Rainbows for them, grey for me....

Yesterday was the second monthly Diabetes Art Club at CHAP (Children's Healing Art Project)

The boys had a blast of course!

Jumping with painted feet on a mattress...

Painting masterpieces...

Gluing feathers, beads, and who knows what else...

oh yeah, & painting themselves!

I love that the kids can create without any limits but at the same time, when my kids have no limits, they go WILD!! Having one kid emptying every bottle of glue into a big puddle on the floor, while another is climbing on the cardboard structure almost knocking it all down, and another taking all the collage materials and throwing them everywhere, really stressed me out. While their hair was turning rainbow colors, mine was turning grey! See, usually my husband comes with me to these things and helps to reign everyone in so I can socialize ;-) I was on my own this time and all I wanted to do was to talk to the other D families. I barely got a chance to introduce myself to the 2 families that I am mentoring through JDRF (this was our first meeting in person, we've only talked on the phone or email before this) plus there were a couple families I didn't know. I did get a few minutes to chat with Heidi from "A Work In Progress..." which was nice. Next month, I think I will make sure my husband comes so I can get in that great bonding time us Dmoms need! Hmmm, I guess that is why we do a coffee group without kids too! :-)

Good Fridays 3/25

Along with Roselady at Diapeepees I have been participating in Good Fridays....come play along with us. Name 3 things good things that happened this week, no D allowed. :-)

This week was Spring Break for us. I had all these glorious plans for spending time with my wonderful boys and cherishing our time away from school. But the best laid plans don't always come to reality.... I got sick :-( Well first the boys got sick, Jaden (8) had it last week, Bryce (6, T1) only got a little cough, and Drew (almost 3) ran a fever and still has a cough. Plus, the weather this week just sucked!!

So this week was a bit tougher to find my 3 good things since I spent a majority of the week on the couch, going through kleenex like crazy (and not being able to send the boys out to just run around) but here it goes....

1) LEGOS....while I am perpetually annoyed by how they end up EVERYWHERE and really hurt when you step on one, they kept my older two occupied for hours upon hours while I was being pathetic. Those boys are so creative...they even started making their own instruction sheets on how to build their creations. Love those guys!

2) Spent the weekend at my in-laws. We got to hold some baby chicks and see some wild goats roaming the forested hill on the other side of their fence.

My husband and I were able to get away for a little bit and visit friends of ours that just had a new baby girl. What a precious little thing! I can't believe they have a 16year old (she was our flower girl), 12yo, 10yo, and now a newborn!! Great family, so nice to spend time with them.

3) A friend of mine organized a fun Spring Break Camp where a couple moms took turns hosting all the kids and planning activities for them during the day. The boys made it to the first day but unfortunately we missed out on the rest of the week. Hoping that we will do it again over the summer, the kids seemed to really enjoy it. My older two boys also got to attend an afternoon camp at the Nature Park called "Wet & Slimy" They had a lot of fun learning about and hunting for frogs, tadpoles, lizards, newts, and snakes...they said they didn't find any (guess it was too cold) but they still had a blast getting to go into the "off-limits" areas of the park.

Good Fridays 3/18

Roselady at Diapeepees has been doing Good Fridays and I decided to go ahead and play along...

Here are the rules:

Name your top three highlights of the week (no diabetes talk allowed). Still confused, read about Good Fridays here.

1. My oldest son competed in his first swim meet. He swam the 25m breaststroke. He did great! We were so proud of him!

2. I made it to the gym a few times this week (until my kiddos got snotty noses and coughs) Found out that if I go right after I send Bryce on the school bus at noon, Drew gets the play area mostly to himself or with one or two other 2 year olds...fun! Plus, the gym itself isn't too busy.

3. At the end of every term of swim lessons, the kids get their report card as well as a coupon for a mini pizza and a coupon for a free Dairy Queen kid's cone. I have tons of these coupons laying around because ice cream at 10am or right before lunch doesn't seem ok to me. Plus I am one of those that ice cream just doesn't seem right when it is cold and raining sideways. Anyways... Yesterday was Bryce's last swim lesson of winter term and of course he got his coupons. He asked me so nicely if we could get his DQ cone, he even got an extra coupon for his brother. My instinct was to say no because we had to go home and eat lunch so he could catch the school bus. But he had done such a great job this term swimming. He really showed LOTS of improvement. So I said sure... We headed to Dairy Queen and I picked up three cones. One for my great swimmer, one for his little bro who watches each lesson, and one for his older brother who was home sick on our couch. The boys loved their lunch of ice cream....a well deserved treat for all my sweeties.

So what great things have happened to YOU this week?

charmed....

What a great way to support JDRF and raise awareness for Type 1....

I got my charm this weekend...

comes with a live check for $20 to send to JDRF and a place to write in your name as the supporter.

Looking forward to showing this off and educating all those that ask what it means :-)

Go to Brighton Collectibles to get one of your own (and for your loved ones too)...they don't sell them online so you need to look for an actual retail location (if you don't have one close, I may be able to purchase it and ship it out...???)

Good Fridays 3/11

Roselady at Diapeepees has been doing Good Fridays and I decided to go ahead and play along...

Here are the rules:

Name your top three highlights of the week (no diabetes talk allowed). Still confused, read about Good Fridays here.

1. Last night was the 2nd grade music program at school. 100 or so 7 and 8 year olds singing is pretty cute. Super proud of my oldest son for being the announcer for the night...he did great!

2. Last weekend we took home a dog to foster for a few days. She was so good with the boys. She loved to sit on their laps and snuggle in bed with them. Boy she was so cute! However, she didn't like my husband or any other strangers, and she would growl at them. After peeing on my couch and trying to attack my hubs, we sent her back early. I am sure we will find our perfect dog, she was pretty close.

3. Nespresso coffee...mmmmm! So creamy and strong.

new insurance...

At the start of this month, our new insurance kicked in. Today, I went to pick up our test strips and insulin. I was a little nervous that we would have problems with the new insurance covering the amount of strips we currently get, like I had in the past. I was ready for a fight, ready to make calls, write letters, etc., to insure we get the 450 strips a month that we NEED. Boy was I surprised with I returned to the pharmacy counter to find it all went through. Wow! Awesome.

What wasn't so awesome is that the copays for this new insurance are much more (UGH!)...

But, at least we have insurance and even more, we have access to these life saving necessities. There are many people, many children who aren't so lucky. Children in third world countries that don't have access to insulin, syringes, meters, etc. Without insulin, a person with diabetes will die within one week. One of the amazing Dmom bloggers has partnered up with some equally amazing businesses to help support Life for a Child, an organization that tries to meet these immediate needs for less fortunate children with type 1 diabetes. Definitely a worthwhile cause, and something I hope you look into. This week, the Sugar Bolus is straight from The Candy Hearts Collection and benefitting Life for a Child. Head over to The Princess and the Pump to enter for your chance to win.

Good Friday

So Roselady at Diapeepees has been doing Good Fridays and I decided to go ahead and play along...

Here are the rules:

Name your top three highlights of the week (no diabetes talk allowed). Still confused, read about Good Fridays here.

1. I renewed my membership at the gym. The sales manager I worked with and said would credit my time away was no longer there. I was worried this would be a problem but turns out it made getting credited even easier...think they wanted to fix anything this guy may have done without problems. Woohoo, workouts, here I come!

2. Bryce's swim instructor this term is the BEST instructor at the pool. Finally seeing improvements! It is amazing how the instructor's style really makes such a difference.

3. We finally sold the baby dresser/hutch! Now our nursery is officially an office and we have a couple hundred dollars to go spend (yeah right, more like to pay bills with!)

So what good things happened to you this week??