When Is Our Time of Death?

Oh man, as faithful as I have been on my Paleo diet I was getting frustrated that I couldn't lose anything passed the 10lb mark.  Ohhhh, so frustrating.  The rest of my family is only half Paleo so I have been having to cook them dinners that I can't eat.  It doesn't bother me because I like being skinnier more than eating a plateful of pasta.  After I cook for them I'll make what I want and then my husband will look at my food and want to eat it.  "I told you I can cook yummy and healthy!" Ha ha.  They never believe me.  Well, I've gone a whole week being 100% faithful to my diet and not losing another single pound.  Finally today I broke that darn 10lb mark. I stopped going to the gym after Ivy got burned.  I was at the gym when it happened.  It's not that I'm blaming anyone it's just that it was such a horrible experience I just lost my taste for going.  That and I have NOT found the time for escaping to the gym.  Having 7 kids is AWESOME and WONDERFUL but I put taking care of them first so if I don't have the time, I just don't have it.

You want to know another reason why I haven't gone back to the community center?  When we first joined a nearby community center, Chaz got hurt on the first day.  This was only two months ago.  Well, Chaz was going down the slide and the lifeguard let another kid start going down right after.  Chaz got kicked in the head and got a mild concussion.  I went and got a lifeguard who is also an EMT.  He was the nicest guy and spent time with Chaz making sure he was okay.  He told me if I ever needed anything just to come and get him.  Well, he recently committed suicide and he was in his early 20's with a 10 month old son.  When we went back to the center, it just didn't feel the same.  I walked into the pool area half expecting to see him there with his kind smile but he wasn't there.  My heart just broke.  I know I need to go back.  Life moves on.  The sun still sets, but it still hurts.  That was someones boy, someones dad, someones grandson.  :(  Life is short and he took it.  The rest of us don't know when it's our time.  It's foolishness to just hope eternity will take care of itself and it's not something we should think about.  If I were to die today, am I ready to meet Jesus?  Will Pershing, a blogger, didn't know this would be his last post. The very next day he died in a crash on his way to lunch with his family after church.  Will was ready to be with Jesus.  

On a lighter note we visited the zoo this past weekend and my mom came with us.  What a treat!  We never, ever get sick of the zoo because it's full of nature and animals.  The kids can run around and we don't have to worry about being quiet! Ivy wanted to wear shorts instead of pants over her swimsuit but I said no because of her burn.  She can't expose her leg to the sun for over year.   She wasn't happy about it but she got over it.  :)

My mom playing with Juliet near the giraffe area.

All of us rode the camel.  I was a little worried about getting on because I was worried my weight would deflate his hump.  Turns out Dale is pretty durable.  Ha ha.

Hi Dale!  You are such a patient Camel.

Juliet is 4 months now!  She is very social and likes to be part of the action.  If I try to put her in the baby swing she only stays happy for about 5 minutes.  She has to be sitting straight up to see what everyone is doing.

The kids checking out an exhibit

Summer at the Zoo with My Family

I really love our zoo membership year around.  In the winter we spend more time looking at the animals but in the summer is when they turn the water on and we can sit in the shade and have a picnic.  

We pretty much just walk straight to where this is and let them play for awhile.  If the weather isn't too bad we might visit the petting zoo but in reality, most animals are hiding away from the heat.

We love to bring along Ryan's best friend Georgie.  He's a great kid and he gets along with everyone in the family.  Him and Ryan are the same age and both just as goofy.  Chaz is soooo sad that his best friend moved away and that happens to him a lot.  :(  He was crying to me about it last night.  I wish I could just steal his friend for a week since he lives about 2 hours away.  If our cars were reliable right now I would even drive up there to snatch him!  LOL.

Sigh.... I love that my husband is such a family man.  He enjoys hanging out with all of us.  Back in the day, like way, way back in the day... neither one of us would've been okay with hanging out with a ton of kids just for fun.  Ha..

Chaz likes to take our picture.  Sometimes I wonder if photo taking would be good therapy for Chaz because he's really good at it and can get lost in it.  By the way, I'll be getting an updated evaluation for Chaz but it takes awhile to set up the appointment and wait to finally get him seen.  Sigh... sometimes dealing with it is a lot to handle and a lot to think about.  I get overwhelmed and sad just wanting Chaz to enjoy life and not deal with all the bumps in the road that his brothers don't have to deal with. Especially rejection from other kids.  I wish I could protect him forever...

Ashley has pretty blue eyes and she's excited about turning 5 this year and "going to school."  She asks me how many days almost every day and wants me to rewash her new backpack for her Friday school.  Soooo cute....

Juliet is hiding in the back of the stroller so you can't see her but there we are with an extra kid in the middle!  I wish each kid could've brought their best friend but then we wouldn't all fit in our van.

Ivy is growing up fast and is actually a really good girl.  She gets her emotional moments but she's a sweetie pie.  Here we were in the gift store and she tried on some funny glasses.  

Ryan and the boys are trying to wrestle and get Chaz into the water. Chaz loves to wrestle but I've always warned the boys that once you wind Chaz up you are now responsible for winding him down.  He will wrestle you till the son goes down and beyond.  LOL.

How to Train for Less Sleep with Newborn

Yesterday I took Kyle and Ivy in to see if they needed glasses.  After waiting in the waiting area for an hour (whyyyyy?) they finally get called back.  Turns out they both need glasses.  Both have a hard time seeing their schoolwork in front of them.  However, Ivy's is much worse and she also has stigmatism.  What???  I asked, "are you serious?  Do you think that's why she's struggled so much focusing on her schoolwork?"  She said a BIG yes.  Well, Ivy went a full year of kindergarten not learning much of anything.  She just seemed to be in lala land most of the time.  She'll get her glasses next week and I'm SO CURIOUS to see if it's gonna help her to concentrate.  I really, really hope that has been the issue all this time.  

How to train for less sleep with newborn baby? Here is how.  I could hardly function most of yesterday because I haven't been sleeping well.  The night before I could sense the dog wanted to be let out to potty which means I might as well check on the kids.  I like to see if anyone looks cold, put them back in bed if they rolled off, get myself a drink, take those vitamins I forgot to take, use the restroom, let the dog back in, notice he has no water in his bowl, remember to turn down phone so it doesn't wake up kids in the morning, pick up a couple of things off the counter and put away on my way back to bed, check that the doors are all locked, remember that I forgot to transfer clothes from washer to drier before I laid down earlier, take some TUMS because of heartburn or acid is killing me, then finally make my way back to the bed.  By that time it'll take me some time to fall back asleep.  Then, I woke up every half hour because I was worried I wouldn't hear the alarm clock for the appointment the kids had. I sleep right through alarms or sometimes they don't go off.  Argh!  My sleeping is just crazy and this routine can happen at least a few times in one night.  Although, on a positive note, it is training for having a newborn wake up all night.  (Grin)  Okay, then it's worth it.

Click to
view on Amazon

The good news is my friend and I signed up for the homeschooling convention that's happening in the summer!  WHEW!  We are so excited and can't wait.  My favorite people of all time will be there.  The Boyers have 14 children and were some of the first to homeschool their kids in their area.  Talk about pioneers of homeschooling! They didn't have all the whistles and bells you can buy now.  I really admire what they have done and how they've stayed true to their faith, family, and raising their kids up in Christ. They didn't just talk about Godly values, they lived it.  Well, they are coming to the convention this summer and they are the first people I'm gonna look for.  I read this book back when I had maybe 3 kids.  They definitely were a big influence on helping to change our thinking about children and having a large family.  I read about this family before I knew anything about the Duggars.

Ashley playing ballerina

Here spring break is coming and my van is out of commission.  Whyyy?  My husband doesn't work all week and we've come up with all kinds of great ideas.  Swim at Nana's heated pool?  Visit the zoo and have a picnic since we have a membership?  Go to the mall during the day while all the teens at home are all sleeping in?  Visit a really neat museum?  Go the airstrip to watch planes land and take off?  Go to Christian skate night at the nearby skating rink?  We have tons of fun ideas.  Wellll, I guess we'll have to get creative and hang around at home.  Phooey.  :)

Scheduling in Weekend Activities

Kyle and Ryan

This morning I had to run errands so I took Chaz with me to the chicken feed store.  It had partially burned down but they still had business going while it was being rebuilt.  So we looked at the chickens but since there were only roosters available to buy we didn't go home with any chickens.  After that we went to Sam's Club and I got very few things because I know not everything is a good deal there  We get some pretty basic items there and are in and out real fast.  Since I had only one kid with me no one paid attention to us.  Usually we're stared at and/or people start counting our kids. It was kinda nice to not be a focal point.  Chaz really is not a shopper by any means so he was itching to get home.  All my kids talk to friends on the phone now so he really wanted to call up his friend.  That's gonna be odd since we have only one phone line and 6 kids.  I'm not getting any of them a cell till their teens some time.  Seriously, that's like handing them a weapon for all kinds of trouble so I seriously don't know when it's gonna be allowed.

Ashley, Ivy, Kyle, Ryan, and his friend Georgie at the zoo

I dropped a happy-to-be-home Chaz off and picked up 5 other kids to take to the zoo.  My dad found out I was going and met with me.  I can't go with my whole family because our van is in need of some major repairs.  It feels so odd to be with only some of the family going out places.  Once we got to the zoo we just went straight for the train and it gave me a break of too much walking since I'm 7 months along and it's starting to get hot out.  There is just so many exciting things to know about the animals and I think we're gonna do a study at home about them for a bit.  

I took this pic of the giraffe drinking.  So cute!

This morning I had seriously tried to just chill out at home and not do much of anything.  Since we had worked hard at home all week I just really needed to get out.  The house was clean and there wasn't much work to do.  Getting out with the kids was great!  :D

Ashley fell asleep on my dad's lap
during the train ride at the zoo

Making Time for Fun in a Busy Season

These past two weeks have been so busy that it's been such a blur.  Just finding time to be home and clean my house is a major challenge.  So, last night I stayed up past midnight to make sure I could clean the kitchen, mop, and clean the bathrooms.  We have a couple extra kids here like usual so the kids are loving it.  :)  Even with all the busyness, the kids reminded me yesterday that I had promised them the zoo.  We packed up the van and had to take 2 vehicles there because of 8 kids and bikes. At one point I lost track of the family and managed to get a guy in a golf cart to take me around to find them.  Thank goodness!  They were so far away.

We went ahead and opened Caleb's present early, which is the wagon, so we could take him around in it.  He LOVES it!  So do I since we didn't like pushing the stroller around.


Today I'll be heading back over to my friend's house to help her pack and keep my promise.  I'm on antibiotics and feeling so much better.  Tomorrow I'll be running my neighbor around.  She just got out of the hospital and can't drive so pray I don't crash her car or anything since she wants me to drive it for her.  

So Friday we open up presents with my side of the family, Saturday with Charles' family, and then Sunday with my own family here and then to church by 10:30am.  Wowee!!  So busy yet it'll be fun.  Thankfully, even with all this busyness it is for positive things and not because my kids are sick or anything like that.  It's one thing to be busy with fun and quite another to be busy with kids having fevers and throwing up.  I'll take the fun one.  It feels so amazing to be ready for Christmas way early and just spending this time not stressing about it.  I really need to be prepared like this every year.  It's a wonderful feeling.

Does God Still Heal?

Every morning my favorite thing to do is get my hot cup of coffee, kiss all the babies that are awake, check my email, and blog.  Don't worry, I only drink one cup of caffeinated coffee a day being that I'm pregnant. If I want any more I just do decaf.  Drinking decaf is like hunting with blanks.  There is just no point.  But, I guess the hunt is still fun.

The weekend was great because we were back in church and I could put baby Caleb in nursery.  I even got to volunteer to watch the little babies in the Sunday morning service.  Unfortunately, because of all the sickness issues my kids have missed every Christmas practice up until Sunday night.  The kids' play is this next Sunday!  Oh man.... it should be interesting to watch.

I had a friend that is moving out of town.  Her son is best friend's with my oldest.  Well, I wanted to come over and help her sort through her stuff and pack.  So Monday I woke up feeling some pain thinking maybe a bladder infection had started. I felt GREAT the night before so this was a surprise.  Wanting to keep my promise to my friend, I just ignored it in hopes it would go away if I drank enough water.  When I got to her house, right away I started sorting and packing.  A couple hours later the pain was so intense I just couldn't work anymore.  I wasn't showing it to her but I was so upset because I made a promise to help her all day and I knew I was gonna have to quit and go to see the doctor.  With a promise I was gonna return a couple days later, I headed to Urgent Care.  I stopped to pick up my other friend along the way to go with me.  The doctor said the infection was off the charts bad and prescribed me some medicine.  I was SO HAPPY!  Do you KNOW what this means?  For years my kidneys were getting so bad that I could no longer feel any bladder infections because it would go straight to my kidneys and I'd end up in the hospital.  The doctor told me my kidneys were so bad that as soon as I felt a bladder infection I had to go straight to the ER.  Don't call the doctor.  JUST GO AND CHECK MYSELF IN.  That's how bad my kidneys were.  In fact, I would just be doing something around the house and fall over in horrendous pain from my kidneys.  Well, 2 1/2 years ago I was hospitalized and unconscious for a week it was so bad.  I'm only telling you that to understand why I'm so excited that I actually felt this bladder infection and it didn't go to my kidneys.  Not long after my last hospital stay (2 1/2 years ago) an evangelist came to my church.  He called out for someone that has bad kidney issues.  I went up immediately  for prayer.  In fact, I was in bad pain that night.  Not only did I have kidney pain but I was scheduled for surgery because I had Endometriosis.  God healed me that night.  Surgery was cancelled and I have not had any kidney problems since.  That is a miracle. So when I found out that I had a bladder infection starting yesterday, I felt panicky at first.  However, I didn't want to just go and get help like usual because I wanted to see what would happen.  The infection was only in my bladder and didn't spread.  That has not happened to me in about 7 years.  I was able to just get some antibiotics yesterday.  No hospital stay.  Nothing.  I feel like crying because I'm still so grateful God healed my kidneys.  That doesn't mean I can't go and ruin them again.  LOL.  That comes from not taking care of a bladder infection when it starts. If you let it go too long it'll hurt your kidneys eventually.  My kidneys had been so bad I wasn't supposed to have any more kids.  I am soooooooo grateful for God's healing grace.

With having pain meds and antibiotics, I think we'll go to the zoo today with the kids.  Today we have some extra kids with us so it'll be fun to take them all.  Tomorrow I'll be back at my friends house helping her pack. I'm so grateful for medicine and doctors!

This Family Loves Adventure

On Friday we had an adventurous day at the zoo.  Of course we took along a friend for the kids because on our membership we can have up to 14 kids.  :)  We can't waste it!  It's funny because throughout the day I would count the kids and saying, "Seven?  That's it?"  My husband would have to remind me that we only have six kids and one is a friend.  So yeah, for some reason lately I keep thinking I'm missing someone.  This has been happening a lot lately.  It must be from always taking extra kids with us when we go places.

We go to the zoo about twice a month throughout the year, sometimes more, but we never get sick of it.  It's not just the animals but the atmosphere, walking together, exploring, doing something different each time.  We always have a picnic every time.

We let Kyle and Ivy bring their bike since it's allowed here.  I think we gonna have to get everyone a bike this year just so that we can all bike ride.  Would be fantastic!

An unconventional way to climb a tree but this works!  Haha.  Georgie on the right took a flying leap.

I love this picture of the boys.  I'm thinking about getting it made really big if it's good enough quality and putting it in the homeschool room.

My boys just really doubt their abilities and question themselves a lot.  This should be a poster size.

After we had a picnic, saw the animals, rode bikes, we headed to the hill behind the zoo and decided it was time to show our kids the fun little cave.  It was so easy to hike, thank goodness, and I wasn't so fearful about a kid falling off.  I really did refuse to take them till I was confident they were obedient enough to stay away from the edge as I asked.  It was actually really relaxing and the kids did really well.

Charles with the kids just relaxing and enjoying the view!  There were so many little pits and felt like a easy chair to sit in.  Was pretty cool.

Panoramic view of left side of cave

Panoramic of right side of cave

This is such a neat picture of the boys checking out the sunset.  From left, Chaz, friend Georgie, Kyle, and Ryan.

Georgie is such a good boy and always easy to take along to family outings.  We actually kept him an extra day longer until church Sunday morning.  

Watching the sunset looking towards downtown.  Was beautiful! 

On the way down from the caves Ivy was singing a song to Jesus.  It was so cute so I recorded it on my camera while we were walking.

Tornadoes Live in This House

Man, what a difference that RhoGAM shot made!  My stomach, or uterus I should say, was hurting every single day.  I feel so much more healthy and not in pain anymore.  Yes!  I'm sure this also means I don't have to lay around as much as that is super hard for me.  I'm still not allowed to be my crazy hyper self the doctor said. Whatever that means.  She also said that's why I run out of milk so early while breastfeeding.  I don't know how to slow down.  Well, what do you say to that?  I love life and don't have time to waste just sitting and watching TV.  There is so much to explore, learn, play, discover.

The weather is finally cooling down which means we can spend more days outdoors. We just renewed our zoo membership and we'll definitely be going there at least twice a month since the heat won't be so horrid.  It's just downright beautiful and we're really hoping it stays this way.  We pretty much let our backyard go in the summer because it's hard to keep anything alive. Once it gets cool like this we can plant a vegetable garden again.  Super excited about that!  I really, really miss our garden.  Another desire I've always had is to let the chickens roam free in our yard but because of my dogs we can't.  I hate that they only have one part of our yard.  It's just so cute to have kids playing around them.  They love to go on their own egg hunt every day, wash them, and put them in the fridge.  It's just super cool.  

Well, now that I'm feeling better I can finally get this house back into shape.  It's bad.  That's what happens if momma is down and out.  It's like inviting a tornado to come and visit.

Bringing My Monkeys to the Zoo

We got another zoo membership and since its our absolute favorite place to go on a monthly basis, we're excited!  We love to bring a picnic every time and get to be involved when they have special events.

They made a brand new area for the orangutans so we got to go inside of a atrium type building where you can look all around you to see the monkeys.  Underneath us was their night house and hospital.  There were so many upgrades since we had been there last.  

I love the picture (above) of Charles and Caleb.  It is so sweet!  

Ashley (above) leading her brother around in the caves that shoot water.  It's still pretty warm out so we were excited they hadn't shut the water off yet.

We took a break and had lunch while watching the kids play in the water.  My dad is to the right of the picture.

(Above) As we walked up to the turtles my kids asked "Mommy, why is that turtle bothering the other one?"  I replied, "Oh, they are just wrestling." 

Awkward

The conversation that happened around the Rhinos was how big of a spank would it take for the Rhino to even flinch?  Would it take a really big "whap!" or just a small one to notice?  Would he get angry?  I don't know but we talked about this for a good 15 minutes.  

I am very scared of seeing the tigers.  I don't know why, I just really keep a grip on my kids when we pass by that area.  I guess because of the story I heard recently of a kid on a school field trip climbing over the fence and running into the cage to "pet the kitty."  Yeah, so I get really nervous.

A lady was inside the fox cage cleaning the windows but we had fun with this one.  We walked up and said , "Ohhhh, what is this?  It's a human!!!  Wow!"  We kept talking about it but she didn't even crack a smile. It was so funny.  To us. 

(My dad is so sweet carrying around Caleb).  Well, this is the cage that the lady was cleaning.  The sign actually said "FOX".  I resisted the urge when she was cleaning the cage to say "Look, it's a fox!"  She might've gotten really offended.

The lady finally finished cleaning the windows so we could see the actual fox.  Cute.  His hearing must be really good with those ears.

If you look really close you can see the bugs cool eyes.  I loved taking this picture.  

Kyle and Ivy (above) are so cute.  I saw them sitting up on the tree house and took their pics. When I take pictures I rarely make my family pose because I just like to catch them playing.  Pictures are so much more fun to look at when they are just natural.  

We were looking at the turtles here and there were a lot more than last time.  They had to get rid of a lot of them and sell them because people were dumping their turtles in there.  They said what happens is parents buy their kids turtles as gifts but they don't realize they are gonna keep growing.  Once they get too big, the  parents will bring the turtle and dump them here.  The problem is they were bringing ones that eat the zoo turtles.  So they had a big net catching them all.  

It such great exercise walking around the zoo.  By the time we got home we just collapsed.  If I were to pick between going to family fun places or having more material things, I pick going places with my family 100 times over. 

Chaz walking Caleb to the exit with.  You can tell Caleb had fun on the playground and water just by the back of his pants.  

*********

Don't forget to enter to win a watch from The Trendy Boutique!