Nutty November

Yo. November started and ended the same week, it felt like. Dax started his new duties as wildlife manager and has been adjusting to spending much more time in the office than out in the mountains which is very different for him. He has been working a lot and figuring out his new job and has been a bit stressed but doing great.
I also started a new thing this month: teaching piano lessons to 5 kids in my neighborhood. So with Preslie and Hunter (who I have taught for over a year), I have 7 students, bam, just like that. It has been fun! I pay Preslie to watch Mack and Quinn for me while I am teaching. I am still doing cub scouts but my assistant den leader had surgery so I have been managing all eight 8-year-old boys by myself once a week. I finally joined the rest of the planet and got a cell phone. I have been without one for 6 years (and survived just fine!). I am still behind the times though, because Dax's new job came with an iPhone. The kids love playing with it.

watching tv on Dax's iPhone

Dax's dad came to our house and did a bit of framing in our basement to get it all ready for drywall. He is a wonderful giving Dad and always wants to help out his kids. We have plans to finish Preslie's room and the bathroom downstairs for her.

We enjoyed Hunter's 3rd grade program. His Grandpa was able to be there to watch also. At the end, the whole 3rd grade sang "We are the world, we are the children.." and of course I teared up. They are so sweet. Hunter especially!

 Mack has been going to preschool and I think he is way too smart for it but I hope he is learning to be in a structured class with a teacher so he can prepare for kindergarten. It is also a nice break for me. I have been really trying to figure him out and love him for who he is and not wish he is something he's not. I want to help him be the best Mack he can be. A cute thing he said this month when we were all munching on some fresh pineapple..
"One time I ate a bunch of pineapple and my mouth got really buzzy." We all laughed and and I said, "Mack you have a way with.. everything." then he said,
"That's because I go to night school while you guys are asleep."

Dax and I celebrated our 12th anniversary this month. We took the kids and ate pizza at a way cool park and then went swimming at the Rec Center. It was a fun day. I have loved being married to Dax; he is the guy for me. So grateful for a good man.

Mack got some horrible puking virus and a few days later, we all got it except Preslie. Then we went to see my family in West Jordan for Thanksgiving and that night, Preslie puked her guts out and was miserable the rest the time. After we had a nice visit (except Preslie) and went home, EVERYONE in my family got sick and puked. I felt SO horrible and so embarrased and mad at myself for infecting everyone. My parents got sick, my sister and her husband and kids, my pregnant sister-in-law, my niece who goes to BYU (and all her roommates), so many people! It was a bad one.


Grandpa training up his littlest grandkid to play games. So cute!

 

Trent chasing Bowser with Quinn. She loved it.

Whenever my Dad falls asleep, someone puts the ET doll on him and takes a picture. I don't know why but we think it is way funny.

Uncle Lance took Mack to the store and let him put whatever candy he wanted in the shopping cart. Great on so many levels.

My sis and her wonderful fam. My kids went nuts all month that they were going to see these cousins.

You're never too old to snuggle with your Mama!


The weather has been beautiful and I put up my Christmas lights. It doesn't feel like it should be Christmas. For starters, it's too warm, and it just feels like December came too fast.  I really like to surprise people.. As soon as I think of some good gifts, I will start to get excited. Better hurry!

Feeling the LOVE ! ! !

We had such a fun Valentine's Day! I woke up to the kids chatting excitedly about all the hearts that were taped on the walls and "have you seen the kitchen?, it's crazy!" I was pleased that my 10 minute decorating the night before had them so wowed.

I let my husband sleep in while I got up and made heart pancakes with fresh strawberries for breakfast, fed the kids and got Preslie and Hunter out the door.

After Dax left for work, I got ready and made sugar cookies and frosting to take to Preslie's class Valentine's party. I dropped Mack off at my neighbor's and Quinn and I headed to the school. Preslie and her classmates were excited. I am glad I thought to bring my frosting bags to spell the kids' names on their cookies. They all wanted their name in cursive. I had fun helping my friend Lana with the class party and seeing all the people that Preslie talks about everyday. Quinn was an angel and after the party, we grabbed Hunter and headed home to start our sugar-induced comas.

It is tradition that you dump all the Valentines on the floor and start eating the candy as fast as you can until it is all gone. I told Preslie and Hunter to be careful because when I was in second grade, I did that same thing on Valentine's day and when I went to bed, I puked conversation hearts all night long. I can vividly remember that night and I have been careful never to repeat my sugar overdose.

The kids and I got some valentines ready for some of our neighborhood friends- kids and adults alike- and set out to deliver them the way I did when I was a kid: by putting them on the doorstep, knocking and running away. Apparently my neighborhood was the only one who did it that way because my husband didn't do that as a child and I've never heard of anyone else doing it either. I think it is one of my favorite Valentine's Day memories. Picking the right Valentine card, planning your escape plan and hiding spot, sneaking up, placing the valentine, knocking, and running like heck.

But let me tell you, the kids LOVED it. We all had the best time. We had one close CLOSE call when we delivered cookies to Hunter's primary teachers. He and I were hiding in their garage and their son pulled up with his buddy and came walking right past us. Talk about adrenaline rush! The kids did get caught by one of our fun neighbors but it just adds to the excitement for both giver and receiver.

Dax came home and we ate crock pot roast, baked potatoes, peas and homemade bread for dinner. Then we played and wrestled and laughed our guts out on the floor. A couple of sugar-induced meltdowns (of course) and then into bed.

And what do you think happened in the middle of the night? Preslie woke with a stomach ache and ended up puking and staying home from school the next day. She can't say I didn't warn her.

home

Preslie came home yesterday afternoon and is on oxygen here. She gets a little perkier each day. The doc said this would be a slow recovery and I am seeing that. Her fevers have calmed a touch which means the antibiotics are doing their job. And they better be, because they were not cheap. She is having an allergic reaction to something, probably one of the antibiotics. Her belly is rashy and puffy. The doc told me to hold off on one of the drugs today to see if the rash would improve and tonight her fever spiked high again and she turned into a beast. She is NOT a nice patient. BUT, she has been sick for 11 days so I think the word patient is long gone for her. And my patience rope is running out, too. I have been trapped in my house for 20 days. I long for a vacation from sick people! It sounds so relaxing to go to the nearest city and just browse at D.I. or Wal-Mart and pick up a few last items for Halloween.

I am so glad to have my Mom here to stay with the kids while I run to the pharmacy to get drugs or get Hunter from school. Also, I am so thankful for the three dinners that have been brought to us by ladies in my ward! It does a lot to get that extra help and also to have someone stop by who cares. It is a boost and a comfort.
And thank you to everyone who has offered words of encouragement and love to us. We love our friends and family!

Preslie update

Just talked to the pediatrician and Preslie shows slight improvement. They will start to ween her off the oxygen to see if she can get enough on her own. Her fever gets way high still and it sucks. But today while she was on Motrin, she was more animated and more herself than I've seen her in a week. She will stay in the hospital tonight again and if her breathing improves and her fevers can chill a bit, she may be able to come home by tomorrow evening. Her IV came out tonight and they had to put it back in and she was so sad and scared but it is back in and she is ok now.

My sister Trina (the Halloween Queen) sent us a huge (HUGE) box of Halloween decorations and some wigs for Preslie's costume. We got the box yesterday and it boosted our spirits after a long stressful day. I took the box in to show Preslie today, and she really enjoyed it. She was even able to sit up for a bit to try on wigs. I am so happy to see her smile, it has been a long time since that has happened.



Also today, Hunter participated in the school's balloon launch for his first time. It is in celebration of Red Ribbon Week where the kids pledge to be drug free. The launch is one of my favorite school activities and I make it a point to go see it every year. Mack was sad when all the kids let the balloons go. He wanted all of them. But I think he liked seeing them way up in the sky.

disasters and blessings

Long story, short: Preslie was hospitalized today.

NO SHE DOES NOT HAVE S.F. (I can't even bring myself to say the words, or type them. I am pretty sick of hearing about that illness.)


How about pneumonia? There's an illness for ya. That is what Preslie has and she is very sick. I have a million "I should haves" in my head, but none of them will make her better now so I will just be grateful.

I am grateful for Doctors that know what they are doing and diagnose correctly.
I am grateful for hospitals with machines and technology that can give me answers. I love hospitals.
I am grateful for neighbors who drop everything to come get your baby and pick up your kindergartener from school.
I am grateful for Grandmas who drive out to save the day when your husband is out of state so you can go get your kids from your neighbors' house.
I am grateful for a husband who works hard so our family can have good health insurance and who comes home from a trip he has had planned for a year and paid lots of money for so he can be with his family.
I am grateful for loving family who lend support and prayers when they can't be there to help.
I am grateful my boys and I are over the 'flu (or whatever we had). I hope to never take my health for granted again. To be able to stand up and walk and get my own drinks and chase my toddler and shower and have energy to move and work is SO AWESOME!

And I am going to need a lot of energy for what is waiting for me once I publish this post...



Also Mack was a big help while I was talking on the phone to many family members tonight, he got all the boxes of cereal we own and opened them and took them in various rooms in the house to snack on them. Plus he dumped one completely out onto the floor. He also emptied a box of kleenexes and my bathroom cabinets. I guess I'd rather have him healthy and full of energy than lying down in a hospital bed, barely able to move.