Tyler vs. a basketball

And the basketball wins.....

I got a call from the school on Friday saying he jammed his finger in P.E. They put him on the phone & after he confessed his hopes that this would effect his ability to take finals, I had them send him back to class. I was just relieved it wasn't the Dean!

When he got home we taped it & shortly after he was off for the Father-Son Camp Out. He stayed with some friends after Dave left with the littler boys & went rock climbing with a group of them.

When he got home from camping, I took another look at it & it was still very swollen but now it was all black & blue too. I decided to take him in to Urgent Care (against Ty's doc's offices wishes....they wanted me to take him to the ER & even had the nerve to tell me which ones I had to choose from! There was a $200 difference in co-pays....um, I think I'll go with my own idea thankyouverymuch!!) where they could x-ray it to make sure this assumed break wasn't near any growth plates.

The doc was so casual; the office staff referred to him by his first name, if that tells you anything. He seemed more like an animal doc than a people doc. LOL Nice guy, though. :)

After examining him & taking several x-rays, it was determined he did fracture it & that his tendon ripped away from the bone. Ty was pretty thrilled about it. He was probably still thinking of ways this could help him with that situation with his finals.

So to recap, Ty went camping & then ROCK CLIMBING with this broken finger before getting it in a splint!! Crazy kid! The only complaints from him have been about it throbbing occasionally. I broke my finger once. It really hurt! I don't know how he's managing not to complain more, but I'll take it. One less complainer is F.I.N.E. by me!! ;)

Father-Son Camp Out

This past weekend Dave took the boys on their first ever camp out. We've never been camping as a family, but have plans to do so in the future. I'm not very outdoors-y but I have fond memories of the few camping trips I went on as a child & I want the kids to be able to have those kind of experiences as well. I don't think I ever enjoyed even one of those camping trips at the time (I never enjoy going without the basics like indoor plumbing, toilet seats that aren't made of metal, etc.), but it's nice to think back on them.

Dave had about as good of a time as can be expected. I don't think anyone got much sleep & no one thought to bring the manual pump for the air mattress, so what sleep they got must have been very uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Hayleah & I snuggled up in a comfy bed & slept in until 8 a.m.! That was a record for her, I think.

Their campsite buddies had a member of their party who was very reluctant to be there. He cried/demanded he go home to his mommy throughout the night. No fun for anyone.

Hopefully, in time, they will all appreciate the trip after they can see it with different eyes. Right now I don't think they are at all interested in making any plans for a repeat in the near future. :P

SO quiet!!

It's eerie.

Dave took the boys on their first EVER camping trip. It's the ward (stake?) father/son camp out tonight. Hayleah, Ginger & I had a girls night of our own, watching Princess Ariel & recapping the going's on of Atlantica back & forth to one another at regular intervals.

Ginger wasn't too in to our little party, but Hayleah & I had loads of fun, snuggling up together with her "boo" & sucking our thumbs & eating Chinese take-out.

We called Dave just before having prayer & scripture study & reading a book, but he must have left the phone in the car. Now that Hayleah's in bed it's just too quiet. I've triple checked the locks, silently listened to the next door neighbor's semi-disturbing party, & have resigned myself to working on a few Ebay auctions.

Is this what life was like before kids? I keep saying this....it's just too quiet.

Going Private ~ sbm1001@gmail.com

The world & certain people in it are C*R*A*Z*Y!! Email me at sbm1001@gmail.com if you want access.

Hair pretties look good anywhere

Even on Daddy.

At least that's what Hayleah thinks.

When she was unsuccessful at clipping a "pretty", as she calls them, to his head (there hasn't been enough hair up there for any pretties for a long time....I should know ;) ), she told him to pull his shirt up because there's enough hair under there.

:-O

Another tooth & a concussion

Early Tuesday morning, I'm alerted to the fact that Hayleah has hurt herself again. She is a rough & tumble girl, but can be very sensitive if the time of day is right. Usually, this early in the day, there's not much that phases her. Just a few days before she skidded across the back patio on her face & barely mentioned it in passing. But today was different.

I could tell she was hurt, but it didn't really register how hurt she was until I spent a few minutes with her.

She likes to perch herself on the back of the couch. It's something we get on all the kids for, but when we're out of sight they tend to do it anyway.

Apparently she fell backwards off the couch on to the tile & cracked her little head. I felt a good-sized knot on the side of her head. It wasn't cause for much alarm. We've seen some knots before & this wasn't the worst yet, but still something was off.

She wouldn't stop crying. She didn't even want her thumb (so rare for her). She was acting really drowsy & it was barely 8 a.m. when this happened. She cried a strange cry for almost 2 hours & protested even more loudly if I dared set her down for even a moment. After about 30 min. of the crying I called Dave to tell him what had happened & to let him know I was probably going to take her to the doctor.



I called the doc's office & got an appointment with our favorite PA there. It was a struggle to keep her awake. Just before leaving for the doc's, around 10, she threw up. That was the final symptom that convinced me it wouldn't be a waisted trip to the doc's. We headed off & I gave her a popcycle to keep her awake in the car (messy but effective).


By the time we made it to the doc's, she was not only forming coherent sentences, but she was singing & acting very much like her self. It was a complete turn-around from earlier so, along with the blessing Dave gave her (he came home from work to help with the other kids while I took her in) that helped ease some of my concerns.


The PA confirmed what I already knew, said she was sure it wasn't a skull fracture since she couldn't feel any fluid on the spot where she hit her head, but wanted us to head over to the ER for a CT Scan "just in case".


I called Dave & told him what she said, prayed about it for a while, & headed home instead of the ER. "Just in case" has its place, but I pretty much knew what to expect the ER doc to tell me to do when I took her home. I knew it wasn't serious enough for them to keep her, so we headed home to keep an eye on her instead of going to the ER. I decided I would take her in if she stopped acting normal & just keep her glued to my side the rest of the day.


When we got home, Jordan proudly showed me his second lost tooth. He was pretty excited about it & the tooth fairy was just as generous with the second tooth as she was with the first. I thought these teeth were worth progressively less more are lost, but what do I know?!

Hayleah is totally fine today. In fact, other than a little extra crabbiness (probably from me hovering over her & not letting her do much other than sit down....that's hard on a 2 year old!) she's been fine since we left the doc's office. Thank goodness for that!

Jo is still thrilled to have lost another tooth & keeps asking deep questions about them that I don't know how to answer. An example:

J: Do teeth grow?

Me: Yes, um, sort of. Well, they don't always grow. But yeah, they grow. (not at all confusing...)

J: Well if they don't grow then how do they come out after the little teeth fall out?

Me: They push themselves out.

J: (laughing) Teeth can't push. What do they push? Each other?

Me: Well, they can push each other out of alignment, making them crooked.

J: (laughing at me some more) What do they shove? Each other? (laughing at the ridiculous image I'm sure going through his head)

Me: Um, sort of.

My lame attempts to explain it in terms that didn't sound ridiculous to him went on for another 10 min., at least. We didn't get anywhere.

It's confusing, trying to explain things to inquisitive 6 year olds. I felt pretty dumb after that conversation. I couldn't seem to find the right verbs to explain how teeth come out & all my attempts were met with his laughter.

Stinkin' kid.

"Girl Cracked"

Jo swears he's in love with a little girl in his class at school. Her name is Janet & she's a smart, sweet girl who's very affectionate with everyone around her. She often shares candies & various other goodies with Jo at school & he's become very attached to her.

Just before track break, we ran in to Janet & her sister & dad (maybe grandpa??) at Walgreens after school. After squeals of delight & lots of animated chatting (on Jo's part), he asked Janet for her phone number. By this time we were up at the register & the clerk though it was so cute, she even supplied some blank register paper & a pen for him.

He's been dying to call her so finally I let him. He called a few times but only got her answering machine. All she probably heard was "Hi Janet" & a bunch of arguing about how he didn't know what else to say & how he wanted me to finish leaving the message because he just couldn't say it right. That went on for a few minutes & it was his third time calling (he's never really done the answering machine thing & didn't know what was going on when asked to leave a message after the beep), so I didn't let him call again that day.

The next day he was willing to run through what he would need to say if the phone beeped at him again, so she would know to call him back. He stumbled his way through the actual call & left a message. She called him right back. She's 7 & already screening calls....

I digress....

They spoke for over 30 minutes (what two first graders could possibly have to say for that length of time is beyond me!), exchanged addresses, professed love, giggled a lot, asked one another if they could come over to play, professed more love, etc. It was exhausting just listening to, though highly amusing.

In Mrs. Johnson's first grade class at school, he sits at desk grouping of three....right between two girls. One of them is Janet. The other one is not spoken of because he's not fond of her at all. But Janet.....sound the trumpets because glory of all glories; she's somethin' else!

Yesterday, on the way home from church, Dave asked Jo if he likes Janet. He professed his love for her & went on to tell us "not to repeat this", but that he's "girl cracked". At least that's what it sounded like to us up in the front of the car. It was 104 out & the air was blasting, making it hard to hear much of anything, so after we laughed like mad & made him repeat it several times, we figured out he was actually saying he's "girl trapped" (meaning he's a Jordan sandwich).

Same thing.

LOL

Punch balloons

I remember loving these fun, noisy balloons as a child. It's so exciting when you get them going really fast....faces in the room just light up.

Last week Jordan got $5 for his first tooth. It was definitely burning a hole in his pocket so I took him to Target. We spent way too much time in the dollar section, but he finally settled on some Marigold seeds (the kid has a green thumb....what can I say??) to sew & give to his teacher, Mrs. Johnson, when he returns from track break, & 2 packages of punch balloons.

Each package contained 2 balloons & he was excited to have enough money to buy each of his brothers & sister something with his tooth money. He's thoughtful like that. :)

We finally broke them out of their packages today & Jo excitedly blew them up while waiting for L & H to wake up. The were thrilled to wake to something so fun. It was nice for me, at first, because this gave me a chance to finish my scripture study without much interruption (a rarity!).

Someone had to show the littler kids how to use them, as they had never done this before. Their faces were....well, excited isn't the right word....glowing with something more than excitement. It took me back to my own childhood & how fun this activity was for me.

L got the hang of it pretty quickly (what can I say....he's a natural athlete....we all know balloon punching should be a sport) but H couldn't quite get it. Her efforts were most amusing, to say the least. I wish I would have thought to get it on video. She was swinging it madly, trying to get it going, but finally settled for her own version of it. It was all very funny & cute. :)

So, kudos to my little generous man Jo, for his brilliance in picking out dollar items. I couldn't have done any better myself!

New Shop!

As if I didn't already have enough things to juggle, I decided to try to sell some of my hair bow, flower, & little girls jewelry creations. I've been doing the bracelets for a while now, but recently got in to the bow making & love doing it!

I always make at least two of everything for both Hayleah & my niece Ariel, so I figure what's one more? It's fun & I love having a new creative outlet!

I added a link on the sidebar to my shop, if anyone wants to browse. Etsy has so many great shops....I'm excited to add my stuff there too!

Mother's Day Madness

First off, Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there. That includes those of you without children! Yes, I know that probably doesn't make sense to most, but if you're one of those without....well, you get the picture.

Last night I ran around until almost 11 p.m., trying to find another dozen flowers & pots to put them in for the other nursery in our ward. I had our nursery's gifts done, but I found out yesterday the other nursery didn't have stuff for Mother's Day. After getting home & doing some last minute stuff, I finally put myself to bed, much later than I should have, only to have a busy mind & not be able to fall to sleep.

Luckily, Logan must have been aware of my need to do something to take my mind off all the things keeping me awake, so he woke up around 2 with an earache. He finally managed to doze off around 4.

Fast forward almost a whole 3 hours later & I hear kids demanding food in the kitchen. After making everyone some bagels, I was bombarded with lots of love & presents of chocolate & slippers.

It was a good thing too, because I was really needing both of those at the moment. ;)

Logan & Hayleah both stayed home from church with Dave since they weren't feeling well. It was weird to only have 2 kids at church. But in a nice way. Much less hectic!

My little flower/hand print/chocolate project for the Nursery kids' mom's worked out well. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves making their little craft & they were really excited when I revealed the surprise (flowers) they were each going to get for their mom's.

It was a bit hectic with just me in their today, but the time flew & the kids & I really had a good time together.

After I got home from church & helped Logan find his happy place, things were much better. He & I were singing (one of his most favorite things to do) & he told me afterwards his ear "farted". Later I found evidence that his eardrum must have ruptured. At least he's not in pain anymore. :)

And finally, to close out my day I've just savored a piece of Lindt Creme Bruilee chocolate....yum! And I didn't even have to share it with anyone or fight anyone off or sneak-eat it because of little people & their tendencies to complain when Mom's being greedy.

:) Nice day. :)

A Tooth & a Testimony

Almost 6 years to the day, Jordan (at about 6 years, 8 months, 9 days & 11 hours old) FINALLY lost his first tooth. It's been a long time coming. Those two bottom front teeth have been wiggly for what feels like forever, if you ask Jo. For the last month, every day before going to school he would say "Mom, I really hope my tooth falls out at school today". All that was needed was for track break to get here & viola! Naturally. ;)

Here's some pics of him looking pretty pleased with himself.

Unfortunately he forgot to take the tooth with him to bed last night, so the Tooth Fairy had to leave him a note. Sometime in the middle of the night I awake to Jo whispering "Dad"..."Dad"..."Dad"..."Dad"....

Grrrr.

I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who was awakened by our nighttime visitor.

He wanted to say he'd forgotten to put his tooth under his pillow. Okay, I sort of already knew that. But then he wanted to have a conversation/argument about whether or not the Tooth Fairy might have already come or not.

Grrrr.

He went back to bed eventually, after life & death threats from me, & woke up to find the note.

Today, he made a little pouch out of paper & staples (I can't every seem to keep the kid away from my stapler) & wrote a note on it, so there would be no confusion. It says " Tooth Fairy, my tooth is in here. Love, Jordan".

On to the testimony part....

We have family scripture study & prayer each night with the kids. Each night Dave, Ty & I trade off on whose turn it is. A few weeks ago I got the bright idea to ask Jo to "help" me read, since it was my turn that night. He's a helper....he LOVES to help. Reading is the bain of his existence. Coming from an avid reader, this is practically blasphemy & is something I'm really working hard to change.

Thankfully, Jo's a typical male & you can trick him in to doing just about anything if you phrase it just right. :) It's all about how you say it....

So, he's excited to help me & he gets to read the words he knows & I read the ones he doesn't. He repeated the words he didn't know after I said them & by the end of our reading that night he had at least 3 new words he could recognize right away.

We gave him a new Book of Mormon in his Easter basket along with some marking pencils (because who doesn't love to mark ever letter 'F' in the whole book??). Since then he has, almost every day, sat down with his scriptures. He goes through & tries to sound out the words he doesn't know, which was like pulling teeth to try to get him to do before, & highlights the words he does know.

It's not pretty, but I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with how far his reading has come in just this past few weeks! His sight word knowledge has grown by leaps & bounds, as well as his vocabulary!!

So, not only is it my testimony that the Book is true, but that it has great potential to help any struggling child with their reading skills. :)

I couldn't be more pleased! :D

Scrapbook Pages

A few new scrapbook pages I've neglected to add to the blog until today...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Ty & Hayleah. These two are almost always friends. :)

Hayleah's always in "pose-mode", often followed by some really cheesy look or dance to get a laugh.

My Mom & her friend Debbie, whom she grew up with, when they both came for a visit in February.

I took a lot of pictures this day. Not because we were having so much fun at the Springs Preserve, but because her hair turned out too cute!

Logan & Hayleah are almost always best friends. They do almost everything together & Hayleah is always trying to be just like her big brother.

I love how sweet Logan is with Dave. He's always telling him he's his "besss friend". He frequently shows his love in these kinds of sweet expressions of tender kindness.

Though Hayleah's more of a Mommy's girl, she has her sweet moments with Daddy. I love catching them! :)