Our So Called Life

So it seems like we've had a year's worth of experiences in the past month, both good and bad. Fair warning now...this is a novel length post!

We went to the Zoo, and Daddy got to come along, even though we went on a Friday. The kids had a blast! We got to see an albino alligator ("the Ghost of the Bayou" as it was billed)which was truly an amazing sight! Sweetsa loved the area in the small animal building where the birds fly "free"(not caged or in a formal exhibit). Her little fingers kept signing "bird, bird, bird" with a look or alert wonder on her face. It was wonderful! Mimi loved the train, and the new improved and enlarged playground...figures we go to the zoo and she likes the fake stuff best!) She was also excited to see ALL the monkeys/ primates. Our sweet neighbor told her that monkeys were clowns. I think Mimi was a little disappointed not to see any monkeys actually dressed as clowns! Buddy said he wanted to see the tigers, but was not impressed to discover them doing nothing (resting in the shade.) I guess he wanted more excitement!

He got it the next day in the form of his birthday party. We invited some friends from the neighborhood and our families. We had dinner, played Pin the Headlight on the Racecar (Lightning MacQueen of course), had a Hummer pinata, opened presents and had cupcakes and icecream. Buddy loved all the presents he opened and sleeps with some still! It was so fun to see everyone, and let the kids run around in the backyard while we all (the adults) socialized and caught up on each other's lives/doings.

I guess that is something that has happened in the past month or so...we finished the sprinkler system, and laid sod in the back yard...we have a great place to play and party now...feel free to come over and enjoy it with us! I've also been working on planting a garden and getting some ornamentals put in. I'm definitely not a designer, but it so fun to plant and watch things grow.

On a related note, yesterday I got to teach a gardening class at our RS Super Saturday Activity. I thought it went well, especially for having 16 hours of notice before actually teaching the class! (Luckily I have a bunch of reference material/planting stuff "laying around"!) The activity was a success...we got great comments from the sisters that attended ( and from some of the presenters, too!)

We also got some new windows installed recently! I love being able to open the windows in my kitchen and actually feel a breeze while I'm cooking (an admittedly rare occurrence these days. LOL! Blogger just spell checked occurrence-yes I did spell it wrong initially, but the words it suggested for the correct spelling were: coinsurance, reassurance, and insurance!) Anyway, LOVE the new windows. They really do insulate better than the old ones too (I was a doubting Thomasina!)We also got the skinny windows on the west side of our living replaced...they open now as well. Yahoo!

Instead of going to the ward Father's and Son's outing/Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration Campout this month, we took our kids to dinner and a movie! We saw "Bridge to Terabithia" and yes I cried. **SPOILER WARNING** If you haven't seen the movie/read the book, skip to the next paragraph now!***I had a vague recollection that the girl died, but when the rope didn't break on their return in the storm I thought, Oh! I guess I was wrong! Good! (totally thinking that Mimi would have a better time if no bad thing happened.) That made it some much harder when we found out in the next scene that yes the rope broke and things we no longer happy in happy land! Mimi did have some trouble with it, but by the next day was ok (and so was I)!


It was fun to do something together as a family...so often we are doing things with one parent and the kids because the other parent has commitments/meetings. So we felt great about skipping the "Father's and Sons", as well as the informal "Girls' Night Out" held the same night! But the kids insisted that we make up for missing the camping part, so we promised we'd set up the tent one night and "camp" in the backyard.

The other reason we felt so good about skipping the camping was that we wanted to be able to help our good friends paint their house the next morning. Annually our neighborhood sponsors a "Paint Your Heart Out" service project. That means they select a few homes in the area to paint the exterior...they supply the paint and brushes and everyone comes out to provide the manpower. The kids lasted about a half an hour and then we sent them to another neighbor's house to play, while D and I stayed and painted our hearts out! It was so fun and the house looks fantastic. We went back a few evenings to help with some touch-ups and missed/forgotten areas. It was great to be able to help our friends who are always so willing to help us and others. Service rocks!

One night I got to take Mimi to see the local production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast Musical. It was fantastic. I loved the added characterization and new songs (ie some not in the cartoon movie). Mimi had a great time too, although she was a bit frightened by all the yelling/growling that Beast did. We were really excited to recognize the actor playing Gaston as one of the actors from our favorite Sunday movies, the Liken movies.

On the night we had our camp out in the backyard, things started out really fun. Big D lit the charcoal in the pit and we had BBQ chicken, while the kids ate hot dogs. We supplemented the meat with salad and homemade applesauce and Cheeto's (hows that for healthy!?) After dinner we played baseball in the yard, helping Mimi and Buddy learn how to "keep your eye on the ball" and the right way to stand ready for a pitch. Sweetsa loved running around chasing balls...the whiffle ball, the soccer ball or whatever was moving. We roasted marshmallows together over the remaining coals, and made a few smores before getting ready for bed in the tent. It was a really fun time...until everyune was almost asleep! Then Sweetsa let loose! She started throwing up on me and my pillow! D and the older kids woke up and were a bit disoriented..."Mommy, why are you taking Sweetsa inside?! Why did you wake me up?" LOL! I can laugh about it now, but I wasn't laughing that night. Especially when I got her inside and started a bath for her...in her chubby little fist I found a water balloon. from it's condition, it had obviously been in her tummy at one point, and only recently expelled! (feel free to say eww gross!) So I quickly ran to check the soiled bedding Big D left in the kitchen , and discovered five more balloons!!! I seriously had a hard time believing my eyes. These were not used water balloons...not pieces/parts. They were uninflated, unused water balloons, taking up a ton of room in my poor Sweetsa's belly! I called the on call nurse because I was quite freaked out at this point. She suggested that Sweetsa probably had vomited all the balloons out but to look for drooling in the morning when she tried to eat breakfast, or more vomit/obvious swelling discomfort. In the morning it did appear that she was having difficulty eating/swallowing so I took her to the doctor's office while D took the other kids to Nagol's birthday party. I felt really dumb repeating the story over and over and over again for the receptionist, the nurse, the PA and finally the doctor. He sent us over to the hospital to get some pics of her abdomen and belly and warned me that if her belly became distended/painful to take her to the ER immediately. We were having a great day! I got to explain the story again to the techs in radiology!) We finally got the word that she might have one more going through her intestine, and it should pass soon. Keep watching for distension and pain, and things should be just fine. Of course I was told several times, "Do you know how lucky she is...!?" I wanted to say "Do you think I'm an idiot!?Do you think I haven't been thinking that myself!?!?" But I didn't, I just nodded, agreeing with them. She did pass the other balloon. And life is mostly back to normal.

Normal, including Buddy flooding the entryway to the basement apartment. When I found the flood, it was at least a foot deep( no exaggeration !) After a quick swat I set the kid and his sisters to bailing and ran to get some help from a neighbor. (I did come back and help too!) We are so blessed to have a fantastic weather seal on that basement door...and that our new neighbors were out of town! Can you imagine the mess if they had opened their door while this was going on!? Only about six inches of carpet inside the apartment got wet/damp and the rest of the water was successfully bailed onto my flowers and lawn! Yet one more disaster averted.

And now I'm tired and I'll bet you are too if you made it this far! Hopefully I'll get some pics taken soon to liven up my future posts, but again thanks for sticking with this marathon post!