catch up

All of the males in my house are sick. Not just down and out...but nasty coughing, fearful they are going to hack up a lung sick. They have made it to school, but it sure has slowed things down around here.

Keegan was supposed to have a game tonight, but he is home hanging out. Jack is now so hoarse he has to re-start sentences a couple of times before he can get them out. Konley just coughs so hard I walk downstairs to make sure he is breathing.

But to tell you the truth this is nothing. Keegan's asthma is nothing. A friend of our had a baby, at just 26 weeks last night. I read the text from her this morning and I immediately started to cry. They tried for so long to get pregnant and they have been to the hospital once already. They said everything was ok, but obviously this time around they weren't.

I know, and have always known, that there is God. He listens to our prayers. He listens to your needs and desires and He still does all things in His time. I just continue to pray to him that they let this beautiful baby girl grow up to be as strong and healthy as her parents.

May you all hug and kiss those that you love just a little bit harder tonight and remember that all of our stresses can only be answered by One, and that there are many things that are so much worse than some of our worse days. I am grateful for coughing children that may just need a little extra time, love , and Robitussin!

Can't fix it

There are days when I just can't fix it for them. Days when things aren't going their way and I can't fix it. There are days when I know that letting my boys work through their "stuff" will help them so much more than doing it for them. But it is so hard not to do it for them.

Keegan has a new coach and a new team. He is still playing with his club team and they have a new coach. Something that was a complete surprise. And the new coach? Total 180 from the original coach. Not necessarily 180 in the right direction. There is no encouragement, the other was all about encouragement. New coach sits through the whole game barely speaking; old coach walked the sidelines talking and encouraging the whole time. I think there where times he lost his voice at the end of each weekend. New coach has great technical skills and zero people skills. People skills are so important to 14 year olds. They need to hear that they have done well. They need to hear what they have done wrong in a non-critical voice. They are sponges so ready to learn. Keegan put it the best: he is a great trainer, but a terrible coach. Never really thought about it that way, but it makes complete sense.

To top it off he is also playing high school soccer. This week was 6 days, making school alone 12 hours plus the 3.5 for club ball. New coach. New kids. New everything. Exhaustion and Frustration.

Wish I could fix it. Wish I could make it better. Know that he is going to have to work this out on his own.

Soccer family, not a baseball family

Sorry it's been so long.

I sometimes don't know what to say or do with myself.

Life here is crazy, as I am sure everyone else's is.

Usually we are in the middle of baseball season. Nobody wanted

to play this year. Part of me is so very grateful. Baseball season is so

overwhelming!

Six days a week. Nearly 4 hours a night some nights with 2 playing.

Not this year!

No bleacher butt.

No snow coat.

No 10 pm nights still under the lights.

Except.

Except soccer never ends.

Never.

Keegan has been playing club ball for 4 years or so. They play year round.

Nearly every weekend.

Practice 2-3 nights a week.

Plus..

Add in high school soccer.

Yay! He made JV for Cascade High.

So...

Back to 6 days a week.

Bleacher butt.

Snow coat.

10 pm nights under the lights.

That's ok. Our family loves soccer.

Good thing, cuz Jack starts in 3 weeks and Konley wants to try out for select too!

Meg's wedding

My little sister is getting married this summer and I am so excited! Unfortunately, we are a few states apart. Thank you God for the internet and instand messaging, and facebook and Pinterest. Oh and Ebay. We have spent the last couple of days looking at flowers for bouquets. Without the internet we wouldn't have been able to do this together so much. I found some different ideas through Google, pinned them to Meg's wedding board on Pinterest and she checks them out from her end. If I can't be hand-in-hand with her this is the second best thing. We found a beautiful flower and it took me a while but I searched and found that it is Plumeria, they use them to make leis. They are beautiful as a wedding bouquet. Also found lemons in vases wrapped in ribbon as centerpieces. So much more fun than when we got married and you had to thumb through every book and idea that they had.

We are already planning our trip in July. We have been on Mapquest more than ever. Mapping out routes. Proving to the boys that the Grand Canyon is way too far out of the way. Figuring out if Jeff will fly back home to go back to work so as not to take more than the week off.

Weddings bring out the best (and the worst, for some) of people. Right now I am full of smiles and happiness for this beautiful girl who is now a woman who is looking forward to a very happy day!

We have friends and neighbors that we have known since Keegan and Karli (above in blue, top in blue hat) were in kindergarten. (actually we met them before that, but that is when things really took off). Keegan and Karli are just 3 months apart, Konley and Megan are 1 year and 5 days apart. The week that we had Snowmaggedon we spent the week with these girls and their mom, Karen. Their dad was out of town and Jeff was working so we could play outside, scrapbook, and do dinner all together. I know that there are so many people that couldn't wait for the kids to go back to school, I on the other hand, was reminded of what life was like when it was just us and I was staying home with the boys. We played all week. I went outside and sledded down the hill with them. We got sick of being at home and went out for lunch and to the grocery store. Our lives have all gotten very busy. When the kids were little we could hang out all the time, now we have soccer and gymnastics, high schoolers and middle schoolers and elementary schooler and we are crazy. It was great to take a week out and just hang out again.....my favorite part of the snow.

busy December 2011

 Every year we have a skating party put on by Jeff's company. They have a great Santa and a present for each child. THe older boys got apples to apples and uno, both travel sized. Jack got some kind of Transformer (I think). Notice we have 4 boys in our picture, not just 3. Keegan's best friend Jake is so frequent at our house that this is the second year he has gone with us and been in our Santa picture. One year we took Jeff took him, Konley and Jack, Keegan and I stayed home sick as dogs. It's great to have friends that share their children so much that they seamlessly blend into our lives.

 We have a 2nd cousin with Down's Syndrome. Richie turned 50 this December. He wanted a big party with bowling. So, a big party with bowling it was...in Vegas....with over 50 people from all over. As my sister now lives in CO I take every opportunity I can to see her. This picture is me, Jeff, Grandma, Beau, Dusty (Meg's fiancee and the one making the face), Dianne, and Megs. The best thing that day? we all rarely left each others' side. If someone was out on the casino floor and not with the group a text or phone call came every few minutes..."where are you? we are on our way?" It was an amazing great day! It does remind me how much I miss having my sister around, and seeing my brother more often. I will have to see what I can do to fix that.

Me, Megs, Ashley, Grace, Kelse (cousins & all 3 sisters) and Tara (cousin)

Jeff & I...having a great trip together.

Having 2 weeks off for the holiday has been great. Jeff took the 4 days off to get 10 and we have just hung out, played Farkle on my Kindle Fire, gone to the movies, played with the boys, ate (ate some more, cooked and ate some more OY!) and watched movies. I don't really want to go back to reality, but.....

follow up

so you know that you have a good doctor/nurse practitioner when she is worried and wants to dig into something even when others tell her that it is all good. i got a phone call on friday and she wants me to see a breast surgeon. She kept telling me she just wanted to be sure. She was trying to convince me to go when I had already said, "ok" and "sure" three or four times. Oy!

I was stressed enough during the last appointment. i don't think anything could strees me out more. i will just do what i did during my ultrasound: pray. know what I prayed? please God, don't let me worry. i know that nothing was going to change in that very second so what else was there to ask for? so i will pray for the same thing...not to worry....

maybe you could too...