No Whining

Too bad only my two oldest can read! :-)

DON'T put things up your NOSE!!

When my son Derek was about 2 yrs old we had an adventure of the icky sorts. Somehow he had proceeded to get stuck up his nostril a small hard foreign object. My husband and I tried and tried to get it out on our own. We thought, hey we are both nurses we should be able to do this. But no matter how hard we tried we couldn't budge the little sucker. It was a very hard and non-pliable object. So after many, many tries and many different techniques we decided we needed help. We took him to his pediatrician who also tried to get it out but she was also unsuccessful. She recommended we see an ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat Doc). So we headed up north about an hour to the ENT who had placed Derek's ear tubes. He also tried but couldn't get it out, he recommended sedation to do it. Yikes! As a nurse I know about that kind of stuff but when it is your 2 yr old who also has a heart condition, that's a little scary. However we didn't really have another choice at this point unless we wanted to have a foreign object permanently up our sons nostril! So after some sedation medicine Derek was finally relaxed enough that the doctor was able to pull the little sucker out! It was a little funny after the deed was done because the medicine made Derek a little goofy! It was good to be able to laugh a little at this point.

So why am I telling you this story now...? Because of this...

As I was sitting on our front porch last evening enjoying the post-rain cool air my precious son comes outside and says to me in a slightly worried voice...

"Mommy, I got a bullet stuck up my nose."

"You got a WHAT stuck up your nose?"

"A bullet."

I had immediate flashbacks to the story above and began to panic! And of course my husband was not at home to help this time!

I'm thinking. "Oh great, not again."

I proceeded to tell myself to calm down. I tilted his head back and sure enough, there in his right nostril was a small little orange rubber bullet from his older brothers toy gun.

I took him to my bedroom and laid him on the bed and went looking for the tweezers! I started to panic again when I couldn't find the tweezers, but before I had too much time to get worked up I found them in the top drawer in our bathroom.

I went to the bed where my normally rambunctious-can't ever sit still-tons of energy son was lying very still. I told him to tilt his head back and I began trying to use the tweezers to get it out. But as with the last time I just couldn't get a good grip on it. I was picturing in my head another visit to the doctor and sedation and...agghh. It seemed all my attempts to pull it out only pushed it further up his nostril.

I stopped and thought for a moment and said a quick prayer. At this point my son was still being very quiet and still but there was a little tear running down from his right eye. Poor guy, I tried again as gentle as possible, still no luck. Just when I was about to give up and wait for his dad to get home and try I had a sudden moment of brilliance.

I told him to "blow really hard", after a few attempts at this the little sucker popped right out. Thank God. Derek recovered quickly and was pretty proud of himself.

"Mommy, I blew it out!"

If only this would have worked when he was two!

So the moral of the story?? DON'T PUT THINGS UP YOUR NOSE!!!!!!

P.S. If you are curious about the first foreign object, we discovered later that it was a tiny hard rubber piece that our puppy had bitten off of one of her toys and Derek must have found it on the ground. And of course HE thought, "hmm, this looks like it would fit nicely up here"! :-)

A Rainy Day Recipe

It's raining today....

I had found this project a few months ago and have been saving it for such a day as this...

I found it online, and it looked like so much fun I knew my boys would have fun trying it!

RAINBOW CUPCAKES!!

Directions: Take three silly boys, add in lots of sugar and color and you get this...

We had fun making the different colors of the rainbow. We had to really think about the color wheel to make the extraordinary complex colors of purple and orange! Sad but true! Ha!

Every one wanted a chance with all the steps of the cupcake making process!

It was right about here in the cupcake making process that Derek exclaimed, "Can I lick my bowl now?." And of course he kept asking every minute or so until it was time!

Finally it's time to lick the bowl! I think this was Derek's favorite part of the process!

He even shared some with Mommy!

And the end result...

Yummy colorful cupcakes, three happy boys and major sugar highs!!

If you want to get in on the fun, here is one of many sites for rainbow cupcakes. Enjoy!

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." ~ Genesis 9:13

Not Consumed

"Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD'S great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him."

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord."

~Lamentations 3: 21-26

These verses have been such a blessing to me throughout the last few months. I found them many months ago when I was feeling lost and I opened my bible and there they were already highlighted and everything! They touched my heart and have continued to do so every time I open my bible. There have been many times over the last few months that I have felt "consumed" by the trials going on in my life. But God tells us that because of Him we "are not consumed" but that he is faithful to deliver us and give us strength when we have none left. He is compassionate about what is going on in our lives and wants us to come to Him for strength and renewal.

Thank you Lord for loving me so greatly!

School Time!

The boys on their first day of school. They were excited but a little nervous! It's going to be a busy day. Levi has a dentist appointment and gets to leave school for a little bit and both older boys have to go to the doctor for their annual check ups after school and some needed immunizations!





Caleb is in 6th grade this year.
Levi is in 4th grade.
Derek will be in Preschool this year but his school doesn't start for another week and a half!

Playing Cards

One of the things my two older boys and I enjoy doing is playing cards. We have many different ones we like to play but my favorite is 500 Rummy! I played this as a child growing up. It was a must anytime we visited my Grandma. She LOVED to play cards and especially 500 Rummy. Once my two older sons got old enough to actually understand how to play, it became a lot of fun and even a little competitive at times. For the most part though we just have fun and I'm trying to teach them, that fun is what's important and not who wins or loses.





It is always interesting playing with two young kids. You have to watch out that they don't try anything sneaky. My middle child especially is famous for trying to make up rules or forget some for that matter. The way they play is pretty entertaining too. Neither of them can actually hold all the cards in their hands so they have all these little piles laid out everywhere with their different sets or runs. I call it organized chaos because they know exactly what they have in their hands, it's just everywhere!

Today when we were playing we actually had to restart the game after the first round because Levi, after he totally crushed us and went out discovered that he had two cards at his feet that he didn't know were there! Silly Boy! See? You always have to watch them!



So I know it's all about having "fun" and not about being competitive. And I'm not trying to brag or anything....but check out who won this game! :-) Hee hee hee.

Trying

Things I'm learning and trying to do better

To find joy in the small things
To trust God with every area of my life
To stick to our budget
To be a better mom
To just let the house be a mess sometimes
To be a better wife
To pray often and passionately
To read my bible daily
To be a better friend
To be the best nurse I can be
To spend more quality time with my kids
To laugh more often
To exercise more
To drink more water
To appreciate every moment
To slow down
To tell my husband often that I appreciate him
To look for positives in my children
To not be so hard on myself
To look for God's blessings

I'm sure the list could go on and on…this is just what came to mind today! Hope you all are enjoying this last bit of summer! School starts for my two older kiddos tomorrow! This summer has gone by soo fast! The boys are excited about school starting but sad summer is over! I am looking forward to getting back to a routine but am not looking forward to the homework struggles, last minute projects (because my kids at least are famous for waiting till the last minute to tell us an assignment is due!), and running the kids to and from Soccer and Cross Country practice and every other thing they have going on! Life is about to get really busy again! Bring it on!!