AAAHHHHHH!!!

My baby turned five today!

Kid Updates

I obviously haven't blogged in awhile. And unfortunately I can't get mad at any one else who hasn't blogged unless I blog myself. There is nothing exciting going on in my life, so I will fill you in on my kids.

Emily is our busy one. She switched from the charter school to a real junior high this year. Last week she was elected to be a seventh grade representative. Not bad for someone who started school with only knowing two other seventh graders. Thanks Emma for spreading the word about your cousin and rounding her up some votes!!!! So far the school change has been a great change for her. Emily plays soccer right now and is working on her recital piece for the upcoming piano recital. This weekend Emily and a friend did the sky coaster at Lagoon. BRAVE...I am too scared to do that thing (even though I want to)

We don't see much of Lizzie lately. Over the summer I started reading Harry Potter #1 to the kids. Two and a half weeks ago she decided I was reading too slow and finished the book by herself. She is now halfway through number 5. This is the girl that "Never wanted to even look at Harry Potter. It looks too boring. Why am I making her listen to this stupid book?" Maybe in another month she will be done with the series and will come out of hiding again.

Tyler turned eight last week and is anxiously awaiting his baptism on Saturday. (It is at 3:00 for anyone interested in attending) We went to his first pack meeting last night. Ugh, the whole scouts thing is intimidating to me. Tyler still hates to read out loud to us. "Why can't I just read the book quickly to him so he can go outside and play sooner?" My favorite with this boy is when he puts on all his cowboy garb (hat, boots, gun, shorts?...) and rides the wiggle bike. What a goof. At least he is a handsome one!

Ainsley turns five next week and can't wait for her friend pajama party. I can't believe my baby is this old! I have never met a more head strong child or person. Things will be done on her terms, and no other way. Last week for show and tell at school she planned to take a picture of her and Lizzie because the letter was "L". She had this planned all week. The morning of show and tell she decided she didn't want to take anything. I took the picture along in case she changed her mind once she got to school and saw everyone else's show and tell. That still didn't change her mind. After school she got buckled in the van, AND THEN decided she HAD to run and show her teacher the picture. Tomorrow for the letter "A" she said she is taking herself. Lately she acts as if she is our puppy named Penny. At least our dog uses the toilet instead of the back yard!

Thursday

Do you ever just have one of those days....they start out OK, but then all of a sudden go downhill? That was my Thursday. I even had an hour to myself in the morning. But then suddenly the kids get home from school and chaos erupts.

Each kid was planning to have a friend over. That's fine, nine kids running through the house. That I can handle. But then one of my girls starts telling me some details about a problem with a friend at school. My poor daughter was in tears that day at school because of things this other girl said. Things like that break my heart because I really can't do anything about it to help them.

Then Tyler tells me that his ear started hurting around lunch time. Lovely. If it was any of my other kids I would wait till morning to deal with it. But not Tyler. The poor kid has had five tubes and one ruptured ear drum in that ear (before Thursday). I call the doctor to schedule an appointment for that evening. A few minutes later Tyler tells me his ear is dripping water. Because he is playing so good I assume the water is leftovers from the swim pool the night before.

My doorbell rings (while I am changing my clothes). I am frantically dressing so I can answer the door. It was a person giving me some news that I was expecting, but not wanting to hear. So even though I knew it was coming, I still had a good cry.

By now Tyler isn't playing as good. I load up all the friends to take them home on the way to the doctor. After dropping off one friend, Tyler announces he doesn't feel so good. Luckily he brought his pillow to hold against his ear in the van. Suddenly he starts vomiting all over his pillow and himself. Poor Lizzie's friend who was sitting right next to him! I call the doctor to say we will be late for his appointment because he obviously needs a shower by this point. We drive back home. As I was helping him get undressed for the shower I notice purple spots all over his arms. I started panicking at this point. Because he so suddenly got sick, and because he has a weird rash, I am sure he has some crazy disease. In my defense, I am not usually that paranoid of a mom.

Tyler gets showered, I scrub puke from the van, and we head for the doctors again. By this time Tyler is constantly moaning because he feels so crappy. He is breathing funny, and again I am sure he is really sick. Half way to the doctors office, I had a realization. The night before at the pool Tyler had kept jumping off the high dive and landing with his arms straight out. They were red all that evening. Evidently, water can cause bruises! That was a relief to realize that.

When we get to the doctor, she takes one look at Tyler's arms and goes into panic mode before I can explain the high dive. See, I am not the only one. She tells me that his spots are an indicator of several serious diseases. However, if his spots do spread or get bigger, call an ambulance immediately. SCARY!

I knew Tyler had an ear infection, but I was hoping beyond hoping that it hadn't burst. Thursday definitely wasn't my day. Tyler's ear drum had ruptured again. In my mind I am thinking more scar tissue and yet another set of tubes. The poor kid!!!!!!

Tylenol is working, and Tyler seems to be feeling better. We head to Harmon's to pick up his prescription. In the parking lot Tyler starts throwing up again. We are supposed to be going out of town the next day, but I am thinking maybe not since Tyler probably has the flu with his ear infection. We head in to get the meds and run into someone we know. That person will not acknowledge us even though we say hello. RUDE!

We finally get home at 8:00. I am bugged, ornery, feeling bad, tired (Mentally and physically) and still have to run to Walmart for some stuff I need in case we do get to go out of town. (Luckily the vomiting must have been pain related because Tyler was absolutely fine the next day!)

I finally get to eat and crash into bed, and anxiously await a new day.

Bored

School just barely started, and I am bored. Ainsley and I can play Go Fish and have treasure hunts only so many times a day. I have cleaned bedrooms, the storage room, the family room and the computer area. I have caught up on everyone's blogs. I shredded everything that needed to be shredded. I won't let myself get a good book from the library right now. I'm bored.

Sure, there are many things I should/could be doing. But for some reason or another, I can't right now.

*I need to go to the grocery store, but the baby I watch is having a nap right now.
*The pears I am going to can are not quite ripe yet.
*The kitchen floor needs to be mopped, but I am using the deep fryer tonight, and I always mop after using it. Besides, why mop when I will be making a pear mess in the next few days?
*I have laundry that could be done, but laundry day is Thursday.
*I need to write a descriptive paper about Emily for her Spanish teacher, but after the morning we had together I have nothing nice to say about her yet.
*I have lots of shopping I want to do, but shouldn't.
*I have left messages to talk to a few people, but they haven't called me back yet.

So for right now, I am bored. Tomorrow my pears may be ready, it's laundry day, AND I will have to mop. UGH, which is worse? Boredom or too much to do?

A Miserable Surprise!

Jared hates birthdays. He even hates my birthday. I love birthdays. I think all birthdays should be celebrated for at least two days. My kids always seem to have celebrations spaced out over a couple of days. This is because I am in charge of all that planning. I am lucky to be told "Happy Birthday" once on my actual birthday by Jared. Every year I tell him that once I get the birthday I want, he will get the birthday celebration he wants, which is nothing! BORING! This year he must have thought he got off pretty easy from us. Nothing big. A few gifts and we went out to dinner. Lucky Jared, or so he thought.

I planned a "Surprise Miserable" party for him two weeks after his birthday. The plan was to enjoy things he hates with a group of friends and family. It turned out to be a blast, even though Jared hated everything we did! Keeping things a surprise went better than I thought, until the day of the party. Ainsley told him at lunch time that "Jenny was having a party at the restaurant and he was invited." Somehow that comment was never acknowledged by him. He knew we were going to Golden Corral (his least favorite place to eat) because our friend Rachel wanted to go on a date and she was really craving Golden Corral. Later that afternoon John from Golden Corral called and wanted to talk to me about my party reservation for that evening. Of course Jared answered the phone. As I talked to John I was panicking. Jared was right there listening to my end of the conversation. After John hung up I said into the phone that I wasn't interested. I couldn't look Jared in the face as I explained John was trying to convince me to come to a free dinner so I could listen to his time share info. Jared kept asking questions, and said something was fishy, but he finally let it go.

We finally made it to Golden Corral. We walked into the reserved room where everyone was waiting and he was still pretty clueless. He said his only thought was how did friend Andrew know brother Seth because they were sitting by each other. Then everyone yelled "Surprise!" We all laughed because he was still so shocked. I think that what surprised him more were some of the outfits people were wearing. It was hilarious to see what some people came up with. My friend Jenny helped a few of us dress up. She spent hours at the DI finding just the right seventies outfits.

After pigging out at Golden Corral some of us went Cosmic Bowling. Jared hates bowling because I usually beat him! And what bowling game is complete without some dancing on tables? We laughed so hard together! I think that even though Jared hated everything we did he had a great time with everyone who was there! (Sorry that I didn't get pictures of everyone who was at dinner.)

Just so you know Jared....I expect a good birthday next year or your next birthday will be celebrated even bigger!

Goodbye my friend...

I had to say goodbye to a dear friend yesterday. In its place was a sort of enemy of mine. School started yesterday for Lizzie and Tyler, and I had to wake up to an ALARM CLOCK! Ugh! I really don't like that thing. It represents so much.

During the summer I would set the alarm, but to go off at 9 am if I wasn't awake yet (very rarely would it go off). I love the lazy summer days. I love just hanging out with my kids and playing with them. I love not having as many responsibilities during the summer. I love that we could go play whenever we wanted and not have to be in bed by a specific time. I know that summer is officially not over, but my carefree summer days won't return for 180 school days.

Goodbye my friend.....I will miss you!

I Survived!!!!

Jared left me this weekend. He said it was something about needing more testosterone from the mountains. Maybe he left because I had offered to watch five extra kids over night. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about being a single parent to nine kids. But guess what: we all survived! The kids were great!!! They all played together, slept wonderfully (I actually got more sleep than I do any normal night), ate all their food (I even included a fruit with dinner) and they cleaned when asked. The wiggle bikes kept us all entertained for hours, even 15 month old Olivia. My nephew became our tribal chief (I will have to include pictures of that later...I am too lazy to put them on the computer right now.) I do have to say, I was a little nervous when the power flickered this morning...how would I keep them all entertained inside with no TV all day? Luckily, it did only flicker, and the rain stopped so they could play outside some more. Thank goodness for garages to play in, and good old fashioned fort building. I think fort building must be a special event saved only for when a babysitter is around. I can remember my cousin Jeni babysitting us and building the most awesome forts.

The kids all lived until their moms came to pick them up. It was my own kid who suffered an injury. Ainsley fell down the stairs and broke her thumb/hand Friday night. Being the great MOM that I am I gave her some Tylenol, and took everyone to the playground. (Note: I said MOM, not BABYSITTER. If it was anyone else's kid I would have taken them to the doctor sooner.) She was playing just fine, so obviously her hand was all right. However, the next morning it was really swollen and purple. After arranging for some awesome young women to come help Emily watch the other seven kids, I finally took Ainsley to the doctor. Sure enough, the doctor is pretty sure the bone at the base of her thumb is broke. Something about weird bone shapes makes him have a little doubt about the fracture. Needless to say, she did live through all this, so...we all survived!

Only 20ish more hours till Jared comes home. Hopefully we stay in the survived category!