We're alive. lol

I guess an update is in order. :-/ Not much good has been happening so I have kind of let this slide. Things have still been just as busy as ever, I really am ready for them to ease off and slow down.  Anyways, on a good note; we did finally get Nicholas' medicine worked out. Yay! We are also working on getting him into counciling to see if that will help with his aggression issues that are developing. He is such a sweet and smart kid. It's hard to know that other people can't see that because of is Autism.
Austin has finished up cross country! He runs his almost 2 miles in 12:24.....and has the possiblity of being Captain next year. Awww. AND.....the little crap is taller than me now by about an inch! Couldn't believe it! What happened to my baby?
Nathan is doing well for the most part. He is the top reader in his class. We are just having to deal with some normal "I think I'm grown" issues. Not a bad thing, just more of a headache than anything else. He is still damn cute though. :-)
Andrew.....awwww 2 year olds. Need I say more? lol His speech is expanding everyday and he is loving music! He has quite a few songs he asks for by name. Is it sad that they are not kid songs? :-)

Halloween went well! We had a Mario, Luigi, a little Koopa turtle, and a robber. Mommy dressed up again this year as the Cheshire cat. Yea, I'm awesome. lol

As for other things. I have decided to quit smoking again. Good luck to me. Also I want to work some more on losing weight and possible start up some more college courses. Life is already full and busy, but I need to be able to fit these things in as well.

Blog slacking

Wow! I have been seriously slacking on updating my blog lately! Life has still been one thing after another this last month! So a quick recap to get everyone up to date....

--Nick just celebrated his 10th birthday! (omg :/) He is an amazing smart boy! He took a photography elective last year and has decided he wants to be a photographer, so he got his first digital camera! Raising Nick is quite a struggle most days but on his good days, he is a wonderful young man and teaches me something that I wouldn't have ever learned otherwise.

--As most of you know, Nick has ADHD and Autism. We have been dealing with alot of new 'issues' so far this school year. Right now we are working with his doctor, teachers, and special aides to try and find a different way to help him deal with stress. Also possibly looking at some medicine changes as he grows deals with hormonal and mood changes.

--Hand, foot, and mouth disease was apparently going around our school. smh. Unfortunately the day they sent home the paper notifying the parents, was also the day that Austin was diagnosed with it. Yay...grrrr! This disease is something that normally only affects children 5 and under, but for some reason older kids and some adults have been catching it more this year. HF&M disease is HIGHLY contagious, so the kids and I were quarantined for most of the week. Austin and Andrew ended up being the only ones that caught it which was better than all 4, unfortunately it hits the younger kids the hardest. I ended up sitting on the floor with a medicine dropper and koolaid, just to get Andrew to drink something since the blisters in his mouth prevented him from drinking out of his cup.

--Cross Country and Soccer have started. Only Nathan and Austin are participating this year because Nick's coach decided to back out at the last minute. As bad as that sounds, its a good thing for me, because I have just a little less running to do in the evenings. :) So far so good! The boys are enjoying it and Nick and Andrew enjoy playing on the school playground while we wait for Nathan to be done with practice.

--Last but not least....the garden! Everything has been harvested! Got some canning and some freezing done, but still have some left to be done. Also looking at making some homemade applesauce and canning it as well.

So I think that is the gist of whats been happening the last few weeks. Life is just busy right and I am hoping that it settles down soon!!!

Well Poo

The last 2 weeks have been crazy, hectic, thrilling, amazing, annoying, and any other synonyms you can think of for both good and bad!!

Kids started school, which is good, but Nathan is trying to adjust to all day school and daily homework. This means that by the time he gets home in the afternoon he is at the end of his patience and exhausted. (bad for me and the other 3 kids) So trying to get him to do anything has become a huge challenge!

Austin has been having cross country practice which he really enjoys. Nick and Nathan just finished sign-ups for soccer. All great things, however it means that everyday except Sunday we have games and practices, which sometimes over-lap. We are hardly going to be home and will be living off sandwhiches for dinner because Tim sleeps all evening and works all night, So its just me. Not to mention trying to get homework finished!

I met some really great people this last week, awesome, however they live 2 hours away. You can see the problem, right? They are amazing and worth the effort. Right now they are dealing with alot of sickness and other issues and it hurts that I am not close enough to offer more help than just listening.

The icing on the cake......
My main computer decided to take a dump. So we had plans to get it in and checked out when Tim got his "bonus" from work. Not a huge deal. HOWEVER, right after that my microwave went on the fritz and needs to be replaced and today my dryer decided it was a good time to die. (granted we have had it for 9 years or so, but still.....NOW? Really?) So, the extra money that we were going to recieve is now not happening! Yay. :( When it rains it pours!

So, as you can see, lots of good things that bring the bad with them. Its fine. It is what it is. Its life and sometimes it sucks, but it could be so much worse.
Really, at this point, I am just feeling overworked and stressed. I want to run away for awhile. :-P

DJ

Happy Birthday DJ!!!

I can't believe how big you are getting! One day we will get to know each other!

Hope you had a great day!

Love,

Aunt Misty

What a night

You would figure that after 7 years of 'the first day of school' that it wouldn't be a big deal. Yet here I am at 5 in the morning because I couldn't sleep. Mainly trying to remember if the boys have everything, backpacks loaded. Hoping their day goes good. And praying that Nathan won't fight me when its time to get up. :)  I have spent the entire night tossing and turning. Well, except for a few night time visitors. :) Andrew came in cause he was wet. At least he went back to sleep fine! Surprisingly Nick came in. He was having zombie nightmares. (Thank you science channel, for your excellent episode on trying to re-animate corpses with electric shock.) Most of you know that Nick is on the Autism spectrum, well science is his "thing". So anyways, after some snuggles and him going through every detail on the show that he could remember (LOL YAY), he asked for a story and finally fell back asleep. I again was not so lucky.
So, up I get. No point in falling asleep now, when my alarm will be going off in an hour.

On a good note.......
I got my blog done today, which was unplanned. I got the coffee brewing. And I rechecked backpacks, snack money, and made sure all the sneakers were present and accounted for! LOL

Much to do today, but I hopefully I can squeeze in a nap. After getting the boys to school I have to go pick up my van from the shop. (Hopefully it isn't going to cost an arm and a leg.) From there I have to run to Walmart and grab a few things. Hit the bank, the redemtion center, and then home!
After school the boys and I have to run to Waterville to get some shoes for them since the pay finally came in. I also hoping to set up a meeting with some people I have been chatting with while we are there. They seem really friendly and we have alot of the same interests. I'd like to get to know them better. ( I can see Miss Corrie and Miss Erin reading this and jumping up and down.) I have had a really hard time meeting people since we moved here, and the few I have met were......Odd. LOL

Few other non-related things........
The kids and I are not going to the next few fairs. (boys are bummed) Because one of our babies got sick at the state fair and passed it along to the rest of our chickies. We have had quite a few pass away, but most of them are getting better or are better. We just want to make sure they are 100% healthy before putting them back around any other birds.

Tina and Family......Congrats again on Little Landry! Hope you and the family are getting settled into your new routine. Its a bit of an adjustment adding the third baby, but totally worth it.

Amber......I told you Goa would be a good one! You still owe me a list of reasons you chose it. HAHAHA Love you and give them babies love!!!!

Corrie and Erin...........OCTOBER, BABIES!!! Can't wait! Love and miss y'all and I am so excited that we are getting together again. Casino and Hibachi Grill.....Look out!

Dunno...rambling

 Everyone, please feel free to skip over this. Just spitting out thoughts. And No, I don't mean anything or anybody inparticular in regards to this post.

I am in a 'mood' right now. Not a bad mood or anything. I guess a contemplative mood would be the right term. Why do we always want what we don't have? What makes us think that the grass just might be greener on the other side. We know deep down that its not, but that doesn't keep you from wondering. I'm pretty sure that those people on the 'greener' side all think our side might be better. Maybe it comes down to self esteem? Maybe we feel like we don't deserve what we have so we pick and poke at it trying to fix it, but its not broken. Eventually all the poking is probably going to do more damage than good. Then what we have is gone. Now what? Now we want it back. Go figure. The old saying goes that you never know what you had until its gone. True?

Maybe living every day like its your last would help? Imagine every day that everything you love will be gone tomorrow. What do you want those closest to you to know? Or maybe imagine that YOU will be whats gone tomorrow. How do you want those left behind to remember you? What would you say to them before you said goodnight?  I think the thought is that it makes us put ourselves IN the moment, to think about what you have now, because it won't always be there.

Such an easy concept, but unbelievably hard to do. Try reminding yourselve everyday how important your life and those in it are to you and then spend the day showing it. See if it makes a difference in your life and the lives of those around you.

Hmm....Guess I am done.

Green Beans

So I picked a bunch of green beans out of the garden the other day and decided to get them canned tonight while I had the chance to. I started doing some canning last year and found that although it does take a bit of time, the taste and money saved more than makes up for it. Its nice to know EXACTLY what is in my veggies, what they were grown with, and all that jazz. The kids will ask now if their veggies are "my" veggies or store ones. I am proud to say they like mine the best. ;-)
The green beans took about 4 hours to can. Cutting, washing, cooking, and canning.

Fresh Green Beans

My Canning book

Washing beans and jars

Still filling the cooking pot

After boiling the green beans, adding them to

the jars

Keeping the lids in hot water so they will seal

Finally in the canner!!!

Finished product

9 Jars