Eye doctor

About a month ago during safety class at our lighthouse homeschool group Andrea's class had an eye doctor come and give a talk and show the kids what an eye appointment was like and why they were important. It was brought to our attention that Andrea had a hard time seeing far away. She had never mentioned anything so I was sort of taken aback today when the eye doctor that we saw said that she was very near sighted. I actually cried because I felt that she had missed out on so much beauty in life. After the doctor comforted me by telling me that there was no harm done and that her world would now become so much more detailed and exciting to her, we went through the fun task of finding frames! There was so much laughter that I am not sure if we were appreciated much but we made something that could have been a bummer into an adventure. I really hope that she loves her new glasses and that she has fun showing them off to her friends. Kids can be cruel so I made sure that they were pretty and made her feel pretty. I remember being about her age and a daughter of one of my mom's best friends had glasses and braces. I was SOOOO jealous and wanted both super bad. Looking back I know now that it was not those items that made Katie cool it was the fact that she was confident in the fact that she was loved. As and adult with kids that need braces and glasses I see now the benefit in teaching the girls same confidence. To teach them that they are loved and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made. Just as my mother taught me over and over and over again. Today could have been very difficult but hopefully we have been able to bring an anticipation to Andrea, not only for her to see better but to also know that she is loved...always loved.

Vacation to Abby and Alex' house, part 1

On the morning of March 19th we planned to leave bright and early for our trip. I had packed all the bags and gotten everything set out that I could think of. We had three sick kids at the time and I was wondering whether we should be going at all. Matthew ended up having a very rough night at work and had to sleep so by the time he woke and we had things ready to go we were pretty worried about Kayla and Zachary's health. They both had high fevers and seemed to be coughing really bady. Our plans changed as plans often do. We took the kids to the Prompt care on West main only to be told that the wait was a minimum of 2.5 hours if no one else came in with a worse problem and to try the other urgent care in our network. So we called them and while it was twice the copay to go the time for being seen was considerably less. We were in and out of the building in about an hour and a half. Not bad in my opinion. The kids lungs were fine and they gave them some more tylenol and motrin and called it good. Feeling relieved for the children but discouraged about the day that was quickly closing we left for our trip and drove as long as we could before we were overtaken by sleepiness. We stopped about 4am at a little motel and all piled into one room. Poor Z slept on the floor in a sleeping bag (I know it grossed me out too!) and the girls all piled into one bed while Matthew and I and the baby slept in the other. It worked out well enough because we woke later that morning, felt much better and got back on our way about 9am. We arrived to Abby and Alex's house just before dinner. We thought we would be later but forgot that they live in a different time zone haha! It was wonderful to see her and the boys and to finally see her home and just get aquainted with her life as an adult woman. We really enjoyed seeing how established and comfortable she was in her space. After having a nice dinner and enjoying a good visit we headed off to bed. It was a sweet set up too! We had our own half bath and the room was large enough that with a little creativity everyone had somewhere soft to sleep. The next day was stormy and yet we didn't mind after so many hours in the van. It was nice to just sleep in (atleast we felt like we were sleeping in really well with that hour difference lol) and lounge about visiting and drinking coffee...ok I drank coffee and we all visited. Their church was cancelled that evening because of the storms and so we ended up hanging out. Zachary had a fever for the first few days of the trip and alot of cough syrup was given at night. I ended up sick but thankfully I was not nearly as bad off as the kids when they were at their worst.

On Thursday, I believe it was, we went to the Zoo. It was a very nice one! We were able to see so many animals that we had never seen before at the many different places we have been through the years. We all had our favorites mine was the bird that looked like it had a giant candycorn on it's head! hahaha!

Friday, we went to the USS KIDD and walked through the ship and enjoyed the bits of history in the museum. I didn't get a chance to look as much as I would have liked because at that point I was miserable with head congestion and Z was being wild (shocker haha!) anyways, Zachary enjoyed the ship and the big guns and the cots in the sleeping quarters. It was pretty neat but tight and all I could think of was how miserable it must be to be on there with a bunch of other people for months on end...some more pics? :)

It is probably a little wrong to take pics of babies with guns but I did...they were very excited about them. Mostly I think because they don't think about guns shooting people and don't really understand...for me it was a sad and bittersweet type of experience to walk through and see all the deadly weapons. The favorite parts by far were the cots and the kitchens and bathrooms for some reason LOL! We loved being able to explore those areas.

Somehow I missed Matthew and Kayla getting in to try them out. I did have to laugh when Matthew said he could sleep in one easy. That man can sleep just about anywhere if he needs to. LOL! I on the other hand do not sleep well normally if I am not in my own element.

OK the rest of the trip will have to be written about in the next post...

Eight is great!

Our sweet baby Kayla turned 8 in February. She is growing so fast and yet she is still such a little girl. We are so pleased with the blessing of her life in our home. She is our tender heart and clown. Last year she gave her life to Jesus and since then we have been so amazed at the way that the Holy Spirit is working in her life. We should not be suprised because God has promised to do that good work in us when we accept Him into our lives and choose to live for Him but it still blows me away each time I hear her pray or ask her questions about scripture that she knows the heart of what is being talked about even if she doesn't understand all the messy sinful deception of people stuff. She is always using crazy accents and making us laugh in abundance...:) she is so precious!


So the cake...GRACIOUS! that thing was so hard even though it seemed so easy when I watched the video instructions. As you can see it is sloppy looking at spots and the funny part is that when Kayla woke up in the morning after I spent many hours getting it ready after they were sleeping she walked into the kitchen and says "WOW! MOM IS AWESOME! She even put in a drawbrigde!" Laying in bed listening I was very perplexed as there was NO bridge but found when I went out that the layers of the cookies had seperated and were indeed a drawbridge making me the coolest mom ever hahahaha!

Baby K is one!

This is a post all about our dear little Kendra. She turned one the week of Christmas, so feeling a little overwhelmed at that time I didn't get around to writing anything about just her. Kendra has got to be our "sweetest" baby. Not to say the others weren't sweet but this little girl of ours has donned the knick name "sweet pea" like as in Popey and OliveOil's sweet pea. She has just got this quiet little demeanor and it is just precious. She obviously favors Matthew a little bit more than me though I know I am loved so no worries on my part. LOL! Kendra's birthday falls at such a weird time of the year because of Christmas so her party was sort of last minute and we were blessed to have many family members come and share it with her. She obviously loved her cake

Next year we hope to be more organized and possibly get some Aunts and Uncles there :) Christmas birthdays have to have some advantage right? Why not be that more family is around to enjoy it with you. Happy first Birthday baby!

sleep?

So I am lying in bed...just lying here while everyone else sleeps. Why? Because my mind is racing and my heart feels heavy and I think I should have skipped that last cup of coffee I had

before dinner. Thought this sign was funny. :)


So my mind is full of my day...really the whole weekend. Do you ever feel like that? Some things from my marriage, some parenting skills I need desperate help with, and then there was church. Just filled with thoughts and feelings and praying seemed to only add more things to my mental overload....

Ok well knowing me I will probably delete this tomorrow but it felt good to do something instead of thinking so hard lol

Our summer at the cabin!

Well Another season at the cabin is over. We had a fabulous time again as expected and made many memories with family and friends. We had my grandparents come up several times and Matthew's mom and sister Rachel came. Joe and Chuck came for a work trip to help Matthew re-roof for insurance purposes. We truly appreciate friends that love us so much that they will come help with things like that!!! During Matthew's time between projects up there this year he did alot of fishing. Here is one that he and the older girls caught together :) We went on the Manistique board walk again and went to the lighthouse as we do each year to get a pic and remind the girls of how cool it is. Amazingly they still never remember it until we are right up next to it.As you can see they cooperated so well! LOL!

 Our visit with Jill and Rachel was alot of fun and one of the things we did is re-visited the waterfalls. We always enjoy seeing them and this time was no exception. It is a delight to share with others the beauty that God has created. We even did a picnic lunch (which I felt could have gone better since I stepped in a pile of dog doo that someone so pleasantly didn't clean up) on the grounds of the munising falls!

Jill took this pic of our whole family :) I believe it is our first pic as an entire group?...Kendra LOVED the backpack and we were delighted that we could tote her around and enjoy the afternoon stroller free.

Well that is all for now! Hope you enjoy the pics.

Computer SOS

So there is a great reason to blog in this world...my computer had a major virus and between this and facebook I now have many of my precious pictures that would have been lost forever because as a mom I just never quite get around to burning my photo discs...just saying that it is something that I am greatful for today.