March @ the Ricks Home

Yay! John finished building the playhouse bed!

Now I need to paint it and decorate it all cutesy and fun!! Ignore the mess, please.

John and I had a great time putting together all these fun snacks for a surprise Star Wars marathon day. The kids thought it was AWESOME!

The week leading up to St. Patrick's Day we had a sneaky little leprechaun come visit our house each night doing all sorts of shenanigans. He rearranged furniture, hung clean underwear in the living room, and drew silly things on pictures of our faces!

The neat thing was, the leprechaun dropped gold nuggets where ever he had been that night. Gavin and Jordan had enjoyed collecting those each morning.

As a school project Gavin and Jordan created leprechaun traps the day before St. Patrick's Day to try to catch that silly prankster!
They did a great job really thinking things through and coming up with clever ideas.
Gavin left a trail of gold and a pretty girl leprechaun to attract our mischievous visitor to his trap.

Jordan demonstrated to me how the trap snaps shut as the leprechaun climbs down the string into the box. 

Jordan was determined to catch this rascally leprechaun. Just look at that serious face!

I planned some fun things for school all week with the theme of St. Patrick's Day, leprechauns, and rainbows.
I used an idea from pinterest and added food coloring to glue. We then learned about mixing colors to get a different color.

We "tasted the rainbow" after we separated and counted the different colored Skittles. They guessed which color would be most and least in a personal package then we graphed what the actual count was of each color.

Gavin and Jordan played Rainbow Math and rolled dice, found the sum, and colored in the answer to fill in the rainbow.

We watched the video on YouTube from They Might Be Giants about Roy G. Biv to learn the order of the colors in the rainbow. It's a really cute song and video.

Then Gavin and Jordan made a Roy G. Biv of their own.

St. Patrick's Day morning we had a fun breakfast with cloud pancakes and a fruit rainbow.

The cats are getting big. They sleep on the stairs all the time. You have to watch out for them because they will NOT move out of the way for you. I think they are trying to kill me sometimes. Haha. Here they are laying exactly where the sun shines in from the window. I call this spot Pride Rock.

We planned a small family adventure and went hiking through the new trails close to our house. Some of the young men in our ward worked on clearing these trails and building the benches and stuff as their Eagle Project.

 We went hiking not long after a small tornado went through our area. Look at how huge the tree is that Gavin and Jordan are sitting on!

Smaller trees were all twisted and splintered.

After the hike we stopped at the pond to feed the one and only duck. The little kids named him Henry.

Hello, Henry.

Ducks like Henry, the ones with the red faces, give me the heebie jeebies. When I was in kindergarten our class went on a field trip to the fire department followed by a picnic lunch at the park. I remember having fun feeding the ducks when some red faced ducks came up behind me and bit my hand trying to get the bread. I screamed and ran but they chased me and kept trying to bite me! Very scary for a tiny 5 year old!! I'm still nervous around these guys!

John and I try to take advantage of  his rotating work schedule so if he is off work on a Wednesday morning we plan to go to the temple. It happened to work out that we were able to go 5 times this month! Three times on a Wednesday, once with the youth baptismal trip, and again with a group of friends to do sealing proxies. Usually on Wednesday mornings at the temple we are asked to be the witness couple. I think it's because we are the youngest ones there on a Wednesday morning, everyone else there is probably retired. Haha. No matter the reason, I really enjoy it. As we were walking to the car one day, a man pulled up in his car and told us he enjoyed watching us as the witness couple. He said he could tell there's a lot of love there! What an awesome compliment!! Spending the 4 hours during the ride there and back with John is so wonderful. We are able to just talk and enjoy each other with no distractions. I love being able to go to the temple so often with my eternal companion!

John has had many doctors appointments recently. Something that his doctor told him was that studies have shown eating meat has been connected to getting cancer. So he suggested to John to have one or two vegetarian meals a week. John also needs to lower his cholesterol. Then with more research I discovered some of the other health problems John has can be caused by eating processed food. So we've decided to start eating more real foods and very little processed food. It was interesting to learn that those who have had cancer need twice as many servings of fruit and vegetables a day. We are also going to eat better portion sizes and start exercising. It's time to face the fact that we aren't getting any younger! I want us both to be healthy and strong for our kids as they get older.

A couple of years ago I had great results using the Wii fit. Using that program I also discovered I really like yoga. I kept up with my work out routine until I started homeschooling. Having the kids home all day threw off my schedule. I was used to putting kids on the bus then exercising for an hour before starting my day. I've started using the Wii fit again and I started jogging. Well, sort of, I've been so frustrated because not too long ago I could jog the neighborhood without even thinking about it. Now it's killing me!! I have to walk some or fall over dead! The important thing is I'm exercising. Love this quote...

I found this great site called 100 Days of Real Food. She has lots of recipes and even an menu plan with grocery lists! We've really enjoyed trying new recipes and eating real food tastes SO much better than processed stuff. I've started making homemade wheat bread and granola cereal with no processed sugars!!

We've been having dinner outside almost every week. It's been so fun gathering around the fire together as a family.

This photo of Jordan makes me laugh. She's putting on a brave face right now.

She was freaking out just a second before because of the fire. 

If you have dinner outside, having s'mores for dessert is mandatory!

Then we played one of our new favorite games Disney's Hedbanz. It's a fun game where you ask "yes" or "no" questions to figure out which character or object from your favorite Disney movies is on your hedbandz.

John, Natalee, and I went to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games movie!! Earlier that day Jordan said, "Wasp!" I thought, "tracker jacker!" Aryn said, "mentor." I thought, "Haymitch!"
The movie was good but I feel like they left out so many important details that could easily be added. Of course I didn't expect every detail to be in the movie but there were a few important things they really should have included!

Aryn and Natalee were playing around on our new laptop and found a feature that created what they call "round heads." I about died laughing watching this video! These girls are hilarious. They always have us laughing.
Click here to watch the video on YouTube > Roundheads or click on the player below.

March was a really good month! So glad life is feeling like it's getting back to normal and full of fun!

February @ the Ricks Home

We are trying our best to get back on track with life this month. I'm always saying, "It's what day?"

Interestingly, I've been very protective and clingy with John. I guess it's everything we just went through with the cancer and scary surgery recovery, but I just don't want to let him out of my sight! I'm so happy that he is doing so well! He says it feels like he never even had surgery! Extremely thankful!

Just when we thought life could get back to normal, Jordan and Aryn got sick. We had lots of sleepless nights helping Jordan fight off her 102 fever. Overlapping Tylenol and Motrin keeps her temperature at about 100 but if she goes longer than 3 hours without medicine her temperature shoots back up! I finally purchased a new digital thermometer that reads your temperature in your ear. Jordan can do it by herself so she checks it about every 15 minutes. She then reads the numbers off to me and tells me if it has a digital smiley or frowny face in the corner. Jordan said, "Oww! Why does tissue put carpet burn on my nose!!" We went and bought her some tissue with lotion. That helped with the "carpet burn." Poor, sick little girl!

I'm continuously learning to always listen to the promptings of the Spirit. Too many times I second guess or "back talk," as I refer to it. Here's an example:
We were completely out of toilet paper which never happens because we buy bulk at Sam's club. I guess with all that went on last month things were overlooked. I also needed to go to the bank and deposit a check. So I grabbed my purse and headed to the bank on my way to the store. I pulled up to the teller window and realized my wallet is not in my purse. UGH! I drove back home to get my wallet. I searched all over the house. I couldn't remember the last time I used my wallet, so I couldn't remember where I might have left it. I got the feeling to check the piano. I walked over, scanned the top of the piano, and saw no sign of the wallet. By this time my small bladder is reminding me we still had no toilet paper! "Check the piano." The thought came again. "Fine." I thought, as I walked by there again and moved some song books and still, nothing. Now I'm frantically searching the house and getting desperate for TP. So I called in the big guns. I offered a reward to the child that found my wallet. Lunch at McDonald's! That got them moving. Again, the thought came to mind. "Check the piano." At this point I actually "back talked" the Spirit, out loud even. "I've already checked the piano. It's not there!" A few minutes later Gavin ran up with my wallet in hand. "Yay! Where did you find it?" "I prayed about it. Then I thought I needed to look around the piano and it was sticking out from behind it!!" OOPS! Yeah, my bad. "Gavin, you are so awesome for listening to the Spirit the first time!! You totally deserve McDonald's!"

I was able to get caught up with many of the craft project tutorial assignments I had designing for UStamp with Dawn and Friends. If you're interested, you can check out all my projects at the little blue room but these were my favorites!

We bought another couch! One that even folds out into a bed for guests! We really needed more seating for our family, too. The problem was that the only one that matched our other couches was a few towns away! We don't have a truck but my mom offered to drive her's. So we made a day of it. Mom, John, Jordan, and I went on a little road trip. We had a great time and enjoyed spending the day together.

These graphics were too cute and too perfect to pass up! I decided to put together this valentine for John.

I feel so blessed to be loved by such a wonderful man! We really are best friends and always have the BEST times together. We would do the "I love you more." "No, I love you more." thing and one day I thought how nice it was to be able to lose that fight sometimes. To actually have someone that loves me more, or at least thinks he does. 

We tried to plan a fun couples get together with a few friends for Valentine's Day but with the way things worked out only one couple could make it. We had a great time though! They brought the old board game Compatibility. John and I were exactly compatible on a few topics! You know, the important topics like intimacy and romance. In the end, we tied with the other couple as most compatible couple!

Since I have family history in Louisiana, we always celebrate Mardi Gras! We usually eat jambalaya, hush puppies, and of course, beignets or Mardi Gras cakes, as I've called them since I was a kid. My mother passed down the recipe my great-grandmother had received from a chef  that lived in Louisiana a long time ago. The recipe is well over 100 years old and amazing! Gavin and Jordan helped roll up the hush puppies and daddy fried them in the deep fryer. Something that we added to our tradition these last couple of years is watching the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog. Funny. There it is playing on the TV in the background.

This year we drizzled honey on top of our powdered sugar covered Mardi Gras cakes. Mmmmm! 

I'm super excited to get started on our newest project! John is building a playhouse bed for Jordan. We've decided that Aryn and Natalee need a room separate from Jordan. We bought this house knowing we could close in the loft with a couple of walls if needed. Now we LOVE the openness of the loft playroom and would really rather not close it in. I convinced John that Jordan could use the playroom as her bedroom if she had a playhouse bed. Then her bed would be camouflaged! I found the plans on Ana's site. She is totally amazing and so are ALL of her plans. And she shares them for FREE! So awesome! I have to say, the Kreg Jig tool you use when building Ana's plans is an awesome tool and worth buying!

Have I mentioned how awesome my husband is? Well, he is!! I can't wait to get it all finished, painted, and decorated super cute!!

January @ the Ricks Home

Yes, it is November. There's so much I want to document for our family for 2012, so my new goal is to blog the entire year of 2012 before January 2013. I won't remember all the little details but with the photos I did take I can remember some of the big things that have been going on @ the Ricks Home.
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Every new year John and I choose a word to be the theme for the year to come. This year we chose the word positive. We want to make positive changes in ourselves and as a family, have a more positive attitude, use more positive parenting, just anything and everything positive!!

Jordan lost her first tooth! She pulled it out all by herself! I was actually in the bed still when she came running to show me her little tooth in her hand. Which is great because I do not pull teeth. Creeps me out.
Here's some videos of Jordan explaining how she pulled her teeth.

She lost another tooth like a week later!

We randomly had a "who can fit the most grapes in your mouth" contest at breakfast one morning. This photo cracks me up!! I love how Gavin's two front teeth are showing. Hahaha!

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that we get to enjoy two meals as family time almost everyday. Our breakfasts aren't hurried and we can truly talk and enjoy that time together. The best part is John gets to join us for breakfast a lot of the time because of his rotating work schedule. It gives us even more time for random, silly memories to be made.

One nice day John decided to take off Jordan's training wheels. She was super excited! Look at that mischievous face! Here comes trouble!

She was a quick learner. Daddy helped just a little, then she was off on her own!

John went in for a colonoscopy since he just recently turned 40 and his father passed away from colon cancer when he was 50. Get checked early, it's better safe than sorry! 

The doctor did find a few polys and one really large one that the doctor sent to the lab to check for cancer. I'm nervous, John's not worried about it. The doctor said they would contact us in a few weeks with the results. Instead, a couple of days later, the office called asking John to come in as soon as possible. John couldn't go in because of his work schedule. I'm thinking it is something serious with a call like that. Again, John tells me everything is going to be fine. We went to the temple the day before we got the results. I was a basket case and praying constantly. I was practically in tears all day, and I didn't even know the results yet. I ran into Sister Barbara Mayfield at the temple and she gave me a hug. She didn't know what was going on in my mind and heart that day but that hug really meant so much. 

The next day was my mom's birthday so we took her out to lunch before heading over to John's appointment with the doctor. Mom waited in the lobby as John and I went back to see the doctor. The doctor then tell us the news. The sweet doctor was trying so hard to help us be calm that we had to flat ask, "So he has cancer?" John has cancer. Yes. We don't know what stage or details, but yes, he does have cancer. Wow! The doctor left the room. John and I were sitting across from each other in the small room. We just stared at each other for a minute then John smiles at me and with a little chuckle says, "I've got cancer!" "Yeah ya do." I replied and we both burst out laughing. I guess it was shock or something but this quote did come to mind.

That's right, crying gives me a headache! What a test of our positive theme for the year! 

After that we went to talk with a nurse who helped us set up a ton of appointments with surgeons and hospitals and CT scans. It was a whirl wind. We were very grateful for the sweet nurse that talked us through everything that needed to be done.

Once we were done and walking out of the office we paused to sit on the bench out front. Things were starting to really sink in. John was beginning to freak out a little bit. He called his mom and said it out loud. "I have cancer." That's when tears started to fill my eyes and that started my mom crying. We quickly sucked it up though and got strong. John was supposed to go into work but felt too emotional and just not mentally able to focus at work. He called his boss and his awesome coworkers took care of his shift and told him not to worry and to take care himself. We promised mom a trip to Barnes & Noble for her birthday so we decided it would be nice to still go and try to distract ourselves a little bit. It really felt like I was in a fog though. We found out around 2 PM and it was 7 PM like a minute later! We were so thankful for friends Kevin and Kelly that came over that night to give John a blessing along with my dad. My dad asked me to offer a prayer before the blessing. I started bawling! I don't remember much of what I said but I remember being thankful. Thankful that we found the cancer, thankful for technology and doctors to treat the cancer, thankful for the Priesthood!

I had not given any thought to dinner so our friends had their son bring over dinner too. Our home teacher even came by to check if we needed anything and to drop off yummy cookies!! It's such a blessing to be surrounded by wonderful friends and church family!

After an emotional couples prayer one night John curled up in my arms scared and worried about what the future would bring. I did my best to reassure him. It was going to be fine no matter the outcome. We would just handle it, whatever it was. We've handled hard things before in our life and we're tough. Even if he did pass away we are sealed together. I told him, "I just keep thinking, if Heavenly Father can fix my flat tire, He can fix my husband!" We laughed and that helped lift his spirits. (The flat tire story is in the December 2011 blog post) 

One morning we stayed in bed talking until 11 AM. We kept trying to process the reality of cancer really growing inside his body. How weird is that!

A few days later I asked him how he was feeling about everything. He told me he could feel the prayers of our and others working and could feel comfort and peace. 

The article Recognizing God's Hand in Our Daily Blessings from the January 2012 Ensign really spoke to me. There is a story toward the end of the article about a woman going through cancer surgery and treatments. She said she couldn't handle 16 more treatments! Her mother asked, "Can you go today?" "Yes." "Well, that's all you have to do today." We need to take things one day at a time. 

Emotions were up and down. Tears would come unexpectedly. I wouldn't even think it was on my mind, but honestly, it was always right there. Every time I ate my stomach was in knots. Even when I ate chocolate, so you know something's up!

One weekend I decided to pretend John didn't even have cancer. I tried distracting myself with crafts and other fun things to do. It was nice to sort of have a mental break from it all.

Following came lots of tests and different appointments about what needed to be done at this point and lots and lots of waiting for results. We got some good news here and there. The CT scan showed that the cancer had not spread and the lymph nodes seemed to be normal size. The cells of the cancer still resemble the original cells meaning the cancer is not super aggressive. 

John had surgery to remove the remaining cancer and some of the area around the cancer. They also wanted to look at the lymph nodes with ultrasound to get a closer look. The results will determine what stage cancer and what happens next. We prayed together before he went back. 

He is such an awesome guy. He prayed for those who have been praying for him. So sweet that he would remember them in his prayers. 

Surgery went well! The lymph nodes look good! John went home that night and the doctor said he'd call with more results by the end of the week.

The day after surgery John was very sick and not recovering like he should. It was Wednesday and New Beginnings for the Young Women was being held at church that night. I was supposed to share a thought and hand out the candles I had decorated for the girls. I also wanted to be there for Aryn and Natalee to watch the girls do the skit and Aryn sing her solo. My dad helped out and came to our house to sit with John while the rest of us were at church. I was so distracted thinking about John! When it was my turn to talk I barely got my thought across. I felt so absent minded! Then while we were having refreshments a friend asked how John was doing. I couldn't hold it in any longer. I started crying and told her he wasn't recovering like he should be. I had not cried that hard since the night we found out he had cancer!

When I got home he was still not doing well. I called his doctor and he told us to head to the hospital. He wanted to do an abdomen xray and put John on an IV for fluids since he had been vomiting all day. On our way to the hospital we dropped  by the Jones' and Kevin came out to the van and gave John a blessing. So thankful for good friends with the Priesthood!

John's surgery area looked good but the doctor wanted to keep him in the hospital to continue fluids and antibiotics. John REALLY liked the pain meds they gave him! 

The doctor wanted to keep John at the hospital again the next day. He still couldn't have food. Only IV and ice chips and he still couldn't keep that down. He just has so much pain and nausea from the pressure from his abdomen. The doctor wants to check his white blood count, then go from there. John said I should go home for a while but there was no way I was leaving him. I spent the day holding and rubbing his hand while he slept. Every once in a while he'd rub my hand too. I could tell he's glad I stayed with him. 

The pathology results came back and there's no residual cancer!! John is still not feeling better. He is still in enough pain that he asks for pain meds as soon as it wears off. He continues to throw up even with anti-nausea medicine. He had another xray and more blood work. The problem is that air entered his abdomen during the surgery so John has lots of pressure inside his body cavity pushing on his organs causing the pain and nausea. He started vomiting as soon as the doctor tried pressing on his abdomen. John will be staying at the hospital another day and I get to sit by his side and hold his hand all day again. :) We've been so blessed with all the help from friends and family taking care of the kids and me! I've had visitors and John has had visitors. So thankful for everyone and everything others have done for us!

The air build up is frustrating. I hate seeing John in so much pain. He just lays in the bed with his eyes closed all day and night. 

The nurses said walking should help but just standing a few seconds makes John vomit again. I told him, "Don't be mad at me when I make you walk around in a little while. I love you and want you to feel better." Not opening his eyes or moving, he responded with a pouty lip. Awww. Break my heart.

I did get John to walk around some but he started vomiting and hurting again. With the meds he's too dizzy to walk. 

My mom and dad bought the Hunger Games books for me to read while I was sitting with John. I would read and hold John's hand. He didn't really talk for days. Reading was a great distraction. There was a line in the last book on page 12 that jumped out at me. "I just can't wait for this whole thing to be over." "I know, but you have to go through it to get to the end." So true.

At night I would sleep in a fold out chair bed thing with my head pointed at John's feet so I could hold his hand all night, too. 

John is starting to feel better! He was actually awake and responsive for the first time in four days!! I talked his ear off for well over an hour! (He says longer than that!) He just watched me and smiled as I went on and on and on, barely stopping to take a breath now and then. A friend laughed when I said I have missed John. "I've been holding your hand for days and I miss you!" Ok, it does sound silly. I did though. I missed him! It was so hard watching him be so sick knowing all I could do was hold his hand or rub his back as he threw up. I couldn't help but think of chemo and if this is what it would be like if he had to have chemotherapy. I was SO relieved when the doctor told us that John's cancer is stage one and there was no need for chemo! I was relieved for us but my heart hurt for a friend who's husband was starting chemo soon. Having a friend to talk to during all of the cancer stuff was such a tender mercy from the Lord. We found out weeks apart that our husbands had cancer. We've been able to chat and vent about everything with someone who is dealing with the same things at the same time. It just goes to show Heavenly Father knows who we are and what we need and who to put in our life at the right time. We are so grateful that her husband is doing awesome today!!

Finally, on the 30th of January we went home! John had a little more recovering to do but he is healing nicely! In a few weeks he should feel like himself again! He has a few more appointments and tests but the cancer is gone! That is so AMAZING...it's gone! It looks like we caught it just before it crossed into the layer that would have spread the cancer to the lymph nodes. Even the doctor who preformed the colonoscopy and found the cancer said we could chalk it up to Divine intervention that the cancer was found when it was. Months later things would have been so much worse! 

My mom brought the kids home and it was SO nice to be together as a family again! I missed all my babies and this adorable toothless grin!!

Whew! What a way to start off the new year!!