out our special treat, a bag of Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies. I’m pretty sure we ate 2/3 of the bag last night. It’s a good thing they are more expensive than I like or we would get them all the time.

Cole played a wii game before we watched a few movies. He likes watching Green Acres of all things. It’s so cute!

Audrey played with her Barbies and her new fairy princess Barbie that she got on sale last night. I love listening to her play with her dolls because she does all these different character voices and she makes her dolls have meaningful conversations. She gets kind of embarrassed when she knows someone is listening.

By 11:00 we are all getting kind of tired. Cole read several books to Audrey and then we all plopped down on the couches to watch Little House on the Prairie and tried to stay awake while John was busy listing ebay auctions.  We made it to midnight and John, Cole and Audrey were in bed very shortly thereafter.

 

Happy New Year!