Bad News

This morning when I dropped the kids off at the babysitter she told me that she's not going to be doing daycare anymore once school starts up again. She has lost so many kids as they've grown up and don't require care or moved out the neighborhood that she just can't do it anymore with only a few kids. She got hired at the school and will start in late August. She's been hesitant to tell me. I am so sad. She's the greatest. The kids love, love, love to go to her house and it was so nice that she was so close. She was the perfect person to leave my kids with, I have never been concerned about how my kids were while in her care. I have 2 months to find someone new. I just hope that I can find a good place that I feel as comfortable with as I did with her.

City Celebration - Carnival

After the mile run was the Carnival at the park. It's very similar to a school carnival. Some bouncy toys, fishing booth, bean bag toss, etc. They were giving helicopter rides for $25 a person but Zachary loved just watching it take off and land throughout the time we were there.

City Celebration - Mile Run

Saturday morning was kids mile run. Hanley did the mile run. She got third place in her age group. She did awesome.

City Celebration - Ping Pong Ball Drop

After the pie eating contest there was a helicopter out on the field that was going to drop ping pong balls out onto the grass. Each kid could get 2 of the balls. They had numbers on them and each number was for a specific prize. The helicopter got about 10 stories above the grass and started dropping the balls out. Kids started running like crazy. Savanna ran out but then quickly ran back crying. She was getting ran over by all the big kids. Hanley and her both ended up with 2 each. (Zachary was at home with Paul, we took him back after the parade). Most of the prizes were big pixy sticks and licorice ropes, but there were a few butterfly nets (Savanna got one) and a few rafts and 2 bikes.

City Celebration - Pie Eating Contest

After the parade we went to the park so Hanley could take part in the Pie Eating Contest that she had entered. The pies were huge but she did her best and got third place. She actually could have had 1st but we didn't know how much she really had to eat and one kid asked if he was done and stood up then another kid stood up, so I told her "stand up"! She had eaten more than both of them. She got a 3rd place ribbon and a coupon for a free large pizza at Pizza Hut.

They said that if there was a tie that whoever had the biggest 'pie grin' would win, so she wanted to make sure she had pie on her face. I couldn't believe that she stuck her whole face in there.

After it was over she said "that was my first pie eating contest..... and my last". She did not feel good.

City Celebration - Parade

We had a small town celebration this last weekend. It started out with a parade. Nothing fabulous but people throw lots of candy. It's mostly boys are 4wheelers, little kids on their little battery operated trucks, a couple of baseball teams and the fire trucks. It only lasted about 10 minutes but was fun anyway.

Flashback Friday - Crater Lake

This is a trip to Crater Lake in 1981. My parents and us 3 kids (and probably a dog) all rode in this single cab truck and pulled our trailer. Robert 5, Rachel 4 and Mike 2. I looked up Crater Lake on the internet and it is in Oregon and what's funny is a picture on one of the websites looks much like this first one below (minus us kids of course).

Kids Wrestling & Socks with Flip Flops

The kids love to wrestle around. Savanna is so tough. She just laughs when we think she should be crying.
Zachary had socks on the other morning and I told him to take them off and put his flip-flops on. He did not want the socks off. We weren't going anywhere so I let him be. When I took a picture of his feet Savanna wanted to join.

Busy Tuesday

Yesterday Hanley and I both had an appointment with the dermatologist to get moles removed and Zachary had an eye checkup. Paul's parents van needed the brakes replaced so Paul drove it over to the car shop for them and we picked him up and headed to the doctor appointments. Hanley had a couple of moles on her neck that bother her and she was really nervous to get them removed. Paul kept telling her she was going to get stuck with needles and get sliced up. I told her it would be OK and I've had many moles removed and it has never hurt. Then we went to Zachary's eye checkup. They had him look at the pictures far away and see if he could tell what they were and ask him if he would see 1 or 2 of them (to make sure he isn't seeing double) but basically a wasted trip.

We stopped back and Paul's parents to see if they needed anything from the store or any help with lunch and we headed home to get our kids lunch. About 5 we headed back to pick up their van from the shop and drop it off to them. It was a long day but glad we could get their car taken care of while his mom is feeling very under the weather. And we were able to fit in 3 doctor appointments to one day.

Weekend

Last weekend started off with Zachary's surgery (see previous post). Then Saturday Paul's mom had a heart surgery Saturday morning. She was told that she would have an oblation but ended up having a defibrilator put into her chest. I guess it's similar to a pacemaker. If her heart goes into a weird rythm it will kick in and put it back to normal. The doctor told her that if it has to kick in it will feel like getting kicked in the chest by a horse. She's not looking forward to that. We visited Paul's dad Sunday morning for Father's Day then we went home and I made a couple of meals for them and we went back after she got home from the hospital that evening.

Paul got the shaft this year on Father's Day. All I got him was a card and I didn't even get him a card or gift for the kids to give him. Luckily Hanley made him a card. We'll have to make it up to him next year.

When we were hanging out in the yard on Saturday I took some pictures of the kids.

Zachary's 4th set of tubes

Friday morning Zachary had to be at the hospital at 7:00 am. I woke up early, got ready then got him out of bed. I took him downstairs and made him go to the bathroom before we left. He asked me "where am I going". I told him he had to go to the hospital so they could fix his ears. He was so sad. Tears were running down his face as we left the house. I told him it would be OK and fast and we would be home really soon. This is his 7th surgery (4th set of tubes, 2 eye surgeries and 1 tonsil/adenoid surgery). Usually he throws a huge fit and we have to get out of the hospital ASAP for him to settle down.

When we arrived, he was such a sad little boy but was being so brave. I had him help me push the buttons on the computer to check in and the elevator buttons to go upstairs. He stepped on the scale and got his height measured fine (that's usually when he starts getting mad). We went into our little area to change his clothes and he cried. I told him it would be fine and we will go home really soon. He wouldn't take the medicine that makes him woozy and the nurse told him that was fine but he would need to be brave when they took him back to the OR. He cried a little bit when they wheeled him away, but not his usual fit (who can blame him).

When they brought him back to me he wasn't crying like usual. I figured when he saw me he'd start to cry, but he just looked at me with a blue popsicle in his hand while he got some stickers from the nurse. He never even grabbed at his ears so they must not have been hurting. We changed him back into his pajamas and he layed back on the bed (again, this is not the normal thing, he usually wants to get out of the bed as soon as he can). He got a new blanket and watched TV for a while. After the doctor came to talk to us we were able to go home. The nurse asked him if everything was OK and he said 'yea'. I have been so nervous for this visit knowing how mad he was after his eye surgery but this was the best he's been with any of his surgeries. I think it helped too that he did not have the pre-medicine, he came out of surgery wide awake and happy.

These tubes are a little different than the others he's had and they are supposed to last about 5 years. Hopefully this little guy is done for a while.

Just some things...

Friday morning Paul's mom had an angiogram. It went fine and they didn't find anything wrong. But now they need to do more tests to find out what's causing her problems. Saturday I made some lasagna (OK, I heated up a frozen lasagna) and some french bread to take over to them. I called her to tell her we'd be over with dinner. They had someone else that had already brought them dinner so I told her we'd bring it on Sunday. I pulled the lasagna out of the oven and over it went onto the oven door. Some of it got the floor, but everything on the oven door I scraped back into the pan. No, I didn't take that to the in-laws, that's what the kids had for dinner that night. So yesterday I had to heat up another lasagna to take to them.

We were going to go to Delta Saturday for the rodeo but it rained all weekend so we stayed home. So my parents and my brother's family came up last night and we met them for dinner. They told me that my neice, Lanie, was so sad when I called saying we weren't coming down for the night.

Paul finished his class and passed all of his tests and now has his CDL. He's relieved to finally be done with tests. Now hopefully he can find a job driving that has somewhat regular home time.

Grounded for Life...

Thursday night when I got home from work, Paul left to go to his class. He told me that Hanley went to a friends house to play, named Jen. I have no idea who Jen is. Me, Zachary & Savanna ate dinner and did a few things around the house. About 8:00 I'm thinking Hanley will be home soon. 8:30 rolls around and I finally called 3 other friends in the neighborhood to see if they knew 'Jen'. No one knew who that was. At 9:00 I was getting really worried (and really mad). I went outside to listen to see if I could hear any kids playing. Another neighbor walked by and I asked her if she knew any girls named Jen. She didn't know either. Paul pulled in the driveway and was mad when I told him she still wasn't home. The neighbor that was walking by finally said 'oh, maybe it's Jenna ....'. I drove over and there was Hanley. She got in the car like nothing was wrong. I pointed at the clock and said "do you see what time it is". She got a surprised look on her face like she had no idea it was that late. Their bedtime is 8:30 and it was much darker than it is at 8:30. I said "really, you had no idea that the sun is totally down?". Anyway, she will be lucky if she gets to play again at all this summer. She will be doing LOTS of reading and chores.

Flashback Friday - Washington D.C.

When I was 5 (1982) we took a trip back to Washington D.C. It was my family and my dad's brother's family. We visited some relatives along the way. We drove the entire way pulling our trailers.

Mike, sorry but this was too cute not to post. :) I remember I LOVED!!! this swimming suit.
I also remember catching fireflies at this house.
We pulled them apart and put all of the 'lights' in a bottle.

Rachel & Mike

Rachel & Robert

Swim Lessons

My kids have never taken swimming lessons. Since I work it's always been too hard to take them. But I decided this year that they've got to go so they at least know how to float and doggy paddle. It is every morning for 9 days. Zachary was so excited but didn't listen very good. This is his first time in the water this summer so he just wanted to play around. He was mad when it was over and we had to leave. I told him that one of these days I'll leave work early and we'll all go swimming and he can play. Hanley and Zachary are in a class together and Savanna will be in a class in July.

Nebo Loop

We worked hard all week to get things done so we could take a break on Saturday. We did have to assemble a basketball stand, but then we headed up Payson Canyon. We were going to go clear across into Nephi but there was one spot that we couldn't pass. If we would have been in our SUV instead of our mini-van we would have made it. It was beautiful up there. The mountains go on forever. The kids had a blast. After we turned around at the area that was too snowy to keep driving, we stopped at a lookout and got out to stretch our legs. We even threw snowballs. Zachary acted like he had to pee so I told him he could go wherever. He said no a few times then all the sudden (after another car had pulled in) he pulled his pants down. We laughed so hard. The porta-potties were so gross that I didn't want Savanna in there so I just helped her in the dirt. They both thought that was pretty neat to pee outside.

This is not the part where we had to turn around. There were several spots like this that were really snowy but had one section you could drive through. I'm sure in a week or so all of these spots will be melted.

Zachary's Bite

Zachary was playing with the neighbor boy on Saturday and we heard screaming. When he came home he had a big bite mark on his arm. My kids have never really been biters. I think Hanley bit me one time when she was little and I bit her back, so she never did that again. He wasn't bleeding but it was a good little mark. Along with the fake tattoo above the bite. Usually those tattoos come off in the first tub, but this one has stayed on for about a week.

Flashback Friday - Parents

Some cute old pictures of my parents. None of the pictures had a year on them but I gave a guess on each one.

Mom, Dad and Aunt Sue (1973 or 74?)

Mom & Dad (1973 or 74?) Dad, Mom, Rachel & Robert (1980 or 81?)

Mom & Dad (?)

Wild Boy

Zachary was driving down the yard on the tricycle. He scared us a few times.

Funny Picture

Paige sent me a text yesterday with a picture of her & Hanley. I got a good laugh. I showed Paul and he said "you have to put that one on your blog". So here it is.

Memorial Day/Paul's Birthday

We had a BBQ yesterday at our house with Paul's family. It was his birthday as well as Memorial Day. They usually don't fall on the exact same day. We had burgers, hot dogs, several salads, deviled eggs and corn salsa/chips. And I made some yummy cupcakes to celebrate the birthday. We had chocolate with cream cheese icing and yellow with chocolate icing.

Paige & Brynlie

Shelby, Hanley & Sierra

Paul and his family.
Dad, Kerrie, Dave, Paul, Don, Debbie & Mom

All of us.

Brynlie getting excited about the hamster.

Brynlie, Savanna & Hunter fixing the car.

Zachary

Hunter

Brynlie driving the car.

Shelby

Brynlie eating her lunch.

The kids.