Almost Home

As I write this Marc is one the plane coming back home to the US. He has been in Germany all week for meetings with work. I know we will all be so happy when he gets home. Although, he is not home for long. He leaves again Monday morning. Thankfully, for not as long or as far away. I really can't complain....

This is Marc with some of his colleagues over in Germany. From left to right; Simon, Carsten, Thomas and Marc. Carsten became a wonderful friend to our family a few years ago. He came to work here in the US for a couple of years. While he was here, we got to know him fairly well. How fun we still get to keep in touch with him :)

Trials Make Us Stronger

You know what they say about trials...."Trials only make you stronger." The only thing is, while you are going through the trial you don't feel so strong and you wonder where is the strength going to come from. Today was a hard day...I sort of feel like this picture looks. Marc took this picture looking outside of his office in Germany.

Today was definitely not a sunny day. It felt a little sunny when I woke up but as the day went the clouds started coming in. By late afternoon there wasn't blue sky anywhere, just clouds.

I know sometimes things are out of our control. I know sometimes we need to go through the bad to find the good. I know sometimes we just have to let go and watch everything work itself out. The events that took place today falls within all these things I know I need to do. There really isn't anything more I can do. One thing I do know is I have found the good. Thankfully, with time everything will be good and this too will be behind me. What a relief!!!

Tomorrow, there is a chance for rain. I am hoping that even through the rain I can find the sunshine.

Happy Valentine's Day

I have to admit Valentine's Day is not one I get all mushy about. It seems I write that about every holiday we come across lately... Anyway, I don't need flowers and chocolate. As a matter of fact, the chocolate is why I have to spend 6 days of my week doing cardio. I do, however, have fun with my kids on Valentine's Day.

This morning I wanted to make a Valentine breakfast. It was kind of a complicated task. Every morning I have breakfast duty 2X. Cameron and Kaelyn first, then when they are off to school it's Ellie and Emersyn's turn. So, for Cameron and Kaelyn I made Valentine french toast. Cameron was a holiday pooper (he probably got that from me) he didn't want Valentine sprinkles in his french toast. Ellie chose Valentine french toast while Emersyn chose Valentine pancakes. I put some sprinkles in the pancakes to help celebrate. It was fun. Above is what Marc had for his Valentine breakfast while in Germany.

Marc is gone..and I do mean gone far away. He is in Germany. I did get to talk with him this morning (well it was late afternoon for him). I hope he knows we miss him and love him around here. I don't know what I would do without such a great husband. Thanks Marc for sticking with me for all these years!!! Love you babe!!!

Lucky 13

Kaelyn turned 13 this year!!! WOW...is all I can say...... Where did the time go? When did my kids grow up? How can they be teenagers already?

Kaelyn starting planning her birthday party a couple months before it arrived. She had lots of ideas, making it hard to decide what exactly she wanted to do. I knew she wanted to invite quite a few people over to so.....we were definitely going to have this party here at home.

We decided on doing some Minute to Win It games here at the house. Although, I think the hit of the party was the Just Dane 2 game she got earlier that morning. It was so fun to see all these kids lined up and dancing in our front room. Marc offered to set the game up outside on the back wall so there was room for more to dance. Kaelyn was not very hip on the idea. Cameron and his friends even got involved in the dancing... My little Emersyn was dancing too....

All was going well until it came time to eat the cake. This awesome cake we ordered ended up all over our backyard. It only starts with one...... One of Kaelyn's friends decided it would be a lot of fun to put cake in her face.... I remember being a teenager and thinking those things were really fun to do. Within minutes we had 25 kids in the backyard throwing cake all around at each other. Needless to say, Marc and I were not the happiest but thankfully it didn't ruin the party we had planned.

Happy Birthday to Kaelyn!!!!!

Happy New Year...A Month Later

I have to say, New Years is not one of my favorite holidays. Ushering the new year is fun if you have something to do. There didn't seem to be a whole lot going on so Marc and I decided to have some friends and families over. I didn't know our house could be so loud!!
I had talked to my mom New Year's Day. She had said how she didn't stay up for the new year but some jerks across the street had woken her up. Well, in our neighborhood we were the jerks across the street. Back in Nov lighting off fireworks became a legal thing to do. Immediately after the vote passed firework tents were popping up all over town.....haha.....like that one...? "Popping" up all over town....!!!!! Sometimes I just crack myself up :)

Some of our friends brought over some fireworks. Oh man...!!!!! I bet for a half hour straight there were fireworks going off in front of our house. No one came out to yell at us, but I am sure they were thinking the exact same words my mom used, "jerks".

Hope this year is a great year for everyone.

I Want to Ride my Bicycle

Every time Emersyn asks if she can go out and ride her bike that song always pops into my head and I start singing. "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike....chorus...bicycle, bicycle.... Do you know what song I am talking about? Can't remember who sings it, but I do know it has been out for like 100 years....

For Christmas Emersyn asked for a new bike. Thank goodness Santa heard her wish and brought her a brand new bicycle. One withOUT training wheels. Here is the thing...I think all of our other kids learned to ride their bikes when they were 5-6 years old. I guess this is what happens when you are the baby of the family. But, she is such a sweet baby of the family....

Immediately, Emersyn was nervous to get on the bike and try it out. As a matter of fact, she really wasn't all that excited about getting the bike after all. We all tried to get her to go outside and try riding...Emersyn has other things she wanted to do. After lots and lots of encouraging words, Emersyn finally got on for a try. The only one she wanted to help her was Cameron though...UNTIL....he did something to freak her out (like let go of the back of the bike). Day after day we would all go outside and try to get Emersyn up and riding the bike. Day after day she was getting better but not quite riding by herself.

UNTIL ONE DAY...........

She got on the bike and with a little push she was off...... She was even able to turn around and come back to us. Now, we were down to just needing help getting the bike started. After a few days this part clicked too.....

NOW..........

She rides alongside Marc and I as we walk the dogs. She is always showing us her latest trick; standing up while riding, put one foot on the bar while riding..... We are so proud of you Emersyn!!!!! Sorry it took your mom and dad so long to get you up on that bike.

Straight A's

Our little girls' brought home report cards yesterday. I never know what is going to be said about our kids while they are away from the home all day.

Ellie bursted through the door with excitement!! She had the biggest grin on her face along with a little pep in her step. She reminded me that report cards were coming home. She gave me hers and watched me with much anticipation open the envelope. Ellie doing this made me anxious!! As I opened her report card I could just feel the excitement and she could no longer wait. "I got all A's!!!", bursts out of her mouth.

Ellie got all A's!!!!!!

See, for Ellie this is a HUGE accomplishment. Ellie didn't speak until she was 3 or older. So, for the first few years of school, Ellie would be pulled out of class for speech therapy. Then about 4-5 years ago we found out she was going blind. She has a genetic condition that causes her eye to move (lazy eye). Although, her eye didn't drift so Marc and I really had no idea she couldn't see. When she started school they did an eye exam on her. There were some concerns so I took her to the doctor. The doctor confirmed Ellie couldn't see very well. Because we didn't have vision insurance we opted to take her to an Optometrist. Well, they did put her in glasses BUT.........

About 6 months after starting her glasses Marc had some family come to town. His brother, Dan, is an Ophthalmologist. He noticed something in her eyes and told us we need to get Ellie into an Ophthalmologist as soon as we could. Sure enough, we had Ellie an appointment within a week or so.

Ellie is going blind is what we were told in so many words. Her prescription for her glasses changed and the "patch" was introduced to us. Ellie had to "patch" her eye at least 3-4 hours a day. This was not an easy task.... Ellie hated it and I soon found out why. I put the patch on my eye one day to see how it felt. Oh my word....the eye I could see with hurt so bad. Ellie patched her eye for about 1-1 1/2 years.... we must have done a pretty good job. Now, the doctor says he can't tell which eye was losing the vision.

This is why Ellie getting straight A's in school tickles me!!!!! This little girl of ours is amazing!!! She has been given some trials at an early age and yesterday showed how well she overcame those trials (as I sit here crying). Ellie immediately called her dad. We decided there was a celebration in order!!!!!! Pizza with a little Cold Stone for dessert :)