So much for my weekly blogging resolution. In defense of myself, I have been really busy. Not just a tiny bit busy. We are talking "every day on the date planner filled in with stuff written in margins" busy. I would love to fill all of you in on every single detail of those weeks, but honestly, I was so busy that I forgot most of what happened. Just kidding...I remember it. I really just don't want to bore you with the minute details of my very un-exciting life. So how about some highs and lows?
We will start with the highs:
1. No homeschooling for the kids! They had a week of spring break and then last week I cancelled classes because we were really super busy and none of us felt very well at all!
2. Jeff, Hayden, and I had the opportunity to be in a production at our church on Good Friday. We worked really hard on it. I designed all the costumes and told my mom how I wanted them to look and she sewed them! She is so amazing! We got to work with some really talented and terrific people in our church that we absolutely love and adore and put on a production that touched a lot of people. Jeff and I were very nervous about it because neither of us had actually been onstage in years! But I am so proud of what came of it and I am very happy that we did it!
3. Birthday $! I was very blessed to have been sent birthday money and gift cards this year. Which you will all be proud to know that I spent on books...and crafting supplies. Mostly books! I love to read so much and it is such a blessing to have a dozen new books that I haven't read yet. Because as most of you know...I re-read when I can't find anything new...so I'm feeling very loved right now! Plus-I got some really cool crafting stuff...so expect some thank you cards that are way beyond awesome!
4. Easter. We went to church, which is always a blessing. We love our church so much and all the wonderful people in it! I was watching the other day as Hayden was going around and talking to some of the men in our church and noticing that they all would lean down to him and stop what they were doing to have a conversation with him and treat him with respect, kindness, and love. That's not something that you find very often and I am so thankful that Hayden has such wonderful examples to look up to. After church we came home and had a really nice dinner which Roni, Mom, and I prepared. Roni made a ham and I made some homemade scalloped potatoes. Mom made the rest of the sides and a couple of desserts. I chipped in some dark chocolate gluten and sugar free cupcakes as well. They were really delicious. I will post the recipe on my recipes page! Thanks to the weather, we got to spend a few hours outside hiding eggs, blowing bubbles, and having a Nerf gun war! I always treasure time with my family!
5. Testing. I had numerous tests done from when I was in the emergency room last month and everything that came back was normal thus far. I am still waiting on one more result, but the technician said that she didn't see anything to worry about.
-Those are not necessarily all the highs....most of the days have been really terrific! Especially while Jeff was also on Spring Break and we got to spend time together as a family. We don't really have to do anything or go anywhere. We just love being together.
Now..onto the lows...
1. Allergy shots. Booooooooooooooo.......I know that they are helping my body. But, honestly, they make me feel SO crappy! I feel tired and flu-like. The week before last, I barely had any itchiness and I thought, "Yay! I am taking these so well!" Talk about jinxing myself. Last week, I had big, nasty, red itchy spots all the way down to my elbow and all around my upper arm. Kind of like sleeves. The itching comes from the inside, too. So-there is no way to make it stop. The worst part is that every week, just about the time I start to feel all better, it's time to go and get my shots again. Please pray for me! They make me so crabby!
2. Sick kids. Thanks to the weather and our stressful schedule that just finally let up, neither one of my kids have been feeling very terrific. Snotty noses, headaches, general ickiness. Poor little monkeys. I guess I wouldn't say that they are actually sick...because it isn't that bad. But they sure aren't their normal, cheery selves! Please pray for them as well!
Hmmmmmmm.....I guess that is actually it for the lows!
As I said, mostly, my life is very un-exciting! It's mostly filled with those small moments that I really try to imprint on my brain. Like when Hayden hugs me for no reason or when I sit down and color in a coloring book with Cebelle. Sitting around and having a great conversation with friends...or sitting around with friends and realizing that they have become family. I am very blessed in my life with wonderful people whom I love and who love me. There is no greater gift than that. And on those days when the lows have got me really low, those people are the ones who pick me up and make me smile. Which in its own way, makes the lows high.....
God bless you all, and may all of your lows also be highs!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
"Spring break...but not actually a break.."
Time is flying by in the Hull household for yet another week! Last week I celebrated my 34th birthday. Which was really nice, considering that I was under the impression I was turning 35 this year. During the week was the same old stuff! Kids and I doing schoolwork and crafts, Hayden, Jeff and I going to rehearsal for the production that our church is doing on Good Friday, me exploring some new recipes for our new healthy way of eating, and appointments at the chiropractor and allergist. The only real difference was that Jeff was gone both Friday and Saturday for the state drama festival, so most of the running around was just the kids and I (though my dad was sweet and drove me to my allergist appointment and mom kept the kids at home with her so I could have some quiet time!) I'm finding that when I get my shots, I start feeling like I have the flu for a couple of days. I get sore and achy and really tired. This week, I had huge red bumps on my arms which were then surrounded by hives. This started Friday evening after my shots and they finally were mostly gone by Wednesday. It really stinks and it makes me feel crappy and miserable, but it will all help in the long run and be so worth it! I have also spent a lot of the last week developing recipes and meals for our new way of healthy eating. I have come up with some really terrific stuff, so I'm going to start an extra page on my blog for recipes! I know that some of it sounds kind of far out- but my goal in this is to have my kids eating the things that they love and not know that those things are not filled with cane sugar or gluten or hormones or preservative or dyes. So far, we have been very successful! Nobody has complained about missing out on anything!
I was very fortunate on Sunday to be able to celebrate my birthday with several people that I love and adore! It was a beautiful day and we spent over four hours sitting outside on the deck snacking and visiting. It was a perfect celebration for me!
Jeff got back late Saturday night/early Sunday morning from the festival. His students performed really well, but they were not one of the two schools to advance to the New England Festival. He has been on Spring Break this week and the kids and I took the week off of school. I still had daycare kids all day Monday and Wednesday. And I had an ultrasound on my gallbladder on Tuesday morning. The results from that are supposed to be in next week. The rest of the day Tuesday we cleaned the garage, cleaned outside, and played outside all day. Wednesday night we had rehearsal from 8-10 for our play and Jeff and mom and I are doing all the costumes so that will have to be worked on. Today I got up and made some more cookies (check out the recipe page for this tasty treat) and a fruit and nut tart. Jeff and I cleaned out Hayden and Cebelle's closets and pulled out their spring/summer clothes and tried all of them on to see how everything fit and to assess what they might still need for the summer. This evening, we are going to watch the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". The kids are really excited. We are having turkey burgers and fries for dinner and eating while we watch the movie. It's a rare treat for us! We have more busy days planned for the rest of the weekend as well.
Today was kind of our day to relax...and it has been more relaxing than most days. But there are always things that need to be done! We still need to get the kids showered and cleaned up and I still need to make dinner....well, the list goes on and on. I'm just thankful that every busy day also includes some quality time with the people that I love. My life is full of blessings and I thank God for them everyday!
I was very fortunate on Sunday to be able to celebrate my birthday with several people that I love and adore! It was a beautiful day and we spent over four hours sitting outside on the deck snacking and visiting. It was a perfect celebration for me!
Jeff got back late Saturday night/early Sunday morning from the festival. His students performed really well, but they were not one of the two schools to advance to the New England Festival. He has been on Spring Break this week and the kids and I took the week off of school. I still had daycare kids all day Monday and Wednesday. And I had an ultrasound on my gallbladder on Tuesday morning. The results from that are supposed to be in next week. The rest of the day Tuesday we cleaned the garage, cleaned outside, and played outside all day. Wednesday night we had rehearsal from 8-10 for our play and Jeff and mom and I are doing all the costumes so that will have to be worked on. Today I got up and made some more cookies (check out the recipe page for this tasty treat) and a fruit and nut tart. Jeff and I cleaned out Hayden and Cebelle's closets and pulled out their spring/summer clothes and tried all of them on to see how everything fit and to assess what they might still need for the summer. This evening, we are going to watch the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". The kids are really excited. We are having turkey burgers and fries for dinner and eating while we watch the movie. It's a rare treat for us! We have more busy days planned for the rest of the weekend as well.
Today was kind of our day to relax...and it has been more relaxing than most days. But there are always things that need to be done! We still need to get the kids showered and cleaned up and I still need to make dinner....well, the list goes on and on. I'm just thankful that every busy day also includes some quality time with the people that I love. My life is full of blessings and I thank God for them everyday!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
"Rainy Days and Mondays...."
It's raining again today....and my family has been going non-stop for yet another week. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I like being busy and having things to do. I think if more people had really full schedules and other people depending on them, it would mean that there would be fewer egocentric people who think that the entire world revolves around them and their self importance. And I think we are all prone to that...we become so involved in the drama of our own lives that we fail to see the pain that others are suffering or the joy that others are feeling. Life is meant to be celebrated and SHARED. We all have this shared experience of birth, life, and death and I think it is a shame that we often become so self involved that we fail to take the time to share it. Other peoples experiences not only mirror our own, they offer us opportunities to become better people. We can learn from mistakes without making them, become more empathetic by experiencing grief that is not our own, and rejoice in accomplishments that we did not work for. It makes me sad that people miss out on those things because they refuse to see that though they are unique and special...they aren't the only one. God made all kinds of unique and special and loves us equally. I think the least we can do is appreciate all kinds of unique and special and not get so caught up in our own version.
This has been a pretty normal week for us. School, daycare kids, church, etc. Jeff and Hayden and I had our first rehearsal for our church's Good Friday production last Wednesday. That was really fun. I think it is really going to be great. Cebelle is disappointed that she isn't involved, but I explained to her that she isn't quite old enough to read the lines and memorize them. So she is content to stay home and play with Ninny and Papa while the three of us rehearse.
We had appointments on Friday, which has become the normal for us now. The kids were at the chirpractor at 9. They are doing wonderfully in their care there. The difference in the both of them is just astonishing to me. I feel so blessed to have met these wonderful people and to have the benefits of their wisdom and experience and to have options that don't involve our family taking tons of medications. Our change is diet has gone off without a hitch. I actually ate some gluten and sugar a few nights ago and it made me ill. I thought I really wanted a piece of bread....but I doubt that I will be wishing for that again. It also made me really lethargic, which I haven't been at all since we changed our diets. And I love eating all the fresh veggies and fruits. Tonight for dinner we are having a maple/mustard pork loin, sweet potato latkes, and homemade applesauce. I don't feel like I have given anything up. I'm working to completely get rid of soda. Right now I have one about once a week. And then my next step will be caffeine. I will probably do a cleanse shortly after.
I also had my second round of venom immunotherapy on Friday. The shots burned this time. They felt like fire going into my arms all four times. I also had my first reactions the day after. My right arm was really itchy and feverish. I also broke out in head to toe hives on Sunday after cleaning out my flower beds and being outside most of the afternoon. That resulted in a mess of blood blisters covering my neck and chest. Hopefully, that is completely unrelated to my injections.
Hayden and Cebelle have been doing amazingly well. I am so proud of these two kids and all that they do. Hayden has decided he might want to play baseball this year. I will wait and see. He did this last year and then when Jeff and I told him that if he signed up that he was responsible for being an active participant at every game and practice and that if he made the commitment there was no quitting, he changed his mind pretty quickly. I think he just wants to go hang out with his friends....the fact that there is more physical exercise than I already make him do for PE is a serious drawback. Also-he isn't really much of a team player. I think he would do well in martial arts or gymnastics, but I haven't been able to find a program for him that fits into our schedule.
Cebelle has no interest in sports. She just wants to craft. She makes all kinds of cool projects and when I craft-she is usually right up in the middle of it! She is very creative and inspired. She is actually even learning to knit and crochet. She does a knit cast on really well and she can do a small crochet chain. I don't force it on her, I let her practice whenever she wants to. We haven't moved on from that because she wants her cast on and chain to be perfect and even before she learns the next step. Considering that I spent days practicing the perfect cast-on before I knit a single stitch, I can completely understand that.
I do wish that the rain would go away. I love what it does for my flowers...but it always makes me so completely lethargic. There is nothing I would love more than to curl up with a good book under my favorite quilt and a cup of tea. And after finishing a chapter....to snuggle up and take a little nap. But that's just dreaming on my part....I will at some point curl up with my NOOKcolor and read another book. I read one this morning while Hayden was working on some schoolwork. But right now I have kids to shower and dinner to start and a house to clean. I plan on keeping busy. If I don't keep busy, I will get really depressed that my birthday is on Saturday and that Jeff won't be here. I'm extremely proud of him and his students for advancing to the state festival. This group of kids is amazing and they completely deserve to be rewarded for their hard work. I just wish that it meant that Jeff wouldn't be gone for two days on my birthday weekend. And if they win and advance to the New England festival, which would not surprise me considering the amount of talent that is in that show, he will be gone for the other half of spring break next week. So-this is my struggle to not be self-centered and self-important. Those kids deserve his time and effort and I refuse to make him feel bad for doing something that is so terrific. I am extremely proud of him and those kids. And though I will be sad to not share my day with him, I will be glad that he gets to share that special moment of accomplishment with those kids who so richly deserve it. And I will be thrilled to spend the following day with family and good friends and celebrate what is important in life. (No, not my birthday....didn't we just discuss the downfalls of self-importance?!?!) We will celebrate life and love and shared memories and the fact that God has blessed me with another year of those with the people I love and cherish. In all the craziness that is our daily lives, don't forget to celebrate your life and share it with those you love. You will never regret it.
This has been a pretty normal week for us. School, daycare kids, church, etc. Jeff and Hayden and I had our first rehearsal for our church's Good Friday production last Wednesday. That was really fun. I think it is really going to be great. Cebelle is disappointed that she isn't involved, but I explained to her that she isn't quite old enough to read the lines and memorize them. So she is content to stay home and play with Ninny and Papa while the three of us rehearse.
We had appointments on Friday, which has become the normal for us now. The kids were at the chirpractor at 9. They are doing wonderfully in their care there. The difference in the both of them is just astonishing to me. I feel so blessed to have met these wonderful people and to have the benefits of their wisdom and experience and to have options that don't involve our family taking tons of medications. Our change is diet has gone off without a hitch. I actually ate some gluten and sugar a few nights ago and it made me ill. I thought I really wanted a piece of bread....but I doubt that I will be wishing for that again. It also made me really lethargic, which I haven't been at all since we changed our diets. And I love eating all the fresh veggies and fruits. Tonight for dinner we are having a maple/mustard pork loin, sweet potato latkes, and homemade applesauce. I don't feel like I have given anything up. I'm working to completely get rid of soda. Right now I have one about once a week. And then my next step will be caffeine. I will probably do a cleanse shortly after.
I also had my second round of venom immunotherapy on Friday. The shots burned this time. They felt like fire going into my arms all four times. I also had my first reactions the day after. My right arm was really itchy and feverish. I also broke out in head to toe hives on Sunday after cleaning out my flower beds and being outside most of the afternoon. That resulted in a mess of blood blisters covering my neck and chest. Hopefully, that is completely unrelated to my injections.
Hayden and Cebelle have been doing amazingly well. I am so proud of these two kids and all that they do. Hayden has decided he might want to play baseball this year. I will wait and see. He did this last year and then when Jeff and I told him that if he signed up that he was responsible for being an active participant at every game and practice and that if he made the commitment there was no quitting, he changed his mind pretty quickly. I think he just wants to go hang out with his friends....the fact that there is more physical exercise than I already make him do for PE is a serious drawback. Also-he isn't really much of a team player. I think he would do well in martial arts or gymnastics, but I haven't been able to find a program for him that fits into our schedule.
Cebelle has no interest in sports. She just wants to craft. She makes all kinds of cool projects and when I craft-she is usually right up in the middle of it! She is very creative and inspired. She is actually even learning to knit and crochet. She does a knit cast on really well and she can do a small crochet chain. I don't force it on her, I let her practice whenever she wants to. We haven't moved on from that because she wants her cast on and chain to be perfect and even before she learns the next step. Considering that I spent days practicing the perfect cast-on before I knit a single stitch, I can completely understand that.
I do wish that the rain would go away. I love what it does for my flowers...but it always makes me so completely lethargic. There is nothing I would love more than to curl up with a good book under my favorite quilt and a cup of tea. And after finishing a chapter....to snuggle up and take a little nap. But that's just dreaming on my part....I will at some point curl up with my NOOKcolor and read another book. I read one this morning while Hayden was working on some schoolwork. But right now I have kids to shower and dinner to start and a house to clean. I plan on keeping busy. If I don't keep busy, I will get really depressed that my birthday is on Saturday and that Jeff won't be here. I'm extremely proud of him and his students for advancing to the state festival. This group of kids is amazing and they completely deserve to be rewarded for their hard work. I just wish that it meant that Jeff wouldn't be gone for two days on my birthday weekend. And if they win and advance to the New England festival, which would not surprise me considering the amount of talent that is in that show, he will be gone for the other half of spring break next week. So-this is my struggle to not be self-centered and self-important. Those kids deserve his time and effort and I refuse to make him feel bad for doing something that is so terrific. I am extremely proud of him and those kids. And though I will be sad to not share my day with him, I will be glad that he gets to share that special moment of accomplishment with those kids who so richly deserve it. And I will be thrilled to spend the following day with family and good friends and celebrate what is important in life. (No, not my birthday....didn't we just discuss the downfalls of self-importance?!?!) We will celebrate life and love and shared memories and the fact that God has blessed me with another year of those with the people I love and cherish. In all the craziness that is our daily lives, don't forget to celebrate your life and share it with those you love. You will never regret it.
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