So it has been awhile since I last blogged, partly due to just being too exhausted to type at the end of the night. We are back into the swing of things that include soccer season for the 3 older kids, cubscouts for the older boys, and homeschooling is in full force. So in the past 2 months we have had a lot going on in the Carr household. My brother, Andrew, came to visit me for 3 weeks in August. Well, actually, he came out here to try to buy a house and visiting me was second on his agenda...haha! Either way, the kids and I still enjoyed our time with him. It was great to take him to some of our favorite spots here in the springs. The kids probably annoyed him with wanting to wrestle all the time! It was cute to see it! Andrew is due to move out here in November to go to college in Denver so it will be nice to have him live so close.
Anyhow, as of recently, my mother in law now lives with us. It is a long story, a sad story, but nonetheless, she is now living with us. We love her very much and the kids find it pretty cool that their grandma lives with them. Now the timing of her moving here has worked out perfect in a time of need. A week and a half ago, Sept 10th, I took Judah in to the doctor because his throat was swollen. I expected some antibiotics and go on our way. However, the doctors found that he had an abscess of an infection near his tonsils that needed to be removed---surgically. Wow, that was an immediate scare and stress added to my shoulders. He was sent to the hospital and had surgery that night (Friday) and wasn't released from the hospital until Tuesday night. It was such a sad thing to see. After the surgery, Judah was in so much pain that his waking hours were spent screaming until he was given pain medication. Poor little boy had to take morphine a few times even. Even I couldn't calm him down, which was a first for me and very sad. So back home, mom stayed with the kids and friends were supportive and helped by bringing over meals for them. I stayed at the hospital with my sweet sick baby. I slept on a couch type bed that was smaller than my body, and I'm not that big either. It just so happened that my birthday came while I was still in the hospital with Judah. I had a friend bring over the kids and mom to visit me that day and they were all so sweet. The kids made me so many sweet cards! They also brought me some flowers and cheesecake! It was Josiah's idea to get the cheesecake because he knows I like that so much more than a regular cake. I have such sweet, thoughtful kids! Anyhow, Judah is doing much better now and back to his old self and playing and smiling! I sure missed his cute smile when he was sick.
Now that we are back into homeschooling, I've been wanting to write up a section on here describing why I homeschool and how I homeschool. I want to include our curriculum and field trips in that note. I will get around to that another night. Tonight is not that night.
Oh and I also ran another marathon recently. I ran American Discovery Marathon on Labor Day, only 15 days after running Pikes Peak Marathon. That was a bad, bad idea. I did not allow my body enough time to recover from such a treacherous race that my body hurt so much in this race. I literally walked about the last 6 miles and it even took me about 2 hours to complete that last 6 miles. Normally I can finish 6 miles in under 50 min but not in the pain I was in. I literally was thinking that labor surely was not as painful as what my body was going through that day. I hurt everywhere, no one place specifically. I hated walking and was even embarrassed to walk, yet I was very determined not to quit, even when walking was painful as well. I learned another lesson. I learned that I cannot expect to run a marathon in such a short time after running down a mountain. I am positive it is due to the impact of running down Pikes Peak that left my body without energy and in a lot of pain for that second marathon. I plan to run Pikes Peak again (as long as we still live here), thus I won't run this Discovery Trail marathon again as I need a longer time to recover. I am ok with that because, to be honest, I wasn't impressed with this marathon. I was rather very bored running the last half of it as it was boring scenery. Now, I may be crazy thinking this.....BUT....there is another trail marathon on Oct 9th, a little less than 3 weeks away that I would love to run if my body feels well rested and ready to tackle another 26.2 miles of racing. Hmm....I'll have to let you know!
I'll just post random pictures to update in the next post.
Cut the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out all the good stuff on the inside like this picture above.
Stuff all the cut up vanilla beans (a good handful) and the stuff you scooped out and put into the fun bottle and pour vodka over it. Sit on the counter and shake it daily for the first 2 weeks or so. Then shake it once a week. You can use it in about a month but best to wait 2 months. 
This picture above is after it has been sitting about 2 months. Notice how nice and dark that vanilla extract is?!
Puree in your blender until smooth. (may need to add some water)
Put into some containers and freeze! Here we have carrots, mixed veggies, corn, blueberries, and mixed fruit :)
Cut into sizes you want your croutons and mix with olive oil, garlic, basil, Parmesan (at least that is what I like). Layer them on a cookie sheet and put into oven at 300-3:50 degrees until golden brown. Let them cool.
Cut into sizes you want your croutons and mix with olive oil, garlic, basil, Parmesan (at least that is what I like). Layer them on a cookie sheet and put into oven at 300-3:50 degrees until golden brown. Let them cool.
Then put on your salad and enjoy!
