Nathan's 12th Birthday

Nathan had a great 12th birthday!  Hard to believe he's 12 already!  He's so cute you can see his "stash" coming in on his upper lip.  :)

This child is OBSESSED with kangaroos!  He wants to own kangaroos.  I just told him he could pretend our 3 dogs are kangaroos and now he calls Dixie the yellow lab "Kangaroo"  sadly she answers to it! :)

Halloween 2015

The boys had so much fun.  Jacob and Nathan went trick or treating at my inlaws subdivision.  Then we had a bean soup for dinner that was kind of like chili and really good!

This is the Dexter Mill in town.  I went grocery shopping today and saw this so stopped and took a picture on my way home. 

I hope everyone had a fun and spooky Halloween!!

Life Gets In The Way

I haven't been around much.  Most of the projects I have worked on or wanted to work on have been put on hold.  This summer has been rough.  I had no idea what was going on with me.  Why I was in so much pain joints/bones?  Why I was tired all the time? Why low grade fevers every day?  I went to my primary care doctor in July then ended up sitting in the rheumatologists office in September.

Blood work didn't show much. The only thing that came back abnormal was something called Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibody test. My rheumatoid factor test was negative.  I was told to expect a 3 month wait to see the rheumy but once my blood work came back I was seen the next week.

The rheumy did more blood work and xrays.   I was started on predinsone for a 6 week taper down and plaquenil.  X-rays showed no degeneration in my hands but did show bilateral osteoarthritis in MTPs and also bilateral calcaneal spurs. 

So my official diagnosis is Rheumatoid polyarthritis with osteoarthritis and he threw in chronic fatigue syndrome.

The plaquenil can take a while to work so it's just waiting right now for some relief.  I go back in 4 months.

On to a few pictures.

I love tea.  Lately I have been adding some fresh grated ginger and or turmeric to my tea.  I don't mind the little flakes of it. Plus I love the extra flavor.

I just turned 37 and my children informed me I needed to color my hair and start wearing more colors.  I told them my jeans are blue and I don't always wear black socks or black shoes lol.  So I colored my hair to get rid of the grays and then they tell me my hair is to dark. Can't win!  Brutally honest kids!!

See the owl?  He is so CUTE!  I found him at Target a few weeks ago!

Here are all my loves!!

So that is what has been going on around here!  

Noah's 18th Birthday

Where did all the years go??  Noah turned 18 on September 2nd.  He's also a senior in high school this year!

Here's a few pics from celebrating his birthday.

The day of his birthday the doggies treated him to a funny card and some treats.

The dogs gave him some adult advice that he found funny!

On Friday Grandma & Grandpa came over for dinner.  We had meatloaf, spaghetti squash, and corn on the cob.  Then for desert we had cupcakes & ice cream.

Noah really liked the cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Noah! We love you!!

Star Art for Jacob

Jacob's grandma got him some metal stars for his birthday.  We decided to make some art with them to hang on his wall.

The plywood is 21"x21".  I measured out and marked the lines for the 7" square boxes.  Taped it all off and then primed and painted the squares I wanted white.  Then I glued the stars on and nailed the trim pieces on.  All that was left to do was add some picture hanging wire to the back and hang it on the wall in Jacob's room.

Jacob's Room

I have been working on Jacob's room.  I painted the walls and restained the trim from sedona red to java.  I also painted his bed, desk and entertainment center.

Here are the before and afters:

The map came from art.com

Here are the paint colors we used.  The red was called Colonial red but it was to bright so we toned it down by adding some left over brown paint to it.

Still on the to do list is restain the crown, restain the backside of his door, get some bedding and closet doors.

You know you have painted a lot (between work stuff and our home) when about 1/3rd of your wardrobe looks like this:

Happy 14th Birthday Jacob!

It is so hard to believe that Jacob is now 14!  It  seems like yesterday he was just a little baby!

We had Grandma & Grandpa Owen over for his birthday and had a good time.   Grandma and Grandpa got him a go pro type camera which he really likes.  He is going to take it with him to Wyoming when he flies out to visit his Aunt Susan in August!

I have been redoing Jacob's bedroom and will share that tomorrow.  

I have a little story about the cake that almost wasn't!!

Sunday I headed to the grocery store to order a cake to pick up on Tuesday. Store #1 said they weren't taking cake orders.  And that was fine because all their cakes were for babies or very young kids. They had nothing that would work for older kids or adults.   On to store #2.  This store was Meijer.  At first they told me no to Tuesday because the cake decorator/baker was off that day.  I then asked about Monday.  They said that was to soon.  Then she double checked with the baker and they could fit it in. So YES!!  I placed the order and they said it would be ready at 8pm on Monday.  They are open till 9pm in the 24 hour grocery store.  I get there at 8pm on Monday and no one is back there. Baker had left or was on break.....not sure.  So I found a guy stocking the shelves outside the bakery area.  I asked if he could go get the cake. It was on a shelf beside the counter and my arms just weren't long enough to reach it.  First he said no. So I said "you can either walk back there and get it or I will go back and get it myself".  He went back and grabbed it.  Then he asked if I had paid for it.  I told him no that I would pay for it up front like you always do. They don't even  have a register at the bakery.  He replied to me "I am trusting you and taking your word for it. Please remember to pay for it."  I was just shaking my head and thinking so I would buy all the other stuff in my cart but not the cake??? ugh. 

So that's the story about how the cake almost wasn't!  lol 

Happy Birthday to Jacob!  You are such a wonderful young man and a very hard worker!!  We love you!

Snow Day!

We just got about 13 inches of snow over the weekend.  Lots of plowing and shoveling!  It sure does make for a beautiful landscape!  Before we know it we will all be complaining about how hot it is but for now I am enjoying looking out the window and seeing the snow!

Jacob, who is 13, used the tractor to move the snow while hubby plowed with the truck.

Nathan's Birthday & New Puppy

After my Mom passed away on Matthew's birthday I took a break from blogging.  Then life got busy.  We went down to GA for her funeral and we came back with her then 7 month old puppy.  She's a Doberman and was about 54lbs.  She's grown a little since we got her.  Dozer seems to really love his new friend Trixie.  Dozer is a Great Dane/ Rottie mix.

Since then Trixie has become a part of our family.  She seems to learn really fast.  She so far has been a lot easier to teach things to than Dozer was/is.

On Nov. 3rd our baby turned 11.  I don't know where the time goes.  Sometimes I think "I can't believe he's 11 already" and then other times I think "I can't believe he's ONLY 11!".

We took him out to dinner and he loves to have my garlic bread if my meal comes with it.  He likes to put jelly on it!

Anyway that's it for today.  We've been busy working on a 600sq ft addition we are doing for my best friend Adrianne and her family.  We started it in September.  The structure is done and we are currently siding it.  I've done a few things around the house nothing too exciting just small stuff which I will post about later.