a great day to be alive....

today we went to the missouri botanical gardens for the easter egg hunt.
i had never been there, alone.  the few times i have gone, i went with my mom. 
i put my big girl pants on and went.  i had talked in depth with my second momma, joyce at work yesterday.  she reminded me of other parking options, to get there with plenty of time, and just relax.  that is exactly what we did.
the weather was divine.  our girls have a great appreciation for nature and the beauty of it.  anne was swooning at the sight of all the tulips.  kate spotted a real snake in one of the flower beds.  she almost had cardiac arrest, but we got through it. we had a great time.
i mean a great time.  we left and i said ITS A GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE! 
i took a million pictures....bare with me. 

just realized i was getting ready to enter tulip heaven!

i said....sit DOWN RIGHT THERE....anne thought to herself...here we go.  she isn't gonna stop with the camera.

tulips are my favorite.

she was in heaven.

oh my goodness....azaleas too?  i thought i was going to pop.  heaven. i tell ya!

goof ball.

the hunt begins....

hilarious. she had no idea he was behind her.

love.

thumbs up. they had a blast.

favorite picture of the day.

2nd favorite...

skip to my lou.

don't know about the giggles...but you can hear it.

swoon.

lordy. i couldn't stop. they.were.everywhere.

this could be my favorite too.

i can't wait to spend a lot more time at 'the garden' this summer. 
man. i'm telling ya.  a great day to be alive!
~chat soon!

so how was your weekend?

that's a doll bottle in the far corner...i wasn't that sick...

so....how was your weekend?  mine was in bed. looking at a nightstand filled with kleenex, advil, tylenol, cough syrup, musinex (my new best friend), gatorade, and thermometer.  i woke up friday morning with a whoping fever of 103.4. 
LORD HAVE MERCY! 
that is waaaaay to big of a fever for someone that is grown.
i have not laid in bed for a day and a half straight since...well, since the day after my bacholerette party and it wasn't a virus that caused my sickness those days! 
kate had it last week, adam had it the beginning of the week, then it hit momma.
a big thanks to my sweet friend who left a meal on our front step, my parents who watched the chicks for two nights so i could literally do nothing but lay on my backside and stare at the walls, and to my friends (and sister) who probably had to get new phone batteries for all the text messages that were flying back and forth. 
i seriously thought i was done for. 
luckily, the good Lord had other plans. 
now it's Monday.  i have just a horrid cough as a battle wound.
we have had dinner.  i was putting the dishes away...and stepped in a HUGE puddle at the base of the sink.
opened the cabinet doors...guess what????  A LEAK.  A HUGE LEAK.
it is 8:51 pm and we have a very talkative plumber chatting it up under our kitchen sink.
oi!
~chat soon!

my tough girl.

so if you know me. you know i have type 1 diabetes.  have for forever....or since i have been 7.  it's been awhile.  when i was pregnant with anne i was approached to think about putting anne in the TRIGR study.  it is a diabetes research study that in a nutshell, tries to figure out if diabetes is caused from genetic tendencies or environmental things.  it wasn't anything to get upset about...if we signed up, ALL our formula would be provided.( i was nursing so that wasn't a big deal to me)  I would just have to bring anne into children's hospital for blood samples.  okay.  no big deal.  she won't qualify. no way.

about 3 weeks after she was born.  i got a call.  anne had the genetic make up to be a carrier for type 1 diabetes.  now. if you have ever been pregnant, delivered, and were 3 weeks post part um, you will understand the psycho factor that lays before you.  dr. white called because our liaison was unavailable.  i remember his voice, i remember what i was wearing, i remember who was in the house...i leaned up against the fridge and heard the words...anne has the genetic makeup to be a carrier for type 1 diabetes.  i remember a lot of charlie brown teacher noise.  and i remember me being able to squeak out the words...what does this mean?  

he said...your daughter has a FIVE percent chance of being diagnosed type 1 diabetic by the age of 10.  and then that wawwawwaw noise.  after i came to, i also heard him say 'this means a 95% chance she will not.'

anne had to be taken to children's hospital every 3 months until her 12 month date and then once a year until she is 12 years old.  they do a blood draw. they run it through the lab and give me the glucose and the average blood sugar level.  then it is sent away to be looked at and checked out and investigated and torn apart to see what makes up what (that is a 2nd grade teachers take on the whole thing...)

tuesday we went for her SEVEN year checkup.  she dressed up.  was super brave.  marilyn, the dietitian is always a gem to deal with.  she gives anne lots of attention, and love, and gifts.  

do you know that anne crawled into the lab seat and didn't even blink?

i did notice her foot was moving quite busily....but other then that nothing.  she did the whole ding dang thing and didn't utter a word.  

i love that girl.  with my whole heart.  she did ask why she had to have that done.  i got sweaty and the room got fuzzy and i thought now was the time to explain diabetes....and i opted for: to make sure you are healthy.  

that my friends, is not a lie.  it is the truth.  

i found out today she will need to keep going until she is 12.  by 12 i will give her the truth. but today, at 7, i told her it's to make sure she is healthy....

and at 4:30 i got the call from sweet marilyn that she is indeed healthy.  all blood work came back fine and the samples are being sent off for the scientist to play with them.

Thank you, Jesus!  

~chat soon!

awaiting the stick...

 

umm....not too sure.

i am brave.

i am still brave.

miss marilyn. our trigr hero!

the sonic reward on the way home! yummo! 

a prayer. *updated*

spring view. courtesy of the kitchen window.

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

in my parents room, growing up, this prayer hung printed on a plastic plaqu ish type wall hanging.
it hung above my parents clothes hamper. (now that i think of it, maybe i should get one over my hamper too...maybe it would help my laundry issue!)

i would read it. often. and not have a clue what it meant.  not a clue.
then i got older, much older, like maybe married older, and it all sunk it.
it has become my mantra.  a little secret i have.  i say that prayer often.
sometimes in my own version, which sounds something similar to ....
uh, God?  i'm really having trouble getting over this/letting it go...
toss me a life vest?
and usually it works.  He calms me, or fixes it, or offers me an answer or a way to conquer it.
it's a powerful few lines. 
as i get older, i feel like i get better at figuring out the things or accept the things i can not change, and am slowly getting brave enough to change other things, (or change myself so i can accept them)
nothing major, just stuff.  like, well, storms or the dentist.  getting over things people say, hurt feelings, worries about others, worrying that the girls will get diabetes,  letting go that my house isn't clean, or laundry isn't done, or that we thought we would be moving, and now we are changing our mind, and taking a break from the moving idea which is the responsible thing to do, but maybe not the fun thing to do...or the fact that i/we would love to have more children, but it's just not in the cards for us.  and how that pains me, sometimes badly, often daily.  but i'm starting to accept it.  
accepting is easy, it's the changing part that is tough. 

and with spring, and the warm breeze, and the sunshine, i think it makes this prayer just a bit easier to say...and smile after saying it!

chat soon!

 DISCLAIMER.....

now that it is the morning, (i posted this last night) i just wanted to CLARIFY that the things i listed as things i may refer to my 'prayer' about are trivial.  truly trivial.  but they can be on a persons mind.  know what i mean?  i am in no way in a sad state of affairs.  or in a constant state of worry or fear.  just simply stating that once you learn that prayer, it really is a lot easier to get through stuff.  really.  that's all i meant! :)  

today's agenda

 poor kate is sick.
she got sick  in the car last night as i was dropping off anne for choir at church.
luckily that has not happened again, but now there is a beastly fever.
she only wants to lay down. 
our kids are rarely sick.  and their tough.  so when this happens, it is quite humbling.
so today, i am going to give my car another wipe down.  (gross)
and snuggle.
and possibly turn the a.c. on...in march. 
strange.
bet it snows in two weeks!
~chat soon.

straight from kate....

hey mom.
yes kate.
do you know you have a HUGE bump on your forhead.  I mean HUGE!
uh, yeah, i think i noticed it.
is that a PIMPLE?
yep.
why do you get pimples? who gave you that pimple? what do you do to get a pimple?
they just come.
do you get those when you are old? (ode)
i mean ARE YOU OLD?  REALLY REALLY OLD?
no kate. i am not.
i think you are.
good night kate.
****
when i was pregnant, i had horrible acne.  i mean gross, huge, crowd stopping acne. (oozing, hurting, swollen, red, sometimes white, acne. i mean horrid)   post pregnancy and nursing, no acne.  i'm not arguing.  but i'm still sensitive about it and it's aftermath...every once in a while i get a mammer jammer of a zit and hate it.  because i'm worried it may have friends...kate's take on pimples cracked me up.  she's something else.

this weekend

last week it came to me that i was off work both this past friday and this monday.
we have been itching to go to trout lodge again.  i checked the forcast and said, it's perfect.
adam said, book it.
and we did.
we planned to pick anne and kate up around noon and head out of town.  they knew nothing about it.
we went to pick anne up.
she came out of the door and said, DO I HAVE A CAVITY? AM I GETTING A SHOT?!
uhhh.....no i said.
THEN WHERE ARE WE GOING?  WHY ARE YOU HERE?!
adam said, well, i thought we should probably go to TROUT LODGE.
she squealed like a crazy girl.
off we went to pick up kate.
it took her a minute to digest it, but she was just as excited.
the weekend was perfect.  just perfect.
the weather was beautiful, it wasn't crowded.
we went, and went, and went, and WENT.
if you haven't ever been, i would highly suggest going.
it seriously is one of the best family friendly places i have been too.
the activities promote learning and success.  anne learned how to shoot a bow and arrow and for pete's sake hit the BULLSEYE!
adam braved a horse back ride. and lived.
i mean seriously.  you need to go!
i promise you will love it!

a hole in one for anne...the ball in the picture is mine.  she is doing a celebration dance...

this is what kate did most of the 18holes...sat on them.

or sat on the bench and said can we ride bikes NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW?!

finally bikes.

volleyball.  adam laughed at me too much. i tried to explain, it's a little different when there is no one else that knows how to play on the court.

exploring the lake front

horse back riding. 

anne got to ride

she got a hat with the ride. her new prized poscession

daddy riding

yee haw

really loving the whole cow girl idea

checking out the creek

i mean really loving the hat.

ping pong

archery

a natural

bulls eye

arts and crafts.  kate's heaven

getting psyched up for the balloon pop

i mean it, she was great

kate finally got a turn...

and did well

she even popped a balloon in the competition

on the ridge.  picture stinks but you get the idea