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I'm suffering from a serious case of writer's block - or extreme laziness - or fatigue - or....

I read a blog the other day I could really relate to. She advertised 'Help Wanted' for someone to write her blog for her cause there were so many things to update on and she didn't have it in her to do it!

THAT'S ME!!!

What to do?

So, I've been wondering how I was going to get started on catching up?

Solution: Danya's blog

That's right, let someone else do the work for me!
Here you can get stories and pictures of part of the AZ trip we took a few weeks ago

THANKS DANYA! LOVE YOU!

Now on to other things:
Az trip with our family
June's blessing
Nora spending 24 hours in the hospital
Nora's 2nd birthday
three days of 74 degree weather...amazing! (Not that we can get too attached. Cold and rain coming tomorrow!)
And a bunch of other things waiting on my camera...yes, I actually have pictures!

But not now. I need to pay attention to my kids. We have one more day of beautiful weather left and what a shame it would be if I wasted it here on this computer! Seriously!

Lane quote from yesterday while we went for a walk,
"Mom, I sure do love being outside on this walk with you in the sunshine that's warm and cozy."

Happy Birthday Husband!

Oh, if only the little cakes of mine could start to feel well! This year I vowed that I would make holidays and everyone's birthday's more special. Cleaning constant "spills" from both ends of 3 toddlers. Wait, that's not special?!

Good Grief!

At least we had birthday donuts this morning. We put a candle on his and sang to him. I actually did take a picture. But that's on the computer downstairs...I can't possible take the time to walk downstairs and turn on a computer...load a picture...etc. Now why shouldn't he feel special?

With all of the explosions going on around here (Nora and I got to stay overnight at the Hospital due to dehydration as a result of her "spills" Did I mention that she spewed on my 6 times on our flights home? Awesome) I had to cancel the babysitter for the secret night out plans I had. But seriously, that's okay cause the Zags are playing tonight. Can they actually make it a little further in the tournament? Pat says, "probably not." How's that for school spirit?

Better get these sickies to bed! I sure wish I knew what we brought home from AZ?!

Lots to update...pictures to come!

Rainy Day Hopscotch

***Thanks to linoleum floors. And to the little plastic Elmo toy we threw on the numbers.***

(sorry, no faces on this post. We were all too busy concentrating!)

How do you deal with stress

Everyone has stress...everyone has things in their lives that are hard.

A few of mine:

4 kids ages 4 and under
*striving to be a consistent Love and Logic parent
**especially when they are all sick...at the same time...like right now
*keeping them busy and happy
*making sure they each feel loved and important and not just 'taken care of'
A 59 year old mother-in-law with Early on-set Alzheimer's Disease that lives with us who
*can not prepare her own meals let alone remember to eat them
*has limited and closely supervised responsibilities with the kids and household chores
*I could go on but won't as I vowed that this blog would not be a sounding board for that area of my life. Out of respect for her.
**I'm not sharing this as a complaint, just as an insight to my everyday life
A Husband that travels a lot for his job
*that I am extremely grateful for! Or I wouldn't be home to experience all of the above

But my heaviest stress?

Feeding Nora!

Oh, it is so hard. I often find that I've been busy making dinner for everyone and then realize..."Oh, I didn't make anything for Nora!" Then she ends up eating green beans straight out of the can and some steamed veg. Or a rice cake. Real nice, huh?
With all of her allergies...I just didn't know what to do. It's just all so overwhelming! Until these arrived at my door:

Food Allergy Survival Guide: Living without dairy, eggs, fish, gluten, peanuts, shellfish, soy, nuts, wheat, yeast, and more!
and
The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook: 200 Hundred Recipes for the Food Allergic Family

heavens opening, angels singing, trumpets sounding, etc...

I am so very excited for these two books. They are packed with information about allergies and different grains and seeds and alternative proteins and on and on! So much that I never knew! And, surprisingly, most of the recipes look like they will work to feed my whole family. I know I can't feed them on this diet all the time. But I also can't cook two meals every night. So my goal is to cook the same meal for everyone a few times a week. And on the days that we don't have "Nora Friendly" meals, she can have the leftovers or something. My ultimate hope with this is that she can get enough nutrition from regular meals that she won't need EleCare anymore. That would be AMAZING! Then only June would need it. It's RIDICULOUSLY expensive and so not easy to have 2 babies on it.

Now a new stress:

Being organized enough to plan meals in advance (as these recipes take more time and specialized ingredients)
*yes, its more expensive to cook this way. But its also crazy expensive to buy EleCare. And I would rather have Nora eat food than drink from a bottle the rest of her life!

But that's all for tomorrow. For now I will sit with June so my Husband can talk on the phone to Germany guys (yes, its 10pm on a Friday night...good grief!) And eat ice cream - Birthday cake flavor. YUM!

Cheers and Good night!

While in Spokane...

(Grandma Suzanne, June, Me and Nora)

This last week, my Husband had to go to California for some meetings so we went to spend a week with my mom, Grandma Suzanne. After surviving on our own during the last Germany and Spain trips, we felt we deserved a break.

Its so nice to be there. The kids have "new" toys to play with. Plus, they get spoiled with lots of T.V. and computer time. Which I allow cause I usually spoil myself with a few books. This time I read Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flag. It was a quick, fun read. And bless my mom's heart! She got me the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series for an early B-day gift. I do love to read - its just not too often I find the time. If I do get my hands on a book at home - its bad for everyone. So when I am at my mom's, I indulge with as many books as I can fit in!

Spokane has had crazy snow this winter. My mom went to a second hand children's store and got all the kids proper snow clothes. We've worn them a few time at our house, in our snow...but it's nothing like Spokane snow!

"Thanks Grandma!"

(She may look unhappy in the picture, but don't you worry. It was just cause her boot had fallen off. After that, the only time she cried was when she wasn't on the saucer!)

I had never been sledding before. And neither had the kids. June still hasn't...poor neglected! Oh, we had so much fun. Going up and down - again and again!




Although Kyle spent more time down. He'd go down the hill - make himself fall off the saucer thing and then roll around in the snow. Saunter his way up the hill (he's never been too quick about anything.) Lane would go up and down 2 1/2 times to Kyle's 1.

My Aunt Michele had a toboggan style sled that all 3 kids went in together.

Even Grandma Diane joined in on the fun!

It was a nice week (except maybe the part about taking home wicked colds that produced ear infections which caused sleepless nights and tired arms...) I am so glad that we live close to my parents. It so nice to be able to take off and go there so quickly (only about 6 1/2 hour drive!)

Also while we were there, I got together with a couple of my dear cousins. I went by myself! Without any kids! And even though we didn't do much, it was nice to spend time with them and get to know them a little better. We've always lived so far apart growing up that we never knew each other that well. So it was fun to visit with them and find out how much we have in common.

Thanks Staci and Randi!

Oh, and we went back to the sledding hill a couple of days later when Pat flew back to get us. We had to have him in on the fun too! And of course we were having so much fun, that we didn't take pictures. But he had a good time too. SHOW OFF!

Here's a shout out to Spokane snow, Grandma Suzanne, and to my kids who are amazing car travelers! And also a HUGE thank you to my Aunt Michele for taking the pictures for us, since I of course did not have my camera...weird, I know!

Wish I had a picture

The Most amazing thing happened today...

After being at Grandma Suzanne's this last week and discovering Legos, we decided that the boys were ready to play with the hundred's (pardon, Pat just corrected me, bazillion's) of Legos my Husband has kept over the years. (Of course, not all the bazillion's all at once. That would be ridiculous!)
For TWO hours, I heard something I have never heard before. At least not while both boys were awake and playing together. I heard NOTHING! Nothing, can you believe it? Lane was at one end of the room and Kyle at the other. Both happy and content in their own world of Legos. It was AMAZING! There was no fighting, or yelling, or teasing...just two very happy boys playing quietly...and for a long time! (Nora, is sick...and was sleeping...this never would have happened had she been around. The little tease that she is!)

Now if I didn't have two very sick little girls, imagine what I could have accomplished? Maybe it will happen again.

In my astonishment, I came down to check on them and found their dad taking a little break and playing with them.

Loved that picture

Why am I not better about photographing these things? I think about it but don't get around to it. Oh, yeah, sick girls. At least I have this little post to document the 2 hours of contented silence!

3 cheers for Legos!!!

Opps!

So my brother called today and asked why I had my post titled "BABIES" written in code? I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me that when he looked at it - it was in character code or something. It looks normal on Firefox. So maybe its just other browsers. Weird. Lara, that makes your comment more understandable. I had no idea what you were talking about, saying that I was talking in code. Funny!

Oh well!