You are here: Home / Archives for family

Update on my mom & Christmas

December 29, 2012

Whew, it’s been quite the whirlwind of activity around our home the past week or so.  I’m sure you are all feeling the after Christmas crash as well.  I know a few of you lucky ducks have still had some pajama days this week and I’m a little jealous.  For those of you who don’t know, my mom, dad, brother and his dog Chico were at our home for Christmas and my mom was scheduled to have heart surgery the day after Christmas.  She had an anomolous heart condition, not even sure what it is called but from what I gather, her artery was in the wrong spot, dumping blood into the wrong side of her heart and when she exerted herself it would get squeezed making her blood pressure drop dangerously.  She was lucky to have found this out as most people with this condition usually just drop dead while exercising or have a heart attack.

Before her surgery we did all the fun Christmas stuff, which at our house is opening presents and eating, of course.  Although my brother thought he should add a little excitement to our holiday by also heading to the hospital.  On the night of the 23rd my dad (who is diabetic) checked my brother’s blood sugar after he kept complaining about how thirsty he was and how he was peeing all the time.  Turns out my brother’s blood sugar was 554 or something ridiculously high like that.  After calling the nurse line he was told to head to the ER.  They decided to admit him for the night and thankfully he was released on Christmas Eve.  He was diagnosed with diabetes and given a prescription for some pills to start and no insulin shots as of yet.  Thankful that he was diagnosed and will be able to get it under control with some medication.

After all that drama I thought I’d share some pics of gift opening and the dog cousin because he was super photogenic and we love him.  I tried a different setting on the camera and the pics didn’t turn out like I had hoped.  Still learning how to use my camera and on a side note, the day after Thanksgiving I purchased the photography 101 video series by Shoot Fly Shoot and can’t wait to start it!  Josh and Kevin are amazing, I loved their session at Haven this summer.

 

This one turned out a tad blurry but loved his facial expression, so eager.

We call this his Senior Picture pose.

Trying to get kids and dogs to look at the camera at the same time is no small feat!

The bub’s was wearing his robe and looking a little like Hugh Hefner.  So when taking his photo he gave me a goofy pose.

I always love a picture of the tree with gifts around it.

The obligatory photo in front of the gifts.

I even bought the hubs a big gift this year.  He loved it but maybe also looks a little frightened about all the new projects we can do with his new table saw.  More to come in a future post for house goals 2013!

Does anyone else have a hard time balancing the photo taking vs being in the moment?  I always start out taking photos but then abandon the camera because I’m oohing and aahing and opening packages, directing who’s next, etc. and then the moments are over and I only have 10 photos and 7 of them are just ok, nothing amazing or blurry and I wish I had more to chose from.  And forget videos, I don’t even know the last time we took video of the kids.  One of my goals for 2013 is more videos and candid photo shots.  On a positive note, I have discovered is I love photographing nature and dogs, although Ruby does not like the camera.  Holding treats by the lens helps if she doesn’t try to jump up and grab it.

My schnauzer loves to be photographed and she has a beautiful face so it works well.  Behind the face is her little sausage body but that’s easy to crop out.  Not that we don’t love her sausage body too but it makes her head look really small in photos.

To end this crazy post, my mom is doing really well.  She is going to be released from the hospital either Saturday or Sunday.  She has had no pain and this surgery required her chest to be cut open.  We are so thankful to have such an amazing medical facility nearby with world renown surgeons!  Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts during this week.  I really appreciate and treasure them all!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and spent time with loved ones!

By 10 Comments Filed Under: family

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

April 8, 2012

Our weekend has been busy to say the least, we dyed some eggs, had a family over for dinner, woke up this morning and did a little egg hunt and then headed off to church.  Soon we’ll be joining our friends for an Easter lunch.  I attempted some pictures out front but the sun was too bright in their eyes and Miss A left her name tag from church on.  This was the most decent photo of the bunch.  They look pretty cute!

This was the last picture I took while Miss E was squinting from the sun, the bubs is making quite the face.

Also, I wanted to share with you my most favorite worship song which is appropriate for this joyous morning!

I hope whatever your plans are today that you have a beautiful day!    HAPPY EASTER!!

By 6 Comments Filed Under: family

Anxiety……and a rough day

February 1, 2012

Today is a different kind of post on the blog. Yesterday was a tough day here. I have mentioned before that our middle daughter who we will call E, struggles with anxiety just like me.
E is a great kid, she has such a soft heart, is so compassionate and is the first kid to give someone in need something of hers.  E is super funny, loves to read comics, is a serious student who is really smart and I think she’s secretly the bub’s favorite sister.

 Isn’t she so beautiful?  I love her smile!

 She has had a  hard time with school ever since she was little, like pre-school age little. She hates being late to anything as she doesn’t want people to look at her when she walks into a room. At one point she wouldn’t eat in restaurants and even had a panic attack while we were eating out. The unwanted attention of large amounts of people on her is something she is worried about. One of her triggers is people throwing up, especially at school. E is quite concerned she will throw up and people will look at her, say things and she will be embarrassed. The worrying manifests itself in the form of stomach aches for her which then make her worry she’s going to throw up which makes the stomach aches worse. This is a vicious cycle and we’ve been dealing with this off and on since she was three years old. Second grade by far was the worst year, she was in the nurse’s office almost every day, she wouldn’t get out of the vehicle to go to school, she would cry every morning and we felt helpless and frustrated. Our pediatrician referred us to a psychologist but it was a very long wait to see her. I sent the paperwork in to the clinic in early March and our fist appointment was in August. After 4 or 5 visits she was doing really well so the psychiatrist felt we didn’t really need to meet anymore. Third grade was much better, it was helpful that our neighbor across the street was her teacher.

When we decided to move, hubs and I were a little nervous how she would do but E was really excited to move. The school year this year so far has been pretty decent, she likes her teacher, she likes her classmates, has friends and is in a gifted reading program. We have had struggles with homework, E expects everything she does to be perfect, once again, just like her me and I hate that. She wants the perfect answer, perfect writing, etc.
Now that the stomach flu season is here, she is back to worrying about throwing up. Almost every morning she tells me her stomach hurts and I have to tell her it’s from worrying.  Yesterday she wouldn’t go to the bus stop, there was lots of yelling and frustration all around along with crying. I decided maybe we needed to go to the doctor and see what they had to say, maybe hearing from a doctor that worrying was causing her stomach to hurt would be more helpful than hearing it from me. We do not have an established doctor here but we got in yesterday and the doctor we saw was ok, I wasn’t wild about him but it could have been worse. He listened to everything we had to say, suggested that maybe E could be suffering from some constipation but the most likely culprit was her anxiety. He then strongly suggested we try some medication.
I am not anti-medication as I know that it can be helpful for people but I think that we are very quick in our society to throw medicine at situations without getting down to the root cause of what is wrong. This is how I feel about anxiety, let’s not mask the problem but figure out what’s going on and causing the problem. Medication along with counseling is something I’m not opposed to but just giving me some medicine to numb my kids mind is not the solution I was looking for. We did have the doctor call in the meds but after we got home and the hubby and I talked some more, we have decided to hold off for now. He prescribed Zolaft for her and I’m not sure I want my daughter on it. I have had a few friends on Zolaft who said they were pretty much numb, they couldn’t be mad, couldn’t be sad, couldn’t be happy, they were just there. I also know that suicidal thoughts and paranoia are side effects of this medication.  I don’t want my child to be some zombie kid who can’t feel anything but I also don’t want her to be a ball of anxiety either.

Yesterday at the library I checked out a book called What’s Eating Your Child by Kelly Dorfman. I’m really excited to read this book and see what they have to say. This is what Amazon.com has listed as the book description:

Here’s a book for every parent whose child suffers from mood swings, allergies, ear infections, eczema, anxiety, tantrums, ADD/ADHD, picky eating, lack of growth, and a host of other physical, behavioral, or developmental problems.

This is an important book! Written by Kelly Dorfman, a sought-after nutritionist whose typical family in her practice comes to her after already having seen three or more medical specialists, What’s Eating Your Child? brilliantly reveals the hidden connections between nutrition and chronic childhood ailments while giving parents simple, straightforward tools to understand and solve their children’s problems.

Grounded in cutting-edge science and filled with case studies that read like medical thrillers, What’s Eating Your Child? reveals that what children eat affects how they thrive. There’s in-depth information on the surprising problems caused by gluten-intolerance, and—short of full-blown celiac disease—how difficult it is to diagnose. On why artificial sweeteners are worse than sugar, and why soy milk is a poor substitute for cow’s milk. On how to cure sleep disorders with melatonin, hyperactivity with magnesium, anxiety with fish oil. Parents learn quickly how to become their own nutrition detectives, and how to implement the very simple EAT program to recalibrate their children’s diets. They’ll understand, at last, how to talk with a doctor about nutrition; why to choose organic; how to pick quality vitamins, minerals, probiotics and supplements; and how to get their children off drugs—antiobiotics, laxatives, Prozac, Ritalin—and back to a natural state of well-being.

I also checked out What To Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety by Dawn Huebner. E started reading this book last night and asked if we could buy it for her. She really connected with what the book was saying and it gave her some ideas like having a Worry Time each day where she tells us everything she worries about and we just listen and don’t say anything. It also talks about how worries are like tomato plants and when you water the plant it grows, just like when you focus on your worries they grow. 

Our next step is to get a referal from our regular pediatrician to see a psychologist where we are living now.  Our insurance does not cover any medical where we currently live and it’s a three hour drive one way to go back to where we are covered.  A referral would allow us to see someone here and the visits would be covered by our insurance.  If after a month of working through the book, making some changes in her diet and talking with someone professionally we don’t see any changes, then we will consider the medication.  For now, we are holding off.  I know that some people will disagree with our decision and that’s ok.  We are doing what we think is best for our child.

Anyone else have a child that has anxiety? Or maybe you struggle with anxiety like me.  I’d love hear what you think!

By 33 Comments Filed Under: anxiety, family

Going to the Dogs

January 22, 2012

Heidi is our miniature schnauzer and she is a funny little dog.  She is the door greater at our home and loves to jump in laps of our guests to make them feel welcome.  She also sings for us and I even have a little song that I sing to her (Heidi Heidi Hoe) and she knows when she is supposed to sing her part, one day I need to get that on video.
Heidi is great at catching shrews, snores, loves to eat food and have her belly rubbed.  When she was younger we did agility together for a little while and we both had a lot of fun.  Tonight I tried to capture Heidi with the camera, she’s seven years old and I hope she has at least 5 more years in her but you never know.  Our first dog Lindsey died when she was 5 years old from cancer, we only had about a week with her from diagnosis until we said goodbye.  Heidi has been a great dog and it makes me sad to think she won’t always be with our family.   It was hard to capture her pretty eyes because her eyebrows were always in the way and she was afraid of the flash even though I didn’t use it.  

Ruby the goldendoodle’s facial features hardly show up in pictures with her wild hair and dark coloring, this was the best one I managed to take of her tonight and you can’t even see her eyes, at all. 
 

 
Thanks for letting me share our doggies with you today.  We’ve had a fun weekend around here, a triple date on Friday night and then game night at our home last night with three other families.  Here’s to hoping I sell my big boob light today so I can purchase a new light for the living room turned dining room and reveal it to you this week!  What have you been up to this weekend? 

PS:  Don’t forget, my hubby is dropping by this week with a blog post, you won’t want to miss it!

By 7 Comments Filed Under: family

Birthday Party Apron Making Fun and a Giveaway

January 17, 2012

You may not know this but I do not like having birthday parties at our home. I much prefer to have the kids involved with something like swimming, bowling, skating or ceramics so there is not time for drama. My oldest daughter’s third grade birthday party scarred me for life and I swore off home parties forever. Well I guess forever only lasted for three years because last weekend we hosted not one but two birthday parties at our home. Apparently girl drama is less expensive than bowling as I decided to take my chances and save some money partying at home. How do you entertain a gaggle of eleven year olds for three hours? Thanks to Pinterest for birthday party ideas and inspiration, we decided to decorate small cakes and let the girls decorate their own aprons.  My daughter also found these super cute owl cupcakes to make for the party and that’s exactly what we did.

I found some cute owl plates at Target for $1.89 each that the girls would take their cakes home on. Hobby Lobby sold three aprons in a package for $9.99 but with a 40% of coupon the aprons ended up being $6 for three or $2 each.  Here is the birthday girl modeling her apron.

For the aprons I didn’t have a clear idea on how or what we would use to decorate with and then facebook came through for me when I saw that Simple Spray was looking for a few bloggers to try out their products. 
After talking with Emily from Simple Spray I was really excited to try out the Simply Spray Fabric Spray Paint on the aprons for a tie dye effect and possibly using some stencils. 

They sent me a few colors to try out including Brite Pink, Lavender and Sky Blue.  The girls were very excited to try out the spray on the aprons and I was a little nervous letting them do their own aprons.  After pulling the little blue tab off the cans we were ready to start creating.   One thing that I wanted to do was be able to put their name somewhere on the apron.  Iron on Transfers did not wok so my plan b was using stick on foam letters that they could then peel off the apron after they were sprayed to create a reverse effect.

 

(On a side note, I am not pregnant but apparently wearing an apron makes me look like I am, awesome)

Here is the finished product.  I wasn’t sure how parents would feel about me posting pictures of their children online with their names and faces so here are a few aprons and apron makers without their faces.

 

The kids really enjoyed using the spray cans and the product was fairly easy to use.  A few times the paint came out a little heavy as you can see in this apron here where they tried to do a stencil. 
That is more user error than the product itself.  Using a light spraying motion works well and sometimes the kids would just spray hard in one area without using a back and forth motion. 

Here is my honest opinion on the products and our experience with Simply Spray. 

The three cans lasted through 13 aprons and some kids used plenty of the spray.  I am amazed that there is still plenty of spray left in the cans and the cans are only 2.3 oz.  When we were designing their aprons, I put down a plastic tablecloth over my kitchen counter.  The spray manged to creep onto my countertop and I was a little worried it wouldn’t come off but it wiped off very easily with just water and left no marks or coloring behind.  This was a fun product, easy to use and easy to clean up.  I would definitely use Simply Spray again and would recommend it to anyone.  Simply Spray has some great info on their website including demo videos, design galleries and free downloads.  You can also find Simply Spray on facebook where you will find even more great resources and ideas!

Now for the fun part!  Simply Spray sent me the Simply Spray Party Kit which contains six cans of various colors to create 24 shirts.   One winner will receive the kit pictured below.

This sweepstakes is open to US Residents 18 years and older.  No purchase is necessary. 
This sweepstakes starts on January 17th at 7:00am CST and ends on January 23rd at midnight CST.   The winner will be determined using random.org and based on the number of entries received.
The winner will be notified via e-mail and has 48 hours to respond.  If they do not respond after 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn using random.org and notified via e-mail. 

To enter this sweepstakes please leave a comment below. 

For an additional entry, like Simply Spray on facebook.

By 16 Comments Filed Under: family, giveaways

Oh Christmas Tree, how pokey are your branches

December 2, 2011

This past weekend we piled in the vehicle on a misty Saturday afternoon and headed 25 minutes up the road to a Christmas tree farm. When we moved this past summer our fake tree ended up in the garbage. The pre-lit lights didn’t work anymore, branches were saggy and losing their fake needles.
The hubby and I had a real Christmas tree every year until our old yellow lab Bailey thought the real Christmas tree was a great place to relieve himself, numerous times. Awesome stuff that dog pee on our Christmas tree and tree skirt!  Good thing we hadn’t put any gifts under there yet.
Then there was our cat that liked to climb the tree and it eventually crashing to the ground one fine evening.  Add in our curious toddler and a baby crawling around trying to eat pine needles the following year and we decided a fake tree would probably be a better fit for us.
Now that we don’t have a cat, our dogs are both females and the bubs is not a baby who will eat pine needles off the floor, it seems like the perfect time to try a real tree again! I didn’t want just any real tree though, I wanted the experience for our family of trudging through the snow covered fields finding the perfect tree, hubby sawing it down and then our family bringing it home to proudly display in the family room!

Unfortunately the fields were not snow covered on the day we went to find a tree, they were wet and muddy from the cold mist. We didn’t mind though, we were on a mission, as a family, trying to find “the tree” and all agree it was “the tree.” The long needles vs short needles debate was on, some wanted short some wanted long.
We ended up choosing a long needle tree for the family room and will get a short needle tree tomorrow from our realtor for the formal living room. 

They also had pre-cut trees ready for those who didn’t want to brave the fields or maybe couldn’t find that perfect tree. 

Santa happened to be there the day we went so we sat on Santa’s lap, well at least most of us did.  Our oldest daughter who will be 11 next month is too cool for Santa now.  

When we found our tree we had to get a picture of it before we chopped it down which made me kind of sad that we were essentially killing a tree.

The girls did a good job supervising daddy’s cutting job while the bubs brought his own saw to help daddy cut the tree with.

I really wasn’t going to upload this picture because I look like a giant dork but I figured I better keep it real.  The youngest daughter took this photo of us with mist on the camera lens and also in our faces.    

We made it home without losing our tree on the highway!  Woot Woot!

After a snack of hot chocolate and loft house cookies which the kids have declared a new tradition on the day we get our tree, it was time for the first ornament.  They voted the bub’s should be the one to put it on because he doesn’t remember any Christmas before this one.  He of course chose his daddy’s guitar ornament and then had trouble getting it on the tree, those real needles are pokey!

The sisters’ try and help him out.

Finally daddy helps him get the guitar on the tree.  I love this picture of my handsome guys.

Finally it’s all decorated!   Now we get to do this all over again tomorrow! 

By 7 Comments Filed Under: christmas, family

Randomness on a Monday

November 21, 2011

Good Morning friends, just a few quick things to share with you this morning. First off, I’m guest posting today over at Hyphen Interiors for Kristy who’s getting ready to move to another city for her hubby’s job and they already sold their house! So Congrats to them and if you haven’t been over to Hyphen Interiors yet, what are you waiting for? Kristy has a great style and her house is gorgeous! So stop by and tell Kristy hi!

This past weekend was fun filled for our family. Friday night the hubby and I had a double date with out besties. The babysitter had 8 children to watch because we had an extra child with us but she was amazing so no worries for us! We headed out to see Hillsong Live, one of our favorite worship bands, eva! It was general seating but we managed to score some pretty great seats on the main level. I love when the drums are beating so hard you feel it in your body, that’s the best!   I am going to share with you some crappy smart phone pics…..ha! Does anyone know if you can buy a better camera for your phone? Don’t you think that would be a great app, improve my camera phone?

After an incredible night of worship and music, we spent the night at our friends house.  Then it was time to hit the road on Saturday with freezing rain turning to snow.  Thankfully we made it home safe and sound.  The kids were so excited on Sunday morning when we had a dusting of snow outside, they suited up and headed out for a morning and afternoon of outside fun!

They looked so cute with rosy cheeks asking for hot chocolate afterwards.  We ended the day with a family movie night, watching one of my all time favorites, Elf!  The kids only have two days of school this week and then they are off for Thanksgiving.  We are staying home, no one is visiting us this weekend and that’s ok.   We will have fun together as a family, cheering on the Lions as they play the dreaded Packers on Thanksgiving Day.  There will be no black Friday shopping for us this year but maybe we’ll head out on the weekend just for some fun.  What are you all doing?  Anyone shopping on Black Friday?  Or maybe I should ask, is anyone going to not sleep on Thursday  night because the stores are opening so early? 

By 7 Comments Filed Under: family, guest post, random thursday

We just had "The Talk" with our daughters

November 5, 2011

Good Morning friends! Today I thought I’d get a little personal, ok a lot personal with you all and share how we opened up the communication lines and had “the talk”  with our two oldest girls.  We will be having more than one “talk” with them but this is the first one and probably the hardest.   I have had a few friends already asking what we said, did we use any books, etc. so here is the nitty gritty, just for you!
The hubs and I have been meaning to have this conversation with the girls for a few months now but we’ve had company pretty much non-stop since Labor Day. With our oldest being in 5th grade and the second daughter in 4th grade, it seemed like an appropriate time to start having these types of talks.  usually in 4th or 5th grade the public schools will present a video on puberty and possibly offer a course on sex ed.  We also know that friends at school will sometimes be the first ones to give your kids the low down on sex and so we wanted to beat both of these systems and be the first ones to teach our children about puberty and sex.  We wanted to set the stage for the next few years, letting the girls know they could talk to either mom or dad about anything at all, we would answer their questions and we are always here for them. The girls were also told they are not to tell anyone about this, not their friends or their younger sister.  We told them that we are here to talk with or they can talk with each other about this.  Hopefully they listen!

A few years ago in preparation for this, I bought a series of books from Christianbook.com called God’s Design for Sex Series. There are four books that you read through and the first three are pretty easy reads, the last one is a chapter book and covers many different topics and is more appropriate for tween or early teen years. We used one of these books very loosely last night and left it for both girls to read. We also had a handbook that a lady in our former church wrote as well which the hubs and I read through before we had this talk with our girls and it was nice to have the scriptural references to share with them as we talked.

So basically this is how it went down, hubs and I prayed in the kitchen together beforehand, I popped some popcorn and we went downstairs and all sat on our eldest daughter’s bed. We figured the basement was the best place because we didn’t want daughter #3 to hear any of this and being two floors away we knew she wouldn’t. My hubby actually did most of the talking at first and the girls were both very talkative as well. We laughed a lot and just tried to keep it from being too serious.

This is what we covered last night and I know not everyone will agree with how we presented this and that’s ok. So take it what is helpful and leave the rest. We opened by asking them if they knew what sex was. Thankfully, our daughters were very naive. As in, they knew nothing, at all about sex. They both thought it referred to if you are male or female and they thought it was a bad word but didn’t know why. So our conversation was starting at a very basic and introductory level. Thank you, Lord. Then we asked them if they knew how babies were made. How sweet, they both thought God just put a baby in there, kind of like Mary and Jesus. We then went on to tell them about a woman’s body and how the egg/uterus/period/ovulation thing works. Then we discussed boy parts and what they all do, including erections. We told them that sex is a gift from God to married people. (I know some ppl are going to disagree with us on this but this is what we believe). We then told them how the actual sexual intercourse takes place in very little detail but enough to get them the idea. (The look on the oldest daughter’s face when she realized what happens during sex was priceless! I wish I could’ve captured it on camera). We explained that this is how you get pregnant and that not all people are married when they do this. They did ask a lot of questions and were really curious about how the actual baby is formed in the womb. Our second daughter said she’s never having babies because it hurts too much.

We also have a book called “The Princess and the Kiss” which is another great book from Christianbook.com. The princess has one kiss and many men come to via for her kiss but only one man gets it when he marries the princess. We told them sex is like this, many men want it from you but only one man should be given that gift, hopefully on your wedding night. We discussed dating, adultery, sex before marriage and choosing a husband. Finally, we talked about puberty a little bit and how they are probably not going to agree with us as much in the next few years but we’ll weather through the teen years and that we love the no matter what happens. We are always here for them and they can talk with us anytime. The girls asked when we could do this again, lol!

The hubby and I were both really kind of nervous before we went down there but it was fun to hang out talking and laughing together. I think it was helpful starting this conversation with them as a team,mom and dad. We will decide on the next one if the hubs will be joining in on deeper talks with the kids but we wanted to let them know that we are both here, so whoever they feel more comfortable talking and asking questions with is fine. So that was our Friday night!

Have you had “the talk” with your kids? Did you parents have “the talk” with you? Did you have more than one discussion?

By 5 Comments Filed Under: family, life and love

Happy Friday!

October 14, 2011

Today is family picture day so I thought I’d share some of my pins that I’m hoping we can do today.

Now we just need to have the wind die down so we don’t have hair blowing all around in our pictures today! 

By 7 Comments Filed Under: family

School Days, School Days

September 6, 2011

Today was the first day of school here at our house and I think the morning went well! School here starts at 9:15 so it was nice not having to be up and to school by 7:45 like at the old school. We also ride the bus here which is new for us, I was the bus driver for our kids the past few years.
Here are some pictures from this morning and I can’t wait until they get home later today to here how the first day went. Hopefully everyone has made a new friend by the end of the day! Starting a new school is hard for everyone, even mom and dad! 

Now it’s just me and the bubs today, wonder what we’ll do besides take a nap?  Did your kids start school today?   What are you doing while they are at school?  I’m working on a new design for this blog and hope to reveal it this week!  Have a great day and next week is the start of Roomspiration!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
By 1 Comment Filed Under: family
«Older Posts