You know what's worse than strep throat?

Having strep throat and hand, foot, and mouth disease all together. 
My poor little Jett has been fighting off this stuff for about 3 days and it totally sucks.  There is no other word for it.
He cried non stop all day yesterday.  Literally non-stop.  None of my other kids have cried so much when they were sick as he did yesterday.  It was a nightmare.  I just wanted to sit there and cry with him.  It's horrible to see your kids suffer and know there's nothing you can do about it.  Getting him to take his medicine was insanity.  I had to pin him down and pray that he didn't spit more than half of it out.  When he would ask for something to eat or drink, I would give it to him and he would just hold it and look at it, sometimes he'd even smell it, but was too afraid to swallow, so the looking and smelling was where it ended.  It was the most pitiful thing ever!  He also wanted to keep washing his hands.  I don't know if the cold water on his hands made him feel a little better, or if he's developing some sort of OCD, but whatever it was, the kids was obsessed with washing his hands all day.  He literally washed his hands like 3 times an hour.  And not just for a minute each time...he would stand there and run his hands under the water for a good 5 minutes.  At one point, I just filled the kitchen sink with water and added bubbles because if the kid has to touch water at all times, he needs some bubbles to go with it. It was so weird the way he obsessed about it, but for some reason it calmed him down, so I went with it. 

The most pitiful, forced smile I've ever seen.

This morning, he woke up and came into the living room saying "Mommy, I feeling better."  I could have cried then, too.  Watching him skip around and (mostly) act like his normal self made me so happy.  It seems like he's turning a corner, thankfully! 
Here he is this morning, with a diaper on because he had diarrhea in his underwear earlier and oh my gosh, I'm not dealing with that again:

Just chillin', playing Disney Scene It.

Daddy's gifts

For Mike's bday, I took the kids to the dollar store and let them each choose any 2 things in the store to give Daddy. 

Here's what they chose.

Jett chose pepperoni and an over the door hanger.

Isaac chose Scooby fruit snacks and a bat/ball set.

Elijah chose cotton candy and a Star Wars kite

Chloe chose a foam airplane and a slim jim

Laney chose Gatorade and Mike and Ikes

So precious.  Elijah carried around a click light for the longest time, and then put it back when he saw the kite.  Isaac originally picked out a huge plastic wristwatch but decided on the bat/ball set, instead. :)  Jett was completely set on the over the door hanger.  He picked it up shortly after we entered the store and carried it around the entire time!  
Mike loved it all!  I'm sure he thinks his greatest gifts, though, are the gift givers themselves. 
Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy Birthday to my Love!

Mike is 33 today! 

There is seriously no other person in the world I would rather be with at any given moment than him.  We have so much fun together, I can't imagine having more fun with anyone else...we laugh so much when we're together.  From day one, I have felt so comfortable around him...maybe a little too comfortable at times.
 He loves the Lord with all his heart, and strives to put God first in our family.  When I'm losing my cool or freaking out about something, he'll calmly and sweetly remind me that no matter what's going on, God is in control.  He shows me how to trust Him completely.  I need that so, so much.  And God knew that.  I thank my heavenly Father for allowing me to share this life with such a wonderful man.
 Not only was he totally supportive when we made the decision to have a big family (not too many men would want 5 kids, just so ya know...), but he is such an amazing dad and does so much for our kids, even after he's had a hard day at work.  When our kids were babies, he would wake up every night and bring them to our bed so I could feed them, and then take them back when they were done.  Seriously?  He's the only guy I've ever heard of that has done that!  People notice how much he helps me with the kids and they comment on how I have it so good.  I know I do. He shows his love for me by putting me and the kids before himself.  He's the kind of husband I've always dreamed of...way better, actually.


Happy Birthday to the most amazing man in the world!  I love you more with each passing day!

Summer starts

I glanced over at my little archive box and noticed that the number of blog posts each year is dwindling away.  2009 was the highest number, and of course, that was because little Jett-pack was on his way.  I used to blog nearly every event in our lives.  Now?  not so much. 
It makes me sad, because I love reading old posts and remembering the little things that I otherwise would have completely forgotten. 
So, lately, our family has just kind of been chugging along.  Busier than we've ever been, but not nearly as busy as we'll be in a few years, I'm sure.
Laney had a program at school - one of those things that she stayed after school to be a part of...heritage singers is what they called it.  A glee club, of sorts?  Anyway, they sang parts of songs from the 60's 70's and 80's (and they had to dress the part) and it was awesome!!!!  My favorite song they sang was The Rhythm of the Night. 
♪ ♫To the beat of the rhythm of the night, dance until the morning light.  Forget about the worries on your mind, you can leave them all behind. ♫ ♪
I know, I'm a nerd.
 

All ready!

The kids are out of school now, so we've been trying to think of things to do to keep us busy.  Today, we met some friends at a nature center. We ate lunch, played in the indoor part of the center and then went for a walk through the woods.  It was hot, but it was fun!  Tomorrow, we're planning on getting out the slip 'n slide. :)  Now that Jett is no longer a nursing baby, it's way more fun to go places with all the kids, and to plan fun play dates!  Nursing is precious, but holy moly, am I happy it's over!  Wow, I honestly never thought I'd think that!  =)


Remember the "super moon" we had a few weeks ago?  It was really clear where we live, so we could see it really well!

 

We've had some amazing sunsets here lately!  Sometimes, I just lock myself in my bedroom and stare out the window at them.  It's heavenly.  The peace and quiet and the view.  equally.  they're equally heavenly. :)

Big Changes

So, after much thought and prayer, a huge decision has been made.  Mike is going back to college to earn a degree in electrical engineering.  We just sent the application off today, and we're hoping that he can start in the Fall.  It's something we've been discussing and praying about for a while, and we really believe it's for our family's best interest.  This is for sure going to be a long and tough 4 years ahead of us, no doubt (obviously, mostly for Mike, he'll be working full time and going to school full time).  But we've been through something similar before, when he was attending night classes twice a week for 4 years, while he was earning his journeyman license.  This time around, he'll be doing only online classes, so while it sounds a whole lot better than actually going to class, the reality is that we'll have to keep 5 kids quiet and away from him while he's taking classes and studying.  Have you any idea how hard that's gonna be in a 1200 sq. foot house?  We're hoping that, if he takes classes all through the Summer, as well, he'll be able to finish in less than 4 years.  ...but 4  years is what we're shooting for.

Another huge decision that we've been praying about is moving our family from the cold Midwest to sunny Florida.  That will obviously be after Mike is done with college.  He'll start looking for jobs there (really, anywhere in Florida would be fine with us) and we'll move whenever he lands something. We realize that this is going to be a huge adjustment, not only for our immediate family, but for our extended family, as well.  I've lived near my mom and my sisters my entire life.  I see them at least once a week, and not seeing them is gonna be heartbreaking.  We've asked my mom to move with us - which is clearly a lot to ask, I get it - especially with 2 other daughters that live 10 miles from her - but I really hope she does.  I need my mom near me.  In 4 years, both of my sisters' children will be out of the house, except for 1, and she'll be 16.  So who knows any of them will still be living around the Midwest at all, being at college and all that fun stuff.  One of my nieces is actually going to be getting married to a guy in the Army, so we have no idea where they'll be stationed.  All that to say, I don't know if she'll agree...she hasn't really said...but if she comes with us, it would be so, so amazing!  As far as Mike's parents and sisters, well, we're kind of hoping his parents will move with us too.  Is that selfish and greedy? Maybe, but I really want both of my moms and the man that has been more of a dad to me than my own dad - my amazing father in law - around.  Mike's sisters (and mine, too, I just say Mike's sisters to distinguish from my sisters...they're all loved the same. :) both live in Arizona, so while it sucks that we'll be even farther from them, we don't really get many chances to see them anyway.  And if Mike gets a nice, steady job, hopefully we'll be able to afford to see them more.  

So I know what you're thinking...wow, this crazy girl is waaaayyy too obsessed with Disney World...now she wants to move near it!!  That's not it, REALLY!!!  I swear!  I've always wanted to live near the ocean, and we've been looking at the housing market down there (which can obviously change in 4 years, I know) and as of right now, it's our plan.  I should say, we for sure will be doing this, barring any unforeseen major family drama.  

And we haven't forgotten our plan of adopting a child with Down Syndrome.  We still plan on doing that, as well.  It's honestly one of the reasons that Mike is going back to school.  Adoption is expensive!  We want to be able to provide a child with special needs the right kind of care that they will require, and while I know that we need to trust God with everything, He also gives us minds and reasoning abilities to help ourselves.  

So, if you think about it, please pray for us as we wade through these next 4 years.  I don't want to do any of this if it's not God's will for us.  Like I said, we've been praying about this for a long time and we've asked God to shut doors if it's not what He wants for us.  The doors are all open right now, and more are opening all the time.  So as far as we can see, this is right for us.  Here we go!

One little monkey jumping on the bed

He fell off and bumped his head.

Mommy called the doctor and the doctor said

"bring the monkey in so we can staple his head!"

True story.

(ouch)

(after the staple)

(clearly, he was distraught over the whole situation...)

He was jumping on the bed and fell back and smacked his head on the foot board.  He came to Mike (I was at gymnastics with Chloe), no crying, no screaming...nothing...just very nonchalantlyand said "Dad, I hit my head and it feels funny."   Mike started feeling around on his head, and felt the back of his hair wet with blood.  He called me and I came home and we took him in.  The only time he cried was when he overheard Mike and I talking about him probably needing stitches or a staple.
The funny thing is, when I was about his age, I did the same EXACT thing, from the staple, right down to not crying, but just telling my mom that it felt funny.
I suppose he is like me in some ways, after all.  Take that, Mike!

My 2 happy places

My husband thinks I'm a lunatic.  He may be right.  You see, we were driving together tonight, and out of the blue I mentioned to him that I have 2 "happy places" my mind wanders to every once in a while.   You know, the whole "go to your happy place" thing?  Yeah, I have two.  Let me tell you about them.

The first is a little place called Disney World.  Have I ever mentioned that I could live in Disney World and never tire of it?  Well, I could.  I know, I'm a 5 year old.  Seriously though, it really is the happiest place on earth, as their slogan says.  I honestly don't know why I'm so obsessed with it.  I remember when I was around 10 years old,  a friend was showing me videos of when her family went on vacation there and I fell in love.  Really.  Every single time I went to her house, I would always ask her if we could watch the Disney World video.  I'm totally not kidding.  I was obsessed with all things Disney growing up.  My first visit to Disney World was when I was 16.  My best friend's grandparents stayed on the Air Force base for about 6 or 7 months out of the year, so we were able to stay with them for a week during Spring break.  While we were there, we drove to Orlando for the day and went to the Magic Kingdom.  1st Happy Place discovered.  There are 4 main parks (along with many hotels and such) that make up Disney World - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. (That's for those of you who aren't familiar with Disney World, and if you're not familiar with all things Disney World, 1-get familiar with it, 2-please, please, please plan a trip there at least once in your life, 3- please, please, please take me with you.)  So, it came as no surprise to my mother when Mike and I chose Disney World for our honeymoon.  The fact that Mike's family knew someone that worked there and could get us awesome deals may have had a little to do with it.  So far, we've been there 3 times since we've been married, and we plan to go back, possibly next year.  

Happy place number 2 is the hospital delivery room.  I don't know what it is about giving birth, but I truly, truly love it.  If you're trying to tell me I'm crazy through your computer screen, I understand.  It's definitely not the first time I've heard it.  Yes, I have had a baby all natural (not by my choice...the epidural catheter fell out of my back and no one discovered that minor little flaw until after I had blood-curdling-screamed my baby out of me).  I really think it's that amazing feeling of meeting your baby for the first time.  Maybe it's being waited on hand and foot for 3 days straight, I dunno, there's something about it that I just love.  

So here's what I figure - my ULTIMATE happy place would be to give birth in Disney World.  

Hello?!?!?  

Does it get any better than that?!

 Nope.  No, it doesn't.  

Mike's right, huh?  Maybe I should see someone about this.