I'm Back

The past 5 days have been a bit of a blur. As I wrote last Wednesday Jack woke up throwing up and had diarrhea and that lasted all day to the point we called his doctor that evening and he recommended if Jack couldn't keep anything down within that next hour to go ahead and take him to the emergency room. He started getting dark black circles around his eyes so that's what we felt we should do. After getting to the crazy ER he was put into a room after awhile and they drew blood and he was extremely dehydrated. So he was admitted and stayed in the hospital until Friday afternoon. When he finally got home and settled we thought we would get back into normal but at about 1AM Saturday morning Max threw up. I also started throwing up yesterday but luckily so far Gabriel hasn't gotten it. So its been a yucky mess in our house. Today I am feeling a little better but still queasy. That may just be due to a new medicine I just started yesterday so I really think I am past the sickness. Gabriel was able to stay a little bit longer since we have all been sick. They told him not to rush and to make sure we are all better first. Then we have a huge winter storm that's supposed to take place tomorrow and Wednesday. So he is going to stay put just through the storm then head out. Thanks to all those who helped us through the sickness and Jack being in the hospital. Family that visited and called to check in and friends who did the same really got us through the hard time. We are truly grateful for all those who cared enough to take time out of your day to think, pray, and visit him.

The Boys and My Vacuum

So for the past week and a half every time I vacuum it has seemed as if my Hoover Windtunnel just wasn't sucking up all the dirt, Cheerios, dust etc. in this house. I have gotten highly annoyed so I decided to unscrew the whole thing tonight (after asking my husband and him saying he would but never did). Boy was that a fun 20 minutes and 18 screws! Thank you Hoover for making your product so....hmmmm...secure. It was screwed together quite nicely. Upon opening the entire thing and sticking things down in the tubes I was able to find this.....so THANK YOU to Jackson and Max for all the little things you both do daily! P.S. DON'T EVER TOUCH MY VACUUM AGAIN!

Poor baby

Water and crackers came back up :( Poor guy. For now he is napping in our bed.

Wednesday...3 1/2 days left

Happy Wednesday to all who are reading!! Good news and bad news....I'll start with the bad....poor Jack has been sick since 5 this morning. He woke up throwing up all in his bed :( Poor guy. We tried some water her threw it up and now we are trying a cracker and so far so good so say a little prayer for him and that all the rest of us don't get it. Gabriel had the interview at Ace Hardware on Monday and it went very well. While he was sitting there he said that he kept thinking to himself, "Do I really want to do this for the rest of my life?" He worked in retail so long that he is just sick of it. Back to the interview....it went well but the pay isn't what he would get at Helena Marine and it would be nights, weekends, and we are past that and now that we have kids dinner at the table together and weekends together are very important to us. So the job wasn't actually going to be available until March and that was the 1st of 6 interviews! So we both thought FORGET THAT. So bad news #2 is we are really, really, moving now and Gabriel leaves on Sunday. So to all of our family and friends in St. Louis that were holding onto hope we may stay...we aren't :(. I will obviously miss Gabriel more than ever before since the longest we have been apart is a week. But I am comforted by the fact he will be FINALLY making decent money again and we can get out of the hole we are in. The boys will miss him like crazy too but we will Skype EVERYDAY and see each other as many weekends as we can and I will be down on Jack's spring break for a long week in March. That is going to be a BIG week for me to look at schools, houses, etc. So are plan is for me to stay in the house until Feb. 18th. Gabriel and his dad are gonna come up and help load the house up in the truck and that weekend the boys and I are going to go down with them and help them unload everything into storage. We can stay a long weekend and come home Tuesday since Jack is off school Monday. Then we will come back to St. Louis and live with my mom and dad until May and move when Jack gets finished with school the end of May. So with that all being said I will continue packing and hopefully get a lot more accomplished! Happy Day everyone!

He did it again.....

Well Mr. "I have a mind of my own" Max decided to have a temper tantrum last night when it was time for bed. So again we told him to stay in his room and he couldn't come out because it was bedtime. So again I went in there and this time he was all spread out in his chair. He has the same jammies on yes...but this was last night and the other pic was a week ago. I do change my boys and wash their jammies. Hes a stubborn little thing. So anyway here is the pic I snapped from last night!

Jack tried a smoothie!

I have been making myself protein shakes everyday to help build muscle etc. Anyway Jack always sees me making them and today asked for one. So I put a 1/2 of a banana, 1/2 cup of this frozen berry mixture, 1 cup of milk, and a little vanilla yogurt and a few ice cubes. No protein powder of course...but great stuff for him to have! They will be great for breakfast!

Blah

Well we had a lot of fun last night having the girls over! They played and played! My boys have always been dog lovers but we really don't have the room right now for a dog nor the money or time to take care of one. One day soon maybe (one that does not shed) So the girls even brought their little fake dog named Lucky. Lucky barks, rolls over, pants, lays down, and everything but doesn't shed or go to the bathroom. In my eyes Lucky is the perfect dog...oh and I forgot to mention he won't ever die (except batteries) so this is just the kind of dog I might allow my boys to have :) Max and Lucky had an instant connection so he spent most of his time playing with Lucky. Jack and the girls played and then "camped out" in our sun room/playroom. Although they were scared at first they all fell asleep and didn't wake up until 5:50 this morning! My boys are early risers but this was really early!! So we got up when it was still dark and played (well.... I drank coffee) and had breakfast. They were picked up at 8:30 and we left at 9 for church. Always a great message from Jim Stern! I love our church. If you do not have a home church and need one Destiny Church in Des Peres is awesome. They aren't worried about money, or fancy things.....just God, personal relationship with him, and they love helping those in need. It snowed more today.....I am really starting to fall into a seasonal depression that typically doesn't come around until at least February but b/c of all the dreary gray days this winter it has already hit. Oh well I am determined to keep hitting the gym and dreaming of warmth! This too shall pass! So tomorrow is the big day! Gabriel will go and interview at Ace Hardware and we will see what happens. If he gets a better offer we will have to take it! If not though...next Sunday at this time he will be leaving and heading to Arkansas to start with Helena Marine. Very excited about whats in store though we don't know exactly what that entails! If he does go I will be alone for four months except seeing him on random weekends and Jack's spring break in March. We felt it was the best idea for me to stay here with the boys and let him start the new job and find us a place to live. Jack is also in preschool and we LOVE his school and do not want to pull him out. So Gabriel will get settled, find us a house, and then we will go. May 27th is the latest but I am willing to push that up a tad if he gets things moving quickly! Cause once I move out of state....I can assure you we will stay put for a long time....so we need space! After all we want two more kids right?!?!?! After last night it confirmed it for me! It was fun with constant screaming, toys everywhere, and laughter too! Now that I have gotten into this blogging thing....I like it! See you all tomorrow!

Lazy Saturday (for the boys)

The boys spent their day playing while Gabriel did all the grocery shopping and I continued to go through things and get rid of old junk. Well it isn't junk but a lot of it was clothes and coats that don't fit me anymore. I will gladly get rid of all this because I will never be in those sizes again! After all that we cleaned up the house and now our nieces Sophie and Audrey are over to spend the night and play with Jack and Max!

A Nice Relaxing Evening

We were able to do a trade off with my sister and brother in law this weekend. They watched the boys for us all night last night and we are watching their girls all night tonight. We had a very enjoyable time. We first went and ate at a really good restaurant called the Beerhouse. They are famous for all of their different beers they have on tap and in the bottle, but the food was awesome! After that we went down to our favorite place The Cupcakery in the Central West End to grab a couple delicious gourmet cupcakes for dessert and grabbed a movie and came home. We watched Inception (totally not my kind of movie) and ate our cupcakes. It was so nice to not have the boys who like to get up at 6:30 come wake us up this morning. So now I am just sipping my coffee waiting on Gabriel to get back with the boys thinking about going to the gym and cleaning today.

Brrrrrr

Ok we did it! We went down to "Art Hill" with the boys and went sledding for a bit! The video just shows how popular this place really is. I yell at Jack in the middle of the video because he decided to throw a snowball at me right when I was taking video.

Snow, Snow, and So Much More Snow

Normally us St. Louisan's have a winter with a lot of cold and some snow. This year has been full of snow. It seems like every week we are having another snowstorm. Jack loves playing in the snow but ever since Max's first experience back before Christmas, he isn't so sure. So much to the point he makes me carry him out the door anytime we need to leave. I guess it was a traumatic experience to take him out in his little sled a couple months ago. Most kids love snow but not him! Hopefully this afternoon we can change his thoughts on it. Gabriel was sent home early from the business he was working at today, so when the boys get up from their naps we are gonna head down to Art Hill. Art Hill is a huge hill right in front of the St. Louis Art Museum and a popular St. Louis attraction when it snows. Hopefully we have an enjoyable time...but we will see! Here is a pic of some of the snow today and also of Max's first(and hopefully not last) snow experience!

Aidyn turns 5!

Our good friends Don and Travica have a son the same age as Jack...well a little bit older because he just celebrated his 5th birthday last week!! Jack was invited to the birthday party so we left Max at home with Aunt Gretchen (which he had a blast too!) and Gabriel and I went out to Bounce U on that snowy evening for a funfilled party of bouncing, pizza, and cupcakes! Since these boys have more energy then anything I have ever seen...Bounce U was the most perfect choice for a party! Here are some pics to show how much fun we all had! Happy Birthday Aidyn!

Sleeping Beauty

Well our almost two year old has become quite the little stinker lately! The other night we were having a difficult time getting Max to just lay down and go to sleep. After a lot of frustration we settled on just ignoring him and figured he would go to sleep when he was ready. The rule was though, he had to stay in his room. He did....and he finally went to sleep and this is what we found when we checked on him.........so peaceful....ahhh I love my boys!

A lot Has Changed In a Few Days....

Well as I posted on Facebook earlier this week ....we are moving to Arkansas....or wait, are we? What are we going to do is the question now. Gabriel got a phone call yesterday from the store manager at an Ace Hardware telling him they got his resume from their corporate office and they wanted him to come in for an interview for assistant manager. He called me right away and asked what I thought. I told him that we have been praying for God to show us if this move may not be the right thing to do. So he goes tomorrow at 2 for his interview. He was offered a position at Helena Marine in Helena, AR. It sounds great, the pay is great, the benefits are great. But the area is what we are having a hard time with. Its a very small town with probably only 15,000 people but it is where Gabriel grew up,where his parents live, and where several of our great friends live. Not to mention the fact that one of Jack's bestest friends Silas lives only an hour away. We are from the big city of St. Louis with any type of school we could ever want to put our children in, and a church we love dearly. But most importantly my family is here too along with some very good friends. Ohhhh....it will be hard if we have to go but now we are just confused. So we will wait and see what God has in store tomorrow afternoon! But for now if we can get all the prayers we can from everyone that would be great!

Here I go again

This is my first official post on my blog! I have had it "created" for quite some time but thought with the changes in our lives that are about to take place I should get going with it! Today has been somewhat normal...baby Ashlynn arrived this morning (I babysit her) and we were out in the frigid temps to drop off Jackson at preschool. We went back to get him then came home for lunch and now its just about naptime! I'll post more later and get this all fixed up!