Misc.

My 3 goofballs off to school. 3 down 2 to go!!!

My Super Cooper ready to tackle 8th grade.

My Audry ready for 5th grade. She's walking to school with Drew again this year. They enjoy their walks a lot. Sometimes forgetting that they need to make it to school in a timely fashion.

This is my Bear on the first day of school. His smile has been awkward for about 2 years now. Picture day should be interesting this year.

We got a new table this weekend. Well, new to us but it's the Minster's old table. We needed to get something bigger and she's getting one built. Adam was not sitting in his high chair any more, so Lauren was sitting in it. And somebody had to sit on a step stool at the table. It was hard to get all the food on the table. We were pretty crammed. Now we have plenty of room.

As you can see the munchkins are all on one side of the table. On a bench. We are thinking we may have to change the seating arrangement.

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That's all for now.

My FAVORITE day of the week!

Friday... My favorite day of the week. As a Mormon, I consider Friday part of my weekend. Because if I don't, then Saturday is my only free day due to church on Sunday. Sometimes Sunday feels like a work day. Whatever happened to a day of rest?

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This was a much better week for me. I made myself go to enrichment on Tuesday night. It's amazing what a little girl time will do for me. Thursday we had a play date at Jill's. Lauren really enjoyed playing with Claire.

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We got Adam's biopsy results back. Normal! *Sigh!* He has a post-op appointment with the doctor in September so we will find out what's causing the lump and if there's a chance it will come back.

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Pretty boring week actually, so that's all for now.

It's Monday already?

I can't believe this weekend is over already. It went by too quickly. Nothing exciting happened. Saturday I spent most of the day watching the YW in the basketball tournament. They improved with each game they played. I was so proud of them.

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We did not make it to church today. The morning started off ok. Then Adam decided to throw a fit just because he didn't want to get dressed for church. He knew getting ready for church meant he would have to go to nursery. He has not been a fan of nursery for a while now. Not sure what his problem is with it, but I wish he'd get over it. His tantrum threw me over the edge. Craig came home and took care of me the rest of the day. It was nice to be taken care of.

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It's these days that I wish I could fast forward about 3 years. I hope that by then I won't have kids crying every day. Adam and Lauren still cry every day. Several times a day. You would think Lauren would have outgrown that by now. She will be in kindergarten next year. Maybe I need to fast forward to 5 years from now. I would like to be able to have 1 day of no crying. And not having to watch Adam every single second to make sure he's not getting into things he shouldn't be playing with. Someday...

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Here's hoping this is a better week.

Aaaahhh-Better

Feeling much better. More like myself. Just needed a good cry I guess.

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Adam had his biopsy today. He did really well. Never cried or anything. With all the prodding and poking they did, he was perfect. Try and change his diaper with a cold wipe and it turns into wrestling match. Go figure! We get the results Monday. Craig and I aren't too worried about it. The doctor said the lump looked like a vascular malformation and he didn't seem too concerned about it.

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Audry and Caleb started school today. I was a little disappointed that couldn't take Caleb in but he had no worries. When we went to back to school night he was able to meet his teacher. I asked him what he thought. A middle thumb (not thumbs up or thumbs down, just in the middle). I asked him today after school: an almost thumbs up! Maybe by Friday she will have a full thumbs up! That's my bear!

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All 3 kids start tomorrow. It will be weird to have them gone again during the day. I'm looking forward to spending time with just Adam and Lauren though.

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That's all for now.

May I have this weekend back please?

This was a crappy weekend!! :( I mean, really bad. Wish I could have it back and do it over. Friday started off with what I thought was going to be a fun evening. We took the YW to see Beauty and the Beast at Starlight Theatre and ended up only seeing the first half due to rain. The girls still had fun and the storm we had was pretty amazing. Saturday was just blah. Ever have one of those? Things just weren't going quite right and I wasn't myself. Saturday's feeling dragged into Sunday. It didn't help that I had to teach in YW. I was actually nervous about teaching in there because I had all the YW, not just our usual small group. My lesson was THE worst lesson I've EVER taught. And I am not exaggerating. But, new day tomorrow, right?

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So far, I have liked keeping a blog. But sometimes I feel as if I need a separate, private blog for myself. If I wrote EVERYTHING I felt in this blog, I probably wouldn't have it be a public one. I guess that's what a journal is for. But then that's just more writing I have to do. *Sigh* Off to vent in my journal. Here's hoping that this week is a better one.

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Have you fed my fish lately? Click in the rectangle where they swim around and watch them eat!

Looking at Adam's big, squishy bum as I write this!

That's right, I am looking at Adam's BIG, white bum while writing this. I would like to squish it. In fact, I often do and he's not a fan of it! ;) It's so cute though!!

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Since I commented on my last post that I don't take very many pictures, I have decided that I will have to do that more often. I recently read somewhere that as a mom, I should not shy away from the camera and instead take more pictures WITH my kids not just of the kids. I realized how often I am the one taking the pictures. I am not in a lot of them. I did however, decide this past Mother's Day that I wanted pictures taken with the kids. I wanted just ONE decent picture with them. Did that happen? No. But then I thought that was ok. It was ok because the kids were just being themselves. I will look back at that picture someday and remember their personalities at that time. So tomorrow I will be taking the camera to the pool since this is the last week it's open. And if I am brave enough I will have somebody take a picture of me with the kids. In my swimsuit. Aaahhh!

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We got a piano today! Cooper had expressed interest in taking lessons a little while ago. So I had been keeping my eye out for anything that was affordable. I found one from the library community board. We paid $175.00 and needs a tune up but I;m sure it will serve it's purpose in our home just great! I'm still a bit surprised that Cooper wants to take lessons. I'm glad. Lately we have been talking to him about playing football. He played last year and liked it but didn't care for the coach. So we're trying to make him see that just because he didn't like the coach he should shy away from football all together. Ever since we moved him, I just pictured him playing at the stadium. Lame, I know. But it just sounded so fun. Well, I don't think it's going to happen. I'm a little disappointed but really, I can't be too upset about it. How many 12 year old boys want to take piano? Willingly? He likes wrestling and baseball. And he does want to get his Eagle. So I am not too worried that he doesn't have any other interests.

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School starts next week. I am planning on working with Lauren at home. I found a bunch of materials at Target. The dollar section. LOVE that place!!! Anyway. I would like to get a schedule so we have a structured little program. I will also attempt to go to story time again at the library. I haven't gone in quite a while. I attempted when Adam was younger and he just wasn't quite ready to sit there and listen to books being read. But he LOVES reading now so I think he'll do much better. Between those two things, it should keep me from losing my sanity, right? ;)

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Still looking for a job. I'm trying to find something that's part time so I won't have to have somebody watch the kids too long or at all. That could be tricky. I got the kids school fees paid this week. Around $150.00 for that. Then I had to get the van's window fixed. $380.00. So a part time job to pay a few extra expenses would be great. Maybe I could find something over the holidays. We'll see how it goes. That's all for now.

Bug-Eyed

Craig has been into running for a while. He's really working hard at staying in shape. I wish I was more motivated. Well, he went running last night. He got caught in a HUGE thunderstorm. Thunder, lightning, rain, the works. He finally got home and was soaked. A few minutes after he got home he wanted me to look in his eye because he thought there was a bug in there. I couldn't see anything. Throughout the night he kept putting eye solution in his eye to hopefully wash out whatever was irritating it. Nothing. We went to bed. After brushing our teeth and I climbed in bed he said he had spotted the bug in his eye. Here's what was in there:

Ewww! It was pretty gross to see that in his eye. I about reached into his eye with my bare finger but quickly thought to get a Q-tip. After I got it out we examined it very closely to figure out what kind of bug it was. After careful inspection we think was an ant. But how would an ant get in his eye? While running? We're not sure, but it was quite something.

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As a side note to this post I have to admit how I came to take the picture. I don't take as many pictures as I used to when we just had Cooper or even Audry. I know I need to, but I just forget. So of course last night I didn't think to take a picture. Why would I? It was something gross. Who wants to take pictures of gross things? I do! I thought this morning: " I should have taken a picture of the bug last night...Wait! I bet the Q-tip is still in the trash can where Craig threw it in." So yes, I was even more gross than the actual bug and dug through the bathroom trash to get the bug. Have you ever had to get something out of the bathroom trash? It's nasty. I'll spare you the details, but I'm sure you have a lot of the same disgusting things in your trash as I do. Thankfully, the bugged Q-tip was on top. So that's my bug-eyed story.

Summer is coming to an end :(

Summer is almost over as far as school goes. I am sad about that. It has been a good summer. We've been going o the pool more than any other year that I can remember. I am sort of ready for the kids to go back to school but not ready at the same time. Not sure if I'm ready for the mountain of papers that come home when school first starts. Not sure if I'm ready for homework. If I had another kid going to school then maybe I'd be a little more excited. I will still have 2 at home. Jen Fields will have all of hers at school. I envy her. I know I should just enjoy the time I have left with my little ones, but some days are tough.

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Since we have been going to the pool a lot we have gotten pretty dark. Cooper is the darkest. The rest of the kids are pretty dark as well except for Caleb. He's my white baby. He does have a nice little white bum though! I got the 3 little monkeys some floaties this year after I had a scare with Lauren earlier this summer. At first they were leary of trusting that the floaties would indeed keep them from drowning. Caleb was the first to figure out it was pretty fun to be able to go out in the deep end with the big kids. Then Adam realized he was able to wander a little farther from me than before. Lauren was not sure at all that she trusted them. Then one day Craig went swimming with us, told her to lift her legs up and that she'd float and that was her big "Aha" moment. It has been a lit easier to take the kids to the pool this year and probably the reason we've gone a lot more. Adam has done really well playing in the water. Every once in a while he forgets that he can't swim and tries to follow the big kids around. He likes to take off towards the bathroom and concessions too I found out. Stinker!

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When Adam was a baby he had a lump on one side of his chest. We didn't think much about it and it went away on it's own before too long. About 2 months ago, it returned. We have take him to 2 doctors and they didn't know what it was. So that led us to a pediatric surgeon today. He wants to do a biopsy on it. He wasn't sure what it was and felt another small lump on his other nipple. He also said he thought he heard a heart murmur so because of that we have to meet with the anesthesia department before surgery to make sure his heart is okay. The heart murmur was something no other doctor had mentioned before so then I got even more worried. I'm nervous about the whole thing, but I think things will be okay. Adam was great during his appointment. He's been really good while I've taken to the different doctors. Doesn't do or say much. He just lays there while they examine him. What a little trooper.

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Craig talked to Anita Sunday night and found out that the reunion will be here next year!! Woooohooo!! I'm so excited we won't have to travel anywhere. I'm so grateful that other families are willing to travel. We'll be nice and cozy but I don't mind at all.

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We had an interesting conversation with Cooper tonight. We asked him to put the new furnace filter in and he came up and said that he couldn't move a box out of the way. We told him to figure something out. Not to be mean, but to show and teach him that he could do it. He kept insisting that he had tried everything and there was no way to do it. No matter what we said, he was convinced that it couldn't be done. Long story short... I gave him a tip, he finally admitted than given enough time, yes, he would have figured it out. We were trying to teach him that he needed to be able to figure things out. That there was more than one way of doing things. When will he realize that we're not trying to pick on him? That we're trying to get him to think for himself? Sooner than later I hope.

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That's all for now.