Missing Posting

I am so missing posting to the blog, we have really been so very busy with work changes, that it has been difficult to do much else than survive, breathe, and sleep the past few weeks. I have been working two 8 hour shifts on the weekend and three 5 hour shifts during the week. Lots of people have been on vacation so I picked up extra to help out. I start a new schedule next week which will be permanent of two 8 hour shifts during the week and two 8 hour shifts during the weekend. I am now considered "part time" and accrue vacation time, flex spending, benefits, etc. With the economy and other things an unknown at this time, Matt and I thought it would be best if I could pick up more since my job is more secure at this point (is there such a thing anymore?) It has been a little crazy needless to say, but I think having 3 full days off with two days in a row (have not had this for the last 6 weeks and it has totally stunk!), I hope that life will seem a little more manageable! That being said, I really miss posting here and do have lots of pictures and stories to share, just no time to do it! Hopefully soon is all I can promise. Thanks for checking in on our family!

Grant and Liam

(Grant-left, Liam-right)

Liam

Grant having fun with daddy's hat

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I have been working alot, Matt changed jobs and we are adjusting, trying to squeeze in activities before school starts, etc. We are doing well, just busy. I have pictures to share from the state fair, our trip to Winamac and Indiana Beach, and more. Hopefully sometime soon I will have time to sort through them all to share.

Cool Treats

Yum!

Kids in hats

Meat-flavored Ice?

Had to share this funny story that happened the other day while I was at work. Matt goes to get us some yummy Skyline Chili for lunch and decides to buy some sweetened ice tea by the gallon to enjoy. He pours himself a nice tall glass, goes to get some ice out of the ice machine in the fridge, and a meatball comes out of the ice dispenser into his ice tea glass! Matt is obviously alarmed and puzzled--when did we start using meatballs for ice cubes? Are we trying to conserve water to this extreme? Apparently I had moved a bag of frozen meatballs into the ice dispenser to get something else out of the freezer and forgot to move the bag back to where I had found it. The plastic bag got wrapped around the ice maker gears, popped opened, and meatballs were mixed in with our ice in the ice dispenser! I laughed so hard when Matt told me this story. He said that initially, yes, it was quite funny...that is until he had to spend 30 minutes cleaning the ice dispenser out!

Playing "Daddy"

Liam and Grant decided to play "daddy" the other day with Bert and one of Mia's baby dolls. Liam wanted me to wrap up baby Bert so he could hold him. He carried him around for quite awhile. Grant thought the baby needed a little snack. Such little loving cuties!

Let them eat cake

Matt brought cake home from work on Friday and the kids were totally thrilled. Here are some pictures he got of them enjoying the yummy cake goodness. I think some of it may have actually ended up in their bellies!

Swing Concert

Matt took the kids to see an outdoor swing concert Saturday night with his parents. Looks like they had a great time! Too bad I had to work!

More art from Jackson

Thought I would share some more drawings from Jackson.

The top one is a big twisty slide, with a giant ladder and lots of kids sliding down (and of course his autograph). The bottom is one of his favorite things to draw: a train. I think almost everyday in his backpack from preschool was a drawing of a train very similar to this one below.

Enjoy!

One more trip to the ER

So as of today 3 out of the 4 kids have been to the emergency room so far in their life. Liam was the lucky (more like unlucky) winner on Saturday. Jackson was needing some privacy in the potty so he went to shut the bathroom door, but failed to see that little Liam had his hand in the hinge side. He closed the door forcefully and it completely shut---on Liam's hand. Liam begins to cry and I investigate finding Liam immobile; his hand obviously stuck in the door. We release Liam's hand only to see some funky looking fingers (imagine a Tom and Jerry cartoon where Tom's hand looks like stair steps after being slammed in something). He wasn't moving them and because of their appearance, we went right to the ER. Thank the Lord he is still tiny and has little fingers because the X-rays were normal and he has no broken bones. Truthfully by the end of the day, we was acting completely fine. He has a few line marks by his knuckles where the door pinched his skin, but overall his hand is unremarkable.

This one event in our house is such a display of a parent's heartache. I ached for Liam and wanted so badly to take away his pain. I ached for the guilt of wishing I had been in the hallway 30 seconds before to avoid the whole event in the first place. I ached for Jackson whose little heart was crushed knowing he had hurt his brother causing him to have to go to the doctor (one of Jackson's least favorite places). Jackson was so afraid he had broken Liam's bones and kept saying that it was an accident and he was sorry. I ached when Mia told my mother-in-law as we were leaving for the ER, "Mamaw, we should pray the rosary." As crazy as this house gets sometimes (and it most definitely can get crazy), I love my life and my family...so much my heart literally aches.