When it Rains, it pours

and this week has definitely been full of crazy thunderstorm,hurricane,tornado type weather. leaving work on Tuesday and my car wouldn't start. apparently i lost an alternator belt somewhere along my journey to work that day so we luckily were able to catch a ride with Skip's buddy as they were on their way home from work. I did sadly miss Serenity's first class back to gymnastics since the holiday break & her surgery and i honestly don't know if in the 3 years she has taken gymnastics if I've ever missed an entire class :(  Wednesday my mom had to pick Serenity up from school for me because of everyone's work schedules and then i had to swing by and pick her up on my way home, giving us enough time to drop Xavier off at the house and get over to church which she was then a tad late for. By Thursday there was a meeting that i really wanted to attend (for some volunteering that I do with the local food bank) but was so whooped that I didn't get to make it. Then on Friday i go to take the girls to school and the passenger window was frozen but i didn't realize it was as bad as it was until i heard the motor make a huge yucky i'm broken kind of noise which then wouldn't let it go up or down.  Sharon went to go to work and her car wouldn't start at all so i let her use my 1 working car and luckily was able to use skip's car because he again had ridden with his friend to work.  Sharon had to leave work early to get Serenity from school and all while they are getting settled at the house Xavier is at work with me and as he woke up from a nap he promptly came out onto the shop floor and threw up blood. I freaked out like crazy, i understood that it was more than likely just something with having his tonsils removed but the size of the clots were making me a little nervous. he was then fine so we just decided to watch him the rest of the evening. By Saturday he was still fine so off both kiddos went with grandma to get themselves some much needy grammy time :)
Skip and I did some fun things like a trip to the goodwill and the grocery store because do to the new schedules everyone is on it is now Saturday night and I haven't had a chance to do grocery shopping yet. I called my mom on the way home to see if the kids were staying the night and Xavier is in her car puking blood again. We went and meet her and while i cleaned him up and changed him Skip got on the phone with the on call Dr. and he said to meet him at the ER, where we had the surgery, which is about an hour away. so off we go and we send Serenity (and some of our groceries, you know the ones that needed to just get to the house and get in the fridge) with my mom. I talked with the Dr. once on the ride up and he has told me that he has called the hospital and he has them prepping the OR because more than likely they are going to have to do surgery on him. We get there and wait and wait and when i said the Dr. said he called no one acted like they had any idea what i was talking about. finally after waiting 20 or so minutes we get called back and start the process of getting him prepped to go back to surgery. the on call Dr. told us that in most cases the scabs just fall off and they heal fine and about 1% of the time they are so bad that a second surgery is required. so thanks you Xavier for helping keep that 1% alive and kicking :)
He went back not nearly as easy as he did the first time because he just wanted to go home. everything went well though and we finally got home and in the bed and so far this morning it is completely the beginning again :(
he's back to Popsicles,jello and nothing red. his mouth is hurting and he has to be chill. haha
praying that this time it holds though and my boy can be healed and done with all of this

oh monday, monday

Serenity was able to go back to school last Thursday and by that evening she was completely whooped. She really enjoyed getting back to it though. Xavier on the other hand has been complaining more and more about his ears.breaks my heart to hear him cry about them and watch him just hold them. but at least his throat is doing well and everyone is back to eating like normal. He was ok enough on Friday that he let daddy & I prep and package some meals. I LOVE,LOVE,LOVE finding meat marked down at the store and i LOVE the fact that a few years ago Skip's mom got us a vacuum sealer for Christmas. we use that thing so much more than i thought we would. With the combination of the deals I got the other day and the items we already had in the freezer we have enough meat to supply our family of 7 (3 adults, a teen and 2 littles) from now until the end of March :) there are only a few things that i have to go purchase from the store to complete every meal for the entire month of February  I already had over half the things in our stock pile :) this is one of the weirdest things that makes me happy but it does remind me how I do love being a mommy and wife and that I kinda miss being a full time SAHM.

Oh on the mommy/housewife note I made another pinterest treat yesterday.cheerio-treats are so super easy,so super yummy, and I can totally see them being so super addictive. and they can double as a breakfast snack right?? i mean cheerios, peanut butter? well, at least they can double as a quick breakfast snack for the mommy between prepping dinner & doing laundry and if they can't then we will totally forget that is what i did today :)
Let me know if you have tried them in the past and if you find them as wonderful as i did. and if you haven't had them yet please find time to make them

pinterest

if you haven't stumbled upon pinterest at this point then it's probably a good thing. for me it was kinda like facebook when i first stumbled across it. for the first week or 2 I was completely lost but then it soon turned into a form of crack. well, at least what i would guess it was like to be on crack. i was adding things left and right just because i thought they looked cool and because my friends had added them. then i started to tame down a bit and just add things that i thought i might actually do or want to try. then i hit a point where i thought it might actually make sense to try to make some of the things i have pinned.
one thing that we made and loved (and have just made again this morning) is no bake energy bites. we omit the coconut b/c i don't like it and i am not sure if the kids have ever even tried it but the rest is awesome. It's also one of those recipes that's super quick, super easy and super kid friendly.

another super easy and super easy snack we have made (and once again have just made this morning) is homemade fruit snacks. they too came from pinterest but the link will take you to the recipe page on the blog sixsistersstuff where i have found lots and lots of fun & yummy things.

down time

the kids are healing very well. I am actually a little jealous of how they are recovering. I surely do not remember being able to eat & act the way they are but then again i did have my tonsils taken out, gasp, 20 years ago. (where did that time go??)
Serenity thought she wanted to go back to school today but when she woke up she said her throat was still hurting. I'm sure it is still bothering her some but at the same time she hasn't been to school in 3 weeks so she's just wanting to stay home. She did say that she'll give it another try in the morning. She has not needed the pain medicine near as much as the boy has or woke up in the night as many times as him. Xavier is definitely dealing with things a lot differently. He is bouncing off the walls one min and then cranky as tar the next. and his breath, OH-EM-GEE. it is like something crawled in there and died and then died again.

on a plus side to all this down time for everyone we have been getting in some good quality family time and i have been able to start looking up ideas for birthday parties this year. It's hard to believe that my little man is going to be 3, yes THREE YEARS OLD, in just 2 months. then my baby girl will be 5 in just four months. people tell you when you are pregnant to enjoy every moment that you can because it goes so quickly and you think you understand but you don't really get it until your kids are here and they are growing like weeds. Xavier has decided on an Umi Zoomi party. I was thinking to do a How to train your dragon party but the second movie is supposed to come out next year so i think we will hold off until then :) Serenity at this point has picked a CandyLand theme but with her that is liable to change a million times before he birthday gets any closer

DAY 4

"The View from Here"

The from here was our early AM visit to the hospital. 

surgeries were a success

We got to the hospital this morning a few minutes after 6. I went in and filled out their paperwork and then walked out to help skip bring the kids in. by the time we walked into the hospital they were there waiting on us and took us back to start getting them ready. Xavier was first and he was back in the O.R. at 731 then Serenity followed back at 821. they both did really well. Xavier didn't really want to drink anything but we ended up telling him that if he wanted his IV out and to go home he had to take a few drinks. he still didn't care for that deal but he wanted to leave so he succumbed to drinking a few sips of apple juice. We were leaving the hospital by about 1030. So,so,so much different from when i was a kid. and just the way they are acting is so much different. Serenity has spent most of her time sleeping since we got home but the boy on the other hand has wanted to do nothing but eat and eat. Skip just got back with their meds and they've both been dosed with some pain reliever and the ouchies have seemed to lessen for now. I'm very happy with how they are both reacting to everything right now but i'm not going to completely go crazy and think they will be this happy and well the entire recovery time.

Day 3

 "Heart"

making myself crazy

I completely made myself crazy yesterday and i'm trying like heck to not let that happen again today. I don't exactly know why i'm so super nervous. Serenity had surgery on her eye of all things when she was just mere months old. somehow though the thought of both of my babies being put under and having surgery on the same day is really freaking me out. They will both be having their tonsils and adenoids removed but in addition to that Xavier will also be having tubes put in. They did a hearing test on him a while back and said that he has so much fluid in his ears that he has majority hearing loss :(
they have already warned us that he's ears will probably be super sensitive to everything no matter how quiet it sounds to us just b/c it will all be like brand new sounds to him. I'm just praying this makes them both feel better b/c i'm so tired of every time i turn around they are sick.
Serenity will be missing like the first week back to school after break but the only other option was to have it done only a couple days before Christmas and it's bad enough to have the surgery but to have had them sick on Christmas would have been the worst.
I thought and thought and thought about the surgery so much yesterday that i couldn't clean enough to get my mind off of it. then my super A.D.D. kicked in b/c i would start a cleaning project in one room and get distracted by another in a different room. now yes this does normally happen when i clean anyways but yesterday was 10x's worse which then stressed me out even more. i'm trying not to think about it as much today but it's super hard.
one of the many things to help me keep it off my mind is playing with these 2 rambunxious little monkeys of mine today. they keep bringing me animals to groom. Serenity has brought me a puppy that she named Carabell and a horse named Izzy. Xavier on the other hand, that little dude brought me a dinosaur named Bella. they are the most amazing kids i could have ever asked for and i'm so blessed every moment of every minute i get to spend with them.

DAY 2

" SOMETHING NEW"

Serenity sleeping until 1230pm was definitely something new.

Day 1

Today

the beginning

Overall today was a pretty nice start to the year. did a little shopping with my 2 little lovebugs and started our 365 days of devotions this evening after their bath. we did some shopping at the goodwill where they both picked up some things they just couldn't live without. Serenity got a double stroller for her numerous babies to share and then Xavier of course couldn't walk out without the sword and dragon that he found. They got to shop like grown up too. I gave them each their own money to hand to the cashier and then she handed them their own receipts as they grabbed their purchases and said thank you. it makes me so happy on days like today to feel like i may actually know what i'm kinda doing with this whole parenting thing. now onto another year long challenge.
i've told myself in the past that i would actually try a 365 photo a day challenge but then i've never even pretended to start. well this year i'm going to at least pretend. LOL
hopefully i'll even actually post a picture every day, guess we'll just have to wait and see.
here is a link for where I have gotten a list of January's photos.
Fingers crossed I'll do this :)

ringing in the new year.

no big plans this year just sitting at home chilling with the family and it was a great choice :)
the kids and i made a last minute run to the store to buy a bunch of snacks (half of which we didn't even eat) but then we spent some time jumping on the trampoline and then we munched and munched while we played  some new games the kids got for Christmas. it was a fun night, even taking a few breaks to let the girls do some Gangnam Style and of course let Serenity watch herself some Justin Bieber. then everyone else crashed and the girls and I went outside for some more trampoline time. I have been very blessed with my little family even if we have encountered some very crappy times. there have been times i wasn't sure if the family i have is even what i really wanted in life but i'm at a point in my life now where it's crazy to think i ever thought that way. my hubby and my kids are my world and although i can sometimes hate being woke up by that crying kid at 2am or being bothered by that snoring next to me in bed i am thankful that i have those things. there are so many people out there that have things happen and they either never get that family or that family is taken away. I love the family I have been blessed with and want to continue this year being more dedicated to focusing on this amazing family of mine