Garage X Games

Kaylee and I have been cooped up in the house all week as you know. Her fever finally broke on Friday. The girls have both been itching to get out and play. Alexis has been especially excited for the snow to go away so she could ride her new skateboard. Well, we finally caved and let the girls ride around in the garage on Saturday. They both had a great time:) Here are some pictures of the girls in their safety gear (Kaylee did some roller blading):

More snuggles today

Kaylee woke up with a much higher fever this morning.  It was over 101 degrees.  So we continue to snuggle today, though she did say I could do laundry :0)
So we've been snuggling and about once every 1 1/2 hours I get up and change and fold the laundry.  I did have to take a call from the company in charge of our private spanish lessons, but that lasted all of 10 minutes.  There was some major cuteness happening today.  I'm not the only one playing Mommy:

Here she is getting Murphy kisses on her hand

So sweet!

Making the most of 22%

So, my to do list is growing and growing and growing.  But this morning Kaylee woke up with a fever.  It was hard at first for me to decide whether to put all my "to do's" on hold in favor of sitting and snuggling on my girl all day.  But then I thought about how when she is older, I want her to look back and think fondly of the times when she was sick.  I want her to remember that I dropped everything to care for her and to snuggle on her all day.  So that's what I did.  Sometimes my mind would drift off to the more "productive" things I could have been doing.  But honestly, what is more "productive" than showing your children how much you love them?  All the other things are just details.  Here I sat all day; snuggling, getting drinks, getting medicine, taking temperatures, getting coughed all over, and exposing myself to illness when I really don't want to be sick when Ryan is home.  But Kaylee is so worth all of that.  Both of my kids are.  Everyone's kids are :0)  That other stuff can wait until another day.  Our time with our kids is so short.  We get 18 years and part of that time they want nothing to do with us.  If they live to be 80, that's only 22% of their lives.  I'm trying to make sure I (and they) get the most out of our time living together!

Cool Career/personality test!

So last weekend when we were in Terre Haute, I was checking the weather constantly, trying to see when we could safely travel home. Looking around on the Fox59 site, I uncovered this really cool Color Test.

It was spot on!  It said I was an organizer/doer.  I also quizzed Kaylee and Alexis.  Kaylee was a creator/organizer and Alexis was a creator/persuader.  Very very cool!  Go take the test and comment back what your results were.  I'd love to see what you all find out:0)

Spaghetti Tacos

Anyone who knows my girls, knows that they LOVE iCarly. Well there is this dish that they eat all the time on the show (they even made a complete episode about it) that the girls have been begging to try: Spaghetti Tacos. So, I figured last night was the perfect opportunity to make them. Here is a picture of our Spaghetti Tacos:

After trying them, Alexis said, "This recipe is a keeper!" I would have to agree with her. The flavor of spaghetti with meat sauce and the added crunch of the taco shell was actually quite pleasing.

Kaylee's picture

At the Ash Wednesday service last night, Kaylee was drawing a picture.  It was just so cute I had to share it with the world!  It is a picture of our family as ducks:

I don't know where Daddy's legs are...but the little lumps around my duck are apparently eggs, ha! Yep...I guess I'm sitting on eggs....because that's what mommies do!

Mishmash

"Mishmash"-a mixture of unrelated things.

That's what this post is going to be today...which is fitting because that's kind of how my head's been working lately :0)

First off...I am loving all this time I'm getting to spend with my girls due to the "inclement weather".  As long as it clears out in time for us to have a nice weekend in Terre Haute I'm fine with all the snow.  Yesterday morning, we made scones.  I forgot how much I despise baking.  Give me a hunk of meat and veggies over flour and sugar any day!!!  But, I think they would have turned out better if I wasn't insistent on trying to make them "healthy".  Whole wheat flour and splenda just don't taste nearly as good as all purpose flour and real sugar.  But Alexis liked our lemon/blueberry scones with lemon glaze, so that's good enough for me.  Baking just makes too much of a mess for something that's really not that good for you.

Staying on the subject of food, I've been trying out a lot of new (new to me) recipes lately.  The latest was Orange Chicken last night.  I put the marinade together on Monday so our orange flavor was pretty strong.  I think next time I may add a little splenda to the mix to make the sauce a little sweeter...it was more salty than sweet.  This next recipe is one I've had before but never made.  My fondest memory of this soup was from when I was expecting Alexis and Cathy came over and cooked this for me one day.  White Chicken Chili...though I have no idea if this recipe is even close to the one Cathy made for me...we really like this one.  With the added creaminess from the sour cream...it's just yummy!  And finally, a copycat of the black bean soup from Panera Bread.  Though Ryan assures me that mine is much better than what you can get at Panera.  I like to mix this one up quite a bit because it's pretty high in carbs...so most of the time I add some sort of meat to the mix.  The first time I added some ground beef and the second time I added some canned chicken.  It was good with both.  I'm making this soup for dinner tonight.  At first I was going to make is sans meat, but now I think I may go ahead and add a mesquite chicken breast to it...see what that does to the flavor.  One of the best quotes from Ryan when he was home was, "I'm going to miss having you cook for me while I'm in Spain."  Yes, partly because he has to cook for himself, but he also said I make good food.  One Housewife goal accomplished!!!  Hubby likes my cooking!

On to the next subject:  About a month ago, we sent the girls' school applications to the British School of Barcelona.  Since then, Ryan has talked to the admissions coordinator on the phone.  She said that Alexis should have no trouble getting into the school, but that in Kaylee's age group there is a pretty long wait list.  We should know more after Easter, but chances are that Alexis will get in the school and since they give preference to families with kids already in the school....it looks like Kaylee's chances of getting in as well will be good too.  Keep this on your prayer list as this is the closest international school to our home in Castelldefels.  The other two schools are north of downtown Barcelona.  While they are great schools too, they are just really far from our home. 

These girls are so much fun!  Alexis said to me yesterday (of course I was being really silly and goofy at the time), "Mommy, most people at my school would think you're weird."  She then went on to say that she thought I was fun and funny but that she also thought most parents don't act the way that I do.  I hope that this is a good thing...I can actually be serious at times, I just choose to be silly the majority of the time.  I just hope when these girls are teenagers they continue to see my humor as fun/funny and not embarassing.  I'll have to keep an eye out for that. 

Another wonderful thing that I like about my girls I'll tell with a little story:
The snow was so heavy on Saturday that whenever I tried shoveling big hunks would break off.  So I decided to offer the girls some money to help me by picking up the big chunks and tossing them in the yard.  They both did a great job helping.  When we were shopping that evening Ryan and I told them that they could each pick out a toy or something for their payment.  Alexis got to spend around $10 and Kaylee around $5 (according to the amount of work they did).  So, what I loved was that these girls didn't go straight for the girly princess stuff; the first place they looked was the "boy toy" aisle.  Kaylee picked out a pack of Mighty Beanz and Alexis picked out a Light Saber from Star Wars the Clone Wars.  For some reason I just love that!

We are doing pretty well considering all the big changes we're going through.  I think this separation period is the hardest on Ryan.  But I think he's keeping himself busy enough with work and shopping for things for the house in Spain that he's coping pretty well too.  I'm really looking forward to our vacation in Barcelona over Spring Break.  I think it will be really good for the girls to spend a short period of time in our new home before we make the big move.  We're also planning on making a trip to the school so they can get to know the building and meet some of the teachers. 


Well, that's all for now.  Time to see if I can get some girls to be silly with me!

Simply Amazing

I was greatly touched by this post that I read this morning.  I just had to share it with you all.  If you recall, one of Alexis's friends/classmates from 1st grade was diagnosed with Leukemia about a year and a half ago.  This is a very powerful post from Raquel's amazing mother:

On Friday while in for chemo Dr. Hill once again examined the lump on Raquel’s shoulder (to be more specific the bottom of her neck/top of shoulder area). His immediate reaction to proceed with removing it suddenly pricked me with anxiety. It is not necessarily in my nature to become anxious or fearful. But in that moment it happened. I tried to remain calm and mindful of my expressions because I knew Raquel was watching me and I also don’t like to be emotional in front of the doctors. I turned to look at Raquel & she just nodded as the doctor spoke to her. Doc said “nothing to worry about, let’s just find out what it is”. Although this was my desire, to know “what” this is and for it to be gone, the fact that we were faced with another “unknown” made me uneasy.

R​aquel is so great. Both of my girls are. I tell God so many times how much I am blessed, I don’t deserve the beautiful gifts he has given me in them. They are so strong and they help us to be strong. When I wanted to be weak in that moment I looked to Raquel who was standing firm and accepting this next step. That night while explaining to Alex the details of our day, I admitted that it was a hard day for me, and being the wonderful husband that he is, he prayed and comforted me.

Today we went in, and the surgeon examined the lump which she believes to be a benign tumor. She does not think it has anything to do with leukemia. She said it doesn’t have to be removed immediately​, however, the longer we wait the bigger the scar since we see that it keeps growing. If it is what she thinks it is, it will continue to grow until it is removed. The plan at this point is to have the surgery the same day as her next spinal tap and IV chemo, hopefully Friday, March 5. They will put her out for both and she should go home that day. My prayer is that God removes the lump Himself before any surgery!

​Last week a few nights before her chemo appt I had a dream. I rarely remember my dreams any more, but this was so clear and real… There was a huge storm going on outside one night & the girls & I were at home. We were going to have to go out into the middle of it for some reason. So I turned off the house alarm & opened the front door & a stray cat came running in our house. We were in such a rush we didn’t have time to go catch it, but I left the front door open to run upstairs to grab something from my bedroom. When I was in there suddenly a large solid door came down in the hallway that trapped me upstairs away from the girls. There was an intruder in our home and I began to panic. I went to the alarm upstairs and held down the panic button to call for help and my heart was beating so hard. It was all out of my control and I could do nothing but wait. Then I woke up & my heart was beating so fast & I just started praying scriptures to overcome my fear. I got up & asked God what that was about??? And my answer was so clear: If you let your guard down the enemy has a chance to get in.

I pray every day and read God’s Word, but I tell you I must have been weak in those moments on Friday, because I let fear and anxiety in. Fear is not from the Lord. In church on Sunday our guest speaker spoke about the story of Elijah in the Bible, and how even after all that God did to protect, provide and bless Elijah, he still faced problems that made him run away instead of being still and trusting God. He needed to remember all that God had already done, and rely on that… knowing that his God was sovereign. The moment I heard that message I realized that’s what I had done. I must have forgotten in that moment who God is and all that He has already done, for Raquel and for all of us. God’s faithfulnes​s in our past gives us hope for the future. I was magnifying the lump instead of magnifying my God. I let down my guard and became distracted, letting the enemy in while taking my focus off of Jesus. This circumstanc​e is out of my control and I must continue to trust. I felt a peace come over me on Sunday and thanked God for His patience with his forgetful daughter.

Today as we walked into the surgery center and spoke to the receptionis​t, she had me write down everything I knew about Raquel’s diagnosis, medications​, and surgeries. I don’t usually have to do that since the oncology clinic always knows everything about her. Just the act of going through all that (and meeting again with the same surgeon who placed her port the day after dx) brought back some emotions from her initial dx a year & half ago. That was so hard. But God gently reminded me not to let go of that peace. There were 2 little boys in that waiting room with us today. Both of them were named “Elijah”.

Wow........