Missy's Moments

I am so thankful for my two little guys... (which they are not so little anymore) They are both so fun, so smart and so DIFFERENT... right down to the way they look. I found this video of them and they had just turned 4 and 5. Eric was starting Kindergarten and Sam preschool. They were playing UNO with Rick and I don't think I had ever seen this video before. It is an absolute PERFECT picture of the two of them. Take note that Sam never stops moving and Eric is just as mellow as can be. That is still true of them. Also notice the YELLOW KNEE HIGHS they are both wearing (not sure if you can see Eric's)- yep those yellow Mickey Mouse knee highs were the favorite ALL summer that year- Sam more so then Eric, I have TONS of pictures of Sam with shorts on and those silly knee highs! I sure love them. (the boys well and the knee highs too)

I was woken up at 4:14am by a anxiety ridden 10 year old over hockey try outs. I walked him to his bed, chatted a bit and we prayed. " Lord you tell us not to be anxious about anything and pray about everything" That wasn't me- that was Him and it's provided in a book that I am more than Thankful fo. This book provides peace, advice,hope,comfort,excitement,validation,it stretches me and challenges me, I desire to love and serve others more, and the best part it's got the more amazing ending of all. This book has saved my life and given me life.

I am thankful for the memories my boys will have of growing up and hanging out with Daddy, raking leaves or whatever other project happen to be going on outside our house walls. I knew exactly what pictures I wanted to use for day four. At our old home it was a yearly tradition to have a leaf raking day and all three boys would help Dad get the trailer filled and they it would get hauled off to the compost pile. The boys would have so much fun out there laughing and playing and probably much to Rick’s dismay only a little raking actually went on from anyone under age! Our new house only has a few baby trees that don’t really require raking. In fact I think the few leaves they have blew away. By the time they are big enough to produce a fall mess I’m hoping our boys will come visit and clean up mom and dad’s yard just like in the ‘old days’ Did you notice Princess Kayla was no where to be seen? Easy answer for that- 1. either there was shopping going on or 2. there are to many

This first picture is a perfect picture of the glimmer Sam gets when his smile is full of fun! (and maybe a bit of mischief ) Here we have Eric- his smile is always so genuine. He melts my heart. This picture was taken when Jack was about a week old- do you recognize that exhausted but completely joy filled smile of a new mom? I think we forget those first weeks consist of more than just exhaustion and feeding and diapers. This last picture was taken in 2006. A lot had been happening in our lives the months previous to this and it was really a treat to be able to spend some time together. I’m not a baker so I bought one of those gingerbread house kits. From the looks of things my kids have gotten my talents. There are just two many smiles to choose from! As you can see the smiles of my kiddos are my favorites. I could have kept going and posted tons of old favorite pictures and even new favorites! I am thankful for my children, their smiles, their laughter. I love it when we

October has just flown by! I can't believe all the fun happenings and I can't believe I have been basically sick through most of it. Hence why I no blog. (well at least that works for an good excuse this month) Today is Halloween- if I have never voiced my opinion about Halloween before let me tell you this is one of those 'there is no point other than to make parents crazy days'. Valentines Day also falls under this category. I have sucked it up once again in the name of watching the boys carve pumpkins (even though Eric almost barfs every year cleaning it out- oh the joy) and dressing up. I have declared this to be the last year of Halloween in the Eagen house. Last year I bribed encouraged the boys to go out to dinner and go bowling instead. Next year I will be well armed with a plan. Nuff said. In October: Eric played some great basketball games! We loved his coach and Eric really got in there and gave it his all despite the fact he was the smallest on his

Last Friday was really sad- seriously couldn't find five minutes to sum up my week.... not that it matters to you but it does to me and the blog is really about me right? (kind of kidding) So this morning after a very short nights sleep I woke to get ready for the day. After daily maintenance on me and the house, the daily lunch making chore I went through a lock down drill with my 11 year old son, slipped a cell phone into his pocket and said a prayer before I put him on the bus. Homeschooling really becomes more and more appealing to me everyday. Seriously what an "IN" satan gets with me when it comes to my children. Completely grateful that he's about a day late and a dollar short because as I got in the car to head to my Friday morning study I heard this song: Safe and Sound (Mercy Me) No more boarding up my windows So that I can lay low Nobody's home No more trying to run away from Tired of being afraid of What I can't control The hardest part I

  Do you remember that book? Oh how I loved that book- I loved Fudge and I’m quite certain that Sam may be Fudge in 4th grade form. Sam’s first year that he remembers anyway,  being separated from his brother. I don’t think either one of us was ready for that. In fact I don’t think it ever occurred to me that we would be spending the first weeks in September untangling emotional messes revolving around anything as small as binders and as big as friendships and not feeling liked. Sam has had a rocky rocky start to the school year. My little school supply junkie was green with envy when Eric was required to get a new binder for middle school. A locker with a combo and choices for lunch for Eric for sure put us closer to the line. Having to walk home from school alone and Eric interested in showering- well that did it. Things I believe have come to a head now and trust me it can only go up hill from here. We scored some new frames for his glasses b/c of a warranty issue. He bowled ove

  Middle school… middle school… middle school. I’m still not sure it has hit me completely. You are such a sweet young man. I guess I invision you almost in a protected bubble and hope and pray daily that you are protected from the things of this world (in particular the middle school world). I think for the most part you are. The way you look at life with your sweet spirit, you say hello to the kids that often other kids don’t say hello to, You are bothered when kids on the bus swear and you ask me to pray with you for others that are hurting, including Sam who on most days I know you pray just to find patience for him! You amaze me with how smart you are, the way you toss numbers around in your head and throw out answers that I need a calculator for  is just plain cool. I can’t even mention your spelling- it’s almost embarrassing how often I have to ask you to spell a word for me! Your ability to understand your faith in a real way and take to heart God’s lessons for you. You

Friday Sept 14th, 6:25am I pulled out of my garage this morning and glanced over to this... as I drove toward it this song played from my radio..... Powerful so powerful Your glory fills the skies Your mighty works displayed for all to see The beauty of your majesty Awakes my heart to see How marvelous how wonderful you are. Amazing just how marvelous He shows himself to be over and over again despite me. I don't often enough just stop to look at the sky. Even this morning as I glanced up and saw this beautiful sunrise I was pushing the gas pedal and trying to "hurry" as to not be late for our prayer time before our study started. UM hello Missy..... this is God- slow down- I'm here- you don't need to hurry I am not going anywhere . You know the funny thing is because of tables not in place and locating books and the room we were using being vacuumed by the time I sat down with my co-leader to pray a gal came in to the study early and eager- well you c

This week has been long and fast. Does that make sense? I love the first week of school and I AWAYS forget how exhausting it is. Both at home and at work. I have some great first day of school pictures and I am so impressed with how Eric has handled middle school. I can't wait to find time this weekend to post a bit more about that. I am not shocked by Sam's week. He has been a walking 10 year body of emotion. For all kinds of reasons but the biggest reason is that is who Sam is. Teaching him to not compare and react is going to be something that will be a day to day process in his teen years and really working on it the next 2 years before middle school is going to be crucial.... sigh . Did I mention it's exhausting too? (sorry needed to vent a bit about that one) I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm looking forward to sleeping past 5:30a tomorrow. I'm looking forward to sitting with my husband and not being in a hurry to get anywhere. Eric has

Summing it up in five- timer is set. Ready set go! What a week!! Finally got to meet the students day (borrowed name from sweet friend Liz) and I just love all the new faces and smiles and kids hiding behind their mom's and dad's. Always  amazing to me that in just 9 short months it will feel as if I've always known them and be so bittersweet as we move on. I was trying to remember meet the teacher day on the last day of school last spring and wished I would have made better mental notes about it... well since anything mental is challenging for me I took some time to write a few first impressions down :) This is also my last official week as a stay at home mom/Grandma. On a bright note I'm so excited for Kayla that she is able to manage her schedule that she will either have Jack with her as she does some PT nanny work or he'll still get to hang out here once in a while so she can work a Saturday. All her classes our online this semester so it will be a good adj

Today I was chasing Jack Jack as he tried for the 25th time to crawl into off limit space, answered a million questions from Sam, tried to convince Eric there is more to live then video games and truth be told even though I get a frazzled look to me at time I am loving all of it. Don't get me wrong I am excited to get back to work. Meeting 57 new little 3 year old faces. Getting the classroom ready. Seeing my amazing co-workers friends. Having a paycheck (I'm human) I love my job and I love teaching those sweet kiddos. All those things make August coming to a close bearable. I like being home. I like answering a million questions from Sam. I like talking Eric into trying new things. Jack is so cute when he crawls and I'll chase him all day long if need be. I'm never to excited about a new school year starting. I learned with Kayla and Jordan that when the little old lady in the grocery store tells you to "enjoy them because they grow fast" she i

 

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Another great blog I enjoy reading is Chalk Talk (on side bar). Great teaching resources and there is a great giveaway posted. If you have Facebook and Pinterest it's just that easy. If you don't have Pinterest seriously what are you waiting for? Go HERE and check out the Hot Dots Jr Giveaway!

One of the fun blogs I read reviews products here and there for Blogher.Com . I normally don't enter giveaways but this one I couldn't resist. Sam loves Lego's. It's one of the few things that will hold his attention and he's really good at building and creating. In fact the other day he talked about his latest wish for Christmas and it's JULY! Anyway go over and visit Suz and her 4 cuties to hear what they thought of the new Lego Read and Play sets. There's a pretty sweet giveaway that you can enter (even though I'm sure I'll win!). I know these sets would go great in my classroom. Anytime you engage the kiddos in a story and make it more tangible for them they just want more! So here is the link... ready set GO: The Life of Suz

Jack loves his Uncle Sam and Uncle Eric. Uncle Eric and Uncle Sam love Jack. No question about it. Jack loves to play with them and the feeling is quite mutual. It has been amazing to watch.

Blogger is free and I am not a professional blogger-nuff said. I will be moving my typepad blog over as I want it all in one spot. In the meanwhile hang on as you wait in suspense to see new things to come...

We’ve talked a lot in services recently about reaching out into our community, developing relationships with those around us. One of our speakers spoke of a neighbor that came into a relationship with Christ after years of a friendship. Friendship is powerful. When I was growing up we moved around a lot. My mom was a single mom and she often worked evenings. I don’t ever recall the word “playdate” because I think back then it was just safe to wander the neighborhood until you found someone to play with. I’m certain that is what I did. I was a bit of a social butterfly growing up. (I’m sure that’s hard to believe ) As much of a social butterfly as I was friendships were hard for me. I always seemed to struggle with feeling like I didn’t have much to offer. I would get jealous (I don’t think I knew it at the time) of friends who had mom and dad at home. I remember being curious of Dad’s and why some where there and some where not. Friends with siblings I deemed to be about the

I was chatting with a friend recently and I told her I missed her blog posts. She said out loud what I struggle with so much in writing and that is "I am not always sure about what to write because I need to protect those around me" Well I’m not sure I worry to much about others as much as I worry about protecting me. It’s hard for me to put “it” out there and yet if I blog I want it to be meaningful. To have purpose. I want to be real and sometimes real life is a bit messy. My mess is really not that much different than other messes. (Romans 3:23) There is a lot of things on my heart that really burden me. There is a lot of joy that God shows me that I want to jump up and down about and share. Problem is I don't make it a priority. Why wouldn't I want to share what matters most to me and that is the gentle teachings of a Savior that cares for me enough to teach me? One reason why.... what will people think? Especially those that already think I'm a bit "

Eric turned 11 last week…. 11 What freaks me out a little more is that along with 11 comes middle school. It’s not Eric I’m worried about- it’s all the other kids. I have a feeling this will be yet another lesson in trust. Seems like the older each of my children get the harder some of the lessons in trust are but I must say that God is faithful and I am always able to come to that peace that passes all understanding. So with that in mind I will choose to be excited for Eric and we’ll walk into middle school looking forward to the opportunities and not scared of the what if’s. Enough about me….. Eric is 11- did I mention that. He turned 11 on the 27th of April and this mama was out of town. I had an early childhood conference that I was at for a few days. Leaving was hard because Eric was very concerned about me not being here but he and Rick and Sam had a great day. He started out his day doing one of the things he does best (and baffles me with) and that is his Math M

4 reasons I love being a Grandma in honor of Jack’s 4 month birthday. 1. Pictures- I get to be that lady that says “oh oh oh do you want to see my grandson” I patiently wait for an answer and now I have an “accordion book” A Grandma’s dream- it folds up nice and neat and then WALA falls open to make people ohhhh and awwww til I say “I know they’re great huh!?” Must give a plug- Midwest LifeShots did them- yes they are WONderful! 2. I love my Jack time- I love his snuggles, his raspberries, his smile, his expressions (oh his expressions are endless). I love sitting in my recliner and dozing off while he naps in my arms. His cooing and jibber jabber memorizing me and well not a whole lot gets accomplished when Jack’s in the house. I’m ok with that. 3. I read to Jack. He likes his stories and loves pictures of baby faces and it’s all part of my masterplan to help him with his already advanced self 4. And last but not least I’m thinking that it’s ok that I haven’t

Quite possibly… about 2:30am Rick heard giggling and party music- this thing was was in full swing, lights, music everything but the jumping baby. Today during lunch- it started just random giggles. Do you see the on/off position- that’s were it’s been and that’s where it stays. What happens if we move it to on you ask- well it just has more lights and music and parties a little more often. Never a dull moment I tell ya! BTW- Rick will fix the short that I’m sure it has SOON or mr. hop n pop may go back to the used toy store that it came from!

I love my job. I have often said that I think those sweet kiddos teach me much more than I could ever teach them. I find myself sometimes thinking to myself "Do you hear what you are saying?" Today was yet another one of those days. Their was a child having a little to much fun with his buddy that he/she sits next too. It does happen. Shocking I know. Even more shocking is that I sometimes have to rearrange the seating to "help" them be better listeners. Well today after helping a friend I got "the look". Most the kids have turned four or are very close and well they getting less shy about letting Mrs. Eagen know when they are not so happy. I felt it was a good time to talk about what we learned from Jonah. Not sure why as we learned about Jonah last fall but I felt lead so I went with it. Amazing the recall they had- what fun it was to re-learn such a good lesson. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah didn't want to. Jonah decided to h

PICC line out- check Clothes on- check Room packed up- check cute pose in car seat leaving (added bonus wave)- check

Sunday was a pretty low-key day for little man- He ate Pedilyte, it stayed down, he ate Pedilyte mixed with soy formula (stopping milk based just to make sure), it stayed down, ate some more it stayed down. Around 5 he ate 2 1/2 ounces of formula….. we held our breath….. it stayed down. Around 9:00 he ate again- around 10 it all came back up His expression says it all- His PICC line was capped later this afternoon, It’s still in but not hooked up to anything. My guess is the docs will want to make sure he’s keeping enough down to maintain his weight and stay hydrated. Home tomorrow? We’d like nothing more, but only when the time is right. It’s progress

I got some extra snuggle time with Jack during the wee hours of the morning today. Kayla slept and slept and slept while I had Jack duty. I tell ya you really have to twist my arm “where are my heated blankets?!” Wonder how Kayla is going to come up with heated blankets on demand once they are home… Last night (Friday) they tried to give little man some formula to which his tummy said “no thank you” in a pukey kind of way. So back to Pedilyte. Pedilyte stayed put about an ounce at a time all day on Saturday. He did great at 30ml and at 45ml but when they moved him to 60ml (2oz) His tummy again “ummmm NO”. In fact Grandma caught that one in my short 1/2 visit tonight. Not sure where they go from there. When I left the nurse was going to call the doc. Speaking of nurses- WOW – the nurses Jack has had have been wonderful and kind. There has really only been one that seemed to know it all want to intervene when things didn’t look by the book. For example – we sleep with Jack i

Jack Jack Attack Our sweet friend Marquia has called Jack “Jack Jack Attack” since about the day Kayla and Travis knew he was going to be a Jack. Well attacked I’m sure poor Jack has felt this week but God willing over the weekend Jack will start to wow those around him by his stunning charm (I think he gets that from me) and his strong little body turning this thing around. I’m not one that believes in “jinxing” things so I will brag up the fact that he’s had a WHOLE OUNCE of Pedilyte in him now for 3 hours. I’m quite sure that is a record- the best part about that is even if it does end in a puke session the longer it’s in his tummy the more that can move through- even if it’s a tiny amount, it’s still more than nothing. Jack has even more monitors on him today as they have started a new medicine and if it has no adverse side affects (irregular heart beats- you know just that ) he’ll be on this medicine for 4-6 weeks to get that stubborn Pyloric Stenosis to heal. I guess thi

In case you missed the post about why Jack is had surgery click HERE first: Jack did great in surgery- it was a long, emotional morning but everyone was so sweet and helpful and so very understanding. Kayla and I in true to who we are cried one minute and then laughed the next. My favorite line in pre-op was this one “ and I was worried about a cold” … Kayla Poor girl! She has done a great job keeping it together and knowing Jack needs her right now. I am so proud of her for putting aside her fears of unknowns and just stepping into a role that no Mom wants to step into. This is how it’s gone down since Monday: Monday afternoon- got up to room out of surgery around 1:00- Jack did great and there was no reason to expect problems. 4:00 first feed 15ml (1/2 oz) 7:00 feed 15 ml (both successful) 10:00 feed 30 ml (1oz) 1:00am feed 45 ml (1 1/2 oz) both successful) 4:00 feed 60 ml (2oz) seemed to be going alright until I heard what I thought was someone throwing a bucket of wat