Team Tate and Team Eliza

by Steph // Wednesday, June 22, 2016 // Comments off

Blake, the littles and I headed out very early yesterday morning to go to AFCH UW Madison as team Tate and team Eliza!

We have piggybacked all of Tate and Eliza’s appointments that we can, so they both had an appointment with urology.

They also both had ultrasounds done earlier this month to check on their bladder and kidneys.

Their appointments went very well! All is stable! Those are great words to hear!

We were also told by the Nurse Practitioner that UW Madison and our local hospital have joined together!

I almost clapped my hands!!

This will hopefully mean that we can just make the appointments we need in Madison without the hours on the phone trying to get referral letters from local doctors and insurance approval letters to take with us to our appointments!

AHHH! This will save me hours of work!!

After we were done at UW, we headed to Whole Foods to grab some lunch.

First, a little gallop around the parking garage!

There is our smiley girl back!!

Something about the produce section of Whole Foods!

I could just stand there looking around for a long time!

We started our lunch outside on a picnic table.

It was such a beautiful day!!

It didn’t take me long to realize that eating outside was not going to work!

It was very noisy as we were by the main road, breezy, and you could smell the exhaust of the cars going by if you sniffed really hard. Except for Eliza it was super duper loud, hurricane windy, and the smell of the exhaust was gagging her.

BUT – she had WORDS. Thank you therapy!! And she told us she could not handle where we were eating.

Our strong and brave sweet baby!!! SO, so proud of you!!

So we moved inside!

After lunch, it was back in the van for the two hour and forty-five minute drive home.

I forgot to take photos of our two sleeping cherubs!!

Sleep they did!!

Blake laughed at me about one hour into the trip home when I said “Ok, I’m done with this now.” He said I say it at the same spot on the way home every time!! Ooops!!

Even though it was a long day, it was a very good day, with very good stable reports for our two precious cherubs!!

We are SO thankful for the team of loving medical people we have to help us take care of Tate and Eliza!!

Snapshots of Life

by Steph // Tuesday, June 21, 2016 // Comments off

So many fun things going on here this summer!

My phone is filled with snapshots of life.

Our days are all so different right now, and we have been blessed by how well the littles have been handling it all!

We still have been going to the library weekly.

Last week we headed the other direction into Viroqua to check out their new library.

We are SOLD!

It is amazing, just the right small town size, and SO perfect when you have little kiddos to keep track of.

We stopped at the Co-op for a snack when we realized the library did not open until ten.

We are about on the other side of constant morning appointments.

Eliza had her third OT therapy evaluation, as I haven’t given up on finding a way to get her approved for the therapy she so desperately needs.

The very day we were told Eliza was not eligible for therapy through the school district, we had a call from our local hospital saying she was at the top of the waiting list she was put on last September.

What great timing!

They wanted to do the evaluation to see if we can get approval from our insurance one more time.

I dropped a pile of kiddos and a pup off to Kayla bright and early Friday morning.

Addie Mae can walk to work from there, and Kayla kept the rest of the kiddos until Eliza and I were done.

Eliza did very well with all that was asked of her.

And because the therapist let Eliza jump, swing, and had spun her, we had no melt downs on the way out of the hospital!

I spent a rainy morning recently planning our new chore schedule.

I always teach new chores in the summer time, when I have more time to focus on teaching the chores and holding each child accountable by checking the chores once they are done.

The littles were SO excited! Even Chad said “Mom, I love when chores change. It is so fun!”

We have had a lot of rain this summer so far.

We have not had water problems on the farm, but I know people who have had flooded basements, flooded fields, and such.

I have been thankful for how we have been blessed with big spurts of rain, but also sunshine on the same days!

We have only had to water our garden one time!

Blake and I got caught in a wild storm on date night one Friday night.

Afterwards we saw God’s promise fill the sky!

And then a beautiful sunset on the way home!

The photos on my cell phone just did not do the beauty of this night any justice!

I run up and down the ridge twice a day these days to take Addie Mae to work and pick her up.

Sometimes I have passengers.

Sometimes they don’t make it off the farm before falling asleep.

Addie and I snuck in some one-on-one time shopping late one evening.

There might have been coffee drinking involved.

We are still doing summer school.

I have been having Tate practice cutting.

I have him hold a pom pom with his pinky and ring finger to keep them down so he will only use the other three fingers instead of all of them.

The kids love school activities!

We have had visitors too! I am terrible about taking photos when people are here!

Some dear friends were in town and blessed us with a visit – and also blessed me with these photos!

We are looking forward to lots of out of town visitors in July!

We are also looking forward to an open house that our realtor will be having this weekend on our farm!

We are praying boldly that the Lord will see fit to use this as the opportunity to bring someone to purchase the farm!

If you would like to join us in prayer, we would be SO grateful!!

We are so excited to see what the Lord’s plan for us is!!!

Until then, my phone will keep filling up with these blessed snapshots of life!

Father’s Day

by Steph // Monday, June 20, 2016 // Comments off

Sundays are always much anticipated!

Because of church.

The bigs do not work on Sundays and are home.

So there is good fellowship on Sundays!

And rest!

It is just so good!!

This Sunday we also had Father’s Day to look forward to!

We have two amazing fathers, Blake and David, that we couldn’t wait to celebrate!

I wouldn’t let Blake get out of the van on our date night Friday night until he told me what he would like for our meal on Sunday!

He usually would say “Whatever you would like, honey!”

This time I really made him pick!

So Mahi Mahi, steak, baked potato bar, green beans and cole slaw it was!

We had strawberries fresh from the garden, with chocolate brownies and ice cream for dessert!

While us girls cleaned the kitchen, the guys took the kids for a swim!

I think the boys like it much better when there are no girls in the pool that do not like to be splashed!

What a nice relaxing afternoon!

Sitting in the shade with my girls!

When we realized it was almost five o’clock, we all sighed.

Sundays just go way too fast!!

We all agreed three day weekends would be GREAT!

Hope you all had a great Sunday and Father’s Day too!!

Chad Time

by Steph // Sunday, June 19, 2016 // Comments off

Years ago when Chad was just a baby, I started a time on our schedule where Kayla would supervise an activity for the younger children.

Back then it was called “Kayla time.”

It has been called “Grant time.”

And even “Addie time.”

Now it is called “Chad time.”

Chad sometimes plans, but always supervises an activity for the three younger ones for thirty minutes during the school year and one hour during the summer time.

I use this precious time to get some necessary things done!!

This past week, I handed Chad some containers, measuring cups, and paint brushes for some water play on the sidewalk for Chad time.

Lane, Tate, and Eliza LOVE Chad time!

Such a simple, simple thing to do that brings such peace!

They were playing for about ten minutes when Chad yelled through the kitchen window, “Mom, is it ok if we are getting a little wet?” to which I answered, “It’s ok!”