Sarah's 1 Year Old Pics

I finally got around to taking Sarah in to get her 1 year old pics. She wasn't the most willing participant that's for sure! She insisted on rolling out of the chair or all over the floor when the photographer was trying to take the picture. If she wasn't rolling all over the floor she was trying to crawl into my lap because she was having a little stranger danger along with giving the dirty looks she can give when she is not happy with you. Even though she was little less cooperative I think we got a few cute ones. Most of them are taken during mid-roll, trying to get off the chair, or trying to crawl or roll away. The photographer gave up on posing her and just tried to get shots mid-action.

The Good, the Bad and the Rotten

A couple days ago I went to the garage to get inside the car and noticed there was a blood trail leaking from my freezer. Knowing this is not a good omen I looked a little closer and found out my freezer died. The freezer was only 10 years old for crying out loud--although we did buy it used. It was a sad day!! It was loaded up with a TON of food (roasts, steaks, chicken, turkey, TV dinners, pizza, Daniel's nuggets, etc.) that I am just sick about needing to throw all that food away. I don't know how long it had not been working, but it was long enough that everything was BAD along with that horrible rotten smell. After much nose plugging and gagging I just finished emptying it out and getting the area ready for our new freezer which won't be here until Tuesday. Oh the timing of such things. It would have been better for this to happen BEFORE we bought the cement pad and shed. I guess that's just Murphy's Law.

We did have some good news happen today, though. We are now members of the Three Automobiles Club. Today we acquired a truck from my Grandpa, albeit a very old, and very um....turquoise 1978 truck for a great price. It is in excellent condition with only 79,xxx miles and runs well so I can't complain. I used to ride in this truck when I was a little girl that's how old it is!! Anyway, I am just glad not to have to ask to borrow a truck from anyone anymore when we need one. YAY!

Now after so many hits our savings account has taken in the last three weeks, hopefully we can give it a rest and lick our wounds for a little while without anything else happening--knock on wood. However, with our luck you just never know...;)

They Did It!!

Josh and Daniel had their belt test in karate yesterday and today. I am happy to report they both passed. They are now yellow belts in karate instead of a plain old white belt. I have included a couple of action shots. They are pretty excited. The belt ceremony will be Monday/Tuesday in class.

The Dirty Drama Queen

Sarah has figured out how to do a tantrum. I didn't think kids could learn something like this so young. Whenever she doesn't get her own way she will cry then purposefully flop herself down on the ground and then look at you to see if you are watching. She did this one this afternoon when I wouldn't pick her up. She just flopped herself down on the ground. If that doesn't get the desired reaction then she will do it again and again. I was hoping she wasn't going to be a drama queen, but we'll see.

Tonight we had spaghetti for dinner. After trying to get the food into Sarah's mouth unsuccessfully, I just gave her the bowl and let her have at it. The picture doesn't even do the mess justice. She discovered she has some nice bowl scrubbers on the top of her head aka piggy tails that work pretty well after dumping the bowl out on her head. There is spaghetti smashed all over in her hair that you can't see in the picture. At least she is not afraid to get dirty. Matthew was just the opposite. If he got his hands messy in any way he would scream bloody murder until you cleaned them off. I guess Sarah will be getting a bath tonight--the damage is that bad!

Rite of Passage

I don't know why, but all of my kids have found the wipes container just fascinating. They think it is so fun to pull out all the wipes one by one. It is even funner because she can pull herself up to reach the wipes container to play with it. Every one of my kids have done this and I guess it was Sarah's turn tonight. Don't let her innocent grin fool you. She's a little stinker! Daniel was the one to catch her before she could empty the container, however, there are only about three wipes left in the container though.

Back To School

Well school started this morning. It was a pretty hectic morning, but we made it. Matthew (3rd grade) got on the right bus that came on time and it also made it to the right school--three pluses in my book. I dropped Josh (1st grade) off and his friend Brayden took him to the right class--at least I hope so. Matthew's school instead of a back to school night they had a back to school morning which was this morning. I went and of course my sidekicks Daniel and Sarah tagged along as well. We had not been in Matthew's class for more than 5 minutes when Sarah filled her diaper with supreme stinkiness. Unfortunately, the back to school morning took another hour to finish up in which we were all suffering from its stinkiness. Oh well, what can you do? I didn't think it would take that long or else I would have changed her. Anyway, at least Matthew made it to class even though his backpack didn't. I hope they find it--I think it got left on the bus. One of Matthew's classmates never made it to class even though his Mom sent him on the bus. They were trying to find his whereabouts as I was leaving. I guess everyone has a rough first days of school even bus drivers who take kids to the wrong school. I told myself I won't complain about Matthew's backpack after hearing that. At least Matthew wasn't lost just his backpack which happened to contain all his personal information and medication--hope they find it soon.

Shed Raising Party

We found a good deal on a shed which we desperately needed seeing as we are getting crowded out of our garage with stuff. We put it together yesterday--more like Aaron and Grandpa T (thanks Dad!!) put it together yesterday while I kept the kids entertained. It was a very long, exhausting day for both, but they got it mostly put together. The only things left are to shingle the roof and paint. I will be excited to get my garage back and be able to move around inside of it without tripping over something. The kids were very interested in what was going on outside. When they wandered outside Aaron put them to work nailing nails into a spare board. They were pretty excited and that kept them entertained for a while which was nice.

Friday I went and met with Matthew's new 3rd grade teacher. She seems like the teacher who really loves to teach so I am happy about that. She let Matthew pick his own seat and he picked the one closest to the sink, light switches and door. I don't know how long he will be sitting there because of all those tempting things so close to him. I am sad that he has to go to a different school yet again this year, but at least he seems to have a good teacher. His teacher also has a very similar classroom set up as last year's teacher so hopefully he will make the transition smoothly. Josh is excited because he has neighborhood friends in his class this year unlike last year. Last year there wasn't anyone he knew in his class at the beginning of the year so it's nice he knows people this year. I am a little nervous in seeing how I will have two different kids in two different schools with both having the same schedule. I am trying to figure out how to be in two different places at the same time. I guess I will find out tomorrow since school starts then... I am hoping this year will be a good one.

Nose Guard?

Tonight was Josh's back to school night and we got to meet his new 1st grade teachers. Josh was a little shy, but I think he is excited to start. I am a little sad to see Josh go to all day school. I still see him as my little 4 year old boy. Daniel will miss him a lot that much I know. Mom isn't as much fun as Josh. He is most excited about having three recesses a day instead of just one.

Josh also finally got his sparring gear in today at karate. Every Thursday is sparring day, but you can't spar unless you have the protective equipment which took over 4 weeks to get here. When Josh saw his equipment was in he was so excited!! When he got home he had to put it on to show me. When it came to the um...athletic cup, I let Aaron tell him all about that and show him how to wear it. I only had one brother and he wasn't very open about these things so I have no idea about any of that stuff. Who knows if Aaron weren't here I might have thought it was a nose guard :). It's a good thing Josh has a Dad!

Scouts

I am a little scatterbrained as of late (like the last 30+ years). Anyway, scouts wasn't yesterday, but today. I went with Matthew and we had a tour of the police department with all the other scouts (Bears, Webelos and Wolves). Matthew was able to get his fingerprints done and he did pretty well for the first 10 minutes then he lost interest and started looking for the light switches and doorknobs to play with. Luckily, the tour was not too long. Matthew is going to need some time to warm up to the scout master. The scout leader tried talking to Matthew, but Matthew wouldn't give him the time of day which is not usually like him. They have asked Aaron or me to come to scouts with him at first, so hopefully, Matthew will be able to start making it part of his routine and look forward to it. We are also hoping that eventually he will be able to go to scouts alone, but we'll see.

In the little bit of spare time I have had the last few days I have been bottling spaghetti sauce. I finally finished last night. Out of a bushel and a half of tomatoes I got 35 quarts of spaghetti sauce and they all sealed, too. YAY! Hopefully, my family won't be getting too sick of spaghetti any time soon...

Busy Day

We have had a busy day today. It started out this morning with Sarah's 1 year appointment with the pediatrician. Here's her stats: 19 pounds (25th percentile), 28.5 inches tall (25th percentile) with a head circumference of 44.9 cm (50th percentile). She is doing great which is music to my ears. Aaron had to work to day so I had to brave all kids with me while being alone. I have to say that's not one of my funnest things to do is trying to keep four kids occupied and quiet for an hour in a small, enclosed room. After the visit we stopped by the Scouting Office to pick up Matthew's cub uniform. All I can say is HOLY COW that's expensive for all the cub scout gear (shirt, book, belt, patches, etc.)!! I bought the shirt a little big because I don't want to have to buy another one because he outgrow it before he is out of cub scouts!! Anyway, next we had a quick lunch and headed over to the pediatric dentist for all three boys. After trying to keep them quiet and entertained for about 90 minutes at the dentist's office and another hour at the pediatricians office I am worn out. They all got a clean bill of health from the dentist so no cavities this visit or any other visit so far--knock on wood. I am hoping it stays that way. We came home to grab a quick dinner and off we go to karate with Josh and Daniel. When we get home from that Matthew then starts cub scouts tonight. I am wondering what scouts is going to be like for Matthew as well as his leaders. It hopefully, will be a fun adventure for all parties involved--at least that is what I am praying for. Speaking of this we had his baptismal interview with the bishop on Sunday. As the bishop was trying to talk to Matthew about baptism, Matthew kept interupting him and asking if his door was locked or if he could turn the lights of repeatedly. I am glad we have a pretty patient bishop and that Aaron and I were both in the room with him to help redirect him. I don't know how much he really understands about baptism, but he is really excited to be baptised. Anyway, I will give a heads up tomorrow about his first day of scouts so stay tuned it should be interesting...

Sarah's Party

We had a family party with G&G T for Sarah yesterday. She had some pasta for dinner then on to the yummy cake. Her 1 year destroy cake was a ladybug and she LOVED it. At first she was a little timid about touching it until she tasted it. Then she tore into it and ate about half before she really needed a shower. I tried to make some Daniel friendly peach soy ice cream, but my ice cream freezer didn't work so instead we had peach smoothies with our cake. She got some cute clothes, a tutu with some pajamas, a purse, a doll and a glow worm. I wrapped the presents knowing that she would need some "help" in opening them. When I just mentioned this to the boys about her needing some help, those presents were opened faster than I could say Happy Birthday. Good thing Sarah is pretty oblivious to what's going on right now. The boys also had to help blow out her candles, only each of them had to have their own candle to blow out. So no Sarah is not 4, but needed four candles on her cake to keep the boys from fighting.

My Sweet Sarahbug is 1 Today!!

Wow, what an entrance she had. I can't believe that was a whole year ago. I think that will be forever burned in my memory as well as Aaron's like it was yesterday! Here's a link to her birth post here and the 911 call here. Anyway she is 1 year old today. She is getting so big so fast! How did we get from here to here? Having a girl is so much fun!! Happy Birthday Sarah!

The Fair

We took the kids to the Fair yesterday. I was pretty lazy this year and didn't enter anything. I will try to enter some stuff next year, however. The kids had fun looking at all the displays. They even had a creepy crawly tent where you could hold a Tarantula, scorpion and some huge Cockroaches. Josh was willing to hold things, but Daniel ran away anytime I even suggested it. Matthew was pretty willing to hold the huge spider as well which I found very surprising. They all got pony rides. All of them loved it except Sarah. She screamed the whole time she was on the pony. They had a petting zoo with goats, cows, buffalo, and pigs that Josh loved. Daniel and Matthew were not as enthused. Aaron and I were reminiscing about this particular time last year. I was walking around the Fair hoping to start any signs of labor. When that didn't work Aaron finally talked me into taking some Castor Oil. He went to go pick it up from the pharmacy and asked the Pharmacist what the dosing was to induce labor. The Pharmacist just looked at Aaron and said he was not going to help him in any way with that. I guess we seemed to have figured out the right dosage and then some...Sarah turns 1 tomorrow!!

Kids in the Park...ROCKS!

Today was the last day for Kids in the Park. It was a sad day because that means the kids have no structured activities for the next week and a half. I hope I can handle it! Anyway, parents were invited to come today for the last day. Since I still had Daniel and Sarah I came for the last hour. I got to see the video slide show of all kids at their fun activities this summer. It was set music and just for Matthew's sake they put in the Fearless song from Taylor Swift seeing as he made everyone listen to it multiple times a day every day. I think they are as sick of that song as I am if that's possible! It made his day to hear that song on the video, though. The leaders got to know Matthew and Josh very well. They were able to handle Matthew's quirks and OCD tendencies and still enjoy him which is wonderful. They even had a mini party for Matthew for his birthday. They baked everyone cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to him. He was so excited! The other kids who had had birthdays during the summer complained because they didn't get cupcakes on their birthday. After they heard the complaints they had to re-sing Happy Birthday to everyone and not just Matthew. As we were leaving today his teachers made me promise to bring Matthew to come visit them in their city office just so they could say hi and see him before Kids in the Park next summer. That made me happy.

During the time I was there today I also got to participate in a few of their activities and the other kids that interacted with Matthew helped him out a lot. Even if Matthew didn't respond to their question or said something totally off the wall they went with the flow and were still friendly with him. They also tried to help him when he needed help. This was very comforting to me because I worry about this particular thing quite a bit. We did the rocket launch where everyone made their own rockets. The kids also got fake tattoos on their arms. The line for the tattoos was pretty long so I grabbed the marker and did a quick one on Daniel's arm. After that I had to do a few more because other kids didn't want to wait in the in long line either. That was pretty crazy! They had hot dogs and cotton candy so the kids had lots of fun today. Sarah just hung out in the stroller trying to pull out her rainbows (hairbows) all morning. That kept her pretty busy--the little stinker!! Josh was excited to show me his friends. He kept telling me about his friend that was a girl and I kept asking him what her name was. He never found it out until today he finally asked her what her name was which was Gracie. I can tell they were pretty close friends...

I am excited because this means school is inching ever so much closer. I still can't believe I will have two kids in all day school. I thought Josh would be excited to go to school all day, but he is only excited because he gets three recesses now instead of just one. Oh, what the life of a 6 year old!!

So, I Have Been Nominated...

So I have been nominated for the "One Lovely Blog Award" by my friend Heidi in which I am very flattered. Heidi is an old nursing friend who has changed from being a medical/surgical nurse when I knew her to an ICU nurse. She has her hand in many pots and is one amazing lady. She ran her first marathon this year in addition to starting and maintaining the program Angel Babies as well as many other things. She has had many trials, but emerges from them stronger than ever while blogging about them.

I've been informed that there are rules with this award. Here you go:
1. Put the award on your blog
2. Include a link to the person who gave you the award
3. Nominate 6 or more blogs
4. Leave a message on their blog letting them know that they have been nominated

Nominating 6 blogs was hard to do because there are many I like to follow. Here are a few of my favorites in no particular order:

1. One nominee is my older sis Johanna. She is someone I can relate to because we have kids around the same ages and we are both Registered Nurses. It is nice to read about her kid's antics and see that I am not alone by having some, let's just say, energetic kids. We both love to find a good deal and I am thankful she is always willing to share them with me. I like to follow her blog to see what is going on with her family.

2. Another nominee is my other big sis Jennifer. Jennifer is an ER doctor in Ohio. I like reading her blog for some horror stories she sees at work. You can read about a humorous one here. It is nice being able to call her whenever I have questions about injuries my kids have received. She also believes in traveling and has traveled all around the world with her family. I believe as I am writing this she is visiting Germany.

3. Another nominee is Kristie who is an old friend from high school. It is interesting to see what her family has been up to. We have a few children who are similar in ages so it's nice to watch them all grow up. She is funny and loves her family.

4. Another nominee is Emily who is also an old high school friend. She is amazing since she was able to have at one time 5 biological children under the age of three which includes a set of triplets. She has her hands full but manages things beautifully. I like to read about what she is doing at any given time.

5. Another nominee is Kim. I met her while in nursing school and she helped me endure to the end. She has a child who is on the autism spectrum as well. It is nice to compare notes to see how both our boys are doing. She has had some pretty tough trials throughout her life, but she has come out ahead and stronger because of them. It is fun to read about how her family is growing up. It is even more interesting because her husband was another fellow nursing student going to school along side us when they first met and fell in love.

6. The last nominee is April. We have children all very close in age. Her oldest son Derrick was a big help for Matthew at school and I am very thankful for that. April is also a fellow Penny Pincher like me and it is fun to compare bargain notes. She is fun to talk with, a wonderful Mom and a great person.

There's just 6 of many fun blogs I like to follow. There are many more on my side bar if you want some more good blog readin'.

Matthew's Party

Matthew has been pretty excited about his birthday for a while. He would invite anyone he talked to over to his house to celebrate his birthday. This included cashiers at the store, the whole primary, neighbors etc. Finally Saturday we were able to celebrate his birthday by going to Chuck E. Cheese's for Matthew's birthday party. Josh and Daniel had a lot of fun Sarah not so much. She cried at anything that made noise--meaning she was screaming most of the time. The highlight of Matthew's day was finally getting his Taylor Swift CD. We listened to it all the way home (from Sandy) and all the rest of the day. We even got awakened by it this morning at 6:30 am after he woke up and turned the radio on blaring loud. The bad thing is he will only listen to two songs on the whole CD and after all day yesterday and all morning this morning I had had about enough. Aaron ended up converting the CD to an MP3 format so he could listen on a small MP3 player we had laying around with headphones. That gave us a little break from Taylor Swift.

Aaron finished Matthew's other present late Friday night with G T's help. Thanks Dad! They wired up a light board with switches so Matthew could flip the lights on and off all he wanted. That was a pretty big hit as well. So once we set him up with the Taylor Swift CD and the light board he should be occupied for a few minutes at least.

He is excited to be 8 and to get baptized in a few weeks. His cake was the number eight, but he didn't even notice because he was so excited to blow out the candles. He is a funny boy!