Halloween and Cupcakes! :)

Halloween was so much fun this year!  We went to a super fun church Fall Fest with our friends, the Sproles, and then we went trick or treating on Wednesday night! :)

Eli was old enough to actually enjoy himself this year, so it made it a lot more fun for everyone.  When baby brother isn't happy, ain't nobody happy! ;)

Friday night we made some cupcakes (and decorated them, which if the funnest part!) and delivered some to our precious neighbors!  It was a lot of fun and the coolest part:  When there were only 3 cupcakes left (one for each of my babies), they wanted to take them to the neighbors instead of eating them and that made momma's heart smile. :)  My babies are so sweet. I love their little servant hearts.

Don't have much to say tonight, but wanted to share some sweet pictures! :) God Bless and Goodnight.

My Sweet Little Bubble Boy

The kids were out of school this last Friday and Monday.  We spent both of those days with Andrew's allergy doctor. UGH!  I made an appointment for Friday and we went in to have allergy testing done, but weren't able to do the testing because no one had told me that Andrew had to go without his allergy medicine for 72 hours prior to the appointment. Another UGH!
Andrew didn't mind. He is the most chill kid I know, seriously.

We made a second appointment for Monday and I must say, I was unprepared.  I knew that Andrew had struggled with allergies for some time and the tests would show that, but I had no idea just how many things he would be allergic to or how that would affect our lives from here forward.
The first set of tests were done on his back.  40 tiny pricks were made on his back and tiny amounts of allergens were inserted into his back to show us exactly what he is allergic to.

It was miserable to watch, but to my surprise, Andrew said it didn't even hurt.  This is great news for a mommy. :)  A few minutes later, the tiny prick spots started to flare up!  He started crying and wiggling and it was so hard to watch. :(  He said he felt like his back was on fire and it broke mommy's heart. He had to lay still for 25 minutes, while his poor back was itching and burning. :'( Whew! It's so hard to see your children suffer.
The doctor came back in and checked to see what exactly Andrew is allergic to and there were SO many things that he felt it was necessary to do a second round of tests to verify the most pronounced allergies.  This test was even harder!
The next test was done with six needles (REAL needles this time).  They had to give him six separate shots down his scrawny little arm. :(  This test hurt!

Five of the six shots came back positive.  

In the end, we were told that Andrew was allergic to a LONG list of things.  The most heartbreaking was dogs.  Andrew is allergic to our two fur babies, Sadie and Libby.  With our doctor's help, we have come up with a tentative plan for helping his allergies, while at the same time keeping our puppies.  Please be in prayer with us that we are able to help Andrew AND keep our babies.  Our hearts would absolutely be broken if we had to choose between our son and our dogs because we would lose two family members.  For those of you with animals, you know that they quickly become a part of your family and to see them go is absolutely heartbreaking. :(  

Andrew is also allergic to GRASS and trees!  How is someone allergic to GRASS!?  It is kind of unavoidable, but we are going to do our best. :/  Wish us luck! 

Andrew will start allergy shots within the next couple of weeks (once his serum is ready) and we are hoping this will help to keep his allergies at bay. My poor bubble boy...

The list goes on.

Last week was insanely busy!  Eli went with Mam for the week and I thought it would give me some time to get things done/caught up and maybe even relax a little, but I was wrong! LOL  I ended up overbooking myself and running around like crazy!  I didn't get many things from my list done, but I did get a lot of things done that I didn't even know needed to be done. ;)  

I had doctors appointments, Bloom, a visit to the kids school, a parent/teacher conference, a visit from my momma, and even a date night worked in somehow. :)  

On Tuesday, I started a new "diet" plan. You can read more about that at:

http://cheryllhatesbeingfat.blogspot.com/2012/10/nojudgingplease.html

My favorite day last week?  Wednesday!  Wednesday, my mom and I  had lunch with Ali and Drew at school.  We had so much fun playing with the kids and taking lots of pics. :)

Love these sweet kids! :)

Wednesday was also the night we had our date night! :) Thanks to our wonderful neighbor, we have been able to take advantage of quite a few date nights lately.  We love Priscilla and the kids get so excited when they hear she is coming over. :)  LOVE THAT! 

This weekend, we went to see our families in Berryville/Green Forest. We were only there briefly to spend a little time with them and bring Eli home, but we had a lot of fun laughing with them and can't wait to see everyone again...very soon! :)

In the meantime, I need to get busy on that never ending "to do" list. ;)

*HUGS*

Hump Day Review

Thus far, we have had a pretty uneventful week and in my opinion, those are the best! :)
On Tuesday, we went to Bloom and Eli sang all the way there! He loves his class there and mommy loves her class too. ;)  It has been such a great experience and I am so thankful to Kathy for telling me about it.
This Tuesday happened to be the week when my group (along with another group) supplied the food for all 260+ women!  It was hectic around here on Tuesday morning.  Not only did I decide to make something that takes a little prep time, but it also happened to fall on picture day for the kiddos! LOL  We were running around crazy!
I made sausage stars (aka: sausage wraps) and they were super yummy.  I got to eat one on the way because it had fallen apart, coming out of the oven. ;)  Good thing I DID eat that one because by the time Kathy and I made our way over to the tables, there was only ONE left (out of 48!).  I snatched it quickly before any one else could because I desperately wanted Kathy to try them! LOL  She loved them! YAY-Success! :)

Today Eli and I got some important errands ran and then after school, all of us went for some ice cream with Sarahjane!

We love us some Sarahjane!  She is absolutely precious and to know her is to love her. Anyone who doesn't know her is really missing out! ;)  We love you SJ! :)

Well, there is my quick hump day review. Have a great rest of the week! :)

T-shirt and Bracelet Palooza!! :)

WardFamilyCircus-Tshirt and Bracelet Palooza


Follow this link and be a part of something GREAT!  This precious family is waiting on their babies to come home from Haiti and you can be a part of reuniting this family by buying homemade bracelets (made in Haiti from recycled paper) and these great shirts showing your support for this wonderful cause. :) Let's bring these babies home! :)

Yard Sale and Inspiration

Today we had a yard sale.  For anyone who has ever had a yard sale, you know how much work this truly is. It is A LOT of work!  We didn't even price anything and we were still hot, sweaty, and overworked by 7am! LOL
Last weekend, we got ourselves way in over our heads when we decided it would be a good idea to clean out our attic.  The attic was FULL of stuff!  There were countless storage bins, tons of cardboard boxes, and lots and lots of trash bags full of...stuff!
When we started the project, we were totally motivated and excited about the end result.  After two hours of carrying stuff down in an effort to empty the attic completely, we realized how much work was actually in store for us.  Poor David had to carry everything down (and later, back up) all by himself, while I waited  at the bottom to pilfer through the past 5 years of our lives.
I am totally cool with climbing up the ladder, in fact, I love the attic space.  There is charming exposed brick, a great pitched roof and lots of floor space. However, I am deathly afraid of coming back down the ladder!  It reminds me of when I was younger and I went up into a tree house at a birthday party and I spent three hours crying about how to come down...I was 12. Don't judge.
When the attic was finally empty (4 LONG hours later!), we had literally filled 2 1/2 rooms of our home with the unused items that called our attic home.
It was then that we took a break.  We looked around the room with complete surprise and disgust!  We felt like hoarders!  Even worse, 7 tubs were crafts and drawings and notes from our three children.  Again, don't judge.  ;)  I love my kids and everything they make, er touch, is a keepsake.  After bringing to light my obsession with saving EVERYTHING they have ANYTHING to do with, I am determined to make wiser decisions about what to save and what not to save. :)
We pushed forward and somehow, by Sunday night (the FOLLOWING night), we had repacked the attic with ONLY 6 tubs (only two are keepsake, one for pictures, a couple are holiday tubs and one for hand me down clothes from Andrew to Eli).  Impressive, right?!  We were so proud of ourselves...we still are! ;)
Initially we had planned to donate EVERYTHING!  We were determined to reclaim our home and get rid of the junk, but after closer examination and the realization that we still had TWO rooms of stuff to get rid of, we decided to have a yard sale and we set the date for one week away.
I realize now that this meant spending TWO weekends on our junk, but it seemed like a good idea until my alarm went off at 6am this morning. UGH!
We woke up completely unprepared.  We hadn't organized or priced ANYTHING!  The only thing we had done in fact, was place a free ad in the newspaper and on Craigslist, letting every one know that our junk was officially for sale from 7am-12pm.
We got up at 6am and started to prepare for our five hour commitment.  There was no turning back.  We had signs posted on Markham already...you can't flake after you post the signs! ;)  At 6am, while we were carrying everything from the sun room to the front yard (in the dark), people started driving by very slowly...eeeeek!  Those faithful yard sale seekers...they don't play.  They were ready to shop and we were NOT ready to sell.  :/  They didn't pity us either.
If you know me at all, you know that I am totally TYPE A.  I had lined up shoes, clothes, books, etc., just the way I wanted them and these people didn't care AT ALL!  In fact, one man said, " WOW!  That's the most organized sell I've ever been to.  What a waste of time." Needless to say, the organization didn't last long and I was soon following patrons around straightening up after them, much like I do with my children. LOL
Anyhow...we had no idea that the majority of our shoppers were going to be those very shoppers who bombarded us while we were still trying to put things out.  These people didn't even stick around long enough to see everything...they were in a hurry to get to the rest of the sales, I guess.
We made most of our money that first hour.  After that, there was a lot of waiting around.  At about 10, I was ready to be done and call it a day, but David convinced me to wait until 11.  I'm glad we did because some sweet ladies came and took A LOT of stuff!  She had grand babies and bought lots of kids clothes and what she didn't buy, I gave to her. ;)  She was so precious and so grateful and it made my heart smile. :)
At 11, we packed up my Land Rover (which surprisingly, holds A LOT) and donated everything that was left.
It was freeing and SO nice to be rid of everything.  As David drove off with my LR4 packed to the roof with memories, I couldn't help but feel lighter, but sad at the same time.
It's hard sometimes to let go, huh?  As he drove away, I thought about all of the junk that we had held on to for so long and how good it felt to let it go.  It made me think of my relationship with Christ and how so often, too often, I allow my heart and mind to be filled with JUNK.  As we fill our hearts and minds with sin, we leave less and less room for the Lord.
It breaks my heart to think of the sins I have committed in my life, but brings me such joy to know that my Savior, who died for my sins, will forgive me time and time again. He accepts me, JUNK and all.  How freeing to know that just like I reclaimed my home and emptied the junk, I can come before him and allow him to reclaim me and empty me of my junk.
What a wonderful promise to know that He will accept you completely.  He knows our every sin, but He still loves us.  He died for us, knowing we would break his heart over and over again.
Tonight I want to be reclaimed. I want his blood to wash me clean and rid me of my junk.
As I was writing that last sentence, I grabbed my phone to look up a verse to share and how appropriate that my "daily verse" (on my Bible app) is this:
Deuteronomy 7:9
"Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments."



Goodnight and God Bless.

Total Slacker

I have been a total slacker at blogging.  I actually love blogging and find it therapeutic, much like writing in the journal I don't have time to write in. I just can't seem to find the time, EVER.  If I do get a few moments to myself, I end up staring at a wall or something because frankly, that seems like a lot of fun lately! LOL  I have been completely exhausted and I don't even know why...UGH!
Now that Ali and Drew are back in school, Eli and I spend most of our days trying to work around his nap schedule and hoping he wakes up in time to go get his sister and brother so I don't have to wake the little bear. ;)  We haven't been able to have many play dates at all lately because of his crazy nap schedule, but Eli can't function without a nap.  This leaves us with some very LONG days. :/  If it weren't for having to pick up the kids from school, nap time wouldn't be so hard, but alas...
Yesterday, we were able to go to the zoo with some friends and then we went to the park after we picked up the kiddos from school.  We had a lot of fun (SEE FACEBOOK FOR PICS) and because it is no longer 105 degrees outside, we will be spending a lot more time outdoors now! :)  YAY FOR FALL!
I don't have any pics uploaded and I don't have much time, but I wanted to check in and let everyone know that we are still kicking (sometimes literally) over here and if you are reading this, chances are, we miss you! ;)  We vow to work on our nap schedule so that we can join the human race again on day. :)

Lot of Love.