Nanny 911

Hunter, carrying the phone, came to me very frustrated and asked, "Mom, what is the Super Nanny's phone number?" Laughing I said I didn't know and asked him why he needed it. "Because Brylie is being so naughty she needs to spend some time on the naughty spot!"

The Spring Fever is Gone!!!

Okay, last week when the temperatures rose to 40 degrees I had a bad case of spring fever......now after this weekend, that fever is gone! So far we have gotten about 10 inches of snow and it is still snowing! Ugh! It was kind of nice having Robb stuck at home, we were able to get our bedroom painted. Yea! Anyway, I am at a loss for anything witty to write about today. I think all of the dreary weather is getting to me! I will just share some pictures from yesterday. I hope you are all surviving this late winter weather. (We are so jealous of you right now Michelle F.)

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A Revelation

This morning as Hunter was playing a Cars game on the computer he asks, "Mom, did you ever log onto disney.com when you were a kid?" "No, Hunter there was no such thing as disney.com when I was a little girl." I replied. In total disbelief, Hunter asked, "Do you mean that you didn't have a computer?" "There weren't any kids that had computers back then." I explained to him that computers were just getting invented when I was a kid. After a big sigh Hunter said "Wow, that's really bad! I bet you just walked around all day looking for something to do huh?"

Snowman

Yesterday the kids and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and create a snowman. The snow was perfect for building a snowman, it stuck together perfectly. The kids hunted for the perfect sticks for arms and we dug in the treat bowl for the best items for making a face. We were quite proud of our accomplishment!When the kids woke from their nap they immediately ran to the window to check on their snow friend, and tears came when they saw that our dog, Cooter had mauled him while they slept. He chewed up his hat and feasted on his edible face. We should have known better than to make him so tasty! :)

Spring Fever

As temperatures approached the upper 30's this weekend it gave me a bit of spring fever. I found myself on a cleaning frenzy, a shopping spree looking for new decorations for the house, and of course some fun outside time with the kids. What is it about Spring that gets me so crazy? I think the long winter is hard on the sanity. Just when I think I can't handle anymore winter, God gives me a little taste of Spring. Yes, I know, 35 degrees is hardly spring weather, but it is about a 50 degree jump from last weekend! It is amazing how nice it felt to be able to go outside for more than 10 minutes and not worry about getting frost bite. The kids had so much fun playing in the snow that they have only looked at out the window for quite some time now. It felt so good to get some fresh air and be able to enjoy the snow as it started to melt a little. As the kids took off their boots, snow pants, and all other winter gear, I noticed the floor in front of the door was full of snow mixed with mud and it was then that I realized that Spring was definitely on it's way. I so look forward to Spring and then remember what a messy season it is. Oh well, I can't have everything! What is it about Spring that you enjoy? Anything about the season you don't necessarily like?

Favorite Photo Friday

Mmmmmm ice cream!

What is Love?

Since today is Valentine's Day I asked Hunter and Brylie a few questions about Love. What is Love? Hunter: "Well, like I love super heroes and my mom and dad." Brylie: "Love is like the memory verse, 'Love one another'." **************************************************************************************** How do you show someone you love them? Hunter: "split my favorite cookie in half and share with them" Brylie: "share my toy with them" **************************************************************************************** How do you show mommy you love her? Hunter: "buy her jewels" Brylie: "help her with the dishes" **************************************************************************************** How do you show daddy you love him? Hunter: "Oh, that's easy, just take him to a hunting store." Brylie: "play basketball with him and give him smooches and hugs" ***************************************************************************************** How do you know other people love you? Hunter: "God tells me. He speaks in my heart." Brylie: "If they give you hugs and kisses then they love you." ****************************************************************************************** Hunter finished it off with "Hey mom, guess how much I love you? All the way to outer space and back!" HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Hunter's Prayers

These are a few of Hunter's prayers lately. I thought they were worth sharing. "Dear God, which is a fancy name for Father of Jesus, bless my family and heal my diabetes. Amen." *************************************************************************************** "Dear Lord, I won't ever let those mean people put you on the cross ever again. Amen" *************************************************************************************** And this one is after a night of playing the game Buckaroo. If you haven't played it, the object of the game is to try to get as many things as you can on Buckaroo's back before he bucks. (Buckaroo is a horse.) "Dear God, I have a very, very, very important think to ask you...please help Buckaroo not to buck so much. Thank you. Amen."

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A Tender Heart

For such a rough and tough little boy, he sure can melt my heart. Tonight at supper out of the blue Hunter looked at me and said, "I'm really glad God made you my mom". Wow, it just doesn't get any better than that!

Brylie loves her "baby brother"!

Brylie loves to be a little mommy to Gage. This is what it looks like when she tries to hold him.:) As you can see Gage is not trying to get away, he LOVES all of the attention that she gives him! Although he is 20 months old, Brylie still calls him her "baby brother" and cares for him as if he were as fragile as a newborn. He plays along and lets her put him to bed, which consists of her putting him in her bed and covering him with blankets and singing and reading to him. She also likes to sit by him at the dinner table and help him with his food. He tends to milk it a little as Brylie is so willing to take care of his every need. It is really pretty sweet! It is great when I need to take a shower or just get some housework done, Brylie volunteers to take care of Gage and she does a great job! If only she could change diapers then we'd really have it made! :) Lately she has been asking for a baby sister...Uh Oh!

The Walk was a Success!

Twenty four of our loved ones came out in the bitter cold to Walk for Hunter's team in the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes. Again, we had one of the largest teams there and we were the ones dressed in camo! This is the first year that the Walk was held inside. Previous years it has been held in September at Sertoma Park. This year we walked around the Sioux Falls mall and got to window shop as we went along! :) The goal of this walk was to raise $50,000. By the end of the Walk they had tallied up the amount of donations collected that morning, not counting all of the online donations, and the total was $65,000! Wow! Hunter was thrilled that his cousins joined him on the Walk. They were more interested in a Run than a Walk! :) Here we are making our way around the mall. Robb joked that he would just walk his mile and a half around Victoria's Secret. Whatever! :) As you can see Gage is sound asleep in the stroller. He had it made! We are so blessed by the donations and prayers that we received for a cause that we are so passionate about. The morning of the walk Hunter said, "what does cure mean?" I explained that a cure would mean that doctors would be able to fix his pancreas and he wouldn't have diabetes anymore. With a sparkle in his eye he said, "Oh, that would be SO COOL!" I agree that a cure would be so cool. I got so choked up to see all of the strong little boys and girls at the walk that were sporting insulin pumps and had their family and friends dressed in the same shirts walking beside them in 100% support of the cause. As parents we want nothing more than for our kids to be healthy and through the work being done by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation I can see that someday soon all of these boys and girls will indeed be healthy and diabetes free. How awesome that will be! Thanks again for all of your support!

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Are you kidding me??

After four days of a terrible sore throat and a constant headache, I decided it was time to see a doctor. I called to make an appointment. The appointments lady so nicely informed me that my regular doctor would be "out of the office until February 5th." That is okay I explained, I will see ANYONE today. Well, there are only 2 openings left for the whole day, one at 11:00 and one at 3:00. Oh, 3:00 should work perfectly as Robb said he should be home from his meeting between 2-2:30. Robb called at 1:30 and said his meeting had went a little long and won't be home until 3:00! Oh no! So here is my decision: 1) keep that precious appointment and haul all 3 kids out at naptime in zero degree weather by myself or 2) cancel the appointment and go to acute care after 5:00. Well, number one didn't sound so bad compared to the dreaded acute care, but after 4 days of being sick I just didn't have the energy to do it! I don't know if your clinic has acute care but it is basically a free for all at the end of the day for those who were unable to get appointments during the day. I really despise going to acute care because 1) you have no idea how long you will have to sit in that waiting room before getting in and 2) there are no doctors at acute care, only physician assistants. (while I am sure PA's are very educated, I always find myself second guessing their diagnosis) Well, Robb and the kids decided to ride with me since we had a few other errands we wanted to run. We arrived at accute care at 5:30 and the waiting room was packed! Not a good sign! After an hour of the 2 boys tearing up the place, Robb decided to take them to get something to eat. My faithful 'mommy's girl', Brylie, waited with me. Finally at 7:00 I was called back to get my throat swabbed (not fun ever, but really not fun when your throat is screaming in pain!) "You may go back to the waiting room while we send this to lab," said the nurse. Ugh! I wait for another half an hour only to be called back to learn "It's viral, give it a few more days to run its course." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? She went on to recommend throat lozenges, throat sprays, and a lot of fluids. Fluids? Oh, great idea.......IF I COULD SWALLOW!!! Oh well, at least no one I came in contact with was narly. :)

Narly People

I had a teacher in college that referred to 'hard to get along with' people as narly. I thought this was a good word and described those kind of people well. Well, a couple weeks ago Robb came in contact with a narly police officer. Yeah, I know, not someone you want to be narly! Anyway, Robb was pulled over in town for running a red light. We had just picked up the suburban in town after having new tires put on it so the kids and I were following him with the pickup. I watched Robb go through the light, which was yellow the entire way through. (If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I probably would not have even questioned it because I know that he has a tendency to be a little unattentive on the road at times :) Anyway, the officer pulled him over, walked up to his window and shined his flashlight in Robb's rear view mirror which in turn shined right in his eyes. Robb flipped the mirror up and rolled down his window. In a very crabby voice he heard, "I'm Officer Schmitz, license and registration." Robb said "Ah what are you pulling me over for?" "Traffic light violation" was his quick, sergeant like response. Well, by that time I had gotten out of the pickup to give him his billfold that was still in the truck. I opened the passenger door and asked him what he was getting pulled over for, as I was sure he must have been going a little too fast or something. "Apparently I ran a red light" Robb said and I could tell he was a little frustrated. I explained to the officer that I was right behind him and watched him go through the light and it didn't change to red until he was completely through it. The narly officer said "It was red for a good second and a half!" I said "well, I'm an honest person and I know what I saw." I then got back into the truck while Robb went back to the patrol car. By this time I was steaming because I knew what had really happened and even if he had run the light, what gave him the right to be so narly? While in the patrol car Robb decided to make a little small talk with the narly guy thinking he must have just had a bad day. As he was writing up the $116 ticket Robb said, "just last night I was at the police station with our volunteer fire department learning about the 911 system" Silence....... the narly Mr. Schmitz didn't even look up. Okay, so much for trying to be descent! Well, the next day, after stewing for a while, Robb called and talked to the Assistant Police Chief about the incident. Robb explained that he didn't care about the ticket as much as he cared about being treated with such disrespect. The Assistant Police Chief said they would review the tape and get back to him. The next day he called back to say that the narly officer Schmitz had not broken any rules but definitely could have been more personable and they would address the situation with him. I was still unsatisfied with the ticket so I encouraged Robb to call someone from the utilities department to find out if the lights on both sides of the intersection change at exactly the same time, because the officer was on the other side of the road and thought that might be a possibility. Well, no such luck. They claim that they have been tested thoroughly and change at exactly the same time. Since the only case we had was our word against his we payed the fine. I would love to hear your stories about other narly people. How do you handle the narly?

Thank You!!

With yesterday's post my intention was to let you in on another area of my life. I did not expect the outpouring of love and support that I received. Your donations and prayers are truly a blessing! I told Hunter about it and he said "wow, that sure is nice!" We are looking forward to the Walk on Saturday and will take some pictures to share with all of you. Thanks again!

Our Little Trooper!

Our oldest son Hunter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 15 months old. We had noticed that for about 4 days straight he wet through his diaper in the night and one bottle no longer satisfied him so we expressed our concerns to our doctor who thought there was probably nothing to worry about but checked his blood sugar anyway. A normal blood sugar is between 80-120 and Hunter's was over 500! We immediately went to Sioux Falls (2 hours away and has a much bigger hospital) and spent 5 days learning how to take care of him. There were a lot of tears and fears but he was such a trooper that he kept our spirits up. I was also 5 months pregnant with Brylie so I was a bit of an emotional wreck anyway! After 3 years of daily insulin shots (crying and screaming with EVERY shot) he is now on an insulin pump. The insulin pump is connected to him all the time and gives him small doses of insulin every hour. We can unhook the pump for baths and swimming. Before he eats he checks his own blood sugar by poking his finger and then we count the carbohydrates that he eats and punch those 2 numbers into his pump and it is programmed to give him the right amount of insulin. This totally eliminates the shots. Yea!! We have to change the site of the pump once every 3 days and that requires a poke but we have numbing cream that we put on the site and that eliminates the pain (most of the time). He still has a minimum of 8 finger pokes a day, but he has always been really good about those. He started checking his own blood sugar last summer as we prepared him for preschool. We taught his teacher how to do the pump and it has been going very well. The pump allows him to eat whatever he wants, we just make sure he gets the insulin to cover it. All of this to say that this coming weekend we are preparing for the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes that takes place in Sioux Falls every year. We raise money for diabetes research and have a wonderful time with family and friends walking for a good cause. Our team name is 'Hunter's Team- Hunting for a Cure' and we all wear camouflage shirts. Last year our team was the largest and we raised over $3000! Hunter got a trophy and keeps it by his bed. He is really hoping to get another one this year. You can visit www.jdrf.org to learn more about it. This past Saturday we held a rummage/bake sale to raise money for our Walk and since it was deathly cold out we didn't get the crowd we had hoped for, but still managed to raise $300. Robb and I couldn't be more proud of Hunter and how he deals with his disease. He is glad to tell anyone who is interested about diabetes and what he has to do to take care of himself. He prays everyday that Jesus would heal him and so do we!

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What you don't know about me....

Okay, Heidi tagged me to share 5 things that you probably don't know about me. I am really not that exciting of a person so don't sit on the edge of your seat! :) **1. I taught 5th grade before becoming a full time mommy. I really loved teaching and hope to teach again when all of my kids are in school. My first group of students are seniors this year and and I am so proud of who they are becoming. **2. I love reality TV. (please don't judge me ;) **3. When I was a young girl, living on the farm, I had pet pigs that I would show for 4-H. I loved my pigs and was traumatized when they were sold for butcher. To this day I can't quite look at a pork chop without getting teared up. (okay that is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I really did develop a liking for those smelly animals) **4. I am an avid newspaper reader. Ever since I was in High School I have loved reading the newspaper. My mom got me a subscription to the local paper when I went to college. I think I was the only college student who got the newspaper! Everyday I look forward to reading the news. Can anyone say geeky? **5. Robb and I dream of building a log home someday. I have a box full of log home magazines, I buy everyone out there, and have visited almost every log home website there is. Donations anyone?? Well there you have it. I hope you learned something new about me today.