Happy Birthday

Dan's Birthday was on Thursday!

I am very thankful for him!

Little Things

I've been feeling rather under appreciated lately and then I am reminded that I matter in little ways:

A mom at work thanked me for writing a simple note on a daily sheet reminding her about a sack lunch being needed.  She would have forgotten otherwise but my note helped her and made her day smoother.

My daughter is on spring break this week and wanted to help mom out by working at preparing dinner for the family.  I helped some but she did quite a lot of it...and it was good!  Thanks to the firstborn for her help tonight!  I appreciate our wanting to help me by doing something I normally do!

The husband made the bed for me, I had taken off the sheets this morning and hadn't yet made the bed and he helped me out by putting the fresh sheet on, new pillowcases, and other things just because he loves me!  I'm looking forward to sleeping in a clean bed tonight.

The toddler is growing up, I can now peek in his classroom and see him throughout the day and he doesn't cry when I leave.  He knows that I am in the building and that I will come and get him when I am done with work and the teachers he is with take good care of him.  It makes the day move much more smoothly.

The 10 year old is going to make a cake tonight,  I am thankful that the kids are learning how to do more and more things and do them well.  I will have to help him but he is capable of doing a lot of it himself!  I'm glad he is growing and maturing.

Valentines Day

It has been a week for us.

We have been so busy, so everywhere, so focused on Valentines Day.

Valentines Day....I used to dislike this holiday. I've never been a mushy gushy person.  Don't get me wrong, I feel love, I just don't need Valentines Day to show love to people.

However, this year I embraced my inner Valentines...I put more thought into it and decided to bless Dan in the process.

He knows I love him, I know he loves me.

We do forget to do nice things for each other sometimes so we decided to put thought into our love and show each other love this month.

In honor of  Valentines Day I made him cheesecake...homemade, not from a box, water-bath baked cheesecake.

I've never made cheesecake before...see I don't really like it.  It's okay, but not my favorite.

 

 However, I've recently joined Pinterest, and I found these cute conversation heart cheesecakes and I totally thought I am going to make these for him...so I did and they tasted great, but I couldn't get them out of the pans so they technically were a fail.

I also pulled a Supermom, Superteacher moment and baked full size blueberry muffins for my class and mini muffins for the toddlers class.  I really felt domestic...but we did have to eat McDonalds in order for me to have time to do all these things...I do work you know.

We both worked on V-day and so I crocked pot a Pot Roast for dinner and we enjoyed a quiet evening together on the couch catching up on shows on our DVR...my kind of night.  

On another note, we have found a way to keep the toddler busy...YOUTUBE...especially the yogabbagabba channel...he can watch this on the computer and we can watch other non kid TV...he goes back and forth and enjoys it so I am using it for the moment...

Plus for me....See's Candy....only the best candy in the world...my favorite for Valentines Day!  Thanks dear for the present!  Love ya!

It's the Little Things...

you take for granted until they don't work and then they become a big thing. 

For example a dryer.  A working dryer none the less.  My dryer stopped working abruptly a few weeks ago, I opened the door and there was a flash of green light and then all of a sudden it wouldn't start.  I got upset, I frantically called Dan as if talking to him would magically fix it, I got angry, I got frustrated...I was going to laundry by golly and this wasn't in my plan...and I had wet stuff in the washer too boot!

Well, long story short, the dryer is now working again.  It was the door switch and Dan and I were able to fix it ourselves.  We also only had to go to the laundry mat once in the meantime and I was able to stay ahead of the laundry by hanging some of it on lines in the basement.

So today I am thankful for my working dryer, I am very grateful for air dried towels that are more fluffy than line dried ones that  are very crunchy and I am happy we were able to fix it ourselves!

A Tale of 2 Sickies

It was the month of August, year 2012.  The children had had a wonderful summer full of fun, swimming, and other merriment.  School was upon us, the youngest starting his very first school at the tender age of 1.  The older 2 starting a week or so later.  The first day back for the big ones.   It was a challenging morning but not terrible, we got to school, we made it okay....Mom had arranged for a switch of schedule and all was good until that afternoon.  Sickness struck!  The poor young toddler had a fever, a high fever of 102 degrees.  We thought and pondered...Is it teeth?  A delayed reaction to a vaccination?  What could it be.  The mother decided that we needed the next day to figure it out so she called in sick.  The night was long, the baby didn't sleep well, so neither did Mama.  The next day, the child refused to eat, was cranky and what is this??  Foul discharge from one ear...this did not bode well and so the mother called the father who came home from work and off they went to the doctor.  The doctor confirmed, there is something amiss in the ear, he feared that an item had gotten stuck inside.....not risking making it worse he sent the couple and son off to the ENT....a specialist to help with the ear....an hour later they were seen by the ENT who determined that the item in the ear was nothing more than dead skin cells, puss and other grossness which she was able to suction out.  So the child was on an antibotic and within 2 days feeling much better.

Time passed, life returned to normal.  The eldest child, a girl, was wrapped up in fun and excitement with friends, spending multiple nights away from home.  Upon returning from her second night away she complained of pain in the throat and of a headache that was problematic.  We thought nothing of it, she's tired, there were dogs in the residence of friends, it's probably nothing and she slept the afternoon away.  Upon waking and getting ready for an evening of worship and praise at church she complained of not feeling good.  The mother kissed her forehead and thought she felt warm.  A taking of the temperature revealed that yes the daughter had a fever.  She remained home and rested hoping beyond hope that she would be able to attend school the next day.  Alas, the morning sprung and she was found to still be with fever and her throat was exceptionally sore.  She remained home from school for the day and once the father returned home they ventured off to the Dr. to see if there was something more serious going on.  Its true, it is more serious a case of Strep Throat.  So the daughter is also on an antibiotic and looking forward to feeling much better.

Now the question is...will the middle child join the youngest and the eldest and make this a tale of 3 sickies?

A Good Day

Happy Anniversary to Us!  We have made it to this lucky number!

 It's hard to believe that we have been married for 13 years!  Sometimes it feels like we were getting married yesterday and othertimes it feels like we have been married forever!  This year for our anniversary we decided to spend the day together, just us, no kid!  YEAH!!!  Been quite awhile since we have done that.  Janea and Jaron are busy with Summer School and Jayden already goes to the sitter's everyday so it was a no brainer...Dan and I each took the day off and we just hung out!  I love getting to do that!  We decided it made more since to celebrate on the day before our anniversary since it's a Tuesday this year and it would be weird to work a day, take off a day and then work the rest of the week.  So we enjoyed a 3 day weekend.

Our day was full of delightful things like going to...

 If you have kids you know that a bookstore is not a fun place to be with children who do not read for longer than 15-20 minutes.  Dan and I enjoyed looking at books in a wide variety of sections, wishing we had more money to spend on books, and actually being able to read backs and covers without fear of what the kids might do.  We were in the store for over an hour and had a delightful time!  We only spent 15 dollars but we had a nice relaxing time in the bookstore...I love bookstores!

We then went and saw a movie.  Yes we saw a movie that was probably kid appropriate but so much more enjoyable without children.  Plus, I had a gift card from a student, it was an early morning matinee so it was FREE!!!!  I love FREE!!!  We enjoyed seeing Men in Black III and would recommend it to others.

After the movie we went and enjoyed fajitas at one of our favorite restaurants.

 YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I am super happy and blessed to be married to a great guy and looking forward to many more years and fun times together!

Thank you Dear

Thursday and Fridays are my later days at work and Dan is in charge of picking up the baby and helping with dinner.

Tonight I came home to cooked food, a slightly cranky baby and happy big kids.

Thanks Dan!

Top 5 on Friday

1.  I have 3 great kids who make me smile, laugh and love.  I'm thankful for a little boy who will stop and fold his hands to pray for mommy before he goes to school!

2.  Great friends who are an encouragement.

3.  A husband who works so hard to support the family even when he isn't feeling really good...thankful he has a 3 day weekend to continue to feel better.

4.  The growth process of waiting for places to call and offer or not offer jobs...I'm not great at waiting.

5.  That we have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and air conditioning in our home...there are a lot of people not as fortunate as we are.

Happy Father's Day!!!

 Happy Father's Day to my Loving Husband and the Father of my Kiddos!  We love you!

Happy Birthday Dan!

I love you and appreciate all you do for me and the family.  I pray you are blessed with many more years and many years of good health!  The kids and I appreciate you!  Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Showers of Blessings

Note: pictures will be added later...the camera is packed in the hospital bag and I am not unpacking it and forgetting it if I go into labor!

My church was so generous and had a lovely baby shower for me last Thursday night. We had given away or gotten rid of most if not all of our baby stuff in the past 4-5 years as we had thought that we were done with having babies. Well, surprise surprise...here we are pregnant with basically nothing left. I had a few odds and ends but nothing substantial. The church normally only has showers for first babies but since I was starting over they had one for me. The ladies of my church are such an encouragement. Now baby has towels, sheets, blankets, bowls, spoons and quite a few cute little outfits. We were also blessed with gift cards and such and that has been a blessing with getting a crib mattress and other odds and ends that you don't think about registering for!

Dan's work also had a shower for him! He called me Friday on his way home from work and said that they had a shower for him! We received lots of diapers and wipes...I'm well stocked up on newborn size and size 1! Some cute clothes and two cute teddy bears. They also gave us a few gift cards and all the extra help has been a blessing.

We are feeling loved and supported by friends and coworkers and are ready to meet this little person. I'm hoping he comes this week...I'm much more uncomfortable and so ready to meet our little guy! Thank you to everyone who help to make us feel so loved and we are totally blown away by your generosity!

Love is...

Taking turns sleeping in the uncomfortable spot so your spouse gets a decent night sleep.

Putting dinner in the oven so that we eat earlier.

Making sure your spouse has nice clean clothes for work.

Being aware of the emotional needs of the other even if it seems irrational to you.

Driving to the ghetto to find that deal that you have researched online...when you don't really want to.

Harder sometimes to fathom and easier other times to express

Quality Time

Dan and I don't get a ton of quality alone time...and even now when we are alone there is technically a child with us! Well, last night we got to enjoy an evening meal alone without the kids...it was nice! Plus we had a date night on Sunday so we are enjoying getting to hang out together more!

I got off work yesterday at 6:26 and proceed to call home like a do every day. Wednesday's are AWANA night and our Financial Peace class is now over so we don't have anything to do while the kiddos are at AWANA. So I told Dan tht I was starving and we should go get a bite to eat after he drops the kids off..and we did. Nothing fancy...Taco Bueno...but good food and the ability to talk through our day and enjoy each other's company without the kids.

After eating he dropped me back off at church(where I left my car) and I hung out and chatted with friends until AWANA was over...and we were home by 8:35! Worked out great! Eating a meal where I wasn't rushed recharged my batteries a little bit too! I slept like a log last night!

The Little Things

The little things make me happy!

Dan got my garage door opener programmed last night...poor guy was in the freezing cold garage with just a little space heater perched on a stepstool and when he finally got it to work the heater and the garage door opener on at the same time caused the fuse to blow! So he was then cold, with the door slightly up, on a stool in the dark! Poor thing...we got the lights back on and it WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!

This morning, my work pants were still in the dryer...I had washed them last night but ran out of time to get them in the dryer...and Jaron needed to go to school so I took him in my jammies...and I didn't get out of the car once! It was so nice!

Thank you Dan for fixing the door! I love you!

Awwww...

I got home last night from work and found this....

Dan had found one of my gloves in his car and left me a message....I love you too Honey!

ugh...ugh...ugh...

that's me grunting like a caveman.

I was up for about 2 hours last night with gastrointestinal distress.

I was glad when it passed.

I did get some sleep but I am quite tired this morning.

On a completely different note...
my oldest and youngest seemed to switch places this morning.
Janea was all about getting up and ready and Jaron was being a little slothlike this morning...usually it's the other way around.

I just realized Jaron really isn't the youngest anymore...I'll have to find something different to call him...

Went shopping online for baby bedding...it's stinkin expensive! I don't know what we are going to do...I just know I am not spending a ton on bedding that the kid probably won't even appreciate....just so I can have a cute room for him.

We think we have a name...and I am being outvoted...the kids LOVE it...Dan likes it and I guess I will have to get used to it...Janea and Jaron are already calling him by this name so I guess that's that!

Dan's been sick all weekend...he's been like a hibernating bear...staying indoors, grunting alot, sneezing and coughing...I feel bad for him...he's been kinda out of it this weekend. He's off to work today and I hope he feels okay.

Jaron's better...just a virus I guess...but he did enjoy getting to go to my sonogram with me and my Mom.

Well, the baby is kicking and I just realized I gotta get my lunch ready for work...off I go...

Mornings

Mornings are an interesting time at our house.

During the work week, Dan is the first one up and getting ready for work. He is out the door by 7:00 in the morning...often earlier. I wake up at the same time as him but due to my work schedule I don't have to fight him for the bathroom or anything so I just relax and hang out and get ready for my day. The weekends are different, as I often get up before Dan and he stays in bed longer than me!

Jaron's alarm clock goes off at 6:45...no matter what day of the week. He hasn't figured out yet that you can TURN IT OFF on Saturdays and Sundays! He turns the alarm off and then he is out of bed...often moving to the living room and hanging out there before he gets ready for school or church. He is a morning person I guess...about half an hour after he wakes up he is ready for breakfast! His morning routine is predictable and comfortable for him!

Janea on the other hand...is approaching teendom. She could sleep for a year! I often have to wake her up because she has turned her alarm clock OFF...and rolled over to go back to sleep! She is the one that I have to prompt and prod to get out of the bed...one I have to remind to get dressed and inform that we are leaving sooner than she thinks! It's challenging but I will say that she does get up when told and she hasn't yet missed the bus or anything because of oversleeping!

And then theres me...lately I can't sleep much past 5:45. I am either starving or really needing the bathroom and then I can't fall back asleep! So I am up early these days! I guess its good training for when the baby comes!

Quack, Quack

Hear that quacking?

Right there...here it...I do....what can it be?

That would be the Jonathan's getting all their ducks in a row and starting the process of changing our family tree.

Dan and I(more me but Dan too) made some big mistakes in our 20's regarding our finances. We made bad choices and dug ourselves a pretty big hole. Now we are trying to fix that. We are trying to make better choices and we have enrolled in the Financial Peace University class at our church this semester. We are going to make conscience choices now so that later we can be at peace with our financial situation.

We have a fire lit under us, we have goals in mind. We are looking forward to changing our financial future. It will be hard, there will need to be changes made but I know we can do, we must do it...we need to grow up, make tough decisions and work together to make our life the way we want it.

Pray for us as we go through this process...we probably will need it.

Being Helpful

Every morning since Dan has started on day shift, I help him by making him a nutritious smoothie for breakfast. He seems to enjoy them and I think I have finally perfected my recipe...so here goes...

1. Start with clean blender

2. Add a 1/2 cup of frozen fruit...this morning I used peaches.

3. Add a protein and vitamin supplement...we use Whey protein and Ruby Reds by New Vitality.

4. Add yogurt...we use Vanilla you could use any type...I add 4 large soup spoonfuls

5. Add Flax oil...1-2 Tbsp.

6. Add milk...Dan prefers Soymilk to Cow Milk. I use about a cup and a half

At this stage it doesn't really look too yummy...more like a hodgepodge of stuff.

6. Blend until Smooth

7. Serve and Enjoy!

This smoothie is enough to help Dan get through to lunchtime. It works for us. Cleanup takes no longer than a bowl of cereal and all the parts are dishwasher safe!

Out with Daddy

Dan took the kiddos to get Shaved Ice last night while I was playing Volleyball. Jaron was really worried that I was missing out but Dan assured him I would get my own cold frozen treat on the way home. I did...a frozen coke from Burger King hit the spot after 2 hours of playing volleyball in the sticky Missouri summer evening.