Day 131

Good evening!

Today was a bit of a lazy day for me.  David and Joel went to Stake Conference while I stayed home with Connor.  Taking a 4 year old to a 2 hour church meeting is not something I have enough energy for...now, or when I am not flaring...pretty much ever lol.

David and Joel had a good time and finally got to meet our Stake President.  I snuggled on the couch with Connor and we watched TV together.

When all the boys were home, I made pumpkin muffins and eggs for a brunch.  We had a nice time sitting at the table talking about the speakers at Stake Conference and different things we are up to.  It is always nice to sit at our table and eat together!

Joel and Connor played really well together this afternoon and this evening and had so much fun running around.  Joel would run away from Connor and Connor would run after Joel and try to kiss him.  They ran all over the house playing hide and seek and would scream with delight when they found one another.  It made my heart so happy to hear them getting on so well!  They are super excited for this week to come...pumpkin carving and Halloween!  Should be fun!

We got to Skype with my parents tonight.  The boys had a fun time talking and then it was off to bed for them.  I did my weekly routine of printing off coupons for grocery shopping.  I have been getting a bit lazy about making the boy's lunches for the whole week in advance....still a bit tired in the evening, but if I go to bed early tonight and wake up early, I should be fine and have enough time to prepare their lunches.  Well, that is all I know for now!  It was a good day today...no naps, but lots of family time.  I am so thankful for my little family and the fun talks we had around our dinner table tonight as well.  Happy Sunday!

Tuesday thru Saturday...better late than never!

So sad I haven't been on here to blog!  The past couple of weeks have been insane, and having your kid have surgery and recover is a lot more work than just me lying around recovering lol.  I have been SO beyond tired as well, but taking it one day at a time to have happy moments...so here is a mish mosh of all of the happy moments of the week, and I promise to try to be better, and  more grateful, AND more awake, next week!

• Having some alone time this week meant that I could catch up on some sleep.  I don't know if it is because I am really flaring badly lately, but sleep is one of my top favorite happy moments of this week!  I tried not to sleep when the kids were home, but sometimes it couldn't be helped!  So I am grateful for catching MANY Zs this week and hopefully will be more productive in the coming week!
• Connor and I did Taco Tuesday while David and Joel had a father/son night.  It was a lot of fun with Connor and we even stopped for hot chocolates at Starbucks for dessert.  I am grateful for the fun times I had with Connor this week.  He recited really cute pumpkin poems, the Pledge of Allegiance, and just said some of the funniest things YET!  I am lucky to get to hang around him and be his mom and listen to all of the funny things he says!
• Joel and I had several really nice walks to school this week because David was home getting ready for work so Connor snuggled and watched TV while Joel and I walked together.  Sometimes Joel is the most talkative in the morning on our walks and it was nice to catch up with him, hear what some of his most recent favorite things are, what he hopes to do at school that day, and other funny things.  He seemed to be feeling much better by the end of the week and I am so grateful that he is on the mend and getting stronger every day!
• This week was a weekend of birthdays!  David's birthday was on Friday and my Dad's was on Saturday.  After both boys got home from school on Friday, we went to our neighbor's home to play and had a great time running around for an hour.  After that, our babysitter came over and David and I went out to celebrate his 33rd year.  It was so nice!  We went to an AMAZING sushi restaurant and had some truly gourmet food!  After our bellies were full and happy, we headed to an imax 3D screening of Gravity.  WOW that movie was good!  It was a really nice birthday day and the boys can't wait to eat some pumpkin pie birthday pie at the end of the weekend!
• Saturday was a day for sleeping in and getting things done around the house.  The boys are both getting so much better at helping us clean up and pick up toys!  I am so thankful both of them are getting good at putting things away and helping out more.  After our house work, we went to Connor's school Fall Fair and it was great fun!  The boys had the best time petting a tiny pink pig in the petting zoo.  They are currently obsessed with the show Peppa Pig and so it was such a treat to get to pet a real pig!  After the fun fair, Joel had his soccer game so we rushed over to that.  Joel did such a great job playing this evening.  The siren went off to let us know that lightening was getting too close so the game ended early....all around happy moments at the game tonight lol.
• We came home and enjoyed a thunder and lightening show for the better part of 3 hours tonight!  I was so nice to snuggle down and watch the house light up and listen to the thunder while we all huddled together.  The boys were so sweet, they even went to sleep together tonight to keep each other safe.  So precious!

Well, and that gets us to Saturday night!  I feel so badly that I didn't get to blog each day this week, but I have just been so tired.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I had this evening to look back at my week and smile at all that has transpired.  It was a really great week and I had lots of fun with my boys!  I am looking forward to more Fall weather and pumpkin dishes for breakfast and dinner tomorrow!  Until then, thanks for sticking around to read this!  Night all!

Days 124 &125

Happy Monday!  Sundays and Mondays tend to blur into one big day for me sometimes.

• Sunday was the boy's primary program at church and they both did a great job singing!  I was also the start of my new calling as nursery leader and although I feel overwhelmed a bit right now, I am so excited to be working with itty bitty kiddos once more!  They are all so cute and I hope I can give them joy and fun while they are away from their parents for two hours
• I got to take a nap yesterday...one of my all time favorite Sunday happy moments
• We skyped with my parents and texted with David's parents.  The boys had a fun time dancing around and even mooned their grandparents at one point LOL such BOYS!  My parents were laughing their heads off!
• It has been pretty cold lately so I ended my evening with a piping hot cup of chamomile almond tea...that cures any cold feet and makes me smile!

Monday- 

I couldn't find my workout shoes to go to the gym this morning, and I had gotten dressed and was all set to go!  So, today at Target I bought a NEW pair (I was in need of a new pair anyways) and I look forward to going on Wednesday to try out the new pair!

• I went grocery shopping at Target...nuff said
• Connor and Joel were so happy to see one another after school today and they spent a lot of time playing and laughing this evening.  They have gotten really interested at building things with their legos and they are just so cute as they have little airplane battles and pirate wars...all boys!
• We went on a walk to our local water area tonight for Family Home Evening.  We talked about who made the earth and all living things in it.  Joel asked some REALLY great gospel centered questions tonight as well!  We brought Ginger with us and she ran all over in the water and mud!  She was SO happy to be playing and running and finding the joy!  So I did get a workout in after all this evening and now my boys are out cold after nice warm baths and showers!
• There are more TV shows recording on my DVR right now and I can't wait to watch some of them tomorrow!

I am so grateful for being able to find the joy and have such a loving family.  We are so blessed every day and I can't believe it has been a whole week since we brought Joel home from the hospital!  What a crazy week it was last week, but this week is looking a lot more joyful.  I am so thankful for my two little boys and the love that they have for each other.  Time to head to sleep and wake up to a new day tomorrow!  

Day 123

Today was another fun day for our family!  We drove out and spent another day at the pumpkin patch in Celina.   Joel really wanted to go and it was so much fun for the whole family!  The pumpkins were even pretty inexpensive and it was fun to have the kids run around, play in the hay maze, ride the tractor, eat hot dogs, and take more fun pictures!  David really enjoyed it as well and I am so glad we all got to have a fun adventure!

This afternoon was time for us to pick up the house a bit.  It was a true happy moment for me to see box after box of stuff be removed from the play room and into the trash!  That room is looking so much better now!

This evening we went and got sandwiches and met up with other ward members at a park for a party.  We have had more ward activities in the past 4 months in our new ward than we did the entire 5 years we lived in our last area!  The people are so wonderful here and the kids played non-stop with their primary friends.  It was great to talk with other people and get to know more things.  David even got his calling at the party this evening!  He is looking forward to making it official tomorrow and I am looking forward to starting my calling tomorrow as well!  Well, that is all for tonight.  I am just SO grateful that it has been one week since Joel went to the hospital.  Tonight we will get to bed by about 10 and not be up until 3 in the morning...how nice it will be to see my two sons in their own beds, happy, healthy, and sleeping.  I feel very blessed that this week went by quickly and that Joel is healing and that we were helped so much by so many this week!  Have a great rest of your Saturday all!

Days 120 121 122

LONG days these past three days have been.  I had a migraine for most of the days, but there were happy moments each day and I don't want to fail and not blog them...having this blog reminds me that there is joy to be found in each day, each week, no matter how difficult the days or weeks may be!

Wednesday was Joel's first day back to school!  I am so proud of him and being able to go.  Connor had a great time at preschool and I got to sit quietly in the dark for most of the day trying to get rid of my raging migraine.  BUT, it was quiet and a nice cold day out, so it was made for snuggling on the couch!

Thursday-Connor went to preschool at his co op for a make up day and all of the kids had so much fun!  I got to meet with my friend Lori for lunch and we had the most delicious hamburgers at a cafe and had a fun time talking.  She brought her one year old daughter and she is SO cute!  It was so nice to get to hang out with a friend and I feel blessed to be making many many friends here!
Connor went to play at a friend's house after preschool and I walked down to pick Joel up.  We found two really cute doggies roaming the streets so we put them in the back yard to keep safe and called the owners on the tags.  While we were doing that, Connor came home and my poor friend couldn't find me! It made for a funny moment.  Her kids came in the house and came and played some more!  The boys absolutely love having friends over!  It made for such a fun afternoon to have friends playing here and I was just so happy to see my kiddos so happy!

Friday-today I dropped Joel off at school and Connor and I went on a fieldtrip with his class to a Pumpkin patch in Celina Texas.  What an amazing place!!  It is so far out in the country and the drive there was so beautiful!  There were so many fun things to see and do there and I had happy moment after happy moment listening to Connor giggle and run all over with delight!  We fed goats, pet Longhorn cows, took a tractor drive, went through a hay maze, and took lots of pictures all over!  They had those really big things of rolled hay and when we first moved here, Connor starting calling them "cow sushi."  Well the name stuck and he was SO excited to get to touch them today!  We have only ever seen them from afar before.
David worked late tonight so the boys and I did Chick-fil-A for dinner.  They love that place and it was fun to get to sit and talk with the boys about their favorite parts of the day.  Joel said he had so much fun at recess playing with different friends.  That makes me happy that he is meeting new people and hanging out!  The boys and I had THE best time tonight running all over our big house in the dark playing hide and go seek.  They would scream if I found them and scream when they found me!  It was a lot of laughter and I am so thankful for the fun playtime with my boys.  Oh, and before that we took a walk around our local lake and there were swarms of mosquitoes and nats and we had fun screaming and yelling from them (I think you had to be there to see that one lol).  So Connor went to bed and Joel snuggled downstairs with me for a bit.

It has been a fun few days and I am so thankful my headache is going away finally!  Here is to it being Friday and to a fun (hopefully productive) weekend of play time and cleaning time!  Have a good night all!

Day 119

Hello hello!  Time for some bullet blogging then bed today!

• I for sure got some serious quality time with all of my boys today.  I got to snuggle with Connor, help Joel out, and take care of David...because they were ALL home with me all day long!
• I did get a nap in today...it was much needed and Joel and Connor spent some time watching TV together and hanging out.  They were nice to one another all day and I am thankful they had some loving brother time
• My friend Alixa brought us dinner this evening.  It was delicious and much needed!  I am so thankful we are having dinners brought in this week...it has been a crazy one!  We feel loved.
• Tonight I let Ginger to go out and potty before bed.  Our male cat is always trying to sneak out of the house.  It is COLD and RAINING tonight and this cat hates water with a special kind of passion.  So as he stepped out tonight to try and escape, he walked on water and it was raining on him.  David and I laughed So hard as we watched him walking and shaking his paws.  Then he jumped up on a window sill to try and escape the water a bit...it was a bit breezy so that didn't work too well either!  He kept shaking his head and his paws and finally gave up and went into the house voluntarily!  That is rare that I don't have to pick him up and bring him back in.  We had a good laugh and smile about his little adventure tonight!
• Well, we are done for the evening and David and I got to watch a couple of TV shows together after we put the boys to bed.  Both of them went down with no problems or trying to stay up a few more minutes tonight so that was a happy moment as well!

Connor goes to school tomorrow, Joel says he is ready to go back to school, and David is feeling better and is going to work tomorrow...happy moment that I get to go to MOPS and be alone after that!  Enjoy your night!

Day 118

Good evening!  Well, today was another LONG day but my little guy is HOME and that is the biggest happy moment of our day!

Today the kids had the day off and I had a fun day planned of going to the mall and looking at a big Disney store and having lunch with my kiddos....well, Connor went on a couple of playdates so I could spend the day at the hospital with Joel and eventually bring him home.

It was a nice day with Joel.  We watched TV together, had lunch together, played some video games together, and I made him laugh.  I am so happy he is doing better!  The doctor came in today and said his white blood cell count is back to normal.  A HUGE happy moment for this momma!

I just feel so blessed as people watched Connor and brought us dinner and came over this evening to visit Joel.  I really felt the love in our new area and I am so grateful that even though our family could not be with us, our Ward Family was here for us and our neighbors are here for us.  We are beyond blessed and I am so happy tonight!

It was a fun happy moment to come home and see Connor and Ginger and see how happy they were to have us home as well...that was pretty great to hear, "Hey MOMMYYY!!!"  Well, the end of our very long weekend is here.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Connor has his co op preschool and Joel will be home with me on a rainy morning!  Hot chocolate and lots of snuggling down on the couch in front of the TV await us in the morning!  Have a great night!