Day 25: Love Takes Responsibility

25 days ago, I started on a personal journey to help build a stronger relationship with my kids. Some of you may be familiar with it, and some of you may not. The journey I'm on is The Love Dare for Parents. My decision to start this journey was brought on by many things; the biggest being life's stresses.

Since I've started this, my eyes have really been opened a lot, and I've been put into some uncomfortable positions, but it's all been well worth it!

Today is day 25. Today's challenge makes me nervous.

Today, when my children get home, I'll take them individually to the side and sit them down to really talk with them. Today? I'll ask them if I've ever hurt or wronged them in any way.

As a parent, I worry that the answer may be YES. Do you know how horrible that's going to make me feel if they say yes!? Today, I'm truly going to give them a genuine apology for ANYTHING I may have ever done that they might see as hurtful. It doesn't stop there though.

I haven't even gotten to the "action" part of today's challenge yet, and it has already internally opened my eyes that I need to strive harder at making sure my kids really and truly KNOW that I love them, and that I'd do literally anything on this Earth for them!

This is a journey that I'm very thankful to have started, and I'm going to make the very most of it...especially today.

Life Back On the Grid??

It feels GREAT to have internet access again!!! My husband and I were finally able to purchase a new computer, so I'll be able to blog more. This makes me HAPPY!!!

Being without a computer since August, it's almost like our little family has been living off the grid. Checking social media, emails, etc. isn't very tempting when you've got only your cell phone to work with (in my own experience, anyways).

So much has happened since my last post!

My oldest daughter was diagnosed with ADHD several months ago. The result has been that we've completely changed how we work with her on her school work, etc. Since starting her with treatment, she has absolutely excelled in school! She's ahead of her grade level on reading now, and was recently awarded the Star Student award. Words can't describe how proud I am of her for how far she's come this school year!!!

Life Here Lately

It has been a long few weeks for my family!

We have been without a computer, so blogging has been difficult. I wanted to give a few life updates though!

Wednesday, Gail gave us a really big scare with a severe cyanotic episode. 911 was called that morning, and we spent all day in 2 different emergency rooms. I have literally NEVER been as scared as I was during her episode! The doctors are thinking it may have been a seizure, so the referral was put in for neuro, and we're waiting for them to call with an appointment.

 Thursday, Gail had her cardio appointment. Her left side structures are growing nicely, but the right side of her heart is a little too big, so open heart surgery may be sooner rather than later. This COMING Thursday, she's scheduled for a spleen scan to check her splenic function.

As for yesterday? My 5 year old had a little too much fun on the 4 Wheeler, and is now sporting stitches.

It's pretty safe to say that this mama is ready for an emotional meltdown after how the last few days have played out, haha!

Here's to hoping that all of my readers have a wonderful and positive week!!

Last Week's Adventures!

I know, I know...I'm late on posting about last week's adventures!! Life happens....and so do massive, crippling, toothaches (more on that at another time). Anyways, the pain has subsided, so it's time to finally get around to posting!

For the most part, things were fairly quiet last week. I didn't feel like running to the grocery store, so I got creative with things that we already had on-hand in our food supply. I try to bake at least one treat a week for our family. It's cheap to bake from scratch, and I love to keep our taste buds satisfied!

Digging through our pantry & fridge, I found two of my favorite ingredients: white chocolate chips, and cream cheese! Naturally, I got on Pinterest to see if there were any delicious recipes with a combination of the two. Our treat for the week ended up being white chocolate cream cheese cookies! Granted, you couldn't really taste the cream cheese in them (I couldn't, anyways), but they did have a more chewy texture than the white chocolate cookies I usually make, so that's a plus! I'll definitely be reusing this recipe in the future!

A Very Very WET Week of Adventures!!

I'm typing this one out earlier in the day (MUCH earlier) than what I usually do, for the simple fact that it's Father's Day! There MAY be a post later this evening about how our family's Father's day plays out....it just all depends on how the day goes!

Our past week didn't hold TOO many adventures, as we were trapped inside for a good part of the week, thanks to good old tropical storm Bill.

~~~ HELLO SUMMER VACATION!! ~~~

It's officially summer vacation at our house, YAY!!! I cannot tell you how excited this makes me!! I'm happy to finally be able to spend good quality time with my girls!! It was a long week to get here though!!

Tuesday, Gail had her appointment with the cardiologist after it had been rescheduled due to flooding the previous week. It went GREAT!! Sort of. My sweet, sweet, child who is always the best baby you could ever imagine while getting an echo done? She was NOT so sweet this go-round. In fact? She screamed bloody murder the entire time that the tech was trying to get the needed images. At one point, they actually had to call in a SECOND tech, and the two worked together to keep her distracted and still long enough to get the pics that they needed.

Memorial Week's Adventures

What a week it has been!! I'm truly not even sure where to start!

Monday was, of course, Memorial Day. Our family didn't really do much. We'd done BBQ on Saturday, and I'd whipped up a large crock pot full of tortilla soup on Sunday, so Monday was a lazy & quiet day of relaxing, and munching on leftovers.

Tuesday? Well.....Tuesday, Gail and I were SUPPOSE to have gone to Texas Children's for her cardiology checkup. As a result of torrential downpours, and historic flooding, that did NOT happen! I wen't to bed Monday night with my nerves in a wreck at the thought of driving out to Houston in the thunderstorms (I have high levels of anxiety, and driving in storms is a quick way to set off panic attacks for me). My husband had stayed awake the majority of the night, watching the rain and hail come down. He came to bed around midnight, and I got up shortly before 1:00 a.m., when my alarm went off. Gail's echo-cardiogram was suppose to be sedated, which meant she wasn't allowed to eat after 1:20 a.m., so I'd woken her to get her one last bottle before the cutoff time. It was as she was eating that I logged onto the computer to check the radar, as it was heavily downpouring at the time. That was also the same time I started looking, and seeing all the pictures of the floods!

Easter Week Adventures!!

What a busy week it's been for us. . .SERIOUSLY!!!

To start things off, my oldest daughter spent most of her week at home with me thanks to a nasty stomach bug that didn't want to go away. For that reason, I wasn't really able to snap any pictures of her to use for this post. I hate seeing my babies sick! The only good thing that came of it is that she and I were able to spend some much needed time together....something we haven't really been able to do since Gail was born.

Tuesday, sweet Kay had her very first field trip! The local co-op had a huge Easter egg hunt and fun Easter activities for pre-k students from participating schools.