A Wedding

I don't know about all of you, but I love Weddings :-)  Especially those of people I know well!  On Saturday, January 14th, Darryl's Niece, Rachel, got married and we were honored to be part of it!  We were very excited about this wedding since Rob and Rachel have been together for 7 years and we figured that this day would come long before now!  Darryl and I were responsible for the music - we knew months in advance but, as is normal, we waited until 2 weeks before the wedding to practice . .. we should have practiced sooner LOL  No, it went really well but we could have used a few more songs for the prelude and postlude.  I also sang "When I Say I do" by Matthew West



The wedding itself was beautiful - it was held in a church that was just "grand" in appearance making for some beautiful photos. I will apologize now for my photos - my camera is on its last leg so it tends to be a little blurry sometimes plus I was not using the flash so any small movement caused a blur. 

 Rachel - she looked beautiful :-)

 Rachel and the Guys

 Rob, the groom, and our nephew Levi (Rachel's brother)

 Darryl with his sister, Kelly

 Rachel and Darryl - yes, she is really that short and yes, he is really that tall :-)

The First Dance :-)

Despite a really bad snow storm with white out driving conditions - it was a great weekend.  Darryl and I, thanks to his hotel points he has earned, were able to stay the weekend so we got some time away which was even better then the wedding - the wedding was just the excuse we needed to do something like that, I guess :-) 

Recovery

I wanted to follow up on Josh's Surgery! On Wednesday, January 18th, Josh was scheduled for surgery to clip his tongue.  My husband and I got up at 5:00 to get ready and then woke Josh up just before 6:00 to get dressed and head out.  On a side note, it isn't very often that we get to peek in on him when he is sleeping and he was so darn cute - then he heard my husband's voice (whom Josh hadn't seen since Wednesday the 11th) and he sat straight up in bed and said "Daddy's Home - Play train circle Daddy?" HA!  Surprisingly, my little non-morning boy was very happy and ready to get dressed and head out.  My mom had graciously stayed the night so she could take care of Nate and the munchkin while we were gone.  We arrived at the hospital right on time and checked in at 7:00.  Then we were called right back to the pre-op room where we waited . .. and waited. . .. and waited. . .and waited.  Seriously.  I have no idea why we had to be there an hour and half early since there wasn't even a nurse in the area until 8:00. 

 Darryl and Josh right after we were brought back to the Pre-Op room.  Josh was more then a little tired after getting up so early and talking the whole way to the hospital.

 This is Josh's bed - he didn't have to get in it until just as they took him away; don't you love the bed hair?? HA!   He didn't even have to change clothes :-)

 I had thought about taking some toys but wasn't sure about hauling stuff in with us.  Some one from Children's Welfare actually brings stuff to each of the kids - stuff to color, a book, and a toy to use while they are there. 

After talking to the doctor, the nurse and the anesthesiologist, they gave Josh some liquid sleep medication and this was taken as he started to get sleepy.  So we then put him in the crib where he just sat and stared at us, looking a little . .. well . .. stoned, for lack of a better word, and they wheeled him away.  He didn't cry, just looked at us like we were insane as we waved at him from across the room HA!

Darryl and I settled in to watch some TV and didn't even have time to find a channel before the doctor was back (actually 20 minutes) to tell us it all went well and he had put in three stitches under his tongue.  He warned us that most kids come out of the sleeping meds (everything was oral - no IV's) disoriented and will cry for 20 minutes to an hour.  We noticed other kids crying as they came out so we were ready.  We thought we would have about an hour wait but 10 minutes later, out came a nurse carrying Josh who was still very out of it (I thought it was neat that the nurses carry the kids out then roll the beds out a few minutes later).

 They got Josh a big cup of Apple Juice and some graham crackers right away.  There is actually a huge slushy machine so he could have had a slushy but he isn't a huge fan and really loves apple juice.  We found it funny that all of the instructions were soft foods only for the first 24 hours and yet they gave him graham crackers??? 

See that cute little face? He is still so out of it he has no idea what way is up!!!  About 20 minutes later we were wheeled out and on our way home.  Everyone raved about how great he was and that he didn't cry and all that stuff.  Well . . . apparently it takes him a lot longer to come out of the drugs then the normal 3 year old.  When we got home, he wanted to get out of the truck and walk himself but we did not realize that he was still 100% loopy.  He couldn't walk a straight line and kept falling in the snow and walking the wrong  direction.  Darryl finally just picked him up and the poor little guy went ballistic - screaming and crying.  Then when he got in he wanted to go downstairs (why? I don't know - my kids don't go downstairs unless they walk down with me to get laundry) so he got upset again.  It took him about an hour to come out of the anesthesia and get back to his normal self.  By early afternoon, he was playing on the floor and he ate a normal dinner.  On Thursday, other then saying once that his tongue hurt and once that he thought he had crackers stuck under his tongue (the stitches) he did fine.  We do notice changes already in his speech - but I have also noticed he hasn't figured out how to use his "new" tongue yet and some words that were clear aren't as clear now.  I'm thinking that as it heals, it will get better. 

All in all, it was a good experience - and I am actually glad that he didn't break down until we got home and no one else had to listen to his screams except for Nana and Darryl and I. 

Weekly Menu - January 21

Can you believe that we are looking at the last week of January?  Wow!  Where did this month go?  As always, when we get to the last week of the month, I like to use up things in the freezer and keep the grocery list as small as possible. End of the month = end of the budget!!!  We have also heard that there are some big route changes coming to my husbands job so I'm not sure what nights he will be home - this might change our menu completely! (I cook SUPER simple when he is gone - my kids could eat Blue Box Mac and Cheese every night!!)

Saturday: No plans for dinner yet - I'm attending a baby shower and then going scrapbooking for awhile.  I'm leaning towards scrapbooking until about 7:30 then I can pick some dinner up for an at home date with my hubby :-) 

Sunday: Winter has finally hit Michigan so I love cooking meals on Sunday that make the whole house smell good AND warm it up!  It is time for a Roast, Carrots, Noodles and Rolls :-)

Monday: Hot Dogs and French Fries (so exciting, isn't it??)

Tuesday: Ham and Potato Soup with Homemade Bread - I have a great ham bone left from a few weeks ago that I'm going to simmer to get lots of ham for the soup :-)  My kids are not huge soup eaters yet so they may end up with hot dogs and bread HA!

Wednesday: Tacos, Rice and Refried Beans (We LOVE tacos!!!!!)

Thursday: Root Beer Pulled Pork, Cole Slaw, and Baked Beans (Check my "Recipe" Tab for all three of these family favorite recipes!!)

Friday:  Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti and Garlic Bread (Another family favorite in my "Recipe" tab)



Food Friday - Lime Sherbet Punch

This recipe is one that we had both on Christmas Day and New Years Eve.  My sister-in-law, Debby, provided punch for Christmas Dinner and I fell in love with it so I made it again for my husband and I on New Years Eve.  The funny thing is that just a few weeks before that, we had come home from a Christmas gathering and I mentioned to my husband how I wished we had something refreshing to drink - something I could mix together and enjoy.  Please let me clarify one thing, we do not drink alcohol at all - I don't cook with it nor do we have it in our home at all.  So by wanting something to mix together - I'm thinking of a "punch" idea.  This fits the bill and I plan on keeping the ingredients on hand to use when I want something other than milk, water, or Crystal Light!

Lime Sherbet Punch
adapted from Debby McMaster (My sister-in-law)

Isn't that a pretty drink?  It reminds me of St Patrick's Day (I'll have to remember that!)  This is so refreshing, easy and, honestly, inexpensive!

1 package of lime Koolaid (with sugar needed to make it)
1 2-liter of 7-up or other lemon-lime soda
1 container of Lime Sherbet

First, make the Kool-aid except only add about 1/2 the normal amount of water, or even a little less.  Then, add the Kool-aid, soda, and sherbet into a large punch bowl and enjoy. 

Instead of making a big punch bowl for just the husband and me, I poured about a 1/2 a glass of Kool-aid, added 1/2 a glass of Sprite and then put in some sherbet.  It was the perfect drink!

What I'm Reading

Currently, I'm reading The Fence My Father Built by Linda Clare.  This is a book that I got for free for my Kindle a few weeks ago (it is now $8.99).  The only reason I downloaded it is because it is free - it is not a topic I would normally chose but, with that said, it is a very well written, interesting book and I'm glad that I picked it up when I did. 

Here is the review from Amazon:
In The Fence My Father Built, when legally separated Muri Pond, a librarian, hauls her kids, teenage Nova and eleven year-old Truman, out to the tiny town of Murkee, Oregon, where her father, Joe Pond lived and died, she’s confronted by a neighbor’s harassment over water rights and Joe’s legacy: a fence made from old oven doors.

The fence and accompanying house trailer horrify rebellious Nova, who runs away to the drug-infested streets of Seattle. Muri searches for her daughter and for something to believe in, all the while trying to save her inheritance from the conniving neighbor who calls her dad Chief Joseph. Along with Joe’s sister, Aunt Lutie, and the Red Rock Tabernacle Ladies, Muri must rediscover the faith her alcoholic dad never abandoned in order to reclaim her own spiritual path.

Right now, I'm about 70% of the way through the book (I have yet to figure out some things on my Kindle like how to tell what page I'm on!)  and I still haven't figured out how it will end . One part of me feels like there is going to be a little surprise about one of the characters but we'll see! 

A couple of other things I'm working on learning about my Kindle:

1) How to manage my books.  I find it overwhelming to look at 4 or 5 pages of books and have no idea what they are about.

2) How to make groups or something to sort books - I'd like to sort them by type (Romance, Drama, Mystery, Humor) so I can pick based on what I feel like. 

3) Cleaning the screen - I'm sure it is easy but, like a computer screen, I want to make sure to do it right (speaking of that, my computer screen is dirty!)

I hope that you are enjoying your Kindle - or at least reading.  By the way, if you are a traditional reader and read, well, books.  Try buying your books at Half.com.  It is a great site and you can often get books for $.75 (depending on popularity and age) and then right around $3.00 shipping.  A great price! 

What are you reading?

Memory Shortage

No, I don't mean my own memory either!  A few months ago, my husband looked at how much memory was left on my computer and made a comment that he couldn't believe how much I had already used up.  We kinds knew that I needed to do something but then . . .we did nothing.  Sunday night, January 15th, I was busy scrapbooking digitally when all of a sudden, I can a message that said something to effect that it couldn't save my work due to lack of memory.  Oops!!!!  Guess what?  I ran out of memory!!! AHHHHHHHHH  So this is what I've been busy doing:

1) Looking at "my computer" to figure out if there were programs that I didn't need anymore  that were taking up space (There are tons of Microsoft updates . .. . I wonder how many of those you have to keep - or can you delete the old ones?  Don't worry I did not delete any of them HA)

2) Burning Discs - Now, I realize that a computer Hard drive is NOT a safe place to store all of your family memories and I've been "meaning" to do something.  Nothing like having no memory to make you "do" something.  I am currently working on putting all photos, photo pages, and documents I want to keep onto discs. 

3)Uploading - I'm also uploading photos and photo pages into sites I order from.  Yes, again, I realize that this are not totally "safe" but they are a back-up source for now.  I am busy making albums in Snapfish for all of my photos.  The nice part is anytime I want to order - they they are!!!  My 12x12 photo pages that I need to still order I am uploading into Scrapping Simply - a great printing site - I can store them there forever after I print them so it is a great place to use as a back up.  This takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r.  I did April, May, June and July in one day.  And that was back to back - it took about 8 hours.  Crazy. 

4) Deleting - Did you know you should empty your Recycle bin? HA!  Holy cow I had a lot of stuff in there that was taking up HUGE amounts of space.  I also cleaned out my documents and got rid of tons of things that were outdated or just not useful anymore.  Each document doesn't take up a lot of space but when you have a few hundred . .. well, that is valuable space.  I have also deleted photo pages that I have uploaded to Scrapping Simple and burned onto a disc.  Lets just say that freed up about 25 GB just deleting a few months worth (I think my digital scrapbooking is taking up LOADS of space!!)  I now need to also clean out my accessories in my scrapbooking folder as well.  All those digital papers and stickers I don't like or have used so much that I don't like them anymore !! 

5) Things I need to do - there are 2 things I still need to do.  1)Back up photos on my External Hard Drive.  I will also back up the most recent photo pages.  2) I plan on using some Christmas money to sign up for a year of a back up service called Sugar Sync.  It has come recommended to my by another blogger and after doing research on my own, I feel like this is the best service for me.  It will do a real time back up of everything on my computer so if there is a crash, I can retrieve everything easily.  I've had one instance of a virus in the last two years where I thought I lost everything and then recently got the blue screen one day - kinda scary.  I did not lose anything but don't want to risk that either.  Sugar Sync has a limit on storage space so cleaning out my hard drive actually helps with that as well. 

Needless to say, this little project is consuming a lot of time this week but it feels good to be getting it done.  I should have done this months . .a year ago.  Too man precious memories to lose!!


What do you do to backup your important information??  Do you feel less secure now that so much is stored on a computer verses the "old way" of paper/negatives?  Sometimes I feel like my data is so much more unsafe stored the way it is and miss all of the paper storage!!

Surgery!

This little guy is having surgery this morning at 8:30.  He is "tongue tied" - did you know that is a real thing???  We knew his tongue was tied a little short (meaning that piece of skin under his tongue was attached closer to the end tip then it should be) back when he was 13 months old but the ENT doctor suggested we wait and see if his speech was impacted.  Well, it is.  We took him back to the ENT doctor right before Christmas and his tongue is short enough that even with his mouth closed, it doesn't reach the roof of his mouth meaning that he can't form some letters/sounds.  (Which we could knew which is why we took him back!)  Hindsight is 20/20 - we wish we would have pushed to have it clipped at 13 months.  Even his regular doctor was surprised it wasn't clipped yet and pushed it through this time.  With all of that said - we'll be heading out to the hospital at 6:00 AM for the 8;30 surgery.  It is only about a 10 minute procedure with 2-4 stitches but he has to be knocked out to have it done.  Should make for an interesting morning :-)

If you are so inclined, feel free to say a prayer for him and for quick healing.  We have been told that it will just be uncomfortable for a few day but it heals quickly.   I am hoping to get some pictures of "our" first surgery with the kids but we'll see how it goes!