Day 2: I'm thankful for...

our washer and dryer! Even though they have had some issues lately and it takes 2 cycles to dry a load of clothes, I'm thankful that we have them and that they are still working as well as they are! We have a ton of laundry. And, I've come to realize that it will not be totally caught up for a while...maybe ever. As soon as I think I've gotten caught up, the girls will clean their rooms and the laundry basket is overflowing again. I've been doing my best to stay as caught up as possible lately though. I'm very thankful that we have a washer and dryer so I can do that. I can't imagine having to lug our dirty laundry to the laundry mat once a week or so in order to have clean clothes. And I really can't imagine what it was like before washing machines were widely available. I don't even want to think of washing all the clothes we go through by hand. Now I'm off to use the washer and dryer I'm so thankful for :)

What I'm Thankful For-Day 1

I have decided that I'm going to write about one think I'm thankful for every day (well, I'm going to try...I can't promise I won't miss a few now and then!) for...well, I don't know how long :) So here goes!

Today I'm thankful for coffee!!! :) After nights like last night (I couldn't sleep...no clue why, but its beyond annoying!) and days like today (super busy...one thing after another, so definitely no time to rest, much less time for a nap!) I love coffee! :) I didn't even like it until a few years ago and now I drink it all the time. And on the same hand, I'm thankful for our coffee maker. Its definitely nothing fancy (although I'd love, love, love to have a nice one one day) but it works and provides me with hot coffee and for that I'm thankful :)

Patience

I've been asked several times how I find the patience to deal with 5 kids. I hate being asked that question because I don't have a clue. And honestly, a lot of the time I'm not very patient. I wish I was more patient. Patience has never been one of my strong points... And right now I'm really, really struggling with being patient. I'm trying my best to just be patient and wait for Ella's doctors to get all the test results and then get back to me, but its just not working out too well for me. My patience is gone. I want to know what's going on and, most importantly, I want to know how to help her. This has been going on for months now and I'm ready for answers. I'm really, really, really hoping that I hear something tomorrow. I've been praying for patience, but I'm starting to think I might need to revise that prayer some.... Things seem to keep getting pushed back and having to be rescheduled and I'm starting to think that in order to give me patience God is giving me more reasons to NEED patience. Which is totally not what I had in mind. I guess its like they always say... Be careful what you wish for :) Makaela's appointment also had to be rescheduled (although I need to call back and make sure they actually managed to schedule one this time. I'm seriously considering switching her to a different neurologist...) so that isn't until the 24th. I'm anxious to see what the doctor has to say about that as well.

We've got a fairly busy week this week. The girls are out of school tomorrow, but we've got to take Sydney to get her allergy shot and then she has a penguin project due on Tuesday (we were hoping to make cupcakes, but since they were out of school all last week she wasn't able to ask if that would be okay) so we have to make an igloo out of marshmallows and then make penguins out of toilet paper rolls :) That should be interesting. Then we'll use any left over marshmallows (we bought 3 bags, so we should have plenty left over...) to make rice krispy treat! Or maybe fruity pebbles treats :) Tuesday Ella has an appointment with the eye doctor. I'm determined to get caught back up on laundry this week....as long as the washer and dryer will cooperate... Hopefully I'll be able to :)

Ice Day!

We got some ice on top of the snow, so the girls were out of school again today and Doug was out of work. We were able to get a few things done and just hung out. I'm loving spending so much time together with nothing to do. I am starting to go a little stir crazy though! We decided to talk a walk to the gas station up the street just to get out of the house a little. The roads are still pretty bad in spots. I'm hoping by Thursday they are clear and the girls are able to go back to school! Makaela is supposed to have an appointment in the morning, but we're going to have to reschedule it. Hopefully they will be able to get her in soon. Ella's ultrasound was supposed to be today but its been rescheduled for Friday (we have to be there at 7:30 so I'm really hoping the roads are clear and the girls are back in school by then!). And her eye appointment was supposed to be Monday, but they were closed yesterday and today and will be closed again tomorrow, so hopefully that will be able to be rescheduled for sometime soon as well. I'm SOO ready to get her ultrasound done and hear back from the rheumatologist! I called today asking if they'd gotten any more results and she called back and said they were waiting for the ultrasound results and then she'd talk to the doctor and call me back. So I probably won't hear anything until next week. I guess a few more days really isn't that big of a deal...I mean we've been waiting and wanting to find out what's going on since July, but I'm loosing patience. I know that some of the tests have come back abnormal/elevated, so SOMETHING is going on. I want to know what and how to help her. I'm scared of hearing the answer, but at the same time, I'm more scared of not getting any answers again.

Snow Day!!

I have made a (late) New Years Resolution to post something new at least a couple times a week. Hopefully I'll stick to it :)

We have quite a bit of snow (for here). The girls didn't have school today and Doug didn't go to work. We've had a great day. We made snowflake tortillas for breakfast...

They were a huge hit! :) Then, after lunch, we went out and played in the snow for a little while. I was hoping we'd be able to build a snowman, but it wasn't snowman-building snow... Maybe next time (like next year...I've had enough for this winter!). We still had fun though!

Then we came in and did some baking, took a nap, played, and just hung around not doing much of anything :) There is no school tomorrow either (we're getting sleet and freezing rain now and its supposed to continue all night...ugg) so hopefully we'll be able to do some sledding (on the toy box lid or whatever else we can find...) and have another fun day. Ella's eye appointment was cancelled today and it looks like we won't be making it to her ultrasound tomorrow. It stinks that those will have to be rescheduled, but hopefully they'll be able to get her in soon. And I'm hoping to hear back from her rheumatologist soon...like tomorrow would be awesome!

Here are a few more pictures from today :)