A Peek At Our Week

 I want to start this post by thanking you all so much for reaching out to me about my health.  I have never shared much about myself in that way and the conversations it has opened up for me have been amazing.  Thank you all so much for your support and kind words and encouragement!  

Also, I have been talking a lot with a very good friend who has been a part of our adoption journey since its inception.  She is an incredible person with the biggest heart and we have opened up a lot in recent conversations about heartbreak and our journey to adoption (and so much more).  So, it made me want to go back and look through some photos of part of our journey and I want to share a few here.  Now, this computer is new so my photos only go back as far as the ones I have stored in my phone so the only "first day" photos I have handy are of the twins BUT rest assured, I will be pulling out our portable hard drive and looking for "first day" photos of Tristan, Lily and Nico too.  They will be posted soon.  Anyway, no one has ever seen these photos before...  

Here are Harlan and Nolan on the day we got to bring them home.  Where in the heck does the time go and why are they already almost 3 years old?...  

Harlan 

Nolan

Sweet little boys- just 3 weeks old

Here is a peek at our awesome week!  

It has been sunny and warm for the past three days.  This is right up my alley.  But, tomorrow, we are expecting like 8 straight days of rain so I am absorbing all the sunshine I can.  It's warming up though, because even though it's supposed to rain, it's supposed to also be up in the high 50's and low 60's.  I'll take it.  

Our garden is booming. The seedlings are starting to pop up and we are getting excited.  I go in and check them twice-a-day and they grow in between visits!  No joke...  

I made my own dishwasher detergent and rinse aid.  I made my own washing soda powder instead of buying some because I had a lot of baking soda on hand.  It was easy.  The jury is still out on how well we will like how they work but the combo is better than washing soda alone.  The detergent is washing soda and Thieves essential oil.  The rinse aid is citric acid and Thieves essential oil.  I am still deciding on if I need to put a tablespoon of Thieves Cleaner in too, so we will see.  I may also try adding grapefruit essential oil to see if that helps get the glasses cleaner....  

Dinner Menu...  

The boys all got haircuts...  

Tristan hates his mohawk.

Nico got to spend a gift card he got for Christmas.  I'm not exaggerating- 5 minutes after this was opened, he lost it in the woods behind our house.  

School.  We are still reading the Beast Quest books and are on series 3 within the series. We are hopping back on the Sea Life unit and are getting ready to learn about Sea Otters.  I also added a bunch of cute little printouts to our wall and ceiling (its angled so that the kids can see it really well so we use it like a wall due to limited wall space).  I know the skip counting posters are crooked but I wasn't using a level and didn't have it in me to fix it.  Lol.  I am starting to challenge the kids a little more and incorporating a little more difficult lessons for each of them.  Nico is writing a lot more and hating every second.  He absolutely loves being read to and he is really good at math when he doesn't self-sabotage.  The timer is working wonders when we remember to use it.  Lily is very artistic and would only ever do art if allowed. But, her math skills are improving dramatically and her writing is getting much better.  Her comprehension of certain questions for guided reading or reading passages is still a struggle so we are working on reading comprehension.  Tristan is always eager for school and is almost always a fantastic student.  He struggles to keep his space and work neat and spelling (other than weekly spelling lists and tests) is starting to become a small struggle.  His math skills are also improving.  I absolutely love our math program and credit it to their better understanding of basic math skills.  There is a story to follow along with and each new lesson has a new part of the story.  It is our routine for me to read the story to each of them when it comes to a story page and then they do the lesson.  The story continues to grow throughout each level.  Improving their confidence is my daily goal with each of them and some days I think I've done well with it and some days I could improve.  Writing is a big thing for us.  I have been letting the kids come up and write on the board and that helps motivate them a bit to do well and helps with the confidence.  It's hard to stay in the classroom right now with the weather so nice.  Wednesday, the kids painted outside for hours after lunch.  Thursday was a modified school schedule and each kid did their schooling at different times throughout the day according to when I could dedicate one-on-one time with each one...  

Twin shenanigans...  This week has been wonderful for the twins (for all of the kids).  They have played in the dirt, got their hair cut, put a lot of miles on their 4 wheelers, snacked on popcorn, worked with Eric in the woodshop, caught chickens by themselves, saw their first snake, did yoga, helped in the barn, practiced counting, had a pillow fight with one another (instigated by Harlan) and played pretend a bunch!  Their imaginations are so amazing right now.  Tonight, Harlan sat in the bottom of my tea cart and pretended it was a rocket.  He laughed and played in there for over 20 minutes.  They LOVE Little Einsteins (it's a show on Disney+) and the kids on that show ride around in a rocket.  We were watching him and he was patting his legs to get the rocket to go.  It was precious.  

I did a ton of snack prepping this week.  I am trying to offer the kids more fresh snacking options vs. them always heading to the pantry for snacks.  I boiled 2 dozen eggs and may boil more tomorrow and make deviled eggs and egg salad, I made these little energy balls (Tristan calls them Power Balls) and I made three dinner casseroles (one we had for dinner Saturday night and the other two we got to freeze).  The energy balls are easy but I made 4 flavors and doubled each batch so it was a little more involved than I had anticipated.  I've made them in the past and Tristan used to take them to swim practice so he was super excited when I made them again.  I froze 1/2 of each batch.  

Peanut or Almond Butter (I did two batches of each), Honey or Maple Syrup (we use local honey), Quick Oats, Chia Seeds (optional), Vanilla extract, Mix-Ins (I did one batch with dried cranberries, one with dried blueberries, one with cinnamon chips and one with mini-chocolate chips- but the options are endless).  

I made hummingbird food and hung three of my feeders.  

The horses LOVED the warmth this week as well.  At one point I looked out at the pasture and all of them were laying in the sun.  I didn't get a picture of that.  

Buttercup, Reese and Patch

Harrison and Aurora

Tristan found our first snake in TN.  I was stunned and I think the poor snake was too.  Now, I DO NOT like snakes at all but we only dispose of Rattlers and leave the rest alone.  We moved this guy down by the creek to stay safe.  He or she is an Eastern King Snake.  

Lily got a bunch of fairy garden supplies for Christmas and for Valentines Day and decided to take advantage of the warmth and create her magical space.  It was killing Nico so he got super creative and built one of his own using only nature.  Lily ended up giving him a few of her critters and sharing some of the rocks and things she had.  

Missy jumps the gate out of the back yard several times a day.  On Tuesday night I was reading to the kids and Tristan saw something on her foot.  He said she had a scratch but it "wasn't bad".  I watched her for a bit as I read and noticed she was licking it a ton so I went and checked it out.  I nearly passed out.  YUCK.  She had a huge, gaping wound the size of a quarter and her skin was peeled back exposing A LOT (I'll spare the details).  I packed it with Neosporin, put gauze on it and wrapped it.  The next day, I noticed the gate to the back yard was bent on the top little design piece.  She must have gotten her leg stuck in there and it gouged her foot open.  I am so thankful she didn't break her leg or foot bones.  The twins had to have both of their feet wrapped up the next day because they had "owies" too.  Lol.  She's fine now and already doesn't need it bandaged any longer but I am keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get worse.  

Felix (the cat) nurses on Missy's chest at every opportunity and she's so tolerant with him.  He did it the whole time I was 'doctoring' her.  

Tomorrow I plan to do some more snack and meal prepping and finish my cleaning that I did not do on Wednesday.  

Either Saturday or Sunday we are going to attempt to work in the guest bathroom/Lily's bathroom pulling baseboard, taking down the towel bars and priming for paint.  Her shower has been leaking onto the ceiling in our bedroom so we have a bit of a problem.  We haven't let her shower in there since we saw the damage in our room.  Thankfully, it hasn't worsened.  We bought a bunch of things to keep her shower curtain tucked in and water diverters to keep it from splashing out.  We are replacing baseboard, painting (that was planned) and hanging new towel hooks/bars.  We also have to paint our ceiling now too which I am not even close to being thrilled about.  

Eric is still picking up his supplies from Home Depot for his shop.  We had a huge order that he was able to go get (most of) on Wednesday.  They were missing a bunch of things and a bunch of stuff went on backorder so still no electricity.  Hopefully soon.  

Tristan requested that we do a "week of favorites" for dinner next week.  He suggested we all write down our favorite meal and take turns each night.  So I need to grocery shop at some point as well to get the necessary supplies.  

Today I tackled the twins' closets.  Thanks to some sweet friends (thank you Matt and Alynn), a former friend and Nico, we have a TON of hand-me-downs for the twins. They were still in boxes, vacuum-seal bags and were a mess in each closet because we started to go through some of the clothes and shoes.  When Eric took Lily to gym, he went to the Dollar Tree and grabbed me a bunch of laundry baskets for me to separate each size.  I was able to complete the project tonight before they went to bed.  They have so many shoes and clothes!  It's awesome.  I am sure you have noticed that I say Eric went here, Eric went there...  He is our designated errand runner by choice. LOL.   

That is it for us!  I foresee a lot of games, movies and indoor PE in our future (at least the next 8 days)!  

Take care and continue to stay in touch.  

A Day (or five) in Our Life...

 Valentines Day has come and gone...  We did little baskets for the kids (and for Eric).  I actually had a lot of fun filling them up and trying to get creative.  We are reducing our sugar intake as a family so we're challenging ourselves to get pretty dang creative for each holiday.  We still indulged a little but kept it to a minimum.  I am already thinking of Easter...  

Erics Valentine

Harlans Valentine

Nicos Valentine

Tristans Valentine

Lilys Valentine

Nolans Valentine

My Valentine

Lily's gymnastics meet was less than stellar.  She placed 5th on floor and actually fell off the beam for the first time ever.  She came in dead last All-Around.  We are having some serious heart talks and soul searching to figure out if gymnastics is still her thing.  It is going to be up to her and her dedication and commitment but I think at the very least she will be taking some time off this summer to really figure out if it is her passion or not.  More on that later.  The two meets in March will help us all make a good decision.  We're letting her guide the decision making process.  

The kittens killed a bird and brought it into our bathroom.  It was a mess.  

Somehow we managed to lose all of our garden seeds we've been collecting for several years.  I don't know if they made it to TN or not...  We can't find them.  Anyway, I went out and bought a bunch of new seeds for our garden.  I think we bought around 80 different veggies...  We set up a temporary grow area in the bunker and got a bunch planted on Tuesday evening.  Nico got to create his terrarium and Tristan planted his valentine cherry tomatoes.  We will plant the next batch in March, then April for the last of them.  

We decorated for Saint Patricks Day...

I love to read.  I wish I had more time for it but I also love what doesn't allow me the time to read...  I have finished one trilogy since we moved here and I thoroughly enjoyed it so I thought I'd share it here.  I like romance novels with action and I specifically love Nora Roberts.  

The kids did melty-beads (that's what we call them) for Art this week.  

We worked in the barn today cleaning out and adding bedding (sawdust) to each stall.  Everyone helped in their way.  Nico is always a willing helper (for short periods) and Lily helped without complaint as well.  Tristan baby-sat the twins since he's injured and made it so much easier for us to unload.  We get 3 yards at a time to fill the stalls.  It wipes me out but in such a good way.  

The twins ate Vick's Vapor Rub this week, Nolan ran over Harlan with one of the little 4 wheelers and gave him road rash on his chin, Harlan hid in some bushes in the back yard for 20 minutes and almost fell asleep, they both threw tons of fits, they made clay rockets and cakes, they caught chickens, visited Gramps 749 times, ate boatloads of popcorn (that is their favorite snack), advanced their vocabulary yet again (Harlan is getting much easier to understand and is starting expanded sentences and Nolan is trying to say everything and has expanded his phrases) and they started Yoga.  

Music; We have a big stereo in the barn with speakers throughout and if Gramps isn't watching his westerns, he has the stereo going during the day.  When I am out mucking stalls and getting feed ready for the evening, I sometimes hear new songs (new to me) and I heard this song by Luke Bryan the other day that I really liked.  Generally, he is not my favorite singer but this sounds like more traditional country music so I liked it.  If you like country music you may enjoy this...  

Eric and I are addicted to the following song.  I know it's not new but it's awesome (if you like country music)...  

We are super into our 90's "Rock" music again too as we have grown bored of our playlists. Also, Queen is a HUGE favorite in our house.  Especially Radio Gaga!  We love to dance to it.  We have to play Ice, Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice on the regular as well because it reminds me so much of my late brother and the kids love it.  Just thought I'd share those because we are super into music.  

As much as I love to share, I am also a kind of private person and protective of myself and my family...  Mostly.  Like I said, I also love to talk and share.  Lol.  That being said, I kind of have a small public service announcement (hahaha) and a few little health tidbits to share.  I am sharing these things to help people who have been through things like I have and to help you now before you have any issues...   

For the past couple of years, I have been having pain in my hip and back.  It gets really severe after I have been super active or vacuum the house.  After the remodel, the move and all the sitting in the moving truck, it was pretty bad.  It got bad enough that my arms and legs get numb randomly and my right arm is killing me.  I decided I'd better get to the doctor for that and some other things (that I will share in a minute) and get checked out.  I searched for a new doctor, which is really difficult for me because I am so set in my ways and stick with the same doctors for as long as I can.  But we moved so time to re-establish my healthcare...  I found the best doctor ever.  He is fantastic.  He was such a good listener, was so willing to order anything and he got me in immediately (literally like 10 minutes after my appointment with him) to have x-rays and labs.  I also have a lump on my clavicle that has grown since Christmas so I was initially going in for that and ended up spilling my guts to him about everything I have going on.  

Long story short (yes, this is the short version), my labs were great except three things...  One was my Vitamin D absorption.  It was slightly low so he put me on a Vitamin D pill at my request.  The second thing was my A1C (blood sugars) were slightly elevated.  I mean, like .2 above normal but I absolutely had a little freak out because diabetes runs in my family and I do NOT want to struggle with it.  The third thing was my thyroid.  As it turns out, I have hypothyroidism.  My numbers were pretty high.  I knew something was off because I have been exhausted beyond measure each afternoon and I am super sensitive to the cold and no matter how hard I work or which changes I make, I cannot shed ANY weight.  It started when we still lived in CA and I thought it was hormones (which may still be a factor).  My x-rays showed that I have degenerative disc disease, arthritis throughout my spine, inflammation in my joint from my pelvis to my hip and my C5-C6 vertebrae have pretty severe narrowing which is probably causing pinched nerves.  

So, I am actually really pleased to have answers.  I knew something was wrong, as minor as it actually is.  I immediately took steps to improve my "conditions".  My labs could be the way they are because of my thyroid but I took steps to lower my A1C.  We already decided to cut back on processed sugars because they cause so many issues so that will be a big benefit to me.  We eat a pretty balanced diet but we are also cutting back (slightly) on carbs.  

The thyroid is being treated with the lowest dose of thyroid meds.  I should notice a difference in about a month.  

For my back and neck, we have incorporated some daily stretching, a small workout routine and I am also incorporating more anti-inflammatory foods into my diet and drinking more water. In addition, I started taking a bone supplement from DoTerra and I ordered a high dose of Tumeric and CBD capsules (from a trusted source in CA).  I am not kidding when I say that I already notice a difference with those supplements.  (By the way, my preference is Young Living but DoTerra's bone supplement is amazing and I will stick with it).  We also plan to install a hot-tub.  

So, the public service announcement of this part is about my bones.  After a small amount of research, it appears this could have been caused from my years of infertility treatment and hormone fluctuations.  I am not certain that that is exactly true but it makes sense to me.  So I just want to warn my friends and family that if you have done any infertility treatments or plan to, take precautions and start on something to help fortify your bones now.  

Last thing about my health and we can move on...  The doctor found a lump in my breast.  It is not anything major but he offered to order a mammogram.  I agreed as I like to head things off at the pass and deal with them as soon as possible.  I was not at all nervous about the results of the mammogram but I was super nervous about the mammogram itself.  I am still under the recommended age to have one so we had to get insurance approval.  It only took about a week for my insurance to approve the mammogram and they got me in immediately.  The procedure was so simple, not at all painful and quick.  For those who haven't had one and are at the right age, go do it.  It is really so simple and for me totally pain-free.  They saw absolutely nothing of concern so they sent me to the ultrasound tech to take a further look.  Like 15 minutes in between each process.  The radiologist looked at both and saw absolutely nothing so the doctor came in and checked for himself and discussed it all with me.  He had zero concerns and I can wait until I am 40 to go back in.  I was so relieved and they were very thorough.  The public service announcement for this part is get your mammogram if you haven't or are scared.  It was truly one of the easiest procedures/exams I have ever had.  

There is no resolution to the lump on my clavicle but I had an ultrasound on it and she couldn't see anything of concern.  We are in a wait and see situation with it.  

I have to say that I have had the best experience so far with UT Tennessee.  They have been fantastic.  I haven't had to deal with wait times at all.  They listened to me and didn't discount what I was feeling or my wants and needs.  From my first appointment to my follow-up for results was only two weeks to the day. I am feeling great about it all!  

We had manicotti for dinner last night and it was amazing.  I made it from scratch.  Gramps has been asking for it ever since we moved but we could not find the noodles anywhere in East TN.  He finally found them so I made a double batch.  One red sauce and one white (for Uncle Brian who we thought of while we enjoyed).  

Eric was feeling snuggly last night...  

This is our living room today on this rainy day...  We have dogs everywhere, cats (hidden) but all over and a kid climbing the banister.  

The kids have written letters this week to family and friends and we are plugging along in school.  We incorporated a daily morning PE routine (our workout) and start school after that.  Several of the kids have been under the weather this week so we kept Lily out of gym until Monday.  We are rarely exposed to anything as we rarely leave the house but somehow, we got a little bug.  It's passing quickly though, so we should be back to our crazy selves very soon.  

I am pleased to report that we have not lost another hen to a predator attack.  We have two hens that go out to the barn each morning and lay eggs in two of the feed bins for Gramps.  Buttercup can't reach her feed bin so I made it into a nesting box for them.  Gramps is so excited to get to check for his own eggs and he gets two almost every day. This morning Tristan saw something stalking Henny & Penny (that's what we call the barn hens) and Missy took off after it.  She almost caught whatever it was.  Tristan thinks it may have been a bobcat.  Hopefully not but we do have them here.  

We have our garden all mapped out and Eric is off buying the lumber as I type this.  I cannot wait to have it planted and producing.  We have had some great gardens in the past so I am excited to see what this one brings us.  

We have been hit with a little of the ice storm that went through Texas.  It's been so dang cold and snowing off and on for days.  We have a lot of ice in our water buckets, troughs and we had to buy the dogs a heated water bowl.  

Thats our past few days here in paradise...