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| Gdeon loves his new blanket so much!! |
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| Malachi loves to eat ice cream! |
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| Happy St. Patrick's Day |
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| Love to wear green on St. Patrick's Day |
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| Samuel loves his Gideon |
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| Caleb got a little carried away with the purple sidewalk chalk |
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| Austin and Betsy at New Beginnings (Austin was a scarecrow) |
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| Samuel at his pine wood derby |
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| Such a sweet, sleeping babe |
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| Caleb loves hunting for Easter Eggs |
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| Malachi loves it too |
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| Samuel found a really big egg |
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| Malachi was cold at the soccer practice and was wearing my sweater to stay warm |
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| Gideon loves to read scriptures with us |
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| Gideon dressed in his Sunday best, spitting bubbles |
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| Travis at Petra |
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| Love his cute little tongue sticking out grins |
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| Travis with his assistant at Petra |
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| Austin holding Gideon |
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| Gideon was looking for his Daddy on my phone, he was a little disappointed when he couldn't see him |
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| Caleb/s freckles are coming out |
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| Gideon is laughing at Austin |
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| Cute baby Gideon |
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| I can't get enough of this cute little face! |
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| It was a little chilly during soccer games |
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| Caleb's soccer team |
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| I straightened Austin's hair, she also had a friend over. |
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| Gideon stole Austin's pizza, so she stole his hat! |
I felt like God was talking directly to me and my situation. I feel so completely overwhelmed with just the daily tasks of taking care of my family, I don't feel like I am helping others around me enough, or am reaching my potential. This helped me realized that I am doing the service God wants me to do right now, and that for me, right now this is most important. So now, when I have to tell other people "no" when they ask for help, I don't feel so guilty about it, and I know that there will be a time I can help others more, just not right now.
We had spring break starting the 14th. We tried to get a lot of cleaning done, and have some fun too. I was a little frustrated with how little we were able to get cleaned. I wanted to deep clean every room in the house and get kids switched into different rooms, so I could move Malachi into his own room. But, even though we didn't get everything done, I was able to get Samuel, Joseph, and the girl's room (we got Betsy moved in) deep cleaned in the downstairs. We started work on the kitchen, but never completely finished. We went to sonic one night for dinner, they have an outside playground and volleyball court to play on, so we ordered dinner outside and played in the sand and playground area. As we were finishing up, several other chaplain families showed up and we had a great time talking with them, and the kids played well together, we ended up staying two hours! Another time we made an outside chalk board game on our driveway, and had fun playing with that. We went on several walks to the park and even though I tried making it a no t.v. week, that only lasted until Friday. We played lots of board and card games though, and had some fun. After spring break week, my Mom was able to come that Sunday, and stay until Thursday. I loved having my Mom here, she helps me in so many ways. She pruned all my bushes, and helped Austin plant her Salmon berry plants she got her for her birthday. Austin and Betsy had new beginnings, which was fun. Betsy got to go, because she will go into YWs this year, when she turns 12 in August. Austin and the other young women put on a little play with a wizard of oz theme, and Austin was the scarecrow. After Grandma left, Samuel had his pine wood derby in Manhattan, he had a great time, and even though his car didn't do that well, he still enjoyed it. For April fools this year, we didn't do too much, but I did make a german pancake and put it in a pizza box for dinner, for an april fools joke for the kids. Joseph wasn't too happy about it since he loves pizza, but hates german pancake. We started soccer, and Caleb and Samuel have been having two soccer practices a week, and a game every Saturday. Caleb also ended up with a double ear infection due to allergies, and woke up two nights in a row screaming about being in pain. He is taking daily allergy medication for the rest of spring. Austin and I learned not to have pillow fights with Joseph anymore, as he injured both of us during a pillow fight (actually he was using couch cushions) He accidentally hit me in the temple with his fist, while trying to hit me with the couch cushion. And he hit Austin over the head with one, and she fell to the ground, and ended up with terrible headaches for two days. Caleb and Malachi each had falls getting big bumps on their heads too, Malachi fell off the swing in the backyard, and Caleb tripped in the kitchen, hitting his head on the corner of the wall.
I feel like I live in a circus. Joseph didn't come home after school like he was supposed to, and called my right when I was getting dinner on the table. I asked the girls if they could watch Malachi and Caleb, while I picked up Joe, but they said "no" since they had already watched them while I went to the grocery store. So, I put all three little boys into the car. Since it was dinner time, they kept complaining about how hungry they were, and I had some leftover easter chocolates in the car that Austin had made, so I gave them each one of those to eat on the way. When we got to the library, Joseph was supposed to be waiting outside for me, but he wasn't. We waited outside for a few minutes, during which I had to give the boys the rest of the chocolates to keep them happy, and they got chocolate all over themselves. Joseph still hadn't come out, so I parked the car, and got all three little boys out of the car (two who were covered in chocolate) and went in to get Joseph. I tried telling the boys to stay with me and quietly look for Joseph, but as soon as we got inside they ran over to some giant animal displays (that said "do not climb") and started climbing on them. I quickly got them off the animals and they started running around again. I spotted Joseph, and had him help me round them up, and we headed for the door. Right as we got to the door, both little boys bolted for the car, running across the parking lot. I sent Joseph after them, since it is really hard to run after them with the baby, and I figured he be faster, but they got to the car before Joseph. Luckily no cars were coming, but it still made my heart race. Anyway we got home and during dinner, Malachi spilled his milk, while cleaning it up I accidentally knocked over Joseph's milk, to get out of the way he jumped up knocking over his chair. At one point, I was wiping up milk with one hand, holding the baby with the other hand, wiping up milk with a towel with my foot, and then standing on that one foot and using my other foot to shut the door that the wind had blown open.
We had spring break starting the 14th. We tried to get a lot of cleaning done, and have some fun too. I was a little frustrated with how little we were able to get cleaned. I wanted to deep clean every room in the house and get kids switched into different rooms, so I could move Malachi into his own room. But, even though we didn't get everything done, I was able to get Samuel, Joseph, and the girl's room (we got Betsy moved in) deep cleaned in the downstairs. We started work on the kitchen, but never completely finished. We went to sonic one night for dinner, they have an outside playground and volleyball court to play on, so we ordered dinner outside and played in the sand and playground area. As we were finishing up, several other chaplain families showed up and we had a great time talking with them, and the kids played well together, we ended up staying two hours! Another time we made an outside chalk board game on our driveway, and had fun playing with that. We went on several walks to the park and even though I tried making it a no t.v. week, that only lasted until Friday. We played lots of board and card games though, and had some fun. After spring break week, my Mom was able to come that Sunday, and stay until Thursday. I loved having my Mom here, she helps me in so many ways. She pruned all my bushes, and helped Austin plant her Salmon berry plants she got her for her birthday. Austin and Betsy had new beginnings, which was fun. Betsy got to go, because she will go into YWs this year, when she turns 12 in August. Austin and the other young women put on a little play with a wizard of oz theme, and Austin was the scarecrow. After Grandma left, Samuel had his pine wood derby in Manhattan, he had a great time, and even though his car didn't do that well, he still enjoyed it. For April fools this year, we didn't do too much, but I did make a german pancake and put it in a pizza box for dinner, for an april fools joke for the kids. Joseph wasn't too happy about it since he loves pizza, but hates german pancake. We started soccer, and Caleb and Samuel have been having two soccer practices a week, and a game every Saturday. Caleb also ended up with a double ear infection due to allergies, and woke up two nights in a row screaming about being in pain. He is taking daily allergy medication for the rest of spring. Austin and I learned not to have pillow fights with Joseph anymore, as he injured both of us during a pillow fight (actually he was using couch cushions) He accidentally hit me in the temple with his fist, while trying to hit me with the couch cushion. And he hit Austin over the head with one, and she fell to the ground, and ended up with terrible headaches for two days. Caleb and Malachi each had falls getting big bumps on their heads too, Malachi fell off the swing in the backyard, and Caleb tripped in the kitchen, hitting his head on the corner of the wall.
I feel like I live in a circus. Joseph didn't come home after school like he was supposed to, and called my right when I was getting dinner on the table. I asked the girls if they could watch Malachi and Caleb, while I picked up Joe, but they said "no" since they had already watched them while I went to the grocery store. So, I put all three little boys into the car. Since it was dinner time, they kept complaining about how hungry they were, and I had some leftover easter chocolates in the car that Austin had made, so I gave them each one of those to eat on the way. When we got to the library, Joseph was supposed to be waiting outside for me, but he wasn't. We waited outside for a few minutes, during which I had to give the boys the rest of the chocolates to keep them happy, and they got chocolate all over themselves. Joseph still hadn't come out, so I parked the car, and got all three little boys out of the car (two who were covered in chocolate) and went in to get Joseph. I tried telling the boys to stay with me and quietly look for Joseph, but as soon as we got inside they ran over to some giant animal displays (that said "do not climb") and started climbing on them. I quickly got them off the animals and they started running around again. I spotted Joseph, and had him help me round them up, and we headed for the door. Right as we got to the door, both little boys bolted for the car, running across the parking lot. I sent Joseph after them, since it is really hard to run after them with the baby, and I figured he be faster, but they got to the car before Joseph. Luckily no cars were coming, but it still made my heart race. Anyway we got home and during dinner, Malachi spilled his milk, while cleaning it up I accidentally knocked over Joseph's milk, to get out of the way he jumped up knocking over his chair. At one point, I was wiping up milk with one hand, holding the baby with the other hand, wiping up milk with a towel with my foot, and then standing on that one foot and using my other foot to shut the door that the wind had blown open.
Malachi ate my contacts!!!! I hadn't put my contacts in yet one day, when Malachi came running in the kitchen and said, while giggling, "I ate your contacts." I said "what?" (thinking I just misheard him) he took me by the hand and pulled me into my bathroom and pointed and said again "I ate your contacts." The lids were still on my case, so I thought he was just confused. But, sure enough, when I opened up the case, both contacts and the liquid was missing, I looked at Malachi and he said, "Malachi, where are my contacts?" He pointed to his mouth, and said "I drank them." Seriously!! He opened up my case, drank my contacts, and then put both the lids back on, and put my case back right where I had them. I was telling Travis about this, and complaining about how expensive they are, and he said to just watch for them to come out the other end, and then wash them off, and keep using them.That is totally gross, and I'm definitely not doing that! Anyway five minutes later, I discovered Malachi brushing his butt with my electric toothbrush. Luckily I have extra toothbrush heads, and could just replace the head. The next day I caught Malachi drinking my contacts again, and managed to stop him before he ate the second one. I am now locking up my contacts and toothbrush in my closet.
I am blessed to have such a sweet 5 year old boy. Caleb rinsed off the dishes, while Betsy was at school (climbed on top of the sink and with one foot on each side of the sink, squatted down and scrubbed all the dishes in the sink, climbed down, and then said "man, that was hard work, but it was worth it because I love Betsy, and it will make her happy that I have done her job for her"). He also made my bed, and said he made it extra flat, because he loves me so much, he wouldn't want me to have a lumpy bed. He also hugged Malachi when he fell and bumped his nose, kissed it better, and brought him a pillow and a blanket. He helped me make pretzel bites and then separated them into piles for all the kids, so that everyone would get some, and gave me the biggest one, and said that I deserved the biggest one, because I am the best! We were in the car, and Caleb told me how much he loves the whole earth, and how much he loves all the colors, and how he wants to thank God for the earth and the colors, so I tell him to pray, and he says the sweetest little prayer, and the whole car fills with the spirit, and I feel it so strong, I am crying. Such a sweet, sweet, boy. These are just a few examples of his thoughtfulness and kindness. I am so grateful I get to be his Mother!
So I have been having a lot of trouble with my varicose veins lately, they have become quite painful, causing me constant pain, so I went to my Dr. and she referred my to a vascular surgeon in Wichita, KS (I'm not looking forward to the two hour drive). I have an appointment for May 17th, to see if surgery will help. In the meantime my Dr. gave me a prescription for some compression socks, to try and help until I can get surgery. So I took Caleb, Malachi, and Gideon to the hospital to pick them up. Malachi decided he had to bring his big red truck and had to push it on the ground the whole time. When we got into the hospital he pushed his big, red truck right up to the front desk, and stood on top of it, to say hello to the ladies there. His little eyes barely looked over the counter, and the ladies thought he was quite adorable. They directed us to the brace shop, where I could pick up my compression socks and we made our way through the hospital, with Malachi noisily pushing his big red truck the whole way. When we got to the brace shop, I realized the prescription I had in my pocket was missing, and I knew it was in my pocket in the elevator, so we rushed back to find it, and someone found it in the elevator and was coming to turn it in to the brace shop so we lucked out, and I took it back. The gentleman at the brace shop helped me get my compression socks quite quickly, I believe my little boys were too noisy for him. Anyway, we made it back to the car, with Malachi pushing his truck and saying hello to people the whole way. We drove to Manhattan, and went to the Varsity Donut shop for a Chaplain spouse meeting. We didn't get to park very close, and they were busy streets. So, I held Gideon, while Caleb and Malachi held hands, and Caleb held onto my jacket while we walked to the donut shop. The donut shop had this huge wall that was covered in chalkboard paint, and they had little buckets of sidewalk chalk to use to color on the wall. After the boys ate their donuts, they had great fun coloring all over this wall. They kept running back and forth all along the wall, and ended up getting covered in chalk dust from head to toe. There was a nice, black man who took quite an interest in my three cute little boys, and kept asking Malachi and Caleb for high fives. They gave this man high fives and every time they did they would leave their little chalk handprint on this man's hand (it showed up really nicely on his brown skin). Anyway, Caleb kept rubbing his face and eyes, and was getting chalk dust in his eyes, so he went to the bathroom to wash it off, and only ended up making it worse, so I decided it was time to leave, especially since I wasn't able to pay attention to the meeting I was supposed to be at, because I was too busy chasing my little boys around. So I said it was time to go, and Malachi took off running out of the shop, with Caleb right on his heels. I quickly grabbed our things, and said goodbye as I ran after the boys. I caught them before they ran into the street and had them grab my jacket while they held hands again, and we made it back to the car. I fed the baby, and then we went to a grocery store called Aldis, after I cleaned the boys off as best as I could with wet wipes. I carried Gideon, with Malachi in the shopping cart, and Caleb helping me grab all the things we wanted from the grocery store, filling our cart to the max. We checked out, but the lady couldn't fit everything back into our cart, so she filled up two carts. They didn't have anyone available to help me, so Caleb pushed one cart in front of me, and I held Gideon and pulled the other shopping cart behind me, while stopping and steering Caleb's shopping cart with my foot. We looked like quite the spectacle, but we managed to make it out to the car without any crashes. Caleb and Malachi each sat in a cart and threw groceries into the back of the car, while I quickly grabbed the things that I didn't want squished. We drove home, and the boys helped me take everything inside, and then I gave them both baths. Whew! That was quite the morning.
So three weeks ago, April 4th, we started Joseph on Concerta (ADHD medication) he really needed some help focusing at school, so we have been trying this. The first week Joseph had trouble sleeping at night, and was constantly hungry, (I had to send a bag full of snacks with him each day). The second week, he started needing to sleep all the time, he missed three days of school, and only made it to seminary once (20 minutes late). He slept almost the entire weekend, only waking a few times to eat. The third week, he started the week out okay, but by Wednesday was having serious trouble waking him up, and starting Thursday he missed school and was sleeping most of the time again, and slept most of the weekend again. I've taken him to the Dr. twice and taken him off his meds. They took his blood and ran some tests and everything came back normal. If he doesn't start acting normal again soon, they will refer him to a neurologist. They can't figure out whats wrong with him, his medication was a stimulant, and shouldn't cause him to sleep, plus he hasn't had any since Wednesday. In the past two weeks he's missed 4 days of school, and church. Last week we managed to plant a small garden, and some blueberry plants, and get the watering system set up for the backyard.
So I have been having a lot of trouble with my varicose veins lately, they have become quite painful, causing me constant pain, so I went to my Dr. and she referred my to a vascular surgeon in Wichita, KS (I'm not looking forward to the two hour drive). I have an appointment for May 17th, to see if surgery will help. In the meantime my Dr. gave me a prescription for some compression socks, to try and help until I can get surgery. So I took Caleb, Malachi, and Gideon to the hospital to pick them up. Malachi decided he had to bring his big red truck and had to push it on the ground the whole time. When we got into the hospital he pushed his big, red truck right up to the front desk, and stood on top of it, to say hello to the ladies there. His little eyes barely looked over the counter, and the ladies thought he was quite adorable. They directed us to the brace shop, where I could pick up my compression socks and we made our way through the hospital, with Malachi noisily pushing his big red truck the whole way. When we got to the brace shop, I realized the prescription I had in my pocket was missing, and I knew it was in my pocket in the elevator, so we rushed back to find it, and someone found it in the elevator and was coming to turn it in to the brace shop so we lucked out, and I took it back. The gentleman at the brace shop helped me get my compression socks quite quickly, I believe my little boys were too noisy for him. Anyway, we made it back to the car, with Malachi pushing his truck and saying hello to people the whole way. We drove to Manhattan, and went to the Varsity Donut shop for a Chaplain spouse meeting. We didn't get to park very close, and they were busy streets. So, I held Gideon, while Caleb and Malachi held hands, and Caleb held onto my jacket while we walked to the donut shop. The donut shop had this huge wall that was covered in chalkboard paint, and they had little buckets of sidewalk chalk to use to color on the wall. After the boys ate their donuts, they had great fun coloring all over this wall. They kept running back and forth all along the wall, and ended up getting covered in chalk dust from head to toe. There was a nice, black man who took quite an interest in my three cute little boys, and kept asking Malachi and Caleb for high fives. They gave this man high fives and every time they did they would leave their little chalk handprint on this man's hand (it showed up really nicely on his brown skin). Anyway, Caleb kept rubbing his face and eyes, and was getting chalk dust in his eyes, so he went to the bathroom to wash it off, and only ended up making it worse, so I decided it was time to leave, especially since I wasn't able to pay attention to the meeting I was supposed to be at, because I was too busy chasing my little boys around. So I said it was time to go, and Malachi took off running out of the shop, with Caleb right on his heels. I quickly grabbed our things, and said goodbye as I ran after the boys. I caught them before they ran into the street and had them grab my jacket while they held hands again, and we made it back to the car. I fed the baby, and then we went to a grocery store called Aldis, after I cleaned the boys off as best as I could with wet wipes. I carried Gideon, with Malachi in the shopping cart, and Caleb helping me grab all the things we wanted from the grocery store, filling our cart to the max. We checked out, but the lady couldn't fit everything back into our cart, so she filled up two carts. They didn't have anyone available to help me, so Caleb pushed one cart in front of me, and I held Gideon and pulled the other shopping cart behind me, while stopping and steering Caleb's shopping cart with my foot. We looked like quite the spectacle, but we managed to make it out to the car without any crashes. Caleb and Malachi each sat in a cart and threw groceries into the back of the car, while I quickly grabbed the things that I didn't want squished. We drove home, and the boys helped me take everything inside, and then I gave them both baths. Whew! That was quite the morning.
So three weeks ago, April 4th, we started Joseph on Concerta (ADHD medication) he really needed some help focusing at school, so we have been trying this. The first week Joseph had trouble sleeping at night, and was constantly hungry, (I had to send a bag full of snacks with him each day). The second week, he started needing to sleep all the time, he missed three days of school, and only made it to seminary once (20 minutes late). He slept almost the entire weekend, only waking a few times to eat. The third week, he started the week out okay, but by Wednesday was having serious trouble waking him up, and starting Thursday he missed school and was sleeping most of the time again, and slept most of the weekend again. I've taken him to the Dr. twice and taken him off his meds. They took his blood and ran some tests and everything came back normal. If he doesn't start acting normal again soon, they will refer him to a neurologist. They can't figure out whats wrong with him, his medication was a stimulant, and shouldn't cause him to sleep, plus he hasn't had any since Wednesday. In the past two weeks he's missed 4 days of school, and church. Last week we managed to plant a small garden, and some blueberry plants, and get the watering system set up for the backyard.
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