In Full Swing!

The bus comes at 7:25 the girls get on.The bus comes at 4:15, the girls get off.

It's pretty easy. So far the girls like it and aren't complaining. For numerous reason we have not used the bus since Leah was in 1st grade I believe. But so far so good!!!
The girls have great teachers and were excited to see their friends. Leah didn't even get lost (she's in the middle school this year). I worked yesterday, and I will admit (as much as I don't want to) that the schedule was nice. It's just sad because that means the camping and fly by the seat of our pants is done. Now it's structure.

Yes, I STILL take pictures of my kids the 1st day of school. This was the 1st year we have a different background. The new landscape screwed us up. I hope to take pictures til they are in high school. They might not think so but somethings in life are about moms. And if pictures make us happy, that's ok. (Steve is also a picture fanatic, these girls don't have a chance :)

WE DID IT!!!

Here was my wise idea! In January I thought, "a triathlon would be fun." I had alot of people say, "yes that'd be fun," but I only had 1 taker. My friend Jessica signed up in February, so I followed suit.
Well, as the summer went on I thought, "this is a dumb idea." Last year I trained by the book for a 1/2 marathon, well this year I think I lost the training book. So I ran, biked and swam some and surprisingly I felt pretty good about it last night. If you know me, I'm not a fierce competitor. If someone wants to win, I want them to win. I only compete with me. It's mind over matter and I was gonna finish. (I will admit I tried really hard not to have ladies older than me pass me when biking and running; swimming was a lost cause).
So Jess and I were ready to head into the lake. I hear some yelling and turn around to find my hubby and kids (I knew they were coming but not sure when) and my parents! Great fun and it brought my excitement to a new level. Can't let the kids see their mama crash and burn!

Jess and I ready to go!

Swimming done! Praise the Lord! Steve was even wondering if I drowned.

Onto biking! Once out of the water I knew "I CAN DO THIS!" Mind over matter!

How bout a little running? Yea!!!! Mama did it girls!!!

Look at us! Finished and WINNERS (in our minds) I must say, we look pretty good :)

It was a great time! We already discussed what we can do next year. I suggest something without swimming (not my strong point) but Jessica did well at it. So we'll see. We have a whole year to plan and train!!

Fun Fun Fun

The start to our trip. Ash fell asleep before we even got the trailer hooked up! Overall she did good. I think camping helped keep her mind occupied, however there were moments! At one point her and I were both in tears. She asked me, "why did you do this to me?" (as in why did we have her tonsils out). I cried to because at that point I was REALLY questioning why we did this. But as the week went on she did start to feel better. Slow and steady wins the race.


Some of my cuties!!

This adorable little man was LOVING his smore!! Everyone should eat a smore that way.

The Dunes! I have never been into Silver lake sand dunes. (gasp!) I didn't see it as a big deal but others did :) So I went up. Took the whole fam. It's alot of sand that's shaped into hills. Since I am a people watcher I was very entertained, as was my nephew! He tried REALLY hard to get Uncle Steve to go up test hill, but since the family truckster had to get us home, he decided that was not a wise decision. So we watched others get stuck.

I just love watching my parents with our girls! They love them so much!! As do we! Camping with them was great!

That was the last camping trip of 2011! I tried to tell Steve we can do again labor day weekend but I should've asked after the trailer was unpacked and wash done. Oh well! It is work but worth it in the end. Steve was driving home today and Brooke realized she was close to home and said, "No daddy, I want to go camping!" Tonight I was unpacking the trailer and she crawled in and said, "can we just sleep here." The girls LOVES to camp as do I. It was sad to come home to reality but that's ok.

School starts next week, we visited the girls classrooms today and met the teachers. I pray it's going to be another great year. They have amazing teachers! This year the girls are riding the bus. That's a BIG change they aren't so excited about. I'm having mixed feelings about it, but I feel we need to try it for a semester and evaluate then. We need to try and simplify our life, and not run the tires off the loser cruise (aka mini van). We'll see, change is good!

It's gonna be a good day :)

Bruiser! Sportin a blue cast. She picked blue because it's the only color she knows :) We are working on that.
Day 3, she even looks a little naughty :) Yeah!!!

A wise man once told me "if you wake up sucking air, it's gonna be a good day." Can you guess who that was? Yep, my dad! So technically we have never had a bad day in our life, we just have to learn to take what rolls our way. That last couple days we have been rolling. Maybe I should rephrase, the days have been ok, the nights were grueling. I'm too old to be up all night, but with my friend, Maxwell House, we did just fine. The 1st 2 nights the pain was a little too much for Ash. + the vomiting and diarrhea. Then the Lortab (pain med) makes her not be able to sleep even when she REALLY wants to, so we gave her benedryl to sleep, but that dries out her mucous membranes. To say the least, I'm not sure I helped her much. So, we'd sleep on the couch and make the best it. Her days are ok. She's not running a marathon but she does ok. Last night she slept all night, as did Macy. It's refreshing to wake up and say, it's been 7 hours and everyone is ok!! YIPPEEE, so we are rested and still "sucking air"

Yesterday I took Macy to her ortho appt. The MD said the breaks heal themselves so if she's really careful we don't need to cast it, but just have her be careful: no running, biking, falling, and they should never be on a trampoline etc. That seemed like such a funny statement. It makes me laugh just reading it :) Macy has has fallen on it numerous times with the splint, I have no desire to tell a 3 year old to lay low. I'd have to sit on her. So she has a cast to protect the bones for 4 weeks, then it comes off and she's good to go.

So, the week is almost done. We are at Friday and vacation awaits us. We are going to get 1 more camping trip in before school starts. Steve and I are so thankful for this week. It was busy, but it could've been worse, and it all worked out. I am so thankful we are able to work together as a husband/wife and a family. We never feel we are doing any of this alone. Today is Steve's 1st full day of being at work since Monday. It's taken both of us to parent this crew :)

Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

I also put a few pictures of the other girsl. Can't forget the rest of them :) They've been amazing helpers and caregivers for their sisters.

I can't honestly say Brooke has been a helper. She's been comical entertainment, so in that sense she's helped. She's 3 years old, need I saw more!

Is the week over yet? :)

Before surgery

After surgery, she was SOOOO funny (she thought)

Slept is off

She wanted to go home, she was HUNGRY!
Tonsils are out!! Ash did great! She was brave and totally made us laugh! They gave her some sleepy meds and she looked at Steve, started pointing at him and said very groggily " You have 4 eyes!" Then she'd laugh and laugh! It was quite entertaining! She did good yesterday but was WIRED! I think the pain meds that are suppose to make her sleep, hype her up. So she slept from 10:00p to 4a. I tried to get her to take meds at 3am so she wouldn't wake up in pain, but she would not hear of it. So at 4a we made our way to the couch, and she slept, and I watched her :) That's what mom's are suppose to do, right? I was up anyway because Macy had to go to the bathroom and with only one working hand she needs help or she falls in, and that is no good! Someone told me, prior to all the injuries, my family is like a circus. They should see us now :) We are in full circus mode. So a pot of coffee later, I am good to go.

Brooke came to me yesterday, crying, gagging and saying "I don't feel good." (not totally uncommon for her) however my response this time was "we don't have time for you to get sick this time." Poor kid. I told her in June, this summer was not about her, who knew it'd be literally. Steve and I were talking about how our odds right now are not that great. 3 out of 5 kids have something going on. He compared it to farming (go figure. The worse part is, it made complete sense to me :). The bigger you get in farming, the more equipment you get. The more equipment, the more break downs. Same with our kids, we are just temporarily broke down, physically, not mentally or spiritually. Nothing time won't heal. And we learned awhile ago, we always have time.

Tomorrow Macy goes to an orthopaedic MD to have xrays again. I assume they will put on a cast but we'll wait and see. Brooke had labs done Monday, so we are waiting to see what her IGG level is. That will tell us her next step. And I still haven't called her endocrinologist regarding the growth hormone testing. I'll get to that sometime.

Ash is doing ok so far.`She's not 100%, but she still talks up a storm, eats alot, and is BEGGING to go on the go-cart. God is so Good!

Oh for the sake of the children!!

I want to start out by saying how smart my husband is! Last night I got home from church and Steve said "I think Macy broke her arm." She fell on a toy stroller and it folded on her. We weighed out options and she started using her arm, so we thought we'd wait and see. Well at 1:30am she was up and crying. At 2:30am she was up and crying. She was teary today but she would still use her arm. However if she hit it just right she'd go through the roof!! So her and her daddy headed to Prime care this afternoon and she is sporting this pretty splint. She has asked us numerous times already if she can take it off, and she's tried to take it off. This could be interesting. Tonight 4 girls are at the beach with Grandma, because Ash has her tonsils out tomorrow. Please pray grandma does ok with with girls and Macy and that Ash does well with her tonsillectomy.

On another note, we did family pictures yesterday. I want to show you ALL of them, but there are too many and that would bore you. My sister in law, Sheri, took them and they look great. Steve and I thought the background was original, but I guess that would only be to a farm family. When the corn is tall, the farmers are happy. We wanted to capture that moment. Steve is not a fan of pictures but I can usually get him to humor me. And he got to pick the spot so that was all worth it.

Oh Happy Day!!

Oh baby, what a great day at the Koeman's! We got Brooke's numbers back last week. They are "stable." The MD says "stable" I looked and I thought they looked "good." Now, we aren't talking normal, but you have to remember where we came from. I'm not asking for normal, just a little better than before. Well, today the MD said we can take her off 2 of her meds. Not very exciting to a "normal" person, but I am not "normal" so I am SUPER EXCITED! WHOOO HOOO! 2 LESS MEDS TO DRAW UP. Drawing up meds is not the end of the world. We draw up 15 syringes of meds a day. Now we will be down to 11. Plus, I can't imagine all these meds make her feel good. So, I am happy :)

I wish everyone could meet Brooke. She is as normal as apple pie! Sweet, funny and naughty just like her sisters. That's why it's hard sometimes to pump her full of meds and tube feed her. But, a long time ago, Steve and I gave her to God. And to be Totally honest, I had no idea the miracle He would be performing. I don't want to say I didn't believe. I guess we just had faith and promised Him we'd take whatever He brought our way. Our God is SOOOO GOOD! And we are SOOOO HAPPY!! :)

I'd like to explain what Brooke has on her head, but that may take to long. Hehehe Just bask in the cuteness that God made.

Psalm 95, 1-2: "Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord: let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song."