Happy B-day Dad!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday
to Dad/Papa! We love you!


(saw this on someone else's blog and thought this is a great idea...since lately my cards are always late to people.)

E's Nose

I totally forgot to tell about E's nose in the last post. On Saturday morning (before M left on his trip) we went to the park and then we were going to go to lunch downtown. Well we made it to the park and then home after that. :-) There is a part of the toy that has a ladder inside that you climb up to a "third level" that has some slides down from it and a bridge to another slide. Well E likes to climb up there but never goes down the slides. She usually hollers if she gets stuck. Well next thing we know she is climbing back down the ladder and falls. Not sure if she just let go or slipped. But she landed on her face. We thought for sure she had broken her nose, so called the nurse on call and she said if it was broken there isn't anything they could do at the ER. Just have the dr check it in a few days. So we waited until Monday morning and got in to see the Dr. She said everything looks good. It just looked very swollen but didn't look crooked inside or broken. Guess there isn't anything they can do until the swelling goes down anyways if it is broken. She said one sign of a broken nose is snoring at night or not breathing thru the nose. Which E hasn't not had either one of those. So a good sign. The swelling has gone down some and now it is just a yellowish color mainly. There is some purple too. I have taken a few pictures. The first one (top of paragraph) is Day 1 (the day it happened). The next is Day 2 (peach colored shirt) and the next is today, Day 5. I will probably do a scrapbook page about it. :-)

We are Alive

Ok we are here. Just busy. We had a fun time with my parents and sister here. The kids loved the surprise! I will post some pictures later from that time. Plus my sister got some cool pictures that I will post the link to here later too. I am going to use some of them on a layout. Yep I am actually getting some scrapping done these last few nights. :-)

M left on Sunday in the morning. I was so tired after working until a little after midnight. But we got him off. He will be back on Saturday afternoon. The kids and I are doing fine. N has summer camp this week and is loving that. (mornings only). E is loving the time with just me. You can tell she missed that. We are just trying to keep busy around here since we seem to have lots of time w/o daddy around. :-) I am actually almost done refinishing and painting the back door that goes into our bedroom. That has been on the to do list for awhile. Will be glad when that is done! I need to replace the weather stripping in there too but not going to do it now.

We are busy too getting ready to go to the cabin. We leave town right after picking up M at the airport on Saturday. So we should get to the cabin about 10pm we think. We are stopping for dinner with Barb and Dave so that will be fun too. The kids have said that they want to pack their own stuff too. :-) So Friday will be interesting to say the least. LOL

I am on jury duty this week too. My number was called for yesterday. So handed off the kids to a friend who has kids the same age and they all love to play together. She was a lifesaver!!!! Anyways, on the way downtown I got called back saying that the case was settled out of court and didn't need to come. But still call in every night to check in. ugh! I was hoping I would be done with it. I might still be done with it but who knows what will happen by Friday. So instead of picking up the kids my friend told me to go do something. So I went to the mall all by myself! It was weird to be there by myself and no kids! I looked for a new swimsuit but did not find anything! Then I went grocery shopping for the trip. That was nice to do with no kids! Thanks again to my friend!!!!!

Okay time to get this day started. Everyone dressed and out the door to get to camp. Have a great day!

Excited!

Okay N is excited about his birthday on Friday and then party on Saturday. I think E is just excited that she gets to see her friend on Saturday (big brother is coming to the party too). I am excited to see my sister and parents!!! I am wishing it was Thursday right now and I would be at work. But then I have a few things that I am finishing up...like laundry and birthday party bags tonight plus some more thank you cards. Then tomorrow I need to dead head some flowers, clean bathrooms and mop floors. Then I will be ready to leave for work. Plus I leave early for work with the van b/c I will be picking up 14 balloons before work. Then take them into work so they won't pop in the car from the heat. Then go pick up Leah at the airport at 10:15pm. Yea! I know 14 balloons sounds like alot but really only like 4 or 5 for N. There will be a balloon for each kid that is coming to the party...they will start out as decoration first and then as they leave they get one with a party bag. Then there will be 3 on the fence gate so guests know that this is the house and the gate to come thru. :-) So really we won't be keeping 14 balloons at this house for long...which I and M will be glad of. :-)

Time for Pictures

Okay I have been bad about getting pictures up from the last few weeks so here goes.

(Left) This is of N sleeping in our room a couple days after the surgery.

(Right) Graduation at the Elementary School.




Taken at our favorite park for pictures. This was towards the end of N's recovery time. He looks even better now!

Then the other picture is at the same park...first time I have gotten one of the flowers like I wanted!!!






I am sure after this weekend I will be posting a bunch more pictures of N's birthday party. He invited 6 kids. 5 of them are coming. Plus 3 little sisters to play with E. So we will have 8 kids plus our two. Then the parents. Should be alot of fun! Plus I am picking my sister up from the airport Thursday night after work to surprise the kids Friday morning when they wake up. Then Friday night we are surprising the kids with my parents flying in that evening. So it will be alot of fun!!! Have a great weekend!

Great day ...

so far! N woke up at 4:30 and asked to sleep on the floor in our room. I said okay. Then asked if he needed some medicine. He told me no and went back to sleep. He still has not wanted any meds and even has eaten some cheese. He's been talking up a storm this morning too. Plus gotten a little bossy (like normal). :-) We shall see how the rest of the day goes. I will be updating with some photos later today.

Finally an Update

Sorry it has taken me awhile to blog. Time has gotten by with us being busy. We had a fun memorial weekend in Seattle with family. The kids loved spending time with their cousins, grandparents, and aunt & uncle. It was a lot of fun. Will post pictures either later today or tomorrow.

We have been busy since Tuesday after Memorial Day with N's surgery. If we are ever told that E's tonsil/adenoids need to be taken out we will be seriously be talking to the dr about it. We thought this would be a little easier. I knew that N wouldn't take well to the surgery part and some of the pain but it has been worse then we thought. It's like the pain meds (prescription) wears off about 3-3.5 hrs after taking the dose...which we are not to give the next dose until close to 4 hrs. So that last 30 minutes are tough on him. Won't even go into how it makes him feel somewhat b/c it is Tylenol w/Codeine. Plus we were told that he had to have food in his stomach to take it. So if he wasn't' eating around the time then to give him Tylenol. Well come to find out 3 days ago that Tylenol doesn't work hardly at all and needs to take the prescription. And that he can just have a drink in his stomach to take it. Anyways...starting 3 nights ago (maybe it was 4...a little sleep deprived right now) N started waking up and crying screaming around 10pm. Two nights it took 1-1.5 hrs to calm him down and get him back to sleep. Then wake up again 4 hours later. Well 2 nights ago I purposely woke him up at 9:30 to give him meds and then he slept until 1:15a and got him to take some more and then back to sleep fairly fast. Then last night he slept from 8pm-6am except for when I came home from work at 10pm the garage door woke him but easily got him back to sleep. Then today has been a good day with some eating and only one small breakdown when meds were starting to wear off. Here is hoping that it just gets better from here!

The weather is so crazy here! Right now it is very windy and the temp is right around 60 degrees. Yesterday it was raining and a little above 60 degrees. Then before that it was hot outside. Like 100 degrees for two days!!!! Here is hoping that this weekend is nice enough to go outside to fix up the gardens in the back some more since N's birthday party will be here at the house in the backyard. :-)

Well time to get some laundry done. :-)

A Dream/Wish

An fellow Idahoscrapper sent this to me. I am going to be sending a card to him and thought maybe some of you would like to.

http://www.shaneswish.com/

Mom's Day

I got this off a friend's blog and I love it. It is so true...there are hard times but I would never change anything! Happy Mother's Day!

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to
put them down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I
couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so
much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so
important and happy.

Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every
10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a
Mom.

Update on N

Well N saw the ENT today. On June 29th he will be having his first surgery. He will have his tonsils and adenoids taken out. Plus he will most likely have a tube put into the left ear. The dr said that the ear was still gross looking and lots of pus. So she will drain it while he is under and then most likely put in a short term tube to keep it drained. (Can't do much else and she is worried about leaving it longer b/c of hearing lose.) Most likely it happened b/c of all the other tonsil/adenoid things going on. He had to have a camera put down his nose (which he did not like). His adenoids are swollen to 70%. Meaning they are much too large for his age. They are surprised he is not snoring more. Then his tonsils look gross too. He has pretty much had tonsillitises and we didn't even know it. The reason he has had so many colds/allergies (which we are now not sure it was truly allergies) is b/c of the tonsils and adenoids. This should help with the colds/allergies, purpleness under his eyes, sleeping in (maybe), and nose picking will be gone. Plus it might help with coughing (asthma) and never know might help some with some speech aspects (but most likely won't notice it).

So for now until then we will be only on tylenol and augementant (antiobiotic so his ear won't hurt him until then). Then afterwards we will have some pain meds and pushing liquids. He doesn't like the idea that he doesn't get to ride his scooter for a week afterwards. :-) He should be all better for his birthday...so am glad about that.

Have a great Tuesday!

Adult Humor

Okay a friend sent this link on a group I am on. I love this! It was a much needed laugh today. Ellie is whiny (think from the ears...which will hopefully be taken care of tomorrow) and Nathan I don't think got enough sleep last night (crying at the drop of a hat). Atleast their friends are over today to play for most of the day. :-)

Layout

Finished this layout last night and I love it! Thought I would share. :-)

Warm Day

Well today was certainly a very warm day! :-)

This morning the kids and I went and got flowers for mommy to plant and water shoes so the kids could play later in the pool. E's ear was still bleeding with the discharge. So called the pedia dr office. Love that office since they have appts on the weekend if necessary with the on call dr. It was our dr on call and she wanted to see her. Could we come straight down. So off we went. Yes E has a ruptured ear drum (the tube was gone) and the other one is barely in and junk in there too. So both ears are gross inside. So onto a new antiobiotic and keep up the ear drops. Then if we still see blood by Weds she wants us to call the ENT's office and tell them that she needs to be seen to clear them out before Monday (which is the day we have an appt).

Came home afterwards and ate lunch. Then outside for just a little bit to fill up the little pool so the water would be warm after nap. Then down for nap...which everyone needed...even mommy! :-) Got up and swimsuits on and outside we went. We spent 2.5 hours outside. Kids playing and mommy planting and cleaning up flower beds. I still have one more flower bed to go but atleast the main one is done and pots are planted too. N loved the sprinkler but E did not. She kept telling me it was raining. I think it was partly that she was tired out from playing and the ear.

Came in and had a warm bath while mommy cleaned bathrooms. Then time for dinner and a movie. :-) Now time for calling daddy to say good night. Then off to sleep. Then tomorrow will be another warm day and after church we will play some more. :-)

Have a wonderful Saturday evening and Sunday.

Mommy's New Toy

Well I finally decided what I was going to do about two weeks ago after going to the McCall weekend crop. I wanted a system that I could do alot more with and not cost as much in the longer run. I looked at two different systems. One you had to buy cartridges for. The other you did not but you might have to buy a few things (shapes and such) online but not if you could find something to scan and play with. So I decided that later. Well so I started searching to see how much I could get for all the "cutting" stuff I already had by Quickutz and Sizzix if I sold them on ebay. Figured out I could do it. So I listed everything on ebay and to some friends. I sold them all for prices that worked for me. I had enough!!! So called the local store and sure enough they had one in. So went and bought it the day M left town for his guys weekend away (Thurs-Sunday). All I could think of was now I had it!!! But I knew I probably wouldn't get to set it up right away. Sure enough I just got it set up and did the first test run about 20 minutes ago. So far I love it!!! I can cut anything from 1/4" to 8". Plus I can use any true fonts that are already on the computer...so no more buying new fonts or worrying about not having the right font. From now on I pretty much do not have to buy any more lettering or shapes from the store. I can make them myself!!! There is still much to figure out and have fun with but so far I love it!!! It is called the Silhouette by Quickutz. It's pretty much a printer that cuts. (Digital Craft Cutter). Now I just want to find or make a cover for it. :-)


So M is gone for the weekend. He left for work Thursday morning and then all of the guys meet at 2:30 and left town from there. He will be back on Sunday. They all take their computers up to a place called The Depot (sp?) in Cascade, ID (near McCall). Then they all play hooked up together certain games. The all choose a meal to cook and bring the food. That way only one of them at a time is cooking/making the food. They have a great time and it's good for M to get away like that!

The kids and I have been doing fine. It has gotten quite warm here so we have been outside alot. I finally worked on the flower bed near the walkway and have it all nice and neat and like I want it now! I am so glad...it has been bugging me like crazy. Then tomorrow we are going to work in the backyard. I was going to put out the bird bath and stuff since the kids are old enough now but I think it might be in the attic since I can't find it in the garage. So that means i need to wait for M to get home for that. :-( But I can atleast get my pots done and clean up the winter stuff in the flower beds. We might have to run to the flower shop but that won't be bad. :-) Plus I might get out the pool and blow it up and put some water in since it will be in the 80's here.

We won't be going to soccer tomorrow though. I figure we need a weekend here at home w/o doing a ton of stuff. N seems to be doing ok with his ear but who knows b/c the last time we thought it was gone all the way. We won't know for absolute until Friday. But E's pink eye is back some. (so more eye drops...which is not fun with her!). Then today she started crying and saying her ear hurt when we went up a small hill in the car here in town. Well look back and sure enough she has some drainage. It was wierd b/c she had never cried like that before with ear infections (drainage out of the tubes). So called the ear doctor and left a message for the nurse to call me back. She called me back and we talked about it. What worried her some was that the last time they looked the tubes were about half way out (which was about 3-4 months ago). So she isn't sure what is going on. She wonders if the ear drum might have ruptured. So she told me to start the ear drops in both ears. Then we go in on the 7th to see the ear doctor (the earliest appt we could get...which was good). If it is still bugging her big time on Monday will take her to the pediatrician and make sure there isn't anything else to do before the 7th. She has been whine and stuff but was just associating that with her age. :-) But now wonder. The nurse was surprised that she had an infection since she is on amoxicilian (last day) for the sinus infection. I told her well when she was a baby it never worked when she had an ear infection. So now I guess it is a wait for a week and see what will happen. Tomorrow night I plan to clean this house like a crazy and keep windows open for fresh air alot lately and hopefully all this yucky stuff will go away!!! :-)

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Soccer

Well here is a soccer video of N at practice. He did really well until half way through...which is good for how crappy he must have been feeling. The boy in the red jacket and red hat is a friend from preschool. M couldn't figure out why he kept going to sit next to this boy. Finally figured it out when he took his hat off and I could see from where I was sitting. :-)

Sickness

Well we are fighting sickness around here some more. N has the ear infection plus his eyes were so goopy all weekend. It was gross! Anyways, took him yesterday and he has some new viral thing that includes pink eye, fever (for 3-5 days...haven't seen that part yet), cough (just a little so far) and a scratchy voice. Then his ear infection hasn't gotten any better for the past 4 days so we switched antibiotics. Now hopefully we will not be going back for 10 days! E is doing fine...her cough is almost gone. So guessing the sinus infection is gone. Luckily she is on the antibiotics and hopefully won't catch the pink eye. S's throat is a little scratchy but think just need to keep rested and will be fine. M is hopefully not going to catch anything b/c this weekend is his weekend away with the guys to play and have fun.

The kids got new clothes for Nana J yesterday and they love them. E is such a girl...she loves trying on clothes and stuff. Her waist is so skinny and such a bony butt that alot of things that fit length wise we are having a hard time with the waist. So when she gets new clothes we always have to try them on now. Even at the store if we have time I will have her try things on. It's so different since I never had N ever try anything on at the store. Atleast she loves doing it. I think we will head to Kohl's today and exchange the skort that won't stay on her waist and exchange the boxers that are a tadbit too big for N. He is now a "big" boy. For pjs he is wearing boxers and white undershirts. It's so different and hard to remember that he is growing up. Can't even believe that he goes to Kindergarten next year!

Here's a fun picture that I took of them playing in the box that the clothes came in. :-)

Ear Problems!

Well okay I thought we would get away with no ear problems from N. But no such luck. He got the first ear infection during spring break in Tahoe. (double actually). Well we are now thinking (dr agrees) that maybe it didn't "leave" all the way. B/c starting last night he was complaining and I took him in first thing this morning. Sure enough it is bad again. We are on strong stuff again and have an appt for 10 days to check it again. (Make sure it goes all the way away!). Then we have decided to add a allergy medicine in b/c he has the dark circles under his eyes again badly which means allergy problems. The singular isn't cutting it by iteself but the singular helps keep the asthma away. So will take that in the morning plus the clariton at night. Hopefully after a couple of days he will be looking "normal" again!!!

Okay time for naps for everyone since mommy and N didn't get much sleep last night. And E is whiny as can be today!! Her cough is atleast getting a little better...went and got her the antibotics yesterday (held off for a week to see if we really needed it).

Have a great weekend!!!

Race for the Cure

The place I am working for, Archiver's, has started up a team to do the 5K team walk. I am excited! It should be lots of fun. Since the majority of our customers are women we thought this would be an awesome way to show some support. Plus most of us know someone (family or not) that has been affected by breast cancer. I have sent out some emails asking for donations (which I sometimes feel weird about, but this is for a good cause...one that I support). But some of you I don't have emails for so thought I would post the link here. So if you want to donate anything just click on the link below.

Thank you to those that have already donated!!!

http://race.komenboise.org/goto/SaraD

Busy Time

Okay as my mom pointed out I haven't updated this in awhile. :-) I can't even remember everything that happened last week other then getting ready for my McCall scrapbooking trip and work. I know that it seemed like I didn't have alot of time last week but who knows what it was all about. :-)

This last weekend S went on a scrapbooking retreat with a bunch of other ladies. It was fun. I got a little over half way done with M's air force album. I wish I would have gotten further but oh well...at least it is part way done. I stayed up until 2am each night and got up at 8am. I was exhausted by the time I got home on Sunday. Luckily I got home in time for lunch and then nap on Sunday. :-) Came home to E sick with a worse cough. Plus M had bought the kids (mainly N) a new computer game that he loves. It's star wars legos (everything is made out of legos). He loves it...wants to play it all the time. :-) It's a good motivator for good behavior and listening.

This week we joining the YMCA near us. We love it so far!!! We took the kids up Tuesday night to go swimming. They have a little kiddie pool that only goes up to 1.5 feet. It has two small slides and a couple other "toys" in there. Plus there is a lifeguard on duty all the time. Then there is a huge water slide in another pool that goes into a 3.5 feet water. But they allow any child to go on as long as they have a parent with them. E loved it!!! She wanted to keep going down it with us. She would laugh and scream all the way down. :-) N didn't want to do it until the very end and then he loved it. N had fun in the kiddie pool and the little slides there. He found a friend to play with (just some boy that had the same shorts as him). Matt saw that the diving board was open so he went over and did some diving and had fun. We plan on going swimming at least once a week with the kids. Plus during the summer there will be swimming lessons and they will be at the same time and in the morning so we don't have to take the night time away from things.

My sister and I are going to do a fitness goal together too. Haven't worked it all out but plan on something like 3x a week for 45 minutes. Not sure what the reward will be yet if we beat each other. :-) So M and I talked last night and our plan is going on Mondays and Fridays to work out. Then Friday nights after we work out we can all going swimming. Then I will go during the week during the day. We are paying for the childcare part of the membership (it was so cheap) so that we can do this. The play area is cool too. Oh and there is a rock wall that at certain times kids can go on it with parents. My bet is that E will do it before N. :-)

So now this weekend we will be hanging out around here. Finally getting N to his first soccer "practice" and S working Saturday night. So should be laid back and hopefully the sun will come back out. :-) I am a little tired of the cold, wind and rain.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter! We are just hanging out at home all day and relaxing. We got up this morning and had french toast (w/powder sugar for the kids). Then we had a jelly bean hunt in the house. This is from when S was a little kid. Her daddy use to hide jelly beans for her and her sister and it was fun to find them all. There would always be a few that weren't found until a couple months later. :-) We only hid about 20 total. N ate all his within an hour of finding them. E still has some left. We didn't say much about the easter bunny...mainly about what easter is about. So they were a tadbit surprised to find things in their baskets this morning.

Yesterday they had a lot of fun at the church easter egg hunt. E and two other little girls got a little section to themselves. E loved all the eggs and had fun finding them all. She got enough points to "buy" a stuff basket with two little animals in it. N had fun too but his was a mad rush for everything. He went with the 5-7 yrs old. I guess he was mainly worried about his friend. He only got 4 eggs and his friends mom tried to give him a few by putting some on the ground and telling him they were there. He ended up keeping one and giving one to his friend (sharing). He is such a loving person and loves to share with his friends. We are so glad of this!

We were to head home and get lunch and then have N get ready for his soccer "practice". PAKS (Parents and Kids in Soccer). He was so excited. We didn't make it. S was having chest pains during the egg hunt at church. They got worse so off we went to the ER. Short story...no heart problems or anything else "major". But could only narrow it to two things - chest inflammation or an esophagus problem. Gave me meds for the later of the two. The pain has mainly gone away but I am worn out...even with a 4 hr nap a little while ago. Will most likely follow up with dr later this week.

So today we let N dress up in his soccer stuff (after nap when the rain had stopped). He loved playing in the backyard with daddy showing him "moves". I think he is really going to love soccer. He loves the running part alot too...so that is good. :-) E even had fun out there playing with her little soccer ball. The only thing was she was kicking with the outside of her foot...trying to teach her to kick with her inside. :-)

Well off to make an easy fun dinner. Love to family & friends!

Sleeping In and Fears

Yea the last two morning N has slept until 7am or 7:20a! I can not believe it! It has been so nice. Now to some of you that may seem weird but N does not sleep in!!! I do have to say that it is weird to get up that late and then later that morning look at the clock and it is already 9am and I haven't showered b/c I have been busy doing the morning "things" around the house. :-)

Now onto fears. I have had two skin tags for quite some time (since having kids) and never got them removed b/c of the fear they would hurt. But they have annoyed me every summer. Well I switched over to M's doctor ...who I really like. Anyways, I finally asked them to be removed. I was in there a total of about 15 minutes (just like he promised) and had them removed. It only stung like a small bee sting when the needle went in to numb it but other then that it was fine. One does itch now on and off and the other one just a tadbit irritated but it's fine. I do have to say I am so glad I finally did it!!! Now to remember that things aren't always scary to get done. :-)

Have a wonderful weekend! I work my first crop at my new job Saturday night and I am hoping I have wonderful people come to crop. :-)

Back Home from Lake Tahoe

Good morning! Well we made it home Tuesday night about 7:30pm. We had a fun time other then N getting a double ear infection. We arrived there around dinner time on Friday. The drive was great. The weather was nice and warm so we were able to stop at the park half way there and eat lunch and let the kids run around. Saturday we went up and played at the playground and went and looked around inside. Then came back a little later to play racquetball (N and M) and swim. E is just like Aunt L! She gets the purple lips and then shivers but does not want to get out! You ask her if she is cold and she will tell you no. :-) We relaxed during the afternoon. Then that evening M and S made dinner (forgot the cord for the fryer so ended up doing that on the stove....that was an experience itself!). After dinner we took the kids up to the arcade to play games. They loved it. Then we came back and N wanted to take a shower so bad b/c he had watched daddy in there. It was a shower that had a shower head on each side. So we got them in there and they loved it. E was okay about it all but N could have stayed in there forever!

Sunday morning we went and played again. Then went back and everyone got ready to go down into town. There were a bunch of little shops going out of business b/c the town had bought the land to build a convention center in the next couple of years. I found a nice vest for cheap! But didn't find anything for the kids or M. Ate lunch down there. Then home, went and rented skis for the kids and then down for naps. E refused to sleep so she and I stayed up. :-) Then we went down into Mendin (sp?) and ate dinner. During dinner N told me his ear hurt. I was thinking it was the pressure and told him I would give him some tylenol when we got back up the hill if it still hurt. Well it did. So gave him some and then we all sat down and watched Little Mermaid. At the end of that is when N lost it with the ear pain. So S and N were up most of the night...think a total of 4 hrs of sleep (not in a row). S called and found out about an urgent care down the hill. (We were staying at the top of the hill.) We went and got in 2nd (they opened at 8am). Found out he had a double ear infection...the other one was just starting. So got perscription for amoxicillan and numbing ear drops. Well pharmacies around there don't open until 9am. So had to wait 15 min to open then took 25 min to fill. ugh! By that time N was crying and screaming in the car. So I put the numbing drops right in. Well come to find out they sting at first. So N screamed most of the way back up the hill to the room. But he insisted that he wanted to go skiing still. And E really wanted to. So got N calmed down and asked again and yes he wanted to go. So dressed them and loaded up.

Now finding a place to ski for kids was an adventure in itself! Let's just say that the people at Heavenly didn't know what they were talking about. The first place was closed, the next place didn't have the magic carpet and the rope tow was for ski school...atleast that is what the signs said mainly. And no one told us at the top of the mountain was a magic carpet! (found that out later from D and C when we saw them at the room) So M put on regular boots and he just took them up and down the side next to the rope tow. N did it once but wanted to do it his way. :-) In the picture he is pushing M away. E loved it. She went down twice and guess she was saying Whooo Hooo. :-) Then since M and S had spent $ on a lift ticket b/c M was going to try to ski and S was told she needed one to do the kids hill with the kids and we couldn't return them. We went up the gondola. Loved it! It was very pretty. Then we were going to hang out at the top (sledding was up there) but N fell down the metal stairs and was crying so that was pretty much the end of that. But hey he had done pretty well with ear infections and lack of sleep. So we headed back down. That is where the pictures come from. N asleep and E looking out. We got back to the room and kids went straight to sleep. E slept for about an hour and N slept for about 3. Then dinner and relaxing around the place. It started snowing about an hour after we got back and didn't stop until the morning. It was pretty to watch and boy did it cover fast. Figures they get a ton of snow the night before we are to leave! We got out of there okay...ended up backing back down a hill that we couldn't get all the way up and going out a different way but we did it. The trip home was just fine and the kids did really well.

N is doing much better with the ear infection. Took him back in b/c early Tuesday morning there was a little blood. But dr found no blood inside the ear yesterday. But did find a big ball of hard wax in there and it was still infected pretty badly. So switch medicine and for the first morning N has said his ear doesn't hurt! Yea! It just threw us all for a loop b/c N has maybe had one ear infection when he was a baby and that is it! It's usually E that gets them with her tubes.

Hope everyone has a wonderful spring break! And L & A have fun in Japan!!!

Fighting Fashion

Well lately N has started to make decisions about what he wants to wear but he is stilling learning about short sleeves for warm and long sleeves for cold. :-) Anyways, this morning he went to get his socks and found this old tie. Came out with it and asked to wear it today. I told him no but if he really wanted to wear a tie he could for Easter. Well he didn't take the no for an answer. He put it on himself. :-) Of course he just looked too cute and asking please if he could wear it today that way. Well didn't really match. LOL So told him he could wear it in the car but couldn't wear it outside of the car. He remembered but after the 2nd stop this morning he didn't put it back on. :-) So got it out of his system.


Here is a layout I finished last night about us being married for 12 years now.
It was to meet a challenge of using only green and also one about something I am lucky about.





I did this layout two nights ago with N in his superman pjs the first time in TN. It turned out really good if I do say so myself. :-)

Bad Blogger

Sorry have not written in forever! Time seems to get away around here. And I can't blame it on working since I have barely worked in the last week. Trying to think of what's new around here.

N loved the monster truck show. Pics are still on M's phone so will need to have him download those. He is majorly into spiderman and superman as of right now. We got new tennis shoes since the weather was getting nice and mommy got tired of washing shoes all the time so left the old ones outside and the new ones are for school and such. We had to search for spiderman shoes that mommy and daddy didn't think were too gaudy. :-)

E is still going strong. :-) She has turned into a demander. She will say to M or S "hold this!". Uhhh no you can ask nicely or go put it away. :-) She still doesn't want to go potty on the big girl potty but hopefully that will change soon. Took her to speech therapist to be tested again to see if she is doing okay or maybe will need speech like Nathan did. We'll know the results about April 2nd.

S is loving working at the scrapbook store. It's lots of fun and time flies by. Will be working her first crop next weekend so that will be fun.

M has been busy with work and a tadbit stressed out. Is looking forward to having 5 days away.

We leave Friday morning to meet up with M's mom and stepdad, aunt and uncle. Should be fun but a long drive. We are going to try to get the kids skiing but we shall see. I am not too thrilled about how much a lift ticket costs - $72 per adult when we won't even ski for the whole day or anything. There are half day tickets but they are only afternoon. Plus I will need to see how long my shoulder can handle doing it. Right now I have it in a sling on and off (dr wanted it all the time for two weeks but yea right) and it's not bugging me too bad...just mostly by evening time. He thinks it's tendnities so hopefuly will just take some healing time. We shall see.

Well time to get some laundry moved around and start folding/packing clothes away. Have a wonderful weekend!

Kindergarten Registration

Well Thursday after school was Kindergarten registration for N. He was so excited. It was nice and easy since I didn't have to fill out any paperwork since he was already in the system for preschool. It was also nice b/c we were the first ones there with his friend from preschool. By the time we left there were lines for each station. You went to the first station and that was the paperwork and got a t-shirt. Also, got a calendar for next school year. Then onto the library station where he got his name tag. He wrote his name on the other side but it was too small to read. :-) He also got a to pick a book to take home. He chose a Dinosaur book. Then the next station was getting his picture taken. Of course he had to have his cheesy grin. :-) Then on to the numbers station. He knew all his numbers from 0-9 like they had laid out randomly. Next was a bunch of pictures. He had to name them and then they asked questions like which two rhymed (out of 3) and which didn't belong (beginning sound and a rhyming one). He did really well except for he didn't understand the question which didn't belong. :-) He knew which two went together. Next station was the alphabet. Had to match and then tell what a letter was that was held up randomly. He knew it all...even the Q! Then the next station we got to skip b/c we had already done paperwork, but I did tell the secretary that he could ride the bus next year...he has been bugging me about that. :-) Next was into the classroom and meeting the teacher. I had not meet her but Nathan knew her b/c she has subbed in the preschool classroom. So now he is all set. I was glad to hear that this teacher doesn't like worksheets so she does not do very many of them. It's alot of hands on. Which will be very good for N. It's funny how I wanted him to have morning kindergarten and that is exactly what he gets b/c at Pierce Park there are not enough kids to do two different classes. So it will be nice to have him back in morning...he is so much better in the morning I think. He is just a morning person. :-)

Ohhh and on another note! N can now buckle himself in!!! I knew he could do but he refused...I had tried a bunch of different tactics. Finally yesterday I told him he could get a new matchbox car if he would start doing it. Plus the rule was that he had to do it all the time now...no more mommy/daddy buckling him in. He has done great at it! I am glad...it now saves me some time of having to go buckle him in after buckling E in too. Now to get potty training done. :-)

Have a great weekend!

Fun Day!

Well it has been a fast week around here. S worked Tues and Thurs evenings. Then Friday got to go scrapbooking at the store with a bunch of other people she hasn't seen in awhile. Had a blast! Only got 2 layouts done but hey two is better then none. :-) Will post pictures tomorrow or maybe later tonight. Then worked Saturday fromm 9:30a-4:00p. The day went fast! It was fun to work. Love working there.

Today we had a fun family day! We all got up and had waffles...need to work on the batter recipe. Then everyone was tired so we lounged around for about an hour. Then everyone went back down for naps. Slept until about noon and got up. We all got dressed and headed out. We went and got sandwiches and soup then on to the park at Micron. This was fun b/c no one else was out there and the kids had a blast. Then decided to go to the zoo. Love having a zoo pass! We got there about 3:30 and stayed until the zoo closed at 5:00. The kids had fun and so did we. We then came home. The kids are messing around on the computer with daddy and I am swapping out cards for a card swap I hosted.

Plus M and I just purchase a surprise for N. I told M that I had seen that Monster Jam (monster trucks) was coming to Nampa next weekend. So we looked and tickets were cheap. So it will be a guys night out for M and N. We aren't going to tell N either. Just that daddy is taking him out for a guys night out on Friday. Then they will go. N will love it! He has been into the monster trucks he has. One of them is one that will actually be there...so should be lots of fun. I will have to look and see if cameras are allowed so they can take some pictures.

Well time to get some things done. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Snow Day

Well this morning was snowy and pretty. So N asked if we could go outside and build a snowman. I said we could try but didn't think it would work. :-) So we bundled up and went outside. N loved it. E just wanted to be held most of the time. She is now sick this morning...she has gotten sick a couple of times now. :-(

Here is a picture of them all bundled up.

Quilt

Finally got the bed put together and everything last night. Plus cleaned up my side of the closet...boy did it need it. :-) It looks so good!! Doesn't it look great!!! Thanks mom for the bed skirt too. I will be working on the window curtains next week.

Excitement...

Well the last couple of days have been fun to say the least. :-) Monday early evening the kids and I were outside in front. I was trimming a tree and the kids were playing. M got home so started to clean up. Went to get the broom and found water sitting underneath the water heater. Looked and sure enough a leak at the bottom of it. So figured out how to turn off the gas...then didn't know what to do. M finally came out and I tried calling my dad. No answer. :-( So called the heating and cooling guy that has worked on our heater before. He told us how to turn off the water and gave us a quote. Then we hooked up a house and started draining. Cleaned up the extra water and stuck towels down to catch the water still dripping. So now only COLD water. Started dinner and started calling for quotes. Figured out that lowe's and home depot were the cheapest by about $50-75. Well Home depot never called back. Lowe's figured out everyone was gone from that dept (6:30pm) and that they would be back at 6am. So we decided to wait until morning to see if Lowe's could come out and do it. Finally someone came into Lowe's at 7am in the morning and was told someone would call me back. By this time I was not happy. Talked to M and we decided to just go with the heating and cooling guy we have dealt with before. So called him. He could come out that afternoon. (Just so you know it took Lowe's until 11:30am to have someone call me back.) The guy came out and fixed it all by 4:30pm. Yea!!! Guess we were lucky in the fact that we got 16 yrs out of the old one and that the leak was too bad. This time we had him install a drip pan to the bottom just in case it does decide to leak it will leak out onto the garage floor instead of the wood partical board that the heater and water heater are on.

Well it is wonderful to have a new water heater. This one we don't have to turn up past the "normal" notch b/c it is hot enough for me and my baths!

Okay time to go take N to one school (not the normal Weds school) to get classroom pictures taken and then take him to his "normal" school for Weds. Then home to hopefully clean up some.

Oh and hopefully tomorrow I will have new pictures of the quilt my mom made for us! Love it! I picked out the material at Thanksgiving and it is done already! Thanks mom!!!

Thoughts for Today

Ok here are some thoughts...

First has anyone ever washed a diaper before???? Well it has been done. Went thru the wash and the dryer. Thought N had left a Kleenex in his pocket...uhhh NO!!! So had to redo a whole wash! Luckily it was only a wet diaper.

Second...does anyone ever feel caught up when they have kids??? I just feel like there is so much that I need to do and not enough time. Oh well, maybe one of these days.

Third...are we the only parents that think PLEASE let him sleep in until atleast 6:30am??? Or think oh my gosh he slept until 6:30am!!! I know most parents love that their kids sleep until 8am...we so wish!! We have a plan that when he is a teenager and wants to sleep until noon we are going to go in at 6:30am and wake him up. :-) Now watch he won't ever be one of those people that sleep in!

Fourth...where did she learn the whining??? All of sudden E seems to think whining will get her anything. It is driving us nuts!

Fifth...why does N seem to think that he can't hear me when I tell him something or when he asks me something and I answer...I have to answer like 3+ times before he seems to hear! I thought ok do we need to go to the ENT for another hearing test??? But no...I asked his teachers and watched him with M...N only does this with me!! ugh!

Sixth...how many times do you think it will take from being banned from the new furniture that N will learn not to run and jump on it???

Seventh...never say to a 4 year old that he can put it on his birthday wish list when his birthday is still 4 months away!!! Every day I now hear about how he wants this bulldozer for his birthday and when is it. Doesn't matter how many times a day I saw that it is 4 months or 120 days away or even show him on the calendar!

Eighth...can not believe how obsessed N can get with things! Especially when they are new! M finally found a fun little helicopter to fly in the house (RC) and cheap. Now all N wants to do is fly it...today he keeps asking when daddy will be home b/c M told him they would fly it when he got home...no way am I even going to try it!!! :-)

Ninth...it so different going shopping with E by herself compared to N and E together!!! N is such a leader and gets E to do things that she would never do with just me!!! I so missed having school for N today when I needed to run errands! Since E isn't really napping anymore I have found that errands are so much nicer when N is at school...so mornings are now to get things done around the house and then afternoons errands if need be.

Ok I think those are all the thoughts of today. LOL

N is getting older!

I just finished signing up N for soccer!! We actually are doing a "easy" soccer for spring. Then if he likes that he will do the "regular" soccer in the fall. This spring he will be doing PAKS. This is where he goes with an adult (most likely daddy) and plays around with the ball and learns about soccer with other kids his age and other parents. This will only be on Saturdays for an hour or so. It is all of April and May. Then if he likes it in the fall he can do the "regular" soccer which means two practice nights a week and a game on Saturday. He is old enough to do this for the spring but we want to make sure it is really what he wants to do and enjoy before putting him into that many nights a week. Now to find something for E to do! She loves dance but still haven't found something that is during the time frame that works for us. Will keep looking though.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Happy Valentine's day everyone!!! We wanted all our family to know we are thinking of you on this day.

I rarely get a picture of N anymore w/o some silly look. :-)

Update...

Hi everyone! Well lets say that life is "normal" around here. :-) The kids got a package from Aunt L yesterday and N loves the mask she sent! That is what the picture is of. Last night he would not take it off for hardly anything. We did get him to go to bed w/o it. But this morning he was asking where it was.

Now the kids are pretty good about getting along and I am grateful for that! But N is going thru a tattle tailing phase that is driving me nuts!!! My friend just told me she uses a tattle bee for her daughter and that it works great. I think we might have to try this. Need to find a stuffed animal that E can not play with and put it in one spot. I might get one while N is at school today like at the $1 store.

Now if we could get E to want to go potty on the potty! We got her a book that she loves and it has the same potty in it and has a bear that looks like hers too. She loves to read the book but so far still tells us no when I ask her to go on the potty. Sometimes she will sit on there but nothing. Hopefully one of these days! :-) Plus she is one that could care less about treats for going potty. :-) It's funny how different these two kids can be sometimes.

M is doing ok. He has started to feel like his cold is coming back again so hopefully sleep will help with that. Plus taking it easy. I just have a cough once in awhile but nothing bad. This cold/cough thing is so going thru Boise right now! Dr offices are so full you have to wait like 2-5 days before getting in. I am just hoping that the kids don't catch it again since it kept N out of school for almost a week. Plus it's no fun having sick kids. :-)

Well time to take N to school. Have a wonderful Valentine's day tomorrow! We are thinking of you all!

Newest Updates

Ok it has been awhile since I have written. :-( It just seems like time gets away sometimes around here. We have been busy with "normal" stuff and then working on Valentine's stuff. We are making things for all the grandparents (hope to have in the mail tomorrow) and teachers. Then N has to write his name on 12 (Eagle Preschool) plus 9 (Pierce Park) valentines (Superman) and add suckers to them. Then N has snack week next week so have to come up with some snack ideas. Weds is easy b/c it is the Valentine party and another mom is bringing cupcakes to decorate so we will bring the stuff to decorate with.

Let's see things that are new. E can count to 13 now. She hardly takes naps now...which means I will probably need to give up the job from home...we shall see what the next week holds. She seems to have stopped growing for a little bit. :-) She is done being sick too it looks like.

N is loving school. Last week he was not happy on Thursday when I told him I couldn't take him to school b/c I was too sick. He hates missing school...which is a great thing! I think he has started to go through a growth spurt b/c he has started eating tons and sleeping in! Can you believe this morning he slept until about 7:10!!! He had been sleeping until 6:30 the rest of the week. This is great for me and M! Except for M misses seeing them in the morning before leaving for work. I was noticing at school too that he is great cutting with the scissors! Everyday I realize something that he is doing that makes it so he is growing up.

It will be fun at Valentine's day b/c the kids are getting a little "tool" carrier. It is actually a miniature of my scrapping tools. So they can have their own "tools" for doing art projects. Figure they will get enough candy from everything else going on that we don't need to add to it. :-)

We got all of our furniture now!! We got it delivered before the superbowl on Sunday. We love it! I will have to take a picture and post it. Love sitting in the chair w/ottoman to read a book. Like M said the ottoman will probably be the first thing worn out. Which is probably right since the kids love it. N has ended up in a few time outs for running and jumping onto the furniture. M said that Tuesday night when I was gone at work N said look daddy. He then took a run and jumped up and landed flat on his stomach on the ottoman. Then turned around and smiled at M. But as soon as he saw the look on M's face he started to frown...he couldn't figure it out but knew it was bad. :-) It's funny though. The kids don't run and jump on the furniture during the day but there is atleast one time at night that someone gets in trouble with M. :-)

I will have to update some pictures on here in the next couple of days just b/c of how much the kids seem to be growing. M and I don't notice it as much but others do.

Weather - it has been sunny and on the warmer side (upper 40's-lower 50's) but we are still on a yellow air quality. I think that is why M and I can't quite get over these coughs/colds. We only have the cough really left and then a little tiredness. Supposedly we are to get rain today...which I am hoping is right b/c it would help clear out the air!!! This crud is going all thru Boise and it sucks! It seems to last two weeks or longer with everyone. Which doesn't help for spreading it. I am just hoping that we don't get it again! Making sure things are sanitized and kids washing their hands...hoping that will be enough to keep it away. Yea!! Just looked outside and it is raining. :-)

Ok time to go get started this morning. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

New Job & Bad Cough

Well it was good and bad night last night. Training went great last night. We got to learn about products we are going to have for preservation and I am excited about this. Have always wondered about different stuff but never really saw anything around here for it. At least simple things. I was a little embarrassed a few times when I have some coughing fits. I am excited about tonight to see what else we are going to learn. Then we found out that we actually get to meet a CEO and a VP (marketing I think) on the 22nd. I so far everyone is great that I have met. It is a wide range of people going to be working. Older people then me all the way to 17 yr olds.

Well yesterday I never got my antibiotics from the pharmacy. (Not sure that it would have helped me last night.) Anyways, Dr called me at 9:40a and said he would have it called in right away. So I thought ok I will pick it up on the way to taking N to school. Well got to the pharmacy at 11:50 and no perscription for me. So get cell phone out and notice there was a message left about 15 min before. It's the dr office saying they can't find a Walgreens on State & Glenwood. So try calling them back with the number to call. Office is now closed until 1:30p for lunch break. Great! Call them back at 1:40p and leave the number to call. Call pharmacy at 3:00p and nothing. Call dr office and ask that it please be called in before I have to be at work tonight at 5p. Says okay. Call pharmacy at 4:20p and it just got called in and will take 30-45 min b/c they are swamped. So get kids partly ready to go and wait. Then have enough time to go get it and meet M up at the training site to switch cars (he had a meeting until 5p). Kids decide they aren't going to listen and go hide under the bed. So takes me 10-15 min to get them out (in big trouble!). So now no time to sit in the pharmacy drive thru (2 cars in it already). So not a happy camper.

Anyways, I was fine at the beginning of the meeting but about half way thru got a coughing fit (not too bad) and I just slowly drank my water and it helped some. Anyways, by the time I got in the car and headed home at 10:10p it was getting worse. Couldn't get the coughing to stop. :-( Long story short tried a ton of things at home to get it to stop. Then by 11:45p my chest hurt (like someone sitting on it) and I wasn't wheezing but just felt like I couldn't get a full breath. So woke up M and kids and headed to the ER. Luckily with asthma they don't make you wait long. Come to find out no asthma...thank goodness. But the coughing so hard and so long is what was making my chest hurt (glad it wasn't something else). Dr said it was most likely a virus (wrote bronchitis on the discharge sheet) and told me to go fill the antibiotic and to he gave me a cough medicine with pain meds in it. M was so good about it all! He went thru the drive thru and dropped off the prescription brought the kids and I home and helped get them into bed and then went back to get the meds. They helped me last night...took a little while. But I got some sleep so that felt nice. This morning my throat is so rough and my voice is not the greatest. :-) So hopefully staying home today (other then taking N to school) and maybe getting a nap (if E will take one) I should be better by tonight.

Last one on Meds...

Well starting this afternoon I will be on meds. My glands in my neck are so swollen now. Was thinking I was doing better until yesterday afternoon. :-( Oh well...hopefully by the end of the week all will be good. N is doing better with his cough this morning too! Which I am so glad off...worry about him and coughs like that! Now if the air quality around here would get better! We have had sunny weather for over a week but we really need some rain/storm b/c it helps clean out the smog! I think our colds would have been better if we hadn't had the low air quality. E now has a rash. Got it last night at some point. Only on her torso so far. We are waiting to see if it goes into chicken pox...we shall see. Canceled babysitting this morning b/c I wasn't too sure about it and didn't want to pass on something. It's nice to have a Weds morning around here. Hopefully going to get a few small things done.

Have a wonderful Weds!

Changes

Good afternoon! It is nice and sunny here...now if the air quality would get better it would most likely help N and S's asthma/cold issues. Pretty much everyone around here is on the mend. N still has a nasty cough, M is still getting better but went to work today, S is got a cough, and E is doing the best out of all of us.

Well now that I have told everyone around here that I needed to tell I can announce it on here. I will be starting to work for a new scrapbook store that will be opening it's doors at the end of February. It is called Archivers. You can look it up online. They have stores in tons of areas but this is the first one here. I will get paid more and get the hours I want/need. M is happy about the hours issue since we never knew what my schedule would be before. I start training/orientation tomorrow night. Then hopefully as the kids start school more next year I can work more during the day too. It's just a good opportunity all around. I'm excited but nervous all at the same time. :-) I have meet with the manager and I already know the assistant manager (have worked with her in the past), but not sure who else will be working there...will find out tomorrow night. Will be interesting to find out who I know.

Well time to go get some stuff done around the house. I have tons of stuff to clean up and go through. So should hop to it while N is at school.

New Furniture

Ok some of you have asked for a picture...so here it is. We are missing the love seat (in front of the window) and the ottoman (to the chair).

Sick Household Still

Well it's still a sick household around here. Yesterday N actually slept in. Then when he woke up you could tell he had a fever and his cough was worse. Took temp 100.5. Gave meds. Then about about an hour and half later noticed his fever was coming back. So called dr office to get him in. Got appt for 2:30. Then at 11:30a gave him more meds for the fever. Then he promptly fell asleep. Took him to our bed. E did not like that! She wanted N to be with her. :-) Had to bribe her with Curious George so she would let him sleep. An hour later noticed N's temp not going down. Took it again. Was 102.5. So called dr office. Was told to wake him up and give him motrin this time and come in a little early to the appt. Took a little bit to wake him up but he did and knew who I was. So gave him motrin...took awhile to convince him to take it. Then called M and asked him he could come home b/c N wouldn't leave me and didn't know how I would do the dr appt with him clinging to me and E off running. :-) M came home and then we left. Dr listened to him and said his lungs sounded ok for now but to put him on his albuetrol machine for a few days to make sure it doesn't get worse. Then told us that the fever and cold is going around town. Can you believe this. Kids are getting temps of 101-104 for 3-5 days long!!!! Just to let it run it's course and only give Tylenol/motrin if he is uncomfortable. Then gave me a perscription for amoxicillian in case he gets worse. Which will be filled today b/c last night was not a good night for sleep. N wanted to sleep on our floor and then at 2am asked to go back to his bed. He did not sleep well at all. Then all morning he has said on and off that his ear hurts. :-( Today will be a good day for naps! S definitely needs it since have to work the late crop tonight 5:30-midnight. This is a sick household and we won't be doing much this weekend! Just glad S doesn't have to work!

The new furniture came yesterday! Luckily a little before 5pm so we didn't have to wait around all night for it to come. But no one mentioned until last night that the love seat and ottoman are missing. Got put on the wrong truck I guess and won't be here until Feb 5. So right now we have the couch, chair, coffee table and end tables. We love it! The kids so far are doing well with new rules about sippy cups and such. Have a table cloth over the coffee table until I can get around to getting a piece of glass to cover it.

Leaving you with a picture that shows the new couch and the sick kids. The couch is actually an olive green...sometimes looks brown in the pictures.

Bare Living Room

Well by 6pm tonight our living room will be bare. I just took a picture of our "old" furniture. We have someone coming to pick the couch, coffee table and end table tonight. Someone else will use it for awhile and hopefully last for a little while for them. Tonight I guess I will actually need to sit at my scrapping desk and maybe get some things done. :-) Then tomorrow morning it will be cleaning carpets and getting ready for the new stuff. We won't get it until sometime between 5-8pm and hopefully it's on the 5pm side. I don't think the kids will go to bed w/o seeing it first. :-)

Well today E is doing better but N has started to cough. Every time he coughs I worry about his asthma...I know I shouldn't worry all the time but guess that's what mom's do. :-)

Yesterday we were at the school district preschool. Watching N inside there and all the other kids around him. Made me realize how fast he is growing up. It hit me for a second that he will be in school all the time starting next year. I mean yes he will be only half day but still it's the beginning. Then before I know it E will be there. It is exciting that they are growing up and new things to come but sometimes I want them to be the cuddly little kids that use to cuddle with us no problem and not want to go play. We are both so glad that they get along so well. I hope it lasts thru school years too. I want to know that they are always looking out for each other. I remember looking out for my sister and her looking out for me. I mean yes we couldn't stand each other alot of times but if something happened we would stick up for each other.

Okay better quite thinking about that for now other wise it will get to me. :-)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Sickness Going around the House

Well a bad cold is going around this household now. E started with it about 10 days ago. N has had it on and off...his seems to be okay other then a cough once in awhile. M & S woke up yesterday with it. E is now on antibiotics b/c of a very sore throat and cough that won't go away. Hopefully by the weekend we will all be feeling better.

Soon we will have pictures of our new furniture. We thought it wouldn't be in until Weds and then delivered on the weekend. Got the call yesterday that it was in and will be delivered on Thursday. So working on getting rid of the old stuff and reorganizing some things. Our living room will be crowded but cozy/comfortable. M & S are nervous about the kids with it. But plan to get glass top for the new coffee table (so kids can still run their cars on there w/o us worrying). Then there will be some new rules for the kids but hopefully they will learn them fast and why they are in place. Hoping to have the new stuff gone by tomorrow afternoon so I can clean the carpet before the new stuff comes.

Kids are getting more and more into board games. It's nice to watch them play together with them. We were all getting tired of Chutes & Ladders (only one the kids could play together with). So now we have Candy Land, Dora ABC, and just got at the 2nd hand store today Operation. Hopefully those will keep them busy for awhile. :-) Atleast they understand that they can't win every time. It's nice to hear N say good job to whoever won and be nice about it. We don't want him to ever be a sore loser...know that will be harder to teach when he gets into sports (hopefully this summer). But hopefully we will always be able to teach him that winning is not everything...it's have fun.

Well off to take N to school. Which he still loves and we are grateful for that!

Brrrr!!!

It was cold this morning! M and I noticed it was colder last night when we were watching Magnum reruns (Netflixs). This morning we woke up at 3 degrees and right now I think it is like 20 degrees b/c the sun has finally gotten up in the air totally.

I hope everyone has warmer weather then us! Yes mom and dad I know you guys are nice and warm. :-)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well today is my birthday and so far it has gone very well. The kids did get up at 5am which was not cool since I was not home from work until 12:45am and Matt didn't go to bed until 11:45pm. :-) The kids and M gave me a couple of movies and 4 dipping bowls to go with my fiestaware. Then we headed out to look at couches. We weren't totally sold on the light brown one we saw the other night. So went to Ennis (way too fancy for us) and then onto Ashley Furniture. We found a couple that we liked. Narrowed it down to one. Went back and looked at the other one just in case. Came back and got the one at Ashley plus a coffee/end table set that matches our entertainment center and the coffee table has the lift top! The couch, love seat, and Chair w/ottoman are a dark green. They will be a tight fit in our living room but it will work and we would rather have the set for a bigger house then worry about trying to match later and such. We have two weeks before it will be in town for delivery (comes up from CA). So have two weeks to get rid of the other stuff and do some rearranging of other things. The kids are in for a rude awakening with new rules and such. :-) But they will learn. The name of the couch set is Durapella - Olive (microfiber) and the name of the Coffee table set is Mendam. Both M and I are nervous about having new furniture but it needed to be done b/c our old couch just won't hold up anymore. ..can't patch it anymore. :-)

Then it was home and time to relax some. M went and took a nap. The kids had fallen asleep in the car so no such luck there. Plus I needed to pack my stuff for tonight's crop. I am excited to be able to go and have time to scrap my own stuff instead of helping others. We are going to go as a family out for ice cream before I go scrapping so that will be nice.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Love to all!

Snow and Helping Hand

Well yesterday was a very interesting day! We woke up to snow. Thursdays are our day to go with M for coffee before he has to go to work. It's nice b/c we all get to sit down together and relax some. Plus it's a routine that the kids love. E never likes M to go to work afterwards. :-) Well traffic was ok when we went...a little before rush hour. I love how the van handles in snow. I mean you just have to be careful is all. We watched a little truck slide his back end around two different times just b/c he didn't want to go slow. Stupid!!! Anyways, the kids and I came back to the house and M went to work. Traffic was bad then. Took forever to get anywhere but that is fine as long as people drive carefully. Anyways, the kids and I got home and then waited about 30 min for rush hour to be over and stuff. We needed to head to the pet store to get a new fish and return the dead one from the day before...had only lived overnight. Plus get a new algea eater, since we found out that snails like to reproduce big time!!!! I had to totally take the whole aquarium apart and boil most of it for cleaning. Never going to get snails again!!!! They can reproduce on their own...bet some of you didn't know that!!! :-)

Anyways, we headed down State street. There was a minivan in front of us about 10 car lengths and a truck in the other lane headed our direction...almost directly next to the minivan...just about 1 car length behind. Now thanks to my dad teaching me driving (always looking at side streets and such for other cars) I right then saw a truck with one of those construction (little white) trailers pull out to take a left across our lanes. There was not enough room for him to do that in that weather!!! The truck got thru it...not quite sure how b/c I was watching the minivan. She almost hit the trailer. She was not going very fast at all...I was going about 30 and my guess is she was doing about that. She tried to stop but it didn't work...she slide right off the road up onto the concrete barrier that was there for the ditch. All I could think of was there kids in there???? I turned and pulled down the street. Told the kids I needed to see if the person was ok. Locked the doors and ran with my cell phone b/c at that point she was falling out of the passenger seat and no one else had stopped as of yet. Think I was the first there. Got 911 while I am watching the guy that caused this keep going down state street. Dispatcher got EMS on the way and then switched over to police dispatch for a description of the truck. Luckily by this time the guy that had to swerve to miss too was there. He was much better at describing a truck then I am...I have no idea about truck names and such. Anyways, I am also glad that I always keep blankets in the back of the van. Got those and used them for a pillow and keeping the lady warm. By this time tons of people were stopping (that didn't really need to be there). One person that I am glad stopped was an ER nurse on her way home from work. I knew the lady was okay other then a broken ankle and then maybe some neck trauma. But just calming her down I couldn't get her to calm down. I was busy calling her husband and such. By this time too I had the kids watching a movie in the van with the heat on. I will tell you what my kids are great in a situation like that! They totally understood...at least N was explaining to E about how the lady was hurt and needed help. Anyways, we had fireman, ems, and 3 policemen there. (Nathan loved that! He kept asking how were they going to get the van down.) After the lady was taken in the ambulance and the fireman were gone b/c the van just needed to be pulled down by a tow truck...wasn't leaking anything. The policeman came and talked to me. Me and the other guy that missed the guy were the main witnesses. Got to fill out a report and everything. Come to find out that they couldn't find the guy b/c the traffic was so bumper to bumper going that direction that they just couldn't get thru it. But me and another guy knew the truck. Another guy had recognized the truck from being most likely from the neighbor next to him just down that street. I had recognized it just from driving around there. So the policeman said they would be sending cars around to case the neighborhoods to see if they could find it. If we saw it we have a number to call and case number. Just need to get the license number. I guess in Idaho that is considered a hit & run...even though there was no contact between the two cars they guy caused it and left the scene. I just can't believe he did not see it happen!!!! I can't believe he had tried to pull out that way!!! Anyways, I am just glad that the lady had just dropped off her kids at school and no one else was in the car. I know that would have shook up any kid more then an adult! Plus I am so thankful that I had my dad teach me driving for situations like that! Thanks dad!!!

I have promised M now that I won't go out that early if it has snowed until rush hour is over or the sun is out melting it. :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!! I have to work a night club tonight. Then tomorrow we are going couch shopping some more. Then out to lunch and ice cream for my birthday...just something fun. Then I am off to crop the night away with some friends! That reminds me I should pack my stuff today since I most likely will not have time tomorrow. :-)

A New Year

Well it is already the 2nd week of January. Time can sure fly by around here! We had a great time at Christmas. Spent it with M's family. N & E had alot of fun. N loved having his cousins around. E loved everyone that was giving her attention. :-) It was nice to see everyone that we have not seen for quite some time. N & E were definitely spoiled. I am still going thru old toys and trying to decide what goes or stays. Some new toys are still at the top of the closet until we get bored with the ones we have. E's favotire toy right now is her dollhouse...even though alot of times its my little ponies playing in there. :-) N's favorite toy goes back and forth. He loves the Hummer with a trailer and 4 wheeler to tow. Then there is a great geography world toy that both kids love.

M has been busy with work. I have been busy with getting back into a routine and doing a winter cleaning out of the house. (Still not even close to done.) N and I are both loving that school started again. N missed his friends and you can tell he loves school. For Kindergarten we need to try to get a morning slot. He just loves mornings so much more. All morning he will constantly ask me when school is. N and I are having our ins and outs. I know one day I will look back and laugh/wonder about these days. Right now though, it is hard. He is just going thru a period of testing both M and I. I think me more then M. I think it's so hard as a parent to follow thru b/c it's not always the best solution for you as the parent (at that moment...late to something for example) but we know in the long run it for the best! And boy can he be stubborn...one day I told him all the toys would be taken away that were cleaned up. He said "okay". He didn't like it later though. :-)

Well M and I are busy looking for a new couch. Thanks to Christmas/birthday money for both of us we can seriously consider this. Which is a good thing since the one we have had since we got married (was used then too) is finally on it's last legs. At least it lasted both kids being really small. We took one day and looked by ourselves while the babysitter watched the kids. Was a nice afternoon out for us. We came up with two options then, but came to realize that one is too big. So took the kids last night and went and looked at two more places and came up with another option. The kids loved going to the furniture store (couch store as N puts it). We are still going to think about it and maybe look at another couple of places.

We are trying to potty training with E but not so good so far. Not pushing it too hard. She did pick out some little pony underwear and loves to look at them. And so far she likes to sit on the potty once in awhile but nothing so far. Not even for candy. :-) She told me the other night don't want any candy. She definitely knows her mind. If she doesn't want to do it then she won't. Not even her brother can push her to do it. :-) E is also loving the time that N is at school. She is such a chatterbox with me when we are out on errands by ourselves. It's fun to see her do stuff and talk w/o N around. Since alot of times N just takes over the conversation or play time.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Janaury and getting back into "regular" routines after all the holidays.