Root, root, root for the Home Team (or not)

This was the first time our little boys had seen a live football game. They had maybe seen about 25 minutes of football on tv before this, so they didn't know much of what to expect. But they had a lot of fun playing on the bleachers and with their pom-poms. The night before the game I was telling them about going to the game the next day and Jonas commented, "I'm going to be scared if Daddy falls down." I informed him that Daddy would not be playing (tho I am sure he oh-so wanted to).

Ben LOVED the game. An understatement. Ben's true love of sports was/is football. And the neat thing about this game? It was our town's HS versus Ben's HS - in a quarter-finals game. How cool is that. Ben was definitely rooting for his alma mater. And they won. Ben even got to visit with his wrestling coach that is still the wrestling coach as well as an assistant football coach. Ben's parents came out for the weekend and so Ben's dad got to go with the boys, too. I think it was a fun afternoon for them all.

We had a wonderful time with Ben's parents. It's always good to have family around just doing the routine with us: playing with the kiddos, walking Miles to and fro school, cooking meals, going out to dinner, etc. I'll have to post some more pictures when I get some more.

I headed out Tuesday morning with the 3 kids up to my parents' place. Jim and Diana left that morning as well. Ben came later the next day. I'll try posting the Thanksgiving week activities now as well. . .

Nothing to do with Thanksgiving

Wow, I'm even copying the title of a "tag" I received. :) But here it is:

1. What were you doing ten years ago?

Um, so that is November 1999. Sheesh, I think I was in my 2nd year of college. I'm sure I was home for Thanksgiving. I was probably in the middle of switching my major from social work to nursing. Other than that, I can't think of much else.

2. What are five things on your to-do list?

Gosh, that's hard. So I'll just make it simple.

1. Get a different profession, but one that will still pay me good and allow me to work once a week. (I can dream)

2. Figure out Christmas gifts for my kids, and birthday gifts for Jonas and Ben.

3. Sew an apron for Emmy's gift

4. Finish reading "Love and logic."

5. Run a turkey-trot 5K tomorrow morning with my sis and bro-in-law.

3. What are snacks you enjoy?

Snacks, that's different than treats. So the snacks I like are popcorn, ranch rice cakes, peanuts, beef jerky (when I'm at my parents), veggies and dip, chocolate animal crackers, and oyster crackers.

4. What are the places you have lived?
Hawaii, Florida, Virgina, Utah, Wyoming, Connecticut, New York, and Colorado. I think that's it.


5. What are five things you would do if you became a billionaire?

Pay off our house, our parents house (I am pretty sure my parent in-laws have paid theirs off), and every sibling's house (including all my in-laws, of course). Fix the foundation on our house. Build my children a tree-house. Pay a whole bunch of tithing. Have Ben take a year off work and visit every one of our siblings for as long as they could stand us. Give them money. Save, save, save. Oh yea, and maybe buy me a pair of jeans.

Good deal, indeed & Quote of the Week! & Random Picture

Remember the little wooden kitchen I bought for Emmy for her birthday? If not, go here.

Well I stumbled across this the other day! It's pretty much the exact same thing. I love it, but I don't love the price tag. Whoa. I got a good deal indeed. Oh my, I'm reading more about it here and it says right on it, "Made in Maine." That what ours said in the back. So I'm pretty sure it's the same company. Crazy.

And quote of the week:

I was looking over some of Miles' schoolwork yesterday and he was telling me about it. He was reading the little book they had worked on and when he came to this [!], he said:

"That's an exciting point."

I loved it!

This is where the kids all huddle in our house on our cold mornings - the vent. It's also a great toy where the kids spend hours floating up balloons and paper. So fun.

Today

Today has started out better. The kids didn't come out of their rooms until 7am, which is the designated time I give them. Jonas ran downstairs all nicely and handsomely dressed. Miles was found upstairs, all nicely and handsomely dressed as well, in Emmy's room. He had gotten her out of her crib and was in the middle of changing her diaper and even applying diaper cream.

What good kids!

But alas, I know the day is young. Very young. But at least it's starting out on the right foot.

Today *Updated with link

Wow. Today I took my kids for their booster H1N1 vaccines. Their first vaccine was the nasal-mist and that's what I assumed we'd get today. But they are all out of those and are only doing the shots. And, wow. All I am going to say about this incident is that if I were a nurse or one of the desk-ladies or anybody else within 1/2 mile radius who could hear/see the events of 2 certain boys unfold, I would have had SO MUCH PITY FOR THEIR MOTHER. But I wasn't any of those people - I was THEIR MOTHER. Oh My Gosh.

Then the kids were eating lunch and I heard sirens going off and saw 5 police cars go by. 5. So I thought something bad had happened of course. Then as we were walking Miles to school I saw all the commotion was a block or 2 from our home. I asked some "alternative school kids" what happened and they told me an airplane had crashed. Sure enough we saw a tiny airplane on the sidewalk and lots of hubbub. Supposedly the pilot (the only one in the plane) is OK and is a doctor and is at the hospital. Good news.

What a day. . . so far.

p.s. here's the link to the airplane story: http://montrosepress.com/articles/2009/11/18/breaking_news/doc4b044bcd77901476766215.txt

Sacrament Drawings. . .

by Miles:
(l) I asked him to draw his costume; (R) sand castle

gorilla; turtle

volcano

"bird, duck"; rainstorm

fish in a pond; a bird

WARNING:

so i was writing an email to ben and thought i should post it as well. but, honestly, don't read it. it's gross. it's literally about my kids' poop and barf. i just thought since my blog serves as my journal, that the email i sent to ben was a pretty good journaling of my day with sickos. it's just for my sake to remember the good and not-as-good times with my kids.

so, really, you don't need to read it.

"here is an update of our day:

the house is still messy - well messier since you cleaned up the downstairs last nite. i haven't even put away the stuff upstairs. maybe i will? maybe i won't?

i feel a little cruddy. not like the kids - sore throat is still bugging me, headache is finally leaving after some excedrin. i'm tired.

miles - doing a little better. yucky poop earlier this morning. no poop nor barf since. he's always saying, "i think i'm going to barf," but hasn't all day. i think every time his tummy gurgles ("mommy, why is my tummy doing that?) he thinks he is going to barf. he perked up a little bit, enough to get on his army garb. then he promptly took it off, saying "i think i'm going to barf" (of course). he didn't (of course). he did have 1/2 of a saltine (when offered him one, he said, "half") and a little bit of a pumpkin ice cream smoothie for lunch. little bit as in 2-3 T. worth.

jonas - was doing the best in the morning. the only one of the kids who ate breakfast. played hard and normal. then crashed around 11. just sat curled up on the chair. his tummy is now really hurting him. he didn't have anything for lunch - just some water. he's tried to poop 2 times, but with not much success. he doesn't look happy at all. poor kiddo.

emmy - tiny diarrhea in her diaper this morning. didn't really eat snack, but did finish off her pumpkin ice-cream smoothie (surprised?) for lunch. lots of whining, but i can't really tell if it's more than usual or not?

i told you this AM my plans were just to watch TV all day with them. :) but we didn't so much. they got to watch "dora" for the first time this morning - it felt weird letting them watch TV at 7:30 in the morning - have we ever done that? anyways, after that we just attempted breakfast, then read lots of books. well, really, just miles' new "science question" book - and really only miles stuck around for all of it. jonas and emmy were destroying the house as usual (i especially loved it when i heard jonas exclaim: "my gum fell down the vent!" to which i said, "well get it out," to which he said, "my arm isn't long enough," to which i said, "well then figure out how you are doing to get it," to which he got a wooden stick and pried up his gum). after the reading of books we attempted snack - nobody really ate. miles took 2 bites of a banana (i've explained the BRAT diet to him) and the rest had a few sips of the apple cider, with exception of emmy who drank it all of course.

then i made a bunch of the paper dinosaurs for miles and jonas. and got real frustrated with emmy as she markered and crayoned all over everything she is NOT suppose to - table and chairs. grrrrr emmy. jonas colored himself up pretty good - "i want to look like a tiger." he kind of does. then he drew a stegosaurus on his tummy. wow.

then we just hung out, played with dinos, tried lunch, etc. the kids did watch about 45 min. of "bugs bunny" type shows - remember that dvd we bought a while ago?

now they are all upstairs sleeping. poor kiddos. i think miles and hopefully emmy are on the mend. i think jonas still will get worse before he gets better.

wow, is that a TON to read. sorry. but i am dying to take a shower, so i best go!

love you.

love, me."

Quote of the Week

So I got some super-steals at Walmart last nite. Costumes for $1.40 - that were regularly and ridiculously priced at $17. I got a little army get-up for Miles (he's all of a sudden taken an interest in the army), a motor-cross racer for Jonas, and a cowgirl for Emmy.

They all love it - especially the boys. Jonas had to wear his "helmet" part of the costume on the way to taking Miles to school (and is now napping in the outfit). On the way home he was running really fast and said this about his helmet:

"I have to wear this when I run so I don't get sawdust in my eyes."

(Ben has been working on some bookshelves and so we have a lot of sawdust in our garage. . .)

It just made me smile. I love that bald-headed Jonas.

Strangers Amongst Us

The Strangers:

Yes, we did this on purpose. And if you know me, you know this is HUGE. I unrighteously take great pride in my boys' hair. I LOVE[d] their long beautiful hair.

So why on earth did we do this (both were done today - Jonas before church, Miles after)? Well Jonas got a bad haircut months and months ago where the beautician did some heavy layering. I haven't liked his hair since. Then a couple weeks ago Jonas cut his own hair (again) right on top of his head and sheared it about 1/2 inch from his scalp. So today I gave Jonas a trim and Ben thought I made it look too much like a mullet. So I cut a lot from his neck area and he ended up looking like a girl - due to all the layering his haired curled under. It was a good cut. . . for a girl. Jonas had asked us several times to cut all his hair off and so we thought, why not now? We'll purge the hair and then let it grow back in all nice and even and beautiful again.

It's hard to get used to, but Ben and I love it on our children. They look adorable! Of course I still want them to grow out their hair, but it's fun for now. Jonas cried and cried for a bit after the haircut, but I think it was due more to being tired of having to sit for so long and have his cut. He now loves it.

Emmy honestly did not recognize Jonas when she got up from her nap (a nap where you don't nap, I guess, is still called a nap) before church. It was fun. Then she laughed. :)

Miles was jealous of Jonas being able to rub his hands all over his head, I think, and so decided he wanted to buzz his hair off, too. His beautiful curls!? Well his hair is so beautiful and so lovely, but only for the first 20 minutes of his 3 xs a week baths. Then he just gets a big bird's nest in it. (One day I told him birds were going to nest in his hair and he was thrilled! Wrong thing to say to a boy who loves, loves, loves birds.)

Miles loves his hair, as does Jonas. They are silly and giddy. Miles thinks he looks like a monkey. I agree. A very cute monkey.

Memories

So we have gotten a few hand-me-downs from friends lately and, as always, it's a great blessing. We get great clothes.

We got quite a few PJs for Emmy and so that has been fun since PJs are by far the cutest of clothes, I think. There is nothing better than a sweet little child in his or her PJs - getting ready for bed, of course.

So we got this one for Emmy:

We've never had her in a "dress PJ" before and I love it (nightgown?). (The shoes were some hand-me-downs, too. Emmy LOVES shoes - her daddy's girl for sure.)

It reminded me of the greatest PJs that I ever owned - and, well, since my sister and I were pretty much dressed up as twins for the first 8 or so years of my life, my sister had a similar PJ. They were of the nightgown style and had an ice cream cone on it. But not just any ice cream cone - our cones had like 20 scoops or something. All of different ice cream flavors - mint, strawberry, etc. I think, correct me Erin, the PJs had the names of all the ice cream flavors to the side of each scoop.

Tangent: Speaking of PJs, you should see the PJs my husband bought at a second-hand store. Better yet, don't see them. (Ben thought at $5 they were a steal. My only thought: "no wonder somebody didn't want them. . .")

Anways, I love memories.