Durango Palmers: March 2010

Monday, March 29, 2010

I'm not gone...

Blogging has become challenging lately. The past few weeks have been super busy and any free time I have left I usually spend sleeping. I'm looking forward to May when I should be out of my 1st trimester and hopefully getting some more energy. Also we are 2/3 of the way done with homeschooling and it's getting more and more challenging to get Kale {and frankly myself sometimes} to get 'er done. It's still fun and going well {for the most part} but the newness has worn off for sure. So Kale and I spend a bit of our mornings discussing the importance of school and how we can crank it out if we can just stay focused. It's ongoing. I'm also still working and will work throughout the month of April. I'm doing 2 nights a week and it's going so much better now that I have more understanding of what I'm doing. But that also takes up time so the few nights we have home together are precious at this point.

We helped move our good friends this weekend, went on a date, I got my hair cut {a lot-I mean I cut a lot of my hair not that I went many times to get hair cuts...} and made many Dr appointments. The next couple weeks will not be slowing down unfortunately. Mark's birthday is coming up {yea!}, tax season is almost over so work will be crazy, we've got a homeschooling field trip to the Chocolate Factory {yum!}, and Dr appointments for me and the kids. Oh and I'll still be taking naps :)

And that's about it for now. I thought I'd leave you with our new family picture. Actually this was taken at Christmas-time. Mark was able, this week, to meet with the photographer and she gave us the picture. I think it's really good. Jack had had a cold that day and had loads of snot pouring out. She photoshopped that out. Oh yes, she picked my son's nose with photoshop. Way to go Carol! She also switched out heads so we could all look good in the same picture. I can't wait to print this and add it to our family picture wall. I was thinking that we needed a good pic of the 5 of us before I got big and pregnant. Totally forgot about this one. So thankful for it!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Diary of a pregnant woman - quatro

I'm not a mad pregnant woman...yet...so I'll change the title when my condition changes. But I did want to put some thoughts down about this oh-so-interesting new life coming - numero quatro. We have uno, dos and tres and apparently it's time for quatro. I like the name quatro. I don't think that will go on a birth certificate but for now it works. Makes me smile. That's important. At least to me.

This pregnancy can be classified as a surprise although I don't really suppose it's a huge surprise. When we told some siblings they said "Of course. We always thought you'd have 4. We've just been waiting..." And some friends said the same thing. Then there was this one gal who said "Girl! Don't you know how these things happen?!" I told her yes and we were never doing that again....JK.

But God told me about 6 months ago. I just didn't really believe it. I had a dream sometime last summer about us having 4 kids and quatro being a surprise. A surprise meaning we weren't trying to get pregnant. And yes I know how this can happen and let me just say (not graphically) that when God wants you pregnant it can happen no matter what you think. I always knew that but had never truly experienced it this way.

My friends make fun of me because for some reason Mark and I have been able to plan our other 3. All this means is that we decided it would be good to have a kid and it happened the next month. We absolutely know many people do the same thing we did and they don't get pregnant - at least not that quickly if at all. We also know people do what we did this last time, and take precautions, and they still get pregnant. We do not, nor have we ever, truly thought it was in any way completely up to us. Yes we believe in seat belts in cars but it's still up to God. Make sense? And we're fine with that.

After my dream I prayed and told God (yes sometimes I tell Him things - I'm being honest!) that if we really were going to have 4 children then He'd have to do it because I wasn't ready to be pregnant and go through labor and delivery all over again. Yes I'm selfish. I'm not bragging about my thoughts, just sharing them.

So when I peed on that stick and it turned positive almost instantly (by the way I still waited in another room for the full 3 minutes with a timer before I believed the test) I laughed and cried. Laughed because God answered my prayer - even my selfish one, and cried because, well, of my selfish prayer. I was a bit in shock (which is why I took all 3 tests that came in the box - no sense in wasting them and I sure as heck wanted to make sure I read the first one right!) but not really since God had already told me this was going to happen. I guess I just kept thinking 'for real?'

I am 100% excited to meet this new little Palmer no matter what though. I can't imagine what a fourth one will look like, act like (please be mellow, please be mellow, please be mellow), and sound like. 33 weeks seems like an eternity from now....I am already in love with quatro and dreaming of meeting them (with no pain of course - a girl can dream of a pain free delivery!).

Will quatro be a boy and add to the boy-ness? Will they be a girl and balance out this little/big family with another princess? Kate says both and I'm praying she's wrong :)

Honey honey!

On Saturday morning we thought it'd be fun to take Mike and Julie to Honeyville (a local honey store). They wanted to get some unique gifts for their housesitters and we had heard you can see bees make honey there so we thought the kids would love it.

While the place was a nice little shop it wasn't so huge on the bees-making-honey-thing. There was a little honeycomb thingy with a window in the middle of the shop with bees in it. It was cool to look at the bees but the rest of the time was spent kid-wrangling :) Jack was very interested in all the neat jars of honey-butter, honey-jam, honey-jelly, honey-pancakes, etc.... Have I ever mentioned that he's fast?

Here's Kale looking at the bee-hive thingy - ok he's not really looking at it. He's probably asking questions about it. And we tried really hard to find the queen but had no luck.

A close up of the bees and a reflection of a cute little chica.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Adventures in bowling

Busy weekend! We had the privilege of sharing our weekend with Mark's sister and her husband and his parents. Saturday night they all went bowling (I had to work). Here are a few pics from their adventure.

I love the determination on his face!

Happy to be bowling.

The congratulations hug. Kate ran out there to hug him after he did a great job. So sweet!

Ready to rock. By the way, her glasses are broken beyond repair so they have to be sent back to the place we ordered them. I'm thinking she'll be without glasses for a couple weeks. :(

She was so excited she sat down...

It was Uncle Mike's turn to wrangle Jack :)

And now it's Grandpa Doug's turn.

Game face. Apparently it worked. He won. Although from what I heard the competition wasn't so great ;)

Kale was bummed about his two pins he knocked down so he laid down on the floor. Kate came to join him out of sympathy

There are many more things to post but really at this point it's just one thing at a time. I'm feeling a bit yucky - on top of the prego yuck. I've had a sore throat since Thursday. Hoping it goes away soon! I'll check in with ya'll later!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Thankful Thursday

I apologize for the disappearing act. Let me just tell you that daylight savings + early prego = NO energy. NONE! I've never had this hard of a time with the time change. Usually I'm good by Monday. This week?! Well I lay in bed for an hour and half waiting and praying to fall asleep and when the alarm goes off at 6 I think surely it isn't morning yet! By lunch I feel like I'm swimming through a fog :) Once the kids are down for naps and rest time I'm out! Like a light!

I'm THANKFUL though that my only early prego symptoms are fatigue and car-sick-type nausea. I know for a fact that it could be much, much worse. Plus it reminds me that quatro is in there swimming around. By the way, this reminds my of one of my most embarrassing stories. Would you like to hear it?

Thought you might. When I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Kale, during the summer - July to be exact - I had just finished playing a softball game. I was super-duper tired. Like really, really tired. Anyway, two highschool girls from our youth group came up to me and started asking about being pregnant. They were so excited about it and wanted to hear all about it. I told them that I had just had an appointment at the Dr and they did an ultrasound and we got to see the little guys swimming around in there. I told them that it reminded me of a little (and here's the embarrassing part - I meant to say peanut - but because I was so tired - at least that's my excuse - I said) penis. Yes people I told 2 highschoolers that my unborn child looked like a penis. It in no way actually looked like a penis but apparently that's what I said.

Needless to say the girls had no idea what to say. I laughed and apologized. And repeated over and over -peanut! peanut! peanut! Then went home and went to bed with a red face....Oh my. I still get embarrassed thinking about it. But apparently not enough to keep it a secret.

Anyway! Today I am THANKFUL that my house is mostly clean and ready for company this weekend and I'm THANKFUL that we get to visit with Mark's sis and her hubby AND his parents. Busy but fun weekend ahead!

And I'm THANKFUL that it's almost naptime for all of us. My arms feel like lead weights and my eye lids are being propped open by paper clips. Nice picture isn't it?

Ok I think I'm done now :)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Our blessed surprise!

This weekend was full and busy and oh so fun. So much to share!

First off Friday night was date night -- all night! Thanks to my parents (for a night's stay at the General Palmer Hotel) and to our amazing and wonderful friends (who watched our sweet darlings and even our dog!) we got to go out on the town and have a blast together.

We ate dinner at Seasons (thanks Ty and Sarah for that gift certificate!), walked downtown, went to see Avatar (wasn't interested in seeing it - then saw it and was glad I did), stayed in this beautiful historic hotel, had breakfast, ran errands together (things we can't do with kids around like getting the oil changed - romantic I know...) and just had fun together.

Saturday we spent a lot of the morning collecting our children from various places. Saturday night I worked so Mark parented :) While parenting he took this video. Oh before you watch the video (warning: it's 5 minutes long but pretty stinkin' funny if you ask me) I have to say that Jack wore this shirt to church yesterday. That will clue you in to what the video is about.

Kale's throat is a bit swollen so he sounds a bit funny. And he was sad because his ear hurt at the beginning of the video. But he perks right up!

Yes it was planned by God. Not exactly by us but we're totally thrilled! Can't wait to meet little quatro!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Have you ever...

...driven somewhere with your kids only to discover half way there that one is not buckled into their car seat?

Yes people. This mother of the year did just that. A few weeks ago my good friend Kim was just coming home from the hospital and I was taking dinner to her family. Mark wasn't quite home yet so I got the kids in the car. Jack's car seat had recently been moved so I had to move it back to it's spot. I put him in seat and set his blanket on him then strapped in the car seat's latch system. Buckled in Kate and took off. About 3/4 of the way down the highway (speed limit 60!) Kate says to me "MOM! Jack's climbing out of his seat."

"What?!"

Sure enough. Jack had wiggled up and was trying to look out the back of the car. Oh my. Obviously I couldn't slam on the breaks to save him. And there wasn't a place to pull over. So I kept going and pulled off at the nearest place I could. Taking corners was so much scarier! I didn't want to fling him onto the ground!

Apparently I had gone through the motions of buckling the seat to the car but not Jack to his seat and because his blanket was on top of him I didn't notice. So thankful that nothing bad happened!

And because I missed thankful Thursday yesterday I'm thankful that he's safe. Also thankful for my sister - and great friend - Meghan. Her birthday was yesterday. She's still such a youngin' :) Love you Meghan!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Dinnertime fun

As you've probably figured out, my family is kinda weird. Not that there's anything wrong with that. In fact I wouldn't have it any other way. So I thought I'd share a couple videos from the other night when my husband and children decided to sing together at dinner. Be sure and watch how Jack copied everyone in the 2nd video. So funny!

Here's Jack's

Did you see how he poked his eye? Cracked me up. I know. Terrible mother :)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Kate's birthday woes

We had a fun weekend celebrating Kate's birthday. I decided to share the video I took of her woes on her birthday morning. She came in to see me and was upset because Madison wasn't coming over that day so she could not possibly be turning 4 yet. Poor thing. A celebration means turning 4 not the day apparently. So sweet.

But fear not. We did celebrate. Friday morning was spent doing just that. Unfortunately Jack was pretty sick and miserable so Mark stayed home with him while I took Kale, Kate and Madison.

We picked up Madison and headed to the Children's museum. We'd never been there before. It was pretty fun. I think the kids had a good time.

Here are Kate and Madison in the grocery store checking out food. It was interesting watching them try to share...

Kale found the dress up hats and showed a few off. I liked this silly one.

After the museum the girls held hands and skipped their way to the car.

I failed to get pictures at McDonalds where the kids played and played some more on the play land. Our good friends the Beachs met us there and had lunch with us. That was fun.

Here are a few pics from her actual birthday last Wednesday.

What? Did you want something?

The rest of the weekend was spent taking care of a sick little guy, building shelves for the bathroom, trying to finish the floor trim in the bathroom, working, and church. Very productive despite the challenges of having a 1 year old glued to your lap or hip :)

Saturday, March 6, 2010

It's a fight!

I'm not sure who all reads this blog. I'm not sure what season you are in life. So I'm not sure that this blog will make sense to you. But I hope you will be able to identify with at least something I write today.

I've been somewhat blah lately. Nothing bad happening but nothing really great happening either. I recently went to an all-day workshop about master-planning your life. It was a great time with lots of great information but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely overwhelmed. I mean they asked me questions like "What do you love to do?" "What could you do for hours and not even know it was hours?" That may seem easy for some of you to answer but I really didn't know.

I also had to self-evaluate. I realized it's much easier for me to evaluate others than it is to evaluate myself. Especially in the few moments we had each time. I tend to waaaay over-think things. Shocking I know :)

I did learn some stuff about myself but really it just brought up more questions!

So I've been thinking. Thinking about my life now and my life in the future. Thinking about what is my God-given, God-directed and God-breathed purpose? It's very easy to get lost in outside labels along the road of life. It's easy [for me of course] to become Mark's wife and Kale, Kate and Jack's mom. And while I love those roles and believe this is where I'm supposed to be I can't help but wonder if there's more for me to be doing?

I've slowly been coming to the conclusion that while the answer is yes it is also wait. I think that God has more plans for me. He certainly isn't done with me yet. But at this moment I'm preparing for them. How is he preparing me? Seems like diapers, cooking meals, doing laundry and cleaning house won't prepare me for much but I also see things like patience, grace, wisdom, clarity and reliance on Him coming out of my day to day experiences.

So what does this have to do with fighting? I'll tell you. {By the way, I don't battle all of these everyday. But I have battled all of these at least once if not more than once.}

Everyday is a fight to stay in the game.

I fight to stay involved and not check out.

I fight to stay focused and not distracted.

I fight the lies that say I'm not a good enough mom or wife.

I fight the lies that say I'm fat, lazy and not creative.

I fight to get up in the mornings and not sleep in.

I fight the urge to fight my husband over dumb things.

I fight sarcasm that creeps in when I've told my children the same thing for the hundredth time.

I fight to make it through everyday with a positive and thankful attitude.

I fight the urge to just quit and throw in the towel.

I fight the overwhelming feeling that I'm not really making a difference.

I fight the helplessness I feel when it doesn't seem like my children are "getting it".

I fight the urge to crawl into a closet and hide from everything.

I fight the urge to let my emotions rule me.

I fight to let God's voice be the loudest one I hear everyday.

I fight for God's truth to guide and direct my steps.

I fight for God's word to be in my heart.

I fight for God's voice, truth and word to be in my children's hearts and minds.

I fight everyday. And I will continue to fight.

Some days I win. Some days I lose. I think we are fooling ourselves if we don't realize that we have to fight for what is important. There are days when I feel too tired to fight. Days where I feel so beat up from the fighting. I think to myself - I just fought this battle yesterday! Can't I get a break? But then I think, it's important to keep fighting. To persevere. To go after God's plan and purpose for me and to not just sit back and let life take over me.

So I pray....God help me to fight the good fight, to win the race, to persevere.

And He says...I will fight alongside you.

"...the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised." Joshua 24:11b

Amen.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Have you ever...

...misplaced breakfast? I bought a box of strawberries and cream oatmeal for Kale. He'd only had a few packets out of the box. Yesterday we couldn't find the box. Anywhere. It vanished. I know we didn't throw it out because it wasn't close to being gone. My guess?......Jack....the oatmeal packet - and now box - thief!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Thankful Thursday

This week I decided to that I need to be thankful for things that I'm not always excited about. God says to give thanks in all circumstances. So that includes the ones I don't like so much.

So! I'm thankful....

...for 6am when my alarm goes off. I have a bit of time before the children wake up to work out, shower and dress.

...for traffic delays and detours. You never know what you may be avoiding (a wreck or something) just because you had to wait an extra couple minutes.

...for hunger. My body's way of informing me of what it needs.

...for 5pm. That is when the craziness that is my children really begins but I know that Mark is on his way home!

...for sickness. It makes me appreciate being well.

...for long phone conversations with cell phone people. It helps me to appreciate when my phone works.

...for snow. I know that it will bring a beautiful spring!

...for mud. Kids love to play in it and it represents the onset of spring!!!!

...for cleaning. It helps me to be thankful that there are people here to mess it up! And I LOVE them.

So what not-so-fun-things are you thankful for?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

She's 4! But she doesn't wanna be...

This morning my beautiful daughter got out of bed and came and snuggled me. I sang Happy Birthday to her and told her how excited I was that she was 4 today!

She's not as excited.

Or she doesn't really get it. Yet. Ya see we're going to do the "birthday" thing on Friday. She was allowed to invite one friend and we are going to take them to the Children's Museum and then to McD's for lunch (of course!). So apparently until then she's still 3. Even though today's her birthday :)

Tonight we're gonna cook the meal she requested - corn dogs with ice cream cones for dessert (although at this moment she's telling me she wants cake instead - I didn't buy stuff for a cake...we'll have to see how this pans out).

So for now we're gonna have a fun day. And can I say that fun is definitely looking back at my little girl and see how much she's grown and changed? I know I'm totally biased but she is getting more and more beautiful as she grows.

Gave up the "fire" when she turned 3. Can't believe it's been a year!

Her 2nd birthday

She has undeniable personality

She's absolutely a princess through and through

It takes a special, tough, little chica to be both the older and the younger sister

And she's definitely daddy's girl

Kate is a sweet, snuggly, smiley, dancing, prancing, tough, smart, loving little 4 year old. Her room is almost never clean - there are usually clothes everywhere! Dress up and regular clothes. She's not interested in keeping things orderly. And that really matches her personality. She can be both easy going and incredibly particular. She loves to dance and sing and make people smile. And she is successful :)

Kate, we love you and are so proud of you. Happy birthday little one!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Long overdue

This post is so long overdue. I apologize. I want to introduce you to some very special people.

This is my sister-in-law, Alisha. She's married to Mark's brother, Chad. Very, very awesome people. We love being around them.

Alisha is from Illinois, where she met Chad. Her parents are wonderful Christians who love the Lord and have raised their children to know and love Him. I have met Dan and Ginny a couple times when they've visited Colorado. Really neat people.

A little over a year ago, in between Thanksgiving and Christmas Ginny was in a terrible car accident. She was in a coma for a while, a little over a month I believe. She never had an actual waking up moment but instead became more and more aware of what was going on around her over time. She could not do anything for herself and was completely dependent on the nurses and her family for everything.

Eventually she was able to leave the hospital which on one hand meant good progress but on the other hand meant many more challenges. Challenges like getting around her house since at the time she used a wheel chair. Having someone to care for her during the day - her husband, Dan, eventually had to go back to work. Doing therapy and relearning all the processes we take for granted. A very slow, lengthy, and frustrating process.

Over the past year she has made tremendous progress. She is walking - mostly on her own but still needs assistance. She is talking {although Dan says that it can be hard at times to understand her since she's still learning those important skills}. She is relearning many basic skills and is improving. But there is still a long way to go and the progress seems very slow.

Understandably this has really challenged not only Ginny, but her entire family as well. It's difficult for Dan who has become the primary care-giver, doctor appointment maker and taker, insurance fighter, and full-time supporter of his wife. They have some amazing people in their community who help every week. People who will come and help cook and clean, visit Ginny, and take care of odds and ends that are difficult to get done. I am so amazed and thankful for all the long-term help that they've had. A huge blessing no doubt.

It's hard on Chad and Alisha, who wish they could be closer and help more. And it's hard on Alisha's brother and sister who are doing everything they can to help their dad. It's just been an emotional ride for all of them. They have definitely all been challenged to trust God more and more and I know it's hasn't been easy. For even one day.

When you pray for healing for someone and believe God will heal them and then it doesn't happen how you had prayed, it challenges you. Is God really there? Does He care? Is He listening? I can say yes He is there. Yes He does care. Yes He is listening. Because it's the truth. But when you are in the midst of that it feels totally different. Knowing the truth and then seeing, or not seeing, the evidence challenges even the strongest believer.

It's a deep, difficult, sometimes very lonely process. And I feel for Dan every week when he writes, very honestly, about their progress as well as their frustrations. Their highs and lows. Their joys and their sorrows. And even their questions to God.

I pray for them often and pray for God's strength as they walk this uphill climb. I pray for God's peace as they make many difficult decisions. And I pray for God to reveal Himself to them like He never has before. So that they can have the assurance that God is listening and He cares.

Then I asked Alisha if I could have her permission to blog about this so that some of you who read this and are ones who pray and believe in the healing, awesome power of prayer, could lift them up and pray for encouragement. It seems at this time that the healing process will not be a "microwave" healing but rather a "crock-pot" one as my friend Linn likes to say. It's a painful process both emotionally and physically. I would ask you to pray for God to sustain them and carry them when they are weary. And I think just to know that people who don't even know them are praying for all these things can be a comfort to them.

From time to time I will update you on her progress. Thank you all for reading this and for also lifting them up in prayer.

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