Mischief -

Don't ask...

...and the diagnosis is...

My DH and kids were playing touch football when my oldest son came home to show me his finger. It looked really gross so of course I got a picture. The doctor said his left ring finger was dislocated which caused a sprain. Also a piece of bone fractured.

Here's the x-ray of the fracture and dislocation - look for the tiny bone fragment left behind.

Here's his finger after the doctor relocated it. Hopefully the bone will heal normally.----------NEVER A DULL MOMENT IN OUR FAMILY ---------

Trick or Treat!

As usual, we waited until the very last possible day to carve pumpkins. I like to carve them the week before Halloween, but the week got away from me.

The baby thinks she is going to get to carve pumpkins, when actually she is going down for a nap -

Look at these guys hard at work -

TA DA!! The finished product -

Boo's is the haunted house, G's is the scary face, B's is the cyclops, and S's is the happy one.

Now it is time to go Trick-or-Treating -

Boo is a Knight, G is a Ninja Warrior, B is a skeleton, S is a Jack-o-Lantern, and E is an M&M candy.

I should have dressed S as a pirate since he walked around all week with a limp (pretending that he had a peg leg) and one eye closed saying Argh whenever he talked. He is my only 3 year old I haven't had to beg to get into a costume on Halloween.

Just before we went out it was raining. Luckily the weather cleared up and stayed relatively nice out. We stayed out for about 2 hours.

After uploading all the pictures from Halloween, I realized that my teenager was conspicuously absent from all the festivities. He didn't carve pumpkins because he was busy playing Yu-gi-oh with his friend, and he didn't go trick-or-treating because he was the designated door man (passing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters).

BIRTHDAY NEWS!

Boo turned ELEVEN!!!
Here's her on her new bike -

and her friends at her sewing birthday party -

the girls made yarn octupus dolls (assisted by Grandma L) and sewed together pillowcases.

This moment...

one year old in her high chair eating cheerios

3 year old laying on the couch with a clothes hanger hanging from his big toe

5 year old at the table with a screw driver dismantling the Xbox (in his underwear)

9 year old watching the 15 year old play ninja wars on the computer

10 year old reading "Charlie Brown" on the trampoline in the back yard

Laundry piling up in the hallway

dishes piling up on the counter

myself trying to figure out how to be an effective parent

bad poetry, cute kids

Little B has learned so much,

He knows his ABC's and such.

He's been growing all the year through,

and now there isn't anything he can't do -

HAPPY PRESCHOOL GRADUATION LITTLE MAN!

Cast no more!

rough, awkward, heavy, stiff

helping bones heal

PINK

STINK

two weeks, too long

hurray, now the cast is gone!

See me?

See my nose,

my eyes, my throat?

runny, weepy, sore

my ears, ouchie ears,

doctor checks

now I take antibiotics

who's next?

The sickies -

Baby has another ear infection. Her last round of antibiotics concluded at the end of March. Three weeks later and WHAMO another ear infection. This is her third round of antibiotics in less than 40 days. What is it with my kids and ear infections?!

S is sick too - yucky nose and cough and throwing up. Not fun. Now he is on antibiotics as well.

Little B has the cough and runny nose - hopefully it won't get worse.

G is on antibiotics - he had the same cold and developed an ear infection as well. He also had a major asthma attack. It was in the middle of the night and even though it was scary (he was really struggling to breathe) I felt totally calm and in control. I took him straight to the bathroom and turned on the shower to get some steam and asked my husband to administer a priesthood blessing. Then we got out the nebulizer and started some albuterol. The power of the priesthood never ceases to amaze me. By morning, G had no asthmatic symptoms at all. Nor has he had the constant coughing or drippy nose that my other kids have had.

Boo has a cough and runny nose and stayed home from school on Monday.

A is starting in on a cough and runny nose. I'll probably be next.

I feel like I am living in a germ cess pool. I have company coming tomorrow. I am going to spend the day sanitizing my house!

- Spring Break -

This post is a bit late - Spring Break was last week. For journaling purposes and also so that I have proof when my kids tell me I "NEVER" take them anywhere, I am writing this post.
We planned on going to Classic Fun Center and were headed that way, until my husband called me to say that the freeway was closed because of a fire. So, instead, my friend and I drove the opposite direction and took our kids bowling! The kids had a great time thanks to the bumper lanes (which they didn't have when I was growing up). The bowling alley also had laser tag and an arcade. According to little B - laser tag was "A-W-E-Sssss-O-Mmmmmm-E!" I thought he would be scared with all the big kids in a dark but he loved it. Next time I think we'll skip the bowling and just buy a couple rounds of laser tag.

Also, during spring break, I - by myself - took all of the kids including the 3 year old and infant - to see "How To Train Your Dragon" in 3D. I didn't buy the kids any candy, popcorn, or drinks because it cost us $48 just for the tickets. I did have a Megaplex card someone gave me worth $20 which definitely helped. We all loved the movie and my kids keep quoting it all the time - "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile" is their favorite line.

My neighbor and I organized a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Unfortunately it snowed and snowed and snowed. So instead of being at the park, we opted for inside our ward house. The kids didn't care either way so I guess it was fine.
At the end of the week we listened to General Conference and went to my in-laws for a wonderful dinner. I relaxed and the kids played with their cousins. Then Easter came and we watched general conference from home and then from my parents house (I didn't hear much of that session) but relaxed and enjoyed not having to stare at my dirty house.

I didn't get pictures of anything that week but thought I would post a couple of Boo at the Salt Lake temple. She recently went with her activity days group.


Oh and here are some fun ones of the baby in her Easter dress - she is finally sitting up by herself and rolling around getting into everything. She has extremely good fine motor skills. She can find the tiniest things on the carpet and pick them up. This week I've pulled easter grass, a lucky charm, an M&M, and a fiber of carpet from her grasp. Pretty soon she'll be crawling and then walking and climbing and that will be the end of my sanity (which is pretty scarce as it is).

Here are the kids on Easter morning -

We are playing a new game the Easter bunny brought - Wits and Wagers Family edition And here's one of us in our new Suburban (2004 Chevy Sub) - S fell asleep the minute we pulled out of the driveway. The best part is - WE ALL FIT!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for so many things but I am not going to post about them. I have love-love-loved reading about stuff that everyone else is thankful for.

I am going to mention a few posts that I've meant to write about but haven't -

Post #1 - Boo had surgery. She was brave. She had a big hairy nevus (that's a mole) from the back of her hand removed. We paid lots of bucks for a plastic surgeon to do it hoping that she will have less scarring. She had 21 stitches all of which dissolve except one long one that the surgeon took out last week.

Post #2 - Little B turned 5. I made two cakes (one for family and one for friends). Dirt Bike cake and a fish bowl cake. Thanks K for helping me out with them. B had great fun and was especially excited about his hot wheels cars and track. Ever since his birthday he keeps telling me how he can do things now that he is 5. I think he has decided that his muscles are bigger too. Also, he got a medal at gymnastics for learning how to do a cartwheel. Go B!

Post #3 - My DH turned 40! We sent him on a scavenger hunt (which required me to figure out how to use the GPS). The clues led him to his presents which included a weekend getaway with me. (Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting).

He hasn't even done anything crazy like a mid-life crisis thing or anything! He teased about jumping out of an airplane (with a parachute of course), but I don't think he feels 40 so why go freaking out about it.

Did I mention that I dragged him to see New Moon on his birthday weekend getaway? I liked the movie much better than Twilight. It was action packed so I think DH liked it too. Baby E did NOT like the werewolves and started fussing everytime they started growling. Freaked her out.

The scariest thought occurred to me yesterday. I was driving the kids home from school. I was behind a boat. Not a real boat, just one of those old cars that are so long that you call it a boat. It was a Crown Victoria - I think - anyway, there were three teenagers in the front and one teenager in the back, then they pulled up to the school and in went three elementary age kids. No seatbelts! At the next light the teenagers have the windows rolled down

yes it is cold here, no I don't know why the windows were rolled down except so they could yell out the window and wave and generally make a spectacle of themselves

then the light turns green and they peel out and I'm thinking wow I wonder if their parents know they are driving so nuts, and then I realize that my oldest is 14 years old and in two years he is going to be driving and then I get really scared. How am I going to know if he is being a good driver when I'm not around? What if he does goofy showing off kinds of things or races his friends like I did in high school (don't tell him, oh and sorry mom).

Now I'm really really scared!

Now I'm really thankful that my son isn't old enough to drive.

This is what keeps me going . . .

My four year old "little B" had me smiling this morning --

Little B: "I want a short sleeved shirt!"

Me: "It's cold outside, let's find you a long sleeve shirt to keep you warm."

Little B: "I want everybody to see my muscles!"

He is a little obsessed with his muscles lately. Last week I found him flexing in front of the mirror with his shirt off!

I'm not sure what to blog about. I've reached a point where I'm just playing catch up with my blog/journal. Too much has happened and I don't have time to go on about it. Maybe a quick recap:

• Watched laundry pile up after washing machine died.
• Little B and S found a new favorite past time - riding their dump trucks down the slope in our backyard. Okay, now they have graduated to riding their dump trucks down our steep driveway and all the way across the street. Little B jumps out of his seconds before the truck hits the curb. FYI - I make them wear their helmets and try not to swallow my stomach during their kamikaze shenanigans. I know, I'm the cool mom.
• Hiked the Y with the kids. (It was soooo hard, I was sore for days afterwards, but I felt like I had accomplished something so it was worth it.) Notice that none of the pics have my oldest son in them. He bailed out a 1/4 of the way up the mountain - I have given up trying to get him to like hiking.

• Washed dishes by hand after our dishwasher died (bonding family time?!)

• Bought a used washing machine from our neighbor that works great!
• Labored on Labor Day canning peaches and salsa.


• Received anonymous gift of dishwasher (answer to my prayers - thank you to the generous person(s) who helped our family in this way. I plan to pay it forward in the future.)
• Had 6 of the 8 in our family checked for strep throat. Only Little B came out positive.
• Took my tearn teaching preschool.
• Instituted a new token system to regulate media time with kids!
• Boo turned 10. The kids all helped decorate the cake. Boo and I went shopping at Gateway. Her favorite place is Build-a-Bear.
  
• Went to the pet store for a preschool fieldtrip. Little B held a guinea pig and a ferret, pet a chinchilla, and fed a tortoise. He loved it!


• Had my thyroid checked again. I have to go back on medication :(
• Ran out of tokens to give the kids.
• Brandon Mull book signing - We had all of our Fablehaven books signed by the author.
• Car race - DH took G to the races.
• Our microwave died (I see a pattern developing).
• My DH and I are having a mid life crisis - one word . . . teenager!
• Received a new microwave from my mom and dad! Wow! Thanks mom.
• Reading all of the "Ranger's Apprentice" books I can get my hands on.
• Put the baby in the bike trailer and got some exercise yesterday. Gotta love endorphins.
• My torn abdominal muscle is healing. I'm going to try Yoga next week.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading my blurb.

School

School is in!

up at 7:00 am

packing lunches

carpool

washing clothes

homework

piano lessons

scouts/activity days

dinner

dishes

reading

bed

Novella -

WARNING - You are about to read a seriously long post -
There is a story behind this picture. Elyssa is one week old here. Her big brother G is holding her for the first time! I told the kids at the hospital that they would need to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer if they wanted to hold their baby sister. Well, G has a serious aversion to hand sanitizer and the only time he'll use soap is if he is home and can use perfume free bar soap in his bathroom. If he even smells hand sanitizer he begins gagging and often throws up. He throws up every time I put on the sunscreen or the bug spray too. Anyway, G finally decided to get his chance at holding his new sister and washed his hands just to do so. Don't think that G only washes his hands once a week. I actually make sure he washes several times a day, it's just that it is a big ordeal for him. BABY STEPS -
The kids just finished a session of swimming lessons. They are all so excited because they each passed their swimming levels.

If you know where this is, you should get a prize! My DH went on sort of an adventure to find this rock made of black basalt. It is covered in petroglyphs. He's been uncovering clues to its' whereabouts for a couple of months. Now he has found the elusive rock!

The 4th of July!

*Thanks to our family who showed up on the 4th of July to paint and work on electrical! Next up - CARPET!

*Here's Grandma L holding Elyssa. The baby got lots of hugs and kisses from Grandma's, Aunt's, and Uncle's that day.

*For the 4th we had a BBQ with our neighbors and my brother. We played Bocce ball and Croquet. Then went to see the fireworks display in Grantsville. We had a blast!

5th of July -

Here's our latest attempt at getting a picture of our whole family.

Here are the sweetest pictures of Elyssa that I took yesterday. Isn't she adorable. Oh how I love babies! I can still say that after she kept me up half the night.