Merry Christmas!!!!!

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Holiday Traditions

This year we are downsizing the load that appears magically on Christmas morning. But isn't most everyone? We are trying to take the time to remember what Christmas is about and not what the media and mega-stores portray it to be. I hope that everyone checks out the video below and then checks out www.thisinsteadofthat.org and that it may make you bring Christmas into perspective too.......

Merry Christmas!

www.thisinsteadofthat.org

Call me crazy

So I have decided to go back to school. Call me crazy. DO you think that they will let me take 27 credit hours all in one semester? 4 kids and a husband, 27 credit hours......no problem, right! Oh and I need a part-time job too. I can do it cause I am a Woman!
Just finished filling out all of my fafsa paperwork and its actually been submitted! Do not know yet if its going to be accepted, but what the hey? It will all pay off in the long run, right?

Happy Birthday Sweet Sophia

Can't believe you are 3 today~ Wow, time flies!

Halloween Party Pic

We went to a family Halloween Party and here are Cleopatra, The Good Witch, Sarge (the dog), The Sweet Cowgirl and The Pirate!

So we have been laying low on the blogosphere for awhile.....

WOW~ Time flies. I have been so busy that I forget that its been awhile since I have blogged about anything....

With all of this crazy sickness going around, its by the pure grace of God that we have not all ended up in the ER, instead we have steadily been plagued with minor frustrations. Bouts of Pink Eye that the school nurse diagnosed, that were not Pink Eye, not even an illness. She even sent both twins home since they were associated! My Sophie had a 102 degree temp and threw up in the middle of the night. I took her to the pediatrician the following morning, only to have her play 'cars' with the dr on the examining table since she no longer had a fever and was doing great! My oldest daughter, Macy did have some kind of funk, but it lasted about 2 days and she was back to ruling the kick ball field at recess. I feel that I should be the National spokesperson for Lysol, Purell, Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup and Equate anti-bacterial hand soap.

Things have been oddly quiet with the twins now in kindergarten, Macy is in 5th grade and just Sophie is at home. Aren't I supposed to be getting more accomplished at home? Shouldn't I have the flower beds filled with Mums and the house spic-n-span clean and a pie in the oven? Instead I am running now more then ever and hardly getting anything accomplished. I have not added anything to my etsy shop in forever. I just feel like I am failing at the home maker job postiton that I have been 'assigned' too. Motherhood has been so much more important lately. I do cherish those few seconds when I lock myself in the bathroom!! I need to get a deadbolt for that door though......

We did hit the pumpkin patch yesterday.....I will bore you with some photos! I took about 124, so I won't bore you with ALL of them....

Little Miss Sophie

Sophie, Macy, Kaelyn and Emma

Kaelyn feeding the Goats...

If you miss me...tell me and maybe it will motivate me to start blogging again!!!!

Oh My HOTNESS....

Brand New KInDerGarTneRs

Look at these two! They are my brand new kindergartners!

A Thousand Word Thursday

SO.....my twins were not being very nice to each other. They fought and fought all day! So I made them hold hands with each other. Clearly Kaelyn is not enjoying it and Emma loves it!~

Please visit Jen for more ATWT!!

Oh, my summer where have you gone?

So its officially over tomorrow.We have had fun though. Missed the whole month of June, but what the hey. I asked each daughter what her favorite part of the summer was and here are the answers.

Macy said, "when Aunt Lise, Uncle John and Cameron came to visit from North Carolina and we all went to the City Museum. OH and when we went to the Cardinals game and Albert Pujols hit 2 home runs in the same game!!!! Oh and Sarge, our new puppy!" She could have gone on, but I cut her off!

My girls with cousin Cameron

Albert Pujols during the All-Star Game parade....yes~ we were that close to him!!!!!!!!!

Kaelyn said she loved summer school, VBS and her very first Cardinals game.

Emma said, "EVERYTHING, quit asking me!!" Well hrmph. If I were to speak for her I would say that it was summer school, bike riding with Daddy and her special night with grammie and pop.

Sophie said, "going to sleep." Whatever that means, she said something about pencils too, but who knows. She has had an eventful summer though! My favorite part of her summer is that she is now potty trained!!!!

Our new addition to the family has arrived!

His name is Sarge, as in Mr. Sargent, cause he's going to be a big boy

Wow.

Look who's turning double digits!!!

Look how 10 whole years changes you!!! I swear its the same kid!!! Even with the red icing all over her teeth from her cake!!

~Happy Birthday my beautiful Macy~

A Thousand Word Thursday

Yep, that is a squirrel that decided he wanted to hang out in our room while Geoff and I were in Florida for a work trip.....totally crazy...you should have seen me scrambling to turn the camera on before he made a run for it!

my cup is half full

Alright, no more complaining about my injuries and the damn car accident. From now on, its all about how the cup is half full. I am so thankful to God that my children are alive and I am able to sit here and utilize blogger for therapy.

I can sit here and whine and complain but I am sure that no one really wants to hear it or cares. So guess what?!?! Yesterday while driving home from dropping off the 3 older girls from summer school, Sophie and I found a turtle on the road. We find them all the time and we bring them home. They are our pet for the day or two, until they decide that they miss their mommy and daddy and they go home. We just hang out with them in the back yard. Well its been so stinkin' hot and humid here that even at 8 am I was not about to just hang out in the back yard to play with "Turdy". So I let Turdy come in the house. He crawled around the kitchen for about an hour and Sophie kept throwing lettuce at him yelling, "Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" He had no interest in the lettuce. So we were headed out to hang with our buddies for a few hours and I went to jump in the shower and 'forgot' that there was a turtle in the house. Sophie jumped in the shower with me and the turtle was free. Halfway through the shower I remembered that there was a turtle in the house!!! Yes, I think that I have lost my marbles. Anyway, we could not find him anywhere. Little Turdy was hiding behind the curtains trying to escape the indoors. I guess that he likes the 100 degree 99% humidity we are being assaulted with. So we took him to the sandbox in hopes that he would still be there and not have escaped by the time we came back home. NO such luck. They always get out of there and go home to their mommy and daddy. But at least we had fun with Turdy while he was around.

Tubular~Update

So apparently I have separated my AC Joint. Which means absolutely nothing to me so I went HERE to figure out what that meant!
Doc said that mine is a Grade II. SO now I have to contact another place for therapy. I just hate that this was not found while I was in the hospital complaining about my shoulder pain for 2 days.

Tubular

One big white tube looking thing + Me (inthetube) +4 daughters in the waiting room(unsupervised) = totally crazed out momma!

I totally thought that I was going to panic. I have never had an MRI, but it was horrifying. I guess maybe I have a little claustrophobia I never knew I had. I had to keep my eyes closed or I freaked out. It lasted about 25 minutes!!!! I thought that technology was better than that. That was also the first time that I have driven in the car with all 4 girls farther then the 1 mile to school. Macy was the worst. White knuckles and telling me to slow down every second. Kae whimpering in the back seat like she was being tortured. What a nightmare. I will find out the results tomorrow. I hope that my shoulder is not too serious. I need to get some sort of physical therapy to get this elbow moving again. This being hurt is for the birds. I can't stand not being able to do my thing. {with my luck I will have nothing wrong with me and I will finally come to the realization that I am just a big sissy and can't stand pain}.

Please say a prayer for me that I am not just a sissy and all of my complaining to my husband has not been for nuthin'

A Thousand Word Thursday

Check out my girl~

cool friends poem thingy that i found and enjoy~

My girls are tough

Its crazy the way children are. My girls are tough, but a little skittish now around vehicles. It makes sense and I am not upset with them I just wish that they could get over it easier. In our school district they over a fun and educational summer school during the month of June. The buses run and the cafeteria is open just like regular school. Now I have had run-ins with my bus driver before and I really don't care for her much and she bothers me. Since the twins are entering into Kindergarten in the fall they can attend summer school. Well Kae has some separation anxiety and we have been working on that, but when they got on the bus for the first time our lovely bus driver split all 3 of my girls up. Number 1, they had just been in the car accident 4 days before. Number 2, this was their first bus ride and Number 3, Kae can't be split from Macy or Emma. So with all of that in play, the bus driver, lets call her Elvira, splits up the girls and then Kae screams bloody murder. So Macy talks to Elvira and she lets them sit together. Well then 3 school days later, she splits them up again. Blood curdling screams ensue and Macy tells Elvira, well she said she yelled at her. So Macy yells at Elvira that she can't split them up.final. So they are sitting together and Elvira is driving along and swerves into the grass. All 3 of my girls start freaking out and crying. Then she starts yelling at my girls. C'mon people what is wrong with this woman? I think she has a vendeda against me. I have called the Bus Barn so many times to complain about her that she is out for my girls. So thats it. They are not riding the bus to summer school anymore. When school starts they are going to have to sometimes. They can't always be scared of the bus? What do I do?

The girls have also been telling me things that they remember from the accident. Flying fruit snacks to icky smelling metal and how they felt. Emma told me yesterday that the ambulance driver told her that he knew God was with us during the accident. How wonderful is that? Its been hard to hear some of it since I can't remember being there. I was apparently alert, but not making sense when I tried to talk so that had to freak them out too.
Oh and can you believe that the City of St Louis is billing me $1122.00 for myself and Sophie's ambulance ride. And we were in the SAME ambulance! I am sure that my gurney was not gold plated and I know that I didn't require any name brand bandages. I am not picky like that at all. Those are just the first rounds of bills. Only the first 2! This is going to be fun. Maybe I will keep a running total of everything. It will be interesting anyway. I just paid the City of St Louis $120 for Geoff running a red light by his work 2 months ago! And I had just gotten some cute plastic tortise shell frames and they were toast and no where to be found. Come to find out that the insurance company will not cover them....so I am stuck with my old ugly crooked ones again!

I am also finding out that even though you have FULL coverage auto insurance its not really FULL coverage if you have a one-car accident!

well its will been 2 weeks today and I still feel like poo. I got my stitches out yesterday. And I still need to get an MRI to see whats up with the shoulder. I can't bring my arm up over my head and when I try to put my arms down at my side, one arm is longer then the other. Its pretty funny looking. The girls are still talking about the accident and seem real scared when I mention driving again! Baby Steps.......But since I have not had any issues with my right hand/arm, I have taken advantage of my so called free time and been taking some pics. So enjoy.

Turtle

Sweet Peas from the garden. I love that the girls run in there and break pea pods and just eat the peas fresh from the garden when they want a 'snack'

Calm before the storm in the midwest

Onions in the garden

Corn in the garden

past 7 days feels like its only been 2 days.

First off you will have to excuse my typing. I can only type with 1 hand. Last Saturday morn the 4 girls and i were headed to Soldiers Memorial in downtown St Louis to meet my husband at a Welcome Home ceremony for the troops. My husband was supposed to get an award! Of course i found this out later! It was a big deal, rides, food, The Dave Glover Band was performing.....we were excited. The girls were all decked out in their red white and blue. They looked so cute. Wish I had taken a picture of them before we left. So we crossed over the Blanchette Bridge in St Charles and that is the last thing that I can remember. I can't remember driving into the city on hwy 70, I keep trying. But my next memory was in the SLU Hospital ER that afternoon. My girls, I was told were all OK. They were across the street at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital being treated for cuts and bruises. Sophie had a bump on her forehead, Kae had a scrape on her forehead, Emma has a bruise on her belly from her seat belt and Macy has a banged up elbow. It had been raining that morning and the roads were wet. The police report states i lost control of my Envoy XL and it slid across towards the middle of the highway, hit and tore off the top of a 7 foot section of the concrete median and then the SUV rolled over. Eye witness reports state that it rolled 3 times, but we have no idea. My girls say all that they remember was 'tumbling' in the car. And I was apparently ejected from the car but through the passengers side window. Miraculously Macy was able to get her siblings out of the car and ask a lady that stopped for help and she called Geoff on the phone. He was only 10 minutes away and got there about 2 minutes before the ambulances. My next memories were jaded and in the ER and the hospital. The orbital bone that holds my left eye is fractured and has produced a purplish/black eye, I have about 50 stitches in my left arm, some of my ribs are separated and my shoulder hurts like hell. I keep finding shards of glass in me. I even pulled a big hunk of window glass out of my purse last night! I have cuts, scrapes and bruises all over my whole body. Seeing a picture of my car was very hard for me since I do not remember any of the accident. I spent 2 days in SLU Hospital and its all a blur.

I can't even begin to think about how to start to thank the people at the scene of the accident. The lady that held Sophie and the other lady that let Macy use her phone and I am sure that there are countless others. These are just the ones that I have been told about. What about the EMT's & Police Officers? What about the countless people that may of just drove by but still said a prayer to themselves? How do I thank my husband for being so strong and holding it together for all of us? Angie, for getting on FaceBook and letting the word out so that my Church family could organize meals every night for 2 weeks for my family, so that my Pastor could come and Pray over Geoff and I. What about all of the hand written notes and flowers and plants that we have gotten? My mother-in-law for staying with us this past week and keeping the house from falling apart? She also brought me some kinda feather bed thing that I am sleeping wonderfully on many hours a day. Jennifer brought me her mp3 player and I was able to hear Chris Tomlin and Mark Roach sing me to sleep. Gail, washed my feet and hands for the first time the day after the accident at the hospital (that had to have been gross). Natalie & Michael brought me good reads. Geoff said that I am a bad patient so I must apologize to my nurses and Dr's. My girlfriends that have stopped by to check on me and make sure that I will still be at the gym in the next few weeks!!! Andrea, you are the best listener, thanks. All of the well wishes that I have been messaged on FaceBook.......

I could go on....the outpouring of support is amazing and nothing that I have ever experienced in my life. But by the grace of God I can sit here in a little bit of pain and type this with one hand and I am still alive, along with my 4 precious daughters. God, thank you for being there and keeping my babies safe and protected.

Macy~circa 2007

Look at my Macy 2 years ago right after she threw out the first pitch at Busch Stadium before the Cardinals game...

And look at her now. All cute and graduated from 4th grade...time sure does fly

where does the time go?

I have been trying to figure out how to make more hours in my day.

There just never seems to be enough time!

A Thousand Word Thursday

What the??? She is only 2 and a half.....I guess that its time to get out the big girl bed.....

Visit The Mom Jen for more ATWT

Wordless Wednesday~Kayleigh Anne Freeman

Kayleigh Anne Freeman June 23, 2008 - May 11, 2009

new eyes....

So we all have eye dr appointments this week.......and guess who's getting glasses!

A Thousand Word Thursday

Look at my Kaelyn and Emma at their first T-Ball game!!!

For more ATWT visit Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy.....

Wordless Wednesday

Twins first T-Ball game last night.....these days are going to go by soooo fast

How you contract the Swine Flu

Just too cute to not share.....well kinda gross to, but the innocence of a child is precious...

Could it get any better?

I have been so busy that I can't seem to find the time to get much done at all. So last night after watching Celebrity Apprentice......I still can't believe that Jessie is gone! I turned to get my once a month trashy fill of reality TV on VH-1. Its just keeps getting better.....So at 2 am and 5 loads of laundry later I just couldn't take anymore. Off to bed I went...Back to reality, you know the real reality. real life.
I am awoken by my 5 year old at 8 am. Ummm. Thats 30 minutes past the time my oldest is to catch the school bus. Ooops. So then I had to rush, wake up and get 4 girls all out the door and Macy to school by 830. Close to impossible, but believe me it can be done. So I figure since we are already in the car and I want to stay home the rest of the day when I get back that we will run to Walmart and get the light bulbs and envelopes that we need. I could have worded that differently but you know what I mean. So we pull into Walmart. Crisis begins....Kaelyn has no shoes. Umm. Excuse me? Then Sophie is running around the car (yes, in the parking lot, I was yelling at her to stop. Its Emma's fault she started a game of tag.) Can you just imagine me trying to not yell (but be firm) at Kaelyn about her shoes and then Emma starting a game of tag in the parking lot of all places and then Sophie falls flat on her face on the asphalt in the parking lot. Yep. So now add a screaming child to the mix and I am surprised that DFS was not waiting by my car when we left. So I send Emma to get a cart and I am carrying a 2 and 5 year old and trying to lock my car and not drop anyone. Why was I going to Walmart again? I hate that store. So I get Sophie calmed down, kissed the chin and the elbows and keep Kaelyn in the cart, remember no shoes! And I decide that I want to make a roast in the midst of all the chaos. I am so glad that I know how to multi-task and think! And on my way over to get the potatoes and fixin's I see a friend from Bible Study.......are you kidding me?! So I make a bee-line in the other direction. Oh, Jennifer S. please don't take any offense to that if you saw me, I just really was not in the mood to make pleasantries. Why is it that once you are in Walmart you think of things that you need? Off to the pasta isle, to get pizza sauce for Emma's preschool class.....who do I see again, yep, my Bible study friend. So I look away and take off my glasses and pretend to clean the lenses and guess what happens? YEP, you guessed it. The lens pops out of my glasses and the frames broke. So now I am shopping for what, I can't remember with a kid that ate the pavement, one without shoes and the other one is singing loudly in every isle attracting attention and I am now legally blind.
Thinking back, I could have prolly used pleasantries from a friend. I ended up buying pizza sauce, 2 shipping envelopes, a flat of inpatients and light bulbs. Nothing for dinner. And I arrived home safely while driving legally blind. I now have super glue stuck to my fingers and my glasses are somewhat fixed, and I am ready for a nap.
It's only 10:30 am. Could it get any better?

MIA

....been away....but we are back...recharged, refreshed and ready to tackle the summer!

A Thousand Word Thursday

SO here is Sophie in the tub.

Please visit Jen at Cheaper Than Therapy for more ATWT...

Wayback Wednesday

Ok so its not WAY back, it was just last summer, but it looks like it! Thanks to Angela Harris for introducing me to http://www.picnik.com/

This is my family.

Easter Fun

I hope that everyone had just as much fun this Easter as we did!!