Overdosing my kids per the Dr's orders.

I was for sure and positive my kids just had viral colds. Titus ran a fever one evening earlier in the week. I gave him Motrin and he went straight to bed. Woke up declaring he felt just fine and never ran a fever again. 

Friday morning Josiah woke up with a high fever and sore throat. He missed his first full day of school, but he too felt fine by that evening. 

Come Saturday both boys had red eyes. 

So I was like okay these kids have pink eye. Their throats and ears started hurting really bad on Saturday and then I just knew it was strep. 

Sunday morning they continued to feel worse so we didn't take them to church, but instead to a brand new urgent care. 

They tested negative for strep, but they both had really bad ear infections. Titus had double ear infections. 

The dr said it wasn't pink eye, but infection from the ears seeping out of their eyes. Yuck, I know. 

I was tickled to death with this urgent care. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. So very nice. 

We went to CVS and got their medicine. 

Their bag contained 14 syringes. I remember thinking that was a lot of syringes, but I never really questioned the dosage amounts. My boys are bigger boys, therefore it would make sense if they took a higher dose of liquid medicine. 

Josiah was taking 70 Mls a day and Titus was taking 48 Mls a day. I gave it to them faithfully for 4 days. 

On the 4th day I got a phone call from CVS. They wanted to know if my boys were showing any unusual symptoms such as kidney or bowels. To my knowledge they hadn't. The only thing I noticed was Josiah was a walking zombie. Even his teacher asked me about it. 

They went on to let me know that the Dr they had seen on Sunday had written the incorrect dosage on their prescriptions. In fact they each should have only been taking 12 Mls a day. As I said earlier Josiah was taking 70 and Titus 48. That's quite a bit difference. I was feeling myself begin to panic. 

CVS said everything had been taken care of and the Dr had been notified of the error and blah blah blah. Sorry. I still wasn't feeling any better about the situation.  I almost feel like CVS was partial to blame as well. I mean, shouldn't that have been a red flag to them as they were filling the medication?  I told them I was calling my pediatrician right away. 

The kid's pediatrician was not happy. He told me to lessen the amount to what it needed to be and keep an eye on their bowels and kidney function. If they didn't show any symptoms presently then he didn't see a need to do any further testing. 

Maynard and I both agreed to not give them anymore medicine at all. Hopefully their ears will heal up on their own without any more medicine. I mean they already had their full dose in only 4 days instead of 10. 

It's been a week now and I've been getting these text messages on my phone. 

What?  More medicine?  Are they trying to kill my kids or what??

Apparently, they re-entered the correct dosages into they system and the system thought it was a refill. I am still not happy about all this confusion. 

I am very thankful that CVS found this error before my kids could have been hurt or made really sick from taking too much medicine. 

I have learned to always question the Dr and the dosage of medicines from now on. 

Everyone makes mistakes, even drs and pharmacies.

Welcome to the family Chester.

We promised our kids that we would get them another dog when it turned spring. They have missed Jack horribly, but I didn't want to get another dog with the weather being so cold outside. 

My friend Michelle called me and said that a stray dog had been dropped off at her house and wanted to know if I wanted it. My first response was, "No, thank you."  Then she said it looked like a black lab and sent me this picture. 

So then I wasn't as quick to say no because how cute is this dog?  It was a lab and a puppy. The 2 main things our kids had been asking for. Plus, Michelle reminded me that technically it was spring time. 

We went a few days later to look at the dog. 

If was love at first sight. 

We wrapped up that wet, dirty dog and brought him home with us. 

I'm not sure who was the dirtiest in this picture. Josiah or the dog. 

Josiah held on tight while maynard ran in the store to get a chain and collar.  We discussed dog names while in the car. Some of the names we debated on was Jasper, Flynn, Ryder, Brownie, (yes, the dog is black), Buddy (Amelia always chooses Buddy. She said I killed Buddy so she needed a new Buddy. Kill a kitten one time and you get a rap for life.) Of course some other crazy names I can't remember. I happened to spout out the name Chester and everyone agreed. He has brown and white on his chest and it just seemed fitting. Oh how I love to win at anything, even if it is naming a dog. Ha ha

They stayed out in the rain and played with him for several hours. (Possibly why they have ear infections right now)

Of course he was a stray so he had to have some special treatment to get him all feeling better. 

This probably felt as good to him as it would us at a day at the spa. Ha ha. I've never seen a dog enjoy a bath quite like Chester did. 

He also loved being brushed by Amelia. 

She is a bit apprehensive because Chester is still a puppy and so he jumps on her and has scratched her a few times. At first, if he barked or made a quick jump she would take off running. She got bit by a stray a couple years ago and so she's a bit squeamish of dogs if she doesn't know them. 

Chester is already feeling better and he eats like a horse. We've had him almost 2 weeks and he has grown so much. Hang with the Parker's very long and it don't long to gain weight around here. 

We are in the process of teaching him how to sit, fetch, come, and hopefully to stay in our own yard. We do keep him chained up for now, but have started letting him run awhile each day to exercise and play with the kids. We all have that one neighbor if ya know what I mean. I wish we had a fenced in yard  maybe one day.........

Less than 2 weeks of having Chester and he's proving to be a smart dog. I can get him to sit and give me his paw now. 

https://youtu.be/9E7li1uaGOA

Hopefully we can keep this dog alive and well for many years to come. 

"Mom! Is my name in God's special book?"

On March 02, 2015 Amelia was doing her Preschool work, through Abeka academy, when her teacher began to ask the students if their names were written in God's special book.  Some of the students began to raise their hands and tell their teacher that they knew their names were in that book. 

Amelia knew that she had to be saved in order for her name to be in that book. (The Lamb's Book of Life)

She paused her school and told me she wanted saved. I talked to her for a few minutes to make sure that she was serious. I could tell she was and she had tears in her eyes.

We went to my bedroom and kneeled down at my bench and we began to pray. (Yes, I stopped to get my phone first. I had to get this on camera!!)

 I was pretty impressed with her prayer. I say Kudos to not only her Abeka teachers, but also to all her teachers at church. My five year old knew how to pray and ask Jesus into her heart. 

My heart was melting. 

http://youtu.be/dH3Tvv86BUs

I listed the YouTube link above of some of her prayer. I didn't want her to know I was videoing her. 

After she got done praying I asked her if she felt like The Lord had saved her. Her reply was, "Yes!  I feel happy in my heart."

I asked her to raise her hands and praise Jesus for saving her. 

She was so bubbly and happy all day. 

She called her Daddy to tell him the good news. He was really excited for her. 

Titus?????  Not so much. Ha ha

His response was, "I pray and ask Jesus that stuff all the time and He won't do it!  I guess he will for Amelia though."  He scrunched up his nose and pouted. 

I'm going to have to work with Titus now. He is not happy about being the only one not saved in this family. Maybe he'll get serious now and actually get saved. 

Amelia has thoroughly enjoyed her salvation. I was in the back of the house when I heard her pray for her lunch. At then end of the prayer she thanked Jesus for saving her. It was so sweet!!

This morning when I woke her up I asked her if she was still saved. 

She grinned real big and said, "Yep!!  I didn't punch my brothers last night or this morning."  Ha ha

We are all excited that Amelia's name is now in God's special book. 

Is your name there????

Winter Storm Octavia

So as of February 15th, if you had asked me about our winter, I would have exclaimed the injustice of it all. We had only gotten enough snow to barely cover the ground the whole live long winter. I think maybe once we got 3" and school was closed. Spring kept getting closer and it looked like our chances of getting a big snow was slim to none. Then we woke up Sunday morning on February 15, 2015 to news everywhere declaring a winter storm headed our way. 

We were stinking super excited!!!

We had church at 2 o'clock that afternoon so everyone would be safely at home before it started snowing and plus the roads were a little icy from the night before. 

After church we went to the grocery store. Bad mistake, but we were for real out of toilet paper. 

I only needed a few things because we had groceries already at the house, but the lines were long and the shopping carts were scarce. I had several ladies waiting for mine while I unloaded my groceries in the van. I wanted to start the bidding, but decided these ladies may be armed and dangerous. 

We woke up to this Monday morning. 

It looked like my van was sinking. That's a lot of snow. It snowed and snowed and snowed. Maynard called and said his boss called all his Fed Ex trucks back in so Maynard was home by 11 which was nice. Then he didn't have to work at all on Tuesday because the interstates were shut down in places and their main trucks couldn't even get there to drop off what needed to be delivered. 

He still had to get Tara back and forth to work which was rough. We sure was thankful for his 4 wheel drive truck. 

The kids had a blast playing outside. I didn't set one foot out until Thursday evening and that was because our groceries were low. I mean what do you do all week when you are snowed in?  You cook, bake, and eat!!  We had some good meals that week for sure!!!

We had snow cream and "snow" cones. 

Lots of playtime outside for the kiddos!!

Daddy played with them and Tara did one day. 

Amelia was proud of her giant snowball. 

I wasn't much on getting outside and playing in it this year. Last year I almost broke my neck while sledding and I was a tad apprehensive this year so I opted out. 

Poor kid's sled didn't survive last winter so they used whatever they could find. They used tote lids, trash can lids, and their most favorite was a plastic kiddie pool. I kept meaning to get them a new sled and never did and now it was too late. 

School was canceled all week, but my kids still woke up between 7 and 7:30 every morning. They couldn't wait to get outside even though the temperatures kept dropping.

 Yep!!  That's pretty cold!!

Titus would have lived outside if I let him. I had to force him inside to warm up. 

8 days later, after I had only been out for an hour to the store, we had church on Sunday at 2 again. I was happy as anyone to get out of the house. After church I was the last one in the car because I did not want to go back home. I had been stuck in the house and it felt good to talk to grown ups once again. We went out to eat with friends and just took our time getting back home. 

The kids went back to school that Monday. Well, their school did, but the county has still been out for 2 weeks now.   There is still snow on the ground and I'm not sure if it's ever going to melt. The snow is so hard and crunchy that it's hazardous. I made it almost 2 weeks without falling and then I fell yesterday on the sidewalk. Titus was watching from the window and found it quite hilarious. 

I jut wanted to blog about our snow storm because it apparently hit some records of snow and temperatures. We ended up having almost exactly a foot of snow. I think the last biggest snowstorm was in 1994. This will definitely be a winter to remember and I'm glad to have it documented. 

Valentine's Day 2015

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!!!

We had a very busy few days. 

I was asked to help Titus' class at school to celebrate their Valentine party. Amelia and I got there around lunch time and brought Titus a Happy Meal from McDonalds because Josiah's class was having pizza. We all know that it's just easier to bring your child a Happy Meal than to listen to the injustice of it all!!

Then it was time to Party!!

First game was to have a contest in stacking the Conversation Sweethearts. That actually entertained them for awhile. 

They were cracking themselves up by reading the little sayings on the hearts. 

I didn't get a whole lot of good pictures because it's just hard to take time to take pictures when you are super busy entertaining children. 

Then we let them make heart shaped pillows. This was a tad bit more challenging because 13 kids and 13 needles and thread.............

We survived and the kids were super proud of their pillows. 

I was amazed at how some of the kids took to it so easily. 

After spending so much time sewing and concentrating we went to the gym to play another game with our heart candy. 

The object of this game was to fill your spoon with candy and then put the end of the spoon in your mouth. Walk to the other side of the gym and drop your hearts into your team's bowl. 

The boys took on the girls, but the girls beat them big time. 

 The gym floor was covered in candy hearts. 

After that game we went to the kitchen to decorate cupcakes. 

They loved decorating their own cupcakes. Their sweet teacher bought bright blue and pink icing. These kids were covered in icing. 

Time was running out so they went back to their classroom and passed out their valentines and treats. 

I had to include this in my blog because Titus was so excited about this valentine he got. He came up to me and grinning ear to ear. He said, "This card says Will you be my MAN?"  It struck me so funny. 

Amelia was happy to be included in Titus' class party. She worked really hard on her Valentines. This was her first year signing her own cards. It was kind of a big deal. 

Check out this heart hairdo I gave her for the party. 

I was also proud of my first Pintrest treats for their class party. 

 

Here is a picture from Josiah's class party his teacher shared. 

His classroom was decorated super cute!  He said he had a fun day as well. 

Saturday afternoon I made more Valentine treats for our Sunday school parties while Maynard cooked us a big breakfast. He also had bought me flowers and candy. He even washed all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen back up. What an amazing man!!

That afternoon my Mom came over and suprised my kids with bringing my nephew Cameron with her. She offered to watch the kids while Maynard and I went out for Valentine's dinner. We ordered them pizza and hightailed it out the door. 

We met up with 2 other couples and drove to Lexington. It was fun to hang around other adults for awhile. My friend Heather even offered to cut up our food if we needed her too. Ha ha. We were all used to having our kids with us. 

We ate dinner at Cheddars and then done some shopping. I hadn't bought Maynard anything yet and he lucked out at Kohls with a new shirt and sweater vest off of the clearance rack. 

We were getting calls that the roads back home were getting slick and we decided we better head back. 

We had to make a small detour though because of this:

Who wouldn't stop, right???

Got some festive donuts to bring back home to the kiddos. 

I had a blast with these ladies!!  They have took me in and loved me when I needed loved the most. 

I am also grateful for this man!

Besides the Lord, he's the best thing that has ever happened to me. 

Sunday we ended up only having one mid afternoon service because of the weather, but I decided to go ahead and have my Children's church class a party anway. 

They ate treats and played games and had a good time. I only got one picture and it's not a good one. I literally was hopping and moving around the whole time that I never had time to take pictures. 

I had a table decorated with lots of pink and treats and even failed to get a picture of that. This was their craft and game table. 

A tribute to Jack

April 2005-January 2015

Jack chocolate lab

We got Jack when he was 4 yrs old. We have a home video of when we first got him. Josiah was 3 1/2 and Titus was 18mths old. It was love at first sight with Josiah, but Titus was terrified of him in the beginning. 

http://youtu.be/5ph_gDj2UCk

Here's another video of Josiah playing with Jack just a few days after we got him. Josiah was playing with him and I noticed that Jack had chalk all over him. If you listen close enough to the video you can hear Josiah say, "That dog is bad. He needs to straighten up."

I asked him if he colored on his dog with chalk and he said, "Yep, because he's a Chalkolate dog."

http://youtu.be/l_jiwDUS_6U

The bond between them just continued to grow. 

When Titus was a baby and would walk around in the yard, Jack would follow him to protect him. Once Titus fell down and Jack tried to pick him up by nudging him with his nose. 

Also, the boys were never allowed to go back behind the house when they were smaller. They had to stay in the front yard where I could see them. If they did go to the back, Jack would come to the front door and start barking. He was such a tattle tale, but he was just protecting them. 

He was so gentle with the kids and put up with a lot of tough love. He was a horse to the kids more than he was a dog. 

Amelia was born almost a year later and Jack was responsible for another baby to watch and love. 

She became pretty bossy, but he learned to deal with it. 

He was just part of their outside play. I know they are gonna miss him awful this spring. 

Jack was all doctored up by Titus in this picture with toilet paper and duct tape. Nothing was wrong with Jack, but he was happy to be Titus' first aide patient. 

He loved going on walks with me. He recognized my tennis shoes. If he seen me wearing these shoes then he would head to the road and wag his tail happily. He actually made me feel safe when he walked with me. Sometimes dogs would come at us and he would run them off. 

There's only 2 things I can think of that he was afraid of. 

1) Fed Ex or Ups trucks terrified him. I have no idea why. He literally would growl and bark so loud that the drivers were terrified themselves to even get out of the truck. Maynard drove his Fed Ex truck home one evening and Jack did not appreciate that one bit!!!

2) Fireworks!!!!  Jack was terrified of fireworks. I guess you could say the 4th of July was not his favorite holiday. 

Mom was over one day and I guess the neighbors were letting of fireworks and Jack jumped in her lap. Even though he is a huge dog and definetly not a lap dog. It was hilarious. By the time I got their picture he had moved behind her. I guess he knew she was a Mamaw and Mamaw's are made to protect. 

He also hated taking baths. 

Here he is right after he got a bath. As soon as we turned him loose he ran straight to the weeds and tall grass and rolled and rolled. He finally came back and laid in the yard, but was all pouted up. You can tell by looking at him in this picture he was sulking. 

He loved it when it snowed. He couldn't wait for the kids to come out and play when it snowed. We also have videos of us sledding down the hill and he would run down after us. 

Here he is coming to tell on the kids for being in the neighbors tree house. 

Jack was also a hunter. We always found lots of dead critters in our yard. 

I'm guessing this leg used to belong to a deer. Jack must have thoroughly enjoyed his snack because he was licking his lips. 

Probably one of my most favorite memories of Jack was that he was the neighborhood theif. He brought home the bacon so to speak. 

He would bring home bags of dog food all the time. Sometimes half opened bags, sometimes brand new bags, little bags, or huge bags. That's not all though!  He even brought home bowls for us to pour the food in. It was hilarious. Well to us anyways. I'm sure the other dog owners didn't appreciate the disappearing dog food and bowls. 

He knew what time we ate supper. It never failed that when I opened the back door he would be sitting patiently waiting for leftovers. I caught myself today throwing out chicken bones. There was no Jack to eat chicken bones tonight. Josiah offered to throw scraps out Sunday and realized Jack was not there to eat scraps anymore and he started bawling. It was so sad. 

His favorite thing in the world to eat was BBQ rib bones from Sonny's. Of course he didn't get them often, but oh how he loved them. We brought leftovers home once. They were laying in the floor behind the driver's seat. When the kids opened the door to get out Jack grabbed the whole box and took off with them. We had a dinner catered by Sonny's last year and we brought tons of rib bones home for him to eat. He ate so many that he was miserable. For weeks I would fine rib bones laying in the yard and he wouldn't go near them. He was so full and miserable he could barely move. 

I know I'm rambling on, but y'all just don't understand how good a dog he was and how much my family loved him. This post doesn't even come close to telling y'all how good a dog he was. 

He loved us and protected us. He actually was our whole street's neighborhood watch dog. If someone pulled into their house and he didn't recognize them, then he raised cane until he knew the coast was clear. We always felt safe here because Jack would always let us know if someone was out there that wasn't supposed to be. 

Once Titus was riding his bike at the end of our road and driveway. We live on a deadend road. Anyway, a UPS truck was backing up out of a driveway and was coming awful close to Titus riding his bike. Jack went crazy. He ran from Titus to the front of the truck barking and then would run back to Titus to make sure he was ok then run back to the front. Me and Maynard both watched in awe at how Jack was trying to protect Titus. 

We will also never forget the time Jack protected Amelia from the stray dog in our yard. I will put the link here:

http://itsbeginningtolookalotlikechaos.blogspot.com/2013/08/dog-gone.html?m=0

He fought and fought that dog to get it away from the kids. Amelia ended up with 3 bites, but she was ok. I am thankful it wasn't any worse. 

I've racked my brain and that's really all I can think of to write about him for now. 

Maynard and the kids think Jack will be back any day. He has been known to wander around and had many neighborhood girlfriends. He's never stayed gone this long though. I noticed he was acting funny and he refused his food for 3 days. He only wanted water. We left to go out of town overnight and when we got back he was no where to be found. We have searched the woods and the neighborhood. No one has seen him. I read online that dogs know when they are dying and sometimes go off to hide in order not to hurt their loved ones. I don't know if that's true or not, but it makes me even sadder to know we didn't get to say our goodbyes or give him a last hug. Maybe it was easier on the kids this way though. I can't even imagine how traumatic it would be for them to have found him dead in our yard. So I guess it's better this way. 

If he does decide to come home y'all will be the first to know and then I'll save this post in my draft file for when he really does die. Lol. A bit of humor there, but my instincts tell me he's gone now. So I guess this is my closure I need to accept it. The kids want another dog.  But I believe we will wait until spring time so they can enjoy one better. 

Hope y'all enjoyed reading my tribute to Jack. Everyone deserves a good pet in their lifetime and he was definitely ours!!