speaking of thankfuls…

I would totally be thankful if I happened to have this helmet.  Yes, this is a bike helmet!  Too bad you can’t get them in the good old US of A yet.  Still, I am thankful they exist.  That means there is a possibility of looking this cute on my bike someday!

thankfuls

It’s November.  It’s fall and it’s the beginning of the Holiday season.  My 60+ favorite days of the year.

I don’t like to do a huge post on all the things I am thankful for because I try to be thankful for them more than just in November.  This year however I have been thinking a lot of the power of a thankful heart and decided the cliched post is just what this girl needs to do.

* First and foremost I am thankful for my family.  They drive me nuts often but make up for it with all the smiles they bring to my face.  Sometimes I am in a situation where I don’t have any children with me and I start laughing because I think of how they would react to certain things.  They keep me busy.  They push me to be better.  And thank heavens, they make me laugh.

* I am thankful for a home.  In the past I would have said my home, and I am thankful for my home.  I just happened to know and have strong realizations that my home is anywhere my family is.  I can make anywhere home.  I am thankful that I am home.

* This ones a bit like the last one but slightly different.  I am thankful for the chance to stay home.  I love having a few minutes to myself each day to read, clean, or just be lazy.  I love that I don’t have to worry if a sick child needs to stay home or if I need to run homework to someone that forgot it.  I love that Jesse has always made it possible for met to stay home.

* I am thankful for Jesse.  As his wise little sister once told him,  he’s “kind of a big deal.”   ‘Nuff said.

* Finally I am thankful for this bit of council found in Isaiah 41:10 & 13. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee…For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”   He will and He has.

Happy November!

if only

Somedays I dream I am laying on a beach, book in hand, with nothing to think about but the sun and the sound of the waves.

Somedays I dream of an empty house and the clean quiet that would accompany me.

Somedays I dream of visiting exotic places, showing my children the world and the beauty that surrounds them.

For today, this was my dream moment.

In between the fighting and crying and throwing up and coughing fits I was able to put my feet up, only for a moment. The coughing calmed down, the fighting and crying ended and there was a break in the vomit. Isabel decided to put in a load of laundry. Max did the dishes. Luke slept for a bit.

And I was living a dream.

Jesse vs. Pavement

Last Saturday Jesse had a decent bike wreck. He was riding with his buddy and his front wheel got bumped. They were traveling at about 35 miles an hour so Jesse did a few cartwheels hooked to the bike and then 10-12 more on his own finally sliding to a stop on his head and shoulder. Some poor soul happened to witness the incident and was nice enough to drive them the 40 miles back home. Here he is before he realized what was underneath all those layers. Thank goodness for helmets and angels to juggle him as he bounced.

This is a close up of his knee which we thought was going to be the the worst injury. His clothes all have these holes in them.

Here is the knee cleaned up, the darkest spot is a 1/4 inch hole that could not be stitched because it was too “meaty.” Nice huh? He also has a 1/2-3/4 inch hole in his elbow that could not be stitched and had “meat” coming out of it. Sadly no photos turned out of that one. I will be taking another one though because Jesse thinks it is pretty cool that you can see his tendons in it. Barf.

This one is of his thigh/hip area. The bruise has intensified since this was taken and is now a lovely shade of black with a hint of purple. It is also much larger now as well. This wound is tricky because it has continued to seep fluids and stick to everything. The other wounds are still fairly bloody but today are starting to not be so bad.

All in all I am just glad to have a husband that is in one piece physically and mentally. His bike has not been looked at yet and we are out the gear, but those things can be replaced. We are hanging in there, Jesse with the help of some heavy pain meds and me by the skin of my teeth!!

amazing folk

I love happy endings.  I will watch the most predictable movies because I love the happy endings that inevitably come with them.  Even better than happy endings? Happy all the way through. Well, actually, I don’t mind some heart ache in a movie when I see a glimmer of hope that a happy ending could at least be imagined.

A week ago or so I got a notice that there was something at the post office for me and I needed to pay .20 cents postage. (either that or $20 but I was sure it was cents. The notice was hard to read.)  I put the notice on the counter and went about my daily life thinking I would maybe get there.  Then the flu hit our house, and company arrived and the next time I thought about I tossed the notice because what would be sent to be needing additional postage?  The only people that send me things requiring more postage are my mom and Jesse’s mom and neither one said something would be in the mail.

Today I sent Isabel to get the mail.  We have not picked up the mail since last Friday and I figured it was time.  I am sure the mailman loves our overflowing mailbox.  I am not sure how he fits things in there sometimes.   She came home and dropped a huge pile on my lap and as I started going through it I notices another notice.  This time it was attached to the letter needing postage along with an envelope to put the .20 cents in.

Because I love happy things and often fantasize about wonderfully happy things magically happening to me, my heart started pounding as I examined a thick envelope.  No return address, t the stamp was smeared and hard to read where it had been mailed from.  As I opened it and read the sweet note,

“Hope this helps with the dishwasher emergency! Hang in there!  Someone who loves you guys:)”

Immediately the tears poured out of my eyes.  Along with the sweet note were 2 Visa gifts cards.  Someone does love us and I am so overcome with thankfulness.

I don’t know who you are.  I don’t know how to thank you.  I want you to know I am so humbled by your generosity and thoughtfulness.  Thank you for helping our family have a “happy ending” to our dishwasher story and a reminder that there is always a glimmer of happy along the way.

photos finally

I promise we all have faces to go with the stories I have told. I just don’t always have pictures to illustrate.
A few months ago we had the Jones family over to play Rock band. I think it is hilarious to watch people play this game. There is usually very little emotion on faces as the “musicians” are concentrating so hard.

I was able to coax some “star power” after a while.

The Fair…

So much to see, again so few faces. While trying to capture fun, Fair, photos, I was not so lucky to get many including the smiles of these folks.

Here is one shot of a couple of handsome faces. The fair was fun. I would love to take another trip sans children and eat anything and everything you could ever imagine…FRIED. Yep. Even pickles. Ok, I don’t want to try one of those but they do have them at the fair if anyone is interested.

Finally, here is a photo of a pumpkin I “carved.” I use the term carve lightly seeing as I used a drill and did very little actually carving. Now, I only need a light that is SUPER bright and this little baby will look just like something out of Cinderella.

Much happier post wouldn’t you say? Happy Thursday.
E

and less dramatic update

Sorry to be so dramatic yesterday. After some (probably) unnecessary freak out I am much more calm today. I had a lot of emotions going through my head after I really thought about what had happened and I guess all the “what ifs” got me worried. Perhaps I should have waited a day to put it on my blog, but I do want an accurate record and that would include my wide range of emotions.

Jesse is doing much better, still awaiting some tests but he is sure they will find nothing. He thinks all of the recent happenings were a fluke and nothing to be concerned about. No matter what the results that is probably how he will treat things anyway so I guess I will get on board sooner rather than later!

in other news

We made it to the fair.  It was a great first time fair visit.  We enjoyed Grandparents visiting and were able to do some fun things with them.  At some point I will get up the energy to post pictures of it all.  Not today.

It has been an awesome week at our house.  Jesse came down with some sort of flu.  The Dr.  didn’t want to test him so told him to just assume it was swine flu and stay home.  While at the Dr. office his heart decided to do some flips or something and Jesse earned himself and EKG and some lab work.  Somehow in the midst of this he managed to pass out, have a seizure and kick a poor nurse.   He is home and resting and seems to be doing better.

Funny thing, I am starting to feel a little under the weather.

Make a wide berth when coming near the Deller home.  There is some crazy stuff happening there.

October break, half way in

The kids have the week off from school and are enjoying their days to sleep in.  (you know, past 5:30 am, if I could get them so sleep until 7:00 I would be in heaven) I am pretty lucky because they don’t complain much about not going anywhere or having nothing to do.

So far we have had a failed trip the library, it is closed on Mondays.  Isabel tried on 26 pairs of pants before finding some she liked.  Luke thought he was going to die in the mean time.  Max went to Peter Piper pizza with this friend.  We all had a picnic at the park with friends.  Such fun until some random school buses showed up with loads of kids.  Luckily they only stayed 30 minutes and off they went.

Today we have dentist appointments, cleaning, and hopefully a real trip to the library.  Maybe something fun for dessert?

Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa come!!  Friday the AZ state fair is calling my name, the kids have never been.

A few years ago it would not have been a question as to whether or not we were going somewhere for the break, but a question of which beach/theme park we would be going to.  While I miss the freedom of just going, I have learned to love the simplicity to eating cereal on the patio with the kids while the sun warms the newly mown grass.  I love having the chance to look at the things around me that I hadn’t noticed in the past.

86 degree weather and happy kids to share it with,  what a great October break.

to heck with it…

I am making pumpkin bars for the 31st time this fall and yes, I know it has only been fall for about 2 weeks.

Who cares if I have to wash all the dishes by hand after, it is FALL for the love of all things pumpkin!!