Amy Scott's Thoughts

Hey everyone! Christmas is right around the corner. It’s always a power-packed few days for us as we celebrate with 4 family gatherings. We kick things off on Saturday with my immediate family and then the Christmas keeps going through Christmas Day. The day after Christmas is also a family shopping day. Jeremy and I stopped buying each other Christmas presents years ago. Instead we spend a fun day together hunting for deals and getting the things we most hoped for during the holiday season. It’s not a traditional holiday tradition, but it’s one we love and look forward to each year.

I was grateful to get most of our Christmas shopping taken care of early this year. However, we had a few last minute gifts and food shopping that we wrapped up today. Tomorrow will be a big baking day as I prepare for the weekend. I also love seeing all the gifts wrapped, under the tree, looking all lovely. I know that kids love the “opening” part of presents, but I love the presentation part of presents. Wrapping gifts is one of my favorite things to do. In some small way, it’s expresses creativity and shows you care for another. I’m all about the small details and wrapping gifts to me a part of that.

Zoolights was one of two things I hoped to do with the kids this Christmas season. The other was Snowflake Lane. I was skeptical that we would pull off Snowflake Lane. Jeremy has been busy with the house and I’ve been massively under the weather due to a head cold and my eye issues. It seemed like it might not happen. But it did! Yesterday, we checked visiting Santa off the list as well as Snowflake Lane. Our nephew has been staying with us for the last week while his family packs and moves so we took Carson along on our adventure as well. We introduce the boys to the LEGO store, had dinner at Red Robin and then enjoyed the magic of Snowflake Lane. The kids loved the parade and music and they were truly in awe of the “snow”. It was a great experience and one that I’m glad we were able to fit into our countdown to Christmas.

On to the big news of today… I was able to get an appointment with an eye specialist. Today was my appointment. We arrived 5 minutes before the suggested arrival time and waited 45 minutes before getting called back. Then it was another almost 2 hours in the exam room seeing various people (nurses, an intern, the doctor)… They did two dye tests and one inflammation test where they had to irritate my eye in order to get it to water. Not painful, but not fun. I wouldn’t want to do it everyday. The verdict is that eyes are not infected. Not more than the average buggies that live in our eyes. My eyes, however, are inflamed which is the source of my discomfort. There are many reasons why my eyes might be inflamed. I don’t like that vague feeling of not being sure why, but we do know now why they are bothering me. The treatment for the inflammation is two kinds of artificial tears and a steroid drop. The steroids can cause eye damage if used too long so I have to go in to check my eyes again in two weeks to see how they are responding to the steroids. The doctor said that this treatment might take 6-12 months before my eyes go back to the baseline of “normal”. I was totally shocked when I heard that number. He started to say “6-12” and I was waiting for the word “weeks” to come out of his mouth. Nope. Months. Oh goodie. I’m hoping that isn’t the case though. Anyway, the bright side of this whole appointment and an entire morning spent at the eye doctor is I now know that I don’t need glasses. They did an eye exam and then they didn’t mention my vision after that. I would assume if I failed the exam, they would have brought that up as an issue to address. I’ve been on the fence for a while if I needed to go to the eye doctor and look into glasses, but apparently, I’m good.

Even though I didn’t walk out of the doctor’s office feeling awesome about the appointment, I am grateful to know that my vision is okay and that I’m not contagious. I’ve been living at an insane level of paranoia. I’ve been washing my pillow case and towels daily to make sure I wasn’t letting an infection fester in my laundry. I’ve been scared that I’ve been passing germs on to my family and infesting the house. I’ve been washing my hands about every 5 minutes. I’ve been scared to touch my eyes. Now I know that I don’t have to be so concerned with spreading this issue. It’s a big relief to me to know that I’m not contagious and a threat to my family.

While I am still getting over a bad cold and living on Dayquil, I am thankful for the family fun that we’ve been able to have. I am hoping that once I kick this cold bug and get into the habit of doing my eye drops, I’ll start to feel more like myself again. Especially heading into a weekend of celebrating, now would be a great time to get back on my feet and re-enter normal life. I am hopeful. I can dream. No matter what I remind myself that I have so much to be thankful for. Despite the stress and illness, God is good. He is with me. He is for me. I have all that I need. Thank you, Jesus!

We attempted to decorate a cookie train, but it was very hard and the results were not all that impressive. 

Having breakfast at a local favorite and then off to show some family our house. 

Doggie sitting this week

Learning about dinosaurs from an expert! 

Owen keeps sneaking into the big kid class. 

Drove around to look at Christmas lights on Sunday night. 

Christmas crafting with Graham 

Our picture with Santa this year! Only Jeremy and Santa know how to look at the camera! 

LEGO store adventures! 

The snow at Snowflake Lane

Enjoying the parade! 

Loving the lights! 

Wonder

Jeremy felt the need to document my trip to the eye doctor. 

This blog post was supposed to be published last Thursday (12/14/17), but for some reason it’s not on my site. So sorry if you see this post for the second time because I know it did send out as an email. 

I’ve been reading through a one year devotion by Shauna Niequist, one of my favorite authors. One of the days I just read was about Advent how it’s for those who don’t have a place for shiny, happy Christmas seasons. Advent speaks of long, waiting, hoping for a Savior to arrive. Advent lets us feel those raw emotions of longing and being not there yet. I could have highlighted the whole devotional that day. I can relate to the concept of an Advent Christmas. Waiting for a Savior. Longing for hope.

This Christmas season has been different for me. Not only I am waiting and longing for my own home but I’m also longing for health. My eyes did not heal with this last round of antibiotics and I’m not waiting for a call to schedule an appointment with an eye specialist. Over a month of battling infections in my eyes has taken its toll on me both physically and mentally. My immune system is shot and I catch every bug that comes through our house (which currently is a head cold from Graham). I’m taking 400% of my daily vitamin C with no signs that it’s working. I’m completely and totally spent. I’m sad, a little depressed and slightly confused on why I can get better despite my best efforts.

So yes, I can relate to an advent season of longing and desire. Keeping my eyes open for a Savior, one who will bring restoration. And then I remember that this Savior is Immanuel. God with us. I am not alone. God is here in these moments. He hasn’t left my side. This knowledge that I am loved by my Creator and he is present in my longing and waiting gives me hope. It brings peace to my troubled heart. While I have not received an instant healing (believe me, I’ve asked), I have to trust that the journey is worthwhile even though I walk down unpleasant roads. God is with us. He is for us. We are not alone.

Last year I clung to a cheerful, happy Christmas to anchor my emotions. I wanted all things Christmas because I was desperate for joy in an unknown season of waiting for our house to sell, our plans on hold with uncertainty. This year, I cling to an advent season of longing and waiting. Watching and searching. Lots has happened in a year. Our home has sold, our new home continues to have progress. Things are moving forward and yet that doesn’t mean things are peachy or rosy or perfect. Life will always have it’s messes, it’s hang ups, it’s hills and valleys. When I’m in the valley, I know I am not alone and that God is for me and my Savior loves me.

So I keep pressing on. Believing. Praying. Hoping and dreaming. I keep taking the next step and moving forward in faith.

Prayers are greatly appreciated, for sure! I hope no matter what kind of Christmas season you find yourself in that God’s presence would be so close, so real to you. Despite all the holiday hustle and bustle, He is the reason for the Season. The hope of resurrection and restoration. Perfect peace. What a lovely Christmas gift!

““Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1:23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

You’ll notice that my title for this post is the same as my last post. Because we are very much in the same boat as the last time I wrote you. The kids have been sick. They came down with what looked like pink eye after Zoolights at the end of November. We used up the last of the antibiotic drops and then switched to homeopathic drops. Since most pink eye is viral, I didn’t feel the need to go back to the doctor for more antibiotics. The pink eye cleared up quickly, but I have remained diligent about washing the boys bedding every day and Lysol spraying their rooms. Despite the war on germs, Owen managed to come down with the flu this weekend and then it has turned into an head cold that he has shared with Graham. My poor kiddos. We’re doing everything in our power to stop the spread of germs, but I seriously think hazmat suits are in our future. I’m not sure if it’s to protect us from the world or protect the world from us, but we need some serious help. That was the kids… now on to me.

I went back to the doctor yesterday because my eyes were still painful after my last round of antibiotics. When I had my culture on November 15th, they found two bugs growing my eyes. One was strep and the other was one commonly found in nursing homes. Don’t ask me how that happened. After going over the results from last appointment with a new doctor yesterday, she realized that I was prescribed an antibiotic that would only take care of the nursing home bug and not the strep in my eyes. So my strep has gone untreated this entire time. Explains why my eyes still feel awful and I can’t catch a break. I’m now on one last round of antibiotics before being referred to an eye specialist.  Goodie. Painful eyes have been quite a challenge over the last month and more. It’s effected my sleep. I’m obviously uncomfortable. It explains my off and on fevers… My body has been fighting an infection and I’ve been trying to push through and live life like normal, but I’m totally depleted. Makes sense now. This is my 5th antibiotic and I will admit that my faith in antibiotics is a bit slim. However, I really want to kick this bug and not have to go to a specialist, so I’m praying this time it works and I’m free from this nasty infection. Prayers are appreciated!

We continue to keep chugging along into the Christmas season. Jeremy and I are almost 100% done with our Christmas shopping and I have all the presents we’ve purchased wrapped and under the tree (this is the first time in probably 4 years that we’ve had presents under the tree – it’s an exercise in trust and so far it’s going well). Jeremy was a super dad and picked out a Christmas train for the boys. Owen has been introduced to Frosty the Snowman, the old cartoon, and loves the train in the show. He and Graham love to listen to “Frosty the Snowman” on kids Christmas CD in the van. Graham has joined the family in loving Christmas music and can sing along to about one word in each song. For “Jingle Bells” the one word he can sing is way and he sings it loud and proud.

Owen & Graham participated in the Christmas musical this year. Their classes sang a song before the musical started. Owen wasn’t feeling well that morning, but he was crushed that he couldn’t sing on stage, so we went to church briefly so he could sing. I was nervous about how Graham would do on stage, but he did great! Owen and Graham held hands and looked super cute! They didn’t really sing along with the songs, but they were adorable and clapped at the end and didn’t make drama. I call that a win!

Owen’s room now as decorated mini-tree as well as our Little People nativity set and our Christmas letters out that spell believe. I told him its a reminder for us to believe in Jesus and why he came at Christmas time. Santa has taken up a more prominent place in our house as Owen asks me often if Santa will bring him one very specific item this year. He also knows that Christmas presents have been delivered to our house and I wrap them. I told him that Santa gave me the job of wrapping the Christmas presents. I didn’t use the word “delegate” but I’m teaching him that Santa shares his job with others. Haha… Verdict is still out on if we’ll do pictures with Santa this year. I’m inclined to if we can find the time. I also hope to do Snowflake Lane up in Bell Square if we can find a day where the weather is nice. They make it snow every night and do a fun parade with a drum line.  The Christmas season is in full swing here and I’m hoping that if this last round of antibiotics does the trick, I’ll be able to enjoy the season a bit more than I have up until this point.

On to the house! The siding on the outside is completely done. The tubs/showers are in and the plumbers have been out to hook them up and get all the pipes in place. The doors have also all installed which make our effort to dry out the house even better because now we can trap air. The heating/cooling people have started their installation process and electricians should be on the scene shortly. Jeremy has been given the go-ahead to pressure the wash the siding and start the painting process. We have a stretch of dry weather, but it’s also cold weather. We need to figure out if it’s too cold to paint. We have some questions out to the pros and should know soon. Jeremy has some vacation time stored up for end of the year. Some of it will go to family fun and the holidays, but he will also want to use that time to work on the house. Painting the outside will be a huge project and I’m sure he’ll be glad for those vacation days so he can make headway.

I’ll touch on MOPS & Usborne just shortly before wrapping things up. On Monday, I had my steering team Christmas party for MOPS. Our steering team meetings usually stick to a schedule and while we have fun, we also take care of business. This meeting with all party and fun and no agenda! It was great. We ate a ton of good food, played a silly Christmas carol game and did a secret sister gift exchange. Next Monday is our Christmas party for the whole MOPS group. We have a great guest speaker lined up, Christmas games and a group Christmas present that I’m really happy with. We got the ladies each a MOPS “Free Indeed” theme mug and inside is a hot chocolate packet, a mug cake packet and a candy cane. Super cute! We don’t have a second meeting or outing in December because of the holidays. I’m looking forward to things slowing down a bit and having a slight break.

On to books, things are going great in the world of Usborne. I thought my business might fizzle after the Christmas selling rush was over, but I have 4 parties already on the calendar for January and a long list of people who said to contact them in the new year to book a party or a fundraiser. I had a really successful Black Friday sale and that gave me $200 in book rewards that I was able to cash in. Jeremy jokes with me that we’re not building a play room in the next house, but really a library. I’m kind of okay with that. A lot of the books I just got are age appropriate for the boys now. I’m think that my next time I cash in my book rewards, I’ll invest in some of our chapter books and start stock piling for the future. Tonight is my last book party in 2017! Woo hoo! I’m excited to wrap up this year and start strong in January.

And that is the update for now. Hopefully my next post will share how I beat the eye infections and finally feel like a normal person. And maybe I’ll have a picture of my painted house… Maybe… We’ll have to see!

Zoolights 

Preschool Craft

What a lovely sliding glass door! 

The shower in our master bath

The soaking tub in our master bath

Helping Daddy get ready for the Christmas musical 

Decorating the mini-tree while Graham napped. 

Christmas musical performance

Owen is sick with the flu in this picture. Graham wanted to be just like Owen. 

MOPS Steering Team Christmas Party 

I love free stuff! :) 

It’s looks alike a house! Time to clean it up and paint it! 

Okay, I’ve been MIA most of November. Turns out I’ve been batting various infections in my eyes and head most of the month. After my bout with pink eye, my eyes still didn’t feel right. I went back to the doctor and got some new drops and awaited the results of the culture they did on my eyes. A few days later, I got the call saying that I have strep in my eyes as well another bug the receptionist couldn’t pronounce. So I was given a prescription for another antibiotic. I’ve now taken 4 different kinds of antibiotics in a month span of time to fix whatever is going in my eyes and head. I wish I could say they were working. My eyes still don’t feel right and I came down with a super bad head cold this last week. Didn’t expect to get super sick right after starting antibiotics. I’m living on Dayquil and praying for the day my eyes feel right again.

November has been a hard month for me. I’ve been feeling a bit more emotional lately and I think that the constant infections going on in my head have zapped me. I’m tired. I’m trying to keep up with responsibilities and schedules, but inside I have no energy. My hubby took a couple days off this last week and I was jazzed by the thought of having him around. Then I got the super bad head cold and I spent most of his days off in bed watching movies or sleeping. While my body needed that rest, I had envisioned that time spent together, as a family. It’s hard when expectations turn to disappointments. I’m extremely disappointed and mystified by the condition of my eyes/head. If things don’t improve with this round of antibiotics then I will back at the doctors. I have no clue why I don’t feel better yet.

I love the holidays. I go to Starbucks way too much ordering holiday drinks and goodies. I watch every new Hallmark Christmas movie that comes out. Our family filled Operation Christmas Child boxes so that way kids around the world can have something special for Christmas. I love Christmas. I love listening to Christmas music. I love Christmas shopping and finding presents we think our family members will love. However… My health has left me a bit depleted. When it comes to decorating for Christmas, I just don’t have a ton of desire to do the extra effort. Owen has been begging to decorate for Christmas for the last few weeks. We had been holding off until after Thanksgiving and today he got his wish to get the Christmas tree up. While the others decorated the tree, I hopped into the shower to see if that would help the feeling in my eyes to clear up. I’m not against decorating. The rest of the family wanted to do it and that’s great. I just didn’t have the desire. I’m lacking that spark. I think if I felt better things would be a different story, but right now my Christmas spirit has been taken down a notch. It’s not even December yet, so I have hopes of kicking these bad bugs and getting back to my Christmassy self for the rest of the holiday season.

We stayed in Lewis County for Thanksgiving this year. I wasn’t feeling well enough to travel. Owen and Graham got to play with their cousins, Nolan & Bennett. The adults played games. I laid down for part of the day. The food was good and it was nice to stay in one place even though it meant not seeing my extended family. I missed them and their gathering very much. My parents were sweet and brought me home some leftovers.

My mother-in-law offered to watch the boys yesterday so Jeremy and I could take part in the Black Friday sales. We have a list of items we need for the house and Black Friday seemed like the best day to get good deals. I took my cold meds and I tried to keep up as we compared and researched. It was great to have some one-on-one with my hubby and to pick out things together for our future home. We had a super productive day and come in under budget on some major items we knew we needed. The only downside to shopping now is our new things will have to wait until we move in to get unboxed… Except the Xbox Jeremy got. He couldn’t wait for that one. It feels good to have some new things purchased and ready for the house. It certainly gives me the feeling of being one step closer.

On to the house! We have a complete roof with shingles and everything! It’s beautiful! I love it! Our house got covered in mud and water before the roof could go on, so while the roofers finished things up, Jeremy & I (and then Jeremy & his dad) spent a day getting the mud and water out of the house. Jeremy and I scrapped the mud out and shop vacuumed the water out, but the floors were still pretty grubby. I took the boys home for naps and Jeremy’s dad went up with a pressure washer to get the floors really clean and get the mud out. The floors look so much better now and we are currently in the process of drying the house out. The windows got installed this week and that helps with the drying process. It will improve even more when we get the doors on and can trap the heat a bit better. The doors are up in the garage just waiting to be installed. We also have piles of siding waiting by the house as well. I’m excited for things to turn inside as the outside work starts to wrap up. Each new step forward makes it feel more a like a home. What a labor of love this house has been. I would have never imagined myself shoveling mud out of my house when we started this process. I’m an “indoor” girl and I don’t really do dirt, but when it comes to my house, I’ll do just about anything to get us one step closer to moving in.

That’s my update for now. We’re supposed to go to Zoolights tonight with my MOPS group, but we’re still on the fence. The kids are napping and we’ll see how they wake up from nap time. They both seem like they might be on the verge of getting sick and I, of course, am not well yet myself. I feel that tension of being the coordinator so I should be there… but I also just want to see my friends and have a Christmas outing with my family. It seems like illness is always stopping us from fun, festive outings. So Zoolights may or may not happen. As I said before, it’s still November. There will be other opportunities if today doesn’t pan out. Some seasons are harder than others and this one seems to be a doozy right now. Prayers appreciated!

Love Red Cup Season! I didn’t get a picture with my 1st or 2nd Red Cup, but 3rd times the charm! 

Shopping for Operation Christmas Child

Our “flooded” mucky house before it got cleaned up. 

I got a quick visit with my one of my favorite Californians! I got to show Christa my house and then we gave her a tour of my parent’s home as well. 

PK Life

Cheesy Boys

Drying out the house

Chocolate cake with the cousins

The post holiday haze

A recent picture from the outside

Last night was gingerbread house decorating! 

Tree decorating this morning. 

Owen’s wish came true! The tree is up and ready for Christmas. 

When I last posted, I shared about Graham getting pink eye and me having an awful head cold. Not fun. However, it seems that our family has a dark cloud over us and things just kept getting worse. My mother-in-law got pink eye from Graham and she had a sinus infection as well. We had a week of all being home sick and trying not to spread our germs. My big hope was that Friday was going to be our fun family day. I also thought that the Friday before, but then Graham had pink eye… So anyway, this last Friday, I woke up at 2:30pm with my right eye stuck shut. On Thursday, I had rubbed my eyes and had a moment of panic. Then I thought about how we’re past the contagious stage and let out a sigh of relief. But sadly, I was wrong. So I spent our fun family day at Urgent Care for pink eye. Blah. Saturday was a pink eye recovery day and my mother-in-law started to feel sick again. Come Sunday morning, we found out that Nana had the flu. Sunday was a big day because we were going to start house sitting for my parents. My eye was a bit gooey so we didn’t go to church and when I realized I couldn’t keep my kids quiet for Nana to rest, we took off for my parent’s house to settle in.

I had been looking forward to house sitting for parents. I couldn’t wait to play house in their new home. I was going to treat it like a vacation rental. But… I got there and got settled in and it hit me… I’m in someone’s else house. I’m always in someone’s house. I’ve lived over a year with my in-laws (which I am extremely thankful for) and then when I thought I would “play house” in a new house, it just hit me I was in my parent’s house. I’m always in someone else’s space because I have no house of my own. Actually, I got to to stare out the window at my house that had no workers there. I thought that house sitting was going to fill a void in my heart and instead it hit me that no home, but my home, will fill the void. I had a very weepy 24 hours after that. Thank you to my friends and family who let me emotionally decompress on them – aka cry. A lot. My heart aches to settle into my home. I totally didn’t expect that reaction. It took me completely off guard and left me with a deep ache. Not awesome. Let me tell you.

So on Monday, I’m was deep mourning of my homelessness. I came home from my MOPS steering team meeting and I was emotionally spent. I said good night to the boys and settled in to talk to Jeremy when we heard Owen yelling from the bedroom. Jeremy got into the room and got Owen out before he could throw up EVERYWHERE! Luckily, we got Owen out of the room before he throw up on Graham who was sleeping on the floor beside him. However, Jeremy took the worst blow ever! That was the most amount of puke I’d ever seen on anyone! Jeremy had it puddled in this ear. Gross! From that point on we lived in the flu zone for the next 24 hours. Poor Owen got it bad. Tuesday was a sick day around the house. Jeremy took time off to help us survive. I had been looking forward to a family day and this wasn’t the way I was hoping to get it.  Come Wednesday, Graham had pink eye again, so it was back to the doctor to get him more drops….

And there you have it! We just had an intense week of illness. Add some out of the blue emotional trauma and there you have my life right now. My hope was that in staying up at my parent’s house we would have a front row seat to watching our trusses go up. When no workers came up Monday or Tuesday, we were told that Wednesday was the day. Turns out Wednesday they did show up. For an hour. Then they disappeared. I was so confused. Their compressor broke… Bummer… Today though, they were back in force and we do have trusses up now! Praise the Lord! Things move slowly and then they move quickly. I really don’t believe anything I’m told until I see it in person. We are super close to having a real roof. Each step is a step closer and despite the vague timeline, I am grateful.

Anyway, life is a roller coaster. We’re doing the best we can. Despite emotional and trying moments, we are still laughing and still smiling. God is still good and we will have our own roof over our heads someday. Praying for positive updates in the future. We’ve been hit hard the last couple of weeks, but I’m going to believe that better and healthier days are right around the corner.

At Urgent Care. Not cool.

Poor TC! She survived us, but she missed my parents immensely!

The view out the window… a house. Sitting there…

The boys settled in quickly!

Watching my parent’s contractor work on their driveway.

A boy with the flu.

Poor kid.

Last day with TC

Waiting for the pink eye drops… Round 2!

Trusses!

Looking more like a house!

A bright spot – Nana’s birthday!

So much has happened since I last posted, one of those things being coming down with a whammy of a head cold. I really have so much to share, but I am lacking the mental capacity to type it all up. I figured I can show you the updates through pictures and fill in the details through captions. Here we go!

The happy face of a woman who has interior walls! I can envision where furniture will go now!

The interiors walls! A thing of beauty!

Jeremy is super talented at carving pumpkins but hates cleaning them out!

This years pumpkins – a train and Daniel Tiger!

Graham got pink eye on Friday and then it spread to his other eye on Saturday.

Graham went with Jeremy on Saturday to help my parents move into their new home and Owen went on a MOPS outing to the pumpkin patch with me.

We love pumpkins!

This what helping the grandparents move looks like for Owen & Graham.

First family meal at my parent’s new house! Praise the Lord!

Baking 4 dozen muffins for MOPS and then 4 dozen cookies! It was a wild Monday morning.

Two of the cutest train engineers you ever did see. Graham hated his costume, but eventually gave up and decided it was fine.

Despite being feverish I hung in there for the MOPS Bake Sale at Fall Fest. It was easier to sit behind that table then watch my kiddos! Notice I am holding Graham’s hand in this picture! I can never truly escape him.

This week has a been a wild one! We had the boys well checks on Monday and MOPS! We’ve had Cousin Colton staying at the house as a guest and we’ve seen some major progress on our house.

All three boys are sleeping right now so I’m going to make this quick. I don’t know how long the peace and quiet will last! Let’s start with well checks. Both boys are healthy and great. Graham was 12% for height now so let’s rejoice in that fact! However, he was 4% for weight so they want to address his eating habits. The odd thing is he eats all the time but he also moves all the time. He is a grazer and not really known for sitting down and eating huge meals in one sitting. Owen got his hearing tested and it’s fine. The doctor looked in his ear and said it looked like his left ear is healing from an ear infection and that is probably the source of his hearing issues. Owen also got shots for the first time since he was super little. He knows what they are and he wasn’t scared. He followed the directions given to him and didn’t even cry. Such a brave kid!

Colton has been our buddy this week. The boys have loved taking care of him. Colton has been adored by his cousins. I was a little concerned about watching another kiddo during the day since I sometimes feel like I barely keep mine alive, but Colton has done well and Aunt Amy has been able to keep up with everyone and everything fairly well. I’ve kept close to the house during the days just because I don’t want to do the loading and unloading of three kids in car seats. None of them are in booster seats and they can’t buckle themselves. So we saved my back and stayed home. It’s all good though because the boys have plenty of toys to share.

The most exciting part of the week is what’s been going on at our house. We got a floor and two walls on Tuesday and then yesterday we had all of our exterior walls up. I’m assuming today was the garage walls and then moving into the interior walls. Jeremy is hoping the interior walls will be done by tomorrow. Wouldn’t that be insane? When I pulled up to the house and saw my floors but also my bedroom wall, I was beside myself with joy! I got the kids  unload quickly so I could go hug my wall. I almost cried. The tears were there! So much joy!!! I am the happiest camper around! All I need is a couple of tarps to keep out the rain and I’m ready to move in! With each step closer, I can see the space better and judge room sizes. My mind is often pondering furniture placement. I’m so excited that things are finally taking shape and that it actually looks like a house. I might totally explode with joy once the roof is on. It will be a real house then!

One last fun factor of this week is that our MOPS group did a fundraiser called Cards for a Cause through my UBAM business. Our group sold 59 boxes of cards and made over $1000 for MOPS!!! I was so jazzed when I did the math on Monday night I could hardly sleep that night. It was way beyond my wildest expectations of the fundraiser!

Well, there you have it. Our week in a nutshell! Until next time!

New Train Boots

Property Life

Graham is jazzed that Colton is here! Colton seems unsure!

This is why Owen loves MOPS

Another special day with a MOPS friend

My buddies this week

Perks of being an auntie

Owen standing in his room by his window!

Hanging by my bedroom window

Owen is a super helper when it comes to taking care of Colton

Exterior Walls

Trying to judge the size of the space!

Yesterday was Graham’s birthday. Our baby is now two years old. Poor kid is called “Baby” by all of us still. That’s going to be a hard habit to break. I’m fairly confident that Owen calls Graham “Baby” like 90% of the time. It doesn’t help that Graham is so little, so it doesn’t seem odd to call him baby. We did measure the boys yesterday on our home growth chart. It seems that Owen has grown about 3 inches in the last year and Graham has grown about 5 inches with most of that growth actually being in the last 6 months. We have well check appointments on Monday, so I’ll be curious to see what the stats are for both boys.

Jeremy took Graham’s birthday off from work so we could spend it together as a family. I really appreciated that. Last year we were up north doing counseling on Graham’s birthday. It was hard for me to not be able to celebrate Graham’s 1st birthday in the way that I envisioned last year. It was also hard to be separated from Owen since he was staying with my parents for the week. This year we got to be all together and that made my heart happy. Graham was such a happy camper and loved the extra attention. Owen was super excited for Graham and kept giving him birthday hugs. It was a sweet and fun time together as a family.

We spent part of the day down in Portland. We went to the mall and got the boys’ some new jeans and their Christmas ornaments for the year. Owen & I discovered that there was going to be a Daniel Tiger ornament at Hallmark, so we had snag that and of course, we added another Thomas ornament to our collection as well. After a little shopping and playing at the mall, we went to PF Chang’s for lunch. We wanted to pick a place that was special and somewhere we don’t get to go very often. Graham loves Chinese food and Owen was super concerned about getting cake wherever we went. PF Chang’s has a dessert called the Great Wall of Chocolate and it definitely met the need of a chocolate cake birthday dessert. We didn’t make it a huge outing in the city. After lunch, we drove home and both boys took car naps. It was nice to do something out of the ordinary and something as a family.

The rest of Graham’s birthday was spent at home. He enjoyed his presents. He got two new books. One is a Busy Book like Owen got for his birthday. Graham is very happy to have his own busy book now. It’s a book with a pull back car that runs along the track on the pages. The kids love them and I love that I got them for free with my Usborne rewards. When it came time to sing Happy Birthday to Graham, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with the candle. Owen has been the candle blower outer in our family, so Graham has really never had a chance to practice. We told Owen he couldn’t blow out Graham’s candle, but when Graham clearly wasn’t going to blow out his candle, we let Owen help him out.

Graham continues to be a mama’s boy. He is difficult to get to stay in the nursery at church. He often wants to be carried by me. It helps that he is small, but he is now two. I’m kind of over lugging him around everywhere. Now that I get one-on-one time with Graham in the mornings while Owen is at preschool, I can see how easy Graham is on his own. He happily plays with toys. Without Owen to fight with our mornings are fairly calm and drama free. It’s really nice. This last week I had coffee with a friend and my mom watched Graham on his own. He wasn’t thrilled with me leaving, but he settled in and my mom commented on how quietly and happily he plays on his own. He is an easy kid in some ways. We haven’t started potty training yet. I want to wait until we move into our own home and have a little more space in the bathroom for a potty chair. Graham is also using more and more words and surprising us with that he knows on a regular basis. Even though he isn’t as verbal as Owen was at this age, Graham keeps making improvements. I’m not too concerned. I’ve heard that younger kiddos tend to be less verbal than their older siblings. Graham loves to be a helper. He helps me bake, he helps me do laundry, he helps me clean. He loves to do crafts and color with Owen. He keeps up with Owen – that seems to be his whole goal in life along with keeping tabs on Mom. And that’s the update on our two year old.

Last week we had family pictures. Graham wasn’t into it. Because he had to be held by me the whole time. He cried often if I tried to set him down. I really had wanted to get some pictures of just me and Jeremy and some of the boys together and separately, but that didn’t happen. Graham wouldn’t allow it. I’m grateful that we got the pictures we did given the circumstances. I’ve included a few of the pictures below for you to enjoy!

Starting the birthday adventures off by playing at the mall.

Lunch with the birthday boy at PF Chang’s China Bistro

The Great Wall of Chocolate

Present time!

A busy book for a busy boy

Unsure what to do about the flame

Happy 2nd Birthday, Graham!

Snuggles!

I think he wants me to share!

Daddy & Graham

Owen & Mommy

All the drama for this one picture!

I will go anywhere with these guys!

The beginnings of a floor

Doing the corn maze while the guys work at the property. Auntie and Grandma joined us. Good thing April can read a map! She got us in and out quickly & safely!

A spur of the moment trip to the zoo to enjoy the sunny weather!

Celebrating Papa’s birthday on Monday. We are blessed with so many October birthdays!

I didn’t have all the pictures loaded off my phone yesterday, so I skipped some in hopes of getting my blog done before nap time (which didn’t happen). I figured I would share a few more pictures today. Enjoy!

When I tell them to sit down to put on their shoes, they instead start hugging and saying “cheese”

Craft Day at MOPS

Owen’s preschool was closed on Tuesday, so Grandma came over to do crafts with us.

I think a semi-truck full of lumber might be the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen!

Candy corn blondies for my Wednesday night class

Fall Food! Chili & Cornbread!

Taking Graham through Starbucks in his jammies this morning! I put jeans on for this outing, but that is all the effort I plan to put into today.

After seeing how awesome everyone did with the book wreathes, I decided to make one too. My outer ring and inner ring are two different books, so it’s two toned. I like that. And both books were published by MOPS, so this a book wreath of mothering encouragement!

I’m thinking this wreath will go near my future desk… or maybe my bookshelf & reading chair… I love decorating my future house in my head. Can’t wait for daydreams to turn to reality!

We took the wooden track down to make room for new toys. Everyday we have made a mega track on the floor. A different track is created each day.

We’ve settled into fall here. The boys and I have been cycling the germs… seems like we’ve all taken turns getting a cold. Graham decided to turn his into croup. Poor kid. We made it to Lattin’s Cider Mill for the apple festival with our MOPS group at the end of September. Graham wasn’t too into it (because of the developing croup), but Owen had a great time and we picked up some of Lattin’s well known apple fritters as a snack. Yum. After the trip to Lattin’s, I got the chance to speak for 10 minutes about MOPS at a local Christian women’s conference. It was a great opportunity to share with ladies why MOPS matters and how they can be a part of a MOPS group. The conference also featured worship and a guest speaker. I got to enjoy the second half of the conference and it was was a blessing.

We made our first visit to the pumpkin patch last Thursday. My sister-in-law lets us tag-along with her friends to the best pumpkin patch ever. This was our third time visiting Bi-Zi Farms in Vancouver and we love it every year. It’s more than a pumpkin patch. We get to a hay bale maze, an animal farm and climb all over a straw pyramid before taking a tractor ride out to the field to pick our pumpkins. My mom joined us because she loves pumpkins as well. It was nice to have a second set of hands, especially once we decided to tackle Costco afterwards and pick up supplies for the big birthday party on Saturday. It was a good thing we went to Costco when we did because Owen wasn’t feeling good the next day, so a day around the house worked out better for us so the birthday boy could rest up for the big party weekend.

Saturday was the boys’ big birthday party. I’ve done two parties in the past, but this year I decided to combine the parties to save time and money. I wasn’t really sure who all was going to come, but it turned out to be a pretty good showing of family and friends. For a while, I was nervous that I had ordered too big of a birthday cake, but that was not the case. Not that leftover birthday cake is ever an issue, am I right? We reserved a covered area a local park. It’s located right next to train tracks and by a pedestrian bridge so you can walk over the tracks and stand over the trains as they go by. This is the biggest selling feature of the park. The boys had a lovely Paw Patrol themed party. I got them new Paw Patrol shirts to wear the day of the party. We had all the Paw Patrol decorations out with party blowers and tattoos. Of course, there was a Paw Patrol cake. For the first time ever, we did a pinata. I picked one where you pulled a string and if you picked the right string it would open the pinata and spill out all the goodies. I got made fun of because this was the “non-violent” way of doing a pinata. No bashing it until it breaks. I enjoyed it and the kids didn’t complain about the missing bat. Overall, it was an awesome party and the boys had a blast. They are super blessed and spoiled. When celebrating two kids at the same time, you end up with double the stuff. Our mini van was full to the brim as we traveled home and the kiddos spent a happy afternoon/evening getting to know their new toys. I spent the afternoon trying to find homes for the items and sorting through older toys to take to our storage unit. Let me tell you, I am super excited for our future playroom. Toys need space.

Sunday was Owen’s 4th birthday. The days started out rough. Owen just wanted to lay on the couch with his blanket. Graham didn’t want to get ready for church because he wanted to play with all the new toys. Getting them out the door for church was challenging. Once I got there, Owen just wanted to curl up on my lap and Graham wouldn’t stay in class. Owen didn’t want to go to his class either. At 9:40am, I called it. I tried. Church just wasn’t happening… I had promised Owen a birthday meal of fries and chocolate milk so my mom helped me take the kids over to BK so we could make good on that promise before heading home. Of course, Owen perked up and played happily with Graham on the BK play toy… I looked across the street at the church and felt like an awesome pastor’s wife because here we were in the middle of church playing on the BK play toy. Oh well. It was a special treat for the birthday boy. This is not normal. After nap time, we went to the park and played as a family and then went to dinner with my parents. Owen had requested Chinese food so he had a yummy meal of fried rice. Then it was home for presents and brownie cake. While Owen wasn’t 100% on his birthday, we sure did try to make it the best day possible for him. He is one loved kiddo.

After a big weekend of birthday celebrating, I had MOPS on Monday night. It was our most well attended meeting yet. Our room was full to the brim with moms crafting together. This was our first craft meeting and we made book wreathes made out of paper pages.  I was super nervous that the foam wreathes I order wouldn’t arrive on time, but I got the notification that they were available on Sunday. So grateful! It seemed like the room was a buzz with happy crafters and the wreathes turned out awesome. It’s seriously one of the best crafts we’ve ever done. I didn’t make on because I wasn’t sure about supplies, but I know now that we had some leftover supplies, so I might make one at home this week. We’ll see. Crafting and I have an iffy relationship. We don’t always get along. I’m so grateful that MOPS is flourishing and that ladies are connecting and investing in themselves and others. I think I’m finding my flow as the coordinator. It’s getting a bit easier, but this last meeting had me nervous wondering if we had enough supplies for the craft. Now that our first craft meeting is out the way, I’m sure it will get easier the next time around.

OH and the house! We have lumber! It was delivered yesterday! I have no clue when we will have people come and assemble the lumber, but having wood on site is a huge, big deal. This is what I’ve been waiting for. Let’s make a structure! Let’s make something look like a house and not just a piece of land! I’ll keep you posted as things move forward!

Running errands with Owen

Watching the tree crew take care of a few trees at Nana & Papa’s house.

Lattin’s Cider Mill

Lattin’s Cider Mill

At the doctor’s office to take care of Graham’s croup.

Pumpkins!!!

Tractor Ride

Exploring the straw pyramid!

Paw Patrol party for our two October birthday boys.

Pinata time

Present time

Proof we made it to church… for a little while.

A birthday visit to the train park for Owen.

Make a wish!