BATC Fall Fashion Show 2013

My aunt teaches Fashion Merchandising at BATC.  For those that don't know, BATC students put together a fashion show each fall and spring.  They use clothes from local clothing stores and one set they design the clothes themselves.  They have kids anywhere from about 2 yr old up through high school participate in the fashion show.  My aunt called me on Monday last week and said, "I need a size 10 girl.  Is Sam a size 10?"  I told her just just so happened to be a 10 and would love to help out with the fashion show.  She actually ended up wearing a dress that was a size 12 but it was none too big!  She looked super cute and she did a great job.  I told Travis that the dance lessons have doubled as modeling lessons thanks to her quick ability to strike a pose and hold it!  When she was done on Friday night (the second night) she asked me if she could do it again in the spring!  I told her we'd tell Aunt Colette to let us know when they were looking for girls again!

Sam was excited that her cousins Sara and Sadie got to do the fashion show with her too.  Sara is a year older than Sam and Sadie is 17 days older.  The picture goes Sam, Sara, Sadie.  You'd never know Sadie was older than Sam!

This was the girls' "Rawr" pose!  Ready for the catwalk!

The finale walk through.  It was hard to catch the girls as they walked through so quick but I tried!

Medical bills keep coming

We survived Caleb's head injury (mostly ;) ).  This past week when Travis was home we had scheduled for Brooke to get another set of tubes (possibly a double set in each ear which would be sets five and six respectively).  Travis was all set to take her in and I was set to get kids to school, teach preschool, go to work and then get Sam to the BATC fashion show in which she was participating (you know, just another slow day here at the Bown house). 

Literally as my preschool kids started walking into the house I got a phone call from Travis.  Never good, right?  I was thinking that maybe they were done and he was making an extra stop somewhere before they came home.  Oh don't I wish that was the case.

Travis proceeded to tell me that while they were scoping her vocal chords (which I knew they were going to do to check for nodules on her vocal chords in an effort to explain her deep, raspy voice) they noticed her tonsils were bad...full of nasty pus, need to come out now kind of bad.....so, they took her tonsils out too.  I'm still thinking "Ok, no big deal, we've done this."  Then he tells me, "Well since she's 2 it's a lot bigger deal to take her tonsils out than if she was three or four.  So, I'll be spending all day and possibly over night here at the hospital with her so can you bring me some stuff?"  Say what now?  Was not prepared for that!

I managed to teach preschool and get Caleb to school.  Travis called his mom and asked if she would be willing to get the boys after school.  I went up to the school after teaching preschool to let my math kids know I wouldn't be pulling them that day.  I checked Sam out of school and headed home.  My mom stopped by to pick up the stuff for Travis and then headed out to the hospital.  I got Sam ready for the fashion show and headed to town.  I stopped at Walmart because she needed some black tights to go with her outfit for the fashion show.  Sam had to be at BATC by three and by the time we got out of Walmart we had to head to BATC.  Sam was bummed because she didn't get to go see her sister.  I got Sam dropped off and then headed over to the hospital myself.

My poor baby girl had an iv in her foot still when I got there.  They had been pumping her full of fluids all day long.  When I walked in all she wanted was her mama.  I sat in her bed right next to her with my arm around her and she didn't let me go for several hours.  They finally released her at about 5:30 or so that night.  Once we got her released we headed to my in laws to get the boys.  Meanwhile my aunt was kind enough to call me and let me know she would take Sam to dinner with her and her girls.  We got the boys picked up and stopped at Shopko to pick up some prescriptions.  Travis then took the boys and B and headed home while I headed over to BATC just in time to help Sam get dressed.

Sam did a great job in the fashion show and I think she loved every second of it.  She did the show again on Friday night and we took B with us so Travis could watch Sam strut her stuff as well.  Sunday was the most difficult day for B and yesterday was a little better.  She wasn't too thrilled about getting dropped off at daycare today, but she managed.  I'm just crossing my fingers that neither of the two sets of tubes in her ears are clogged at her follow up appointment in two weeks.  And in case you are counting, that makes sets 18 & 19 of the ear tubes at our house.  Why don't I have a reserved space at the hospital yet??

"Every boy needs a staple in his head!"

I don't remember who it was that told Caleb "Every boy needs a staple in his head!" but I was like "What?!  NO!"  And visualized myself smacking them upside the head!

On Monday this week I sent the boys down to bed around 9:30 pm.  I'm quite certain Caleb went down and started jumping on his bed so he could see up on his brother's bed (Caleb's bed is a full and Nash's is a twin so there's room to jump on Caleb's bed to see).  I was on my way downstairs when I heard screaming.  I ran the rest of the way to the boys room where I found Caleb laying on the floor.  He was laying on the floor next to his bed but right in front of the desk they have in their room.  This desk really probably is more hazardous than not and likely shouldn't be in their room.  It has sharp corners and screws in it.  Now combine that with my boys and it's amazing we haven't had a hazardous disaster before now.  I picked Caleb up and asked where he was hurt.  He put his hand on his head and pulled his hand away to reveal a palm full of blood.  Not good.  I carried him up to the bathroom and sent Nash next door to grab my girlfriend.  My girlfriend came over while I was applying a cold, wet washcloth to Caleb's head.  I asked her to look at his head and tell me if she thought we should go to the ER.  She told me that it looked just like her daughter's (Emma's)  only not quite as long and hers got three staples in it.  Well, that made up my mind for me.

Amy left us her cell phone so the kids could stay home and call if needed (it was 10:15 by now, mom was sick, Travis was at work and I didn't want to haul all four kids to the ER).  I loaded up Caleb and left.  I tried to stop at the urgent care on the south end of Logan, but they close at 10 pm (how convenient).  So, we continued on to the ER.  Lucky for me it wasn't too long of a wait out in the main waiting area.  Unfortunately for me, we didn't leave the ER until just after 1 am thanks to all the other people also visiting the ER.

The PA came in and said, "Oh!  That's an easy fix!  We'll just get that numbed up and put one staple in it and you'll be good to go!"  Then the dr. came in and told me the same thing, but he added "Hopefully we can get to you within the hour.  We're really busy."  I thought he was joking.  Turns out, he wasn't.  Eventually the nurse came in and put some numbing agent on a cotton ball and stuck it to his head.  Then she took the corban wrap and wrapped it around his head until he looked like Rambo.  The numbing agent had to sit for 20 minutes so we were back to waiting.  After about 20 minutes the nurse came in and re applied more numbing agent - goodie!  Another 20 minute wait.  Finally, the PA came back in.  By this time Caleb had finally fallen asleep.  

The PA took our the staple kit.  The stapler looked like one of the white out tape things.  It wasn't big and didn't look anything like a stapler.  He kind of squeeze the cut back together and then stapled Caleb's head.  (It might not look like a stapler, but it sounds like a stapler and when you know it's going into your kid's head it kind of makes you sick.)  This woke Caleb up immediately and he was not a happy boy.  Poor kid!  So much for a double dose of the numbing agent!

We were finally released to go home and walked back into the house at about 1:30 am.  We have to go back after 10 days to get the staple out.  Hope our visit on that day isn't nearly as long as the original visit.  And yes, we're rearranging the boys' room this weekend so we don't have another incident!

Before the staple:

With the staple (and no, they didn't shave his head at all):

Brookelyn Dean

This little girl is as busy as they come!  It's a good thing she's so stinkin cute!

The other day she decided she was going to make dinner.  I was washing dishes, loading/unloading the dishwasher, etc. so I was in the kitchen with her.  However, it was when I turned around for a minute to get something out of the dishwasher that she grabbed my sugar container.  She filled her pan up with almost the entire sugar container!  She also had the salt and pepper out.  I think she may have gotten something else in there too, but I'm not sure what!  She had about three different spoons she was using to stir.  It was funny to watch her.  She was just as content as could be.  She kept telling me, "Mommy, I make dinner!"  She would put the pan on the stove and stir for a few minutes then move it onto the counter and stir it.  She'd tell me, "Hot mommy.  No touch."  Silly girl!

A few days ago I bought a family feast from Papa Murphy's.  With the family feast you get a 2 liter bottle of soda and a thing of cookie dough.  I have NEVER made the cookie dough into cookies.  Samantha always gets to the cookie dough before I do!  Apparently, Brookelyn has learned quite well from her sister, her mother and her grandma!

Today Brookelyn wanted to color.  I got her some paper and she got a marker.  I really should know better than to let her have a marker.  She hasn't colored on herself in ages though so I didn't really think about it.  Besides, it was a washable marker!  She was coloring away at the table and I was in the hallway (within eyesight) cleaning out the kids' pj drawer.  She comes over after a few minutes and says "Cheese! Mommy!"  Sigh...it would seem I'm a day late and a dollar short for almost everything lately!

Tonight my mom came up "for a minute".  Brookelyn's new trick is to drag my mom by the hand to her bedroom, shut the door, turn on the radio and proceed to dance in front of the bedroom door so grandma can't leave.  She's also been known to sit in front of the bedroom door or sit on grandma herself!  My poor mother!  It's a good thing she likes my kids or she'd never come back!

And, sadly, my baby girl is no longer a baby!  She has been falling out of her toddler bed every night for a few weeks now.  In the morning I find her either spread eagle on the floor or bent over at the waist with her top half on the bed and her bottom half standing up!  Fisher's Home Furnishings was having a sale on Friday so I went in to see if I could find another twin mattress for a decent price (managed to get one for about $70).  I called Grandpa Scott and recruited his help.  Travis is in North Dakota and we were thinking he wasn't going to be home until Monday afternoon and seeing how Brooke has another set of tubes scheduled for Thursday I kind of figured that the beds wouldn't be a priority this week while he's home.  Good thing Grandpa Scott loves us too!  Brooke loves her new bed.  Her eyes bugged right out of her head when she saw her bed with her Strawberry Shortcake bedding on it (it's the bedding I bought for Sam when we moved into the house and set this bunk bed up for her and Nash).

Since the bunk bed goes so far up the wall I've had to rearrange some things.  Not sure I like how this is looking (Brooke & Sam's names don't line up evenly and it makes me crazy!).

Sam is thrilled she finally has some empty space in her room (this is where B's bed was).  I told her the space would be short lived (I bought B a kitchen for Christmas).  Brooke now uses this space where her bed was as her dance stage!  Goofy girl!

Halloween 2013

Our dad missed Halloween again this year, but we had fun anyway.  Caleb was a cowboy (John Marston from a video game).  When he dressed up for school he was "alive" but when he went out trick or treating we added a bullet hole to his forehead.  He thought it was funny when I told him he looked like he lost the duel.  He asked what a duel was and I explained it was a gun fight.  Eventually he started trick or treating like this: Knock, knock.  "Trick or Treat!  Don't make me use my gun!  I lost the duel" (take off hat).  At one point he told me, "Mom!  I get 2 pieces of candy when I tell them I lost the duel!"  He was so excited about that!  Silly boy!

This was when he went to do his Halloween play for school:

I made Brooke her Minnie (Mimmi) Mouse dress.  She is totally obsessed with Minnie and I have to say I think she was the cutest Mimmi ever!

Samantha (much to my happiness) recycled last year's hip hop costume and was an escaped convict.  When she went to school she asked me to give her a black eye (she didn't when she dressed up for her Halloween dance performance).

Caleb on Halloween night with his duster I was up until 3:30 am making and hoping he'll continue to wear:

My nerd Nash!  He wanted to be General Grievous from Star Wars.  There was no way I was making that costume (even if I could find a pattern).  I didn't have the money to go buy it either.  So, the day before Halloween I was finally able to convince him to be a nerd.  I had given him the choice of nerd or a girl.  Guess he didn't want to wear his sister's clothes!  Sam told me the night before Halloween the glasses we had that I was going to use were dropped and broken by B so we ended up drawing his glasses on.  I used an eye liner to do it but when I went up to the school for the costume parade I saw he had taken a PEN and redrawn them during the day!  We also gave him a killer STAR WARS tattoo.  Today (Nov. 1) he asked if I'd redo his tattoo.  I told him no.  Wondering how long it will take before he redoes it himself without me knowing!

With our pumpkins but minus Sam (she was on the phone with her friend)

After the girls went around the block (the boys were banished to their bedroom to get it cleaned up) and we had visited a few select people we headed out to Grandma Kris and Grandpa Scott's house.  Jamie & Robbie's boys looked super cute in their costumes.  I can't believe Clayton ever fit in the dinosaur costume!

I didn't get a picture of Chad and Shanah's kids.  Prestin was a girl (and a super cute one), Livi was a little devil and Kash was a hunter.

We did lots of Trick or Treating in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood.  Caleb was sad that when we went to Buff and Laura's house they were out of donuts.  Lucky for him grandma was willing to share some of the ones they had brought over earlier!  This was the first year I haven't taken a stroller Trick or Treating in TEN years!  That was really nice.  What wasn't really nice was how stinking SLOW Brooke was.  Poor Nash, Caleb and Clayton would go about six houses ahead of us and then just sit and wait while Brooke and I caught up (and she didn't even knock every door!).

After all our Trick or Treating we went back to grandpa and grandma's house to celebrate grandma's birthday!

I love this picture of grandpa and Sam:

After all the door knocking and birthday cake eating Brooke and Livi had a tubbie together.  They sure had lots of fun in their tub!

We got home at a fairly decent time (about 10:30 pm) and the kids slept well.  Tonight Brooke fell asleep around 6:30 on our way home from Logan and she's still out four hours later!  I'm hoping she doesn't wake up at 3 am!  Can't wait until next week (after Stake Conference) to take Brooke to church in her Mimmi dress!  I have a feeling that she's going to want to wear it every day!