Rachel's Technology Fair Project

Katelyn's Technology Fair Project

A Day to Sleep In

Tuesday night when I went to bed I made sure I had my alarm set for 6:00 to get up and get ready to take the girls to school like usual. Wednesday morning I wake up and it's like 7:00. At first I thought I had overslept, but then I realized I heard the girls and Robert up. It turns out Robert got up and turned my alarm off to let me sleep in, and he took care of getting the girls up and ready for school. He packed lunches, administered medications (inhalers, nose sprays, antibiotics, eye drops, etc.), and took the girls to school. The next thing I knew it was 9:15 and I was waking up again! How awesome is that?!?!?!? Don't I have the best husband ever!!!!! I did get up and go work out, so I accomplished a little bit! But it was so nice to have that extra sleep and not have to worry about lunches, backpacks, coats, etc. Thanks Robert!!!

Doctors, Doctors, and More Doctors

I think we're trying to see just how many doctor visits we can get squeezed into January & February! Last week we only had 2 doctor visits. Katelyn had her check-up with the allergist on Tuesday and then Thursday Katelyn had another visit with the dermatologist about the warts on her hands.

This week we're looking to improve on that number! Yesterday (Monday) I ended up taking Rachel to the doctor about her eye. Her eyelid had been red for about a week, but her actual eye was not red at all and she didn't have any kind of discharge in it. But when she woke up Monday morning, her upper eyelid was swollen half shut. Turns out she has a stye on the inside of her upper eyelid, so she's on antibiotic eyedrops and oral antibiotics.

This morning (Tuesday)I went to the doctor and I have a sinus infection. I knew that I did - I just finally broke down and went so I could get some antibiotics to clear this stuff up!

This afternoon (Tuesday), Rachel has a check-up with the allergist.

On Friday, Katelyn goes back to the dermatologist again!

So that's 4 doctor's visits that I know of for this week! Oh and by the way, Robert went to the dentist yesterday. Does that count?

Thank goodness for insurance!!!

Katelyn's Prayer

When Katelyn is praying, you never know what she'll come up with! She likes to talk a lot, and that includes when she's praying. She can go on & on about things! Last night during her prayer she was thanking God for the trees. It went something like this: "And God, thank you for the trees because we get wood from trees - and cardboard - to make pizza boxes! And I really like cardboard 'cause I like to make things. Thank you for cardboard!"

Sharing Germs

Well, it seems like we've been sharing germs around here. A couple of weeks ago Katelyn started all the sickness. Then it was Rachel's turn. Next was Robert's turn. I think he felt worse than either girl, and is still hacking. Wednesday morning was my turn to feel horrible! I stayed in bed ALL DAY and felt terrible. Robert & the girls went to church while I stayed and napped some more. I turned on the TV to watch American Idol, but just didn't even feel like holding my eyes open, so I turned it back off. And I'm a big AI fan - I really enjoy watching it. So that tells you that I felt pretty crappy! Thursday I felt some better, but still just stayed at home and laid around. Friday was even better and I actually helped out at school for half a day. It about wore me out though! I'm still not 100%, but I feel like I'm actually functioning! Hopefully, since we've all been sick over the past couple of weeks, that means we should be healthy for a few months!!! Keeping my fingers crossed!!

One of Those Days

Have you ever just had one of those days? Tuesday was one of those for me. I was having my Uppercase Living Open House that night, so I had spent Monday & Tuesday getting ready for the open house. I was pretty proud that by lunchtime on Tuesday, I had the house completely ready! About that time, I looked out to see two utility company vehicles parked outside with several men in our driveway. I knew what they were here for - to bust up our driveway! I just didn't know it would be on Tuesday! You see, we found out back in AUGUST that the sewer connection for the new house that is being built across the street is under our driveway, and somehow, it has been crushed or something. So they have to tear up part of our driveway to fix it. Did I mention that they told us about this in AUGUST?!?!? They show up on Tuesday and I told Robert THEY ARE NOT TEARING UP MY DRIVEWAY TODAY!!!! He went out and talked to them and it turns out they were just going to cut some seams in the driveway so that it would be easier to bust up a later day. They said it would still be fine to drive on and you wouldn't even notice it. I calmed down and was okay with it. They were using our water hose to spray down when they were cutting the concrete so there wouldn't be so much dust flying around. I had a few minutes before I had to go pick up the girls from school, so I thought I would hang up a picture that I needed to hang on the wall. I opened the basement door to go and find a nail and I heard a horrible sound like Niagara Falls! (okay, so I'm exaggerating a little bit, but you get my point!) I hurried downstairs to see water gushing down the front wall! It was about 1/2 inch deep and had covered about 1/4 of the basement floor! Luckily, our basement is not finished, and most of the stuff in that area was in rubbermaid totes. It turns our our pipe had busted to the outside water faucet, so when they turned on the water outside, it sent water flooding into the basement. (Yes - we forgot and left the hose connected to the faucet all winter - you can bet we won't do that again!!!) So while I went to get the girls from school, Robert was using the shop-vac on the basement floor!

Have I mentioned that I'm having an Open House at 6:30 and I'm expecting 17 ladies? It's now 3:30 and I have a basement full of water! AND Katelyn has a check-up with the allergist at 4:00 in Knoxville! Normally we get right in and out at the allergist. But guess what? Not today! We didn't even get back to the room until 4:40!!! It was 5:00 before we left the allergist's office!!! And Julie, the demonstrator for Uppercase Living, was supposed to be at my house at 6:00!!! I hurried home to find that Robert had the basement completely dry! Thanks Robert!!! I got all the food together for the open house and then it was time for Julie to arrive. We got all her stuff set-up and then waited for folks to arrive. Out of the 17 who said they were coming, only 5 actually showed up! Another lady from my Bible Study class came too, bringing my total to 6. I was quite disappointed in the turnout. I sent out 39 invitations, and then also emailed all of my Bible Study class members, so I was really hoping for a great turnout!! A few people let me know that they or one of their kids were sick and so they couldn't come. But still, I was disappointed.

And on top of all this, I started getting hoarse and losing my voice! What a day! A big thanks to all those who did get to come to my open house!!!!

Father/Daughter Princess Party

Tonight Robert is the Prince taking his two princesses to the ball! There's a Princess Party being held that benefits the Children's Hospital and it's a father/daughter dance. Robert asked the girls if they would like to go and they both said YES!!!!! They were so excited getting ready! We picked out sparkly dresses, painted their fingernails, put shiny lip gloss on, fixed their hair, and then found some kind of tiaras for them to wear. They were so excited!! I can't wait to hear about their evening! Isn't Robert such a sweet daddy? I sure think so!!!

Basketball Video

This video is from last Saturday's game. You can see Rachel dribble around, shoot, get the rebound, and then shoot again and make the shot.

Valentine's Day Parties at School

Here are some pictures from the Valentine's Day parties at school. I ended up with lots more pictures from Rachel's class because I spent more time in there. Plus, Rachel's class was a little more calm than Katelyn's class! I guess it has something to do with 2nd graders vs. kindergartners!!

Here is Rachel's entire class

Rachel with her teacher

Emily, Rachel, Caleb, and Caleb

Emily & Rachel

Rachel & Zoe (Zoe was proud of all of her Valentine tatoos!)

Carolina & Rachel

Rachel & Hannah

Jesse & Rachel

Rachel & Catherine

Kaylee & Rachel

Rachel & Zoya

Rachel & Morgan

Haley & Katelyn

Katelyn with her Valentine bag and her food!

Happy Valentine's Day

Same Song, Second Verse

Well, it's been a rather sick week here at our house. Last Sunday Katelyn woke up sick with a fever. She didn't feel well Sunday or Monday. AND Robert was out of town Sunday - Wednesday for work! Luckily, it snowed and the girls were out of school so Katelyn had some extra time to recover before heading back to school on Thursday. All was well on Thursday. Then Friday morning Rachel woke up with a fever! She felt bad all yesterday and the first half of today. Rachel is not my napper. She hasn't taken a nap since she was like 3 years old!!! (That may be a little exaggeration, but you get the point - she is NOT a napper!). This morning while Robert was coaching Rachel's basketball team, I stayed home with Rachel. After she had been up for about an hour, she asked me to read to her in bed. Then she told me she just wanted to go to sleep! We napped for about an hour or so before she woke up. She would say she wanted to do something, like work on her homework, play a game, etc., but when she would sit up in bed, she would change her mind. She decided to lay down and listen to some stories on CD. Then she decided to just lay down and listen to some music. It wasn't long until she was asleep again! This time she slept for over 3 hours before I woke her up to check on her! So as of 3:00 this afternoon she had already napped for over 4 hours today!!! That's a lot for my girl who never naps!!! Anyway, she woke up and was able to eat a little lunch. Now she's working on her homework. She is flying through it! She is definitely feeling better - thank goodness!!!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY BECCA!!!

Better late than never! I want to wish my friend Becca a belated birthday! Her birthday was yesterday and I just never got the chance to get on the computer and wish her a happy day! Rachel woke up sick yesterday, so most of my time was spent taking care of her. Sorry I'm just now wishing you a happy birthday Becca! Hope it was a great one!!!

Need a T-Shirt?

My friend Gwen is selling t-shirts to help fund their adoption of siblings from Ethiopia! You can click on the item in the sidebar of my blog that says Help the Oatsvall Team to get a better look at the shirts. The shirts are long-sleeved t-shirts. Gwen is an amazing, Godly woman whom I am blessed to call a friend. In our days in Smyrna, Gwen & I walked 3-4 miles almost everyday pushing our strollers! We had such good conversations! That was back when I just had one little one and she just had two young boys. Now she also has 2 little girls that they've adopted from China.

Snow Day/Sick Day

Today started out as a rainy Monday. I dropped Rachel off at school and then Katelyn and I headed to the doctor's office. Katelyn has had a cough & congestion for like 11 days now, but she started running a fever yesterday and it was 104 at bedtime last night. So I decided that it was time to see the doctor. On our way to the doctor's office, the rain had huge snowflakes mixed in with the rain. Just a couple miles up the road the interstate started to really get slushy and the ground was getting white. While we were at the doctor's office, school was called off, so I made arrangements for Rachel. When we came out of the doctor's office the ground and pretty much everything else was covered!!! Below are some pictures looking out our front and back doors. Since Katelyn is sick and Rachel has been coughing quite a bit, we won't be playing in it today.



By the way, it appears Katelyn just has a sinus infection. The flu test was negative (which is good!), her lungs were clear, and her ears were fine, so it looks like all that congestion has just decided to settle in her sinuses. It's 10 days of antibiotics for Katelyn!