It’s been a while since I have actively participated in Tackle It Tuesday, but I think I figure that I have too many tackles each day and week to list just one LOL! Plus they always seem to be the same which ends up being boring for my lovely readers.

This week though we tackled the apple tree. Well, not the tree exactly, the apples on the tree. You see, we have a grandaddy of a big old apple tree out in one of the fields and it produces pretty well each year. Because the weather has been a little cooler this year, the apples weren’t ready until last week (some still aren’t ready), so I decided that Sunday was the day to pick the apples. There were quite a few and most of them were huge! So exciting!!!!!

So out we all went (babies too) with the apple picker and a small bowl. It was apparent right away that we’d need a far bigger container for the apples, so we had to send Son1 in to get one of our big 36 gallon garbage bags. This worked very well (we ended up having to double it up though because the apples were too heavy for just one) as long as we could keep the babies from getting into it . . . “BALL!!!” - thud (you get the idea).

I truly wish that I had thought to take some pictures There were so many apples my sink was overflowing. We “processed” them all that night - peeling, coring and slicing every single apple. I ended up freezing 3 gallon size bags of sliced apples and making 7 quarts of applesauce that night. It was a little ambitious and I was getting a bit burned out by the time the last quart of applesauce was finished, but it was SOOOOO worth it!!!!

Overall, the resulting amount of uses from these apples won’t last long, but the memories will. The boys all joined me in the kitchen for the “processing” and got very involved in helping this year!!!! In the past they would just watch me for a little bit and then go merrily along their way anxiously awaiting the prize at the end of the day (apple crisp and/or warm, fresh homemade applesauce). This year Son1 went straight for the “Apple-Peeler-Slicer-Corer” thingy (which I am sad to say has seen it’s last apple season and I will have to figure out how to replace it) as I began cleaning the apples and getting out the knife, regular peeler and cutting board and began preparing huge bowls of lemony salt water to put the slices into.

As we began, one by one each of the other older boys came in to see what they could do to help. Donald Trump WannaBe (Son2) came in and was given the lovely job of picking up and throwing away all the scraps as we went along - a job he was thrilled to peices to have and he was very serious about it. Then in came Mr. Instructor (Son3) asking what he could do (and ready to tell us all how it should be done), he ended up with the job of doling out the apples . . . give Big Brother the medium round ones and give mom all the huge and/or irregular ones. Even The Rock (Son4) came in to “help” and was given a little task to keep him happy.

There was lots of joking and talking and even a little competition here and there, but it was fun. I look forward to moments like that, memorable but completely spontaneous. They did get the ultimate reward - in addition to the great memory they made that night they (of course) got their coveted Apple Crisp. And tired as I was in the middle of making applesauce still I couldn’t help but smile as I heard the “Thank You mom”s and the “Oh this is so good”. Things really do taste sweeter when you have worked for them!

I mentioned on Friday that I was out of town for a Funeral and thought today would be a perfect day to tell you a little bit about my cousin Lisa. She lived her entire life knowing that each day that came could be her last. She didn’t have a sudden illness, cancer or many of the other challenges that the other women we have met through blogging have. She was born with an extremely rare disease and was not expected to live to adulthood, let alone to age 35.

As children we were together often. I would go and spend an entire day with her roaming about the pediatric unit that she often called home. I vividly remember her wanting to go down to the playroom and I’d have her hop onto her IV stand and I’d wheel her down the various ramps and hallways that led there. We’d play in her room, my mom would do her hair all fancy in big bows. The funny thing is that this was “normal” for us. We didn’t realize that not all children had cousins that spent so much time in the hospital or that her life was constantly on the edge. It was just Lisa and my parents made sure I spent time with her.

Things were pretty scary for a while when we were about 9 (she’s only 6 months older than me) and the doctors did not hold much hope for her. I knew this from tidbits of adult conversations that I picked up on although I do not think any of the adults thought I understood what they were talking about. This was life with Lisa.

She pulled through though, she always did. Through the years there were good times and bad times and though she always had zillions of pills to take each day she tried to live out her life as much like any other kid as she could. There came a point where even though she still required a lot of healthcare, she seemed to be healthy for a longer period of time. This continued through our 20’s. Sadly as we entered adulthood our paths drifted apart as I lived a few hours away and began my family while she was going to school and pursuing various other interests.

All seemed relatively ok until the last few years. She had been struggling on and off and her oxygen levels were difficult to maintain. Ever susceptible to any illness she caught a very nasty bug not long before my twins were born. She had not been married long, had new healthcare and lived in a new area and the doctors had to do a crash course on her disease to figure out why her body was responding the way it was. Although she recovered from that illness it seemed to take a deep and taxing toll on her body and a steady stream of hospital stays, illnesses and operations. Until the final illness which resulted in complete physical shut down.

Her death although not a shock was a little surprising to me. Even though I had been told all my life how sick she was, she always got better. Kind of leading to a false sense of invincibility. I don’t believe that she ever took life for granted though! She lived each day trying to find the truth and asking tons of questions. She was at peace with her faith and always wanted to know more as well as making sure that everyone else knew the truth. She simply lived to do the right thing.

In her death she leaves behind her husband of 3 years, parents and three brothers. He loved her and cared for her beautifully and dutifully until the very end regardless of how difficult things were! In her passing is reunited with her baby, Israel, and I cannot imagine the happiness she now has! She is, possibly for the first time in her life, pain free, healthy and truly happy.

Don’t ask me how (cuz I don’t have a clue!) but the twinnies crashed my computer yesterday afternoon! I mean completely wiped out the hard drive - GONE . . . EVERYTHING!!!!

Believe it or not I was totally fine (well, a little annoyed) until I realized that it wiped out all of the photos that we have of the kids!!! I have a few that I had burned onto cd (thank Goodness), and a couple that are in various locations online (including this blog - again, thank Goodness!).

Sure, I realized that I now have countless hours to spend reinstalling programs and rebuilding designs for www.SweetnSimpleDesign.com, but honestly that didn’t bother me. The moment that I realized that all of the photos were gone . . . that’s when I cried! Thankfully I had backed up 2006 last November, but I haven’t done anything since. The twins first birthday . . . gone, Son2’s parties . . . gone, Son2&Son4’s Family Party . . . gone ~ anything since the beginning of the year is gone.

I have recovered a bit now, but it’s a strange sense of sadness about the photos. I was truly surprised that it didn’t bother me to have to redo all of my designs and reinstall all of my programs and graphics, but it doesn’t ~ it just feels like part of life! I am simply praying that between all of my family and friends and the various places I have photos of them online I will have a decent amount for 2007 ~ especially the twinnies first birthday!!!!

Memories are so important to me ~ it is a visual part of each child’s life and legacy. And it has always been a goal for me not to have the younger ones to feel left out by having less pictures. I had stopped uploading the photos to be developed (though I am now thinking I will monthly) since I have only scrapbooked twice in the last 2 years. Having all of the extra pictures sitting around is really not an option in our teeny house. I will be making sure that I have them burned onto cd now though!

Well, that about sums up what I’m doing for the rest of the week! If I’m not around much you’ll know why.

Hey everybody I hope you had an excellent weekend!!!!! What do you think of our new look? I really needed to brighten things up a bit around here and I hope you like it!

I’m over at Twin Journey today - I have been feeling nostalgic about their first bath and the first time they were able to co-bed at the NICU! So, I’d love to welcome you to hop on over there and read this great story and share in the joy of our twins! Oh, and there’s some great pictures too!

I’ve also been over at A Mom’s Faith today writing about Anxiousness!

Happy Monday!

Today I am feeling a bit reminiscent! My dear husband is turning 40 in a few days and as I think back over our years together it is an adventure. We are very basic & simple people - one of those couples that are actually much alike, both laid back and fairly quiet. Thankfully we tend to compliment each other - but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been bumps in the road. The strange thing is that all of our bumps aren’t marital or relational, they have been circumstancial, financial or physical. Let me explain . . . .

Other than a bout with Asthma as a child I really never had any physical illness or problems outside of the norm growing up. My eyesight was bad, but that was life. About 18 mos after we got married I began to have problems seeing out of my right eye - come to find out I had a detatched retina at the ripe old age of 22! I would never have imagined such a thing would happen to me in a million years. That ended up in my first surgery ever to repair my eye and help prevent it from happening to the other one. Little did I know at the time but this was the beginning of a long list of health issues and surgeries for both of us. Oh, and a week after my eye surgery I found out I was pregnant with our first child!!!! But I won’t get into it all today - LOL!

The one thing that stands out to me the most - because it was truly very scary for me is the time many years ago that Dear Hubby was having the health problems - we aren’t talking about aches and pains or anything like that either. Trying to keep this very simple and detail free - keeping it clean for the audience heehee - we ended up going through about a 6 month process of wondering what was wrong to cause him to bleed. They checked him for hemorroids for a few months bofore finally sending him in to see a GI doctor. This doctor did some of the same “in-office” procedures that the other doctor had done and finally decided after a bit more testing that he needed to have a colonoscopy.

He was only 32 years old - we had been married for 6 years and had 3 very young sons! I don’t think I even knew what a colonoscopy was yet. But we proceeded forth . . . he followed the procedure to clean himself out (SO fun) and we showed up for the procedure. When the doctor came out to give me all of the details he said that he was quite surprised to have found a 1 inch polyp in his colon. He said that it was off to be tested to make sure it wasn’t cancerous but not to worry since ones that large in someone so young are almost always something they call a “juvenile” polyp - or one that has been growing slowly over many years.

Well, about a week later we got a phone call from the GI doctor telling us that it was actually a pre-cancerous polyp and that he was very surprised by this finding. Because of that Dear Hubby would need to have another colonoscopy one year later. This was truly a blow to us emotionally. That may sound funny, after all we hadn’t known it was a crisis until AFTER the coast was clear, but we needed to process it nonetheless and it was tough.

Since then he has remained clear, but still has to go in for a colonoscopy once every 3 years. We remain to get a bit anxious as one approaches and can only pray and trust God who knows our situation and how desperately our 6 young men need their father’s influence (not to mention my sanity!).

I will wrap it up now by saying how very thankful I am for my wonderful husband and the gift I was given in him! He is a wonderul, respectable, honorable, hard working man and I would be more than thrilled if our sons follow his example and are anything like him in his ethics! He is a Blessing and I am happy to spend the rest of my life with this man!