Baby Update: Week 21

Wow half way there already - this is flying by.  I'm feeling pretty good, as Nathan says 'you are in your pregnancy prime' and basically he's right. I have that cute pregnant look - not too big, and not too small where people just try to guess if you ate too much as Thanksgiving. I have energy and motivation to get things done. And I haven't had leg cramps in a couple weeks - I'm doing GREAT! :)

Not much movement being felt yet which is annoying and bothersome. I feel at this point I should be feeling lots more movement so I try to be patient and not jump to crazy conclusions.... which is very hard because of my dreams I continue to have. Every pregnancy I struggle with some type of theme in my dreams and this time is no exception.  Naomi (2 yr old) is currently fighting fifth's disease so that's been a challenge and I had to make a couple phone calls to other preggo women to have blood work done and be checked out.  Always something right?

Life is good right now and we are slowly moving towards accepting our family will be a family of 6 by summer. It's still overwhelming and nerve-wrecking some days but other than that we are excited.

How about you? How did you deal with an unexpected pregnancy?

Little Mini Vacation

We just returned from a nice little mini vacation about 4 hours or so.... my oldest two children are upstairs jumping on the beds and being wild, my husband and youngest have been in bed for almost and hour and half - my baby is sick and not herself. :( She spiked a fever and has been wanting to sleep all evening - Nathan figured if she was sleeping now about 2am she'll be up and ready to start the day so one of us should go to bed with her.  Guess who won? :)

We were celebrating something this month (more on that later) and decided to get away for a couple days, a friend hooked us up and we were able to get a great deal on a rental out in Lancaster, PA! My mom, gram, two nieces, and best friend and her two little ones and her MIL also came along.  We went into this weekend trying to be relaxed and focused on family time. 

Friday night we went to see the Miracle of Christmas at Sights and Sounds and it was amazing, all three children did great and we were so thankful that they all made it through without too much trouble (wish I would have brought ear plugs for Lydia, and Josiah was terrified of the fire).  Then it was bedtime... and everything went downhill from there. 

My children have never slept with us, maybe once or twice over the past 6 years, but it's not even close to the norm.  They each have their own rooms, they each sleep pretty well the majority of the time and they enjoy their personal space which is great.  Until you travel and suddenly they have to sleep with each other, in the same room, with us - doesn't go so great. at. all. ugh.  We seriously got no sleep Friday night - well I'll rephrase that. My husband got no sleep Friday night - he took the brunt of it with Naomi and I was able to get some sleep, he's pretty awesome that way. 

Saturday came way too early and we have big plans for the entire day, went to Hershey World for the free tour and had a great time, went through that twice!  Met up with dear old friends we haven't seen in a very long time and enjoyed a great lunch with them (minus the one time I had to take Josiah out to the van for a time-out). Then headed to Indian Echo Caverns for a tour - which while it was nice just really wasn't my 'thing' and my Gram started having some issues with her hip so we were worried how in the world we were going to get her back up to the top but thankfully she ended up doing ok with a couple pit stops. :)  At 4:00 when we left to head back home and Josiah & Naomi both fell asleep and then continued to sleep until 5:30/6:00 on either Nathan or I we should have known bedtime was not going to go well.  And it didn't. Not at all.  By that point my dear husband was also way past tired and fighting a horrible headache so I took Naomi duty and locked her in the living room with me - eventually she fell asleep behind the recliner on the floor but hey she was sleeping!

We did find a very quaint and wonderful church for Sunday morning - it was perfect and just what we needed to regroup and refocus on our time together. (I highly recommend listening to the sermon online if you can.)  Came back to the house, ate some yummy snacks prepared by my Gram and got all the children to lay down for a nap and then my bestie, my gram, and her MIL took off to do some shopping - it was freezing but a wonderful time and recharged us!   God was with us and Sunday night actually went really well and the kids all slept better!  Just in time for us to leave and come home. ha!

And then tonight when we got home poor Naomi came down with a fever... always something right? So even though the weekend didn't go exactly how we hoped or as well as we would have liked it really was a great weekend and one of those you want to focus on the good things and not the bad things because if you did - well you'd never leave again. Oh and this next baby - yes he will sleep with us just so when we travel we don't have those issues... just to see if it makes a difference. hee hee

I am so thankful for our trip and the memories we made plus the special time with extended family and friends!

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Sarah Mae Meeting

I wrote this post many days ago - soon after I came home from Allume. I still feel the exact same way as I did then.  Thank you to my new friend. :)

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One of the highlights of my time at the conference was the chance to finally get to meet miss Sarah Mae. I saw her many times Thursday evening and right at the end of the night I got to introduce myself.  We are both from the same state and a couple years ago we tried to meet up at a homeschooling convention but it didn't work out.  I adore her, her blog, and I may have promoted one or two of her books from time to time. :)

Friday morning started off with me being particularly weepy for some reason, when I got there early for breakfast I saw Sarah Mae running around, I had thankfully tucked her book into my bag hoping to see her so she could sign it.  Bingo! I asked her and her response 'how about I just sit with you at breakfast and we can chat'.  Seriously????  I thought I was weepy before... it's a surprise I wasn't a blubbering mess in my french toast. We had a great time chatting (you know just like old friends) and her hubby joined us as well. We had a nice chuckle over our 'dumb' phone when it came time to snap a picture of us - thankfully her husband came through with his 'smartphone'. :)

The next day I noticed her running around at lunch and she seemed pretty distracted, so I asked her if all was ok and if she needed anything - actually they were looking for volunteers to fold boxes for the Shoebox Ministry... um I would scrub toilets with you if you needed!  So off I went - seriously me, Sarah Mae, her sister, and her husband just sitting around folding boxes and chatting.  I'm surprised they didn't have to mop me up off the floor!  What I loved was how down to earth and gentle they were... and how much they love God. It truly just shone in their faces.... the love of Christ for each one there.

Later I also saved the day for her by carrying a binder clip with me but you know by then we were old buddies. :)

I know this is an entire post dedicated to meeting one lady... but what made the events stick out to me what how she treated me with the same love and joy as she did her best buddy Logan. She truly made me feel special and loved - part of the family - a sister in Christ!  And it made me think about how I treated others there too - we were all sisters and we should all be treated with the same respect. I was taught so much from her in just those few short times of fellowship. God is good and He's even better when you're serving Him - never pass up an opportunity to serve - you never know who you might get to serve with. :)

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Baby Update Week 17

It's been another month and time for an update!

Things are finally going good - morning sickness is gone, energy levels are back up, and food intake has increased dramatically - just in time for the holidays. Yum Yum.

Which means that I must stick with my exercising if I don't plan on gaining way too much weight. I have been trying to walk at least one mile a day and on days all the kids cooperate I work towards 1.5 - 2 miles.  It's not easy and I would rather give up - but I'm also a total lover of sweets and baked goods and did I mention the holidays are coming up? yes... so I need to keep walking.

I'm in that stage where depending on what I have on I can either look really pregnant if I want to or I can just look like I've let myself go.  No one has asked me 'are you pregnant? or when are you due yet?' so I haven't hit that stage yet.

We are slowly getting more excited and my little ones are beyond excited! Naomi tried to shove her baby doll first up my shirt yesterday during Sunday school so the baby could be in my belly and after I said no to that - she tried to put it down my shirt so it could eat. :)  Going to get interesting for sure.  Lydia and Josiah are just anxious for the snow to come because they know once it melts the baby will be here.... um they are in for a rude realization though. 

So all in all things are going well and we'll have our next ultrasound next week and those are always fun.  I am so thankful that the sickness has passed and the energy as returned... these are those good couple months before everything gets uncomfortable again.  I'm also thrilled to be going on this journey again with so many friends and family - God is good!

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Allume Recap

recap one of who knows how many.... there is so much I want to share.

Here's my summary that I posted on facebook:

what I keep saying and what my husband seemed to like the best was when I summed up the weekend by saying 'this was a Christian conference with some blogging thrown into it..... not a blogging conference with some Christian thrown in to it'

I felt this the entire time I was there.  The keynote speakers were amazing. Even though they may have meant for their speeches to be directed towards blogging most of them could easily be applied to any area of your life.  And to hear so many women using God and Jesus in the same sentence as living life was just wonderful. My heart, soul, and spirit were so refreshed and encouraged.

I also learned something about myself - I'm only an extrovert with people I already know. I spent the first afternoon/evening and most of Friday blundering around coveting what the other ladies all seemed to have - one special friend they were sharing everything with.  I was so sad I hadn't found that one lady to make a connection with and would be lifetime buddies with from here on out. Friday was super busy and by lunchtime I was exhausted, sad, overwhelmed, and truly needed a break. I called Nathan and had him come get me so I could take a nap.  Went back to the hotel, napped, and spent some time just chatting with Nathan.  I had to be back at the hotel at 4:00 because I had signed up to volunteer at the Mercy House table.  I went back with just a new attitude and joy... not knowing what was about to happen.

When I got to the table no one else was there yet so I just tried to wing it as well as I could when ladies asked me questions. ha!  Then this sweet lady come up to join me in my slot of volunteering... we chatted and she asked how I was enjoying the conference... I was honest and said 'it's going well, but I am truly waiting to meet my bosom friend'.... YES I did say that and her response 'ME TOO'.  And she knew exactly who I was talking about.... we still haven't decided who is Anne and who is Diane but that's ok. :)  God is so good.... and boom there was my new bosom friend to enjoy the rest of the weekend with.  We even talked about how much we wanted to have a sleep over to get to know each other. :)  Which would be pretty awkward since I was rooming with Nathan. (oh and go check out her blog - Only A Breath!)

Friday was super busy and very jam packed which is why I finally took a step back and rested a bit. Saturday was less busy and we had lots of free time to mingle, shop, and use the prayer room if needed. They also had impact opportunities to participate in - I'll be sharing more on those at a later day but let me tell you - finding the words to describe 400+ women being the hands and feet of Christ in actively serving others is going to be pretty difficult. The Spirit was alive and moving in that hotel. 

We were blessed in so many ways - just with the beginning swag bag to almost every meal walking into that ballroom and finding another gift laying on the table waiting for us.  I need to head to the chiropractor this week just from trying to carry my bag all weekend. :) Below are some pictures of all the goodies we received from the team, speakers, vendors, and friends.  God blessed our socks off for sure.

I am beyond thankful for this amazing time of fellowship.  It was just amazing and a time in my life that I hope to never forget. I plan to take some time and recap each day of the conference with some pictures, reviews of the speakers, etc in the coming weeks.  I really didn't learn anything about growing or expanding my blog and I am totally ok with that - seeing how some of the more popular bloggers were smothered most of the weekend - I'm comfortable being a small blogger for quite awhile. :)

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A treat - no trick

Today I was suffering with a headache. I was tired. I was just frazzled with packing and prepping... I've been emotionally drained for a couple weeks now.

I had to make a trip into the chiropractor. I did not want to but knew it was needed for the next couple days to go well and so that I was productive enough to leave tomorrow.

The kids were great. They behaved themselves at the doctor's, they played quietly and just over all were good.

So I decided to treat.  Took them to the big M and let them get a happy meal (which I hardly ever do - do you know how much they are now??? geez). Then I sat back and let them just be happy.  I did not rush, I did not yell, I did not push to eat all the food so we could go.... I just let them be.  And oh were they happy.  I even heard a 'happy, happy, happy' come out of one of them.  It was joy.  Every time that sentence wanted to slip out I forced myself to stop and just enjoy them. I vowed to not rush them because I had no legitimate reason to rush them. I had no where I had to be, I had no appointments waiting for me, I had no good reason to rush. And I was not going to do it.

They ate the best they have ever ate... in fact I had to go order more food and I was thrilled with that. I was joyed beyond belief they had such a good time. The joy will get me through the next couple days. It was well worth the $20 bucks.

And you know what. I feel great now. The headache isn't gone but for some reason it's just not bothering me quite as much as it was earlier. It was a great day. :)

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Baby Update Week 12

Thought I would give you a little update on the baby here... if anyone cares. :) I won't bore anyone with weekly updates but figured once a month might not be too bad.

I've had a pretty rough couple weeks, my 'morning' sickness is random and can last all day if I eat the wrong thing but the kicker is I don't know what those wrong things are. It appears to be sweet stuff, as long as I eat lots of salt, fat, and savory food I'm ok. It also isn't really nausea anymore it's severe stomach cramps that really makes it hard to function with three other little ones.

I am still trying to nap everyday which some may shake their heads at but if I don't rest for at least an hour then by evening time I can't even function. So while Naomi naps I lay on the couch and out of half closed eyes I keep an eye on Josiah & Lydia playing on the computer. Good or bad it's getting me through these times.

Exercise is also a top priority for me this time around, I try to walk about 20 minutes a day (before my nap or I'm not allowed to nap). It's not much but it's more than I normally do so I'm hoping it helps me keep my weight gain in check. I haven't gained much because I've just not been eating that much. 

I'm so blessed this time around to be sharing this pregnancy with lots of other moms.  One is a dear cousin who has been through this with me each time I've been pregnant, all four pregnancies have over lapped and two of them we were due within days of each other.  A sweet couple from our church just announced that they are expecting their first baby just weeks after us.  So it's been a really exciting time.

I'm still pretty overwhelmed but getting excited the farther along we go. I'm also thinking maybe once I start to feel better and get some energy back I'll get more excited. :) We are very thankful for this surprise baby and know God has bigger plans for all of us.

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My final garden recap (except the potatoes)

I've mentioned this little problem I have with following through on things.   Yep, the garden... I am so over that. I haven't been down to see it in ages, my poor husband has been amazing at taking over the gathering of our bounty.  I think it was the weeds - they started to get out of control, and it didn't look neat and tidy anymore and I just got bored. I'm being honest here. Nathan did ask if the garden was worth it and if next year we might just go to the Amish and buy in bushels... while that sounds very tempting right now the only piece of that is I don't know what seeds they used and what they may have put on their plants.  Hmmmm

But a recap of what we got out of the garden this year:

• Salsa - 7 quarts, 7 pints
• Tomatoes - 14 pints
• Cherry Tomatoes - 7 gallon bags frozen, countless eaten
• Banana Peppers - 8 quart bags frozen
• Broccoli - 4-5 gallon bags frozen, countless eaten
• Green Beans - 6 quart bags frozen, countless eaten
• Onions - they are still hanging but we've been slowly eating/using them up
• Potatoes - haven't cracked open the bins yet hope to do that this weekend
• Blackberry Jelly/Jam - (we did not grow this but once again my dear sweet husband and father-in-law spent hours picking them for me) 14 half pints of jelly, 14 pints of jam
• Relish - 7 pints 
• Zucchini - 8 quarts frozen, countless eaten 
• Green Peppers are oddly just now coming on so we might still get some of them.
• Watermelon - ate one and while it tasted amazing, the amount of seeds in it was crazy

So all in all it was a successful year I think so.  I am thankful we tried it and have some things to show for it! Our shelves and freezer are full for the coming winter and that makes my heart sing a glad little song :)

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Old Schedule vs New Schedule

One day a couple weeks ago Nathan and I sat down to have a talk because evenings were not going well and everyone ended up fighting (us), pouting (kids), and just miserable (everyone).

We decided to revamp our evening routine and see if that made a difference.  It will soon be changing again because he starts winter hours (he works at a local university) but while the timing may our new routine won't.


Our old schedule was that he got home from work and I am frantically trying to have dinner ready and on the table, so therefore I'd have one or two or even three crying kids wanting something - a snack, to help, etc.  I'd try to send them off to play but that's when chaos would ensue and something would happen that I'd have to stop what I was doing and stop a fight, clean up a mess, etc.  Nathan would get home, dinner would be ready, the kids would want to be seeing him, I'd be yelling that dinner is ready let's eat and it was just craziness. pure craziness.  Then because dinner was early the kids wouldn't really be hungry, so they wouldn't want to eat, soon they would be begging to get down from the table and we would let them just to enjoy peace while we ate.  Then we'd clean up and all of a sudden one of them would be hungry, and we'd get distracted with something outside or a project. Soon the evening is gone and the most important thing had not been done - Bible lessons with daddy.

It just was not working out.

So we decided to revamp things a bit. 

Now when Nathan gets home, he greets everyone with a hug and kiss. And we have our 10 minutes of couch time to catch up on the day.  Really that's just where I spend 10 minutes recapping our day here at home, who behaved well, who did I have problems with, funny things happened, etc.  This way he feels like he was part of our day and knows what to expect throughout the evening (no nap=cranky baby or something along that line).  Then after couch time, he heads upstairs to change clothes and teach Bible lessons with the three little ones while I uninterrupted make dinner.  It's wonderful! So dinner is being pushed back about an hour but it's working well.  The children are hungrier so they are eating better, which means snack time before bed is truly that a snack and not another meal.  One thing we are finding with this new schedule is that we are more apt to leave the dishes in the sink after dinner because once we are all done eating it's easier to just go enjoy family time outside instead of rushing to lessons while I clean up.  But summer will be gone before we know it so for now I'm ok with leaving the dishes until after bedtime I'm sure in the winter when activities are inside it will be easier for one of us to clean up quicker.

We are both thrilled with how well this is going, of course not every night is going to happen this way and Thursdays for instance don't because I have ladies bible study that I attend. But knowing that this is our new normal has been extremely helpful in getting things accomplished and makes the entire evening more enjoyable.

It won't work for everyone and that's fine. You have to find what works best for YOU and your family.  I was trying to fit my family into an ideal that I thought I had to and it was a disaster. You as a family have to stand on your own two feet because each of you is so unique that it makes your own family unique and special.

Just another example of how thankful I am for Nathan and our open lines of communication, if we hadn't been willing to sit down and admit that something wasn't working and we needed to fix it our evenings would still be a mess and everyone would be miserable. Praise God for that!

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Our special treat!

As most of you know our family is a one-income family.  We weren't always like this and when it happened we had to make some big changes.  One of them is doing fun (expensive) things as a family, but in the past years God has continued to provide for us.  We are annually invited to an event at Idlewild and we look forward to it every year.  This year was especially fun - it was the first time in 6 straight years I wasn't nursing a baby or pregnant with another one.  So we had very little restrictions or restraints to deal with.  It was awesome.

Although the weather was rainy most of the day and way too cold for the water park, poor Naomi only lasted about 30 minutes before her lips were blue, the day turned out perfect. We left early and didn't get home till late.  Usually Nathan or I would wear out and/or be beat down enough by the children that we would throw in the towel and come home early.  Not this year, we went into the day knowing that this is a special treat that only happens once a year and we need to enjoy it and approach the day with grace and mercy towards our children.  That doesn't mean excusing them for bad behavior or spoiling them, but being understanding of excitement, tiredness (Naomi never did nap), and schedules being off.

You know it's a long day when we finished it with stopping for a meal at 8:30 on the way home. That NEVER happens in our family. ha!

I am so thankful for this special treat and the fact we get to share it with family and friends alike.  Here are some pictures from our day.  Even though Naomi looks scared to death in most pictures she really did love everything. In fact at this age Lydia and Josiah never rode any rides so this truly was a great year because everyone was brave enough to ride! :)

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48 Hour Media Fast

pro·cras·ti·na·tion
[proh-kras-tuh-ney-shuhn, pruh‐]

noun
the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention. Also known as Facebook. 

A friend of mine posted that the other day on facebook.... and for me it could not be more true. I struggle with this daily.  I have a tendency to get sucked in when I only meant to check my email or send someone a quick message. I know a couple other friends who have the same issues. 

Last week during my weekly bible study I am attending the book challenged us to a 48 hour media fast. gulp. I had sorta hoped the leader would glance over that section and ignore it.  No such chance... near the end of the study she brought it up. 

And we agreed as a group to do it.  For 48 hours we would not let the outside media influence us.  But that also meant I'm going to miss the Giant Eagle deals being posted.... and if you know me that's a big deal! ha 

So starting Tuesday morning at 7:00am I will not be accessing the Internet except to check my email and even then the only emails I will open will be from individuals that I personally know, no sales ads, no special deals, no blog updates, etc.  I also allowed myself the phone because well it's a home phone and I can't be tempted to jump on the Internet with it. Only to make and receive phone calls.  We don't have cable or dish so watching TV will not be a problem either (but I do like Hulu!).  Even though it's not the same thing I am also giving my children a 48 hour no-movie fast.  It could be a very long 48 hours. Those movies are very influential and even though we screen them carefully I am still noticing phrases and attitudes that my children have picked up from movies.

The weather had better be nice so we can be outside lots. :) 

If you're interested in the study we are doing here is the name of it - Living on the Edge: Dare to Experience True Spirituality The book is by Chip Ingram.

So if you post a comment, or something on facebook I'm not ignoring you I just won't be responding until Thursday morning after 7:00am.  This is going to be a huge test for me.  I may just shut the computer down and so that I'm not even tempted. 

Have any of you ever done this? Do you have these same struggles? Where do you find the balance? 

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My first harvest

yesterday I told the story and showed pictures of my destroyed garden. 

today I tell of the redemption :)

Saturday morning I ventured down to start really looking into the plants and see what was going on.  My dad came down to help, the first thing I saw was my cauliflower plants.... disgusting. They must have gotten too much rain, they were rotted through, so out those came. I think I got to salvage one and half heads.  But we got to looking at the broccoli and found 6 heads... big heads of that.  I was pretty excited and it gave me hope. 

Then I moved on to my peas and beans.  Couple pea pods were found (those are mostly eaten as they are picked), and another 3 or 4 handfuls of beans were found, ok my pile was getting bigger that was good.

Moved on to the hot peppers and found a ton of them but not quite ready to be picked but they survived the storm so that is encouraging.  Still only have 2 small green peppers on my 12 plants but I don't blame that on the storm just bad plants.

My dad decided he needed an onion for his lunch and pulled one.  Rotten.  what???  ugh... found a couple more that were rotten and it was decided then and there that they almost all needed to be pulled now instead of letting get super big.  Or so I thought.  As they were piling up I realized that they were much bigger than what I thought so that gave me some joy.  And my dad admitted that he was impressed - he was never able to grow onions :)  So we picked an entire laundry basket and then hung them out to dry.

Then I ventured down to my zucchini plants.... oh man were they in bad shape.  But I did find 4 zucchini and up to that point I thought they were a total lost cause, we did end up having to pull one plant out so I'm not sure if they will produce any more or not.

I pulled a couple stalks of corn because they were bent to the ground and then we discovered they were starting to tassel so I'm not sure I screwed up there or not but we decided to leave the rest and see what happens.

Next up was the cucumber plants that were basically buried by the knocked over tomato plants - I found 9 cucumbers!  but it took me 5 minutes to try and find my way back out after getting in there. :)

Lastly were my poor tomato plants.... we decided to just leave them because there really isn't anything we can do and they are loaded with tomatoes right now.  What as first I thought was a problem to have so many plants so close together may actually be a blessing.  They were able to sorta cushion the ones that got knocked down. 

God is good. 

here's my Vanna White photo of our bounty!

I was so upset on Friday when I saw what had happened, but our garden wasn't and isn't a total loss yet and that is such a blessing and reminder of God's goodness and faithfulness in ALL things.

What has God taught you lately?

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The jungle update or also know as my former garden

This is my first year basically planting and growing my garden on my own. In the past my dad would have helped but he's been working out of town and not around as much. So my mom and I started some plants indoors, and then moved them to a redneck greenhouse (cement block/old window panes) and grew some mighty looking fine plants. :)  I am so thankful this year and am trying not to get discouraged because of the craziness.  My dear husband can tell when I'm losing the faith so he got up super early on Sunday and went to weed my garden before church.  I was and am so grateful for him! He is truly a blessing to me in many ways.

Then planting time came and I grew a little ambitious.  My garden is FULL... very very full.  So full you can barely walk through it. Not good. Anyhow, here's a couple pictures to give you a feel for it.  Note my daughter will be six in October and I could probably lose her in it.

Our potato pots.... we could have kept laying dirt but we were tired and it was getting expensive so we just stopped and are anxious for fall to come so we can see if they worked!

From a distance.

A little closer.

From left to right - onions, peas, cauliflower (sorry for the picture - blogger is being crazy and won't flip it - anyone know how???)

My first hot pepper!

Our watermelon patch that had to be added later cause I ran out of room in the first garden!

These are my tomatoes.... my dad did not think our plants from seeds would grow so he had my mom buy some at the store.  Yes, those are mine in the back that are much taller then his... and now we have WAY too many cause he told me half of mine would die.

I will admit a mistake here and say that I did not pay close enough attention to my cherry tomato and regular tomato plants, we have a very poor ratio.  And every cherry tomato plant looks like this.

In the past onions haven't made it past the 'green' onion stage around here, but because my dad has been out of town they have gotten a chance to grow and hopefully grow some more!

My beautiful bean plants!

The insane zucchini plants.  These things have not produced but have completely taken over my garden :( And I've even had two people ask me for zucchini - oh my.

And the random sweet corn down the middle. Anyone else go by the rule 'knee-high by the fourth of July'? If so we were in business! :)

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Our journey

I've posted a bit about the struggles we have with our oldest daughter.  Most people just think she's out of control and unmanageable or we've just push over parents.  She doesn't have visible disabilities but you know that feeling as a mother that you just know something isn't right. That's us. 

After a couple trips to a new doctor, we have recently discovered that she should be left-side dominant but is switching which side she uses so it's confusing her processing system.  For instance she inputs audio on the right side, but visual on the left side - so things are getting completely jumbled in there when they try to be processed back out.  That's why there are such delays in obedience or following through with instructions because the commands are all mixed up and not passing through the right systems.  This was the first week we started her new exercises to help re-train her body to operate on the correct side.

It's not going to be easy and it's going to be a struggle almost every day but we will eventually get there.  In the long run maybe she would have been ok but by doing this it's going to save us a ton of frustration and trials in her future - once we get this figured out her learning and processing should be much easier for everyone.

I am so thankful for discovering this now and not 10 years down the road. This article was also very interesting and reveals some of our struggles for the child who cries the same if she drops a feather on her toe or drops a brick on her toe - Kids who feels too much.

Have any of you ever encountered something like this?

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Our growing garden

My post today is about something new that I've never done - growing potatoes.  Many years ago I bookmarked this link from Heavenly Homemakers, one of my favorite blogs. I've hung onto this print-out for a couple years, moving it here and there. Finally my mom found an article too and got interested so boom we were on a mission.

About two weeks ago we made our potato pots, four in total, bought some seed potatoes, used some old chicken wire we had laying around, old newspaper to line them, and some bags of potting soil/compost.  The cost really wasn't that much for how many we ended up planting.  The basic theory is to plant some seed potatoes with eyes, let them sprout, once the plants get to a certain point, cover with another layer of soil, wait for plants to grow again, cover again and repeat... once you reach the top, you let the plants grow and blossom.  Wait a couple weeks after the plants die and turn yellow and then clip the the plastic ties used to hold the pots together and VIOLA pounds and pounds of potatoes to store for the winter!  I'm thinking digging through the dirt for all those treasure is going to be an excellent job for my little ones.

There does seem to be some disagreement or confusion over at what point we put another layer of soil over the plants.... one of the bonuses of the internet - you learn how to do things and then you learn there are many ways to do the same things.  Some say 1-2 inches, others say 7-8 inches... big difference there.  We might try one of each since we have multiple pots. Don't know how it works but supposedly it does.


We'll play it by ear this year and make changes for next year. :)  Have any of you done this before?

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The dreaded yard sale summary

Well the yard sale happened..... I still can't move from it.  Those things are so much work. By Saturday night I was barely able to get up and down from a chair. I know I'm not in the best shape but being on a cement floor for hours when I'm not used to it is brutal!

It was partially a success.  People don't just come to shop and browse anymore, they are in and out - looking for specific things. But I sold a large amount of surplus - stuff I had leftover from my drugstore/GE shopping deals. That stuff sold pretty well - some of it did some of it didn't. Always a toss up.  Am I glad I did it - sure but will I do it again next year, right now no.  But ask me again in December when we are clearing away more toys to make room for new ones.... I'll probably say yes! :)

I forgot to take a picture of the garage but partly because we were supposed to start at 8 and by 7:50 we had already had our first group come and go.... yep. Early birds! And to top it off from 7:30-8:30 there was a downpour that was hard enough to make us scramble and get everything in out of the rain.... we were soaked.  But I was looking at things positivity and was happy that it had rained and I didn't have to worry about watering my garden that night. For that I was thankful for.

My children were pretty good that day - having so many people in and out and some of them having very tempting puppies or children with them, they too were beat.  Due to other circumstances we had to have the tables we borrowed from our church back there before Sunday morning, so we gave a call up to Grandma & Pa and after delivering the tables went out for ice cream.... now that was a nice treat and a wonderful way to end the day (and the kids even stayed awake the whole way home!).

So all in all I am thankful for the day and the extra bit of money we now have stashed for Lydia's next appointment and the traveling that goes along with that.  God is good!

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Clutter-Busting Challenge: conclusion

I'm just not good at following through on things.... I know this blog will never be a huge success if I don't spend more time each day building it and I think I need to accept that it's not going to be a huge success right now because I just don't have the time to devote.  This clutter-busting challenge was such a good idea and I jumped right in to it and enjoyed it but couldn't keep up with the posting every day. 

The goal of the challenge was to get rid of 7 things every day during the month of May - 217.  I surpassed that amount quite awhile ago.  We are having our huge community yard sale this Saturday - it's always the first Saturday in June.  This challenge just got me up and moving and once I got started I couldn't quit.  I barely posted on the amount of stuff that is being shipped out my door.  My husband could not be more thrilled! :)

The challenge that comes now is not bringing the stuff back into the house when the sale is over and it hasn't sold! I am a bit of a hoarder and don't like to actually throw stuff away.... it will take lots of will-power to not save it for the next sale.

I am thankful for this challenge and the motivation it gave me to get up and get going with clearing clutter - my mindset was totally different while prepping for our sale. I was focused on clearing out as many items as I possibly could because I knew someday I would post on it. I will take some pictures once the garage is set up and you can just see how much clutter I actually had. 

Now let's see what the next project I'll get in to will be? Any suggestions?

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Clutter-Busting Challenge by Money Saving Mom

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A wonderful surprise

yes I'm still clutter-busting, and yes I'm still exercising (although no running, but forking a load of chicken manure onto the garden is exercise enough right now!)

But right now I'm rejoicing and thanking God for the wonderful surprise visit I had last night and this morning.  Our former pastor and his wife left our church about 6 years ago - I remember after they left I found out I was pregnant with Lydia.  They left under good terms and to this day we still love and miss them - they were vital in the beginning stages of both Nathan and I's Christian walk.

The last time I saw them was the day after Naomi was born, they were coming into town for a visit, Pastor Steve was speaking at our church that Sunday and then we were all going out to eat for lunch - big catch-up.  Well Miss Naomi had different plans and made a sudden appearance that weekend.  But... there's no excuse like a new baby to be sure to visit so they made an extra trip out to our house and it was wonderful.

Then last night as I'm getting dinner ready and my kids are having that late afternoon melt-down I received a phone call. Sue was in the area and needed a place to bunk for the night.  you bet!!!  It has been wonderful and refreshing. She didn't say long today - she's on her way to visit some grandbabies and I can't say I blame her by any means... but the short time we've had was well worth it.

My house is a wreck, toys everywhere, not sure when the last time was I swept my kitchen floor, everything smells like chicken manure, it could have been so easy to say 'no' it's really not a good time, but you know what I would have missed out on such an amazing blessing.  Don't say no ladies - take advantage of being hospitable.... it's a lovely reward.  And who knows when I'll get to see her again.... I'll always have the time to sweep my floor later. :)

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oh hum de dum

well life happens right?

I didn't post on friday but I did end up getting my run in during the afternoon so that was great. It was cut short by Naomi's crying and then Lydia's who went up to try and lay down with her... she got stuck while trying to get back out of the crib. yep, never dull around here!

Monday's running didn't happen because I had a migraine the size of texas. I was soooo sick from it.  By lunchtime I was ready for bed...so I made all the kids lay down for naps at 12:30 and we slept for three hours... yes all four of us.  I was beyond thankful.  Had some issues getting everyone to bed last night BUT I was feeling better so it was no big deal.  If I had not got my nap yesterday afternoon it would have been horrible.

I'm being thankful that I did not sleep last night because that means I will get to bed early tonight, I will sleep through the night, and be able to wake up early to run.  Yes... look at the positive side of things always! :)

So today I am thankful for sleep yesterday, and no sleep last night (although Lydia made us a new word the other day - yesternight - why don't we use that word? It's not last day?  hmmmm)

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Philly Trip Recap

I am finally getting around to posting about our trip to Philly. I am so thankful for this trip.  While it was stressful and honestly I hate to travel (so I know where my children get it from) I am grateful for many reasons.

It really cost us nothing.  My husband had to go anyway so the hotel was paid for.  He gets mileage for driving his car, and per diem for meals that weren't included in his conference.  With a little bit of planning and lots of organizing we found an Aldi's near our hotel when we got there and bought food for our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. We did splurge one night for dinner out but even then we used a restaurant.com gift card (which I honestly don't think I would recommend - it was a lot of hassle and work for what it ended up being worth!).

I basically stayed in the hotel room with the kids and had a mini-vacation, I let them eat junk food, and watch lots of tv.... which never happens at our house.  We do not have cable or dish at home so to be able to watch shows that were new to them was very exciting. Except they could not understand why I couldn't pause the shows when they had to use the bathroom like a DVD. ha!  Then in the evenings after Nathan got home we would as a family go out and walk around down town Philadelphia.  We went to City Hall, we visited a couple parks, got ice cream, and just let the kids enjoy the sites and sounds (we live in the country). I hope the kids remember this trip for the relaxed state we moved - no schedules, no timelines, no school, just went with the flow!  Plus this hotel was awesome - The Windsor Suites.  We will probably never find another hotel like it. It was HUGE and perfect for our family.

The one surprise we did plan on ahead of time (with a coupon of course) was taking the children to the Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey. It was so worth it.  But even then with the coupon from Papa Johns we were able to save $20, and packed our own lunches to save even more money.  If I'm not saving money I normally can't have a good time cause I'm worrying about the budget! yikes. They absolutely loved it.  The first exhibit we went too were the hippos and to see the excitement and joy was wonderful - as my husband said 'This was worth it just to see their faces, and it's going to be really hard to go to the conference now!" but thankfully by mid-afternoon when he had to be back the kids were tired and ready for naps so we were able to leave as a family.

We did have one event that will stick out for awhile.  One evening while out walking we decided to stop into MickyD's to treat the kids to a small vanilla cone and a small vanilla milkshake for us parents to share.  Plus I had to use the restroom. Well the restrooms were looked so that was a bust, I ordered and paid.  And waited, and waited, and waited.... 15 minutes later I asked where our order was (3 cones, 1 milkshake) - the lady's response 'just hold your pants mama, we'll take care of you in a minute'.  um.. really.  Stood back and watched the scene unfold.  And older employee and a younger employee arguing over who had to make the cones cause neither one knew how..... seriously.  Finally the older employee walks over and hands me two cones that the only way I can describe them is to say they looked like a wilted lily with all the petals hanging down over the sides - there was ice cream everywhere.  It was a mess, I took one look and told her I couldn't eat them as an adult how was I to give them to my children (5, 3, and 1) to eat without making an absolute mess. Told her to keep my $6 I was out of there.  (Mind you the wait was going on 20 minutes for a lady behind me who had ordered coffee).  I am normally a calm and cool person but that was enough. So my husband went back inside to see if he could get our money back.  She was still standing there holding the cones when he went back inside. He then told her to put them in a dish, so she did upright..... so turn them upside down so 1) they don't fall out of the dish, and 2) so we can eat them with a spoon cause by then the ice cream was running down the sides.... it was a total mess.  Oh what an epic fail!

Ok... there's a couple of pictures for your enjoyment! :)

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