Summertime Fun……at Pavilion Park

I’m going to do a little “flash back” to summer since I was so bad a blogging over the summer. I took so many pictures over the summer that I never blogged and I’m sure I won’t ever get all of the blogged but I will slowly go back and see what I can do.

One of the things that we did several times last summer was meet Ben for lunch at this pretty cool park. We are within walking distance from it so we would pack a picnic lunch, load up our bikes (we usually rode) and head out to meet Daddy. The best thing about this particular park is the splash zone! Unfortunately everyone else in Liberty Lake and the surrounding areas feels the same way. It gets really busy some days but it’s still fun. Sarah never really gets in the water, Zac usually just watches but Jake and Luke have a great time. You can’t really see my kids’ faces in these pictures so in case you are wondering who’s who……Luke is in the red and white suit, Jacob is in the gray, white and yellow, Sarah is the only girl and Zac didn’t make it into any pictures.

Looking at these pictures sure makes me long for summer again. We’ve had a very crazy winter, if you can even call that. The only time my kids have been able to play out in the snow was when Ben and I were in Cancun. Which reminds me, I need to show you pictures of that trip to don’t I? Anyway, I can’t wait for the weather to warm up. I know we have a few more months of cold but a girl can still dream right?

On Monday Becky is going to start a new WOW project week. If you don’t know what that is go to her blog and she explains it well. You don’t need to know Becky to join and you don’t even need a blog to join in. Just let her know and she will let you know how to do it. She even does a drawing for a prize at the end. It a really fun way to get a project done around the house that you have been putting off for one reason or another. I will be doing it this time so check back on Monday to find out what my project is going to be. I honestly have now idea yet what I will be doing but I have 2 days to figure it out!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

A Bit of a Scare!

I'm starting this blog off with a picture of my beautiful, healthy little girl. This was taken a month or so ago and I just wanted to to see this picture before I tell the story. And just is case you are all of the sudden worried...don't be. She is still super healthy, we just had a bit of a bump in the road yesterday.

I would say that I have been very, very blessed when it comes to the heath of my family. We have had a couple rounds of stitches like here and here , numerous fat lips and I guess we can't forget this one either. But none of those have been as scary for me as what happened yesterday. When we put Sarah to bed on Monday night she has a bit of a cough and a slight fever but she's a kid and from my experience, kid's get sick. So I gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. When she woke up on Tuesday morning she climbed into bed with me and I noticed that she was hot again (not super hot, just a bit warmer then normal) and that she was breathing real fast. I showed Ben and we talked about it a bit and decided that I would call her Doctor and talk to them about it. The nurse said that I could bring her in if I felt like I should but that I could also just keep an eye on her. By about noon we figured that it would be a good idea to take her in and have her listened to. I am SOOOO glad that we did! The doctor listened to her and said that there was no air flow in her left lung......WHAT?!?!? That meant that she either had RSV or Pneumonia. My heart started beating a million miles a minute at that news. So, they did a breathing treatment for her right there in the office and when he listened to her again she had about 75% of it back. He said that it was RSV (which I've read is not real common in kids her age, usually hits younger kids), and sent us home with lots of meds, a nebulizer, all kinds of instructions, an appointment for the next morning and his permission to call him in the night at home if we had any questions. I have to say that I've never walked out of a doctors office with so many things in my hands!! Our night ended up being pretty good. There was one point in the middle of the night that I had a bit of a break down and just wasn't sure what to do and I also felt very helpless. I knew, or thought I had a pretty good idea of what to watch for but I still totally doubted whether she was ok. Our morning started at 7:30 and she was so much better than when she went to bed....I guess the two treatments that I did while she was sleeping helped. She was pretty much back to her normal self with a little faster breathing. Here are a few pictures that we took last night while we were using the nebulizer..... I am very close to having tears looking at these pictures. I know that it could have been much worse and I could have had to take her into the hospital but I've never really been this close to something that serious. When I took her to the doctor this morning he said that she was breathing 100% better then when he saw her yesterday and if all goes well the rest of the week we shouldn't have to see him again. We are now proud owners of a nebulizer because he wants us to keep it around for the next few months. One other thing that happened with this whole is that she has become asthmatic. It may be a one time deal or she may have to deal with it every time she gets sick for awhile. Good news is, it's only going to last until she's 6 or 7 (if it even comes back) and he has never seen it turn into adult asthma. There it is, in a nutshell. We totally know that God has his hands in the whole thing, starting with the warning signs that we saw, to the way she responded to all the treatments. He is a great God that takes care of His babies when I couldn’t do it myself. Thank you all for your prayers…..and if you don’t believe me that she is feeling better, here’s a few last pictures that I took just tonight right after dinner. She is back to her normal crazy self….. Lord, thank you for keeping my baby safe.

The project is done......almost

I know that you have all been waiting to see the project that we have been working on. We are 99.9% done with it so I figured that I would show you the pictures. The only thing that's left to do is hang stuff on the walls.

So, two Saturdays ago we were about to hang up this really cool jewelry box that Ben got me for Christmas in our bedroom. I was trying to figure out where I wanted to put it and so naturally that got us looking at how plain things were and how mismatched everything was. The really sad part is that I don't have any pictures of what it looked like before but I can try to tell you. The walls were an off white kind of color, maybe a little more beige, and the dresser and two nightstands were off white and then I had a couple of white pieces of furniture in there too. Really, things didn't go together. So we decided to paint the walls green and paint all of the furniture white. The walls were the easy part and we got them done in a day.....then we started the furniture. The plan was to just sand it down a bit and then paint over what was already there. Well, long story short, we ended up having to strip the dresser and two night stands, primer it and then we got to paint it. Here are some pictures of the action.....

This picture gives you a look at all the paint that came off. That's not all of it either, there was a lot on the floor of the garage too. It was a lot more work then we thought it would be.

Almost done now....I'm finally painting it.

Finally, the finished room!!

See this full length mirror? I got that about 3 or 4 years ago from my mom and dad and this is the first time that it's actually been hung on the wall. I LOVE IT!!!

I am so happy with the way it all turned out. We bought some new stuff like matching lamps, and new curtain rod things. We also got new hardware for the dresser and nightstands so they all match. I would really like to put up some black and white pictures and I totally plan on painting my bathroom a lighter shade of the same color. I will post pictures of that when I get to it. Right now I'm a bit wiped from this project but I'm sure it won't be long before I'm ready again.

Whew.....So glad it's done!! Now I'm off to sleep in my newly remodeled room.

'Night all!

Movie night in Omak

One of the nights that we were in Omak over Christmas we had a movie night. Uncle Chad and Aunt Crystal rented X-Men, Mamaw popped popcorn and all the kids brought out their pillows and the new blankets that Aunt Teah made them for Christmas. As you can see from the pictures, they were all comfy and cozy. Zac, Sarah and Papa (and maybe Uncle Chad and Aunt Crystal too), all fell asleep part way though but the older boys loved the movie and stayed awake for the whole thing.

I am almost done with the project that I've been working on. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will be able to show you pictures. It has taken way longer then I though it would but it's going to be really nice when we are all done....I can't wait to show you.

Have a great weekend!

There is nothing sweeter....

....then seeing how much this little girl loves her daddy.

I don't have anything more to say about that :)

Happy Friday!

Finally, another tooth gone!

So Jacob is almost 8 years old and he just lost his second, yes his SECOND, tooth. He lost his first tooth about a year ago and we have been waiting very patiently for another one to come out. This second tooth has been a bit loose for a long time but about a week ago he came home and said "mom, I think I'm ready to pull this tooth". He work at it for probably 2 hours and finally, with some help from mom and dad, it came out. I should have taken some video because it was so funny that way it all happened. He went from a cry, to a shocked intake of breath, to a laugh and then finally to an excited, laughing, crying something. You will just have to picture it in your head and laugh with us.

I am wondering when the other kids will start losing their teeth since Jacob has been so late. It doesn't really bother me though because, like their dentist says, we just get more time to practice on the baby teeth and by the time the adult teeth come in they will be pros and taking care of them. It may save us money in the long run right?

P.S. How's this new look? I might like it better. I think the picture isn't as good but it fits better and I kind of like the red in the background.

My wrestling machine.....

I missed my blog entry yesterday so I will do one first thing this morning to try and make up for it.....

Last night Luke got to register for wrestling and he is so excited! We have been talking about it for a long time and the day finally came. Ben and I (and many other family members) think that he is going to be a natural with this sport. He starts practice mid February and the tournaments start in March. I will post pictures when it actually starts but Luke was so excited to try on the "singlet" and I had just to take some pictures.

Thanks for all the comments on the new look. I'm still not 100% sure that I will stick with this one so keep an eye out for some more changes.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

Our new look....

So I'm trying out a new look. I'd like to know what you all think if you wouldn't mind telling me. Not sure what I really think of this one but I'm going to leave it up and get your opinion so please leave me some comments.

A bit of Christmas excitment...

For today I am just going to show you a video that we took of the older two boys opening up their Christmas gifts from us. They had both been asking for a Nintendo DS for a long time and we finally decided to get them each one. You will be able to see for yourselves that they were totally shocked and super excited.

I have lots more pictures to share from Christmas but for now I thought you would enjoy a quick video.

Two quick things....

Today is our good friend Scott's birthday and we got to celebrate it with him at the Melting Pot. My mom and dad came to town also to celebrate with us. Ben and I had been to the Melting Pot for desert before but never for a whole meal. It was so fun and the food was great as well. I always have a hard time choosing what kind of meat I want when I go to restaurant but here I got some chicken, 2 kinds of steak, shrimp, lobster and sausage. It was perfect and I am still totally stuffed! Here we are, waiting for the chocolate.....YUM!!
We left all the kids with out long time babysitter Amanda. She is one brave girl and my kids love her. She has babysat for us since I was just pregnant with Sarah. Since we moved to our new place we don't get to see her as much but it's alway so fun when she comes.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. I am a bit distracted due to my favorite TV show being on right now. If you don't know what it is, it's 24! We love this show and we are so excited that it is back on this season. Can't wait to see what Jack Bauer is up to this season.

I mentioned yesterday that we were starting a project. It is well underway and hopefully in the next couple of days I will be able to show you what we are up to. I'm sorry, but now I'm signing off to watch 24....

My AWESOME kids!

When Ben and I went to bed last night, way too late, we thought to ourselves "how nice would it be to sleep in?" So, we thought we would try something......



We set bowls, spoons, cups and cereal out on the table with this note...



We didn't know if it would work or not but heck, it was worth a shot. At about 7:15 or so I heard them all up and walking around, the pretty soon I heard Jacob say "shh guys, be quiet!" I could also tell that he was filling their glasses with milk and they were all talking, very quietly with no fighting. Next thing I knew it was 9:00 and I was waking up totally rested. I really did wonder what everything was going to look like downstairs and I held my breath as I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. To my wonderful surprise, the table had been cleaned off, the cereal had been put away and all of my kids were in the basement playing their DSi's and watching a movie. I honestly thought the day would never come that I would be able to sleep in again but I was wrong and my kids totally stepped up to the challenge of 'letting mom and dad sleep in'.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far. We are about to start a big project that I may be able to blog about tomorrow. Check back soon!