Surgery

2 weeks ago I had surgery and therefore that is why I have been absent for a couple weeks, it has been hard just getting out of bed to Blog, or get on the computer at all.
This has been super stressful for me as I am a very active person.  I love my job and I love being a mom and love getting up and moving. So it has been a trying time for me.

First of all I should say that I have some super awesome people who have helped me out along the way.

First of all my wonderful husband, he has been super awesome.  He has been super protective and wonderful to me.  He is such a wonderful dad, he doesn't have a problem watching all 4 kids and getting them off to school.  He also got them all ready for Halloween and took them trick-or-treating.

My mom has also been especially wonderful.  She watched the kids for 2 days and over night so that I was able to have Chris at the hospital with me.  She has also come and done my dishes and taken my kids several more times, so I can rest.  She also took James to his last Super Bowl party.  I was super sad to miss it, but glad James got some alone Grandma time.

Also my wonderful friends, Maxine and Kacie, and my aunt Denise brought me meals, which were super helpful, and kept us full for a very long time.  I ate leftovers for days and loved it.

Also one of my wonderful mother-in-laws was able to come and spend 4 1/2 days caring for me.  It was awesome, I was able to sleep in, and she cleaned my house, and it was most wonderful to have her here.  She also did some baking with the kids and made them Pudding paint.  The kids had so much fun, but I am super glad I wasn't the one who had to clean it up.

I also cannot workout for 6 whole weeks, 2 down and 4 to go, it is killing me.  Working out is like my stress reliever and my sanity, so by the end of the day I am a little irritated with things.  I am glad that I understand how to eat healthily and to take care of my body, so that I don't lose all of my hard work.

Now after 2 weeks I am feeling better, but I still have a ways to go.  I will start blogging better from now on though. 

My Facebook page is not working today, or I would have some pictures.

Chocolate pudding

Grandma is visiting, helping to take care of me after my surgery, today her and the girls decided to paint with chocolate pudding on the table. They had a blast and made a mess, glad I wasn't on clean up duty.

Fear and Courage

I just want to tell you about an extremely awesome conversation I have with my extremely awesome family this summer.

We had a discussion about fear.

Now let me tell you something about fear, I have literally let fear run my life.  I have always been afraid of not being good enough.  Been afraid of being friends and getting close to people for fear that they won't like me the way I do them.  Fear of being myself, for fear that people will find out who I really am.  Fear of getting out of my comfort zone.  Fear of Spiders.  Fear of getting hurt.

As a mother I am afraid of passing my fear onto my children.  Fear is a really real thing in my life, and I have always tried to hide from it.

This summer at a family reunion we have what we call a dialogue and I was asked to come up with the topic.  Naturally this scared me to death, what if they didn't like my topic?  What if no one talked? What if we just sat in silence for the entire hour? What if, What if, What if.  I came up with the topic of fear, and then I changed it, but I kept coming back to fear.

So as I introduced the topic, I was surprised at how much I had to say on the topic.

I have learned over these past few months about how much you can grow by getting out of you comfort zone.  I have done a lot of new things and guess what I haven't died once.  I even went cliff diving.

I have started doing a file of things that I do, and trying new things, and in this file there are two folders one says " I can't and I died" and the other says "I can and I lived".  Guess what I have nothing in the "I can't and I died" folder.  Do you know why?  Because everything I have done I have learned something from. 

During our conversation we talked about a lot of different things.  I found out that many of the people there had the same fears as I did, people that I never thought. 

We talked about how we are all afraid, but the courage is being afraid and doing it anyway.

I think that as we face our fears we realize that there really was never anything to be afraid of anyone.  I used to have a super duper fear of Spiders, and my husband would always say, "You are a million times bigger than it is,  You are not the one that should be afraid"  It is funny how the older I get the less afraid of them I am and the more annoyed.

So make a commitment to yourself that you will try one new thing a day.  Put yourself out there, and you will be surprised at how much you will grow.

Corn Maze Round 3

Three times a charm right.

Well yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the Corn Maze One More Time, yes that's right 3 times in one week, can't beat that.

I had a really great times all 3 times, but this time I got to go with my family.  My mom and dad, two of my wonderful sisters, 3 of my kids and 7 of my nieces and nephews.  Yes it is quite the group, but considering my whole family it was a small portion of us.

We had a lot of fun, the kids really like to ride the train, and play in the little maze part made out of the big bales of hay.  They had fun shooting one another in the air soft gun arena, and we didn't get lost in the maze, but the kids are way faster than the adults.

Grandma and I took a few of them on the wagon to go to the pumpkin patch, and had a fun time looking at all the pumpkins.

I really missed my James though, we do this every year, and usually Chris is working, but James is always with me.  He was really sad about missing it, but we decided that hunting for several days was worth missing out on a few hours at the corn maze.  But it was weird watching his cousins playing without him, because usually he is there with me.

Sorry for the picture overload, but it was just to much fun.

I'm so glad when daddy comes home

Sometimes our lives get so crazy that the kids barely get to see their dad.  By the time he gets home at night we are either at a practice, lesson or a game, or deep into chores, homework, and reading.  Tonight was one of those rare nights that we had nothing going on, and we had the house clean by the time Chris got home, so he came in and just started wrestling with the kids.  I have to tell you that this is my favorite thing in the world, watching your husband play with your kids is really the greatest happiness that there is.

My kids absolutely adore their dad, so it was just a fun night.  I even sat aside my dishes and work and we all just played for about an hour.  The kids were so happy.

I think that sometimes we forget about what is important, and we really need to step back and spend these special times with your kids.  These are the things that they will remember.

Remember that the way children spell LOVE is TIME!!

WHY!!

So I love working out, and I know that I fell better when I eat better. I also know that when I get up and do it before the kids get up I feel a lot better, and get a lot more done.

Lately though I have gotten into the bad habit of going back to bed after I get the kids off to school, what a terrible habit. Then I would wake up when Madelyn did and then not get my workout in until about 10:00 or 10:30 and get behind on everything for the whole day.

So why do we do these... things when we know that things are better when we do what we need to?

Why do we go to bed late when we know we have to get up early?

Why do we eat crap when we know it is bad for us and is going to make us feel like crap later?

Why do we choose not to workout when we know that it is good for us?

Why do we choose to get angry when we know it is up to us to decide how we react?

Why do we spend all day on our phones playing games when we know that there are so many other things we should be doing?

Why do we put off folding the laundry when we know that the pile is only going to get bigger?
I could go on all day!!! WHY

So I am going to get out of the bad habits that are holding me back and start making the decisions that will move me forward.

Bluebell Cornmaze

School Trips

Each year the Elementary takes their classes to the Bluebell Corn maze, which is a lot of fun.  They have a little class time, and then the get to go through the maze and then the get to go on a wagon ride and pick out a little pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.   This year I had the pleasure of getting to be a parent supervisor for James 4th grade class and Sam's 2nd grade class.  Lily and Sam went at the same time, so I wasn't able to go with Lily, but I did get to see her there and got a few pictures.

I love having the freedom to be able to go and do fieldtrips with my kids, I love being able to see them with their classmates, and getting to spend that special time with them.  I am lucky in that they want me there, and still are not embarrassed to have me be there.

Such a great life.