The "History of Me" Quiz

Okay Deana, here I go....
I copied from the best, you know?
A short story about me.
A person you all know? We'll see.
Grab a pen and paper, and pull up your hose,
Ready for a test? Well, here it goes:

I was born in Riverton, Wyoming, on October (a), 1978, which makes me fast approaching the (b) year old mark.
I graduated WHS in May of (c), with all of the other animals on the ark.
I met the love of my life, Grady, this same year.
On November 24, (d), we said, "Yes, I Do, Dear."
Macy arrived on October 19, (e), a little late;
At least it wasn't a Halloween date!
We bundled up Stuart on January (f), 2004.
That summer we packed up our house and walked out the door.
We bought our house in Ten Sleep,
A great town, but it smelled like sheep.
Fiona arrived on March 8, (g).
Was this enough, did we have our fix?
One summer morning I received a call,
"Pack up, Cinderella, we're going to the ball!"
We moved again, North this time.
No money from our house, not even a dime.
Soon after my belly grew,
Another baby, who knew?
We bought house number (h),
and sold the other...we were home free!
Myles arrived on August (i), 2007.
Life is great, sometimes it feels like Heaven.
No time for mom, there's jobs to do.
Four children and housework, too.
I've paused my flying lesson for a while,
but I've banked (j) hours with a smile! :)

Here are the numbers that you will need to complete this one.
2006
1997
13
7
2002
16
30
3
2
1999

My work here is done,
How did you do? Wasn't it FUN?
("I'll post the answers later if no one gets them all correct....I'm sure you can score a A+ though)

My Happy Meter is Turning Sad...

We have just spent the past TWO HOURS at the clinic waiting to have poor Stuart looked at. We just had a lesson on dependability Monday night and I was reinforcing how dependable he was at night time to sleep all night. And then last night actually came. Stuart had the most terrible night. He started in on some sleep talking and whining while I was fighting to get Myles to sleep. I asked him what was wrong, but he would not answer, so I discarded it as a dream. Later he was in our bed whining that his ear hurt. THE FIRST TIME I HAVE EVER HAD A KID CRY OVER A HURT EAR! My first instinct was to grab the drops we were given for Fiona's ear. I placed a few in his to no relief. I finally told him that I had to put him back into his own bed so I could get some sleep. I gave him some tylenol and then put him to bed. He got up and went to the bathroom and then was back in bed and asleep. First thing this morning he was crying about his ear again. I just assumed that he had an ear infection since our house seems to be INFECTED with EAR INFECTIONS! I tried the drops again and then told him that I thought we needed to go to the doctor. He gave me some speach about how his ears were tricking him and that they were fine then. Later, he was back at the aching and soreness. I tried our pediatrician but he wasn't in today, so we avoided the downtown traffic by heading to the west end clinic for same day care. My poor son was so afraid of seeing a doctor. He tried to talk me out of it again. After sitting in the clinic waiting area for 1 1/2 hours, Stuart fell asleep on the chair. Fiona was just about to follow when we finally got called back. I had to give Myles to the nurse and carry Stuart back. He refused to sit on the exam table, so the doctor just gave him the exam in the chair. Sure enough, we are fighting another ear infection.

We dropped Macy off at school 30 minutes late and I brought the younger ones home to get some sleep. I will pick up the medication when I go pick her up. I'm hoping that Grady will be home prior to then so that I don't have to drag these sick babies back out, but am kind of doubtful right now. :(

I just have to add that the title is Stuart's new famous saying. ha.ha.ha. AND, I came up with a new title for myself. THE FOUR-TIME FRENCH FRIED MOMMA. That's exactly how I feel right now. Does anyone know a super-duper-house-disinfecting tablet that I can release before I leave and have all of these sicko germs gone when I return in 30 minutes? If so, I would love to have it overnighted here at my own expense.

Okay, I will post updates later, I need to hit the laundry room while everyone is calm for the moment. Have a great Wednesday!

Fiona & Daddy take a trip to the ER....

Last night the older three kids were downstairs playing. Mommy, Daddy, & Myles were upstairs moving the furniture around in the master bedroom. Stuart came up the stairs screaming and crying. He said that Fiona had shut her bedroom door on him and the doorknob hit him in the back of the head. I just kissed the ouchie and comforted him. He went along his merry way. A few minutes later Fiona came up the stairs screaming and crying. She was rubbing her high tummy-lower chest area. We could not figure out what was wrong with her. Macy & Stuart said she was crying because she shut herself in her bedroom. I held her and got her to stop crying, but she was really struggling to breathe. I just thought that she was trying to get her breath back after that episode. They sat with daddy and read stories and then went to bed. Three hours later Fiona woke up....nothing unusual. Grady went down and layed (laid??) with her. I stayed in bed. At midnight he came up and woke me. He said that she was still struggling to breathe and that he wasn't sure Macy & Stuart told us the complete truth about what happened earlier. I was really thinking that she was catching pnemonia (sp?) due to the terrible cough and runny nose that she has suffered for the past two days. Grady got dressed and I ran downstairs to get warmer clothes for her. I had offered to take her downtown to the ER, but would have had to take Myles with me. He hasn't been sleeping well either. The headed out a few mintues after midnight. Of course I could not sleep a wink because I was so worried. They arrived home just before three. After a chest x-ray, a temperature taken rectally, and some type of smokey respitory check, Fiona was only diagnosed with an ear infection (what the heck???), and a viral rash (instead of the eczema we thought it was). Grady said she was pretty miserable and wanted her mommy while there. We have some medication to pick up today. She is still having a tough time breathing, but I guess that must be the wheeziness they said she had. The tummy pains were probably just gas since Grady said she was tooting like crazy while he was holding her. I took Fiona back to bed this morning and Grady went to try to get some sleep. He had to leave the house by 6 to get to work in Colstrip this morning. Poor guy. I managed to sleep in until 7:30, and I am still trying to get me eyes pried open. I'll keep you all updated if anything else comes out of this. I hope you all had a better Monday night than we did, but I'm happy that it wasn't anything serious and that we are able to continue along at home.

The Adventures of Stuart Bear

Today we received more snow! I can't believe that the weather took a huge drop in temperature. We love the pretty snow, but could really live without the below freezing temperatures.

Grady has been working with the kids on writing a story. They have two chapters, or two stories written. Stuart is the main character, and has given most of the ideas for the plot. Macy is a mongoose, Fiona is a ferret, Myles is a mouse, and Elijah (their cousin) is an alligator. They have so many adventures in one day. I just wish that I could get ahold of it to share. Listening to them read it, I can just picture it taking place in Ten Sleep. Instead of the Red Reflet Ranch, there is an airport that houses all of Stuart's equipment for his airport, firestation, construction company and more. Macy is the pilot of a rescue helicopter and Fiona has fun with lego towers and a sandbox. Myles has a spaceship and Stuart informed me tonight that he lives in a huge cheese house. Eli runs a cafe complete with fresh salmon. I'll try to get some pieces of it to share. The kids absolutely love it and want it read to them all of the time. I just love listening to them laugh right along with the story.

Maybe someday we will be rich from publishing these stories, but until then, we will continue to trek along in our imagination! I've got great pictures in my head to illustrate the books, but just don't know if I can quite get them drawn correctly. I guess we'll see.

We meet with the Bishop on Wednesday night. My worries have been so lightened today. Maybe it was the passing of President Hinkley that put into perspective how little they really are. Anyhow, I will feel better after talking it over with him.

We have removed television from the lives of our kids. I give them one hour in the morning just so that I can get showered and the day started, but after that, it is gone. They can do "good" things that will earn them time, but it will be limited. We've also started a weekly "Values" lesson plan for the year. I found it online and just want to teach my children them while they are young. So many kids grow up without them, and I want mine to be raised the way that I was. We are practicing reverence during the lessons, and then we are able to have a dessert made especially for the night. Tonight went well, so I'll keep you posted on how we progress.

Tonight is also Macy's special time with Mom and Dad, so I need to head upstairs to spend some quality time with her. Have a great one!

He WILL eat something other than me.....!!

Myles has finally taken to other food besides what I have to offer. He ate two meals today..pears and rice for breakfast, and chicken, pears, and rice for dinner! He would not eat bananas or applesauce, but when I tried squash and rice a few days ago, he managed to get it all figured out. Still "NO" on the formula, but I really feel like we are making some progress here! YAH!!

In other news, we had a very tough day at church again. I gave up after two hours of it and we came home. I am trying to get an appointment with our Bishop at the advice of my dear friend and blog follower....THANKS! I'll keep you updated on what we come up with for a resolution.

We hit our high for the nice weather today, topping out at 49. We are expecting another coldfront to hit tonight and are forcasted to have a windchill of -15 or more tomorrow. Thank you sunshine for the wonderful weekend and we hope to see you again very soon.

Other than that, not much else to update. Sorry for the short post, but it may happen more often. I've had a tough day. Have a Marvelous Monday tomorrow!

MISSION: TOY ROOM ORGANIZATION!!!!

For the new year all I really wanted to do was to get the kids' toys organized. I started looking at different ways to do it. I ended up going with some rather inexpensive ideas that just fell into place. Here are pictures of the newly organzied basement. I was asked a LOOOOONG time ago to post pictures of it, and I fianlly have it to where I think that I am okay with sharing what the place looks like. This is the first time that my desk has been THIS clean! I really can't clear much more off of the top since alot of it has to do with work. I'm not even sure that I've ever dusted the thing since we moved here either. I've been VERY, VERY, VERY AFRAID of the basement. There were toys everywhere and it was amazing if you could get the light turned on without tripping over something or hurting your foot from stepping on something.

And the TOY ROOM. This is looking down from the stairs. The built in bookcase area has been a wonderful storage unit in itself. We have games on the top two shelves, and books on the bottom two shelves, and then a storage bin full of larger toys on the floor under that.
From the food storage closet. The movies are in the white tall deal right next to the TV. Under the TV area of the armoire is storage for the Vsmile and blankets. All this tucked away behind some wonderful doors!
Don't really know why I put this one in, but, hey, you have all four walls now! Maybe it was to prove that I HAD a walkway cleared one time!
This little wire unit I purchased at Target onsale for $12.99. We made the trek up to the Heights to buy the collapsible cubes at BigLots. They were 3 (2 large & 1 small) for $10. So, for the total amount of $32.99, I was able to make tons of storage space for puzzles, toy cars, toy animals, small games, and other miscellaneous items. I have to add that I think it is rather stylish for a kids' area too! I placed the toys coming away from the wall to maximize the space we had. I helps to make both sides of the kitchen easy to play at too. This also helped make the "open" floor area not seem quite as big.

In other organization attempts, we have purchased laundry baskets that slide under the bunkbed in the boys' room for toys, and storage totes that slide under the girls' beds for their toys. I printed out pictures of each and protected them with contact paper before securing them to the bins. It is my hope that this will help with the pick up process and keeping things put where they belong.

MISSION COMPLETE!!!!

I better go tend to the baby boy. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Recession??

I've been reading tons about the economy taking a turn towards a recession. Has anyone else heard this?

I have been really trying to stock up on food storage and the necessities (toilet paper, toothpaste, soaps) and have been really trying to make healthier meals for us. There are times that it is so easy just to make the kids a corndog, ramen noodles, or mac and cheese. I've started cutting veggies into thin slices and adding them to the noodles and have been making homemade mac and cheese (thanks, Nana, for the "show-me-how"). I've searched the internet for recipes that I can make with what I have onhand. I can actually say that we have not been food shopping as much this month as the past few months. I liked how we only shopped once a month while in Wyoming, and am trying very hard to make that possible again. Although the temptations are hard to battle, I may be making some slow progress. With the doctor bills still coming in, I am trying my hardest to be frugal. I run the house all day shutting lights off that are not being used. I only run the dishwasher when I can not fit another knife in it. I've successfully made four loaves of bread from scratch (including the griding of wheat...although that uses electricity, so maybe not a money saver, but we eat toast for breakfast and eat it fresh as a snack).

Well, I will continue to rack my brain for some frugal living, but would love to hear anyone else's ideas on it.

HELP FOR THE NEWBIES!

ON THE TOP RIGHT OF THIS SCREEN IS A TAB TO "CREATE BLOG". CLICK ON IT AND THEN IT WILL GO THROUGH THREE PAGES OF INFORMATION TO FILL OUT. ONCE THE BLOG HAS BEEN CREATED, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CLICK ON "DASHBOARD", IT WILL BE ON THE TOP RIGHT OF THE SCREEN AGAIN. THIS IS WHERE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO EDIT YOUR PROFILE (RIGHT COLUMN) SO THAT YOU CAN WRITE DOWN THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF IF YOU WANT TO. YOU WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO EDIT YOUR LAYOUT (FONTS, COLORS, ETC.), SETTINGS (BLOCK THE SEARCH ENGINES, ADD A DESCRIPTION UNDER YOUR BLOG TITLE, AND POSTING COMMENT MODERATION). I BOOKMARKED THE DASHBOARD PAGE FOR EASY SIGNIN AND POSTING. IF YOU WANT MORE HELP, CALL ME WHEN YOU'RE READY AND I WILL TRY TO WALK YOU THROUGH IT. GOOD LUCK!

Have You Ever Uploaded Photos and..???

forgot what you had on the camera? I just did! After visiting a total of FIVE stores, we finally found an outfit for Macy. I found a coat at one store, but found this entire outfit for exactly $4 more! The preschool is going to the park today and Stuart is hoping to be able to join them. I searched frantically for a snowsuit that I knew we had, but it was not placed in the right bin. I fianlly found it, so Fiona is now set if she chooses to join in the cold weather fun. I took a picture of them yelling SNOWBUNNIES!

While uploading that picture, I found some from last week that I completely forgot were even taken. Oh, the life of a mother of four! We went to Macy's preschool last week to visit before class started. She has been asking us to go see the animals since she had the duty of feeding them last week. Since Grady was not home, we took the camera and she was able to photograph them for him. Here they are:

There are pictures of a fish, guinea pig, toad (I think) and a frog. She was so excited that she fed them! This week she is the Official Weather Checker! They went to The Little Gym yesterday and she was up on the balance beam. I wish that I could have been there for pictures. She really liked it and I think that she would love to join gymnastics later. She said yesterday that she was "busy enough with preschool right now". I think that she heard me say that to her grandma on the phone earlier.

I Challenge YOU....

Okay, I think that I have a few takers. I want to challenge you all to either create your own blog (if you don't have one), I challenge you to publish a post EVERYDAY. I know that this will be tough for some of you, so I will change my request to AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN! I think that this will be a fun way for us all to get to know each other better. You don't have to post pictures everyday, or post your daily schedule. We can post things like the "tag, you're it", "getting to know your friends better" or just a rant of some sort. We can post favorite recipes, meals, or places to eat.....ANYTHING. I still can't think of a prize, so if you have something that you want, let me know. We could just get this started for February and then move on to March for the real deal if that would work better. I just love reading blogs, and really have time everyday when Myles is just wanting to be held, so I WANT more to read from people that I know.

Deana, I know that you've talked about doing this, so I'm just putting a flame beneath your hinny to get it started. Sandy, I love reading about your progress (or the slacking hired hands). Jilly, you have so much to talk about and we'd love to hear it. Becky, I love your email updates and if you had time, I'd love to have your try (with your entire family in school, I'd understand if you don't want to). Nana and Grandma, you are both pretty busy, so I won't request you to do it. The McKim family back east, you could try if you want to, we'd love to see what is happing with your troops (if you're still checking in on us). Adrienne, you do a great job of posting and we would all like to continue reading them. I just want it to be fun. Let me know if anyone needs any help on this, and I can't wait for it to begin.

These blogs can be set to private, so the address has to be typed in to actually read it. No search engines or linking from posts will bring it up.

Let's see what we can do!

Blowing and Snowing

Below are some pictures from around town. The city has two crews working 24 hours a day. They've been working on cleaning up the mess that this lovely winter storm has left us. The paper said that the crews (15 men each) have been working all day and night since Saturday evening, when the snow started. They have had to bring out the front loaders to remove drifts because the drifts were so large that the plows would get stuck. The wind has been terrible. We have had some extremely cold temperatures with the wind chill. Yes, Wyomingites, I know that you have had cold temperatures without the windchill, so I wanted to share in your shivering! Our days could be rather nice if this wind would just blow somewhere else.




Preschool is visiting The Little Gym today since they had to cancel their snow days and were planning on the park tomorrow. I guess that we'll see what they say today about that. Stuart wants to join the preschool at the park if they go. We have been working on gathering up the snow clothes for it. I just feel so bad...I buy winter stuff and now we have things that still have tags attached that were never worn because we never had any snow for them. So, I quit buying the stuff and now that we need it, it is next to impossible to find. You just never know.

Make sure to read the next post too, I really want to get something started!

WELCOME to My NEW LOOK!

I've been wanting to change this blog template ever since Myles was born. Pink just seemed tooooooo girlish for all of the boys in this family......SO......here it is. I really wanted a way cuter one, but haven't found out how to do it, so here is the change for now. I hope you all like it.

The wind has been blowing something terrible here. We have been hunting for new winter wear for Miss Macy. Her class is having some snow days this week, and we have no outdoor gear for her. Lucky for us it is on sale now, but we were at three stores yesterday and were only able to come home with snowpants and gloves. I have to go find a coat before Thursday. Wish me luck!

I've also been thinking about creating a challenge for all of my readers....both bloggers and non. So, if you are up for it, let me know. I want to make a contest out of it, with the prize being........I'll find one later. Just post a comment if you are up for it. The only hint I will give you is that it will start February 1st and run the entire month, AKA.... it will require daily WORK (yes, Sandy, you will have to have internet access daily too)! And, maybe a little prep work for some (meaning it will have to begin BEFORE February 1st...but only an hour MAX!) LET ME KNOW, I THINK IT WILL BE VERY FUN FOR US ALL!!!! Deana and Becky....you NEED to accept this one! PLEASE...for me!! :-P

Okay, I better be rounding up 75% of my children and heading out into this frigid wind to pick up the other 25%! Have a great day.

Saturday Fun

Saturday morning began with Grady heading out for Polar Days with the regional Cub Scouts. They had this planned for awhile, but were unsure about it since we have had NO SNOW! Luckly, a storm moved in and we are still being dumped on. I have scraped the driveway four times, and Grady has done it once already! I must admit that even with the cold temperatures that came along with it, the moisture is a blessing for us up here.

We spent the afternoon walking around the Metra for the Great Rockies Sport Show. We had a great time. The kids were able to go fishing for trout in a swimming pool, however, we were unable to catch any. I think that the fish were stuffed plum full of worms from the morning and the night before! We were also able to visit a real live Grizzly bear names Brutus. Here he is showing off his teeth for the crowd!

Macy and Stuart also put on some Gortex clothing and experienced a thunderstorm in the back of a truck! Amazingly they both came out dry and warm! Although, Stuart looked up at the rain and had a face full!The back of this truck was set up with windows all around, lightening and a fan to blow around the rainstorm! The two of them looked like marshmallows in the oversized jacket and pants, but it was a fun experience for them! Imagine, snow falling outside, and a rainstorm in January...whoda thunk?

I was able to go out for a mommy scrapbook night lastnight. I only was able to make one card because I failed to print out pictures from Stuart's birth for the next page of my book. Yes, that is all the farther I have gotten...Macy's book is complete up to the time that Stuart was born. I was planning to continue along with the timeline and work on all the books that it pertained to. So, I have to find, upload and print photos from January 2004 before I head out for next month's scrapbook night. It was fun just to visit with other ladies though. We have so many babies arriving in our Ward this year....I'm just glad that I'm not joining all of the expecting mothers.

Well, I better go get ready for church. Have a wonderful Sunday, and stay warm!

Random Thoughts on Single Parenthood

First off, I must say that being a single parent is the worst thing ever. I was up all night with the two babies. Fiona is teething and miserable. No medications seem to help her at all. She is drooling all over everything, crying nonstop, she won't eat anything and only wants to drink, drink, drink. Myles ended up in my bed just so that I could get some sleep when she was. He would kick himself upwards until his head hit the headboard and start screaming. And, as if that all was not enough, poor Stuart woke up with leg pains. Luckly some Tylenol stopped those and he went back to sleep. Macy was the only one that slept all night, but she was up way too early this morning and had the most purple eyes when I dropped her off at school. I warned the teachers and told them to call if things got too bad.

The pillowtop on our bed didn't get quite dry enough. I felt it several times last night and it felt dry, so I made the bed. However, upon entering it to sleep, I quickly realized that it wasn't as dry as I had thought. I stripped the bed back down and am trying to get it air-dried before bed tonight. Why can't you just put those things in the dryer?

Now, onward, we are out of milk. I wanted to stop and pick some up yesterday before Grady left, but was running behind schedule and needed to get back to get them to the airport. We MUST go to the store today :(. I also need to pick up some dog food for the two animals that now call their 10x10 kennel home. I will not let them out because I am afraid of what they'll bring home next.

Today is Stuart's real birthday, and I have yet to do anything special for him. He didn't want anything for lunch. He didn't want to talk to anyone on the phone. He really wanted to play a game with me, but Myles is ruining that. We are trying to play Go FIsh and I just wanted it to be Stu and I.

As I stood in the shower this morning, I kept thinking about the four kids sitting the living room watching TV. I kept telling myself that I needed to hurry and get back to them just in case they needed me. But I just kept turning the water hotter and hotter and standing there, trying to suck up enough energy to make it through the day. I finally got to the point that I was afraid that I was going to run out of hot water and didn't want to get the shocking cold spray, so out I came. The phone was ringing, the kids weren't answering it and I had to run through the house in my towel to get it. How nice it was to talk to my sister for a bit. Having another adult to visit with is sooooo nice.

I turned on the radio while I made lunch and cleaned it up just to listen to something else besides kids fighting, whining, crying and all of the kidTV that comes along with it.

So what does all of this boil down to???? I MISS MY HUSBAND. I miss his help, his friendship, his smiles, his voice, his extra set of hands. I miss the love of my life and can't wait for Friday afternoon to be here. only 74 more hours until I can go pick him up.....and, yes, I am counting down. So, all of you single parents out there, I feel for you. You are absolutely amazing and I don't want to trade spaces with any of you.

A Day of Laundry...

As many of you already know, our washer croaked out on Sunday during a load of laundry. Fiona had an accident in the shower and it was all over the rugs and towels before I could get her to the bath tub. So.....we were forced to purchase a new machine. We've looked at them since we bought this house, but I kept saying that I wasn't going to buy when the ones we had were working just fine. And then Sunday came....

This morning the delivery truck pulled up just before 8 and I am now doing my first load in the new machines. We bought both because they were offering a nice discount on the pair. And, we could stack them which meant that I would have more space in the already small laundry room. So, here is my FIRST load. I have seven minutes to type this.

They dryer on top. Not a good picture, but if you've ever noticed the laundry room, there really isn't much space to move around.
Myles had a blow out on our bed this morning, so I am greatful that we have the larger washer now. I have to wash the pillowtop cover and it would have never fit in the old washer. Imagine me doing laundry at the laundromat with four wild ones running around???

Grady will be boarding an airplane to Denver for the rest of the week this afternoon. I am so glad that everything worked out timewise for this. I would have been a train wreck by Friday if I had to haul laundry....actually, we would be wearing dirty clothes I'm sure!

In other news, Macy wanted me to take a picture of her today. She was up and ready for preschool. She even did her own hair! Here's our big girl:

After preschool we will head over to sign her up for dance lessons which begin tonight. Wish me luck on this one. Four babies at a dance class....hmmmmmm....we'll have fun!

Happy (Early) 4th Birthday Stuart!

We had Stuart's birthday celebration today. Macy and I decorated up the house while Stuart was at Costco. He was very excited when he walked in the house. Check on thing off of the list of Stuart expectations for this party!

Nana & Poppy came up to help celebrate and ended up helping in a million other ways too! Thanks for watching the kids last night for our "date", for taking the middle children so we could pick up a few surprises, and for helping so much with the party today!

On to the celebration.... First of all Stuart wanted to eat the cake. Everyone gathered around the table without an adult saying a word....almost like animals follow each other...
Stuart must have been a bit embarassed during the song. Here's what his face looked like for the entire "Happy Birthday to You...."
And blowing out the candles. It only took him four times to blow out all four candles. And, they weren't even trick ones! The first thing that I thought of was, "do I have to cut that cake already?" But I was quickly brought back to reality.....this IS what I made it for. All of the older boys were very impressed with my crafty bakemanship though!
Stuart got tons of legos for this birthday. We've all had fun building different things and even Fiona joined in.
He also got a few other toys like that HUGE firetruck. I think that he really enjoyed having a special day for himself and I am happy that he was able to feel special!

We had 11 children and 8 adults in the house for this party. It's amazing that three families can pack that much "punch" for a party!

Happy Birthday Stuart!

Happy Baby Boy!

After so many days of being on antibiotics, the little bottoms can get sore. Here is what I have been letting my baby boy do just to try to keep the rash under control.


He usually is on his back with a towel draped over top, but with the giggles and the wiggles here is how he ended up. As you can tell, he really doesn't mind exposing himself at all. Rather, I'd say that he likes it toooooooo much. It's helping on the rash and the bottom ointment!

AGAIN???....I Feel as Though I am Repeating Myself

Yesterday, the lovely fever that Myles was battling spiked back up as soon as the Tylenol wore out. As it neared the 102 degree mark, I decided to take him back into the doctor. Grady came home right on time, and we left. We found out that he is battling ANOTHER ear infection....same ear. We are not actually sure if the original one ever cleared up completely. We are trying an antibiotic that is supposed to be easier on the tummy, but I did have the Zantac refilled just in case. This stuff smells tons better and I think that it has an orange-ish flavor. He still doesn't care much for it, but he doesn't care much for anything that isn't from his mommy. He was hotter than heck all night last night, but did manage to sleep a little better after I put him in bed with us around 1 this morning.

I was up at four with Miss Fiona and her big sister. Stuart wandered out of bed at around five, so we are watching Franklin and I'm peeling my eyelids open. Thank goodness it is Friday! I am hoping that the early out of bed will make everyone ready for a nap this afternoon. I know that I will be looking forward to one!

Well, there's our life in a nutshell......a sick nutshell that needs to have the life sucked out of the bad germies! Hopefully it will be warm and NO WIND today so that we can enjoy the sunshine. Have a great weekend.

HaPpY nEw YeAr!!!

Happy 2008 from us! I had this cute little poem that I wrote on New Year's Eve to share, but can not find it anywhere.....Fiona!! I think that she must have turned it into her canvas.....that little artist! Anyway, here's how we welcomed in the new year:



This isn't actually our fire...but you understand. Myles is running a fever AGAIN today and laying here chewing on my left middle finger. So, yes, we are upstairs on the Mac and not down where I can actually download my photo. I hope that this little man gets well soon, we have a company Christmas party on Saturday in Greybull and we will be absent if EVERYONE isn't feeling better. Cross your fingers for us!

Our lovely dogs have been running away again and are bringing home roadkill. YUCK!!! At least we believe it is roadkill....surely those two fat dogs can't possibly catch a rabbit can they? So, I did a little checking on them, and am really leaning towards the pound. We need shots and it will be at least $100 for them. I CAN'T afford to keep these things. The doctor visits up here are enough on my checkbook....I don't think that I can add a vet too! Or.....I just DON'T WANT to...maybe that's the better choice of words.

So, after Grady went and picked the first rabbit out of the backyard, Macy asked him, "Will our dogs be hopping now that they've eaten the back legs off of that rabbit?"

I had to share since it always seems like we can remember Stuart's funnies, but don't ever share any of anyone elses. The weather is forcasted to be in the high 40s to low 50s, so the kids are out on the trampoline right now. Not much else around here right now. Hope you are all enjoying your new year.