Words of Wisdom...

...I saw this posted on Creative Homemakers...it was just what I needed and thought I would share these inspired and wise words with you all, especially since I admire this woman so much!



"As you create a home, don't get distracted with a lot of things that have no meaning for you or your family. Don't dwell on your failures, but think about your successes. Have joy in your home. Have joy in your children. Have joy in your husband. Be grateful for the journey."
-Marjorie Pay Hinkley

Video-take 1

There are a few videos I've always wanted to show, but could never figure out...thanks to Kimberly this should work...hence "take 1" as the title...

this has been circulating and I LOVE IT!!!


Bryant immediately thought it was Pirates of the Carribean and then was so stoked that the "bad guys" would leave the sleeping princess alone...so good!!


Whenever Jake pulls up youtube Sarah immediately asks for "gummi bears" this is the smash hit at our house...pretty cute if i do say so myself, but watch out...the tune will be stuck in your head for a very long time!!


I sure hope this works...enjoy!!

Video

How do you post videos onto your blog from youtube.com??? I know I'm completely behind the times with this, but I cannot figure it out! Blogger just sits there...does it really take that long?

Tobasco Sauce

The fridge is open, Lydia is in her walker and she finds the tobasco sauce bottle (which is never used)...daily, multiple times daily. She pretends its a bottle and carries is around until I can convince her that cheerios or kix are a much better option.

Now fast forward...we are sitting in a booth at a local restaurant. She's had her fill of the good stuff and becomes antsy waiting for the older kids to finish eating. She grabs the tobasco sauce and starts sucking...then screaming. She sucks on it again and screams louder. Her mouth is on fire. Luckily we have milk and applesauce.

The tobasco bottle is now trashed at home.

No pictures, sorry...I thought of that after Jake helped calm the fire. It was kind of funny the faces she was making.

Advice please??

So, my precious, sensitive souled son is in kindergarten and came home yesterday in absolute big, alligator tears...
his dear feelings were CRUSHED!!

He had been talking to a friend in class and goofing off, like any 6-year old would do at "free time" and was immediately sent to his desk to put his head down. He NEVER gets in trouble, in fact, he is usually the one defending the ones that do get in trouble. He is devastated. He is the type that needs approval. He woke up this morning with the determination that he was not going to school (because his feet hurt)...after further questioning he admitted it was because he did not want to be in trouble again-he was afraid to see his teacher and what she thought of him. He has determined that he doesn't need to go to school again.

In preschool his darling teacher explained that for him to LOVE school (the learning part of it, the social part is NOT a problem) he would need an amazing kindergarten teacher that understood his type of personality and accentuated it. Since moving, this has been an extremely difficult challenge for us, as his teacher has been battling MAJOR health issues this year and is super short fused with the kids. I volunteer in the classroom every Tuesday and experience the heartache these children feel from the attitude the teacher gives them.

I just don't know what to do. I did allow Bryant to stay home today. We have had reflection day and how he is a great kid and how he can be even better at school, by being an example. He still insists he doesn't need to go.

So, I pose the question(s)...
1. What would you tell your child?
2. How would you handle his attitude toward his teacher/school?
3. What would you do, if anything, about the teacher's attitude?
4. How would you handle next year, or would you worry about it?

As an educator, it is difficult to see the light in the children's eyes that want to learn, but see the attitude they have that it doesn't matter because someone, somehow, at some time told them they weren't good enough. In my immature vision, I can see that Bryant will take to heart EVERYTHING any teacher says and discard most of what I say to be who he will become.

Again, I could use some advice...

Sugar and spice...

...and everything nice...

that's what {little} girls are made of!

Easter

We had a wonderful weekend! Jake's siblings travelled up from Utah to come celebrate. We had a fantastic weekend with most of the fun on Saturday.

While preparing for Easter, the kids were enrolled in helping clean house, make beds, pick up toys, etc. The house got really quiet and this is what I walked into!

dollar store makeup caked on the girls' faces...they were so thrilled with themselves for doing it alone!

Sarah putting on, what I thought was plastic lipstick!

Kayelynn thrilled with the outcome


Lydia was SOoooo excited to see a baby...she would literally squeal everytime baby Dallas was brought in the room...this is the best photo we could get of it...it was so sweet to see her give slobbery kisses.

Great-grandmother treats everyone to lunch on Saturday for our Easter feast. It's so fun to be together with family...the kids LOVED it!

Going on a hunt!!

Bryant was so fast all I got was blurred photos of him. The girls took their time and enjoyed finding all they could! We even found more today ;)

Lydia stole the popcorn ball she found on the table...she was in heaven!!

Lydia got her biggest boo-boo this weekend. She was determined to come outside with the rest of the gang. For some reason I didn't shut the screen like I always do and left her inside in her walker and then I heard a thud...she kind of did a flying leap out the door and landed face down since the walker is so heavy in front. She got quite the wood-burn, if that is such a thing, on her forehead and a blister on her nose. She recovered well.

We had so much fun with family, we miss them all already. I love that the kids get along so well when we only get to see each other a few times a year!

Sorry all...I've had a few weird comments so I put comment moderation on...looks like it may have been just a fluke, but I may be going private soon-we'll see.

The first five to respond to the last post:
1. Tina
2. Danielle
3. Karen
4. Rachel
5. Silvia

Now you get to wait and wonder on the "fabuloso" gift you will receive on or before Decamber 31st!!

From Me...

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!
My choice.
For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. (ha! 9 whole months :)
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.
The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! I do promise fabulosity here folks...

Spring Break

Spring Break in I.F. is interesting...they get a Friday and then Monday through Wednesday off and are expected to go back to school for Thursday and Friday only to be met with the weekend again...interesting, yes. However, this year I decided to take the kids to Meridian (outside of Boise)to visit my family for the break and leave Jake home to work and get some more updates done in the house.
We had a FABULOUS time in Meridian with my family...the weather was pretty good until the day we were scheduled to leave. The kids enjoyed playing outside, playing inside, learning new "talents", playing at the park, feeding calves and I enjoyed shopping at the quarter sale and a night at PBR.
While we were there we celebrated my dad's birthday with a little party with pin the tale on the donkey...my kids thought it was so fun to see their grown up aunts, uncles and grandparents try to pin the tail!
BIRTHDAY

Sarah pinning the nose

the birthday boy, MY DAD!!

NEW TALENTS

Lydia discovered that she could climb the stairs, and was very proud that she mastered it the first time, with NO help! In fact, we didn't even know she understood the concept or would even try until we turned around and she was already up three steps!!

CALF FEEDING
My parents have some dairy farmer friends, so my dad called 'em up and asked if we could take a fieldtrip and feed the calves...Bryant asked to go the next day, but it was snowing and he decided against it afterall ;)

the gang...it was windy and sunny-we brought Eastern Idaho with us

Fixing the bottles

Feeding calves...Kayelynn was doing it, but decided she would like to watch instead. I took over and Lydia was not impressed with the animals at all!

Bryant wanted to make sure they drank every last drop :D

Some still even suck on your fingers...it's the grossest, slimiest feeling, but kind of cool

Sarah did NOT want to feed them, notice she just has her hand on the bottom long enough for a picture.

Kayelynn was the bottle transporter

The calves thought Bryant was a tasty treat

they rode in the back with the milk for the bigger calves

helping pour the milk

cleaning out the buckets

She's happy now

PARK
This park was so cool, we finally made it there on Monday afternoon before all the storms hit! It was intentionally designed for handicapped children, so there were some neat and well spaced out toys. The favorite was the musical area and the climbing "rocks". The ground was a sponge-y type astro-turf...pretty neat.

Xylophone

Another xylophone

Climbing rock...Bryant is NOT the adventurous type and was scared spitless to get off by climbing down...he expected to be lifted off...not so, my son, not so...

Lydia adventured into whatever she could, this was her favorite...it blocked her from the wind

We were all scheduled to leave on Wednesday morning, just in time to get back for the two days of school, when during the night Tuesday Sarah was having a VERY difficult time breathing. She had pneumonia earlier this month, so I was on alert anyway, but this was slightly more scary and I was very, very close to just taking her to the ER, but I chose to find a doctor and have a visit.
I was told that she is unofficially diagnosed with uncontrolled asthma. She was so wheezy and blocked up in the airways the first day that I was told to give her nebulizer treatments (which we had purchased during her bout with pneumonia, and I had wisely taken with me) every two hours for two days and to bring her back first thing Thursday morning.

the nebulizer treatment...the mask is of a dinosaur-she liked pretending she was one

We were then faced with the option to put her in the hospital then or get her immediately on some oral steroids and antibiotic. I chose the oral steroid-who wants to be in a foreign hospital during "vacation"-and was to check back in at 4pm to determine if the meds were doing the trick. For anyone who knows anything about asthma...the breathing is super shallow and when as bad as Sarah it takes every effort to just breath let alone walk and talk at the same time. I grew up with asthma and still suffer now and again and had complete empathy for what she was going through. I felt so scared and sad for my little 2-year old to be experiencing this. With asthma, they have to check their oxygen levels. Normal numbers are anywhere from 95-100%....her's on the first day were 84%, Thursday morning they hadn't changed, by Thursday afternoon she was at 88%-and I was told to take her to the hospital immediately and spend the rest of the night there...then the doctor wisely checked her breathing once more...she declared Sarah clear as a whistle...no wheezing, nothing!


A miracle!

She then checked her oxygen again and discovered that the one they had been using wasn't reading correctly...she was at 94%! She was cleared to go "home" and check back once more in the morning with the distinct warning that if there was ANY QUESTIONS to take her to the ER as the doctor was the one on-call. I didn't have any problems with her during the night, took her in first thing Friday and discovered her oxygen to be at 96%...she was healing, and FAST!!!
Oh, how I am grateful for my knowledge of the gospel in my life and my testimony in prayer! We were cleared to come home, until we checked the weather report and postponed coming home yet another day.

my girls...Sarah was doing her treatment when Bryant took this

The three munchkins

My cowboy...that is what he wants to be when he grows up! He was found sporting the hat and boots every single day...there was a limit when we left the house

PBR-PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDING
My sister was kind enough to invite me to tag along to the PBR at the Idaho Center. My parents were kind enough to watch the kiddos sleep while I went and it was a BLAST!

My sister, Lanae; my brother, Parker, and yours truly

PERFECT!

They had little bull-riders come and show off their talent. It was pretty cool. They were between 9-13 years old. This kid was 11 and stayed on the whole time!

We finally made our journey Saturday morning with General Conference blasting the speakers in the mini-van and kids sad they were saying good-bye. All-in-all we had a great vacation and learned some important and some fun lessons.
Sarah is not recovered by any means, but is on the road to a controlled "disease". All that's left is to find a doctor that cares and who will help us get her even further in recovery. I have much more to learn as a parent with a child of this nature and hope to make the best choices possible to give her the fullest life she can get. This will affect everything she does if she is not treated correctly.