Santa Baby!!!

Crazy Little Fun

Last night about 6 o'clock p.m. UPS delivered a box to my door. Two boxes actually. Merry Christmas! I love getting packages....

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things!

But I digress. So inside one package was Christmas presents and lots and lots of packing peanuts. Now I remember as a child my mother getting packages and never letting us play with those awesome peanuts. How Rude.
Really what could go wrong?

Don't be fooled by the innocent looking smiles. These children are anything but innocent. They turned into frothing-at-the-mouth lunatics. Grandma and Grandpa can attest as they heard the commotion in the background.

And now we know why mom never let us play with the packing peanuts....

For those who are intensly curious the other package contained gourmet meat from Omaha Steaks! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa P!

Precarious? Nah....

Yes, she is asleep up there. I was making dinner and looked over to see this. What a stink bug.

Also, A was up in her bed taking a nap. Or so I thought. I realized I wasn't sure where K was so I went looking. This is what I found.

Just Precious!

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks our seventh wedding anniversary. Wow. I so remember being newly weds and looking in awe at the couple three apartments down who had been married for three! whole! years! Ha.
So seven years. We were contemplating that as we drove home from shopping yesterday. Seven years and three kids later...Our back seat is full. Roy bought that car just shortly before we got married (or right after his mission. Whatever.) Now it is full and there's no more room.
We have a house. We have a mortgage. We have a career. We have much student debt. We are not the young newly married couple. Nope. We have taken it to the next level. We are the young family. And that's okay.
So to my super-wonderful Roy (such a romantic name...) I love you and can't wait to see what the next seven years bring.

BTW on the topic of names...
We were in Sunday School and Roy made a comment. Our SS teacher, who is quite funny, asked his name. When Roy said, "Roy" the SS said, "No it isn't. .. *brief pause* Is it?" I kid you not.

Also, I talked with an old roommate today! I am so psyched about connecting with old friends. I love to hear their voices and just snag a piece of the past. Thanks so much Sarah for getting a Facebook and hooking me up with Danielle again!

Finally! House Pictures!

Living room (Love the tree? We do! It rocks living in a place where you can go cut our own tree! Don't get that in the southwest!)

Family/Dining Room

Kitchen

View from upstairs

Boy's room

Girls' room

Master Bedroom


Master Bathroom

The carnage which is the playroom. (downstairs)


Someday I hope to actually have stuff on the walls. The kids rooms have wallpaper borders that will someday be put up...someday...
There is another bedroom (white walls, lots of boxes) a full bathroom and a half bath with the laundry room as well as a few closets I didn't take pictures of. I figured this would be good enough.

Broken Arm Update

I took A to the Pediatric Orthopedic today. He was great. He took X-rays and determined that yes, her arm is still broken but is healing nicely. He said we no longer have to keep it bound down to her side with ACE Bandages. She is lucky she's a baby because babies heal quickly. Everything is lined up nicely and we don't have to go back again.
Whew! That's great. Now I just have to keep the K from pulling, twisting or otherwise re-injuring that arm. That's the hard part!

Our Trip

It comes to a close tomorrow. I always think I'm taking so many pictures, but I didn't. I didn't take pictures with the Great Grandparents. I didn't take pictures with Grandma and Grandpa B or Uncle Justin. No pics from the sandbox, walking the dog, driving the tractor (a small feet-propelled bit of plastic) or various other insignificant but fun activities. Below are the ones I did manage to take though. Enjoy!

Just a quick blurp

One of my favorite blogs, Mormon Mommy Blogs is doing a giveaway a day. Today they showcasing Sweet Cake Bake Shop which is 100% gluten free sweets! I love this for my dear friend Emily. I would love to try some of their stuff and see if it is as good as they promise. Anyway, check it out!

Now this day is over.

To finish out my day, I made rolls that didn't rise and cinnamon rolls that we never even bothered baking. I discovered that this is actually my 100th post. I went to the emergency roomand saw the terrible xray proving just how very very wrong I was about A's arm not being broken. Got a hot fudge brownie shake that wasn't properly mixed and stayed up until 2 am talking with an old friend. Good night.

Is this day over yet?

This is my 100th post! I was going to do something awesome like 100 ways I am amazing or some other equally fascinating something. I'm too tired. Plus I want to share my day with you.

*Sigh*

This morning K wanted to help roll A over. So she did. It is awkward and rough but A takes it like a trooper. Really, the girl is tough. Not long after, A was on her tummy and D wanted to help her roll over. (A can roll from her back to her tummy but then she is stuck :)
In his overzealous, loving way D rolled her over and this time A's shoulder and arm got pinned under her. This too has happened before. However, when I freed A's arm it was very limp and at an odd angle....
She didn't break it (I'm pretty sure but I didn't actually take her out for X-rays). Across the street from Mom and Dad's house is the "neighborhood nurse". I've known Cindy for as long as I can remember and we headed over there for a preliminary medical opinion. After some discussion, prodding, wiggling and much crying (not by me thankyouverymuch!) we determined to let A take a nap and see how things go.
After her nap, A seemed to be better. Her arm still hurts but we pinned it down with an ace bandage. This interfers with her thumb/other thumb/back to the first thumb sucking pattern. Mostly she is okay but very sad and sensitive. An old high school friend is coming over tonight. She is an Occupational Therapist at Primary Children's Hospital. I totally plan on exploiting her skills for free!

Also, it is snowing. And windy. Snow breeds excitement and wanting to play. Wind breeds cold cold cold! So now I have squirrely kids bouncing off walls and annoying people.

Oh, and it's BYU football today. Uh, I don't know how many of you follow BYU football but it usually involves much yelling, grumping and possibly throwing of objects at this house. Especially when BYU is playing poorly, as they were today.

Um, what else? Oh yea, D came in with two snowballs to make "snowball shakes". In a fit of "I'm gonna be the cool mom who lets her kids experience things" I threw it in the Magic Bullet, added some sugar, vanilla and Nesquick powder. D loved it. I'm still having waves of heebie-geebies...

K burned her arm last night. We made cookies and she tried to get a cookie off the pan that just came out of the oven. It is okay. She cried for a while and has mostly recovered. So today I thought I would take the gauze off. I did. She needed more. Couldn't live with out more gauze. Oh her owwie. Get the gauze. So I did.

K also has taken to going downstairs on her stomach. She does okay but biffed it and flipped over and hit the wall the last time. Good thing kids have soft bones. If I did that I would probably be in traction.

Oh yes, my personal favorite from today. Dutchess, mom and dad's black lab/mutt dog, was sitting in the living room. She turned her head to go out of the room just as D came flying up the stairs like a bat out of the basement. Crack. They headbutted each other. We all laughed, except D who now has a goose egg right in the middle of his head. And Dutchess.

On the upside, no one has been to the hospital -- yet. (pray for me) No one has totally snapped and been carried away to the loony bin -- yet. BYU is done playing, and they won. Barely.

Should that picture have even been there?

I was just on Facebook and someone had sent me a cause to join. It was against child abuse. I am very against child abuse so I clicked to join the cause--even though I usually don't join causes on Facebook because I really don't see the point. Anyway, I joined. After clicking the join or support or whatever button, my browser went to the "Thanks for joining our cause" screen. As it was a child abuse related cause, there was a picture of a child. This was a young child who had been terribly beaten on her face. I honestly nearly started crying.
Here's my issue. I abhor child abuse. The thought of children hurting nearly kills me. Honestly, I cry when I take my kids to get their shots. This picture sent chills down me and will probably stick with me for the rest of my life. I know there is abuse out there. I am not shutting my mind to it. I would take any child in a heartbeat. But I do not need to see the pictures to prove there are children hurting. Now I am wishing I hadn't joined the cause. Especially because I don't see how my clicking a button in Facebook helps any child anywhere.
What do you think?

Time Out for Women

Last weekend, I went to an awesome conference with some of the wonderful women in my life. The conference is called Time Out for Women and it is put on by Deseret Book. It really was great. I went to TOFW with a couple of goals. One of the biggest things I was hoping to get was a recharge from being around so many women who have the same goals, concerns, challenges, hopes as I do. I was feeling down about some of the things going on in the world and our country. I wanted to feel the spirit and companionship that comes from being with nearly 3,000 LDS women.

It is really hard to pick my favorite presenter. Mary Ellen Edmunds is just hilarious. She is able to convey a message of assurance and hope while making herself and everyone else laugh. The same was true of Emily Watts. The one that made me cry the most was Emily Freeman as she shared personal experiences of trials and depression. The one I took the most notes on was Jill C. Manning who talked about Pornography and teaching our children about pronography. She talked about teaching our children truth relating to our bodies, our home and our sacred sexuality. Really good talk.

Chieko Okazaki helped me with the concept of teaching children correct principles then letting them govern themselves as taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith. And Carolyn Rasmus spoke of the Atonement as a cover to protect and help us through this life.

The two musical presenters were very good. Who knew Hilary Weeks was so hilarious?!

The wonderful women who went with me:

my MIL, (me), my mom, Aunt Sue, her daughter Haylee (holding A), Aunt Linda, Grandma and Aunt Jewel Not pictured is Sue's SIL who insisted on taking the picture.

If any of you get a chance to go to a TOFW event, I would strongly recommend it. It is so great to go and be spiritually fed in a relaxed environment with a bunch of women with the same values!

Anecdotes

This weekend we spent some time at my Grandma and Grandpa's house. I want to record some stories from the kids. Feel free to read and enjoy.

Grandpa asked K if she was ready to lay down. Being 2 she said,"NO!" Being a worn out Grandpa, he laid down on her sleeping bag and promptly fell asleep. One thing you should know about my dad is that he tends to jump out of his skin when he gets woken up in even pleasant ways. So imagine how high he must have jumped with K jumped on top of him and woke him up! Great-Grandpa likes to tell this story and smiles when he tells how K just "laughed and laughed".


K woke up in the wee hours of the morning. She came to bed with me. About half an hour later I woke up to feed A. As I was feeding A, K was still awake and talking to me. She heard a noise and asked, "Issa cow?" (it's a cow?)
"No, its a rooster."
"Issa sooser?" she asked.
"Yes, a rooster."
Then she would lay there until the rooster crowed again. "Issa sooser."
She started asking me, "Dudin sleepy?"
"Yes, Uncle Justin is sleeping."
"D sleepy?"
"Yes, D's sleeping."
Silence for a moment then, "BUDDY SLEEPY?" (Very loud and excited like) (Buddy is Great-Grandpa's dog.)
"Yes, Buddy's sleeping."
It seems that everyone was sleeping but the 'soosers', K, her 'sisser' and me!

K was petting Great-Grandpa's dog. I asked, "Is that a dog?" Her response? "No, issa Buddy!"

Sunday, D slept in and stayed home with Great-Grandma while the rest of us went to church. When we got back, we started packing to head home. I asked if he was ready to go. He said, "No I want to stay for one more whole day!"

Great-Grandma asked Grandma, "How much does he read?" (referring to D). While D was staying with Great-Grandma, she got out a small box of cereal for him. He looked at it and told her, "I don't really want Banana-Nut Cheerios. I just want regular Cheerios." Great-Grandma was surprised at him knowing they were Banana-Nut Cheerios.

D is a particular child. He also loves trains. We took a train set down to Great-Grandma's house. While everyone was at church, D asked Great-Grandma to build a train track with him but she HAD to read the directions and do it right. (She couldn't read the directions so he waited until everyone got home.)

Saturday night we had a party for one of my uncle's at my grandma's house. My uncle has several kids who also have kids. One of the boy's is 10 years old. He was AWESOME with D. At first D was hiding under a table being shy. His cousin came and just kept playing with him until they were both running around like crazy, madmen. I love to see other kids being nice to my kid, ya know?

A was loved by all. I went to Time Out for Women (more to come on that later!) with 8 other wonderful women. Aunt Sue (who is practicing to become a grandma herself!) particularly enjoyed holding A. She would take A to the back and bounce her when she was fussy and snuggle her to put her to sleep. Grandma Pyatt snuggled her while she took a nap. Really, it's gotta be great to be a baby!

A postcard for my friends!

For those of you who have been here (or who still live here) you know what I'm talking about. Home Sweet Home!

I'm home visiting family for a few weeks. My mom drove up to pick us up last week. We spent the last two days driving south and here we are. *sigh* nothing like three kids in a car for two days :)

Actually they did great. Today we have just played and played. The kids jumped on the tramp, dug in the sandbox, swung (is that a word?) on the swings, built train tracks and teased their grandpa. Good times (noodle salad!).

Funny Kid Things:

"Well Grandma, if you are in a forest and it is raining, you must be in a rainforest!" -- D on the phone when grandma was driving to our house.

I dumped all of K's candy out of her pumpkin. I left D's candy in his Elmo bucket though. So tonight, K got a hold of D's Elmo and methodically transferred all his candy to her pumpkin so that her candy was no longer "all gone". The girl is a thinker, I tell you.

And sweet little A.......she is so big. Although she is not even four months old, we put her in the exersaucer and she kept herself upright and played. She thinks she is so big. Really, 4 months going on 8 months. Even the 6 month clothes are getting too small.... dang...

Last night grandma set up the Pack 'n Play for A to sleep in. K assumed it was for her and went to bed in it. Poor A was relegated to the floor. Tonight both D and K are sleeping down in the bunkbeds in Uncle Rick's room. (That's right Rick! D's on your bed. Hope he doesn't have an accident....)

I'm not dead. I'm just unpacking....

So I haven't blogged regularly. I tried to post some pictures a while back of the remodel. Didn't work. Stupid Blogger. Oh well, at least it is free right?
So someday I will post pictures. For now I am busy trying to remember why I didn't think it would be a big deal to move. I swear the last time I moved it only took two days to unpack and have everything in order. Here we are at four days and we're still in the "honey do you know where ____ is?"
There could be some reasons behind that...
First, last time I moved it was into an arachnid infested mold-hole loving referred to as "the Molding Creek Apartments". It was planned on being temperary. There was zero pressure when I arranged the kitchen because we are just going to move out again in 6 months. (Took 7...stupid slow bank...) Now, there is pressure. "Where should I put the Tupperware? What I if I don't like it there? What if the spices don't work there? I will have to rearrange the WHOLE KITCHEN!" I am paralized with planning...
Second, last time I moved it was into said mold-hole. Therefore, many things stayed packed. It was less of an unpacking as it was an artful display of box stacking.
Third, last time I moved I may have been pregnant, but I only had two kids. Now there's three. And the two year old is two. I know it's only been seven months since the last move but that is a long time when you've only had 28 months of development. The fighting/climbing/demanding/mess making have all advanced significantly. Oh yea, did I mention she's sick too...
Fourth, although I have paid for 10 hours YES. 10. HOURS. of cleaning there is still cleaning to do. How much cleaning could there be you ask? This is a logical question. We removed all the flooring, painted every. single. wall. (except for the master closet which has some built ins that our oversimulated paint brush didn't want to attempt.) took the toilets outside (waaaaaaay easier to spray them off with the hose and use massive amounts of bleach that way.), bought a new fridge...really how much could be left. Bwahahahahaha. (crazy white-coat-jello-drooling laugh) How about 6 hours spent cleaning three bathroom sinks, one soak tub, one walk-in shower, one regular tub/shower combo and two bathrooms worth of cabinets. Then there is the kitchen. Despite the fact that the lady who I paid spent four hours cleaning the kitchen cabinets (and they are soooooo much better!) there are still cabinets I don't even like to touch to open them. This doesn't make me want to put stuff away in said cabinet. I am starting to wonder about cabinet restoration. Last night, I tried an experiement. I rubbed dishsoap all over one of the most offensive cabinet doors. I went to bed. This morning, I scrubbed with scrub brush. Said cabinet is better but still feels greasy! How does one get their cabinets so dirty?! This cleaning does not take into account the stove. Oh the stove. Oh my.
So anyway. Not done unpacking yet. When I remove the boxes and get the moulding back around the floors and painter's tape off the ceiling I will post pictures. Perhaps before my baby graduates from high school. We'll see.

Update

Can't talk much right now.

Busy remodeling and getting ready to MOVE INTO MY HOUSE!!!

p.s. no more painting with the kids around.... ESPECIALLY THE SECOND ONE!!!

Maybe he'll get a brother?

We were at the store looking for baby powder. As soon as we walked up to the baby powder shelf, D exclaimed, "Baby Magic! I've been wanting some of that! We should buy Baby Magic for A!"

I asked him what he thought it would do. He said he didn't know but we should take it home and see. Later he read the label and told me it would make A soft and dry.

Tonight when I changed A's diaper, D was right by my side. He was so excited to see what Baby Magic would do. After I finished changing A's diaper, D rubbed his finger on A's body and declared that she was indeed soft and dry! Apparently it works.

Look what I just did!

I love this food site! It regularly has awesome ideas I want to try like this, or this, or this. Today we tried these muffins. They are SUPER easy with only two main ingredients. I actually made mini muffins. I also only did half a batch. So here's what I did.

1 spice cake mix

1 15oz can of pumpkin

I mixed these two together. Then I used a little cookie scoop to dish them into the mini muffin pan and sprinkled on a streusel topping made of 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 3 Tbls. chilled butter. (I thought I was using so much. Next time, I would be much more generous with the streusel topping and maybe press it in a little bit.)

Baked 'em for about 10 minutes at 350*

In the remaining cake mixture I stirred in some mini chocolate chips. Scooped them into the muffin tin (I added some regular choc chips to the top for 'decorative purposes'. Totally unnecessary and really didn't help); baked for about 10 minutes and ta-da! I'm a gourmet muffin chef!

Extra bonus? (Like these need one!) I can let the demanding 2 year old eat all the dough she wants because. . . . . .NO EGGS!! Hooray!

This is my life:

2:45 a.m. Wake up to feed hungry baby

3:10 a.m. Fall back into bed grateful for feedings that no longer take an hour


4:00 a.m. Assist 2-year-old into bed because she's on my side, I'm too tired to take her back to bed and I know she will snuggle up next to daddy and pretty much leave me alone. (poor daddy...)


4:30 a.m. Have pangs of guilt in my semi-conscience state because daddy has given up sleeping and is now reading via flashlight


4:30-6:00 a.m. Sometimes asleep, sometimes awake wondering at how I can just look at not sleeping 2 year old and marvel that she is beautiful. Really, I should be wanting to spank her little tushie but all I can ponder is how funny and sweet she is trying to get someone to read her stories.


6:00 a.m. Finally get up to plug in monkey movie for 2 year old. Poor daddy is heading to work. If he can't sleep he may as well be billing time.


6:15 a.m. Convince 5 year old that it is still the middle of the night and he should just go back to sleep. (Thankfully it was still dark.)


6:20-6:55 a.m. Read in bed


7:00 a.m. Finally go back to sleep


7:10 a.m. 5 year old comes in to tell me, "Great news mom! We lost the Ladybug!" (as in K is asleep) before going back to bed himself, again.


7:47 a.m. 2 year old (who is no longer asleep) wanders in to inquire after breakfast


7:52 a.m Baby is ready for feeding again


8:10 a.m. 5 year old no longer believes it is the middle of the night


*sigh*



On a completely different note: WE SIGNED ON OUR HOUSE TODAY!!!! So now only 2-3 days before we actually have the keys and can begin mad remodeling.

Self Conversations

House buying me: "I'd better check my phone to see if anyone has called."
Sensible me: "You just woke up, it is too early for a bank or escrow company to call yet."
House buying me: "yeahbut...."
Sensible me: "No yeahbut. It's too early."
House buying me (in whiney voice): "Fine."

Later....
House buying me: "I'd better check my email. You know, just in case..."
Sensible me: "Not likely..."
House buying me: "Back off. I'm checking."

Later....
House buying me: "What if someone called while I was in the shower?"
Sensible me: "D would have told you. Or more likely, K would have brought you the phone."
House buying me: "They don't always do that."
Sensible me: "Oh, go ahead and check. You know you're going to anyway."

Still later....
House buying me: "I'd better check my phone again."
Sensible me: "IT'S IN YOUR POCKET FOOL. IF IT HAD RANG YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN."
House buying me: "Nu-uh. What if I didn't hear it or feel it vibrate? It could happen. It happens to mom all the time."
Sensible me: "Didn't hear it ring...didn't hear it vibrate...listen to yourself. You are pathetic."
House buying me: "I know. Now give me that phone."

So it is noon. I've only check me email twice. That's good. The phone? Let's just say I haven't missed any calls. But if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go check just to make sure.

Another house update

Roy just talked to our loan officer who said he's ordered the loan docs. He says they should be back today or tomorrow. I want to be excited and I am but I am also skeptical. This is not the first time I've heard "today or tomorrow" in this process. Cross your fingers for a Friday close date. Then we can remodel and getouttahere!

Hey! How's the house going?

I'll tell you how the house is going. I STILL LIVE IN THE MOLDY CREEK APARTMENTS. How's that for an update. I love banks. seriously.

When we applied for a loan:
Us: "How long does it usually take to close?"
Them: "Oh, we close in 30 days. We have all this blah de blah and yadda yadda so we can close in 30 days."
Us: "Nice."

So now today, I am celebrating the 37th day of our loan lock. Yippee! Happy day 37 to me! Now, I know that many of you are out there thinking, "37 days, big deal." IT IS A BIG DEAL PEOPLE! We are going to start the rainy season here soon and I do not want to get locked in my apartment by overgrown mold! Besides, the mildew smell is bad enough without it being rainy season!

I have all my remodel plans figured out because we are doing some light remodeling before moving in. We are cleaning (serious-hire-a-professional-because-those-people-were-dirty-cleaning), painting (because as much as I love the mauve doors and dark green toilet cave they have to go) and redoing the floors (indoor dog. need I say more?)
So we will have laminate floors in the kitchen/dining/entry space and new carpet through out the rest of the house. I could use some advice about main interior color. Roy votes white so he has lost all voting privileges.

Instead of fighting with blogger in this particular post, I will post pictures in a post below this one. If you have any great ideas for what I should do with the large living space please let me know. If any of you have super interior decorating ideas, feel free to share. Or better yet, you can always COME on over and visit my new house with me! What a great idea!

New house pictures

The house:

Entry:

Kitchen:

Dining/Family Space (Kitchen is just out of view on the right-

you can barely see the edge of the bar. Stairs are just out of

view on the left- you can barely see the edge of the banister.

Entry is behind photographer.):

Stairs:

Downstairs:Upstairs hallway -- notice the doors. lovely.:

What the what?!

They are too stinkin' cute!

She's feeding her Mow.

A is 2 months

We had her two month check up earlier this week. She is 13 lbs 4 oz and about 24" long. Basically she is big. She is strong and holds her head well. The doctor says that A is "socially mature" because she is so smiley and responsive as such a young age. I love it! This girl is a serious smiler. She also hardly ever cries. I was at a meeting last night and A was getting fussy. Naturally I recognized it because I am the mom. The other women though were commenting on how she was doing so well. I just smiled. She fooled them all!

She got her shots. :( Not fun. She only cried while she was on the table though. As soon as I picked her up she was better.

K also had to get a shot while we were there. She cried like she'd been whipped. When she stopped she just kept telling me "owie" and pointing to the spot on her leg. Repeatedly. Hours later when daddy got home, she told him all about her "owie" although she didn't point to the right spot.

D is good. No shots for him. I didn't even take him with me. He would freak in the hospital whenever a nurse or technician would come in to poke A so I figured I didn't need him at the doc's office with me.

In other news we might close on our house next week. Or we might not. We were told last week that our loan was out of underwriting. Then yesterday we got notice that underwriting was sending the appraiser back out (on our dime of course) to take some more pictures. This was hours before we were notified that the escrow company has the signed deed and is ready to close whenever we are. *sigh* If it isn't one thing it is another. It's not all bad though. I really do need to finalize what colors I am going to paint and hire a cleaner and finalize a flooring company because we want to do all that before we move in.

Last night I took a trip....sort of...

For those of you who don't know, I've been having headaches for a couple of weeks now. I finally went to the doctor last week. I was hoping for an easy fix like an ear or sinus infection. Nope. As she put it, "Another new mom in need of a massage." (If only I could convince my insurance that it was indeed medically necessary!) So, tension, stress, fatigue, dehydration, all of the above. (Stress? Tension? REALLY?! Why would I possibly have stress and tension? I mean it isn't like I'm raising three small children in an even smaller two bedroom apartment while buying a home and planning a remodel of said home even thought underwriting is taking it's time under writing or whatever they do. Whew.)
Okay, back to my trip. So the doc gave me some heavy duty drugs in case I needed them. I took one that day and haven't used any since. Then last night I was feeling really bad. I decided the one I took had been so slow to do anything and hadn't been as effective as I wanted I would take two. It's okay, that's the actual recommended dose.
WOWSERS! My headache started going away about the time the dizziness started. Then the drowsiness set in accompanied by nausea and a sort of tunnel vision. I have vague and unclear memories from last night. I WILL NEVER TAKE TWO OF THOSE RIDICULOUS THINGS AGAIN! I can't even say the headache went away entirely because the medicine caused a different headache! Less painful, but still... I don't know what the deal is with this med but apparently I don't react to if very well. Good to know.

My Baby Turns 5!

The Birthday Boy with his Friend

Today was D's birthday. He turned the big 0-5. (As opposed to the big 5-0) We decided to have a party for him at the park. So of course it rained yesterday and most of today. Fortunately there was a break in the weather right during the party!

We invited upwards of 20 kids. Well, technically, we invited about 12 but by the time you count the siblings that I knew would come. . . yeah, 20ish kids.

We ended up with about a dozen or so. Really, I lose track. I must say that I marvel that back in the day my mother (bless her apparently sainted heart) would have birthday parties with as many kids WHERE THE PARENTS DIDN'T STAY! That's right, I love this new way of partying where parents bring their children and STAY!

Anyway, the party. We did it at the park so the kids played on the playground for an hour or so. Then I had some cardboard boxes (delved into the moving stash). Kids and cardboard boxes, need I say more? Well, I will. We set out markers, crayons, sidewalk chalk and colored pencils so they could decorate their box like a train. Mostly this involved scribbling. One kid did a flame job on his box. Creative.

After decorating the boxes, the kids got inside and we had them walk around the playground like a train. D loved being the engineer. (Oops, forgot to say HE LOVES TRAINS.) If I can figure out how, I will post the video of parents trying to organize kids and cardboard boxes into a train. Funny.

Then we had train cake. Opened presents and played on the playground until everyone went home. D had a great time which makes the party a huge success.

I am so happy to have my 5-year old.

Free Stuff!!

Well, maybe not 100% free. You still have to pay shipping... ($8.75 I think.)
Anyway, I got an email from www.uddercovers.com with a code for a free uddercover. I have one that I use. It's great. Even if you aren't nursing/won't be nursing ever again these make great baby shower gifts.
I ordered one a few months ago with a different free code and received it with in a couple of weeks.
So....the code: "backorder1"
The way this code works is it gives you a $32 credit in your shopping cart. This means you can actually order the gift sets or whatever you want. You just have to pay the difference. You can use the code as many times as you want. So, order one free cover, check out then do it again.

I know this is ridiculous...

Ever since A was born, K has been carrying a "bite". That's what she called the pacifier A got from the hospital that she took over. K didn't actually suck the thing, she just bit it. Hence the name.
Anyway, today she dropped it in Safeway. (Honestly, she usually didn't leave the house with it. I swear! Don't judge me...) I didn't realize it until we were getting in the car. I absolutely did not want to go back in with the three kids so we just came home. Still, I am feeling sad. K was so cute, "Where's my bite?" We would play fight over it.
Really?! I totally don't dig kids carrying around binkies when they are as big as K. But for some reason, I felt really bad. Maybe I can blame this on post preggy hormones? Is that possible when the baby is almost 2 months?
I am ridiculous.

Blessing Day

Grandma and Grandpa Pyatt, Grandma and Grandpa Bishop and Uncle Justin all came up for A's blessing. They all got here on Friday. We took everyone to see our new house then went out for dinner. Saturday, the men-folk all went out to shoot trap while the girls stayed home. We actually didn't stay home. Seriously people, we went shopping. Grandma Bishop needed a black licorice fix from WinCo.

Saturday night we had a little birthday party for D and K (but mostly D because his birthday is coming up soon). The grandmas had both brought gifts. We went to a park and cooked dutch oven chicken and rice. Yummy! We sang happy birthday, picked blackberries, just enjoyed each other's company in general.

Sunday, A wore a beautiful dress hand-crafted by Grandma Pyatt. She does such an amazing job! Roy blessed A. I am so very grateful for a faithful, worthy priesthood holder. He is wonderful.

Afterwards, we had to do the photo shoot.

Here's the dress:

Details on the back: (so cute!)