Thankful Thursday

This has been a long week for me. I know that my life and circumstance is no where as near difficult as some around me but some days I just want to feel sorry for myself. But instead today I am going to list all the things that I am thankful for this week.

  1. Kendall is the only one who has pink eye. She is definitely on the mend as well as she returned to school today.
  2. Rugar, our dog is alive and much better today. On Wednesday morning, early, we were awoken to his cries of pain. I was very much afraid that he was not going to live. After much prayer and a trip to my parents, he is back to his usual self today.
  3. I only bruised my hand when tripping up the stairs yesterday.
  4. A job that allows me a set day off during the week, and the ability to take sick time on a short notice.
  5. A library visit today with Zach, although I did not find the book I was looking for, I did find and am half finished with a book that I needed to read.
  6. A warm house and plenty of food to chose from.
  7. A third grader who enjoys doing her homework and only needs me to sign the paperwork.

Birthday Party Sunday

Today we enjoyed two separate birthday parties. Matt and Lily attended the party of one of her classmates, while Kendall, Zach and I attended Zach good friend at church’s party. I was very surprised to find that not only did they have bounce houses for the kids to play in but a reading time and cookie decorations. Everyone had lots of fun and enjoyed lots of sugar!

 

Just Too Busy! What Have We Been Doing?

I knew that the past several weeks had been busy and I felt exhausted, but I didn’t realize how tired and busy we all were until last night!   Because of the kids whiney, crabby and bad behavior, I made the decision that no one was going to church instead it was going to be an early night for all.  I debated this decision as the kids needed to practice for their veteran’s day performance, but I am feeling very strongly like it was the best one. Everyone was asleep by 7pm and although they did whine today the improvement is very noticeable!

I actually have been off work for two days;  yesterday, Wednesday, I went with Amanda to have some pilar cyst removed from her scalp. Today, the little kids, Matt and myself headed to Matthew for eye appointments for Lily and Kendall. Lily received awesome news because her left eye is getting strong and we most likely will be getting a lower prescription when we return in three months. Kendall, whose teacher voiced some concerns to us, is going to start patching her left eye daily. The doctor does not feel like this eye is getting weaker but that instead as Kendall grows we are noticing the weakness more and they will be able to get a more accurate prescription for her as she now can read the letters.

After the appointments, we headed to IKEA. A quick stop at the OLD Navy, provided Zach with a jacket and a coat. But the most exciting news for all of us was the Zach is now officially tall enough to play in the play area at IKEA. Matt and I enjoyed 90 minutes of shopping kid free but I still think Zach was the most happiest about it. We ended up going to the Dollar store for items for Operation Christmas Child and ended up stopping at Olive Garden for dinner.  Today, was another busy day but all the little kids really enjoyed it and both Zach and Kendall are again asleep by 7pm! Here is proof he can get it!

Finally tall enough!

Finally tall enough!

Halloween Activities

Halloween is not my favorite holiday; however the little kids are at the age that they really enjoy ALL of it. So this year, I decided to just go with it. We have been celebrating for 2 days now.  First last night our church sponsored a trunk or treat. I came up with the idea to use a tarp and have the kid color finish for “under the sea”. It worked really well.  The kids had a ball and got enough candy to last at least a month.

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Kendall is a fairy, Lily a pop star diva and Zach is Super Z- the action hero

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This morning Zach and I head to Winston to grab donuts for the “special snack”  in Kendall’s class that I was in charge of.

Super Zach enjoying his donut early!

Super Zach enjoying his donut early!

After the snack, we headed outside to watch an alphabet parade.

photo (2)Finally, tonight Amanda and I will take the kids to several place to trick or treat!

Oh My Sweet Potato!

Just because I thought it would be neat for the kids, I picked up a small 6 pack of sweet potato plants this spring. Over the spring and summer, both Matt and I have commented on how beautiful the flowers were. In fact, I liked the appearance so much that following the principle of beauty of square foot gardening, I was going to add a small bed up front for next year to grow again. Matt was not all that impressed and wanted to wait to see how much we were able to produce.

This week, we have had several night of freezing temps and our beautiful sweet potato plants were dead, even black, from the cold so I knew I need to dig up and see what we have……

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I am truly amazed, for $1.68 we grew almost enough for several meals!  I actually have most of the small ones in the oven baking right now so we can enjoy for dinner!  I am so excited as this is the most veggie with the least amount of work!

Zach and Kendall helped to dig up the potatoes. next we made an assembly line for washing and sorting them. It took almost an hour to complete the process but both of these guys LOVED it!   Now sweet potatoes are a definite for our garden next year!

First Fieldtrip for Kendall

Matt, Zach and I were lucky enough to attend Kendall’s first fieldtrip with her. We went to the North Carolina Zoo!  Picture heavy of course!

Amanda’s Birthday

Amanda decided that she would prefer a home cooked meal instead of going out to eat for her birthday! Because of our work schedules we did celebrate a day late but it still was nice! She chose stuffed green peppers for dinner.

Fall Festival Fun

This afternoon was the annual fall festival at the girls elementary school.  We really enjoyed ourselves as you can tell. This is another picture heavy post…

The food was good..

But the fun was even better…

The bounce a house was great..

But nothing could beat the slide…