Family Picture

We ventured out today to get a family picture, Jesse's first. Everyone was feeling well again. Poor James was on the phone a lot of the time, dealing with patients in the hospital. He had 5 admissions today and 5 others to see. That is definately a record. We were thankful that he was feeling better yesterday as the day went on. He didn't get home until 9:00 p.m. (another record for a work day). He never did throw up, yeah!
Back to today... We did a few other errands while we were out. Then we dropped James off at the hospital. He had 4 or 5 more patients to see (one being our nephew, Mark, who has a stomach bug now. We tried not to pass it, but maybe we did. It looks like poor Mark (who has diabetes) will be in the hospital for the night.

So we got home and had dinner. I was working on a collage a few minutes ago. You can see it at drop shots. Sears wanted to sell me a similar one for about $80. I thought I'd get the cd and make my own for about $8. I think I like mine better than the one they tried to sell me. So a few minutes ago Joshua threw up. He even got it on the carpet. So I've got to go deal with that now. Only Jay and Jonathan are left. I expect Jay will be next and Jonathan may escape it as he has in the past. We'll see. I'm just thankful I'm better so that I can take care of them. Praise the Lord!

We Should Have Skipped the Turkey...

Jesse has been throwing up once a day for the past four days. It hasn't been too big of a deal, because he's been pretty resilent through it. Yesterday morning Rachel threw up and then I knew our Thanksgiving Day wouldn't be "normal" for us. We decided to visit at James' parent's house in shifts. James took the older four boys and I stayed with the younger two. This was after James was at the hospital seeing patients all morning. Around 7:00 James came home and I headed over to eat dinner. I wasn't even that hungry, but I ended up eating a plate full of food, since they had left it out for me. I even had a little dessert. As the evening went on, I started to regret eating at all. My stomach was upset all night long, but I did manage to sleep, thankfully. I finally threw up this morning, which I was a bit relieved over. Later in the morning I threw up again. I am still in bed and haven't even gone out of my room today. I got a good nap and am feeling somewhat better. Jesse is asleep on the bed next to me; precious.

Meanwhile, James is a work now, seeing patients and taking call for five other doctors. He is sick too. I feel so bad for him. He didn't throw up while he was here, but he took his soup, bowl to throw up in and gingerale to work. I hope and pray this passes quickly.

I am thankful that most of the day yesterday was peaceful and relaxing. We even put the Christmas tree up, since I had the time. (Originally I was planning on doing it today, which wouldn't have happened). There is so much I am thankful for, even in the midst of sickness. God has so richly blessed our family. I am looking so forward to slowing down this Christmas season and enjoying time with the kids and teaching them about our wonderful Saviour.

Oh ya, by the way, the camera is in the shop again. I bought a much cheaper camera on Wednesday. Hopefully it will work better than this last camera.

Rachel in Stitches

Yesterday, Rachel fell off a chair as all of kids have done many, many times and she hit her head just right on the back of another chair and got a little gash that cost her seven stitches. Her timing was good, as it was lunch time and James wasn't too busy to fix her up. She didn't enjoy the shot to numb it, although she did really well. She did great during the procedure too. What a trooper! The rest of the day went on normal as if it had never happened. The cut didn't even bleed that much, as head injuries tent to do.

This past weekend the kids sang in their children's choirs. Rachel was comical. You can see them on dropshots.

The Camera Works...for Today Anyways

I have uploaded new pictures and video to dropshots. There are pictures of the land we hope to buy in January. There are pictures of the kids dressed up. There is a video of the kids (and the Hayes' kids), doing a little "homeschool"? There's a video of Rachel "reading" a book (very cute). She didn't know I was filming and you'll see when she realizes it. It is funny. My camera is working at the moment and I hope to keep it that way.

Last weekend James took Jonathan and Joshua backpacking at a state park about 2 hours away. They camped both Friday and Saturday night. The weather was freezing, but they survived in their warm sleeping bags. They had a great time and saw some cool stuff. The other kids and I had a nice weekend in our warm, cozy house. That should be it for camping until the Spring.

Jesse is standing on his own now. He hasn't taken his first step yet, but he will soon. He's not even 10 months yet. He may be our earliest walker if he keeps up the pace. He also does the sign "all done", which I don't remember our other kids doing this early.

I'm cooking a turkey with all the fixings tomorrow. We're having company for dinner and I decided to do a little Thanksgiving dinner early. We'll be going to James' parents for Thanksgiving and so we won't get left overs. We miss that. To make up for it, we'll make our own. Then we'll do it again in two weeks. Hopefully we'll all eat in moderation, though.

I Love this Time of Year...

The leaves are beautiful right now and the weather has been so nice. That's supposed to change tomorrow. I'm glad the weather was nice yesterday as we (the kids and I) waited in line for over an hour yesterday to cast a vote in the election. Today was a productive day as most of the carpets on the main floor got clean. Josh was a big help. He learned how to use the steam cleaner, but he wasn't too interested in doing it for very long.

Last Friday night we had a nice evening at the Fall Festival at church. The candy is half gone already. Jonathan was a lego man (a costume him and I made on Friday). Josh was a hiker. Jay was Spiderman. Josiah was dracula (I think, only in costume and not in his face). Rachel was an elephant and Jesse, a pumpkin (as all of them were at this age). I took pictures and someday maybe I'll get to share them. (I'm sending my camera off to the shop for a third time tomorrow, but we won't get into that).

James and Jonathan went to their first Ram's game on Sunday. Someone at the hospital gave James tickets. The Ram's lost, but they had a good time.

The Christmas shopping has begun. Boy, do I love the internet! I'm not sure I'l step outside my house to do any Christmas shopping this year. We'll see. The kids are getting 2 gifts from us this year, plus one gift for all of them. It will be less for them to open this year, but that's okay. It's not about the presents anyway.

It's Been a While...

Hi all, I'm back. It has been a while since I've posted anything. I won't have any new pictures, as we've had more camera problems and I've given up on that for a while. At some point we'll have to get a new camera, but for now I'll just write.

October has flown by. Two weekends ago we camped on the property we hope to buy in January. It was a great weekend! The weather was so nice and it was great to be out there. We went on a big hike Saturday that took us 6 hours. It was pretty cold at night, but our heater helped to keep us from freezing.

We got our flu shots last week. Rachel was all for getting a shot (she wanted the promised candy). Josiah, on the other hand, had to be held down.

Our precious neighbor, Jo, is in the process of moving. The kids aren't happy about that. They just love her! She won't be too far away, so they'll still get to see her from time to time. They went over there (next door) for lunch today and I actually got a nap in while they were gone.

We are doing something different with school. Jonathan and Josh, who go to James' work once a week are doing double work that day. It works out good, because they were finishing too early. On the day they are home, I've been teaching them all kinds of useful skills (and things that will help me out). They've been learning things like laundry, dishes, cleaning different things, gardening, cooking, and chopping wood. There is so much to teach them and I'm enjoying coming beside them and letting them do some of my work. Sometimes they say they'd rather do school work (they both have been lazy this week), but the physical labor is good for them and I try to teach them some fun skill each week too.

One thing I wanted to share that really works in our house is what I like to call "Clutter Control". It is a great way to get your house picked up. You can transform the look of your living space in 5 minutes. I set the timer and say "On your mark, get set, go" and off we all go, picking up everything we can and delivering it to the right place. It is actually fun and we all get into it (most of us do). Sometimes one or two kids don't participate very well, but I tell you if even I get a couple kids and myself going, it gets done and the results are great. I try and do this twice a day. James has been impressed (when we do it that is). The problem is making a point to do it and sometimes I get to into something else and I forget. The great thing is that it only takes 5 minutes. I can spare 5 minutes, most of the time.

Things have been busier for James this week, the cold season has begun. We've even had a few colds going in this house. Jesse turned nine months last week. He is getting ready to walk. He stands for a few seconds and then sits down.

Well, that's all I have for now.

More Outdoor Work

Well another weekend has come and gone and it was beautiful weather wise! We wished we were camping. Instead we got to work around the house, continuing to spruce it up. James worked both Saturday and today on powerwashing the siding. I worked on staining the deck, with Jonathan's help. Both the siding and deck aren't done yet, but hopefully this week we'll finish up. I'm having a problem posting, so that's all I'm going to write for now.