Sarah's 18 Month Pics

I took Sarah today for pictures. To get her ready I even painted her fingernails, made her a new bracelet and new rainbows (hairbows). It was all for naught because she did not cooperate very well. She refused to wear her shoes or to even stay in one place to be photographed. She also threw a few tantrums crushing and pulling out her hair in the process. I brought Daniel with me to help me get her laugh. When he tried to get her to laugh he ended up accidentally kicking her in the head which didn't help matters either. I must admit the photographer didn't do a very good job. She didn't even try to position her, get her to laugh, or use any props until I asked her too. Anyway, with those things disclosed here's what we got today:

Another Call From School...

Yesterday morning I got a telephone call from school. Upon seeing the number on caller ID my heart sank. It is never a good sign to get a call from the school in the middle of the day. I answered and someone on the other end told me Josh had hurt himself. I was prepared for the worst, but it wasn't too bad. I guess Josh slipped on some icy stairs outside and had fallen hitting his nose/mouth. He got a pretty bad bloody nose and a HUGE fat lip while peeling the top layer of skin off part of his top lip. He went to the office and they put ice on it for a while and got his bleeding nose to stop. I was getting ready to come and pick him up from school, but he decided he wanted to go back to class instead. They were just calling me to let me know what had happened so I wouldn't be upset when I saw him later. They also let me know I would need to wash his coat since he used that to wipe up is bleeding nose--a typical boy thing to do to wipe their messy face on their sleeve :). Again the pictures don't do the injury justice because his lip was sticking way out from a profile view.Josh did complain of a bad headache around dinner time which wasn't like him so I let him stay awake with Aaron and me just to keep an eye on him. That makes me a little more nervous with him smacking his head with his epilepsy factored in. He seems to be doing fine except for that nice fat lip. Good thing class pictures are next week so he can have a nice huge scab for them....he has great timing!!

I got another surprise yesterday (this one more pleasant than the last surprise in the previous paragraph) when Aaron got home from work. I got my Valentine's Day present early. He came home with a dozen of really pretty red roses. We had decided not to worry about presents for each other this year so this came completely by surprise. My flower arranging skills aren't the greatest, but they are still pretty to look at.

Lastly Daniel finally officially received his blue belt yesterday at the belt ceremony in karate. He is pretty proud. You can now officially call him a blue belt without him getting mad at you. He is a funny kid.

What REALLY Happens During Quiet Time

We got the lucky time slot of 9 am church on Sundays and we love it. It gives us time to come home and unwind after church and lunch. To unwind we let (make) the kids have some quiet time for a few hours. What quiet time consists of is they get to choose a few activities and books to read to keep them entertained for about 2 hours in their rooms or they can take a nap it's all their choice. Matthew always chooses the activities because I have never known him to take a nap, Josh naps half the time and reads half the time, Daniel and Sarah usually take naps for the whole time. Since we don't have enough bedrooms for everyone to have their own room, Daniel, Matthew and Sarah get their regular rooms and Josh gets my and Aaron's room. I thought Josh was just reading and sleeping until I started noticing some changes that started last week. I didn't notice last week that Josh had adjusted my clock during quiet time until it was 5:30 am and I startled myself awake because Aaron had missed his alarm and was still sleeping. It wasn't until I rolled over and was about to wake him up that I noticed his clock only said 3:30 am. I also found a half eaten Tootsie Roll on my nightstand that I have no idea where Josh even got it from, but he decided he only wanted to eat half of it and leave the rest laying on my nightstand--YUCK! This week's quiet time was even better. I didn't know all the stuff Josh had done until I was getting ready to go to bed myself. That's when I noticed my perfume body spray which was about 1/3 of the way full before quiet time was mysteriously all the way full again--hmmm. I also noticed the light bulb in my lamp was shattered with glass shards spread all over my nightstand. Since it was bedtime and he was asleep I waited to talk to him about it until today. That's when I found out during quiet time yesterday he wanted to find out what would happen if he filled the spray bottle up with water, turn my lamp on and spray my lamp's light bulb with water. He found out what would happen pretty quickly when the light bulb shattered and scattered glass shards all over my nightstand. He was too scared to tell us anything so he said nothing and left it for me to find when I went to bed. I might have to come up with some more constructive activities for quiet time from now on lest more things get changed or destroyed in my room. Here's a pic of the mysteriously full perfume spray bottle.

The Week In Review

This week has been kind of crazy. First off it was early out from school for Josh and Matthew as well as parent teacher conferences. I am happy to report that I survived the week and more importantly the kids did, too. Josh's parent teacher conference went fantastic which I am not surprised. He loves school especially reading--YAY! When I tuck him and Daniel in at night I usually find Josh reading Daniel a bedtime story and I love it. As for Matthew once we have gotten him settled down medication wise he is doing a lot better at home and at school. However, during the conference he had a really hard time staying in his seat, listening to his teacher and participating in the conference. His teacher couldn't believe how hard it was for him to concentrate and follow along during the conference. I guess at school he listens, stays in his seat and participates--as much as Matthew can. I was wondering if we were talking about the same kid. We seem to have a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing going on between school and home. My theory is that he has to hold it all together at school all day that by the time he gets home to do his mountains of homework (yes he really does have a ton to do every night) he has lost interest and is ready to unwind instead of working on at least an hours worth of homework every night. That is understandable since all of us are somewhat like that in needing an period of time to unwind from a busy day's events. It is hard to keep him focused on doing his spelling packet, speed reading test, and reading a thick reading packet and a book every night along with a journal for the weekends. Now keep in mind this homework is EVERY night including weekends and holidays for a special needs kid who is only in THIRD grade. I seem to think it extreme, but the teacher isn't willing to change anything so we work on it every night. Matthew is progressing and seems to enjoy school and he is learning a lot so I can't complain--too much, anyway.

In other happenings we finally sold our van. We sold it to a normal, young family with 3 boys and a girl, too. I had mixed emotions about this. I didn't realize how attached I was to it until I saw it drive away for the last time. We brought home two babies from the hospital in it, drove to Yellowstone, Disneyland and Mt. Rushmore in it along with various other things. Lots of memories, but hopefully, the new family will enjoy it as much as we did.

This week Daniel had a belt test in karate. He tested from his orange belt up to his blue belt. He won't physically receive his new blue belt until the belt ceremony on Tuesday, though. After the belt test I kept calling him Mr. Blue Belt and he kept correcting me saying he is not a blue belt until he actually has the belt. I tried to explain that he was in deed a blue belt, but he was pretty adamant about it to and would get MAD if you tried to call him a blue belt. So until Tuesday you can only call him Mr. Orange/Blue belt just to appease him until he actually physically receives the blue belt.

All I have to say is Sarah is ever the opportunist! Thursday morning I had my OB appointment right after I dropped Josh off at school. That meant I had to gather all my things together BEFORE I dropped Josh off at school so I could go straight to the doctor's office. While I was gathering my stuff Josh decided it was time to open the garage and get in the car. Most mornings this is fine, but I prefer he tell me before he does get in the car so I know where he and Daniel are. Well Thursday morning Josh didn't tell me he was opening the garage and supposedly getting in the car. He just went into the garage with Daniel, opened the garage door and instead of getting in the car went out in the front yard to mess around. He didn't close the house tightly to the garage so Sarah seeing her opportunity escaped. Now I had no idea that my kids were running rampant and unsupervised outside because I was still gathering my stuff together for my doctors appointment upstairs. It wasn't until Josh came running in from outside and yelled, "Sarah's in the street, Mom!" that I knew she had escaped. Luckily, the neighbor kid saw Sarah in the road and grabbed her and brought her back. Why Josh came running inside to tell me she was in the street BEFORE grabbing her I don't know. At least we live in a relatively slow cul-de-sac so no cars were coming at the time. After Sarah was rescued Josh told me, "Wow, mom she almost made all the way across the street!" Really Josh? I told him if it ever happens again to get her FIRST before telling me anything. I am sure my neighbors think I am the worst parent because I let my 18 month old play in the street while my other two kids age 6 and 4 watch playing unsupervised in the yard. I really had no idea they were even out there until Josh came and got me all the way upstairs in my bedroom. I keep thinking to myself the nursery rhyme, "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didn't know what to do...." I can't wait to see what happens when we throw one more kid into the mix in a few months. It should be interesting.

Definite Proof

I had the big ultrasound today where they look at everything on the baby. I am very happy and relieved to report everything is just perfect. We even got to see some 4-D images of the baby. He seems to have the same nose as Sarah, but it is still hard to tell with the ultrasound images. It is getting me more excited to meet him, but hopefully we won't meet him too soon. He is currently about 1 pound 10 ounces and growing great. I will be 25 weeks along tomorrow and it is going by pretty fast.
And this picture erased any doubts in my mind about the gender of the baby. It definitely is a boy. There is nothing like seeing the boy part in 4-D ;). Now as for names we have it narrowed down to a few. To keep the biblical name theme going, here's what we have: Noah, Benjamin, Adam, Timothy, Andrew, Michael and Jonathon (John). Which one do you like?

The Vacation Day that was Anything BUT a Vacation

When we got our suburban we decided to try and sell our van ourselves instead of trading it in since the trade in price they give you is absolutely ridiculous. We had never sold a car ourselves, but we didn't think it would be too hard to do since it was only about 4 1/2 years old, with low miles and in great condition. We went ahead and listed it on the local want adds online, parked it over on a car lot they have on the airforce base and just waited. We had one lady who was very interested and it got down to the exchange of money and she backed out last minute. Then the kicker of all kickers has happened in the last few days. Aaron got a call from an older guy who wanted to test drive it. Aaron had to take an hour off of work to go with him to let him look at it and drive it with his wife. Meeting them for the first time Aaron thought they were on the stranger/crazy part of the normal person spectrum, but he just figured it takes all kinds of people. Aaron rode in the back seat while they took it around for the test drive. It was a little nerve wracking for Aaron because they just wanted to play with all the buttons instead of watching how they were driving. Aaron was never so glad to get out of the car safely after that experience. However, the couple decided they liked it and wanted to get it. Since we wanted just to sell it and the couple couldn't quite afford the asking price so they wheeled and dealed until it was a steal for the couple just because we didn't want to own four cars anymore. They decided to meet at the bank the next day for the exchange of money and title. The husband had told Aaron he had gotten pre-qualified and everything was ready to go so Aaron planned on leaving work yet another half day of vacation just to get everything taken care of. The night before the bank meeting the husband called up and wanted proof of all the maintenance we have performed on the car during the time we have owned it. Well that's a lot of routine maintenance between oil changes, timing belt replacement, serpentine belt replacement, etc. We have not had any major problems with this car ever, but if that's what would make them sleep better at night then we would try to get the proof he wanted. He also told Aaron that his wife wanted the whole car vacuumed and detailed again--a little annoying since I had just done that. We just thought whatever and that we would take care of it. Aaron headed down to the dealership we bought it from and where we got all the routine services performed to see what maintenance records they could print out as proof. The next day Aaron got all the records and headed down to the bank to meet the couple. On the way to the bank the wife called Aaron 3 different times and told him to take it to a transmission place to get the transmission looked at to make sure it was running smoothly. Aaron just trying to please the couple did their bidding. The first transmission place the mechanic wasn't there so they had to try a different shop. There the mechanic with Aaron took it out for a drive and deemed it in good condition. However, the mechanic talked to Aaron during the test drive (since the wife decided to stay at the shop instead of going on the test drive with them) and told him how crazy and very high maintenance this lady was because he had dealt with her a ton before. Aaron wasn't too worried and just figured that once they bought the car he wouldn't hear from them again. Then from there Aaron drove it over to the bank to finalize everything. When Aaron got to the bank, the husband was no where to be found. During the time the wife and Aaron were waiting for the husband to show up, she went off about how many things she didn't like about the car and about how it was not going to meet her needs. Aaron just nodded wishing the husband would just show up and he could just get out of there. Aaron showed the maintenance records to the husband who finally showed up only to have him say they weren't very good proof. What?!? They then wanted to talk to the dealerships mechanic instead to hear it from him. Unfortunately, the mechanic was at lunch and was not going to be back for a couple hours. They decided to proceed with the sale anyway. Aaron then provided the title to the loan officer and when it came to the financing part Aaron left the room so everything could remain confidential for the couple. What was supposed to take five minutes and remain confidential ended up taking a lot longer and wasn't so confidential. The couple got into a big heated, knock down, drag out fight about financing. The screaming match got so loud Aaron could hear out in the lobby as well as the shoppers at the grocery store since it was at a bank branch inside a grocery store. The couple screamed at each other for quite a while trying to get the loan officer to take a side as well as anyone else who was within hearing range. Aaron was really uncomfortable, but was just hoping everything would get resolved. Unfortunately, the couple carried the argument out into the lobby having the husband storm off yelling and the wife uncontrollably crying and yelling with the tellers and shoppers gawking with Aaron standing awkwardly right in the middle of it all. The loan officer then awkwardly handed Aaron back the car title and told him sorry that the sale was not going to happen. After all that the loan officer pulled Aaron aside and basically told him this couple wasn't the easiest to work with (since she has had multiple run ins with them) and basically advised him not to sell them anything at all, EVER, even if they resolved their differences. After all that Aaron can see the wisdom in her advice. Now we are back to square one again minus the maintenance records because the husband took them when he stormed off. So much for that fun waste of a vacation day for Aaron. I think it is a little funny, but Aaron is not quite seeing the humorous side of the event yet. Is selling a car really this HARD or did we just get caught up with a bunch of crazies??

A New Budding Artist

Sarah has found the joys of a pencil. She has left her mark on my table, floor and walls. I try to keep all the pencils up where she can't get them, but having two kids in school it is nearly impossible for me to keep them from her reach at all times. I caught her red handed this morning doing her handiwork on my floor. I guess if I try to be positive, it shows her great fine motor coordination, but I would rather see that in other ways. And of course I have to add the pictures don't even do her masterpieces justice as they are larger and darker in real life.

The floor masterpiece. The table masterpiece.

The guilty party caught red handed (or pencil handed).

She has also discovered that whatever we are eating it has to be much tastier than her food (even though it is the same thing most of the time). So if she sees we have food we have a mooch very close by. Here is Aaron having some ice cream the other night. As soon as she saw what he was eating she became his bosom buddy--that is until the ice cream ran out then she wouldn't have anything to do with him since she has turned into a true momma's girl. She is a crazy kid.