Update

My father in law is home, still having some heart issues but getting better.  Thank you all so much for your prayers, your thoughts and your support.

My first English paper was due last week.  Word on the street is that this professor does not give good grades very often.  I was happy to settle for a B.  I got a 95.  A bright spot in the middle of a very difficult week.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the stomach flu, along with the kiddos.  I had to call off work due to my fever and um, bowel issues.  When I went back to work that next Sunday, still not feeling great, my co-worker gave me a hard time and acted like a total bee-yatch about my ill call.  I am still upset about it.  Trying hard not to be, but I can't stand when people talk about me behind my back...

I am knee-deep in household chores after this crazy week.  We are leaving soon for a much-needed escape, and I have a million things to do.  Trying hard to not be overwhelmed.

Tomorrow is my 37th birthday.  Funny how birthdays used to be such a big deal, and now they are really just another day.  In my head, I'm still 35 (although some days my body feels 105, if you know what I mean).

Isabel ran the practice 5K race yesterday in under 24 minutes.  That's less than 8 minutes per mile.  The girl amazes me.  I need to find her a faster running buddy for the real race.  My best time is a 9-minute mile.

Clearly, I'm rambling.  Thanks for listening.  Or reading, as the case may be.  Now I need to go catch the dishes that are trying to climb out of the sink...

Request

Brief post here...

This past Thursday, Joe's dad (Bob), had to be emergently admitted to the hospital for heart failure and atrial fibrillation, a potentially dangerous combination.

He is in the hospital where I work, thank goodness.  I know the doctors, the nurses, and I know he is being well cared-for.

He is going to be having some procedures tomorrow.  Would you please hold him and our family in your prayers?

Thank you, friends.

Random Wednesday

Christ Hospital is requiring all of their nurses to have their Bachelor's degree by 2020.  They are paying for everything but the books, and the professors come from University of Cincinnati to either the hospital or the School of Nursing right next door.  After this quarter, I will be one-third of the way done.  However, for the next two quarters (January through May), I will be at school for seven hours EVERY Tuesday.  In addition to working my two 12-hour night shifts per week.  I'm trying to stay positive, but I have to honestly say that I am dreading it.  I'm going to enjoy every bit of this English class I'm in for the time-being.

At the end of summer, Elijah wanted to sign up for fall baseball and fall basketball.  I was hesitant; we have a one-sport-at-a-time kind of rule, and with him starting junior high, we didn't want his grades to suffer. After much discussion, we decided to let him try.  Not only did he do a great job balancing his school and sports, he managed to get a "Student of the Week" award yesterday for doing such awesome work in Spanish class.  And I was worried about Junior high...

Gabe has had to "move his apple" three times now in kindergarten.  His version always includes a kid named Braxton or a kid named J.C. "making him do it".  I tell him only HE is in control of his choices; however, if the combination of Gabe and Braxton or Gabe and J.C. is always a bad one, why is his teacher still pairing them up?  Guess I'll have something to talk about during conferences, hmmm?

We are preparing for the big Practice 5K race for Girls on the Run next Wednesday.  I can't wait to see how Isabel does this year!  The official race is November 20th, and we are working hard on our goal of every girl running the race and finishing in decent time.

Joe has decided to start his own business, in addition to teaching (for now).  He is so talented at home repair and tiling that he wants to try his hand at making some money from it.  I am cautiously optimistic about this venture...

I have been making lots of cards lately, about eight a day.  My goal is to make packs of cards called "Four Seasons of Greetings", with cards for spring/summer/fall and winter.  I may sell some, but mostly they will be gifts for friends and teachers.

I adore this time of year.  Cool, crisp mornings; trees blazing with color; wearing sweaters and layers of clothes with my favorite boots; making pumpkin anything to go with my pumpkin-spiced coffee; homemade soups for dinner; my birthday at the end of this month; Halloween.

We are planning a big vacation and I am getting so excited!  Although it's frugal year, we did get a great deal on this trip and couldn't pass it up.  My in-laws are coming along, too.  We are going to make some GREAT memories!

Any random thoughts going on in your head this morning?  Any big trips planned?  Wanna buy some cards?

In Gabe's eyes

Gabe loves to play "photographer" with my camera.  An hour of entertainment for him, a great blog post for me, not to mention it's cool to see what he considers picture-worthy.

A self portrait.

New Lego book from the library.

Another self portrait.

Remember that "real" picture I talked about, of me sans makeup or hairspray?  Here it is:

Love that Edward is part of the family :)

Color-coordinated Hot Wheels.

He took a ton of pictures of our cool town in the garage!

One of his favorite movies (and mine, too).

My dad and his mom, neither of whom Gabe remembers but still talks about, nevertheless.  Love that.

I loved seeing these around the house pictures taken from Gabe's point of view.  Thank goodness for digital cameras!

Ding dong, the germs are dead!

Other than spending ten days suffering from the effects of the stomach flu, we have been having a great October around here!  And now that the germs have hit every one of us (except for Joe, who always seems to avoid getting the stomach flu), we are ready for some fall fun.

The house is decked out in Halloween and harvest decor, both outside...

and in...

We're ready to bake apple muffins, pumpkin crisp and pumpkin bread while sipping pumpkin spiced coffee and hot apple cider...

We want to hold Autumn in our hands and love every minute.  (Including Autumn the cat, too :)

 We're planning dinner with friends this weekend, and a trip to the Halloween Haunt at King's Island.  Sunday is Elijah's last day of fall baseball and basketball, and we have fourteen more days until a big surprise fall vacation.

How's your October so far?  Any big fall plans?  Do you get decorating ideas from Family Fun magazine?

and the mighty continue to fall.

The stomach bug refuses to die out here at our house, despite the amount of disinfectant and laundry-washing going on every single day.

I succumbed this past Friday, and just now have my appetite back.

Gabe still has diet-rhea once or twice a day (TMI? sorry.)

Elijah has been up since 3am, heaving and trying to flush his germs away.  He is as pale as the ghosts decorating my front yard.

I've been wanting to do a post about all the fall decor around our house; looks like scary stomach bugs is it for now...

ps.  you might want to wash your hands after reading this post.  I wouldn't underestimate the power of these germs to come right through this computer screen.

Bravery

can be defined "as showing no fear" (Webster's)...

Or it could be defined as "not showing fear when you find a praying mantis living in mom's birdhouse on the front porch"...

or it could be demonstrated by letting said praying mantis crawl all over your arm while waiting for your bus, then carrying your new friend onto the bus to show your bus driver and your classmates...

Yep, I think we all learn better from a demonstration than from a dictionary, don't you?

14 years ago today...

We met in July of 1995.

Broke up for six weeks in the spring of '96, until we realized that we were, indeed, right for each other.

Got engaged in July of 1996.

Planned a wedding in three short months.

At the age of 22, we thought we knew what we were doing.

We had no idea.  Planning a wedding is a lot of work, but maintaining a marriage is monumentally more than just work.  It's patience, tolerance, forbearance (and not just the student loans).  It's loving the other person even on the days where you don't like them all that much.  It's struggling to make ends meet.  It's sleepless nights spent at work and with sick babies.  It's buying and selling houses and moving too many times.  It's holding the other when a parent dies or a friendship ends.  It's vacations and kids' sports and more happy memories than you know what to do with.  It's supporting your wife's addiction to blogging and scrapbooking, because that's how those memories are stored.  It's tolerating your husband's addiction to World of Warcraft, because that's his escape from the reality of teaching difficult children at the alternative school.  It's putting God smack in the middle of your relationship, and leaning on Him when the times are more than either one of you can handle.

It's surrounding yourself with friends and family who support you and encourage you to love each other, no matter what comes your way...

It's remembering the joy of that incredibly gorgeous wedding day, and the honeymoon week that followed...

It's realizing that fourteen years is longer than many couples make it, but not near as long as others do.

It's hoping for fifty more, filled with more happy memories than any scrapbook or blog can hold.

Happy 14th Anniversary, Joe.  I love you more than you can know.

Domino effect

Nothing has a domino effect like the good ole' stomach flu.

First, Isabel came down with it this past Thursday afternoon.

Then, my niece started on Friday night.

At 5am this morning, Gabe came downstairs covered in Red Robin leftovers (and not in a good way, folks).  Not once, not twice...five times did the poor little guy hurl.  He who never pukes has made up for it in just one day.

On a side note, Joe is home sick with a really bad cold, fever/runny nose/cough...general yuckiness.

I doubt if there's enough antibacterial soap in the world that will keep me safe from these invading germs.

If I'm MIA in blogland for awhile, you'll know why.  Keep us in your prayers, please.

Now I've got a pile of laundry to attack...not to mention toilets to scrub.  Le sigh.