Where did Summer and Fall go?

Wow, it's been crazy since I posted on here last. I think I will start by braking things down to each of our family members.
Jon has had a difficult 6 months or longer with his arthritis. He comes home from work and has to sleep and rest pretty much every day and weekends he has to do more of the same. It is hard to see him like that. It is getting to the point with the pain and fatigue that if things don't change soon he will probably have to cut back on his hours. William might be going to kindergarten next year (he misses the cut off date by just a little). I am going to need to possibly start working once William is in school. We've got some major decisions ahead of us soon.

We are going to have a fast for Jon on the first Sunday of January and we would love it if our family and friends could join us. What I would love to be able to do, is continue being a stay at home mom but I may not have much choice with Jon's health. Jon is hanging in their and he doesn't complain about how difficult it is for him.

On a happier note, my depression is a lot better than it has been in 13 years! So as difficult as things are with Jon's health and our finances I am better able to deal with things. The Lord has been and  always will continue to bless us even if it is just added strength to get through a day. I have felt his love and blessings so much in my life. I know Heavenly Father has blessed me so much and has shown me how strong I am with his help. I appreciate mental health so much because of the experiences I have had. The blessings are so much sweeter when we have been through the worst of things.

 This past summer ended up being crazy busy for me. I did craft shows almost every week during the summer. I also had some educational classes for my depression for 2 weeks in July. The craft shows I did were called Thursday's on 1st street. It is an outdoor show every Thursday during the summer with handmade items. I way over did it and was so burnt out by the end of summer! I am still burned out :) I had some of the hardest months I have had with my depression followed by a very busy fall. I did the Mayo Craft Show in November ( and I hardly made anything new for it). Oh and I also did another craft show right after we finished Thursday's on 1st. It was a good thing I did the Mayo craft show because that is how I bought our Christmas gifts this year. I also organized a Super Saturday for Relief Society in November. (Super Saturdays are just a day to get together and make craft projects together with the women in our church.) We had 4 different crafts. I came up with 3 and asked someone else come up with making some stuff out of chocolate. We made holiday blocks, I spy bags, Christmas cards and tags and Chocolate covered pretzels and buckeyes. I taught how to sew the I spy bags and I asked other people to teach the other classes. That was a huge undertaking but I had a blast teaching and helping the other ladies with their projects. I was released from my calling as a primary teacher and called to be the Relief Society Meeting Coordinator. That means I get to help plan and carry out our Relief Society meetings. I loved teaching the kids in primary and singing with them but it is nice not to have to prepare a lesson for every Sunday.

The last 2 weeks of November and the 1st week of December we had a nasty flu bug run through our entire family. I have had some of the worst asthma I have ever had and ended up with a respiratory infection . After one round of antibiotics, 2 rounds of prednisone, a couple of inhalers and lots of nebulizer treatments my asthma is still not under control and I had to go back to the doctor for the third time for this illness today. I had a chest x-ray and we are going to raise my dose of Asthmanex for a couple of weeks and I had my blood drawn. Hopefully soon I will be able to breath better without using the nebulizer every 4 hours.  I have also lost around 30 pounds in the last 3 months. I changed some of my meds and now I'm hardly trying and I have been losing about a pound or two a week. My old meds made me more hungry and I gained about 75 pounds on those medications.

Samuel is now a freshman in high school and goes to early morning seminary every school day. We have been getting up at 5 am every morning. It has been hard for me because I tend to be a night owl. Although since I changed my meds I am not as tired as I used to be. We carpool to seminary so I only have to drive them there 3 mornings a week. I still wake up with him to make sure he wakes up on time since he tends to sleep thru his alarm. He is loving High School. He also still loves to play Yu Gi Oh and he has a Yu Gi Oh club with other kids in our stake so that they can play and trade cards. Samuel & Joseph both earned money this summer by babysitting my kids and Andrea's kids (she has 4 kids and we do the craft shows together) while we would set up and then I would come home until evening and take care of all 9 of our kids. Then I would go for the evenings. Samuel also got bit by a dog when he was walking home from school and we had to take him to the ER to get rabies shots. Then he had to go to the doctor 2 more times for the rest of the shots.

Joseph is 7th grade and just turned 13 yesterday. He loves to play his flute. He even played at our ward Christmas Party. He also is still obsessed with Minecraft. He loves swords and his bows and arrows and is constantly enlisting his siblings to play hunger games with him outside. Around Halloween Joseph stocked up on weapons whenever he earned money since they had more than usual that time of year. Joseph is my dishwasher loader and unloader. He always wants to play Minecraft so he is constantly doing the dishes for me to be able to play. It is nice when I have something to bribe him with :)

Elizabeth is in 5th grade this year. I can't believe she will be in middle school next year. Time flies so quickly. She still loves to read. We trying to work with her on keeping up with her homework so she doesn't struggle with middle school when she gets there. She loves to pick out her clothes for the next day or even a weeks worth of clothing. Oh and I almost forgot she broke her arm back in September. Some kid at school sat on her arm and she had a hairline fracture. She had a cast for about 3 weeks. She is doing a lot better now.

Grace is in 2nd grade and is starting to love to read. She goes to ASA (the after school academy) so she can get more help with reading. She gets to take the bus home. We have missed having her home right after school (she doesn't get home until 5:45 pm on Monday thru Thursday). I don't like her being gone that long but it will only be for a few months and she can get the extra help she needs. She always climbs in the car and talks our ears off about anything and everything after school.

William is such a sweetheart. He plays by himself really well and just goes with the flow. He is constantly making us laugh by the funny things he says. When William got the flu he was laying around sleeping  off and on for basically three days straight and he had a fever and was throwing for 2 days then he got a nasty cough and his fever lasted for 5 days. It was so tough seeing him so sick. We took him to the doctor but it was just a nasty bug. He is all potty trained finely. My sister  Emily came to visit and help and we worked on potty training him the first week of school. He caught on very quickly and is even potty trained at night ( I guess that is the benefit of him being older when he was potty trained). YEAH now more diapers! After basically 14 years of diapers we are finally done. Woohoo! It is so nice to have my kids growing up more and being so self sufficient. It is also kind of scary. Aaah I have a high schooler.

I will hopefully post pictures soon but I am getting tired so that is all for now.