I'm hosting A Giveaway!!!!

I want to tell you about my favorite children's author. Her name is Karen Katz. She wrote Ashlyn's all time favorite book. I started reading this book to her when she was a baby and she still loves it and now so do Gaby, Ryan, and Brooke.The name of this particular book is called "Counting Kisses" but I haven't read a Karen Katz book that I didn't love. Here are a couple of our favorites. "Twinkle Toes" is perfect for your little princess. It has a piece of pink fabric on the front cover for a skirt and each page has a piece of fabric for your baby to feel. If you have boys, don't worry cause Ryan loves this one too.

"Daddy and Me" is a fun one about a building project with Daddy. Each page has a flap to lift to find the hidden tool.She makes board books that can withstand 4 toddlers so that tells you they are pretty durable. I will warn you though that her "lift the flap" books, though loads of fun for little ones, I no longer leave mine unattended. We had some really cute ones that are now missing their flaps.

So to really show you just how much I love her books I'm going to give 3 free books away to one lucky winner. Of course they will be new and not the ones that my kids have loved up. All you have to do is leave a comment here saying that you are interested. If you don't have little ones, maybe you know someone that would like them for a gift. If you are the winner, I will even let you pick the books. Karen Katz pretty much has one for every occasion.

I'll leave this up for a week and on Friday, September 5th, I'll take all the names from the comments and host a drawing. I'll contact the winner to get a name and address and mail you the free books.

Oh, and because you could also use a treat yourself, I'm going to throw in this cookbook for you. Isn't it cute? It's also a great support for breast cancer awareness, so its twice as nice.

If your wondering why I am hosting this drawing, it's for 2 reasons really. One, I am feeling generous and really want to share my love of books (and cooking).

And two, I know because I have a site meter that I have lots of viewers from all over the country but I rarely get to read comments from you. Call me selfish but I would love it if you could even just say Hi. So maybe this will entice you into leaving a comment, just this one time. The contest is open to anyone. I don't care if you're related, a friend, or just happen upon this site. The drawing will be fair and I promise not to cheat.

Good luck!!

Oh, and if you're a guy and you read my blog, you don't have to take the pink cookbook. We can switch it out for a different one. I know at least my brothers read my blog, or at least they say they do. I could even find you a nice book about sports or motorcycles. How's that sound?

2 Prayer Requests.

If you can find the time.

First off I have applied for a job. I know, it's a shocker. I have been working on Saturdays since February, but have been saying that I love this particular position so much, it would be great if I could do it a couple more days a week.

Well, be careful what you wish for, because there just became available a position almost exactly like that. Except even cooler. So I, of course, applied and even worked one day with the new doctor because they haven't hired anyone yet. It went great and I am saying lots of prayers that they will offer me the position. If not, I will accept that this is not perfect timing and stay home with my little sweeties (or mostly monkeys) for a little longer. I'll let you know when I find out anything.

My second prayer request is a little sadder. My dad's cousin, Yvonne, is suffering daily with the debilitating symptoms of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. For those of you that aren't familiar with this disease, it basically causes increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. Patients may even become paralyzed and it always results in death but the progression is different for every person. She is a very strong woman and is also very lucky to have her sister (who is a nurse) and her daughter live with her and care for her. Her daughter, Martha, has a blog called Joy in the Journey where she writes about her mother. Please pray for her comfort and also for strength for her caregivers.

On a lighter note, here are some funny photos my mom took of the kids. Please ignore the background, if my house weren't such a cluttered mess, then were would all the mice hide? Just kidding, we don't have any mice, at least not yet.

This is my latest design. If I'm in desperate need of a shower and there is no one available to watch the kids, I just strap them into their highchairs with a cup of water and put Baby Einstein on my computer. They thought this was great fun.

Ever made a batch of cookies......

.....and literally had to fight the urge to eat the whole batch? You haven't? Hmm, I wonder who I can blame that genetic defect on?

I have been on a mission to find a recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I am picky when it comes to my cookies. I like the taste of butter, verses shortening but I like them big and fat and chewy.

So I have been googling "fat chocolate chip cookies with butter" and I came across this recipe for the Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie.

I did have to tweak it a little bit because mine came out pretty flat, but still tasted very good. I usually have a problem with my cookies being flat. I don't know if it's the climate, or the altitude, or quite possibly the baker.

So I've learned from experience that when baking a new cookie recipe, I bake one cookie first to see how it turns out. Then I can tweak the recipe as I need to.

So to make mine look slightly similar to the cookies in the photo, I added an additional cup of flour and an extra 1/2 tsp. of baking soda.

Of course I had to taste the single cookie that I baked and it took two tries to get it right. Lucky for me the kids woke up from their nap and they helped me with the taste testing.
This is good news and bad news. The good news is I found a really great cookie recipe. The bad news is I have been trying to greatly reduce my sugar intake, because I've found that it exacerbates my aches and pains, and also makes my energy level plummet. I have been doing really well until my "search for the greatest cookie". Well, I guess now that I found it I will just have to file it away for special occasions or else "bake and take". Which means that I bake them and then take them over to someone else's house.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words.

I was shopping at Walmart on Tuesday and had Ryan and Brooke in my cart. My mom had Gaby and Ashlyn. The kids were getting kind of tired because it was past their nap time and they started to whine. All of a sudden these two started trying to hug each other even though their straps wouldn't really let them. It became a game and they kept doing it. It sure made me feel about 50 lbs lighter (which I needed cause I stacked about 50 lbs worth of groceries into my cart). I snapped this photo with my camera phone. You gotta love technology.
Don't you just love Ryan's expression?

Lets get ready to rumble.......

In the right corner, we have Ryan. 26 lbs. Bursting with enthusiasm. And maybe a little disgust (girl germs, eww).In the left corner, we have 3 girls. Gaby, 26 lbs. Belly shaking with giggles.Brooke. 22 lbs. What she lacks in size, she makes up for in diligence.Ashlyn. 30 lbs. Shows no mercy when it comes to hugging.

Though it may look like they are fighting, they were actually hugging each other. Isn't it adorable?

Here they are pretending this tote lid is a boat. They actually did this by themselves.The kids are getting a little better at playing together and there is maybe a tad less fighting. I got energetic over the weekend and sorted out all their toys again. Now, they are only allowed one tote out at a time. This has been very exciting for them because each new tote is like Christmas. Before, with all the toys scattered from one side of the house to the other, they were too overwhelmed to play with any of them.

They did get a bit of a cold last week and that has made for a little crankiness. Mostly a runny nose and sore throat. Not the worst cold they've ever had.

Hi, how are YOU?

Such a common saying isn't? How many times a day do you hear that? Of course the expected response is "I'm fine, how are you?" Cause people don't really want to know how you are feeling. Believe me if you say "actually, I feel like total crap" and start running down a list of your symptoms, unless they are your doctor or your mother, they will start looking for the nearest exit. And I'm guessing even doctors want to run and hide sometimes.
So why am I writing this post today? Because I am concerned about "my concern" for my health. If I added up all the hours spent trying to diagnose and cure myself....ok I don't really want to know. Let's just say, it's a lot. Is it too much? Should I just accept that this is who I am and live with it?

I am tired of searching for answers but I am also tired of being tired. And achy. And sick to my stomach. Most of you don't even know I've had these symptoms because I really try hard not to whine about it. Because I know it gets old. Believe me, I'm sick of it. I actually saw a rheumatologist last week for a 2nd visit to review the tests we did on my 1st visit. She had a stack of papers containing my lab results and explained each one to me. Then after the explanation she would say, "it was in the normal range". These tests were all things that I was very grateful to have come back normal, but the closer she got to the bottom of the stack the bigger the lump in my throat became.

This was really my last hope of explaining the aching and pain I've had throughout my body for the past 4-5 years. I've had many tests done and this was the second rheumatologist I'd seen. If she couldn't find anything, I was giving up. I would just have to deal with it and quit complaining.

Well there was one lab that came back abnormal and it was my Vitamin D level, which was low. I was sort of anticipating this because I have never been a milk drinker. I used to take Calcium supplements with D but I've not been doing it faithfully, mostly because I need to take them on a full stomach and usually only remember it when I haven't eaten in a while. And so it becomes a vicious cycle.

But, Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to cause some of the symptoms I am having. So I am truly hoping this is the answer. I won't know for a while because my level was low enough that I have to take a prescription once a week, for 8 weeks. Then I have to have my level tested again to see where we're at. She said I probably wouldn't notice a difference for several months.

I can deal with that because I am feeling a little bit better just knowing that there is something wrong with me. Not that I ever doubted that I was feeling pain, but a person does start to wonder just how much your mental status plays a key in your well being. I was starting to wonder if I was crazy. I also started worrying that the few people that did know about my symptoms either thought I was looking for attention (cause who doesn't want a good dose of pity, I don't), or that I was a hypochondriac.

The difference between a hypochondriac and me, is that they will read about diagnoses and try to make their symptoms fit, or even start to "believe" that they have these symptoms. Me, I actually make lists of my symptoms and really try to stay in tune with my body, then I start looking for things that relate to these symptoms.

Because even though it is your doctor's job to try and find out what is plaguing you, no one knows your body more than you do. Also, who has more time to invest in yourself than you?

I just wanted to pass along the advice to not give up. If you feel like something is wrong with your body, keep looking for answers. Since I was a little girl, it seems like I've always had something going on. I won't go into too much detail about that because, frankly, it's boring.

I think a lot of my problems come from genetics on both sides of my family. The women on both my Mom and my Dad's side seem to have had a lot of health issues. So I have a double whammy. Too bad they couldn't have canceled each other out. Or wait, maybe that would mean I wouldn't exist?

Last night, Lance said "why do you always have to have something wrong with you?" It's not like I solve one problem and start looking for the next. It's more like ok, this is one thing that's wrong, I still don't feel well, what else could it be? I need to know what the problem is so that I can fix it and then hope that I will feel better. I think I would enjoy my kids a lot more if I didn't feel so lousy. So we'll see what the Vitamin D does. I sincerely hope that is the answer.

Plus I'm all about staying ahead of the game. Early detection can really save your life. I believe that a person should be as proactive in their health as possible.

Everything that I have been diagnosed with has taken many years, many tests, and sometimes many doctors. Even though you think that a doctor should know everything, they don't. They are human too. So sometimes it doesn't hurt to see someone else just for a fresh perspective.

And I promise that if I ask you "how are you?" I really mean it. I don't mind listening to people talk about their health. I wouldn't be a very good nurse, or friend, if I did.

Freezing Corn and Funny Kids.

On Saturday while I was at work, Lance and our good friend Carol were hard at work freezing corn. Lance planted a small field of sweet corn behind our barn and it turned out quite good, though it did get knocked down a bit from the storm we had a couple weeks ago. I am very impressed. He is so proud of his corn patch and tells anyone who will listen that there haven't been any raccoons in the field, the corn doesn't have any worms, and it cleans up very easily. It also tastes really good and we have been eating it daily. We have stinky baby diapers to prove it.I rushed home from work to help finish up the freezing and I guess there are 90 pint size bags of corn that we were able to freeze. We will be sharing this with Lance's mom and Aunt and also my parents for keeping the kids.His mom and Aunt left just in time for the corn to be ready to freeze. So they lucked out and didn't have to help. They took a much anticipated trip to Norway to visit distant relatives. I'm not sure when they started planning this trip but they have been talking about it for a long time. So Carol offered to help and we appreciate her immensely. Thanks again, Carol.

It was my turn to help this year because I've gotten out of it for the past 3 years due to the fact that I was either pregnant with a bunch of babies or being mommy to a bunch of babies.

This time, my parents were a huge help by taking the kids to their house for the morning and feeding them lunch. Then they brought them home for a nap. By the time they woke up, we were done. My mom sent this photo in an email and this is what she had to say about the morning. They have new baby pigs that belong to my sister's family.

"Ashlyn thinks the pigs are cute but didn't want to hold them. This is as far as she would touch them. The babies didn't like them either. I thought Ryan would climb out of the Yellow stroller from the back. None of them wanted to touch them at all. They were really good and we had fun."Imagine that the babies would be so afraid of tiny little piglets. Guess we aren't as country and I thought we were.

When I was out photographing the cornfield I came across this weird looking pumpkin in Lance's garden. I looked closer and saw that one of the kids had set 2 little stones on top of this pumpkin.

Things to do at 3 am...

......when you can't sleep.

1) Change positions with abrupt, exaggerated movements. If you can't sleep neither should your spouse. Saying "humph" about every 5 minutes really gets your point across.

2) Flip your mattress so that you will be sleeping on the most comfortable side. Make sure you let your spouse know before you flip so that they don't end up on the floor (unless you don't like them).

3) Count backwards from 768.

4) Reminisce about things that happened in the past. Like the time you and your friends were in high school and were acting goofy outside when you thought no one was listening. Then you noticed that a window was open to a classroom full of students. So you all started running and laughing and one of your friends fell down the stairs and broke her ankle. Good times!

5) Recount old discussions and wish you had said something you didn't.

6) Recount old discussions and wish you hadn't said something you did.

7) Wish for a nicer house.

8) Wish for a great career (that doesn't involve screaming, biting babies).

9) Think about how much you love your family and that you wouldn't trade them for the world (except for the screaming and the biting) (and the running away and the playing with things that are not allowed).

10) Practice your fire/tornado drill. In your head that is. Waking the kids and screaming "there's a fire, get out" would not help you in the sleep department.

11) If your spouse is not yet awake, give them a couple good kicks, just for fun.

12) Start next year's income tax. Yeah, right.

13) Clean the house. Yeah, right.

14) Read a book, or better yet catch up on blog reading.

15) Surf the net and try to diagnose all your health concerns. Then email your doctor about all the things that are wrong with you. Trust me, he/she already knows what is wrong with you, they are just too nice to tell you.

16) Count sheep. Or if you have enough light, you can count the cracks in the ceiling.

17) I've heard people (my mom) say if you can't sleep you should tell every part of your body to relax, one by one. My brain is so dysfunctional that when I've tried this, I start with my toes and by the time I reach my knees I'm thinking "what should I make for lunch tomorrow?" "I think I've got some ham, maybe I could make potato soup" "with fresh beans from the garden" "and I should make some homemade bread". By that point I'm hungry so I go check out the fridge.

18) Sing songs in your head. Just don't sing out loud. To you it may sound like an endearing lullaby but your sleeping spouse probably won't agree.

19) My second most favorite thing to do at 3 am is update my blog, which I didn't actually do on here until now, but I did have a list started in my head last night when I couldn't sleep.

20) My most favorite thing to do when I can't sleep is to stare at my beautiful, sleeping babies.

1 Haircut and 2 Cute Girls.

Here's the before. I know it wasn't that long but I had the opportunity to get it cut so I just did it.Here is the after. He was rocking in a baby doll cradle.
The girls wanted their picture taken too. Gaby.
And Brooke.
They had a hug fest this afternoon. So cute I could have just eaten them right up.
Here's all three. Almost looking at the camera.

Ali's Wedding Dance.

It's late (11 pm) but I just got these photo's from my mom and they are so adorable, I had to post them quick. Now you can see just how much fun Ashlyn had at the dance.

Thank you to Ali and her new husband Allen for inviting us and showing us such a good time. It was great spending time with my family and reminiscing with some of my cousins that I haven't seen in a while.

Here is Ashlyn with the bride. Doesn't Ali look beautiful?

On the dance floor.

Ashlyn slow dancing with Grandpa (my dad).

Ashlyn and I are bustin a move. It looks like we are doing the twist but I don't know what that was. I seriously got ready for the wedding in 15 minutes. Can you tell?

Some Cute Photos.

At the lake on Sunday. Ashlyn warming up with daddy. Gaby watching the waves. My little surfer dude. He looks so much like his daddy here. If you notice Ryan is sticking out his tongue here, it's because Aunt Jean was poking her bottom denture out at him. She started doing this to stop him from yanking on her cheek. He's developed this nasty habit of inflicting pain on others and thinking it's funny. He stopped immediately and ran away when she started doing that. It was hysterical.Ashlyn enjoying the water.Climbing on the rocks.Ryan loved the sand.Brooke and Ashlyn. 8 grandkids age 4 and under. This was the 4th of July.
Keeran is driving Miss Ashlyn.
The cousins again.
Notice Brooke is pitching a fit.


We went to my cousin Ali's wedding on Saturday. It was a beautiful ceremony and it was Ashlyn's second wedding attendance. For the 1st she was only 4 months old. She was so excited and has been waiting for a month. She first thought that she was going to be getting married and wanted to wear a wedding dress. Then during the wedding she thought the duet singers where the "Fairy Godmothers" and asked if "Ali was going to lose her shoe now".

Can you tell her favorite movie is Cinderella? She had a great time at the reception, tapping her cup to watch the couple kiss. We got some great photos on my mom's camera of Ashlyn with Ali and during the dance. I will share these with you when I get them. I, of course, forgot my camera.