Lost & Found

A couple weekends ago I woke up on Sunday morning and quickly realized my wedding ring/engagement ring was missing!  We didn't have a ton of time to look for it because of church.  When we got home from church I tore up all the beds, went through my laundry, coat, and gloves. Then I had to stop looking. We host a Sunday Night Bible Study at our home and I knew I needed to get ready for our friends to come over. Even though I stopped looking I just kept praying that it would show up.  The good thing was I remembered having my ring on at Zach's Upward Bball game.  Then we came home.  Kevin took the boys out for BBQ and Bass.Pro while I had a night at home to clean, do laundry, etc.  I must add I LOVE my hubs for recognizing when I need some alone time. He is so good to take the boys out for a "Guys Night" so that I can get caught up and have some Peace & Quiet.    Knowing that I lost my ring at home was reassuring but once I started to think of all the 1,000,000,000 places it could be my mind was spinning.  

 Just as I was starting to wind down and get in bed Kevin said I am going to Wal-Mart to get a tarp. Mind you it is 10:45 pm.  Next thing you know he was back at home. I heard the garage door go up and never heard him come in. When I opened the garage door this is what I found.

 He was going through our dumpster…bag by bag. Mind you by this time its 11:15 pm.  I couldn't leave him out there alone so we just started sifting through the trash.  Totally an act of love. Kevin can do anything with gloves on. HA!

 The look on his face says it all. It was gross…diapers, cut up fruit parts, coffee grounds, etc.  I totally knew he was very sad and concerned my ring was MIA.  He started talking about how he bought my engagement ring when he was in his residency. He saved and saved what little amount of money he had.  Honestly it made me feel worse.  Another reassuring part was that the ring was fully insured.  But I didn't want a new ring. We were not going to give up.

 After going through the trash with no luck we went to bed.  My plan was to get the boys to school on Monday morning and then come home and go through every toy, closet, drawer. I was going to turn my house upside down and shake it.  I.wanted.to.find.the ring.  Then at 8:20 a.m. I went to make Will's lunch for preschool. I opened the lunchmeat drawer and it was like God was stretching out his hand and giving it to me.  AHHHHH!!!! My ring was on top of the turkey bacon. HILARIOUS!  I cried. I called Kevin. He cried.  It all came back to me. While the boys were eating BBQ I had fruit, cottage cheese, and 2 slices of turkey bacon for dinner.  My ring must have slid off when I was putting it back. We are still thanking God for this miracle!  I could still be looking for that ring.  I was heartsick!  Currently I am wearing a faux ring until I get my ring resized.

This whole issue had me check with our insurance guy about my ring insurance. Let me tell you this…My ring was NOT FULLY INSURED!  I realized it was a $1000 deductible and maximum pay out of $1500.  SO we have added a jewelry insurance policy and added several other household items to an umbrella policy. So friends, please check your insurance policies!!

Let it SNOW…no more!

I finally took down our Let It Snow decorations because I was tired of all the snow!  I really do love changing up the look of our house with the seasons. In fact it's one of silly quarks.  Kevin laughs because it takes extra time and effort but I LOVE it.  Here's one last look at our snowflakes…now bring on the Valentine's Mushy, Lovie, Hearts and Cupcakes!  Please don't snow anymore! 

UPWARD Dragons

This is Zach's 2nd year for Upwards Basketball at our church.  Kevin is co-coaching with one of our favorite people, Jeremy.  The team has 5 guys on it however the one kid rarely comes to practice and has been to 1 out of 3 games.  He's a great kid and basketball player too, so his is missed when he is not there.  Most of the time its just these 4 amazing boys.  They have a very fun time playing and don't take it too serious! 

I love Upwards because it teaches the basics but more importantly it teaches sportsmanship, teaching others to be like Christ, and how to be a good winner and loser.  So proud of Zach!

COOKIE!!!

MaMaw & PaPaw got a new pup the week after Christmas!  We knew that it was a possibility and we were anxiously awaiting to see if she would get to be a part of our extended family. Of course when PaPaw went to check her out he couldn't say no.  They brought home the pup while we were in St. Louis. The boys couldn't wait to see her.  My inlaws named her Oreo Cookie but are going to call her "COOKIE"!  Zach was trying to name her while we were driving home from STL. He really thought her name should be Freckles because of her spots but was ok when she was already named.  

Cookie is a German Shorthair

 Will really liked "Tookie"  In fact he follows her around wherever she goes.

 Zach loves Cookie too.

I'm thrilled that the boys "got a dog" without us having to "get a dog". I am just not ready to be up at night with a puppy or outside in the cold with a puppy. We keep saying one of these days but I'm not in a HUGE hurry!

Trying a popular TV restaurant

When we were in STL for our mini-vacay over Christmas break we decided we needed to eat at the infamous "Crown Candy Kitchen" in STL.  It has been featured on a couple food tv shows lately as the oldest fountain soda in the city.  They are known for their 1 lb BLT.  Since we were on our week off from being healthy eaters we figured it was a perfect time to try it.  WOWZERS!  We waited outside the building for approx 1 hour to get in and sit down.  We had a blast waiting outside because their was a reggae steel drum band outside…well not actually a band but a man. THe boys loved it.  There was also pantyhose mannequins that scared Zach to pieces. Will loved them.  Go figure.  

 This is as close as I could get Zach to stand to the panty hose mannequins

 Finally in an old fashion booth.

 Here it is the Heart Stopping BLT as seen on TV.  HOLY SMOKES this was a lot of bacon!

This is just 1 half of the sandwich. Kevin and I should have just ordered one! WOAH!  It sure was good but nothing really that great.  Basically it was a BLT with 1 lb of bacon. That's all.  We are glad we went but we don't need to go back. We just need to get on the treadmill.

Their old fashion shakes were really good. The boys shared a Strawberry Shake. Kevin got a butterscotch malt that was AMAZING. My favorite thing. 

It was a fun stop. Some thing we can cross off our bucket list.

A little more than a splinter...

On New Years Eve day I was taking down all of our Christmas decorations and putting the house back together. The boys were home and helping me which was great!  After everything was put away I was just getting ready to vaccum and immediately felt like I had stepped on a tack or nail.  I was so glad it was me and not one of the boys.  When I felt in the carpet I found a half broken tooth pick.  My toe was bleeding and sore but I could not find any thing in it. I just thought I got jabbed with the toothpick.  

Then about 3 hours later my toe was throbbing and super sore.  I tried all the tricks you see on pinterest to remove a splinter but nothing seemed to help.  I decided that I would call a foot doctor on Jan 2nd.  Then on New Years it started to feel much better.  I showed my mom and she said that if there was a splinter in there it would work its way out and just to let my body heal.  So I did not go to the doctor.   On Wednesday night while we were at the office taking showers I started to inspect my toe.  It looked like I could just squeeze the splinter out.  I started to do that when Kevin suggested he "numb' my toe so I could get in their a little better.  I think he was joking but I totally insisted.  We scrubbed it up and got sterile tweezers.  I had to beg Kevin to give me the carbocaine in my toe. Immediately it went numb and I was able to pull out the splinter.  Let's just say it was a lot bigger than I thought.  Here is the wound after the splinter came out.

 Here is the splinter…OR the entire end of the toothpick! FOR REAL! I never imagined that was in my toe.  Kevin felt terrible because he thought I was over exaggerating my pain that first couple of days.

This ones a little blurry but here's the pic of the splinter next to my toe.  You can see Kevin with the bandaid and antibiotic ointment in the back ground. Hilarious!  Glad it is out. My toe felt 100% better once I got it out.

That was my little excitement for the night! We now have a rule that all toothpicks must say on the kitchen table or in the trash.  The boys were making cabins out of the toothpicks & marshmallows which is why one was still in my carpet.  Again, I am thrilled this happened to me and not one of the guys!

Frozen

We are frozen! As of today we are officially on our 7th snow day for this school year.  I cannot remember a time when we have had 7 snow days.  I would have LOVED to have snow days when I was in school.  If we got one we were super lucky!  SEVEN and it's only January 8th!  Unbelievable! I am a HUGE lover of snow days that are unexpected and in the middle of the week craziness.  This time around it has been different. Zachary was off of school from Friday December 20th until January 5th.  He was supposed to go back from Christmas Break on Monday January 6. However we were hit hard with blizzard like conditions. In fact all of our church activities on Sunday January 5th were cancelled.

It was kinda fun doing church in our pjs with our coffee. We started watching one of our friends local churches online live. Then the internet connection was acting up so we went to our favorite Mark.Driscoll for one of his sermons on Malachi.  It was great!  The only issue was it took us about an hour & a half to watch a 45 minute sermon because the boys "needed" several things so we have a lot of interruptions. So thankful for extended childcare at our church!

 On Monday, I honestly felt like I was going to lose it. Part of it was hormones. Part of it was complete frustration. We were running out of food, running out of patience, and I was running out of ideas to keep my loves occupied.  We were officially on day 18 of no routine. Our family runs on a routine and schedule.  My boys are used to going to the store, running errands, going to places, and being outside.  Zachary thrives on riding his bike in the cul-de-sac or playing basketball in the drive way.  This time the weather temps were -12 with a windchill of -25 so I would not let him outside.  He was like a caged animal.  We had tears, yelling, sibling rivalry, and a few moments when I had to put myself in time out. Being 100% real I love my boys but I really needed about an hour to myself.  I honestly could not think of the last time I was alone.  Will has started to love showers so he has been showering with me so even that 15 minutes I had someone by my side.  Thankfully at nap time on Monday I told Z I needed some space so we spent about an hour in separate rooms. It totally revived me!

We made the annual "snow day" tent!

 We made targets to shot the crossbow at.

 We did a lot of laundry!

 Zach had the idea to read Charlottes Web in costume. He dressed at Ferns brother. I wore a straw hat to be the farmer. Will was a….LION!  He saw it in his closet and that was that. Hilarious!

 We had a lot of moments like this…remember I am keeping it real.  The boys truly enjoy each other but you could tell that they needed their space too.

  And we had a lot of this…Lots of messes! This one was my fault as I turned to see what was going on behind me and spilt Will's formula in his zippy cup before I shook it.  Total mess down the side of the oven.

 Later on Tuesday when I thought my bag of tricks was empty I remembered the bins of play dough.

 The boys created their own dinner spaces. Which was a hit!

 Then Will started to run a fever because his left ear tube came out but was stuck in his ear canal.  He became a cuddly little bear. Oh I hated he did not feel well but I loved his warm cuddles. Surprisingly after the 5 snow day we all got into a daily routine and it was very chill and relaxed!

 On top of the bitter cold temps and Will's ear tube issue on snow day #5 Kevin informed me that his shower was freezing. Sure enough our hot water heater was out.  We were #16 on the list for the plumber which meant they couldn't come on Tuesday. Really I was so thankful it wasn't the power or our heat.  We could go without warm water.  The plumber finally made it to our house on Wednesday afternoon but we discovered our hot water heater from 2004 was recalled and we needed parts from the company overnighted.  After 2+ days of no hot water we were running out of dishes and clean sippy cups, AND we needed more than a cold sponge bath. I packed up our pjs, a few of our dirty dishes, and went to Kevin's office.  We had dinner out and then came back to the office to wash dishes, shower, and play with daddy's drums.  Honestly it was a great change of pace and became a blessing in disguise.  The boys loved it.

 
Kevin has his drum set from high school at his office upstairs.  I think he loved rockin' out with the boys while I showered.  Then he gave Zach a few lessons.

 Ahhhhh! A warm shower!

 Today marks snow day #7. We were supposed to have MOPS.  Zach was supposed to have school.  But instead we are home.  I am thankful!  Thankful that I was able to get a shower yesterday, stock up on groceries, and thankful that they are supposed to come back today to fix our hot water heater today. Added bonus I can update the blog while the boys are watching morning cartoons.