Halloween Update

Happy Monday everyone and happy November too! I love November, warm days and cool nights. So fun. We had a fun busy weekend. We made goodies from http://www.picky-palate.com/ and delivered them to the neighborhood kids. If you have never checked out her web site I encourage you to do so and be prepared for some YUMM-O treat ideas. We started off our Halloween morning by visiting Hampton Manor retirement home with some other home school friends and handing out home made cookies and other fun stuff. The people LOVED having the kids there in their costumes and getting treat bags just topped it off I think. ;) All the kids had great servant hearts and all the parents who showed up and helped out were amazing as well.
Saturday afternoon my mom helped the girls decorate cookies she had bought them and fun was had by all.
While the girls were making their cookies I was sneaking around planning a fun Halloween dinner. I made mummy hot dogs, baked pumpkin ziti, salad with pumpkin seeds and we had the girls cookies for dessert. Dan's mom also came down to spend the day and after all the good food we went with our neighbors trick or treating till' the kids (and myself) were worn out. ;)

Ryanne dressed as a ballerina and Morgan was a Greek Goddess. They were super cute and so excited to be with family and friends.

Morgan's Recital

Morgan played at a little Fall recital this weekend. The girls also had a circus show which for some reason would not down load so I will try and post it next. ;)

Pray

I am posting to ask that you pray. It's actually something very specific I need prayer for and although I rarely talk about my health on here I wanted to ask you to lift it up something that is important to me. If you are new to reading my blog it will be 7 years this coming April that I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis. It's not the mild, I feel "yuck" every so often kind of arthritis; it's the "hard to get out of bed and dress yourself or write or hold a toothbrush kind." I have been on just about every drug they offer,only to become VERY ill and most recently (last April & May) spent 8 weeks in and out of the hospital, and in bed.

It will be 5 months this week that I have been treating myself naturally with food and supplements. I have been seeing a Homeopathic Dr. once a month who has been a life saver along with me doing acupuncture and getting massages all of which are helping but there is still always this constant underlying pain that I deal with all day every day and night. Not to mention our insurance won't pay for anything that is NOT traditional medicine so it is getting VERY expensive.

My friend who works at Loma Linda mentioned to me on Sunday that they have a pain management clinic there and she knew the people who ran it and would see if they would take me. She called Monday and said our insurance would cover it and the Dr. did want to take me on. The only thing was I had to get my regular Rheumatoligist to agree to send me there. I prayed and called this morning and they said they would put the request in today. Please pray they follow through and I am accepted. If I can get into this pain clinic they offer acupuncture and also pool therapy which I really believe would help with some of the daily pain and weakness I am having. I am VERY committed to staying clear of traditional drugs they use for RA due to the fact that I am convinced they made me VERY ill and I have no plans of riding in an ambulance again anytime soon. ;) I am committed to taking care of myself for my husband and my family and to be positive through it all. The hardest part really is looking fine on the outside and yet being in pain 24 hours a day. It starts to wear on your nerves and sleep and everything.

Please pray my referral goes through. Pray the clinic can take me. Pray they have ideas to keep my joints limber and moving. Pray for my heart as I struggle through living with this crazy disease and seeking Gods will in how he desires to use me in that. Thank you so much and I will keep you posted on what happens in the next few weeks. :)

Oh Baby!!!

I hosted a baby shower for our good friends (well minus the husbands) this past Saturday and what made it even more fun was that it's their first baby; oh and it's a girl which I know a thing or two about. ;) I did a tea and cake shower, notice however I put fruit on the table for good measure. :) And yes Stacy I was good and stayed away from all the tempting sugar. I can actually walk today. ;)
Me & Ruth

Ruth's Grandma drove out for her special day as did lots of other friends and family. It was fun because allot of people from the church I grew up in and we were married in were there so I got to visit with some great people who we miss dearly.

Ruth's mother in law made her this sweet sweater along with some other amazing gifts. I'm glad you had a good day friend and we are SO looking forward to meeting that sweet babe of yours. Love you guys!

OK speaking of babies you know I couldn't sign off without a story about Ryanne right?

The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Man, it'll be so fun when baby Taylor gets here huh girls?"

Ryanne: "ya'."

Me: "Whens that baby coming? Ryanne are they gonna go get her at the hospital soon?"

Ryanne: Blank Stare

Me: "Noooo, they gotta go shopping and get her at the store right Ryanne?"

(As if I haven't learned not to bate Ryanne)

Me & Morgan start kinda giving her hard time in the car Friday like,"Ry, when is that baby gonna pop out of her belly?"

Ryanne: spreading her legs points down south and say's,"Look, there's some holes down there, she comes out of one of them but I don't know which one OK?"

Can I just tell you I learned many important things that day on the way back from Lake Arrowhead;

1. NEVER ask your kids questions about "that stuff" unless you are ready to hear the answers.

2. Never and I mean NEVER ask those kind of questions when your husband is driving 60 down a very steep mountain road. Almost killed us all.

3. NEVER, EVER bate Ryanne with cutsie, I want a 5 year old answer about life's happenings.

Why I LOVE To Home School......

Art........The whole family (including furry friends) gets involved.......
P.E. Rocks.........................

Can't beat the science field trips with daddy...........

Family field trips aren't half bad either. :)

Monday Dan was home so after school we surprised the girls and drove up to Oak Glen and had hot cider and warm apple pie. The off the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins and look at all the different kinds of pumpkins and colorful gourds. So fun to be out in the cool Fall air.

Happy October 1st!!

I just wanted to be the first to tell you happy fall! Happy October 1st! Oh and don't hate me but other than a few things for my kids I am D-O-N-E with my Christmas shopping!! Yahoo-weeeee-(picture the back flip here) freaky dance move!!!!

I made a list back in July of everyone in our families we bought for and what I wanted to get them and then every time I saw something on sale that was on my list or got a coupon to a department store in the mail I went out and picked it up. Little by little I marked off the moms, the nieces, the friends.................aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh; I will so NOT miss the stores in December.

I am not done with the girls entirely but we told them the cruise we are going on in April is their Christmas gift so other than some fun stocking stuff and a couple little things, I put together "cruise bags" for them complete with new swim suites, flip flops, sun dresses, underwater cameras etc. It was a really fun gift to put together.

Will you hate me if on Thanksgiving I tell you all my gifts are wrapped??? :)

Family Time......

We stole a few days away with our kids last week and headed to the beach. We loaded up some school work, did very little of it and had a GREAT time together. Playing in the sand, boogie boarding in the warm water and Morgan falling asleep on Dan in front of the camp fire; priceless. :)
Seriously it was just what the Dr. ordered for everybody in our house. Dan was burnt out from work, I was feeling cruddy from the heat, and the girls? Well, they just wanna get away and play with daddy.

We have been taking the girls picture on this bench since before Ryanne could walk. Now she RUNS down the 100+ steps and always beats us to the top. It happens so fast.

On a side note I was sitting on the beach enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze watching Dan play with the girls and I started thinking about all the "stuff" we have been through over the past almost 13 years of marriage. I don't know why but I truly believe more than ever this is a VERY difficult time to be married. Actually scratch that, I DO know why. Satan wants the church to fall apart and the best way to do that is to get to the heart of the family and ruin it. So many couples that I know are struggling with big, ugly, hurtful things and when I am listening to them share and thinking back on our marriage I feel badly that I can't give them a time frame for it to get "all better." Dan and I struggled no lie for the first 8 years of our marriage. I would literally beat my head against the wall wondering where I went wrong. Marriage is life and life has storms. Some last a few hours, days or weeks and some storms are crazy long and leave a path of craziness BUT the good news is God is good and faithful and the only thing you really have to decide when in the midst of that storm is if you are gonna stay or flee. You choose to stay and God will honor that faithfulness and when the storm clears you will have joy. All that to say when I was watching Dan with our girls I got that lump in my throat that you cant swallow down and goose bumps. I LOVE that man. That imperfect, hard headed, driven, amazing man! :)

If you get a chance go over and click on my friend Crystal's blog and read the letter about marriage she posted. My favorite quote from it is "marriage is fabulously hard."
Have a blessed day and go hug your spouse! It's probably hard being married to us sometimes too! ;)