A trip to the Dr. & the Splash Pad

Yesterday I took B and Caleb to the pediatrician.  I called and made an appointment for Caleb because he's had a yucky nose for at least a week and I figured he had a sinus infection.  I took B with me because she's had this horrible rattle in her chest for the entire summer.  We were there for quite awhile because there was a NICU code that our pediatrician had to respond to.  He later told me that it was just someone in housekeeping had hit the button but they didn't bother to page him and let him know he didn't have to run all the way to the NICU!   

The kids were really good to entertain themselves while we waited though:

Turns out Caleb had a double ear infection (it begins again) and B has junk in her lungs that required a prescription.  So, after we finished up with the dr. we headed to Shopko to pick up two new prescriptions!

 I've been working on cutting out squares for I Spy quilts.  It all started about two months ago when Caleb's preschool teacher asked if anyone wanted to do a quilt block exchange to make I Spys.  I said yes - duh.  I figured that between my mom & I we would have enough scraps to make one.  Lets face it, mom & I have about one of everything in JoAnn's and close to that from the south Walmart too.  You need 144 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch squares to do one I Spy quilt.  When I started cutting squares I figured I'd just raffle the I Spy off at Relay next year.  As I started cutting I thought, "You know, I could do one of these for each of the nephews/nieces we draw for Christmas."  I was talking to mom and realized I could make four I Spy quilts for about $60.  That's roughly $15 per quilt.  I'd spend that n a crappy toy so why not spend it on something they'll use?  Once I came to terms with the idea of doing four I Spys, I told myself, "I should do these for Laura's boys too."  So, here I sit, a month later, with 7 I Spy quilts to make.  I decided I'd do the ones for Laura's boys for their birthdays.  That means I've got 5 to make by Christmas, 1 in February and 1 in March.  I have 113 squares left to cut to have all the squares I need for all 7 quilts.  That means I've got almost 900 squares sitting on my table in this picture.  I figured I needed a total of 1008 squares.  All the squares I've cut that I'm not using (there were more than 7 of that particular fabric) I've passed on to Caleb's preschool teacher.  Here's to hoping I get all seven of these done on the time frame I've set up for myself!

Brookelyn has learned yet another trick:

She's dancing on the table in this picture.  Apparently, she inherited the same monkey genes as her brother Caleb.  When he was this size I had to take all the chairs at the table & put them up on the table so he couldn't do this.  My table is pushed up against the stair railing and if they were to venture over to the edge it would be certain death..or at least a broken neck.  It doesn't help that all my sewing stuff has taken over my kitchen table again because that just looks like tons of fun to play in!  Here's to hoping I can keep her off the table!

Cindy called me this morning and told me she was taking her grandkids down to the Splash Pad this afternoon.  I thought that sounded like a great idea.  So, we tagged along.  I was happy B didn't fall asleep in the carseat on the way to the Splash Pad.  The last time we went she slept the whole time!  I took her swim suit & changed her clothes when we got there.  Since she decided she was going to walk this weekend, I let her venture over with her siblings.  She loved it!

I love this picture!

This little boy just so happened to be named Nash!  No kidding.  I pointed him & his mom out to our Nash and told her to go introduce himself to her.  She said she hadn't ever met another Nash.  I told her we hadn't either!

Witch Born Contest

Ok, I'll admit it.  I'm a bit in love with the books Witch Song & Witch Born.  I'll be honest.  I was hesitant to read Witch Song.  I'm not a big fantasy genre reader.  I read it because I was going to CA and my girlfriend highly recommended it to me.  So, I stole her copy & read it on the way home from CA.  After I read it I couldn't wait for the second one to come out.  The second one, Witch Born, will be released Sept. 5.  Because I'm awesome (ha!) and know people, I've already read Witch Born.  Honestly, it was as good (or better) than Witch Song.  I don't say that about a lot of sequels.  I am highly anticipating the prequel and am disappointed that there are currently no plans for a third.  I will however tell you this: YOU can win a copy of Witch Born!  All you have to do is visit the author's site and follow the directions!  You can find her blog here: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com/  What are you waiting for?  Go enter to win!

National Night Out Against Crime

Every year for the last several years Hyrum has done a National Night Out Against Crime on the first Tuesday in August.  I've taken my kids several times and they always seem to have fun.  I had forgotten it was tonight until a friend of mine mentioned she was going to go down.  So, we braved the crowd and went down to the city square.  They always do a free dinner of hamburgers, potato chips and a drink.  I was happy - it's free, my kids (most of them) eat it and I don't have to cook. :)  They have the fire trucks, the ambulance, usually at least one DWR vehicle. Children's Justice Center, Life Flight and several other organizations there.  This year we ate our dinner and then headed over by the trucks.  When we got over there I saw the mom of one of Nash's friends so I sat and talked to her for a long time.  Because of that I didn't get a ton of pictures and I didn't get pictures of the kids climbing on everything they came into contact with!  I did manage to snap pictures when Life Flight came in though!

Brookelyn spotted the helicopter:

The closer the helicopter got the more she pulled this face:

Right over the the field where it was going to land:

Right above us:

I think the pilot hovered over us and came in super slow in order to give more of a wind!  It was crazy!  I didn't anticipate that much wind for that long!  I was impressed Brookelyn didn't cry about it!

After they landed:

Sister wasn't quite so sure she thought the helicopter was as cool on the ground as it was flying in the air:

Before the helicopter came in the officers told the kids to stay back until they gave the go ahead to come up and check it out.  When they gave the go ahead there were kids EVERYWHERE!

I did manage to snap a few pictures of the boys on the fire truck.  Caleb was trying to get to the top but it was too high without mom's help:

The kids were happy because they got to play on all the emergency vehicles and at the park.  I was happy because I had an adult conversation and didn't have to make dinner!  Now, if I can get them all to settle down and go to sleep it will be great!

Wedding cakes, nebulizers, boots & Grandpa's house

The entire month of July I worked on creating gum paste daisies for the tops of cupcakes for a wedding.  The wedding was August 2nd.  Much to my relief, all 100 daisies and cupcakes were made! The only thing I was worried about was the color.  Kiersha had asked me to do a sage green.  I told her I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to make it turn a sage color.  She told me that it was ok as long as it wasn't hunter green.  Well, it wasn't hunter green, but it wasn't exactly sage green either!  It was a pretty bright green!  Thankfully everyone really likes the cake and cupcakes so it all turned out ok!

 For the wedding cake, I did one nine inch and one eight inch cake and stacked them.  Putting the ribbon around the bottoms was tricky because the cakes weren't straight up and down around the edges.  This made it so there was a little bit of a space between the top of the ribbon and the cake.  Luckily I was able to figure out how to make it work so that it wasn't super obvious!

 Set up at the reception:

Brookelyn has had a rattle in her chest the entire summer.  I asked the pediatrician about it at Caleb's well check.  He told me to try giving her some decongestant as it might be caused by the runny nose she's got do to the molars she's trying to break.  Well, I tried the decongestant one night.  She proceeded to cough until she threw up.  Thus, we've been doing the nebulizer.  The first night we did it she wasn't such a fan.  After that we had to have her sit on dad's lap while she did it.

Little sister recently discovered she fits in the drawer below the tv.  Mom is not happy about this one.

I took the kids to Kmart to get a few last items for school shopping.  I saw these sweet little cow girl boots and couldn't resist buying them for Brookelyn.  They are a bit big, but they will be perfect come fall!

Last night we went down to Grandma Terri's and Grandpa Larry's house to make tin foil dinners and home made ice cream.  The kids were in the pool nearly three hours (Jack and Jade were there).  The kids had fun and the food was good too.

Grandpa Larry even did a double ch-da with the girls!  I love the look on B's face!  She does this every single time someone dances with her!  Glad I was able to finally catch it on film!

And, in other exciting news, Brookelyn decided she's going to walk now!  For about two months she has been taking three or four steps and then plopping down on the floor and crawling the rest of the way.  This past weekend she just decided she was ok with going about 10 steps.  Now, she's walking across the room!  She still plops down and crawls after she goes a little way but I think I can safely say she's officially walking!

Caleb's Well Check

On Monday I took Caleb to the pediatrician for his four year well check.  I'm one of those mean moms that had him get shots.  He only had to have 2 and he was so brave!  He didn't cry, he just said "Hippopotamus, hippopotamus!"  (Thanks for that trick Grandma Terri.)  The good news is that now he's got all his shots until he turns 12.  Yep, Kindergarten shots are DONE.  Yay.  Dr. Clarke always gives my kids a book when they come in for a well check.  This year Caleb got a Curious George book.  He had me read it to him while we waited for the nurse to come in with his shots.  He was excited because it had a train in it.  He showed the book to his dad when we got home and he had his dad read it to him again.

Caleb's Stats:
Weight: 34 lbs -- 32nd percentile (Yes, I am aware my 1 year old weighs 27 lbs & my 4 yr old weighs 34 lbs.  I am quite certain Brookelyn will surpass Caleb rather quickly.)
Height: 38.5 inches -- 13th percentile
BMI: 16.1 -- 66th percentile

Average height for a four year old is 40.3 inches so he's a little short, but we knew that. :)
Average weight for a four year old is 36 lbs so he's a little smaller, but we knew that too. :)

Things about Caleb:
1-He is an extraordinarily picky eater.  He won't touch the food on his plate if there is a sauce of any kind on his plate (spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup, mustard, mayo, ranch, etc.)
2-He still loves pink milk and doesn't want to drink white milk at all.
3-He likes to refer to himself as "Cowboy Caleb".
4-He would wear his cowboy boots, hat and chaps everywhere if his mother would let him.  Oh, and he informed me a week ago that he also needs spurs now.
5-He is FINALLY using the potty regularly.  We still have a few accidents here and there, but for the most part, I think he's finally decided it's not so bad.
6-He loves dirt.  If he isn't in the house playing toys, he can be found out back behind the fence digging in the dirt.
7-He has recently picked up on Nash's, "Mom.  I love you." at random times during the day.
8-He likes to snuggle with me.
9-He's as stubborn as his mother.  Not sure this is a good thing.
10-His dad put training wheels on Nash's old 2 wheeler Spiderman bike about a month ago and he loves riding it with the big kids.
11-He says some of the most hilarious, random things I've ever heard come out of a kid's mouth.

I will admit that Caleb is my challenging child, mostly because he's got my personality.  He really has grown into his own person and wants so much to be just like his brother and his dad.  He loves his family (extended family included) and has recently started telling us just how much he loves us.  He likes to help mom with chores and I think he's enjoyed having his own chore list so he can earn some allowance.  He's pretty good to go play by himself or with other kids.  He's got quite the imagination and vocabulary but will usually let his sister or brother boss him around so he can play with them too.  He likes to wear his flying suit, Karate suit, ninja suit and any other suit he can create.  He lets his sister dress him up in her dress ups or sometimes even doll clothes, and will willingly show them off to mom - no matter what he's dressed like (and I've seen some good ones!).

We love you Duleb!