When thinking of the upcoming hustle and bustle of the holidays, how fast they rolled around, how fast they will be behind us, I thought how easy it is to just get lost in that- the hustle and bustle and how fast you can let memories get by you. We each have sooooo much to be thankful for EVERY day, not just on Thanksgiving Day. I am guilty at being "more thankful" maybe this time of year. I have made it a point to do better. Be better. Be a better Mom, a better wife, a better employee, a better daughter/granddaughter, a better sister, a better aunt, a better friend, a better Christian, a better cousin, a better niece, a better in law, a better stranger to those in need. I just want to be better. I don't think I'm bad at these, just not the best I could be. My clinic/company lost 2 people we had gotten really close to. They are both on my shutterfly share sites, but I think of them often and how in a very short time they touched my life. Sara, sweet sweet God Loving, God fearing, God serving Sara. My heart breaks daily for those beautiful babies and her partner, love of her life, best friend, husband, she left behind. We must rejoice in that she is with her angel and with her savior, but how I wanted a miracle for her. How I wanted her to get to raise her boys, they are so innocent, so young. Too young to lose their mommy. Mr T was blessed to live a longer life. He made it until his mid 50s but he still had so much life left to give, a bucket list to live.
I was just thinking how much we take fore granted I know at one time there was a FB quote being posted "What if all you had today was what you thanked God for yesterday?" What a eye opener, face slapper. How true. It is sooo easy to get caught up in work, home, kids, family, bills, grocery store trips, ball practices, ball games, homework, to forget WHY we do these things, HOW we do these things and from WHOM we are able. Don't let your bucket list be left not completed. You don't have to wait until an MD tells you are going home with Hospice to do those extraordinary things. Don't forget to Savor all those small moments in life that mean so much. Don't forget to help those less fortunate. Don't forget to tell those you love, how much before they are gone, you don't have to do that over their death bed or at their funeral service either. Don't forget to give thanks, not just "Turkey Day", Thanksgiving Thursday, but EVERY day!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Pioneers Here
pioneer
NOUN
| pi·o·neers | plural |
1. inventor or
innovator: a person or group that is the first to do
something or that leads in developing something new
2. first person to explore
territory: a person who is one of the first from
another country or region to explore or settle a new area
Pioneer Day @ Pre School Story Time was a success!!!! It did get a little stressful the night before for me trying to find "the right" outfit..... I had "the right" outfit in my mind, just had to find all the pieces! I don't usually wait until the last minute for that reason- I don't need or want that extra stress!!!! I like to plan, I like to have things done and ready!
Well I just knew I would find lil cabby hats and suspenders at Goodwill. Wow, was I wrong! I searched that store and searched that store, I asked the employees. No such luck! I did come out with 2 semi pioneer hats for $0.99 so that helped my feelings some!
I stopped by the Dollar Tree, Dollar General, still empty handed. I finally just decided they would wear their overalls and be done with it. I hate Walmart! (Hate is a strong word, but its close to that! 30 check out lines, 2 lines open.. Ugh!!!!) I gave up and went to Walmart, i was almost 100% sure they would at least have suspenders in the men's department. They did. The hats I found: one was dark navy, one was a khaki/green color. The suspenders at walmart: some were black, some were grey, some navy, some khaki. Hmmm, I could do same colors???? I lucked out with this after all and came out super cheap, which is even more perfect for things like this! White shirts @ home CHECK Khaki/Navy Pants @ home CHECK Khaki/Navy socks @ home CHECK Shoes to wear @ home CHECk
Here's my pioneer boys put together with "the right" outfit:
Turned out almost as well as I had in my mind!!!!!!
They really enjoyed learning about Pioneers. It was good for them to hear that everything doesn't come from Walmart!!!! They have a little farming background/knowledge but they learned alot about Cow's Milk and Butter.....Brae (age 2) would tell everyone "look me a Pine Deer" .... They passed around jars, quilts, yarn, patches from old clothing. Then These Pioneer Boys made BUTTER!!!!!!! No churning involved, it is preschoolers after all! I can just imagine the hurt fingers with that... We did the shaky kind! Each pioneer took a turn shaking the butter in a jar, then at the end they enjoyed their own butter on a cracker!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Trick or Teet
Yes I know, I did not spell "treat " correctly...
I take the lil guys to our Library for Preschool Story Time on Mondays. It's free. It's fun. It's learning. It is just awesome. I am so glad our Library does this in conjunction with the Imagination Library.
They try to stick with the theme or holiday by the month and by the county school schedule. It is just trying to gear the lil ones minds into getting ready for school and to increase their love for reading. I really enjoy doing this with my boys. They look forward to going, they look forward to the craft, the book(s) and to seeing their new friends they are making. I love the "mommy time" with other mommies. We have laughed that sometimes the crafts seem more for the mommies, but it's a fun thing all around Things like this is what I was missing working 5 full days. I must add once more and thank my company for allowing me this time with my children, it goes all too fast and they are only little for a very short time! I plan on returning to 5 full days once they are in school full time..... For those that are thinking "wow must be nice" I have always worked 40+ hours, I have worked night shifts, I have worked weekend shifts. Now I work 3 days, 10-12 hour shifts, so I am still a full time Clinician and Full time Mom/Wife! Just saying....
Ok, so a few months ago they gave us the calendar for the library events. It's gonna be great! It is retired teachers of the community and they are swapping up days, events, etc. Well Next week is Pioneer Day to lead us into Thanksgiving. We get to dress up as pioneer boys (and girls but just boys for me) so we started planning this and talking about their little Halloween Party and that they could wear their costumes. I didn't really have any cutesy ideas this year. Until they are big enough to want to be completely different, I have tried to kind of keep them in the same theme.... Same way with birthdays, until they beg and fuss differently we will do this together. And i Swore I would not! But, just easier right now!
****Here are a few of the past costumes we have done in the same theme*****
2010
2011
So back to my story I was trying to tell, haha! So I was trying to explain to Cays ( age 3) what a Pioneer boy is. Glad he will learn soon! And then I told him we had to start thinking about his costume for Halloween. Out of nowhere he said " Ill just be a farmer, Brae Brae can be a moo moo so I can feed him some hay". I cracked up! Great idea! Cays is our country kid no doubt! He loves all things outdoors, all things Co-Op, all things tractor, farm, boots, etc. They have been excited for months anytime we talked about it! I dug in the closet to see what all we had already, what we needed for Farmer Boy. whoop whoop had it all!!!!!
So we put him all together, he loved it and was THE cutest Farmer ever.. What was even funnier, he is learning colors, shapes, numbers. Me and his Uncy Matt started colors of tractors, and he started saying "I be a FARM ALL" when someone would ask!!!!!!! So then we 'ran it by" Brae Brae (age 2) and he gave us a "mooooo" as a go ahead! Mommy got on ebay and found his........
Well, rewind about 4 years. The clinic I worked at then was dressing up for Halloween and I was around 6-8 months preggo for the first time! I felt like a big ol cow! I joked that this is what I should be! (I had it for several years, my college classmates all dressed up one year and I already had it for that, my brother and his now wife dressed the parts one year) So I was a cow, and my utters were sticking out right on my pregnant belly! so funny! My boss was a farmer. Our patients loved it and laughed so hard all day.
So I decided that while the kids would enjoy it, think it was fun, actually want to be seen with mommy and daddy we would dress up with them. My hubby decked out in his overalls, and I drug the adult cow costume out of the attic! This was the funniest thing the boys had seen in awhile. They LOVED that we dressed up to trick or treat with them! I was very glad we did, because we both know in a few more short years they will not think anything about us is cool or fun! We didn't have the video camera rolling fast enough for them pulling on my utters, asking what they were, us explaining that's where milk comes from, that's where baby calves drink when they are little and I swear the farmer tried to milk me and then my baby calf ALMOST put his mouth on one to get a drink !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So that's where the Trick or Teet came from!!!!!
Here are a few pics of the guys on my farm this year:
I take the lil guys to our Library for Preschool Story Time on Mondays. It's free. It's fun. It's learning. It is just awesome. I am so glad our Library does this in conjunction with the Imagination Library.
They try to stick with the theme or holiday by the month and by the county school schedule. It is just trying to gear the lil ones minds into getting ready for school and to increase their love for reading. I really enjoy doing this with my boys. They look forward to going, they look forward to the craft, the book(s) and to seeing their new friends they are making. I love the "mommy time" with other mommies. We have laughed that sometimes the crafts seem more for the mommies, but it's a fun thing all around Things like this is what I was missing working 5 full days. I must add once more and thank my company for allowing me this time with my children, it goes all too fast and they are only little for a very short time! I plan on returning to 5 full days once they are in school full time..... For those that are thinking "wow must be nice" I have always worked 40+ hours, I have worked night shifts, I have worked weekend shifts. Now I work 3 days, 10-12 hour shifts, so I am still a full time Clinician and Full time Mom/Wife! Just saying....
Ok, so a few months ago they gave us the calendar for the library events. It's gonna be great! It is retired teachers of the community and they are swapping up days, events, etc. Well Next week is Pioneer Day to lead us into Thanksgiving. We get to dress up as pioneer boys (and girls but just boys for me) so we started planning this and talking about their little Halloween Party and that they could wear their costumes. I didn't really have any cutesy ideas this year. Until they are big enough to want to be completely different, I have tried to kind of keep them in the same theme.... Same way with birthdays, until they beg and fuss differently we will do this together. And i Swore I would not! But, just easier right now!
****Here are a few of the past costumes we have done in the same theme*****
2010
 |
| Fireman in his firetruck with his firedog!!! |
 |
 |
2011
 |
| Cookie Monster and his Chocolate Chip Cookie! Gots to have milk! Me like milk!!!!!! |
So back to my story I was trying to tell, haha! So I was trying to explain to Cays ( age 3) what a Pioneer boy is. Glad he will learn soon! And then I told him we had to start thinking about his costume for Halloween. Out of nowhere he said " Ill just be a farmer, Brae Brae can be a moo moo so I can feed him some hay". I cracked up! Great idea! Cays is our country kid no doubt! He loves all things outdoors, all things Co-Op, all things tractor, farm, boots, etc. They have been excited for months anytime we talked about it! I dug in the closet to see what all we had already, what we needed for Farmer Boy. whoop whoop had it all!!!!!
Well, rewind about 4 years. The clinic I worked at then was dressing up for Halloween and I was around 6-8 months preggo for the first time! I felt like a big ol cow! I joked that this is what I should be! (I had it for several years, my college classmates all dressed up one year and I already had it for that, my brother and his now wife dressed the parts one year) So I was a cow, and my utters were sticking out right on my pregnant belly! so funny! My boss was a farmer. Our patients loved it and laughed so hard all day.
So I decided that while the kids would enjoy it, think it was fun, actually want to be seen with mommy and daddy we would dress up with them. My hubby decked out in his overalls, and I drug the adult cow costume out of the attic! This was the funniest thing the boys had seen in awhile. They LOVED that we dressed up to trick or treat with them! I was very glad we did, because we both know in a few more short years they will not think anything about us is cool or fun! We didn't have the video camera rolling fast enough for them pulling on my utters, asking what they were, us explaining that's where milk comes from, that's where baby calves drink when they are little and I swear the farmer tried to milk me and then my baby calf ALMOST put his mouth on one to get a drink !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So that's where the Trick or Teet came from!!!!!
Here are a few pics of the guys on my farm this year:
(when I preview it shows a duplicate of fireman/dog, and I can NOT delete it, sorry. I dont like it being in an odd spot either!!!)
 |
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Mud to Blood
Pure laughter, pure excitement, pure mud! That's what our Sunday afternoon after church service involved! My guys, all 4 of them, were just as excited as could be! The bigger the mud hole ahead, the bigger the smiles and louder the laughter! You could not have made a more perfect afternoon for them, unless of course they were knee deep in the mud themselves!!!!! Weather was great! Boys were listening, getting along, no arguing, no whining! Just a great day! I enjoyed this time with my guys, I enjoyed watching the excitement in their eyes, I enjoyed hearing them say "cooool", "awesome", "big mud coming".... I enjoyed watching Jason take in that he was their hero!
We had bragged too soon that it was a perfect, stress free day. My, how fast things can change. Jason had just put the meat on the grill. The boys had been playing inside for not long enough when they decided to join their daddy! I had taken my 'mud clothes' off and was comfy in my pjs getting the trimmings/veggies going on the stove! It wasn't long until Dalt came in saying Cays had hit the truck. Well, Cays hits the truck alot! Then the door flew open with Jason in panic mode saying "I don't know how bad it is, it's bad, I just don't know how bad, I can't see, it is dark out". Jason takes the bloody rag off my baby boy's full of blood head. I can handle blood. I can handle holes in the body! I can handle broken bones, etc but at this point in time I could not SEE if my 3 year old son even had an eye left. I could not tell through the blood what was cut, how bad or where. All I knew was with our pressure, we could not get the bleeding to stop. We were finally able to tell it was directly above his eye. Not his eye. ***THANK YOU JESUS****
(Jason has the before stitches picture on his phone, I will try to remember to insert soon)
Now I can laugh about how crazy the night was. It took me several days to get to that point, you see, each time I looked at my child or closed my eyes, I could just picture him coming in the door, I could visualize him putting his eye out, i knew he had to be scared, and hurt. As I mentioned above, I was comfy in my pjs. My PJs this night was just a tank and shorts. I run into the bedroom where the freshly folded laundry waited! I grabbed Jason's brown jogging pants, a grey thermal shirt, my black tennis shoes and my BRA! Yes my Bra! I felt like my hubby's favorite Nascar drive Jimmie Johnson taking them curves to the left while getting dressed and praying so hard to get us there in one piece and for him to be ok. I was a hot mess! Oh and I forgot socks! No socks! Our two other boys were in the back crying bless their little sweet hearts! Fast forward a few minutes later we meet my in laws on the way to put the other 2 in their car and take them home while we go to ER. My M.I.L. says we are too upset to drive safely, she was right! My F.I.L. takes the 2 crying kiddos back to his house (we later learn he gives them chocolate to calm their nerves, they play ball and are just fine) We wait at the ER for about 30 minutes. 30 minutes too long for my child that is still bleeding, that was blacking out on the way and slurring his speech. I decided to call a walk in urgent care clinic. Fast forward a few more minutes later and we are getting his head numbed, cleaned, scanned and xrayed. Thank Heavens all his scans were perfectly fine! Oh, I just realized I didn't tell all details of the above event! * The Cays hit the truck part was he and his 2 brothers had been jumping in and out of daddy's truck. Daddy told them to stop this before some was hurt, so they did. They just left the tailgate down as they started playing with other toys running around in the yard. Then Cays caught the corner of the tailgate with his head/eye. As you will see in the pictures, we were just so fortunate. He was cut under his eye, extremely close and the gash is right at his eyebrow. Very FORTUNATE!!!!
I have already sent an email bragging and thanking the doctors and the staff, for it to be traumatic for him, it all went really smooth (once I dressed) But God was definitely in control, no doubt! Cays even mentioned to someone that "Jesus got my eye". The jingle at the clinic is "we treat you like family" and that is exactly what and how we were treated. Physicians Quality Care went above and beyond! When I called while we were impatiently waiting at the ER just to see if they did lacerations, I'm sure they could sense my urgency and nerves. She told me there would not be a wait, if it was a child and he was bleeding he would get priority and he did. They got us straight back, turned him some cartoons on, fixed him a slushy while waiting on numbing medicine to numb! Even made the scans/xrays fun for him! (another praise, NO Internal Damage) They sang silly songs with him, kept him as calm as possible with a scared hurt 3 year old. They played Pirate Eye with Him through his sterile draping cloth! Told me and daddy what was going on every step of the way! *It is very important to keep mommy and daddy calm if they are trying to keep toddler calm* They told him he would get stickers, suckers, he needed milkshakes and lots of icecream after and that he had to get cool bandaids!!!!!! I never felt rushed, I never felt like "oh my gosh get us out of here, I never felt "how much longer of a wait" I never felt anything but like Family was working on my baby boy. I'm sure there are complaints, I'm sure someone didn't like that we jumped ahead of their kid's snotty nose, sprained ankle, but I'm sure that JMCGH would not have treated us the same. *There was even a young guy that we met at JMCGH ER that came in behind us at PQC, the mom said they had been sitting there over an hour and half, his hand was wrapped in gauze and it was still bleeding through* I was very thankful that God gave me a brain to think to call them before sitting in the ER all night. Just all worked out smoothly!
10 stitches later, a week of oral antibiotics, topical antibiotic cream, dial soap, neosporin, vitamin E and mederma, he is just fine! We had to return to the MD 5 days post Tennessee Tailgating! They were not ready to be removed, he would bust it back open. I didn't think they were ready, and I didn't want them to take a few then him have to go back and do it all over again... So, we showed back up Saturday night. What I didn't want to happen, happened. The ones on each side were ready, the middle not so much. He was such a big guy! Doctor bragged, mommy and daddy high fived him, lil brother told him good job bubba! Then he had just a little melt down when they got close to the middle part. Then Lil Brother had a melt down b/c Cays was having a melt down. I felt so sorry for them both and the poor doctor. It upset him that he upset BOTH of them!!!!! Told us to give the middle another day or two and try again. Ugh! Monday night we headed back! It was the worst! They were in just long enough the skin had grew over a little, this caused the doctor to have to cut them out a little, It was just awful. Daddy had to hold his head down, mommy had to sit on his little legs, and little brother cried with him again. 1, 2, 3 and they are out now too! We bled a little. We did the antibiotic, dial, etc routine once we got home and put one of his super cool bandaids on it! We are gonna scar, but we are all gonna be just fine!!!!!
***Things (stitches) come and go, but you start and end with family***
We had bragged too soon that it was a perfect, stress free day. My, how fast things can change. Jason had just put the meat on the grill. The boys had been playing inside for not long enough when they decided to join their daddy! I had taken my 'mud clothes' off and was comfy in my pjs getting the trimmings/veggies going on the stove! It wasn't long until Dalt came in saying Cays had hit the truck. Well, Cays hits the truck alot! Then the door flew open with Jason in panic mode saying "I don't know how bad it is, it's bad, I just don't know how bad, I can't see, it is dark out". Jason takes the bloody rag off my baby boy's full of blood head. I can handle blood. I can handle holes in the body! I can handle broken bones, etc but at this point in time I could not SEE if my 3 year old son even had an eye left. I could not tell through the blood what was cut, how bad or where. All I knew was with our pressure, we could not get the bleeding to stop. We were finally able to tell it was directly above his eye. Not his eye. ***THANK YOU JESUS****
(Jason has the before stitches picture on his phone, I will try to remember to insert soon)
Now I can laugh about how crazy the night was. It took me several days to get to that point, you see, each time I looked at my child or closed my eyes, I could just picture him coming in the door, I could visualize him putting his eye out, i knew he had to be scared, and hurt. As I mentioned above, I was comfy in my pjs. My PJs this night was just a tank and shorts. I run into the bedroom where the freshly folded laundry waited! I grabbed Jason's brown jogging pants, a grey thermal shirt, my black tennis shoes and my BRA! Yes my Bra! I felt like my hubby's favorite Nascar drive Jimmie Johnson taking them curves to the left while getting dressed and praying so hard to get us there in one piece and for him to be ok. I was a hot mess! Oh and I forgot socks! No socks! Our two other boys were in the back crying bless their little sweet hearts! Fast forward a few minutes later we meet my in laws on the way to put the other 2 in their car and take them home while we go to ER. My M.I.L. says we are too upset to drive safely, she was right! My F.I.L. takes the 2 crying kiddos back to his house (we later learn he gives them chocolate to calm their nerves, they play ball and are just fine) We wait at the ER for about 30 minutes. 30 minutes too long for my child that is still bleeding, that was blacking out on the way and slurring his speech. I decided to call a walk in urgent care clinic. Fast forward a few more minutes later and we are getting his head numbed, cleaned, scanned and xrayed. Thank Heavens all his scans were perfectly fine! Oh, I just realized I didn't tell all details of the above event! * The Cays hit the truck part was he and his 2 brothers had been jumping in and out of daddy's truck. Daddy told them to stop this before some was hurt, so they did. They just left the tailgate down as they started playing with other toys running around in the yard. Then Cays caught the corner of the tailgate with his head/eye. As you will see in the pictures, we were just so fortunate. He was cut under his eye, extremely close and the gash is right at his eyebrow. Very FORTUNATE!!!!
I have already sent an email bragging and thanking the doctors and the staff, for it to be traumatic for him, it all went really smooth (once I dressed) But God was definitely in control, no doubt! Cays even mentioned to someone that "Jesus got my eye". The jingle at the clinic is "we treat you like family" and that is exactly what and how we were treated. Physicians Quality Care went above and beyond! When I called while we were impatiently waiting at the ER just to see if they did lacerations, I'm sure they could sense my urgency and nerves. She told me there would not be a wait, if it was a child and he was bleeding he would get priority and he did. They got us straight back, turned him some cartoons on, fixed him a slushy while waiting on numbing medicine to numb! Even made the scans/xrays fun for him! (another praise, NO Internal Damage) They sang silly songs with him, kept him as calm as possible with a scared hurt 3 year old. They played Pirate Eye with Him through his sterile draping cloth! Told me and daddy what was going on every step of the way! *It is very important to keep mommy and daddy calm if they are trying to keep toddler calm* They told him he would get stickers, suckers, he needed milkshakes and lots of icecream after and that he had to get cool bandaids!!!!!! I never felt rushed, I never felt like "oh my gosh get us out of here, I never felt "how much longer of a wait" I never felt anything but like Family was working on my baby boy. I'm sure there are complaints, I'm sure someone didn't like that we jumped ahead of their kid's snotty nose, sprained ankle, but I'm sure that JMCGH would not have treated us the same. *There was even a young guy that we met at JMCGH ER that came in behind us at PQC, the mom said they had been sitting there over an hour and half, his hand was wrapped in gauze and it was still bleeding through* I was very thankful that God gave me a brain to think to call them before sitting in the ER all night. Just all worked out smoothly!
10 stitches later, a week of oral antibiotics, topical antibiotic cream, dial soap, neosporin, vitamin E and mederma, he is just fine! We had to return to the MD 5 days post Tennessee Tailgating! They were not ready to be removed, he would bust it back open. I didn't think they were ready, and I didn't want them to take a few then him have to go back and do it all over again... So, we showed back up Saturday night. What I didn't want to happen, happened. The ones on each side were ready, the middle not so much. He was such a big guy! Doctor bragged, mommy and daddy high fived him, lil brother told him good job bubba! Then he had just a little melt down when they got close to the middle part. Then Lil Brother had a melt down b/c Cays was having a melt down. I felt so sorry for them both and the poor doctor. It upset him that he upset BOTH of them!!!!! Told us to give the middle another day or two and try again. Ugh! Monday night we headed back! It was the worst! They were in just long enough the skin had grew over a little, this caused the doctor to have to cut them out a little, It was just awful. Daddy had to hold his head down, mommy had to sit on his little legs, and little brother cried with him again. 1, 2, 3 and they are out now too! We bled a little. We did the antibiotic, dial, etc routine once we got home and put one of his super cool bandaids on it! We are gonna scar, but we are all gonna be just fine!!!!!
***Things (stitches) come and go, but you start and end with family***
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
White Flag
Here is my white flag, I have surrendered to the world of Blogs!
I did the journal thing at home/work (just on paper) for awhile and love reading back on those, but they were missing something-pictures! I am very behind on my scrapbooking, not so sure I will ever get caught up! I don't Facebook much anymore. I did start a "site" on Shutterfly and I love it! I have in the past few weeks/months been trying to decide just what exactly I would call 'MY PAGE', what catchy, nifty, cutesy name I would give it. I thought about what 'MY PAGE' would involve, who it would reach, the fact that I wanted it to be more of a way to talk/write/journal to my guys now to not miss the oh so funny things they say and do, for them to understand how much they are loved and by how many people in hopes that one day when they get old enough to understand, they can re read it all! This is mostly for them, I am not toooo interested in the entire world reading it or what they have to comment back on, don't really care honestly! But simply, the only thing that came to mind was that my blog thoughts would be that of "precious memories" spent with my boys! It was too generic, and besides someone else had it! So, this is it... This is the start of my blog... Randa's Reflections!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)