The day from hell...

Today was like a Monday from hell! Where do I begin??

I had to have Caleb at the pediatrician for his well check at 10:20 am. I started waking the kids up at 9:30 am. Thirty minutes should be plenty of time, right? Yeah, I should know better. We didn't leave our house until 10:10 am. It takes 20 min. to get to the dr.'s office. I called to let them know we would be about 10 min. late.

I finally make it to the dr.'s office & am informed that Dr. Clarke had an emergency this morning & is running about 20 min. late. Guess who doesn't feel bad about being late? I thought Caleb needed at least 1 shot. Turns out he didn't! That was the highlight of my day. I asked Dr. Clarke to check Brooke's ears because she's been crying for days, pooping nearly daily (uncommon for her), throwing up lots more than usual, and running a low grade fever. Her right ear is infected. Joy...sigh. It begins. She's only 2 months old! I shouldn't have told Dr. Blotter (our favorite ENT) that we'd be in when she was 6 months old. Foot in the mouth. Dr. Clarke gave me a prescription for amoxicillan for her. The other kids and I are all allergic to penicillan. None of them can take amoxicillan and the boys can't do omnicef. Thus, when we buy prescriptions, we don't do cheap ones. What happens? They break out in hives from head to to, just like their mother (and I heard medicine allergies aren't genetic!). What's odd is that it's usually not until the second or third time the kids took penicillan that they had a reaction. I'm guessing she'll do ok this time, but I bet the next time she gets the hives. Yes, I said next time because I don't live in denial, I know it's coming.

After leaving the pediatrician's office, I stopped at Shopko to drop off the prescription. While they were filling it, I ran to Wendy's drive through and grabbed lunch and fed Brooke. Then I went back to Shopko to pick up the prescription. I decided to make a quick trip to Sugar & Spice in Hyde Park to see if they had shelves that would work in the kids' rooms. That was a bust of a trip. Didn't buy anything there (and I freaking love that store).

After leaving Sugar & Spice I decided to stop at Hobby Lobby to see if maybe they had some shelves that would work. When we walked into the store Nash saw a mechanical pencil in another empty cart & asked if he could have it. I said, "No." and tossed it back into the empty cart. We made our way through the store, and, $90 later were headed out. I found 3 shelves (at only $16 each which I get to finish myself), a piggy bank for Brooke, a cute saying for the boys' room, modpodge, wood glue, and three unfinished crafts the kids picked out. As I'm paying for my stuff, I notice Samantha telling Nash to take something out of his shirt or she's telling mom. What is it? The stupid mechanical pencil again! Grrr... I said, "I told you NO!" and put it on the other side of the counter. He stalks off and Samantha stays with me. She walks out of the store slightly ahead of me and I notice she's talking to Nash again and he's fiddling with his shirt. I come out of the store (extremely perturbed) and get after him. I say, "Nash! That's stealing! You march your butt back into the store and put that back where you found it!" What does he pull out of his shirt? One of those metal rods they hang merchandise on. Oy! This child!! It's about now that the migraine starts to set in (and it's only 1:30 pm!)

Nash got quite the earful (as did the other kids) once we were all in the truck and headed back home. They got to hear (it was NOT a discussion) about how we PAY for things we want. How would he like it if someone came to his house and took his things without permission. Etc., etc., etc. The migraine is now growing. I told Nash when we get home he can go sit on his bed until I say so and he will not be getting his unfinished craft (a treasure box) until I say so!

Meanwhile, I have no idea where Caleb has picked up the word B**ch. He was using it the other night (yes, in context. He was saying, "You little B**** come here.") and he got in trouble for it. Earlier in the day Caleb had used the word again and I got after him. Just before their lecture on paying for things, he used it again. So, Caleb was informed (not so kindly) that he too would get to sit on his bed when we got home since he wanted to have a potty mouth. Migraine still growing.

We get home and the boys go into their room. They are told that I don't want to hear talking, playing, anything. I close the door and finish bringing things in. Meanwhile Caleb decides he's going to jump (yes, jump) off his bed drawers onto his bed. I'm sure Nash was encouraging it because I could hear his voice but not make out what he was saying. The boys were repeatedly busted for being naughty while they were suppose to be having punishment. Punishment didn't work too well I suppose. Migraine still growing and I'm now ready to pound head against wall.

Boys are finally allowed to come out. I decide to have the kids pick up all the toys in their room and start hauling them downstairs so we can figure out what's going to go into their new room. Sam has some friends show up and the toy hauling is stopped. Big surprise. With 6 kids in my house, the migraine isn't getting any smaller.

I decide to paint one of the shelves for the girls' room. Got it almost done. Had to let it dry before flipping it around to do the top. Yesterday I started refinishing a dresser for the boys' room. I bought red spray paint to paint it. I only bought 3 cans. Which was fine...for the dresser. Brooke was being, well, not screaming so I decided to try and paint the boys shelves. I ran out of spray paint. Figures. I no longer have 6 kids running around my house so I tell the kids we're going to Walmart to get more spray paint. Can't remember if it was the north or south Walmart I bought the spray paint at. Great. You'd think they'd carry the same things, right? Text the girl that's stopping by to pick up a custom order carseat canopy I finished at 1:30 am. Make it about 4 blocks from my house and get a text that she's in Hyrum. Turn around. Stop back at my house and decide maybe Ridley's (grocery store not far from home) has the same paint. Trade carseat canopy for check and go to Ridley's. No luck. Head to Walmart.

While I Walmart I find the 17 picture frames I need to finish the girls' names my sister in law and I started on months ago. Find red spray paint but not the same red spray paint as before. Cross my fingers it's a close match. Leave Walmart. Migraine continues to grow.

Get home and spray paint the shelves. Color looks good in the light so let's hope it matches in the morning light. Kids are driving me NUTS! Send 2 of them to get in the shower and Caleb to his room. Why? He drives his bike into my house (again) and refuses to take it outside. It gets quiet. I hope he's asleep (he hasn't napped all day). I should know better. The other 2 are out of the shower so I go check on Caleb. Disaster struck in the bedroom. Great. Head is throbbing. Take Caleb & go get in the shower. Put Brooke in her bouncy chair in the bathroom with us while the other 2 clean up the disaster. Get out of the shower and dressed only to discover Brooke has pooped all over. Into the bathtub goes Brooke (it's 9:15 pm). Kids are still cleaning up the disaster in their room. Caleb is sent in to "help". Get Brooke out of the tub and dressed. She's still sad. Give second dose of prescription and Tylenol. She falls asleep. Get kids a sandwich for dinner (yep, I'm that good).

While the older 2 kids eat, Caleb climbs in my bed and FINALLY falls asleep. Big kids are watching cartoons despite being told to go to bed. My brain hurts, I feel like I'm going to throw up, and I'm blogging. What the...

Tomorrow has to be better, right?

An interesting weekend

Saturday morning my father in law called at 9 am to ask if they could take Nash to Manti with them. I said sure because I knew they were taking my nephew & Nash could use some fun away time. He just got home tonight around 11 pm and it sounds like he had lots of fun. My nephew, Kash, is a year younger than Nash & those two have so much fun together whenever they get to play. Sounds like this weekend was no different as they were inseparable! Nash is pretty proud of the bird nest he found and brought home too. I told him we could put it on the shelf in his new room. You should have seen the boy's eyes light up!

Another reason I'm glad I let him go is that now Samantha has a bit more appreciation of how he feels when she's gone playing with her friends all the time. I think she finally understands why he gets so upset when she says that he can't play with her and her friends. She sure got sick of just playing with Caleb -- he doesn't let her boss him around like Nash does! He'll just walk off if he doesn't like what she's doing or saying! If I had a nickle for every time Samantha whined at me that she was bored this weekend, I'd probably have close to $10!

Yesterday afternoon I was able to go downstairs and work on cleaning all the stuff up out of the boys' room. Travis & I finished painting it while he was home this last time but the mess got left for me to deal with. Caleb was ever so helpful in cleaning up (fortunately he never did get that screw up to the wall and use the pliers as a hammer...yes, he tried but I was too quick for him). After we cleaned up the mess in their room, we had to clean up all the toys that were strewn all over the basement so we can carry the carpet into their room without tripping on something and breaking our necks! My father in law said he'd come out on Monday and help me get the carpet in, the outlet covers on & the bunk bed set up. Now if I can convince someone to come finish the lights & help install the bars in the closet, I can move the boys down! After that I'll have to get someone to take down the top bunk in the room upstairs so I can paint the blue walls pink & then have someone turn the toddler bed back into a crib. Sounds easy enough in theory! We'll see how it turns out!

I also manged to get some weeding done yesterday. My flowerbeds have managed to slip away from me this year thanks to Brooke's fussiness. The flowerbed against the back of my house where my hollyhocks are is the worst! Seriously, if you saw it, you'd die! And considering how much neglect it's had this year, I'm astonished that one of my hollyhock plants actually reaches the roof of the house! If I can get it weeded, I'll have to take a picture! Maybe I should take a picture before so you can see that I'm not exaggerating about how bad it is!

Brooke started acting like the screamer again about Friday. It's lasted through today even. She's running a bit of a fever. I can't decide if she's got a touch of the flu or if she's teething or perhaps something else entirely. I say teething because you can see her two front bottom teeth (since not long after she was born actually) and Caleb started teething at 2 months old too. I know there's a flu bug going around and she has pooped 3 times this week already (normally she's a once a week kind a girl). She had shots on July 6th so I'm pretty sure it isn't related to that. Who knows, perhaps it's because she just misses her daddy.

Brooke slept long enough yesterday that I was able to get all my non maternity clothes out & get them hung up in the closet and my maternity clothes out. I was just going to send all my maternity clothes to my sister to list on thredup.com and then I remembered my sister's friend is expecting. So, I just sent them all over to her. I'm glad they are going to someone that I know that can use them. Even though I've said I'm done having kids & Trav's been "fixed" I guess it hadn't sunk it yet because it was a little bit sad to take all my maternity clothes out and give them away. Every other time I've taken them out, I've taken them out knowing there's a good chance I'd see them again in a few short years. It's sad because it's the end of a certain time period in my life that I guess I wasn't ready to say good bye too.

Yesterday morning after Nash left I took the other 3 kids and went to town to do some school shopping. I just went to Kmart thinking we'd be able to find a few things and put them on layaway. Yeah, $225 later.... Sam's done except for shoes and maybe 1 or 2 more pairs of pants. With the shirts she picked out and what I have at home to finish making for her, she should be set until the cold weather arrives and she needs long sleeves again. Caleb found a Diego backpack he just had to have and was quite upset when we got home and he realized it wasn't with us! I know they don't really use backpacks in preschool, but I got it anyway. We also found him some new shoes and 2 pairs of pants. Depending on how much I have stashed away from when Nash wore a 3T Caleb should be done too. Now I just need to take Nash to get a few things. Since we had such good luck at Kmart for the others I think I'll just go back there & put another stash on layaway (I love layaway & wish the other stores wouldn't have gotten rid of it).

Today I went down to my mom's house for about 6 hours. I just went down to pick up some eggs and ended up staying. My dad and then my mom held Brooke and finally managed to get her to sleep. Once she was sleeping soundly she was laid on my mom's bed. I didn't want to wake her up by moving her, so we stayed and she slept for 3 hours straight. I was glad because I knew she needed it. During that reprieve from screaming, Caleb & Sam helped my mom make lemon bars and then Caleb helped my mom make brownies & a cake while I played the card game golf with Sam and my dad. My mom's parents stopped by for a short visit & got quite a kick out of seeing that I let Caleb swim naked at my mom's house.

Tomorrow Caleb turns 3! Holy cow! Where did that time go? I know I say that with every birthday one of my kids has, but seriously, time NEVER went this fast when I was a kid! Did I enter a time warp or something? This next week is going to be a full one (again) and then Travis will be home on July 24th. We've decided that for our family vacation this year we're going to just go to SLC and do something different each day that the kids haven't necessarily done before. Should be fun!

Relay for Life 2011

This year my team raised close to $1,000. Much more than my initial estimates would have guessed. We were out at Forrester Acres in Smithfield this year. The track was .69 mile. We bought Sam some lap beads & had about 18 by the time we left (around 12 miles). Nash got to stay at the site with me this year. This was his first year getting to stay. I also had Brookelyn with me the whole time. Travis stayed for much more than I anticipated he would. He kept Caleb with him since Caleb had his tonsils & adenoids out the day before.

What the final lap looked like.

Caregiver garden:

Closing ceremony:

Balloon release (you should have heard the earful I got from a lady who felt that releasing balloons isn't an effective way to send our thoughts to heaven. Rather it's a littering event & should be given a $200 fine....)

Our team shirts (orange for Cindy & kidney cancer)

Getting balloons to release:

B slept quite a bit (much better than screaming, right?)

B had a pink onsie because they didn't have orange ones (boo).

I ask my husband to take 1 picture! I wanted a picture of grandma & Cindy when they walked by & this is what I get. Thanks dear...

Survivor lap:

Caleb watching Sam & Jade dance (after the 20 min. rain delay)

1 day I will get Amber on my team! She was diagnosed at 27 yrs old & just reached her 5 yr survivor mark! Way to go!!

How cute is this baby?

4th of July

We had a full 4th of July this year. Sam, Nash & I were in the Hyrum Parade. Yes, I know...stupid, stupid, stupid. It was however for a good cause (Relay for Life). I also did a booth at the Hyrum Square. Didn't make much money (my mom did though). We watched the Logan fireworks on the 1st out in North Logan. I took the kids out to my in laws house & we were the only ones there for the party (weird - that never happens). I need to copy some of the pictures that she got on her camera (my hands were full of Brookelyn so I didn't get any on mine). We watched the Hyrum fireworks on the 4th at the Rodeo grounds with my in laws & the cousins. I need to copy some of those pictures from my mother in law too! Even without the dad around, we managed to have a pretty good time.

The kids watching fireworks at Grandpa Larry & Grandma Terri's house.

Brooke was happy at the Hyrum fireworks - she had a binki, her beautiful hairbow & a fist full of those glow in the dark things.

After all the excitement at the square on the 4th we got home & I asked Sam to watch Brooke so I could unload my expedition so we could put the back seat back in & go pick up Caleb. This is what I found about an hour later (notice Sam's feet):

Miss Festive herself looking mighty cute

I hate coming up with titles for my blog entries!

Completely random, has nothing to do with my post BUT, can I just say that I hate figuring out a title for all my blog posts!

2 weeks ago I did a yard sale as a fundraiser for my Relay for Life team. I netted about $120 in that one sale. I decided to do another yard sale because I still had a bunch of stuff left after the first one & didn't want to load it up to haul it off! I ended up doing a yard/bake sale this time. I even had more than 1 person come by to help me pull it off! After 2 Saturdays worth of work, I've netted about $240 for my Relay team. Not bad, but when you consider that the first yard sale fundraiser I did for Relay 3 years ago netted $1300 in one day, not too great either. Oh well, I'll take what I can get! I'm doing a booth at the Hyrum square on Monday the 4th again this year. 50% of my proceeds from that booth will go towards my team fundraising as well.

Last time I went shopping I found this onsie. I thought it was too cute to pass up.

Today my dad offered to take the kids down to the river at Grandpa Maughan's and go fishing. Mind you I've been telling dad that the kids have been asking me if Grandpa would take them fishing since December. You should have seen how excited they were when I told them Grandpa was coming to take them fishing on the river! Forget Santa! Grandpa & fishing CANNOT be beat! Caleb didn't go because he was sound asleep. He was kinda bummed when he woke up 4 hours later and found out!

From what my dad told me, Sam had 3 bites but was unable to get any of her fish out of the river. Dad said he thought she was worried she was going to get pulled right into the river! Must've been big ones! Nash had a really nice 20 inch brown out of the river & laying on the bank. As my dad was getting his pole ready for him to cast back in, Nash decided to play with his fresh catch. Apparently the fish ended up flopping down the bank & back into the river! Luckily he caught 2 more. Unfortunately the 3rd fish he caught broke the line right as it got to the bank. Great Grandpa Arol didn't even get a bite! He did however get tangled up in the trees though! Grandma Lea must've been sitting on the kids' shoulders showing them the ropes! I know Grandpa was thrilled for them.

Getting this picture of Nash was a chore. He apparently thinks "fish are gross." He was worried the teeth were going to hurt him. I had to hold the fish first & show him there wasn't anything to be worried about -- because we all know if mom can do it so can Nash!

After Grandpa Larry & Nash got his fish cleaned & ready to throw on the grill we went back to the house. We had a nice fire going and Grandpa cooked steaks and hot dogs and Nash's fish. The food was quite yummy. Weirdly enough NONE of the kids would try Nash's fish! Little weirdo's! They usually scarf fish right up!

After dinner the kids cooked s'mores for everyone. Even Caleb cooked marshmallows (very near perfect all by himself I might add!).

After we had our fill of s'mores (can you really ever get your fill of s'mores?) Grandpa Larry lit fireworks for the kids. He was quickly dubbed "genius" by the kids & I. Why? Multiple reasons really - 1. The wind was blowing so he was lighting fireworks right next to the fence. 2. One of the fireworks didn't have a fuse so he tossed it into the fire to light it!!! 3. He wouldn't "run for your life" like Caleb told him to do after he lit the fireworks.

We did go watch the stadium fireworks last night. I didn't get any pictures this year though. My arms were full of baby & we didn't go into the stadium. We did have fun though and in fact, the boys spent the night at Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris's house afterwards so it was just us girls here for the garage sale this morning.

Monday is full of festivities in Hyrum. Sam & Nash & I are walking in the parade & throwing candy for Relay. I promised them I'd only make them walk in the parade until we reach city hall (I didn't figure I'd actually get them to walk the entire parade route & then back up to the square as well. Heck I'll be doing excellent to get them to the city square!). My mom is helping me run my booth. I'm hoping I sell some stuff but I'm a bit worried because my booth is set back not on the main path this year. Here's to hoping anyway! I figure I can always post stuff that doesn't sell on my etsy site & it's a good motivator to get some projects finished!

Travis comes home on Tuesday & Caleb is suppose to get his tonsils & adenoids out on Thursday. Relay for Life is Friday & Saturday out in Smithfield. Could be a week full of insanity! Guess that isn't too out of the norm these days though! Happy 4th of July!