Blue & Gold Banquet...

Last night was Mr. Tristin's Blue & Gold Banquet for Scouts. He was in a skit & earned his Bobcat badge too, we were really proud of him! It was a really nice night and a lot of work went into it (Thank you Jana- you are the best!)

Keeping track of 70 doses of antibiotics...

Yup, add me to the list now. Will we ever get well??? Of course with all the nasty germs floating around here, I was bound to catch something right??? I was miserable for days but when I was certain it was strep throat, I got my behind into the Dr. to get some medicine. (I've learned : do not mess with strep, mastitus or bladder infections- they will almost kill you if you do not go to the DR!!!) Much to my surprise it hadn't turned into strep yet (which I would have bet a million dollars it was!) The Dr. did give me antibiotics for my lovely sinus infection though and told me if strep was on the verge- it would take care of that too. I really didnt care what it was, I just wanted medicine and I wanted it like 3 days earlier. I litteraly wanted to cut my head off from the pressure. The pain behind my face and ears was unreal and my eyes were so puffy they seriously doubled in size! I looked like a crazy zombie. My throat was killing me too my darn cough settled right into my chest and felt like fire flarring up every time I coughed. Oh, the joy of nasty infections! Things are much better now. A few days in bed, some great drugs and another 100 episodes of The Office has made life enjoyable again! I'm just worn out and still coughing- but life is better. Let's talk about how fun it is to keep track of 70 doses of antibiotics! Good thing the kids are almost done with their's!

Busy Little Bees...

I have been reorganizing EVERYTHING in & outside of the house this past month- I feel AMAZING!!! You can see my projects & inspire yourself to start on your own! Click on my link on the right hand side to see my new blog: Even the house cleaner needs a maid!

Project for the next few days: Shed # 2. Yesterday we began the insain project of working on our food storage shed. Talk about crazy! We moved a few hundrend pounds of food out there, plus our water storage & tools before dark- it is still a work in progress, but how lovely to get started!
Shed # 1- is almost done. I just have a few more labels to make and then it will be finished (or as finished as it will get! I went through storage bins and reorganized them, moved them around and made more space!Good enough!)

The important stuff...

When my children look back on their childhood, I want them to remember the days we spent going on walks, making forts with blankets, having family movie nights, playing Monopoly,making fires, reading bedtime stories, going on family trips, doing our family exercices after FHE, taking noodle baths & having ice cream parties- but in order to do that, I have to make the time for them, which means I have to stop what I'm doing and play, and laugh & have fun too.

I know having a clean home is important (and to me, super, super important) but I have to realize if I am not careful all they will remember is how much Mom cleaned growing up, how Mom got mad all the time because the toys were in the living room, how much Mom hated dirt in the house, how Mom made them wash our hands a million times a day and change out of their clothes after school because she didn't want the "school germs" in the house, how Mom wouldn't allow blanket forts because they were too messy and if you wore your shoes in the house you would be in HUGE trouble. I want them to look back on days that we made Rice Krispie treats and painted rainbows instead...

My Crafty Little Man...

After Tristin started feeling human again, he wanted to start the projects, so a few nights ago, I stopped what i was doing and helped him make his first freezer paper stencil shirt! He LOVES it! P.S. I am not a fan of skulls- but he's a boy & loves them- so I allow just a few...

Feeling Better...

All I can say is: I ADORE antibiotics! What on earth did they do 100 years ago??? There is nothing worse then having really sick children. It's so painful to watch their frail little bodies throwing up for days, running fevers and holy cow, breaking out in horrible rashes over their ENTIRE body! That was pretty crazy. Mr Tristin is doing much better and I am SO THANKFUL!!! After talking to my MIL whose a retired nurse,I'm going to keep him home 1 more day from school and see how he's doing then. He's still couging alot- but after that He will have taken antibiotice for 4 complete days. I kept Tristin, Grace & Willow home from church today because I HATE it when sick kids come to church! I think it's SOOO rude. Grace of course has a cough right now and I'm waiting to see if it turns into anything more- I hate the flu season!
One thing I did this morning was put hand sanitizer next to the door outside (hopefully it wont freeze!) that way they can get rid of a few nasty germs before coming inside to really wash their hands. ( My kids ADORE the nasty neighborhood cats and i want to vomit every time they touch them- so this will help, big time!!!)I used to have these hanging in all the bedrooms of the house, but when Grace was younger, she would pull them down and squirt 100 drops in hands & then lick it, rub it all over her body or just let it drop all over the carpet, so I had to put them away for awhile. I will be adding them back now!

Here are the kids making pizza for lunch.

Strep throat, Scarlet fever, shots & double ear infections...

The past few days have not been fun around here. There's been lots of fevers, vomiting, sore throats, coughs, green snot and unhappy kids- not to mention a tired Mama.
Tristin has been miserable for days now- the poor thing has had fevers, tons of vomiting, a sore throat and then yesterday he broke out in a rash that covered most of his body. It was pretty freaky, but I gave him alergy medicine thinking it might have been caused by the new laundry detergent- but by last night- it was awful. I was going to take him in to Quick care, but they were closed and I didn't think an ER visit was necessary because he had not been throwing up for awhile and his fever was only 99.9
I waited until this morning and got him in right away to his Dr. He tested positive for strep and Scarlette fever (an itchy, rough, sandpaper like rash that covers most of the body. It used to be super awful, but now is very treatable. It is only contagious if passed through salivia and enters the other person's mouth- so hopefuly we won't be catching that!) Strep & Scarlette fever are caused by the same bacteria, and treated with the same antibiotics! Good news! We picked up his medicine, bought popcycles and he is now being treated with rest and endless eposides of SpongeBob!

Willow recieved her 2nd flu shot while we were there and I had the Dr look in her ears- sure enough- she had another double ear infection! No wonder she was feeling so yucky these past days. Her cough, green snot and overall unpleastness finally had a reason! I talked to the Dr about tubes for her ears because it is so common and she's had A LOT of ear infections, but he was hopeful that by Feb. they would start declining- so nothing more was discussed. I just want her comfortable- she is such a sweet happy girl, I just hate knowing she's hurting if I can do something to help the situation.
So, here we go again with another 10 days of pink goopy stuff, and charts to keep track of each kid and their medicine feedings- of course that I am beyond grateful for! We are blessed to have Dr.'s and medicine, thank you Lord!

Little Willow...

Willow has been climbing into cabinets lately- it's so cute! She loves to hide in her toy box, the towel cabinet and here she was when I was organizing the books.. cute little thing!

My new Blog: Even The House Cleaner Needs A Maid!

I have wanted to share my cleaning obsession & organizing tips with you guys for awhile now- but most of you have already been to at least a dozen of my cleaning & organizing classes, so there hasn't been a need. Plus I didn't want my organizing posts to interfere with my family blog, so I just started another one! There I can post the projects I am working on, share my weekly goals, inspire you to declutter your homes, follow a Menu plan, tips for the day, while holding myself accountable too! Lets work on projects together!
go to:eventhehousecleanerneedsamaid.blogspot.com

When the pressure cooker attacks...

It was close to 3:00 PM yesterday and I thought I would organize the shed for a little while. It was sunny out so I took the girls out in the back yard to play while I worked on labeling the totes & boxes, and that's when it happened... the unfortunate event...

I wanted to see what was in one of my plastic totes (i'm redoing my labels)but it was buried by 2 other totes on top of it and then my food dehydrator and GINORMOUS, metal old-Gma pressure cooker. Not realizing it would cause a problem, I was lifting up on the end of the tote to peek inside so I would know what label to make. So, with my head tilted to the left, I continued to wiggle it a bit to pry open the end- and then out of nowhere I felt the worst pain hit my head, my jaw and my neck! The pressure cooker fell from 4 feet above me and crashed into my head and face! I was honestly dazed for a minute, fell to the ground holding my head crying. I cannot remember another time a 20 pound meatal object has fallen onto my face and it hurt SO BAD! It was crazy because my first thought was: I'm going to die, my brain is going to swell in my skull and I am going to die. My second thought was; What if I broke my jaw! And my third thoought was- my neck, the Chiropractor bills are going to be crazy!
The pain was awful and I took a few more minutes to gather myself and figure out what had just happened and then kicked the stupid pressure cooker to the side. I sat down still clutching my head & face and could feel the pressure under my skin spreading- I gathered the girls and went inside to take some Advil ASAP. I knew that little accident was going to leave a mark! My head and face was throbbing so I laid down with a box of veggies and whinced as the cold box sat on my face forever. By dinner time, my jaw felt like someone took a baseball bat to it, my head was already bruised and I could hardly open my mouth to eat. I couldn't chew on that side AT ALL and even the other side was almost impossible- HOW FRUSTRATING!! AND PAINFUL! Good greif! So now I have a brusised head and face, a jaw that feels broken and a neck that is really sore- talk about a super reward for wanting to organize the shed a little!
So, lesson learned: Don't put your ginormous pressure cooker 4 feet above your head and then try to look inside a plastic tote to see what's inside so you can make a cute new lable for the outside, while tilting your head to the left- Because it will fall on your face and you will think you are dying as your head and face swell and bruise!
I'm not sure if I want to can green beans next year now- I think I hate that stupid thing...