My boys go ice fishing

Travis has never been a fan of the idea of ice fishing.  Before today, he had been exactly ONE time.  I on the other hand, LOVE ice fishing.  My dad took us every winter when I was growing up.  I loved playing on the ice with my sister and the dog.  I loved having a little hole to keep the ice off of and pulling my fish up through said hole.  I've tried to get Travis to take my kids ice fishing over the years, but to no avail.
Today, however, the skies parted & he took them ice fishing while it was snowing!  They went out to Hyrum Dam (even though the Polar Plunge was taking place).  Took took Sam & Nash while I took Caleb to Instacare.  When I got back with Caleb Sam was ready to come home so he brought Sam home and took Caleb.  He said they missed a lot of fish but they had fun.  Caleb was the only one that caught anything AND he caught it on the spiderman fishing pole he got for Christmas!

Sam's Family Birthday Party

This year for Sam's 10th birthday cake she wanted a pink & black zebra cake.  I'm not going to lie.  I didn't think I could pull it off.  In steps Pinterest.

1. Make 2 cakes mixes.  Either make 2 white ones & color them or do 2 different colors.  I did 1 Devil's Food & 1 Strawberry.

2. Plop a cupful of one batter into your prepared pan.

3. Plop a cupful of the second batter onto the first batter.

4. Repeat until pan is filled.

5. Bake as directed.

I had seen the cake tattoos (sugar sheets) and figured I might be able to find one.  I found some that was pink & black zebra BUT it was pre-cut into 2 strips that were to go around the edges of a 9 inch round.  Sam didn't like the package we saw with the pink & black zebra.  Thus, we opted for a square black & white one.

Ta day!  Pink & black zebra striped cake!  Yea, I'm awesome like that.

We had family come over for pizza, cake & ice cream tonight.  Even though Caleb has pink eye we still had a good turn out.  

Sister was so excited to find out she got a kareokee machine for her birthday!

I can't believe my baby girl is turning TEN!  It really does feel like she was just born yesterday.

Some of the things Sam likes are:

*Singing (Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Hannah Montana, Carrie Underwood are some farvorites)

*Dancing (7 years at LaShars!)

*Reading (She will read any genre by any author - she isn't picky)

*Scrapbooking (Just got into it at Christmas time)

*Piano (Started lessons at 8 years old & still going strong)

*Playing dolls (She loves Torie still & treats her like she has real feelings)

*Crafting (Painting, creating, drawing - she loves it all)

*Playing with friends (She always includes everyone and never wants to hurt anyone's feelings)

*Snow Skiing (She had so much fun on ski day with her dad)

*TV Show favorites include: Full House re-runs, Victorious, iCarly, Spongebob

*Doing her own hair (Which includes brushing it & occasionally throwing on a headband)

*Hamburgers, Spaghetti, Pizza (Cheese or Pepperoni)

*Eating ice (Thank you Grandma Kris)

Super Bowl Sunday Ice Skating

Over the last five years or so it has become tradition for us to go ice skating on Super Bowl Sunday before the big game.  We go with Travis's parents, siblings and their families.  We always have a lot of fun and the kids always ask every day for about a week after when we can go again.  Usually we go again for Sam's birthday a few weeks later.

This year was a lot of fun.  We pushed Brookelyn in her stroller and she loved every second of being on the ice.  She cried when we took her off.  She also got to ride in the sled with her cousin Olivia.  She absolutely loved that!

We got Caleb a walker since he's still fairly small.  Turns out the kid did better than most of the other kids!  We was a little goofy at first because he kept leaning over the front bar and sliding around on purpose.  He also kept falling down until I told him that if he didn't let go of the bar when he slid he wouldn't fall down.  He finally got the idea and quit falling down.

Sam wanted to push the stroller or hold onto a walker.  If we took those away she stayed fairly close to the edge.  She did eventually come away from the edge a little but she was still kind of wimpy about it!

Nash had no fear this year.  He knew he might fall but he wasn't afraid of doing it.  He didn't even complain much when we took the walker away from him!  He fell a lot this year but he didn't cry and he had a lot of fun.

It wasn't until I took this picture that I realized just how long Sam's hair has gotten.  We got Brooke this hat a day or two before.  She loves it!  It's an owl.

Caleb learning over that front bar trying to figure out how to ice skate with a walker.

Fearless Nash

Sam and Prestin

Uncle Chad pulling Livi & Kash

Travis pulling Livi & Brooke

Brooke would lean back and look at the ceiling while she was getting pulled.  Eventually she figured out if she put her hands out on the sides she could scoop up ice and eat it....yum!

Livi & Brooke

Grandpa Scott, Travis & Caleb

Sam & Weston

Aunt Shanah pulling Livi & Brooke

Travis pulling Livi & Brooke

Pink Eye.....SERIOUSLY?!

Last night I noticed Caleb had goopy eyes and they were a bit red/pink.  I was hoping perhaps it was just an allergy thing but figured in the back of my mind that it was likely pink eye.  I texted his preschool teacher to let her know she had probably better lysol everything in the preschool.

This morning when I woke Caleb up not only were his eyes completely boogered shut, they were very swollen as well.  I got him upstairs and his eyes cleaned out so that he could open them.  Travis took one look at him and told me I'd better not wait to take him to the dr.

I took Caleb and Brookelyn and headed to InstaCare.  Travis took Nash and Sam out ice fishing - they've never been.  I was at InstaCare for about an hour and a half.  The dr. said he feels like it's pink eye.  The only concern he had was that his eyes were fairly swollen and the red around them extended quite a ways out.  He gave me the pink eye eye drops and told me that if he gets a fever, chills or his eyes don't get better to bring him back and they'd put him on an oral antibiotic.  In the back of my mind I'm thinking "Give me the rx for the oral antibiotics now.  I don't have the time, energy, patience or money to come back here in a few days!"

We went and picked up his eye drop prescription.  It says to do one drop in each eye every four to six hours every day for seven days.  That should be fun.  On the bright side, he should be ok to go to daycare and preschool on Monday.  Good thing because I'm pretty sure I've used up all my "sick days" and then some!

The good luck continues...

So I mentioned Travis's truck started on fire on Saturday.  Fortunately, they were able to fix it completely and have it done by Monday afternoon.  It cost a fairly pretty penny, but it's done and it was in time for him to go with Sam on the ski day for her school.

Yesterday while I was at work Travis had Brooke and Caleb at home.  I guess he sat both of them up to the counter to have something to eat.  We always put Brooke at the counter because she's fiesty and just about refuses to sit anywhere else.  Generally speaking she does quite well.  We are never too far away from her either.  Apparently Brooke was sitting on her barstool eating her food and minding her own business when she unexplainedly fell off the barstool and landed face first on the wood floor.  She had a bloody nose off and on the entire day.  She also ended up with a nice goose egg in the center of her forehead.  She seemed ok other than that.  A little whiney but she's been sick and I just chalked it up to that.  This morning she was puking everywhere and everything.  She's throwing up to the point of dry heaving.  Poor baby.  I got thinking about it and wondered if it might be from her fall yesterday. Called the pediatrician's office.  They had me check her pupils and they were dilating.  They told me what to watch for and said that she'll probably throw up the rest of the day.  Luckily for me my neighbor is kind enough to come sit with Brooke and Caleb while I go to work for about an hour and a half.  Also fortunately for me, I'm at the school that's having the ski day for their fourth and fifth grade so I don't need to worry about missing them!
UPDATE: As the day wore on B was acting and looking worse.  By the time my mom got her just after one she had called my aunt (who's an EMT) to ask some questions.  My mom and I both felt like she didn't look too fantastic.  My aunt said we should take her to the ER and have her checked out.  So, I loaded her in the car and took her to the ER.  She just pretty much laid there while we were there.  They put a neck brace on her (which she didn't fight at all) and gave her some medicine to help her stop vomiting.  They did a cat scan to make sure she didn't have a skull fracture or swelling/blood on the brain.  Luckily, the scan came back all clear.  They gave me a prescription for Zofran (for the vomiting) and let us go.  They said to keep a close eye on her for another 24 hours.  If she doesn't improve within 24-48 hours then we need to have her checked out again.  He said that the fact that there wasn't anything showing up on the cat scan and we were 24 hours out from the accident was a good sign.  So, we are back home, she still looks and feels awful and she's still throwing up.  I sure hope the little girl feels better soon.  What a scare for mom!

B in her neck brace:

B last night showing off her brother's mask that goes to his flying suit:

Travis and I got new phones yesterday too.  We finally switched from Verizon.  We've been with them since 2002.  It wasn't that we didn't like them, we just figured out that by going through Straight Talk (at Walmart) we could get 2 smart phones and a basic phone (for the kids) and pay what we're paying now for 1 smart phone and 1 basic phone.  I'm so excited to have a smart phone!  The phone I had been using I got in 2009 and it was pretty basic.  I feel like I've joined the new age!  So, now I'm trying to figure out all the new features on my phone, add apps (look out instagram I can finally get an account!), add all my contacts, etc.  The kids are pretty excited to have a cell phone that's designated as kid use (mostly it's to stay at the house so if we run somewhere and need to leave a phone home we can).

Yesterday I got my 2008 blurb book!  I used booksmart (blurb.com) to turn my blog into a book.  I have 2008 and 2009 done and 2008 came in the mail yesterday.  It looks great and I'm so excited!  It was a New Year's resolution last year and I got it done but never ordered.  So, I added it as a New Year's resolution again this year.  When I got a coupon for 30% off I couldn't resist - made it very affordable!  I got another coupon good for part of February so now I need to get 2010 done.  I love that I have a journal with pictures for my kids.  I did paperback because it was cheaper, but I still think it will be just fine and not get destroyed too easily (as long as we keep Brooke from grabbing at it constantly!).

Well, here's to hoping we have no more trauma the rest of February!