Monday, Monday (La, Laaaaa, La la la Laaaa)

So, today I intended to clean the kitchen, and I did do the dishes......but I also made bread (best  yet!). I also did some laundry, visited with friends at the park, took some flowers to some other friends who've been stuck inside with sick kids and made a pretty good dinner.

Made a Cake, from scratch- It looks and smells super yummy. I am 95% sure I will be able to resist it until Ken takes it to work tomorrow. I am also 95% sure that I want him to bring home at least 1 piece.

While I was making dinner, Ken and the boys worked out in the back yard, weeding and getting it ready for planting our garden. I'm really excited about our garden this year. After dinner we played a game that Ken and I made up (well, the Primary Manual gave us the game board but we made the game cards specifically to help our boys learn to make good choices. One of the questions for the game was "My Brother is sleeping, but I want to play with him. What should I do? J knew the answer- "don't climb in his bed") Then after the game we had watermelon while we sat on the front porch. Not much cuter than those boys.

 Soon after finishing our watermelon the boys were dressed for bed and going about their night time ritual of reading books with Dad or Mom. They are sleeping in the same room again tonight and I really don't remember hearing a peep out of them once their door was closed. 

J and I are going to deep clean his room on Thursday (which is bedroom cleaning day) and then B is going to start taking naps on J's toddler bed. If he stays in bed then Ken and I are thinking we might set up some bunk beds and make this room sharing thing permanent. Fun Times ahead here at the Wheeler House!

The Breakfast Chef

The boys have been sharing a room for the past few days. This morning B started whining and crying at about 5:30. It's not normal for this to happen- B usually sleeps pretty well, but I figured there would be times when both boys would have troubles sleeping and so I decided that J needed to learn how to get used to his brother crying, and I didn't rush in to save either boy. Ken heard J talking to B and trying to calm him down and/or entertain him, and we were both impressed with how great of a brother J is becoming. Then at about 6:30 J jumped through my open bedroom doorway and shouted "Surprise!" He came over to me and we had a chat. 

"Mommy, Baby was crying, he was calling you!" 

" I heard him crying, why was he crying?"

 "Because I got in his crib" 

"Was he asleep when you climbed in?" 

"Yeah, He was sleeping and I got in his crib and he cried. I tried to make him happy but he just cried"

 "So, maybe tomorrow, if brother is sleeping, you shouldn't climb into his crib?" 

"Yeah, maybe........Oh! I make Breakfast!" 

J made breakfast for the family on Saturday, he got out 4 bowls and poured cereal in to each one. I figured this was the kind of breakfast he was making and so I let him do it while I finished reading my scriptures. A few minutes later I walked into the kitchen and saw J standing at the counter......with a knife......and the Nutella........."I make Sandwiches!" And he had, two hamburger buns, very well filled with Nutella.

And apparently, they were good.

 B eventually at his bread, but he did eat the Nutella center of his sandwich first.

7 Year Itch?

Nope, I've got my own Cortizone-Ken! (get it, like Cortizone-10! HA! Seriously, I can't be the only one who laughed.)

Well, I was especially lazy last week, and so I will now make up for that laziness by 1st - explaining why I was so lazy and 2nd- presenting you with a FABULOUS Post about my Love for Ken Wheeler.

So, I had a lipoma removed on Monday. I've known about this pesky little fatty tumor for about 6 years now. I discovered it on our 1st anniversary trip. You see, I was trying to impress on of our nieces and I said something like "Hey, watch this, I can pick up Uncle Ken" and then I proceeded to lift my husband off the ground. You may be asking "What does this have to do with a Lipoma?" Well, just hold on, and I will tell you. Lifting my husband, who is a tall but skinny man, off the ground was not a very smart thing to do- and I hurt my back. Should have known better, I know. Well, a few days later, I was laying in bed and my back hurt, I rubbed my hand along my back and found a Huge, HUGE, GIGANTIC lump. It was one of those moments where you think "Why has no one ever told me that I am a hunchback before?" And then you wonder "What the HECK is this lump?" So I spent a good amount of time during the following days wondering what that second head growing off the back of my body really was. I finally decided that I hadn't hurt my back lifting my husband off the ground, but rather, I had a huge cancerous tumor in my back that had infiltrated my spine right at the same moment that I lifted Ken into the air.......and that I didn't have long to live.

When we got home from our trip I went into the Doctor, I made Ken come with me because I was sure I was going to receive a horrible diagnosis. The doctor touched the lump and said "That's a Lipoma. Don't lift your husband off the ground, you will hurt your back" He is a smart Doctor. He told me what a Lipoma is, a bunch of fat that likes to hang out in large groups, i.e. tumors, they are benign and pose no risk to your health. The Doctor then recommended that I wait until I had all the children we intended to have, then go in and have some liposuction to take it, and any other fat I wanted gone, out, tuck the tummy a little, wait 6 weeks and go on a CRUISE! I thought this was a fantastic Idea. But over the past 6  years I've lost a little weight, and the Lipoma didn't get any smaller, so I could see this lump on my back every time I passed by a mirror (I fully admit that I may have been the only person who noticed, but I did) and it also seemed to like to cozy up next to a nerve and it sometimes hurt- SO- I decided to have it taken out. I asked a General Practitioner about taking it out a couple of years ago, and she said she could do it in her office but upon later inspection she decided it was too large and that a surgeon would need to remove it.

And so, on Monday- our 7th Anniversary- Ken and I went to the Out Patient Surgical Center at Alta View Hospital and I said goodbye to my Lipoma. It was a good thing that a Surgeon removed it, because it was even larger than he had expected it to be. We were thinking Lemon sized, and nice and rounded- but it was flat on the bottom and looked more like a half an Orange. I was under anesthesia the whole time and so I just have to believe the Doctor. The incision is pretty much unspectacular, but I found myself unable to do much but lay on my back for a few days after the surgery. We are blessed with great neighbors who brought a few nights of dinners and who offered to play with kids at the park and generally took good care of us while I was out of commission. One side effect that I found completely odd was that I felt a little depressed. I was able to work through that AND NOW I am looking forward to a 2 day Anniversary Trip with my sweet Ken! YAY!

SO- that' is why this post is a week late- and here is the post you've all been waiting for! "7 Year Itch?"

Oh, Look at us! So Young, So In Love! I've told the story before about how our friendship turned into Love, I won't tell it again (not fully) But I have a different story to tell today. One about relationships in General- and why I think I lucked out.

So, years and years ago, Three friends were sitting on a couch. Two were Girls and one was a Boy (well, were were in our mid twenties, so I guess he was a Man by then) The ladies were discussing how horrible it was that all the skinny girls got dates and no one seemed to want to date us. We decided that we were going to do what it took to get fit (i.e. skinny) and we were not going to date ANYONE who didn't want to date us when we were fluffier. I turned to the Man Friend and told him about our plan. He didn't seem too worried about it, after all, we were friends and he wasn't too interested in dating us- not that we weren't perfectly wonderful girls. Ho-Hum, life went on, I think I did lose 5 or 10 pounds and as the story goes, that Man Friend figured out his mistake. (i.e. if you intend to marry your best friend you probably ought to date your best friend :) A few months later Ken and I took this cute picture- see the ring?

 A few more months and we were newlyweds, honeymooners, Giants Fans.

 Then a whole year past and we celebrated our 1st Anniversary. Were we homeless at this point? You might think that, after all we are wearing garbage bags in this picture. But no, in fact we had just purchased our home, we WERE unprepared for how misty the waterfalls in Yosemite can get in the Spring. (it was during this trip that I found the lump!)

 Oh, after 2 years of marriage we decided to celebrate our great love by Chartering a boat! Ken is an amazing captain. Well, to be entirely truthful we just rented a room that LOOKED like a boat. BUT, I do trust him lots and lots, and if I had a boat, I would let him captain it.. A few months before this anniversary I decided that I needed to lose weight (again, it's kind of been a continual thing hasn't it) and for Valentines day Ken bought me a treadmill. A few months after our anniversary I ran my very first 5k, what I didn't know at the time was that I was pregnant!

 And that's how this little guy wiggled his way into our 3rd Anniversary picture. WOW- can you believe this little boy is 4 now? I can't.

 As the years go on, there are less pictures of us ON our Anniversary, or on a trip celebrating our Anniversary, How did that happen. But here is our little family at my Mission Reunion, which was a week before we celebrated our 4th anniversary. What cuties we are.

 A year passes and still no pictures of us...WHAT? Well we did take a couple days away from this sweet boy- but the only picture I have from that little trip is of the Chandelier in our room- it was really cool looking! At this point we were pregnant with our second boy an so very excited to add to our family. We also kept J on a leash, especially when we let him ride cows. 

 Last year we not only took a trip- but we also got pictures of ourselves while ON THE TRIP! Ahhhhh, happy 6th Honeymooners :) I was getting ready for my first 10k with the intentions of running a half marathon after that and I am one blessed girl because I had a very understanding husband, "What you want to go run for an hour in 40 degree weather rather than hang out in this nice warm condo with me?" Yep. I love that Ken. Like I said, I am blessed and I know it.

So, this week we are once again off for a 2 day anniversary trip- without the kids (hehehehe, I love those kids and everything, but WOW we are going to be able to sleep in! AND take naps! AND no one is going to ask to watch Thomas or Mickey!)

And now, I will wax philosophical for a moment. My cousin asked the other day (on Facebook) "What does it feel like to when you meet your Soul-mate?"  And lots of people said "You just know you need to be with them" "You miss them as soon as they are gone and you are always thinking of them" and I disagreed. I think that is twitterpation that is "Being in Like". I totally felt that way about Matt Damon- but Matt Damon was not my Soul-mate- it's true. And so my answer was that I didn't realize that I had met him, that man who would eventually hold my heart. I didn't know when I met Ken Wheeler that he would be that Man that I would BEG GOD to let me love forever. But he was and he still is. And I have amazingly high hopes that we will be together forever. Why? Because we were friends first. Do we agree on everything? No. Do we understand each other every moment of the day? No. Do we look exactly like we did when we first fell in love? No. Things change, circumstances, people, the world, everything changes. Is this why the divorce rate is so high. People change, those feelings of twitterpation ebb and flow, sometimes that person who you thought was your soul-mate disappoints you- does that mean you shouldn't be with them anymore. I think a lot of people must feel this way, because a lot of marriages end. But I lucked out. I married my best friend. And though we look different and we are way more tired than we ever could have imagined and maybe we've seen some dreams slowly fade while other dreams took their place, but we are in this together, we are still Ken and Kate and I am pretty sure Ken would agree that We are still In Love. In fact, I really think I love Ken more today than I did back in 2005. Or maybe it's just that I understand what Love truly is just a tiny bit more.

However I look at it, I just feel lucky. I am blessed and I am going to do whatever I can to keep my friendship strong and my marriage happy. After all, I plan to love Ken Wheeler for eternity.

Ken, I love you, I truly truly do. Thank you for loving me!

400th post- the WORST MORNING EVER!

 Yesterday afternoon little B was pitching a FIT! I was trying to make dinner and so I passed him off to his father. It's hard to make waffles and vanilla syrup and the perfect omelet while holding a 30 pound Angel, it's really hard. So yeah, I gave up and gave him to his father and soon he was passed out cold on his daddy's lap.

Eventually I was able to get dinner on the table and we all enjoyed it! Both boys were still fussier than usual and by the time they were in bed, an hour or so later, I had a head ache and was feeling kind of fussy myself. 

Ken and I were able to get to bed at a decent hour, but then it started, J woke up and needed to be tucked back in, B was crying, J woke up again, and again. Ken helped him get back in bed the 2nd and 3rd times. When Ken came back in the room after the 3rd visit from J he told me that J had thrown up, but he now had clean sheets and new pajamas. I wondered out loud of B wasn't just fussing, but rather, if he was sick as well. I have a sympathetic gag reflex- and so Ken went to check on B. I followed after him because B's cries had become much louder, Sure enough, little B was sick too. 

Ken stripped B down, and I pulled all of the bedding out of his crib and we started a load of sicky wash. I covered the couch with blankets and Ken brought B and I a bowl (hopefully I would be able to catch anything B wanted to share in the bowl- and I did!) for 2 hours B and I watched TV, then I cleared the guest bed of the sorted little boy clothes and B and I tried to sleep, we eventually succeeded- right around the time Ken left for work.

I kept dreaming the same dream, that I came up the stairs to check on J and found the front door open and J  gone. This picture is a very accurate representation of my dream-

 I woke up twice with this image in my mind and went upstairs to check no J. At 7 he was still fast asleep, and I was tired but afraid to move B into my bed (for fear he would wake up) so instead I turned on the lights to the stairs and turned on the TV in the basement (where the guest room/nursery is) and hoped that the sound of the TV and the lights would lead J down there if he happened to wake up before I did. Then I climbed back into the guest bed with my little B. I woke up an hour later after having the dream of the open door again, I realized that the TV was on but silent, it was paused, I hurried upstairs but this time my horrible dream had come true. The door was open and J was gone.

I ran outside. I screamed his name, but I knew I couldn't scream loud enough. My J was missing. I was so scared, I ran to the park behind our house. He wasn't there. I screamed for him. I remembered B, who had already fallen off the queen size bed once this morning. I couldn't leave him there alone. I ran down and got him and as I came back up the stairs I heard my phone ringing. It was one of our neighbors, for some reason the phone wouldn't let me answer the call, but I knew she was calling to tell me J was at her house so I ran over there. No luck, she had seen me running around screaming J's name and wanted to know if I had lost him and if she could help. I gave her my baby B and she got him settled in with her kids, I took off running to the biggest park in the neighborhood and she went to other way.

He wasn't at the big park, there was a tarp and some trash over by a fence, I ran over to it and lifted it up, he wasn't there. I was scared out of my mind. I needed to call 911. I ran home screaming his name. I checked the park behind our house one more time. No luck, I headed home to check all the rooms again, maybe I had missed one, maybe he had moved and fallen asleep in a different room. As I came around the corner I saw my neighbor headed up our street and then I heard her say something like "He's home, he is in your house, I can see him at your door" I got to the door and there he was, standing behind the glass front door. I started to cry. I asked him if he had been there the whole time and then I saw another neighbor in my house. 

He had woken up and gone into my room, but I wasn't there. He looked around the silent main floor of our house and got very scared. He left and went to his favorite neighbors house. He knocked and rang the door bell and knocked until someone answered ( I had thought about checking there, but they are late sleepers and so I didn't think they would answer their door) He told the neighbor that he couldn't find his Mommy and he was scared. She called me, but the phones were upstairs and I couldn't hear them downstairs- and I was still asleep. Eventually when I didn't call back she walked over to find our house empty and the door wide open. That's when I showed up. I was ready to call 911 and explain that sometime in the last hour my 4 year old had wandered out of my house and was lost. I was so afraid I would never see him again. He told me he was very scared too.

All the excitement, and the horrible sick night of sleep took it's toll on J. At about 10 AM he told me he was tired and he got into bed and feel asleep.

When he wakes up we are going to go buy one

 of these and I am going to install it immediately.

Before J's impromptu nap I bathed the little sickies, while I was helping J get down for his nap B discovered my laptop and got down to work. I just had to share that picture, it was too cute.

 SO- anyway- judge me if you must. I lost my child. I should have listened to the dream the first or second time. I should have woken up the baby and moved him upstairs or taken the time to clean up his crib enough to feel good about putting him back in it. I should have protected my little J a little better, a little more. But I didn't, I can't change that, I didn't and so I  have suffered through the WORST MORNING EVER. I know that angels watch over my babies, and God takes good care of them but I am still crying thinking about how close I came this morning to losing my J. He's awake now, so I guess we should all get dressed and go buy our new flip lock.

On a side note, I ran around a lot, with no shoes on this morning, and my knee felt great, maybe I should become a bare foot runner? hmmmmmm. Nope. Also, J is sitting on my lap, pointing at the flip lock telling me "that lock scares me, so much! I don't want that in my house". My heart is broken, sorry J, we are getting that lock, for all of our sake's.

Need a book to read?

Today, #1 on that list is "The Wretched of Muirwood" by Jeff Wheeler. 

If you follow this link you will be shown "Amazon Top Rated: best Children's Science Fiction & Fantasy"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/top-rated/digital-text/155221011/ref=zg_tr_nav_kstore_5_155749011

images taken from amaon.com- I may have stolen-please forgive me!

I am a very lucky girl, because Jeff Wheeler is my brother in law. When I married his brother, Ken, I was given Jeff as a gift! My very own fiction writer! After I finished reading the third and final book in the Muirwood series I wrote to Jeff and told him that I was pretty sure that he had been blessed with this gift, his ability to craft amazing stories and create new worlds, so that he could entertain me! But I was more than entertained, I was uplifted, I was enthralled at times. Yes, I did stay up late reading these books, just like I did with Harry Potter- I just couldn't stop!

So, I now understand that keeping Jeff's talent to myself  was very selfish of me, and I want to share my Jeff Wheeler with You! It's top rated- and if you have an E-reader you can get the whole series for $6.97. Or you can buy the paperback additions OR you can borrow my copies. Anyway you want to go about it, you pretty much NEED to read these books. :) Just thought you should know. And remember, I'm being nice and sharing, I figure if I am going to try to make J share, I should share too. You are welcome :)

What Kate Wants and What Kate Needs.....

Over the past weekend I've thought a lot about my wants and needs. I wasn't thinking about new furniture or a new car, I was thinking about little everyday kinds of things.

I need food, but all the food I want is not necessarily needed, I didn't need those cookies I just ate. 

I need a clean home, but I want a home so much cleaner than I seem to be able to get it. So do I need a housekeeper? No, that would most definitely be a want. Do I need a home as clean as I think I do? I don't think my home is currently a health hazard. Yes, every once and a while I find a very old shriveled apple core under the couch- but hey that means I clean under my couch every once and a while, right? Right! 

I need to exercise, basically because I ate those cookies. I want to be able to run, run really far. I want to be able to push myself again and accomplish the goals I set for myself. I want to feel the exhilaration of the runner's high, but do I need it, probably not.

I need to live within my means, but I want to live below my means and save money now so we can be better prepared for the future. 

I need to feel good. I want to feel healthy, to feel rested, to not feel tired and run down all the time.

I need to create something every few days. I want to make lots of things all the time, everyday! That would probably not be very helpful when it came to living within my means.

I need. I need lots of things. I want so many more things.My needs and wants are not that unusual. I think the days that I am down on myself it is because I am focusing on the way I want things to be. When I can see that I pretty much have the things I need, even though I may not have things exactly how I would want them, I am happy.

I actually am feeling pretty happy these days. I was starting to feel very bogged down. I am thinking this feeling is common for me in the spring. In fact it's probably pretty much always right around the time that we spring forward- stupid springing forward. Last week I decided that I just needed a change- I needed to just start over. And so I rearranged the living room. It helped. I've been able to keep the living room pretty much clean since then. I've also been able to do a little more than usual in the kitchen.That's right, I mopped! Take that cheap vinyl flooring! HA! 

And I've started to find ways to fulfill my need to create that don't cut too much into the budget, both budgets, my household budget and my caloric budget too. Creating memories- like reading with little B- he really likes to read. Or going to the park with J- he loves the park. I am also hoping to teach myself how to bake bread, really yummy bread. It is my hope that if I can "create" yummy honey wheat bread, that I will be less likely to "create" yummy triple threat chocolate fudge peanut butter cookies. I have two wood projects to paint and decorate, I really can't express how excited it makes me to make things. I hope to be able to focus my energy on making things that bring lasting joy, lasting memories.

Wood Projects kind of like this-Ken's boss gave us this LOVE a little over a year ago.I am going to make a  FAMILY for our family room, and an Owl , the Owl only cost $2.50 and I had a 25% coupon for the FAMILY:)

Those are the thoughts that have been going through my head. There's more than that really. I need and want  to be a good neighbor, a wonderful Wife and Mother and, of course, an amazing Daughter and Sister. I feel a lot of the time that I fall short in these areas. But I'm human, I'm imperfect, I recognize that.

I also want to grow closer to God. I heard someone talking about prayer last week and how you can improve your personal prayers by picturing yourself actually standing in front of God. I had never really thought of that before. When I heard that, my first thought was "Wow, my prayers really are more like a quick voice mail than a conversation" and I want to talk to God, so why not act as if I truly believe that he is listening. Because I know he hears my prayers. So I've been trying to do that. It feels good. I need that. I think we all do. Just like I need to be with my family, I need to be close to my God.

Well, It's time for bed. (see need to feel good, being well rested seems to play a big roll in that need) and so I must be off. I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into my head. And if you have any tips on making good bread- send them my way.....I'm starting this week.