No Good Deed Shall Go Unpunished

Tonight I was in the kitchen making pancakes for dinner. H and K were fighting over a balloon, R was in her swing crying (as usual) and M was upstairs waking up from his nap. (Yes, I let him sleep a little late today because he missed his morning nap while we were out buying an elliptical. I am now paying for that mistake--the nap not the elliptical--because he is not sleeping and I now have two babies not wanting to go to sleep.)

I asked K to go see if M was awake (Yes, I already knew he was awake, but I needed to get K away from H). He ran upstairs and yells back, "M is awake!" Then he starts crying/screaming. I ask him what is wrong and he says, "I am bleeding everywhere!" I asked where he was bleeding and he said from his forehead. At this point he was downstairs and running to the kitchen. He had some blood and a huge knot on his forehead. I couldn't tell how deep it was, but all I could think was, "So, this is our first ER visit." After talking to my mom (who said no ER) and my dad (who said yes ER--so it doesn't scar so bad) we decided it wasn't THAT deep and he didn't need to go. Really, a lot of my concern was that this was a head wound and it wasn't bleeding profusely. I loaded up a bandaid with neosporin and gave K some motrin (I figured he probably had a good headache) and watched him to make sure there wasn't a concussion or anything.

Right before K went to bed he took his bandaid off (after I told him it needed to stay on) and said, "Mom, it's all better!" Uh, not really, bud!

Oh, I forgot to add how it happened (duh!).

I asked K what he was doing and he said he hit his head on the door frame while he was playing peek-a-boo with M.

Poor guy, was just trying to help me out by playing with M.

Week in Review

Or at least half-week in review.

Saturday I was doing the dishes and I remembered that M had left a cup of milk upstairs. I went to get the cup and as I was heading downstairs I saw this hanging out in the blinds of our window...

















Nice, huh? Being the grown-up that I am, I called my dad to come and save me. I rushed past the window (so the spider couldn't jump out at me when it saw me walk by, of course) and headed downstairs to wait. Well, when my dad got to my house the spider wasn't there anymore! Agh! My dad cleared away the web, sprayed the window, and tried to assure me that the spider went outside to get some dinner and wouldn't come back in because of the spray. I still check the window every time I go by it. I haven't seen it again.

Sunday was my birthday. I turned 33. Yeah, that's right...I'm not afraid to say how old I am. I thought H and K were going to pass out with excitement when they gave me their card. They were absolutely giddy. I opened it and there was a pirate captain saying, " For your birthday I told me crew to get you some pirate booty..." On the inside there are 3 pirates mooning you and the captain says, "Not that kind of booty!" If you know my kids, you know that booty is their favorite word lately. N said that in the store the kids were literally rolling on the ground laughing at all the booty cards. Anyway, N took good care of me all day. I didn't have to do anything all day. (If you look closely at my hand in this picture, you'll see where my kids get their affinity for flipping the bird.)

Monday, H finally went back to school (she only went on Tuesday the week before because she was sick). After picking her up, we went to the fire station that is right around the corner from our house. The kids enjoyed the tour, but were both too shy to do anything. They wouldn't even get in the fire truck. The firemen were so nice and gave the kids hats, frisbees, and water bottles full of a pencil, hackey sack, and bracelet). While we were on our tour the firemen were called out on a call. It was very exciting for the kids to see the trucks up close.We let the kids take their camera and H took pictures of everything. Here are some of her best (with the exception of the one she is in):











































After the fire station we went home for dinner and to watch a movie. As we were watching, K was doing acrobatics on N's gaming chair. K fell and came over to me, pulled his pants down and said, "Mom, I cracked my butt!" Never fear, it was uncracked the next morning.

And, just because I can...Here's a picture of M who is all ornery right now because he is cutting more teeth.

H's Party 'Do

For the Arizona Party last Saturday H told me she wanted to do her hair. She spent a good 30 minutes in the bathroom and came out with this lovely look.

Ah, K!

Today K was pretending to watch a movie. He was laughing a ton and telling me how funny this movie was. I asked him what movie he was watching and he said, "Horton and the Dudes." I think he meant "Horton Hears a Who," but when I asked him again what movie he was watching he said, "Horton and the Dudes." Then he said he wanted to watch all the Horton movies and next was "Horton and Scoovy Doo."

Sick Stinks!

And at our house that is a literal stink. It all started with M on the hike and has snowballed into everyone getting sick. K and I were up all night Tuesday throwing up, H went to school Wednesday but was in the nurse's office before school even started, and now N is at work not feeling so great. N's mom, who so graciously watched M and R for us on Monday, got it yesterday, as well. *EDIT* Just wanted to add that my mom came over last night after canceling her VTing appointment so she could help me out. She brought us 7-up, Gatorade, clementines and applesauce. After putting the kids to bed, she sent me to bed at 8:30 and said she'd get R to sleep and head home. Well, R didn't want to sleep (or even relax for that matter) and my mom was still at my house when N got home at 11:30. Here's hoping she doesn't get it, too!

So far R hasn't gotten it. She does, however, have bronchiolitis. We are doing albuterol breathing treatments every 4 hours.

(picture courtesy of H)

Earlier today R was in her swing and I came downstairs to start dinner. I looked at her and she just had this sad, pathetic look on her face. I did what any good mom would do and ran upstairs to get my camera. As soon as I took a picture (which really doesn't capture the look very well) she threw up. I have since fed her again and she was able to keep it down so I'm guessing (hoping) it was a fluke thing.

And...to top it all off, my daughter has cradle crap...in her eyebrows!

N and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Hike

I promised you more on the hike and here it is.

So, N and the kids made it to the top where K announces that he has to go potty. There were people everywhere so N told K he had to hold it until we got to the bathrooms at the bottom. Well, K tried really hard and made it a good portion of the way down. However it just got to be too much for him and he had to go. So, N took him off the trail behind a bush. K started to go potty and lost his balance. On his way down he managed to pee on N's shoe. When N showed his disgust it became a game and K was aiming for N's shoes.

We got back on the trail and after a few minutes N stopped again. M, who N was wearing in the backpack, had thrown up. ALL OVER N! I felt bad for both of them, but I really COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING! We figured M threw up because of the movement from the hiking. We got to the van and got the boys as cleaned up as we could and decided to go to N's parents' to get him a new shirt so we could continue with our errands. In the van M threw up again. Then, he threw up at N's parents' house, really more just dry heaving since there was nothing in his stomach at this point.

Poor guys!

(M is doing much better today--seems it was just a 24-hour bug)

One Busy Weekend

Thank goodness for holiday weekends, right? I feel like we crammed so much in to the weekend I was actually grateful for it to all be over. Here's how it all went down...


Friday my sister got married. Yay! Friday was also H's valentine party at school. We didn't want her to miss the party so N's parents graciously agreed to come to our house and stay with the three younger kiddos and then pick H up from school while N and I went to the sealing and luncheon. They (N's parents) then brought all the kids to their house so we could get ready for the reception. So we were at the reception visiting with everyone and making sure things went soothly. (One quick side story. I was in the kitchen helping with the refreshments and when I came out K was in the hall. He told me that he had gone potty, but he couldn't reach the soap or water. When I tried to help him he told me that the bathroom I wanted to go in was for girls and he is a boy. So, I had to find N so he could help K wash his hands. The best part about this story is that K went potty unprompted by his parents in a church building he has never really been in ALL BY HIMSELF!) The kids were all over the place (and having a great time, I might add). Once again, N's parents to the rescue. They took our kids back to their house and put them to bed for us! How great is that. N and I were then able to help clean everything up without having to worry about the kids getting in the way. We spent the night at N's parents and woke up the next morning to get ready for...

The "Happy Birthday Arizona!" party my mom was throwing. Last year my mom gave everyone an Arizona quarter and told us to hold on to it because in February she was having an Arizona party and the quarter would be our admission. Everyone in my family put their quarters in a safe spot and then forgot about them...until a couple of weeks ago when we all tore our houses apart trying to find them. (Okay, maybe that was just me). So, we played a matching game about Arizona (complete with a lesson about the 5 c's). The goody bags were all things about Arizona. There was a copper pencil, a copper trinket, a magnet, some stickers and a book about the capitol. After a long day there, we went home to get ready for...

Sunday. We went to church, made cookies and then went to N's parents' for his mom's birthday. We stayed there for a while and came home because we had a busy day planned the next day...

We started out having our Valentine's day breakfast of heart shaped pancakes (We weren't able to have it on Valentine's Day because we were at N's parents' house). N called the fire station that is about a mile or so away from our house to see if we could take a tour (nope, cuz it was a holiday). We then went and hiked Thunderbird Mountain. H has been wanting to go hiking and everytime we go to my sister's house she sees people hiking this particular mountain. We decided that the weather was perfect for a hike. So, I wore R in my sling and N wore M in the backpack and away we went. The kids an N got to the top. I stopped about 50 feet from the top because R was arching too much in the sling and I felt like she was going to fall out. It was also a steep climb and I wasn't exactly comfortable doing that with R on. H said she could see the whole world from the top of the mountain. Then we all hiked back down and N had an eventful hike down. Because of the hike down we ended back at N's parents' house (more on that in a post dedicated completely to that!). We then went shopping for a treadmill or an eliptical. We didn't buy either. Then we went home for dinner and a movie (we watched Madagascar 2). Finally it was bed time.

We had a fun weekend, but I am so glad to be back to the regular old routine days.

Pictures of R

Here she is seeming pretty content. We don't see this side of her so much. Unfortunately.

Yes, she is learning to smile. She isn't very consistent with it yet, but it is there.

Ahh...now this is the R I know so well. This is how most of our afternoons/early evenings are spent.

Here she is looking all cute. Almost makes me forget the picture above...Almost.

Got this one by accident. Guess she was tired of me taking her picture!

Valentines

Tomorrow H's class is having a Valentine's Day party. Today she and I made her valentines. We got the idea from Tiffin. I printed the hearts and cut them out (H isn't allowed to use scissors in our house) and she addressed them all. Then we both stuck the pencils through them. They turned out cute and H is excited to give them out tomorrow.

Is it Already the Middle of February?

Actually, I'm kinda thinking "Is it ONLY the middle of February?"

Here's our family after R's blessing

The month started on a wonderful note...R was blessed by her dad. He did such an awesome job and gave an absolutely beautiful blessing. We were lucky enough to have a ton of family there. After sacrament meeting we (all of my family) went back to our house for about an hour until we left to go to Buckeye for Emmalin's blessing. Her dad also gave a great blessing. Then it was lunch at the Clarks after their sacrament meeting was over.

The next day I had my 6 week check-up and was declared "normal"...whatever that means!

Saturday Kristi went through the temple for her endowment. It was so wonderful to be in the temple. Kristi took to it swimmingly. She and Mike are so happy together. They make a great couple. Tomorrow is the big day...can't wait.

I have been given a calling in our new ward. I'm teaching the 2nd Sunday in R.S. I'm really looking forward to this calling. I enjoy teaching. I just hope everyone else enjoys me teaching. I was so relieved to get this calling because I honestly thought they were going to call me to nursery and let me take M a few months early.

Earlier this week I helped out in H's kindergarten class. I became very proficient at using the copier, but I also got to help with small reading groups. On Tuesday I stayed and ate lunch with her. It was kind of funny because as we were walking into the cafeteria she pointed to one side of tables and told me I had to sit over there. I asked where she was sitting and she pointed to the other side of the cafeteria. I asked if I could sit by her and she said no because she was sitting by her friends. I was able to convince her to let me sit across the table from her. She's in kindergarten and already embarrassed by her mom!

This morning I went to the dentist because I've been having some pretty bad pain in my mouth since Monday. Turns out I have an impacted wisdom tooth which is surprising because when I was younger my then dentist told me my wisdom teeth were so far down they'd never come up. This new dentist told me (and showed me) that one of my wisdom teeth has already come in, one is impacted, one is just sitting there in my gums and one is completely missing. March 9th is the big day. And, as if that weren't enough, it's taken me 33 years but I have finally gotten a cavity. My perfect record is ruined.

Today I was sitting in the drive thru at the pharmacy and I started to wonder what they must think of me. In the last two months I have filled scripts for 800mg Ibuprofen, percocet and vicadin. I wish I could say the vicadin worked. Not only am I sleepy, nauseous and jittery, but it doesn't take the pain away. What's the point?

And finally, at the risk of jinxing us, I think K might be potty trained. He even appears to be night time trained as well. It is wonderful. Seriously, I can't even tell you how happy I am about this. I can hear the choirs of angels singing.