Quarantine

Strangely enough I think my family and I are all enjoying being at home together during quarantine. I tend to be a homebody anyway and am really LOVING the break from school drop offs and pick ups and all the extra activities the kids are in every week. The kids are having fun being at home too! I asked them yesterday where they want to go as soon as we're able to get out again and none of them could even think of anything.. until the older three decided they kind of miss going to school. I think a break is good for all of us.. I just wish it wasn't under such tragic circumstances. 







Thankfully we've had several beautiful days the last few weeks so the kids have been able to spend hours playing outdoors! 

The kids have been riding bikes... 

 drawing with chalk...

blowing bubbles...

.. they played in the sprinkler one afternoon.... 

Our neighbors were getting rid of this pink blow up hammock chair and the kids

have been having SO much fun with it! 

The dogs have been loving all the outdoor time and extra attention too! 

Saturday we went down to our lot where we'll be building. The kids have fun playing around this big fallen tree. Looks like it's been down for quite a while. We also tied ribbons around the living trees we want to keep when they start clearing the lot.

The two oldest kids have been great at keeping up with their school work at home! S isn't thrilled with the Spanish work she has to do or the daily class meetings on Zoom but she is staying caught up! L had her first (and probably only) remote occupational therapy meeting yesterday. It was kind of fun for her but definitely not nearly as good or beneficial as a true therapy session so I don't think we'll be doing it again. I found several little preschool workbooks for her at Dollar Tree and she's been working on those the past couple days. She's doing really good and loves having school work to do! 



Today is chilly and overcast and I'm having an awful time trying to stay awake haha! I think I need Starbucks! 



I'm linking up with Hello Monday today. 



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*No idea why I have annoying ads popping up in my posts. If anyone knows how to get rid of them please let me know! I don't mind them on my page but prefer not to have them in the actual post. 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Linking up with Hello Monday again today.

Our new puppy loves for my husband to hold her. It's so sweet!

She also enjoys relaxing and sleeping like this lol! I walked in the room to tell

J good night and the puppy looked up at me but stayed in the position the entire time I was in the room. Cracks me up! She does this a lot too. 

J and S didn't have school on Friday. We stayed home and cleaned house most the day.

Then our friends dropped off their 4 kids for us to baby-sit while they went out on a date night. On Saturday we switched. We dropped our kids off at our friends' house and my husband and I went out for a date night. We ate at Red Rocks Café, walked around Birkdale and then went to Home Depot ha! Not super exciting but it was fun and nice to get out together. We haven't had a date night in forever. 

My husband brought me tulips and flowers for all the girls on Valentine's Day! 

So sweet! I didn't get pics of mine. 

I happened to see this broom closet on Facebook today and decided I absolutely have

to have something like this in our new house! Right now we just lean our broom 

in the corner for convenience. It would be so much nicer to have a little closet to keep it in.

We had to pick out a color for our new house (for the third time!) on Thursday. Our first two options are out because our future next door and across the street neighbors chose those colors. So our third option is this tan color shown on the lower part of this house above. We picked a linen (white-ish) color for above the garage. Besides the tan color the front of our house is completely different than this one.. I just wanted to show the color we chose. 



I'm sure I'll be blogging about our new house A LOT in the months to come! We are so excited!! 

Life Lately

Life has been SO busy the past few months with a lot of changes!! 



After my husband's heart attack in late August we were really leaning towards moving back to Texas to be close to family. After going back and forth, and really stressing over that for a few months we ultimately decided to stay out here in North Carolina! The kids and I are so relieved to be staying out here and my husband had been on the fence about moving back anyway. As my husband's condition improved over the past few months we decided we just weren't ready to leave NC after only 2.5 years. So we are staying and, Lord willing, will have some fun house news to share next week!!! 

A few weeks ago my husband had the big heart check-up we were waiting for. His heart looks good and he's doing really well!! I raced to get to his appointment on time after dropping off school kids because I always have a million questions I want to ask his doctor ha! But by the time I got to the hospital his appointment was over so we just went to Starbucks for a snack together (my husband normally does NOT snack at Starbucks.. he's changed his diet SO much since the heart attack) before we went our separate ways for the day. I love that gift card.. I had to get a pic! Definitely applies to both my husband and me haha!!

Our 2 year old Beagle was sleeping in a cage every night until just a month or so ago. Now he sleeps in bed with C and it's the cutest thing ever! I check on all my kids at night and it's just adorable to see the dog snuggled up next to C like this. 

Just a few sweet pics of S and our 2 year old puppy while he was still the only dog.

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L had her first ever playdate on her own (without siblings) a few weeks ago! Her little friend lives a few streets over and she and L have identical coloring and similar features. It was short playdate and they really didn't start warming up to each other until it was almost time to leave so we'll have to get together again soon! L has always been kind of a tag-a-long with her older siblings so it was nice for her to have a playdate with a friend while all the older kids were at school. 

L waiting for speech and during speech a few weeks ago. I thought she looked so cute with her ponytail! 



Lots more to write about soon including ups and downs with L and my decison (90% sure) to homeschool ALL FOUR of my kids next year!! And hopefully lots about house stuff!! :) 



Busy day tomorrow! Delayed school drop-offs because it has been raining like crazy!! House stuff, dropping off dogs (one to the kennel and one to a friend) and heading up to the mountains to camp (in cabins) for the weekend with C's Trail Life group!! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Last week was busy!

The older kids were at Camp In The City every day from 9 to 4. Then the little girls had VBS from 6:30 to 8 every day except Friday. All the kids loved their camps and VBS! We went a little crazy going to so many Vacation Bible Schools this summer. It was fun but I'm glad it's over!

The little girls finished up with a program at VBS Thursday evening. Each class sang a song on stage. The girls were adorable, of course!! (Videos on Instagram). S was in the first grade class with one of her bestfriends. They were sooo cute to watch together!! 



Wednesday morning we met some friends at a movie theater to watch Happy Feet! Several theaters around here offer free or $1 movies throughout the summer. The kids loved the movie!

I worked out four days in a row last week. The older kids and I took a long walk with our sweet puppy Wednesday evening. 

Friday morning I went through Starbucks drive-thru after dropping off the older kids at camp. The little girls begged for a frappucino of their own so we compromised by asking the barista to give them sample sizes instead. They loved it!! Afterwards we had to make an unexpected stop at Walgreens. They walked in barefoot, in their jammies, drinking their mini frappucinos. I wish I had taken a pic.. they looked so cute! 

Friday afternoon Camp In The City wrapped up with a little program. The college kids who came in to work as counselors had SO much energy... even after a week of camp they were jumping around and looking all energetic ha! I wish I had half their energy! 

Friday evening we had another Sip N' Dip at the community pool! They served pizza for dinner. We got there a little late but in plenty of time to enjoy dinner and swim for a while then the older kids helped us fold up chairs and tables and clean up afterwards. I love how they pitch in and work hard at community events.. just wish I could get them to always work that hard at home too!

They actually DO pitch in pretty well at home.. when they want to. Saturday C helped me mow the lawn, weed the flower bed, trim trees and bushes and haul everything to the curb. S helped a lot too!! I sweated so much working outside yesterday I thought I was going to faint. I probably overdid it a bit but I'm really happy to have the lawn mowed, front flower bed weeded and most of the side flower bed weeded as well. I wish I had taken some before pics. We've lived here over a year now and I think this is the first time I've touched the flower bed. I've definitely got to do better! I actually love yard work but just never got around to dealing with this stuff until yesterday. I'm looking forward to planting a few more plants and some flowers. I want monkey grass or something low maintenance out by our mailbox too. 

After a busy work day Saturday I just stayed home and relaxed all day yesterday. J took the kids to church and I stayed home, relaxed and puttered around. I ended up having cramps and feeling migrainey so it was nice to stay inside, watch Hulu and not have to sweat. We didn't have life group yesterday afternoon either so it was a nice, long lazy day. 

Today the kids and I stayed home most of the day. This is the last week before school starts and we plan to enjoy sleeping in while we can! I accidently forgot all about the two older girls eye appointments this morning.. we all slept right through it ha! 

The three older kids all got their teacher assignments today! They're so excited! And C found out he is on the same baseball team with one of his good friends from school so that was great news too! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm linking up with Hello Monday again today. 



Our weekend was pretty laidback. The little girls soccer games were canceled Saturday morning due to rain. We went to church Sunday morning and were supposed to go up there again Sunday evening but the evening event was canceled due to possible bad weather. I was excited for some great storms Sunday afternoon and evening but we got almost nothing. So disappointing ha! I love a good storm! Saturday and Sunday afternoon/evening were both pretty lazy days around the house. 

Last Thursday morning the girls were scooting around on a skateboard. L loved rolling down the driveway on her tummy and did it several times! (She was rolling downhill towards our garage.. not the street.) There's a video on Instagram. There are days when I think she could really benefit from OT and PT and then days like Thursday when she does something totally unexpected! I'm thinking playing at home... with the right equipment.. just may be the best therapy for her. :) 

She also figured out how to ride her little tricycle Thursday evening! She rode a tricycle one time in therapy a few months ago but couldn't figure out how to ride the one I got her at home. She finally figured it out Thursday and rode it all over the ball park Thursday evening. We're so proud of her! This is great for strengthening her core and using her leg muscles. 

 C's team won their second game of the season Thursday night! And won by quite a bit! :) 

A friend had his puppy up at the game and the girls had the best time walking her around and carrying her. It was so sweet! 

Friday morning the girls and I ran a few errands. I caved and bought the little girls this shopping cart at Goodwill. I've been trying to get rid of toys... not bring more in. But they really loved this thing and insisted they'll share it. Indie Grace chose her own socks that day ha! 



I was in bed most of Tuesday and most of Friday afternoon with massive migraines. Ugh. I think these were triggered by allergies combined with the pressure of the storms we had last week. Mucinex helps a lot and putting a heat pack on my head and ice pack on the my neck. 



I stopped eating gluten (again) a few weeks ago and have stuck to almost no gluten since then. I also stopped drinking all the sugary sweet coffee drinks and went back to plain black, iced coffee with unsweetened almond milk. Cutting all the gluten and sugary drinks out has made a world of difference with my energy level and focus. I feel SO much better! Sadly, my weight has not gone down yet. I know it's because I've been eating gluten free snacks which aren't exactly healthy. I'm looking for healthier GF snacks that will keep me full. I have made no bake granola bites which are amazing but I put Karo syrup in mine and I know that's not healthy lol. I plan to start working out today. Last year when I was working out every day the inches were just falling off. I don't remember losing a lot of weight but I definitely was looking slimmer. Lemon water really helped too. I've been drinking a lot of lemon water (this also helps with energy levels!) but probably need to kick it up a bit more. 



C is on Spring Break this week! I woke up and totally forgot it was Spring Break and was ready to rush him out the door this morning ha! We really don't have any big plans for the week. We might go to the lake with some friends in the next day or two. And we're planning a day trip to Boone (with the dog!) toward the end of the week. Poor Little E never gets away so I want to take him with us. I know there's dog parks up there and I'm sure he'll enjoy the car ride and just being out. :) 

He's been playing with the neighbor dog lately. The neighbor dog wanders around the neighborhood all the time but she's stopped by to play and hang out a few times in the past week or so. We opened the front door twice this morning and the neighbor dog has just been standing there looking up at us like "Can Little E can play now?" Ha! So cute! 



Other than a possible trip to the lake and a trip to Boone we really don't have any other fun plans for the week. C has baseball practice two nights this week and I'll be working in childcare up at church on Thursday. We might get up to the library one day too. Luckily the kids have a lot of fun staying home and playing together. They were making forts under the beds this morning then had fun riding bikes, climbing the tree, playing with the neighbor boy and eating lunch outside. I plan to list a lot of stuff for sale, clean, organize and get caught up on laundry this week..... a never ending cycle. 

One day last week the little girls were playing quietly in their room then walked out into 

the hallway dressed like this ha! They said they were going to Disney World. :) They crack me up! 

S loves little bugs and worms. She found an earthworm yesterday and insisted on keeping him in a box, indoors. This morning I saw her walking by with several pieces of spinach for her worm ha!! Of course she named him "Leo" after her favorite Ninja Turtle. Half her stuffed animals and dolls are named Leo. Never a dull moment around here! 

November Day

I took these pics over a week ago when my husband and the older girls were still in Texas. I've been trying to take pics several days a week and I'm pretty happy with some of these. I love the photo above but I had to ask a friend of mine to edit out the boogers and goop on L's face. Poor girl was pretty sick that day! 

 Our cute puppy stood still long enough for me to get this shot.

I'm not happy with this pic at all. I tried to edit it and don't like the way it turned out but wanted to share because it captures C and the puppy hanging out in the backyard like always. C was doing something with a rope and a stick ha!! 

I think he was trying to throw the stick over a branch. I love this shot of him! He has always held his mouth like that when he's concentrating.

One of the big maple leaves he found in the woods behind our house. (We've found much bigger leaves since.)

L just looking cute but you can tell she's not feeling good. Poor thing. 

I have a lot of catching up to do. Still need to post the Christmas parade (It's held the Tuesday before Thanksgiving every year) and our Thanksgiving Day! 

a day in the life

I thought it would be interesting to recap our busy day Tuesday.

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We all had to wake up pretty early since we had a busy day ahead. By 8 a.m. I think everyone was up and awake except for L and I. I drug myself out of bed, stumbled downstairs to mix up my Revital U coffee and headed back upstairs to straighten my hair.



I woke L up around 8:15, got her dressed, made sure someone gave her a chocolate chip granola bar and quickly got myself dressed.



My husband's grandmother passed away suddenly over the weekend so he left for Texas on Tuesday with the two older girls. 



My husband finished loading his car for the trip then left and took C to school around 8:25



I try to double check to make sure the girls had packed everything they needed but figured out later they left a few things behind... including nice dresses for the service and all their bath/shower stuff. Oops.



The girls and I left the house right after 8:30 and drove to Wal-Mart to meet my husband. We left his car and we all went together in the van to get his car registered before going back to Texas. We may have been a bit overdue on the whole registration thing..

We stood in a long line at the registration place but thankfully didn't have to wait too long. That place had to be 50 years old and smelled like old, stagnant cigarette smoke.



After getting the car registered we went back to Wal-Mart around 10:00-10:15. I dropped my husband off at Wal-Mart so he could get his prescription and a few other items before leaving town. The girls and I drove over to the Dollar Tree in the next parking lot. I let the two older girls pick out several things to keep them busy on the road. They got crayons, notebooks, coloring books, a few crafts and more. Plus Play-Doh to play with at my mother-in-law's house.



My husband met us in the Dollar Tree parking lot with donuts around 10:45. We were all starving! We said our good-byes and he and the older girls left and headed out of town from there.

L and I went straight to therapy after telling the others goodbye. She had a great session! She crawled through a big, long tunnel for the first time (she was terrified of it previously) then crawled through it several more times throughout her session. She also wanted to get on the "horse" swing and actually swung on it for the first time! She loved it! Last week she sat on it for a minute but wouldn't swing on it. You can see she has my old "My Child" doll from the 80s that she played with all day Tuesday. I begged for that doll for my 8th birthday and named here "Emily" when I was a kid. L tries to say Emily but it sounds more like "Em-na-lee"... it's really cute how she says it! 


Excuse the awful pictures! The camera on this new (cheap) phone drives me crazy. I'm practically counting down the days until I can get a new phone but it will be a few months. I finally found the charger to my big camera and really want to start taking that around with me. I need the practice and really miss decent pictures!

On the way home from therapy we met a girl from a buy/sell/trade group to buy a pair of snow bibs for the winter. L was sooo excited to get them and had to put them on as soon as we got home ha! They're a little too big for her but she looked so cute in them! I'm hoping we get as much snow this year as we got last year. (What we got last year seemed like a lot to us since we hardly got a thing in Texas).



L and I came home for lunch around 12:45, took the dog out a couple times then left to pick up C for an orthodontist appointment. His appointment was at 2:10 but of course we were 10 minutes late. This was a follow up to his evaluation back in February. They still want to wait a while to start treatment and don't need to see him again until May.



After the orthodontist we came home for a late nap and quiet time. Yesterday was cold, overcast and rainy... perfect napping weather! L went right to sleep and slept until I had to wake her up to leave the house again at 5:30.



Around five I made grill cheese sandwiches for C and I and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for L to eat in the car. Trail Life starts at 7 but I told a girl from another buy/sell/trade group that I would meet her at 6:15 so we left the house around 5:30-5:40.

After we met the girl we browsed around the dollar $3-$5 bins at Target for a while.

The kids tried on a few hats. Both kids wanted that toy that L is holding in the last picture. L got the snowman and C got a penguin but as soon as we opened them we realized they were junk. L and I went right back to Target after dropping C off at Trail Life and returned the toys. We walked around Target again for over an hour. I could spend my life in there ha!

I bought a couple clearance palm stems (and want to go back for more!) and a Barbie baby for L but this candle smelled sooo good! I may go back and get it.



L felt warm to me off and on all evening. The last thing we want is a seizure so I kept feeling her forehead to figure out if she was feverish. I walked over to the Target pharmacy and asked if they could take her temp. I think the pharmacist thought I was crazy at first ha! Then he seemed to agree it would probably be a good idea to keep a thermometer behind the counter. In the end I just bought Tylenol and gave L a dose to be on the safe side. I'm going to try to remember to keep a bottle of Tylenol or Ibuprofen in my diaper bag/purse from now along with a thermometer. I always have about fifty thousand things in there that I don't need. I wish I could remember to carry along the stuff we do need!



We picked up C from Trail Life at 8:15, stopped by McDonald's drive-thru for a snack. The kids had fries and chocolate chip cookies and I had a hot apple pie! It's crazy how much calmer it is with just 2 kids. It's almost like a vacation!



Despite a busy day we came home, played with the dog, had snacks and went to bed late.. around 11:15. I watched a few episodes of "Friends", then fell asleep with my contacts still in! This happens way too often. The kids love sleeping in my bed when my husband is gone so after C got the dog to sleep in his room he came and slept in bed with L and I. Then he ended up going back to his room in the middle of the night after the dog started whining. The dog is so funny.. just like a toddler... he doesn't like to go to sleep in a room by himself so you have to sneak out after he's asleep.. then if he wakes up and realizes you're gone he whines until you come back haha!! Such a spoiled puppy!



I kept an eye on my husband and the girls' route as they were traveling yesterday and into the night. I'm always a little nervous when my husband drives straight through! I have no idea how he does it. They did stop to rest for a while and arrived safely at his mother's house early Wednesday morning. I'm so thankful they had a safe and uneventful trip out there!