Blog Challenge Day 19

Something I bought recently:

That's a loaded question! I've been trying to stay away from the store because I know I'll find cute baby stuff!

Today I ended up taking Nash to the Insta-care because this morning he was crying about his ear hurting. I kinda thought maybe he was just being dramatic (the kid IS dramatic after all). Then I thought to myself, "Well, if I don't take him today I'll go into labor tomorrow & then his dad will have to deal with it and he deals with it by not dealing with it. So, we better go today." Samantha had spent the night at the neighbor's house and I left Caleb with mom. Off Nash & I went. For there only being 2 people in the waiting room when we got there, we had to wait forever to be seen! Typical of Insta-care though. When the dr. finally came in she looked in his ears. His left ear looked great & the tube is still in. His right ear however, well, that's another story. I guess it's red and swollen. But, of course that's not the worst of it. The dr. said it looked like his tube had been pushed back behind his ear drum. What?! She said it could just look that way because of the redness and swelling, but it could actually be back there. She gave us a prescription though so we went to Shopko to fill it. (Yes, Shopko knows who we are without asking our name when we show up to pick up prescriptions!)

So, in answer to that very short question, today I bought exactly 1 co-pay to Insta-care, 1 prescription for $3.99, 1 prescription for $15, 3 Mother's Day cards, and 1 pink bag to wrap a Mother's Day gift in! Then I came home & checked my Winder Farms order & fixed it so there's about another $30! So much for not spending any money! And I didn't even get to buy anything fun!

Sam's dance competition & Blog Challenge Day 18

Random side note first. I know I posted my 37.5 wk pic in the slideshow in the previous post. But, I was curious to see what it looked like next to my 37 wk photo with Caleb. I still think I look way more enormous with Caleb (way more enormous - is that even grammatically correct?). Just look at my ankles with Caleb! I still have ankles this time (you can't see them through my pants though).

Blog Challenge Day 18: What makes me different from everyone else.

Hmm.. You know, to be honest, I don't think I've ever thought about this question. I know there are lots of things that makes me unique and different, but to pin down one thing that makes me different from everyone else? Hmm....

I think that maybe I'd have to say it's my ability to throw myself into whatever I'm doing 1,000%. It doesn't matter if it's my job or if it's something at home. When I set my mind to something I tend to take off and let it consume me. Granted, that's not always a good thing, I know. But, I think it has its benefits too.

Sam competed at the Dance Spectacular out at Sky View today. She was pretty excited to go. She didn't even give me any grief at 7:20 this morning when I got her up! Last year when she went to the Dance Spectacular she only did one dance and we didn't stay for the entire thing. This year she got to participate in the entire event since she's doing the performance dance group. At the beginning of the competition they did a drill down. This is where all the girls line up and they call out things like about face, left face, right face, attention, parade rest, etc. They ended up going by age and she was in the k-2 group. There were about 20 kids in this group and she lasted until 3rd. Both the girls that took 1st and 2nd are in her dance group and she's pretty good friends with the one that took 2nd. I was impressed at how long she lasted and how good she did. I had no idea!

She performed 4 dances. I video taped 3 of them - I was talking to her piano teacher during her first dance (the one to Tangled). I was excited to see her new hip hop dance and her dance to "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie. She did great and had fun. She didn't argue during her costume change and she kept her hair looking decent the entire time!

After everyone was done performing (30ish dances) they did a dance down. This is where Jenny, the owner of LaShars, taught them about 20 or so seconds of a dance. They were given a few times to practice and then they performed what they learned. They broke it down by age again this time so there were fewer girls to watch at once. She did good. I think it was the arm movement that threw her off - it was kind of complicated for her. Anyway, she didn't place but she did get one of her ribbons for participating in it as well.

The only thing that I wasn't happy about is there was a mom behind me that was the mom of one of the girls from another dance company that kept talking smack the entire time (9 am - 12:30 pm). I wanted to turn around and say, "Seriously? You're worried your 16 yr old daughter isn't going to get a trophy? Come on. That's not why they're here." I didn't though because I figured she'd have a snotty retort and then I'd just get mean. I told my father in law when we went to get Caleb that I am NOT going to be a good athletic mom. I'm just not an in the face of my child when s/he screws up, obnoxious type of person. He laughed at me. Yes, those soccer moms (and apparently dance moms) are pretty evil! It's funny because I was telling Sam about it after we left. She was like, "What? That's stupid. I thought all the girls were doing great! It doesn't matter if you get a trophy." Glad I've instilled that in her early. Let's hope she maintains that attitude!

I'm trying to upload the videos of her dances I got taped, but I don't know if it's going to work this time or not. I left it up and running for a good hour a bit ago and it still hadn't loaded!

Blog Challenge Day 17

My favorite book:

I must say that I absolutely love Dean Hughes series The Children of the Promise. I read it when I was in high school and could not put it down. It about killed me when I had to wait a year to read the last book! I tried to read the follow up series, but I just couldn't get into it. Not sure if it's because it branched from WW2 to Vietnam or if it was because it wasn't the same characters.

I also really loved the Percy Jackson series. I didn't think I'd be able to get into it because I'm not big into fantasy - still haven't ever read Harry Potter much to the disgust of my sister in law. I think it was the Greek mythology that did it for me with the Percy Jackson books. I did read The Red Pyramid, which is the same author, and I liked it (it's ancient Egypt) but I'm not sure if I'll keep reading that series or not.

I've also really enjoyed Josie S. Kilpack books - thanks Tannie! I'm not a mystery reader at all. When I got the first book, Lemon Tart, I had no idea what it was about. Less than 1 chapter in and I was hooked. I thought it was weird because I just don't like those kind of books - never have - even though I do like those kinds of tv shows. Maybe that's why I liked it? I'm currently on the waiting list for her new book Blackberry Crumble at the library. I was about #5 on the list and that was about 2-3 weeks ago so I'm hoping I'm up soon!

What genres do I like? I read a lot of non fiction (mostly for work), which I like and if I'm interested in the topic then I'll pick it over a fiction book any day. However, I must admit the majority of the books I read (and like) and the young adult fiction (like the Percy Jackson series). Not sure if it's because I'm a teacher or if it's just because I still like it. I think it's the latter of the two!

Sorry, that was a long answer to a fairly simple question!

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Blog Challenge Day 16

Something I'm looking forward to:

First on the list is the obvious - Brookelyn being born & me not feeling like I'm being kicked in the kidney constantly!

Also on the list:

Summer vacation for the kids

Sam's end of the year dance recital

Relay for Life in July

Nash & Caleb's birthday's

Taking the kids to southern UT this summer (Trav's idea - Sam wants to go back to Oregon)

Being able to work in my flowerbeds/yard

Taking the kids swimming this summer

Finishing the boys room & getting them moved

Redecorating the bedroom upstairs for the girls

Getting to go back to my job in the fall

Finishing some of my sewing projects (the other rag quilts, clothes for the kids, etc.)

Travis going back to school