My little baby has gone and turned 5 on me

Not sure what happened when I uploaded the pictures so please excuse the lines in them.

Birthday season has come again and Emma starts it off.  She turned 5 on August 15 and is in Kindergarten this year.  We had a small party for her at home on her birthday where she got to pick the menu for all three meals including a dessert for after dinner and she received a few small gifts.
        Breakfast: Snowman pancakes(In the summer? Yep!)
        Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks, and applesauce
        Dinner: Shrimp Lomein
        Dessert: Chocolate Cupcakes

5 Fun Facts About Emma

 

1. She loves to sing all the time! She makes up the most beautiful songs which are usually about Jesus.

 

2. She is not shy at all and will talk to anyone and everyone she sees.

 

3. She absolutely loves being the oldest sibling and wants to have a dozen more siblings. 

 

4. Dreams of becoming a zoo keeper so that she can play with chimpanzees all day long, but wants to be a mommy most of all.

 

5. She loves to play dress up everyday and will take pieces of costumes and fabrics and design new dresses.

The following Saturday we had a party where we invited all our friends and family.  This was complete with swimming, food, games, and cake.  We all had such a great time celebrating the life of such a sweet and lovable little girl.

Appendicitis!!!!

My poor husband had to be taken into the hospital in the middle of the night due to extreme abdominal pains. He had been suffering for a couple of days, but did not want to have to see a doctor. He finally could take it no more and insisted on going. We had to wait in the ER for four hours before a doctor came to see him and got the pain under control. It didn't take much for them to diagnose it as appendicitis. He was then scheduled for surgery first thing in the morning. I stayed over night with him while my mom stayed with the kids. It was a hard night for baby Savannah for she and I had never been apart that long before.



After the surgery, his surgeon explained to us that his appendix had indeed ruptured and he had a massive infection. He told me he would have to be kept for a few days. Once Matt was set up in his room, I headed home so I could care for our children for awhile and Matt's mother and brother were staying with him. I was only at home a few hours when Matt calls me saying they were going to discharge him. I was shocked but the resident said he was doing well and could come home. By the time I had Matt home it was 8pm and he got himself comfortable on the couch and fell fast asleep. Once I had all the kids asleep in bed, I decided to leave him be and go to bed myself.

I slept like a rock that night from missing my sleep the night before, and was awoken at 7am to Matt telling me something was very wrong and we needed to go back to the hospital. Adrenalin kicked in and I quickly called my dad(who lives the closest) over to watch the kids and got him returned to the ER where we unfortunately had to start that whole process over again. My husband apparently was never able to eat or go to the bathroom and yet was discharged without them making sure he could do so. He was again in extreme pain and extremely dehydrated due to constant vomiting of biol matter.

Matt was kept there for 8 days and allowed nothing but an IV for nourishment as we waited for his bowels to start working again. We tried to get him walking a few times each day and a small walk would wear him out for hours. It seemed the hospital staff was doing nothing for him but keeping him so doped up on pain killers that he could not function at all but to sleep and did not even know who I was. Pain killers were causing a worse back up and when I was able to get Matt to understand what all was going on he started insisting on smaller dosages and less frequent. By the end of the week he finally started acting more like himself and his body began to function.

He is home now and is continuing to heal. His doctor said it will take four weeks before he is fully healed. The week was hard on us all as I was trying to stay with my husband as much as I possibly could. My children are very happy to have both Mommy and Daddy back at home and their normal routine back in place. I was very thankful to my parents helping out with my children and to our church whom brought meals over each night he was in the hospital. God is so faithful and has seen us through another tough circumstance.

A break from technology

It has been awhile since I have had a chance to blog.  We have been very busy lately. Today we left the house at 7am and took Matt to work and then headed off to the park to spend a couple of hours there before the heat set in.

We had a small picnic at the park and then got all cleaned up and spent a couple hours at the library.  We have a wonderful children's section at our library.  They have a computer for children to play preschool games, a table full of puzzles, many tubs of various toys, and of course great story books.  In a couple of weeks they are going to start the story hour up again and that includes a free craft.

Why you shouldn't use cooking spray

I have been actively reading labels of food to keep my family safe from eating chemicals for awhile now and one that I had missed was cooking spray.  The olive oil cooking  spray that I have been using contains many nasty chemicals in it such as soy lecithin, mono and diglycerides, dimethylpolysiloxane, dimethyl silicone, or artificial flavors. You can read some more information on the harm of consuming cooking spray here.


Now, what should we use as an alternative to the cooking spray we get at the store?


Well you could purchase this product from pampered where you just poor your olive oil in it and use like you did before.  It is called a kitchen spritzer and sells for $13.50










Or you could simply use a simple spray bottle from the dollar store and it works just as well.

This will save both money and save you and your family from consuming harmful chemicals.

homemade yogurt in the crock pot

I am now a successful yogurt maker.  I had been reading up on all the benefits of homemade yogurt and also had an abundance of milk to use up so I made up my mind to try it out.  My children are enjoying bowls of fresh homemade yogurt right now as I type this. And I sent my husband to work with a yogurt smoothie.

Health Benefits of homemade yogurt:

• You have control over what is in your yogurt. Conventional yogurts are often packed with preservatives, gelatin, and artificial colors and flavorings.
• Lower Sugar then commercial yogurt. You could eat it plain if you like the taste or use a natural sweetener such as honey or fruit.
• Yogurt contains beneficial bacteria that can help aid digestion and get rid of bloating. These bacteria include Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, which help the body digest the lactose found in dairy products. Most commercial yogurts are pasteurized, which can kill some of the active bacteria. Eating homemade yogurt can also be beneficial for people taking antibiotics; the bacteria in the yogurt can replenish any "good" bacteria the antibiotic may have killed along with the "bad" bacteria. 
• It is way cheaper then store bought

I found the recipe with thorough instructions here.

Play Date

We had a busy day today. My friend came over this morning with her two little girls ages 2 and 11 months.  We all went swimming in our pool for a couple hours and burned off all our energy.  I decided to do a simple lunch since right when we walked back in the house all the littles decided they should have been fed 20 minutes ago and were all fussy. Turkey sandwiches, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, and cantaloupe were on the menu and chopped banana for the babies.

We then had to get all five children 4 and under down for a nap so my friend could head off to her OB appointment.  All five children were asleep by 2:30pm (only an hour past schedule) and I had just laid Savannah down and had my hands free and feeling like I could totally handle it if I were to be a mother of five small children. Well, I only managed to get a bottle in the fridge when Rustin (11 month old preemie) wakes up crying.  I ran to her and settled her back down to sleep and just held her until her sister came out an hour later hollering for her mother waking up ALL other children whom two were not at all ready to be awake and cranky.  

I was juggling two babies whom both were wanting held at the same time and the other three started getting restless so we decided to make some rice crispy treats together which was loved and devoured by all.  My friend came back in while we were making these and thankfully took both babies in her arms so I could have use of both my hands.  The kids had a blast having them over today and now I am ready to just relax this evening.  I must say I love babies and children and having them around me at all times.  Today I got an extra baby to rock to sleep how lucky am I.  

Last night in honor of our anniversary we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Hu Hot.  My little sister works there but wasn't working when we were there.  The kids ate a ton and Savannah had her first pasta and really enjoyed it.  I had brought my camera and my little kids decided they wanted to take some pictures so I present to you the Emma and Landon photography.