Kids!

Well it would seem that nearly cutting his thumb off recently just isn't enough to satisfy or slow down my son. Today he tried to gouge his eye out. He was playing in his bedroom with Samantha when all of a sudden I hear him start to cry. I'm thinking, great Samantha's being mean again. By the time he makes it from his bedroom to the kitchen, his eye has bruised on the eyelid & just below his eye & is swollen half way shut. Yea. So, I picked him up & tried to get him to quit crying. Meanwhile I call my mom to ask if she thinks I should take him to the dr. since it was his eyeball he landed on this time. So, we load into the car & head to instacare. I told my mom if it had been his head I wouldn't worry about it so much b/c he smacks it so many times a day that it hardly phases him at all anymore! (She thought I was rotten.) So, we get to instacare & the dr. basically tells me that since his movement is fine & everything looks ok cosmetically that even if he had fractured his face that there was nothing they could do for it. He told me to keep an eye on him & make sure that he doesn't lose the movement of his eye (being able to follow a finger without moving your head kind of thing) because with that kind of an injury the swelling can push the optic nerves forward & into the fracture where they get stuck & then they have to do surgery. Lovely! He then assured me that the chances of that happening are about one in a million (why mention it to a mother then?!). The dr. did say that he did bruise his eyeball & that's why it bruised & started to swell immediately (broken blood vessels filling the space with blood -- all kinds of great things a mother wants to hear!) So, it sounds like he's just going to have a narley black eye this time (luckily). I tried to get a picture today but only had my phone camera & it didn't take very good pictures so I'll try again tomorrow! I'm starting to think I should wrap the kid in bubble wrap before he gets out of bed in the morning! Thank goodness for health insurance & AFLAC!!

As if we hadn't had enough drama & excitement for the day, Travis & I went & took the concealed weapons permit class tonight. My poor mother had all 4 grandkids for about 4 hours (anyone that knows all 4 kids knows what a handful that was!). Travis thinks I should carry while I'm at school. Can't say I disagree so much as it being close to SLC (not to mention all the school shootings you hear about these days) but, I just don't know how I feel about a bra holster! Guess we'll have to wait & see when it gets closer. If I have to walk through a metal detector (don't think I will) every day then I won't carry at school for sure! It was interesting to go to though. The guy that taught the class did a good job (made the four hours go by pretty quick). And, since they were doing the fingerprinting cards while we were there, I had them do the one I've been packing around for about 2 months to send to the Idaho State Office of Edu. for my Idaho license so now I don't have to pack my kids into the jail with me to get fingerprinted! Travis was skeptical about how they would fingerprint him (what with the missing tip & all). Well, they did it, they just inked what they could & said "Ah, they'll figure it out when they look at your card." I'm sure that was reassuring for Trav! Oh well!

Projects...

Ok, I'll admit I've been a slacker on my blog. But, we've had some nice weather when it quits raining so I've been outside! Here are some pictures of what we've been up to. I finally figured out if I take the step stool I have in my kitchen outside, I can weed a little bit easier! I know we probably won't get grass this year, but at least I'll have some flowers!

This is out in the backyard. You can't really tell on the picture, but Travis has dug a trench & put in some 2x10's to partition off my flowerbed. I planted all these hostas last Oct. & wasn't sure if they'd survive or not since we had deer in our backyard all winter. And, I'm happy to announce, the fern I thought had died has finally got green showing! Travis is mad at me because I "ruined the tree." I told him I didn't even touch the tree! All I did was stuff underneath it. He was quick to point out that under the tree is the best part of the tree. Oh well. Guess I can't win that one!






This is up against the back of the house. You can actually see the partition in this picture. This flowerbed isn't finished yet. My mom gave me some hollyhock starts that I've put in along with about 6 strawberry plants & 1 yucca plant. I am hoping to get a bridal wreath start from my grandma to put in at the far end when the rain finally stops again!
















This is our attempt at a garden this year. We've put this along the west side of the house. We've got 1 watermelon plant that Samantha picked out at the greenhouse & had to have but I think has died, 1 pumpkin planted that I'll be surprised if it sprouts, 3 tomatoes & 2 pepers (thanks mom)! I figure if nothing else, at least we gave it a try!














This is our front yard. The dirt pile has gotten considerably smaller. And, now it is all in one place instead of a small mountain over the entire front yard! I have another flowerbed against the fence & a long one against the entire front of the house & one down the side of the driveway. Travis hasn't made it to these flowerbeds yet, but they are on the list to be partitioned off soon!






Another view of the fabulous front yard!


As you can see, we've been busy. Hope it's raining less where you are!

Old Ephraim Mountain Man Rendezvous

On Saturday we walked down to the park with the kids because it was the first time since Monday that it wasn't raining. While we were at the park, I had the idea that we should take the kids & go to Willow Park (our "zoo"). Travis suggested we take them to the Mountain Man Rendevous instead. I had never been & neither had the kids. Travis went several times when he was in high school and thought we had gone with the kids once before (I was kind enough to remind him that he was building a house 2 years ago & last year he was crazy insane with work during the summer).
So, we headed back home and loaded up the truck. We weren't sure where to park when we got there so we just parked where we saw vehicles first. Turns out we had to walk 1/2 a mile after we parked! Travis said he knew we could park farther up but he knew I needed the exercise (I told you the pregosaurus comments would kick in soon!)
There weren't a whole lot of people there (we didn't get there until about 4 or so). The kids were pretty excited to see all the people dressed up like cowboys, mountain men, pioneers & Indians. Our neighbors (whose daughter Samantha would be attached to at the hip if I let her) participate in the rendevous every year. Samantha was pretty excited to see her little friend Jolie dressed up like a little Indian girl. At one point we even saw a lady with the carrying contraption on her back with a baby (papoose) in it. Samantha thought that was pretty crazy to carry a baby on your back like that!
We walked around for awhile and the kids got a kick out of seeing all the stuff for trade/sale. Somewhere they were shooting guns & occassionally a cannon would go off. Nash wasn't too sure about the cannon! We ended up getting Nash a wood machete (I'll take slivers over lost appendages any day!) & Samantha picked out a butterfly ring. Travis found himself a powder horn that he can take hunting with him this fall. (Did I ever mention he drew out for the big game draw? He's still grinning ear to ear about that one!)
Anyway, we had a good time and if it hadn't rained all week I think there would have been a lot more people there (personally I'm glad there wasn't more people there!).

Pre-School Graduation

Samantha had her preschool graduation tonight. I realized when her class stood together for their class picture that she is almost the tallest one in the class! There are only 2 other kids in the class that will be moving on to Kindergarten next year. Samantha has had lots of fun in her class this year and I think she will be sad to move on to Kindergarten (even though I know she'll enjoy it). It's a good thing Miss Kathryn just lives 3 doors down!

A Job! A Job!

I have a job! I guess I haven't been blacklisted after all!
I was offered a job on the spot at my job interview with Quest Academy today. They are a Charter School in West Haven (down by Roy - about an hour long commute). It is a brand new school so I'll have new everything (how nice is that?!). My class size will be about 25-27 and I pretty well had my pick of grades. I will be teaching 3rd grade & there are 3 classes of each grade up to grade six. I will be starting out at a second year teaching pay scale (trust me, significantly more money & WAY more money than Cache or Logan district offers). First day of school is Aug. 25th for the kids & I will start about a week prior to that. My mom said I'd better hope the baby comes a bit early so I have time to recover before having to set up my classroom. No worries here! I called Trav on my way home & he was shocked I was coming home with a job (he was feeling I was blacklisted too). He said the best he had hoped for was a really good interview. I told him that was what I had hoped for too! As he so kindly reminded me just the other day, "Positive thinking yields positive results."
Anyway, had to share the exciting news! Hope your day is going great!