Monday, March 30, 2015
Update On Us
Hey everyone. It's been a long time since I've been able to put up a blog post. We had our internet turned off last June to try to save some money and after that, things just kept coming up that prevented me from keeping this blog updated. I'm back though and ready to get back into the swing of things.
Here is a summary of what's been going on with us since last year.
Chris started the 3rd grade this year and turned 9 in October. I will put up his birthday interview in a separate post.
In November, our house caught on fire and we lost everything we owned, literally. Everyone was able to get out of the house, including the pets, and no one was hurt, so I will forever be grateful for that. Things could have been a lot worse. It's been almost 5 months since the fire but we are doing pretty well. Our landlord was able to get us into another one of his rental properties. A lot of people in the community, along with some friends and family, came together to help us replace the things we lost. I'll never forget the kindness that was shown to us during that rough time. It really is true that when disaster strikes and you are at rock bottom, you learn who is really there for you and who isn't.
Logan started the 1st grade and turned 7 in December. I will put his birthday interview in another post. He is doing very well in school this year and his reading level is just soaring. I'm amazed at how fast he is progressing. He's been well above grade level for a few months now.
A week before Christmas, my husband was fired from his job for something that he didn't even do. Some company, huh? Thankfully he was only out of work for about 3 weeks and we had enough money from his last 2 paychecks to keep the bills caught up while he was out of work.
That pretty much sums up the major things that have happened since I was away. Thanks to those of you who stuck around during my absence. I will be posting more regularly from now on. It's great to be back! ;)
-Jackie
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Social Media Sunday
Hello everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful week so far. I'm happy to say that I am a co-host for Social Media Sunday this week! Come check it out and link up with us.
<div align="center"><a href="http://fromabcstoacts.com/" rel="nofollow" title="From ABC's to ACT's"><img src="http://i1025.photobucket.com/albums/y311/abcstoacts/SMS225_zpsb70454fc.jpg" alt="Social Media Sunday-From ABC's to ACT's" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
It's that time again friends! Time for another Social Media Sunday!
As you know Social Media Sundays are a place for you to connect with other bloggers in as many ways as possible, since meeting other bloggers and making new friends is one of the best parts of this online world!
The rules are simple!
Follow your hosts and guest hosts and leave a comment letting us know so that we can follow you back.
Grab the button and spread the word, the more the merrier!
Get to hopping! Check out your fellow bloggers and make a new friend or two!
Most importantly, have FUN!
Monday, April 7, 2014
Monday Funnies #5
Hello everyone and welcome to week #5 of the Monday Funnies here on Adventures in Mommyland.
I hope your week is off to a great start.
Such an amazing moment with a little humor thrown in.
That's pretty much how I feel this week.
All the time. :D
Tell me I'm not the only one. ;)
Definitely.
Truth.
This is so me.
Oh how very true this is.
#anxietygirl
This may or may not be true for me. ;)
I hope you got a laugh out of some or even all of these.
Have a great week!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Heart Wide Open {Review}
"As a Bible-believing churchgoer, author Shellie Tomlinson harbored a secret in her good-girl heart. She longed for something more than routine faith; she wanted to love God with a genuine, all-consuming passion. So she got honest with Him: "I admit it. I don't love you like I should, but I want to love you. Help me!""
As someone who recently rededicated my life to God, this book really caught my interest. I know that I love God. But do I love Him like I should?
For people who go to church regularly, it's easy to just start going through the motions in your relationship with God.
Shellie takes us through her journey of how she turned her routine, mundane faith into an intimate, heart wide open love for our Lord. This book spoke to me so many times. You find yourself saying, "I can relate to that", "I'm not the only one who feels that way", and "Yes, absolutely!". Shellie is so real in her story telling that you feel like you are sitting down having a conversation with a close friend.
Shellie helps you, step by step, open up your heart to God's amazing love for us and shows you how you can fire up your love for Him.
There are prayers at the end of every chapter and a Bible Study and Discussion Guide at the back of the book for you to use on your own or with a group.
If you want to love God with all your heart or know someone who does, this is the book for you.
Author's Website
All Things Southern Facebook Page
Preview of Chapter One
Author Bio
* I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for this honest review. I was not required to give a positive review.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Weekend in Review
I hope you've all had a good weekend.
Friday didn't start out very well for us. I ended up having to pick Chris up from school early because he was throwing up. The stomach bug made it's way through our house really fast and he was the latest victim. Thankfully he was feeling a lot better by that evening so we just spent the day cuddling and hanging out.
On Saturday, we took the boys to a late St. Patrick's Day party that the mommy group I'm a part of was having. It was a lot of fun. They had a bunch of fun themed games to play, some yummy snacks, and some cute crafts. We were there for almost 3 hours. There was some music playing in the background for us to enjoy. Chris decided to get up and dance to the music in front of the entire room. It was so funny! He is such a ham. All of the kids had fun playing together, bopping balloons back and forth to each other, and playing the cabbage bowling game that was set up. Who knew you could have so much fun with a head of cabbage? ;)
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| Chris dancing to the music |
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| Logan's rainbow craft |
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| Cabbage bowling! |
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| Posing with the funky glasses |
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| Clover crown that everyone got. Cute, right? ;) |
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| They made a little train going down the slide Mary's girls and my boys <3 Love those kiddos |
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| My little monkey |
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| Our blonde kiddos <3 Friends forever |
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| On the "boat" that rocks back and forth |
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| Yes, that would be my little daredevil hanging onto the *side* of the spinner WHILE it was spinning |
After we got home from the park we spent the rest of the evening hanging out watching America's Funniest Home Videos. We love that show!
On Sunday we went to the late service at church. I forgot to mention this, but a couple weeks ago we officially became members of the church. We're so excited about it. Last week we were presented in front of everyone as new members. This week there was a luncheon after the late service. It was a time to have a meal together and get to know other people in the church. The pastor mentioned that they were going to try to do something like that about 4 times a year now, so that will be something fun to look forward to. Eric and I are becoming more active in the church and are in the process of trying to find a life group to attend as well. Eric is going to volunteer with the production people. I put in my paperwork a few weeks ago to help in the children's area and next week I will be shadowing during the service to see which age group I feel more comfortable helping out with. I already told the children's leader that I would either stay with the babies or the preschoolers. Chris and Logan are in the school aged room and I know if I was in there with them it would probably just be a distraction for them. Helping out with the babies or preschoolers will also help with the baby fever I've been having lately, I'm sure. ;)
What did you do this weekend?
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Sunday Social
It's been quite a while since I linked up with the Sunday Social, so I thought I'd take part this week. :)
1. What are 3 things you can't go a day without doing?
Loving on my boys, checking Facebook, checking on my blog and visiting others
2. What are 3 things that scare you the most?
Something happening to my family or someone I care about, spiders, heights
3. What are 3 places you want to see before you kick the bucket?
Italy, Ireland, England
4. What are 3 movies you will always love?
5. What are your 3 favorite current songs?
Always by Kristian Stanfill. This song hit me really hard at church a couple weeks ago. We were going through a very tough time right around when we were going to move, and this song spoke to me so directly.
Let It Go (Frozen) cover by Brian Hull
This has gone viral on Youtube, Facebook, and other social media. This guy sings the popular Let It Go song from Disney's Frozen.... in Disney characters' voices! Very cool.
Girl on Fire by Arshad
This song was written to go along with the Hunger Games. It is such a beautiful song. I'd love if it made it into one of the movies.
Monday, March 17, 2014
One Year Ago
Isn't it crazy how much things can change in just one year's time?
This time last year we were preparing to take Logan to a different neurologist to discuss my concerns. I brought my concerns up to the pediatrician time after time after time. I was "just being paranoid." Logan was "just being a boy, it is a phase, it'll go away. He'll grow out of it." I knew in my heart that something wasn't right so we switched pediatricians. I brought my concerns up to the new pediatrician and she agreed with me. What a relief! We had a referral to a neurologist. I would finally get some answers.
Or so I thought.
We had the visit from hell with the doctor from hell.
I was absolutely crushed. All I wanted was some answers for my son because I knew something was wrong. After a few phone calls, I was given a referral to a different neurologist.
This new doctor listened to my concerns. He really seemed to care. I asked questions, he asked questions. We interacted with each other. He took the time to really listen. My gut was right. I wasn't all that surprised. When it comes to being a mother, I have dead-on gut instincts. I haven't been wrong yet.
But even so, the words "Your son has ADHD" just about knocked the wind out of me. That may seem overdramatic to some. According to some people, ADHD isn't even a real disease. But it is. It is very real. And Logan will have to struggle with it for the rest of his life.
We got the diagnosis almost a year ago. We got him the help he needed. Does he still have bad days? Of course. But they are few and far between now. Has he come a long way? Absolutely.
Logan was in preschool before we got his diagnosis. His teacher was fresh out of college and inexperienced to say the least. Instead of helping me get answers for Logan, she belittled him every single day because she couldn't handle him. She labeled him as a problem child and treated him with disregard. She didn't want to bother with him. If he had a bad day, she'd put him in a room in the hallway with only a very small window toward the top of the door. Nobody could see what was going on inside. All I know is what Logan would come home and tell me. The teachers assistant would call him a mean little boy. A bad boy. A loser. Logan's bad days were becoming more frequent. His self esteem was crushed and he was acting out. I ended up having to pull him out of school to get him away from that environment. I taught him at home to get him prepared for Kindergarten. I had to rebuild his self esteem.
Now? We are most of the way through Logan's kindergarten year. At the beginning of the year when we met Logan's teacher, I told her about the ADHD. She understood. She listened. She doesn't get mad at him. She doesn't call him names. She treats him with love and kindness just like all of her other students. I can't thank her enough. For making Logan's school experience a good one. For helping him. He loves school now instead of dreading it. He is very intelligent and he knows it.
Logan has grown and accomplished so much in the past year. I can't wait to see where he ends up. He can do whatever he sets his mind to.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Weekend in Review and Monday Funnies #4
What. A. Weekend!
In my last post I mentioned that things had been crazy for us lately. The reason is, we moved this past weekend. We started packing things about a week ago a little at a time.
By the time Friday came around, I was in full out stress mode. We met with the landlord to sign our lease and get a key, got the power turned on at the new house, set up the transfer for our water, phone, internet and tv. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent packing or getting rid of things we weren't going to take with us.
Saturday was our moving day. We finished up all of the last minute packing and my parents rented a U-Haul truck for us so we weren't trying to cram all of our large furniture and appliances in our SUV. The whole family came together to help so that was pretty awesome. In addition to renting the truck for us, my parents also helped us with moving the boxes and furniture to the new house. Eric's brother, brother-in-law, and nephew also came over to help us move things to the new house. I apparently lifted a box the wrong way because that night I was in a nauseating amount of pain. Since it was so late by the time we were finished moving everything and we didn't have time to get the boys bunkbeds put back together, my parents let Chris and Logan stay the night with them. That helped us out a lot. Eric and I were able to rest for a while, do a little unpacking, and take our time getting the beds put together. It was after 1am by the time that was finished so we crashed pretty easily. ;)
Sunday morning we got up early and went to church for a special serving project our church is doing. It's called Because We Love. We had a short service at church and then went out into our community, doing random acts of kindness.....because we love. ;)
The rest of the day was spent unpacking and organizing. It's finally starting to look like we have a house instead of a space full of boxes. :) I'll be so glad when everything is finished.
I had to hang out at home today to wait on our phone and TV service to be installed. While that was going on, a few things went wrong inside the house so on top of everything else going on today I had to wait on a repairman also. The stress from today definitely has me in need of some laughs, so without further delay, here are my Monday Funnies for this week. :) I hope you get a laugh out of them too.
Oh, Chandler. You can't do anything right! ;)
One of my favorite scenes!
Sounds about right.
I can't even begin to tell you how true this is. LOL
This describes my boys perfectly.
Anyone else do this?
Definitely.
Aww, poor Mer.
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