Closing the janitor's closet

Ethan helped with the song books...Trey and Avery were each assigned a side that they always took care of

bathrooms, always my job though Johnny did a lot of the vacumming !

Raegan just always found something to get into...today i knew she was being too quiet somewhere and then i heard the bigger kids giggling and giggling "come look at raegan mommy" she had raided the bus kids donuts and found the largest one in the bunch!

Trey's chore that he disliked very much!

Avery's job was to stock the stalls with toilet paper

i didn't get any pictures of johnny vacuuming because he was busy finishing the granite in the new church bathrooms

For the past 10 1/2 years we have been the janitors for Elm Grove. We started when Trey was 4 months old...it made it possible for me to drop from full-time working at the time to very part time status. And through the years has helped make it possible for me to stay home with the kids during the day and work part-time.

We have cleaned with babies in the bouncy seat, dragging the swing from the nursery to soothe a fussy baby, and actually carried a fussy baby in a carrier on my tummy while sweeping. Then we went through 4 times the phase of a toddling little one and the stairs and worrying about them falling down them while i was trying to clean ( a gate was not an option, and by far one of the most frustrating stages). We slowly moved into the phase of our kids helping us clean...each having their particular chores that they were responsible for. They have become great helpers! Raegan did not quite reach that phase, she is getting out easy...she is still in the stage of making messes for mommy to clean up after i'm done cleaning!

Many weeks you might have found the kids singing on the stage, writing on white boards, playing swords with mop handles, pounding on the piano and somedays each sitting in a different pew in time out. You might hear me scream when i run into a mouse, a large spider or slip and fall on my own freshly mopped floor.

I honestly don't know what i will do with myself next Saturday...my van might just automatically drive by itself out to the church...but i'm sure we will find lot's to fill our Saturday's with, it will be nice not having such a hectic schedule on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

We are thankful for the time that we were able to have this extra income and that it provided me more time with the kids!

Dear Jesus

"please help me remember that it is "s" in noise on my spelling test today". This was in Avery's prayer this morning on the way to school, she has been saying "c" all week when we study. My suggestion of how to remember...S is for Seaba and Seaba kids are noisy! She liked it. I'm so glad she prays about the little things! I thought it was cute.

I get to go spend some quality people watching time at the dmv with all the other procrastinators in my group of letters. Every year i say next year i will do this earlier...in 14 years i never have!

Happy Friday everyone. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Eeeek

An animal in the bed...touching the sheets?? Had you asked me a year ago if i would be allowing a kitten in my sons bed you would have heard a resounding "NO"! I'm getting soft in my old age. I hear "can he just go to sleep on me just for a little while??" So for two nights now he has cuddled with Trey while Trey goes to sleep and then i put him out.

After giving away his siblings (the kitten's, not Trey's) "cheetah" has cried, howled, whined, just made lot's of noise whenever he hears us up and about in the house...drives me nuts to be honest. I am not much of an animal person, but i feel bad for him/her (we really don't know what it is to be honest...but let's just call it a he cause that's what we hope it is) He curls up all by his lonesome on the bed where they all slept and it makes me sad...so here i go letting him in to cuddle with Trey cause he's so lonely...i'm digging myself a hole...but we do have an allergy issue so the in times are short. I'm such a sucker!


*********************************************

Remember when i was complaining about my unorganized desk? I got inspired this week to do some changes to my workspace. I drug Ethan and Raegan to the "caft store that is so boowing" the other day and found these handy basket/boxes. I still have a few changes i want to make but here is the close to finished change...wow i really need some black computer speakers and mouse, those white ones stick out like a sore thumb :) To show how observant men are, Johnny stared at the desk and couldn't figure out what i had changed for a few minutes...oh c'mon, seriously?

*********************************************

Avery was looking at an old picture of me in a bikini (oh i know per shame)today (it was a couple of years after i had her) and she said "mommy you were so skinny" to which i replied "so what am i now?" she grinned and patted her tummy as she said"a little chunky". Got to love the honesty of kids!

Weekend with my "big kids'

day 1 at Silver Dollar City

bunch a silly kids

Julie, June, Susan and i hanging out while the kids played in the ball...and yes Julie shared!

one of my favorite places!!

we have such obedient children!

coming off the Wildfire ALL SMILES!

my mom got to ride in style due to the fact that she most likely now has a stress fracture after running her first half marathon.

another favorite ride

day two was SO much warmer!

just cause it was pretty!

Avery taking off on the Wildfire

Avery and her buddy Morgyn (friends of Susan's) that joined us for a day

some thought it was so nice they would try the water rides...crazy!

hugging cousins at the end of the day two, and we loaded up in the vans and headed home

This past weekend, my 3 sisters and my mom and i headed to Branson with all of the "older" cousins. Aka-ones that can ride most of the rides. We invaded a couple of condos and spent two fun filled days at Silver Dollar City. Friday was C.O.L.D., though we were prepared and stayed pretty warm. At the end of the day it took us all quite awhile to warm up. Saturday was 20 degrees warmer and the park was a whole lot busier, though the lines for the rides were still not bad AT ALL, which is what we were there for...ride after ride...i think i rode more rides in those two days put together than i have in years.

If you read my blog and saw our vacation posts from SDC this past summer you might remember that Avery was just barely too short to ride the Wildfire, making one extremely sad thrill seeking girl! Well after being measured twice she GOT TO RIDE THE WILDFIRE! She was pulled off and measured almost every time...that's how close it was, and no...mommy didn't put any bark in her shoes!

We headed back Saturday night and after getting lost thanks to our Gps being totally confused and telling us to turn left into trees, at the first chance...make a u-turn, about 50 times of recalculating, and lot's of laughs we finally got headed in the right direction towards home. It was a fun, fast (they always go to fast when your having fun) weekend!

Smile maker

This girl never ceases to make mommy smile. Except when i'm picking up her trail of clothes she leaves all over the house...or when she decides to change her attire right before we are ready to walk out the door...in those instances you might not catch me with a smile on my face...but when i'm looking back at the pictures...you might catch me smiling away!

Took little miss to the dr today because hse has been running a fever for a week. On top of the flu she managed to get a couple of nasty ears so with an antibiotic now, hopefully she will improve quickly!

Trey and Avery went back to school today. Avery missed almost a week and Trey was out since last Thursday. They are feeling good with only lingering coughs that i've been told linger around for awhile. Ethan is still well thanks to taking refuge at Grandma's for about 4 days during the worst of the sickness. Johnny had it over the weekend and is starting to feel better. As for me... i believe wholeheartedly in Airborne!

KC half-marathon

chilly race morning

coming in to the finish

we crossed the line holding hands

13.1 completed!

This past Saturday was marathon day. It was a rainy drive down to Crown Center but the rain moved off and ended up being a chilly perfect day for running! My mom had injured her leg in training but had an mri and had gotten her "go-ahead" from the dr. She had a lot of pain during the race but ran through it and finished in 3:03. Her goal prior to injury was 3 hrs so she did awesome! She was even joking around with the 3 hr pace group that passed us right at the end, something about that they better not pass us and that she might take them out if they did :)

I would have been just as proud had she done it without an injury but the fact that she completed it in so much pain...she was very determined! it was also Susan's first half too and she completed it without much training. You did great Susan!

It was a very fun run through lot's of cool places in KC and was so fun doing it with my sisters and my mom!

Party time

No, we are not partying right now...their are fevers and aches all around....but we were partying on Tuesday night before the brunt of the sickness rolled in

Ethan's party guestshe got a lightsaber and a clone trooper head...what more could a 4 yr old possibly ask for?

The one thing Ethan really wanted at his party was a pinata....so a pinata we had!

Ethan went to Grandma's house Wednesday night and so far has remained well, so i think he may have escaped the house and flu just in time!

Flu be gone

I was hoping we could avoid this flu bug, but since it is EVERYWHERE i guess that is hard to do. Avery got to feeling awful first....i took her into urgent care tonight and she is starting tamiflu in the morning...long story short- there is a city-wide shortage-insurance company was closed-it's a compound and needs insurance approval- i didn't want to pay $120 tonight! Hopefully she will get to feeling better quickly but in the meantime it is aggrivating her asthma but breathing treatments are helping! The only reason she was prescribed tamiflu was because of the asthma...

When i got home tonight i went to check on Trey and he was burning up so looks like i won't be taking any kids to school tomorrow. Trey was not prescribed the medicine because he has no underlying health condition.

I have tamiflu prescriptions for Ethan and Raegan because of their age so that we can start them on it if they start showing symptoms.

I am supposed to be running a half-marathon this Saturday so i am going to go overdose on Airborne!!

Bowling fun

i gave up and settled for the group picture with Avery looking backwards

Trey, Trevin, Micah, and Evan

Micah celebrated his birthday while we were down in Hutchinson for a roofing project, so June and i took all the cousins that were down minus the youngest three to the bowling alley for his party. Thank goodness for bumpers! We got to see how competitive some of the kids were when June bowled for one of the kids and got 2 or 3 strikes in a row. Suddenly everyone was wanting her to take their turn...so we had to nix the adult participation before we had meltdowns...preteen style!

The kids had fun. We barely fit two games into our two hours.

Happy 4th Birthday Ethan!

1 month

1 year

1 and half years

2 years old

2 and half years old

3 years old

today- 4 years old!

Our little guy is 4 years old! A few factos...we had been trying for several years to get pregnant and had lost several pregnancies when i got pregnant with Ethan. I got pregnant under some circumstances the dr didn't think i would get pregnant under. I had my appendix out when i was 33 weeks pregnant with him and he was almost delivered prematurely. I had to be induced at my due date with him. He was 8 lb. 12 oz born with a head of hair like our first two but it was blonde. He had to be hospitalized for a couple of days at Childrens Mercy because he was very jaundiced. He will always be our little "miracle", at least that is how we look at him.

Ethan, we love you so much and are so thankful God put you in our family. You were a true answer to many prayers and i think God has a special plan for your life!

Happy Birthday Ethan! We love you!