Isaac turns Four!

4 years ago today this sweet, little boy made me a mom. I’ll never forget that last month of pregnancy and the lllllloooooonnnnnngggg delivery (15 hours) and then the 4 days in the hospital afterward, due to my high blood pressure, and the 5 weeks after that of trying to get it back to normal. Through it all, he was a trooper though. The picture above was my favorite way to hold him. He loved to snuggle. He was a big boy, born 8lbs 14 oz. But I loved all his chubbiness and until he started to walk, he kept getting chubbier. I remember when we got home from the hospital, Joe & I looked at each other and said “Now what?” This little baby was ours to take care of and our responsibility. What a great calling it is to be a parent. I am so thankful God is the one who is leading and guiding us along because He is the only one who can work in the heart of our little boy and turn him to Jesus. I pray that God will be in our little boys heart and that Isaac will live his life glorifying our Lord and Savior. Thank you Lord for this wonderful, sweet boy that you have given to us.

Full of smiles

Here is on his first day of school at LMPC MDO (in Joyful Giraffes).

I love this kid.

He is very energetic, full of energy, a loud talker, talks non-stop about anything and everything, loves and adores his baby brother, loves going on outings with daddy, he’s quite the social kid and always has been, loves bugs and dinosaurs and cars, has quite the imagination and often thinks what he’s saying is true even though it is not even possible, he loves school, and most of all he loves Jesus.

For his treats tomorrow we are going to make cake pops. Check out the recipe here. You can actually make little animals out of them, but I’m going the easier route since this is my first time making them. Check out this site for more cake pop ideas. Also, here is a helpful video on how they are made.

Happy Birthday, Isaac!!!

Hospital Stay

Well, it's been an interesting week. Definitely not what I had planned on, but nothing goes according to my plans anyways. God is all sovereign and the one who is in control. We arrived home late Monday afternoon from our whirlwind trip and the boys had school on Tuesday and I worked. Wednesday was routine and then Thursday I picked up Seth from my friends house and she said he seemed to be feeling a little off and had taken a 4 hour nap. That night he started having diarrhea really bad and had it continuously all day Friday. He wouldn't eat anything and would drink a little. By Friday night I was getting quite concerned. I called the nurse and she said to take him to the doctor in the morning, unless it gets worse then go to the ER. Well, we went to the dr's office and they sent us to the hospital. In the ER they started an IV (which took forever for them to get into one of his veins because he was so dehydrated...poor little guy). Seth was then admitted after a couple of hours in the ER. We've been here all day today and he's perked up quite a bit and doing so much better after having the fluids in him. He's finally talking and responding again and eating and drinking. He should be released soon. I'm so glad my little guy is feeling better and getting back to his normal self. It's so awful to see your child sick. You just feel helpless.

Thanks to all of you who kept us in your prayers. It means so much.

English Muffin Bread

My sister made this for me for breakfast when I was visiting her this past week and it's delicious! Toast it, spread with butter, top with cheese, ham sliced cooked on skillet, cheese. Melt in microwave for a bit. SO YUMMY! Enjoy!

English Muffin (Freezable) Bread Loaves

*Makes 2 loaves

3 C. Flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 pkts. or 4 ½ tsp. yeast

2 C. milk

2 tsp. salt

½ C. water

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 ½ C. additional flour

In large bowl mix first 5 ingredients together. In a small bowl mix water and milk (heat in microwave until hot – usually a minute or two). Pour milk mixture into flour mixture and mix well with a spoon. Stir in remaining flour until you have a very stiff batter. Spoon batter into 2 WELL GREASED bread loaf pans. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. After bread rises, bake uncovered for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from pans IMMEDIATELY, and let cool completely. Cut loaves into thin slices and store in airtight containers or in freezer bags.

* Once the bread is frozen, it will stay fresh for months, and whenever you want a slice, just pull one out of the freezer and pop it in your toaster -- just like an English Muffin!

We're goin' on a trip..

My boys have been watching Little Einsteins lately and this song is in my head right now. We are leaving for Fall break to go visit our families in Indiana/Illinois. Then since my brother is getting married next weekend, Joe is traveling back home by himself while the boys & I go with my mom to NW Iowa for the wedding. We will then drive back to Illinois and then fly back to Chattanooga. I'm praying my boys travel well with all the long drives we have ahead of us. We will be traveling 9 hours to IN, then 4 days later traveling 10 hours to NW Iowa, then 4 days later traveling back to Illinois, then 2 days later flying to Chattanooga with a 2 hour layover in Charlotte. Yikes! I may have a lot of interesting stories to tell about my boys when I get back :)

Thankfully I'm feeling better after having the flu for the past 3.5 days. Honestly, I thought I was going to die..no joke. It was one of the worst flu bugs I've ever had. I couldn't lay down at night without having to throw up. It was bad. I carried the Lysol can around with me and sprayed everything I touched hoping that my boys and Joe don't catch this bug. Thankfully, so far they haven't gotten it. I'm praying none of them get it while we are traveling either...oh, that would be bad...ick.

Well, I'm off to pack since I have to have it all ready to go today because tomorrow I have to work and then we are leaving right when Joe is done teaching at school.

Isaac has been so excited about this trip because we are celebrating his birthday with the rest of the family. He's been talking about this trip since we left from visiting them this Summer. So we can finally tell him, only 1 day til we leave!!! He's so excited.

See you all when I get back!!

Pumpkin, Pecans in a muffin...yum!

I'll be making these on Friday to take to a baby shower. A friend made them a few weeks ago for Bible Study and they were so yummy. She got the recipe from the Southern Living Magazine, so I went online and found the recipe. Only make these if you're ready to eat about 10 of them in one sitting because they are really hard to resist. Or like me, you can make them to bring to a party just so you can have one.....or two :)

Yard Sale..

Sold some stuff in our subdivision yard sale yesterday. Super excited because I only had a $1.00 to my name in the morning and made $88.00 from all the stuff I sold and spent $9.00 on some clothes for Seth that I got for a $1.00 each. I'm not always sure if all the time and effort is worth it when putting together the stuff to sell, but this time I think it definitely was. The only things that I was disappointed in not selling were some bookshelves. But I already got some people that can put them to good use: our pastor's office might need one and a friend in need might need the other two. So if I can't sell them at least I can donate them to a good cause. Oh and this isn't a disappointment, more of an annoyance...I also got bit by fire ants. I must have stood on a mound without knowing it and they were all of a sudden all over my shoe and up my one leg. I have about 7 bites and they hurt and itch like crazy. I put some Benadryl cream on them, but they are still super itchy. They are nasty little things. Joe said he looked them up because he had an incident with them while mowing the lawn. I guess they bite onto your leg and then inject their hind end into you where they then proceed to inject their venom into you. No wonder they hurt so bad. I at first didn't know what was biting me and it was hard to get the ones out that were up my jeans. I kept thinking I had gotten them all and then there would be one more and then one more after that. People looking at me probably thought I was a little nuts with my hand up my pants leg. :)

Saturday was a busy day. Yard sale, then off to church where I vacuumed and mopped the floors and then ran a few errands. So I proceeded to spend the rest of my garage sale money on gas, groceries and pizza for dinner. Amazing how quickly money disappears. I did find out that Papa Johns has a rewards program. For every time you order online, every $5 is a point and with 25 points you get a free pizza. We will definitely be ordering online from now on.

Hope the rest of you had a good weekend as well.

Soups On....

I'm putting this in the crockpot tonight to turn on in the morning so we can have it for lunch. I love this soup and since it now feels like Fall, soup is perfect to serve on a chilly day. It also is wonderful to come home and have dinner all ready to go. Top this soup with pieces of tortilla chips (or I found at Aldi these Tortilla Curls that were right next to the croutons...now if Aldi would just get in their shipment of canned pumpkin I'd be really happy with them) as well as shredded cheese. Yum! Can't wait for tomorrow's lunch.

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