Weird, Random, Bizarre...

I have to share with you all what happened to me tonight. You won't believe it, I'm not even sure I still believe it. Even as I write this it still seems so surreal.

I realized just before dinner tonight that we had not returned our Red Box movies from Friday night. Knowing that we would get charged another dollar if we didn't get them returned by 9:00pm. I grabbed up the movies and told Heath I would be right back. I drove to Jewel and waited in the car while the woman at the Red Box decided on what movie to get. There was already a man standing in line behind her so I decided to wait from afar. When she left and he went to make his decision, I got out of the car and stood in line behind him. While I was waiting another woman and her daughter got in line behind me to return a previously rented movie.

Just in case you are wondering I am not at the weird, random, bizarre, surreal part yet.

The man in front of me made his decision and swiped his card. Apparently his card was denied and he didn't know why. He turned around and looked at me and the woman behind me and apologized for taking so long and made a joke about how he had broke the machine.

Ready? Here it is....

Without skipping a beat or even taking a breath, he pointed at me and asked if I had lost my ID.

(Just for a little background, several months ago Alyssa had found my wallet and pulled out all of the cards and was playing with them. When I found her with them, I put the cards back in my wallet and the only one missing was my liscense. I thought at first that I would eventually find it but after cleaning my house top to bottom several times I knew it was hopeless. I have spent months trying to find a good day and time to get it replaced. )

I was stunned at the man's question and just said "What?" He then asked me again, "Did you lose your ID, like a liscense or something."

I responded with "Yes, a long time ago I did."

He then said "I found it, I have here in my wallet." He then started thumbing through cards in his wallet and pulled out my liscense.

I took it from him and said "Yes, that is mine(obviously it was since my picture was right there on it.) I thought my two year old had lost it." He then told me that he had found it in the parking lot of the grocery store that we were standing in front of.

I looked at him very confused and said "Well, thank you. I am suprised at how quickly you recognized me."

He then said "I have kept it right here in my wallet and see it everytime I look in here." He went on to tell me that he had looked my name up in the phone book and tried to call me. He reassured me several times that he was not a stalker and asked me to not be "freaked out." I couldn't help it, I told him "I am freaked out, but not because I think you are a stalker, just because of this whole thing."

1. Heath could have returned the movies

2. We could have returned them on time or any other time rather than 2days late

3. We thought Karston had a cub scouts meeting and debated about going to it, Karston got in trouble so we decided not to go (turns out his meeting is next week)

4. If his credit card had not been denied he wouldn't have turned around to look at me

5. Who puts the ID in their wallet and carries it around, rather than turn it into the grocery store management or mail it to the address on the front of it.

6. What if I had waited in my car a bit longer and let other people get in line ahead of me would he have ever gotten a chance to look at me?

I'm sure that there are many more reasons why this incident was such a chance thing, but the more I think about it the more weirded out I am by it. I just thought I would share it with all of you so that you too can marvel in the wonder and absurdity that I experienced. As the man walked away (never even getting a movie) the woman behind me in line and I just stood there stunned and amazed and I asked her "What just happened?"

Sisters.

I don't normally blog about television shows that I watch and I don't normally watch this television show. But due to our faulty antennea we can only watch one channel clearly and that just happens to be abc. So last night I sat down to watch the season premier of Extreme Makeover home edition.

This particular episode was a story of sisters. These sisters grew up as best friends and did everything together. When they were older they started having thier own children together. The older sister had four children while her younger sister had ten children.

Let me just stop the story right here. From someone that is doing all I can with only three children, I can only imagine what these women go through on a daily basis, especially the woman with TEN children. Ok. back to the story.

When the younger sister had her tenth child, the doctors found out that she had terminal cancer. She was dying. The older sister then made a promise to take in the ten children along with her four and raise them. She promised that she would never let them be taken away and split up. For four years she did everything she could do to keep her promise, but now they were homeless and no one would rent or give housing to a single mom with 14 children. So of course, Extreme Makeover Home Edition came in and saved the day.

Just like anyone else that was watching the show last night, I cried and I cried. I thought about my own two sisters. I thought about how devastating it would be if something so tragic as a terminal illness were to take either of them from my life. I thought of my step sister and that even though we don't know each other well and have only become friends over the past few years, how I would be distraught to think of her not in our lives. I am so grateful that God has graced me with these wonderful sisters in my life.


So Julie, Angie and Lindsay, I LOVE YOU more than I could ever express to you. And to my two sister in laws Elisabeth and Tarah, I am so happy to call you family but even more to call you sisters.

Horsie Parties and the like....

A couple of days ago Alyssa's friend Mercy came over to play again. This time we went to the Park and had so much fun. We had snacks and a picnic lunch while we were there too. It was a day full of friends and fun.

There was no school this last Friday and I was trying to decide, do I stay at home with the kids and try to get stuff done or do we take Heath to work and then hang out over in that neighborhood at the park? I knew that if we stayed at home, the kids would get bored and I would end up referee fights all day. We decided that we would have a day of fun in daddy's work neighborhood. Alyssa was so excited! She kept saying "horsie party, horsie party, horsie party!" We didn't know what that meant but thought maybe she was talking about the park.

We started out in Woodstock, IL. This is the town where the movie Groundhog Day was filmed. If you watch the movie trailer you will see that Puxatawney, PA is really Woodstock, IL. It is a beautiful little town square with the park in the center and a large Gazebo like stage in the center of the park. The streets are brick and the buildings are old and have tons of history to them.

We had lunch in the old Courthouse/Jail. We asked to be seated in one of the old cells and the kids loved it when the waitress told them that a ghost usually hangs out in that room. It was really great food, but mostly a good experience the kids won't soon forget. Heath had to go to the bank there in the town square so we hung out in the park and at the large Gazebo for a while. It was so much fun, but when it was time to go Alyssa said "Yay, horsie party!" Apparently that was not the horsie party she had been looking forward to.


We then went to Cary, IL to drop Heath at the bank. Heath needed me to come in and sign some papers about my account so we all went in and hung out for a moment. It was time to go to the park and Alyssa said "Yay, horsie Party!"

We went to a park we had been to before. The playground is at the Cary Park district which means that there is more than just a playground. There was the playground, and baseball fields, and a skate park, and soccer fields and other fields and a large bandshell type stage. We played on the playground for almost an hour before the boys got their bicycles out and decided to ride around the fields. I put Alyssa in the wagon and pulled her around hoping she would sleep. We then went down to the Soccer fields and kicked the ball around for a little while. We got very hot and very tired and I knew that neither I nor the kids would make it for another two hours. We had to find something to cool us off and give us a change of scenery. So I yelled out "Let's go get Ice Cream everybody!" Alyssa then yelled "Yay, Guys(Josiah)... Cream... Karty(Karston)... Cream!" The boys wanted to check out the bandshell so I told them to go and look at and then meet me at the car. When we got in the car Alyssa said "Yay, horsie party!" I bet you thought she forgot didn't you?

We then went to Dairy Queen and we all had ice cream sundaes and Root Beer. They loved it! It was just what we needed. We couldn't leave daddy out of all the fun so we bought one more Ice Cream Sundae and took it to the bank to him. We got in the car and yes, Alyssa said "Yay, horsie Party." I thought, when is this child ever going to take a nap?

We dropped of the ice cream and then went back to the park. The kids played for another 20 min before we had to go and pick up Heath from the bank. We got in the car and Alyssa said "Mommy, horsie party?" I wasn't sure how to answer that question. I thought for sure we had been to the horsie party at some point during our day, but apparently not. I told her that we had to go get daddy and then we would see about a party.

On the way home the boys were telling their daddy about thier eventful day. Karston then told his dad that when they walked around the bandshell stage that there was a couple of teenagers behind it kissing. Josiah then said "Yeah, they were making out!" How did my little 6yr old know what "Making out" is? What happened to innocence?

We stopped at the store to get dinner and movies! Alyssa got to ride in the race car grocery cart (one of her favorite things to do) and had so much fun. When we got in the car to go home she said "Horsie Party?"

We came home and the kids got bathed while I made dinner and cookies. When all were clean and the food was cooked we started the movie, Leatherheads. The boys decided that he movie was boring and went down to the basement to watch SpeedRacer. Alyssa said "don't like movie" and fell asleep on the couch. Heath and I would have snuggled up and enjoyed having no kids around, but we were stuffed from dinner and I had a major headache so we got through the movie and then went straight to bed.

The horsie party is still a mystery but I think that she may have been referring to the day before when we went to the park with Mercy and played. Below is a picture of the "horsie party?" that we had that day.

Spina Bifida Clinic

Yesterday we took Karston to the Spina Bifida Clinic, at Children's hospital downtown, for his annual check ups with the Neurologist, Urologist, and Orthopedic. If you need to catch up on the history of Karston's birth defects, you can click here and/or here.

In the early months of 2007, we were driving downtown everday for 5 days a week so that they could do therapy on his bladder and bowels. We were extremely dissapointed last year when we were told that the therapy was not helping his bladder and we needed to find another solution. We continued with the suppositories every morning for his bowels. We told at that time that we needed to start a routine of self catheters at home. We were all scared and not sure if this would work and stressful it might be on our family. The first couple of weeks was very stressful as we help Karston do the catheter. One day he decided that he wanted to try and do it himself. He did it and there was no pain, and no struggle. Suddenly it became the solution we had been waiting for. Over the last year we have had ups and downs and have had to also add a liquid medication three times a day.

We also had to have his brace replaced once during the year. As I have mentioned in previous post, he is really active and his brace tends to snap in half very easily. In an effort to make having a brace something fun and not a negative thing the brace company will transfer a character onto the brace. In the past he has had them transfer to it several super heroes and other fun animals. This time he got a flying dragon. He loved it! Well, when school was starting we went to get Karston some new tennis shoes we realized that his "new" brace was getting too small. We knew that we had appointments coming up at the Clinic so we decided to wait on making another appointment.

Every year we go to these appointments with a list of questions that we need answers for. This year was no different. The difference is that the questions this time were not about solutions to problems and there were no disappointing reports of failed solutions. Our questions this time were very limited to what kind of studies were advancing technology in Spina Bifida. We were asking questions about the future instead of the present, about future prevention instead of what we need to get through the present situations.

I think that in the past I have said over and over that I trust God and that if he chooses not to give us the miracle of a healing for Karston than we will look forward to his design and purpose for Karston's life. The truth is that inside I was still wrestling with the fact that God "chose to do nothing." Yesterday, for the first time, I saw the entire situation differently.

Instead of focusing on what God chose not to do for us, I could clearly see what God had done for us. He has helped all of us to grow and mature through this situation. He has helped us through the unknown and gotten us to a place where we are now able to see the future. Karston is now at an age and maturity level that he is able to care for himself. He is able to do what needs to be done and to see the consequences of "trying to get away with" not doing the necessary procedures. We can all see now a time in Karston's near future in which he feels more like a "normal" kid. Sure he may take a little longer getting ready in the bathroom in the mornings and he may have to go to the restroom on a timed schedule and he will continue to need a brace on his leg, but life will no longer have intrusive interruptions and questions of wonder surrounding each moment.

Anyway, I'm sure you all are wondering what we did find out at the doctor's office yesterday. First of all we got him fitted for a new brace and this time he got to fighter jet planes transfered onto it. He is very excited about going back in two weeks to pick it up. The Orthopedic doctor aslo ordered the brace to be made with carbon to keep it from braking as frequently. Karston had a large open wound on his foot from his skin being so dry and they were able to clean it up and start it's healing process. The Neurologist said that he looks great and that it is very important to keep a close eye on him over the next few years. Apparently his puberty years are a time that he could have a retethering of his spine. But, right now he looks great! The Urologist said that if the suppositories, liquid medication and catheters are working than there is no need to try anything new. She did give us some larger catheters to try and help him drain a little faster. He was so surprised when he used it this morning and saw the urine coming out so fast. His muscle test on his foot came back stable and they seemed to think he was doing great! So Good reports all the way around. It was a good day, until he got car sick on the way home. We pulled the car over to the side and let him puke for a little while, and the rest of the day was just as good as the first.

I know that this is a long report and I appreciate you sticking with me through it. You can continue to pray for him that as he grows physically his spine will not retether and that as he grows in maturity his self confidence will also grow with him. He is a great kid and I don't tell him near enough (even if I were to tell him everyday it wouldn't be enough) that I love him and I am very proud of him for all that he has had to go through in his almost 9 years.

A rollercoaster life...

Have you ever thought about your life as a rollercoaster? Experiences take your emotions through the highs and the lows, everytime making your heart race faster and at times you even have to gasp for breath? Roller Coasters are fun and exciting and leave us feeling exhilerated, but is ther a part of a roller coaster that isn't fun?

For me it is going up the first big hill. It is a slow ascend and at times very scary. It makes me think 'what have I gotten into?' I start to notice all the flaws of the coaster itself and hope and pray that I make it through the ride without the whole thing falling apart. I start to see the top and know that the good part is coming but I am going so slow and just can't get to it. Just as I get to the top there is a slight pause, a moment of relief that I have come this far, and a moment of anticipation of the thrill I am about to embark upon. In that brief moment I look down and realize how far I have come and how far down I have to go. As much as I want to plumet towards the ground or water or whatever danger lurks below, the what ifs still haunt my mind. What if this thing suddenly can't hold the weight? What if my seatbelt doesn't stay on? What if...... and then without warning Gravity has taken over. Some scream in excitement and some scream in fear, I always hold my breath and squeeze my eyes closed thinking 'I'm getting too old for this.' I am picking up speed and before I know it I am again at the next hilltop on the ride. The rest of the ride is spent in sheer joy with my hands up and being proud that I haven't shed a tear, even when I was feeling desperate to get off.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Or is this just me? We live 10min away from Great America Six Flags and we pass it everytime that we go from our house to Heath's parents house. The boys always stop and take notice of the big coasters as we drive by. This last time Heath and I listened in on thier conversations as they talked about now being big enough for the biggest coasters. They then talked a little about the water park that has been added on to the park. I heard Josiah say "If that one goes under water then I will do it when I am an adult." Apparently he thinks that life as a kid is about nothing but being a kid and that one day, "when he is a daddy" he will just know certain things like how to hold his breath under water, or even how to take his thumb off and then put it back on.

I guess I am "Adult enough" to ride the rollercoaster of life. Believe it or not I haven't been on an actual rollercoaster in 3 years or more. But life has mimicked the rollercoaster so closley that you would think, I am a theme park junky. I feel that in many ways we are still climbing that first big hill of anticipation, but we look forward to the drop and hope to glide over the next few hills. Meanwhile I just have to stay focused on the view as we climb, and not on the flaws as I normally would. Where are you in this Rollercoster life? Have you measured to see if you are "Adult Enough?" Are you climbing the hills with anxious anticipation or are you coasting along and enjoying the ride.

Allow me to introduce....

The newest members of the Blogging world. Heath's parents, my parents in law, have now entered the wonderful world of blogging. Their new blog address is http://theynevertoldmethis.blogspot.com/ Check it out and let them know if you like what they have to say.

Heath and I will be celebrating 11 years of marriage in January 2009, but I have known his family for the last 20years. Heath's parents attended college at Liberty Bible College in Pensacola, Fl. This just happens to be the college that my grandfather, Ken Sumrall, founded and was the President of while they were in attendance there. So all of this to say our family has history that goes far beyond the day that I became one of them, A Goodson. I am very proud to be a part of this family and to have their last name. There is something very special about this family (no, I'm not talking about that kind of special, although some of the Goodsons do qualify under that heading too.) There are many stories that I could share with you from my experience in this family, but it would be too hard to pick just one and way too long to share them all. We like to tease that when they moved to the Chicago area several years ago, that they were just "Following us up here." In all honesty, I have enjoyed having them nearby. I have enjoyed that my children live close to their grandparents and know them so well. I have enjoyed that we have the kind of relationship that is more than just parent/grown child, but also a friend relationship. I have enjoyed having free babysitters when we need them. I have enjoyed having family to turn to when hard times come and go, and I have enjoyed all of the many experiences between all of things. Don't get me wrong, there have been some times when we could use a little more distance, but I'm sure that they have felt the same about us, and don't let them tell you that they haven't.

I wish that my own parents lived close by and could enjoy all of these things as well. It gives me comfort having Heath's parents nearby to experience life as Midwesterners with us. It also gives me joy to know that they are now joining my world in cyberspace. So please help me welcome and encourage them as they share with us all of their knowledge and experiences of life.

Nice One!

In my previous post I mentioned that Alyssa is copying the things we are saying these days. Yesterday was no exception. Heath and the boys were watching the Bears game together and during the 3rd quarter got a little excited over some great plays. Alyssa was also sort of watching, in a two year old kind of way. She so wanted to be like her brothers and a part of her daddy's world. After two or three good plays in a row and the boys all getting excited, we all heard Alyssa say "nice." It was so cute! She said it several more times during the day. I wish had gotten it on video, but I didn't have my camera with me.

But what I have gotten on video is how smart my little girl is. We have been working on counting 1 -10 and on saying our ABC's. The second video is the ABC's and you will notice that because there are soooo many letters she tends to lose focus. We usually get to "W," and then fizzle out. There have been a few times that I skip over "W" and she is able to keep going and have a great finish with "Zeeeeeee!" We have also been working on spelling her name, but she won't do it on video. Enjoy these great moments...

A spoiler of my next blog post...

Soon I will be posting some really great video of Alyssa. She has gotten to the age where she repeats alot of what we say after we say it. While this can be a dangerous thing it is mostly a great way to teach her new things. We have been working on teaching her to count from 1 to 10 and teaching her the alphabet. I am also trying to teach her how to spell her name. Hmmm. Maybe I should teach her how to say it first. Anyway, she is at a great stage of life and ready, eager and excited about learning these new things. So, as soon as my camera decides that it is ready to join the living again (for the second time now,) then I will post some of these really great moments in video. Looking forward to sharing with you.

Remembering, death comes with a promise...

I don't normally like doing the same thing that I know everyone else will be doing. Call that my way of being rebellious, not wanting to be like everyone else. I think today is a very special day and warrants all of our attention, Even If you read the same thing here as you will on every blog you read today. Today is the 7th anniversary of a day that anyone from the age of 10 to 110 will remember forever. I would be willing to bet that even 7 years later, you can remeber where you were when you got the news that the towers had been hit. It is not just a memory, it's a feeling, it's a reminder to us all to be thankful for what we have and for many it is a reality.

My son, Josiah, asked me just the other day "Mom, when does God want for me to die?" Yes, my head snapped around and I was shocked not just at the question but at the way that he worded this question. I didn't tell him that death was not God's desire, I did not tell him that we should talk about living rather than dying. I thought if he is asking the serious questions, then he needs the serious answers, even when they are not pretty. I told him that we all die at sometime and that for everyone that time is different. He then asked "Will I die first?" Again, I was shocked at the question, but tried not to show it(I am actually starting to perfect the art of not looking shocked at what they come up with.) My response was "No one knows who will go first, it could be you or it could be one of us, but I do know that if mom and dad die before you do, You will be very well taken care of because there are so many people in his life that love you." He was satisfied with that answer and ran off to play.

My son's curiosity and the anniversary of 9-11 and other life events have had me reflecting latley about life and death and all that is in between. I think that to truly appreciate life we must always keep the idea of death on the horizon. For us death is not scary because we know that God has a plan and that when this life on earth is over we will begin a new life in heaven with HIM. Please take some time today to pray for your neighbors, your co-workers, your family and friends and all of those people that may be wondering when it is their turn to to die and what is next for them.

I know that Paul said it first in Philippians 1:3, but if I may, I would like to borrow his words to say to you now. "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you I always pray with joy...."

It's my turn...

The stomach bug got me too. :( I woke up this morning feeling awful! But then I looked at the clock and saw that it was 6:00 in the morning and thought 'of course I feel bad, who feels good at this time of morning?' I know that there are plenty of people in this world that wake up at 5:30am. or even 5:00am. or earlier and they go running or they start the day energized and feel exhilarated in the mornings. I am not one of those people. I am a night owl. If I go to bed before midnight I usually lay there with my eyes wide open and my brain running at full speed for hours. So mornings have never been my friend.

Anyway, back to this morning. I got up and went to the bathroom just like I always do, but suddenly started to feel even worse. I was getting that feeling that I might pass out. I knew that something bad was about to happen and there would be no way to stop it. I will spare you the horrific details of what happened next. Let's just say my stomach turned inside out and is refusing any type of nourishment today. Honestly, I feel as though I swallowed something that got in my stomach and ripped it apart until there is nothing left in it. So now I feel hollow and sore. Yuck!

So, I want to let you all know that I am forming a protest, complete with a picket line and everything. If you would like to join me, you can make signs that say "Just say NO to vomit" or "Stomach bugs are for slugs" or "Moms against Sick Germs" or if you have something else catchy you would like to say that is alright too. Let's put an end to relentless, unforgiving, unnecessary, sickness once and for all. We have to be strong people and pull together... ... Ok. considering I am at my weakest and no one else wants to be around me right now, maybe we should postpone the strike.

A special thanks goes out to my sister Angie for holding my hair this morning and to my friend Beth for taking in my baby girl so that I can rest and get better. You girls are my heroes today.

What is community to you?

Several weeks ago we had an ice cream party in our neighborhood. The kids and I walked up and down several streets and handed out flyers to everyone inviting them to "Sundaes on Sunday" at our house. Between the neighbors and some friends from church, we had about 30 people show up at our house. It was so much fun!

Heath and I love having our neighbors over to our house. We have gotten to know several of the neighbors behind us and we invite them over as much as we can to sit around the fire pit and just talk . Our kids love the other kids here too and that is very important.

It is not all on us to reach out though. Just last night we went to a block party for the street on the west side of us. We live on a very busy Hwy and are just about the only house facing that street so we were honorably invited to be a part of Harding Street. We had such a great time and we got the chance to meet several neighbors that are a little more new to the neighborhood. We had great food from the grill and side dishes everyone brought, the kids loved the bounce house, and the fire department came to let the kids climb around on their truck.
The only pictures I got were my kids on the fire truck. I wish that I had not been so shy to take pictures of people I barely knew. Maybe next time.

Many of our neighbors that couldn't come to our ice cream party told us last night that they really wanted to come but were out of town. We told them not to worry because we are now thinking of having a Chili Cook Off in November at our house. Another neighbor suggested that we do a progressive dinner in early December. It is so exciting to watch our neighborhood come together in community.

In the days of the early church there was also community.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

Community is very important as we learned in church this morning from a great friend....

Jesus lived in community as he called his 12 disciples to follow him.

We also were reminded of the two greatest commandments that God has given us... Love God and then Love Others. When we truly Love Others we are in community with them.

If you look around there is community everywhere. Even if you are home alone you can find community on the internet with Myspace and Facebook and even through blogs and emails.

I would like to encourage you today to get involved in community wherever you are. If you are already living in community let me know, I would love to hear your ideas and stories. Who knows you might even inspire our next community party.

Getting better...

I am pleased to report that we are all on our way to getting better. Karston is now in the clear. Heath is able to function and is doing better. He still has his moments. Alyssa is still crabby but the diapers are looking better. Josiah is in the clear, although he does complain that his head still hurts where he hit the ground when he fell of the slide. And finally I haven't had a headache in a whole two days, Yeah! I think we are finally starting to see daylight around here, but please be praying that it doesn't start all over again as my sister is starting to feel symptoms today. We will survive to see another day!

sick of being sick

So of the 6 people living in this house, my sister included, three have come down with a really disgusting stomach bug. It all started early in the week when Karston was vomiting in the middle of the night. After a day or two it turned to constant diarreah. In one night he took 4 showers and even had an accident in the middle of one of those showers. It was not a good night because that was the same night that Heath came down with the same stomach bug. He came home early from work, because he just couldn't stay out of the bathroom. Yesterday got even worse because not only was Heath home from work sick and Karston home from school, but Alyssa was also not feeling well. She had some really bad diapers and was complaining that her tummy, her mouth and her ears hurt. To top all of that I was having such a bad migrain headache that the vision in my right eye was blurry and it was hard to concentrate on anything. Heath and I spent most of the morning trying to sleep it off and hoped that Karston would take care of his sister. Instead the kids went and got Aunt Angie. Thank goodness, she knew exactly what to do.

Watch a marathon of Lord of the Rings. Heath and I watched a little but mostly it was Angie and Karston and Alyssa (when she wasn't sleeping.) They watched the second and the third one so I think that is a whole 8 hours.

Mid morning I got a call from the school. Josiah had fallen off of the top of the slide and hit his head. He was ok. but they gave him an ice pack and called me to let me know.

So that afternoon, Alyssa and I went to the store to get soup for dinner. We also decided that everyone needed a dessert to help them feel better. When we got home, Alyssa was so excited to tell everyone "Mom mom, cake!" While the cake may have helped us feel better for a short time, Josiah woke up at 2:00am vomiting. After cleaning him, my bedroom, myself and then checking in on the other kids, I finally got back to bed around 3:30am. It was a rough night, but today Heath has gone back to work and the boys have been bouncing off the walls with energy and not feeling sick at all. Alyssa is still a bit crabby and I am just exhausted.

We are looking forward to getting over this disgusting stomach bug with no more out of control bodily functions. If I don't post again for a few days you might want to check on us and make sure we are still alive. Look at that I can still have a sense of humor in the midst of it all.

A day in the life of a two year old...

A couple of days ago, Alyssa's friend Mercy came over to play at our house. We had so much fun together.

First we went for a walk. I should say I went for a walk, the girls went for a ride in the wagon. It was a bit of a forced walk. I went to put the dogs in the backyard but they got away from me and took off into the neighborhood. We went looking for them right away and while I was yelling for our dog Romeo, the girls were yelling for their other friend Savannah. The dogs came to us almost immediatley, so with the dogs on leashes and the girls in the wagon, we took a walk. When we got back to our yard, we had just enough time to take this picture and then run inside before the rain started to fall down from the sky in sheets. So what can you do when it is raining outside?

Well, you go fishing, of course. The girls loved playing this fishing game. They sat for an hour or so trying to get the fish on the magnetic fishing poles.Eventually they found it easier to take the fish out with their hands and put them on the fishing pole. Then they realized that they really didn't need the poles at all, so they went fishing in their own way. Then it was time to eat. We cleaned up a little bit and then sat down for hotdogs and cheese together. These little girls were very hungry after fishing all morning.

Then it was time for a nap. We started with an Elmo movie. After about an hour of resting, not napping, we finally got up and spent a little time playing before we had to meet the boys at the bus.

We then went out to meet the boys at the end of our driveway. The boys were so excited to see the girls waiting for them. We all went inside and they all headed into Alyssa's room to play.

Notice in this picture that the girls have changed clothes. There was a time that the girls were in the kitchen with Josiah. The next thing I knew Alyssa came to me (soaked from the waist down) saying "Oooh cold." The girls had found a cooler in the kitchen full of ice water(left over from labor day) and thought they they would go swimming. I quickly got them dried off, warmed up and redressed. Not long after that Mercy's mom came to pick her up. We had a great day with Mercy and look forward to a day when she and maybe their friend Savannah can come and play again.