My Day So Far

So here's how my day is going so far...
As I am getting the kids out the door to take Luke to school, Luke says, Liam is standing in the sink upstairs, and sure enough, he is standing, fully clothed with socks on, in the bathroom sink with the water running and trying to get the lotion out of the container. Good news: He can't work the lotion pump by himself. Bad news: Had to change the soaked socks, took him to school with me one leg wet, one leg dry.
I come home from volunteering at Luke's school, the first thing I hear is "Anna! Help me!" Seems that just as I was leaving, Adam threw his back out and had to crawl to bed and was still stuck there when I returned home. Good news: He is like a source of fascination to the kids, he keeps them entertained when they go up to see him. Bad news: I am the deliverer of all things, water, medicine, lunch, books, etc. He can really barely move.
Grace falls asleep on the couch (normally she doesn't have one) so this means she will be up till who knows when, I clipped Super's wings after he nearly escaped out the front door, I finally caught him and he was mad but I did it anyway. Continuing on...I move Grace to her bed because Liam keeps jumping on her and trying to pull her hair out. Good news: Grace is safe from Liam. Bad news: The questionable bedtime.
After I put Grace in bed Luke says "My tongue feels hot and funny." After a first time denial that he did anything to his tongue, he says "I did something I wasn't supposed to" and won't tell me until after I follow him downstairs and he shows me the pepper spray he put on his arm and then licked off.
Good news: Milk is good for soothing spicy things in your mouth, even pepper spray. Bad news: It's only 3 pm....

Getting Off My Butt

Well there is something to be said for actually getting up out of bed when you don't feel like it and actually taking a shower and getting dressed in REAL clothes and putting on makeup and shoes. I mean real clothes, not my bleach stained, holey pajama pants and a giganitc t-shirt. I finally feel like I am coming out of the fog of sickness, or at least I am pretending. Of course when you are very sick it is best to stay in bed, and I endorse that, but is this realistic with three small children? No. Adam saved me by taking Luke and Grace on a quick trip to Rexburg so Liam and I can rest up. And I am so glad that Liam still takes a nap because that means I CAN TOO! Today I actually made it to the grocery store for much needed food, despite the stares of people whenever Liam or I coughed. "What is that woman doing with her sick child here and coughing all over everything! No wonder everyone is sick!" This is what I imagined people thinking in their heads but you know what? I DON'T CARE. Getting out is a must and let's be honest, we all need food once in while. I did feel better though and I wasn't wearing my pajamas so I think I should get some points.
Yay for sunny weather!

Not Good at Being Sick

Well I guess I have to admit that I am not a good sick person. Maybe it comes from being an only child and having Mommy scratch my back and take care of me and only me. Today I had a melt down while trying to take care of the kids (so far we have 2 out of 3 sick) and decided to get out, even if it meant just driving around. We ended up going to the library where I ran in to pick up some books on hold and then to the real treat, Jamba Juice. I love Jamba Juice. I got the Coldbuster, Luke and Grace shared the Strawberry Surf Rider. And I asked for a mini cup to share my Coldbuster with Liam - besides me he is the sickest. It was a welcome treat and Grace even took a mini nap that she REALLY NEEDED for most of the way. Someday I am going to video one of her melt downs. Except when she's having one is usually when I'm having one and we do not want that on tape, do we? I don't think so. Hmmmm.....I'm sensing some kind of connection here. Nevermind, that is a whole other issue.
Anyway, I also want to throw a pre-birth Congratulations out there to Emily, she just called me tonight and is being induced tomorrow. Yay for her!

Will it Ever End?

Okay so we are sick....again. Or at least partially sick. Liam has a fever, cough and gross nose. Of course he can' t be the only one sick, that wouldn't be fair, would it? Last night I started in with a cough. Today...fever, cough, headache. I am hoping the others won't get it. I am so exicted that this Saturday is March! That doesn't really mean anything but it sounds springy, doesn't it? Our sickness has been pretty much ongoing since October. Also to add to the title is the weather! WE ARE SICK OF SNOW. Enough already. We get teased with a few nice days and then BAM! And I am not Emeril. We are not kicking it up a notch, at least not in my book. The kids have even started asking, "When will it stop snowing?" You know it's bad then. So basically we are ready to be healthy for more than 4 days and can't wait for the spring! I hope all of you aren't sick, I know it has been a bad year for everything.

Valentines Breakfast Rebuttal

Okay so if you read Adam's blog about the Valentines Breakfast, I have to say that I just wanted to get Adam to come downstairs and eat with us since his parents were here and it was, after all, Valentines Day. Marylinn made the pancakes and there weren't enough for everyone, so of course the kids got the good ones. I must say that I didn't have any pancakes either. I don't think I will hear the end of this though....

Bean Museum

So this weekend we went to the Bean Museum on BYU campus with my mom and the kids. They always love going to the museum and we especially love it because it is FREE. This time there was a rhino exhibit on the main floor, they have had an elephant, bears and birds as the main exibit different times we have been there. It is just so fascinating for the kids and they can get right up and see the animals up close. They have scavenger hunts the kids can do and cool videos to sit and watch - we really like the ones about the bugs and spiders. It is a great family outing!

Baby Jail

Well I give up. A few weeks ago, Liam decided to learn to crawl out of his crib. One leg up and over and then he would slide down between the crib and the wall with the other leg straight up, basically doing the splits. He didn't seem to mind the gymnastics and of course would not stay in the crib once he figured it out. So we switched him to a toddler bed. We have been spending about 45 minutes every night sitting by his bed putting him back in bed until he finally gives up and goes to sleep. Needless to say we are not amused. Finally Adam said he would not do it anymore so I was going to have to do it by myself if I wanted to keep it up. So today on the way down to Teal's birthday party, we stopped at Babies R Us and got the greatest invention known to mankind, or at least parents, a crib tent, AKA baby jail. I think it is going to save our sanity. If only we had known about this when Luke was 18 months old and in a toddler bed! Poor Luke, he gets to be the guinea pig for all our parenting mistakes. At least we are learning and not making the same mistakes over again! I hope. I think the baby jail is going to be worth every single penny.

A Valentines Day to Remember

Happy Valentines Day! Could it get any better for the kids - it's a snow day too! We have had the worst storm yet this year. It hit about 2:30 pm, just as we were bringing Luke home from music. Don and Linny were headed up to our house for some Valentines cookie making and made it okay, but got stuck down the mountain when it was time to go home. Adam eventually went to go get them but then couldn't get back up the mountain because of cars stuck in the ditch and various things like that. I can't really do the storm justice, those of you that live here know what I am talking about. 70mph winds, blowing everything sideways, you couldn't see right in front of your face, snow drifts 4 feet high on the roads. Imagine trying to drive in that! Thankfully about 4 hours after Don and Marylinn left (or tried to anyway) Adam arrived safely back home with them. So we had a sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa and heart shaped pancakes for breakfast this morning. Lots of kids actually got stuck at the school and ended up spending the night, and so today there is no school. Yippee! Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Luke has recorded a hilarious video that we call the "Peanut Butter Incident". Once again he did it all on his own and of course we had no idea the camera was on. Please go to Luke's Blog to see it.

Liam's World

We had no idea that Luke recorded this. It gives us some insight into Liam's world, as it revolves around him. Of course we have no idea how to get the video to work on the camera but Luke figured it out. This is also a testament to our parenting skills - listen to Adam in the background since he has no idea that Luke is recording. At least we're not screaming at each other or something like that!

I Want a Kangaroo!

They do look kind of cuddly, don't they?

Today Adam was telling the kids funny stories about him and all the pets they had as a family growing up. There's the one where Eli's hamster got loose and built it's nest in the heater vent- then cooked to death when the heat came on. And the one where one of their dogs pooped in Adam's blankets and then he went to sleep and woke up with crusted poop on his leg. Lovely. They had mice, a ferret, several dogs and cats, mice, fish birds and Don even had a hedge hog. So Grace and Luke wanted to look on the internet and see what a ferret looked like. Randomly Grace says "I want a kangaroo because they don't have sharp teeth!" What? We were laughing.

Grace with her prize after going to the dentist- SCARY!

One of Liam's many hiding places!

Bless His Heart!

I think we might be going stir crazy. The kids have been sick, and now Adam is working from home/looking for a job, we are all here together. Combine that with the weather and you have a recipe for craziness! It actually hit 40 degrees today so we opened all the windows and froze for a while.
Did you know you can say the most awful things about someone as long as you say "Bless his heart" afterwards? I was thinking about this today when I saw Luke's teacher and told her he was sick. She said "Bless his heart" and I was thinking - does she really mean this or is she glad that she has one less student to teach? Adam and I were laughing about the bless his heart thing with some of our good friends commenting on hearing people say things like "He's the worst father ever - bless his heart!" or "She sure is ugly - bless her heart!"
Adam is going to go to a 3-D U2 movie that was shown at Sundance. Click HERE if you want to check it out.

Sick...again

Well the kids are sick again. Or should I say that this is ongoing? Grace has had a cough for about 2 months, and now Luke has Influenza A. He has a scary high fever (105) and a gunky cough to go along with it. This happened a little over a year ago with him also. He has missed 3 days of school and will miss again tomorrow. Thankfully his teacher told me in confidence that if he missed the whole rest of the school year he would be okay because he is so smart! This winter seems like it will never end, the snow is basically constant. The Primary ladies and I were celebrating at our meeting the other day because it was supposed to be 40 degrees. Celebrating over 40 degree weather? You bet. I can't even being to describe the snow in our neighborhood. I have messed up my back from shoveling so much.
Thank goodness Adam and I are not sick. And so far neither is Liam, although we are having our own struggles with him since he decided to learn how to crawl out of the crib. It takes us about 45 minutes each night to put him to bed, constantly putting him back in his new toddler bed and waiting until he is so exhausted that he can't fight it any longer. He is not the only one who is exhausted, let me tell you right now. Once again, not the best for my snow shoveling, kids picking up, toy picking up back. I am starting to go for drives in the car around lunch time because he falls asleep and I can put him straight in bed. If the weather wasn't so bad I might do it at night too. The trials of parenthood....
So Luke is a smartypants. He is reading at a 2nd grade level and he is very good at math and has excellent handwriting. I am learning that he has his own creative personality and I am trying to work with it, not against it.
Grace is all about being a princess and has gone to 2 princess birthday parties in the past 2 weeks. Today she put lipstick all over her face so she was a blushing princess. The funny thing is that Liam LOVES to wear her slip on princess heels, especially in the kitchen where he can click clack away on the wood floor. He is just full of smiles.
Here's hoping this is the last sickness for a good long time!

Winter wonderland?

This is the view of our back yard (that is our slide that's probably 4 1/2 feet tall) and also out our front door two days ago. Oh my aching back.....

Trying Something New

Well my friend Natalie turned me on to blogging, honestly I thought why would I ever read someone else's blog or have my own but obviously I am starting to warm up to it. I am hoping I will be able to post some pictures more easily than I can on our other website. Also I know that Adam likes to type more than handwrite so hopefully we will both be putting stuff on here. Wish me luck!