SO COOL!

Ok, this is the coolest thing ever! Well, maybe not "EVER" - but in a long time, for sure! But first, get a chuckle out of the conversation I had with my mom!

I call her and she answers:

Mom: Hello

Me: Hi! Guess what! You'll never guess, but guess anyway!

(To humor me, she plays along)

Mom: Your electrical is done and passed?

Me: No, but man that would sure be nice...*sigh*

Mom: Ok, you've lost 30 pounds?

Me: No, but that would sure be nice...*longer sigh*

Mom: You got the diamond replaced in your wedding ring?

Me: No, but man, that would be great, huh? *Very long sigh*

Mom: Maybe you'd better just tell me before I make this any worse!

Me: Ok - I get to work at Antiques Roadshow when it comes in August!!!



My friend Marilyn and I were out walking this evening and she was talking about her work. I asked her if she got paid when she did stuff like the PBS telethon or judging Jr. Miss stuff. She said she didn't, it was all just volunteer stuff...and then, just as casual as anything she says, "Like when I work Antiques Roadshow in August..." I about fell off the sidewalk! Thinking back on it now, I must have looked like a moron jumping up and down beside her saying, "Me, take me, can you take me, I want to go, can I, huh, huh, can I?" And just like that - I'm IN! I get to take 2 things to be appraised and she said she would take 2 more things for me since she didn't have anything to be appraised.

So back to the conversation with mom - she had signed up for tickets as soon as she heard that AR was coming to town. The max you can sign up for is 2. So I told her that now she could take Dad if she gets tickets - she laughed at me like that was always the plan!? RUDE!

The only thing that would make this weekend even better would be if AR agreed to go and look through the "Museum house" that my mom's local historical society runs. It's a very old, very beautiful house with all original furniture. She emailed AR and invited them and they told her that they go to 3 off-site locations when they go to a town and they'll consider hers. Naturally, I begged my mom to let me "be there" if/when AR goes through the house!

STREP!

It's gotta end, right? HONESTLY! Our poor family has been sick for WEEKS now!
Naturally, it can't just be a cough and sore throat, it has to be full-on strep - doctor's office visit, antibiotics, missed school, no sleep, etc etc etc! I guess if there's a bright side, it's that I only have half the kids left who need to get it! LOL

Dad
Mom
Jason
Madilyn
Jacob
Megan
Jared
Malorie
Melanie
Joseph

And the winner is..........JACOB!

Jacob's music class has been holding a competition for the past three months or so. The first one to memorize 10 songs and play them for the teacher, one a week (sometimes 2 if time allowed) would win the green recorder. (Everyone else's is black.) Yesterday Jacob was presented with the recorder - we're so proud of him. Darn kid is a natural at almost everything he puts his mind to!

More new glasses

Seuss Olympics

For five years now, we've held an annual Seuss Olympics near Dr. Seuss' birthday. This year's events were kind of whimpy b/c Brandon has been so busy with the house and usually doesn't get home until the kids are in bed, or almost in bed. Yesterday he had to fly to Olympia for work and was able to get home eariler than planned flying stand-by! Here are a few of the games we played. We're planning on a much bigger event next year when we have more room (it seems like everything is going to be better "next year"...)




Megan and Melanie are playing the Tweedle Beetle Battle game. It's really for one player at a time and a stopwatch- (but Jaynie wouldn't wait) - the player gets 2 wooden spoons (Their Paddles) and has to use them to pick up the beetles from the floor (paper print outs) and put them into the bottle - a tweedle beetle battle, in a bottle, with a paddle!





This is Maddie and Dad doing the Hop-on-Pop game. Each player has a set of 4 feet (foot print feet). You stand on two of them and when you start, you lay the other two out in front of you - you step upon those 2 feet and reach back to get the feet from behind you and you lay those feet in front...and so on. The winner is the first one to the end who "Hops on POP" (which is a big old picture of Brandon's face).



Jared's playing Ring the Gak - nuff said?

EDGES!

Holy smokes, I can SEE! Everything has edges again! I've gotten so used to looking at everything "fuzzy" that seeing it now w/ edges is kind of weird! Nuts, I'm getting old I guess. I'm all happy and excited over new glasses...what next? New teeth? Hmmmm?

The week in review...

So last weekend we were almost buried alive by the flu from purgatory! Can't believe it's been seven days since that all started! So what all have we missed since then? Well, here goes...

Sunday: Mom stayed home from church with Jaynie and Joseph.

Monday: Mom took Jaynie back to the ER. The doctor gave her another round of Zofran which seemed to do the trick. Marilyn bailed us out (again) and took the boys to their appointments while Mom was at the ER w/ Jaynie (Joseph, Maddie, Jacob too). Jared had a dentist appointment and Jason an ENT appointment (Malorie & Megan too).

Tuesday: Hooray! No more throwing up! 24 hours of food staying where it was supposed to stay! Mom sneaked off to Weight Watchers and was down a couple more pounds (for a grand total of 15.4 since January 2). Brandon was in Olympia all day for work.

Wednesday: Mom's new cell phone came. Jason went to Youth Night and watched Dave A. do magic tricks. Brandon worked on the house after work.

Thursday: Maddie and Maggie went to sewing lessons at Shirley's. Jacob went to Cub Scouts. Brandon went to the house again after work.

Friday: Brandon drove the kids to school and spent the day at the house. The little girls, Joseph and mom spent the entire day at home. Movie night after dinner.

And now, here we are back to Saturday! Brandon, Jason and Maddie went out to the house all day today. The other kids and Mom are working on Saturday jobs and dinner.

There you have it - probably not really interesting to many of you, but it sure keeps us busy!

Just for fun, here are a few of the pictures we've taken with mom's new cell phone - cheesy, but fun!

Martian Death Flu!!

Poor Jaynie has been so sick this weekend. Friday the kids and I spent the day at my mom's house. Everyone, including Jaynie, was fine. They played and played and slept all the way home. We had dinner around the usual time and then went to bed around the usual time. Then, somewhere around midnight, the space ship landed! Jaynie woke up throwing up. It was all of her dinner (lovely, I know). Then she proceeded to wake up every 25 minutes or so dry heaving. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen! By about noon Saturday, Brandon and I decided we'd better take her in. Maddie, Joseph, Jaynie and I loaded up and headed to the ER. Luckily, our friend Dave was working Saturday so he got us right back to a room - avoiding the 2+hr wait in the waiting room. Who says it doesn't pay to know people??

The doctor promptly ordered Zofran for the nausea (one of my favorite morning sickness meds) and Tylenol & Motrin. I didn't realize who bad her fever was. Apparently it was high enough that he was worried about fever induced seizures! Thankfully, the Zofran kicked in almost instantly! She was able to sit up and eat a popsicle then drink a cup of 7-Up and Pedialyte. They sent us on our way w/ an RX for an anti nausea and an antibiotic for strep - must have been a parting gift from the ER...I had no clue her throat was bad! Even after getting straight back to see a doc we still spent 4 hours in the ER.

We filled her scripts and went home...got there just in time to send the five older kids to our Cub Scout auction with Marilyn. I was supposed to run that auction - luckily, everyone pulled together and did a great job getting through it without me. I guess when you call from the ER and say "I'm here w/ my baby" people become a little more willing to step up and help out!

Jaynie is still under it today. A little worse even than yesterday - but I believe it's because her anti nausea med isn't the same as what she was given in the ER. I think she's feeling a little more nauseated than she was after taking Zofran yesterday. But she hasn't thrown up since the ER. We are treating a fever constantly. I had to make myself a little chart so I'd know what to give her and when to give it! The "orange stuff" (Motrin), the "Pink stuff" (Tylenol), Anti nausea, and antibiotic...each followed by the time she takes it next. Lucky for her, I'm a little OCD abt keeping track of meds this way!

Here is a cell phone pic taken at the ER. Her lips look funky from the popsicle (and the fact that it was taken w/ my phone, lol). Sorry abt the quality - didn't think to load up the camera while we were rushing out the door! ;)

Happy Valentine's Day

We had so much fun this year! On Monday, the three little kids and I went and bought decorations for a Valentine's Day party. Malorie didn't say a word to anyone about it for 2 whole days! I was sure she'd blow it! When the kids and Brandon left yesterday morning, the girlies and I started decorating and fixing dinner.

We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and a strawberry cake for dessert.




Our friend, Marilyn, brought by a huge bouquet of balloons for the kids!



It was fun for the girlies to get to surprise the "school kids" and daddy when they got home!

Please don't forget March of Dimes...

Over at the right are the links to the kids' fund-raiser sites. I've taken Megan's link off as she's already reached her $200.00 goal. The rest of the kids are all more than 1/2 way there, but still need help.

Thanks guys!!

OK - I had to put Megan back because the other kids informed me that they are trying to see who can get the "most past their goal" - and if I take Megan off, then I mess up their game. Brother! I am AMAZED at the generosity of everyone! Thank you again!

Kitchen cabinets have been ordered!

The cabinet lady came out and measured the kitchen last night to make sure everything we'd chosen at the store would really fit. She will actually place the order in 2 weeks - it takes 3 weeks to get here...that means in 5 weeks (theoretically) our walls and floors will be in and ready for the rest of the kitchen! Here's a picture of how the kitchen should look - per the Ziggy's Lumber lady's computer program! LOL It looks a lot darker in her print out - we actually ordered a natural stained hickory...so it's going to be much lighter!

I'm an auntie...again!

Mindy had her baby Thursday! This is Adam. He was 6 lb 13 oz. I'm waiting for more pictures - but this is the "from the cell phone" one that I have for now!

Grandma is going to New Jersey

Brandon's mother is going to New Jersey for 12 months to serve a mission for our church. She's been talking about it for over a year now so it's kind of hard to really believe that it's finally official! She just found out where she would be going today! We're very excited for her, but at the same time we hate to have grandma gone for so long. Imagine this - Joseph will be 2 just after she comes home. He'll be walking and talking! How BIZARRE is that!

Framing insepction day!

Everything in the house passed today except for the stairs. The treads are too high apparently. I think they are at 8" and code is 7.75" or less...can you BELIEVE THAT!? Ugh! So Brandon will be redoing 3 of the four flights of stairs...(one was already small enough). The inspector is really nice - he's been to the house before. So now we're ready to work on the wiring! We could be having that inspected as early as a week from this coming Tuesday!

Pinewood Derby winner!!!

For some odd reason, our pack decided to let the boys run the same cars this year if they wanted to, instead of making a new one. Jacob hadn't been to Cubs in a few weeks b/c of our insane schedule, so we were happy to hear that last year's car was an option! LOL

Jacob's car won first place in every race it ran - and, obviously, first place over all! Apparently the trick to Pinewood Derby racing is to make your car, then wait a year to race it - during that year, you let the car get knocked off the piano (several times), have your younger sisters run it off the end of the kitchen table (several times), somehow lose a wheel and then stick it back on w/ Elmer's Glue at the very last possible minute before the race! Who knew?? LOL

Care to tour our new house??

Ok, this is kind of lame, LOL - but so many people have asked how the house is coming and I never have anything intelligent to tell them. So while we were at the house this weekend, I took some short videos around the house for y'all to see. Now, I KNOW you're going to look at it and think "HOLY CROW, it's never going to be finished!!!" Not so! Actually, we have inspectors coming this week for the framing inspection! *Please pray we pass* Then we ("we" as in Brandon) will pull all of the electrical through the house the following week. Another inspection - and ta-dah, we have insulation and drywall crews doing their thing before the end of the month...and this is even a short month! LOL

I'm sorry there are so many - I thought a few short videos would be easier to download than one big old long one.
















You'll have to also excuse my huffing and puffing while I talked us through the house - it was SO COLD in the house and I was trying to walk as quickly as I could both to stay warm and to keep from recording videos that were too long! LOL

How's the house coming??

Boy, we hear that question about 50 times a week! LOL Granted, it's a harmless, chatty question - but it's getting to the "down right annoying" point!

We are actually doing very well with the house. The plumbing is finished. The septic is finished. The furnace duct work is finished and the units will be installed within the next couple of days.

Brandon is scheduling for the framing inspection in one week. As soon as that's finished, he can pull the electrical through the walls. However, fearing that someone will come and steal the copper wiring, he's trying to time the electrical inspection to be within a day of the insulation crew! We want to get it covered up as soon as we can! That won't stop thieves, but it sure would slow them down and make it harder for them! Our insurance would cover anything that happened - but the time that it would set us back would be horrid!

The kids are excited to move. I'm sure they have no idea that moving means gutting their bedrooms and throwing away one box of junk for every box they think they're keeping! LOL I really have NO ROOM to talk! 90% of this house could probably go to the dump!

Anyhoo - there's the house update! It's moving, albeit slowly! We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now though. Every time I get an update from Brandon it's just amazing! It was less than a year ago that our "house" was nothing but trees! And what's more amazing is that Brandon, with some help here and there from his brother Justin and my aunt Joy, have built the entire thing! THAT knocks my socks off!!

I wish I had a picture to share! We may go out tomorrow and if we do, I'll take the camera!

Ok, I know I said I wasn't gonna...

I was just going to update my post from a few days ago by adding a picture to it. But last night, Brandon and I went to visit our new nephew Levi, and he is, quite possibly, one of the cutest "not mine" babies I've seen in a long time! I'm glad we went to see him - we had sick kids so we left them home w/ Jason and blitzed up for an hour. BIL is so busy and between their family's schedule and ours, it was last night or most likely Thanksgiving!

A little update - he is doing just great. He looked a little bit yellow, but nothing worth worrying about. Mom is doing great. Her older kids are giving her a hard time about being "loopy" on her pain killers. This delivery was a repeat c/s. They did stay with the name Levi Daniel. It was funny holding him and realizing that what he weighed at 38wks is the exact same thing Joseph weighed at 35wks. And, it was funny...well, not really...to see him next to Joseph. You don't realize how fast your own children are growing when you see it happen a little bit each day.

Ok, Ok, enough rambling. Here are a few pictures I snapped with my cell phone. His hair is so yellow-blonde! Just an adorable baby!

See the links...

For the next few weeks I'm going to keep slipping reminders in here about the WalkAmerica fundraiser we're doing!

Over to the right >>>>>> I have added the links to all of the kids' sites. They are so excited about doing this and they LOVE to see their little ticker guy moving toward their goal. And the LOVE LOVE LOVE to read the words of encouragement that supporters are leaving for them. As their mother, I am so touched at the kindness of our family and friends who are helping them to be successful at this!! Thank you all!

Do overs!

Do you ever have one of THOSE days?
Today is my THAT day!!!!!!

I was driving home from dropping the kids off at school and was approaching a yellow light. "Hmmmm..." I think to myself... "I could probably make it..." But THANKFULLY I decided to just stop. I was close to home, the 30 seconds I would win by running the yellow weren't really going to make a big difference, so I stopped. Less than 10 seconds after I stopped, a high-speed chase blasted through the intersection. A big SUV closely followed by about 8 police cars! We probably would have made it through ahead of them ... but what if...*shudder*...what a blessing!

THEN...yes, there's more...we're safely home and I'm happy-homemakerly making dinner. Cleaning up my mess, I pushed a pan over toward the fish tank on the counter. I hit the very corner of the tank and BLOOOOSSHHHHHHHH...10 GALLONS of water, and rocks, and algae, and flippity-flopping fish all over my kitchen floor. It happened SO FAST! I just stood there watching it like it was slow-motion saying "No, no, no, no..." and still the water continued to flow!!

So what do I do? Reach for the phone and call Brandon, duh! I've handled kids needing stitches, alone. I dealt with a bird flying into our house, by myself (ok, I called my neighbor.) But 10 GALLONS of water...oye! I just stood there in the water and couldn't even decide what to do first. Towels! Mop! Dust pan! UGH!

Brandon got home and I heard Malorie say, "Hurry dad, go to the kitchen, mom has made a big mess. This is serious (thank you Wonder Pets)."

This is a pic of the water and rocks all over the floor - you really can't tell how much water there is...trust me, there was a LOT!



Here's the front of the tank - the whole front just blew out when I hit the corner...kind of impressive, in a not-so-much sorta way!



And this is the very corner where I bumped it with the pan - seriously, I just slid the pan over. No way would I have ever thought I could shatter a fish tank!

WalkAmerica!!

I warned you that this was coming! Our family is signed up as a team to walk for the March of Dimes in April! Each of my school aged children has their own site. To earn a T-Shirt, they each have to raise $200. So if you're inclined to donate, please check out the kids' sites first and maybe help boost whomever is behind. Thank you all so much! How great would it be if there were no longer any such things as preemies - just happy, healthy, full-term babies!!

Shiela's page http://http://www.walkamerica.org/FamiLee
Jason's page http://http://www.walkamerica.org/JasonKendall
Madilyn's page http://http://www.walkamerica.org/MadilynJoy
Jacob's page http://http://www.walkamerica.org/JacobRiley
Megan's page http://http://www.walkamerica.org/MeganAnne
Jared's page http://http://www.walkamerica.org/JaredMontgomery

It's touching to read their sites. And then you get to Jared, who flat out says, "I want a T-shirt." No guessing what that kid's motives are! LOL

We have a new cousin!

Levi Daniel (tentative name) was born this morning. He weighed 6lb 14oz and scored well on his apgars. Blonde hair and brown eyes - dad says, "Nothing out of the ordinary for us." He's joining 11 other siblings at home. We're so glad he's here and that mom did well through the c/s!

(If my MIL sends me a picture, I'll post it later...you'll have to just watch for it I guess.)

Too cute to pass up...

This normally isn't the kind of picutre I'd even take, let alone share with others. But it was so cute - these little girls do EVERYTHING together. So I was careful and tried to get everything that was private cut out of the picture before I took it. Hope nobody is offended by a skinny little bare bottom! LOL



Jaynie is doing so well with potty training. She's had accidents, but far fewer than any of my other children had when they trained. She's a natural, lol!

Color...

You saw the black and white version a couple of weeks ago - here they are in color. I'm so happy to have my wall updated! Whew! I'm going to start taking them in one at a time, on their birthdays, for updates from now on. Filing all 8 of them in at one time is getting to be an ordeal! lol

A busy weekend!

Joseph has been "scooching" for a week now. He would get up on his hands and knees, he'd rock back and forth, he'd even get a few actual "crawls" in before he'd hit his belly and lunge for his target! Well, as of this weekend, he's an official crawler! Full-on hands and knees! I can't believe he's 9 months old (20th). My goodness this boy has grown up fast!



And in addition to the good news of Joseph crawling, we have also declared Melanie to be official Potty-Trained!! She is 2.5yr - maybe I should have been a little more on-the-ball and trained her sooner...but I must say, she was the EASIEST child ever to train! (Ok, I'm sure the fact that if I'd waited much longer, she'd be applying for colleges may have had something to do with it!) She just gets it! I'm sure it helps that she and Malorie are, 99% of the time, joined at the hip. Any time Malorie goes in to the bathroom - so does Jaynie...and now she uses the potty chair while she's there instead of just tormenting Malorie! We're still using the Pull-Ups at night, but she has been dry almost every night. (Sorry, no video of Melanie's accomplishment!!) This has been a great weekend!

LOL - my twisted sense of humor

I am pretty sure I've shared my other favorite AFV clip before (Dancing Machine). I think this one I'm going to show right now takes it's place. I have laughed so hard at this video I have cried! It's one you have to watch more than once. The second, third, etc time you watch, listen to the camera man laughing in the background! This is SO something I could see happening at one of our family get-togethers!



Adding Dancing Machine, simply b/c it's still a favorite!

Dancing Machine

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Sisters!

I love watching my three babies playing together during the day. Since it's just them, they don't get stuck playing what the older kids want to play.

Yesterday I found Malorie and Melanie sharing the joys of Littlest Pet Shop with Joseph. He was loving every minute of the attention. The girls were thrilled to have someone playing LPS with them who wouldn't take the panda away! (Apparently the panda is the favorite among my older kids!)

Our friend had her baby...

Ok, I realize this isn't about OUR family...but kind of it is! lol We've been swamped with so much good baby news lately, I just had to share!

First off, Benjamin Douglas B was born on Tuesday evening. He was 8 pounds 7 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Congratulations Lauren, Doug & Charlotte!



We also received news this week that our friends' daughter, who had be diagnosed with cancer this fall (at 18'ish months), was found to have ZERO cancer in or on her bones at her last scan. She does still have the tumor in her neck which they will operate to remove in another month...but the cancer being gone is a miracle. Things looked so grim just a few weeks ago. This dear family is so deserving of this miracle. We are praying that they will be able to remove the tumor without incident and this little girl will be able to lead a normal life!

And finally, my two sister's in law are doing well. L is scheduled for a c/s on the 24th (38wk). She's had to endure weekly NST, but her doctor says things look good. M's doctor told her to hold out one more week and then if she went in to labor he wouldn't stop her. Her EDD is a week after L's.

What a bunch of BABIES!!! We're so happy for all of these families!

This and that...

Here are a few pictures I took of the family last night at Malorie's party...just so you can see how fast my little family is growing up - darn it!

Four years ago, right now...

I've been saying that for 2 days now - it was four years ago that I went in to pre-term labor with Malorie. And "four years ago, right now, I was having my little girl via emergency c-section. I'd link you to my birthstory, but I think it's one of those things that only the mom enjoys year after year after year! lol

My little preemie, my first preemie (I never saw THAT coming), is 4 years old today! What a love for life she has! Happy Birthday Malorie Elizabeth!!

Then...


Now...