Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Fun Monday

I took the kids on an impromptu trip to an outdoor pool today.  What a great way to spend the day!  We all came home sun-kissed and some of us a little pinker than others.  I remembered to put sunscreen on everyone except Joshua.  Poor guy has quite a sunburn.
One of the pool rules is that in order for the kids to play in the deep end and use the diving boards, they must swim a length of the pool without stopping.  This, is not Joshua's forte.  He tried {unsuccessfully} twice and I managed to encourage him to do it once more.  Thankfully, he did it and was able to have the freedom that his sister and cousins did.
Arianna was happy to keep a life jacket on which meant I could just follow Sarah around.  Arianna also surprised me by doing a flip off the diving board!  Wow, she's sure gotten braver over the years!

It was (at times) exhausting to keep an eye on Sarah.  She has no perception of danger or depth of water.  Also, with her balance issues, I had to ensure I held her hand at all times.  Thankfully, she was just as happy to spend lengths of time in her stroller eating snacks.  That gave me a few minutes here and there to watch the older ones and let my guard down a bit.

Overall though, it was a fantastic day!  When we got home, I somehow managed to send all three older kids to both sets of grandparents which meant I had the evening to myself!  Oh, sweet alone time!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

New Gadget

On my blog now.  You now are able to receive my blog posts via email.  On the top right hand corner, you can see the link to add your email.  I don't have access to that information, the blog updates are simply sent to you automatically.  If you prefer, I can add you manually to receive them.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Release

I haven't blogged in a while lately and despite my wanting to write something... my mind came up blank.  I haven't *really* started school, we have no news about Sarah, and life in general just seems to be chugging along.  Last weekend, I attended our church service and shared these thoughts with Doug:

After months of stressing, worrying and crying about the concerns for Sarah, I finally released my struggle and gave it back to God.  It was at church one evening and I don't remember the speaker or even the message but I came to the realization that I can't and don't need to deal with this on my own.  That this is where God wants me to be and I am doing the best I can for my little girl.  I will {try} to wait patiently for the appointments and when those days come, do my best to lean on my Father to hold me up.  I imagine and expect many tears to fall yet.  I'm just one of those people.  I cry lots.  I suspect I'll also have angry days as well.  

Now, that being said, I still struggle a bit because I am still the parent and will have to help administer the tests... no one will take that difficulty away.  I will be the parent who watches her *baby* fall into a deep slumber to prepare for an MRI.   I will hold her bitty arm so that we can get the necessary blood work done.  I look forward to when all this stuff is done and we {hopefully} will get some answers.

Romans 5:3 reminds me that "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance." 



Wordless Wednesday

08.24.11


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Thankful Thursday (08.18.11)

  • my husband of 14 years
  • my four amazingly wonderful children
  • God's forgiveness, mercy & love
  • the fabulous volunteers who hang out with my kids at VBS
  • my in-laws and their generosity (love their garden!)
  • friends~ both local and across the US
  • my health
  • the tools that make my life just a bit simpler 
  • life

Monday, August 15, 2011

School Pictures

As I enter a new year of homeschooling I had thought about how public schools all get photographers to come in and take pictures of the students.  Although my kids were in a hybrid program last year, and did get their photos taken, I {personally} thought I could do better.  And I did.  So this year, I am offering homeschool families the opportunity to get their kids' pictures taken.  I don't know if anything will come of it but I thought I'd throw it out there!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Jam Day

I spent the better part of yesterday at my mother in law's, making freezer jam.  We made five batches and each batch yielded seven jars of jam. 

 Picking through the fruit

 Off to get some more raspberries!

 Even Sarah got in on the action!


 The mixture sitting and waiting to be poured into jars.

Thirty-five jars of jam!  And 7 were left at my mother-in-laws.

 After four hours, Grandma and Sarah needed a rest!

A delightful spread on toast this morning!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

So Crazy Hard

I received ANOTHER batch of forms to fill out this afternoon.  Ten pages of medical and developmental history for Sarah... this one for the Preschool Assessment Service.
My least favorite question is:

What are your main concerns about your child?  The answer that comes from my heart is "nothing... it's the doctor that wants the assessment."  I don't even know IF I'm concerned.  Yes, she's behind.  I understand, admit and accept that.  I don't know that it's a concern though.  No idea what to put in that blank. 


This all just makes me sad, angry and ready to cry.  I hate having to go through all this.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wednesday Thoughts

  • Although I haven't had as many sad days as I did at the end of July, I still have moments.  They are unpredictable and can show up at any time.  The last meltdown was at a wedding.  No reason... just a moment of tears.
  • I was discouraged the other day.  Sarah had a wonderful year from age 2-3... no tantrums, screaming, nothing.  Now as she is past her third birthday, she's just busier, mischievious and looks for trouble.  This is sad for me since these are behaviors that most parents see at 18-24 months.  Maybe just confirmation that she is as delayed as we're told. 
  • I have moments where I wonder if she's regressing.  I hate to be such a downer but it's what I see.  Maybe I'm wrong and I'm imagining things.
  • Today we started school.  It was time to have a bit of routine back in our day and I was tired of the kids hanging around.  It went reasonably well.  For day one.  I am really looking forward to schooling them this year.
  • I am marvelling at the independence of my older three kids.  Today, Joshua biked to the church on his own for a weekly program they have.  Andrea and Arianna went to a park today by themselves that mean they had to cross a busy (light controlled) street.  I know I could have gone with them but I was tired and I knew they would be delighted to be on their own.  
  • I love the warm summer days we've been having.  I'm dreading putting jeans, sweaters and coats back on...
That's all for now...

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Opthamologist Appointment

I was up early this morning.  I had every intention of hopping on the treadmill before breakfast but the tightness in my chest from the cold I've been fighting was just too much for me.  Instead, I went downstairs to enjoy a cup of coffee and some kid-free time.

Overall, the appointment went well.  Sarah was (for the most part) cheerful and cooperative.  Both the opthamologist and the intern were really good with kids and didn't force anything on Sarah.

When all was said and done, he determined that her eyelids are "hooded".  That just means her eyelids are more prominent than average.  The initial concern was that this hooding could be preventing her from seeing to her full potential.  This is not the case.  Her optic nerves are smaller than normal but most of her body is.  *smile*  We left with the knowledge that she doesn't need surgery or glasses and that her vision is not the cause of her balance issues. 

This is both good and bad.  I'm glad she doesn't need anything to correct her vision but that means there's still something else going on.  Now we continue to wait...

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Goldfish Crackers

I had recently seen a link for homemade goldfish crackers.  You know those crazy addictive cheese flavored crackers?  So good!  Anyhow, I thought to myself, "I'm creative and like to try new things, let's give them a try."  I used the recipe from FOODBUZZ and set out to make them.  Let me first say, the best part about this is that you very likely have the five ingredients in your house right now.  So here's the recipe:

1 cup Flour
4 Tbsp Butter, room temperature
8 ounces Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
3/4 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp cold water

1. Pulse everything together in the food processor until it resembles coarse sand.
2. Pulse in water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Remove, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minute.
4. Roll out dough, and cut into desired shape. You can use a toothpick to make the eyes and smile if desired.  Place on lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until crispy.



Now I'm sure you're wondering how I made those fish shapes... I saw the instructions for this on Miss. Anthropist's Kitchen.  All you need is a pair of sharp scissors, some tape or stapler and a pop can.  Here's the instructions for that:

  1. Draw outline of goldfish on a piece of paper for reference. (Mine was about an inch in length)
  2. Take an empty soda can and cut through it horizontally using a sharp knife.
  3. Using your scissors, cut a strip of metal from the soda can (it should be the circumference of the soda can).
  4. Straighten edges with scissors
  5. Using your goldfish paper template, determine how big the head will be and fold both sides outwards accordingly. Don’t fold too harshly or the strip will break. If this happens, just cut off another strip and start again.
  6. Using your template, determine when to fold the tail. Make sure the end of the tail overlaps at some point, and cut off the excess strip if necessary.
  7. Staple or tape or glue the ends of the tail together. (I used tape over the tail).
  8. For more safety, you may put a protective layer of tape over the top part of the fish (the non-cookie cutting side where you’ll be applying the pressure) as a protection against the metal when cutting. 
My tips:
* I'd add a touch more salt.  I just like salty foods.  I'd also probably add a touch of garlic or onion salt for a bit more flavor.
* Make sure the dough is rolled out quite thin, otherwise you have very thick crackers
* I didn't store them air tight because I didn't want them soft. 

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