The Weekend

This past weekend was a blast... and a whirlwind.

We were able to go to Luke's (Olivia's sons) birthday party.  This is the first time we have lived close enough to be able to go. 

Is Olivia not amazing!  She can decorate a cake beautifully!

Happy Birthday Luke!

We stayed an extra 30 minutes or so after the official party was over.

Since we were heading down that way, we just made a weekend out of it and stayed with my parents Friday and Saturday night.  Just so happened that Zach and his family were coming down that weekend as well.

Queenie took the big boys to the movies to see "Mr. Peabody and Sherman".... cute movie.  We then met up with the babies and other adults at Pizza Hut for dinner.

Touchdown Ashton!

Uncle Zach finished up the football game



Baby cousin love with "Aunt" Abby.

Shep's favorite thing... building a mega track with some assistance from Caelum.

By Sunday, Hunter was needing some alone time and hid with the ipad while he watched a movie.

4 boys in a tub.

The boys, needless to say, were so excited that they got to spend some time with friends and cousins!

A just a couple of extra baby pics.  

Is she not just the prettiest?!?! I mean, look at that dimple.  Plus, she is a really happy baby too. 

 

 

 

 

 

Tried to get a cute picture of my handsome little man, but he was far too busy being outside to pay the camera any attention.  Look at the bruise on his head. 

  

 It was a great weekend.  Thanks mom and dad for having all of us.  It was kid-filled fun!

3000 dollar entertainment

There is always a silver lining... always... right?

My silver lining today was getting to watch Bennett and Shepherd be totally amazed by the diggers in the yard. I also had been trying to decide if I should get rid of some of the shrubbery.  Looks like that question was answered today with an emphatic "yes"!


Loving the show

 As I mentioned last post, we have had to have our septic tank pumped 4 time since December to the tune of $165 a pop.  For those that don't know anything about septic tanks... THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!  Pumping a septic tank might normally need to be done once every 5 years... maybe if you are ultra conservative.  So, we knew there was quite a problem by the 2nd pump.

Bennett still mesmerized with all the movement and equipment.  I have a feeling his tractor book is going to take on a whole new meaning to him.

I have been so excited to get our tax money back so that I could get wood laminate/ wood floors in the den/ living room/ dining room.  Well that came to a screeching halt today.

At first we thought we could get out fixing it for $1000.  This put a slight hurt on my floor budget but I thought I could downgrade a bit and still come out ok.  Then, we got the estimate of $2500 which then took my outlook to maybe I can just do the den this year and finish the rest next year.  Then, after they started they ran into some "unforeseen" problems such of the roots of the shrubbery causing the blockage and all the shrubs along the front of the fence needing to come out... which took my final cost to $3000 and a farewell wave to my floors!



Even more amazing up and close and personal.

We had all kinds of speculations as to why our tank kept filling up with water.  The man who pumped it kept telling us, "water is just rushing right back in after I pump it out."  Some of the speculations were 1) it has just been so rainy the last two seasons that the ground is saturated.  2)  There are not enough of drain lines/ fields for the amount of people now living in the house.  3) Tree roots are in the lines and blocking the water.

Getting started... I had no idea that this was actually a small hole.

The winner was the roots.... as I mentioned above.  The line of mature shrubs along the fence had grown into a tangled rooty mess under ground and had totally blocked 2 of the lines causing back ups in the house. 


I don't know if you can fully appreciate the scope of this trench.  It was insanely ginormous! 

To say I am bummed is an understatement.  But, my bum's needs ruled and we now have a working septic system.  YIPPEE!   : /  

I am now looking up the number to Stanley Steamer (get carpets cleaner) 

When You Are Coverd in It...

We have all had them... a string of days that are just laden with sickness.

Well, we had our string of days... where, in short, we were covered in crap.... and vomit.

Let's back up to Thursday when on our way home from school I hear the dreaded noise of throw up.  Turn around and Shepherd has soaked his clothes, his carseat, and the car mats.  Get him home, clean him up, and he falls asleep.

We had plans to meet up with friends at the zoo on Friday.  By Friday morning, he was back to normal so I let Jodi know and I yanked the boys out of school at 10 for a half day hookie day. 

Here are just a few pics from our fun day with our buddies.

What a group!  :)

4 of the 6... this was the first time Bennett really enjoyed the animals... and Karson was all in mommy  mode (look at the hip stuck out!)

Bennett enjoying himself and Karson ride there with him

I chuckled over this picture... Hunter and Karson look so grown up here.

No one got sick, everything was great... or so we thought. (Jodi, I sooo hope we did not give this to you guys!)

4 am Saturday morning- Hunter goes down.... throw up and diarrhea.  This continues all day.  His final count was 14 times throwing up with the last time being at 11 pm Saturday.  Chad was gone to a strength meet and gets sick with the same symptoms as Hunter.  He gets home Saturday afternoon and crashes with Hunter.  Bennett throws up once around dinner time on Saturday... and like Shepherd, he is one and done.

About 8 pm Saturday our septic tank starts acting up... again.  I don't think I have mentioned it but we have had some major issues with the drain field/ tank in this house. Like, it has been pumped 4 times since the beginning of December.  Basically, it just continues to fill up with water from the ground.  It is quite a mess.  Thankfully, the sickness was basically over by the time we could no longer flush toilets, do laundry, give baths, etc.  We got it pumped again this morning and finally have someone coming out to add additional drain fields or a pit to the system.

Can you even imagine how absolutely horrid it would have been if the septic tank would have messed up even 6 hours earlier.  I cant even think about it!

Bless Chad's heart, he thought he could give us a bit more time on the tank by getting a bucket and hauling poop/ pee water from the overflowing septic tank to the ditch.  He spent about 2 hours (remember he was still getting over the stomach bug from the day before) hauling.  Just a side note, I told him what he was doing was not working an hour and a half earlier.

But, here we are.  All healthy... hopefully.  Ashton and I escaped it... hopefully.  We can flush our toilets... thankfully!  I did 4 loads of laundry, two loads in the dishwasher and scrubbed toilets and showers. 

Morale to the story.... thank God when you flush... that you can flush!

EDIT:  Spoke too soon.  At this point, I have it too (so far not as bad as Hunt and Chad). Again, I will say... thank God for flushing toilets! :-/

Silver Lining Ear Infection and Happenings

Bennett has been waking up crying around 11 every night.  I noticed tugging at the ear and Chad said that when he got him the other night Bennett crammed his ear into Chad's chest.  So, we both figured it was an ear infection.  Off to G-ville we went yesterday.

Another hint that he had an ear infection... fast asleep sitting up before I could give him lunch

Sure enough, that stubborn right of his was infected again.  The silver lining part is that we got to meet up with Olivia and two of her boys after the doctor.  I am so happy that they moved so close to us! 

Some other happenings around here....

Shepherd got kicked in the face at church.  I guess he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and a kid was swinging and Shep walked right into it.  It left a sizable bruise on his face as well as a scab on his eyelid.  He really is quite fortunate it didn't hit his nose as I think it would have broken it.   We took away the Mario game on the Wii because #2 and #3 were constantly fighting when they got to play on the weekend... this means that Shepherd has been all about coloring again.  I swear that wii is a curse!

 

 

Pictures of Shepherd's lost battle with a manned swing.... also, notice his hair cut.  Got a good bit cut of on Monday.  I get nervous going to Great Clips but they did a really good job!  Such a handsome, goofy kid!

 

 

The bruise actually looks worse in person.... actually so does the eye.

Bennett continues to be a little daredevil and is quite the climber.  He can climb up the playground by himself now.  I caught him standing on top of the table in Ash and Shep's room the other day.  He is a pistol but is such a funny little thing.  He has fallen and busted his lip the past two evenings.  He constantly has a bruise on his forehead.  His current forehead bruise looks a 3" scratch but is actually a bruise.  He is a ball of fire.
Another Bennett funny is I finally think I know how he says "mommy."  I need to try and record because it is the most awful, whiny noise ever.  He does this when he is looking for me....  "awwweeeeeeeeeee."  Imagine a high shrill when you say it.  Of course he says "dada" perfectly clear and sweet. 

Climbed from the chair to the table                                                           Climbed onto the dishwasher




Hunter - As I was cleaning out the van today, I see this note in the car.

 In case you can't read it, it says.
Dear Mom,

 

I need to watch Mr. Peabody and Sherman because I will learn about Africa.  Also, I will get smarter.
Love your T.V. watcher,
Hunter

 

  I guess Hunter had to write a persuasive letter at school.  Isnt it adorable?  And don't judge his penmanship... I know it is awful!



Ashton has been a really good as of late.  He wrote my dad a great birthday card.  He is such a gift giver.  I guess the best recent story on him is while playing soccer during recess, a boy from another class was about to push a friend of his who is a girl.  Ashton stepped in front of her and the boy pushed Ashton and knocked him over.  Ashton did exactly the right thing and just hopped up and kept playing.  I was quite proud of him not only standing up for a friend but not letting obnoxious kid get under his skin.

And I am just so thankful spring is right around the corner. 

Happy weekend!

Painting a Fence

So many lessons can be gleaned from painting a fence.

On first glance, the picket fence around the front part of our house is white.  It is not until further inspection that you see the real filth of it.  Oh how symbolic of life.  Unlike with life, a quick paint job can cover up the filth and that is just what I set out to do.


Look how dirty the fence was.  yuk

I did the first half of the fence by myself... it was a longish process and was becoming quite monotonous especially for my nearly 6 foot frame.. up, down, up, down.  After being banned from playing on the Wii, the middle two wanted to help me.  Knowing no harm could come from them splashing paint on grass and pine needles... much to their delight and shock, I told them yes (not overly convinced it would speed up the process but thought it might cut out the fighting for a spell.)

Ashton took his job quite seriously

Pleasantly surprised is what you can call me when I look over their work and realize that I barely have to go over it.  Even more pleasantly surprised, they kept working when I was done.  Once my gallon of paint was out, I put my brush up.  Shepherd asked for just plain white (I was using Swiss Coffee which turns out is basically white), so I gave the paint to him and Ashton and let them finish the last section. 

All finished... the light hides much of the paint on his little body.

Shepherd talked the whole time how he loved painting. He said, "God made paint."  Ashton corrected him with, "no Shepherd, chosen men did."

Oh the mouth of a 4 and 6 year old... they probably don't truly understand the depth of their words- the truth of their words.


We serve a God who does the choosing.  It is all Him.  I find such comfort in knowing that my kids, my family are protected because He does the choosing.  I fully trust that my kids are covered in the blood of the Lamb because He chose to give them eternal life.... He chose to pluck them out of a life headed for hell.  I fully believe they are... as Ashton phrased... chosen men.

The painting crew.  You can not tell how paint covered we are but trust me when I say it was in hair,  on hands, bellies, shoes, and arms.  :)

We were dogsitting our nephew dog, Riggs this weekend and he had a mishap in the paint... it was MUCH worse the day before.... his ear and tail and left eye bore the brunt of it.

As we finished up, I notice that the dirt is gone.  Only bright white (or swiss coffee) shows up.  I realize the scale to which God looks at me.  I mean, if I am proud over my fence - with its sloppy paint job, I can only imagine that way He looks at me... one of His chosen.

A picture of being washed/ painted "white as snow."

Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV

 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved 

 

Fiction Books...

As I have mentioned a couple times in the last few months, I love to read.  Winter months, especially winter months with a baby who likes to limit my projects, have given the opportunity read.  I thought I would break it up into two posts.

First up... fiction books.  Let's just state for the record that I LOVE a good fiction book and I am quite happy that I have read a few good ones recently.... as well as some average ones.

Here is a recap of my recent fiction reads.  I even gave them a rating for you!  haha. You are Welcome! : )

1-  Catching Fire     and   2-   Mockingjay  by Suzanne Collins
Rate- 9
I love Hunger Games and read it a year or two ago.  I finally got around to reading the sequels and I must say that they did not disappoint.  Often, sequels leave me dissatisfied but I thought both Catching Fire and Mockingjay were great follow ups to the Hunger Games.

I am actually awaiting the release of the DVD tomorrow and will be stalking redbox to try and get it as I never had the time to see it in the theatre.  I know practically everyone has read these books, but if you haven't... read them.  Very good!

3- Divergent  by Veronica Roth
Rate- 7
Along the same lines as The Hunger Game books is Divergent.  It is also a triology and is also what I would call fantasy/ sci fi.  I have not read books 2 and 3 yet.  I would give Hunger Games trilogy 10 stars, Divergent would be somewhere between a 7 and 8.  Not that I find Hunger Games realistic but Divergent left me with too many holes.  However, I did like it and want to see the movie when it comes out later this month if for no other reason than to see how the pictures in my head match the movie.

4- The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
Rate- 7
I don't swoon over Nicholas Sparks as other woman do however I do think most of his books are pretty good... a little sappy and melodramatic... but good.  The Longest Ride is different than his other books.  It is slower, not necessarily in a bad way but I am glad that I was warned by my mother-in-law before I started reading it.

This book goes back and forth between two different story lines which he did a good job of separating.  It was not hard to keep up with it.  The ending, honestly, was pretty predictable, but it had a nice tidy ending.

5- Downfall  by Terri Blackstock
Rate- 6
I read a handful of this author's books when I was in college.  Last time we went to the library, I was on the quest to find a good book to read during the snow storm.  Enter fussy baby who was not going to let me browse so I grabbed the last of Blackstock's Intervention series.  I had the read the previous two a long time ago. 
This series is about a young woman with a drug problem and her struggle to get free of drugs. Downfall deals with the main character is now drug free but has a killer after her.  This author does Christian fiction so the message is positive and the action is not hard core. 

6- Bleachers by John Grisham
Rate- 4
This was another quick library grab.  I have always loved Grisham's books and when I saw Bleachers, I thought it would be a quick read as it was a bit smaller than some of his other novels.  Turns out, it was not very good.  I told Chad he would probably like it as it about a bunch of ex high school football players remembering their "glory" days while their coach is on his death bed.  Maybe guys would be more inclined to enjoy this than the ladies...

6- The Lego Movie book 
Rate- 8
Like most parents, I want my kids to love books.  So, I bought the junior novel to The Lego Movie and told them once I finished reading it to them then we would go the movies and watch it (thanks Uncle Nolan for the movie tickets for Christmas).  I must admit that the book kept a couple surprises for the audience, but overall the boys (especially Hunter and Ashton) loved reading the book together.  And we all enjoyed comparing the book to the movie afterwards.
***Anna, I have had your boy's birthday presents sitting in my laundry room for over a month now... and we got Owen a copy of this book... I really need to mail you this stuff. : /

7- The Mysterious Benedict Society trilogy by Trenton Lee Stewart
Rate- 10
Here is a gem!  I just recently came across The Mysterious Benedict Society books and I am so glad I did.  Though written for a younger audience (10-13 probably), I adore these books.  I am reading the first one to Hunter now.  I have already the 3 in the series.  There is also a prequel to the series that I will read soon.  The cover is just charming and story is fantastic.

Basically it is about 4 gifted, orphaned kids who are recruited for a secret mission.

______________________________________________________________

I have read some good devotional books and non fiction recently too.  I will post those soon. 

And if you have read something recently, let me know.  I am always looking for good books.  I know a bunch of people read the blog but never comment, so message on facebook or email me with suggestions if you cant figure out how to comment or don't want to comment.

Have a great Friday.

I Never Thought I Would.

Almost 7 years ago- when I was pregnant with Ashton- I joined an online group for other ladies who were due in October 2007.  It was just a casual place to post questions or have little discussions about pregnancy. I clicked with a handful of the women on the board.  Though we all quit posting on the site years ago, we do have a group on facebook where we all keep in touch. 

Oddly enough, about 5 years ago, one of the girls from the November 2007 board recognized me... we went to middle school together.  She then informed me that one of the girls on my board went to the same Christian school and was 3 years older than me. SMALL WORLD!  I dug in my yearbooks and sure enough I totally recognized her (Jill).

Because of that connection, I was able to connect with a bunch of people I went to middle school with... which is pretty cool when you are military brat and moved around every few years. 

Long story short... I had the privilege to meet up with 3 of these women on Saturday. 

I hopped in the car and drove 3 hours for a long overdue lunch date.   It is still crazy to me that i have "known" these girls for almost 7 years!  



L to R- Nicole, Charlotte (Jills baby), Jill (this is the one I went to school with), me, and Michelle. 




Chad took the boys down to his parents for the day where they celebrated Grandma's birthday and tried out the new swing that PapaHub put in over the creek.

You can tell by Bennett's face that he is ready for the ice cream cake.

Taking turns on the creek swing.

It was fun and I am so glad we were able to do it.  It felt natural and the conversation was easy.

I thought all this driving meant I deserved to have my own... like NO sharing with kids.... cookies and cream milkshake from CFA!  Can you say yum?  I also thought, I needed to do my first selfie of only me.  haha

Besides the meet up, it was nice to half 6 hours of just me, the road, and the radio.  Another perk was I got to drop in on my Aunt who lives 20 minutes from the place we ate lunch and then dropped in on Nolan and Riggs on my way back home.

So though I never thought I would meet up with what Chad calls my "online friends" or my "pretend" friends, I am so glad that I did.  I feel like a real blogger now that I checked off "meet up with online people" from my checklist!